Police Reform and School Reform (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Police Reform and School Reform (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Police Reform and School Reform (Part 2)

Public schools and police departments are core community institutions. Locally controlled, there are 18,000 police departments and over 13,000 school districts in the U.S. State legislatures and city councils levy taxes to fund these institutions. One is charged to protect and serve; the other to make responsible citizens, prepare the young for the workplace, and gain success in life. Both are crucial to the political, economic and social life of their communities.

Yet well-intentioned reformers ignore obvious similarities and differences between the two. There are, for example, historical similarities. While both tax-supported police departments and public schools began in the early decades of the 19th century and became mired in the political patronage of post-Civil War decades, the early 20th century saw Progressive reformers ending political appointments and pushing for professionalized policing and teaching.

The commonalities end there, however. The model to which police chiefs in those decades aspired to was a command-and-control organization similar to the military. Hierarchical and bureaucratic, orders flowed from the top down to the ranks of patrolmen. While police officers had street-level discretion to, say, give a warning or arrest an errant driver of a car, they had sergeants and captains who supervised their conforming to regulations.

Not so for public schools and teachers. With the move to professionalize teaching an individual medical model of helping and caring, of turning children into healthy adults became the lodestar. A well-trained and autonomous doctor CONTINUE READING: Police Reform and School Reform (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Diane Ravitch in conversation with Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

Diane Ravitch in conversation with Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

DIANE RAVITCH IN CONVERSATION WITH JULIAN VASQUEZ HEILIG

Last night I had a chance to sit down with Diane Ravitch on Zoom and discuss what should be next for the US public education system.

 

A ponderous Diane Ravitch

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Check out and follow my YouTube channel here.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

Diane Ravitch in conversation with Julian Vasquez Heilig | Cloaking Inequity

NYC Public School Parents: Send a letter TODAY to NYC Council Speaker & leaders that school budgets must be increased, not cut

NYC Public School Parents: Send a letter TODAY to NYC Council Speaker & leaders that school budgets must be increased, not cut

Send a letter TODAY to NYC Council Speaker & leaders that school budgets must be increased, not cut

Please send a letter to the Speaker Johnson today and the Education and Finance Council chairs to say that the DOE budget should NOT be cut next year, as the Mayor has proposed; but instead, school funding should be increased so they can hire more teachers, counselors, nurses, custodial staff as well as purchasing the supplies to ensure that our children can go back to school safely next year and with the full academic and social-emotional support they will need.

The City Council is in the final stretches of negotiating a city budget for next year. Meanwhile, the Mayor proposed a 3% cut in the overall DOE budget next year, with more than $280 million of cuts directed towards schools. And yet it is clear that schools will need more funding not less next year to create the health and safety precautions, as well as the smaller classes needed for social distancing and enhanced instruction.

A recent cost analysis from the School Superintendents Association and the Association of School Business Officials shows that school districts can expect to spend an additional $490 per student just to purchase hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and other cleaning supplies, gloves, masks and other personal protective equipment, and hiring additional custodial staff and nurses to ensure health and safety. Given that NYC has more than one million public school students, that means that nearly $490 million alone may be required.

And that’s not counting the additional teachers necessary to provide instruction either remotely or in-person, and extra counselors to offer the emotional support, so critical given the disruption and distress that so many students have experienced during the Covid pandemic.

While Council members announced that while they are intent on negotiating a $1 billion cut to the police budget, they hadn’t yet decided where the savings would go. Clearly a big chunk will be directed to restore cuts to the summer youth jobs, but a large portion should go directly toward schools to pay for additional teachers, counselors and other staffing, as well as health and safety measures that will be critical for NYC school children next year.

Please send a letter now by clicking here, before it’s too late.

Thanks!


NYC Public School Parents: Send a letter TODAY to NYC Council Speaker & leaders that school budgets must be increased, not cut

In the Public Interest: Charter Schools in Oakland Are Tapping into Coronavirus Relief Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

In the Public Interest: Charter Schools in Oakland Are Tapping into Coronavirus Relief Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

In the Public Interest: Charter Schools in Oakland Are Tapping into Coronavirus Relief Funds

The nonprofit, nonpartisan “In the Public Interest” joined forces with Parents United for Public Schools in Oakland to investigate whether charter schools in that city were double-dipping, taking public school money and also taking federal funds intended for small businesses. Their conclusion: Oakland charters have collected close to $19 million that was intended for small businesses.

Their joint report begins:

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused immense job loss, social isolation, and economic hardship. Despite falling short of what’s truly needed, both the federal government and state governments have provided relief through a number of programs, such as the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which is directed at small businesses in an effort to maintain employment.
Other programs have provided relief to public entities, including public schools. However, some charter schools—which are publicly funded but privately managed—have applied for and received PPP loans despite having no loss in public funding.1 This data brief examines PPP funding within the boundaries of just one public school district in California, the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and finds that Oakland’s charter schools have received a total of at least $18,909,300 in loans from the PPP.

 The crisis has made clear that public schools are a CONTINUE READING: In the Public Interest: Charter Schools in Oakland Are Tapping into Coronavirus Relief Funds | Diane Ravitch's blog

What we do — and don’t — know about schools reopening for fall - The Washington Post

What we do — and don’t — know about schools reopening for fall - The Washington Post

It’s mid-June and schools still aren’t sure how they will open for 2020-21. Here’s why — and what’s likely to happen.

It’s mid-June and most school district superintendents still haven’t announced exactly what schools will look like when they open for the 2020-21 school year. In many places, reopening will be in August, which doesn’t give them a lot of time to decide and put the plans in motion.

But we do know that just about every aspect of schooling will be different than it has been in the past. Protective measures will be in place to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, and a “hybrid” model of in-person and remote learning will become commonplace in many, if not most, districts.

In California, for example, the state Education Department recently issued guidance calling for the implementation of a hybrid, or blended, instructional model in all K-12 districts.

Virginia Education Secretary Atif Qarni said recently that he envisions some combination of remote and in-school learning, with in-school learning most necessary for students with special needs, young children, English-language learners and other at-risk students.

In Ohio, some districts have informed the state they plan to use blended learning.

And many colleges and universities throughout the country that have declared that they are welcoming students back to campus envision a hybrid model, with students doing some classes in their dorms and others in front of a teacher.

Masks required and fewer parties (allegedly): What college will look like this fall

According to a new survey by AASA, the School Superintendents Association, 94 percent of K-12 superintendents nationwide indicated that they are not ready to announce when schools will reopen and exactly how they will do it.

Part of the holdup in making decisions is uncertainty about how serious the coronavirus crisis will be in their communities when it is time for school to start — especially with infection rates rising now in a significant number of states. Reported coronavirus cases have topped 2.1 million in the United States. CONTINUE READING: What we do — and don’t — know about schools reopening for fall - The Washington Post

Staff at Success Academy Complain about Eva Moskowitz’s Insensitivity to Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog

Staff at Success Academy Complain about Eva Moskowitz’s Insensitivity to Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog

Staff at Success Academy Complain about Eva Moskowitz’s Insensitivity to Racism 

A teacher at the acclaimed Success Academy charter chain in New York City publicly complained about Eva Moskowitz’s silence after the murder of George Floyd.

Alex Zimmerman of Chalkbeat reported:

Four days after the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police, a Brooklyn Success Academy teacher emailed her network’s CEO, one of the nation’s most prominent charter school leaders, asking why she hadn’t said anything publicly.

“I am deeply hurt and shocked by your lack of words on the topic that affects so many of your employees, children and families in communities that you serve,” first-year Success Academy Flatbush teacher Fabiola St Hilaire wrote to Eva Moskowitz. “All of your black employees are paying attention to your silence.”

 Moskowitz responded about an hour later, thanking St Hilaire for reaching out but also brushing her aside. “I actually opined on this subject early this am. Please take a look,” Moskowitz wrote, referring to a tweet sent the same morning. “I hope you can understand that running remote learning in the middle of a world economic CONTINUE READING: Staff at Success Academy Complain about Eva Moskowitz’s Insensitivity to Racism | Diane Ravitch's blog

Arrested Development: How Police Ended Up in Schools – Have You Heard

Arrested Development: How Police Ended Up in Schools – Have You Heard

Arrested Development: How Police Ended Up in Schools

Have You Heard had a question: how did cops end up in US public schools in the first place? To find the answer, we head to Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago. With the aid of a trio of experts—historians Matt Kautz, Judith Kafka, and Louis Mercer—we learn about what prompted the entry of police into each city’s schools. And some common themes emerge, including the criminalization of student demands for racial justice and equity, and an increasing antagonism between white teachers and Black and Brown students in 1960’s America.  Complete transcript available here. The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon or donate on PayPal.

