Tuesday, April 20, 2010

CUSD sets date to return to bargaining table with teachers

In a press release sent out Tuesday afternoon, the Capistrano Unified School District offered “to return to the bargaining table to commence negotiations regarding various items, including, but not limited to, ‘restoration language’ regarding recently imposed reductions.”

The letter sent by the school district to the Capistrano Unified Education Association offered to meet with the teacher’s union as early as April 22.

CUEA members were scheduled to participate in “picket training” on Tuesday.

For all the recent CUSD developments within the past week, please see below:

April 12 – Capo parents keeping children home in support

Sacramento Press / Johnson critics raise concerns about consulting firm, audit

8:58 PM (55 minutes ago)

Johnson critics raise concerns about consulting firm, audit

by Kathleen Haley

Critics of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson are raising concerns over a consulting firm’s ability to conduct an objective audit of the Community Development Department. But City Auditor Jorge Oseguera said Tuesday that Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting Inc. does not have a conflict of interest.
Oseguera will ask the City Council on Thursday to hire Sjoberg to conduct the audit. Some of Johnson’s critics pointed out in comments on The Sacramento Press that Sjoberg has worked with the law group Bell, McAndrews and Hiltachk. That group's managing partner, Thomas Hiltachk, wrote the strong mayor initiative.
Johnson would have obtained more authority from the initiative, which was struck down by Sacramento County Superior Court in January.
In their comments, Johnson critics Marion Millin and Rhonda Erwin urged residents to ask their representatives on the City Council to reject Sjoberg for the auditing job.
“I sent my letter to my council member and I also sent it to additional council members,” wrote community activist Erwin. “I've asked each to read — in full — your comments and how a vote for this firm for the CDD Au

Suspended classes resume at Horizon Charter School | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Education

Suspended classes resume at Horizon Charter School

SACRAMENTO, CA - There was a lot of hugging and cheering at Horizon Charter School when word came that classes would resume at the agency's Sacramento site.

Last week parents learned formal classes were shutting down because of a state law that said classes couldn't be held outside Placer County where Horizon charter schools are headquartered.

"There really was no explanation," said Maria Hummel, a sophomore at the Sacramento site.

In a tension filled meeting administrators tried to explain the need for putting students in a home study learning program. But parents and students weren't buying it.

Hummel said, "All we got was a bunch of I'm sorry, I understand and we were going to try to figure this out, We have somewhat of a plan."

Hummel and a classmate organized a study hall at the south Sacramento site. "I really don't understand my math. Here I have someone who can help me," said Hummel. Things were going smoothly when word came the decision to suspend classes had been reversed.

Leshea Munoz who has two children at the school said the news came in a email on her phone.

Oakland teachers start a blog on strike (and more) | The Education Report

Oakland teachers start a blog on strike (and more)

By Katy Murphy
Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 at 7:14 pm in OEA, OUSD central office, union contract.

From the ongoing Oakland teacher contract dispute have emerged at least two new sources of information about the struggle.

Teachers have started a blog, recently posting a downloadable flier (cropped and posted here) and news about canvassing neighborhoods this weekend. The district administration hasn’t started its own website, but it has created a page to explain its position.

On a side note, I can’t find anyone

Local News | Gates Foundation boosts aid to community colleges | Seattle Times Newspaper

Gates Foundation boosts aid to community colleges

Melinda French Gates encouraged community-college leaders Tuesday to increase the number of students who complete degrees and certificates, and pledged another $57 million to help them strengthen their remedial courses, saying that's the single most important way to raise their graduation rates.

By Linda Shaw

Seattle Times education reporter

"The line between the haves and the have-nots runs right through your institutions," Melinda French Gates said Tuesday.

ERIKA SCHULTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES

"The line between the haves and the have-nots runs right through your institutions," Melinda French Gates said Tuesday.

For years, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle has pushed high schools to work harder to graduate more students.

Now it is prodding community colleges, which educate about half of the nation's college students, to pay more attention to their graduation rates, too.

Melinda French Gates, speaking Tuesday at the American Association of Community Colleges conference in Seattle, said the foundation estimates that only 25 percent of students who enter community college leave with a diploma or certificate.

While acknowledging that number is controversial because many community-college students don't intend to earn a degree, she said there's agreement that the number needs to rise.

And at the conference Tuesday, six national organizations representing nearly 1,200 community colleges signed a commitment to increase student-completion rates to 50 percent over the next decade.

"Community colleges led the way with college access," Gates said. "I really think now is the time to have the conversation about college completion."

Gates said she and her husband, Bill Gates, are often moved by the sacrifices many community-college

Strengthening Title IX – ED.gov Blog

Today, Vice President Biden announced that the Administration has issued a Dear Colleague letter that withdraws a 2005 interpretation of Title IX policy.
Enacted in 1972, Title IX mandates that any educational institution receiving federal funding for programs and activities cannot discriminate on the basis of sex. The 2005 policy issued compliance standards that were widely criticized for being inadequate and inconsistent with Title IX’s nondiscrimination goals. Today’s announcement reverses this interpretation and returns to a more thorough test for assessing compliance with Title IX.
See the press release and the Dear Colleague letter.

Lazear Elementary teacher placed on administrative leave - Inside Bay Area

Lazear Elementary teacher placed on administrative leave

By Katy Murphy
Oakland Tribune

Posted: 04/20/2010 06:02:47 PM PDT

Updated: 04/20/2010 06:02:47 PM PDT

OAKLAND — A third-grade teacher at Lazear Elementary School has been placed on paid administrative leave while the Oakland school district investigates a complaint that he grabbed a student by the collar earlier this month, leaving marks on his neck.

Last Thursday, parents boycotted the East Oakland school, calling for the teacher's removal. They said they had made numerous complaints of unprofessional conduct, beginning in fall of 2008, but that he remained at the school. That day, a parent filed a grievance alleging physical abuse. The teacher was placed on leave Monday afternoon.

"We received new allegations," said Oakland school district spokesman Troy Flint. "Because they concerned safety-related issues, it allowed us to place him on administrative leave immediately."

The teacher is a 20-year veteran of the Oakland school district, and parents said he was reassigned to Lazear in fall

KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia - No End In Sight To Teachers' Strike In North Penn School District

Posted: Tuesday, 20 April 2010 9:07PM

No End in Sight to Teachers' Strike in North Penn School District

by KYW's Peter Jaroff

Negotiators for striking teachers and the North Penn School District met on Tuesday night -- but have not yet reached a settlement of their contract dispute.

Teachers walked out on Monday, canceling classes for 13,000 North Penn students (see previous story).

The school district is calling the latest union proposal "negative" and

Capo Board of Trustee Agrees To Resume Negotiations With Teachers Union

Capo Board Agrees To Negotiate

by MISSIONVIEJODISPATCH.COM on APRIL 20, 2010

Today the attorney for the Capo Board of Trustees wrote to the Union’s executive director, Christine Balentine, agreeing to return to negotiations. Following is the text of the letter:

Dear Ms. Balentine:
This letter is sent in response to your letter dated April 19, 2010.
Pre-conditioning a return to the bargaining table upon the acceptance of a negotiation proposal backed up by a threat of a strike constitutes, among other things, an unfair labor practice.
In any event, as previously indicated, the District is willing and prepared to return to the bargaining table to commence negotiations regarding various items, including but not limited to, “restoration language” regarding the recently

Ohio Education Association to Pay $3.75 Million in Damages to Retired Staffers | Intercepts

Ohio Education Association to Pay $3.75 Million in Damages to Retired Staffers

by Mike Antonucci

Click here to read:
1) Ohio Education Association to Pay $3.75 Million in Damages to Retired Staffers
2) The Burden of Proof
3) Recommended Reading: The Beholden State
4) Last Week’s Intercepts
5) Quote of the Week

Oakland Education Association � STRIKE POSTPONED! BREAKING NEWS -- DISTRICT REFUSES TO BARGAIN!

