re: Garfield High School LAUSD board meeting Sept 8 2009

Maria Guadalupe Mena of Garfield High School:
"Community members stated they were offered monetary compensation [by Green Dot] in exchange for their signature on a petition."
"The day of the 'Public School Choice' vote, Parent Revolution and Parent Union representatives informed us they were court mandated to support the rally to work off their community service".
"We're unhappy that reform decisions have been dictated to our community by billionaire philanthropists [who]...are funding...Inner City Struggle, Parent Revolution, Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles Learning Collaboratives to push their corporate agenda onto the schools."

Sacramento Nestle Waters bottling plant draws fire - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Nestle Waters bottling plant draws fire - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"With California in its third year of drought and Sacramentans facing watering restrictions, Councilman Kevin McCarty thinks the plant needs a closer look.

'It comes at a bizarre time,' said McCarty, whose district includes the project site in the Florin Fruitridge Industrial Park. 'Extreme profits are going to be made with Sacramento water ... as we're trying to conserve' it."

Higher-value education - Press-Telegram

Higher-value education - Press-Telegram:

"Beleaguered taxpayers are inclined to feel like victims these days, but Daniel Weintraub, who expresses his views on today's Comment page, is a refreshing exception.

Weintraub, who writes for the Sacramento Bee, is the parent of a son enrolled at the University of California Santa Barbara. Thanks to the state's financial mess, tuition for his son will be $2,500 higher, and probably will be raised again in months to come.

He could complain, like so many of us, but instead makes the broader point, which is that the UC system still is one of higher education's great values. Also, a third of the tuition increase will go to less privileged families, those with incomes of $60,000 or less, who will pay no tuition at all."

Cash-Strapped University of California Spending Millions on Consultants | NBC Bay Area

Cash-Strapped University of California Spending Millions on Consultants NBC Bay Area:

"The University of California at Berkeley's top boss says you have to spend money to save money.

That’s why Chancellor Robert Birgenau is paying Bain & Company, a consulting firm based out of state, $3 million to analyze the university budget and determine how and where to cut costs.

This move is coming at a time when many employees have been laid off, salaries cut, courses reduced and workers furloughed. Employees and students at University of California campuses across the state staged a walkout last month, leaving their classes and workplaces in protest of increasing tuition fees and decreasing paychecks."

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Parent Uproar Over Losing Teachers

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Parent Uproar Over Losing Teachers:

"I've been flooded with e-mails and calls from parents across the school district who are panicked because their schools are losing teachers, weeks after class has already started:

Jerabek Elementary parents held a press conference last week to protest losing a 4th grade teacher, which forced the school to reassign her students to other classes. An Ocean Beach Elementary mom stood up at the school board meeting last week to argue against her school losing one teacher. 'Our students are not a formula,' Shelli Kurth said."

Report Cites Need To Restore Due Process - California Progress Report

Report Cites Need To Restore Due Process - California Progress Report

As the Board of Supervisors prepares to consider a proposal to restore due process rights to immigrant youth in the juvenile justice system on October 5th, legal experts from prominent civil rights organizations unveiled a key legal brief today responding to City Attorney Dennis Herrera’s August memo on the proposed reform. The legal brief analyzes existing law and finds that the proposal, backed by 8 Supervisors, is legally defensible, would save San Francisco from costly rights violations lawsuits, and models good public policy. The 9-page brief was prepared by the Asian Law Caucus, Legal Services for Children, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, the ACLU of Northern California, and the San Francisco Immigration Legal and Education Network. To read the full text of the brief is available at

Read full report: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12640389/LEGAL-EXPERTS-SUPPORT-BOARD-OF-SUPERVISORS’-EFFORT-TO-RESTORE-DUE-PROCESS-TOSAN-FRANCISCO’S-IMMIGRANT-YOUTH

www.asianlawcaucus.org/programs/education-juvenile-justice.

Woman’s Shattered Life Shows Ground Beef Inspection Flaws - NYTimes.com

Woman’s Shattered Life Shows Ground Beef Inspection Flaws - NYTimes.com:

"Meat companies and grocers have been barred from selling ground beef tainted by the virulent strain of E. coli known as O157:H7 since 1994, after an outbreak at Jack in the Box restaurants left four children dead. Yet tens of thousands of people are still sickened annually by this pathogen, federal health officials estimate, with hamburger being the biggest culprit. Ground beef has been blamed for 16 outbreaks in the last three years alone, including the one that left Ms. Smith paralyzed from the waist down. This summer, contamination led to the recall of beef from nearly 3,000 grocers in 41 states."

Candidate for state superintendent comes to Santa Paula : Santa Paula : Ventura County Star

Candidate for state superintendent comes to Santa Paula : Santa Paula : Ventura County Star:

"O’Connell will finish his second term next year and cannot seek re-election in 2010. Aceves’ chief rivals for the nonpartisan position are considered to be state Sen. Gloria Romero, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch.

Aceves is a past president of the Association of California School Administrators and the California Latino Superintendents Association. He said he retired three years ago after more than 30 years as a teacher, principal and superintendent in San Jose, San Diego and the Central Coast."

Learning to Think Outside the Box - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

Learning to Think Outside the Box - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos:

"While parents and politicians worry about crumbling facilities and decimated budgets, students know that the heart of education beats inside the individual teacher. More than spacious playgrounds or sparkling cafeterias; more, even, than top-notch textbooks and state-of-the art computers, it’s the teacher who makes the difference. When NAM asked young people in our youth communications programs to write about the one teacher who’d really made a difference, they barely had to think before the keys were flying. This collection of pieces was underwritten by a project funded through the California Teachers Association.”)"

Right-wing media's relentless attacks supported by flagrant falsehoods | Media Matters for America

Right-wing media's relentless attacks supported by flagrant falsehoods Media Matters for America:

"Fox News, others ran with falsehood that Jennings 'cover[ed] up statutory rape.' In a September 28 editorial, The Washington Times accused Jennings, described in the editorial as 'safe school czar,' of 'encourag[ing]' a relationship that amounted to 'statutory rape' by suggesting that his only response to an underage student's revelation that he had sex with what the Times described as an 'older man' was to 'make sure 'to use a condom.' ' Fox News' website TheFoxNation.com linked to the Times editorial with the headline 'Did 'Safe School Czar' Encourage Statutory Rape?' Subsequently, on September 30, The Fox Nation posted the following headline:"

10.05.2009 - That's -30- for us

10.05.2009 - That's -30- for us:

"BERKELEY — This is the 230th issue of the Berkeleyan produced during my editorship. It is also the very last edition — not just for me, but for the paper itself.

It's my farewell because the position of Berkeleyan editor has been eliminated — one small part of Public Affairs' cost-reduction effort during these most difficult economic times. The print edition of the Berkeleyan is 'departing' too, because it requires the full attention of four writer/editors and a designer to produce a paper of appropriate heft and seriousness on a regular basis, and those resources are no longer available. Hence, this issue winds up nearly a quarter-century of continuous print publication on behalf of campus faculty and staff, as the transition to a less-resource-intensive online format gets under way."

California, Watch Us Leave!

California, Watch Us Leave!:


"A popular Al Jolson song when your grandparents were young began, “California here we come, right back where we started from.” For many of that generation, California was a land of golden opportunity, a destination for the “Okies” whose farms had succumbed to a long drought in the 1930s, and for all manner of people who saw it as a place to make a life and maybe even a fortune for themselves.

Now it’s a place that many are increasingly leaving. Between 2004 and 2008, more than a half million Californians left and for good reason."

MorganHillTimes.com | Reflecting on one who gave her life to education

MorganHillTimes.com Reflecting on one who gave her life to education:

"It was with sadness that I learned of the passing last week of Phyllis Thomas, and with fondness that I recalled my interactions with her. Mrs. Thomas was my high school counselor, and in that capacity she met with me on numerous occasions - to review my course selections, provide advice, change my schedule when I felt I had been misplaced in a class, make sure I was signed up for the SAT test and knew of college application deadlines and scholarship availability, and to write a letter of recommendation to the University of California, Berkeley.

It was only years later, after I had graduated and started teaching, that I learned she had attended Cal herself. Even then, the discussion was not about her but rather about her belief that it is important to give back to the community that has nurtured you, and about donating to one's alma mater. (I guess she was still counseling; like teaching, it is a lifelong behavior.)"

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - Seeking fiscal stability

La Opinión - noticias locales, nacionales e internacionales desde Los Ángeles - impre.com - Seeking fiscal stability:

"The lack of stability in the tax revenue stream is at the core of the state’s budget problems. One year the state coffers have funds to invest in education and the social safety net, and the next, there is nothing. This makes it impossible to do medium- and long-term planning.

The Commission on the 21st Century Economy was created precisely to find alternatives to this thorny policy issue and to come up with a stabilized tax structure. As was expected, the final recommendations are the result of internal negotiations among the commissioners and have been roundly criticized by both business and labor."

Read full report: http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12340338/Commission-on-the-21st-Century-Economy-Issues-Recommendations-to-Modernize-Stabilize-and-Simplify-California’s-Outdated-Tax-System

Web site: http://www.cotce.ca.gov/

A Constitutional Approach to Fixing California - NAM

A Constitutional Approach to Fixing California - NAM:

"Editor's Note: California, once seen as a land of opportunity and destination for immigrants, is now facing its own economic and political troubles. In order to prevent California from becoming what one economist called “the first failed state in America,” business groups are proposing a constitutional convention to fix the budgetary gridlock in Sacramento. But some are concerned that Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans -- who, together, constitute a majority of the state’s population -- could be left out of the process and may not see the results."

KCBS - Educators Say Future is Bleak for CA Schools

KCBS - Educators Say Future is Bleak for CA Schools: "SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCBS) -

California education leaders today painted a bleak picture of the future, as they asked Governor Schwarzenegger to restore a small piece of their budget.
They're actually only asking for $700,000.

When parents send their children to school, they assume the teacher has, essentially, a roadmap of what to teach for the year and how to do it. However, right now, that roadmap is 9 years old and because of an obscure Assembly bill signed by the governor, the state won't be able to update that framework until 2013.

The savings to the state amounts to roughly $705,000 each year."

"No new curriculum frameworks will be developed," explained California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Jack O'Connell. "It's the standards, what we want our students to know, the frameworks of how we want them to learn and to understand."

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Sweetwater Teachers to Rally Wednesday

voiceofsandiego.org: Schooled... Sweetwater Teachers to Rally Wednesday:

"The back-and-forth over Sweetwater Union High School District teachers' contract continues: The teachers union is planning a rally Wednesday, the same day that the school district and the union will meet for a hearing with a panel to determine the facts and decide the next steps. Their slogans have grown more pointed over time: Teachers now hoist signs reading, 'I don't want to strike, but I will!'"

Sec. of Education Duncan, Obama want longer school years | Bay City News - - MLive.com

Sec. of Education Duncan, Obama want longer school years Bay City News - - MLive.com:

"Education Secretary Arne Duncan wants American kids to spend more time in school to catch up with competing students around the world."

Duncan’s argument for the change came in an Associated Press interview.

“Our school calendar is based upon the agarian economy and not too many of our kids are working the fields today,” he said.
Kids in the U.S. receive 1,146 hours of instructional teaching on average, more than some Asian countries that typically outscore the U.S. in math and sciences. Singapore spends 903 hours, Taiwan spends 1,050 hours, Japan is at 1,005 hours and Hong Kong spends about 1,013 hours.

Those Asian countries typically have a longer school year compared to the U.S., however, about 190 to 201 days to the U.S. 180 days.
With school districts across the county tight on cash, the decision to increase days would have to be financially responsible.

President Barack Obama is in favor with the addition, saying he wants schools to add time to classes, to stay open late and to let kids in on weekends so they have a safe place to go

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor still talking about education

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor still talking about education:

"Justice O'Connor has been working tirelessly to get people more educated, and more importantly, more involved in the political scene. She hopes that you will take some time to educate tomorrow's leaders about justice, civics, and politics."

Patrick Kennedy Campaign Update

Knocking on Doors in the Neighborhoods

The precinct walking continues to go very well. I am glad to have entered this stage of the campaign. There is nothing more rewarding than having the opportunity to talk directly with neighbors and discuss the issues facing our neighborhoods and our city.

Having talked with hundreds of neighbors, the response has been tremendous. From the Curtis Park Village proposal to the “Strong Mayor” initiative to speed bumps (aka speed humps; aka speed lumps; aka undulations. . .) and the City budget, our neighbors are engaged and ready to share their thoughts. Listening now will help me lead later.

I also want to thank all the volunteers who have joined us on walks and encourage everybody else to sign up on the Website.

Jerry and Dorothy Enomoto Endorse Patrick Kennedy for City Council

I am proud and honored to announce that two iconic leaders in our community have endorsed my candidacy, Jerry and Dorothy Enomoto. Jerry has a lengthy and most distinguished career in law enforcement. In 1994, he became the first Asian American to receive a presidential appointment as United States Marshall. Dr. Dorothy Enomoto is a trail blazer as well as the first African American woman to manage a California Department of Corrections Institution.

Executive Airport Master Plan Update

The Sacramento County Airport System is undergoing an update for the Executive Airport Master Plan. I had the privilege of participating in a less extensive review of the plan in the ‘90s as then-President of the Hollywood Park Neighborhood Association. County staff recently presented their current update activities at a recent HPNA meeting I attended. Like the last go-around, public input will play a major role in the future of the airport. Working with county staff, we must ensure the airport will be a thriving economic asset to the City while not creating any undue burdens to the surrounding neighborhoods. You can get the study materials online at http://www.sacairports.org/.

Sacramento Regional Internal Study Mission

I had the opportunity to attend this event, hosted by local ethnic Chambers of Commerce, LEED, SACTO, Sacramento Regional Transit, SACOG, UC Davis, and Valley Vision. Regional leaders spent two days on a bus tour studying the exciting work being done in economic development in the Sacramento Region. We saw first hand why Sacramento is, and can continue to be, the “Best of, First at, or a Leader in” so many discoveries, projects and business opportunities that will see us through the current economic downturn.

Thank you for taking the time to read this update. You can also follow us by visiting the campaign Website at www.patrick-kennedy.com, signing on as a fan on the campaign Facebook page or following us on Twitter. As always, please feel free to call me at 916-446-4434 with any input or questions, or if I can be of service.

Sincerely,

Patrick Kennedy

SCUSD Observer: Town hall meetings at SCUSD schools this week

SCUSD Observer: Town hall meetings at SCUSD schools this week

Town hall meetings at SCUSD schools this week
The Sacramento Charter Review Committee is inviting the public to share comments about recommended changes to the city's charter. This week, the meetings will take place in local schools.The schedule is as follows:

Curriculum Matters: New Chair, Board Members Named to Top NAEP Panel

Curriculum Matters: New Chair, Board Members Named to Top NAEP Panel:

"David Driscoll, a former Massachusetts commissioner of education, has been named the new chair of the National Assessment Governing Board, the independent panel that sets policy for the test known as the 'nation's report card.' Driscoll was named to the position by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who also appointed five members to the board, which oversees much of the crucial behind-the-scenes work on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP."

The School Law Blog: Justices Decline Review of Pledge, Other School Cases

The School Law Blog: Justices Decline Review of Pledge, Other School Cases:

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied review of several appeals involving public education, including cases about the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, T-shirts bearing Confederate symbols, peer sexual harassment, and special education.

The cases were among several hundred denied by the justices in orders issued on the first formal day of the 2009-10 term of the court. Several of the denials came in cases dealing with hot-button social issues, which I previewed here last month."

World Teachers’ Day 2009: “Build the future: invest in teachers now!” - | UNESCO.ORG

World Teachers’ Day 2009: “Build the future: invest in teachers now!” - UNESCO.ORG:

"Globally, 10.3 million teachers − 1.3 million teachers each year − need to be recruited over eight years (2007-2015) just to provide universal primary education by 2015, according to new figures released by UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics on World Teachers’ Day, celebrated on 5 October.

This year, World Teachers’ Day puts the spotlight on the global teacher shortage and the challenge of increasing the teaching force and its capacity to provide quality education, at a time when the financial and economic crisis is placing increasing strain on education budgets."

Education Week: The Charter School Express

Education Week: The Charter School Express:

"The latest policy train gathering steam in education focuses on lifting caps, or limits, to charter school expansion. Currently, 24 states and the District of Columbia have some type of limit on charter school growth. These limits, some charter school supporters say, interfere with the goal of a thriving school marketplace.

The latest institution to jump on the expansion express is the U.S. Department of Education. In its July guidelines for the $4 billion Race to the Top program, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced that funding priority would be given to those states that lifted or removed caps on charter expansion. In reaction, legislatures around the country began doing just that."

D.C. School Layoffs Are Instructive Step Toward Improving Classrooms

D.C. School Layoffs Are Instructive Step Toward Improving Classrooms:

"Of course, these examples are not the norm for D.C. teachers. Every day, smart, caring teachers do unimaginably hard work; they, too, are helped when teachers who don't belong in a classroom are made to leave. We wish that Ms. Rhee could have timed the layoffs to lessen the disruption for students and made it easier for dismissed workers to make other plans. And we hope she provides as much information as personnel rules allow to show who exactly lost their jobs and why."

Memphis City Schools plans to hire teachers early : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal

Memphis City Schools plans to hire teachers early : Local News : Memphis Commercial Appeal:

"For years, Memphis City Schools has filled the majority of its teacher vacancies a month before school starts, essentially forcing it to hire many applicants others didn't want."

More than half of MCS teacher applicants have GPAs of less than 3.0 and as a whole, score in the bottom quartile on the state teacher licensure test.

Beginning this spring, Supt. Kriner Cash intends to offer new teachers contracts by early April, putting the district in position to hire the strongest teachers before applicants are hired by other districts.

"We're scheduling briefing sessions with MEA (the teachers' union) reps," Cash told the board of education in September. "There has got to be a clarity about what we are doing. There can be no misunderstanding about this initiative."

While Cash has declined further comment, the district's proposal for $100 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation outlines particulars, including that it intends to pay $6,000 in retention bonuses to keep first-rate new teachers for at least four years.

School reform splits : Editorials : Memphis Commercial Appeal

School reform splits : Editorials : Memphis Commercial Appeal:

"Reforming public education in Memphis is a work in progress. Students, teachers, board members, superintendents, even partners, come and go.

One partner that has worked particularly hard over the past 15 years is the collection of individuals known as Partners in Public Education (PIPE), who have raised $23 million for the schools."

Thomas Elias: No new taxes for California residents? Not exactly | thecalifornian.com | The Salinas Californian

Thomas Elias: No new taxes for California residents? Not exactly thecalifornian.com The Salinas Californian:

"Few state lawmakers felt they had accomplished more in the Legislature's last regular session than the Republicans who make up just over one-third of both the Senate and Assembly.

They went home proud of the fact they had kept their pledge and assessed no new taxes, as Democrats and a very few of their GOP cohorts did last winter.They felt happy that no more of them would be subjected to the perils of possible recall campaigns and serious 2010 primary election challenges like those that either now afflict or will soon hit most of the dissidents among them who voted for February's budget compromise, with its temporary increases in income, sales and vehicle taxes."

Autism Figures Rising: 1 In 100 | Latest Newspaper Headlines | Current Events

Autism Figures Rising: 1 In 100 Latest Newspaper Headlines Current Events:

"Two new government studies suggest autism spectrum disorders are becoming increasingly more common in children in the USA, an increase from 1 in 150 as previously estimated to the current figures of 1 in 100-children with the condition. However, it is not clear how much of the increase can be put down to more frequent and earlier diagnoses and how much due to a real rise in the conditions.

The study results, of which one stems from the 2007 National Survey of Children's Health, released Monday have been published in the October issue of Paediatrics.

Based on a telephone survey of over 78,000 parents with children aged 3 to 17, parents participating in the study reported about 1 in 91-children had autism, including milder forms like Asperger's syndrome. The survey dealing with many health issues, included two questions on autism i. e. parents were questioned whether any doctor or other health care provider had told them that their child had autism, Asperger's syndrome, pervasive developmental disorder or other autism spectrum disorder, and whether their child currently had autism or an autism spectrum disorder. If, the answer was yes to both questions, the child was considered to be autistic."

2theadvocate.com | News | Lomotey edits book on education — Baton Rouge, LA

2theadvocate.com News Lomotey edits book on education — Baton Rouge, LA:

"From illegal teaching lessons during slavery to Brown v. Board of Education to modern classrooms, Southern University Chancellor Kofi Lomotey’s new “encyclopedia” is intended to touch everything about African-American education.

Lomotey’s new two-volume, 1,152-page “Encyclopedia of African American Education” will appear on some bookshelves beginning Oct. 20.
“A lot of success and challenges and failures in African-American education parallel our history and overall experiences,” Lomotey said."

Suit looming against California over school funding - San Jose Mercury News

Suit looming against California over school funding - San Jose Mercury News:

"Top California school leaders said they soon will sue the state over chronically underfunded schools—a move that in other states has infused billions of dollars into school systems.

California spends $35.7 billion, or about 30 percent of its budget, on its 1,000 public K-12 schools. Like other state programs, education has suffered waves of cuts in two years as state revenues have shrunk. In per-pupil spending, California ranks anywhere from 30th to 47th among states, depending on how cost of living is adjusted.

The California Constitution requires the Legislature 'to provide for a system of common schools by which a free school shall be kept up and supported.' The suit will allege that the state violates that provision by not ensuring adequate support."

Stretching School Dollars: Create a bridge for Delta schools - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Stretching School Dollars: Create a bridge for Delta schools - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee: "The Rockefeller Institute of Government projects that pre-recession revenues for states won't recover until 2014. And California is among the states with the highest per-capita state revenue declines since 2007. Recovery may be longer in coming here.
To be sure, a generous federal stimulus package softened the blow of cuts to education, health care and more. But it is one-time money. And the governor and Legislature have pushed billions of dollars of spending into the future � deepening the budget hole."

Critic says Sacramento strong-mayor initiative would 'create a king' - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Critic says Sacramento strong-mayor initiative would 'create a king' - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News Sacramento Bee:

"'It creates way too much power for one individual,' said initiative opponent Kevin McCarty, a member of the Sacramento City Council and a candidate for the state Assembly seat being vacated by Dave Jones in 2010. 'It will essentially create a king here in Sacramento.'"