What can Brown do for you?: Pen 6 part 1

So after burning some bridges with Lou and even getting on Tom's nerves enough I was sent off packing to Pen 6 when I got back from vacation. I will do a post on vacations at UPS, but pretty much every time I went on vacation, I was in a new area when I returned.

Now, before I get into my time at Pen 6 I need to talk about how bad the belt was when I got there. Pen 6 was horrible. Seriously horrible. Pathetic, ugly, you think of the worst word to describe something and you just described Pen 6. It was a supervisor's worst nightmare.

Pen 6 was a belt to car pen, unlike my time on Pen 9 which was a slide to car. With a slide to car, your employees don't need to be at work on time and if someone is sick you can stack the packages on the slide or grating. The only man you need on a slide to car is your pick off man. With a belt to car, if you are missing one person...screwed. The belt just keeps moving and if you miss your package it just builds up at the end of the belt. Loaders #1 & #2 were called splitters. There were the pick offs of a belt to car. They knew where every package went and would either push or pull a package to the correct side.
Here is my attempt at giving you a visual for Pen 6.
So you can see if loader #1 missed his package it would go down to #5 and build up back there causing him all sorts of problems. Plus that "slide to Pen 7" was a slide that came down from the sky and was actually eye level with loaders #5 & #6. By the way, loader #4 did have a longer car known as a Wally. It's the big van that had a handful of stops, usually at a mall. But instead of it being like one package it would be like 20 or more so he had to slide the packages in with rollers and go in load the Wally and get out to make sure he didn't miss any packages. He also had an air car to the right of the Wally sometimes. And that was all of the Next Day Air for our belt that left at 6:15 AM.

When I was in the sort aisle, Lou would always drag me out to look at Pen 6 and the missorts (packages that belong somewhere else, but end up on Pen 6). Most were for Pen 7, since they shared a belt in the sort aisle. If a sorter didn't push the package all the way over to the side of the belt it could fall over to Pen 6's side. I told Lou that loader #6 & #5 could just slide the packages over to Pen 7, there was a set of rollers there for this very purpose. He told me they shouldn't have to.

We also saw missorts for Pens 8 & 9 which were literally 20 yards away. So instead of carting them over to those belts. They carted the missorts to the return slide back to the sort aisle to be re-sorted. The belt travel time was about 7-10 minutes. Then the time to go from the sort aisle to the Pens varied from 5 minutes to 15 minutes. I told Lou that this was a waste of time. That it also caused major problems in the sort aisle.

The other big problem we had in the sort aisle was Pen 6 liked to turn off their belt. This caused problems in the sort aisle. Because if Pen 6 turned off their belt, then Pen 6 & Pen 7's belt stopped in the sort aisle causing back ups everywhere.

I also need to add that Pen 6 & Pen 7 were both Ontario belts (there was also Pen 5, but they weren't connected like 6 & 7). They had about 60 exception streets that sorters had to learn and memorize. Problem was that the on-road supervisors (in charge of the drivers) would change them without telling the pre-load sort (us).

I think it was my lack of compassion and understanding of load-sides problems that Lou sent me to the worst belt in the building. I dreaded it when I heard the news.

That's good for now. I will post part 2 which will explain what I did to change things around. And how Pen 6 should have been my stepping stone to better things (full-time), but for whatever reason it wasn't.

Thoughts Without Words: Teens & Self Esteem

Teacherblogger411 has a nice little post today about teens and their self-esteem and how out of control it has gotten. I can't say I disagree. I have only been teaching 7 years, but in those 7 years the students really expect things to be handed to them without any kind of effort. And when you decided to question them...watch out.

Here's some of his thoughts on it;
How about peer counselors? Now don't get me wrong. I don't want any kid to harm themselves or end up being emotionally scarred for life from their high school experience. But why do teenagers, these days, feel like their problems are SO important. Why can't they just "suck it up" when things get difficult like we had to when I was in school. Honestly, nobody really cared about the fact that we were struggling. It was supposed to be hard in school. In fact, we got picked-on a lot more than teenagers do where I teach. There was no such thing as sensitivity training or tolerance lessons. Yet, there is so much drama in today's classroom. Why are today's teenagers SO needy?

Ahh the days of "suck it up". Good times. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. And what have we created?

Perhaps this ... a study was conducted that looked at self-esteem levels from teens in the 70's and today. Obviously, the self-esteem now is higher, but the ironic thing is that it may now be more damaging then good. Read that HERE.

Inside Four Walls: St. Patrick's Day (elementary edition)

So I don't have a funny St. Patrick's Day story, but my wife has one that definitely takes the cake.

Back when my wife first started teaching (1st grade) she worked in a less than desirable district and school. In fact, it wasn't out of character for her school to go into lock down once a week.

So it was the week of St. Patrick's Day and my wife always likes to portray the Leprechaun as a mischievous guy who hides things and messes up things trying to get his gold. So during the week, my wife always moves things around (like turning desks upside down) or will hide different items from the students. So when the kids come into the class they all get shocked and my wife blames the Leprechaun.

It just so happened the night before St. Patrick's Day, her school was broken into...including her room. So when she got at school her room was ransacked. The school wanted the teachers to get their rooms reorganized before the students showed up. She put the room back together and sprinkled some green clovers in the room and let the students in.

About an hour into the day, my wife needed to use her cd player. She was looking for it and couldn't find it. She asked her teacher next door if she had it. She kept looking for it and told the class that she couldn't find the cd player. Kids being kids they started telling her that the Leprechaun must have taken it. Of course, my wife knew it was stolen, but she couldn't say anything. The more serious she got about it being gone the more excited the students became over the fact that the Leprechaun had been to their room again.

That was almost 10 years ago and it is still my favorite story to hear my wife tell. And since it is St. Patrick's Day I will pass it onto you.

What can Brown do for you?: Two way street

So back again for another UPS story. The last story really jogged the mind and made me remember a ton of stories. Remember I worked every weekday, minus 2 weeks vacation and Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. So that's a lot of adventures. I am hitting the big ones in order and will back fill later.

So we were coming off a tremendous peak season and moving into the beginning of the new year when things slow down a bit. Now, UPS has this program called GainShare. Basically, what happens is the buildings numbers are compared from year to year and any gains made results in a check to the supervisors. It was a nice program. I say nice because I heard that within a year or so after I left, they canceled it.

Since we kicked some serious butt in peak season, we were expecting a big check. Even the new sups who were hired during this time would get a check. So one day after work, Adrian, P.J. and myself are in the office doing time cards for our employees. As we are finishing in comes Ness and Mike. Now, a little bit more about Mike (since I already explained how inept Ness was). Mike was the type of guy that would throw his own mother under the bus to look good. He always said the right thing to make himself look good. He wouldn't agree with it, but he would say it. I am sure we all know the type I am talking about.

So they come in and start making smart ass comments about the gainshare check and how they helped get it. I kept quiet for a bit and then finally fired back. I basically said that Ness shouldn't get a check because he didn't do anything except cost us money. The jabbing went back and forth before I decided (with Adrian and P.J.) to leave. We walked out the door (the building was pretty much empty as the drivers had already left) and were about 15-20 yards away from the door when Mike and Ness stuck their heads out and started back in again. With stuff like "what Kevin? You can't take the fact that we know how to run an area better than you?" and typical stuff like that. Now, remember I was only 24/25 so I still had a really short temper...it's a pretty good excuse right?

I turned around and yelled at the top of my lungs for him to shut up. I kept walking at him and told him things like we are sick of you and Ness, you don't know what you are doing...etc. At this time I see Lou. I thought about stopping, but I figured hell I'm already busted...just keep going. And I did. I yelled some more and then Lou looked and me and Mike and yelled at us to his office...NOW!

So we go to his office where Mike is all calm and tells his story about how I was saying how Ness doesn't deserve his gainshare check because he doesn't work hard. And how I started yelling at him and Ness. Lou was listening and then looked at me. I said "look this is a two way street. I left the situation and he came after me to further instigate it." Lou stopped me there and said "I don't care how many streets there are. You are in the wrong for going off the handle like that." I interupted him and said "So when he came out the door to follow me...that's my fault?" Lou gave the classic "You are just a supervisor and if you keep acting like this you won't be for long, I don't care how good you think you are. Now get out."

That was it. I left Mike got nothing. It fueled my anger towards Mike for a long time. Mike just wanted to go full time and was going about it the right way...kissing ass. I couldn't do it, which is why I never made it full time there.

Next time I will talk about the second time I got kicked out... the opportunity to become a more well rounded supervisor by moving to Pen 6...the worst belt in the building.

Free Speech for the Dumb: Tom Hanks

Now I like Tom Hanks. I think he is a solid actor and I like most of his movies, but I wish actors would stay away from politics. From his Time interview talking about WWII;

“Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as ‘yellow, slant-eyed dogs’ that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what’s going on today?”

Dear Mr. Hanks,
Perhaps we wanted to 'annihilate' them because of Pearl Harbor or because they wanted to take over the pacific? Maybe?

What can Brown do for you?: Just a sort supervisor

Wow, it's been such a long time since I have written a story, I am starting to forget some of them. That's why I started do this, so I would never forget.

So we left off with Dave leaving and us getting a new building manager...again. This time it was Lou. He was an Human Resources guy and came in and actually watched us do our thing for awhile before he made any changes.

I can't remember much about Lou's first couple of days there or even months. I think it was because I was just doing my job in the sort aisle. I had to cover doors 1 - 20 and Adrian have the back 10. Yeah it didn't make much sense to either of us that I had to cover 3 return doors and a sunrise door that fed us nothing but Next Day Air. But whatever, Trevor covered door one by himself (something I never thought possible) and Joe covered the return slide at door 7 by himself. Other than that I was moving constantly talking to P.J. about moving people around.

During this peak season, P.J. had a great idea to "prep" the sort aisle with packages. Meaning we would unload a complete or 50% trailer to put packages in the sort aisle so the sorters would have work in front of them right away instead of waiting for about 15 minutes for it to get busy. Think about it, 15 minutes times 18 sorters? That's 270 minutes saved...almost 3 hours. Nice move on P.J.'s part. It became a daily routine even after peak. In fact, when we went to 40 doors P.J. would usually unload 2 full trailers before sorters showed up.

Now Tom had become a shield for me. I would bitch and moan and he would listen and take it in. I had seen the other side and had seen the lies. I tried to make things better on my side, but it didn't last long. I soon returned to my "us vs. them" mentality.

We also had some new supervisors in the building. One was Ness. Ness was brutal...horrible whatever you want to say that was Ness. He got beat up nightly by the bulk drivers, funny actually. He didn't know how to move people or anything. So I was paired up with Ness and we didn't get along at all. I was constantly moving people for him and doing his job.

So Lou would hit Adrian and me up on sorter testing. He wanted us to test 3 sorters a night and do an OJS (On the Job Supervision form) nightly as well. So one week Tom left for vacation and told me to run both sides, unload and sort. So I was making my moves when Ness and Mike were telling me, no. Mike is a whole other story, so let's just say we didn't get along either. I was moving my sorters to where I wanted unloaders to go. Mike called Lou over to me and tell me who was in charge. I told Lou that Tom had told me to run both sides. Lou looked at me and told me something I will never forget "You are just a sort supervisor. You don't need to care about them." So I didn't.

I'm not one to brag, but I was one of the best supervisors there and knew how to get my sorters to do their best. The week went by and I didn't make anymore calls. The following week Tom is back and Ness is by himself (Mike is back to his area). I move my sorters around open the doors and have doors 1-20 spotless an hour into the sort. The flow per hour was so low on the loadside that Tom & Lou came back to see what was going on. Lou and Tom stepped up into the aisle to see a totally spotless aisle. I was giving 2 sort tests and had given Adrian some sorters as well.

