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Friday, June 20, 2014

Seattle Schools Community Forum and others on Superintendent Jose Banda (headed for SCUSD?)



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Melissa Westbrook Seattle Schools Community Forum http://bit.ly/KnV0uR









Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda is a finalist for the schools chief job in Sacramento. If he is offered the position and accepts it, he would be leaving Seattle after two years.


Melissa Westbrook and Diane Ravitch
Charter schools opponent Melissa Westbrook urges the school board to come out against the initiative.

Banda Reviews


Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools; New Appointments Announced http://bit.ly/1w5XPKk



Executive Committee Meeting Wrap-up

The Seattle Public School Board says “NO!” on charter school Initiative 1240 and so does our superintendent | Seatt... http://bit.ly/1w63ss1


Step up and show your support for Seattle Teachers! | Diane Ravitch's blog http://bit.ly/1lcpoyg

Seattle Education | For the news and views you might have missed http://bit.ly/1lcqxpu


Other sources on Seattle Schools Superintendent Jose Banda 




Seattle Superintendent does about-face over school for disabled children - The Ron and Don Show - KIRORadio.com http://bit.ly/1lcpQfW

 Seattle Schools Superintendent Jose Banda Urges Legislature to Pass Teacher Evaluation Bill | Seattle Met http://bit.ly/1w5zeW0

Editorial: Superintendent José Banda survives divisive Seattle School Board’s judgment | Editorials | The Seattle T... http://bit.ly/1w5MGJx

What Jose Banda really thinks about Seattle Public Schools | Crosscut.com http://bit.ly/1w5QCdp

Video: Seattle Superintendent Jose Banda on testing protest | KING5.com Seattle http://bit.ly/1w5QQ46

Petition | Seattle School District plans need be stopped to allow full discussion. | Change.org http://chn.ge/1w5Tp6d

Jose Banda -- Superintendent, Seattle School District - YouTube http://bit.ly/1w5VwXy

Superintendent: MAP tests will be optional for Seattle high schools next year | Central District News http://bit.ly/1w65JDA

Seattle School Superintendent José Banda - July 27, 2012 | KCTS 9 - Public Television http://bit.ly/1lcoTED

Seattle Public Schools Superintendent José Banda will bike to school with Bryant Elementary students in celebration... http://bit.ly/1lcoXUG

Call to Action: Save our Math Legacy! | Schmitzville Blog http://bit.ly/1lcpw0N

Mayor Mike McGinn and Superintendent José Banda Announce Citywide School Attendance Campaign - Bill & Melinda Gates... http://bit.ly/1lcpCFB

Banda is calm voice for a turbulent district | Local News | The Seattle Times http://bit.ly/1lcpWEl

Seattle schools chief: No teacher to be disciplined in MAP test controversy | Q13 FOX News http://bit.ly/1lcq07c

 Kindergarteners Required to Test Twice a Year as Seattle “Rises” to Data Driven Education, | Stop Common Core in Wa... http://bit.ly/1lcqQ3D

 Seattle School District orders teacher to stop teaching class... | www.kirotv.com http://bit.ly/1lcrgak

 Superintendent Jose Banda On Seattle Schools In 2014 | KUOW News and Information http://bit.ly/1lcro9M

 Seattle Schools Superintendent Jose Banda Urges Legislature to Pass Teacher Evaluation Bill | Seattle Met http://bit.ly/1w5zeW0

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Queering Campuses Prompts Reflection, Reform for Universities

Queering Campuses Prompts Reflection, Reform for Universities:



Queering Campuses Prompts Reflection, Reform for Universities

The word ‘queer’ can mean many things. It can be a noun or an adjective, derogatory or empowering, a reference to gender and sexual identity or a departure from normalcy. It can also be a verb. “To queer something,” according to Dr. Charlie Glickman, a sexuality educator of nearly 25 years, “is to take a look at its foundations and question them.”
For Alex Borsa, a junior molecular biophysics and women’s, gender and sexuality studies double major at Yale University, it is the verb form of queer which matters most. As the president of the university’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Student Cooperative, which serves as the umbrella organization for all of Yale’s LGBTQ groups, Borsa works to increase visibility of queer and marginalized students and make the campus a safer, more inclusive environment.
“I think student voice means not being afraid to challenge large institutions, even the administ-ration itself, on how we think Yale should be bettered.”
Borsa achieves these goals, in part, through his participation with IvyQ, an annual, inter-Ivy League LGBTQ conference that attracts 300 to 500 attendees. The conference advocates social organization, political activism and community building among LGBTQ students and groups.
“It is the only time that students are in such a large space comprised of almost only LGBTQ people,” Borsa said. “Being at a social event with 500 queer people is something most people don’t get to experience, [and] does a lot to change people. It was probably the single most transformative process I’ve been to in my college experience.”
Yale hosted the 2013 installment of the IvyQ conference, which has made its way to a different Ivy League school each year since its inception in 2010. Borsa served as a volunteer coordinator for the event, and assisted former Yale conference chair Hilary O’Connell with event production. In spite of a blizzard that struck New Haven, Connecticut, the same weekend as the conference, the Yale IvyQ team was able to deliver an event true to the mission of IvyQ, according to Borsa.
The 2013 conference offered light entertainment, such as dances, lunches and group breakout sessions, as well as 30 to 40 formal colloquiums and workshops from a series of students and guest speakers about topics including gender activism, asexuality, and the meaning of the LGBTQ community now versus in previous decades.
“These are always going to be issues,” Rebby Kern, the media communications and programs manager for Campus Queering Campuses Prompts Reflection, Reform for Universities:
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The Quest to Eliminate Public Education | educarenow

The Quest to Eliminate Public Education | educarenow:



The Quest to Eliminate Public Education

Posted on June 20, 2014 | Leave a comment
It’s summer reading time.


So please read David J. Blacker’s book, The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame
Blacker does a tremendous job of helping us understand the economic background behind what is driving the current mode of corporate education reform. It’s important to understand this because education reform is greatly affected by the context it exists within, and this context is neoliberalism.
Trying to summarize Blacker’s thesis in a short blog entry is impossible, but let me try. He argues that because of the technological changes affecting everything, combined with capitalism’s inherent internal structure, the ability to create profit is shrinking. Adjustment to this profit shrinking requires a shift from extracting from labor for profit to extracting from financial markets, a shift that is aided and abetted by technological advances. With this shift, not only is labor is no longer needed to the same degree, but it becomes an obstacle to profit. As Blacker puts it, “In capitalism’s neoliberal phase, however, the ‘more is better’ mania for exploitation is replaced by a technologized ‘less is better’ mania for eliminating labor costs.”  People become dispensable.  Austerity rules. And thus students, who in the past were educated for positions in a labor economy, have no additive function.  Which makes an education, and schools, and educators, expendable according to neoliberal logic.
Got it?
You, educators and students, are at best superfluous and costly burdens on the back of neoliberal economy.
Here is a more from his introduction:
“Not as many workers are needed to turn whatever profits remain and government largesse is reserved exclusively for ‘too big to fail’ financialized The Quest to Eliminate Public Education | educarenow:
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6-20-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):






LAUSD may create the nation’s largest saxophone ensemble ever
LAUSD just might create the largest saxophone ensemble ever tomorrow at the Make Music Los Angeles celebration to commemorate the 200th birthday of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone. Make Music LA, a city-based nonprofit, along with the district’s Beyond the Bell (BTB) program and other organizations are calling saxophone players of all ages and skill level to Silver Lake Meadow for the 11-ho
by Aaron Stella / 34min 


CA voters getting chance to tell districts how much to spend
A ballot measure that goes before California voters in November seeking to amend the state Constitution has a controversial section that deals with strings attached to money school districts have controlled on their own. In effect, the state would have the right to place a cap on how much money a district can keep in reserve, which sounds simple enough. But LA Unified and other big school district
by Michael Janofsky / 21min hide  //  save
Rousseau’s LAUSD legacy, a push for standard English learning
Sylvia Rousseau Sylvia Rousseau, the temporary liaison for LA Unified School District 1, is leaving her post on a high note. Throughout her four-month tenure, Rousseau has been an avid advocate for the district’s Standard English Learners, a group of “invisible” students, as she calls them, who consistently perform well below grade level on all types of standardized tests.  Last week, her work pai
by Vanessa Romo / 52min 

Morning Read: Charter schools use 100K to oppose bond
Charter schools’ $100,000 opposition helps sink district’s bond measure Earlier this month, and for the first time, the political arm of the California Charter Schools Association campaigned heavily against a proposed school construction bond in a district that hadn’t agreed to share the proceeds with charter schools. EdSource One more push for pesticide control on school grounds The third time m
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6-19-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD
LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Morning Read: Immigrant education key to economy healthReport: Economic prosperity relies on boosting immigrant education Home to one-quarter of the nation’s immigrants and a top-destination for incoming refugees, California must significantly improve educational outcomes for immigrant youth if the state
by mike simpson / 21h 
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Seattle Schools Chief Jose Banda May Leave For Sacramento | KUOW News and Information

Seattle Schools Chief Jose Banda May Leave For Sacramento | KUOW News and Information:



Seattle Schools Chief Jose Banda May Leave For Sacramento

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Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda is a finalist for the schools chief job in Sacramento. If he is offered the position and accepts it, he would be leaving Seattle after two years.
Credit Seattle Public Schools
Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Jose Banda has been named a finalist for superintendent of Sacramento City Unified School District. If Banda accepts the position, he would be leaving Seattle after two years, with two years left on his current contract.
The move would return him to his home state of California to a district nearly as large as Seattle. Banda earned $270,000 in Seattle last year. His contract expires in July 2016.
“I think there’s never a good time to leave,” Banda said in an exclusive interview with KUOW.
“Sacramento is an opportunity to go back to California, an opportunity to be closer to family,” Banda said. “As I near the latter part of my career, it’s an opportunity to get back into the retirement system that I spent almost my entire career in.”
Banda said he would look forward to returning to California, which has a generous pension program for state employees. It’s where he lived for most of his life, and where his family lives.
In a letter sent out on Friday morning, Board Chair Sharon Peaslee wrote, "We certainly understand why they would seek him out to lead their district."
"Mr. Banda stepped into his role in Seattle at a very difficult time. He pulled us together, he built a team and he created stability. ... I know I speak for the entire Board that if Mr. Banda becomes Superintendent of Sacramento City Unified, we will be very sorry to see him leave Seattle."
Unlike Seattle’s public superintendent search processes, Sacramento was poised to vote on Banda’s contract on Thursday before even announcing that he was a finalist. The vote was postponed at the last minute after board members decided to visit Seattle next week.
Banda, too, had kept his candidacy under wraps.
“It’s hard to be able to announce when it’s still going through a process, and so you want to settle that first before you’re able to say anything definitive to the school community,” Banda said.
Banda said he considers his greatest accomplishments as Seattle superintendent to be the 2013 capital and operations levies, worth a combined $1.3 million. He’s also proud of the district’s new strategic plan.
“I’m very proud of the things we’ve accomplished over the last couple years,” he said. “I do feel very strongly that we have an excellent team there that can continue that work and move it forward toward completion over the next couple years.”
Banda has also faced well-publicized challenges in Seattle, such as national attention when teachers and families last year boycotted a district standardized test and conflict when the growing school system tried to reclaim district buildings occupied by community groups.
Banda said another challenge has been stabilizing district leadership after years of churn, but that he's confident his recent hires and re-assignments have been good for the district.
When Banda took office in 2012, he was the fourth superintendent in less than two years. He followed two interim superintendents, including Susan Enfield, who chose not to apply for the position. Enfield is currently the superintendent of Highline Public Schools.
The last permanent superintendent, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, was fired in 2011 after a financial scandal that landed a district official and two associates in jail. Goodloe-Johnson was found to have ignored signs of their embezzlement. She left Seattle and died the following year.Seattle Schools Chief Jose Banda May Leave For Sacramento | KUOW News and Information:
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