FCMAT » Cal Education Headlines Tuesday, April 8, 2014

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L.A. Unified students want one of their own on school board

Education Headlines

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

Central San Joaquin Valley schools begin new computerized state tests

After months of prepping for California's new computerized state assessments, called the Smarter Balanced Consortium Field Tests, schools across the Valley are now rolling out the high-tech exam. State officials report schools have run into few problems -- good news for the state, which has invested $1.25 billion to help prepare for the tests.

Grant High parents press for campus improvements

Frustrated with aging facilities at 82-year-old Grant Union High School, Del Paso Heights community members on Monday asked school and political leaders to install campus HVAC units and consider other improvements such as filling the swimming pool.

South Bay underwriter gets lesser charges

A former bond underwriter who was a key figure in the corruption investigation at South County school districts was sentenced to probation and almost $8,000 in fines Monday.

Sweetwater break ends, bargaining resumes

Students in the Sweetwater Union High School District returned from spring break Monday with no agreement between the district and teachers’ union

Dozier-Libbey High teachers seek injunction of Antioch Unified's charter petition

In the latest twist in the dueling petition efforts for the medical high school, supporters of an independent charter high school last week filed a temporary restraining order against the Antioch school district's efforts to turn it into a dependent charter.

Apple Valley teachers infringed on rights of Christian students, district says

Apple Valley Unified has agreed that two of its teachers infringed on the rights of Christian elementary school students by stopping them from distributing plastic coins with Bible verses imprinted on them.

Frey: Districts develop goals for foster youth

As districts set their goals for the next school year and allocate funding under the new California school finance system, they have to consider for the first time a small, highly at-risk subset of students: youth in foster care.

Students arrested in videotaped fight with Santa Monica teacher

District Superintendent Sandra Lyon called the incident “utterly alarming” and acted swiftly, placing the teacher on leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

L.A. Unified wins $7 million in grants for career tech programs

The Los Angeles Unified School District will receive $7 million in federal grant funding to expand career programs at three high schools in the fields of healthcare, technology and business and finance, the district announced Monday.

L.A. Unified students want one of their own on school board

The Los Angeles Board of Education is expected to vote on a proposal that would allow a student advisory member on the school board.

Groups protest LAUSD spending priorities

Several hundred students protested Los Angeles Unified’s proposed budget Monday, claiming poor pupils and schools will receive too little funding.Several hundred students protested Los Angeles Unified’s proposed budget Monday, claiming poor pupils and schools will receive too little funding.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Reed schools seeking parcel tax increase

Looking for ways to accommodate its continually rapid growth, the Reed Union School District is seeking to increase its parcel tax income.

Eureka City Schools, teachers association ratify agreement

The Eureka City Schools District and Eureka Teachers Association ratified a labor agreement this week, making the terms effective immediately.

Parent claims in lawsuit that Newport-Mesa teacher harassed daughter

Administrators in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are being accused of violating a student’s civil rights in a lawsuit after a student complained to the district that a teacher and staff at Newport Heights Elementary School harassed her.

Google scans of student emails reboot privacy concerns

Every day, thousands of Orange County students log in to their school-assigned Google accounts to work on lessons and send emails to teachers and classmates. What many parents and teachers don’t know is that Google is scanning and indexing every email that those students send and receive.

Teacher faces possible deportation, Twin Rivers blamed for paperwork goof

Lilian Velazquez Acosta, 54, said she lost her teaching position and a chance at becoming an American citizen because officials at Twin Rivers Unified School District failed to send a letter to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services acknowledging she worked for them. She learned too late that the misstep caused her work visa to expire in September 2012.

What went wrong with Santa Clara County's $300,000 school leader

After bouncing out its third superintendent in seven years, the Santa Clara County Office of Education is now seeking to chart a new course and refocus on its work serving the county's 400 public schools.

Santa Clara County Office of Education sent out at least dozens of incorrect paychecks

Of the problems that beset Xavier De La Torre in his brief tenure as Santa Clara County Office of Education superintendent, the yearlong unraveling of the payroll department may have been his undoing.

New LAUSD budget proposal calls for spending on disadvantaged students

As he offered his 2014-15 budget proposal for Los Angeles Unified, Superintendent John Deasy on Friday also unveiled a three-year plan to help students who are poor, in foster care or learning English.

