Archives for the month of: February, 2018
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D.C.: Why Antwan Wilson Resigned

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
24

 

Soon after Antwan Wilson became chancellor of the D.C. public schools, he put in place a strict policy about transferring from one school to another to ensure that there was no favoritism. Everyone was expected to use the lottery, especially public officials.

Then he pulled some strings to get his daughter from a school where she was unhappy to a school with a long waiting list. When the news broke, parents were outraged. The outrage was so great that he was forced to resign, along with the administrator who facilitated the transfer.

The mayor picked an interim chancellor who started  as a kindergarten teacher in D.C., then moved to NYC where she was a principal, then returned to D.C.

D.C. is currently immersed in the graduation rate scandal. What a mess. This is the district that reformers like to call a model. A model of what?

Categories District of Columbia

Florida: House Refuses to Ban Assault Weapons

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
25

Wiith survivors of the Parkland massacre watching, the Florida House voted down a bill to ban the kind of gun that Nikolas Cruz to murder 17 students and teachers only days ago.

This is from the Sun-Sentinel of Florida:

 

With Stoneman Douglas students watching, Florida House declines to take up assault weapons ban
Less than a week after 17 people were fatally shot at a Florida high school, the state House has voted down a motion to take up a bill that would ban assault rifles, effectively killing the measure for this session.

The motion failed by a 36-71 vote.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were in the gallery to watch the vote. An Associated Press photo showed Stoneman Douglas junior Sheryl Acquarola, 16, overcome with emotion, alongside several other students.

As the Florida House opened its session Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Kionne McGhee asked for a procedural move that would have allowed it to consider a bill to ban assault rifles and large capacity magazines.

He said the move stemmed from the massacre last week that has refueled a national debate about gun control.

The bill had been assigned to three committees but was not scheduled for a hearing. The committees won’t meet again before the legislative session ends March 9.

McGhee said that means the bill would be dead unless the House voted to remove it from the committees and let it be considered by the full House.

Republican leaders in the House and Senate say they will consider proposals including raising age restrictions for gun purchases and the red-flag bill regarding temporarily taking away someone’s guns if they are deemed a threat to others.

The House did not debate the merits of the bill because McGhee’s motion involved a procedural issue. But the House voted 71-36 to reject taking up the measure on the floor.

Nikolas Cruz is accused of using an AR-15 rifle, a type of weapon that would be covered under the bill.
A Senate version of the bill (SB 196), filed by Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, also has not been heard in committees.

Meanwhile, a Florida Senate committee endorsed a proposal to put law enforcement officers in every school in the state.

Only slightly more than half of Florida’s more than 4,000 public schools have the resource officers. They are sworn law-enforcement officers and allowed to carry a weapon on a school campus.

The Senate Education Committee voted Tuesday to include the requirement in a sweeping education bill that is now moving through the legislature.
Information from the News Service of Florida and the Associated Press was used in this report.

Categories Florida, Guns

New D.C. Chancellor Antwan Wilson is Out

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
2

 

Another Reformer is out. Antwan Wilson, former superintendent in Oakland, graduate of the unaccredited Broad Superintendents Academy (which teaches school closings, metrics, and charters), has resigned only months after taking over.

G.F. Brandenburg has some questions for his interim successor:

”The interim successor to Antwan Wilson needs to be asked when, exactly, did she realize that:

1. Her boss, Michelle Rhee’s claimed miraculous teaching accomplishments were fraudulent;

2. Her boss, Michelle Rhee was asking principals to cheat;

3. Noyes principal Wayne Ryan was committing massive fraud by “fixing” student answer sheets;

4. Ryan had no business being promoted to supervising other principals…”

and more.

 

 

Categories Broad Foundation, Closing schools, District of Columbia, Rhee, Michelle

When the U.S. Supreme Court Acknowledged Limits on the Second Amendment

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
19

A reader posted this observation:

 

Already back in 2008, the conservative majority of Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court issued an outright appeal to state and municipal governments to pass laws controlling gun sales and ownership. That appeal is clear on pages 54 and 55 of the Court’s 2008 Heller decision. Think about it: That appeal comes from the Court’s conservative Justices who are still on the Court. The moderate and liberal Justices certainly agree with them, thereby forming an overwhelming majority that favor gun control.

On pages 54-55 of their opinion — their appeal for action on gun control — the conservative majority flatly state that “Like most rights, the right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited…” [it is] “…not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose.”

