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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Charter School Chain in Oregon Cheats Taxpayers Out of $17 Million – Can It Happen In Florida? | Scathing Purple Musings

Charter School Chain in Oregon Cheats Taxpayers Out of $17 Million – Can It Happen In Florida? | Scathing Purple Musings:


Charter School Chain in Oregon Cheats Taxpayers Out of $17 Million – Can It Happen In Florida?

by Bob Sikes


From the Register-Guard:
PORTLAND — Two men who started a chain of taxpayer-funded charter schools across Oregon — two of them in Lane County — have been accused of cheating the state out of $17 million.
The state Department of Justice filed a legal claim in Marion County Circuit Court against Tim King and Norm Donohoe, accusing them of racketeering and money laundering between 2007 and 2010, The Oregonian newspaper reported Saturday.
The state wants the men to reimburse the $17 million and pay another $2.7 million for breach of 
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Whose View of the Past Matters on School Reform? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Whose View of the Past Matters on School Reform? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:


Whose View of the Past Matters on School Reform?

by larrycuban


History is more or less bunk. It is tradition. We want to live in the present, and the only history that’s worth a tinker’s dam is the history we make today.
In 1916, as the U.S. was gearing up to enter World War I, Henry Ford, who had applied new technologies to mass manufacturing of  cars while earning profits for his company, said  those words. He wanted the kind of history that would speak to the present, not those school-taught accounts of kings, queens, generals, and diplomacy students learned. To Ford, that kind of history was “”more or less bunk.” He wanted a different history that was relevant to the here-and-now, that could answer tough questions today (p. 1).
Today, political, military, social, economic, and education historians gather, analyze, and interpret facts to answer questions about the past as objectively as they can. The past, then, never speaks for itself in coughing 
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Rural educator speaks up for small schools - SFGate

Rural educator speaks up for small schools - SFGate:


Rural educator speaks up for small schools

By CAROL ROLF, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Updated 10:06 pm, Saturday, January 5, 2013

 Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society
Small Talk.


PLAINVIEW, Ark. (AP) — Jimmy Cunningham is a champion for small rural schools. He is a product of one, having graduated from Plainview-Rover High School in 1970.
During his 36 years in education, Cunningham, 60, has worked in small school districts throughout the state, first as a teacher and coach, then as a principal and finally as a superintendent. He is past superintendent of the former Plainview-Rover School District and is now superintendent of the Hampton School District in Calhoun County in south Arkansas.
Throughout his career, he has spoken up for the smaller rural schools and has represented them on a state and national level.
He is president of the National Rural Education Association and has testified before Congressional committees in Washington, D.C., three times. He is a member of the National Rural Education Advocacy Coalition and the American Association of School Administrators Governing Boardin Washington. He also is a past president of the Arkansas Rural


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rural-educator-speaks-up-for-small-schools-4170670.php#ixzz2HCtWxuZv
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Communities of Color And Public School Reform: Findings from Qualitative and Quantitative Research Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública

Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educación Pública:

USEFUL ED DOCUMENT:

Communities of Color And Public School Reform: Findings from Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Build the People's Board Of Education!



The objectives of this research project were to:

* Understand the perceptions of low- to moderate-income African-American and Latino parents/caregivers concerning the schools in their communities and the schools their children attend.

* Understand the importance of a college education and thecollege-going expectations that parents of color have for their children.

* Assess attitudes of parents/caregivers toward key aspects of public school reform.

* Identify effective means of connecting with parents/caregivers of color to enlist their support for school reform and improvement efforts.

This research was conducted in partnership with the Alliance for Excellent Education, Black Alliance for Educational Options, Campaign for High School Equity, Communities for Teaching Excellence, Leadership Conference Education Fund, League of United Latin American Citizens, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, National Council of La Raza, National Indian Education Association, National Urban League, Public Education Network, United Negro College Fund, Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, Southern Education Foundation, and Stand for Children
----------------------

Communities of Color And Public School Reform
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Saturday, January 5, 2013

Sam Cooke- Another Saturday Night



Another Saturday Night, but I ain't got nobody
I got some money, 'cause I just got paid
How I wished I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way, take this

I got to town a month ago,
I seen a lot of girls since then
If I could meet them I could get them
But as yet I haven't met them
That's why I'm in the shape I'm in

Another Saturday Night, but I ain't got nobody
I got some money, 'cause I just got paid
How I wished I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

Now, another fella told me,
He had a sister who looked just fine
Instead of being my deliverance
She had a strange resemblance
To a cat named Frankenstein

Another Saturday Night, but I ain't got nobody
I got some money, 'cause I just got paid
How I wished I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way

It's a hard on a fella, when he don't know his way around
If I won't find me a honey to help me spend my money
I'm gonna have to blow this town, hear

Another Saturday Night, but I ain't got nobody
I got some money, 'cause I just got paid
How I wished I had someone to talk to
I'm in an awful way







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The Rocketship Conspiracy



The Rocketship Conspiracy



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School Tech Connect: In Hindsight, It Was Foresight

School Tech Connect: In Hindsight, It Was Foresight:


In Hindsight, It Was Foresight

by noreply@blogger.com (Tim Furman)



"The 1970 constitution, that gave us Article XIII...was put in there not because they had such great foresight in seeing what problems the pension system might have down the road, but because the state pension systems were indeed 40% funded, about where they are now." -Elaine Nekritz
Um, no. It was foresight. In 1970, the delegates foresaw that in the future, legislators would be tempted to screw the public employees and break a contract. So they prevented that by making it unconstitutional. That's what foresight is.

And sure enough, here they are. As predicted. With no legal opinion other than "there's a range of opinion." Weak as water.

It must be strange to be the very person that an entire constitutional amendment was written to protect others 
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D.C. school closings push parents to charter schools | WashingtonExaminer.com

D.C. school closings push parents to charter schools | WashingtonExaminer.com:


D.C. school closings push parents to charter schools

January 5, 2013 | 8:00 pm 
1 Comment
Photo - Washington, DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee announces her departure with Mayor Fenty and Mayor Elect Gray and her interim replacement Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson, pictured, at a press conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC on Tuesday October 12, 2010. Andrew Harnik/Examiner
Washington, DC School Chancellor Michelle Rhee announces her departure with Mayor Fenty and Mayor Elect Gray and her interim replacement Deputy Chancellor Kaya Henderson, pictured, at a press conference at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC on Tuesday October 12, 2010. Andrew Harnik/Examiner
The announcement that Francis-Stevens Education Campus in D.C.'s West End neighborhood could close caused Sarah Reece to start looking at the city's public charter schools for her two sons.
If her sons remain in a traditional public school next year, they will go to Marie Reed Elementary School, which is not close enough to where the family lives to be feasible, Reece said at the D.C. Public Charter School Expo on Saturday.
Reece is one of many parents looking for alternatives to D.C. Public Schools after Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson proposed closing 20 schools at the end of the academic year. At no cost to District residents, charter schools are many parents' first choice.
Source: D.C. Public Charter School Board
D.C. charter school enrollment
YearEnrollment
2000-20019,626
2001-200210,651
2002-200311,600
2003-200413,575
2004-200515,163
2005-200617,343
2006-200719,662
2007-200821,743
2008-2009*25,363
2009-201027,508
2010-201129,366
2011-201231,562
2012-201335,018
*In 2008, then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee announced the closing of 23 D.C. public schools, likely accounting for some of the higher-than-usual increase in charter school enrollment that year. Also that year, Center City, a group of Catholic schools, became public charter schools, adding 1,448 new students to the D.C. Public Charter School system.
D.C. at-large Councilmember David Catania had barely arrived at Saturday's expo when he saw parents of a student whose school is 
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D.C. charter schools expel students at far higher rates than traditional public schools - The Washington Post

D.C. charter schools expel students at far higher rates than traditional public schools - The Washington Post:


D.C. charter schools expel students at far higher rates than traditional public schools

Video: An analysis of documents by The Washington Post shows the District’s charter schools expel dramatically more students than its traditional public schools. But how things should change depends on who you ask.

By , Saturday, January 5, 3:31 PM

The District’s public charter schools have expelled students at a far higher rate than the city’s traditional public schools in recent years, according to school data, highlighting a key difference between two sectors that compete for the District’s students and taxpayer dollars.
D.C. charter schools expelled 676 students in the past three years, while the city’s traditional public schools expelled 24, according to a Washington Post review of school data. During the 2011-12 school year, when charters enrolled 41 percent of the city’s students, they removed 227 children for discipline violations and had an expulsion rate of 72 per 10,000 students; the District school system removed three and had an expulsion rate of less than 1 per 10,000 students.
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3 Ideas That Will Not Transform Schools | Connected Principals

3 Ideas That Will Not Transform Schools | Connected Principals:


3 Ideas That Will Not Transform Schools

by George Couros


In the spirit of “Festivus” and the tradition of “The Airing of Grievances” (sorry for the reference if you are not a Seinfeld fan), I wanted to share a couple of ideas that I think get way too much attention and definitely need some tweaking.  Although there is merit for each idea, they do little to transform the culture of a school yet I have seen many jump on their individual bandwagons.  Just because the object is shiny, doesn’t mean it is useful. As educators we need to be thoughtful of what we implement in our schools.  Innovation should not just be “new”, but it should also be “better”.
Also, instead of simply saying what I don’t like about each idea, I would also like to offer some alternative ideas and thoughts to consider.
1.  Flipping the Classroom – In short, flipping the classroom (in my words), would be having students watch a video at home and discussing the work during class time.  The idea of having students spend more time working in the classroom and connecting with the teacher, and having the content shared during a time where they can pause and watch the content at their own speed (I know that advocates would say there is a lot more to this 
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The Bus Drivers and Matrons New York Students Deserve Action

The Bus Drivers and Matrons New York Students Deserve Action:


The Bus Drivers and Matrons New York Students Deserve Action

by Server

Save Our Schools: A National Call to Action
www.saveourschoolsmarch.org

SAVE OUR SCHOOLS SUPPORTS THE BUS DRIVERS AND MATRONS STUDENTS DESERVE ACTION

Consistent with the Save Our Schools Towards True Progress In Public Education Policy we endorse theBUS FAMILIES AND BUS WORKERS MUTUAL SUPPORT RALLY/PRESS CONFERENCE, 
Place: The Forum will be held by the Steps of City Hall,
Date: Sunday, January 6 , 2013
Time: 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Children welcome—it’s their future!
Reminder: wheelchair access on the subways is lower than ever since Sandy…but downtown parking should be a little better than it is during the workweek.
Check the weather and bring ID.M/strong>
Sponsored by From Day One Coalition. 
Special thanks go out to Margaret from PIST NYC and Carin from Common Sense Busing for pushing this idea.
LONGER UPDATE LATER….
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Daily Kos: I don't belong here

Daily Kos: I don't belong here:




I originally posted this on February 24, 2007.  For reasons not worth explaining, I had occasion to reread it this evening.  It still speaks very much to my condition, and since I had not posted anything else today, I thought it was worth sharing again.  You will decide whether I was right.
No, this is not a GBCW posting, let’s be clear about that.  And the title is not directed specifically at dailykos, although this site is included in its intent.  So if you reading this because you want to see how I am going to flame the site or the people here, or justify my taking my ball and going home, you can stop reading right now.
Similarly if what you expect is that I will now offer claims of moral or intellectual or spiritual superiority, and that my purpose is to offer that as a justification for those actions and words that seem to annoy others, you, too, are likely to be disappointed.  
I guess the only way you will PERHAPS understand the title is if you decide to keep reading.  And I offer no guarantees.
I was perhaps 12 years old when I first began to realize that I really didn’t "fit" anyplace.  In 
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No pension deal yet. Keep the pressure on. Call 888-412-6570. « Fred Klonsky

No pension deal yet. Keep the pressure on. Call 888-412-6570. « Fred Klonsky:


No pension deal yet. Keep the pressure on. Call 888-412-6570.

by Fred Klonsky


Call 888-412-6570.


ABC News is reporting trouble making a pension deal. Keep the pressure on.

January 5, 2013 (CHICAGO) (WLS) – The prospects for solving Illinois’ worst-in-the-nation pension crisis grow dim as talks between Governor Pat Quinn and top legislative leaders ended without an agreement.

 Governor Quinn met with lawmakers Saturday morning at the Thompson Center.

There’s still no deal as Illinois lawmakers make a last ditch effort to cut a pension deal to close the $96 billion funding gap before the new General Assembly is sworn in Wednesday.

 ”Progress has been made, but no deal yet and no solid agreement yet,” said Quinn press secretary Brooke Anderson.

 Quinn and legislative leaders sat down behind closed doors at the Thompson Center Saturday afternoon to work out differences on a pension reform effort that failed to make it out of the General Assembly before its deadline Thursday.

“What we’re talking about now is a pension system that is the worst-funded pension system in the country, and if we don’t do something in the area of benefit reform, we may not have a pension system down the road,” said State Rep. Tom Cross.

The summit comes after House Speaker Michael Madigan backed off his plan to shift a portion of teacher retirement benefits to local school districts.

Republicans have said that shifting those costs would raise property taxes.

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The Phoenix: A new newsletter from San Jose youth organizing group, 50/50 Crew « Classroom Struggle

The Phoenix: A new newsletter from San Jose youth organizing group, 50/50 Crew « Classroom Struggle:


The Phoenix: A new newsletter from San Jose youth organizing group, 50/50 Crew

by ClassroomStruggle

We recently received this newsletter, named The Phoenix, from a San Jose group called 50/50 Crew.  They formed out of frustration with non-profit and college campus organizing.  Focusing on political work with youth, they place a strong emphasis on anti-police/prison industrial complex work.  We found it pretty interesting and hope you do to… so let us know what you think!

Click the image above to access the pdf of The Phoenix.
Click the image above to access the pdf of The Phoenix.


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