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May 25, 2006
Couldn't have said it better myself...
From the Star (emphasis and bold added)...
Editorial: Prop. 82 not the best option
Preschool initiative too costly
May 24, 2006
Preschool for all sounds good, especially when the rich are footing the bill.
We hope once voters read the fine print and consider the ramifications, they will vote no on Proposition 82 on the June 6 ballot.
Promoted by Hollywood activist Rob Reiner, Proposition 82 would provide free preschool for all 4-year-olds in the state, costing about $2.1 billion in 2007-08, increasing to about $2.6 billion a year in 2010-11.
Few will argue against the benefits of preschool. That is why an estimated 62 percent of 4-year-olds in California already attend preschool.
Even though it provides for the creation of a massive new state bureaucracy and $2.6 billion infusion of funding, Proposition 82 would only increase the preschool attendance percentage to an estimated 70 percent.
It makes no sense to spend $2.6 billion on a mere 8 percent increase in preschool attendance.
The main reason to publicly fund preschools is to even the playing field so more children in lower-income families have the opportunity to attend a quality preschool. The nonpartisan state legislative analyst says surveys show that 80 percent of 4-year-olds in families with incomes higher than $75,000 are currently enrolled in center-based preschools versus 49 percent of 4-year-olds whose parents earn less than $18,000 a year.
Taxpayer money is best spent assisting families that cannot afford preschool, not boosting the incomes of those that can.
Proposition 82 also has very ambitious goals for teacher qualifications, requiring that by 2016, all preschool teachers must have a four-year college degree (an estimated 30 percent currently have a four-year degree) and would need to earn a new early-learning teacher credential that would require another year of college. It also mandates that preschool aides complete 48 units of college, 24 in early childhood education. This would be required when there is already a shortage of credentialed kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers.
Under Proposition 82, parents could choose either a public or private school as long as the preschools adopt new state-determined standards; have a teacher and aide for every 20 children; provide classes at least three hours a day, 180 days a year; pay preschool teachers an equivalent K-12 teacher salary.
Some worry state standards will lead to more academic standards on preschoolers, ignoring the social benefits of preschool for which there is no bubble test. And there is concern that funding formulas would favor public preschools, driving out private ones.
Beyond those concerns is the question of fairness.
Proposition 82 funding would come from a 1.7 percent tax on incomes above $400,000 for individuals and $800,000 for couples, pushing their total marginal personal income tax rate from the current 10.3 percent to 12 percent — the highest in the country.
This proposal comes on top of Proposition 63, which voters approved in 2004, to increase by 1 percent the tax on incomes above $1 million to fund state mental-health services.
If Proposition 82 passes, social architects will think of even more ways to tax the state's rich, effectively killing the goose that laid the golden egg, when the rich move away or think up ways to lower business-related income.
There are more cost-effective and efficient ways to increase poor children's attendance in preschool than Proposition 82. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for one, promotes a good solution in his revised budget, which would eventually commit $145 million annually to pay for low-income families to enroll their children in preschool.
More than $2.5 billion a year versus $145 million a year to achieve virtually the same end?
Proposition 82 doesn't add up in a lot of ways. The Star urges a no vote.
---end---
If you agree or disagree with the Star, I welcome your comments!
Posted by Tim Keaney at 10:12 AM
May 24, 2006
Just because you can...
Doesn't mean you should. In this case, someone has video of Oxnard cheerleaders, and is trying to sell the videos on EBAY.
---
School district files complaint with eBay over cheerleaders
By staff reports
May 24, 2006
The Oxnard Union High School District will file a complaint with eBay today in an attempt to stop a seller on the online auction site from distributing video recordings of cheerleaders from the district.
In a press release, the district stated today that Superintendent Jody Dunlap learned that a seller began offering the videotapes on eBay in January, and that the recordings had been made without the permission of the district or the cheerleaders.
According to the district, the seller is identified on eBay as "cheer*girls," and was previously known as "kennyirwin42," "cokefenn" and "chitsee."
In addition to filing the complaint and conducting its own investigation, the district is "reviewing all of its options, including the initiation of litigation, to protect its students," the statement read.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 04:39 PM
From Channel 8 - The Exit Exam is on...
SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated the state exit exam as a graduation requirement, but it was not immediately clear whether the decision means tens of thousands of high school seniors who failed the test won't graduate this year.
The high court ordered a state appeals court to hold hearings in the case.
This year's class was the first in which passing the test of 10th grade English and eighth grade math and algebra was required for graduation.
A group of students sued the state, claiming the test discriminates against low-income and minority students. On May 12, Alameda Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman invalidated the graduation requirement for the Class of 2006, saying California was ill equipped "to adequately prepare students to take the exam," especially in poor, underfunded areas of the state.
The high court's decision reversed that ruling but did not settle the uncertainty over whether about 47,000 students statewide will graduate as high schools plot their upcoming commencement ceremonies.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell planned an afternoon news conference.
The plaintiffs' lawyers were not immediately available for comment.
After Freedman threw out the graduation requirement for this year's seniors, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell immediately appealed to the Supreme Court, demanding that the decision be promptly reversed ahead of looming commencement ceremonies.
But the justices rarely decide a case before an appeals court hears it. The high court ordered the 1st District Court of Appeal to hear the case, but did not say when - leaving students who failed the test in a state of legal limbo.
Still, the justices said they were not convinced that Freedman ruled correctly.
"At this juncture this court is not persuaded that the relief granted by the trial court's preliminary injunction ... would be an appropriate remedy," five of the seven justices wrote.
Lawyers for the state wrote in their appeal that Freedman's decision was "bad public policy" and an illegal intrusion into the lawmaking branch of state government. O'Connell wanted the decision overturned to "further society's interest in ensuring that students demonstrate minimal academic proficiency in order to receive a high school diploma."
O'Connell, who wrote the 1999 exit exam legislation while he was a state senator, said students who fail the test can still get further remedial instruction and take the test again.
The plaintiffs' lead attorney, Arturo Gonzalez, told the justices in a filing that the students should not be punished for the education system's shortcomings.
"As of the start of the current academic year, fewer than half of California high schools had taught all of the course material that is tested on the exam," Gonzalez wrote.
The case is O'Connell v. Superior Court, S143543.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 01:33 PM
May 22, 2006
No Backpack, go to prison...
If you're child is riding in a car without a car seat, that's against the law and results in a fine for you...
If you leave them in a hot car for a few minutes, you go to jail and potentially lose custody...
No seat belts or turn signal? TICKET!
Send your kid to school without a healthy breakfast?
Kid gets to school late or without assignments? Kids ditch class?
No accountability...
Yes, it must be the teacher's fault - or so many parents say.
What's the answer? What role do parents play, and should there be legislation that puts teeth into student and parent accountability?
Forget mailing in your property taxes; What if you had to pay them directly to the school district twice a year - Back to School Night and Open House night?
What about a system that rewards stakeholders (parents, teachers, kids and administrators) for positive and measurable performance improvements - and fines them for failures?
Do you suspect some of the stakeholders might actually come up with a plan to improve schools?
I wonder...
Posted by Tim Keaney at 05:24 PM
May 19, 2006
Jack makes the case
"California schools chief Jack O'Connell said he will ask the state Supreme Court on Friday to overturn last week's ruling that brought California's high school exit exam to a sudden halt," reports Nanette Asimov in the Chron.
"Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman barred the state from denying diplomas on grounds that not all students had an equal opportunity to learn the material on the test. Freedman said that withholding the diplomas would harm students more than it would help the state."
"In his appeal, O'Connell will ask the court to find that Freedman's order was issued improperly, he said."
"He also will ask the high court to immediately stay the lower-court decision and allow the state to withhold high school diplomas as originally planned."
Posted by Tim Keaney at 02:42 PM
May 18, 2006
Tree has fallen - did you hear it?
From the LA Times...
PC textbooks full of skewed history
California has tinkered with the past in a foolish attempt to make students feel good about themselves.
By Diane Ravitch
DIANE RAVITCH is a historian of education at New York University, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of "The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn."
May 16, 2006
TWENTY YEARS AGO, I was invited by then-State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bill Honig to join a committee to revise California's history curriculum. Over 18 months, we produced a document that added more time for the study of American and world history and called for the teaching of the dramatic controversies that make historical study engaging and honest.
Immediately, however, a wide variety of religious, racial and ethnic groups demanded changes in the document to recognize and honor their history. Blacks, Jews, Native Americans, conservative Christians, Arabs, atheists, Armenians, Poles and others lined up to complain at public hearings about references to their groups.
What made their complaints powerful is that California, unlike any other state, has mandated by law since 1976 that instructional materials used in the schools must provide positive portrayals of specified groups.
When it comes to males and females, for instance, the Legislature decreed that "equal portrayal must be applied in every instance." That means, among other things, that an equal number of male and female characters must be depicted in "roles in which they are mentally and physically active, being creative, solving problems … " and that male and female characters in textbooks must show a "range of emotions (e.g. fear, anger, tenderness.)"
