Did LDOE hire 100 summer Interns at 25,000 a piece? | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Did LDOE hire 100 summer Interns at 25,000 a piece? | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:



Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Zesty Louisiana Education Politics

Did LDOE hire 100 summer Interns at 25,000 a piece?

Posted on June 29, 2014

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I was recently contacted to investigate and Louisiana Department of Education story that sounded too absurd to be true. I was told John White had hired as many as 100 interns at 25 grand a pop for a few months of summer work. That comes to 2.5 million dollars in just straight up pay. If the department was responsible for, SSN, employment taxes and Medicaid this could easily be a 3.5 million dollar program.

can you look into something I just heard of… approximately 100 interns hired this summer by LDOE, 3 months of work for $25,000 pay. 25 thousand. many from California apparently. and John White didn’t have enough budget to keep me on his roll last year (I’m one of the 65-70 let go last May). Thanks

I did not want to bring this to the attention of the public until I had some more information, so I did a little digging. I came across this newsletter that came directly from John White and LDOE dated June 4^th.

Welcome Summer Interns

We are happy to welcome interns within various divisions of the department. In order to allow for a smooth transition with us and in making their stay successful, we ask your assistance in making them feel welcome and in assisting them with procedures, policies, paperwork, and maneuvering around the department.

We will benefit from having extra staff on board who are here to assist us in our work while learning the difference in what we are doing for the children in our state.

This newsletter issued by LDOE and signed by John White clearly indicates that these interns exist, that there are many of them helping out in many departments across LDOE. Before I could report Did LDOE hire 100 summer Interns at 25,000 a piece? | Crazy Crawfish's Blog:

Firing Bad Teachers: A Superintendent and a Teacher's Union Official Debate - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic

Firing Bad Teachers: A Superintendent and a Teacher's Union Official Debate - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic:

Firing Bad Teachers: A Superintendent and a Teacher's Union Official Debate

Can due process for educators coexist with the ability to terminate abusive or unqualified individuals?

 

Flickr/Streetlive

Dr. John E. Deasy, Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, supports the California lawsuit against the state's tenure, layoff and termination rules. He believes that the current system has a disparate impact on the quality of education offered to poor students and minorities, and is therefore unconstitutional.

Randi Weingarten is the president of the American Federation of Teachers (a separate entity from the California Teacher's Association, which represents Golden State teachers). Her organization opposed the lawsuit. "While teachers led their classrooms, a judge in a Los Angeles courtroom said that for students to win, teachers have to lose," the AFT stated after the plaintiffs won the case, which is being appealed. "Vergara v. California was a blow to public education everywhere, but especially demoralizing to hundreds of thousands of teachers who dedicate their lives to lifting up California's students...Our opponents have spent months—and millions—vilifying California teachers to push a political agenda. We're fighting back—in the media, on the ground, in the legislature and in the courts."

These two shared a stage in Aspen this weekend, where they debated the lawsuit, teacher tenure, accountability, and related issues. The video of the entire panel is here:

Notice both of them believe that it is currently too hard to fire bad teachers in California–and that teachers should have some sort of due process rights. They differ mostly in whether this lawsuit was the right way to fix the problem. Weingarten notes that she has helped to pass laws that reform teacher tenure in several states. She argues that California should pass those same reforms, and that the lawsuit has helped to create a "polarized climate" where such a reform is impossible. 

I understand Weingarten's position. But as a Californian, I found that claim hard to take. 

The California Teacher's Association is perhaps the most powerful lobbying group in my home state. If they wanted to push the reforms that Weingarten favors through the legislature, they could do it this year. They could have done it last year. And they could have done it ten years ago, when I was a local newspaper reporter who knew perfectly well that it was all but impossible to fire bad teachers.

