THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Tuesday, March 16, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #openonlywhensafe

 Big Education Ape

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES 

On eve of possible SFUSD reopening, S.F. schools superintendent announces retirement - https://www.sfchronicle.com/education/article/On-eve-of-SFUSD-reopening-S-F-schools-16015116.php on @sfchronicle

Education Research Report: Internet-access spending improves academic outcomes - http://educationresearchreport.blogspot.com/

COVID-19 cases in schools tick up and quarantines triple over last week https://thelensnola.org/2021/03/15/covid-19-cases-in-schools-tick-up-and-quarantines-triple-over-last-week/

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board , March 15 2021, HS Openings and More... - http://nyceducator.com/2021/03/uft-executive-board-ides-of-march-2021.html

Homeroom: My Daughter Is Working Too Hard http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheAtlantic/~3/wdexFmV4h98/

Tens of thousands of children in Washington suburbs return to in-person school https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/montgomery-county-maryland-elementary-schools-reopen/2021/03/15/b5b7c656-8599-11eb-bfdf-4d36dab83a6d_story.html

Living wage? Union rights? Voting rights? Democrats must bust the filibuster. – Fred Klonsky - https://wp.me/p4C3g-qdy via @fklonsky

COLUMN: The American Rescue Plan will halve child poverty, but we haven’t won the second War on Poverty yet https://hechingerreport.org/column-the-american-rescue-plan-will-halve-child-poverty-but-we-havent-won-the-second-war-on-poverty-yet/

An Illinois district proved gifted programs can be racially diverse https://hechingerreport.org/an-illinois-district-proved-gifted-programs-can-be-racially-diverse/

UC Merced to guarantee freshman admission to eligible local students, a first for the system http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/Udg5s_4rgHY/uc-merced-to-offer-guaranteed-admission-for-eligible-local-students

Teachers now eligible for COVID-19 shots, line up for vaccinations across NJ https://www.njspotlight.com/video/teachers-now-eligible-for-covid-19-shots-line-up-for-vaccinations-across-nj/

LA Schools Want To Be Able To Provide Access To COVID-19 Vaccines https://www.npr.org/2021/03/16/977712268/la-schools-want-to-be-able-to-provide-access-to-covid-19-vaccines

CDC Looks At Whether 3 Feet — Instead Of 6 — Is Safe For Schools' Social Distancing https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/03/15/977564878/cdc-looks-at-whether-3-feet-instead-of-6-is-safe-for-schools-social-distancing

How 2 Communities Have Approached Reopening Schools https://www.npr.org/2021/03/15/977548718/how-2-communities-have-approached-reopening-schools

NYC schools Chancellor Meisha Porter marks first day with Brooklyn elementary school visit https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-meisha-porter-first-day-schools-chancellor-20210315-cn5ijgl2avdtvesqr6ykhxmdvm-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/

Progressives escalate fight over Education Department student loan office - POLITICO - https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/15/progressives-education-department-student-loan-fight-476154

Here's what parents should keep in mind when talking about puberty with their school-aged kids. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/things-schools-teach-puberty-parents-unteach_l_604852abc5b636ed3376e3a8?utm_campaign=share_twitter&ncid=engmodushpmg00000004 via @huffpostparents

The COVID relief package includes $2.75B for private schools. Orthodox Jewish groups thank Chuck Schumer. - Jewish Telegraphic Agency - https://www.jta.org/?p=1739512

Norfolk, Virginia teacher exposes unsafe conditions as schools reopen https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/16/norf-m16.html

She’s having a baby and wants her teacher husband there — but no substitute has yet been found to lead his classes https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/03/16/teacher-seeks-own-substitute-to-be-at-birth-of-his-child/?tid=ss_tw

Op-Ed: NJ education leaders seek a waiver | NJ Spotlight News - https://www.njspotlight.com/2021/03/op-ed-leaders-njea-njasa-njpsa-write-us-education-secretary-miguel-cardona-want-federal-waiver-standardized-testing/ via @njspotlight

The New Yorker: The Biden Plan Includes a Genuine Anti-Poverty Program | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tPs via @dianeravitch

Why Learning Pods Might Outlast the Pandemic | The New Yorker - https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/why-learning-pods-might-outlast-the-pandemic#new_tab

Oklahoma governor says all schools are open following teacher vaccinations https://washex.am/3bP6H4j