Deal announced on teacher dismissal bill that governor would support

Signaling the resolution of an acrimonious issue, Assembly Education Committee Chairwoman Joan Buchanan, D-Alamo, introduced a bill Friday to make dismissing teachers charged with severe misconduct quicker, easier and cheaper.

Deasy's proposed budget includes 1,200 new staff positions

Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy on Friday proposed spending nearly half of the district's new targeted state money on special education next year - but that's not an increase in the program, rather a recalibrating of where the funds are coming from.

Parents defend Santa Monica teacher who fought with student

Parents of several Santa Monica High School students are coming to the defense of a teacher who was placed on leave Friday after he was recorded on video in a physical altercation with a student.

Tiny Marin County district clings to struggling school

Despite the state's economic recovery, a Marin County school district is struggling to make ends meet and is planning to cut teachers, administrators and special programs in the coming months.

How public health advocates are trying to reach non-vaccinators

Whooping cough made a comeback in California last year, which researchers have linked to vaccine refusals. And with new measles outbreaks in Southern California, New York and British Columbia, the debate over vaccination is also spreading.

Adams: Under new law, school nurses aim to stop rise in vaccination opt-outs

Under a state law that took effect Jan. 1, parents are required to consult with a health practitioner – doctor, naturopath or credentialed school nurse – before they’re allowed to obtain a personal-belief exemption from their child’s required immunizations.

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-8-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:

In Teacher Jail

by Gerald and Esther Schiller, from an email circulating widely Our son is in jail. But there are no bars or armed guards, or wardens. And he does go home to his wife each afternoon. Our son is in “teacher jail.” For those who may be unaware of this bizarre institution, “teacher jail”   is the name applied (with no affection) to what the Los Angeles Unified School District calls teacher “

1 by smf / 1h 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 4-7-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: L.A. Unified Supt. Deasy Unveils New Budget ProposalBy Howard Blume, L.A. Times | http://lat.ms/1lL7xPQ 8:04 PM PDT, April 4, 2014  ::  Buoyed by rising state funding, the Los Angeles Unified School District's draft budget proposal for the new fiscal year is the healthiest spending plan in years. The general fund would increase from $6.2 billion to $6.8

by mike simpson / 10h 

4-8-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Arne Duncan Plays the Common Core Distancing Game

On April 2, 2014, Louisiana has witnessed the lame demonstration of “Common Core distancing” from the governor (Bobby Jindal) who signed the state onto “the standards” (CCSS) in 2009– before they were written. In 2010, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan accepted Louisiana’s CCSS MOU (memorandum of understanding) despite the majority of Louisiana school districts rejecting the idea. Like Jindal,

by deutsch29 / 15min 

Video: Which Louisiana Teachers Wrote Common Core?

When I debated Stephanie Deselles of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) in November 2013, she mentioned “three Louisiana teachers” who were involved in writing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Never mind that “three” is an embarrassingly low number. Deselles provided no names. During testimony on the writing of CCSS and its test, […]

1 by deutsch29 / 50min hide  //  save

If Economists Studied Education Research, Would They Still Promote Value-Added Evaluations?

  Vergara versus California seeks to strike down the due process rights of that state’s teachers. The case is based on the opinions of the plaintiffs that legal protections for teachers damage the civil rights of poor children of color. The evidence for this extraordinary argument is largely based on the opinions of a few […]

2 by John Thompson / 1h 

4-7-14 @ The Chalk Face

@ THE CHALK FACE: New York’s Secret TestGuest post from Bianca Tanis, New York State Parent and Educator.   In recent days the 2014 New York ELA tests have been the subject of  much attention. It did not come as a surprise to most educators that the tests were more difficult than last year. After all, NYSED had informed teachers that this year, even 3rd […]by Chris Cerrone / 3min4-6-14 @ The Chalk

by mike simpson / 2h 

Schools can overcome the challenges of poverty — with the right interventions | Hechinger Report

Schools can overcome the challenges of poverty — with the right interventions | Hechinger Report:

Schools can overcome the challenges of poverty — with the right interventions

By Pamela Cantor

When President Obama launched My Brother’s Keeper last month to help young men and boys of color reach their full potential, he shared what had made the difference in his own life: “I had people who encouraged me — not just my mom and grandparents, but wonderful teachers and community leaders — and they’d push me to work hard and study hard and make the most of myself…They never gave up on me,” he recounted, “and so I didn’t give up on myself.”

Every one of us knows that if there is a success we can point to in our lives, it’s because there were people we couldn’t let down, people who never gave up on us. Having them in our lives made it possible to become the people we became. My Brother’s Keeper — that’s what this really means.

But today, there are a lot of children growing up without enough people in their lives who encourage them, push them, and never give up on them. We must change that now, and one of the best places to start is our schools.

Pamela Cantor

Unfortunately, many of our schools are failing our black and Latino children, failing to educate them and quick to punish them. Today, by the fourth grade, 86% of African-American boys and 82% of Hispanic boys are reading below grade level, compared to 58% of their white male peers. Just 52% of black males and 58% of Hispanic males graduate from high school in four years, compared to 78% of white young men. And black students are almost four times as likely to be suspended as their white classmates; Hispanics twice as likely.

To change this, we must understand the true nature of the challenges children growing up in poverty bring into school every day, and we must intentionally design learning environments to counteract them.

More than one in three boys of color in this country are growing up in poverty. For many, this means experiencing a form of stress that comes with chronic insecurity, hunger, exposure to violence, and loss. Paul Tough explained it vividly in his book How Children Succeed, Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character, describing this as “allostatic load.” These boys don’t shed their  Schools can overcome the challenges of poverty — with the right interventions | Hechinger Report:

School Is Conservative, Education Is Progressive - Bridging Differences - Education Week

School Is Conservative, Education Is Progressive - Bridging Differences - Education Week:

School Is Conservative, Education Is Progressive

By Guest Blogger on April 8, 2014 8:41 AM

Robert Pondiscio of Democracy Prep concludes his blogging partnership with Deborah Meier today. Deborah will respond on Thursday and then take a one-week blogging break before returning with a new co-blogger the week of April 20.

Dear Deborah,

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

First, let me wish you a belated happy birthday and thank you for the opportunity to be your blogging partner these last few months.  I've very much appreciated the chance to stretch my thinking on the many issues we've grappled with. I'd also like to thank your many readers for the (mostly) civil give-and-take in the comments section.  I was somewhat reluctant to engage here, I confess.  The comments on too many education blogs and websites can be shrill and strident.  I'm always grateful when people are willing to discuss ideas without vilifying those who disagree. Once the debate shifts from ideas to divining the motivations of those who hold them, I tend to lose interest.  I'm delighted that hasn't happened here.

A few concluding thoughts before I say farewell:

I'm pleased you acknowledge the differences between and among "reformers," even if you do paint with a broad brush from time to time. Within the universe of those I've worked with are some who seek to improve teacher quality or certification, chartering, accountability, testing, standards, curriculum, instruction, and various funding mechanisms, to name but a few.  Some of these are priorities I share, some less so.  But I don't know anyone who wakes up in the morning determined to destroy unions, privatize education, or who sees reform purely as a means to those ends.  If there's a cabal, I haven't been invited.

I'm glad you agree with me—and Grant Wiggins—that change is needed in schools. This is our best and broadest common ground.  Likewise I stand with you, now and always, on the need for a better-educated citizenry.  I'm delighted to have you as an ally in restoring citizenship to its 

Brownback’s Lack of Leadership on Common Core Defunding | Truth in American Education

Brownback’s Lack of Leadership on Common Core Defunding | Truth in American Education:

Brownback’s Lack of Leadership on Common Core Defunding

Filed in Common Core State Standards, Education at State Level by Shane Vander Hart on April 8, 2014 • 0 Comments

• 1

The Kansas Senate on Thursday night voted to defund the Common Core State Standards after an amendment to the school finance bill overwhelmingly.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports:

The Kansas Senate voted overwhelmingly Thursday night to prohibit schools from spending money to implement the Common Core standards for reading and math.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Forrest Knox, R-Altoona, was added to a school finance bill that is meant to respond to a recent Supreme Court ruling that said the Legislature must send more aid to to certain school districts to equalize the property tax rates between rich and poor districts.

The Kansas House passed their own version of the bill without any Common Core defunding language.  It is this version that Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R) and his Democratic challenger, House Minority Leader Paul Davis (D-Lawrence) supported.  The House voted 91-31 in favor of the bill.

The conference committee that met over the weekend to reconcile the two bills stripped the Common Core defunding language out.

So Friday after the Senate passed their bill, Brownback came out in support of the House version.

