10-1-14 Cali Education Headlines | CSIS – California School Information Services

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team | CSIS – California School Information Services:

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Education Headlines

• Teachers file grievance, say Stockton USD not bargaining in good faith

  The Stockton Teachers Association said Tuesday it has filed charges with the Public Employment Relations Board over what is alleges is “the district’s failure to bargain in good faith in a contract dispute that has been going on for approximately 36 months.”

   October 1, 2014

• Law limits schools’ tracking of student Facebook, Twitter accounts

  Teachers, principals or administrators who monitor a student’s Facebook posts, Instagram photos or Twitter tweets must now notify the child’s parent under a new state law.

   October 1, 2014

• Modesto City Schools board hears pros, cons of Waldorf-based charter

  Controversy surfaced at a Modesto City Schools public hearing on authorizing a Waldorf-based charter school, a system used for years in private schools that infuses the arts and nature in all subjects, parents said.

   October 1, 2014

• New U.S. history curriculum sparks education battle of 2014

  Just weeks before the school year began, the change sparked a political feud over how children should be taught about American history — and whose version.

   October 1, 2014

• LAUSD board takes no action on Superintendent John Deasy

  After meeting behind closed doors for nearly four hours to discuss Superintendent John Deasy’s upcoming performance evaluation Tuesday evening, Los Angeles Unified School Board members emerged without taking action.

   October 1, 2014

• Governor signs bill requiring annual child abuse reporting training

  Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation Monday requiring that all California teachers and school employees receive annual child abuse reporting training.

   October 1, 2014

Read more headlines

Note: 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.

9-30-14 Cali Education Headlines | CSIS – California School Information Services

Fiscal Crisis & Management Assistance Team | CSIS – California School Information Services: Education HeadlinesStockton USD truancy force puts love in tough loveOne little girl had a lice infestation so severe, she’d gouged her scalp trying to relieve the maddening itch. Badly infected, she was ashamed to go to school and her family too ashamed to reach out for help. September 30, 2014John Gre

1 by mike simpson / 20h 

Louisiana Educator: LAE Files Lawsuit Against Predatory Charters

Louisiana Educator: LAE Files Lawsuit Against Predatory Charters:

LAE Files Lawsuit Against Predatory Charters

LAE Leaders File Lawsuit Challenging The Improper Use Of MFP Funds

9/30/2014

Illegal Use of Minimum Foundation Program Dollars to Fund Certain Charter Schools

Siphons Much-Needed Dollars Away From Local School Boards

BATON ROUGE, LA – September 29, 2014 – Leaders from LAE affiliates across the state gathered in Baton Rouge Monday to officially challenge the constitutionality of using Minimum Foundation Program (MFP) dollars to fund certain charter schools.

“The illegal use of MFP funds to pay for BESE-approved charter schools has had a devastating impact on city and parish school boards,” said LAE President Debbie Meaux. “We must put an end to these unconstitutional practices so that local school boards receive the MFP funds that they need to education all students in Louisiana.”

Louisiana public schools are funded through the MFP, and the Louisiana Constitution requires that MFP funds be equitably allocated to “parish and city school systems.” Despite this requirement, Louisiana’s Charter School Demonstration Programs Law and the latest MFP resolution approved by the Louisiana Legislature require the payment of MFP funds to Type 1B and Type 2 charter schools. (Type 1B charter schools operate pursuant to a charter with a local charter authorizer; Type 2 charter schools operate pursuant to a charter with BESE.)Parish and city school systems have no control over Type 1B and/or Type 2 charter schools because neither of these types of schools are considered “parish and city school systems” under Article VIII, §13(B) of the Louisiana Constitution.

LAE successfully challenged the funding of voucher schools through the MFP formula in 2012. LAE Attorney Brian Blackwell of Blackwell & Associates said the suit filed Monday is an outgrowth of the 2012 voucher case. “The 2012 lawsuit challenged the funding of private schools through the MFP. The suit filed today challenges the funding of state-created schools through the MFP. The funding of both types of schools has had devastating effects on city and parish school boards.” Blackwell said.

“In 2012, the Louisiana Supreme Court held that ‘once the minimum baseline for public education is met, the MFP funds must still be allocated equitably to city and parish school systems.’ This ruling follows the Louisiana Constitution, which unambiguously requires that MFP funds be allocated to city and parish school systems,” said Blackwell. “Charter schools approved by BESE or local charter authorizers are not city and parish school systems. All money appropriated by the legislature to go into the MFP must be allocated equitably among the 69 city and parish school systems in the state.”

President Meaux went on to express that the members of her association have always considered school funding to be a top priority, which is why they chose to take legal action on the improper use of funds.

“This lawsuit will ensure that MFP funds are spent on what the people of the state wanted them spent on – city and parish school systems – not on state-approved charter schools that siphon scarce resources away from those systems.”

State Superintendent John White responded to the LAE lawsuit with the now familiar ant-union rhetoric designed to give the impression that teachers and their unions are greedy and anti-parent's rights:
“The goal of this lawsuit is to stop taxpaying parents from choosing the school they think is best for their children,” White said.
“More money for unions and school boards, less for public schools not overseen by unions and school boards,” he said. “To the union, the desires of the taxpaying parents don’t matter.”

So in just two short sentences our so called state leader of public education manages to attack both public school teachers and locally elected school boards for wanting to curtail the efforts of out-of-state con men who line their pockets with our tax dollars while often providing an extremely sub-standard education to our public school students.

It has been well documented that the extremely profitable virtual charter schools where students can get Louisiana Educator: LAE Files Lawsuit Against Predatory Charters:

Crenshaw alum: Teacher suspension shed light on LAUSD teacher jail:

Crenshaw alum: Teacher suspension shed light on LAUSD teacher jail

October 1, 2014 By Amanda Scurlock | Staff Reporter Leave a Comment

    

Iris Stevenson arrives at Crenshaw High after being released from “teacher jail.” Scroll below for video of Stevenson’s return. | Amanda Scurlock

At Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, the 2014-2015 school year almost began without one of the campus’s most beloved teachers. The Los Angeles Unified School District announced in August that music instructor Iris Stevenson had been restored to her post. However, questions about her several-month-long absence remain. The case has shed light on “teacher jail,” the unofficial nickname for a sort of institutional purgatory for district teachers, which until recently meted out a virtually secret form of punishment.

The LAUSD removed Stevenson from her classroom in December 2013, shortly after she returned from a performing trip with the Crenshaw Elite Choir to Washington, D.C. and Paris. Of the 20 participants, only three were enrolled Crenshaw students. The rest of the group consisted of alumni, chaperones and musicians from around Los Angeles. Upon their return, district authorities reassigned Stevenson, and did not explain why to students and families. She had worked at Crenshaw since 1985.

“Her case, which is a confidential, personnel matter, remains under investigation,” the district said in a statement last month.

Alumni, faculty and community figures decried Stevenson’s ouster, overwhelming the principal’s office and the district with phone calls to vouch for her good character and to demand justice. As a former student of Stevenson’s, I supported their efforts.

“We have to let the school and the district know that we love Ms. Stevenson and what [LAUSD is] doing is not right,” said Vanity Brown, a Crenshaw alumna who spearheaded the protests against LAUSD’s action this spring.

Brown created a Facebook group called “Team Iris Stevenson” to spread information about the case to others who opposed Stevenson’s suspension. Brown also made suggestions of what to say when speaking with LAUSD officials or the Crenshaw principal. With the Facebook group, Brown mobilized generations of Crenshaw alumni who wanted to share memories of Stevenson.

“She opened a lot of doors for me when it came to going places,” said Brittney Hall, a recent graduate from Crenshaw.

Many students, parents and alums believe Stevenson was penalized for taking students on the trip without submitting the proper paperwork. Her students and advocates can’t understand why such a minor infraction would call for such a serious punishment. “She did not do anything wrong,” said Shelieha White, a senior at Crenshaw High and one of the three students who participated in the trip. White said she thought bigger motives may have been at play, explaining her hunch that LAUSD is “trying to close down our school.” “They don’t like Crenshaw,” she said. Supporters of Stevenson and other suspended teachers believe LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy supports a new pedagogical approach that focuses more on standardized tests than on enforcing critical thinking and creativity – and that this emphasis might explain the crackdown on Stevenson. “All teachers must administer these tests, and then they are judged on the performance of each student, and if their students don’t perform as required, the students are labeled failing and the teachers are labeled failing,” said JoAnn Wypijewski, who wrote “Where Shame is Policy: Inside LA’s ‘Teacher Jail” that appeared in the May 19 issue of The Nation. “Teachers are under fire tremendously,” she added. “What is exciting, though, - See more at: http://intersectionssouthla.org/story/crenshaw-alum-teacher-suspension-shed-light-on-lausd-teacher-jail/#sthash.tExcLSlX.dpuf

We Know What Equity Looks Like, and We are Passionate About it - Lily's Blackboard

We Know What Equity Looks Like, and We are Passionate About it - Lily's Blackboard:

We Know What Equity Looks Like, and We are Passionate About it

October 1, 2014 by Lily

Categories: Education, General, Video

Tags: civil right, department of education, equity, justice

Equity is a cause I have fought for all my life, since the days I taught in a Homeless Shelter School in Salt Lake City. It is the cause of my heart. I work every day—as I know many of you do—in the hope that some day every blessed child can walk into her neighborhood school and have everything necessary to succeed.

I fight every day—as I know many of you do—so that students in our most vulnerable and marginalized communities will some day have the same access to great public schools as children in the most affluent communities.

Today we have taken a major step toward making that dream a reality. This morning Secretary Duncan announcedthat his Office of Civil Rights will – as a priority - investigate claims that children of color do not enjoy the same extracurricular programs, Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement programs, and arts and athletic programs.

They will investigate claims that facilities, technology, and instructional materials are not equally available to all children. They will investigate claims that critical support services and licensed, experienced teachers are not equally available to all children.

We know what equity looks like. Walk into the most impressive, shiny, gorgeous public school you can find. It has a theater department and a chemistry lab and a library full of books. It has computer clusters and sports equipment and a schedule full of AP offerings. You know those schools. They are the best schools in the world.

Equity means every school should look like those schools. When someone says, “We can’t afford that,” fearless fighters for equity will say, “Si se puede! Yes, you can.” If you can afford it for those kids, you can afford it for these kids.

But they can only investigate where they know there is a problem. When I found out the Secretary was doing this wonderful thing, I asked my NEA staff to create a place on our website where we can gather the claims that trigger these investigations:

NEA.org/equity

Stake your claim. Tell the story of a school crying out for equity. Tell us where it is and the information will go directly to the Office of Civil Rights. Si se puede. Go Fight Win.We Know What Equity Looks Like, and We are Passionate About it - Lily's Blackboard:

NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:



NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy

 To mw what follows is a fabulous example of trying to do the right thing under very constricted laws that need changing.

I know there will be those of you ready to comment negatively on this report. Some of you will argue that Farina goes too far and some that she doesn’t go far enough, but  what I saw in this first paragraph is the the kind of leadership in NYC schools we haven’t seen in decades.

“New York City is overhauling its system for evaluating schools, de-emphasizing test scores in favor of measures like the strength of the curriculum and the school environment, and doing away with an overall A-through-F grade for each school, the schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, said on Tuesday.”

New School Evaluations Will Lower Test Scores’ Influence

I have often written and emphasized that when I was  a student in NYC public Schools during the 1950’s and mid 1960’s and a teacher there from 1970-1986, I was part of a system that allowed for the respect of creativity in the creation of curricula and innovation in teaching methodology that emphasized student engagement and learning though authentic assessments and evaluations. In fact my book, Doing the Right Thing: A Teacher Speaks is based on those sets of experiences as well as others.

For example, in 1941, the NYC Association for the Teaching of Social Studies published this book , A Handbook for the teaching of social studies, which was used as the guide for new social studies teachers in NYC and elsewhere for decades. Its second printing was as late as 1985. It was my student teaching handbook and my textbook for  my Social Studies methodology class when I attended Fordham University. This book along with observing its practices used during  the  student teaching experience taught us how to use student centered developmental lessons which were based on the use of  a few essential questions (pivotal questions) and mostly class discussion led, not controlled, by the teacher . Yes, It was written in 1941.

It is only one example of the student centered spirit of education that existed in NYC schools (if of course you were in a building with a positive environment for teaching…determined by the Principal [teacher] in each school). That much has not changed, except that in NYC over the past few decades  the role of a Principal has become less about teaching and more about managing.

The Di Blasio – Farina  team have hopefully set us back on the right track. Even though they are forced to work within the guidelines set up by the NYC Schools May Be Leading Us Back to Real Education Policy | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

10-1-14 Curmudgucation - Getting Out Of Poverty

CURMUDGUCATION:

Getting Out Of Poverty

I googled "education" and "getting out of poverty." Over 1 million hits.I googled "education" and "ending poverty." About 160K hits.Many reformsters, from Arne Duncan to She Who Will Not Be Named, have tried to tout education as a way to end poverty, or even THE way to end poverty. I remain unconvinced. The end of poverty requires one of two things to happen

4 by Peter Greene / 21min 

The Six Big Lies of Reformsterdom

Some of the classic Not-Entirely-Truisms of the Reformster Movement have been quietly retired. For instance, one rarely hears the claim that teachers had major input in creating the Common Core any more because there's hardly a soul left who can say it with a straight face.But there are still some huge bogus beliefs ,falsehoods in the foundation of reformster policies that make everything built up

1 by Peter Greene / 18min 

9-30-14 Curmudgucation - What Lily Misses about the Common Core

CURMUDGUCATION: What Lily Misses about the Common CoreMy esteemed colleague at Edushyster scored an interview with NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia, and as always, it's pretty encouraging to see an NEA boss express herself in plain English that clearly opposes reformster ideas-- except for the Common Core. I'm going to reprint a full paragraph because I think it articulates more clearly than any

