Archives for the month of: February, 2013

This just arrived in my email box:

LAUSD: Follow The Money by Joseph K

Mensaje se repite en Español)
I have to do this my way. You tell me what you know, and I’ll confirm. I’ll keep you in the right direction if I can, but that’s all. Just… follow the money.

-Deep Throat, “All the President’s Men” (1976) 

If you want to know the direction LAUSD School Board President Monica Garcia and new candidate Kate Anderson want to take the Los Angeles School District after the upcoming election, then follow the money. In this case following the money isn’t difficult because there is just so damn much of it. Start with an astounding quarter of a million dollars by Eli Broad, Superintendent Deasy’s mentor and puppet master, and another quarter million by fellow billionaire, Latino media magnate A. Jerrold Perenchio, formerly of Univision. Together they pushed “their” Coalition for School Reform’s coffers to $1.5 million. Then Mayor Villaraigosa who, along with Broad, was instrumental in bringing Deasy to LAUSD, called in the really big gun by brokering a deal with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who contributed an additional million dollars for the Coalition -money education historian Diane Ravitch called “repugnant and an affront to democracy.”

What qualifies Bloomberg to buy a Board of Education three thousand miles distant? In New York with the help of the Gates Foundation, he closed more than 150 “failing schools” replacing them with smaller schools and charter schools. Sixty percent of these “new and improved” smaller elementary and middle schools now have lower passing rates than the schools they replaced. Just 38% of the students at elementary and middle schools created by the Bloomberg administration passed the reading exams, compared with 47% of students citywide. Former NYC School Chancellor Joel Klein, who raised proficiency rates by dramatically lowering expectations, pitched in another $25,000.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bloomberg-new-schools-failed-thousands-city-students-article-1.1119406#ixzz2LC0W0ylq
 

Bloomberg’s schools share this attribute with Villaraigosa’s Partnership for Los Angeles Schools (PLAS), which have been a dismal failure. Roosevelt High School was divided into seven small schools in the name of “improvement” in 2007. Only one of the seven principals had previous experience as a principal. In 2009, Roosevelt teachers gave Villaraigosa and PLAS an “F” because they saw no improvement. Now in 2013, many school and community members are in open revolt. Enrollment has plummeted. The LA Weekly, citing API scores, noted that Roosevelt made Compton Unified look like the “district of the freaking month.” 

Mayor Villaraigosa called Bloomberg, “the most important voice in education reform today” – education deform is more like it. The Coalition for School Reform may as well be in Deasy’s pocketbook. Megan Chernin is a major backer and the former head of charter operator LA’s Promise as is Steven Prough, the current head, who contributed $10,000 personally. How good is L.A.’s Promise in keeping its promises? In 2010, 91% of West Adams Prep students were not proficient in English and 82% were not proficient in math. Manuel Arts, which L.A.’s Promise had also “promised” to turn into a Garden of Eden had astoundingly high non-proficiency rates of 97% and 90% respectively in 2010. Their achievement rates seem inversely proportional to the glossiness of their marketing brochures.

Jaimie Alter Lynton donated $100,000 to the Coalition. She, like Chernin, is on the board of Deasy’s fundraising nonprofit group. Lynton also launched L.A. School Report which is basically dedicated to extolling and promoting Deasy and electing both Anderson and Garcia while simultaneously denouncing the teachers’ union as the protector of pedophiles. 

Kate Anderson has called Deasy “the best superintendent this district has had in decades” and wants to make all schools as “great” as New West Charter School. New West is 62% white and Asian, 24% Latino, and 12% Black. Only 11% of its students are on free or reduced lunches. It boasts not a single English Language learner in the entire school. Special education statistics are unavailable for some mysterious reason. Let’s make all schools just like New West Charter School. 

You want to know about Garcia and Anderson? Just follow the money. 

Joseph K. is a 27-year veteran of LAUSD, a former mentor teacher twice named a Johns Hopkins University Teaching Fellow. He teaches the old-fashioned way – by ignoring standardized test scores. Instead of teaching bubbling, he tries to instill a love of knowledge and learning in his students and for this reason will probably be allowed to continue teaching for fifteen more minutes.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch: 
 
 
En Español
 
Tengo que hacer esto a mi manera. Tú me dices lo que sabes, y yo voy a confirmar. Te voy a mantener en la dirección correcta si puedo, pero eso es todo. Sólo … seguir el dinero.
-Deep Throat, “Todos los hombres del presidente” (1976)
Si desea conocer la dirección de la Junta Escolar de LAUSD Mónica García, y el presidente nuevo candidato Kate Anderson quiere tomar el Los Angeles Distrito Escolar después de las próximas elecciones, a continuación, seguir el dinero. En este caso, después de que el dinero no es difícil porque no es tan condenadamente mucho. Comience con un sorprendente cuarto de millón de dólares por Eli Broad, mentor Superintendente Deasy y titiritero, y otro cuarto de millón por el multimillonario hombre, magnate de los medios latinos A. Jerrold Perenchio, antes de Univision. Juntos empujaron “su” Coalición para las arcas de reforma escolar a $ 1,5 millones. A continuación, el alcalde Villaraigosa, quien junto con Broad, fue instrumental en traer a Deasy LAUSD, llamado en la pistola muy grande por negociar un acuerdo con New York el alcalde Michael Bloomberg, quien contribuyó con un adicional de millón de dólares por la Coalición de dinero educación Diane Ravitch historiador llamó a esto “repugnante y una afrenta a la democracia”.
¿Qué califica Bloomberg para comprar una Board of Education tres mil millas distante? En Nueva York, con la ayuda de la Fundación Gates, cerró más de 150 “escuelas fracasadas” sustituyéndolas por las escuelas más pequeñas y las escuelas charter. El sesenta por ciento de estos “nuevos y mejorados” más pequeñas escuelas primarias y secundarias ahora tienen menores tasas de aprobación que las escuelas a las que sustituyen. Sólo el 38% de los estudiantes de las escuelas primarias e intermedias creadas por la administración Bloomberg aprobó los exámenes de lectura, en comparación con el 47% de los estudiantes de toda la ciudad. El ex NYC Escuela canciller Joel Klein, que elevó las tasas de aptitud por bajar drásticamente las expectativas, lanzó otros $ 25.000.
Escuelas de Bloomberg comparten este atributo con la Asociación de Villaraigosa de Los Angeles Schools (PLAS), que han sido un fracaso total. Roosevelt High School fue dividido en siete escuelas pequeñas en el nombre de la “mejora” en 2007. Sólo uno de los siete directores tenían experiencia previa como directora. En 2009, los maestros de Roosevelt dio Villaraigosa y PLAS una “F” porque veían ninguna mejora. Ahora, en 2013, muchos miembros de la escuela y de la comunidad están en rebelión abierta. La inscripción ha caído en picado. LA Weekly, citando resultados del API, señaló que Roosevelt hizo Compton aspecto unificado como el “distrito del mes maldito.”
Alcalde Villaraigosa llamó Bloomberg, “la voz más importante en la reforma de la educación de hoy” – deformar la educación es más parecido. La Coalición para la Reforma Escolar puede también ser en cartera Deasy. Megan Chernin es un importante patrocinador y el ex jefe de la Promesa carta operador de Los Angeles como es Steven Prough, el actual jefe, quien contribuyó con $ 10.000 personalmente. ¿Qué tan buena es la promesa de Los Ángeles en mantener sus promesas? En 2010, el 91% de los estudiantes de West Adams Prep no eran competentes en Inglés y el 82% no eran competentes en matemáticas. Manuel Artes, que Promise Los Ángeles también había “prometido” para convertirse en un Jardín del Edén tenía asombrosamente altos de competencia no las tasas de 97% y 90% respectivamente en 2010. Sus tasas de rendimiento parecen inversamente proporcional al brillo de folletos de marketing.
Jaimie Alter Lynton donó 100.000 dólares a la Coalición. Ella, al igual Chernin, está en la junta de recaudación de fondos sin fines de lucro grupo Deasy. Lynton también lanzó Reporte de LA Escuela, que es básicamente dedicado a exaltar y promover Deasy y elegir a Anderson y García y al mismo tiempo denunciar el sindicato de maestros como el protector de los pedófilos.
Kate Anderson ha llamado Deasy “el mejor superintendente de este distrito ha tenido en las últimas décadas” y quiere que todas las escuelas como “grande” como Escuela Nueva Carta de Occidente. New West es el 62% de blancos y asiáticos, latinos 24% y el 12% Negro. Sólo el 11% de sus estudiantes son de almuerzos gratis oa precio reducido. No cuenta con un solo estudiante de Inglés en toda la escuela. Estadísticas de educación especial no están disponibles, por alguna razón misteriosa. Vamos a hacer todas las escuelas al igual que la Escuela Nueva Carta de Occidente.
¿Quieres saber acerca de García y Anderson? Sólo tienes que seguir el dinero.
Joseph K. es un veterano de 27 años de LAUSD, un maestro mentor ex dos veces nombrado Johns Hopkins University Teaching Fellow. Él enseña la manera pasada de moda – haciendo caso omiso de las puntuaciones de las pruebas estandarizadas. En lugar de enseñar burbujeante, trata de inculcar un amor por el conocimiento y el aprendizaje en sus estudiantes y por esta razón probablemente se le permitirá continuar enseñando durante quince minutos más.
Si usted o alguien que usted conoce ha sido blanco de ataques y están en proceso de ser despedido y la necesidad de defensa legal, póngase en contacto:

