Charter leader employs six relatives; two may violate state ethics law | The Lens

Charter leader employs six relatives; two may violate state ethics law | The Lens:

Charter leader employs six relatives; two may violate state ethics law

The leader of the Friends of King charter school system has hired six relatives, including at least two whose employment appears to violate state ethics laws that ban nepotism.

Chief Executive Officer Doris Roché-Hicks employs her sister, daughter, son-in-law, grandson and great niece. She also employs her son-in-law’s brother.

Three of those relatives, however, fall outside the restrictions against relatives because state law doesn’t consider them “immediate family.”

And Roché-Hicks’ daughter is covered by an exception that allows immediate family members of the head of a school system to work as a classroom teacher as long as she is state-certified and Roché-Hicks doesn’t take part in discussions about her daughter’s performance or participate in any financial transaction with her on behalf of the school.

Roché-Hicks, who has been an educator for close to 40 years, has been recognized locally and nationally for her work in New Orleans. She was principal of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School for Science and Technology in the Lower 9th Ward from 1995 until Hurricane Katrina, except for a year as an area superintendent under Superintendent Al Davis Jr.

Shortly after Katrina, she fought to open King as a charter. Friends of King now runs King and Joseph A. Craig Charter School in Treme. According to payroll records, the two schools had a total of 179 employees last school year.

Ethics law states that the head of a public agency – a chief executive or administrative officer — may not employ members of her immediate family. That includes children, spouses of children, siblings and siblings’ spouses. Although charter schools are generally exempted from laws governing traditional public schools, they have to comply with ethics laws.

If the Ethics Board concludes that Roché-Hicks violated the law, she could be censured and fined up to $10,000. Any employees found to be in violation of the law could be removed from their posts, suspended or demoted. They could also face fines of up to $10,000.

Roché-Hicks did not respond to repeated interview requests by phone, email, and by hand-delivered note. Tracie Washington, the lawyer for Friends of King, did not respond to phone calls and emails. The Lens also attempted to reach Hilda Young, the Friends of King board president, and its vice president, Eartha Johnson, by phone and email. Likewise, none of Roché-Hicks’ relatives who work for her responded to requests for comment.

The two relatives whose employment appears to violate 

15 Sacramento-area schools flagged for possible state test cheating - Education - The Sacramento Bee

15 Sacramento-area schools flagged for possible state test cheating - Education - The Sacramento Bee:

15 Sacramento-area schools flagged for possible state test cheating

By Diana Lambert and Phillip Reese
dlambert@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Aug. 9, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Last Modified: Friday, Aug. 9, 2013 - 8:00 am

15 Sacramento-area schools flagged 

Florida State Superintendent Nailed also

Cheats For Change #Cheats4Change

California education officials have flagged 246 schools statewide, including 15 in the Sacramento area, for possible cheating concerns because their students shared test-related photos on social media.

Students posted hundreds of images from school test rooms this spring where they took high-stakes Standardized Testing and Reporting exams, which are used to evaluate academic progress.

As educators navigate an evolving online landscape, the California Department of Education has increased scrutiny of campus testing procedures and social media activity.

State officials are reviewing 16 schools in particular – none in the Sacramento region – for the most serious instances of cheating because students posted exam material that could have provided other test-takers an advantage. Among campuses facing a state investigation is Lowell High School, a high-achieving San Francisco campus often considered among the nation's elite.

Those schools are in jeopardy of losing their Academic Performance Index scores for two years, which could cost them state funds and eligibility for state performance awards.

The 15 schools in the Sacramento region received the lesser of two warnings that the state added to

Corporate Education Reform IS CHEATING 

Cheats For Change #Cheats4Change

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/08/09/5636061/15-sacramento-area-schools-flagged.html#storylink=cpy

Wonkbook: Governing by waiver:

Wonkbook: Governing by waiver

By Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas, Published: August 8 at 8:10 am

Welcome to Wonkbook, Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas’s morning policy news primer. To subscribe by e-mail, click here. Send comments, criticism, or ideas to Wonkbook at Gmail dot com. To read more by Ezra and his team, go to Wonkblog.

(Photo by Alexander F. Yuan)

In Beijing, China, in August 2010, there was a 62-mile traffic jam that lasted for 12 days. The cause wasn’t an earthquake or an accident or a shooting. There were simply too many cars, and particularly too many trucks, and eventually, nothing could move.

This is the metaphor we’ve chosen for when Republicans and Democrats in Congress can’t come to agreement and so Congress ends up doing nothing. “Gridlock,” we call it, as if the bills are piled up, one after another, because Congress tried to do too much too fast.

This is a mistake. It’s a metaphor that leads us awry. When Congress can’t get anything done, things do happen. It just means they happen outside of Congress.

Take No Child Left Behind, the big school reform bill passed by President George W. Bush with the support of liberal Democrats like Sen. Ted Kennedy and Rep. George Miller and conservative Republicans like Rep. John Boehner.

No Child Left Behind technically expired in 2007. But Congress didn’t manage to do anything about it. They just kept appropriating money for the zombie bill. And so the outdated provisions of this out-of-touch bill began strangling the education system.

NCLB says that fully 100 percent of school districts need to meet tough proficiency goals in reading and math in 2014 or they lose tons of money. It’s not going to happen. They’re not going to hit those targets and that’s been clear for years now. Everyone knows NCLB needs an overhaul. But, you know, Congress.

So the Obama administration has started waiving NCLB for states that propose sufficiently rigorous alternative plans. So far, 39 states and the District of Columbia have been let out of No Child Left Behind. On Wednesday, they were joined by eight individual school districts in California — Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Fresno, Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco and Sanger. That’s the first time that’s ever happened.

“This is a pretty troubling development,” Chris Minnich, executive director of the Council of Chief State School Officers, told The Post. “The states have always traditionally been in control of accountability for most school districts. . . . The idea that the secretary of education is controlling the accountability system in eight districts in California is kind of mind-boggling.”

Of course, the Obama administration says, with some justification, that it would’ve been 

The Quick and the Ed » Perspective on Smarter Balanced Assessment Costs

The Quick and the Ed » Perspective on Smarter Balanced Assessment Costs:

 Perspective on Smarter Balanced Assessment Costs

 Perspective on Smarter Balanced Assessment Costs

0

09 Aug 2013

by Chad Aldeman

Categories: Accountability and Standards, Data Testing Assessment, ESEA/No Child Left Behind, K-12 Education

A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the budget implications for states participating in the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), one of the two federally funded consortia creating assessments aligned to the Common Core. That post received some positive feedback, so we decided to do a similar analysis of the budgetary costs (or savings) for states participating in the other group, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium.

Smarter Balanced will have two options for states: a basic and a complete system. The basic system covers all of the summative tests required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and costs states $22.50 per student. According to the estimates released by Smarter Balanced, the basic system would reduce testing costs for two-thirds of its member states. The complete system, which includes summative, formative, and interim assessments, costs states $27.30 per student but would still reduce costs for more than half of the participating states.

For the purpose of this post, we will focus on the basic tests. As with PARCC, the savings, or costs in some cases, vary quite a bit based on the state. The table below uses Matthew Chingos’ November 2012 estimates for the Brookings Institution to illustrate how much each member state could save or lose under Smarter Balanced. It includes the latest member list from Smarter Balanced itself (although it excludes Connecticut, Iowa, South Carolina, U.S. Virgin Islands, West Virginia, and Wyoming, which do not have comparable testing cost figures available; and it also does not include any costs for states or schools to upgrade their technology infrastructure).

The table shows that, for 13 states, Smarter Balanced is a net savings, while seven states will likely see a rise in testing costs. If you add up all the savings and costs and look at all of 

What Do You Teach?:

What Do You Teach?

FRIDAY, AUGUST 9TH, 2013 AT 9:31 AM

Last month, I gave a keynote address at the annual conference of the New Tech Network, and suggested that this seemingly innocuous question is one we might need to think more deeply about, and start to answer differently. The video was just released, so see for yourself:

8-9-13 Jersey Jazzman

Jersey Jazzman:

@NJEA Tenure Proposal Is Working!

Let me be the very first to congratulate the NJEA, New Jersey's largest teachers union, on their policy triumph!     Jersey City public-school teachers have not fared well under the state’s tenure overhaul, which Gov. Chris Christie signed into law one year ago this week. Under the new rules, which allow an arbitrator instead of a judge to make an essentially final decision on whether a tenured

6 by Duke / 42min 

"College AND Career Ready": A Useless, Phony Phrase

According to the 2011 American Community Survey from the Census Bureau, 32.9 percent of New Yorkers (state, not city) 25 or older had at least a bachelor's degree. On the new,"more realistic" test scores released for New York State this week, 31 percent of students demonstrated "proficiency." Coincidence? Perhaps, but it's got me thinking about something that's bothered me for a while... It's i

8 by Duke / 1h 

YESTERDAY

Charters That Kick Out Kids Have NOTHING To Teach Real Public Schools

I blogged earlier this month about Montclair, NJ, which has become quite possibly the most important front in the war against spreading reforminess to the Jersey 'burbs. Superintendent Penny MacCormack - a Broad Superintendents Academy Book Club graduate and protege of NJDOE Education Commissioner Chris Cerf - has been pushing to bring the Common Core to this integrated suburb, much to the chagrin

88 by Duke / 18h 

New York Test Scores: Reformies Go All In

The "reform" movement is going all in with yesterday's test score releases in New York State: Large numbers of New York students failed reading and math exams last school year, education officials reported on Wednesday, unsettling parents, principals and teachers, and posing new challenges to a national effort to toughen academic standards.  Across the city, 26 percent of students in third thro

33 by Duke / 1d 

Should APS hold off opening any charter schools until pensions... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Should APS hold off opening any charter schools until pensions... | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Should APS hold off opening any charter schools until pensions lawsuit is resolved?  

• COMMENT(14)
•  0 12 6 23

Here is a question about a proposed new charter school from APS watchdog Robert Stockwell, who created this chart: The area that ACA would draw from has a significant shortage of seats as shown in the table above. As a District, can the BOE afford NOT to grant a charter to ACA given the significant shortage of elementary school seats that now exists in the cluster?

Previous Posts

• Great teacher series: The energy and creativity of Grady High School's Dave Winter 
  August 8, 2013
• Freshman class at UGA sets academic record
  August 8, 2013
• Study: More TV watching as toddlers, more problems as kindergarteners
  August 8, 2013

By Maureen Downey

APS superintendent Erroll Davis is recommending against new charter schools while the issue of pension fund contributions is in court, which is bound to upset parents supporting new charter applications. The APS board takes up two of them on Monday.

This is a complex issue as indicated by a long MyAJC.com story today by the AJC's APS reporter Mark Niesse. who writes:

 Charter schools have flourished in Atlanta in recent years, with 1 in 10 city students enrolled in them, but their growth could stop if the Atlanta Board of Education adopts Davis' recommendation at its 

8-9-13 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Chicago reporters. An endangered species. Not dead yet, but on life-support.

There was a time when Chicago investigative reporters were the envy of cities across the country. This was even before Woodward and Bernstein. Now there are just a few who even deserve the title. Ben Joravsky on the corrupt use and misuse of TIF money. Sarah Karp at Catalyst. She blew the cover on the $20 million dollar no-bid principal training contract. Linda Lutton at BEZ. And a few others. Th

1 by Fred Klonsky / 49min mark as read  //  save

Is the Gang of Ten pension committee reaching agreement? Time to remind them of their legal and moral obligations.

Following the pension impasse in the last Illinois General Assembly session, Governor Squeezy, father-of-the-year Mike Madigan and Senate Democratic President John Cullerton formed a ten-member joint legislative committee to try and come up with something. Given the range of political ambitions of some of the members of the Gang of Ten, I have always been skeptical that they could reach any agreem

1 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: The in box. Arthur Goldstein on the Common Core.  Arthur Goldstein teaches English as a Second Language at Francis Lewis High School in Fresh Meadows, Queens. My friend NY teacher Arthur Goldstein sent me this article in today’s Daily News.   I’m trying to imagine what my principal would tell me if I

by mike simpson / 2h 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, August 9, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

California sees surprise drop in student test scores

Education Headlines

Friday, August 9, 2013

Kern, state test scores edge down slightly

Student performance on the annual Standardized Testing and Reporting, or STAR, assessments dipped slightly in Kern County and statewide in the 2012-13 school year, a decline generally attributed to cuts to school funding and the transition to new state academic standards.

County mirrors statewide trend with STARS dip

The figures are a slip away from gains of the past couple of years, but they mirror a dip in test performance across California, and education officials point to budget cuts and a shift in curriculum standards as the reasons for the change.

Test scores above average, but no growth

San Diego County students again outpaced statewide averages in standardized test scores released Thursday, but steady gains seen in recent years locally and throughout California have leveled off.

Superintendent John Deasy urges LAUSD staff to stay calm in the face of change

The yearly speech is viewed as barometer for both the state of L.A. Unified and perceptions of Deasy, who took office in spring 2011.

Schrag: Those federal school waivers: it ain't over yet

The waivers that eight large California school districts got this week from U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan are yet another measure of the power of the federal law they tried to escape from.

15 Sacramento-area schools flagged for possible test cheating

California education officials have flagged 246 schools statewide, including 15 in the Sacramento area, for possible cheating concerns because their students shared test-related photos on social media.

Judge to Denair schools: Don't lay off more teachers

The school district lost its case that it can lay off additional teachers because of basically flat funding.

California sees surprise drop in student test scores

Overall, the percentage of students at grade level in English slipped to 56.4%, from 57.2%, and in math to 51.2%, from 51.5%.

Academic performance in state, Los Angeles County drops for first time in years

For the first time in a decade, test scores of students in California's public schools slid in the wrong direction, a partial product, educators say, of tough economic times -- and the results for students in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties were no exception, according to a report released by the state Thursday.

California test scores dip slightly but L.A. Unified holds steady

California students scored slightly lower in math and English on standardized tests this year, the first dip since 2004, in what education officials Thursday blamed in part on brutal budget cuts over the last several years.

School test scores dip in state for the first time in 10 years; East Bay scores also drop

For the first time in a decade, student scores on standardized tests in English language arts and math slipped in California, after seeing steady gains since 2004.

Mt. Diablo school board selects superintendent finalist from San Diego

The Mt. Diablo school board has unanimously selected Nellie Meyer, deputy superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, as the finalist for the Mt. Diablo superintendent position.

ACLU updates lawsuit over Clovis Unified sex education

The American Civil Liberties Union has updated a lawsuit against Clovis Unified School District alleging the district's sex-education curriculum fails to meet state education code.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

Two Lodi Unified School District trustees ask for student input on networking policy

Two Lodi Unified School District trustees acknowledged that the district’s social networking policy needs to be revisited, and they asked students to help them change or clarify the policy.

Schools crack down on truancy

Of special concern to teachers and principals is chronic absenteeism, which the law defines as missing more than 10 percent of the days in a given school year, and truancy — skipping school with no valid excuse.

4 Simi Valley trustees vote to file complaint against fifth

Four Simi Valley Unified School District board trustees voted Tuesday to file a complaint with the Ventura County grand jury against Trustee Dan White, alleging violations of the state’s public-meeting law.