Thursday, July 14, 2011

solidaridad: Schools Matter: Los Angeles privatization pushers take second biggest slice of reactionary Walton pie

solidaridad: Schools Matter: Los Angeles privatization pushers take second biggest slice of reactionary Walton pie

Schools Matter: Los Angeles privatization pushers take second biggest slice of reactionary Walton pie

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
"[T]here should be no education marketplace." — Dr. Diane Ravitch (celebrated education professor and author)


In the long run, charter schools are being strategically used to pave the way for vouchers. - Jonathan Kozol
In Los Angeles privatization pushers take second biggest slice of reactionary Walton pie I take the Valerie Strauss piece discussing where and how funds from the arch-reactionaries of the Walton Family Foundation were divvied out to various entities engaged in the privatization of public education, and put the spotlight on egregious local offenders.


The list includes: Camino Nuevo Charter Academy, Parent Revolution (née

Save Our Schools

EchoParkPatch: Camino Nuevo Corporation: A Little Less Than Honest Again?

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene
"[Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Corporation]'s board is UNELECTED by the public and composed exclusively of investment management executives, high powered lawyers, and other wealthy business types. Not one of them is an actual educator, and none of them have been teachers or principals in a K-12 setting. Furthermore, not one of them lives in Echo Park or Historic Filipinotown." — Robert D. Skeels

Slide featuring Shannon Leonard's credentials. The last line mentioning he was a
Camino Nuevo Corporation: A Little Less Than Honest Again? is my report back from the final meeting held by Camino Nuevo Charter Corporation at Union Avenue School reveals very serious resume padding for Shannon Leonard, CNCA's new Principal of CRES #14. Most importantly we photographed a slide featuring
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Tom Vander Ark’s New York-Area Charter Schools Falter - NYTimes.com

Tom Vander Ark’s New York-Area Charter Schools Falter - NYTimes.com

Tom Vander Ark’s New York-Area Charter Schools Falter

by By ANNA M. PHILLIPS
A former top official with the Gates Foundation found that opening innovative schools in the New York area was harder than he had anticipated

After years spent directing the distribution of more than $1 billion from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation into hundreds of schools across the nation, Tom Vander Ark set his sights on the New York area, with a plan to create a network of charter schools of his own.

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Kim Kulish for The New York Times

Tom Vander Ark, the former executive director of education for the Gates Foundation, says a weak economy hurt efforts by City Prep Academies to start schools in New York and New Jersey.

Enlarge This Image

Mr. Vander Ark, the foundation’s former executive director of education and a national leader in the online learning movement, was granted charters in 2010 to open a high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and two others in Newark. The New York school, Brooklyn City Prep, also got space in a public school building — a precious and controversial commodity — hired a principal, and welcomed applications from 150 eighth graders this spring.

But after spending more than $1.5 million of investors’ money on consultants and lawyers, Mr. Vander Ark, 52, has walked away from the project, and the schools will not open as planned this fall, leaving others involved stunned and frustrated.

“If we had plotted a worst-case scenario, no one could have

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Say no to school testing madness  | ajc.com

Say no to school testing madness | ajc.com

Say no to school testing madness

By Stephanie Jones

The Multi-Billion Dollar Testing Industry has done it again. The industry continues to usurp precious resources out of local schools when districts are forced to lay off teachers, discontinue programs for children and eliminate field trips. But beyond the fiscal crimes inflicted on schools that restrict children’s opportunities, the industry makes a mockery out of the whole education enterprise.

And they’re laughing all the way to the bank.

The latest, but certainly not the last, scorned school district is right here in our backyard.

The Atlanta Public Schools “cheating scandal” is scandalous, but not necessarily for the reasons spewed from mouths of people not looking beyond their noses. The embarrassment and shame comes from the fact that multinational private testing corporations are determining the fate of our children, youth, educators and future.

It is widely known in educational research that the tests are poorly written, often scored incorrectly and by noneducators, and often evaluate pre-existing knowledge rather than

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School Tech Connect: Someone's Getting Yelled At...

School Tech Connect: Someone's Getting Yelled At...

Someone's Getting Yelled At...

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
... at the 51 second mark of this video. I wonder who it could be... Hmm..... I simply can't tell...

Anyway, my own feeling is that over the long haul, assuming pensions still exist in another year, the thing that will be most missed out of everything recently lost is seniority. It's basically gone, as far as I can tell, and I think it people will look back and realize that a lot of damage was done in that particular giveaway.

The Kids Are All Right

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
I realize the popular spelling is "alright." I just can't go there. Anyway, the kids seem to be aware that "shape up or ship out" isn't 100% a charter school thing. It's also part of "zero tolerance." There, I finally said something that wasn't an indictment of charter schools alone. Anyway, any policy that's increasing dropout rates is a failing policy. We really need to hold on to every kid that we can--- and not just for reading drills; we need to be able to offer them the kind of things that they need, rather than this Common Core, everyone-study-the-same-thing crap.

Teachers Ruined Everything!

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
So cool.

Infrastructure---you can't beat it for putting people to work. Here we stimulate the economy by inventing more tests for kids to take in school.

At lease we have our military. And the most expensive health care system on the planet.


The Coming Pension Grab

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)
This is just excellent; it's the post I've been trying to formulate in my mind. Therefore, I take full credit for it. I kid! It's an excellent post on where Illinois is with the pensions. Go read it now, I command you.

SPOILER ALERT: I'm about to quote the single phrase from Fred's post that describes the heart of the problem. Close your eyes if you haven't read it yet. Here goes: "Over some of our objections, the delegates approved the language change." I'm serious. I think that's the problem. Teachers have basically accepted the idea that they're guilty of some kind of crime and need to pay some kind of price.

The average TRS pension is about $41,000 per year, and TRS members don't get Social Security, and they pay
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Modern School: Deasy Encourages Myth That Teachers Cause School Failure

Modern School: Deasy Encourages Myth That Teachers Cause School Failure

Deasy Encourages Myth That Teachers Cause School Failure

by Michael Dunn

The Los Angeles Times had a piece last week about the 1,000 tenured teachers who have been displaced as a result of restructuring at some of LAUSD’s worst performing schools. Known as reconstitution and offered as one of several options for low scoring schools under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), several LAUSD schools have opted to fire all or most of their staffs under the delusion that hiring 80-90% new people will somehow bring up test scores.

Why anyone buys this malarkey is inconceivable. It is difficult to hire the best candidate for just a single position at a school or any business, let alone 50-100 positions simultaneously. Furthermore, one of the most important in-school factors for student success is the development of meaningful and supportive relationships with adults, something that is undermined when the vast majority of teachers are given the boot. Also, low academic performance is tied much more closely to out-of-school factors, particularly students’ familial wealth, than to the quality of teachers. It is no coincidence that every one of the schools being
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Big Education Ape: 7-14-11 PM CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS: Your Tax Dollars at Work EDition

Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Big Education Ape: Ed News Now
Published by Coopmike48 – 5 contributors today


Walker Speech Drowned out by Jeers | Blog

rebuildthedream.com - On the date of the Wisconsin recall primary elections, where six Democratic candidates easily won over their Walker-supporting fake Democratic rivals, Gov. Scott Walker gave a speech at Gateway Tec...
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leoniehaimson NYC Public School Parents: The widening Murdoch scandal and the Wireless no-bid contracts: sign our petition now!: http://t.co/ysJOxjj34 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite
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leoniehaimson Ask the NYS & NYC Comptrollers to cancel no-bid Murdoch's Wireless Generation contracts! | Change.org: http://t.co/apIBc1w30 minutes ago · reply · retweet · favorite

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