Friday, April 9, 2010

My Word: Saving our schools is part of Alameda's strong community spirit - Inside Bay Area

My Word: Saving our schools is part of Alameda's strong community spirit

By Frances Montell

Posted: 04/08/2010 01:26:16 PM PDT

Updated: 04/08/2010 01:26:16 PM PDT

I am heartened to hear how many people support the parcel tax and are willing to pay a little more to protect the quality of our schools and the quality of life in Alameda. I know a large majority of Alamedans will vote "Yes" in June. Unfortunately, due to California's barely functional political system, it will take more than a large majority: A two-thirds "supermajority" need to vote "Yes" to save our schools.

I have heard two kinds of arguments from the small group that opposes the tax. One acknowledges that the schools are underfunded and will be hurt by the coming budget cuts, but argues that the money should come from "somewhere else" besides a parcel tax. Such wishful thinking has been addressed many times.

Efforts to make state funding more rational, reliable and fair are under way but will take years to be successful. The Alameda Unified School District budget has already been cut to the bone. The district operates more efficiently and successfully than almost any other in the region. There is simply no other "somewhere" to get the money to save our schools next year.

The second argument against the parcel tax is more about feelings than facts. Some feelings are difficult to acknowledge because they sound a little selfish: "Why should I pay to support your kids' education?"

This might seem like a reasonable question. What do the average Alameda residents gain from this parcel tax if they don't

have kids in the schools? There are fact-based responses: to maintain property values, business revenues and overall quality of life in Alameda, it is necessary to adequately fund our schools.

People's feelings can inhibit their ability to rationally assess these facts. But do you want to live in a place where people are only concerned with their own self-interest or do you want to live in a real community where people reach out to each other across the divides of age and family status, ethnicity and religion, and all the things that might divide us, and support each other as neighbors and friends?

As an example, our next-door neighbor, a retired World War II vet, raised his children in the 1950s. Although we differed

LAUSD delays changes on transfer policy | The Los Angeles Independent - Community Newspaper Serving Hollywood and West Hollywood | Hollywood

LAUSD DELAYS CHANGES ON TRANSFER POLICY

By WAVE STAFF

Story Published: Apr 8, 2010 at 12:12 PM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 8, 2010 at 12:12 PM PDT

Superintendent Ramon Cortines announced Tuesday that he is delaying his decision to tighten the Los Angeles Unified School District’s inter-district transfers application process, citing discussions with parents, affected school district superintendents and the county superintendent.

As a result, inter-district transfers for 2010-11 will continue to be available with the correct documentation.

Cortines told the LAUSD school board that the district has been lax in the past regarding inter-district permits and promised a thorough review. Additional review of the administrative procedures for transfers will be conducted with the intent of introducing a new administrative system for further board review and discussion in September.

“I’d like to make it perfectly clear that LAUSD has made great strides in improving the educational options for students who reside within the boundaries of our school district,” Cortines said. “We have award-winning magnet programs, a number of California distinguished schools, and campuses with small learning communities and personalized instruction.”

“However, to minimize the impact on students, I have asked staff to delay implementation of the new district-wide procedure,” Cortines added. “This will provide us with ample time to review the reasons for requests for transfers, analyze them and respond with solutions that may cause parents to re-examine the various educational options and opportunities that LAUSD has to offer.

“My hope is that parents and guardians of our district will continue to visit

Desert Hot Springs High School to replace principal | mydesert.com | The Desert Sun

Desert Hot Springs High School to replace principal

MICHELLE MITCHELL • THE DESERT SUN • APRIL 9, 2010

Desert Hot Springs High School will have a new principal next year in response to its designation as one of California's “persistently lowest achieving” schools, the school district announced Thursday.

Anne Kalisek, principal of alternative education for Palm Springs Unified School District, will replace Milton Jones effective July 1.

Jones will take over Kalisek's position overseeing the district's alternative education program, which includes Mount San Jacinto Continuation School, Ramon Alternative Center, Desert Hot Springs Alternative Center and adult education.

“I'm going to miss Desert Hot Springs High School,” said Jones, the principal there for four years. “But I'm excited for the opportunity to move over to alternative education.”

Kalisek, who has been with the district for 21 years, said she wants to merge the individual focus on education she uses now with the needs of a larger campus.

“I think there's a lot of positive momentum, as I said, in the community and also in the school and everyone wants to see the students achieve,” she said.

The school has already made some changes, including a schedule change that would provide more instructional time starting next school year and hiring a dean of students to assist with discipline.

The 188 California public schools designated as the lowest achieving are required to choose

The State News : Race to the Top not best way to help schools

Race to the Top not best way to help schools

(Last updated: 13 hours ago)

A new federal education program gives states an opportunity to contend for some serious cash.

