Jersey Jazzman: Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To Me

Jersey Jazzman: Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To Me:

Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To Me

by Duke

I woulda gone to law school if the texts had more pictures...

Stepping way out of my wheelhouse here, but why not...

Do I have a lawyer who reads this blog who can explain this to me?

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

So Pete Williams is saying the SCOTUS doesn't want to take on the "question" of marriage equity. And it is refusing to hear cases where it would have to render a decision on the constitutionality of denying gays and lesbians the right to marry. OK...

But since 1803 and Marbury v. Madison, the SCOTUS has accrued to itself the power - a power not enumerated in the Constitution - to review acts of Congress to find if they are compatible with the Constitution.

How can the Supreme Court possibly justify having the power to void laws if they are unconstitutional, 

- See more at: http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/06/another-reason-scotus-makes-no-sense-to.html

NEA Teams with Atlanta Braves for “Read-in” | NEA Today

NEA Teams with Atlanta Braves for “Read-in” | NEA Today:

NEA Teams with Atlanta Braves for “Read-in”

by clong

By Cindy Long

Miguel Moran is a longtime baseball fan. The soon-to-be fifth grader says he’s been watching his favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, for his entire ten year life. On Sunday Miguel was rewarded for his dedication – he got to meet three Braves legends as well as a legend of the feline variety at a special “read-in” at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia.
“I got to meet the Cat in the Hat and I even gave him a high five!” Moran said. He also met former Atlanta Braves players Terry Harper, CJ Nitkowski, and Sid Bream, who traded in their baseball caps for the Dr. Seuss-style red and white stovepipe hats to read Seuss’s classic tale to a group of Atlanta-area school children.
It was all part of a team effort between the Atlanta Braves and NEA’s Read Across America to host a special read-in, supported by national partner Renaissance Dental, and show kids that reading can be just as much fun as a day at the ballpark.

Unique institute unites capitalists who want to save the world | The Raw Story

Unique institute unites capitalists who want to save the world | The Raw Story:

Unique institute unites capitalists who want to save the world

By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, June 30, 2013 17:41 EDT

Topics: robert reich ♦ Unreasonable Institute

 

Like Raw Story on Facebook

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The consultant holds a russet ankle boot in his right hand, gesturing as if it were a conductor’s baton.

Robert Reich, a University of Colorado business professor, is providing some blunt-spoken mentoring at the Unreasonable Institute, a summer camp for capitalists who want to change the world.

Facing Reich, a self-confessed serial entrepreneur, is Patrick Woodyard, whose Tennessee-based company markets shoes made by Peruvian craftspeople under the slogan “Join us, and wear change.”

Woodyard has told Reich that with each pair of shoes he ships, he includes information about the makers he hopes to help out of poverty.

“If you tried to convince me now that I should buy this shoe because of Pedro, I would say, ‘What 

aprender qué es la responsabilidad civil : vivirlaeducacion

aprender qué es la responsabilidad civil : vivirlaeducacion:

aprender qué es la responsabilidad civil

by admin

En los últimos años las academias de inglés han surgido como champiñones en todos los barrios de nuestras ciudades, debido a la necesidad de la gente de hablar y escribir en este idioma para mejorar en lo laboral, o directamente para poder encontrar un trabajo.

Al elegir una hay que tener cuidado, ya que la calidad no es la misma en todas las academias, y lo mínimo que deberíamos exigir es que sus profesores fuesen titulados o nativos, además de que estuviesen contratados de forma legal, ya que si no es así la rotación suele ser muy alta.

También deberías exigir que no te cobrasen nada por adelantado, ya que de esta forma no te comprometes con la academia, y si no te gusta la puedes dejar cuando quieras sin perder nada de dinero, cosa que no ocurre 

Quality control at the NEA RA. | Fred Klonsky

Quality control at the NEA RA. | Fred Klonsky:

Quality control at the NEA RA.

by Fred Klonsky

The Retired Conference is over and now I have moved to an upper story room at the Omni at CNN Center.
Tomorrow afternoon is the first Illinois and other state caucus meetings. The first general meeting of the NEA RA will be Tuesday.
This morning retirees listened to speeches by VP Lily Eskelsen and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel.
I posted on Facebook about DVR’s remarks.
And it has caused something of a stir as my short remarks were reposted and reposted.
Some have asked me for a written transcript. I don’t have one because there is none.
I only have my memory of what DVR said. I asked many others in the hall if they heard what I heard.

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week:

Seattle Schools This Week

by Melissa Westbrook

 To note, it appears there will be no other district/Board meetings after the July 3rd Board meeting until early August.

Wednesday, July 3rd
 School Board meeting at 4:15 p.m. - Agenda 
Even during the sleepy summer months, a lot is happening.  At this meeting, the Strategic Plan will be voted on.

The Board will heard a report about FERPA re: Common Core and the student data "cloud." (I will be putting out a white paper on this topic so look for that.)

The Board will vote to extend the Superintendent's contract by one year to June 2016.  (They are not considering a raise until after bargaining agreements are done and the district's budget is set.  I personally would not be for a raise at this point in time.  Apparently, according to the item, there is no public input sought on the issue of a 

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson given millions for his causes - Business - The Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson given millions for his causes - Business - The Sacramento Bee:

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson given millions for his causes

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Published: Sunday, Jun. 30, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Last Modified: Sunday, Jun. 30, 2013 - 1:40 pm

A Marriage Made IN ....

Over the past 18 months, retail giant Wal-Mart and a charity funded by the company's founding family have poured contributions into nonprofit organizations affiliated with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Jay Schenirer at unprecedented levels.

The Sacramento City Council has at the same time been weighing whether to relax restrictions on big-box stores, a move that would greatly benefit retail chains such as Wal-Mart. Schenirer solicited the contributions even as he backed the big-box changes, which are expected to be adopted by the council next month. Johnson has stayed silent but is considered pro-business and a likely yes vote.

The Wal-Mart donations are part of a wave of charitable contributions, known as "behests," made to causes championed by members of the City Council. Not long ago, these donations were relatively modest, but they have jumped since Johnson's election in 2008.

Since the start of 2011, the mayor and City Council have reported more behest contributions than all members of the state Senate and Assembly combined, according to a Bee analysis of data compiled by both the city and the state's Fair Political Practices Commission. While behest donations made to state legislators have declined in recent years, the amount reported by city officials has skyrocketed, from $15,750 in 2005 to $7.1 million last year, records show.

Wal-Mart and the Walton Family Foundation, named for the family that created the company, have been the largest donors, contributing nearly $800,000 combined to nonprofits on behalf of

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/06/30/5534449/sacramento-mayor-kevin-johnson.html#storylink=cpy

Dear Melinda: I resigned because of your edreform. I hope that as a woman and as a mother, you will hear what I am saying and do something about it before it really is too late. | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates

Dear Melinda: I resigned because of your edreform. I hope that as a woman and as a mother, you will hear what I am saying and do something about it before it really is too late. | Teachers' Letters to Bill Gates:

Dear Melinda: I resigned because of your edreform. I hope that as a woman and as a mother, you will hear what I am saying and do something about it before it really is too late.

Posted on June 30, 2013by Teachers'LettersToBillGates

A teacher’s appeal to Melinda Gates…

Dear Melinda,

I’ve decided to go against the grain here and write to you instead of Bill, in the hopes that, as a woman and more importantly as a mother, you will hear what I’m saying and will do something about it before it really is too late.

The damage that I have witnessed in Boston over the past decade is alarming. YOUR ED REFORM IS HURTING CHILDREN. As a mother yourself, are you prepared to ignore this message that I and many other public schoolteachers are so desperately trying to convey to you and to those who have become the sole decision makers of public education?

It’s clear that an underlying presumption made about us (teachers) is that we are objecting to your “reform” measures because we don’t want to be held accountable for what we do in our classrooms. This notion is the polar opposite of our reality.

In 1998, when I was about to graduate with my Master’s Degree from Wheelock College, I presented my thesis to a panel of educators as part of the final step in determining my 

As time runs out, Philly public school parents send open letter to legislators | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

As time runs out, Philly public school parents send open letter to legislators | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

As time runs out, Philly public school parents send open letter to legislators

by thenotebook on Jun 30 2013 Posted in Latest news

The following open letter, signed by some 600 Philadelphia public school parents and taxpayers, was sent to PA state legislators over the weekend and posted on the Facebook page of the organization Imagine A School.

We urge you to VOTE YES on ANY measures for EMERGENCY funding to school districts in Pennsylvania, including the School District of Philadelphia, for FY 2013-14.

We realize that you may not be familiar personally with Philadelphia - our city, our schools, and our children - and that you may have been exposed to negative and sensationalized media stories and to commentators who describe our city as a "rat hole" and a "cesspool". The reality is that we work, pay taxes and support our children -- just as families do in your home districts. We have chosen to invest our families' futures in the State of Pennsylvania and in a city that we love, and to send our children to public schools that we know firsthand to be great.

We ask you to consider our schools and our children as WE know them - We are parents with skin in the game.

Our magnet high schools graduate nearly every student, and almost every graduate attends a post-secondary school. This year, Central High School's graduating class attracted tens of millions of dollars in college scholarships and $230K in alumni awards. But you will not hear about CHS, or our other excellent schools like Masterman HS, Girls High, or CAPA, our performing arts high school, on the news.

Yes, our children face neighborhood challenges of poverty, discrimination and violence - and still many succeed, because our schools and our community help them to succeed. But the state's proposed budget will eliminate from schools the very supports that help children overcome these difficulties - reading, math and language help, music, sports, art, and guidance counselors. How will first generation students realize their dreams of attending college with no school activities and zero counselors to assist their applications?

The reality we know as parents is that our schools and families have risen mightily to the challenges, and our children's performance has been rising over the past few years. But the proposed state budget will ERASE all of our hard-won progress in the blink of an eye.

For example, in West Philadelphia, Powel Elementary, a recently high performing school of 216 students, will lose 12 teachers and its ESOL teacher, all support staff, learning intervention and gifted support, all extra-curricular activities, and even funds for books and supplies. Class sizes will balloon past our worst previous levels. Many elementary schools that had been succeeding despite neighborhood poverty will be forced this September - along with the children enrolled in them - into conditions that will induce failure.

After working hard as families and as a community, and AS PENNSYLVANIA TAXPAYERS, WE ARE DEVASTATED. We entrusted our families' futures to Pennsylvania, and its legislators are about to fail that trust, to set innocent children up to fail. WHY? We ask you to do the same for our children that you would do for your own - provide resources for safe, supportive learning environments for talented children who desperately want to learn, and to succeed.

Long-term education reform is in the works, but children cannot wait -- they will walk into inadequate and unsafe schools in TEN WEEKS. Children who are learning to read and to count, who are dreaming of college, are unaware of political rhetoric or ideology. OUR CHILDREN ARE PENNSYLVANIA'S CHILDREN. They deserve the BIPARTISAN SUPPORT OF ALL THOSE CHARGED WITH UPHOLDING EVERY CHILD'S RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE EDUCATION. And they need it now.

We ask all elected senators and representatives to vote YES on ANY AVAILABLE EMERGENCY MEASURES TO FUND OUR STATE'S SCHOOLS - and on cigarette tax enabling legislation so that we as Philadelphians have the right to tax ourselves on behalf of our own children. And as state taxpayers we ask that you delay planned corporate tax cuts in favor of children.

IN SUM, WE ASK THAT YOU ACT AS A FAMILY MIGHT, TO DO ALL IN YOUR POWER TO DIG DEEP FOR EMERGENCY EDUCATION FUNDING THAT PLACES THE IMMEDIATE NEEDS OF ALL OF OUR STATE'S CHILDREN BEFORE THOSE OF ITS ADULTS.

We thank you for your consideration.

Florida BOE Wants Changes to School Grade Formula….Again | Scathing Purple Musings

Florida BOE Wants Changes to School Grade Formula….Again | Scathing Purple Musings:

Florida BOE Wants Changes to School Grade Formula….Again

by Bob Sikes

Writes Jeff Solochek in the Tampa Bay Times:

Florida’s A-F school grading system, respected and copied in other states, faces a credibility test here where it began.
For the second straight year, the state Board of Education is contemplating possible revisions to the grading calculation because of concerns that the test scores they’re based on could make the schools look bad.
A year ago, board members lowered the FCAT writing passing score after learning that students fared poorly under stricter standards and school grades would likely suffer. This year, the board 

Hundreds of NEA Members Give Back to Atlanta Community | NEA Today

Hundreds of NEA Members Give Back to Atlanta Community | NEA Today:

Hundreds of NEA Members Give Back to Atlanta Community

by clong

By Amy Jordan

One hundred percent of the students at Thomasville Heights Elementary School receive free or reduced lunch.”Free and reduced is how they eat, not how they learn,” said Cynthia Jewell, principal of the Atlanta, Georgia school. That’s why Jewell has spent the last year trying to connect with the community and turn Thomasville around. Her mantra? “A New Year, A New Attitude, A New Thomasville.”
To help with that “new Thomasville,” hundreds of future, current and retired educators spent the day remodeling the school for the 2013 Outreach to Teach community service project. The young students will return to a school this fall with new murals, inspirational bulletin boards, nice landscaping, fresh paint, an outdoor classroom space, new parent center and more.
“The area we are in is hard. There are struggles here. But to have a refuge that is bright and welcoming will help them to learn,” said Angel Morgan, the school secretary at Thomasville.
Every year during the NEA’s Annual Meeting and Representative Assembly the NEA Student Program selects a school in need in the host city and teams up with NEA-Retired for the community service project.
“We get such strong support for this annual service project because our members understand the importance of 

Ed Notes Online: Newark Teacher Union Election News

Ed Notes Online: Newark Teacher Union Election News:

Newark Teacher Union Election News

by ed notes online

Unfortunately, President Del Grosso was not in attendance [at the swearing in] , so the date could not be set. ... NEW Caucus report

....the Newark contract deal was celebrated by Republican Governor Chris Christie and by American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who called the deal “a system of the future” and an example “that collective bargaining really works.” In contrast, Rippey [Del Grosso's opponent] told The Nation that the deal “basically is a complete capitulation to the corporate agenda.” ... The Nation

Let's watch this one play out with a president who won by only 9 votes (with 40 going to a 3rd party candidate) while New Visions controls the Exec Bd. Keep in mind that Newark is one of the only New Jersey AFT affiliated 

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, Pitbull, & Money, Money, Money

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, Pitbull, & Money, Money, Money:

Charter Schools, Pitbull, & Money, Money, Money

by Duke

UPDATE: Mother Crusader has started a petition calling for Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to cancel his appearance at NAPCS.

I want, I need, I like to get

Money, money, money, money

I want, I need, I like to get

Money, money, money, I like

"Juicebox" by Armando "Pitbull" Perez, rapper and charter school founder

*****

Yesterday, I reported that this week's National Charter Schools Conference will feature an address by Miami-based rapper Pitbull, know for his misogynistic lyrics and dubious personal behavior. 

Mother Crusader dug further into the Pitbull's past to reveal a man who most likely would never be allowed to 

Summer Fun - Sacramento Council PTA

Sacramento Council PTA:

IN THIS ISSUE

:: 5th Annual Terrell C. Gladney Memorial Summer Basketball Academy

:: 10 Books to Read

:: Summer Reading

:: Creating Community Solutions

:: U.S. Bank Kids Duatholon

:: Fairytale Town Summer FunCamps

:: Summer Movie Clubhouse

:: Jr. Chef Cooking Camp

:: Free Summer Meals

:: EuroSoccer Camps 5th Annual Terrell C. Gladney Memorial Summer Basketball Academy    July 9- August 2, 2013  8am-12pm Sam Brannan Middle School NO FEE CAMP Registerhere

Fairytale Town Summer FunCamps

Fairytale Town offers exciting and innovative educational camps during the summer. We offer a variety of camps in several age groups, and encourage you to find a camp designed for your child's age.  

Click here for more information.

ScholarShare College Savings Plan, The Sacramento Public Library and News10 have come together to bring you "10 Books to Read," a new local literacy program designed for parents, grandparents and caregivers to read aloud and spend time with their children.  Click here

Clubhouse?  Read FAQ here 

 

The Summer Movie Clubhouse is a ten-week program of recently released G and PG films for kids. Day, times and weeks of the series are determined by the local theatre. A full list of participating theatres is listed atCinemark.com. 

Summer is a great time to get into reading, visit local libraries and check out the many interesting programs available.

SCUSD has compiled a variety offree reading resources for kids and teens to explore this summer 

Click here

Creating Community Solutions -

A national conversation to increase understanding about mental health 

 

July 20, 2013 

9:30 am to 3:30pm

Sacramento Convention Center

Called to action by President Obama, Creating Community Solutions - Sacramento, will be a unique opportunity for citizens and youth to learn about mental health and to recommend priority strategies and actions to improve the lives of those living with mental health issues, especially for our youth.

Lunch and refreshments will be served. Childcare, translation, interpretation will be provided.

Those interested can register by completing the form attached, or by visiting the website:

www.creatingcommunitysolutions.org  - click the "Sacramento" button.

Does your child love to cook, eat, or play with their food?  Then Jr. Chef Cooking Camp is the perfect activity for them!

All kids, ages 10-15, are welcome into our cooking programs, regardless of ability.  From young people with physical or emotional challenges, to finicky eaters, budding gourmands, and passionate cooks, we take all children, meet them where they are, and help them go further than they thought they could. 

Click here for more information and summer schedule.

Free Summer Meals!!!

 

Summer Meal Service Sites Provides parents and referral agencies with a list of locations where children may receive free nutritious meals during school vacation and off-track periods. SCUSD is a proud partner in the effort to feed all children 18 years of age and under through the Summer Food Service Program. 

 

Click here to download a list of participating sites.

U.S. Bank Kids Duathlon

July 20, 2013

This event's primary goal is to show our youngsters that healthy outdoor activities are fun, exciting, and rewarding.  The end goal is helping them to improve their fitness. 

Since EPPIE'S GREAT RACE® is popular with families, the U.S. Bank KIDS DUATHLON will provide children with their own event - they can compete in it while other family members are tackling EPPIE'S GREAT RACE®.  

Click here for more info

EuroSoccer mixes serious skill development with fun to motivate children to learn. 

 

EuroSoccer Camps recruited coaches from Scotland and England sports colleges to offer the motivational teaching style while exposing the children to other cultures. 

Click here for more info.

SACRAMENTO COUNCIL OF PTAs
President:  Lily Williams

saccouncilpta@yahoo.com

www.saccouncilpta.com