Archives for the month of: May, 2020
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Denis Smith: The Mystery of the Memorial to Governor Rhodes

By dianeravitch
May 4, 2020 //
13

Denis Smith wrote the following, to commemorate a date that is notorious to those of us who recall the Kent State Massacre, when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on unarmed college student protesters:

May 4, 2020, marks the 50th anniversary of the deaths of four students at Kent State University. The shootings by a contingent of the Ohio National Guard, which were ordered into the city by Ohio Governor James Rhodes, were in response to rioting that took place on the campus in protest to the escalation of the Vietnam War and the destruction of the campus ROTC building.

At the time, many people felt that Rhodes inflamed the situation when he said that the students were worse than the “Brown Shirts” of the Hitler era. Rhodes, who holds the distinction of being one of only seven four-term governors in the history of this nation, is still a divisive figure a half-century after the Kent State Massacre, where in addition to the four dead, nine other students were also severely wounded and one paralyzed.

In December 1982, a 6 foot- 6 inch tall bronze statue of Rhodes was dedicated on the grounds of the State Capitol in Columbus. It didn’t take long for the statue to be vandalized and hit by a car in 1983, according to Wiki. It was later moved and placed in front of the entrance of the Rhodes State Office Tower, where it remains.

Which brings me to this nugget.

We relocated to the Columbus area five years after the statue was dedicated. In the early 1990s, someone told me that there was a legend about some type of secret message that was contained inside the bronze statute. After Rhodes’ death in 2011, that rumor was confirmed.

Here is an excerpt from the Columbus Monthly Magazine of November 2019:

A Bronze Bombshell

“When James Rhodes died in 2001, a longtime Capitol Square rumor was confirmed. It turned out that the 700-pound bronze effigy of the four-term governor in front of the Rhodes Tower includes a hidden tribute to the four students killed at Kent State University in May 1970.

“There is in fact a message engraved into the bronze on the inside of the statue that makes a statement about the Kent State shootings and the victims,” Ron Dewey, former owner of Studio Foundry in Cleveland, told the defunct Columbus alternative weekly The Other Paper, declining to reveal exactly what the message said. —Dave Ghose”

As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Kent State, I for one would love to know what the sculptor Gary Ross engraved on the inside of the statue. Wouldn’t you?

If there is an update to this story from six months ago, I would love to know further details. How many folks would be itching to write the story about hidden hieroglyphics inside this statue?

Denis Smith posted this on his Facebook page. You can see the statue of Governor Rhodes there.

Categories History, Ohio

Valerie Jablow: Why Does D.C. Government Give Away Public Property?

By dianeravitch
May 4, 2020 //
7

Valerie Jablow, parent activist in the District of Columbia, posts often about the D.C. government and its passion for giving away public property.

In this post, she questions what happened to the playing field of a Duke Ellington High School of the Arts.

Some time in February, Ellington Field–the field that belonged for most of a century by court order to DCPS’s Duke Ellington High School of the Arts–was officially transferred from DCPS to the department of parks and recreation (DPR). Despite many appeals to the DC city council and to the deputy mayor for education (who has oversight of both DPR and DCPS) explicitly asking for the terms of the use agreement before the transfer and assurance that Duke Ellington high school would have first priority use among all users, no one in the public knows what the terms of that transfer really are; what use of the field the high school (or any DCPS school) is allowed; and whether Duke Ellington will be able to provide credited programming there ever again.

The Ellington transfer happened because Mayor Bowser gave Maret, a private school, exclusive use of a nearby public field, Jelleff. In the wake of public protest against the Jelleff deal, Bowser then transferred Ellington Field from Duke, to make it a public recreation center kinda sorta standing in for Jelleff.

So it was that despite opposition of parents, neighbors, and many others (see here and here for a few), this unprecedented transfer of an asset of a DCPS school, actively used by students, for the immediate and lasting benefit of those not necessarily affiliated with DCPS happened without much fanfare.

A short time later, on the afternoon of March 3, the private Maret school (yes, that same one) was photographed using Ellington Field. On its website, Maret had posted a spring schedule of activities it was hosting at Ellington Field.

All of this was quite some news to Duke Ellington HS staff, who apparently had no idea of Maret’s activities at the field that day beforehand–much less that the field had been, by that point, officially transferred from Duke’s control.

