Decision makes schools chief loathed and loved - CNN.com

"STORY HIGHLIGHTS Inside embattled district, superintendent faces lonely battle after firing staff"I never anticipated this," superintendent Fran Gallo saysUnion unleashes wrath on Obama; Gallo finds an Obama effigy in classUnion chief: "Central Falls is a test case for the rest of the United States"...

via www.cnn.com

  You may wonder where I stand on this matter.  I have been a union member in the past (when I was a welder).  When I worked hospital security I stood up a number of times to administration at a number of different hospitals.  I made big waves. 
  The point I am trying to make is that I am a big union supporter.  I always was and will always be.. When I was a kid I helped my father right wrongs in his union.  Both my father and mother were union members.  In fact all three of us were in the same union.  
  OK ... I am going to surprise you.. on this matter.. I think Fran Gallo is right and a hero.  
  When you are working at the worst school in the state.. union or no union you have no legs to stand on...With the stats that the school has .. there is no defense.
  I understand how unions work.. But at that time and at that place .. The union should have said.. to the administrator we want to improve things and make this the best school in the state and we will WORK with you 100%.  What can we do to fix things at this school.  We are with you.
  It appears they did not.  It appears they walked in and sat across the table and said we are LABOR and you are MANAGEMENT we will listen to what you want and then we will tell you what we will accept and what are DEMANDS are.  That is how I picture it happening.

  Do I feel sorry for those employees.  Yes.. I have been fired by the way.  I know what it is like.  I was fired from a union welding job and I was fired from a job were I was a hospital security officer (in fact I was a supervisor).  In the case of the firing at the hospital I was all set to transfer out of security and into the bio-med department.  It was a dream job for me. I was looking forward to it. The paper work was all filled out and the first opening I was going to get.  But the director of security was a big racist and he and I had gone around and around on the subject. He pulled another racist event and I went after him.  He fired me.  (By the way.. in case some of you are wondering .. NO I am not black.)
  So I feel for everyone of those employees... even the bad teachers in the group.  But if I had been the school administrator I would have done the same thing.  
  Up to 50% of the fired employees can be hired back.  I am not sure I would hire any of the teachers.  The not teaching employees I would hire back first before I looked at hiring any teachers. There are of course lots of things you have to look at... It must be a small town.. Where are you going to get an entire school full of teachers?

  I was going to be fired another time in my life.  I did not know it.  But I was not happy with the job and the way things were at the place of work.  I was working as a mall security officer. So I just happen to quit.  If I had known they were going to fire me.. I would have let them fire me and then made them wish they had never heard the name of Jim Howard.
  The reason they were going to fire me..  I had sent an email to work.. I sent it from one of my email accounts.  The mall manger a real prick.. Would check and read all email that came in to the mall.  He then did some searching around.. Well he took the domain from my email address and did a Google search and he found nude photos of me. So he told the director of security to fire me.  A few weeks after I quit the job the director of security happened to wall in on the mall manager (male) giving a blow job to a mall employee (male).  The director of security did not do or say anything and he did not plan do do anything about it.  But the mall manager had the director of security pulled out of the mall.  (The mall used contract security for their security. So truth is he could not fire the director of security and in fact he could not make them even fire me.  He could make the pull me out from the mall and not use me there.  But my guess is they would have fired me.)

   I know what you are thinking...  Why would a gay mall manager demand that an employee (male) be fired for having nude photos on a web site?  I think it is was just because this mall manager was a real fucking prick.
  
  I am an old man.. Not sure if I will ever work at a job again...  So most of all this is aimed at you young people.  Be very careful what you put on line.  Employers and others will use it to keep from giving you a job or to fire you.. You might want to run for political office or something.. 
  I know the Internet is great..and it is great to be free and open and honest and express yourself .. I also object to anyone telling what I can or can not do on my own time... But again.. Be very careful.. You put something on the Internet and it is out there for all time.  People will find it and tomorrow or next month or next year or ten years from now you may be sorry and it may look different that you think.