The Latest: Chicago Public Schools mum on indictment - Houston Chronicle

The Latest: Chicago Public Schools mum on indictment - Houston Chronicle:

The Latest: Chicago Public Schools mum on indictment

CHICAGO (AP) — The latest on the indictment of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett, following a federal investigation into a $20 million no-bid contract (all times local):

3:55 p.m.

Officials with Chicago Public Schools have declined to discuss the indictment of the district's former CEO, Barbara Byrd-Bennett.

A statement Thursday from CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner doesn't mention the charges against the former schools chief. The statement says the district is focused, "as always," on its roughly 400,000 students.

Byrd-Bennett, a longtime educator, was chosen by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to take over the nation's third-largest school district in 2012. She left earlier this year amid a federal investigation.

In July, Emanuel named the city's former transit chief, Forrest Claypool, as a replacement.

3:40 p.m.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he was "saddened and disappointed" to learn of the criminal activity alleged in a federal indictment charging his hand-picked former schools chief.

In a statement Thursday, Emanuel said students, parents, teachers and principals in the nation's third-largest school district "deserve better."

Emanuel chose longtime educator Barbara Byrd-Bennett to lead Chicago Public Schools in 2012. He spent much of his hard-fought re-election bid earlier this year defending his controversial schools decisions and Bennett's hiring.

Prosecutors announced the indictment earlier Thursday. It accuses Byrd-Bennett of steering $20 million in no-bid contracts to an education company where she used to be a consultant.

Byrd-Bennett's attorney says the former schools chief plans to plead guilty.

3:10 p.m.

An attorney for former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett confirms that his client will plead guilty to charges in a federal indictment alleging public corruption.

Chicago-based lawyer Michael Scudder released a statement Thursday saying Byrd-Bennett accepts "full responsibility for her conduct." The statement says she plans to plead guilty to charges in the indictment.

Scudder also says Byrd-Bennett will continue to cooperate with the government, including testifying if called upon to do so.

3 p.m.

Chicago's top federal prosecutor says the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools plans to plead guilty in a corruption case linked to a $20 million no-bid contract.

U.S. Attorney Zachary Fardon said Thursday that he was authorized by an attorney for Barbara Byrd-Bennett to announce her plans to plead guilty. Fardon didn't specify what charges would be involved.

His office announced earlier Thursday that Byrd-Bennett had been indicted on several counts of mail fraud and wire fraud following an investigation into a no-bid contract with SUPES Academy, where she once worked as a consultant.

Byrd-Bennett stepped down as the city's top school official earlier this year.

2:15 p.m.

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis says the indictment on corruption charges involving Chicago Public Schools' former CEO marks a "sad day" for the district's leadership.

In a statement released Thursday, Lewis says the union wishes former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett "well in her legal battles." Lewis says the union is now focused on securing a new contract.

The union and school district are locked in a tense contract negotiation. During the last round of negotiations, teachers in Chicago went on strike for the first time in 25 years.

1:50 p.m.

Two education training companies and their owners are charged in a federal indictment that alleges Chicago Public Schools' former CEO took kickbacks while steering them no-bid contracts.

An indictment released Thursday names SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates LLC, along with their owners, Gary Soloman and Thomas Vranas. Both men are charged with bribery and conspiracy to defraud, along with mail and wire fraud.

The indictment accuses former CPS leader Barbara Byrd-Bennett in an alleged bribery and kickback scheme to steer $20 million worth of no-bid contracts to the companies.

Soloman's attorney released a statement saying Soloman has cooperated in the investigation and stands behind his companies' training and services. The statement says Solomon has acknowledged "certain errors" in judgment, but that he's disappointed he was charged.

Vranas and his attorney didn't immediately return calls for comment

1 p.m.

Prosecutors allege that the former leader of Chicago Public Schools steered no-bid contracts to a training agency where she once worked in exchange for kickbacks and bribes.

Barbara Byrd-Bennett was indicted Thursday on 15 counts of mail fraud and five counts of wire fraud. If convicted, she could face a maximum 20-year prison sentence on each count.

The indictment alleges that the 66-year-old steered no-bid contracts to the SUPES Academy, which trains principals.

Byrd-Bennett was chosen by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012 to lead CPS. She resigned about four months ago, amid an investigation into a $20 million no-bid contract.

12:25 p.m.

The former CEO of Chicago Public Schools has been indicted on corruption charges following a federal investigation into a $20 million no-bid contract.

Barbara Byrd-Bennett was indicted Thursday, about four months after she resigned amid an investigation into the contract between the district and SUPES Academy, a training academy where she once worked as a consultant.

She took a paid leave of absence in April, following reports that federal investigators were looking into the contract.

The academy turned over records to investigators, who also asked for documents from Byrd-Bennett and other employees. CPS suspended its contract with SUPES and confirmed it had been subpoenaed.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose Byrd-Bennett, a longtime educator, to lead the district in 2012.

CPS is the nation's third largest school district with about 400,000 students.The Latest: Chicago Public Schools mum on indictment - Houston Chronicle:

Phew! At Least Bill Gates Didn’t Announce Another Big Experiment on Our Children | janresseger

Phew! At Least Bill Gates Didn’t Announce Another Big Experiment on Our Children | janresseger:

Phew! At Least Bill Gates Didn’t Announce Another Big Experiment on Our Children

Bill Gates presented the keynote at the U.S. Education Learning Forum, an event this weekdescribed by Education Week‘s Alyson Klein as “meant to mark the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 15th year playing in the education field.”  In his remarks Bill Gates is reported by Liana Heitin of Education Week to have, “recommitted the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to its current work in supporting the use of high academic standards and helping teachers improve through evaluation systems that provide useful feedback… Test scores should be a part of teacher evaluation systems, Gates said, but just a part.”   We can breathe one sigh of relief.  The Gates Foundation is not launching another new and different social experiment on our public schools.

It is reassuring to have Education Week‘s reporter parse Gates’ words, which are a little more flowery and not quite so transparent.  Gates explains the Foundation’s priorities: “I believe we are on the right track.  For today, and for the coming years, this is our vision: Every student deserves high standards. Every student deserves an effective teacher.  Every teacher deserves the tools and support to be phenomenal. And all students deserve the opportunity to learn in a way that is tailored to their needs, skills, and interests. This is the combination of advances we are backing that we believe will transform America’s schools—and at the center of it all is an effective teacher.”

In other words, the Gates Foundation will continue to support implementation of the Common Core, to support teacher effectiveness through evaluations that incorporate students’ test scores, and to support what the Foundation calls ‘personalized’ learning that involves computers.

Gates confesses that his foundation’s work has been experimental: “Early on, we thought smaller schools were the way to drive up college-ready rates.  We set out to build the model of a successful school by breaking large high schools into new, smaller ones.  Those efforts did raise graduation rates.  But only some of the smaller schools also raised college-readiness rates—and the ones that did put a huge focus on training skilled teachers.  So we weren’t going to reach our goals simply by changing the size of the school.  We needed to look much closer at what happens inside the classroom…. A growing body of evidence told us that teacher effectiveness is the single most important in-school factor in student achievement….”  Hence the foundation’s decision by 2008 to abandon its support for breaking up big high schools into smaller schools and to shift focus.

Notice that Gates seems to understand the consequences as pertinent to the research experiment; he pays less attention to the impact on the students, the teachers, the school, and the community. Not so much thinking about the expense for school districts when high-paid principals and assistant-principals of several small schools were located into one building. Not so much thinking here about the students whose futures were affected by the inevitably Phew! At Least Bill Gates Didn’t Announce Another Big Experiment on Our Children | janresseger:

U.S. Public Schools Could Benefit From Less Test-Taking and More Equitable Funding, Says Finnish Educator Pasi Sahlberg - NEA Today

U.S. Public Schools Could Benefit From Less Test-Taking and More Equitable Funding, Says Finnish Educator Pasi Sahlberg - NEA Today:

U.S. Public Schools Could Benefit From Less Test-Taking and More Equitable Funding, Says Finnish Educator Pasi Sahlberg

Education policymakers in the United States too often stress test-based accountability, privatization, and curriculum standardization over funding equity, collaborative learning and creative thinking, says Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish educator, author and scholar.

“Equity tries to provide conditions for everyone to learn,” he says. “Some education systems believe competition is key, just like the market system … that the private sector will somehow (manage schools) better. The U.S. needs to work on equity.”

