Friday, November 26, 2010

Unions knocking on charter school doors | NJ.com

Unions knocking on charter school doors

Published: Friday, November 26, 2010, 6:27 AM

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By Steve Gunn

It’s become obvious in recent years that charter schools, with their unique and innovative approach to student instruction, are a source of great promise for our nation’s troubled public education system.

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That’s why the recent decision by teachers at the Englewood on the Palisades Charter School to join the American Federation of Teachers is so frightening.

For years, our nation’s powerful school-employee unions, like the AFT and the National Education Association, opposed the very concept of charter schools and pressured state governments to cap their numbers or shut them down altogether.

They simply didn’t want the competition.

But now that charter schools are obviously here to stay

Orleans Parish School Board sues the state for right to evaluate charter school applications | NOLA.com

Orleans Parish School Board sues the state for right to evaluate charter school applications

Published: Friday, November 26, 2010, 8:50 AM Updated: Friday, November 26, 2010, 8:50 AM

Cindy Chang, The Times-Picayune
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The Orleans Parish School Board has filed suit against state education officials, seeking to be removed from its "academically in crisis" status and allowed to evaluate nine charter school applications that have been filed directly with the state.

Times-Picayune archiveOrleans Parish School Board officials have been mounting an intensive public relations effort to convince BESE and the public that the district is ready to take back at least some schools.

A hearing on the board's cease-and-desist request is scheduled for Nov. 30 in front of Orleans Civil District Court Judge Piper Griffin.

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In a sign of how important the district considers the issue, former U.S. Attorney Harry Rosenberg, now a partner at Phelps Dunbar, is its lead attorney.

If the lawsuit is successful, the nine charter school applications currently in process would not need to be restarted. Last week, the board decided that it would use the same recommendations the state is using to make decisions about the applications.

"Being that the district has the highest bond rating in the city and is ranked academically third in state and third in the rate of improvement, those applications should come before the Orleans Parish School Board," board President Woody Koppel said.

In addition to the Louisiana Department of Education and the state Board of Elementary and

In special-education system, innovation leading the way | APP.com | Asbury Park Press

In special-education system, innovation leading the way

Vouchers, training gain states' favor

In California, 25,000 veteran special-education teachers are being sent back to school this year to learn the nuances of teaching students with autism.

In Florida, Georgia and Utah, parents who are unhappy with their local public school’s special-education program can use taxpayer-funded vouchers to send their disabled child to another public or private school they think can do a better job.

In Kansas, researchers are developing sophisticated “learning maps” to give educators a more holistic view of what special-education students are actually learning.

And here in New Jersey, where fiscal constraints are forcing district

Schools Matter: Corporate Education Reformers: Hoarders of Financial and Social Capital

Corporate Education Reformers: Hoarders of Financial and Social Capital

by Jim Horn

The corporate education oligarchs centered in Washington state, along with their reps in Washington, DC, are making a lot of noise now about those lazy, overpaid school teachers with their fancy Masters' degrees. For the frugal oligarchs, teachers' advanced degrees and step pay increases represent areas to save big. The propaganda is being produced and disseminated by one of Gates's tax shelters for philanthrocapitalists, the Center on ~~Dismantling~~ Reinventing Public Education.

Meanwhile, we hear no concern expressed by billionaire Gates or the 10,000+ Microsoft millionaires who are quietly waiting for their Bush tax cuts to be renewed, even though the payout to the made men of Microsoft will blow a 700 billion-dollar hole in the federal deficit over ten years. Nor do we hear anything about any giving back by the corporations whose profits in the third quarter of 2010 were the highest recorded ever:

Unemployment may be high, but business is booming…or at least corporate profits are. New data

San Francisco considers full-time school board

Friday, November 26, 2010

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(11-26) 05:42 PST San Francisco, CA (AP) --

Several San Francisco supervisors are proposing making members of the city's school board full-time workers with health benefits, a pension and salary of $50,000 each.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the four supervisors have put forth an amendment to the City Charter that would change the position from what is currently largely a volunteer job.

San Francisco's seven school board members get a $500 stipend, shared use of a district car and a life insurance policy, but no salary.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, who authored the measure, says that's not enough given how

Leaning Tower of Pisa taken by students amid European backlash to education cuts - CSMonitor.com

Leaning Tower of Pisa taken by students amid European backlash to education cuts

Leaning Tower of Pisa was the target of student protests Thursday in Rome. Earlier this week, students in London clashed with police in demonstrations over fee increases.

University students sit near the Leaning Tower of Pisa after hanging a banner with writing reading in Italian "No to the Gelmini (Education Minister Mariastella Gelmini) reform" Thursday. some 2,000 Italian university students occupied the Leaning Tower of Pisa to protest education cuts and reforms before parliament.

Paolo Lazzeroni/AP

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Rome

Italian students stormed the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Rome's Colosseum and blocked roads and railways Thursday in protest against university reform planned by Silvio Berlusconi's struggling government.

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Friday, November 26, 2010