FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, May 11, 2012

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FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Friday, May 11, 2012

Education Headlines

Friday, May 11, 2012

Baron: California seeks to dump Adequate Yearly Progress

Three months ago, California’s proposal for a waiver from parts of the No Child Left Behind law was considered so weak that critics said it wouldn’t pass the federal government’s giggle test. Yesterday, the State Board of Education approved sending a more robust waiver request to Washington, although not through the same channels as most other states.

Amid police shake-up, Twin Rivers Unified board extends contracts for acting leaders

As the massive shake-up of the Twin Rivers Unified School District police force continues, trustees moved Wednesday to keep two interim leaders in place as outside agencies investigate allegations of wrongdoing within the Police Department and by school district leaders.

Judge denies protection to Sweetwater's McCann

A judge denied a request Wednesday by Sweetwater school board member John McCann for an order of protection to keep Stewart Payne, a parent in the school district, from coming within 100 yards of McCann.

SD school trustees dispute budget, insolvency

State budget pressures brought to bear on the San Diego school district have boiled over into a high profile dispute between the governing board’s two leading trustees.

Carlsbad Unified picks new schools chief

An assistant superintendent from the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District will replace Carlsbad Unified Superintendent John Roach when he retires at the end of June.

Vista parents protest cuts for magnet school

The Vista Unified board of trustees decided at a meeting April 30 to cut $374,000 used to pay specialists who complement teachers’ work at VAVPA and Casita Center for Technology, Science and Math.

Most Pajaro Valley teacher pink slips get canceled

Of the 80 permanent Pajaro Valley teachers who received layoff warnings in March, only two will get pink slips. Assistant Superintendent Albert Roman said the district was able to cancel the layoffs because more than 70 teachers decided to retire through an incentive plan.

Michael Murphy out as principal at Ivy Academia high school in Chatsworth

Ivy Academia, which operates four campuses in the West San Fernando Valley, said Wednesday that Michael Murphy had left as principal of its high school in Chatsworth.

Fremont school board reluctantly raises class sizes

School trustees voted unanimously but reluctantly Wednesday night to raise class sizes, calling on employee unions to make concessions so the board can reverse the move before the final budget is adopted at the end of June.

Moraga schools parcel tax fails

Voters in the Moraga School District have rejected a parcel tax measure that would have brought in $1.2 million annually to help fund education.

Pleasanton teachers OK new contract, concede over $2 million

For the third time in three years, Pleasanton school district teachers have agreed to a new contract, one that could save the district up to $2.3 million.

Orland school officials make changes to stop fights, other problems

After meeting with police last week, Orland Unified School District officials said new security measures will be taken at all campuses to deal with a rash of recent fights, assaults and other incidents.

Report: Continuation schools often “exit ramp” from school than “on-ramp to success”

California’s continuation schools are failing to provide the academic and critical support services that students need to succeed, a new report from researchers at UC Berkeley and Stanford has concluded.

San Bernardino City Unified sends 224 final layoff notices

Final layoff notices for 224 teachers were approved at an emergency school board meeting Thursday so the notices could be sent before a state-mandated deadline.

State education board wants to avoid new teacher evaluation plan

The state Board of Education voted Thursday to seek relief from federal rules that label more than 6,000 California schools as failures, but in the process, it declined to authorize a new evaluation system for teachers and principals.

Gov. Jerry Brown warns more budget cuts are coming

Gov. Brown, who is expected to unveil his revised budget proposal Monday, said he needed far more than the $4.2 billion in spending reductions he asked for in January. And he continued to raise the specter of even deeper wounds to public schools, colleges and other state services if his bid for tax hikes fails.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Firm accepting applications for vacant Galt high school district superintendent job

Trustees decided last month to hire the firm to find a replacement by July for retiring Superintendent Daisy Lee.

Changing of the guard -- again

In preparation for retirement two months down the road, Stockton Unified Superintendent Carl Toliver has created what is in essence a four-page road 

Quebec Students Demand Education as a Right, Continue Strike | Dissident Voice

Quebec Students Demand Education as a Right, Continue Strike | Dissident Voice:

Quebec Students Demand Education as a Right, Continue Strike

by The Real News Network (TRNN)

University students in Quebec are striking against the right-wing provincial government’s attempt to increase tuition rates. Police have been violently clamping down on the student protests.
One Quebec student organization has come up with four proposals to reduce spending on post-secondary education, so that students are not burdened by rising education costs. Gabrielle Nadeau Dubois, a Quebec student organizer and co-spokesman with CLASSE, calls for a capital tax on Canadian banking transactions, which he proffered would lead gradually to free post-secondary education in Quebec by 2016.

