Live election results: School board 'reformers' ousted

Live election results: School board 'reformers' ousted:

Live election results: School board 'reformers' ousted

Cathy Kipp and Rob Pettersen are poised for victory in the Poudre School District Board of Education election, and Colorado voters will let the state keep nearly $66 million in marijuana taxes instead of voting for tax refunds.

At 8:50 p.m., returns from state and local elections offered few surprises Tuesday night. Fort Collins voters asked whether they support the city investigating the possibility of starting its own broadband Internet service have answered with a resounding yes — the proposition has received 83 percent approval in early returns.

And while county totals showed Colorado voters supporting statewide Proposition BB to allow Colorado to keep roughly $66 million in marijuana tax revenues, 9News reporter Brandon Ritteman reported that a temporary technical glitch on the Colorado Secretary of State Office website caused totals for the yes and no votes to be switched, making it appear the measure was failing. By 7:46 p.m. the glitch had been fixed.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the Associated Press called the race, saying the proposition passed.

South of Fort Collins, Loveland-area voters have given roughly 66 percent to 69 percent favor to Jeff Swanty, Denise Montagu, Pam Howard and David Levy in the hotly contested Thompson School District board race, as so-called "reform" candidates trailed in early returns. In similar fashion, three conservative "reform" candidates in Jefferson County Schools were recalled.

PHOTOS:  Scenes from Election Day in Fort Collins

Here are the contested races we're following Tuesday night:

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS OF CONTESTED RACES

Results as of 8:50 p.m.Live election results: School board 'reformers' ousted:

Proposal: Turn Land For Mine Operation Into Residential/Retail/Urban Garden Space - capradio.org

Proposal: Turn Land For Mine Operation Into Residential/Retail/Urban Garden Space - capradio.org:

Proposal: Turn Land For Mine Operation Into Residential/Retail/Urban Garden Space

A Sacramento company has proposed turning part of an aggregate mining operation into a large housing and commercial development site.

Teichert Construction's development subsidiary -Stonebridge Properties- has asked the Sacramento City Council to rezone the corner of Jackson Highway and Watt Avenue to allow 1365 housing units and 150,000 square feet of retail space.  

Antonio Ablog is with the City of Sacramento's Community Development Department. He says the plan calls for a 26.6-acre urban farm.

"That will be maintained either by a private entity or by a home-owners association itself -the funding and management of that."

The project also includes a 16.6-acre park and 28.8 acres of open space that could be used as the site of a farmer's market.

Ablog says Stonebridge got the idea for the name when they researched the property.

"They looked into the history of the site. They found the New Brighton community which existed before they did their aggregate mining -that community was based around agriculture and they're trying to tie back to that."

The environmental impact report for the project shows a significant increase in traffic for the area. The project includes the addition of new through lanes and turn lanes.

The city is in talks with Sacramento County to annex 28 acres of county land for the project.

Nearly 10 acres would be set aside for a school within the Elk Grove Unified School District.

This is the first time Stonebridge has proposed using old mining land for development purposes, but the company has previously completed similar projects in Sacramento County -including the Rosemont High School area.

Stonebridge says no date has been set for the project groundbreaking and would depend on market conditions and the timeline for relocating mining operations from the property.Proposal: Turn Land For Mine Operation Into Residential/Retail/Urban Garden Space - capradio.org:

Heads Up, Catholic Educators: A David Coleman Keynote Is Coming Your Way in 2016 | deutsch29

Heads Up, Catholic Educators: A David Coleman Keynote Is Coming Your Way in 2016 | deutsch29:

Heads Up, Catholic Educators: A David Coleman Keynote Is Coming Your Way in 2016

From March 29 to 31, 2016, the National Catholic Education Association (NCEA) will host its 2016 Convention and Expo in San Diego.

David Coleman will be the keynote speaker.

His talk is entitled, “Reverence, Excellence, and Education for Life.”

I wonder if he will tell his audience that “no one gives a s**t” what they think or feel:

Perhaps not. In fact, Coleman’s bio in the NCEA conference program has been scrubbed of any indication of his Student Achievement Partners (SAP) and of his being at the center of Common Core development. Coleman’s bio doesn’t even mention Common Core– and certainly not his approaching billionaire Bill Gates in 2008 regarding bankrolling Common Core. (Incidentally, in September 2013, NCEA, received a modest Gates grant in the amount of $100,007 “to support trainings and Heads Up, Catholic Educators: A David Coleman Keynote Is Coming Your Way in 2016 | deutsch29:

Kenney, Gym change the education conversation | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Kenney, Gym change the education conversation | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Kenney, Gym change the education conversation

Mayor-elect Jim Kenney with City Councilwoman-elect Helen Gym in a photo from last June

With the election of Democrats Jim Kenney as mayor and Helen Gym to City Council on Tuesday, there is a new dynamic at City Hall regarding education policy.

