Two cheating investigations lead charters in RSD to hire testing-security monitors | The Lens

Two cheating investigations lead charters in RSD to hire testing-security monitors | The Lens:

Two cheating investigations lead charters in RSD to hire testing-security monitors

After two test-cheating investigations came to light in recent weeks, Recovery School District charter-school leaders from across the city pledged Tuesday to hire test monitors for state exams this spring.

Superintendent Patrick Dobard received a letter from 19 charter chiefs, outlining their plan to increase public confidence in testing procedures.

“We offer this support voluntarily in the interest of maximizing transparency and accountability to the public,” the letter states.

The letter also says the schools will invite the monitors to observe test-security training for staff and that they will publicly release a summary of the monitors’ findings.

The announcement comes in the weeks following two revelations that have rattled the education community. On Jan. 29, ReNEW SciTech Academy, a Recovery charter, after a six-month investigation, revealed special-education fraud and state-testing violations occurred in the first half of 2015.

Last week, nola.com reported on allegations of cheating on state exams at the Algiers network’s Landry-Walker High School; the principal and several others were put on paid leave shorlty after.

Dobard said the state flagged the high school in the fall of 2014, after the department’s “analyses turned up multiple indicators of potential malfeasance” at Landry-Walker and a few other schools. The state will not name the other schools.

The Algiers Charter School Association performed a monthslong internal investigation and the Inspector General’s office is also investigating, Dobard said.

The Department of Education will pay for monitoring in schools that were chartered by the state that are up for charter extension or renewal. Generally, the state monitors random sites during spring testing. Schools that are not included in that will pay for their own monitoring.

Department officials said they were negotiating with a monitor and would also likely name several companies as suggestions for Two cheating investigations lead charters in RSD to hire testing-security monitors | The Lens:

CURMUDGUCATION: Leadership and Taking Risks

CURMUDGUCATION: Leadership and Taking Risks:

Leadership and Taking Risks

Nancy Flanagan had a great piece last week at EdWeek. "Defining Teacher Leadership" kicks off with her reaction to this handy meme:

 She finds the first part is right on point. But the second part?


Most of the school leaders I encountered in 30 years in the classroom were good people, but the overwhelming majority were cautious rule-followers and cheerleaders for incremental change. The principals followed the superintendent's directives and the folks at Central Office looked to the state for guidance. Most recently, everyone has experienced the heavy hand of the feds--for standards, assessments and "aligned" materials. "Successful" leaders hit benchmarks set far from actual classrooms.

That sounds about right. As does this:

If I had waited for my school leaders to be risk-takers before feeling comfortable with change in my classroom, decades could have gone by.

I'm not sure we need school leaders who are risk takers; it's not the modeling that is most important. The biggest power that principals and superintendents have is not the power to demonstrate risk, but the power to define it.

School leaders get to decide two key aspects of risk-- what constitutes going outside the lines, and CURMUDGUCATION: Leadership and Taking Risks:

Ostensibly Vociferous | EduShyster

Ostensibly Vociferous | EduShyster:

Ostensibly Vociferous

School choice superfan Derrell Bradford and I chew over the politics of education reform, Success Academy and what’s behind Teach for America’s new rapid response unit.

EduShyster: I better begin by revealing to the world that you and I attended the education reform equivalent of prom together: the EdReformies! We bonded over vocabulary. I told you that one of my all-time favorite words is *dissemble,* meaning *to conceal one’s true motives, feelings or beliefs.* Do you recall what your fave word was? 

Derrell Bradford: My most-used word back then was *ostensible.* I had to use it all the time to master using it. Right now my undercover word is *vociferous.* Somebody asked me the other day: *How do you respond to people who say that you’re doing ‘this, this, this and this?’* And I was just like *vociferously.* 

EduShyster: You’re the head of the New York education reform advocacy groupNYCAN. Governor Cuomo staked a tremendous amount of political capital on tying teacher evaluation to test scores, a system that he has now essentially thrown into the Long Island Sound. The New York Times reported that some of Cuomo’s wealthy donors, who include hedge funders, indicated that they wouldn’t criticize him publicly as he *unwound* his widely reviled teacher evaluation system. What gives?

Bradford: I’m not a hedge fund ally but I will answer that question in a way that may be coincident with what their feelings are. I’m a super strong supporter of school choice, primarily because it shaped my life, but also because I view it as another way to get a kid who ordinarily wouldn’t be able to get in front of an excellent teacher in front of one. So the chute of teacher evaluation policy is something I support because, despite what people may think, I value teaching. To me, teacher evaluation is at the absolute bottom of the food chain in terms of what makes impact and what’s actually doable. And above that are things like charter schools, tax credits, the annual reporting of data. I believe that really strongly. I think that in the effort to Ostensibly Vociferous | EduShyster:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Race and Equity; Targeted Universalism (Part Two)

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Race and Equity; Targeted Universalism (Part Two):

Race and Equity; Targeted Universalism (Part Two)

In part two of this thread, I want to analyze the theory around which the MTSS-B initiative seems to be based – targeted universalism. 

I hadn’t heard of this theory before now and it’s always good to hear about what ideas are out there for better public education. I did some research and lots of reading and found several good articles including ones about the Oakland School District’s program.

In my reading, I found it fascinating that this idea of targeted universalism is NOT just a topic for public education. What I found is that it mostly covers the issue of poverty, around the world, on whether targeting efforts for certain groups truly work. 

Let’s start from the premise that if you see a problem that affects the population broadly, then you attempt to create a solution that will negate or end that problem. That premise, of course, supposes that all people are affected in the same way by both the problem and your solution.

Universalism – across all sectors, not just education – is discussed in a paper by Thandika Mkandawire called Targeting and Universalism in Poverty Reduction. 

Another criticism levelled against universalism is derived from the post-modernist emphasis on difference and diversity. The charge is that universalism has been used to create a false sense of unity, which conceals the fact that it discriminated against certain social groups on grounds of gender and race and that, through tutelage, it imposed on new groups standards set by the dominant group.

Some good examples that I found to explain the problems with this notion of universalism were these:

From National Equity Project: 

It is possible, even likely, that universal programs will exacerbate existing inequalities. Some universal programs were designed to benefit whites more than non-whites, but let us consider programs where this was Seattle Schools Community Forum: Race and Equity; Targeted Universalism (Part Two):

Breaking news: Complaint accuses Magnolia Charters of illegal use of funds — PS connect

Breaking news: Complaint accuses Magnolia Charters of illegal use of funds — PS connect:

Breaking news: Complaint accuses Magnolia Charters of illegal use of funds

 A public school teacher and a parent in Orange County, California, filed a legal complaint today against Magnolia Charter Schools accusing the charter organization of violating state and federal law by improperly using state and federal funds, maintaining poor internal controls and financial  accounting, and utilizing nepotistic vendor selection.

The complaint describes a revolving door between the Magnolia board and its vendors, and even shared business addresses. The complaint asserts that the California Department of Education has “failed to take meaningful action” despite its own findings of misdeeds.

“It's like the state screaming, 'Come and get this money that's supposed to be for our schools. We’ll look the other way while you spend it on other things,’” said complainant Tina Andres, a Santa Ana teacher. “It just invites corruption and fraud. That’s not what charter schools are supposed to do.” Andres’ son attends a charter school in Orange County.

Andres joined Jose Moreno, an Anaheim parent, and Amsterdam & Partners LLP law firm on the complaint which was filed with the California Department of Education under the Uniform Complaint Procedure process. It can be viewed here. 

