Friday, January 28, 2011

Del Valle for Mayor | For All Chicago For Every Neighborhood: Del Valle Wins Debate--NBC5 Ward Room

Del Valle Wins Debate--NBC5 Ward Room

JANUARY 28, 2011

From NBC5 Ward Room, 1.28.2011

Miguel del Valle: A. Del Valle won the debate, in the sense that he gained more than any other candidate. Finally given the air time he can’t afford, del Valle passionately argued his case for neighborhood empowerment and good government. He was also the candidate who best understood the financial struggles of the average Chicagoan. “People have had it up to here with the city,” he said, sharing our exasperation with the red light cameras and parking meters that have been picking motorists’ pockets. Del Valle’s other big advantage: unlike his rivals, he had no skeletons to answer for. The worst the moderators could come up with was that he has no money, and he turned that around by saying, “If you’re looking for a candidate who’s beholden to the special interests, I’m not your guy.” Some voters have been waiting 50 years to hear his closing message that “Chicago is ready for reform.”

Gery Chico: B. Chico was trying to rabbit punch Rahm Emanuel from the moment the cameras went live. During the opening statements, he tried to attack Emanuel’s plan to tax hair cuts and pet grooming. “We’ll get to that,” the moderators told him. Finally given his chance, he said, “If you thought the Stroger Sales Tax was a killer, you will hate the Rahm Tax. This is the worst time to raise taxes and the last place a candidate should be looking for revenue.” Chico succeeded in his goal of looking like a competent bureaucrat, pointing out several times that he’d written 16 balanced budgets, and arguing that “we can’t cut our way out of this crisis,” but need to grow the city’s revenue base through job creation. Weirdly, during the debate, Chico was making snippy comments about his opponents on Twitter: “Breathe @DelValle4Mayor,” “@RahmEmanuelcan’t do math.” Was his account hacked?

Rahm Emanuel: C. Emanuel has refused to participate in any of the community forums, and his lack of

The Challenger - a new 25th anniversary tribute

http://ChallengerTributeSong.com - This is a brand new tribute song & video for the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster (January 28, 2011). It features an original song written 25 years ago, two days after the disaster, and never published or released - recently re-recorded in honor of this occasion.

I've also set up a web-page with the lyrics, the story behind the song and why it took 25 years to release it, the story of the mission and the astronauts, and other resources related to the production of this song and video. Please visit it at http://www.ChallengerTributeSong.com.

I hope you'll join me in honoring the brave men and women of Challenger Mission STS-51L in your thoughts and memories, and look at the shuttle program with renewed amazement and awe, as I have while producing this song and video.

Note: not all images in the video come from the Challenger, nor the Challenger STS-51L mission. I felt it was appropriate to use images of men and women in space, from other shuttle and space missions, within the context of them all being "challengers" - to compliment the lyrics and enhance the experience.

If this song, story and remembrance of the event has touched you in any way, please consider a donation to the Challenger Center for Space Science Exploration - http://www.challenger.org/giving/inde... - founded by the Challenger astronauts' families - they carry on the mission of bringing the challenge and rewards of exploring space and science to children everywhere.

- Stephen Kay

Produced and created with the Korg KRONOS

challenger tribute song space shuttle 25th anniversary tragedy korg kronos mcauliffe sts-51l sts51l sts 51l nasa disaster explosion crash liftoff launch 1986 columbia discovery atlantis endeavour astronauts rockets science

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: ‘PARENT TRIGGER’ SCHOOLS PROCESS CHALLENGED IN COMPTON + smf’s 2¢

‘PARENT TRIGGER’ SCHOOLS PROCESS CHALLENGED IN COMPTON + smf’s 2¢

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Jan 28 - 6:12 a.m. | Thursday was the second and last day school district officials in Compton were verifying signatures parents collected to radically overhaul a low-performing public school in the district under the state’s new “Parent Trigger” law. The officials’ process has drawn strong criticism by the group that helped parents gather the signatures.

