Daily Headlines for May 31, 2011
The Charter School Solution: The Best — Or Worst — Idea Ever?
Sun Journal, ME, May 29, 2011
Roger Brainerd was a public school teacher when he came to a simple, inescapable conclusion: Maine needs charter schools.
Grand Theft Education
Washington Times, DC, May 30, 2011
Parents desperate for better schools shouldn’t be prosecuted for cheating
Bill Gates and the School Reform Debate
New York Times, NY, May 29, 2011
Your article reports that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is financing groups that seek to eliminate seniority as a basis for teacher retention. While eliminating the seniority system might be the most efficacious way to keep the best teachers in times of layoffs if quality alone were used as the criterion, quality rarely governs such occasions.
Fine Line Between Like-Minded Folks And Conspiracy
News Tribune, WA, May 31, 2011
This column was not funded in whole or in part by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It may, however, be one of the few commentaries about education reform that isn’t influenced by Washington ’s favorite multi-billionaires.
FROM THE STATES
ALABAMA
A New Tenure Law, Yet Again
Huntsville Times, AL, May 29, 2011
Republicans and Democrats alike in the Alabama Legislature probably would agree the teacher tenure bill that was signed into law by Gov. Robert Bentley Thursday will make it a lot easier for superintendents and school boards to fire teachers and other school employees.
CALIFORNIA
Charter School Leader Vielka McFarlane Brings Personal History, Passion To Education
Los Angeles Times, CA, May 30, 2011
Vielka McFarlane, after winning a fight with Los Angeles County schools officials over California’s ‘parent trigger’ law, plans to open a new charter school in Compton
COLORADO
Another Shot at Race to the Top
Denver Post, CO, May 29, 2011
Hopefully the third time will be the charm for Colorado to win federal education funds. The CEA needs to get behind this bid.
FLORIDA
Dade Teachers May Get Merit Pay This Summer
Miami Herald, FL, May 29, 2011
About 90 percent of Miami-Dade’s public school teachers could see extra money in their paychecks, ranging from a few hundred dollars to $25,000.
HAWAII
Charter Schools Reform Includes Better Oversight
Honolulu Star-Advertiser, HI, May 29, 2011
Charter schools represent an example of an improvement that is trickier to manage than it sounds. In theory, few would dispute the contention that independent schools with a distinct mission, untethered from an educational bureaucracy, can operate more freely and produce the thing that’s too often missing in public education: innovation.
IDAHO
Challenge to School Reform Laws Follows Only Four Other Idaho Laws Tested By Ballot
Magic Valley Times-News, ID, May 29, 2011
If Idaho’s history with referendum efforts is any indication, opponents of public schools chief Tom Luna’s education reform laws will face an uphill battle in convincing voters to overturn the legislation at the polls in November 2012.
LOUISIANA
Test Scores a Boost for Backers of Charter-Heavy New Orleans Model, But Critics Question Aspects of New System
Times Picayune, LA, May 29, 2011
The head of a new coalition of public school leaders and teachers says the group expects to weigh in soon with its view of statewide standardized test scores.
MASSACHUSETTS
City School Board’s Charter Budget Plan Deserves State Look
Gloucester Daily Times, MA, May 31, 2011
From the start, the loudest complaints regarding the launch of a charter school — most pronounced in Gloucester, but in other communities as well — have always centered on the state’s charter school funding mechanism. This School Committee resolution would bring a very basic but potentially very healthy change.
MICHIGAN
Is Detroit Public Schools Worth Saving? Charter Process Sparks Debate
Detroit Free Press, MI, May 31, 2011
The Detroit Public Schools, as we know it, could disappear in a few years. A DPS action plan would charter up to 45 schools, close 20 and leave about 70 that include the best-performing schools, some newly constructed and a handful of special-education schools that are expensive to run.
Catholic School Says ‘Try Us, You’ll Like Us’
Union Enterprise, MI, May 30, 2011
St. Margaret Catholic School officials have a new plan to try to convince parents of the value of a Catholic education.
NEW YORK
Lawsuit May Prevent New Visions Charter Schools from Opening in Marble Hill
New York Daily News, NY, May 31, 2011
Jasmine Blackwell was swept away by promises that two new charter schools will open in September, and she entered her son in a lottery to vie for a seat in one of them.
The Combined Assault on Charter Schools by the Teachers Union and the NAACP is a Disgrace to Both
New York Daily News, NY, May 29, 2011-05-31
The mother of two Brooklyn elementary school children has powerfully expressed how horribly wrong the United Federation of Teachers and the NAACP are in their furious attacks on charter schools.
OHIO
Even Top Teachers Fall Victim to Budget
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 29, 2011
Every Pickerington school chooses a teacher of the year. There are 14. But five of this year’s honorees are losing their jobs to budget cuts that will affect 120 teachers.
For These Grads, Option Saves the Day
Columbus Dispatch, OH, May 28, 2011
About 10 percent of Groveport Madison High School’s graduating class was in danger of dropping out or already had done so at the start of the school year.
PENNSYLVANIA
Embrace Change In Pennsylvania Education System
Patriot News, PA, May 29, 2011
Pennsylvania lawmakers are debating several education reforms that, taken together, would have a tremendous effect on the state’s education system.
Multi-Cultural Academy Teachers Vote for Union
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, May 30, 2011
Teachers and staff at the Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School in North Philadelphia have voted to be represented by an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers Pennsylvania.
New Charter School Study Questions Results
Pottstown Mercury, PA, May 29, 2011
Issues of secrecy aside, Pottstown School District Superintendent Reed Lindley has made plain in e-mails on the subject that he is not blindly wedded to inviting charter schools into Pottstown .
RHODE ISLAND
Tensions Rising Again Among Teachers, Administration at Central Falls High School
Providence Journal, RI, May 29, 2011
The tattered relationship between school district leaders and the city’s teachers union has frayed further in recent weeks, even as the two sides try to collaborate to improve troubled Central Falls High School.
TENNESSEAN
Charters Still Face Some Misconceptions
The Tennessean, TN, May 31, 2011
May 24 was a major milestone for KIPP Academy Nashville charter school: The Metro school board approved a charter for KIPP’s first Nashville high school in 2013, which will expand on the success of our existing grades 5-8 middle school.
VIRGINIA
Education: Comparing Schools
Richmond Times-Dispatch, VA, May 31, 2011
Heather Nees wasn’t trying to start a spat — or make a point about education — when she made a remark at a recent hearing over school boundaries in Chesterfield. But she inadvertently did both when she said the possibility that her two children might attend different high schools — Cosby and Manchester — left her wondering, “How do I tell one child she’s worthy of a [quality] education and the other, not so much?”
The Story Behind School Choice Study”
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI, May 28, 2011
The results are more complicated than they are sometimes portrayed.
VIRTUAL EDUCATION
BAMS Students Thrive In Online Classroom
Brattleboro Reformer, VT, May 30, 2011
For some middle school students, writing and self-expression can be difficult tasks. Teachers at Brattleboro Area Middle School however, are trying to do something about it using the Internet to create a safe digital classroom.
Lewisville ISD Considering Mandarin Online Class
Dallas Morning News, TX, May 29, 2011
The Lewisville school district is conducting a survey to find out if students would be interested in learning Mandarin Chinese through an online course offered through the Texas Virtual School Network.
Boulder-Area Schools Intrigued By Virtual Snow Day Idea
Daily Camera, CO, May 30, 2011
School districts and universities across the country are replacing snow angels and hot cocoa with online algebra and English during snow days and other school cancellations
Online school to enroll 100 New Students
Red Bluff Daily News, CA
Student registration and enrollment has begun for Northern California’s new tuition-free, online school for grades kindergarten through 12th Lost Coast Virtual Academy.