Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 1/1/17
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Faith and Hope as we face these extraordinary times - Wait What?
Faith and Hope as we face these extraordinary times - Wait What?:
Faith and Hope as we face these extraordinary times
Faith and Hope as we face these extraordinary times
Now is definitely a time when we need both more hope and greater faith…
As the old year retreats into the past and the New Year lays itself out before us, I know I speak for many when I say good riddance to 2016 and that we share a hope that 2017 brings people of good will, good health, happiness and a share of prosperity.
There is no doubt that we have entered dark and dangerous times, a time in which truth and facts are easily pushed aside by those who rely on fear, hate and lies to get their way.
Furthermore, far too many of our elected officials, and other leaders, frame the debate as simply one between the status quo on the one side and the dangerous upheaval of our society on the other.
But the truth is that a third way must and can be found, one in which a new path is sought and found, a path that treats every person with the respect and support they need and deserve.
Writing about the ugliness of the new political era we have entered, Faith and Hope as we face these extraordinary times - Wait What?:
Trump Moving Ahead with Business Deals in Indonesia | Diane Ravitch's blog
Trump Moving Ahead with Business Deals in Indonesia | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Trump Moving Ahead with Business Deals in Indonesia
Trump Moving Ahead with Business Deals in Indonesia
trump often says that the President is not covered by conflict of interest law. Try this one on: the New York Times reports that the Trump Organization is closing two new deals on Indonesia for super-luxury hotels. Having the president of the US as CEO should help the deals get through the red tape.
Did he run for President to make more money for himself and his family?
Trump Moving Ahead with Business Deals in Indonesia | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It - The New York Times
Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It - The New York Times:
Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It
The odds are good that privatizing education will be part of the agenda for President-elect Donald J. Trump’s administration. The Republican platform calls for increasing the role of banks in giving out student loans. And Mr. Trump and the platform advocate an expansion of both vouchers, which enable students to attend the private school of their choice with government funds, and charter schools.
Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It
In addition, Betsy DeVos, Mr. Trump’s nominee for education secretary, has supported legislation that would establish vouchers in Michigan, as well as the rapid expansion of the state’s charter school sector.
You might think that most economists agree with this overall approach, because economists generally like free markets. For example, over 90 percent of the members of the University of Chicago’s panel of leading economists thought that ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft made consumers better off by providing competition for the highly regulated taxi industry.
But economists are far less optimistic about what an unfettered market can achieve in education. Only a third of economists on the Chicago panel agreed that students would be better off if they all had access to vouchers to use at any private (or public) school of their choice.
While economists are trained about the value of free markets, they are also trained to spot when markets can’t work alone and government intervention is required.
A classic example is pollution. Factories and cars that spew toxins ruin the air for everyone. Pollution is what economists call a “negative externality”: Drivers get the benefits of the gas they burn when they drive to work, but everyone else gets the bad emissions. Economists recommend governments use taxes and regulations to minimize this negative externality.
Another way that government facilitates the functioning of markets is by helping consumers get clear information. People can make informed choices only if they know a product’s qualities and price, whether it’s a car, a mortgage or a college education. That is why automakers are legally required to disclose their cars’ fuel efficiency, lenders have to use standard forms to describe the terms of a mortgage, and the federal Education Department’s College Scorecard reports the graduation rates and earnings of colleges’ alumni.Free Market for Education? Economists Generally Don’t Buy It - The New York Times:
How Unqualified Is Betsy DeVos? | The Huffington Post
How Unqualified Is Betsy DeVos? | The Huffington Post:
How Unqualified Is Betsy DeVos?
How Unqualified Is Betsy DeVos?
The nomination of Betsy DeVos to the post of Secretary of Education is such a bad choice that we don’t even have to talk about actual policy ideas to understand how unsuited she is for the position. Consider—
John King was a lousy choice for Secretary of Education. But John King has worked in a classroom with students and run a school, even if the classroom and school were charters. John King has held a statewide post in government as head of education in New York State. He doesn’t appear to have been very successful at any of these jobs— but he has at least been exposed to what happens on all three levels so that he has at least a vague working knowledge of what goes on in those areas. He even attended public school as a child.
Betsy DeVos has none of those qualifications. She has never been a public school student and never worked as a teacher, administrator or state level education bureaucrat. Betsy DeVos is less qualified than John King.
