Solís says no guarantees for striking teachers

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May 9^th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) President Luis Guillermo Solís says he cannot provide any guarantees to the country’s public school teachers who have been on strike since May 5^th after thousands of teachers claim they have been missing paychecks since as early as January.

Following the State lunch after his inauguration yesterday, Solís told reporters that he could offer no guarantees. “I cannot give a guarantee, and if I were to say I can I would be lying like those before, and [the teachers] know that no one can guarantee that these payments will be made,” Solís said.

“I have said all I can say,” Solís said in reference to his statement of support for the teachers earlier this week. “We are helping them (the teachers), the Minister of Education is dedicated to doing so, and has committed since the end of last week to help. […] It is a situation that we didn’t create but inherited,” Solís said.

Teachers unions from around the country plan a march to Casa Presidencial today.

Union leaders have said their strike would last indefinitely until all past-due wages are paid. According to union leaders, teachers and other school employees have faced foreclosures on their homes, while others have been jailed for being unable to make child support payments – some even arrested in their classrooms, union leaders claim.

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grammar nazi
Wow, it took Solís exactly one day to play the “I inherited this” card. It may be less than reassuring to the world that the President of Costa Rica can not give a guarantee the state’s employees will be paid.
gc
i really like to see public school teachers arrested and losing their homes. good. maybe, someday, someway they will start teaching. oh wait, they are not educated themselves for the most part. English that do not speak English. math teachers that cannot do algebra. literature teachers that think poilitical rhetoric is more important than Shakespeare. if the kids are not learning the teachers should not be paid!
- disgusted
  Only the private school teacher seem to have better national test results. Those are the ones who get to go to university to be doctors and such. Also, most come from affluent families and are expected to perform.
  Too many of the public school system the children and young adults do not have that kind of support and are doomed to low skill and paying jobs. I sent a friends child every week to a tutor for Math and I help him out with the English. Public school system is broken, however so are their homes and poverty. Teachers have become babysitters. So sad.
  - gc
    explain to me then how private schools taking kids from the worst homes in NYC and WASH DC on average excel. public schools are for everybody but the kids. that is my beef. there will be success and failure everywhere. but no public unionized school system puts kids first.
    - disgusted
      USA school system is a money making both private and public. In that Union leaders get hefty paychecks and benefits the top adminstrators get excellent salaries/benefits, trickles down to the classroom teachers We pay dearly. There never comes intervention in teaching from inside the system only from outside. There is a coach in California who been there 30 yrs, he gets paid $93,000 school year 9 months work and will get 60% of his salary when retired plus benefit package.
      - SDPUS
        There are also many business people in Silicon Valley who make 20 million in compensation annually. What is your point? And they too earned their living from the public infrastructure. And most of their companies get huge corporate welfare subsidies. But I guess it’s easier to pick on the teacher, as their only responsibility is baby sitting your kid??? Ludicrous!
      - SDPUS
        When Facebook can purchase a company that only employs 50 people, for 19 billion…I think you can see the problem very clearly. If not, you are wearing blinders.
      - SDPUS
        Companies like Google are paying 1st year software engineers $180K. Double what the 30 year teacher makes.
      - gc
        terrible, because they are ten times as smart as a teacher, the software engineers should earn much more. left wingers should all be poor. dirt poor. they do nothing. build nothing. just try to disrupt the world with silly phrases and marches. they believe in things that will never exist.
      - SDPUS
        http://www.tickld.com/x/wtf-is-wrong-is-wrong-with-americans-this-guy-nails-it
      - SDPUS
        pretty incredible remark gc, considering you just posted that both your daughters are teachers
      - gc
        business operates for profit not for workers. the worker paradise idea is the gulag.
      - SDPUS
        Government and business work in collaboration. I think most people have great cynicism in regards to both entities. That is why we have checks and balances. It is the sheer power of regular people who are needed to enforce the law of the land. That is Democracy. Democracy is an institution that history shows has been repeatedly hijacked. The people will have the final word…
      - gc
        it is not democracy dumbo. you are illiterate. it is democratic socialism where people can vote other people’s money and wealth away from them. democracy, or demos has not existed since Athens. read Thucydides. gov has no right to interfere in any business except in cases of fraud, theft or violence. there should be a strong separation of state and economics. read sowels 4th edition of basic economics chapter on the history of recession because you have never learned a thing except leech economics. krugman’s demand side stupidly has never worked anywhere. not once not ever. you and ben post such dumb stuff it is remarkable you get your pants on in the morning, and don’t give the cordial crap you insult everyone then toss a bit of sugar on it and call it debate when you are a know nothing fool that could never run anything for a profit. wealth creation is economics, not welfare statism. jerk.
