Daily Headlines for June 15, 2012
Romney Schools Obama
Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2012
Mitt Romney got slammed by the Obama campaign recently for suggesting that the country doesn’t need more public school teachers. The president’s team says that more spending to hire educators is essential to better student outcomes and overall economic growth.
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
Oakland Parents Win Approval For Charter At Lazear
San Francisco Chronicle, CA, June 15, 2012
A 100-year-old Oakland public school, as many have known it, will close Friday, capping off a storied history that included a devastating fire and parent-fueled strikes over the years to force changes in staffing and classroom conditions.
But it’s not the end for Lazear Elementary School families who have refused to let go.
L.A. Teachers Face New Evaluations
Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2012
In the past three years, at least 30 states have begun to use student achievement to evaluate teachers, spurred in part by President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative as well as by some Republican governors. California isn’t one of them.
LAUSD’s Big Test
Los Angeles Times, CA, June 14, 2012
A judge says the district and union must find a way to use student progress in teachers’ evaluations.
New Charter School Scheduled To Open
Auburn Journal, CA, June 15, 2012
Enrollment numbers have exceeded target and the doors to the Alta Vista Community Charter are scheduled to open Aug. 15.
Charter School Gets OK From PUSD Board
Pasadena Star-News, CA, June 14, 2012
A new charter school targeting at-risk children in Northwest Pasadena was approved by the Pasadena Unified School District on Tuesday night, but there are still questions about the school’s location and whether it will “skim” students from the public system.
COLORADO
D60 OKs School Merger
The Chieftain, CO, June 15, 2012
After months of negotiations, the Pueblo City Schools district (D60) board on Thursday night approved a single contract with Cesar Chavez Academy and Dolores Huerta Preparatory High school .
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
D.C. Schools Win $10 Million In ‘what’s Possible’ Grants To Experiment With Technology, Extended Day
Washington Post Blog, DC, June 14, 2012
Fifty-nine District public schools, most of them the system’s lowest performers, will use $10 million in grants to experiment with extended days, technology and other initiatives to spur academic achievement, Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and Chancellor Kaya Henderson announced Thursday.
FLORIDA
To Remain Open For Business, Charters Have To Perform
Orlando Sentinel, FL, June 15, 2012
Are charter schools held accountable for their performance? The answer is a resounding “yes.” Public charter schools must adhere to a somewhat different, but even more stringent accountability system than district public schools.
Florida’s Rules Don’t Protect Interests Of Students, Taxpayers
Orlando Sentinel, FL, June 15, 2012
A memorable exchange took place in February 2011 between two powerful Florida senators during a committee debate on Senate Bill 736, which ushered in Florida’s new teacher-evaluation system.
GEORGIA
Ultimate Cost Of Charter Schools Could Prove High
Cherokee Tribune, GA, June 15, 2012
Over the past few weeks and months, we have seen scrutiny of the charter school system here in Georgia and around the nation
ILLINOIS
How Safe Is Your Child’s School? It’s Hard To Find Out
Chicago Tribune, IL, June 15, 2012
Across Illinois, districts fail to let state know about thousands of cases involving drugs, weapons and attacks on teachers
LOUISIANA
Edna Karr High School Personnel Action Draws Cease-And-Desist Order
Times Picayune, LA, June 14, 2012
The Algiers association helps manage both Karr and Alice Harte Elementary in a unique arrangement with the state. The School Board holds a contract, known as Type 4 charter, from the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for both schools, and it has another contract in place with the Algiers association to manage operations such as payroll and benefits.
Parents Stream by School Voucher Display at Oakwood Mall
Times Picayune, LA, June 14, 2012
Parents stopped one-by-one at a group of tables in the middle of Oakwood Center shopping mall in Terrytown Thursday, approaching Louisiana education officials about a newly available option, vouchers that let them move their children to different schools. The program has critics, but the visitors at Thursday’s installment of an informational tour focused on using it to find new settings for their children.
Louisiana Officials Are Still Working On How To Assess Private Schools Receiving Vouchers
Times Picayune, LA, June 14, 2012
Anyone hoping to learn this month how the state’s top education official is planning to hold private schools accountable for their academic results with students in Louisiana’s new voucher program will have to wait. Until when isn’t clear.
MAINE
Lepage Pressures Charter School Commission To Accelerate Approval Process
Bangor Daily News, ME, June 14, 2012
The Maine Charter School Commission will begin hearings Friday on the state’s first three applications for charter schools and respond to a terse request from Gov. Paul LePage to speed up its process regarding two other applications that the commission previously decided to delay.
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Parents Urge Changes To Teacher Hiring Process
Boston Globe, MA, June 15, 2012
Parents, teachers, and administrators in the Boston public schools called for changes to the teacher hiring and retention process Thursday, arguing that seniority protections too often allow poorly performing instructors to stay on the job.
Teachers Union Wisely Puts Quality Ahead of Seniority
Boston Globe, MA, June 15, 2012
The compromise agreement between the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the advocacy group Stand for Children doesn’t provide absolute assurance that every child in the state will have the benefit of a competent, dedicated teacher. But it does push the system in that direction, albeit slowly.
NEVADA
School Chief Envisions Day When Best Teachers Get Paid $200,000
Las Vegas Review-Journal, NV, June 15, 2012
Nevada’s new schools superintendent hopes for a time when the state’s best teachers will earn $200,000 a year and top college graduates will choose teaching over professions that are traditionally more lucrative.
NEW JERSEY
Competing Teacher Tenure Bills Move Forward
New Jersey Spotlight, NJ, June 15, 2012
Tenure reform in New Jersey saw a lot of action yesterday, on a couple of fronts. The question now is whether any of them will get over the finish line.
Seniority Not Challenged In Latest Version Of Teacher Tenure Reform Bill
Star-Ledger, NJ, June 15, 2012
A tenure reform bill set to be considered by legislators next week will no longer strip teachers of their seniority rights, a provision Gov. Chris Christie has said he considers a top education reform priority.
NEW YORK
Give Schools the Power to Punish
New York Times, NY, June 15, 2012
Here’s why: In New York’s public schools, the power to discipline teachers and administrators does not lie with the school district. Instead, it rests with an arbitrator, jointly selected by the school district and the teachers’ union.
In theory and in practice, this system is a recipe for disaster.
The Cuomo Compromise
New York Post, NY, June 15, 2012
With help from Gov. Cuomo , New York ’s teachers unions are about to score a big win — at the cost of public-school accountability.
NORTH CAROLINA
No Ride To Schools Of Choice
Greenville Daily Reflector, NC, June 15, 2012
Families in Pitt County who have enrolled their child in a higher-achieving school under the federal No Child Left Behind Act have a decision ahead of them for next school year.
OHIO
Toledo Area Charter Schools Make Plans To Expand, Grow
Toledo Blade, OH, June 15, 2012
At least four new charter schools plan to enter the crowded Toledo education field next year, and an additional school with two sites in the area plans to open a new campus.
Schools Probe Attendance Figures
Columbus Dispatch, OH, June 15, 2012
Columbus schools retroactively alter thousands of student-attendance records at the end of each school year, casting doubt on the accuracy of the district’s state report card, current and former district officials told The Dispatch.
OKLAHOMA
Let’s Erase Pockets of Mediocrity in Oklahoma City Schools
The Oklahoman, OK, June 15, 2012
The planned downtown Oklahoma City elementary school proposes to be “very special unlike the traditional Oklahoma City schools,” an architect said at a planning meeting last week.
OREGON
Charter Challenge
Register-Guard, OR, June 15, 2012
What’s it like to start up a charter school a scant seven months after you’ve been granted permission to operate?
PENNSYLVANIA
More Charters Means More Rules
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 15, 2012
Before New Jersey hightails it down the road to more charter schools, including cyber charters, it needs to ensure better oversight.
Pity the Superman Sent to Krypton
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, June 15, 2012
In what is becoming an annual rite of spring, teachers are perusing the district’s annual vacancy list. A growing number of these teachers have been turned out of schools where they worked diligently, accused of being the problem for children, rather than one of the solutions in the lives of some of our most neglected citizens.
RHODE ISLAND
Don’t Let School Vouchers Fool You
Go Local Prov, RI, June 15, 2012
It should be clear by this time that Louisiana’s voucher system—and, indeed, all voucher systems—are not actually about helping children or low-income communities. Indeed, that’s never been their real purpose. Vouchers are about one thing and one thing only: wide-scale school privatization
TENNESSEE
Memphis School of Excellence Charter Keeps on Amid Questions
Commercial Appeal, TN, June 15, 2012
The Memphis School of Excellence is connected to the Cosmos Foundation, a charter management organization that County Commissioner Terry Roland charges not only has ties to a U.S. Islamic network but also figures in former mayor Willie Herenton’s plans to open charter schools here.
Evaluations Needed But So Are Changes
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN, June 15, 2012
Seven convoluted recommendations for change came out of the study of the new teacher evaluation system conducted by State Collaborative on Reforming Education, the think tank known as SCORE that Gov. Bill Haslam asked to provide feedback on the evaluations because teachers were balking.
No Turning Back On Teacher Evaluation Reform
Knoxville News Sentinel, TN, June 15, 2012
The most important sentence in a report on Tennessee’s new teacher evaluation process is easy to miss. With media reports focused on shortcomings and the kumbaya call for collaboration, teachers, principals, administrators, legislators and parents shouldn’t have to search so hard for the bottom line of the findings by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education.
WASHINGTON
WEA Challenges Charter School Initiative in Court
Seattle Times, WA, June 14, 2012
The Washington Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, says it has gone to court to contest the ballot title and summary of a charter schools initiative.
Plan Offers Jump-Off Point For Improving Education System
The Olympian, WA, June 15, 2012
Given that the Washington Constitution specifically identifies funding public education as the “paramount duty” of the state, a fact the state Supreme Court underscored in the McCleary decision, it was politically correct for both gubernatorial candidates, in their first public debate this week, to pledge an additional $1 billion for our schools.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Online Charter School Coming to Farmington
Farmington Daily-Times, NM, June 14, 2012
More than 280 of the 300 students currently enrolled in the New Mexico Virtual Academy Charter School are not from Farmington, though the school soon will be the newest in the district.