Big Education Ape

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

From Freddie Gray to closing schools, structural racism is revealed in city policies | Cloaking Inequity

From Freddie Gray to closing schools, structural racism is revealed in city policies | Cloaking Inequity:

From Freddie Gray to closing schools, structural racism is revealed in city policies

Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig:

The neoliberal playbook is not only the game plan in Chicago and New Orleans… Baltimore and many other communities are facing the same private-control ideology swathed in a false cloak of civil rights.

Originally posted on Just Cities:

Freddie Gray is now a household name. Gray died on April 19, 2015 at the hands of the police, which set off a firestorm of protests in Baltimore. Protests were focused on ensuring that the police officers involved in his case were brought to justice, but were also a direct response to the conditions under which Gray lived.

Freddie Gray’s life was spent in Sandtown-Winchester, a West Baltimore neighborhood that has the highest incarceration rate in the state of Maryland. Over 47% of its children live below the poverty line. The unemployment rate is 22.7%. It is a neighborhood that has faced economic devastation. Freddie Gray’s death was horrific and unjust, but also revealed a much larger problem than just police brutality. It exposed a system of structural inequality so deep that it will not go away with the imprisonment of the police officers charged in Gray’s case.

Structural inequality…

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Ohio Supreme Court Rules Private Charter School Management Firm Owns Public Assets | janresseger

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Private Charter School Management Firm Owns Public Assets | janresseger:

Ohio Supreme Court Rules Private Charter School Management Firm Owns Public Assets

Yesterday Ohio’s elected, Republican-dominated supreme court ruled that a privately held, for-profit charter management company, White Hat Management, owns the equipment and assets of several White Hat Hope Academies and Life Skills Academies that had sought to sever ties with White Hat and hire a new management company to run the schools. White Hat is owned by Akron entrepreneur and Republican mega-donor David Brennan. The boards of ten Hope and Life Skills Academies had filed a lawsuit to recover assets purchased with public dollars that White Hat said its contract awarded to the management company.

The Columbus Dispatch describes Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger’s decision for the majority: “that charter school operators perform a governmental function and establish a fiduciary relationship with the schools they manage in purchasing school equipment, contrary to the position taken by White Hat.” The Dispatch continues: “Current law largely does not address the duties of school operators and does not restrict the provisions of contracts between operators and charter schools, Lanzinger wrote.”

Over ten years, the Dispatch reports, the state paid approximately $100 million to the ten schools in Cleveland and Akron. All the schools contracted with White Hat in 2005, agreeing to turn over 95 percent of each school’s state funding to pay teacher salaries, building rentals, utilities, and other expenses, an agreement known as a “sweeps contract” in which the management company receives virtually all of the school’s revenue and handles all of its operations with little day-to-day oversight by the school’s board. The Akron Beacon Journalexplains: “The dispute arose when the school boards and White Hat parted ways. The school boards wanted to change management companies, but White Hat said that by virtue of its contract, it owned the assets of the schools, and the boards would need to move to a new location and acquire their own equipment and supplies, or buy the assets of the schools from White Hat. The schools argued that the assets, purchased with public money, did not belong to White Hat.”

It is not surprising that the boards of the schools failed to negotiate a careful, tough contract with the management company to protect the schools’ assets for the schools. It has been known for years that White Hat played an active role in helping recruit members of the boards of its schools—board members whose job was supposedly to oversee the performance of the management company. In March of 2014, Doug Livingston reported for the Akron Beacon Journal that several board members of White Hat schools admitted openly that they had been recruited by White Hat Management to sit on charter school boards, despite that the IRS expects “a bright line between the charter-school governing board and the management company hired to run the school. The company should not create the board or recruit its members, and any evidence of boilerplate contracts from one school to the next suggests the company many be in control.” One board member told the Beacon Journal that White Hat had asked her to serve on the boards of four of its schools.

Stephen Dyer of Innovation Ohio explains that Justice Lanzinger received a $5,000 campaign donation from David Brennan in 2004. Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor received campaign donations from Brennan in 2002, 2008, and 2010, totaling $11,900. Justice Judith French Ohio Supreme Court Rules Private Charter School Management Firm Owns Public Assets | janresseger:

The number of black teachers has dropped in nine U.S. cities - The Washington Post

The number of black teachers has dropped in nine U.S. cities - The Washington Post:

The number of black teachers has dropped in nine U.S. cities

The number of black public school teachers in nine cities — including the country’s three largest school districts — dropped between 2002 and 2012, raising questions about whether those school systems are doing enough to maintain a diverse teaching corps, according to a new report to be released Wednesday.

The study by the Albert Shanker Institute, a think tank funded by the American Federation of Teachers, looked at teacher data from nine cities: Boston, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The research found that each city saw a drop in the number of black teachers in traditional and charter schools.

The issue of teacher diversity is important because research has suggested that students who are racially paired with teachers — black teachers working with black students and Hispanic teachers working with Hispanic students — do better academically. Teachers of color also can serve as powerful role models for minority students, who are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than white students and less likely to know other adults who are college graduates.

“Diversity is a key component to equality and opportunity,” said Randi Weingarten, the president of the teachers federation, who is asking the Obama administration to call a White House summit on teacher diversity. “Where there’s a diverse teaching workforce, all kids thrive. That’s why we note with alarm the sharp decline in the population of black teachers in our cities.”

Researchers examined the decade between 2002 and 2012 because it was a period of rapid expansion of public charter schools and closures of traditional district schools. There also were other state and federal policy changes, such as the use of teacher evaluation systems, that caused some churn and upheaval in teaching ranks.

The largest drop took place in the District, where between 2003 and 2011, the portion of the D.C. teaching force that was white more than doubled from 16 The number of black teachers has dropped in nine U.S. cities - The Washington Post:

empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision

empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision:

Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision

It is September 13, 2015, Day 28 of the Dyett Hunger Strike. Parents are physically starving and the children are hungry for a quality education. The Hunger Strike Continues!

By Bob Simpson | Originally Published at Daily Kos. September 13, 2015 12:12 PM EDT | Photographic Credit; Hunger Strikers and supporters hold a candlelight vigil near the Chicago home of President Obama. | All photos by Bob 'BobboSphere' Simpson. More Photos

The words of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” echoed down Drexel Ave on Chicago’s South Side the mild summer evening of September 8, 2015. Down the street from the Chicago home of President Obama, the Dyett hunger strikers and their supporters, holding candles in the deepening darkness, shared this song that is often called the Black National Anthem:

“Lift every voice and sing
Till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
let our rejoicing rise,
high as the listening skies, let it resound loud as the rolling sea
sing a song full of faith that the dark past has taught us,
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won. ”

It was an opportunity for the hunger strikers and their supporters to reflect on the centuries-old African American struggle for freedom and their role in the struggle—Day 23 of the hunger strike to create the Walter Dyett High School for Global Leadership and Green Technology at the now closed Dyett High School building in Chicago’s Washington Park.

The hunger strike is now at Day 28 as of this writing and the Chicago Board of Education has finally opened talks with the strikers. There is a cautious optimism that perhaps the Dyett struggle, which in one form or another has been going on for at least 6 years, will reach a milestone in its journey toward education justice.

When Dyett was closed earlier in 2015, there were no more open enrollment neighborhood high schools left in the South Side Bronzeville neighborhood it once served.

The hunger strikers have been willing to put their lives on the line for quality education, an African American tradition that goes back to slavery times.

'Even when we were in slavery black people fought for schools. And our ancestors evacuated the South to come here, to find a better life for their children…. The institution that our ancestors fought for and won—we’ve got to reclaim it.'
~ Jitu Brown a Hunger Striker and member of the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) and the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett.

Jitu Brown with hunger striker Irene Robinson(left)

KOCO plays a key role in the Coalition to Revitalize Dyett (which I will refer as the Coalition for the rest of this article), the organization that is out to transform the now closed Dyett High School into a 21st century freedom school. These are their demands for reopening the school:

Green Technology in school name and in school curriculum.
Global leadership/ world studies curriculum
Duane Turner as the school principal, who was selected by Coalition to Revitalize Dyett
Fully elected local school council in year 1.
Coalition to Revitalize Dyett represented on design/planning team with 6 members in prominent positions. Those who paid protesters to support closing Dyett cannot be on planning team.
The school must retain the name Walter H. Dyett.
Vertical curricular alignment with the 6 feeder schools identified in the Coalition proposal.
Community school (open till 8pm daily, with programs and resources for parents, students and the community)

These demands grew out of the struggle to save Dyett High School and the detailed proposal the Coalition wrote to meet the educational needs of an African American community living in what Mayor Rahm Emanuel likes to tout as a global city.

The proposal envisions a rich full curriculum of the humanities, the arts, math, music, world languages, science and physical education as well as green empathyeducates - Dyett Hunger Strikers Are Fed By an Educational Vision:

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education:

Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting?

At 7:45 AM this morning, the Seattle Times reported the following:

Teachers still reported to picketing locations Tuesday morning, while about 500 union members, parents and students marched from Pioneer Square to district headquarters to show their support for teachers and celebrate the agreement.

At 7:45 this morning there was no agreement and the march planned, as I reported yesterday, was a time for parents and students to show support for their teachers. When the march was called, there was no word of either side coming close to an agreement. This was to be a show of solidarity with the teachers and their union.

This is what the organizers stated per my post:

We are wearing red to support our teachers. Bring signs with your school’s name and colors to show the district how many families and teachers are affected by their inaction.

In this video, people in the march were shouting “Fair contract now!”, not like they have a fair contract now but demanding that the district agree to the requests made by the SEA bargaining team.

Whether the Times, which has been bought by big money, was trying to control the narrative or they are really that bad at reporting, neither is good. So, when the Times calls about you renewing your subscription, remember how one-sided and/or inept their reporting was of an event that happened in the same city they are headquartered.

To follow are photos of the event which do not show a celebration of an agreement but a Was the Seattle Times trying to control the narrative or are they that bad at reporting? | Seattle Education:

47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.

Home - PDK InternationalPDK International | Growing and connecting leaders in education.:

WHAT’S NEW FROM KAPPANMAGAZINE.ORG

The 2015 PDK/Gallup poll results
Testing doesn’t measure up for Americans. Read complete results from the 47th annual PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools.
Two views on testing opt-out
The civil rights community is divided into at least two camps on the value of testing. Read the pro and the con of testing.
Voucher growth outweighs support
The PDK/Gallup poll shows that Americans don’t support vouchers, but Kappan legal columnist Julie Underwood writes about how they’re the new growth industry in education.

Home - PDK InternationalPDK International | Growing and connecting leaders in education.:

Testing doesn’t measure up for Americans

Americans look beyond testing when they evaluate schools.

Student engagement at school and whether students feel hopeful about their future are […]

Testing lacks public support

Measure engagement and student hope to determine school effectiveness.

In the last year, the grassroots opt-out movement, which encourages parents to […]

Common Core out of favor

Public says Common Core is not the solution to school woes.

Americans and public school parents named academic standards as one […]

Americans endorse choice

Charters and choice are OK, but the public does not support vouchers.

Many Americans have come to accept choice and charters […]

Americans love their local schools

Lack of financial support tops the list of problems facing local schools.

Americans consistently give the highest grades to the schools […]

Americans prefer state control, not federal

The public is still wary of the president and federal influence on schools.

Americans have become increasingly sensitive to who makes […]

Get the kids vaccinated!

Americans agreed that all children should be vaccinated before they attend public schools.

With vaccination so much in the news during […]

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post:

Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools

Consider this scenario: A for-profit company operating a charter school uses public funds — that means American taxpayer dollars — to buy computers, copiers, desks and other things for students and staff. The charter school decides to get a different management company. Who should get the computers, copiers and other machines purchased with public dollars? The schools or the for-profit company?

It if seems like a no-brainer to you, it wasn’t for the Ohio state Supreme Court. In a mixed-decision, it ruled on Tuesday in a lawsuit by 10 now-closed charter schools that the for-profit company that once operated them, White Hat Management, owns equipment it purchased for the schools with public funds. How did the court reach this decision?

[What Ohio Gov. John Kasich is doing to public education in his state]

White Hat is one of the largest for-profit charter school operators in Ohio and runs dozen of charter schools that have consistently received low grades from the state, which has a $1 billion charter sector that is as troubled as any in the country.

