No Pools For Schools « PWC Education Reform Blog

No Pools For Schools « PWC Education Reform Blog:

No Pools For Schools

by pwceducationreform

I spent most of my childhood swimming.  Springboard pool in Springfield was my home, from early mornings at swim team practice to afternoons lounging around the pool. I remember the frozen hair after leaving practice in the winter and the chlorine smell that permeated everything I owned.  One of the girls I swam with, Susie Rapp, received a silver medal in the 1984 Olympics for the 100 meter breaststroke.  I swam on our neighborhood and high school teams until I turned 16, got a job, and discovered boys, though not necessarily in that order.

Why am I talking about swimming on a blog about education?  Because PWCS intends to include a pool in their plans for the 12th high school that will be built in mid-county near the Kelly Center.

I grew up swimming and can’t imagine what my life would have been without it.  I understand and respect the importance of swimming as a team sport and something you do for fun.

But……

Last year

Glendale Unified, police settle suit over racial profiling - latimes.com

Glendale Unified, police settle suit over racial profiling - latimes.com:

Glendale Unified, police settle suit over racial profiling

The ACLU of Southern California announced Wednesday that it had reached settlements with the city of Glendale and the Glendale Unified School District on behalf of eight Latino students who alleged that officials engaged in racial profiling and illegal searches during a 2010 incident at Hoover High School.
On Sept. 24, 2010, more than 50 Latino students were allegedly detained by Glendale and Los Angeles police officers who questioned them about possible gang affiliations. The students were also allegedly forced to pose for mock police mug shots.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in 2011, the ACLU alleged that officials targeted Latino students because of their race and that there was no evidence students were violating laws at the time they were 

School Tech Connect: Call Madigan

School Tech Connect: Call Madigan:

Call Madigan

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)

Tomorrow is call/fax Mike Madigan day. I believe we're also calling our representatives and senators. For me the morning will begin with a short, pleasant call to Madigan, followed by a better, more hopeful call to Kelly Cassidy. I will think very carefully before calling my senator, given that I have called on her to resign on more than one occasion.

Rep. Michael J. Madigan(D-Chicago)
22nd DistrictDistrict Office
6500 South Pulaski Road
Chicago, IL 60629
(773) 581-8000
(773) 581-9414 (fax)
Capitol Office 
300 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-5350

In a nutshell, Madigan won't even meet with the We Are One Coalition, which has already bargained away a 2% increase in employee pension contribution. The coalition has called for a summit. 

Dumbly, the We Are One people made the mistake of identifying themselves in their invitation to Madigan. Had they pretended to be even lowly interns at CME, he would have accepted and taken everyone to lunch.  The day would have ended with unsolicited offers of tax loopholes, and possibly a few mil might have magically appeared into a bill earmarked for one of Juan Rangel's jowls, which have their own 503c designation at this point. 

The entire Illinois Democratic establishment gets its taxation briefs from the Illinois Policy Institute, which opposes the Obama agenda, for one thing,  so it isn't surprising that the Speaker doesn't want to meet with labor. Jonah Edeleman explained how it works: basically wealthy people and corporations can now outspend labor. Hence the Madigan middle finger.  

I have such a great Mike Madigan story, but alas I cannot tell it in print because it puts another government person in a spot. However, it's weird, funny, and actually a little creepy; if you ever see me in a beverage-dispensing establishment, ask for the story. 

Council of the Great City Schools / Council of the Great City Schools - Homepage

Council of the Great City Schools / Council of the Great City Schools - Homepage:

• Read the January/February edition of the Urban Educator
• PRESS RELEASE: Statement on the Passing of Arlene Ackerman by the Council of the Great City Schools
• PRESS RELEASE: Thousands of Educators Nationwide Taking Advantage of Resource to Help Urban School Districts Implement New Standards
• NEWS RELEASE:  New Common Core Academic Standards Advancing in Nation's Urban School Districts, Report Shows
• NEW REPORT:  Implementing the Common Core State Standards in Urban Public Schools - 2012
• PRESS RELEASE: New Report Provides Solutions for Black Male Achievement In a Call for Change
• NEW REPORT: A Call for Change: Providing Solutions for Black Male Achievement is now available in ebook format.
• NEW REPORT: Improving Middle School Achievement in the Norfolk Public Schools
• PRESS RELEASE: Urban Schools Coalition Calls for Fully Balanced Budget Deal With Both New Revenue, Entitlement Reform To Avert 'Fiscal Cliff'
• NEW REPORT: Impact of Sequestration on the Nation's Urban Public Schools
more

Daily Kos: Rebranding

Daily Kos: Rebranding:

Rebranding

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

as we listen to all the blather about Republican attempts to rebrand their party, it usually phrased in terms of taking an established product and presenting it in a different way, sometimes to differentiate it from competitors, in other cases to reintroduce the potential market to get them to reconsider the product or service.
But there is an older and far more sinister use of the term, dating back to the last century and the American frontier.  Remember the way one demonstrated ownership of certain livestock, especially cattle but also horses, was to brand them with a symbolic representation of one's ownership.
While it was appropriate to re-brand previously branded livestock when one purchased same -  and it is in fact required by some current regulations - to rebrand livestock one has not legally obtained was and is illegal, and represents a fraud on those to whom the rebranded livestock is presented for sale - the rebrander does not in that case own what s/he is attempting to sell.
It seems to me that the current Republican attempts are more akin to the latter case.  Only now they are not 

Enon Tabernacle seeks to counter 'top-down' approach to Philly school closings | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Enon Tabernacle seeks to counter 'top-down' approach to Philly school closings | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Enon Tabernacle seeks to counter 'top-down' approach to Philly school closings

by thenotebook on Feb 06 2013 Posted in Latest news

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Reverend Dr. Alyn E. Waller is the senior pastor at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Mt. Airy.

By Benjamin Herold for NewsWorks, a Notebook news partner

Add Alyn Waller, the influential pastor of the 15,000-member Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Northwest Philadelphia, to the growing chorus of critics questioning the School District's plan to close 37 city schools by next fall.

"I am not in favor of school closings without merit and without data to support such a drastic decision," said Waller.

Waller believes that some "rightsizing" of the city's public school system is necessary. But he doesn't think the district has made its case for many of the specific school closings that have been proposed.  He's upset saying the communities that will be affected by the dramatic changes have not been properly

February FMP meetings scheduled

by thenotebook

The School District has scheduled six more community meetings around school closings for next week. These meetings will focus on individual schools or groups of schools involved in closure and relocation.
They will take place next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
read more

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Kinder, Gentler Michelle Rhee? Don't Count On It

Seattle Schools Community Forum: A Kinder, Gentler Michelle Rhee? Don't Count On It:

A Kinder, Gentler Michelle Rhee? Don't Count On It

by Melissa Westbrook

IS MICHELLE RHEE THE ANN COULTER OF EDUCATION?

You may well have heard or seen Michelle Rhee on tv in the last week.  She has a new book, Radical, that's she pushing.   I have read a few excerpts and they don't fail to startle.

As I had previously mentioned, the PBS series, Frontline, had Ms. Rhee as a focus of one show.  It was quite the show as this was during the time period when she was DC Chancellor of schools.  The reporter did a brilliant job of just letting her talk and allowing her actions and her words to speak for themselves.

Highlights from the Frontline show:

- According to the show, Rhee had worked in "ed reform" for a decade (which would likely include her TFA teaching time).  She became Chancellor in the fall of 2007.  It was the first time she was hired to be a superintendent.  (This becomes an interesting point later on.)
- As I was first watching the show, I was impressed.  Quiet, direct and early on, she seemed to want to review 

NYC Public School Parents: Carol Burris on grants for charters to share their "successful" practices

NYC Public School Parents: Carol Burris on grants for charters to share their "successful" practices:

Carol Burris on grants for charters to share their "successful" practices

by Leonie Haimson

Carol Burris has been the principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, N.Y., for 12 years. South Side is ranked as one of the top high schools in the country by Newsweek every year, and in 2010, she was named the NYS Outstanding Educator by the School Administrators Association of New York.  She is one of the co-authors of the principals’ letter against evaluating teachers by test scores, which was signed by more than one third of all New York State principals, and more recently, a petition asking Governor Cuomo to end highstakes testing, which has received over 9500 signatures.  She has written many opeds in the Washington Post Answer Sheet, including Why “school reform” is a misnomer.

Today she received an email from the NY State Education Department 

Big Education Ape - SPECIAL Mid Day Banana Break 2-6-13 #soschat #edreform

Big Education Ape - Mid Day Banana Break

Chicago parents pass petitions at 37 schools to limit CPS testing

by admin

More Than a Score press release – Feb 6, 2013
Chicago parents pass petitions at 37 schools to limit CPS testing
Joining National Day of Action to Support Seattle MAP Test Boycott
Chicago, IL: Demanding fewer standardized tests in their children’s schools, and more test transparency from the district, parents of children in 37 Chicago public schools gathered signatures before and after school today on a new petition created by the parent, teacher, student and community coalition, “More Than a Score.”
The event is also a show of support for the Feb. 6 National Day of Action to Support Seattle MAP Test Boycott.
The petitions ask CPS and the Chicago Board of Education to limit standardized testing and provide more 

Finding Middle Ground in a New UTLA

by Lisa Alva Wood

The first time I gave birth, it took  28 hours.  It was painful.  I had hallucinations.  My doctor threatened me several times with a C-section, throwing me into a panic of pushing.  When my baby arrived, my dad took the glass of Dom Perignon out of my hand and said, “you’re not going to poison my granddaughter with that!”  And even though my baby was sweet and lovely, that was the moment the real pain began, (and it lasted 25 years).
Kind of like giving birth to a new United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA).
It’s been almost three years since I first met Jordan Henry, Jeff Herrold,  Geroge Crowder, Wes Farrow, Bob Scott, Mike Stryer, Kathy Hagerman, James Encinas and Kelsey Cushing – the nucleus of NewTLA who made me feel welcome and showed me the ropes.  We sat together at UTLA House of Reps meetings and gaped at each other in wonder while then- president A.J. Duffy led fabulously riotous meetings where people hissed (hissed!) whenever certain politicians were mentioned.  Mike and Bob guided us in using Robert’s Rules of Order.  In 2011, Warren Fletcher took the reins of the union and started gently guiding our rhetoric in a different

Guest Blog for Diane Ravitch

by Michael Deshotels

Dear readers:
Please utilize this link to access my guest post today on Diane Ravitch's blog. It includes a brief summary of the shocking attacks on the teaching profession in Louisiana.  I am very honored to have been asked to submit a guest post for this prestigious blog.
Thanks,
Mike Deshotels

US Dept.of Education Faces Pushback on School Closures

by noreply@blogger.com (Candi Peterson)

By Candi Peterson

Last week on January 29, 2013, activists arrived in Washington, DC for what has been described as a "Journey for Justice."Seventeen cities were represented including:  Atlanta, Ga., Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, District of Columbia, Detroit, Eupora- (Miss), Hartford, Kansas City- (Mo.), Newark, New York, L.A., New Orleans, Oakland, Philadelphia and Witchita, Ks. Among their chief demands is a call to the US Department of Education's civil rights office to end top down discriminatory closings of public schools, phase outs and turn-arounds nationally and the sabotage and disinvestment of public schools.

According to an AP article titled “SchoolTurn-arounds Prompt Community Backlash”, written by Christina Hoag on Feb. 5, 2013 -  “The U.S. Department of Education’s  (DOE) civil rights office has 

The Paterson Collegiate Charter School Application: A New Direction For New Jersey Charter Schools, Part I

by darciecima

It's no secret that Commissioner Cerf has been making lots of changes at the New Jersey Department of Education.  The Charter School Office is no exception.  One of the changes implemented in 2012 was to the charter application process.  The October application cycle, which in 2011 was nothing more than an expedited round for all and any applicants, (42 to be exact...) is now reserved solely for "existing operators with demonstrable experience."  It's  become a two phase application process, with only a certain portion of the applicants submitting Phase One applications moving on to Phase Two. 

When Commissioner Cerf testified before the Senate Education Committee last week he reiterated what both he and Governor Christie have been saying for a while now - he is focusing charter growth in urban, not suburban areas.

Our old friends at the Star Ledger Editorial Board like to pretend Cerf is focusing on urban districts because he is 

NEA President: ESEA Reauthorization Must Focus on Equity in Education

by twalker

By John Rosales

When the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee meets on Thursday to take a closer look at NCLB waivers, Pam Geisseihardt will be hanging on every syllable spoken by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and several state education chiefs who are scheduled to testify. And she will be wishing she were there in the hot seat, again.
“Oh, gosh, I would love to talk to those people again and tell them what the real world is like,” says Geisseihardt, Gifted and Talented coordinator for the Adair County School District in Columbia, Kentucky. An educator for 28 years, Geisseihardt spoke before the HELP Committee in 2011 on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind.
“They need to get down to the grassroots and hash things out,” she says. “The closer the discussion gets to the target group, that is, local schools and districts, the better.”
The National Education Association welcomes the hearing as a catalyst to reauthorizing the Elementary and 

Democrats want to tweak HOPE Scholarship again. Give full HOPE to top 3 percent of class

by Maureen Downey

The Democrats in the Senate are getting busy on education issues.
One of their chief targets is the Zell Miller Scholarship, the top tier HOPE award that goes to high school graduates who perform well in both GPA and SAT. Democrats want to expand the scholarship to students who graduate in the top 3 percent, regardless of their SAT score.
Zell Miller scholars must graduate high school as the valedictorian or salutatorian, or with at least a 3.7 grade-

Accountability to its extreme: Wisconsin teacher pens a hilarious essay on his family's love rating system: Chalk It Up

by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

Hey, if the family's love for each other is not statistically measured and publicly reported, how will they be motivated to keep the love flowing?

