From the Curwinsville, Clearfield County Progress.
Can you imagine any responsible school district waiting for 30 or 40 years before doing repairs? Not only that, they're taking their time to think about a plan, seek state reimbursement, and, even exploring a geo-thermal energy system.
Where's the safe, sober, and responsible stop the school people here to whip up some civic frenzy and needlessly split the town? They're doing it wrong in Curwinsville.
Let's take donations for a road trip so the Emperor, Angry Al, and the rest of the stop the school professionals can take their act on the road and show Curwinsville how to destroy a town and its school system.
Price tag for Curwensville school fixes more than $20 million
Thursday, August 07, 2008
By Dianne Byers Staff Writer
CURWENSVILLE - The age and condition of the components of school buildings was the focus of Curwensville Area School Board as members met for a buildings and grounds committee meeting last night.
Curwensville Area High School and Penn Grampian Elementary School were constructed in 1955, the lower level of Curwensville Area Elementary School was built in 1962 and the upper level in 1972. All the buildings are showing their maturity, especially the high school and Penn-Grampian. In January, the board authorized contracting with Robert T. Scheeren A.I.A., Indiana, to assess the school complex and Penn-Grampian related to an overhaul of the structures and the possibility of additions to the Curwensville buildings to allow them to be brought up to state codes.
Last night, the board had an opportunity to review details of the report, which contains three options for renovations. Norman Hatten, superintendent of schools, said the report analyzed the needs of the school district and provided information to "allow the board to determine what direction to go, if any."
He stressed that the information presented last night is "extremely preliminary." "We are very early in this process and we are trying to make sense of all this," he noted.
He told the board, "There are a considerable amount of things that need to be done. The roofs, windows, doors, steam pipes, plumbing, electricity need to be replaced to allow the building to function properly for the next 20 years. ... This is a conservative project - mainly infrastructure. These things need to be done to keep the building from failing and keep the school operating," he explained.
Mentioned several times last night was the age and state of the roof on the high school building. In January a representative from the architectural firm, during his proposal, presented a section of the steam pipe heating system that was marked with numerous rusted holes.
If the board were to do everything listed in the initial proposal of work to modernize the three buildings and bring them into compliance with state codes it would be spending approximately $21 million to $23 million. The board tentatively examined the possibility of making some cuts to the project and whittling down the price but noted most of what the project contains is necessary to the safe and functional operation of the building.
One of the options noted in the report is to close the Penn-Grampian Elementary School and build additions to the Curwensville Area Elementary School.
Paul Carr, business manager, presented a number of financial details to the board including the repayment of its current bond issues, millage options under Act 1 and possible reimbursement from the state for the building project.
The board made no decisions last night. Members said they would be looking at the report to determine whether they have additional questions for the architect and would revisit the matter at a future meeting, possibly the Aug. 14 work session.
Several members asked about a timeline for the project. Mr. Hatten said the first step is to determine the extent of the project to be done then the details, including a schedule and financing, could be determined.
Other board members said they would like information on a geo-thermal system to be presented as a possible addition to the project, saying they believe it would be a cost effective method for heating and cooling the buildings.
Ken Veihdeffer, board president, said members would need to make a decision soon on what they want to do. "The longer we wait (the more expensive the project will be). Prices are not going to go down," he said.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Solving Pennsylvania's problems
From the Pottstown Mercury
Solving Pennsylvania's problems
Rob Wonderling has the answers. Really, he does. It's all right there in his book.
"Talking Pennsylvania: 21 Conversations for the 21st Century" offers practical solutions to most of the major problems facing the Keystone State.
From health care to education to open space preservation to economic opportunity, the goal of the book and its companion Web site is to "help the people of Pennsylvania build a better 21st Century."
That may sound like a tall order, but it can be done, Wonderling argues.
Instead of telling people how government can solve all their problems, Wonderling took a different approach.
The two-term state senator went to the people of Pennsylvania and asked them to offer solutions. Real Pennsylvanians — 21 in all — who have the daily challenge of running their homes, farms and businesses.
If you want to address about farmland preservation, sit at the kitchen table with a farm couple trying to save the family dairy farm for their children.
How to keep young people from leaving Pennsylvania after they graduate from college? Talk to a recent graduate who says she will probably need at least a decade to pay off her student loans.
Welfare reform? Talk to a 21-year-old single mother of two who is trying to move off welfare by earning an associate's degree from a community college.
How to improve public education in Pennsylvania? Talk to the principal of a charter school about why the educational establishment is still trying to undermine Pennsylvania's charter school movement despite a decade of success.
Wonderling collected the conversations he had with everyday Pennsylvanians into a slim, 147-page book available free of charge through his offices or online at the companion Web site, www.talkingpa.com
Before you start complaining about how your tax dollars are being spent, the project was paid for by Friends of Rob Wonderling, which funded the senator's successful 2002 and 2006 election campaigns.
Wonderling spent a year traveling to all parts of Pennsylvania. He listened to people. He took notes. He recounts what he learned in 21 short (5-7 pages long) chapters in the book.
The best hope of building a brighter future for Pennsylvania lies not politicians but with the people of Pennsylvania, Wonderling says.
"While they are not politicians in any sense of the word, their lives are intersect with matters of public concern in Harrisburg," Wonderling writes. "In a very real sense, their stories can serve as a road map for our collective future as citizens of this Commonwealth."
What did Wonderling learn during his journey? The solutions to many of the state's most pressing problems are here already.
The problem is that state government doesn't listen. It's a one-way street with "ideas" coming from Harrisburg instead of the other way around. In the end, politicians need to talk less and listen more. And most importantly, they have to stop talking down to the rest of us. What are the chances of that happening?
Visit the TalkingPA Web site for more information.
Solving Pennsylvania's problems
Rob Wonderling has the answers. Really, he does. It's all right there in his book.
"Talking Pennsylvania: 21 Conversations for the 21st Century" offers practical solutions to most of the major problems facing the Keystone State.
From health care to education to open space preservation to economic opportunity, the goal of the book and its companion Web site is to "help the people of Pennsylvania build a better 21st Century."
That may sound like a tall order, but it can be done, Wonderling argues.
Instead of telling people how government can solve all their problems, Wonderling took a different approach.
The two-term state senator went to the people of Pennsylvania and asked them to offer solutions. Real Pennsylvanians — 21 in all — who have the daily challenge of running their homes, farms and businesses.
If you want to address about farmland preservation, sit at the kitchen table with a farm couple trying to save the family dairy farm for their children.
How to keep young people from leaving Pennsylvania after they graduate from college? Talk to a recent graduate who says she will probably need at least a decade to pay off her student loans.
Welfare reform? Talk to a 21-year-old single mother of two who is trying to move off welfare by earning an associate's degree from a community college.
How to improve public education in Pennsylvania? Talk to the principal of a charter school about why the educational establishment is still trying to undermine Pennsylvania's charter school movement despite a decade of success.
Wonderling collected the conversations he had with everyday Pennsylvanians into a slim, 147-page book available free of charge through his offices or online at the companion Web site, www.talkingpa.com
Before you start complaining about how your tax dollars are being spent, the project was paid for by Friends of Rob Wonderling, which funded the senator's successful 2002 and 2006 election campaigns.
Wonderling spent a year traveling to all parts of Pennsylvania. He listened to people. He took notes. He recounts what he learned in 21 short (5-7 pages long) chapters in the book.
The best hope of building a brighter future for Pennsylvania lies not politicians but with the people of Pennsylvania, Wonderling says.
"While they are not politicians in any sense of the word, their lives are intersect with matters of public concern in Harrisburg," Wonderling writes. "In a very real sense, their stories can serve as a road map for our collective future as citizens of this Commonwealth."
What did Wonderling learn during his journey? The solutions to many of the state's most pressing problems are here already.
The problem is that state government doesn't listen. It's a one-way street with "ideas" coming from Harrisburg instead of the other way around. In the end, politicians need to talk less and listen more. And most importantly, they have to stop talking down to the rest of us. What are the chances of that happening?
Visit the TalkingPA Web site for more information.
Meet the Czar
From the Inquirer.
This is the place where requests for state records will be handled. I wonder if local records requests will be arbitrated through here as well.
Chief begins work on Pa.'s new open records office
Posted on Fri, Aug. 8, 2008 By Matthew Spolar
Inquirer Staff Writer
HARRISBURG - Inside a temporary cubicle in a state office building, Terry Mutchler is for the moment less concerned with prying open long-sealed government documents than she is with opening for business.
The state's new open public records czar is picking out chair colors and analyzing floor blueprints. She is combing resumes and conducting interviews.
"I feel like I'm getting married to something," she said, "but I'm not sure what."
For Mutchler, life these days is about building a state agency from scratch.
Since Gov. Rendell approved a new law in February to increase public access to government documents, Mutchler, 42, has been tasked with bringing the effort to fruition by Jan. 1 with the launch of the state's first Office of Open Records.
The office will act as the middleman between government and the people, mediating in disputes over which documents are public domain. And Mutchler, a reporter-turned-lawyer who will run the office for the next six years, will have to do so in a state that used to have one of the worst open-records laws in the nation.
So far, it hasn't been easy.
"My colleagues in the government don't trust me because I've been with the press, and the people in the press don't trust me because I'm with the government," said Mutchler, whose salary is $120,000. "I'm in this unique, weird bubble."
In some ways, the Poconos native finds herself in a familiar quagmire. The post she left earlier this year to come to Pennsylvania was as Illinois' public access counselor.
But Mutchler's new office in Pennsylvania is more than a governmental appointment. It is mandated by a new law propelled by independent reform advocates buzzing around the Capitol. And now their eyes are trained on her.
"What she does with that law over the next six months will determine how it is respected and interpreted by public officials from the Capitol to township supervisors," said Tim Potts, founder of Democracy Rising PA, one of the reform groups.
"It's that old saying: You don't get a second chance at a first impression."
Mutchler is trying to plant the seeds for that impression by crisscrossing the state to meet with government officials and media outlets.
So far, she says, she has found she has a long way to go to ensure that local governments - which must name a right-to-know officer under the new law - are ready to embrace the new brand of openness she represents.
"If I make a mistake, it's going to be on the side of openness," Mutchler said.
The state's new open records law essentially flips the burden of proof onto governmental agencies: Where reporters and citizens once had to make a case for obtaining government documents, government agencies now have to prove why records should be shielded from public view.
An aggressive training program that teaches public officials and citizens what the law means will be critical in cultivating an open government culture, said Bill Chamberlin, former director of the University of Florida's Citizen Access Project.
Additionally, he said, if Mutchler doesn't establish her political weight and get strong judicial backing in cases in which decisions are appealed, the law will lose its firmness.
Her background, at least, puts her in a good position to walk that tightrope.
By the time she was 10, all within earshot knew that Mutchler wanted to be a lawyer. But that changed when she arrived at Penn State in 1983.
"I got bit by the journalism bug," she said. She joined the college newspaper, and within a month had switched from pre-law to journalism.
After college, her professional career became a whirlwind of locations and occupations. She worked for the Allentown Morning Call, and as a cub reporter, she once went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend her right to a leaked police report. She arrived at the Associated Press's Harrisburg bureau in 1989, moved to Atlantic City with the organization in 1992, and later wound up as the AP's state Capitol bureau chief in Springfield, Ill.
It was there that her life changed upon meeting state Sen. Penny Severns, who ran for Illinois lieutenant governor in 1994. Mutchler said she fell in love with Severns and, worried that her emotions were potentially creeping into her livelihood, relocated to Alaska and continued with the AP.
"We wanted to end that situation as soon as possible," she said.
In Alaska, she decided to realize her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. She returned to Illinois in 1995 to attend law school, and both work for and continue her relationship with Severns. Severns died of breast cancer in 1998. Mutchler finished law school the next year.
After practicing law privately and publicly, Mutchler was tapped by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in 2003 for the newly minted role of public access counselor.
Over time, Mutchler will leave her own mark in Pennsylvania, say those who know her.
Ann Spillane, chief of staff to the Illinois attorney general, said Mutchler's former office thrived on her stubborn forthrightness.
"There was a need for Terry and her staff to say, 'No, we're not going away,' " Spillane said.
Once Pennsylvania's office opens in January, Mutchler anticipates that the media will test the office with an initial wave of information requests. But after 18 months, she said she expects the vast majority of requests to be filed by citizens.
To help respond to those requests, she plans to assemble a staff of up to 10. She has already hired two.
"I want the best pool to do this, because I think we're going to be a very unpopular group," she said.
How the New Law Works
A resident requests a record from a government agency.
Within five days, although it may request a 30-day extension, the agency must respond with the record or an explanation as to why that record is not public.
If the agency denies the request, the citizen may contact the Office of Open Records, which then has 30 days to make a decision.
If the request is again denied, the citizen may appeal to a court within 30 days. The court will take into account the Office of Open Records' opinion.
If the court determines the document must be opened, the agency must comply or face a $500-per-day civil penalty until the records are opened.
If the court determines that the records were denied by the agency in bad faith, the court may fine the agency up to $1,500.
This is the place where requests for state records will be handled. I wonder if local records requests will be arbitrated through here as well.
Chief begins work on Pa.'s new open records office
Posted on Fri, Aug. 8, 2008 By Matthew Spolar
Inquirer Staff Writer
HARRISBURG - Inside a temporary cubicle in a state office building, Terry Mutchler is for the moment less concerned with prying open long-sealed government documents than she is with opening for business.
The state's new open public records czar is picking out chair colors and analyzing floor blueprints. She is combing resumes and conducting interviews.
"I feel like I'm getting married to something," she said, "but I'm not sure what."
For Mutchler, life these days is about building a state agency from scratch.
Since Gov. Rendell approved a new law in February to increase public access to government documents, Mutchler, 42, has been tasked with bringing the effort to fruition by Jan. 1 with the launch of the state's first Office of Open Records.
The office will act as the middleman between government and the people, mediating in disputes over which documents are public domain. And Mutchler, a reporter-turned-lawyer who will run the office for the next six years, will have to do so in a state that used to have one of the worst open-records laws in the nation.
So far, it hasn't been easy.
"My colleagues in the government don't trust me because I've been with the press, and the people in the press don't trust me because I'm with the government," said Mutchler, whose salary is $120,000. "I'm in this unique, weird bubble."
In some ways, the Poconos native finds herself in a familiar quagmire. The post she left earlier this year to come to Pennsylvania was as Illinois' public access counselor.
But Mutchler's new office in Pennsylvania is more than a governmental appointment. It is mandated by a new law propelled by independent reform advocates buzzing around the Capitol. And now their eyes are trained on her.
"What she does with that law over the next six months will determine how it is respected and interpreted by public officials from the Capitol to township supervisors," said Tim Potts, founder of Democracy Rising PA, one of the reform groups.
"It's that old saying: You don't get a second chance at a first impression."
Mutchler is trying to plant the seeds for that impression by crisscrossing the state to meet with government officials and media outlets.
So far, she says, she has found she has a long way to go to ensure that local governments - which must name a right-to-know officer under the new law - are ready to embrace the new brand of openness she represents.
"If I make a mistake, it's going to be on the side of openness," Mutchler said.
The state's new open records law essentially flips the burden of proof onto governmental agencies: Where reporters and citizens once had to make a case for obtaining government documents, government agencies now have to prove why records should be shielded from public view.
An aggressive training program that teaches public officials and citizens what the law means will be critical in cultivating an open government culture, said Bill Chamberlin, former director of the University of Florida's Citizen Access Project.
Additionally, he said, if Mutchler doesn't establish her political weight and get strong judicial backing in cases in which decisions are appealed, the law will lose its firmness.
Her background, at least, puts her in a good position to walk that tightrope.
By the time she was 10, all within earshot knew that Mutchler wanted to be a lawyer. But that changed when she arrived at Penn State in 1983.
"I got bit by the journalism bug," she said. She joined the college newspaper, and within a month had switched from pre-law to journalism.
After college, her professional career became a whirlwind of locations and occupations. She worked for the Allentown Morning Call, and as a cub reporter, she once went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to defend her right to a leaked police report. She arrived at the Associated Press's Harrisburg bureau in 1989, moved to Atlantic City with the organization in 1992, and later wound up as the AP's state Capitol bureau chief in Springfield, Ill.
It was there that her life changed upon meeting state Sen. Penny Severns, who ran for Illinois lieutenant governor in 1994. Mutchler said she fell in love with Severns and, worried that her emotions were potentially creeping into her livelihood, relocated to Alaska and continued with the AP.
"We wanted to end that situation as soon as possible," she said.
In Alaska, she decided to realize her childhood dream of becoming a lawyer. She returned to Illinois in 1995 to attend law school, and both work for and continue her relationship with Severns. Severns died of breast cancer in 1998. Mutchler finished law school the next year.
After practicing law privately and publicly, Mutchler was tapped by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in 2003 for the newly minted role of public access counselor.
Over time, Mutchler will leave her own mark in Pennsylvania, say those who know her.
Ann Spillane, chief of staff to the Illinois attorney general, said Mutchler's former office thrived on her stubborn forthrightness.
"There was a need for Terry and her staff to say, 'No, we're not going away,' " Spillane said.
Once Pennsylvania's office opens in January, Mutchler anticipates that the media will test the office with an initial wave of information requests. But after 18 months, she said she expects the vast majority of requests to be filed by citizens.
To help respond to those requests, she plans to assemble a staff of up to 10. She has already hired two.
"I want the best pool to do this, because I think we're going to be a very unpopular group," she said.
How the New Law Works
A resident requests a record from a government agency.
Within five days, although it may request a 30-day extension, the agency must respond with the record or an explanation as to why that record is not public.
If the agency denies the request, the citizen may contact the Office of Open Records, which then has 30 days to make a decision.
If the request is again denied, the citizen may appeal to a court within 30 days. The court will take into account the Office of Open Records' opinion.
If the court determines the document must be opened, the agency must comply or face a $500-per-day civil penalty until the records are opened.
If the court determines that the records were denied by the agency in bad faith, the court may fine the agency up to $1,500.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Would you like to take a survey?
From the BCCT
Board may survey public about schools
The public opinion survey will ask about the quality of the district’s education as well as contract negotiations.
By MANASEE WAGH
In the coming school year, Pennsbury residents’ opinions may shape the district’s future when it comes to teachers’ contracts.
The school board is toying with the idea of doing a public opinion survey about upcoming contract negotiations, said Gregory Lucidi, the school board president.
“We haven’t formulated the questions yet, but we want to get a feel for where the community stands as far as thoughts and ideas. We’re also planning on working with the Pennsbury Education Association in developing this survey,” he said.
What residents think would give the district a direction and an idea of what the community thinks it can afford. It would also inform the district’s goals for contract negotiations, added Lucidi.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsbury had the fourth highest teacher salaries for 2006-07 among 727 public school districts, charter schools and vocational- districts, charter schools and vocational-technical schools.
The district employs about 800 teachers. At the start of the upcoming school year, their salaries will start at $45,176 for the least experienced teachers and rise to $98,222 for the most experienced teachers with the most education, said Lucidi.
The upcoming negotiation is the first since the volatile 2005 contract negotiation, which initiated a strike that shut down Pennsbury schools for 21 days.
Since then, Lower Makefield resident Simon Campbell, the father of three children in the district, has roused grassroots activity to make teacher strikes illegal in this state. A bill that would make Pennsylvania the 38th state in which teacher strikes are illegal is awaiting action in the Legislature.
Both Campbell and Lucidi said the Seneca Valley School District had a strike in October 2007. To get a better idea of what taxpayers were thinking, the district surveyed them.
“I suggested that Pennsbury consider it [a survey] months ago. I think it’s an outstanding idea and makes residents and taxpayers feel involved. It’s a great way to give taxpayers a voice in the process. Otherwise they’re shut out of the whole thing,” he said.
Preliminary plans for the survey are still being worked out. The board expects to hire a polling company at tonight’s board meeting.
The questionnaire should include other matters besides the teachers’ contract, Lucidi said. For instance, it may ask residents to rate Pennsbury’s educational quality and its teachers. He said the district hopes the survey will be done in October and the results will be ready in November.
“It’s looking at the district as a whole and where we want to go in the future,” he said.
The Pennsbury teachers contract expires June 30, 2009. By state law, the district has to start negotiations in January 2009.
“Having the community chip in is something the board wanted to do in advance of the negotiation. Then we thought we’d take it one step further and look at other things in the district,”
Board may survey public about schools
The public opinion survey will ask about the quality of the district’s education as well as contract negotiations.
By MANASEE WAGH
In the coming school year, Pennsbury residents’ opinions may shape the district’s future when it comes to teachers’ contracts.
The school board is toying with the idea of doing a public opinion survey about upcoming contract negotiations, said Gregory Lucidi, the school board president.
“We haven’t formulated the questions yet, but we want to get a feel for where the community stands as far as thoughts and ideas. We’re also planning on working with the Pennsbury Education Association in developing this survey,” he said.
What residents think would give the district a direction and an idea of what the community thinks it can afford. It would also inform the district’s goals for contract negotiations, added Lucidi.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsbury had the fourth highest teacher salaries for 2006-07 among 727 public school districts, charter schools and vocational- districts, charter schools and vocational-technical schools.
The district employs about 800 teachers. At the start of the upcoming school year, their salaries will start at $45,176 for the least experienced teachers and rise to $98,222 for the most experienced teachers with the most education, said Lucidi.
The upcoming negotiation is the first since the volatile 2005 contract negotiation, which initiated a strike that shut down Pennsbury schools for 21 days.
Since then, Lower Makefield resident Simon Campbell, the father of three children in the district, has roused grassroots activity to make teacher strikes illegal in this state. A bill that would make Pennsylvania the 38th state in which teacher strikes are illegal is awaiting action in the Legislature.
Both Campbell and Lucidi said the Seneca Valley School District had a strike in October 2007. To get a better idea of what taxpayers were thinking, the district surveyed them.
“I suggested that Pennsbury consider it [a survey] months ago. I think it’s an outstanding idea and makes residents and taxpayers feel involved. It’s a great way to give taxpayers a voice in the process. Otherwise they’re shut out of the whole thing,” he said.
Preliminary plans for the survey are still being worked out. The board expects to hire a polling company at tonight’s board meeting.
The questionnaire should include other matters besides the teachers’ contract, Lucidi said. For instance, it may ask residents to rate Pennsbury’s educational quality and its teachers. He said the district hopes the survey will be done in October and the results will be ready in November.
“It’s looking at the district as a whole and where we want to go in the future,” he said.
The Pennsbury teachers contract expires June 30, 2009. By state law, the district has to start negotiations in January 2009.
“Having the community chip in is something the board wanted to do in advance of the negotiation. Then we thought we’d take it one step further and look at other things in the district,”
Study questions grading system
From the BCCT. This is an uncomfortable stance to take. If you can't score, change the way the scoring is counted. We'll only count "impact" now.
No need to know if the student knows the answer to the equation 2+2. All we need to measure is that the child can say, "That's an addition problem."
It's a tricky balancing act to draw that line between success and failure. Set the bar too low and the illusion of success covers the fact that no real learning is gained. Set it too high and the mass failure and frustration inhibit learning.
Here's the time honored formula for setting the benchmarks of success:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely
Study questions grading system
By RACHEL CANELLI
Without hacking into a computer or handing in extra-credit work, failing grades could be turned into passing grades — just by using a different grading system.
A new Ohio State University study recently found three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed to be failing by federal mandates based on state standardized test scores would receive passing grades by measuring the impact the schools have on learning instead.
While local experts agreed with some aspects of the study, they also said it’s flawed and raises questions.
The researchers said they developed a new method to measure school quality based on the impact districts have on learning and how much faster students learn during the school year than over the summer.
Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national U.S. Department of Education survey, the analysis focused on more than 4,200 children in almost 300 schools across the nation, officials said.
It measured the kids’ math and reading scores at the beginning and end of the kindergarten school year, and the beginning and end of the first grade, administrators said.
“Our impact-measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we’re trying to determine their effectiveness,” said Douglas Downey, study co-author and a sociology professor at Ohio State University.