Daily Kos: Janus: God of Politics?

Daily Kos: Janus: God of Politics?:

Janus: God of Politics?

by rss@dailykos.com (plthomasEdD)

Janus, of Roman mythology, is the source for the first month of the calendar year, January. But Janus is also a two-faced god, thus developing a negative connotation with hypocrisy and deception.

In 2012, and notably in the context of the education reform debate, Janus would rightly be the god of politics. Throughout President Obama's term as president, Education Secretary Arne Duncan has personified the two-faced political leadership that plagues education policy. While Duncan couches his speeches in the discourse of civil rights, laments the focus on high-stakes testing, and pronounces teachers the most important element in 

Breakfast in Bed is Nice, but a Seat at the Table is Invaluable. « MomsRising Blog

Breakfast in Bed is Nice, but a Seat at the Table is Invaluable. « MomsRising Blog:

Breakfast in Bed is Nice, but a Seat at the Table is Invaluable.

Posted May 11th, 2012 by Miriam Feffer

Meet Annie Spiegelman, a Bay Area mom who blogs as “The Dirt Diva” on matters of love, gardening, and cultivating a healthy planet.  Just in time for Mother’s Day, Annie shares her interview with Rachel’s Network Co-Director Laurie Syms on the evidence that women in Congress, regardless of party, support the environment at rates that outpace their male counterparts.

A Rachel’s Network report entitled “When Women Lead: A Decade of Women’s Environmental Voting Records in Congress,”  compares the environmental voting records of Congresswomen and Congressmen from the 107th through the 111th Congress.  The conclusion:  in both houses of Congress, whether red or blue, women are greener!

Here’s Annie’s personal account of a moving conversation:

Read more: http://www.momsrising.org/blog/breakfast-in-bed-is-nice-but-a-seat-at-the-table-is-invaluable/#ixzz1uZjsi1LP

UC Berkeley Seals Off Occupied Campus Farm « Student Activism

UC Berkeley Seals Off Occupied Campus Farm « Student Activism:

UC Berkeley Seals Off Occupied Campus Farm

by Angus Johnston

University of California administrators have been moving on several different fronts this week to end the occupation of the Gill Tract, a 15-acre experimental farm not far from the UC Berkeley campus.
Activists have been occupying the farm since April 22. As one occupation organizer puts it,

The University of California’s public mission as a Land Grant institution is to promote community involvement and initiatives in agriculture. Nonetheless, institutional attempts to ensure the university fulfills this promise have not been successful. It is only with the recent land occupation that the University has proposed to hold a series of workshops to explore the possibilities for “metropolitan agricultural initiatives” on the Gill Tract.

But the university has refused to move forward with those initiatives until the occupiers leave the land, and over

Quebec Student Strike Rolls On

by Angus Johnston

Students in the Canadian province of Quebec have overwhelmingly rejected the government’s proposal to end their three-month strike.
Amid concerns that the offer did little to keep tuition rates down and claims by student negotiators that the government altered the plan without their consent, students at campus after campus have rejected the deal, leaving the provincial government and the student unions back at square one and putting the spring semester in peril.
Anti-strike students at one college obtained a court injunction on Wednesday calling on their school to re-open, 

Teacher Depreciation Week | OurFuture.org

Teacher Depreciation Week | OurFuture.org:

Teacher Depreciation Week

by Jeff Bryant

It was Teacher Appreciation Week this week. Unfortunately, someone forgot the appreciation part.
President Obama, for one, kicked off the week by proclaiming that from now on the week would also (instead?) be forever known as National Charter Schools Week.
Declaring charters to be "incubators of innovations," the president praised charter schools for having "brought new ideas to the work of educating our sons and daughters."
Apparently, no one had sent the president the memo that charter schools are hugely controversial, particularly with teachers.
More Charter School Propaganda
In fact, the week before the president exuded about charter schools, a new study was presented by theNational Education Policy Center revealing that one "innovation" that large charter school franchises definitely can not claim is cost savings.
The study looked at the per-pupil spending of charter schools operated by major charter management

Celebrating National Charter Schools Week, 2012 with the Newest Batch of CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS:

Celebrating  National Charter Schools Week, 2012 with the Newest Batch of  

CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS