In Case You Missed It – Dec 23, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

NEIFPE's In Case You Missed It will return on January 6, 2020. Keep up with our education updates on Facebook and Twitter.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

CORPORATE REFORM

The Failure of Betsy DeVos and 30 Years of Corporate Influence on Public Schools!

From Nancy Bailey

Frustrated by public schools? Look no further than the corporate education reformers and what they have done to public education.

Education Secretary DeVos and her corporate billionaire friends have been chipping away at the fabric of democratic public schools for over thirty years!

The problems we see in public schools today are largely a result of what they did to schools, the high-stakes testing and school closures, intentional defunding, ugly treatment of teachers, lack of support staff, segregated charter schools, vouchers that benefit the wealthy, Common Core State Standards, intrusive online data collection, and diminishing special education services.

Big business waged a battle on teachers and their schools years ago. The drive was to create a business model to profit from tax dollars. Now they want to blame teachers for their corporate-misguided blunders! It’s part of their plan to make schools so unpleasant, parents will have no choice but to leave.

ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CHARTERS

Why is Accountability Too Much to Ask of Charter Schools?

From Gadfly on the Wall Blog

If you hire someone to buy your groceries, you’ll probably ask for a receipt.

That’s really all education advocates want from the charter school industry.

Charter schools are bankrolled with tax dollars but often run by private businesses.

Is it too much to ask these businesses to account for how they spend the money?

Apparently it is because Jeanne Allen has been sending her representatives all over the country to harass Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and any other candidate with the audacity to demand charter schools be transparent and accountable.

Yesterday she wrote another blistering press release with the title:

“Democratic Candidates Asked to Listen to Voices of Struggling Parents Following Them Across Nation”

Allen is CEO and Founder of the Center for Education Reform – a billionaire backed lobbying firm for school privatization.

Not exactly a “struggling parent” or anyone who speaks for them. But she is a former member of the Heritage Foundation and current member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

She doesn’t speak for parents. She speaks for the billionaires who pay her salary.

CONGRESS SAYS "NO" TO VOUCHERS, "YES" TO CHARTERS

Peter Greene: Congress to DeVos: “Sorry, Nope, No Way”

From Diane Ravitch

There is good news and bad news. Peter Greene thinks it’s mostly good news. I’d say there is both.

Congress did not appropriate a penny for Betsy DeVos’s top priority, her $5 billion request for vouchers (aka “education freedom scholarships”). Sorry, Betsy, nada. Even Republican Congressmen and Senators represent public school parents.

But Congress appropriated $440 million for Betsy’s charter school slush fund, otherwise known as the federal Charter Schools Program. The CSP is a swamp of fraud, waste, and abuse, as the Network for Public Education demonstrated in its “Asleep at the Wheel” and “Still Asleep at the Wheel” reports, which showed that more than $1 billion in federal funds were wasted on charters that either never opened or closed not long after opening...

NO MORE ARTS?

Greater Clark County Schools discuss plan to replace art teachers with 'classified specialists'

From WDRB.com

Greater Clark County Schools said it can save more than $600,000 by making changes to its art programs.

District officials laid out a plan during a Tuesday board meeting to do away with certified art teachers by replacing them with "classified specialists." These specialists would not have to be licensed and would make roughly $17 an hour.

FORMER FORT WAYNE NORTH SIDE HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS COACH DIES

Goodbye to By: North Side Coach Hey dies at 91

From the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Few better embodied what Indiana high school basketball was in its full flower, when there were hundreds of teams in hundreds of tiny dots on the map, and come March they all went into the same hopper. By was the quintessential product of that era, a Fort Wayne boy who played at Concordia and then came back to town as an assistant at Central and then head coach at his alma mater, and then went on to spend 31 decorated years at North Side.

By the time he gave up the whistle, he'd won 550 games across 34 seasons and took Moser and North to the state finals in 1965, where they lost to Billy Keller and Indianapolis Washington in the state championship game.

But somewhere in all of that, there was more.

INAPPROPRIATE EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE

Nancy Bailey: It’s Wrong to Force Four- and Five-Year Olds to Read!

From Diane Ravitch

With No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standards, some adults have been led to believe that four- and five-year-old children should read by the end of kindergarten. Preschoolers are pushed to be ready for formal reading instruction by the time they enter kindergarten.

This is a dangerous idea rooted in corporate school reform. Children who struggle to read might inaccurately believe they have a problem, or reading could become a chore they hate.

Pushing children to focus on reading means they miss listening and speaking skills, precursors to reading. These skills are developed through play, which leads to interest in words and a reason to want to read.

RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Can public schools have Christmas trees? What’s true — and not true — about religious expression in public schools.

From the Answer Sheet

• While schools cannot initiate or sponsor religious activities — including prayer — nobody can stop students from praying to whatever or whomever they want, whenever they want as long, as they do it privately and don’t try to force others to follow.
• Religious groups can meet at public schools.
• Religious music can be played in public schools when the overall focus of the activity is not religious.
• Anybody who wants to say “Merry Christmas” is legally permitted to do so.
• Christmas trees can be brought into a school and decorated because a court has ruled the Christmas tree is a secular object, much like the Jewish menorah. Lighting the candles in a menorah, however, would have religious significance and therefore wouldn’t be allowed.
• Religion can be taught as an academic subject, not as an effort to proselytize.

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In Case You Missed It – Feb 18, 2019

Here are links to last week's articles receiving the most attention in NEIFPE's social media. Keep up with what's going on, what's being discussed, and what's happening with public education.

Be sure to enter your email address in the Follow Us By Email box in the right-hand column to be informed when our blog posts are published.

"LOSER TEACHERS PUSH SOCIALISM" -- JUNIOR

Why Donald Trump Jr.’s ‘loser teachers’ comment was ‘a chilling moment’ for educators around the world

This article is behind a paywall. You can find it reprinted HERE.

From The Answer Sheet

You may recall that President Trump held a border wall rally in El Paso on Monday and that his eldest child, Donald Trump Jr., made a speech that roused the crowd.

The president’s son drew cheers when he urged young conservatives to “bring it to your schools” (though he didn’t say exactly what “it” was) because “you don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth.”

The comment drew response on social media from teachers and others who don’t see educators in the same way as he does, with the hashtag #loserteachers...

In this post, three teachers explain why Trump Jr.'s comment was more than simply mean.

Jelmer Evers of the Netherlands, Michael Soskil of the United States and Armand Doucet of Canada were featured authors in the 2018 book “Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: Standing at the Precipice.”

HOOSIER TEACHERS RANK 32 IN SALARY AND BEHIND NEIGHBORS

Are Hoosier teachers underpaid?

From School Matters

A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis suggests they are underpaid. After adjusting for cost of living, Indiana teacher salaries rank 32nd among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, it says.

The average “real” salary for a Hoosier teacher in 2017 was $56,347 after adjusting for the state’s low cost of living. Adjusted average salaries ranged from $75,000 in Alaska to $46,230 in Oklahoma.

Significantly, Indiana’s adjusted average salary was well below that for teachers in surrounding states.

SHOULD INDIANA TEACHERS STAND UP FOR THEMSELVES?

As pay debate plods on, Indiana teachers unions want more. Will they walk out?

Would you support teachers in Indiana standing up for themselves and for their profession?

From Chalkbeat

The idea of setting aside significant sums for teacher pay often gets met with “glazed-over reactions,” Sloan said, “or they smile and nod their heads. But I don’t hear anyone saying we’re going to make this happen.”

Some teachers accuse lawmakers of damaging the teaching profession through past laws that weakened unions’ bargaining powers, handed down testing mandates, and hinged teacher evaluations on student test scores. Lawmakers, they point out, also determine education spending levels, deciding to fund public schools mostly through the state, capping local property taxes, and sending public education dollars to charter schools and private school vouchers.

THE ARTS PROVIDE ACADEMIC BENEFITS

Extra arts education boosts students’ writing scores — and their compassion, big new study finds

What a shame that the legislators we’ve voted for have stolen the funds that would provide more arts in our public schools and given those dollars to private groups instead.

From Chalkbeat

When you’re the big fish, it’s not OK to pick on the little fish just because you can.

That’s an important lesson for everyone. But some Houston first-graders got a particularly vivid demonstration in the form of a musical puppet show, which featured fish puppets and an underlying message about why it’s wrong to bully others.

The show left an impression on the students at Codwell Elementary, according to their teacher Shelea Bennett. “You felt like you were in that story,” she said. “By the end of the story they were able to answer why [bullying] wasn’t good, and why you shouldn’t act this way.”

The puppeteer’s show was part of an effort to expand arts education in Houston elementary and middle schools. Now, a new study shows that the initiative helped students in a few ways: boosting students’ compassion for their classmates, lowering discipline rates, and improving students’ scores on writing tests.

VOUCHER SCHOOLS DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW PUBLIC SCHOOL RULES

State lawmakers nix proposal for private schools to follow bullying rules

From RTV6-Indianapolis

State lawmakers on Monday nixed a proposal that would have required private schools, or any school that accepts state funding, to have the same types of rules against bullying as public schools.