The conservative majority of Justices pointed out: “Nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or on laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.”

The conservative majority also declared that “We also recognize another important limitation on the right to keep and carry arms. Miller [an earlier case decided by the Supreme Court] said, as we have explained, that the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time’ [when the 2nd Amendment was written]. We think that limitation is fairly supported by the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of ‘dangerous and unusual weapons’.” Weapons “in common use at the time” of our Founding Fathers were single-shot rifles, single-shot pistols, and single-shot shotguns; no multiple-shot revolvers, rifles, or semi-automatic weapons.

With this clear appeal in hand from the Supreme Court’s conservative Justices for gun control, all that’s actually needed is for moral and courageous state and municipal lawmakers to enact the laws, and for a few moral and courageous billionaires to back them up and provide the money that these state and local governments will need to battle the expensive court fights that will be launched by the well-financed gun lobby because making gun control laws too expensive for governments to defend is a key strategy of the gun lobby.

Categories Guns

West Virginia: Teachers Threaten Statewide Strike Over Pay, Healthcare

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
4

 

Thanks to blogger G.F. Brandenburg for this story.

The teachers of West Virginia are threatening a statewide strike over pay and healthcare costs. 

When was the last time that teachers across an entire state went out on strike?

“The work action is a last message to legislators at the Capitol “to do your jobs, or we’ll vote you out,” said Christine Campbell, president of the West Virginia American Federation of Teachers.

“Mary Cathryn Ricker, executive vice president of the national AFT, and Becky Pringle, vice president of the National Education Association, came to West Virginia for the rally. They expressed to all the teachers that they were setting examples for their colleagues across the country.

“Teacher shortages, all these problems, are a national crisis. West Virginia educators are showing the ways to address that,” Ricker said. “The courage shown here in West Virginia is inspiring others, these teachers are leading the way.”

“In addition to Lee, Campbell, Ricker and Pringle, speakers at the rally included Joe White, executive director of West Virginia School Service Personnel Association; Greg Baker, president of the West Virginia Trooper Association; Josh Sword, president of West Virginia AFL-CIO; Ken Hall, president of West Virginia’s Teamster chapter; Levi Allen, secretary-treasurer of United Mine Workers of America and several West Virginia teachers and school employees, who shared stories about the difficulties they’ve faced with rising health care costs and minimal pay increases.

“While the upcoming work stoppage will only affect teachers and school personnel, leaders said it was important to show solidarity and impress on legislators that there was a strong support system standing behind those in education.

“Solidarity is the foundation of our country, the foundation of unions and the foundation of our freedom,” Allen said. “You’ve stood with us [in the past] and we’re here today to stand with you.””

Politico Morning Edition reports:

”WEST VIRGINIA TEACHERS, THREATENING STRIKE, SET TO WALK OUT THIS WEEK: Teachers and school personnel across West Virginia are planning to walk out on Thursday and Friday as tensions remain high over pay and benefits. The statewide walkout would be the first in the state’s history, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Rank-and-file members of West Virginia’s two main unions, AFT-West Virginia and the West Virginia Education Association, have given leaders in both unions authority to call a strike, which would be the first statewide teacher strike in West Virginia since 1990.

“- Union leaders are continuing discussions with state lawmakers to work out a solution, Christine Campbell, the president of the AFT in West Virginia, told Morning Education. She said teachers in the state haven’t had a pay increase since 2014, and during this period health care costs have risen, along with the cost of living. Campbell noted that the state’s teachers are among the lowest paid nationally, and she said the problems have been building for years.

– “That kind of pay raise is not going to get us out of 48th or 49th place,” Campbell said, explaining why teachers aren’t satisfied with proposals on the table. Campbell said states bordering West Virginia pay teachers $5,000 to $20,000 more on average, which has led to more than 700 teacher vacancies in the state. “People can’t afford to stay here. They are crossing into bordering states because that’s the only way they can make a living wage.”

http://go.politicoemail.com/?qs=19dd54d2d4c852d587667663c6bc899927470ea9ed16a282d03088f8d561d5c0ba5c28ea11fd205e93ff557c194b10c6

Categories West Virginia

How to Reduce Gun Homicides

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
15

No country has reduced gun homicides to zero, but no country in the world has as many homicides by gun as the United States, and no country in the world has so many guns.

Nicholas Kristof here presents compelling evidence about the connection between gun availability and homicides. 

He writes:

People all over the world become furious and try to harm others, but only in the United States do we suffer such mass shootings so regularly; only in the United States do we lose one person every 15 minutes to gun violence.

So let’s not just mourn the dead, let’s not just lower flags and make somber speeches. Let’s also learn lessons from these tragedies, so that there can be fewer of them. In particular, I suggest that we try a new approach to reducing gun violence — a public health strategy. These graphics and much of this text are from a visual essay I did in November after a church shooting in Texas; sadly, the material will continue to be relevant until we not only grieve but also act.

America Has More Guns
Than Any Other Country

The first step is to understand the scale of the challenge America faces: The U.S. has more than 300 million guns – roughly one for every citizen – and stands out as well for its gun death rates. At the other extreme, Japan has less than one gun per 100 people, and typically fewer than 10 gun deaths a year in the entire country…

We Have a Model for
Regulating Guns: Automobiles

Gun enthusiasts often protest: Cars kill about as many people as guns, and we don’t ban them! No, but automobiles are actually a model for the public health approach I’m suggesting.

We don’t ban cars, but we work hard to regulate them – and limit access to them – so as to reduce the death toll they cause. This has been spectacularly successful, reducing the death rate per 100 million miles driven by 95 percent since 1921.

The American Automobile Association does not lobby to prevent the registration and regulation of automobiles and drivers.

Kristof offers a menu of sensible ways to regulate firearms and access to them.

Please read it.

Then get involved.

Support the March 14 action of the Women’s March, which calls for a 17-minute walkout at 10 am..

Support the March 24 “March for Our Lives” of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas students, in DC and across the nation.

Support the Day of Action on April 20 in every school and school district sponsored by the Network for Public Education, the NEA, the AFT, the AASA, LULAC, and Gabby Giffords, with more sponsors to come.

Support the National Student Walkout on April 20, which calls on students to walk out at 10 am and not return.

April 20 is the anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

Let’s take Nick Kristof’s good advice and insist that guns be regulated as automobiles are. Drivers must be licensed and can lose their license for cause. Cars must be regularly inspected and registered. States have laws regulating how and where you may drive, on which side of the road, not exceeding a certain speed.

It is criminal to violate automobile and driving laws. You can go to jail if you do.

That is a good model.

Categories Education Reform, Guns

NPE Action Fund Endorses Ellen Lipton For Congress in Michigan!

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
0

 

NPE Action Fund is the political action arm of the Network for Public Education.

After careful deliberation, NPE Action has endorsed Ellen Lipton for Congress in Michigan. 

As a state representative, Ellen was a steadfast ally of public schools, even when surrounded by politicians who stood in line for DeVos money.

Ellen led the fight against the undemocratic and ineffective Education Achievement Authority, which used children in Detroit as guinea pigs for experiments with technology. Due in large part to her demands for transparency, the EAA finally collapsed.

Ellen will be a champion for public education in Congress. She will be one of the few in that body who fought the DeVos machine and won. We happily endorse her candidacy.

If you live in Michigan, please volunteer to help her. If you don’t live in Michigan, you can he,p with a donation to her campaign.

You can donate to Ellen’s campaign here.

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/elforcongressweb?refcode=website

 

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, Michigan, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund

Detroit: Families, Students, and Teachers Speak Out Against “Choice”

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
8

 

At a town hall meeting in Detroit, students, families, and teachers spoke out against the damage caused to them by the false promise of “school choice.” Allie Gross covered the meeting for the Detroit Free Press.

One parent described the wonderful school attended by his child with cerebral palsy; it was to save money.

“In 2008, Alfred Wright enrolled his son, Timothy, in kindergarten at Oakman Elementary/Orthopedic, a small school on the Detroit’s northwest side that specialized in teaching students with special needs.

“Timothy had recently been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, and the school — which came with spacious hallways, discreet changing rooms, small class sizes, and an on-site nurse — seemed like the perfect match.

“And, according to Wright, it was. For five years, he watched his son thrive in the close-knit and accepting community. Oakman not only was prepared to accommodate Timothy’s needs but it helped Wright, as a parent, better understand his child.

“But then the seemingly unexpected happened. In spring 2013, Roy Roberts, Detroit Public Schools’ second emergency manager, announced that Oakman would be one of six schools to close the following school year. It would add to the list of nearly 100 district schools that had shuttered since 2009, when the state took over DPS due to finance.

LWright and the rest of the parents were given two traditional public school options: one that was 1.2 miles away and the other that was 2.4 miles. Both choices fell within the bottom 5 percent of schools in the state for academic performance. More notably, neither were handicap accessible.

“All of the things we feared happened,” Wright said, explaining how issues at Henderson Academy, where Timothy ultimately ended up, ranged from bullying and isolation to a lack of knowledge and preparedness when it came to educating students with special needs.

”This reality — instability, uncertainty and inefficient resources — is why on Tuesday night, Wright and Timothy made their way to Wayne State University’s Law School to participate in an Education Town Hall hosted by the #WeChoose Campaign. A movement made up of 25 organizations from across that country — including the NAACP, Advancement Project, Dignity in Schools and Journey for Justice Alliance — the group is working to support racial justice and end educational inequality via, among many things, town hall gatherings that bring attention to what the group sees as “the illusion of school choice.”

“Parents, students, and educators do not choose the sabotage of their neighborhood schools, school closings, zero tolerance policies that target black and brown students, punitive standardized testing school deserts,” the group’s mission statement explains. “We choose equity, not the scam called school choice.”

 

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Closing schools, Detroit, Education Industry, Failure, Parents, Privatization, Students, Teachers

Indiana: GOP Legislator Proposes Total Privatization of Muncie School District

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
9

 

A Republican Legislator has proposed turning over the Muncie School District to Ball State University and allowing the University to replace the elected board with an appointed one of its choosing. Muncie currently has a large deficit and an emergency manager. The state has starved the schools of adequate funding.

“During a hearing on Thursday, Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, questioned the bill’s author, Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, and the university president about a provision that would exclude a BSU-run MCS from having to follow numerous education laws.

“The bill would allow BSU to govern financially distressed MCS effective July 1 by appointing a new seven-member school board to replace the current five-member elected school board.

“There is a list four pages long, Tallian said, of “a huge part” of the Title 20 education code that the school district would not be required to follow, such as collective bargaining rights for teachers, health insurance, “the entire body of the school transportation law,” accreditation, equal education opportunity, teacher licensing, “the whole body of law about school curriculum” and data reporting.”

Ball State’s record running charter schools is unimpressive, although it’s lab school has high ratings.

“A laboratory school is a school run by a university, like Ball State’s highly rated Burris Laboratory School, which has much less poverty among students and many fewer minority students than the city school district.

“Unlike teachers in Indiana’s traditional public schools, Burris teachers lack collective bargaining rights. Charter schools are not required to participate in collective bargaining with teachers, either.

“A charter school is a public school operating under a contract, or charter, between the school’s organizers and a charter school authorizer, such as BSU, which oversees but doesn’t manage more than two dozen charter schools around the state, nearly half of which are rated D or F.”

So Ball State runs a successful elite school on campus but nearly half its charters are rated D or F.

The people of Muncie are divided about whether this is a good idea.

Ball State thinks it will burnish the university’s reputation. The heads of businesses and law firm like it. Legislators say “it’s a done deal.”

This is how democracy dies. One step at a time.

Categories Democracy, Education Industry, Education Reform, Indiana, Privatization

Coalition Supporting “A Day of Action Against Gun Violence” Grows!

By dianeravitch
February 20, 2018 //
7

 

On April 20, education organizations are joining forces to protest gun violence and demand action from state and federal legislatures. We call it a Day of Action Against Gun Violence.

The Network for Public Education, the NEA, and the AFT are coordinating mass actions in every school district across the nation. Our goal is to ignite political action to stop gun violence.

We invite communities to choose their own strategies to raise consciousness and the will to keep fighting for change. We have suggested actions such as strikes, walk outs, sit-ins, teach-ins, a march to your legislators’ offices, candlelight vigils, arms of parents and teachers clasped around the school. Do what is best for your communities. Work with parents, educators, and students. We assume that thousands of parents, students, and teachers can devise more creative and ingenious ways to demonstrate and protest against gun violence than the organizational leaders can. We invite you to crowdsource your actions and share them with us.

Every student deserves the right to learn in a safe school, without fear of gun violence.

The following organizations have just joined our Day of Action:

Defending the Early Years

The California Teachers Association

Public Schools First, North Carolina

There will be many more.

We expect to have orange armbands on our website soon. Orange is the color signifying support for gun control.

Categories Guns, Guns in Schools, Network for Public Education, Networkfor Public Education Action Fund, Safety
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