Notes from the news, May 4 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, May 4 | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Notes from the news, May 4

by Erika Owens

Ackerman gets $65,000 performance bonus The Inquirer
The bonus was detailed in Ackerman's contract. It and other perks help bring the value of her annual salary to nearly $500,000.
See also: 65G performance bonus for Ackerman Daily News
Ackerman Receives $65K Performance Bonus Fox 29
Phila. school janitors ratify pact with raises The Inquirer
The janitors from 22 high schools were ready to strike, but negotiated a contract to bring their pay and benefits more in line with other janitors in the District.
A different vision of education - TAG Fair The Notebook blog
The Teacher Action Group's first curriculum fair on Saturday brought together teachers and education supporters.
Philly teacher honored on Rach[a]el Ray Show 6ABC
Frankford High's culinary arts teacher got a new kitchen from Rachael Ray last month, and on Monday she appeared on the show.
See also: A Phila. Public School Teacher is Honored on National Cooking Show KYW
School District of Philadelphia Holding Community Budget Hearings! Frankford Gazette
Philly Parks Searching for Summer Interns Plan Philly
Ludlow Elementary Serves As Second Home For Students Philadelphia Neighborhoods
Please email us if we missed anything today or if you have any suggestions of publications, email lists, or other places for us to check for news.
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Notes from the news

A different vision of education - TAG Fair

by Ron Whitehorne

On Saturday over 200 people filled the third and fourth floors of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures School for theFirst Annual Education for Liberation Curriculum Fair. Sponsored by the Teacher Action Group, the fair attracted elementary, middle, and high school teachers mostly from public schools along with afterschool educators, teaching artists, members of community organizations, youth, pre-service teachers, university educators, and even an administrator.

Elk Grove non-profit hosts forum on public education funding - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Elk Grove non-profit hosts forum on public education funding - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Elk Grove non-profit hosts forum on public education funding

by mgutierrez@sacbee.com (Melody Gutierrez)

An Elk Grove non-profit will host a forum on the status of public education funding at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Monterey Trail High School multi-purpose room at 8661 Power Inn Road in Elk Grove.
SupportCAKids is a group of parents and community members who are concerned over cuts to public education funding. Assemblywoman Alyson Huber, Elk Grove Mayor Sophia Scherman, Elk Grove Unified school board President Jeanette Amavisca and Elk Grove City Council members Pat Hume and Gary Davis are scheduled to speak.
The forum will teach parents to use the SupportCAKids website to quickly contact elected representatives to voice concern. "Our non-profit foundation empowers parents and families to be their own advocates," said foundation founder Marie Correa in a press release.
The forum is timed to coincide with the upcoming release of the Governor's May revise budget.
For more information, visit www.supportcakids.org.
Call The Bee's Melody Gutierrez, (916) 326-5521

College admissions adviser to speak at library event High school students and their parents who are looking for advice on selecting a college can attend a free workshop Wednesday at the Arden-Dimick Library. Margie Amott, a college admissions counselor, will talk about how to pick a college that will ...

Mira Loma places second in National Science Bowl Mira Loma High School placed second Monday in the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C. North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham won the "Jeopardy"- style finals and will receive an all-expense-paid ...

Kent State Shootings 40 years later and the hidden history of an iconic image

Kent State Shootings 40 years later and the hidden history of an iconic image

May 4, 5:15 AMCleveland Photography ExaminerDennis Bodzash

In an era characterized by social upheaval, a few events stand out. One of those tragic, landmark events that showcased the downward spiral of American society took place in our own backyard: the Kent State Shootings.

It was 40 years ago today on May 4, 1970 and the Kent State campus was a figurative powder keg just waiting to explode. Anger over the Vietnam War, recently expanded into Cambodia, was at an all time high, especially among the young, who often had to watch their friends be drafted into the military and then sent off to war. College campuses all across the country went into chaos as students voiced their displeasure with policy.

However, among all those protests, it was nearby Kent State that would become the focal point of the nation.

