Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Byrd-Bennett goes postal. Boycott movement grows.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Byrd-Bennett goes postal. Boycott movement grows.:

Byrd-Bennett goes postal. Boycott movement grows.

Nice flight down to Austin this morning. It seemed like half the plane (slight exaggeration) was filled with Chicago, NPE Conference goers.  Hilarious -- there was $8 Wi-Fi available on Southwest and next thing I knew everyone on the plane was checking in on FB. I wound up sitting next to old friend Mike Charney, former Pres. of the Cleveland Teachers Union. Thanks Mike, for making the flight seem a lot shorter.

News out of Chicago is both grim and hopeful. Grim because schools CSO Byrd-Bennett has gone postal over the growing teacher/parent ISAT test boycott. She is threatening to yank certification (end the teaching career) of any teacher who takes part in the boycott or even (get this) "any employee who encourages a student not to take the ISAT or who advocates against the ISAT on work time." The Mayor wasted not time is backing up this idiocy, telling the press, "CPS simply cannot allow teachers to do their own thing."

In the words of the late Warren Zevon, "Send lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the 

How to Put Out a Twitter Firestorm |:

How to Put Out a Twitter Firestorm

February 28, 2014 in Students

Some of you may have witnessed the ugliness that ensued yesterday after labor reporter Mike Elk posted — and then deleted — a pro- “due process” tweet that juxtaposed Woody Allen and Emmett Till.

I’m not interested in constructing a blow-by-blow account of what happened next — it’s pretty much all still there on Twitter, if you care to look. But this morning Elk sent me and a few other people a long letter about what happened, and asked me to reply. Part of my response was private, but I don’t think there’s any reason to treat the rest of it as a privileged communication.

I’m posting the excerpt that follows not to embarrass Elk further (I hope it won’t, and I don’t think it will), but because these kinds of social media blowups follow a pretty predictable pattern, and I think it’s in everyone’s interest to nip them in the bud while there’s still time. So read it if you like, and if any of it seems like it might be of use in the future, bookmark it somewhere you’ll be able to find it.

Mike,

You keep returning to the fact that you apologized for your initial comments about Till, but you haven’t acknowledged the fact that many people felt — as I did, and do — that those apologies misrepresented the criticism you received. You don’t have to agree with your critics, but if your apology is based on an understanding of your behavior that they disagree with, and that they’ve told you they disagree with, it’s not unfair or churlish or dishonest for them to discount that apology. It’s merely a reflection of the fact that the gulf between you has not yet been mended.

You’re angry and frustrated that the arguments you were trying to make about child abuse and the benefit of the doubt have gotten lost in the 

The NPE Conference is Going Live! | Seattle Education

The NPE Conference is Going Live! | Seattle Education:

The NPE Conference is Going Live!

The big event starts Saturday morning.

Watch and listen to your favorite bloggers (ha-hem), education activists and advocates as we discuss the pressing matters that affect our children and their education.

Watch it live at http://www.schoolhouselive.org/.

For additional information on the conference, check out http://networkforpubliceducation.org/conference/.

See you soon!

Dora Taylor

The big money bankrolling the school voucher movement | North Carolina | Indy Week

The big money bankrolling the school voucher movement | North Carolina | Indy Week:

The big money bankrolling the school voucher movement 

by Aaron Lake Smith

Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, believes that a publicly funded program of school vouchers to send low-income, underachieving students to private schools could break the cycle of poverty.

"Odds are if you're a minority—with 50 or 60 percent of minority homes being single parent—the idea of homeschooling or receiving a big check to send your child to private school is a wish, a dream," he said.

Allison was a mentee of the late civil rights leader Julius Chambers and has been the key lobbyist in the passage of North Carolina's "opportunity scholarship" amendment last year.

But Chambers' daughter, Judy, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to have this legislation declared unconstitutional. "Julius Chambers himself might have been on the other end of this," Allison said. "There will be those from the Civil Rights era that are still with us today that will find this hard because they struggled so hard to be able to break through that barrier of public school."

Allison started PEFNC in 2005. "When I say we were grassroots, I mean grassroots. We didn't have an office, a staff. Our board was a board of the willing." However grassroots their beginnings, in the last two years PEFNC and its political action committee, Partners for Educational Freedom in NC, have become one of the central conduits for big "school choice" money in North Carolina politics.

Allison's group and similar ones nationwide are funded by libertarian and right-wing billionaires, who, using philanthropic foundations, nonprofits, PACS, and hefty individual donations, have poured money into state pushes for controversial voucher programs in Florida, Louisiana, Ohio, Wisconsin—and now North Carolina.

Though the talking points of the "school choice movement" are populist and no-nonsense—that parents have the right to choose the kind of 

2-28-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

Candidates for open District 1 seat to join forum on Monday

Residents of LA Unified District 1 will have an early look at some of the candidates for the open board seat on Monday, when Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, at 4269 S Figueroa St., holds its weekly conference for area ministers. A candidates’ forum is scheduled as an opportunity for the ministers and members of the public to meet the candidates and ask questions. All 13 candidates have been invited to

8min hide  //  save

LA Unified teachers union race gets national attention

While LA School Report has been paying close attention to the elections taking place at UTLA, the nations second largest teachers union, the competition hasn’t attracted much outside attention – that is until recently. Now, education blogger, Anthony Cody at Edweek-Teacher, has launched a series of Question-and-Answers with the 10 candidates vying for union president, each being asked the same que

18min hide  //  save

Morning Read: LAUSD says it needs billions for school repairs

Billions would be needed to repair L.A. schools, officials say Maintaining Los Angeles Unified campuses will be difficult because of staffing and funding shortages combined with repair backlogs, aging buildings and more than 100 new schools, officials said Thursday. LA Times LA teachers can only afford 8.7 percent of LA houses A new real estate study out from listing site Redfin shows that only 8

37min 

2-27-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: A new attempt at a CA teacher dismissal billState lawmaker makes new bid to change teacher dismissal rules A state lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday that would attempt to streamline the process for dismissing California teachers accused of misconduct. The proposed bill by state Sen. Lou C

1 by mike simpson / 22h 

White students predicted to be in the minority in U.S. public schools by fall 2014 | Education By The Numbers

White students predicted to be in the minority in U.S. public schools by fall 2014 | Education By The Numbers:

White students predicted to be in the minority in U.S. public schools by fall 2014

The National Center for Education Statistics released its “Projections of Education Statistics to 2022” with data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures. Page 33, Table 3 shows how white students are projected to switch from majority to minority status this fall 2014. Click on the table below to see a larger version.

Source: NCES Table 3

I also found it interesting that the high school graduation population is projected to decrease. (The number of high school graduates increased by 27 percent between 1997-98 and 2009-10, and a decrease of 2 percent is projected by 2022-23.) Will that mean it’ll start to get easier to get our kids into college?

You might like:

• Interview: Jill Barshay on PISA scores, backsliding of top US students, Asian testing strength - Education By The Numbers
• U.S. private school students not much better than public school students in math - Education By The Numbers
• Top US students decline, bottom students improve on international PISA math test - Education By The Numbers
• New York City Independent Budget Office says per pupil spending is increasing - Education By The Numbers

Would you like Common Core or Education standards from a conservative legislature..? Also: Where's $ for tech? : blue cheddar

Would you like Common Core or Education standards from a conservative legislature..? Also: Where's $ for tech? : blue cheddar:

Would you like Common Core or Education standards from a conservative legislature..? Also: Where’s $ for tech?

by blue cheddar • February 28, 2014

The Senate Education Committee will hold a hearing on the bill March 6, 10 A.M., Room 411 South, in the Wisconsin Capitol Building.

Here’s the headline:

Mary Burke: Common Core bill would politicize education

And here is a snippet from the article under that headline:
“Governor Walker has worked with members of the Legislature in both chambers to craft legislation creating a process that would develop Wisconsin-specific model academic standards. The governor believes Wisconsin-specific standards should be created and implemented by Wisconsinites,” Tom Evenson wrote in an email Wednesday.

So Wisconsin will choose either

A) Teaching K-12 students to a standardized test to suit Common Core at great expense in public schools that are already on edge after massive cuts in state funding
(which – oddly enough – makes odd bedfellows of the centrist state Dem Party and the hyper conservative lobbying group WMC which both prefer 

CURMUDGUCATION: Sharp-Minded Van Roekel and Rhee Join Debate Club

CURMUDGUCATION: Sharp-Minded Van Roekel and Rhee Join Debate Club:

Sharp-Minded Van Roekel and Rhee Join Debate Club

US News has a feature called "Debate Club" which presents "a meeting of the sharpest minds on the day's most important topic." Yesterday they decided to collect some sharp minds to debate the Common Core. And among other things, we learned that Van Roekel's "course correction" lasted about a week.

The choice of sharp minds is telling. Arguing against the Core are Neal McClusky (Cato Institute Center for Educational Freedom), Matt Kibbe (FreedomWorks), and Mike McShane (American Enterprise Institute). So we're going with the "CCSS is opposed by some right-wingy types" narrative.

Arguing for are Charles Barron (Democrats for Education Reform), Jack Markell (Delaware Governor and co-chair of CCSS initiative), Michelle Rhee (educational dilettante), and Dennis Van Roekel (sound of my hand slapping my forehead).

Van Roekel Unchanges Course

All of these sharp minds deserve attention, but it's DVR's offering that is most illuminating. You may recall that just over a week ago DVR "corrected course." His offering to the debate club is literally just an edited down version of his course-correction letter, but it's what he has cut in the edit that is most damning.

Still here: Calling himself a teacher. NEA members always thought national standards a great idea. 

Why Teachers are Leaving | Taking Note

Why Teachers are Leaving | Taking Note:

Why Teachers are Leaving

by JOHN MERROW on 28. FEB, 2014 in 2014 BLOGS

Why are so many teachers leaving our classrooms? We know that somewhere between 40% and 50% will not make it into their 6th year, and nowadays the annual turnover rate is about 15%. Of course, the high departure rate is explained in part by the aging of the baby boomers, but we are also losing a lot of experienced teachers who, if all were going well, would be helping our children learn for many more years.

The situation seems to be worse in North Carolina, where some counties in that state are experiencing a 35% turnover rate. What’s happening in North Carolina [1] is worthy of your attention, because it could be the canary in the mine.

Last week I wrote about the best teachers I’ve known in nearly 40 years of reporting [2]. This week, your opportunity to hear directly from teachers who won’t be teaching next year, and why. I had the chance to speak with 6 North Carolina teachers recently, and I invite you to hear their stories.

A word about the video: The first 2:15 is some sort of PSA. I do the talking for the next 4 minutes or so, setting the stage for an audience of 1300. I asked everyone in the audience who either had been or was now a teacher to stand, and about 1000 people rose. Then I asked those who were no longer in classrooms to sit down. That left about 300-350 men and women still on their feet. You have to take my word for this because the camera is focused on a small part of the crowd (no wide shot, unfortunately). Then I said something like “If you would leave teaching if you could, if you got a better job or if your spouse suddenly got a big raise, or if you could find some other viable exit strategy from the classroom, please sit down.” Here the camera’s tight focus is kind of interesting, because you can see, even feel, people weighing what I said, shifting from one leg to the other while deciding whether to sit or stand. Eventually, about 100 more people sat down, leaving 200+ men and women still on their feet. We gave them a huge round of applause, and then the 6 men and women on the stage told their stories. Skip to 6:30 or so for their stories, which bring the dry data to life. I think you will feel what your rational self knows: this is not good for our children or our country.

Money is one issue in North Carolina. Teacher pay dropped 16% between 2002 and 2012 in inflation-

Know Who Is "Cashing In on Kids"

Know Who Is "Cashing In on Kids":

Know Who Is "Cashing In on Kids"

Friday, 28 February 2014 09:07By Isaiah J Poole, Campaign for America's Future | Report

A collaboration between the group In the Public Interest and the American Federation of Teachers offers progressive education activists a new resource for pushing back against efforts to turn public schools into private profit centers.

The “Cashing In On Kids” website was unveiled today by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and In The Public Interest director Donald Cohen. It is a response in particular to the burgeoning charter school movement, which has been increasingly dominated by for-profit corporations and whose growth has been promoted heavily by anti-public-education conservatives.

“There needs to be a lot more accountability, a lot more transparency and a lot more discussion about the impact” that the growth of privately run charter schools have on public education, Weingarten said during a media conference call.

Weingarten described herself as an early supporter of the charter school concept when it was first put forward as an incubator for innovative teaching techniques or as places for children with special needs or talents. But, with the help of conservatives hostile to teachers’ unions in particular and to public schools in general, charter schools have been allowed to morph into a network that includes lightly regulated, highly unaccountable corporations that often deliver worse education results than the public schools they vilify and seek to replace.

The companies singled out in the “Cashing In On Kids” website include school privatization leader K12, Imagine Schools, White Hat Management, Charter Schools USA and Academica. White Hat, according to the site, has revenues of almost $1 billion in Ohio alone.

Too often, Weingarten said, policymakers have advocated charter school expansions “in an evidence-free zone,” and that has set the stage for a series of financial and academic scandals that would likely not have taken place in a well-run and politically accountable public school. When it comes to the corporations behind these charter schools, “people should know [if] the stockholders and the stock price are more 

Save Our Schools March – Support Florida Ed. Legislation NOW

Save Our Schools March – Support Florida Ed. Legislation NOW:

Support Florida Ed. Legislation NOW

Florida legislators are acting on the requests of the people. They have submitted six bills for consideration in the Florida House & Senate. Put politics aside, and support ALL of  these bills now. Here’s how you can help:

Tell FL legislators to STOP Common Core

These two bills would prohibit “the State Board of Education from continuing to implement the Common Core Standards until certain requirements are met” and prohibit “the state from implementing assessments aligned to common core standards by the partnership.”

Public School Curricular Standards & Assessments – SB 1316:

Public School Curricular Standards & Assessments – HB 25:

Here’s how you can help:

Show your support for stopping Common Core. Email this form letter to your FL representatives!

Tell FL legislators to allow districts to provide permanent testing waivers for profoundly disabled students

Ethan Rediske

This bill would create “provisions relating to waiver of assessment results for certain students with disabilities; establishes eligibility criteria for assessment of students with disabilities.”

Ethan Rediske Act – HB 895:

Ethan Rediske Act – SB 1446:

Tell FL legislators to take the weight off students & teachers

These two bills would delay “the implementation of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards adopted by rule of the State Board of Education” until 2017-2018, and prohibited “the use of a student’s performance on the [FCAT] as a requirement for graduation, promotion, retention, or assignment of grades during the transition period.”

Education Performance Accountability – SB 1368:

Education Performance Accountability – HB 1187:

Here’s how you can help:

Find your FL legislators here! Then email, call, tweet, and post your support for them on their Facebook pages. Tell them that you want them to pass these bills.

Exclusive: First GSA in India Speaks to Feminist Teacher, Ileana Jiménez « Feminist Teacher

Exclusive: First GSA in India Speaks to Feminist Teacher, Ileana Jiménez « Feminist Teacher:



Exclusive: First GSA in India Speaks to Feminist Teacher, Ileana Jiménez

Students from Breaking Barriers, India’s first student-led campaign to address LGBT issues in schools marching in the Delhi Pride Parade in November 2013 (photo courtesy: Shivanee Sen).

“I’m trying to build a culture of compassion, understanding, and of service. I’m trying to build a culture of questioning the status quo.”

Inspiring words by Shivanee Sen, a young teacher I recently met at the Tagore International School in Delhi, where Sen is mentoring the first student-led campaign in India to address LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) issues. In the U.S., Sen’s student group would be called a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance), but in India, it’s more like a revolution.

In just a little under six months, Sen has mobilized an energetic group of over 50 students to address issues of gender and sexuality in education and politics. What they have done in a short amount of time is more than what most established GSA’s in the U.S. do in years.

Called Breaking Barriers, Sen started her groundbreaking group during a conversation with her high school students about gender. Her initial goal was to inspire students to care about the hijras, a community of transgender women, intersex individuals, and eunuchs in India who are marginalized both socially and economically. What started as a discussion topic has turned into a national campaign that has gained the attention of 

A Happy, Good News Story | EduShyster

A Happy, Good News Story | EduShyster:

A Happy, Good News Story

In which we visit one of my all-time favorite programs and learn the surprising reason for its success

A student in the Andover Bread Loaf writing program in Lawrence shares her work.

It’s field trip time, reader, and I’ve got a special treat in store for you today: an actual good news story. So turn that frown upside down and climb aboard—we’re headed to Lawrence, Massachusetts, a city not exactly known for good news.Today’s destination has nothing to do with thegrand experiment in education reform that’s currently underway on both sides of the Spicket River (remember this is a good news story). Instead we’re here to drop by one of my all-time favorite programs: Andover Bread Loaf—a writing workshop led by and for students in the Lawrence Public Schools.

Write like you mean it
First a note about our location: we’re hanging at El Taller, a café and book shop that was opened last year by a local English teacher and quickly become a cultural hub for young 

Open letter to Chicago Public Schools CEO and the Latino Advisory Committee « NewsTaco

Open letter to Chicago Public Schools CEO and the Latino Advisory Committee « NewsTaco:



Open letter to Chicago Public Schools CEO and the Latino Advisory Committee

By Ray Salazar, NewsTaco

As Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennet and the Latino Advisory Committee prepare for their second meeting next week, I share this feedback to emphasize that, in order to fulfill its purpose of increasing engagement with the Latino community and enhancing the educational success of Latino students , the committee must include CPS teachers as regular members.  I know that at least one committee member expressed my concern to the CEO.

Some argue that having teachers, who make a salary from the district, join the committee might put those teachers in an uncomfortable position.  However, I and many other teacher bloggers regularly present criticisms of CPS policies and, to my knowledge, no one has been fired or disciplined for presenting these ideas.  We express our ideas and propose solutions comfortably.

This week, Saucedo teachers, at a school with a 97% low-income student population and a 96% Latino population, took a bold stance against unnecessary testing.  This also proves that many CPS teachers are willing to speak up and present ways to improve education for Latino students.

If the committee is truly going to offer insight into how to improve the educational experiences of Latino CPS students, I ask the committee to start by advocating for and welcoming every day practioners to their table.  Teachers will be affected by recommendations made at that table and, therefore, need to also shape them.

I was told that, in my first post about this committee, it sounded like I was criticizing the members of the committee.  I believe 

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, February 28, 2014

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

Education Headlines

Friday, February 28, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

District Attorney’s Office receives complaints about compensation for Centinela Valley chief Jose Fernandez

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s Public Integrity Division has received several complaints regarding Centinela Valley schools Superintendent Jose Fernandez, spokeswoman Jane Robison confirmed Thursday.

Centinela Valley school board hires media-relations consultant amid fallout

After the fireworks died down at a raucous public meeting, the embattled Centinela Valley Union High School board this week hired a public relations consultant to help trumpet positive news amid a storm of bad publicity.

Rialto Unified dumps longtime accounting firm in wake of Judith Oakes embezzlement allegations

Citing a failure to catch financial irregularities, including the alleged embezzlement of former accountant Judith Oakes, the Rialto Unified school board has dumped its old auditing firm.

Riverside County rejects Coachella Valley Unified cutbacks

The Riverside County Department of Education rejected the Coachella Valley Unified School District’s plan to slash millions from its budget by laying off nearly 70 employees.

Guess what grade schools have banned now?

There's no disagreement: Brightly colored bracelets woven from little rubber bands are this school year's hottest toy. Rainbow Looms also are the latest toy to be restricted at some elementary schools, going the way of Pokémon cards, pogs and Tamagotchis. Ladera Ranch Elementary has outlawed the bracelets, and nearby Oso Grande Elementary has put restrictions on when students can access them.

Denair Unified votes to cut administrative, teaching jobs

To bring spending back in line, Denair Unified School District has to cut all or parts of 38 teaching jobs for next year, many of which already sit empty. Thursday night, it finished making those cuts.

Summer and after-school programs provide a jump on Common Core

Middle school English teacher Kellie Madden already has a good grasp of the new Common Core State Standards. In fact, she has been teaching to those standards for the past two years without realizing it.

Billions would be needed to repair L.A. schools, officials say

Maintaining Los Angeles Unified campuses will be difficult because of staffing and funding shortages combined with repair backlogs, aging buildings and more than 100 new schools, officials said Thursday.

Thursday, February 27, 2014

Moorpark Unified names assistant as new superintendent

Kelli Hays will be the new Moorpark School District superintendent effective July 1, succeeding Teresa Williams. Williams is retiring in June after leading the district for almost three years.

Increase in school counselors a priority for Ventura schools

he board said it hopes to use the state’s new funding mechanism, which is more flexible than in past years, to hire more counselors, including those specifically trained to help students deal with emotional and psychological issues.

Business flows at Alisal USD board meeting

The Alisal Union School District Board of Trustees voted to improve its conduct Wednesday night but not before hearing from its most vocal and dissenting member.

Lodi, Galt students find a flexible alternative to traditional education

Loretta Hans was seeking a flexible education program that would allow her first-grader to learn at her own pace and from the comfort and safety of her own home.

Fresno Unified to get mediator, board starts budget talks

Fresno Unified's school board kicked off annual budget conversations Wednesday and also learned the state has approved the district's plan to declare an impasse over teacher contract negotiations.

Fresno Unified spent $360,000 on Krista Uribe special education case

Fresno Unified has spent $360,000 on attorneys fees since February 2012 in a court battle with a mother and her special needs daughter, who twice was removed from Duncan Polytechnical High School because of her disabilities.

Fence boundaries hit a nerve at Newport-Mesa schools

Hundreds of parents and residents are squaring off in an uncharacteristically rabid Newport-Mesa Unified School District debate – but not over the usual topics like academics, teachers or cheating. This time, it's a debate over fences.

Why the ‘Great Teacher’ Myth Doesn’t Help Kids | Gatsby In L.A.

Why the ‘Great Teacher’ Myth Doesn’t Help Kids | Gatsby In L.A.:

Why the ‘Great Teacher’ Myth Doesn’t Help Kids

“Here’s the problem with the whole ‘great teacher’ idea,” Roxanna Elden tells me.  We’re about halfway through a free-wheeling conversation that has covered everything from TFA to teacher evaluations.  I became a groupie after reading her book, See Me After Class,which she explains is “not Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul” but more like “Hard Liquor for the Teacher’s Soul” because that’s what she believes new teachers need: a shot of real-world, practical advice that’s grounded in common sense and years of classroom experience.

Roxanna serves her advice for brand-new teachers straight up, for example: “After a long, unrewarding day of teaching, suggestions like “Let them know you care’ or ‘Try making it fun’ from people who’ve never taught will make you want to rip off your head—or theirs—and roll it down the street like a bowling ball” or my favorite observation, “I am still waiting to see an ‘inspiring teacher’ movie in which the teacher grades papers.”

See what I mean?  Obviously, I have to ask her opinion about what makes a great teacher.  Roxanna doesn’t hold back.  “I feel like the narrative of the great teacher encourages people to try to cast themselves as superhero great teachers in a school where they have to be the only bright lights in the dark sea of education,” she says, articulating what I’ve been struggling to express for a long time.  She’s dubious about teachers who publish Messianic tales of their own inspirational work.  “To me, it