California's textbooks and other materials must instill a "sense of pride" in students' heritages and may not include "adverse reflection" on any group. Cultural or lifestyle differences may not be portrayed as "undesirable." Members of minority groups must be shown "in the same range of socioeconomic settings" as those in the majority.
And it's not just gender and ethnicity that is "protected." Older people, people with disabilities and people who pursue various occupations have been written into the law.
So it's not surprising that in recent months gays and lesbians have stepped forward to demand a place at the state's capacious table. They too want their roles to be portrayed positively in textbooks purchased by the state. And frankly, they've got a point. In view of the state's broad inclusion of every other group in its list of those deserving such treatment, the state has no principled reason to exclude any new claimant.
Just a few months ago, Hindu organizations appeared before the state Board of Education complaining that they were offended by references to their religion in the history textbooks — including descriptions of the caste system and depictions of the treatment of women (one group wanted a reference to the fact that women had "fewer" rights in ancient India changed to say that women had "different" rights). Even though scholars insisted that the historical references were accurate, the organizations objected that their religion had been subjected to an "adverse reflection."
Because of its social-content guidelines, California will never see an end to these rancorous debates about who wins recognition in the textbooks. And each time, whatever California decides will have a huge effect. Because California contains nearly 12% of U.S. school enrollment, every major textbook publisher tailors its products to meet the state's specifications and then sells that product in other states.
It is time to recognize that the problem is not the nature of the group demanding inclusion, but the fact that the state has arrogated the power to dictate how textbooks should be written.
The state's social-content guidelines should be abolished. They put the state Board of Education into the absurd position of deciding which facts are historically accurate and which should be included or excluded, a responsibility for which it is manifestly unqualified. The guidelines are an open invitation to interest groups to politicize textbooks.
Telling publishers that their books must instill pride only guarantees a phony version of feel-good history. Publishers, as a result, bend over backward to be positive, whether writing about the genocidal reign of Mao Tse-tung (presumably to avoid offending his admirers) or the unequal treatment of women in Islamic societies (to avoid offending Muslims).
Certainly, textbooks should accurately portray society in all its complexity. But to impose contemporary political requirements on how the events are portrayed only ensures that the history we teach our students is inaccurate and dishonest. History books have already grown larger and duller to accommodate every group's demands.
What the state should expect of publishers is that they produce books that are as honest and accurate as possible. Such narratives would be far likelier to instill humility, a recognition of human folly, an understanding of conflict and differences and a sense of our common humanity rather than a sense of pride.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 01:34 PM
Invitation to Candidates
There is a campaign going on for State Superintendent of Public Instruction. I think it's important that all of the candidates step up and answer some pressing educational questions. As the education blog of record, there is no better place to have this debate.
Consider this an invitation to all of the candidates to answer some or all of these questions, and join in one of the most important debates in California today.
Here are the questions:
1. What is your vision of a 21st Century California High School?
2. Do you support the California High School Exit Exam?
3. Should all k-12 districts offer extended day kindergarten? Bonus question - Is it an equal protection violation if they don't?
4. Would you eliminate County Schools Offices as proposed by the Governor?
5. What role does illegal immigration play in California Schools and how would you change it?
6. Do you support the break-up of the LAUSD or giving it's day to day management to the Mayor?
7. What would you do to stem the drop outs, alcohol abuse and sexual abuse on high school campuses as demonstrated by the LA Times article on Birmingham High?
8. What will you do to tie High School graduation requirements to UC/CSU entry requirements?
9. Should the CTA have a role in setting academic standards? What role should parents play in this?
10. Do you support Sheila Kuehl's bill that would require California text books to highlight contributions of gays, lesbians and transgendered people in American History?
I look forward to the debate.
Tim Keaney
Posted by Tim Keaney at 10:01 AM
May 17, 2006
Paraphrasing King
I have a dream where americans are educated by the content and character of the school, not by the color of their skin...
NAACP sues Nebraska
Law divides Omaha schools into racially identifiable districts
OMAHA, Nebraska (AP) -- The NAACP sued Nebraska's governor and a state committee Tuesday over a new law that divides Omaha Public Schools into three racially identifiable districts.
The law, passed by the Nebraska Legislature at the end of its recent session, splits the Omaha district starting in 2008 into three districts: one mostly black, one largely Hispanic and one predominantly white.
It was aimed at solving a dispute over school boundaries in the state's largest city after Omaha Public Schools tried to take over some suburban schools.
The NAACP's federal lawsuit says the new law violates the constitutional principles embodied in the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education, which said separate but equal facilities have no place in public education.
"Segregation is morally wrong, regardless of who advocates it," said Tommie Wilson of the Omaha chapter of the NAACP.
Supporters said the plan would give minorities control over their own school board and ensure that their children were not shortchanged.
State Sen. Ernie Chambers, the Legislature's only black senator and designer of the amendment dividing the districts, has long argued that the Omaha district was already segregated because it no longer bused students for integration purposes.
"The NAACP, in my opinion, jumped on this issue because billionaire Warren Buffett spoke against it without understanding it," Chambers said.
Buffett, an Omaha native, and other local business leaders came out against the law as the Legislature was considering it.
The NAACP and Omaha Public Schools officials said the new law was short on funding and would do too little to promote integration -- even hampering other efforts.
The NAACP wants the Legislature and Gov. Dave Heineman to come up with a workable alternative to the new law by January, said John Jackson, the national NAACP's chief policy director.
Heineman, who signed the legislation, has said provisions of the law were subject to changes.
The 45,000-student Omaha school system is 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 02:09 PM
May 15, 2006
Where props are due...
Schools saving $1 million-plus on energy costs
BY ANGIE VALENCIA-MARTINEZ, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
SIMI VALLEY - More than a year after the school district implemented an energy program to cut back on utility costs, officials say they have passed the $1 million mark in savings.
The Simi Valley Unified School District, which spends $5 million on utility bills every year, began efforts to eliminate energy waste amid budget cuts, said Robert Thompson, the district's so-called energy czar.
Thompson was named energy manager just before December 2004, when the district first rolled out the conservation program run by Energy Education Inc., a Texas-based energy-management consulting firm.
By making small changes - turning off the lights in empty rooms, shutting down unused computers, getting rid of personal refrigerators and better regulating temperature - the schools have netted a savings of $1.15 million, a 22 percent drop in use. The goal was to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent.
"We don't need to spend that much," said Thompson, who monitors 32 sites, including 28 elementary and secondary schools. "We only use the resources when we need them. It really makes a difference. You have to realize what you pay at home, the district is paying, too."
The former Santa Susana High School principal tracks energy consumption and calculates savings regularly, using computer software. He also trains district employees to be more energy-efficient.
Simi Unified has two years left on the four-year contract and pays about $28,600 a month for the services, which include workshops and additional training. Funding comes out of the district's existing utility budget, with savings projected to pay for the program.
Energy Education Inc. estimates $6 million to $7 million in savings over seven years, and so far the district is on track, said Lowell Schultze, associate superintendent of business and facilities.
"The program takes a while to take effect," he said. "It's changing the way people do things."
Posted by Tim Keaney at 01:39 PM
May 13, 2006
ok...maybe it is me...
Maybe I am just a codger, a nim witted numskull (I'm sure many would agree)...but can SOMEONE anyone tell me what the heck is going on in our schools? If you don't know what I mean, read the article from the Daily News below...
Here are my favorites highlights (emphasis added - you know, to mock them)...
Sponsored by Verizon Wireless, the competition challenged students to send in the greatest number of cell-phone text messages or online submissions.
But teachers and students at Hoover High School in Glendale say they, not San Fernando, were the rightful winners.
"We are livid over here - livid," said Nareg Keshishian, an Advanced Placement teacher and student body adviser at Hoover High. "We're not going to be cheated. We won that contest fair and square."
MIND YOU - no one is kidding yet...
"We spent at least two weeks auditing the results."
"We didn't sleep at all, we did so much text-messaging," said Nelly Higneros, 19, of Pacoima, standing just beneath the stage.
Everybody clear why Nelly is 19 and still in High School?
But my personal favorite...
"This is one of the poorest schools in the state of California and yet they've proven they have access to computers, cell phones - and have mastered technology." San Fernando Councilwoman Maribel de la Torre said at the show.
MEMO to Councilwoman de la Torre... KIDS text messaging all night is not a symbol of the next generation of American Competitiveness.... SORRY. I was ROTFLOL until I realized she wasn't kidding...
My thoughts: There certainly was a lot of passion about this contest throughout the LAUSD. Did parents know about it? Is this how you want your kids spending their school and non-school hours?
What the heck is going on? In India...they are amused....
Tim Keaney
Verizon-sponsored concert contest sparks controversy
BY DANA BARTHOLOMEW, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
PACOIMA - As The Black Eyed Peas performed their hip-hop artistry during a concert Thursday at San Fernando High, controversy raged over the Verizon-sponsored contest that offered up the gig as first prize.
The multiplatinum artists of "Monkey Business" fame took the stage amid cheers from San Fernando High students - but jeers from competing high schools that saw a whole lot of monkey business in the high-tech challenge.
Sponsored by Verizon Wireless, the competition challenged students to send in the greatest number of cell-phone text messages or online submissions.
Verizon Wireless counted more than 10 million valid entries from 120 participating campuses - the most from San Fernando High.
But teachers and students at Hoover High School in Glendale say they, not San Fernando, were the rightful winners.
"We are livid over here - livid," said Nareg Keshishian, an Advanced Placement teacher and student body adviser at Hoover High. "We're not going to be cheated. We won that contest fair and square."
When the contest ended Jan. 9, students say, a Verizon Web site listed Hoover High with 8.9 million entries to San Fernando High's 6.7 million entries.
"Hoover won ... it wasn't even close," said Ani Petrosyan, 17, of Glendale, who attends Rose and Alex Philibos School, a Hollywood competitor. "In the beginning, San Fernando was ahead, but at the end, I knew for sure Hoover won, because of the Web site."
Not so fast, Verizon officials said, before The Black Eyed Peas took the stage at Tiger Field.
"We spent at least two weeks auditing the results. One of the rules was no automated entries - bots, or a program that submits entries automatically," said Gregg Yacovone, director of marketing for Verizon Wireless.
Yacovone said each automated entry was traced to an Internet Protocol address for each student, then disqualified.
"You could see there were some IP addresses that had five entries per second, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for several weeks on end," he said. "San Fernando was the true winner."
San Fernando High students who gathered to hear the band said they worked hard to win the contest.
"We didn't sleep at all, we did so much text-messaging," said Nelly Higneros, 19, of Pacoima, standing just beneath the stage.
"Hoover did a scam, they tried to cheat us - Tigers all the way," added Ana Oliperos, 16, of Mission Hills.
Some said it was remarkable that working-class Latinos were able to dominate the high-tech match-up.
"There's a great consumer market in young Latino children," San Fernando Councilwoman Maribel de la Torre said at the show.
"This is one of the poorest schools in the state of California and yet they've proven they have access to computers, cell phones - and have mastered technology."
dana.bartholomew@dailynews.com
Posted by Tim Keaney at 03:38 PM
In other words - duh...
From the Daily News editorial Page...
Raising expectations
State education policy must leave no groups behind
LA Daily News
Imagine the widespread, righteous outrage that would ensue if, say, David Duke said that minority schoolchildren couldn't do the same work as their white counterparts. The very notion is insulting and offensive.
And yet the state of California effectively declared as much just seven years ago.
Back in 1999, when it established the Academic Performance Index, which assesses student achievement, the state set the bar lower for schools with high concentrations of black students, English learners or poor kids.
This is, to rip off a line from President Bush, a gross example of "the soft bigotry of low expectations." Implicit in the policy is the belief that certain groups are simply unable to compete at the same level. Rather than help disadvantaged kids strive for excellence, the state was content to consign them to perpetual mediocrity.
The harm done is more than just in the stigma that comes with the low expectations. API goals are a key tool the state uses to identify and help underperforming schools. By setting improvement goals lower for schools with high minority, poor or English-learning populations, the state made it easier for those schools to continue failing without getting the special attention they needed. State bureaucrats could be happy that fewer California schools were officially failing, while the students suffered the consequences.
"When we look backwards," State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell says candidly, "we made a mistake by setting lower expectations for subgroups."
He can say that again.
But credit O'Connell for owning up to a mistake and doing something about it.
Wednesday, at O'Connell's recommendation, the state Board of Education voted unanimously to rescind the policy, and start requiring schools to improve the performance of all groups. This is an important and overdue step - one that begins to correct a shameful chapter in California educational history.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 07:50 AM
May 12, 2006
Thank you Mrs. Reed
Everyone deserves a teacher like Regina Reed
---article---
Article Launched: 5/07/2006 12:00 AM
Among teachers, Reed's extra special
BY ANGIE VALENCIA-MARTINEZ, Staff Writer
LA Daily News
Since 1980, Regina Reed has taught in the Simi Valley Unified School District, serving hundreds of special-needs children with behavioral, emotional or learning handicaps.
"Special-needs children don't learn things as quickly as typical kids," said the Garden Grove Elementary School teacher. "It takes longer to see results, but when you do, it makes your day."
Becky Wetzel, the district's director of elementary education, who began her career as a special-ed teacher, described Reed as a dedicated and passionate leader.
"She feels very strongly about making sure that students in her class meet every goal they can possibly meet and overcome every challenge they can possibly overcome," Wetzel said. "She's also an advocate for special-education teachers and students and has provided support to other teachers and leadership at her school."
