Los Angeles Charter Teachers Say Their Administration Is Aggressively Trying To Bust Their Union - Working In These Times

Los Angeles Charter Teachers Say Their Administration Is Aggressively Trying To Bust Their Union - Working In These Times:

Los Angeles Charter Teachers Say Their Administration Is Aggressively Trying To Bust Their Union

A formerly low-profile union organizing campaign by teachers at the largest charter school operation in Los Angeles is emerging into the public spotlight as the charter operator is ramping up its effort to defeat the organizing effort, teachers say.  

The school operator, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, has been so aggressive against the union that a local judge issued an injunction December 3 against the operator’s apparent labor law violations. But the injunction isn’t deterring Alliance’s broader efforts against the union, labor activists say, and the company is scheduled to go to court again next month in an unusual effort to overrule state labor law and employ slower and more cumbersome federal labor laws to defeat the union.

All of this is taking place in a highly charged political atmosphere surrounding the public schools system (formally known as the Los Angeles Unified School District), the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union and an anti-union charter school lobby backed by billionaires like Microsoft’s Bill Gates and local philanthropist Eli Broad (In These Times’ Mario Vasquezreported earlier this year on how this atmosphere was prompting fears of a teacher strike). The push to expand charter schools in LA is in full cry, union backers report, with the organizing drive at Alliance emerging as a rallying point for opposition.

“The campaign against us has been illegal, and incredibly demeaning and debilitating,” says Xodil Johansen, a teacher at one of Alliance’s 27 middle and high school campuses spread across L.A.  An active union supporter, Johansen was among some 70 teachers who opened the campaign in March with a letter requesting that Alliance administrators remain neutral as the organizing drive got underway. The administrators never officially answered that request, she says, and instead have steadily intensified efforts against the union.

“It’s escalated more and more,” Johansen says. “I think it really crossed the line when you started to get grilled by administrators. It was much more personal than it should have been. As teachers, we are professionals and the decision to join a union should be a professional one. The intimation was that you would suffer personally, that your livelihood was on the line. … Alliance has done everything to make it more personal.”

Based on continued complaints by Alliance teachers and UTLA, the California Public Employment Relations Board, or PERB, (under California law, charter school employees are considered public sector workers and fall under PERB jurisdiction) went Los Angeles Charter Teachers Say Their Administration Is Aggressively Trying To Bust Their Union - Working In These Times:

Marie Corfield: Study Commission Report Pt. 2: Big Brother and The Brainwashing of NJ

Marie Corfield: Study Commission Report Pt. 2: Big Brother and The Brainwashing of NJ:

Study Commission Report Pt. 2: Big Brother and The Brainwashing of NJ

Stanley Tucci in The Devil Wears Prada

Part 1 of this as-yet-to-be-determined-part series on the final report of the Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments in New Jersey focused on the Commission's members, who the DOE should partner with going forward, how the DOE should crush the Opt-Out movement with 'reformy' propaganda funded by 'reformy' billionaires (aka. "the business community and philanthropic organizations"), and all that professional development.

This post will focus on the recommendations for the amount of testing and graduation requirements, modifications for Special Education and English Language Learner students, data (because data is king!), and perhaps my favorite: "Using PARCC Data as a College and/or Business Placement Tool".

And finally, if you see an (*) at the beginning of a paragraph, it's a reminder to reference the video I posted in Part 1 in which former NJDOE Assistant Commissioner Bari Ehrlichson admits that the PARCC is not diagnostic. 

As stated in Part 1, unless otherwise noted, all emphasis isMarie Corfield: Study Commission Report Pt. 2: Big Brother and The Brainwashing of NJ:

Further Apart in Public Schools than Ever Before

Further Apart in Public Schools than Ever Before:

Further Apart in Public Schools than Ever Before

 In honor of Martin Luther King, I would like to revisit a post I did about public schools and race relations after I first started blogging. A democratic public school system has great potential to bring children of all colors and from every background together. This would ultimately create a better world. But in order to do this we need to have a plan and make a concerted effort to unite our children.

It has been two years since I wrote the following post, and I still see little in the way of progress for this togetherness to occur. Where in the new Every Student Achieves Act do we speak of ending the racial separation of children? What is being done to create rich diversity in our public schools?

Make no mistake, public policy and court rulings matter to this effort.

In 2010, the UCLA Civil Rights Project determined charter schools isolated students by race and class. Still, federal, state and local education agencies continue to fund charter schools that do not foster diversity.

Along with this, in 2007, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Parents Involved in Further Apart in Public Schools than Ever Before:

Local charter school king hit with felony | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com

Former San Diego County superintendent charged with felony | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

Local charter school king hit with felony

A former San Diego County superintendent who approved charter schools that later hired his consulting firm was arraigned Friday in San Diego Superior Court on one felony count of conflict of interest, according to the San Diego district attorney’s office.

The allegation facing Steve Van Zant, who currently is superintendent of the Sausalito Marin City School District, dates to May 2010 while he was superintendent of the Mountain Empire Unified School District.

According to the criminal complaint, Van Zant “did willfully and unlawfully violate the provisions of such (conflict of interest) laws.”

Van Zant, who is not in custody, could not be reached for comment. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

The District Attorney’s Office declined to provide details of the case.

Van Zant, 53, has been a controversial figure among San Diego County educators. Long before he faced legal troubles, Van Zant stirred animosity among school districts for years as he brokered deals with charter schools to operate in their districts — often without providing the notice required by law.

Some of the charters that Van Zant ushered through soon hired his consulting firm for support services.

Van Zant worked in the tiny one-campus Dehesa School District, where the school board authorized several charters to operate in other districts, before he was hired to run Mountain Empire schools in 2008.

Under Van Zant’s direction, Mountain Empire authorized its first charter, San Diego Neighborhood Homeschool. Roughly a dozen more followed before he left in 2013.

None of the charters would locate in the district’s backcountry communities. Instead, they would operate in more populated reaches of the county — from Oceanside to San Diego to Chula Vista to National City.

Officials from small and cash-strapped districts approved charters to operate outside of their boundaries in part for financial reasons. The authorizing districts don’t stand to lose students — or the state attendance funds that accompany them — and they receive up to 3 percent of the charter’s revenue in exchange for varying degrees of oversight and often administrative services.

Although the trend didn’t start in Mountain Empire, under Van Zant the district played a key role in San Diego County’s spike in “out-of-district” charters — of which there are more than 80 currently in operation.

Van Zant didn’t just woo charters to earn revenue for Mountain Empire. The steady stream of charters helped bring money to his consulting firm.

A couple of years into his tenure at Mountain Empire, Van Zant and his wife, Ingrid, established EdHive, a consulting firm that offers administrative services and helps charters find districts to green-light their schools.

The company website claims, “We can find an authorizing district for your charter and cut a deal that Former San Diego County superintendent charged with felony | SanDiegoUnionTribune.com:

High Stakes Testing Doesn’t Protect Civil Rights – It Violates Them | gadflyonthewallblog

High Stakes Testing Doesn’t Protect Civil Rights – It Violates Them | gadflyonthewallblog:

High Stakes Testing Doesn’t Protect Civil Rights – It Violates Them

“Daddy, I know who that is!”

“Who is it?”

“That’s Martin Luther King.”

“That’s right, Baby! Who was he?”

“We saw a movie about him today in school. He had a dream.”

Thus began a fascinating conversation I had with my seven-year-old daughter a few days ago.

I had been going through her book bag and found a picture of Dr. King blazoned above an article about his life.

“He wanted everyone to be nice to each other,” she said.

I laughed. My first grade scholar isn’t that far off.

“He’s one of my heroes,” I said. “He means a lot to me.”

“That’s silly,” she said. “He doesn’t have any super powers.”

Before I could reply, her attention shifted to her stuffed Yoshi doll. She began to play.

One of the best things about being a parent is getting to see the world anew through High Stakes Testing Doesn’t Protect Civil Rights – It Violates Them | gadflyonthewallblog:

Rejecting False Claims about Education: A Primer for Journalists – the becoming radical

Rejecting False Claims about Education: A Primer for Journalists – the becoming radical:

Rejecting False Claims about Education: A Primer for Journalists

One thing (but not the only thing) I have learned about doing public work as an academic is that I am often positioned as the responder, and thus criticizing someone else’s claim. The result is that many are quick to refute my criticism as just that—so much griping—and those voices often demand that I offer some alternative, a valid response. Although I must note that in the mainstream media, I am often given only about 750 words and one shot at the topic.

Here, in the confines of my blog, however, I can take more time and come back to topics as often as I see fit. My recent examination of the dysfunctional relationship between journalists covering education and the field of education (see here, here, here, and here) cannot be complete, then, without offering both the central false claims that dominate how the media characterizes public schools and credible education reform along with evidence-based alternatives to those claims.

Below, let me outline some prominent myths and the more complicated realities about the historical and current state of public education in the U.S. and the need for a different vision of education reform in the context of long-ignored social reform.

Myth: Education is the great equalizer.

Lets start with semantics—how we make claims. As most people use “education is the great equalizer,” the claim suggests we have already accomplished this; however, in reality, educational attainment does not equalize in the context of race, social class, and gender.

A tremendous amount of evidence shows that greater educational attainment will give a person advantages within race, class, or gender, but not among race, class, and gender. As just a couple of graphic examples (see research linked above):

Instead of “education is the great equalizer,” we must begin to argue “education should be Rejecting False Claims about Education: A Primer for Journalists – the becoming radical:

EXPERIENCE MATTERS Guest Post: Bernie Keller | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

EXPERIENCE MATTERS Guest Post: Bernie Keller | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

EXPERIENCE MATTERS Guest Post: Bernie Keller

In June 2015, I had the opportunity to attend the Big Apple awards which recognizes teachers who have demonstrated excellence. In point of full disclosure, I was invited by one of the recipients of the award, Rick Ouimet. Having had the chance to teach with Mr. Ouimet at Stevenson High School as a colleague, and at Millennium High School team teaching with him, I’d have to say this choice was not only prudent but well deserved.

As I watched the celebrants, and listened to their bios, I was struck by an interesting thread that seemed to run through the presentations which was that none of the awardees had less than a decade of experience. One had thirty-four years of experience, while another had twenty-four and yet another one had sixteen years of experience. Not one of them was a three year or a five year teacher! This is particularly interesting to me because when I look at the way experienced teachers are being herded into ATR pols, or harassed or “encouraged” to retire because we “need younger teachers who are connected to or in tune with the students in the 21st century, it seems there is little interest in acknowledging or employing the expertise and skills of these teachers. Charter schools regularly eschew them and smaller schools routinely avoid them because they “cost too much.”

Having taught four decades, and having had the privilege of working with so EXPERIENCE MATTERS Guest Post: Bernie Keller | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

Poetic Justice writes “Be Careful Brethren” – A Message About Education from Martin Luther King Jr. - Wait What?

Poetic Justice writes “Be Careful Brethren” – A Message About Education from Martin Luther King Jr. - Wait What?:

Poetic Justice writes “Be Careful Brethren” – A Message About Education from Martin Luther King Jr.

Poetic Justice is the blog of a Connecticut educator, poet and fellow education advocate and blogger.  In honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday, she provides us with King’s words – “The Purpose of Education,” – written when the truth-teller was 18 years old and a student at Morehouse College.

King wrote;

As I engage in the so-called “bull sessions” around and about the school, I too often find that most college men have a misconception of the purpose of education. Most of the “brethren” think that education should equip them with the proper instruments of exploitation so that they can forever trample over the masses. Still others think that education should furnish them with noble ends rather than means to an end.

It seems to me that education has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the one is utility and the other is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the ligitimate goals of his life.

Education must also train one for quick, resolute and effective thinking. To think incisively and to think for one’s self is very difficult. We are prone to let our mental life become invaded by legions of half truths, prejudices, and propaganda. At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the 

Poetic Justice writes “Be Careful Brethren” – A Message About Education from Martin Luther King Jr. - Wait What?:

CURMUDGUCATION: AL: RAISE teachers? Raze teachers.

CURMUDGUCATION: AL: RAISE teachers? Raze teachers.:

AL: RAISE teachers? Raze teachers

Would you be willing to bet your entire teaching career that you will never have students who score low on the Big Standardized Test? Would you take the bet for a little bit more money?

Alabama is hoping there are people who will take that bet, as their legislature rolls out theRewarding Advancement in Instruction and Student Excellence Act-- RAISE!! The actual intent of this bill is telegraphed by the fact that it has often been touted as a "tenure reform bill." To read up on it, I suggest this piece, as well as the blog of Larry Lee, who has covered the act pretty thoroughly and includes many comments from affected parties. 

