Thursday, April 22, 2010

Rotarian At Work Day Benefits Local Elementary School — Citrus Heights Herald

Rotarian At Work Day Benefits Local Elementary School

by MICHELLE VENTRESS on APRIL 22, 2010 · 0 COMMENTS

Rotarians have long been known for their work in the community. The Rotary Club of Citrus Heights is no exception. This past Saturday, the Rotary Club of Citrus Heights participated in the Rotary At Work Day by lending a hand at Kingswood Elementary School.

At the annual At Work Day, seventeen Rotarians, family and friends were able to repair and paint eight picnic tables and rebuild three planters. They also beautified the planter with additional new plants.

“Principal Alicia Lawson and Vice Principal Melissa Bassanelli are great ambassadors for Kingswood Elementary and choosing Kingswood for this year’s project was a

Portland school board members: Don't slash bus passes, school bus routes | OregonLive.com

Portland school board members: Don't slash bus passes, school bus routes

By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian

April 22, 2010, 6:58PM

Thousands of Portland parents and students would have been shocked to learn that bus passes and bus routes they've come to count on would have been cut next school year under Portland Superintendent Carole Smith's $400 million hold-the-line budget plan for 2010-11.

Those proposed cuts, affecting several thousand students, were buried deep in Smith's budget document and never came to public attention before the school board's budget committee decided this evening to spare families the cuts.

Instead, the board should spend $660,000 from its shrinking savings account to maintain the bus passes and school bus services until the board and families have plenty of time to digest and comment on the potential transportation cuts, probably next year, said David Wynde, chairman of the board's budget committee. Fellow committee members agreed,

Among the cost-saving measures the superintendent and her transportation director had recommended:

Stop providing a free TriMet bus pass to every Portland Public Schools high school student, something that began this school year. Officials wanted to shave at least $100,000 from the $800,000 the school district spends to provide the passes.
End yellow school bus service to 2,100 students who attend middle schools. The state doesn't require Portland to bus students to its middle schools, and ending those bus lines would save the district $150,000.
End free bus rides to and from Outdoor School for 3,300 sixth-graders, saving $20,000.
Stop bussing students to the Chinese and Japanese immersion programs at Woodstock and Richard elementary schools. No other immersion programs and few other special focus schools provide transportation to their students, and cutting the Richmond and Woodstock bus lines would save $17,000 a year.

Those changes -- which surely would have provoked an outcry -- won't be approved, at least not next month when the rest of the budget comes up for a school board vote, board members said. "We definitely have to give people more notice," said board member Pam Knowles.

Board members said, however, that it may be a good idea to end special optional bus services that are provided to families in certain pockets or

UO reassigns general counsel to law school faculty

by Jeff Manning, The Oregonian

University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere on Thursday moved General Counsel Melinda Grier to the faculty of the university's law school.

Elk Grove Citizen : Teachers try to avoid layoff notices at hearings

Elk Grove Citizen : News

Teachers try to avoid layoff notices at hearings

Photos by Keri Wood - Hundreds of Elk Grove Unified School teachers attend the first day of the administrative hearings to find out if there is any hope of keeping their jobs next school year.

Hundreds crowd weeklong hearings

By Cody Kitaura - Citizen Staff Writer

Published: Thursday, April 22, 2010 5:29 PM PDT

The Elk Grove Unified School District held hearings this week to ensure 760 preliminary layoff notices sent last month were given to the right employees.

Employees who attended the four days of hearings hope to keep their jobs because of seniority or additional qualification or certification.

District spokesperson Elizabeth Graswich said 500 people requested hearings to determine if someone else should have been sent a layoff notice before them.

Each person is entitled to an individual hearing, and on April 19 hundreds of teachers crowded into the district’s headquarters for standing-room-only proceedings.

Attendees lined the walls and sat on the floor, and some brought their own chairs. Many quietly read magazines, newspapers and novels while they waited for their names to be called.

Stephen Smith, an administrative law judge with the California Office of Administrative

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: My letter to ed--Huntly lied

My letter to ed--Huntly lied

by Mike Klonsky

My letter on vouchers in Today's S-T. Columnist Steve Huntley had claimed vouchers raised scores.

"...study after study shows students escaping failing public schools thanks to vouchers record academic gains."

P.S. I haven't been at UIC in years. Don't know where they got that.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Largest protest rocks the capitol, "Save Our State!" "Save Our Schools!"

Largest protest rocks the capitol, "Save Our State!" "Save Our Schools!"

from Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog by Mike Klonsky

Coverage sucks

Today's news coverage of yesterday's 15,000-strong mass protest in Springfield was pathetic. The Tribune's headline screamed, "THRONGS AT RALLY CRY: 'RAISE MY TAXES.'" If you read the online edition of the Trib, even that's story has been pulled by this afternoon. The rally, the largest ever at the capitol, never happened, it seems. My delivered Sun-Times didn't even cover the protest. The online edition? (wait...I'm checking) Nothing.

NorthJersey.com: Education commissioner to town officials: Ask teachers to take one-year wage freeze

Hundreds of teachers protest N.J. Sen. Weinberg's support of pension reforms

Thursday, April 22, 2010
LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY APRIL 22, 2010, 8:42 PM

BY LESLIE BRODY AND GIOVANNA FABIANO

THE RECORD

STAFF WRITERS

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More than 500 Bergen County public school teachers and staff rallied in front of Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg’s office in Teaneck on Thursday to blast state aid cuts and her support for recently passed bills that will rein in pensions for new hires.

More than 500 local teachers protest outside of state Sen. Loretta Weinberg's Teaneck office Thursday.

TYSON TRISH/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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More than 500 local teachers protest outside of state Sen. Loretta Weinberg's Teaneck office Thursday.

“Hey Loretta, where’s our money? We want our money back,” chanted several teachers from the Leonia Education Association. Some held signs pleading “Save our schools” to protest Gov. Christie’s proposed $820 million in state aid cuts, which they argue would devastate their districts.
Meanwhile, two days after 58 percent of New Jersey school budgets failed to win voter approval, educators and town officials statewide scrambled to find ways to further trim defeated spending plans. In a conference call with roughly 700 of them, Education Commissioner Bret Schundler encouraged municipal leaders to contact local teachers unions and urge them to take a one-year wage freeze.
Schundler said sometimes a new voice can help facilitate a heated discussion between two counter-parties, just as in a marriage. “There are times when I’m discussing something with my wife and we disagree” and getting another perspective is valuable, he said.
New Jersey Education Association spokeswoman Dawn Hiltner argued against the notion that municipal officials should call on locals directly to give up raises. All the parties “should all sit down together and work collaboratively, instead of automatically looking at working people to take cuts,” she said.
Judging by the vehemence of the teachers marching in Teaneck — which created a massive late-afternoon traffic jam downtown — it seemed many were in no mood to make concessions. Forming a loop, they paraded down blocked-off Cedar Lane for more than an hour, cheering as representatives from the NJEA

Laptops Came Later in Central, Southern Areas of School District voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence.

Laptops Came Later in Central, Southern Areas of School District

Schools in the central and southern areas of San Diego Unified -- which tend to be less affluent -- are more likely to have gotten student laptops later than other schools, district data show.

All schools in San Diego Unified will eventually get laptops this school year as part of a sweeping plan to install digital whiteboards and other technology in classrooms, said Darryl LaGace, who oversees technology in the schools. It's paid for by a school renovation bond that voters passed two years ago.

But some schools got the laptops sooner than others. As of the beginning of April, 38 out of the nearly 200 schools in the district were still waiting for laptops. They were disproportionately likely to fall in the southern and central areas of the school district represented by Richard Barrera and Shelia Jackson -- something Jackson wasn't happy about when the school board saw the data. Check out this map to see it for yourself.

For instance, laptops hadn't gotten to five of the 37 traditional schools in the northeast areas represented by Katherine Nakamura -- about 14 percent -- compared to 10 out of 36 schools in Jackson's area -- about 27 percent. (I'm leaving out atypical schools and charters and basing my counts on the schools listed for each school board member on the district website.) So why the imbalance?

There are two reasons schools might not get the laptops as quickly, LaGace said. Principals had to return a survey saying whether they thought their teachers were ready to get the

Home - California Teachers Association

Thousands descend on Capitol to decry cuts to education

April 2010

On April 21, an estimated 5,000 public school supporters and union members turned out at the State Capitol to greet a contingent of union members who had walked to Sacramento from Los Angeles to demonstrate the plight of public education and working men and women.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE MARCH WATCH "STATE CAPITOL BOUND"

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Texas/Southwest

White: Texas education board should delay vote

04/22/2010

By JIM VERTUNO / Associated Press

Bill White, the Democratic nominee for Texas governor, said Thursday that the State Board of Education shouldn't vote on new social studies curriculum standards until newly elected members are in place.

White said Republican Gov. Rick Perry should ask board chairman Gail Lowe to delay next month's vote until 2011. Perry appointed Lowe.

A Christian conservative bloc of the board has drawn much attention to the panel's debates about social studies and which historical figures to include in Texas' curriculum. One board member and another right-wing candidate for the board were defeated by more moderate Republicans in the primary.

Those changes show Texas voters don't want the current board deciding curriculum standards, White spokeswoman Katy Bacon said.

"Texas voters have voted against those who are extreme and hyper-political," Bacon said. "If Rick Perry won't show some leadership about the process, he should at least respect Texans who've said they don't want the current, controversial SBOE making decisions about their children's future."

Don McLeroy, a former board chairman who lost in the primary, will

47% in Colorado Favor New Teacher Tenure Plan, 42% Oppose - Rasmussen Reports™

47% in Colorado Favor New Teacher Tenure Plan, 42% Oppose

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

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The Colorado State Board of Education last week voted unanimously in support of a proposed teacher-tenure reform bill now working its way through the state legislature. The bill “would change the way teachers are evaluated and allow teachers to be stripped of their tenure if they fail to meet performance standards heavily weighted by student academic growth data.”

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 47% of likely Colorado voters agree that this is how tenure should be determined. But nearly as many (42%) would prefer to see tenure based on other factors, including principal evaluations.

Governor Bill Ritter and many legislators are pushing their new tenure requirements in a bid for millions of dollars in new federal education money. But the state teachers' union, the Colorado Education Association, opposes it

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

Men are more inclined to base tenure on student academics performance, while women are evenly divided on the question.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of conservative voters strongly favor the new tenure proposal, while 62% of liberals oppose it.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Republicans support basing tenure more on student

New Jersey Assesses the School Vote Damage - The Local – Maplewood Blog - NYTimes.com

New Jersey Assesses the School Vote Damage

By LOIS DESOCIO AND JEAN-PIERRE MESTANZA

The voter turnout for the board of education elections and budget approvals was the largest in years, both locally and across the state.

But the voter backlash from the cuts by Gov. Christopher J. Christie and the resulting impact on school administrators to cut, trim and pass their budgets in a matter of days was huge.

The reverberations are only just starting to be felt throughout the state, and it’s not much of a leap to predict the political forecast for New Jersey in the coming weeks: stormy, with a high probability of thunder and lightning. And watch out for plenty of local damage.

Of the 541 budgets up for a vote, 316 were rejected. That’s 58 percent voted down, the largest failure rate since the New Jersey School Boards Associationstarted keeping track in 1976, according to today’s Star Ledger.

For a good look on the numbers, the New Jersey School Boards Association’sWeb site lists the county-to-county school budget election results for the last 10 years.

Locally, the budget was approved in Millburn by approximately 60 percent of voters.

The budget is not on the ballot in South Orange and Maplewood. The Board of School Estimates approves it.

But as reported in Winnie Hu’s article in today’s New York Times, the message, “‘enough is enough’ resounded across the state, from urban to rural districts…,” including our neighbor, West Orange, where “heavier steps, like

Remainders: Planning against the Teacherpocalypse | GothamSchools

Remainders: Planning against the Teacherpocalypse

by Anna Phillips

Charter school supporters found Sen. Perkins’ hearing gave too much weight to the anti-charter voice.
NY’s teacher union and school board assoc. are suing Gov. Paterson for withholding school aid (again).
The mother of an Achievement First Charter School student says the school is not what she signed up for.
The Learning Environment Surveys are due tomorrow and Miss Eyre isn’t sure if she should fill hers out.
The questions that a local charter school asks prospective teachers during job interviews.
The “teacherpocalypse” is upon us, but Reason mag and Russo ask everyone to calm down.
More than 270,000 teaching jobs could be saved under the proposed Education Jobs Fund.
A community-college-focused news site by Joanne Jacobs is part of the new Hechinger Report.
A twin study out of Florida is bolstering the research on differences between teachers.
Bill Gates has taken the open courses that MIT offers. He might fund open courseware, too!
The case for teacher-tweeting, by Quick and the Ed.
And Ruben Brosbe, in his third year, is struggling to figure out why teaching is still hard.

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/22/10 | The White House

President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts, 4/22/10

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate the following individuals to key administration posts:

Christopher A. Masingill, Federal Co-Chair, Delta Regional Authority
Mary Minow, Member, National Museum Library Services Board
Catherine E. Woteki, Under Secretary for Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics, Department of Agriculture

President Obama said, “I am grateful that such talented individuals have chosen to serve in my administration at this important time for our nation. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”

President Obama also announced his intent to appoint Renée Mauborgne to serve as a Member of the Presidential Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Her bio is below.

Catherine E. Wotecki, Nominee for Under Secretary for Agriculture for Research, Education and Economics, Department of Agriculture
Dr. Catherine E. Woteki currently serves as Global Director of Scientific Affairs for Mars, Incorporated, where she manages the company’s scientific policy and research on matters of health, nutrition, and food safety. From 2002-2005, she was Dean of Agriculture and Professor of Human Nutrition at Iowa State University. Dr. Woteki served as the first Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 1997-2001, where she oversaw U.S. Government food safety policy development and USDA’s continuity of operations planning. Dr. Woteki also served as the Deputy Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics at USDA in 1996. Prior to going to USDA, Dr. Woteki served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as Deputy Associate Director for Science from 1994-1996. Dr. Woteki has also held positions in the National Center for Health Statistics of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (1983-1990), the Human Nutrition Information Service at USDA (1981-1983), and as Director of the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Sciences (1990-1993). In 1999, Dr. Woteki was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, where she has chaired the Food and Nutrition Board (2003-2005). She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1974). Dr. Woteki received her B.S. in Chemistry from Mary Washington College (1969).
President Obama also announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key administration post:
Renée Mauborgne, Appointee for Member, Presidential Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities
Renée Mauborgne is the Co-Director of the INSEAD Blue Ocean Strategy Institute and Affiliate Professor of Strategy at INSEAD, the world's second largest business school located in Fontainebleau, France. Prior to this, she held the title of the INSEAD Distinguished Fellow of Strategy and Management and Senior Research Fellow also at INSEAD. Professor Mauborgne is a Fellow of the World Economic Forum at Davos. She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Nobels Colloquia Prize for Leadership on Business and Economic Thinking 2008 and the Eldridge Haynes Prize, awarded by the Academy of International Business and the Eldridge Haynes Memorial Trust of Business International, for the best original paper in the field of international business. Professor Mauborgne is the co-author of the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy (Harvard Business Press), which is being published in 42 languages. She has published numerous articles on strategy and managing the multinational which can be found in: Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of International Business Studies, Harvard Business Review, and Sloan Management Review.

Public Voting Begins Monday for Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge

by The White House

President Obama to choose national winner from three finalists selected by public
WASHINGTON – The White House and the Department of Education announced today that voting for the winner of the first annual Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge will begin Monday, April 26.
From 8 a.m. EDT on Monday, April 26th through 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 29, 2010, the public will have an opportunity to review and rate a three-minute video and short essay from each of the six high school finalists at http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/Commencement. President Obama will select the national winner from the three high schools with the highest average ratings. The Commencement Challenge winner will be announced on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 and the President will visit the winning high school to deliver the commencement address later this spring.
Voters are encouraged to rank the finalists based on the criteria of the Commencement Challenge including:
Educational success of the school as an example for other high schools around the country; The ability of the school to engage students in learning and to foster personal responsibility and academic excellence; and The success of the school in preparing students to graduate college and career-ready, to help meet the President’s 2020 goal that America have the highest proportion of college graduates of any nation in the world.
The Commencement Challenge, launched in late February, invited the nation’s public high schools to submit applications showing their dedication to providing students with an excellent education that will prepare them to graduate ready for college and career choices. Applications were judged based on the schools’ performance, four essay questions and supplemental data. The six finalists were selected for their dedication to academic excellence and for showing how they are helping prepare students to graduate college and career ready, and prepared to meet the President’s goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by 2020.
Finalists:
Blue Valley Northwest High School (Overland Park, Kansas) Clark Montessori Junior High and High School (Cincinnati, Ohio) Denver School of Science and Technology (Denver, Colorado) Environmental Charter High School (Lawndale, California) Kalamazoo Central High School (Kalamazoo, Michigan) MAST Academy (Miami, Florida)
Complete details of the voting and selection process appear below:

Education - San Jose Mercury News

News > Education

Learning to read: Genes play biggest role but teachers matter, study says

SEATTLE — Genetics play the biggest role in determining how fast a child learns to read, but a good teacher can make a measurable difference as well, according to a study released Thursday.

Fisher: Reading for those who can't

Late SJSU prof's 'greenhouse' to go on sale

National Hispanic University in E. San Jose sold to for-profit college chain

Volcanic fallout: Dozens of Los Gatos High School musicians stranded in Germany

Psychedelics conference describes the long strange trip to the lab

California's university system: What went wrong?

Forty wild horses and burros gallop into the big city to be auctioned off to the public

San Jose State to lay off 76 staff and eliminate 49 positions in budget crunch

To cut costs, SJSU to lay off 76 staff and eliminate 49 positions

UC Berkeley acceptances from outside California hit record high

California's university system: What went wrong?