How about 'Beaverton: We graduate more students than PPS?' Beaverton schools hire a PR firm: Chalk It Up

by Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

Beaverton schools are spending $58,000 for a PR expert to help them burnish their image. They'll start by listening to a lot of focus groups and could end up suggesting a signature slogan for Oregon's third-largest district

Chinese, American students study together in OUSD schools

Feb 6, 2013, 6 a.m.
OCEANSIDE — For 32 Chinese students visiting Lincoln and King middle schools in Oceanside this week, the lessons learned were not just about math, science and geography. The students also were learning about American education, and said they liked what they saw. “In China, our class is silent,” said Yang Weryu, 12, whose American name is Cecilia. “Only the teacher can talk. The class here is more funny and interesting.” The school days also are shorter and the homework is lighter, but classroom lessons also are more engaging and thought-provoking, she and other students said about their American experience. Foreign visitors are nothing new at Lincoln Middle School, where teacher Eli Alvarado introduced an exchange program with German students 17 years ago. But this was the first year the school was host to students from China, he said about the 

“Brainy Box” Is A Winner!

by Larry Ferlazzo

Russel Tarr has created lots of great online learning tools, and I’ve blogged about many of them.
His latest is called Brainy Box, and it lets you easily create a 3-D animated cube with any content you want to include in it. Students will love it.
It’s like Read Write Think’s well-known Cube Creator — but with ten times more features!

public prek primer 2013

by joyce

Public Prek is the fours year. They are housed in public schools and they are free for everyone, no matter your income (the "universal" in UPK). Some programs are half day and some are full day (it depends on what the school provides) and they are all 5 days programs.
When the DoE releases this year's information it will be located here.
The application period for prek begins March 4, 2013.
The application deadline is April 5, 2013.
You will hear about your placement in early June.
Registration for prek will be June 5 - June 19.

SUNY Geneseo forum promotes proactive steps against bullying

NYSUT's ongoing campaign about the dangers of bullying reached more than 1,000 students, educators and community activists this week during a day-long forum at SUNY Geneseo that focused on prevention and proactive responses.

State AFL-CIO president discusses leadership with NYSUT activists

RheeFirst! » Michelle “I don’t love publicity” Rhee hits the press circuit

RheeFirst! » Michelle “I don’t love publicity” Rhee hits the press circuit:

Michelle “I don’t love publicity” Rhee hits the press circuit

by admin

In a New York Times Magazine interview last Friday, Rhee balked at the notion that she “loved publicity.”  Well, for someone that doesn’t love publicity, she seems to be hitting the press circuit pretty hard.  Rhee is currently making the press rounds to peddle her new memoir.  Rhee has commiserated with Hannity, and been grilled by John Stewart, coddled by Pierce Morgan, and adored by the right-wing talkshow circuit this morning.
And then there is the tour for her new book “Radical.”  Rhee’s is currently touring to support her new book, andusing her non-profit organization to promote it.  Not sure how that squares with the tax code, especially if the money goes to benefit Rhee Enterprises LLC, Michelle’s personal enrichment vehicle.
Take a look at her schedule and decide for yourself how Rhee feels about publicity:

Pushing Arne Duncan to Fast-Forward:

Pushing Arne Duncan to Fast-Forward

JAMES CERSONSKY

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

Activists demand that the Department of Education address discriminatory policies.

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At a March 15, 2011, sit-down at the Children’s Defense Fund, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan sent an unequivocal message to black community and faith leaders. “What we’re desperately missing in this country is parents who will demand better for their children,” he said. “I wish to God I had parents knocking on my door every single day saying, go faster, you’re not moving fast enough.”

On Tuesday, community activists from across the country did exactly that. Some 400 students and parents from as far as California descended on Department of Education headquarters to testify on the racialized impact of school closings, turnarounds, and other measures stipulated by federal education funding mandates. Statistically, actions like these tend to affect students of color more than their white counterparts in the same districts. Students displaced by school turnover are forced to cross myriad social boundaries, including gang lines, with little to no precedent of greater