Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com

Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com:



Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day

 As schools in and around Ferguson, Mo., prepared to open, Tom Lawson, chairman of the social studies department of McCluer High School, planned to ask his students some very basic questions.



“How are things going?” said Mr. Lawson, who teaches government to seniors. “What is there that I can do for you?”



Those innocent-seeming questions, typical for any first day of school, will carry special freight given the extraordinary local events of the last two weeks, when the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white police officer triggered nights of protests and severe law enforcement response in Ferguson.



The school year in Ferguson was scheduled to begin on Aug. 14, but the opening was delayed because of the unrest that followed the killing of Michael Brown five days earlier. Public schools will open on Monday, and teachers and administrators in the Ferguson-Florissant School District are eager to establish some sense of normalcy.



At University City High School, in a nearby district that opened on schedule, April Pezzolla, a sociology and government teacher, said she had invited students to conduct a free-ranging discussion on the first day of school earlier this month. “They were able to deconstruct the issues in terms of looking at things like poverty, education, the militarization of the police department and the perception around the country and the world that St. Louis was in turmoil,” she said.



Ms. Pezzolla, who has taught for 12 years at the school — where more than 90 percent of the students are African-American — said, “I have never been prouder to be a teacher than this past week.”



By contrast, a district across the state line in Illinois was reported to have asked teachers to “change the subject” if the events in Ferguson came up in class. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the principal of Edwardsville High School in Illinois had sent a memo to the staff saying that discussions of the protests “have caused students and parents to lash out, which is not healthy.” A spokeswoman for the school referred questions to the school district. Ed Hightower, the superintendent, did not return a call seeking comment.



In Ferguson itself, educators expect to talk extensively with the district’s 11,000 students about the turmoil in their town. Many of their students live in the apartment complex that was home to Mr. Brown; Mr. Lawson, the social studies teacher, said some of them probably had known him personally.



On Thursday, all 2,000 district staff members, including teachers, administrators, office staff members, security personnel and bus drivers, attended a training session on how to identify signs of stress in children. Counselors from the University of Missouri and local nonprofit groups came Schools in Ferguson Area Prepare for an Emotional Opening Day - NYTimes.com:

8-24-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:

Wait What? All Week

 Pelto/Murphy 2014 

Highlights and Lowlights of the Pelto/Murphy 2014 campaign continue to grow

Kicked off by yesterday’s Wait, Wait? Blog post, the Hartford Courant’s Chris Keating wrote a news update entitled, “Breaking: Pelto Fears He Will Not Reach 7,500 Signatures To Get On Ballot.” Keating began his article with the following, In a potential political boost for Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, liberal Democrat Jonathan Pelto told The Hartford […] The post Highlights and Lowlights of the Pelto/Mu

by jonpelto / 41min 

8-23-14 Wait What? - Jonathan Pelto: Gubernatorial Candidate and A Really Nice Guy

Wait What?:  Wait What? All Week Pelto/Murphy 2014 Teacher “wins” appointment to State Board of EducationCongratulations to Erin Bernham, a Meriden teacher on her appointment to the State Board of Education! It is great news that a teacher will be added to counter-balance the cadre of corporate education reform industry advocates who have spent the last four years undermining public education. In

by mike simpson / 41min 

Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue

Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size | Living in Dialogue:



Leonie Haimson, champion of student rights, speaks about the importance of class size



Leonie Haimson, founder of Class Size Matters and champion of student rights, speaks at Occupy the Department of Education in 2013. Read about her recent work here.

Michael Brown | Seattle Education

Michael Brown | Seattle Education:

Michael Brown

Jesse Hagopian is the editor and contributing author of the forthcoming book, More Than a Score: The New Uprising Against High-Stakes Testing. Jesse teaches history and is the co-advisor for the Black Student Union at Garfield High School, the site of the historic boycott of the MAP standardized test.  Jesse is also an associate editor for Rethinking Schools magazine, a founding member of Social Equality Educators (SEE), and recipient of the 2013 “Secondary School Teacher of Year” award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences. The following post was originally published on his blog I am an Educator.

This is a test

“We were at graduation, me and him, and we were talking. He said he wasn’t going to end up like some people on the streets. He was going to get an education.”

–Hershel Johnson, a friend Michael Brown’s since middle school.

 In the wake of the police murder of the unarmed 18-year-old African American high school graduate Michael Brown, and the ensuing uprising of the people of Ferguson, the Ferguson-Florissant School District announced classes would not resume for the school year on Aug. 14 as planned, and as of today, school is still not in session.

The unrest between police and protesters prompted Gov. Jay Nixon (D) to declare a state of emergency in Ferguson and then impose a curfew. Comedian John Oliver described Gov. Nixon’s curfew announcement as “patronizing,” and charged him with speaking in the tone of a “pissed-off vice principal” attempting to further restrict the freedom of the people of Ferguson. Oliver’s school analogy may have been prompted by Nixon’s statement that,

“…to protect the people and property of Ferguson today, I signed an order declaring a state of emergency and ordering implementation of a curfew in the impacted area of Michael Brown | Seattle Education:

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity:

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart

Honestly, I felt guilty on the rare occasion that I shopped at Walmart. Yes I have shopped at Walmart. I didn’t want to, but sometimes at midnight I had no other choice when I needed emergency water for my Discus aquarium and spaghetti sauce. Walmart politics are of course objectionable to me, but they litter the Texas landscape— they are inescapable. One of the surprises about my move to California is that I haven’t even seen a Walmart in Sacramento yet. Of course they exist, but in Texas you can’t spit without hitting a Walmart.

