Tuesday, December 18, 2012

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

no rights are absolute. At some points the Constitution makes that clear - in the 5th (and 14th) Amendment you can be denied the most basic rights of life and liberty via due process of law.
Rights are often in conflict. And because an assertion of an unlimited and unrestricted right on behalf of one party inevitably means the diminishment of the rights and liberty of another, all rights are restricted in some circumstances.
The right to keep and bear arms as an individual, even if I do not believe should be based on the 2nd Amendment, which speaks not of individuals but of the people collectively, nevertheless would be guaranteed as an unenumerated right on the 9th Amendment (although Right-wingers do not like the 9th because of Roe v Wade).
You may have the right to freely swing your arms, but I have the right to keep the shape of my nose, so the limits of that freedom for you are at the point of my nose.
Those who insist upon their rights being absolute and unfettered even at the expense of the liberty and safety of others are to my mind sociopathic. That applies to those who assert unfettered personhood for corporate

Sorry Todd. Did I say “worst?” I meant “wurst.” « Fred Klonsky

Sorry Todd. Did I say “worst?” I meant “wurst.” « Fred Klonsky:

Sorry Todd. Did I say “worst?” I meant “wurst.”

by Fred Klonsky

Fred,
How in the world is this “one of the worst” pension bills? Bills in the past completely eliminate the COLA, transition the whole system to 401k’s, eliminate all health insurance, and ravage the system as a whole. This is the FIRST bill to take a progressive approach (in that people with smaller pensions face less of an impact), the first bill to place responsible limits on maximum pensions, and the first one to fully maintain health insurance.
Regardless of how we got here (which I agree is purely the state’s fault), there is NO other way out besides cuts. We just raised the income tax 66% and it didn’t make the slightest dent. Approaching it from a purely revenue standpoint, I’m curious to see how much taxes would have to be raised across the board to cover our liability… 100%? 200%? Even a 300% increase is not out of the question.
Todd

Sorry Todd. Did i say this was the worst pension bill ever?
I meant to say it was the wurst bill. Meaning Nekritz, Cassidy, Gabel and the rest of the gang of 21 put in it all the scraps and left-overs that nobody else thought was possibly edible.
No. It doesn’t completely eliminate our COLA. But other pension bills thought they could play bait and switch

Diane in the Afternoon 12-18-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

Karen Lewis Reacts to the Kerfuffle

by dianerav

As readers of the blog know, I posted a tribute yesterday to “The Hero Teachers of Newtown.”
Soon after, the vice-president of Teach for America responded with outrage on Twitter and said that the post was “reprehensible” and should be retracted. I had no idea what he was offended by, but not long after I received many Tweets and comments on the blog from his followers, chastising me for daring to….well, I am not sure why they were upset. Some thought I slandered TFA, though the post didn’t mention TFA. Some thought I slandered non-union teachers, because I praised the Sandy Hook teachers and said they belonged to a union. Some alleged that I politicized the massacre by acknowledging (as many others have) that teachers have been

Breaking News: Governor Snyder Vetoes Bill to Allow Guns in Schools

by dianerav

Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan vetoed a bill that would have allowed guns in schools.
His reason was that the bill did not have a provision allowing schools to opt out if they didn’t want guns in their buildings.
Presumably the next legislature, if so inclined, could make that fix. Let’s hope not. Guns don’t belong in

Katie Osgood Comments on the Twitter Debate

by dianerav

There has been a raging Twitter debate about whether my post “Hero Teachers of Newtown” disrespected Teach for America (which was not mentioned in the post) and non-unionized teachers. Some claim that I “politicized” the tragedy by pointing out that all those who died were members of a teachers’ union and many had tenure. Let us not forget that the political attacks on teachers, on tenure, on public schools, and on unions have been intense these past three years. I think the post is self-evident and speaks for itself. But others have useful comments. Here is Katie Osgood:
What a ridiculous debate. Diane’s post was a beautiful reminder of the work that teachers REALLY do every day. It points out that the slander and misinformation regarding unions, tenure, testing, evaluation, and teacher quality of EdReformers everywhere is completely unfounded and cruel.
What the teachers at Sandy Hook did was indeed heroic. But I would also like to point out that those 20

Why Austin ISD Dropped IDEA Charter

by dianerav

A parent in Austin sent the following account of events there, along with a link to the newspaper story.
Dear Diane,
I thought you might be interested in the vote of Austin ISD last night – not to renew the IDEA contract. It was standing room only – many of the students you met at Eastside Memorial made incredibly impassioned pleas for the Board to “give our school back to the community”. Here’s a short article someone sent to me late last

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 12-18-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 2 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Last night’s Twitter Kerfuffle by dianerav Last night I posted a tribute to “The Hero Teachers of Newtown,” briefly describing each of them , noting that they were members of a union, they were career educators, and that the attacks on career educators and unions should stop. Shortly after, a TFA officer demanded on Twitter that I retract the post, calling it reprehensible. I was baffled. The post made no reference to TFA. Someone then wrote on the blog that I was casting aspersion on non-union teachers, w... more »

Twisted Truths & Dubious Policies: Comments on the NJDOE/Cerf School Funding Report « School Finance 101

Twisted Truths & Dubious Policies: Comments on the NJDOE/Cerf School Funding Report « School Finance 101:

Twisted Truths & Dubious Policies: Comments on the NJDOE/Cerf School Funding Report

by schoolfinance101

Yesterday, we were blessed with the release of yet another manifesto (as reported here on NJ Spotlight) from what has become the New Jersey Department of Reformy Propaganda. To be fair, it has become increasingly clear of late, that this is simply the new model for State Education Agencies (see NYSED Propaganda Here), with the current US Dept of Education often leading the way.
Notably, there’s little change in this report from a) the last one or b) the Commissioner’s state of the schools address last spring.
The core logic of the original report remains intact:

That NJ has a problem – and that problem is the achievement gap between low income and non-low income kids;
That spending money on these kids doesn’t help – in fact it might just hurt – but it’s certainly a waste;

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources

SI&A Cabinet Report – News & Resources:

RTTT fund, I3 grants among those targeted for federal audits

Federal auditors will focus attention in 2013 on selected recipients of grants issued under the Race to the Top competition, Vocational Rehabilitation State Grant Program and the Investing in Innovation fund.

In its semiannual report to Congress, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education said the 2013 work plan is aimed at “promoting educational excellence and opportunity for all students” and “includes specific work pursuant to numerous department programs impacting its mission to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”

Part of the office’s work is tied to making sure the U.S. Department of Education is conducting its own oversight of federal funds correctly. The agency recently? found that the department failed to recover $415 million of questionable expenses due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

Of 93 external audits reviewed by OIG and issued between 2007 through 2010, they found that 90 percent – or 84 – of them had not been resolved within six months, and 35 of those 84 audits, or 42 percent, were still unresolved as of January 2012.

In addition to carrying out investigations into fraud, waste and abuse launched as a result of whistle blowers or

Schools Matter: The Mental Health Issue Not Being Discussed: Doping of Children and Young Adults

Schools Matter: The Mental Health Issue Not Being Discussed: Doping of Children and Young Adults:

The Mental Health Issue Not Being Discussed: Doping of Children and Young Adults

by Jim Horn

With Fox News now fronting for the NRA's misleaders on the horrific child killing in CT, we can expect to see a new push to identify any child that may be suspected as problematic and to "treat" them with prescription drugs.

In fact, Dr. Nancy was on NBC News last evening talking about the lack of mental health care. Indeed. What Dr. Nancy did not mention is that most of the young shooters from the past 15 years of gun-crazed carnage had received what passes now for mental health care: a prescription drug cocktail supplied by Big Pharma.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What I fear is that this latest incident, when combined with search for any solution other than gun control, will exacerbate the doping of children, rather than having us examine what we have already done to kids in order to keep them compliant in schools that allow nothing else.

The piece below was posted in July 2012 at psychiatricfraud.org:

Part 4: High Stakes Testing: The Consequences | Seattle Education

Part 4: High Stakes Testing: The Consequences | Seattle Education:

Part 4: High Stakes Testing: The Consequences

by seattleducation2011

There is the narrowing of focus to math and reading and less focus on history, social studies, the arts, foreign languages, writing, physical education, or developing research and critical thinking skills.

The emphasis on test scores precludes looking more carefully at the cause of low test scores which include poverty, health and family issues as well as the effect of the economic downturn on children and their families.

Teachers who consider themselves professionals will begin to drop out of public schools. These individuals who have invested time and money on preparing for a career in a public school system will no longer have a sense of challenge as they go about reviewing standardized curriculum with every child being on the same page in the same book in all parts of the country at the same time with no opportunity to respond to students as individuals. There is also the matter of being evaluated publicly with a career hanging on whether your students test

UPDATE: Seattle Schools Community Forum: End of the Honeymoon, Start of the Plan?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: End of the Honeymoon, Start of the Plan?:

District Focus for Next Year

by Melissa Westbrook

From Superintendent Banda's Office:

As we head into the winter break, I want to take a moment to thank you all for your hard work and dedication. In the six months since I’ve been here, I’ve been proud to work alongside you. We have much to be thankful for at Seattle Public Schools – our enrollment is growing, our graduation rate has increased and our students are showing improved academic achievement.

I’m grateful for the time staff has spent helping me get to know this wonderful community, including the many evening meetings with our families, community members, staff and students.

In the New Year, I look forward to meeting with more of you. Our principals, teachers and staff are the heart of Seattle Public Schools, and I am eager to hear your ideas for ensuring that we are meeting the needs of every student.

In light of the tragedy in Connecticut last week, we are strengthening our focus on school safety. Our security team will be meeting with principals in the New Year to review safety plans and ensure each building is equipped

End of the Honeymoon, Start of the Plan?

by Melissa Westbrook

Over at Crosscut, they've written an article about the end of the so-called six month honeymoon since Jose Banda became SPS superintendent.

As we have all come to realize, Superintendent Banda is a careful person. Not a big talker, a quieter person, he doesn't do a lot to draw attention to himself. Some might be anxious or annoyed with the pace of what he is doing but I like to think he knows just what he is doing.

The article lays out several pressing issues for him:

Money and the Legislature (and the levies)
Capacity
Teachers and testing (and contract renewal)
Vacancies in district leadership
Academics

There was one early comment that caught my eye:

At this point, the most important question to pose to the superintendent is to articulate his overall vision for the

Tuesday Open Thread

by Melissa Westbrook

Boy, it's dark outside. Maybe that's just the time of year or maybe it's just a dark cloud over our psyches.

Threads to come:
- capacity meeting at Olympic View last night (don't worry, all was calm and supportive but no real answers)
- BEX IV and Schools First (the levy passage group) - their website says nothing about the capacity issues. Is this how they plan to sell a $1B package of levies?
- Ed News Roundup

What's on your mind?

Shanker Blog » The Sensitive Task Of Sorting Value-Added Scores

Shanker Blog » The Sensitive Task Of Sorting Value-Added Scores:

The Sensitive Task Of Sorting Value-Added Scores

by Matthew Di Carlo

The New Teacher Project’s (TNTP) recent report on teacher retention, called “The Irreplaceables,” garnered quite a bit of media attention. In a discussion of this report, I argued, among other things, that the label “irreplaceable” is a highly exaggerated way of describing their definitions, which, by the way, varied between the five districts included in the analysis. In general, TNTP’s definitions are better-described as “probably above average in at least one subject” (and this distinction matters for how one interprets the results).
I’d like to elaborate a bit on this issue – that is, how to categorize teachers’ growth model estimates, which one might do, for example, when incorporating them into a final evaluation score. This choice, which receives virtually no discussion in TNTP’s report, is always a judgment call to some degree, but it’s an important one for accountability policies. Many states and districts are drawing those very lines between teachers (and schools), and attaching consequences and rewards to the outcomes.
Let’s take a very quick look, using the publicly-released 2010 “teacher data reports” from New York City (there

Teachers are heroes; politicians have blood-drenched hands - Opinion - Al Jazeera English

Teachers are heroes; politicians have blood-drenched hands - Opinion - Al Jazeera English:

Teachers are heroes; politicians have blood-drenched hands

The heroism of teachers sacrificing themselves to save young lives contrasts dramatically with the political system.

Last Modified: 17 Dec 2012 14:26

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On Dec 14, 27 people - including 20 children - were killed when Adam Lanza opened fire at an elementary school [EPA]

"Out, damned spot! ... [W]ho would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?"
-- Lady MacBeth, MacBeth, Act V. Scene I.

The NRA has the blood of innocents on its hands. And not just the NRA, but every politician in the USA who does their bidding, whether through fealty or fear. And not just a single tell-tale blot, but buckets of innocent blood. No, not just buckets... The NRA has tanker trucks of innocent blood on its hands. It's not just the 20 young children, mostly five or six, killed Friday in Newton, along with the six heroic women - teachers and staff - who gave their lives protecting them.

As a massacre unfolded, the teachers of Sandy Hook were the heroes of the hour.
They hid their small charges, remained calm, and quietly led them outside - instructing them to close their eyes so they would be shielded from the carnage.
One of the most damning aspects of this tragedy is that the teachers knew immediately what was unfolding

Another faux pro-public education group targets Connecticut - Wait, What?

Another faux pro-public education group targets Connecticut - Wait, What?:

Another faux pro-public education group targets Connecticut

by jonpelto

It started with Achievement First, Inc., the charter school management company co-founded by Commissioner of Education, Stefan Pryor.

Then came the Connecticut Coalition for Achievement Now (ConnCAN), the Connecticut Coalition for Advocacy Now, (ConnAD), Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst (calling itself the Great New England Public School Alliance, GNEPSA) and Students for Education Reform (SFER, an off-shoot of 50-CAN, which, in turn, grew out of ConnCAN)

When Governor Malloy proposed his “education reform” legislation earlier this year, these groups, funded by millionaire and billionaire hedge fund owners, along with the Gates, Walton and Broad Foundations, engaged in the most costly lobbying, advertising and public relations effort in Connecticut history.

Since then, many of the same organizations funded Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch’s record spending effort to eliminate Bridgeport’s elected board of education and replace it with one

Beware of AstroTurf Ed Reformers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's Students first only BETTER

Astroturf lobbying refers to political organizations or campaigns that appear to be made up of grassroots activists but are actually organized and run by corporate interests seeking to further their own agendas. Such groups are often typified by innocent-sounding names that have been chosen specifically to disguise the group's true backers

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)

Other Astroturf lobbying groups

Just Like Michelle Rhee's

Students first Astroturf lobbying (only Better)

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Tuesday, December 18, 2012

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

12/16

49ers

Patriots

‎-Recap‎-Box Score

Education Headlines

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

San Diego police to get extra eye on schools

San Diego police will soon be able to monitor live streaming video from 70 of the city’s roughly 200 campuses, an added measure of security in the wake of Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn.

Sacramento's two Aspire charter schools to stay open with San Juan Unified's blessing

The Aspire Alexander Twilight College Preparatory Academy and Aspire Alexander Twilight Secondary Academy will remain open under a charter approved by San Juan Unified last week.

There's no magic shield as educators struggle to ensure kids are safe

On campuses throughout the Bay Area, it was math and phonics as usual Monday -- although in the back of teachers' minds, the tape of the horrific shootings in Newtown, Conn., ran, over and over. School leaders assured parents that their campuses have in place security devices and protocols -- ranging from visitor sign-in requirements to lockdown practices for students. But even as they expressed confidence in those measures, school officials also were reflecting on how they could improve them.

Fensterwald: Districts face questions in spending long-term bonds for short-lived technology

Last month, the Bond Oversight Committee for Los Angeles Unified balked at endorsing Superintendent John Deasy’s plan to buy tablet computers with bonds intended primarily for building and renovating schools. In doing so, the Committee raised questions that other school districts also should be asking.

Monday, December 17, 2012

El Monte Union auditoriums remain closed

Two local high school auditoriums remain closed as district officials work to figure out what went wrong with installation of roughly $2.6 million of heating, air and ventilation systems inside the facilities and how they can go about fixing the issue.

Freedburg: National response needed to protect children from gun violence

Getting a 60-vote majority in the Senate, and majority support in the House of Representatives, for any meaningful reforms will be extraordinarily difficult. Teachers, PTAs and all others who work in our schools will have to come together to push Congress to approve legislation that creates safer environments for our children – and people of all ages.

School yoga classes draw fire from conservatives

A small but vocal group of parents, spurred on by the head of a local conservative advocacy group, has likened 30-minute yoga classes to religious indoctrination. They say the classes – part of a comprehensive program offered to all public school students in this affluent suburb north of San Diego – represent a violation of the First Amendment.

Singing Songs of Joy and Peace - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher

Singing Songs of Joy and Peace - Teacher in a Strange Land - Education Week Teacher:

Singing Songs of Joy and Peace

by Nancy Flanagan

This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.

Leonard Bernstein

I woke up this morning to the sound of gunshots. Not the terrible gunshots haunting my nightmares lately--the actual resonant booms of hunting rifles, nearby. Firearms deer season--when we heard continuous shooting, dawn to dusk--is over. It's ruffled grouse season, and anyone with a valid MI license can hunt rabbit or squirrel. I live in northern Michigan, where hunting is a way of life--my local grocery store had, literally, more than 100 dead deer piled up near the back door, ready for processing, just two weeks ago.
Which is why I was heartened by this editorial in the center-right Traverse City Record-Eagle, urging my governor to veto a bill that allows guns to be carried into schools and day-care centers, among other places. Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst has declared their "neutrality" on the MI guns-in-schools bill--but then, they've already had their say, eagerly funding the craven legislators who voted it through.
How can you be "neutral" on any of this? This is a national crisis of confidence--and all crises are opportunities.

Latest News and Comment from Education

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Teachers are heroes; politicians have blood-drenched hands

Education Headlines