Latest News and Comment from Education

Show All

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Schools Scooping Up Outside Money to Keep Moving in Tough Times

Schools Scooping Up Outside Money to Keep Moving in Tough Times


Schools Scooping Up Outside Money to Keep Moving in Tough Times


  • Sam Hodgson
    Point Loma High School's football team currently works out in old batting cages with rusting equipment. But the school is using grant money to build a new facility.

    Posted: Monday, May 10, 2010 4:14 pm | Updated: 4:24 pm, Fri May 14, 2010.
    By EMILY ALPERT
    Rusting weight machines sit in batting cages next to the football field at Point Loma High School, exiled from a classroom trailer that was condemned and then removed.
    Parents are relieved that's finally going to change. Point Loma High is getting a new weight room -- but not because budget cuts have let up in San Diego Unified schools. The school snagged a $90,000 grant from a NASCAR racing champion and Lowe's Home Improvement after teens made their case in a pleading video and parents wrote an application.
    It isn't the only bright spot on campus in the midst of budget cuts: New buildings for filmmaking, music and athletics are cropping up thanks to state grants for career education. Another grant pays for science tutoring, dance troupes, field trips and other activities after school. Grants were rare at Point Loma High before, Principal Bobbie Samilson said, but in this economy it's the way to go.

    Related Stories

    Grants to help schools are nothing new. There are government grants from California and the feds. There are private grants from big corporations and little nonprofits. Grants have long fed money to schools to launch or temporarily try out programs that go beyond the basics, such as surveying teens about their drug and alcohol use or buy supplies that will outlast the temporary money.
    But grants are playing an increasingly important role for schools as traditional funding sources continue to dry up and principals brace for future cuts.
    School leaders say that year by year, as state funding has been cut, the quest for other funds has grown more pressing. Some parents and principals have taken to hunting for funding like entrepreneurs, devoting hours to shining up their applications and seeking other funds. Schools have even turned to grants to cover the costs of books or other basics that their ordinary funding would once have covered.
    "It's just a reality of the job," said Scott Giusti, principal of Mira Mesa High School. When he interviewed for his job, parents and community members grilled him about how he would get funding. "I thought it'd be all about instruction and the safety of the kids. Now it's like being a CEO. Go out and get money."

    RECENT POSTS IN EDUCATION:

    The Race to Unseat a Veteran -- And Very Loud -- Voice

    John de Beck has spent nearly two decades on the school board -- about a quarter of his life.
    This time around, school board member John de Beck has earned the enmity of the teachers union, his former ally and a proven force at the ballot box.
    Posted by at

    Sunday links. � Fred Klonsky's blog

    Sunday links. � Fred Klonsky's blog

    Sunday links.

    MAY 16, 2010
    by preaprez

    Red Shirt Movement, Thailand.
    Charlie McBarron points out that GOP candidate for governor Bill Brady thinks the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie is just a matter of semantics.
    So, Arne. If you call a duck a chicken, is it a chicken?
    With Monday as the deadline,only 45% of Washington state’s school districts have signed on to the state’s Race application.
    While the North American media continues to ignore the system-wide strike by students at the public University of Puerto Rico, this youtube video showing the police mistreating the father of a student is making the blogs.
    Arizona’s superintendent of education wants to ban Paulo Friere’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I think I know why.
    Sent to the NY Times, May 10, 2010
    In his speech at Hampton University (“Obama asks graduates to close education gap,” May 9), President Obama remarked that “…students in well-off areas are outperforming students in poorer rural or urban communities, no matter what skin color. Globally, it’s not even close. In 8th grade science and math, for example, American students are ranked about 10th overall compared to top-performing countries.”
    The president is correct: Students in those well-off areas, who attend well-funded schools, do very well. They don’t rank 10th overall world-wide: They score at the top on international tests of science and math, while American children in “poorer rural or urban communities” score below the international average. Our overall performance is unimpressive because such a high percentage of children in the US live in poverty, among the highest of all industrialized countries (about 22.5%, compared to Sweden’s 2.5%).
    This means that there is nothing seriously wrong with American education. The problem is
    Posted by at

    Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

    Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.

    Obama supports bill to avert teacher layoffs


    President Obama. (AP)
    Posted by at

    First lady to address George Washington U. grads - Boston.com

    First lady to address George Washington U. grads - Boston.com

    First lady to address George Washington U. grads


    May 16, 2010
    Text size – +
    WASHINGTON—First lady Michelle Obama will address some 5,000 students graduating from George Washington University and their families on the National Mall.
    Discuss
    COMMENTS (0)
    She agreed to speak at Sunday's commencement after challenging students at the beginning of the school year to complete 100,000 hours of community service.
    Earlier this month the first lady gave a commencement speech at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, a historically black college. Obama, who graduated from Princeton and Harvard Law School, will also speak next month at the
    Posted by at

    City gets tough with teachers on dress, actions - Sunday, May. 16, 2010

    City gets tough with teachers on dress, actions - Sunday, May. 16, 2010

    City gets tough with teachers on dress, actions

    By BETH LAMONTAGNE HALL
    New Hampshire Union Leader
    10 hours, 14 minutes ago
    MANCHESTER – The Board of School Committee is cracking down on teachers.
    The board yesterday told teachers and administrators to spruce up their work attire by passing a new dress code that bans jeans, shorts, flip-flops and some sneakers.
    It then agreed to give Superintendent of Schools Tom Brennan more leeway when deciding whether to suspend a teacher without pay for bad behavior.
    The committee was meeting to discuss the student Code of Conduct, but that was quickly put aside for a later date and the focus turned to staff issues.
    Mayor Ted Gatsas brought staff suspensions to the board after he talked to Brennan earlier in the week about his decision to suspend a Hillside Middle School teacher followingr her arrest for drunken driving, filing a false report and conduct after an accident.
    Manchester resident Seanna O'Neill, 45, was put on paid leave May 3, the third Hillside teacher in recent weeks to face sanctions for drugs and alcohol.
    Sometimes the district's legal counsel will recommend against suspending without pay because it could be seen as a direct punishment and complicate efforts to fire the staff member later, Brennan said.
    Support concerns
    He was concerned if he suspended a teacher without pay and that decision was challenged, he would not have the support of the board.
    "If he feels strongly enough on an issue that he suspends without pay, even if an attorney told him not to do it, this board should support him," Gatsas said.
    Committee member Sarah Ambrogi asked the board to support the superintendent
    Posted by at

    Dangerous charity: Private funds for public schools

    Dangerous charity: Private funds for public schools

    Dangerous charity: Private funds for public schools



    By Allan G. Assarsson
    Washington
    Sunday, May 16, 2010

    Two weeks ago, D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi testified before the D.C. Council that, because of its conditional nature, supplemental funding from private foundations could not be relied upon to support the proposed $140 million contract negotiated between the Washington Teachers' Union and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee. The D.C. Council insisted that Gandhi and Rhee work together to identify public dollars to back up a long-sought labor agreement that would also support school reform initiatives such as teacher bonuses for performance. Now, after a long and often contentious process, CFO Gandhi has stated that the contract is fiscally sound.
    The Washington Teachers' Union members who will soon vote on the contract, and indeed everyone who lives in the city, would do well to pause and consider some of the worrying implications of this deal. I have two primary concerns:
    -- The impact on elections: First, the $64.5 million in foundation money in the D.C. public schools' budget won't just impact our schools; conditions placed by the foundations will inject themselves into this year's electoral process, which could focus on education issues more than any other recent election. The four donors have reserved the right to withdraw the money if the leadership of the schools -- read: Chancellor Rhee, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's controversial partner in reforming the D.C. system -- were to leave.
    Do we want these outside foundations to have a vote in our election? The qualified nature of their support creates the perception that voting against Fenty could cost the city revenue that could help our city's children. How many votes is this worth? This is a question you can be sure that both Fenty and his main challenger, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray, are asking.
    -- The impact on school policy: Second, by accepting such conditional money, we also are inviting the unacceptable dilemma of having to choose between the educational approaches that we determine are in the best interests of our children and the divergent
    Posted by at

    School districts not racing to sign on with state bid | Yakima Herald-Republic

    School districts not racing to sign on with state bid | Yakima Herald-Republic

    School districts not racing to sign on with state bid



    YAKIMA, Wash. -- School districts throughout Washington have until Monday to buy into the state's bid for a portion of $3.4 billion in federal Race to the Top funds.
    So far, 134 -- about 45 percent -- of the state's 295 school dist-ricts have signed on, including a handful from the Yakima Valley.
    By midday Friday, about a half-dozen local school districts had agreed to support the state's application to compete for a share of approximately $250 million.
    Gov. Chris Gregoire has asked school districts to sign on by Mon-
    day. The state has until June 1 to turn in its application to the federal government.
    "We're certainly supporting the application," said Elaine Beraza, superintendent of the Yakima School District. "Anytime we can bring resources for students in Yakima, it's a great thing."
    The Yakima School District, the largest in Central Washington with about 14,600 students, stands to gain the most in this region -- just over $1 million a year for four years -- if the state is one of the winners of the federal education reform competition.
    Statewide support counts. The applications of both round-one winners -- Tennessee and Delaware -- had the buy-in of all their school districts and strong backing from teacher unions.
    Gregoire is aiming for the same kind of backing here in the second round. Last month, she urged all school districts statewide to support Washington's application.
    "The better the participation rate from districts, the
    Posted by at
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)