EXITING NEWARK: Strange happenings as state loses control of the schools. Part One. |

EXITING NEWARK: Strange happenings as state loses control of the schools. Part One. |

EXITING NEWARK: Strange happenings as state loses control of the schools. Part One.

Just days before the New Jersey state school board voted to end state control of the Newark schools in 2017, local administrators appointed by former Republican Gov. Chris Christie pushed through a contract awarding nearly $200,000 to a consulting firm with ties to state officials who ran the district. It was just one of a number of commitments the system’s former state masters imposed on the struggling, financially strapped district.

 And, while the Newark school system dutifully paid The New Teacher Project Inc. (TNTP) all the money required by the contract’s terms, the district—according to a later state audit—didn’t use documents, advice, and other materials provided by the consulting firm.

 The New Teacher Project is a spinoff of Teach for America (TFA), an organization that recruits teachers without traditional training, mostly for short stays in poor districts. TNTP was established in 1997 by TFA alumna Michelle Rhee who later attracted national attention for her anti-union and pro-charter school policies and testing controversies in Washington, DC, where she served as superintendent. TNTP now plays down its connections with Rhee and TFA—and probably for good reason.

Cami Anderson

Cami Anderson, a former political operative for then Newark Mayor (now US Sen.) Cory Booker and the first of Christie’s choices to run the Newark district as state-appointed superintendent, was a TFA executive director. In her first year as CONTINUE READING: EXITING NEWARK: Strange happenings as state loses control of the schools. Part One. |

Audio: After being snubbed, Jackie Goldberg poised to advance to runoff in LAUSD election | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: After being snubbed, Jackie Goldberg poised to advance to runoff in LAUSD election | 89.3 KPCC

After being snubbed, Jackie Goldberg poised to advance to runoff in LAUSD election

A longtime L.A. politician is one step closer to possibly regaining her seat on the L.A. Unified School Board. Jackie Goldberg won the most votes in a special election Tuesday to fill a vacant LAUSD board seat.

Goldberg launched her political career after two terms on the L.A. Unified School Board in the ‘80s.  She went on to serve on the L.A. City Council and in the State Assembly.  And while not all the votes have been counted yet, election night results show Goldberg with 48 percent of the votes — just shy of the majority she’d need to win the seat outright —  but seemingly enough to guarantee she’ll at least advance to a runoff between the top two candidates.  The nail-biter is for second place: Huntington Park City Councilwoman Graciela Ortiz is only about 53 votes ahead of former public works board member Heather Repenning.

Audio: After being snubbed, Jackie Goldberg poised to advance to runoff in LAUSD election | 89.3 KPCC

Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law | Class Size Matters

Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law | Class Size Matters Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law

This fact sheet as a pdf is also available here.

 Enrollment and retention of high-needs students

• Each year, charter schools and school districts shall report on their enrollment, suspension, and attrition rates of students overall as well as in the following high needs categories: students with disabilities, English language learners, and students who are eligible applicants for the free and reduced price lunch program.

• Suspension rates, including out-of-school suspensions and in-school suspensions, should be reported and counted by frequency of suspensions as well as how many individual students are suspended each year.

• Each year the State Education Department shall report on these rates for each charter schools as compared to the surrounding school districts, in NYC meaning the Community school district.

• At least every two years, the NYC Comptroller should audit these figures for charter schools in NYC; and the State Comptroller should audit these figures for the charter schools outside the city.

Authorization:

• Charter authorizers shall take these figures of enrollment, suspension and attrition rates, both overall and in the high needs categories into account for when charter schools apply for renewals or replication. If any charter school does not have rates within 5 percent rates in these categories compared to the surrounding district, their charter shall not be re-authorized or allowed to replicate. In NYC, the rates should be compared to the Community School District in which the charter school is located. Differential rates in any of these categories shall also be grounds for revoking a charter before renewal.

• All charter school applications, renewals and replications must be approved by the local board of education in the district where the school is to be located before they are submitted to a chartering entity.

• In NYC, charter applications, renewals and replications must be approved by the Community Education Council of the district in which the charter school is or will be located.

Disciplinary policies and practices

• Charter schools shall be bound by all the requirements of compulsory education as set forth in  part one of  article Sixty-five of this chapter including but not limited to §3214 and its regulations. These shall also be  incorporated in their proposed charters, including policies on suspensions and expulsions, before being approved, renewed or replicated. Charter schools that refuse to do so should have their authorization revoked.

