Glendale News Press > Columns

Glendale News Press > Columns:

"Before launching into this week’s topic, I want to tie up a few loose ends from last week’s. Part of what I wrote got lopped off due to space limitations, so I’ll just tack it on here. I don’t want to belabor the point, but I would like to finish a point only partially made last Friday.

Just to recap, the state of California and our school district are telling me that my 35 years of service will count for nothing and I will be terminated if I do not acquire a supplementary credential for teaching limited English speakers in my class (which last year amounted to three such students)."

The CLAD (Cross-cultural Language and Academic Development) program offers some good suggestions, but unfortunately they come in the form of mandates, and that will inevitably engender resentment among some of us who have spent the greater part of our lives teaching.

By all means, some of us would ask in our ongoing quest to become better teachers, give us more arrows for our quivers, but let each of us who call ourselves teachers choose which arrows we will use. Like the students we serve, we are individuals, and there is a tendency for some of us to resist being lumped together with all others, as if we were all common dispensaries of information.

The state should have offered, and school districts throughout the state should have demanded, that there be a grandfather clause in this whole thing for those of us who, for whatever the reason, have not found the need to supplement our teaching with “new methodologies.”

13-year-old Oroville girl presents students' school discipline proposal to California Board of Education - Chico Enterprise Record

13-year-old Oroville girl presents students' school discipline proposal to California Board of Education - Chico Enterprise Record:

"OROVILLE -- Tatum Duckett may or may not realize her dream of becoming an astronaut, but she is carving a niche for herself as a budding leader.

Duckett, 13, is student council president at Central Middle School in Oroville. She was one of five teens selected by peers at a conference to speak Wednesday before the California Board of Education in Sacramento.

Addressing the board was the culmination of a five-day conference hosted by the California Association of Student Councils in Sacramento."

Duckett was chosen to represent Central at the conference after speaking with an adviser, filling out an application and submitting an essay.

Duckett was the only student from north of Sacramento who went to the conference, and only one of 12 from a middle school.

Once at the conference, the students were divided into five groups, each with a proposal topic to make to the board.

Duckett's group's topic was discipline and policy. They researched the problem, came up with a solution and drafted a proposal. The long hours each day -- until midnight -- was exhausting, she said, but well worth it.

Schwarzenegger after-school program ties up budget - San Jose Mercury News

Schwarzenegger after-school program ties up budget - San Jose Mercury News:

"SACRAMENTO, Calif.—With California facing another mammoth budget deficit, the state's nonpartisan legislative analyst says voters should reconsider some of the billions of dollars tied up in ballot measures they have approved in recent years.

Among the suggestions from Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor is an after-school measure that costs $550 million a year and helped launch Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career. It is one of many programs contributing to the 'autopilot spending' that the Republican governor and fiscal watchdogs often complain about because the plans were approved by voters without specific funding sources."

Taylor's office this week said California will face a $21 billion deficit over the next year and a half, and $20 billion budget shortfalls each of the next several years.

The office has repeatedly recommended scaling back or repealing Schwarzenegger's after-school initiative, Proposition 49, as the state's fiscal crisis has deepened.

The governor so far has not supported a repeal. Last year, he vetoed a bill that would have placed a measure on the ballot allowing lawmakers to adjust funding for the program, which provides students in kindergarten through ninth grade with after-school tutoring, music, art and physical education. Instead, Schwarzenegger included in his budget proposal an offer to ask voters to cut it by 10 percent.

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - A blow to students

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - A blow to students:

"Higher education is an investment in an individual’s professional and personal development and in the human infrastructure necessary to keep California’s economy competitive. The University of California system’s 30% fee hike is a threat to these goals.

The Board of Regents’ decision is easy to understand given the state’s financial position, but it remains hard to accept due to its impact on students aspiring to a college education.