Rep. Greg Porter, D-Indianapolis, filed an amendment to House Bill 1640 that would require nonpublic schools to prohibit bullying and implement a protocol for investigating bullying including a method for anonymous reporting of bullying incidents, timetables for informing the parents and other parties like law enforcement, and support services for the bully and the victim.

The amendment would have allowed the Indiana Department of Education to review the bullying policies at any school that accepts state funding or financial assistance.

GARY STUDENTS SUFFER FOR LACK OF SCHOOL MAINTENANCE

Gary Roosevelt students have stayed home for weeks due to the school's failing boiler system

Would this ever happen in a wealthy community?

From the Chicago Tribune

A failing boiler system that left the school without heat for more than two weeks will keep the Gary Roosevelt College and Career Academy closed indefinitely while officials scramble to assess the cost of the repairs and who will pay for them. Students haven’t been in school since Jan. 25.

Meanwhile, Roosevelt students in grades 7-12 will begin classes Thursday at the Gary Area Career Center. In September, a school official said Roosevelt’s enrollment was 568.

REP JIM LUCAS WANTS HOOSIER TEACHERS TO LEARN HOW TO SHOOT

Indiana lawmakers want to help teachers learn how to shoot guns

From WANE.com

A state lawmaker has a controversial approach to keeping kids safe at school.

He wants teachers to learn how to use a gun.

The state representative from Seymour said his bill would not require teachers to take handgun training but would allow the school district to tap into state money to pay for that training.

A year ago this week, a gunman killed 17 students and staff members at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

In May, a teenager shot a student and teacher inside Noblesville West Middle School.

"This gives the teachers, the staff, the school employee the ability to protect themselves in the horrible event of a school shooting," said Republican state Rep. Jim Lucas.

Bill to provide firearms training for Indiana teachers passes in committee

From CBS4-Indianapolis

Should Indiana teachers carry guns in the classroom?

It’s a question that comes with strong opinions on both sides. Now Indiana is one step closer to giving teachers that option.

“When evil comes calling at the classroom door it has to be met head on with people who are armed and trained,” said high school teacher Aron Bright.

INCLUSION WORKS

Study: Inclusion benefits special-needs students

From School Matters

A new study from researchers at Indiana University provides strong evidence that students with special needs do better academically when they are placed in general-education classrooms, not separated in self-contained special education classes.

CALIFORNIA'S CHARTERS

What’s wrong with charter schools? The picture in California*

From Teaching Malinche

– Guest post created by a longtime Northern California parent volunteer education advocate

• Charter schools take resources away from the public schools, harming public schools and their students. All charter schools do this – whether they’re opportunistic and for-profit or presenting themselves as public, progressive and enlightened.

• Charter schools are free to pick and choose and exclude or kick out any student they want. They’re not supposed to, but in real life there’s no enforcement. Many impose demanding application processes, or use mandatory “intake counseling,” or require work hours or financial donations from families – so that only the children of motivated, supportive, compliant families get in. Charter schools publicly deny this, but within many charter schools, the selectivity is well known and viewed as a benefit. Admittedly, families in those schools like that feature – with the more challenging students kept out of the charter – but it’s not fair or honest, and it harms public schools and their students.

REFORM: ANOTHER NAME FOR "TEACHER HATRED"

Angie Sullivan: “Reform” in Nevada is Teacher-Hatred

From Diane Ravitch

I think the Nevada State School Board is moving in the wrong direction and causing a lot of issues in CCSD.

https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/state-board-of-education-unveils-search-timeline-for-new-superintendent

My priority would NOT be reform.

Reform is code for: HATE THE TEACHER.

It does not work and it makes us mad.

Reform is “teacher hate” bought by millionaire and billionaire eduphilantrophists. It is also known as union busting. We do not need another well-funded group that hates the people in the classroom. You have abused us for a couple of decades and nearly ruined your school system. Enough.

CORY BOOKER HAS HELPED PRIVATIZE SCHOOLS

Eric Blanc: Cory Booker Hates Public Schools

From Diane Ravitch

For close to two decades, Cory Booker has been at the forefront of a nationwide push to dismantle public education.

According to Booker, the education system is the main cause of our society’s fundamental problems, rather than, say, inequality and unchecked corporate power. As he explained in a 2011 speech, “disparities in income in America are not because of some ‘greedy capitalist’ — no! It’s because of a failing education system.”

Public schools, Booker continued, are also responsible for mass incarceration and racial injustice. To combat such evils, Booker has openly praised Republican leader Betsy DeVos’s organization American Federation for Children for fighting to win the final battle of the civil rights’ movement.

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