Sunday, November 28, 2010

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: JOHN MOCKLER ON PROP 98’s RELEVANCE: Initiative's father looks back & bleakly ahead

JOHN MOCKLER ON PROP 98’s RELEVANCE: Initiative's father looks back & bleakly ahead

by smf

By John Fensterwald - Educated Guess | http://bit.ly/eiyDPq This year, the Legislature suspended Proposition 98 because revenues actually increased, and lawmakers and the governor didn’t want to pay K-12 schools and community colleges all that they were legally owed. Next year, they can meet the Prop 98 minimum while slashing at least $2 billion for K-12 education. Is Prop 98 still useful –

Brooklyn Eagle, Bay Ridge Eagle Brooklyn, NY :: daily paper in Brooklyn

Many Oppose Compromise Plan On Cathie Black

by Mary Frost (mfrost@brooklyneagle.net), published online 11-28-2010


By Mary Frost Brooklyn Daily Eagle NEW YORK CITY — Opponents held a press conference Sunday to denounce a controversial compromise that state Education Commissioner David Steiner brokered with Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday, which would allow magazine publisher Cathie Black to serve as chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. Under the terms of the deal, a member of Chancellor Joel Klein’s administration and a former principal — Shael Polakow-Suransky — would serve under Ms. Black as senior deputy chancellor, providing expertise in academic areas such as curriculum. The compromise was cut after Commissioner Steiner’s eight-member advisory panel voted against granting a waiver that would allow Ms. Black, Mayor Bloomberg’s hand-picked choice, to assume the post as head of the country’s largest school system. Ms. Black, with no background in education, lacks the necessary credentials for the job. A poll released last Tuesday showed that a majority of New Yorkers

NYC Public School Parents: Parents are not giving up: no to the waiver!

Parents are not giving up: no to the waiver!

For more reporting of today's press conference, see NY1 and the website, denywaiver.com

This Week in Education: On & Off the Titanic | Lefty Parent

This Week in Education: On & Off the Titanic

by Cooper Zale

I just went through the last week or so of on-line featured articles from the on-line EdWeek edition of Education Week magazine and the Public Education Network. Looking at the state of the US institution of public education for youth from a parent’s point of view, it seems like there is still a fair amount of (to use some nautical metaphors) rearranging deck-chairs and still hoping that the water gushing into those holes in the hull being ripped open by that iceberg can be somehow contained to keep

Student occupations expected to increase | Education | The Guardian

Student occupations expected to increase

Sit-ins at sites including Oxford, Manchester and Edinburgh gather pace ahead of next national day of action

Martin Wainwright
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 28 November 2010 18.31 GMT
Article history

Students in leeds protesting against tuition fees and education cuts — Students across the country continue to protest against planned education cuts and a rise in tuition fees. Photograph: Gabriel Szabo/Guzelian

Linked by Twitter, mobiles and old-fashioned printed flyers, 15 student occupations continued over the weekend and are set to grow before the national day of action on Tuesday

Part of the Bodleian library at Oxford, a major lecture theatre at Manchester and Appleton Tower at Edinburgh are among sites taken over for good-natured and inventive protests against the planned university fees rise and education cuts.

Art exhibitions, debates and invitations to local people to meet and discuss the issues are part of the activities at the sites, which also include Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Plymouth and London. Edinburgh students called on outside supporters to stage snowball fights in solidarity, while Oxford's Facebook page features support from

Parents, Community Leaders React To Schools Chancellor Compromise - Little Neck, NY Patch

Parents, Community Leaders React To Schools Chancellor Compromise

A mostly positive verdict on deal clearing way for Cathie Black to lead city's 1.1 million public schoolchildren

By Paul Leonard | Email the author | 3:30pm

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Area residents contacted by Patch on Sunday reacted mostly favorably to a recent deal clearing the way for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's pick for schools chancellor.

Cathleen Black, a former media executive with no background in education, received a waiver from State Education Commissioner David Steiner on Friday. In exchange for the nod, the Bloomberg administration agreed to hire a veteran educator as Black's second-in-command.

"I'm just glad the uncertainty is over," said Irene Yoo, a mother of two boys at J.H.S. 67 in Little Neck. "It's time to move on."

Yoo, like many other parents and some elected officials, said she was "irked" by the Black's lack of classroom experience. However, the appointment of career educator Shael Polakow-Suransky as chief academic officer seemed to allay most of her

On Commitment — The Jose Vilson

On Commitment

by Jose

Jay-Z and Beyonce

I caved. After dodging some calamitous trends and memes in the social media world, I let people “inbox” me their questions, hoping no one would ask me anything too off-kilter. In previous exercises, people have done everything from asking me to predict their futures to openly wondering why I didn’t want to meet up with them. I squirmed internally and gave the most appropriate response possible (and haven’t tried to meet them since).I

NYC teacher caught up in Spanish curse debate - Boston.com

NYC teacher caught up in Spanish curse debate

By Cristian Salazar

Associated Press / November 28, 2010

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NEW YORK—It can be tossed off almost harmlessly like "damn" or dropped like an F-bomb.

On the streets of New York's diverse Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, it can be heard expressing joy, frustration and outrage.

Perhaps most notoriously in pop culture, it punctuated the film dialogue of "Scarface" in 1983.

Now a public high school teacher is suing the city after he was suspended and fined $15,000 for what school officials say was misconduct for using it in his Manhattan classroom.

The word, "cono," (COHN'-yoh) can be offensive. But that sometimes depends