He has made his choice.  He could have showed bold leadership, but did not.  Instead he backed a bill that just increased spending with little guidance.  Also does the Kansas Legislature and 

A Fascinating Way to Put a Stop to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Children | Alternet

A Fascinating Way to Put a Stop to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Children | Alternet:

A Fascinating Way to Put a Stop to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Children

Restorative justice techniques for all children will stem the tide of unequal classroom punishment.

5 COMMENTS

Photo Credit: advprojectdc; Screenshot / YouTube.com

April 7, 2014  |  

 

Destiny was in eighth grade when, in the middle of an altercation with another student, she grabbed a teacher’s jacket and threw it out of a classroom window.

She was enrolled at the Lyons Community School in Brooklyn, N.Y., where almost every kid is black or Latino and living in poverty. Only five percent are meeting standards in math and reading.

New federal data shows that across the United States, schools with demographics like these tend to respond to bad behavior with aggressive force. Principals put students as young as four years old into isolation rooms or suspension, kicking them off campus for days or even weeks at a time. School-based police officers — in New York City there are more of them than there are school psychologists or social workers — sometimes respond to offenses as trivial as talking back to a teacher with physical restraints or even arrest.

But Destiny was not isolated, suspended or arrested. She wasn’t even sent to detention. Instead, wearing gold hoop earrings and a t-shirt with a big pink heart, she appeared, a little jittery, before a “justice panel” of four teenage peers. They listened to Destiny’s side of the story (she didn’t know the jacket belonged to the teacher, she said) and determined her punishment: a face-to-face apology to the teacher, two days of community service cleaning up her classroom during lunch, and a follow-up conference with the peer panel to discuss what she had learned from the incident.

As depicted in a 2013 documentary called "Growing Fairness," Destiny accepted her sentence without complaint. An adult dean supervised the proceedings, but did not intervene.

These new kid courts, in which students are empowered to set school rules and mete out the punishments for breaking them, are sometimes called “restorative justice.” The concept, A Fascinating Way to Put a Stop to the School-to-Prison Pipeline for Black Children | Alternet:

Tell Me Again: Why Did We Adopt Common Core? | Missouri Education Watchdog

Tell Me Again: Why Did We Adopt Common Core? | Missouri Education Watchdog:

Tell Me Again: Why Did We Adopt Common Core?

 Missouri had high standards according to the Commissioner circa 2009. So why did we adopt CCSS?

Commissioner Chris Nicastro was appointed as Missouri Education of Commissioner and began her duties officially on August 1, 2009.

Governor Jay Nixon unilaterally signed the intent to adopt Common Core Standards on June 25, 2009.

Nicastro gave her acceptance speech on July 2, 2009.  From Nicastro to head Dept. of Educationfrom Missourinet:

“Since the Outstanding Schools Act was passed in 1993, education in Missouri has improved significantly,” she says. “Ongoing monitoring on every level ensures that instructional improvement takes place.”

However, she says there remain districts that have shown little sign of improvement, serving some 68,000 students.

“We cannot afford over 7 percent of our student population to be at risk because of where they live,” she says.

Nicastro, 58, is the fifth person — and the first woman — to serve as Missouri’s top official for public schools. She begins Aug. 1 and her salary has been set at $185,400.

The article contains the audio of this speech.  I have transcribed it from the 3:10 mark to the end.  Listen/read carefully.

Chris Nicastro acceptance speech [Download/listen Mp3 - 6:45 min.]

Start at 3:10:

Since the Outstanding Schools Act was passed in 1993, education in Missouri has increased 

Video: Which Louisiana Teachers Wrote Common Core? | deutsch29

Video: Which Louisiana Teachers Wrote Common Core? | deutsch29:

Video: Which Louisiana Teachers Wrote Common Core?

April 8, 2014

When I debated Stephanie Deselles of the Council for a Better Louisiana (CABL) in November 2013, she mentioned “three Louisiana teachers” who were involved in writing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Never mind that “three” is an embarrassingly low number.

Deselles provided no names.

During testimony on the writing of CCSS and its test, the Partnership for Assessment of College and Career Readiness (PARCC) test, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) member Holly Boffy is unable to readily provide the names of Louisiana teachers who participated in writing CCSS to Louisiana State Representative Jerome “Dee” Richard.

Here is a powerful one-minute video on Boffy’s failure to answer:

Note that Boffy has a clear conflict of interest from her financial connection to the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), one of the CCSS license owners.

If it is only three teachers, as Deselles stated in November 2013, why is it so difficult for Boffy to offer specific names??

Disappearing Black & Latino Teachers Reach Severe Levels in NYC Public Schools Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:



Disappearing Black & Latino Teachers Reach Severe Levels in NYC Public Schools

Thanks to the decade-long dogged work of CPE member Sean Ahern and the research of the NYC Independent Budget Office's Raymond Domanico, we have the latest stats (above) about how deeply institutionalized is the "disappearing" of Black & Latino teachers.

What's hidden in these stats is the fact that Teach for America (TFA) now supplies 60% of New York City's new teachers! And more than 75% of TFA teachers are white. Their average tenure within our schools is 18-20 months. Hence, they are not only highly inexperienced instant teachers, but cannot relate to most of our children and use their stay in our schools as mere career stepping stones to hire salaries in teaching elsewhere or in other occupations.

Our demand should be a very simple one: The NYC Board of Education should set up a 10-year program that guarantees Black, Latino and Asian teacher parity with the racial demographics of the student population. Several years ago, Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE) offered a comprehensive outline on how this could be achieved:

Solving this Crisis of Vanishing Black/Latino Educators
Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence is advocating that we demand that the current Dept of Education immediately take the at least $60+ million annual teacher recruitment budget as well as other parts of its bloated and misdirected budget and redirect that money to launch a community-based recruitment and education campaign that is structured around a two-year, four-year and eight-year strategy of reaching Black & Latino teacher parity that matches the demographics of the student population. This campaign would include:
 
1.    Free tuition through graduate school for all those Black & Latino parents, college-bound High School grads and other adults who want to earn an education degree and commit to teaching at least five years within the NYC school system. CUNY, SUNY and private schools will be the participating colleges and universities.

2.    The Board of Ed will pay for 50% of the fulltime in good standing Ed major’s rent or mortgage and 30% of their rent or mortgage for the first 3 years of their fulltime teaching status.

3.    The Board of Ed have at least 10 fulltime Community Teacher Recruiters in each Boro spending the Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:

Plan would use vouchers to expand, restructure child care :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet

Plan would use vouchers to expand, restructure child care :: SI&A Cabinet Report :: The Essential Resource for Superintendents and the Cabinet:



APRIL 08, 2014

Plan would use vouchers to expand, restructure child care

by Tom Chorneau

(Calif.) The state should abandoned its cumbersome delivery and funding system for child care services and replace it with one utilizing vouchers, according to a proposal offered by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst.

In addition to improving access to services, the LAO said its restructuring plan would also provide all families a similar level of provider choice. They are also recommending that the Legislature adopt requirements that all child care meet developmentally appropriate standards.

Battered by the economic downturn that prompted cuts in state support of nearly $1 billion between 2009 and 2012, child care providers in the state nevertheless receive about $2 billion a year in state and federal funding and serve about 300,000 children.

In California, eligibility for subsidized child care is limited to families with income below 70 percent of the state median income; where both parents are working; and where the children are under the age of 13.

The child care program is distinct from two other early learning services – state preschool and transitional kindergarten. LEAs are the most common provider of state preschool, although child care centers can also offer the service.

State preschool is aimed at four-year-olds although some programs may include younger children 

Graduate Students Arrested For Striking

RESIST! LABOR, STUDENT ACTIVISM, WORKER RIGHTS AND JOBS 
By Rebecca Burns, www.inthesetimes.com
April 8th, 2014

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A system-wide strike by graduate assistants at the University of California commenced yesterday with what their union calls an ugly irony. The work stoppage, staged in protest of past alleged attempts by UC to intimidate graduate workers for labor organizing, was quickly met with what workers say was a further attempt at intimidation: The arrest of 20 students at UC Santa Cruz who were picketing early Wednesday morning.

As Working In These Times has reported previously, graduate assistants are one of several groups of workers who have been locked in intensifying labor battles with the UC system, which has been hit hard by nearly $1 billion in budget cuts during the past five years. In November, graduate student workers struck in solidarity with campus service workers, a rare labor action that is prohibited by most union contracts and that was enabled only by the expiration of the UAW’s contract earlier that month. The union says that since then, the university system has engaged in a “pattern of intimidation” against members who participate in labor actions on UC campuses, threatening that striking could result in loss of jobs and even, for foreign students, loss of visas.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2865, which represents 12,000 UC academic student employees, announced last month that it would stage a two-day strike on April 2 and 3 over allegations of unfair labor practices (ULP) by the university. After graduate assistants at