L.A. school district hires hundreds of substitutes(scabs) to prepare for major teachers strike - The Washington Post

L.A. school district hires hundreds of substitutes to prepare for major teachers strike - The Washington Post

L.A. school district hires hundreds of substitutes to prepare for major teachers strike

With teachers vowing to strike on Jan. 10 if a new contract is not reached with the Los Angeles Unified School District, officials are taking steps to keep schools open, including hiring hundreds of nonunion substitute teachers to fill in for educators walking picket lines.

Superintendent Austin Beutner, a former investment banker, said the district, which is the country’s second largest, with more than 640,000 students, was hiring about 400 substitutes to keep schools open. The Los Angeles Daily News quoted him as saying:

“We have hired substitutes, we have made plans as to alternate curriculums for days that there is a strike but our goal is to make sure  schools are safe and open so kids continue to learn. My concern first and foremost is the safety and well being of  our students.”

[Parent to L.A. school board as teachers threaten to strike: Why ‘my family will not cross the picket line’]

United Teachers Los Angeles, the union representing some 34,000 educators (including substitutes) in the district, bashed the move, releasing a statement that says in part:

It is outrageously irresponsible for Supt. Austin Beutner to force this strike when the district holds $1.9 billion in reserves and it is even more irresponsible to think that 400 substitutes can educate more than 600,000 students.  We believe that it is illegal for the district to hire people outside our bargaining unit to teach in LAUSD classrooms.

The district and the union have been negotiating for a new contract for more than 1½ years. UTLA has accused the district of claiming to have fewer resources than it really has and is demanding, among other things, a 6.5 percent pay raise; more money for schools; a boost in the number of counselors, nurses, social workers and librarians; a reduction in standardized testing; and an expansion of community schools. Beutner’s administration says the district cannot afford many of the concessions and warns that the district could be insolvent in a few years.

A fact-finding panel tasked with trying to find a resolution to the contract impasse agreed with both sides on some points, saying that teachers do deserve a raise but that the district can afford only the 6 percent being offered. A report, written by the one neutral member of the panel (the other two represented the union and the district), said that the district should dip into its reserves to cut class size and hire more nurses, counselors and other needed staff.

The union is calling for a cap on charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, but a CONTINUE READING: L.A. school district hires hundreds of substitutes to prepare for major teachers strike - The Washington Post

Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders Looking for Her Own “Rebrand” (aka WH Exit)? | deutsch29

Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders Looking for Her Own “Rebrand” (aka WH Exit)? | deutsch29

Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders Looking for Her Own “Rebrand” (aka WH Exit)?

Heads up: It’s political!

_______________________________________________________________

It’s New Years Eve, and here I am, thinking about Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Sanders is the daughter of former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, who in 2014 called for states to “rebrand” Common Core in order to sell it to the public. (Once he was running for president and Common Core support clearly threatened his political aspirations, in 2015, Huckabee circulated a petition to “kill” Common Core.)

It seems that daughter Sarah is hoping to do some rebranding– to her career. However, like her father’s attempt to repackage Common Core, that might be easier said than done.

According to Raw Story, it seems that Sanders wants to leave her position as White House press secretary but cannot find another job.

Furthermore, Sanders’ colleague, deputy press sec Raj Shah, has allegedly secured a position with newly-installed Supreme Court justice, Brett Kavanaugh, Inquisitr reports.

In his role as Sanders’ sidekick, Shah has been less visible (and less controversial in his statements, one might argue), and this limited visibility is likely to Shah’s advantage.

Sanders, however, has melded her career (how long this melding will last in the public memory, one can only guess) with the incredible, controversial mess that is the Trump White House. Arguably, anyone hiring Sanders drags that mess into their venue because her very public persona as Trump Defender Number One cannot simply be shaken off with a mere change of venue.

Hints of a Sanders-Shah White House exit first appeared in this June 14, 2018, CBS exclusive:

Press secretary Sarah Sanders and principal deputy press secretary Raj CONTINUE READING: 

Is Sarah Huckabee Sanders Looking for Her Own “Rebrand” (aka WH Exit)? | deutsch29

California Attorney General Calls for More Charter School Transparency | KQED News

California Attorney General Calls for More Charter School Transparency | KQED News

California Attorney General Calls for More Charter School Transparency

A legal opinion from the office of the California Attorney General saying the state’s charter schools should be subject to the same transparency laws as regular public schools is getting a mixed response.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra's non-binding legal opinion finds that California charter schools should have open meetings and make their financials available to public scrutiny.

"It's likely to be persuasive to some of the legislators who will be considering potential legislation on issues of conflict of interest and transparency around charter school governance," said California School Boards Associationspokesman Troy Flint. "A mantra of the charter school movement is that charter schools are public schools. And if that's the case, then they should be subject to the same laws."

In a statement, Brittany Chord Parmley, spokesperson for the California Charter Schools Association, said the vast majority of charter schools in California already comply with these laws.

"The California Charter Schools Association has supported charter schools operating in transparent manner consistent with these laws and has been actively engaged in legislative discussions over these issues," Parmley said. "However, we are concerned that a wholesale application of these laws to charter CONTINUE READING: California Attorney General Calls for More Charter School Transparency | KQED News

NYC Public School Parents: How corporate reformers have become embedded in the Office of District Planning

NYC Public School Parents: How corporate reformers have become embedded in the Office of District Planning

How corporate reformers have become embedded in the Office of District Planning

Recently Stacie Johnson, a sharp-eyed NYC parent, pointed out to me in an email how the DOE Office of District Planning (originally the Office of Portfolio Planning) is populated by many administrators who were formerly associated with charter schools.  She wrote:

I was planning to reach out to someone about enrollment at my daughter's school and came across the name of a few people in DOE's strategic planning department and noticed a trend. It seems like the people who are in charge of planning, at least in my area, are all coming from a Teach for America and/or Charter School background. I've read about how the TFA and their affiliate Leaders for Educational Equity (LEE) are working to infiltrate their members into elected and policy positions, but I didn't realize this was so pervasive in Brooklyn. Is this news to you?

I hadn’t noticed this but decided to look into it.

District Planning was originally called the Office of Portfolio Planning under Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein, and was headed at various times by officials who, after a short stint of teaching,  jumped onto the fast track towards power and influence.  Two former heads of Portfolio Planning were John White (now State Superintendent of Louisiana) and Marc Sternberg (now head of Education for the Walton Family Foundation.)  Their main qualifications for this job seemed to be able to portray no emotion during contentious and emotional public hearings, when teachers, students and parents begged them not to close their schools or force them into smaller spaces because of co-locations.

The office was created to pursue the portfolio model  of school improvement, first developed by Paul Hill of the Gates-funded Center for Reinventing Public Education.  It is based on the notion that parents should be given a wide “choice” of different types of schools, including charters and district public schools.  The district will then decide which schools should be closed depending on their test scores, parent demand,  or enrollment, with other schools created to take their place, many of them privately-run charter schools, in a process of continual change  and disruption, like the buying and selling stocks in an investment portfolio.   

There is much controversy as to this strategy’s effectiveness and rationale, as can be seen in a recent debate between Linda Darling-Hammond  of the Learning Policy Institute and Diane Ravitch and Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education.

After Bill de Blasio was elected Mayor, and Carmen Farina appointed Chancellor, they changed the name of the office to District Planning, presumably because de Blasio had CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: How corporate reformers have become embedded in the Office of District Planning

Network For Public Education - The goal of NPE is to connect all those who are passionate about our schools – students, parents, teachers and citizens. We share information and research on vital issues that concern the future of public education at a time when it is under attack. : Network For Public Education - https://networkforpubliceducation.org/

Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!

Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!

Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!

1.  Kindergarten NOT The New First Grade

Kindergartners should be treated like the four and five-year-old students that they are and not pushed to be first graders. The activities and instruction for this age group are well established.

Real educators should take charge and ensure that there’s much free play and age appropriate activities.

2.  School Systems NOT “Portfolio of Schools”

For years, corporate reformers have unfairly claimed that school systems fail. They want privatization through a portfolio of schools involving charters, private schools and choice. This will end public education.

We need efficient school systems for traditional public schools only, that serve all children.

Taxpayers don’t need to fund unproven portfolio schools they don’t own or control.

3.  School Boards NOT Privatization Partners CONTINUE READING: Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!