CURMUDGUCATION: Successful School Reopening Plans Will Have One Thing In Common

CURMUDGUCATION: Successful School Reopening Plans Will Have One Thing In Common

Successful School Reopening Plans Will Have One Thing In Common

Plenty of folks have thoughts about the conditions under which schools should be opened. The CDC thinks desks should be six feet apart. The American Enterprise Institute suggests that districts might want to get all staff members over fifty-five to take early retirement. Senator Bill Cassidy has called for aggressive testing and contact tracing.

Over the next few months, we’ll see many plans floated for opening schools in the fall. The successful ones will have one thing in common.

They will be written—or at least co-written—by teachers.

Reopening schools will be the ultimate exercise in devil-concealing detail work. A recommendation like “put all student desks at least six feet apart” is easy to make, but it will take the people who actually know the configurations of rooms in the building to turn it into a workable plan

The plans will hinge on nitty-gritty details, not sweeping policy ideas. In a district with few students who walk to school, how do you get them to the building without stuffing them into a means of transportation? If you are, as some suggest, checking temperatures as they enter the building, how do you do it without creating a crowd outside? Where are the bottlenecks in your building, and how might scheduling help reduce them? If one source of bottlenecks is, in fact, the doorway into each classroom, how do you manage that traffic issue?

How will students move from class to class? How does an elementary teacher move a line of fifteen kids, all six feet apart, through the halls? In a high school, how do you dismiss different classes at CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Successful School Reopening Plans Will Have One Thing In Common

Thurmond Calls for Action to Address Racism - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Thurmond Calls for Action to Address Racism - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Calls on Schools and Communities to Take Action to Address Institutional Racism and Educational Inequities

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today responded to the death of George Floyd by calling on communities across the state and nation to take action to dismantle institutional racism and inequities in public schools. He also invited students, educators, families, and partners to participate in an upcoming series of honest, courageous conversations that can help inform the work ahead.

“Given the gravity of what has happened, it is important to me to take some time to talk about the important need for us to have racial justice in California and in this country,” said Thurmond. “It has been difficult for me to make sense of how a man can beg and plead for his life and still have his life snuffed out. It has been hard for me, as a black man, who every day thinks about the impact of race. It has been difficult for me, as a parent raising African American children, to know what to say, how to answer their questions when they ask me, ’Dad, why did this happen?’ And to know that I have to confront my own vulnerability: that when they ask me, ‘Could this happen to them?’ that I might not be able to keep them safe.”

To the loved ones of George Floyd, Thurmond addressed them directly: “I believe that you deserve more than condolences and prayers. I believe that you deserve action that leads to racial justice.”

“We know that bias exists in every sector of society,” Thurmond added. “Now is our time to speak, and to address racism and implicit bias in education.”

An archived video broadcast of the State Superintendent’s full remarks can be found on the California Department of Education (CDE) Facebook page.

In his remarks, the State Superintendent noted that public education can play an important role in better exploring the connection between issues of educational equity and implicit bias in the classroom and the systemic racism that persists throughout society. Black and brown students are more likely to be suspended and expelled and fall behind academically, for example, and schools that serve communities of color are often the most under-resourced.

The State Superintendent announced that he and the CDE will be launching a series of discussions that will include superintendents and educational leaders from across California, students, teachers, school support staff, parents, and caregivers. Thurmond also intends to convene stakeholders in discussions of implicit bias beyond schools to include leaders of statewide and national law enforcement organizations, elected officials, civic community leaders, and more. Details of these gatherings and how to participate will be forthcoming.

Thurmond also announced that he has created an outlet—createracialjustice@gmail.com—that will allow for additional voices and ideas to be heard. CDE will use this collected feedback to develop a new online resource that will be an extension of these conversations. More details will come later.

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Thurmond Calls for Action to Address Racism - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

U.S. Policing a Systemic, not a “Bad Apple” Problem – radical eyes for equity

U.S. Policing a Systemic, not a “Bad Apple” Problem – radical eyes for equity

U.S. Policing a Systemic, not a “Bad Apple” Problem

Here are the two foundational and enduring problems with policing in the U.S.:

(1) U.S. police forces are hyper–militarized and have been killing 1000+ people a year since 2013 (other countries do not have these numbers or rates for police killing citizens; see Germany).

The New York Times

(2) Black people are killed at disproportionate rates compared to whites (Black people at a rate of 30/million v. white people at 12/million) even though in the U.S. there are 5-6 white people for every Black person.

The Washington Post

These are not “bad apple” problems, but systemic problems.

U.S. Policing a Systemic, not a “Bad Apple” Problem – radical eyes for equity

Politico: States Divided About Following DeVos Guidance to Fund Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Politico: States Divided About Following DeVos Guidance to Fund Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Politico: States Divided About Following DeVos Guidance to Fund Private Schools

Politico Morning Education reports that states are divided about whether to take Betsy DeVos’ advice and distribute federal funds based on enrollment, not need. This is her way of sending federal money to private schools, including elite private schools. She has been rebuked by both Republican leaders like Lamar Alexander and Democrats including Patty Murray and Bobby Scott. DeVos is not backing down and is trying to find a way of mandating her wishes, despite Congressional objections.

STATES PUSH BACK AGAINST STEERING CORONAVIRUS FUNDS TO PRIVATE SCHOOLS: Despite DeVos’ call to allow private school kids access to coronavirus stimulus funds, Republican-led states like Oklahoma, Mississippi and Indiana are refusing to, and so are Maine, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Wisconsin.

— DeVos told states that they should steer a greater share of their coronavirus relief to private school students than would be usual under federal education law. She CONTINUE READING: Politico: States Divided About Following DeVos Guidance to Fund Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Schools Re-open in Israel | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Schools Re-open in Israel | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Schools Re-open in Israel

After nine weeks of closure, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered that schools be re-opened within 48 hours. On May 3rd the first phase of re-opening occurred. A national system of schooling, the Ministry of Education had issued numerous guidelines and directives for opening schools balancing health and safety with the need to get children learning and parents back to work.

But guidelines and directives are one thing; it is up to principals and teachers to do the daily work. Or as one teacher put it: “You can’t just turn on the faucet. You have to organize the school, disinfect the building, organize small groups, prepare lesson plans …. The most talented principal can’t do all this in the time allotted.”

And parents worried.

“On the first day that Israel’s schools reopened nine weeks after closing to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Kalanit Taub’s 8-year-old daughter stayed home.

As a third-grader, her classes were among the first wave of those to resume. But her 10-year-old brother’s classes hadn’t yet resumed, and Taub was recalling how both children had been exposed to the virus at school back in March.

“If there is another exposure, what will we do?” she asked. “My husband and I are back to working at our workplace. Can we put the whole family in CONTINUE READING: Schools Re-open in Israel | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

CURMUDGUCATION: Toxic Ideas

CURMUDGUCATION: Toxic Ideas

Toxic Ideas

Here are two views of the word that are loose in this country:

The way the world works is (or is supposed to be) that you get what you deserve. Make bad choices? You get bad consequences. Your success or failure is completely up to you-- it's the result of the choices that you make. 

And this:

It's not about high ideals or honor or empathy or care for your fellow human. It's about power, and the people who do (or don't) have the balls to take it and use it. 

The first is more familiar, because the myth of the strong, rugged individual who makes it on his own and pulls himself up by his own bootstraps (which he carved out of a tree trunk with his bare hands) is an American favorite. It is every person who clutched their pearls when Obama dared to suggest that they "didn't build that" by themselves. It is every opponent of the social safety net believing that people who are poor are poor because it's their own damn fault. (Heck, I know people who believe that if someone is sick--any kind of sick--has only themselves to blame.) "Cut all welfare," they say, "and Those People will go get jobs and support themselves. They're just taking advantage."

Even the working poor are their own fault. If that job doesn't pay enough to live on, then get a different job. Never mind what the pandemic has made clear-- that there are certain jobs that we absolutely need and expect someone to do, but we expect those people to be poor.

The second is less familiar to us as a society, though plenty of our high level officials certainly get it. It has certainly been a guiding principle of Donald Trump's life. It doesn't matter what the norms CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Toxic Ideas

With Revenue Down, ACT’s CEO Exits | deutsch29

With Revenue Down, ACT’s CEO Exits | deutsch29

With Revenue Down, ACT’s CEO Exits

On May 28, 2020, ACT announced a “leadership change” involving the departure of CEO Marten Roorda, who will be replaced by ACT’s chief operating officer (COO), Janet Godwin:

IOWA CITY, Iowa—ACT, the nonprofit organization that develops and delivers the ACT test, announced today a change in leadership and a series of cost-cutting measures to enable it to continue to serve students into the future, despite the current negative business impact of COVID-19.

CEO Marten Roorda is leaving ACT, with Chief Operating Officer Janet Godwin selected to serve as interim chief executive officer. Godwin is a 30-year veteran of ACT, with a distinguished record of personal and professional dedication to helping students achieve education success.

Leadership Change

Janet Godwin will succeed Marten Roorda, who arrived at ACT in 2015 after serving as CEO of Cito, a major testing organization in the Netherlands. During Roorda’s ACT tenure he broadened the nonprofit’s scope to include learning, measurement and navigation, increasing the impact of ACT’s mission of “Helping people achieve education and workplace success.”

Godwin, who was appointed interim CEO, began her ACT career in 1990. Over the past three decades she has held progressively responsible positions in test development, information technology, and client CONTINUE READING: With Revenue Down, ACT’s CEO Exits | deutsch29

Who will be selected as the next NYS Commissioner of Education? From within NYS? The acting Commissioner? A National Leader? Will Principals/Teachers/Parents be part of the search process? | Ed In The Apple

Who will be selected as the next NYS Commissioner of Education? From within NYS? The acting Commissioner? A National Leader?  Will Principals/Teachers/Parents be part of the search process? | Ed In The Apple

Who will be selected as the next NYS Commissioner of Education? From within NYS? The acting Commissioner? A National Leader?  Will Principals/Teachers/Parents be part of the search process?

At the July Regents Meeting Commissioner Elia announced she is resigning her position as state commissioner  effective August 31st.

The only shock about the resignation Monday of state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia is that it came so soon. 

Tension between Elia and the Regents that had been building for more than a year hit a new peak at the board’s June monthly meetings.

The Board of Regents appointed Beth Berlin, a highly effective deputy as acting commissioner. A few months later Berlin left the Department for a job as COO at SUNY Empire College; somewhat surprisingly the Board appointed Shannon Tahoe, the Board attorney as acting commissioner.

On Thursday, May 28th, the position was posted  with a quick return date of Monday, June 8th.

The Board seeks an individual who will bring visionary, transformative, inclusive, equitable, and decisive leadership to the position as the Board’s chief executive officer.

And goes on to describe the “attributes (the term used in the posting) sought in CONTINUE READING: Who will be selected as the next NYS Commissioner of Education? From within NYS? The acting Commissioner? A National Leader?  Will Principals/Teachers/Parents be part of the search process? | Ed In The Apple

Outside Agitators and Bad Apples | Bill Ayers

Outside Agitators and Bad Apples | Bill Ayers

Outside Agitators and Bad Apples

We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.
~~~Frantz Fanon, Provocateur.

I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without first having spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today: my own government.
~~~Martin Luther King Jr., Outside agitator.
Can liberals even hear themselves?
Yes, yes, all the liberal commentators, observers, and political operatives rightly point out that Trump incites violence with his lies and his threats and his racist dog-whistles, including calling demonstrators “thugs” and warning (with a sly and evil wink) that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”

But then their narrative goes—predictably—wrong: protests against the killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police are legitimate, say the commentators, observers, and political operatives, and “effective,” but a rebellion against the system of oppression (including systemic police violence) that led to the murder is inappropriate and will “never work.” Who are these people? And how do they know “what works”? Colin Kaepernick courageously took a knee years ago, and it was powerful and important, but did it “work” in their terms? Why would anyone look to the powerful for guidance on strategy and tactics? Note the framing: not a lynching by armed agents of the state, the latest in a pattern of serial-assassinations and a continual series of state-sanctioned murders, but an isolated incident. The cop in Minneapolis was a “bad apple,” they say, but this is entirely upside down: the whole barrel is rotten, the cop culture corrupt, the code of silence a license to kill, and, sure, there are likely a few random “good apples” in there, but the good apple is the exception, not the rule.
Listen up: do not tell oppressed people and the victims of white CONTINUE READING: Outside Agitators and Bad Apples | Bill Ayers

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Rage of the Young at a Compromised Future Adds Fuel to the Flames

With A Brooklyn Accent: The Rage of the Young at a Compromised Future Adds Fuel to the Flames

The Rage of the Young at a Compromised Future Adds Fuel to the Flames

Let me be blunt, I am frightened by the level of violence that protests have attained in my own city, and in cities throughout the country.

But I am also acutely aware that I have little or no influence on the people out in the streets doing the worst damage. What we have going on here looks more and more like a generational uprising as well as a protest against police violence

It is why so many protesters are not listening to people like me who tell them that looting stores and firebombing cars undermines the moral force of their protests. Here is the argument I am hearing more and more.

"You are in no moral position to talk about looting. Your generation looted the country so much that all we have left is student debt, low paying, dangerous jobs, and a militarized police force to keep us under control in cities which have been handed over to the rich. You tossed our generation on the garbage heap and now it's time for payback."

If you look at the collective distribution of income wealth and opportunity in our society, can you really say this argument is wrong, especially since the Pandemic has given a fatal blow to the hopes of many already living precarious lives. There are millions of unemployed, out of school young people in this country who have nothing to lose and huge amount of anger at their position,

No one is organizing these protests. And their very spontaneity CONTINUE READING: With A Brooklyn Accent: The Rage of the Young at a Compromised Future Adds Fuel to the Flames