I know for a fact several members of the school board and the borough council are repeat readers and contributors to this blog, some openly, and some anonymously.
Here is a comment that was entered last evening that deserves its own posting. No one expects our elected leaders to be perfect. We just expect them to do what's right.
Some town in Virginia is going to be mighty lucky very soon. And the loss is all Morrisville's.
George Bolos has left a new comment on your post ""Pretend this meeting never happened"":
Peter,
I voted for you last year and I would support you for school board again! As you said a few days ago, we may not have always agreed with one another (although, I have come to better understand, appreciate and agree with most of your positions on the school)but we were able to communicate constructively and without animosity or hard feelings for one another's position. We both found that we did not have to rip each other's throats if we disagreed with each other's ideas. We talked, listened, evaluated and then decided if it made sense. As a community, all our leaders seem to know how to do is "slash and burn", crush each other and take no prisoners in the name of control and power. It's not working.
The responsibility for the governing and building of our community's future by both the school board and borough council has descended to what I consider to be an all-time low. Whatever happened to people with optimism, vision and most of all, leadership skills. Currently, we have very few leaders and mostly retreads from the past. It didn't work with them at the leadership helm then and it certainly is not working now. We do have a small nucleus of elected leaders to build from who are willing to work together, but overall I give most members on both boards a vote of no confidence. I am extremely upset to see what is happening to our borough schools and the lack of business development in our community. As long as we have people who bully, who proclaim to know what is in the best interest of our community, detracting from smart, steady growth, our community will be deprived of a business base and void of well-paying jobs. We will continue to lag behind the rest of the region, sooner or later falling into decay and becoming one large blighted borough; never to recover.
The problem is and has always been simple-It's not the teachers, the administrators, the students, our borough employees or the borough manager. It's the elected officials who were voted to represent the borough and the leadership left in charge to make these things happen! It's our lack of any semblance of a local economy or people with enough horse sense to make it happen. Borough Council has had the ultimate responsibility of generating the opportunities to bring in business and have failed miserably at this task, period! They have scared away most viable opportunities and are too stubborn to accept this responsibility. Without the needed tax base achieved by supporting our current business owners and developing a more vibrant, robust business community, both the borough and its school district will soon not exist.
The residents of Morrisville should evaluate the people who have been elected in these past elections. There are two options: If you are satisfied with the direction in which the borough is going, then simply keep the same people that currently hold leadership roles in place. If you have decided that you have had enough and want to start with some fresh faces and ideas, ones that better represent your vision, then find residents who will better represent your wishes and organize now!
Good luck and Godspeed!
-George
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Special Ed Lawsuit
The Bristol, CT school district is being sued for the way they handled a nine year old boy's placement.
Suit Filed After Bristol Special Ed Placement
By DON STACOM | Courant Staff Writer July 11, 2008
BRISTOL — - The family of a special-education student is suing the city, claiming it is entitled to legal fees after hiring a lawyer to challenge a decision about where the boy should attend class.
The school system this week filed court documents to contest the family's claim, indicating it intends to fight the case.
Details about the issues are scarce. The federal lawsuit was filed in April under the name "Mr. and Mrs. T" to keep the boy's identity secret, and schools Superintendent Philip Streifer on Thursday evening said that the matter had been turned over to city attorneys and that he would not comment on it.
The suit says the boy, a 9-year-old at Stafford Elementary School, was suspended from school last fall because of "a number of behavioral incidents." The suit says the boy suffers from hyperactivity, but did not describe the incidents or say whether they involved violence or threats. The schools provided two hours a day of home education for the boy.
The boy's parents took the school system to hearings before the state education department last winter, accusing the schools of violating the boy's right to attend classes in the least possible restrictive setting. According to the suit, a hearing officer sided with the parents, and ordered Bristol to hire an aide, train staff to work with the boy, provide psychological counseling and pay for a home-school, behavioral training program.
The family is suing for reimbursement of an unspecified amount in legal fees.
In a response filed Thursday, the city denied many of the claims and said the suit was premature because it is appealing the hearing officer's decision.
Suit Filed After Bristol Special Ed Placement
By DON STACOM | Courant Staff Writer July 11, 2008
BRISTOL — - The family of a special-education student is suing the city, claiming it is entitled to legal fees after hiring a lawyer to challenge a decision about where the boy should attend class.
The school system this week filed court documents to contest the family's claim, indicating it intends to fight the case.
Details about the issues are scarce. The federal lawsuit was filed in April under the name "Mr. and Mrs. T" to keep the boy's identity secret, and schools Superintendent Philip Streifer on Thursday evening said that the matter had been turned over to city attorneys and that he would not comment on it.
The suit says the boy, a 9-year-old at Stafford Elementary School, was suspended from school last fall because of "a number of behavioral incidents." The suit says the boy suffers from hyperactivity, but did not describe the incidents or say whether they involved violence or threats. The schools provided two hours a day of home education for the boy.
The boy's parents took the school system to hearings before the state education department last winter, accusing the schools of violating the boy's right to attend classes in the least possible restrictive setting. According to the suit, a hearing officer sided with the parents, and ordered Bristol to hire an aide, train staff to work with the boy, provide psychological counseling and pay for a home-school, behavioral training program.
The family is suing for reimbursement of an unspecified amount in legal fees.
In a response filed Thursday, the city denied many of the claims and said the suit was premature because it is appealing the hearing officer's decision.
Simply Left Behind
Take a look at Simply Left Behind. It's quite an interesting read. The tag line makes you think: "Democrats Work For Solutions; Republicans Pray The Problem Will Go Away"
We have a LOT of Republicans in Morrisville. When it comes to the school system and the survival of the borough, "pray the problem will go away" seems to be the mantra.
Full Disclosure: Simply Left Behind is an unabashedly left wing liberal leaning website. The right-wing whackos and left-wing liberal weenies both have good idea as well as bad ideas. You need to be smart enough to choose the best and forget the rest
A Paradigm Is More Than Two Bits was a pretty good look at rights and responsibilities.
When considering the state of the American political and governing system, it is probably a good idea to think about the flip side of the coin: the governed.
I've always believed that it is important to stress to Americans that there is no free lunch. For too long, politicians on both sides of the fence have strived hard to come up with painless solutions to thorny problems, not trusting the American people to be a rational, intelligent and reasonable community of people.
That's probably an accurate impulse. I can't really blame Republicans for offering tax cuts to ignore or Democrats for offering grandiose schemes to solve intractable problems. The sense I get is that Americans of all stripes would prefer someone else handle the problem.
We're spoiled, in other words. This sense of "it's somebody else's responsibility" plays out in so many facets of life, it's not even funny.
You get hit by a car. You sue the other driver. He hires a lawyer and sues you back to try to prove that, indeed, it was your fault for stepping in front of his car.
Voter turnout in elections has been abysmal, even in 2004 when people took up voting arms against a sea of trouble and likely again this year, despite Barack Obama's encouraging and energizing candidacy.
You see a woman in an emergency room collapse. She lays there for 24 hours and dies. No one does a thing. Why? Because someone else should have handled it.
You walk down a street and a piece of newspaper blows across and wraps around your ankle. You stand next to a garbage can, yet rather than reach down, pluck the paper and toss it in the bin, you shake your foot and off it flies to litter again. Serial litter, I like to call this.
We fight a war in a far-off land, and the only sacrifice we're asked to make is to load up on debt and shop some more. Arguably, given what has happened, this might turn into the ultimate sacrifice for many of us, but that's a different story.
We ask so much of our country. We give so little in return. Perhaps in addition to a Bill of Rights, we should look into establishing a Bill or Responsibilities.
A Google search turns up roughly 300,000 hits on that term. Some of these "bills" are simply outrageously idiotic: really, the best someone could come up with was "you have the responsibility to be a loyal citizen of the United States of America"?
Memo to the Roses: WE ARE! (I won't embarrass them with a link)
I did find a rather intriguing Bill, and I wanted to share it with you:
Freedom and responsibility are mutual and inseparable; we can ensure enjoyment of the one only by exercising the other. Freedom for all of us depends on responsibility by each of us.
To secure and expand our liberties, therefore, we accept these responsibilities as individual members of a free society:
1. To be fully responsible for our own actions and for the consequences of those actions. Freedom to choose carries with it the responsibility for our choices.
2. To respect the rights and beliefs of others. In a free society, diversity flourishes. Courtesy and consideration toward others are measures of a civilized society.
3. To give sympathy, understanding and help to others. As we hope others will help us when we are in need, we should help others when they are in need.
4. To do our best to meet our own and our families' needs. There is no personal freedom without economic freedom. By helping ourselves and those closest to us to become productive members of society, we contribute to the strength of the nation.
5. To respect and obey the laws. Laws are mutually accepted rules by which, together, we maintain a free society. Liberty itself is built on a foundation of law. That foundation provides an orderly process for changing laws. It also depends on our obeying laws once they have been freely adopted.
6. To respect the property of others, both private and public. No one has a right to what is not his or hers. The right to enjoy what is ours depends on our respecting the right of others to enjoy what is theirs.
7. To share with others our appreciation of the benefits and obligations of freedom. Freedom shared is freedom strengthened.
8. To participate constructively in the nation's political life. Democracy depends on an active citizenry. It depends equally on an informed citizenry.
9. To help freedom survive by assuming personal responsibility for its defense. Our nation cannot survive unless we defend it. Its security rests on the individual determination of each of us to help preserve it.
10. To respect the rights and to meet the responsibilities on which our liberty rests and our democracy depends. This is the essence of freedom. Maintaining it requires our common effort, all together and each individually.
Freedom is a balance of rights and responsibilities. If one only assumes the rights of freedom without taking responsibility to see those rights are secured and maintained, one loses the rights.
If one only secures the rights of freedom for oneself, without ensuring those rights for everyone, one loses freedoms.
If one abuses, distorts, or otherwise diminishes the rights of freedom, abrogating one's responsibilities for that freedom, then one loses one's freedom anyway. Karma's a bitch.
If only enjoys the freedom to enjoy one's property, one's life, one's liberty, one's pursuit of happiness while even one other person is unjustly deprived of his or hers, then one loses his freedom too.
We've seen that. We've seen that in this administration and in administrations throughout at least my lifetime. And one could make the argument, indeed, that because Americans have never had the responsibilities inherent in freedom, Americans were never truly free.
Oh, we could fake it, to be sure. When this land was wilderness and a man or woman could ride an entire day without seeing another person, you have the illusion of freedom.
Oddly enough, those same people took it upon themselves to ensure their own freedom by standing up for themselves when that freedom was threatened.
A community, you see, is a balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of the population. We are the most important unit in our own lives, but we are not the most important individual in anyone else's life. We can't be. As I like to say, I don't care what anyone else thinks because no one else is going to climb into my coffin with me when I die.
That statement, however, implies that I can live with myself well enough that even I get into my coffin when I die!
Vigilance, involvement, activism: community.
I would quibble with some of these statements from the Freedoms Foundation. I'm drawn to article 9 as one that could use some fleshing out and tuning up, because it allows for all sorts of bizarre interpretations ("Why, I own this Abrams tank because you never can tell when Osama and his minions will come strolling down Cherry Lane, bent on taking out the Gas-N-Gulp!")
We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.
Right there in the Preamble to the Constitution is our mandate: to create community. A nation. A secure foundation to build our hopes and dreams on. To prevent tyranny and injustice, in whatever form it may take. To raise our families. To be free, all of us, not only those of us with money who can buy a home in a gated community (an oxymoron, that..."gated community"), but you, me, your children, my children, her children, his children.
As we ponder how to fix the things that are broken in America, we might want to pause a moment and see if as we point fingers, we aren't pointing many more back at ourselves.
We have a LOT of Republicans in Morrisville. When it comes to the school system and the survival of the borough, "pray the problem will go away" seems to be the mantra.
Full Disclosure: Simply Left Behind is an unabashedly left wing liberal leaning website. The right-wing whackos and left-wing liberal weenies both have good idea as well as bad ideas. You need to be smart enough to choose the best and forget the rest
A Paradigm Is More Than Two Bits was a pretty good look at rights and responsibilities.