The bill is intended to tie teacher pay and teacher employment to student test results. There will be whole new state action to make up a list of possible evaluation tools for all teachers of untested subjects. There will be requirements for student growth. There will be an opportunity for some students and parents to evaluate teachers.

The BS Test that will be used is the ACT Aspire, a pre-ACT manufactured by the ACT folks. Is it aligned in any way with Alabama's standards? If it is, nobody seems to be saying so. But those test results will be the basis of pretty much everything?

The big bet that I opened with-- that's the choice that RAISE presents teachers with. You can have a CURMUDGUCATION: AL: RAISE teachers? Raze teachers.:



 ICYMI: A Mountain of Must-Read

This is a week in which I have actually written less because I have read more. Every one of these is a must-read.

Schooling the Secretary of Education

John King has gotten one thing right so far-- he held a sit-down with an assortment of teachers (most with high social media profiles) who had not been carefully pre-vetted for their agreement with his policies. This account of the meeting is oddly encouraging, even as it is unsurprising.

About Cost Cutting Measu-es

You know I love a good illustrative metaphorical example. Here's a great demonstration of how brutal a 3% cut can be.

The Myth of Pedagogy

Interesting take on how classroom instruction may still be in the pre-science stage. I don't know how much I really agree with all of this, but it's thought-provoking.

The 13 Best Onion Higher Ed Stories 

The Chronicle of Higher Education collected their thirteen favorite higher-ed pieces from the Onion. Winners one and all.

Does Georgia Have a Teacher Evaluation System Only a Sadist Could Love

Well, the short answer is "yes," but this is a good, clear example of just how messed up it is from a Georgia teacher who's lived it.

How Measurement Fails Doctors and Teachers

In today's New York Times, Robert Wachter looks at how measurement mania is making life miserable for both doctors and teachers. Two great lines: "We're hitting the targets, but missing the point" and "The secret of quality is love."

The article on the unions and opt out that they wouldn’t print. | Fred Klonsky

The article on the unions and opt out that they wouldn’t print. | Fred Klonsky:

The article on the unions and opt out that they wouldn’t print.

The balancing act between defending the Common Core State Standards and supporting their member’s concerns about the amount of standardized assessments and national testing has been a difficult trick for both the American Federation of Teachers and the larger National Education Association.

It is difficult because curriculum and assessment are not fundamentally divisible. It helps to understand the process if you conceptualize curriculum, instruction and assessment as spiral rather than linear. The conceptual difference between a spiral and a straight line is the kind of thing that is more likely to be discussed in a university seminar than at a union convention.

For the two national teacher unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, the Common Core State Standards and the standardized testing that is used to assess it are two very different things.

The most extreme defense of Common Core State Standards came from New York’s United Federation of Teacher President Michael Mulgrew at the 2014 national convention of the American Federation of Teachers in Los Angeles.

Mulgrew stood at the microphone with sweat pouring down his face, looking more like a street corner bully than head of a union of professionals, as the AFT likes to call itself. He was debating an anti-common core resolution introduced and supported by the Chicago AFT affiliate, the Chicago Teachers Union.

“If someone takes something from me,” he growled, “I’m going to grab it right back out of their cold, twisted, sick hands and say it is mine! You do not take what is mine. And I’m going to punch you in the face and push you in the dirt because this is the teachers!”

AFT President Randi Weingarten stood at the microphone, arms folded and smiling. She appreciated the efforts of her attack dog, Mulgrew. Engaging in The article on the unions and opt out that they wouldn’t print. | Fred Klonsky:

Russ on Reading: New Jersey Study Commission on Testing: Keep Weighing the Pig

Russ on Reading: New Jersey Study Commission on Testing: Keep Weighing the Pig:

New Jersey Study Commission on Testing: Keep Weighing the Pig

ew Jersey's Study Commission on the Use of Student Assessments issued its report this week after a year and a half of deliberations. The commission was ostensibly formed to look into over-testing in New Jersey schools, but anyone who follows New Jersey politics at all will not be surprised that this commission told Governor Christie exactly what he wanted to hear. That is what study commissions in New Jersey are for.

The report is  a densely written 34 pages long and contains 49 recommendations, so to save you some reading time, Russ on Reading has dug into the report to summarize the findings here.

1. Keep weighing the pig every year

In the introduction the commission acknowledges the "anxiety and fear" surrounding the testing issue, but concludes that this is just so much smoke and mirrors. The report says:

... one point must be abundantly clear: the Study Commission firmly believes all students in New Jersey’s public schools who are eligible should be required to take the State standardized assessment (i.e., PARCC)

And why must New Jersey students in grades 3-8 be required to take this test every year?

Doing so will ensure all students are progressing well in their educational Russ on Reading: New Jersey Study Commission on Testing: Keep Weighing the Pig:

Yearning to Breathe Free | Randi Weingarten

Yearning to Breathe Free | Randi Weingarten:
Yearning to Breathe Free

I recently had the thrill of seeing the Broadway musical Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's brilliant mashup of history and hip-hop. Alexander Hamilton's story, of an impoverished youth immigrating to America and making his mark on his new country, is both remarkable and relatable. And it's a reminder that our country has always been, and continues to be, shaped and enriched by immigrants. (Certain presidential candidates, take note.)

It also shows that partisan rancor and fierce disagreements are hardly recent developments. Our nation's first leaders fought bitterly over everything from where the capital city would be located to federal versus states' rights. But they agreed that certain principles were so fundamental to our character as a nation as to be inalienable. And while we have used the 240 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence to fight for civil and human rights for women and people of all races, ethnicities and sexual identities, freedom of religion was established from the start. This freedom cannot be switched off and on depending on current events. It is not dictated by the party in power, and it is not determined by bombastic businessmen-turned-reality-TV-stars-turned-presidential-candidates.

I believe the debasement of such principles in politics today is not just repugnant, it is un-American. To propose barring all Muslims from entry into the United States at a time when millions are seeking refuge from the carnage and chaos of war, fleeing terror themselves, is an affront to our founding values. The calls to close mosques and to create a national database of Muslims echo decades-old xenophobia, once directed at Jews, Italians and other "outsiders" who would become integral parts of the American fabric. And it's just as wrong today.

The words etched beneath the Statue of Liberty remind us that America's values make us a beacon of freedom: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses Yearning to Breathe Free | Randi Weingarten:

Your guidance counselor may one day be a robot

Your guidance counselor may one day be a robot:

Your guidance counselor may one day be a robot

If there’s one common enemy among students, it just might be the dreaded guidance counselor, who despite that title, often seem to provide less good advice than expected. My own, as it happens, used the wrong name in a college recommendation letter — and so maybe it’s a good thing that IBM and the University of Michigan are partnering to create an artificial intelligence system that may help you make important life decisions during some of the more formidable years of your life.

It’s all part of Project Sapphire, a collaboration between the tech company and the renowned institution that seeks to “develop a cognitive system that functions as an academic adviser.” And while the initial iteration of the robotic adviser will be geared specifically towards undergraduate computer science and engineering majors at the University, the project may ultimately “allow researchers to explore how smart machines interact with people in goal-driven dialogues.”

While current interactions with computers, machines, and even more advanced AI systems like Siri tend to miss the vital human element of empathy, these researchers hope to change this by focusing on EQ as well as IQ. In order to do so, researchers will record and analyze “large volumes” of recorded interactions between actual human beings — specifically, college students and their current advisers. By listening to everything from how course selection conversations go, to career advice, to recommended resource for homework help, the scientists will draw upon these experiences to teach their own AI, “and ultimately learn how to automatically navigate and successfully reply in conversations.”

A slew of impressive technologies will be employed in order to achieve success through Project Sapphire, including deep learning, machine learning, reinforcement learning, natural language understanding, knowledge representation, and emotion analysis, making this robot one of the most advanced to date.

“Human-to-machine interactions, similar to human-to-human conversations, are rarely confined to one question and one answer,” said David Nahamoo, IBM fellow and chief technologist for conversational systems, IBM Watson in a statement. “They involve multiple turns of a conversation with responses that can be imprecise and unclear, making it difficult to simulate the human experience. By partnering with theUniversity of Michigan, we have an enormous opportunity to apply AI technologies in new ways and transform human-machine communication.”

Related: Mr. Robot is watching you, so you might as well watch Mr. Robot

But don’t worry, guidance counselors — this AI isn’t meant to put you out Your guidance counselor may one day be a robot:

3 Troubling Ways the Charter School Boom Is Like the Subprime Mortgage Crisis | Mother Jones

3 Troubling Ways the Charter School Boom Is Like the Subprime Mortgage Crisis | Mother Jones:

3 Troubling Ways the Charter School Boom Is Like the Subprime Mortgage Crisis

"It's just a long-forming bubble," says the co-author of a new study.

Acting US Secretary of Education John King has called charter schools "good laboratories for innovation." It's that kind of language that's helped the number of public charters jump from 1,542 in 1999 to 6,723 in 2014—when more than 1 million students sat on charter school waiting lists, including a whopping 163,000 in New York City alone.

But, as four researchers argue in a recent study in the University of Richmond Law Review, charter schools could be on the same path that led to the subprime mortgage crisis.

Preston Green III, an urban education professor at the University of Connecticut and one of the study's authors, warns that the underregulated growth of these publicly financed, privately run institutions could result in a "bubble" in black, urban school districts. Many black parents, he argues, are unhappy with the state of traditional public education in their communities and view charter schools as a better alternative. As families see wait lists pile up, they may tolerate policies that allow more schools to open, even as they overlook the much-reported consequences of underregulated schools: poor academic performance, unequal discipline, financial fraud, and the exclusion of high-cost students, such as those with disabilities. It was such an issue that in 2014, the Department of Education released a letter reminding charter schools that if they receive federal funds, they must comply with the federal statutes disallowing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, or disability.

"It's just a long-forming bubble," Green says. "We are at ground zero for this."

Just how similar are the charter school boom and the mortgage crisis? We broke down the report with Green to see.

More authorizers, more problems: Much like the banks that sold mortgages to a secondary market leading up to the housing crisis, charter authorizers—the institutions that determine whether to allow a charter to open—carry a similar decision-making power. Since school districts, which made up nearly 90 percent of authorizers in 2013 and green-light more than half the nation's charter schools, tend to each oversee only five or fewer charters, proponents look to independent institutions to grant additional charters. Higher-education institutions make up the next largest share of authorizers, followed by nonprofits and state education agencies. If more states grant approval power to more authorizers, even more charter schools will result. (The Center for Education Reform notes that states with multiple authorizers have almost three and a half times more charter schools than states with only school district approval.)

School districts, not independent charter authorizers, are responsible for figuring out what to do with students. Ultimately, the independent authorizers "don't have skin in the game."

But these independent authorizers, the paper argues, may be less likely to screen charters and ultimately assume less risk if they fail. Green notes that the school districts, not these other institutions, are responsible for figuring out what to do with students—the independent authorizers, he adds, "don't have skin in the game." A 2009 study from Stanford's Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that, in states that allow different institutions to approve charters, academic performance for students appeared to wane. In those states, low-performing charter schools at risk of closing can find a new authorizer—"authorizer hopping"—to keep the school running and, researchers argue, to avoid accountability measures.

"Misalignment of incentives": Just as the banks sold mortgages to Wall Street and hired servicers to collect payments and modify loans, charter schools enlist the 3 Troubling Ways the Charter School Boom Is Like the Subprime Mortgage Crisis | Mother Jones:

Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations | The Columbus Dispatch

Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations | The Columbus Dispatch:
Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations

Some charter-school advocates already are criticizing academic requirements and questioning how much Ohioans will learn from the results of new evaluations of charter sponsors coming this year.

The sponsor evaluations were delayed last year after a top Department of Education official illegally excluded the results of large online charter schools, boosting the ratings of some sponsors.

State legislators responded by crystallizing the evaluations, and officials hope they become a key tool for increasing the accountability of a charter system that has been widely criticized.

Two years’ worth of sponsor evaluations, for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, will be released in October.

“Unfortunately, the school academic-performance component standard has been set so ridiculously high that even the best of sponsors will struggle to meet them,” Ron Adler, president of the charter-school advocacy group Ohio Coalition for Quality Education, said in a recent statement.

Sponsor evaluations will consist of scores of zero to 4 in each of three categories: use of quality practices, compliance with the law, and student academic performance. Each category is weighted equally, and the scores are totaled to determine a rating.

Sponsors with 10 or more points are “exemplary,” while those with 7 to 9 points are “effective,” 3 to 6 points are “ineffective,” and 2 or fewer points are “poor.”

“We’re looking to ratchet up the pressure on people to do what they claim they could do,” said Tom Gunlock, president of the Ohio Board of Education. “When the charter-school movement got started, people said they could do it better. I’m all about results.”

National studies have shown that Ohio charter schools are, generally, not doing better. The academic portion of the sponsor evaluation largely mirrors report cards set up for traditional school districts.

Considering past academic performance, many sponsors are likely to see low academic scores. Adler and other charter advocates stress that sponsors do not have direct management of the schools.

“The expectations must be reasonable — and many of the most recent Charter-schools sponsors uneasy over Ohio’s new evaluations | The Columbus Dispatch:

Obama Declares Emergency for Michigan City's Water

Obama Declares Emergency for Michigan City's Water:

Obama Declares Emergency for Michigan City's Water

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency Saturday for the northern state of Michigan, freeing up money for federal aid for the city of Flint. Residents have been drinking and bathing in lead-contaminated water for almost two years, and children are testing with high levels of lead in their young bodies.

Flint, about an hour's drive from Detroit, is home to 100,000 people. Most are African American. Forty percent of the population lives in poverty.

The water crisis began in April 2014 when the financially-strapped city began drawing water from the Flint River to save money instead of continuing to use Detroit's water system.

Flint officials did not properly treat the corrosive Flint River water to prevent metal leaching from old pipes. Flint residents were not told about their tainted drinking water supply for a year and a half.

Flint has returned to using water from Detroit, but officials say its water distribution system may now need to be replaced, costing as much at $1.5 billion.

'People, pets and even plants' affected

The Detroit Free Press newspaper says "people, pets and even plants have been affected by the poisonous, lead-contaminated water." The newspaper says some people stopped using the water immediately after the switch because of the water's "smell, color and taste," while others continued to drink and cook with it.

Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, director of pediatric residency at Hurley Children's Hospital, is credited with bringing the problem to the public's attention after state agencies initially dismissed her concerns. Lead-contaminated water "has such damning, lifelong and generational consequences," Hanna-Attisha says.Obama Declares Emergency for Michigan City's Water:

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic:
Why Some States Want Strong Public-Sector Unions
Having a powerful partner on the other side of the bargaining table can make for happier workplaces and better public services.

An estimated 15,000 teachers, parents, and other supporters encircle City Hall in New York during a mass rally in support of an ongoing teac

As argument commenced at the Supreme Court last Monday, most eyes were on Justice Antonin Scalia. While still the Court’s conservative paterfamilias, union supporters were looking to Scalia as a potential swing vote in their favor in the case, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. He had endorsed Abood, the precedent now under scrutiny, in a 1991 case, and strongly defended state and municipal employers’ right to limit employee speech in other contexts. However, as his questioning began, union supporters lost hope.

Scalia seemed skeptical of public-sector employers’ interests in a strong union representing workers, implying that a state would be equally well off bargaining with a weak union with fewer resources. He told the solicitor general of California that he understood “the need of the state to have an efficient system for dealing with its employees,” but questioned whether “the union would not survive without” agency fees, the payments that are at issue in the case. Later, Chief Justice Roberts echoed this view, asking for proof that “the unions are going to collapse” without agency fees. Counsel for Friedrichs put a finer point on it, arguing that “if anything, [public employers] don’t want” effective unions, “because nobody wants a strong bargaining partner that’s going to drive up public expenditures.”

In some ways, Scalia’s question was a (very) small victory for the unions. At least the conservative justice saw a state interest in allowing public workers to be represented by a union, and in ensuring the union’s minimal survival—though maybe no more than that.

Yet, Scalia’s implication missed an important fact: Many states want effective and well-resourced unions, even though those unions will be on the other side of the bargaining table. That much is apparent from California’s robust defense of its collective-bargaining law in Friedrichs, as well as the amicus briefs filed by 21 states and the District of Columbia and a list of cities, counties, elected officials, and school districts in support of California and the California Teachers Association. (I was one of the co-authors of an amicus brief on behalf of Labor Law and Labor Relations Professors in support of the state and union parties in this case.)

And there’s further proof in how many individual states have chosen to manage their employees through collective bargaining: States are not locked into a one-size-fits-all labor-relations model. If a state views unions as unhelpful partners, they are free to eliminate or curtail public-sector bargaining. Despite this, most Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association and Why States Are Fighting for Strong Public-Sector Unions - The Atlantic: