CARL PETERSEN FOR LAUSD BOARD DISTRICT 2 - Perdaily.com

CARL PETERSEN FOR LAUSD BOARD DISTRICT 2 - Perdaily.com:

CARL PETERSEN FOR LAUSD BOARD DISTRICT 2

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

It is with a great deal of all too rare enthusiasm that I whole-heartedly endorse the candidacy of Carl Petersen in the race for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board District 2 position presently held by Monica Garcia. In her long tenure as an LAUSD board member Garcia has done absolutely nothing to stem the decay of public education at LAUSD nor has she done anything to rein in the obscene profits of vendors of goods and services to LAUSD that presently have the district on the verge of bankruptcy.

While voter apathy in the past has normally seen a small turnout of around 20% of eligible voters in these school board elections, given the numbers of teachers, students, parents, and others who continue to suffer from endemic LAUSD corruption, it is my belief that Carl Petersen now offers you the first step toward a viable alternative that will finally hold those in power accountable, while bringing about independently verifiable academic achievement and the change necessary for all students and teachers to fulfill their potential.

Read what Carl Petersen says about his candidacy and rest assured that with 3 kids of his own in the system he will do what he says:

What are the most critical issues in your district and how would you address them?

1) The Threat of Bankruptcy: In December, the LAUSD warned: "that the district may not be able to meet its financial obligations in upcoming years because it faces a cumulative deficit of $1.46 billion through the 2018-2019 school year." A significant reason for this deficit is the loss of students because many parents feel the District is not listening to their concerns. As an example, a majority of parents surveyed by the District preferred that the school year start after Labor Day. After a vote to keep the current start date, Mónica García thanked "all the effective voices that made this possible for our youth!", as if parents who wanted a different schedule were working against the needs of their children. The former Superintendent celebrated a winning round in court by calling it "a civil rights victory for our students with special needs". The District's opponents in the case were parents who wanted to preserve the choices available to them.

Unlike any of the current Board members, I actually have children enrolled in the District. Therefore, my voice would add a perspective that is missing from current deliberations.

Existing charters also need to be properly regulated. Just this month the Board renewed the charter of View Park Middle School even though it had been ranked a one out of ten by the California Charter School Association, they demonstrated a 0% reclassification rate for English Learners and the "staff has limited special education capacity and knowledge." I will vote to shut down failing charters and ensure that their enrollment policies comply with the law.

2) At least 25% of students do not graduate: First, it must be CARL PETERSEN FOR LAUSD BOARD DISTRICT 2 - Perdaily.com:

 

Explaining Betsy DeVos and her poor judgment on education

Explaining Betsy DeVos and her poor judgment on education:

Explaining Betsy DeVos and her poor judgment on education

Betsy Devos, an unqualified billionaire with a knack for destroying education in her own state, has been confirmed as the country’s new Secretary of Education. Many are wondering whether the strategic Republican marketing of “school choice” has any leg to stand on.

“Public schools are failing,” is something that I hear a lot when we break down education in the U.S.. While reports and studies are mixed on charter schools, with some that perform well and others that fail miserably, I’ll do my best to make a case for why someone with DeVos’ thought process can be a potential nightmare for the future of education in the country.

Much of the criticism centered around Betsy DeVos focuses on her lack of experience with public schools. While she has shown some interest in “protecting” students from the non-existent threat of grizzlies wandering onto their campuses, she has never run, taught in, attended or sent a child to a public school.

But she’s swimming in an olympic pool overflowing with hundos, and in the Trump era, inheriting cold hard cash from papa is all the qualification you need to toy with opportunities for the underprivileged. Although that statement reads as a bit hyperbolic, all one needs to do is a take a nuanced look at what DeVos did to education in Michigan.