Arne Duncan was a barely qualified choice for Secretary of Education. But Arne Duncan had been responsible for a major urban school system, so he had at least some vague notion of what happens in a public school system. He had political connections not because he had money to throw around, but because he was a good and loyal friend to people with bigger political profiles. Hell, he was a good basketball player, meaning he was at least exposed to the concept of teamwork and the idea of working hard to achieve a goal.
Betsy DeVos has never run an organization as sprawling and varied as an urban school district, and has no experience with any such educational system. Betsy DeVos is less qualified than Arne Duncan.
Eva Moskowitz was a terrible choice for Secretary of Education. But Eva Moskowitz built a school-flavored business from the ground up, so she has at least some vague notion of the many moving parts involved in making a school work. And while How Unqualified Is Betsy DeVos? | The Huffington Post:
Sheltering in place: For students in Donald Trump-loving coal country, “school choice” isn’t a solution - Salon.com
Sheltering in place: For students in Donald Trump-loving coal country, “school choice” isn’t a solution - Salon.com:
Sheltering in place: For students in Donald Trump-loving coal country, “school choice” isn’t a solution
The only high school in Martin County, KY, is condemned. 45% of its minors live in poverty. How will Trump help?
Donald Trump supporters at a rally in Charleston, W.Va., May 5, 2016. (Credit: AP/Steve Helber)
Sheltering in place: For students in Donald Trump-loving coal country, “school choice” isn’t a solution
The only high school in Martin County, KY, is condemned. 45% of its minors live in poverty. How will Trump help?
In August of 2013, Sheldon Clark High School closed its doors. During the previous school year, blasting through the Appalachian mountains for a nearby highway project, occurring at times as close as 100 feet away from the school building, had students sheltering beneath their desks with their hands over their heads. Giant boulders and debris regularly fell from the mountains that surround school grounds.
Cracks in the already outdated floors and walls began to lengthen. Officials deemed the school unsafe, but Sheldon Clark is the only high school in Martin County, Kentucky, and there was no other place to put the students. Eventually, after the school year had been delayed for almost a month, school board members decided the approximately 600 high schoolers would be squeezed into the local middle school, which was equipped to serve only 400 students, until other arrangements could be made. Those 400 displaced middle schoolers would be crowded into another local middle school.
More than three years later, students are still sheltering in place, and though architectural plans for a new high school are being considered, the current budget is so tight that amenities like an auditorium and a community technology center are not yet feasible. Regardless, school officials hope to begin building a new high school in the fall of 2017.
Despite the difficulties facing the public schools in Martin County, in the 2016 presidential election, the majority of area voters chose Trump, the candidate who during his campaign stated the Department of Education must be eliminated or severely curtailed, who unsuccessfully tried to woo poor urban African-American and Hispanic-American voters with a proposition of $20 million in federal funds for school choice, and who has now, as president-elect, chosen Betsy DeVos, a billionaire with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, as his Secretary of Education.
While this outcome may have seemed inevitable to outsiders who think of Kentucky as an exclusively red state, as a native east Kentuckian, I can attest it has not always been so. Past support by Democrats for better pay and working conditions for coal miners like my grandfather kept Republicans from having such an extreme political stronghold in the region for many years. In both 1992 and 1996, most Kentuckians voted for Bill Clinton. And, until Nov. 8, 2016, Kentucky’s House of Representatives had remained staunchly Democrat for 85 years, creating at least some semblance of a bipartisan balance of power (though it must be said that both Republican Party and Democratic Party candidates in the 2011 gubernatorial election expressed their commitment to maintaining Kentucky’s coal industry). Still, the number of Kentuckians voting Republican has risen steadily, and a staggering 89 percent of Martin County voters cast their ballots for Donald Trump this year.
I teach English at a community college in eastern Kentucky, and many of the writing Sheltering in place: For students in Donald Trump-loving coal country, “school choice” isn’t a solution - Salon.com:
Marie Corfield: Happy Anniversary! NJ Pension Meltdown Hits Milestone
Marie Corfield: Happy Anniversary! NJ Pension Meltdown Hits Milestone:
Happy Anniversary! NJ Pension Meltdown Hits Milestone
Happy New Year! But, more importantly, Happy Anniversary!
Who doesn't love an anniversary celebration? Well, let's get out the hats and noisemakers 'cause NJ's got a big one!
Happy Anniversary! NJ Pension Meltdown Hits Milestone
Happy New Year! But, more importantly, Happy Anniversary!
Who doesn't love an anniversary celebration? Well, let's get out the hats and noisemakers 'cause NJ's got a big one!
In exactly 10 years the lousiest pension fund in the United States—that's been raided for everything from plugging holes in state budgets to financing the construction of a now bankrupt casino during the height of the recession—the New Jersey public worker pension fund is scheduled to run dry! Yippee! See the counter on the right side of this screen.
But there are a couple of rays of hope:
But there are a couple of rays of hope:
- Lawmakers in both houses voted unanimously to approve a bill requiring the state make quarterly payments to the pension system
- Senate President Stephen Sweeney unveiled bi-partisan legislation that would allow the newly funded Transportation Trust Fund to beef up its ability to sell bonds directly to the pension fund
I do not claim to be a pension expert, but this does sound promising given that last November, NJ voters approved a constitutional amendment dedicating the gas tax to the transportation trust fund:
Currently, the State Investment Council has a 10 percent cap on pension investments for any single bond sale. The proposed legislation would only remove the cap for TTF investments.
Sweeney (D-Gloucester) argued it would give the state greater flexibility on a "risk-free return on investment." If, for example, the TTF borrowed $1.2 billion at a 5 percent interest rate, then the $60 million would go to support the pension fund, Sweeney said.
"We're lifting the cap on investing in New Jersey," Sen. Dawn Addiego (R-Burlington), the bill's Republican co-sponsor, said.
Both also argued putting TTF debt with the state's pension fund would save the state bond underwriting fees.
"Why are we letting other people make interest off of us?" Sweeney asked at the Statehouse news conference announcing the legislation.Both the TTF and the pension fund are on life support. If they can help each other—and Marie Corfield: Happy Anniversary! NJ Pension Meltdown Hits Milestone:
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year + Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year:
ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year
Let's get ready for another round. Remember to share the pieces that speak to you-- amplifying voices is the very least we can do.
The Great Unwinding of Public Education
One of the better explanations of what has happened in Detroit and how Betsy DeVos shares blame for it.
Carolina Coup and the Fight for Public Education
Jeff Bryant does a great job of connecting the dots between North Carolina's history with education and Jim Crow and the current GOP attempt at a coup.
The Attacks on Teacher Tenure Still Don't Make Sense
Mark Weber (Jersey Jazzman) has been on a roll lately. Here's the news on campbell Brown's most recent attack on teacher tenure, and why it's just as senseless as the last.
Teacher in a Strange Land 2016 Retrospective
There are plenty of "best blogs of the year" lists out there, and they are all a great chance to get a quick feel for that blogger's work. But this recap of the year from Nancy Flanagan might be my favorite.
3 Simple Ideas Every Educator Should Work on in 2017
Okay, so Peter DeWitt cheats a bit here (with sub-divisions there are more than three ideas) but it's a good list to check out and consider as we renew for the new year.
The Whole Child
Jamaal Bowman with an impassioned, articulate call to educate the whole child, even in these trying times. This is the piece to read to get yourself ready to leap back into it.
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year:
ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year
Let's get ready for another round. Remember to share the pieces that speak to you-- amplifying voices is the very least we can do.
The Great Unwinding of Public Education
One of the better explanations of what has happened in Detroit and how Betsy DeVos shares blame for it.
Carolina Coup and the Fight for Public Education
Jeff Bryant does a great job of connecting the dots between North Carolina's history with education and Jim Crow and the current GOP attempt at a coup.
The Attacks on Teacher Tenure Still Don't Make Sense
Mark Weber (Jersey Jazzman) has been on a roll lately. Here's the news on campbell Brown's most recent attack on teacher tenure, and why it's just as senseless as the last.
Teacher in a Strange Land 2016 Retrospective
There are plenty of "best blogs of the year" lists out there, and they are all a great chance to get a quick feel for that blogger's work. But this recap of the year from Nancy Flanagan might be my favorite.
3 Simple Ideas Every Educator Should Work on in 2017
Okay, so Peter DeWitt cheats a bit here (with sub-divisions there are more than three ideas) but it's a good list to check out and consider as we renew for the new year.
The Whole Child
Jamaal Bowman with an impassioned, articulate call to educate the whole child, even in these trying times. This is the piece to read to get yourself ready to leap back into it.
CURMUDGUCATION: ICYMI: Kicking Off the Year:
Big Education Ape: Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION: TX: Education Savings Accounts & Vouchers 2.0 + Reading Reformsters - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/12/catch-up-with-curmudgucation-tx.html
Happy New Year! Gird Your Loins! | Diane Ravitch's blog
Happy New Year! Gird Your Loins! | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Happy New Year! Gird Your Loins!
Happy New Year! Gird Your Loins!
Happy New Year! I hope 2017 brings you health, happiness, and good times with family and friends.
2017 will be a dangerous time for our nation.
Somehow, a man was elected as president who has no experience or qualifications or knowledge. He is not a “populist,” the term adopted by the media. He is a white nationalist and a plutocrat who said whatever he needed to say to get elected. He has chosen as his Secretary of Education a woman who is a zealot for religious education and private providers. She is not an educator. She has never worked in education. She did not got to public schools, nor did her children. She does not like public schools. She is contemptuous of our public schools. She likes charter schools, cyber charters, vouchers, and anything other than public schools. She is a billionaire who has spread millions to elect other zealots for school choice, despite the fact that it is no solution to the problems of public education, and despite the fact that every dollar that goes to a charter school or voucher school is taken away from a public school. She seeks the destruction of public education.
We will stand strong in support of the commons. We will not let this pampered billionaire destroy what belongs to us. We will fight her in the states and in the districts. We will reach out to our elected officials, local and state and Congressional. We will remind them that the public schools are an essential part of our democracy. We will ask Republicans and Democrats alike to defend our public schools against the Trump administration’s determination to privatize them.
Join the fight. Stand with your allies. Join the Network for Public Education. It will not be an easy struggle, but it is a worthy one. It is a fight for democracy against autocracy. We are citizens first, not consumers. We will fight to maintain separation between church and state. We will fight for our democratic legacy. We will fight for democratically controlled community schools that accept ALL children, no matter when they show up, no matter whether they can speak English or whether they have disabilities.
This is the challenge for the next four years. It begins in a few weeks.
Do not be afraid. We have numbers. We must fight to sustain our democracy and our public schools. We will and we hope you will join us.Happy New Year! Gird Your Loins! | Diane Ravitch's blog:
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos:
Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos
From Thomas Garrard at Moveon.Org
Dec 31 at 3:02 PM
To: Michaelklonsky@...
Thank you for standing up for public education by signing this petition urging senators to oppose the DeVos nomination in committee. Thank you also to the National Council of Urban Education Associations for its endorsement, and to Diane Ravitch, Kim Mead, and many others for their support.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering over 30,000 signatures to the Seattle office of Patty Murray, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. The petition will also be delivered electronically to the other Democratic committee members, including newly elected Maggie Hassan (NH). I will send you one more email to report back on the responses we receive.
In the meantime, please consider taking these additional steps to fight this horrendous nomination:
Sincerely,
Thomas Garrard
garrardt@zoho.com
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos:
Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos
Dec 31 at 3:02 PM
To: Michaelklonsky@...
Thank you for standing up for public education by signing this petition urging senators to oppose the DeVos nomination in committee. Thank you also to the National Council of Urban Education Associations for its endorsement, and to Diane Ravitch, Kim Mead, and many others for their support.
Next Wednesday I will be delivering over 30,000 signatures to the Seattle office of Patty Murray, top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee. The petition will also be delivered electronically to the other Democratic committee members, including newly elected Maggie Hassan (NH). I will send you one more email to report back on the responses we receive.
In the meantime, please consider taking these additional steps to fight this horrendous nomination:
call your senators (most effective),Whether or not this nomination is confirmed, the children and the country will need us to keep fighting to preserve public education in 2017 and beyond. Thanks for all you do!
email your senators,
sign the Network for Public Education letter, the joint NEA-AFT letter, and another MoveOn petition,
contact me if you can personally deliver a copy of the petition to a senator’s office in DC or in your state.
Sincerely,
Thomas Garrard
garrardt@zoho.com
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Stopping the nomination of Betsy DeVos:
Building More Affordable Housing Nearby (Mareesa Nicosia) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice
Building More Affordable Housing Nearby (Mareesa Nicosia) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:
Building More Affordable Housing Nearby (Mareesa Nicosia)
Building More Affordable Housing Nearby (Mareesa Nicosia)
Mareesa Nicosia is a senior reporter at The 74. This post appeared December 4, 2016
This post offers another way to improve schooling for minority and poor children that acknowledges the strong links between neighborhood, housing, social services, and academic progress in schools. Patterned on a charter school in Atlanta, Kennedy Elementary School in Omaha needs not only additional funds (which they are receiving from donors) bu also a holistic (and generous) vision of what schools serving children of color require.
Class doesn’t start until 8 a.m. at Howard Kennedy Elementary School, but students line up an hour early every day, intent on getting in the doors in time for breakfast.
That’s how it’s been since school started in August, when Principal Tony Gunter poked his head out the front door around 7 a.m. and was startled to see a few dozen students standing on the steps, itching to get inside.
They’ve waited every morning since, Gunter told The 74 in a recent interview, until the doors open and staff welcomes them warmly inside, trading handshakes and high-fives as music courses through the halls.
Not long ago, though, there was little enthusiasm from students, their families — and staff, for that matter. The pre-K–5 school is located in North Omaha’s Highlander neighborhood, for decades one of the poorest, most segregated and
Turtle Learning: 2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.
Turtle Learning: 2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.:
2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.
Have not felt much like writing these past few months. Still physically recovering from the effects of chemo -- never really goes away 100%. So glad to finally have the cats back at home. They are affectionate but mostly mischievous. They climb up everything now - and Red eats the leaves of my plants. Slim loves to attack bags of cat food before they are open. Today they played hide-n-seek in the covers of my bed.
I started this December 29 to look back at the year and try not to mourn about the year ahead. But today I got even more devastating news that my friend Becky Borges has died. She was a dear friend, and although we weren't that close, I felt as though I understood all that she had suffered being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer several years ago. She was sent to City of Hope where they used stem cell therapy to cure her. I know I am getting the details wrong and hope I can read about it from someone. She did well for quite some time, but the cancer had metastasized and they were unable to make her better in this last year.
This year 2016 I have lost four friends to cancer. Not just acquaintances, but friends, people I admired and loved. And then I was diagnosed this year as well. All four people who died were so special, in that they were people who gave of themselves for the betterment of others. They often put others before their own needs as well. I sometimes wonder if that's why some people get sick -- that they Turtle Learning: 2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.:
2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.
I started this December 29 to look back at the year and try not to mourn about the year ahead. But today I got even more devastating news that my friend Becky Borges has died. She was a dear friend, and although we weren't that close, I felt as though I understood all that she had suffered being diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer several years ago. She was sent to City of Hope where they used stem cell therapy to cure her. I know I am getting the details wrong and hope I can read about it from someone. She did well for quite some time, but the cancer had metastasized and they were unable to make her better in this last year.
This year 2016 I have lost four friends to cancer. Not just acquaintances, but friends, people I admired and loved. And then I was diagnosed this year as well. All four people who died were so special, in that they were people who gave of themselves for the betterment of others. They often put others before their own needs as well. I sometimes wonder if that's why some people get sick -- that they Turtle Learning: 2016 WAS A VERY BAD YEAR... A so-so year...Ending in horror.:
Happy New Year’s Eve, Teachers! | deutsch29
Happy New Year’s Eve, Teachers! | deutsch29:
Happy New Year’s Eve, Teachers!
Happy New Year’s Eve, Teachers!
On this eve of a new year, let us celebrate by taking a moment to remember a favorite teacher, one who inspired us, or challenged us– and one who was not necessarily held high in our estimation until we matured enough to appreciate his/her efforts on our behalf.
In this spirit, I feature a few open letters of appreciation to teachers.
The first is by Taylor Elliot and was posted March 22, 2016, on Fresh U:
I would never have read Catcher in the Rye if it weren’t for your class. I would have never learned that it is okay to question things had it not been for your class. I would have never fallen so madly in love with writing had it not been for your class. I would have not have done a lot of things had it not been for your class. Everyone has their favorite teacher from high school, and everyone could probably spend hours talking about how amazing they were and all the small trinkets of advice they received from said teacher. What is particularly uncommon is when the teacher that tops your list of favorites falls a little lower on other people’s.This is my letter to you, the teacher who inspired me to major in journalism.To my favorite teacher,I would have to say that after everything, I don’t think I have had the chance to properly thank you for your influence on me in high school, and ultimately on my college major. So please, if you are reading this, thank you. I can remember going into your English Literature class my junior year beingHappy New Year’s Eve, Teachers! | deutsch29:
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