AB 506

July 3, 2008 - Introduced by Assemblyman Ted Lieu, Assembly Bill (AB) 506 seeks to strengthen current laws by authorizing law enforcement officials to notify schools even if there was not enough evidence for an indictment of a teacher, but law enforcement believes that a crime was committed.

A key element of the bill would requires the full school board — not staff members — to assess the charges of an employee who is removed from a classroom because of allegations of sexual misconduct and approve any reassignment of that employee back into the classroom.

The State Senate Education Committee approved the bill on June 26. AB 506 will now move to the Senate Appropriations Committee later this month.

BEST QUOTE: The policy changes [in the Los Angeles Unified Schools] include the creation of a Safety Task Force, enhanced formal collaboration with law enforcement, clearer definitions of accountabilities, roles and responsibilities throughout all lines of L.A. Unified leadership, a comprehensive district-wide educational campaign to raise awareness, including parents and students and more effective use of technology to manage and track key information.

"With respect to Mr. Rooney, we understand that he has been held to answer and will stand trial on multiple criminal counts," said Brewer. "The students and families of LAUSD have a right to expect that children will be safe in school, and ensuring student safety is a moral imperative, and my top priority."
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TT - It's the first time we have heard the M word ("moral") and the Los Angeles Unified School District. However, The L.A. Unified superintendent David L. Brewer III, \the retired Three-Star Vice Admiral has proven to be a nice suprise. His bio from LAUSD website.

And this Los Angeles Times article (Oct 14, 2006) when Brewer was selected.

I'm a third-generation college graduate," Brewer said. "My grandparents went to Tuskegee. My aunts and uncles went to college, my parents went to college — education was understood. There was never any question or doubt that that was what I was going to do. I didn't have to have the epiphany."

AB 506 was introduced by Assemblyman Ted Lieu (D- District 53) website

You can track the bill here.

Education Reform

Taking a wild guess, this will never go any further.

May 21, 2008 - A Senate bill would immediately revoke the certification of a teacher or administrator convicted of felonies including sexual misconduct and embezzlement, ending a hearing process that can cost taxpayers $150,000 per case.

The measure seeks to end the long-criticized practice in which educators convicted of crimes are still entitled to try to keep their state certifications even when the hearings are held in prison, after the educator was sentenced.

"The intention is to rid the system of redundancy and save taxpayers money by not requiring these types of protracted hearings or disciplinary actions when they were already convicted at the highest level of proof in court _ beyond a reasonable doubt," Senate Education Committee Chairman Stephen Saland said.

The bill now goes to the Democratic-led Assembly.

TT - That's Senate Education Committee Chairman REPUBLICAN Stephen Saland

May 21 - Bipartisan support for NY law to remove convicted educators
The Assembly's Democratic majority plans to introduce a bill similar to a Senate measure that would immediately revoke the certification of a teacher or administrator convicted of felonies, including sexual misconduct and embezzlement.

May 22 - Bill seeks that felons be fired from school quickly
The Democrats claim to have their own bill and the state Department of Education is drafting its own language. Bill is A11249 Nolan Search for status here.

News release from Saland from his web site.

Columbus, OHIO

Watching out for parents one story at a time.

March 29, 2008 - Continuing the newspaper's excellent education coverage, Jennifer Smith Richards in the Columbus Dispatch, reports that Worthington Christian Schools are revamping their policies on sex allegations. Three educators resigned in the past six months because of sexual-misconduct allegations or convictions.

The school commissioned two independent reviews got recommendations from a group of concerned parents and alumni. The changes include an oversight board that will include some members with expertise in law enforcement. Employee discipline will be well-documented and might be shared with future employers. Teachers will be trained on sexual-abuse issues and appropriate teacher- student relationships starting this fall.

A nepotism policy will be drafted that will prevent the repeat of a situation such as that of Dwayne Smith, a science teacher and soccer coach who had been rehired by Worthington Christian despite admitting that he had inappropriately touched a middle-school girl. Smith had been rehired by his father, who was superintendent at the time.

Dwayne Smith resigned days after being highlighted in "The ABCs of Betrayal," a Dispatch investigation that was published in October and revealed flaws in the state's educator-misconduct system.

Within a week of the series' publication, a second teacher and coach was arrested in relation to charges of sexually abusing a student at a previous job in Wisconsin. Jason Crary was convicted in January of four felony counts of sexual assault by a school staff member. He's scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.

In late February, Superintendent Bill Williams resigned after one of the independent reviews ordered by the schools found that he had behaved inappropriately with a student several years ago. Williams disputed that finding.

