Changing face of school principals - The Boston Globe

Changing face of school principals - The Boston Globe:

"“It feels like flying a plane while we’re building it,’’ said Kelly Hung, who this week begins her second year as principal at Phineas Bates Elementary School in Roslindale. “This job can completely consume you. It’s never ending."

You wake up at night thinking about it.’’

At 33, and with a new baby at home, Hung, the 10th youngest out of 135 principals in the Boston public schools, in many ways personifies the changing face of today’s school principal.

As aging principals retire, young ones like Hung, who has only a few years of real classroom experience and a brief tenure as an interim principal on her résumé, are being hired to replace them. At issue is whether their enthusiasm and energy outweigh their inexperience to improve their school’s performance.

“There’s no question that there’s a national movement toward hiring younger principals,’’ said William Horwath, acting assistant superintendent for human resources at the Boston School Department.

A new 10-year survey of K-8 principals by the National Association of Elementary School Principals obtained by the Globe shows that almost 60 percent of principals are age 50 or older.

Dan Walters: California workers have little to celebrate on Labor Day - State Columnist: Dan Walters - The Modesto Bee

Dan Walters: California workers have little to celebrate on Labor Day - State Columnist: Dan Walters - The Modesto Bee:

"Even public worker unions are finding the going tough in these recessionary times. Furloughs have become common. The once-impregnable California Correctional Peace Officers Association is losing a battle against sharp cuts in prison spending. The California Teachers Association has been unable to block deep school reductions. Last month, trustees of the giant Los Angeles Unified School District, defying its teachers union, voted to massively expand charter schools.

As the 2009 legislative session comes to a close, unions are engaged on several fronts. While the Service Employees International tries to win ratification of a state worker contract that would limit furloughs, local government unions are pushing a late-blooming bill to make municipal bankruptcy (such as Vallejo's) more difficult and other labor groups are trying to raise long-frozen benefits for injured workers."

Report shows negative effects of dropouts on economy | TimesDaily.com | The Times Daily | Florence, AL

Report shows negative effects of dropouts on economy TimesDaily.com The Times Daily Florence, AL:


"The average annual income for a high school dropout in 2005 was $17,299, compared to $26,933 for a high school graduate.

Nationwide, more than 7,000 students become dropouts every school day. Annually, that adds up to almost 1.3 million students who will not graduate from high school on schedule.
In Alabama alone, an estimated 25,136 students from the class of 2009 failed to graduate on time.

'The state has a 40 percent dropout rate, which is absolutely unacceptable,' said Gary Dan Williams, Muscle Shoals Center for Technology director. 'It's everyone's problem, but with the standards in Alabama, the curriculum is designed strictly for college-bound students, and the bottom line is that many students aren't college-bound. The graduation standards are among the highest in the country, but we're letting those kids who can't handle the pressure get down about school and they're dropping out."

The picket line and America's workforce -- chicagotribune.com

The picket line and America's workforce -- chicagotribune.com:

"I was part of the mob.

Emotions ran high, as we were caught up in a hurricane of rage bearing down on one of the 'scabs.'

Everything that had been building inside me -- the frustration, the anger, the boredom -- came crashing down on me, then a 40-year-old history teacher.

It was 1987 and Chicago Public Schools teachers had launched what would be an almost monthlong strike against the Board of Education.

I had reported for picket-line duty with approximately 50 other Chicago Vocational High School teachers, just when school administrators and other workers who had decided to cross the picket line were filing into the building.

We booed and waved our signs as the principal and vice principal entered. But when two of our own followed, we crowded against the iron fence separating us."

Reeducating unions -- latimes.com

Reeducating unions -- latimes.com:

"Even with signs that the U.S. economy might be stirring, this is a strained Labor Day for the many Americans who are going without raises, and whose hours are being cut at the same time that they are asked to take heavier workloads -- and especially for those who are without employment.

Teachers find themselves in all these categories, across the nation and right here, where the dire financial condition of the Los Angeles Unified School District has led to layoffs or demotions from regular teaching to substitute, and where class sizes will be larger and other cutbacks will reduce salaries. On a bigger scale, the unions that brought teachers better pay, benefits and job security find themselves at a tipping point, their power under threat in ways that seemed barely possible a few years ago."

Face The Nation, 09.06.09

Duncan knocks No Child Left Behind

Education Secretary Arne Duncan knocked President George W. Bush's signature education bill, No Child Left Behind, saying that the bill is "very prescriptive" and discourages innovative teaching and that the state standards it calls for are often watered down and students that meet them are often nonetheless not college-ready.

The law is "desperately underfunded," Duncan said Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation," and the $100 billion in stimulus funding has "staved off a catastrophe" of teacher and staff layoffs.

The push for national standards was a grass-roots movement, he said. "We are moving in the right direction ... to educate our way to a better economy."

"We have to raise the bar for everyone," he said. "We have to make sure that every student is college-ready."


http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0909/Duncan_knocks_No_Child_Left_Behind.html?showall

Cash-strapped California schools seek commercial sponsors to raise funds -- latimes.com

Cash-strapped California schools seek commercial sponsors to raise funds -- latimes.com:

"As strapped schools open across California, educators are turning to outside sources like never before in an attempt to ease the effects of multibillion-dollar cuts, giving rise to the new three Rs: retailing, raising money and recouping budgets.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials are courting the city's professional sports teams to blunt cuts to athletics programs. Beverly Hills trustees are considering logo T-shirts, hats and other apparel, counting on teenagers to snap up the merchandise because of the city's celebrity and the popularity of television's 'Beverly Hills, 90210.' San Diego County educators are selling the naming rights to two sixth-grade science camps. South Pasadena officials are wooing Hollywood producers to film TV shows at district headquarters."

Stop the Power Grab Update!

Sorry for crying wolf! this week.

I checked the agenda and the discussion of spending city dollars to fix the Mayor's initiative is not scheduled.

It's my understanding that the mayor made his loan a gift to avoid any further question of a conflict of interest on this issue.

We are expecting it to be on the agenda in the near future.

The agenda has to be published 72 hours before the meetings on Tuesdays.

I urge those of you who wish to be heard on this issue to visit the link below to keep track of the City Council's agenda. I'll be out of town next week and won't be able to raise the hue and cry.

Vigilance!

Thanks,

Stop the Power

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/clerk/council-agendas/

A good education starts at home | thestarpress.com | The Star Press

A good education starts at home thestarpress.com The Star Press:

"Parents, always remember that you are your children's' first and most important teachers. Most of what your children will ever learn, they learn from you before they ever start school. Even during the school week, three-fourths of every day -- and all of their weekends, holidays and vacations -- they spend in your care. The habits, attitudes and interests you teach -- and more importantly, model -- will always be the foundation of their sense of who they are, should be and can be.

Get to know, cooperate with and support your children's teachers. They have your children's welfare and learning at heart. They are dedicated professionals -- they didn't become teachers to get rich or even to get by. Of course they are only human; like you, they get tired and frustrated, they make mistakes, they have lives of their own with personal problems.

And they have not only yours, but whole classrooms full of other peoples' children, to handle. But together, you and they are your children's educational team, and educating children is a team sport. You can win only by team playing, and your score is what your children achieve. Treat your children's' teachers as you yourself would like to be treated."

Back to school: parental involvement is key to the best public schools

Back to school: parental involvement is key to the best public schools:

"What makes the best public schools? Here is a hint; it isn’t necessarily the wealth of the neighborhood. Again and again the answer seems to be parental involvement and participation.

When parents take the time to visit, communicate, volunteer or chaperone at their child’s school, it shows the teacher you take their jobs seriously. And, perhaps more importantly, you show your kid that “their job”, to work hard and do their best at school, is something that you expect and value highly.

In this day and age in many families, both parents work but you can still be involved. Conferences, Open House night, fund raisers, school plays and performances; any event that gets you in the school to see what your child sees everyday makes a huge difference."

Back-to-school tips: Parental involvement key to high performance - San Jose Mercury News

Back-to-school tips: Parental involvement key to high performance - San Jose Mercury News:

"Sixteen-year-old David Acosta hates to admit it, but said he knows why his mom helps him succeed in school: 'She gives me a hard time.'

The Options for Youth Hesperia student credits his mother's daily questioning with keeping him focused. He even confessed that her punishment — taking away his CD player and X box game system — helps him complete his assignments on time.

Educators across the Victor Valley insist that parental involvement is crucial to student success.

School spending would have to increase by $1,000 per pupil to achieve the same results that are gained with parental involvement, according to a University of New Hampshire 2008 study of more than 10,000 eighthgraders.

And there are simple ways parents help boost their child's performance — even for those commuting down the hill with hardly a minute to spare."

Cleanliness key to slowing swine flu

Cleanliness key to slowing swine flu

"OLEAN - Local school districts are looking at every measure possible to hold the H1N1 virus at bay. In the Olean district, even the spork will be deployed to fight swine flu.

“Swine flu has all of us thinking about how important it is to maintain a clean environment,” Olean Superintendent Dr. Colleen Taggerty said.
Cafeterias throughout the district will change the way eating utensils are distributed to minimize the chance of an outbreak.

“Sodexo, our cafeteria-management company, is looking into moving from plastic-ware dispensers, to sporks - spoon and fork in one - which will be individually wrapped,” she said.

Other precautions are being taken in area districts to prevent the spread of germs that could lead to an outbreak of H1N1."

CQ Politics | CQ Transcript: Education Secretary Duncan on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’

CQ Politics CQ Transcript: Education Secretary Duncan on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’

[*] SCHIEFFER: Today on “Face the Nation,” Education Secretary Arne Duncan on President Obama’s speech to school kids, swine flu, and fixing America’s educational system. President Obama’s upcoming speech to the school children Tuesday has created such an uproar that some schools are not going to show it. And some parents say they’ll keep their children at home.

What is going on? And are the schools prepared for the onslaught of swine flu this fall? Then to the deeper problems. We spend more per capita on students than any country in the world, yet our students lag behind those in most nations. Can our schools be fixed? Those are the questions for Education Secretary Arne Duncan .

Then, I’ll have a final word on a real mess of a summit. But first, Education Secretary Arne Duncan on “Face the Nation.”

Indoctrinating Our Children: Evolution (9/4/09)

In this segment from tonight's Fox News Special, Do You Know What Textbooks Your Children are Really Reading?, groups have been formed to counter the efforts of those who wish to teach creation over evolution.

http://www.foxnews.com

PREVENTING DROPOUTS IS EASY

PREVENTING DROPOUTS IS EASY:

"PREVENTING DROPOUTS IS EASY
By John Jensen, Ph.D."

"It is a good thing," my father told me, "to know what you are doing."

This thought is relevant to the unhappy condition of education in the US. We need look no further for the reason than the very focus of the just-released study about dropouts, “Graduating America: Meeting the Challenge of Low Graduation-Rate High Schools.” The three major factors, from which clues are extracted for understanding what practices to apply, are “patterns of geographic spread and concentration; state, district, and school characteristics; and socioeconomic, demographic, and political trends in the community.” That such effort has been applied to something so far off the mark is a symptom of the problem itself.

Studying correlations of external conditions with numbers of dropouts is nearly useless. If his peer group, or his mother, or his probation officer were such and such, or said this or that, what we really want to know is How did he respond?

If his probation officer was overheard saying, "I think he's on his way to a lifetime in prison," or his mother told him "No point in getting an education," or his peer group said "Hey, we got some really great stuff you'll like," the point isn't that we can correlate these messages with how many believe them and eventually lose their way. What's important is the difference between those and the others who say "All those people are screwed up. The guys in my class are screwed up. My mother is screwed up, and my probation officer is screwed up. I'm going to get my degree and get out of this sick place."

What's decisive isn't what happens to him or goes into him. What's decisive is how he personally responds. The implication of this is that we cease exploring among generalities and look at how we are guiding his particular response to external conditions.


http://www.docstoc.com/docs/10648603/The-High-Cost-of-High-School-Dropouts-What-the-Nation-Pays-for-Inadequate-High-Schools

Schools and scandal: Nothing Obama does is too dull to stoke the blogosphere’s outrage | Editorial | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Schools and scandal: Nothing Obama does is too dull to stoke the blogosphere’s outrage Editorial Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Depending on which detractor you listen to, President Obama's planned speech to schoolkids this coming Tuesday is either “something you'd expect to see in North Korea or Saddam Hussein's Iraq” or an effort “to indoctrinate America's schoolchildren to his socialist agenda.”"

The speech's subject? It's a call to personal responsibility: Setting goals, staying in school, making good grades. Stuff that, if anyone else said it, would seem worthy and tedious, right up there with exhortations to cleanliness, politeness and flossing before bedtime.

But we're talking about Barack Obama. And to his dedicated opposition, nothing the president has ever done — starting with his birth — is too dull to inspire white-hot rhetoric. Next time he takes a deep breath, we expect to hear dark intimations that Mao and Hitler breathed, too.

Yes, the White House should have realized that in this super-heated climate, nothing is apolitical, and it should have done a better job vetting the optional lesson plans distributed to help teachers who choose to air the speech. The early version asked kids to write letters to themselves about what they can do to help the president achieve his goals. Someone should have noticed that “help the president” — even to achieve a goal as innocuous as improving kids' education — sounds entirely too political.

Boston school boss has bold new plans

Boston school boss has bold new plans:

"The district is launching Parent University, a leadership program to help parents work with their children on classwork and receive job support, including help with resumes.
The Shelburne Community Center in Roxbury will house a new “re-engagement center” where dropouts can get individualized help as they return to high school. Johnson wants to cut the drop-out rate by more than half, reducing it to 3 percent by 2012. Mayor Thomas M. Menino has faced criticism from other mayoral candidates over the city’s 7.2 percent rate.
“We know that it won’t be enough to say, ‘Go to your old high school,’ ” Johnson said. “We have to give them individual support.”

Some of the changes could encourage parents to remain in the city rather than opt for the suburbs or private schools, said Karen Daniels, executive director of Step UP, an organization founded by Menino that brings together five Boston universities and colleges to provide support to 10 underperforming Boston schools. The K-8 model and Montessori schools are more commonly found in the suburbs, she said."

Matthew Tully: Indianapolis Tests Out Education Reform - WSJ.com

Matthew Tully: Indianapolis Tests Out Education Reform - WSJ.com:

"But now, as the new school year begins, a confluence of events is making Indianapolis a test case for real reform. Reformers here have dared to introduce a modicum of school choice through charters and have tried to focus the system on the quality of instruction (not just dollars spent) through merit pay. Here, reformers are receiving a bipartisan assist from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, state and local policy leaders, and from a nonprofit organization that's filling the city with education entrepreneurs. The stars are aligned for reform, which means that if it doesn't happen now, and it doesn't happen here, it's hard to image how it could happen."

While Indianapolis teachers union President Ann Wilkins promises to fight any attack on seniority rules, Mr. Bennett agreed with Mr. White and told me, "The rules have to be challenged." He isn't alone in that belief. The New Teacher Project, a New York-based nonprofit that has studied Indianapolis Public Schools, recently surveyed district officials and found that 74% of teachers believe the district should consider more than seniority on key staffing decisions.

"That's big stuff," Daniel Weisberg, one the authors of The New Teacher Project's study, told me. It's also encouraging because it suggests support for education reform stretches from the White House to the statehouse to many of the classrooms in this city. That gives Indianapolis a rare moment to build a broad coalition for reform and enact substantial changes. But, Mr. Weisberg warned, the "window of opportunity is a small one." If reformers fail to capitalize on the moment, it will be lost. "Now is the time to think big," he said. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity."

2,000 Washington State Students Report Signs of Swine Flu - NYTimes.com

2,000 Washington State Students Report Signs of Swine Flu - NYTimes.com:

"SEATTLE — At least 2,000 students at Washington State University have reported symptoms of the H1N1 flu virus, university and local health officials said, in what appeared to be one of the largest outbreaks of the virus on a college campus.

“It’s real,” Sally Redman, a registered nurse who works in student health services at Washington State, said Saturday. “We’ve had a constant stream of people.”

So far, the cases at the university have been relatively mild, although at least two people in the area who are not students were hospitalized. The university, based in Pullman, in eastern Washington near the Idaho border, has about 19,000 students at its main campus."

A Surge in Homeless Children Tests School Aid Programs - NYTimes.com

A Surge in Homeless Children Tests School Aid Programs - NYTimes.com:

"In the small trailer her family rented over the summer, 9-year-old Charity Crowell picked out the green and purple outfit she would wear on the first day of school. She vowed to try harder and bring her grades back up from the C’s she got last spring — a dismal semester when her parents lost their jobs and car and the family was evicted and migrated through friends’ houses and a motel."

Charity is one child in a national surge of homeless schoolchildren that is driven by relentless unemployment and foreclosures. The rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities — and the federal mandate — to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil.

The instability can be ruinous to schooling, educators say, adding multiple moves and lost class time to the inherent distress of homelessness. And so in accord with federal law, the Buncombe County district, where Charity attends, provides special bus service to shelters, motels, doubled-up houses, trailer parks and RV campgrounds to help children stay in their familiar schools as the families move about.

State tells schools to teach Bible literacy but not how | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

State tells schools to teach Bible literacy but not how News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News:

"Vanda Terrell is still getting used to saying it.

'Let's open our Bibles,' the veteran Plano ISD teacher tells students daily at two public high schools in the district. And it's legal for her to do it. A new state law requires that Texas public schools incorporate Bible literacy into the curriculum."

But the law provides no specific guidelines, funding for materials or teacher training. So high schools are left scrambling to figure out what to teach and how to teach it. A handful of North Texas districts are offering an elective class, but most are choosing instead to embed Old and New Testament teachings into current classes.

Such broad parameters leave one of the most controversial topics in public schools virtually unregulated, say religious scholars and confused educators. They warn that the nebulous law may have thwarted its purpose – to examine the Bible's influence in history and literature.

"Asking a school district to teach a course or include material in a course without providing them any guidance or resources is like sending a teacher into a minefield without a map," said Mark Chancey, an associate professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University and author of the report "Teaching the Bible in Texas Public Schools."

Obama lays out education goals

The Pueblo Chieftain Online ::

‘We finally have an education president,’’ said Randi Weingarten, president of the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers. ‘‘We really embrace the fact that he’s talked about both shared responsibility and making sure there is a voice for teachers, something that was totally lacking in the last eight years.’’

The president of the 3.2 million-member National Education Association, Dennis van Roekel said, ‘‘President Obama always says he will do it with educators, not to them.’’

‘‘That is a wonderful feeling, for the president of the United States to acknowledge and respect the professional knowledge and skills that those educators bring to every job in the school,’’ van Roekel said.

Van Roekel insisted that Obama’s call for teacher performance pay does not necessarily mean raises or bonuses would be tied to student test scores. It could mean more pay for board-certified teachers or for those who work in high-poverty, hard-to-staff schools, he said.

However, administration officials said later they do mean higher pay based on student achievement, among other things.

‘‘What you want to do is really identify the best and brightest by a range of metrics, including student achievement,’’ Education Secretary Arne Duncan told The Associated Press in a brief interview

Growth model a new way to rate progress in Pennsylvania schools -- themorningcall.com

Growth model a new way to rate progress in Pennsylvania schools -- themorningcall.com:


"The federal No Child Left Behind law requires schools to make adequate yearly progress on standardized tests, which sounds clear-cut until you see the manual. The law takes 1,669 pages to define that goal.

This year, the testing playbook is thicker and more challenging for Pennsylvania teachers with the addition of yet another assessment form: the growth model.

The new measurement, which compares individual student scores from year to year to track progress, apparently worked, results released last week on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment show. It enabled hundreds of schools in Pennsylvania, including four in Bethlehem and one in Allentown, to make Adequate Yearly Progress.

''In my mind it provides a truer picture of how much increase and achievement happened over the course of a year,'' said Diane M. Holben, executive director of academic accountability for the Allentown School District. ''If kids are proficient [under the old AYP methods], all I know is they jumped over a line, but I don't know if they took one step to get over the line or 20 steps.''"

OpEdNews - Article: WILL GOP REBUT OBAMA'S EDUCATION SPEECH?

OpEdNews - Article: WILL GOP REBUT OBAMA'S EDUCATION SPEECH?:

"'Good morning, boys and girls. My name is Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican Party – the GOP. You just heard Democrat president Barack Obama speak to you as another school year begins. We Republicans feel the need to respond to his left-wing propaganda, for the sake of giving you a “fair and balanced” perspective.

What you just heard the president say is plainly outrageous. He told you to work hard this year; to set goals for yourself and strive to meet them; and, above all, to stay in school until you graduate.

Or that's what you think he told you. In fact, this is only one more example of how scheming, conniving Democrats try to manipulate young minds and indoctrinate you into their godless world of socialism. You don't think you were being manipulated with leftist propaganda? Welll ... that just shows you how cunning and devious these Democrats really are. When you think you are not being manipulated, that's when they are manipulating you the most. That's how good they are."

Is Obama's curriculum breaking the rules?

Is Obama's curriculum breaking the rules?:

"Good news, but is it too little too late? As it turns out, President Obama is breaking the rules with his curriculum plans that most schools are set to launch on September 8th, 2009, the traditional first day of school.

According to Christina Erland Culver, who is the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Education, said that the material accompanying the President’s address is not so good.
In an interview with Fox News, Culver stated, “That’s where they kind of got into a slippery spot. Federal statute denies any authority to the Department of Education to provide any kind of curriculum or anything that can be passed down to the state, and that’s part of the statute forming the Department of Education. So they kinda got themselves into this mess because they didn’t really understand some of the key legal roles ore the dos and don’ts at the Federal Department of Education.”"

My socialist agenda is alive and well, comrades | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

My socialist agenda is alive and well, comrades floridatoday.com FLORIDA TODAY: "Now, the rest of America’s school children may be brainwashed by the same radical thinking. At noon on Tuesday – the first day of school across most of the U.S. — President Barack Obama will address students everywhere on live TV.

In terms a second-grader could understand, “The president will challenge students to work hard, set educational goals, and take responsibility for their learning,” says a letter to school principals from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Obama wants students, parents and teachers to work together so that students get the best possible education and can “compete in the global economy,” Duncan wrote.

Seeing through the ruse, Republican Party of Florida Chairman Jim Greer called the speech an attempt “to indoctrinate America’s children to his socialist agenda.”"

North Penn teachers ordered to report to work | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/06/2009

North Penn teachers ordered to report to work Philadelphia Inquirer 09/06/2009:

"Schools in the North Penn School District, Montgomery County's largest, will open as scheduled Tuesday after a county judge yesterday ordered teachers to report to work.

The district sought an injunction Friday night to bar the teachers union from carrying out its threat to not staff classrooms Tuesday - the first day for 12,700 students - because of actions it said the board had taken.

Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas C. Branca said a formal hearing on the dispute would be conducted by Thursday."

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads:

"Kids, like the President will probably tell you in his Tuesday speech -- that you will probably have to watch on YouTube, instead of in the manner it was originally intended, because the adults in your life are useless -- I, too, want you to strive and stay in school and do your homework and make good grades and learn as much as you can. But there's something else I need you to do. Something only you can do! And that is to hold all of us useless, disgusting cock-ups responsible.

This school year, wherever you go, whether it's school or your neighborhood or the grocery store or an afterschool activity, I want all of you kids to promise me that whenever you encounter an adult, that you will walk up to them, get their attention, point right at them and simply say to them, 'I blame you.' Then just walk away. Say nothing more. Do nothing else. Begin with your parents and move onward and outward, to every adult in your life. Don't discriminate between gender or color, age or station. If you see me, I want you to do the same thing. It shall make me very, very proud of you. Not that you should care about that. We are arrant knaves all. Believe none of us."

News Hounds: Fox&Friends Provide Free Publicity For Texas Teabagging, Obama Trashing Mom, Katrina Pierson

News Hounds: Fox&Friends Provide Free Publicity For Texas Teabagging, Obama Trashing Mom, Katrina Pierson:

"Fox News does seem to be the Teabagging network as they continue to provide this loud mouthed angry mob (whoops populist movement) with free publicity. Not only is cub reporter, Griff Jenkins embedded with the clown car (whoops, Tea Party Express); but Fox has brought back Katrina Pierson, a Texas mom who (quelle surprise!) who is part of a nationwide group of outraged conservative parents who don’t want their children exposed to the Marxist message of a an illegitimate Pied Piper President, who is piping their kids down the road to Nazi/fascist/commie-pinko/socialism.

Obviously the old republican meme of working hard doesn’t hold the same cachet when given by the hated Barack Obama who might try to slip in subliminal messages about teh gay. Not surprisingly, Fox News is reinforcing this “indoctrination” meme (here, and here.) Coincidentally and not surprisingly, Fox&Friends is giving more free publicity to a Tea Bagger who gets to bash Obama and keep us “abreast” of her feelings about health care reform. Freedom loving Texas mom and member of the National Tea Party Coalition, Katrina Pierson made a return appearance on Saturday’s (September 5th) Fox&Friends during which Fox provided subtle PR for her newest Teabagging endeavor – talk about cajones!"

Breaking News: Van Jones, Obama 'Green Jobs Czar’, Resigns under Growing Pressure - Catholic Online

Breaking News: Van Jones, Obama 'Green Jobs Czar’, Resigns under Growing Pressure - Catholic Online:

"Van Jones
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – In what was supposed to be a Labor day respite before Congress returned and the real battle over the beleaguered “Health care Reform” continued, the Obama Administration has been forced to contend with growing pressure over a controversial member, one of the so called “Czars” or advisors,Van Jones.

Just who Van Jones is and what he stands for has been occupying the media for almost the entire month of August. A web site which bears his name, http://www.vanjones.net/, emphasizes the following concerning his credentials and accomplishments:"

Epoch Times - Mayor Proposes to Takeover Milwaukee’s School System

Epoch Times - Mayor Proposes to Takeover Milwaukee’s School System:

"MILWAUKEE—The debates over Mayor Tom Barrett’s proposed takeover of Milwaukee Public Schools continue as Wisconsin Legislature prepares to make a decision.

Since last year, Barrett has been seeking the reform of MPS and with the Obama Administration’s “Race to the Top” fund, a program giving competitive grants to reward schools that have reformed and innovated their education system, Barrett is now proposing the mayoral control of MPS."

UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - A Commie plot? Obama's school address - Sunday, Sep. 6, 2009

UnionLeader.com - New Hampshire news, business and sports - A Commie plot? Obama's school address - Sunday, Sep. 6, 2009:

"If President Eisenhower had gone on TV to address school children on the need to study hard to beat the Russians, we don't think anyone this side of the John Birch Society (which thought Ike WAS a Russian) would have objected. The first President Bush spoke to students on the issue of drug abuse, and a few looney Democrats claimed it was an election stunt.

But now comes President Obama, who intends to speak to schools nationwide through Internet and TV this Tuesday, and a lot of people seem upset."

Marcos Breton: Obama speech boycott teaches ugly lesson - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Marcos Breton: Obama speech boycott teaches ugly lesson - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Reflecting a national furor, some Elk Grove parents pressured their school district for the option of pulling their kids out of class when Obama gives a nationally televised address to school kids on Tuesday.

Typically, the Elk Grove Unified School District allows parents to 'opt out' when provocative films are shown in class or during some sex-ed discussions.
Now, some seem to consider the president of the United States as objectionable as information on sexually transmitted diseases."

Duncan: Obama to 'Challenge' Students

When kids all across the country return to school Tuesday, some will see a welcoming message from President Barack Obama. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says Obama will talk about the need to work hard and stay in school. (Sept. 5)

Presidents, Students & Controversy: Hardly New - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Presidents, Students & Controversy: Hardly New - Political Hotsheet - CBS News:

"Conservative pundits have been raising objections over President Barack Obama's planned speech to the nation's students on Tuesday in which he will encourage children to stay and excel in school.

Critics believe the president will use that speech to promote his political agenda, rather than simply inspire them to excel in class, and some school officials have said they will not let students watch it."

Quote of the Day: On Obama’s Speech To Schoolkids | The Moderate Voice

Quote of the Day: On Obama’s Speech To Schoolkids The Moderate Voice:

"Our political Quote of the Day comes from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on the furor over President Barack Obama’s upcoming speech to school kids, as conservatives around the country are calling districts and demanding that their kids not be forced to sit through what some of them are calling socialistic political indoctrination:

“I think we’ve reached a little bit of the silly season when the president of the United States can’t tell kids in school to study hard and stay in school. I think both political parties agree that the dropout rate is something that threatens our long-term economic success.”"

Politics of fear are still with us - Salt Lake Tribune

Politics of fear are still with us - Salt Lake Tribune:

"So President Obama wants to talk to kids about education. The political right is horrified. It's not only a socialist plot, they say, it's illegal. Even worse, the president is trying to steal the children's minds in some scenario in which a live video of Obama's speech will turn the little ones into leftist automatons.

It's all about fear, and we as a nation seem to be drowning in it.

We are gripped by recession and a 9.7 percent unemployment rate, the cost of living and health care are soaring and our military is fighting two increasingly intractable wars.
Right or wrong, the Obama administration is responsible for doing what it can to ease our burdens and, it should be hoped, our minds.

But the opposition, which is anything but loyal, seems to have decided that scaring the socks off its followers is the best way to battle the president's 'socialist' agenda."

Listen to teachers on school reform | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register

Listen to teachers on school reform DesMoinesRegister.com The Des Moines Register:

"Some say people have no idea what they're up against. The most common obstacles they mention: Children coming to school tired, hungry or just not motivated to learn. Parents lacking the time - or interest - to make homework a priority. Administrators who pressure teachers not to raise academic expectations too high."

Others say we have been too critical of teachers, particularly by calling for a great teacher in every classroom. Our observation that there is a mix of strong, average and mediocre teachers in many schools does not sit very well with these teachers.Then there are those who say teachers have not had enough of a voice in this project, and they have a point.It's time to pay more attention to what reforms teachers think would help them give students a globally competitive education.

Yes, teachers took part in two Register roundtable discussions, and they have been interviewed for many parts of the project. The Register also surveyed teachers statewide in May and this summer began to report their views, starting with beginning minimum pay and whether they have enough time to help students.

Watch for us to publish more survey results this fall.But teachers' voices should be heard on a more consistent basis. So we invited three teachers to blog for us on the Register's Web site this school year: Frank Beard, a Southeast Polk High School and Drake University graduate who is with Teach for America in Kansas City, Mo.; Amy Prime, a second-grade teacher in Newton; and Melissa Spencer, a North High School science teacher in Des Moines. You can find them under the heading "Class Matters" on our Opinion and World-Class Schools pages online.

The plan is to ask them all the same question every week; this week it's about class size and what they'd like to change.

No children but all teachers left behind

No children but all teachers left behind

With the onslaught of current educational rhetoric, rocky reform, and recent education regulations (dictates of No Child Left Behind legislation), teachers have increasingly been forced to focus on personal reality. On January 8, 2002, President Bush signed into Law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Basically, this law dictates a deadline of 2014 for all public schools to assure that all students be proficient in math and reading with no, not even one child to be left behind. 2010 is fast approaching and things are intensifying as schools struggle to get their own no child left behind acts together before the 2014 deadline. Meanwhile public officials, school administrators, and the press have continually woven intricate, though often difficult to understand, webs of wordy discussions concerning NCLB effectually binding our schools and, more so, our classroom teachers within dark cocoons that have a chaotic educational metamorphosis going on inside. Important but seemingly forgotten is the fact that at the center of this changeling, beats the ever weakening, strangled and often broken heart of a struggling teacher.

No President Left Behind

No! Obama Stay Behind!

Reagan did it in 1989. Bush did it in 1991.

So, why is there such great controversy over Obama doing it in 2009?

President Obama is scheduled to address the nation’s school children on what will be the first day of school for a majority of students and families within our nation. Reportedly, the focus of his message, as president of our nation, will be to emphasize the importance of education and encourage our students to stay in school. Obama’s words will most likely echo the impact that education has had within his own life, as he has reached a destiny that only forty-three other Americans within our nation have achieved.

The question that should be posed is why are so many individuals are exhibiting such extreme levels of hostility, opposition, and just downright disrespect for President Obama’s efforts to acknowledge, motivate, and empower our children within the public school system?

PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS OR POLITICAL UNION?

PROFESSIONAL TEACHERS OR POLITICAL UNION?

“It’s in their DNA," Bailey said. “They can’t help themselves.”

Tracey Bailey and I were discussing teacher unions and their seeming drive to politicize education with partisan endorsements and controversial social issues. He is Director of Educational Policy for the Association of American Educators and was National Teacher of the Year in 1993; is extraordinarily articulate, and his command of his subject has enabled him to testify for the AAE before Congressional committees. We talked while he drove south on Interstate 95 and I hunched over my keyboard in Phoenix balancing a portable phone on my shoulder. I was trying to understand the differences between the NEA and AFT on the one hand and the regional teacher associations on the other for which the AAE is a national umbrella.

"The big turning point was in the early seventies," Bailey said. Before that time, the NEA had been more loosely organized, and a teacher could belong to a local organization not affiliated with the national. When the American Federation of Teachers suddenly began drawing members away from the NEA, it took a more assertive approach to organizing.

“The trigger really was what happened to the dues a teacher paid, changing to what was called unified dues. This meant that like it or not, a large portion of your local dues would go to the national teacher union.

Editorial - Respect Your Children - NYTimes.com

Editorial - Respect Your Children - NYTimes.com:


"The American right has directed many silly and offensive attacks at President Obama. But so far nothing compares with the news that right-wing demagogues on talk radio and the Web, along with Republican Party officials, are trying to stop children from hearing the president urge them to stay in school — because, they say, that is socialist propaganda.

Perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise after a summer in which town hall meetings on health care have been turned into mindless shouting matches, where protesters parade guns and are cheered on by elected officials. Not only Sarah Palin, but people who know better — like Senator Charles Grassley — have been tossing around the fiction that Mr. Obama is planning to institute “death panels” to speed the infirm elderly to their ends"

Still, it was startling to read in Friday’s Times about the overheated and bizarre response to Mr. Obama’s plan to give a speech in a Virginia school next week that schools around the country also can show.

The White House says Mr. Obama will talk about the importance of education — hardly, we hope, a controversial topic. But the article said that in a growing number of school districts, especially in Texas, parents, talk-show hosts and some Republican officials are demanding that schools either refuse to show it or allow parents to keep their children home. The common refrain is that Mr. Obama will offer a socialist message — although nobody said what they meant by that.

There is, of course, nothing socialist in any of Mr. Obama’s policies, as anyone with a passing knowledge of socialism and its evil history knows. But in this country, unlike actual socialist countries, nobody can be compelled to listen to the president. What is most disturbing about all this is what it says about the parents — and the fact that they have such little regard for their children’s intelligence and ability to think.

Stir created by Obama's speech to students is 'a sad time for America' - NJ.com

Stir created by Obama's speech to students is 'a sad time for America' - NJ.com:

"Here we go again.

One side takes what should be a simple presidential pep talk and aggrandizes it into a 'historic moment,' and sends out a 'menu of classroom' activities so teachers across America can bring home the president's message. The other side wraps itself in the flag and accuses the president of trying to brainwash American kids and create a 'cult personality,' as un-American as Mao or Saddam."

How can something so simple get so stupid.

The bigger question is, when will the great masses in the middle say enough is enough.

President Obama will go on TV Tuesday at noon and speak to the nation's school kids. It's what every American president should do, and many have done. His job. As a role model. As national cheerleader. As an example of accomplishment and beacon of optimism.

"Hey, kids! Be like me. Stay in school, work hard and someday you, too, could grow to be president."

Obama's speech leads to a parental panic attack; but what do kids think? - St. Petersburg Times

Obama's speech leads to a parental panic attack; but what do kids think? - St. Petersburg Times:

"Parents can be so exhausting.

They don't want kids to do drugs. Or stay up late. Or skip school.

And they certainly don't want them to watch a speech about staying in school.

Barack Obama is webcasting to classrooms across the country Tuesday with advice to students. It has turned into a collective parental panic attack. Politicians released official statements. Blogs are afire with commentary on both sides."

Maine expands its laptop drive to equip each high schooler - The Boston Globe

Maine expands its laptop drive to equip each high schooler - The Boston Globe:


"FARMINGDALE, Maine - The state that was the first to provide laptops to every seventh- and eighth-grader in its public schools is moving on to its high schools, with Maine’s top education official vowing yesterday that every high school student will have a laptop computer within two years.

The state is currently distributing 67,000 computers to more than half of its high schools. These will give students the skills they will need to compete in the workplace, said Don Siviski, superintendent of Regional School Unit 2.

“The competitive world that these students are going to be engaged in - it isn’t only the United States, the Northeast, or Maine. Their competitors are going to be all over the world. They need to be savvy,’’ he said. “Schools need to join the 21st century to prepare these kids for that world.’’"

Local News | Revealing support for ailing schools | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News Revealing support for ailing schools Seattle Times Newspaper:

"An unusual fundraising effort is keeping education front and center in the minds of Vashon Island residents.

Twelve husbands and fathers revealed more than their support for the ailing local school system in the 2010 Vashon Island DreamBoats Wall Calendar.
Each strikes a whole-lotta-skin-showing beefcake pose with nothing between the camera and his privates but a well-placed prop. Not quite starkers, but close."

Sacramento-area students can ditch Obama TV talk - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sacramento-area students can ditch Obama TV talk - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"Maria Lopez, spokeswoman for the Sacramento City Unified School District, said the district didn't order opt-out letters.
'But we did ask principals that if they were going to show the Obama address, they please provide an option for students whose parents did not want them to view it,' Lopez said."

School Choice: To Air Obama Talk or Not? - WSJ.com

School Choice: To Air Obama Talk or Not? - WSJ.com:

"Mr. Obama plans to encourage children to achieve their educational goals in a televised speech from a Virginia high school at noon Tuesday, according to the White House. Lesson suggestions to accompany the speech at first encouraged students to write letters to themselves about ways in which they could 'help the president,' stirring an outcry among some conservatives, who said the assignment was an effort to politicize children.

The materials were quickly revised, to encourage students to 'write letters to themselves about how they can achieve their short-term and long-term education goals.' But the flap has persisted, drawing many phone calls to schools by parents and casting an unusual cloud of controversy in school districts over the annual ritual of launching the new school year"