It can’t be ignored that California has had one of the least expensive public higher education systems in the country. In an effort to close the budget gap, and leading up to this hike, there have been layoffs, furloughs and program and course cancellations to save the system money, but this was not enough. The new analysis of the state deficit, at least $20 billion deeper in the red, is a bad omen for the future"

University of California, Crown Jewel of Education, Struggles With Cuts - NYTimes.com

University of California, Crown Jewel of Education, Struggles With Cuts - NYTimes.com:

"BERKELEY, Calif. — As the University of California struggles to absorb its sharpest drop in state financing since the Great Depression, every professor, administrator and clerical worker has been put on furlough amounting to an average pay cut of 8 percent."

In chemistry laboratories that have produced Nobel Prize-winning research, wastebaskets are stuffed to the brim on the new reduced cleaning schedule. Many students are frozen out of required classes as course sections are trimmed.

And on Thursday, to top it all off, the Board of Regents voted to increase undergraduate fees — the equivalent of tuition — by 32 percent next fall, to more than $10,000. The university will cost about three times as much as it did a decade ago, and what was once an educational bargain will be one of the nation’s higher-priced public universities.

Editorial: Educational exchanges can help Michigan grow | Muskegon Opinion - - MLive.com

Editorial: Educational exchanges can help Michigan grow Muskegon Opinion - - MLive.com:

"A lot of phrases come to mind when you think about Michigan these days, but leader in international education probably isn’t at the top of the list.

A new report, released during International Education Week, says the University of Michigan and Michigan State University are among the national leaders for educational exchange."

The Institute of International Education report, “Open Doors 2009,” listed the University of Michigan as sixth in the nation in the number of international students attending the university in 2008-09. U-M had 5,790 foreign students. The University of Southern California led with 7,482. MSU was 10th with 4,757 foreign students.The state is ranked eighth in the nation with 23,617 foreign students studying at our colleges and universities, an increase of 3.3 percent. Joining U-M and MSU as leading host campuses are Wayne State, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan universities.

The foreign students spent about $592.4 million in Michigan on tuition and living expenses in 2008-09 — a half-billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at.Overall, 671,616 international students attended U.S. colleges, up 8 percent from a year ago. The foreign students mainly chose business and engineering courses and California and New York City were their top destinations.

Students get real-life banking skills at McClatchy High's Golden 1 branch - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Students get real-life banking skills at McClatchy High's Golden 1 branch - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Coming soon to a high school near you: the local bank.

It's still rare, but a number of high schools – from Sacramento to Milwaukee – are opening their doors to financial institutions. Tucked behind the cafeteria or squeezed into former offices and storage rooms, these mini-branches are aimed at instilling real-world job skills in students, as well as promoting financial literacy – and a bank's brand – among teens and their families."

Gov. Schwarzenegger taps new source of funding for education

Gov. Schwarzenegger explores new source of funding for education

shame on us california

UC Regents OK Student Fee Increase - Education News Story - KCRA Sacramento

UC Regents OK Student Fee Increase - Education News Story - KCRA Sacramento:

"LOS ANGELES -- University of California students will get a much larger tuition bill next year.

The Board of Regents on Thursday approved a 32 percent increase in undergraduate student fees, despite protests by hundreds of demonstrators outside the regents' meeting at UCLA.

By next fall, undergraduate fees will be boosted by $2,500, sending the average annual education cost at a UC campus to more than $10,000. That's triple the amount from a decade ago."

Regents said they had to raise fees because the cash-strapped state government can't meet the university's funding needs.

The decision came as hundreds of students chanted and marched outside the meeting hall to protest the measure. Some students also took over another UCLA building and chained the doors shut.

Police in riot gear kept an eye on the protesters.

Davis, UCLA Students Protest UC Fee Hikes, Vote Expected Today | News10.net | Sacramento, California | News

Davis, UCLA Students Protest UC Fee Hikes, Vote Expected Today News10.net Sacramento, California News:

"DAVIS, CA - UC Davis students angry over a UC Regents plan to raise tuition fees by 32 percent staged a loud protest Thursday, railing against university administration.
Nearly 100 protesters chanted and carried signs inside UCD's Olson Hall around 11 a.m. Thursday.

Despite complaints about the noise, the demonstration was mostly peaceful and no arrests were made.

Under the proposed hike, undergraduate student tuition will cost more than $10,000, not including room, board and books. Some students at UC Davis said they won't be able to afford to return next semester if the fees increase.