TT - The newspaper award-winning series ABCs of Denial can be found here. The Columbus Dispatch took first place for hard-news coverage in the national Education Writers Association contest. The paper also won a special citation for investigative reporting for its series about Ohio’s teacher-discipline, the ABC's of Denial.

LICENSE SURRENDER April 8 - Smith is officially is surrendering his license, which the state then permanently revokes, for committing “actions unbecoming to the teaching profession.” Smith was never charged with a crime..

There was never any denial that the school was aware of Smith's misconduct. But in past months, the school has said Smith should not have been rehired. Last week, an official letter of apology was sent to parents, alumni and church members.

“Although we felt we followed biblical principles in this matter and trusted the Lord's promise to forgive and cleanse those who repent, we regret that it has resulted in division and distrust among the WCS family,” said the letter from Executive Pastor Jim Augspurger and Pastor Jim Custer, both of whom were in leadership when Smith was rehired.

“We appreciate the fact that some of you would have made a different decision regarding Mr. Smith. Knowing what we know now, we also would have made a different decision.”

TT - The misguided efforts by the Catholic Church and educrats in public education to arbitrarily absolve priests and teachers of guilt in defiance of established law, is a despicable act of arrogance and the result of unchallenged power and corrupted authority. No apology can suffice for their hubris; no forgiveness is possible for their perversion of power or conceit that diminishes institutions that ought to represent decency. In their arrogance they may forgive themselves, but morality doesn't dictate that anyone else do so.

TT - We are accepting no more posts on this entry.

Cameras in the Classroom

Parents want security cameras in special education classrooms.

March 2, 2008 - Parents say that since disabled students are more vulnerable, require more physical contact during the school day and often can not speak for themselves, the schools need to add this layer of accountability.

There are security cameras on campuses and school buses, but not classrooms.

School administrators say that is largely because of objections from unions, which argue that teachers' should have the freedom to do their jobs without being monitored.

One thing parents and educators agree on: Cameras would at least provide proof of what really happened.

Thoughtful article.
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TT - Last year, after a teacher was sentenced for sexual abuse, his mother wrote us a long and thoughtful letter. She thought cameras in the classroom would help prove the innocence of teachers, including her son. It's an idea worth considering.

Aside from providing proof of misconduct, a visual record could exonerate a teacher. Cameras would also mean school administrators would no longer have an excuse for not monitoring teachers in the classroom. At present, teacher evaluations usually are written without ever visiting the classroom.

The cost of cameras might have been prohibitive even five years ago, but that is no longer the case. If we can monitor the floor of the U.S. Congress, surely we can monitor classrooms while they offficially conduct business. And it is a lot cheaper than a lawsuit. Even one lawsuit.

Chicago, ILLINOIS

About bloody time.

Feb 27, 2008 - The Chicago Public Schools Board of Education approved today a large turnaround and consolidation plan that will replace complete staffs at eight schools, close four elementary schools, move two schools and consolidate or phase out four others.

The four high schools in the turnaround plan had fewer than 13 percent of their students meet state standards last year. At Harper, for example, less than half of students graduate, and only five percent met state standards last year.

All teachers and administrators will be eliminated in the eight schools, though they may reapply for their jobs.

TT - It would be nice if they were doing this for the good of the students, but Illinois is in the middle of a budget crisis.

• Illinois faces a deficit for the current fiscal year, conservatively estimated at $750 million.
• The state has a $1.7 billion backlog of unpaid bills -- the highest in state history.
• The state's Medicaid program requires at least $500 million in new money just to meet existing obligations.
• The state's unfunded pension liability is among the worst in the nation.
• The governor sell anticipated future revenues at a discount in order to now receive a one-time lump sum.

It's a good thing they've turned out generations of illiterates who won't know - because they can't read - what bad shape the state is in. And, happily, the illiterates won't be making enough money to worry about tax increases, either. It's a two-win for politicians.

New York legislative priorities

"NY targets Teacher sex enforcement, awareness" that's the title of the article.

Jan 27, 2008 - The Associated Press is reporting that New York legislators will be considering legislation this session to "reduce the rise in teachers having sex with students."

In a largely self-congratulatory article, the AP says that "at least 16 states are now considering tougher laws to punish teacher sexual misconduct and stronger oversight to keep abusers out of classrooms following an Associated Press series on the topic run nationwide in October." And, "In eight states, leaders pushing changes said the AP investigation had inspired their proposals."

[See AP article, "Lawmakers Crack Down on Abusive Teachers" for an overview, with more specificity, of what some states are considering.]

As a catalyst for several proposals they have in mind, the New York Board of Regents cites a 400 percent increase in complaints against teachers from 2001 to 2007, with 75 percent of actions against certified teachers involving sex. There is currently a backlog of 800 allegations, and eight investigators, attorneys and support staff to investigate the complaints.

In all, 485 misconduct cases were reported over five years, most of them involving sexual misconduct.

The Board of Regents also wants faster way to suspend then revoke licenses of a teacher or administrator convicted of a sex offense.

The push for change is bi-partisan but not always clearly articulated.

""There's definitely going to be movement on the legislative side," said Manny Rivera, deputy secretary for education to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer. "We know the Board of Regents wants to advance a statute which calls for the automatic suspension of educators convicted of sex crimes. We're supportive of that and we'll work with them."

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TT - Why not automatic revocation? If they're convicted, they will not be in the classroom anyway. They will be either in jail, on probation, or unemployed, provided, of course, that a school district could fire a teacher for conviction of a sex crime. And if a district can't fire a teacher for a sex crime conviction, shouldn't that be first priority?

There is no mention of transparency. New York state licenses 31 professions, including doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists, psychologists, lawyers, architects, pharmacists, etc. They list the disciplinary actions for every one of those professions online. If you want to know what disciplinary action has been taken against, or is being considered against, an educator, you have to file a freedom of information request. (See #6)

Also missing from the proposals is a national teacher registry. Currently, states are supposed to be reporting professional teacher discipline actions to NASDTEC (National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification) to be included in a database to be shared among the member states. The "clearinghouse" includes reported discipline actions from all 50 states, Guam, New Zealand and Ontario (Canada.)

New York State has reported a total of 897 discipline actions. That's for the period from 1980 to February 2007. During the same time frame, South Carolina, with a student population one-quarter of that of New York, reported 896 dicipline actions against educations. (California reported 5,997 educators during the same period.)
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune, "National database of problem teachers is flawed", Dec 17, 2007. TT entry.

Every parent and taxpayer would applaud efforts to reduce teacher misconduct that involved sex with students. But not by legislators or education bureaucrats who have made it their business for decades to shield those who sexually exploit children because teachers unions are major contributors, teachers and educrats vote, and protecting the education establishment is more important than the safety of children entrusted to their care.

Be honest: their first priority in "reform" will be to make certain YOU won't know anything more than you know today.

Count on it.

SB 1105

Jan 25, 2008 - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune (CA) on SB 1105 in their weekly "It's Politics" reports.

State Sen. Sen. Bob Margett, R-Glendora, has introduced legislation he says will close a loophole which has allowed teachers who plead no contest to misdemeanor sex offenses to continue teaching in the classroom.

Under the current teacher credentialing law, if a person is found guilty of a misdemeanor sex offense, they immediately lose their teaching credential, effectively barring them from teaching.
However, if there is a plea of no contest, then all credentials held by the person are suspended until a final decision by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing is made.

This has allowed some teachers who have pleaded no contest to sexual offenses to come back into the classroom, Margett said.

SB 1105 would close this loophole by eliminating the distinction between a guilty plea and a "no contest" plea for misdemeanor convictions for credential holders.

"You should not be able to plead no contest to a sex offense just so you can continue teaching," Margett said.

"If you are innocent, you plead innocent, and you show the court why you are innocent," he said. "Otherwise, you should not exploit a loophole so you can continue teaching a classroom full of children and place them in jeopardy."

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TT - Is that politics or is it common sense? Well, anywhere else it's probably common sense, which means that it will never pass in the highly partisan California legislature. It will never even be heard, primarily because newspapers in California think it is just "politics" instead of a responsible solution to a genuine problem that affects parents and the safety of their children.

On the other hand, had a state senator proposed legislation to give tenure to teachers after six weeks on the job, that would be referred to as "educational reform."

THE BILL
SB 1105 text (as introduced) Bill tracking (click on bill history)

EDUCATION COMMITTEES
A look at the Education committees in the California Senate and Assembly shows why reform just will never happen. Not in their lifetimes, not with their ties to the educational establishment that is the biggest industry in California.

Continued here for space considerations.

Toughening up the Rules

Jan 16, 2008 - Ohio legislators in both the House and the Senate are considering bills to toughen up rules for teacher misconduct.

The proposals would automatically revoke the license of any teacher who commits one of more than 80 listed felonies, instead of waiting for the State Board of Education to conduct a hearing process. The crimes -- the same ones that currently prevent a person from getting a teaching license in the first place -- include murder, rape, unlawful sexual contact with a minor, gross sexual imposition and many drug and firearms offenses.

The bills also would require a district to remove a teacher from the classroom immediately if he or she is charged with any of the disqualifying offenses.

The teachers union is opposed. They don't want teachers removed from the classroom before a criminal conviction.

The bills also would give the Ohio Department of Education access to daily arrest reports from the state Bureau of Criminal Identification & Investigation. With this information, state officials hope the department will quickly notify a district when a teacher shows up on the list.

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The bills are House Bill 428 (as introduced See Sec. 3314.101. (A**) and Senate Bill 270 (as introduced.). They are identical and are in response to a Columbus Dispatch investigation last fall. The series was the ABCs of Betrayal and it resulted in special hearings Link and even the Ohio Department of Education proposed some reforms. Link
Series by by Jennifer Smith Richards and Jill Riepenhoff.

** As introduced, the bill calls, not just for removal from the classroom, but the suspension of a teacher who has been arrested, summoned, or indicted to be followed by prompt reporting to the of department of education.

Sec. 3319.31 Revocation after a guilty plea or verdict would be immediate and not subject to appeal. In addition, further investigation and an administrative hearing is not required. The revocation would remain in force even while a conviction is being appealed.

Senate Bill Summary and the House Bill Summary Scroll down for the list of offenses in either summary. The Summaries give background information for current law.

Oversight

Jan 13, 2008 - The Arkansas Board of Education will consider Tuesday whether to revoke the teaching license of Deanna Bobo. Article states that only 8 teachers have had their licenses revoked since 2005.

[TT - The Associated Press in their study, said that from 2001-2005, 26 teachers in Arkansas lost their licenses because of sexual misconduct. We have had 8 Arkansas teachers sentenced for sexual misconduct in the last 14 months alone. Bobo was one, but she has yet to serve a single day.]

From the article: The Arkansas General Assembly passed a law in 2007 to create a professional teacher licensure board, which will operate to similar boards overseeing the ethics of lawyers and physicians. The new teacher board is being organized and a code of ethics is being written, said Julie Johnson Thompson, spokeswoman for the state Education Department. The new board is to operate outside the purview of the Education Department and the state education board and my offer advice or counsel on ethical issues involving teachers.

The article also mentions those confidential agreements that allow a teacher to move on to another district or another state. A New Mexico law that went into effect last summer goes one step further. The measure prohibits administrators from making confidential agreements with teachers who've gotten in trouble.

TT - Hopefully, the new teacher licensure board will have the same autonomy as the Arkansas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board that publishes disciplinary sanctions in their quarterly newsletter. PDF (see pg 4) Somehow, we greatly doubt it.

Search Google Arkansas Licensing Board to see the number of licensing boards for every conceivable occupation. Like New York which regulates and licenses professions, including doctors, dentists, lawyers, therapists, nurses, and 26 others, teachers in Arkansas are the only exemption to this kind of oversight. In fact, most states do not have independent oversight of educators. And that is a major problem.

It is a blatant conflict of interest for educational bureaucrats to investigate or discipline educators. Bureaucrats are not professionals and have no professional standing on their own. There is no incentive for them to perform their duties, accountability when they do not, nor a vested interest in establishing or maintaining professional standards for others. They are directed overall by a political appointee who may or may not have any qualification for the job. In turn, the politician may have been elected with a generous donation from or campaign workers supplied by teachers unions.

And you wonder why teachers are not considered professionals by anyone other than themselves? The only way to guarantee oversight is transparency so that the public can offer feedback and correction.

LICENSE REVOKED Jan 15 - The Arkansas Board of Education voted unanimously to revoke Bobo's certified teacher's license. State law requires the board to revoke the license of any public school teacher who pleads guilty or no contest or is convicted of sexual assault.

Pension Forfeiture

NEWSPAPER INVESTIGATION

Dec 3, 2007 - If you want to know how tenure ensures affects the quality of schools, there is no better series than "The Hidden Costs of Tenure" by Scott Reeder of the Small Newspaper Group in Illinois.

HIDDEN VIOLATIONS Series
If you want to know how far Illinois has come to correcting those problems, since 2005 "Hidden Violations," is a new series.

INVESTIGATING THEMSELVES
In "Superintendents become de facto investigators" written in October, Reeder found that Illinois has no investigators to follow up on complaints. Instead, they rely on regional superintendents to conduct investigations. These are former teachers or school administrators who have had little to no training in conducting investigations. It's a blatant conflict of interest. With predictable results.

BACKGROUND CHECKS
NEW Dec 3 - "Hidden Violations: Lack of unified background checks prevails in schools" will horrify you to learn how a man with three Illinois felony convictions, two for molesting children and a four-year stint in prison was still able to obtain an Illinois teaching certificate. And what didn't happen when the state found out. NO TEACHER IN ILLINOIS hired before 2004 has to have a background check.

SECRET FILES
NEW Dec 3 - "Hidden violations: Files reveal questionable teacher conduct" For ten years, the Chicago Board of Education maintained secret files on some of the criminals who have slipped into the school district's teaching ranks.

The documents reveal drug-dealing, prostitution, attempted murder, criminal sexual assault, embezzlement, theft, reckless homicide and stalking by Chicago teachers.

The Chicago Public Schools routinely failed to warn state officials or other school districts of problem teachers.

Unlike states such as New York or New Mexico, there is no law in Illinois that requires school districts to report disciplinary actions taken against educators to state officials.

THOSE HIDDEN CRIMINAL RECORDS
NEW Dec 3 - he wrote "Hidden violations: Legal tools allow teaching licenses to stay valid." How expunged records allow teachers with criminal backgrounds to continue to teach. The state doesn't even require applicants to reveal expunged crimes when they seek to be certified to teach in Illinois.

And deferred adjudications never show up, either. A deferred adjudication is in a guilty plea is submitted to the court but a judge chooses not to enter it into the record if a person meets the certain requirements, such as successfully completing a probation or undergoing a drug rehabilitation program.

Illinois lawyers were 25 times more likely to lose their professional licenses than Illinois teachers.

Physicians in Illinois are 43 times more likely to lose their license than teachers are to lose their teaching certificate, the newspaper group found.

PENSION FORFEITURE
NEW Dec 3 - In "Hidden Violations: CPS teachers' pensions protected" there are some startling facts from the article:

FINDING: Illinois is one of at least 35 states with a pension forfeiture provision on the books.

FINDING: In Illinois, a 1955 law designed to punish corrupt cops, deviant teachers and politicians on the take, mandates that state or local government employees who are convicted of job-related felonies must forfeit their pensions.

FINDING:

Since 1991, 84 suburban and downstate educators have forfeited their pension benefits after being convicted of job-related felonies, according to TRS records obtained by Small Newspaper Group.

During the same period, no Chicago Public School teachers forfeited his or her pensions said Kevin Huber, executive director of CTPF. In fact, it is believed that not one pension has been forfeited in the 112-year history of the pension fund.

TT - Why that is, makes for fascinating reading.

Reform isn't easy

Nov 17, 2007 -
MONTANA
It's "controversal" only to those who disagree. In Montana, the Board of Regents is considering a policy that would mean that remedial math and remedial english courses would not count toward graduation.

Today, 37 percent of college freshmen from Montana high schools must take remediation classes in writing and math. The three-credit classes don't count toward their majors, but do count toward the 120 credits needed to graduate.

Most campus leaders feel strongly that college students shouldn't get credit for what are essentially high school classes.

If approved, the new policy would take effect in the fall of 2010.

Another "controversial" proposal would require that freshmen who enter a Montana college with less than a 22 ACT math score be labeled as “provisionally” admitted. They would have to take a remedial math class within their first three semesters. A score of 22 is considered the minimum necessary to do college work.

WYOMING
ACT measures college readiness by looking at whether or not students could take a college level, credit bearing course and earn a C or better in it. They found that was a problem.

Three out of four students in Wyoming are not ready to take core college level classes by the time they graduate, according to data collected by the American College Testing program.

Even students who take the "right" courses can find themselves lumped into remedial classes when they get to college. Wyoming spends $10 million a year on such classes, which essentially reteach what students should already know.

Getting rid of bad... somethings

Getting rid of bad teachers.

Nov 15, 2007 - From the City Room blog at the New York Times comes this PR information on Mayor Bloomberg and getting rid of bad teachers. Headline: A New Effort to Remove Bad Teachers

The Bloomberg administration is beginning a drive to remove unsatisfactory teachers, hiring new teams of lawyers and consultants who will help principals build cases against tenured teachers who they believe are not up to the job. It is also urging principals to get rid of sub-par novices before they earn tenure.

As Elissa Gootman reports, at the center of the effort is a new Teacher Performance Unit of five lawyers, headed by a former prosecutor fresh from convicting a former private school principal who had a sexual relationship with a student.

A separate team of five consultants, including former principals, will work with principals to improve struggling teachers’ performance. In cases where the teachers fail to get better, the consultants will help amass the documentation necessary to oust them.

The plans, at a cost of $1 million a year, are described in a memo and an accompanying letter to principals from Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein.

TT- We previously looked at Mayor Bloomberg's, ah, reforms. Link Link

School Reform without the, ah, Reform

Wresting concessions from the politicos who would have given away the farm anyway. (And have.)

Oct 24, 2007 - Diane Ravitch, writing an opinion piece in the New York Daily News, opines:

The teachers union just outsmarted the Smartest Guys in Education.

Pushed to the wall to accept some sort of merit pay, United Federation of Teachers leader Randi Weingarten persuaded Mayor Bloomberg and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to strike a deal with the union for a schoolwide bonus plan, which is definitely not merit pay.

The deal gives "merit pay" to schools, rather than individuals.

But the real deal for the union was retirement.

From now on, teachers, paraprofessionals and all other in-service members of the union will be able to retire at age 55 after 25 years of service (future hires will have to work 27 years, not 25, to collect). Currently, most members are not able to collect their full pension until they are 62. This change was one of the union's top priorities.

TT - Calling Bloomberg and Klein the Smartest Guys in Education surely must have been facetious. Still, it can be no surprise that Bloomberg caved.

He spoke at the National Urban League conference in St. Louis in July. Link At that time, he told them that reform wouldn't be easy. Quoting from his speech (the full text of which can be found at the link.)

But to inject some sanity into the process of firing bad teachers. And to pay bonuses to highly effective teachers, we need buy-in from the unions. That Hasn’t been easy in New York – or anywhere else. And I’ll be honest: I’m not sure we’re going to get there without support from the federal government.

Paying New York teachers 43% across the board as he did without extracting a single concession on their part doesn't seem very smart, does it? Well, it does if the LAST thing you are interested in is reform.

We also questioned speaking about Education Reform in St. Louis, a city where the entire school system was taken over by the state due to poor performance and questionable ethics. Link

School Reform

July 25, 2007 - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spoke to the National Urban League in St. Louis about education reform. He spoke at a private luncheon. For two days they will hear from several presidential candidates at the four-day national conference.

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The text of his speech can be found on his website.

He spoke about reform in NYC schools and the abolition of the Board of Education. And about tenure, the taboo topic in politics.

Focusing on how well students are actually learning will also allow us to take two other critical steps: reforming the tenure process, which right now is almost automatic. And reforming the process by which teachers can be fired, which right now is almost impossible.

When a teacher is up for tenure, too often the questions are: Did he come to work every day? Did he cover the curriculum? Do people like him? But the one question that really matters isn’t asked: Are his students learning as much as they should? Most times, the answer is ‘yes.’ But if the answer is no, that teacher should not receive tenure.

And when a tenured teacher’s students are not learning, principals, after a reasonable appeals process, should have the authority to let that teacher go. Right now, that appeals process is anything but reasonable. It’s a nightmare. That’s why many principals don’t even bother with it – and once again, it’s our children who suffer.

In New York City, we’ve begun taking the first steps toward tenure reform by requiring principals to evaluate each tenure-track teacher, so that tenure is earned by those who deserve it, and not granted as a right to those who don’t. But to inject some sanity into the process of firing bad teachers. And to pay bonuses to highly effective teachers, we need buy-in from the unions. That hasn’t been easy in New York – or anywhere else. And I’ll be honest: I’m not sure we’re going to get there without support from the federal government.

RETENTION AND PERFORMANCE

Many of you in this room work or have worked in the private sector. You know how to attract and retain the best people. Make them feel respected. And get the most out of them. You pay them more. You give them incentives to take on the toughest challenges and succeed. And you hold them accountable for results. And those who don’t perform up to standard – you let go. That’s Management 101, and it’s the way we treat all professionals – except in our schools.

In most school systems, teachers experience low pay, lockstep pay scales, no recognition of talent, no incentives for success and no accountability for failure. This kind of employment system didn’t work in the Soviet Union, and it’s time for us to recognize that it’s not working in our schools.

TT - Under his school "reforms," NYC teacher salaries have increased 43%, and senior teachers in the New York City school system will make more than $100,000. That's good for retention, provided the teacher provides value for the money and with the ability to "let go" of the non-performing teacher. Something they can't do under tenure. So what is the point of paying all teachers 43% more? Tenure is locked in the Legislature.

There's something ironic about speaking about education reform in a city that has just had their schools taken over by the state for colossal mismanagement and corruption.

See Bloomberg's, ah, reforms. TT entry

Seattle, WASHINGTON

In Washington state, legislators are seriously worried, not by re-election concerns, but about Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) tests that students are required to pass to graduate.

Students taking the test have done so badly that legislators are thinking about delaying it as a requirement for graduation for another five years. At least for the math and science section. You can see why when over 32,000 students have already failed the math portion. We covered the legislative squirming earlier here.

We also visited the site of the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction as part of that story. Today an Associated Press story details Terry Bergeson's battle with her former colleagues in the Washington Education Association where she was in the top leadership for eight years. Bio

As Steve Jobs said in an interview, "The problem there of course is the unions. The unions are the worst thing that ever happened to education because it's not a meritocracy. It turns into a bureaucracy, which is exactly what has happened. The teachers can't teach and administrators run the place and nobody can be fired. It's terrible."

He forgot about the politicans who make more money from union contributions than they do from any constituent.

School Reform *SNICKER*

Whenever politicians talk about school reform, look out. But that's exactly what Roy Romer wants to do.

You might remember Roy Romer as the former 3-term governor of Colorado and chairman of the DNC. His last position was as Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. It will be a $60 million campaign to "hurtle education to the top of the presidential-election agenda."

The project, run like a presidential campaign for a single issue, is an attempt to show voters that America's education system is slipping in the global economy and to pressure presidential candidates for solutions.

"We need to have fundamental overhaul," said Romer, who was superintendent of Los Angeles schools for six years after serving three terms as Colorado governor.

We want to make sure that education is elevated as the No. 1 priority."

The problem is that Los Angeles Schools are some of the most dysfunctional in the country. They are not only a poverty magnet, they are an absolute poverty guarantee. With a 4-year dropout rate of 39.3% is it any wonder?

Wikipedia: The LAUSD has a reputation for extremely crowded schools, poor maintenance and incompetent administration.

That's understating the problem. These are the cities who have tried to secede from the school district: Carson residents tried unsuccessfully in 2002, and currently, a small area served by LAUSD in Rancho Palos Verdes, known as Eastview, has been trying to do so, and join the school district that the rest of Rancho Palos Verdes is served by--namely, the Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District.

The city of Lomita once tried to secede from the LAUSD and join Torrance Unified. Communities in southeast Los Angeles County, such as Bell, Maywood, and Cudahy, have also tried to secede and form their own districts. (Source: Wikipedia)

The campaigns to secede have been costly and opposed by unions who spend millions and with the Democrat politicians, manage to defeat the attempts in citywide elections. Despite local votes for secession. It's not hard to understand why.

Wikipedia: As of 2005, LAUSD serves over 710,000 students, and with over 74,000 employees, is the second largest employer in Los Angeles County, after County government. That pretty much explains why the cities can't secede. They are outvoted and outspent every time after long and bitter campaigns that keep children captives of a corrupt school system.

LAUSD has the single most expensive non-school in history - the Belmont Learning Center. Again, Wikipedia:

The LAUSD had spent an estimated $175 million dollars on the project by 2004, with an additional $110 million budgeted for cleanup efforts. The total cost is estimated by LAUSD at $300 million. Critics have speculated that it may end up costing closer to $500 million. The school is scheduled to open in 2008.

They don't report that an early audit recommended that 7 people be indicted for obvious fraud. None were.

The Final Investigative Report by the District Attorney's Office (241 pages) failed to find a single criminal problem, but their conclusion includes this peculiar note.

The LAUSD experience with the Belmont Learning Complex has been a continuing public tragedy of mistakes, misfortune, missed deadlines, and, ultimately, mishandling of the educational interests of our children.

LAUSD must learn from the mistakes of this experience, or it will be condemned to repeat those mistakes in the extensive school construction projects it will undertake in the near future.

Why the Gates Foundation wants to join with someone like Romer is unfathomable. This is a man who has only worked 10 years of his entire 78 years outside of government.

Education Reform

Apr 10, 2007 - An article from the Harvard Political Review unintentionally explains EXACTLY why education reform is a buzzword phrase with absolutely no meaning to those who control our schools.

The author, Zoey Orol, asks "Are teachers' unions part of the solution or the problem?" and concludes that they are part of the problem and can be part of the solution.

With union leaders pushing contractual stipulations that hold negative consequences for public school students, it is apparent that the unions do place substantial barriers in the way of reform.

TT - Amazingly, however, the word, "children" only appears once in the 708-word article. They want to improve public schools. That's on the agenda. But without " interference by governmental policies" (code word for No Child Left Behind Act that mandates school improvement when a school consistently fails to teach.) And then there are those "competing union interests" whatever the heck they are. And absolutely no explanation why that has anything to do with reform.

Not one word about how schools are failing to teach or the children who are being cheated out of a decent education. (That could be the"negative consequences for public school students" part but how would you know?) They - the Harvard Political Review and unions want to "reform" education, for what purpose? They can't even bring themselves to admit the extent of the failure.

They do make it clear that more money would help, though.

They've screwed the pooch for forty years. It's time to recognize that these people shouldn't be looked to for any kind of reform. They're just looking to be included in the next deal.

REFORMING the SYSTEM

Mar 21 - The Sarasota (Florida) Herald-Tribune final in their series, "Broken Trust"

In Teacher repeats behavior; new school unaware of past
A teacher talks with the Herald-Tribune. A case study in how the system failed abjectly.

Melissa Green pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious behavior with a student, 15, at Tate High School in Escambia County. She came there from Satsuma High School in Alabama, where she had an affair with a student, 16. That school let her resign with no investigation.

Two teachers to whom she confessed gave her references for another school district - where she had a sexual relationship with another student. As a mother, she says she regularly checks it to see if there are any offenders in her neighborhood. But within two miles of her house, she's the only one.

Key Players
Names and salaries for those whose job it is to "track teacher misconduct."

How area districts handle complaints
Background checks. Who investigates? Code of Conduct. Reporting Rules. Educator training.
[Compare the Reporting Rules from the three counties.]

FIXING FLORIDA'S FAILED SYSTEM
What the Herald-Tribune found. Among the findings,

The system relies on educators to police themselves instead of using trained investigators to gather evidence. As a result, problem teachers can stay in school for years until someone is able to collect enough proof to fire them and take their teaching license.

Well-thought out recommendations.

[TT - Our two cents: Better than NASDTEC, the U.S. Department of Education should maintain a database of disciplined teachers. For the best reasons: 1) Women marry and can change names. 2) A Social Security number is a constant. 4) Teachers travel from state-to-state to work. 5) The U.S. Dept. of Education can act as impartially as NASDTEC. 6) Their system would be transparent. 7) Their findings would be public information and their records would be subject to the Freedom of Information Act. 8) NO MORE EXCUSES THAT IT'S A PERSONNEL ISSUE.

It will never happen. The various states, county school systems, local school systems, school administrators, unions or teachers would work against a real database that would mean a system that would track their non-performance as well.]

New York

Feb 26 - The headline reads: "Spitzer administration, teachers' union take on teacher sex cases".

The calls for action echo statements by the state School Boards Association and state Education Commissioner Richard Mills following a state study first reported Feb. 18.

The study found the number of accusations against teachers doubled in five years. In 2005, 134 cases of "moral misconduct" by teachers and other school employees and some seeking teaching certificates were reported. That compares to 70 cases in 2001, according to the report obtained by The Associated Press through the state Freedom of Information Law.

Almost three in four of the "moral conduct" cases involved sex between a teacher and student.

There is this odd note: [Emphasis mine.] "The union's support is important. It has substantial lobbying strength in the Legislature as well as influence with the 225,000 teachers it represents statewide, some of whom have been reluctant to report rumors or evidence about colleagues." [A damning admission.]

By law, the union must defend its members accused of acts that could lead to discipline, according to the article.

NEW YORK

Mar 12, 2007 - The New York State School Boards Association wants swifter discipline for bad teachers.

Based on state Education Department data and a survey of school boards, the association said an average case will cost a district nearly $129,000 and take 520 days to resolve.

That includes $60,0160 paid to the accused teacher, who is suspended during the state disciplinary process; $26,800 for a substitute teacher; and $23,040 for legal costs.

There is also a cost is in morale of the faculty and the tarnished reputation of the vast majority of teachers, the association said. [TT - Not to mention the fact that the ultimate price is paid by children who have had to deal with the incompetent or sexually abusive teacher and the taxpayer has to pay his or her salary until conviction -- paying a teacher and a substitute sometimes for years. We know. We chronicle it every day.]

TT - The New York State School Boards Association has a web site with their report and their five recommendations.
Press release here.