This is how low we have sunk

[roguevalley]

Michele Miller, School Principal, Sells Shoe Collection To Save Teacher Jobs (I have hunted for this elsewhere but only found it at Huffington. Sorry about that.)


SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Worried about possible layoffs, school principal Michele Miller spotted a potential solution in her own home.

The principal of Jackson Elementary in El Dorado Hills, a suburb east of Sacramento, decided to part with most of a shoe collection gathered over the past 15 years. She is selling 285 pairs – which fill a room in her apartment – to help close a district budget gap of up to $2.2 million. She's asking for a donation of $1,000 a pair to help save the jobs of 17 teachers, three vice principals, library technicians and others. Miller felt the urge to act after leaving a late-night school board meeting March 8, when she learned the district faces a budget deficit of no less than $1.4 million, and possibly much higher.

"I came out of that meeting in a state of shock," Miller told The Associated Press. "I kept thinking, 'What do I have that I can sell?'"

She stayed up until 1 a.m. working out logistics to sell most of her 350 pairs of shoes. Volunteers are uploading photos of the size 7-7 1/2 high-tops, cowboy boots, leopard-print rain boots, sandals, platforms and high heels to a website, , which went live earlier this week. For some of the shoes, Miller will post stories on her website about the memories she attaches to them. http://www.shoestotherescue.com

The site also contains two videos in which Miller appeals to viewers to "adopt" her shoes. "They're my art form, but they're functional art," she told the AP.

[midnight]

1. Gee.. I wonder how many teachers could be employed if one banker

sold a jet?

[FreakinDJ]

4. Or if 1 Corporation wasn't allowed to exploit Off Shore Tax Loop Holes

[Initech]

6. Or if one rich person drove a $25,000 Hyundai instead of a $300,000 Rolls Royce.

[Romulox]

7. Or maybe buy American and your neighbor will have money for school taxes?

:hi: :shrug:

[Initech]

10. Hmm... buy a Mexican built Ford or buy a Tennessee-built Nissan?

[Romulox]

11. No "SOLIDARITY!" bumpersticker in any event, I suppose.

As if Nissan employs more people in the US than does Ford. :eyes:

[Throd]

13. How the hell would that make a difference?

[Romulox]

14. Poster just wants to support teachers by "sticking it to" unionized US auto workers.

It's all part of being "progressive". :shrug:

[Initech]

17. WTF? That's not in the context I had at all.

Crap I'm pointing out the idiocy of rich people and their ridiculous, over-inflated salaries. I never, not once said that I was "sticking it" to auto workers. It's that simple - buy a $25,000 car or buy a $300,000 car? They both get the job done. :eyes:

What I'm angry about is that we're the ones who are asked to make the sacrifice when the ones who have everything don't have to lift a finger. That's what I'm getting at.

Please, enlighten me as to how the mere mention of another car brand is offensive to unionized workers. I would like to know the answer.

[Romulox]

2. No offense, but.....YUCK.

:wtf:

[truedelphi]

3. Meanwhile, almost every governmental entity in Calif is refurbishing

Old mansions, old barns, old hotels, often charging the tax payers over 100K to 1 million dollars.


We are looking at the first generation of kids who might not have teachers to teach them yet --

At first I thought the refurbhishing of the old stagecoach building up the road from me in Lake County was an isolated incident, but over the last year I have found several other situations that parallel and even exceed it.

I read several different newspapers in a three month period, and from reading them I have learned that in Santa Rosa, this old "Round Barn" is to be refurbished with a price tag of over 100k.

Lake County Supervisors have also signed off on buying an old hotel in Lucerne, and the property and refurbishing will total over 1.5 million dollars, with some of the money to come from Redevelopment monies.

There are at least three other projects I have read about, in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties.

Why the politicans and elected officials going after these types of deals are not hounded out office, I don't know, but at the very least these projects should have a citizens' group auditing the money that is involved.

[PufPuf23]

18. There is value in preserving culture.

The WPA and CCC had cultural projects including writing state histories, the arts, forest improvment, and building infrastructure in Parks and National Forests.

IMO POTUS and Congress should have pushed through a Keynesian bottom to top WPA/CCC-style jobs program but instead followed intellectually dishonest supply side / trickle down economic and job policies.

When people have jobs, there is an economic multiplier effect that ripple up through the economy creating jobs, production, and demand. When the wealthy are given tax breaks without viable investments, they hoard capital, minimize labor cost, and bottom feed for distressed assets. This is Economics for Dummies 101. POTUS did not hire dummies (Geithner, Summers, Bernanke et al) but they know how the economy works and where the metaphorical bodies are buried.

One might as well accept some good in what is most sadly malevolent disaster capitalism.

We actually agree I think. Best to you.

[truedelphi]

19. The value in a citizens audit of these projects would

Be a good first start to seeing that the jobs created on account of these projects do not end up in the inner circles of the politicians who vote them in.

And one other thought - there are always rich people attached to their community who for ten thousand to fifty thousand or more, would be glad to donate, just to have their names on a plagque and to know they preserved a bit of history.

Our tax monies should first be going to the basics, and secondly going to the other matters.

[Throd]

5. My daughter goes to that school.

I have nothing but positive things to say about Michele Miller and Jackson Elementary. That said, there seems to be an abnormally high amount of school districts in El Dorado County. Consolidation might help offset redundancy of costs.

[Catherina]

8. Sad. And meanwhile we have no problems with billions for war. Disgraceful. Rec'd n/t

[defendandprotect]

9. We need to turn this world right side up again -- corporations out -- humans before profit --

[Initech]

12. We cant fund teacher salaries but we can lob 200 cruise missiles over Libya. Priorities, damn it!

[Tx4obama]

15. 285 pairs of shoes? Principles do make more money than teachers do. n/t

[roguevalley]

16. some people have hobbies like this. My sister before she lost

a leg in an accident collected designer shoes. Its like baseball cards for your feet.

This is one unusual principal. The first one I ever heard of that showed evidence of a soul. She is my new hero.

[MadMaddie]

20. The Republicans don't care

they want all American establishments to fail.

When working Americans finally get this we can start calling the Republicans the "Treasonous" bastards that they are. They are anti-American and are allowed to hide behind, God, Country and Guns while they destroy America.

People shouldn't be worried about the Taliban, they should be worried about the Koch Brothers, Walmart, Huge Corporations and U.S Mercenary groups.

[Gemini Cat]

21. I can't imagine anyone owning 285+ pairs of shoes.

I think I own maybe five pairs.
With that said, it's obvious shoes are important to her and I will applaud her sacrifice.