Kenney has promised to work toward universal preschool and has thrown his support behind community schools as the primary reform strategy for the District. That is a departure from Mayor Nutter's approach. Throughout his administration Nutter supported the strategy that relied heavily on closing low-performing schools and expanding charters with the goal of having "a great school" in every neighborhood. 

Gym rode to Council on the strength of her education activism, in which she has been severely critical of the dominant District and city policy of closing schools, expanding charter enrollment, and primarily using test scores to decide which schools are candidates for turnaround and privatization.

Kenney captured about 85 percent of the mayoral vote, handily defeating Republican Melissa Murray Bailey. Gym was the leading vote-getter among Council-at-large candidates with nearly all of the vote counted. Apparent winners of the other six at-large Council seats on Tuesday were Democrats Derek Green, Allan Domb, Blondell Reynolds Brown, William Greenlee, and Republicans Al Taubenberger and David Oh.

In claiming victory Tuesday night, Gym thanked her family and supporters. Citing the origins of her campaign in the period when former Gov. Tom Corbett was cutting spending not just on education but on other social services, she said she ran because she wanted her children "to remember when times were the worst, people were never silent."

Uniting with teachers

Both Kenney and Gym received robust and unequivocal support from the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, which is currently at war with the District administration. Teachers have not had a new contract, or a raise, in three years, and in the face of stalemated talks the School Reform Commission has sought to nullify the contract entirely. The matter is now in court.

At a rally earlier Tuesday, where she and Kenney appeared with PFT leaders, Gym called schools "places of transformation and possibility." She said that they should be defined not by test scores but by a "narrative of dignity of love." 

Gym has reiterated over her campaign that the "great schools" strategy is misguided in that it promotes the creation of "islands of greatness in oceans of inequity."  For the hardest-to-serve young people – immigrants, those with disabilities, adjudicated youth, the homeless – she said their needs are marginalized.  "It is impossible for them to do well unless we radically change how we look at education for those students," she said.

She said on Council she will demand more accountability and transparency from the District, perhaps even using subpoena power to get more information year-round instead of just at budget time. "It’s the only body the SRC has to show up before and account to," she said. The SRC relies on Council and Harrisburg for all its funds; it has no taxing power of its own.

At the same time, she would like Council to "act more like a partner of the School District Kenney, Gym change the education conversation | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/3/15

CORPORATE ED REFORM

Chicago’s School Corruption Won’t End With the Latest Lockup, but Here’s Why I Don’t Feel Hopeless. | The Progressive

Chicago’s School Corruption Won’t End With the Latest Lockup, but Here’s Why I Don’t Feel Hopeless. | The Progressive: Chicago’s School Corruption Scandals Won’t End With the Latest Lockup, but Here’s Why I Don’t Feel Hopeless. Another perpetrator might be going to jail, but that’s just the beginning of what needs to be done to counter the systemic educational oppression of Chicago’s youth. When I

by mike simpson / 1h 

What Teachers Do: A Little Common Sense In This Must-See Video

What Teachers Do: A Little Common Sense In This Must-See Video:What Teachers Do: A Little Common Sense In This Must-See VideoTurns out the teachers got it right. The wheels are falling off the so-called “education reform” project which dismissed the voices of teachers – and particularly their unions – with no little vitriol.Reformers offered clear, simple answers to the supposed failings of Americ

by mike simpson / 1h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Rescuing Strivers from Those People

CURMUDGUCATION: Rescuing Strivers from Those People: Rescuing Strivers from Those PeopleToday in Bloomberg View, Mike Petrilli is airing out his ideas about how charters should be the lifeboats that rescue strivers from the chaos of disruptive students.His thesis is pretty simple-- strivers suffer from being trapped in classrooms that are disrupted by non-strivey students, so if we could screen fo

by mike simpson / 1h 

School vs. Society in America’s Failing Students - The New York Times

School vs. Society in America’s Failing Students - The New York Times: School vs. Society in America’s Failing StudentsHere’s the good news: American schools may not be as bad as we have been led to believe.Ah, but here’s the bad news: The rest of American society is failing its disadvantaged citizens even more than we realize. The question is, Should educators be responsible for fixing this?The p

by mike simpson / 2h 

Education Reform – Testing kids on content they’ve never learned - Wait What?

