Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 9/12/16
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The Charter Money Trail - Following public dollars through a traditional school district is, by comparison, straightforward. District budgets are public record. Board meetings are o...5 hours ago
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LITTLE HANDS, BIG STAKES: CHILD LABOR, IMMIGRATION, AND THE IRONY OF LABOR DAY 2026 - A unflinching look at who’s really doing America’s dirty work — and how young they are8 hours ago
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LITTLE HANDS, BIG STAKES: CHILD LABOR, IMMIGRATION, AND THE IRONY OF LABOR DAY 2026 - LITTLE HANDS, BIG STAKES: CHILD LABOR, IMMIGRATION, AND THE IRONY OF LABOR DAY 2026 *A unflinching look at who's really doing America's dirty work — and...8 hours ago
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The Tigers broke new ground pledging $4 million to a 12-year-old - Because this story is going to be misunderstood by 95 percent of people that read it, let’s get the basics out of the way: the Detroit Tigers reached a ...10 hours ago
Monday, September 12, 2016
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Seattle Schools Community Forum: Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction
I'm endorsing Chris Reykdal for state superintendent. Before I get to why, I want to lay out what the role of the state superintendent is. Reydal's website.
KUOW had this piece about the job recently and called it "ceremonial." I think that might be more the Lt. Governor role but certainly not the state superintendent. Many people think it is to support teachers but the role is an executive/administrative role that supports teaching and learning (which would include teachers but that is not the main focus.)
Here's what former state rep Marcie Maxwell had to say by way of explanation:
Maxwell goes on to state that Reykdal has been a teacher (three years early in his professional career), a fiscal director for higher ed systems but has also been an elected official - both a school board director and a state representative. That on-the-ground knowledge of both how schools work and the people who do the funding is a significant item in the list of what Reykdal would bring to the office.
Besides his teaching certificate, he also has a Master's degree in Public Administration (government finance, budgeting and performance management.)
In the Legislature, he has served as the vice-chair of the House Education Committee. He's worked in the Washington Senate before being elected, as a fiscal analyst for transportation.
In short, he knows his stuff and is ready to step into the executive role of state superintendent.
But I believe the state superintendent should also be able to talk to teachers and kids because the role also has some cheerleading to it; mainly, promoting belief in our public schools.
Reykdal grew up the youngest of eight kids in a poor family. As he puts it:Seattle Schools Community Forum: Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction
KUOW had this piece about the job recently and called it "ceremonial." I think that might be more the Lt. Governor role but certainly not the state superintendent. Many people think it is to support teachers but the role is an executive/administrative role that supports teaching and learning (which would include teachers but that is not the main focus.)
Here's what former state rep Marcie Maxwell had to say by way of explanation:
In my years as a School Board Director, Legislator and Governor’s Education Policy Advisor, I’ve worked closely with OSPI Superintendents, and understand the roles and responsibilities of this statewide official. The role of OSPI Superintendent is deep in politics, policies and budgets. OSPI is a statewide agency of 400+ employees with program oversight and reporting for billions in state and federal education funds.It is important to have someone who cares about schools and students but it's more important to consider that the state superintendent sits on several key committees including the timber committee (because some school funding comes from timber sales.) You need someone who knows this landscape and Reykdal does.
Maxwell goes on to state that Reykdal has been a teacher (three years early in his professional career), a fiscal director for higher ed systems but has also been an elected official - both a school board director and a state representative. That on-the-ground knowledge of both how schools work and the people who do the funding is a significant item in the list of what Reykdal would bring to the office.
Besides his teaching certificate, he also has a Master's degree in Public Administration (government finance, budgeting and performance management.)
In the Legislature, he has served as the vice-chair of the House Education Committee. He's worked in the Washington Senate before being elected, as a fiscal analyst for transportation.
In short, he knows his stuff and is ready to step into the executive role of state superintendent.
But I believe the state superintendent should also be able to talk to teachers and kids because the role also has some cheerleading to it; mainly, promoting belief in our public schools.
Reykdal grew up the youngest of eight kids in a poor family. As he puts it:Seattle Schools Community Forum: Chris Reykdal for State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
Love and Hate, Sorta (It's Only Been Two Days) | The Jose Vilson
Love and Hate, Sorta (It's Only Been Two Days) | The Jose Vilson:
Love and Hate, Sorta (It's Only Been Two Days)
Love and Hate, Sorta (It's Only Been Two Days)
“Vilson, tu si ere malo!”
It was the most random comment. For whatever reason, middle school students crack me up. Perhaps a large part of their being necessitates testing limits within the first few days of getting to know a teacher. Perhaps they insist that the first two days don’t mean much, so giving anything more than the usual rules speech or index card distribution is doing too much. Perhaps my easier demeanor relative to prior years opened up my students up to get a different vibe from me than prior students.
But I’ve never heard more students make a love / hate determination on the first two days of school than with this year.
I have three seventh grade classes, two eighth grade classes, all with different personalities individually and collectively. The students are still adjusting to the adults, and I’m throwing them off-balance with my self-effacing comments and high expectations (“not just eighth grade, but the first year of high school”).
Summer learning loss might be real, but my teacher look is still on point. I employed over the course of the first and second day with speed. I let out a smile every so often, but my eyes were just sharp enough to keep the classes moving. Amazing.
My students have all these awesome names. There’s one in particular that I had to learn from the student 15 times. I’ve been practicing it all weekend and I’m hoping it’s sharp by tomorrow. Sidenote: I probably shook a few when I rolled the r’s in some of their names, too. They’ll be even more surprised when I call their parents.
The talent teacher stopped me in the hallway and said, “Vilson, this seventh grade class is really excited about you!” Why? “Because they’re all saying that they’re going to pass.” Why? What did I Love and Hate, Sorta (It's Only Been Two Days) | The Jose Vilson:
The Fight to Bring Transparency to California's Charter Schools - LA Progressive
The Fight to Bring Transparency to California's Charter Schools - LA Progressive:
The Fight to Bring Transparency to California’s Charter Schools
The Fight to Bring Transparency to California’s Charter Schools
imee Roylance was thrilled when her son was accepted into Livermore Valley Charter School in 2010. The traditional public schools in their part of the Bay Area were cash-strapped and struggling, and the K-8 charter school, with a waiting list 300 kids long, was known to be an excellent alternative. Sure enough, her son thrived at Livermore Valley, thanks to its diverse programming and strong leadership of its well-liked principal. Eventually, Roylance enrolled her younger two children at Livermore Valley, too.
“The experience overall was very positive,” she says. But she didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes.
She first heard inklings of financial and management troubles at the school early this year. Curious, she used her real estate background to look up the tax status of the land parcels on which the school sat – and found the charter was months behind in payments. Soon, Roylance and other parents were packing board meetings of the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, the nonprofit that operates the school, demanding answers that didn’t come. Board members, Roylance claims, refused to address their tax troubles, release budget information or explain how they were using public funds. The board limited public comment at its hearings, changed meeting locations and released only snippets of pertinent financial documents, says Roylance. Livermore Valley didn’t return a request for comment by press time, but the charter school’s troubles have continued to mount: Tri-Valley is now under investigation by the Alameda County District Attorney for fraud,mismanagement of its foreign exchange program andchild endangerment.
Roylance believes many of these problems could have been avoided if Livermore Valley and its operator were required to be more transparent. “I don’t think [management] would have been able to take advantage of the system,” she says. “If there was more transparency, the public would have known what was going on. We could have avoided a lot of the trauma we went through.”
Roylance isn’t alone in such beliefs. An alliance of teachers, community activists and state officials is advocating that California’s charter school industry – the largest in the country, with more than 1,200 charter schools statewide – be held to the same accountability standards as traditional public schools. It’s calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 709, which would require charter schools to follow open-records and open-meeting laws, and disclose how they use taxpayer funds, as well as to prohibit charter board members from profiting from their schools. Currently, that bill sits on the desk of Governor Jerry Brown, who launched two charter schools while mayor of Oakland and has a history of opposing new charter regulations. But maybe, hope activists, with scandals and public outcry mounting, California’s charter schools are ready to be held accountable.
As the charter movement spread across the country, for-profit enterprises saw the potential for tapping into the $620 billion the United States spends on elementary and secondary schools without the regulatory restrictions placed on traditional public schools.
As the charter movement spread across the country, for-profit enterprises saw the potential for tapping into the $620 billion the United States spends on elementary and secondary schools without the regulatory restrictions placed on traditional public schools.
When the first charter school law passed in Minnesota in 1991, the idea was that these independently run schools would boast increased inventiveness and accountability, since they’d be run by parents, teachers and community members who’d have the students’ best interests at heart. But as the charter movement spread across the country, for-profit enterprises saw the potential for tapping into the $620 billion the United States spends on elementary and secondary schools without the regulatory restrictions placed on traditional public schools.
“Charter schools were originally a union concept,” says Eric Heins, president of the California Teachers Association. “We’d create these laboratory schools, exempt from the usual restrictions — then if we see things work, we’d scale them up to the traditional system. But they have become co-opted by a for-profit industry and backed by this small cabal of billionaires.” (Disclosure: CTA is a financial supporter of this website.)
Since these charters are exempt from most school district laws, there’s nothing on the books compelling them to abide by California’s open-meeting and open-records rules. And these days, California is being singled out for lax oversight of its booming The Fight to Bring Transparency to California's Charter Schools - LA Progressive:
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