NEWS
- Howard U. Middle School responds to allegations on teacher departures [Howard University Middle PCS mentioned]
- Va. Senate passes proposed amendments to the constitution [FOCUS mentioned]
- Grosso’s bill to ban pre-K suspensions applauded; advocates urge further steps
- D.C. Council Moves To Ban Suspension Of Pre-K Students [Eagle PCS and AppleTree Early Learning PCS mentioned]
- Not a lot of comity on the House education panel, members split on how to rewrite law
Howard U. Middle School responds to allegations on teacher departures [Howard University Middle PCS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
February 4, 2015
Nearly a week after allegations surfaced at a charter middle school on the campus of Howard University that three teachers were terminated because they wanted to teach more black history, the school’s board of directors issued a statement denying the claims.
According to the statement released Tuesday, the teachers from Howard University Middle School of Mathematics and Science resigned Jan. 22, and their resignations were accepted Jan. 27.
“The teaching of African and African American history and culture was not a factor in the acceptance of the resignations,” the statement said. The curriculum at the school includes lessons designed to foster an “enduring understanding of African cultural systems,” the statement said.
It went on to say that the school’s chief academic officer, Angelicque Blackmon, who has come under criticism from parents for her handling of the matter, was recruited through a national search and has a “long track record of engaging African American students and teachers in culturally responsive STEM education,” or science, technology, engineering and math education.
Parents at the school have waged a public campaign since last week to find out what happened to the teachers and why they left so abruptly. Adilah Bilal, president of Parents in Action, a parent group at the school, said the social studies teachers had told the group that they were planning to resign. She said they were frustrated because they wanted to include more African history in a curriculum that focuses heavily on Greek and Roman history, but they claimed the administration did not support them.
The parents had hoped to hire a mediator to resolve the dispute, Bilal said. But before they could do that, she said, the teachers were given termination papers in front of students and made to leave in the middle of the school day.
Scores of students staged a protest on the main quad of Howard University on Monday, asking for “New social studies teachers that will be treated with respect.” The D.C. branch of the NAACP announced an investigation into the matter later that day.
Akosua Ali, president of the branch, said the preliminary finding is that the teachers were not discharged for teaching black history, but she cited concerns about how the teachers were treated and about the overall learning environment at the school.
The teacher departures are emblematic of a larger problem with turnover among faculty members and administrators at the school, parents have said. Wayne A.I. Frederick, a member of the middle school’s board of directors, said that the board will begin to address the concerns “in a comprehensive manner” this week.
Va. Senate passes proposed amendments to the constitution [FOCUS mentioned]
The Washington Post
By Laura Vozzella
February 4, 2015
RICHMOND — A proposed constitutional amendment meant to make it easier to establish charter schools in Virginia cleared the state Senate Wednesday after a heated debate over whether the measure would undermine public education and local control of schools.
Brought by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Rockingham), the amendment would grant the state Board of Education authority to establish charter schools within local school districts across the state.
That power currently rests with local school boards, which have been so resistant to charters that only seven have been established statewide. Neighboring Maryland has 51, according to the Maryland State Department of Education. In the District, 45 percent of public school children attend charters, according to the advocacy group Focus.
Critics questioned the constitutionality of the amendment, which still faces several hurdles. To change Virginia’s constitution, a proposed amendment must pass the General Assembly in two consecutive years, with an election in between. It then needs approval from voters in a referendum.
The measure was one of two proposed constitutional amendments to pass in the Senate Wednesday. The other calls for the automatic restoration of civil rights to nonviolent felons upon the completion of their sentences. It passed the Senate easily but is expected to have a much tougher time in the GOP-dominated House of Delegates.
The charter school measure passed 21 to 17 on a party-line vote, surprising some observers, who had expected one or two moderate Republicans to vote against it or not vote at all. The resolution is expected to pass the House; Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) will not have a chance to weigh in since resolutions do not go to the governor’s desk.
Obenshain, who narrowly lost the 2013 race for attorney general and is exploring a run for governor, said that where charters are available, parents line up for the chance to get their children out of failing schools.
“There is a line in Washington, D.C. — a 325,000-person line nationwide,” he said. “Those are moms and dads and kids who are looking for opportunities across the country. And we’ve got those kids and those families here in Virginia. The answer in Virginia is not to make fewer slots available. We’ve got seven charter schools in Virginia — seven.”
Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) said charters would divert money from conventional public schools, with no guarantee that the educational outcomes would be any better. He said that charters in the Washington region have had a spotty record.
“At least three or four times a year, you pick up the newspaper and read about a disaster,” he said. “Our education system was ranked fourth in America. Why would we want to tamper with that?”
Saslaw’s remarks prompted Sen. Thomas A. Garrett Jr. (R-Buckingham) to counter that despite the state’s many top-performing schools, there are many students stuck in failing ones.
“We hear, ‘We don’t need this. We’re good.’ The current results for these kids are horrible,” he said.
Beyond the pros and cons of charters, the debate extended to the constitutionality of the proposed amendment.
Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) voted against the resolution but said it was not because he opposes charter schools. He noted that as a lawyer in private practice, he represented a charter candidate that a “school division did not want to approve.”
But Petersen said he was concerned that the amendment would undermine the authority of local school boards.
“What we’re doing here is taking away local control of schools,” he said.
Robley Jones, lobbyist for the Virginia Education Association, said his organization opposes taking charter decisions away from locally elected boards and giving them to a “nine-member board appointed by the governor,” meaning the Board of Education.
In an interview, he proposed a scenario in which the state board dictated to a local board in a place like Falls Church, which receives only a small share of its school funding from the state.
“A nine-member board in Richmond [says], ‘You must open this school. You must fund it. You must administer it,’ when the people of Falls Church are electing their school board and they are paying over 80 percent of the freight for running that school,” Jones said. “We believe that decision should be closest to the people.”
Sen. Stephen H. Martin (R-Chesterfield) said the measure would empower citizens since voters would have the final say on whether to amend the constitution.
The resolution just squeaked by, as proposed amendments need not just a simple majority of senators present, but 21 votes, to clear the chamber. That means the measure could rise or fall on the outcome of Senate elections this fall. Republicans currently have a 21 to 19 advantage in the chamber.
The Senate also voted 29 to 9 for a proposed constitutional amendment to automatically restore voting and other civil rights to nonviolent felons upon completion of their sentence and any period of parole or probation.
The measure was brought by Sen. Rosalyn R. Dance (D-Petersburg). Currently, ex-felons can have their rights restored by applying to the governor.
Grosso’s bill to ban pre-K suspensions applauded; advocates urge further steps
The Washington Post
By Michael Alison Chandler
February 4, 2015
D.C. Council member David Grosso’s first bill as Education Committee chairman — seeking a partial ban on suspensions and expulsions of preschool students in public programs — got a strong response from advocates who urged him to push for more sweeping reforms of student discipline practices.
Most of the school leaders, parents and education advocates at a hearing Wednesday welcomed his effort to curb harsh discipline in students’ earliest years, when they are beginning to learn appropriate social behavior. But they said it’s a drop in the bucket.
“We must acknowledge that this is just one step to ending the school-to-prison pipeline,” said Maggie Riden, executive director of D.C. Alliance of Youth Advocates.
In the city’s 2012-2013 school year, there were 181 out-of-school suspensions of 3-year-olds and 4-year-olds, according to a report by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education. More than 10,000 of the District’s 80,000 students were suspended at least once that year, according to the report.
Some advocated extending limits on suspensions and expulsions to include kindergarten, the official start of school when families are most optimistic. Others suggested a third-grade cutoff to include the formative first eight years of life, and there were those who argued for stricter discipline limits for all students.
Middle schools had the highest suspension rates in the District, according to the report. African American students were almost six times as likely to be suspended or expelled as white students. Rates were also higher for children in foster care, are homeless or have disabilities.
“These are some of our most vulnerable children,” said Judith Sandalow, executive director of the Children’s Law Center. “We are telling them we don’t want them to learn by putting them out of school.”
The bill by Grosso (I-At Large) prohibits suspending or expelling pre-kindergarten students except in cases involving weapons or drugs or when a student threatens or causes “serious bodily injury.” It also requires D.C. Public Schools and charter schools to submit annual reports to the OSSE about suspensions in the previous year.
The main opponents of the bill were charter school leaders, who said that the publicly funded but independently operated schools should have autonomy to set their own discipline policies.
Scott Pearson, director of the D.C. Public Charter School Board, said that rates of suspensions and expulsions have already fallen in charter schools since the board began collecting and publishing discipline data from the schools.
Leslie Hatton told the council that two sons were expelled last year from charter schools — one in middle school and one in high school — after multiple rounds of suspensions. Both sons were dealing with mental health challenges that the schools did not identify or treat, she said. She urged the council to think broadly about the issue.
Grosso said he wants to provide more resources to schools to treat mental health issues that often lead children to act out. And he plans to continue looking at school discipline policies, but he said that starting with the youngest students makes immediate sense.
“I believe we should be giving these kids hugs — we shouldn’t be giving them the hand,” Grosso said.
D.C. Council Moves To Ban Suspension Of Pre-K Students [Eagle PCS and AppleTree Early Learning PCS mentioned]
WAMU
By Jacob Fenston
February 4, 2015
D.C. would ban school suspensions of preschoolers, under a bill the District Council discussed today.
A District report last summer found that 1 out of every 8 public school students had been suspended during the previous academic year.
"In particular there were almost 200 pre-K students — that's just 3- and 4-year-olds — that had been suspended or expelled," Gross says.
Council member David Grosso (I-At Large), was recently appointed chair of the education committee.
"Studies upon studies upon studies have shown, that when you push a student out like that — one suspension, one expulsion — they then head down a path of less confidence, less willingness to engage, less ability to succeed," he says.
"Many children who act out are sending a message for help," says Cassandra Pinkney, who spoke in favor of the bill at a hearing today. She runs Eagle Academy Public Charter School. "Acting out is the only way a 3- or 4-year-old has of saying, 'I need help.'"
Jack McCarthy runs AppleTree Early Education Public Charter School. He says having the option of suspending kids is important for safety reasons.
"If a child bites, draws blood, or breaks the skin of another individual, we intervene to protect all of the children and provide supports for positive behaviors going forward," McCarthy says.
McCarthy asked the Council to hold off on the bill, but all 12 members of the council are supporting it.
Not a lot of comity on the House education panel, members split on how to rewrite law
The Washington Post
By Lyndsey Layton
February 4, 2015
While Democrats and Republicans in the Senate hold daily negotiations over a new federal education law, things are far more strained between the parties on the House side.
As the House focuses on an updated version of the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), the ranking member on the House committee on Education and the Workforce, sent a written request to Chairman John Kline (R-Minn.) to hold hearings.
Kline did not respond, according to Brian Levin, a spokesman for the committee Democrats.
Instead, Kline filed a new bill Tuesday, basically the same legislation that House Republicans passed in 2013 on a strict party-line vote, with no support from Democrats. The White House threatened to veto that bill.
So Scott and other committee Democrats announced they are holding their own hearing on Thursday, calling it a “forum,” with witnesses. It is unclear if they are going to file dueling legislation, Levin said.
“There is broad agreement that No Child Left Behind is outdated,” Scott said in a statement. “But rather than building upon the advancements we’ve made since the last ESEA rewrite, the Republican [bill] would turn back the clock on our public education system.”
The bill Kline filed Tuesday closely resembles a draft bill circulated by his counterpart in the Senate, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who chairs the Senate education panel. But Alexander has held two hearings and one roundtable discussion, and his staff is negotiating with Democratic staff in the hope of creating a bill that would attract bipartisan support.
“The status quo in K-12 education is hurting countless students across the country,” Kline said in a statement Wednesday. “The federal government shouldn’t be in the business of dictating how schools spend their money. It’s been our approach for decades, and student achievement is stagnant. Anything we can do to encourage good public schools to attract low-income students is a good thing. By empowering parents and education leaders, our proposal will help every child in every school receive the excellent education they deserve.”
Kline’s bill differs from Alexander’s draft in one regard: It would keep the federal requirement that public schools test all students in math and reading in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school.
But it would erase most other methods the federal government now uses to hold states accountable for educating students. Under the bill, schools would have to measure student academic growth and report it by subgroup — race, income, whether students are English language learners or have disabilities — and issue annual report cards.
States would not be required to meet any particular benchmarks in terms of academic achievement. They would have to intervene in high-poverty schools that are not improving by their measures, but the type of intervention and the number of schools would be up to the state. States would not be required to evaluate teachers.
The Kline bill would delete the current requirement that states and school districts maintain their school spending in order to be eligible for federal dollars, but it would keep a requirement that says federal dollars can’t replace local school dollars.
“This proposal provides an opportunity to chart a new course, one that places less faith in the Department of Education and more faith in the parents and education leaders who know best how to address the needs of their children,” Kline said in a statement.
The Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents education commissioners in every state, commended Kline on the bill. State education leaders have bristled under the mandates of No Child Left Behind, which set goals for academic achievement and corresponding penalties for states that fail to make progress. They also have strained under conditions set by the Obama administration to win waivers from the more onerous aspects of No Child Left Behind.
Civil rights groups say Kline’s bill would return the country to darker times for disadvantaged students. Wade Henderson, chief executive of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a group of more than 200 national civil rights groups, wrote to House members this week, urging them to oppose Kline’s bill.
“As a whole, the bill would thrust us back to an earlier time when states could choose to ignore the needs of children of color, low-income students, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities,” Henderson wrote. “The results, for these groups of students and for our nation as a whole, were devastating then, and would be devastating now.”
Both the House and Senate GOP proposals would allow for changes in the way federal dollars are spent to educate poor students.
Currently, public schools get those federal dollars according to a formula based on their number of disadvantaged students. Under the Republican plans, known as “Title 1 portability,” the money would “follow the child,” so that if a poor student transfers from a high-poverty school to a more affluent one, the federal dollars would follow the student to the new school. The provision would only apply to public schools.
Democrats, civil rights groups and teachers unions are opposed to Title 1 portability. The left-leaning Center for American Progress, which has close ties to the Obama administration, released a report Wednesday that said portability would weaken the program’s ability to alleviate the impact of poverty on children.
Kline’s House panel plans to mark-up his bill next week and bring it to the House floor by the end of February. Alexander said he is hoping to get a bipartisan bill out of his committee around the same time.
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