Categories Accountability, District of Columbia, Education Industry, Privatization

John Ewing: We Should Listen to the Real Education Experts: Teachers

By dianeravitch
May 4, 2020 //
34

John Ewing, a mathematician and president of Math for America, wrote in Forbes about a conference he recently attended about education. He noticed that none of the experts at the conference were teachers. When he asked the conference leader, his question was dismissed.

He remembered that Mike Rose had done a check of articles in the “New Yorker.” Most of the articles about medicine were written by doctors. None of the articles about education were.

Ewing maintains that teachers should make major policy decisions, not politicians. I say, “Hurray for John Ewing!” (By the way, he wrote one of the best takedown of value-added assessment of teachers published anywhere, in 2011, called “Mathematical Intimidation: Driven by the Data.”)

Ewing writes:

Teachers are the ones who drive reform forward, not policy makers. Should teachers weigh in on issues that affect their students? It seems absurd to even ask such a question. Good teachers know their students best. When we ignore this, we make colossal mistakes, like creating bizarre testing regimes or proposing misaligned curricula.

Education suffers when we don’t value teacher expertise, but the worst consequence is something more lasting: The teaching profession becomes less attractive. The best eventually leave, fewer of the best enter, and over time teacher expertise declines, creating a downward spiral.

Yes, I know, not every teacher is an accomplished expert, just as not every doctor is. But many are, and they are the ones we need most. Instead, they leave. Worse, they tell brilliant young people who think about teaching as a career: “You can do better.” A 2019 PDK survey asked teachers whether they would advise their own children to follow in their footsteps; less than half (45 percent) said they would.

The week of May 4 is Teacher Appreciation Week in the United States. This year, instead of giving teachers a plant or a letter or a video (all suggestions from the internet), why not give them something they can use? Give them respect—the kind that recognizes their expertise. Otherwise, we might all soon be asking … “Where are the teachers?”

Categories Education Reform, Funding, Harlem Success Academy

Texas: Parent Complains to State Superintendent About Approval of Unwanted Charter School

By dianeravitch
May 4, 2020 //
5

Dr. Theresa Trevino, a public school parent in Austin, wrote to Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath to complain about the insertion of a BASIS charter school into a community where the school is neither wanted nor needed. BASIS is owned by a couple who pay themselves $10 million a year. Their charter schools require students to pass multiple AP exams, which effectively winnows out low-performing students, who no longer bother to apply. Most of their charters are in Arizona, where they are celebrated for their high scores. Their high scores are achieved by excluding students who might get low scores.

See the letters here and here.

 

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Privatization, Texas

Social Justice Catholics Speak Out Against Cardinal Dolan’s Support for Trump

By dianeravitch
May 4, 2020 //
55

I thank reader Catherine King for pointing out this protest by social justice Catholics against New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pledge of support for Donald Trump.

The letter they signed can be found here.

The strong tradition of social justice within the Roman Catholic faith is at odds with Trump’s craven disregard for human life and human dignity, with his racism and xenophobia, with his preference for “gun rights” over human life, with his cruel treatment of immigrant families and children.

Categories Resistance, Trump

Seven Northeastern States Form Consortium to Buy PPE

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2020 //
37

In the complete absence of federal leadership, governors have been required to make do and find medical equipment and supplies on their own during the national emergency.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that seven states would form a regional consortium to ensure that they were ready for any future emergency with a 90-day supply of personal protective equipment.

LONG ISLAND, NY — On Sunday, Day 64 since the New York shutdown, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a seven-state regional purchasing consortium to procure personal protective equipment, tests, ventilators and other medical equipment.

The regional purchasing consortium will include New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, Cuomo said.

When the coronavirus crisis first hit, the equipment situation, Cuomo said, was one “no one anticipated. We couldn’t get enough gowns or masks,” he said.

To that end, looking ahead, every hospital will be required to have a 90-day stockpile of their own PPE onhand, a supply based on the same daily rate of usage seen during the COVID-19 crisis.

“We can’t go through day to day moving of masks across the state. This mad scramble we were in and still are in,” Cuomo said. “As a nation, we can’t go through this again.”

Throughout the past weeks, Cuomo has called for a federal approach to PPE procurement, stating that states cannot be pitted against one another, competing against one another to acquire PPE from overseas. That competition among states, he said Sunday, drove up prices.

New York State alone, he said, will buy $2 billion of medical supplies this year; the seven northeast states, he said, will buy $5 billion.

By joining forces, he said, there will be an ability to bring prices down and get the equipment that’s needed. The consortium, he said, will identify regional PPE needs, identify and avoid “irresponsible vendors,” and focus on buying American and buying regionally.

Categories Health

New York City: Don’t Cut the Budget of Our Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2020 //
3

Parents in New York City are pleading with Mayor DeBlasio NOT to cut the budget of the public schools. Please add your name to their petition to Corey Johnson, Speaker of the City Council.

All –

Please help NYC public school students by signing and circulating this petition directed to Corey Johnson, Speaker of City Council, to stop Mayor DeBlasio’s proposed 827 million dollar budget cut to NYC public schools. The idea that when our kids – and kids across NYC – return to school they will have even fewer resources than they had pre-COVID, at a time when so many need more, is simply wrong. After months of compromised learning and, for many students tremendous loss in their families and communities, children will need additional academic and socio-emotional support – but the proposed budget cuts will guarantee they get less.

There are many competing needs in our city right now. As public school parents and educators who have worked in and with high schools for over 25 years, we can confidently say that if school funding is not prioritized in the upcoming budget, it will be an unmitigated disaster – not only for the next school year, but for the long term. Please read this petition, sign it and circulate it far and wide. For this to make a difference, it needs to reach thousands of people.

Thank you!

xox,
Lori and Ben

Categories Bill de Blasio, Budget Cuts, Funding, New York City

Stephanie Jones: Which Part of the Pandemic is a Real Crisis?

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2020 //
39

In this excellent article, Stephanie Jones, Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Georgia, draws a contrast between a real crisis–the pandemic–and the scare rhetoric of children “falling behind” in some mythical race. The only beneficiaries of the fake crisis are the testing corporations.

Jones writes:

Some crises are real and extremely difficult to prevent and respond to, like a highly contagious virus that is easily spread throughout communities. Other crises are human-created, easily preventable and also easily eliminated, like worrying about what students’ test scores in reading and math will be when they return to school.

Almost any teacher will tell you that the current tool of choice to attempt to measure student learning and teacher effectiveness – high-stakes testing – has distorted the purposes and possibilities of public education beyond recognition. Decades of research on assessment and testing back-up and validate their perceptions of tests, painting a very clear picture that high-stakes testing does extensive damage and provides very little helpful information.

This is critical for all of us (parents, community members, educators, leaders) to remember in this moment because we are hearing more crisis language about students “falling behind” during the pandemic school closures. But this particular “crisis” is only possible in a world of high-stakes testing. In other words, the tool that humans have created and continue to use to try to measure student learning created this crisis of falling behind.

Take for example the alarmist tone and language of the recent editorial essay in The New York Times “The Coronavirus’s Lost Generation of Children” (the original headline on Twitter) and similar pieces that weaponize the very language and metaphors tied to testing and have been used to dehumanize education for 20 years. Words they use — setbacks, losses, grim, disastrous, catastrophic, “hobble an entire generation,” aggressive remedial plans — are irresponsible and panic-inducing during our country’s biggest health, economic, and social crisis in a lifetime. These words also spin the ideological web that education is a race. One obvious problem with a race metaphor is that some people win races and some people lose races, which also means that some people are “ahead” in the race and some people will always be “behind.”

Please open the link and read the piece in its entirety.

Bear in mind that standardized tests are normed on a bell curve and the bell curve never closes. The gap is a social construction that guarantees there will always be a top half and a bottom half.

Categories Accountability, Competition, Education Industry, Education Reform, Testing

Peter Greene: Catholic Leaders Make a Deal with Trump

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2020 //
39

Peter Greene reports here on a conference call that Catholic leaders held with the execrable Trump.

He promised them unparalleled financial support for Catholic schools, and they promised their support to the man who separates families and puts children in cages.

It was a nasty, revolting transaction.

Greene links to the National Catholic Education Reporter, which says that the transaction was really about abortion, and Catholic schools (which have been destroyed by charter schools claiming to offer the same things as Catholic schools but for free). It’s editorial says:

This unholy alliance with Trump, coupled with the GOP stacking of the Supreme Court, may get the bishops the abortion ban they so covet, but it will not end the debate. They may even get the federal money they desperately need to extend the fading life of Catholic schools. But all of it will have been purchased at the expense of a whole range of other life and justice issues.

It will have been purchased in concert with a president whose primary modus operandi is that of a bully devoid of empathy or concern for the common good. If one actually believes Trump’s current gushing about Catholic schools and the right to life, Dolan might also be offered a great deal on a bridge somewhere in the vicinity of the cathedral.

