Daily Headlines for August 16, 2013
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NATIONAL COVERAGE
National teachers union wisely engages dissenters
Editorial, Seattle Times, August 15, 2013
The National Education Association engages the critics in its ranks, a strategy based on inclusion and survival.
School Standrads’ Debut Is Rocky, and Critics Pounce
New York Times, August 16, 2013
The Common Core, a set of standards for kindergarten through high school that has been ardently supported by the Obama administration and many business leaders and state legislatures, is facing growing opposition from both the right and the left even before it has been properly introduced into classrooms.
STATE COVERAGE
COLORADO
Coronado Pathways Charter, Not Your Parents’ High School
Coronado Eagle and Journal, August 15, 2013
Opening its doors for the first time this fall is Coronado Pathways Charter School. At the top of the school’s organizational chart is Director Kevin Nicolls, who describes the type of student who might benefit from the new high school. “It’s an alternative school for traditional students who are passionate about their sport, their art form, creative expression and cannot fully pursue a traditional high school schedule.”
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Va. governor says local control is key to school success
Washington Post, August 15, 2013
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) emphasized the central importance of locally controlled public schools Thursday during a visit to T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria.
FLORIDA
Florida school districts need more power to do their job
Opinion, Sun Sentinel, August 16, 2013
Since 1999, Florida public schools have been turned into the equivalent of laboratory rats in the name of sweeping education reform. Republican governors and their lapdog Legislatures have sworn that they know how to make good ones great and ailing ones healthy.
GEORGIA
Druid Hills charter cluster vote was neither fair nor legal
Atlanta Journal Constitution Blog, August 15, 2013
The Druid Hills High School charter cluster vote prompted this critical response from Georgia State University associate professor Henry F. “Chip” Carey, who has been an official observer of elections worldwide.
IDAHO
Commission approves charter school
Idaho Mountain Express, August 16, 2013
The Idaho Public Charter School Commission on Thursday approved an application for Syringa Mountain School to become a state-funded charter school.
ILLINOIS
Dist. 15 must offer choice to students at seven schools
Daily Herald, August 15, 2013
Due to benchmarks many officials consider arbitrary and practically impossible to attain, Palatine Township Elementary District 15 must offer students at seven of its schools the option of transferring.
INDIANA
IPS asks for state takeover records from Tony Bennett’s tenure
Indianapolis Star, August 16, 2013
Members of the Indianapolis Public Schools Board want to see former Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett’s emails, too.
IPS board member calls for one application process for district, charter schools
Indianapolis Star, August 16, 2013
Indianapolis Public School Board member Caitlin Hannon on Thursday called for one application process for district and charter schools in the city and said the district should consider sharing school building space and transportation with charters.
Let’s stop the religious debate over vouchers
Editorial, News-Sentinel, August 16, 2013
It’s time to focus on how well the program works for children.
More accountability put in place for Dunes charter school
NW Times, August 15, 2013
Gary Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, a retired teacher and a strong proponent of traditional public schools, said she sees nothing wrong with a charter school that has lost its authorizer shopping around for a new one.
KANSAS
Kansas is at ‘high risk’ of losing its waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act
Kansas City Star, August 15, 2013
Kansas was one of three states put on notice Thursday that it is at “high risk” of losing its waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act.
LOUISIANA
Course Choice voucher program will serve all students who want it for 2013-14
Times-Picyune, August 16, 2013
Enrollment in Louisiana’s unique Course Choice pilot program will reach almost 3,500, after the state Department of Education found $1 million to clear the 1,000-plus student wait list.
EBR School Board agrees to let two existing charters expand
The Advocate, August 15, 2013
The East Baton Rouge School Board on Thursday agreed to let two charter school groups already running schools in Baton Rouge add second schools as early as 2014, but rejected seven other applicants.
MAINE
Portland charter school denied occupancy approval
Portland Press Herald, August 15, 2013
The charter school plans to fix building code violations and start year one on time.
MARYLAND
Newark Charter High School ready to open
Newark Post, August 16, 2013
In 2001, Newark Charter School opened with 450 students housed in two nondescript modular buildings on Barksdale Road.
University Of Md. Partnership Puts Baltimore KIPP Students On Fast Track To College
WJZ-13, August 15, 2013
A partnership between the University of Maryland and one city school is designed to put students on the fast track to college.
MASSACHUSETTS
Argosy school proponents confidend in second bid for Fall River charter
Herald News, August 15, 2013
Students at the proposed Argosy Collegiate Charter School wouldn’t be called students. Instead they would be referred to as “scholars.”
House Chair discusses school caps
Malden Observer, August 15, 2013
As Boston opened its last allowable charter school on Monday and other communities bump up against limits, state lawmakers could be willing to lift the cap in some districts, a top lawmaker who steers education policy said Thursday.
MISSISSIPPI
Charter schools a bad deal for Miss., public education
Opinion, Clarion Ledger, August 16, 2013
Just what fiscally strapped Mississippi needs: two state boards overseeing public schools. We’ve had the state Board of Education that was written into Mississippi’s Constitution in 1984 as a long-sought progressive reform.
MISSOURI
County-wide district would help fix Normandy, Riverview Gardens schools
Column, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 16, 2013
All four of Missouri’s Constitutions in our rich history have promised every student in our state access to a free quality public education. Indeed, for any child to not have access to effective, free public education is a dereliction of duty on the part of the citizens of Missouri.
NEW JERSEY
Jersey City has fired four teachers in year since tenure reform law signed
Jersey Journal, August 16, 2013
Jersey City public school teachers have not fared well under the state’s tenure overhaul, which Gov. Chris Christie signed into law one year ago this month.
NJ schools turn to familiar instrument to measure teacher performance
New Jersey Spotlight, August 16, 2013
Charlotte Danielson talks about the challenges as her “Frameworks for Teaching” is adopted by more than 300 public school districts.
NEW YORK
City Expands Acclaimed Tech Schools
Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2013
The city Department of Education plans to expand its early college and career technical education high school program—lauded by President Obama in his State of the Union speech—with three new schools next year.
Charter schools need more accountability, Expert panel agrees
WCPO, August 15, 2013
Ohio’s rapidly expanding voucher and charter schools funding lacks critical accountability testing and consequences for poorly performing schools, a bipartisan panel of educators and state legislators involved in education agreed Thursday.
PENNSYLVANIA
Chesco charter loses fight to remain open
Philadelphia Inquirer, August 16, 2013
A Coatesville-area charter school lost a last-ditch attempt to stay open Thursday after a Commonwealth Court judge declined to stay the revocation of its charter.
Court rules against Graystone Academy
Daily Local News, August 15, 2013
A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge Thursday denied Graystone Academy’s request to open for the start of school on Aug. 26.
Philadelphia Schools to Open on Time
Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2013
Cash Infusion of $50 Million Will Help Close a Budget Hole; Mayor and City-Council President Disagree on Source of Funding.
School choice tipped sclaes with judge in Pocono Mountain Charter School case
Pocono Record, August 16, 2013
The educational choice of parents and students would have been imperiled if the Pocono Mountain Charter School closed before an appeal was resolved, a judge wrote in a decision that allowed the school to remain open.
SRC unanimously passes suspensions of state school codes
Philadelphia Daily News, August 16, 2013
IN THE FACE of a fed-up Philadelphia community carrying insulting signs, the School Reform Commission voted unanimously yesterday to suspend school codes that affect employees’ seniority rights and wage increases, as well as charter-school growth.
TENNESSEE
Former Memphis mayor opens 7 charter schools, shows detractors he’s still got it
Memphis Commercial Appeal, August 15, 2013
Former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton opened seven charter schools Thursday on three campuses, pulling off what detractors said was a pipe dream and launching himself on the road toward a second legacy.
Teach for America alum heads new charter school
The Tennessean, August 15, 2013
Nikki Miller never thought she’d open a school. But for the past year and half, she dreamed of nothing but opening the doors to KIPP Nashville College Prep — KIPP Academy’s second charter middle school in the city — located in the Whites Creek area.
WASHINGTON
State’s ‘No Child’ waiver in jeopardy
Bellingham Herald, August 16, 2013
US Department of Education places waiver request on ‘high-risk’ status because of teacher evaluation rules.
WISCONSIN
McDonell Area Catholic Schools gets into top 25 for state voucher program
Chippewa Herald, August 15, 2013
McDonell Area Catholic Schools will be able to participate in the state’s voucher program but St. Paul Parish Catholic Church in Bloomer fell just short of the top 25 cutoff set by the state.
ONLINE LEARNING
3 days into the school year, TN Cyber Academy still not approved
WBIR, August 14, 2013
Hundreds of students across the state are still waiting to learn if they will be able to attend East Tennessee’s second virtual school, based in Campbell County.
Learning outside the classroom offers different opportunities for students
KFDA, August 16, 2013
With the school year quickly approaching, more parents are looking into different ways of educating their children.
Parents upset over demise of Virtual School
Alexandria Town Talk, August 16, 2013
Parents whose children successfully completed courses under the Louisiana Virtual School are unhappy that Superintendent of Education John White killed the state-run program in favor of privatization.
USD 457 rolling out virtual school program
Garden City Telegram, August 16, 2013
Much has changed since Mark Ronn went to school. Ronn, principal of Garden City Alternate Education Center, said his generation’s idea of school was showing up at the building for eight hours, eating lunch and maybe attending a football game on Friday nights.
West Clermont adjusts online costs
Cincinnati Enquirer, August 15, 2013
However, the most significant change will be the cost for enrollment in the district’s Virtual Academy, which provides students with an opportunity to take all of their coursework online.