Wednesday, June 9, 2010

One-room Northern California schoolhouse to close - Boston.com

One-room Northern California schoolhouse to close

June 9, 2010

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NAPA, Calif.—A 157-year tradition in a small Northern California community is coming to an end with the closure of its one-room schoolhouse.

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The Wooden Valley Elementary School in Napa County is scheduled to close Thursday after graduating its last class of fifth-graders.

The original 1853 structure is still standing, though children now attend classes in another one-room building erected in the 1950s.

The two dozen kindergartners through fifth-graders will now be bused to larger schools in Napa or Fairfield or be home-schooled.

Napa Valley Unified School District officials decided earlier this year that

Remainders: Social promotion definitely not dead says teacher | GothamSchools

Remainders: Social promotion definitely not dead says teacher

by Anna Phillips

Gov. Paterson introduced Rochester’s mayoral control bill, which could have trouble in the Senate.
Klein may have declared an end to social promotion, but in practice it’s alive and well, writes a teacher.
The economy could bounce back, but the education of children going through the recession may not.
Whether you live in South Dakota or Alaska determines at what age you’ll learn to tell time.
A policy brief on Teach for America finds the teachers improve with time, but most don’t stay long enough.
TFA isn’t the answer, but it still has a role to play argues an education blogger.
The city’s practice of overbooking gifted programs has led to a frantic search for seats at P.S. 163.
Kim Gittleson adds retention data to a UFT report on charter attrition and finds it changes the story.
Leonie Haimson analyzes the number of charter school opeds in recent months from the city’s papers.
CO Sen. Michael Bennet backs a bill to create training programs for principals of turnaround schools.
Bennet had been working on a teacher quality bill but may have shelved it to avoid union ire.
Sherman Dorn explains his skepticism of performance pay and the studies done on merit pay systems.
Mike Petrilli says Fordham is working to see that control of national standards isn’t given to unions.
And Deven Black asks: can you name five famous teachers?

Blog U.: Lions in Winter - Confessions of a Community College Dean - Inside Higher Ed

Lions in Winter
By Dean Dad June 9, 2010 9:42 pm

This post by Tenured Radical is one of the best things I've read in a long time. It was occasioned by the semi-forced retirement of Helen Thomas, the journalist whose comments about Israel and Palestine ended her career, but the part that spoke to me was the part about the Venerable Tenured Icon who had gone badly off the rails. It's worth quoting at length:
This is, of course, a common problem in the academy. Venerable professor famous for irascible personality and eclectic remarks goes right over the edge one day and has to be forcibly retired, when in fact the signs of ineffectiveness and mental decline have been clear to close colleagues for several years: inappropriate remarks, fits of rage and/or confusion, memory lapses of gargantuan proportions. And yet, you go to the administration and say, "Hey, I think we have a problem" and administrators claim their hands are tied because of tenure, academic freedom, blah, blah, blah. I have a friend who made this lonesome trek year after year, recounting numerous horror stories that appeared in the teaching evaluations or were related by befuddled students about Famous Professor X, and was repeatedly sent

Seton Hall's lone finalist for presidency withdraws from consideration | NJ.com

Seton Hall's lone finalist for presidency withdraws from consideration

Published: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 10:00 PM

Star-Ledger Staff
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Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerSeton Hall University

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SOUTH ORANGE — The lone finalist for the presidency of Seton Hall University said tonight he is withdrawing his name from consideration for the post, amid a brewing controversy among university officials over his alleged demands.

"I’ll be withdrawing my candidacy," Monsignor Stuart Swetland, professor of Christian ethics at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Maryland, told The Star-Ledger. "I wish Seton Hall well in its search for a new president ... I’ve discerned right now that God has other things that he wishes for me to do."

In recent days, several university officials said that during preliminary negotiations, Swetland asked for a yearly salary of nearly $300,000. The current president, Monsignor Robert Sheeran, makes approximately $31,000, which is consistent with the low salaries many priests and nuns are paid to run Catholic colleges.

Officials at the Catholic university also said Swetland was seeking a long list of other perks, including a three-year severance package. The officials did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the confidential negotiations.

Swetland tonight denied making the salary request and said he was disappointed details of the

North Clackamas School District commitee to vote on budget that could shorten next school year | OregonLive.com

North Clackamas School District commitee to vote on budget that could shorten next school year

Published: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 5:24 PM Updated: Wednesday, June 09, 2010, 5:49 PM

Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian
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The North Clackamas School District's budget committee will vote Thursday on a budget recommendation that could include cutting several days from the 2010-11 school year.

The district has been looking into a shorter school year to combat a $7 million budget gap stemming from Gov. Ted Kulongoski's mandated cuts to state programs.

Superintendent Tim Mills last week presented four options to address the shortfall, which is equivalent to eliminating 15 days of school or 126 full-time employee positions. Three of the four plans proposed reducing the school year, and the district's own recommended option included cutting five days and 42 full-time employee positions.

The district already plans to lay off 36 teachers, 24 classified staff and five administrators.

California election results: So much for losing gracefully| PolitiCal | Los Angeles Times

Now comes this concession statement from state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), who lost in her bid in the race for superintendent of public instruction.

"The victors in the race for superintendent of public instruction were two different wings of the same status-quo education establishment: ACSA's [the Assn. of California School Administrators'] interests for administrators prevailed alongside CTA's [the California Teachers Assn.'s] interests for teachers. The interests of the reform community, on behalf of parents and kids, lost.

"I am deeply saddened by the outcome of this race, which had signaled so much hope for the possibility of true education reform in California and an overdue shakeup of an education morass which remains complacent with failure."

Wednesday, June 9, 2010