Zesty Louisiana Education Politics
John McDonogh Part 2
The John Mcdonogh story is one of obvious lies, reckless endangerment and exploitation of children, and utter disregard for the input of parents and community members. John McDonogh is a bridge from our past, to our present and a window on what the future of our education system will look like, statewide and nationwide, if we continue to allow corporations and politicians (more interested in makin
Long meeting, disappointing results (LFT summary of the October BESE meetings)
Posted on October 22, 2013
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I received this summary of the October 15th and 16th BESE meetings from the LFT (Louisiana Federation of Teachers). I am working on a few longer, neglected, pieces but I will be sending out a few brief updates on various topics as I get them. I am more than happy to relay the summaries of others to show different perspectives of how these decisions are being received and the impacts they are having on different education stakeholders.
Long meeting, disappointing results
At a marathon BESE meeting, members punted the Common Core controversy to local school boards and teachers, ignored educators’ requests for help with curricula and resources, and promised little relief from a flawed and unaccountable Value Added evaluation model.
October BESE meeting an endurance trial
The October meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was an endurance trial. Ever since BESE reduced its monthly meetings from two days of committee hearings to one, the agenda has been very crowded. The board’s current practice is to hold committee meetings on a Tuesday, during which all testimony is heard on agenda items. A full board meeting is then held on a Wednesday, when the full board votes on recommendations made by committees.
The full board meetings generally conclude within a couple of hours, while committee meetings have been stretching late into the night.
The October committee meetings strained everyone’s patience. A meeting on the controversial Common Core State Standards that was supposed to begin at 2:30 P.M. was three hours late get