Although some students scored low on achievement exams, the study found through its own testing before and after each school year that the kids were learning at a reasonable rate — and faster during the year than over summer vacation. Some area educators called the finding obvious because, during the school year, children are being taught by professionals whose job is to help them learn.
“It’s flawed and just leaves a lot more questions,” said Pennsylvania distinguished educator Karen Hessel. Working in Bristol Township for the past two years, she’s one of more than 40 consultants in the state trying to help turn around struggling schools.
“We can’t change students, and the standards remain the same. It takes some kids longer to master information than others. But if you give them time, and they’re taught well, they will learn,” Hessel said. “Let’s put the excuses aside and get about the business of doing our work.”
Research statistician Paul von Hippel, though, called most states’ current ranking system distorted because they compare children of different, and sometimes disadvantaged, backgrounds.
“[This new study] suggests that many schools serving disadvantaged kids are doing a good job with children who face a lot of challenges,” Downey said.
Holy Family University educators and administrators said there’s already an even better way to judge a student’s progress — the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System, which many school districts already use to compare a child’s growth from one year to another.
Still, Len Soroka, dean of Holy Family’s School of Education, and Grace O’Neill, associate professor of education, both agreed with the study’s suggestion that schools with the highest test scores aren’t necessarily where the most learning is taking place.
No need to know if the student knows the answer to the equation 2+2. All we need to measure is that the child can say, "That's an addition problem."
It's a tricky balancing act to draw that line between success and failure. Set the bar too low and the illusion of success covers the fact that no real learning is gained. Set it too high and the mass failure and frustration inhibit learning.
Here's the time honored formula for setting the benchmarks of success:
S = Specific
M = Measurable
A = Attainable
R = Realistic
T = Timely
Study questions grading system
By RACHEL CANELLI
Without hacking into a computer or handing in extra-credit work, failing grades could be turned into passing grades — just by using a different grading system.
A new Ohio State University study recently found three-quarters of U.S. schools deemed to be failing by federal mandates based on state standardized test scores would receive passing grades by measuring the impact the schools have on learning instead.
While local experts agreed with some aspects of the study, they also said it’s flawed and raises questions.
The researchers said they developed a new method to measure school quality based on the impact districts have on learning and how much faster students learn during the school year than over the summer.
Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, a national U.S. Department of Education survey, the analysis focused on more than 4,200 children in almost 300 schools across the nation, officials said.
It measured the kids’ math and reading scores at the beginning and end of the kindergarten school year, and the beginning and end of the first grade, administrators said.
“Our impact-measure more accurately gauges what is going on in the classroom, which is the way schools really should be evaluated if we’re trying to determine their effectiveness,” said Douglas Downey, study co-author and a sociology professor at Ohio State University.
Although some students scored low on achievement exams, the study found through its own testing before and after each school year that the kids were learning at a reasonable rate — and faster during the year than over summer vacation. Some area educators called the finding obvious because, during the school year, children are being taught by professionals whose job is to help them learn.
“It’s flawed and just leaves a lot more questions,” said Pennsylvania distinguished educator Karen Hessel. Working in Bristol Township for the past two years, she’s one of more than 40 consultants in the state trying to help turn around struggling schools.
“We can’t change students, and the standards remain the same. It takes some kids longer to master information than others. But if you give them time, and they’re taught well, they will learn,” Hessel said. “Let’s put the excuses aside and get about the business of doing our work.”
Research statistician Paul von Hippel, though, called most states’ current ranking system distorted because they compare children of different, and sometimes disadvantaged, backgrounds.
“[This new study] suggests that many schools serving disadvantaged kids are doing a good job with children who face a lot of challenges,” Downey said.
Holy Family University educators and administrators said there’s already an even better way to judge a student’s progress — the Pennsylvania Value-Added Assessment System, which many school districts already use to compare a child’s growth from one year to another.
Still, Len Soroka, dean of Holy Family’s School of Education, and Grace O’Neill, associate professor of education, both agreed with the study’s suggestion that schools with the highest test scores aren’t necessarily where the most learning is taking place.
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.
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."
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Radioactive Dump
From the Trentonian.
Tullytown fights to keep radioactive waste out of landfill
By PAUL MICKLE, Staff Writer 08/04/2008
TULLYTOWN, Pa. - Borough leaders want "Trash Mountain" to grow green, not glow green. That's why they're fighting a plan to bring radioactive sludge to the Tullytown Landfill.
Ten stories high, the greening mound of buried rubbish casts a literal and figurative shadow over Tullytown Cove and this town of 2,100, where taxpayers get annual home improvement "gifts" of $5,000 funded by fees from the state-of-the-art dump.
The situation is the result of an agreement a past generation of leaders made in 1988 with the owner of the dump, Waste Management Inc., America's leading disposer of trash and the operator of two other landfills and an incinerator within a mile of the Tullytown mountain.
Borough council and other local leaders meet tomorrow evening at 7 to discuss the Waste Management appeal, already approved by state and federal regulators, to bring in more than 50 truckloads of sludge laced with traces of radioactive material from the uniforms of nuclear plant workers for burial in the Tullytown mountain.
Officials aren't as worried about the mountain glowing green as they are about radioactivity reaching the nearby Delaware River and the intake for the water piped from there to homes and businesses in Tullytown and neighboring Bristol Township.
"Radioactive material that might leach out into the river right where the intake for drinking water is. That's too close for comfort for me,'' said Council President Ed Armstrong, whose top ally in the fight is Councilman Joe Shellenberger, the Iraq War vet.
Borough Clerk Beth Pirolli is also concerned: "I think it's asking too much of the river, putting it under too much stress." She also said Tullytown's might be the first dump in the state being asked to take so-called "low-level'' radioactive waste.
"The state and federal government have been trying to find a way to dispose of this stuff and it looks like we're supposed to be the test case,'' Pirolli said.
She, the councilmen and Borough Manager Andrew Warren also agree that Tullytown could face disposal questions like these long into the future. Said Shellenberger, who brought his 11-year-old son to a photo shoot: "We've got to be vigilant - and diligent about it.''
Which is not easy under the current system for alerting the public and local authorities about plans like Waste Management's to bring in truckloads of "super sack'' polyethylene bags holding sludge from the Royersford sewage treatment plant that services the cleaner which launders the uniforms of workers at Montgomery County's Limerick and other nuclear plants in the region.
Trucks were slated to start delivery in mid July when a newspaper report put the kibosh on it, at least temporarily. It turns out someone tipped off a reporter to the official notice of the radioactive dumping plan after it appeared in an obscure legislative newspaper published in Harrisburg.
Once the radioactive story broke, Warren explained, "we realized their technical notification was in one of those many volumes of information Waste Management sends into us every month.''
As she displayed the four-foot stack of binders and booklets and notices and permits and technical data sent in so far this year by Waste Management, Pirolli said "you could look at it and maybe guess what it all means. But we'd have to hire three scientists and keep them reading full time to keep track of it all.''
Even with its $54 million surplus, the Tullytown government is unlikely to spring for the scientists. But it was able to buy an outdoor shed for storage of all the paperwork Waste Management has sent it over the years. It's 18 feet deep, 15 feet high and 10 feet across.
Notification is another problem Shellenberger wants to tackle in its discussions with Waste Management. But first they'll have to tackle fear of radioactive waste, which Waste Management contends is wildly overblown in this case.
Its dumping plan exposes no one to radiation at any time, National Waste said in a statement that noted everyone is exposed to a harmless amount of radiation flying an airliner or getting an x-rays or CAT scan.
National Waste said its landfill liners and other environmental protections made a radiation leak impossible. In a "worst-case'' accident scenario ordered by federal regulators it said people in Lower Bucks County would be exposed to 0.0000000053 of one millirem, or nothing compared with the 350 a year everyone takes in from the sun, household appliances and medical sources.
Still, Shellenberger and the others are wary of the waste: "They say it has a half life of 30 years, meaning it loses half its potency every 30 years. Well, what about all those years it is potent? And if it somehow leaks out and gets in the river, everyone's going to end up drinking it.''
It might be trace, Shellenberger said, but there was enough radioactive waste for federal regulators to be able to track it from the uniforms, through the Royersford cleaners and on to the municipal treatment plant and its sludge bins.
And the councilman noted that local sewage authorities and National Waste, for all its expertise in disposal, still haven't come up an operational plan for getting rid of all the rainwater that has trickled through the dump over the years and been siphoned out of the bottom as a foul slurry called leachate.
There's so much ammonia in the leachate, Waste Management is able to siphon that off in commercial amounts. Until only recent times, when the Morrisville sewage plant started taking it in, the leachate was stored in giant containers or was simply poured back over the dump to trickle down again, Shellenberger said.
"All kinds of things trickle down in the water, basically everything you throw out. God only knows what goes in there,'' said Pirolli. And it's much more than water laced with wasted milk and soda or squished foodstuffs. Household cleaners and chemicals and roadway oils and greases also end up in the trash stream in violation of recycling laws.
Warren, an old political hand who was a Bucks County supervisor and the regional state transportation commissioner, said the radioactive dispute might come down to the what the lawyers for both sides work out and tell their clients to do - based on the language in the inch-thick agreement Tullytown made with Waste Management two decades ago.
"To me it's pretty clear, right there on page two of the agreement,'' said Warren. "There shall be no radioactive material. But we'll see what the lawyers say about that and what else they're reading in there.''
A National Waste spokeswoman, Geri Rush, said the agreement permits the company to bring in household waste, including sludge from municipal waste treatment plants, and that the trace amounts of radioactive material in the Royersford sludge slated for disposal in Tullytown were deemed safe by state and federal regulators.
So tomorrow's council discussion of Tullytown's 20-year-old deal with Waste Management is high stakes: Does the town want peace of mind? Or the $25 million it's in for over the next three years while the company completes the project dumping on the opposite side of the mound overlooking Tullytown Cove today?
Tullytown fights to keep radioactive waste out of landfill
By PAUL MICKLE, Staff Writer 08/04/2008
TULLYTOWN, Pa. - Borough leaders want "Trash Mountain" to grow green, not glow green. That's why they're fighting a plan to bring radioactive sludge to the Tullytown Landfill.
Ten stories high, the greening mound of buried rubbish casts a literal and figurative shadow over Tullytown Cove and this town of 2,100, where taxpayers get annual home improvement "gifts" of $5,000 funded by fees from the state-of-the-art dump.
The situation is the result of an agreement a past generation of leaders made in 1988 with the owner of the dump, Waste Management Inc., America's leading disposer of trash and the operator of two other landfills and an incinerator within a mile of the Tullytown mountain.
Borough council and other local leaders meet tomorrow evening at 7 to discuss the Waste Management appeal, already approved by state and federal regulators, to bring in more than 50 truckloads of sludge laced with traces of radioactive material from the uniforms of nuclear plant workers for burial in the Tullytown mountain.
Officials aren't as worried about the mountain glowing green as they are about radioactivity reaching the nearby Delaware River and the intake for the water piped from there to homes and businesses in Tullytown and neighboring Bristol Township.
"Radioactive material that might leach out into the river right where the intake for drinking water is. That's too close for comfort for me,'' said Council President Ed Armstrong, whose top ally in the fight is Councilman Joe Shellenberger, the Iraq War vet.
Borough Clerk Beth Pirolli is also concerned: "I think it's asking too much of the river, putting it under too much stress." She also said Tullytown's might be the first dump in the state being asked to take so-called "low-level'' radioactive waste.
"The state and federal government have been trying to find a way to dispose of this stuff and it looks like we're supposed to be the test case,'' Pirolli said.
She, the councilmen and Borough Manager Andrew Warren also agree that Tullytown could face disposal questions like these long into the future. Said Shellenberger, who brought his 11-year-old son to a photo shoot: "We've got to be vigilant - and diligent about it.''
Which is not easy under the current system for alerting the public and local authorities about plans like Waste Management's to bring in truckloads of "super sack'' polyethylene bags holding sludge from the Royersford sewage treatment plant that services the cleaner which launders the uniforms of workers at Montgomery County's Limerick and other nuclear plants in the region.
