Board of Ed to Christie: 'No Taxation Without Representation' - Fair Lawn, NJ Patch

Board of Ed to Christie: 'No Taxation Without Representation' - Fair Lawn, NJ Patch

Board of Ed to Christie: 'No Taxation Without Representation'

The Fair Lawn Board of Education endorsed a letter to Gov. Chris Christie urging him to "pay close attention to the issues surrounding charter school legislation."

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The Fair Lawn Board of Education is channeling the sentiment of the American Revolution when it comes to charter schools in New Jersey.

At Thursday night's meeting, the board voted to endorse a letter to Gov. Chris Christie and Acting Commissioner of Education Rochelle Hendricks that asks the officials to "pay close attention to the issues surrounding charter school legislation." The letter—which will be signed by board president Eugene Banta—notes that "charters' success rates are mixed, and millions of dollars have been poorly invested in some charter schools."

Superintendent Bruce Watson summed up the board's feelings by using one of the famous

One school's sad decent Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org

Web's #1 Source for K12 and Higher Education News and Commentary - EducationNews.org

One school's sad decent Colbert I. King - What a shame it is that Dunbar Senior High School, noted for its academic rigor during the era of segregated schools, is now the duty station of several police officers backed by security cameras overseeing a student body enrolled in mandatory sessions designed to prevent sexual assault and other inappropriate behavior. Shepard play teaches about hate, love Va. high school produces play on anti-gay hate crime ... Unease Grows About Future of Financing for Pell Grants There is growing uncertainty about the future of Pell grants, the nation's most significant financial-aid program for college students. ...

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Undoing College Jason Fertig - For students graduating this December, their real education is about to begin. Forget Sputnik Moments: The Time is Now for School Reform RiShawn Biddle - This was adapted from the speech I gave last night at the State of Black CT Alliance's Building Blocks of Educational Excellence Event. The event is the next step in the group's emergence to address reform of the state's education system, which is home to arguably the nation's worst achievement gaps. The anti-manager: Joel Klein was lots of things Cathie Black isn't More than a month after shocking the city with news of her appointment as the next schools chancellor, Hearst executive Cathleen Black is still trying to calm people down. ... What Makes Academic Freedom Tick: A Reply to John K. Wilson Steve Balch - John K. Wilson has posted a lengthy rebuttal to the article Ashley Thorne and I published on our website December 15th about the decision of Penn State's Faculty Senate to revise its statement on academic freedom, removing provisions that tracked the language of the founding document of the AAUP, the 1915 Declaration of Principles.

Mesquite, Garland school districts on right track for Broad Prize, foundation finds | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Mesquite, Garland school districts on right track for Broad Prize, foundation finds | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Mesquite, Garland school districts on right track for Broad Prize, foundation finds

10:22 PM CST on Friday, December 17, 2010

By RAY LESZCYNSKI / The Dallas Morning News
rleszcynski@dallasnews.com

Eli Broad made a fortune in the 1950s and '60s by building affordable family homes, the type that handled the baby boom and populated places like Garland and Mesquite.

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Today, his foundation is busy recognizing school districts that do the best job for the families that typically live in those urban settings.

The Dallas-Fort Wortharea hasn't had a finalist in the nine-year history of the $2 million Broad Prize for large districts. But by ranking among the national leaders in two of three areas, Garland and Mesquite are on the right track.

A data analysis by Broad shows that in 2009, Garland outperformed Texas in serving black and low-income students. Mesquite

Oregon's rural schools look to charter status to survive | OregonLive.com

Oregon's rural schools look to charter status to survive | OregonLive.com

Oregon's rural schools look to charter status to survive

Published: Friday, December 17, 2010, 9:00 PM Updated: Friday, December 17, 2010, 11:18 PM

By Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian
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View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianRecess is over at Elkton's elementary school building and the children are ready to rush in for their next adventure of the day singing carols around town. Children come to Elkton's elementary program from up to 40 minutes away. Behind the covered play area is a trail that leads to the schools learning lab part of the 1200 feet along the Umpqua River that Elkton plans to use as outdoor classrooms.

ELKTON -- White Christmas blasts from a boombox in the corner of Elkton's high school cafeteria as teenagers wearing Santa hats fill plates with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy.

After having their fill, parents and board members watch in amusement as students and staff descend on a table of gifts, tearing off bows and digging through gift bags to find puzzle books, flashlights, hoof picks, bath soaps and overflowing tins of cookies and chocolates.

For at least 30 years, the people of Elkton have kicked off winter break with a Christmas community lunch and gift exchange.

But it's a tradition that two years ago many feared would be lost. When newly hired superintendent Mike Hughes arrived in this town overlooking the Umpqua River in 2008, Elkton School District was dying.

With dwindling enrollment and a state funding crisis, Hughes told community members the 130-student K-12 school -- split between two buildings -- would likely have to close its doors within

Community Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Daily Kos: State of the Nation

Community

by teacherken

We expect a theophany of which we know nothing but the place, and the place is called community

Those words by Martin Buber, from Between Man and Men, serve as the epigraph for an essay titled A Place Called Community, the fourth chapter of the recently revised new edition of Parker Palmer's 1980 book The Promise of Paradox

Recently I have been thinking lot about community, especially about this community, as once again we have people offering angry explanations about why they are leaving it. Once again - we went through that in each of

“Who’s bashing teachers and public schools, and what can we do about it?” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“Who’s bashing teachers and public schools, and what can we do about it?” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

More Sites Where You Can Find Royalty-Free Images Here are the latest additions to The Best Online Sources For Images: Free Images has 6000 original stock photos — all you have to do is credit the site when you use them. Free Media Goo Free Stock Photography

The Best Resources For “Bill Of Rights Day” In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared December 15 to be Bill of Rights Day, and it continues to be recognized. Obviously, this year I’m a little “late to the party.” I had bookmarked all the links I prior to that date, but just didn’t ...

Even More Christmas Sites Here are the newest additions to The Best Places To Learn About Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa: You can send a virtual Christmas card using Google Maps. Here’s a video from The Wall Street Journal showing popular television commercials using a ...

“Around The World Via A Day’s Worth Of Foods” “Around The World Via A Day’s Worth Of Foods” is a slideshow from TIME Magazine that is somewhat similar to one I posted about a few days ago. Here’s their description: *In their new book, What I Eat, photographer Peter Menzel and writer Faith ...

“Mapping History’s Pirates” “Mapping History’s Pirates” is an interactive from the Wall Street Journal on the…history of piracy. I’m adding it to The Best Websites For Learning About Modern & Historical Pirates.

“Who’s bashing teachers and public schools, and what can we do about it?” Who’s bashing teachers and public schools, and what can we do about it? is the transcript for a speech given recently by Rethinking Schools editor Stan Karp. I think it gives a pretty good overview of what we teachers are facing.

My Holiday Gift To You… I just received a special Christmas gift from Mary Ochs, a good friend who gave me my first job as a community organizer twenty-seven years ago and who was my mentor during my nineteen year organizing career. It was an older copy of a very small book ...

Will The Real School Reformers Please Stand Up? | Education | Change.org

Will The Real School Reformers Please Stand Up? | Education | Change.org

6:18 AM (1 hour ago)

Will The Real School Reformers Please Stand Up?

by Megan Cottrell

School reform - it's about kids, right? Making sure kids have the best possible environment to learn and grow. But too often, it turns from being about kids to being about adults.

This week, we wrote about California's new Parent Trigger law and a group of parents at McKinley Elementary in Compton who rallied to turn their kids' school into a charter school because of low test scores and lack of improvement.

But now, their actions have come into question. A number of parents who signed the petition to overturn the school's leadership say the process was flawed - parents were lied to about what they were signing or not allowed to be at meetings where important decisions were made. Other parents say the group Parent Revolution, which helps schools use the new Parent Trigger law, is corrupt.

All of this came to light at a Compton school board meeting this week. But the anti-charter parents weren't the