I will be there.

So will John Kuhn and many more.

Join with thousands of Texas parents and educators to demand a restoration of the budget cuts.

Save Texas public schools: http://savetxschools.org/

When the school district of impoverished Muskegon Heights went broke, Governor Rick Snyder of Michigan felt no obligation to save public education. He appointed an emergency manager to privatize the whole district. The district was handed over to a for-profit operator, Mosaica, which promptly fired all the teachers. It hired a new staff and started fresh. About a quarter of the staff left in short order. There have been three principals at the high school in six months. And the schools have hired uncertified teachers, which is illegal in the state.

Not to worry. The private sector knows best.

A member of the Fort Wayne, Indiana, school board writes:

They are coming after Fort Wayne next. Please, all come to the faux public hearing on Carpe Diem application on Tuesday, 26th at 5:30, Taylor campus. I need a couple hundred.

Mercedes Schneider adds another installment to her study of the board of NCTQ?

My editor at Knopf is one of the best-known figures in the publishing world.

Knopf is the most distinguished publisher in the U.S.

They will be publishing my new book in the fall.

It will explain everything you wanted to know about the corporate reform movement.

Here is the news.

The title is: Reign of Error.

The subtitle will knock your socks off.

I will release that later on.

Two parent leaders in Lancaster, Pennsylvania–John MGrann and Dennis Deslippe–are organizing opposition to a Gulen charter in their community. The Gulen charters are the largest charter chain in the nation. They are associated with a reclusive Turkish imam who lives in the Poconos but has a powerful political movement in Turkey.

This is their petition:

The application for a new charter school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has generated a strong public response in opposition to its approval. On Tuesday, February 19, the school board for the School District of Lancaster in Pennsylvania will conduct a hearing for the Academy of Business and Entrepreneurship Charter School (ABECS), a school which promises to “integrate business and leadership opportunities” and “launch entrepreneurial skills” for students in kindergarten through fourth grade. The lead applicant for ABECS is Sait Onal.

Troubling letters of support

A group of local parents has been working to review the proposed program and curriculum, and to research the background of the charter school’s board members and letters of support. They have serious concerns about the curriculum, but equally troubling are the letters written in support of the charter school, including several which were subsequently withdrawn after these parents started asking questions and raising concerns. The withdrawn letters include:

· One letter, originally written by Harrisburg Area Community College, withdrawn because, “we believe that based on the ongoing public scrutiny and concerns regarding allegations of the organization, we cannot in good faith continue to support the charter application, at this time.”

· Letters from two Pennsylvania non-profit organizations that “promote teaching financial literacy”, withdrawn after a board member was alerted to the letters and discovered that they overstated the organizations’ position. The board member in question is president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (the statewide teachers’ union) who added in a follow-up letter, “I do not support the development or creation of any new charter schools in Pennsylvania at this time.”

· A letter of support from Lutheran Refugee Services, withdrawn after leadership from that organization’s office in Philadelphia discovered that the lead applicant’s wife, Selma Onal, issued the letter without authorization.

The remaining letters of support include:

· Letters from US Representative Joseph R. Pitts and Pennsylvania State Senator Lloyd Smucker.

· A letter sent from the local office of the Transamerica Agency Network where lead applicant Sait Onal is District Manager, signed by an employee of that office.

· A letter sent from MUDI Farm Export, a business in which the lead applicant Sait Onal is a partner, signed by Onal himself.

· A letter from Godiva Chocolatier / Yildiz Holdings, promising the opportunity for “job shadowing” and “summer internships” at their facility in Reading for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Murat Ulker, son of deceased Turkish industrialist Sabri Ulker who was a friend of Fethullah Gulen.

· A letter from Etimine USA in Pittsburgh, also promising “job shadowing” and “summer internships” for the school’s K-4 students. This letter is signed by Gokhan Yazici, former Deputy Undersecretary in the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (2002-2004) and former Advisor to the Prime Minister of Turkey (1996-2001). The opposing parent group has noted the absurdity of a summer internship being offered to K-4 students which necessitates a four-hour drive from where they live.

The lead applicant

Sait Onal has repeatedly attempted to establish charter schools in the midstate-Pennsylvania region. In addition to his failed effort with the Lancaster Science Academy (denied in 2008), Onal was part of the group that attempted to start the Capital [sic] Academy of Harrisburg (denied in 2006). The ABECS application closely resembles two other charter school applications that were submitted in Pennsylvania in 2012, for the Allentown Science Academy and the Erie Biosciences Academy.

Although Onal insists that he has no connection to the Gulen movement, his work has appeared in The Fountain, a magazine produced and published by the Gulen Movement which features a lead article by Fethullah Gulen in every issue. In his capacity as president of two NGOs, the Red Rose Intercultural and Educational Foundation and the Turkish Cultural Center of Pennsylvania, Onal has hosted a number of political dignitaries on trips to Turkey, including State Senator Mike Brubaker.

It was while they were in Turkey in April 2011 that Onal accompanied Brubaker to the headquarters of TUKSON, a Turkish business association described by the RAND Corporation in 2008 as the “fourth leg” of the Gulen movement – the other three being its education, media, and interfaith dialogue activities.

Onal has also organized several Turkish Cultural Days at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, one of which was held in May 2011 shortly after the above-mentioned Turkey trip. The afternoon senate session that day was started with prayers by Bekir Aksoy, president of Golden Generation Worship & Retreat Center in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania. Fethullah Gulen has been living at this center ever since he fled from Turkey in 1999.

The parent group has posted an online petition at http://www.change.org/petitions/school-district-of-lancaster-pa-oppose-the-academy-of-business-and-entrepreneurship-charter-school

If you are in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, or Illinois–or anywhere else–please join with parents, students, and educators to support public schools. These states have been targets for rightwing demands for privatization. Enough is enough. Time to organize and mobilize to fend off the attacks on teachers, principals, and public schools.

Time For Action Update:

Parents Across America, in cooperation with Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education and with other grassroots groups, invites you to “Public Schools Across America,” a 4-state Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Across the country, there is a rising chorus of protest against corporate-style school reform. Parents, teachers, students, principals, superintendents, scholars, school board members, civil rights lawyers and other concerned citizens are voicing opposition to the privatization of our schools which threatens the future of our children and the fundamental democratic principles upon which our system of public education is based.

With “Public Schools Across America,” we hope to create a model for coordinated regional action in support of public education which could be expanded and replicated across the U.S.
Who: You are invited! And please share this invitation with others interested in regional joint action in support of public education (even if they are not in our region – as long as they are able to get themselves to Ft Wayne). This meeting is not limited to educators. It for parents, grandparents, and concerned citizens who support public education and want to get more involved in supporting our public schools and our children.

What: The first “Public Schools Across America” Regional Action Planning Meeting.

Featured speaker: Indiana State Superintendent Glenda Ritz, newly-elected superintendent.

Where: Fort Wayne, IN, chosen because it is located within a reasonable drive from all 4 states, and is FULL of public education activists!. We will meet at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, conveniently located at 501 W Berry Street in Ft. Wayne.

When: Saturday, Feb 23, 2013 from 12 noon to 5 pm (snacks provided).

Why: To share our concerns about attacks on public education and how we have addressed them locally, and to consider joint activities across our region and potentially across the U.S. to strengthen public education.

Thank you for all you do in support of our public schools and our children. Hope to see you in Ft. Wayne!

Julie Woestehoff and Maureen Reedy

Julie Woestehoff, executive director, Parents United for Responsible Education (Chicago)
Co-founder of Parents Across America.
E-mail: pure@pureparents.org

Maureen Reedy ~ Co-founder of Public Schools Across America
Parent and 29-year public school teacher
Ohio Teacher of the Year, 2002
E-mail: Maureen.reedy@gmail.com

Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education (NEIFPE) Blog: http://neifpe.blogspot.com/;

Email: neifpe@gmail.com; LinkedIn: NEIFPE and Twitter

I will be in Austin this Saturday to support the children and educators of Texas. Please join me!

Final Countdown

Save Texas Schools March & Rally This Saturday!

Dear Save Texas Schools Supporter,

WE NEED YOU to join thousands from across Texas calling for an end to under-funding and over-testing our children! This is a crucial week at the legislature, with education funding and testing bills being considered. An overwhelming response on Saturday can provide the momentum to turn the tide.

Confirmed speakers include Diane Ravitch, Supt. John Kuhn, Supt. Mary Ann Whitaker, former TEA Commissioner Robert Scott, Dineen Majcher from TAMSA and other Texas business, student, teacher and parent leaders.

According to Politifact, Texas put 25% LESS funding into schools in 2012 than in 2002, while requiring more and more from schools.

Now is the time to stand up to the state and say, “Put the funding back into schools.” Texas kids can’t be left standing outside a courtroom door for the support they need today!

Rally Details

11 am march on Congress Ave., noon to 1:30 pm rally at the Capitol.

Expected Attendance: HUGE! Let’s top 2011’s record of 13,000.

Save Texas Schools is launching a petition drive this week to call for a return of the $5.4 billion needlessly cut from public education in 2011. Sign today and make sure that our legislators hear loud and clear that Texas Kids Can’t Wait!

Just Added
Friday Night Dinner with Diane Ravitch

STS is sponsoring a pre-rally dinner with nationally-known education reformer Diane Ravitch on Friday, Feb. 22 at First United Methodist Church (west side of state capitol) from 6-8 pm. Light dinner included ($10 suggested donation). Click here to register. Open to the public.

Save Texas Schools | 5604 Manor Rd. | Austin | TX | 78723

Abetted by the example of Race to the Top, as well as encouragement from the Gates Foundation, the William Penn Foundation, and the rightwing Corbett administration in Harrisburg, the state-appointed School Reform Commission in Philadelphia is poised to close an unprecedented number of Philadelphia public schools. The schools are under enrolled, says the commission, but the commission created the under-enrollment by opening charter schools. now Philadelphia will run a dual system, like many other cities, even though the charters are no better than the public schools.

Cui bono?