Sahlberg, a policy advisor in Finland who has studied education systems across the world, spoke Thursday at NEA Foundation’s 9th Annual Cross-Site Convening, a gathering of more than 200 education officials and union-district leadership teams from across the nation. The teams are part of the NEA Foundation’s Closing the Achievement Gaps Initiative and its Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. As part of the foundation’s work around teaching and learning, the convening provides two days during which union-district teams work with nationally renowned scholars to create locally driven action plans.

“We must collectively take responsibility and action for bold change to ensure the fate of the most vulnerable students does not repeat itself into the 21st Century and to guarantee all students have equal opportunity to learn and thrive,”says Harriet Sanford, NEA Foundation president and CEO.

In his presentation titled, “Collaboration, Teacher Voice and Equity in Reforming Education: Lessons from the Finnish Experience,” Sahlberg explained how world-leading education systems in countries like Finland, Singapore, and Japan focus on teacher professionalism, collaborative learning, and performance-based tests, whereas the U.S. system is often stifled by standardized testing, low pay for educators, and inadequate funding of schools in some rural, urban and other low-income areas.

“In Helsinki we have positive discrimination,” he says. “Schools in low income areas are given more resources … because maybe there are a lot of immigrants (unfamiliar with the school system) or single parents.”

NEA Foundation President and CEO Harriet Sanford speaks with author Pasi Sahlberg at the foundation’s 9th Annual Cross-Site Convening held at NEA headquarters.

For more than 40 years, Finland has evolved from a highly centralized education system emphasizing testing to a more localized system in which highly trained teachers design local curriculum around flexible national standards. This system is implemented through equitable funding.

“We’ve had a strong focus on equity since the 1970s,” says Sahlberg. “So that everyone has what they need. Fair school funding is part of our framework.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been imposing more standardized testing through policies like No Child Left Behind (NCLB) while creating more inequitable conditions between states, counties and school districts, thus expanding the achievement gap and undermining the capacity of some schools to meet NCLB requirements.

Sahlberg notes that Finland has taken a very different path. He observes: “You go to Finland and everyone is using cooperative learning. In the U.S., not so much. The focus here is on standards. Some people here say excellence over equity. But you U.S. Public Schools Could Benefit From Less Test-Taking and More Equitable Funding, Says Finnish Educator Pasi Sahlberg - NEA Today:

Why are out-of-state billionaires pouring big money into Louisiana board of education elections? - The Washington Post

Why are out-of-state billionaires pouring big money into Louisiana board of education elections? - The Washington Post:

Why are out-of-state billionaires pouring big money into Louisiana board of education elections?

For years now we’ve watched school board races around the country attract a lot of money from donors who don’t actually live in the state where the elections are taking place. For example, in 2012, outsiders poured money into a New Orleans school board race; in 2013, millions of dollars were spent on school board races in Los Angeles, with much of the money coming from people who lived outside California; and in 2014, non-Minnesotans plowed cash into a school board race in that state.

Why? It’s part of an effort by school reformers and their financial backers to elect like-minded public officials to help spur corporate school reform around the country.

And now we have the latest example: A California businessman and a pair of Arkansas billionaires are dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into races for the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in Louisiana in an effort to help keep its majority friendly to corporate school reform. The election is Oct. 24.

[How a billionaire is trying to control Los Angeles public schools]

The billionaires are Eli Broad, the California-based housing and insurance magnate who is now leading an attempt to send half of Los Angeles’s public school students to charter schools, and Alice and Jim Walton, heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, who have collectively poured a total of $650,000 into Baton Rouge business magnate Lane Grigsby’s PAC, called Empower Louisiana. According to this post on Louisiana teacher Mercedes Schneider’s Edublog, Jim and Alice Walton each donated $200,000 on Aug. 20, and Broad contributed $250,000 on Sept. 10. The post says:

The total on the above report is $763,710, which means that as of September 14, 2015, money from two billionaires from Arkansas and one billionaire from California constitutes the principal funding for Grigsby’s efforts to preserve a BESE majority known for supporting charters and vouchers without equally supporting adequate oversight; supporting high-stakes testing without supporting timely, clear, comprehensive reporting of testing results, and for allying with a state superintendent known for 

Why are out-of-state billionaires pouring big money into Louisiana board of education elections? - The Washington Post:

Justin Aion: Why Do We Send Kids to School? | A Teacher Like You

Justin Aion: Why Do We Send Kids to School? | A Teacher Like You:

Justin Aion: Why Do We Send Kids to School?

We need to have a prolonged discussion on the purpose of education. Everyone needs to be part of that conversation -- parents, kids, teachers, administrators, everyone.

Teaching for their glory, not ours.

"In my heart, I've always been a teacher. I have this tendency to explain things to people -- whether or not they want me to. I started in the classroom eight years ago thinking everything was great and that I was going to change the world, but everything came crashing down pretty quickly. It took me awhile to understand that I had a lot to learn. I'm a much better teacher now and keep getting better as the years go by. But I also acknowledge that I know less and less, and the acceptance of that makes me better at what I do.

You don't get into teaching for the glory. I don't drive my Ferrari to school and then peel out after the bus to go home and swim in my pool of money. We're here to glorify our students, to show the work that they've done and how much better they are than they were yesterday. We elevate our kids and put them out there so everyone else can cheer on what they do."

Making the "aha" moments last.

"Woodland Hills is a very interesting district. It runs the entire socio-economic gamut, making the situation a huge argument for individual education. There's a lot of opportunity and growth that can come from showing the kids what lies beyond their communities. That's been a huge push for me: I want them to see what happens outside of their own spheres. The more I can relate my classroom to the outside world and help them realize that they're part of something bigger, the better I am able to do my job.

But I want them to be the ones making the discoveries. We talk about these 'aha' moments, where the kids have these revelations about something they didn't know before. I don't really like the 'aha' moments -- I don't think they last. I prefer the 'holy crap' moments, where the kids look at something they're doing and say, 'Holy crap, this is so cool!' That kind of passion and interest expands outward and helps them see something they're interested in and explore it further. I want my students to find their passions, and the best way I can do that is by facilitating those discussions and bringing in those outside sources."

A question to change the discussion.

"I am a great supporter of the Common Core because it emphasizes skills. But I have a tremendous amount of difficulty grasping how we can come up with standards for all of education when we have yet to have a prolonged discussion on the purpose of education: why do we send kids to school? Everyone needs to be part of that conversation -- parents, kids, teachers, administrators, everyone.

Up until the mid-nineties, the purpose of public education was to get kids ready for the workforce. We wanted kids to be successful, productive workers -- but that's not really true everywhere anymore, especially with the push toward Common Core. Are we looking at education to benefit society or individual students? Do individual students have different needs from education than society?

Based on our service-oriented economy, shouldn't we be training kids to be waiters, Justin Aion: Why Do We Send Kids to School? | A Teacher Like You:

Education Reforms Are Here to Stay - US News

Education Reforms Are Here to Stay - US News:

Education Reforms Are Here to Stay

Last week, District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson stood in the auditorium of Dunbar High School, the country's first public high school for black students, and delivered some news that the more than 350 teachers, students and parents gathered there are slowly getting used to hearing.

For the fourth year in a row, graduation rates in the once flailing 49,000-student district increased, this time from 58 percent to 64 percent.

[RELATED: Polarizing Education Chief Looks Back on His Tumultuous Reign]

"The progress in graduation rates is another indicator that we are the fastest improving [urban] school district in the nation," Henderson said.

Henderson has been at the helm of D.C. schools since 2010, when she replaced the hard-charging Michelle Rhee, a national figure and lightning rod for the so-called education reform movement who was all but run out of town after making major changes to the school system.

Despite having the marks of a firebrand reformer herself – she served stints at The New Teacher Project and Teach for America – Henderson took on the role of chancellor with a softer hand and sought to repair fractured relationships.

But here's the thing: In taking over the school system, Henderson kept in place nearly every policy Rhee's critics used to vilify and ultimately oust her. And now, under Henderson, charter schools are still thriving, some of the district's worst schools have been shuttered, more rigorous standards and tests are in place and teachers are transitioning to evaluations based on student test scores.

And this is happening across the country.

Over the last eight years, largely since President Barack Obama's election, states have recruited schools chiefs who have ushered in major education policy changes during their tenures. In large part, they were criticized for their brash leadership styles and for asking too much of teachers and students. Most of them have now been replaced by new state superintendents who take on that role with more discretion and sensitivity, and are thought of as being more inclusive of community input – but they aren't getting rid of the policy changes.

"It seems that after a series of divisive figures in education reform, there has come a second series of people who speak much more as uniters, but are not in any way taking a different policy stance than the people who came before them," says Lanae Erickson Hatalsky, vice president for social policy and politics at Third Way.

In Tennessee, Kevin Huffman, a former executive at Teach for America, oversaw the rollout of the Common Core State Standards and matching assessments, new teacher evaluations and an aggressive school turnaround mission. Along the way he provoked school district leaders – among many others – nearly 60 of whom called for his resignation, something that had never before happened in the Volunteer State.

In Rhode Island, Deborah Gist, the Chiefs for Change member and former Broad Superintendents Academy fellow, OK'd the mass firing of nearly 2,000 teachers in cash-strapped Providence, inciting a nationwide protest fueled by the 1.7 million-member American Federation of Teachers.

[ALSO: Teachers' Unions Look to Clinton to Save Them]

In New York, John King, the soon-to-be acting U.S. secretary of education, drove the implementation of Common Core-aligned tests amid statewide protests, resulting in thousands of parents opting their children out of the tests and helping to spur the national opt-out movement.

In New Jersey, Chris Cerf, a former deputy chancellor of New York City schools, restructured teacher tenure, expanded charter schools and pushed for a school voucher system for low-income students – all positions that earned him his fair share of critics, most notably teachers union members.

The list goes on.

"I don't think you could have achieved those reforms without people who fell on their swords and created opportunity for folks like Henderson to come in and really rebuild a lot of the bridges that have been burned," says Melissa Tooley, a senior education policy analyst at New America, a Washington-based think tank. "You need someone who is willing to almost be a little bit deaf to the pushback in order to get you over that tipping point."

The more important question at play now, however, is whether those policy changes will continue to stick, especially in light of the increasingly politicized nature of things like Common Core, which entrenched interests on both the right and left have railed against.

"The era of education reform was peaking at the exact same time the Obama administration was coming into office," says Andy Smarick, a partner at Bellwether Education Partners and formerly deputy education commissioner in New Jersey. "What I have been asking myself is … is this era of reform going to be permanent, or is it going to be like a rubber band where it stretches and stretches and then snaps back to the way it was? It feels to me like it's a bit of snapping back."

Though he admits that on 19 out of 20 issues Henderson would probably agree with Rhee, Smarick argues that the newer state chiefs aren't as wedded to the policy changes their predecessors made, and evidence of that can be seen in states tinkering with and refining those changes.

"They're not in a full-throated way opposing what came before them, but they're also not storming the castle the way their predecessors were," Smarick says. "It's hard to find state chiefs today that are talking in the same way about teacher evaluation, teacher tenure, accountability, testing and standards."

[READ: 5 Things to Know About the New Education Secretary John King]

Several states have backed out of the two federally funded Common Core aligned testing consortia, Smarter Balanced and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers. Many states have also delayed the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers, and others are taking a second look at the Common Core standards themselves.

Even still, states are just fiddling with policies, a sign, some argue, that the new chiefs are just as supportive of the controversial education policies. The difference, they say, is that the new chiefs' roles aren't to advocate for the changes. Instead, they must manage the transition to them.

"The current wave of state chiefs are equally committed to reform, but I think they'll be quieter about it in Education Reforms Are Here to Stay - US News:

Charter School Nonsense: No, Hedge Fund Billionaires Aren't Going to Save All the Children | Alternet

Charter School Nonsense: No, Hedge Fund Billionaires Aren't Going to Save All the Children | Alternet:

Charter School Nonsense: No, Hedge Fund Billionaires Aren't Going to Save All the Children

A well-funded, professionally orchestrated demonstration of support for privatization.

Yesterday was a school day in New York City. Across the city, over one million children were in class.

But not the children of Eva Moskowitz's Success Academies! They (and possibly some allied charters) held a mass rally at Cadman Plaza Park in Brooklyn. The park was lined with rented buses. As the children and their parents stepped off the buses, an adult handed them a hand-lettered sign to carry, demanding more support for charter schools.

There were multiple buses for the recording and video services. This was a well-funded, professionally orchestrated demonstration of support for privatization. If public schools closed for a political rally, their principals would be fired.

The children and parents all wore identical red tee-shirts, with the slogan “Dont Steal Possible.” This slogan works nicely in suggesting that someone is trying to close down charter schools, and this imminent threat to their survival must be stopped.

In fact, as is typical with reformer slogans, the opposite is true. Eva and her billionaire hedge fund backers get whatever they want from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature. And they aim to “steal” space and resources from the beleaguered public schools. They merrily “steal possible” from children with disabilities, children who are English language learners, and children who are homeless, none of whom are wanted by Eva’s Success Academies because they might not get high scores.

The theme of the day was “equality for all children.” A large banner across the top of the speakers’ podium read, “We Fight for Equality.” This is ironic since the typical complaint about charter co-locations is that the charters have more resources, the charters get whatever they want, the charters create “separate but equal” schools within the same building.

It is also ironic that children and parents were rallying for “more charters,” because they are already enrolled in a charter. The children can attend only one charter, right? The beneficiaries of the rally are not the children but charter founders. The more charters they open, the more funding they receive.

It is true that Eva’s schools get very high test scores, much higher than other charter schools. If she has the secret sauce of success, why not include all Charter School Nonsense: No, Hedge Fund Billionaires Aren't Going to Save All the Children | Alternet:

"The Prize" Uncovers Venture Philanthropy At Work in Newark - Living in Dialogue - Linkis.com

"The Prize" Uncovers Venture Philanthropy At Work in Newark - Living in Dialogue - Linkis.com:

"The Prize" Uncovers Venture Philanthropy At Work in Newark 

By John Thompson.

When Dale Russakoff conceived of The Prize, she “viewed education reform from a distance but as a movement full of promise.”  She was eager to follow the story of Mark Zuckerberg’s $100 million matching gift to the Newark schools.  The subtitle of this invaluable book is, “Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?”

The best thing about The Prize is that it is an objective look by a non-educator investigating under the hood of corporate school reform. We educators are all too familiar with the test, sort, reward, and punish mentality of the Billionaires Boys’ Club and the technocracy they have tried to impose on public schools.  The press and the public have properly focused on Russakoff’s balanced narrative about the way that Cory Booker, Chris Christie, Christopher Cerf, Cami Anderson and other corporate reformers squandered the $200 million fund that Zuckerberg made possible.

If aliens would come down from another planet and buy a copy of The Prize, at least two things would jump out. Newark has long been overburdened by “legacy costs.” Its buildings were crumbling, and its central office was the employer of first and last resort.  Reformers, educators, patrons, and everyone else had reason to be angry at the bloated management systems and inefficiencies.

But, inexplicably a new type of donor, known as “venture philanthropists,” concluded that firing one discrete group of people, teachers, was the path to solving the problems created by other, confusing, interconnected groups of people, including generations of voters. Worse, they sought to recruit new talent to the high-poverty district by evaluating teachers with algorithms and other untested experiments that would punish teachers for the sin of teaching in poor schools. They supposedly sought to make the profession more attractive by striking down its most basic (and necessary) rights.

Even worse, although reformers lacked the experience and knowledge necessary to improve teaching and learning, they would have been qualified for the task of rationalizing the civil service and administrative sector. Venture philanthropists ignored the mundane problems which they were capable of addressing, moved to their level of incompetence, and tried to reorganize schools around their theories. They did so "The Prize" Uncovers Venture Philanthropy At Work in Newark - Living in Dialogue - Linkis.com:

For one week, some Philly teachers do just their jobs

For one week, some Philly teachers do just their jobs:

For one week, some Philly teachers do just their jobs

Across the city, some public-school teachers are making a point: for one week, doing exactly what their contract requires, and nothing more.

That means no before-school playground duty, tutoring on lunch breaks, nor waiting with students whose parents are late to pick them up. No buying copier paper or textbooks.

"For too long, we've been disrespected by not receiving the proper compensation for the work we do," said Jackie Monaghan, a sixth-grade teacher at Kearny Elementary in Northern Liberties. She and others are also furious with Philadelphia School District officials for moves to close some schools and give others to charter companies.

The work-to-rule actions, happening this week, dovetail with a protest Wednesday at Cooke Elementary, one of the struggling schools that the district plans to give to a charter operator. That announcement was made last week by Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., who said he had to act to get more city children into strong schools.

Many members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said they saw another motive in Hite's announcement - further privatizing public education.

"We don't have teachers in classrooms some years, and then they tell us that we failed," Cooke teacher Christine Kolenut



Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151008_For_one_week__some_Philly_teachers_do_just_their_jobs.html#ypI6heDvl2chx0Rd.99

With millions on the line, schools and city make data deal

With millions on the line, schools and city make data deal:

With millions on the line, schools and city make data deal

In a move to reduce tensions over school funding, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission, the district, and City Council signed an agreement Wednesday intended to ensure timely information-sharing and give Council a voice in the district's financial planning.

Patterned after a state law that established the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority (PICA) to oversee finances in 1991 - when the city was on the brink of insolvency - this new, less formal arrangement gives Council influence in the district's budgeting process.

The district has agreed to give Council quarterly school management reports, allow Council to give input on the district's five-year financial plans, and provide intensive briefings each quarter on the district's finances.

To demonstrate the new era of greater openness, a podium was replaced by a table large enough to accommodate Superintendent William R. Hite Jr., SRC Chair Marjorie Neff, Council President Darrell L. Clarke, and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, who chairs the Council's education committee.

"We really appreciate the fact that we are here [Wednesday] sitting at the same table, clearly feeling the love, so to speak," Clarke said.

Neff, who signed the two-page document along with Hite, Clarke, and Blackwell, said the agreement would increase communication among the district, the SRC, and City Council.

Hite said the agreement "provides for a level of transparency, in my opinion, that does not exist at the moment." He said all of the reports submitted to Council would be publicly available.

The news is timely. Next Wednesday, Council is to hold a hearing on a bill that would transfer $25 million to the district.

Council has agreed to give $70 million in new money to the schools but has attached strings to the final portion of it, the $25 million.

The district badly needs Council's approval - the long-delayed state budget means it's already starting to have cash-flow problems and without intervention could be out of money by November.

On Wednesday, Clarke said that the agreement "sets us on a path so that we can come to the conclusion to put that much-needed $25 million into the School District."

After blasting school officials for a lack of information in the spring, Clarke renewed the charge in the summer, firing off a sharply worded letter to Hite.

The Council president questioned Hite's administrative hires and reminded the superintendent that Council still held the $25 million.

Clarke, at the time, said Hite's responses to Council's request "tell me nothing." He has made it clear that he believes Council ought to have a more formal fiscal oversight role over the schools, and that he does not like the SRC as a governance structure.

Under terms of the 2001 law that led to the state takeover of city schools, three members of the SRC are appointed by the governor; two are named by the mayor.

Clarke said Council hearings on the district's budget in the past sometimes were "testy" because the Council was required to raise taxes to make up for the reductions in state funds.

"Today we can solve this issue and what people believe is the contentious nature between Council and the School District,

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20151008_With_millions_on_the_line__schools_and_city_make_data_deal.html#ql5g1httcGTooUYP.99

In switch, California school nutrition group opposes healthy lunch rules | EdSource

In switch, California school nutrition group opposes healthy lunch rules | EdSource:

In switch, California school nutrition group opposes healthy lunch rules

CREDIT: JANE MEREDITH ADAMS/EDSOURCE TODAY

Students in Alameda eating school lunch at Henry Haight Elementary School.

A half a cup of a fruit or vegetable is required in every school lunch served in America, under federal regulations now up for review in Congress, and as far as the California School Nutrition Association is concerned, that requirement needs to go.

In a turn of events that belies California’s position as a national leader in mandating healthier school lunches – as well as the state’s role in growing nearly half of the nation’s fruits and vegetables – the California School Nutrition Association is pressing Congress to weaken the requirement that school lunches include fruits and vegetables, reduced amounts of sodium and more whole grains.

The association is lobbying to make a half cup serving of a fruit or vegetable optional, rather than required. It is also lobbying to stop any further reduction in sodium levels and to halt the increase in “whole grain rich” products, which would require that all breads, tortillas and rice be made with 50 percent whole grain. “We’re looking for flexibility,” said Dena England, president of the California School Nutrition Association, a nonprofit association of 2,000 members from school food service departments and additional food industry members.

“I am really surprised that they would take that position,” said Shirley Watkins, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. “California has always been a leader.”

Despite pushing for optional servings of fruits and vegetables, England said getting students to eat produce at lunch has not been an issue in the San Marcos Unified School District, where she is executive director of Child Nutrition Services. “If you have some type of education program, children will tend to select fruits and vegetables and try them,” she said. “In my district, we have a farmer’s market.”