The complaint calls for a comprehensive investigation by the State Department of Education. It cites findings made last year by the state in an audit of Magnolia including that 69% of Magnolia's financial transactions were unaccounted for; that Magnolia routinely awards large contracts to Breaking news: Complaint accuses Magnolia Charters of illegal use of funds — PS connect:

CPS CEO Clayfool: Parents are not welcome in my schools. | Fred Klonsky

CPS CEO Clayfool: Parents are not welcome in my schools. | Fred Klonsky:

CPS CEO Clayfool: Parents are not welcome in my schools

In a freakish reaction to planned walk-ins at CPS public schools tomorrow, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool threatened parents. with a letter sent home. “We have a planned response,” Clayfool warned.

CPS CEO Clayfool: Parents are not welcome in my schools. | Fred Klonsky:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the so-called 'failure' of the small schools movement

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the so-called 'failure' of the small schools movement:

On the so-called 'failure' of the small schools movement

 Holy Cross prof, Jack Schneider, writing at EdWeek, makes a pretty fair assessment of the small schools movement.

In the eyes of Gates and company, the problem was with small schools as a particular policy fix rather than with the thinking behind the fix. Collective faith in silver bullets—in finding "what works" and "taking it to scale"—remained absolute. Never mind the obvious disregard for the importance of context or inescapable complexity of improving schools. The backers declared small schools a failure and moved on.

But while the modern small schools movement, which began as a teacher-led movement in East Harlem, for social-justice and democratic education and met its death when it was trampled by the top-down, corporate-style reform wave of the past two decades, was never envisioned as a panacea or a technical reform for ailing schools. Rather it was seen by us early educator/activists as a way to drive change from below. Small, was about far more that the size of buildings or even school population. It was a metaphor that gave us a way to confront Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: On the so-called 'failure' of the small schools movement:

#HowMuchTesting and for What Purpose? Join the Debate! – Cloaking Inequity

#HowMuchTesting and for What Purpose? Join the Debate! – Cloaking Inequity:

#HowMuchTesting and for What Purpose? Join the Debate!

 The “opt out” of testing movement has gained steam over the past few years and turned into a social movement. Professors across the United States are finally joining the debate in large ways.  Matthew R. Lavery from the University of Central Florida submitted the following to Cloaking Inequity about the discussion that will ensue at the upcoming American Educational Research Conference in Washington, D.C.

As the scholarly debate about the extent and purpose of educational testing rages on, the American Educational Research Association (AERA) wants to hear from you.  During a key session at its Centennial Conference this spring in Washington DC, entitled How Much Testing and for What Purpose? Public Scholarship in the Debate about Educational Assessment and Accountability, prominent educational researchers will respond to questions and concerns raised by parents, students, teachers, community members, and the public at large.

Any and all of you with an interest in educational testing and accountability are invited to post your questions, concerns, and comments using the hashtag #HowMuchTesting on Twitter, Facebook,Instagram, Google+, or the social media platform of your choice, as these are the posts to which AERA’s panelists will respond.

Perhaps you are a parent who has seen the effects of current testing practices on your child and her education.  Perhaps you are a teacher who has had first-hand experience with the intended and unintended consequences of high-stakes testing on you, your colleagues, or your students.  Perhaps you’re a community member who has unanswered questions about how testing does or doesn’t ensure quality education for all students.

Whatever your perspective, your voice is vital to this debate.  Please be heard by responding to this post, posting your own thoughts and questions through social media, and encouraging others to do the same.

Organizers are interested in all #HowMuchTesting posts, but they are particularly interested in video-recorded questions and comments of 30 – 45 seconds in duration so that you can ask your own questions, rather than having it read by a moderator. In addition, in order to provide ample time for the panel of experts to prepare for the discussion, comments and questions posted by March 17have the best chances for inclusion in the debate.

Thank you for your contribution to this important conversation!

I am chairing a Presidential session at AERA. More details soon about how you can participate in the session via social media that will feature Diane Ravitch, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Frederick Hess et al.

For all of Cloaking Inequity’s post on testing click here.

Please Facebook Like, Tweet, etc below and/or reblog to share this discussion with others.

Want to know about Cloaking Inequity’s freshly pressed conversations about educational policy? Click the “Follow blog by email” button on the home page.

Twitter: @ProfessorJVH

Click here for Vitae.

#HowMuchTesting and for What Purpose? Join the Debate! – Cloaking Inequity:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Speaking truth to power

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Speaking truth to power:

Speaking truth to power

As teachers and parents prepare for tomorrow'sWalk-Ins for the public schools all of our children deserve, local media is focusing in on some of the key players in the city's progressive movement.

Don't Miss...WGN is running a two-part feature on Chicago's rebel principal,Troy LaRaviere.  Troy has been reprimanded by the mayor's hand-picked board for being outspoken about the real causes of the city's and CPS' financial mess. The problem for them is that he leads Blaine, one of the city's highest-performing schools and he enjoys strong community and parent support. Some (including CTU Pres. Karen Lewis) have even mentioned him as a possible mayoral candidate. 

Last night, he focused on the pension crisis.

Zeroing in on the Emanuel administration – he is drawing attention to the mayor’s strategy of borrowing, which he says is Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Speaking truth to power:

Company run by Malloy appointee to the State Board of Education collects $517,128 in funds allocated by the State Board of Education. - Wait What?

Company run by Malloy appointee to the State Board of Education collects $517,128 in funds allocated by the State Board of Education. - Wait What?:
Company run by Malloy appointee to the State Board of Education collects $517,128 in funds allocated by the State Board of Education.

Last November, Governor Dannel Malloy appointed Erik Clemons of New Haven, along with two other individuals, to the State Board of Education.  See: Gov. Malloy Appoints Three to Serve on the State Board of Education.

As interim appointees the three immediately became voting members of the State Board of Education, although they must now be confirmed by the Connecticut General Assembly.  The legislature’s Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee will be holding a hearing, followed by an immediate vote, on Mr. Clemons and Malloy’s other appointees to the State Board of Education this Thursday, February 18, 2016.

When making the announcement, Governor Malloy and his press operation conveniently failed to reveal Erik Clemons’ close association with Connecticut’s charter school industry.

Clemons served on the Board of Directors’ of Achievement First Elm City Charter School until 2015.  Following his departure from Achievement First Inc., his company’s Director of Programs at CONNCAT, Genevive Walker, was appointed to serve on that same Achievement First Board.

Clemons is also a founding member and continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Company run by Malloy appointee to the State Board of Education collects $517,128 in funds allocated by the State Board of Education. - Wait What?:

2015 Saw Historic Shift in State Education Leadership, New Report Says - State EdWatch - Education Week

2015 Saw Historic Shift in State Education Leadership, New Report Says - State EdWatch - Education Week:

2015 Saw Historic Shift in State Education Leadership, New Report Says

 Across the nation, there was an unprecendented turnover in state level educational leadership in 2015, according to a new report issued by Achieve, an education advocacy organization focused on state level policy.  And there appears to be no end in sight.  

In 2015—a year in which there were 14 new governors and a new District of Columbia mayor—31 states got new education chiefs. In addition, there were 95 new state school board members in 33 states, a turnover of almost a fifth of all the country's state school board members. In all, only seven of the 50 states saw no changes in educational leadership.  

And it may not be over. In 2016 alone, there are set to be at least six new governors and two new education chiefs, and many board members' terms will come to an end this year, according to the report.  (Check out the detailed report for individual state changes).  

This drastic shift in leadership comes shortly after President Barack Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act, which hands more power to state governments to shape the way they hold teachers and schools accountable. 

Experts last month described to me several financial, cultural, and logistical challenges state departments of education will have to overcome in order to successfully implement new education policy. 

New leadership could be "a hindrance to implementation," said Kathy Cox, who served as the state schools superintendent in Georgia between 2003 and 2010 and now helps state departments implement policy as the CEO of the Delivery Institute, a consulting group. "It's really hard work, and it hurts when there's that constant churn of leaders. You get into inertia. It gives people a sense of, 'Let's just not do anything. We don't know what direction we're going to be pointed in next.' "

As my colleague Andrew Ujifusa wrote last year in describing the turnover in state superintendents, the change in leadership could be attributed to several things. Among them: several Southern states such as Kentucky and Tennessee flipping from majority Republican to majority Democratic as voting districts are were redrawn; education becoming a more political lightning rod as states pick up the majority of education costs; and education leaders' jobs becoming more complicated and under increased pressure to implement federal education statutes and regulations.

What does this mean for local school districts? Here's an interesting line I stumbled upon in Who's in Charge Here?, a book edited by Noel Epstein and lent to me from our super-helpful Education Week library: 

"It is only common sense that institutions need to have someone in charge, someone who sets 

2015 Saw Historic Shift in State Education Leadership, New Report Says - State EdWatch - Education Week:

Parents ask Lawmakers to “Smell the Baloney”

accountabaloney | High Stakes and Accountability Don't Mix:

Feb 16, 2016, Accountabaloney Press Release: Parents ask Lawmakers to “Smell the Baloney”

Parents ask Lawmakers to “Smell the Baloney”

Today, a group of Florida parents will be delivering red foam clown noses to Governor Scott, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart, the Board of Education and all 160 legislators, in an attempt to draw attention to what they believe is a flawed Education Accountability system.

Their accompanying message is “We want a fair and valid education accountability system that holds not only schools and teachers accountable, but policy makers, as well. We think our current system is accountabaloney and we are inviting policy makers to join us in our campaign to call out the baloney when you smell it,” according to Sue Woltanski, a Monroe County parent and co-founder of the education blog “Accountabaloney.” She hopes the gift of a red foam clown nose will inspire more legislators to “take a critical look at the current accountability system, to smell the baloney and to work towards solving the problem.”

Inspired by Jon Stewart’s closing monologue, which encouraged people who smelled “baloney”, to say something, the Accountabaloney movement is asking for a complete re-evaluation of the current education accountability system, which relies on standardized test scores, often with questionable validity, to evaluate teachers, administrators, schools and districts. Currently, performance on state assessments can result in retention, remediation and, possibly, failure to graduate with little or no input from classroom teachers.

The women at Accountabaloney are concerned that the resulting test focused system has led to a significant narrowing of curriculum with some schools feeling little more than test preparation factories. They fear this high stakes accountability system is leading to the destruction of the same public education system it was designed to monitor.

More information regarding the efforts of Accountabaloney can be found on their blog at accountabaloney.wordpress.com.

Click to download the pdf format of the press release.

Kit Contents:

• Clown nose (to help you smell the baloney)
• postcard
• Current Accountabaloney Legislative page
• Brochure

 accountabaloney | High Stakes and Accountability Don't Mix:

Who is Killing the Teaching Profession? – Save Maine Schools

Who is Killing the Teaching Profession? – Save Maine Schools:

Who is Killing the Teaching Profession?

 At a conference held in 2009 called “Redefining Teacher Education for Digital Age Learners,” Tom Carroll told his audience: “The industrial era career pipeline is collapsing at both ends. We’re losing accomplished teachers and bright young beginning teachers.”

Carroll, who serves as president of the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future and founded the U.S. Department of Education’s “Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology” program, has spent a lot of time thinking about how to manage America’s teachers.

“We’ve had a lot of talk lately about managing the human capital more effectively,” he explained at the conference. “How to manage them. We need to move to a very different workforce model.”

According to Carroll, teachers have not been leaving the profession in droves because of decades of public degradation, low pay, and unrealistic, endlessly shifting bureaucratic mandates.  They have been leaving because teaching just isn’t hip enough.

“What we’ve asked our teachers to do – do the same job for 20 or 30 Who is Killing the Teaching Profession? – Save Maine Schools:

Two NOLA scandals show why the public must hold Charter schools accountable - The Hechinger Report

Two NOLA scandals show why the public must hold public schools accountable - The Hechinger Report:

Two NOLA scandals show why the public must hold public schools accountable

Beloved city principal goes on leave as an investigation continues

Where there is smoke there is fire, and the evidence that suggests cheating occurred at Landry-Walker High School in New Orleans is suffocating.

After the school’s charter management organization, Algiers Charter School Association, conducted an internal investigation that included test monitoring, Landry-Walker saw a dramatic decline in academic performance from the year before. The scores literally didn’t hold up to the scrutiny.

The management organization did not tell Landry-Walker Principal Mary Laurie about the investigation.

Laurie (who was featured in “Hope Against Hope,” by Hechinger Report contributing editor Sarah Carr) rode a dangerous wave of applause and skepticism when her school cracked the upper echelon of school performers citywide with 78 percent of her students scoring “excellent” on the end-of-course geometry exam for the 2013-14 school year. Those inflated numbers were made apparent given that only 27 percent scored excellent when tightly monitored the next year.

Superintendent John White says the state inspector general’s office is conducting “an investigation of compliance with criminal laws.” Laurie and three of her colleagues were placed on paid administrative leave this week. Neither Laurie nor her colleagues have been charged with anything.

Related: Leading by example: Black male teachers make students feel “proud”

From year to year, students who take annual year-end tests are different, so some oscillation is expected. But for the kind of drop-off experienced by Landry-Walker to be legitimate, students would have had to progress through different lessons, teachers and/or even schools. Or, what’s more plausible, the preceding scores they dropped from were illegitimate.Two NOLA scandals show why the public must hold public schools accountable - The Hechinger Report:

Program Aims to Keep Schools Diverse as New York Neighborhoods Gentrify - The New York Times

Program Aims to Keep Schools Diverse as New York Neighborhoods Gentrify - The New York Times:

Program Aims to Keep Schools Diverse as New York Neighborhoods Gentrify

Brooklyn Arts and Science Elementary School is one of seven New York City public schools taking part in an Education Department initiative aimed at maintaining a racial and socio-economic balance at schools in fast-gentrifying neighborhoods. CreditTodd Heisler/The New York Times

 How white is too white? At the Academy of Arts and Letters, a small K-8 school in Brooklyn founded in 2006 to educate a community of “diverse individuals,” that question is being put to the test.

The school — along with six others in New York City — is part of a newEducation Department initiative aimed at maintaining a racial and socio-economic balance at schools in fast-gentrifying neighborhoods. For the first time the department is allowing a group of principals to set aside a percentage of seats for low-income families, English-language learners or students engaged with the child welfare system as a means of creating greater diversity within their schools.

Many of the principals aggressively pushed for the initiative with the schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, who like Mayor Bill de Blasio has disappointed school diversity advocates by failing to make integration a priority during her tenure. Ms. Fariña approved the plan in November.

For the past several years the principals have worried that their institutions — designed to be racial and economic melting pots, but now attracting more white and middle-class families — will “tip” over into majority white, middle-class schools.

In its early years, Arts and Letters, for example, was more than 90 percent black and Hispanic, reflecting the Brooklyn neighborhoods around it, including Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene. More than 80 percent of its students qualified for free or reduced lunch.

But the school gained a reputation for its humanities curriculum, its science lab and its focus on the arts. And newcomers changed the demographic mix of its surrounding blocks. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill and Fort Greene, the white population rose 120 percent from 2000 to 2010 and the black population fell by 30 percent, according to the Center for Urban Research at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Now, Arts and Letters has become one of Brooklyn’s hottest schools. Half of the school’s kindergartners are white; a mere 12 percent qualify for free or reduced lunch. That has its principal, John O’Reilly, worried.

