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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

NYC Public School Parents: We're not giving up on our kids' future!

NYC Public School Parents: We're not giving up on our kids' future!

We're not giving up on our kids' future!

1. Many important rallies and protests are happening starting tomorrow afternoon; please come and make your voice heard:
· Thursday, June 9, at 12:00 noon at City Hall: an emergency rally with advocates and parents to demand that arts education be properly funded. For more information emaildoug@caenyc.org
· Thursday, June 9, 6-9 pm, in Lower Manhattan: emergency meeting re the budget cuts: YMCA/University Settlement, 273 Bowery (@ SE Corner of Houston St.) Contact:LESAgainstTheCuts@gmail.com
· Friday, June 10 at 4 pm at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn: Rally featuring CMs Lander, Levin, James, parents and kids, followed by march up Prospect Park West to the bandshell entrance. Contact athompson@council.nyc.gov or janinesopp@gmail.com for more information.
· Saturday, June 11, 2-4 pm, Brooklyn: emergency meeting re the budget cuts at Bedford Library, 496 Franklin Avenue. Contact: nocutsny@gmail.com
· Tuesday, June 14 at 4:30 at City Hall: Rally against budget cuts a endorsed by DC 37, UFT, TWU 100 and more; followed by Bloombergville: Sleep Out, Speak Up and Fight Back against Budget Cuts at Centre Street between Chambers St. and Spruce St. (east side of City Hall) after rally. For more information, email bloombergville@gmail.com or check out onmay12.org andfacebook.com/BeyondMay12
· Tuesday, June 14, 7-9 pm on Staten Island: Bernikow/Mid-Island JCC, 1466 Manor Road
Sponsored by Staten Islanders for Real Budget Solutions & Against Budget Cuts, contact:nobudgetcutssi@gmail.com

OUSD budget trends and another central reorg | The Education Report

OUSD budget trends and another central reorg | The Education Report

OUSD budget trends and another central reorg

By Katy Murphy
Wednesday, June 8th, 2011 at 4:42 pm in OUSD central office, School board news,budget.

The first reading of the Oakland school district’s 2011-12 budget proposal happens at tonight’s 5 p.m. board meeting (Catch it live here). So I did some number crunching, building on an analysis from earlier in the year that compared 2009-10 spending and 2010-11* budget estimates.

You’ll find the combined totals toward the bottom of the spreadsheet, with the changes over time highlighted in blue. If you notice any errors, please let me know so I can fix them.

*Note: The district’s estimates for 2010-11 have changed since the February budget presentation. I’ve included both sets of numbers for the current fiscal year.

OUSD budget trends

You might have noticed that the budget for professional development and curriculum would be half the size that it is this year. It can’t be a coincidence that the district is overhauling its Leadership, Curriculum and Instruction department —

NYC Public School Parents: The mayor's unconscionable cuts and where the money could be found

NYC Public School Parents: The mayor's unconscionable cuts and where the money could be found

The mayor's unconscionable cuts and where the money could be found

Check our NYC Council testimony about the unconscionable budget cuts that the mayor has proposed that would led to the elimination of 6,000 teaching positions and the sharpest increases in class size in over thirty years.

Also see our proposals below where more than $1 billion in funds could be found to prevent these devastating cuts, assembled from suggestions from the Independent Budget Office, the City Council, parents and other advocacy groups, as well as my own. Here they are as a handy pdf.

Options for reducing DoE’s budget without touching the classroom

· $23 million: cancel (or do not renew) contracts w/ McGraw Hill and Scantron for Acuity, or interim assessments. These contracts end in Aug. 2011 and most parents, teachers and even principals think they are worthless.
· $4 million: cut contracts with TFA and New Teacher Project and instead retrain current teachers for

PAA in the news: questions about charter schools & Broad Foundation « Parents Across America

PAA in the news: questions about charter schools & Broad Foundation « Parents Across America

PAA in the news: questions about charter schools & Broad Foundation

Two major stories today feature the work of Parents Across America and, in particular, one of our brilliant Oakland members, Sharon Higgins. Sharon writes and researches three blogs, The Perimeter Primate, Charter School Scandals, and The Broad Report. Sharon provides cutting edge information and exposes scandals in the corporate education reform movement including charter schools [...]

The Perimeter Primate, Charter School Scandals, and The Broad Report

Critics target growing army of Broad Academy leadersCATALYST CHICAGO :: News

CATALYST CHICAGO :: News
Ed Week: Critics target growing army of Broad Academy leadersThe nation’s three biggest districts have Broad-trained executives in top leadership positions.

Billionaire businessman Eli Broad, one of the country’s most active philanthropists, founded the Broad Superintendents Academy in 2002 with an extraordinarily optimistic goal: Find leaders from both inside and outside education, train them, and have them occupying the superintendencies in a third of the 75 largest school districts—all in just two years.

Now hosting its 10th class, the Los Angeles-based program hasn’t quite reached that goal, but it’s close. The nation’s three biggest districts have Broad-trained executives in top leadership positions: Shael Polakow-Suransky, the chief academic officer in New York City; John E. Deasy, the superintendent of Los Angeles Unified; and Jean-Claude Brizard, who became the chief executive officer of the Chicago schools last month.

In all, 21 of the nation’s 75 largest districts now have superintendents or other highly

An Urban Teacher's Education: Goodbye Reflective Educator

An Urban Teacher's Education: Goodbye Reflective Educator

Goodbye Reflective Educator

I think it's time. I've quasi worn the pseudonym on this blog for over two years, and its utility seems to have run its course. As much as I cherish The Reflective Educator as an identity, it's become something of a barrier in advancing my purpose.

I can't just leave it at that, though. There's a story to be told, a discussion to be had. What's the purpose of pseudonymous blogging for teachers, and what are the consequences? What are the dilemmas associated with speaking out as a public educator, and what do they say about our system at large? If you'd indulge me, I'd like to puzzle this out.

Inspired by a colleague, I began this blog as an outlet for my thoughts and, occasionally, a means of documenting my experiences as a public school teacher. Attaching my name and face seemed a bad idea initially. I didn't want to draw attention to myself or my school, and I wanted the opportunity to blog as openly and honestly as possible about my thoughts and experiences. I thought a pseudonym was appropriate.

I think the pseudonym served me well until a little over a year ago. That's when I began developing strong negative opinions about the school I was working at in DC and the course of public education. The school's administration discovered the blog and branded me an ineffective teacher my last day on the job after two overwhelmingly positive reviews. It became clear that many in the DCPS central office were aware of my identity,

Big Education Ape: 5-8-11 PM Jack Booted Bill Collectors at the US ED? Can You Speak Canadian? Edition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now

Published by Coopmike48 – 7 contributors today

Define “insulting” « Failing Schools

failingschools.wordpress.com - Was this an excerpt from The Onion or did Arne Duncan really say “Diane Ravitch is in denial and she is insulting all of the hardworking teachers, principals and students all across the country who...

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coopmike48 #EDU Tectonic shift as Campaign for Fiscal Equity exits New York | GothamSchools: Tectonic shift as Campaign for... http://bit.ly/jydHNK51 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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Xenophobia Behind NYT Charter Schools Story?

scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - June 8, 2011 | Posted At: 12:09 PM | Author: Alexander Russo | Category: Media Watch Substitute "Canadian" for "Turkish" and "Christian" for "Islam" and.... no one would care. -- An email response ...

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Companies Must Push Harder To Reform Schools, Report Says

huffingtonpost.com - America's business leaders say they want to fix education, but they don't know how to do so effectively.As a result, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce commissioned a report that instructs business leade...

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Sikh man in US punched by man who called him "Osama's brother"

articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com - In a "bias" attack, a Sikh man in US lost 3 teeth after being punched by a man, who accused him of being related to slain al-Qaida chief.PTI, Jun 7, 2011, 04.40pm ISTNEW YORK: In a "bias" attack, a...

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Office of Governor Jerry Brown

gov.ca.gov - Governor Brown Issues Proclamation Declaring "LGBT Pride Month"6-8-2011SACRAMENTO - Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. today issued a proclamation declaring June 2011, as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Tr...

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Angry Homeowners 'Foreclose' on Lenders

bucks.blogs.nytimes.com - Owners of a house in Florida have engineered a reverse foreclosure against a bank. That makes two so far this year. Just one more, and it’s officially a trend, right? Earlier this year, Patrick Rod...

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Has America in 2011 become 200 AD Rome?

schoolingintheownershipsociety.blogspot.com - Dust-bowl refugees walk towards Los Angeles during the Great Depression. House prices have now fallen further than in the 1930s. Photograph: Bettmann/Corbis British Guardian Economics Editor, Lar...

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What If The NAACP Is Actually Right? | The Jose Vilson

bigeducationape.blogspot.com - What If The NAACP Is Actually Right? | The Jose VilsonWhat If The NAACP Is Actually Right?by JoseSomeone recently tagged me to this piece from What About Our Daughters. I’ll let you read the rest o...

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Psst! Bootleg Audio From New America / Slate Event

scholasticadministrator.typepad.com - The voices you're hearing on this muffled bootleg tape (download here) from last night's Slate / New America Foundation event in Tribeca include Steve Brill, author of the forthcoming Class Warfare...

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Questions surround feds' raid of Stockton home

news10.net - STOCKTON, CA - A federal education official Wednesday morning offered little information as to why federal agents raided a Stockton man's home Tuesday morning. The resident, Kenneth Wright, does no...

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Mehserle to be Released Sunday « occupy california

occupyca.wordpress.com - By * OAKLAND, California – Johannes Mehserle, the police officer who murdered Oscar Grant at the Fruitvale BART station on January 1st 2009, will be released from jail this Sunday, June 9th. Mehser...

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