District making progress in contract financing
School officials have promised to provide "new numbers" to satisfy CFO.
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Posted at 6:30 AM ET, 04/30/2010
It's senior prank season
Senior prank season is upon us and already some kids are in big trouble.
Posted by Valerie Strauss | Permalink | Comments (0)RECENT POSTS
Posted at 5:30 AM ET, 04/30/2010
Sorting out boys' school problems
Everyone should read "Why Boys Fail." I don't know of a clearer or more balanced examination of this issue. Whitmire is passionate about the need to help boys, but he respectfully presents other points of view, including those of the pro-girl optimists like me. In fact, one of the book's most impressive features is its exposure of the harm done by pro-girl vs. pro-boy polemics.
Posted by Jay Mathews | Permalink | Comments (2)RECENT POSTS
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Election flap pits Saunders against Parker, AFT
While the Fenty administration searches for a way to finance the proposed teachers' contract, the troubled pact has also spawned a dispute within the WTU leadership over its elections.
The contest, usually held May, has yet to be scheduled. General vice president Nathan Saunders, who is challenging union president George Parker, says Parker and AFT president Randi Weingarten don't want teachers filling out ballots until they ratify the contract and have the pact's fat five-year, 20 percent raise in their pockets. The assumption is that it will make them more favorably disposed to returning Parker to office.
"Without a doubt," said Saunders. "They're stalling."
The dispute involves the union elections committee, the internal panel that runs certain aspects of the contest. It's supposed to have 15 members but currently has only four. Delegate slots to the national AFT convention have also gone wanting, with only 17 of 44 actually filled. As it happens, one of the spots on the elections committee is held by Saunders' wife. And as it also happens, one of Saunders' official duties as vice president is to convene the election committee, which he says he intends to do on Friday.
But in a letter to WTU members Thursday, Weingarten said it will be "necessary to reopen nominations to allow you to exercise your constitutional right to elect representatives" to elections committee and the convention. It's not clear from Weingarten's letter how long this might take.
Weingarten also writes that at Parker's and Saunders's request, "the AFT will provide assistance of very narrow scope, pursuant to our
Ed Buzz: The Nation
- Boston-area Catholic schools welcome Haitian refugees (Associated Press)
- Panel finds no preference in teacher-prep paths (Education Week)
- Cyber high re-engages dropouts, at-risk students (Education Week)
- 56,000 images taken by Web cams on Penn. student laptops (USA Today)
- Rule change takes aim at loophole in Title IX (New York Times)
- Illinois school fighting cyber-bullying(Chicago Tribune)
- Boston teachers asked to work more hours for same pay (Boston Globe)
- Advocates weigh Obama's commitment to early ed. (Education Week)
- Bilingual ed., immersion work equally well (Education Week)
- Schools tackle teacher-on-teacher bullying (USA Today)
Ed Buzz: The Region
- Cuccinelli backs Patrick Henry funding deal (Richmond Times Dispatch)
- Frederick Community College ups tuition (The Gazette)
- Va. phasing out test for special needs students (Examiner)
- Md. falling behind on ed. reforms(Baltimore Sun)
- Va. gets $59.8 million to overhaul struggling schools (Washington Times)
- Are school lunches a threat to national security? (WUSA)
- MoCo school investigates cyber-bully threats (WUSA)
- P.W. dad wins FOIA fight with school board (Potomac News)