Washington schools ordered to offer students 30% of instruction in person by April - oregonlive.com - https://www.oregonlive.com/education/2021/03/washington-schools-ordered-to-offer-students-30-of-instruction-in-person-by-april.html#new_tab on @oregonlive

Baltimore-area school districts say they’re making progress vaccinating teachers, but don’t know how many educators still need shots https://news.yahoo.com/baltimore-area-school-districts-making-103300463.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw&tsrc=twtr via @YahooNews

Number Of Vaccinated Teachers Unclear As CTU Tells Members Not To Inform CPS When They Receive COVID-19 Vaccine – CBS Chicago - https://cbsloc.al/30DgDXY on /CBSchicago

Bridgeport parents ask state again to fix systemic problems with special education - https://wp.me/paQK0g-3TAV via @CTMirror

Judge rules in favor of North County San Diego parents suing over school reopening rules | cbs8.com - https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/judge-rules-in-favor-of-north-county-san-diego-parents-suing-over-school-reopening-rules/509-82009e75-49f4-4e38-a68e-d49fefde5552#new_tab on CBS8

N.J. high school cancels ‘South Pacific’ after students raise bias concerns, plans concert instead http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/BB1eDEoP?ocid=st

Senate Votes To Remove Student, Teacher Members From Ky. Board Of Ed https://wfpl.org/senate-votes-to-remove-student-teacher-members-from-ky-board-of-ed/ via @WFPLNews

$94 million tied to Detroit ‘right-to-read’ lawsuit starts its journey through legislature https://detroit.chalkbeat.org/2021/3/15/22332538/94-million-detroit-literacy-lawsuit via @ChalkbeatDET

Why an Influential Member of Congress Wants a National Investigation Into School Closures - https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/why-an-influential-member-of-congress-wants-a-national-investigation-into-school-closures/2021/03#new_tab by @andrewujifusa on @educationweek

NY Regents vote to ease backlog of special education complaints - Chalkbeat New York - https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/3/15/22332767/ny-regents-backlog-special-education-complaints#new_tab on chalkbeat

Lawmakers target schools struggling with low test scores in fight for in-person learning | The Wichita Eagle - https://www.kansas.com/news/coronavirus/article249954444.html#new_tab on kansasdotcom

Kentucky legislature: School choice bill advances as veto period looms - https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/ky-general-assembly/2021/03/16/kentucky-legislature-school-choice-bill-advances-veto-period-looms/4701494001/#new_tab via @courierjournal

DOE Doesn't Expect Schools To Fully Reopen Until Next Year - Honolulu Civil Beat - https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/03/doe-doesnt-expect-schools-to-fully-reopen-until-next-year/# via @civilbeat

School reopening debate: Here's where people on different sides of the issue are coming from - CNN - https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/12/us/school-reopening-debate-opinions/index.html#new_tab

‘No one is sure what to expect’: Schools, colleges add more counseling services to address student mental health | EdSource - https://edsource.org/?p=651272 on @edsource

Education lessons from the pandemic https://thehill.com/opinion/education/543051-education-lessons-from-the-pandemic#.YFD3BgETgNc.twitter

Jersey Jazzman: January, 2021 Update on NJ COVID School Opening Plans: Still Racially Biased, Still Inadequately Funded for Many | National Education Policy Center - https://nepc.colorado.edu/node/10810 on @NEPCtweet

PIE Network | Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan - PIE Network

by Mike Simpson / now

Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan Updated March 15, 2021 Questions, or interested in adding to this document? Reach out to Patrick . PIE Network | Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan - PIE Network

NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks | The Lens

by Mike Simpson / 24min

NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks James M. Singleton Charter School failed to conduct criminal background checks for some of its employees and employed someone ineligible to work at the school because of a criminal conviction, according to a Wednesday letter to the school from the NOLA Public Schools district warning that the school’s practices on

Wayne Au: The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year - The Washington Post

by Mike Simpson / 49min

The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year - The Washington Post The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year Critics of federally mandated K-12 standardized tests were upset when the Biden administration recently said it would require states to administer them this year. They raised pre-pandemic questions about reliability and validity of test scores — as well

We Need a Bigger Pie – Tennessee Education Report

by Mike Simpson / 1h

WE NEED A BIGGER PIE T he League of Women Voters (LWV) is calling on Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly to take bold action on school funding. The group notes that the state historically underfunds schools and suggests that now is the time to change that reality. In fact, the push from the LWV comes as the state is experiencing an unprecedented revenue surplus . Here’s more from LW

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #openonlywhensafe

by Mike Simpson / 1h

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007 A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/03/this-week-in-education-larry-f

Teacher Tom: We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts

by Mike Simpson / 2h

We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts I was recently asked in a public forum if I've ever taught mindfulness to children. The question threw me. Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, can you repeat the question? Mindfulness is a radical Buddhist practice in which one focuses one's full attention on the present moment. This is something toward which I strive, even as I find it exceedingly difficult t

Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime | Diane Ravitch's blog

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime The Noble Network is the leading charter chain in Chicago. It boasts of high test scores. It is the darling of the Chicago white elite, including such luminaries as former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and billionaire Penny Pritzker, who served as Obama’s Secretary of Commerce. White apologists and admirers of the strict no-excu

Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

by Mike Simpson / 2h

Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic Meghan Gallagher at The 74 Million gathered photos that capture some of the effects of the pandemic year when schools were shuttered and then slowly reopened. I have selected a few of them for this post. All 52 can be seen here . Children play in front of a school in Orlando, Florida on March 20, 2020 that was closed due to the coronavirus but will begin d

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

by Mike Simpson / 3h

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves The theory of action that describes the Board and the successor Department of Education are known as Newton’s First Laws of Motion … sometimes referred to as the law of inertia. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction.

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

by Mike Simpson / 3h

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING “Once I called Miami City Hall a “bribe factory,” and another time described Tallahassee as a “festival of whores.” Too subtle? Possibly.” – Carl Hiaasen An interesting event occurred Last Friday, MNPS announced its new literacy initiative, Literacy Re-imagined . A more appropriate title would have been, Literacy Rebranded. Rest assured there was nothing here t

Evidence In Education: Is Supply Meeting Teachers' Demand | Shanker Institute

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Evidence In Education: Is Supply Meeting Teachers' Demand In today’s public schools, teachers and administrators are constantly pressured to implement new reforms and initiatives, most of which claim to be research- or science-based. Schools are often viewed as the recipients of new policies and new knowledge generated by research. In So Much Reform, So Little Change , Charles Payne states “Best

Maurice Cunningham - Massachusetts Parents United, National Parents Union, and the Christian Right - MassPoliticsProfs

by Mike Simpson / 3h

Massachusetts Parents United, National Parents Union, and the Christian Right Massachusetts Parents United, National Parents Union, and the Christian Right Two of the important props of the far right in America are Christian conservatives and economic royalists like the Waltons and Charles Koch. Those ties are becoming evident in school privatization including in financial support the Massachuset

CURMUDGUCATION: Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding

by Mike Simpson / 4h

Donors Chose Monday: Books and Understanding Donors Choose lets you set up filters, so that you can focus on what you choose. The most obvious is a geographic one that allows you to find classrooms in your area looking for help. But you can also set for the types of classrooms and the types of resources, as well as setting (as I usually do) for rural schools. So one of the classrooms chosen for

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Monday, March 15, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #openonlywhensafe

by Mike Simpson / 22h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES How the stimulus will affect schools, explained https://www.chalkbeat.org/2021/3/12/22328181/schools-stimulus-money-questions via @Chalkbeat Many LAUSD parents don't plan to send kids back to campus, early survey results find http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/m0sGvSHZbBk/parents-worry-kids-in-school-bad-la-covid-areas Reopening c

 Big Education Ape

PIE Network | Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan - PIE Network

PIE Network | Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan - PIE Network

Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan

Updated March 15, 2021

Questions, or interested in adding to this document? Reach out to Patrick.  PIE Network | Distribution of Education Funds in the American Rescue Plan - PIE Network

NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks | The Lens

NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks | The Lens

NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks

James M. Singleton Charter School failed to conduct criminal background checks for some of its employees and employed someone ineligible to work at the school because of a criminal conviction, according to a Wednesday letter to the school from the NOLA Public Schools district warning that the school’s practices on background checks violated state law. The district letter also said that the Louisiana State Police could not confirm the validity of a number of background checks in the school’s files.

The district issued a separate letter on March 10 citing KIPP New Orleans Schools for employing someone ineligible to work in a school because of a past criminal conviction. 

Schools are legally required to complete employee background checks to ensure they do not hire someone who’s been convicted of or pleaded no contest to one or more of a list of crimes outlined in state law. Many of the violations are serious or involve children, such as murder, assault, kidnapping, child desertion and carnal knowledge of a juvenile. Others involve prostitution or manufacture or distribution of drugs.

On Tuesday, a spokesman with the New Orleans Police Department told The Lens that the incidents are related but did not elaborate further.

“We’ve been advised that the principal of James Singleton School was instructed by school CONTINUE READING: NOLA Public Schools: Two charter networks violated state law on background checks | The Lens

Wayne Au: The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year - The Washington Post

The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year - The Washington Post

The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year

Critics of federally mandated K-12 standardized tests were upset when the Biden administration recently said it would require states to administer them this year. They raised pre-pandemic questions about reliability and validity of test scores — as well as concerns about how scores would be affected by the instability of the school year during the coronavirus pandemic.

In this post, a longtime testing critic looks at why giving standardized tests after a year in which children were educated during a pandemic is nothing but an exercise in futility. The author is Wayne Au, a professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington at Bothell. He is also an editor for the social justice magazine Rethinking Schools.

One month in, Biden angers supporters who wanted him to curb standardized testing

By Wayne Au

The Biden administration’s decision to require schools across the country to administer high-stakes standardized tests this spring caught many parents, students and teachers by surprise. It contradicts President Biden’s campaign promises to cut back on testing — and seems to ignore the deep inequities and wild inconsistencies associated with remote schooling over the last year.

What the administration and testing advocates seem to miss is that any data generated by high-stakes standardized testing this spring will be invalid and, therefore, useless. Even in non-pandemic years, high-stakes standardized tests don’t accurately and objectively measure teaching and learning.

I am a longtime critic of high-stakes standardized testing for reasons including:

• The racist history of standardized testing in the United States, including a direct lineage to our country’s eugenics movement. Over 100 years ago, U.S. psychologists used I.Q. tests to claim that intelligence and other traits were genetically based, and subsequently cast the poor, people of color, and immigrants as biologically less intelligent.
• Our high-stakes test scores today basically mirror the race and class inequalities produced by the racist and classist I.Q. tests created a century ago.
• For decades, research has shown that test scores do not accurately reflect teaching and learning. Rather, they overwhelmingly reflect levels of poverty and other non-school factors such as housing insecurity, food insecurity and access to health care.
• These tests do not work as promised. In the roughly two decades since high-stakes, standardized testing was federally mandated by the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, there has been virtually no decrease in test-score inequality between major racial and economic student groups, and in some cases, the gaps in scores may have increased.
• High-stakes testing narrows the curriculum to tested subjects, restricts the amount of space for multicultural curricula and culturally relevant teaching, and has resulted in cuts to important time spent at recess and lunch.

These are all concerns I have about high-stakes, standardized testing in a normal year, let alone during CONTINUE READING: The futility of standardized testing in a crazy pandemic year - The Washington Post

We Need a Bigger Pie – Tennessee Education Report

We Need a Bigger Pie – Tennessee Education Report

WE NEED A BIGGER PIE

The League of Women Voters (LWV) is calling on Gov. Bill Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly to take bold action on school funding. The group notes that the state historically underfunds schools and suggests that now is the time to change that reality. In fact, the push from the LWV comes as the state is experiencing an unprecedented revenue surplus.

Here’s more from LWV from a media release:

Chronically underfunded school districts throughout the  state have been especially challenged during the pandemic. However, the inadequacies and  the gross underfunding predate this stressful year. Tennessee currently funds its public school  system at a level that consistently places it in the bottom five most poorly funded states in the  United States, per the National Education Association.

“This goes beyond how you slice the pie to provide varying amounts of funding to the diverse  counties of our state – the pie itself is simply not big enough,” said Debby Gould, president elect of LWVTN. “The League’s position on education is that the state’s coverage,  implementation, and funding of the Basic Education Program CONTINUE READING: We Need a Bigger Pie – Tennessee Education Report

Teacher Tom: We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts

Teacher Tom: We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts

We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts

I was recently asked in a public forum if I've ever taught mindfulness to children. The question threw me. Yes, no, maybe, I don't know, can you repeat the question? 

Mindfulness is a radical Buddhist practice in which one focuses one's full attention on the present moment. This is something toward which I strive, even as I find it exceedingly difficult to achieve for more than a few minutes at a time. Recently, ironically, I was reading a novel in which one of the characters said something about mindfulness that sparked a train of thought that took my brain so far away from the present moment that I had to re-read several paragraphs. I find it a slippery thing to accomplish, requiring discipline, concentration, and practice. A quiet mind is a healthy thing, something valued by medical and spiritual practices from east to west.

Mindfulness as a concept has broken through into our popular culture, really taking off as a phenomenon in recent years. There are more than 100,000 books being sold on Amazon with some version of the word in the title, not to mention the proliferation of mindfulness workshops and seminars and CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: We Can't Teach Mindfulness to the Experts

Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime | Diane Ravitch's blog

Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime

The Noble Network is the leading charter chain in Chicago. It boasts of high test scores. It is the darling of the Chicago white elite, including such luminaries as former Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and billionaire Penny Pritzker, who served as Obama’s Secretary of Commerce. White apologists and admirers of the strict no-excuses discipline policy claimed that black and brown children needed the tough rules so that they could learn middle-class behaviors. David Whitman published a book praising “no-excuses” schools called Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism, in which he praised the high-performing schools (mostly charters) that enforced “no excuses.” His book was published in 2008; in 2009, he became the chief speech-writer for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who often lavished praise on “no excuses” charter schools.

The Noble Network wrote a letter to its alumni, apologizing for its strict “no excuses” policy, which it acknowledged was “racist.” Over the years, critics have said that the practices of “no excuses” schools are racist, but they were defended by charter advocates based on their test scores. They argued that the ends justified the CONTINUE READING: Chicago Charter Chain Apologizes for “Racist, No-Excuses” Regime | Diane Ravitch's blog

Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic

Meghan Gallagher at The 74 Million gathered photos that capture some of the effects of the pandemic year when schools were shuttered and then slowly reopened. I have selected a few of them for this post. All 52 can be seen here.

Children play in front of a school in Orlando, Florida on March 20, 2020 that was closed due to the coronavirus but will begin distance learning on March 30. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

A teacher from P.S. 124 in New York City conducts remote classes on her laptop from her roof. (Getty Images)

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – APRIL 1: High School language arts teacher Emily Olin held her three-year-old daughter Genevieve on her lap as she distance taught her classes from her home in Minneapolis, Minn., on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Olin never imagined life like this “u2013 teaching her students virtually while tending to her own kids at the same time. There is joy, but also great anxiety in making sure everybody gets what they need daily. (Photo by Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

SEE MORE PHOTOS: Photos on Schooling during the Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves

The theory of action that describes the Board and the successor Department of Education are known as Newton’s First Laws of Motion … sometimes referred to as the law of inertia. An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction.

If you ask upper management in the Department why they’re following a particular policy the standard answer is, “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” Newton’s First Law of Motion –the law of inertia.

Meisha Porter begins her tenure on March 15th, the third chancellor to lead the Department of Education during de Blasio’s seven plus years in office.

Can she change the direction of the leviathan?

Education policy has become inexorably intertwined with mayoral politics.

On June 22nd voters will select the Democratic Party candidates for Mayor along with the Comptroller, 37 of the 51 members of the City Council and three out of CONTINUE READING: A School System Adrift: New York City Schools Search for Direction as the Political Landscape Evolves | Ed In The Apple

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild

RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING

“Once I called Miami City Hall a “bribe factory,” and another time described Tallahassee as a “festival of whores.” Too subtle? Possibly.” – Carl Hiaasen

 

An interesting event occurred Last Friday, MNPS announced its new literacy initiative, Literacy Re-imagined. A more appropriate title would have been, Literacy Rebranded. Rest assured there was nothing here that constituted a re-imagining, in fact, almost everything covered was a retread of past efforts.

The timing of the event was equally suspect.

The event took place at a time that is typically referred to as the “Friday news dump”. Politicians use Friday afternoons to drop information that they don’t feel like talking about. The thinking being that on Fridays people’s minds are already focused on the weekend. Meaning pass over their head unnoticed. Also, most of the staff is out of the office, so any follow-up questions will have to wait until Monday. The hope being, that by then people will have lost interest or something of greater interest came along. Holiday weekends are even more helpful for this tactic.

I would argue that 12:30 on a Friday before Spring Break is not the ideal time to announce the beginning of a “brand new era” unless you didn’t want a whole bunch of people heralding that moment. This school year has been the hardest one in my memory. For parents, teachers, and CONTINUE READING: RE-IMAGINATION, OR JUST REBRANDING – Dad Gone Wild