Friday, March 25, 2011

An Education Reform Summit DFEP Democrats for Education Privatization #iunion #wisolidarity #notmywi #union #wiunion #wi

An Education Reform Summit

DFEP Democrats for Education Privatization

You are Invited

To Attend

An Education Reform Summit

Speakers: Democrats for Education Reform-California State Director Senator Gloria Romero (ret.), State Senator Bob Huff (Host), Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy, Citrus College President Dr. Geraldine Perri and Riverside Unified School District Superintendent Dr. Rick Miller.

Come and listen to a roundtable discussion on the issue of education reform in California.

KOCH BREAK News | www.kochwatch.org

News | www.kochwatch.org

New Jersey Newsroom: Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen Sweeney see end to local police departments *March 24, 2011-* Officials of the heavily Democratic region of Camden County heard a proposal behind closed doors by Gov. Chris Christie and Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney on Wednesday about regionalizing public safety services. Sweeney, a ...

Lewiston Sun-Journal: LePage orders removal of labor mural, sparking outcry *March 23, 2011-* Gov. Paul LePage has ordered the removal of a 36-foot mural depicting Maine's labor history from the lobby of the Department of Labor. Worker advocates described the move as a "mean-spirited" provocation amid the administration's ...

Thom Hartmann: Do random drug tests benefit Gov. Rick Scott? WATCH ON YOUTUBE:

“What if the loser were right?” « Failing Schools

“What if the loser were right?”

MARCH 25, 2011

by Sabrina

Los Angeles History teacher Charles Olynyk shares a teachable moment, about wars, winners, losers, and how we preserve history.

As the saying goes, “Until the lions have their own historians, the hunter will always be valorized.”

—
“Twisted Logic” (Originally posted at Remember Fremont)
Today is Friday, March 25, 2011 and Day 74 of Year Two. At least no one tried to run me off the road this morning. The rain is pouring down, Starbucks is currently playing “In the Groove” and I’m trying to get ready for my last day of notes on Imperialism. Then I see something like this in

Remainders: Rhee’s Kryptonite and other official narratives | GothamSchools

Remainders: Rhee’s Kryptonite and other official narratives

by Elizabeth Green

On a new mag cover, Michelle Rhee is superwoman and Randi bears Kryptonite. (Reason)
An Aspen Institute study shows why D.C.’s teacher evaluations don’t cut it. (Thompson)
Managing the challenge of serving a community you aren’t from. (GS Community)
New Jersey unions are forming an advocacy group to fight Chris Christie. (AP)
The Newark teachers union president, meanwhile, takes a fighting stance. (NJ Spotlight)
Video caught a Bronx mother training her 11-year-old to pickpocket. (NY Mag)
The head of the College Board, Gaston Caperton, is stepping down. (NYT The Choice)
The P.S. 22 chorus pays tribute to a fan: Susanna Hoffs, late of The Bangles. (PS 22)
How to get involved in the fight against PCB’s in school buildings. (Insideschools)

Education Roundup for 3-25-11 - Year 2011 (CA Dept of Education)

Education Roundup for the Week Ending March 25, 2011

SACRAMENTO—The California Department of Education (CDE) today issues this week's Education Roundup featuring education-related announcements of public interest.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Funding

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson released the following statement regarding the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that California will receive more than $10.8 million next school year, to provide grants for elementary schools to offer fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to students:

"Studies show when children eat balanced diets, are physically active, avoid dangerous behavior, and are surrounded by people who care about them, they then will perform better academically. Eating fresh fruits and vegetables are part of that equation for succeeding in school. This additional funding will help promote a healthy lifestyle that goes hand in hand with my Team California for Healthy Kids campaign to help students adopt the good habits that will help them succeed in the classroom today, and help them stay healthy over a lifetime.

"Also, this federal program goes a long way in helping support our state’s economy by purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers. California produces more than half the nation’s fresh fruits and is the leading producer of fresh vegetables. Therefore, this program benefits public health, school nutrition, and California’s agriculture. I am very grateful to the Obama Administration and the USDA for providing us this funding at a time when schools are facing massive budget cuts."

For more information on the USDA's Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, please visit USDA Expands Access to Fresh Fruits and Vegetables for Schools Across the Nation (Outside Source).

New Web Resource on School Financial Emergency

The California Department of Education has created a "School Financial Emergency" Web page to help keep the public up to date on the dire fiscal situation facing the state’s public school system.

The public may get the latest information on educator layoff notices, budget cuts, and the state of financial emergency declared by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson.

For more information, please visit School Financial Emergency - Hot Topics.

# # # #

Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Dressed in black, parents and teachers protest budget cuts | GothamSchools

Dressed in black, parents and teachers protest budget cuts

by Anna Phillips

Calling their protest “Fight Back Friday,” teachers and parents at a handful of schools wore all black today in opposition to Mayor Bloomberg’s teacher layoff threats.

The protest was organized by members of the Grassroots Education Movement and the New York Collective of Radical Educators — two teacher groups that have opposed Bloomberg’s layoff plans and his push remove seniority as a factor in layoffs. A smaller group of parents and teachers gathered on the steps of the Departm

Michigan: The Shock Doctrine | Dailycensored.com

Michigan: The Shock Doctrine

Written by Danny WeilEducationMar 25, 2011

0digg

Michigan Schools facing bankruptcy: The Shock Doctrine at play

More than 150 school districts and charter schools in Michigan are teetering on the edge of going broke, a situation that is likely to get worse under Governor Rick Snyder’s proposed budget cuts of $470 per pupil.

These are the districts that have been so starved of public funds that Snyder’s cuts would put them in a deficit, which is the capitalist plan. They would then join the 43 districts and charters already going bust.

It’s a situation that has mobilized school leaders. They are now testifying in Lansing, writing lawmakers and sending letters to parents. They say that after years of closing schools, laying off staff and slashing programs, there’s little left to cut. Of course they are right. The schools have been starved of funds for decades precisely to lie in wait for the day that the entire system could be collapsed.

The proposed cuts would be “a final blow so

The Soundtrack of my Life | Lefty Parent

The Soundtrack of my Life

by Cooper Zale

My life has been lived to a soundtrack. Growing up in an age of ubiquitous car radios, restaurant juke boxes, record players and later stereos, it seems like the popular songs of the day were always playing in the background, over and over. Music affects us emotionally and can evoke strong feelings of all sorts in the listener. In my case it also became a sort of storage mechanism for a lot of those strong feelings.

Forty years later I can hear a pretty mundane pop song like Tommy Rowe’s “Dizzy”, which I heard constantly

The Best Resources For Learning About The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Larry Ferlazzo

The Best Resources For Learning About The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

Filed under best of the year, social studies

Today is the 100th anniversary of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Here’s an excerpt from a CNN piece that explains it well:

Friday marks the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Co. fire, a blaze at a sweatshop in New York that shocked the nation and became a defining moment in the history of the American work force. Its death toll would reach 146 — mostly young Italian and Jewish immigrants struggling to earn a living making blouses in a garment factory in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village.

Shock and outrage from all strata of society quickly brought demands for better working conditions. New York state enacted nearly 40 labor laws in the following three years. Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, improving workers’ rights across the country.

Here are my choices for The Best Resources For Learning About The

What the World Looked Like Without Unions « Outside the Cave #wiunion #1u #wearewi

What the World Looked Like Without Unions « Outside the Cave

What the World Looked Like Without Unions

by Stephen Lazar

The first four images are from exactly 100 years ago right now, about 2 miles from where I now live. If you think unions, and the teachers union in particular, don’t matter for safe working and learning conditions, read thisEDUSolidarity post from Leo Casey. Read more about remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Schools Matter: A Bit 'o Background on Stand for Children's Lobbyist in Texas...

A Bit 'o Background on Stand for Children's Lobbyist in Texas...

by Kenneth Libby

Question: What do you do after working on Dubya/Cheney's Presidential campaign, helping orchestrate a number of Republican victories, and buying Karl Rove's consulting firm?
Answer: Work as a lobbyist for Stand for Children-Texas!
No, this isn't a joke - it's entirely true...
From the Delisi Communications website (click on Ted Delisi):

When Karl Rove moved full-time to the Bush Presidential campaign in 1999, Ted purchased Rove’s consulting and direct mail company. The new company served as the sole direct mail fundraising firm for the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2000 and coordinated the get out the vote and direct mail efforts in several key battleground states.

And from the Texas Ethics Commission website:

Guest Blogger: Magnet Mom, on LAUSD’s Cuts and Layoffs, and How a Los Angeles-Area Magnet School Will Cope

by CYNTHIA on MARCH 25, 2011

Magnet schools are the shining stars in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)–a district so large it dwarfs many small towns and as the second-largest school district in the nation after New York City’s, is intimidating in its size and bureaucracy. Parents go to great lengths to figure out a complicated and byzantine system that often has families applying strategically to schools that are not their first choice so they can accumulate points to send their children to a desired magnet. This is one Los

Summit Debrief and CETF Communication with Denver « Failing Schools

Summit Debrief and CETF Communication with Denver

MARCH 22, 2011

by markfriedman1

Summit Participants

March 11th and 12th proved to be a powerful weekend recently. After having built up for months, the Parent and Community Coalition for Educational Change (PCCFEC) held a Communitywide Educational Summit in Rochester, New York (The Community Education Task Force-CETF-is one organization in this Coalition). Hundreds of parents, students, teachers, organizers, and community members turned out to participate in planning for much needed

This Week In Education: Turnarounds: Day One At The "New" Locke High School

Turnarounds: Day One At The "New" Locke High School

by Alexander Russo

"As the 8:00 a.m. starting time approached, a stream of nearly 2,500 black and Latino students flowed toward Locke High School from every direction. Off the bus, out of parents' cars, or (mostly) on foot, the throng passed the school's electric marquee and a couple of squad cars and TV news trucks before finally reaching the front gate.

"Not all of the arriving students were allowed to pass inside, however. Several stood in little clusters off to both sides of the gate unbuckling their belts and shoving the tails of their polo shirts down into khaki pants. Once inside, the teens tugged their shirts and rearranged their belongings like airline travelers after going through security.

"Monitoring them was rookie assistant Zeus Cubias, the 34-year-old former Locke math teacher who had been tapped to help oversee the returning

Thompson: Aspen Institute Documents Flaws of Teacher Evaluation System

by john thompson

The Aspen Institute study of Washington D.C.'s controversial IMPACT evaluation system provides more evidence that it was not ready to be more than a pilot study. IMPACT only produced "a modest correlation" between the evaluators' judgments and value-added test score growth. In addition, IMPACT imposed this intense stress and conflict on all educators in order

Group claims mural removal illegal | State

STATE

Group claims mural removal illegal

By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer

Published Mar 25, 2011 11:54 am | Last updated Mar 25, 2011 11:44 am

AUGUSTA — An attorney for the Maine Peoples Voting Coalition is claiming that Gov. Paul LePage is not authorized to remove the 36-foot mural at the Department of Labor.

The group issued a release this morning claiming that a petition could be filed with the State Museum Commission to stop LePage from moving the mural.

The administration plans to move the mural because LePage believes its depiction of Maine's labor history is too one-sided toward organized labor.

According to the MPVC's Jon Beal, a Portland attorney, the governor doesn't have the authority to remove the mural without approval from the Museum Commission, the artwork's current owner.

Beal cites a section of state law that says, "The Maine State Museum holds title, as trustee for the state, to all historical materials, other than documents or other library or archival items under the administrative jurisdiction of the Maine State Library or the Maine State Archives,

An image lives on as a movement grows. « Fred Klonsky's blog

An image lives on as a movement grows.

by Fred Klonsky

Back in November of 2008 I noted the passing of Frank Cieciorka. Frank was an activist for civil rights. He was a member of the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in the South. And he designed this version