EcoKids dive deep into ecology | TheUnion.com

EcoKids dive deep into ecology TheUnion.com:

"“Ecology is science. Deep ecology is ethics. It's the philosophy behind the science,” asserted Marge Kaiser, founder and executive director of the Sierra Nevada Deep Ecology Institute of Nevada City.

It's the difference between “I-it” and “I-thou,” she explained. We are not separate from Nature. We are part of Nature.

“For us to think we're separate from — and better than — Nature is not only an illusion, but dangerous to ourselves and our planet,” she said with her characteristic intensity."

Marriages of convenience: Medical groups join with food companies - KansasCity.com

Marriages of convenience: Medical groups join with food companies - KansasCity.com:

"They may seem like odd couples, partners from opposite poles with a passion to help you lead a healthier life.

Or maybe it’s about money.

Soda-pop makers courting medical groups. Potato-chip producers curling up with dietitians. Beer companies linking arms with traffic-safety advocates.

These marriages of convenience have become an increasingly common part of corporate America. That leaves consumers and government regulators wondering if we can trust all the advice coming from organizations that buddy up with industry."

The latest tryst with a twist involves the American Academy of Family Physicians. The Leawood-based organization represents about 94,000 doctors who struggle to get their patients to shed excess pounds.

From across the room, Coca-Cola bats its eyelashes. The queen of carbonated drinks is fending off attacks that its sugar-sweetened products promote obesity and should be taxed.
The two organizations last month sealed a deal that had Coca-Cola giving the academy a grant in the mid six figures to come up with health messages for the public about beverages and sweeteners.

The academy and Coca-Cola said the information would be based on objective science.

But doctors, nutrition experts and consumer advocates charge that Coca-Cola is proffering the money just to improve its reputation and possibly to buy the academy’s silence.
In various toasts to our health, bedfellows of the strangest kind are everywhere and go back decades. The study of alcoholism owes much to the distilled-spirits industry, which teamed with Cornell University and the National Institute of Health on research as early as the 1940s.

Now an increasingly skeptical and health-conscious public, with so much information at its fingertips, isn’t sure whose advice to trust, said Shelly Rodgers, a University of Missouri researcher of strategic communications: “Consumers instantly see the conflict and go, ‘What? What?’ ”

Our views: Classroom equality | floridatoday.com | FLORIDA TODAY

Our views: Classroom equality floridatoday.com FLORIDA TODAY:

"Separate but equal was inherently unequal and harmful to black students.

That was the U.S. Supreme Court’s finding in the watershed 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision that mandated school integration and helped trigger the civil rights movement’s crusade for racial equality in public schools in the 1950s and 1960s."

Most Americans rightly view the desegregation order as a triumph over prejudice.

But its legacy is one reason some 120 black students who live closest to University Park Elementary in Melbourne are nonetheless bused to 10 other schools, some more than nine miles away, conforming with a 40-year-old federal order forbidding black- or white-only schools.

Students in three other neighborhoods, one each in Cocoa, Titusville and Rockledge, are also affected by the policy.

Targeting mostly minority kids for busing to achieve diversity seems unfair, and the situation needs review.

California's folly - Prop. 13

California's folly - Prop. 13:

"In November 1978, Harper's magazine published my article on the passage of Proposition 13 under the headline 'Californians Rush for Fool's Gold.'"

At that time, Prop. 13 was getting lots of national media attention. The pundits of type and tube were hyping California as the pacesetter for a post-Watergate America. At the same time, the cultural gurus were proclaiming it to be a proving ground for paradise.

Even George F. Will, the usually cautious Washington Post columnist, declared, "The East Coast, landfall for immigrants of all sorts, once was the laboratory of American politics. Today California, land's end for migrants of all sorts, is the laboratory."

Birthplace of the "less is more" philosophy, the Golden State had become both the cultural fad-fashioner of the nation and a dominant political force. What did this imply for the nation politically? Many observers referred to California trendiness as a hopeful sign of America's greening.

Instead, Prop. 13 was to become California's Folly. I thought then, and am firmly convinced now, that the key elements in the proposition - the taxation formula and the two-thirds legislative requirement - would be responsible for causing a fiscal and social disaster. These two requirements have, in time, helped to lead the state into financial bankruptcy and created a dysfunctional state government.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/01/INF41AA3BG.DTL#ixzz0VcYIAcO4

USC President Steven B. Sample to step down in August -- latimes.com

USC President Steven B. Sample to step down in August -- latimes.com:

"USC President Steven B. Sample, who dramatically boosted the university's academic prestige, financial resources and civic engagement during nearly 19 years as its leader, says he will step down from the post next summer.

Sample, who turns 69 this month, said he will end his presidency in August, allowing university trustees ample time to choose a new president for the 34,000-student campus near downtown Los Angeles.

'It's a time for fresh leadership. I don't mean to sound self-congratulatory, but we've had a good run. And so, why not quit while you're ahead?' Sample, an electrical engineer who previously headed the State University of New York at Buffalo, said in an interview in his campus office."

California's deficit of common sense -- latimes.com

California's deficit of common sense -- latimes.com:

"California is rich. Even in the midst of a drought, we have lots of water, and in the midst of a recession, we have lots of money. The problem is one of distribution, not of actual scarcity.

This is the usual problem of the United States, which is not just the richest and most powerful nation on Earth now, but on Earth ever, and one of the most blessed in terms of natural resources. We just collectively make loopy decisions about how to distribute the money and water, and we could make other decisions. Whether or not those priorities will change, we could at least have a reality-based conversation about them."

Editorial: Not pretty, but state education bill takes a step - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Editorial: Not pretty, but state education bill takes a step - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"This week will be a big test for the California Legislature, which has the lowest approval ratings since the Field Poll started measuring in 1983.
In particular, it marks a critical step for the Senate and its leader, President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg.

The Pro Tem has called the Senate back into special session Monday to take up legislation to make the state competitive for up to $500 million in federal Race to the Top education grants.

Will California fight President Barack Obama's education agenda for turning around the nation's lowest-performing schools? Or will California be a leading partner?"

NO on SB 5X 1

CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR

This is the info you will need to contact Darrell Steinberg.

District office -
telephone - 651-1529
FAX --------- 327-8754

Capital office -
telephone -- 651-4006
FAX ---------- 328-2263

CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Senators' Home Pages

Senators' Addresses

Visions In Education K-12 Charter School Video Production Wins Telly Award - PR.com

Visions In Education K-12 Charter School Video Production Wins Telly Award - PR.com:

"Sacramento, CA, November 01, 2009 --(PR.com)-- Visions In Education Charter School, one of California's leading home schooling and independent study programs in grades K-12 is proud to announce that its school informational DVD has won a Bronze Telly. Their production firm, Haven Falls Motion Picture Productions, nominated the DVD for this year’s Telly Awards.

As the Oscars are for feature films, and the Emmys are for broadcast television, so the video production industry sees the Tellys. Production companies only put forward their very best work, and this Bronze Telly was in approximately the top 28 percent of all productions that were considered (about 15,000 entrants). Additionally, the project won in the category of Recruitment, which is validation that compared with other organizations that are using videos for recruiting purposes, this project has been independently judged to be in the top tier."

Viewpoints; Supply, demand, quality: Crisis in teaching - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial | Sacramento Bee

Viewpoints; Supply, demand, quality: Crisis in teaching - Sacramento Opinion - Sacramento Editorial Sacramento Bee:

"If confidence in public schools weren't already precarious enough, it was further shaken by remarks made by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a speech delivered at Columbia's Teachers College on Oct. 22.

Duncan urged an overhaul of schools of education, calling them cash cows that do a mediocre job of preparing their graduates for the demands of the classroom. His charges made headlines, but they were not new. They echoed many of the points made by Arthur Levine, former president of Teachers College, in 'Educating School Teachers in 2006,' and by David F. Labaree in 'The Trouble With Ed Schools' in 2004."

