NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

NJ Spotlight | In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control:

In the Suburbs, Charter Schools Raise Concerns About Local Control

Can a local school district block a charter from opening or refuse to fund it?

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By Marilyn Joyce Lehren, January 9, 2012 in Education |1 Comment

Credit: Marilyn Joyce Lehren

Lili Meddahi, a Maplewood third grader, decorates a protest sign against charters.

When a charter school opens in a gritty urban neighborhood, few parents and officials argue that kids in the district don't need an alternative to the local public schools. In a leafy New Jersey suburb -- which may be home to some of the best schools in the country -- charters can spark off a battle between skeptics and believers. The former often dismiss charters as "boutiques," and argue that they'll sap increasingly scarce dollars from local schools. The latter want their kids to have more choices and challenges -- like Mandarin language immersion -- and think their school taxes should pay for them.

Ultimately, the issue comes down to local control. Should

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

Sacramento Press / "Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting:

"Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

by William Burg

On January 7, 2012, Sacramento city staff held a public meeting about the newest proposal to change the city charter, the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” However, this public meeting was not announced to the general public—instead it was directed at a small group of neighborhood leaders.

I found out about the meeting via the chair of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, who received an email on December 27:

From: Raihane Dalvi
Date: December 27, 2011 2:19:11 PM PST
To: Raihane Dalvi
Subject: Checks and Balances Act of 2012

Dear Neighborhood Leader,

I'm writing to request your participation in an important discussion before the city of Sacramento.

As you may know, a broad coalition of community leaders are working to update our charter to make government work better for the voters of Sacramento. Along with our office, they recently presented the "Checks and Balances Act of 2012” [attached], a new proposal to restructure city governance, promote higher standards

Application for Hebrew Charter School in New Jersey Raises Concern - NYTimes.com

Application for Hebrew Charter School in New Jersey Raises Concern - NYTimes.com:

Rejected 3 Times, School May Still Open Soon, and With a Grant, Too

By MICHAEL WINERIP

Published: January 8, 2012

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In the last couple of years, Sharon Akman, a real estate agent, applied to the state of New Jersey three times to open a new charter school in the Highland Park area, to be called Tikun Olam Hebrew Language Charter High School.

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Each time, she was rejected.

Then on Oct. 6, one week after the state’s most recent rejection, theUnited States Education Departmentannounced that it had approved a $600,000 grant to finance Ms. Akman’s proposed charter.

It would have taken federal officials just a few phone calls to determine that there were many good reasons for the

NYC Educator: A Message from the Mayor

NYC Educator: A Message from the Mayor:

A Message from the Mayor

by NYC Educator

Good morning, New York. It's me, Mayor Michael Bloomberg. You know, a lot of people ask me what I'm up to nowadays. Well, I've got my eye on this new teacher evaluation system. I'm sure you know that last year I tried to get rid of that seniority clause when firing teachers. I say, let's keep the best teachers. The most effective teachers. And by that, I mean the most cost-effective teachers.

You know, there was a time in this country, before unions and child labor laws, when entrepreneurship ruled the day. And in private enterprise, we've moved back toward that model. That's why my people walked out of talks with the UFT last week. I mean, what's all this nonsense about independent arbitrators? Once we fire you, you should be fired. That's how we do it in a business model. We're the bosses and what we say goes.

Now sure, there are all those pissy teachers whining about, "Oh,

Mandated community service: Risks and potential - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post

Mandated community service: Risks and potential - The Answer Sheet - The Washington Post:

Mandated community service: Risks and potential

by Valerie Strauss

This was written by Alfie Kohn, the author of 12 books about education and human behavior, including “The Schools Our Children Deserve,” “The Homework Myth,” and the newly published“Feel-Bad Education . . . And Other Contrarian Essays on Children & Schooling.” He lives (actually) in the Boston area and (virtually) at www.alfiekohn.com. .

Read full article >>

Putting New York’s testing program on trial

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 4 hours ago

This was* written by Fred Smith, a retired New York City Board of Education senior analyst who worked for the city public school system in test research and development. In this post he writes about New York state’s standardized testing program for students. Though his comments are specific to New York, the same types of problems are prevalent in other states as well.* * Read full article >>

Slaves used as part of 3rd grade math questions

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 9 hours ago

What would you do if your elementary school child came home with a worksheet that had questions such as these: * --“Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?”* *--“If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”* * Read full article >>

Teen who killed bully to go free under ‘Stand Your Ground’ law

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 16 hours ago

A judge has dropped a second-degree murder charge against a 15-year-old who fatally stabbed another teenager after he was attacked, citing a law in Florida that allows an individual to meet force with force if they fear for his/her life. The “Stand Your Ground” law says that a person has no duty to retreat if attacked and can use even deadly force if they feel their life is in danger . At least 17 states have a version of this law, including Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Washington. If the boy had been ... more »

How art history majors power the U.S. economy

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

This was written by Virginia Postrel, a Bloomberg View columnist. She is the author of “*The Future and Its Enemies*” and “*The Substance of Style*,” and is writing a book on glamour. This first appeared on Bloomberg.com. By Virginia Postrel Read full article >>

Romney, Santorum, Paul on education issues

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

One of the winners in the top tier of the Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa doesn’t believe public schools should provide early childhood education, describing it as just an attempt by the government “to indoctrinate” children. One of them has praised some of President Obama’s reform efforts. One of them has said the Department of Education should be eliminated for many reasons, including that it “in some cases, forced medication of our children with psychotropic drugs.” Read full article >>

A decade of No Child Left Behind: Lessons from a policy failure

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 1 day ago

On Jan. 8, 2002, then president George W. Bush signed No Child Left Behind into law, ushering in an era of standardized test-based school reform. This assessment of the NCLB decade was written by Lisa Guisbond with Monty Neill and Bob Schaeffer, all from the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, known as FairTest, a Boston-based organization that aims to end the misuse of standardized tests. Guisbond is a policy analyst, Neill is executive director and Schaeffer is public education director. Read full article >>

Report: Does money matter in education?

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 2 days ago

The answer to the often-debated question — Does money matter in providing a quality education? — is yes, according to a new report that reviewed research on the subject. To someone not steeped in school reform debate, the answer might seem obvious: Of course money matters. High-quality teachers, resources and buildings take money. (Tangentially, would anybody listen to Bill Gates on school reform if he weren’t a billionaire?) Read full article >>

New Hampshire’s 2012 anti-evolution legislation (and the shocking thing a sponsor said)

Valerie Strauss at The Answer Sheet - 3 days ago

You can’t make up this stuff: The chief sponsor of a new anti-evolution piece of legislation in New Hampshire said that Darwin’s theory is “godless” and that such thinking is linked to Nazi atrocities, the 1999 Columbine shootings and more. That analysis came from Republican Rep. Jerry Bergevin, who introduced one of two new anti-evolution bills (see below for full text of bills) in the Granite State’s legislature. Read full article >>

How weighted funding would work | Thoughts on Public Education

How weighted funding would work | Thoughts on Public Education:

How weighted funding would work

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$3,000 more per student in low-income districts

Posted on 1/09/12 • Categorized as Equity issues, Finance, Jerry Brown, Poverty, State Budget, Student spending

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

Districts in which nearly 90 percent of students are either low-income or English learners (such as Long Beach Unified and Los Angeles Unified) will get $3,000 more per student than districts where only 20 percent of students are disadvantaged (like Poway and Irvine) – once the new system of school funding that Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing is fully phased in.

A district with 90 percent disadvantaged students would get $9,596 per student, compared with $6,444 for a district with only a 20 percent combination of English learners and low-

The Educated Reporter: The Future Looks Bright(er) For Student Journalists

The Educated Reporter: The Future Looks Bright(er) For Student Journalists:

The Future Looks Bright(er) For Student Journalists

by Emily Richmond

"Optimism" and "the future of journalism" don't often go together, but I believe it's appropriate here.

I just spent three days with student journalists from colleges and universities across the country, and I came away encouraged by the prospects for the future of the profession.

The students I met -- close to 80 of them -- were selected to attend the Campus Coverage Project conference, put on by Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE). The event, now in its third year, is sponsored by the Lumina Foundation and hosted by the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. (EWA, along with the Student Press Law Center, are collaborating partners.)

In addition to sharpening their investigative skills with hands-on workshops on computer-assisted reporting and

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: WEEKEND QUOTABLES:

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

by Mike Klonsky

Ben Joravsky

Not really sure what it is about Mayor Emanuel and public libraries, but the dude never looks so happy as when he's cutting their hours or firing their staff. In this case, he's vowing to close the branch libraries on Mondays. Or as he might put it—let those fuckers get their books on Amazon!-- The Reader

Charles Blow

Racial politics play well for Republicans. Santorum and Paul finished second and third in Iowa.

Why is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings

Why is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools | Scathing Purple Musings:

Why is Public Education Being Outsourced to Online Charter Schools

by Bob Sikes

Its upon us quickly:

The last year alone has seen virtual schools dramatically expand across the country. According to the AP, “Ohio lifted a moratorium on new ‘e-schools,’ and Utah passed a ‘virtual voucher’ law,” which lets high school kids determine which classes they prefer to take online and at school. Another roundup by the Wall Street Journalincludes similar moves in Virginia, which signed off on 13 new cyberschools. Florida now mandates that high school students enroll in one online course at a minimum and Idaho has moved to implement a requirement for at least two online courses. Georgia offers an app that lets high-schoolers take classes on their smartphones, reports the Journal.

What better way than to have legislative allies create laws that will ensure a profit margin for their client.

CALIFORNIA TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC): "WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT" - SOUND LIKE LAUSD CULTURE? - Perdaily.com

CALIFORNIA TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC): "WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT" - SOUND LIKE LAUSD CULTURE?(CALIFORNIA Credenciales de Maestros (CTC): "Nosotros somos el gobierno" - SONIDO como la cultura del LAUSD?) - Perdaily.com:

CALIFORNIA TEACHER CREDENTIALING (CTC): "WE ARE THE GOVERNMENT" - SOUND LIKE LAUSD CULTURE?(CALIFORNIA Credenciales de Maestros (CTC): "Nosotros somos el gobierno" - SONIDO como la cultura del LAUSD?)

by Leonard Isenberg

(Mensaje se repite en Español)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post)

Kathleen Carroll was an attorney for California Teacher Credential (CTC) from 2006-2010, when she was summarily dismissed without even minimal respect for her right to due process of law. She was fired because she dared to point out that CTC, which is supposed to be under the executive branch of California state government, had become a law unto itself with no oversight where arbitrary and capricious actions of this agency were the rule and not the exception as to how they operated on a daily basis.

CTC was and still remains an agency of the state charged with approval of all teacher preparation programs,