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UNION-BUSTING
Beware of Right-Wing Groups Promoting Union-Busting Shell Called “Free to Teach”
From Diane Ravitch
...These organizations are part of a massive network of right-wing groups called the State Policy Network. These organizations have donated HUNDREDS OF MILLION OF DOLLARS to extreme right causes: many anti-union and pro-educational privatization. These organizations are funded by billionaires including the Koch Brothers and Richard and Helen DeVos—the parents-in-law of Betsy DeVos. They also fund the Mackinac Center in Michigan, a favorite cause of Betsy DeVos, which works to crush unions and workers’ rights...
IPS HOMELESS STUDENTS
Charie Gibson was homeless 17 times. Now she helps more than 1,000 homeless students in Indianapolis.
From Chalkbeat
As the sole administrator responsible for serving the more than 1,000 homeless students in Indianapolis Public Schools, Gibson knows, perhaps better than anyone else in the district, the laws, policies, and resources students need to find stability. She also serves students in foster care.
STUDENTS HAVE "NOTHING TO FEAR"
Trump: Kids scared of going to school because of gun violence ‘have nothing to fear'
From the Answer Sheet
“They have nothing to fear.”
That’s what President Trump said Friday when asked if he had any advice for students who are returning to class for the 2019-2020 school year and are afraid because of recent gun violence.
His response came as he was answering questions from reporters on the White House lawn before departing for the Hamptons in New York, where he was expected to attend a high-priced fundraiser. He answered queries about gun-control legislation — saying he wanted “very meaningful” checks to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people — and other issues, including immigration raids in Mississippi and the trade war with China.
More than halfway through the nearly 35-minute exchange, a reporter asked the president if he had advice for children going to school amid fear of gun violence following recent mass shootings in California, Texas and Ohio. This is what he said...
INDY CHARTER SCHOOL ON ITS OWN
An Indianapolis charter school is going out on its own — and saying goodbye to its longtime network
It would be nice if Chalkbeat would tell us what the success rate for Lighthouse was. Especially since the article indicates that the difference will be mostly just a change in name. And about that $450,000 they’ll be saving? Who was paying for that in the first place? And what are the enrollment figures? Is there really a need for this diversion of resources from the public schools to exist in the first place?
From Chalkbeat
After years of being managed from afar by the charter network that started it, the local board that oversees Victory is betting that it can operate independently — all the while saving roughly $450,000 in administrative costs.
The shift is the latest sign that Indianapolis is increasingly a city where charter schools, which are publicly funded and privately run, are local — rather than part of a large national network. In this changing ecosystem, local charter leaders have increasing support to manage their schools without the expertise of larger networks.
WLCLC OPTING OUT OF TECH
West Lafayette Schools Opt Out of 1:1 Technology
From WLFI.com
Students in the Lafayette School Corporation will head back today with access to 1:1 technology.
The Tippecanoe School Corporation also participates in the program that allows certain grade levels to get their own electronic device to use at school and home.
But the West Lafayette Community School Corporation has opted out of the program.
When it comes to technology in the classroom, the goal is to teach kids to use it constructively.
Superintendent Rocky Killion said teachers focus on instructional research practices. He said the goal is to make kids critical thinkers so they can make more informed decisions when researching.
CORRUPTION OF VIRTUAL CHARTERS
Bill Phillis: Online For-Profit Charters Are Corrupt
From Diane Ravitch
...unregulated, for-profit online charters are prone to corruption. When will public officials acknowledge that online charters are a public policy mistake?
ARMING TEACHERS
Pennsylvania Law Meant to Forbid Arming Teachers May Have Done Just the Opposite
From Gadflyonthewall Blog
Pennsylvania teachers, don’t forget to pack your Glock when returning to school this year.
A new law meant to close the door on arming teachers may have cracked it open.
Despite warnings from gun safety activists, the bill, SB 621, was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf this summer.
The legislation explicitly allows security guards – independent contractors who are not members of law enforcement – to carry guns in schools if they go through special training.