It wasn’t enough for parents to sign a petition that would wipe the slate clean and turn 450-student McKinley Elementary School over to a charter school operator under the new law. Compton Unified is verifying those signatures by compelling parents to show up outside the school’s auditorium on one of two days, says principal Fleming Robinson. "They come over here to a reception area, and in the reception area there’s a

This Week In Education: Ideas: Beware Over-Use Of The "Anti-Reform" Wrecking Ball

Ideas: Beware Over-Use Of The "Anti-Reform" Wrecking Ball

by Alexander Russo

Progressives might be feeling pretty good right now about the defeat or delay of various attacks (Waiting For Superman, the anti-strike legislation in Illinois, the parent trigger in Compton) and the emergence of several champions (Ravitch, Strauss).

But in my mind at least progressives are still spending so much time tearing down any and all possible examples of progress, a tactic that while useful may have reached its limits. There's always something wrong, or not good enough, or an extenuating circumstance or special treatment that can be used to explain things away. Where's the money coming from? What about the teacher turnover rate?

As you'll see below, I think it's time for a more positive, hopeful narrative, with a new set of examples and heroes illustrating an

Schools Matter: KIPP Has Always Abandoned the Neediest Children

KIPP Has Always Abandoned the Neediest Children

by Jim Horn

The master of soft pretzel logic, Jay Mathews, uses his national stage at the Washington Post to promote the testing industry, the online diploma mill, Kaplan U., (whose profits keep WaPo afloat), and KIPP, Inc.

Ever since Cheney's boys rolled the KIPPsters onto the stage of the 2000 GOP Convention for the world to see what two good white boys can do with a room of unruly multicultural renegades, KIPP, Inc. has been the favorite charity for white conservatives and neoliberals who view KIPP's anti-cultural, total compliance and segregated workhouses as just what the new eugenics demands.

KIPP, in turn, has collected hundreds of millions of bucks from philanthro-capitalists and is now operating a hundred or so schools, staffed primarily with white female missionaries fresh from Brown and Bowdoin who sign up for a two year stint to learn how to teach on poor people's children, all the while cementing their overbearing

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action | Dissident Voice

Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action

by Myles Hoenig / January 28th, 2011

They rely on data but ignore the evidence. They have no argument based on credible evidence yet their position has the mic. It’s a philosophical war and the traditionalists are losing. And for once, the ‘revolutionary’ movement is trying to erase a hundred years of progress.

We’re not talking about second amendment advocates, creationists vs. rational scientific explanations, nor doves vs. hawks on a war and peace issue. The ‘movement’ away from sanity, accountability, responsibility, humility, and reasonable arguments is being led by a variety of MBA-type wonks who never spent a day in front of a classroom yet use everything made up at their disposal to denigrate public education.

Could it only be in public school where they teach when writing a paragraph

A bad day for dictators. « Fred Klonsky's blog

A bad day for dictators.

by Fred Klonsky

Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt.

This morning I’m sitting and watching Al Jazeera on my computer. Thousands of people are in the streets of Cairo and Suez.

In Tunisia, the dictator Ben Ali, long supported by the United States has fled.

In Suez, reports are that the government no longer is in control.

This Week In Education: People: A Kinder, Gentler Reform Superintendent?

Media: Dissecting The Washington Post's NCLB Coverage [image: image from t0.gstatic.com]Fun! Lets all beat up on Nick Anderson's NCLB story! Andywonk kicks things off noting that the school that's presented as being unfairly dinged by AYP actually isn't doing as well as it should bewith poor and minority ...

People: A Kinder, Gentler Reform Superintendent? [image: ScreenHunter_15 Jan. 27 14.36] Is there another way to revamp urban school districts without going to war with teachers and communities? Check out my profile of Baltimore's Andres Alonso, whom I somewhat jokingly describe as the next "it" ...

USDE: Duncan Headed To Georgia [image: 500x_cleaning1] It's always at least mildly interesting to see where EdSec Duncan is heading with his media trips, and this week is no different. He starts off the week in ATL, then Norcross, then back to DC for the rest of the week. ...