      - gc
        baloney
      - disgusted
        SDPUS, your comparing free enterprise to a public supported system. Free enterprise can pay whatever bonus they want to their employees called capitalism.
        My friends 14 year old boy goes to Liceo de Alajuelita 8th grade. He has had 4 different teachers for math, and his other courses as well. He complains they repeat the same thing with each new teacher… I call that baby sitting… Yes his mother on her day off went to investigate. A waste of time for one mother they need a posse and confront the lack of teachers, constituency and progress. It is nice you have the money to afford your child here a private education.
      - SDPUS
        Because of the # of affluent foreigners living in Costa Rica, free enterprise does provide a better education, than that of the Costa Rican Public System. But this does not correlate to our public vs. charter system in the USA. Khan Academy definitely provides a rigorous program. Costa Rica is still a developing nation, just recently breaking out of the brink of 3rd world status. This is like comparing apples to oranges, when using first world education and comparing it to 3rd world. The pure pupil expenditure is much different. Comparing Singapore and the USA is realistic. Currently Singapore is doing a much better job overall, but USA statistics get bogged down by poor communities. Our wealthy districts do quite well on the international stage. Our higher education system is still the envy of the world.
      - SDPUS
        I strongly support capitalism, but I believe education, healthcare and utilities should be socialized for the benefit of all people in the USA. Privatization only furthers segregation. All citizens deserve basic rights. Research should be centered in our university systems, and fully supported by government. Private enterprise does not deserve the corporate welfare that it is given by our government. We should be subsidizing people with a basic standard of living, not providing kickbacks to individual corporations. Let corporations work on a true capitalistic model. We don’t need crony capitalism, and unfortunately since Reagan, that is what we have. Unions ensure a healthy middle class.
      - gc
        duh
  - Lav
    The private schooled (I am not referring to the private schools that use the international curriculum) children are most definitely not getting the best education either. I have a friend who recently just pulled her kids from a private school here; she said the system was a joke. She is currently home schooling with the Singapore curriculum and it is down right shocking how far behind her kids are from the rest of the world. When you compare what her 3rd grader is expected to already know and comprehend and refer to her 4th graders book from the Costa Rican school, they haven’t even been introduced to it yet.
    The entire system needs to be reformed. Unfortunately that costs a lot of money, and the parents need to be a huge support. The other half of the problem becomes apparent when the parents and teachers are unable to be supportive, as they are under educated themselves.
    - gc
      it does not cost a lot of money, it means stop wasting it. yes, there are poor private schools too. however there are no excellent public schools in the USA or Costa RIca. unions get people elected then those people negotiate the union contracts. in a nut that is why no union or government is worth a damn.
      - disgusted
        I am helping a few kids here with math and English. I use the FREE online khan academy . This man is a genius who figured out how to break down a problem and solving it. I am no teacher and do not claim to be however this web site breaks down the problem so even I can understand it. Something like this could really help the public and private schools here. Yeah I know you need the internet and a computer as well.
        https://www.khanacademy.org/‎
      - Lav
        A curriculum overhaul would cost a lot of money; the materials themselves are quite expensive.
        I don’t think it is fair to say there are no excellent public schools…
      - gc
        proof is in the pudding
      - Lav
        I can find many many public schools in the USA which are excellent. Stanton comes to mind…
      - SDPUS
        School funding in the USA is tied to property taxes. Wealthy districts have kids who do very well. Poor districts have kids who do bad. Poverty is what is the major influence on achievemnet.
      - gc
        that is ignorant. private schools with no money in poor areas give excellent educations to their students. public schools are like public anything party first, money first screw the kids..
      - SDPUS
        Private schools in the USA test no better than Public School kids. Private schools are paying their leadership astronomical paychecks. Like all privatization in the USA over the last 30 years, it’s a racket to steal. Name some private schools that you consider superior? I will guarantee they are in afluent areas.
        More than 90% of the money sent to rated charter schools in the 2011-2012 school year went to charters that on average score significantly lower on the Performance Index Score than the public schools students they had left.
        You have heard about the scandalous salaries and pensions paid to government workers. Here is the top-paid government worker in the nation: Ron Packard, CEO of online virtual charter corporation K12, founded by junk bond king Michael Milken and his brother. Packard was paid $19 million between 2009-13. Packard recently stepped down as CEO to start his own business. He remains on the board of directors of K12.