The Kent State shootings were the culmination of four days of trouble. The first sign of unrest was on Friday, May 1st around midnight when a crowd of young people (who may or may not have attended that afternoon's war protest) exited a bar and started vandalizing downtown Kent. It took the police about an hour to restore order. Saturday saw Kent's then-mayor Leroy Satrom ask then-governor James Rhodes to send in the National Guard. By the time the National Guard arrived on the scene that evening, the Kent State ROTC building was ablaze as cheering students gathered. The Guardsmen used tear gas to disperse the rioters. On Sunday night, another protest turned riot saw the Guard in action again, using gas once more to disperse the mob.

Then came Monday, May 4.

A protest was already scheduled for noon that day as a follow-up to Friday's protest. Campus officials tried to stop the protest, but about 2,000 students gathered anyway. Orders to disperse were met with rocks. With trouble already brewing, the Guardsmen advanced, firing more tear gas, which had little effect because of the wind. Some students even picked up the canisters and threw them back at the Guardsmen. Finally, the protesters were dispersed, leaving the Guardsmen on a chain link fence-surrounded practice athletic field. Then the protesters began to reassemble.

This is where the events get cloudy.

According to some witnesses, the guardsmen looked nervous, with some talking in a small huddle, apparently deciding on a course of action. Some of the protesters began to hurl rocks once more. the guardsmen eventually retraced their steps along the route through which they initially dispersed the protesters. It was at this point that some of the students, according to witnesses, began to approach the soldiers again. It was when the Guardsmen were at the top of a small hill that 29 of the 77 suddenly turned and fired a total of 67 bullets at the students.

By the time the gunfire ended, four students, Sandra Scheuer, William Knox Schroeder, Allison Krause, and Jeffrey Miller were dead and 9 others were wounded. Two of the students, Scheuer and

NEA - National Teacher Day

NEA - National Teacher Day

National Teacher Day

May 4, 2010

Great Teachers Make Great Public Schools

On National Teacher Day, thousands of communities take time to honor their local educators and acknowledge the crucial role teachers play in making sure every student receives a quality education. This year's event takes place on May 4, 2010.

2010 Artwork and Materials Available

Be sure to download our 2010 poster and Web banners. Also, take a look at our sample proclamation, news release, and activity ideas to plan an unforgettable National Teacher Day event in your community.

Teachers Talk

Listen to some NEA members talk about what inspires them as teachers - on Teachers Talk, a project of TeachersCount and an NPR Connecticut affiliate.

NEA’s Teacher Thank-You Project in 2009

To kick-off National Teacher Day 2009, hundreds of local public school students and their teachers joined U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, members of Congress, and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel on May 4 to unveil NEA’s "Teacher Thank-You Project," a never-before-seen collection of thousands of thank-you cards artfully displayed on a larger-than-life mural measuring 8 feet tall and 75 feet wide. View photos from the Teacher Thank-You Project event.

The project was an unprecedented effort to collect thank-you messages for teachers around the world. Thousands of cards from celebrities, athletes, lawmakers, notable public figures, and individuals were compiled. To see a virtual version of the mural and view pictures, go to Teacher Thank-You Project. (We are no longer collecting thank-you notes.)

Celebrities Name Most Memorable Teachers

Behind every famous face is an educator. Actress Hilary Swank said, "Mr. Sellereit (Eric Sellereit, Happy Valley Elementary School, Bellingham, Washington) gave me my first acting job in my school production of The Jungle Book."

Check out our lists of:

• Celebrities' Most Memorable Teachers (PDF file, 38pp, 306KB)
• Members of Congress' Most Memorable Teachers (PDF file, 28pp, 190KB)

Happy Teacher Day!

American Chronicle | Download The Cartel Movie | Watch The Cartel Online

American Chronicle | Download The Cartel Movie | Watch The Cartel Online

Download The Cartel Movie | Watch The Cartel Online

Raman Sambaba Rawat

April 14, 2010

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Movie Synopsis

Directed by Bob Bowdon, The Cartel is a documentary movie. Through the movie, the viewers are shown the condition of American Education System, as the public schools are moving towards worseness everyday. In order to bring out the hidden realities, the New Jersey City is investigated thoroughly. Clint Bolick, Gerard Robinson, Chester Finn and innumerous other renowned names are interviewed in order to get closer to the reality. Moreover, The Cartel also secures the constitution of charter schools and vouchers. Teacher Unions and Tenure process is criticized. The movie is an attempt to take the viewers beyond the typical statistics and generalization when it comes to education.

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Watch College, Inc. Tonight � The Quick and the Ed

Watch College, Inc. Tonight � The Quick and the Ed

Watch College, Inc. Tonight

by Kris Amundson

Tonight, Frontline presents “College, Inc.” This hour-long program will look at the rise of for-profit colleges–the fastest-growing (and most controversial) segment of the higher education sector.
ES Research Director Kevin Carey is one of the national experts weighing in. Here’s a preview of what he’ll say:
“One of the ideas the Department of Education has put out there is that in order for a college to be eligible to receive money from student loans, it actually has to show that the education it’s providing has enough value in the job market so that students can pay their loans back,” says Kevin Carey of the Washington think tank Education Sector. “Now, the for-profit colleges, I think this makes them very nervous,” Carey says. “They’re worried because they know that many of their members are charging a lot of money; that many of their members have students who are defaulting en masse after they graduate. They’re afraid that this rule will cut them out of the program. But in many ways, that’s the point.”
Check your local listings. Here in Washington, it will air at 9 p.m. on PBS.

Let’s Do Something About High Schools

by Chad Aldeman

Bedford High School, located in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in 2006 while graduating 240 students, more than 90 percent of entering freshmen. According to all existing accountability systems, this was a successful school. Of their 2006 graduates 56 percent (13 percent higher than the state average) entered an Ohio college or university right out of high school, but once there they averaged just a 2.38 GPA in their first term. A whopping 73 percent were required to take remedial, not-for-credit courses. This was considered a successful school despite publicly available data suggesting its graduates were not prepared for success in college.
At the other end of the spectrum were schools that failed to meet federal accountability rules, typically because one or more subgroups could not meet performance targets, but that, on the whole, graduated students that

QUICK Hits

by Forrest Hinton

Quick Hits is a short compilation of question-raising news stories, blog posts, and video clips that Education Sector team members are reading and viewing each day. The content of these Hits is not necessarily endorsed by the organization or any particular team member.

• Is it ethical for for-profit colleges with high student loan default rates to recruit students from homeless shelters and welfare agencies? (h/t Huffington Post)
• What’s Andy Rotherham saying about charter schools today? Don’t miss his two-part series on the NYT and Michelle Rhee. (Eduwonk)
• Duncan, Spellings, Ravitch, and Vander Ark answer the question: As states prepare their Race to the Top applications, what is more important: Obtaining union buy-in or implementing bold reform ideas? (National Journal Online)
• Are our teachers and students prepared to live “the data-driven life?” (Joanne Jacobs)
• To mail or not to mail? Why some universities are refusing to play the promotion game hosted by U.S. News rankings… (The Washington Post)

kuar: : Arizona Education Loses The Accent Of America (2010-05-03)

kuar: : Arizona Education Loses The Accent Of America (2010-05-03)

Arizona Education Loses The Accent Of America

The Arizona Department of Education told schools that teachers with "heavy" accents are no longer qualified to teach in classes where students may still be learning English. Commentator Andrei Codrescu says this law would have eliminated his 40 years of teaching. He wonders who else would have contributions wiped away from the American landscape by such a mandate.by Andrei CodrescuAndrei Codrescu is a commentator on All Things Considered and founder of Exquisite Corpse .

Arizona's new immigration law is outrageous to anyone who's had the bad luck of living in a country where fear of the police was a constant source of suppressed rage. A huge weight lifted off my psyche when I came to the U.S. from Communist Romania and was told that the police couldn't stop me just because I still wore my commie trench coat and spoke with an accent.

That was in 1966, and now in Arizona in 2010, the police can target both my trench coat and my accent. The Arizona Department of Education has told schools that teachers with "heavy" or "ungrammatical" accents are no longer allowed to teach English to kids just learning to speak the language.

Oh boy! Did I land back behind the Iron Curtain half a century ago? My last 40 years of teaching would have never happened if the Arizona law

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie pushes for education changes with speech in Washington | - NJ.com

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie pushes for education changes with speech in Washington | - NJ.com

N.J. Gov. Chris Christie pushes for education changes with speech in Washington

By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau

May 03, 2010, 6:00PM

Andrew Mills/The Star-LedgerGov. Chris Christie and New Jersey Education Commissioner Brett Schundler (center) greets guests as Christie arrives to deliver the keynote address at the National School Choice Summit at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
WASHINGTON — A lightning rod at home for his deep cuts to school funding, Gov. Chris Christie came to the nation’s capital tonight to push for education reforms — and announced he will support a scholarship program allowing students to opt out of 200 "chronically failing" New Jersey schools.

Calling it "the first step" that will "lead to school vouchers across the state of New Jersey," Christie said the bill, now pending in the Legislature, would allow parents of all means to make a choice like he has made to send his four children to Catholic school.

Previous coverage:

• Complete coverage of the 2010 New Jersey State Budget

• N.J. school choice advocates rally efforts amid school budget debates

• N.J. students wage mass walkouts in response to Gov. Chris Christie's school cuts

• Newark students walk out, protest at City Hall against school budget cuts

• N.J. education chief warns legislators of voter wrath after school budget defeats

• N.J. voters send message of discontent by shooting down school budgets

• Gov. Chris Christie says N.J. school budget defeats should serve as 'wake up call'

• Gov. Chris Christie says school budget election results are proof that N.J. voters want change

"A single mother in Newark, working two jobs to keep a roof over her child’s head, should have no less of an ability to make that choice," the Republican governor said. "Her child’s life is no less precious than ours. Her child’s future is no less promising than ours."

Christie spelled out his vision for education reform in a 30-minute keynote speech to about 200 people hosted by the American Federation for Children, a school choice advocacy group. He was joined by his wife, Mary Pat, education Commissioner Bret Schundler and chief of staff Rich Bagger.

The new bill (S1872), set for a hearing next week, would allow low-income students in "chronically failing" schools to get scholarships they could use to pay tuition at private schools or public schools in other communities. Doled out through a lottery system, the 24,000 scholarships would be funded by corporate donors who would get a break on their state taxes.

Schools would be classified as "chronically failing" if at least 40 percent of their students fail to demonstrate proficiency on statewide math and language arts tests for two years in a row, or if at least 65 percent of students failed either test. Bill co-sponsors Sens. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Union) and Raymond Lesniak (D-Union) said there are more than 200 schools in more than 30

ar of words continues between Gov. Chris Christie and teachers union president

By Lisa Fleisher/Statehouse Bureau

May 03, 2010, 10:40PM

TRENTON - Gov. Chris Christie today shot back at the head of the New Jersey Education Association, saying it was "small and wrong and petty" of her to call him a liar. Smacking the latest volley between the two in what has been a nearly daily affair for months, Christie said union president Barbara Keshishian was "no slave to... Full story »

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N.J. Gov. Chris Christie pushes for education changes with speech in Washington

By Claire Heininger/Statehouse Bureau

May 03, 2010, 6:00PM

Christie pushes scholarship program allowing students to opt out of 'chronically failing' N.J. schools. Watch the videos. Full story »

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Boy Scouts keep it modern with virtual scouting badge

By Judy Peet

May 02, 2010, 7:54AM

CEDAR GROVE -- Used to be, you survived the wilderness to get a Scouting badge; now you just have to survive playing Wii Sports Resort. Granted, virtual Scouting is only one small badge available only to Cub Scouts, but the newest Boy Scouts of America offering does have some old-timers flummoxed. "You just shake your head and wonder what... Full story »

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Restructure of N.J.'s public university system could succeed this time, despite failed past attempts

By Josh Margolin/Statehouse Bureau

May 01, 2010, 8:08PM

TRENTON -- Supporters of a plan to restructure the state’s public university system and dismantle the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey say the effort can succeed after twice failing in the past decade because New Jersey’s political landscape has changed and it can be pitched as a money-saver in tough budget times. But they know it... Full story »

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