STRIKE POSTPONED! BREAKING NEWS — DISTRICT REFUSES TO BARGAIN!

On Friday, April 16, days after OEA sent a letter requesting to resume bargaining based on the newly-released fact-finding report, the District informed us that they do not intend to return to the table to bargain, and that they want us to accept their last, best, final offer! As you recall, that contained nothing — no compensation, the promise of increased class sizes, no minimum number of Adult Ed employees, etc. This is unacceptable!
As voted at Rep Council on Monday, April 12, the one-day strike set for April 22 was postponed until April 29 to insure that we are "strike legal," allow us time to study the fact-finding report (received April 14), and to go back to the bargaining table in an attempt to reach a fair settlement of our long-standing contract dispute. Remember: the fact-finding report is non-binding and advisory, and any favorable recommendations contained in the report would have to be bargained in order to be part of a tentative agreement. But it appears the District is unwilling to pursue a fair settlement, giving us no choice but to strike.
Download the following reports/letters/flyers and get them to your colleagues:
Fact-finding report
Letter to be distributed to parents and community members about why we are striking April 29th. It will be available in multiple languages next week.
Informational flyer about a special informational meeting for all OEA members on Thursday, April 22 at 4:00pm at Oakland High School, 1023 MacArthur Blvd. to discuss the fact-finding report and prepare for April 29th.
Strike flyer to distribute to parents and the community highlighting our demands for a fair contract! Available in multiple languages at April 22 meeting.
ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE!!!

If you're reading this, you probably know that OUSD and its primary teacher union are in the midst of very difficult negotiations and that the threat of a strike is looming. A number of issues at the state, federal, municipal, and district levels have created a challenging environment for collective bargaining. As a result, OUSD has not been able to reach an agreement with the Oakland Education Association (OEA).

The purpose of this section is to encourage understanding of the financial pressures that shape contract negotiations. It's a multifaceted problem, but the essence is this:

We believe Oakland teachers deserve more money and we'd like to pay them more—in fact, we're already working on creative ways to make this happen. Yet, right now, we can't increase compensation without jeopardizing the District's financial stability.

In an era when Districts all across California are laying off teachers, increasing class sizes, implementing furloughs, slashing programs, cutting pay, and shortening the length of the school year, OUSD is keeping teacher pay level while covering the increased cost of benefits. A status quo contract like OUSD has offered its teachers union makes it one of the few large districts in California to not take money back from its teachers in one form or another.

This is not the way things should be, but it is the reality presented by California's economic crisis and cuts to education funding that are unprecedented in scope. Recognizing this, OUSD's other unions have all agreed, either in principle or in total, to status quo contracts that extend current salary levels while covering increased benefits costs. We hope that we can come to similar terms with OEA at this time, while working to secure greater compensation in the future.

It's true that OUSD teachers are underpaid compared to their peers in neighboring districts and this disparity must be addressed, but it also must be addressed in a responsible way. Fresh out of state control, we must live within our means if we wish to avoid a return to insolvency and state administration. We are stretching ourselves thin just to maintain current teacher salaries and there is simply no money in the budget to increase them. That's why we are looking at other ways to fund higher teacher salaries that don't sap our depleted general fund even further. Take a look at how other school districts throughout the state are handling the budget crisis by clicking here.

These web pages provide parents, community members, and employees with the latest information on negotiations with OEA. They also contain information for parents that should prove useful in the event of a strike, background on the District's financial status and perspective on California's economic woes. As developments warrant, we will update this page to keep pace with changing events.

For more information, please contact Troy Flint at troy.flint@ousd.k12.ca.us or (510) 473-5832.

Remainders: Reports from inside a classroom full of test prep | GothamSchools

Remainders: Reports from inside a classroom full of test prep

by Maura Walz

The USDOE is rescinding a 2005 rule on Title IX, but the change is largely symbolic.
More than 2,000 schools, districts and non-profits are planning to apply for federal innovation grants.
A pro-charter group continues its advertising blitz with an upstate radio ad campaign.
John Merrow fondly remembers a star principal who was slain in D.C. this week.
A teacher refuses to use the words “test prep” with his students, but says that’s all he’s doing anyway.
Corey Bunje Bower has mixed feelings on New York’s new teacher certification plans.
A forthcoming report on education schools in Texas is drawing controversy even before its release.
InsideSchools takes a look at the benefits of a “gap year” between high school and college.
An Education Sector blogger dives into the ruthlessly competitive world of bulletin board decorating.
And what can Joel Klein learn from the NFL draft? A blogger has a list of lessons.

Silverton speech students go solo to reach state finals | OregonLive.com

Silverton speech students go solo to reach state finals

By Wendy Owen, The Oregonian

April 20, 2010, 4:45PM

Jamie Francis / The OregonianSilverton High School speech students Jasmine Kim and Gavin Knox, both juniors, practice a duo called Calvin and Hobbes. Both students are headed to the state speech and debate championships. While Kim is competing in Lincoln-Douglas debate and Knox in humorous interpretation, the students qualified for a separate national competition with their duo performance.As teacher Matt Ogle sat with his daughter at Doernbecher Children's Hospital this fall, his Silverton High School speech and debate team did what they thought would help him most -- they practiced their speeches.

Team captains took charge and helped their new teammates, many of whom had never given a speech until this school year. Ogle had been in the midst of teaching them the basics when he had to rush his daughter to Portland.

"The only real help that we could have given was to maintain our work without him having to worry about us." said Gavin Knox, a junior.

With a substitute teacher monitoring, the students practiced and judged each other, giving pointers about voice inflection, tone, body positioning and, in some cases, fine-tuning the speech itself.

OSAA Speech Championships

What: Top high school speakers from district tournaments across Oregon will competeat the state level.

Who: There will be 489 students, representing 66 high schools. Slightly more than last year.

Where: Western Oregon University in Monmouth

When: Starts Thursday with debate at 8:30 a.m.. Individual speeches begin Friday at 8 a.m. with semi-finals and finals for all events on Saturday starting at 8 a.m.

What's next: The winners in each school division are the state champions.

Source: Oregon School Activities Association

The team has won the state 5A division two years in a row, but the students don't expect a third championship this year. It's a rebuilding year, they said.

Still, 15 students qualified for the state tournament, which begins Thursday atWestern Oregon University in Monmouth.

The Silverton team will compete in multiple categories: Lincoln-Douglas debate, public forum debate, humorous interpretation, after dinner speaking, expository, radio commentary, dramatic interpretation, prose reading and student congress.

The school year got off to a rough start for Ogle. He learned in August that he would have a single speech and debate class rather than two, forcing him to cut more than a dozen of the 50 kids who signed up for the class.

Then, in November, his 5-year-old daughter caught the H1N1 virus. It started with a cough and fever and turned into pneumonia and a collapsed lung.

"It was frightening," Ogle said. Even the doctors didn't know if Laura would be OK. The girl's lung wasn't re-expanding as expected.

For 18 days, Ogle and his wife, Ginger, sat with their daughter, a tube in her chest, in an isolation unit at Doernbecher.

"When I was up there with my daughter, I just trusted that things were OK (at school)," Ogle said.

When he called, the substitute told him, "The kids are practicing. The (student) coaches are herding them and making sure they're doing what they need

Student Activism Duke Student Govt Rejects Bias Claim by Ousted College Republican President

Student Activism

Duke Student Govt Rejects Bias Claim by Ousted College Republican President

by Angus Johnston

The recently-dismissed president of the Duke chapter of the College Republicans made national news yesterday when he claimed that his ouster was the result of fellow Duke Republicans learning that he is gay.
Justin Robinette was impeached last Wednesday, just three weeks after he was re-elected as the group’s president, and just days after several members of the group learned of his sexual orientation. He says that members of the group called him “disgusting” and a “faggot,” and that their anti-gay bias led to his dismissal.
Last night the Duke student government’s judiciary took up the case, and this morning, after a ten-hour meeting in which they heard testimony from nearly two dozen people, they rejected his claims in a three-to-one vote.
In its ruling, the committee’s majority found that the College Republicans impeached Robinette because of

Board of Regents Approves Alternative Teaching Master’s Programs - NYTimes.com

Alternative Teaching Master’s Programs Approved

By LISA W. FODERARO

Published: April 20, 2010

RelatedThe New York State Board of Regents voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a pilot program that would allow educational groups like Teach for America to create their own master’s degree programs, a role long reserved for education schools.

Alternate Path for Teachers Gains Ground (April 19, 2010)

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The Regents move reflects the difficulty of placing teachers in low-income communities, as well as a growing recognition of the effectiveness of alternative paths to teaching. In the federal education grant program called Race to the Top, points are given to states that provide “high-quality pathways for aspiring teachers and principals” including “allowing alternative routes to certification.”

Currently, programs like Teach for America, which recruits heavily among recent college graduates, and New York City Teaching Fellows, which attracts young professionals seeking to change careers, must partner with education schools. Participants begin teaching almost immediately, pursing a master’s degree in their free time at education schools.

In New York, a teacher must earn a master’s degree within five years. Under the pilot, the Regents will invite organizations like Teach for America to create their own master’s degree programs. The programs would need to have a strong emphasis on practical teaching skills, a nod to criticisms that traditional education schools spend too much time

Edumacation Archive Supposed Education Reformers Don’t Do Irony

Edumacation Archive

Supposed Education Reformers Don’t Do Irony

Posted April 20, 2010 by thatsrightnate
Categories: education reform
Tags: ALEC, education reform, Florida, Irony, New York, RTTT, SB6, Thomas Carroll, West Virginia

Following the #RTTT channel on Twitter, I’ve noticed that the neo-liberal education reformers who post on there seem terribly deficient in their ability to notice irony. Maybe that’s why so many people who seem intent on destroying the public education system as we know it and exacerbating the differences between the haves and have nots always have happy fuzzy bunny names like Education Equality Now or something. If you want to understand neo-liberal education reform, you have to follow the money and that means following it into dark alleys. There’s a reason that Goldman-Sachs has been so active in promoting this garbage. There’s a great deal of money at stake here if you know where to look.

New York: Some supporters of New York Charter schools have been fuming at the thought of an open discussion about charter schools. Instead they want to blindly raise the charter cap. In the New York Post today Thomas Carroll cried union conspiracy. I can’t help wondering if it’s his own misdeeds that have him scared. The main villain in this drama is State Senator Bill Perkins who has called for a public hearing. In the hearing notice he says, “The purpose of this hearing is to examine the business of charter schools by reviewing their development as a privatized solution to public education. Towards this end, we will hea

Opinion: Henton: We knew how to invest in education 50 years ago - San Jose Mercury News

Opinion: Henton: We knew how to invest in education 50 years ago

By Doug Henton

Special to the Mercury News

Posted: 04/19/2010 08:00:00 PM PDT

Updated: 04/20/2010 11:00:42 AM PDT

The front-page stories in the April 18 Mercury News on record profits for Silicon Valley companies and the crisis in California higher education suggest that it is time to explore the historic relationship between investment in higher education and our region's leadership in innovation — and what is now at risk.

As a graduate student at UC Berkeley, I had the opportunity to meet Clark Kerr, the former president of the University of California and architect of the Master Plan for Higher Education. Later, I conducted an in-depth interview with Kerr for a chapter on the California economy for a book on the states' role in economic development.

I learned that Kerr was a noted economist who understood the importance of preparing the next generation of knowledge workers and promoting world-class research to generate long-term economic benefits for the California economy.

In fact, that is how he sold the Master Plan to the California Legislature in 1960: California needed to invest in a public university system that delivered both research excellence and access to all.

In his 1963 Godkin Lectures at Harvard, titled "The Uses of the University," Kerr outlined his vision of the how the modern university can make major contributions to the economy through both education and research working