Photos: The Unhappiest Guy In Florida [image: ScreenHunter_17 Jan. 27 15.02] That's glum USDE spinmeister Peter Cunningham, sitting between Diane Ravitch and the local teachers union president at Wednesday's Boca Raton Beat Down, looking like he needs a Red Bull or something. Then ...

Queens Teacher: Many Leadership Academy Graduates Running Schools Into Ground

Many Leadership Academy Graduates Running Schools Into Ground

by Queens Teacher

Dear Editor:

One of the most troubling aspects of former Schools Chancellor Joel Klein's tenure was the creation of the Leadership Academy. This academy was designed to take people with little or no education experience and give them a “crash course” in how to be a school leader.

Unfortunately, what has occurred in the last several years is that people were placed in charge of schools not fully understanding what makes a school community tick, and in fact, may have been brought on to run the schools into the ground.

Since Mayor Bloomberg has implemented the corporate model in running schools, administrators are forced to view teachers and students as data. Individuals not familiar with education, who are now in charge in schools, use this data to measure and punish the very people charged with educating our students.

These corporate-minded and often very young administrators are not equipped to make good educational

In Our Absence: For the Florida Senate Committee on Education Pre-K–12 Jan 28, 2011 Workshop « Continuing Change

In Our Absence: For the Florida Senate Committee on Education Pre-K–12 Jan 28, 2011 Workshop

January 28, 2011 by gatorbonbc

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Yesterday, an announcement hit the wire in Florida:

The Florida Senate Committee on Education Pre-K–12 will hold a workshop including public testimony this Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Pat Thomas Committee Room, 412 Knott Building, to discuss instructional quality in Florida’s public education system.

Link and video here:

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=491194005492&id=281657664238#!/notes.php?id=281657664238&notes_tab=app_2347471856

While we teachers and parents truly appreciate the 24 hours notice, and

Modern School: Billionaires Try To Buy San Diego School Board

Billionaires Give $100 Million to Teach for America TFA Teachers Eli Broad and other rich philanthropists pledged $100 million to make Teach for America (TFA) a permanent teacher-training program. This is in addition to a $500,000 grant for TFA from ExxonMobil earlier this month. Proponents claim ...

Billionaires Try To Buy San Diego School Board Rod Dammeyer, CAC Advisory Services LLC, gave $300,000 last year to San Diegans 4 Great Schools (SD4GS), while Qualcomm cofounder Irwin Jacobs gave $150,000, in an attempt to take over the San Diego School Board. Jacobs is number 828 on Forbes’s ...

Some big questions for educators (and parents and policymakers) | Dangerously Irrelevant

Some big questions for educators (and parents and policymakers)

by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

I can’t attend Educon this year. Snow in Philadelphia has canceled school today so they’re moving to Plan B. I thought I’d share some questions for attendees to ponder as they interact with each other this weekend. These are some of the questions I asked attendees at last week’s ELMLE conference in Amsterdam.

7 billion people on the planet; 5 billion cell phones. 2 billion people on the Internet. 500 million people on Facebook. 200 million on Twitter. 85 million on LinkedIn. 5 billion photos on Flickr; 50 billion photos on Facebook. 17 million Wikipedia articles. 500 billion mobile phone apps were downloaded last year. 6.1 trillion text messages were sent last year. Apple will sell 20 million iPads this year. 35 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute (or 176,000 full-length Hollywood movies each week). When are we going to start integrating technology into our schooling lives like we do in our personal lives and in our

The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

More Resources On Egyptian Protests Here are the newest additions to The Best Sites For Learning About The Protests In Egypt: Violent clashes erupt during protests in Egypt includes multimedia from CNN. Egyptians Take To The Streets is an MSNBC slideshow. Rubber bullets, water ...

“100 Top Astronomy Images” The European Southern Observatory has identified their choices for the top 100 astronomy images. I’m adding the link to The Best Images Taken In Space.

The Best Articles Sharing Concerns About Common Core Standards For the almost four years I’ve been writing this blog, I’ve periodically shared my concerns about developing national standards. I’ve feared that people were over-estimating its impact on the classroom (where, in fact, I think it’s more like callers ...

Superintendent seeks consensus on Sacramento Charter High - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com

Superintendent seeks consensus on Sacramento Charter High

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Jan. 28, 2011 - 12:00 am | Page 3B

Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond is hopeful that his district can move past the divisiveness surrounding Sacramento Charter High.

The district has formed a focus group that will decide how to best gauge the community's desire for the Oak Park campus, which district officials say is underutilized by Sacramento Charter High.

"There is a lot of history around this issue. There are a lot of rational and, frankly, irrational arguments," Raymond said. "It's time to put that aside and say, 'What is best for kids and how can we move forward?' "

The district approved the charter following a split vote in 2003, and the decision remains

The Answer Sheet - On this we should agree

On this we should agree My guest is Sean Slade, director of Healthy School Communities, part of the Whole Child Initiative at ASCD, an educational leadership organization. By Sean Slade There isn’t likely to be peace in the education world over charter schools and ...

Film critic Ebert rescinds positive ‘Superman’ review More bad news for “Waiting for Superman.” First this week the movie failed to win a nomination for an Academy Award in the documentary feature category, even though it was considered to be a shoo-in.

School Tech Connect: Dispatch From The Frontlines

Hot Coffee This was an eye-opener to me. There's always more to the story. These tort reform people, and the President is apparently one of them, they're misinformed.

Clout Serves Clout Reporters are constitutionally incapable of asking about anything but the horse race.

Dispatch From The Frontlines Here's some fascinating reading. It's the notes of the January 19 Public Hearing, taken by Susan Zupan. What you see, of course, is how someone has figured out how to pit normal, everyday people against each other in this charter battle, which will in

Recalling the teacher up the street | Thoughts on Public Education

Recalling the teacher up the street
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Christa McAuliffe 25 years after Challenger

Posted on 1/28/11 • Categorized as Uncategorized

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about Christa McAuliffe. The high school teacher who died in the Challenger explosion 25 years ago today would be near retirement age now.

Back then, McAuliffe lived a couple blocks away from me in a big Victorian in Concord, N.H., across the park where I’d take my daughter. I didn’t know her, but her selection as the first citizen in space and, of course, her death, deeply affected all of her neighbors – which is to say everyone in Concord – and beyond.

Over the years, I would sometimes stop by her black granite gravestone on my way to work. It’s a peaceful spot, with a good view of the hills beyond Concord, and I was fascinated by

Rise & Shine: State is getting Race to the Top money from Gates | GothamSchools

Rise & Shine: State is getting Race to the Top money from Gates

by Philissa Cramer

The Gates Foundation has given the state $4 million to help implement Race to the Top. (Post)
A new report shows suspensions doubled in city schools over the last decade. (GS, Times, WNYC)
Particularly affected are special education students, which city officials have long known. (Daily News)
City officials again said many top teachers will be fired if layoffs happen under “last in, first out.” (Post)
The Daily News says students in the poorest districts, with the newest teachers, will suffer most.
Graduating seniors won’t have to take missed Regents exams; others will in June. (GS, Post, DN, NY1)
About 150 opponents of the city’s school closure plans protested at City Hall yesterday. (NY1)
Parents at PS 114 are skeptical that the city’s closure plan will help the plagued school. (WNYC)
None of the city’s seminfinalists in the national Intel Science Search made it to the last round. (Post)
A bus driver was arrested for leaving a sleeping child alone on the bus. (NY1)
Voters in Memphis will decide whether to do away with their school system. (Times)

NYC Educator: False Premises, False Promises: Corporate Education Reform and the Hostile Takeover of the Public Schools

False Premises, False Promises: Corporate Education Reform and the Hostile Takeover of the Public Schools

by NYC Educator

By special guest blogger Michael Fiorillo

I. The Fallacy of the Knowledge Economy

One of the most oft repeated fallacies and falsehoods that underlie efforts to privatize the public schools in the US is the claim that we have entered a “knowledge economy” demanding high levels of education and skills, and that (teacher’s) failure to facilitate this will result in the US becoming less “competitive.” This rhetoric is used by proponents of the corporate restructuring of the schools, from Barack Obama and Arne Duncan on down, and is meant to signify the importance that college and preparation for it hold for future employment prospects. The not-very-hidden implication is that the Chinese

Stop Racing, Start Listening « InterACT

Stop Racing, Start Listening

by ACT Guest Blog Posts

This post was written by Sandy Dean, Director of the National Board Resource Center (NBRC) at Stanford. (Accomplished California Teachers is a project of the NBRC).