Tom and Lou both looked shocked. I had turned door one into a mini small sort with sorters opening up the forever bags (with NDA envelopes) and sorting them to the belts. The return doors were spotless as well. Tom asked "where is all the flow?" I said I don't know. He asked how many doors had I broken (emptied). I said again, I don't know, but I didn't 7 sort tests and 2 OJS's. Lou came up next to Tom and asked me what was going on with the unload. I looked him in the eye and said "I don't know, I'm just a sort supervisor." He looked pissed as did Tom.

Tom pulled me aside and pleaded with me. He said he didn't know what happened when he was gone, but to please fix it. I told him no, that Lou, Ness, and Mike made it clear I was not in charge of the unload. He told me he would get rid of Ness.

We went down late that day, but true to his word Ness was gone after that day. He went to small sort or somewhere. I ran the sort and unload through peak season. We hit unreal numbers that year. I can't take all the credit though. It was winter of 2001 and our total volume was down due to 9-11. We did smash Pieces Per Hour, which I still believe is because of P.J.'s idea to prep the sort aisle.

Next up...Mike and the two way street.

Inside Four Walls: Testing Season...has begun

The CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam) starts tomorrow. It messes up our schedule for two days and at our school everyone passes (ELA 95-98% & math 98-99% [ that's me by the way]). Anyway the CAHSEE is a joke of a test. They have lowered the pass rate so that 8th graders could pass it. I have read/heard the passing score is somewhere in the 50's. That doesn't make sense to me. Same with the CSTs, the proficient rate is the low 60's. Really? so a D is proficient and an F allows you to graduate. Nice job of setting the bar high.

I'm not a big fan of Arne Ducan, but he was onto something when he said
"We have dummied-downed standards. It's our fault as adults. We've lowered the bar. We've had low expectations – not because it's the right thing educationally, not because it's the right thing for our economy. We did it because of political pressure."

I'm not ready for national standards, but any sane person will admit these tests are hardly testing anything.

After this comes the great CSTs...can't wait. My Geometry classes are so low compared to previous years and my Algebra 2, Algebra B aren't much better. I can see about 50% getting to proficient. There are some really smart kids and then there are those that are just sucking up oxygen.

We have late start days to discuss how the high score teachers did so well and one year a teacher was so honest when he said "I get rid of my low students before the test." We laughed, but he was right. He manages to piss off the students and parents so much they demand the school change their kid's class. I have no such luck. I have lost 3 Geometry students , 2 are guaranteed proficients or higher, but the 3rd is basic at best.

I will talk more about the CSTs as we get closer. They are always a fun topic.

I gotta do another UPS story soon too.

Music Non Stop: 2010 albums...Bullet For My Valentine

So still a slow year. I have been listening to more 2010 albums and still am not that impressed. I am looking for to As I Lay Dying's new one, The Powerless Rise. Hopefully, something will be released so we can get a sample of things to come.

Despite my knocking of Deadlock last week, I am still hopeful something will come out this year from these guys.

But this post is about Bullet For My Valentine. This is a band I didn't want to like, not unlike As I Lay Dying. The first song I heard was Tears Don't Fall. I passed it off as some metalcore emo song. I didn't pay too much attention to it. When they released Scream, Aim, Fire I thought it was a horrible title and didn't want to like it. But when it was all said and done, Scream, Aim, Fire made my top 10 (top 5 actually). Just to say who the others were All That Remains, Testament, Trivium, and Metallica. That's pretty good company.

So last year, I read an article saying they were going into more of a rock feel for this album, since the last one had more thrash elements to it. I was kind of disappointed, but whatever right? Well, they released their first single/video for their new album Fever, The Last Fight.

I'm not sure I hear too many rock influences, maybe it's the lack of screaming vocals? It sounds pretty good and now they are on my radar.

