Feinberg in FL admitting mistakes in Gulf payouts. Too busy with plan to expedite teacher firings...

[madfloridian]

to tend to the deadly serious business of his job as oil spill claims administrator.

Well, he did not say that, I did. I am only partly joking.

He was at the same time working for AFT union head Randi Weingarten to work up a way to fire tenured teachers more quickly and efficiently. His report appears to have just been released. Now he can find time to work on the oil spill claims. Yes, a lot of bitterness in my tone...sorry about that.

In case you are interested in the report on firing tenured teachers more effectively, you can read about it here at Education Week.

The process for removing tenured teachers accused of crimes or malfeasance should be expedited, taking no longer than 100 days from start to finish, concludes a memorandumRequires Adobe Acrobat Reader commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers.

Prepared by Kenneth R. Feinberg, a lawyer well known for overseeing aspects of damage payments for the 2010 BP oil spill, the proposal calls for a better screening mechanism at the district level to weed out allegations without merit. Impartial hearing examiners would hear legitimate cases and issue a binding ruling.

Also just to be clear, he was hired by the union because people kept claiming how hard it was to get rid of bad teachers...which is a lie.

Weingarten hires Ken Feinberg to help overhaul the teacher evaluation system.

Facing criticism that her union makes it too hard to get rid of bad teachers, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, on Tuesday announced a union-backed effort to develop a new model for how public school teachers should be evaluated, promoted and removed.

The effort will be run by Kenneth R. Feinberg, the federal government’s special master for executive compensation.

In a speech at the National Press Club, Ms. Weingarten sought to present a more flexible, cooperative face for her union as she announced Mr. Feinberg’s new role and called for sweeping changes in how school districts evaluate teachers and work with teachers’ unions.

Well, anyway, after there has been so much anger about the unfair compensation going on about the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico...Feinberg returns.

Feinberg acknowledges ‘mistakes,’ says fund will ‘take another look’ at denied oil spill claims

Oil spill claims administrator Kenneth Feinberg told a room full of representatives of Florida’s tourism industry that the Gulf Coast Claims Facility would “take another look” at denied claims when claimants file for final or quarterly “interim” payments. Speaking at a Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association meeting in Tampa, Feinberg said some claimants have been reporting inconsistencies — that their neighbors and co-wokers got paid, but they didn’t, or that they got less than they felt they deserved.

“We’ve made some mistakes,” he said, and the facility will “take another look” at those issues when those claimants seek final and interim payments.

Feinberg stopped short of offering a formal appeals process, which some Florida officials, including former Attorney General Bill McCollum and outgoing Department of Children and Families Secretary George Sheldon, had been calling for. Right now, only claimants receiving more than $250,000 can appeal the fund’s decisions.

Feinberg said it has taken him longer than expected to get a handle on the long-term outlook for the Gulf Coast, but that the claims fund he oversees will begin making quarterly “interim” and final payments in February.

Taken him longer than expected? The Gulf of Mexico and the people who made their living from it deserve better than being told that it has taken longer than expected.