Education Reform – Testing kids on content they’ve never learned - Wait What?: Education Reform – Testing kids on content they’ve never learnedA primary goal of the Corporate Education Reform Industry is to privatize public education by persuading policymakers that the nation’s system of public education is failing.A key strategy of choice for the so-called reformers and their political lackeys is

by mike simpson / 2h 

Child Care Annual Aggregate Report SFY 2014-15 - Child Development (CA Dept of Education)

Child Care Annual Aggregate Report SFY 2014-15 - Child Development (CA Dept of Education): Child Care Annual Aggregate Report SFY 2014-15 Number of Children Served by Program Type1 During State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2014-15Program TypeChildren (N)General Child Care55,243CalWORKs Stage 290,465CalWORKs Stage 346,889Alternative Payment38,157California State Preschool180,354General Migrant Care3,902Severe

by mike simpson / 2h 

Will Competency-Based Learning Rescue the Testocracy? - Living in Dialogue

Will Competency-Based Learning Rescue the Testocracy? - Living in Dialogue: Will Competency-Based Learning Rescue the Testocracy?By Anthony Cody.We have been badgered for the past 14 years by reformers insisting on the fierce urgency of change, and they have had their way – twice! First, seven years of NCLB, followed by the past seven years of Race to the Top, and now the “next generation” of test

by mike simpson / 5h 

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Byrd-Bennett, SUPES & Harcourt's goal in Detroit: Loot and then burn.

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Byrd-Bennett, SUPES & Harcourt's goal in Detroit: Loot and then burn.: Byrd-Bennett, SUPES & Harcourt's goal in Detroit: Loot and then burn.Byrd-Bennett's inner circle, Tracy Martin, Sherry Ulery and Rosemary Herpel, followed her from Cleveland and Detroit.I'm glad that Chicago reporters are finally uncovering the depth and breadth of the SUPES scandal.

by mike simpson / 5h 

Rick Smith – Letting Teachers Voices Through the Media Embargo | gadflyonthewallblog

Rick Smith – Letting Teachers Voices Through the Media Embargo | gadflyonthewallblog: Rick Smith – Letting Teachers Voices Through the Media EmbargoI met Rick Smith for the first time in person this summer in Washington, D.C.He had traveled to our nation’s capital to cover the Badass Teachers Association(BATs) Congress of which I was a member. Though I’d seen pictures and videos of him and even be

by mike simpson / 6h 

David Hursh’s New Book, The End of Public Schools: The Corporate Reform Agenda to Privatize Education | deutsch29

David Hursh’s New Book, The End of Public Schools: The Corporate Reform Agenda to Privatize Education | deutsch29: David Hursh’s New Book, The End of Public Schools: The Corporate Reform Agenda to Privatize Education(The Kindle version is already available on Amazon.com. Moreover, this flyer from Routledge includes information on a 20 percent discount.)David HurshUniversity of Rochester (New York)

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Magnet vs. Charter

CURMUDGUCATION: Magnet vs. Charter: Magnet vs. CharterOnce again, I had a version of this conversation.Me: Charters are not public schools because they are not open to or committed to taking all students. They filter and cream and push out and refuse to backfill.Reformster: What about magnet schools? Those are public schools which have stringent admission requirements. They don't educate every chi

by mike simpson / 7h 

California's Attorney General Is Investigating The Online Charter School Industry - BuzzFeed News

California's Attorney General Is Investigating The Online Charter School Industry - BuzzFeed News: California’s Attorney General Is Investigating The Online Charter School IndustryStudents at virtual charter schools lag significantly behind their peers in brick-and-mortar classrooms, sparking big worries among education advocates.The for-profit online charter school industry is the target of an in

by mike simpson / 7h 

Better pay, more time to plan and one other thing teachers want from you - LA Times

Better pay, more time to plan and one other thing teachers want from you - LA Times: Better pay, more time to plan and one other thing teachers want from youAmid a shortage of teachers in California, a new report calls for attracting more people to the profession by making teaching more prestigious.  (Anthony Russo / For The Times)en Arielle Bourguignon started teaching at 24th Street Elementary i

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In response to war on unions, the CTU prepares its troops for battle

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: In response to war on unions, the CTU prepares its troops for battle: In response to war on unions, the CTU prepares its troops for battle"Our plan will eliminate the big government unions entirely..." -- Scott WalkerGov. Rauner's war on the unions, especially teacher unions, is modeled on his pal, Gov. Walker's war in Wisconsin. Walker's plans include prev

by mike simpson / 7h 

The Very Persistent Delusions of Billionaire-Edureformers | the becoming radical

The Very Persistent Delusions of Billionaire-Edureformers | the becoming radical: The Very Persistent Delusions of Billionaire-EdureformersBillionaire-Edureformer extraordinaire Bill Gates “sat in a gray easy chair” at Clemson University’s Tillman Hall (yes, that Tillman Hall) to pontificate once more on education reform.Gates soothed the crowd by explaining “that if they get frustrated at the lac

by mike simpson / 7h 

Review of Journeys: Are @KIPP charter schools pathological? | Cloaking Inequity

Review of Journeys: Are @KIPP charter schools pathological? | Cloaking Inequity: Review of Journeys: Are @KIPP charter schools pathological?Are @KIPP charter schools pathological? Jim Horn et al. will soon publish a new book entitled Work Hard, Be Hard: Journeys Through “No Excuses” Teaching. The following is a review based on the advance copy that I received.Jim Horn et al. have collected importa

by mike simpson / 7h 

Possible candidates emerge in LAUSD superintendent search | 89.3 KPCC

Possible candidates emerge in LAUSD superintendent search | 89.3 KPCC: Possible candidates emerge in LAUSD superintendent searchThe search for Los Angeles Unified’s next superintendent enters a new phase this month as recruiters reach out across the country to approach qualified candidates.After the LAUSD’s school board decides on the type of candidates it wants to interview, the search firm it hi

by mike simpson / 8h 

Campaign Finance Violations will follow Bronin (Win or Lose) - Wait What?

Campaign Finance Violations will follow Bronin (Win or Lose) - Wait What?: Campaign Finance Violations will follow Bronin (Win or Lose)Call it Pay-to-Play or Play and Pay…Greenwich native and Hartford mayoral wannabee Luke Bronin has not only run the most expensive mayoral campaign in Connecticut history, but his campaign that has made a mockery of Connecticut’s Campaign Finance Laws.Win or lose,

by mike simpson / 8h 

This Week In Education: Campaign 2016: Standalone Education PACs - Is It Time?

This Week In Education: Campaign 2016: Standalone Education PACs - Is It Time?: Campaign 2016: Standalone Education PACs - Is It Time?I had the chance to chat for a few minutes yesterday afternoon with Naveed Amalfard, one of the co-founders of America's Teachers whose efforts have been written up recently in the LA Times among other places.Describing the effort as a "a political startup,&quo

by mike simpson / 8h 

Video: The Constitution and School Choice - Yahoo News

Video: The Constitution and School Choice - Yahoo News: Video: The Constitution and School ChoiceWhat do the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions say about school choice, teacher tenure, standardized testing, and more? The National Constitution Center hosted three events on November 2 exploring these questions.View photo.If you would like to watch a video replay of the discussions, here are links t

by mike simpson / 8h 

Bill Gates spent a fortune to build it. Now a Florida school system is getting rid of it. - The Washington Post

Bill Gates spent a fortune to build it. Now a Florida school system is getting rid of it. - The Washington Post: Bill Gates spent a fortune to build it. Now a Florida school system is getting rid of it.Here we go again. Another Bill Gates-funded education reform project, starting with mountains of cash and sky-high promises, is crashing to Earth.This time it’s the Empowering Effective Teachers, an

by mike simpson / 8h 

Colorado School District Immersed In Political Turmoil Amid Recall

Colorado School District Immersed In Political Turmoil Amid Recall: Colorado School District Immersed In Political Turmoil Amid Recall"I think we are a harbinger of education reform, what can persist and succeed and what cannot."Protesting students Adriana Gonzales, right, and Andrea Colmenero march against a Jefferson County School Board proposal to emphasize patriotism and downplay civ

