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Monday, April 8, 2019

The Sacramento teacher strike is a warning to the #RedForEd movement everywhere – Alternet.org

The Sacramento teacher strike is a warning to the #RedForEd movement everywhere – Alternet.org

The Sacramento teacher strike is a warning to the #RedForEd movement everywhere

The enduring RedForEd movement that has spurred teachers to walk out of schools, organize massive labor actions, and stage protests in streets and state capitols has resulted in big victories for teachers in terms of new labor-friendly contracts, increased teacher pay, and improved conditions in schools. But there’s a danger these victories could be undone. That’s the warning coming from teachers in Sacramento who are threatening to walk off the job over alleged violations of their collective bargaining agreement with the district.
Much like other teacher actions that have occurred across the nation, Sacramento teachers are demanding changes to their salaries, reduced class sizes, and increases in school support staff including more nurses, psychologists, librarians, and program specialists. But unlike other teacher walkouts, what’s happening in Sacramento is a replay of what they thought they had already won.
“We thought we had an agreement when we threatened to strike last year,” David Fisher tells me in a phone conversation. Fisher is the president of the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA), which threatened a walkout in November 2017 of the previous school year.
“We were motivated by what was happening in RedForEd movements elsewhere,” he recalls. “We had everything lined up [in preparation for the strike] including having parents organized and having meals ready for the kids” who were going to miss school lunches.
The strike was averted when the union and district administration came to an agreement and signed a new contract in December 2017. Specifically, the three-year contractincluded an across-the-board pay increase for teachers. Salaries for the district’s teachers are below state averages and rank fourth from the bottom when compared to 14 other comparable districts in the state, according the Sacramento Bee.
Also, teachers won an adjustment to salary schedules that would result in an additional CONTINUE READING:  The Sacramento teacher strike is a warning to the #RedForEd movement everywhere – Alternet.org








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Florida Congresswomen Denied Entry to Homestead Facility for Migrant Minors - YouTube

DWS to deliver letters - YouTube

Florida Congresswomen Denied Entry to Homestead Facility for Migrant Minors





DWS to deliver letters - YouTube

Florida Congresswomen Denied Entry to Homestead Facility for Migrant Minors - NBC 6 South Florida - https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/Florida-Congresswomen-Will-Attempt-to-Visit-Unaccompanied-Minors-Migrant-Facility-in-Homestead-508246771.html via @nbc6
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Putting “Privilege” in Perspective - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

Putting “Privilege” in Perspective - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

Putting “Privilege” in Perspective



The word “privilege” has been thrown around a lot lately. But does this kind of widespread use of privilege (and the call-out culture that rains shame on those accused) diminish the power of the word and negatively affect the causes of social justice?
Privilege is defined as “the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.” The word begins to show up in the English language in the mid-12th century, borrowed from the Latin privilegium, referring to “a ‘private law’ that situates one outside of the laws that bind others.” It was considered a legitimate benefit of elites.
Tracing the history of the word, University of Memphis philosopher Michael J. Monahanobserves in “The concept of privilege: a critical appraisal” that the European enlightenment brought with it challenges to the hereditary aspects of privilege. It did not critique the idea of privilege as such, but the fact that it was unearned. Earned privilege then became “an exceptional opportunity earned (one hopes) through one’s individual merit.”
W.E.B. Du Bois appears to be the first to conceive of white people having privilege by virtue of the color of their skin, even when they are poor. In his 1903 book, The Souls of Black Folk, he writes about white Americans as privileged vis-à-vis Blacks because they do not have to think about Black people or the effects of racial discrimination the way that Black people have to about whites. This privilege also grants them advantage when it comes to valued resources.

The concept of privilege doesn’t take off, however, until the 1980s, when sociologists begin to study it as a social issue in the context of social inequality. This privilege focuses on the way certain groups were discriminated against and others afforded unearned advantages. In 1988, Peggy McIntosh publishes “White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,” in which she describes privilege as an “invisible package of unearned assets.” Privilege begins to expand from a social level of analysis to a personal one.
Today, the word is used in relative ways between people to describe any perceived asymmetry in advantage. In fact, urbandictionary.com, keeping up with the times, CONTINUE READING: Putting “Privilege” in Perspective - Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly

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ReformCharterSchools.org – Strong charter school accountability now

ReformCharterSchools.org – Strong charter school accountability now

ReformCharterSchools.org

Strong charter school accountability now

FacebookDear Governor Gavin Newsom, Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalikis; Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon, Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell; State Senator Pro Tem Toni Atkins; State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; State Controller Betty Yee; State Treasurer Fiona Ma; and State Attorney General Xavier Bacerra,
We are taxpayers, parents, students, and concerned Americans, and we support the call for a statewide moratorium on approval of charter schools (SB 756) until transparency, accountability, and local control provisions not already in the current approval process are established.
While there are some charter schools that are locally approved, are transparent with their budgets including posting executive salaries, and are accountable to the public, the vast majority of charter schools have taken advantage of taxpayers through weak charter laws and lax oversight by state and county officials.
Studies show that in school districts where teacher unions recently went on strike, Oakland and Los Angeles, charters defund Oakland public schools by $57.3 million a year, and defund Los Angeles public schools by $600 million a year. It is estimated well over 100,000 community, parent, student, and teacher supporters of public education marched in support of public schools in both cities in the first quarter of 2019.
Since 2006, the California state agency Financial Crisis and Management Assistance Team (FCMAT)
 has audited charter schools and identified $81 million in fraud, waste, abuse. Other school budget experts estimate $100 million lost to corruption by California charter operators in 2015 alone. (Source: http://populardemocracy.org/sites/default/files/Charter-Schools-California-Report-b.pdf)
Thank you for passing SB126 which makes the Brown Act apply to charter schools, who must now keep public records, hold open meetings, and bar operators and key staff from conflicts of interest.
However, under current law, charter schools are not required to:
  • Have transparent budgets and salaries
  • Ensure facilities are asbestos and lead free
  • Ensure local support and adequate resources for students with disabilities
  • Have locally elected board members
  • File a fiscal, academic, or facilities impact report on surrounding public and charter schools in a petition for authorization
  • Ensure parental oversight through School Site Councils and English Learner Advisory Committees
  • Ensure teachers hold a Commission on Teacher Credentialing certificate, permit, or other document equivalent to that which a teacher in other public schools would be required to hold
  • Maintain adequate cash reserves as required of public schools
Because of these loopholes, many charter operators are gaming the system and are in it to make money with little regard to children’s education.  Corruption is such that the largest charter school operator in America, with schools in California, is operated by foreign nationals without taxpayer knowledge and virtually no oversight.
This has got to stop.
As taxpayers and Americans, we deserve better. Our children deserve better.
Therefore, we respectfully request that you remedy these problems through your legislative authority, and pass the strongest versions of AB 1505, AB 1506, AB 1507, and SB 756 that you can, with input from grassroots school communities all over California.
READ MORE SIGN THE PETITION: ReformCharterSchools.org

Strong charter school accountability now

Strong Transparency, Accountability, Local Control for Charter Schools



READ MORE SIGN THE PETITION: ReformCharterSchools.org

Strong charter school accountability now
READ MORE SIGN THE PETITION: ReformCharterSchools.org


Strong charter school accountability now
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Sacramento City Teachers to Strike April 11 - California Educator

Sacramento City Teachers to Strike April 11 - California Educator

Sacramento City Teachers to Strike April 11


Sacramento educators will walk off the job and onto picket lines Thursday, April 11, for a one-day strike to force Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) to honor their contract and stop committing illegal actions that hurt students, teachers and the community.

The strike will occur a mere 16 months after Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) and the district reached a historic contract agreement that prioritized students and their learning conditions. Since that time, SCUSD Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the Sac City school board have backtracked on the agreement and engaged in at least 30 unfair labor practices, giving SCTA no choice but to take direct action. SCTA is demanding that Aguilar and school board members keep their promises by honoring the contract and providing lower class sizes and more student supports.

Unless the district suddenly decides to live up to its agreement, Sac City will be the first #RedForEd-era strike in the U.S. over unfair labor practices and a school district reneging on a contract. SCTA says they have been forced to this point by SCUSD’s continued unlawful actions, including:
  • Refusing to honor the collective bargaining agreement approved by both sides in December 2017, which included class-size reductions and increased numbers of school nurses and psychologists, violating the contract;
  • Refusing to meet at reasonable times and places with representatives the educators have elected to have represent them, and attempting to dictate who the teachers have represent them at the bargaining table;
  • Making unilateral and unlawful changes to the wages and working conditions of teachers without bargaining;
  • Failing to send district representatives to the bargaining table who have the authority to negotiate on behalf of the district, rendering bargaining meaningless.



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“Fake News” and Fascism | The Merrow Report

“Fake News” and Fascism | The Merrow Report

“Fake News” and Fascism


Those who shout about “Fake News” and assert that journalists are “The Enemy of the People” are either demagogues and wanna-be dictators, crooks who are trying to cover up their crimes, or people who have been duped.  While the demagogues and crooks are probably beyond redemption, many of those who have been fooled might be open to evidence.  So in that spirit, let’s show them what good journalism looks like; let’s show them how strong independent journalism makes our society function more honestly and more effectively.
With that in mind, I want to ask you to dig into at least some of the following  examples of remarkable reporting in the education space, winners of the 2018 Education Writers Association annual journalism contest.  I had the distinct privilege of being one of the judges.  Below are examples of the very opposite of “Fake News.”  Real news that matters….
1) First, here are three pieces from the Sun-Sentinel in Florida, whose coverage area includes Parkland and Marjory Douglas Stoneman High School.  The first provides a time line that reveals how many adults failed to do their jobs, which meant that more kids died.
2) I have no doubt that you have heard of MS-13, the notorious gang known for its CONTINUE READING: “Fake News” and Fascism | The Merrow Report

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Schools Matter: Big Win Over KIPP in California Privatization Fight

Schools Matter: Big Win Over KIPP in California Privatization Fight

Big Win Over KIPP in California Privatization Fight

Image result for Big Win Over KIPP in California Privatization Fight
Big, big victory in Los Angeles over proposed KIPP mega-charter:


By Jared Hamil |
April 8, 2019
 
Centro CSO press conference announcing defeat of KIPP charter school
Centro CSO press conference announcing defeat of KIPP charter school, victory for public education (Fight Back! News/staff) 
 
Los Angeles, CA - Centro CSO (Community Service Organization) along with teachers, parents and students from several East Area schools announced a historic victory, April 4. After months of struggle, corporate KIPP Promesa Charter school will not be building a new mega-charter school in Boyle Heights, at the location of the former Lincoln Hospital near 4th and Soto Street.

Rosario Bonilla, a mother who lives next to proposed site said, “I’m excited we obtained the victory against KIPP that I know would have affected the lives of my children and my community. Also, I feel proud to say that billionaires can't teach our kids!”

KIPP, which is the United States’ largest charter school corporation, operates in multiple states. In Los Angeles, like many other cities, charter schools are promoted in poor working-class neighborhoods that are primarily Chicano and African American. With the backing of real estate billionaires like Eli Broad, they build new private charter schools that pull students from already existing public schools. As student enrollment from public schools declines, funding also declines, causing layoffs for teachers and support staff. Those jobs are almost always unionized, with good benefits. Charter schools are also a CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Big Win Over KIPP in California Privatization Fight
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Betsy DeVos: “Cut My Department’s Budget, Please!” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos: “Cut My Department’s Budget, Please!” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Betsy DeVos: “Cut My Department’s Budget, Please!”



Usually, members of the President’s Cabinet go before Congress to defend their department’s budget and to explain the good works the department is doing.
Not Secretary DeVos! She went to a Congressional heading to ask the Appropriations Committee to cut her budget.
Much has been made of her plea to zero out federal support for the Special Olympics, which backfired. Not only were the families of 272,000 participants offended but so were the families of many millions of people with disabilities. Trump quickly res indeed the cut, which was a tiny sliver of the ED budget, equivalent to six weekend trips to Mar-a-Lago by Trump.

Many more programs were jeopardized, as Denis Smith writes here.
“In her testimony before the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Tuesday, Betsy DeVos, the anti-public education Secretary of Education, was present to defend $7 billion in proposed cuts to her department. The cuts in the education budget are seen as measures to offset billions in lost revenue from tax breaks for the wealthy that have exploded the federal deficit.
“An examination of Trump’s FY2020 budget shows that the administration is asking to cut the Department of Education’s funding from $71 billion to $64 billion, eliminating 29 programs. In addition to zeroing out popular and proven programs like Special Olympics, which has garnered strong support during its 50-year CONTINUE READING: Betsy DeVos: “Cut My Department’s Budget, Please!” | Diane Ravitch's blog


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Parents' ultimate guide to smart devices | Salon.com

Parents' ultimate guide to smart devices | Salon.com

Parents' ultimate guide to smart devices

Are smart speakers like Google Home and Amazon's Echo OK for kids?


This post originally appeared on Common Sense Media.
Common Sense Media
If a genie were to grant your every household-management wish, you'd waste no time making demands: "Add milk to my grocery list"; "Lock the doors"; "Help my kid with algebra"! The same kind of magic can be had in smart devices -- for a price (in this case, your data). But internet-enabled products aren't going "poof" anytime soon. In fact, more than six in 10 parents say their young kids interact with voice-activated assistants. So if you're weighing the pros and consof products such as smart watches, smart speakers, and even smartphones that track pretty much everything you do, a peek behind the curtain will help you determine whether the benefits to your family are worth it.
This guide tells you all about smart devices -- what they are, what they can do for you and your family, how to use them as safely as possible, and how to protect your family's privacy in a world increasingly powered by data.
What are smart devices?
The "smart" part refers to any device that communicates with other devices over the internet. These types of products can save time, effort, money, and even human life. Smart speakers, such as Google Home and Amazon's Echo, make it easy to play music, get homework help, and make a grocery list. Smart thermostats and lights can reduce your energy bill. And smart medical devices can alert your doctor when your kid's asthma flares up.
How do smart products work?
Unlike "dumb" electronics, smart products use a combination of data and sophisticated software calculations to do what you want them to do. They can take information from a variety of sources, including human voices, sensors that monitor the environment, biometrics (thumbprints and faces), and apps, so every product performs a little differently for each person.
But the biggest difference between smart devices and regular ones are that they need you -- specifically your data -- to customize to your needs. And all that data needs to go somewhere, so it's usually stored in the "cloud" (basically, giant computer servers) out of your sight and mostly out of your CONTINUE READING: Parents' ultimate guide to smart devices | Salon.com
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AFT president Randi Weingarten AND Kamala Harris’ Hair-Raising, Tax-Raising Plan – American Greatness

Kamala Harris’ Hair-Raising, Tax-Raising Plan – American Greatness

Kamala Harris’ Hair-Raising, Tax-Raising Plan


When the American Federation of Teachers endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in July 2015, many teachers were infuriated. The union’s Bernie Sanders supporters justifiably believed they had no role in the decision, which was made a full year before the Democratic National Convention. AFT president Randi Weingarten recently admitted the union would have to overcome some “trust issues” in the wake of that early endorsement, although she took no responsibility for her role in fostering distrust among her members, laughably suggesting that “Russian bots” and the “Bernie camp” could be to blame.
To secure the union’s endorsement this time around, a candidate will be scrutinized thoroughly on policies the union holds dear, including universal healthcare, free college tuition, and killing off charter schools.
Shortly after AFT opened the door to all aspirants in mid-March, candidate Kamala Harris swaggered in with an eye-catching and indeed audacious plan. In the March 25 edition of the Washington Post, the junior senator from California declared: “The United States is facing a teacher pay crisis. Public school teachers earn 11 percent less than professionals with similar educations.” To address the situation, which Harris insists is “creating disastrous consequences,” she wants to give the average teacher a $13,500 raise with states being forced to add $1 to the pot for every $3 the feds throw in.
The extravagant plan would cost taxpayers about $315 billion over the next decade, and that does not include the state “contribution.” Harris claims the money would come from closing loopholes that one-percenters take advantage of.
Needless to say, Randi Weingarten was full of praise. She called the plan “a bold, smart, strategic and decisive proposal that will help make teaching a respected profession by paying teachers a living wage.” The plan could also be popular with voters, as surveys often show that a majority of Americans think educators CONTINUE READING: Kamala Harris’ Hair-Raising, Tax-Raising Plan – American Greatness

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School choice voucher equity and equality are different

School choice voucher equity and equality are different

OPINION: When it comes to vouchers, equity and equality are not the same
Instead of 'uprooting' students, let's help them to 'bloom where they are planted'

Betsy DeVos, the U.S. Secretary of Education, continues to insist that private-school vouchers are the magic wand that the nation can wave to create equity for disadvantaged children — especially disadvantaged children of color.
Last year she proposed to fund vouchers by cutting $1 billion from federal spending on various elements of public K– 12 education, such as after-school programs and teacher preparation. Earlier this year, she floated the idea of a $5 billion tax credit to encourage wealthy philanthropists and corporations to fund scholarships for vouchers.
The core of the voucher idea is, of course, that if disadvantaged children are ever to have equitable opportunities for education, they need to get away from the failing public schools in their neighborhoods and attend more advantageous private schools.
No one would argue against the fundamental contention that a large share of the nation’s low-income families live near failing schools.
It’s also clear that most voucher solutions, one way or another, draw much-needed support away from those schools, which will never be able to address their challenges without additional resources.
What the idea of vouchers has never fully taken into account is that equity and equality are not the same thing, and a shot at attending an independent school is not at all the same thing as an equal chance  CONTINUE READING: School choice voucher equity and equality are different

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CURMUDGUCATION: WV: Lukewarm Charter Baloney and The Questions To Ask

CURMUDGUCATION: WV: Lukewarm Charter Baloney and The Questions To Ask

WV: Lukewarm Charter Baloney and The Questions To Ask


 West Virginia remains one of the untapped market for the ed reformster business, and privatizers are determined to keep hammering away.

The most recent attempt involved a little bit of legislative extortion, as lawmakers tried using teacher raises as the sweetener in a bill intended to finally open West Virginia to both charter schools and education savings accounts (aka vouchers). West Virginia teachers were not only unmoved by this cheap maneuver, but they walked out again in a strike that could best be summarized as "No, seriously, when we walked out that last time, we meant it. Also, we're still paying attention ."

As you might imagine, that was not the end of it. Just this morning, the business editor of the State Journal is floating a warmed-over medley of Charter's Greatest Hits. This matters because after the failure of the omnibus education bill (aka giant poop sandwich), the governor decided that the legislature needed to come back for a special session on education. Said Senate President Mitchell Carmichael, "His call into a special session will give all 134 members of the Legislature the time they need outside of the day-to-day pressures of the regular session to be in their communities meeting face to face with the people who will be most affected by these issues." i'm sure that's it, and not something else like, for instance, a hope that maybe later Certain People won't be paying quite so much attention to what the legislature is up to.

But this morning's editorial is a compendium of chartery baloney fried leftovers. For West Virginians CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: WV: Lukewarm Charter Baloney and The Questions To Ask
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MetWest: Senior Thesis Project (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

MetWest: Senior Thesis Project (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

MetWest: Senior Thesis Project (Part 5)
MetWest is a small California high school (about 160 students in 9-12 grades) located in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). It is part of a network of Big Picture schools in the nation. In a recently built facility housing an elementary school, social service agencies, and a television studio, MetWest’s atrium is spacious with walls covered in photos, posters, each teacher’s advisory students, and upcoming events. Classrooms are on the ground and first floors of this part of the complex.
Demographically, nearly 60 percent of the students are Hispanic, nearly 30 percent African American with the remainder split among  Asian, white, and multiracial students. English Learners comprise just over 20 percent of the students. Nearly 80 percent of the school is eligible for free and reduced lunches.
As one of about 65 Big Picture schools in the nation (the original Met is located in Providence, Rhode Island), MetWest replicates the model with a schedule of three days of academic/advisory classes and two days when students are out of the building working as interns in businesses, public agencies, and places where adults agree to mentor the intern for the quarter. There is an all-school meeting chaired by students that gathers on Fridays. The overall aim of the program is to engage students by putting them “at the center of their own learning.” Or as the literature says:
[Students] would spend considerable time in the community under the tutelage of mentors and they would not be evaluated solely on the basis of standardized tests. Instead, students would be assessed on exhibitions and demonstrations of achievement, on motivation, and on the habits of mind, hand, and heart  – reflecting the real world evaluations and assessments that all of us face in our everyday lives.
As in other Big Picture schools, all MetWest 12th graders must do a Senior CONTINUE READING: MetWest: Senior Thesis Project (Part 5) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

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