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Monday, October 22, 2012

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Just Another Nonsensical Policy in Florida

A reader responded to an earlier post about Florida’s decision to set different academic goals for children of different races:
“As a Florida teacher since 1997, I have watched our state board enact bone-headed policies that make no sense, but of all of them, the race-based variable learning goals has to be most useless and inane, not to mention anti-education and unworkable. There are so many questions about the way these standards will be applied I wonder how they expect school districts to carry them out. If a child is mixed race, are they allowed to 


CNN.COM Reports on the Campaign for Our Public Schools

CNN.COM just posted a description of the letter-writing Campaign for Our Public Schools.
This is extremely helpful as it educates the public about what teachers and parents and students know and believe.
In our efforts to promote a sane public policy about education and to stop the demonization of teachers and public schools, we need to educate the public about what is happening in the schools, the good and the bad.


In Pennsylvania, A Significant Victory for Public Education

Pennsylvania legislators were moving to adopt a “charter reform” bill that would have benefited charters mightily.
In response to the loud outcry from supporters of public education, some Republican legislators switched sides at the last minute and the bill died.
There are indeed serious injustices that need to be corrected–like the outrageous over-funding of cyber charters–

EduShyster Is Looking for Los Estudiantes

EduShyster should just take over my blog.
I could reprint everything he/she posts.
He or she is much funnier than I am.
And he or she (is there another pronoun?) finds more and more ingenious ways to unravel closely held secrets.
Take a look at this one.
Where are los ninos y ninas?


Vermillion Parish School Board Joins the Honor Roll

Vermillion Parish School Board in Louisiana joins the Honor Roll as a hero of public education because of its refusal to bow down to the unjust, unwise demands of the State Department of Education. The Louisiana State Department of Education is not at all “conservative.” It believes that bureaucracy should override local control and that the people should hand their local schools over to the whims of the state.
The Louisiana Department of Education chastised four school districts for refusing to obey the Legislature’s 


Some Questions for the Debate Tonight

Jere Hochman, the superintendent in Bedford, New York, previously acknowledged as a hero of public education on this blog, offers some thoughtful questions for the Presidential debate tonight. Since the topic is foreign affairs, none of these questions is likely to be asked, but surely journalists who encounter the candidates and their surrogates in the days ahead could ask these questions.



Who Opposes Initiative 1240 in Washington State? Who Supports It?

Voters in Washington State have turned down charter proposals three times. Now the idea is up for a vote again on November 6.
The advocates have raised millions of dollars from a handful of supporters, none of whom are public school parents.
The opponents have raised about $200,000 from a broad array of individuals.
Who opposes the charter initiative 1240 in Washington State
  • ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS AGAINST CHARTER SCHOOL INITIATIVE 1240-JOIN THE RANKS!

    • Washington State PTA
    • League of Women Voters
    * State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Randy Dorn
    • WASA – Washington Association of School Administrators
    • WSSDA – Washington State School Directors Association Board
    • Washington Education Association
    * Renton School Board
    * Seattle Public School Board
    * Eatonville School Board
    * Evergreen School Board
    * Franklin Pierce School Board
    * Goldendale School Board
    * Moses Lake School Board
    * Onion Creek School Board
    • Educational Service District 113
    * Riverview School Board, serving Carnation, Duvall and parts of unincorporated East King County.
    * Renton School District
    * Superintendent of Seattle Public Schools, Jose Banda
    • Japanese-American Citizens League Board
    • Seattle-King County NAACP
    • El Centro de la Raza
    • Parents and Friends for Tacoma Public Schools
    • Parents Across America – Seattle chapter
    * Parents Across America- Tri-Cities chapter
    * Parents Across America-Tacoma chapter
    * Parents Across America- Spokane chapter
    * Senator Adam Kline
    • 1st District Democrats
    • 5th District Democrats
    * 10th District Democrats
    • 11th District Democrats
    * 21st District Democrats
    • 22nd District Democrats
    * 23rd District Democrats
    * 27th District Democrats
    • 32nd District Democrats
    • 33rd District Democrats
    • 34th District Democrats
    • 36th District Democrats
    • 37th District Democrats
    * 39th District Democrats
    * 40th District Democrats
    • 41st District Democrats
    • 43rd District Democrats
    • 45th District Democrats
    • 46th District Democrats
    • 48th District Democrats
    • King County Democrats
    * Lewis Country Democrats
    * Mason County Democrats
    • Pierce County Democrats
    * Skagit County Democrats
    * Whatcom County Democrats
    • Metropolitan Democratic Club of Seattle
    * Kristine Lytton State Rep.40th District
    • Citizens United for Responsible Education
    • IUOE Local 609 (Operating Engineers)
    • Association of Washington School Principals
    • Northwest Progressive Institute
    • UW Alumni Assn. Multicultural Alumni Partnership Board
    * The Seattle Stranger
    • Wayne Au, PhD in education, parent, and editor of Rethinking Schools
    • James Bible, President, Seattle-King County chapter of NAACP
    • Scott Heinze (Tacoma School Board Director)
    • Charlie Mas, Seattle Schools Community Forum blog
    • Barbara de Michele,former School Board member, Issaquah School District
    • Sue Peters, Seattle Education blog
    • John Stokes, Bellevue City Council member
    • Melissa Westbrook, Seattle Schools Community Forum Blog
    ****************************
  • Who supports initiative 1240?
    Bill Gates
    The Bezos family (Amazon.com)
    Paul Allen (Microsoft)
    Alice Walton (Arkansas, Walmart)
    and a few other assorted millionaires and billionaires

EduShyster’s Sister Offers Advice to President Obama

Little did Anthony Cody and I know that the sister of Edushyster had a letter in the collection that we forwarded to the President this week.
EduShyster is the acerbic, hilarious blogger in Massachusetts who sees through all the baloney that we read day after day about “reform.”
One detail emerged in this post. EduShyster refers to herself. So, unless he is pulling a fast one with a fake pronoun, we have narrowed the possibilities in the Bay State by half.