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policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and
congressional staffers, Governor's staff, the acting PA Secretary of
Education, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, education
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Keystone State Education Coalition:
Pennsylvania Education Policy
Roundup for August 23, 2013:
PSBA Board of Directors names Nathan
Mains as new executive director
The next discussion will be in State College and focus on cyber
and charter schools, Browne said.
Special education funding across Pennsylvania examined in
Allentown
By Lynn
Ondrusek on August 22, 2013 at 6:14 PM, updated August 22, 2013
at 6:21 PM
Four
parents, three with their special needs children in attendance, told a
Pennsylvania education commission today how putting their children into regular
classrooms and intermediate unit programs helped the students succeed in life. Three have graduated from high school and are
moving on to jobs or furthering their education at Lehigh
University. “We’re not here today to
get anything,” said Kim
Resh, of Lower Nazareth Township, one of the parents on the panel. “We’re
here to better it for the future children.”
From AYP to SPP
Yinzercation
Blog August 22, 2013
Move
over Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Time to make room for the School
Performance Profile (SPP). Pennsylvania has just been granted its waiver to the
federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, which had required that all students
in the country be proficient in reading and math by next year. But don’t start
celebrating just yet.
PSBA Board of Directors names Mains as new executive director
Steve
Robinson, Director of Publications and PR 8/22/2013
N E W S
R E L E A S E
Nathan
G. Mains has been named the new executive director of the Pennsylvania School
Boards Association by the PSBA Board of Directors following a nationwide
search. Mains will begin his tenure as the sixth executive director of the
association on Sept. 8.
"We
are very pleased to have Nathan joining our team. He brings a fresh perspective
and energy to our organization. The PSBA Board is anxious to move forward under
his leadership," stated PSBA President Dr. Marcela Diaz Myers.
"It
is an honor to be selected to join PSBA -- an organization with a rich history
of advocating on behalf of public education across the commonwealth,"
added Mains. "I am looking forward to joining the PSBA team and their
strong efforts on behalf of school boards across Pennsylvania."
- See
more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=6001#sthash.0c8yNxld.dpuf
MotherCrusader
Blog by Darcie Cimarusti Friday, August 23, 2013
I drove
through Philadelphia twice today on my way to pick up my girls from a visit
with my aunt in Maryland. (Why yes, that IS a lot of driving for one day...)
And as
I drove through Philly the first time, I listened to WHYY's
Marty Moss-Coane interview Philadelphia Superintendent William
Hite. As I tuned in, I was thrilled to hear public school advocate
extraordinaire Helen Gym of Parents United for Public Education. If you
want to REALLY understand what's happening in Philadelphia's public schools,
read the10
Question interview Helen gave to NBC10 Philadelphia.
As I approached Philly and listened to the entire interview, I was struck by the number of K12 Inc. billboards (the national cyber charter behemoth), lining 95 South. I took note of no less than 4, so who knows how many there actually were. The irony of this did not escape me, especially as I listened to this portion of the broadcast.
As I approached Philly and listened to the entire interview, I was struck by the number of K12 Inc. billboards (the national cyber charter behemoth), lining 95 South. I took note of no less than 4, so who knows how many there actually were. The irony of this did not escape me, especially as I listened to this portion of the broadcast.
‘Perfect storm’ threatens Philadelphia schools
Washington
Post Answer Sheet Blog By Valerie Strauss, Published:
August 23 at 6:00 am
The
Philadelphia public school system is in a financial and leadership crisis so
severe that writer Aaron Kase said in this
article on Salon.com that the district is in its “death throes.” While
that may be premature, there is no question that the system is in agony, having
been starved for funding by the state for years and used as a playground by
school reformers who imposed one experiment after another, each which served to
undermine the traditional public schools.
