KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law; Gets Approved By State Board of Education | EduResearcher

KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law; Gets Approved By State Board of Education | EduResearcher

KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law; Gets Approved By State Board of Education

[Original Title]: Will KIPP Be Allowed To Bypass Conflict of Interest Law In Its Bid For State Funds?

[3/14/18] Update: The California State Board of Education has voted to approve two KIPP petitions to expand campuses into San Francisco and San Jose despite strong community resistance and knowledge of the charter chain’s refusal to agree to abide by a basic conflict of interest law – Government Code 1090. The following is an open letter that had been sent to the State Board of Education to urge a no vote on the expansions.   For related posts on past State Board of Education votes, see here and here.

______________________

Dear California State Board of Education Trustees,

We urge you to uphold local decisions by publicly elected board trustees to deny the KIPP charter petitions that will be up for appeal at your March 14th meeting.  San Jose’s East Side Union High School District has more charters than traditional public schools and is facing budget drains of over 15 million dollars per year as a result. Such losses impact valuable student supports, human resources, and programs. Charter schools are the recipients of millions of dollars of public funding, yet many insist on private governance without equivalent standards for transparency, open meetings, or compliance with conflict of interest laws. To see the impact of these lax governance and oversight policies as they have unfolded, consider the following:

1) NAACP Calls For a Moratorium on Charter School Expansion 

The following links lead to the official NAACP statement about the resolution and the original resolution with research links. See also the recent Task Force report/recommendations, which specifically highlight the importance of local governance in decision-making about charter schools.

2) Racism, School Closures, and Public School Sabotage: Voices from America’s Affected Communities of Color 

KIPP is mentioned several times throughout this report (see refs for p. 7 and 21 in addition to the quotes below).

“A study of KIPP charter schools – the largest corporate charter school chain in the U.S. – found that they enrolled a much lower percentage of students with disabilities (5.9%) than did their local public schools (12.1%). The same was true for English language learners (11.5% compared to 19.2%). p. 11   

and
“For example, the KIPP network of charter schools, well- known for their strict, military-style atmosphere, loses 15% of their students per year, far higher than their surrounding school districts.”

The patterns revealed in the above report are consistent with other published critiques of KIPP and with our own local Continue reading: KIPP Refuses Agreement To Abide By Conflict of Interest Law; Gets Approved By State Board of Education | EduResearcher

Work Hard, Be Hard: Journeys Through "No Excuses" Teaching - 9781475825794 - Rowman & Littlefield - Rowman & Littlefield - 

Related: 

Big Education Ape: A Topsy-Turvy Week for Charter Schools and School-Choice Tax Credits | Capital & Main - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-topsy-turvy-week-for-charter-schools.html

Don’t Make Me Enforce School Uniforms. Just Let Me Teach. - NWLC

Don’t Make Me Enforce School Uniforms. Just Let Me Teach. - NWLC

Don’t Make Me Enforce School Uniforms. Just Let Me Teach.

A typical morning, when I was a middle school teacher, went something like this:

Arrive at school by 7:30 am. Run to the copier with any last-minute printing for my classes. Get back to my classroom by 7:50 when students begin arriving. Greet students. Remind them to bring necessary materials to class. Address any conflicts in the hallway while also keeping an eye on students already in the classroom. Make sure students are quiet enough to hear morning announcements. Observe student moods—does anyone seem off today? Sad? Angry? Check in with students individually. Offer encouragement. Diffuse tensions. Give warnings. Take attendance. Listen to whatever life updates, issues, and anxieties students bring to me that day. Provide informal counseling. Make note of anyone that needs extra assistance so I can follow up with them later. Find out which teacher is out that day and who needs me give up my lunch or prep period to cover their class.

Oh, and before the 8:00 am bell sends students to their first class, send an email to the front office naming which students are out of uniform.

In this email, I was required to note numerous and arbitrary uniform violations: who is missing their lanyard, whose shoes have the wrong color soles, who has a vest without the school logo on it, who doesn’t have a tie, who has the wrong brand pants, whose shirt isn’t tucked in. The list went on and on.

To my administrators’ eternal frustration, I did not send that email every day like I was supposed to. It was a miracle if I could even take attendance by 8:00 am instead of playing catch up in my lunch period (if I had one). And the problem wasn’t just time, though that was a huge factor. Writing that email made me feel uneasy. Don’t get me wrong; my problem wasn’t discipline—I was voted strictest teacher my very first year teaching. I had high standards, because holding students to high standards was one of my ways of showing them they mattered. I wasted no time in addressing disruption and disrespect in the classroom.

But this—this always felt different. I hated writing that “out of uniform” email. I internally raged about how it was a waste of time, which it absolutely was. More than that, it never felt right to listen to a student tell me about their most recent Continue Reading: Don’t Make Me Enforce School Uniforms. Just Let Me Teach. - NWLC

Embattled L.A. Unified school board member is poised to take plea deal in money-laundering case

Embattled L.A. Unified school board member is poised to take plea deal in money-laundering case

Embattled L.A. Unified school board member is poised to take plea deal in money-laundering case

The stage appears to be set for a deal that would resolve political money-laundering allegations against Los Angeles school board member Ref Rodriguez, based on a filing posted by the city's Ethics Commission.

The deal is likely to include his resignation from office, although parties involved in the negotiations would not confirm that.

In the filing, Rodriguez, 47, admits that he “engaged in money laundering to further his 2015 campaign for a seat on the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education.”

The commission staff is recommending a $100,000 penalty that would be paid by Rodriguez and his co-defendant, Elizabeth Melendrez.

That fine would resolve Rodriguez’s case before the Ethics Commission, but that is just one half of his troubles related to political money laundering. The other — and the more serious — is a criminal case based on the same actions.

In that proceeding, Rodriguez is charged with three felonies and 25 misdemeanors. If convicted on all counts, he could face several years in prison.

Because Rodriguez has now apparently admitted guilt to the city’s Ethics Commission, it would be seemingly impossible for him to claim that he is not guilty of the same offenses in the criminal case. For that reason, all signs suggest that the criminal case also has been resolved with a separate plea deal.

Details of the expected deal in the criminal case have not been made public.

Legally, Rodriguez could probably remain in office if prosecutors agreed to lower the felony charges to one or more misdemeanors. But observers and those close to the case said it’s difficult to imagine a deal that would allow Rodriguez to keep his board seat, even if he is able to avoid time in jail.

The ethics filing describes in some detail what happened, according to investigators.

Late in 2014, Rodriguez, who was then a senior executive at a charter school organization, was putting together his first run for office.

That December, he instructed Melendrez, his cousin, to enlist contributors and later reimburse them with Rodriguez’s money. Melendrez worked under Rodriguez as an administrator in the same charter-school organization.

Rodriguez held an event at a family member’s residence later that month to announce his Continue reading: Embattled L.A. Unified school board member is poised to take plea deal in money-laundering case

Big Education Ape: OMG: CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's PUC Lakeview Charter Academy Audit - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/04/ccsas-ref-rodriguezs-puc-lakeview.html

Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: Is CNCA paying parents to support CCSA's Ref Rodriguez's LAUSD Board campaign? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/04/schools-matter-is-cnca-paying-parents.html

Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: PROFITS! Why Ref Rodriguez and his CCSA covet the LAUSD Board Seat - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/04/schools-matter-profits-why-ref.html

Big Education Ape: Schools Matter: Guest Post: Citizen Jack responds to LA Weekly's fluffing Ref Rodriguez - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2015/05/schools-matter-guest-post-citizen-jack.html