The district has more than 100 special-education teachers serving nearly 1,000 students.
"You have to be a person that is willing to take your success in small dozes," Wetzel said. "People don't go into special education thinking they'll see big growth or changes. You take great satisfaction in the growth you see in students every day. That's what makes special-education teachers special: They have to wait a long time for their rewards."
At a time when school districts across the nation face a shortage of special-ed teachers, Reed, 39, said she would like more educators to take on the high-stress job, which requires individualized attention.
"It can be challenging every day, but I find it extremely rewarding," she said. "I've always had a natural affinity, just an acceptance of special-needs kids."
The Simi Valley woman - who is married with two children and is working on her master's degree at California State University, Channel Islands - teaches a dozen first- and second-grade students who suffer from moderate to severe disabilities, including physical disabilities, autism, mental retardation and speech impairments.
In February, she received a 2005 Lew Roth Award presented by the Simi Valley Education Foundation for excellence in teaching, the first award given for special education.
"The award goes to someone who goes above and beyond what is expected of a teacher," said Cindy Jacoby, the foundation's executive director. "Teachers are overworked and underpaid. They're the ones shaping the minds of our future adults. They need to be more appreciated."
Reed also works with new instructors, teaching them the ropes of the program.
"Teachers look up to her," said Arleigh Kidd, an educator turned teachers union leader. "Besides being a good classroom teacher, she works to make the whole school better. She looks out for everybody."
Posted by Tim Keaney at 07:33 AM
May 11, 2006
Sorry Sheila...
A Senate committee in Sacramento approved a bill Wednesday that would require California's textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender.
Why is any senate requiring History books to include anything. Is Congress or the legislature in charge of history, or are historians?
If we allow legislatures to demand what is written, do we actually lose more of what and who America is?
Example - let's say a legislature in any state decided that they wanted to downplay the role that business plays in growing an economy. Is that okay?
Let's say a legislature in any state decided that jews weren't to be written about? Is that ok?
Let's say a legislature said that only people that think like them should be written about - is that ok?
Well, that's precisely what is happening.
Martin Luther King's dream was to live in a nation where his kids wouldn't be judged by the color of their skin, but rather, by the content of their character.
I think it's wrong for history to be based on slanted, narrow-focused ideas. History should be about history...and accurate history should be what the state buys. I hope the textbook companies don't cave to such manipulation, but with California being such a huge market, I would bet they would.
The governor should veto this assault on history.
Tim Keaney
p.s. read the story by clicking below...
State textbooks could get gay rewrite
BY JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press
LA Daily News
SACRAMENTO - A Senate committee approved a bill Wednesday that would require California's textbooks to include the contributions of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people to the state and nation's history.
The bill outraged some religious and conservative family groups, which said it would indoctrinate students in what they view as an unacceptable lifestyle.
The Senate Education Committee passed the bill by state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, 8-3, along party lines. It now goes to the full Senate.
"Our community is invisible in all of the teaching material, so that our students are never, ever given any information about the fact that somebody who did something good was a gay person. That changes the way you feel about someone," said Kuehl, who was the state's first openly gay legislator.
She and members of Equality California, a gay rights group that sponsored the bill, said gay and lesbian students are less likely to feel isolated and even drop out of school if they see themselves represented in the material they learn at school.
Marina Gatto, a 17-year-old senior at Mercy High School in Burlingame, testified that she has faced discrimination at school because she has two lesbian mothers. She said once a teacher explained that AIDS was spread by gay people as punishment for their lifestyle.
"This bill doesn't say that you have to be in favor of the gay rights movement, it doesn't say that you have to be a part of it. All it says is that you have be educated," Gatto said after she had testified. "I think there's nothing wrong with education."
Opponents, who filled several rows in the meeting room, derided the bill as encouraging homosexuality. Their testimony even sparked heated exchanges with some Democratic committee members.
Karen England, executive director of the Capitol Resource Institute, a Sacramento-based conservative "pro-family" group, said Californians already are aware of the gay rights movement and don't need it "mandated in our curriculum."
"This conversation belongs in the bedroom and not in the classroom," she said.
She noted that many schools recently held a student-organized Day of Silence to protest discrimination against gay students.
Sen. Jackie Speier, however, equated learning about the accomplishments of gays to the women's suffrage movement and demonstrations in favor of equal rights for blacks.
Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, the only committee member who spoke against the bill at Monday's hearing, said Kuehl herself is likely to be noted as a pioneer in future history textbooks.
But he said her bill goes too far, requiring that sexuality be included even when it's not relevant to a person's accomplishments.
"For instance, where John Marshall of course discovered gold in California that ultimately led to the 1849 gold rush and California as a state. Now, I don't have any idea whether John Marshall was gay or transgender or whatever, but even if he was, certainly whether or not he was, doesn't add to or subtract from the contribution he made to California history," Morrow said.
Responded Kuehl: "I heard the same argument in the '50s and '60s and '70s. Who cares if Langston Hughes was black? He was just a great poet. Well, black students had no black role models."
State law already prohibits the board from adopting textbooks containing material that portrays people negatively because of their race, sex, color, creed, handicap, national origin or ancestry.
It also requires the inclusion of contributions from "Native Americans, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans and members of other ethnic and cultural groups to the total development of California and the United States."
Posted by Tim Keaney at 12:45 PM
May 09, 2006
Sincerest Form of Flattery
http://latimesblogs.typepad.com/schoolme/
The new blog on education, from the LA Times.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 03:29 PM
Push 'em through!
Judge Likely to Halt Calif. Exit Exam By JULIET WILLIAMS, Associated Press Writer
Mon May 8, 11:29 PM ET
A judge said Monday he is likely to prohibit the state from requiring that high school seniors pass an exit exam to graduate, siding with attorneys who say the test discriminates against the poor.
A group of high school students and their parents sued the state Department of Education in February, seeking a preliminary injunction to halt giving the exam to this year's senior class. It's the first class required to pass the exam to earn a diploma.
Both sides are scheduled to appear Tuesday before Alameda County Superior Court Judge Robert Freedman in Oakland. Freedman said in his tentative ruling that he is likely to issue the injunction, based on the plaintiffs' argument that all California students do not have access to the same quality of education.
"We've submitted substantial evidence, overwhelming evidence that kids who attend schools in large cities are far more likely to be taught by teachers who are not qualified or credentialed," said Arturo Gonzalez, a San Francisco attorney who is representing the students.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said he would appeal any ruling blocking implementation of the test.
"Independent research shows that because of the high school exit exam students are working harder and learning more, and those who are struggling are getting the help they need to succeed," he said in a statement.
The department said last week that about 11 percent of this year's senior class has yet to pass the English and math test, although students have multiple opportunities to take the exam. Department officials noted that in previous years, about 13 percent of seniors failed to graduate for various reasons.
Special education students who sued the state over the exit exam won a one-year exemption while the state comes up with an alternative for them.
The same Alameda County judge is scheduled to hear arguments next week in another lawsuit against the exam. Public Advocates, which won a $1 billion settlement over equal access to education in California schools, claims the department failed to properly investigate alternatives to the exam.
Posted by Tim Keaney at 02:07 PM
May 05, 2006
Dost thou meeteth too little?
Re Jerre Reimers letter to the editor this morning, why is it that the Simi Unified School Board doesn't meet as often as say, the City Council? I count 6 general board meetings on the year, not including the "special sessions" that aren't televised, and are typically expulsion hearings.
6 meetings to meet in front of the public, to discuss long term strategy, enrollment, curriculum, bond funds and the rest.
Is it that the talking points aren't delivered on time? Are the scripts running late?
Read Jerre's comments here:
Sense of urgency needed
I was very disappointed in the outcome of the Simi Valley Unified School District board meeting Tuesday. In a bit over 2 hours, the board accomplished very little. At the previous meeting April 4, board member Debbie Sandland promised a discussion "at the next meeting" about the circumstances behind the very low rate at which Simi students meet the entrance requirements for the CSU/UC system. What happened to this discussion?
Board members asked to have several items put on the agenda for the next board meeting (May 30, four weeks away), but were told repeatedly that the agenda was already full. Perhaps they need to meet more often. For this current school year, they have met on the average of once every four weeks. It appears this is not often enough, given all of the items that need to be discussed and acted upon. The board needs to re-prioritize the meeting and take care of the important items first. As board member Carla Kurachi pointed out, important items are continually put off to future meetings, and little of substance is decided. The board has no problem loading the teachers and staff with more and more requirements to accomplish in the limited number of hours of school, but in its own case, acts as if it has all the time in the world.
We deserve a board that has a sense of urgency about their responsibilities
---end LTE---
Oh,. and if you think that the Board is spending the time you think there spending in the non-televised sessions (workshops as they like to call them)... Click below for the minutes from the February 28th "Board Study Workshop". Minutes is right.... a Total of 60 to be exact - to cover:
(1) Governor’s Proposed Budget
(2) Actual Daily Attendance (ADA)
(3) Budget Assumptions
(4) Budget Reduction List
(5) Transfers
(6) Multi-Year Projection
(7) Before and After School Programs
(8) Additional Budget Request
(9) Santa Susana and Simi High Funding
Read on...
SIMI VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT
BOARD OF EDUCATION
MINUTES OF THE BOARD STUDY WORKSHOP
February 28, 2006
CALL TO ORDER President Debbie Sandland called a Budget Study Session of the Board of
OPEN SESSION Education to order at 5:35 p.m., in the Floyd Binns Room at the Educational Service Center, 875 Cochran Street, Simi Valley, CA, 93065.
PRESENT: Board Members: Debbie Sandland, Janice DiFatta, Rob Collins, Carla
Kurachi and Greg Stratton
Staff Members: Kathryn Scroggin, Superintendent
Lowell Schultze, Associate Superintendent, Business & Facilities
Don Gaudioso, Assistant Superintendent, Personnel Services
Mel Roop, Assistant Superintendent, Facilities and Maintenance
Bill Waxman, Director, Secondary Education
Becky Wetzel, Director, Elementary Education
Dennis Carter, Director, Student Support Services
Lynn Friedman, Director, Curriculum
Shelley Barta, Director, Fiscal Services
Barbara Dickerson, Budget Analyst - Confidential
PUBLIC
COMMENTS There were no public comments
BUDGET Board Members and District staff met for a budget study session. The
STUDY the following items were discussed:
SESSION (1) Governor’s Proposed Budget
(2) Actual Daily Attendance (ADA)
(3) Budget Assumptions
(4) Budget Reduction List
(5) Transfers
(6) Multi-Year Projection
(7) Before and After School Programs
(8) Additional Budget Request
(9) Santa Susana and Simi High Funding
A black and white copy of the power point presentation is attached.
ADJOURNMENT MSCU DIFATTA/COLLINS, 5/0, to adjourn the meeting at 6:35 p.m.
Motion #198
Approved on March 14, 2006 MSCU = Moved, Seconded, Carried, Unanimous
______________________________ ______________________________
Debbie Sandland Kathryn Scroggin, Superintendent
President of the Board of Education Secretary to the Board of Education
Posted by Tim Keaney at 02:09 PM
May 01, 2006
Stuck in the middle with you - II
Recently, I have gotten a flurry of messages - complaints really about middle schools. Some, where the parking duty people aren't watching the parking lots right (and are disobeying school policies), others where kids are literally being pulled out of local middle schools because parents are concerned about the lack of education/supervision.
What's happening at your middle school? Do you think your kids are getting the attention they deserve? Read this one e-mail from a concerned local parent (names removed to protect the students)...
---e-mail---
We pulled our son out of Valley View Middle School today. Too many kids, too little supervision...
Friday, I went to Somis for our orientation. Do you know they even have a band program? Starts in 3rd grade. They even have a Jazz band, for those students who really enjoy it. That's not my son's cup of tea, but I could see how that would be great for some.
I pulled him out of VV mainly because he was totally ostracized. He just felt very isolated, and one day when he was being very open and sincere, he was telling me how he couldn't learn there, and knew he wasn't learning. He wasn't comfortable, which made it hard to concentrate and do what he needed. Frankly he also didn't feel safe because of an incident with a certain group. He said that the cuss words flew all around all day and they were all he ever heard. This particular group was calling him a fat $#%## and a co*$sucker. They called him names because I think that something got to him one day and he almost started to cry. I didn't ask the school to intervene, as we all know how well that goes over with the kids you don't get along with. I've seen others go through the whole bully thing and nothing really gets accomplished. For all their big talk the action is small. Considering they were all kids in our neighborhood, and know where we live....uh uh, not interested.
We have enrolled him in the Somis Home Schooling program.
Back to Somis. I will keep a journal of what we do, and samples of work must be turned in. You meet with a teacher once a month, and the look over the journal and keep the sample work for the state. They have a Science Fair in January, which must be participated in, as well as an Authors Fair in May. In fact, the Bare Books, which are bound books that are empty and the kids fill in are great. The books can be on anything the kids like, and my son is thinking of doing a book on Space, which I can tie into Science or on Greek gods, and tie it into his Social Studies, His baseball games count as PE time. So some aspects should make life easy.
Anyway, that's the scoop. Oh during the star test next week. They'll provide a snack. I get to go in anytime that's convenient for me. I think it will be good for him.
See you around.
Concerened mom
---end---
Somis has a Home School program attracting youth from outside of Somis? What is happening at your middle school that makes you nervous (or conversely, makes you excited?)
What are your thoughts?
Tim
Posted by Tim Keaney at 02:20 PM