As I am typing this up, I am listening to a new band Amaranthe. They caught my eye because there was a band called Amaran that was great female fronted thrash (imagine Nevermore with a female singer, not operatic either). So anyway, this is some catchy metal...ironically kind of like Deadlock. I would say they have more power metal influence mixed in with death metal vocals. Deadlock is more melodic death metal with female vocals mixed in. I will definitely be looking for this album.

*UPDATE* ok, so I have listened to the EP (thank you Youtube). It's hard to nail down this band into one genre. As I said, there are melodic death metal influences, some power metal, and some good ole' thrash metal. The 3 vocalists brings back memories of old Into Eternity. I hear some nice vocal harmonies like Into Eternity. Very good. I would still compare them to Deadlock because a normal range female is rare in metal.

Music Non Stop: What The?!?!? moments

So as you can tell as a reader of this blog, I tend to listen to all different genres of metal. There are tons, but I will save that for later. Today I want to talk about those songs that made me say "What the..?!?!?" I listen to metal for a few things; fast drumming, heavy riffs, and of course those awesome mind-blowing guitar solos. But even now and then I am taken aback by some songs I hear from some metal bands.

I think the first "what the ?!?!?" moment came when I was listening to Anthrax. Now, Anthrax was one of the first bands I listened to when I got into metal. Plus they were part of the Big Four of thrash. So imagine my reaction when I heard Bring the Noise with Public Enemy.
Now I had heard Aerosmith and Run D.M.C. before, but this was different. This was a metal band covering a rap song. It was totally brand new for me. Add on the fact that Scott Ian raps in it...unbelievable.

A side note this song. This, in my opinion, is the birth of nu-metal. Bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, P.O.D., and a ton more probably wouldn't have existed without this song.

As shocking as that was, it was still a metal song. You can't deny that by listening to it. Fast forward to the mid 90's. Metal was all but dead thanks to grunge. Metallica toured for years on The Black Album, then took some much needed rest. So when they released Load, expectations were high. Say what you will about The Black Album, sell out, too formulated, whatever. At it's core it was metal, maybe not thrash, but metal. Songs like Enter Sandman, Of Wolf and Man, Through the Never, and more were all fist pumpers. Nothing Else Matters and The Unforgiven slowed it down a bit, but they didn't seem too out of place. So when Load came fans were pissed. Load (and Re-Load) were more hard rock albums than metal. They had some great riffs, but no thrash out moments. But if that wasn't a big enough shock there was this...

Mama Said. Metallica doing a country song. Yep it's true. It's not a bad song, but it's Metallica doing country (note the cowboy hat from James)! As time has gone by, the Loads have become classics to most fans. At the time, they were out of place. Now you can listen to them and be blown away by the layers in the music. The Outlaw Torn, Bleeding Me, Thorn Within, Fixxxer, Low Man's Lyric, and Where the Wild Things Are are all classic songs now.

But Metallica doesn't take the proverbial cake for this thread. That honor belongs to Deadlock. Deadlock is a vegan melodic death metal band, with a female lead singer. Yes all of that is true. So I guess it shouldn't surprise me when I hear a "what the ?!?!?" moment.

It began with their album Wolves. This is classic melodic death metal. When I put in on my top 10 of 2007, I said it was like At The Gates with Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil) on vocals. Let me add there is a male vocalist too, but what makes Deadlock different is that the female doesn't do the operatic vocals. So I am listening to Wolves, really liking what I hear when I run into End Begins. Great song, sounds just as good as the others and then you get to the 2:30 mark

techno? with metal? I think the worst part for me was that I was actually a little disappointed the techno part was over. But the way it blended back into the melodic death metal and solo was amazing. When I play this song in class, it always gets a reaction.

Now the following year Deadlock released Manifesto. It was good, but it didn't grab me the way that Wolves did. I think it was the shock of a few of the songs on the album. It starts off with the techno track The Moribund Choir vs. The Trumpets of Armageddon.

