At 6 Louisiana schools, cheating or potential cheating detected on standardized tests | NOLA.com

At 6 Louisiana schools, cheating or potential cheating detected on standardized tests | NOLA.com:

At 6 Louisiana schools, cheating or potential cheating detected on standardized tests

STAFF PHOTO BY TED JACKSON Feb. 10, 2000 Louisiana Department of Education's LEAP test, Science and Social Studies answer sheet. At six Louisiana schools in the 2013-14 school year, school system investigations uncovered cheating or potential cheating on the LEAP and on other state tests. (Ted Jackson)

A student from Glasgow Middle School in Baton Rouge peeked at a classmate's standardized test last year, then changed his own answers. Another student from Woodlawn Leadership Academy in Shreveport snuck a phone into the testing room, took a picture of a geometry examination then posted it to Instagram for classmates. A teacher reportedly gave students a leg up on an iLEAP test at Lafargue Elementary in Marksville; the teacher resigned soon after.

These incidents and others are highlighted in 65 reported test security lapses at Louisiana public schools during the 2013-14 academic year. They were reported by 25 school systems or institutions to the state Education Department.

Six follow-up investigations concluded that students or administrators cheated on or compromised tests. Other inquiries determined that the irregularities were simple mistakes, which necessitated more test security training. But detailed information on the investigations was not available for about 20 cases, in which school systems simply requested that tests be thrown out or submitted copies of their test security protocol to the Education Department.

The documents, released by the state to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune, offer new insight into a January report on tossed-out tests. They also show several previously undisclosed testing problems that might have led to tests being invalidated.

The tests included the LEAP, iLEAP and similar exams for elementary school students who struggle with English and who have disabilities. For high schoolers, they include the Graduation Exit Examination, end-of-course exams and the ACT series.

The exams are significant. Students may be held back a grade, educators may lose their jobs and entire schools may be shut down or seized by the state if children don't perform well enough. The pressure, experts contend, could lead to test cheating.

Information on last year's testing irregularities comes as Louisiana schools prep for the next round of standardized tests, and for the security that those tests require. For some high schoolers, ACT series tests begin March 9. Common Core-aligned tests for elementary school students start the following week.

Which schools had problems?

The state's January report on invalidated tests included irregularities at 230 of Louisiana's more than 1,500 public or private schools that accept vouchers that were cited in 2013-14. The new documents released by Education Department show how the schools investigated the irregularities, but they don't cover all these schools even At 6 Louisiana schools, cheating or potential cheating detected on standardized tests | NOLA.com:

LATEST TEST SCORE NEWS

• At 6 Louisiana schools, cheating or potential cheating detected on standardized tests
• Black male high school graduation rate in Louisiana lags whites' by 16 points, report says
• ACT scores in Jefferson Parish public schools improve slightly, but trail state average
• ACT scores rise in New Orleans public schools, but divide persists between local, state systems
• ACT scores up slightly in Louisiana in 2014, still trail nation

Netflix CEO donates $2 million to local charter schools - The Technology Chronicles

Netflix CEO donates $2 million to local charter schools - The Technology Chronicles:

Netflix CEO donates $2 million to local charter schools

By Kristen V. Brown on February 20, 2015 3:32 PM

California School Boards Association’s President takes on Netflix CEO’s call for privatization for school boards « http://bit.ly/1h4GGaM

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Netflix education: Favoring markets over democracy  http://bit.ly/1JwzsQf

Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings announced on Friday that he will donate $2 million to Rocketship Education, a Palo Alto-based network of charter schools.

The $2 million will jumpstart a $17 million fundraising campaign that Rocketship is launching in order to open new schools over the next three years to serve thousands more “Rocketeers,” as the non-profit refers to its students. Since launching its first school, Mateo Sheedy Elementary in San Jose, in 2007, the non-profit has already expanded to open eleven Rocketship schools in three regions across the United States. Rocketship said the new round of fundraising will also help to “fuel innovation” at its existing schools.

The schools have gained national attention for their focus on blended learning and high-tech teaching that have produced impressive test scores from many low-income and immigrant students. But recently Rocketship also scaled back its ambitions of rapidly enrolling 1 million students in 50 cities.

“I admire organizations that take on great challenges and dream big,” said Hastings in a statement. “Rocketship focuses on a collaborative and inventive approach that rethinks every element of the student experience in the early years of public education. I am excited to support their trajectory.”Netflix CEO donates $2 million to local charter schools - The Technology Chronicles:

LAUSD Superintendent Just Another "ONE Hit Wonder"

LAUSD superintendent warns of layoffs as teachers union prepares to strike:

LAUSD superintendent warns of layoffs as teachers union prepares to strike

By Thomas Himes, Los Angeles Daily News

POSTED: 02/20/15, 8:27 PM PST |

0 COMMENTS

As the teachers union ramps up strike preparations, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Ramon Cortines on Friday discussed union demands, the district’s budget deficit and layoffs.

With a projected deficit of nearly $160 million and no money in the reserve fund, Cortines wants every department to make cuts ranging from 7 percent to 10 percent in hopes of balancing the budget by the July 1 start of the 2015-16 Fiscal Year.

“I’m not sure I can do it,” Cortines said.

Despite his doubts, Cortines will try to zero out the deficit by eliminating some positions. The first round of pink slips — notifying teachers and other staff they have 60 days left on the job – will be mailed Mar. 15.

Cortines called the meeting one day after UTLA made its first official move toward a strike, calling an “impasse” Thursday after 18 rounds and seven months of negotiations.

The two sides remain divided around three key issues: pay raises, staffing levels and teacher evaluations. LAUSD officials estimate that meeting the union’s demands for an 8.5 percent pay raise, more teachers, counselors, nurses and librarians will cost $800 million more than the current offer.

Cortines said he doesn’t believe “we can afford any more than we’re doing right now.”

“They have not given the negotiating team where we would find that money,” Cortines said. “And I don’t think you can ask if you don’t know where you’re going to get the money.”

United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said Cortines is creating hypothetical budget problems, as the state continues to increase the district’s funding. It’s intended to “paint a bleak picture to scare people,” he said.

“We’re tired of hearing the district say they can’t afford things,” Caputo-Pearl said. “There’s a few different points on that; if the district feels it can’t afford our proposal on class size reductions or proposal on getting nurses and librarians in schools, then they should give us a counter proposal, but they haven’t done that.”

After regional rallies that drew several thousand teachers last year and picket lines at campuses across LAUSD earlier this month, the union will assemble “tens of thousands” of teachers at Grand Park on Feb. 26. The demonstration was planned just ahead of the Mar. 3 school board election.

A strike, Cortines said, would exacerbate the district’s budget deficit by causing it to lose even more students to charter schools. LAUSD’s primary source of funding is based on student enrollment.

“I think what has bothered me about the whole negotiation is the constant talk about a work stoppage,” he said.

Caputo-Pearl said a strike is a last resort, but the union needs to prepare. LAUSD, meanwhile, should focus its efforts on “reaching a settlement, not issuing threats about how much damage teachers will do to the district if we go on strike,” he said.

“What has damaged the district and driven students to charter schools is class sizes of over 45 students and schools without libraries and schools that aren’t cleaned,” Caputo-Pearl said. “That’s what we should be concerned about.”

Cortines also called on the teachers union to help create an evaluation system that works. At the very minimum, Cortines said, such an evaluation system would need three different types of ratings to LAUSD superintendent warns of layoffs as teachers union prepares to strike:

The End of Public-Employee Unions?- The Atlantic

Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association - The Atlantic:

The End of Public-Employee Unions?

The Supreme Court has been asked to take a case that could deal a crippling blow to the labor movement.

Constitutional scholars sometimes like to commend courts for what they call“the passive virtues”—a reluctance to become involved in constitutional dispute, a reticence to announce new rules, a preference for standing by earlier decisions (“stare decisis”).

Judges, too, like to cite what they call “the canon of constitutional avoidance,” a set of rules designed to avoid unnecessary constitutional decisions. In Federalist 78, Alexander Hamilton promised that the new union’s courts would have “have neither force nor will, but merely judgment.”

The truth is that since at least Marbury v. Madison,Courts and Justices have hinted, signaled, begged, and reached out to litigants to bring them issues where one or more justice thinks the law needs to change. On the current Court, few of the Justices have signaled quite as vigorously as Justice Samuel Alito. Alito, a man of firm likes and dislikes, has twice questioned the constitutionality of public-employee contracts. Neither case, however, presented the chance to invalidate them.

Now his moment may have come. In response to Alito’s hints, the issue has landed squarely in the Court’s inbox in the form of a petition for review in a suit against the California Teachers Association. If Alito gets his desired result, it will deal a long-lasting blow to union power—and, perhaps by coincidence, the Democratic Party.

Here’s the issue: Even in union states, public employees cannot be required to join a union. Such a requirement, the Court has said, would violate their First Amendment rights, because that would be the government requiring them to speak and associate against their will. However, state governments can sign agreements with unions designating the union as the official bargaining agent for all employees, members or not. The union then must represent both members and non-members—and representation costs money, in the form of lawyers, economists, researchers, and so forth. Non-members are thus potentially “free riders” who get a service paid for by their fellow workers.

In response, a compromise developed called the “agency-fee” or “fair-share” payment. Requiring objectors to pay for political activities or lobbying would be “compelled political speech,” and violate the First Amendment. However, under the “fair share” system, non-members are charged a fee that excludes these political activities and is designated to cover only the chargeable costs of actual representation—negotiating contracts, administering benefit programs, and helping employees with grievances.

The “fair share” fee is Alito’s current target. In a 1977 case called Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the Burger Court said the fees do not violate the First Amendment: “Public employees are not basically different from private employees,” the Court said. “[O]n the whole, they have the same sort of skills, the same needs, and seek the same advantages.” The subjects of collective bargaining are the same in either case. Wages and working conditions in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association - The Atlantic:

No Child Left Behind reauthorization: Restore local control of education - LINDSEY M. BURKE - Newsday

No Child Left Behind reauthorization: Restore local control of education - LINDSEY M. BURKE - Newsday:

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act http://bit.ly/1JwDIz3

No Child Left Behind reauthorization: Restore state and local control of education

Who should be in charge of your child's education? You? Or a government bureaucrat? We may not be hearing that question being asked enough as Congress considers reauthorizing No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the largest federal law governing K-12 education policy. But we should be.

Yet the proposed changes to the law offered so far fail to adequately reduce federal intervention in education. They represent a missed opportunity to advance reforms that restore state and local control of education and put parents in the driver's seat when it comes to directing their children's education.

Consider this: For roughly 10 percent of all funding spent on K-12 education, the U.S. Department of Education determines policy for almost everything - from teacher certification and school assessment schedules to the types of programs funding is spent on, and how much states must spend in order to access federal funds.

When the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (the precursor to No Child Left Behind) was signed into law by President Johnson in 1965, it included five titles, 32 pages, and roughly $1 billion in federal funding ($7 billion today).

By the time the law was reauthorized for the seventh time in 2001 (as NCLB), new mandates had been imposed on states and local school districts, and many more programs had been added. Today NCLB exceeds 600 pages, authorizes some 80 programs, and spends $24 billion annually.

Dissatisfaction with NCLB has grown too. Indeed, the Obama administration has offered waivers to states chafing under the law's provisions. But there's a price. The White House is conditioning these waivers on the adoption of its preferred education agenda, which includes common standards and tests, outside the normal legislative process.

To restore state, local and parental control of education, any reauthorization should do five things:

1) It should allow states to opt out of the programs that fall under NCLB, through language included in the Academic Partnerships Lead Us to Success (A-PLUS) Act. The A-PLUS Act enables states to lead on education reform by directing how their education dollars are spent. Such an opt-out is No Child Left Behind reauthorization: Restore local control of education - LINDSEY M. BURKE - Newsday:

Tell Congress: Vote NO on H.R. 5 – The Student Success Act http://bit.ly/1JwDIz3

LAUSD decision ushers in new source of funding for arts education | 89.3 KPCC

LAUSD decision ushers in new source of funding for arts education | 89.3 KPCC:



LAUSD decision ushers in new source of funding for arts education

 

Los Angeles Unified School District officials have cleared the way for principals to tap into a major source of funding for arts programs targeting low-income students starting this fall.

Although state and federal officials previously said national Title I dollars, allocated to help disadvantaged students improve in academics, could be used for the arts instruction, some district officials had been reluctant to move ahead. The latest decision reverses the district's long-standing practice and opens the door for Title I-funded arts instruction that helps students improve their academic performance. 

"This has been a long time coming and this really is a day of rejoicing, quite frankly, in LAUSD," said Rory Pullens, the district's executive director of arts education. 

RELATED: For Pasadena school, arts plus math is really adding up

A two-page memo issued Thursday from Pullens, Deputy Superintendent Ruth Perez and Karen Ryback, executive director of Federal and State Education Programs, confirms the arts as a core subject and allows schools with high percentages of low-income students to use Title I funds for the arts.

Those schools "may utilize arts as an integration strategy to improve academic achievement," the directive reads. However, Title I funds are not allowed "to fund programs whose primary objective is arts education," according to the memo. As an example, the funds could be tapped to help students learn a character's point of view in a lesson that requires acting out a skit. 

Title I funding, developed in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, has been used historically to increase students success in reading and math. The funds have paid for efforts like reading coaches or math tutors, supplemental software programs and professional development for teachers to improve low-performing students' test scores.

At $14 billion a year, the Title I funds make up the federal government's largest expenditure for grades K-12. The majority of LAUSD schools receive Title I dollars.

Arts advocates have long sought to get the second-largest district in the country to shift its stance on Title I arts funding, arguing that the arts have been shown in research to boost student academic performance. 

LAUSD joins just a handful of districts around the state that have committed to a district-wide Title I plan including the arts. San Diego Unified, Sacramento City Unified and Chula Vista Elementary School District are among them, according to Joe Landon, executive director of the California Alliance for Arts Education. 

Landon says beyond these districts, the decision to use Title I for the arts is largely playing out on a school-by-school basis. Some principals are using Title I funds for the arts, but they're doing so largely under the radar, some fearing that state monitors will say the funds were used incorrectly. 

"At each level, there are people that are afraid," Landon said. The reason: schools are accountable for how Title I dollars are spent and misuse could cause schools to lose a valuable funding source. Despite the state and federal directives on Title I allowing arts instruction in academics, school officials have been hesitant to make LAUSD decision ushers in new source of funding for arts education | 89.3 KPCC:

The Shock Doctrine- Alive and Well in Michigan | EduBloggers

The Shock Doctrine- Alive and Well in Michigan | EduBloggers:

The Shock Doctrine- Alive and Well in Michigan

jonpelto / 3 hours ago

Education Blogger Bill Boyle’s blog is educarenow

The Shock Doctrine- Alive and Well in Michigan

Symptomatic of what is occurring in education across the nation, Detroit Public Schools are deep in debt.

Detroit, though, is somewhat unique in that they have in place an autocratic and unilateral leader appointed by the Governor of Michigan.  They have an Emergency Manager, a person appointed at the governor’s behest to alleviate a financial situation that has been deemed by such governor to be an “emergency.”

In Detroit Public Schools, this has led to the marginalization of a perfectly capable and democratically elected school board.  It has promoted the market fundamentalists’ premier value of economic efficiency over democracy, and it has done so at the expense of the economic health of the district, the academics of the students affected, and the community’s agency as expressed via the accountability of a democratically elected school board. It is no small thing to again point out the irony of the fact that Emergency Management has been installed at the expense of  the district’s financial viability.  (For more on this sordid history, please read Bill Wylie-Kellerman’s excellent account.)

So what is the governor going to do now with this mess he has exacerbated?According to The Detroit News, “Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration is exploring ways to link a change in governance of public education in Detroit with ‘financial relief’ for the debt-ridden and cash-strapped Detroit Public Schools.”

Hmm..little mention of here of the structural conditions that led to such a situation.

No mention of the damning, incomplete, and false narrative of “failing schools.”

Although there are some hints if you read between the lines.

Since DPS is managed by its fourth emergency manager in six years, the issue of giving the district some financial breathing room looms large as the Coalition for the Future of Detroit Schoolchildren tries to craft a new school reform plan for Snyder to pursue in the Legislature.

See, it seems that there is a glimmer of understanding that an Emergency Manager- the fourth in six years- has simply The Shock Doctrine- Alive and Well in Michigan | EduBloggers:

EduBloggers:

http://edubloggers.org/

Dedicated to truth-telling for democracy.

Noam Chomsky on standardized testing and its effect on students | Seattle Education

Noam Chomsky on standardized testing and its effect on students | Seattle Education:

Noam Chomsky on standardized testing and its effect on students

“The assessment itself is completely artificial,” Chomsky asserts. “It’s not ranking teachers in accordance with their ability to help develop children who will reach their potential . . . It’s turning us into individuals who devote our lives to achieving a rank.”

Noam Chomsky on standardized testing and its effect on students | Seattle Education:

Newark Students' Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent | NJTV News #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark Students' Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent | NJTV News | Public Media New Jersey:

Newark Students’ Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent

 By Brenda Flanagan

Correspondent

Yessenia Vera checked in with her daughter via Skype this morning after 15-year-old Gabrielle finished breakfast in the Newark School superintendent’s office, along with seven other teens from the Newark Students Union, who locked themselves in there Tuesday night. The students live-streamed all their occupation activities, like arguing about food with administrators.

The administrators delivered it, and the protesters vowed not to leave until state-appointed Superintendent Cami Anderson met with them and promised to attend the next school advisory board meeting.

“Newark is a tough city. So without the support of our superintendent, or our superintendent who doesn’t listen to us or refuses to speak to us, it’s like, we feel like we don’t matter and it’s just a business and a job for her. Yeah, it’s tiring, but we know that it’s the right thing to do,” Gabrielle said.

“I’m very proud of her, very proud of all of them. Because they’re speaking up for themselves. It’s their education on the line. It’s not Cami’s education on the line, it’s their education. It’s not Chris Christie’s kids on the line, it’s theirs,” Yessenia said.

Anderson — a Chris Christie appointee — swept in three years ago, implementing a controversial reform plan called One Newark. Many in the community complained they felt disenfranchised, disrespected. She’s drawn fire from state and local politicians who stepped forward yesterday to call for Anderson’s resignation and support the students occupying the superintendent’s office.

“And I applaud the efforts of our young people who are enacting their democratic rights to oppose what is happening here in this city and we are not gonna allow them to be starved, to be arrested. Bull Connor does not live in the city of Newark,” said Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

The students didn’t get starved or arrested, but they did finally get their meeting — spending an hour with Anderson this morning.

The superintendent afterward released a statement noting, “The conversation was productive, and we see this as a promising step towards an ongoing constructive dialogue where both sides are heard and valuable learning time is not compromised.”

But the students disagreed, cited what they called Anderson’s “…continued inability to have an open and constructive dialogue with us, she has inevitably created a deep mistrust against the administration and its policies.”

New Jersey Communities United says Anderson even refused to attend future board meetings.

“It’s a democratic process in which people disagree with you and Newark Students' Protest Gets Them Meeting with Superintendent | NJTV News | Public Media New Jersey:

Oakland Schools Report Fewer Dropouts, Higher Reading Levels With ‘Restorative Justice’ « CBS San Francisco

Oakland Schools Report Fewer Dropouts, Higher Reading Levels With ‘Restorative Justice’ « CBS San Francisco:



Oakland Schools Report Fewer Dropouts, Higher Reading Levels With ‘Restorative Justice’

 OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – The Oakland Unified School District is reporting good results with a new approach to discipline. Instead of punishing students, they are forcing them to face their issues, head on.

At Edna Brewer Middle School, suspensions are down considerably, only 4 so far this year, compared to about 18 at this time last year. Principal Sam Pasarow credits a new system called restorative justice.

KPIX 5 sat down with six peer mediators who showed how restorative justice works. Instead of the kneejerk reaction of suspending a student for something like fighting, they’re sent to a circle.

“We bring those two people into a room, along with witnesses that have seen the fights to share their side of what happened,” said Jasmine Vo, a student at Edna Brewer Middle.

They also deal with bullying and social media issues.

“Usually people are really willing to talk about it,” said students Julia Hopkins.

Student Simon Sotomey recalled, “Last year we had a conflict where two people got in a fight. To this day I see them hanging around each other.”

Oakland Unified said restorative justice is working district-wide. After ten years of gradual implementation, the district released its first report that points to results: creating a sense of community at schools has dropped absenteeism, increased reading levels and reduced dropout rates. It’s also fairer.

“Clearly we see suspension rates going down. We’ve even seen racially disproportionate discipline of African-Americans eliminated in some of our schools,” said program manager David Yusem.

A researcher from Florida sat in on this interview with KPIX 5, as this form of discipline gets national attention.

Principal Pasarow says the bottom line, “Punishing the bad out of kids doesn’t work.”

But this approach is not necessarily touchy-feely either. “It’s a lot more difficult than being punished. To have to sit across the circle from the person you harmed,” Yusem said.

They don’t see many repeat offenders, maybe because what students learn in the circle they’re using in the halls.

“They get to understand what they did wrong and what the other person did wrong. They get to come up with agreements of what they can do better,” said student Theodore Mates-Muchin.Oakland Schools Report Fewer Dropouts, Higher Reading Levels With ‘Restorative Justice’ « CBS San Francisco:

Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent | #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent | NJ.com:

Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent

Newark Students Union Update:

URGENT UPDATE!!! NEWARKERS PLEASE COME TO 2 CEDAR STREET AT 5:30 TODAY TO CELEBRATE!

After nearly four days occupying the offices of Cami Anderson, Newark students are claiming victory. Students and community organizers will exit 2 Cedar Street at 5:30 pm!

WHAT BECAME MOST CLEAR DURING THE WEEK IS THAT THE ESCALATION TO DEMAND LOCAL CONTROL MOVING FORWARD WILL DIRECTLY TARGET “THE DECIDER”, GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE.

NEWARK — The Newark Student Union will end its demonstration demanding superintendent Cami Anderson's resignation after four days of occupying the district's administrative offices, the group announced today.

The students will leave the district's central office located at 2 Cedar Street at 5:30 p.m. where they will speak to the press and "claim victory," the group said in a statement.

The Newark group's announcement arrives hours after Anderson met with the students for about an hour, according to the district.

Newark Public Schools' spokeswoman Brittany Chord Parmley said in a statement the meeting was "productive."

"The conversation was productive, and we see this as a promising step towards an ongoing constructive dialogue where both sides are heard and valuable learning time is not compromised," she said.

Today was the first time Anderson has entered the central office, according to the district. Parmley said in an interview that the superintendent has not been working from the district's central office over the last few days and has instead been conducting school visits.

The Newark Student Union confirmed the meeting in a statement but said the superintendent has created "deep mistrust" against the district's policies.

"At this point, the students remain committed to the demand that she resign immediately and return to the monthly public school board meetings beginning Tuesday, Feb. 24th," the organization said. "We must continue the dialogue and develop a process for selecting her replacement."

The small group of student activists have been demonstrating since Tuesday night, when they gathered on the 8th floor of the Newark Public Schools' headquarters, where Anderson's and other administrators' offices are located. The students, who are demanding Anderson's resignation, have stayed in the building, despite school district attempts to have their parents remove them.

Local politicians, including Anderson-critic Mayor Ras Baraka have thrown their support behind the student group.

The protest comes as state officials are deciding whether or not to renew the superintendent's contract. In an interview yesterday, New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe said the state is in the "final stages" of making a Newark student protestors to end four-day sit-in against superintendent | NJ.com:

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE MEETING WITH CAMI ANDERSON? #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN THE MEETING WITH CAMI ANDERSON? 

Here's the statement from the Newark Students Union:

"After 65 hours of occupation, we, the Newark Students Union, met with the state-appointed Superintendent of the Newark Public Schools, Cami Anderson, in regards to her lack of communication with the students, parents, and the broader community of Newark, NJ. Due to her continued inability to have an open and constructive dialogue with us, she has inevitably created a deep mistrust against the administration and its policies. In the hour-long meeting, Anderson refused to commit to attending the school advisory board meeting on Tuesday, February 24th, at Shabazz X High School. Anderson has not attended a public board meeting for nine months, further distancing her from re-establishing a productive relationship with the community she serves. Failure to attend the board meeting will result in a follow-up action from students, parents, teachers, and the community.”

Parent Trigger Fails At Anaheim Elementary School

Parent Trigger Fails At Anaheim Elementary School:

‘Parent Trigger” Fails At An Anaheim, California, Elementary School

 Virginia Tibbetts is a teacher with 26 years of experience in California public schools. This is her account of the Anaheim City School District’s school board meeting and ACSD’s rejection of Parent Revolution’s ‘parent trigger’ petition to convert Palm Lane Elementary School from a fully publicly-funded and -run public school into a charter school. She attended the school board meeting in person.

English: Panorama of the City of Anaheim in California, United States Français : Panorama de la ville d’Anaheim en Californie, États-Unis Deutsch: Panorama der Stadt Anaheim in Kalifornien, USA (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The board room of the Anaheim City School District was packed this evening, February 19, with people from various factions, all there with one purpose: to hear the report from Superintendent Dr. Linda Wagner and her cabinet regarding the verification of signatures collected and turned in on January 15 to restart Palm Lane Elementary School as a charter under the Parent Trigger Law.

After this presentation, the trustees would vote to either approve or refuse the petition. The Board President, Bob Gardner, motioned that the time limit for one subject be lengthened from 20 minutes, as per board policy, to 90, so everyone could have time to speak. Speaking during this 90 minutes were mostly parents, both for and against the petition. Many of these parents spoke with much emotion, but whether they supported the trigger law or not, all spoke highly of their children’s teachers from Palm Lane.

The California School Employee Association and the Anaheim Elementary Education Association only sent up one representative as they wanted the parents to be heard. [Former California State Senator and author of the Parent Trigger law] Gloria Romero and her lawyer each spoke. Her lawyer, Robert Lome, said he had 11 affidavits from petitioners who swore they did not offer any gifts for signing. CSEA also had 7 affidavits of parents who swore they were coerced with gifts of after-school tutoring and iPads for their signatures. These Parent Trigger Fails At Anaheim Elementary School:

Newark Students Wage War with Anderson #OccupyNPS #OurNewark

Newark Students Wage War with Anderson:



Newark Students Wage War with Anderson

The rising tide against March's debut of the statewide PARCC test may have helped fuel the Newark Students Union Feb. 18 sit-in here at the Newark Public Schools' Central Office.

Up to 12 NSU students, parents and NJ Communities United college students-activists have been sitting in State District Superintendent Cami Anderson's office here a 2 Cedar St. since 8:30 p.m.

The group, according to eyewitnesses, had left en masse from the NPS Board of Education Business Meeting after Science Park High School Senior Kristin Towkaniuk and several students and organizers spoke during the panel's public hearing segment.

They left Conference Room 1010 for a down elevator - but got off at the former Two Guys Department Store's eighth floor. They then ran to Anderson's offices and plugged in their computers before NPS security and Corporate Counsel Charlotte Hitchcock could stop them.

The protesting students had begun announcing their action and appealing for support on social media when Hitchcock and NPS Director of Security Eric Ingold arrived from the board meeting. They told the protestors that they were "trespassing on private property" before calling the Newark Police Department.

One student replied, "Thank you," and rejoined the group's online broadcasting. Hitchcock returned a few minutes later to announce that protestors will have restroom access and that food will be delivered to them.

2 Cedar St., except for NPS employees and law enforcement, has otherwise been in lockdown.

"Local Talk" found six news vans and three more NPS security cars along Cedar Street more than usual 8:45 a.m. Feb. 18. Except for reporters and technicians keeping warm in their trucks, there were very few people standing outside the corner of Cedar and Broad streets.

"I told the guards I had to leave early on a family matter and that I'd return in the morning," said one unnamed high school senior. "I just came back. The guards aren't letting students, media, anyone but school employees, back in."

Board member Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson posted on her Facebook page 11 p.m. Feb. 17 that the protestors were "in good spirits and are live-streaming from Anderson's office. (Board member) Marques Aquil-Lewis bought them pizza."

Baskerville-Richardson added, however, that she, Aquil-Lewis, board member Donald G. Jackson and husband-labor organizer-Freeholder Wayne Richardson were waiting to "be allowed" to check in on the students Tuesday night.

There have also been questions, like in a similar sit-in last May, about whether the protestors are actually receiving food and/or drink. Pastor and former councilwoman Mamie Bridgeforth said that she was at first stopped from bringing food to NPS headquarters by guards and officials before they relented.

"Senior staff members have tried every trick to get them out," said NAACP-Newark Branch President Deborah Smith-Gregory outside 2 Cedar St. around 1:30 p.m. Feb. 18, "including starving them and not bringing them food the community has brought them."

There was one report circulating that Central Office staff members were calling the protestors' parents,

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