Sacramento Press / Operation Sellout: How the Sky Box Trumps the Lunch Box

Sacramento Press / Operation Sellout: How the Sky Box Trumps the Lunch Box:

"From the lofty perches of the power players, in their skyboxes and bank towers, the public may look very small, almost antlike. Deal and decision makers are elevated and segregated from the little people, whose lives they influence.

On Thursday, October 29, Mayor Kevin Johnson announced his 'Rules of the Game' plan to build an arena and entertainment complex in Sacramento. The press conference was held 25 floors up, with a hazy overview of the city, extending from the historic rail yards to Cal Expo: two potential sites for a new and lucrative sports/real estate venture."

In that same sweeping view, the mayor could look down on the central city neighborhoods. From Downtown, Midtown, East Sac, all the way east to River Park and southward to College Glen, Tahoe Park and back around to Oak Park -- all of these neighborhoods are being intentionally and systematically deprived of a comprehensive, traditional, public high school.
This mayor has claimed to want to be an education mayor for Sacramento, even though public education is outside the duties and jurisdiction of the mayor.

One Parents view: REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.

One Parents view: REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.


ATTENTION!
State Senator Gloria Romero (D- Los Angeles ), a candidate for State Superintendent of Public Instruction (FYI, Eli Broad and Richard Riordan are heavily backing her), is using the federal Race to the Top (RTTT) program to push through unnecessary legislation that will hurt teachers, students and schools.

CONTACT STATE SENATOR LONI HANCOCK AND ASK HER TO REJECT SENATE BILL 5x 1.

DO IT TODAY!!!

Senator Hancock's District Office Phone: (510) 286-1333 (you'll be instructed to press 0 to leave your voicemail)

Senator Hancock's District FAX: (510) 286-3885

Senator Hancock's Web site: http://dist09.casen.govoffice.com/

Background: Hastily Amended Bill, Short Notice

Under the cover of the special session on education called by Gov. Schwarzenegger, Sen. Romero has amended her measure and worked with Sen. President Pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) to put the bill on a “fast track.”

The bill was amended Thursday night with the intention of having the Senate Education Committee pass it on Monday, followed immediately by a vote of the full Senate. Not only is this “short cut” suspect, it also prevents lawmakers from giving the measure and its major education changes the careful study they deserve.

Members of the education community and the public deserve time to review and have input on this legislation.

What’s even worse – the bill would change state law before the RTTT federal regulations are even finalized. Those regulations may not be finalized until December. It makes no sense to pass the Romero bill now.

SB 5x 1 has numerous problems:

It locks into state law unnecessary changes Sen. Romero claims are needed to implement RTTT even before the federal regulations governing the program have been adopted.

It repeats the mistakes of the fatally flawed No Child Left Behind Act, including the overreliance on test scores as the only measure of student achievement.

It modifies regulations governing the entire School Improvement Grant Program in hopes of helping California get one-time RTTT funds, but it would also cause schools to lose SIG money if they do not comply with the new state regulations.

It forces irresponsible and punitive changes in teacher and administrator evaluations.
It allows unfettered increases in under-regulated charter schools that are not responsible to the community.

It substitutes narrow compliance in place of innovation and local flexibility vital to schools’ success.

It increases costs and mandates at a time schools are staggering under $17 billion in cuts and 20,000 educator layoffs.

Please help spread the word!

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html

Assembly Members' Home Pages

Assembly Members' Addresses

Senators' Home Pages

Senators' Addresses

Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com

Will the Digital Divide Close by Itself? - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com:

"On the subject of tech and education, academics and executives are worried about many divides.

There’s the growing divide between kids who have access to technology and those who don’t; kids who participate in creating content with technology at home and school, and those who can’t; and the kids who know a lot about technology, and the parents who fear them.

Divides also enter into the equation for proponents of education reform.

Early Wednesday at Google’s “Breakthrough Learning in the Digital Age,” at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., a spat broke out over the urgency of filling in all the gaps."

Cal Expo board extends arena pact despite Johnson task force - Sacramento Business Journal:

Cal Expo board extends arena pact despite Johnson task force - Sacramento Business Journal::

"Uncertain if it might become a jilted lover, Cal Expo decided Friday to extend its courtship with the National Basketball Association.

A day after Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson surprised the Cal Expo board by announcing he is actively soliciting proposals for any and all sites for a new sports and entertainment center, board leaders agreed to extend their letter of understanding with the NBA for another six months. The current agreement to negotiate exclusively with one another was set to expire Nov. 30, and now runs to May 31."

Revising the Guide and Template for the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA)

Dear Categorical Program Director:

The California Department of Education (CDE) is currently in the process of revising the Guide and Template for the Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA) and would like your input. Improving academic performance and ensuring equity of achievement of all students is the top priority of the education system in California. The California Education Code (EC) sections 41507, 41572, and 64001 and the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) require each school to consolidate school planning requirements into the SPSA for all programs funded through the Consolidated Application, ESEA Program Improvement, the School and Library Improvement Block Grant, Economic Impact Aid (EIA), the Pupil Retention Block Grant, and the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA) into the SPSA. ECsection 11502 requires the integration of parent involvement programs into the school plan.

It is very important to the CDE that all interested stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input. The CDE will be conducting this revision process over the next few months. The current Guide and Template for the SPSA can be viewed on the CDE SPSA Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/nclb/sr/le/singleplan.asp.

Please e-mail your comments and recommendations to spsa@cde.ca.gov before November 30, 2009.
Sincerely,

/FB/

Fred Balcom, Director
District and School Improvement Division

The charter school problem: Results are much less positive than a new study suggests

The charter school problem: Results are much less positive than a new study suggests:

"Charter schools are not a panacea for our education problems. The recent study by Caroline Hoxby of Stanford University concludes that disadvantaged students who attended charter schools in New York City for nine years, from kindergarten through eighth grade, can close most of what she calls the 'Scarsdale-Harlem achievement gap.' Hoxby does not say how many students completed nine years in a charter school - a key detail, as the city had only about a dozen small charters in 2000."

The results are impressive, but they are not typical of charter schools across the nation.

Nationally there are about 4,600 charter schools enrolling 1.4 million students. They run the gamut from excellent to abysmal. Even their most ardent supporters recognize that they vary widely in quality. Chester Finn, whose Thomas B. Fordham Institute sponsors charter schools in Ohio, wrote, "Some of the best schools I've ever been in are charter schools, some of which are blowing the lid off test scores in such vexed communities as Boston, New York and Chicago. And some of the worst - and flakiest - schools I've ever been in are charter schools."
A national study conducted by Stanford University economist Margaret Raymond found that 37% of charter schools got worse results than comparable neighborhood public schools, 46% did about the same and only 17% were superior to the local public schools. The Raymond study surveyed half the charter schools in the nation and more than 70% of all charter school students. Raymond said, "If this study shows anything, it shows that we've got a 2-to-1 margin of bad charters to good charters."

Unlike the Hoxby study, the Raymond study concluded: "This study reveals in unmistakable terms that, in the aggregate, charter students are not faring as well as their TPS [traditional public school] counterparts. Further, tremendous variation in academic quality among charters is the norm, not the exception. The problem of quality is the most pressing issue that charter schools and their supporters face."

Charter schools have participated in the federal testing program since 2003. Charter school students have never outperformed students in regular public schools, except in isolated instances. In 2007, charter students had lower scores than students in regular public schools in fourth-grade reading, fourth-grade mathematics and eighth-grade mathematics. Only in eighth-grade reading did charter school students score the same as their peers in regular public schools. Education Week reported that "the latest data do not bolster the early hopes of charter advocates that the sector as a whole would significantly outperform regular public schools."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2009/09/27/2009-09-27_the_charter_school_problem_results_are_much_less_positive_than_a_new_study_sugge.html#ixzz0VWslDpSB

Colbert I. King - Colbert I. King on D.C. youth offenders - washingtonpost.com

Colbert I. King - Colbert I. King on D.C. youth offenders - washingtonpost.com:

"The D.C. Council labored mightily this week to give Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee her comeuppance for firing teachers and staff whom legislators wanted kept on the payroll. The way Rhee went about the layoffs may have handed council members ammo that could be used against her. But if test scores are up and the school system has stopped bleeding students, as The Post has reported, it's not all bad. Face it, a good bedside manner is not one of Rhee's strong points."

That said, the council has every right, and a duty, to exercise oversight of the school system. If, however, lawmakers are sincere about bringing accountability to efforts in behalf of children, they must cast a wider net. Youth are being shortchanged by more than poor teaching. To be blunt, the council needs to investigate why the lives of our youth are being jeopardized daily by one of the very departments charged with helping them.

Consider teenager Tyrone Hopkins, who made the big time this week. He was charged with armed robbery, as an adult, under Title 16 of the D.C. Code. It's a section of the law not often invoked against youth offenders.

Pa. charter school overhaul legislation proposed | Philadelphia Inquirer | 10/31/2009

Pa. charter school overhaul legislation proposed Philadelphia Inquirer 10/31/2009:

"Aiming to end abuses recently uncovered in Philadelphia-area charter schools, a bipartisan legislative committee yesterday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the state's 12-year-old charter law.

The proposal takes a carrot-and-stick approach, pushing changes that would enable charters to grow in size and number, but holding them to far stricter standards of accountability and oversight.

The changes 'were developed in response to several stories written by The Philadelphia Inquirer on the fiscal abuses of some Philadelphia-based charter schools over the last several months,' said a statement accompanying the legislation proposed by Sen. Jeffrey E. Piccola (R., Dauphin), the majority chair, and Sen. Andrew E. Dinniman (D., West Chester), minority chair of the Education Committee."

The New Public Domain - At Public Universities - Less for More - NYTimes.com

The New Public Domain - At Public Universities - Less for More - NYTimes.com:

"SUSAN LI’S senior year at the University of California, Los Angeles, was fast approaching, and she was running out of time. She needed at least three classes to qualify for financial aid. But a week before classes began, she had registered for only one course."

“They’re not offering the classes I need,” said Ms. Li, a history major. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

In her first two attempts to register, she hadn’t been able to get her outstanding general-ed requirements or any advanced classes in her major. Classes were full, or not being offered this term. If she can’t complete what she needs to graduate, Ms. Li doubts she can afford a fifth year. She has taken out $8,000 in loans each year.

“Hopefully something will open up,” she said, and after scanning the registration Web site each day something did: two Asian-American studies electives, neither of which would move her closer to completing her major.

Witch School on move -- chicagotribune.com

Witch School on move -- chicagotribune.com:

"Since the Witch School set up shop in tiny Rossville two years ago, some of the Christian flocks in this former factory town have protested and prayed that the pagans would pick up and leave. Some even sprinkled the wheels of their cars with holy water and cruised around town to ward off witches.

Their prayers will be answered Halloween weekend when the handful of teachers and staff from the school pull up stakes and move where they feel more welcome: Salem, Mass., the site of the infamous witchcraft trials more than three centuries ago.

'This area is not real conducive to the occult,' said the Rev. Adam Taubert, pastor of First Baptist Church in nearby Hoopeston, where the Witch School operated before moving to Rossville. 'I don't know if they were trying to create controversy. Some people try to stir up things to promote themselves because it's free publicity.'"

Cambridge University allows Muslim students to wear burkhas under their mortar boards at graduation | Mail Online

Cambridge University allows Muslim students to wear burkhas under their mortar boards at graduation Mail Online:

"Cambridge University will allow female Muslim students to wear burkas at graduation ceremonies, it emerged yesterday. By tradition, students are required to wear dark suits and white shirts under their graduation gowns. Cambridge has clamped down on breaches of the rules after officials complained students were increasingly wearing casual clothes to ceremonies. They warned the code 'is strictly enforced at ceremonies, and if you do not observe it, you may not be permitted to graduate on a particular occasion'."