The opening vocals on this song mirror word for word the first words sang on Wolves. Now this video plays the first few seconds of Martyr of Science. I did like how they sort of did the whole techno into metal thing again. What can I say, it works for me.

The first song that really hit me as a "What the ?!?!?" moment was Fire at Will. Now, I mentioned how I like those guitar solos, so imagine how I felt when I heard a saxophone solo. That's right a saxophone solo. I thought I was back in the 80's when that opening note hit my speakers. The thing that was really shocking was that it was played right after a killer guitar solo. It's about the 3:30 mark


You would think that would take home the prize. It doesn't. Deathrace does. Deathrace starts off like a classic death metal song...even down to the drum pattern. So there I am on my treadmill listening to this song for the first time and I get to the 4 minute mark and the song kind of skips. I'm thinking it didn't rip properly when I ripped the album, I wish...

a rap!!! nothing else just rap! Not like Anthrax and Public Enemy where it still had a metal foundation. This was just rap. I literally almost fell off my treadmill when I heard this. Now I give rap this, you can understand what they are saying right away, unlike metal. So if the rap isn't bad enough, they are rapping about animal rights!!! Once again, it shouldn't be that big of a surprise because they are a vegan melodic death metal band!
For your reading pleasure (cursing and all)

Animals can't speak but we can...

Look at the peak of evolution the food chain leader
Looking like the freight that he's chauffeuring to eat up
Ain't that some wack shit rolling to the shambles
Acting as a cab bitch slaying loads of animals
Imagine you all was cannibals and mankind the cattle dude
Locked up in a box small enough to get in rampage mood
I fucking disagree with the price and the fee
That these beings have got to pay so we can feast and fucking eat
I'm one with all fauna the animal persona
Raw and distinctive the beast master warned you all
Keep roughhousing and I will be the karma
For acting too supreme make me have to armour up
Testing chemicals and genocide to foreign species
Acts of our society so sick son believe me
We got to keep it real how the fuck would it feel
Locked all ya life behind rolling bars of steel

This is a story about this man in a slaughter house
Took me on tour and showed me all his whereabouts
And in my lurking doubts
He starts to light a cigarette and starts drinking on a genuisstot
You greenpeace fools we handle your food
And if you like fast food
Here's some examples for you
Livestock cows in dead, destroyed milk they use burger king meat
What they feed to the streets, no time to negotiate
Blood fills their death, when their alive when they breathe they lungs aspirate
You like veil, this will spoil your meal
The baby confined to no light and food and that's real
Respect to Islam for eating no swine
Here's some waist pits we use to feed them there time to time
He expressed no pain for four weeks pain a cut in the juggler-vain
Is something yo, I can't explain

By the way, despite what I said about Deadlock, I am really hoping they put an album this year. They do make some really great music and keep you on your toes while you listen.

So there you go. Some of my "what the ?!?!?" moments. I will probably have more as I listen to more music.

Thoughts Without Words: KIPP schools

I was reading on Coach Brown's blog about the Newsweek article running this week(HERE); Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers.

One thing that jumped out at me during the article, which basically says teachers are to blame for all of the failures of education, was this little blurb

Generally operating outside of school bureaucracies as charter schools, programs like KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) have produced inner-city schools with high graduation rates (85 percent). KIPP schools don't cherry-pick—they take anyone who will sign a contract to play by the rules, which require some parental involvement. And they are not one-shot wonders. There are now 82 KIPP schools in 19 states and the District of Columbia, and, routinely, they far outperform the local public schools. KIPP schools are mercifully free of red tape and bureaucratic rules (their motto is "Work hard. Be nice," which about sums up the classroom requirements). KIPP schools require longer school days and a longer school year, but their greatest advantage is better teaching.

Now it sounds like these KIPP schools are where it is at. They mention the teacher's longer hours and how they outperform local public schools. But read closer and you see this line

KIPP schools don't cherry-pick—they take anyone who will sign a contract to play by the rules, which require some parental involvement.

It's a quick one sentence statement, but notice the "sign a contract"? So I researched to see what is in the contract" Here it is;

TEACHERS' COMMITMENT:

We fully commit to KIPP in the following ways:

• We will arrive at KIPP every day by 7:25 A.M. (Mon. - Fri.)
• We will remain at KIPP until 5:00 P.M. (Mon. - Thurs.)
• We will come to KIPP on appropriate Saturdays at 9:00 A.M. and remain until 1:00 P.M.
• We will teach KIPP during the summer (July 12 - August 30)
• We will always teach in the best way we know how and we will do whatever it takes
• for our students to learn.
• We will always make ourselves available to students, parents, and any concerns they might have.
• We will always protect the safety, interests, and rights of all individuals in the classroom.

Failure to adhere to these commitments can lead to our removal from KIPP.

Nothing too bad from a teacher's point of view. Yes, the "quit" time is new, although most teachers don't leave until 4 or later. Saturdays are new as well, plus the whole available 24/7. BTW, I know of at least one teacher that does this now.

Let's look at the parent's contract (I have bolded my favorite ones);

PARENTS'/GUARDIANS' COMMITMENT:

We fully commit to KIPP in the following ways:

• We will make sure our child arrives at KIPP every day by 7:25 a.m. (Mon. - Fri.)
• We will make arrangements so our child can remain at KIPP until 5:00 p.m. (Mon. - Thurs.)
• We will make arrangements for our child to come to KIPP on appropriate Saturdays at 9:00 A.M. and remain until 1:00 P.M.
• We will ensure that our child attends KIPP summer school (July 12 - August 30).
• We will always help our child in the best way we know how and we will do whatever it takes for him/her to learn. This also means that we will check our child's homework every night, let him/her call the teacher if there is a problem with the homework, try to read with him/her every night, and limit the amount of television they watch.
• We will always make ourselves available to our children, the school, and any concerns they might have.
• This also means that if our child is going to miss school, we will notify the teacher as soon as possible and we will read carefully all the papers that the school sends home to us.
• We will allow our child to go on KIPP field trips.
• We will make sure our child follows the KIPP dress code.
• We understand that our child must follow the KIPP rules so as to protect the safety, interests, and rights of all individuals in the classroom. We, not the school, are responsible for the behavior and actions of our child.

Failure to adhere to these commitments can cause my child to lose various KIPP privileges and can lead to my child's expulsion from KIPP.

A bit more strict. This is what is lacking in public education, parental responsibilities. I think if all parents were held to these levels you would see improvement.

Finally, the student's contract (bolded again);

STUDENT'S COMMITMENT:

I fully commit to KIPP in the following ways:

• I will arrive at KIPP every day by 7:25 A.M. (Mon. - Fri.)
• I will remain at KIPP until 5:00 P.M. (Mon. - Thurs.)
• I will come to KIPP on appropriate Saturdays at 9:00 A.M. and remain until 1:00 P.M.
• I will attend KIPP during summer school (July 12 - August 30).
• I will always work, think, and behave in the best way I know how and I will do whatever it takes for me and my fellow students to learn. This also means that I will complete all my homework every night, I will call my teachers if I have a problem with the homework or a problem with coming to school, and I will raise my hand and ask questions in class if I do not understand something.
• I will always make myself available to parents, teachers, and any concerns they might have.
• I will always behave so as to protect the safety, interests, and rights of all individuals in the classroom.
• This also means that I will always listen to all my KIPP teammates and give everyone my respect.
• I will follow the KIPP dress code.
• I am responsible for my own behavior.

Failure to adhere to these commitments can cause me to lose various KIPP privileges and can lead to my expulsion from KIPP.

Note that all of them have the threat of getting removed from KIPP?

Newsweek is a joke for comparing public schools to this. In fact, it strengthens teachers' arguments that parent involvement is vital to student success.