Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/17/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM

System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana | Seattle Education

System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana | Seattle Education: System Failure: Charter Schools in LouisianaSince 2005, approximately $700 million in public tax dollars have been spent on charter schools that currently have not achieved a C or better on the state’s grading system.New Orleans was to show the success of the privatization of public schools after the takeover of the system following

by mike simpson / 0min 

solidaridad: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

solidaridad: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal StateWayne Au: ”Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State" from Fairhaven College, WWU on Vimeo.Wayne Au, Associate Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell; an editor for Rethinking Sch

by mike simpson / 3h 

What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate - The Washington Post

What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate - The Washington Post: What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debateSteven Singer, a teacher and parent, says he feels like he has entered “a parallel universe.” A veteran Nationally Board Certified Teacher in Pennsylvania with a masters degree in education, Singer watched the House of Representatives and

by mike simpson / 4h 

New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in School | U.S. Department of Education

New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in School | U.S. Department of Education: New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in SchoolU.S. Department of Education Joins Key Partners to Release Parent Checklist to Help Children Thrive at SchoolAs America’s 54 million students prepare to return to school this fall,

by mike simpson / 4h 

The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee

The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee: The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-DeeRogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella songs are flipping through my head as I ponder the re-authorization of NCLB, or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and more specifically music and the arts.In my own little corner in my own little world I can

by mike simpson / 5h 

K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office - Sacramento News & Review

Sacramento News & Review - K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office - News - Local Stories - July 16, 2015: K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office‘We were violating [state law]. It was just sloppy.’Former mayoral adviser R.E. Graswich was known for Hawaiian shirts. Now, he’s speaking out about mistakes and wr

by mike simpson / 6h 

Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped form | The Sacramento Bee

Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped form | The Sacramento Bee: Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped formTwin Rivers Unified school board President Linda Fowler has received thousands of dollars in consulting fees from a new adult charter school that she was instrumental in establishing last year.Highlands Community Ch

by mike simpson / 7h 

CURMUDGUCATION: Public Ed Needs Allies

CURMUDGUCATION: Public Ed Needs Allies: Public Ed Needs AlliesWith the now-thankfully-defeated Murphy Amendment, Senate Democrats gave a giant middle finger to public education and a bathtub full of cold water in the face to those who keep thinking that maybe the Democrats in general and Progressives in particular are going to be our allies in our struggle to preserve the promise of public educati

by mike simpson / 7h 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St."We did everything we were supposed to do, but we did not spend enormous amounts of time on every single contract that came through. We had a lot going on. We were closing 50 schools and we were making sure 12,000 kids ended up in the right place."Then Vi

by mike simpson / 7h 

Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve | janresseger

Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve | janresseger: Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & ImproveYesterday, by a margin of 81-17, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the federal education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), whose

by mike simpson / 7h 

Half of new teachers quit profession in 5 years? Not true, new study says | EdSource

Half of new teachers quit profession in 5 years? Not true, new study says | EdSource: Half of new teachers quit profession in 5 years? Not true, new study saysA recent federal study found that a much smaller percentage of beginning teachers leave the field in their first five years on the job than the widely quoted figure of 50 percent. It’s 17 percent, according to the new research.The U.S. Depar

by mike simpson / 8h 

KIPP charter chain and torture adviser Marty Seligman: A match made in hell? | Seattle Education

KIPP charter chain and torture adviser Marty Seligman: A match made in hell? | Seattle Education: KIPP charter chain and torture adviser Marty Seligman: A match made in hell?Psychologist Marty Seligman “whose work formed the psychological underpinnings of the Bush administration’s torture program”.From KIPP’s own website:(And not to fret, I took a screen shot.) KIPP’s innovative approach is ground

by mike simpson / 8h 

WATCH: Education in the 2016 Presidential Campaign Panel featuring Lily Eskelsen García - Lily's Blackboard

WATCH: Education in the 2016 Presidential Campaign Panel featuring Lily Eskelsen García - Lily's Blackboard: WATCH: Education in the 2016 Presidential Campaign Panel featuring Lily Eskelsen GarcíaThe next President will have a huge responsibility in shaping the future of public education in America. Common Core, access to higher education, college affordability, civil rights and equal opportunity

by mike simpson / 8h 

When a top NOLA charter won’t reveal its admission test - for kindergarten - The Hechinger Report

