Arming Teachers, School Cops Could Cause More Harm Than Good | toteachornototeach

Arming Teachers, School Cops Could Cause More Harm Than Good | toteachornototeach:

Arming Teachers, School Cops Could Cause More Harm Than Good

by aristotlethewise

Arming Teachers, School Cops Could Cause More Harm Than Good, Experts Say

by Matt Sledge
A nation shaken by Friday’s school shooting in Newtown, Conn., is wondering what to do to prevent future tragedies. Some gun rights advocates have suggested returning to a time-worn strategy in lieu of gun control: keeping up with the proliferation of arms outside the schoolhouse doors by arming those inside.
If the principal of Sandy Hook had been armed with an M-4 carbine, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) argued on “Fox News Sunday,” she could have stopped the tragedy crucial minutes before the police. She could have “take(n) his head off before he [could] kill those precious kids.”
It is an argument using the logic of what critics call the “maximum guns” school of thought about preventing 

California teachers retirement fund threat triggers sale of gun company | EdSource Today

California teachers retirement fund threat triggers sale of gun company | EdSource Today:

California teachers retirement fund threat triggers sale of gun company

December 19th, 2012 | Add a Comment | 
By Louis Freedberg

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Less than a day after the California teachers pension fund threatened to withdraw its investment, a major private equity firm has announced that it will sell Freedom Group, a company it formed that includes the manufacturer of the rifle used by Adam Lanza to massacre 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

Cerberus Capital Management is owned by billionaire Stephen Feinberg, who is a gun enthusiast and whose father happens to live in Newtown. Bushmaster, which produced the AR-15 semi-automatic weapon reportedly used by Lanza, was one of six gun companies that Cerberus had bought and consolidated into Freedom Group.

The California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) has invested $600 million in the Cerberus fund, which, the New York Times reported, translates into a 2.4 percent stake in Free

California wins millions in school innovation grants - by EdSource staff

by EdSource staff

It was a clean sweep as all seven finalists seeking federal Investing in Innovation (i3) grants for California schools received word that they won. Together, they’ll get nearly $31 million, plus an additional $5.2 million in matching funds to develop or expand innovative programs designed to improve student achievement, reduce the dropout rate, increase high school graduation rates or boost...

California 8th graders behind states and world on math, science tests - by Susan Frey

by Susan Frey

California 8th graders ranked in the middle of the pack overall but behind seven of eight states in math and science in the latest international tests. The rankings are based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests taken last year by a random selection of representative students from 56 countries and education systems, which included eight states and Canadian...

San Francisco Unified freshens up its school menu - by Susan Frey

by Susan Frey

This week San Francisco Unified chose Revolution Foods as its new school meals vendor, moving away from frozen entrées to fresh breakfasts and lunches made with produce purchased locally. Oakland-based Revolution Foods came in with the lowest bid, but the district’s new requirements for fresh, local produce will raise the overall cost by $928,000, to nearly $10 million annually. The district,...

Ed Notes Online: Karen Lewis Kicks TFA Veep the Creep David Rosenberg's Ass Down the Road

Ed Notes Online: Karen Lewis Kicks TFA Veep the Creep David Rosenberg's Ass Down the Road:

Karen Lewis Kicks TFA Veep the Creep David Rosenberg's Ass Down the Road

by ed notes online

To David Rosenberg, Shanda! Shame on you for such a paranoid rant. If you had nothing of which to be guilty, those words would have rolled off your back.... Karen Lewis

a town like Sandy Hook would laugh at the very idea of a TFA 6 week wonder teaching their kids. 

I kvell at the growing relationship between Karen Lewis and Diane Ravitch. Today Karen, who let me remind everyone, came straight out of a high school chemistry classroom to lead the CTU, comes to Diane's defense over the loose cannon attacks by a TFA slimeball named David Rosenberg -- (not cousin David Rosenberg, thank 

How My Son Really Started Walking | The Jose Vilson

How My Son Really Started Walking | The Jose Vilson:

How My Son Really Started Walking

by Jose

It’s obvious he does things his way.
When he first came out of the womb, he yelled at the nurses in the hospital for making reference to Lady Gaga’s version of his name. When in the nursing station, he slept on his side whereas everyone else slept on their back. During my first few hours with him, he pooped, peed, and spit up on me, the holy daddy trifecta. He didn’t care much for my swaddles, no matter how tight I wrapped him.
So it should come at no surprise that he didn’t want to follow the axiom: “You gotta learn to crawl before you learn to walk.”
First came the rolling around to get from point A to point B, and not even in a straight line. It looked more like roll 

Thinking of Newtown « Deborah Meier on Education

Thinking of Newtown « Deborah Meier on Education:

Thinking of Newtown

by debmeier

Dear friends,
If we extended the logic of the NRA one could say, “atomic weapons don’t kill, people do”.  So why are most people, including almost all NRA supporters, so worried about Iran developing a bomb? Because countries (like people) can’t kill without the weapons to do so, and they can’t kill a lot of people in one stroke without weapons of mass destruction.
That’s why we rightly fear the spread of such weapons. That should go for guns of mass destruction too.  I find it incredulous that about half our nation is so worried about a country half a world away, yet seemingly unconcerned about massively lethal weapons in their own midst.  We are not talking about weapons anyone would take out on a hunting expedition; I doubt any self-respecting hunter would use these weapons on a clump of deer.
There seems something wrong, even five days later, to be talking about the politics of the massacre in Connecticut.   None of this discussion is of any help to those dead children and their grieving parents. Nor for the 

UPDATE: Friend, parent activist and fellow pro-public education blogger Wendy Lecker's letter to President Obama. - Wait, What?

Friend, parent activist and fellow pro-public education blogger Wendy Lecker's letter to President Obama. - Wait, What?:

Hello? Anybody home?

by jonpelto

Governor Malloy issued a call for a Special Session of the Connecticut General Assembly to deal with the growing state deficit.

That Session is taking place today.

The State Senate and State House convened at 10:00 am and then recessed until 4:30 pm so that elected officials could attend funerals and memorial services resulting from the Newtown Elementary School Massacre.

When they reconvene at 4:30 pm, a joint session of the Legislature will be held so Governor Malloy and Legislators can hold their own memorial service in honor of those who lost their lives in Newtown.

And then the legislature is scheduled to debate and vote on a plan to resolve Connecticut’s $415 million budget deficit.

Governor Malloy has already made $123 million in cuts, mostly to social services and Connecticut’s public colleges and universities.  The cuts to UConn, Connecticut State 

TFA Leaders and Education Reform commentators make Diane Ravitch even more relevant

by jonpelto

Teach for America (TFA) provides some outstanding young people with a unique, short-term opportunity to teach in some of America’s poorest schools.  Some of these dedicated individuals even use that opportunity as an alternative route to a longer-term career in the teaching profession.

But the founders and leaders of TFA have a very different agenda.  First and foremost, they make a lot of money.  TFA’s founder and CEO pulls in just under $400,000 in salary and benefits.  Over a dozen of the top TFA executives make more than a quarter of a million dollars each.

In addition to making huge amount of money, TFA is about advocating and lobbying for “education reforms” that include a variety of anti-teacher positions including the excessive use of standardized testing, the expansion of charter schools and efforts to end tenure 

Friend, parent activist and fellow pro-public education blogger Wendy Lecker’s letter to President Obama.

by jonpelto

Yesterday, in the wake of the Newtown massacre, Wendy Lecker sent the following letter to President Obama.

Her letter was posted on the Parents Across America website and as reprinted on Diane Ravitch’s site.

Here is a link to Ravitch’s site:  http://dianeravitch.net/2012/12/19/letter-to-president-obama-from-connecticut-founder-of-parents-across-america/

And here is the letter as printed on the Parents Across America site:

Parents Across America grieves with the community of Newtown, Connecticut over the loss of their precious children and educators. The following letter, sent yesterday to President Obama from the founder of Parents Across America-CT, expresses some aspects of what many of our members are feeling at this difficult time.

Hon. President Barack Obama

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

As a public school parent of three in Stamford, Connecticut, I wanted to thank you for lending your support to the devastated community of Newtown. I listened intently to your remarks at the memorial service last night, especially to the questions you raised: “Can we claim, as a nation, that we’re all together there, letting them know that they are loved, and teaching them to love in return? Can we say that we’re truly doing enough to give all 

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee: ‘Guns have no place in schools’:

Failed DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee: ‘Guns have no place in schools’

Posted by Valerie Strauss on December 19, 2012 at 4:00 am

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Here is a memo that national education reformer Michelle Rhee wrote to the staff of her advocacy organization, StudentsFirst, in the wake of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. In the memo she refers to Senate Bill 59 in Michigan, which would have allowed concealed weapons on school grounds, but Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed it on Tuesday.

MEMO

TO:        SF Staff

FROM:  Michelle

DATE:   December 18, 2012

RE:        Gun Control Laws

As an education reform organization, we try hard to remain singularly focused on those issues that directly affect student achievement, and to abstain from broader policy debates and political discussions that are 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools Capacity Management Work Sesson Recs

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools Capacity Management Work Sesson Recs:

Seattle Schools Capacity Management Work Sesson Recs

by Melissa Westbrook

The presentation for this Board Work Session tomorrow has been posted.  It's quite interesting.  I note at last night's Capacity meeting for the NE, it was stated that FACMAC would have their recs tomorrow.

It's odd because one page is labeled "Development of Recommended Options" and lists input from FACMAC but clearly FACMAC's recommendations are not part of this presentation because they aren't even out yet.

Okay, wait a minute.  Page 8 DOES have  FACMAC recommendations.  Confusing.  I do not see any link to the complete FACMAC recommendations.

Under Community Feedback:

• mixed support for repurposing PCP spaces
• portables?  A surprising amount of support
• move grade cohorts?  largely not supported
• maintaining transportation grandfathering?  Mostly supported but I think this is a complete sell job to the 

Update on Applying/Nominating for Charter Commission

by Melissa Westbrook

As promised, here's the info for applying via Speaker Frank Chopp (one of the three people to select the Charter Commission).

It's basically the same as the Lt. Governor's office - write/e-mail them to self-nominate or to nominate someone.  If you are self-nominating, give full details about your background (both personal and professional that might be pertinent) as well as your resume.  If you are nominating someone else, maybe be sure that they want to be nominated so that they can send in their resume if asked for one.

339C Legislative Building
PO Box 40600
Olympia, WA 98504-0600

frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov

Louisiana Educator: Act 1 Ruling Helpful in Restoring Teacher and School Board Rights

Louisiana Educator: Act 1 Ruling Helpful in Restoring Teacher and School Board Rights:

Act 1 Ruling Helpful in Restoring Teacher and School Board Rights

by Michael Deshotels

Congratulations to the Louisiana Federation of Teachers for winning a partial victory against some of the anti-teacher legislation passed by the Jindal administration. The ruling by Judge Caldwell removes the provision of Act 1 that would have denied teacher seniority rights based upon a negative rating on the new Act 54 evaluation system. Another part of this court ruling also returns the right of school boards to make employment decisions. The judge also denied John White the right to tamper with local superintendent contracts.

Unfortunately the teacher tenure law remains mostly gutted, in that the new tenure procedure left in tact by the ruling no longer guarantees a fair hearing process to teachers recommended for dismissal. But by retaining the rights of school boards to make the final decision on dismissals, the ruling does give teachers some opportunity to appeal an unfair dismissal. This was the whole reason for tenure in the first place; not to protect incompetent 

Kimble's Corner: President Lightning

Kimble's Corner: President Lightning:

President Lightning

by Representative Kimble

The success of Profiles in Courageousness has made many readers ask me what my next project will be.  I am actually currently working on a screenplay for a movie that I am tentatively calling President Lighting.  It takes place during the 1936 Berlin Olympics and it's a piece of historical fiction.  Or is it?

In 1935, the Nazis worried about being embarrassed at the Berlin Olympics the next year kidnap Jesse Owens.   It looks like they will be unstoppable in track and field until a crippled President and a discredited ex-President from the other party team up to take it to Hitler.   He was born to lead, but he was made to run.   They call him President Lightning.   Here's an excerpt.

[INT - THE OVAL OFFICE]

FDR is in his power blue track suit sitting behind his desk in the Oval Office.   He is smoking a cigarette and he 

Jersey Jazzman: Bushmaster Charter School

Jersey Jazzman: Bushmaster Charter School:

Bushmaster Charter School

by Duke

Another awesome and reformy portrait in courage:

Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a bill this afternoon that would have allowed gun owners with extra training to carry their concealed weapons in schools, day care centers, churches and stadiums.

In his veto letter sent to the Legislature shortly before 4 p.m.,Snyder said the bill had a fatal loophole that didn’t allow for those institutions to opt out of the new legislation and prohibit weapons from their buildings. 

“I believe that it is important that these public institutions have clear legal authority to ban weapons from their 

Keeping My Students Safe Isn’t Easy « Cooperative Catalyst

Keeping My Students Safe Isn’t Easy « Cooperative Catalyst:

Keeping My Students Safe Isn’t Easy

by Deven Black

I want to keep my students safe, I really do, but it really is impossible.
When it comes to student and staff safety, there are so many things wrong with the way my school is built and run that I don’t know where to begin.
Our principal reminded the staff again this week that only the front door should be used for entrance and exit, so let’s start there.
It is unlocked. Anyone can walk up the three steps, open the door, and be in the building. Anyone. Delivery people, parents, job applicants, former students. Anyone. Why not a shooter?
Up three more steps and our shooter is in the lobby facing our security desk. Most of the time we have an