Saturday, November 07, 2009

The news that doesn’t fit from Nov 8th

Be Informed/Get Active: PETITIONS AND PARENT/FACULTY/STAFF/COMMUNITY INFORMATION & PETITIONS FROM UTLA & AALA RE THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE RESOLUTION

UTLA & AALA continue to strongly oppose the school choice motion and are working with civil rights organizations and other district unions to investigate legal options to fight this motion.  Tenth District PTA’s Board of Directors encourages PTA chapters and units – and all community stakeholders -  to study the issue and circulate the petitions as they feel appropriate. The governance and operation of our neighborhood schools is a fundamental PTA concern. (more)

ACLU SUIT ALLEGES FLORIDA NEGLECTING SCHOOLS
Friday, November 06, 2009 9:20 PM
By The Associated Press     ●●smf’s 2¢: The class action suit: Aho, et al v. Florida, et al is interesting in that the defendants – essentially the students of the Palm Beach School District hold the plaintiffs – the governor and other statewide electeds including the state Board of Ed  – accountable for alleged local shortcomings in their education – not the local school board.  

STIMULUS FUNDING REPORTS POSE PUZZLE FOR WATCHDOGS
Friday, November 06, 2009 8:52 PM
By Michele McNeil | Ed Week | Vol. 29, Issue 11  November 6, 2009 -- Even as the Obama administration tries to make good on promises of unprecedented transparency and accountability in economic-stimulus funding, the first reports from states and school districts show the difficulty of figuring out—in detail—how the money for education has been spent.  In the broadest sense, the quarterly stimulus

SCHOOL-BASED PHYSICAL EDUCATION KEY TO IMPROVING HEALTH IN LOW-INCOME ADOLESCENTS
Friday, November 06, 2009 7:10 AM
Science Daily   (Nov. 6, 2009) — School-based physical education plays a key role in curbing obesity and improving fitness among adolescents from low-income communities, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and UC Berkeley.  The study, which identifies opportunities for adolescents to improve their health based on routine daily activities,

OBAMA OFFERS SCHOOLS MONEY FOR BACKING INITIATIVES
Friday, November 06, 2009 5:38 AM
By JULIE PACE | Associated Press  5 November -- MADISON, Wis. — Pushing for a link between student test scores and teacher pay, President Barack Obama on Wednesday dangled $5 billion in federal grants to states willing to undertake a top-to-bottom overhaul of their schools in support of White House priorities.  The day after fellow Democrats lost gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia,

FORD FOUNDATION GIVES $100 MILLION TO REFORM URBAN HIGH SCHOOLS: The New York-based organization pledges the funds to seven cities, including Los Angeles, to research and improve teacher quality, student assessment and school funding, among other things.
Friday, November 06, 2009 5:07 AM
By Mitchell Landsberg | LA Times  November 5, 2009 -- The Ford Foundation pledged $100 million Wednesday to "transform" urban high schools in the United States, focusing on seven cities, including Los Angeles.  The seven-year initiative is among the largest philanthropic efforts aimed at improving education in the United States and, as described, could both complement and challenge aspects of the

EDUCATION IN THE EASTSIDE
Friday, November 06, 2009 4:58 AM
Op-Ed by Hon. Esteban E. Torres | Eastside Publications Group [Eastside Sun / Northeast Sun / Mexican American Sun / Bell Gardens Sun / City Terrace Comet / Commerce Comet / Montebello Comet / Monterey Park Comet / ELA Brooklyn Belvedere Comet / Wyvernwood Chronicle / Vernon Sun]   <<Photo: US library of congress  Over the past year, our communities have been hit hard by the economic recession, and

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARDS GROUP SNUBS STATE LEGISLATORS
Friday, November 06, 2009 9:52 PM
by Howard Blume | LA Times LA Now Blog  November 5, 2009 |  6:14 pm  And the winner is ... no one.  That’s right. Nobody won this year’s Legislator of the Year Award from the California School Boards Assn. because schools suffered so much from funding cuts approved by the state Legislature that the group didn't want to single out any lawmaker for praise.  “Sure, there are some legislators who

CITY COUNCIL APPROVES UNIFORMS FOR LAUSD
Thursday, November 05, 2009 3:38 PM
from kabc-tv online     Report typo or inaccuracy     The Los Angeles County Unified School District?  Where does one begin?  There is no such school district.     Councilman Huizar was once a school board member and twice the president of the board of education. That was then, this – the last time I looked, is now.          The city council must have better things to do   …like balancing the

LONG BEACH UNIFIED PARCEL TAX FAILS
Friday, November 06, 2009 10:12 PM
By Kevin Butler, Staff Writer Long Beach Press Telegram  Posted: 11/03/2009 08:21:20 PM PST  <<11/3/09 - L-R Volunteers, Ward Johnson, Ida Thompson and Cynthia Motex were off to a slow start at the Olympic Sailing Center in Long Beach voting on Measure T. Photo by Brittany Murray / Press Telegram      Election results     LONG BEACH - A ballot measure that would establish a five-year parcel tax

GAO CALLS FOUR STATES, INCLUDING CALIFORNIA, 'HIGH RISK' FOR STIMULUS SPENDING PROBLEMS
Wednesday, November 04, 2009 8:43 AM
from news stories  The U.S. Department of Education has identified four states that are at “high risk” for economic-stimulus spending problems, according to a report issued  by the Government Accountability Office.  California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas have been singled out for intensive technical assistance by the Education Department to help them implement good practices in using the

HEALTH FOUNDATIONS JOIN FORCES TO IMPROVE CALIFORNIA SCHOOLS
Friday, November 06, 2009 6:03 AM
by Amina Khan | LA Times LA NOW blog  November 3, 2009 |  6:58 pm  The California Education Supports project, a new joint venture between three nonprofit foundations, held its first forum Tuesday to address the effects of mental and physical health on California students. Nearly 100 community leaders, students, health and education professionals piled into a Manual Arts High School classroom to

CRISIS IN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP SEEN BREWING IN CALIFORNIA: Policy Experts Say State Lacks Comprehensive Human-Resources Policies for Principals
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 9:17 PM
By Lesli A. Maxwell | Ed Week | Vol. 29, Issue 10, Page 9     Published Online: November 2, 2009   November 4, 2009| In California, where school budgets are being slashed and achievement remains stubbornly low in many districts, there is mounting concern that the supply of principals is too limited to manage the financial and academic challenges facing public schools.  Complicating matters, the


FALLING ENROLLMENT THREATENS LAUSD BUDGET: "The growth in charter enrollment, however, does not help the district's financial picture since the alternative schools are funded independently of LAUSD" – but 'Public School Choice' offers up 36 more this year!
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 9:01 PM
EDUCATION: District sees student numbers shrink 10 percent since 2002   By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer LA Daily News (Online from the Contra Costa Times)  Posted: 11/03/2009 08:31:53 PM PST | Updated: 11/03/2009 08:33:33 PM PST  11/4 - Enrollment in the Los Angeles Unified School District has fallen to less than 680,000 students this year, nearly a 10 percent decline since its peak seven years


For Profit/Higher Ed: AT UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX ALLEGATIONS OF ENROLLMENT ABUSES PERSIST
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 7:43 PM
by Sharona Coutts, ProPublica         ^^A University of Phoenix building in Tulsa, Okla. (Flickr user Lost Tulsa)^^  November 3, 2009 6:00 pm EDT - After federal regulators accused the University of Phoenix of systematic enrollment abuses in 2004, the school's parent company paid out nearly $10 million to resolve the allegations.   Phoenix allegedly had broken the law by tying recruiters' pay to

STUNNED LONG BEACH WILSON HIGH STUDENTS GRIEVE FOR SLAIN CLASSMATE
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 7:41 AM
Friday night's shooting jolts parents who consider campus to be the safest school in Long Beach.    Odell Smith, 16, covers his face and grieves with fellow Woodrow Wilson High students at the spot where Melody Ross was shot and killed. "I just saw her moments before she was shot...she was smiling," said Smith. (Barbara Davidson/Los Angeles Times / November 2, 2009)  By Seema Mehta | LA Times

CA Elections: TAXES & BONDS TOP LOCAL BALLOTS - OXNARD, CULVER CITY & PALMDALE SEEK SCHOOL PARCEL TAX
Tuesday, November 03, 2009 7:40 AM
Many cities and school districts, hit hard by the recession, will ask voters Tuesday to approve new spending.  By Jean Merl and Ann M. Simmons | LA Times  November 2, 2009 - Across Southern California, recession-pinched cities and school districts are asking their voters for help in Tuesday's local elections.  Besides choosing from among scores of candidates for city councils, school boards and

POLICY SKIRMISHING PUTS LAUSD REFORM AT RISK: Disputes by charter operators over boundaries and parents over where reforms are targeted first are threatening the Public School Choice initiative.
Monday, November 02, 2009 5:46 AM
LA Times Editorial  November 2, 2009 -- It's back to business as usual at the Los Angeles Unified School District, and that's not a good thing. The district's potentially transformational initiative to open about 250 schools to outside management is in danger of being undermined as various interest groups stake out turf. The central goal of the program -- to radically refashion education for the


SCHOOL CHOICE PLAN TARGETS SAN FERNANDO MIDDLE SCHOOL AND 35 OTHERS
Monday, November 02, 2009 5:46 AM
By Connie Llanos, Staff Writer, LA Daily News         Editor's Note: San Fernando Middle School is one of 36 campuses up for bid under the School Choice Plan, a reform effort that allows non-profit groups to vie to operate underperforming and new schools. The Daily News will follow this campus as it progresses throughout the controversial conversion this year.       Oct 31, 2009 | Established in


Meanwhile, elsewhere… FOR DEBATE: WHO PICKS SCHOOL BOARD
Monday, November 02, 2009 5:43 AM
By WINNIE HU | New York Times  November 1, 2009 -- MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- THE hot button in Tuesday’s election in this school-obsessed suburb is not Democrat or Republican, Corzine or Christie, but something closer to home: Who gets to choose the school board?  Montclair, whose system of magnet schools has become a national model of racial integration, has one of the few remaining appointed boards

Update: 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL FATALLY SHOT AFTER HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAME IN LONG BEACH
Monday, November 02, 2009 5:22 AM
Cara Mia DiMassa | LA Times LA NOW blog  October 31, 2009 |  7:27 am  A 16-year-old girl died after a shooting following a football game at Wilson High School in Long Beach.Two people were wounded.  Long Beach police spokeswoman Sgt. Dina Zapalski said the shooting occurred Friday night at about 10 p.m., just as people were leaving a football game between Wilson and Long Beach Polytechnic.

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