Extended Days, Years Produce Mixed Results For Schools Nationwide.
USA Today (6/10, Durando) reports that the Robert Treat Academy “boasted the highest test scores among New Jersey urban public schools in 2008, based on a test called the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge.” Furthermore, “the school was one of only eight nationwide declared ‘high-poverty, high-achieving’ by the U.S. Department of Education.” USA Today points out that class begins at the academy at 8:30 am and ends at 5 pm. “With examples like this, the push for extended learning time is gaining nationwide.” However, “a three-year” extended-day “program in 39 underperforming public schools” in Miami-Dade County, FL, “produced mixed academic results,” and “administrators and teachers experienced fatigue and burnout.” Also, “according to a final evaluation released last month,” students in the program, which also included an extended school year, “scored lower on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Tests in reading or math compared with other students in the county.”

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In the Classroom
Maryland High School Finds Success With Program In Domestic Security.
The Los Angeles Times (6/10, Drogin) reports on Ft. Meade, Maryland’s “long-troubled” Meade High School and its “first in the nation” program in domestic security. The school has “90 ninth-graders who chose the new homeland security program this past school year focused on topics torn from the headlines: Islamic jihadism, nuclear arms, cyber-crime, domestic militias and the like.” Program Coordinator Bill Sheppard and lead teacher Tina Edler put the curriculum together with “help from parents, local businesses, Ft. Meade officials, and other federal and state agencies.” So far, “most of this year’s students have signed up for the advanced course next fall” and “an additional 106 teens have enrolled for the introductory class.”

Friday, June 19 @ 2:00 – 5:00pm

• APEA members – $10.00.
• All money must be received by Tuesday, June 16th.
• After June 16th the price will be $20.00.
• The price for non-members – $20.00.
• You receive 2 drink tickets and a wrist band for the barbecue (hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, cold salad, veggie burgers) when you arrive at The Headliner no later than 4:00pm.
• Stay as late as you want after the party and enjoy the fun!
Let’s show our solidarity at this last event for the 2008-2009 school year!

Study Finds Most Tenured Teachers In Some Districts Receive Favorable Evaluations.
Education Week (6/2, Sawchuk) reports, “In many school districts, nearly all tenured teachers…are deemed above average, concludes a study released today” by the New York City-based New Teacher Project. “The report analyzes the results of a survey of more than 15,000 teachers and 1,300 administrators across four states and 12 districts” and concluded that “more than nine in 10 tenured teachers in those districts met local standards in recent evaluation cycles.” New Teacher Project president Timothy Daly said that even though “survey results don’t make up a representative national sampling of districts,” they do have implications in “other policy areas. … Because distinctions in effectiveness aren’t formally documented, districts are missing out on opportunities to link the evaluation systems to professional-development tools, to decisions for granting tenure to novices, and to bonuses or career-ladder initiatives.”

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In the Classroom
New York City Students Improve Math Scores.
On its front page, the New York Times (6/2, A1, Hernandez) reports, “New York City’s public school students showed large gains on state math tests this year, particularly in the middle school grades, and black and Hispanic students continued to edge closer to their white counterparts,” according to “the city and state education departments.” Eighty-two percent of New York City “students in Grades 3 through 8 passed the test, compared with 74 percent last year.” Meanwhile, the achievement gap between black and white students narrowed to “17 percentage points this year, on average, compared with 31 points in 2006.” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg “trumpeted the results as evidence that mayoral control had produced revolutionary improvements and brought city students within spitting distance of state averages after years of mediocrity.”

Year Will Not Be Extended For Most Chicago Area Schools Affected By Swine Flu.
The Chicago Tribune (5/27, Malone) reports, “The swine flu outbreak that closed nearly three dozen schools in the Chicago area amid early concerns about containing the new virus is adding a wrinkle to end-of-school calendars.” Most of the schools that were closed “do not plan to push the school year later with makeup days, local authorities said.” Chicago area school officials “said the missed days will not be tacked on to the school year because, in most cases, a single school within a larger district shut down while the rest remained open.” Only absences that affect “an entire district must be recouped…said Marjorie Beck, a principal consultant with the state education agency.”

New York City DOE Seeks School Year Extension Waiver. The New York Daily News (5/27, Armaghan, et al.) reports, “It was back to class Tuesday for students at more than 20 schools closed because of swine flu fears, including one where an assistant principal died from the virus.” The city’s “Department of Education is seeking a waiver from the state so the school year doesn’t have to be extended past June 26 for closed schools.” Some schools that reopened Tuesday had been closed since as early as May 14.

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In the Classroom
Students In Baltimore Learn About Locally-Grown Foods From Well-Known Chefs.
The Baltimore Sun (5/26, Kelly) reported on the “Days of Taste” seminar that is currently being “offered at 17 Baltimore city and county schools.” The seminar “teaches children about what’s produced on Maryland farms, tells them about non-processed foods and encourages them to grow a little more adventurous at mealtime.” Last week, for instance, third-graders from Catonsville Elementary School visited “One Straw Farm in White Hall in northern Baltimore County,” where they “saw lettuce being started in the greenhouse and the growing fields.” According to the Baltimore Sun, “the instructors who donate their time” to the program “are some of [the city's] best-known chefs.” The seminar “is a project of the American Institute of Wine and Food, a nonprofit educational organization founded by television chef Julia Child, wine maker Robert Mondavi and others.”

Henry Osmers, author of ON EAGLE’S BEAK: A HISTORY OF THE MONTAUK LIGHTHOUSE

Henry Osmers, author of ON EAGLE’S BEAK: A HISTORY OF THE MONTAUK LIGHTHOUSE

State-Appointed Financial Manager Restructuring Detroit Public Schools. The AP (5/22) reports that under Detroit Public Schools’ (DPS) restructuring process, “29 public schools will close, another 40 will be restructured, 900 teachers and staff will be pink-slipped and 33 principals fired” next fall. Robert Bobb, the state-appointed emergency financial manager for DPS “has one year to correct a $300 million budget deficit, improve test scores and address a graduation rate that’s among the nation’s lowest.” Bobb has even sought to have the school system “‘placed under a special presidential emergency declaration’ to get federal funding for infrastructure and curriculum.” The AP notes that “Detroit’s schools have been plagued by mismanagement, lack of oversight and corruption, which has cost the district millions of dollars.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan “described Detroit as ‘ground zero’ for education and said that ‘Detroit is New Orleans two years ago without Hurricane Katrina.’”

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In the Classroom
California Schools Chief Warns Budget Cuts May Undermine Testing Gains.

California’s Budget Deficit Expected To Force Deep Cuts In Education. The AP (5/16, Chea, Young) reports, “California’s public schools already trail most states in academic performance, suffer from high dropout rates and struggle to improve the performance of black and Hispanic students.” Compounding the situation, is “a historic state budget deficit that is expected to force deep cuts in education funding that will lead to thousands of teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, school closures, and a shortened school year.” According to state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, additional cuts would mean schools would “lose counselors, nurses, and librarians. They are also likely to cut athletic programs as well as classes in art, music, and career technical education.” So far, “30,000 of the state’s roughly 310,000 public school teachers have already received pink slips this year, and school districts could be forced to lay off more before classes begin in the fall.”

Hundreds Of Los Angeles Unified Teachers, Students Stage Protests Over Budget Cuts. The Los Angeles Times (5/16, Song, Blume) reports, “The head of the Los Angeles teachers union was among 39 people arrested Friday during a sit-in outside the school district headquarters, one among dozens of peaceful protests around the city by teachers and students outraged by plans for deep cuts in education spending.” The protest was fueled “by plans for layoffs of as many as 2,500 Los Angeles Unified School District teachers, the consequence of billions of dollars in statewide cuts to education.” Meanwhile, “hundreds of teachers called in sick and hundreds of high school students walked out of classrooms” in protest.

Budget Cuts Funding For Abstinence-Only Education.
The AP (5/8) reports that “President Barack Obama wants to eliminate more than $100 million in spending on abstinence-only education, directing the money instead to teen pregnancy-reduction programs that don’t take the no-sex approach.” According to the budget documents, “the most positive results” would “come from programs that ‘provide a range of services in addition to comprehensive sex education, such as after school activities, academic support, or service learning.’”

Swampland columnist Amy Sullivan wrote in the Time (5/7) blog that “abstinence-only programs have not proven nearly as successful as approaches that combine the message that abstinence is a good goal for teenagers with comprehensive and accurate education about contraception, disease prevention, and decision-making skills.” She argued that “with teen pregnancy rates inching up again after a nearly 15-year drop and the vast majority of parents in favor of comprehensive sex education…it’s long past time to develop sex ed programs that work.”

Meanwhile, On Women columnist Deborah Kotz pointed out in the US News & World Report (5/7) blog that “what’s not clear…is which comprehensive sex education programs will be funded. There’s quite a bit of difference among them, with some far better than others.” Kotz added that it is also unclear “how ‘evidence-based’ will be defined. Just how many studies are needed to determine if a program is effective,” she asked. “And how few are needed to deem a program ‘promising’?” Reuters (5/8) and the New Mexico Independent (5/8, Doland) also cover the story.

To: All Asbury Park Education Association Members

From: John Napolitani, President

Date: May 14, 2009

Re: APEA General Membership Meeting

The APEA Executive Committee is holding an emergency year end General Membership meeting on Thursday, May 21, 2009, at 2:45pm in Asbury Park High School Auditorium. Items to be discussed will be the current RIF/Non Renewal situation, negotiations, and any other pertinent items that need to be reviewed.
Your attendance at this meeting is strongly urged as there will be pertinent information disseminated to the membership. NJEA representatives will be in attendance to answer any additional questions you may have.

If you have any other items that you need to discuss, please forward them to me no later than Wednesday afternoon.

Pc: Michael Zajac, Recording Secretary
Ron Villano, Uniserv Representative

Tonight it’s official. The dissection of our school district continues with the elimination of my cafeteria unit and more essential professional and support staff by “carpetbaggers.” For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term, as an educator, let me educate you. Simply put, a carpetbagger is a term used to describe outsiders attempting to gain political office or economic advantage, especially in areas to which they have no previous connection. I use this term for two reasons. Number one, as a person who has mutigenerational family members that have attended this system starting with my grandfather, to my father, down to my brothers, this term is the most fitting, as the majority of people on the dais can not state that. Number 2, for ten years, we have had state monitors, also carpetbaggers, in here that have allowed mismanagement to prosper in my district. The biggest crime spree is going on right in our very own school system, where our eyes are being ripped from our heads. From Mr. Cowell’s $12,000 A MONTH salary, to his justification of $12,000 A MONTH BOE offices, to his exorbitant salary recommendations for new hirees, has anyone ever questioned why there’s a budget deficit? It sure isn’t because my cafeteria staff didn’t collect 50 cents for a bag of chips!
In closing, I have two points I want to make clear:
1. Mr. Parham’s statements last week in reference to the consideration of privatizing other units over the next couple of years will be retracted tonight. Make no mistake about it, it has been told to me that Ms.

To: All APEA Members

From: John Napolitani, President
Sean Hamilton, Vice President

Re: RIFs/Non Renewals/C.LA.P.
Date: May 5, 2009

The Cowell Lowell Attack Plan (C.L.A.P.) is spreading throughout OUR district. Mr. Parham has made it public record at last week’s Board meeting that they WILL OUTSOURCE most of our remaining support staff; such as ALL SECURITY GUARDS, CUSTODIAL AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES within OUR school district. This simply put, the C.L.A.P. is imminent.

Cowell and Lowell, through our Acting Superintendent, Parham, are dissecting this district piece by piece. You MUST stand by your Executive Committee on Thursday, where the C.L.A.P. continues with drastic staff cuts. We are STRONGLY URGING EVERY MEMBER TO ATTEND THE BOE MEETING AT BRADLEY ELEMENTARY AT 6:30PM.

We will meet in front of Bradley Elementary between 5:15 and 5:30pm to show OUR solidarity and strong opposition to the C.L.A.P. You must urge all your friends, neighbors, community members, parents and clergy to attend this meeting and stand by US. We are the true, real educators and support staff that this community needs. It is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY that you attend the BOE meeting on Thursday evening to support ALL APEA members.

YOU MUST ATTEND THURSDAY’S BOE MEETING TO EXPRESS STRONG OPPOSITION TO THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
ASBURY PARK SCHOOL SYSTEM.

Pc: Michael Zajac, Recording Secretary
Ron Villano, Uniserv Representative