What do I mean when I say all but impossible? If you're from another state, you might be surprised to learn that I'm scarcely exaggerating. This may be the most jaw-dropping case:

A teacher charged with 23 counts of lewd conductin his classroom

Firing Bad Teachers: A Superintendent and a Teacher's Union Official Debate - Conor Friedersdorf - The Atlantic:

Sixty Years After Brown V. Board, Black Teachers Are Disappearing---Again - News & Views - EBONY

Sixty Years After Brown V. Board, Black Teachers Are Disappearing---Again - News & Views - EBONY:

Nettie Hunt and her daughter Nickie sit on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court 

Sixty years ago Saturday, the Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka ruling. In a unanimous decision, the Court struck down the concept of “separate but equal” in the nation’s public schools. It was a catalyst that invigorated the Civil Rights Movement and its quest to end the inequality of Jim Crow laws, affecting everything from lunch counters to buses. 

With the Brown case pending, Black teachers waited anxiously for the ruling on school segregation, with thoughts fixed firmly on their Black students. Would the case solve the wide racial disparities in facilities, funding and resources? Would Black students’ sense of ethnic identity and cultural solidarity suffer from desegregation? And lingering in the back of Black teachers’ minds: Would they be the collateral damage in the battle to integrate schools?

A hint of this suspicion is found in the excerpt from an oral history conducted in 1991 with a former teacher in a segregated school: 

“…we were under such a terrible strain because when they wanted integration they never considered the effect that it would have on the Black teacher who was very qualified. Practically all of them [Black teachers] had their masters...they put such a terrible strain on the Black teachers.”

Dr. Alfred Roberts remembers this period well. He taught at segregated Pearl C. Anderson Middle School in Dallas and weathered the transition during desegregation. But the path was not so smooth for Black teachers throughout the state.

“I’m from a small town near College Station named Somerville,” said Roberts, co-founder of the Texas chapter of the National Association of Black School Educators.  “The high school had grades 1-12 in one building. When they combined the schools, they sent all of the high school students to the White school, and they made the high school an elementary school. In your smaller cities, I’m quite sure there were a lot of [Black] teachers displaced.”

The data bears this out, revealing a widespread practice across the South. In 1954, there were 82,000 Black teachers. In the 11 years following the Brown decision, the ranks of Black teachers plummeted: more than 38,000 Black teachers and administrators in 17 Southern

Read more at EBONY http://www.ebony.com/news-views/sixty-years-after-brown-v-board-black-teachers-are-disappearing-again-304#ixzz3646wTawm 
Follow us: @EbonyMag on Twitter | EbonyMag on Facebook

Louisiana “Annual Tests” Tied Up in the New Mexico Courts? | deutsch29

Louisiana “Annual Tests” Tied Up in the New Mexico Courts? | deutsch29:

Louisiana “Annual Tests” Tied Up in the New Mexico Courts?

June 29, 2014

June 18, 2014, was an interesting day in Louisiana politics and education. (I realize these two are now one and the same, but humor me.)

One event of June 18 was Governor Bobby Jindal’s decision to suspend Louisiana’s involvement in PARCC because Louisiana State Superintendent John White, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), and the Louisiana State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) all failed to follow proper contractual procurement of Louisiana’s so-called “contract” with the Partnership for Assessment of College and Careers (PARCC) tests associated with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Jindal suspended money to be paid to PARCC for the 2014-15 tests and required that proper bidding be followed in procuring bids for the next Louisiana assessment contract.

He also charged LDOE and BESE to follow proper bidding for Louisiana assessments, which means properly advertising requests for proposals (RFP) so that testing companies might competitively bid for Louisiana’s assessment contract.

(There’s more to the June 18, 2014 Jindal-White-LDOE-BESE story, which I have written about here, and here, and here, and here.)

Now, here’s what is funny:

June 18, 2014, also happened to be an important date in the case involving Pearson, Louisiana “Annual Tests” Tied Up in the New Mexico Courts? | deutsch29:

Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform"

By Anthony Cody on June 29, 2014 3:02 PM

On Thursday, June 26, I joined several hundred educators, parents and students who marched and rallied in Seattle, Washington, in protest of the Gates Foundation's agenda for public education. The Educating the Gates Foundation event was completely grassroots, organized by local teachers active in the Washington Bad Ass Teachers association. We rallied in downtown Seattle, where we heard from education professor Wayne Au and city councilperson Kshama Sawant. Then we marched through the streets to Gates Foundation headquarters, where we heard from United OptOut activist Morna McDermott. Seattle area teacher Susan DuFresne delivered several hundred teacher letters and a petition with hundreds more signatures to a Gates Foundation representative, from the Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates project. Then, on the sidewalk in front of Gates Foundation headquarters, I spoke. You can watch the video here. 

Anthony Cody at the Educating Gates Rally, Seattle from Schoolhouse Live on Vimeo.

Two years ago, in July of 2012, I came here and spent the day with members of the Gates Foundation education team. I did my best to convey the wisdom of classroom teachers, who understand that learning cannot be reduced to test scores, who understand that equity is not going to arrive as a result of standardized tests. [see the Dialogue with the Gates Foundation here.]

There is a growing understanding around the country of what the Gates Foundation has done to education. Just a couple of weeks ago an interview with Bill Gates was published in the Washington Post. A lot of us have been saying that the Common Core was really a Gates Protesters to Gates Foundation: "Divest from Corporate Education Reform" - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:

Some books simply stand out: The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored) by Kelly Flynn | Reclaim Reform

Some books simply stand out: The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored) by Kelly Flynn | Reclaim Reform:

Some books simply stand out: The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored) by Kelly Flynn

Posted on June 29, 2014by Ken Previti

Money is tight. Books can be expensive. The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored)by Kelly Flynn is worth your money and your time. Parents, school board members, older students, curious taxpayers, education advocates, and teachers will all learn something from this insightful and easy to read book written for a wide audience.

The (Uncensored) aspect refers to the honesty of seeing a school filled with real human beings rather than mere data providers and testing machines. So, if you are looking for the sole salacious material, read page 133 where the word cleavage is used. To teachers, the teachers’ lounge is the designated free speech area (Uncensored) of a school where during a few brief moments of respite truths can be uttered. Kelly Flynn is a good utterer of these truths.

If you want an honest view of the state of schools today from the perspective of a perceptive teacher and writer, you have found the right book.

The full scope and direction of the book is easily viewed on Amazon’s site by reading the table of contents and a few pages selected by the author HERE.

Let the book speak for itself. Here are a few examples from elsewhere in The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored).

“When parents send their children off to school, of course they hope that they will learn the right answers. But it’s important that they learn to ask the right questions as well.

“Corporate reformers want to dismantle public education, sell the pieces to the highest bidder, and ultimately increase their company’s bottom line.

“Big business believes that the purpose of education is to create a better worker. And to Some books simply stand out: The Teachers’ Lounge (Uncensored) by Kelly Flynn | Reclaim Reform:

6-29-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE:

Louisiana “Annual Tests” Tied Up in the New Mexico Courts?

June 18, 2014, was an interesting day in Louisiana politics and education. (I realize these two are now one and the same, but humor me.) One event of June 18 was Governor Bobby Jindal’s decision to suspend Louisiana’s involvement in PARCC because Louisiana State Superintendent John White, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE), and the […]

by deutsch29 / 11min 

At the Chalk Face: Education Talk Radio (Sundays at 6PM EST)

At the Chalk Face is the only progressive and pro-public education radio program available. Join Drs. Shaun Johnson and Tim Slekar LIVE Sundays at 6PM EST and Wednesdays at 7PM for commentary and interviews on the latest topics on education, including breaking stories from classrooms and schools nationwide. If you're a teacher, parent, student, administrator, activist, or concerned member of the c

At the Chalk Face / 1d 

How is #teacherprep really different at Western Governor’s?

We keep hearing about these NCTQ teacher preparation rankings. There’s so much critique out there of NCTQ as a legitimate research organization, of their data and methods, I don’t even have to get into it. I’m hearing a lot about Western Governors University. I was only vaguely aware of the institution prior to the “rankings.” […]

by Shaun Johnson / 7min 

All Week 6-28-14 @ THE CHALK FACE

@ THE CHALK FACE : All Week @ THE CHALK FACE Van Roekel to NEA: With what will you replace the accountability system?It’s not the first time Dennis Van Roekel (DVR) has asked this loaded question. Last year, DVR asked the NEA membership at large, during an interview, with what they would purport to replace the Common Core State Standards, if we did get rid of them.  Now, he’s asking the same quest

by mike simpson / 1h

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-29-14

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

PARENT ENGEGEMENT MAY BE KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT + smf’s 1¢

by Carrie Marovich SI&A Cabinet Report ::  http://bit.ly/THJxRT June 24, 2014 (Md.)  ::  Books and Baseball Night. Fiesta-val of Math. Family Digital Summit. Fish Fry and Social Hour. For schools across the nation last year these family-oriented events – and dozens like them –  were more than just fun ways to promote learning. They were all part of locally-designed, research-based plans to

by smf / 10min 

CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT TO DECIDE IF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS’ PRIVATE E-MAILS ARE PUBLIC + smf’s 2¢

By PAUL ELIAS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, from the santa rosa press democrat | http://bit.ly/1iQZSiT June 28, 2014, 10:57 AM  ::  SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court will decide if private emails and other electronic communications of government officials are public records open for inspection. The high court announced Friday that it would step in and settle a long-simmering debate over access

by smf / 21min 

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit 6-28-14

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit:4LAKIDS - SOME OF THE NEWS THAT DOESN'T FIT  Attention All LAUSD Teachers: FACING HISTORY AND OURSELVES & “THE CHILDREN OF WILLESDEN LANE”from Councilmember Jose Huizar’s Downtown Community e-newsletter | http://bit.ly/Vugqmw 27 June 2014  ::  The Music Center is excited to partner with Mona Golabek and The Los Angeles Unified School District to pres

by mike simpson / 58min 

6-29-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:

Kevin Carey Plays His Fear Card about American Colleges: It's a Deuce

With ALEC far on in writing model legislation to put steerage of higher education under the ham hands of the Tea Party and the Oligarchs (sounds like the worst band ever, right?), and with the federal government too in debt to the oligarchs to do anything about it, the only remaining stumbling block is the need to convince the public that higher ed is going to hell in a hand basket.  Enter, Kevin

by Jim Horn / 13min 

 

6-28-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekLearn about TMoE at Chalkface Radio Interview ArchiveChalkface Radio has up a terrific interview archive.  Check it out. Here's the one Denise Wilburn and I did 10 months ago, soon after The Mismeasure of Education was published.  Current Politics Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Chalk Face on BlogTalkRadioJuly 12 will mark the one year since TMoE was publis

by mike simpson / 1h 

6-29-14 Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:

The REAL Objection to Adequate School Funding

Every once in a while, the school defunders give away the game:[NJ State Senator Mike] Doherty [R- Tea Party] also brought up what he said was another broken promise from Christie. He said the governor had promised to make equal school funding a key theme of the 2013 campaign, in which all 120 seats in the Legislature were up for grabs. He expanded on that when I spoke to him Friday. "It was

by Duke / 19min 

6-28-14 Jersey Jazzman NJ Ed News Round-up Jammin' All Week

Jersey Jazzman:Jersey Jazzman Jammin' All WeekCharter School Cream Skimming Doesn't Always Pay OffThere's a bit of a "he said/she said" thing going on in Jersey City between the school district and a charter school:After telling Jersey City parents two weeks ago that the school district was investigating a possible data breach of personal student information, and then saying two days lat

by mike simpson / 24min

College liberals spurn $10M gift from Koch brothers | New York Post

College liberals spurn $10M gift from Koch brothers | New York Post:

College liberals spurn $10M gift from Koch brothers

By Carl Campanile

June 24, 2014 | 2:27am

Modal Trigger

Brooklyn CollegePhoto: Edwine Seymour

They may teach business classes at Brooklyn College, but the school’s liberal leaders have told two of the country’s top businessmen to take their money and shove it because they don’t like their conservative politics, a veteran faculty member charges.

The CUNY college has turned down a $10 million grant offer from the Koch brothers, said business professor Mitchell Langbert — who called the decision by School of Business Dean William Hopkins a knee-jerk reaction to the mega-rich industrialists’ support of Republican causes.

“It’s political correctness. It’s intolerance about anyone who doesn’t toe the left-wing line,” Langbert told The Post.

Langbert was so upset that he fired off a letter to members of the state Senate Education Committee protesting the school’s refusal to take the donation.

“The Charles G. Koch Foundation has repeatedly called Brooklyn College and me personally with an offer of as much as a $10 million grant,” he told the senators. “This grant would have been considerably larger than any that I have seen in my nearly quarter century of teaching.”

This isn’t the first time that liberals have tried to stop Charles and David Koch from doing good with their combined $100 billion fortune.

Activists from the NAACP and the hospital-employee union SEIU Local 1199 in March protested their $100 million donation to build a new wing for cancer patients at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

The Kochs are despised by Democrats for pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into political advocacy groups helping to elect Republicans and attacking liberal College liberals spurn $10M gift from Koch brothers | New York Post:

Activists confront Rahm at media event - Substance News

Activists confront Rahm at media event - Substance News:

Police muscle protesters away from one of mayor's publicity stunts, force reporter away from Rahm... Activists confront Rahm Emanuel at one of his staged media events after massive layoffs and additional cuts hit Chicago's public schools

Kati Gilson - June 28, 2014

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel may have thought that he was just going to get another of his famous publicity stunts when he showed up at a South Side Chicago site on Friday, June 27, 2014, but he was surprised when dozens of protesters showed up to confront him. The protests took place after the mayor showed up at a Southwest Side health center for one of his typical staged events.

"Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Oak Street Health today celebrated the opening of the organization’s third neighborhood medical center located at 3348 West 87th Street in Ashburn," a City Hall press release announced following the event. "Oak Street Health centers provide neighborhood-based Medicare-eligible residents with options for primary care and dental services."

The mayor didn't take questions from reporters, at least one of whom, this reporter, was barred from the building.

Teachers and other school workers showed up at one of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's media events on June 28, 2014 to protest the recent layoffs of more teachers and PSRPs from the city's real public schools. Substance photo by Kati Gilson.As the events unfolded, at least one of the mayor's staff members was accused of physically pushing and threatening protesters, but for a brief time Chicago police tried to arrest a teacher protester. they then declined the arrest based on a pretext. The police also barred at least one reporter from the event despite the fact that when the mayor holds an event it becomes a public event, even if police try to claim that the event is being held on "private property." What was the latest reason people were so angry at the mayor whose version of reality was recently produced by Robert Redford and affirmed by Hollywood?

Rahm and his handpicked seven-member Chicago Board of Education have laid-off 1,150 teachers, paraprofessionals and ESPs. The layoffs, announced on June 26, 2014, came just after school ended for everyone for the 2013 - 2014 school year and were immediately greeted with anger by the Chicago Activists confront Rahm at media event - Substance News:

6-29-14 Answer Sheet

Answer Sheet:

Common Core’s testing framework is crumbling

In 2010, Education Secretary Arne Duncan gave a major speech praising the Common Core State Standards and new Core-aligned standardized tests that the Obama administration was funding and that would be developed by two multi-state consortia. He said: Our children deserve that — and to remain competitive, our country does too. States in each consortium have […]

by Valerie Strauss / 16min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 6-28-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetA disturbing look at Common Core tests in New YorkThe promise of new standardized tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards  was that they would show which students were ready for college and career and which weren’t. But in New York, a look at the tests shows how the state is failing to meet that promise. This was written by Carol Burris and […]1

by mike simpson / 37min