A June 2015 story in the Akron Beacon Journal about the newspaper’s review of 4,263 audits released last year by the state said that Ohio charter schools appear to have misspent public money “nearly four times more often than any other type of taxpayer-funded agency.” It says that “since 2001, state auditors have uncovered $27.3 million improperly spent by charter schools, many run by for-profit companies, enrolling thousands of children and producing academic results that rival the worst in the nation” — and the misspending could be much higher.

Efforts by Ohio’s lawmakers to require better oversight of charters have been unsuccessful. On the same day as the ruling, members of the Ohio school board questioned Richard Ross, the state’s superintendent of instruction, about a charter school data scandal involving the state Education Department, according to NewsNet5. Ross said he did not know that David Hansen, the department official responsible for school choice and charter schools, was giving help to charter schools to make them look better in state evaluations. Hansen resigned in July.

If all of this doesn’t underscore the need for change in the sector, it’s hard to see what would.

[Troubled Ohio charter schools have become a joke — literally]

State Impact in Ohio, a project of NPR stations, calls the Akron-based White Hat “a charter school giant.” It says White Hat is owned by former manufacturing company chief executive David Brennan:

Brennan has played a major role in shaping Ohio education policy. He and his family members have donated millions to state
Ohio Supreme Court sides with for-profit company over charter schools - The Washington Post:

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News:

Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday

SEATTLE -- Seattle teachers will be back to work Wednesday, and students will be back in class on Thursday after teachers voted to suspend their strike Tuesday after reaching a tentative agreement earlier in the day.

According to the Seattle Education Assocation, highlights of the agreement include:

Recess: Guaranteed 30 minutes of recess for all elementary students.
Reasonable testing: New policies to reduce the over-testing of our students.
Professional pay: Base salary increases of 3 percent, 2 percent and 4.5 percent, plus the state COLA of 4.8 percent
Fair teacher and staff evaluations: Test scores will no longer be tied to teacher evaluations, plus there is new contract language that supports teachers' professional growth.
Educator workload relief: Additional staff to reduce workloads and provide student services.
Student equity around discipline and the opportunity gap: Creating race and equity teams at 30 of the district’s schools.
The administration’s proposal to lengthen the school day: Teachers will be compensated for additional work.

Representatives said they are pleased with the agreement and ultimately got what they needed not just for teachers but for the kids.

“Let’s be clear; we won the fight on this contract agreement,” said SEA VP Phyllis Campano. “We had to fight for what’s best for our kids.”

That’s the sentiment echoed through Machinist Hall after SEA union reps voted to end the ongoing strike.

“This contract had been about equity and providing the best for our students and we fought those things to the bone,” said Laura Lehni, Washington Middle School Teacher.

The vote wasn’t unanimous. Some in the meeting say there were still questions about the deal, especially when it came to compensation. The tentative 3-year agreement would give a 3 percent raise the first year, 2 percent the second and 4.5 percent the third year, which isn’t quite what some were hoping for.

“We want to work; I also want to live in the community in where I work, which I do now, but I feel like with the compensation that we get, I felt like we’re falling off the back end of middle class,” said Special Education teacher Kevin Junker.

But Junker and others said they did win other victories like guaranteed recess for every elementary student.

“From day one, this bargaining has been about students and I’m proud to say Seattle Public School district is one of the first districts ever to bargain enforceable, guaranteed minimum recess time for our students,” said Leschi Elementary School Teacher Michael Tamayo. “My daughter was supposed to start school Wednesday. She’ll be starting this Thursday but knowing that she will have guaranteed recess for her an all of her classmates that first day of school.”

The union bargaining team also agreed to the administration’s proposal to lengthen the school day but say they got their way when it comes to addressing equity and reducing the amount of testing.

“It’s a total victory for teachers, but more importantly it’s a victory for kids,” said Campano.

The general membership will meet at Benaroya Hall on Sunday. They still have to vote to ratify the contract. At that point there is still a chance they could reject it.Seattle teachers union panel votes to end strike; kids back to school Thursday | Q13 FOX News: