Friday, October 15, 2010

NJ Spotlight | Administration's Attempt to Promote Privatization Studied By Assembly Committee

Administration's Attempt to Promote Privatization Studied By Assembly Committee
Stealth RFP continues to draw fire from lawmakers and environmentalists

By Tom Johnson, October 16 in Energy & Environment |Post a Comment

The Christie administration’s efforts to promote privatization ran into significant opposition yesterday. The plan is viewed by some as a stealth proposal to privatize land-use permitting functions within the Department of Environmental Protection.

The plan, detailed in a Request for Proposal (RFP) quietly issued by DEP in concert with the Treasury Department earlier this fall, should be pulled, several environmental organizations told the Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee. That was a step backed by Assemblyman John McKeon (D-Essex), the committee's chairman.

McKeon told DEP officials he was concerned the proposal was put out as a RFP without any public discussion or debate, which he argued circumvented past procedures to review efforts to hand over some of the agency’s functions to the private sector.

“Are you not putting the cart put before the horse?’’ McKeon asked Irene Kropp, deputy

Larkins, Schools Development Authority, Grilled on Long-Overdue Construction

Legislators want to know why 50+ planned and promised projects have yet to be built.

Opinion: Newark Needs More than Facebook Reform

The Christie, Corey, Zuckerberg extravaganza can't hide an inconvenient truth: Newark is in shambles

L.A. Unified to issue its own 'value-added' ratings of district schools | California Watch

L.A. Unified to issue its own 'value-added' ratings of district schools

by Louis Freedberg

Louis Freedberg

For the past year, the Los Angeles Unified School District has contracted with an outside consulting firm that has been doing its own "value-added" analysis of how effective schools are contributing to student outcomes.

The researchers with the firm, Education Strategy Consulting, said the results they have come up with are substantially different from those published for individual schools by the Los Angeles Times in its pathbreaking

State takes a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ approach to child care fraud

by Christina Jewett

Christina Jewett

California presides over a $1.4 billion system of unlicensed child care with virtually no mechanism to detect or recover fraudulent payments, according to a report issued yesterday by the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes.

The report [PDF] reveals everything from gaping holes in oversight to deliberate ‘I-don’t-want-to-know’ attitudes by state officials who fear that fraud detection might force California to send money back to Washington, D.C.

Far out! (Welcome to Denver’s Far Northeast) � Failing Schools

Far out! (Welcome to Denver’s Far Northeast)

OCTOBER 14, 2010

by mariasallee

Denver residents and other interested parties were treated on October 12th to a presentation of the Denver Public Schools proposal of what should happen with struggling schools in the zone currently known as the Far Northeast. This area includes the much maligned Montbello (sometimes hurtfully referred to as Montghetto) neighborhood as well as the area known as Green Valley Ranch. The area is relatively new as an urban zone (about 40 years for Montbello, slightly less for Green Valley Ranch) and primarily consists of single family homes and strip mall developments. In fact, it is a zone that was annexed long after the city was established and has long been ignored as a functioning part of the city. Some metro area residents are unaware that the neighborhoods actually are a part of the city of Denver. Economic status varies

Hiram Johnson High: Parents, Students Say Videos Show Fights A Daily Occurrence At Troubled Sacramento School - KTXL

Hiram Johnson High: Parents, Students Say Fights A Daily Occurrence At Troubled Sacramento School

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SACRAMENTO, CA —

They say they're fed up with scenes like this- students fighting in the hallway satSacramento's Hiram Johnson High School. And some parents say nothing is being done to stop the violence, so they are protesting the punches being thrown on the way home from school.

"The school is responsible for their safety," said parent Martina Cruz-Rivas.

Another video shows hair pulling in a second floor hall.

"This fight actually goes on for several minutes," Rivas said.

There's a third video, showing students squaring off in a courtyard. Cruz-Rivas says all of these

Study ranks state 31st in student funding | Thoughts on Public Education

Study ranks state 31st in student funding - by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

by John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

In terms of unadjusted state and local spending for education, California ranks 24th in the nation. But adjust spending to account for the regional cost of living, as Education Week does annually, and California’s per student spending falls to 46th in the nation. Which ranking you cite in debates with colleagues and around the dinner table [...]

School Tech Connect: Apples to Friggin' Apples

Apples to Friggin' Apples

by effacethefacade@yahoo.com (Tim)

Because this study contains the word poverty, it will be wholly ignored by policymakers and pundits and the deformer crowd-- and its looking-for-a-gig poster girl, Michelle Rhee. There's more hay to be made in whipping up a frenzy than there is in judiciously looking at the facts. One of the facts is this:

Of course, none of that matters when your agenda is ideological--- when you're determined to

Rise & Shine: Judge finds city’s teacher investigation shoddy | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: Judge finds city’s teacher investigation shoddy

by Anna Phillips

A judge gave a teacher his job back after finding the city botched its investigation. (Daily News, Post)
The federal gov. is giving NYC organizations $12 million to spend on sex ed. programs. (NY1)
City names a new Bronx campus after two firefighters who died in 2005. (Daily News)
P.S. 119 grads meet 50 years later, marry, and give back to the school’s current students. (Daily News)
Ocean Hill-Brownsville showed that demonizing teachers unions doesn’t work. (Daily News)
Three Long Island students were arrested for beating up a classmates on the bus. (Wall Street Journal)
Duncan and teachers union leaders announced plans for an edu summit. (Washington Post)
D.C.’s new teachers contract will be wasted if the city doesn’t manage its talent. (NY Times)
Rick Hess lists three lessons learned from Rhee and Fenty’s exit. (Daily News)
The NEA and other unions are spending more on elections than in the past. (Wall Street Journal)
For-profit education companies are facing declining enrollment, falling stock. (Post)

The Answer Sheet - Are we still capable of educating for 'us-ness?'

Are we still capable of educating for 'us-ness?'

My guest is Marion Brady, veteran teacher, administrator, curriculum designer and author. By Marion Brady Ronald Reagan delivered some one-liner doozies, one of which is still a favorite of several members of Congress and talking heads on cable news: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: 'I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ " It’s an interesting perspective, particularly when placed alongside another quote, one from Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Those who had died on that battlefield, Lincoln said, contributed to a great cause-preserving "government of the people, by the people, for the people." A rational alien would assume, wrongly, that these two views of government came from two very different countries.

Michelle Rhee's exit: How former colleague Kerri Briggs sees it | THE EDUCATION FRONT Blog | dallasnews.com

Michelle Rhee's exit: How former colleague Kerri Briggs sees it

by William McKenzie/ Editorial Columnist

The Education Front turned to Kerri Briggs, the former state superintendent for D.C. schools, to get her take onuber-reformer Michelle Rhee's exit kerri s superintendent of D.C. schools. Briggs now lives and works in Dallas, where she will direct the George W. Bush Institute's program to train and recruit principals.
Briggs essentially held the same post that Robert Scott does as Texas education commissioner. While Rhee ran D.C. schools, Briggs and her office did federal grant work for D.C. schools. They oversaw the city's charter schools, which operate as their own districts. And they ran Washington's assessment and accountability system, among other responsibilities.
Here are her responses:
What does Michelle Rhee's resignation mean?

The Washington Teacher: Vote Saunders Slate Today!

Vote Saunders Slate Today!

by The Wash. Teacher

One Check Is All It Takes - Vote Saunders Slate

Nathan and Candi- We've Been Working For You All Along!

http://www.votesaunders2010.com/

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Obama to visit USC next week - LA Daily News

Obama to visit USC next week

Daily News Wire Services

Posted: 10/14/2010 04:27:16 PM PDT

Updated: 10/14/2010 04:32:59 PM PDT

President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, before signing the Small Business Jobs Act. He spoke about education that morning on NBC's "Today" show. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama will speak to students at USC next week while he is in town on a fundraising visit.

According to the university, Obama will speak at 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at McCarthy Quad near the Doheny Library — the site of past speeches by President Gerald R. Ford and then-candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.

His visit to the campus will be hosted by the USC Political Student

Seattle Education Association bargain with Seattle Public Schools Seattle bargain.flv

A summary of the experience during the summer of 2010 with the Seattle Education Association bargain with Seattle Public Schools.

The Proposition Song 2010

Obama! A Modern U.S. President (musical spoof)

Dallas ISD trustees split on proposal allowing high-level administrators to live outside the school district | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Dallas ISD trustees split on proposal allowing high-level administrators to live outside the school district

05:57 PM CDT on Thursday, October 14, 2010

By TAWNELL D. HOBBS / The Dallas Morning News
thobbs@dallasnews.com

Dallas school trustees were split Thursday on a proposal to allow high-level administrators to live outside the school district.

Also Online

Blog: Dallas ISD

More education news

The change, which is scheduled for vote Oct. 28, would still require the superintendent to live within the district’s boundaries. However, it would allow trustees to make a contract change to allow otherwise.

Trustee Carla Ranger said she opposes the recommendation and believes the district can find talented people willing to live inside its

Dallas ISD blog: Texas Education Agency weighs in on required AP testing

A New View of Tech School And a Drive to Succeed / Chicago News Cooperative

A New View of Tech School And a Drive to Succeed

by MERIBAH KNIGHT

Buzzing with excitement, 72 11th graders sat in the auditorium of Austin Polytechnical Academy recently, waiting to board buses that would take them to the International Manufacturing Technology Show at McCormick Place, the largest show of its kind in the United States.

Carrying clipboards and dressed sharply in khakis and red polo shirts, they listened to Bill Vogal, a school administrator and former factory owner, as he read the questions they were assigned to ask exhibitors about their products and services: “What kind of lubricant do Index machines use?” “How many inserts does it take to make an airplane?” Mr. Vogal hollered over the chatter.

For some of the students, the show would be the first encounter with a globalized industry that many of them hope to enter after graduation.

