Countdown to April 29 to PERMANENTLY close M. R. Reiter. Ask the board to see the 6 point plan.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Tutoring Funding for Struggling Districts and Students

News from the Governor's office yesterday. Local awards include:

Career and Technical Centers
Bucks County Technical HS, $53,836

Bucks County
Bensalem Township SD, $224,467
Bristol Borough SD, $45,104
Bristol Township SD, $725,452
Morrisville Borough SD, $101,511
Neshaminy SD, $290,514


GOVERNOR RENDELL ANNOUNCES TUTORING FUNDING FOR STRUGGLING DISTRICTS, STUDENTS
EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM TO HELP 172,000 STUDENTS MEET MATH, READING PROFICIENCY GOALS


HARRISBURG – Tens of thousands of students in 175 academically challenged school districts and career and technical centers will benefit from tutoring programs in 2008-09 thanks to investments through the state’s Educational Assistance Program, Governor Edward G. Rendell announced today.

“Targeted tutoring is one of the most strategic, cost-effective ways to help those struggling students and schools that need it most,” Governor Rendell said. “Despite the notable academic gains we are making in Pennsylvania, we still have many students who lack the reading and math skills they need to reach proficiency and graduate with the skills they need for college or the work force.”

The 2008-09 education budget includes $65.1 million for the tutoring services targeted to eligible students enrolled in seventh through twelfth grades in 163 school districts and 12 career and technical schools. In all, the program will result this year in increased instructional time for more than 172,000 students who are not testing at grade level in math or reading on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment.

Tutoring programs offered through the Educational Assistance Program provide additional learning time before, during and after school, as well as on weekends, to help accelerate learning for students whose academic performance lags significantly behind their peers. The tutoring services are conducted using an evidenced-based instructional model that is aligned with the state’s academic standards and the curriculum in the student’s classroom, while also ensuring it meets each student’s needs.

The program began in the 2003-04 school year to provide increased instructional support for almost 35,000 students in 82 of the state’s most academically challenged districts. In the second year, the program reached an additional 46,055 students.

Given the increases seen in student performance on statewide reading and math exams, the program was expanded for the 2005-06 school year to reach 163 school districts and 12 career and technical centers that continue to be served.

Districts participating in the Educational Assistance Program have reported notable results from the tutoring programs. Among the benefits:

• The Penn Cambria High School in Cambria County aided 180 students last year with its afterschool tutoring sessions, targeting students needing remediation in math and reading. Students have described the sessions as “a big help” and credited them for improved grades.
• Bradford County’s Troy Area School District reported improved math achievement due to the program and, more importantly, credited the tutoring with bringing about “a change in our school and community cultural beliefs regarding the importance of math skills.”
• The Upper Darby School District in Delaware County has credited the program with helping it expand and enhance its overall tutoring opportunities, enabling students and teachers to “take advantage of every available hour, before and after school and during the summer.”

Under the Educational Assistance Program, school districts have the flexibility of providing the tutoring, partnering with an approved community provider, or doing both as long as the tutoring is effective in helping students meet proficiency.

For more information on these efforts or the Governor’s 2008-09 education budget, visit www.pde.state.pa.us.

"The entertainment is at the expense of our children"

There's a growing number of couch potato meeting attendees out there. The Morrisville borough council broadcasts their meetings live. We also know that they tend to be snooze-fests that even some of the council members sleep through. The school board rebroadcasts recent meetings over a two week span, but not live. Let's hear from the living room crowd: Do you watch the meetings on TV rather than making the trip out to the LGI?

Here's an article about the Miami-Dade school board, which broadcasts their rather animated meetings live to a fairly devoted following. Imagine the mellifluous tones of longtime NBC announcer Don Pardo announcing..."It's Wednesday Night LIVE!" as he introduces our distinguished panel, guest host, and musical guest. (Perhaps singing the new hit single, "It's the end of the school as we know it"...?)


School drama: Board meeting spats lure viewers

The Miami-Dade School Board's monthly meetings are drawing a growing audience of fans who are watching the spectacle at home on TV.

BY KATHLEEN McGRORY kmcgrory@MiamiHerald.com

School drama: Board meeting spats lure viewers
The Miami-Dade School Board's monthly meetings are drawing a growing audience of fans who are watching the spectacle at home on TV.
Posted on Sun, Aug. 03, 2008

Forget CSI: Miami or Burn Notice.

The hottest television show set in Miami may just be the monthly Miami-Dade County School Board meetings.

Drama. Rivalries. Insults.

It's reality television, brought to you by the taxpayers of Miami-Dade County. And the viewing public can't seem to get enough.

Consider: The number of people tuning in to the School Board meetings has doubled since February, skyrocketing to as many as 28,500 at any given hour, district officials say.

"The meetings are like a train wreck," said Mario Artecona, executive director of the Miami Business Forum and a regular viewer. "You know it's going to be a mess, but you can't look away."

Teacher Seth Patterson said he and his wife, Katie, have been watching, too.

"It's been a circus," he said.

The School Board has, in fact, been broadcasting its regular meetings on WLRN-PBS 17 since the early 1970s.

Over the years, the meetings have spurred a cult-like following of teachers, parents and others among cable viewers who refuse to reach for the remote.

The audience has been growing.

As many as 19,000 households tune in to the meetings during any given hour of the broadcast, district spokesman John Schuster said.

That number isn't quite as high as the number of children who watch Curious George every morning, Schuster said, but it still represents a spike.

Why so many viewers?

For one, the drama is intense and the stakes are high.

CALL FOR OUSTER

At least three board members are calling for Superintendent Rudy Crew's ouster.

Teachers are battling the district for their raises.

And district officials have cut thousands of jobs in the wake of a budget crisis.

What's more, the board is rife with rivalries.

Board Chairman Agustín Barrera and board member Ana Rivas Logan have sparred over Roberts Rules of Order.

And, of course, there is the constant exchange of insults.

Board members Renier Diaz de la Portilla and Solomon Stinson have had an especially strained relationship.

They recently had a spat over Diaz de la Portilla's proposal to change the district's nepotism rules.

A WALKOUT

In another meeting, this one not televised, Stinson adjourned it and walked out, leaving Diaz de la Portilla reading a memo about firing Crew.

And at each of the last few meetings, more than 100 people have addressed the board.

Children have played instruments and danced. One schools police officer sang. Some of the public speakers have been escorted away from the podium by security guards.

Charlotte Greenbarg, a local activist, said she first got hooked on the School Board meetings more than two decades ago.

She hasn't kicked the habit.

''You can't turn away from it,'' said Greenbarg, who watches the meetings on a 50-inch television screen.

"It's such high drama. And it's live."

TUNED-IN TEACHERS

Not surprisingly, teachers are among the most loyal viewers.

Paul Lobeck, a teacher at Miami Southridge Senior High, said he made it a point to watch last week's budget hearing on TV.

But a few minutes later, a thunderstorm rolled in, knocking out Lobeck's satellite.

"I was furious," he recalled.

"I started calling everyone, trying to find out what was going on."

Lobeck isn't alone. Several of his students have even gotten hooked on the meetings, he said.

"It makes for good television," Lobeck said. "It's almost surreal."

COMEDY OR TRAGEDY?

Others say the public spectacle does little to promote confidence in the School Board.

Former Surfside Mayor Paul Novack said he's been staying up late to see how the meetings end.

"Some people find it entertaining because it's comical," Novack said.

"But others find it tragic. What kind of example are we setting for our children?"

Justin Koren, a teacher at Southwood Middle, likened the meetings to "a soap opera on steroids."

"It can be addicting to watch scandal after scandal for 12 continuous hours without commercials,'' Koren said.

"That is, until you realize the entertainment is at the expense of our children."

Waterboarding is Optional

From CBS4 in Broward County, Florida.

Broward May Crackdown On Dishonest Parents

Using A Fake Address For School Could Mean Jail Time
Palm Beach County Enacted Similar Policy Last Year

FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ― In an effort to crack down on parents who use fake addresses to get their kids in better schools the Broward County School Board is considering tougher penalties which could include jail time.

While the practice has always been against district policy, and a criminal second degree misdemeanor, on Tuesday school board members will vote on whether it should be made a felony punishable by up to five years in jail and thousands in fines.

If board members approve the change, it would take effect immediately. Some parents say the board is going too far.

"I think it's kinda silly," said Glenn Lipnick, "in Broward County certain schools have used it to manipulate athletes, but to prosecute somebody for a felony for what I would consider to be a minor indiscretion, I think all they should do is make them go to the proper school."

Last year, the Palm Beach County School District enacted a similar policy.