Education News Roundup: Sept. 5, 2012

By Mark Peterson, on September 5th, 2012

“Back to School” by Damian Gadal/CC/flickr

Today’s Top Picks:

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says Utah public education funding has dropped 8 percent since 2008.
http://goo.gl/QEehF (SLT)
and http://goo.gl/onlQj ([Phoenix] Arizona Republic) and http://goo.gl/mC6Ia (HuffPo)

or a copy of the report http://www.cbpp.org/files/9-4-12sfp.pdf

Park City’s McPolin Elementary will host a community night for Latino parents.
http://goo.gl/NhxWQ (SLT)

Park City’s Parley’s Park Elementary School named one of the “Coolest Schools in America.”
http://goo.gl/KodZC (PR)
and http://www.scholastic.com/coolschools/

Park City’s (jeez, this is getting monotonous, isn’t it?) superintendent search has begun.
http://goo.gl/qBKxQ (PR)

PARCC is getting the word out on what the new Common Core assessments will mean for classroom instruction.
http://goo.gl/kuIi2 (Ed Week)

Wait. You mean Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal won’t get me an A in geometry?
http://goo.gl/oWK5b (Ed Week)
or a copy of the ruling
http://goo.gl/zGstG

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TODAY’S HEADLINES
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UTAH

Per pupil funding down in Utah since 2008, report says Education » Most states decreased per pupil funding during the Great Recession.

Park City set to host community night for Latinos Education » Event aims to connect parents to programs that can benefit childrens’ education

Parley’s Park named “coolest” school
Elementary school recognized for dual immersion program

Superintendent search begins
Timothy leaves school district, leaving hole in administration

School board: Move freeway interchange away from Hunter High South Salt Lake » Officials, residents warn of dangers to students.

State Office of Education Reaffirms Data Release Policy

Top U.S. Education Officials to Visit Salt Lake Sept. 12-14 as Part of 2012 Cross-Country Back-To-School Bus Tour Promoting Education “Education Drives America” to Spotlight Classroom Success, Link Education and the Economy

New resource will try to help close state’s college gender gap

New principal promotes sense of community

St. Joseph schools keep PACE with master’s degree students

Sister Karla McKinnie heads Special Needs Program

CDC: Many Utah teens not getting all vaccinations

Prep football: California transfers to Jordan denied eligibility Prep football » Forged signatures on paperwork hurt students’ arguments.

Utah nonprofits receive Daniels Fund grants

Americans Think Schools are Underfunded, but Deficit is a Bigger Priority

OPINION & COMMENTARY

The school chauffeur teaches a lesson

State jumped into math common core too fast

Smaller classes in early grades help kids succeed

Ditching private schools
Private school students are choosing to move to charters in unexpected numbers. That’s a good thing for the education system.

Speakers Spotlight Obama Ed. Initiatives, GOP Spending Threats

The Left’s Education Divide
At the Democratic convention, a choice between children and teachers unions.

High Schools Teachers Address Post-9/11 Stereotypes

H.S. Study: More Study, Less Sleep Not a Good Combo

Court Rejects Settlement on School Claims for Frosted Mini-Wheats

Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education

NATION

Educator Cadres Formed to Support Common Assessments

Is top-ranked Massachusetts messing with education success?
Massachusetts public schools produce students who are top in the nation in reading and math. Here’s what the state did to get there, and here’s why its shift to the new Common Core standards worries some experts.

School District Bets Future on Real Estate

More teachers green in the classroom

Florida Schools In Session, But Teachers Absent

Avenues: The World School to open local, go global

Suits Challenge Classrooms That Segregate Boys, Girls Critics Say Practice Furthers Stereotypes; Some Praise Better Learning Climate.

Homophobia in Schools Report Finds It’s Getting Better

Should parents ‘friend’ their child’s teacher?

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UTAH NEWS
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Per pupil funding down in Utah since 2008, report says Education » Most states decreased per pupil funding during the Great Recession.