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

10-1-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

School Zones and Crosswalks and Kids

I'm confused.  What part of kids and a crosswalk do drivers not understand?Last night at about 6:30 pm, a 7-year-old girl was hit, not once but by two different cars and both cars left the scene.  Apparently she was with a group of people (kids?) and she got hit.  This is both near a park and a Boys&Girls Club.  She was (naturally) severely injured.  From Publicola:Since 2007, SBB reports, at

by Melissa Westbrook / 26min 

Learn More about Math in Focus

From SPS Communications:Want to learn more about Seattle Public Schools’ new elementary math program? We have scheduled a “Parent University” at five locations around the district on Thursday, Oct. 9, just for families who want to know more about Math in Focus. Trainers will share the framework for the Singapore approach to math, the basis for the Math in Focus program. They also will provide stra

by Melissa Westbrook / 46min 

McCleary; One Justice Weighs in at The Stranger

Going to The Stranger Slog (as I do every morning - my go-to feed for all things Seattle, entertainment/culture and the interesting/weird), I see this interview with Supreme Court Justice Debra Stephens who wrote the McCleary decision.  (She's up for re-elected against a guy who has been disbarred.  I wonder who will win.)Justice Stephens, who's running against disbarred lawyer John "Zamboni&

by Melissa Westbrook / 12min 

Student Data: Protect Your Child's Data

HS Parent gave this info on another thread:Did anyone else with a HS student receive this email today from ConnectEDU about a request to purge student's data?"Thank your for using the Connect! service. On July 2nd 2014, the technology which powers Connect! was purchased by Graduation Alliance from ConnectEDU. Graduation Alliance is excited to support the excellent college and career planning

by Melissa Westbrook / 2min 

9-30-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Seattle Schools and Garfield Field Trip Incident: PTSA meetingI attended Garfield's PTSA meeting last night.  There were about 65 people in attendance.  It was a bit odd because they chose to have the lights down so as to put the agenda and supporting documents on a big overhead screen.  It was pretty dark and made the remarks even more gloomy.I was fairly astonish

1 by mike simpson / 21h 

10-1-14 LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District):

LA Unified receives federal grant of $11 million for adult ed

LA Unified receives federal grant of $11 million for adult ed LA Unified announced today that the district has received an $11.3 million federal grant to boost adult education programs throughout the district. The Federal Workforce Investment Act grants are intended to expand access to Adult Basic Education classes, high school subjects, English as a second language and citizenship. “The Workforce

8 by Vanessa Romo / 41min 

Report ranks California charter schools 8th best in U.S.

Report ranks California charter schools 8th best in U.S. In it’s first ever state-by-state rankings, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked California’s charters No. 8 on its list of best in the nation. Using 11 measures, the study ranked 26 states that met the criteria for the study and judged their overall health based on how they are performing, innovating and growing. Californ

2 by Craig Clough / 27min 

25 LAUSD schools have below-recommended vaccination rates

25 LAUSD schools have below-recommended vaccination rates ARE YOUR KIDS SAFE IN KINDERGARTEN?   Celebrities are often the trendsetters around the country and LA, as health and spiritual movements like yoga, Kabbalah and diet fads get widespread media attention due to their famous adherents. But there is one celebrity-led health trend that has state and LA officials alarmed, and that is the plungi

4 by Craig Clough / 9min 

Morning Read: Brown vetoes two out of four truancy bills

Morning Read: Brown vetoes two out of four truancy bills Brown splits package of bills aimed at reducing truancy Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday vetoed two bills aimed at curbing truancy and absenteeism among California students. LA Times Tuck, Torlakson debate union power, lawsuit The two candidates for state superintendent of public instruction disagreed on the condition of K-12 education in Califo

13min 

Board emerges from private meeting with no decision on Deasy

Board emerges from private meeting with no decision on Deasy Superintendent John Deasy John Deasy is still the LA Unified superintendent. After four hours behind closed doors last night, the district school board emerged with nothing to say. For Deasy, who did not attend the meeting, that was a plus, because it meant that the members might have talked about his performance, but they didn’t take a

2 by Vanessa Romo / 8min 

9-30-14 This Week in LA - School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD

LA School Report - What's Really Going on Inside LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District): Homeless student population in US grew rapidly since recessionHomeless student population in US grew rapidly since recession Via Hechinger Report | by Jill Barshay Despite signs of a national economic recovery, homelessness in U.S. public schools steadily increased 8 percent, to 1.26 million students, in

1 by mike simpson / 22h