FCMAT » Cali Education Headlines Thursday, February 27, 2014

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Education Headlines

Thursday, February 27, 2014

FCMAT provides links to California K-12 news stories as a service to the industry. However, some stories may not be accessible because of newspapers' subscription policies.

Moorpark Unified names assistant as new superintendent

Kelli Hays will be the new Moorpark School District superintendent effective July 1, succeeding Teresa Williams. Williams is retiring in June after leading the district for almost three years.

Increase in school counselors a priority for Ventura schools

he board said it hopes to use the state’s new funding mechanism, which is more flexible than in past years, to hire more counselors, including those specifically trained to help students deal with emotional and psychological issues.

Business flows at Alisal USD board meeting

The Alisal Union School District Board of Trustees voted to improve its conduct Wednesday night but not before hearing from its most vocal and dissenting member.

Lodi, Galt students find a flexible alternative to traditional education

Loretta Hans was seeking a flexible education program that would allow her first-grader to learn at her own pace and from the comfort and safety of her own home.

Fresno Unified to get mediator, board starts budget talks

Fresno Unified's school board kicked off annual budget conversations Wednesday and also learned the state has approved the district's plan to declare an impasse over teacher contract negotiations.

Fresno Unified spent $360,000 on Krista Uribe special education case

Fresno Unified has spent $360,000 on attorneys fees since February 2012 in a court battle with a mother and her special needs daughter, who twice was removed from Duncan Polytechnical High School because of her disabilities.

Fence boundaries hit a nerve at Newport-Mesa schools

Hundreds of parents and residents are squaring off in an uncharacteristically rabid Newport-Mesa Unified School District debate – but not over the usual topics like academics, teachers or cheating. This time, it's a debate over fences.

Community leaders launch education coalition

As schools throughout San Diego County prepare to receive new state education funds, a coalition of organizations has called on parents and communities to get involved in local decisions on how to spend the money.

Superintendents come, go in Valley Center, Oceanside

Oceanside Unified Superintendent Larry Perondi announced Wednesday he is retiring at the end of the school year while a new superintendent for the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District was appointed the same day.

School district lifts limits on substitute teachers

Hemet schools no longer limit the days substitute teachers work, a move they had made to avoid health insurance costs from new regulations that call for benefits for full-time employees.

Mt. Diablo school district to launch dual immersion kindergarten

Starting next fall, 60 kindergarten students at Bancroft Elementary may learn to read and write in both English and Spanish in a Mt. Diablo school district dual-immersion program.

Fensterwald: School Boards Association rises to challenge, proposes teacher dismissal bill

Picking up pieces from two failed attempts to rewrite the law on teacher dismissals, the California School Boards Association will lead this year’s attempt to make it easier and less expensive to fire teachers accused of serious misconduct and sex crimes against children.

State lawmaker makes new bid to change teacher dismissal rules

A state lawmaker introduced a bill Wednesday that would attempt to streamline the process for dismissing California teachers accused of misconduct.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Stockton USD greenlights new police chief for district

Stockton Unified trustees approved the hire of Bryon Gustafson as its next district police chief Tuesday night, a move district officials said will bring a stable leader to a department that has been in flux for the past six months.

Monterey Peninsula USD searching for interim superintendent

Trustees of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will interview three candidates for interim superintendent on March 5. Interim Superintendent Leslie Codianne, who has been in the position since Jan. 14, 2013, announced in October she would be retiring at the end of March, three months earlier than she had originally planned.

Residents confront Centinela Valley school board over Superintendent Jose Fernandez’s $663,000 in compensation last year

The Centinela Valley school board took a drubbing Tuesday night from residents of Lawndale and Hawthorne furious about recent reports in the Daily Breeze detailing how Superintendent Jose Fernandez collected $663,000 in compensation last year.

Parents drop Clovis Unified sex education suit

Backers of a lawsuit contending Clovis Unified's ninth-grade sex education curriculum violated state law have dropped the case and declared victory, arguing the district's standards have changed significantly since the suit was filed in 2012.

Fresno Unified leader Michael Hanson unveils first budget proposals

 Fresno Unified's superintendent hopes to spend an extra $3.5 million on school safety measures next year under an early budget plan unveiled Tuesday. The proposal would also add cash to schools' discretionary funds and reduce class sizes to 24 students in certain grades.

Roseville City School District extends kindergarten day

 Roseville City School District plans to roll out extended-day kindergarten across all 14 of its elementary campuses next school year, the result of a successful pilot program and changing curriculum standards.

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-27-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Obama Picks Leader of Privatization Movement to be #2 in U.S. Department of Education

Ted Mitchell is CEO of the NewSchools Venture Fund, one of the best funded and most aggressive organizations  promoting charter school chains and for-profit ventures in public education. He is a key figure in the corporate reform movement to transform public education and transfer public funds to private management, as well as to spur entrepreneurial activity and the involvement of the for-profit

8 by dianeravitch / 17min 

Watch the Network for Public Education Conference Livestreamed

The Network for Public Education national conference will meet in Austin, Texas, on Saturday and Sunday, March 1 and 2. You can join us by livestream. The direct link to the site hosting the livestream is here: http://www.schoolhouselive.org/ The conference hashtag is #npeconference. Nearly 400 activist parents, educators, legislators, and other supporters of public education from across the nati

7 by dianeravitch / 1h hide  //  save

Dueling Rallies in Albany on Tuesday

Albany, Néw York, will be the scene of two competing rallies on Tuesday. Eva Moskowitz is closing her charter schools on NYC and will bus thousands of children and parents to lobby for her charter chain. On the same day, allies of Mayor de Blasio will assemble to urge the legislature to permit NYC to tax the richest–those who earn more than $500,000 annually–to pay for universal pre-K. Place yo

3 by dianeravitch / 2h 

New York Parents and Educators Plan Opt-Out Rally, March 29

Parents, teachers, administrators, and elected officials on Long Island in New York will rally to encourage families to opt their children out of the state tests. If the children don’t take the tests, the state can’t rank and rate them; their teachers won’t be evaluated based on their test scores; their principals won’t be evaluated based on their test scores; their schools won’t be rewarded or c

4 by dianeravitch / 24min hide  //  save

Linda Darling-Hammond: A Better Future for Assessments?

Linda Darling-Hammond describes the possibilities for the transformation of assessment in the Common Core era. Embodied in her analysis is a devastating critique of value-added measurement, which has been enacted by many states under pressure by the US Department of Education.

3 by dianeravitch / 1h 

What Richard Rothstein Told NAGB About the History of NAEP

Did you know that the National Assessment Of Educational Progress used to test much more than reading and math, much more than academic subjects? Did you know that it was designed originally to assess student cooperation and behavior as well as skills? Did you know that the narrowing of NAEP testing is fairly recent? Richard Rothstein knows what NAEP was supposed to be and he explained its histor

3 by dianeravitch / 19min 

The Mayoral Race in Newark: How to Fix Education is a Central Issue

The race for mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has narrowed to two candidates: Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries. It has become a referendum on the direction of school reform and whether Newark’s public schools will be turned over to private charter organizations. Baraka, a city councilman and high school principal, has received the endorsement of the Network for Public Education, based. On his support f

4 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Momma Bears of Tennessee Salute a Valiant Teacher

The Momma Bears are one of the potent forces that will drive the corporate-style reformers out of business. You see, the Momma Bears are not in it for the money or the fame or the power or the control. They are Mamma Bears, and they don’t back down. They protect their cubs. They don’t particularly care whether Arne Duncan calls them names or whether the Governor likes them. They are in it for thei

18 by dianeravitch / 2h 

Paul Horton: Common Core Standards Are Not About Education but About Profits

The next time that a supporter of the Common Core standards says there are no critics on the left, tell them to read this post by Paul Horton. Arne Duncan says that the opposition to the Common Core standards emanate from the Tea Party and other rightwing extremists. The media have bought that line, and in some states it is surely true. But recently the media have noticed that the Common Core has

31 by dianeravitch / 3h 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 2-26-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: Who Is the Man Funding the Vergara Trial?David Welch is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is spending millions of dollars in legal fees to try to strip teachers of any due process rights or job security. Who is he and who are his allies? This investigative report provides some answers, though no one can truly explain the animus tow

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-27-14 Wait What?

Wait What?:

Malloy/UTC Scam – the biggest lie yet

If you are going to read one Wait, What? post this year —- this is the one to read: “The [UTC] agreement, which requires legislation, does not require any borrowing or payments by the State of Connecticut.”  Governor Dannel Malloy (2/26/2014). It is safe to say that Governor Dannel Malloy, who often has trouble telling […]The post Malloy/UTC Scam – the biggest lie yet appeared first on Wait What?.

2 by jonpelto / 1h 

Bethel Public Schools to Parents: Guinea pigs will be rewarded

Some public school superintendents and principals are using Commissioner Pryor’s instructions to mislead, lie and intimidate parents into thinking they can’t opt their children out of the Common Core Smarter Balanced Assessment Field Test. Other public school superintendents and principals are sending letters telling parents what a great opportunity taking the Common Core Smarter Balanced […]The p

3 by jonpelto / 1h 

Where Does Common Sense Fit Into Common Core? (By Barth Keck)

Earlier this week, Connecticut educator and CT Newsjunkie columnist Barth Keck published another important column about the problems associated with the Common Core and the utter failure in the way it is being implemented. The Common Core fiasco was begun with President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind,” and continued under Barak Obama’s “Race […]The post Where Does Common Sense Fit Into Com

10 by jonpelto / 2h 

2-26-14 Wait What?

Wait What?: Connecticut parents – Don’t let them lie to you on opting your children out of the Standardized Testing frenzyLast December, Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education Stefan Pryor sent Connecticut’s public school superintendents a memo on how to mislead and lie to parents in a coordinated effort to persuade parents that they do not have the right to opt their children out of Connecti

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-27-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet:

Gates Foundation opposes release of teachers’ VAM scores in Florida

Readers of this blog know that I am not a fan of the “value-added method” of evaluating educators. VAM uses student test scores and adds them into complicated formulas that can supposedly figure out the “value” teachers add to student learning. (Can a complicated formula really factor out the post traumatic stress that affects a […]    

2 by Valerie Strauss / 45min

Gov. Christie’s new crisis: Protests grow over state control of Newark schools

There’s a new crisis in New Jersey, and it isn’t about traffic jams. Public protests in Newark are growing over an effort by Superintendent Cami Anderson, who was appointed to run the state-operated district by Gov. Chris Christie, to reshape the city’s school system. She plans to close some traditional schools, lay off more than […]    

8 by Valerie Strauss / 5h hide  //  save

What D.C. schools are doing right – and how to make it better

There is a lot to celebrate about the pre-kindergarten program in the D.C. public schools. In fact, some aspects of the program are so strong that school officials would be smart to borrow them for application in later grades. This is all explained in the following post by Elaine Weiss, the national coordinator for the Broader Bolder […]    

6 by Valerie Strauss / 6h 

2-26-14 The Answer Sheet

The Answer Sheet: Education reform and the corrosion of community responsibilityThe law of unintended consequences essentially states that individual and government actions always have some unintended consequences. In the following post, Arthur H. Camins writes about the unintended consequences of many education reform policies. Camins is the director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering an

by mike simpson / 8h 

2-27-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Newark AFT Members Begin to Suffer Effects of Weingarten Deal

The following links and annotations are from Ken Derstine in Philadelphia.  We have to wonder how much longer Diane Ravitch will keep her buried while Randi Weingarten makes off with more millions in hard-earned dues from teachers who are losing their jobs because of Randi’s complicity with CorpEd and misleadership of AFT.  Ravitch posted Randi’s letter to Christie, but she dares not post anything

by Jim Horn / 3min

Where Do Corporate Welfare Charter Kingpins Send Their Children to School?

One answer here from Tamarac Talk:By: Sharon Aron BaronImagine your neighbor owns a Ford dealership, however not only will he not drive a Ford, none his family will either, preferring to drive BMW’s. Now imagine this: the state is giving his dealership money because they believe in his business.Charter Schools USA operates 58 schools in several states, including Florida, for a combined 48,000 stud

2 by Jim Horn / 35min 

Corporate Astroturf Vultures Line Up in Memphis

As the corporate stooges of the school board waited on Tuesday evening for community members to utter their final useless pleas to keep their community schools open in Memphis, a group of fat corporate vultures had their own perch near the front in an area designated for "district officials." Any parent upset about public school closings should take the opportunity to spit in the face of

by Jim Horn / 3min 

2-25-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter: Getting Organized for the Restoration of Sanity in SchoolsCOMMUNITY FORUM ON STANDARDIZED TESTING: “TESTED TO DEATH”Tennesseans Reclaiming EducationalExcellence (TREE) is excited to announce “Tested to Death,” a community forum featuring the authors of The Mismeasure of Education, Dr. Jim Horn and Dr. Denise Wilburn. The event will be held at the New Song Church auditorium (formerl

by mike simpson / 15min