Sunday, April 4, 2010

Investing in the future — still smart � Ventura County Star

Investing in the future — still smart

Students are protesting double-digit tuition increases at state colleges and universities. Research is projecting 1 million new college students within the next 15 years in California. State budget pressures are pitting investments in education against pension obligations, underscoring the dramatic demands on California’s volatile general tax revenues along with the frustration that our public investments in a smarter California are falling short of what our parents and grandparents provided for us.

Public education has been the ticket to the California dream for millions, particularly for students with families of modest means. These parents believe as fiercely in the dream as anyone, and yet their flexibility to assist their children is restrained by economic realities or, for those unfamiliar with the process of college admissions, their inexperience in guiding their children.

Good public grade schools, high schools, community colleges, four-year universities and graduate programs have fueled generations of Californians to help build the seventh-largest economy in the world.

This did not happen by accident. It was a consequence of investments by many generations in the institutions that helped create an educated and skilled work force. This work force more than paid back that investment by creating businesses and industries that have remade our world and whose leadership set the standard for America.

Investing in the future

At Ventura County Community Foundation, we believe investing in the future is a

Internal Affairs: Former East Side superintendent in hot water again - San Jose Mercury News

Internal Affairs: Former East Side superintendent in hot water again

By the Mercury News

Posted: 04/04/2010 12:00:00 AM PDT

The State Board of Education made history last week when, for the first time, it took over two school districts for academic and leadership failures.

One of them, Alisal Union School District in Salinas, was led by none other than Esperanza Zendejas, who you may recall spent two tumultuous years as superintendent of San Jose's East Side Union High School District. She was forced out in 2005, taking with her a $337,000 severance. (And leaving behind her hand-picked personnel director, Bob Nuñez, who succeeded her as superintendent — and recently was forced out himself for alleged financial shenanigans.)

Safe to say, controversy has continued to trail Zendejas. Two of Alisal's campuses made the state's worst-schools list, and pink slips were recently handed out to all principals.

In addition, the Alisal board has been charged with intimidation, police have been called to board meetings, and trustees have been accused of micromanaging the district. An Alisal board member was recalled in August, and

New interim superintendent John Ramirez Jr. ready to lead Alisal Union School District - MontereyHerald.com :

New interim superintendent John Ramirez Jr. ready to lead Alisal Union School District

Veteran administrator has local roots

By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau

Posted: 04/02/2010 01:28:23 AM PDT

Updated: 04/02/2010 08:55:48 AM PDT

Click photo to enlarge

John Ramirez Jr. He served as principal at Seaside and Salinas schools.

Alisal Union School District
Mar 31:
Kotowski named trustee for Alisal Union School District
Mar 30:
State considers additional sanctions for Alisal Union School District
Mar 27:
Alisal Union School District hires interim superintendent
Mar 26:
Alisal Union superintendent faces ouster
Mar 21:
Alisal school board leader defends record

John Ramirez Jr. served as a teacher for only three years, but it was inside the classroom where he says he learned his most important lesson about education.

It was at Salinas' Loma Vista Elementary School, in a fifth- and sixth-grade combination class, where he realized that "there are no students in a classroom who can't achieve."

"Regardless of (the) level where they came in, it all depends on the energy and effort I put in as a teacher," he said. "I had to work with the students before school, after school, use different activities, differentiated instruction. Teaching is hard and laborious, but you can achieve results if you spend the time."

The 38-year-old educator applied this insight to the positions he has had since: as principal of Martin Luther King Jr. in Seaside, of El Sausal Middle School and Alisal High in Salinas, at Sequoia High in Visalia and, most recently, as director of alternative education programs in Visalia.

He has been praised for leaving the schools better than he found them.

After four years, Ramirez is returning to Salinas to take on perhaps one of the most charged jobs in Monterey County: top administrator for the Alisal Union School District.

The 7,600-pupil district has been roiling with conflict in the past few months, controversies that climaxed this week when the California State Board of Education held an emergency meeting to appoint a trustee for the district — a move that was supposed to take place in May.

The state board was responding to several Alisal board actions, including the ouster of former Superintendent Esperanza Zendejas and the hiring of Ramirez as interim superintendent.

Ramirez said he welcomes the appointment of a trustee and that he has already begun to work with Nancy Kotowski, the Monterey County Superintendent of Schools named by the state board as interim trustee.

"It is very reassuring for me to have someone like Nancy working for us," Ramirez said. "She's local, she'll work for us."

7 candidates, 7 questions, 7 days: Getting the local economy back on track | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

7 candidates, 7 questions, 7 days: Getting the local economy back on track

The Desert Sun presented seven questions to the seven candidates in the 37th Senate special primary race. The weeklong series starts today. Election Day is April 13.

The 37th District, like others across the state, has suffered in this economic downturn. What legislative efforts would you support to get the local economy back on track?

JUSTIN BLAKE, Democrat: Budgets are balanced when people have jobs. Unemployed people cannot contribute to the tax base. When everyone who wants a job has a job, California can balance its budget. I will introduce and support legislation that creates jobs to restore the economic health of our state. We must also vigorously pursue tax cheats and close accounting loopholes that allow big businesses to pay less than their fair share.

RUSS BOGH, Republican: To improve the local jobs climate, Sacramento needs to immediately do three things: First, put a one-year targeted moratorium on regulations and require all new proposed regulations go through a review that identifies the cost to job creators. If any jobs will be lost, it should not take effect. Second, change the tax code to encourage businesses to expand. Finally we need to repeal last year's $12 billion tax increase.

BILL EMMERSON, Republican: I support a package of 17 bills being put forward by the Republican Caucus

Get to Work / McAfee CEO says California falling behind as Texas, Oregon and India scoop up jobs

Get to Work / McAfee CEO says California falling behind as Texas, Oregon and India scoop up jobs:

Get to Work

McAfee CEO says California falling behind as Texas, Oregon and India scoop up jobs

David DeWalt, chief executive of the security software firm McAfee, told Forbes.com he saves 30 to 40 percent in salary and benefits when he hires outside California, and has just 900 of the company's 6,500 employees in Silicon Valley.

Forbes associate editor Victoria Barret quotes DeWalt as saying: "I have watched with real disdain as California has lost its edge. ... On education, infrastructure and general competitiveness, we're falling behind."

The Forbes article talks about McAfee moving 1,000 back-office jobs to Texas, expanding research centers in Oregon and Ontario, and getting subsidies or tax credits for taking these jobs outside California.

"Where does McAfee have the most employees, overall?" Barret writes. "India. He's

Letter: We must invest in California's children | california, - Letters - Appeal-Democrat

Letter: We must invest in California's children

Comments 1 | Recommend 0

April 04, 2010 12:00:00 AM

California's recently enacted state budget that cuts $11.6 billion from public education is an unacceptable "solution" to the state's budget crisis. It is a short-term fix, at best, and the revenue that will be saved from cutting funds to something as vital to society as the school system is miniscule in comparison to the problems that an uneducated mass of citizens can create.

Education, being a fundamental part of a society that values progress, is certainly not something that should be punished (especially for a debt that it did not contribute to in the first place). Last month, 26,590 pink slips (which signify potential layoffs to teachers and staff) were given out by the deadline of March 15. In the event that only half of these layoff notices actually resulted in a loss of jobs, class sizes in all grades would increase to seemingly overwhelming levels. According the California Teachers Association, as of the 2007-08 school year, California already had the largest class size "with an average of 50 teachers per 1,000 students."

This plan is enacted at a time when our state was already ranked 47th in the country for federal spending on public

FUSD gets tough on summer school - Education and Schools - fresnobee.com

FUSD gets tough on summer school

D as well as F students now required to attend, to help more succeed.

Posted at 11:53 PM on Saturday, Apr. 03, 2010

By Tracy Correa / The Fresno Bee

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D grades no longer are good enough for Fresno Unified School District students. This summer, for the first time, students earning D's -- as well as F's -- will be required to attend summer school.

District officials said it's part of a new emphasis to help all struggling students succeed. Even though a student can pass a class with a D, it doesn't demonstrate proficiency -- the district's goal.

In the past, summer school was optional and primarily focused on students who were flunking class. Under the new rule, the district plans to double the number of students attending summer school at a time when most cash-strapped school districts are cutting summer programs.

The district plans to use some of the millions of dollars received in federal economic stimulus funds to enroll more than 10,000 students.

A state education expert said it's rare to see a school district expand summer school today in

Grade 10 diploma not a wise idea

Ze'ev Wurman,Sandra Stotsky

Sunday, April 4, 2010

MORE EDUCATION

Where's superman for the middle class? 04.04.10
Race to the Top should be left behind 04.04.10
UC Berkeley head tackles cost of athletics 04.01.10

In February, the national press reported on a pilot program that will give high school sophomores in eight states a chance to earn a diploma and head straight to credit-bearing math and English courses at a state college. To do so, they will have to take special course work and can try to pass academic tests known as board exams as early as grade 10.

The idea of a grade 10 diploma is the latest brainchild of the National Center on Education and the Economy, the originator of the unsuccessful school-to-work initiative in the 1990s. The project is funded by the Gates Foundation, which has abandoned its initiative to create small high schools as a way to get more low-achieving students through high school.

The center's so-called fast-track approach ups the ante and aims to get at-risk students out of high school and into college - and supposedly on a quick credit-bearing path to a degree. It also aims to get bright high school students into college sooner for supposedly better course work. However, the center's proposed 10th-grade "diploma" is the wrong answer to the wrong problem for three groups of students: those with a strong academic orientation, those without it but who are willing to stay in school and those who drop out.

It is not the right solution for those capable of academic acceleration. Most parents don't

Demand Student Representation, Assert Your Voice in SGC | Berkeley High Jacket

Demand Student Representation, Assert Your Voice in SGC

By Peggy Scott

Berkleye High Jacket Editorial Board member Chloe Holden writes, “…there is a notable lack of student input into the process, a waste considering that the most acute insights into the [Achievement] gap are most likely to come from students themselves.”

Holden is correct, but the shortage of student input at Berkeley High is an even larger issue, and concerns all areas that fall under the purview of the SGC. The laws of California and the state Education Code specifically state that high school students should comprise 25 percent of the governing structure of their school. Currently, students have only 14 percent, almost half that power, just four out of 28 members on the council. It often feels even worse, because so many alternates and co–lead teachers attend the meetings, which makes the room heavily dominated by teachers.
Further, it is specifically this School Site Council that is tasked with the job of addressing student achievement through the development and annual revision of the school plan. At Berkeley High this plan for student achievement is the WASC plan, but you would be hard pressed to find a revision since 2005, the year it was written. Now read Holden’s quote again; it is astonishing just how right she is.

Currently, the Policy Committee of the School Board is reviewing the governance structure at Berkeley High and we can expect their redesign to be announced this spring. Their charge is to bring the practices of the high school’s governance into compliance with state statutes.

This has been a long battle. The school board has known for at least two years that they needed to overhaul the SGC at Berkeley

Anti-bullying efforts show some progress - SignOnSanDiego.com

Anti-bullying efforts show some progress

BY PETER ROWE, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2010 AT 12:05 A.M.

BULLYING ON LOCAL CAMPUSES

The California Department of Education has collected data on bullying-related incidents since January 2009; to date, statistics have been compiled only for the first six months of that year.

In San Diego County, a total of 13 suspensions and one expulsion occurred at these schools:

Hidden Valley Middle School, Escondido Union: one suspension

Monte Vista High School, Grossmont Union High: one suspension

Grossmont High School, Grossmont Union High: two suspensions

La Mesa Middle School, La Mesa-Spring Valley: two suspensions

Tierra del Sol Middle School, Lakeside Union Elementary:one suspension

Mt. Carmel High School, Poway Unified: two suspensions

Olive Peirce Middle School, Ramona City Unified: two suspensions and one expulsion

Nubia Leadership Academy, San Diego Unified: two suspensions

Even before the January suicide ofPhoebe Prince, a 15-year-oldMassachusetts girl who had been tormented by classmates, parents in San Diego County feared for the lives of their bullied children.

“My prevailing thought when I wake up in the morning is, ‘I don’t want to find my son hanging from the rafters,’ ” said the mother of a Lakeside middle schooler who has been bullied for three years. She asked that her name not be used for fear of further assaults on her son.

He has been punched, slapped, hit with rocks, called names. Asked about transferring to another campus, he declined. What if the same fate — or worse — awaited him there?

“And why should he have to leave?” his mother asked. (The students and parents interviewed for this story asked that their names not be used for fear of further assaults.)

For bullies, opportunities have never been greater. While some studies show that the American schoolyard is safer than it was just seven years ago, bullies have found new places to ambush kids. With text messaging and social-media sites, they can attack at any time, any place.

And even if physical violence is declining, there’s still no shortage of victims. Just ask David Bristol, a Solana

For Latinos, mixed signals | OregonLive.com

For Latinos, mixed signals

By Syndicated columns

April 04, 2010, 5:15AM

David BroderBy David S. Broder

WASHINGTON -- Census Day was a big day at the office of the National Council of La Raza, not only because it was the final day of the drive to reduce the chronic undercount of Hispanic residents but because it marked a time when Latinos in the United States could obtain the latest measure of their growing political power.

The largest and fastest growing minority group finds itself in an anomalous position this year. In some respects, its stature has never been higher, with the Supreme Court appointment of Sonia Sotomayor signaling that one more historic barrier has fallen to the talent and ambition of the Spanish-speaking community.

But as Janet Murguia, the veteran political organizer and former Clinton White House aide who is president of La Raza reminded me, "As long as the immigration issue is unresolved, we feel under threat."

The mixed signals that Hispanics receive from the larger community, ranging from the accolades for the first Hispanic woman on the high court to the threatening nativist rhetoric of Tom Tancredo at the first tea party convention, have produced an almost schizophrenic reaction among Latino constituencies and leaders.

While celebrating the gains they have recorded on such vital issues as health care, children's welfare and education from their alliance with Barack Obama, they fret about the backlash they see on illegal immigration and the growing gulf between their own community and most Republican officeholders.

It is a distinctly uncomfortable mood, despite the strong sense they share

Community Colleges Like Attention, Need Money - Money News Story - KMGH Denver

Community Colleges Like Attention, Need Money

Promoted As Way To Train Workers, Boost Grad Rates

ERIC GORSKI, AP National Writer

Politicians and policymakers are lavishing unprecedented attention on community colleges, promoting them as engines to train workers in the recession and boost the country's college graduation rates.

Where rhetoric meets reality on campus, you'll find people like Tania DeLeon, a student at Folsom Lake College in California who can't get into the classes she wants, must shuttle between two campuses 45 minutes apart and is spending spring break earning a paycheck so she can pay for gas and graduate on time.
Grappling with soaring enrollment and plummeting state support, community colleges are grateful for the higher profile but disappointed money has yet to materialize to help them keep up with demand, let alone meet ambitious Obama administration goals to make the U.S. the global leader in college graduates again by 2020.

"It's a difficult, challenging time for us," said George Boggs, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges. "But in the longer term view, we've never seen the image of community colleges as high as it is right now. Overall,

Sunday, April 4, 2010