“I love the fact that so many white affluent families would want to send Program Aims to Keep Schools Diverse as New York Neighborhoods Gentrify - The New York Times:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Work Session Thursday on Race and Equity Initiative

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Work Session Thursday on Race and Equity Initiative:

Work Session Thursday on Race and Equity Initiative

This week the Board will hold a Work Session on SMART Goal #2 – MTSS-B.  (The district has now created an MTSS-A and MTSS-B.  “A” is about “success in academics” and “B” is for “attitudes, beliefs and belonging.” They wait until pages 13-14 to define MTSS overall.)

This is such a large issue that I’ll write two parts to this thread.  One, what this Work Session going to be discussing and two, the theory behind these ideas.

The work session is three hours long for two topics (the other is the Board self-evaluation.)  But it would appear the bulk of the Work Session is for the first topic. The Powerpoint is quite long and, sadly, is so chockfull of ed jargon on race and equity that you can’t quite make out what will truly be happening.  And that’s a pity because this is work that is needed. 

Missing – and shockingly so – is what lessons this district has learned from past efforts. One is the African-American Academy which was created for African-American children in the district, with planning and direction by mostly African-American educators and leaders.  I know there is a whole story in there why this school failed with many reasons. But the district did try and, in the end, failed.  Is there nothing they can learn from that painful and lengthy experiment that they might bring to bear here?  Not a mention.

Also, missing from this large and overarching initiative?  Costs.  Not a word about what it will all cost or where the money will come from.

Here’s the goal for all of this:

To transform the Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behavior of every adult and educator in order to recognize the brilliance and genius of every single child in Seattle Public Schools.

I think the intent is great but I'm not fond of the phrasing. The first part of the Seattle Schools Community Forum: Work Session Thursday on Race and Equity Initiative:

CURMUDGUCATION: I Don't Hate Hillary, But...

CURMUDGUCATION: I Don't Hate Hillary, But...:

I Don't Hate Hillary, But...

I don't hate Hillary Clinton.

I don't think that she should be convicted of treason. I don't think her email handling represents an unprecedented breach of, well, anything. I don't think that she has a trail of misbehavior and ethical violations behind her any wider or deeper than the average political animal, and I believe that were she male, she would induce far less rage and indignation. And I think there are plenty of folks on the right who have developed a derangement when it comes to HRC that is unhealthy for both the country and for them.

Nevertheless, I am unlikely to vote for her.

I remain convinced that Clinton would be terrible for public education. Terrible. As in, it wouldn't be any worse if we elected Jeb! Bush. The signs are constant and clear.

Here it is again in yesterday's Independent. Covering Chelsea's appearance in Cleveland, the site noted her objection to Sanders' desire to roll back our world-topping incarceration rate, and that included the Clintonian alternative theory of how to fix things:

Senator Sanders proposes abolishing prisons for profit, which have an incentive to lock up more people, to legalize marijuana, and to eliminate “mandatory minimums” for drug-related crimes which result in sentencing disparities between black and white people.

But Ms Clinton's daughter argued that reform needs to come in the shape of education and the promise of jobs, citing her mother’s “cradle to education and cradle to jobs pipeline” policy for CURMUDGUCATION: I Don't Hate Hillary, But...:

CURMUDGUCATION: Monotune http://bit.ly/1omNUBT

The President’s Turnaround ARTS Program Is Unfair!

The President’s Turnaround ARTS Program Is Unfair!:

The President’s Turnaround ARTS Program Is Unfair!

 Every child in every public school in America deserves access to the arts, and legitimate art classes, which include real credentialed art teachers!

In 2012, President Obama announced an Arts Education Plan called Turnaround ARTS. The program, which was to cost $14.7 million over three years, was to establish an intense art program for children in eight schools. Many fine artists came out to promote Turnaround ARTS and are apparently still working with the program.

The program seems to have expanded to 50 schools in particular states and cities and includes charter schools.

But it is unfair and certainly not lending itself to the premise of equality, to pick out a few schools where children will get the arts. Also, the reasoning behind Turnaround ARTS is concerning.

The reality is that the arts were ripped out of public schools during the No Child Left The President’s Turnaround ARTS Program Is Unfair!: