Schools Chancellor-to-be Cathie Black: I'm in touch with public school parents

Schools Chancellor-to-be Cathie Black: I'm in touch with public school parents

BY RACHEL MONAHAN
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Friday, December 3rd 2010, 7:59 PM

Wenig/AP

Since Mayor Bloomberg selected her to be the next Schools Chancellor, Cathie Black has come under fire for her lack of an education background and rich lifestyle.

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City Schools Chancellor-to-be Cathie Black defended herself Friday against critics who say she can't relate to public school parents.

In her first interview since her surprising selection by Mayor Bloomberg, Black dismissed the notion that her high-end lifestyle means she's out of touch.

"I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth. It's as simple that. I've been working steadily, supporting myself for 40 years," the media exec told Channel 7.

"I've had a successful career. It didn't land in my lap like a gift from God," she added. "Do I live well yes? But am I an empathetic person? Absolutely yes."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/12/03/2010-12-03_schools_chancellortobe_cathie_black_im_in_touch_with_public_school_parents.html#ixzz176WlwFyx

Hijacked! (Previously Titled “The Battle for Seattle”) | Seattle Education 2010

Hijacked! (Previously Titled “The Battle for Seattle”) | Seattle Education 2010

Hijacked! (Previously Titled “The Battle for Seattle”)

by seattleducation2010

Part Deux

The Broad Foundation was established in 1999 and Eli Broad wasted no time in providing funds to school systems around the country including Seattle.

In 2000, the Broad Foundation provided the Seattle Public School system with $800,000 for “teacher training” by way of the Alliance for Education.

That same year, according to the Broad Foundation’s Annual Report for 2009-2010, “Wendy Kopp, whose decade-old venture called Teach for America grew out of her senior thesis at Princeton University, visits Eli Broad seeking guidance and support. The Broad Foundation makes its first investment of $800,000 in the organization, which recruits and trains recent college graduates to work in urban and rural school districts for a minimum of two years. By 2009, the foundation’s investment in Teach for America exceeds $41 million.” As an aside, Wendy Kopp has no experience teaching and has no degree in the field of education.

In 2001 Superintendent Olfchefske participated in the New Schools Venture Fund Summit and spoke on the subject of Convergence of the Sectors: Public, Private, and Non-Profit. The moderators included Tom Vander

Green Change : The corporate takeover of American schools

Green Change : The corporate takeover of American schools

The corporate takeover of American schools

Paul Thomas | Guardian | 12.03.2010

The top positions in state education across the US – for example, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, recent chancellors Joel Klein (New York) and Michelle Rhee (Washington, DC), and incoming Chancellor Cathleen P Black (New York) – reflect a trust in CEO-style leadership for education management and reform. Along with these new leaders in education, billionaire entrepreneurs have also assumed roles as education saviours: Bill and Melinda Gates, and Geoffrey Canada.

Gates, Canada, Duncan, Klein and Rhee have capitalised on their positions in education to rise to the status of celebrities, as well – praised in the misleading documentary feature Waiting for Superman, on Oprah, and even on Bill Maher's Real Time.

What do all these professional managers and entrepreneurs have in common?

Little or no experience or expertise in education. (Instead, they have degrees in government and law, along with nontraditional entries into education and strong ties to alternative certification, such as Teach for America). Further, they all represent and promote a cultural faith in the power of leadership above the importance of experience or expertise.

When Klein quit his post as chancellor in New York – soon after Michelle Rhee left DC – the fact that he was leaving for a senior position at News Corp and that his replacement would be a magazine executivesent a strong message. The implication was that the American public distrusts not only schools, but also teachers and education experts.

More telling, however, is the appointment of Duncan as secretary of education under President Obama. This appointment of a CEO-style leader of schools in Chicago comes under a Democratic

Parents urged to explore Portland teacher contract | OregonLive.com

Parents urged to explore Portland teacher contract | OregonLive.com

Parents urged to explore Portland teacher contract

Published: Friday, December 03, 2010, 4:25 PM Updated: Friday, December 03, 2010, 4:37 PM

Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian
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The detailed terms of the Portland teachers contract may sound arcane, and at times they are, but they also influence what students experience at school, ranging from how much time teachers plan together to improve instruction to how early and how late the school day can run.

The Portland chapter of Stand for Children, a school advocacy group that has worked for years to change teacher hiring and evaluation practices, is trying to get Portland Public School parents revved up about what the next teacher contract might look like -- and why they should care.

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The group is hosting a forum at Jefferson High School on Wednesday evening to discuss teacher contracts and to let two framers of the new Seattle teachers contract promote what the features of that agreement will accomplish for Seattle's teachers and students. Leaders of the Black Parent Initiative also are urging their members to attend to see how a new contract might help African American students get more out of school.

If you go: "Understanding the Portland Contract”

Where: Jefferson High School auditorium, 5210 N. Kerby Ave.

When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday

Details: Free; RSVP to twhitmire@stand.org

Portland Public Schools' current contract with its teachers expires in June, and the district and union are already gearing up to negotiate a new one.

The Portland Association of Teachers plans to survey all 3,000 members

Remainders: As Black opens up, Klein gives his lessons learned | GothamSchools

Remainders: As Black opens up, Klein gives his lessons learned | GothamSchools

Remainders: As Black opens up, Klein gives his lessons learned

by Anna Phillips

• In her first interview, Cathie Black says she’s a “strong, seasoned manager.” (ABC)
• Joel Klein reflects on what he “learned at the education barricades.” (Wall Street Journal)
• Polakow-Suransky, the soon-to-be chief academic officer, is meeting State Island parents. (SI Advance)
• A middle school in lower Manhattan is having a hard time attracting students. (Tribeca Trib)
• Members of a Philly folk band performed with students from P.S. 171 in East Harlem. (NYT)
• The feds will be grading how well RttT winners have lived up to their promises. (Politics K-12)
• Are Valerie Strauss and Diane Ravitch the anti-elite Sarah Palin and Glenn Becks of the left? (Russo)
• Checker Finn critiques Ravitch’s call for a GOP push for more local control of schools. (Flypaper)
• A TN report on teacher training deems TFA grads the most effective. (Commercial Appeal via Eduwonk)
• If WikiLeaks had any dirt on NYC’s operations, Joel Klein and Cathie Black would make the list. (NYT)

Black sits down for questions, and we pose some of our own | GothamSchools

Black sits down for questions, and we pose some of our own | GothamSchools

Black sits down for questions, and we pose some of our own

by Maura Walz

For her first sit-down interview today, Cathie Black enjoyed a friendly softball toss with WABC 7’s Art McFarland.

In the first excerpt of the interview to air, Black defended her qualifications as a manager against critics who charge that she lacks the education credentials necessary to do a good job.

“We’re all human beings,” she said. “It is about people. After all, it is about people. They can be little people as young students or teachers or principals or any of the other organizations that surrounds it.”

McFarland then asked if Black expected the public outrage over her appointment.

“First of all, I’m not taking it personally,” she said. “They dont know me. If they knew me and said this, that’s something different. But they dont know me. So they’re venting their anger. I have three words: let’s go forward. None of this is going to change the outcome. So let’s go forward, together.”

This clip, the first excerpt of McFarland’s long interview with Black, did not include more details about how

Report finds education disparities among Asian subgroups in California | 89.3 KPCC

Report finds education disparities among Asian subgroups in California | 89.3 KPCC

Report finds education disparities among Asian subgroups in California

Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/KPCC

Pomona College Dean Sefa Aina urges policymakers to address education disparities among Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders and native Hawaiians in California.

6:42 a.m. | Adolfo Guzman-Lopez | KPCC

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A report released in Los Angeles today reveals what its authors call grave disparities in educational achievement between Asian-Americans, native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in California.

For one Asian-American subgroup, the Hmong of Southeast Asia, the idea that all Asians are academic high achievers is a dangerous myth. Nearly half of Hmong adults don’t have a high school diploma.

It’s dangerous, says University of California researcher Lois Takahashi, because the myth keeps the struggles of Hmong families out of the policymaking spotlight. She says statistics about the much larger Samoan, Guamanian and Tongan populations in California are just as troubling.

"One fifth of Pacific Islanders in our grades 9-12 are expected to drop out by grade 12," Takahashi said. "That’s very similar and almost equivalent to the dropout rate for Latinos in the state."

Most of those dropouts are bound to falter in life. The teens’ struggles and the shortcomings of schools to address their needs play out in cities such as Hawthorne, the center of the Southland’s

Union Investigating Teacher Assault Claims - Baltimore, Maryland News Story - WBAL Baltimore

Union Investigating Teacher Assault Claims - Baltimore, Maryland News Story - WBAL Baltimore

Union Investigating Teacher Assault Claims

School Says No Incidents Reported Since School Opened

POSTED: 3:37 pm EST December 3, 2010
UPDATED: 7:11 pm EST December 3, 2010

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BALTIMORE -- The Baltimore Teachers Union is calling for more resources at a high school where a teacher was attacked by a student.

Social studies teacher Jeffery Slattery is still recovering from his injuries after he said a 14-year-old former student attacked him Wednesday in the hallway just outside of his classroom at Baltimore Community High School.

Slattery said he told the boy to go back to his classroom when the attack happened. He said he was punched several times, causing serious injuries to his jaw and eye.

On Friday, teachers union President Marietta English showed up at the

Nanaimo teachers' union takes district to B.C. high court over class size

Nanaimo teachers' union takes district to B.C. high court over class size

BY DEREK SPALDING, NANAIMO DAILY NEWS DECEMBER 3, 2010 12:53 PM COMMENTS (8)

• STORY
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Nanaimo teachers are challenging class sizes in their disrict.

Photograph by:Daily News Files, timescolonist.com

NANAIMO - The province's teachers' union will be watching for a possible precedent-setting B.C. Supreme Court legal challenge of class sizes and class compositions in the coming weeks.

The Nanaimo District Teachers' Association filed the petition with the court because executive members claim the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district's board of trustees has incorrectly interpreted the School Act when it approved the number of students in its classrooms.

District staff have been silent about the challenge, but school trustee Ron Dale publicly slammed the NDTA and the B.C. Teachers' Union yesterday, saying that a radical group of teachers are behind the latest attack on the district.

The court's decision could have a resounding impact across the province, as unions in nearly all districts have long criticized Bill 33, the legislation that set out strict guidelines for the number of students and special needs students that can be in one classroom.

NDTA president Derek DeGear was not available for comment and newly elected board chairwoman Sharon Welch only issued a written statement to news media yesterday.

"I think most of our teachers are reasonable people, but we have these radicals who follow the BCTF party line at any cost," Dale said, during a visit to the Nanaimo Daily News.

"Nanaimo's just a test case. There is a war being waged by the union and it's going to cost our district money."

District superintendent Mike Munro approves all class size and composition formulas sent to him by each principal. He presents those results to the trustees regularly throughout the year.

NDTA executive members have long criticized the numbers, calling on

Read more:http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Nanaimo+teachers+union+takes+district+high+court+over+class+size/3925206/story.html#ixzz1767aI9ay

The Fight Over a Fired Charter School Teacher - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

The Fight Over a Fired Charter School Teacher - voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled: The Education Blog

The Fight Over a Fired Charter School Teacher

Posted on December 3, 2010

• 

  by Emily Alpert

The San Diego teachers union plans to fight the firing of a teacher who spearheaded union efforts at Tubman Village Charter School, where teachers became unionized nearly a year ago.

The battle is an unusual one because while Tubman is unionized, its teachers have yet to hammer out a contract. That leaves them in labor limbo.

Jonathon Mello, an organizer for the San Diego Education Association, said the union plans to file charges with a state board, arguing the teacher is being discriminated against as a labor leader and that her work terms were changed unilaterally.

Principal Lidia Scinski wrote in an email to us that "Tubman doesn't conduct business in public," but added, "I am confident that the school's actions are in compliance with the law."

The firing goes to the heart of why Tubman is unionizing and why unions argue their protections are needed. When Tubman teachers joined up with the union in January,