• Charter schools shall also provide full-time alternative instruction for the time period that the student is suspended.

• Charter schools shall also be required to post their disciplinary policies online, and make them available to parents at the beginning of the school year, along with contact information and description of how to file complaints and/or appeal suspensions

Transparency

• The state comptroller shall have the authority to audit all charter schools in the state, and perform both financial and performance audits.

• The city comptroller shall have the authority to audit all charter schools in NYC, and perform both financial and performance audits.

• Open meetings law: The board meetings of charter schools, their networks, and their charter management organizations shall be subject to open meetings law and publicly post in a prominent place on their websites the time and location of meetings at least 72 hours in advance. They shall also retain a mailing list of those who request notification of their meetings, and send this information to them at least 72 hours in advance.

• All charter schools and their boards shall also keep a public archive of all such announcements. Board meeting minutes shall be posted online and available upon request. Repeated non-compliance with Open Meetings law requirements shall be grounds for the denial of a charter school’s replication, renewal or revocation of its charter.

• All NYC charter schools shall include in their authorization, replication and renewal requests what specific community school district they intend to locate within, and whether they will request co-located or private space. If approved, they shall locate in that district and not in another.

• Testing oversight: All charter schools shall have to use same methods as used by the surrounding district to ensure blind scoring of the mandated state exams, including in NYC, cooperative grading sites  They shall also be subject to what other methods the state or district may use to ensure integrity of results, including independent monitors and erasure analysis.

• All charter schools shall post their charters online, including their discipline policies, and make them available by request to parents free of charge within 5 days.

• When charter schools close, an independent receiver should be appointed to perform financial audits so that taxpayer assets are protected and returned to the district.

Space, facilities and renovation funding

• No new, existing or expanding charter school shall receive priority for space over a new, existing, or expanding public schools.

• No charter school shall be provided space in an existing public school if this will currently or over the lifetime of the charter school at full grade levels put the building over 100% utilization.

• No charter school shall be provided space in an existing public schools if this will preclude providing space now or in the future that could be used for reducing class size to the original C4E levels in the city’s class size reduction plan of no more than 20 students per class in grades K-3, 23 in grades 4-8 and 25 in high schools.

• If charter schools in NYC or elsewhere are provided funding for private space, either leased directly by the school or provided with a per student subsidy for space, these funds shall be paid for by the state, with no obligation of the district to cover these costs.

• Matching funds for renovations: Every dollar a co-located charter school spends on renovations or other capital expenses shall require the charter school to provide matching funds to the other schools in the building. These amounts shall be publicly reported each year by Dec. 31 by the charter school to the city and the state, and shall be available upon request by any individual or organization with 30 days of such request.

Parent voice

 

• Within three years, all charter school boards shall be composed of half parents, elected directly by the parents at their schools.

• Each charter school shall outline a clear, simple process for parents to file complaints and appeals on its website, including how they can send them via email, with a schedule of deadlines to ensure timely responses by the charter school, the board, and the authorizer.

• Each charter school authorizer shall appoint an ombudsperson whose responsibilities will be to support and advise parents who have specific issues and complaints, to investigate and resolve these complaints. These ombudsperson shall also regularly report to their boards, whether it be the Board of Regents and/or SUNY, as to the number of complaints received, the type of complaint, and if and how they were resolved.

Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law | Class Size Matters Proposed amendments to the NYS charter law | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

“I Was Just Following Orders” | The Merrow Report

“I Was Just Following Orders” | The Merrow Report

“I Was Just Following Orders”

Three questions: Who makes the rules for classroom behavior?  How much should 5-, 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds get to decide, or should the teacher just lay down the rules? And does it make any difference in the long run?

In my 41 years of reporting, I must have visited thousands of elementary school classrooms, and I would be willing to bet that virtually every one of them displayed–usually near the door–a poster listing the rules for student behavior.

Often the posters were store-bought, glossy and laminated, and perhaps distributed by the school district.  No editing possible, and no thought required. Just follow orders!  Here’s an example: CONTINUE READING: “I Was Just Following Orders” | The Merrow Report

Why Does Oklahoma Lead the World in Incarceration? - Living in Dialogue

Why Does Oklahoma Lead the World in Incarceration? - Living in Dialogue

Why Does Oklahoma Lead the World in Incarceration? 

By John Thompson.

Former President Barack Obama recently recommended his short 2019 Black History Month reading list: It included classics by and about James Baldwin, Martin Luther King, and Frederick Douglass; and Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.  The overflow crowd at Oklahoma Christian University’s Complex Dialogues with Bryan Stevenson would wholeheartedly agree with the recommendation. The bipartisan crowd left in awe, wrestling both with the reasons why Oklahoma is #1 in the world in locking up our fellow citizens, and what that says about us.

This first post will focus on what Stevenson said on February 18 at Oklahoma Christian University about our criminal justice system. A second post will discuss the role of the forum’s local advocates, liberals and conservatives from secular and religious backgrounds, who are committed to undoing the damage of mass incarceration.

Oklahoma and America have always had plenty of problems, with poverty being the origin of many of the most intransigent ones. Moreover, as late as 2010, the incarceration rate for black Oklahomans was nearly five times higher than for white Oklahomans. But Stevenson notes, “The opposite of poverty isn’t wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice.” And he warns us, “Until we reckon with the trauma our society has caused to people of color and people in poverty, we cannot embrace the truth and heal.”

Our state and nation have long had a political and economic system which proves the maxim that “power corrupts” and our district attorney system shows how “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Across the U.S., Stevenson said, “We have a system of justice that treats you much better if you’re rich and guilty than if you’re poor and innocent.” And the prison pipeline vividly illustrates the truth that, “Wealth, not culpability, shapes outcomes.”

Years of litigation and research have taught Stevenson that “the closer we get to mass incarceration and extreme levels of punishment, the more I believe it’s necessary to recognize that we all need mercy, we all need justice, and – perhaps – we all need some measure of unmerited grace.”

It is hard for this Oklahoman to acknowledge that we are a case study of how “fear and anger can make us vindictive and abusive, unjust and unfair, until we all suffer from the absence of mercy and we condemn CONTINUE READING: Why Does Oklahoma Lead the World in Incarceration? - Living in Dialogue

The Voters Have Spoken. Is the LAUSD Listening? – Carl J. Petersen – Medium

The Voters Have Spoken. Is the LAUSD Listening? – Carl J. Petersen – Medium

The Voters Have Spoken. Is the LAUSD Listening?

“I believe there should be an election. I’ve been consistent for 12 years.”

- LAUSD Board Member Dr. Richard Vladovic

 

Jackie Goldberg faces the felon she seeks to succeed

The students in the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Board District 5 have been unrepresented since Ref Rodriguez was forced from office on July 23, 2018. Considering the fact that the charter school founder pleaded guilty to crimes related to his election, these constituents have not been represented fairly since the day he took office. Board Member Scott Schmerelson offered a resolution that would have given them representation by appointing Jackie Goldberg to the seat until an election could be held. However, after a meeting poisoned by bigotry, the Charter Industry supported Board Members sided with Dr. Vladovic to leave one-seventh of the District’s stakeholders unrepresented.

While Goldberg had promised not to run in the special election if she had been appointed at the August Board Meeting, the Board’s “No” vote meant she was free to declare her candidacy. In the primary that was held yesterday, the former LAUSD Board Member, LA City Councilperson and State Assemblymember won 48.26%of the vote in preliminary results. Her closest competitor, Graciela “Grace” Ortiz, was far behind with a vote totaling 13.3%. Since no candidate took over 50% of the vote, a run-off will have to be held on May 14. The students of Board District 5 should not have to wait that long to be represented.

In order to win in May, Ortiz would have to secure the near-unanimous support of those who voted for all of the other candidates in order to win. This unlikely scenario is made even more improbable by the fact that Rocio Rivas released a statement before the election urging her supporters to vote for Goldberg. With the two opponents coming from different sides of the CONTINUE READING: The Voters Have Spoken. Is the LAUSD Listening? – Carl J. Petersen – Medium

California law requires charter schools to end secrecy about how they operate - The Washington Post

California law requires charter schools to end secrecy about how they operate - The Washington Post

California law requires charter schools to end secrecy about how they operate

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) did something on Tuesday that his Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown, had refused to do: sign into law a bill that requires charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, to be as transparent to the public about how they operate as are traditional public school districts.

The change has long been sought by critics of the charter school movement in California, which has more charter schools and charter school students than any other state. California has allowed charters to expand with little oversight amid growing controversy over financial scandals and other issues.

[Why charter schools get public education advocates so angry]

The law follows a nonbinding December opinion by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who said charter school governing boards should be required to comply with the same transparency laws as public school districts.

The move marks a shift in the state government’s attitude about charter schools — and more change may be coming. Last week, Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell (D), chairman of the Education Committee in the Assembly, along with some colleagues, introduced legislation that would significantly restrict the growth of charter schools in the state in several important ways. There are more than 1,300 charters in California.

While it is not clear what will happen with the four new bills — Newsom has not taken a position — a charter moratorium has new support in unlikely places.

The Los Angeles Board of Education passed a resolution urging the legislature to place a moratorium on new charters in the Los Angeles Unified School District as one concession to end a teachers’ strike in the largest school district in California. That was a big shift for the pro-charter board. The same thing just happened in Oakland, where a pro-charter school board agreed to support a halt on new charters to end a teachers’ strike CONTINUE READING: California law requires charter schools to end secrecy about how they operate - The Washington Post

Denver Rising: A Loving School System agenda aims to reverse racial inequity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Denver Rising: A Loving School System agenda aims to reverse racial inequity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Denver Rising: A Loving School System agenda aims to reverse racial inequity

This weekend, Our Voices Our Schools coalition is gathering a group of community practitioners and activists to come together at Denver University and align around a comprehensive agenda for education justice in Denver. The goal of the event: to move from talk to action by creating a comprehensive Loving School System agenda that highlights the systemic changes and investments needed to truly provide Black children in Denver their right to free, high-quality public education.

Many working in the education field in Denver acknowledge that there has been a great deal of talk about racial equity in Denver over the past several years, but not a lot of action and public investment. The facts are indisputable: even after years of “improvement plans” to address inequitable academic outcomes, Black students in Denver do not have the same opportunity to succeed on state math and literacy tests and graduate on time, and they are being suspended at higher rates than their White peers.

The Bailey Report produced by former school board member Sharon Bailey nearly three years ago highlighted the cultural racism experienced by Black teachers and students in Denver Public Schools. The report led to the formation of a task force that proposed 11 recommendations for ways to improve culture and conditions, including offering signing bonuses to help attract more black teachers, making student discipline data count toward school ratings, and requiring each school to create a plan “designed to strengthen relationships between African-Americans and schools.” While school board and Denver Public School district officials continue to create space to talk about racial equity, little has been done to implement these recommendations or make other investments in schools serving predominantly Black populations.

Beyond the cultural and inter-personal racism that the Bailey Report highlights, other recent reports put data points to the broader structural racism and inequity in public school systems across Colorado and the nation.

According to an edbuild report, 23 billion less public dollars go to nonwhite schools districts compared to districts serving predominantly White students. In Colorado, predominantly White school districts, whether they are serving low-poverty or high-poverty populations, have on average 16% more funding than nonwhite districts. This is because White school districts tend to close themselves off, and draw lines around them in ways that keep them very small and very wealthy, and in a way that closes wealth off from communities of color.

The Loving School Systems agenda that will begin to take shape through this convening will include a focus on inequity in public and private funding and strategies to “decolonize wealth”, with Edgar Villanueva from the Schott Foundation speaking to the group about strategies to address the massive gaps in funding for education justice work. The convening will be grounded in the Loving Cities Index framework created by the Schott Foundation to highlight how inequitable access to resources and supports across education, workforce development, health, housing, and other related sectors impact education justice and as a result student academic success. The convening will be capped off with a community gathering in the evening, to learn about "Decolonizing Wealth" and screen and discuss the documentary Backpack Full of Cash. 

The Loving School Systems convening will lift up public education justice and the fight for a high-quality public education as the human rights and civil rights issue of our time. This will be a chance for practitioners to align around the systems changes, policies, and programs that are needed and the resources that must be mobilized for the survival of poor Black, Brown, marginalized White communities by meeting the promise of high-quality public education for all.

Denver Rising: A Loving School System agenda aims to reverse racial inequity | Schott Foundation for Public Education

Big Education Ape: Local Leaders Play Critical Role to Drive U.S. Toward More Loving and Just Society | Schott Foundation for Public Education - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/03/local-leaders-play-critical-role-to.html