Saturday, July 11, 2009

The news that didn’t fit from July 12

This just in: LAWSUIT FILED TO BLOCK BIRMINGHAM HIGH SCHOOL CHARTER

An e-mail to the Birmingham community from charter opponent Steve Shapiro

Thursday, 9 July, 2008

Dear Birmingham,

This e mail is to inform you all that a lawsuit has been filed today in Superior Court.  This is the first of several lawsuits that are designed to rectify many of the wrongs that have taken place over the past year.

On Monday morning, July 13, 2009, at 8:30 A.M. Superior Court, Department 85, located at 111 N. Hill St, Downtown Los Angeles, the case will be heard by the Superior Court judge.  In essence, we are seeking a court order to immediately block the charter at Birmingham.

STOP TEARING THE HEART OUT OF L.A.
Saturday, July 11, 2009 11:06 AM
Kamala Lopez in the Huffington Post| Photos by Benjamin Alfaro  Posted: July 11, 2009 12:21 PM   I first met Rocio Martinez at a St. Patrick's Day Party. She sat across from me, an attractive Latina woman with an underlying edge, and after staring past each other uncomfortably for a while we struck up a conversation. My first thought, when she told me that she was a Youth Relations Associate

US OFFICIALS PLANNING H1N1 SCHOOL VACCINE PROGRAM
Friday, July 10, 2009 8:53 AM
By Jennifer Corbett Dooren of Dow Jones Newswires from the Wall Street Journal  July 10, 2009 -- WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Top U.S. government officials are planning an H1N1 influenza vaccination campaign aimed at school-age children that could start in October.   Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said there's a possibility that vaccinations could be offered at schools and

REAL LIFE SCIENCE AND MATH PROJECT LAUNCHED IN BOYLE HEIGHTS SCHOOLS
Friday, July 10, 2009 7:50 AM
By Gloria Angelina Castillo, Eastern Group Publications Staff Writer   JULY 10 - An initiative to arm Latino students with skills to lead the country and set the pace for other young people in the world of technology was launched in Boyle Heights on Monday.  STEM-Up, a pilot program funded by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), is the first of it’s kind in the nation, and aims to

CAL STATE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM TO HALT MOST SPRING ENROLLMENT
Friday, July 10, 2009 7:50 AM
by Larry Gordon in LA Times | California Briefing   July 10 - In a move to cut enrollment because of the state budget deficit, the 23-campus Cal State University system announced Thursday that, with few exceptions, it will not allow students to start at the university next spring. Cal State usually admits about 35,000 freshmen, undergraduate transfers and graduate students in the spring,

UTLA RE: PERIODIC ASSESSMENTS - Boycott suspended pending talks with LAUSD
Friday, July 10, 2009 7:48 AM
UTLA press release and fax to chapter chairs  Beginning July 9th, UTLA is suspending its boycott of periodic assessments to focus on discussions with LAUSD on making adjustments to the program.   UTLA members have been boycotting the assessments since January to highlight their concerns about the cost, content, and overall number of Periodic Assessments. The strong support for the boycotts by

RACING FOR AN EARLY EDGE: States jockey for position as the U.S. Education Department readies billions of dollars in 'Race to the Top' awards—the stimulus program's grand prize.
Thursday, July 09, 2009 7:34 PM
By Michele McNeil | Education Week | Published Online: July 9, 2009   July 15, 2009 -- Even before they've finished spending their first block of federal stimulus aid, states are getting a head start in a national "race to the top" for better public education, without even knowing rules to the game.  With up to $4.35 billion in competitive grants for education reform at stake, the most aggressive

ISRAELI, PALESTINIAN & LAUSD HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COLLABORATE ON FILM THIS SUMMER
Thursday, July 09, 2009 4:56 PM
from the Galatzan Gazette, LAUSD Boardmember Galatzan's weekly e-newsletter  July 9 - As President Obama struggles with jumpstarting the Middle East peace process, a group of Cleveland High School students is participating in a project bringing together Israeli and Palestinian students. From July 6 through August 14, 15-20 Cleveland students will collaborate with their Palestinian and Israelis

HARDER THAN IT LOOKS: VILLARAIGOSA’S MODEL SCHOOLS BITE BACK: Meanwhile, the LAUSD dropout rate soars citywide
Thursday, July 09, 2009 7:15 AM
By David Ferrell | LA Weekly     “Teachers are in revolt at all but one of the schools Villaraigosa now controls… The ultimate insult came when teachers at nine of the 10 campuses gave Villaraigosa’s reform teams a “no-confidence” vote. At the 10th campus, a vote supporting his policies was being disputed because of voting irregularities.”   Illustration by Fred Noland     July 09, 2009 –Ronni

GAO: Few stimulus dollars are dedicated to education reform
Thursday, July 09, 2009 12:00 AM
AASA School Business SmartBrief | 07/08/2009  States largely used federal stimulus funds to fill short-term budget gaps rather than engage in long-term investments in education and other areas, says a Government Accountability Office report to be released today. http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-829  The Obama administration had expressed hope in February that stimulus funds would lead to needed

The end of mayoral control as he knows it: AS LAW EXPIRES, BLOOMBERG MOVES TO KEEP AUTHORITY OVER SCHOOLS + CHANCELLOR AVOIDS ARREST + MR. MAYOR, MEET CARL JUNG
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:22 PM
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ – New York Times  July 1, 2009 -- Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg was set to lose control of the New York City school system at midnight Tuesday, but despite dire predictions of chaos from the mayor and others, it appeared that the nation’s largest school district would continue to operate largely as usual.  The shift of power, from Mr. Bloomberg’s hands to the clutches of

NEW YORKER PROFILE OF GREEN DOT CHARTER SCHOOL CHIEF STEVE BARR IS PROPAGANDA, NOT REPORTING
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:37 PM
by Susan Ohanian – Substance News      smf notes: Without going all Tipper Gore, the following article contains questionable language – it would never pass mustard with the LAUSD e-mail server!  Mr. Barr, the subject of the article, is prone thereto – and obviously he’s been a poor influence on Ms. Ohanian. As the article is over a month old I probably should be leaving well enough alone. But

Be afraid, be very afraid: WHY NEW JERSEY IS IN WORSE SHAPE THAN GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:49 PM
by Paul Mulshine/ The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ)       ●●smf’s 2¢: There is nothing positive in being the laughingstock/paradigm of dysfunction in headlines like the above …even if there were a number of such headlines last week – comparing NJ, New York, Ohio and Chicago/Illinois to California’s budget plight.     (In all candor, the dysfunction in Albany does make Sacramento look like an amateur

IN CALIFORNIA, EVEN THE I.O.U.’s ARE OWED
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:48 PM
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER | New York Times                Registered warrants are being issued instead of checks. | photo: Max Whittaker/Reuters  July 8, 2009 -- LOS ANGELES — The only thing worse than being issued an i.o.u. rather than a check from the State of California may be not getting the i.o.u. at all — at least in time to meet the deadline of your bank.  But across California on Tuesday,

STATE EDUCATION LEADERS DECRY GOVERNOR’S PROPOSAL TO SUSPEND PROPOSITION 98
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 12:47 PM
Gentle Readers: It’s always the Unintended Consequences.                 Gov. Schwarzenegger ending of the Car Tax has cost the state about $6billion a year; the state’s revenue shortfall amounts to almost exactly $6billion per year of the  Schwarzenegger administration.                  In our haste to do away with the 2/3rds rule to pass a budget and raise taxes let’s not forget that it also

California’s B-B-Blues in the Night: FITCH DOWNGRADES CALIFORNIA GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS TO ‘BBB’; MAINTAINS WAITING WATCH NEGATIVE
Monday, July 06, 2009 10:21 PM
THE DOWNGRADE TO 'BBB' is based on the state's continued inability to achieve timely agreement on budgetary and cash flow solutions to its severe fiscal crisis                  THE RATING WATCH NEGATIVE reflects the short-term risk that institutional gridlock could persist, further aggravating the state's already severe economic, revenue and liquidity challenges and weighing on the

News Analysis from China: WHO IS TO BLAME ON CALIFORNIA’S BUDGET CRISIS?
Monday, July 06, 2009 2:02 PM
In as succinct a short explanation as possible, the Xinhua News agency writes:   “It seems that the California budget crisis is mixed with impacts of the recession, the struggle between legislators from different parties, structural problems of the state legislature, decisions from the voters and ability of the governor to lead”.    

CHANGE GONNA COME: That was the two weeks ago that was
Sunday, July 05, 2009 5:41 PM
by Kevin W. Riley from the EdWeek LeaderTalk  blog     Riley is the principal/’lead learner’ at ‘El Milagro’ - Mueller Charter School located in Chula Vista, California - seven miles from the border with Tijuana, Mexico.   June 20, 2009 - What a compelling confluence of events this week:    • Iranian patriots riding Twitter to their next revolution.   • California in near collapse as they face a

TEACHER EVALUATIONS & THE LAKE WOBEGON EFFECT
Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:25 PM
by Terry Holliday | Superintendent - Iredell Statesville [NC] Schools [20,000 K-12 students)|2008 Baldrige National Quality Award Recipient | Posted on EdWeek LeaderTalk at June 28, 2009  I caught Secretary Duncan on NPR this week talking about teacher evaluations and other key issues surrounding education reform. Secretary Duncan talked about several studies that were recently featured in

IN THE AGE OF TESTING, CAN SCHOOLS TEACH CRITICAL THINKING?
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:54 AM
Stories by Sherry Posnick-Goodwin • Photos by Scott Buschman  | From California Educator - the publication of The California Teachers’ Association|  Volume 13, Issue 9 - June 2009|           Are students learning how to think critically?           A - Yes, if students perform well on standardized tests.              B - No, schools just teach students to fill in the bubbles.               C -

KID’S VIDEO ABOUT THE BUDGET CRISIS AT THEIR SCHOOL: "We Ain't Got the Do Re Mi" by the South Pasadena Unified Grade "A" Jug Bandand
Saturday, July 04, 2009 11:11 PM

National Education Accountability Requires Overhaul: NEW BROADER BOLDER APPROACH CAMPAIGN REPORT OUTLINES COMPREHENSIVE VIEW OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN POST NCLB ERA
Saturday, July 04, 2009 10:57 PM
Deborah Meier writes in EdWeek (7/2):  I think it would be fair to argue that an institution that is funded by public monies must defend itself on the grounds that it serves, first and foremost, a public purpose—one which by its nature is held in common by all citizens, voters, and their offspring.  Here’s my suggestion. They must serve to prepare future voters to be knowledgeable and skilled

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