When considering the state of the American political and governing system, it is probably a good idea to think about the flip side of the coin: the governed.
I've always believed that it is important to stress to Americans that there is no free lunch. For too long, politicians on both sides of the fence have strived hard to come up with painless solutions to thorny problems, not trusting the American people to be a rational, intelligent and reasonable community of people.
That's probably an accurate impulse. I can't really blame Republicans for offering tax cuts to ignore or Democrats for offering grandiose schemes to solve intractable problems. The sense I get is that Americans of all stripes would prefer someone else handle the problem.
We're spoiled, in other words. This sense of "it's somebody else's responsibility" plays out in so many facets of life, it's not even funny.
You get hit by a car. You sue the other driver. He hires a lawyer and sues you back to try to prove that, indeed, it was your fault for stepping in front of his car.
Voter turnout in elections has been abysmal, even in 2004 when people took up voting arms against a sea of trouble and likely again this year, despite Barack Obama's encouraging and energizing candidacy.
You see a woman in an emergency room collapse. She lays there for 24 hours and dies. No one does a thing. Why? Because someone else should have handled it.
You walk down a street and a piece of newspaper blows across and wraps around your ankle. You stand next to a garbage can, yet rather than reach down, pluck the paper and toss it in the bin, you shake your foot and off it flies to litter again. Serial litter, I like to call this.
We fight a war in a far-off land, and the only sacrifice we're asked to make is to load up on debt and shop some more. Arguably, given what has happened, this might turn into the ultimate sacrifice for many of us, but that's a different story.
We ask so much of our country. We give so little in return. Perhaps in addition to a Bill of Rights, we should look into establishing a Bill or Responsibilities.
A Google search turns up roughly 300,000 hits on that term. Some of these "bills" are simply outrageously idiotic: really, the best someone could come up with was "you have the responsibility to be a loyal citizen of the United States of America"?
Memo to the Roses: WE ARE! (I won't embarrass them with a link)
I did find a rather intriguing Bill, and I wanted to share it with you:
Freedom and responsibility are mutual and inseparable; we can ensure enjoyment of the one only by exercising the other. Freedom for all of us depends on responsibility by each of us.
To secure and expand our liberties, therefore, we accept these responsibilities as individual members of a free society:
1. To be fully responsible for our own actions and for the consequences of those actions. Freedom to choose carries with it the responsibility for our choices.
2. To respect the rights and beliefs of others. In a free society, diversity flourishes. Courtesy and consideration toward others are measures of a civilized society.
3. To give sympathy, understanding and help to others. As we hope others will help us when we are in need, we should help others when they are in need.
4. To do our best to meet our own and our families' needs. There is no personal freedom without economic freedom. By helping ourselves and those closest to us to become productive members of society, we contribute to the strength of the nation.
5. To respect and obey the laws. Laws are mutually accepted rules by which, together, we maintain a free society. Liberty itself is built on a foundation of law. That foundation provides an orderly process for changing laws. It also depends on our obeying laws once they have been freely adopted.
6. To respect the property of others, both private and public. No one has a right to what is not his or hers. The right to enjoy what is ours depends on our respecting the right of others to enjoy what is theirs.
7. To share with others our appreciation of the benefits and obligations of freedom. Freedom shared is freedom strengthened.
8. To participate constructively in the nation's political life. Democracy depends on an active citizenry. It depends equally on an informed citizenry.
9. To help freedom survive by assuming personal responsibility for its defense. Our nation cannot survive unless we defend it. Its security rests on the individual determination of each of us to help preserve it.
10. To respect the rights and to meet the responsibilities on which our liberty rests and our democracy depends. This is the essence of freedom. Maintaining it requires our common effort, all together and each individually.
Freedom is a balance of rights and responsibilities. If one only assumes the rights of freedom without taking responsibility to see those rights are secured and maintained, one loses the rights.
If one only secures the rights of freedom for oneself, without ensuring those rights for everyone, one loses freedoms.
If one abuses, distorts, or otherwise diminishes the rights of freedom, abrogating one's responsibilities for that freedom, then one loses one's freedom anyway. Karma's a bitch.
If only enjoys the freedom to enjoy one's property, one's life, one's liberty, one's pursuit of happiness while even one other person is unjustly deprived of his or hers, then one loses his freedom too.
We've seen that. We've seen that in this administration and in administrations throughout at least my lifetime. And one could make the argument, indeed, that because Americans have never had the responsibilities inherent in freedom, Americans were never truly free.
Oh, we could fake it, to be sure. When this land was wilderness and a man or woman could ride an entire day without seeing another person, you have the illusion of freedom.
Oddly enough, those same people took it upon themselves to ensure their own freedom by standing up for themselves when that freedom was threatened.
A community, you see, is a balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of the population. We are the most important unit in our own lives, but we are not the most important individual in anyone else's life. We can't be. As I like to say, I don't care what anyone else thinks because no one else is going to climb into my coffin with me when I die.
That statement, however, implies that I can live with myself well enough that even I get into my coffin when I die!
Vigilance, involvement, activism: community.
I would quibble with some of these statements from the Freedoms Foundation. I'm drawn to article 9 as one that could use some fleshing out and tuning up, because it allows for all sorts of bizarre interpretations ("Why, I own this Abrams tank because you never can tell when Osama and his minions will come strolling down Cherry Lane, bent on taking out the Gas-N-Gulp!")
We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.
Right there in the Preamble to the Constitution is our mandate: to create community. A nation. A secure foundation to build our hopes and dreams on. To prevent tyranny and injustice, in whatever form it may take. To raise our families. To be free, all of us, not only those of us with money who can buy a home in a gated community (an oxymoron, that..."gated community"), but you, me, your children, my children, her children, his children.
As we ponder how to fix the things that are broken in America, we might want to pause a moment and see if as we point fingers, we aren't pointing many more back at ourselves.
Bensalem Board and Council Work Together
It may have taken two years to negotiations, but it's nice to see that a borough council and a school board from the same town can work together.
Deal will help district save money
The agreement involves fee waivers and drainage easements.
By JOAN HELLYER
The Bensalem School District will save “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from a deal recently reached between the school system and Bensalem’s municipal government, the school board solicitor said.
The township has agreed to help the district save money by waiving permit and application fees and other charges in connection with pending renovation and construction projects, solicitor Thomas Profy III said.
The projects include renovations at Cecelia Snyder Middle School off Hulmeville Road and the transportation center off Byberry Road and the planned construction of a physical education facility behind Bensalem High School, he said.
In exchange, the school district granted some easements at no cost to the township in connection with a road improvement project along Galloway Road, Profy said. The easements allowed the municipality to install drainage systems along the roadway where it borders district property, as required by the state, he said.
The one easement involves almost 100,000 square-feet of land at Galloway and Hulmeville roads at the southwest corner of the high school’s property, the solicitor said. The other involves about 7,000 square- feet of a 4.2-acre piece of undeveloped district property at Galloway and Richlieu roads, he said.
Profy said he started working on the deal with township solicitor Barbara Kirk in early 2007. They recently came to terms.
The Courier Times was unsuccessful in reaching Kirk for comment, after calls to her office at Rudolph, Pizzo and Clarke in Bensalem. District officials referred questions about specific amounts that would be saved to director of business administration Jack Myers, who could not be reached this week for comment.
The Bensalem school board approved the deal in June, and efforts are under way to finalize the agreement with township officials, the school board solicitor said.
Also as part of the agreement, the township officially transferred ownership of Samuel K. Faust Elementary School to the district. A township authority, which has since been dissolved, built the school in the mid-1950s, Profy said. The township held onto the property’s title until the district finished paying the loans that were taken out to cover its construction and various expansions, he said.
Deal will help district save money
The agreement involves fee waivers and drainage easements.
By JOAN HELLYER
The Bensalem School District will save “hundreds of thousands of dollars” from a deal recently reached between the school system and Bensalem’s municipal government, the school board solicitor said.
The township has agreed to help the district save money by waiving permit and application fees and other charges in connection with pending renovation and construction projects, solicitor Thomas Profy III said.
The projects include renovations at Cecelia Snyder Middle School off Hulmeville Road and the transportation center off Byberry Road and the planned construction of a physical education facility behind Bensalem High School, he said.
In exchange, the school district granted some easements at no cost to the township in connection with a road improvement project along Galloway Road, Profy said. The easements allowed the municipality to install drainage systems along the roadway where it borders district property, as required by the state, he said.
The one easement involves almost 100,000 square-feet of land at Galloway and Hulmeville roads at the southwest corner of the high school’s property, the solicitor said. The other involves about 7,000 square- feet of a 4.2-acre piece of undeveloped district property at Galloway and Richlieu roads, he said.
Profy said he started working on the deal with township solicitor Barbara Kirk in early 2007. They recently came to terms.
The Courier Times was unsuccessful in reaching Kirk for comment, after calls to her office at Rudolph, Pizzo and Clarke in Bensalem. District officials referred questions about specific amounts that would be saved to director of business administration Jack Myers, who could not be reached this week for comment.
The Bensalem school board approved the deal in June, and efforts are under way to finalize the agreement with township officials, the school board solicitor said.
Also as part of the agreement, the township officially transferred ownership of Samuel K. Faust Elementary School to the district. A township authority, which has since been dissolved, built the school in the mid-1950s, Profy said. The township held onto the property’s title until the district finished paying the loans that were taken out to cover its construction and various expansions, he said.
Schools News Around the Blogosphere
Learning from the best schools, whatever we call them
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Joe Nathan
All kinds of students - eager, indifferent, bright and bored, suburban, urban and rural, will benefit from careful, nondefensive use of several recent reports about Minnesota's district and charter public schools. The reports came from Minnesota's Legislative Auditor, the University of Minnesota/Minnesota State College/University System and the Center for School Change.
Is algebra useless? Not to these folks
Sacramento Bee
Thursday morning, Johnnie Powell, a longtime National Weather Service forecaster, heard the news that all of California's eighth-grade students would have to take Algebra 1 within three years.
Professor: Don't leave gifted, talented behind
Des Moines Register
Sally Beisser has watched educational programs for Iowa's most talented students improve and expand over 30 years, but the Drake University professor is concerned that those efforts have been hurt by a federal push to bring lower-achieving classmates up to speed.
289 Math & Science Employment and Employment Projections by Required Education and Training Levels in the United States 2006-2016
Columnist EducationNews.org
This is the first of a series of Center reports that will be prepared from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U. S. Employment Projections 2006-2016 published in the Monthly Labor Review November 2007. The ten-year projections of United States employment are prepared every two years and are conveniently ignored by the popular media and the supporters and critics of public education in the United States.
Performance-based bonuses cropping up across Maryland
Baltimore Sun
From rural Washington County to suburban Prince George's County, school systems around the state are beginning to wade into a promising but controversial topic in education: pay for performance.
Autistic students get help navigating college life
USA Today
By Melissa Kossler Dutton, Associated Press
When Dan Hackett started college, he didn't make the grades he knew he could. Hackett, who has Asperger's syndrome, found at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh that some of his symptoms were holding him back. He had difficulty organizing his time and managing assignments.
Pennsylvania Tells Autism Speaks to Stop Talking
In a historical and unprecedented move, the Pennsylvania legislature voted nearly unanimously in the affirmative for House Bill 1150 to mandate commercial insurance companies to cover some services for children with autism. The bill, introduced by House Speaker Dennis M. O'Brien, requires insurance companies to cover up to $36,000 of autism-related treatment for individuals less than 21 years old.
Could Four-Day Weeks Work for You?
Some school districts looking to save time and money have switched to four-day school weeks, either leaving the fifth day free or available for tutoring and parent conferences. Although some superintendents favor the concentrated class time, some say the wear and tear from a longer day has not been worth it for staff or students.
Student Gains in Privately Managed Philadelphia Schools - Nearly Double Those in District Schools
State Tests Show Increases in Student Achievement at EdisonLearning Schools in both Reading & Math
School test scores recently released by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reveal that schools partnering with private education management organizations (EMO's) - including EdisonLearning - showed greater gains in student achievement than the schools operated by the Philadelphia School District.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Joe Nathan
All kinds of students - eager, indifferent, bright and bored, suburban, urban and rural, will benefit from careful, nondefensive use of several recent reports about Minnesota's district and charter public schools. The reports came from Minnesota's Legislative Auditor, the University of Minnesota/Minnesota State College/University System and the Center for School Change.
Is algebra useless? Not to these folks
Sacramento Bee
Thursday morning, Johnnie Powell, a longtime National Weather Service forecaster, heard the news that all of California's eighth-grade students would have to take Algebra 1 within three years.
Professor: Don't leave gifted, talented behind
Des Moines Register
Sally Beisser has watched educational programs for Iowa's most talented students improve and expand over 30 years, but the Drake University professor is concerned that those efforts have been hurt by a federal push to bring lower-achieving classmates up to speed.
289 Math & Science Employment and Employment Projections by Required Education and Training Levels in the United States 2006-2016
Columnist EducationNews.org
This is the first of a series of Center reports that will be prepared from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) U. S. Employment Projections 2006-2016 published in the Monthly Labor Review November 2007. The ten-year projections of United States employment are prepared every two years and are conveniently ignored by the popular media and the supporters and critics of public education in the United States.
Performance-based bonuses cropping up across Maryland
Baltimore Sun
From rural Washington County to suburban Prince George's County, school systems around the state are beginning to wade into a promising but controversial topic in education: pay for performance.
Autistic students get help navigating college life
USA Today
By Melissa Kossler Dutton, Associated Press
When Dan Hackett started college, he didn't make the grades he knew he could. Hackett, who has Asperger's syndrome, found at the Community College of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh that some of his symptoms were holding him back. He had difficulty organizing his time and managing assignments.
Pennsylvania Tells Autism Speaks to Stop Talking
In a historical and unprecedented move, the Pennsylvania legislature voted nearly unanimously in the affirmative for House Bill 1150 to mandate commercial insurance companies to cover some services for children with autism. The bill, introduced by House Speaker Dennis M. O'Brien, requires insurance companies to cover up to $36,000 of autism-related treatment for individuals less than 21 years old.
Could Four-Day Weeks Work for You?
Some school districts looking to save time and money have switched to four-day school weeks, either leaving the fifth day free or available for tutoring and parent conferences. Although some superintendents favor the concentrated class time, some say the wear and tear from a longer day has not been worth it for staff or students.
Student Gains in Privately Managed Philadelphia Schools - Nearly Double Those in District Schools
State Tests Show Increases in Student Achievement at EdisonLearning Schools in both Reading & Math
School test scores recently released by the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment reveal that schools partnering with private education management organizations (EMO's) - including EdisonLearning - showed greater gains in student achievement than the schools operated by the Philadelphia School District.
Friday, July 11, 2008
School Board Evaluation Forms?
Check out Do the Right Thing For Kids, a blog designed to monitor the goings on in the Kansas City, MO school district.
The best part was their Board Watch Campaign, complete with an evaluation form. Perhaps a clever reader might want to create a Morrisville School Board Evaluation Form?
The best part was their Board Watch Campaign, complete with an evaluation form. Perhaps a clever reader might want to create a Morrisville School Board Evaluation Form?
Confronting Faulty Grad Tests
This is presented as is with no editorial comment. I do not know enough of the specific situation to evaluate the essay content. What is clear is that in American society, anyone can sue anyone. Tightened graduation requirements, if imposed in unclear, haphazard, or inconsistent manners, will eventually lead to a courtroom.
The Nation / Youth, Education, & Children / Standardized Testing
Exit Strategies: Confronting Faulty Grad Tests
July 3, 2008
My name is Latricia Wilson. I was born in Gary, Indiana but currently reside in Memphis, Tennessee. I am 25-years-old and a student at Tennessee Technology Center. Just a few years ago I wasn't sure if I would be able to achieve any higher education or vocational training because my high school denied me a standard diploma despite the fact that I had completed all of my courses.
I was denied a proper diploma because I had failed to pass the math section of a new end of year test by a few points.
The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Achievement Tests (TCAP), now called the Gateway Exam (PDF), are part of the state's assessment program. The high-stakes exit exam I took is part of a growing trend around the country leaving thousands of students without diplomas.
Prior to graduating high school, my career goals were to be a hairstylist and television makeup artist. After being denied a standard high school diploma in 2002 for failing to pass the TCAP math section, I was denied entry into all beauty schools even though I was on the technical/vocational path in high school and had taken cosmetology classes during my high school career. I was also denied entry into other Memphis technical and community colleges and universities.
I struggled as an adult to make a living wage to support myself. I worked as a waitress for years, took on double shifts and was just barely able to pay my rent. I was getting further away from my career goals and sinking deeper into poverty and debt. Eventually, I was evicted from my apartment. I've truly experienced how difficult it is to be an independent adult without a valid high school diploma. But I decided to do something about it, and started a quest to regain my rightful degree.
This is my own experience with Tennessee's public education system and how I was able to change it.
Diploma Drama
I was one of many students denied a high school diploma for failure to pass the TCAP tests in 2002. I had a mild learning disability in math, which made passing those TCAP sections difficult. I was enrolled in math resource classes from the ninth grade, and instructed at a slightly lower grade level than my classmates. Despite this, I was repeatedly administered the TCAP on a higher grade level than the one at which I was taught. As a result, I was unable to pass the math section by the end of senior year.
I was allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony, but instead of a regular diploma I received a "special education diploma," awarded to students with physical, emotional or severe learning disabilities not able to meet standard diploma requirements. But, having passed 20 credits in regular classes just like other students, I was qualified. I was mislabeled for no reason other than having failed the TCAP math section.
I was told by more than one high school guidance counselor that I could still further my education to some degree. I later learned that technical, vocational, community colleges and universities in Tennessee wouldn't accept my special diploma, because these institutions don't consider it a valid graduation certificate.
I was shamed and silenced, just like thousands of students that fail these state tests every year.
Gateway's Gaps
Twenty-three states, including Florida, Texas and California, have adopted exit exams as a requirement for receiving high school diplomas. The Gateway Exam is Tennessee's graduation requirement test and consists of English II, Algebra I and Biology I exams.
These assessments might seem like an important way to gauge a school or student's performance, but in the end they're linked to an inherently flawed public education system that fails to consider factors that hinder student performance such as lack of access to adequate classroom resources, quality instruction or tutoring services.
Students with learning disabilities are disproportionately affected because Tennessee public schools don't offer reasonable test accommodations such as portfolio assessments, additional test time, alternative test formats, or the use of adaptive equipment. Failing to provide these accommodations violates federal and state provisions set forth in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (reauthorized in 2002 as No Child Left Behind), the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
School closures also impact student preparedness for exit exams. In Memphis, for every school that closes, another facility must be made available, otherwise students are assigned to the next closest school. This can lead to class sizes of up to 40 students. Overcrowding hinders a teacher's effectiveness in covering core subjects such as English, science and math. Some teachers aren't even properly prepared to teach the basics.
In 2005, the Memphis City School Report Card data revealed that over one third of instructors were not "highly qualified" to teach core courses, leaving Memphis students with some 6,653 under-qualified teachers.
The Tennessee Department of Education also refuses to release test information that identifies what answers students missed, or indicate sections on which they may have performed poorly. Releasing this information would help instructors provide assistance for the Gateway Exam and ensure that students could be more successful when retaking the exam. Despite the fact that failure to pass an exit exam may seriously impact a student's future, proper assistance is not provided.
Denied Opportunities
According to the Tennessee Department of Education Annual Statistical Reports, between 1995 and 2007 a total of 32,233 students statewide were denied standard high school diplomas and given "special education diplomas." A further 8,654 students were only issued Certificates of Attendance (COA).
The Tennessee Department of Education failed to notify students of the COA's limitations including ineligibility for student loans, scholarships, entrance to the military or Federal Pell Grant funding for post-secondary education, as well as exclusion from technical, community colleges and universities.
The individual and societal costs of denying a diploma based on a state test score without providing students other alternatives are painfully high. Data from FairTest, the American Community Survey, US Census Bureau and Education Research Center show that students without diplomas earn much less in the workforce. They are less likely to maintain stable families as a result of unemployment or under-employment, and may turn to criminal activities in order to earn an income. Young people face these challenges every day and the stigma of having failed to complete their education silences them. In my case, it took a lawsuit to regain my voice.
I Had to Do Something!
While contemplating my future and feeling frustrated with the system, I decided to appeal the deficiencies of special diplomas and high-stakes exit examination before the Memphis school board, the state legislature and make my case heard on all the Memphis news stations (video).
I first addressed the Memphis City School Board at several meetings. Then I began contacting several local and state representatives by e-mail and phone to tell them how graduation requirements had affected my life. I came in contact with Rep. Barbara Cooper (D-Tenn.) who at that time was pushing for legislation to change the state graduation policies. I explained my diploma's limitations and how it was barring me from even entering a beauty school and Rep. Cooper asked me to testify before the House and Higher Education Committee at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville.
I also explained the issue in a one-on-one meeting in Washington, DC with Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). A local DC blog called The Pesky Fly covered the meeting and wrote:
What impressed me about [her] current Congressman is that he didn't blow her off, and when she began to articulate her issue, he immediately offered to put her in touch with the Chairman of the Education sub-committee, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). Rep. Cohen gave Ms. Wilson a two-hour meeting on a Friday morning (when many of his colleagues, including some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, were busy blowing town for parts unknown, if not back to their districts). Expect Latricia to become a "shining star" on the Hill when she gives that testimony before Rep. Miller's subcommittee.
Meanwhile, I approached news reporters while they were covering stories on the streets of Memphis and distributed brief summaries of my personal experience and copies of my diploma. Media outlets were instrumental in forcing the state to acknowledge the issue of how its exit exams affected students like myself.
As a result, a federal class action lawsuit was filed July 26, 2007 against the Tennessee Department of Education on behalf of all former students that were denied high school diplomas for failure to pass the Gateway Exam. I was one of the plaintiffs represented by a young man named Corey Robertson. Walter Bailey Law Firm Attorney Javier Bailey filed my case.
Better Days Ahead
Within the lawsuit, my attorney asked the judge to dismantle the Gateway Exam as a graduation requirement. We also asked that students denied diplomas be recertified. Unfortunately, the lawsuit was dismissed due my case's expired statute of limitations. We lost the battle but in the end we won the war because we were successful in being the first to legally challenge the state on this issue. Tennessee's unfair testing policy had been exposed.
The Tennessee State Board of Education did not want to risk being challenged on graduation testing again and on January 25, 2008, just a few months after my suit was dismissed, the Board moved to eliminate the Gateway Exam as a diploma requirement. In the 2009-2010 school year no student in the state of Tennessee will be required to pass any test to qualify for a high school diploma.
While I failed the TCAP math section in 2002 because of systemic failures in the public school system here in Tennessee, I do not consider myself a failure. In fact, I took the Gateway Exam on May 1, 2007 in hopes of passing to obtain a standard diploma. I'm determined that I will not be deemed unemployable and incapable of pursuing my career goals merely because of a high school test score.
The Nation / Youth, Education, & Children / Standardized Testing
Exit Strategies: Confronting Faulty Grad Tests
July 3, 2008
My name is Latricia Wilson. I was born in Gary, Indiana but currently reside in Memphis, Tennessee. I am 25-years-old and a student at Tennessee Technology Center. Just a few years ago I wasn't sure if I would be able to achieve any higher education or vocational training because my high school denied me a standard diploma despite the fact that I had completed all of my courses.
I was denied a proper diploma because I had failed to pass the math section of a new end of year test by a few points.
The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program Achievement Tests (TCAP), now called the Gateway Exam (PDF), are part of the state's assessment program. The high-stakes exit exam I took is part of a growing trend around the country leaving thousands of students without diplomas.
Prior to graduating high school, my career goals were to be a hairstylist and television makeup artist. After being denied a standard high school diploma in 2002 for failing to pass the TCAP math section, I was denied entry into all beauty schools even though I was on the technical/vocational path in high school and had taken cosmetology classes during my high school career. I was also denied entry into other Memphis technical and community colleges and universities.
I struggled as an adult to make a living wage to support myself. I worked as a waitress for years, took on double shifts and was just barely able to pay my rent. I was getting further away from my career goals and sinking deeper into poverty and debt. Eventually, I was evicted from my apartment. I've truly experienced how difficult it is to be an independent adult without a valid high school diploma. But I decided to do something about it, and started a quest to regain my rightful degree.
This is my own experience with Tennessee's public education system and how I was able to change it.
Diploma Drama
I was one of many students denied a high school diploma for failure to pass the TCAP tests in 2002. I had a mild learning disability in math, which made passing those TCAP sections difficult. I was enrolled in math resource classes from the ninth grade, and instructed at a slightly lower grade level than my classmates. Despite this, I was repeatedly administered the TCAP on a higher grade level than the one at which I was taught. As a result, I was unable to pass the math section by the end of senior year.
I was allowed to participate in the graduation ceremony, but instead of a regular diploma I received a "special education diploma," awarded to students with physical, emotional or severe learning disabilities not able to meet standard diploma requirements. But, having passed 20 credits in regular classes just like other students, I was qualified. I was mislabeled for no reason other than having failed the TCAP math section.
I was told by more than one high school guidance counselor that I could still further my education to some degree. I later learned that technical, vocational, community colleges and universities in Tennessee wouldn't accept my special diploma, because these institutions don't consider it a valid graduation certificate.
I was shamed and silenced, just like thousands of students that fail these state tests every year.
Gateway's Gaps
Twenty-three states, including Florida, Texas and California, have adopted exit exams as a requirement for receiving high school diplomas. The Gateway Exam is Tennessee's graduation requirement test and consists of English II, Algebra I and Biology I exams.
These assessments might seem like an important way to gauge a school or student's performance, but in the end they're linked to an inherently flawed public education system that fails to consider factors that hinder student performance such as lack of access to adequate classroom resources, quality instruction or tutoring services.
Students with learning disabilities are disproportionately affected because Tennessee public schools don't offer reasonable test accommodations such as portfolio assessments, additional test time, alternative test formats, or the use of adaptive equipment. Failing to provide these accommodations violates federal and state provisions set forth in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (reauthorized in 2002 as No Child Left Behind), the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
School closures also impact student preparedness for exit exams. In Memphis, for every school that closes, another facility must be made available, otherwise students are assigned to the next closest school. This can lead to class sizes of up to 40 students. Overcrowding hinders a teacher's effectiveness in covering core subjects such as English, science and math. Some teachers aren't even properly prepared to teach the basics.
In 2005, the Memphis City School Report Card data revealed that over one third of instructors were not "highly qualified" to teach core courses, leaving Memphis students with some 6,653 under-qualified teachers.
The Tennessee Department of Education also refuses to release test information that identifies what answers students missed, or indicate sections on which they may have performed poorly. Releasing this information would help instructors provide assistance for the Gateway Exam and ensure that students could be more successful when retaking the exam. Despite the fact that failure to pass an exit exam may seriously impact a student's future, proper assistance is not provided.
Denied Opportunities
According to the Tennessee Department of Education Annual Statistical Reports, between 1995 and 2007 a total of 32,233 students statewide were denied standard high school diplomas and given "special education diplomas." A further 8,654 students were only issued Certificates of Attendance (COA).
The Tennessee Department of Education failed to notify students of the COA's limitations including ineligibility for student loans, scholarships, entrance to the military or Federal Pell Grant funding for post-secondary education, as well as exclusion from technical, community colleges and universities.
The individual and societal costs of denying a diploma based on a state test score without providing students other alternatives are painfully high. Data from FairTest, the American Community Survey, US Census Bureau and Education Research Center show that students without diplomas earn much less in the workforce. They are less likely to maintain stable families as a result of unemployment or under-employment, and may turn to criminal activities in order to earn an income. Young people face these challenges every day and the stigma of having failed to complete their education silences them. In my case, it took a lawsuit to regain my voice.
I Had to Do Something!
While contemplating my future and feeling frustrated with the system, I decided to appeal the deficiencies of special diplomas and high-stakes exit examination before the Memphis school board, the state legislature and make my case heard on all the Memphis news stations (video).
I first addressed the Memphis City School Board at several meetings. Then I began contacting several local and state representatives by e-mail and phone to tell them how graduation requirements had affected my life. I came in contact with Rep. Barbara Cooper (D-Tenn.) who at that time was pushing for legislation to change the state graduation policies. I explained my diploma's limitations and how it was barring me from even entering a beauty school and Rep. Cooper asked me to testify before the House and Higher Education Committee at the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville.
I also explained the issue in a one-on-one meeting in Washington, DC with Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.). A local DC blog called The Pesky Fly covered the meeting and wrote:
What impressed me about [her] current Congressman is that he didn't blow her off, and when she began to articulate her issue, he immediately offered to put her in touch with the Chairman of the Education sub-committee, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.). Rep. Cohen gave Ms. Wilson a two-hour meeting on a Friday morning (when many of his colleagues, including some members of the Congressional Black Caucus, were busy blowing town for parts unknown, if not back to their districts). Expect Latricia to become a "shining star" on the Hill when she gives that testimony before Rep. Miller's subcommittee.
Meanwhile, I approached news reporters while they were covering stories on the streets of Memphis and distributed brief summaries of my personal experience and copies of my diploma. Media outlets were instrumental in forcing the state to acknowledge the issue of how its exit exams affected students like myself.
As a result, a federal class action lawsuit was filed July 26, 2007 against the Tennessee Department of Education on behalf of all former students that were denied high school diplomas for failure to pass the Gateway Exam. I was one of the plaintiffs represented by a young man named Corey Robertson. Walter Bailey Law Firm Attorney Javier Bailey filed my case.
Better Days Ahead
Within the lawsuit, my attorney asked the judge to dismantle the Gateway Exam as a graduation requirement. We also asked that students denied diplomas be recertified. Unfortunately, the lawsuit was dismissed due my case's expired statute of limitations. We lost the battle but in the end we won the war because we were successful in being the first to legally challenge the state on this issue. Tennessee's unfair testing policy had been exposed.
The Tennessee State Board of Education did not want to risk being challenged on graduation testing again and on January 25, 2008, just a few months after my suit was dismissed, the Board moved to eliminate the Gateway Exam as a diploma requirement. In the 2009-2010 school year no student in the state of Tennessee will be required to pass any test to qualify for a high school diploma.
While I failed the TCAP math section in 2002 because of systemic failures in the public school system here in Tennessee, I do not consider myself a failure. In fact, I took the Gateway Exam on May 1, 2007 in hopes of passing to obtain a standard diploma. I'm determined that I will not be deemed unemployable and incapable of pursuing my career goals merely because of a high school test score.
Willing to pay for more testing?
A guest opinion appearing in the BCCT. Here's a good point that parallels the questions Superintendent Yonson has been raising. She's asked how can we raise the accountability you want without paying for teachers.
Don't forget that the board adopted a resolution against increased testing.
Are the taxpayers willing to pay for more testing?
It’s the taxpayer who ends up footing the bill for the mandates, often through increases in school property taxes.
Thomas J. Gentzel is the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
The Bucks County Courier Times editorial on June 18 regarding graduation requirements is filled with inaccuracies and is offensive to the dedication and successes of public schools in Pennsylvania.
Your assertions that school districts are handing out “empty diplomas” and that most school districts “cheat kids out of an education” are an insult to every hard-working teacher, school board member and school administrator working in a Pennsylvania public high school. Worse, they are not factually accurate.
Information from a recent PSBA survey shows that school districts invest substantial amounts of time, effort and resources into developing local assessments, aligning them to the state’s academic standards as the law requires. Many districts in your readership area fit that bill.
The Avon Grove School District in Chester County and Centennial and Central Bucks school districts in Bucks County are but three that have comprehensive local graduation testing and alignment procedures in place. These districts, along with scores of others, take their responsibility in this area seriously. To dismiss their efforts, as your editorial does, simply gives credence to the careless propaganda that proponents of this proposal are using to try desperately to win its enactment. The members of the General Assembly who have raised concerns with this proposal do so for good reason and should be commended, not condemned, for questioning a plan that is so badly misdirected.
The argument against the Graduate Competency exams is about more than the tests themselves. It is also about the funding. Although proponents argue that the full cost of the mandate will be covered by state funding, the reality is that the money will disappear rather quickly. More often than not, school districts and taxpayers are left funding a large portion of these mandates. There is no guarantee that the money proponents say will help districts pay for the costs of this proposal will be there in 2011-12 when it takes effect. Look at the current budget process, where the Senate proposed a 41 percent cut in funding for education that would cause chaos for school districts that have already adopted budgets. Not only has Senate Bill 1389 been proposed so late in the year that school districts do not have time to adjust their budgets, but it also ignores the results of the Costing-Out Study that was commissioned by the General Assembly. In the end, it is the taxpayer who ends up footing the bill for the mandates, often through increases in school property tax.
Let’s be clear: There is no disagreement about the need for students to be proficient in critical subject areas and to be prepared to become contributing citizens when they graduate high school. This is a debate about whether those attributes can be demonstrated through paper-and-pencil testing alone and who should carry the cost burden of more testing. The question taxpayers need to ask themselves is: “Are you ready to pay for yet another unfunded mandate?”
Don't forget that the board adopted a resolution against increased testing.
Are the taxpayers willing to pay for more testing?
It’s the taxpayer who ends up footing the bill for the mandates, often through increases in school property taxes.
Thomas J. Gentzel is the executive director of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association.
The Bucks County Courier Times editorial on June 18 regarding graduation requirements is filled with inaccuracies and is offensive to the dedication and successes of public schools in Pennsylvania.
Your assertions that school districts are handing out “empty diplomas” and that most school districts “cheat kids out of an education” are an insult to every hard-working teacher, school board member and school administrator working in a Pennsylvania public high school. Worse, they are not factually accurate.
Information from a recent PSBA survey shows that school districts invest substantial amounts of time, effort and resources into developing local assessments, aligning them to the state’s academic standards as the law requires. Many districts in your readership area fit that bill.
The Avon Grove School District in Chester County and Centennial and Central Bucks school districts in Bucks County are but three that have comprehensive local graduation testing and alignment procedures in place. These districts, along with scores of others, take their responsibility in this area seriously. To dismiss their efforts, as your editorial does, simply gives credence to the careless propaganda that proponents of this proposal are using to try desperately to win its enactment. The members of the General Assembly who have raised concerns with this proposal do so for good reason and should be commended, not condemned, for questioning a plan that is so badly misdirected.
The argument against the Graduate Competency exams is about more than the tests themselves. It is also about the funding. Although proponents argue that the full cost of the mandate will be covered by state funding, the reality is that the money will disappear rather quickly. More often than not, school districts and taxpayers are left funding a large portion of these mandates. There is no guarantee that the money proponents say will help districts pay for the costs of this proposal will be there in 2011-12 when it takes effect. Look at the current budget process, where the Senate proposed a 41 percent cut in funding for education that would cause chaos for school districts that have already adopted budgets. Not only has Senate Bill 1389 been proposed so late in the year that school districts do not have time to adjust their budgets, but it also ignores the results of the Costing-Out Study that was commissioned by the General Assembly. In the end, it is the taxpayer who ends up footing the bill for the mandates, often through increases in school property tax.
Let’s be clear: There is no disagreement about the need for students to be proficient in critical subject areas and to be prepared to become contributing citizens when they graduate high school. This is a debate about whether those attributes can be demonstrated through paper-and-pencil testing alone and who should carry the cost burden of more testing. The question taxpayers need to ask themselves is: “Are you ready to pay for yet another unfunded mandate?”
"Pretend this meeting never happened"
It seems that unreality is not limited to the borders of the Morrisville school board's domain.
This article talks about the South Iron Missouri School District, who got in trouble with the way they dealt with religion in the school. That's not quite Morrisville's problem. The paragraphs describing the school board however, are classic Morrisville.
"...And the fact that the school board repeatedly ignored the advice of their own superintendent, their own attorney, the attorneys for the state association of school boards and the attorney for their insurance company (which voided their liability policy as a result, just like in Dover) and refused to change that policy even after being told by all of them that allowing the Gideons to do so was unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board actually voted to "pretend this meeting never happened" when those attorneys all told them they had to change their policy. It was only a few days before a court hearing on a preliminary injunction that the school board, under advice of Staver's legal group, finally and reluctantly changed their mind and instituted an open forum policy. But they also made it clear that they didn't think there was anything wrong with the old policy."
"Pretend the meeting never took place!" I can only imagine who might make that motion.
Staver Lies About Court Case
Category: Politics
Posted on: July 10, 2008 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton
And the odds of that were about, oh, 1 to 1. In this article at OneNewsNow, Matt Staver, head of Liberty Counsel and Falwell's law school, tells more whoppers about the facts and outcome of a case involving the distribution of Gideon bibles in an elementary school in the South Iron School District in Missouri. The lies begin with the headline of the article:
ACLU given 'veto power' over free-speech rights
Not even close. The case didn't even have anything to do with free speech rights, it was an establishment clause case. And this idea of the ACLU having "veto power" is a ridiculous way to spin the ruling (which you can see in full here). And boy is Staver spinning:
The South Iron School District allows off-campus organizations to distribute literature to students before and after school, and during other non-instructional times such as lunch breaks. But the American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the Gideons should not be allowed to hand out Bibles because of their religious nature. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry agreed.
True to form, the AFA's news site leaves just a few inconvenient facts out of the story. Like the fact that the suit was filed not against a policy that allows off-campus organizations to distribute literature, but against a policy that allowed only the Gideons to do so, and that further gave the Gideons access to 5th grade classrooms during instructional time, something court after court has struck down as clearly unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board repeatedly ignored the advice of their own superintendent, their own attorney, the attorneys for the state association of school boards and the attorney for their insurance company (which voided their liability policy as a result, just like in Dover) and refused to change that policy even after being told by all of them that allowing the Gideons to do so was unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board actually voted to "pretend this meeting never happened" when those attorneys all told them they had to change their policy. It was only a few days before a court hearing on a preliminary injunction that the school board, under advice of Staver's legal group, finally and reluctantly changed their mind and instituted an open forum policy. But they also made it clear that they didn't think there was anything wrong with the old policy.
That's why the judge refused to moot the case based on the voluntary cessation doctrine, because the school board had clearly changed its policy only to get out from under the case. But in doing so, they also made quite clear that their sole objective in the process was to endorse Christianity by preserving some way, any way, for the Gideons to get into the school and hand out bibles.
The judge in this case, citing the Lemon test prohibition on any policy which does not have a clear secular purpose, said:
The undisputed evidence here shows that the District's purpose in passing the new policy was the promotion of Christianity, and therefore it violates the Establishment Clause.
All of this flows directly from the Supreme Court's rulings in Santa Fe and McCreary, where the court analyzed similar situations where the government attempted after the fact to change their policy but left clear evidence of their religious intent behind in the process. There is a case to be made against such reasoning, but a district court is bound to apply the precedents as they are.
"In fact, the federal judge said...the ACLU must be able to have the say-so over whether religious literature can be distributed -- and obviously, if the ACLU has that say-so, no religious literature will ever be distributed," says Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel.
This is a flat out lie, plain and simple. The judge said nothing even close to that. The ruling doesn't give the ACLU "veto power" over anything. The ACLU represented the plaintiffs and the court agreed with the plaintiffs that existing precedent required the conclusion that this policy was unconstitutional. That's it.
But Staver points out that the First Amendment prohibits any "heckler" from having the right to prohibit free speech. "...The ACLU may not like the fact that equal access also means equal treatment for religious speech, but, frankly, the Constitution requires equal treatment," states the attorney. "...Hecklers may heckle all they want to, but they may not veto private religious speech."
I think David Gibbs is going to have a hard time catching Staver in the competition for the title of the nation's loopiest religious right attorney. Arguments like this are simply laughable. If you analyzed this ruling for a con law 1 class in law school and pretended that the case had something to do with the heckler's veto and private speech, the professor would not only flunk you he might also suggest that you make a different career choice.
This article talks about the South Iron Missouri School District, who got in trouble with the way they dealt with religion in the school. That's not quite Morrisville's problem. The paragraphs describing the school board however, are classic Morrisville.
"...And the fact that the school board repeatedly ignored the advice of their own superintendent, their own attorney, the attorneys for the state association of school boards and the attorney for their insurance company (which voided their liability policy as a result, just like in Dover) and refused to change that policy even after being told by all of them that allowing the Gideons to do so was unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board actually voted to "pretend this meeting never happened" when those attorneys all told them they had to change their policy. It was only a few days before a court hearing on a preliminary injunction that the school board, under advice of Staver's legal group, finally and reluctantly changed their mind and instituted an open forum policy. But they also made it clear that they didn't think there was anything wrong with the old policy."
"Pretend the meeting never took place!" I can only imagine who might make that motion.
Staver Lies About Court Case
Category: Politics
Posted on: July 10, 2008 9:16 AM, by Ed Brayton
And the odds of that were about, oh, 1 to 1. In this article at OneNewsNow, Matt Staver, head of Liberty Counsel and Falwell's law school, tells more whoppers about the facts and outcome of a case involving the distribution of Gideon bibles in an elementary school in the South Iron School District in Missouri. The lies begin with the headline of the article:
ACLU given 'veto power' over free-speech rights
Not even close. The case didn't even have anything to do with free speech rights, it was an establishment clause case. And this idea of the ACLU having "veto power" is a ridiculous way to spin the ruling (which you can see in full here). And boy is Staver spinning:
The South Iron School District allows off-campus organizations to distribute literature to students before and after school, and during other non-instructional times such as lunch breaks. But the American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the Gideons should not be allowed to hand out Bibles because of their religious nature. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry agreed.
True to form, the AFA's news site leaves just a few inconvenient facts out of the story. Like the fact that the suit was filed not against a policy that allows off-campus organizations to distribute literature, but against a policy that allowed only the Gideons to do so, and that further gave the Gideons access to 5th grade classrooms during instructional time, something court after court has struck down as clearly unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board repeatedly ignored the advice of their own superintendent, their own attorney, the attorneys for the state association of school boards and the attorney for their insurance company (which voided their liability policy as a result, just like in Dover) and refused to change that policy even after being told by all of them that allowing the Gideons to do so was unconstitutional.
And the fact that the school board actually voted to "pretend this meeting never happened" when those attorneys all told them they had to change their policy. It was only a few days before a court hearing on a preliminary injunction that the school board, under advice of Staver's legal group, finally and reluctantly changed their mind and instituted an open forum policy. But they also made it clear that they didn't think there was anything wrong with the old policy.
That's why the judge refused to moot the case based on the voluntary cessation doctrine, because the school board had clearly changed its policy only to get out from under the case. But in doing so, they also made quite clear that their sole objective in the process was to endorse Christianity by preserving some way, any way, for the Gideons to get into the school and hand out bibles.
The judge in this case, citing the Lemon test prohibition on any policy which does not have a clear secular purpose, said:
The undisputed evidence here shows that the District's purpose in passing the new policy was the promotion of Christianity, and therefore it violates the Establishment Clause.
All of this flows directly from the Supreme Court's rulings in Santa Fe and McCreary, where the court analyzed similar situations where the government attempted after the fact to change their policy but left clear evidence of their religious intent behind in the process. There is a case to be made against such reasoning, but a district court is bound to apply the precedents as they are.
"In fact, the federal judge said...the ACLU must be able to have the say-so over whether religious literature can be distributed -- and obviously, if the ACLU has that say-so, no religious literature will ever be distributed," says Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel.
This is a flat out lie, plain and simple. The judge said nothing even close to that. The ruling doesn't give the ACLU "veto power" over anything. The ACLU represented the plaintiffs and the court agreed with the plaintiffs that existing precedent required the conclusion that this policy was unconstitutional. That's it.
But Staver points out that the First Amendment prohibits any "heckler" from having the right to prohibit free speech. "...The ACLU may not like the fact that equal access also means equal treatment for religious speech, but, frankly, the Constitution requires equal treatment," states the attorney. "...Hecklers may heckle all they want to, but they may not veto private religious speech."
I think David Gibbs is going to have a hard time catching Staver in the competition for the title of the nation's loopiest religious right attorney. Arguments like this are simply laughable. If you analyzed this ruling for a con law 1 class in law school and pretended that the case had something to do with the heckler's veto and private speech, the professor would not only flunk you he might also suggest that you make a different career choice.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Reports from the Facilities Committee
Any updates?
UPDATE 1:45 P.M. Please check the comments. There's another uninformed rush to "do something", just because the Emperor has commanded it.
UPDATE 1:45 P.M. Please check the comments. There's another uninformed rush to "do something", just because the Emperor has commanded it.
Archives 2007
Here's two You Tube videos from the 2007 election.
Current board secretary Marlys Mihok describes how the Stop the School candidates are just too busy to answer questions. Wait...isn't that how the current board works now?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=990iDVUF8aU
Then there's this video. Each of these people now serve on the school board.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TCxKstSPw-g&feature=related
Current board secretary Marlys Mihok describes how the Stop the School candidates are just too busy to answer questions. Wait...isn't that how the current board works now?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=990iDVUF8aU
Then there's this video. Each of these people now serve on the school board.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=TCxKstSPw-g&feature=related
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Summer in the City
From the Inquirer today.
...So rarely is the summer feeding gap discussed that Ruth Damsker, a former Montgomery County commissioner, said she was shocked to hear about it from a reporter. "I'm appalled, frankly. Maybe it happens because kids don't vote. That's sad."
...Someone should consider rearranging budgets to feed these children, said Joe Quattrocchi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center. "It does beg common sense that if you have students availing themselves of free lunch during the school year, what happens when it's out?"
Check out Philabundance.org. And don't forget there's free lunch students in Morrisville too. Not sure where to start? There's always the Morrisville Presbyterian Church food bank.
Summer brings hunger in suburbs
There are fewer options to replace free school lunches.
By Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer
Hunger lined up, quiet and orderly, in the summer heat of a Delaware County day.
Suburban women, many looking a decade older than their ages, awaited their turn to collect strawberries, bananas and bread being distributed by Philabundance, the hunger-relief agency, at a Delaware County Housing Authority building in Woodlyn.
Several of them, including Marisa Koerbel of Lower Merion, were there to plug the summer feeding gap - to find food for their children, who usually get free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches in schools now closed for summer.
Hunger isn't just an empty plate on a Philly table.
It touches the suburbs, too. And the number of poor and working-poor families scrambling to find food outside Philadelphia is growing.
Although various suburban programs offer meals for youngsters in July and August, there are far fewer options than in Philadelphia, which has many more feeding sites.
"Look at him, he's underweight," Koerbel, 37, said, tilting her head toward her son, Tyler Sylvester, who completed fourth grade at Merion Elementary School. "There are days I can't feed him everything he needs. I feel embarrassed being on welfare in the high-dollar area where I live."
Tyler, 10, who gets free lunch at school, said he understands what's happening and feels bad. "She doesn't have much money," he said of his mother. "My best friend's dad works at Villanova. He makes lots of money and he has lots of food."
Koerbel said she gets no child support and is home to care for her two other children, ages 2 and 4. Shaking her head, she said, "It's hard being hungry on the Main Line."
Suburban need is growing. In the 2006-07 school year, 54,905 children in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties relied on free or reduced-price school lunches - a 24 percent increase in four years.
Chester County experienced the biggest jump - 42 percent. More than 10,000 children countywide got subsidized meals in the 2006-07 school year, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education compiled by the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center in Harrisburg.
An Inquirer survey of summer programs in the Pennsylvania suburbs found they fed only 15 percent of eligible low-income children.
That left some 47,000 youngsters in the suburbs who normally eat subsidized meals without that food in July and August.
"These kids are orphaned for the summer," said Patrick Druhan, food-resources director for the Montgomery County Community Action Development Commission. "Aside from pockets of poverty like Norristown, many hungry suburban kids are scattered.
"It's one of these cracks in the system, where everything is fine till school lets out. And nobody's taken up the task."
To qualify for a free school lunch, a family of four can make up to $27,400 a year - 130 percent of the federal poverty level.
For reduced-price meals, a family of four can't exceed $39,200 - 185 percent of poverty. A reduced-price meal costs parents 40 cents or less.
Knowing there are hungry children unseen in the suburbs "makes me crazy," said Anne Ayella, assistant director at Nutritional Development Services, part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Ayella's group runs 550 summer feeding programs in the five-county area. "People don't realize there are poor people in the suburbs."
Feeding gaps also exist in South Jersey, where nearly 70,000 students are eligible for free and reduced summer feeding programs but few exist, advocates say.
In Philadelphia, where census figures show that one-third of children aged 5 to 17 live in poverty, there is greater awareness of the need to provide summer meals.
Around 53 percent of students who get subsidized meals in school are in a summer feeding program, more than three times the suburban rate.
So rarely is the summer feeding gap discussed that Ruth Damsker, a former Montgomery County commissioner, said she was shocked to hear about it from a reporter.
"I'm appalled, frankly. Maybe it happens because kids don't vote. That's sad."
County government is not responsible for children's meals; it's a school district problem, county-level officials say. Meanwhile, district officials throughout the area say they don't have the budget to offer summer food.
"Our buildings are not open, and we don't have summer feeding programs," said Susan Phy, a spokeswoman for the Bensalem Township School District, where the number of poor children increased 68 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to a census analysis by Mark Price, labor economist at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg.
In one district school, Rush Elementary, 56 percent of fifth graders are eligible for subsidized lunches, according to state figures.
"As far as I know, there has never been any discussion" of instituting summer feeding, Phy said.
Someone should consider rearranging budgets to feed these children, said Joe Quattrocchi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center.
"It does beg common sense that if you have students availing themselves of free lunch during the school year, what happens when it's out?"
It's a problem clear to everyone who was waiting in the Woodlyn Philabundance line. Koerbel, of Lower Merion, knows it. So does Jean Shaw of Linwood, Delaware County.
Her son, Thomas Leo, 14, gets free lunch at Chichester Middle School. But school's out.
"I'm here trying to make do," said Shaw, 45, an unmarried woman who said she is out of work because she was attacked by a dog she was working with at a dog day-care. She normally makes $12,000 a year.
Now, she said, "lunches and breakfasts that he got for free cost me. He tells me he's hungry. It hurts."
Recently, one of her son's friends came over and opened the refrigerator. "You don't have a thing to eat in here," Shaw remembered the boy saying.
Overhearing this, Rose Ann Robertson, the grandmother of a 6-year-old girl in Eddystone, Delaware County, commiserated. Thank goodness, Robertson said, for food pantries and distribution sites.
But pantries run low this season precisely because of the lunch feeding gap.
"My kids are hungry, so I hold back," Koerbel said. "A lot of parents in Lower Merion look at me differently. And kids can be cruel to my children with teasing because they don't have much.
"We try to make the best of it."
...So rarely is the summer feeding gap discussed that Ruth Damsker, a former Montgomery County commissioner, said she was shocked to hear about it from a reporter. "I'm appalled, frankly. Maybe it happens because kids don't vote. That's sad."
...Someone should consider rearranging budgets to feed these children, said Joe Quattrocchi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center. "It does beg common sense that if you have students availing themselves of free lunch during the school year, what happens when it's out?"
Check out Philabundance.org. And don't forget there's free lunch students in Morrisville too. Not sure where to start? There's always the Morrisville Presbyterian Church food bank.
Summer brings hunger in suburbs
There are fewer options to replace free school lunches.
By Alfred Lubrano, Inquirer Staff Writer
Hunger lined up, quiet and orderly, in the summer heat of a Delaware County day.
Suburban women, many looking a decade older than their ages, awaited their turn to collect strawberries, bananas and bread being distributed by Philabundance, the hunger-relief agency, at a Delaware County Housing Authority building in Woodlyn.
Several of them, including Marisa Koerbel of Lower Merion, were there to plug the summer feeding gap - to find food for their children, who usually get free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches in schools now closed for summer.
Hunger isn't just an empty plate on a Philly table.
It touches the suburbs, too. And the number of poor and working-poor families scrambling to find food outside Philadelphia is growing.
Although various suburban programs offer meals for youngsters in July and August, there are far fewer options than in Philadelphia, which has many more feeding sites.
"Look at him, he's underweight," Koerbel, 37, said, tilting her head toward her son, Tyler Sylvester, who completed fourth grade at Merion Elementary School. "There are days I can't feed him everything he needs. I feel embarrassed being on welfare in the high-dollar area where I live."
Tyler, 10, who gets free lunch at school, said he understands what's happening and feels bad. "She doesn't have much money," he said of his mother. "My best friend's dad works at Villanova. He makes lots of money and he has lots of food."
Koerbel said she gets no child support and is home to care for her two other children, ages 2 and 4. Shaking her head, she said, "It's hard being hungry on the Main Line."
Suburban need is growing. In the 2006-07 school year, 54,905 children in Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties relied on free or reduced-price school lunches - a 24 percent increase in four years.
Chester County experienced the biggest jump - 42 percent. More than 10,000 children countywide got subsidized meals in the 2006-07 school year, according to data from the Pennsylvania Department of Education compiled by the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center in Harrisburg.
An Inquirer survey of summer programs in the Pennsylvania suburbs found they fed only 15 percent of eligible low-income children.
That left some 47,000 youngsters in the suburbs who normally eat subsidized meals without that food in July and August.
"These kids are orphaned for the summer," said Patrick Druhan, food-resources director for the Montgomery County Community Action Development Commission. "Aside from pockets of poverty like Norristown, many hungry suburban kids are scattered.
"It's one of these cracks in the system, where everything is fine till school lets out. And nobody's taken up the task."
To qualify for a free school lunch, a family of four can make up to $27,400 a year - 130 percent of the federal poverty level.
For reduced-price meals, a family of four can't exceed $39,200 - 185 percent of poverty. A reduced-price meal costs parents 40 cents or less.
Knowing there are hungry children unseen in the suburbs "makes me crazy," said Anne Ayella, assistant director at Nutritional Development Services, part of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Ayella's group runs 550 summer feeding programs in the five-county area. "People don't realize there are poor people in the suburbs."
Feeding gaps also exist in South Jersey, where nearly 70,000 students are eligible for free and reduced summer feeding programs but few exist, advocates say.
In Philadelphia, where census figures show that one-third of children aged 5 to 17 live in poverty, there is greater awareness of the need to provide summer meals.
Around 53 percent of students who get subsidized meals in school are in a summer feeding program, more than three times the suburban rate.
So rarely is the summer feeding gap discussed that Ruth Damsker, a former Montgomery County commissioner, said she was shocked to hear about it from a reporter.
"I'm appalled, frankly. Maybe it happens because kids don't vote. That's sad."
County government is not responsible for children's meals; it's a school district problem, county-level officials say. Meanwhile, district officials throughout the area say they don't have the budget to offer summer food.
"Our buildings are not open, and we don't have summer feeding programs," said Susan Phy, a spokeswoman for the Bensalem Township School District, where the number of poor children increased 68 percent between 2000 and 2005, according to a census analysis by Mark Price, labor economist at the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg.
In one district school, Rush Elementary, 56 percent of fifth graders are eligible for subsidized lunches, according to state figures.
"As far as I know, there has never been any discussion" of instituting summer feeding, Phy said.
Someone should consider rearranging budgets to feed these children, said Joe Quattrocchi, executive director of the Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center.
"It does beg common sense that if you have students availing themselves of free lunch during the school year, what happens when it's out?"
It's a problem clear to everyone who was waiting in the Woodlyn Philabundance line. Koerbel, of Lower Merion, knows it. So does Jean Shaw of Linwood, Delaware County.
Her son, Thomas Leo, 14, gets free lunch at Chichester Middle School. But school's out.
"I'm here trying to make do," said Shaw, 45, an unmarried woman who said she is out of work because she was attacked by a dog she was working with at a dog day-care. She normally makes $12,000 a year.
Now, she said, "lunches and breakfasts that he got for free cost me. He tells me he's hungry. It hurts."
Recently, one of her son's friends came over and opened the refrigerator. "You don't have a thing to eat in here," Shaw remembered the boy saying.
Overhearing this, Rose Ann Robertson, the grandmother of a 6-year-old girl in Eddystone, Delaware County, commiserated. Thank goodness, Robertson said, for food pantries and distribution sites.
But pantries run low this season precisely because of the lunch feeding gap.
"My kids are hungry, so I hold back," Koerbel said. "A lot of parents in Lower Merion look at me differently. And kids can be cruel to my children with teasing because they don't have much.
"We try to make the best of it."
From the Mailbag
Another satisfied customer...
Dear STS--
Thanks for the job you're doing. Please consider printing this.
I am so tired of hearing how Morrisville test scores "stink" and the students and teachers are all under-performing slackers. Here was another uninformed and ignorant comment today about how the schools system is completely responsible for the decline of Morrisville's home values.
"Borows, you're right again. But how do we increase property values and improve our borough at the same time? It's easy, have an excellent school district with outstanding test scores. Then everything would fall into place. Better businesses and families would flock here. The trouble is no matter how much money is pumped into that school district the test scores stink and people don't want to live here because of that. So instead of the bloggers being worried about money (lord knows we've had plenty, 20k per student) why don't you consider ways to improve academics in the schools?"
I won't speculate on who anonymous is. I'll tell you right now that I am proud of the education my two children have received in this district, from kindergarten to the present. I have one child who completed 11th grade and one who completed 9th.
I can only speak to what I know. I know I have worked hard as a parent to ensure how my children learn and what they learn. I know that the Morrisville teachers have been uniformly one of the most dedicated and experienced groups of people I have had the pleasure to work with. I have had dealings with the present administration and find them to also be extremely dedicated and responsive. I'm still waiting for the current board of education to get back to me on items from January.
I had a good education in a middle sized district in central New Jersey. My SAT and NJ evaluation test scores were pretty darned good back in 1978 and 79. My son's SAT and PSSA scores are just as good and better in many areas. My daughter's PSSA scores are also excellent, and I'm expecting her to exceed my SAT scores.
I'll sit down with you, Anonymous, and we can take the placement tests together.
The test scores across the country are lower. That makes it an American problem, not only a Morrisville problem. Assuming that every teacher is at fault for this is ludicrous. Assuming that throwing money at the problem is the answer is also ludicrous. What is needed here is a solid and sober look at how to make things better, not tearing them apart for the sake of tearing them apart.
The problem here is leadership. The school board has abandoned any sense of leadership by slashing and burning their way through the oversight of the schools. The aim is to have a takeover of the school system by anyone else, no matter how it is achieved. Ignorance is not bliss and solving problems by ignoring them or handing them over to someone else is no solution. After reading those stories about the Arkansas district's problems, why would we want to try the same thing?
A leadership problem also exists on the boro council. A great example of the lack of leadership is Gateway. Instead of letting the process do the job, they simply abdicated responsibility and wanted problems to go away. The boro council is responsible for the condition of Morrisville's tax base. Instead of slash and burn, here it's just inaction and indifference. Thinking that with a better school system, everything will "fall into place" sounds just like the prevailing ostrich style thinking of the boro council.
Dear STS--
Thanks for the job you're doing. Please consider printing this.
I am so tired of hearing how Morrisville test scores "stink" and the students and teachers are all under-performing slackers. Here was another uninformed and ignorant comment today about how the schools system is completely responsible for the decline of Morrisville's home values.
"Borows, you're right again. But how do we increase property values and improve our borough at the same time? It's easy, have an excellent school district with outstanding test scores. Then everything would fall into place. Better businesses and families would flock here. The trouble is no matter how much money is pumped into that school district the test scores stink and people don't want to live here because of that. So instead of the bloggers being worried about money (lord knows we've had plenty, 20k per student) why don't you consider ways to improve academics in the schools?"
I won't speculate on who anonymous is. I'll tell you right now that I am proud of the education my two children have received in this district, from kindergarten to the present. I have one child who completed 11th grade and one who completed 9th.
I can only speak to what I know. I know I have worked hard as a parent to ensure how my children learn and what they learn. I know that the Morrisville teachers have been uniformly one of the most dedicated and experienced groups of people I have had the pleasure to work with. I have had dealings with the present administration and find them to also be extremely dedicated and responsive. I'm still waiting for the current board of education to get back to me on items from January.
I had a good education in a middle sized district in central New Jersey. My SAT and NJ evaluation test scores were pretty darned good back in 1978 and 79. My son's SAT and PSSA scores are just as good and better in many areas. My daughter's PSSA scores are also excellent, and I'm expecting her to exceed my SAT scores.
I'll sit down with you, Anonymous, and we can take the placement tests together.
The test scores across the country are lower. That makes it an American problem, not only a Morrisville problem. Assuming that every teacher is at fault for this is ludicrous. Assuming that throwing money at the problem is the answer is also ludicrous. What is needed here is a solid and sober look at how to make things better, not tearing them apart for the sake of tearing them apart.
The problem here is leadership. The school board has abandoned any sense of leadership by slashing and burning their way through the oversight of the schools. The aim is to have a takeover of the school system by anyone else, no matter how it is achieved. Ignorance is not bliss and solving problems by ignoring them or handing them over to someone else is no solution. After reading those stories about the Arkansas district's problems, why would we want to try the same thing?
A leadership problem also exists on the boro council. A great example of the lack of leadership is Gateway. Instead of letting the process do the job, they simply abdicated responsibility and wanted problems to go away. The boro council is responsible for the condition of Morrisville's tax base. Instead of slash and burn, here it's just inaction and indifference. Thinking that with a better school system, everything will "fall into place" sounds just like the prevailing ostrich style thinking of the boro council.
Council Rock Renovations
In Council Rock, the untouched 40 year old school buildings will each need $10 to $12 million dollars for renovations. What will it cost here in Morrisville?
Crews remove asbestos tiles from schools
Next year, renovations at each school will begin to update the more than 40-year-old buildings.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Churchville and Holland elementary schools aren’t just closed for the summer — they’re sealed.
Work is under way at both buildings in Northampton to remove asbestos tile flooring in the classrooms to prepare for future renovations, according to Superintendent Mark Klein.
Together, the abatement projects, which cost less than $300,000, are the first part of a two- to three-year renovation process at each school, officials said.
Since serious illness can be caused by inhaling asbestos, which is a group of minerals with long, thin, fibrous crystals, both schools have been closed up, and their offices have been temporarily relocated to modular structures, administrators said.
Klein emphasized that neither school has asbestos problems and that the shutdowns are precautions.
“The tiles served each school well, but they need to be taken off by a professional contractor,” he said.
After this month’s construction, desks and chairs will be returned to the classrooms, where floors will be covered by area rugs, officials said.
The renovations are expected to begin next summer. Each of the two projects is estimated to cost between $10 million to $12 million, but those numbers could change depending on yet-to-be-determined design details and bids, administrators said.
At the very least, Churchville and Holland should receive new heating and air-conditioning systems, refurbished classrooms, updated libraries and new computers, officials said.
“Both schools need significant work because they haven’t been touched in the 40 years they’ve been in service,” Klein said. “This should add another 25 to 30 years to their life cycle.”
Crews remove asbestos tiles from schools
Next year, renovations at each school will begin to update the more than 40-year-old buildings.
By RACHEL CANELLI
Churchville and Holland elementary schools aren’t just closed for the summer — they’re sealed.
Work is under way at both buildings in Northampton to remove asbestos tile flooring in the classrooms to prepare for future renovations, according to Superintendent Mark Klein.
Together, the abatement projects, which cost less than $300,000, are the first part of a two- to three-year renovation process at each school, officials said.
Since serious illness can be caused by inhaling asbestos, which is a group of minerals with long, thin, fibrous crystals, both schools have been closed up, and their offices have been temporarily relocated to modular structures, administrators said.
Klein emphasized that neither school has asbestos problems and that the shutdowns are precautions.
“The tiles served each school well, but they need to be taken off by a professional contractor,” he said.
After this month’s construction, desks and chairs will be returned to the classrooms, where floors will be covered by area rugs, officials said.
The renovations are expected to begin next summer. Each of the two projects is estimated to cost between $10 million to $12 million, but those numbers could change depending on yet-to-be-determined design details and bids, administrators said.
At the very least, Churchville and Holland should receive new heating and air-conditioning systems, refurbished classrooms, updated libraries and new computers, officials said.
“Both schools need significant work because they haven’t been touched in the 40 years they’ve been in service,” Klein said. “This should add another 25 to 30 years to their life cycle.”
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Pennsylvania State 2008-09 Budget
Thanks to jon for the link. Is there anyone out there "in the know" who might be able to let us know why we were not eligible for more?
Jon has left a new comment on your post "Pennsylvania Budget Deal":
There's an article in today's Phila. Inquirer at this link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/24058084.html
It has an accompanying graphic at this link:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/gallery/24050274.html
Anyway, the graphic lays out state education funding increases for each district in the 5-county Phila. metro area, based on the recent PA budget deal.
What I learned from this is:
1. Morrisville gets the minimum 3% funding boost;
2. The boost is only in the state's "basic education funding", which for M'ville is only on the order of $2.9-3.0 million, not $5.45 million.
So, PA's funding of M'ville basic ed goes from $2,882,794 in 2007-08 to $2,969,278 in 2008-09, an increase of $86,484. This equates to only about $26 for the home assessed at the M'ville average of $18,000.
Not that much really.
Pa. support for schools jumps
By Dan Hardy Posted on Tue, Jul. 8, 2008
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburban school districts will share $82.6 million in new basic education funding next school year under the state budget signed Friday by Gov. Rendell.
The increase in basic education funding represents the largest dollar increase in the program since 1991.
"Even though we are in an economic slowdown, this was our number-one issue this year," said Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Philadelphia will get about $50.8 million, a 5.8 percent basic subsidy hike. Other districts will receive increases based on need and how highly taxed they are, ranging from $4.9 million for Upper Darby in Delaware County, a 22.4 percent increase, to $22,900 for Jenkintown in Montgomery County, or 3 percent.
Of the 64 school districts that make up Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs, 37 will get the minimum 3 percent increase.
Rendell had initially proposed minimum increases of only 1.5 percent for the wealthiest districts, but unhappy Republicans in the legislature added $17 million to the budget to boost everyone's funding by at least 3 percent.
Overall, the basic education subsidy will increase by $275 million statewide, or 5.5 percent. The subsidy formula represents the largest single item in kindergarten-through-12th-grade funding.
Spending on other K-12 programs will bring the total education increase to $347.4 million, or 3.3 percent. Education is the largest single spending category - $9.7 billion - in the state's $28.3 billion budget.
Rendell did not get everything he asked for. His proposed increases for several programs were trimmed by 1.3 percent. Additionally, his Classrooms for the Future program to put laptop computers in every high school core-subject classroom was cut from $90 million to $45 million, delaying the complete rollout of the program by a year.
While the Philadelphia School District will receive $34 million less in basic subsidies than it had been slated to receive in earlier versions of the budget, the shortfall will be made up in other subsidies, said Rendell's senior policy adviser, Donna Cooper.
Just as important as increased basic funding for school districts, Rendell administration and school-reform advocates said, is the way that funding will be distributed.
The $275 million increase will be handed out according to a funding formula based on a 2007 study of the cost of an adequate education for children in each school district.
The use of the new funding formula, said Janis Risch, of Good Schools Pennsylvania, a reform group that has campaigned for increased funding, "is a tremendous step forward - it . . . begins to really address the education funding inequities experienced by students and communities."
But the legislature, shying away from committing itself to similarly large increases in future years, included only a vague commitment to meet new "state funding targets" by the 2013-14 school year.
The Rendell administration had wanted lawmakers to commit to increasing basic education funding by a total of $2.6 billion during six years, including the coming school year.
Nevertheless, Rendell aides and Democratic leaders say they see the language that did make it into the legislation as a call to keep increasing state funding until then, using the Rendell formula.
"I think we dramatically advanced the conversation on closing the adequacy gap" among school districts, said Cooper, Rendell's policy adviser. "The legislation has put into law language saying there is a [new funding] target to achieve and they will try to achieve that within six years - that is a giant step forward."
Republicans see the matter differently, saying the legislation is only a commitment to study funding further and come up with some kind of new subsidy scheme.
"It is very clear that the only commitment is to utilize the [Rendell] budget formula for one year - there is no commitment beyond that," said Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware).
The only other thing the new legislation commits the legislature to doing, Pileggi added, is examining the funding formula and the study on which it was based to determine how best to provide money to the districts most in need.
Timothy Allwein, the legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which supports the Rendell funding formula, said that at the very least, the "target" funding language provides a framework for further discussion.
Rendell suffered at least a partial defeat on one other initiative that he had strongly backed when the legislature delayed implementation of a plan for mandatory state subject tests for at least a year.
The legislature and many school boards had strongly opposed the tests, which some students would have to pass to demonstrate mastery in basic subjects before they could graduate from high school. Some larger school districts, including Philadelphia, have supported the testing requirement.
The state Board of Education had proposed new regulations, saying that the tests would be offered to students starting in 2010, with seniors having to pass them or show their mastery of basic skills in other ways by 2014. The school bill that was passed this year forbids those regulations from being "further promulgated, approved or proposed" before next July.
Cooper, the Rendell senior staffer, said that funding is still in the budget bill for both the development of the tests and the development of a model curriculum to ensure that students are learning what was included in the exams. The state Department of Education will go ahead with developing those tools, she said, and school districts will be able to voluntarily use the tests, even if the state cannot for now mandate them.
Jon has left a new comment on your post "Pennsylvania Budget Deal":
There's an article in today's Phila. Inquirer at this link:
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/24058084.html
It has an accompanying graphic at this link:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/gallery/24050274.html
Anyway, the graphic lays out state education funding increases for each district in the 5-county Phila. metro area, based on the recent PA budget deal.
What I learned from this is:
1. Morrisville gets the minimum 3% funding boost;
2. The boost is only in the state's "basic education funding", which for M'ville is only on the order of $2.9-3.0 million, not $5.45 million.
So, PA's funding of M'ville basic ed goes from $2,882,794 in 2007-08 to $2,969,278 in 2008-09, an increase of $86,484. This equates to only about $26 for the home assessed at the M'ville average of $18,000.
Not that much really.
Pa. support for schools jumps
By Dan Hardy Posted on Tue, Jul. 8, 2008
Inquirer Staff Writer
Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburban school districts will share $82.6 million in new basic education funding next school year under the state budget signed Friday by Gov. Rendell.
The increase in basic education funding represents the largest dollar increase in the program since 1991.
"Even though we are in an economic slowdown, this was our number-one issue this year," said Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Philadelphia will get about $50.8 million, a 5.8 percent basic subsidy hike. Other districts will receive increases based on need and how highly taxed they are, ranging from $4.9 million for Upper Darby in Delaware County, a 22.4 percent increase, to $22,900 for Jenkintown in Montgomery County, or 3 percent.
Of the 64 school districts that make up Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs, 37 will get the minimum 3 percent increase.
Rendell had initially proposed minimum increases of only 1.5 percent for the wealthiest districts, but unhappy Republicans in the legislature added $17 million to the budget to boost everyone's funding by at least 3 percent.
Overall, the basic education subsidy will increase by $275 million statewide, or 5.5 percent. The subsidy formula represents the largest single item in kindergarten-through-12th-grade funding.
Spending on other K-12 programs will bring the total education increase to $347.4 million, or 3.3 percent. Education is the largest single spending category - $9.7 billion - in the state's $28.3 billion budget.
Rendell did not get everything he asked for. His proposed increases for several programs were trimmed by 1.3 percent. Additionally, his Classrooms for the Future program to put laptop computers in every high school core-subject classroom was cut from $90 million to $45 million, delaying the complete rollout of the program by a year.
While the Philadelphia School District will receive $34 million less in basic subsidies than it had been slated to receive in earlier versions of the budget, the shortfall will be made up in other subsidies, said Rendell's senior policy adviser, Donna Cooper.
Just as important as increased basic funding for school districts, Rendell administration and school-reform advocates said, is the way that funding will be distributed.
The $275 million increase will be handed out according to a funding formula based on a 2007 study of the cost of an adequate education for children in each school district.
The use of the new funding formula, said Janis Risch, of Good Schools Pennsylvania, a reform group that has campaigned for increased funding, "is a tremendous step forward - it . . . begins to really address the education funding inequities experienced by students and communities."
But the legislature, shying away from committing itself to similarly large increases in future years, included only a vague commitment to meet new "state funding targets" by the 2013-14 school year.
The Rendell administration had wanted lawmakers to commit to increasing basic education funding by a total of $2.6 billion during six years, including the coming school year.
Nevertheless, Rendell aides and Democratic leaders say they see the language that did make it into the legislation as a call to keep increasing state funding until then, using the Rendell formula.
"I think we dramatically advanced the conversation on closing the adequacy gap" among school districts, said Cooper, Rendell's policy adviser. "The legislation has put into law language saying there is a [new funding] target to achieve and they will try to achieve that within six years - that is a giant step forward."
Republicans see the matter differently, saying the legislation is only a commitment to study funding further and come up with some kind of new subsidy scheme.
"It is very clear that the only commitment is to utilize the [Rendell] budget formula for one year - there is no commitment beyond that," said Senate Majority leader Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware).
The only other thing the new legislation commits the legislature to doing, Pileggi added, is examining the funding formula and the study on which it was based to determine how best to provide money to the districts most in need.
Timothy Allwein, the legislative liaison for the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, which supports the Rendell funding formula, said that at the very least, the "target" funding language provides a framework for further discussion.
Rendell suffered at least a partial defeat on one other initiative that he had strongly backed when the legislature delayed implementation of a plan for mandatory state subject tests for at least a year.
The legislature and many school boards had strongly opposed the tests, which some students would have to pass to demonstrate mastery in basic subjects before they could graduate from high school. Some larger school districts, including Philadelphia, have supported the testing requirement.
The state Board of Education had proposed new regulations, saying that the tests would be offered to students starting in 2010, with seniors having to pass them or show their mastery of basic skills in other ways by 2014. The school bill that was passed this year forbids those regulations from being "further promulgated, approved or proposed" before next July.
Cooper, the Rendell senior staffer, said that funding is still in the budget bill for both the development of the tests and the development of a model curriculum to ensure that students are learning what was included in the exams. The state Department of Education will go ahead with developing those tools, she said, and school districts will be able to voluntarily use the tests, even if the state cannot for now mandate them.
Archives- Election 2007
I received this scan today along with the reminder that the election for the new school board, the one that the Emperor threatened the late Ed Frankenfield with, is fast approaching.
They suggested that this could be added to our collection of memorabilia from 2007 to eventually see if the candidates, indeed, are keeping their word.
Does anyone have items from the 2005 election cycle? These are the same people whose seats would be up in 2009.
Now appearing: The Democrats
Reithmeyer for school board; Panzitta, Rivella, and Sherlock for borough council.
They suggested that this could be added to our collection of memorabilia from 2007 to eventually see if the candidates, indeed, are keeping their word.
Does anyone have items from the 2005 election cycle? These are the same people whose seats would be up in 2009.
Now appearing: The Democrats
Reithmeyer for school board; Panzitta, Rivella, and Sherlock for borough council.
Skills of the American Workforce
Thanks to the emailer for this post from the Sunday Parade Magazine. Take a look at that last Q&A. It's far more complex than the Emperor thinks it is.
Website for the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
Executive Summary of the report PDF format, 26 pages
Power Point presentation (PDF format only)
The first Commission Report (June 1990), PDF format, 164 pages
Fixing Our Schools
Former Labor Secretary William Brock leads the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, created to report on the state of U.S. education.
How can we fix American education?
First, we have to agree that we have a problem. In the last 25 years, spending has risen 240% while performance has barely changed. Only 68% of students graduate from high school, and many states require only eighth-grade skills in reading and math to get a diploma. We need to start with better early-childhood education. We need the very best among us to become teachers, and we need to ensure that standardized tests of rote knowledge don’t drive education away from the very things that have made America special: critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and teamwork.
You’ve said publicly that we are failing our teachers. How?
We recruit new teachers largely from the bottom 30% of entering college students, train them, and then assign them to the toughest jobs in the most challenging schools with very low pay. When the results fall short, we tell them, “You just have to work harder.” Most feel that they have no voice in their schools. This is no way to treat professionals.
Why isn’t education a bigger political issue?
Primarily because there is no quick fix. It’s complex. Perhaps most of all, no one really wants to admit that we are leaving millions of children behind. Education is the key to better jobs, higher incomes, and greater growth in what has become an extremely competitive global economy. Nothing is more important than education. Absolutely nothing.
Website for the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
Executive Summary of the report PDF format, 26 pages
Power Point presentation (PDF format only)
The first Commission Report (June 1990), PDF format, 164 pages
Fixing Our Schools
Former Labor Secretary William Brock leads the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce, created to report on the state of U.S. education.
How can we fix American education?
First, we have to agree that we have a problem. In the last 25 years, spending has risen 240% while performance has barely changed. Only 68% of students graduate from high school, and many states require only eighth-grade skills in reading and math to get a diploma. We need to start with better early-childhood education. We need the very best among us to become teachers, and we need to ensure that standardized tests of rote knowledge don’t drive education away from the very things that have made America special: critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and teamwork.
You’ve said publicly that we are failing our teachers. How?
We recruit new teachers largely from the bottom 30% of entering college students, train them, and then assign them to the toughest jobs in the most challenging schools with very low pay. When the results fall short, we tell them, “You just have to work harder.” Most feel that they have no voice in their schools. This is no way to treat professionals.
Why isn’t education a bigger political issue?
Primarily because there is no quick fix. It’s complex. Perhaps most of all, no one really wants to admit that we are leaving millions of children behind. Education is the key to better jobs, higher incomes, and greater growth in what has become an extremely competitive global economy. Nothing is more important than education. Absolutely nothing.
Special Ed Woes at BCTHS
From this morning's BCCT
School facing special education legal challenges
Such challenges are typically resolved by offering additional education to special education students as compensation, an administrator said.
By JOAN HELLYER
Two legal challenges have prompted Bucks County Technical High School administrators this summer to review their procedures for handling special education students, an official said.
The challenges, which will be handled by a hearing officer, are common in every school district, said Kevin Gentilcore, the school’s supervisor of pupil services. However, they are the first to be filed against the tech school in its 50-year history, he said.
“We’re not happy that we have a couple cases. We’re looking at all of our procedures and those of our sending districts to make sure we are all legally sound and have processes in place to continue to have positive relationships with our students and parents,” Gentilcore said.
He would not identify the students involved in the due process cases, citing confidentiality restrictions, and declined comment on the cases.
But generally speaking, Gentilcore said, due process cases come about after a parent, guardian or other party connected to the student “feels that his or her Individual Education Plan was not appropriately implemented.” The interested party could claim that since the IEP was not properly implemented, the student did not learn and achieve as much as expected, he said.
The IEP is developed in a joint effort by public school officials, the student, and his or her guardian as required of public schools by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is designed to meet the unique educational needs of a child, taking into consideration how the disability affects the student’s learning, education department officials said.
The IEP describes how the student learns, how he or she best demonstrates that learning, and what teachers and service providers are required to do to help the student learn more effectively, officials said.
The cost to implement an IEP depends on the student’s individual disability, they said, and can range from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Typically such challenges to IEP implementation are resolved by offering the student additional education as compensation, Gentilcore said.
The comprehensive technical high school off Wistar Road in Bristol Township already has procedures in place to ensure that a student’s IEP is being followed, the supervisor said.
Initially, when a special education student is accepted into the school that serves the Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school districts, the sending school reviews the student’s IEP.
Then, representatives from the sending school and BCTHS meet with the student and his or her parent or guardian to make sure the IEP is appropriate in a technological setting, Gentilcore said. It is adjusted as needed to accommodate the technical environment.
It’s also reviewed by representatives of the home school and the tech school, as well as the student and parent or guardian, on an annual basis, he said.
School officials now are in the process of doing “preventive maintenance” by making sure they are handling the IEP cases correctly in light of the legal challenges, Gentilcore said.
“We figure let’s be ahead of the curve here. There’s probably nothing more to do than we are already doing, but we are in a heightened sense of awareness,” the administrator said.
Gentilcore believes the cases can be tentatively resolved by the time the school’s joint board committee meets again in late August. The board will have to approve the settlements before they can be enacted, he said.
School facing special education legal challenges
Such challenges are typically resolved by offering additional education to special education students as compensation, an administrator said.
By JOAN HELLYER
Two legal challenges have prompted Bucks County Technical High School administrators this summer to review their procedures for handling special education students, an official said.
The challenges, which will be handled by a hearing officer, are common in every school district, said Kevin Gentilcore, the school’s supervisor of pupil services. However, they are the first to be filed against the tech school in its 50-year history, he said.
“We’re not happy that we have a couple cases. We’re looking at all of our procedures and those of our sending districts to make sure we are all legally sound and have processes in place to continue to have positive relationships with our students and parents,” Gentilcore said.
He would not identify the students involved in the due process cases, citing confidentiality restrictions, and declined comment on the cases.
But generally speaking, Gentilcore said, due process cases come about after a parent, guardian or other party connected to the student “feels that his or her Individual Education Plan was not appropriately implemented.” The interested party could claim that since the IEP was not properly implemented, the student did not learn and achieve as much as expected, he said.
The IEP is developed in a joint effort by public school officials, the student, and his or her guardian as required of public schools by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. It is designed to meet the unique educational needs of a child, taking into consideration how the disability affects the student’s learning, education department officials said.
The IEP describes how the student learns, how he or she best demonstrates that learning, and what teachers and service providers are required to do to help the student learn more effectively, officials said.
The cost to implement an IEP depends on the student’s individual disability, they said, and can range from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Typically such challenges to IEP implementation are resolved by offering the student additional education as compensation, Gentilcore said.
The comprehensive technical high school off Wistar Road in Bristol Township already has procedures in place to ensure that a student’s IEP is being followed, the supervisor said.
Initially, when a special education student is accepted into the school that serves the Bensalem, Bristol, Bristol Township, Morrisville, Neshaminy and Pennsbury school districts, the sending school reviews the student’s IEP.
Then, representatives from the sending school and BCTHS meet with the student and his or her parent or guardian to make sure the IEP is appropriate in a technological setting, Gentilcore said. It is adjusted as needed to accommodate the technical environment.
It’s also reviewed by representatives of the home school and the tech school, as well as the student and parent or guardian, on an annual basis, he said.
School officials now are in the process of doing “preventive maintenance” by making sure they are handling the IEP cases correctly in light of the legal challenges, Gentilcore said.
“We figure let’s be ahead of the curve here. There’s probably nothing more to do than we are already doing, but we are in a heightened sense of awareness,” the administrator said.
Gentilcore believes the cases can be tentatively resolved by the time the school’s joint board committee meets again in late August. The board will have to approve the settlements before they can be enacted, he said.
Special Facilities Committee Meeting Tomorrow
Reminder about the special meeting of the facilities committee tomorrow night. This is not a full board meeting. This would only be the facilities committee.
Does anyone know who the facilities committee members are? It's not well publicised.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Facilities Committee Meeting
The Morrisville School District's Facility Committee will hold a meeting on July 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School, 550 W. Palmer St., Morrisville, PA. Marlys Mihok Secretary
Site: HS F-10
Time: 7:00PM
Does anyone know who the facilities committee members are? It's not well publicised.
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Facilities Committee Meeting
The Morrisville School District's Facility Committee will hold a meeting on July 9, 2008 at 7:00 pm in Conference Room F-10 of the Middle/Senior High School, 550 W. Palmer St., Morrisville, PA. Marlys Mihok Secretary
Site: HS F-10
Time: 7:00PM
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