L.A. Schools’ Superintendent Attempts a Coup – Carl J. Petersen – Medium #UTLAStrong #StrikeReady #March4Ed #WeAreLA

L.A. Schools’ Superintendent Attempts a Coup – Carl J. Petersen – Medium

L.A. Schools’ Superintendent Attempts a Coup

“The secrecy has got to stop.”

- LAUSD Board Member Scott Schmerelson

In a clear case of insubordination, Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Austin Beutner has ignored a request for copies of contracts that the District had signed for four months. On at least one occasion, Beutner publicly promised to turn over these “confidential contracts” to Board Member Scott Schmerelson but did not do so until last week. “The consultants’ work was not disclosed”.

To make matters worse, it appears that information about the contracts, which “total $3 million so far”, was selectively released to other Board Members. Schmerelson noted at yesterday’s Board meeting that he is “sure that certain offices receive more information than others”, which eliminates any notion that the information was somehow unavailable. The lack of disclosure was willful and a clear attempt to keep information away from an elected Board Member who is, by definition, Beutner’s boss. In the private sector, this would be a fireable offense. It should be no different in the public sector.

In discussing Schmerelson’s “Reimagining Open Government Based on Transparency, Accountability, and Oversight” resolution, no direct reason was given for lack of candor by the Superintendent. However, Board President Monica Garcia did complain in passing about the past handling of “sensitive CONTINUE READING: L.A. Schools’ Superintendent Attempts a Coup – Carl J. Petersen – Medium

Boiling Frogs & Building Brands: P&G’s Partnership With Strive – Wrench in the Gears

Boiling Frogs & Building Brands: P&G’s Partnership With Strive – Wrench in the Gears

Boiling Frogs & Building Brands: P&G’s Partnership With Strive

This is a follow up to my previous post about Strive Together’s plans for “cradle to career” collective impact. Pursuing this work is a curious experience. Most times I can’t tell what, if any, progress I’m making. Yet I continue to forge ahead and regularly stumble across guideposts that seem to affirm I’m doing the work I’m supposed to do. So, I sit back down at the kitchen table and keep going, as my friend Chris says, a Jeremiah warning of the coming Babylonians.

A recent sign for me had to do with Strive (and Knowledgeworks) being based in Cincinnati. It’s not a city most people think much about, but it holds a prominent place in my childhood memories. You see, my dad was a career executive at Procter and Gamble (P&G), which is headquartered there. His job, selling Folgers coffee, was our family’s ticket to a comfortable suburban life, far different from his own unstable childhood as the son of an often under-employed mason and cashier. It seems somehow fitting that I step up now to call this company out on its efforts to set up an infrastructure of cybernetic biocapitalism.

Strive worked closely with executives at P&G in setting up its “collective” impact roadmap as seen in the following excerpt from the report, “Putting Collective Impact in Context,” prepared for the Wallace Foundation by Teachers College, Columbia University in 2015. The cradle to career pipeline is being constructed with specific metrics that will underpin speculative investment markets in human capital. Everyone was given marching orders. Comply with the established metrics or you’re out of the club. CONTINUE READING: Boiling Frogs & Building Brands: P&G’s Partnership With Strive – Wrench in the Gears

I’m a Loser, Baby. So Why Don’t You Kill Me? | Teacher in a strange land

I’m a Loser, Baby. So Why Don’t You Kill Me? | Teacher in a strange land

I’m a Loser, Baby. So Why Don’t You Kill Me?

I decided right away, when Donald Trump Jr. made his inane remark about ‘loser teachers’ spreading socialism, that I wasn’t going to respond in any tangible way. A serious eye-roll perhaps, or a brief snort. I knew there would be reactions—memes, blogs and columns and snarky tweets, digital photo frames spelling out ‘LOSER’ in red —to wallow in. No need to add to the clutter of pointless, short-term outrage.

After all, the guy’s a moron. Crafting a snarky response for just another forgettable disgrace in the daily parade of verbal horrors would be too easy.

So I waited for the spate of blogs.  I’ve read a at least a dozen pieces written by earnest, irate teachers who work so hard, don’t get enough money or recognition, and are tired of this shit.

Of course, those teachers DO work so hard. Of course, they’re doing a good job, making a difference, changing lives 24/7 for $40K a year, barely able to feed their families and driving 14-year old Cavaliers. It’s outrageous that the President’s feckless son calls them ‘losers,’ for their effort to instill a little lukewarm democracy in their classrooms.

Then I read a piece on Education Week from a teacher blogger making the same case: We have a right, even a duty, to imbue our students with basic principles of citizenship CONTINUE READING: I’m a Loser, Baby. So Why Don’t You Kill Me? | Teacher in a strange land

West Virginia Teachers Went on Strike Again to Protest School Privatization. They Stayed on Strike to Send Their Lawmakers a Message - Teen Vogue

West Virginia Teachers Went on Strike Again to Protest School Privatization. They Stayed on Strike to Send Their Lawmakers a Message - Teen Vogue

West Virginia Teachers Went on Strike Again to Protest School Privatization. They Stayed on Strike to Send Their Lawmakers a Message
Most of the state’s public schools were shut down for a second day.

Teachers in West Virginia stayed on strike Wednesday, February 20, after a tense standoff with state lawmakers over education legislation. As reported by the Charleston Gazette-Mail, leaders from West Virginia’s major school-employee labor unions called for a strike starting February 19. On Tuesday, 54 of the state’s 55 school districts shut down as teachers walked out.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and Fred Albert, the president of AFT West Virginia, wrote in a statement that at issue was an education overhaul bill they say is a threat to public education funding.

“The state Senate is trying for a second time this year to ram through a so-called education bill that defunds public education, retaliates against teachers who stood up for their students last year, and appears to be driven by outside wealthy interests like Americans for Prosperity that, like Betsy DeVos, want to eliminate public schools,” wrote Albert and Weingarten in their statement. The reference to DeVos, President Donald Trump’s secretary of education, seeks to link the bill at play in West Virginia to the secretary’s controversial school-choice policies.

Striking educators have already filled the House gallery in West Virginia's capitol building, awaiting today's legislative discussion of the Republicans' bill introducing school privatization into the state. In the rotunda, thousands are chanting "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" pic.twitter.com/0FRKzk2zMc

— Eric Blanc (@_ericblanc) February 19, 2019

Albert and Weingarten accused the state Senate of “ramming through a secret bill on a purely partisan vote,” a reference to a broad education bill that would allow allocating public funds for private education and allow the first-ever charter schools to open in West Virginia, according to the CONTINUE READING: West Virginia Teachers Went on Strike Again to Protest School Privatization. They Stayed on Strike to Send Their Lawmakers a Message - Teen Vogue

The Real Reason Betsy DeVos Tried to Fire Her Own Department’s Inspector General | janresseger

The Real Reason Betsy DeVos Tried to Fire Her Own Department’s Inspector General | janresseger

The Real Reason Betsy DeVos Tried to Fire Her Own Department’s Inspector General

Betsy DeVos is back in the news.  She recently tried to fire the U.S. Department of Education’s Acting Inspector General, Sandra Bruce, and replace her with Phil Rosenfelt, who has been serving as the Department of Education’s General Council. Democrats in Congress criticized the nomination of Rosenfelt because the Office of Inspector General in any federal department is supposed to be an objective watchdog—independent from the operation and policies of the department it oversees.

When Democrats raised concerns, DeVos backtracked and reinstated Sandra Bruce in her old job.

Early in February, the Washington Post’s Laura Meckler explained: “The White House backed down Friday from plans to install a longtime Education Department official as the agency’s acting inspector general following an outcry from congressional Democrats… President Trump had already signed papers designating Philip H. Rosenfelt, a career lawyer who works in the Education Department’s general-council office, as acting inspector general. The move was never officially announced, but Education Department leaders notified the inspector general’s office and lawmakers that it was official.” Congressional Democratic leaders had formally complained: “The conflicts or appearances of conflict are a result of Mr. Rosenfelt’s prior work in the Department’s Office of General Council, which has a role implementing virtually all programs that the inspector general investigates…”

Now, however, it turns out that DeVos’s motive for trying to fire Sandra Bruce was far more suspicious than just an attempt to hire someone who would protect the pet projects of the Department. It looks as though DeVos tried to fire Sandra Bruce because, as part of her job as Inspector General, Bruce was investigating DeVos’s reinstatement last November of Departmental approval for a shady accrediting agency of for-profit colleges, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). Late in 2015, The Obama Department of Education had removed approval of ACICS as a federal accreditor of for-profit colleges.

A brief review…

Why does federal accreditation of for-profit colleges matter?  For-profit colleges and trade CONTINUE READING: The Real Reason Betsy DeVos Tried to Fire Her Own Department’s Inspector General | janresseger

Good News, Arizona Teachers: No DNA Database for You | deutsch29

Good News, Arizona Teachers: No DNA Database for You | deutsch29

Good News, Arizona Teachers: No DNA Database for You

Betsy DeVos is back in the news.  She recently tried to fire the U.S. Department of Education’s Acting Inspector General, Sandra Bruce, and replace her with Phil Rosenfelt, who has been serving as the Department of Education’s General Council. Democrats in Congress criticized the nomination of Rosenfelt because the Office of Inspector General in any federal department is supposed to be an objective watchdog—independent from the operation and policies of the department it oversees.

When Democrats raised concerns, DeVos backtracked and reinstated Sandra Bruce in her old job.

Early in February, the Washington Post’s Laura Meckler explained: “The White House backed down Friday from plans to install a longtime Education Department official as the agency’s acting inspector general following an outcry from congressional Democrats… President Trump had already signed papers designating Philip H. Rosenfelt, a career lawyer who works in the Education Department’s general-council office, as acting inspector general. The move was never officially announced, but Education Department leaders notified the inspector general’s office and lawmakers that it was official.” Congressional Democratic leaders had formally complained: “The conflicts or appearances of conflict are a result of Mr. Rosenfelt’s prior work in the Department’s Office of General Council, which has a role implementing virtually all programs that the inspector general investigates…”

Now, however, it turns out that DeVos’s motive for trying to fire Sandra Bruce was far more suspicious than just an attempt to hire someone who would protect the pet projects of the Department. It looks as though DeVos tried to fire Sandra Bruce because, as part of her job as CONTINUE READING: Good News, Arizona Teachers: No DNA Database for You | deutsch29

Dallas Chamber of Commerce Disrupts Dallas Schools | tultican

Dallas Chamber of Commerce Disrupts Dallas Schools | tultican

Dallas Chamber of Commerce Disrupts Dallas Schools

By T. Ultican 2/20/2019

Since 2012, the business community in Dallas has aggressively asserted control over Dallas Independent School District (DISD). For the first time, running for one of the nine DISD school board positions is an expensive proposition. Besides wielding a political war-chest, prominent business leaders are supporting charter schools and advocating for increased hiring of untrained temp teachers from Teach for America (TFA). Money is also dedicated to advancing school vouchers. Democratic local control of public schools in Dallas faces serious threat.

A harbinger of this all out political attack by wealthy Dallas residents living in gated communities came just before the 2012 school board elections. Mike Miles was hired as Superintendent of Schools starting in July 2012. Miles came from a small school district in Colorado Springs, Colorado one year after training at the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy. The academy Billionaire Eli Broad founded to train education leaders in his philosophy of school governance.

The Edythe and Eli Broad Foundation has contributed $100’s of millionstowards privatizing public schools and they have a remarkable record for placing their trainees in market-reform friendly school districts.

One of the documents studied by Broad’s administration students is The Broad Academy School Closure Guide. Broad-trained administrators are famous for; closing public schools, hiring consultants, bad relations with teachers, large technology purchases and saddling school districts with debt. Oklahoma educator and historian, John Thompson, wrote a series of articles documenting the disruptive history of Broad Academy graduates (1, 2, and 3).

Among the first hires Miles made was communications Chief Jennifer Sprague. Dallas magazine noted,

“The 31-year-old had performed the same job for Miles in Colorado Springs, at Harrison School District Two, where she earned $86,652. He brought her to Dallas for $185,000.”

Besides hiring pricey cronies, Miles brought the billionaire spawned reform agenda to Dallas and created discontent throughout the DISD organization. In CONTINUE READING: Dallas Chamber of Commerce Disrupts Dallas Schools | tultican

Marie Corfield: The @StarLedger, #FakeNews & the #PARCC Propaganda Machine

Marie Corfield: The @StarLedger, #FakeNews & the #PARCC Propaganda Machine

The @StarLedger, #FakeNews & the #PARCC Propaganda Machine

Years before 'fake news' became a household word, New Jersey's largest newspaper, The Star Ledger started its very own propaganda machine to bash teachers and prop up PARCC testing.

With the flurry of PARCC testing bills posted in Trenton in the past couple of weeks, the state's largest newspaper and education 'reform' cheerleader has been shaking its pom-pons recently in favor of the deeply flawed test, tossing out wild claims with little evidence to back them up (all emphasis mine):

Phil Murphy has long strained to appease powerful critics of the PARCC, namely the teacher’s union, which prefers we let kids graduate without the kind of tests that hold teachers accountable. 

The idea that an invalid, poorly designed and un-vetted test can hold teachers "accountable" is simply illogical. The Ledger offers no evidence to support this far-fetched claim. Even the Christie administration wasn't so sure it would work because they kept changing the test's percentage of our evaluations seemingly at random.

But we need the PARCC because an A in Millburn is not the same as an A in Camden. We have to ensure that all kids succeed, not just those in affluent districts.

If the Ledger's only measure of success is the number of prestigious colleges and CONTINUE READING: Marie Corfield: The @StarLedger, #FakeNews & the #PARCC Propaganda Machine

Bernie Sanders is Running for President, and the Establishment Just Sh!t Its Pants! | gadflyonthewallblog

Bernie Sanders is Running for President, and the Establishment Just Sh!t Its Pants! | gadflyonthewallblog

Bernie Sanders is Running for President, and the Establishment Just Sh!t Its Pants!

You’ve heard of the shot heard round the world?

Well yesterday we had its fecal equivalent!

When Bernie Sanders said he was running for President for a second time, establishment hacks on the left and right had to make a run for the bathroom.

And after a single day of the Sanders campaign in which it raised almost $6 million of small donations from everyday folks, neoliberals and neofascists of every stripe are a little bit lighter this morning – a little less…. full.

Take our bullshitter in chief.

Donald Trump loves to squeeze out twitter storms in the early morning hours – presumably while sitting on his White House thrown.

This morning, he was moved to thumb out the following:

“Crazy Bernie has just entered the race. I wish him well!”

Like Hell you do, you arrogant xenophobic windbag!

Bernie is running for President – the best candidate situated to take you down.

He’s anti-establishment. A populist. And stands for the opposite of everything you’ve built your rocky neoconfederate administration on.

You wish him well! HA!

Trump is the most transparently fake candidate in CONTINUE READING: Bernie Sanders is Running for President, and the Establishment Just Sh!t Its Pants! | gadflyonthewallblog

Online Therapy in Schools? Privacy and Quality Concerns

Online Therapy in Schools? Privacy and Quality Concerns

Online Therapy in Schools? Privacy and Quality Concerns

Most of us are concerned when we hear of a credit card data breach in a store or company where we do business. Many parents are also troubled about academic and social-emotional behavioral online assessment data collected about their children in school.

But what about your child surrendering their personal and sensitive information in an outsourced, online, school therapy session?

Some public schools are using online mental health, occupational, physical, and speech therapy services. Teletherapy involves linking a distant clinician to a client for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation.

This raises all kinds of quality and privacy concerns.

• Who’s the clinician?
• Where did they go to school?
• Do they have an adequate degree?
• Where are they living?
• Do they have huge caseloads?
• How are they paid?
• Is it about school budget cuts?
• How is privacy addressed?
• Who sees the information?
• Where is the information stored?
• Will it follow the student forever?
• Who’s monitoring how online therapy is handled in school?

Here is the ad for eLuma who provide these services to schools across the country. Whether you are looking for Speech Therapy, Occupational Therapy (OT), Physical  CONTINUE READING: Online Therapy in Schools? Privacy and Quality Concerns

Why Oakland teachers are striking: ‘Quite simply, you can’t feed the minds of our students by starving their schools.’ - #Unite4OaklandKids #WeAreOEA #WeAreCTA #strikeready #REDFORED

Why Oakland teachers are striking: ‘Quite simply, you can’t feed the minds of our students by starving their schools.’ - The Washington Post

Why Oakland teachers are striking: ‘Quite simply, you can’t feed the minds of our students by starving their schools.’

It’s only February and we’ve already seen in this new year teachers in Los Angeles, Denver and West Virginia go on strike, extending a wave of labor actions by educators that started in February 2018.

Now, it’s Oakland’s turn.

Oakland teachers are going out on strike Thursday over largely the same issues that provoked the Los Angeles walkout: pay, large class size, too few nurses and counselors and other support staff, and the spread of charter schools where nearly 30 percent of the district’s students are now enrolled.

It was teachers in West Virginia a year ago who walked out because of low pay and inadequate access to quality health care, prompting a wave of strikes in mostly Republican-led states, including Oklahoma and Arizona, in what became known as the “Red For Ed” movement. And though California is Democratic, teachers are finding some of the same problems as in GOP-led states.

This year, though, the focus of the strikes in both red and blue states is expanding to include the impact on districts of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated.

West Virginia teachers walked out this week to protest a bill that would have taken funds from traditional districts and used them for charters and programs that use public funds for private and religious school tuition. It was a push against what public education advocates say is a movement to privatize public education, which Los Angeles teachers had made their strike rallying cry as well.

[This time, it wasn’t about pay: West Virginia teachers go on strike over the privatization of public education (and they won’t be the last)This time, it wasn’t about pay: West Virginia teachers go on strike over the privatization of public education (and they won’t be the last)] CONTINUE READING: Why Oakland teachers are striking: ‘Quite simply, you can’t feed the minds of our students by starving their schools.’ - The Washington Post

Tell the Sac City School Board to Put Students First - Action Network #Unite4SACKids #WeAreSCTA #WeAreCTA #strikeready #REDFORED #SCTA #CTA

Tell the Sac City School Board to Put Students First - Action Network

Tell the Sac City School Board to Put Students First

Sacramento City schools are in jeopardy. Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the School Board have failed to put students first.

Instead, they have:

• Increased the number of administrators by 63% since 2014;
• Demanded top executive compensation that exceeds the governor’s pay by 61%.
• Failed to deliver on promises to expand arts and music;
• Refused to make much needed improvements for special needs students;
• Rejected efforts to decrease student suspensions through a robust, bottom-up restorative practices culture that keeps kids in class;
• Backtracked on signed agreement with teachers to improve recruitment and retention of educators.

We can fix the budget - and stop bureaucratic bloat–by returning the number of administrators to 2014–2015 levels and bringing administrative salaries in line with what the governor of California is paid. Those reasonable adjustments would immediately save the District $16.6 million per year.

Write an e-mail to urge Superintendent Jorge Aguilar and the Sacramento City School Board to put students first.

Tell the Sac City School Board to Put Students First - Action Network

Substitute Teachers Need to be Designated and Given Migrant Worker Status - La Comadre

Substitute Teachers Need to be Designated and Given Migrant Worker Status - La Comadre

Substitute Teachers Need to be Designated and Given Migrant Worker Status

Many substitute teachers working in various school districts have no adequate labor union representation. Some have no labor unions that represent their specific needs, and many are pretty much fending for themselves, earning peanuts, and getting no respect for grueling, migrant work.

Being a substitute teacher is not easy. It takes courage and commitment to do this job. They must work at schools that are not familiar to them, and certain schools are very tough when it comes to certain student and staff behaviors and attitudes toward subs. Many have to drive, take the bus, metro to get to various schools, under the sweltering sun.

It often takes years of teaching experience to learn certain classroom management and teaching skills. First, you have to be an expert in most subject fields, since you may be assigned to teach math, science, English, or even physics classes.

It can be an unpredictable job, but substitute teachers become nimble, efficient and effective in navigating various public school bureaucracies. Many are courageous since they have to go to areas that have high crime rates and high gang activity.

They are required to have a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and to pass the CBEST teaching credentialing test. Also, they have to jump through many hoops to become cleared by the governor’s office and pass extensive background checks conducted by the state Department of Justice (DOJ). They need to obtain fingerprint clearance. They have to pay for various required fees that add up such as the Commission on Teacher Credentialing annual fees.

With this in mind, substitute teachers deserve respect and equal pay with certain benefits. They should actually be paid what regular teachers make on an average day. The Los Angeles Unified School District pays close to $190 per day, in some cases more than $190 for long-term substitute jobs. It sounds like a respectable amount, but new substitute teachers rarely get job assignments making it tougher to get by on poverty wages. Substitute teachers only get to work on average eight months or less per year, and many are not able to get teaching jobs during the summer months. Many subs struggle tremendously, but society seems to not really care about the struggles and needs of educators.

It is important to note that substitute teaching has become more competitive since many teachers who were laid off now rely on substitute teaching on a regular basis. Although our economy has made life harder for substitute teachers, these educators take these CONTINUE READING: Substitute Teachers Need to be Designated and Given Migrant Worker Status - La Comadre

THE CHARTER SCHOOL DECEPTION - #Unite4SACKids #WeAreSCTA #WeAreCTA #strikeready #REDFORED #SCTA #CTA #UTLAStrong #DCTAstrong #Unite4OaklandKids #WeAreOEA

THE CHARTER SCHOOL DECEPTION - YouTube

THE CHARTER SCHOOL DECEPTION

The Charter School Deception is a video documentary that exposes the continued expansion of Charter Schools in our public school system in Los Angeles. Share this video documentary with friends. Use social media and make sure that many people watch this video. Thanks!!!



follow exposelausd on YouTube

What will it take for Hoosier teachers to stand up? | Live Long and Prosper

What will it take for Hoosier teachers to stand up? | Live Long and Prosper

What will it take for Hoosier teachers to stand up?

NO TEACHER PAY INCREASE

Yesterday the Indiana State House of Representatives passed a budget…without adding more money specifically for teacher pay.

The House included an increase for education funding of 2.1% for the first year and 2.3% the second year. Given the recent inflation rates, this will allow school systems to add next to nothing. The inflation rate for the previous two years, 2018 and 2017, was 1.9% and 2.1% respectively. Republican legislators have suggested that teachers could get more money in their pockets if school systems budgeted better…spent less money on administrators and other “frills.”

Their criticism of school spending has raised the ire of superintendents and educators who say they have little left to cut after years of increasing costs and state revenue that has barely kept pace with inflation.

The test score bonus is still in effect, however, so those teachers who teach in low-poverty schools are guaranteed a cut from an extra $30 million. Perhaps we could cut the millions we waste on the “state test.”

Not all of this paltry increase in education funding will make its way to public school classrooms, however. The House has chosen to spend more on school privatization. They decided that charter schools deserve an increase from $500 to $1000 per student, and have increased voucher costs by adding a new tier worth 70% of state tuition support.

…and we’re still waiting for someone to evaluate the charter and voucher entitlements.

CHARTERS

Are students offered a better education in charter schools? That was the original selling point. Charter schools were supposed to improve all schools through competition.

Not anymore…now it’s all about choice. Unfortunately for some children, however, the “best” charter schools refuse to “choose” them.

There’s a backlash against charter schools. What’s happening and why.

This country is nearly 30 years into an experiment with charter schools, CONTINUE READING: What will it take for Hoosier teachers to stand up? | Live Long and Prosper