Everyone knows that the recession has been hard on schools in Utah and across the nation.
But exactly how much has education in the Beehive State suffered? Per pupil spending in Utah plunged by more than 8 percent, when adjusted for inflation, between 2008 and now, according to report released Tuesday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a Washington, D.C.-based think-tank that works on programs affecting low and moderate income families.
Utah has long had the lowest base per pupil spending in the country.
“This should really be a call to attention that when you really take a good look at the overall school budget we’ve got problems and we’ve got to address those problems,” said Allison Rowland, director of research and budget at Voices for Utah Children.
http://goo.gl/QEehF (SLT)

http://goo.gl/onlQj ([Phoenix] Arizona Republic)

http://goo.gl/mC6Ia (HuffPo)

A copy of the report
http://www.cbpp.org/files/9-4-12sfp.pdf

Park City set to host community night for Latinos Education » Event aims to connect parents to programs that can benefit childrens’ education

A back-to-school night at McPolin Elementary School in Park City will have the usual information booths about after school programs and other community activities as children get set to hit the books for another academic year.
But also on this year’s agenda: A Mariachi band, games, snacks and activities targeted at the school district’s booming Latino population.
In conjunction with the United Way of Salt Lake, McPolin Elementary and the Park City School District on Thursday will host a community night for Latino parents, designed to better connect them with their childrens’ education.
http://goo.gl/NhxWQ (SLT)

Parley’s Park named “coolest” school
Elementary school recognized for dual immersion program

The Scholastic Parent & Child magazine recognized 25 public schools across the country in the recent “Coolest Schools in America” issue, and in that mix was one Utah school: Parley’s Park Elementary School. Parley’s Park Elementary School was recognized as one of the coolest schools for its “two-way dual immersion” program where Spanish- and English-speaking students learn from each other, according to a press release. The two-way immersion program is unique because students will spend half the day being taught in one language and half the day in another.
“I think this is a great way to put Utah on the map,” said Parley’s Park Principal David Gomez, “with these dual immersion programs going statewide. If you look at the state model, it’s a really well done, comprehensive program and I believe we are leading many states in that effort.”
http://goo.gl/KodZC (PR)

http://www.scholastic.com/coolschools/

Superintendent search begins
Timothy leaves school district, leaving hole in administration

With Park City School District Superintendent Ray Timothy set to leave his post in October, the Board of Education has already begun discussions to find his replacement. Last week, Timothy agreed to take a position as the new executive director and CEO of the Utah Education Network (UEN), an organization that provides Internet services and technology training to schools in the state. The school board will have to find a new superintendent, but with school board elections on the horizon and the timing of Timothy’s departure, finding a permanent replacement could take until next summer.
“At some point in near future, we will appoint the new interim superintendent,” said Moe Hickey, the Board of Education President. “We will start our search by putting together a committee and then we can begin a national search. We will probably be advertising nationally with a number of publications for educators and also on websites specific to educational hiring.”
The board will not be able to hire a permanent replacement until the school board positions up for election are filled in January, a Utah law that prevents school boards from hiring either a district business administrator or superintendent within six months of an election. After June 30, any school board in Utah is required to wait before hiring.
http://goo.gl/qBKxQ (PR)

School board: Move freeway interchange away from Hunter High South Salt Lake » Officials, residents warn of dangers to students.

South Salt Lake • Granite School District fears that current plans for the future Mountain View Corridor freeway could create deadly traffic havoc for Hunter High School students.
After hearing from concerned parents Tuesday, the school board voted 6-1 to ask the Utah Department of Transportation to consider moving a planned interchange at 4100 South — where it would border Hunter High and an off-ramp would impact access to its parking lot — to 4700 South instead.
Teri Newell, UDOT’s project manager for Mountain View, told the board UDOT will work with the district and community to review options, but said UDOT’s environmental review process ruled it is wiser to have an interchange at 4100 South. UDOT already has started earthwork near 4700 South, assuming no interchange will go there.
http://goo.gl/n0uBe (SLT)

http://goo.gl/OdRvQ (KSL)

State Office of Education Reaffirms Data Release Policy

A recent State Board of Education meeting raised the question of whether student and teacher evaluation data should be released by the state and made available online. But as KCPW’s Charlotte Duren reports, the board has determined the release of that kind of information is best left to the school’s principal.
http://goo.gl/jiAgu (KCPW)

As part of the U.S. Department of Education’s third annual back-to-school bus tour, top federal education officials will visit Salt Lake City for events that will highlight education successes and promote the theme, “Education Drives America.” U.S. Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter, U.S. Education Department Chief of Staff Joanne Weiss, and a host of other senior officials will participate in events from Wednesday, Sept. 12 through Friday, Sept.14 in the Salt Lake area.
http://goo.gl/JNZJc (ED)

New resource will try to help close state’s college gender gap

SALT LAKE CITY — Education officials want to close the gap between male and female college degree earners in Utah and are hoping the Utah Women and Education Initiative and its newly launched website will provide a path to achievement.
The initiative’s director, Mary Ann Holladay, said this step is a continuation of a task force convened by Gov. Gary Herbert in 2011, which looked at the barriers women encounter in pursuing college degrees.
http://goo.gl/05q4K (DN)

New principal promotes sense of community

ENOCH — Iron County School District has selected Daniel Ekker, who formerly taught in the Washington School District and served with Utah National Guard’s Triple Deuce, to lead Enoch Elementary School as principal after the retirement of Lenora Roundy.
Ekker said until this year, he taught at Three Falls Elementary School and Hurricane Middle School, both in Hurricane, for the past 14 years, although he has lived in Iron County for the past 20 years. He said he has had a goal of serving as a school administrator for a long time.
http://goo.gl/ZKr4S (SGS)

St. Joseph schools keep PACE with master’s degree students

OGDEN — Saint Joseph Catholic schools are benefiting from teachers who are learning the latest in educational theory and technology while teaching in the classroom.
For the past four years, master’s degree students from the Pacific Alliance for Catholic Education (PACE) program though the University of Portland have spent the school year teaching in Ogden classrooms, while their summers are taken up with attending classes in Oregon.
The students enter the program with bachelor degrees in various subjects, then spend two years pursuing an advanced degree in education. Some PACE graduates have gone on to be hired by Utah Catholic Schools.
http://goo.gl/q7aev (IC)

Sister Karla McKinnie heads Special Needs Program

SALT LAKE CITY — Holy Cross Sister Karla Mc-Kinnie became the director of the Special Needs Program Aug. 1. Daughter of Charity Sister Stella Marie Zahner, who held the position for 17 years, is now the associate director.
Sr. Karla comes to the Special Needs program from Saint Andrew School, where she was principal for four years. In 2006, she began preparing to open the school with Holy Cross sisters Catherine Kamphaus and Genevra Rolf, Utah Catholic Schools superintendent and associate superintendent, respectively.
As director of the Special Needs program, Sr. Karla will work with low-income families in need of tuition assistance. The students are referred to the program by principals or pastors; families are interviewed for financial information and allotted funds based on their needs, she said.
http://goo.gl/uCdbB (IC)

CDC: Many Utah teens not getting all vaccinations

SALT LAKE CITY — New numbers from the Center of Disease Control says that Utah junior high students are behind on some of their vaccinations.
Currently there is only one “required” vaccine for students entering the seventh grade. But the state recommends three others, though not many kids like getting those shots. School nurses and state health officials want parents to understand those vaccines rather than dismiss them just because they aren’t required.
“We are in an enclosed area where we have close contact with people, all it takes is one person to get it, have meningitis and all of the sudden we see that spreading throughout the schools,” said Jordan School District nurse Jeri Melton.
http://goo.gl/DjqiG (KSTU)

http://goo.gl/3SJ5a (KNRS)

Prep football: California transfers to Jordan denied eligibility Prep football » Forged signatures on paperwork hurt students’ arguments.

The Utah High School Activities Association unanimously deemed two Jordan football players from California athletically ineligible Tuesday afternoon, in part because the group found signatures on the boys’ hardship waiver requests to be forgeries.
Dynamite-Jones Fa’agata and Clifford Betson, two distantly related then-juniors living 40 miles apart in the Bay Area, wound up living with the same uncle, Stuart Tua, in Sandy this spring. They testified that their parents wished for them to escape dangerous neighborhoods wrought with gun violence and drugs.
But the UHSAA panel determined that the situation didn’t merit a hardship waiver, which the UHSAA generally defines as a specific act or event that creates an unavoidable burden on the athletes’ families. The ruling ensured that the pair of receivers won’t play for the No. 1-ranked Beetdiggers this fall.
It also didn’t help that the UHSAA found that the signatures of the principals from their old high schools and at least two of the parental signatures had been forged. Tua invoked the Fifth Amendment, on advice of attorney Laura Lui, when asked if he had signed the papers.
http://goo.gl/hJQx5 (SLT)

http://goo.gl/zauUK (DN)

Utah nonprofits receive Daniels Fund grants

Two Utah organizations providing education services to youth have been awarded grants from the Daniels Fund.
The Mountainville Academy in Alpine received an $18,500 grant for the purchase of “SMART Boards” for classrooms and Utah Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy in West Jordan received the same amount to help it continue its work.
http://goo.gl/TVVo3 (SLT)

Americans Think Schools are Underfunded, but Deficit is a Bigger Priority

Americans say the biggest problem for public education is a lack of funding, but they say balancing the federal budget is a higher priority.
Governing highlights a Phi Delta Kappa International/Gallup poll which says 35% of Americans think funding is the biggest problem for the nation’s public schools, but 60% say the federal government should balance the budget rather than improve education.
http://goo.gl/o1kPp (UP)

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OPINION & COMMENTARY
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The school chauffeur teaches a lesson
Salt Lake Tribune commentary by columnist Robert Kirby

Last week my oldest daughter became desperate and asked me for a favor. It was something my entire family had agreed that I should never be allowed to do: drive the grandkids to school. By myself.
My oldest granddaughter Hallie is 11. She lives less than a mile from me and I have never even been in the same vehicle taking her to school. This was going to be a big step in family trust.
“Don’t say anything to her,” my daughter warned. “In fact, don’t even mutter to yourself. Just drive her to the school and drop her off.”
Bright and early Tuesday I pulled into the driveway. Hallie, who is crushingly responsible, was waiting on the porch. Loaded down with book bag, iPod wires, backpack, and other stuff, she looked more like a Hobbit infantry than sixth grade.
http://goo.gl/Gcf4p

State jumped into math common core too fast (St. George) Spectrum letter from Lauri Shepherd

This letter is in response to the article about the new math common core program. As a parent I am very disappointed with the state’s decision to implement program before getting proper textbooks, materials and training for the classes.
My son is now beginning his second year in the program and is taking Secondary Math Honors II. Our biggest problem is there is no textbook, and all of the work comes home in the form of worksheets. The teachers are forced to make up their own coursework and sample problems. Most of the time my son comes home thoroughly confused — not because it is too difficult (he has already done well in algebra and geometry), but because the explanations are inadequate, and he has no resources to help him learn the material.
http://goo.gl/MVHcm

Smaller classes in early grades help kids succeed
(Ogden) Standard-Examiner letter from Lynn Merrill

With all the talk of cutting taxes, I heard the chilling news that my granddaughter is entering 3rd grade in a class of 35 students. She is a good student, but the early grades are so important for the direction a student will go in pursuing academic success. It is hard for one teacher to serve the needs of 35 little boys and girls.
We have those in politics advocating tax cuts, but are they thinking about who and what will be affected?
http://goo.gl/CMQRx

Ditching private schools
Private school students are choosing to move to charters in unexpected numbers. That’s a good thing for the education system.
Los Angeles Times editorial

A study released last week by the libertarian Cato Institute showed that students are transferring in unexpectedly large numbers from private schools to charter schools, but it framed the shift as a largely negative development. It’s true, as the study reported, that such transfers cost states and taxpayers more; unlike private schools, charter schools get most of their funding from state tax dollars. Still, we see a lot to celebrate.
For years, urban public school systems such as the Los Angeles Unified School District have tried, with limited success, to lure private school families as a way of bringing in more enrollment and resources. The state funds public schools largely on the basis of how many students attend, so higher enrollment means more money for school districts. And private school parents tend to have more education and more money that they might use to help out at their schools, helping all students there. They might also become involved in lobbying for more funding for education, which would be good for public schools and charters alike.
The move to charter schools shows that private school parents can be persuaded to enter — or return to — the public system if the programs are attractive, the campuses safe and the staffs responsive. That’s something public schools should take note of, and imitate.
http://goo.gl/1l15h

Speakers Spotlight Obama Ed. Initiatives, GOP Spending Threats Education Week commentary by columnist Andrew Ujifusa

Charlotte, N.C. – College affordability, global competitiveness, and Republican threats to education spending were consistent themes for governors and other high-profile speakers on Tuesday’s first night of the Democratic National Convention.
“You can’t be pro-business unless you’re pro-education,” declared San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who gave the keynote speech, in drawing a sharp and critical contrast between President Barack Obama and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney on support for schools.
And Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley—who touted his own state’s high-performing school system—derided what he characterized as Republican efforts to cut investments in education, asking, “How much less education would be good for our children? How many fewer college degrees would make us more competitive as a nation?”
Meanwhile, some of Obama’s biggest K-12 education initiatives, including his Race to the Top school redesign competition and his School Improvement Grant turnaround efforts, also got attention as a parade of speakers attempted to paint the GOP as the party willing to cut education access and opportunity.
http://goo.gl/8hDbb

The Left’s Education Divide
At the Democratic convention, a choice between children and teachers unions.
The American Spectator commentary by Matt Purple, a freelance writer

There are plenty of canyons running between the Democrats at this week’s convention. The left is angry at President Obama for selling them out on a raft of issues. The Blue Dogs (what’s left of them) are glancing uneasily toward the election calendar. And of course that tattered emblem of Democrat disunity, Bill Clinton, is on the speakers’ list.
But there’s something else threatening to disrupt the Democrat hive mind. As Jon Ward reported at the Huffington Post, convention-goers were treated to a special screening of the movie Won’t Back Down. The film, which stars Maggie Gyllenhall and Viola Davis, is about a single mother who tries to reform her daughter’s dismal public school. The villain is the obstructionist teachers union. It promotes “parent triggers,” which allow parents to vote to overhaul schools.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, fired off a letter calling the film “divisive” and saying it doesn’t focus on “real parent empowerment.” (And if anyone knows “real parent empowerment,” it’s the stridently anti-school-choice Weingarten.)
But her letter ignores the elephant in the rubber room: Won’t Back Down director Daniel Barnz is a Democrat. For that matter, so is reform hero Michelle Rhee and Davis Guggenheim of Waiting for Superman fame. All three have issued a call to arms over education that transcends party lines. The reality of America’s public schools is finally cracking through the liberal eggshell.
http://goo.gl/yS1az

High Schools Teachers Address Post-9/11 Stereotypes U.S. News & World Report commentary by columnist Kelsey Sheehy

Schools across the country will mark the anniversary of the September 11 attacks next week with memorials, moments of silence, and special lesson plans. Teaching high school students about 9/11 and its aftermath is a lofty task, as most students were not old enough to remember and understand the attacks, and many educators will need to wade through the emotions and stereotypes already woven into the narrative.
“I really don’t envy teachers who have to face this enormously complex, massive material and present it in the context of a short lesson or two short lessons,” says Clifford Chanin, director of educational programs for the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. “This event obviously is a horrible, stark moment in time, but has very complicated antecedents and it’s had very complicated consequences.”
Among those consequences: a surge in anti-Muslim sentiment and broad stereotypes that students who appear to be of Arab descent have likely faced.
http://goo.gl/h1CfJ

H.S. Study: More Study, Less Sleep Not a Good Combo Education Week commentary by columnist Anthony Rebora

A new research study out of the University of California, Los Angeles, reports the “somewhat surprising” finding that spending extra time studying tends to negatively affect high school students’ academic performance in school the next day. But there’s also a perfectly logical explanation for this: When students study more, the researchers found, they tend to sleep less.
For the study, the researchers monitored students at three Los Angeles high schools for 14-day periods three years in a row. They asked the students to complete daily checklists to keep tabs on the amount of time they spent studying each day, how many hours they slept, and their daily academic experiences.
The study, published in Child Development, reports that “days on which students reported longer than normal study times tended to be followed by days with more academic problems.” By the same token, “days on which students reported longer than normal study hours tended to be days on which they reported fewer hours sleep.” Both associations grew stronger as the students progressed through high school.
The findings, according to the researchers, suggest not that studying more is necessarily problematic (sorry, kids) but that “it is particularly counterproductive to sacrifice sleep in the service of study.” In this respect, the study corroborates previous research showing that that students who sleep more hours on average tend to have better academic outcomes.
http://goo.gl/JAdVX

A copy of the study
http://goo.gl/uEzuF

Court Rejects Settlement on School Claims for Frosted Mini-Wheats Education Week commentary by columnist Mark Walsh

Can a breakfast of Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal help children with their attentiveness in school?
The Battle Creek, Mich.-based cereal maker made such marketing claims just a few years ago. That led to a class action alleging false advertising, a legal settlement, and now, a federal appeals court ruling setting aside the settlement.
http://goo.gl/oWK5b

A copy of the ruling
http://goo.gl/zGstG

Boosting the Quality and Efficiency of Special Education Thomas Fordham Institute analysis by Nathan Levenson

It’s a woeful fact: Few students with special needs achieve a high (or even modest) level of academic proficiency. The latest (2011) National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) results show, for example, that 62 percent of eighth graders with disabilities fell below the “basic” level in reading, as did 64 percent in math.
At the same time, the lingering impact of the 2008 recession and the end of federal stimulus funds are squeezing school budgets even as special education (often referred to as SPED) spending consumes a growing share of the district pie. Based on a recent report by the Pew Center on the States, the total pie available, at least at the state level, is more likely to shrink than grow—making what is now a difficult challenge even more daunting in the future.2 Over its nearly forty-year span, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)—once a necessary safety net to ensure equity for children with disabilities and special needs—has become over-regulated, overmanaged, and over-complicated. Further, its outdated “maintenance of effort” provisions impede efforts to make special education more cost effective.
In fact, the idea of even considering spending as it relates to the instruction or achievement of children with disabilities rarely gets the airing that it deserves. Few states or districts measure cost effectiveness, return on investment, or other linkages between inputs (money, which pays for services and personnel) and outputs (student learning). This study is intended to open some windows and encourage some fresh breezes by examining three key questions:
1. How much variation in special education spending exists among districts?
2. What can we learn from school districts that spend less on special education, yet achieve the same or better outcomes than demographically similar but higher-spending counterparts?
3. What savings might be realized if the special education field focused on outcomes rather than inputs?
http://goo.gl/iYnd2

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NATIONAL NEWS
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Educator Cadres Formed to Support Common Assessments Education Week

Chicago – One of the groups designing tests aligned to the Common Core State Standards has launched a major effort to help state teams of educators understand—and be able to translate for their peers—what the new assessments will entail for classroom instruction.
The Educator Leader Cadres, as the initiative is known, is effectively a nod by the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers to respond to the concerns of scholars and practitioners. They say that teachers’ practices are unlikely to change without widespread understanding of the standards’ new academic demands, as well as how those demands will be measured.
“Teachers are the first and probably the most important group to reach, but building principals are second—they are the keepers of the change,” said Doug C. Sovde, the director of instructional support and educator engagement for Achieve, the Washington-based nonprofit that serves as the project-management partner for PARCC.
http://goo.gl/kuIi2

Boston – Heidi Stevens recalls the day that got her thinking about uprooting her family from California to move to Massachusetts. Frolicking with her boys at a playground in 1998, she wished some teenagers a happy Independence Day.
She was met with blank stares. “You know, the Fourth of July,” she offered. Then they smiled and nodded, and she prodded a bit: “Do you know who we got our independence from?” One guessed France, another Mexico, and the last one said the Indians. “They were not kidding,” Ms. Stevens says.
She enrolled her older son in first grade that year but wasn’t happy with the emphasis on “creative spelling” and art projects. So she traveled to Massachusetts and visited public schools in Northampton, a town that boasts five colleges and universities within a short radius.
“We knew Massachusetts was a fabulous state for public education,” she says. And she and her husband, both graphic designers, figured they could work from about anywhere.
The enthusiasm and skill of the second-grade teacher at the school in the Leeds neighborhood of Northampton “blew me away,” Stevens says. “Meeting her sealed the deal that we would buy a house in that district.”
They haven’t been disappointed living in a state that by many measures sets the gold standard for public education in the United States.
http://goo.gl/d0nDj

School District Bets Future on Real Estate New York Times

GERVAIS, Ore. — This tiny farm-country community is having a back-to-school sale, on the schools themselves. Interested in a well maintained, one-owner elementary with playground and orchard view? Or a 1990s charmer, now used for teaching second through fifth grades but convenient to shopping and the Interstate?
Like school districts all over the nation, Gervais, with about 1,100 students in a town of 2,300 people, has been deeply stressed by years of financial retrenchment. Music and art classes were eliminated last year. Teaching positions have been reduced through attrition and layoffs loom in years ahead, with state aid showing few signs of a robust comeback.
So this summer, administrators took radical action against their sea of troubles. In tough times, why should Gervais (pronounced JER-vis) do things the way everybody else was doing them? That is how the district superintendent, Rick Hensel, recalled the tone of the meetings as teachers, staff members and residents tossed around ideas.
The board’s decision, in June, was a fire sale. Three of the five school buildings in the district — all six miles or more from town, holdovers from a time when rural districts like this built a little school every few miles — were put on the market.
http://goo.gl/SSzw8

More teachers green in the classroom
USA Today

WASHINGTON – With three years of teaching under her belt, Allison Frieze nearly qualifies as a grizzled veteran. The 28-year-old special education teacher at E.L. Haynes Public Charter School here already has more experience than the typical U.S. teacher.
She remembers her first year and says no new teacher really wants to relive that. “You have so many pressures on you and you’re kind of swimming, trying to keep your head above water with all of the things you have to do,” Frieze says.
Research suggests that parents this fall are more likely than ever to find that their child’s teachers are relatively new to the profession, and possibly very young.
http://goo.gl/287k6

Florida Schools In Session, But Teachers Absent NPR Morning Edition

Schools have been open for a couple of weeks across much of Florida, but not all of the students know who their teachers are yet. There’s typically a lot of teacher turnover during the summer break, and schools can’t always get vacant teaching positions filled by the time school starts.
At DeSoto County High School in southern Florida, math tutor Ronnie Padilla is filling in as the French teacher. There’s only one problem: He doesn’t speak any French. Across from his classroom, Alma Cendejas — the school’s front-desk receptionist — is filling in as the Spanish teacher until the school can find one.
Principals across Florida say the summer break just isn’t enough time to fill every open teaching position. Miami-Dade County Schools, for example, started about 100 teachers short. School officials say that’s not unusual for large school districts with tens of thousands of teachers — Miami-Dade has 22,000.
http://goo.gl/YHqVu

Avenues: The World School to open local, go global Chelsea Now

On September 10, Avenues: The World School opens the doors of their flagship New York campus — located on Tenth Avenue and 25th Street, in a 10-story, former Cass Gilbert warehouse. Chelsea Now recently took a tour of their 10-story, $75 million campus, and discussed the private school’s K-12 amenities, educational philosophy and bilingual immersion teaching strategy.
For the inaugural class of 725 students (from nursery school to high school), the question remains as to whether Avenues’ innovative, global approach to education will measure up to stalwarts like Horace Mann and Dalton School.
“We don’t subscribe to the theory that there is one best school. There are a lot of good schools, and parents choose the one they think is right for their family. We hope to be right up there in the family of great schools in the city,” CEO Chris Whittle told Chelsea Now during a recent tour.
…
One of the early challenges was creating an immersion-based curriculum starting with preschool-aged children, and finding teachers who were not only bilingual, but skilled at early education.
“One of our consultants responsible for all the immersion schools in Utah and Colorado said that [young children] are still learning English, and they don’t always understand what the teacher is saying, so what’s the difference?” said Bayne.
http://goo.gl/Soj2l

Suits Challenge Classrooms That Segregate Boys, Girls Critics Say Practice Furthers Stereotypes; Some Praise Better Learning Climate.
Wall Street Journal

Public-school students in some parts of the country this year are going back to very different classrooms than they are used to: ones with both boys and girls.
A decade-long campaign to separate genders in schools—based on the theory that children learn better that way—has sparked a backlash that is chalking up victories. Critics have sued three districts to end their single-sex classes, and sent letters of concern to 15 others.
A judge in one of those lawsuits last week ordered a school district in West Virginia to halt its single-sex program, and a handful of other districts around the country have voluntarily suspended their own split-gender classes for the new school year.
http://goo.gl/VByku

Homophobia in Schools Report Finds It’s Getting Better ABC

For Chase Stein, the hardest part of coming out as a lesbian in the eighth grade was the social isolation and lack of resources at her Michigan middle school.
“I lost a lot of friends and connections that were meaningful to me,” she said. “It was a traumatic experience.”
“When I would walk by kids in the hallways, I would hear them whispering about me,” Stein said. “I felt super isolated. It was even more dangerous than the overt bullying.”
Even the school counselors seemed untrained to deal with Stein’s sexual orientation, which was a “huge part” of her identity, she said.
“They treated me as if I were the only LGBT person they had ever encountered,” she said. “I couldn’t really feel comfortable speaking with them.”
But today, as a 17-year-old senior at Wylie E. Groves High School in the Beverly Hills suburb of Detroit, Stein said she feels not only “accepted,” but safe. She belongs to an active gay-straight alliance and has access to a library full of materials on sexual orientation in the school library.
Life is getting better for students like Stein, according to a report that was released today by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN).
http://goo.gl/nd1qF

A copy of the report
http://goo.gl/1BncZ

Should parents ‘friend’ their child’s teacher?
USA Today

As the typical teacher skews younger, chances are that your child’s teacher has a Facebook page. What should you do if he or she sends a “friend” request? And should you take the initiative and “friend” the teacher yourself?
Lisa Nielsen, co-author of the the 2011 book Teaching Generation Text, suggests these alternatives:
http://goo.gl/jtcMQ

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CALENDAR
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USOE Calendar
http://tinyurl.com/5x9oh9

UEN News
http://www.uen.org

September 6-7:
Utah State Board of Education meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://www.schools.utah.gov/board/Meetings/Agenda.aspx

September 13:
Utah State Charter School Board meeting
250 E. 500 South, Salt Lake City
http://1.usa.gov/Axtt5K

September 18:
Executive Appropriations Interim Committee meeting
1 p.m., 445 State Capitol
http://goo.gl/E0hoC

September 19:
Education Interim Committee meeting
2 p.m., 30 House Building
http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2012&Com=INTEDU

Education News Roundup for February 3, 2012

Education News Roundup for February 6, 2012

Education News Roundup: April 27, 2012

Education News Roundup: April 10, 2013