Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board - A Roundup of Who is Running

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board - A Roundup of Who is Running

Seattle School Board - A Roundup of Who is Running

The great folks at the 36th Dems invited all candidates for an endorsement interview before their Elections committee so here’s a link. Makes for interesting listening. The 36th will take a vote of their membership tonight and I’ll have an update here tomorrow.

Candidates - if one media outlet does a profile of a single candidate, you have the right to ask for an interview as well, especially if it is local media.

 District 4 - Covers south Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia

There is no true incumbent as Eden Mack vacated her post months ago and the Board settle on Erin Dury to fill out her term. Here’s their info as provided to King County Elections.

Candidates

All candidates in this race except Herb Camet, Jr have webpages. See the KC Elections page (link above). At this time, it appears that only Dury and Song Maritz have live pages.  CONTINUE READING: Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle School Board - A Roundup of Who is Running

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who’s Running for Seattle School Board?

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who’s Running for Seattle School Board?

Who’s Running for Seattle School Board?

 As of May 17th at 3 pm, it’s pretty sparse.

For Eden Mack’s seat in District 4, only interim director Erin Dury has filed. 

For Zachary DeWolf’s  seat in District 5, no one has filed. DeWolf declined to run again which was probably wise as he would have lost. 

For Betty Patu’s seat in District 7, only interim director Brandon Hersey has filed to run. 

Per this story from the South Seattle Emerald, Michelle Sarju announced her candidacy for the District 5 seat but it appears she has not yet filed with King County Elections. She is endorsed by Zachary DeWolf which normally I would consider a bad thing but as I said the last time she filed (and then withdrew), she’s an intriguing candidate who I believe would be her own person. 

I feel sure that there will be challengers to Hersey and at least one will probably be Emijah Smith who lost to him during the appointment process for that District 7 seat. 

And I hope there are other candidates than Dury for District 4 because 1) I think every race should have two people in it and 2) Dury should have to fight for that seat.

The final day for filing is May 21st. Updates to follow.

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Who’s Running for Seattle School Board?

In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

May 16—SCRANTON — Calling Tuesday's election a critical moment for the Scranton School District, the national president of the American Federation of Teachers visited the city on Saturday to campaign for the union-endorsed candidates.

The unprecedented visit by Randi Weingarten comes amid the Scranton Federation of Teachers' push to elect candidates who say they will question the financial recovery plan, restore the preschool program, settle the teachers contract and hold the line on taxes.

Nearly two years into the recovery plan, the progress and the process of obtaining solvency has led to the highly contentious primary campaign. More than 100 people gathered behind the SFT Wyoming Avenue headquarters to hear Weingarten, who called the recovery plan "immoral." Using the slogan from President Joe Biden's economic recovery proposal, she challenged attendees to spend the next few days encouraging neighbors to vote for the endorsed candidates.

"You build back better by building a better school board," she said. "When you want to help a community thrive, you don't take away anchors and foundations."

With four four-year seats available, incumbent President Katie Gilmartin, Director Sean McAndrew, former Director Tom Borthwick and newcomers Danielle Chesek and Tyrone Holmes seek both Democratic and Republican nominations. Newcomers Chris Gaidos and Tucker J. Hottes seek Democratic nominations.

Former Director Greg Popil and Gilmartin seek both Democratic and Republican nominations for one two-year seat. Hottes and Gaidos also seek a Democratic nomination for the two-year seat.

The union has endorsed Borthwick, Chesek, Holmes, McAndrew and Popil. In remarks Saturday, the five candidates vowed to ask questions of the administration and chief recovery officer and push for fair funding from the state.

As teachers complete their fourth year of working under an expired CONTINUE READING: In rare school board campaign visit, national teachers union president calls Scranton recovery plan 'immoral'

AUTOPSY OF A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING – Dad Gone Wild

AUTOPSY OF A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING – Dad Gone Wild

AUTOPSY OF A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

“these self-righteous censors often construct a “hero narrative” about themselves in which they are morally pure crusaders who must protect society from the objectionable opinions of the unenlightened masses.”
― Greg Lukianoff, Freedom from Speech

 

Yesterday, Nashville’s Mayor Cooper announced that the city would be lifting its mask mandate at 5 AM this morning. The announcement came just hours after he publically stated that Nashville would be leaving the mask mandate in place. In making this decision, he pointed to a revised CDC policy that now allowed for vaccinated people to share indoor space without masks or social distancing.

The CDC was talking about fully vaccinated people, and only about a third of the city meets that criteria, but who’s sweating the details? The mask mandate will remain in effect for Metro Schools. Also still in effect is the policy that each student only gets 4 tickets for high school graduation and CONTINUE READING: AUTOPSY OF A SCHOOL BOARD MEETING – Dad Gone Wild

Jeanne Kaplan: The Battle Against Deformers in Denver is Always Uphill | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeanne Kaplan: The Battle Against Deformers in Denver is Always Uphill | Diane Ravitch's blog

Jeanne Kaplan: The Battle Against Deformers in Denver is Always Uphill

Jeanne Kaplan is a veteran civil rights activist who was elected to serve two terms on the Denver school board. She has been active in multiple campaigns to stop privatization and over-testing and energize a genuine effort to improve the public schools. She wrote this piece for this blog.

  THE SISYPHEAN TASK IN DENVER

The dictionary defines Sisyphean task as something you keep doing but never gets completed, an endless task.  In Greek mythology Sisyphus is punished by the god Zeus and is tasked with endlessly pushing a rock up a steep mountain, only to have it roll back down each time he nears the top.  I will leave the deeper philosophical meanings to others.  Simply interpreted, public education advocates residing in the Queen City of the Rockies, “transformers” if you will, will find similarities to this story as we reflect on our battle to defeat “education reform.”  In Denver’s case the Sisyphean task master has not CONTINUE READING: Jeanne Kaplan: The Battle Against Deformers in Denver is Always Uphill | Diane Ravitch's blog

Schools are MAGA Targets | tultican

Schools are MAGA Targets | tultican

Schools are MAGA Targets

By Thomas Ultican – 3/15/2021

One of America’s wealthiest public school districts typifies the damage MAGA Republicans are doing to public schools. San Diego County’s San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) serves just over 13,000 students in five middle schools and five high schools. With former Republican congressional candidate Mike Allman’s narrow school board victory, a MAGA coalition has achieved a 3 to 2 majority.

This election result advances using school reopening as a political wedge issue. Normally nonpartisan school board elections have been turned into partisan political battle grounds.

May 25, 2020, the former President Tweeted,

“Schools in our country should be opened ASAP. Much very good information now available. @SteveHiltonx @FoxNews

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 25, 2020”

In July, the former Secretary of Education declared,

“School leaders across the country need to be making plans’ to have students in the classroom. There will be exceptions to the rule, but the rule should be kids go back to school this fall. And where there are little flare-ups or hot spots, that can be dealt with school by school or a case-by-case basis. There’s ample opportunity to have kids in school.”

Carl Hulse’s Feb. 12, 2021 New York Times article ran under the banner, CONTINUE READING: Schools are MAGA Targets | tultican

Entire School Board Resigns After Trash-Talking Parents In Hot Mic Moment | HuffPost

Entire School Board Resigns After Trash-Talking Parents In Hot Mic Moment | HuffPost

Entire School Board Resigns After Trash-Talking Parents In Hot Mic Moment

The four members of the Oakley Union Elementary School District Board in California didn’t realize their meeting was being broadcast to the public.

OAKLEY, Calif. (AP) — All members of a San Francisco Bay Area school board resigned days after they were heard making disparaging comments about parents at a virtual board meeting they didn’t realize was being broadcast to the public.

The four members of Oakley Union Elementary School District Board had stepped down by Friday amid growing outrage that began with the board’s Wednesday meeting. Before the meeting officially began and unaware the public could see and hear them, they used profanity and made jokes about parents just wanting a babysitter or to smoke pot in their home.

The incident garnered national attention and widespread condemnation.

The district’s superintendent, Greg Hetrick, announced the resignation in a letter Friday and said that Contra Costa County education board members will replace them in an interim capacity, the Mercury News reported.

“We deeply regret the earlier comments that were made in the meeting of the Board of Education earlier this week,” a joint statement by now ex-board members Kim Beede, Erica Ippolito and Richie Masadas says. “As trustees, we realize it is our responsibility to model the conduct that we expect of our students and staff, and it is our obligation to build confidence in district leadership; our comments failed you in both regards, and for this we offer our sincerest apology.”

Beede, Ippolito and Masadas join board President Lisa Brizendine, who announced her resignation Thursday.

Trustees were awaiting the start of the meeting when they began discussing parents’ letters and social media posts about reopening schools.

Beede defended herself against a parent who chided her on social media for going to a party during the coronavirus pandemic after declaring it wasn’t safe to return to school.

“I wasn’t doing anything bad — I honestly don’t care about that part — but are we alone?” she asked the other trustees. “B—-, ..If you call me out, I’m going to f—you up.”

“Sorry, that’s just me,” Beede added.

After some laughter, Brizendine chimed in to commiserate with CONTINUE READING: Entire School Board Resigns After Trash-Talking Parents In Hot Mic Moment | HuffPost

School Board Candidate Blasts District, Superintendent, & Board In Explosive Public Comment | Exceptional Delaware

School Board Candidate Blasts District, Superintendent, & Board In Explosive Public Comment | Exceptional Delaware

School Board Candidate Blasts District, Superintendent, & Board In Explosive Public Comment

At the last school board meeting on Wednesday, February 17th for the Smyrna Board of Education, Diane Eastburn gave a public comment for the ages. While announcing she would be running for the open seat on the school board, Eastburn trashed the district. Eastburn is a frequent advocate for students with disabilities in IEP meetings. She also served on the IEP Task Force led by former Lieutenant Governor Matt Denn in 2014. Eastburn’s public comment was cut off due to a three minute restriction but she posted the rest in various Facebook groups yesterday.

I am informing you that I am filing the needed papers to run for the open school board position – because change is in our futures. Some of you, may spread more lies, you may continue to challenge my character and good name with lies, but you will no longer get a free pass. I will start challenging legally those who attempt to damage my reputation, good name, and my standing in the community with lies. I may not win, that’s okay, because at least the dirty laundry and lies that have glued this district together will be out for the community to judge you all! I CONTINUE READING: School Board Candidate Blasts District, Superintendent, & Board In Explosive Public Comment | Exceptional Delaware

The LAUSD’s 2020 Report Card. The COVID-19 pandemic upended the… | by Carl J. Petersen | Age of Awareness | Jan, 2021 | Medium

The LAUSD’s 2020 Report Card. The COVID-19 pandemic upended the… | by Carl J. Petersen | Age of Awareness | Jan, 2021 | Medium

The LAUSD’s 2020 Report Card

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the second-largest school district in the country. A look back at some of the major events…

“We’re in uncharted waters”- LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner

As the year began, it appeared that the dominating story within the LAUSD would be the school board elections. All four of the seats that would appear on the ballot were held by public school supporters, meaning that a clean sweep was needed for them to keep their narrow majority over the block supported by the charter school industry. The campaigns were complicated by the fact that these would be the first elections held under new rules that moved them from off years so that they would be on the same ballot as the presidential race.

Leading up to the March primary the charter school industry spent over $6.5 million trying to regain the majority that they lost with the resignation of convicted felon Ref Rodriguez. This included the mailing of anti-Semitic flyers against Board Member Scott Schmerelson in Board District 3. Even Schmerelson’s opponent, Marilyn Koziatek, described these mailings as “crude”, “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.” She never did reject the endorsement of the California Charter School Association (CCSA) Advocates, the organization that mailed them out.

When the votes were counted, all three incumbents had survived, along with the candidate supported by United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), Patricia Castellanos, for the open seat in Board District 7. Jackie Goldberg and George McKenna won outright by winning a majority of the votes. Schmerelson and Castellanos earned less than half the vote and, therefore, faced Koziatek and Tanya Ortiz Franklin respectively in the November general election.

Later that same month, the LAUSD was turned upside down along with every other aspect of our public life as COVID-19 took hold. With 40 confirmed cases in Los Angeles County, the district shut down its campuses on March 16. The transition to distance learning got off to a shaky start, with significant technical issues and many students from low-income CONTINUE READING: The LAUSD’s 2020 Report Card. The COVID-19 pandemic upended the… | by Carl J. Petersen | Age of Awareness | Jan, 2021 | Medium

Two School Board Members Fail To Hold Failing Charter School Accountable | by Carl J. Petersen | Dec, 2020 | Medium

Two School Board Members Fail To Hold Failing Charter School Accountable | by Carl J. Petersen | Dec, 2020 | Medium

Two School Board Members Fail To Hold Failing Charter School Accountable

Nick Melvoin and Monica Garcia are the lone votes on the LAUSD School Board to approve Prepa Tec charter school for another five years.

“They’ve had five years to figure this out and they haven’t figured it out.” - LAUSD Board Member Jackie Goldberg

When the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) considers the renewal of charter schools, it is supposed to do it in a public hearing that includes comments from stakeholders for each item. At last week’s meeting, the district ignored this rule and instead heard an hour of general public comment with phone calls selected at the beginning of the meeting. Charter school supporters dominated this conversation with only one speaker out of the 20 allotted spots speaking in opposition to these publicly financed private schools. Even with this advantage, one charter school was allowed to have an additional supporter speak during its hearing.

While I had planned to speak at the meeting, my call was not one of the ones that were chosen. The following is the text of my prepared speech:

AB1505 was passed by the California legislature to bring more accountability to the charter school authorization process. According to the CEO of the Extera charter, the California Charter School Association’s strategy to circumvent this law was to overwhelm this board by having as many charter schools as possible apply for renewal at the same time. They hope that there is protection in a herd and you will not CONTINUE READING: Two School Board Members Fail To Hold Failing Charter School Accountable | by Carl J. Petersen | Dec, 2020 | Medium

Jeff Bryant: School Board Elections Swamped by Outside Money - LA Progressive

School Board Elections Swamped by Outside Money - LA Progressive

School Board Elections Swamped by Outside Money

Worse Than Betsy DeVos

When a Biden victory in the 2020 presidential election became certain, supporters of public education gleefully took to social media to say good riddance to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. DeVos came into office with an agenda to further the privatization of public education by expanding charter schools and by encouraging families to opt out of public schools by any means possible.

During her tenure, she effectively used her bully pulpit to cheer on efforts by Republican state lawmakers to expand various forms of voucher programs that give parents public money to homeschool their children or send them to private schools.

She awarded many of the nation’s largest charter school chains with millions in federal funding, and she used the pandemic as an opportunity to redirect emergency funds for public schools to private schools and internet-based instruction—all the while refusing to even visit struggling public schools.

Narrowing the conversation to ideological issues backed by outsiders risks crowding out more research-based approaches to school improvement.

Biden is expected to oppose voucher programs and limit the growth of the charter school industry. But despite the promising prospect of a transition from DeVos to a Biden administration, progressive public school advocates can’t afford to overlook a threat to democratically governed schools that preceded DeVos and will continue when she is long gone.

In midsized metropolitan areas like Indianapolis and Stockton, California, parents, teachers, and public school advocates warn of huge sums of money coming from outside their communities to influence local politics and elections, and bankroll school board candidates who support school privatization. CONTINUE READING: School Board Elections Swamped by Outside Money - LA Progressive

These educators ran for office—and won! - Education Votes

These educators ran for office—and won! - Education Votes

These educators ran for office—and won!

By Amanda Menas

When Kenneth Tang retired from teaching elementary school in California’s Garvey School District, it was his mission to do all he could to continue to help his students. When a position on the school board for his district became open, his former students urged him to run.

“[My students] were telling me that they felt unheard [at to school board meetings] and about all these issues that they had in school,” said Tang, who was elected to the Alhambra Unified School District School Board this year. “They felt that I could be their voice.”

Tang was one of more than 80 educators, including many educators of color, who ran for office in 2020 and won. He used his experience as a participant in See Educators Run–NEA’s non-partisan political candidate training program designed especially for educators–to propel his campaign to victory.

“In this political environment it is even more critical now for educators to really step into the political arena, especially running for political office, because many times decisions are being made for us outside of the classroom,” said Tang.

Sue Cahill, who teaches in the Marshalltown Community School District in Iowa, knows that well as she begins to transition back to all distance learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. As a long time educator and another participant of the See Educators Run program, Cahill knew that prioritizing education issues on her campaign platform meant not only supporting her students while they were in her classroom, but throughout their entire lives.

“Education involves from early childhood, helping families of newborns and toddlers be CONTINUE READING: These educators ran for office—and won! - Education Votes

Covid-19 Has Eroded My Faith in Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

Covid-19 Has Eroded My Faith in Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

Covid-19 Has Eroded My Faith in Public Schools

I am a public school advocate.

I teach at a public school.

My daughter goes to a public school.

I have spent most of my professional career fighting for public schools against every form of school privatization imaginable.

But since the beginning of this school year and the incredibly reckless way many public schools have dealt with reopening and keeping students and staff safe, I feel much of that enthusiasm drying up.

It’s not something I’m proud of feeling.

I’m actually kind of embarrassed about it.

But there are so many people I will never be able to look at the same way ever again.

There are so many organizations, unions, school boards, administrators, policy makers who have lost my trust – perhaps forever.

I’m not saying I love charter schools or private schools.

I don’t. CONTINUE READING: Covid-19 Has Eroded My Faith in Public Schools | gadflyonthewallblog

School Board Elections 2020: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly | tultican

School Board Elections 2020: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly | tultican

School Board Elections 2020: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

By Thomas Ultican 11/12/2020

Los Angeles, Oakland and Indianapolis are routinely targeted by pro-public school privatization billionaires. Local school board races that a decade ago required less than $10,000 in order to mount a credible campaign now require ten times that amount. Billionaires again spent lavishly to take control of school boards in these three cities.

The Good

For two decades Oakland has been California’s petri dish for school privatization. Eli Broad has placed four superintendents in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Mayor Jerry Brown between terms in the Governor mansion helped establish the first charter schools in Oakland. Reed Hastings and “Doowop” Don Shalvey created one of the first ever charter management organizations (Aspire Charter Schools) in Oakland. The billionaire funded and pro-school privatization organizations New Schools Venture Fund, Educate78 and GO Public education are all headquartered in Oakland.

The general election on November 3 had four odd numbered director positions on the ballot. The Oakland school board has seven seats. In an attempt to place school privatization friendly directors on the board, three out of town billionaires poured $625,000 into the Power2Families independent expenditure committee.

The former New York Mayor and Presidential candidate, Michael Bloomberg, also sent $300,000 to the GO Public School’s independent expenditure CONTINUE READING: School Board Elections 2020: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly | tultican