I turned off the television on Tuesday evening after President Obama had finished his state of the union address and vowed to think no more. I have by now become inured to the feelings that follow messages about reforming schools in America. Inevitably though, as I am trying to fall asleep, the messages start to replay and questions rear up in the dark and keep sleep at bay. On Tuesday night, the questions all revolved around the big disconnect between policy and practice. It is so easy to ignore the impact of decisions made at the top, but so crushing when you are on the receiving end.

So, as I lay sleepless I thought about what would I say if I could give the “rebuttal” to just that one part of Mr. Obama’s speech. Here is a sample.
No one disagrees that the future of our country and its prosperity is connected to how well we educate our children. I liked that part when the president said, “our students don’t just memorize equations, but answer

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Modern School: School Lunch Giant Sodexo Guilty of Gross Labor Violations

School Lunch Giant Sodexo Guilty of Gross Labor Violations

by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Dunn)

SEIU Local 1 Protesting Sodexo

School Lunch giant Sodexo is guilty of gross wage, health and safety violations for its employees, according to reports by Trans Africa Forum and Human Rights Watch. Employees in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, Morocco and the U.S. suffer poverty wages, high rates of workplace injuries, and risk of dismissal for union organizing. In Colombia, Sodexo served contaminated food to its own employees, giving 60 of them food poisoning.

Sodexo, with 380,000 employees in 80 countries, portrays itself as one of the most ethical multinational firms out there, a meaningless piece of propaganda when one considers that the entire purpose of being

Maybe This Is Why Attacking Teachers Is So Popular…And Why It’s So Important To Speak Positively About Our Students | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

Maybe This Is Why Attacking Teachers Is So Popular…And Why It’s So Important To Speak Positively About Our Students

by Larry Ferlazzo

Attacking and blaming teachers, unions, and the state of schools is a popular tactic by many “school reformers” (see Did You Know That THE Key To Saving American Education Is Firing Bad Teachers?and The Media’s War On Teachers).

It’s also been a very effective tactic.

Obviously, many of our schools are facing real challenges, but, if you consider all the schools in the United

The Washington Teacher: Having Our Say At The Education Transition Summit

Having Our Say At The Education Transition Summit

by Candi Peterson

Featuring Candi Peterson, WTU General VP

For the first time ever, the Washington Teachers' Union (WTU) sponsored an Education Transition Summit om Tuesday, January 25 at the Kellogg Center. Of late, teacher turn-out has been low at union sponsored events due to what amounts in my opinion to a disenfranchised membership. I arrived at the event shortly before 3:30 p.m. and could hardly believe my eyes when swarms of teachers and school personnel starting walking through the glass doors to the Kellogg Center. Certainly this over 500 plus crowd was more than I could have ever hoped for.

There were many smiles, hugs, pats on the back and congratulations about our recent WTU victory. The lines were endless and the Kellogg center was so accommodating in doubling the number of seats for so many unexpected guests. When no more seats could be provided due to

Sac City Unified focuses on Sacramento Charter High - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Sac City Unified focuses on Sacramento Charter High

By Melody Gutierrez
mgutierrez@sacbee.com

Published: Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 - 4:37 pm

Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Jonathan Raymond is hopeful that his district can move past the divisiveness surrounding Sacramento Charter High.

The district has formed a focus group that will decide how to best gauge the community's desire for the Oak Park campus, which the district says is underutilized by Sacramento Charter High.

"There is a lot of history around this issue; there are a lot of rational and frankly irrational arguments," Raymond said. "It's time to put that aside and say what is best for kids and how can we move forward?"

The district approved the charter following a split vote in 2003 and the decision remains

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