Trucks were slated to start delivery in mid July when a newspaper report put the kibosh on it, at least temporarily. It turns out someone tipped off a reporter to the official notice of the radioactive dumping plan after it appeared in an obscure legislative newspaper published in Harrisburg.
Once the radioactive story broke, Warren explained, "we realized their technical notification was in one of those many volumes of information Waste Management sends into us every month.''
As she displayed the four-foot stack of binders and booklets and notices and permits and technical data sent in so far this year by Waste Management, Pirolli said "you could look at it and maybe guess what it all means. But we'd have to hire three scientists and keep them reading full time to keep track of it all.''
Even with its $54 million surplus, the Tullytown government is unlikely to spring for the scientists. But it was able to buy an outdoor shed for storage of all the paperwork Waste Management has sent it over the years. It's 18 feet deep, 15 feet high and 10 feet across.
Notification is another problem Shellenberger wants to tackle in its discussions with Waste Management. But first they'll have to tackle fear of radioactive waste, which Waste Management contends is wildly overblown in this case.
Its dumping plan exposes no one to radiation at any time, National Waste said in a statement that noted everyone is exposed to a harmless amount of radiation flying an airliner or getting an x-rays or CAT scan.
National Waste said its landfill liners and other environmental protections made a radiation leak impossible. In a "worst-case'' accident scenario ordered by federal regulators it said people in Lower Bucks County would be exposed to 0.0000000053 of one millirem, or nothing compared with the 350 a year everyone takes in from the sun, household appliances and medical sources.
Still, Shellenberger and the others are wary of the waste: "They say it has a half life of 30 years, meaning it loses half its potency every 30 years. Well, what about all those years it is potent? And if it somehow leaks out and gets in the river, everyone's going to end up drinking it.''
It might be trace, Shellenberger said, but there was enough radioactive waste for federal regulators to be able to track it from the uniforms, through the Royersford cleaners and on to the municipal treatment plant and its sludge bins.
And the councilman noted that local sewage authorities and National Waste, for all its expertise in disposal, still haven't come up an operational plan for getting rid of all the rainwater that has trickled through the dump over the years and been siphoned out of the bottom as a foul slurry called leachate.
There's so much ammonia in the leachate, Waste Management is able to siphon that off in commercial amounts. Until only recent times, when the Morrisville sewage plant started taking it in, the leachate was stored in giant containers or was simply poured back over the dump to trickle down again, Shellenberger said.
"All kinds of things trickle down in the water, basically everything you throw out. God only knows what goes in there,'' said Pirolli. And it's much more than water laced with wasted milk and soda or squished foodstuffs. Household cleaners and chemicals and roadway oils and greases also end up in the trash stream in violation of recycling laws.
Warren, an old political hand who was a Bucks County supervisor and the regional state transportation commissioner, said the radioactive dispute might come down to the what the lawyers for both sides work out and tell their clients to do - based on the language in the inch-thick agreement Tullytown made with Waste Management two decades ago.
"To me it's pretty clear, right there on page two of the agreement,'' said Warren. "There shall be no radioactive material. But we'll see what the lawyers say about that and what else they're reading in there.''
A National Waste spokeswoman, Geri Rush, said the agreement permits the company to bring in household waste, including sludge from municipal waste treatment plants, and that the trace amounts of radioactive material in the Royersford sludge slated for disposal in Tullytown were deemed safe by state and federal regulators.
So tomorrow's council discussion of Tullytown's 20-year-old deal with Waste Management is high stakes: Does the town want peace of mind? Or the $25 million it's in for over the next three years while the company completes the project dumping on the opposite side of the mound overlooking Tullytown Cove today?
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
While not exactly "education related", I think we can all recollect watching Mr. Rogers on PBS. There's very good resources out there today, but if you would like future students to experience Mr. Rogers, check this out.
Campaign underway to save Mister Rogers
By Henry Freedland posted August 1, 2008 6:00 PM
In response to a recent decision by PBS to cut Mister Rogers' Neighborhood from its weekday syndication, one of Rogers' biggest fans has started a campaign to save the show.
With a firebrand ferocity matched only by a certain red sweater, one Brian Linder has launched SaveMisterRogers.com to fight PBS's plans to change the once-a-day airing the Mister Rogers has seen for decades into a format that would distribute a single episode per weekend to member stations.
"It's something I feel strongly about," Linder explained in an e-mail. "Not because of my own nostalgic feelings for the program, but because I feel it is still such a special nurturing voice in the lives of children."
The show, which began in 1962 on Canadian television as a 15-minute program called Misterogers, moved to PBS and was re-annointed with its three-word title in the late '60s. Fred Rogers, the cardigan-enswathed namesake and figurehead, gently taught viewers about the world in all its facets—emotional, physical, spiritual—and was not afraid to deal with difficult issues like divorce and death. Rogers also penned Neighborhood's iconic theme, "It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood," which played in episode introductions from 1968 to the show's finale in 2001. Generations of fans mourned his passing two years later, at the age of 74.
Linder extols Neighborhood's centrality to childhood development. “I was a highly-sensitive child,” he writes at SaveMisterRogers.com. “It was Mister Rogers who taught me how to begin to deal with my feelings. I think he taught my parents a lot, too. I know I’m still learning from him.”
Mrs. Rogers (Fred's wife, Joanne) recently blessed Linder's efforts, which include imploring kindred spirits to contact PBS at its headquarters or local affiliates, but no word has come back about plans for a policy shift. For the moment, it seems, the swelling grassroots of Mr. Rogers's neighborhood will continue to call out for just a few more beautiful days.
Campaign underway to save Mister Rogers
By Henry Freedland posted August 1, 2008 6:00 PM
In response to a recent decision by PBS to cut Mister Rogers' Neighborhood from its weekday syndication, one of Rogers' biggest fans has started a campaign to save the show.
With a firebrand ferocity matched only by a certain red sweater, one Brian Linder has launched SaveMisterRogers.com to fight PBS's plans to change the once-a-day airing the Mister Rogers has seen for decades into a format that would distribute a single episode per weekend to member stations.
"It's something I feel strongly about," Linder explained in an e-mail. "Not because of my own nostalgic feelings for the program, but because I feel it is still such a special nurturing voice in the lives of children."
The show, which began in 1962 on Canadian television as a 15-minute program called Misterogers, moved to PBS and was re-annointed with its three-word title in the late '60s. Fred Rogers, the cardigan-enswathed namesake and figurehead, gently taught viewers about the world in all its facets—emotional, physical, spiritual—and was not afraid to deal with difficult issues like divorce and death. Rogers also penned Neighborhood's iconic theme, "It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood," which played in episode introductions from 1968 to the show's finale in 2001. Generations of fans mourned his passing two years later, at the age of 74.
Linder extols Neighborhood's centrality to childhood development. “I was a highly-sensitive child,” he writes at SaveMisterRogers.com. “It was Mister Rogers who taught me how to begin to deal with my feelings. I think he taught my parents a lot, too. I know I’m still learning from him.”
Mrs. Rogers (Fred's wife, Joanne) recently blessed Linder's efforts, which include imploring kindred spirits to contact PBS at its headquarters or local affiliates, but no word has come back about plans for a policy shift. For the moment, it seems, the swelling grassroots of Mr. Rogers's neighborhood will continue to call out for just a few more beautiful days.
Monday, August 4, 2008
School Taxes and Seniors
From the Pittsburgh Daily Courier
Taxing situations
By Judy Kroeger, DAILY COURIER Saturday, August 2, 2008
Republican state Rep. John Perzel has introduced legislation to eliminate school property taxes for eligible senior citizens while Democratic Rep. David Levdansky has offered a proposal that would freeze millage rates set by school districts in January 2009 and eliminate them in 2010.
Perzel's legislation, House Bill 1600 and House Bill 1951 would apply slots income to eliminate school property taxes for homeowners 65 and older with annual incomes of $40,000 or less.
As written, Perzel's bill states that qualifying senior citizens would send their school property tax bill to the State Department of Revenue within 45 days of receipt. The revenue department would send a check to the school district for the amount of property tax owed.
Perzel said the legislation would help 600,000 homeowners throughout the state. The program would cost $1 billion of the state's estimated $1.1 billion slots money.
story continues below
Currently, all property owners who qualify for homestead or farmstead exclusions divide slots money under Act 1. The money will, for the first time this year, reduce property taxes by amounts varying by district, regardless of the property owners' age. A constitutional amendment would be necessary to take the rebates and apply it only to the elderly.
"When gambling came to Pennsylvania, it was with the promise that the revenue would be used to provide property tax relief," Perzel said. "My bill does exactly that."
The legislation has been voted out of the House Finance Committee, and may come to a full House vote when the body reconvenes after Labor Day.
"This legislation will keep a long-overdue promise to Pennsylvania's seniors," Perzel said. "No senior should ever have to choose between buying food or medicine and paying their property tax bill."
Levandsky's proposal is broader. "My bill provides the ultimate in property tax relief -- it eliminates the tax entirely -- freezing millage rates next year will halt any tax increases before school property taxes would be eliminated in 2010. My legislation gives the General Assembly until 2010 to decide how to provide adequate and stable funding for our public schools that is fair and does not unduly burden senior citizens and working families." The House Finance Committee has approved the amendments.
He said that once rates are frozen, the bill would give lawmakers 15 months to implement a permanent method to eliminate school property taxes. In the meantime, the Legislature would transfer funds from the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, also called the Rainy Day Fund, to cover any allowable increases approved by school boards in 2009.
Levdansky also has proposed a constitutional amendment (House Bill 1947) to eliminate school property taxes for homeowners only, which passed the House unanimously last January. The Senate has taken no action.
A constitutional amendment must pass in two successive legislative sessions and receive voter approval. Levdansky said the time lag is why he proposed an amendment to Perzel's House Bill 1600 "to completely eliminate school property taxes in 2010."
Rep. Jess Stairs (R-Fayette/Westmoreland), said his first choice for gambling money "would be to give it to everybody. Not far behind is to give it to seniors."
Stairs has come to that conclusion because Act 1 is "unfortunately, not widely accepted. In poorer districts, it's accepted. If you get a $200 reduction on a $700 tax bill, you might be for that, but if you can only give a little to everybody, give it all to seniors."
Stairs said property tax relief will remain a big issue when lawmakers return after the summer recess. "There was some relief under Act 1 with gaming, but it was minimal."
Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette) called Perzel's bill "a political statement," but voted for it. "We need to do something." He acknowledged that the bill, allowing senior school property taxes to be eliminated at the expense of younger taxpayers is "against the constitution to let one group get it and not another, but I voted for Perzel's bill. I vote for anything that would benefit seniors. I would vote for a constitutional amendment. We need change. There is no question that we need change or we'll be left behind."
Mahoney said he has seen seniors in homes they cannot afford any longer due to school taxes. He said the first billion of gambling money would provide real relief to senior homeowners and any more "would be divided down to others."
Rep. Deberah Kula (D-Fayette) also voted for Perzel's original bill. "That legislation came through so quickly. How do you ever vote against eliminating property taxes for seniors?"
In the time since the vote, she said she has spoken to seniors who have expressed concern for their children and their grandchildren who also suffer under high school property taxes.
Kula said several options exist for eliminating school property taxes, including a 0.5 percent increase in sales tax for items currently taxed. She does not favor taxing food and medicine. Kula said she would support taxing clothing, which currently is exempt. "I am not in favor of expanding it to everything," she said.
A small increase in the earned income tax would also be needed to eliminate school taxes, but Kula did not specify how much.
She said a combination of slight tax increases combined with gambling revenue would "provide more relief to more people. I lean to that from the feedback I've received. The sales tax, everyone would pay a share based on purchasing habits."
Taxing situations
By Judy Kroeger, DAILY COURIER Saturday, August 2, 2008
Republican state Rep. John Perzel has introduced legislation to eliminate school property taxes for eligible senior citizens while Democratic Rep. David Levdansky has offered a proposal that would freeze millage rates set by school districts in January 2009 and eliminate them in 2010.
Perzel's legislation, House Bill 1600 and House Bill 1951 would apply slots income to eliminate school property taxes for homeowners 65 and older with annual incomes of $40,000 or less.
As written, Perzel's bill states that qualifying senior citizens would send their school property tax bill to the State Department of Revenue within 45 days of receipt. The revenue department would send a check to the school district for the amount of property tax owed.
Perzel said the legislation would help 600,000 homeowners throughout the state. The program would cost $1 billion of the state's estimated $1.1 billion slots money.
story continues below
Currently, all property owners who qualify for homestead or farmstead exclusions divide slots money under Act 1. The money will, for the first time this year, reduce property taxes by amounts varying by district, regardless of the property owners' age. A constitutional amendment would be necessary to take the rebates and apply it only to the elderly.
"When gambling came to Pennsylvania, it was with the promise that the revenue would be used to provide property tax relief," Perzel said. "My bill does exactly that."
The legislation has been voted out of the House Finance Committee, and may come to a full House vote when the body reconvenes after Labor Day.
"This legislation will keep a long-overdue promise to Pennsylvania's seniors," Perzel said. "No senior should ever have to choose between buying food or medicine and paying their property tax bill."
Levandsky's proposal is broader. "My bill provides the ultimate in property tax relief -- it eliminates the tax entirely -- freezing millage rates next year will halt any tax increases before school property taxes would be eliminated in 2010. My legislation gives the General Assembly until 2010 to decide how to provide adequate and stable funding for our public schools that is fair and does not unduly burden senior citizens and working families." The House Finance Committee has approved the amendments.
He said that once rates are frozen, the bill would give lawmakers 15 months to implement a permanent method to eliminate school property taxes. In the meantime, the Legislature would transfer funds from the Budget Stabilization Reserve Fund, also called the Rainy Day Fund, to cover any allowable increases approved by school boards in 2009.
Levdansky also has proposed a constitutional amendment (House Bill 1947) to eliminate school property taxes for homeowners only, which passed the House unanimously last January. The Senate has taken no action.
A constitutional amendment must pass in two successive legislative sessions and receive voter approval. Levdansky said the time lag is why he proposed an amendment to Perzel's House Bill 1600 "to completely eliminate school property taxes in 2010."
Rep. Jess Stairs (R-Fayette/Westmoreland), said his first choice for gambling money "would be to give it to everybody. Not far behind is to give it to seniors."
Stairs has come to that conclusion because Act 1 is "unfortunately, not widely accepted. In poorer districts, it's accepted. If you get a $200 reduction on a $700 tax bill, you might be for that, but if you can only give a little to everybody, give it all to seniors."
Stairs said property tax relief will remain a big issue when lawmakers return after the summer recess. "There was some relief under Act 1 with gaming, but it was minimal."
Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fayette) called Perzel's bill "a political statement," but voted for it. "We need to do something." He acknowledged that the bill, allowing senior school property taxes to be eliminated at the expense of younger taxpayers is "against the constitution to let one group get it and not another, but I voted for Perzel's bill. I vote for anything that would benefit seniors. I would vote for a constitutional amendment. We need change. There is no question that we need change or we'll be left behind."
Mahoney said he has seen seniors in homes they cannot afford any longer due to school taxes. He said the first billion of gambling money would provide real relief to senior homeowners and any more "would be divided down to others."
Rep. Deberah Kula (D-Fayette) also voted for Perzel's original bill. "That legislation came through so quickly. How do you ever vote against eliminating property taxes for seniors?"
In the time since the vote, she said she has spoken to seniors who have expressed concern for their children and their grandchildren who also suffer under high school property taxes.
Kula said several options exist for eliminating school property taxes, including a 0.5 percent increase in sales tax for items currently taxed. She does not favor taxing food and medicine. Kula said she would support taxing clothing, which currently is exempt. "I am not in favor of expanding it to everything," she said.
A small increase in the earned income tax would also be needed to eliminate school taxes, but Kula did not specify how much.
She said a combination of slight tax increases combined with gambling revenue would "provide more relief to more people. I lean to that from the feedback I've received. The sales tax, everyone would pay a share based on purchasing habits."
Special education needs soar
From the Centre Daily Times
Special education needs soar
Dena Pauling Monday, Aug. 04, 2008
EDUCATION: Certification to help Pa. teachers with changing classrooms
Pennsylvania expects children with special needs to be taught in the same classrooms as their peers whenever possible — not segregated in special rooms for the entire school day.
This “least-restrictive environment” approach toward special education has been around for years. But with about 70,000 more children enrolled in special education statewide than just a decade ago, the State Board of Education has made sweeping changes to ensure that approach is being followed.
All newly certified teachers — regardless of whether they teach history, physics, art or elementary education — will be required to have extra training in special education. And those who do pursue special education certifications must have a second certification to achieve what is known as “highly qualified status” to be able to better assist other teachers.
Though the new requirements won’t begin to kick in for another three years, Kelly Watson hopes students such as her daughter, who has autism and bipolar disorder, can get help.
“We have struggled,” she said. “Our daughter has been in four different schools and home-schooled.”
Watson, who lives in the Philipsburg area, said schools just aren’t equipped to know how
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to handle children with special needs. Too often, children with Down syndrome and autism, for example, are just “lumped together” in the same special education classrooms for extended periods of time, she said.
“Nobody seems trained well enough to be able to handle her situation, and that’s very frustrating for us,” she said. “We just want to get her educated, and we can’t seem to do that.”
The push behind the changes in teacher certification initially came from “parents coming forward and saying our kids are not getting the services they need in general education classrooms,” said David McNaughton, an associate professor in Penn State’s department of educational and school psychology and special education.
Part of the reason could be traced to the sheer volume of children now being identified with special needs. Deneen Keller, a Penns Valley special education teacher, and Ellen Campbell, a State College English teacher and reading specialist, say they see more children with special circumstances each year.
Autism, in particular, Keller said, “has grown phenomenally.”
State Department of Education statistics prove those assumptions. While total enrollment has remained flat both statewide and locally, the number of children in special education has risen significantly during the past 10 to 15 years.
Excluding gifted and pre-school- aged children, there were 272,255 students enrolled in special education statewide in 2006-07, up from 208,421 in 1990-91. That’s a 30.6 percent increase.
In the Central Intermediate Unit 10, which includes school districts in Centre and Clearfield counties, there were 4,304 students enrolled in special education in 2006-07 — almost 1,000 more than in 1990-91.
In anticipation of the upcoming requirements, colleges and universities are revamping their educational programs to prepare students and retrain teachers.
“Things are just constantly changing,” said Keller, who has taught special education for 17 years. “And for me, it brings me up to speed on what is going on statewide.”
Keller is among those enrolled in Penn State’s new EPIC program, short for Evidence- Based Practices for Inclusive Classrooms and Differentiating Instruction. McNaughton is one of the instructors.
The courses are designed to help teachers learn strategies they can use to help children with all kinds of specific physical and behavioral issues including autism, blindness, attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder and mental retardation.
Keller said she’s seen a “definite push” toward the strategy of co-teaching. Two teachers, one of whom could be certified in special education, work in the same classroom at the same time. The state, in developing the new Chapter 49 regulations, expects co-teaching to take place.
“To me, co-teaching was a thought, an idea. But it’s evolved into so much more all of these years,” Keller said. “I can see a lot of things coming through the state, one is a definite push for inclusion and for co-teaching to be more than just one teacher and one coach.”
Campbell has worked in several inclusive classrooms. She doesn’t have a social studies background, but she has taught alongside a history teacher to help improve the reading skills of the special education students in that class. In turn, she said, it helps all students.
But even with her experience, Campbell said she too enrolled in EPIC to make sure her strategies “were as up to date as possible” and to better learn how to teach students with very specific disabilities.
“We have to be very deliberate and very mindful of including kids and making accommodations for different kinds of learners,” she said. “... When you make those accommodations, it’s good for the general education learners as well.”
According to the state Department of Education, three of every 20 students have a disability or are still learning English. And 96 percent of students with a disability have at least some of their education provided by a regular education teacher.
“All teachers have interaction with students in special education,” Department of Education spokeswoman Leah Harris said. “And even though they are not certified in special education, regular teachers still need to know the unique characteristics of special education so they are better able to instruct those students.”
Special education needs soar
Dena Pauling Monday, Aug. 04, 2008
EDUCATION: Certification to help Pa. teachers with changing classrooms
Pennsylvania expects children with special needs to be taught in the same classrooms as their peers whenever possible — not segregated in special rooms for the entire school day.
This “least-restrictive environment” approach toward special education has been around for years. But with about 70,000 more children enrolled in special education statewide than just a decade ago, the State Board of Education has made sweeping changes to ensure that approach is being followed.
All newly certified teachers — regardless of whether they teach history, physics, art or elementary education — will be required to have extra training in special education. And those who do pursue special education certifications must have a second certification to achieve what is known as “highly qualified status” to be able to better assist other teachers.
Though the new requirements won’t begin to kick in for another three years, Kelly Watson hopes students such as her daughter, who has autism and bipolar disorder, can get help.
“We have struggled,” she said. “Our daughter has been in four different schools and home-schooled.”
Watson, who lives in the Philipsburg area, said schools just aren’t equipped to know how
Advertisement
to handle children with special needs. Too often, children with Down syndrome and autism, for example, are just “lumped together” in the same special education classrooms for extended periods of time, she said.
“Nobody seems trained well enough to be able to handle her situation, and that’s very frustrating for us,” she said. “We just want to get her educated, and we can’t seem to do that.”
The push behind the changes in teacher certification initially came from “parents coming forward and saying our kids are not getting the services they need in general education classrooms,” said David McNaughton, an associate professor in Penn State’s department of educational and school psychology and special education.
Part of the reason could be traced to the sheer volume of children now being identified with special needs. Deneen Keller, a Penns Valley special education teacher, and Ellen Campbell, a State College English teacher and reading specialist, say they see more children with special circumstances each year.
Autism, in particular, Keller said, “has grown phenomenally.”
State Department of Education statistics prove those assumptions. While total enrollment has remained flat both statewide and locally, the number of children in special education has risen significantly during the past 10 to 15 years.
Excluding gifted and pre-school- aged children, there were 272,255 students enrolled in special education statewide in 2006-07, up from 208,421 in 1990-91. That’s a 30.6 percent increase.
In the Central Intermediate Unit 10, which includes school districts in Centre and Clearfield counties, there were 4,304 students enrolled in special education in 2006-07 — almost 1,000 more than in 1990-91.
In anticipation of the upcoming requirements, colleges and universities are revamping their educational programs to prepare students and retrain teachers.
“Things are just constantly changing,” said Keller, who has taught special education for 17 years. “And for me, it brings me up to speed on what is going on statewide.”
Keller is among those enrolled in Penn State’s new EPIC program, short for Evidence- Based Practices for Inclusive Classrooms and Differentiating Instruction. McNaughton is one of the instructors.
The courses are designed to help teachers learn strategies they can use to help children with all kinds of specific physical and behavioral issues including autism, blindness, attention- deficit hyperactivity disorder and mental retardation.
Keller said she’s seen a “definite push” toward the strategy of co-teaching. Two teachers, one of whom could be certified in special education, work in the same classroom at the same time. The state, in developing the new Chapter 49 regulations, expects co-teaching to take place.
“To me, co-teaching was a thought, an idea. But it’s evolved into so much more all of these years,” Keller said. “I can see a lot of things coming through the state, one is a definite push for inclusion and for co-teaching to be more than just one teacher and one coach.”
Campbell has worked in several inclusive classrooms. She doesn’t have a social studies background, but she has taught alongside a history teacher to help improve the reading skills of the special education students in that class. In turn, she said, it helps all students.
But even with her experience, Campbell said she too enrolled in EPIC to make sure her strategies “were as up to date as possible” and to better learn how to teach students with very specific disabilities.
“We have to be very deliberate and very mindful of including kids and making accommodations for different kinds of learners,” she said. “... When you make those accommodations, it’s good for the general education learners as well.”
According to the state Department of Education, three of every 20 students have a disability or are still learning English. And 96 percent of students with a disability have at least some of their education provided by a regular education teacher.
“All teachers have interaction with students in special education,” Department of Education spokeswoman Leah Harris said. “And even though they are not certified in special education, regular teachers still need to know the unique characteristics of special education so they are better able to instruct those students.”
Sunday, August 3, 2008
We Already Have One, Thanks
But the ideas are interesting...
One Teacher’s Pitch to be Emperor of Education
Chemistry teacher Dr. Richard Chapleau outlines his formula for school reform, which includes tough measures for teachers and parents.
By Dr. Richard Chapleau
It's been an average day in a regular week in the middle of a typical year. I got off the phone about an hour ago with another parent in denial. At snack, the usual six or eight of us complained about today's crisis. After school, I read the latest administration e-mail on something I can't control that is still my fault.
It's hard not to become a curmudgeon in this environment of distrust and blame, and I often lose sight of the dreams I had of watching young minds see new worlds in my classroom. If they'd just let me be Emperor of Education, I could straighten out the whole mess.
Why can't I change things? Why does it seem like the book Up the Down Staircase was written yesterday? I've heard the same reasons every time I've sat down with a group of my colleagues. The teacher unions are too strong. The administration won't listen to new ideas. The parents think we're supposed to call them daily with updates on their little darlings.
LAUNCHING A NEW ERA
The reason I hear most often, though, whether from teacher, administrator, or someone I meet socially who learns I'm a teacher, is that the kids are too lazy, and just don't care. If I were emperor, I'd show them that all these ideas are wrong.
My first two imperial acts would be to fire one-third of American teachers and then to give every parent a one-question quiz.
I'd fire the teachers who have stopped trying in their rooms, who use their training and intellect to belittle the kids. There's no place in our schools for teachers who pass out endless worksheets or show non-stop videos. I'm a proud member of two unions, mind you: the California Teachers Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (from a former career). Unions were not created to protect the incompetent workers, but instead were created to protect workers from incompetent bosses. We built the strongest middle class in the world in the last century because of unions, but now are in danger of losing the middle class, also because of unions.
Next, every parent of a 2-year old would have a one-question quiz, and they'd all have to take it at the same instant. I know too much about cheating, of course. The question would be "One Fish, Two Fish"? Any parent who didn't write "Red Fish, Blue Fish" would be required to sign a Universal Release of Liability and Parental Promise Not to Whine Statement. Parents who can't spout Dr. Seuss or Mother Goose, but who can name ten movie stars, professional sports players, or rock idols, are ruining their child's future.
They can't give their children the first four years of life in an impoverished educational environment, then expect the schools to fix all of their mistakes. A parent is the first and most important teacher their children will ever know, but most parents never spend that magical time with their child on the sofa. The TV should be off, the book is open, and their child is captured for life by the rhythm of a nursery rhyme. Four years watching reruns or ball games hardwires the future student to expect entertainment, not education, from 12 years of school.
MORE IMPERIAL DECREES...
My last act as emperor is the only one I know really could be achieved in the "real world" I hear so much about. I would take teacher evaluation away from administrators. Who is in charge of the American Bar Association? Attorneys. Who runs the American Medical Association? Physicians. Who watches the teachers? People who haven't been in a classroom in many years. Administrators, criminally overworked administrators. They must watch hundreds of students, tens of secretaries and custodians, and also a few dozen teachers. Guess who takes up most of their time? The children who spent four years watching videos. Yet, these same harried administrators are also asked to give clinical input into the skills of classroom teachers.
Every teacher in the country could give you a list of who's pulling their weight and who should go to the emperor for a final paycheck. Teacher evaluations should be done by working teachers, in a manner similar to professors at most American universities. Professors take turns on some sort of faculty review committee, where they check each other for professionalism, for commitment to learning new ideas, and for doing their jobs well. I hear many people complain about our public schools, but I still notice that people flock from all over the world to attend our universities. Perhaps it's at least partly because no university dean or provost sits in a professor's classroom for one hour every two years and calls that evaluation.
Bodie is a ghost town in northern California. You must drive up into the Sierra Nevada, then turn off the major freeway and go down a dirt road for several miles. You come to an old collection of buildings in a town at an elevation of more than 8,000 feet. There's an abandoned schoolhouse there that bills itself as the highest in the country. You can tell that no one's taught there for the better part of 100 years.
Still, I'll bet I could walk in that room and teach a class tomorrow. Neat rows of chairs, a teacher's desk up front, a chalkboard, and some maps. The flag in a corner. If I were Emperor of Education, classrooms would change, just like the rest of the world has done while we were all so busy blaming each other for what went wrong in education.
The alarm went off, so I can wake up now, and go back to another average day in a regular week in a typical year. Sadly, dreams are for those of us who also can tell you who Sam I Am is, and I must face a group of teenagers who only know about Kobe.
Dr. Richard Chapleau is a chemistry teacher at Lancaster High School in Lancaster, California, and a lecturer in education at California State University, Bakersfield.
One Teacher’s Pitch to be Emperor of Education
Chemistry teacher Dr. Richard Chapleau outlines his formula for school reform, which includes tough measures for teachers and parents.
By Dr. Richard Chapleau
It's been an average day in a regular week in the middle of a typical year. I got off the phone about an hour ago with another parent in denial. At snack, the usual six or eight of us complained about today's crisis. After school, I read the latest administration e-mail on something I can't control that is still my fault.
It's hard not to become a curmudgeon in this environment of distrust and blame, and I often lose sight of the dreams I had of watching young minds see new worlds in my classroom. If they'd just let me be Emperor of Education, I could straighten out the whole mess.
Why can't I change things? Why does it seem like the book Up the Down Staircase was written yesterday? I've heard the same reasons every time I've sat down with a group of my colleagues. The teacher unions are too strong. The administration won't listen to new ideas. The parents think we're supposed to call them daily with updates on their little darlings.
LAUNCHING A NEW ERA
The reason I hear most often, though, whether from teacher, administrator, or someone I meet socially who learns I'm a teacher, is that the kids are too lazy, and just don't care. If I were emperor, I'd show them that all these ideas are wrong.
My first two imperial acts would be to fire one-third of American teachers and then to give every parent a one-question quiz.
I'd fire the teachers who have stopped trying in their rooms, who use their training and intellect to belittle the kids. There's no place in our schools for teachers who pass out endless worksheets or show non-stop videos. I'm a proud member of two unions, mind you: the California Teachers Association and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (from a former career). Unions were not created to protect the incompetent workers, but instead were created to protect workers from incompetent bosses. We built the strongest middle class in the world in the last century because of unions, but now are in danger of losing the middle class, also because of unions.
Next, every parent of a 2-year old would have a one-question quiz, and they'd all have to take it at the same instant. I know too much about cheating, of course. The question would be "One Fish, Two Fish"? Any parent who didn't write "Red Fish, Blue Fish" would be required to sign a Universal Release of Liability and Parental Promise Not to Whine Statement. Parents who can't spout Dr. Seuss or Mother Goose, but who can name ten movie stars, professional sports players, or rock idols, are ruining their child's future.
They can't give their children the first four years of life in an impoverished educational environment, then expect the schools to fix all of their mistakes. A parent is the first and most important teacher their children will ever know, but most parents never spend that magical time with their child on the sofa. The TV should be off, the book is open, and their child is captured for life by the rhythm of a nursery rhyme. Four years watching reruns or ball games hardwires the future student to expect entertainment, not education, from 12 years of school.
MORE IMPERIAL DECREES...
My last act as emperor is the only one I know really could be achieved in the "real world" I hear so much about. I would take teacher evaluation away from administrators. Who is in charge of the American Bar Association? Attorneys. Who runs the American Medical Association? Physicians. Who watches the teachers? People who haven't been in a classroom in many years. Administrators, criminally overworked administrators. They must watch hundreds of students, tens of secretaries and custodians, and also a few dozen teachers. Guess who takes up most of their time? The children who spent four years watching videos. Yet, these same harried administrators are also asked to give clinical input into the skills of classroom teachers.
Every teacher in the country could give you a list of who's pulling their weight and who should go to the emperor for a final paycheck. Teacher evaluations should be done by working teachers, in a manner similar to professors at most American universities. Professors take turns on some sort of faculty review committee, where they check each other for professionalism, for commitment to learning new ideas, and for doing their jobs well. I hear many people complain about our public schools, but I still notice that people flock from all over the world to attend our universities. Perhaps it's at least partly because no university dean or provost sits in a professor's classroom for one hour every two years and calls that evaluation.
Bodie is a ghost town in northern California. You must drive up into the Sierra Nevada, then turn off the major freeway and go down a dirt road for several miles. You come to an old collection of buildings in a town at an elevation of more than 8,000 feet. There's an abandoned schoolhouse there that bills itself as the highest in the country. You can tell that no one's taught there for the better part of 100 years.
Still, I'll bet I could walk in that room and teach a class tomorrow. Neat rows of chairs, a teacher's desk up front, a chalkboard, and some maps. The flag in a corner. If I were Emperor of Education, classrooms would change, just like the rest of the world has done while we were all so busy blaming each other for what went wrong in education.
The alarm went off, so I can wake up now, and go back to another average day in a regular week in a typical year. Sadly, dreams are for those of us who also can tell you who Sam I Am is, and I must face a group of teenagers who only know about Kobe.
Dr. Richard Chapleau is a chemistry teacher at Lancaster High School in Lancaster, California, and a lecturer in education at California State University, Bakersfield.
The Sun Also Rises in the East
Politics could be factor in school board appointment
The school board is scheduled to fill the vacancy during a special Aug. 11 meeting.
By JOAN HELLYER
The leader of the Bristol Township Democratic Party said she wants Fred Black, the manager of a local sign advertising company, to be appointed to the vacant seat on the district’s school board.
Black is among seven candidates the Bristol Township school board has to choose from to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Flanigan. The board interviewed the candidates last week and is expected to make the appointment during an Aug. 11 special meeting.
In addition to Black, the candidates include Edward Godin and Ronald Matlack, two former board members who are retirees, veteran science teacher Holly Delk-Priestley, public health administrator Marlin Williams, nutritional educational adviser Marjory Apollon-Shields and Carol Becker, a construction company employee.
Democratic Party chairwoman Janet Keyser, a former board member, has thrown her support behind Black. “You have my vote,” she said to him after his interview Tuesday night for the seat.
Keyser attended the Tuesday interview session that also included Matlack and Godin. She did not attend Monday’s interviews of Becker, Delk-Priestly and Apollon-Shields or Williams’ interview on Wednesday.
“I like [Black]. He’s a [volunteer] firefighter. He’s new. He’s somebody fresh. He has children in the district. We need new people. We can’t always have the same old people,” Keyser said later in the week when asked to explain why she supports Black.
Keyser said she has expressed her support to some board members but the full party, which dominates township politics, has not discussed the school board vacancy. The issue could come up during the party’s monthly meeting tonight, she said.
The party chairwoman said she has expressed her support for various candidates when other seats have been vacant in the past, but the board has not always followed her recommendation.
Keyser said going against her wishes does not impact individual board members’ future political aspirations.
“The board always has the final decision. They are always the one that votes, but we can make a recommendation,” Keyser said.
The school board is scheduled to fill the vacancy during a special Aug. 11 meeting.
By JOAN HELLYER
The leader of the Bristol Township Democratic Party said she wants Fred Black, the manager of a local sign advertising company, to be appointed to the vacant seat on the district’s school board.
Black is among seven candidates the Bristol Township school board has to choose from to fill the seat vacated by Joseph Flanigan. The board interviewed the candidates last week and is expected to make the appointment during an Aug. 11 special meeting.
In addition to Black, the candidates include Edward Godin and Ronald Matlack, two former board members who are retirees, veteran science teacher Holly Delk-Priestley, public health administrator Marlin Williams, nutritional educational adviser Marjory Apollon-Shields and Carol Becker, a construction company employee.
Democratic Party chairwoman Janet Keyser, a former board member, has thrown her support behind Black. “You have my vote,” she said to him after his interview Tuesday night for the seat.
Keyser attended the Tuesday interview session that also included Matlack and Godin. She did not attend Monday’s interviews of Becker, Delk-Priestly and Apollon-Shields or Williams’ interview on Wednesday.
“I like [Black]. He’s a [volunteer] firefighter. He’s new. He’s somebody fresh. He has children in the district. We need new people. We can’t always have the same old people,” Keyser said later in the week when asked to explain why she supports Black.
Keyser said she has expressed her support to some board members but the full party, which dominates township politics, has not discussed the school board vacancy. The issue could come up during the party’s monthly meeting tonight, she said.
The party chairwoman said she has expressed her support for various candidates when other seats have been vacant in the past, but the board has not always followed her recommendation.
Keyser said going against her wishes does not impact individual board members’ future political aspirations.
“The board always has the final decision. They are always the one that votes, but we can make a recommendation,” Keyser said.
Stop the Rumor Mill
Here's a letter to the editor from today's BCCT. In a small town like Morrisville, this is easier said than done. It seems like we each have direct lines of immediate access to someone else and before you know it, the entire town knows. Rumors, innuendo, and outright falsehoods are a standard tactic right here in little Morrisville. Until we start electing leaders who can lead without using these tactics, it's only going to be more of the same.
Rumor mill hurts hard-working volunteers
At the July 21st Morrisville Borough Council meeting, Barbara Runner appeared before council and read into the minutes a letter requesting council to remove me and Steve Amend from the Morrisville Planning Commission. I was not shocked by her request.
For the past several months another borough resident had been at the meetings stating that we were in conflict of interest since we both sit on the Economic Development Corp. and the Morrisville Planning Commission. Maybe council’s silence fueled this speculation.
However, I am extremely disturbed that people do not research the issues before making slanderous statements toward volunteers. Runner states, “Actually I can’t state that they are or are not doing a good job in their positions as I haven’t followed them.” If Runner had any questions, she should have attended a planning commission meeting or an EDC meeting.
The duties and responsibilities of the planning commission are in the Municipal Planning Code (MPC) available online or in Borough Hall. Runner felt that since, as members of the EDC, we actively solicit businesses and we would be inclined as planning commission members to vote in favor of the plans we initiated.
Once again, if she had done her homework she would have known that the planning commission is only a recommending panel to borough council and we cannot vote our personal preference on a particular project. We are bound to recommend approval if a project meets the zoning and land development ordinances. In the occurrence that we vote not to recommend a plan, we must state the ordinance(s) that it does not meet.
Unfortunately, people will not remember what the borough solicitor told Runner; they will only remember that Amend and I were accused of a conflict of interest.
If every resident would first find out the facts and stop the rumor mill, this town just might move forward.
Don M. Diretto Morrisville Planning Commission; Morrisville Economic Development Corp.
Rumor mill hurts hard-working volunteers
At the July 21st Morrisville Borough Council meeting, Barbara Runner appeared before council and read into the minutes a letter requesting council to remove me and Steve Amend from the Morrisville Planning Commission. I was not shocked by her request.
For the past several months another borough resident had been at the meetings stating that we were in conflict of interest since we both sit on the Economic Development Corp. and the Morrisville Planning Commission. Maybe council’s silence fueled this speculation.
However, I am extremely disturbed that people do not research the issues before making slanderous statements toward volunteers. Runner states, “Actually I can’t state that they are or are not doing a good job in their positions as I haven’t followed them.” If Runner had any questions, she should have attended a planning commission meeting or an EDC meeting.
The duties and responsibilities of the planning commission are in the Municipal Planning Code (MPC) available online or in Borough Hall. Runner felt that since, as members of the EDC, we actively solicit businesses and we would be inclined as planning commission members to vote in favor of the plans we initiated.
Once again, if she had done her homework she would have known that the planning commission is only a recommending panel to borough council and we cannot vote our personal preference on a particular project. We are bound to recommend approval if a project meets the zoning and land development ordinances. In the occurrence that we vote not to recommend a plan, we must state the ordinance(s) that it does not meet.
Unfortunately, people will not remember what the borough solicitor told Runner; they will only remember that Amend and I were accused of a conflict of interest.
If every resident would first find out the facts and stop the rumor mill, this town just might move forward.
Don M. Diretto Morrisville Planning Commission; Morrisville Economic Development Corp.
Math Heroes Throughout History
Make education relateable, interesting, and fun.
Math Heroes Throughout History
By Wendy Petti
Mathematics did not drop from the sky. We know that, of course…but do our students? How much richer an appreciation our students might have for mathematics as a living science if we share with them the budding of new ideas in math heroes past and present! It all begins with "I wonder…."
For instance, when our students use coordinate geometry, we can tell them that the idea of joining algebra and geometry in this way is said to have come to René Descartes one day in 1637 as he lay in bed wondering how to describe the path of a fly on the ceiling. His work on analytic geometry was one small part of a larger quest for truth launched with the famous words, "I think, therefore I am," meaning that he could be sure of only one thing -- his own existence -- as he began systematically questioning all existing knowledge.
If we ask our students to imagine a world without 0, such as the long-ago Western world that relied on Roman numerals or an abacus to do calculations, we can thank Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, who learned the calculating methods of the local merchants wherever he went in his extensive travels. In his first book, published in 1200 and revised in 1228, Fibonacci strongly advocated that the ancient Hindu-Arab system of numbers be adopted in the West. After being met with initial skepticism, eventually that book became the standard math text for more than 200 years.
That's nothing compared to Euclid's Elements, that, in pulling together the best work of the Greek mathematicians and presenting a model of logical reasoning, became the standard geometry text for more than 2,000 years!
Students also might enjoy hearing stories of such child prodigies as Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), who as a 3-year-old corrected a bookkeeping error of his father's, and as a youth astounded a teacher by almost instantly finding a creative solution to a long and tedious arithmetic task.
Students might benefit from hearing stories of creativity mixed with tenacity, such as the 350-year quest to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, achieved at last by Andrew J. Wiles in 1994, after eight years of intensive and creative work building on pivotal contributions by others.
Students also might be intrigued by quirky anecdotes, such as the MacTutor History of Mathematics account of Abraham DeMoivre, who "is famed for predicting the day of his own death. He found that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night and summing the arithmetic progression, calculated that he would die on the day that he slept for 24 hours. He was right!"
Although math heroes are plentiful, there have not been many print or online accounts written for elementary grades, and collections of mathematical biographies are not exactly abundant in local bookstores and libraries.
As you and your students dip into some of the resources recommended here (with some caveats), you might consider how to take an active role in investigating math heroes:
* What is a math hero? Does it take a new mathematical discovery to be a math hero or can a math hero be someone who uses known math in creative ways?
* Adopt a math hero. Perhaps each student could learn about one math hero for sharing with the class or a larger audience. The activity could be a wonderful class or collaborative project to develop a new online collection of lively, kid-friendly math biographies.
* Promote math heroes. Ask your local library to order some of the books recommended below. Ask your local bookstore to stock some in the section of biographies for children. Ask your library or bookstore if they would sponsor a "math hero" day.
Perhaps if we join with our students to help share these inspirational stories, we can be math heroes of sorts, too!
Math Heroes Throughout History
By Wendy Petti
Mathematics did not drop from the sky. We know that, of course…but do our students? How much richer an appreciation our students might have for mathematics as a living science if we share with them the budding of new ideas in math heroes past and present! It all begins with "I wonder…."
For instance, when our students use coordinate geometry, we can tell them that the idea of joining algebra and geometry in this way is said to have come to René Descartes one day in 1637 as he lay in bed wondering how to describe the path of a fly on the ceiling. His work on analytic geometry was one small part of a larger quest for truth launched with the famous words, "I think, therefore I am," meaning that he could be sure of only one thing -- his own existence -- as he began systematically questioning all existing knowledge.
If we ask our students to imagine a world without 0, such as the long-ago Western world that relied on Roman numerals or an abacus to do calculations, we can thank Leonardo Pisano Fibonacci, who learned the calculating methods of the local merchants wherever he went in his extensive travels. In his first book, published in 1200 and revised in 1228, Fibonacci strongly advocated that the ancient Hindu-Arab system of numbers be adopted in the West. After being met with initial skepticism, eventually that book became the standard math text for more than 200 years.
That's nothing compared to Euclid's Elements, that, in pulling together the best work of the Greek mathematicians and presenting a model of logical reasoning, became the standard geometry text for more than 2,000 years!
Students also might enjoy hearing stories of such child prodigies as Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777–1855), who as a 3-year-old corrected a bookkeeping error of his father's, and as a youth astounded a teacher by almost instantly finding a creative solution to a long and tedious arithmetic task.
Students might benefit from hearing stories of creativity mixed with tenacity, such as the 350-year quest to solve Fermat's Last Theorem, achieved at last by Andrew J. Wiles in 1994, after eight years of intensive and creative work building on pivotal contributions by others.
Students also might be intrigued by quirky anecdotes, such as the MacTutor History of Mathematics account of Abraham DeMoivre, who "is famed for predicting the day of his own death. He found that he was sleeping 15 minutes longer each night and summing the arithmetic progression, calculated that he would die on the day that he slept for 24 hours. He was right!"
Although math heroes are plentiful, there have not been many print or online accounts written for elementary grades, and collections of mathematical biographies are not exactly abundant in local bookstores and libraries.
As you and your students dip into some of the resources recommended here (with some caveats), you might consider how to take an active role in investigating math heroes:
* What is a math hero? Does it take a new mathematical discovery to be a math hero or can a math hero be someone who uses known math in creative ways?
* Adopt a math hero. Perhaps each student could learn about one math hero for sharing with the class or a larger audience. The activity could be a wonderful class or collaborative project to develop a new online collection of lively, kid-friendly math biographies.
* Promote math heroes. Ask your local library to order some of the books recommended below. Ask your local bookstore to stock some in the section of biographies for children. Ask your library or bookstore if they would sponsor a "math hero" day.
Perhaps if we join with our students to help share these inspirational stories, we can be math heroes of sorts, too!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Ask and Ye Shall Receive...
Thanks to the artist. It doesn't have the cachet of a crossed-out-Reithmeyer Stop The School shirt, but I like it!
(For details, see the comments here.)
Still no response from the bored-on-vacation cat-got-his-tongue high official.
(For details, see the comments here.)
Still no response from the bored-on-vacation cat-got-his-tongue high official.
Schools News Around the Blogosphere
Are You a Bully?
A Connecticut school administrator, commenting on his district's decision to include teacher behavior in its anti-bullying policy, complained that it would be difficult to distinguish between bullying behavior and classroom management strategies. What about you? Can you tell the difference between behavior management and bullying?
Standing Up for Average Students
Teacher/coach Tom Krause worries that real learning and the average student's needs are getting lost in the pressures of greater accountability and assessments.
Another Edison Schools achievement claim falls apart under scrutiny
The Examiner
Caroline Grannan
The minor flurry of news about the failed for-profit school manager Edison Schools - and an indignant post here by an Edison supporter or employee - spurred a longtime Edison critic who is an indefatigable number-cruncher to take a close look at Edison's newest claims about achievement in its Philadelphia schools.
Math Scores Show No Gap for Girls, Study Finds
New York Times
By TAMAR LEWIN
A study paid for by the National Science Foundation has found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests.
Math IS harder for girls . . . and also, it seems, for the New York Times.
By Heather MacDonald
The New York Times is determined to show that women are discriminated against in the sciences; too bad the facts say otherwise. A new study has "found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests," claims a July 25 article by Tamar Lewin-thus, the underrepresentation of women on science faculties must result from bias. Actually, the study, summarized in the July 25 issue of Science, shows something quite different: while boys' and girls' average scores are similar, boys outnumber girls among students in both the highest and the lowest score ranges.
People in leadership roles are ubiquitous, but leaders are in short supply.
Hayes Mizell
Guest Columnist EducationNews.org
Introductory remarks of Hayes Mizell on July 14, 2008 before moderating Session B01 at the National Staff Development Council's Summer Conference, held at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, FL.
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
EdNews
by Nicholas Carr
Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?" So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial
For Many Student Athletes, Game Over
New York Times
By WINNIE HU
As cash-strapped school districts across the nation scale back sports programs, some fear that the tradition of the scholar athlete is at risk.
Teaching Life Lessons Through Sports
Organized athletics originally were viewed as mechanisms for teaching social values and selflessness, but society has changed and so have sports. Mitch Lyons suggests that athletics still can be a springboard for valuable lessons, if the approach is changed.
A Connecticut school administrator, commenting on his district's decision to include teacher behavior in its anti-bullying policy, complained that it would be difficult to distinguish between bullying behavior and classroom management strategies. What about you? Can you tell the difference between behavior management and bullying?
Standing Up for Average Students
Teacher/coach Tom Krause worries that real learning and the average student's needs are getting lost in the pressures of greater accountability and assessments.
Another Edison Schools achievement claim falls apart under scrutiny
The Examiner
Caroline Grannan
The minor flurry of news about the failed for-profit school manager Edison Schools - and an indignant post here by an Edison supporter or employee - spurred a longtime Edison critic who is an indefatigable number-cruncher to take a close look at Edison's newest claims about achievement in its Philadelphia schools.
Math Scores Show No Gap for Girls, Study Finds
New York Times
By TAMAR LEWIN
A study paid for by the National Science Foundation has found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests.
Math IS harder for girls . . . and also, it seems, for the New York Times.
By Heather MacDonald
The New York Times is determined to show that women are discriminated against in the sciences; too bad the facts say otherwise. A new study has "found that girls perform as well as boys on standardized math tests," claims a July 25 article by Tamar Lewin-thus, the underrepresentation of women on science faculties must result from bias. Actually, the study, summarized in the July 25 issue of Science, shows something quite different: while boys' and girls' average scores are similar, boys outnumber girls among students in both the highest and the lowest score ranges.
People in leadership roles are ubiquitous, but leaders are in short supply.
Hayes Mizell
Guest Columnist EducationNews.org
Introductory remarks of Hayes Mizell on July 14, 2008 before moderating Session B01 at the National Staff Development Council's Summer Conference, held at the Marriott World Center Resort in Orlando, FL.
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
EdNews
by Nicholas Carr
Dave, stop. Stop, will you? Stop, Dave. Will you stop, Dave?" So the supercomputer HAL pleads with the implacable astronaut Dave Bowman in a famous and weirdly poignant scene toward the end of Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Bowman, having nearly been sent to a deep-space death by the malfunctioning machine, is calmly, coldly disconnecting the memory circuits that control its artificial
For Many Student Athletes, Game Over
New York Times
By WINNIE HU
As cash-strapped school districts across the nation scale back sports programs, some fear that the tradition of the scholar athlete is at risk.
Teaching Life Lessons Through Sports
Organized athletics originally were viewed as mechanisms for teaching social values and selflessness, but society has changed and so have sports. Mitch Lyons suggests that athletics still can be a springboard for valuable lessons, if the approach is changed.
Public Records in PA
From the Reading Eagle.
Editorials : Boards still trying to hide open records
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Boards still trying to hide open records
The Issue: A Delaware County judge orders a school district to pay court costs and an attorney’s fee after improperly denying an open-records request.
Our Opinion: If this is any indication, public officials may have a difficult time complying with the new Open Records Act when it goes into effect next year.
One of the reasons Pennsylvania’s outgoing Open Records Act was considered one of the weakest in the nation was that public officials could violate it with impunity knowing there was little likelihood there would be any repercussions.
In most cases when an agency was ruled to have violated the law, it simply had to make available the record it withheld from the public. The instances when fines were imposed or boards were required to pay the court costs and an attorney’s fee for the person requesting the public document were few and far between.
So it is more than a little ironic — but no less satisfying — that a Delaware County Court judge not only ruled that the Radnor School District had to provide former school board member Judy Sherry with the documents she requested but also ordered the district to pay her attorney’s fee of $26,070 and court costs of $2,901.
Judge Robert C. Wright said a salary study prepared by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association clearly was a public record and the school board willfully or with wanton disregard withheld it from Sherry, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Wright ruled that the study directly resulted in increased compensation for four district administrators, making it a public record.
According to the Inquirer, the judge pointed to a comment made by Kathy Fisher, school board president at the time, as one of the reasons he ruled the school board acted willfully or with wanton disregard.
Fisher had said if the board gave Sherry the information she requested, she would ask for more information.
That hardly seems like a reason to deny a resident something that the law says she clearly is entitled to have.
John McMeekin II, current school board president, defended the decision to withhold the study, saying it was prepared for determining labor compensation, the Inquirer reported.
But even the old Open Records Act, which will be replaced by a new one on Jan. 1, indicated that documents used by directors to make a decision should be open to the public.
The school district has asked Wright to reconsider his verdict and his decision to compel the school board to pay court costs and the fee for Sherry’s attorney, but the judge made the right decision. The people have an absolute right to know what their elected representatives are using to make their decisions.
Yet Wright’s decision was unusual. Under the old law, still in effect, all information is presumed to be secret and could be released only if those making requests could prove the documents they were seeking meet the law’s narrow definition of a public record.
The new law reverses that presumption and should eliminate cases such as this one. All information will be considered public unless it falls under specific exemptions, and the burden of proof that the information can be withheld will fall on the official who denies the request.
The new law also establishes an Office of Open Records that will mediate disputes. It has a provision for fines of up to $1,500 per violation, and authorized additional fines of up to $500 for each day an official fails to comply with any court order to produce requested documents.
If the attitude of the members of the Radnor School Board is any indication, public officials in Pennsylvania may have a hard time next year adjusting to the new Open Records Act. But it will be a boon for anyone who wants to know what his elected officials are doing and why.
Editorials : Boards still trying to hide open records
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Boards still trying to hide open records
The Issue: A Delaware County judge orders a school district to pay court costs and an attorney’s fee after improperly denying an open-records request.
Our Opinion: If this is any indication, public officials may have a difficult time complying with the new Open Records Act when it goes into effect next year.
One of the reasons Pennsylvania’s outgoing Open Records Act was considered one of the weakest in the nation was that public officials could violate it with impunity knowing there was little likelihood there would be any repercussions.
In most cases when an agency was ruled to have violated the law, it simply had to make available the record it withheld from the public. The instances when fines were imposed or boards were required to pay the court costs and an attorney’s fee for the person requesting the public document were few and far between.
So it is more than a little ironic — but no less satisfying — that a Delaware County Court judge not only ruled that the Radnor School District had to provide former school board member Judy Sherry with the documents she requested but also ordered the district to pay her attorney’s fee of $26,070 and court costs of $2,901.
Judge Robert C. Wright said a salary study prepared by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association clearly was a public record and the school board willfully or with wanton disregard withheld it from Sherry, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
Wright ruled that the study directly resulted in increased compensation for four district administrators, making it a public record.
According to the Inquirer, the judge pointed to a comment made by Kathy Fisher, school board president at the time, as one of the reasons he ruled the school board acted willfully or with wanton disregard.
Fisher had said if the board gave Sherry the information she requested, she would ask for more information.
That hardly seems like a reason to deny a resident something that the law says she clearly is entitled to have.
John McMeekin II, current school board president, defended the decision to withhold the study, saying it was prepared for determining labor compensation, the Inquirer reported.
But even the old Open Records Act, which will be replaced by a new one on Jan. 1, indicated that documents used by directors to make a decision should be open to the public.
The school district has asked Wright to reconsider his verdict and his decision to compel the school board to pay court costs and the fee for Sherry’s attorney, but the judge made the right decision. The people have an absolute right to know what their elected representatives are using to make their decisions.
Yet Wright’s decision was unusual. Under the old law, still in effect, all information is presumed to be secret and could be released only if those making requests could prove the documents they were seeking meet the law’s narrow definition of a public record.
The new law reverses that presumption and should eliminate cases such as this one. All information will be considered public unless it falls under specific exemptions, and the burden of proof that the information can be withheld will fall on the official who denies the request.
The new law also establishes an Office of Open Records that will mediate disputes. It has a provision for fines of up to $1,500 per violation, and authorized additional fines of up to $500 for each day an official fails to comply with any court order to produce requested documents.
If the attitude of the members of the Radnor School Board is any indication, public officials in Pennsylvania may have a hard time next year adjusting to the new Open Records Act. But it will be a boon for anyone who wants to know what his elected officials are doing and why.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Fuel prices force schools decisions
From USAToday
Fuel prices force schools to weigh class, staff cuts
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Fuel and energy costs are rising so quickly for the USA's public school districts that nearly one in seven is considering cutting back to four-day weeks this fall. One in four is considering limits on athletics and other extracurricular activities, and nearly one in three is eliminating teaching jobs.
In the first detailed look at how fuel costs are affecting schools, a survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) finds 99% of superintendents contacted say they're feeling the pinch — and 77% say they're not getting any help from their state.
"No question that schools are being impacted here," says Steven Crawford, executive director of the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administration. "The price of fuel has impacted everybody's budget."
The AASA survey of 546 superintendents, out today, follows an informal poll last month that found fuel and heating costs rising from 10% to 32% over last year.
Other surveys have found that transportation costs are up by as much as 40% in the nation's 14,100 school districts.
The new figures paint a vivid picture, finding that:
• 15% of districts are eliminating bus routes and either eliminating or modifying extracurricular offerings or sports.
• 15% are considering moving to a four-day school week.
• 44% are cutting back on field trips.
• 29% are eliminating or modifying teaching positions.
Crawford, who until this summer was superintendent of Byng, Okla., Public Schools, says two Oklahoma districts are "seriously considering" four-day weeks to trim fuel and heating costs.
Other districts are looking into converting diesel bus fleets to run on natural gas — and a consortium of districts in the western part of the state is considering building its own wind-generated power plant to provide electricity, heating and cooling. They'd sell the surplus electricity for a profit, Crawford says.
"You can reap the benefits for 20 or 25 years or longer," he says.
A 35-year education veteran, Crawford says Oklahoma schools went through similar woes in the 1980s' oil bust and are used to tightening belts. But rising energy prices, he says, could bring a "huge shift," forcing schools to downsize in new ways.
"If it's for a prolonged period of time, it'll change the way we do business."
Who should pay for rising fuel prices? Parents? Taxpayers? The state? The feds? Or should the schools cut back on ?non-essentials? to make up the difference? Share your views below:
Fuel prices force schools to weigh class, staff cuts
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
Fuel and energy costs are rising so quickly for the USA's public school districts that nearly one in seven is considering cutting back to four-day weeks this fall. One in four is considering limits on athletics and other extracurricular activities, and nearly one in three is eliminating teaching jobs.
In the first detailed look at how fuel costs are affecting schools, a survey by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) finds 99% of superintendents contacted say they're feeling the pinch — and 77% say they're not getting any help from their state.
"No question that schools are being impacted here," says Steven Crawford, executive director of the Cooperative Council of Oklahoma School Administration. "The price of fuel has impacted everybody's budget."
The AASA survey of 546 superintendents, out today, follows an informal poll last month that found fuel and heating costs rising from 10% to 32% over last year.
Other surveys have found that transportation costs are up by as much as 40% in the nation's 14,100 school districts.
The new figures paint a vivid picture, finding that:
• 15% of districts are eliminating bus routes and either eliminating or modifying extracurricular offerings or sports.
• 15% are considering moving to a four-day school week.
• 44% are cutting back on field trips.
• 29% are eliminating or modifying teaching positions.
Crawford, who until this summer was superintendent of Byng, Okla., Public Schools, says two Oklahoma districts are "seriously considering" four-day weeks to trim fuel and heating costs.
Other districts are looking into converting diesel bus fleets to run on natural gas — and a consortium of districts in the western part of the state is considering building its own wind-generated power plant to provide electricity, heating and cooling. They'd sell the surplus electricity for a profit, Crawford says.
"You can reap the benefits for 20 or 25 years or longer," he says.
A 35-year education veteran, Crawford says Oklahoma schools went through similar woes in the 1980s' oil bust and are used to tightening belts. But rising energy prices, he says, could bring a "huge shift," forcing schools to downsize in new ways.
"If it's for a prolonged period of time, it'll change the way we do business."
Who should pay for rising fuel prices? Parents? Taxpayers? The state? The feds? Or should the schools cut back on ?non-essentials? to make up the difference? Share your views below:
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