Latest News and Comment from Education

Monday, April 28, 2014

Choosing Democracy: Sacramento : end of the imposed Core Waiver

Choosing Democracy: Sacramento : end of the imposed Core Waiver:



Sacramento : end of the imposed Core Waiver




Don't believe what the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board says, 
SCTA, along with many community groups, has been consistently opposed to the NCLB waiver as submitted by our former Superintendent and the California Office to Reform Education with no true input from stakeholders.  While the waiver did bring some flexibility in how the district could spend supplemental education service funds, the cost of the waiver and some of the requirements established within the application were detrimental to our schools and the students they serve. The way the application process was handled by those involved was unacceptable to our members and the community, which is one of the reasons why we have steadfastly opposed the waiver and those behind it. We would like to thank the Black Parallel School Board, Hmong Innovating Politics, the Sacramento Coalition to Save Public Education, SEIU 1021 and the countless parents, community members and student advocates who have helped bring the waiver to light.  We believe that in working collaboratively with the district and the community, we can make many of the more positive initiatives contained within the application a reality without the loss of local control to the unelected California Office to Reform Education.

We applaud the district’s decision not to seek a renewal of the waiver and look forward to working with them without this divisive topic hanging over all our conversations. SCTA continues to be committed to working with the district to implement the Common Core State Standards to ensure the rigorous learning expectations at all grade levels are met.  Our hope is that in moving forward with the waiver behind us we can tackle many of the initiatives important to both the district and teachers. This important step is what we think is needed to change the conversation and improve relations.  We are committed to doing our part in re-building the trust and working together to build a collaborative culture between district leadership, our members and the community we serve.
 April 9, 2014. 

Elect Respect Community Brunch and Fundraiser: Join Jesse Hagopian and the Seattle Education Association Respect Slate members this Sunday | Seattle Education

Elect Respect Community Brunch and Fundraiser: Join Jesse Hagopian and the Seattle Education Association Respect Slate members this Sunday | Seattle Education:



Elect Respect Community Brunch and Fundraiser: Join Jesse Hagopian and the Seattle Education Association Respect Slate members this Sunday

Respect
Elect Respect Community Brunch and Fundraiser
Join Jesse Hagopian and the Seattle Education Association Respect Slate members for brunch
Sunday, May 4th at 1:00 PM
in the home of a Seattle School parent
RSVP here and the address and directions will be provided to you.
Jesse Hagopian and the Respect Slate are in the midst of a campaign that will determine the direction of the Seattle Education Association (SEA). They need our support to turn the Union into an organization that fights for the interests of students, teachers, and parents alike.
City Council Member Nick Licata, School Board Director Sue Peters and Real Change Director Tim Harris support Garfield High School history teacher, Jesse Hagopian, for Elect Respect Community Brunch and Fundraiser: Join Jesse Hagopian and the Seattle Education Association Respect Slate members this Sunday | Seattle Education:

NYC Public School Parents: Resolution opposed to the provisions in the NYS budget giving preferences to charter schools for free public space

NYC Public School Parents: Resolution opposed to the provisions in the NYS budget giving preferences to charter schools for free public space:



Resolution opposed to the provisions in the NYS budget giving preferences to charter schools for free public space



This resolution has been approved by  Community Education Councils in District 1 in Manhattan, District 20 in Brooklyn and District 30 in Queens.  Please let us know if your CEC has approved it as well by emailing us at info@classsizematters.org 

Resolution Opposing Provisions in the NY State Budget for 2014-2015 Requiring the Department of Education Provide Space at Public Expense of Charter Schools


WHEREAS Charter Schools in New York City frequently displace public school students from existing school facilities and create overcrowded conditions; and

WHEREAS Charter Schools in New York City have been shown by the City’s Independent Budget Office to receive more public funding per pupil than public schools; and

WHEREAS Charter Schools in New York City have spent over  5 million dollars in fees to public relations and advertising firms in their campaign to demand public space; and

WHEREAS Charter Schools in New York City receive backing from wealthy investors who benefit from federal tax credits valued at millions of dollars under the Federal New Markets program; and

WHEREAS Charter Schools have resources and the means to find their own facilities outside of the Department of Education’s building inventory;

WHEREAS the New York State Budget for 2014-2015 requires that New York City’s Department of Education provide space at no cost to Charter Schools, thereby severely curtailing local control of city schools and placing public school students at a distinct and unfair disadvantage; and

THEREFORE, be it resolved that Community Education Council 1 is opposed to these provisions;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that Community Education Council 1 hereby calls upon the Senate  to introduce new legislation rescinding the provisions requiring the Department of Education to provide free space to Charter Schools, thereby restoring local control of city schools ; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Community Education Council 1 hereby calls upon Governor Cuomo to allow the Mayor to oversee the usage of NYC public school space in accordance with the State Education Law of mayoral control.

Unanimously approved on April 23, 2014

Bush and Rhee Endorse a Book– Fortunately, Not Mine | deutsch29

Bush and Rhee Endorse a Book– Fortunately, Not Mine | deutsch29:



Bush and Rhee Endorse a Book– Fortunately, Not Mine

April 28, 2014


As I announced on April 27, 2014, my book on key individuals and organizations exploiting public education is now published:
A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education.
Harvard professor and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute Paul Peterson and two others also have a book coming out; it entitled, Teachers versus the Public (nice, huh?). Based upon information from a PR email dated 04-28-14, it is obvious that Petersen’s et al. book aims to prove that teachers (and their unions) are an impediment to publicly-desired “reforms” such as merit pay (i.e., teacher pay based upon student test scores), vouchers and charters.
If only those self-interested teachers were somehow brought into check, then “popular school reform proposals” would be rid of an “obstacle.”
In what Peterson’s et al. PR people seem to believe a selling point, they offer two endorsements for the teacher-blaming book: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and former DC Chancellor Michelle Rhee.
Well. I am a public school teacher, and I can assure Peterson– and Bush and Rhee– that I intend to be quite the “impediment” to so-called “reforms” designed to privatize public education.
Time to put some of my book, Chronicle of Echoes, to good use.
Here is an excerpt from one of my chapters on Bush and his connection to the Hoover Bush and Rhee Endorse a Book– Fortunately, Not Mine | deutsch29:

The Maiming of a Teacher's Career in Queens.southbronxschool.com

http://www.southbronxschool.com:



The Maiming of a Teacher's Career in Queens

This is from the files of you can't make this sh** up.

The following anectodals are from a teacher at MS 72, District 28 in Queens. The principal is
Omotayo Cineus, late of the (Yep! You guessed it! the Leadership Academy).

The Crack Team received these anectodals this afternoon and immediately were repulsed at what this teacher at MS 72 has endured over the years. The lack of support and day in and day out harassment is more than anyone can endure.

We decided to only change the names of both students and staff but decided not to redact any of the foul language used. We here at SBSB felt that if we redacted the language the impact would lessen. We want our readers to be as shocked an appalled as we are.


October 30, 2013 - Mary Tyler Moore had been taunting and mocking me since the beginning of the period. She was upset and informing me that I was “on her last nerve” because I had changed her seat upon her return from an in-house suspension.  She refused to take her new seat.  I decided to continue teaching and call her mom later in the day.  She taunted me constantly with threats like, “I’m gonna kick your white ass”, and “Damn racist teacher startin’ shit”. She got up and went to the front of the room and ranted, “School can’t do nothin”. I can do whatever I want to this damn bitch and school can’t do SHIT! I’ma KID and I’m goin’ to another school so I am DONE with this bitch and her white ass!” http://www.southbronxschool.com:

Geaux Teacher!: Real Teacher Challenges Incumbent for BESE

Geaux Teacher!: Real Teacher Challenges Incumbent for BESE:



Real Teacher Challenges Incumbent for BESE



 Board of Elementary and Secondary Education member Holly Boffy, who was the state teacher of the year in 2010, could have another distinguished former educator challenging her next year.

So far it’s the most substantive BESE face-off threatened for next year’s fall ballot, but the board’s president, Chas Roemer, has also fielded a challenge from Jason France of Baton Rouge, who blogs under the pseudonym “Crazy Crawfish” and is a featured writer at the National Education Policy Center.
Melinda Mangham, twice named a White House Distinguished Teacher while teaching senior English at Lafayette High School, told LaPolitics she is considering opposing Boffy in 2015.
holly boffymangham wwmb
Photo by Robin MayPhoto by Terri Fensel
Holly BoffyMelinda Mangham
Mangham says she objects to the influence Gov. Bobby Jindal and business allies exerted on new board members by bankrolling their 2011 election campaigns.

“I understand raising money, but not when it is so controlled,” she says. “Holly Boffy is totally controlled.”

Weighing in on Common Core standards, she says, “Teachers are not opposed to high standards. We always have had standards and they change them on us every few years. The objection teachers have is the implementation of it.”

Mangham realizes that fundraising will be a major challenge, though she is no rookie, having been through election campaigns with her late husband, attorney Mickey Mangham.


“People are calling me and asking if I would consider [running]," Mangham says. "But I know I can’t raise money to compete with Lane Grigsby,” a Baton Rouge contractor who contributed heavily to the 2011 candidates backed by Jindal.

“She’s got a good heart,” Grigsby says of Mangham, while noting that he will continue backing Boffy. “We have just begun to fight,” he says. “I am not one to quit now and throw everything away.”
He now sees Jindal, who has backed off his support of Common Core, as the problem, not the BESE members, saying, “If the governor decided to turn tail, it’s up to those of us who toed the mark.”  

[Editor’s Note: This news organization has honored both Mangham and Boffy with its women’s awards, an annual project of our business pub ABiz. Read those stories about Mangham here and Boffy here.]

Louisiana Educator: Attempts by Big Business to Ban Payroll Dues Deduction

Louisiana Educator: Attempts by Big Business to Ban Payroll Dues Deduction:



Attempts by Big Business to Ban Payroll Dues Deduction


LABI (The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry) was not satisfied with promoting the raiding of our public MFP funds by charter schools and voucher schools; big business was not satisfied with stripping most teachers of due process rights and rating teachers using a seriously flawed VAM system; LABI was not quite satisfied with stripping teachers of all job seniority rights; and it was not enough to exempt teachers in charter schools from professional training, subsistituting minimal training in test prep. LABI was especially incensed that the teacher professional organizations/unions had the nerve to successfully challenge the many unconstitutional provisions in Act 1 and Act 2 and the denial of teacher due process.

LABI felt that the best way to punish and weaken teachers and their unions was by removing each teacher's right to have their association or union dues paid using the payroll deduction system. So this Wednesday, April 30, several bills will be debated in the House Labor and Industrial Relations Committee that would prohibit payroll deduction for teacher union dues.

Here is a report from chief LAE chief lobbist, Shane Riddle, about this latest attack on the teaching profession. This report is on HB 172, 451, and 1059:
"These bills would take away your right to have your professional association membership fees deducted from your paycheck and take away your right to Louisiana Educator: Attempts by Big Business to Ban Payroll Dues Deduction:

Update on HB 703
House Bill 703 is still on the House floor awaiting debate. It is now scheduled for debate on Wednesday, April 30. See the reports below the next section for a good description of the need for this legislation. Please ask all legislators to vote "yes" for HB 703.

Nite Cap 4-28-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #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



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Stephen Krashen Blog 4-28-14
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YESTERDAY

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Why We Chose to Opt Out | EduSanity
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4-27-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week
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My Book Is Published! | deutsch29
My Book Is Published! | deutsch29: My Book Is Published!April 27, 2014To all who have been asking and waiting:I am pleased to report that my book, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education, is now available on Amazon.com!At the moment, Amazon.com has the paperback version, listed at $23.35.I hear that the e-book takes about 30 days until it is available.Here is
California School Boards Association’s President takes on Netflix CEO’s call for privatization for school boards « School Board News
California School Boards Association’s President takes on Netflix CEO’s call for privatization for school boards « School Board News: California School Boards Association’s President takes on Netflix CEO’s call for privatization for school boardsJosephine Lucey, President of the California School Boards Association and a Cupertino Union School District board member, took on Netflix CEO Reed Hastin
empathyeducates – A Walmart Fortune, Spreading Charter Schools
empathyeducates – A Walmart Fortune, Spreading Charter Schools: A Walmart Fortune, Spreading Charter SchoolsMary Ann Carlson with pupils at a charter school in Washington run by KIPP, an organization aided by the Walton foundation. | Credit Gabriella Demczuk/The New York TimesBy Motoko Rich | Originally Published at The New York Times. April 25, 2014WASHINGTON — DC Prep operates four charter schoo
4-27-14 Schools Matter : Who's Getting Walmart School Privatization Cash?
Schools Matter: Who's Getting Walmart School Privatization Cash?: Who's Getting Walmart School Privatization Cash?From the NYTimes:Last year, the Walton Family Foundation gave $478,380 to a fund affiliated with the Chicago public schools to help officials conduct community meetings to discuss their plan to close more than 50 schools at a time when charters were expanding in the city. . . . .In 201
Nite Cap 4-27-14 #BATsACT #RealEdTalk #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 CAPWhy We Chose to Opt Out | Jason EndacottWhy We Chose to Opt Out | Jason Endacott: Why We Chose to Opt OutPosted: 04/16/2014 5:01 pm EDT Updated: 04/16/2014 5:59 pm EDTunitedoptout.com/OPT OUT GUIDES BY STATE Thousands of children in our state are