High School In Michigan Wins Obama Commencement Competition. The New York Times (5/5, Calmes) reports that Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan has “beaten more than 1,000 public high schools in a national contest” to have President Obama “as commencement speaker” in the first annual Race to the Top Commencement Challenge for high schools. According to the Times, “Officials at the White House and the Education Department chose the six finalists, whose videos and essays were posted on the White House Website” and “Obama made the final choice.” ABC News (5/4, Bruce, Blackburn) reported on its Website that after announcing Kalamazoo Central High School as the winner, President Obama added “a shout out to Kalamazoo Central’s mascot: ‘Go Giants!’”

The Christian Science Monitor (5/5, Paulson) reports, “On June 10, seniors at Kalamazoo Central High School in Michigan will get a rare honor for a high school: a sitting president as their commencement speaker.” Kalamazoo Central was among three finalists, including “Clark Montessori Junior High and High School in Cincinnati, and the Denver School of Science and Technology.”

The Kalamazoo (MI) Gazette (5/5, Mack) reports that Kalamazoo Central’s “entry focused on The Kalamazoo Promise, the college scholarship program for Kalamazoo graduates, and the reform efforts The Promise has inspired.” The AP (5/5) also covers the story, as did David Jackson in a blog for USA Today (5/4) and Valerie Strauss in a blog for the Washington Post (5/4). WWMT-TV Kalamazoo, MI (5/4) and KUSA-TV Denver (5/4, Boniface) also covered the story.

California To Submit New Race To The Top Application. The San Francisco Chronicle (5/1, Tucker) reports California will “throw its hat into the ring for the chance to win $700 million in the second round of federal Race to the Top funds despite the state’s arguably long odds and dismal showing in the last round, state officials said Friday.” State Secretary of Education Bonnie Reiss said the state “would need to vault from 27th place – out of 40 applicants – in round one to a spot among serious contenders – something that will require a complete revamp of the application.” This time, “six district superintendents, representing more than 1 million students in California, will craft the application rather than Sacramento policy wonks,” and it will “shine a spotlight on what those districts are already doing to turn around struggling schools, evaluate and support teachers and principals and measure student performance.”

The Los Angeles Times (5/1, Blume) reports the “names of the three largest districts, including L.A. Unified, had been disclosed in an article this week in The Times,” and Long Beach Unified and Fresno Unified “also were taking part.” But officials “revealed Friday that three other districts wanted to be involved as well: San Francisco Unified and two Fresno-area districts: Clovis Unified and Sanger Unified.” The state “developed a new strategy: A few districts would pursue reforms more specific and more aggressive than in the original state submission.”

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New from Ralph Fletcher!

April 20, 2010

Dear Governor Christie,

I am a teacher. As such, I have worked with all kinds of children, those who are bright and hard working and those who struggle to find success. Those who speak English and those who families speak a language different than English. I have worked with children from traditional homes and the homeless. Those children whose families fill their lives with rich experiences and activities and those whose parents are so overwhelmed with life that they have no time for anything else beyond survival. I have worked with children who are healthy and those who have severe medical issues, those children who are socially and emotionally well-adjusted and those who can’t cope with the world around them. I have taught kindergarteners and high school students how to read and write to the best of their abilities. I have dealt with the death of one of my first graders and the illnesses of my students and colleagues from sick buildings. With all of these diverse experiences I now know why it is that you hate teachers so much.

You see, there isn’t a teacher alive who hasn’t dealt with you in their career. We all know your secret. You are the 5 year old who shoves other kids around on the playground. You are the 8 year old who steals others lunch money. You are the teenager who pushes the weak kid into the locker or who flushes their coat down the toilet or the ‘cool kid’ who insults and humiliates those around you.

New York City Schools Chief Moves To Give Principals More Power Over Curriculum. The New York Times (4/27, Medina) reports that New York City schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein “said Monday that he was reshuffling the top jobs at city’s Education Department headquarters and eliminating the division that oversees school curriculum and teacher training programs.” His aim is “to give principals more power to determine what kind of instruction they use at individual schools, rather than using only suggestions developed in central offices.” According to the Times, “The changes underscore a substantial shift that the department has made under Mr. Klein, who early in his tenure focused on centralizing control of the system and developing a uniform citywide curriculum.”

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In the Classroom
E-Curriculums Offer Schools Customized Solutions. Education Week (4/23, Davis) reported, “With a wealth of online courses for school districts to choose from, plus an abundance of interactive activities, videos, and digital information to sift through to design such courses,” many “school leaders are” purchasing “online classes from nonprofit and for-profit providers, making their own from scratch, accessing open-source options, or combining all three approaches.” Education Week details the trends in individualized instructional programs, project-based courses, and custom-built programs created by individual schools.

Florida Virtual School, DOE To Host Virtual STEM Career Fair For Middle, High School Students. The St.

Senator Proposes $23 Billion Fund To Save Teaching Jobs. The Washington Post (4/15, Anderson) reports, “As public schools nationwide face larger class sizes and cuts in programs, the Senate’s leading Democrat on education issues proposed a $23 billion bailout Wednesday to help avert layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers and other school personnel in the coming academic year.” Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) is sponsoring a bill described by the Post as “a potential sequel to the economic stimulus law enacted last year.”

Bloomberg News (4/15, Staley) reports that at a US Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, Harkin told lawmakers that “job losses at public schools and colleges in the US may top 100,000 in the next school year. … The legislation needs to be passed now because school districts are making budget decisions this month, he said.” Medill News Service (4/14, Yadron) reported that according to Harkin, “unless Congress acts, many of the education policy changes currently being weighed by the Obama administration and Congress will be pointless,” as educators are laid off en masse.

Education Week (4/14, Klein) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan on Wednesday “urged Congress to pass” new legislation “to preserve education jobs. He testified before the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that deals with education spending on the same day the panel’s chairman,” Sen.

Please be advised that there is an extremely important Asbury Park Board of Education meeting being held on Tuesday, April 13, 2010, at 6:00pm, at Bradley Elementary School in the Multipurpose room. Many members of the APEA have been RICE’d, which means that their position will be discussed and this notification must be sent out so that the Board has the right to bring up an individual name if the need arises. Many positions will be eliminated this evening so it is imperative that you show up at this meeting to support all our staff members who may be losing their positions. I strongly urge every staff member, parent, and community member to attend this meeting to express their outrage to the Board of Education for these deep cuts.

We look forward to seeing as many people as possible at this meeting.

Today is the four year anniversary of AsburyParkEA.net! Over the past four years during the ups and downs of our schools, association & profession we hope that this website has been a reliable resource for everyone who uses it.

The most recent change has been a slight graphical facelift to the pages that should work better with today’s screen sizes. We have also added a Twitter feed that sends out a tweet everytime the website is updated. We hope you will make use of this.

As always, questions and comments are welcome. Send them to me at: PErricoAsburyParkEAnet  PErricoAsburyParkEAnet   . It’s your website, let us know what you think!

Please be advised for the next 12 days, we will not be updating our website due to the fact that we are presently on Spring Break. Any pertinent information will be sent out via email.

Enjoy your break and we will see you on April 12.

To: All Asbury Park Education Association Members

From: APEA Negotiations Team

Date: March 30, 2010

Re: Negotiations

The APEA Negotiations Team has a meeting scheduled for May 12, 2010, with the fact finder to begin the next process of our contract talks. In an effort to obtain a contract without going through the long and arduous process of fact finding, our team has since met with the Board to try to mediate a resolution to these stalled contract talks.

To begin, we met on Wednesday, March 10 and Monday, March 22, 2010. These discussions lasted over 4 hours and 2 hours respectively. We have managed to cut down the amount of issues that separate our two teams. Our team met last week to discuss several options that we have as an Association.

With the recent headlines from the newly elected governor, he is requesting that ALL local associations take a pay freeze for the 2010/2011 school year. With that in mind, once the budget talks are finished at the Board of Education level, our team will be making a decision on what avenue to approach. Our latest talks were amicable and we are keeping all options open.

In closing, keep in mind, that our team will only present the most viable and equitable contract to our membership. Our goal is to settle this contract before the end of the school year. However, our main focus at this time is going to be the BOE budget and the potential 80 layoffs within our district.

Individual States Show Progress In Closing Gaps On NAEP.
The Washington Post (3/25, Anderson, Turque) reports, “A report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that fourth-grade” reading “scores for the nation’s public schools stagnated after the law took effect in 2002, rose modestly in 2007 and remained unchanged last year. … The national picture for eighth-grade reading was largely the same: a slight uptick in performance since 2007, but no gain in the seven years” when NCLB “was in high gear.” The Christian Science Monitor (3/25, Paulson, Khadaroo) reports that, according to Amy Wilkins, Vice President of the Education Trust, “One glimmer of hope in the nation’s report card…is that individual states have shown progress in closing gaps.” For instance, “among Florida fourth-graders…the black-white gap and the income gap have narrowed.”

The New York Times (3/25, Dillon) reports that some experts attribute “the lagging reading scores…to declines in the amount of reading children do for pleasure as they devote more free time to surfing the Internet, texting, on cellphones or watching television. Others blame undemanding curriculums.”

The AP (3/25, Armario) reports that “the nation’s fourth-grade math scores flattened last year and eighth-grade scores improved two points.” It points out, however, that since 1990, “there has been a 27 point increase overall” in math “for fourth-grade students.” Brookings Institution senior fellow, Tom Loveless, noted, “To the extent that there are gains, they’re found amongst the lowest achievers.” This, “he suspects…is related to the enactment of more accountability systems at the state and federal level that focus attention on the lowest achievers and punish or reward schools based on progress with that group.”

Georgia Achievement Gap Narrowing.