Have You Heard · #91 Arrested Development: How Police Ended Up in Schools

Arrested Development: How Police Ended Up in Schools – Have You Heard

Leaders of the New School - LA Progressive

Leaders of the New School - LA Progressive

Leaders of the New School

Photo: Courtesy Wade Kyle

Tuesday marked the first day of summer vacation and I took to the streets to march for student rights. I drove to Miguel Contras Learning Center in Los Angeles, expecting to hear UTLA’s new president, Cecily Myart Cruz, speak on defunding the police. Something entirely different took place.

I saw people of all ages in the crowd—Whites, Blacks, LatinX, old and young, crowding the downtown streets on a muggy Tuesday. Many came with homemade signs calling for social change. A sea of homemade art flooded the street with progressive messages: “Defund the Police,” “Black Lives Matter,” “End Systematic Racism.” UTLA president Cecily Myart Cruz and former UTLA president Alex Caputo Perl, both great public speakers in their own rights, were in attendance; however, it was Sarah who stole the show. (UTLA is the United Teachers of Los Angeles, an increasingly progressive and powerful teachers union.)

While many adults with fancy job titles and credentials argue over how to defund police programs in schools, these students and the stories they had to tell most clearly articulated the issue.

Sarah Djato is a 16-year-old Dorsey High graduate. Let me say it again: Sarah Daito is a 16-year-old high school graduate. She and many other students came from LA’s Crenshaw district—the heart of Black LA—to speak about their experiences in high school. While many adults with fancy job titles and credentials argue over how to defund police programs in schools, these students and the stories they had to tell most clearly articulated the issue.

Sarah spoke about a time when a fight broke out on her campus last year. The school police responded with pepper spray that hit her friends on their way to class. She said the police sprayed everyone in the area, regardless of who was actually fighting. In fact, the Los Angeles School Police Department (LASPD) confirmed the incident in a report to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). A LAUSD spokesperson said there were 34 documented uses of pepper spray out of 188 total use-of-force incidents over the last three years. This overly aggressive approach demonstrates why we cannot trust police to shape the lives of our youth.

Sarah stated, “There are many other ways to take care of situations like fights that happen on our CONTINUE READING: Leaders of the New School - LA Progressive

‘It’s just way too much to take on’: School systems struggle with the politics of reopening - POLITICO

‘It’s just way too much to take on’: School systems struggle with the politics of reopening - POLITICO

‘It’s just way too much to take on’: School systems struggle with the politics of reopening
Governors promise to put kids back in class in a matter of weeks, but school officials are largely stuck navigating the messy details.

School superintendents and principals are staring at an impossible equation.

Governors are promising to put kids back in classrooms in a matter of weeks, but it’s mostly school officials stuck navigating the messy details of how to keep students and teachers safe and win over skeptical parents, while dealing with a budget crisis that is forcing layoffs and other cuts.

In California, six major school districts warned state lawmakers that proposed budget cuts could delay the fall semester. And in New Jersey, superintendents are trashing the state’s “inappropriate” guidance for in-person summer programs. The head of the Massachusetts Teachers Association said the governor’s plan to require children to bring their own masks will punish low-income students and communities of color.

“I mean, it’s like it's a lose-lose situation,” said Dan Domenech, who runs AASA, The School Superintendents Association. ”You have parents that are demanding the schools to open. And then you have parents that are saying, we're not going to send our kids to school. You have teachers that are saying we're not going to go back to work. Districts that are saying, with these budget cuts, we're going to have to lay off teachers.

“It's just, this is unbelievable.”

Most principals understand they’ll be opening with a mix of in-person and remote learning, but they don’t have a clear idea of how that will happen, said Bob Farrace, of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. “Right now, principals are flying blind with only very high, top-level guidance on what the reopening of school is going to look like,” he said.

Economic recovery in large part depends on kids returning to school so parents can get back to work. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he expects a full reopening of schools in the fall, though his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos concedes some classes may have to remain online — even though virtual classes have been a bust in many places.

Other countries don’t offer a clear direction. Austria, Denmark and Germany CONTINUE READING: ‘It’s just way too much to take on’: School systems struggle with the politics of reopening - POLITICO

Russ on Reading: Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Assessment

Russ on Reading: Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Assessment

Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Assessment

In order to help a child become better at reading, a teacher needs to have a handle on what the child knows and is able to do. All learning builds on prior learning, so a good clear idea of a child's understanding at the point where instruction begins is clearly a priority. This information is not readily available from standardized tests, inventories, checklists, speed reading trials, nonsense word lists, or anything else that purports to tell us what students know about reading. This information is available to us from listening to a child read, watching the child write, and talking with the child about books and reading.

To the extent that we can set up our classroom so that there are frequent opportunities to interact with children around text, we are setting up a classroom to formatively assess children. As teachers then, we can design instruction that builds on students strengths, using those strengths to help them improve on their weaknesses. The teacher is constantly asking, "What can this child do? What does this child need to be able to do next? How can what the child can already do help us get there?

This is what assessment for reading improvement is about. Assessment is not some abstract score on a DIBELs scoresheet or Big Standardized Test, it is the formative assessment that takes place daily in the classroom. In the CONTINUE READING: Russ on Reading: Instruction for the Vulnerable Reader: Assessment

CURMUDGUCATION: Rebecca Friedrichs Still Hates The Teachers Unions

CURMUDGUCATION: Rebecca Friedrichs Still Hates The Teachers Unions

Rebecca Friedrichs Still Hates The Teachers Unions

In 2014, Rebecca Friedrichs, after twenty-some years in the classroom, decided to go ahead and be the face of a lawsuit that would be derailed when Justice Scalia died. The court would eventually get to take their shot at unions with the Janus case. But while Friedrichs may have lost a lawsuit, she did manage to launch a career as a far-right Christianist spokesperson. She has done plenty of work for other folks, while pushing her own group, For Kids and Country.

If you want to catch a full catalog of the many people she objects to, you can catch her latest op-ed in the Washington Times, the right-wing outlet.

Yeah, this lady.

She's casting a wide net here, and she's come up with more old boots than actual fish. She starts by going after the 1619 Project and Black Lives Matter. She does the standard nod to black lives while still All Lives Mattering it ("Again, don’t get me wrong. Black lives do matter! Indeed, every human life is sacred.") At the same time, she wants you to know that Black Lives Matter are Very Naughty:

But the organization named Black Lives Matter is not what it claims to be. Like the unions, it’s a Trojan horse of anti-American, anti-family beliefs masquerading as defenders of good.

Friedrichs needs to bring up the union because they are part of this whole anti-American plot. She notes that some historians disputed the project, but not the NEA.

Instead, the NEA coordinated directly with The New York Times, the Pulitzer Center, Southern CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Rebecca Friedrichs Still Hates The Teachers Unions

antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented #DEFENDDACA

antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented

Defend DACA And All Undocumented

Editor’s Note: On Monday morning, Latino Rebels received the following open letter for publication. It has since been published on Medium by the organizers who drafted the letter and gathered signatures.

On the eighth anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, we’re releasing this open letter to the immigrant rights movement with a clear demand: not a single person or organization should use the rescission of DACA to seek compromises that further fund any immigration enforcement in exchange for relief for some of us. Do not sell out immigrant communities.

We are a group of DACA recipients, undocumented or formerly undocumented allies with more than ten years of experience and knowledge rooted in organizing and community work. Our politics have expanded and shifted beyond our own lived experiences.

The immigrant rights movement must also commit to fighting for justice for all communities of color, including Black communities—who are disproportionately impacted by deportations. We believe that this is the right moment to echo the Black Lives Movement’s demand to defund the police and be clear that we must also abolish ICE.

Contrary to popular belief, President Obama didn’t announce DACA out of the goodness of his heart. Undocumented immigrant youth and our CONTINUE READING: antiracismdsa: Defend DACA And All Undocumented

Free Statewide Online Suicide Prevention Training - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Free Statewide Online Suicide Prevention Training - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Free Statewide Online Suicide Prevention Training Program

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced today that the California Department of Education (CDE), in collaboration with the San Diego County Office of Education, is launching a free online suicide prevention training program available to middle and high school staff and students throughout the state.

“The COVID-19 pandemic not only disrupted the academic lives of our students and families, but it may have contributed to emotional and mental health challenges that some of our students struggle with,” said Thurmond. “It is important that students know that they have someone to turn to within their school community when they are feeling overwhelmed. Providing this specialized training to school staff and peers can not only be utilized to support students in crisis during the critical time we are in now, but any time a student is feeling despondent, stressful, and alone.”

The funding for the program was secured by Assemblymember Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park) and included in Assembly Bill 1808, which was passed in 2018.

“One of my biggest highlights of 2018 was securing $1.7 million dollars to fund online suicide prevention training for California middle and high school staff and students," said Assemblymember Berman. "I'm thankful that the training program is being launched across the state, particularly during this challenging and unprecedented time. As students cope with school closures and isolation, it's absolutely critical that administrators, teachers, and students know what to look for and how to respond to help prevent youth suicide.”

The online training program is called LivingWorks Start, an evidence-based program that is aligned with CDE’s Model Youth Suicide Prevention Policy to address the needs of high-risk populations. According to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages ten to twenty-four. For every youth who dies by suicide, an estimated 100 to 200 young people make suicide attempts.

“One thing that’s increasingly recognized in suicide prevention efforts is that you have to engage large numbers of people,” says Rick Trimp, president of LivingWorks. “When students are thinking about suicide, they’re likely to confide in a peer or a trusted teacher. Having students and teachers trained to recognize when someone is struggling and connect them to further help empowers the whole school community to come together and support those at risk.”

The San Diego County Office of Education was selected through a competitive application by the CDE to lead the effort and make the training available to local educational agencies (LEAs) through their respective county office of education. LEAs can choose to incorporate the program as an additional resource to an existing youth suicide prevention policy.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all solution,” said Dr. Paul Gothold, San Diego County Superintendent of Schools. “By working with all 58 county offices of education to distribute this online training to their areas of greatest need, we are honoring the expertise, resources, and needs of each community.”

The program will be rolled out in two phases, with school site staff trained first and students trained during the second phase, which will take place in September. Having trained school personnel in place will allow students to receive the proper support when they go through the program and will help them be better equipped to support students who may be experiencing thoughts of suicide. Some of the training topics include how to recognize when someone is having suicidal thoughts, intervention strategies, and connections to support services.

For questions or more information, visit the San Diego County Office of Education’s Student Support Services web page or email Program Specialist Heather Nemour at heather.nemour@sdcoe.net.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Free Statewide Online Suicide Prevention Training - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Special Education Paraeducators Navigate Distance Learning - NEA Today

Special Education Paraeducators Navigate Distance Learning - NEA Today

Special Education Paraeducators Navigate Distance Learning

Whitney Barber, a special education paraprofessional at Middlebury Union Middle School in Middlebury, Vermont, admits she’s a worrier by nature. But her worries about her students and the COVID-19 pandemic are a constant cascade.

“I worry about all of the children and the unknown traumas; what their daily life is like stuck at home, especially since not all of them are in an environment where they should be 24/7,” she says. “But for our special education students, the ones who need consistency to function, who rely on the safety of a school routine, I worry about the suddenness and uncertainty of these past months and the impact it’s had. I worry how they’ve been coping.”

Barber feels that she and her colleagues will be able to meet the students where they are when they return, but nobody knows exactly how much will be lost. Educators agree that there will be a significant “COVID slide,” and that it will be particularly steep for special education students and low-income students.

All students benefit from face-to-face interactions, but Barber says her students need it. She works with 7^th and 8^th grade students with special needs, some of whom are on the autism spectrum, a few of whom are nonverbal.

“They respond to our smiles and words of encouragement, our gestures, facial CONTINUE READING: Special Education Paraeducators Navigate Distance Learning - NEA Today