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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision

empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision:

Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision

It is September 13, 2015, Day 28 of the Dyett Hunger Strike. Parents are physically starving and the children are hungry for a quality education. The Hunger Strike Continues!

By Bob Simpson | Originally Published at Daily Kos. September 13, 2015 12:12 PM EDT | Photographic Credit; Hunger Strikers and supporters hold a candlelight vigil near the Chicago home of President Obama. | All photos by Bob 'BobboSphere' Simpson. More Photos

The words of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” echoed down Drexel Ave on Chicago’s South Side the mild summer evening of September 8, 2015. Down the street from the Chicago home of President Obama, the Dyett hunger strikers and their supporters, holding candles in the deepening darkness, shared this song that is often called the Black National Anthem:

“Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
let our rejoicing rise,
high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea
sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us,
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won. ”

It was an opportunity for the hunger strikers and their supporters to reflect on the centuries-old African American struggle for freedom and their role in the struggle—Day 23 of the hunger strike to create the Walter Dyett High School for Global Leadership and Green Technology at the now closed Dyett High School building in Chicago’s Washington Park.

The hunger strike is now at Day 28 as of this writing and the Chicago Board of Education has finally opened talks with the strikers. There is a cautious optimism that perhaps the Dyett struggle, which in one form or another has been going on for at least 6 years, will reach a milestone in its journey toward education justice.

When Dyett was closed earlier in 2015, there were no more open enrollment neighborhood high schools left in the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood it once served.

The hunger strikers have been willing to put their lives on the line for quality education, an African American tradition that goes back to slavery times.

'Even when we were in slavery black people fought for schools. And our ancestors evacuated the South to come here, to find a better life for their children…. The institution that our ancestors fought for and won—we’ve got to reclaim it.'
~ Jitu Brown a Hunger Striker and member of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) and the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett.

Jitu Brown with hunger striker Irene Robinson(left)

KOCO plays a key role in the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett (which I will refer as the Coalition for the rest of this article), the organization that is out to transform the now closed Dyett High School into a 21st century freedom school. These are their demands for reopening the school:

Green Technology in school name and in school curriculum.
Global leadership/ world studies curriculum
Duane Turner as the school principal, who was selected by Coalition to Revitalize Dyett
Fully elected local school council in year 1.
Coalition to Revitalize Dyett represented on design/planning team with 6 members in prominent positions. Those who paid protesters to support closing Dyett cannot be on planning team.
The school must retain the name Walter H. Dyett.
Vertical curricular alignment with the 6 feeder schools identified in the Coalition proposal.
Community school (open till 8pm daily, with programs and resources for parents, students and the community)

These demands grew out of the struggle to save Dyett High School and the detailed proposal the Coalition wrote to meet the educational needs of an African American community living in what Mayor Rahm Emanuel likes to tout as a global city.

The proposal envisions a rich full curriculum of the humanities, the arts, math, music, world languages, science and physical education as well as green empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision:

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education:

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting?

At 7:45 AM this morning, the Seattle Times reported the following:

Teachers still reported to picketing locations Tuesday morning, while about 500 union members, parents and students marched from Pioneer Square to district headquarters to show their support for teachers and celebrate the agreement.

At 7:45 this morning there was no agreement and the march planned, as I reported yesterday, was a time for parents and students to show support for their teachers. When the march was called, there was no word of either side coming close to an agreement. This was to be a show of solidarity with the teachers and their union.

This is what the organizers stated per my post:

We are wearing red to support our teachers. Bring signs with your school’s name and colors to show the district how many families and teachers are affected by their inaction.

In this video, people in the march were shouting “Fair contract now!”, not like they have a fair contract now but demanding that the district agree to the requests made by the SEA bargaining team.

Whether the Times, which has been bought by big money, was trying to control the narrative or they are really that bad at reporting, neither is good. So, when the Times calls about you renewing your subscription, remember how one-sided and/or inept their reporting was of an event that happened in the same city they are headquartered.

To follow are photos of the event which do not show a celebration of an agreement but a Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education:

47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

Home - PDK InternationalPDK International | Growing and connecting leaders in education.:

WHAT’S NEW FROM KAPPANMAGAZINE.ORG

The 2015 PDK/Gallup poll results
Testing doesn’t measure up for Americans. Read complete results from the 47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.
Two views on testing opt-out
The civil rights community is divided into at least two camps on the value of testing. Read the pro and the con of testing.
Voucher growth outweighs support
The PDK/Gallup poll shows that Americans don’t support vouchers, but Kappan legal columnist Julie Underwood writes about how they’re the new growth industry in education.

Home - PDK InternationalPDK International | Growing and connecting leaders in education.:

Testing doesn’t measure up for Americans

Americans look beyond testing when they evaluate schools.

Student engagement at school and whether students feel hopeful about their future are […]

Testing lacks public support

Measure engagement and student hope to determine school effectiveness.

In the last year, the grassroots opt-out movement, which encourages parents to […]

Common Core out of favor

Public says Common Core is not the solution to school woes.

Americans and public school parents named academic standards as one […]

Americans endorse choice

Charters and choice are OK, but the public does not support vouchers.

Many Americans have come to accept choice and charters […]

Americans love their local schools

Lack of financial support tops the list of problems facing local schools.

Americans consistently give the highest grades to the schools […]

Americans prefer state control, not federal

The public is still wary of the president and federal influence on schools.

Americans have become increasingly sensitive to who makes […]

Get the kids vaccinated!

Americans agreed that all children should be vaccinated before they attend public schools.

With vaccination so much in the news during […]

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post:

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools

Consider this scenario: A for-profit company operating a charter school uses public funds — that means American taxpayer dollars — to buy computers, copiers, desks and other things for students and staff. The charter school decides to get a different management company. Who should get the computers, copiers and other machines purchased with public dollars? The schools or the for-profit company?

It if seems like a no-brainer to you, it wasn’t for the Ohio state Supreme Court. In a mixed-decision, it ruled on Tuesday in a lawsuit by 10 now-closed charter schools that the for-profit company that once operated them, White Hat Management, owns equipment it purchased for the schools with public funds. How did the court reach this decision?

[What Ohio Gov. John Kasich is doing to public education in his state]

White Hat is one of the largest for-profit charter school operators in Ohio and runs dozen of charter schools that have consistently received low grades from the state, which has a $1 billion charter sector that is as troubled as any in the country.

A June 2015 story in the Akron Beacon Journal about the newspaper’s review of 4,263 audits released last year by the state said that Ohio charter schools appear to have misspent public money “nearly four times more often than any other type of taxpayer-funded agency.” It says that “since 2001, state auditors have uncovered $27.3 million improperly spent by charter schools, many run by for-profit companies, enrolling thousands of children and producing academic results that rival the worst in the nation” — and the misspending could be much higher.

Efforts by Ohio’s lawmakers to require better oversight of charters have been unsuccessful. On the same day as the ruling, members of the Ohio school board questioned Richard Ross, the state’s superintendent of instruction, about a charter school data scandal involving the state Education Department, according to NewsNet5. Ross said he did not know that David Hansen, the department official responsible for school choice and charter schools, was giving help to charter schools to make them look better in state evaluations. Hansen resigned in July.

If all of this doesn’t underscore the need for change in the sector, it’s hard to see what would.

[Troubled Ohio charter schools have become a joke — literally]

State Impact in Ohio, a project of NPR stations, calls the Akron-based White Hat “a charter school giant.” It says White Hat is owned by former manufacturing company chief executive David Brennan:

Brennan has played a major role in shaping Ohio education policy. He and his family members have donated millions to state
Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post:

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News:

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday

SEATTLE -- Seattle teachers will be back to work Wednesday, and students will be back in class on Thursday after teachers voted to suspend their strike Tuesday after reaching a tentative agreement earlier in the day.

According to the Seattle Education Assocation, highlights of the agreement include:

Recess: Guaranteed 30 minutes of recess for all elementary students.
Reasonable testing: New policies to reduce the over-testing of our students.
Professional pay: Base salary increases of 3 percent, 2 percent and 4.5 percent, plus the state COLA of 4.8 percent
Fair teacher and staff evaluations: Test scores will no longer be tied to teacher evaluations, plus there is new contract language that supports teachers' professional growth.
Educator workload relief: Additional staff to reduce workloads and provide student services.
Student equity around discipline and the opportunity gap: Creating race and equity teams at 30 of the district’s schools.
The administration’s proposal to lengthen the school day: Teachers will be compensated for additional work.

Representatives said they are pleased with the agreement and ultimately got what they needed not just for teachers but for the kids.

“Let’s be clear; we won the fight on this contract agreement,” said SEA VP Phyllis Campano. “We had to fight for what’s best for our kids.”

That’s the sentiment echoed through Machinist Hall after SEA union reps voted to end the ongoing strike.

“This contract had been about equity and providing the best for our students and we fought those things to the bone,” said Laura Lehni, Washington Middle School Teacher.

The vote wasn’t unanimous. Some in the meeting say there were still questions about the deal, especially when it came to compensation. The tentative 3-year agreement would give a 3 percent raise the first year, 2 percent the second and 4.5 percent the third year, which isn’t quite what some were hoping for.

“We want to work; I also want to live in the community in where I work, which I do now, but I feel like with the compensation that we get, I felt like we’re falling off the back end of middle class,” said Special Education teacher Kevin Junker.

But Junker and others said they did win other victories like guaranteed recess for every elementary student.

“From day one, this bargaining has been about students and I’m proud to say Seattle Public School district is one of the first districts ever to bargain enforceable, guaranteed minimum recess time for our students,” said Leschi Elementary School Teacher Michael Tamayo. “My daughter was supposed to start school Wednesday. She’ll be starting this Thursday but knowing that she will have guaranteed recess for her an all of her classmates that first day of school.”

The union bargaining team also agreed to the administration’s proposal to lengthen the school day but say they got their way when it comes to addressing equity and reducing the amount of testing.

“It’s a total victory for teachers, but more importantly it’s a victory for kids,” said Campano.

The general membership will meet at Benaroya Hall on Sunday. They still have to vote to ratify the contract. At that point there is still a chance they could reject it.Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News:

Sacramento City Council approves ethics package | The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento City Council approves ethics package | The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento City Council approves ethics package

A package of “good governance” measures, including creation of an ethics commission and an independent redistricting commission, was approved by the Sacramento City Council on Tuesday.

The council also accepted the city auditor’s finding that the city’s sexual harassment policy needs to be updated, and directed the city manager to make the recommended changes.

The “good governance” recommendations were made by a City Council ad hoc committee appointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson that met behind closed doors for months. The committee worked with attorneys specializing in government ethics, the League of Women Voters and government watchdog Common Cause. Those groups supported the proposals presented to the council Tuesday evening.

“Usually, cities don’t do sweeping reforms like this,” said Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who chaired the ad hoc committee. “Usually, it’s shoved down their throats with a ballot measure.”

The ad hoc committee’s proposals were approved by a 8-0 vote, with Councilman Jay Schenirer absent.

A majority of the approximately 30 people who addressed the council urged approval of the recommendations.

“These are major, major reforms,” said former Sacramento city manager Bill Edgar in voicing his support.

But the watchdog group Eye on Sacramento urged the council to modify the ad hoc committee’s proposals. The group criticized the committee for meeting behind closed doors for 10 months, then calling on the council to immediately adopt its recommendations with little opportunity for the public to evaluate the proposals.

Noting that the ad hoc committee’s recommendations weren’t made public until late Thursday, Craig Powell, president of Eye on Sacramento, asked the council to forward the recommendations to the council’s law and legislation committee, without formal endorsement, to allow a full review and public debate.

The council, however, decided to move forward to establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw City Council district boundaries. The ad hoc committee recommended modeling the process after that used by the state. The intent is to take the politics out of redistricting and prevent council members from drawing district boundaries to benefit themselves.

Establishment of the commission requires voter approval and the ad hoc committee recommended placing a measure on the November 2018 ballot. This would allow the commission to handle redistricting following the 2020 census.

USUALLY CITIES DON’T DO SWEEPING REFORMS LIKE THIS. USUALLY, IT’S SHOVED DOWN THEIR THROATS WITH A BALLOT MEASURE.

City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby

The council also directed the city clerk to work with the city attorney to draft an ethics code for presentation to the council for review and approval by late December or early next year.

The ethics reform package includes establishment of an office of compliance with a compliance officer and administrative support position in the city clerk’s office to educate employees and monitor the city’s compliance with its ethic policies.

The ethics commission is proposed to consist of five commissioners with legal backgroundsSacramento City Council approves ethics package | The Sacramento Bee:

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article35415504.html#storylink=cpy

Diane Ravitch to Lecture at Baylor Sept. 24

Baylor University || Media Communications || News:

Diane Ravitch to Lecture at Baylor Sept. 24

Diane Ravitch will speak at Baylor's Waco Hall on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 6 p.m.

WACO, Texas (Sept. 15, 2015) – Dr. Diane Ravitch, controversial former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education, will speak at Baylor University on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. in Waco Hall. Her appearance is part of the Academy for Leader Development Lecture Series and the School of Education Distinguished Lecture Series. The lecture, titled “Leading for Equity in Education,” is free and open to the public, with no tickets or reservations required.

Ravitch is research professor of education at New York University and a historian of education. In her role at the Department of Education in the 1990s, Ravitch led federal efforts to promote standardized testing, teacher accountability and school choice. But in 2010, she abandoned those ideas and now decries the rampant testing culture and legislation including No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top.

“Dr. Ravitch’s complete turnaround on standardized testing issues is extraordinary,” said Dr. Doug Rogers, professor and associate dean in the Baylor School of Education. “Her point — and it’s a good one — is that the good that could be done through testing has been overshadowed by the excessiveness of standardized testing. Because of testing, we now know more than ever about what students need, but because of the timing and schedule, we no longer have classroom time to address what we know.”

Dr. Wesley Null, Baylor’s vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of education, will introduce Ravitch, whom he has known for many years. Null and Ravitch co-edited the book Forgotten Heroes of American Education: The Great Tradition of Teaching Teachers in 2006 and have collaborated on other projects.

“Diane Ravitch has been one of our nation’s leading educational historians and policy analysts for at least 30 years,” Null said. “We are very fortunate to have her visiting our campus.”

Null called Ravitch a “true fighter for classroom teachers and the teaching profession” and said she is “unafraid to argue for the kind of high-quality education that she expects for all young people.”

Dr. Michael McLendon, Dean of the Baylor School of Education, said, “Diane Ravitch is a vocal proponent for public education in this country at a time when our collective prosperity depends heavily on the conditions and quality of our educational system. She is very much at the center of the national conversation around accountability and testing, their purposes and their impacts.”

In 2014, Politico magazine named Ravitch among 50 people influencing policy in Washington. Politico said, “Ravitch today is a staunch defender of teachers and their right to organize against what she calls the ‘privatization’ of our school system by ‘people who make false promises,’ ‘drain students and funding away from public schools’ and ‘blame teachers for conditions beyond their control.’”

Ravitch’s lecture will include tips for concerned citizens about what they can do to improve public education locally, and she will take questions from the audience. Her books — including her latest, Reign of Error: the Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America’s Public Schools — will be available for purchase. Ravitch blogs at dianeravitch.net, a site which has had nearly 8.3 million views in less than a year.

Additional sponsors for the lecture are the Baylor Division of Student Life, the University Lecture Committee and the Campus Diversity Committee.

Media recordings of Dr. Ravitch’s presentation will only be allowed during the first 10 minutes that she speaks.

ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY

Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 16,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.

ABOUT BAYLOR SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

Founded in 1919, the Baylor School of Education is accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education. The School prepares leaders beginning in undergraduate programs, continuing through master’s-level work and culminating in both Ed.D. and Ph.D. programs; impacts the world as students participate in faculty-guided fieldwork, service learning and community-focused research in local and global contexts; and shapes the future by mentoring the whole person, developing an understanding of theory and practice and encouraging responsiveness to one’s calling.Baylor University || Media Communications || News:

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