Thursday, October 16, 2014

PA Ed Policy Roundup Oct 16: Spending tax $ on cyber charter tuition: "it’s a pretty clear choice between (School Performance Profile scores) 97 and 39"

Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 3500 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Superintendents, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn

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Keystone State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for October 16, 2014:
Spending tax $ on cyber charter tuition: "it’s a pretty clear choice between (School Performance Profile scores) 97 and 39"


BASIC EDUCATION FUNDING COMMISSION PUBLIC MEETING
Thursday, October 16, 2014 10:00 AM     Perkiomen Valley H. S. 509 Gravel Pike Collegeville, PA
(public hearing to consider other state's funding formulas and weights; and level of local support and taxing capacity)

Pa. General Assembly extends the 2013-14 legislative session; goals remain modest
By PennLive.com  on October 15, 2014 at 11:01 PM, updated October 15, 2014 at 11:20 PM
This post was updated at 11:20 p.m. Wednesday to correct an error.
The 2013-14 legislative session isn't over yet.
The state Senate is expected back Thursday to complete it's work. The House - which broke for the week Wednesday evening - will come back next Monday to finish debate on bills the Senate is dealt with tonight and Thursday.  Still no major deals in sight, but a long list of bills have already made their way to Gov. Tom Corbett's desk this week, and a few more are expected to cross the lawmaking finish line by Monday.  Here's a look at some of the highlights.

Pa. House approves 'Pass the Trash' bill to stop abusive teachers from relocating to another school
By Wallace McKelvey | PennLive.com  on October 15, 2014 at 7:11 PM, updated October 15, 2014 at 10:35 PM
Legislation designed to prevent abusive teachers from relocating to another school district will go to Gov. Tom Corbett for enactment after being unanimously approved by the House on Wednesday evening.  Corbett is likely to sign it, said the governor's spokesman Jay Pagni.
The bill would bar schools from entering into contracts that suppress information about investigations of abuse and sexual misconduct, as well as prevent schools from transferring problem teachers from school district to school district, a practice called"pass the trash."
House Bill 1816, which was approved 195-0, was introduced in the wake of a raft of lawsuits and revelations of widespread abuse in the school system.

Pa. Senate defeats union dues measure
By Kate Giammarise/ Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau October 16, 2014 12:08 AM
HARRISBURG -- A controversial proposal that would have ended automatic dues deductions and political contributions from unionized public school employees was defeated in the state Senate Wednesday.  An amendment on the issue failed by a vote of 20 -28, when six Republican senators joined with the chamber's Democrats to defeat the measure. The chamber has a narrow 27- 23 Republican majority, but a number of the Republicans are from the more politically moderate Philadelphia suburbs. It was mostly those members who voted against the amendment, along with an Allentown Republican and all the Senate Democrats.
Labor unions and their advocates have said they see the measure as part of a broader, Republican-lead attack on unions and collective bargaining rights.

Failed school funding reform to be brought up in the future
By Christian Alexandersen | PennLive.com 
on October 15, 2014 at 4:41 PM, updated October 15, 2014 at 5:41 PM
Legislators plan on bringing back varying approaches to reform the way Pennsylvania schools are funded in the future after their bills failed to pass this year.
Two approaches to reform the school property tax reform bills were introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly in the 2013-2014 session, one by Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover, and another by Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill County.

Listen: 7 minutes with Gov. Corbett on education spending and competing priorities
WHYY Newsworks BY KEVIN MCCORRY OCTOBER 15, 2014
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett came to WHYY studios Friday to answer a wide array of questions from various reporters during an hourlong visit.  Aside from NewsWorks Tonight host Dave Heller's interview, the conversations weren't intended to be broadcast in their entirety.
But upon reviewing the tape – considering the importance of education as an issue in this election – I decided to post my full, unedited seven-minute conversation with Corbett, who is seeking re-election to a second term.  Some of what the Republican incumbent says will become content for analysis pieces in the coming weeks, as well as for our hourlong election special hosted by senior reporter Dave Davies. That's slated to air at the end of the month.
Democratic challenger Tom Wolf will be here this Friday morning to face a similar array of questions. I plan to post my unedited interview with him next week.

Wolf visits Caln, promises increased school funding
By Kristina Scala, Daily Local News POSTED: 10/14/14, 8:42 PM EDT
Caln >> Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf toured Coatesville Area School District’s Caln Elementary School before speaking with local educators and school administrators about his plan to increase school funding if elected.   “You have specific issues here that are important to the school district,” Wolf said to a group of about 15 school district staff members standing outside the elementary school. “There’s a lot of school districts facing the same issue and one of the key reasons I’m running for office is because I think this is something that we need to take seriously.”

