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Saturday, April 3, 2010

Union chief: GOP is attacking teachers

Union chief: GOP is attacking teachers

Union chief: GOP is attacking teachers




Disagreement about federally mandated school reform has pitted teacher unions and education administrators against one another, both here in Monroe County and across the state.

Earlier this week, Florida was passed over for Phase 1 funding in the Obama Administration's $4.35 billion education reform package dubbed Race to the Top.
Speculation on why centers around the fact that only five of 67 district-level unions gave their blessing to the state application. United Teachers of Monroe, led by President Leon Fowler, is counted among those dissenting unions, led at a state-level by the Florida Education Association.
"If you want change, you need it slow," Fowler said.. "I think people need to start coming to their senses. They're just too mean-spirited."
At the forefront of this discussion is Florida Senate Bill 6, which ties teacher pay to student success rather than advanced degrees or certifications. It was pushed through, with a party-line vote, by state GOP Chairman John Thrasher (R-St. Augustine). He affectionately calls SB 6 "the hammer."
Fowler is leading UTM in negotiations with Monroe County School District Superintendent Joseph Burke on a proposed three-year contract for teachers and school-related-personnel including food-service workers and bus drivers. Current contracts expire June 30.
"We haven't actually talked about anything since March 3," Fowler said. "There's been no attempt to get back to the table. I'm kind of disappointed. We had agreed to negotiate, take a look anyway, at a three-year agreement and a restructure of the salary schedule."
"I guess Senate Bill 6 has thrown a wrench into everything. It's anti-teacher totally, and the teachers are the ones moving us forward."
Switching teachers statewide from seniority-based pay (like we have here) to a performance-pay system is the direct goal of SB 6 and Race to the Top, designed to better recruit and retain quality teachers by using multiple
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Montgomery schools in running for urban education prize - washingtonpost.com

Montgomery schools in running for urban education prize - washingtonpost.com


Montgomery schools in running for urban education prize







Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 2, 2010

The Montgomery County school system was named a finalist Thursday for a national education award that aims to reward urban school districts for increasing student performance and reducing achievement gaps.
The school system is among five finalists out of 100 eligible districts nationwide for the Broad Prize for Urban Education. The annual $2 million prize recognizes urban school districts "making the greatest progress in America in raising student achievement," according to the announcement.
It's another feather in the cap for the Montgomery system, which over the past decade funneled extraresources into schools with the largest numbers of low-income and English-language-learning students. Many indicators have risen accordingly, and the school system is the first in the Washington area to be so
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Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way-Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way-Politics/Nation-News-The Economic Times

Left, BJP feel Right to Education may go wrong way
3 Apr 2010, 0450 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: After the applause, the reality check. The Manmohan Singh government is now faced with questions about implementation of the Right to
Education Act with opposition parties expressing apprehensions about infrastructure and funds required to execute the target envisaged in the law.

The CPM, which has complained about lack of financial wherewithal for states to implement the Right to Education Act, wants the central government to create conditions to enable children to go to school. “It’s a positive step. Legally it gives the right to education for children. But there are around five crore children below the age of 14 working in India because of their family’s poverty-stricken conditions,” CPM politburo member and CITU leader M K Pandhe said on Friday.

This means, the government should address the problem of child labour in the country. Mr Pandhe said unless these children are provided books, meals and clothes they will not be in a position to attend school.

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has already written to human resource development minister Kapil Sibal expressing his reservations about provisions of the right to education law. The state government’s lament is that under the law, the entire onus is on it. The state government will be answerable if it failed to provide free and quality education to all students
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Sacramento Press / Sacramento's Harvey Milk Day Student Essay/Art Contest

Sacramento Press / Sacramento's Harvey Milk Day Student Essay/Art Contest:

Sacramento's Harvey Milk Day Student Essay/Art Contest



Equality Action Now and Contest Sponsor, Barnes & Noble at Arden Fair is hosting an essay and art contest to commemorate California’s first Harvey Milk Day, Saturday May 22, 2010.
Harvey Milk Day was enacted and signed into law last October by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Under the measure, May 22 is officially Harvey Milk Day in California, coinciding with Milk's birthday. While it is not a state holiday, schools are encouraged to hold lessons "remembering the life of Harvey Milk, recognizing his accomplishments and familiarizing pupils with the contributions he made to this state".
Equality Action Now is a local grassroots civil rights organization and is leading the way in organizing Sacramento’s Harvey Milk Day events. Note: Equality Action Now is working on forming a curriculum for school-aged children and teens. For more information check out http://www.EqualityActionNow.

Harvey Milk Day Student Essay/Art Contest Rules:
1. The Harvey Milk Day Student Essay/Art contest is open to the following age-groups (as of May 22, 2010):
a. 6 and under (Art Contest)
b. 7 – 12 yrs old (Art Contest)
c. 13 – 14 yrs old (Essay contest)
d. 15 – 18 yrs old (Essay contest)


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Complimentary E-copy: Teaching as an Act of Love:Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid > Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Inspiration for Teachers and Parents

Complimentary E-copy: Teaching as an Act of Love:Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid > Richard Lakin's Thanks2Teachers.com - A Wellspring of Teacher Appreciation and Teacher Inspiration > Inspiration for Teachers and Parents






Complimentary E-copy: Teaching as an Act of Love:Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid
Here's your complimentary e-copy of my book!
Click on the title below:

Teaching as an Act of Love:
Thoughts and Recollections of a Former Teacher, Principal and Kid
This is copyrighted material, but you are free to and encouraged to FORWARD it to anyone you wish--teachers, parents, colleagues, students, friends--as long as you don't make any changes or profit from its use.

If you prefer a paperback edition or to give it as a gift to a teacher or a friend, you can purchase it online at:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Thanks,
Richard


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Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Increasing Number Of Parents Opting To Have Children School-Homed

MARCH 29, 2010 | ISSUE 46•13
Parents of school-homed children say they relish the extra time they are able to spend away from their kids.

WASHINGTON—According to a report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education, an increasing number of American parents are choosing to have their children raised at school rather than at home.
Deputy Education Secretary Anthony W. Miller said that many parents who school-home find U.S. households to be frightening, overwhelming environments for their children, and feel that they are just not conducive to producing well-rounded members of society.
Thousands of mothers and fathers polled in the study also believe that those running American homes cannot be trusted to keep their kids safe.
"Every year more parents are finding that their homes are not equipped to instill the right values in their children," Miller said. "When it comes to important life skills such as proper nutrition, safe sex, and even basic socialization, a growing number of mothers and fathers think it's better to rely on educators to guide and nurture their kids."
"And really, who can blame them?" Miller continued. "American homes have let down our nation's youth time and again in almost every imaginable respect."
According to the report, children raised at home were less likely to receive individual adult attention, and were often subjected to ineffective and wildly inconsistent disciplinary measures. The study also found that many parents expressed concerns that, when at home, their children were being teased and bullied by those older than themselves.
In addition to providing better supervision and overall direction, school-homing has become popular among mothers and fathers who just want to be less involved in the day-to-day lives of their children.
"Parents are finding creative ways to make this increasingly common child-rearing track work," Miller said. "Whether it's over-relying on after-school programs and extracurricular activities, or simply gross neglect,† school-homing is becoming a widely accepted
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Project celebrates promise of black youth | OregonLive.com

Project celebrates promise of black youth | OregonLive.com

Project celebrates promise of black youth

By Kimberly Melton, The Oregonian

April 03, 2010, 6:00AM
For the first time, Portland Public Schools specifically recognizes achievements of African American students

For many high schoolers, the class that challenges them the most is often the one that they dread to attend and love to skip.

Roosevelt campus freshman Alize Gaston said his most challenging class -- social studies -- is also his favorite one. Why? The class pushes him to study harder, think more deeply and develop his own perspective on what's happening in the world.

"As teens, we don't always know or care about what's going on around us," Gaston said. "But in this class, we have a voice. It's my biggest challenge because I have to come up with my own opinion. But it's my favorite class because what I say matters."

For the first time, Portland Public Schools is recognizing the achievements of African American students like Gaston. Next week, the district will honor 10 African American middle and high school students in a project called "Young, Gifted and Black."

African American students in Portland are more likely to lag behind their


Merlo Station's annual plant sale set for April 9

by Roger Gregory, The Oregonian
The annual fundraiser benefits Beaverton School District's Horticulture Program


La Salle Catholic College Preparatory taps into solar energy

by Nicole Dungca, The Oregonian
In January, Oregon Electric Group installed a solar photovoltaic system on the roof of the school's 116,400-square-foot building, making it the latest Portland metro school to harness solar energy.
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College foundation that's paying Palin to speak has seen its contributions fall - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

College foundation that's paying Palin to speak has seen its contributions fall - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

College foundation that's paying Palin to speak has seen its contributions fall


Published: Saturday, Apr. 3, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 4ABy Michael Doyle
mdoyle@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON – Tax records show leaner times for the college foundation now drawing fire for paying Sarah Palin an undisclosed sum to speak at California State University, Stanislaus.
Overall collections by the California State University Stanislaus Foundation fell by more than half over the past decade, tax records show. Fewer contributions, in turn, crimp the foundation's ability to help students and the Turlock-based university.
In fiscal 2001, the foundation reported collecting $8.9 million in gifts, grants and contributions. By 2004, that jumped to $10.3 million. But over the next several years, the foundation's fundraising slid to about $4 million in 2008.
From 2006 to mid-2008, meanwhile, the foundation also told the Internal Revenue Service that


Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/03/2652360/palin-fee-stanislaus.html#ixzz0k30jaEBL
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UC, CSU wait-listing students for the first time - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

UC, CSU wait-listing students for the first time - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

UC, CSU wait-listing students for the first time


By Laurel Rosenhall
lrosenhall@sacbee.com
Published: Saturday, Apr. 3, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
California's public universities are using waiting lists this year for the first time, telling some top-notch students to wait two more months before they find out if they're in.
The practice – long common at selective private colleges – is yet another fallout from the state's budget crisis, as the University of California and California State University look for ways to trim enrollment in response to last year's historic funding cuts.
The public universities want to admit as many students as the state funds them for – but not a single person more. Waiting lists allow campuses to fine-tune the process so they hit their enrollment targets right on the mark.
"This gives them the opportunity to take additional students if it turns out they have a little bit of space at the end of the (admissions) process," said Susan Wilbur, UC's director of undergraduate admissions.
The UC system received a record number of applications this year: 134,029. The same is true at CSU, where more than 609,000 students
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/03/2652551/uc-csu-wait-listing-students-for.html#ixzz0k2zYQCAa
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Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.














The illusion of ever-lower college acceptance rates

It may just be me, but I found myself getting increasingly annoyed as I read my colleague Jenna Johnson’s blogpost detailing the latest admissions statistics for some of the nation’s most elite schools.
For example, Harvard University’s 7 percent overall rate of admissions last year was apparently not low enough. This year, it dropped to 6.9 percent. Harvard received more than 30,000 applications this year, a 5 percent increase from last year, and accepted 2,110 students.
“That’s 28,000 broken hearts,” one admissions staff member said as several passed trays stuffed with rejections into a car to be mailed,according to the student newspaper the Harvard Crimson.
Continue reading this post »



Ed Buzz: The Nation

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