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Cuts in PGCPS An email from a frequent reader about severe staff cuts now proposed in the Prince George's County (MD) Public Schools (PGCPS) brought to mind the Reverend Martin Niemöller's famous quotation "about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets:"
I hope I'm not guilty here of trivializing Niemöller's powerful and important words. The quotation appears with many variations. Wikiquotes list three of them, including the text above, and Wikipedia notes that the content of the quotation may have been presented differently by Niemöller himself on different occasions. In Prince George's County, "they've" now come for the library media specialists, among others. And the "they" here may not be all that bad of folks, simply administrators with a budget to balance. Several sources tell the story of reduced state and federal revenue forcing "dire" cuts in school spending.
PGCPS has "emailed everyone flyers to print out for their classes, urging students, parents, community members and staff contact the governor and the state legislators to give the county more money." PGCPS Superintendent William R. Hite, Jr. used public hearings and online surveys, but apparently neglected to directly ask his principals or teachers for input in developing his cut list. It would also appear that the PGCEA (teachers' union) hasn't communicated well with its library media specialist members about their willingness to accept cuts in "salary, benefits or class size to keep people." (direct quote from a PGCPS LMS) Hite has proposed:
Hite said at a news conference last week, "We are looking to continue the academic progress that we have made over the past several years. We're also looking to protect, as much as we can, classrooms and schools. However, we know this is going to be a painful process." Where to Cut The question in the current national political climate comes down to where to cut expenses, rather than ways to increase revenue to protect our children's education. I wouldn't want to be one of the ones, superintendents and/or school board members, trying to decide which vital part of the PGCPS system to lop off to save the rest. Library media specialists may or may not be the point at which parents and teachers and the public in general dig in and shout, "Stop! Enough!" I really think we've gone way past the point of cutting non-essentials in most of our schools. As an example, I've watched in horror as special education assistants classified as non-essential are dropped. They're non-essential until "a runner" gets away from you and runs out the doors and into a busy street (a real situation). During my first few years of teaching, a reading specialist turned assistant principal and a library media specialist helped mold me into a better person and teacher. Reading specialists, assistant principals, and media specialists are all prime areas that get cut now, along with art, music, and P.E. folks. Maybe we can educate our children on a new plan without many of the personnel we've employed in the past. I just keep remembering the times when I saw one of these "non-essential" folks, including our custodians, make a difference in the life of a child. In another position, maybe they would have anyway, or maybe not. Since I'm way up on my soapbox and probably overdue for a fall, let me add that I'm sick of hearing our President, Secretary of Education, our Governor here in Indiana, and others who should know better talk about school "reform." I know it's just a word, but it implies the whole system is broken, when it truly is not. We, and they, should be speaking of school "improvement," but that word doesn't seem to resonate well with those who stand to make a buck or a big name for themselves, or win an election by breaking the current school system with their "reform" strategies. Odds 'n' Ends I left out the controversy last week about the resignation of Williamsburg Middle School Principal Kathy Francis in her struggle with Arlington County Superintendent Patrick K. Murphy. Last week it sounded like a bit of a soap opera to me, but for some reason, it sounds like hard news to me today! Having written a letter or two myself much like the one Francis wrote and put online, I can appreciate from afar her level of frustration. So here are the pertinent links to the story:
As much as I used to groan when science fair time came around, Amy Harmon's It May Be a Sputnik Moment, but Science Fairs Are Lagging caught my interest. Depending on how they're done, science fairs can be an exciting learning experience. I also liked Christi Parsons and Lisa Mascaro's President's education plan another early test for political civility in the Chicago Tribune. Send Feedback to |
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Los Angeles Times' Research "Demonstrably Inadequate" Valerie Strauss's New study: How L.A. Times teachers data is flawed put me onto Derek C. Briggs and Ben Domingue's Due Diligence and the Evaluation of Teachers. They write about the Los Angeles Times' project that used “value added” methods to publicly rate the effectiveness of more than 6,000 teachers in the system. Briggs and Domingue write:
A few days after the Times published their rankings, I commented, "Because of the sheer nastiness of the the apparent intent of the story, plus my own previous opinion of the authors' apparent anti-teacher bias, I decided to just not comment on it." Of course, the story didn't go away, so I ended up having to write about it. I'm glad someone is setting the record straight.
Duncan Gets Earful from School Board Members Secretary of Education Arne Duncan faced rigorous questioning following a speech Monday to the National School Boards Association's Federal Relations Conference. Education Week's Michele McNeil records in Local School Board Members Play Hardball With Duncan that board members "fed up" with No Child Left Behind asked:
The NABA's Joetta Sack in Sec. Duncan’s priority: Reauthorize ESEA related the members became frustrated when Duncan "refused to address the 'what if' question: What actions would he take to remove sanctions if Congress does not get a new law passed in time for the new school year?" Odds 'n' Ends A few other items of interest I ran across today include Bill Turque's Rhee's firing of 75 D.C. teachers in 2008 was improper, arbitrator says. Diane Ravitch's Closing Public Schools: A Truly Bad Idea is a truly good read. And Sam Dillon's U.S. Plan to Replace Principals Hits Snag: Who Will Step In asks some pertinent questions. Hoosier Teachers Rally at Statehouse Hoosier teachers made headlines this week when they rallied in Indianapolis "denouncing the sweeping education proposals moving through the Republican-dominated state House and Senate." The AP's story, Indiana Teachers Rally Against GOP Education Plan, got picked up across the nation and even appeared on Education Week. The second paragraph of the article pretty well tells what is going on in the Hoosier state:
Even Jim Horn covered the story on his Schools Matter blog in Democants Free Republicons to Pursue War on Teachers and Public Schools. A related article on Education Week, States Aim to Curb Collective Bargaining, tells of the trend in dismantling teacher bargaining rights. Note that to read the entire article, one must be an EdWeek subscriber. Sadly, most of the measures Daniels and Bennett are pushing will probably become law in Indiana. PBS Teachers Innovation Awards An email today reminded me that the deadline for entries in the PBS Teachers Innovation Awards is March 31, 2011. The contest is open to U.S. PreK-12 teachers, media specialists, technology coordinators, and homeschool educators. From the PBS contest page:
Odds 'n' Ends Implementation of California's "parent trigger" law that would allow parents to initiate school turnarounds has been delayed and may even have been killed until a clearer law is written. Melody Gutierrez tells in State education board delays 'parent trigger' issue until March and Teresa Watanabe in State Board of Education puts the brakes on parent-trigger law about the political ins and outs of the issue. Laura Bush to announce 2nd education initiative by Jamie Stengle tells of a middle school initiative announced yesterday by the George W. Bush Institute. "The program focuses on 11 elements for success, including school leadership, reading interventions, effective teachers, dropout prevention and school, student, family and community support." Walt Gardner discusses the disconnect between a school's academic performance and parental satisfaction in Why Are Parents Satisfied With Underperforming Schools? About Rhee's Baltimore Miracle I'm not really sure there is any one item here that is worthy of making a posting today. Taken together, it's not much better, but doing this posting means I've actually posted something here every day this week. I haven't done five postings in a week here since November! Guy Brandenburg kicked up a real stink when he posted a comment on Michelle Rhee's blog that included data that pretty well showed she lied about her claims of raising student scores when she taught in Baltimore. He's previously shared his find with Jay Mathews of the Washington Post (see below). For most of us, that's not new. Of course she lied. But Brandenburg used some publicly available data that Ed Harris had found that really, really showed there was no way her students' test scores jumped "from well below the 20th percentile to having over 90 percent of them scoring above the 90th percentile." I can't find Guy's comment on Rhee's blog, so the link above was to Guy's restatement of it on his Brandenburg's Blog. There's probably not a thing in this posting that will improve your life, change your teaching forever, etc., but it is sorta interesting to read.
For Color Today
Actually, I guess I could have done a bit about planting petunias as a promo for my other web site, Senior Gardening. I really should have gotten our petunias started last month, but I think we were just way too busy trying to stay warm during the storms and power outages.
Our Senior Gardening feature stories, Gloxinias and Saving Gloxinia Seed, tell how to grow great florist type gloxinias at home or in the classroom. Egypt - A Teachable Moment Michelle D. Anderson's U.S. Teachers Find "Teachable Moment" in Egyptian Protests on Education Week reminds us that the phrase "teachable moment" actually does have some significance, other than making most of us sick. Kids can learn a lot by focusing on the current happenings in Egypt. Free Web Tools for Classroom Educators And we can wind up the week with Laura Devaney's Free web tools for classroom educators on eSchool News. I'm pretty sure we all have all the free web tools for the classroom we can effectively use. But I also continue to hunt for something better. You may find a gem in her piece. And if free online stuff for the classroom is your thing, check out our feature story from last August, Free Stuff for Teachers, Homeschoolers, and Students. Hey, that makes a posting! Well, sorta. Have a great weekend!
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©2011 Steven L. Wood