“….if enough start making noise and discussing this in public, then maybe legislators will start to pay attention. It’s ridiculous for us to waste half a million in tax dollars.”
Haverford School Board decries cyber charter payments
Delco Times By Lois Puglionesi, Times Correspondent POSTED: 10/15/14, 9:11 AM EDT |
HAVERFORD >> When it came time to approve the school district’s October check register, school board Vice President Coleen Bennett voiced concerns regarding payments to cyber charter schools.  Pointing to a $43,628 payment to Education Plus Academy Cyber Charter School, Bennett noted that Education Plus had a School Performance Profile score of 39 (in 2012-13), while Haverford’s was 97.7 this year.
“Everyone has the right to make a choice, but I hope parents are making an informed choice,” she said.  Bennett added that Haverford offers a Blended School program that accommodates home-schoolers and online learning, as well.  “I encourage people to look at that because I think it’s a pretty clear choice between 97 and 39,” she said.
Also included on the register was a $9,573.32 payment for 21st Century Cyber Charter, which had a 66.5 profile score in 2012-13. A $7,635 payment went to Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, which had a 59.4 profile score. Another payment of $6,522.30 was for Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, with a profile score of 64.7.
Bennett said the district has no real choice regarding the payments. Although school directors can vote against authorization, the Pennsylvania Department of Education would eventually “pull the money for it.”

Attytood: 'Dear America, We Give Our Schools Third-World Level Resources...With Love, Philadelphia XOXO'
Philly Daily News Attytood Blog by Will Bunch POSTED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014, 3:41 PM
Philadelphia spends millions of dollars to tell the world -- tourists, young entrepreneurs, expansion-minded CEOs -- why they should come here. And they make a pretty good case -- a bustling Center City and a growing roster of hip neighborhoods, one of the best restaurant scenes in America, arts and culture, Fairmount Park and the ever-expanding Schuylkill Trail, world-class universities, winning sports teams, all at a cheaper cost of living than New York, D.C. or Boston.
Unfortunately, when you sell Philly to the outside world, you a) gotta take the bad with the good and b) remember that, especially in this corner of the globe, no other media outlet has more influence than The New York Times. And when readers picked up (or clicked on) the Times this morning, they saw kids running across cracked asphalt on a faded school yard. In Philadelphia.

Charters lack sufficient oversight
Philly.com Opinion by KIA HINTON POSTED: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 12:16 AM
RECENTLY, CHARTER schools have made headlines nationwide. This summer, the FBI raided charter schools in Connecticut, Arizona and Ohio. The Annenberg Institute for School Reform released a report on dramatic shortcomings of charter schools, saying "the lack of effective oversight means too many cases of fraud and abuse, too little attention to equity, and no guarantee of academic innovation or excellence."
Pennsylvania has seen its share of charter headlines as well. Earlier this month, ACTION United, the statewide organization I serve on the board of, released a report that uncovered no less than $30 million in fraud by Pennsylvania charter operators since the passage of the 1997 Charter School Act. Philadelphia, which now feeds $800 million a year into charter schools, has simultaneously starved the traditional public school system for years now. Students lack critical services because of the layoffs of nurses, librarians and counselors. Teachers are paying for supplies and even toilet paper out of their own pockets. And after a six year moratorium on charter expansion in Philadelphia, we learned our school district was required to accept a flood of new charter applications as part of the cigarette tax deal.

"In a blistering opening statement, the School District said the charter is among the lowest-performing schools in the state academically and its test scores are on the decline. The charter also has failed to pay vendors for services, has run a $3.6 million deficit, and has not filed required audit reports on time, said Allison Petersen, the lawyer representing the district.  The charter also has failed to pay required contributions to the state education retirement system, resulting in School District subsidies being withheld by the Education Department - $291,000 in August."
Palmer charter school to hold a lottery to slash enrollment
SUSAN SNYDER, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Thursday, October 16, 2014, 1:08 AM POSTED: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 6:25 PM
The Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School announced Wednesday that it would hold a lottery this week to begin cutting its student enrollment nearly in half.
The action came on the same day that the Philadelphia School District opened proceedings to revoke the school's charter.  The K-12 charter has been operating with 1,290 students on its campuses in Northern Liberties and Frankford, though the district maintains it is not allowed to enroll more than the 675 it agreed to when it signed its charter in 2005.

"Petersen did not bring up the fact that the school was under investigation for cheating -- flagged in 2011 for improbable numbers of wrong-to-right erasures on the PSSA. New testing security measures put in place for 2012 were followed by a significant drop in scores. For 11th graders, proficiency rates dropped by 38 points in reading and 46 points in math. An internal investigation found no explanation for what state officials called “extensive evidence of testing irregularities.” The Pennsylvania Department of Education never reported on whether there was any external investigation of the suspected cheating at the school."
District's hearings to shut down Palmer Charter School begin
Founder Walter Palmer says that a rescue plan has fallen through and that the school will hold a lottery as it reduces enrollment.
the notebook By Bill Hangley Jr. on Oct 15, 2014 06:02 PM
Hearings began today on the School District’s effort to deauthorize and shut down Walter D. Palmer Leadership Learning Partners Charter School, even as the founder’s plan to steer the school through its immediate financial crisis has apparently fallen through.  Speaking after this morning’s testimony, Palmer said he does not know how much cash the 1,200-student school has on hand or how much longer it can stay open without some kind of fresh financial support.

York City School Board rejects mixed charter school proposal
York Daily RecordBy Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1 on Twitter UPDATED:   10/15/2014 11:41:29 PM EDT
After hearing about three hours of discussion and comments, the York City School Board voted 7-2 against the idea of turning three schools over to a charter operator next year — a proposal made as an alternative to turning all schools into charters.
"We're not out of the woods by a long shot," Margie Orr, school board president, told the crowd. "We're going to fight this. You all have to show us you deserve to be fought for."
At the meeting, Meckley repeated the presentation he gave to the Community Education Council last week.  He said that based on data available, he felt turning all schools into charters under the management of Charter Schools USA would be the best step for the district. But based on concerns he'd heard from school board members, he proposed the alternative — that only three schools be turned over to the company next year, and both the district- and charter-run schools be evaluated for a period of years, with one path being chosen at the end.

York City school board rejects hybrid charter plan
ERIN JAMES / The York Dispatch 505-5439 / @ydcity POSTED:   10/15/2014 03:37:43 PM EDT | UPDATED:   ABOUT 7 HOURS AGO
After more than three hours of emphatic speeches and passionate pleas from the public, a dramatic York City school board meeting climaxed Wednesday with a strong rejection of a charter conversion plan.  Only two board members voted to approve a concept framed by the district's state-appointed chief recovery officer as a compromise.
David Meckley announced at a meeting last week that he'd concluded after a two-year planning process that the district's best chance for financial and academic improvements would be through transition of the district's eight buildings to management by a for-profit charter company.
However, in the interest of building consensus among skeptical school board members and other stakeholders, Meckley instead proposed a hybrid model for the 2015-16 school year.

York City: Some officials have questions on proposed district-charter mix
Some school officials said they are still working to understand new schools proposal
York Daily Record By Angie Mason amason@ydr.com @angiemason1 on Twitter 10/13/2014 05:16:02 PM EDT
Some York City school representatives said they have questions about a proposal to mix district- and charter-run buildings starting next year in an effort to find the best model to pursue in the future.  York City School Board members have a few days to decide if they like the alternative reform plan, proposed last week, and then officials would have a month to work out the details.
The board has been considering whether to bring in a charter operator to run all school buildings starting next year, which is a consequence in the district's recovery plan if internal reform isn't working. At a Community Education Council meeting last week, David Meckley, the district's state-appointed recovery officer, proposed an alternative: having the district run five schools and Charter Schools USA, a Florida-based company, operate three starting next year. The two models would be evaluated on the same measures and after four years, the one working better would be pursued.

DN Editorial: What comes after SRC?
Philly Daily News Editorial POSTED: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 3:01 AM
THE IDEA OF abolishing the School Reform Commission and replacing it with an elected board has recently dominated the conversation about Philadelphia's schools. Most local politicians, the teachers union and even Democratic candidate for governor Tom Wolf favor returning the schools to local control after almost 13 years of state oversight.  Whether it happens remains to be seen. The SRC was created by state law and it will take a change in state law to undo it. Presumably that debate can begin next year after the new governor and Legislature are sworn in.
Before we get to that point, it's worth thinking about the idea and its implications.
There are three important questions about an elected board that will have to be decided, and they will determine whether it is a step forward or a step back.

School Boards, Elections, and Philadelphia’s Utterly Failed Democracy
What does it say when the resounding objection to an elected school board is the fact that Philadelphians will be the ones electing it?
Philadelphia Magazine BY JOEL MATHIS  |  OCTOBER 15, 2014 AT 5:30 AM
Maybe democracy in Philadelphia isn’t working so well.
That’s not a novel observation, I realize, but it takes on new urgency with the growing campaign to dissolve the School Reform Commission. What would replace it? Maybe a mayoral-appointed panel — not too different from the SRC, but with more local accountability — but maybe, maybe an elected school board.  You know: One accountable directly to the voters and taxpayers of Philadelphia.  Funny thing is, the idea of an elected school board produces a pretty bad reaction from smart and experienced observers of the city’s political scene.

Letters: Everyone must pitch in for pupils
Philly Daily News POSTED: Wednesday, October 15, 2014, 3:01 AM
Steven Scott Bradley, Chairman, African American Chamber of Commerce of Pa, N.J., Del.
Varsovia Fernandez, President and CEO, Greater Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Narasimha Shenoy, Executive Director, Asian American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Philadelphia
Rob Wonderling, President and CEO, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
PHILADELPHIA finally has a cigarette tax. The Legislature's approval was the result of advocacy by many stakeholders: parents and teachers, the mayor and business leaders, and a coalition of legislators from in and outside of Philadelphia. We applaud the governor and the Pennsylvania General Assembly for passage of this much-needed, short-term funding solution.
Yet, there is much more work to do. Now is the time to refocus our work on the strategic short-, medium- and long-term efforts of reform that will ensure a safe, fiscally sound and quality outcome for our schools.

Is Commonwealth Foundation Behind Schools Protest Astroturfing?
And what does the Pennsylvania free-market think tank plan to do with its new “PFTFails” web site?
Philly Magazine BY DAN MCQUADE  |  OCTOBER 15, 2014 AT 11:32 AM
A group calling itself “PFT Fails” has hired a marketing team to hire counter-protesters for Thursday’s Philadelphia Federation of Teachers protest, Philly blog The Declaration reported last night.  While there is no data at the URL PFTFails.com, the address is registered to Nathan Benefield of the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives, a conservative Pennsylvania free-market think tank. The site was registered on Monday.
The Commonwealth Foundation did not return a request for comment about PFTFails.com and whether it has any connection to the counter-protester job ad.
The ad is searching for "2 team leads, 10 brand ambassadors and 2 back-ups." You get paid $120 if you're a team leader, $100 to be a brand ambassador and $40 to be a backup. The protesters will be given fliers and banners to counter the "Turn Up for Truth" protest outside School District headquarters this Thursday.
Billy Penn reports the offer was first emailed by GoGorilla, a high-profile New York City advertising agency that specializes in guerrilla marketing.

Confirmed: Conservative think-tank is behind paid protestors at Philly teachers union event
BillyPenn.com By Anna Orso October 15, 2014
A conservative, free-market think tank in Harrisburg is behind efforts to pay people to distribute opposing information at a teacher’s union planned for Thursday, Billy Penn has confirmed.
Cindy Hamill-Dahlgren, spokeswoman for the Commonwealth Foundation, confirmed Wednesday that the group hired New York guerrilla marketing firm GoGorilla, which will pay about 12 people to hand out fliers and hold banners in opposition to the teachers’ union — however, she said she wouldn’t characterize this effort as a “counter-protest.”
Hamill wouldn’t specify how much money the foundation is spending in order to counter the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, but an email provided to Billy Penn shows some “brand ambassadors” were being offered $100 to $120 to assist.

Conservative group funds counter school union protest
Philly Daily News POSTED: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014, 1:16 PM
PFTFails.org, a new web site aimed at informing the public of the failings of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, is set to be launched tomorrow by the Commonwealth Foundation, a right wing think tank based in Harrisburg, a spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
The Foundation, through PFT Fails, also hired GoGORILLA Media, an advertising and marketing firm out of New York City, to counter tomorrow’s planned PFT protest before the School Reform Commission meeting, said Cindy Hamill-Dahlgren, director of strategic communications at the Commonwealth Foundation. The firm’s hiring and the launching of PFT Fails was first reported by The Declaration, an online news site, leaving PFT officials and public school advocates wondering who was behind the newly-arrived group.

Students finding success with 'flipped' learning in Carbondale
Scranton Times Tribune by SARAH HOFIUS HALL, STAFF WRITER October 16, 2014
CARBONDALE — Class time is flipped at Carbondale Area Junior/Senior High School.
In the Advanced Placement calculus class on Wednesday, students questioned their teacher about what they learned the night before. Teacher Michelle Lewis provided one-on-one and small group instruction, and students helped their peers understand the concepts.
The “flipped classroom” in Carbondale, one of the first in the region, inverts the traditional classroom, empowers students and leads to more independent learning. Nationwide, flipped classrooms are becoming more popular as student success grows.

K12 Inc Investors Conference Call: You Are There!
Diane Ravitch's Blog By dianeravitch October 15, 2014
K12 Inc. is a for-profit virtual charter school chain that trades on the New York Stock Exchange. It was founded by Michael Milken and Lloyd Milken. It is funded with taxpayer dollars. It advertises and recruits heavily to keep enrollment up. It has a high attrition rate.
Its cash-cow operation is the Ohio Virtual Academy. Look for significant lobbying in New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut, Kentucky and New York, according to the investor conference call.
I don’t know about you, but I had a hard time reading this transcript. They might just as well have been discussing a corporation that sells tires, toothpaste, bundled mortgages, or manure. These guys are profiting from taxpayer dollars that are supposed. To pay for public schools, for bands, for nurses, for guidance counselors, for reduced class sizes, for libraries. They are taking money away from real instruction, real children, real schools. Have they no sense of shame? Would any of the investors on this call put their own children in a K12 virtual charter school? Bet not. Bet their kids are in really nice suburban schools or elite private schools.Not sitting in front of a computer and calling it a “school.” It’s not. It’s a business, and the kids it recruits don’t get an education.

Larry Feinberg: K12 Inc.’s Agora Cyber Charter Record in Pennsylvania
Diane Ravitch's Blog By dianeravitch October 15, 2014
Larry Feinberg, who runs the Keystone State Education Coalition of public school advocates, offered the following summary of K12 Inc.’s Agora charter school in Pennsylvania:
Pennsylvania’s Agora Cyber Charter, managed by K12, Inc. never made adequate yearly progress under No Child Left Behind
· In 2006 its AYP status was Warning
· In 2007 its AYP status was School Improvement 1
· In 2008 its AYP status was School Improvement 2
· In 2008 its AYP status was Corrective Action 1
· In 2010 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (1st Year)
· In 2011 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (2nd Year)
· In 2012 its AYP status was Corrective Action 2 (3rd Year)
·
In 2013 (no more AYP) Agora’s Pennsylvania School Performance Profile score was 48.3 on a 100 point scale; Acting Sec’y of Education Carolyn Dumaresq has indicated that a score of 70 is considered passing.
In addition to never making AYP, Agora’s 2012 graduation rate was 45% while the Philly SD graduation rate was 57%.
School Choices: K12 Inc execs taking $2K per student in salary. 8 execs, 75K students, $21M in salaries. 20% of revenue in 8 pockets.
Morningstar Executive Compensation

Looking for more info on PA cyber charter performance?
Issue Brief: An Analysis of Pennsylvania's Cyber Charter Schools
Research for Action by James Jack, John Sludden and  Adam Schott November 2013

Labor board says Blackhawk teachers' contract valid
By Eleanor Chute / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette October 15, 2014 1:33 PM
In a proposed decision and order, a state hearing examiner has determined that the Blackhawk School District cannot revoke the 2014-18 teacher contract.  In the document made public today, John Pozniak, hearing examiner for the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, said the district must implement the 2014-18 collective bargaining agreement and pay any lost wages or benefits plus 6 percent annual interest.  The proposed decision and order states it will become final "in the absence of any exceptions filed with the board" within 20 days.  The Blackhawk School Board ratified an "early bird" contract, 7-2, in September 2013. After four board seats changed hands in December, the new board in February voted, 6-2, to revoke the collective bargaining agreement, raising concerns about its legality and a cost greater than expected.

Charter School Power Broker Turns Public Education Into Private Profits
Baker Mitchell is a politically connected North Carolina businessman who celebrates the power of the free market. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell’s chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls.
by Marian Wang ProPublica, Oct. 15, 2014, 5:45 a.m.
In late February, the North Carolina chapter of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation — a group co-founded by the libertarian billionaire Koch brothers — embarked on what it billed as a statewide tour of charter schools, a cornerstone of the group's education agenda. The first — and it turns out, only — stop was Douglass Academy, a new charter school in downtown Wilmington.
Douglass Academy was an unusual choice. A few weeks before, the school had beenwarned by the state about low enrollment. It had just 35 students, roughly half the state's minimum. And a month earlier, a local newspaper had reported that federal regulators were investigating the school's operations.  But the school has other attributes that may have appealed to the Koch group. The school's founder, a politically active North Carolina businessman named Baker Mitchell, shares the Koch's free-market ideals.  His model for success embraces decreased government regulation, increased privatization and, if all goes well, healthy corporate profits.
In that regard, Mitchell, 74, appears to be thriving. Every year, millions of public education dollars flow through Mitchell's chain of four nonprofit charter schools to for-profit companies he controls.

Fairtest: Testing Resistance & Reform News: October 8 - 14, 2014
Submitted by fairtest on October 14, 2014 - 2:14pm 
As the national testing resistance and reform movement rapidly accelerates, FairTest proposes a  moratorium on all high-stakes exams to allow time to overhaul assessment at the federal, state and local levels.  Check out the plan and incorporate it in your grassroots advocacy!


New website offers closer look into candidate' views on public education
PSBA NEWS RELEASE 10/6/2014
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) has created a new website for its members and the general public to get a closer look into candidates' views on public education leading up to the 2014 election for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.  Following the primary elections, PSBA sent out a six-question questionnaire to all Pennsylvania House and Senate candidates competing for seats in the November election.  Candidates are listed by House, Senate seat and county. Districts can be found by visiting the 'Find My Legislator' link (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/).
Features include:
·         Candidate images, if provided
·         Candidates are tagged by political party and seat for which they are running
·         Candidates who did not respond are indicated by "Responses not available."
Visit the site by going to http://psbacandidateforum.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the link tweeted out by @PSBAadvocate.
Candidates wishing to complete the questionnaire before election day may do so by contacting Sean Crampsie (717-506-2450, x-3321).

Register Now – 2014 PASCD Annual Conference – November 23 – 25, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PASCD Annual Conference, “Leading an Innovative Culture for Learning – Powered by Blendedschools Network” to be held November 23-25 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey, PA.  Featuring Keynote Speakers: David Burgess -  - Author of "Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator", Dr. Bart Rocco, Bill Sterrett - ASCD author, "Short on Time: How do I Make Time to Lead and Learn as a Principal?" and Ron Cowell. 
This annual conference features small group sessions (focused on curriculum, instructional, assessment, blended learning and middle level education) is a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches for cultural change in your school or district.  Join us for PASCD 2014!  Online registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org

Upcoming PA Basic Education Funding Commission Meetings*
PA Basic Education Funding Commission  website
Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at 11 AM, Community College of Allegheny County
West Campus, Pittsburgh
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 10 AM, Lancaster
Tuesday, November 18 & 19, 2014, Philadelphia
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM, East Stroudsburg
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM, Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to change
http://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/

Health Issues in Schools: "Mom I can't find the Nurse"
October 21, 2014 1:00 -- 4:00 P.M.
United Way Building 1709 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, 19103
Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia 
Philadelphia has one of the worst childhood asthma rates in the country. We need more nurses in Philadelphia's schools to aid children suffering from this and other health issues. Join us to discuss Pennsylvania laws governing nursing services.
Tickets: Attorneys $200       General Public $100      Webinar $50   
"Pay What You Can" tickets are also available
Click here to purchase tickets

Register Now – 2014 PAESSP State Conference – October 19-21, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PAESSP State Conference, “PRINCIPAL EFFECTIVENESS: Leading Schools in a New Age of Accountability,” to be held October 19-21 at the Sheraton Station Square Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pa.  Featuring Keynote Speakers: Alan November, Michael Fullan & Dr. Ray Jorgensen.  This year’s conference will provided PIL Act 45 hours, numerous workshops, exhibits, multiple resources and an opportunity to network with fellow principals from across the state.

PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference (Oct. 21-24) registration forms now available online
PSBA Website
Make plans today to attend the most talked about education conference of the year. This year's PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference promises to be one of the best with new ideas, innovations, networking opportunities and dynamic speakers. More details are being added every day. Online registration will be available in the next few weeks. If you just can't wait, registration forms are available online now. Other important links are available with more details on:
·         Hotel registration (reservation deadline extended to Sept. 26)
·         Educational Publications Contest (deadline Aug. 6)
·         Student Celebration Showcase (deadline Sept. 19)
·         Poster and Essay Contest (deadline Sept. 19)

January 23rd–25th, 2015 at The Science Leadership Academy, Philadelphia
EduCon is both a conversation and a conference.
It is an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the big dreams.

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