
A day
without sunshine is like, you know, night.
- Steve Martin
It is the mark of an
educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without
accepting it.
- Aristotle


























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Animator vs. Animation
To avoid
criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.
- Albert Einstein
All children deserve
an equal playing field.
-
Ed Allen, Westlake Picayune April 2008
My vision for Eanes
can't be seen on a Jumbotron ...
- Eanes ISD parent
"Our lives begin to end the
day we become silent about things that matter." ~ Martin
Luther King, Jr.
"The truth is like the sun. You can block it out for a
time but it ain't goin' away." - Elvis
If You
Aren't Completely Appalled You Haven't Been Paying Attention
All you need in this life is
ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.
- Mark
Twain
Information is
currency for democracy.
-Thomas Jefferson
It's about
power and money and the law firms who control and run
the school districts.
- K.
Yeaman,
Mom
Nothing is more destructive
of respect for the government and the law of the land than
passing laws which cannot be enforced.
- Albert Einstein
The best
protection of the Texas Public Information Act is
enforcement of the Texas Public Information Act.
-
Dianna Pharr
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News
Ohio puts teacher misconduct data online
Published on Friday Nov 02, 2007
A new state Web site listing 1,700 educators who were reprimanded for misconduct, including cases where teachers physically or sexually abused students, is intended to make classrooms safer, education officials said.
The Ohio Department of Education posted the database Thursday, naming teachers, coaches, administrators and other licensed educators who were investigated and reprimanded by state officials.
The state had promised to create the Web site after The Columbus Dispatch reported last month that there were widespread disciplinary problems, including abuse of children, assault and theft, among working teachers and that the information was not easily available to the public.
The newspaper also reported that the state Education Department did not always notify school districts about reprimanded teachers, so some superintendents had unknowingly hired teachers with histories of misconduct.
The Web site includes newly revealed cases on more than 40 educators who were issued written reprimands and allowed to keep their licenses. Some cases included students who were kissed, shoved, hit with a yardstick, or otherwise treated with excessive force by teachers.
The Education Department can punish educators for "conduct unbecoming" the profession in a variety of ways, including written reprimands and permanently stripping a teaching license.
"The new Educator Conduct Search tool provides access to a database of the small subset of educators _ less than 1 percent _ subjected to disciplinary actions since the Office of Professional Conduct was created in 1999," State Superintendent Susan Zelman said in an e-mail to school superintendents.
The database doesn't provide any information on unfounded allegations or educators currently under investigation by the state. Teachers unions had expressed concern that making more information public would spread false accusations that could ruin careers.
The Web site lists only cases in which state officials have confirmed misconduct and taken action. It names the school district where the educator worked and gives a basic description of the wrongdoing, such as "conviction for sexual battery" or "inappropriate relationship with a student."
"It's a significant step in the direction of assuring school district personnel have clean records," said David Laurenzi, president of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators and superintendent of Independence schools, near Cleveland. "It will help make classrooms safer."
Bill Mason, a former assistant superintendent for Newark schools, said the Web site has flaws. It doesn't provide enough detail about offenses that led to written reprimands, he said.
Ohio education officials crafted the Web site after reviewing online information released by Florida, South Carolina and Vermont on teacher misconduct.
All three states provide more detail about a teacher's misconduct than Ohio does. For example, Florida's database includes a link to case documents, including the original complaint.
Zelman said the Ohio database is a work in progress that will be updated and enhanced.
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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com
Wimberley superintendent receives
$200,000 retirement payment
Marian
Strauss resigned with four years left on
five-year contract
By
Molly Bloom
AMERICAN-STATESMAN
STAFF
Thursday, July 19,
2007
WIMBERLEY —
Wimberley Superintendent Marian Strauss
will receive a $200,000 payment from the
school district in exchange for her
early retirement. Strauss retired Monday
with
four
years left on her five-year contract.
The move comes after a group of
Wimberley residents urged the board to
fire Strauss in March for what they said
was
her emphasis on athletics over academics,
missteps in two failed bond votes,
unwillingness to listen to those with
different points of view and low teacher
salaries.
Full Article
Here
Wimberley
school board to consider ousting superintendent
-
Trustees
to discuss options Monday.
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, July 13, 2007
Wimberley
school district trustees are considering the possible
resignation of Superintendent Marian Strauss three
months after some residents demanded it.
At their
Monday night meeting, trustees plan to meet behind
closed doors to consider entering into a resignation
agreement with Strauss. They also could appoint an
interim superintendent.
The move
comes after a group of Wimberley residents urged the
board in March to fire Strauss for what they said was
her emphasis on athletics over academics,
missteps in two failed bond votes, unwillingness to
listen to those with different points of view and low
teacher salaries.
Full article
here
Texas AG obtains indictment for open
meetings violation
A grand jury in Upshur
County has indicted the former president of the New Diana school board for
conspiring to circumvent the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott announced Wednesday.
Click here to read full article
Click to read full post:
Money makes you honest
Apparently logic isn’t a virtue among
journalists or TEA officials. Dr. Neeley* said the wealthy districts on
the list – including many considering self-investigations – are
unlikely to cheat.
“You look at Highland Park, Richardson,
Eanes,” she said, naming some of the state’s wealthiest districts in
the Dallas and Austin areas. “Do they have to cheat to have good scores?
I gave a talk in Eanes not long ago and said, ‘Do you people
think Westlake High School had to cheat to get good scores?’ “
*Shirley Neeley, Texas Education Agency,
Commissioner
Associated Links:
Districts on TAKS cheat list in dark; State didn’t seek data on why firm
flagged schools, preventing investigation
TEA
gets excuses, excuses; State finds merit in 62 school rating appeals,
creativity in others
Awarding Blue Ribbons:
Recognizing Schools or
Students?
David W.
Kirkpatrick, Senior
Education Fellow
In 1983 the U.S. Department
of Education began its "Blue
Ribbon Schools" program, a
process by which it
identifies what it proclaims
as among the most successful
public and private schools
in the nation. In the years
since thousands of schools
have been so identified.
One weakness of the
program is a failure to
carefully distinguish
what might constitute a
blue ribbon school. A
simplistic approach is
to see where students
are achieving and give
an award to that
school. The problem
with that is it fails to
recognize "socioeconomic
status," that is, the
backgrounds of the
students. It is both
common sense and proven
by studies that students
who have advantages in
terms of family income,
educational levels
achieved by the parents,
who come from homes with
books, computers,
opportunities for travel
etc, will do better than
students who do not have
those advantages.
Thus a more accurate
indication of a good
school would be one that
adjusts for such factors
and identifies those in
which students do better
than would normally be
expected, based on their
backgrounds.
As an example,
Pennsylvania makes it
relatively easy to
identify the overall
wealth of a given school
district, compared with
the state average. Keep
in mind that this is the
standing for each
district as a unit. It
does not tell you
anything about any given
student or school.
Still, a very wealthy
district can only be so
if most of those in that
district are prosperous.
In one year,
Pennsylvania had eight
schools that were
awarded "Blue Ribbon"
status. They
represented seven
districts since two of
the schools were located
within a single
district. A look at
them in terms of their
relative wealth
revealed that only one
of the seven districts
was at approximately the
state average. The
other six were above
average. The district
having two schools
selected included the
wealthiest community in
the Commonwealth.
Over the years the Blue
Ribbon program has grown
but the tendency has
been to produce similar
results.
In summary, with all due
respect to the schools
receiving awards, what
the federal Department
of Education is
recognizing is not so
much blue ribbon schools
as it is blue ribbon
students, the kind of
students who do well by
virtue of their
backgrounds, both
individually, with most
of them having
advantages, and
collectively, since
their being together in
one school makes it not
only possible but
inevitable that they
will learn from each
other.
On rare occasions this
is recognized by those
who know whereof they
speak.
One such occurred when a
superintendent who was
about to retire from a
wealthy district
attended a conference on
the disparity of
funding, and results,
among school districts.
Those in attendance were
considering a lawsuit to
obtain what they
regarded as a more
equitable distribution
of funding among
districts. If achieved,
his district would not
be one of those to
receive more funding.
Rather than oppose it,
as one might expect, and
although he was present
just as a member of the
audience and could have
avoided any comment, he
told the group that he
supported their cause.
As for his still unknown
successor, he said it
really didn't matter
much who it would be
because the students in
his district were so
advantaged and capable
that they would continue
to do well in any
event. As they have.
This should not be
viewed as an objection
to a properly evaluated
Blue Ribbon program.
Public (and nonpublic)
schools whose students
succeed well beyond what
would be expected of
them, with due
consideration for their
socioeconomic status,
should be recognized.
An example is the Vaughn
school in Los Angeles, a
public school long rated
one of the worst in the
district. Converted to
a charter school It has
had remarkable success,
with essentially the
same staff and
facilities, but less
money. Vaughn
deservedly became the
first charter school to
win a Blue Ribbon.
This is the type of
school most deserving of
recognition.
Unfortunately, the
decades old Blue Ribbon
Awards program, under,
Republican and Democrat
administrations, has
shown they are not the
ones most likely to
receive them.

Carbone: The school bully
Leslie Carbone, SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
Thursday, August 23, 2007
As a new school year opens, students, parents and teachers hoping for quality education face an ironic opponent: the National Education Association, America's premier teachers union. When it comes to opposing commonsense education reforms, the 3,200,000- member NEA is the biggest, baddest bully in the playground. Sadly, students who want to learn and teachers who want to teach suffer most from the union's misplaced policies and politics.
When parents and kids shop together for school clothes, supplies, and extra-curricular needs, they enjoy a bevy of choices in stores and manufacturers. That means that they can shop around for the right products at the best prices. Makers of shoddy goods and retailers with lousy service will be forced to improve or lose business to better product providers. That's how competition keeps quality and prices in line with customers' needs and expectations.
But kids who go off to school with good, inexpensive clothes and supplies may receive education that's just the opposite—overpriced and underperforming. That's because the National Education Association fights every effort to let that same accountability and competition improve the product its teachers work hard to provide—the education of America 's public school children.
The NEA's politicized leadership is fond of claiming that its efforts are in the best interests of students, but this is far from the case. Nowhere is this more clear than in its relentless mission to sabotage the accountability for results in the No Child Left Behind Act. While many groups have advocated ways to improve or change the law, NEA leadership has systematically worked to torpedo its reliance on academic standards and testing. Instead it proposes a meaningless jumble of apples-to-oranges comparisons and "portfolio assessments" that would make it nearly impossible to evaluate the progress a school or its teachers are making in teaching our children.
The NEA's leadership also stands in firm opposition to any plan to shift its teachers to performance-based pay determined by the achievement of their students. Blocking efforts to compensate good teachers more than bad ones, the union insists on determining pay raises strictly by seniority. It rejects paying teachers based on their area of expertise—thereby maintaining America 's shortage of good math and science teachers. And it stops retired folks or others who want to contribute their expertise from volunteering as teachers.
The NEA consistently opposes giving parents and students freedom of choice among public schools—so kids in districts with poorly performing schools can't seek better education in nearby neighborhoods.
On the other hand, the union protects teachers who clearly threaten students' best chances for a quality education. The tenure system makes it difficult to fire bad teachers; it can cost taxpayers nearly $200,000 to discharge a poorly performing educator.
The NEA shows no reservations about taking teachers' union dues and spending them to spread a radical political agenda. Annual NEA dues can reach as high as $500. A little of it goes toward core union activities, like collective bargaining for contracts that keep members from having to attend after-school meetings or teach another's class in an emergency. Some goes toward the hefty paychecks of NEA staffers, thousands of whom rake in six-figure annual salaries, far more than the teachers who pay them.
And a lot—as much as half by some estimates—goes toward politicking. The NEA doesn't restrict itself to lobbying on issues that directly affect education, like the No Child Left Behind Act. It doesn't even restrict itself to weighing in on issues that indirectly affect education, like tax reform, which it sees as a threat to its own cash flow. The union lobbies on a host of unrelated issues, like statehood for the District of Columbia, even though many of its dues-payers don't want it to.
Fortunately, teachers do have some recourse. In Right-to-Work states, they don't have to pay union dues at all. And in others, while they can be required to pay dues for core union activities, they cannot be forced to pay for politicking, public relations, or other non-essential union activities.
The NEA has done a solid job of stacking the deck against student, parents, and teachers who want good schools. But that can change, if everyone interested in quality education stands up—and stops turning money over—to the NEAborhood bully.
Carbone is an adjunct scholar at the Lexington Institute. Link here
http://www.freedomfoundation.us/education
Teacher takes
administrator to woodshed
The official voice of the Carroll Dragons delivered a
message of fiery criticism this week about how the Carroll school district
handles open-records requests. At a school board meeting, English teacher Sara
McCombs, best known for her halftime announcements at high school football
games, compared Superintendent Gary Mathews and other administrators to a
character in the classic novel The Scarlet Letter. Click
here to read full article
Round
Rock ISD made the national news on December 3, 2004. You can watch the video on
the RRISD $26 million stadium and other Texas "Gridiron Cathedrals" by clicking
on this link:
www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtm
Enter search word: gridiron
Ethics? We don' need no stinkin' Ethics!!!
According to the press release (see below my commentary) by Texas Education Agency (TEA), Commissioner of Education Shirley J. Neeley appointed Bill Hammond a member on the Commissioner's Task Force on Test Security.
Here's a few words to the wise.......
Gov. Rick "Special Interest" Perry appointed Bill Hammond as CEO of the Texas Association of Business (TAB), which is a group that lobbies for Big Business needs, which included an assertion last year by Mr. Hammond that Texas school districts should increase class sizes to save money on teacher salaries. In addition, Mr. Hammond pushes for a school voucher program instead of first assuring that businesses will pay their fair share of public school taxes.
By the way, Gov. Perry also appointed Ms. Shirley Neeley as Commissioner of Education.
Quick! Let's file a complaint to the Texas Ethics Commission and let it review the matter. Oh, yes, forget that too. Gov. Perry also appointed 4 of the 8 members of the Ethics Commission!
Does anyone else see a pattern here? Where is ethics hiding REALLY in Texas government? Where is the "Open" in Open Government?
When I wrote a formal complaint against Gov. Rick Perry to the Office of the Attorney General Greg Abbott, I received a response from the office that it did NOT have the jurisdiction and/or capability to hold accountable elected officials. It recommended that I file a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission! Ha-ha, what a good joke on the People of Texas. Apparently our governor is above the law. He has padded every avenue in his favor.
BTW the TEA has been provided more authority over school districts throughout Texas. How can a group of white collar workers in an office on one end of Texas dictate programs, policies and learning-outcomes for ALL Texas school districts? They can't do it well!
Consequently, once again, the People of Texas have to protect themselves from our elected and appointed officials.
One good way to do so is to VOTE-OUT Rick Perry and his puppet officials in the November elections.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Neeley wants us to be concerned about our children cheating on state tests and to find any wrong-doing quickly. That's a joke considering the role models our children have.
If Ms. Neeley and her appointed commission want to find any wrong-doing, they should find all they can handle by looking around the meeting room at each other!
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COMMENTARY
Patterson: School
officials lash out at
threat to their power
Chris
Patterson, TEXAS PUBLIC
POLICY FOUNDATION
Thursday, July 14,
2005
Here's a brain
teaser: Why should state
legislators vote for an
education reform bill if
school administrators
hate it?
Administrators are
suffering severe
heartburn over House
Bill 2 because it
requires schools to
devote at least 65
percent of available
money to core
instruction.
Public education will
be ruined, school
administrators claim, if
they must allocate 65
percent of funding to
mathematics, science,
English and social
studies because no money
will be left for
enrichment — such as
music and art — and
vocational education.
This is simply
untrue. First, some
school funds can't be
subject to the 65
percent spending
requirement — such as
money for vocational
education and facilities
debt — due to state and
federal requirements.
Second, the 35 percent
of remaining money
should be more than
sufficient to cover the
cost of electives that
represent a small
fraction of the school
day.
What administrators
aren't saying is that 35
percent of today's
education dollar isn't
nearly enough to pay for
enrichment plus all of
the non-instructional
costs that consume a
growing part of school
budgets. Administrators
would be forced to make
hard decisions about
divvying the remainder
of available funds
between enrichment
courses and
administrative costs —
and technology support,
legal counsel, lobbying
fees, adult education,
donations to chambers of
commerce, day care,
professional association
memberships, cultural
training programs, paved
tennis courts,
planetariums, and
200-acre nature
preserves.
By decreasing
spending on
non-instructional items
and devoting 65 percent
to the classroom, Texas
school administrators
could channel another
$1.6 billion toward
student learning —
without raising taxes.
It's absolutely
essential to change
school spending
priorities. The research
is clear: When schools
spend more of each
dollar in the classroom,
student performance
improves.
It isn't unreasonable
to ask Texas public
schools to devote more
money toward classroom
instruction. Texas
channels a smaller
percentage of total
education funds to the
classroom than 20 other
states, according to
numbers provided by the
Texas Education Agency
to the federal
government. Today, four
states spend more than
65 percent of the
education dollar on
activities directly
associated with the
interaction between
teachers and students.
Unlike school
administrators, Texans
like the 65 percent
solution. A recent poll
showed that 78 percent
support the legislative
minimum for classroom
spending, and that
support rose to 91
percent when Texans
learned this would put
additional money in the
classroom without
increasing taxes.
When it comes to
school spending,
taxpayers and
administrators are not
always on the same page.
Texans are openly
rebellious about rising
property taxes — taxes
that reflect expansive
school budgets, with a
lion's share of spending
going to stuff without
the least connection to
classroom learning.
In fact, the
instructional portion of
the total school
spending pie has been
decreasing annually in
Texas since 2000. Some
researchers link this
trend to the declining
authority of elected
school boards. Their
research shows that
classrooms get a greater
share of the school
budget in communities
where parents and
taxpayers are
significantly engaged in
school district
decisions.
In our super-sized
schools, administrators
wield enormous power
over huge budgets and
employ a significant
segment of the
community. Their power
reaches beyond the
school doors.
Some legislative
offices say school
administrators threaten
to work collectively to
unseat legislators who
vote "against schools."
Offices report
communications from
parents who say their
superintendent advised
them to complain about
specific bills. Just
last week, the Houston
Chronicle reported that
Katy ISD administrators
sent e-mails to
employees advising how
they should vote in the
spring election of
school board trustees.
This influence might
soon be restrained by a
provision in HB 2 that
puts local school board
elections on the same
ballot as election for
state offices. A
November election date
would enlarge the number
of voters who
participate in school
district elections and
make it more difficult
for administrators to
influence election
outcomes.
The bottom line?
School administrators
hate HB 2 because it
would restrain their
political influence and
reduce their power over
how tax dollars are
spent.
Even though school
administrators hate it,
HB 2 is good for
students, teachers and
taxpayers. We have the
opportunity to improve
public schools by
prioritizing dollars for
the classroom and
engaging more Texans in
school district
decisions.
Patterson is director
of research at the Texas
Public Policy
Foundation, an
Austin-based research
institute.
COMMENTARY
Patterson: CRACK OPEN
SCHOOLS' BOOKS
Chris Patterson, TEXAS
PUBLIC POLICY FOUNDATION
Austin American
Statesman
What enterprise do you
suppose wrote checks
amounting to $1.6
million for lawyers,
$375,000 for various
chambers of commerce,
$311,000 for
professional association
fees, $90,000 for
Franklin Covey (personal
effectiveness and
productivity training),
$14,500 for Billie
Arbuckle Adventures and
$2.7 million for Young
Audiences of North Texas
(arts and cultural
programs)?
Would you be surprised
to learn it was a Texas
public school district?
These expenditures
occurred when the
district claimed it was
"forced" to dismiss
several hundred high
school teachers because
of "inadequate" funding.
And when it was suing
Texans for more tax
dollars. The district?
Dallas Independent
School District,
according to a review of
their check register
last spring.
Dallas is not alone; its
books were just the
easiest to crack, which
explains how the
education bureaucracy
gets away with claims of
"inadequate" funding.
Public schools simply
do not keep accounting
books that clearly
identify how money is
spent. Although
districts make megabytes
of financial data
available on the
Internet, the state's
reporting system is so
Byzantine that it's
impossible for Texans to
get a handle on how
school spending is
directed into true
academic outcomes.
School finance reform
offers the perfect
opportunity to introduce
a reporting system that
opens the books to
taxpayers in a clear,
direct way. The
Texas Legislature should
seize this opportunity
to craft legislation
that improves school
accounting practices.
The Texas House, in
House Bill 2, called for
greater clarity in
school spending by
requiring more
disclosure. The bill
requires schools to
provide more detail
about non-instructional
spending — identifying
money spent on
memberships and
lobbying. This is a
definite step forward, a
strong improvement over
current accounting
practices. But it does
not go far enough.
As the Texas Senate
takes up its own version
of school finance
reform, it, too, must
make every effort to
restore our confidence
that reporting on school
spending is more than
another Enron-style
accounting scheme.
The accounting ledger
must differentiate
between expenditures on
mandatory, direct
classroom costs and
optional programs.
What cannot happen is
the watering down of
meaningful reporting
with the inclusion of
items such as "school
leadership," "curriculum
development" and
"counseling services" as
direct instructional
costs.
If the lobbyists
representing school
administrators have
their way in this
debate, almost anything
a school does would be
identified as
instructional
expenditures — just like
it is today. Of course,
that makes as much sense
as counting everything
in a kitchen as
nutrition-related
spending.
School administrators
want to continue to
claim that inadequate
funding forces them to
fire elementary school
reading teachers, while
being able to pay
chamber of commerce dues
and construct tennis
courts, and using our
tax dollars to hire
lawyers who sue us for
higher state taxes.
Our hope for getting
schools to open their
books to scrutiny rests
now with the Texas
Senate, then with the
Legislature's conference
committee. We must get
this right; it is
unlikely we will have
another chance to
improve school
accounting practices for
a decade.
Texans deserve full,
clear access to the
information needed to
control wasteful
spending and improve
public education. And
until schools are forced
to do so, Texans should
close their wallets.
Patterson is the
director of research at
the Texas Public Policy
Foundation, a nonprofit
research institute based
in Austin.
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