‘Disability king’ should thank taxpayers
Letters to the Editor September 18, 2012 4:58PM
New Lenox Mayor Timothy Baldermann | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media
Updated: October 20, 2012 6:15AM
As I look at the picture of New Lenox Mayor Timothy Baldermann relaxing in his lawn chair [“The disability king,” Sept. 18] I can’t help but think of my father, a Korean War veteran, who worked in the private sector his whole life. Over the past seven or eight years he has had three major back surgeries and must use a walker to get around. He does not receive one red cent in disability payments.
Mr. Baldermann should kiss the feet of every taxpayer for providing the funds to support his very comfortable lifestyle.
Larry Calkins, Brookfield
What the strike was about
Please realize this strike wasn’t about money; it was about the environment in which your children learn.
It was not punishing you parents; it was supporting your interests in a way that’s harder to see.
At the expense of instruction, your child is being overtested in an overcrowded, sometimes stiflingly hot classroom, with a crazy skew on subject matter.
It’s not the well-balanced education that we grew up in: History and science are neglected, and physical education, music and art are afterthoughts at best. My eighth-grade class lost 24 days of instruction last year to testing.
What this is about is a slow burn toward privatization. This is about charter schools being the “next new thing” and public schools, slowly but certainly, becoming the schools of last resort. Breaking the CTU is just one step along the way.
Hold out with us a little bit longer. They took 24 days away from my kids last year; I’m optimistic we’ll take fewer. These things don’t fix themselves.
Remember your high school history? Nothing in this city was on the table until May 23, when a few thousand teachers showed up downtown. This management/labor thing is supposed to be adversarial. Nobody likes this. Nobody wants a strike; it’s awful. Please trust that what we are doing, we are doing for your child.
Heidi Nardini, Irving Park
