Archives for the month of: May, 2016
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North Carolina: Attorney General Sues Charter Operator for Fraud

By dianeravitch
May 7, 2016 //
10

North Carolina  Attorney General Roy Cooper sued a charter operator who got $666,000 from the state to open a charter that closed after being open for only 10 days.

 

“Attorney General Roy Cooper is suing the managers of a failed Kinston charter school, claiming they inflated enrollment estimates to get state money for education services they did not provide.

 

“Kinston Charter Academy – which closed 10 days into the school year in September 2013 – got more than $666,000 in state money in August 2013, according to the lawsuit. The money was based on a projected enrollment of 366 students and was supposed to last until October.

 

“On Sept. 3, the school had 189 students. It closed three days later. The students transferred to other schools, and the lawsuit says the state had to pay twice to educate those students for three months.

 

“The suit, filed in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday, claims that school CEO Ozie L. Hall Jr. and Demyra McDonald-Hall, his wife and board chairwoman, illegally obtained and misused state money. They knew the academy would not survive the 2013-14 school year, yet made imprudent or self-interested business transactions, and misled students by persuading them to enroll, the suit said.”

 

Mr. Hall said the suit was baseless and he will fight it. He is now running another charter school.

 

 

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article74020632.html#storylink=cpy

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Reform, North Carolina

Mike Klonsky: Rich Kids Don’t Need Grit

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
32

Mike Klonsky in Chicago checked out the schools where Mayor Emanuel and CPS CEO Forrest Claypool send their children. 
Klonsky writes:
“I checked. No, there’s no “Grit” curriculum being taught at the University of Chicago’s Lab school or at chichi Francis Parker, the schools where Mayor Rahm Emanuel and schoools CEO Forrest Claypool send their children at upwards of $34,000 a kid.
“Professor Duckworth didn’t intend it for their kids. Fixing the poor is the burden of the rich, white and powerful.”
When asked about sending his kids to an elite school, Mayor Emanuel have this answer:
“I’ve got to be honest, I don’t think it’s a fair question, and I’ll say why,” Emanuel said. “My kids go to the same school that President Obama sends his kids to school, and nobody said anything when President Obama was leading the fight for Race to the Top. I don’t live in public housing, but I do fight for fairness in housing. I’m not homeless, but I do fight for resources for homelessness. So if it’s only about whether I as a parent make a decision, that’s not actually, it’s not about my kids, it’s about the kids of Chicago.”
Klonsky said in response: 
“And what a strange analogy Rahm’s making between public schools — created for everyone– and public housing and homeless shelters, specifically reserved for the poorest and neediest of us. It’s clear that the mayor views public education as some sort of poverty agency rather than as the cornerstone of a democratic society. And therein lies his problem and ours.
“Nobody I know is challenging the right of the rich and powerful to send their children to private schools. That’s not the point. The point is that the corporate reformers now running public ed, including our autocratic mayor and his hand-picked CEO, don’t want our kids in public schools to experience the best educational practices, now reserved for their own….
“In 2011, the mayor forced a longer school day and school year on resistant Chicago schools even though he had no plan for what to do with the added seat time or how to pay for it. Again, I checked with Lab only to find out that their day and year was shorter than Chicago’s.
“Common Core? Nothing common about Lab or Parker.
“Over and improper use of standardized tests? You won’t find it in Lab or Parker.
“In conclusion — the best way to learn grit is by standing up to the bullies and pretenders who think they know what’s best for other people’s children.”

Categories Education Reform

Detroit: Can Two Teachers Raise $500,000 by Selling Lemonade?

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
8

Two teachers plan to raise money to pay for a fiscal audit of Detroit public schools, which the legislature refuses to pay for. We often hear legislators call for school accountability. Who will be held accountable for the financial mess in Detroit? More than 40,000 children need trachers, small classes, the arts, clean and healthy schools, supplies, libraries, social workers, guidance counselors, psychologists. Where did the money go?

 

 

 

“DPS teachers Nina Chacker (mobile 3134075446) and Zack Sweet (mobile 2163084460) will be staffing a Lemonade Stand at Eastern Market this Saturday from 9 am to noon to raise funds for a financial audit of DPS under Emergency Management. The stand will be located at the gazebo on Russell Street.

 

 

“An amendment introduced by Michigan Representative Brian Banks to the House package of bills restructuring DPS had called for an audit of DPS finances since 2009, but was defeated along party lines last week despite Republican concerns about various fiscal anomalies under a series of Governor-appointed Emergency Managers. Ellen Cogen Lipton, former House Education Committee Minority Chair, has estimated that the teachers will need to raise at least $500,000 through lemonade sales to afford the fiscal accountability that teachers are calling for. Teachers have expressed dismay at recent statements by Emergency Manager Steven Rhodes that the district might be unable to meet its contractual obligations to DPS staff, and believe funding the fiscal audit will help taxpayers and the Michigan legislature better understand where all the money has gone.

 

 

Dr. Thomas C. Pedroni
Associate Professor, Curriculum Studies
Wayne State University
DetroitDataDemocracy.org”

Categories Accountability, Detroit, Michigan

Peter Greene on President Obama’s Two Proclamations This Week

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
52

This week was for some years Teacher Appreciation Week. Now, thanks to President Obama, it is also Charter Appreciation Week. I earlier reported that the latter replaced the former. I was wrong.

 

Peter Greene analyzes the two proclamations and notices a different tone in each.

 
“There’s something to be learned about this administration’s feelings about both charters and teachers from looking at these two proclamations, so let’s do that. Spoiler alert: there will be no pleasant surprises forthcoming.
“Here’s the first line from one of the proclamations. See if you can guess which one:

 

“Our Nation has always been guided by the belief that all young people should be free to dream as big and boldly as they want, and that with hard work and determination, they can turn their dreams into realities.

 

“That would be the opening sentence from the proclamation in praise of charter schools.

 

“The proclamation is laudatory, leaving one with the impression that charter schools are the whole education show. Schools are awesome, and “we celebrate the role of high-quality charter schools” in achieving this awesomeness. Also, “we honor the dedicated professionals across America who make this calling their life’s work by serving in charter schools.”

 

“Charter schools “play an important role in our country’s education system” and work in our underserved communities where they can “ignite imagination and nourish the minds of America’s young people” while finding new ways to do the education thing. Obama reinforces the notion that charters experiment and find new ways to help underperforming schools (though we must close them when they don’t do well). This language continues. “Forefront of innovation.”

 

“Also, “different ways of engaging students” including personalized instruction, technology and rigorous/college-level coursework. This administration has supported charters big-time because Obama has remained committed to “ensuring all of our Nation’s students have the tools and skills they need to get ahead.” All of which leads me to wonder A) what he thinks public schools are doing and B) if he knows that charters don’t serve all students and actually sap the resources for many other students still in public schools.”

 

Where did he get the idea that charter teachers dedicate their lives to this work? TFA?

 

What do you think he said about public school teachers?

 

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Obama, Teachers and Teaching

Marla Kilfoyle: How to Show Appreciation for Teachers

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
4

Marla Kilfoyle, executive director of the BadAss Teachers Association, wrote the following explanation of how to show genuine appreciation for teachers:

 

 

“Want to Appreciate Teachers This Week? Stand Up to Those Seeking to Destroy our Profession and Public Education!

 
By: Marla Kilfoyle, Executive Director BATs

 

 

“Chris Hedges in 2012 noted that the U.S. Federal Government spends about $600 billion a year on education. He further stated, “corporations want it. That’s what’s happening. And that comes through charter schools. It comes through standardized testing. And it comes through breaking teachers’ unions and essentially hiring temp workers, people who have very little skills.”

 

“Rupert Murdoch, a media mogul, stated in a 2010 press release, “When it comes to K through 12 education, we see a $500 billion sector in the U.S. alone that is waiting desperately to be transformed by big breakthroughs that extend the reach of great teaching.”

 

“What stands in the way of capitalists getting their hands on the education billions? Teachers!

 

“Writing this during Teacher Appreciation Week is hard for me. I am a teacher, I have taught for 29 years, and I have watched the slow destruction of a profession that I cherish. I have witnessed, over the last decade, an escalated attack on a profession that was a calling for me, and I know a strong calling for many teachers. Make no mistake; teachers are called to this vocation! I write this, sadly, as my brothers and sisters in Detroit were forced to take to the streets this week because the state decided to stop paying them. It is time to respect and honor teachers, not just appreciate them, but respect and honor the profession.

 

“In the last few years, teachers have been accused of being the resistance to “change” by many who seek to destroy public education and our profession. The problem is that teachers know the change is not productive change. Let’s take a look at how teachers have resisted change; teachers take to the streets in Detroit to protest the deplorable conditions that children in their schools must endure. Teachers take to the streets in Chicago to protest the fact that many in this country don’t make a living wage. Teachers in Seattle stood strong for small class size and funding. Teachers testify in the halls of state government and the federal government against policies that they know destroy good teaching and learning. All one would need to do is examine teacher labor contracts to know that teachers are the force behind positive change for children in their schools…..

 

“Resist change? Yes, we resist change that we know is not rooted in research or sound practice, and that is destructive to a child’s self esteem and well being.

 

“We embrace, and fight for change, that allows our profession to create great schools that will best service our children and their families.

 

  • “Appreciate THAT on Teacher Appreciation Week….

 

“Teachers are the first responders to the trauma of poverty….
“Want to appreciate teachers?

 

“Stand up and fight against those seeking to destroy our profession and public education! That is how you can show teachers you appreciate them.”

Categories Teachers

Michigan Drops Common Core, May Adopt Discarded Massachusetts Standards

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
17

This is ironic. Michigan wants to drop the Common Core standards and substitute the Massachusetts standards that were dropped by Massachusetts to make way for the Common Core standards!

 

A bill is moving through the Michigan legislature to do exactly that. Michigan has had a groundswell of opposition to the Common Core standards, like most other states. Their solution is to take the standards of the nation’s highest performing state, Massachusetts, and make them specific to Michigan.

 

Meanwhile, in Massachusetts, those standards were jettisoned because the state won a Race to the Top Grant and agreed to adopt the Commin Core.  As it happens, the Massachusetts state Commissioner of Education is Mitchell Chester, who was until recently, the chair of the PARCC testing consortium. So naturally he wanted his state to drop the MCAS and use PARCC.

 

When PARCC started, underwritten by the US Department of Education, 24 states and DC joined its consortium. Now it is down to 6 states and DC. Massachusetts is using a hybrid: part PARCC and part MCAS.

 

What a fine mess!

 

When will states figure out that an effective reform strategy is far more complicated than standards, testing, and accountability. When Massachusetts adopted its standards, it invested new resources and  increased equitable spending. It expanded pre-k and raised standards for new teachers.

 

There is still much to be done in Massachusetts. But it is important to remember that it achieved good results by sensible improvements in schools, not by closing schools, firing teachers and principals or mass privatization (until recently, Massachusetts had only 25 charter schools in the state).

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Common Core, Education Reform, Equity, Funding, Massachusetts, Michigan, Testing

Jamie Gass: How Common Core Killed the Great Literature Standards of Massachusetts

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
77

Jamie Gass excoriates the Common Core standards for de-emphasizing classic literature and replacing it with informational text. The decision by state officials in Massachusetts to drop its outstanding English language arts standards–which were rich in literature–and adopt the mundane Common Core was a disservice to the children of the Commonwealth.

 

He writes:

 

“Until recently, classic literature and poetry saturated the commonwealth’s K-12 English standards. Between 2005 and 2013, Massachusetts bested every other state on the reading portion of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, called “the nation’s report card.” Great fiction and poetry contributed to Massachusetts’ success on virtually every K-12 reading test known to the English-speaking world.

“But in 2010, Gov. Deval Patrick’s administration succumbed to the temptation of $250 million in one-time federal grant money, killing off our edifying English standards in favor of inferior nationalized benchmarks known as Common Core. These national standards – an educational gooney bird – cut enduring fiction and poetry by 60 percent and replaced it with “informational texts.”

 

Since then, he says, Massachusetts has lost its position as first in the nation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Common Core, Education Reform

Nancy Flanagan: A Tale of Two Cities, Poor Public Schools vs. Corrupt Charter School

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
7

Nancy Flanagan, a veteran educator, now retired, writes about the contrast between the bankrupt Detroit public schools and a scandal-tainted charter school four hours north in Traverse City, called Grand Traverse Academy in Michigan.

 

We have read many stories about the desperate financial condition of Detroit, a condition made worse by inept state-appointed emergency managers.

 

Flanagan writes:

 

“The Michigan legislature hasn’t decided yet whether to let Detroit Public Schools thrive. The House is currently tinkering with bills that cut back funding even further, allow uncertified teachers in DPS, remove DPS teachers’ collective bargaining rights, force teachers to re-apply for their jobs and eliminate an elected school board. In addition, DPS teachers got a tongue-lashing from several members of the legislature.

 

“Yes, this is the same DPS whose teachers had to shame their appointed leaders into doing something about the dead rodents, mold and wavy gym floors, earlier this year. It’s the same DPS that’s had four “emergency managers” in the past seven years. And it’s the same DPS system where 14 administrators appear to be headed for prison or plea bargains for taking kickbacks from a supply vendor.

 

“I don’t know a single DPS teacher who doesn’t provide essential supplies (including snowpants) for the children she teaches, out of her own funds. Imagine learning that principals in your district have been pocketing thousands of dollars out of the supply budget while you’re stopping at the dollar store on the way home, just to make it through the next day. They have taken to social media to plead their case, because nobody else seems to be listening…”

 

Drive four hours north to the Grand Traverse Academy, and you will find a beautiful charter school that collects $10 million in public funds.

 

GTA has a messy scandal on its hands. The charter operator borrowed $3.5 million from the school’s funds. Does anyone care? The media ignores the mess. The charter operates for profit, and these things just happen in business. The operator, an optometrist, said he had a pedagogical method based on “visual learning,” and his charter board had other optometrists who supported his ideas. The operator has since been convicted of fraud and tax evasion, but the board does not seem overly concerned.

 

Flanagan wonders:

 

“Detroit and Flint, New Orleans, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. were the first charter frontier. It was easy to persuade your average citizen to think: Well. You know, Detroit. They had to do something.

 

“Next step, however: Build gorgeous new buildings and use public money to fracture solid, well-run public educational systems. For private profit.

 

“Ask yourself: Why are the papers and the policy-makers all over those protesting teachers in Detroit–while the white-collar crime in charter world goes virtually unnoticed?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Detroit, Education Reform, For-Profit, Media, Michigan

Jeannie Kaplan: How “Reform” Ruined District 4 in Denver

By dianeravitch
May 6, 2016 //
18

Jeannie Kaplan served two terms as an elected member of the Denver school board. Denver is a reform hotspot. It has been under the firm control of reformers for the past decade. Kaplan says it has been a disastrous decade that has brought union-free charters, constant testing, but no improvement for the children.since the reformers regularly flood Denver school board elections with cash for their candidates, they will be in control for an even longer time. How many years must reformers be in total control until they can declare that every child has an excellent school without regard to zip code? Mayor Bloomberg had 12 years of unfettered power in NYC (Joel Klein was there for 9 of those years) and the happy day has still not arrived.

 

In this post, Kaplan describes what happened to District 4 in Denver, the epicenter of reform. She sums it up in three words: Disruption, disenfranchisement, and drama.

 

It begins like this:

 

 

“This is a saga about Disruption (school closings and openings, extraordinarily high teacher and principal turnover, destruction of neighborhood schools), Disenfranchisement (two board resignations in four years, two representatives chosen by the Board of Education, not the voters), and Drama (the most recent Board vacancy replacement appears to never have undergone the most basic background check which is mandatory for all Denver Public Schools – DPS – employees and volunteers. The seat became vacant in February 2016 and remains vacant as of May 2.)”

 

Read on: You will encounter your old friend Stand on Children (know to its critics as Stand ON Children).

 

 

Categories Corporate Reform, Denver, Education Reform, Stand for Children

Teachers at Cleveland Charter School Vote to Unionize

By dianeravitch
May 5, 2016 //
23

The AFT announced that a charter school in Cleveland chose to join the union, despite the efforts of the charter operator to dissuade them. This is a tricky situation. On one hand, charter advocates don’t want their teachers in a union. Of an estimated 7,000 charter schools, very few have union teachers. So it is a victory when charter teachers join a union. On the other hand, as small numbers of charters unionize, the national union becomes less likely to take a stand against charters, even though many–if not most–were created by rightwingers like the Waltons to bypass unions. 

“For Immediate Release

May 5, 2016
Contact:

Andrew Crook

607-280-6603

acrook@aft.org

http://www.aft.org

Educators at second Cleveland charter school unionize
Northeast Ohio College Preparatory High School staff join national charter union wave

 
CLEVELAND—Teachers and support staff at Northeast Ohio College Preparatory High School (NEO High School) voted 21-3 today to join the Cleveland Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, and the American Federation of Teachers, after a two-year fight to improve conditions for children and educators. NEO is part of the network of charter schools operated by Cleveland-based I CAN Schools.
The victory at NEO High School follows years of persistence in the face of employer attacks. In 2014, in response to teachers’ organizing efforts at NEO and University of Cleveland Preparatory, seven teachers were illegally fired. The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against the employer, and teachers were offered settlement to make them whole. Then, in March 2016, the NLRB issued a further complaint finding evidence of illegal surveillance and intimidation of teachers engaged in organizing at NEO High School.
NEO High School is the second I CAN school to unionize in recent months, after fellow University of Cleveland Preparatory School educators also voted overwhelmingly in March for representation.
Miles Paterson, a high school science teacher at NEO, said: “Our efforts the last two years were all about the students in our classrooms. Students need stability in the classroom and the halls of their school. We voted to form our union today to make sure we can retain the passionate, talented teachers and staff that make our school effective.”
Jessica Coleman, a ninth-grade physical science teacher, commented: “Forming our union is about having the freedom to advocate for student-specific needs in the classroom. My co-workers and I want to teach in memorable and long-lasting ways, but too often we see talented teachers walking out the door. We want to be the teachers who show up for our kids, day after day and year after year. This is why we organized our union.” 
Cleveland Teachers Union President David Quolke, who is an AFT vice president, said: “After two years, the principled and brave teachers and support staff at NEO refused to back down. They stuck together and stayed committed, not only to raise their voice and improve conditions, but to secure the best education possible for their students and families. We’re proud to welcome our new AFT members at NEO High School who join their sisters and brothers at UCP and across Cleveland in our collective effort to raise standards.”
Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper, also an AFT vice president, said: “Charter operators like I CAN are finally getting the message that for standards to improve, frontline teachers and support staff must be involved. We welcome the teachers and support staff of NEO High School into our union. The values of shared accountability and unmatched commitment to students we share, and working together, we can make an impact on education policy and practice.”
Across the nation, charter educators are exercising their rights to demand dignity at work and a better school for their pupils. Today’s victory brings to 226 the number of charter schools represented by the AFT across 15 different states.  
AFT President Randi Weingarten said: “The win today at NEO High School shows a growing movement by teachers at charter schools to have a real voice in their students’ education and in their profession. The fight at NEO—like so many others—is driven by educators joining together and raising their voice to have a real say in the workplace to demand better teaching resources and quality in their schools.”
 
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Categories Education Reform
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