Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Hogwarts On The Hudson?

Eduwonk � Blog Archive � Hogwarts On The Hudson?

Hogwarts On The Hudson?

Wow.  Jaw meet floor.  Scholastic, a serious publisher in the education space (that produces some good products, for instance Read 180) is now allowing its bloggers to call out senior government officials as corrupt on the basis of anonymous third party hearsay and no evidence.   We’ve crossed into a strange new - and unfortunate - world if this is the new norm or somehow even remotely acceptable.
Update:  As you can tell from the now broken link it’s to Scholastic’s credit that they’ve removed the post.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 4:00 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

1. steve f. Says:
   February 5th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
   seems like a reasonable blog post to me – he’s just asking for a bit more transparency to clear up any perception of favoritism.
   as he said, it’s not like it hasn’t happened before 
2. Ed Pol Says:
   February 5th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
   Steve F.-
   The first sentence is:
   “I have now heard the same thing from three independent credible sources – the fix is in on the U.S. Department of Education’s competitive grants, in particular Race to the Top (RTTT) and Investing in Innovation (I3). ”
   Not implying anything but just asking?
3. steve f. Says:
   February 5th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
   it’s a blog, i’m not sure of the ethics of blog publishing.
   but the post is asking whether there is favoritism at the dept of ed? that’s reasonable in my book and could be cleared up easily through a transparent process.
   the ny times uses anonymous sources all the time.

Oakland Teachers Reject District Offer, Authorize Strike! Oakland Education Association

Oakland Education Association  About OEA

Attract/Support/Keep Quality Teachers!

It is About Priorities!

February Neighborhood Meetings

Sponsored by the

Oakland Education Association

 Monday, February 22, 6:30-7:30 pm

Montclair Women’s Club • 1650 Mountain Blvd

Join teachers, parents, students and community organizations to help Create Success in Oakland classrooms. Let’s help set OUSD priorities: keep reduced class sizes; give teachers enough planning time; provide enough materials for students and teachers; make all schools clean, healthy and safe teaching and learning environments! 

Join the discussion to Create Success! Your teachers’ working conditions are your children’s learning conditions! It is about priorities.

Oakland Education Association 272 East 12^th Street Oakland, CA 94606; 510-763-4020

California Progress Report Evans, Torres Say Governor Throwing Women Out of the Lifeboat First

California Progress Report:

Evans, Torres Say Governor Throwing Women Out of the Lifeboat First

"By Assemblymembers Noreen Evans and Norma Torres

SACRAMENTO – In this Democratic weekly address, Assembly Budget Chair Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) and Assemblymember Norma Torres (D-Pamona) discuss the impact of the Governor’s actions that made 100,000 women ineligible for breast cancer screening under the Every Woman Counts program. They discuss findings that this will lead to a substantial increase in later-stage breast cancer cases in low and middle-income women and drive up costs to the state.

Click onto the following link for the English language MP3 file. The running time is 2:24.

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20100212RadioAddressEngl...

Click onto the following link for the Spanish language MP3 file. The running time is 3:27.

http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/Newsline/Audio/20100212RadioAddressSpan...

Website of Assemblymember Noreen Evans: www.asm.ca.gov/evans

Website of Assemblymember Norma Torres: www.asm.ca.gov/torres

Transcript:

Los Rios Community College District Receives $5 Million Grant — The Rancho Cordova Post

Los Rios Community College District Receives $5 Million Grant — The Rancho Cordova Post

Congresswoman Doris O. Matsui will join members of the Sacramento health care and the education communities to officially announce and celebrate the release of a $5 million grant for the Los Rios Community College District. A competitive grant administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, this funding will provide Los Rios the opportunity to expand medical training programs through the establishment of a HealthForce Institute. The grant was authorized by the Recovery Act, which Rep. Matsui supported, and the Congresswoman further helped steer the money to Sacramento with a written letter of support to the Department last year on the District’s behalf.

“The Los Rios Community College District continues to shine as a resource for Sacramentans to engage in and accelerate emerging industries in our region,” said Matsui. “From health care to clean energy, Recovery Act grants continue to reinforce Sacramento’s strength in cutting-edge industries while supporting our region’s hard-working men and women. With the creation of a high-quality institute here in Sacramento to train registered nurses and health care workers, our community will benefit in two ways as we address the critical shortage of well-trained health professionals and simultaneously bolster regional job growth. I look forward to meeting the men and women who will make-up this new part of our local workforce.”

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Education Notes Online: Millot: Sound Decision or Censorship at TWIE (II)

Education Notes Online: Millot: Sound Decision or Censorship at TWIE (II)

Please be assured that this isn't really about you or the substance of your post. 
Issues of transparency and accountability have been raised by several folks including hess and edweek…

you try and make it seem to yourself like this is about some higher issue, but it's really just ego and refusing to acknowledge your role.

 

Readers might reasonably guess that the first quote is from someone who supports the argument I made on February 10 in School Matters http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2010/02/millot-sound-decision-or-censorship-at.html; the second from someone who does not. Both quotes can be found here. In a sense they would be right. The first is part of This Week in Education (TWIE)

http://www.thisweekineducation.com/ Editor Andrew Russo’s email to me of 11:06 AM (Saturday the day after he pulled “Three Data Points. Unconnected Dots or a Warning?” . (http://borderland.northernattitude.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/millot_warning.pdf) from his blog. The second, his email of 11:55 PM Monday, sent after firing me from TWIE. (A complete email record can be foundhere. (http://www.scribd.com/doc/26695687/Millot-Russo-Email-Communications-February-5-9-2010)) A new man can emerge over 60 hours – especially when he’s under pressure.

 

Why did Russo pull the post? The short answer, at least the short answer Russo offered over the phone Saturday, lies in his contract with Scholastic. TWIE is not editorially independent. Scholastic decides what will remain on his blog. On Friday afternoon, Russo’s point of contact at Scholastic

Sacramento Press / Sacramento City Unified School Disrtict Community Budget Forums

Sacramento Press / Sacramento City Unified School Disrtict Community Budget Forums

The budget and strategic plan survey of the community is complete. These surveys mark the a new commitment by SCUSD to listening to our community, consulting the community on important decisions and providing the public open access to our work in leading the district.  The data will be accumulated and we will report on the results of the surveys as soon as possible. 

Superentendent Jonathan Raymond announced that the district has scheduled four community forums to discuss the budget. These forums seek to gain recommendations from the public on how the district should deal with a budget shortfall of up to $30 million. “In the end, the school board will make the tough decisions about how to balance the budget and will set a direction for the district with the new strategic plan. But these forums are allowing us to have a conversation with the people of Sacramento – teachers, parents and community members alike – like never before in our history. These conversations are vitally important and are giving us a window into the community’s thoughts and ideas about the kind of schools they want. We want to make sure everyone takes this opportunity to be heard,” Superintendent Raymond said.

Each is scheduled from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

• Feb. 17 – McClatchy High School, 3066 Freeport Blvd.
• Feb. 23 – Rosemont High School, 9594 Kiefer Blvd.
• Feb. 24 – Luther Burbank High School, 3500 Florin Road
• March 3 – location to be announced

"It's absolutely critical that the community is part of these decisions. It's their schools, after all."

Go to the SCUSD Web Site

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Hey Teachers! Do You Use an Interactive Whiteboard?

voiceofsandiego.org | News. Investigation. Analysis. Conversation. Intelligence. - Hey Teachers! Do You Use an Interactive Whiteboard?
Hey Teachers! Do You Use an Interactive Whiteboard?

Hey teachers: Do you use an interactive whiteboard in your classroom? Have you found them useful? How has it changed your lessons? I'm writing about the influx of technology in San Diego Unified classrooms and want to know how you are using -- or maybe not using -- these new tools. Please shoot me an e-mail with your thoughts at emily.alpert@voiceofsandiego.org.

-- EMILY ALPERT

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