Suing To Eliminate All Public School
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This lawsuit popped up on my radar a few days ago and I let it sit,
thinking foolishly that maybe I was reading too much into it.
2 hours ago
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Friday, September 30, 2016
Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice - Wait What?
Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice - Wait What?:
Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice
Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice
Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice
Revive the Peace Movement Network (RPM) is a broad-based network of organizations working to promote greater peace and harmony in the world. In their letter below, they (1) reject U.S.-Russia collaboration for more bombing, (2) call for immediate food drops to besieged areas in Syria and (3) explicitly condemn the Assad/Russian Killings as well as U.S. Bombing
As the Green Party candidate for Congress in Connecticut’s 2nd Congressional District, I sign this important letter entitled, The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice and call on all candidates across the political spectrum to join the effort to promote peace.
The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice
There can be no doubt that the Syrian people have paid a terrible price for their struggle for freedom. They know the pain and suffering of being unable to feed their children, of being the targets of relentless and merciless bombing. We share their desire to see peace with justice in Syria. Unfortunately, the Kerry-Lavrov negotiations have thus far brought neither. The “agreement” being sold as a “peace deal” for Syria has thus far been a rotten bargain that extends the bombing. The wanton destruction of the aid caravan on September 19th brought the sorely unsuccessful “ceasefire” phase to a barbaric conclusion, and what is proposed to follow will be even worse – far worse.
The Assad regime’s forces continued their attacks throughout the so-called “ceasefire” of September 12th-18th. The day after the deal was announced, a hundred people died from regime attacks. On September 16th, regime warplanes targeted and bombed the White Helmets’ Head Quarters in Al Tamanna, rendering it inoperable.
The sieges that seek to impose submission to the regime through starvation still affect hundreds of thousands, and promises to allow aid convoys to reach the besieged areas during the “ceasefire” never materialised. This demonstrates beyond all doubt that only air-drops of food will prevent the mass starvation of entire populations under siege.
Millions have been driven from their homes as a result of Putin and Assad’s bombing campaign. Tens of thousands rot in Assad’s torture-to-death prisons.
These issues must be addressed to bring peace through justice to Syria. An expansion of the targets to be bombed by the US Coalition, and cooperation in bombing these targets between the US and Russia, which objectively means cooperation with the Assad regime, cannot bring Syrians peace nor justice.
We say:
Stop the bombing! Don’t expand it!
End the sieges! #DropFoodNotBombs! Immediate airdrops of food to the besieged! UN Aid must reach the people, not be diverted to supply a war criminal regime! Aid to the hungry is Pelto signs onto Revive the Peace Movement Letter entitled The Russia-US Bombing Deal Will Bring Neither Peace Nor Justice - Wait What?:
Revive the Peace Movement Network - http://www.rpm.world/home.html
Big Education Ape: News Flash - Pelto to run under Green Party Banner for 2nd Congressional District Seat - Wait What? - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/07/news-flash-pelto-to-run-under-green.html
Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability | Diane Ravitch's blog
Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability
Governor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability
I confess that I once believed that Governor Jerry Brown of California would be a great friend to public education.
I was wrong.
Jerry Brown is in the pockets of the powerful charter lobby.
He previously vetoed a bill to ban for-profit charters, soon after a series of investigative articles in the San Jose Mercury News showed that the for-profit online K12 Inc. schools were educationally disastrous bit highly profitable. From Governor Browm: let the profit-making continue!
This week, he vetoed SB 739, which would have established very modest regulation for charter schools that expand into other districts. Carol Burris explained it in this post:
“When the Van Zant story broke, the California Charter School Association agreed that the case raised legitimate concerns. However, legislation to address the problem of districts authorizing charters in other districts, and even other counties, was opposed by the California Charter School Association (CCSA) and vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014. A present bill on the governor’s desk, SB 739, would put a small restriction on a district’s ability to open independent learning center charters in other districts by ensuring that the sponsoring district is fiscally solvent (does not have a negative certification), thus decreasing the profit generating motive.”
The California Charter School Association wants no restrictions, no limitations, no transparency, no accountability. They want for-profit schools, and they refuse to clean their dirty house.
And Governor a Jerry Brown dances to their tune. How sad. He doesn’t need their support. He doesn’t need their money. He won’t run for office again. Yet he has succumbed to the privatization movement, those who would destroy our communities and the public education systemGovernor Jerry Brown Vetoes Bill to Establish Minimal Charter Accountability | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Big Education Ape: The Fight to Bring Transparency to California’s Charter Schools | Alternet - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-fight-to-bring-transparency-to_13.html
Big Education Ape: “Does Governor Jerry Brown Want His Legacy to Be the Privatization of California’s Public Schools?” | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/09/does-governor-jerry-brown-want-his.html
They're walking 150 miles to save their public schools. Here's how you can help | Schott Foundation for Public Education
They're walking 150 miles to save their public schools. Here's how you can help | Schott Foundation for Public Education:
They're walking 150 miles to save their public schools. Here's how you can help
They're walking 150 miles to save their public schools. Here's how you can help
 Education advocates are walking from NYC to Albany and need your help! Schott will match your donation up to $10,000:  |
Why are advocates walking from New York City to Albany?
In 2006, New York State’s highest court ruled on the Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE) school funding lawsuit. The CFE lawsuit was brought by parents against the State of New York claiming that children were not being provided an opportunity to receive an adequate education.
The Schott Foundation was among the first to fund the Campaign for Fiscal Equity in the mid-1990s which sparked a movement — and a victory. In 2006 the Court of Appeals ruled in CFE’s favor and found that New York State had violated students' constitutional right to a “sound and basic education” by depriving schools of needed funding. The Court ordered the NY Legislature to distribute $5.5 billion in basic operating aid (also known as Foundation Aid) to schools statewide over a four-year period, from 2007 to 2011.
Yet — ten years later — New York still owes its children $3.9 billion in Foundation Aid, most of which is owed to districts with high percentages of students of color. The state has only allocated $2.3 billion in Foundation Aid to schools thus far due to funding freezes during the fiscal crisis and further cuts to school aid.
It’s past time for the state of New York to deliver on providing the funding for the high-quality education our students have earned and deserve.
Starting this Sunday, October 2nd, parents, students, educators, and community members will walk 150 miles from New York City to Albany — to show Governor Cuomo and the Senate Republicans that we are not backing down.
If you can, join all or a portion of the walk. If you can’t, please join the Schott Foundation by helping to sponsor the walk. Schott will match donations up to $10,000.
We won’t stop until our students’ public schools receive the funding they were promised a decade ago. Any donation, no matter how small, will help make this happen. Your contribution will help cover the cost of: food, snacks, and water for all of They're walking 150 miles to save their public schools. Here's how you can help | Schott Foundation for Public Education:
Choice for Me but Not for Thee? – EduShyster
Choice for Me but Not for Thee? – EduShyster:
Choice for Me but Not for Thee?
Dear Edulosopher:
A few years ago my family moved from New York City to Massachusetts. Before we made the move, we thought we’d be moving to Jamaica Plain, but we also looked at Brookline. Fear of the Boston Public Schools lottery system (among other things) led us to choose Brookline, even though the rent was going to be higher. We wanted to make sure that our daughter got the best public education we could afford. And that’s the issue that the upcoming charter school vote has created for me. Until a month ago, I thought I was going to vote no on lifting the cap on charter schools. I’m pro-union and believe strongly in public schools. I’ve long worried that charter schools could end up creating even worse public schools in communities with already struggling schools, because motivated parents would move their children into the better schools, leaving the weakest students behind in weaker schools. What I was blind to, shamefully, was that my family had made precisely that same choice by moving to Brookline. Shouldn’t families in communities with failing schools have the same option that I had, to move their children to better schools? I’m voting yes on expanding charter schools, but I remain troubled by the issues in play. I think that charters do hurt the overall system, but I cannot claim that poorer families than my own should not get the same option we had, and yet I fear that the growth of charters will let some policymakers think they are off the hook when it comes to making better schools for all. So, what’s the right way to deal with charters?
Choice for Me but Not for Thee?
A voter is deeply conflicted over the ballot question to expand charter schools in Massachusetts. Paging the Edulosopher…
Dear Edulosopher: A few years ago my family moved from New York City to Massachusetts. Before we made the move, we thought we’d be moving to Jamaica Plain, but we also looked at Brookline. Fear of the Boston Public Schools lottery system (among other things) led us to choose Brookline, even though the rent was going to be higher. We wanted to make sure that our daughter got the best public education we could afford. And that’s the issue that the upcoming charter school vote has created for me. Until a month ago, I thought I was going to vote no on lifting the cap on charter schools. I’m pro-union and believe strongly in public schools. I’ve long worried that charter schools could end up creating even worse public schools in communities with already struggling schools, because motivated parents would move their children into the better schools, leaving the weakest students behind in weaker schools. What I was blind to, shamefully, was that my family had made precisely that same choice by moving to Brookline. Shouldn’t families in communities with failing schools have the same option that I had, to move their children to better schools? I’m voting yes on expanding charter schools, but I remain troubled by the issues in play. I think that charters do hurt the overall system, but I cannot claim that poorer families than my own should not get the same option we had, and yet I fear that the growth of charters will let some policymakers think they are off the hook when it comes to making better schools for all. So, what’s the right way to deal with charters?
Signed,
All Turned Around
All Turned Around
Dear All Turned Around:
Parsing the debate surrounding charter schools is no simple task. As your question illustrates, the issue of charters moves quickly into choice, access to quality schools, what makes a school a good school, what makes a district a good district, teacher Choice for Me but Not for Thee? – EduShyster:
Parsing the debate surrounding charter schools is no simple task. As your question illustrates, the issue of charters moves quickly into choice, access to quality schools, what makes a school a good school, what makes a district a good district, teacher Choice for Me but Not for Thee? – EduShyster:
The charter school debate is over | Eclectablog
The charter school debate is over | Eclectablog:
The charter school debate is over
The charter school debate is over
The charter school “debate” is no longer about charter schools vs. public schools (charters are not public schools — that myth has been exploded), or even about “for profit” vs. “not for profit” charters (the evidence HEREsuggests this is really a difference without a distinction).
No, the real issue here is about the true purpose of education, and whether continuing to support two separate but unequal, and inequitable, school systems is doing anything to improve education for all children. By any objective measure, the answer is a resounding “NO!”
The charter lobby has attempted, through spending millions of dollars on PR and marketing, to redefine the purpose of education from one about producing well-rounded citizens who are capable of making valuable contributions to our society and leading fulfilling lives, to a business-driven agenda of producing workers for corporate America. The latter “purpose” now drives much of our state and federal education legislation, which is rife with references to “21st Century Skills,” and insuring that high school graduates are stamped as being “college and career-ready”.
This is a radical repurposing of a public goal to meet the needs of private corporations, and is echoed in the mission and “vision” statements of the leading charter school management companies:
Success Academy: “Build exceptional, world-class public schools that prove children from all backgrounds can succeed in college and life; and advocate across the country to change public policies that prevent so many children from having access to opportunity.”
This is less a mission statement than the beginning sentence of a business plan. At Success Academy, children are referred to as “scholars,” and are judged on a one-size-fits-all scale: your value as a student is determined by your test scores, and eventually, your “hirability.” These goals are accomplished through adhering to uncommonly strict and harsh behavior management strategies, and by establishing an authoritarian classroom environment that is focused more on controlling students’ actions than on engaging them as learners.
KIPP: “To create a respected, influential, and national network of public schools that are successful in helping students from educationally underserved communities develop the The charter school debate is over | Eclectablog:
CURMUDGUCATION: OK: Teach LIke a Robot
CURMUDGUCATION: OK: Teach LIke a Robot:
OK: Teach LIke a Robot
This week Tulsa news outlets were covering an exciting non-innovation innovation arriving in local classrooms-- real time coaching.
See, in normal coaching, a principal watches a teacher and then it is hours, or even days, before the teacher gets the feedback. But in real time coaching, the coach directs the teacher through an earpiece, presumably because the technology to simply control her body from a distance does not yet exist.
This piece follows poor second-year teacher Krystal Medina who goes through this process. Perhaps that teacher should talk toAmy Berard, a Massachusetts teacher who has been dragged through this particular corner of ed reform hell, as she wrote atEdushyster.
The students were also perplexed by my new earpiece accessory. "Um, Miss, what’s that in your ear?" they asked. I looked over to the three adults in the far back corner of the room for my scripted answer. "Tell them you are like Tom Brady. Tom Brady wears an earpiece to be coached remotely and so do you," was the response. I never would have said that, and mumbled instead: "But I’m not Tom Brady. No, I’m not Tom Brady." The students, who could hear me, but not what I was hearing through my earpiece, were more confused than ever.
The press were there to watch Remote Control Scripting in action because they had been invited there by Tulsa Public Schools and the company TPS hired to provide this program. It's the same CURMUDGUCATION: OK: Teach LIke a Robot:
OK: Teach LIke a Robot
This week Tulsa news outlets were covering an exciting non-innovation innovation arriving in local classrooms-- real time coaching.
See, in normal coaching, a principal watches a teacher and then it is hours, or even days, before the teacher gets the feedback. But in real time coaching, the coach directs the teacher through an earpiece, presumably because the technology to simply control her body from a distance does not yet exist.
 |
| One more example of real time coaching about to go badly |
This piece follows poor second-year teacher Krystal Medina who goes through this process. Perhaps that teacher should talk toAmy Berard, a Massachusetts teacher who has been dragged through this particular corner of ed reform hell, as she wrote atEdushyster.
The students were also perplexed by my new earpiece accessory. "Um, Miss, what’s that in your ear?" they asked. I looked over to the three adults in the far back corner of the room for my scripted answer. "Tell them you are like Tom Brady. Tom Brady wears an earpiece to be coached remotely and so do you," was the response. I never would have said that, and mumbled instead: "But I’m not Tom Brady. No, I’m not Tom Brady." The students, who could hear me, but not what I was hearing through my earpiece, were more confused than ever.
The press were there to watch Remote Control Scripting in action because they had been invited there by Tulsa Public Schools and the company TPS hired to provide this program. It's the same CURMUDGUCATION: OK: Teach LIke a Robot:
Houston Education and Civil Rights Summit - United Opt Out National
United Opt Out National - Events:
Join Us at the Houston Education and Civil Rights Summit
Samuel Abrams is the Director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education(NCSPE) and an instructor in Columbia Teachers College Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis. The former high school teacher of economics and history, is the author ofEducation and the Commercial Mindset published by Harvard Press http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674049178. In it he addresses the conflict between the prevailing managerial approach to schooling in the United States and a well-rounded education. According to Abrams, the growing focus on test results hinders development of the whole child, and the United States should follow Finland’s lead in emphasizing arts, crafts, and play; in confining standardized testing to small samples of students rather than testing all students; in paying teachers better salaries in order to attract and retain quality educators, and in granting teachers significant autonomy to devise curricula and assess their students. In a July 2016 interview with Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss he stated, “Privatization accordingly amounts to a flawed response to state failure, not a solution. The solution calls for investing the resources necessary to make all neighborhood schools solid in the way all neighborhood schools are solid in middle- and upper-class suburbs, with well-paid teachers, good working conditions and smaller classes.”
Faya Ora Rose Touré is a Harvard-educated Civil Rights activist and litigation attorney who has worked on some of the highest-profile civil rights cases to come before the courts. Touré—who spent most of her career as Rose Sanders until she decided to step away from her "slave name" in 2003—was the first African-American female judge in Alabama and was part of the winning legal team in Pigford vs. Veneman, the largest civil rights case in history. This case led to the payment of a billion dollars in damages to black farmers by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, Touré is founder of the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama, and a founding partner in the law firm of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders, Pettaway & Campbell, LLC. Intensely passionate about her activism and legal work and the needs of the black community, Touré has founded learning and cultural centers, political and legal organizations, and community initiatives that have benefited Alabamians for three decades. he founded the National Voting Rights Museum in 1993 to tell the story of the Voting Rights Movement and founded the Bridge Crossing Jubilee in 1965 to commemorate the Selma-to-Montgomery Civil Rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She co-founded the Coalition of Alabamians Reforming Education (C.A.R.E.) in 1993
Julian Vasquez Heilig is an award-winning researcher and teacher. He is currently a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership at California State Sacramento. In addition to educational accomplishments, Julian Vasquez Heilig has held a variety of research and practitioner positions in organizations from Boston to Beijing. These experiences have provided formative professional perspectives to bridge research, theory, and practice. His current research includes quantitatively and qualitatively examining how high-stakes testing and accountability-based reforms and market reforms impact urban minority students. His work has been cited by the New York Times,Washington Post, Associated Press, USAToday, Education Week, Huffington Post and other print and electronic media outlets. He has also appeared on local and national radio and TV including PBS, NBC, NBCLatino, NPR, Univision, and MSNBC. The state Education Chair for the California NAACP, he blogs at Cloaking Inequity, consistently rated one of the top 50 education websites in the world by Teach100
Join Us at the Houston Education and Civil Rights Summit
October 14-15, 2016
Houston Education and Civil Rights Summit
The continued challenges of public education and the teaching profession have only been exacerbated by past and current policies and practices. Moreover, the gulf between civil rights organizations and education activists has not helped to provide workable solutions.UOO and HFT will bring together various civil rights organizations and activists groups to discuss the shifting landscape of public education and its impact on civil and human rights and civil society.
The focus will be on creating alliances, building solidarity, and promoting a unified stance around the following issues: standardized testing, digital instruction, student and parental rights, allocation of funding, teacher quality, and the corporatization of public education. Ultimately, the goal is to see our consensus realized on the local, state and federal levels in terms of policies and practices.
The focus will be on creating alliances, building solidarity, and promoting a unified stance around the following issues: standardized testing, digital instruction, student and parental rights, allocation of funding, teacher quality, and the corporatization of public education. Ultimately, the goal is to see our consensus realized on the local, state and federal levels in terms of policies and practices.
Keynote Speakers
Samuel Abrams is the Director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education(NCSPE) and an instructor in Columbia Teachers College Department of Education Policy and Social Analysis. The former high school teacher of economics and history, is the author ofEducation and the Commercial Mindset published by Harvard Press http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674049178. In it he addresses the conflict between the prevailing managerial approach to schooling in the United States and a well-rounded education. According to Abrams, the growing focus on test results hinders development of the whole child, and the United States should follow Finland’s lead in emphasizing arts, crafts, and play; in confining standardized testing to small samples of students rather than testing all students; in paying teachers better salaries in order to attract and retain quality educators, and in granting teachers significant autonomy to devise curricula and assess their students. In a July 2016 interview with Washington Post blogger Valerie Strauss he stated, “Privatization accordingly amounts to a flawed response to state failure, not a solution. The solution calls for investing the resources necessary to make all neighborhood schools solid in the way all neighborhood schools are solid in middle- and upper-class suburbs, with well-paid teachers, good working conditions and smaller classes.”Faya Ora Rose Touré is a Harvard-educated Civil Rights activist and litigation attorney who has worked on some of the highest-profile civil rights cases to come before the courts. Touré—who spent most of her career as Rose Sanders until she decided to step away from her "slave name" in 2003—was the first African-American female judge in Alabama and was part of the winning legal team in Pigford vs. Veneman, the largest civil rights case in history. This case led to the payment of a billion dollars in damages to black farmers by the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In addition, Touré is founder of the National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama, and a founding partner in the law firm of Chestnut, Sanders, Sanders, Pettaway & Campbell, LLC. Intensely passionate about her activism and legal work and the needs of the black community, Touré has founded learning and cultural centers, political and legal organizations, and community initiatives that have benefited Alabamians for three decades. he founded the National Voting Rights Museum in 1993 to tell the story of the Voting Rights Movement and founded the Bridge Crossing Jubilee in 1965 to commemorate the Selma-to-Montgomery Civil Rights march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She co-founded the Coalition of Alabamians Reforming Education (C.A.R.E.) in 1993Julian Vasquez Heilig is an award-winning researcher and teacher. He is currently a Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies and the Director of the Doctorate in Educational Leadership at California State Sacramento. In addition to educational accomplishments, Julian Vasquez Heilig has held a variety of research and practitioner positions in organizations from Boston to Beijing. These experiences have provided formative professional perspectives to bridge research, theory, and practice. His current research includes quantitatively and qualitatively examining how high-stakes testing and accountability-based reforms and market reforms impact urban minority students. His work has been cited by the New York Times,Washington Post, Associated Press, USAToday, Education Week, Huffington Post and other print and electronic media outlets. He has also appeared on local and national radio and TV including PBS, NBC, NBCLatino, NPR, Univision, and MSNBC. The state Education Chair for the California NAACP, he blogs at Cloaking Inequity, consistently rated one of the top 50 education websites in the world by Teach100Panelists and Working Group Leaders
When
Friday, October 14, 2016 at 4:00 PM - Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 8:00 PM (CDT)
Where
Houston Hilton Post Oak - 2001 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, TX 77056
Join the October 6th National Walk-Ins! | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools
Join the October 6th National Walk-Ins! | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools:
Join the October 6th National Walk-Ins!
AROS is proud to announce that dozens of cities are gearing up for a demonstration of support for their public schools and the fight for the Schools All Our Children Deserve. On October 6 parents, students and educators will gather outside of their schools before the bell to hold a rally and march. Then they will walk into their schools together in a show of solidarity.
This is the third national walk-in event organized by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools - and the movement is growing! Earlier this year, 33 cities participated in national walk-ins on February 17 & May 4th. (You can find a recap of that event with pictures and videos here.)
This is the third national walk-in event organized by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools - and the movement is growing! Earlier this year, 33 cities participated in national walk-ins on February 17 & May 4th. (You can find a recap of that event with pictures and videos here.)
As public schools are increasingly threatened by a view of education that supports privatization, zero-tolerance discipline policies, less funding, and high-stakes standardized tests, AROS is fighting back with a broad vision of American public education that prioritizes racial justice, equity and well-resourced, world-class, public community schools.
JOIN US OCTOBER 6th!!
We have a toolkit of walk-in resources available: CLICK HERE.
JOIN US OCTOBER 6th!!
We have a toolkit of walk-in resources available: CLICK HERE.
PSconnect is Public Schools connect, a new level of community engagement for public schools.
PS connect:
PSconnect is Public Schools connect, a new level of community engagement for public schools.
As a mom, I choose public schools because I believe diversity is better than division. I want my children to relate to the city and the world in which we live. But there is an assault on public education. Schools are stuck in a conflict that has nothing to do with our children. Schools bare all the responsibility for student success but receive less and less to get results. And there is more competition than ever.
Schools aren't failing. We are failing our schools. That's why I started PSconnect.
We connect public schools to the community and the community to our schools. When community leaders know what schools are accomplishing and what they are lacking, they can help teachers and principals do what they do best. When the media understands what's really happening in our schools, the story changes.
Our public program series, PSconnects Us! covers provocative topics that are impacting our schools. We bring grassroots leaders from across the country to share their stories of hard-won victories and heart-wrenching defeats that inspire and empower LA's parents and education supporters.
Join us as we make Friends to Public Schools!
Sometimes corporate reforms come in disguise, like the "iPads are a civil right" that turned out to be a boondoggle for someone's favorite vendor.
LAUSD's school calendar may have been the same. For years, a so-called reform effort to boost achievement cut summers short. It seems no reform is worthwhile unless it punishes someone.
No evidence was shown that connected higher achievement to an earlier school year. Remember, the number of school days did not change, just the start and end dates of the school year. Reform means starting school on August 16th in sweltering southern California rather than after Labor Day.
When three retired principals on the school board, George McKenna, Scott Schmerelson and Richard Vladovic brought the issue to the board on September 20, they had their own experience to dispel the myth that hijacking families' summers led to higher achievement.
“I think the quality of instruction does not change based upon the calendar,” McKenna said.
Vladovic, who has championed a later start for four years, brought a ream of research, including data showing school districts like Torrance Unified's 96% graduation rate with a post-Labor Day start date.
Schmerelson had said, "My biggest concern is with family time. People from all over the world and the United States come to California to enjoy the beaches and the entertainment that we have, especially during July and August. And the people who cannot partake of that are the actual students in L.A. Unified."
Sounds reasonable. But the backlash was fierce.
Howard Blume was right when he wrote that senior staff seemed awfully invested in keeping the calendar as is. He wrote that the staff's extensive report rationalizing the early start seemed to evaporate on closer examination.
Staff seemed baffled by parents. The report said, "most parents express a strong preference for late start," but dismissed it as "tradition (what they recall from their school days)." Howard Blume wrote that although thousands of parents have signed petitions supporting a later start date, "the school system has not determined what the majority wants."
Corporate reform champion Monica Garcia knew what she wanted. She launched into an aggressive showdown, portraying the change as a slide back to low standards. In doing so, she dismissed the thousands of parents who had contacted the school district asking for their summers back.
She said the district should not roll back successful reforms simply for parents' convenience--and just because they had enough votes on the school board.
That's quite a departure from last week when she shouted at the charter schools Rally in the Valley: "When I say 'Parent!' you say 'Power!'"
Parent voice is important when you're trying to advance the reform of *parent choice*. But at other times? Not so much.
That's when I decided it was important to speak up. So I testified at the board meeting, reminding board members that education is not just about test scores, but about creating citizens. Parents play a big role in that, along with educators.
It's ironic that while the calendar was being deliberated, the LAUSD board room was bracing for a stampede of parents to testify on behalf of the 17 charter applicants that were next on the board agenda. The parents wereReforms in disguise: a report on the LAUSD board meeting
QUESTIONS for the coming debates | Bill Ayers
QUESTIONS for the coming debates | Bill Ayers:
QUESTIONS for the coming debates
QUESTIONS for the coming debates
Bill Ayers -- Demand the Impossible!: A Radical Manifesto | Haymarket Books -http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Demand-the-Impossible
Here are a few questions Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were not asked at the first debate. Help me grow the list—think of it as a public service to future moderators.
~~Would you pardon Edward Snowden? Would you give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom?
~~Who else would you pardon (or award the Presidential Medal of Freedom)? Oscar Lopez? Leonard Peltier?
~~Will you commit to closing all US foreign military bases during your first term?
~~Will you immediately end the drone killing program?
~~Will you stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia?
~~Will you stop arms sales to Israel, as well as all aid until Israel terminates the settlements and ends the occupation?
~~Do you believe that the Palestinian people should enjoy the basic human rights as outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights? If so, do you support the Gandhi-style BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanction) movement pressing Israel to end the occupation?
~~Is public education a human right or a product to be sold at the market place? Similarly, is health and health care a product or a right?
~~What are five steps you would advocate for ending mass incarceration? For demilitarizing the police forces?
~~What is your plan to support labor organizing and unions?
~~Would you fight to preserve the US Postal Service?
~~How would your administration repair and then build a public transportation system?
~~Would you immediately raise the minimum wage to $15?
~~Would you stop deportations of undocumented workers?
~~How do you propose repairing the damage inflicted on folks during the Great Recession when over $16 trillion worth of household wealth was destroyed by the zombie capitalists?
~~Would you support an effort to cancel student debt? How?
I’ve got more. How about you?
Demand the impossible!QUESTIONS for the coming debates | Bill Ayers:
Attention Connecticut: SATs are WORTHLESS – A report by whistleblower Manuel Alfaro - Wait What?
Attention Connecticut: SATs are WORTHLESS – A report by whistleblower Manuel Alfaro - Wait What?:
Attention Connecticut: SATs are WORTHLESS – A report by whistleblower Manuel Alfaro
Attention Connecticut: SATs are WORTHLESS – A report by whistleblower Manuel Alfaro
Tomorrow, October 1, 2016, thousands of Connecticut children will – once again – be taking the SATs in the hopes of acquiring a high enough score that they can attend the college of their choice.
However, more and more colleges and universities are going test optional. According to Fairtest, the national test monitoring entity, more than 900 colleges and universities across the country have dropped the requirement that students provide an SAT or ACT test score with their application. Colleges have taken this step because they recognize that it is a student’s grade point average – not their standardized test score – that is the best predicator of how well a student will do in college.
Meanwhile, it was just last year that Governor Dannel Malloy and the Connecticut General Assembly mandated that every Connecticut high school junior take the SAT, despite the fact that the overwhelming evidence is that the test is unfair, inappropriate and discriminatory, not to mention, it is designed to fail a vast number of children.
Instead of promoting a sophisticated student and teacher evaluation program, Malloy and other proponents of the corporate education reform agenda have been pushing a dangerous reliance on standardized testing as a the state’s mechanism to judge and evaluate students, teachers and public school.
Below are two statements that were recently posted by Manuel Alfaro on his LinkedIn account. Alfaro is an outspoken whistleblower and critic of the College Board and their SAT.
Before coming forward to report the College Board’s unethical, and arguably illegal activities, Alfaro served as the Executive Director of Assessment Design & Development at The College Board (The SAT).
Considering Connecticut’s public officials made a profound mistake by mandating that schools use the SAT scores to evaluate students and teachers, Mr. Alfaro’s information and warnings are particularly important.
Manuel Alfaro Post #1
Residents of CO, CT, DE, IL, ME, MI, and NH, the heads of the Department of Education of your states have failed to protect the best interests of your students and your families, opting instead to protect their own interests and the interests of the College Board.Over the last five months, I have written about several serious problems with the redesigned SAT. The problems include:
- Development processes that do not meet industry standards; false claims Attention Connecticut: SATs are WORTHLESS – A report by whistleblower Manuel Alfaro - Wait What?:
Stand For Children Defends Spending In Nashville School Board Races As Hefty Fines Loom | Nashville Public Radio
Stand For Children Defends Spending In Nashville School Board Races As Hefty Fines Loom | Nashville Public Radio:
Stand For Children Defends Spending In Nashville School Board Races As Hefty Fines Loom
Stand for Children, charter candidates face massive fines - http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2016/09/28/stand-children-charter-candidates-face-massive-fines/91239098/ via @tennessean
Stand For Children Defends Spending In Nashville School Board Races As Hefty Fines Loom
Candidate Thom Druffel was supported by Stand for Children and lost to incumbent Amy Frogge in August. He and three other candidates supported by Stand for Children face penalties under campaign finance rules.
CHAS SISK / WPLN (FILE PHOTO)
Four school board candidates in Nashville who were backed by Stand for Children could face campaign fines of more than $70,000 each. The alleged violations are laid out in a letter from the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance, published by the Nashville Scene.
Stand for Children, which advocates for charter schools, donated to four candidates directly, which was all under the legal limits. A separate arm of the organization spent many times more on independent mailer campaigns, and that expenditure is also allowed.
But state regulators believe there was illegal coordination between the two. A complaint filed by a Metro Schools parent and the group Tennessee Citizen Action cites news accounts that representatives met with a candidate during a blackout period and paid for door-to-door canvassers, which was not reported on the candidates' filings. So the Registry of Election Finance is counting all of the money spent by Stand for Children as contributions to the candidates themselves — which far exceed the legal limit.
Candidates Miranda Christy, Thom Druffel, Jackson Miller and Jane Grimes Meneely, who all lost their races, will be able to defend themselves at a hearing Oct. 12. An attorney with Stand for Children says the group looks forward to "presenting all the facts."
"Stand meticulously followed the law and takes all ethical obligations seriously," attorney Stephen Zralek said.
The Registry of Election Finance has total discretion over whether to reduce the fines or waive them altogether.Stand For Children Defends Spending In Nashville School Board Races As Hefty Fines Loom | Nashville Public Radio:
Stand for Children, charter candidates face massive fines - http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2016/09/28/stand-children-charter-candidates-face-massive-fines/91239098/ via @tennessean
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