Philly school officials say they can't commit to rehires based on tentative bailout package - Seymour Tribune

Philly school officials say they can't commit to rehires based on tentative bailout package - Seymour Tribune:

Philly school officials say they can't commit to rehires based on tentative bailout package

By KATHY MATHESON  Associated Press

 PHILADELPHIA — It's too early to know whether a tentative state rescue package will allow the city's school system to rehire any of its 3,800 laid-off employees, city and district officials said Monday.

Lawmakers in Harrisburg crafted a series of proposals over the weekend that would generate about $141 million for the broke district. But not all the measures have legislative approval yet, and the school system would still need an additional $163 million to cover its deficit.

"There remains a good deal of activity in Harrisburg before we're comfortable discussing the actual results," Mark McDonald, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, said in an email.

Superintendent William Hite and the state-run School Reform Commission, which oversees the district, expressed support for the bailout. The plan provides an extra $16 million in education aid and redirects a $45 million windfall in public welfare funds to the city's schools; the remaining $80 million would come from borrowing and more aggressive tax collection.

The package would also allow the city to extend a temporary increase in its sales tax and give that money — about $120 million annually, starting next year — to the schools. But City Council 

NEA - Raise Your Hand #RYH4ED

NEA - Raise Your Hand:

Raise Your Hand for Public Education

Empowering Educators to Lead

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On July 2, the National Education Association will be launching a new campaign to help educators across the nation become the leaders in a national movement for public education. Are you on Facebook? You canRSVP to this event there.

Not in Atlanta? That's ok, we will be livestreaming the Raise Your Hand day of innovation and empowerment on this page. Check in at 9 AM on July 2. And don't forget to follow along on Twitter: #RYH4ED.

Listen & Download: DJ Spinderella's Raise Your Hand Mix

DJ Spinderella's Raise Your Hand Mix by neatoday

Agenda

Pre-opening Music Presentation – DJ Spinderella

Moderator: Pat Dolan, TURN (Teacher Union Reform Network)

Opening Remarks – NEA President Dennis Van Roekel

Collaboration to Lead the Profession

Speaker: Dr. Jerry D. Weast, Former Superintendent of Schools, Montgomery County, MD
Affiliate Engagement: ISTA ESP’s Leading the Profession with School Safety – Donna Nielsen, La Porte Community School Bus Driver, Driver Trainer Team Leader, Safety Team Lead and NEA Board of Director ESP at Large
Audience Participation

Assessment, Common Core and the Future of Education

Speaker: Linda Darling-Hammond, Professor of Education at the Stanford University School of Education
Affiliate Engagement: Empowering Educators to Lead - Jonathan Knapp, President Seattle Education Association
Audience Participation

Leading by Reaching Out to the Community

Speaker: Dr. Valerie Kinloch, Professor of Literacy Studies, Ohio State University
Affiliate Engagement: Bringing Learning to Life - Rhonda Johnson, President Columbus Education Association and Tori Washington, Service-Learning Teacher, Beechcroft High School, Columbus, OH and Beechcroft H.S. students Rendell Buckhalter, Taryn Lewis-Smith, Chelsey Rodgers, & Christian Scase
Audience Participation

Closing Remarks – NEA Secretary-Treasurer Rebecca Pringle

Click to download the agenda.

Explaining Corbett's school funding plan | Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Explaining Corbett's school funding plan | Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

Explaining Corbett's school funding plan

by Dale Mezzacappa

Following, in question-and-answer format, is an attempt to explain the components of the School District's funding package presented Sunday by Gov. Corbett.