Walmart’s issues have been well documented. For example, the PBS documentary Store Wars included the following:

Wal-Mart employs more people than any other company in the United States outside of the Federal government, yet the majority of its employees with children live below the poverty line. “Buy American” banners are prominently placed throughout its stores; however, the majority of its goods are made outside the U.S. and often in sweatshops.

The sentiment behind Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton’s promise of a “better life for all” belies questionable business practices – many that have been challenged by employees, unions, environmentalists, recording artists and human rights organizations.

Forbes magazine, polling business executives (not employees) has ranked Wal-Mart among the best 100 corporations to work for. Yet the employees on average take home pay of under $250 a week. The salary for full-time employees (called “associates”) is $6 to $7.50 an hour for 28-40 hours a week, which is typical in the discount retail industry. This pay scale places employees with families below the poverty line, with the majority of employees’ children qualifying for free lunch at school. When closely 

Back-to-School? Classrooms by Walmart?: Feel Guilty About Shopping at Walmart | Cloaking Inequity:

8-24-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum

Seattle Schools Community Forum:

Seattle Schools This Week

Seemingly, the quiet before the storm that is the reopening of school next week. The only item on the district calendar is one I erred about in the Friday Open Thread.  Director Patu's Saturday Community meeting is this Saturday, the 30th from 10 am to noon at Cafe Vita.There is also, on Saturday, September 6th, the first Community meeting with President Peaslee in a very long time.  (She has prev

by Melissa Westbrook / 14min 

Seattle Preschool - Time to Start Thinking about Your Vote

We're seeing a ramping up of the start of campaigns for both preschool measures.  Sort of.I would put a link to the City's Preschool for All campaign but there is none.  (The PDC reports $36K being spent but only $150 in donations. It's hard to know what to make of a campaign that has no website.)  When you put "Seattle Preschool for All" into Google, the first hit you get is to..Teacher

by Melissa Westbrook / 26min 

Garfield Field Trip Rape Case

I need a little help (although I know this info is out there somewhere, I'm trying to find it quickly).Aviva (Garfield parent), you had said you might be able to fill in some info for me.  Something new has come to light and I'm hoping you might be able to tell me about it.

by Melissa Westbrook / 5min 

Fix the omission

Something's missing and we all know what it is.It's the unfulfilled commitment I have been requesting for over ten years. It's the hole at the heart of the district's dysfunction. It is the emptiness at the root of the complaints and protests about the Garfield rape case. It is what was absent from Director Peaslee's understanding of the protests and it was omitted from Dr. Nyland's letter.The Dis

2 by Charlie Mas / 1h 

8-23-14 Seattle Schools Community Forum Week

Seattle Schools Community Forum:Seattle Schools Community ForumCritical Incident Response PlanI'm sorry to report that the Critical Incident Response Plan referenced in Dr. Nyland's letter to the community is total bunk. It is, at best, a PR plan. It is designed to respond to potential sources of bad press.It basically calls for district officials to gather information, comply with policies, proce

by mike simpson / 43min

8-24-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

Laurel Sturt's "Davonte's Inferno" Blows the Lid on Ed Deform

We are awash in a sea of books on education produced mostly by non-teachers, pseudo-journalists, often with more than a tinge of bias. It seems that everyone covering the education wars spurred by ed deform must write a book. We hear about building better teachers, teacher wars, and how we learn, just to name a few. But books by real teachers who might actually know something always seem to take s

by ed notes online / 0min 

UFT History in a Graphic: Caucuses from 1960-2014

I just finished reading Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" about the first month of WWI. Almost every issue we face today can be related back to decisions and outcomes a hundred years ago and beyond that.We need to know some history of the UFT in order to fully understand things in context. I created this flow chart in attempt to get some history on record.I created this for the first MO

by ed notes online / 13min 

8-23-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineInspecting Eva MoskowitzWith admirable restraint, the head of the New York City Charter Center, James Merriman, pronounced the results “remarkable” and attributed the results to Success’ intensive instruction....A lot of schools, including many charter high-fliers, offer high-octane teaching. None come close to matching Success Academy’s results the last two years..

by mike simpson / 45min 

Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education

Marie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education:

The Ten Commandments of Public Education

I. Public schools are open to everyone. Thou shalt not call charter schools public because they aren't.

• Charter schools do not have elected boards that answer to the public 
• Charter schools are not subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools
• Charter schools can and do cherry pick the best students
• Through convoluted business deals many charter school operators make enormous sums of money but the schools perform on average, no better than public schools 
• Education is a right of every citizen in the US. Closing schools, and denying students access to a thorough and efficient education (New Orleans and Newark are 2 recent examples) takes away that right.
• 'Choice' does not equal 'Access'. A lottery does not guarantee every child who wants to attend a charter will be able to attend—and graduate.

II. Thou shalt not take the name of teachers in vain.

• No bashing, trashing, demoralizing or name calling
• We're not greedy, lazy or selfish
• We're not all inept or incompetent. As in any profession, there are some who are not doing a good job. It's the administrator's job to take all legal steps necessary to help the educator, or file tenure charges.
• We are not sitting around waiting to collect a pension
• We are not responsible for the physical, emotional and psychological baggage our students carry with them to school every dayMarie Corfield: The Ten Commandments of Public Education:

The Answer Sheet 8-24-14

Answer Sheet:

Next: #PayMyTuitionChallenge

There is no end to the ingenuity of Twitter users. After the success of the  #IceBucketChallenge on Twitter to raise awareness for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord), some enterprising young people decided to challenge people, generally people they don’t know, to pay […]

by Valerie Strauss / 15min 

All Week @ The Answer Sheet 8-23-14

The Answer Sheet:All Week @ The Answer SheetBack-to-school stress: How to recognize it and help kids manage it  Yes, kids get super-stressed, too, but it isn’t always easy to tell what is bothering them because they hide symptoms or explain them in vague ways. As the 2014-15 school year gears up, it’s a good time to learn how to identify stress in children and teens and help them manage it. Here a

by mike simpson / 37min 

8-24-14 Schools Matter

Schools Matter:

Teachers Must Have Parents' Help to Protect Children from Testing Abuse

Read this if you are a parent or grandparent.  And then act.

2 by Jim Horn / 1h 

Bloomberg's Impoverished Poverty Eradication Plan

Since finally leaving his New York mayor's throne to someone far less princely, Mike Bloomberg is spending his time jetting around the world playing big shot with his bags of cash and, like all bullies, an unhealthy disdain for anyone who disagrees with him. These days he claims to be all about giving away all his dough before he dies, but if Forbes is right, Bloomberg obviously plans to live on i

by Jim Horn / 8min 

8-23-14 Schools Matter All Week

Schools Matter:  Schools Matter All WeekMarshall Tuck's staunchest supporters are unabashed Ayn Rand votaries"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable t

by mike simpson / 1h 

Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle)

Sara Mosle, who teaches writing at Philip’s Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., has written about education for The New York Times, Slate, and other publications. This appeared Aug 13 2014 at: Atlantic Online

 

Teaching dwarfs every other profession that requires a college degree. Nationwide, 3.7 million schoolteachers serve grades K–12—more than all the doctors, lawyers, and engineers in the country combined. Teacher shortages, once chronic, abated during the recession, when layoffs were widespread, but will soon return with a vengeance. Fully half of all teachers are Baby Boomers on the brink of retirement. Among novice teachers, who constitute an increasingly large proportion of the remaining workforce, between 40 and 50 percent typically quit within just five years, citing job dissatisfaction or more-alluring prospects. Given this drain at both ends of the teaching pipeline, schools will likely need to hire more than 3 million new teachers by 2020. That is an enormous talent hole to fill.

Yet the United States has, if anything, too many teacher-training programs. Each year, some 1,400 of them indiscriminately churn out twice as many graduates as schools can use. Program quality varies widely, so many would-be teachers don’t suit schools’ needs. In a scathing 2006 report, Arthur Levine, a former president of Columbia University’s Teachers College, accused many education schools of being little more than a “cash cow” for their hosting institution. Among the problems he highlighted were exceedingly “low admission standards,” a “curriculum in disarray,” and faculties “disconnected” from the realities of the classroom.

Once hired, many teachers are left to sink or swim. In recent years, several states have adopted controversial accountability measures, known as “value added” metrics, with a view toward winnowing out poor performers who haven’t produced student improvement on standardized tests; helping teachers hone their craft has seldom made it onto the agenda. But perhaps we’re finally ready to focus attention on the far bigger and more important question of how to Building Better Teachers—-Mastering the craft demands time to collaborate—just what American schools don’t provide (Sara Mosle) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice:

The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory

The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory:

The Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory

Sunday, 24 August 2014 00:00By Adam Bessie and Dan Carino, Truthout | Graphic Journalism

Truthout readers like you made this story possible. Can you help sustain our work with a tax-deductible donation?

For a more immersive experience, readers will find documentation and links to further reading embedded within in the images.

Special thanks for the scholarship and insight from: Diane Ravitch (Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's Public Schools); Anthony Cody (The Educator and The Oligarch: A Teacher Challenges the Gates Foundation, forthcoming); Paul Thomas (Social Context Reform: A Pedagogy of Equity and Opportunity); Mercedes Schneider (A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Public Education); Joanne Barkan (See her must read investigative series in Dissent Magazine).

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This comic accompanies a two-year long Truthout supported series illustrating the education reform debate from an alternative perspective, both ideologically and visually. For previous graphic essays on education by Adam Bessie, see alsoThe Gates Foundation Education Reform Hype Machine and Bizarre Inequality Theory: