NEA Today Ed Notes

Dallas School District Fires 375 Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:48:00 +0000

Budget deficits and mismanagement led the Dallas Independent School District (ISD) to fire 375 teachers after a slew of position cuts. School officials hoped the reduction in force (RIF) would help the district save enough to make up an estimated $84 million budget deficit carried from the 2007-08 year.

The teacher firings on Oct. 16 came after nearly 40 administrators, 150 non-contractual workers and 62 central office members were laid-off beginning late September. Some 200 vacant positions were also eliminated.

School principals found out who got axed on Oct. 14. After many raised questions about the plan details, the district delayed the layoffs one day, according to an Associated Press article. Some teachers learned of their job statuses early the next day.

The number of firings was significantly smaller than initial projections said NEA-Dallas President Dale Kaiser. NEA-Dallas, as well as other employee associations, met with trustee board members and negotiated a plan decreasing the number of teachers who would be forced to leave the school district.

Kaiser said the board was able to make some $38 million in cuts to other programs to save more teachers from getting a pink slip. NEA-Dallas also led the effort to lengthen teacher severance packages and allow people, like Chemistry teacher Melody Shivers of Woodrow Wilson High School, to volunteer to be “RIF’d.”

Shivers was one of about 200 who voluntarily left their positions to help reduce the number of teachers who would lose their jobs.

“I felt like it was the right time for me to leave and hopefully one of my colleagues would save their job,” said Shivers, a 30-year veteran. “It’s distressing and very emotional to see people lose their jobs.”

Dallas ISD revealed a $64 million deficit on Sept. 10 that stemmed from mismanagement of funds. The district miscalculated teacher salaries and hired more positions than the budget allowed. Superintendent of the Dallas ISD Michael Hinojosa warned that continued spending in these areas could push the deficit to nearly $84 million. District officials declared a possible reduction in force nearly a week after the deficit announcement.

The district is projected to save $68 million according to The Dallas Morning News reports. Yet, another RIF could still be on the horizon, Kaiser said. The board has not revealed how the remainder of the deficit will be cleared.

For now, Dallas ISD is trying to handle the stress caused by this one. Many area schools are grappling with the loss of teachers. Some students were in tears along with their teachers.
“All children bond with their teachers and it is very difficult to change teachers,” former principal of L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School Lea Beach said. Beach, also the supervisor-at-large for the Texas State Teachers Association, volunteered to leave. “[The RIF] will be hard for everyone, [because] this is a human industry.”

Despite the high emotions, Beach, who hopes to return to education, was most impressed by the overall professionalism of many teachers during the ordeal. She said, “While we have a right to be angry with the administration, most people remembered that we’re not there for the administration, we’re there for the children.”

Fired teachers who accepted the district’s severance package by Oct. 21 evening will be placed on administrative leave and paid through Jan. 16. In conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce, the Dallas ISD hosted a job fair featuring some 110 employers, including other school districts.

By Nina Sears

NEA Foundation Launches Green Grant Application

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:37:00 +0000

If you’ve never applied for a NEA Foundation grant, you should. Not only is the money good (up to $5,000), but the application process just got easier and greener.

In a move it says will make applying for grants easier, more convenient, and less prone to user error, the NEA Foundation has launching a web-based application process for its popular $2,000 and $5,000 Student Achievement and Learning & Leadership grants that support public school educators’ ideas to improve teaching and learning.

“In an increasingly technologically savvy world, we want to encourage educators to use all the resources they have at their fingertips, many of which can be found online,” says Harriet Sanford, President and CEO of the NEA Foundation. “Our new process is green, easier and more convenient to complete, and requires less time: all attributes that we know busy educators will appreciate.”

Applicants can link directly to the application from the NEA Foundation’s web site at www.neafoundation.org. After responding to three questions that determine eligibility, applicants complete the process in five simple steps. They are prompted when they’ve left out any required information, and they are allowed to save their application if they need more time. The process also allows repeat applicants the opportunity to save personal and school information, cutting down on time spent on the administrative portion of the application and allowing more time for the narrative section.

Sanford added that the Foundation will accept both paper and online applications for its Student Achievement Grants and its Learning and Leadership Grants through June 1, 2009, when it will convert to the web-based system. The next deadline for applications is Feb. 1, 2009.
“We have designated a staff person to answer any questions applicants may have as we make this transition,” she said. “The bottom line is that we want educators to apply for these grants and to fully understand and to feel comfortable with the new process. By phasing it in slowly over time, we hope to accomplish this.”

Over the past decade, the NEA Foundation has awarded more than $4.1 million in grants to public school educators. “Our goal is to fund and share successful strategies to improve public education and to enrich our students’ learning experience by supporting their teachers’ best ideas,” Sanford said. “Through these grants, we are improving the quality of teaching and learning for everyone.”

By Edith Wooten

Getting Out the Vote in Memphis

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:40:00 +0000

NEA member, high school media concepts teacher, and radio host Stan Bell had folks rocking the vote at the Memphis Education Association’s “Get Out the Vote-Support Public Education” musical rally, held in historic W.C. Handy Park last Saturday afternoon. Bell, who has been involved in radio broadcast since the ‘80s, provided musical entertainment and commentary at the event.

“It takes a little more to get people who are just hanging out to come over and register,” said MEA UniServ representative Susanne Jackson, one of the event’s coordinators.
And that “little more” was Bell, according to Jackson, who spun tunes, led chants, and participated in an informal dialogue with MEA President Stephanie Fitzgerald to encourage invited guests, park regulars, and passers-by to both register to vote and turnout on Election Day.

NEA’s Education Votes traveling billboard even showed up to help the cause.
Thirteen new voters were registered, thanks to the hard work of Bell and the rally’s sponsors, the Tennessee Education Association, Shelby County Education Association, and Tipton County Education Association.

Bell said that by participating he hoped to share the same encouragement he gives to his students in the classroom, where he often discusses the importance of serving the public interest.

“I try to be a motivator and tell them this is a historic election, no matter who they vote for,” he says.

When he’s not teaching or attending rallies, Bell hosts the “Old Skool Drive @ Five” after school on weekdays as Stan “The Bell Ringer” Bell on KJMS-FM, an adult urban, contemporary station in Memphis.

By Erica Addison

Teacher Nominates Family for Extreme Makeover

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:13:00 +0000

Eric Kuhn was so affected by an emotional parent-teacher conference that he knew he had to do something to help.

A parent, Felicia Jackson, had a sister who had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. The doctors said she had only three months to live. Jackson promised her sister that she would not allow her children to be put back in the foster care system, but she had no idea how she'd manage the parenting of ten nieces and nephews in addition to her own four children.

Kuhn, then a special education resource teacher at Kingsview Middle School in Germantown, Md., wanted to help in any way he could. He met Felicia Jackson in 2004, and that year, after her sister passed away and she took in the children, he nominated the Jacksons for ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition. He nominated the family again the following year, and every year since. They were finally chosen in 2008, and, after a whirlwind week at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fl., returned to a newly-constructed home just outside of Poolesville, Md.

Don't miss the Jackson family’s story on ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition this Sunday, September 26th at 9 p.m.! And stay tuned to our blog for more of the story from Kuhn’s point-of-view.

By Erica Addison

Move Over Obama, Here Comes Dalton

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:55:00 +0000

While the pundits rehash the political keynotes of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, one nonpartisan speech has taken the education community by storm. Ten-year-old Dalton Sherman delivered the keynote at the Dallas Independent School District Believe/Achieve Back to School kickoff—and he rocked the house.

“I believe in me. Do you believe in me?” Sherman asked the more than 17,000 teachers, administrators, and education support professionals attending the event. Sherman’s message and near-flawless delivery had the audience laughing, cheering, and dabbing their eyes during the nine-minute talk.

“You better not give up on us. No, you better not, because in some cases, you’re all we got…. We need you,” said Sherman, daring Dallas ISD employees to get ready for the school year.

If you haven’t been emailed the video, check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAMLOnSNwzA. It’s the perfect way to kickoff your own school year.

By Michelle Chovan

When C-SPAN Makes You Cry

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 17:36:00 +0000

While watching Caroline Kennedy pay tribute to Sen. Ted Kennedy on C-SPAN during the Democratic Convention, Sarah Vowell burst into tears.

''If your child is getting an early boost in life through Head Start or attending a better school or can go to college because a Pell Grant has made it more affordable, Teddy is your senator, too,'' Caroline told the delegates in Denver.

That's when the waterworks started, Vowell says in a recent New York Times Op-Ed (registration required). She says she was surprised by her tears, but there's no surprise here.

Without Kennedy's unwavering support of Pell Grants, Vowell wouldn't have been able to pay her way through Montana State University; take German every day at 8 a.m. just for fun; jumpstart her writing career by working for the school newspaper; pass geology; graduate magna cum laude; and "open a trap door to a bottomless pit of beauty -- to Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong and Frank Lloyd Wright, to the old movies and old masters that have been my constant companions in my unalienable pursuit of happiness."

In other words, without Pell Grants, Vowell wouldn't have been afforded an education or any of the enriching, eye-opening, mind-expanding experiences an education brings to a person's life -- experiences that continue long after graduation.

When you think of what made your education possible, doesn't it bring tears to your eyes, too?

Magic

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:32:00 +0000

As the summer is about to dispose of it's humidity and heat
Our once silent hallways erupt with the sounds of excited little feet
One can only guess what some of these miniature invaders would do if dared
Yet, others seem so shy, nervous, and scared

Yes, some seem to be be treacherous and not Heaven sent,
And others are certain to be doctors or perhaps our future president
I find myself guessing what some of these little people will become before long
And, yet I pray that my estimation of others would prove to be wrong

Only a few will ever find themselves in the midst of fortune and fame
And others will fail and try to give their parents and teachers the blame
As I look upon these children, I know I am watching life in full motion
And I have only concluded that for their success education is a powerful and magical potion.

By Dave Arnold

Texas School District Allows Teachers to Carry Guns in School

noreply@blogger.com (John Rosales) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:38:00 +0000

A small, rural school district in Texas is allowing teachers to carry guns to class and at special events beginning this fall. This could be a first in the U.S.

The board of the Harrold Independent School District unanimously approved the plan and received no objections from parents, said Superintendent David Thweatt.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said, according to news reports. "It's just common sense."

The 110-student district is located near Wichita Falls. The lone campus is just off a heavily trafficked highway and about 30 minutes from the nearest sheriff's office.

Ever since Columbine, school shootings have proliferated. This has prompted some calls for school officials to allow students and teachers to carry legally concealed weapons into classrooms for protection.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in the online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry endorsed the idea at an August 18 news conference, citing that mass shootings could have been stopped if the victims had been armed. Texas law prohibits firearms on school campuses "unless pursuant to the written regulations or written authorization of the institution." There is an exception for police.

Congress once barred guns at schools nationwide, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck the law down, although state and local communities could adopt their own laws. One newspaper editorial addresses the legal liability of teachers who might accidently shoot a student.

Harrold ISD teachers wanting to carry a gun to school will have to be certified to carry a concealed handgun in Texas and get crisis training and permission from school officials, Thweatt said. They must also agree to use ammunition that is designed to minimize the risk of ricochet in school halls.

Thweatt did not reveal how many of the 50 or so teachers and designated staff will be armed when school starts.

Learning the Ropes

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 20:32:00 +0000

When I was in sixth grade, my gym teacher, Mrs. McMahon, was fond of asking us to jump rope inside the gymnasium on rainy days. Maybe she lacked imagination, or maybe she liked to listen to loud ‘70s rock music – she’d blare songs like “China Grove” by the Doobie Brothers, and for the longest time, I thought they were singing jumping rope. “Well you’re talkin’ bout jumpin’ rope. Jumpin’ rope! Oh, oh, jumpin’ rope.”

But though we were made to jump in place to rock ’n roll rhythms in gym class, we chose to jump rope during recess. The difference was that, out there, we jumped to the rhythm of two ropes hitting the blacktop in perfect time. We weren’t nearly as skilled at double dutch as the girls jumping on the streets of Philadelphia forty miles to the south, but some of us could perform footwork fancy enough to stop the boys from their kickball game and to come watch us.

It was a workout for the rope turners as well as the jumpers, and you had to time your entrance and the liftoff of your feet exactly to the twirling ropes – it required skill and concentration far beyond the mindless jumping of Mrs. McMahon’s gym class. And to us, it was every bit as much a competitive sport as kickball, only a lot more fun.

Our school district didn’t recognize this, but the New York City schools have. Double dutch will become the newest of 35 varsity sports played in New York City schools starting next spring. The hope is to get more girls involved in sports, particularly from neighborhoods where double dutch has long been practiced on sidewalks and in playgrounds outside low-income apartment buildings.

The announcement comes a week after the death of David A. Walker, a former New York City police sergeant who developed rules so that double dutch could be played competitively by girls as an intramural sport in the city schools. He also founded the National Double Dutch League.

In 1974, the first double-dutch tournament drew nearly 600 children, according to a New York Times article. Today, the Apollo Theater in Harlem hosts competitions that draw teams from around the world.

Who knows, maybe the two rope sport can someday become part of the five rings.

Spy Games

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Walker) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:13:00 +0000

Something fishy is going on in Everett, Washington. The school district is currently investigating why a video surveillance camera was installed in teacher Kay Powers' classroom at Cascade High School. It started last Fall when superintendent Carol Whitehead fired Powers for allegedly helping students produce a non-school newspaper. Powers appealed and was rehired in April with back pay. Teachers at Cascade, meantime, had noticed a peculiar-looking object in the ceiling of Powers' classroom. After repeated denials, Whitehead admitted that for two months in the spring of 2007, a surveillance video camera had been monitoring the veteran journalism teacher.

Not taking kindly to being spied on, Everett teachers responded by filing an unfair labor practice complaint, demanding that such surveillance be prohibited. The district soon began an investigation, which so far has not produced any new information about who exactly authorized the surveillance. According to Whitehead, no laws were broken and - guess what? - the recordings in questions are missing.

“An extremely bad comedy” – that's how Kim Mead, president of the Everett Education Association, aptly described the episode. “It should never have taken place.”

Certainly not, but should we be surprised? With video surveillance of students so commonplace in schools throughout the country, it seems inevitable that the cameras' gaze will occasionally be directed toward unsuspecting staff as well.

Latinos Studying Math, Science Perform Better With Faculty Mentors

noreply@blogger.com (John Rosales) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:57:00 +0000

There’s nothing like having a mentor to smooth your way. Whether at work or school, having someone take you under their wing can improve your fate, fortune and grade point average.

This certainly was the case for some Latino mentee college students who majored in math, the sciences and technology. They did better academically when they had faculty mentors working with them, according to a study from Rossier School of Education, University of Southern California (USC). The study is titled, "Examining the Academic Success of Latino Students in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Majors (not yet online)." It appears in the July-August issue of the Journal of College Student Development, one of many publications from Rossier's Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis.

"This shows how important it is for students to perceive they are part of the academic environment, especially for Latino students whose backgrounds may not be represented as equally in faculty numbers," says Associate Education Professor Darnell Cole, one of the authors, in a statement from USC. "Some Latino students may be spending more time with their peer groups in response to feelings of alienation and marginalization experienced within their academic programs. This doesn't mean that joining student diversity groups leads to poorer grades, but suggests that the students are seeking support and understanding that may be lacking from faculty."

The study, co-authored by graduate student Araceli Espinoza, was based on nationwide data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at UCLA of 146 Latino students who filled out surveys as freshmen in 1999 and as seniors in 2003.

Better than Bueller, Bueller, Bueller...

noreply@blogger.com (Mary Ellen Flannery) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:36:00 +0000

My husband and I took in "American Teen" this past weekend, a recently released film documentary about the lives of four teenagers in small-town Warsaw, Indiana. Good stuff! The film-makers had incredible access to the personal lives of these kids. The breaking-up scenes... eek. Painful.

So, we liked it. But as parents ourselves -- and as somebody who spends a lot of time with public school teachers, both professionally and personally -- we couldn't help but notice how little the lives of these kids (at least on film) had to do with their families or teachers. There was one brief classroom scene -- and, let me tell you, it didn't exactly flatter your colleague. (Honey. Yes...you. Put down the People magazine.) And the parents? Well, I cringed when one momma says to her desperately needy daughter, "You are not special."

Aieee. The sad truth is, I think, that high school life for a lot of kids doesn't have that much to do with actual school. Except for the occasional basketball game, prom planning, and college application -- at least for these kids.

Thumbs down to that.

Not That We Weren't Already Hoping for a Strong Economy...

noreply@blogger.com (Cynthia Kopkowski) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:56:00 +0000

In its August issue, popular fashion and lifestyle magazine Elle asks celebrities and media types what job they would fall back on if they lost their current gig in the faltering economy. The "Recession Confession" feature caught our attention when we got to Fox News talking head Bill O'Reilly. His fallback job? "Teaching. I used to teach high school history and English." O'Reilly might have some explaining to do should he ever find himself back in a public school teachers' lounge.

Two years ago, O'Reilly glommed onto a misleading Wall Street Journal editorial to unfairly blast NEA for donating to civil rights, minority, community, and advocacy groups. That same year, after an ABC "20/20" report by John Stossel accused the nation's teachers of being mediocre, O'Reilly's show, "The Factor," came to Stossel's defense, saying that U.S. children "seem to do worse the longer they remain in the system." And last October, O'Reilly opined on his show that "most teachers--high school and college in the United States--are left-wingers," who "bring in a anti-American viewpoint" to the classroom. (That left-wing claim alone no doubt came as a surprise to the 1 million NEA members who are pro-public education Republicans.)

The only way we'd want to see this ever happen is if rival Keith Olbermann of MSNBC has the same fallback plan and the two have to team teach. Heck, they could even co-moderate the debate team.

Obama Can Help Unite Latino and Black Voters

noreply@blogger.com (John Rosales) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:04:00 +0000

Hispanic registered voters ranked education as the number one issue of the fall election while supporting Democrat Barack Obama for president over Republican John McCain by 66 percent to 23 percent.

According to a nationwide survey of 2,015 Latinos conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center (PHC), respondents also indicated a dramatic reversal in Obama’s status among Latinos from the primaries, when he lost the Latino vote to Hillary Rodham Clinton by a nearly two-to-one ratio.

This might be the most important finding by researchers because it proves that Latinos can and will support a Black candidate for president.

“Latinos want to be supportive,” says Roberto Chavez, Interim-chair of the NEA Hispanic Caucus. “Closing any gaps that might exist between Blacks and Latinos is crucial to winning the election.”

In the survey, three times as many respondents said being Black would help Obama (32 percent) with Latino voters than said it would hurt him (11 percent). The majority (53 percent) said his race would make no difference to Latino voters. At 46 million, Latinos represent about 15 percent of the U.S. population.

Chavez agrees that the candidates’ ethnic backgrounds are less a factor than where they stand on the issues and how they choose to reach out to the Latino community.

“Visibility is number one,” he says. “Obama needs to come into our neighborhoods and talk with us. He should, for example, commit now to appointing Latinos to his Cabinet and the White House.”

In addition to education, Latinos prefer Obama’s views over McCain’s on other issues, such as jobs, healthcare and immigration, according to PHC, a nonpartisan organization that researches the growing U.S. Latino population.

“Obama can do a lot to bring Latino and Black activists together,” says Chavez, a fourth grade teacher at Greenville Elementary School in Santa Ana, and a member of the California Teachers Association.

In a recent Gallup poll, Obama is leading McCain by 30 percentage points among Latinos. Although Latino turnout is lower than for other ethnic groups, they could be crucial in November because of their numbers in the battleground states of Florida (where Latinos make up 14 percent of the state’s eligible electorate), Colorado (12 percent), Nevada (12 percent) and New Mexico (37 percent).

Teacher unions targeted in Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Tim Walker) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:41:00 +0000

Last week, NEA’s Office of International Relations hosted a presentation by Irene Adanusa Duncan, vice president of Education International and general secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT).

In addition to speaking about some of the very similar-sounding challenges and issues facing educators in west Africa, including salary negotiations, class size, lack of funding, professional development, and concerns over the curriculum, Duncan also outlined three major priorities for teacher unions in the region: the realization of Education for All , the halting of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and exposing the persecution of teachers, most notably in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe.

In Ethiopia, members of the teachers union have been harassed, detained and even tortured and the recent, highly publicized political upheaval in Zimbabwe has helped decimate that nation’s once-robust teaching corps. Duncan reported how President Robert Mugabe has repeatedly threatened members of the Progressive Teachers Union who have been campaigning for democratic reform. Mugabe, Duncan said, considers the union one of his “biggest problems.” With Mugabe still entrenched in power, union officials are fearful of reprisals.

Zimbabwe’s educational system, once one of the finest in the region, has been decimated in recent years as 25,000 teachers have fled the profession and the country’s hyperinflation, which has rendered their wages practically worthless – economic realities that are only compounded by human rights violations.

Read more about Education International’s work on behalf of educators’ human rights around the world.

Stay Longer, Learn More?

noreply@blogger.com (Alain Jehlen) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:59:00 +0000

Just do it... or else!

That about sums up the strategy of No Child Left Behind for closing achievement gaps. And it's becoming increasingly apparent that it hasn't worked. State test scores are up, proving that test prep does prepare kids for tests, but the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which asks questions about the same skills but in somewhat different formats, shows no real impact.

That's prompted many people in education and politics to look for a new approach, and one that's gaining traction simply recognizes that it matters what happens outside the 12 years, 180 days per year, 6 hours per day that kids are in school.

It's been recognized (although not much talked about) for years that low-income students learn as much or nearly as much when they're in school as wealthier kids. It's when they're out of school that they learn less.

Pre-school for all may be the Next Big Thing. There's now plenty of evidence that quality pre-school, with well-trained teachers, can change kids' lives, not only in tiny, hot-house experiments but in big, state-wide programs like Oklahoma's.

Some districts and states are also looking at extending the number of hours in the school day. Massachusetts is one, and the experiments there have the support and involvement of the teachers' unions.

If any readers are working in one of the schools that are trying an extended day, please use the comment feature of this blog to tell us: Are you and the kids exhausted, or excited? Are they learning more? How are you dealing with schedule conflicts like sports and jobs?

In short, is this a good idea on the ground, and not just in a book?

School Supplies - Get 'em while they're hot!

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:31:00 +0000

Just as Christmas decorations go up before Halloween, Back-to-School displays appear while you’re out buying beach towels and suntan lotion for your summer getaway. Eager retail
outlets have even sweetened the pot for teachers – they know who stocks your classrooms! Sure, they’re more concerned about wooing you into loyal customer-hood than they are about school funding, but a deal’s a deal. Here’s a round up of what you can find:

Office Depot will host a Teacher Appreciation Week for registered “Star Teachers” (you can sign up at any Office Depot store). Starting on Sunday, August 12th through Saturday August 18th, Star Teachers will receive 10% off purchases when they present their Star Teacher member card. Also, on Saturday August 18th from 9 am – 11 am, all Office Depot retail locations will host a Teacher Appreciation Breakfast where Star Teachers can pick up a free tote bag full of product samples, information, and other offers.

Not to be outdone, OfficeMax is hosting Educator Appreciation Days, either August 2-4 or August 23-25, depending on when school starts in your area. Educators will receive discounts, free samples, and a chance to win prizes. Call 1-877-OFFICEMAX or visit www.officemax.com to find local dates and locations.

Staples will honor educators on Teacher Appreciation Day. The first 200 teachers at each local event will receive free gifts and a chance to check out the latest back to school products. Find the date and location of the event near you at www.staples.com/teacherday.

Michaels, the arts and crafts chain, is thanking teachers Sunday, August 12th through Saturday, August 18th with a teachers-only 15% discount off of everything in the store, including sale items. (School ID required.) Also, visit www.Michaels.com between August 11th through 18th and register to win a $1,000 Michaels gift card, a classroom full of Crayola products, and other prizes.

Go forth and stock up!

NEA Supports New Health Care Coalition

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:02:00 +0000

More than 100 organizations, including the National Education Association, have pledged their support for “Health Care for America Now,” a new $40 million grassroots campaign aimed at providing affordable health care for all.

The coalition launched last week in more than 50 cities around the nation. NEA President Reg Weaver was on hand to speak at the press conference in Washington, D.C., saying it was “shameful” that there are 9 million children currently living without health insurance.

The group hopes to mobilize millions of Americans to work together in pressuring Congress and the next president into passing major health care reform in 2009. There are also plans for a $40 million effort to make health insurance a priority in this year’s presidential campaign. In the next five months, Health Care for America Now will spend more than $25 million on a mass advertising campaign with millions more focused on a grassroots effort to build support in 45 states. The group will also try to gather signatures from every member of Congress pledging to provide health insurance to all Americans.

Although many of the ads will run in battleground states, the group has not offered its position on the health care proposals of Senator Barack Obama and John McCain. Richard Kirsch, one of the leaders of the group, said the coalition will back a plan that is faithful to its principles. The group wants to create a system of high quality health care where all individuals are given the choice between affordable private and public plans.

In this election year, “the health insurance industry won’t have the battlefield to them selves,” said Kirsch at the launch event. “They will have to answer to the American people.”

More than 47 million Americans do not have health insurance.

--By Svetlana Shkolnikova

New NEA Leaders to Take Office in September

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:07:00 +0000

A new National Education Association leadership team will take office on September 1, 2008. President-elect Dennis Van Roekel and Vice President-elect Lily Eskelsen will be joined by Becky Pringle, who won the Secretary-Treasurer position, while Princess Moss of Virginia and Len Paolillo of Massachusetts earned the two open Executive Committee seats.

Van Roekel is looking ahead to a presidency focused on fostering "the dreams and possibilities of public education" for the nation's children and inspiring members to understand the power of collective action—goals enumerated in the Association's Mission, Vision, and Core Values.

"We've laid out so well in our mission and vision that we must advocate for our members, that we must unify our members in the nation," said Van Roekel, a 25-year teaching veteran. "It's beyond excitement. I am inspired by that."

Van Roekel said that during his presidency, he will continue to stress the importance of political activism by members. "We need to be part of the political process because all of education is defined by it," Van Roekel said.

A high school math teacher from Phoenix, Arizona, Van Roekel has served as NEA Vice President and Secretary-Treasurer, as well as President of the Arizona Education Association and Paradise Valley Education Association. He chairs the NEA Advisory Committee on Membership.

Eskelsen, an elementary teacher from Salt Lake City, Utah, served most recently as NEA Secretary-Treasurer. She also chairs the NEA Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. Past roles include presidencies of the Utah Education Association, the Utah State Retirement System, and the Children at Risk Foundation. In addition to teaching, her 28 years of school service include working in a cafeteria and as a kindergarten aide. She served as a member of the Utah La Raza Education Committee, the White House Strategy Session on Improving Hispanic Education, and in 1998 she was the first Hispanic chosen as her party's nominee for U.S. Congress in Utah.

Pringle, a physical science teacher from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, previously served two three-year terms as a member of NEA's Executive Committee, where she advocated on behalf of the nation's educators on issues such as diversity and human and civil rights. She has also chaired the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Advisory Committee since its inception in 2005.

Moss, an elementary school music teacher in Louisa County, Virginia, where she has taught for 21 years, is currently in her second term as the President of the Virginia Education Association. She also sits on the NEA Board of Directors and previously served as Vice President of VEA and President of the Louisa Education Association.

Paolillo is a sociology professor at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts, who has served as chair of NEA's Committee on Legislation for the past three years. He previously served on the NEA Board of Directors and as Vice President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He's been President, Vice President, and negotiator for the Massachusetts State College Association.

For "Read Across," A Twist on Tale of the Three Little Pigs

noreply@blogger.com (John Rosales) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:04:00 +0000

Veteran teacher Kathy Jewell-Quigley collects all types of pig arts and crafts, from delicate porcelain figures and paintings of dancing pigs, to dozens of books about “The Three Little Pigs” fairytale, including copies in nine languages.
“I’m a pig collector,” says Jewell-Quigley, a special ed teacher with the Bedford Public School District and a delegate from the Michigan Education Association attending the NEA Representative Assembly in Washington, D.C. “The story about the three little pigs is my favorite.”
Her interest in pig collectables is not surprising. Jewell-Quigley was born and raised on a pig farm in Tecumseh, Michigan. She loves porkers.
“It’s in my blood,” she says.
This might explain why Jewell-Quigley volunteered to dress up in a costume and perform the classic pig tale as part of the National Education Association’s first “Read Across Washington” held June 30. The program was launched at 18 public libraries in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The day-long celebration of summer reading featured Cat in the Hat characters, children’s book authors and volunteer readers. The message of the event is, “children who read, and are read to, do better in school and in life.”
What is a total surprise to those who know Jewell-Quigley’s love for pigs is that she dresses up as the wolf. Jewell-Quigley read to more than 30 youngsters at the Palisades Public Library in Washington, D.C. dressed as Alexandar T. Wolf, a sympathetic character who accidently huffs and puffs and blows down the pig houses, though not out of malice, but because he has a bad cold.
In this alternative version by writer Jon Scieszka, Jewell-Quigley says the pigs are “mean, stupid and rude” and the wolf is a “distinguished English gentleman who is just asking for a cup of sugar to bake his granny a cake.”
After the wolf knocks on their doors, his cold gets the better of him and he accidently sneezes and blows down the straw houses of the first two pigs.
“It‘s not his fault,” she says. “When the houses fell, after the dust settled, the pigs were just laying there. You wouldn’t leave a ham dinner behind would you?”
As with the classic version of the story, the third pig’s house is made of brick.
“He’s the rudest pig ever,” she says. “He calls the cops on the wolf and he (wolf) gets carted off to jail.”
During her performance, Jewell-Quigley wears a top hat with hairy wolf ears glued to the brim and a four-foot long tail she made at home.
“I sewed in a wire so it sticks out and doesn’t drag on the floor,” she says.
She confiscated one of her husband’s neck ties to match the wolf’s gray pinstriped suit, spats and cane. Her oversized pocket watch was created by commercial art students out of cardboard, and the drama teacher at her school gave her the top hat.
“I usually hand out a box of tissues so the kids can hand me the tissues after I sneeze,” she says.
But more than the costume and props, it is her exaggerated cough and hurricane sneeze that gets the students’ attention.
“At first, I thought she really had a cough,” says Mike, 11, who was at Palisades. “Then I realized it was part of the story.”
Mike is entering the sixth grade and says his parents encourage him to read an hour a day. Whenever possible, he also tries to read the book that a movie is based on before going to the theater. That’s how he read all of the Harry Potter books.
“I own all the (Potter) movies and the books,” he says. Mike is currently reading Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” which opens as a movie later this month.
Haja, 11, has been going to the Palisades library since she was age 7. She says her parents encourage her to read, especially on school nights when she is not allowed to watch television.
“Monday through Thursday, I have to read,” she says. “No TV.”
During the storyteller’s performance, Hada says she particularly enjoyed the wolf’s long nose and hairy tail.
“I liked her claws too,” she says. “She used a lot of expressions.”
The Palisades children’s books librarian, Paulette Diallo, is a former high school teacher from Baltimore. She said having a storyteller act out a book allows her the opportunity to follow-up with other book recommendations.
“I can now look for other books by the same author, or in the same genre,” she says. “She (Jewell-Quigley) did a great job imitating the voices.”

NEA’s reform call draws Obama praise; NEA Annual Meeting delegates tackle dropouts and training

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:32:00 +0000

There should be a new balance in the federal role in education, National Education Association President Reg Weaver said yesterday at the NEA's Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, unveiling a comprehensive NEA proposal that spells out how to get there. Under the so-called “No Child Left Behind” law, there’s far too much testing and punishing, and not enough funding, Weaver said. “Federal education policy needs more than a legislative tweak here and there.”

NEA President Reg Weaver lays out NEA’s program for a new balance in the federal role in education, at a press conference yesterday. The proposal, or “white paper,” was immediately applauded by Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate. Calling teachers the “single most important factor” in students’ achievement, he praised the proposal as “a roadmap for educators, elected officials, policymakers, and all who care deeply about the future of our children to consider and debate in the days ahead.”

NEA’s proposal calls on the federal government to better enforce civil rights laws to promote access and opportunity, fund past congressional actions and current federal mandates, and help create the capacity at local and state levels for school transformation.

Also on Tuesday, delegates packed a forum on the dropout crisis among ethnic minorities. ABC Primetime anchor John Quiñones and actor/activist Hill Harper joined education experts on a panel that emphasized students and educators must be supported by parents, communities, administrators, and legislators. Too often they aren’t, said Norma Cantú, a civil rights attorney and professor. “For many of our students, let’s call it what it is: not dropouts, but pushouts.”

Obama’s education advisor, Linda Darling-Hammond, encouraged a standing room-only crowd of attendees at the annual Teacher Quality policy briefing to “take charge” in her keynote speech.

“All children have the right to learn, but we must also guarantee that teachers have the same right,” she said. She urged teachers to campaign for candidates and education reform that values them, including greater professional development and mentoring opportunities.

--Reported by Alain Jehlen, Cynthia Kopkowski, and Tim Walker

Cross-posted on nea.org in RA Action

As Temps Soar, So do Spirits at Outreach to Teach

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:22:00 +0000

By 9 a.m., it was 89 degrees. But the only number that mattered at Friday’s Outreach to Teach event in Arlington, Virginia, was 350—the number of volunteers who braved the heat to help out.

Outreach to Teach, an annual event organized by NEA’s Student and Retired programs, offers student members the opportunity to roll up their sleeves with retirees and active educators, and also to help transform a high-needs school campus with gallons of paint, buckets of seedlings, and heaps of enthusiasm. This year, the energetic group descended on Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, the oldest high school in its district.

Inside, under the direction of the Rachael Ray Show designer Evette Rios, teams of volunteers were transforming the faculty dining room. Make way for the Country Squire Dining Room table, please! While, retirees Sarah Borgman of Indiana and Mae Smith of Illinois “sewed” together full-length curtains with sticky tape, Kimberly Gray, a recent graduate of Illinois State University, wore the signs of her labor across her black shorts: White paint!

“Today is all about giving back to the community and making the school environment a better place to teach,” Gray said.

Down the halls, busy volunteers created cloud-covered bulletin boards. “No intimate kissing, warned the behavior board. “Wakefield in the News!” crowed another. Many were putting to use donations from The Home Depot. Inside the media center, Wyoming student president Aaron Merkin had one of the most… interesting jobs, scraping gum off the bottom of chairs. (Every little bit helps!) “I can’t imagine how the kids are going to react. They’ll be, hopefully, so surprised and excited.”

“I say it’s like Extreme Makeover: The School Edition,” said Virginia student president Sarah Danielson.

Outside, Oklahoma Retired program president Joy Dennis took a much-needed break from painting yellow curbs. “Here I am, I’m hot and I’m sweaty and I probably smell, but I’m really enjoying it,” Dennis proclaimed. “What we’re doing really makes a difference – not only to the students, but the faculty. It’s a great morale booster.”

Missouri student president Geron Tatum agreed. “It’s not just about being in a classroom, it’s about creating an environment where learning is possible, where kids don’t have to worry about ceiling tiles falling on their heads.” But, even before the students return, and the faculty get a load of their new faculty lounge – fresh terracotta paint, faux-suede chairs, and a flat-screen TV, all donated by JCPenney – there is an immediate reward for everybody involved in the event, Tatum said.

With work gloves in hands, surveying the bags and bags of mulch that he and his team were spreading, Tatum said, “It’s like the old saying, ‘Alone, you’ve got one finger. But together, you’ve got a fist that can strike a mighty blow.’ … I just love Outreach to Teach.”

--Mary Ellen Flannery

Cross-posted on nea.org in RA Action

The Child-Moms of Gloucester

noreply@blogger.com (Alain Jehlen) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:27:00 +0000

The picturesque but declining fishing port of Gloucester, Massachusetts, has become the dramatic focus of a national debate over teen pregnancy, with the claim and denial that a group of high school girls, all under 16, made a pact to get pregnant and raise their children together.

There are conflicting stories: Maybe the pact only involved just two of the girls. Or maybe the girls got pregnant unintentionally, and agreed to help each other stay in school and raise their children after they found out--that's what one of the girls told Good Morning America.

But there's no dispute that at least 17 girls got pregnant this year at the 1200-student school, compared with four (well, one report says five) last year.

Just about everyone agrees this is a bad thing, except possibly some of the girls, who reportedly celebrated the news of positive pregnancy tests with high fives.

Who or what is to blame? There's no agreement on that. Was it Juno? Jamie Lynn Spears? Catholic opposition to contraceptives? The day care center that is part of the high school's efforts to keep pregnant girls from dropping out? The sinking fishing industry?

But if the goal is to have fewer teen mothers, there are some hard facts that can help point the way:

First, the teen birth rate in the United States fell from 1991 when it was 62.1 per 1,000 girls, to 2005 when it was 40.5. That's a very big drop. In 2006, the most recent year for which the statistics have been compiled, the rate jumped three percent to 41.9. But it's still a lot lower than it used to be.

It's unclear whether 2006 was a short interruption in the decline, or a reversal. But these numbers suggest we're not looking at a new crisis. The Gloucester High School rate this year comes to roughly 30 per 1,000 girls, so they're still better than average. It's just that they used to be way below.

But what do these numbers really mean? Birth rates are reported per year, but a girl has more than one year as a teenager in which she can have a baby--she has seven, to be exact. Roughly a third of girls get pregnant before they're 20, and about a sixth give birth.

The teen birth rate is dramatically higher in the US than in Western Europe--roughly twice as high as in England, and eight times as high as in the Netherlands, for example. The abortion rate also higher here than in Europe--European girls just don't get pregnant as often. That may be because Europeans promote contraception among teens much more. Another factor may be Western Europe's philosophy sometimes called "solidarity," which results in less poverty. They have higher taxes and they use some of that money to lift people off the bottom. As a result, the child poverty rate is much higher in the United States than in most of Western Europe.

The fact that teen births are so rare in Europe suggests that we could do better here.

The current federal strategy focuses on abstinence-only sex education. In 2002, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that a third of secondary schools were using this approach. But a carefully controlled study found that abstinence-only programs don't keep teens from having sex. (On the other hand, the study also disproved the theory that the moralizing tone of abstinence-only education could promote pregnancy by discouraging contraception. It turns out that abstinence-only education just doesn't have much effect on teen sexual behavior.)

What was shocking in Gloucester was not just the number but the report that girls got pregnant on purpose. That’s not as unusual as you might think—surveys suggest roughly one fifth of teenage girls may get pregnant on purpose. (But let’s hope that’s not true for girls under 16!)

Bottom line: Does the Gloucester incident, pact or no pact, reveal a sudden unraveling of the social fabric? No. Could we do a whole lot better in keeping teenage children from having children? Almost certainly, yes.

Hard Times

noreply@blogger.com (Cindy Long) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:49:00 +0000

At the start of each school day, the students of Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, MD, walk past a statue of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a former student of the historic school that opened its doors in 1883.

The scene is captured in the HBO Documentary, “Hard Times at Douglass High: A No Child Left Behind Report Card,” and award-winning filmmakers Alan and Susan Raymond are careful to point out the irony: Before Marshall won “Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954, Frederick Douglass was one of only two high schools African Americans were allowed to attend in Baltimore. But 50 years later, the student body at this inner city school is once again segregated, separate from but no where near equal to surrounding schools in whiter, richer neighborhoods.

Hard Times is a cinema verite documentary, a film technique that uses very little voice over, commentary, or editing, letting the camera capture the story without much molding from the filmmakers. Unfortunately, the style doesn’t allow the film to clearly explain how NCLB mandates are impossible for urban schools in poor neighborhoods like Douglass to meet, but it clearly conveys the school’s struggles.

There aren’t enough textbooks to go around, students regularly miss school, and of those who do show up, many refuse to go to class, preferring to make trouble in the hallways instead. Only a handful of parents attend Back to School Night, even fewer go to the school’s holiday performance, and nearly 70 percent of the teachers – of which there is a shortage – are uncertified. Some of the best teachers leave in frustration, like a gifted young English teacher who quit halfway through the year, leaving three classes of confused students to be taught by a “permanent substitute.”

It’s a powerful portrait that shines a glaring spotlight on the problems underfunded urban schools face, but the title would have been more accurate if the filmmakers left off the last half. It captures the hard times in vivid detail, but doesn’t report the failures of No Child Left Behind.

Science won't vouch for vouchers

noreply@blogger.com (Alain Jehlen) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:43:00 +0000

Science can be annoying!

Sometimes it gives you an answer that contradicts your beliefs.

When the Department of Education commissioned a study of the Washington, DC, voucher program, a high priority for the Bush Administration, the feds probably weren't hoping for proof that vouchers don't improve student achievement. But that's what they got.

The results, released last week, show students attending private schools (mostly religious) didn't do better than students who stayed in the public schools.

(Despite those results, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings called vouchers a “lifeline” and said "no one in a position of responsibility can sever this lifeline right now and leave these kids adrift in schools that are not measuring up." But if D.C. public schools are "not measuring up," neither are the private schools when it comes to educating these students. That's what it means to say there's no significant difference between the two groups.)

Voucher advocates have pointed out that some subgroups of the D.C. voucher students showed small, not statistically reliable improvements, which they say is better than nothing. But this comparison test should have been easy for vouchers to pass.

Here’s why: All of the students in the study had applied for vouchers. They either got or didn't get vouchers (up to $7,500 a year) according to a lottery. So the two groups were very comparable, except for one big difference: One group got an educational experience they believed would boost their achievement, while the other group did not. There is extensive research on what happens when people expect scores to rise—they generally do, even if the expectations are based on bogus information.

So when the voucher students got up to $7,500 to take part in a program they expected would work, that should have helped them do better, even if in fact the private schools were no better than the public schools they left.

But that didn't happen.

And the same results have come out of earlier studies in D.C., in Milwaukee, and other places. Of course, test scores are not the only measure of academic achievement, but so far there's no research showing any other benefit.

So if we’re looking for "scientifically-based" strategies for improving learning, vouchers don't make the grade.

Congress is considering extending the D.C. voucher program beyond its scheduled September expiration. You can send your Representative and Senators a message through the NEA web site's Legislative Action Center, asking him or her not to extend vouchers in D.C., and instead use the money to improve public schools for all children.

--Alain Jehlen