Years before the U.S. Department of Agriculture took up the task of improving school nutrition, California banned In switch, California school nutrition group opposes healthy lunch rules | EdSource:

Pearson President Responds to My WP Common Core Dilemma Excerpt | deutsch29

Pearson President Responds to My WP Common Core Dilemma Excerpt | deutsch29:

Pearson President Responds to My WP Common Core Dilemma Excerpt

Common Core Dilemma - Who Owns Our Schools? Paperback

In my book, Common Core Dilemma–Who Owns Schools?, I have a chapter on London-based mega-company, Pearson. On September 23, 2015, Washington Post education writer Valerie Strauss featured an excerpt from that chapter. Readers are able to view Strauss’ post on her blog, “The Answer Sheet,” by clicking here.

On October 08, 2015, the president of Pearson North America, Don Kilburn, responded to Strauss’ post. Here is what he wrote:

The Answer Sheet blog recently shared an excerpt from a book that claimed to understand Pearson’s motivations for being involved in education. We weren’t given the opportunity to respond directly to the points raised in that piece, many of which are rather presumptuous. [Note: Actually, I did invite Pearson to write as long a response as desired but the offer was declined.] So without responding to every point we believe is inaccurate, I’d like to take an opportunity to explain what Pearson is, and what we stand for.

Yes, we are a for-profit company. We currently do about $5 billion worth of business annually in the U.S., out of an estimated $1 trillion that is spent on education each year. Pearson is just one of many companies (for-profit and non-profit) serving public K-12 and higher education institutions across the country. Hundreds of education technology start-ups as well as Fortune 500 companies like Apple, Facebook and Google compete for a share of this business as well.

In  this competitive environment, Pearson is held accountable for how we perform as a company by educators, students, schools and higher education institutions, as well as our shareholders and our employees. We are a company of nearly 40,000 – 15,000 of whom are former teachers, and many more, like me, are U.S. parents. All of us are focused on making a difference in the lives of learners.

At Pearson, because we are parents and community members, we welcome scrutiny. We’re seeking to be transparent in our work. This means engaging with students, parents, teachers, and professors to learn more from them.

We don’t shy away from public debate around education policy, which we agree is necessary. Earlier in the year, we posted the full transcript of our 

Pearson President Responds to My WP Common Core Dilemma Excerpt | deutsch29:

Recess in Seattle: How We Won the Right to Play | I AM AN EDUCATOR

Recess in Seattle: How We Won the Right to Play | I AM AN EDUCATOR:

Recess in Seattle: How We Won the Right to Play

By Jesse Hagopian — Originally Published by The Progressive

Photos by Sarah Lang

—

It was May of 2014. I had just picked up my son from his wonderful play-based preschool, and, as we headed home, I turned on the radio. Usually, my son would demand that I “turn off the boring news” and put on his favorite break beats for the ride home—and usually he’d get his way. But this time, a story in a series called “No Time for Play” by public radio education reporter Anne Dornfeld grabbed my son’s attention when he heard her start talking about a study showing recess times in Seattle Public Schools were shrinking.

We learned that when the study began four years earlier, only one Seattle school reported an average recess time of 20 minutes or less per day. During the 2013-2014 school year, some 11 schools offered such paltry recess (and it’s only gotten worse since then). Anne’s story pointed out that the schools with the least amount of recess had high concentrations of students of color and low-income students.

Because my son’s preschool educated me about the incredible value of play in childhood development, this news distressed me in the same way a kid feels when he is held in from recess on a sunny day. Also, with my son entering kindergarten in the Seattle Public Schools the next fall, I knew I had to do something about it.

I began by doing a survey of the research on the benefits of recess for childhood development, and it was definitive. Among many benefits, free play is critical to children developing skills I believe are the most important for young children to develop: cooperating, sharing, and solving problems.

Then I looked at trends in recess time around the country. What I discovered was similar to the experience of watching a kid pull back an Elmo Band-aid to reveal a festering skinned knee from falling on the asphalt. Seattle was following a national trend in reducing recess time in primary grades as school districts bend to federal mandates to raise test scores.

I had been organizing for some time against destructive high-stakes standardized testing and the policies of the No Child Left Behind act, Race to the Top, and the Common Core standards that have been used to promote test-and-punish schooling. But my activism took on new meaning when I discovered that, according to the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, as many as 40 percent of school districts in the United States have reduced recess since the implementation of No Child Left Behind act.

I used this research to inform a resolution I brought to my union, the Seattle Education Recess in Seattle: How We Won the Right to Play | I AM AN EDUCATOR: