In consultation with Gov. Kevin Stitt’s office, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation is creating “new processes and procedures” for highway projects undertaken in partnership with tribal nations, a stark shift in policy that caused Transportation Commissioner T.W. Shannon to ask frustrated questions of ODOT director Tim Gatz during the restructured Transportation Commission’s meeting Monday.
Paula Lewis will continue to serve as chairperson of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board of Education after winning Tuesday’s general election with about 52 percent of the vote. Challenger and current District 1 Representative Charles Henry walked away with about 48 percent of Tuesday’s vote despite finishing ahead of Lewis in February’s primary. Results […] The post appeared first on NonDoc
Bradley Carter and Barbara Young are headed for the OKC City Council horseshoe. Carter defeated Shay Varnell in the OKC Ward 1 race today, picking up 54 percent of the vote to about 45.6 percent for Varnell. In Ward 3, Young edged out Jessica Martinez-Brooks. Young picked up 57 percent of the vote while Martinez-Brooks […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
Edmond voters selected Darrell Davis as their next mayor today. Davis, who has already served on the Edmond City Council for nine years, received about 62 percent of the vote against homebuilder Nathan Walters. “I am humbled and honored to serve as the 36th Mayor of Edmond,” Davis said in a statement to NonDoc. “I […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
Jake Merrick has won the special election in Oklahoma State Senate District 22, securing the district for Republicans with 65.5 percent of 11,330 total votes cast. He defeated Democrat Molly Ooten. The seat, which was vacated when U.S. Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK5) was elected to Congress in November, has been firmly in Republican hands for […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
In today’s election, Norman voters passed a $27 million bond for street projects while Ward 3 voters elected Kelly Lynn over incumbent Alison Petrone. In south Norman, voters re-elected their current board of education president. Lynn, a political newcomer, defeated Petrone with 52.4 percent of the vote, preventing her from earning a second term. All […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
After an executive session during Tuesday’s meeting, the Statewide Virtual Charter School Board unanimously voted to deny Epic Charter School’s motion for summary judgement regarding the board’s intent to hold a termination hearing on Epic’s charter authorization. The board also approved May 12 and May 13 as new dates for the charter termination hearing. “I […] The post appeared first on NonDoc
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt has nominated Acorn Growth Companies CEO Rick Nagel for a position on the University of Oklahoma Board of Regents. If confirmed, Nagel will fill the seat previously held by Chairman Gary Pierson, who Stitt appointed in 2019 after the death of another regent. “Rick Nagel is passionate about education, and his […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
The Oklahoma Schools Risk Management Trust, a self-insurance pool that provides property and casualty insurance for public school districts in the state, recently sent an email to its 78 member districts saying the program needs an additional $850,000 in order to operate for the rest of the 2020-2021 school year, the cost of which will […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
News coverage of the special election in Senate District 22 — the only legislative seat that will be on the April 6 ballot — has been hampered somewhat by one candidate’s refusal to talk to almost anyone in the press. While Democrat Molly Ooten has done the usual election rounds of interviews and forums, the […] The post appeared first on NonDoc .
Less than a year after television shows Live PD and COPS were canceled amid criticism that the programs were exploitative and racially insensitive, Oklahoma County commissioners approved a contract this morning for the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office to be featured in a reality series that will
Yes, Biden Promised to End Standardized Testing in Schools
But It Was Never Going to Be Easy
Barely a month after President Biden was inaugurated, educators and public school advocates reeled in dismay when his administration announced it would enforce the federal government’s mandate for annual standardized testing in public schools. During the Democratic Party’s presidential primary, Biden had expressed strong opposition to the tests. In a video taken at a December 2019 forum for public school teachers, Biden, when asked, “Will you commit to ending the use of standardized testing in public schools,” replied, “Yes… You’re preaching to the choir.”
Although the decision was made before he took office, Miguel Cardona, Biden’s secretary of education, confirmed the Biden administration would not allow states to skip the exams.
So what happened to “the choir”?
It’s not like there was a groundswell from across the country to resume the tests.
Prior to the Biden administration’s announcement, Chalkbeat’s national correspondent Matt Barnum reported, “Several states, including California, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York, [had] already asked for or said they planned to request a waiver from this year’s testing requirements entirely.” As of March 29, three states—Georgia, Oregon, and South Carolina—that had requested to offer alternatives to a statewide standardized test were denied, according to a later report by Barnum, but Colorado will be allowed to cut the number of tests it administers CONTINUE READING: Yes, Biden Promised to End Standardized Testing in Schools - LA Progressive
Carol Corbett Burris: Why Do Charter Schools Get Away with Massive Fraud?
Carol Corbett Burris was a teacher and principal on Long Island, in New York state for many years. After retiring, she became executive director of the Network for Public Education.
She writes:
Last spring, HBO released Bad Education, which tells the story of how a Roslyn, New York Superintendent named Frank Tassone conspired to steal $11.2 million with the help of his business officer, Pamela Gluckin. Promo materials called the film “the largest public school embezzlement in U.S. history.”
I did not watch it. I am waiting. I am waiting for HBO to release a movie on how a crafty fellow from Australia, Sean McManus, defrauded California taxpayers out of $50 millionvia an elaborate scheme to create phony attendance records to increase revenue to an online charter chain known as A3.
On Numerators and Denominators and the Reckless Redistribution of School Funding
Last week, during debate over HB 2078, Sen. Greg Treat (R – OKC) waxed nostalgic over his younger days when he was a mathlete in school. In discussing the way he feels school funding should be distributed, he made sure we all understood numerators and denominators.
I felt like I was watching a scene from Real Genius, which I probably did later in the week. I mean, the movie holds up so well all these years later.
Not many people know this, but I too was a mathlete back in the day. In today’s political climate, I think my teachers probably would have been forced by law to reveal that information to my parents if they suspected it. Sure, I had a C in Algebra, but I did have all those MathCounts trophies.
I’m digressing, but in my defense, it’s early, and I didn’t think I was going to be writing this morning, but a major piece of legislation dropped last night. The bill, a committee substitute for HB 2755, is scheduled to be heard this morning in the Senate Appropriations Committee. It is on the agenda for 10:00.
The Hubris of Billionaire Philanthropy and the Damage Wrought by the Common Core Standards
Hubris is definitely the tragic flaw in the modern, technocratic tragedy of educational experimentation by mega philanthropy. But there will likely be no tragic fall for a noble hero. The plot doesn’t operate like a classical tragedy. Bill and Melinda pose as our humble hero and heroine, sitting in front of a bookcase and dressed in nothing fancier than plain cashmere sweaters. There is no blood and no sensation. Today the weapon is billions of American dollars buying access to power and purchasing armies of ideological policy wonks. Most people haven’t even noticed the sins of our hero and heroine and there’s no hint of their impending downfall. The plot rises and falls and rises again when the perpetrators just start over with another massive experiment on the 50 million students in America’s public schools and their teachers. But the sin is hubris.
In a February report on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual letter, the Washington Post‘s Valerie Strauss summarizes the three acts so far in the drama of Gates Foundation-funded school reform: “The Gates Foundation began its first big effort in education reform two decades ago with what it said was a $650 million investment to break large failing high schools into small schools, on the theory that small schools worked better than large ones… Bill Gates declared in 2009 that it hadn’t worked the way he had expected…. The next project for the foundation was funding the development, implementation and promotion of the Common Core State Standards initiative, which was supported by the Obama administration. It originally had bipartisan support but the Core became controversial, in part because of the rush to get it into schools and because of what many states said was federal coercion to adopt it… Meanwhile, Gates, while pushing the Core, showered three public school systems and four charter management organizations with hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and implement teacher assessment systems that incorporated student standardized test scores. School systems and charter organizations that took the foundation’s money were required to use public funds on the project, too. By 2013, Bill Gates conceded that the Core initiative had not succeeded as he had expected, and a 2018 report concluded that the teacher evaluation CONTINUE READING: The Hubris of Billionaire Philanthropy and the Damage Wrought by the Common Core Standards | janresseger
State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to Governor’s Goal to Fully Reopen California as Early as June 15
SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today issued the following statement in response to plans announced by Governor Gavin Newsom to fully reopen California’s economy by June 15 if vaccine supply remains sufficient and hospitalization rates stay low. Under these conditions outlined today, the Governor stated that schools should plan to conduct full-time, in-person instruction in the fall, in compliance with Cal/OSHA emergency temporary standards and public health guidelines.
“I share Governor Newsom’s optimism that as conditions continue to improve—and as all Californians continue common sense measures such as continuing to wear a mask and getting vaccinated—there is a clear pathway to a safe and full return to in-person teaching and learning this fall.
“To support school districts as they continue to welcome more and more students back to campuses, the California Department of Education (CDE) has spent recent weeks connecting school leaders to the best strategies and resources to implement the layered safety measures public health experts encourage—such as rapid COVID-19 testing and proper ventilation—that will facilitate a safe and sustainable return to in-person learning for students, school staff, teachers, and their families.
“We must prepare for the possibility that there will be some families who cannot or may choose not to send their students back to school campuses this fall, and schools may need the flexibility to offer some form of remote learning. I look forward to engaging with the Governor’s Office and lawmakers on next steps that are designed to ensure we are meeting the health, safety, and learning needs of every California student.
“While we are encouraged by the improving conditions, we must also continue to proceed with caution and with a continued focus on science and safety. There are still many unknowns about the COVID-19 variants that public health officials are monitoring and have observed spreading among some youth. Additionally, I am heartened by the early research on vaccine effectiveness in adolescents and am hopeful more of our youth will be able to get vaccinated in the months ahead.
“Returning to in-person instruction must include an urgent focus on addressing opportunity gaps experienced most among students who were already at a disadvantage before the pandemic disrupted learning. I have convened state leaders, equity groups, superintendents, school employee groups, and other partners to better understand and identify ways we can support the immediate and long-term academic needs of our students, as well as strategies for prioritizing relationships, addressing trauma, and supporting social emotional wellness. At my direction, this working group will be making recommendations to school districts as they finalize plans for this critical next phase of public education.”
# # # #
Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
The California Department of Education Nutrition Services Division (NSD) Community Nutrition Programs Unit (CNPU) is pleased to announce that the 2021 Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) annual online Mandatory Training is now available.
Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, sections 225.7(a) and 225.15(d)(1), requires all participating sponsors to annually attend state agency training and to train all administrative staff and site staff before they undertake their responsibilities. This training requirement must be met by all current, new, or returning SFSP sponsors by the SFSP Application deadline of May 15th or 30 days prior to the first day of service (in the case of new or inactive sponsors), whichever comes first.
The 2021 Mandatory Training is a two-part training consisting of 11 independent courses and a separate Mandatory Training Assessment.
SFSP Mandatory Training Courses Part 1
Sponsors will be required to designate a supervisory personnel staff member or authorized representative responsible for the food service to complete the 11 individual online trainings which cover SFSP regulations, how to run a successful summer program, and best practices for operating meal sites. This training is based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service 2016 SFSP Administration Guide. Please note that the Administration Guide has not been updated to include current information on program thresholds and policy rescissions. To review current policy and regulations, please visit the CDE Summer Food Management Bulletin web page.
In addition to the 11 training courses, sponsors are required to review and follow - all existing and new regulations and policies pertaining to their program operations, which are located on the following web pages:
The required course work for the SFSP Mandatory Training is available on the SFSP Information web page under the training tab. The course list is as follows:
Certificates of completion will be available to print after successfully completing each course. Sponsors are also welcome to record their certificates of completion through screen captures. Please note that you must select Submit after printing or capturing your certificate of completion. If you do not submit the survey, we may receive incomplete data with which to verify completion of courses. Sponsors will be required to upload their designated supervisory personnel staff member or authorized representative’s certificates of completion for each of these trainings into their Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) Application Packet. Please submit certificates under the Meal Pattern checklist item for consistency. After successfully viewing and submitting all required certificates of completion, CNPU analysts will verify course completions and provide sponsors access to the second training component: the SFSP Mandatory Training Assessment. Sponsors are encouraged to notify their assigned CNPU analyst of course completion only after all 11 courses have been completed.
To review how to submit checklist items, please review the job aid instructions included in the CNIPS. These can be found on the Download Forms page, Form ID SFSP Job Aid 2 Application Packet. Checklist item instructions begin on page 45, Checklist Summary. Please submit your certificates under the Meal Pattern checklist item for consistency.
Mandatory Training Assessment Part 2
The SFSP Mandatory Training Assessment consists of 30 scored questions based on the content covered in the 11 courses. All questions must be answered. A score of 80 percent or more must be achieved to move on to the final certificate of completion. Sponsors that do not meet this minimum score will be notified to return to their course material and to take the assessment again until a passing score is achieved.
For your convenience, A 2021 Mandatory Training—Step by Step “How To” guide on completing the training is available on the SFSP CNIPS Download Forms section as Form ID SFSP Job Aid 8.
Contact Information
For questions regarding this subject, please contact the NSD CNPU by email at SFSP@cde.ca.gov.
The DOE has an Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management, commonly called OEO. It's supposed to protect people from discrimination.
That's a worthy goal. I spend my career dealing with students from other countries. I see them discriminated against, and I find it sickening. Sometimes I can't stand to watch the news. My wife does. I hone in on the weather and tune out the rest quite frequently.
Here's the thing--OEO vies to be the most inept group in the DOE, and that's saying something. If I do something stupid, they have six months to conduct an investigation and come after me. I've been chapter leader of a very large school for twelve years now, and I have not seen them complete an investigation in six months, ever. Not one single time.
Let's say I do some outrageous thing, make some racist statement, actively discriminate against someone for nationality, gender, or whatever. If OEO can't make a case in six months, I'm theoretically off the hook. I had a member in trouble for something years ago, and a year after the thing occurred, they came around and asked him to sign a "non-file letter." What the hell is a non-file letter?
Your administration has three months after an occurrence to give you a file letter. While they do all sorts of slimy things to get around that, and I've seen them do it, OEO has six months. And what needs to be done here? You CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: The DOE Office of Equal Opportunity at Work
As we have seen numerous times, there are software packages out there that claim the ability to read our emotions. Folks are lined up around the block to use this stuff, but of course one of the applications is supposed to be reading student emotions and therefor better at "personalizing" a lesson.
The team involved says the point is to raise awareness. People are still stuck on all the huge problems with facial recognition, but meanwhile, we're being surrounded by software that doesn't just recognize your face (maybe) but also reads it (kind of). Here's the project lead, Dr. Alexa Haggerty, from the awesomely-named University of Cambridge Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk:
But Hagerty said many people were not aware how common emotion recognition systems were, noting they were employed in situations ranging from job hiring, to customer insight work, airport CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Can You Fool An AI Emotion Reader
, the Governor stated that schools should plan to conduct full-time, in-person instruction in the fall, in compliance with Cal/OSHA emergency temporary standards and public health guidelines.
