Saturday, April 16, 2011

4LAKids - LAUSD PRESENTS ONE-YEAR BUDGET PROPOSAL: The one-year plan could save 80 percent of expected layoffs + smf's 2¢

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: LAUSD PRESENTS ONE-YEAR BUDGET PROPOSAL: The one-year plan could save 80 percent of expected layoffs + smf's 2¢

LAUSD PRESENTS ONE-YEAR BUDGET PROPOSAL: The one-year plan could save 80 percent of expected layoffs + smf's 2¢

LAUSD OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA RELATIONS NEWS RELEASE | HTTP://BIT.LY/GDCQ5L

April 12, 2011 - Los Angeles – A one-year budget proposal was presented to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education today that would preserve many school programs and save thousands of jobs as the District attempts to find ways to address its $408 million deficit as the deadline to rescind layoff notices to employees draws near.

The one-year temporary proposal, drafted by Superintendent-elect Dr. John Deasy, is a solution to stabilize LAUSD for the upcoming 2011-12 school year when the District faces the prospect of laying off up to 5,000 teachers and support staff, and thousands of classified personnel.

“This is a tourniquet to stop the bleeding; it’s not a Band-Aid anymore,” said Dr. Deasy. “We need to stabilize the District one year at a time.”

After budget negotiations broke down earlier this month in Sacramento, in which Governor Jerry Brown had lobbied to allow voters to decide whether to extend current

San Diego City College Protest Against Budget Cuts, April 15, 2011

by DAVE RICE on APRIL 15, 2011

in: CALIFORNIA, ECONOMY, EDUCATION, SAN DIEGO

My faith in the ability of my generation and the one following mine to actually give a damn got a major boost today when I headed down to City College at the (for the under-30 and under-employed set) ungodly hour of 8:00 for the pre-rally to a protest of the educational budget cuts proposed by Governor Jerry Brown.

First off, I’ve got to say that in general, I admire Brown’s apparent willingness to compromise on shrinking the state budget gap with equal measures of cuts and taxes – not tax increases, mind you, any Democratic proposal like that would never fly with the state’s Republicans who represent large chunks of land but small portions of the population – these would just be continuations of tax hikes imposed under Republican leadership that are set to expire. I’m still concerned, though, about

White House community college summit here - SignOnSanDiego.com

White House community college summit here

BY PAT FLYNN

FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011 AT 6:02 P.M.

SAN DIEGO — Providing better educational opportunities to veterans, active duty military members and their families is a priority for President Barack Obama, two members of his administration said Friday.

Undersecretary of Education Martha Kanter and Roberto Rodriguez, special assistant to the president for education, delivered that message at San Diego City College.

Approximately 250 educators, business leaders, students and others — from 14 states — attended the event, the fourth and last in a series of regional summits launched by President Obama in October at a White House Summit on Community Colleges.

“Here we are focusing on the role community colleges can play to advance opportunities for our veterans and military families,” Rodriguez said during a break in the daylong event. “We chose San Diego because of their large share of the military population and because the

Crecimiento de empleos no equivale a crecimiento adecuado de ingresos en los EE.UU. « Spanish Readers' Blog

Crecimiento de empleos no equivale a crecimiento adecuado de ingresos en los EE.UU.

by Mr. R

Wider Opportunities for Women - Cuadro de información de trabajadores norteamericanos con beneficios laborales

Existen algunos que siguen sosteniendo la esperanza del Sueño Americano. Pero no por mucho tiempo.

Los datos ofrecidos por Wider Opportunities for Women- WOW, una ONG en este país, nos hace sospechar

The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Jux Looks Like A Great Tool For Creating Websites Jux looks like a great way to create nice-looking websites. It’s free and has a “drag-and-drop” interface, plus you can grab images off the web. I’m adding it to The Best Ways For Students Or Teachers To Create A Website. Thanks to Go2Web2.0 for the ...

The Best Sites For Learning About Mount Everest The final year of the year in our ninth-grade English classes is on Mount Everest. I thought it would be useful to our school’s teachers and to this blog’s readers (and to me!) to try to compile the best related online resources into one list. Here ...

Queens Teacher: Welcome to Boot Camp

Welcome to Boot Camp

by Queens Teacher

Welcome to Boot Camp

“Miss C, when you were gone, I was so scared, I thought I was in boot camp!” -one of my first graders, after I returned from a meeting.
This piece serves as a glimpse inside a South Bronx charter school, told from the perspective of a classroom teacher. With the overblown acclaim of charter schools as a means of education “reform” in recent months, I jumped at the chance to tell my story. I realize that mine is just one story and there are infinite stories and viewpoints held for any given situation; someone else in my shoes might offer a completely different account. My hope is that my story will spark a conversation, offer new perspectives, and raise a few questions. Teacher's voices can be powerful when they are allowed to be heard.
Charter schools are public schools, and can be started by and run by anyone. It is not uncommon for them to be

'Hands Across' event targets education funding - LA Daily News

'Hands Across' event targets education funding

SUPPORT: Human chain to be formed to raise money for community colleges.

By Dana Bartholomew, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/15/2011 06:53:21 PM PDT

Updated: 04/15/2011 08:49:48 PM PDT

A human chain of an expected 1million helping hands will wend from the Sierra foothills to San Diego on Sunday to support California community college students.
At 2 p.m. across the San Fernando Valley, the so-called Hands Across California will link students to celebrities from Pierce College to Los Angeles Valley College and beyond.
"College is the American dream," said Gabe Ayon, 35, of North Hollywood, a first-generation Valley College student who has recruited an anticipated 2,000 students, faculty, celebrities and more to join hands along Oxnard Street. "Not all of us are middle class.
"All these scholarships will help people get into college."
The 1,000-mile event aims to raise a $100 million endowment for scholarships available to the state's 3 millio

Superintendent John Deasy sets performance goals

By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer

Posted: 04/15/2011 08:50:54 PM PDT

Updated: 04/16/2011 05:11:14 AM PDT

John Deasy, who was hired as the district No. 2 eight months ago, replaces Ramon Cortines, who retired from a career in education spanning six decades this week after serving as LAUSD's superintendent for two and a half years.
While Deasy, 50, is still working on his 100-day plan, on Day One he announced a districtwide performance management system that he said will be the centerpiece of his administration.
The New England native said all schools, educators and administrators - including himself - would be measured on how well they met 15 key targets that include almost doubling the percentage of students who are reading a

Weekly Address: “We Can Live Within Our Means and Live Up to the Values We Share as Americans” | The White House

Weekly Address: “We Can Live Within Our Means and Live Up to the Values We Share as Americans”

by The White House

Release Time:

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Obama said that to restore fiscal responsibility, we all need to share in the sacrifice – but we don’t have to sacrifice the America we believe in. Earlier this week, the President proposed a balanced approach to cut the deficit, which matches the $4 trillion in deficit reduction put forward by House Republicans’ plan. The President’s proposal does this by combing the entire budget for savings and asking everyone to do their part. The Republican plan, though, would end Medicare as we know it and make drastic cuts to education, infrastructure and clean energy, while giving away $1 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest two percent.

The audio of the address is and video of the address will be available online at www.whitehouse.gov at 6:00 a.m. ET, Saturday, April 16, 2011.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Washington, DC

This week, I laid out my plan for our fiscal future. It’s a balanced plan that reduces spending and brings down

Week in Lab: Planning for 2011-12 | Reflections on Teaching

Week in Lab: Planning for 2011-12

by alicemercer

I’ll get to a regular week in lab post, I promise, but I’ve been trying to do some thinking time about the next school year. I do that about this time each year as I try to work out what I need to do more, do better, and try that is new. The next school year has a particular wrinkle in that I’ll be leaving working in the lab as a school

Save Seattle Schools Community Blog: New Org Chart - New Titles - New People - Same Old Problems

New Org Chart - New Titles - New People - Same Old Problems

by Charlie Mas

Dr. Enfield has re-arranged the org chart at the JSCEE.
Here is the new org chart.

She has also changed some of the job titles.

None of this really changes anything. It appears pointless.

It is, however, consistent with her stated priorities for the remainder of the year. She said that she would focus on:

3. Creating a central office that serves and supports schools
• Reorganizing departments across finance, operations, and teaching and learning with a clear focus on being a results-driven organization.

The only part of it that strikes me as even interesting - not necessarily significant, but interesting - are these two

Modern School: 8th Grade Literacy & Poverty Predict HS Grad Rates

Today in Labor History--April 16 Garment Workers Parade, May Day, 1916 *April 16, 1916 -* 25,000 garment workers in New York City were locked out by employers in a dispute over hiring practices. A General Strike was called by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers Union ending ...

8th Grade Literacy & Poverty Predict HS Grad Rates Image by monado Thanks to Rachel Norton, San Francisco School Board member, for her recent blog post: “Who is likely to finish HS? You can tell in 8th grade,” and Kathryn Baron, from the Topics in Education blog, for her recent post: Poverty + poor ...

Allentown Teachers Silenced Allentown Teacher? (Image by ryumu) Like virtually every other school district in the country, Allentown is grappling with difficult cuts, including the elimination of 247 teaching positions and 85 courses. Not surprising, at the last school board ...

Community Colleges: $800 Million in Cuts, 400,000 Students Turned Away There has been much talk of the devastating cuts to California’s two university systems, the University of California (UC) and the Cal State University (CSU), with each facing $500 million cuts. There have been ongoing large scale student ...

Jersey Jazzman: Bob Ingle's Double Standards

Bob Ingle's Double Standards

by Duke

Bob "Hoover" Ingle, 11/23/10:

The head of the Bergen County Education Association issued a call to pray for the death of Gov. Christie, which was a bit much even by the NJEA’s standards. The NJEA president, Barbara Keshishian , called to apologize and the governor invited her in to his office to do it face to face. Christie, giving a speech in Arizona, tells the story as only he can. [emphasis mine]

Bob "Hoover" Ingle, 4/16/11:

Maybe it’s just me but it seems not long ago the New Jersey Democrats were good at making a point and communicating. Not now. During a news conference, Gov. Christie made a remark that the news media should “take the bat” to Sen. Loretta Weinberg for collecting a taxpayer-funded pension for being a legislator while making $49,000 a year as a legislator. He obviously was asking when reporters are going to hold Weinberg up to scrutiny as they do other people in the same double-dipping situation. In the old days there would have been a news release from someone like Senate President Steve
Chris Christie: He's REALLY a great guy!
by Duke
I find this op-ed by Steve Goldstein of of Garden State Equity to be a rather... interesting... peek into the mind of Chris Christie:

Now let me say something that may surprise many of you. I don't write this as a hater of Chris Christie. On a personal level, far from it. Given my progressive politics and leadership of the state's LGBT civil rights organization, you might not believe I could have any nice words for the Governor. But I do, and I want the Governor to know it. Behind the scenes, he and his Administration have treated my organization with respect and even kindness.
Indeed, Governor Christie was fantastic on the anti-bullying law he signed in January. A

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: April 15th Press Release from Sac State Student Protesters

April 15th Press Release from Sac State Student Protesters

by Paul B

We have organized some 1,500 students, faculty, and staff to rally in support of quality education. We then claimed a space from the admin for the purpose of promoting sustainable education. We were able to respectfully maintain that space to educate others, and ourselves and to develop leadership in a communal environment. Through these methods of direct action we were able to force administration to meet with students to hear their demands. Gonzalez was cooperative with students in developing a webpage discussing both student demands and his response to them on the CSUS website. Our efforts have been supported by the actions and shows of solidarity on an international, national, and statewide level.

We have reclaimed this space to bring attention to the three demands we have asked of President Gonzalez.

Staying Power (Statement on Friday evening from the Sac State student protesters)

by Paul B

How Can We Pay for Education? | Seattle Education 2010

How Can We Pay for Education?

by seattleducation2011

The Progressive Caucus has a solution. It’s called The People’s Budget.

Here is the Young Turk’s take on it:

And from Democracy Now:

“Don’t Punish the Poor” Economist Jeffrey Sachs Slams Obama-GOP Budget Deal

Dora

Are IEA members buying this junk? Doesn’t seem like it. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Are IEA members buying this junk? Doesn’t seem like it.

by Fred Klonsky

Good Friday Evening one and all,
As the sirens sound and the hail falls in Springfield I want to quickly let you all know how we plan to proceed next week in our efforts to inform all of you and our membership about the contents of SB 7.
First let me say that if I was a member who just pays dues and comes to meetings about the local contract and all I knew about this bill was what the media has reported, I would be concerned about what angels or devils lie in the details myself. So, I believe we need to reach as many members as quickly as we can to get them the facts and to get to you, the people the members will turn to for answers, the info you need to be responsive.
First we have a number of things already up on the website and please encourage everyone you

Daily Kos: Taxes

Taxes

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

Corporations are roaring. Wall Street is rolling in cash. C.E.O. bonuses are going gangbusters. It’s a really good time to be rich!

So begins a NY Times op ed by Charles Blow, The Pirates of Capitol Hill. He points out things are not so good for the poor, with the Census bureau reporting the poverty rate in 2009 reached 14.3%, higher than since 1994, with Agriculture reporting increasing food security and unemployment remaining unacceptably high, then Blow asks

So in a civil society, which of these groups should be expected to sacrifice a bit for the benefit of the other and the overall health and prosperity of the nation at a time of great uncertainty? The poor, of course. At least that seems to be the Republican answer.

Except it is not just the poor, it is also the middle class that is the heart of this nation, upon whose well being the economic health of this country depends.

I want to talk about taxes. I will look at Blow, I will look at a Washington Post op ed by Walter Mondale titled As in 1984, we need the courage to raise taxes. Mondale reminds us of the truth of the famous lines from his 1984 acceptance speech:

Mr. Reagan will raise taxes, and so will I. He won’t tell you. I just did.

But I want to start with reality of the middle class, using myself and my wife as an example.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Working Class Hero - John Lennon

SACRAMENTO PROGRESSIVE ALLIANCE: Staying Power (Statement on Friday evening from the Sac State student protesters)

Staying Power (Statement on Friday evening from the Sac State student protesters)

Posted on April 16, 2011 by sacstatesqe

We have had a fantastic Friday with all the love and support shown to Sac State, thank you everyone! We had students come in from San Jose State, SF State, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis you guys are awesome. Our faculty continued to stop by with their classes and we continue to educate about the movement. We can’t wait to see where this road takes us.

We had a press conference at 4pm with local media, which was

students first? Lighting My Own Torch

Lighting My Own Torch

Because Michelle Rhee has chosen to delete and moderate comments at her studentsfirst.org/blog site, I have decided to mirror her posts and allow unmoderated commenting. Go for it. (Rheelinks link to original)

As of March 25, 2011 it appears blog comments have been shut down at studentsfirst dot org. Comment here!!

FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011
Lighting My Own Torch
Rheelink
I watched the Oprah Winfrey episode with Michelle Rhee back in December of 2010. As I sat on my couch avoiding a looming homework assignment, I felt inspired more than ever to be a part of this movement. So, I went to the website and I joined Student'sFirst. I was definitely going to be a part of the first million to sign up.
Now what? I am the Chief Executive Officer of WFH Inc. (Wills Family Household) and while the title decorates my name quite nicely, the pay... Well let's just say I do it for the love. I can't donate thousands of dollars and when exactly was I planning on advocating for yet another cause? Somewhere in between tomorrow’s dental appointment, next week’s homework assignment and the weekly chore of cleaning the house. Let's not forget the church events and the play date scheduled for this weekend. It seemed impossible. That was until last week.
I received the email that Michelle Rhee would be attending a forum at Spelman

Oakland makes national news – in a good way | The Education Report

Oakland makes national news – in a good way

By Katy Murphy
Friday, April 15th, 2011 at 5:03 pm in Algebra/Math, elementary schools, literacy,students.

When friends and relatives from other parts of the country see Oakland in the news, it’s almost always because something tragic or bizarre has happened here. I’m sure many of you can relate.

Now I hate to speak too soon — I wasn’t near a TV at 3:20 this afternoon — but Ibelieve BET aired a piece about Amir Ealy and 22 other African-American boys in Oakland who earned perfect scores on their 2010 math or reading tests. The network used some of our footage (with permission) in this one-minute news brief, which is now posted on its website.

Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, April 16, 2011

LAUSD PRESENTS ONE-YEAR BUDGET PROPOSAL: The one-year plan could save 80 percent of expected layoffs + smf's 2¢

LAUSD OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA RELATIONS NEWS RELEASE | HTTP://BIT.LY/GDCQ5L

San Diego City College Protest Against Budget Cuts, April 15, 2011

White House community college summit here

'Hands Across' event targets education funding

Superintendent John Deasy sets performance goals

Friday, April 15, 2011

Staying Power (Statement on Friday evening from the Sac State student protesters)

FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2011

Lighting My Own Torch