by mike simpson / 8h 

Here’s why $7 billion didn’t help America’s worst schools - POLITICO

Here’s why $7 billion didn’t help America’s worst schools - POLITICO: Here’s why $7 billion didn’t help America’s worst schoolsWhat two troubled high schools tell us about why the government got so little for so much money.In 2009, the Obama administration saw a chance to tackle a problem that had bedeviled educators for decades.“Our goal is to turn around the 5,000 lowest-performing schools over

by mike simpson / 8h 

Gulen charter school network: Overseas Junkets And Charter Schools – Part Two

Politicians, Overseas Junkets And Charter Schools – Part Two: Politicians, Overseas Junkets And Charter Schools – Part TwoReaders of Friday’s edition of USA Today found out about an issue thatPlunderbund readers have known about for some time.  It’s nice to know that more folks are now in the loop.The story,   “Turkish Faith Movement Secretly Funded 200 Trips for Lawmakers and Staff,” details the

by mike simpson / 9h 

A Change in Leadership on K-12 for the Gates Foundation, But Not Direction - Inside Philanthropy

A Change in Leadership on K-12 for the Gates Foundation, But Not Direction - Inside Philanthropy: Fundraising Intelligence - Inside Philanthropy: A Change in Leadership on K-12 for the Gates Foundation, But Not DirectionThe U.S. Department of Education is not the only big player in K-12 policy undergoing a change of leadership.Vicki Phillips announced recently that she would step down from her pos

by mike simpson / 9h 

Germany’s Approach to School Reform: Standards and Testing Without Any Penalties - The Atlantic

Germany’s Approach to School Reform: Standards and Testing Without Any Penalties - The Atlantic: The Great German School TurnaroundThe European country managed to raise test scores while reducing educational inequality. But with the dramatic influx of migrants, will its success last?To make a good national school system, a country needs to help its most disadvantaged students. So says Andreas Schl

by mike simpson / 9h 

Jesse Hagopian: Rolling back the testing mania?

Rolling back the testing mania? | SocialistWorker.org: Rolling back the testing mania?In an article written for Diane Ravitch's blog, Jesse Hagopian, a teacher at Garfield High School in Seattle and editor of More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing, responds to the Obama administration's recent announcement that "unnecessary testing" has gotten out of control.Stil

by mike simpson / 9h 

YESTERDAY

Financial Woes Plague Common-Core Rollout - WSJ

Financial Woes Plague Common-Core Rollout - WSJ: Financial Woes Plague Common-Core RolloutAfter 45 states adopt educational standards, many have second thoughtsEDMOND, Okla.—Educators in this Oklahoma City suburb jumped into action when state leaders in 2010 adopted the Common Core academic standards that were sweeping states across the country.The Edmond school district has a big military populat

by mike simpson / 18h 

Obama’s regret: “Taking the joy out of teaching and learning” | Seattle Education

Obama’s regret: “Taking the joy out of teaching and learning” | Seattle Education: Obama’s regret: “Taking the joy out of teaching and learning”Obama’s call to reduce testing to 2% of the school year still requires students to take standardized tests for an outlandish twenty-four hours.  And it isn’t even all the time directly spent taking the tests that’s the biggest problem.The real shame, which

by mike simpson / 19h 

Teachers For Social Justice: ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD—THIS IS OUR MOMENT!

Teachers For Social Justice: ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD—THIS IS OUR MOMENT!: ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD—THIS IS OUR MOMENT!UPDATE! ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD—THIS IS OUR MOMENT!This is a game changer. The popularity of an elected representative school board in Chicago (2 advisory referendums with close to 90% of voters in favor) and CPS’s chaos and damaging policies have spurred the De

by mike simpson / 19h 

Will we get more testing status quo from Presidential Candidates? — NAACP Now

Will we get more testing status quo from Presidential Candidates? — NAACP Now — Medium: Will we get more testing status quo from Presidential Candidates?Many were recently disappointed by the lack of conversation about K-12 education in the recent Democratic debate in Las Vegas. The Progressive Magazine asked me to reflect on the dearth of coverage. I wrote.The recent Democratic Party presidential

by mike simpson / 22h 

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 11/2/15

CORPORATE ED REFORMYes, this stuff is still happening in U.S. schools — and it’s wrong - The Washington PostYes, this stuff is still happening in U.S. schools — and it’s wrong - The Washington Post: Yes, this stuff is still happening in U.S. schools — and it’s wrongA high school in an impoverished community is ordered closed. It is doing an awful job with its students, the school board says, and t

by mike simpson / 23h