Big Education Ape

Monday, March 18, 2013

News Update: Vallas rolls over for Finch + The truth starts to come out about Jumoke Academy and Hartford’s Milner Elementary School - Wait, What?

The truth starts to come out about Jumoke Academy and Hartford’s Milner Elementary School - Wait, What?:

News Update: Vallas rolls over for Finch; Supports cut to Bridgeport education budget

by jonpelto

After being ordered to appear at Mayor Finch’s Office today, Bridgeport’s, $234,000, part-time, Acting Superintendent of Schools, Paul Vallas has told an emergency meeting of the Board of Education that he is okay with Mayor Finch’s action to renege on his commitment to help Bridgeport’s schools.

According to a recent tweet from CT Post’s Linda Lambeck, “Vallas says he is only concerned with bottomline” and that “district getting less from city but being charged less 4 insurance.”

Lambeck’s goes on to report on her twitter account that, “Vallas says district is getting $1.2 million less from city. To offset, it will charge less for internal service fund. Will b a wash he says.”

The $1.2 million cut is a completely different number than Finch and his administration

The truth starts to come out about Jumoke Academy and Hartford’s Milner Elementary School

by jonpelto

(Written by Jonathan Pelto and Wendy Lecker)

The CTMirror has a story today about the situation surrounding the takeover of Hartford’s Milner School by the Jumoke Academy.

In an article entitled, The promise — and challenge — of rescuing Hartford’s Milner School, the CTMirror’s Robert Frahm reports developments surrounding the Jumoke Academy’s $345,000-a-year publicly funded contract to run Hartford’s Milner Elementary School, now called the Jumoke Academy at Milner.

The article reveals that despite claiming to be a Hartford public school, Jumoke’s student population is very different than the population at Hartford’s Milner School and that it is easy to talk about “improvements” when you are given unprecedented amounts of additional funds.

The CTMirror writes, “Among the most striking changes was the hiring of aides, known as “academic assistants,” to be paired with teachers in every classroom — a key strategy

Mike “MRSA” Madigan infects Public Education | Reclaim Reform

Mike “MRSA” Madigan infects Public Education | Reclaim Reform:

Mike “MRSA” Madigan infects Public Education

by kenpreviti

Mike “MRSA” Madigan infects Public Education.
This is not an insult; it is reality at its most primeval.

Madigan has been a member of the Illinois House of Representatives since 1971 and Speaker of the House since 1986 – minus a little blip. He presently refers to the intentional pillaging of teacher and other public pensions as the work of “previous legislatures.” Hmm…
What intelligent and qualified person would choose to be a teacher in Illinois?
Past, present and future teachers have legislation that pillages their pensions along with raising and collecting their future, past and present contributions. Having paid, as required, 9.4% of their gross income for decades, they will now be required to “contribute a mere 2% toward their own pensions.” Well, 9.4% + 2% = 11.4% of their gross incomes to be paid with no legal assurance that underfunding/pillage will not occur. If they actually get to retire, cost-of-living could still starve or cripple them shortly thereafter. Who in the state will repay them their own

NYC Public School Parents: Community Education District 2's Response to the C4E Plan FY 13

NYC Public School Parents: Community Education District 2's Response to the C4E Plan FY 13:

Community Education District 2's Response to the C4E Plan FY 13

The following letter is from the Community Education Council District 2, regarding the Contracts for Excellence Proposed Plan FY 13:

Community Education District 2's Response to the C4E Plan FY 13

Today’s must watch video: Chicago Teacher Union’s Karen Lewis on corporate ed reform | Parents United for Public Education

Today’s must watch video: Chicago Teacher Union’s Karen Lewis on corporate ed reform | Parents United for Public Education:

Today’s must watch video: Chicago Teacher Union’s Karen Lewis on corporate ed reform

by parentsunitedphila

Popout

What is behind the attacks on public education and what do they mean for us as parents? Watch Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union break down the corporate ed reform movement and how teachers and parents need to build alliances to fight back and save our schools. Lewis spoke on Saturday to the New York Collective of Radical Educators as their keynote speaker.
“I do this work because I love teaching and learning. I am passionate about teaching and learning. And what’s happening in public schools [today] is neither teaching nor learning.” ~Karen Lewis

Seattle Schools Community Forum: STEM Expands in Washington State

Seattle Schools Community Forum: STEM Expands in Washington State:

STEM Expands in Washington State

by Melissa Westbrook

From GeekWire:

The UW Board of Regents officially approved the School of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics(STEM) last week. It’s the first school in the state to combine all of the STEM fields into one academic unit.

The school of STEM will bring together two existing programs — computing and software systems, and science and technology — and house them under one school.

The creation of the school was also due to the increased interest in STEM-related degrees — enrollment in the computing and software systems has doubled in the past 15 years.
The school, which now serves more than 600 students, will offer seven undergraduate and two graduate degrees,

So it is written… | My Island View

So it is written… | My Island View:

So it is written…

by tomwhitby

After a marathon attendance at a number of education conferences this year I have stored up many observations on the approach these conferences use to engage educators in their profession. Since I began attending them over 35 years ago I do have some historical perspective. More often than not my experience on the planning of the “Education Conference” is: So it is written, so it shall be done! Many reshuffle the deck and deal out the same old hands. If we always plan conferences on what worked last year, progress will never catch up to relevance.
In our technology-driven society we have come to recognize that our students are learning differently. I would suggest that our educators are learning differently as well. That difference needs to be addressed by the conferences that help educate our educators. The reasons we as educators are reflecting and changing our methods of education to meet the needs of our students are the very reasons education conferences need to change to meet the needs of our changing educators. Resistance that we too often provide does not prevent the

Privacy, big data and education: more about the inBloom databases | Hechinger Report

Privacy, big data and education: more about the inBloom databases | Hechinger Report:

Privacy, big data and education: more about the inBloom databases

by Jill Barshay

A new national database of personal student information understandably has parents and privacy advocates alarmed. As reported elsewhere, the new inBloom database houses information on millions of school children from nine states and includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, disciplinary records and learning disabilities. One of the states is New York. Naturally, the mommy listservs in Brooklyn, where I live, are going wild with “opt-out” letters. My first reaction was surprise. Could it really be true that inBloom was going to release this private information to any ap developer who asked? (Disclosure: inBloom, a non-profit organization, is funded by the Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, which are also among the funders of The Hechinger Report). inBloom explained to me that there are two separate data stores. One is the real data that belongs to the states and school districts. The other is a sandbox of fake data for developers. With the real data,

Grumpy Educators: An Open Message to Legislators from Florida Civil Rights Groups

Grumpy Educators: An Open Message to Legislators from Florida Civil Rights Groups:

An Open Message to Legislators from Florida Civil Rights Groups

by Sandra

An Open Message to Legislators from Florida Civil Rights Groups

The Parent Trigger bill, and any others that could prematurely expand the number of charter schools in the state, should be voted down. To do otherwise would be to continue to perpetuate injustice and constitute a disservice to our students, their parents, taxpayers, and the state. The attached Joint Position Statement on Equity Issues and the Parent Trigger bill explains why we make this request.
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Joint Statement: Equity Issues and the Parent Trigger Bill

LULAC Florida and the Florida Conference of the NAACP oppose the Parent Empowerment in Education bill as unnecessary legislation that fails to address the persistence of educational inequity in Florida’s charter schools. We affirm the importance and positive impact of parent empowerment and engagement on student achievement. However, the Florida Parent Trigger bill misleads by asserting that legislation will provide parents an "empowerment" over school policy input; the truth is they already have it. There is no substance to the claim that Parent Trigger legislation empowers parents and no evidence that the parent trigger process leads to improvements in parent engagement, student achievement, or narrowing the achievement gap.

Florida civil rights organizations want solutions to civil rights problems before bills are adopted that lead to further expansion of the charter school network. These problems include segregated school environments and targeted denial of access.

Racial and Ethnic Segregation

Recent studies have revealed that more than half of the state's charters, 54 percent, enroll two-thirds or more of a single race or ethnicity, compared with 44 percent for traditional public schools (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-04-30/news/os-charter-schools-segregation). As noted by a 2010 National NAACP resolution on charter schools, segregation is not innovation. Applicants for charters are required to state their plans to foster racial balance. Clearly, this requirement has not solved the problem. Policy makers must craft other solutions before we are ready for too-rapid expansion of a model that brings back past errors.

Exclusion, Suspension, and Expulsion

Civil rights advocates are concerned about the impact of charter school policies on students’ due process rights in these semi-private schools and on their potential impact on the school-to-prison pipeline. What happens when working parents cannot meet charter school requirements for volunteer service in the schools as a condition of their children’s continued enrollment? What choice is available to parents of children whose average comportment does not meet exacting discipline codes? As Dr. Bruce Baker stated, “Traditional public schools cannot shed students who do not meet academic standards, comply with more general behavioral codes or social standards, such as parental obligations.”(http://schoolfinance101.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/charter-schools-are-public-private-neither-both/ )

The extent to which our most vulnerable disabled students in Exceptional Student Education (ESE) programs are excluded from charter schools is striking. According to a StateImpact Florida/Miami Herald investigation of 14 school districts representing more than three-quarters of Florida’s total charter enrollment, most charter schools in Florida are failing to serve students with severe disabilities. According to the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), 86 percent of charter schools statewide do not have any students classified as severely disabled. Students with severe disabilities served by charter schools are concentrated in a few specialized schools located in the state’s largest counties. As a result, severely disabled students in these charter schools are segregated from other students. Disabled students have no charter option in other parts of the state(http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2011/12/14/no-choice-florida-charter-schools-failing-to-serve-students-with-disabilities/).

The Parent Trigger bill would do nothing to bring about access to charter school choice for Florida’s half a million ESE students. Miami-Dade School Board member Raquel Regalado is an attorney, an elected official, the daughter of the City of Miami Mayor, and a broadcast journalist. It’s hard to imagine a more empowered parent. Nevertheless, when her daughter was diagnosed with autism, she was no longer permitted to continue to attend a charter school in Miami. As Regalado noted, “And if this happened to someone with influence, what happens to everyone else?”

The StateImpact Florida/Miami Herald investigation found that less than 3 percent of Miami-Dade’s charter schools enroll students with severe disabilities. Regalado adds that charters also exclude “students with mild disabilities, like ADD, and students with behavioral issues” (http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2011/12/23/school-board-member-says-her-special-needs-daughter-was-forced-to-leave-a-charter-school/).

Data on the numbers of students who apply for admission to charter schools, along with the number denied admission and the reasons for exclusion, are not presented in the Florida Department of Education’s annual report on charter schools. Neither are data for the number and subgroup membership of students who are suspended, or expelled (or withdrawn after being counseled to go elsewhere), compared to traditional public schools. Such data should be collected and made public to foster policy development that ensures the civil rights of Florida’s students.

Rights of English Language Learners (ELLs)

Does the Florida charter school law secure the rights of ELL students in Florida to attend and participate equally with other students?

This question was posed to Roger Rice, Esq., Executive Director, Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy (META).

His response:

No, it falls short. The Florida law does say that ELL student have an equal opportunity to enrollment but doesn’t provide that they will receive the services they need if they do enroll. We know that many parents will not seek to enroll their student in a charter school that can’t serve them. For example, Oregon’s charter school law is similar to Florida’s but is much clearer and stronger in protecting ELL students by requiring that: “Consistent with federal civil rights laws, public charter schools shall provide limited English proficient students with appropriate services designed to teach them English and the general curriculum”. The Florida law should include similar ‘appropriate services consistent with federal civil rights laws’ type language. Otherwise equal enrollment opportunity means opportunity to receive a program that doesn’t meet the needs of ELL students.

Florida’s quarter million ELLs should have the benefit and assurance in Florida law that public charters will provide appropriate services before there is further expansion of the state’s charter school network.

Conclusion

These inequities in charter school policy have existed for far too long, for almost two decades now since the first school was chartered in 1996. The Parent Trigger bill, and any others that could prematurely expand the number of charter schools in the state, should be voted down. To do otherwise would be to continue to perpetuate injustice and constitute a disservice to our students, their parents, taxpayers, and the state.

Contact Information:

Rosa Castro Feinberg, PH.D., LULAC Florida State Commissioner for Education Policy and Special Populations, rcf2012@att.net;

Shirley B. Johnson, Ph. D., Education Committee Chair, NAACP Florida State Conference,S2Jesus@aol.com

Reprint and distribution rights granted.

Daily Kos: 58% percent of Americans now favor gay marriage

Daily Kos: 58% percent of Americans now favor gay marriage:

58% percent of Americans now favor gay marriage

by rss@dailykos.com (teacherken)

as one can read in this just up Washington Post story.
Her's the first paragraph:

Public support for gay marriage has hit a new high as Americans increasingly see homosexuality not as a choice but as a way some people are, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll

Some key findings from the poll:
should be legal 58-37 (versus 37-55 in 2003).
Should be left up to state versus decided on basis of US Constitution: 33-64
And this is CRITICAL:

Q: Do you think being homosexual is something that people choose to be, or do you think it's just the way they are?The results? Something people choose 24%
Just the way they are 62%
There are demographic breakouts available. See below the fold for some of that

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wall St. is bullish on school closings

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Wall St. is bullish on school closings:

Wall St. is bullish on school closings

by Mike Klonsky

Moody's in no mood for public schools.

Philly.com reports that Wall St. likes the mass closing of public schools.

The Philadelphia School District's plan to shut almost 1/10 of the district's 250 schools, as competing, taxpayer-funded charter schools draw off one-third of the district's student body and Gov. Corbett cuts state aid, is "positive from a credit perspective" because it shows school officials "are intent on reducing expenditures" even if it makes them "unpopular," writes Moody's

Pritzker leaving Chicago. Who's complaining?

by Mike Klonsky

What we miss or lose out on on a local level we more than gain because of her involvement on a national level,” says Marty Nesbitt, who co-founded the Parking Spot airport parking management company with Ms. Pritzker. -- Crain's

Pritzker (Bloomberg pic)

It seems Obama is about to appoint Hyatt's union-bashing billionaire, Penny Pritzker, as his next Commerce Secretary. It's clearly a patronage appointment, the usual payback to Chicago corporate and political leadership for their support in last year's election. Pritzker was Obama's chief fund raiser. That's also the obvious reason why Pritzker was appointed by the mayor to sit on the school board. It's not like she had any other qualifications. Last week she left her position on the board in preparation for her departure to D.C.

While some are jumping for joy and shouting "good riddance" -- Chicago teachers and Hyatt Regency Hotel workers to name but a few -- others who have benefited more directly from

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Anti-Stand Group - The Network for Public Education

Seattle Schools Community Forum: The Anti-Stand Group - The Network for Public Education:

The Anti-Stand Group - The Network for Public Education

by Melissa Westbrook

Diane Ravitch and other noted public education activists have joined together to form a national group, The Network for Public Education.

Here's what they are:

We created the Network for Public Education as a way of connecting groups and individuals around the country who are devoted to preserving public education. This is no small task. We're up against a well-funded corporate reform movement that's waging a slick PR campaign based on misleading information and junk science. But while they may have the billionaires, we have something far more powerful: the authentic voices of teachers, parents and students who understand that public education is a pillar of our democracy.

The NPE website will be at the very center of our efforts. In a matter of weeks, an all-volunteer team has begun to create a site that can function as a clearing house for public education advocates. With the help of ournetwork of academic experts, we're pulling together reliable, easy-to-use fact sheets on all of today's essential education issues. With regular news alerts, we'll make sure you stay up-to-date on the latest developments. We're also drawing upon the experience of grassroots activists across the country to create toolkits that you can use in your own communities. Want to know how to dig for essential information using public records? Need helpsetting up a grassroots organization?

Our hope is that the website becomes a hub, bringing together public education supporters wherever they are. Organizations that affiliate with NFPE, along with education bloggers across the country, will appear on a map so that you can easily connect with advocates near you. We're also creating a network of regional correspondents: people just like you who are reporting on what's happening to public education in their communities-and what they're doing to fight back. If you would like to be a regional correspondent, send an email describing what you would like to report on to this address: allies@networkforpubliceducation.org.

We can't do any of this without you. Our movement is entirely people-powered. We are working teachers and professors, students with full course loads, parents taking care of our children, and concerned citizens navigating our way through a changing world. We need your enthusiasm, your stories and your expertise.Our webmaster is a teacher in Rhode Island, Rob Perry, and the team includes the inimitable Edushyster and Jonathan Pelto. See you at www.networkforpubliceducation.org!
So, to understand, they are not going to have state units. They are trying to be the unifier for various education groups and individuals throughout the country. This could be good and bad depending on what you are trying toaccomplish but, I believe that it will be worth saying to elected officials and others, "My group is part of The Network for Public Education."

Here's their first newsletter.

I urge you to become a member.

You do not have to start a group yourself but let your voice be heard through their work. Donate to their work. Everyone on their board is a volunteer including Diane. So the money donated will go to the work and, from their website, that includes:

We will support candidates who work for evidence-based reforms that will improve our schools and the education of our nation’s children.

Talk money and candidates listen.

This is a clarion call to action to fight off ed reform that is not working for public education in any real, large-scale and sustainable manner.

Lane student protest blocked this morning. UPDATED INSIDE PHOTO. | Fred Klonsky

Lane student protest blocked this morning. UPDATED INSIDE PHOTO.

by Fred Klonsky

Photo: John Kugler
Word is coming from contacts inside Lane that the student sit-in that was planned this morning for the school library has been blocked.

The protest was organized in response to the banning of the book, Persepolis.
What I am hearing is that the principal Dr. Dignam, was not present as promised. CPS district Network officials were on site. The library was locked.
Books banned.
Peaceful protest blocked.
What they call a teachable moment?
More to come.

Stopping K-12 Inc. sleazy charter’s move into west suburban schools.

by Fred Klonsky

From Northern Illinois Jobs with Justice:

K12 Inc.’s education track record is under growing fire – and we can stop their scheme to siphon tens of millions of tax dollars for public education from more than a dozen Fox Valley local school districts!
Local residents and school district members packed a Geneva church on March 18 to learn more about – and organize against – a rapidly breaking scheme by a for-profit charter school company to siphon thousands of students and millions in funds from school districts that serve Cook, Kane and DuPage County communities. The company, K12 Inc., has come under fire in other states for shoddy management practices that range from misleading investors to covering up poor student performance.
We can stop K12 Inc.’s attempt to establish a “virtual” charter school in 18 Fox River Valley school districts – but we need to mobilize! Local school districts are holding public hearings on this scheme from March 18-20 – and we need you there to ask hard questions of the company’s representatives and challenge this profit-taking scheme.
K12’s dubious track record includes charges from dozens of former K12 employees that management manipulated data on enrollment, student performance and attendance to cover up shoddy education and high student turnover in Pennsylvania and other states. InFlorida, teachers charged that K12 Inc. tried to force them to falsify attendance records. The company has been accused of assigning hundreds of students to a single teacher, and last year Georgia officials threatened to close K12 Inc.’s online school over issues with special education students – a state where K12 students fall in the bottom 11% of student performance.
K12 Inc. has one agenda – to take public tax dollars out of our publicly accountable schools and feed its executive salaries at the expense of quality education standards. Our kids, our parents and our taxpayers deserve better. Please spread the word about these critical public hearings among your friends, neighbors and family members – and be there to defend public dollars for accountable public education.

Upcoming public school district hearings on K12 virtual charter high school application:

Political cowardice and calling their bluff.

by Fred Klonsky

Senator Mike Noland danced around questions from retirees.

Teacher Retirement System Executive Director Richard Ingram.

TRS Annuitant Trustee Bob Lyons.

It was a long drive in the slushy morning rush hour traffic to an Illinois Retired Teacher Association Area meeting in Randall Oaks. That’s past Elgin.
But by pension-issue standards it was star-studded.
Local Democratic State Senator Michael Noland of the 22nd Senatorial District. That’s Elgin.
Richard Ingram, Executive Director of the Teacher Retirement System.
And Bob Lyons, Annuitant (that’s me) Trustee of TRS.
On the pension issue, Noland represents political cowardice.
He admits that he believes the current pension cutting proposals are unconstitutional. Yet he will vote for them

Almost a million a little earlier than expected.

by Fred Klonsky

I didn’t expect to hit a million site visits until the end of the month.
Thanks to the CPS idiocracy it will happen in the next 24 hours. Traffic over the weekend has been busy.
As I write this I have about 600 more site visits to go
To celebrate one million site visits I have been sponsoring a contest.
Submit a tweet, haiku or limerick on a topic covered by this blog.
The winner gets the orange t-shirt.
The decision of the judges (that’s me) is final.
600 to go. A couple of hours.
Still time to submit an entry.

FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Monday, March 18, 2013

FCMAT » Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team:

it is march: must be pink slip season

Education Headlines

Monday, March 18, 2013

Bakersfield City SD's new campuses taking shape

The Bakersfield City School District is nearing the finish line on its newest campus, a two-school complex in the northeast that will house the Douglas K. Fletcher Elementary and Paul L. Cato Middle schools.

Lodi Unified to adopt social media contract

Athletes and extracurricular club members in Lodi Unified are being told to tame their Facebook timelines and Twitter feeds, or they might find themselves on the sidelines.

Vista USD drops bus routes, grades at academy

Trustees for the Vista Unified School District voted Thursday night to cut 11 bus routes and eliminate grades six through eight at the Vista Academy of Visual and Performing Arts.

Educators prep for new Common Core standards

The Common Core State Standards, adopted in California in 2010, aim to unify the lessons and educational experiences across the nation so kids are prepared -- even if they change schools or move to a different state -- for success in college and in the workplace upon receiving their diploma. The move to Common Core standards, however, is requiring feverish work as teachers and administrators prepare for a paradigm shift in public education assessment.

Teachers, administrators receive layoff notices despite new revenue

Despite additional revenue in their coffers, nine Inland Empire school districts have warned teachers and other employees that their services may not be required in the coming school year.

New state bill on transgender students

California public schools would be required to allow transgender students to use school facilities and participate in activities and on sports teams that match their gender identity under a bill introduced at the Capitol.

Teacher layoff warnings subside as state budget improves

After struggling through years of layoffs that resulted in larger class sizes and teacher angst, California schools have started to reverse course thanks to voter-approved taxes and economic recovery.

Baron: City College of San Francisco report tells why it should stay open

The day of reckoning is drawing closer for City College of San Francisco. The embattled community college on Friday submitted its final report to the regional accrediting agency detailing what it has done and what it’s continuing to work on to fix the fiscal, structural and governance issues that landed the campus on “show cause” status, the most severe sanction before losing accreditation.

Weintraub: Quick-draw on school suspensions

Even as Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing to decentralize control of California's public schools, Roger Dickinson and his allies are, on one issue, pushing back. The Democratic assemblyman from Sacramento County wants the state to intervene to reduce the number of students suspended for defying the authority of adults on campus.

Some see adult-school funding shift as disastrous

The governor's plan would make it the responsibility of community colleges. Providers think the plan unrealistic; students fear being out of their comfort zone.

Vargo: Let’s shelve the CSTs so the real work can begin

I was troubled the other day to hear a colleague describe how hard it was to motivate a group of teachers to take on some aspect of the Common Core because they were “so focused on the high-stakes assessments.” I’m not blaming the teachers, but this reaction is a signal that leaders need to step up and admit that this particular emperor has no clothes.

Open-enrollment demand jumps after decision to close 7 schools

Demand for open enrollment has jumped significantly after trustees of the Sacramento City Unified School District voted to close seven schools last month.

State schools chief wants to hold off on some standardized tests

Tom Torlakson says waiting until the system is computerized could save $15 million, but some figure the new exams could end up costing up to $1 billion.

School Improvement Grants running out

The Obama administration wagered that pouring billions into struggling schools over three years would pay off in higher test scores and students who would excel for years to come. This year, the money runs out and education experts, academics and policymakers will all ask the same question: Did it work?

Mongeau: Passage of Prop. 30 opens preschool doors to hundreds in Fresno

Students at a district-run preschool in Fresno match letter magnets to an alphabet chart. Thanks to Proposition 30, getting a spot in free public preschool in Fresno just got a lot easier. A district-wide preschool expansion, aimed at enrolling low-income 4-year-olds, was made possible when the Fresno Unified School District adopted a budget for 2012-13 that assumed Prop. 30 wouldn’t pass.