What sources of new money does the governor’s plan include?
​For this year, it includes $45 million in a one-time federal infusion. Another $50 million comes from additional borrowing against money that will start flowing to the District next year from extending the 1 percent city sales tax surcharge beyond 2014 and diverting proceeds to the schools. It also projects that $30 million additional will come from more aggressive city property tax collection (the city projects only $28 million). And it includes nearly $16 million increase in state basic education funding for the city. But that is only $2 million more in the basic education subsidy than the District had already included in its austerity budget. The governor says it all adds up to $140 million, but the plan would only produce roughly $125 million in revenues not already factored into the District's budget. Whichever numbers are used, the total is well below the $180 million that the District sought from state and city government.
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Day of Affirmation - South Africa | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights

Day of Affirmation - South Africa | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights:

DAY OF AFFIRMATION - SOUTH AFRICA

University of Capetown, South Africa
June 6, 1966

Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Professor Robertson, Mr. Diamond, Mr. Daniel, Ladies and Gentlemen:

I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which was once the importer of slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.

But I am glad to come here, and my wife and I and all of our party are glad to come here to South Africa, and we are glad to come here to Capetown. I am already greatly enjoying my visit here. I am making an effort to meet and exchange views with people of all walks of life, and all segments of South African opinion -- including those who represent the views of the government. Today I am glad to meet with the National Union of South African Students. For a decade, NUSAS has stood and worked for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights -- principles which embody the collective hopes of men of good will around the globe.

Your work, at home and in international student affairs, has brought great credit to yourselves and your country. I know the National Student Association in the United States feels a particularly close relationship with this organization. And I wish to thank especially Mr. Ian Robertson, who first extended this invitation on behalf of NUSAS, I wish to thank him for his kindness to me in inviting me. I am very sorry that he cannot be with us here this evening. I was happy to have had the opportunity to meet and speak with him earlier this evening, and I presented him with a copy of Profiles in Courage, which was a book written by President John Kennedy and was signed to him by President Kennedy's widow, Mrs. John Kennedy.

This is a Day of Affirmation -- a celebration of liberty. We stand here in the name of freedom.

At the heart of that western freedom and democracy is the belief that the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone of value, and all society, all groups, and states, exist for that person's benefit. Therefore the enlargement of liberty for individual human beings must be the supreme goal and the abiding practice of any western society.

The first element of this individual liberty is the freedom of speech; the right to express and communicate ideas, to set oneself apart from the dumb beasts of field and forest; the right to recall governments to their duties and obligations; above all, the right to affirm one's membership and allegiance to the body politic -- to society -- to the men with whom we share our land, our heritage, and our children's future.

Hand-in-hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard -- to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives. Everything that makes men's lives worthwhile -- family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head -- all this depends on the decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people, and I mean all of its people. Therefore, the essential humanity of man can be protected and preserved only where the government must answer -- not just to the wealthy; not just to those of a particular religion, not just to those of a particular race; but to all of the people.

And even government by the consent of the governed, as in our own Constitution, must be limited in its power to act against its people: so that there may be no interference with the right to worship, but also no interference with the security of the home; no arbitrary imposition of pains or penalties on an ordinary citizen by officials high or low; no restriction on the freedom of men to seek education or to seek work or opportunity of any kind, so that each man may become all that he is capable of becoming.

These are the sacred rights of western society. These were the essential differences between us and Nazi Germany as they were between Athens and Persia.

They are the essences of our differences with communism today. I am unalterably opposed to communism because it exalts the state over the individual and over the family, and because its system contains a lack of freedom of speech, of protest, of religion, and of the press, which is characteristic of a totalitarian regime. The way of opposition to communism, however, is not to imitate its dictatorship, but to enlarge individual human freedom. There are those in every land who would label as "communist" every threat to their privilege. But may I say to you, as I have seen on my travels in all sections of the world, reform is not communism. And the denial of freedom, in whatever name, only strengthens the very communism it claims to oppose.

Many nations have set forth their own definitions and declarations of these principles. And there have often been wide and tragic gaps between promise and performance, ideal and reality. Yet the great ideals have constantly recalled us to our own duties. And -- with painful slowness -- we in the United States have extended and enlarged the meaning and the practice of freedom to all of our people.

For two centuries, my own country has struggled to overcome the self-imposed handicap of prejudice and discrimination based on nationality, on social class, or race -- discrimination profoundly repugnant to the theory and to the command of our Constitution. Even as my father grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, signs told him that, "No Irish Need Apply." Two generations later, President Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic, and the first Catholic, to head the nation; but how many men of ability had, before 1961, been denied the opportunity to contribute to the nation's progress because they were Catholic, or because they were of Irish extraction? How many sons of Italian or Jewish or Polish parents slumbered in the slums -- untaught, unlearned, their potential lost forever to our nation and to the human race? Even today, what price will we pay before we have assured full opportunity to millions of Negro Americans?

In the last five years we have done more to assure equality to our Negro citizens and to help the deprived, both white and black, than in the hundred years before that time. But much, much more remains to be done.

For there are millions of Negroes untrained for the simplest of jobs, and thousands every day denied their full and equal rights under the law; and the violence of the disinherited, the insulted and the injured, looms over the streets of Harlem and of Watts and Southside Chicago.

But a Negro American trains as an astronaut, one of mankind's first explorers into outer space; another is the chief barrister of the United States government, and dozens sit on the benches of our court; and another, Dr. Martin Luther King, is the second man of African descent to win the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent efforts for social justice between all of the races.

We have passed laws prohibiting discrimination in education, in employment, in housing; but these laws alone cannot overcome the heritage of centuries -- of broken families and stunted children, and poverty and degradation and pain.

So the road toward equality of freedom is not easy and great cost and danger march alongside all of us. We are committed to peaceful and non-violent change and that is important for all to understand -- though change is unsettling. Still, even in the turbulence of protest and struggle is greater hope for the future, as men learn to claim and achieve for themselves the rights formerly petitioned from others.

And most important of all, all the panoply of government power has been committed to the goal of equality before the law - as we are now committing ourselves to achievement of equal opportunity in fact.

We must recognize the full human equality of all of our people -- before God, before the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this, not because it is economically advantageous -- although it is; not because the laws of God command it -- although they do; not because people in other lands wish it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right thing to do.

We recognize that there are problems and obstacles before the fulfillment of these ideals in the United States as we recognize that other nations, in Latin America and in Asia and in Africa, have their own political, economic, and social problems, their unique barriers to the elimination of injustices.

In some, there is concern that change will submerge the rights of a minority, particularly where that minority is of a different race than that of the majority. We in the United States believe in the protection of minorities; we recognize the contributions that they can make and the leadership they can provide; and we do not believe that any people -- whether majority or minority, or individual human beings -- are "expendable" in the cause of theory or policy. We recognize also that justice between men and nations is imperfect, and that humanity sometimes progresses very slowly indeed.

All do not develop in the same manner and at the same pace. Nations, like men, often march to the beat of different drummers, and the precise solutions of the United States can neither be dictated nor transplanted to others, and that is not our intention. What is important however is that all nations must march toward increasing freedom; toward justice for all; toward a society strong and flexible enough to meet the demands of all of its people, whatever their race, and the demands of a world of immense and dizzying change that face us all.

In a few hours, the plane that brought me to this country crossed over oceans and countries which have been a crucible of human history. In minutes we traced migrations of men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse, and we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. We could see no national boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works of man -- homes and factories and farms -- everywhere reflecting man's common effort to enrich his life. Everywhere new technology and communications brings men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably become the concerns of all. And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of differences which is at the root of injustice and hate and war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river's shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin.

It is your job, the task of the young people in this world, to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.

Each nation has different obstacles and different goals, shaped by the vagaries of history and of experience. Yet as I talk to young people around the world I am impressed not by the diversity but by the closeness of their goals, their desires, and their concerns and their hope for the future. There is discrimination in New York, the racial inequality of apartheid in South Africa, and serfdom in the mountains of Peru. People starve to death in the streets of India; a former Prime Minister is summarily executed in the Congo; intellectuals go to jail in Russia; and thousands are slaughtered in Indonesia; wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere in the world. These are different evils; but they are the common works of man. They reflect the imperfections of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, the defectiveness of our sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows; they mark the limit of our ability to use knowledge for the well-being of our fellow human beings throughout the world. And therefore they call upon common qualities of conscience and indignation, a shared determination to wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home and around the world.

It is these qualities which make of our youth today the only true international community. More than this I think that we could agree on what kind of a world we want to build. It would be a world of independent nations, moving toward international community, each of which protected and respected the basic human freedoms. It would be a world which demanded of each government that it accept its responsibility to insure social justice. It would be a world of constantly accelerating economic progress -- not material welfare as an end in of itself, but as a means to liberate the capacity of every human being to pursue his talents and to pursue his hopes. It would, in short, be a world that we would all be proud to have built.

Just to the north of here are lands of challenge and of opportunity -- rich in natural resources, land and minerals and people. Yet they are also lands confronted by the greatest odds -- overwhelming ignorance, internal tensions and strife, and great obstacles of climate and geography. Many of these nations, as colonies, were oppressed and were exploited. Yet they have not estranged themselves from the broad traditions of the West; they are hoping and they are gambling their progress and their stability on the chance that we will meet our responsibilities to them, to help them overcome their poverty.

In the world we would like to build, South Africa could play an outstanding role and a role of leadership in that effort. This country is without question a preeminent repository of the wealth and the knowledge and the skill of the continent. Here are the greater part of Africa's research scientists and steel production, most of it reservoirs of coal and of electric power. Many South Africans have made major contributions to African technical development and world science; the names of some are known wherever men seek to eliminate the ravages of tropical disease and of pestilence. In your faculties and councils, here in this very audience, are hundreds and thousands of men and women who could transform the lives of millions for all time to come.

But the help and leadership of South Africa or of the United States cannot be accepted if we -- within our own countries or in our relationships with others -- deny individual integrity, human dignity, and the common humanity of man. If we would lead outside our own borders; if we would help those who need our assistance; if we would meet our responsibilities to mankind; we must first, all of us, demolish the borders which history has erected between men within our own nations -- barriers of race and religion, social class and ignorance.

Our answer is the world's hope; it is to rely on youth. The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress. This world demands the qualities of youth: not a time of life but a state of mind, a temper of the will, a quality of imagination, a predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the life of ease -- a man like the Chancellor of this University. It is a revolutionary world that we all live in; and thus, as I have said in Latin America and Asia and in Europe and in my own country, the United States, it is the young people who must take the lead. Thus you and your young compatriots everywhere have had thrust upon you a greater burden of responsibility than any generation that has ever lived.

"There is," said an Italian philosopher, "nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things." Yet this is the measure of the task of your generation and the road is strewn with many dangers.

First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"If Athens shall appear great to you," said Pericles, "consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty." That is the source of all greatness in all societies, and it is the key to progress in our own time.

The second danger is that of expediency; of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people across the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspiration, and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs -- that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities -- no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hard-headed to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgement, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief; forces ultimately more powerful than all the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest, only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

A third danger is timidity. Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change the world which yields most painfully to change. Aristotle tells us "At the Olympic Games it is not the finest or the strongest men who are crowned, but those who enter the lists. ... So too in the life of the honorable and the good it is they who act rightly who win the prize." I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

For the fortunate amongst us, the fourth danger is comfort; the temptation to follow the easy and familiar path of personal ambition and financial success so grandly spread before those who have the privilege of an education. But that is not the road history has marked out for us. There is a Chinese curse which says "May he live in interesting times." Like it or not, we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also the most creative of any time in the history of mankind. And everyone here will ultimately be judged -- will ultimately judge himself -- on the effort he has contributed to building a new world society and the extent to which his ideals and goals have shaped that effort.

So we part, I to my country and you to remain. We are -- if a man of forty can claim the privilege -- fellow members of the world's largest younger generation. Each of us has our own work to do. I know at times you must feel very alone with your problems and with your difficulties. But I want to say how impressed I am with what you stand for and for the effort you are making; and I say this not just for myself, but men and women all over the world. And I hope you will often take heart from the knowledge that you are joined with your fellow young people in every land, they struggling with their problems and you with yours, but all joined in a common purpose; that, like the young people of my own country and of every country that I have visited, you are all in many ways more closely united to the brothers of your time than to the older generation in any of these nations; you are determined to build a better future. President Kennedy was speaking to the young people of America, but beyond them to young people everywhere, when he said "The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it -- and the glow from that fire can truly light the world."

And, he added, "With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth and lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on Earth God's work must truly be our own." I thank you.

Big Education Ape Nite Cap 7-1-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: 

"For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."

A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAP

TODAY

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by mike simpson / 8h 

Hess sez it's a Hot Mess (RHSU Flashback) :: Frederick M. Hess

The Fisher ruling & Grutter's "Critical Mass" Mess (RHSU Flashback) :: Frederick M. Hess: The Fisher ruling & Grutter's "Critical Mass" Mess (RHSU Flashback)by Frederick M. Hess  •  Jul 1, 2013 at 9:18 amCross-posted from Education WeekLast Monday, in its Fisher decision, the Supreme Court basically decided to let stand its 2003 Grutterdecision in favor of race-conscious admissions. The on

by mike simpson / 8h 

A Few Points About The New CREDO Charter School Analysis

Shanker Blog » A Few Points About The New CREDO Charter School Analysis: A Few Points About The New CREDO Charter School Analysisby Matthew Di CarloA new report from CREDO on charter schools’ test-based performance received a great deal of attention, and rightfully so – it includes 27 states, which together serve 95 percent of the nation’s charter students.The analysis as a whole, like its predece

by mike simpson / 8h 

Big Education Ape - Morning Wink 7-1-13 AM Posts #edreform #EDCHAT #P2

BIG EDUCATION APE - MORNING WINK  AM POSTSTODAYRandi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphia | Diane Ravitch's blogRandi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphia | Diane Ravitch's blog: Randi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphiaby dianeravSave Public Schools in Philadelphia Last Friday, Randi Weingarten

by mike simpson / 8h 

Randi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphia | Diane Ravitch's blog

Randi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphia | Diane Ravitch's blog: Randi and I to Arne: Please Intervene to Save Public Schools in Philadelphiaby dianeravSave Public Schools in Philadelphia Last Friday, Randi Weingarten and I wrote a letter to Secretary Arne Duncan, urging his immediate, public intervention to save public education in Philadelphia and to protect t

by mike simpson / 9h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 7-1-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: $$$$$$$: the Outrageous Story of Pitbull’s Chartersby dianeravHold on to your hat, sit down, then open this link, a bombshell post by Jersey Jazzman.You will learn why Pitbull is a keynote speaker at the National Charter Schools Conference. It is not because he is a rapper who insults women.You will learn that he and his family hav

by mike simpson / 9h 

7-1-13 @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

@ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER: Snappy Sound Bites, Lazy Journalists and Teacher Bashingby Activism in paradise - Voices from down underNew Zealand’s education minister, Hekia Parata, said this weekend four consecutive years of quality teaching eliminates any trace of socio-economic disadvantage for the student. In her now typical teacher-bashing way, she went on to say “In New Zealand we p

by mike simpson / 9h 

Shut up and go to bed. | Fred Klonsky

Shut up and go to bed. | Fred Klonsky: Shut up and go to bed.by Fred KlonskyWho is Melinda Anderson?On Twitter she describes herself as writer for @NEAPresident.On her blog she is described as “the creative force behind opinion-editorials, blogs and articles on behalf of a great cause. Ghostwriting pays the bills, but makes it easy to get lost in the shadows. An oversized ego told her it’s time to

by mike simpson / 10h 

Daily Kos: Badass Teachers Association - the website

Daily Kos: Badass Teachers Association - the website: Badass Teachers Association - the websiteby rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)On June 20 I posted Badass Teachers Association - teachers fight back.  At that point BAT was organized only through Facebook, and you could not even explore the group without belonging to Facebook, which for some was a problem.Since its establishment, in a bit under two w

by mike simpson / 10h 

Ed Notes Online: Drive-by Superintendent Paul Vallas, YOU'RE OUT!!!!!!!!

Ed Notes Online: Drive-by Superintendent Paul Vallas, YOU'RE OUT!!!!!!!!: Drive-by Superintendent Paul Vallas, YOU'RE OUT!!!!!!!!by ed notes onlineNow is the time for history to be clarified, all the way back to the days when Bill Clinton was promoting corporate "school reform" by praising Vallas in two State of the Union addresses and all this mayoral control nonsense began.... George Schmidt Hun

by mike simpson / 10h 

Student discipline must move beyond ‘willful defiance,’ educators say | EdSource Today

Student discipline must move beyond ‘willful defiance,’ educators say | EdSource Today: Student discipline must move beyond ‘willful defiance,’ educators say - by Jane Meredith Adamsby Jane Meredith AdamsCalifornia schools urgently need strategies for discipline that help children learn from mistakes, make reparations for harm and go on to succeed, a group of educators said last week in support of

by mike simpson / 10h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES: WEEKEND QUOTABLESby Mike KlonskyMayor Bloomberg on stop-and-friskIn that case, incidentally, I think we disproportionately stop whites too much and minorities too little.” -- NYTArne Duncan on Common Core criticsThe Common Core has become a rallying cry for fringe groups that claim it is a scheme for the federal government to usurp state and local

by mike simpson / 10h 

Push to Implement Common Core “Idiotic” “Without Real Scrutiny or Debate” | Scathing Purple Musings

Push to Implement Common Core “Idiotic” “Without Real Scrutiny or Debate” | Scathing Purple Musings: Push to Implement Common Core “Idiotic” “Without Real Scrutiny or Debate”by Bob SikesThree influential education policy experts penned an opinion piece for the New York Daily News in which they effectively explain why the “backlash” against Common Core standards “is now in full swing.” Former U.S.

by mike simpson / 10h 

How Mass Civil Disobedience at a Seattle High School Catalyzed the 'Education Spring' | Education on GOOD

How Mass Civil Disobedience at a Seattle High School Catalyzed the 'Education Spring' | Education on GOOD: How Mass Civil Disobedience at a Seattle High School Catalyzed the 'Education Spring'Seattle's Garfield High School, home of the bulldogs, is used to winning.Our jazz band is a perennial winner of the Essential Ellington national completion, our track and basketball team are perennial state c

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

The Educated Reporter: What Parents Want to Know About School Choice: Tips for Reporters

The Educated Reporter: What Parents Want to Know About School Choice: Tips for Reporters: What Parents Want to Know About School Choice: Tips for Reportersby Emily RichmondAt EWA's 66th National Seminar, held at Stanford last month, we examined the challenge of how reporters can best evaluate charter school research in a session moderated by the Huffington Post's Joy Resmovits. We asked some of th

by mike simpson / 19h 

Don’t miss the New Orleans inBloom discussion tomorrow on WBOK at 10:00am | Crazy Crawfish's Blog

Don’t miss the New Orleans inBloom discussion tomorrow on WBOK at 10:00am | Crazy Crawfish's Blog: Don’t miss the New Orleans inBloom discussion tomorrow on WBOK at 10:00amby crazycrawfishThis Monday (tomorrow) at 10:00 am (Central) tune into WBOK The New Orleans Imperative.  (July 1st, 2013)You can listen online or by radio: http://www.wbok1230am.com/Dr. Sanders, Dr. James Taylor and Lee Barios w

by mike simpson / 19h 

Districts split over charter schools | Local News | The Seattle Times

Districts split over charter schools | Local News | The Seattle Times: Districts split over charter schoolsThe three largest school districts in the state are taking different approaches on whether or not to authorize charter schools, approved by state voters in November.By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIPThe Associated PressDAN PELLE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSpokane Public Schools Superintendent Shelley Red

by mike simpson / 21h 

Perdido Street School: Arne Duncan, Joel Klein To Guest On Next Pitbull CD

Perdido Street School: Arne Duncan, Joel Klein To Guest On Next Pitbull CD: Arne Duncan, Joel Klein To Guest On Next Pitbull CDby reality-based educatorMisogynist rapper/charter school operator Armando Perez, AKA Pitbull, has announced that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and former NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein will guest on his next cd.Pitbull, who has worked with famed artists like Chris

by mike simpson / 21h 

Educators Discuss Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Students - Higher Education

Educators Discuss Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Students - Higher Education: Educators Discuss Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBTQ Studentsby cmaadminDr. Molly Merryman fought for an LGBTQ student center at Kent State University.SAN FRANCISCO—While serving on a search committee for a new vice president for diversity and inclusion at Kent State University, Dr. Molly Merryman b

by mike simpson / 21h 

DVR’s speechwriter: “This is a gross misinterpretation.” | Fred Klonsky

DVR’s speechwriter: “This is a gross misinterpretation.” | Fred Klonsky: DVR’s speechwriter: “This is a gross misinterpretation.”by Fred KlonskyMelinda D. Anderson This is gross misinterpretation of Dennis Van Roekel’s remarks easily avoided if you had simply ASKED him what he meant!  ‏@fklonskyWere you there?Melinda D. Anderson ‏I was not, yet well aware of pre-conf messaging and your “take” is w

by mike simpson / 21h 

Miami Herald: Tampering With School Grade Formula “Unfair” and Causes “An Inaccurate and Misleading Portrayal” | Scathing Purple Musings

Miami Herald: Tampering With School Grade Formula “Unfair” and Causes “An Inaccurate and Misleading Portrayal” | Scathing Purple Musings: Miami Herald: Tampering With School Grade Formula “Unfair” and Causes “An Inaccurate and Misleading Portrayal”by Bob SikesFrom the editors of the Miami Herald:Too many students are being set up to think they are failures by the very people who say they are pushi

by mike simpson / 23h 

YO ARNE! Which is it? Secretary of Education or Commerce

YO ARNE! Which is it? Secretary of Education or CommerceYa gotta choose.... only one!Secretary of EducationSecretary of CommerceOh, I See

by mike simpson / 1d 

Big Education Ape Nite Cap 6-30-13 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

James Baldwin said it best: "For these are all our children, and we will profit by or pay for whatever they become."A BIG EDUCATION APE NITE CAPJersey Jazzman: Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To MeJersey Jazzman: Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To Me: Another Reason The SCOTUS Makes No Sense To Meby DukeI woulda gone to law school if the texts had more pictures...Stepping way out

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 Meby DukeI 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 economySo Pete Williams is saying

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 clongBy 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 f

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 worldBy Agence France-PresseSunday, June 30, 2013 17:41 EDTTopics: robert reich ♦ Unreasonable Institute Like Raw Story on Facebook0 The consultant holds a russet ankle boot in his right hand, gesturing as if it were a conductor’s baton.Robert Reich, a University

by mike simpson / 1d 

aprender qué es la responsabilidad civil : vivirlaeducacion

aprender qué es la responsabilidad civil : vivirlaeducacion: aprender qué es la responsabilidad civilby adminEn 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 cu

by mike simpson / 1d 

Quality control at the NEA RA. | Fred Klonsky

Quality control at the NEA RA. | Fred Klonsky: Quality control at the NEA RA.by Fred KlonskyThe 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 Presid

by mike simpson / 1d 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools This Week: Seattle Schools This Weekby 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.

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 causesBy Ryan Lillisrlillis@sacbee.comPublished: Sunday, Jun. 30, 2013 - 12:00 am | Page 1ALast Modified: Sunday, Jun. 30, 2013 - 1:40 pmA Marriage Made IN ....Over the past 18 months, retail giant Wal-Mart and a charity funded by the company's foundin

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 legislatorsby thenotebook on Jun 30 2013 Posted in Latest newsThe following open letter, signed by some 600 Philadelphia public school parents and taxpayers, was sent to PA state legislators over the weekend and pos

by mike simpson / 1d 

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….Againby Bob SikesWrites 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

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 Communityby clongBy Amy JordanOne 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

by mike simpson / 1d 

Ed Notes Online: Newark Teacher Union Election News

Ed Notes Online: Newark Teacher Union Election News: Newark Teacher Union Election Newsby ed notes onlineUnfortunately, 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

by mike simpson / 1d 

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

Jersey Jazzman: Charter Schools, Pitbull, & Money, Money, Money: Charter Schools, Pitbull, & Money, Money, Moneyby DukeUPDATE: 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 getMoney, money, money, moneyI want, I need, I like to getMoney, money, money, I like"Juicebox" by Armando "Pitbull" Pe

by mike simpson / 1d 

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 Camps5th Annual Terrell C. GladneyMemorial Summer Basketball Academy  July 9- August 2

by mike simpson / 1d 

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Jerry Jordan on “Work Rules Campaign” Philadelphia Federation of Teachers

Philadelphia Federation of Teachers:        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 30, 2013 CONTACT:  George Jackson(202) 494-8178Philadelphia Federation of Teachers Jerry Jordan on“Work Rules Campaign” for Philadelphia Public SchoolsPFT president Jerry Jordan today issued the following statementin response to proponents of legislative proposalstying education funding to work rule changes for educatorsPHILADE

by mike simpson / 1d 

Louisiana Educator: Education for the Wrong Future

Louisiana Educator: Education for the Wrong Future: Education for the Wrong Futureby Michael DeshotelsOn January 24, 2010 I posted an article on this blog with the headline: Are Louisiana Schools Training Students for the Wrong Future? That is the question some educators were asking 3 and a half years ago as the State Superintendent and BESE proposed to greatly increase the number of students grad

by mike simpson / 1d 

NYC Educator: Mayor Bloomberg Lays Out Plan to Eliminate Sex Creeps

NYC Educator: Mayor Bloomberg Lays Out Plan to Eliminate Sex Creeps: Mayor Bloomberg Lays Out Plan to Eliminate Sex Creepsby NYC EducatorMike Bloomberg here. I just want to say how pleased I am that the Supreme Court has finally repealed the Defense of Marriage Act. Our LGBT brothers and sisters should certainly be able to marry and live as they wish. Except for teachers.UFT teachers, as you know

by mike simpson / 1d 

Update: American Class Schedule 2014

AMERICAN CLASS SCHEDULE 2014 Upper ClassMiddle ClassMY PLACE Proudly Sponsered byIn YOUR Neighborhood Sooner than you Think!!!

by mike simpson / 1d 

Philadelphia 'Fast For Safe Schools': 15 Politicians Join The Hunger Strike

Philadelphia 'Fast For Safe Schools': 15 Politicians Join The Hunger Strike: Philadelphia 'Fast For Safe Schools': 15 Politicians Join The Hunger StrikeHuffington Post  |  By Rebecca Klein Posted: 06/28/2013 3:07 pm EDT As the “Fast for Safe Schools” effort in Philadelphia enters its 12th day, 15 local, state and nationally elected politicians have entered the ring and pledged to forgo food in sol

by mike simpson / 1d 

United Opt Out: Declaration of Independence

IN OPPOSITION, July 4, 2013The unanimous Declaration of the national United Opt Out,When in the course of educating a nation, it becomes necessary for its people to restrain the political and private powers which have obfuscated the fundamental mission of a public system of education to, among other points, compensate for the proclivities of the Laws of Nature to separate and exclude swaths of hum

by mike simpson / 1d 

Badass Teacher (BAT) Association

Badass Teacher (BAT) Association: BadassTeacher (BAT) AssociationThis association is for every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality, and refuses to accept assessments, tests and evaluations imposed by those who have contempt for real teaching and learning...Join Us!!Book of the Month - July 2013Suggested by BAT Member: Adenia LinkerVideo o

by mike simpson / 

2nd Banana 6-29-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 6-22-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 6-15-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

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2nd Banana 5-25-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

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2nd Banana 4-27-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 4-20-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post 

2nd Banana 4-13-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

2nd Banana 4-6-13 Recap of Last Week's Best Post

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