The focus of educational reform should be for the benefit of students - not on compensating adults - according to a statement today from the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity. Further, a statewide teacher's contract, currently being looked at by a new Senate commission, would infringe on the sovereignty of municipalities and local school committees.
"It is a highly disturbing trend in Rhode Island for the State to continue to seek control over more and more local matters. We saw this with RhodeMap RI, with firefighter union issues, and now, potentially, with teachers. It is well established that local government is the best government where the people can best hold their elected officials accountable," commented Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. "Too often, the teachers unions make the compensation of teachers the focus of debate rather than the education of students in our under-performing government-run school system. "
The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island has filed a charge of sex discrimination against the Harmony Fire District on behalf of a female EMT/firefighter who was terminated from her job after she and several others raised concerns that male and female firefighters were being treated differently. The charge, filed with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, is on behalf of Kimberly Perreault, who served as a firefighter for the Harmony Fire District for 12 years before being terminated in January 2015 for purportedly being “unhappy” with the fire department.
Dee DeQuattro
Yesterday a child said to me “all veterans are heroes, even if they don’t get killed.” And I thought, what a profound comment for an eight year old. Too often society forgets about the sacrifice of all veterans and simply focuses on those who are killed in action. While those killed in action made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom and their families continue to make that sacrifice everyday they survive without their loved ones, there is something to be said about the sacrifice of all service men and women. Consent really isn't a tricky thing, but many men across the world have a difficult time understanding how to differentiate between yes and no from their sexual partners. So, to help clear up some of the confusion, the Thames Valley Sexual Violence Prevention Group in Britain have created this video which compares sexual consent to offering tea to a guest.
It's funny, it's poignant, it's important. Leonard Lardaro
URI Economist Rhode Island's third quarter ended on a very positive note, as the Current Conditions Index for September recorded a value of 83, its second highest level for 2015 thus far, and ironically, the CCI average for the third quarter. Not only did ten of the twelve CCI indicators improve, more importantly, September marked the seventh month for which the CCI has either matched or exceeded its year earlier value. At this point, it is very clear that the pace of Rhode Island’s current recovery that began to accelerate in the second quarter gained further momentum throughout the third quarter. As this recovery continues to become more broadly based, last year’s tepid 1.2 percent growth rate appears to be well behind us. |
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