The
financial problems are so deep that this summer, the appointed School Reform
Commission, which has run the district since the state took it over a dozen
years ago, passed a “doomsday” budget that included cuts so drastic that there
was no money for schools to open this fall with funding for things such as
paper, new books, athletics, arts, music, guidance counselors and more shortly
after announcing the closure
of some 40 schools. Superintendent William Hite had said he feared schools
could not open on time in September but he recently said they will,
though many schools will be suffering from a loss of personnel and
services. The crisis continues.
I asked
Helen Gym, a Philadelphia public school parent and activist, a few questions to
explain the situation she and other citizens of the city are facing. Gym is
a founder of Parents United for Public Education, a citywide parent group
focused on school budgets and funding to improve achievement and accountability
in the public schools. She is a former editor of The Notebook, an
independent Web site about Philadelphia public schools. She is also a board
member at Asian Americans United, a Chinatown-based community organization
active in education, youth leadership, immigrant rights, and community
development. Gym was named the Philadelphia Inquirer’s “Citizen of the Year” in
2007 for her work in education, immigration and community activism.
Here’s
our e-mail conversation:
Amid Schools Crisis, Teachers Union Is Under Fire
Daniel
Denvir City Paper Posted: Thu, Aug. 22, 2013, 12:00 AM
A School
Reform Commission (SRC) meeting descended into familiar chaos on Aug. 15 as the
state-controlled board suspended portions of the Public School Code, allowing
the Philadelphia School District to ignore teacher seniority in hiring back
some of the 3,859 teachers, counselors, aides and other staff laid off in
June.
“Our
current staffing structure, as mandated in the School Code, does not allow us
to prioritize matching the abilities of staff to the needs of schools and
students,” Superintendent William Hite Jr. explained, according to his prepared
testimony. The actual words he uttered, however, were nearly incomprehensible
as a packed auditorium of teachers and supporters heckled him.
The
school district’s case for the code suspension — which also halts graduated,
seniority-based pay raises and gives the district more control over
charter-school growth — is straightforward: In emergency circumstances, they
need flexibility to prioritize retaining the most critical teachers and staff.
But it comes as the SRC and state leaders carry out a broader attack on the
Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT), which is now negotiating a new
contract. Hite is seeking, among other changes, to end seniority in teacher
assignments and replace length-of-service-based pay with “performance”
measures, typically based on standardized tests.
Why America Should Care About
Philadelphia’s Children
Philadelphia, the place where the Declaration of Independence was
signed and the Constitution was written, and the site of the oldest residential
street in the United States, has become the site where the nation’s drift away
from its founding ideals is most acutely obvious.
A recent op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer described the situation of the city’s
public schools as a “slow train wreck.” The district faced “a $304 million hole
in the amount of money that’s needed to open safe schools.” A “rescue package”
offered by the state was woefully inadequate. Recently, the city borrowed $50
million just to open the schools on time. And a big showdown between teachers
and school administrators is expected later this month.
“This should be a big national story,” the op-ed writer concluded,
“arguably as big as what happened in Detroit. At the end of the day, Detroit’s
bankruptcy was something that happened on a piece of paper. What’s happening
here is real kids and real schools.”
Indeed, what’s happening in the City of Brotherly Love should be a
national story, which is why it is important to get the narrative straight.
Pennsylvania Senate Education
Committee Public hearing on Keystone Exams
Monday, August 26, 2013, 9:30 AM, Tredyffrin-Easttown
School District
105
W. Walker Rd. Wayne, PA
Acting PA Education Secretary to speak at Lancaster Lebanon IU 13
on Sept. 10
Penn
Manor SD website by Brian Wallace August 16, 2013
William
Harner, the acting Pennsylvania Secretary of Education, will speak Tuesday,
Sept. 10, at Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, 1020 New Holland Ave. The
address is scheduled from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. School administrators, board
members, teachers’ union representatives, PTO/PTA officers and others
interested in education issues are urged to attend. Registration is requested
by Sept. 6 at : https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Secretary_Harner
Pennsylvania Senate Education
Committee Public hearing on Common Core
Thursday, August 29, 2013, 9:30 AM Capitol,
Hearing Room 1, North Office Bldg.
Harrisburg
Save the Date: Diane
Ravitch will be speaking in Philly at the Main Branch of the Philadelphia Free
Library on September
17 at 7:30 pm..
Diane Ravitch | Reign
of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger to America's
Public Schools
When: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at 7:30PM
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. on August 23, 2013
When: Tuesday, September 17, 2013 at 7:30PM
Where: Central Library
Cost: $15 General Admission, $7 Students
Ticket and Subscription Packages
Tickets on sale here at 10:00 a.m. on August 23, 2013
Yinzers - Save the
Date: Diane Ravitch will be speaking in Pittsburgh on September
16th at 6:00 pm at Temple
Sinai in Squirrel Hill.
The lecture is being hosted by Great Public Schools (GPS)
Pittsburgh, which is a new coalition of community, faith, and labor
organizations consisting of Action United, One Pittsburgh, PA Interfaith Impact
Network, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, SEIU, and Yinzercation. Co-sponsors for the event include the University
of Pittsburgh School of Education, the PA State Education Association, Temple
Sinai, and First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh Social Justice Endowment.
More details to come.
Join
the National School Boards Action Center Friends of Public Education
Participate
in a voluntary network to urge your U.S. Representatives and Senators to
support federal legislation on Capitol Hill that is critical to providing high
quality education to America’s schoolchildren
PSBA is accepting applications to fill vacancies
in NSBA's grassroots advocacy program. Deadline to apply is Sept. 6.
PSBA
members: Influence public education policy at the federal level; join NSBA's
Federal Relations Network
The
National School Boards Association is seeking school directors interested in
filling vacancies for the remainder of the 2013-14 term of the Federal
Relations Network. The FRN is NSBA's grassroots advocacy program that provides
the opportunity for school board members from every congressional district in
the country who are committed to public education to get involved in federal
advocacy. For more than 40 years, school board members have been lobbying for public
education on Capitol Hill as one unified voice through this program. If you are
a school director and willing to carry the public education message to
Washington, D.C., FRN membership is a good place to start!
PSBA
members will elect officers electronically for the first time in 2013
PSBA 7/8/2013
Beginning
in 2013, PSBA members will follow a completely new election process which will
be done electronically during the month of September. The changes will have
several benefits, including greater membership engagement and no more absentee
ballot process.
Below
is a quick Q&A related to the voting process this year, with more details
to come in future issues of School Leader News and at
www.psba.org. More information on the overall governance changes can be found
in the February 2013 issue of the PSBA Bulletin:
Electing
PSBA Officers: 2014 PSBA Slate of Candidates
Details on each
candidate, including bios, statements, photos and video are online now
PSBA Website Posted 8/5/2013
The 2014 PSBA Slate of Candidates is being
officially published to the members of the association. Details on each
candidate, including bios, statements, photos and video are online at http://www.psba.org/elections/.
PASA-PSBA
School Leadership Conference
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
October 15-18, 2013 | Hershey Lodge & Convention Center
Important change this year: Delegate Assembly (replaces the
Legislative Policy Council) will be Tuesday Oct. 15 from 1 – 4:30 p.m.
The
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference is the largest gathering of elected
officials in Pennsylvania and offers an impressive collection of professional
development opportunities for school board members and other education leaders.
See Annual School Leadership Conference links for all
program details.
Registration:
https://www.psba.org/workshops/?workshop=17
PAESSP State Conference October 27-29,
2013
The Penn Stater Conference Center
Hotel, State College, PA
The
state conference is PAESSP’s premier professional development event for
principals, assistant principals and other educational leaders. Attending will
enable you to connect with fellow educators while learning from speakers and
presenters who are respected experts in educational leadership.
Featuring
Keynote Speakers: Charlotte Danielson, Dr. Todd Whitaker, Will Richardson &
David Andrews, Esq. (Legal Update).
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