FCUSD Approves Closure of Cordova Lane and Riverview Elementaries — The Rancho Cordova Post#more-6927#more-6927

FCUSD Approves Closure of Cordova Lane and Riverview Elementaries — The Rancho Cordova Post#more-6927#more-6927:

"In a decision Board President Ed Short said was “heart-wrenching,” the Folsom Cordova Unified School District Board of Education approved the closure of Cordova Lane and Riverview Elementaries at a meeting held Thursday night.

“I know for me personally, combining schools is not something I want to do,” Short said to the packed audience in the Cordova High School gymnasium.

Council Member Linda Budge expressed her dissatisfaction with the process and the reasoning the district used to come to the decision. “Everyone in government is struggling to do more with less,” she said in reference to the district’s assertion that the state budget has forced the school closures. She also noted that the reports issued by the district about the schools contained conflicting data."

The Grapevine Independent, Newspaper for Rancho Cordova, Sacremento, California with Sacremento, California real estate, antiques, news, and entertainment

The Grapevine Independent, Newspaper for Rancho Cordova, Sacremento, California with Sacremento, California real estate, antiques, news, and entertainment:

"By KRIS MIDDAUGH, Editor - Tensions were high this week as Rancho Cordova residents geared up for what might be the final battle in a war to save local schools.

The regular meeting of the Folsom Cordova Unified School District (FCUSD) Board of Directors is set to take place tonight. At press time, it was unknown if board trustees would approve the recommendation of district Superintendent Pat Godwin to close two local elementary schools, Cordova Lane and Riverview."

There was speculation that given the number of speakers likely to attend the meeting, the item could be continued to the next board meeting, however, with two public forums behind them and time a factor, district officials and board members could opt to simply put questions to rest by voting for or against the closures. (For up-to-the-minute information on the vote, visit the Grapevine’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/GrapevineIndependent.)

Although Rancho Cordova has seen schools close in the past, this particular effort to close two schools—which district officials say is necessary to stay a looming budget crisis—has hit a nerve with local parents, teachers, administrators and community members. And despite the fact that district staff issued a report detailing declining enrollment issues and the need to slash $10 million from next year’s FCUSD budget along with a matrix of criteria used to determine which schools should close, many parents attending two community forums complained that the process was happening to quickly. Still other parents questioned why they had not been involved in the selection process and several also asked why elementary schools in Folsom were not being considered for closure.

Godwin explained that the selection process had been a thorough one and that Folsom elementary schools were facing increasing, rather than declining enrollment, but many parents still faulted district staff for non-transparency in the selection process while also accusing them of favoring Folsom schools. Although local parents have only known about the possibility of schools closing for a few weeks now, they have quickly mobilized to fight against the prospect and have spoken passionately about their schools, teachers and administrators.

Social Media for the Social Good—Non-profits Explore New Methods of Outreach

Social Media for the Social Good—Non-profits Explore New Methods of Outreache

Three local non-profit organizations were featured in a Sacramento Social Media Club panel on Tuesday evening hosted by the Sacramento State College of Continuing Education. The panel included Celia Cortez, Projects and Event Manager for the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber of Commerce; Jordan Blair, Board Member for River City Food Bank; and Jon Benorden, Program Coordinator for the Center for AIDS Research, Education and Service (CARES). Lesley Miller, Media Director for 3Fold Communication, also sat on the panel. Moderator Josh Morgan, principal at Morgan/Dorado and program director for the Sacramento Social Media Club, focused the discussion on how non-profits are using social media to educate, engage, and build lasting relationships with their communities.

Facebook was the unanimous point of entry into social media for all three organizations. Cortez said the Sacramento Hispanic Chamber selected Facebook because it was the most popular platform among their member organizations; Blair choose Facebook for River City Food Bank because it is the platform upon which he spends the most time. “Facebook provides an easy way for people to connect with causes and non-profits thanks to its one-click ‘become a fan’ feature, “commented Morgan. River City Food Bank, where many of their long-term contributors are past retirement age, is finding that Facebook helps them to engage with the next generation of donors. However some of their loyal supporters are stepping out into social media as well; an 85 year old volunteer joined Facebook just so he could “friend” the River city Food Bank. Benorden said that their “old school” supporters are beginning to mesh with the new people they’ve engaged through their group & page on Facebook but that CARES still has a long way to go.

Sacramento Press / High school students welcomed to Newton Booth neighborhood

Sacramento Press / High school students welcomed to Newton Booth neighborhood:

"Wednesday night's Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association meeting saw an increase in teenage members.

Held at Temple Coffee's 28th and S streets location, the meeting was attended by Country Day high school students and several faculty members, including headmaster Steve Repsher. Though a long permit process lies ahead, the school is closer to the goal of moving into the vacant Newton Booth School, 2600 V St., by August.

The neighborhood group consisted of residents from three areas: Poverty Ridge, Newton Booth and Alhambra Triangle. Richard 'Bud' Halliday, Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association president, welcomed the school's representatives and invited them to attend future meetings."

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled...Budgeting from Scratch

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled..Budgeting from Scratch.:


"Earlier this week, the San Diego Unified school board decided to go about its budget cuts in a completely different way, building the budget from scratch instead of deciding what to cut from an existing budget loaded with programs and people.

It's called zero-based budgeting. School district staff balked at the idea of doing it by mid-December, the deadline for a financial report on balancing the current school year budget. But the board majority said they wanted it done eventually. The question is whether it can happen quickly enough -- and produce enough savings -- to be a worthwhile step in the middle of coping with the budget crisis.

So what does it take to get to zero? I got an interesting e-mail from Florence Samuels in Santee, who wrote that she worked for the county engineer in the 1970s when it switched to zero-based budgeting. She wrote a manual to help do it:"

Investment firm stands by reports on gifts to State Board of Education member | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Texas Regional News

Investment firm stands by reports on gifts to State Board of Education member News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Texas Regional News:

"Jeff Horwitz is a freelance writer based in New York. He can be reached at jhorwitz24@yahoo.com.

State Board of Education member Rick Agosto has accused an investment company of incorrectly reporting that it gave him more than $1,000 in gifts before it sought a lucrative contract with the board. But the company has insisted that its disclosures are generally correct and said in letters to the Texas Education Agency that the disagreement may partially result from differences in accounting.

Agosto, a San Antonio Democrat, denied that he accepted golf, football tickets, dinners and entertainment from AEW Capital Management, a real estate investment firm.
'Mr. Agosto disputes all of the items on the AEW report,' said Julie Crothers, Agosto's public relations representative."

Settlement delay costs HISD $82 million for technology | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Settlement delay costs HISD $82 million for technology Houston & Texas News Chron.com - Houston Chronicle:

"Houston ISD schools have gone without at least $82 million for technology upgrades while the district is under federal investigation for questionable deals with computer equipment vendors.

Superintendent Terry Grier said this week that the district is nearing a legal settlement so that schools can get the funds for much-needed wiring, better Internet access, new servers and more.

The pact, Grier said, would require HISD to pay the federal government about $850,000 to make up for the alleged wrongdoing, which involved former employees accepting gifts from vendors. In exchange, the district no longer would be frozen out of the federal technology grant program called e-rate.

Even with a settlement, criminal charges still could be filed. Grier said he does not believe any current district employees or school board members will face charges.
“I would assume that the feds could continue to pursue previous employees,” he said."

The Answer Sheet - In the Age of 'Twilight': About kids who read fantasy... and ‘readicide’

The Answer Sheet - In the Age of 'Twilight': About kids who read fantasy... and ‘readicide’:

"Does your child read fantasy books, one after the other, whizzing through series after series to the exclusion of any other genre?

You suggest perhaps trying something different and you are met with stiff resistance

There is nothing better, you are told, than series such as 'Game of Thrones,” “The Wheel of Time, “The Bartimaeus Trilogy,” “Harry Potter,” and so many others. And then you start to worry that your child is:

A) living in a fantasy world

b) wasting time on silly themes

c) wasting time reading easy books

These were some of the concerns that expert Lucy Calkins heard from parents at a conference she recently held."

Class Struggle - Why not junk teacher evaluations in favor of more preparation time?

Class Struggle - Why not junk teacher evaluations in favor of more preparation time?:

"I thought rating teachers would be a hot issue, but that was an understatement. Emails and online comments are still popping up on my screen in reaction to the columns I wrote on Nov. 1 and Nov. 8 describing the perils of the District's new teacher evaluation system and the apparent lack of any serious effort towards one in the Washington suburbs. I expect more strenuous comment after next Monday's column, which will explore, for the first time, the secrets of a D.C. teacher's evaluation report.

But in this torrent of interesting feedback on assessing teachers, I have detected rising support among some experts for a radical change of direction that appeals to me."

Blindness is no handicap to great teaching, educator shows

Blindness is no handicap to great teaching, educator shows:

"Though the Yankee parade was in full swing right outside the window, the High School of Economics and Finance’s marine biology class began without any hesitation. Homer Panteloglou, 38, paced up and down the aisle of his classroom. Nobody was talking, on their cell phones, or doodling, even though the kids in the back could easily have gotten away with it. Because Panteloglou can’t see past the first two rows, he usually paces the room to make sure everyone’s engaged and on track.

Working with only one hand and legally blind in both eyes, Panteloglou refuses to slow down. In fact, he’s become one the most popular teachers in the high school. “He’s a little crazy, so we have more fun with him than with any other teacher,” said Gissette Guzman. “He’s not a regular teacher.”

He doesn’t write on the board much because he only has one hand, so PowerPoint has been a longtime teaching tool for him, even before other teachers started to incorporate it into their classrooms. “You know what to do when you see a picture,” he told the class as he pulled it up on the projector. “Write the caption.”

He also teaches honors living environment, A.P. biology, and introduction to business."

After Gerson feud, Downtown club is splitting up

After Gerson feud, Downtown club is splitting up:

"One option for zoning Lower Manhattan’s elementary schools would cut through the Whole Foods building, giving luxury condo owners the key to P.S. 234 while the middle and low-income renters would go to the Spruce Street School half a mile away.

Parents at 89 Murray St., the affordable rental portion of the development, are angry about possibly being excluded from P.S. 234.

“Tribeca is our neighborhood,” said Ilya Mazur, who lives at 89 Murray and has a 2-year-old son. “A lot of us can see [P.S. 234] from our windows. We can hear the school. This breaks the neighborhood for us.”"

Learning to Teach to Bridge the Achievement Gap - NYTimes.com

Learning to Teach to Bridge the Achievement Gap - NYTimes.com:

"Kathleen Martin stood in front of a white board covered with math problems, her class clustered at her feet. As they talked through the solutions together, the students repeated the headings over each problem on the board: “Algebra and Function,” “Probability,” “Data Analysis.”"

“So I see three addends here,” said Mrs. Martin, in her third year of teaching, “and I know I am going to find the sum.” The children then call out the addends — make that the numbers — in unison. They are adding six, four and zero.

Mrs. Martin teaches first grade at Leroy Anderson Elementary School in San Jose, a regular public school. Of its 430 students, 90 percent receive subsidized lunches. For 70 percent, English is a second language and 70 percent are Hispanic.

Those can be the demographic ingredients for a watered-down curriculum and the excuses for academic failure. Indeed, four years ago Anderson was, academically, the worst elementary school in Santa Clara County, with the lowest score on California’s Academic Performance Index. But when scores were released this fall, Anderson had jumped 136 points in a year, to 810 out of a possible 1,000.

Only a handful of Bay Area schools notched triple digit increases. In the past three years, Anderson’s scores rose 206 points.

Teachers at Some Low-Performing Schools Get Bonuses

W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School

Teachers at Some Low-Performing Schools Get Bonuses

Teachers at W.H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn were among those at 23 high schools citywide awarded a total of $3.5 million in performance bonuses on Thursday, even though the school received a D on its progress report earlier this week.

The Jane Addams High School for Academic Careers in the Bronx and three other schools earned C’s on their report cards, and their teachers will be getting bonuses, too.
The reason for the discrepancy between the two measures of progress, school officials said, is that the teacher bonuses — awarded by the Department of Education — are determined by individual targets set for each school, and the bonus-eligible schools serve students starting from a very low threshold. It may also be rewarding improvement within each letter grade.

“Maybe a school didn’t go from a D to a C, or stayed at a C, but it’s still making progress,” said Ann Forte, a department spokeswoman, defending both the report cards and the awards program.

Michael Mulgrew, the head of the teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, disagreed, saying that the difference underscored that the report cards are a flawed measurement. “The D.O.E. tools really don’t capture a lot of the challenges that the teachers and students face. There are teachers in the A schools doing a great job, and teachers in the D schools doing a great job,” he said.

School Committee faces angry parents - Littleton, MA - Littleton Independent

School Committee faces angry parents - Littleton, MA - Littleton Independent:

"Littleton - The School Committee faced an angry, cynical but mostly respectful crowd of parents and students Thursday night all of whom object to the decision by Superintendent Diane Bemis not to renew the contract of middle school Principal Kevin Moran.

The schools are still negotiating a new contract with the teachers’ association, or union. But when the news of Moran’s dismissal leaked out, the reaction was immediate and vociferous. Parents pleaded for a reason as to why Bemis would ax a beloved principal, but they got no response.

The committee and Bemis sat in silence in the high school library, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters and the state law.

A petition signed by more than 300 parents asking for reconsideration was presented to School Committee Chairman Charlie Ellis by Rose Wing, who read passages from letters that came in from current and former students at the middle school supporting Moran."