When a top NOLA charter won’t reveal its admission test - for kindergarten - The Hechinger Report: When a top NOLA charter won’t reveal its admission test — for kindergarten“In a city where private-school tuition rivals college costs, gaining admission to these free public schools is like finding the golden ticket.”In addition to being one of the focuses of nationwide charter school efforts, New O

by mike simpson / 8h 

Winners and losers in the Senate's fix to No Child Left Behind | Washington Examiner

Winners and losers in the Senate's fix to No Child Left Behind | Washington Examiner: Winners and losers in the Senate's fix to No Child Left Behind The federal government's role in education is one step closer to getting its first major overhaul in 13 years.The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would reform No Child Left Behind, a law that is widely viewed as broken. No Child Left Behind was ori

by mike simpson / 8h 

Why big civil rights groups think standardized testing is good for kids - Vox

Why big civil rights groups think standardized testing is good for kids - Vox: Why big civil rights groups think standardized testing is good for kidsCivil rights groups are starting to split on one of the most controversial policies in education: standardized testing.National civil rights groups have stood by standardized testing in recent years, arguing it is a way to ensure that disadvantaged s

by mike simpson / 8h 

5 Things to know about the House-Senate No Child rewrites - Yahoo News

5 Things to know about the House-Senate No Child rewrites - Yahoo News: 5 Things to know about the House-Senate No Child rewritesWASHINGTON (AP) — No one thinks it'll be easy, but the House and Senate are embarking on negotiations to merge two differing education bills that would rewrite the nation's much-criticized No Child Left Behind education law.Related StoriesSenate OKs revised No Child educ

by mike simpson / 9h 

Are some charter schools putting profits before students education? | The Opinion Zone

Are some charter schools putting profits before students education? | The Opinion Zone: Are some charter schools putting profits before students education?For the better part of a decade now, pleas to Florida legislators and education officials to take a more cautious approach to charter school growth has largely fallen on deaf ears. Such pleas have mostly been written off as sour grapes from trad

by mike simpson / 9h 

The Principle That United GOP, Teachers Unions -- NYMag

The Principle That United GOP, Teachers Unions -- NYMag: What Is Bringing Together Republicans and Teachers UnionsIn 2010, Diane Ravitch, an activist for the most militantly anti-reform wing of the teachers-union movement, wrote a Wall Street Journal op-edproposing that Republicans use their newfound control of the House of Representatives to roll back the Obama administration’s education reforms.

by mike simpson / 10h 

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 7/16/15

SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMFront Group sues 13 school districts for not using test scores in teacher evaluations - LA TimesGroup sues 13 school districts for not using test scores in teacher evaluations - LA Times: Group sues 13 school districts for not using test scores in teacher evaluationsAn education advocacy group sued 13 California school districts Thursday, claiming that they have

by mike simpson / 1d

System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana | Seattle Education

System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana | Seattle Education:

System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana

Since 2005, approximately $700 million in public tax dollars have been spent on charter schools that currently have not achieved a C or better on the state’s grading system.

New Orleans was to show the success of the privatization of public schools after the takeover of the system following Hurricane Katrina. See the introduction to the Shock Doctrine titled Blank is Beautiful: Three Decades of Erasing and Remaking the World to find out the root of the corporate takeover of the New Orleans public school system.

The so-called success of charter schools in New Orleans never happened and in fact, it has been a disaster. See The Cruel Hoax of “Choice” With Charter Schools, So much for school choice in New Orleans and elsewhere, and Rethinking Schools interview with Karran Harper Royal titled Colonialism, Not Reform: New Orleans Schools Since Katrina.

To follow is a report issued in May of 2015 by the Center for Popular Democracy and the Coalition for Community Schools that describes some of the details of the failure.

System Failure: Louisiana’s Broken Charter School Law

Underinvestment in Oversight Leaves Louisiana’s Charter Schools Vulnerable to Financial Fraud and Academic Failures

Executive Summary

In the ten years since Hurricane Katrina, post-storm changes to the state’s charter school law have dramatically grown the number of charter schools in the state.

Since 2005, charter school enrollment in the state has grown 1,188 percent. Through this growth, the Louisiana Department of Education’s Recovery School District—created to facilitate state takeover of struggling schools—has become the first charter-only school district in the country, with other states lining up to copy its model. Louisiana taxpayers have invested heavily, paying billions of dollars to charters and state takeover schools System Failure: Charter Schools in Louisiana | Seattle Education:

solidaridad: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

solidaridad: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State:

Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State

Wayne Au: ”Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State" from Fairhaven College, WWU on Vimeo.

Wayne Au, Associate Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell; an editor for Rethinking Schools.

Public education is currently seen as one of the last great “prizes” for proponents of neoliberalism as a large market for potential profit. In this talk Professor Wayne Au analyzes how the neoliberal restructuring of the state relative to public education has resulted in a shift from democratic government to an increase in non-democratic network governance by corporations, non-profit organizations, and philanthropies. Drawing from his upcoming co-edited collection, this talk offers a framing for the rise of neoliberal network governance in education and share different examples of social network analyses illustrating such governance in the U.S. Chile, and elsewhere.solidaridad: Wayne Au: Mapping Corporate Education Reform in the Neoliberal State:

What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate - The Washington Post

What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate - The Washington Post:

What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate

Steven Singer, a teacher and parent, says he feels like he has entered “a parallel universe.” A veteran Nationally Board Certified Teacher in Pennsylvania with a masters degree in education, Singer watched the House of Representatives and Senate debate and pass differing legislation aimed at rewriting the No Child Left Behind Act, and he can’t wrap his arms around what transpired.

For one thing, he writes on his  Gadflyonthewallblog, the debate about how to fix the NCLB “has been less on making things better and more on deciding who gets to make decisions about schools.” For another, he can’t quite get over the fact that it is Democrats who have been pushing to retain some of the controversial testing mandates in No Child Left Behind, which was President George W. Bush’s key education initiative.  He wrote about a pro-testing amendment:

Almost every Democrat in the US Senate just voted to keep Test and Punish.

But Republicans defeated them.

I know. I feel like I just entered a parallel universe, too. But that’s what happened.

Eight years late, Congress is now trying to rewrite NCLB, the current version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 that supporters said would lead to an end to the achievement gap. It didn’t. NCLB was supposed to be rewritten in 2007, but Congress couldn’t find its way to seriously address the issue until now. In 2012, the Obama administration began to issue waivers to states from the most onerous parts of NCLB — such as the impossible requirement that virtually all students score proficient in math and reading by 2014 — but only to states that agreed to implement reforms approved by the Education Department. Among those reforms is a requirement that teachers be evaluated in part by student standardized test scores, a method that assessment experts have warned against using for such high-stakes purposes.

If a new law is signed by President Obama, those controversial waivers will be moot. With the bills passed by the Senate and House now headed to a conference committee, a new law seems within sight, but there is no guarantee. The two bills have substantial differences, and Obama is expected to veto a bill that doesn’t include testing accountability measures he favors.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan released a statement on Thursday about the Senate’s passage of its legislation, applauding “the progress” made but also issuing a veiled warning that it “falls short” of accountability measures for the lowest-performing schools.

The biggest issue by far in the NCLB rewrite debate has been about returning power over education decisions from the federal government to the states, which can only be seen as a sharp rebuke to Duncan, who has micromanaged education issues for years to such an extent that even many Democrats came to realize he had overreached. The administration has for six years pushed high-stakes standardized testing as a central education priority and has continued to defend it in the face of a burgeoning national anti-testing movement that includes teachers, parents, principals, superintendents, students and other advocates.

Despite that backlash, some major civil rights groups still support What was missing — unfortunately — in the No Child Left Behind debate - The Washington Post:

New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in School | U.S. Department of Education

New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in School | U.S. Department of Education:

New Parent Checklist Out Today Helps Empower Families to Support Children’s Success in School

U.S. Department of Education Joins Key Partners to Release Parent Checklist to Help Children Thrive at School

As America’s 54 million students prepare to return to school this fall, the U.S. Department of Education, America Achieves, National Council of La Raza (NCLR), National PTA and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) released a parent checklist today with questions and resources that parents and caregivers can use to help ensure their children are getting the education they deserve. The checklist suggests key questions, tips for educational success and resources for more information.

“I have never met a parent who doesn’t want the best for their child. However, it can be hard for families to know how to support their child’s education. Engaging with their educators is a good place to start. This tool provides families with questions to ask to work with educators to ensure schools are providing all students with an education that will prepare them for college and careers,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The checklist follows the set of rights that the Department recently released outlining what families should be able to expect for their children's education. The rights follow the educational journey of a student—from access to quality preschool; to engagement in safe, well-resourced elementary and secondary schools that hold all students to high standards; to access to an affordable, quality college degree.

The checklist and the set of rights build on the Education Department’s work to reach out to parents—from the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships, to tools that can help families and students select the best colleges for their needs, to support of Parent Training and Information Centers and Resource Centers.

“It is imperative that all children have a safe, healthy, supportive and well-resourced school in which to thrive and learn. And to help ensure a world class education is provided to every child, it is essential that our education systems are transparent, families are engaged and at the table, and families and educators work together to support student success,” said Laura Bay, president of National PTA. “National PTA is pleased to collaborate with the Department of Education, America Achieves, National Council of La Raza and the United Negro College Fund to bring the checklist to families nationwide to empower them with questions, tips and resources to make sure their children are getting a high-quality education that enables them to reach their full potential.”

"The Parent Checklist is a powerful resource that can help gauge whether a child is being sufficiently prepared for the quality education they deserve," said Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNCF. "It's an extension of UNCF's commitment to building a college-going culture within the African-American community and providing support for getting more students to and through college."

“Just like all Americans, Latino parents understand the importance of the need to engage in their child’s education in order for them to succeed,” said Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR. “This is why NCLR and our Affiliates support the ‘Checklist,’ a tool that will help empower all parents to ask the right questions and participate fully in their children's education.”

The checklist suggests these “key questions” that parents should pose to their child’s educators:
Quality: Is my child getting a great education?

• How will you keep me informed about how my child is doing on a regular basis? How can we work together if my child falls behind?
• Is my child on grade level, and on track to be ready for college and a career? How do I know?

Ready for Success: Will my child be prepared to succeed in whatever comes next?

• How will you measure my child’s progress and ability in subjects including reading, math, science, the arts, social and emotional development, and other activities?
• How much time will my child spend preparing for and taking state and district tests? How will my child’s teacher and I know how to use the results to help my child make progress?

Safe and Healthy: Is my child safe and cared for at school?

• What programs are in place to ensure that the school is a safe, nurturing and positive environment? What are the discipline and bullying policies at the school?
• Are the meals and snacks provided healthy? How much time is there for recess and/or exercise?

Great Teachers: Is my child engaged and learning every day?

• How do I know my child’s teachers are effective?
• How much time do teachers get to collaborate with one another?
• What kind of professional development is available to teachers here?

Equity and Fairness: Does my child, and every child at my child’s school or program, have the opportunity to succeed and be treated fairly?

• How does the school make sure that all students are treated fairly? (For example, are there any differences in suspension/expulsion rates by race or gender?)
• Does the school offer all students access to the classes they need to prepare them for success, including English language learners and students with special needs (for example, Algebra I and II, gifted and talented classes, science labs, AP or IB classes, art, music)?

The reference guide also includes some ways teachers suggest parents can support their children’s success in school. For example:

• Set high expectations for your child.
• Make sure your child is in school every day and on time. Attendance matters.
• Work collaboratively with your child’s teachers and talk to them about goals and expectations for your child.
• Talk to your child each day about what he or she is doing in school and discuss what he or she learned.
• Encourage your child to complete assignments, and see that she or he finishes them.
• Attend parent-teacher conferences.
• Participate in family engagement and volunteer opportunities.

Lastly, the checklist suggests next steps for families to take if their child is not getting a strong education and resources for more information. Among the sites on line are: age-appropriate guides to supplement this reference guide; information on how your school compares to other schools; school-based parent organizations; bullying prevention; nutrition;  disability issues; limited-English challenges; early childhood learning; and homelessness.

The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee

The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee:

The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee

Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella songs are flipping through my head as I ponder the re-authorization of NCLB, or the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and more specifically music and the arts.

In my own little corner in my own little world I can be whatever I want to be. On the wings of my fancy I can fly anywhere and the world will open its arms to me.

On one hand, the Every Child Achieves Act (ECAA) reminds me of this. It also sounds, however, suspiciously like its evil stepsister No Child Left Behind.

So let’s consider music in our public schools. With ECAA will the children sing again?

Cinderella is my favorite Broadway musical. I fell in love with the Julie Andrews’s version of this play as a child. I know every song by heart. My family will roll their eyes and attest to this.

But has Cinderella really arrived at the ball when it comes to ECAA? Will we see a revival of the marching bands in public high schools? Will elementary students get exposure to choir and musical instruments?

There’s certainly enough giddiness to get me excited. Here is National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García describing her enthusiasm for the passage of this bill.The Every Child Achieves Act and the Arts: Fal-De-Ral and Fiddle-Dee-Dee:

K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office - Sacramento News & Review

Sacramento News & Review - K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office - News - Local Stories - July 16, 2015:

K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office

‘We were violating [state law]. It was just sloppy.’

Former mayoral adviser R.E. Graswich was known for Hawaiian shirts. Now, he’s speaking out about mistakes and wrongdoing during his time working for Kevin Johnson (pictured) at City Hall.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY BRIAN BRENEMAN

R.E. Graswich is more than Hawaiian-print shirts and local sports takes. For instance, after the former Sacramento Bee columnist left the hive, and did a stint under Mayor Kevin Johnson at City Hall.

From 2009 through 2012, Graswich was part of K.J.’s inner circle, as a senior adviser. He also briefly worked at Johnson’s nonprofit, Think Big, in 2013, where he focused on Kings arena matters.

Perhaps as much as anyone inside the mayor’s world, Graswich understands its ebb-and-flow. He reached out to SN&R last week to discuss K.J.’s email problem—his blurring of private and public business (and even elections work) inside his office.

Graswich says that, just days after he joined the mayor as “special assistant,” then-Chief of Staff Kunal Merchant (who now is a vice president with the Kings) set him up with a private Gmail account.

The mayor’s spokespeople have repeatedly stated that Johnson and staff useCityofSacramento.org emails for public business, and Gmail accounts (with the OMKJ label for Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson) for private work. They insist that there is a separation, that the lines aren’t blurred, and they they follow all state, city and Fair Political Practices Commission rules.

Graswich, however, painted a dissenting portrait of operations inside K.J.’s City Hall.

He told SN&R, for instance, that the mayor and staff used Gmail as their “main form of communication” for city work, private K.J. projects and campaign business. He says he did “more than 80 percent” of his communications via Gmail.

“Gmail was our bulletproof method of communication beyond the reach of the city and the public,” Graswich told SN&R via phone.

Why Gmail? He says that the mayor and senior staff had “a real paranoia” about keeping their conversations away from others at City Hall, especially fellow council members. “We really wanted to separate ourselves from the bureaucracy, from the apparatus. Nobody trusted theCityofSacramento.org.”

The mayor did not have a city-provided computer in his office, nor did he carry a city cell phone (he had two of his own personal phones), according to Graswich. “He would not use any city equipment whatsoever.”

The former adviser says they never discussed using Gmail to avoid public-records inquiries. “It was an underlying motive, but it was never explicitly stated.”

He claims that mayoral adviser, attorney Jeffrey Dorso, advised that Team K.J. should “be careful” using Gmail, and that they shouldn’t assume their messages would remain private for ever. “’Don’t do stupid things,’” Graswich says Dorso advised.

Indeed, California law rests in a gray area when it comes to public officials using private email for Sacramento News & Review - K.J.'s former adviser reveals email and elections wrongdoing inside mayor's office - News - Local Stories - July 16, 2015:

Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped form | The Sacramento Bee

Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped form | The Sacramento Bee:

Twin Rivers board president receives payments from charter school she helped form

Twin Rivers Unified school board President Linda Fowler has received thousands of dollars in consulting fees from a new adult charter school that she was instrumental in establishing last year.

Highlands Community Charter School paid Fowler’s consulting firm $13,000 in two October installments to pursue a federal startup grant for the fledgling program. Fowler said she split the money with another consultant working on the grant.

The past payments – and a tentative new arrangement by which she can earn $600 a week – have prompted a complaint to the state Fair Political Practices Commission. Jacob Walker, the school’s academic coordinator, alleged last month that Fowler violated conflict-of-interest rules by using her position on the Twin Rivers board to pressure the school into hiring her.

Under the state Education Code, a school district board member cannot work as a district employee. But Fowler, a retired state attorney, said charter schools can employ trustees in the same district and that she has spent 25-30 hours a week on the $475,000 startup grant.

“I’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty,” Fowler said. “Why should I work for free when it isn’t against the law?”

