Monday, September 5, 2005

Schools Open Doors to Katrina Refugees

As the American people begin opening their hearts and pocketbooks to victims of the Katrina hurricane, schools across the country are opening their doors to children displaced by the disaster. Here are just a few of the many similar links online:

• School districts enroll thousands of refugees
• Area schools ready to enroll Katrina refugees
• Gov. tells schools to enroll evacuees' kids
• Local schools enroll refugees

 

Don't Say "Segregation"

I saw an excellent interview by Deborah Solomon in the Sunday New York Times with Jonathan Kozal. Kozol "is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the United States." (Wikipedia) Kozol responded to a question about school segregation:

Our political establishment refuses to use the word ''segregated.'' They call the schools diverse, which means half black, half Hispanic and maybe two white kids and three Asians. Diverse has become a synonym for segregated.

Kozol pulls no punches in the interview on questions about NCLB, President Bush, school segregation. My favorite, possibly because it precisely matches my view, was his response to a question as to why Republicans would support a big government program such as No Child Left Behind.

The kind of testing we are doing today is sociopathic in its repetitive and punitive nature. Its driving motive is to highlight failure in inner-city schools as dramatically as possible in order to create a ground swell of support for private vouchers or other privatizing schemes.

The Los Angeles Times also had a good Kozol column last week, Blunt critic on schools, integration.

The Venus and Jupiter Show Continues

I've spent the last several evenings with my camera mounted on a tripod and my telescope at the ready, watching the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Venus is now moving further south in each evening's night sky, but it's still well worth a look to the west just after sunset. The two shots below were taken just a few minutes apart.

The folks at the Astronomy Picture of the Day thoughtfully revised a previously posted picture of the day with this reprise of a Venus radar mosiac.

Chicago Tutoring Approved

The New York Times Sam Dillon reports in Education Law Is Loosened for Failing Chicago Schools that Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings has eased NCLB requirements on the Chicago Public Schools. The move allows them "to run federally financed tutoring programs for students at low-performing schools." Dillon notes that waivers in Virginia, similar to the one granted Chicago, "allow children to benefit a year sooner from the tutoring, which has proven far more popular among parents than the option to transfer."

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Wednesday, September 7, 2005

Spellings Offers Federal Assistance to Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama Schools

Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings "telephoned the Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama state school superintendents and other top Gulf Coast educators yesterday, offering broad federal assistance to stricken schools and universities." The New York Times Sam Dillon reports in Federal Aid Is Offered to Schools that Spelling said the federal government will ignore some financing deadlines facing school systems in gulf states and will cut through red tape and be flexible on other educational questions. Saying that the offer was "not about politics, but "all hands on deck," Spellings invited 40 educational groups, including the NEA, to participate in a panel that would coordinate efforts.

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