Gov. Deval Patrick to Legislature: Get back to work - BostonHerald.com

Gov. Deval Patrick to Legislature: Get back to work - BostonHerald.com:

"A steamed Gov. Deval Patrick slammed lawmakers yesterday for abruptly clocking out and taking an early holiday break as pending education and crime reforms along with budget cuts hang in the balance.

“The Legislature ought to get back in here and finish this work before they go off for six weeks,” Patrick said at a hastily called afternoon news conference. “Whatever they have to do, it’s my understanding they can get it done in plenty of time and still enjoy their holidays.”

Patrick called both House Speaker Robert DeLeo (D-Winthrop) and Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) and asked them to come back and vote on key legislation, including education reform and additional cuts to the budget."

Choosing the public they school | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/20/2009

Choosing the public they school Philadelphia Inquirer 11/20/2009:

"Advocates of charter schools claim they can offer something traditional public schools cannot. Each charter school touts its own special conditions for success: longer hours, better approaches, less bureaucracy, etc. Even though six charter schools in Philadelphia are being investigated for irregularities, their improved achievement scores - as well as fewer discipline problems in some cases - seem to be convincing arguments for dismantling traditional schools in favor of charters.

However, as much as we all yearn for a neat answer to our educational problems, the current charter school model is not it. Despite constant claims that charter schools do much more with exactly the same students, they don't.

Recently, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Rev. Al Sharpton, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich visited and praised two Philadelphia public schools. They found that the traditional McDaniel Elementary School had made admirable progress. But Mastery Charter Schools' Shoemaker Campus, which was a traditional high school until 2006, had made giant leaps in social and academic progress - all while purportedly educating the same students in the same building."

State rates teacher prep programs - St. Petersburg Times

State rates teacher prep programs - St. Petersburg Times:

"Out of the blue, the FCAT has a new job: measuring the programs across the state that produce teachers.
And it is already waving a red flag at the University of South Florida.

For the first time, the state Department of Education has examined the effectiveness of rookie teachers from a wide variety of teacher preparation programs, using their students' scores on the math and reading portions of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test in 2008. It determined what percentage of graduates from each program had 50 percent or more of their students make a year's worth of progress."

Gates to spend $365m on helping teachers

Gates to spend $365m on helping teachers:

"WASHINGTON: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $US335 million ($365 million) investment in teacher effectiveness in three large US school systems and some public charter schools.

The grants, which amount to one of the largest privately sponsored school-improvement initiatives in recent years, will focus on experiments in tenure, evaluation, compensation, training and mentoring.

The foundation aims to reshape how policymakers approach teaching, and its goal is to focus on performance rather than qualifications."

VOVNEWS.VN | Success of “Meet Vietnam” in US beyond expectations - Success of “Meet Vietnam” in US beyond expectations

VOVNEWS.VN Success of “Meet Vietnam” in US beyond expectations - Success of “Meet Vietnam” in US beyond expectations:

"The recent “Meet Vietnam 2009' programme in the US has attracted due attention and won great applause from international friends.

Vietnam recently held an exchange programme entitled “Meet Vietnam in San Francisco, California, the US. The event was raised by the Overseas Vietnamese community in the US and by foreign friends. A VOV correspondent in the US interviewed Le Quoc Hung, Vietnam’s Counsellor General in San Francisco, about the event’s outcomes."

Reporter: What is your assessment of the “Meet Vietnam 2009" programme, which was held in California for the first time?

Le Quoc Hung: The event was more successful than we expected. The programme was of great political significance and received due attention from Overseas Vietnamese people in the US. During the event, we also held two seminars on trade promotion and education, which drew a large number of people. This has demonstrated that many foreigners have an interest in Vietnam’s investment environment and education sector. Many of the participants were also keen to invest in building universities in Vietnam to the standard of developed countries. In addition, we also held a concert and an exhibition to present Vietnam’s traditional culture.

SDUSD Adopts New Guidelines For School Fees - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

SDUSD Adopts New Guidelines For School Fees - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego:

"SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Unified School District has adopted new guidelines after a 10News story in September questioned the legality of fees for specialized classes and activities."

Teachers now have strict rules to follow when it comes to requiring students to buy supplies, 10News learned.

"It's a matter of the state constitution; if you got a class then, you provide the materials," said school board member John DeBeck.

On Thursday, SD Unified distributed new guidelines regarding student fees after 10News exposed possible violations by the school district.

The California Constitution mandates public education be provided free of charge, which means no parent or student should be required to pay for supplies to join a class or activity like cheerleading, music or a photography class.