The academy, which is located in the struggling Austin neighborhood, is the city’s first and only career academy dedicated to occupations in high-skill manufacturing. Dan Swinney, chairman of the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council, founded it in 2007 as a Chicago Public Schools “performance school.” Austin Polytech’s mission is to redefine vocational education and revive the city’s manufacturing industry by educating the next

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: SUPERINTENDENT TURNOVER/EMPANADA DE SUPERINTENDENTE: follow up to ‘Compton Superintendent Fired D.C. Chancellor Quits’

SUPERINTENDENT TURNOVER/EMPANADA DE SUPERINTENDENTE: follow up to ‘Compton Superintendent Fired + D.C. Chancellor Quits’

BY SMF FOR 4LAKIDSNEWS

14 October 2010 - The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting (in an exclusive, no less) that Arne Duncan’s successor as Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has told the city's mayor that he will resign as schools CEO before the end of the school year. Why, when Huberman has been on the job less than two years? The Sun-Times claims he is quitting the top schools job because Mayor Richard Daley is not running for reelection in 2012, and Huberman has no intention of working for another mayor. (from EduFlack)

Ray Cortines is leaving LAUSD after a short stay. Darline Robles has left LACOE after a long one – perhaps to greener (or cardinal-and-golder) pastures at USC –

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: MICHELLE RHEE, CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATION REFORMER, MAY BE HEADED FOR NEW JERSEY

MICHELLE RHEE, CONTROVERSIAL EDUCATION REFORMER, MAY BE HEADED FOR NEW JERSEY

BY RAJU CHEBIUM • GANNETT WASHINGTON BUREAU• IN THE ASBURY PARK PRESS | HTTP://BIT.LY/8YKO4W

In this July 17, 28 file photo, Washington Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rhee, the head of the D.C. public school system is expected to announce she is stepping down after a tension-filled, three-year tenure. (AP PHOTO)

14 October 2010 - WASHINGTON — Could the nation's best-known and most controversial education reformer be headed to New Jersey?

Michelle Rhee, who recently resigned as schools chancellor in Washington, D.C., is being talked up as a potential candidate for New Jersey education commissioner or Newark school superintendent after she leaves her current job on Oct. 31.

Gov. Chris Christie is her fan and Newark Mayor Cory Booker is her friend. Both have top education jobs to fill.

Interview With Michelle Rhee, October 13, 2010 � Georgetown Public Policy Review

Interview With Michelle Rhee, October 13, 2010

By Padmini Jambulapati

Michelle Rhee, District of Columbia Public Schools chancellor, is a divisive figure in the education community. She was a Teach for America corps member (Baltimore, 1992) and headed The New Teacher Project before coming to DC in 2007. Appointed by Mayor Adrian Fenty, Rhee has overhauled the troubled DC school system by closing schools, introducing a new teacher evaluation system, holding teachers accountable, and bringing in private funding. Rhee has appeared on

Chancellor Klein: D.C. still wants aggressive school reform | GothamSchools

Chancellor Klein: D.C. still wants aggressive school reform

by Anna Phillips

screen-shot-2010-10-14-at-43825-pm What’s Chancellor Joel Klein’s message about Michelle Rhee’s resignation? He told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell yesterday that even though D.C. residents voted out their mayor and their schoolssuperintendent resigned, the city still wants “committed, aggressive reform.”

“I think the message is the following, and I think the D.C. community is sending that message to Mayor

Queens Teacher: BloomKlein Needs to Stop Lecturing Nation on Schools

BloomKlein Needs to Stop Lecturing Nation on Schools

by Queens Teacher

After Failing in the Big Apple, Bloomberg and Klein Should Stop Lecturing the Nation on Schools

Andrew Wolf.
Education Columnist

It's time for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his Chancellor, Joel Klein to stop their pious lecturing to the rest of the nation promoting their vision of how to fix America's schools.

Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post, perhaps America's most perceptive observer of the education scene, puts it this way: "After 8 years as the czar of New York City's public schools, Klein might want to stop blaming other people for his failures."

Klein, a lawyer and not an educator has had his chance. He and Mayor Bloomberg were given absolute, unprecedented powers over the schools by the state legislature in 2002. Now as they begin the 9th school year

The Answer Sheet - Michelle Rhee's greatest hits

Michelle Rhee's greatest hits

D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee gave us many reasons to remember her when she is gone. There's the schools she closed. The teachers she fired. The contract she signed with the Washington Teachers Union. Her frequent use of the word “crap.” Here’s some quintessential statements that Rhee made as chancellor. Thanks for many of these to my colleague, Bill Turque, who often stood alone in his strong coverage of Rhee’s tenure. I think my favorite is the one about taping students' mouths shut. Let me know what I’ve missed.

Latest News and Comment from Education

Friday, October 15, 2010

Administration's Attempt to Promote Privatization Studied By Assembly CommitteeStealth RFP continues to draw fire from lawmakers and environmentalists