The Twin Rivers Unified School District board established the Highlands school in March 2014 to give students older than 22 an opportunity to earn high school diplomas, learn vocations or improve English skills. Fowler was considered its most vocal advocate on the Twin Rivers school board.

Fowler has been a local school board member since 1971, when she was elected to the former North Sacramento Elementary District. She moved to the Twin Rivers Unified board in 2007 after North Sacramento and three other districts merged.

She said she was promised a paid role at Highlands by other charter founders during planning meetings at Coco’s Restaurant before Twin Rivers approved the school. The group included Fowler, as well as Walker, Kirk Williams and Ward Allen – all three of whom worked at a different district adult school until it closed in 2013.

In planning talks, the four of them doled out jobs before the board approved the charter, Fowler said.

“Jacob will be the coordinator of academics. Kirk will be the principal. Ward will the the truck driving instructor,” Fowler said, recalling how the conversations went.

At the Twin Rivers Unified board meeting on March 4, 2014, Fowler made the motion to approve the charter for Highlands. The board, including Fowler, voted 7-0 in favor.

Traditional schools and public school districts are governed by three different sets of conflict of interest laws, said Eric Premack, executive director of the Sacramento-based Charter Schools Development Center, an advisory group. The laws basically say that public officials cannot use their positions to influence a governmental decision if they have a financial interest.

But rules governing charter schools are murkier, and some charter school officials believe broad education conflict-of-interest rules do not apply to them. A law that would require that charter schools abide by the same conflict-of-interest laws as other public schools was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown in September. A similar bill, Assembly Bill 709, has passed the Assembly and is in the state Senate.

Charters are, at the very least, subject to the California Corporations Code governing nonprofits, Premack said. The code says that a board member must refrain from voting if he or she has a financial interest in the matter before trustees. The remaining board members must make a finding that they couldn’t have found a better deal elsewhere, Premack said.

After Highlands opened, the founders took board positions at the new Highlands school. Williams stepped down from the board after being hired as principal and Walker stepped down in October after the school year had started.

“I was in a conflict of interest myself,” Walker said. “It’s a gray area of the law. Whether it was right or wrong, I was in an ethically bad place.”

Fowler became a member of the Highlands Community Charter School board after her Twin Rivers colleagues selected her as the liaison between the district board and the school. She did not vote on her own contract and stepped down as a member of the Highlands board on Sept. 18, the day other Highlands trustees approved her contract in closed session and a week before they passed it in an open meeting.

She told the board, however, that she would continue to vote on Highlands board items as

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article27448474.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/investigations/the-public-eye/article27448474.html#storylink=cpy

CURMUDGUCATION: Public Ed Needs Allies

CURMUDGUCATION: Public Ed Needs Allies:

Public Ed Needs Allies

With the now-thankfully-defeated Murphy Amendment, Senate Democrats gave a giant middle finger to public education and a bathtub full of cold water in the face to those who keep thinking that maybe the Democrats in general and Progressives in particular are going to be our allies in our struggle to preserve the promise of public education.

They aren't.

Steven Singer lays out the shock and dismay pretty clearly.

Up until now I’ve always been with the Democrats because they had better – though still bad – education policies than the Republicans. I’m not sure I can say that anymore. In fact, it may be just the opposite.

So what's the fuss? The Murphy Amendment was an attempt to put the test-and-punish back into ESEA, including solidifying that magic "bottom 5%" rule into federal law. It was a way for Democrats to say that they actually loved them the last fifteen years of test-and-punish based ed reform and they would like still more of it. And it took the GOP to stop these dopes.

This is not entirely a shock. The Democrats have given plenty of notice that they are not friends of public education, not the least of which would be two entire Democratic administrations under Obama-Duncan. I know die-hard Dems like to imagine that Obama is some sort of outlier or that Duncan is a rogue Education Secretary, but the sad truth is that a Democrat has had the chance to set education policy, and that's what we've been living with for seven years. The Murphy Amendment doesn't represent a new shift or alliance or change in direction. It's right where they've been headed all along.

The only bright spot in any of this was that the NEA was vocal and on the right side of this and not making nice with the Democrats (because, hey, they're our political allies).

I do not know the answer to the political calculus of public education in this country, but I do know that we have got to stop blindly supporting parties and start focusing on policy. And we have got to stop pretending that the Democrats are our friends no matter what. For that matter, we need to start distinguishing between good relationships and good policies. The fact that we may have a CURMUDGUCATION: Public Ed Needs Allies:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.:

On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.

"We did everything we were supposed to do, but we did not spend enormous amounts of time on every single contract that came through. We had a lot going on. We were closing 50 schools and we were making sure 12,000 kids ended up in the right place."

Then Vitale finally found the black SUV he was looking for, climbed in and rode off. -- Tribune

There's a few pieces worth reading and lots that aren't, about the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up at Clark Street. Here's some of the better:



Ruthhart and Byrne at the Tribune have a pretty good assessment:

Efficiency is political speak for budget cuts and layoffs, and CPS has faced plenty of those in recent days. And more await if Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner don't break their summerlong stalemate and grant the district some form of financial relief.

Here's what efficiency means at the school level.

Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere

In his latest blog post, Blaine Principal Troy LaRaviere takes us inside the July 13th principals budget meeting on the heels of the massive announced cuts in staffing and programs. The assembled school leaders were told that the problem arose because the district was forced to choose between "making pension payments and making needed investments in the classroom.”



LaRaviere responds:

CPS claiming their choice is between paying teachers salaries & benefits or improving classrooms is like the Chicago Bulls saying their 

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the mess at CPS and Rahm's shake up on Clark St.:

Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve | janresseger

Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve | janresseger:

Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve

Yesterday, by a margin of 81-17, the U.S. Senate passed a bill to reauthorize the federal education law, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), whose most recent 2002 version we call No Child Left Behind (NCLB).  The House of Representatives passed a highly partisan and very conservative Republican reauthorization bill last week.  This means the bills will now move to a conference committee to see if the two versions can be reconciled.  It is intended that the ESEA is to be reauthorized every five years, and Congress tried in 2007 and at least one other time since then but failed to agree on a new law.

Today the federal education law is especially important because No Child Left Behind inserted the federal government into the operation of all public schools across the country.  NCLB is responsible for the vast wave of high stakes standardized testing; it has blamed teachers and imposed sanctions on them; it insists that schools be ranked and that the schools unable quickly to raise test scores be punished.  While the original, 1965 ESEA operated on a theory of injecting extra federal funding into the schools nationwide that served a high number or high percentage of children in poverty, the 2002 NCLB version sought to punish schools that were said not to be expecting enough of the students whose scores were low.  Raising test scores, not investment for equity, became its purpose.

In January of 2002, when No Child Left Behind was signed, I was staffing public education advocacy at the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Witness Ministries.  To track the implementation of the new federal law, I set up a loose-leaf binder for reports and clippings that would clarify the law’s impact.  I placed the binder at the end of a long counter in my office.  The law was based on sanctions for school districts that could not raise scores, and I planned to look at how these punishments were going to work.  I soon discovered there was also a lot of collateral damage that members of Congress seemed never to have considered as they debated the law in the months right after the airplanes struck the World Trade Center. Over the years my reports and clippings filled more and more binders.  They cover topics like Adequate Yearly Progress, High Stakes Testing, Standards, NCLB: Teachers, NCLB: Legal and Legislative Challenges, NCLB: Lack of Funding and Capacity, Sanctions: Supplemental Education Services, Sanctions: Transfers Out, Sanctions: Restructure, Sanctions: Turnaround, Sanctions: Closure, Narrowing Curriculum,  NCLB and English Language Learners, NCLB and Students with Special Needs, NCLB: Test Cheating, and NCLB: Waivers.  When I retired, I brought my NCLB reports and clippings files home.  Today they take up seven and a half feet of shelf space.  I had hoped to move them to the attic if Congress succeeded with a reauthorization this year, but sadly, even if Congress reconciles House and Senate versions, the new law will not go far enough to undo the damage wrought by NCLB.  It looks as though I’ll have to keep these files active by adding the new reports and clippings that will continue to show that a sanctions-based education philosophy is inadequate for serving our nation’s poorest children and their schools.

It would appear that, if a reauthorization can be agreed on in conference committee, the Republican dominated Congress will soften what has been widely perceived as intrusive federal implementation of the law.  Both House and Senate versions require that states Senate ESEA Reauthorization Bill Passes: Congress Fails to Replace Test & Punish with Support & Improve | janresseger: