Daily Headlines for July 25, 2012
A Very Mean (But Maybe Brilliant) Way to Pay Teachers
The Atlantic, July 24, 2012
A Freakonomics author and a ‘Genius Grant’ winner suggest that giving teachers bonuses, then threatening to yank them away, might be the key to classroom success
FROM THE STATES
CALIFORNIA
A School Of Their Own
The Record, CA, July 25, 2012
New academy will help academically, socially and emotionally troubled elementary students progress while keeping them in the Lodi district
A Strange ‘Parent Trigger’ Court Ruling
Washington Post Blog, DC, July 24, 2012
How’s this for logic? “Parent trigger” laws are supposedly about empowering parents to decide how to improve ailing schools. But now a California judge has ruled that parents who signed a petition to convert a traditional public school into a public charter are not allowed to change their minds and rescind their signatures.
Teachers’ Attorney Says Evals Can Include Test Scores This Year
Los Angeles Times, CA, July 24, 2012
LAUSD and its teachers union agree on a timeline to start factoring student achievement into employee evaluations — if they can agree on how to do it.
CONNECTICUT
Disappointed In School Reform Delay
The Hour, CT, July 25, 2012
We are disappointed to see that the pilot program Norwalk public schools will be taking part in to better evaluate teachers is off to a slow start.
FLORIDA
Troubled Imagine Charter School In St. Pete To Stay Open Another Year
Tampa Bay Times, FL, July 25, 2012
After the tearful and impassioned pleas of parents and teachers, the Pinellas County School Board narrowly voted down a recommendation by superintendent John Stewart to issue a 90-day notice of termination to the elementary school.
Bay Students Allowed To Go Wireless
Panama City News Herald, FL, July 24, 2012
In other action, the School Board approved advertising the latest revisions to the board’s policy on charter schools. Tim Kitts, Bay Haven Charter Academy chief education officer, addressed the board asking for contract language amendments in regards to temporary lodgings for charters.
School District Eliminating No Child Left Behind School Transfers
Palm Beach Post, FL, July 25, 2012
Parents who had hoped to use the federal No Child Left Behind law to get their child out of one of Palm Beach County ’s low-performing schools this year will no longer have that option, a school district official confirmed Tuesday.
GEORGIA
District 4 In South Fulton County The Most Contested School Board Race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, GA, July 24, 2012
Fulton County voters will be choosing three school board members July 31 who will help guide the system’s implementation of a charter school district.
Read, Dukes Debate School System’s Future
Cherokee Tribune, GA, July 24, 2012
The final debate of the series of eight at the Cherokee County Republican Party Headquarters capped off with a matchup between the first two candidates to ever seek the countywide-elected Board of Education chair position.
ILLINOIS
CPS To Hire 477 Teachers For Longer School Day
Chicago Tribune, IL, July 24, 2012
Removing a major hurdle in the contentious contract talks with the teachers union, Chicago Public Schools has agreed to hire nearly 500 teachers so students can put in a longer school day without extending the workday for most teachers.
A Good Deal For Teachers, Schoolkids
Chicago Sun, IL, July 24, 2012
A deal struck between the teachers union and the school system will give students a desperately needed longer day without requiring teachers to work more hours. It also allows for a better day, not just a longer one, with the hiring of 477 new teachers, opening the door for a well-rounded curriculum sorely lacking in elementary schools now.
Answers To The Paralyzing Questions About School Funding Fairness
Chicago Tribune, IL, July 25, 2012
Is it true that the Chicago Public Schools educate about 18 percent of the special-education students enrolled in Illinois ‘ public schools, but receive 29percent of the grant money earmarked for special education?
INDIANA
IPS Graduates Struggle To Find Transcripts Following School Takeover
Fox 59, IN, July 24, 2012
Hundreds of high school transcripts were misplaced during the recent school takeover of Indianapolis Public Schools. Some Indianapolis high school graduates of TC Howe Community High School contacted Fox59 News for answers after spending the past few weeks searching for their records and proof of graduation.
Mayor Ballard Stands By Revoking Project School Charter, School Files Injunction
Indianapolis Star, IN, July 24, 2012
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard pushed further to shut down a Near-Northside charter school on Tuesday, but parents and other supporters of the embattled Project School said it won’t go down without a fight.
LOUISIANA
Jefferson Parish School Board To Consider Teacher Contracts That Anger Union
Times Picayune, LA, July 24, 2012
The Jefferson Parish School Board will consider a template for individual teacher contracts Wednesday, further angering the teachers union that calls the move an effort to circumvent collective bargaining. Although school system officials have said they will continue to negotiate in good faith toward a union contract, Meladie Munch, president of the Jefferson Federation of Teachers, said Tuesday she has her doubts.
Voucher Notifications Being Mailed Out This Week
News Banner, LA, July 25, 2012
Notifications of student acceptance and school assignments for the Louisiana Scholarship Program, also known as the voucher program, are in the process of being mailed this week, with all students expected to receive their letters no later than July 31.
Despite Criticisms, BESE Approves Voucher School Accountability Plan
Alexandria Town Talk, LA, July 25, 2012
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday approved rules setting up accountability at private schools that accept state vouchers over the objections of opponents who say the plan really doesn’t do much.
MASSACHUSETTS
International Company Seeking Charter School in Brockton
Enterprise News, MA, July 25, 2012
An international for-profit company that runs 80 private and charter schools planned to file an application with the state today to open a charter school in Brockton in 2014.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Fix Schools At Local Level
Portsmouth Herald, NH, July 25, 2012
New Hampshire state education officials are applying for a waiver from provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act.
NEW JERSEY
Court: School Discipline Is Limited
Cherry Hill Courier Post, NJ, July 25, 2012
An appeals court on Tuesday shot down a “24/7” discipline policy at a North Jersey school district — a ruling that could have a costly impact here.
NEW YORK
New Teacher Evaluations Pass In Beacon
Poughkeepsie Journal, NY, July 25, 2012
New rules regarding mandated teacher evaluations are causing statewide concern but Beacon’s interm Superintendent of Schools Harvey Hilburgh is confident that the performance reviews will help, not harm, his district.
Judge Backs Union in Turnaround Ruling
New York Times Schoolbook, NY, July 24, 2012
State Supreme Court Judge Joan B. Lobis ruled Tuesday in support of an arbitrator who found that the city improperly removed staffers in an effort to turn around 24 struggling schools, essentially backing the unions’ position and allowing the affected schools to staff up for the new school year.
NORTH CAROLINA
McCrory Touts Charter Schools At Concord Conference
Independent Tribune, NC, July 24, 2012
Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory said Tuesday that charter schools are important for providing kids with choices to improve education, and that the system for establishing them needs to be accelerated, transparent, nonpolitical and fair.
OHIO
Toledo Schools Join Columbus In Attendance Data Trouble
Columbus Dispatch, OH, July 25, 2012
Toledo City Schools leaders were wrong to think that they were allowed to “scrub” attendance records to improve their state report-card numbers, a state spokesman said.
PENNSYLVANIA
Former Charter School Star Indicted In Alleged $6 Million Fraud
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, July 25, 2012
Veteran educator Dorothy June Brown had a penchant for establishing charter schools in the Philadelphia area. And then stealing from them, according to the feds.
New Philadelphia Schools Chief’s Contract Up For Approval
Philadelphia Daily News, PA, July 25, 2012
The School Reform Commission is expected to vote Wednesday on the district’s contract with incoming superintendent William Hite.
SOUTH CAROLINA
District: Beaufort County Charter School Students Won’t Pay To Play
Beaufort Gazette, SC, July 24, 2012
The Beaufort County School District won’t charge home- and charter-school students to play sports with students at its conventional schools, and applications are trickling in after new state laws required districts to accommodate them.
TENNESSEE
Teacher Evaluations ‘Failed,’ Report Says
The Tennessean, TN, July 24, 2012
Tennessee’s new way of evaluating classrooms “systematically failed” to identify bad teachers and provide them more training, according to a state report published last week.
VIRGINIA
Catholic Schools Outnumbered By Charters
News Net 5, VA, July 24, 2012
A new study suggests that Catholic schools can and should copy some practices of charter schools, which for the first time will outnumber parochial schools this fall.
State Senators Visit York River Academy
Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, VA, July 25, 2012
A different set of students filled the seats of a classroom at York River Academy on Tuesday when six members of the Virginia Senate Finance Committee visited the charter school.
ONLINE SCHOOLS
Online School Reaches Out To Families
Lake Wylie Pilot, SC, July 25, 2012
South Carolina Connections Academy, a virtual public school, isn’t exactly homeschooling and it’s not a traditional public school either.
Scores Comments Clarified
The Advocate, LA, July 24, 2012
Will Sentell’s article on July 18 “Virtual school’s scores disputed,” correctly indicated my thoughts that the for-profit virtual charter school performance in Louisiana showed reasons for concern. Sentell wrote:
Virtual Home Schooling Opens — New Program Means Parents No Longer Have To Prepare Their Own Teaching Methods
Oakland Press, CA, July 24, 2012
Gone are the days when parents had to fight a legal battle to homeschool their children or try to put together a teaching method of their own.