        Private schools are leaving behind high need school kids, like special education students. Private schools are a scam to further segregate our society.
      - Lav
        I will half agree. We rarely hear of the poverty success stories, but I can assure you there are thousands. The success stories which are reported, are always of children with a different racial background than Caucasian. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy reading about those kids who have defied odds, but there are many many more children who come from poverty that go on to post secondary.
        We have to stop associating poverty with lack of ambition and success. Many people live below the poverty line and have good jobs. They even went to university and have a degree. Those parents, are able to offer support to their child’s education. Even in a terrible school those children will thrive.
      - SDPUS
        Lav, I fully agree with that statement. There certainly are those who rise from impoverished conditions to do well. But looking at the other end, we have wealthy kids who do little and still get by. Such as a wealthy Dad paying full tuition for their child to attend Harvard, and then that wealthy kid just sort of skates through the process (George Bush). “Daddy creates the empire, his son keeps it going, the grandson runs it in the ground”…one of the problems of a system of inherited wealth. Incentive diminishes throughout the generations. Wecome to the USA.
      - SDPUS
        I was generalizing a bit Lav. There certainly are kids from poor districts who do well. It is just more difficult, because of their environmental situation. It is difficult to keep highly qualified teachers in the poorer districts. After a couple years, they often move to a more affluent district, where the work load is easier. Programs like “Teach for America” often place unqualified people in high need schools. This does not help the situation.
- SDPUS
  gc, what is your work background that you speak so authoritatively about these issues? Watching Fox News does not qualify you. I would be willing to bet Lav actually has worked in education.
  - gc
    i have always been self employed. met payrolls. had an ad agency. both daughters, i was a single parent, went to private catholic school, youngest has a masters in education. you just have a government education and a welfare job. oh, i closed my biz and retired on personal savings and still invest because of stupid hi taxes in 04. i was 46. i read 30 hours a week. you are just a punk parrot child.
    - SDPUS
      I went to Cathoilic School as well. I can see why you are divorced. Catholc School actually instilled some values in me. I respect people in debate, not belittle. I guess that comes from your advertising background. Just as speaking about things you have no background in does. I would bet your daughters who hold M.Ed.’s do not support your educational views. Most likely they teach at the elementary school level. Happy to hear that. I’ve worked 20 years in education, at the high school level as a history teacher and administrator. At the university level in computer Science and in the education department. I then earned an Ed.D. and worked as a university administrator. I also own and operate 2 small businesses and currently work as director of a non-profit. I have a difficult time listening to career bloggers bash education. It has become all too common in the day of the internet. Everyone speaks as if they are experts, when clearly they are not. If I told you how to do your advertising business, I am sure you would get a good laugh. That is kinda how I feel in going back and forth with you. But at the moment, I have some spare time, as I am not working…my wife and I are expecting our first child any day now. I am 41 years old. Do you not believe in cordial debate? Your words certainly do not indicate that. Again, that is verry funny considering the topic and both our backgrounds. As an advertiser, I guess it is important to get your point across, rather it be informed or not.
      - gc
        yeah, you’re real cordial. fox watching, divorced, maybe she died, etc etc etc. truth is i responded in kind. i feel sorry for your students. all those still on 101. no 400g courses for you. lol. in business we keep score. we count $. with your notions you are like our president who needs to use the political class for money because he could not run a hot dog cart. bet you could not either.
      - SDPUS
        I taught econ 101 early in my career, as a high school social studies teacher. In NYS it is called AP Level Courses (Advanced Placement). High School students who are admitted to the program can enroll for college credit. It was in collaboration with the SUNY System.
      - SDPUS
        A Ed.D. in Administration is very similiar to a MBA Program. Much of the course work is the exact same…
  - gc
    btw, i do not get fox on my system.
    Chapco Group Advertising – BizVotes.com
    http://www.bizvotes.com/or/…/advertising…/chapco-group-advertising-87065….See where Chapco Group Advertising ranks among the best Advertising Agencies in Eugene, OR. Chapco Group Advertising, 411 Cherry Dr, 541-485-8601.
    - SDPUS
      You may not have Fox, but you are definitely reading stuff from News Corporation (Rupert Murdoch)
      - gc
        you definitely read krugman. i prefer friedman, thomas, and hayek, you know actual economists. i also straddle trade commodities for many years helping world wide price stability. i have no need for fox or it’s derivatives. coming from a progbot that is really pretty funny though, thnx. you just turn out useless rebels destined for a govt job or McDonalds.
      - SDPUS
        The USA Higher Education System is still the envy of the world. No other country has the innovation that our university system spins off. In many communities across the USA, the local university is the regions biggest employer. Education is the key to any countries future success. If a Krugman type stimulus plan was passed, our country would be doing much better at breaking the grasp of this recession. Instead our congress is filled with many who support your austerity type budgets. This has greatly hurt the recovery process. The GOP historically supports all defense budget initiatives, but anything in regards to domestic spending they won’t help with. You simply don’t understand the federal deficit if you claim anything differently. I recommend reading the link at the very bottom of this page.
      - SDPUS
        And yes, I owe my success to higher education. Both for educating me and in helping my career to prosper. My current works are tightly involved with many USA Universities and Costa Rica.
      - gc
        sad for them
      - gc
        go make a job and get back to me. demand side bs has destabilized the world. apl, the nations war gaming center runs financial war gaming now because of kooks like you. seriously, i feel bad for your students. the GOP and DEMs are big gov progressives. both deadly both exporting inflation and currency debasement. how can you look at a 2 year M@ chart and not feel simply embarrassed. you have no clue about debt, you have never paid any, i have. go see what you can do in the private sector. find out how useless your ideas are, worse than useless, dangerous.
      - SDPUS
        What are you doing to provide jobs? Just hiding your money off-shore? I work in the private sector as well, and have all of my adult life. I went to university for 10 years, and have paid off a very large chunk of debt since that time. Both school loans and small business loans. I am still actively working and being highly productive in many endeavors. You?
      - gc
        highly productive destruction, meaningless. this is no debate. you are just a fail progbot.
  - gc
    i see the link does not go to the page. still voted high after all these years closed.
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  - Lav
    Haha, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I am actually an accountant… To make matter worse, as per this topic, all my eduction has been in the private sector.
    - SDPUS
Jimmy Kirk
It is true that he did inherit the mess and if he were to give a guarantee he would be just like any other politician. The real hard part to understand is the strike taking place just as the leadership changes and very little either one can do to make any real change at this point. Have also read that the blame is being placed on the software, this is BS, it is lack of trained personnel to do the input into the system as well as lack of good records to work from. So if it were to be a blame game it would go back to January and Chinchilla was still in power at that time.
Tie to stop with blame game and get results quickly as the country needs the schools open and improved. I have a 14 year old that is taking English and making good grades, but does not understand what I say to him. I even paid to have him go to a English language center to learn more since I cannot translate very well yet. The kid is intelligent, but seems the schools teach what is needed to pass the student only.
Perhaps it is time to give grades to the educators before a raise?
- gc
  you are singing my song, only problem, most teachers came from the same zoo your kid is in. now i have not done a study on this, but i would guess that if you can not speak english, do algebra, count out change, add and subtract large numbers in your head or read a classic, you can’t teach it either.
  - Lav
    What does speaking english have to do with the ability to be a good teacher? In fact, if you look at the PISA rankings from the last report the 1st english speaking education came in at 13th place; and it came from a place that is almost all public education…. Canada.
    - gc
      english is taught in tico schools by teachers that can not speak, read or write it. public schools stink. they are political money machines that but kids last, just like you. most tico public schools are zoos
      - Lav
        You are correct that they should not be teaching English, if they themselves cannot speak it. Not being fluent in English has little relevance on their ability to teach math, science, history, comprehension, etc.
        I have never put children last, as they are the future engines of the economy. Like I stated before, there are many good public schools all over the world. Costa Rica just needs to reform its system to keep its future engines competitive on a world stage. There are many intelligent Costa Rican kids that came out of the public system… You can blame the schools, or take some initiative and co-teach at home.
      - gc
        they also do not know math, science and apolitical history. public schools work as as well as any public agency, badly. defending public schools is a farce. if you are a public school teacher contributing to a union you are not putting kid’s education first. here are the facts. successive generations of public school children and public school teachers are less educated. studies prove it. punta. end them, don’t mend them. education is a family matter not a mommy state matter.
      - Lav
        Sigh… Sometimes it’s like beating a dead horse. Again, there are many many countries who offer public education with unionized teachers and those kids are topping the world charts.
      - gc
        bullshit. they top charts then get a gov job or become euro trash

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