Assembly Passes Rectal Injection Bill; Contact with Senate Could Defeat It « State of Emergency

Assembly Passes Rectal Injection Bill; Contact with Senate Could Defeat It « State of Emergency:

Assembly Passes Rectal Injection Bill; Contact with Senate Could Defeat It

by Leonard Feldman

The CTA-opposed measure, SB 161, requiring school employees to rectally administer the drug valium to students experiencing epileptic seizures while in classes, just cleared the Assembly on a 47-16 vote (with 17 abstentions). (See the previous post for a vote tally.) It now goes back to the Senate for final approval.

Contacting your State Senator immediately to urge her/him to vote against SB 161 could help kill the bill. The Senate is expected to act on this quickly.

Educators are concerned about the danger to students by having non-medical personnel — including teachers, other certificated personnel, and education support professionals — administer the drug.

Educators believe it is unrealistic to assume non-medically trained school employees will receive
sufficient training to distinguish between different types of seizures and recognize whether the seizure can be safely treated with Diastat. The manufacturer’s instructions call for the medication to be administered through a student’s rectal cavity while she/he is in the middle of an epileptic seizure.

Educators are concerned about the health and safety of all school children. SB 161 is the wrong answer to get students the health services they need. Under current law, parents can already use the 504 process to get their child specialized medical services.

Posted at these links are a CTA letter on the bill, a Coalition letter on the bill, and an AP article about the bill’s potential impact on student health:

• · http://www.cta.org/~/media/97A4CD4E5D964E4EA894F6F42CD427… – CTA letter
• · http://www.cta.org/~/media/43A3B4838DBF45449610E022031567… – Coalition letter
• · http://www.cta.org/~/media/CBF258405EBA40BFA8ACE76651D523… – AP/Sacramento Bee article

Vote on St. HOPE middle school charter delayed to Oct. 6 - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Vote on St. HOPE middle school charter delayed to Oct. 6 - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee:

Vote on St. HOPE middle school charter delayed to Oct. 6

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By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2011 - 3:23 pm

St. HOPE Public Schools and the Sacramento City Unified School District mutually agreed to push back a vote scheduled for Thursday on a new charter petition.

District trustees are scheduled to vote on Oak Park Preparatory School at a school board meeting Oct. 6.

The vote was moved to allow more time for district staff and charter officials to answer questions and concerns raised by Sacramento City trustees at a board meeting earlier this month.

St. HOPE operates three schools - Sacramento Charter High, Public School 7 and Triumph Center for Early Childhood Education. In its newest petition, St. HOPE is asking to create a middle school in Oak Park that would serve 60 students beginning in 2012 and grow to 180 students. St. HOPE

Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/30/3873010/vote-on-st-hope-middle-school.html#ixzz1WYUql78P

Rahm plays the press like Stradavarius, and schools, teachers and students pay the price. « Fred Klonsky's blog

Rahm plays the press like Stradavarius, and schools, teachers and students pay the price. « Fred Klonsky's blog:

Rahm plays the press like Stradavarius, and schools, teachers and students pay the price.

by Fred Klonsky

Over the summer I was asked to be a panelist on Chicago Newsroom. It’s an interesting show on cable access. That guarantees it a small audience, although anyone can watch the video of each show on youtube.

Ken Davis, a former press guy for Mayor Daley, is a gregarious host.

But its small audience doesn’t mean there isn’t interesting stuff to be heard on it.

This past week, the panelists featured Emanuel appointed CPS board member Rod Sierra, Sarah Karp from Catalyst and Nora Ferrell of the Community Media Workshop.

The show was taped right after the school board passed the budget and the tax increase.

At around 12:35 of the show Sarah Karp begins to talk about the impact of budget cuts on schools. She

Paying attention to reforms that work for English learners « Parents Across America

Paying attention to reforms that work for English learners « Parents Across America:

Paying attention to reforms that work for English learners

by andreamerida

While the politics of education reform swirl all around us, it’s important to keep clear on what works and what doesn’t. The good news is that the Denver Public Schools is actually doing very well in supporting a particular segment of our student population, English learners. The confusing part is that we seem ready to ignore that fact and follow a path that is completely divergent from real, lasting reform. The right path to close the achievement gap and provide opportunity for all Denver’s students is clear, and we would do well to heed the evidence.

In 1999, the Department of Justice won a decision on behalf of the Congress of Hispanic Educators which asserted that the Denver Public Schools lacked adequate programs for students of limited English proficiency. DPS was ordered to allow parents to choose either full Spanish-language instruction, sheltered instruction (English with instructions in

Warning of implications, UFT files appeal in teacher ratings case | GothamSchools

Warning of implications, UFT files appeal in teacher ratings case | GothamSchools:

Warning of implications, UFT files appeal in teacher ratings case

by Philissa Cramer, at 6:01 pm

The city’s plan to release teachers’ rating data to news organizations threatens public employees across the state.

That’s one argument the United Federation of Teachers is making as it moves toward its final attempt to prevent teachers’ individual ratings from going to press. Last week, the state’s Appellate Court echoed a low-level judge in ruling that the ratings, known as Teacher Data Reports, are public information and should be released.

Today, the union asked the Appellate Court for permission to take the case to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. If the Appellate Court doesn’t grant permission, the union can also ask the Court of

All Education Matters: Pillow Talk for Tuition: Guys Are Doing It Too - They're Seeking Sugar Daddies To Pay Off Their Student Loans!

All Education Matters: Pillow Talk for Tuition: Guys Are Doing It Too - They're Seeking Sugar Daddies To Pay Off Their Student Loans!:

Pillow Talk for Tuition: Guys Are Doing It Too - They're Seeking Sugar Daddies To Pay Off Their Student Loans!

by C. Cryn Johannsen

Wow. Shocker. Not really.

So, Arianna Huffington was interviewed on MSNBC and discussed the student lending crisis. In that clip, which AEM wrote about, she told Lawrence O'Donnell that 245,000 college grads were seeking sugar daddies to pay off their loans. Well, the HuffPost has come out with another piece about men doing the same. (I don't cross picket lines, and don't appreciate the way the HuffPost treats their writers, so if you want to look up the piece, just google it).

But seriously. Who's surprised?

This is AN OUTRAGE. This is a national tragedy. It's obscene and twisted and wrong. I support sex workers, but

Schools Matter: Guest Post: Assumptions that 'Just Seem Obvious' to Steve Brill

Schools Matter: Guest Post: Assumptions that 'Just Seem Obvious' to Steve Brill:

Guest Post: Assumptions that 'Just Seem Obvious' to Steve Brill

by Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene

By John Thompson

There is a long line of education experts exposing the factual errors in Steve Brill's Class Warfare so, instead, I set out to illuminate the assumptions underneath his brand of "reform." I was overwhelmed, however, by the number of times that Brill, and the non-educators he fawned over, discovered findings that "just seemed obvious." So, I only want to recount Brill's tale of the naive assumptions, opinions, and assertions, based on numbers from one district, that supposedly propelled Bill Gates into the experiment that Gates said was, "the riskiest thing we have ever done."
Brill begins with "Identifying Effective Teaching Using Performance on the Job," by Tom Kane, Robert Gordon,

Schools Matter: School reform efforts avoid the real problem

Schools Matter: School reform efforts avoid the real problem:

School reform efforts avoid the real problem

by skrashen

Sent to the Daily News (Los Angeles) August 30, 2011

Re: "`Snapshot' of reform shows mixed results." August 29

School reform always has limited results because it avoids the real problem: Poverty.

Los Angeles has a very high rate of child poverty. Poverty means poor nutrition, inadequate health care, and little access to books at school, at home, and in the community. All of these impact school performance. The best

SB 161 Assembly Tally: How Lawmakers Voted on Diastat Bill « State of Emergency

SB 161 Assembly Tally: How Lawmakers Voted on Diastat Bill « State of Emergency:

SB 161 Assembly Tally: How Lawmakers Voted

by Leonard Feldman

Big Education Ape - PostRank Today's 7 - 8-30-11

Big Education Ape - PostRank Today's 7 

SBAC Mathematics Content Feedback Opportunity - Letters (CA Dept of Education) SBAC Mathematics Content Feedback Opportunity - Letters (CA Dept of Education): Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators: SMARTER BALANCED ASSESSMENT CONSORTIUM MATHEMATICS CONTENT SPECIFICATIONS FEEDBACK ...

Pension Call Tuesday: Representative Elaine Nekritz. « Fred Klonsky's blog Pension Call Tuesday: Representative Elaine Nekritz. « Fred Klonsky's blog: Pension Call Tuesday: Representative Elaine Nekritz. by Fred Klonsky *Northbrook Democrat Elaine Nekritz.* Last year many teachers began wearing red on Tuesdays to show and ...

Florida GOP Senator Files Legislation to Make Ed Commissioner an Elected Official | Scathing Purple MusingsFlorida GOP Senator Files Legislation to Make Ed Commissioner an Elected Official | Scathing Purple Musings: Florida GOP Senator Files Legislation to Make Ed Commissioner an Elected Official by Bob Sikes Hmmmmm. TALLAHASSEE — Sen. *Joe Negron*, ...

Schools Matter: The cure for the summer reading slump: An increased investment in libraries Schools Matter: The cure for the summer reading slump: An increased investment in libraries: The cure for the summer reading slump: An increased investment in libraries by skrashen Sent to the Tri-City Herald, (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash.)The ...

We too came as immigrants… | AREA Chicago We too came as immigrants… | AREA Chicago: We too came as immigrants… BY SUSAN KLONSKY, TIMUEL BLACK *The following essay is adapted from a chapter of the forthcoming memoir, Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black, by Timuel Black with ...

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » The low-down on think tanks Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » The low-down on think tanks: The low-down on think tanks by admin Research or propaganda?? Here’s a great primer on pro-privatization think tanks and their inter-connectedness by two of our ...

The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst - Teacher Beat - Education Week The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst - Teacher Beat - Education Week: The Transparency Wars: AFT and StudentsFirst by Stephen Sawchuk And now an item for the "something to offend everybody" category! Just when you think we're all ready to ...

HechingerEd Blog | Will this generation be the first to be less educated than their parents?

HechingerEd Blog | Will this generation be the first to be less educated than their parents?:

Will this generation be the first to be less educated than their parents?

by Hechinger Report

In July, reporter Jon Marcus wrote a piece for The Hechinger Report looking at Obama’s college graduation goal and how much progress has been made.

The news wasn’t so good.

Now he’s been interviewed by Boston NPR’s Here and Now program about the fact that this generation could be the first to be less educated than their parents.

From the Here and Now site (where you can listen to the interview):

It’s back to college time and more students

Are Non-Parents More Informed Than Parents on Education Issues? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

Are Non-Parents More Informed Than Parents on Education Issues? | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights:

Are Non-Parents More Informed Than Parents on Education Issues?

by obriena

You might assume that people with children would be more informed on education issues than those without. But a recent survey on school communication by the National School Public Relations Association(NSPRA) suggests otherwise.

More non-parents (65%) than parents (47%) feel very well informed or pretty well informed about the issues impacting education in their local district. 59% of non-parents feel that way about state education issues, compared to just 39% of parents.

While at first glance that seems a bit counterintuitive, survey authors offer

Two Town Halls, and a peek into the future | Taking Note

Two Town Halls, and a peek into the future | Taking Note:

Two Town Halls, and a peek into the future

For the first time in my life, I am channeling Sarah Palin — specifically, her complaints about what she calls ‘the lamestream media.’ I feel like a victim, even though I was merely in the audience for an old fashioned “Town Hall” that was reported on by The Washington Post. By contrast, a few days later I was the interviewer in a two-person “Town Hall” on Twitter (the interviewee was Secretary of Education Arne Duncan), an event that went directly to its audience without interpretation by the media. It pains me to confront the frailties of my profession, but that’s what’s on my mind.

The old-fashioned event — about education and race — was a slam-dunk winner from Day One. It had everything going for it: (1) It was organized by Henry Louis “Skip” Gates and his capable team at the

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 8-30-11: Fight flunking!

Parents United for Responsible Education » Blog Archive » PSAT for 8-30-11: Fight flunking!:

PSAT for 8-30-11: Fight flunking!

by admin

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ACTION TUESDAY!

We’re still waiting to learn the results of the federal investigation into our December 2010 Office for Civil Rightsdiscrimination complaint against Chicago’s policy of flunking students based on their state test scores, and now another round of flunking is going on.

It’s likely that OCR is giving the new Brizard administration time to respond to the complaint, but meanwhile there are now thousands more children facing the first day of school with a sense of dread and failure thanks to

RheeFirst, Michelle Rhee Attack Site, Defended By Teachers Union:

Joy ResmovitsJoy.resmovits@huffingtonpost.comBecome a fan of this reporter

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RheeFirst, Michelle Rhee Attack Site, Defended By Teachers Union

First Posted: 8/30/11 01:34 PM ET Updated: 8/30/11 01:34 PM ET

In the eyes of Steven Brill, the American Federation of Teachers building a website attacking Michelle Rhee and masking its origins is worse than Rhee's creating a billion-dollar organization aimed at revamping education that doesn't disclose its backers.

Brill, author of the recent Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools, came to the education beat after writing a piece for the New Yorker about the "Rubber Room," a place where New York City public school teachers were paid to stay out of classrooms.

"People are generally making a mistake when they don't disclose who's donating," Brill told The Huffington Post. "But when you set up a website

Teachers union responds to Rhee - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com

Teachers union responds to Rhee - Ben Smith - POLITICO.com:

Teachers union responds to Rhee

American Federation of Teachers spokesman John See emails:

Neither StudentsFirst nor anyone connected with Michelle Rhee's activities ever actually contacted us about RheeFirst.com. Had they, we would have responded. What's the big deal? RheeFirst.com has been up since March, tracking what Michelle Rhee has said, what she has done and how the media have covered her. All the studies and articles on RheeFirst.com are well sourced and documented.

It's revealing that StudentsFirst's spokesperson calls RheeFirst.com an attack site—yet doesn't challenge any of the facts on the site. That's because RheeFirst.com aggregates articles raising fair and legitimate questions about Michelle Rhee's agenda. Much of this information can't be found on Michelle Rhee's official website, such as her work with

Politics-State | Rep. Melton to resign, take job with Michelle Rhee's education reform group | The Detroit News

Politics-State | Rep. Melton to resign, take job with Michelle Rhee's education reform group | The Detroit News:

Rep. Melton to resign, take job with Michelle Rhee's education reform group

Karen Bouffard/ Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing — Democratic State Rep. Tim Melton is dropping plans to run for the 14th District U.S. House seat and will instead move to Sacramento, Calif., to focus on education reform.

Melton of Auburn Hills announced on his Facebook page Tuesday that he will join StudentsFirst, the education reform group founded by Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, D.C., public schools. Melton's resignation is effective Sept. 9.

Melton said he may have come to the group's attention while drumming up support for a possible Congressional bid. He was also named Education Reformer of the Month in July by the national Democrats for Education Reform group.

"I was strongly considering running for Congress, so I was talking to some major education reform groups to ask for their support," Melton said. "My name was circulating."

Melton was House Education Committee Chair during the last legislative session, when Democrats had control of the House. He was a leader in pushing through changes to teacher tenure and other major education reforms, often over objections from fellow Democrats. StudentsFirst advocates merit pay, tenure reform and

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110830/POLITICS02/108300388/Rep.-Melton-to-resign--take-job-with-Michelle-Rhee’s-education-reform-group#ixzz1WX75MKLP