President Barack Obama’s school improvement initiative, Race to the Top, offers states a chance to compete for more than $4 billion throughout the next few years. The states which choose to participate must submit a proposal to be reviewed and graded by a panel of five anonymous judges.

The criteria includes how teachers are evaluated and how many of the states’ school boards can be persuaded to join the plan. The first batch of winners, Delaware and Tennessee, came away with $100 million and $500 million, respectively. Many states have voiced their displeasure with the review process and might not participate in the next round of the program.

Although the program is a way for states to receive much-needed educational funding, this contest isn’t the best way to divide up the cash. Race to the Top is a contest for money based on which states can best formulate a plan to conform to the federal government’s wishes. But the federal government doesn’t necessarily know what’s best for children’s education, and asking states to change in exchange for money rather than for what might be in the best interest of students is not right. When it comes to deciding what works best for schools, states and local school boards should have the most influence — not the federal government.

In Michigan’s plan, the state ties teacher evaluations to student test scores. There is no perfect way to effectively evaluate teacher performance based on students. To benefit students, educational

Students Call For Immigration Reform | KEYT.com - News, Weather, Sports for Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Oxnard | Local

Students Call For Immigration Reform

Story Created: Apr 8, 2010 at 4:08 PM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 8, 2010 at 6:45 PM PDT

Students united for immigration reform are gearing up for a nationwide rally on Saturday.

The students gathered on the campus of UC Santa Barbara to spread their message.

More than a dozen students spent part of their spring break at an immigration reform march on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

They say immigrants who graduate from California high schools cannot afford higher education because they are not eligible for financial aid.

Like health care reform, students say President Obama promised to pass

Double fees buy spot on college’s fast track - The Boston Globe

Double fees buy spot on college’s fast track

Bristol deal with for-profit eliminates waiting list, raises questions of fairness

By Tracy Jan

Globe Staff / April 9, 2010

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Bristol Community College is teaming up with a for-profit education company to offer classes in popular allied health programs, a first-of-its-kind partnership that will allow students to bypass waiting lists — provided they pay double the tuition.

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The initiative, which the college will offer withThe Princeton Review at its New Bedford campus beginning next fall for some programs, has stirred criticism among some educators, who say providing a fast-track education only to students who can afford to pay more than $8,000 a year runs counter to the mission of the state’s community colleges: a commitment to access and equity for all.

“It’s just unfair,’’ said Joe LeBlanc, president of the Massachusetts Community College Council. “I would be quite upset if a student who could pay two times as much jumped to the head of the line to take Bristol Community College classes. Public education, in my mind, means you’re keeping your costs as low as you possibly can. We serve everyone, and in particular, the have-nots.’’

But college officials say the partnership is a creative way for the school to meet burgeoning demand to train health care workers. Enrollment in Massachusetts community colleges has jumped 10 percent in the past year, the largest increase in recent years. And education officials expect similar collaborations on other public campuses in Massachusetts and around the country in coming years.

“In an age of scarce resources, we’re just not going to get money from our state to expand our enrollments,’’ said John Sbrega, president of Bristol Community

Pressures of New Students and Old Weigh on Community Colleges - NYTimes.com

Pressures of New Students and Old Weigh on Community Colleges

By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI

Published: April 8, 2010

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Monica McCarthy, an academic counselor at City College of San Francisco for eight years, has worked with thousands of community college students hoping to transfer to state universities.

Peter DaSilva for The New York Times

Budget problems have caused cutbacks in academic counseling at City College of San Francisco. Monica McCarthy, a counselor, advised a freshman on Tuesday.

This article is part of our expanded Bay Area coverage.

The Bay Area Blog features coverage of public affairs, commerce, culture and lifestyles in the region. We invite your comments atbayarea@nytimes.com.

Go to the Bay Area Blog »

But lately she has encountered more and more state university students clamoring to enroll in community college classes.

“It’s been crazy,” Ms. McCarthy said. “I have a lot of students from San Francisco State saying, ‘I can’t get into my lower-division classes at State. I need to come in here.’ ”

Not that there are seats to spare at San Francisco’s community college. From last fall to this spring, City College cut 710 classes of the 8,800 it planned to offer. This summer’s session has been canceled, and with it about another 860 classes were lost. One thousand six hundred and fifty-five students who tried to register in fall 2009 did not get into any classes at all, up from 635 in fall 2005, evidence that the ideal of universal access to education is increasingly unattainable.

Some City College students are now turning to other Bay Area colleges, like Laney College in Oakland, to try to fit into summer classes.

In the Continuing Student Counseling Department, Ms. McCarthy, 44, works

California revenue outpaces forecasts for 4th straight month - latimes.com

California revenue outpaces forecasts for 4th straight month

The higher tax collections could be a sign that the state economy may be starting to recover, but finance officials warn that any rebound is expected to be slow.

By Shane Goldmacher

April 9, 2010

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Reporting from Sacramento

For the fourth straight month, California has collected more in taxes than expected, a sign that the state economy may be starting to recover.

But finance officials warned that any rebound is expected to be slow, and the revenue boon may prove less helpful at shrinking California's deficit than many in Sacramento hope.

State revenue outpaced forecasts by $356 million in March, according to a report issued Thursday by the state controller. For the current fiscal year, California's tax collections have topped budget projections by $2.3 billion, or 4.1%.

Controller John Chiang said in a written statement that lingering high unemployment in California means "the road to recovery will be long and arduous."

Daniel J.B. Mitchell, professor emeritus of public policy at UCLA, said the spate of higher-than-expected receipts was another sign that California's economy had "at least bottomed out."

"Things aren't getting worse," Mitchell said. "On the other hand, things aren't very good, either."

Unemployment in the state remains stubbornly above 12% and the budget remains woefully out of balance, with an estimated $20-billion shortfall. Lawmakers have taken steps to pare back only a small portion of that deficit.

Having collected $2.3 billion more in taxes doesn't mean the state deficit will shrink by that amount.

In a letter to top budget staffers in the Legislature last month, nonpartisan Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said the new revenues "provide much less budgetary solution than on first blush."

Much of the money will probably go to public schools, Taylor said, because the state's education funding law, Proposition 98, dedicates a large portion of state tax revenue to primary and secondary

Sacramento city schools will skip Teach for America - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sacramento city schools will skip Teach for America

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Apr. 9, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 3B

Sacramento will not be the next stop for Teach for America, a program that sends highly motivated college graduates into troubled schools.

Superintendent Jonathan Raymond of the Sacramento City Unified School District said he has backed off pursuing Teach for America in favor of establishing a stronger relationship with local credentialing programs at UC Davis, Sacramento State and Fortune School of Education.

Raymond had faced strong opposition from the Sacramento City Teachers Association, which questioned the timing of his decision to pursue Teach for America. The district is in the midst of massive layoffs and is asking the teachers union to accept furloughs and health benefit concessions in order to save jobs.

"While I still believe that the Teach for America program has great merit, I intend to exhaust all local options for meeting staffing needs before looking at alternative programs," Raymond wrote in a memo to his staff Wednesday evening.

Teach for America spokeswoman Kerci Marcello Stroud said Thursday that the organization plans to keep Sacramento on its list of potential future expansion sites. Marcello Stroud said several factors, including a lack of funding and Sacramento City Unified backing out, contributed to its

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Education | Chief Sealth to be Seattle's 1st international high school | Seattle Times Newspaper

Chief Sealth to be Seattle's 1st international high school

Chief Sealth High in West Seattle will become Seattle's sixth international school, and its first international high school, the school district announced Thursday.

By Seattle Times staff

Chief Sealth High in West Seattle will become Seattle's sixth international school, and its first international high school, the school district announced Thursday.

Sealth Principal John Boyd said the program was a natural fit for his school because it already offers courses in three languages, and has the International Baccalaureate program, a rigorous, two-year program of international education courses and exams for juniors and seniors.

Boyd said the school will work to make sure that students in language-immersion programs at nearby Concord Elementary and Denny Middle (which will share a campus with Sealth starting next fall) can continue

Seattle Schools invites input on 2010-2011 budget

Parents and other community members will have two opportunities to comment on how Seattle Public Schools should cut its budget for the 2010-11 school year.

By Seattle Times staff

Parents and other community members will have two opportunities to comment on how Seattle Public Schools should cut its budget for the 2010-2011 school year.

The school district has scheduled two meetings where staff will explain how schools are funded, and what the district is thinking about doing to fill an expected shortfall.

Portland State University professor wins Fulbright Scholar grant | OregonLive.com

Portland State University professor wins Fulbright Scholar grant

By Bill Graves, The Oregonian

April 08, 2010, 6:06PM

Fulbright U.S. Scholar ProgramPortland State University Professor Andrew Giarelli has won his second Fulbright Scholar grant.
Andrew Giarelli, professor of university studies at Portland State University, has won a Fulbright Scholar grant to lecture in the Slovak Republic next year, the U.S. State Department announced this week.

Giarelli, who also won a Fulbright senior lecturing award in 1993 to teach in Malta, will teach American literature and American studies at Comenius University, the Slovak Republic's largest and oldest university in its capital, Bratislava. He will be among 1,100 U.S. faculty and professionals working abroad next year under the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.

Giarelli taught English at Portland State from 1996 to 2006, founded its

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Friday, April 9, 2010