'I feel like some people will actually go back to community college to get rid of all their general education,' said UC Davis sophomore Alison More."

The DC VOICE Ostrich

The DC VOICE Ostrich:


"U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Listening Tour makes a stop at DC VOICE’s final meeting as part of the Ready Schools Project District-Wide

Washington, DC— In Ward 5, Luke C. Moore Academy Senior High School will be the setting for DC VOICE’s final town hall meeting of the November Ready Schools Project Town Hall Series, with the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joining the conversation. The Secretary has been touring the nation on a Listening and Learning tour to meet with members of various communities, and has chosen DC VOICE’s Ward 5 town hall as a way to engage D.C. community members’ thoughts and concerns regarding public education in the District."

The Ready Schools Project Town Hall Series kicked off in Ward 4 on November 9th with Councilmember Bowser and State Board member Sekou Biddle. The Ward 6 town hall on November 10th included Councilmember Tommy Wells and State Board President Lisa Raymond.

And this past Saturday, November 14th, Councilmember Yvette Alexander and State Board member Dorothy Douglas joined us for our Ward 7 and 8 town hall. During her remarks at the Ward 7 and 8 town hall, Councilmember Alexander proclaimed, “I take the information DC VOICE provides seriously…[w]hen I hear from DC VOICE, it truly is the voice of the residents in D.C.”

These town hall meetings allow community members to learn current school data collected through DC VOICE’s 6th Annual Ready Schools Project where over 100 school principals were interviewed by almost 200 trained community members. Secretary Duncan will be on hand to discuss federal education initiatives, and will join the smaller breakout table discussions during the town hall meeting.

He will also be joined by Ward 5 Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., the Ward 5 Council on Education, as well as other education groups in the District as co-hosts for this meeting.

Palo Alto Struggles After Rash of Teen Train Suicides - ABC News

Palo Alto Struggles After Rash of Teen Train Suicides - ABC News

A cluster of violent teen suicides in an affluent California town has officials scrambling to figure out why four kids from the same high school took their own lives and how to prevent others from doing the same.

The town of Palo Alto, Calif., is struggling to help it's children after four Gunn High School teens in the last six months have comitted suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming train.(ABC News)

The death of a 16-year-old boy Monday night in Palo Alto was believed to be the fourth suicide of a Gunn High School student since May. In all four cases, the teenagers jumped into the path of an oncoming commuter train operated by Caltrain.

"Parents are eager for information," said Joan Baran, clinical services director of the Children's Health Council in Palo Alto. "I think parents are wanting to know what they can do."

Information about the teenagers and the particulars of their deaths are being closely guarded by school and police officials who fear a public spectacle will only encourage more unstable students to take their lives.

"It's very difficult and it's very sensitive," Caltrain spokeswoman Tasha Bartholomew said today.

The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture | Race to Nowhere

The Dark Side of America’s Achievement Culture Race to Nowhere

Sacramento Press / Good Advice for Young Women

Sacramento Press / Good Advice for Young Women:

"The California Governor and First Lady's Conference on Women, now known simply as The Women's Conference, is the nation's premier forum for women.
The goal of the Women's Conference is to transform women inside and out - and then empower them to help transform our world as Architects of Change.

I attended the Women's Conference, spoke with Leaders, and asked them what advice they have for young Women to be successful in life. Check out my video."

Folsom Cordova Unified Prepares for School Closures | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News

Folsom Cordova Unified Prepares for School Closures News10.net Sacramento, California Local News:

"RANCHO CORDOVA, CA - To help deal with a 10-million-dollar budget shortfall next year, the Folsom Cordova Unified School District says it needs to close schools.
Monday night was the last of 2 school closure forums.

Parents, students, and staff packed into a school auditorium to listen to the different proposals. The most prominent recommendation so far, to close two schools in Rancho Cordova-- Cordova Lane and Riverview Elementary schools. Another school was also discussed-- Williamson Elementary School.

The district says the school closures are in the Rancho Cordova area this year because that's where the most significant decline in enrollment is. The district will also be looking at the Folsom area schools next year."

State Budget Deficit Now Projected at $21 Billion | California Progress Report

State Budget Deficit Now Projected at $21 Billion California Progress Report:

"Despite massive permanent spending cuts and some temporary tax increases made this past year, California’s budget shortfall is projected to swell to $21 billion by June 30, 2011, the end of the 2010-2011 State Budget year in a new report issued this morning by the Legislative Analyst Office – the non-partisan agency that reviews and monitors budget issues for the Legislature.

Adding to the bad news, the report also projects continued budget shortfalls of billions of dollars for the next several years especially when federal stimulus dollars and revenues from the temporary tax increases end."

The Educated Guess » Career academies, where a-g and job training meet

The Educated Guess » Career academies, where a-g and job training meet

Career academies, where a-g and job training meet

Posted in A to G Curriculum

The polarized arguments were familiar this week at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation forum in San Jose on a-g, the set of 15 courses required for admission to a four-year state school.

The establishment of a-g as a district’s default curriculum has opened up opportunities for students who never imagined themselves college-capable. If instituted with academic supports for struggling students, an a-g curriculum will not lead to a higher dropout rate but will offer more students, especially minority children, higher level courses. That’s been the San Jose Unified experience, Linda Murray, the former superintendent who instituted a-g, said. Making a-g standard could avoid what Neal Finkelstein, a senior researcher at WestEd, described as the “heartbreak” of many seniors who discover they’re a few credits short of being eligible to go to college.

The spread of a-g has narrowed the academic curriculum, San Jose State engineering professor Seth Bates said, and all but destroyed once-thriving career technical education programs that gave students hard skills for real jobs in electronics, construction and manufacturing. A-g has not contributed to a higher rate of college attendance and graduation. It has led to more than half of high school students entering the workforce unprepared, without skills.

But Finkelstein and other speakers also agreed it’s a false dichotomy.

Phantom districts in Texas receive millions in 'stimulus' | Texas on the Potomac | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Phantom districts in Texas receive millions in 'stimulus' Texas on the Potomac Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"According to the Obama administration's latest count, the President's economic stimulus package has created 45 jobs in Texas' 58th congressional district and 30 jobs in the state's 91st district.

The White House's recovery.gov web site declares that Texas' 52nd district received exactly $8,937,289 in stimulus funds, while the 68th district has had precisely $310,963 funneled into it.

Trouble is, none of these congressional districts exist."

In its latest computer glitch, the Obama administration's much-ballyhooed accounting system for the $1.2 trillion stimulus law detailed government spending in 39 congressional districts in Texas -- a state that, in reality, has 32 congressional districts. More than $14 million in mystery money is attributed to seven phantom congressional districts, including the mysterious and fictional District 00.

Nationally, the recovery.gov site has mistakenly attributed $6.4 billion in stimulus spending to 440 non-existent districts in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and even four American territories, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan government oversight group watchdog.org.

What Made Michelle Obama Anxious and Nervous -- Politics Daily

What Made Michelle Obama Anxious and Nervous -- Politics Daily:

"First Lady Michelle Obama revisited a stressful period of her youth on Monday, opening up to teen girls at a Denver mentoring event when asked about her views of standardized testing.

Mrs. Obama used the question to talk about her own insecurities and anxieties about taking tests, focusing on her time as a high school student in Chicago.

It's well known that Mrs. Obama was a high achiever. She went to a top public high school with selective enrollment, then to Princeton, and then to Harvard Law School. However, a continuing theme when she talks about her life is how she had her own struggles to achieve success."

Accountable Talk: Randi Reduhhhhx

Accountable Talk: Randi Reduhhhhx:

"In a stunning move that shows how much Michael Mulgrew learned from Randi Weingarten, the UFT delegate assembly today authorized the union to file for an impasse. That means, of course, that the union can send the matter to PERB to try to hammer out a settlement.

This is the same process by which, if you recall, we worked out the wonderful 2005 contract, where we gave away just about all our hard earned contractual rights in order to have a longer school day. It wasn't all a disaster, however. In exchange for 6% more time, we got a 6% raise. Yessir, those Unity types are really on the ball."