It need not be this way. The bishops themselves, in the conclusion to “Faithful Citizenship,” describe a different approach. It is worth repeating the points here:

“The Church is involved in the political process but is not partisan. The Church cannot champion any candidate or party.”

“The Church is engaged in the political process but should not be used. We welcome dialogue with political leaders and candidates; we seek to engage and persuade public officials. Events and photo ops cannot substitute for serious dialogue.”

“The Church is principled but not ideological.”

The Catholic bishops’ uncritical alliance with Republicans and Trump obliterates those principles and allows Catholics to dismiss the document as lacking any serious intent.

The alliance also further distances the church from any leverage it might otherwise possess on a host of issues on the Catholic social justice agenda deeply affecting life of the vulnerable and marginalized, as well as from any hope of brokering modifications to abortion on demand with Democrats.

The Catholic voice, capable of a priceless contribution to the public conversation, has been sold for cheap to political hucksters.

In an editorial in late January, the National Catholic Education Reporter lacerated the leadership of the Roman Catholic churchfor its alliance with Trump, who has no religion and no convictions.

Its editorial said then:

The selling of the church’s moral authority is complete. When someone so morally bankrupt and demonstrably anti-life as Trump, a misogynist who brags about assaulting women and whose primary interaction with others is to demean and degrade, can command the obeisance of the nation’s Catholic leaders, the moral tank has been emptied. A few Franciscan friars on the periphery provided the rare witness that being pro-life for Catholics requires far more than opposing abortion.

The display on the mall drains the phrase “pro-life” of meaning and sells the church even deeper into service of an ideology that severely diminishes Catholicism as a credible moral force in the larger culture.

The church’s credibility was sold to the highest political bidder and the chief auctioneer banged the gavel down on the final deal.

Trump is interested only in transactions. He hasn’t a gnat’s understanding of transformation, of persuasion that doesn’t involve his idea of a deal. His words on the mall and the cynical use of the Vatican in Vice President Mike Pence’s call-in from Rome sealed this wretched transaction.

The Catholic Church in the United States has been used and manipulated by the era’s most unconscionable con artist. He wanted your faces, your shouts of support, what will undoubtedly become in his universe “the biggest assembly of Catholics ever for any president in history!”

He’s got the images he needs. It won’t be the last time you’ll see them. Welcome to his campaign.

Categories Religion, Separation of church and state, Vouchers

California: Charter Leaders Charged with Breaking Securities Law; No Criminal Charges

By dianeravitch
May 3, 2020 //
4

As the old saying goes, better to steal a million dollars than to steal a loaf of bread. The former is smart thinking, the latter is a crime.

In Livermore, California, the leaders of a charter chain were charged with securities fraud. But they got off without any criminal charges or jail time.

When you read this story, you realize what clever guys they were to figure out such a complex scheme. You have to be an accountant to follow the money.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former CEO of the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation, Bill Batchelor, with allegedly misleading investors when acquiring a $25 million bond for Livermore charter schools.

Batchelor and John Zukoski, the former director of finance for the schools, were charged with a violation of the antifraud provision of the Securities Act of 1933. They were accused of helping prepare and sign a bond-offering document of $25.54 million to fund the purchase and renovation of a Livermore building to house two schools in May 2015. One was a charter school run by the Tri-Valley Learning Corporation (TVLC) and the other was a private school, which Batchelor also managed.

But according to the complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California and made public this week, both men were aware that TVLC had “serious cash flow problems” that would negatively affect the corporation’s ability to make payments on the bonds. The commission also alleges that TVLC was delinquent on payments owed to vendors, had other debt from a private loan that was overdue by a year and had drawn a bank line of credit to its limit in a previous bond.

But, the bond document failed to disclose that TVLC was in “serious financial distress,” and both Batchelor and Zukoski signed documents stating the material had no misrepresentations or omissions.

Without admitting any wrongdoing, Batchelor and Zukoski agreed to not participate in any future municipal debt offerings. Batchelor agreed to pay a $20,000 penalty, and Zukoski a $15,000 penalty. Both settlements are subject to a court approval, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

TVLC and California Preparatory Academy, the private high school school, went before the Alameda County Board of Supervisors seeking approval for a $30 million municipal bond to finance the purchase of a new high school building at 3090 Independence Drive in May 2015.

The bond was approved, and the Livermore Valley Charter Prep high school and the private school ended up sharing the same space on Independence Drive in Livermore.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, For-Profit, Fraud, Privatization
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