Parent Engagement Charter School Style

Parent Engagement Charter School Style
Parent Engagement Charter School Style

We will also not comment”
– Marilyn Koziatek, School Board Candidate

According to Nick Melvoin’s Speak Up, School Board Candidate Marilyn Koziatek “leads the community engagement department at Granada Hills Charter, which includes parent engagement”. As part of this role, Koziatek was asked by the California Charter School Association (CCSA) to comment on an article that the LA School Report was writing after “LA Unified’s charter school oversight division…confirmed it [would] look into complaints about three independent charter high schools made by a parent whose daughter attends” Granada. The email described the parent as “a well-known gadfly.” I take that as a compliment

Sixteen minutes after the first email was received, the charter industry’s trade association had apparently decided on a change in strategy. Without explaining why they no longer preferred that the story “not be negative”, they were now telling the author of the proposed article that this was “a non-story and that we’re not going to comment.” They further instructed Granada that they “probably shouldn’t bother either.” Koziatek quickly submitted her response: “We will also not comment”. So much for “parent engagement.”

Given that Koziatek’s salary is paid for with taxpayer funds, her work product should be a matter of public record. Having access to this CONTINUE READING: Parent Engagement Charter School Style

Sacramento district, union at odds after auditor suggests cutting teachers' wages to avoid state takeover | abc10.com

Sacramento district, union at odds after auditor suggests cutting teachers' wages to avoid state takeover | abc10.com

Sacramento district, union at odds after auditor suggests cutting teachers' wages to avoid state takeover
The district and the teachers union have submitted proposals to prevent a state takeover, but none are sufficient enough to avoid insolvency, the auditor said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California state auditor is suggesting the Sacramento City Unified School District make some drastic cuts to teachers wages or run out of money, something city leaders have been hoping to avoid as it faces a state takeover.

The report released Tuesday by the California State Auditor's office said the district has "failed to proactively address its financial challenges" in three main areas — teacher salaries, employee benefits and special education.

The state auditor warned that if the district did not cut teachers wages and handle its special education funding, "it will largely deplete its general fund in October 2021 and will likely need to accept a loan from the State to continue operating."

Accepting a loan from the state would mean the district being taken over by the state, and ultimately losing funding for schools.

RELATED: 'We won't have a voice' | Parents unite over possible state takeover of Sacramento schools

In recent months, both the district and the teachers union have submitted proposals to prevent a state takeover. However, the state auditor said none of the proposals are sufficient enough to make $27 million in reductions before the district becomes insolvent.

"In fact, several proposals from the teachers union would increase costs dramatically," the state auditor's report read.

District Superintendent Jorge Aguilar told ABC10 that he 'remains firmly committed' against a state takeover, something the audit shows is becoming increasingly likely.

"Are we going to be looking at teacher layoffs and things like that? I hope not," Aguilar said. "I hope that we can again come to terms with from the state auditor that basically says your options are very limited outside of the negotiations process."

The Sacramento City Teachers Association said in a statement to ABC10 that the district is using the report "as part of its longstanding campaign to justify reducing benefits to educators."

In an interview with ABC10, SCTA president David Fisher said that he agreed that some employee benefits are too high, but cutting wages would ultimately be a bad idea.

"Well, right now, we have a huge teacher shortage," Fisher said. "So, any discussion of trying to cut pay for teachers at a time when it's this huge shortage is kind of shortsighted."

Parents looking to add their voice to the conversation over the district's impending insolvency can do so at a Thursday night community forum. The event is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the the old Fruit Ridge Elementary on 44th Street.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to include a response to the new report from the President of the Sacramento City Teachers Association.

READ MORE SACRAMENTO NEWS:

• Sacramento approves $47 million Old Sacramento Waterfront renovation project
• 'I miss the little things' | Widower of slain Sacramento librarian Amber Clark talks closure ahead of one year commemoration
• Sacramento city leaders propose ideas to tackle homelessness, including sleeping cabins

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WATCH MORE: Sacramento schools should consider cutting teachers' wages to avoid state takeover, auditor says

Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit

There are many ways in which nonprofit charters make a profit. Most involve complex real estate transactions and such things as “triple net leases” which are hard for the public to understand. Such deals often involve a charter operator owning or leasing the real estate and renting it to the charter school at exorbitant rates, with the public footing the bill.

Michael Kohlhaas has discovered another ingenious way that allegedly nonprofit charter operators extract money from their operations. 

He describes the case of a charter operator in Los Angeles who sold his “receivables” soon after getting his charter.

Kohlhaas writes:

The idea is very simple. A charter school has guaranteed future income in the form of payments from the state. They sell those payments to a finance company at a discount.

The finance company also charges a transaction fee. So for instance, if a charter has enrollment worth $1,000,000 they might sell those future payments for $980,000 now, which is less 2%. That means that $20,000 of public CONTINUE READING: Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit | Diane Ravitch's blog

Audit of Sacramento CA school district raises budget concerns | The Sacramento Bee

Audit of Sacramento CA school district raises budget concerns | The Sacramento Bee

Who is in control at Sacramento school district? Damning state audit raises questions

A recently released state audit of Sacramento City Unified School District poses some extremely troubling questions.

The district “has not proactively addressed its financial problems,” says California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle in a letter prefacing the audit.

Who at the district and within the teachers union decided not to act on the information available? Has the board ignored the information available, and why? The problems have been present and public for years, and now the district teeters on the verge of insolvency.

Ultimately, students will suffer if the worst comes to pass. Schools could close, bus routes could be removed, and a state takeover could gut the district like it once did Oakland Unified.

Past decisions helped bring the district to this point, but we must now hold current leaders accountable.

Neither the district nor the Sacramento City Teachers Association budget solutions will fix the district’s financial problems, per the audit.

The school board, administrators and union leaders have had significant time to solve for budgetary issues.

Back in 2003, the district was warned its health benefits costs were excessive. Since then, the district has negotiated six agreements with the teachers’ union. And costs are not sufficiently controlled.

The district pays for the full cost of health care benefits for teachers and their families.

“In contrast, other nearby districts typically pay for the lowest cost health plan for the employee CONTINUE READING: Audit of Sacramento CA school district raises budget concerns | The Sacramento Bee

With A Brooklyn Accent: Hope for Public Education- Right Here in the Bronx

With A Brooklyn Accent: Hope for Public Education- Right Here in the Bronx

Hope for Public Education- Right Here in the Bronx

Today, I was the guest on a great public radio show "The New Orleans Imperative" hosted by Ray Sanders. We were talking about the future of public education, and I told him that if you want to see what is possible to accomplish in public education in high needs communities, you need to head to the Bronx and visit PS 55, led by Principal Luis E Torres. Located in the middle of the poorest housing project in the poorest Congressional district in the nation, this school is a beacon of light and energy and hope. It features a full service medical clinic, a school based agriculture and science instruction program, the Green Bronx Machine, with a world wide reputation; championship basketball softball and step teams, and a hip hop pedagogy program featuring old school legends like Grandmaster Caz and Melle Melle! It also features parent education programs and close ties with local officials from the Borough President on down.

Most importantly, this is a public school, not a charter school, that is open to all children in the community.

It's wholistic approach is the one we need to give hope and agency to our young people who suffer the wounds of uncontrolled testing as well as the wounds of poverty.

With A Brooklyn Accent: Hope for Public Education- Right Here in the Bronx

NYC Educator: Charter Supporters Protest Us in Pittsburgh

NYC Educator: Charter Supporters Protest Us in Pittsburgh

Charter Supporters Protest Us in Pittsburgh

I'm at the Westin, in Pittsburgh. To the left you can see a huge sinkhole that's right in front of the hotel. Up close, it looks as though the Avengers were here battling some comic-book monster set on ravaging the city. That's a pretty apt image for what's happening here. I just walked out in the rain and saw them, in a circle, chanting about choice.

Before I even mention why we're the Avengers and they're the monster, let's reflect back on years of pro-charter propaganda. Do you remember, on Oprah's show, when people like Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, and every reformy star they could pluck from the universe appeared to hype the big-budget anti-public-school stinker Waiting for Superman, who the pro-public-school reps were? Me neither, because there weren't any.

Do you remember when candidate Cory Booker, also appearing on Oprah, with Chris Christie and Mark Zuckerberg, took 100 million dollars, ostensibly to fix the public schools he called "repugnant," gave equal time to public school supporters? Me neither. Do you remember Campbell Brown giving time to public school supporters when she did her presidential thing in 2016? Me neither. Did the reformies portray public school supporters fairly in Son of Waiting for Superman, or Won't Back Down (my sincere apologies to Tom Petty), or whatever they called Hollywood stinker number two? Of course not.

MSNBC is hosting our forum and livestreaming it. I vividly recall when they were behind something called Education Nation, a bonanza of publicity for reforminess that barely paid lip service to public education. I would not be remotely surprised if they turned around and did something similar this year to placate the protestors this year, surely a goal of theirs.

Bill Gates and DFER have big pockets, and big-pocketed friends. Let's take a look at charter schools. How many of them scream about the 100% of their grads go on to four-year colleges? Then you read Diane Ravitch, Carol Burris, or Gary Rubinstein, or any number of analysts point out that they've shed 60-80% of their students before arriving at that 100% figure. Oddly, schools like mine who take everyone and keep everyone who wants to stay do far better than that. Go figure. And it's us who take on the students who charters have let down, tossed out or given up on.

Then you look at charters right here in Pennsylvania that suck public school districts dry, leaving them to wither and die for all they care. And for what? For money, of course, Though politicians shed crocodile tears over "for profit" charters, in most of the country "for profit" charters are illegal. That doesn't stop parasites like Eva Moskowitz from pulling in almost a million bucks a year in New York City as she moves on like a cancer degrading and upending public schools. Then they have million dollar fund raisers attended by CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Charter Supporters Protest Us in Pittsburgh

KIPP Co-Founder Michael Feinberg Used School Computer to Access Porn | deutsch29

KIPP Co-Founder Michael Feinberg Used School Computer to Access Porn | deutsch29

KIPP Co-Founder Michael Feinberg Used School Computer to Access Porn

Michael Feinberg is the co-founder of the “no excuses” Knoweldge Is Power Program (KIPP) charter school chain.  He and co-founder Dave Levin trace their ed-reformer-entrepreneureal roots to Teach for America (TFA). As of 2019, the KIPP chain consists of 242 schools.

Levin and Feinberg co-founded KIPP in 1994; 24 years later, on February 22, 2018, Feinberg was fired following an investigation of allegations of sexual misconduct.

Feinberg denied the allegations, and in response, on August 22, 2018, he filed a defamation lawsuit seeking damages, including “lost earning capacity” and “exemplary and punitive damages.”

On November 17, 2019, KIPP responded to Feinberg’s defamation suit in this Motion to Dismiss. The 43-page Motion provides detailed background incidents leading up to Feinberg’s firing as well as KIPP’s public response.

Among those details are two shockers that severely undercut Feinberg’s denials and assertion of defamation:

1. Feinberg used his school laptop to access pornography.
2. He excused his behavior because he said he did not access porn at school.

From the Motion:

This is a defamation lawsuit in which Plaintiff Michael Feinberg alleges that the KIPP Defendants, acting through their respective Boards of CONTINUE READING: KIPP Co-Founder Michael Feinberg Used School Computer to Access Porn | deutsch29

Who turns down federal money? Legislators in New Hampshire halt a $46 million charter school grant from DeVos’s Education Department. - The Washington Post

Who turns down federal money? Legislators in New Hampshire halt a $46 million charter school grant from DeVos’s Education Department. - The Washington Post

Who turns down federal money? Legislators in New Hampshire halt a $46 million charter school grant from DeVos’s Education Department

Turning down millions of dollars in federal money is not a usual occurrence, but that is what Democratic members on a key legislative committee in New Hampshire just did. They voted to block the first installment of a $46 million grant that the Education Department recently gave the state to double the number of charter schools over the next five years.

Members of the Joint Legislative Fiscal Committee voted 7 to 3 on Friday to table the grant from the federal Charter School Program (CSP), with the majority Democrats saying they were concerned about the effect that the expansion of charter schools could have on traditional public schools at a time of decreasing enrollment.

Democrats won control of the state legislature last year, though the governor, Chris Sununu, and the state education commissioner, Frank Edelblut, are both Republican. Edelblut is a businessman and one-term state representative who home-schooled his seven children. Both men supported the grant.

Charter schools are financed by the public but privately operated, sometimes by for-profit companies. Charters enroll about 6 percent of America’s schoolchildren; in New Hampshire, there are 29 charter schools that enroll about 3,800 of about 176,000 students.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is a big backer of charter schools, and she has said her chief priority is to expand them and other alternatives to traditional public schools, which she once called “a dead end.”

Recently in her home state of Michigan, the Democratic-dominated Board of Education voted to stop a $47 million CSP grant. It did so, according to board President Casandra Ulbrich, because the board had not given the state Education Department consent to seek the grant. And, as in New Hampshire, CONTINUE READING: Who turns down federal money? Legislators in New Hampshire halt a $46 million charter school grant from DeVos’s Education Department. - The Washington Post

NYC Public School Parents: Why the DOE's analysis of the second year of the literacy coach program provokes more questions than answers

NYC Public School Parents: Why the DOE's analysis of the second year of the literacy coach program provokes more questions than answers

Why the DOE's analysis of the second year of the literacy coach program provokes more questions than answers

Yesterday, the DOE released an evaluation of the second year of its literacy coach program, created under Chancellor Farina in 2016-2017, and budgeted at $85.7 million this year. Each coach has a salary of $90,000 to $150,000, and there are approximately 515 of them working with K-2 teachers in selected schools currently.  The number of schools and coaches have expanded each year.

In August 2018, the DOE released a brief power point which purportedly contained the sole written evaluation of the first year of the program.  By analyzing the growth scores from October to May of second graders who were administered the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Tests (GMRT) at schools that received literacy coaches, compared to students at similar schools without coaches, they found no positive results in either word decoding, word knowledge, or comprehension.

The results were expressed in grade equivalents, which allowed one to see that rather than progressing, both groups had fallen further behind in terms of grade level.

I submitted a Freedom of Information request for the second year results shortly afterward, since these students' test scores should have been available by then and could have easily been analyzed.  Instead, the DOE waited until December 2018 to tell me that NO such analysis had yet been done. Yet they subsequently proposed an expansion of the CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Why the DOE's analysis of the second year of the literacy coach program provokes more questions than answers

CURMUDGUCATION: When Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is, Listen

CURMUDGUCATION: When Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is, Listen

When Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is, Listen

esterday, Erica Green did a masterful job of covering Betsy DeVos's appearance before the House Education Committee to defend her continued efforts to resist any sort of debt relief for students bilked by for-profit schools. The New York Times article isn't accessible to everybody, and that's too bad, because the hearings are a perfect little picture of what values drive DeVos through her work at USED. Green has caught some key quotes that let DeVos tell us who she is. We should listen.

Because DeVos is rich, folks often accuse her of being greedy. I don't think that's true-- past a certain point, money stops being about greed-based utilitarian acquisition of stuff, but about keeping score in other sorts of games. Because DeVos often makes statements that don't make sense from a particular point of view, folks often accuse her of being dumb. I don't think that's true, either.

Here's an absolutely DeVosian quote from the proceedings:

I understand that some of you here just want to have blanket forgiveness for anyone who raises their hand and files a claim, but that simply is not right.

Ah yes-- the smirk.

This is DeVos-- she knows what's right, and she's going to stand up for it. And's what is right is that Those People shouldn't be able to get away with not paying their debts. Those People should not be allowed to stiff their Betters. Because you know that Those People are probably lying about how badly they were hurt, anyway, because Those People are always trying to get things they don't deserve. This "anyone who raises their hand and files a claim" characterization that DeVos has been using is such a flip way to dismiss the damage done by for-profit collges, an d here it matters what DeVos doesn't say-- she doesn't say CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: When Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is, Listen

Watch Live: MSNBC's Public Education Forum 2020 with Democratic hopefuls - YouTube

Watch Live: MSNBC's Public Education Forum 2020 with Democratic hopefuls - YouTube

Watch Live: MSNBC's Public Education Forum 2020 with Democratic hopefuls 

Education unions, students, parents and civil rights groups are expected to grill Democratic hopefuls on public education issues at MSNBC's "Public Education Forum 2020: Equity and Opportunity for All" in Pittsburgh.
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Watch Live: MSNBC's Public Education Forum 2020 with Democratic hopefuls

Watch Live: MSNBC's Public Education Forum 2020 with Democratic hopefuls - YouTube

CATCH UP WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

CATCH UP WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE)

Intersectionality Matters with Kimberlé Crenshaw: Life, LIberty & the Pursuit of Nappyness With Tracee Ellis Ross & Brittany Noble Jones

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Rewind The Scene: Asante Blackk & Lyric Ross

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How Abstract Expressionism Changed American Art

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Dick Gregory and the History of Black Comedy: A Conversation with Author and Literary Critic Mel Watkins

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NewBlackMan (in Exile