And that’s bad enough.
Why you’d want glorified rent-a-cops with guns strapped to their hips running around schools full of children is beyond me.
That’s not going to make anyone safer. It’s going to do just the opposite.
But that’s not even the worst of it.
TEACHER MORALE
'Tired Of Being Treated Like Dirt' Teacher Morale In The 2019 PDK Poll
Low pay for a job that is vitally important and that requires both skill and education is a clear sign of disrespect. Gov. Holcomb, his commission, and our Hoosier legislators seem to not understand this point.
From Peter Greene in Forbes
Inadequate pay is the marquee reason, and notably regional. Public school teachers are far less likely to feel fairly paid in the South and Midwest. That reason is followed closely by stress and pressure, which is followed by a lack of respect. Lack of support. Teaching no longer enjoyable. Testing requirements. Workload.
These are tied together with the single thread of distrust and disrespect for teachers. This has been evident on the national stage with issues like installing a Secretary of Education who had previously dismissed public education as a "dead end" or a Secretary of Education who asserts that student failure is because of low teacher expectations. Education has also carried the modern burden of the thesis that poor education is the cause of poverty, or even our "greatest national security threat," and so the entire fate of the nation rests on teachers' backs. And yet, teachers are not trusted to handle any of this; instead, we've had decades of federal and state programs meant to force teachers to do a better job. In the classroom, much of these "reforms" have sounded like "You can't do a good job unless you are threatened, micromanaged, and stripped of your autonomy." There is a special kind of stress that comes from working for someone who says, in effect, "You have a big important job to do, and we do not trust you to do it."
DEMOCRATS 2020
Joe Biden: Where Does He Stand on Race to the Top?
From Diane Ravitch
I am not a one-issue voter but I sincerely hope that Democrats have a candidate who will reverse the ruinous education policies of the past four decades. Our nation has invested in standards, testing, accountability, and choice with nothing to show for it.
Many states today spend less on education than they did eleven years ago, and millions of teachers are not paid or respected as professionals. Many states cut taxes and cut their education budgets yet expanded privatization by charters and vouchers, diverting even more money away from the public schools that most students attend.
WALMART AND GUNS
Harold Meyerson on Walmart and Guns
From Diane Ravitch
The Walton Family, which owns Walmart, is the richest family in the world. Their family foundation is the single biggest supporter of charter schools. They say they funded one of every four charters in the nation.
NAACP AND CHARTERS
Note to the National NAACP: Ignore Michael Bloomberg
From Diane Ravitch
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg spoke to the national convention of the NAACP about why they should believe in the saving power of privately managed charter schools. He tried to persuade them to rescind their brave 2016 resolution calling for a moratorium on new charters.
UTLA TEACHER STRIKE
In the Public Interest: Inside the LA Teachers’ Strike
From Diane Ravitch
The photograph below was taken during the UTLA strike last January. The guy in the center is famous rocker Stevie Van Zandt, who loves teachers and public schools and unions. Stevie is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He played in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band.
THE CHARTER SCHOOL BOTTOM LINE
Florida: Principal Doubles Salary When Public School Turns Charter
From Diane Ravitch
What a payoff!
A principal in Florida doubled his salary when his public schools converted to a charter, which is what the rightwing governor and legislator want to happen.
Meanwhile teachers In the state are raising money to pay for basic school supplies for their students.
TEACHER SHORTAGE
WLCSC Feeling the Impact of Statewide Teacher Problems
From WLFI.com
The West Lafayette Community School Corporation starts classes Thursday, and it's beginning the school year with about 15 new educators. However, it isn't because they're hiring additional teachers.
Superintendent Rocky Killion said most of the positions opened due to teachers retiring, leaving the profession or moving on to states that pay educators more.
Killion said filling the jobs is becoming harder and harder due to a dwindling number of candidates. While positions are hard to fill across the board, he said secondary teachers in specialized topics, like vocational and foreign language, are the most difficult to hire.
He said the state isn't funding education enough to allow school to pay teachers well.
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