DeVos and her family have donated a whopping $200 million to Republican politicians, and her political influence has been impactful enough to convince Michigan state lawmakers to push for under-regulated charter schools. Keep in mind that these are schools that are insulated from common sense regulations that ensure students are getting a decent education. That may be the reason why test scores in some these Michigan charters are abysmal, yet their unqualified administrators still take home $130,000 a year.

To be fair, not all charters in Michigan were always in bad shape. In fact, Stanford’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes analyzed data from these schools up until 2011 and found that some of them do perform rather well, while others perform the same as traditional public schools. But this study, which conservatives love to share as proof of charter success, has its limitations including how dated it is.

A great deal changed for Michigan charters after 2011, when DeVos’ relentless lobbying convinced lawmakers to lift a cap on the number of charters in the state and all of a sudden both traditional public schools and charters were fighting for the limited resources available. In 2014, charters were already receiving $1 billion in state funding, and thirty new charter schools popped up in 2013 alone.

Charter schools were supposed to compete with public schools, and in turn, that competition was meant to improve education. But that wasn’t the end result. The New York Times explained all this perfectly last July, before DeVos was a household name:

While the idea was to foster academic competition, the unchecked growth of charters has created a glut of schools competing for some of the nation’s poorest students, enticing them to enroll with cash bonuses, laptops, raffle tickets for iPads and bicycles. Leaders of charter and traditional schools alike say they are being cannibalized, fighting so hard over students and the limited public dollars that follow them that no one thrives.”

The rapid growth and chaos of charters in Michigan even alarmed their proponents who feel these schools weren’t held accountable when they did fail. Greg Richmond, who played a pivotal role in pushing for charter schools throughout the country, and also happens to be the head of the National Association for Charter School Authorizers, understands that not all charters will succeed. He wants to make sure there are enough standards and reporting so failing charters are shut out of receiving valuable taxpayer money.

“The quality of schools in Michigan — what you’re seeing there is probably pretty nationally representative,” Richmond said in an interview. “I never thought that all charter schools were going to be great.”

In Michigan, some charters are a complete and utter disaster. The Detroit Free Press shares just one of many examples:

On the west side, another charter school, Hope Academy, has been serving the community around Grand River and Livernois for 20 years. Its test scores have been among the lowest in the state throughout those two decades; in 2013 the school ranked in the first percentile, the absolute bottom for academic performance. Two years later, its charter was renewed.

The push to defund public schools and reroute taxpayer money to charters and private institutions is actually a very clever strategy by the right wing, which has always had a Explaining Betsy DeVos and her poor judgment on education:

After the DeVos Vote: the Fight for Public Education Continues | Schott Foundation for Public Education

After the DeVos Vote: the Fight for Public Education Continues | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

After the DeVos Vote: the Fight for Public Education Continues

Yesterday the Senate voted 50-50, with Vice President Mike Pence casting the tie-breaking vote, to confirm Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos as the 11th U.S. Secretary of Education. The vote—which followed an overnight session of protest and some support of DeVos—marked the first time in history a vice president has been called upon to break a tie on a presidential nomination. The historic vote also followed a widely publicized groundswell of grassroots opposition to the nomination, citing among other issues, DeVos’s lack of experience, support of privatization and unfamiliarity with education policy and practice.

At the Schott Foundation we were clear that DeVos is dangerously unqualified for such an important position governing our nation’s public schools.

Following yesterday’s confirmation, our grantees and allies in education justice are speaking loud and clear: the fight for public education and equity in opportunity for all students continues.

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, of which Schott is a member, released a call to join the resistance:

Starting today, the resistance must dig in and expand.

We will not let this Administration continue to fail public schools—particularly in Black and Brown communities—by starving them of the resources they need to be successful.

We will not allow this Administration to divert public dollars to charters and private schools, defunding the public schools that majorities of children rely on.

We will not allow students to be attacked, bullied, or targeted in any way for the color of their skin or their country of origin. We will resist practices that push children out of schools and in to the criminal justice system.

We are united as students, educators, parents and communities. We will be ready to resist, when President Trump and Betsy DeVos try to take away our schools. Read more >

New York-based Alliance for Quality Education made it clear it would not allow Governor Cuomo to join DeVos in attacking public schools:

“Betsy DeVos is a disastrous choice that spurred massive public resistance to her nomination. In New York State it is time for resistance to focus on Governor Cuomo who, like DeVos and Trump, is proposing massive attacks on public education. Just like DeVos and Trump, Governor Cuomo wants to cut funding commitments for our neediest students and to privatize schools,” said Zakiyah Ansari, Advocacy Director of the Alliance for Quality Education.

“Governor Cuomo wants to repeal the state’s $4.3 billion commitment to increase funding for schools that are filled with black and brown students and students in poverty. This funding is owed as a result of the landmark Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit. Just as New Yorkers have been leaders in the fight to resist Trump and dump DeVos, we will now fight back against Cuomo and his attacks on public education.” Read more >

The Annenberg Institute for School Reform collected advice and inspiration from education experts and organizers:

In response to the Senate vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, we wanted to share some words 

After the DeVos Vote: the Fight for Public Education Continues | Schott Foundation for Public Education:

EduColor Statement on the DeVos Confirmation — EduColor

EduColor Statement on the DeVos Confirmation — EduColor:

EDUCOLOR STATEMENT ON THE DEVOS CONFIRMATION

WASHINGTON – Following the Senate’s recent confirmation of Donald Trump’s choice for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, EduColor Policy Chair Khalilah Harris made the following statement on behalf of the collective:

We are incredibly heartened to see how many people have finally stepped up to take action in support of public education. Because of this unprecedented outpouring of public opposition to Betsy DeVos–driven by her shocking lack of qualifications and preparation, her privatization agenda, and her unwillingness to affirm any commitment to the vulnerable students the US Department of Education (USED) exists to protect–what was once assumed to be a guaranteed confirmation quickly became the most hotly contested Cabinet appointment in recent history.

But let’s be clear: as an organization committed to full educational justice for students and communities who are systematically denied access to a quality public education, we are fully prepared to resist policies and positions put forth by this Secretary of Education and this White House, and will be vigilant in protecting the important work of USED’s Office for Civil Rights. Betsy DeVos has pushed an agenda in Michigan that has devastated public education, and we have no confidence in DeVos, the Trump administration, nor its leader, whose hateful statements as a candidate and reckless and unconstitutional actions since taking office are now legendary.

EduColor is a collective that seeks to elevate the voices of public school advocates of color on educational equity and justice. We are an inclusive cooperative of informed, inspired and motivated educators, parents, students, writers and activists who promote and embrace the centrality of substantive intersectional diversity.

—
www.educolor.org | @EduColorMVMT | www.facebook.com/educolormvmt

EduColor Statement on the DeVos Confirmation — EduColor:

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVosian Threat Inventory

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVosian Threat Inventory:

DeVosian Threat Inventory

So now Betsy DeVos has her very first big girl job, and we live in a Trump-DeVos education era. Time to take an inventory of what education issues to watch for. Here's my set of best semi-educated guesses.

Common Core

Pshaw. Common Core continues to be a zombie policy, existing in various mangled forms both under its old name and its new one. This administration will claim to have gotten rid of it while having not done much of anything. It's like building the Wall; people keep saying Trump can't do it, but they forget his most potent policy tool-- lying.

So we will claim that CCSS is dead and gone and applaud states for adopting strong college and career ready standards, which will continue to be the Core oinking through one more layer of lipstick. None of it will be the source of much fuss.

Charters and Choice

Technically, Secretary DeVos can't really do anything much to get states to go all in on charters, vouchers, and choice. But then, technically Secretary Duncan couldn't do anything much to get states to adopt the Common Core.

The tools available to USED just happen to be tools that DeVos is familiar with-- bribes and extortion. Jump through this hoop and get a big fat check! Displease me and I will cut off your Title I funding.

Expect to see every possible tool used to throw money at charters and push for some version of vouchers. Watch for skirmishes between former allies, as charter-loving accountability hawks face off against a USED that doesn't want to restrict "innovation" or hurt "flexibility" by making charter schools follow actual rules. Cyber-school operators can now breathe a sigh of relief; for a while it looked like someone might actually hold them accountable for their crappy results, but that ship has, well, not so much sailed as been blown up in the harbor.

And be prepared to fight on the state level to keep pubic schools from being sucked dry in order to fund choicey stuff. Remember-- throwing money at public schools is a huge pointless waste, but CURMUDGUCATION: DeVosian Threat Inventory:

The Pedagogy of Antoine Roussel | Blue Cereal Education

The Pedagogy of Antoine Roussel | Blue Cereal Education:

The Pedagogy of Antoine Roussel

Most of you are probably unfamiliar with the name “Antoine Roussel.”

He’s not a traditional educator – or an educator at all. He’s a professional hockey player. A personal favorite of mine, actually. 

And I have the t-shirts to prove it. 

Pro hockey, like any other high-end form of athletic entertainment, is home to the elite. That’s why we pay big money to watch them – because they’re better than everyone else at what they do. Lots better. 

Ridiculously better.

Nevertheless, there is much to learn from Roussel for those of us in a very different world. A world in which many people do what we do, for not very much money. A world in which it’s eternally debatable whether we’re winning or losing, and no one can seem to agree about exactly what our job is, let alone whether or not we’re doing it well.

I’d like to introduce you to the man fans call the Feisty Frenchman, the Rousster, or DangeRouss – all names I’m pretty sure he hates. In fact, if it comes up, don’t tell him I shared those, covenu? 

I’d like to tell you why he’s one of my edu-heroes. And yes, it’s a list. Like cargo pants or cover bands, contrived blog-lists never quite go out of style. 

1. Have a plan, but be ready to follow unexpected paths. 

Roussel was born in Roubaix, France. For those of you who don’t follow God’s Favorite Game, professional hockey players don’t generally come from France. Rouss is one of only three currently playing in the NHL. 

He played rugby as a youngster. It was hot out there on the field, so he kept going to the sidelines to get water. Once Antoine went, teammates followed.

We all have that kid in class – not necessarily intentionally disruptive, but a natural leader who often chooses directions we wish they wouldn’t. And they never go alone.  

It made his coach crazy, and eventually it was clear rugby wasn’t going to work. His mother figured hockey would be cooler – like, literally. 

He played in France, and eventually came to North America. For several years he bounced around in the minor leagues, sometimes getting looks from NHL affiliates, but The Pedagogy of Antoine Roussel | Blue Cereal Education:

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos to Address all Department Staff | U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos to Address all Department Staff | U.S. Department of Education:
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos to Address all Department Staff

Contact:   (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov

Event Date 1 : February 8, 2017 - 2:00pm

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos will address the Department staff on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 2 p.m. ET. Secretary DeVos’ speech will focus on the importance of the work and mission of the Department of Education. Following her remarks, Secretary DeVos will continue to visit with Department staff. 

The event will be live streamed at https://edstream.ed.gov/.

WHO: 
Betsy DeVos, U.S. Secretary of Education
Philip H. Rosenfelt, Acting General Counsel

WHAT: 
Remarks to the full staff of the U.S. Department of Education

WHEN: 
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, 2 p.m. ET

WHERE: 
U.S. Department of Education
Lyndon Baines Johnson Education Building, Barnard Auditorium
400 Maryland Ave., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202

ACCESS:
Media representatives must present a valid media credential.
All credentialed media should arrive at the Maryland Avenue, S.W. entrance.
Satellite trucks must RSVP immediately to request parking.

RSVPs: Credentialed media planning to attend the event should RSVP to press@ed.gov

Questions: Please contact the Press Office, (202) 401-1576 or press@ed.gov

PRESET:
12:30 p.m. 
Final access for writers and still photographers, no later than 1:30 p.m.

U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos to Address all Department Staff | U.S. Department of Education:

Federal website for special education is down. But no, it hasn’t been scrubbed - The Washington Post

Federal website for special education is down. But no, it hasn’t been scrubbed - The Washington Post:

Federal website for special education is down. But no, it hasn’t been scrubbed

A government website that explains a key federal law for students with disabilities was not working on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s first morning in office, leading to anxiety among special-education advocates who are monitoring her views on the issue.

But an Education Department spokesman said what happened to the site was just a glitch.

The spokesman said the agency was made aware of the problem early Wednesday and is working to fix it as soon as possible. “The site was not taken down,” he said, adding that there have been server issues related to the site since at least Jan. 27.

The site lays out student rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Act, or IDEA. DeVos stumbled over questions related to IDEA during her Jan. 17 confirmation hearing, first suggesting that states could decide whether to enforce the federal law, and then saying she had been “confused” about it. DeVos has since pledged to enforce IDEA.

Many people have closely watch federal websites since President Trump’s inauguration, when Federal website for special education is down. But no, it hasn’t been scrubbed - The Washington Post:

Worsening teacher shortage puts more underprepared teachers in classrooms, report says | EdSource

Worsening teacher shortage puts more underprepared teachers in classrooms, report says | EdSource:

Worsening teacher shortage puts more underprepared teachers in classrooms, report says

e number of underprepared teachers working in California’s public school classrooms has more than doubled in just three years, a key indicator that the teacher shortage continues to worsen, according to a new report from the Learning Policy Institute.

For the 2015-16 school year, California issued 10,200 intern credentials, permits and waivers. These candidates had not yet completed, or sometimes even started, teaching preparation programs, according to the report, “Addressing California’s Growing Teacher Shortage: 2017 Update.”

In recent years, the state issued an increasing number of these temporary credentials from fewer than 5,000 in 2012-13, to just over 6,000 in 2013-14 and more than 7,600 in 2014-15.

These temporary credentials reflect a tiny fraction of the state’s more than 300,000 teachers.

“There are thousands of students today in classrooms with teachers who are wholly unprepared,” the report concludes.

The institute, a leading voice urging the state to confront the teacher shortage problem, said the state needed “to invest in rapidly building the supply of qualifiedWorsening teacher shortage puts more underprepared teachers in classrooms, report says | EdSource: 

Time to protect your children by opting them out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory SBAC testing scheme - Wait What?

Time to protect your children by opting them out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory SBAC testing scheme - Wait What?:

Time to protect your children by opting them out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory SBAC testing scheme

We are once again coming up on the time of year that Connecticut public school students will be told to stop learning and start testing.

Students in grades 3-8 and high school juniors will have their time and attention diverted from instructional activities in order prepare and take the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC) test and the SAT.

These tests are useless and unscientific.  They fail to provide teachers and parents with any useable information about how to improve teaching or about their student’s real academic performance in relation to what is actually being taught in Connecticut’s classrooms.

Equally disturbing, these unfair and discriminatory tests are being used to categorize, rank and punish students, teachers and public schools.

As Wendy Lecker explained her in her recent piece, Failed common core SBAC/SAT tests punish students by Wendy Lecker,

Neither the SBAC nor the SAT is valid to measure student “growth.”

Administrators overwhelmingly agree that the SBAC and SAT are not user-friendly for students with disabilities or English Language Learners.

They are a worthless measure of how students are doing with what is actually taught in Connecticut classrooms.

And most troubling of all, the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium (SBAC) test is literally designed to fail many Time to protect your children by opting them out of the unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory SBAC testing scheme - Wait What?:

NYT EDITORIAL BOARD: Betsy DeVos Teaches the Value of Ignorance - The New York Times

Betsy DeVos Teaches the Value of Ignorance - The New York Times:

Betsy DeVos Teaches the Value of Ignorance

“Government really sucks.” This belief, expressed by the just-confirmed education secretary, Betsy DeVos, in a 2015 speech to educators, may be the only qualification she needed for President Trump.

Ms. DeVos is the perfect cabinet member for a president determined to appoint officials eager to destroy the agencies they run and weigh the fate of policies and programs based on ideological considerations.

She has never run, taught in, attended or sent a child to an American public school, and her confirmation hearings laid bare her ignorance of education policy and scorn for public education itself. She has donated millions to, and helped direct, groups that want to replace traditional public schools with charter schools and convert taxpayer dollars into vouchers to help parents send children to private and religious schools.

While her nomination gave exposure to an honest and passionate debate about charter schools as an alternative to traditional public schools, her hard-line opposition to any real accountability for these publicly funded, privately run schools undermined their founding principle as well as her support. Even champions of charters, like the philanthropist Eli Broad and the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, opposed her nomination.

In Ms. DeVos, the decades-long struggle to improve public education gains no visionary leadership and no fresh ideas. Her appointment squanders an opportunity to advance public education research, experimentation and standards, to objectively compare traditional public school, charter school Betsy DeVos Teaches the Value of Ignorance - The New York Times:

Oh No! Are We Heading Back Towards the Scopes Trial? | janresseger

Oh No! Are We Heading Back Towards the Scopes Trial? | janresseger:

Oh No! Are We Heading Back Towards the Scopes Trial?

Science is about empirically proven realities in the natural world and religion is about belief.  Stephen Jay Gould, the historian of science and evolutionary biology called religion and science separate categories of learning—“nonoverlapping magisteria.” We don’t question the scientifically documented theories about the spherical shape of the earth, for example, or the existence of gravity. But lots of people want to question evolution, even though scientific data have proven its truth, because it seems to conflict with the Biblical stories of creation.

A short, 2006, resource from the National Council of Churches explains how many believers in Protestant denominations respond to this controversy, including this statement from Archbishop Desmond Tutu about the Biblical stories of creation: “Those first chapters are much more like poetry than prose, replete with religious and not scientific truths, conveying profound truths about us, about God, and about the universe we inhabit.”

Many people worry that with the administration of Donald Trump, we are headed back into the pitched battle about the substitution of religion for science in our public schools—a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution, which protects against the government’s “establishment” of religion. Valerie Strauss describes these concerns as characterized by Glenn Branch, a deputy director of the National Center for Science Education, who “said he is concerned that President Trump’s denial/questioning of man-made climate change and Vice President Pence’s denial of the theory of evolution could encourage state legislators to push through new anti-science legislation.”

Strauss describes a bill recently passed by the South Dakota state senate which includes the following language: “No teacher may be prohibited from helping students understand, analyze, critique, or review in an objective scientific manner the strengths and weaknesses of scientific information presented in courses being taught which are aligned with the content standards established….”

To interpret this abstract language, Strauss turns to a public school science teacher from Sioux Falls, who believes, “that the bill says that teachers can essentially teach what they want in science class as long as they do it in a certain way: ‘(L)et’s say I believe in eugenics. (S.B. 55) says that I couldn’t be prohibited, I couldn’t be stopped from teaching that, as long as I did it in Oh No! Are We Heading Back Towards the Scopes Trial? | janresseger:

Newsletter #11 – Build Bridges, Not Walls Issue | CLASSROOM STRUGGLE

Newsletter #11 – Build Bridges, Not Walls Issue | CLASSROOM STRUGGLE:

Build Bridges, Not Walls Issue 

 We’ve just published our most recent newsletter, the Build Bridges, Not Walls Issue (Newsletter #11 published in Feb 2017).  In this one, we address the need for sanctuary schools and some ideas on how to make our schools safer.  We also break down our outgoing superintendent and discuss a few of the qualities we’ll need in a new superintendent.  We look forward to hearing what you think about this one!

Click the here to access our newest newsletter.

Newsletter #11 – Build Bridges, Not Walls Issue | CLASSROOM STRUGGLE:

Democrats Played a Key Role in DeVos Confirmation… in 2013 | deutsch29

Democrats Played a Key Role in DeVos Confirmation… in 2013 | deutsch29:

Democrats Played a Key Role in DeVos Confirmation… in 2013

Michigan billionaire and former Michigan Republican Party Chair, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed on February 07, 2017, as US secretary of education.

While the Senate was casting its historic 51-50 vote/VP tiebreaker around noon, I was in a place that DeVos has yet to demonstrate she has actually been:

I was in my traditional public school classroom, teaching.

The 48 Democratic Senators tried to prevent DeVos’ nomination, which made me feel as if they really were on the side of the traditional public school. However, the DeVos nomination is such an extreme situation that Democratic involvement in pushing charter schools to the detriment of the neighborhood public school, coupled with the bipartisan idolization of standardized testing, took an almost-forgotten back seat ever since noon on November 23, 2016, when Trump announced DeVos as his US ed sec pick.

But there is something else that Democrats did that actually advanced the amazingly unqualified DeVos right into the US ed sec seat, and it happened in November 2013:

Senate Democrats lowered the bar for number of affirmative votes needed to confirm a Presidential nominee.

As the January 2017 Atlantic reports:

At the urging of Majority Leader Harry Reid, [in November 2013], Democrats had just voted along strict party lines to change the rules of the Senate, deploying what had become known in Washington as “the nuclear option.” McConnell and his Republican colleagues were furious. Under the new rules, presidential nominees for all executive-branch position—including the Cabinet—and judicial vacancies below the Supreme Court could advance with a simple majority of 51 votes. The rules for legislation were untouched, but the 60-vote threshold for overcoming a filibuster on nearly all nominations was dead.

The practical outcome of that fateful (and arguably shortsighted/foolish) 2013 Democratic decision is that while I was discussing The Tragedy of Julius Caesar with my fourth-period English II students, a billionaire who likely has not walked the main hallway of a single traditional public school ever— not as a student, or parent, or office holder, or even citizen– officially snagged her first job as overseer of America’s traditional public schools.

Senate Democrats, you tried hard in these last few weeks to derail the highly Democrats Played a Key Role in DeVos Confirmation… in 2013 | deutsch29:

NYC Public School Parents: So it happened; DeVos was confirmed. What next?

NYC Public School Parents: So it happened; DeVos was confirmed. What next?:

So it happened; DeVos was confirmed. What next?

So it happened as predicted; Mike Pence cast the tie-breaking vote for Betsy Devos this afternoon. 
Though disappointing it was in its way historic: the only time in US history that a Cabinet secretary needed the vote of the Vice President to be approved.

The last few weeks have been historic in another way:  Never have parents, teachers and concerned citizens been so outraged and activated over an education official or issue.  Never have so many called, rallied, protested, faxed and written letters to their Senators, in an "avalanche" that nearly flattened Capitol Hill, overwhelming and shocking Senators of both parties.

In CSPAN's 24 hour, all night coverage of the debate over DeVos nomination, the Democrats read aloud numerous letters from their constituents, eloquent passionate and smart, begging them to reject DeVos as the most unqualified candidate ever to be named as Education Secretary, whose qualifications were based primarily upon her family's wealth.  In every past administration  no matter how conservative, she would have been named Ambassador to Luxembourg or something similar.
Even after the vote there were protests.  NYC high school students walked out of their schools en masse, in a stirring show of resistance.

So call your Senators and thank them if they voted "No"; if they voted otherwise, let them know what you think.  NPE has a list of all the Senators, their votes, and phone numbers.

We need to sustain the activism and involvement we exercised in this battle and keep speaking out loudly and firmly to let education policymakers at the federal, state and local levels know that we will not stand idly by while our public schools are defunded, dismantled and privatized.

One issue little noticed by the media:  it was widely recognized how avid Betsy DeVos has been to allow for-profit charters and vouchers to draw funds from the public schools.  What was little noticed is her devotion to online learning and questionable ed tech solutions. These will just as surely divert resources from the proven strategies that provide students with the support  and human feedback they need.   It was reported  that the one financial company she refused to divest from is Neurocore that runs "brain performance centers” via NYC Public School Parents: So it happened; DeVos was confirmed. What next?:

CURMUDGUCATION: Uplift Checklist For a Dispiriting Day

CURMUDGUCATION: Uplift Checklist For a Dispiriting Day:

Uplift Checklist For a Dispiriting Day

Honestly, my expectations are always so low that it's hard to really disappoint me, and this day was no exception. Defeating DeVos depended on finding a GOP senator who was willing to separate himself from his senate pack and also piss off a President known for his unreasoning grudgeholding rage in the first days of a new administration whose main goal seems to be sorting the people of the world into "kindling" and "marshamallows." A 24-hour parade of speechifying Democrats wasn't going to shake that imaginary GOPster loose; today went down pretty much as I expected.

Still, many of my colleagues are pretty bummed. "This just seems so bad. So just really so bad. What do we hold onto." So I'm going to try to rein in my usual bloviation and just give you a list. This. This is why you don't have to totally despair.

* We have company. A whole lot of company. When we go off on our next rant about the assault on public education, a whole lot of people will no longer look at us like we're nuts. We have company, and that means we have help.

* The Trump-DeVos administration means that our national unions no longer need to play nice in hopes that they'll get a seat at the table. No more of this, "Shhh. Try to be polite" shit that we had when Arne Duncan was in office. These guys aren't Democrats, and the union doesn't have to pretend to get along.

* The reformy coalition is all splintery. Pretend reform Democrats can no longer pretend that their preferred policies are not conservative orthodoxy. The in fighting may or may not help, but it will at least be entertaining.

* Despite the depictions of her as clueless, DeVos is better known as a hard-nosed political street fighter. Between her ignorance and her bare-knuckles gracelessness, we will not have to try to read the nuances to divine her goals and intent.

* We already know the territory. Five, six, ten years ago, when things started to unfold, lots of folks spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was really going on, if they saw what they thought they CURMUDGUCATION: Uplift Checklist For a Dispiriting Day:

Last Saturday Night Live’s VAM-Related Skit | VAMboozled!

Last Saturday Night Live’s VAM-Related Skit | VAMboozled!:

Last Saturday Night Live’s VAM-Related Skit

In one of the sections of the skit, though, “Spicer” introduces “Betsy DeVos” — portrayed by Kate McKinnon and also just today confirmed as President Trump’s Secretary of Education — to answer some very simple questions about today’s public schools which she, well, very simply could not answer. See this section of the clip starting at about 6:00 (of the above 8:00 minute total skit).

In short, “the man” reporter asks “DeVos” how she values “growth versus proficiency in [sic] measuring progress in students.” Literally at a loss of words, “DeVos” responds that she really doesn’t “know anything about school.” She rambles on, until “Spicer” pushes her off of the stage 40-or-so seconds later.

Humor set aside, this was the one question Saturday Night Live writers wrote into this skit, which reminds us that what we know more generally as the purpose of VAMs is still alive and well in our educational rhetoric as well as popular culture. As background, this question apparently came from Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s prior, albeit similar question during DeVos’s confirmation hearing.

Notwithstanding, Steve Snyder – the editorial director of The 74 — an (allegedly) non-partisan, honest, and fact-based backed by Editor-in-Chief Campbell Brown (see prior posts about this news site here and here) — took the opportunity to write a “featured” Last Saturday Night Live’s VAM-Related Skit | VAMboozled!: