Santa Fe/ School District Honored For Saving Energy
By T.S. Last
ABQ Journal
September 4, 2012
Santa Fe Public Schools was recently recognized for its energy conservation efforts by the New Mexico chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers, an international organization of engineers and energy professionals.
Jack McGowan, the chapter's awards chairman, said it's the first time the Corporate Energy Management Award has been given to a school district in New Mexico. He said Santa Fe School District was singled out for a strong record of energy conservation efforts over the years, as well as projects it's currently undertaken.
- "They have approached it from the standpoint of existing schools taking a large number of actions from lighting upgrades to building automation and a variety of measures that improve efficiency," he said, adding that maintenance is another key component. "In addition, there's an extensive new construction program where they've integrated efficiency management systems into new buildings and renovations to existing buildings."
One of the best examples of a newer building that was designed with energy efficiency in mind, he said, is
- Amy Biehl Community School at Ranch Viejo. It is equipped with a wide range of energy technology, including geothermal heat pumps, automated heat and cooling management systems, and insulation.
Santa Fe Schools also graded high for longevity, McGowan said, registering high marks for its top-down commitment to energy management.
- "The past two superintendents have been very engaged in this program. They've been pursuing energy management for more than a decade," he said.
McGowan said Santa Fe Pubic Schools also won favor with the selection committee by creating the position of energy conservation program coordinator to monitor energy usage and look for new ways to conserve energy.
Hired for that position was Lisa Randall, who joined the district in August 2010 to oversee the district's upstart energy conservation program.
- "It was a direct response to continuing operational budget crisis the district was facing a few years ago," she said of the program. "Utilities come out of the operational budget and the program was implemented as a way to try to keep more money in the operational budget for staff and use in classrooms."
The program had an immediate effect, Randall said, lowering costs by way of reducing natural gas usage by 12.94 percent and electricity use by 8.05 percent the first year.
- Randall said the district spent $3.4 million on utilities from July 2010 to June 2011.
- All told, the district has been able to keep more than $389,000 in the operational budget over the past two years as a result of their efforts.
Complementing the program and introducing an educational element, Randall said the district has created site-based "green teams" that monitor energy use, conduct energy audits and engage in recycling programs through a partnership with Earth Care, a Santa Fe nonprofit group dedicated to educating and empowering youth to create healthy, sustainable communities.
In addition, conservation tips have been distributed to teachers and students so they can do their part in helping to save energy. Staff are instructed to submit work order requests for compact fluorescent bulbs to replace standard light bulbs, to repair broken or cracked glass and replace weather stripping and fix leaky faucets.
Water, the district's second-biggest utility expense behind electricity, is another area in which the district has been successful in reducing usage and costs, despite an 8.2 percent increase in water rates.
- "The district uses 47 million gallons of water per year," Randall said. "We used 7 million gallons less in 2012 than we did in 2011 - that's almost a 13 percent reduction."
Water use reduction was accomplished through the installation of smart meters at the high schools - the district's largest water users - and other grass fields, low-flow aerators on hand-washing sinks throughout the district and a vigorous response to water leaks, Randall said.
"The smart meters give us real time data on use of water so we can detect leaks," she said. "Now, we can usually capture those leaks within 24 hours and correct the problem."
Something new that's coming are public kiosks that will be installed at three pilot schools: Eldorado, Gonzales and Amy Biehl elementary schools.
- "They are going to be really amazing," Randall said. "They'll have interactive touch screens that will give pictures in real time for such things as electricity and gas usage. They are Web-based, so people will have access to them from their home computers."
Randall said the kiosks will go live at the end of September or early October. If they prove popular, kiosks will be added at other schools, she said.
Randall said the district has rewritten design standards and energy efficiency and management measures are being implemented in all new-build or renovation projects within the district.
- "And we are currently developing another facility master plan, which includes proposed initiatives for photovoltaic systems and synthetic fields," she said.
The revamped design standards also incorporate the use of native plant species for landscaping that don't require a lot of water and are capable of withstanding hot temperatures.
Randall said many of the energy efficiency components were embedded in the General Obligation Bond proposal approved by voters in 2009.
"There's another GO Bond election in 2013, and I hope (voters) have faith that we'll continue with these initiatives. It's really important," she said.
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ABQ/ 'Techbooks' Instead of Textbooks
By Hailey Heinz
ABQ Journal
September 3, 2012
Students in Albuquerque Public Schools won't get updated textbooks in science or social studies this year - or perhaps ever. Instead, they're getting what district officials are calling "techbooks."
The APS board recently approved unanimously an $11.3 million, seven-year contract with Discovery Education, which provides web-based resources instead of physical books.
- Discovery offers videos, interactive lessons, educational games, reading passages and glossaries.
- The contract also includes training for teachers, which district officials said will be forthcoming this semester.
District officials say buying Discovery is cheaper than new textbooks and will better prepare students for a changing world.
Although it is hard to make direct cost comparisons, a middle school textbook generally costs about $100, and the per-student cost of a Discovery "techbook" is about $45. But the Discovery contract also includes costs like teacher training, so the comparison is not exact.
Discovery is nothing new to the students at Zuni Elementary, which piloted the program last year. On a recent week day, teacher Dan Gutierrez showed his fourth- and fifth-graders a video explaining different advertising techniques.
Some of these included "bandwagon," "snob appeal," and "urgency." A bandwagon ad tells consumers everyone is using a product, and they'll be left out if they don't. Snob appeal plays on a consumer's desire to be part of an elite group, and urgency is based on limited-time offers and sales that end tomorrow.
The video explained each advertising technique and showed examples. In between, Gutierrez stopped the video and had students briefly discuss and summarize the concept. Students were also assigned to take notes.
That lesson is part of a longer-term project Gutierrez's students are doing this semester. Working in groups, they will design a brand of gum complete with packaging and a slogan and will write and record an advertisement. The idea is to teach them to be savvy consumers, as well as to practice writing, working in groups and thinking critically.
One student cast a questioning eye on the video, suggesting that Discovery might be providing information on advertising techniques just so students and teachers would trust Discovery and schools would continue to buy its products.
Gutierrez commended the boy for thinking critically and for recognizing that even Discovery has something to sell.
The decision to switch from textbooks to Discovery has led to some concern from teachers.
Gary Bodman, who teaches science at Madison Middle School, said he is worried about reaching students who don't have a computer or Internet access at home.
- "I think the No. 1 issue is we teach such a diverse community of students, and all of a sudden we're getting rid of a book with pages and going to a source that has to be accessed from the Internet," he said. "It seems like we're cutting off a whole part of our population."
Deborah Elder, the principal at Zuni and a proponent of Discovery, said students without home Internet stand to benefit most from the program.
- "Students who come from impoverished situations need, even more, the opportunities to learn to use digital media effectively," Elder wrote in a web posting addressing common concerns about Discovery. "Closing the achievement gap can only become a reality by giving all students the richest learning opportunities available, regardless of their background."
She said when students go on to college and careers, they will need to know how to use high-tech resources and will not be limited to books or asking teachers for answers.
At Zuni, a computer lab for students and parents is open after school. Gutierrez said he tries to be aware of the needs of low-income students, making sure they have access during the school day or during computer lab time.
APS Chief Academic Officer Shelly Green said the same kinds of accommodations will be made district-wide.
"It's like anything else. If students don't have access now, and need to type a paper, they can use computers at school and have lab access," she said.
Green said some teachers may decide not to assign technology-based homework and will instead watch a video or do an interactive activity in class, then assign students to write a response to it at home.
"Teachers will just make accommodations," she said.
According to the 2010 Census, about 64 percent of New Mexico residents live in a home with Internet access. That number may be higher in the Albuquerque area.
Bodman emphasized he does not want to be a naysayer and will try to make the best of Discovery. But he said for now, his students will still use their textbooks as he becomes more familiar with Discovery and figures out how to best incorporate it into lessons. He said many teachers are not yet trained, and some don't realize it's meant to take the place of textbooks.
Green said it's fine that Bodman and others are still using their textbooks. The board approved the contract only recently, and no one will lose their books this year.
"This is going to be a transition year," Green said. "We're not going and pulling books out of the schools, but we do want teachers to start taking advantage of this. The electronic world is really where the kids are starting to live."
Vivien McCullough, 10, is a student in Gutierrez's class and is beginning her second year with Discovery. She said she likes being able to look up information about topics that interest her and enjoys the available math games. She described a project from last school year when she created an electrical circuit using an online simulation.
Gutierrez said the simulated science labs are a real benefit, since Zuni and other elementary schools don't have space for labs. He said some students went on to make circuits out of real materials.
Gutierrez said he believes the most important thing about Discovery is helping students learn to seek out knowledge on a web-based platform.
"It's the importance of the platform and what it represents," he said. "Discovery Ed represents how learners are going to interact with information."
Tips for parents
Even though students' assignments are online, parents can still help. Ask your child's teacher for a username and password to log into Discovery from home. You can:
- Review completed assessments and assignments with your child.
- Review science vocabulary using the interactive glossary with animations.
- Connect to current events. You could search for an educational video on a newsworthy topic like extreme weather.
- Read educational passages as part of nightly reading with your child.
- Be a role model for lifelong learning by searching for information on a topic that interests you.
- Ask your child to show you what they learned in class with a virtual lab or exploration.
- Bust myths with your child using the Mythbusters video segments and student review sheets.
Source: Discovery Education
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Santa Fe/ Kids Campus at Santa Fe Community College on Mission to Teach Tots
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
September 2, 2012
Margaret Zenn says there can be quite a bit of confusion between the notions of work and play when it comes to learning.
"Play is learning," the new director of Santa Fe Community College's Kids Campus said while walking through the school Thursday morning.
- "If you engage in quality play, you are learning. So many classrooms are designed toward the idea of 'to learn, you need to work.' Even adults are more likely to want to learn if they are studying something they are interested in, so when children are given the opportunity to learn things that interest them, they will learn."
Early-childhood education proponents often cite reports touting the benefits of enrolling children in school before kindergarten, with advocates arguing that such early action can increase both academic achievement and graduation rates and decrease the chances of a child dropping out of school.
Linda Peņa, a community college student and employee, has seen the benefits of early-childhood education with her son, who now attends E.J. Martinez Elementary School and is earning A's and B's. That's one reason she enrolled her 1-year-old daughter, Angel, in the Kids Campus. "The kids get to do a lot of everything every day: colors, numbers, motor skills, interaction, so as they get older they can multitask a lot easier," she said. She also likes the school's student-to-teacher ratio: about 4-to-1 among the infant set and 16-to-1 for the older, pre-K crowd.
The Kids Campus opened as the Early Childhood Education Center in 1991 and underwent a name and director change this past summer.
- The roughly 32,000-square-foot facility houses eight large, well-lit, open-space classrooms, six of which are populated by about 60 students from 2 months old to kiddies in the upper pre-K age range.
- The school's enrollment capacity is 80 students.
"Being an early-childhood education teacher is like performing a very beautiful, well-choreographed dance at high speed," Zenn said while watching two of her teachers balance a play session with lessons in motor skills, balance, word-identification and definition, and cooperation between students.
- "The basis is in having a real appreciation for children as people - not as potential people but as current people."
Alberto Mares, who has taught at the center for two years, engaged a group of kids in a game of hide-and-seek. What skills could a 3-year-old learn from such a game? "Counting, rules, taking turns, social interaction," he said without missing a beat while seeking out his hidden charges. He says he is guiding discovery: "I set up an environment where they can discover on their own."
Teachers in this environment need to think like the children they oversee, he said: "Remember the first raindrop you felt on your head? Remember the first time you tasted a slice of pineapple? Those are really key moments, and teachers have to be open to reliving them."
Teacher Megan Ashbaugh, who has been at the center for four years, said one important element of her job is communicating with parents. She keeps a daily handwritten journal of each of her children's actions and developments and shares the findings with their parents every day. She also makes home visits at the beginning of each semester to see her students in their most comfortable environment.
Friends often ask her what she can possibly teach to a 2-year-old.
"You have to know what each child is capable of and not restrain them from what they are capable of," she said, noting that her kids are cleaning off their lunch plates, washing their hands and (mostly) using the toilets without aid.
The school is funded through a combination of tuition, grants and a subsidy from Santa Fe Community College.
- Right now the college puts about $200,000 toward the $700,000 per-year budget, but in the past two years, as grant sources dried up and the economy exacted a financial toll on parents who could no longer afford tuition, enrollment dropped and the college found itself subsiding the center by some $300,000.
- The college considered closing the center down and entertained a plan to outsource its management before embarking on a plan to hire a new manager, reduce costs and pursue other funding sources.
Zenn said one of her biggest challenges is convincing the community that the Kids Campus is there for the community and not just for Santa Fe Community College staffers, students and parents. About half of the center's children are tied to college personnel or students.
Zenn has been on the job exactly 30 days. Her most recent gig was as director of St. John's United Methodist Church's TLC and Preschool. She also directed the Tara School and the Sage School.
She is looking to find new funding sources and forge alliances with community members and organizations in an effort to maintain the facility, invest in proven early-childhood practices and build a strong professional-development program.
"I would like to develop a viable program design where grant money can be aimed toward innovation rather than the operational bottom line," she said.
Visit www.kidscampus.sfcc.edu for more information.
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ABQ/ 2 Elementary Schools Get Library Makeovers
By Glen Rosales
ABQ Journal
September 1, 2012
Santiago Roybal's eyes got wide Friday when he walked into Dolores Gonzales Elementary School's renovated library for the first time.
He saw shelves bulging with new books and a large, flat-screen television and a moveable, high-tech white board.
"I think it is - it's better than I dreamed it would be," said 10-year-old Roybal, a fifth-grade student who likes to read Harry Potter books. "They remodeled the whole library. I thought they were going to just do one little section."
The library makeovers at Dolores Gonzales, near the BioPark Zoo, and at Griegos Elementary, close to Valley High School, came courtesy of a $35,000 Public Service Co. of New Mexico donation and $15,000 in cash and in-kind donations from the Albuquerque Public Schools Education Foundation, New Mexico School Products, Contract Associates of New Mexico and Technology Integration Group.
The libraries were unveiled Friday and folks at Dolores Gonzales couldn't have been happier.
"We are absolutely thrilled," said librarian Mary Gonzales. "This is something that is so exciting for our students as well as our parents as well as our teachers."
The school received about $5,000 worth of books, specifically 271 books in Spanish and English.
"Our families can come and check out books," said principal Lori Stuitt. "Our kids can check out books. A lot of our student don't have extensive collections at home. We're a dual-language school so it's very important to me that our library reflect that."
In addition, a computer workstation that was crowded into the middle of the library was moved into a revamped computer wing, creating an open space that will be more pleasant for library users.
"It opens up the whole library," Gonzales said. "It makes it look more professional. But yet it's very kid friendly. It was closed in. It felt darker. It's super exciting. It's great. It just has a warm, open feeling."
The cooperative nature of the project shows "that people care," Stuitt said. "I think it shows they care not just about children in general but about literacy. About the importance of reading and the importance of reading as a family."
The PNM donation was not surprising, said Phill Casaus, executive director of the APS Education Foundation.
- "PNM has been a partner with APS in many ways for many days for a long time," he said. "And it's the kind of things that other companies see and can do. The $35,000, that is by no means a drop in the bucket, but it shows that it can have quite an impact."
Griegos received 30 iPads with a synchronization cart plus a new TV, rug and bean bag chair in addition to new flooring and fresh paint.
- "PNM believes deeply in the youth of Albuquerque and New Mexico, and knows that the children of Dolores Gonzales and Griegos are just some of the examples of our potential here," said Ron Darnell, PNM senior vice president for public policy and a member of the APS Education Foundation board of directors. "We're glad to be a part of this wonderful day and thank the parents, staff, and of course, the children, for their commitment to education."
As for Roybal, he can't wait to get his hands on some of the new books.
"It made me feel very happy to see the library like this," he said with a grin.
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Tesuque/ Trouble in Numbers: Elementary School Reports Sharp Drop in Enrollment
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
September 1, 2012
Tesuque Elementary School's enrollment decreased by about 35 students this year - and the school's principal believes the drop is in large part due to the migration of students and their parents from Tesuque Pueblo's Tesuque Trailer Village last year.
The K-6 school's current enrollment is 112 students; down from 148 last year, according to Principal Coleen Korce. Based on a list of addresses of students/parents she has compiled, she is fairly certain most of the students who left resided in Tesuque Trailer Village.
- "Tesuque Elementary School is a very special small school that embraces families, and it is very difficult to have these families leave this area," Korce said. "We are encouraging other families to visit the school and join us in Tesuque."
- Last October, Tesuque Pueblo notified residents of the 132-unit strong trailer park that they had to provide proof that everyone living in the trailers is a legal U.S. resident. The pueblo also raised the rent by $126.50 per month.
At that time, the pueblo said that as it receives federal funding, it has to adhere to federal guidelines regarding residency.
- Still, at that time a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman said that HUD does not ask landlords to provide residency documentation.
- New Mexico state law does not require undocumented immigrates to show they are legally residing in the United States in order to rent housing or attend public schools.
Korce said that last October a tenant spokesperson for the trailer park visited her and told her she would likely lose up to 40 students by year's end. Korce said some of those parents did relocate immediately but kept their children in Tesuque Elementary School through the school year because their kids were comfortable there.
The trailer village is undergoing infrastructure renovations including upgrades in sewer and water lines. Though Dan Clavio, property manager for Tesuque Trailer Village, referred all questions to Tesuque Pueblo Gov. Ramos Romero's office on Tuesday, he did tell The New Mexican earlier in August that the trailer park has about 400 residents and that none are being relocated during this renovation. Clavio said the pueblo will also invest in a park, an upgraded playground area, and road improvements in the future.
Romero's office did not return calls seeking comment Tuesday.
Korce said the school's staffing remains the same as last year with 15 full-time employees and a few one-day-a-week employees, including the school nurse. Asked whether there is any chance of the school closing because of low enrollment, she said, "I can't predict what is going to happen," but emphasized that the Village of Tesuque has been very committed to keeping a public school operating there. The school's website notes that it serves the largest population of Native American children in the district.
With 112 students, Tesuque, which opened around 1930, has the smallest enrollment of any public school. Acequia Madre Elementary School is the second-smallest with about 175 students, according to that school's principal, Bill Beacham.
Korce said parents interested in visiting Tesuque Elementary School or learning more about the school can call her at 467-4102.
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Santa Fe/ Tents Help Desert Academy Start in New Home
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
September 4, 2012
Some Desert Academy students started off their school year Tuesday in classrooms housed in canvas tents.
Rather than being upset about it, according to rumors around campus, some seniors actually requested to be part of the tent brigade. "It looks like a M*A*S*H unit out here," quipped head of school Terry Passalacqua as students filed in for the first day of class at the private school's new home.
Over the summer, Desert Academy relocated from Camino Alire to the old New Mexico Academy for Sciences and Mathematics campus at 7300 Old Santa Fe Trail.
To ensure that parents and students found their way Tuesday morning, Desert drafted three students to stand on Old Las Vegas Highway, holding signs that read "New Campus," "New Beginnings" and "New Horizons." Math teacher Bob Alei and science teacher Jocelyne Comstock stood in the school's U-shaped driveway/parking lot to guide visitors and welcome students.
Founded in 1994, Desert Academy has 178 students enrolled so far for this year - its largest student population yet. "We started off 19 years ago in a one-room schoolhouse with 35 students," Passalacqua told the students during a morning assembly. He added, "It's the first day of school, and you all have A-pluses. You can keep it that way."
Student Council President Isaac Green told the group, "We are utterly pumped to be blazing a path in what we hope will be Desert's home for many years."
Desert began looking for a new home more than a year ago because the Camino Alire building was crammed to capacity. The school, which serves students in grades seven through 12, hopes to increase enrollment to 240.
Last spring, school leaders announced plans to buy the 26-acre home of the former New Mexico Academy for Sciences and Mathematics for about $6.9 million. After providing a $7,000 down payment on the property, Desert now pays $8,500 per month for the first two years. That amount will then jump to $15,000 and eventually, by the 14-year mark, to $34,200 per month.
The previous school on the site was founded in 1998 by Fernando Multedo and his wife, Molly, but closed in the spring of 2008 due to a variety of reasons, including financial challenges.
Desert has added a 9,000-square-foot, modular, 14-classroom wing to the property, but that facility won't be ready until perhaps the last week of September. Hence, three classrooms are in tents, which have been provided by Desert parents Scotty and Kay Rice (the latter also works at the school). The words "2012-2013 Starting Off In-Tents," was written on Green's sweatshirt.
A pre-existing portable classroom behind the main building will serve as Desert's performing-arts center. Desert has a construction crew working to get a small physical-education building open and operating by month's end as well. The spacious land around the school's buildings includes room for a basketball court (ready), a mile-and-a-half cross-country track (ready) and, in the future, some sand volleyball courts. Desert also plans to complete the former academy's preliminary work on building an outdoor pool in the next few years for both its students and the community to use.
The school held an orientation for new students last week and hosted an all-school picnic for students, parents and staff members on Labor Day. The latter event drew more than 200 people.
Dean of Students Rod Mehling said, "We're all going to get to grow with this campus."
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Eunice/ Urenco's App Teaches Kids About Energy
By Ben Gibson
Carlsbad Current-Argus
September 5, 2012
He may not be Mario, but Urenco is hoping that Richie Enrichment can teach kids a thing or two about electricity in their newly launched "Richie's World of Adventure" app for mobile devices and PCs.
- "We want to educate the young and the young at heart," Urenco representative Shannon Dale Bush said. "We hope to ignite a passion for the math and sciences with students."
Urenco's mascot, Richie Enrichment, has been a part of the company's education efforts. According the company's press release, the game is played by collecting blue energy 'orbs,' so Richie can charge his battery and boost his score. However, he has to be careful to avoid the energy-sapping electrical devices that are out to drain his power as he travels to famous locations throughout the world.
Playing through the game, kids navigate and leap their way through the world's cities, according to the release.
Richie will fight off those high-energy devices while also dispensing information about Urenco, electricity and nuclear power.
- Urenco, a nuclear fuel supply company than employs more than 300 people in the Eunice area, including a handful from Eddy County, hopes it can reach out with this app and provide information in a fun way for kids.
"We're a very forward thinking company and our CEO (Greg Smith's) goal is to raise science and math grades in this area. We also want them to have a better understanding of electricity and nuclear power," Bush said.
He also said the company focuses its educational efforts toward the 1,500 fifth-graders in schools around the Eunice area.
The app version of the game is available for free download in the iTunes App store and for Android platforms as well as an online version.
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Raton/ District Schools Receive Intel Water-Study Grant
Project to examine use, impact on area ranchers
By Bob Morris, Staff Writer
Raton Range
September 4, 2012
The Springer school district has received a grant that will enable students to study aspects of water in northeast New Mexico and their impact on ranchers.
Intel awarded the school district $5,000 to go toward field trips for these studies, as well as equipment and instruments to measure water usage and allow students to carry out scientific studies.
Springer schools Superintendent Gregg McMann said he was happy that a rural school district was named a grant recipient. He said the Intel Innovation Grants had usually gone to districts in larger cities, but that in talking with Intel officials, the company encouraged more rural districts to apply for grants.
- "They were really encouraging rural areas to submit another (application) next year," McMann said. "We already have other teachers who are excited about it. They (Intel) really want to push this out to rural areas of the state."
Seventh- and eighth-grade teachers Bonnie Trujillo, who teaches humanities, and Leslie Anderson, who teaches math and science, applied for the grant. Plans are to offer lessons in water usage to students in seventh through 10th grades.
McMann said the application was submitted last spring and "we heard about (the award) in May," with Intel making an official presentation last week.
McMann explained that drought conditions have impacted area ranches and farms, so students will be able to explore how ranchers and farmers are adjusting to a lower availability of water.
"It's fascinating how people are changing the way they do things and the way they are ranching," he said.
Students will examine water usage through the years and how various uses affects the area, as well as learn about water conservation and its importance. McMann noted the research is "cross-curricular," to include looking at history and social issues, along with science.
The Intel Innovation Grant program is designed to support school programs related to math and science. The company presented a total of $40,000 in grants to six schools.
"By providing grants to these schools, Intel hopes to inspire and prepare New Mexico's youth for success in the global economy," said Natasha Martell, community engagement/education manager for Intel's Corporate Affairs Group.
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Santa Fe/ School Board Hears from Students Who Failed State Test
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
September 4, 2012
Santa Fe High senior Deni Myers doesn't feel that 13 years of public education can fit into one big test score.
She was talking about the state's High School Graduation Assessment, or Standards Based Assessment, which she failed by one point, she said. She's not alone. About 63 percent of public high school juniors in Santa Fe did not pass the test when they took it last spring.
The exam, which tests students' competency in math, reading, writing and science, is a requirement for receiving a high school diploma.
At Tuesday evening's Board of Education meeting, seniors from both Santa Fe High and Capital High expressed concern that they won't be walking down the graduation aisle with a diploma.
Many of them argued that schools did not do enough to prepare them last year. And although principals at both of those schools told the board they are instituting refresher classes in advance of the upcoming retake test in October, students expressed concern that even the preparation help is not enough.
This is the first year that the state Public Education Department required 11th-graders to pass the SBA to earn a diploma, although students who fail can receive a certificate of completion. Some 10,000 New Mexico high school students failed to pass the test, including 361 in Santa Fe.
- At Santa Fe High School, 167 students, or 50 percent of that class, failed the SBA.
- At Capital High School, 162 of the students - 63 percent - failed.
- At the Academy at Larragoite, 32 students - 84 percent - failed.
Last Friday, the Public Education Department issued the Alternative Demonstration of Competency, another way for students to earn a diploma of excellence.
Under the ADC, students scheduled to graduate in 2013 can show competency by:
- passing appropriate courses in English, math, reading, science and social studies and
- by achieving sufficient scores on AP exams, and tests such as the ACT and SAT.
For seniors graduating in 2014, those guidelines become a little more rigid.
Before Tuesday's meeting, Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Joel Boyd said the delay in information and miscommunication from the state since the test results were released more than a week ago caused students everywhere considerable anxiety.
He said whoever is responsible for the communication mix-up owes the state's children an apology.
- Asked at that time why so many of the district's students failed the SBA, Boyd said that requires an important discussion, "But there are better ways to go about having that conversation without threatening students' diplomas. ... We have to analyze why so many of our children failed the standards."
During Tuesday's meeting, he told the concerned students that the district has failed them, but that it is now standing behind them to help them pass the retake. He made it clear that the students have a responsibility to study and do the best they can.
- "We have to do better at our high schools," he told the kids. "You should not be receiving the low level of instruction that you have been receiving."
He said the district is investing $5,000 in a tutoring program at each of the high schools to help students pass the SBA on the second go-round.
Still, principals at Santa Fe High and Capital High told the board they cannot force students to take part in these preparation classes. Capital High School Principal Melanie Romero said just 100 at-risk students have signed up for these courses, and so far only about 60 are attending.
Myers said she feels the responsibility is evenly divided between the district and students who, in some cases, probably did not study enough.
Of the roughly 15 high school students standing outside the district's Educational Services Center, where the board meeting was held, about half said they came within one or two points of passing the SBA.
Asked point blank how many had studied enough for the SBA, not one raised a hand.
The Public Education Department's website posts some sample SBA questions and answers to give students some guidance. In 11th-grade reading comprehension, for instance, one question refers to a line in a poem and asks students which literary device the author used: simile, irony, personification or onomatopoeia. A follow-up question asks whether the imagery in the second stanza relies on the sensation of smell, hearing, sight or touch.
In math, one question concerns Mr. Anderson's true-false history test, in which the ratio of false answers to true answers is 2:3. It then asks which of the following percentages is closest to the percent of false answers: 23, 40, 60 or 67.
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Santa Fe/ EDITORIAL: Testing Experience for High-Schoolers
The New Mexican
September 4, 2012
New Mexico high school students have another challenge ahead of them if they want to graduate with a full-fledged diploma - success on a new Standards Based Assessment. Without a passing grade, students who graduate from high school will receive only a certificate of completion.
This is a new requirement, adding one more test to the already test-ridden lives of children who grew up with No Child Left Behind federal education reform laws. For such children, life in school has been one long stretch of either preparing for a test or taking a test.
Now, one last test, with the potential to wipe out 12 years of schooling. Last year, with the first class of juniors testing, results were decidedly underwhelming (seniors also took the test but did not have to pass to get a diploma).
- Across the state, some 10,000 students failed; in Santa Fe, 269 did not make a passing grade.
- That added up to about 43 percent of all students statewide, and some 67 percent locally.
All is not lost. Seniors get a redo in October. Additionally, state Public Education Department officials have announced alternatives to the test that students can use to show they deserve their diplomas, including scores from a national test such as the ACT or SAT. Options are a good thing, especially because many students know material but don't perform well on a standardized test.
We don't oppose a graduation test. After all, students need to know where they are strong and where they are weak. A test, too, is measuring much more than a student's performance. It can show how well an entire high school, even a district, has prepared its students. However, as with so much in education reform these days, the rush into this new test has left a lot of questions unanswered. The delay in figuring out alternatives, for example, added to student stress in a way that is unnecessary.
Students whose futures are riding on one test deserve better explanations from the adults who keep adding hoops for the kids to jump through.
Seniors who must retake the test, and juniors who will be taking it for the first time, need support and guidance. Give kids practice tests, form study groups to help them where they are weak, and hurry up and provide answers on other ways students can prove their proficiency.
Students at both Santa Fe and Capital highs are banding together to seek answers, as well as to air their concerns. Tonight, in fact, the Board of Education will hear an update on the graduation exam at its 5:30 p.m. meeting. It's an important topic, one that high school students and their parents might want to become better informed about. This test, after all, can make or break a high school career.
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ABQ/ EDITORIAL: High School Diploma Must Mean Something
ABQ Journal
September 3, 2012
It is unsettling, and discouraging, that around 10,000 New Mexico high school seniors - 43 percent - will have to re-take the state Standards-Based Assessment exam or meet another reasonable requirement to receive their high school diplomas.
But it would be unconscionable for New Mexico to continue to graduate students who can't perform at an 11th-grade level, hand them a fancy piece of paper and call it good.
From 1986 to 2010, 11th-graders in the Land of Enchantment took the High School Competency Exam, which measured eighth-grade skills, to graduate. That constituted false advertising to community colleges, universities, employers and especially the students themselves that they were ready for the next step in life. So as difficult as this do-over lesson is, it is important to both personal and economic development that a diploma from a New Mexico high school actually means the recipient demonstrated the core competency required of a high school graduate.
Under the new state requirements:
If a student receives a diploma, it means he/she not only passed all the necessary classes but also passed a rigorous exit exam or had sufficient scores on the ACT, PSAT or SAT exams or tests given in core classes.
If a student receives a certificate of completion, it means he/she passed all the necessary classes but did not pass the exit exam on two tries and also failed to qualify under the alternate demonstration of competency criteria.
The design wisely accommodates students who don't test well, gives them a second bite at the apple as seniors, as well as credit for the work they have completed.
But that's not enough for Albuquerque Public Schools Board member David Peercy. After taking an SBA practice test available on the APS website, the scientist questions whether the test measures what students really need to know.
OK. But he should note the SBA test New Mexico students take was designed by New Mexico teachers. If he feels the test should be revised, as a board member of the state's largest school district he is certainly in a position to work through channels.
And if he feels there should be another track for students who are not college bound, he is in a policy-making position to set that up, at least for APS.
In the meantime, APS is distributing scores to students and families, and the 2,100 APS seniors who did not pass the test as juniors will get after-school help on test-taking techniques and the standards that will be measured for the re-takes in October.
While it is troubling that just under half of the state's seniors don't appear to be academically ready to leave high school, it is essential the state's public school reform measures continue so a diploma from a New Mexico high school means something to students and employers alike.
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Santa Fe/ COLUMN: Pecos Schools Seek Voters' OK for $5.4 Million Facilities' Upgrade
By Robert Nott
The New Mexican
September 2, 2012
With some 20 years' experiencing working in the public-school system - 18 of those years in New Mexico - Pecos Independent School District Superintendent Fred Trujillo believes that schools remain the center of their communities.
- "The school system speaks volumes about what is going on within the community," he said. "If you have a strong school system, you can bet that the community is going to be strong as well."
The district is working to educate its community about its upcoming $5.4 million bond proposal; early voting began in Pecos on Saturday, and the election will be held Sept. 18.
Santa Fe voters approved a similar bond for $12.7 million in February, but Pecos schools have not been so fortunate.
- In 2010, by a vote of 470-423, Pecos residents voted against a $5.1 million bond.
- In February 2009, they voted against a $3.5 million bond, and in
- March 2008, they disapproved a $4.7 million bond.
- The last successful bond was in 2001, for $2.7 million.
The school board hired Trujillo as interim superintendent in November 2011 and gave him a two-year contract as superintendent last spring. He had worked as principal of the district's middle/high school since 2010. A Colorado native, he has worked in New Mexico school districts since 1993, starting as an English teacher. He said he has heard that Pecos voters have not voted for such bonds because they wanted academics, and not facilities, to be the focus.
Trujillo said the district has made it a priority in the past two to three years to find funding to support academic achievement for its 620 students.
- "We have looked at every funding source and acquired grants to help ourselves," he said, emphasizing the district's success in attaining a School Improvement Grant at the middle-school level that allowed the district to hire three new teachers in language arts and math to reduce class sizes.
- The district also netted a federal Gear-Up grant to add two and a half employees to push literacy skills in grades 7-12.
- It also received a state-funded pre-K grant to add two positions to that program.
Several years ago, Trujillo said, two of the district's schools were listed among the worst schools in the state. In 2011, he points out, the district's high school made Adequate Yearly Progress for the first time. And this year, under the state's new A-F grading system, both Pecos Elementary School and Pecos High School received B's. The middle school netted a C, but since it was just a half-point away from getting a B, Trujillo calls it a C-plus.
By law, bond money cannot be used for salaries and is aimed strictly at facility upgrades, be it building renovations and maintenance, computer-lab updates, safety issues, parking-lot improvements and so on.
- Among other goals, the district hopes to use the funds to add more computer labs, install heating and cooling system upgrades, expand the parking lot for the athletic field, expand the vocational shop, renovate gym locker rooms and replace the gym floor in the elementary school.
"There are buildings in bad need of repairs. The gymnasium's boiler systems are shot and need to be replaced - we have no hot water there," said board President Victor Ortiz, citing one functional challenge that will be addressed with the bond money. "We've done a lot of good things at our schools this past few years. I hope people recognize that. The need is there."
Trujillo has invited Gov. Susana Martinez to visit the district Sept. 12 to celebrate the district's academic turnaround - and, he said, she has accepted.
The district is holding an informational meeting about the bond at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5, in its high school auditorium on Panther Parkway in Pecos. Voters can cast early ballots in the district's boardroom in the high school, and the high school gym will be one of several voting venues on Sept. 18.
The district figures it will have to pay about $397,000 per year for 20 years to fulfill its bond commitment; Trujillo said there will be no increase in property taxes because of the bond itself.
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Santa Fe/ OPINION: NM School Funding Formula Unfair to Santa Fe Teachers
By Joel D. Boyd [Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent]
ABQ Journal
September 2, 2012
Since I began as superintendent on Aug. 1, one thing has been clear - Santa Fe values education, and the community wants to invest in our public schools. Over the past several weeks, I have heard from countless people who support our efforts to redirect resources to the classroom. Santa Fe recognizes that our teachers need a raise.
The New Mexico Public Education Department has asked more of our schools than previous administrations, and the state must begin balancing those demands with a competitive living wage for our classroom teachers. Despite an articulated interest in our schools, New Mexico has not demonstrated the same level of monetary commitment to our educators as other states. Take, for example, Connecticut, another state which has placed a premium on education. There, the investment in public schools includes a starting pay for teachers nearing $40,000 per year. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, starting pay hovers around $30,000 and has remained unchanged for several years. In Santa Fe, due to the city's high cost of living, this problem is even more exaggerated.
Here's part of our challenge. Outside of New Mexico, the funding of public schools is largely based on local property taxes - funding is a local decision which can account for the premium that is placed on living in a desirable city.
- However, in New Mexico, public school funding is equalized for all districts at the state level through a formula which does not account for the differences in living expenses among the state's various urban, suburban and rural communities.
- Although the state recognizes that more than 85 percent of our operating budget is used to pay salaries, Santa Fe's high cost of living is not considered in the funding formula.
Our local policy makers understand this issue - they know that it costs more to live in Santa Fe and recognize that people who work here need to be paid more. Today, Santa Fe has the highest minimum wage in the country at $10.29 per hour. Regardless of prior training or on-the-job performance, employees in Santa Fe will earn a minimum of $21,400 this year if they work full-time, 40 hours/week.
Given our city's bold stance on minimum wage, the state's current funding formula creates an unfortunate reality for our teachers.
- In Santa Fe, despite a college degree and professional license, our youngest teachers are only making about $9,000 more per year than the city's minimum pay. It doesn't take long for our teachers to realize that their hard work will be better compensated elsewhere.
- Indeed, teachers have been leaving our public schools at an extraordinary rate. This year alone, Santa Fe Public Schools hired more than 100 new teachers. Between June and August, we were forced to replace more than 12 percent of our entire teaching staff.
Despite this undeniable need, a cost of living adjustment to the funding formula remains a tough sell.
- Critics outside of our city argue that Santa Fe is the only district which is negatively affected by the exclusion of cost of living and that the equalization formula would become "unequal" if certain cities received supplements.
What those individuals must realize is that the current formula is nowhere near equal.
- Of the seven largest districts in the state, Santa Fe is currently third from the bottom in terms of per student funding.
- This year, our public schools received nearly $1,300 less per student than charter schools. Based on the current formula, Santa Fe Public Schools is losing out - big time.
As superintendent, I recognize that we have to do more as a district to stretch our current dollars and increase teacher pay.
In Santa Fe, we are committed to reducing administrative overhead and distributing more money to the classroom.
Earlier this month, we established a Competitive Wage Committee which is charged with reviewing our current and projected revenue, as well as state and local policies, to determine how we can provide our educators with fair salaries. We will do our part. I am hopeful that the state will also do theirs.
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Gervais OR/ School District Bets Future on Real Estate
By Kirk Johnson
New York Times
September 4, 2012
This tiny farm-country community is having a back-to-school sale, on the schools themselves. Interested in a well maintained, one-owner elementary with playground and orchard view? Or a 1990s charmer, now used for teaching second through fifth grades but convenient to shopping and the Interstate?
Like school districts all over the nation, Gervais, with about 1,100 students in a town of 2,300 people, has been deeply stressed by years of financial retrenchment. Music and art classes were eliminated last year. Teaching positions have been reduced through attrition and layoffs loom in years ahead, with state aid showing few signs of a robust comeback.
So this summer, administrators took radical action against their sea of troubles. In tough times, why should Gervais (pronounced JER-vis) do things the way everybody else was doing them? That is how the district superintendent, Rick Hensel, recalled the tone of the meetings as teachers, staff members and residents tossed around ideas.
The board's decision, in June, was a fire sale.
- Three of the five school buildings in the district - all six miles or more from town, holdovers from a time when rural districts like this built a little school every few miles - were put on the market.
- Asking prices range from $460,000 for the smallest elementary, to $844,000 for a school on eight acres zoned for agriculture, to $2.4 million for an elementary school on 10 acres zoned for residential use.
The second part of the decision was in some ways even more momentous as a measure of how the recession is still reshaping the nation: a consolidation of all the students and classrooms in the 65-square-mile district in downtown Gervais.
- Proceeds from the building sales would be put toward new classrooms.
- Cost savings from reduced busing and other efficiencies of a centralized cluster would save teaching jobs and, with luck, board members said, lead to restoration of arts programs.
- A $4.2 million bond, on the ballot here in November, would pay for the transformation in time for the 2013 school year, even if the old schools had not yet sold or been leased.
"It wasn't that we're broke and desperate," said Mr. Hensel, who added that several potential buyers had contacted the district but that no firm offers had yet emerged. "We were looking for a way to keep from desperation."
But Gervais's story also reflects a demographic transformation here in the Willamette Valley south of Portland. What had been a deeply rural world a few generations back - big farm families spread out across the fertile Willamette plain - was changing even before the recession. Commuters with jobs in Salem, half an hour southwest, or Portland, an hour north, moved into town in the early 2000s. The population, only 500 people or so in years past, more than quadrupled. Farm kids had become town kids.
- "It used to be that two-thirds of the population of the school district lived in the outlying areas," said Brent LaFollette, the school board chairman, "and now it's just about a complete opposite, in that two-thirds of the district lives right here in Gervais."
What that means for the new district plan is that student transportation ratios will flip as well, to 60 percent of the students on a bus this year - mostly elementary school age, heading to the outlying schools - from about 60 percent living within one mile of school.
Luck, or foresight by past education leaders, also played a role in making the consolidation possible. About eight years ago, the district bought 17 acres adjoining the high school. It sat mostly empty for years, but now sports fields have been moved there, clearing space for the new buildings.
The structures themselves will also be a kind of experiment.
- This summer, Gervais district officials contacted an architecture team at Portland State University that has been working on new designs for mobile classrooms, incorporating green building standards like improved natural light, air circulation and energy efficiency into modular school construction, which has surged all over the country as schools have tried to control costs.
- The Gervais project will be one of the first to use the new designs.
"They had the foresight to say, 'How we do reorganize and look at the future?' " said Sergio Palleroni, an associate professor of architecture at Portland State and a co-designer of the new school model with Margarette Leite, an assistant professor of architecture.
Some students, enjoying the last days of summer vacation on a recent sunny afternoon, were less confident that having all the schools in one place would be wonderful. Suzanna Rambeau, 16, is a junior. Her senior year, if all goes according to plan, would be the first year of the new era.
"Having a bunch of little kids around, I don't know," she said. "It's already cramped."
She was also skeptical that arts programs would come back in time to benefit her. She was a flute player, she said, until the band program ended.
But Britanny Moreno, 7, a second grader who will take the bus to her school when classes start this week, said she had a big plan for third grade, when that school will be just down the street from her house.
"I could ride my bike," she said.
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Miami FL/ Race To The Top District Competition Receives Nearly 900 Applications
By Christine Amario
Huffington Post
August 31, 2012
Nearly 900 school districts across the nation intend to apply for a slice of close to $400 million in grants that the U.S. Education Department will distribute in support of local initiatives that help close achievement gaps and prepare students for college and a career.
The department announced Friday that 893 applicants are slated to participate in the Race to the Top-District competition.
- "I believe the best ideas come from leaders at the local level," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said.
The Obama administration has already awarded more than $4 billion to 18 states and the District of Columbia through its Race to the Top competition. The federal funding spurred a wave of reform across states, encouraging the growth of charter schools and changing how teachers are evaluated.
Critics of the program have said it is overly prescriptive and pushes reforms that are not research-based.
The new Race to the Top competition encourages districts to create learning environments that are aligned with college and career-ready standards, accelerate student achievement and expand access to the most effective teachers.
The guidelines do not advocate a single approach but require applicants to design a personalized learning environment that uses data-based and digital tools to meet the needs of individual students.
In order to qualify, at least 40 percent of participating students must come from low-income families.
- The districts also must put into place teacher, principal and superintendent evaluation systems by the 2014-15 school year and
- be able to provide instructors with data on student growth.
The Education Department expects to give 15 to 25 districts four-year grants ranging from $5 million to $40 million, depending on their size.
- The districts that have applied include some of the nation's largest - including New York City, Miami-Dade and Boston - as well as smaller, rural ones.
- There are more than 14,000 public school districts nationwide.
Duncan said he hopes the response will build on "this nationwide momentum by funding districts that have innovative plans to transform the learning environment, a clear vision for reform and track record of success."
While the competition focuses on locally-designed initiatives, it incorporates many of the same core priorities of the state Race to the Top.
Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the research is mixed on many of the competition's core goals, including creating new teacher evaluation systems.
"We don't know a lot about the specifics of what a good system looks like in different settings," Loveless said.
Education historian Diane Ravitch said she has the same concerns about the district-level competition as she did the state Race to the Top.
"It's turning education into a competition," she said. "It's not a competition. It's a slow developmental process that involves everybody."
- Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Miami-Dade Public Schools in Florida, one of the states awarded Race to the Top funds, said the district competition would give "the ability to achieve rapid and catalytic transformation at the local level without a state process to be navigated."
The district's application will focus on personalizing education for students based on how they best learn, rely more on digital content and changing the learning environment and outcomes of middle school students who have fallen behind.
"This is a creative and effective way of spurring reform from the bottom up," he said.
Carvalho said he wasn't daunted by the idea of a superintendent evaluation, especially given that teachers and principals are now given them as well.
"I think it is fair it is extended at all levels of the organization," he said.
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Phoenix/ US, Arizona Settle over Students with Limited English
By The Associated Press
Education Week, [Edweek.org]
September 4, 2012
The U.S. departments of Justice and Education have reached an agreement with the Arizona Department of Education over the state's rush to move students out of its English Language Learning program.
The federal government said Friday's settlement requires the state to offer special instruction for tens of thousands of students who were prematurely identified as fluent in English and moved out of the state's English Language Learner program, but state officials disputed that.
The federal government had alleged that the moves violated the students' civil rights.
- "All students are entitled to equal opportunities, and this resolution will help to make sure Arizona students receive the education they deserve," said a statement from Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education.
The settlement between Arizona and the federal government is the latest in the past two years that overturns changes to the program initiated by current Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne when he led the state Education Department. A separate federal complaint alleging the state inadequately screened students for their need for special language classes was settled last year.
Horne did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
Two federal investigations completed in 2010 found that Arizona was violating the civil rights of some students who are not native English speakers by denying them access to special language programs for English learners.
The state denied that it violated students' rights but settled to conclude the matter, according to the DOJ.
Stacey Morley, chief policy advisory for state schools chief John Huppenthal, said the government exaggerated the effects of the settlement and the state disputes that it ever misclassified any students. She said her agency was already revamping its testing.
"Basically we signed an agreement to do something we're already doing," Morley said. "The reason we were willing to go forward and sign this agreement is because we were already doing this."
About 42,000 students are affected by the settlement agreement, Morley said. Those who failed their most recent state reading and writing assessment tests will be reviewed and extra instruction in English offered if needed.
Arizona could have lost millions in federal funding if it didn't fix the system to address investigators' concerns.
Tim Hogan, a lawyer who has sued the state over its programs for non-English speakers, said the deal announced Friday will go a long way toward addressing the problem of students being kicked out of the special programs before they learn English.
But he said the state needs to do more than change its assessment test, which is used to determine if students can read and write English well enough to leave special programs.
"The big problem here is they rely exclusively on a test to identify ELL students and determine their proficiency," Hogan said, ignoring input from teachers or even the children themselves.
"Some students were in the program who shouldn't be in the program, but more often than not they were kicked out of the program, which saved (the state) money," Hogan said.
The agreement requires the state to develop new ways to identify and exit ELL students.
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Pasadena CA/ University of the People: A Free Online University Tests the Waters
By D. D. Guttenplan
New York Times [from the International Herald Tribune]
September 2, 2012
After a lifetime in business and academia, Shai Reshef finally found something he could not do: retire.
So in 2009, Mr. Reshef, an Israeli-born entrepreneur, founded University of the People, an online school offering a four-year U.S.-style undergraduate education for free. The institution, based in Pasadena, California, has admitted 1,500 students from 132 countries.
While most of its initial financing came from Mr. Reshef, it has since drawn the support of organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and corporations like Hewlett Packard.
The teachers, many from top universities, are all volunteers. The provost, David Harris Cohen, was vice president of Columbia University. Last year, New York University agreed that students who successfully finished their first year at University of the People would be eligible to apply to N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi, where they would complete their education free if accepted.
Mr. Reshef described his campaign to "open the gates of higher education to those who cannot afford it."
Q. How did you get started?
- I looked around and saw that everything that was needed was already available for free. All I had to do was bring it together.
I mean open source technology, available for anyone to use for free; open educational resources; content that people produce and put on the Internet for everyone to use. And the new Internet culture of social networking, where people share, teach and learn from each other for free.
Q. Can students study any subject?
- No. We offer only business administration and computer science degrees. These are the two programs that are most likely to help people find a better job, and that's what our students want. They want a better chance for the future.
But also, which is just as important for us, these two programs are global. Our program is 40 courses long. And every time a student takes a class they are put together with 25 students from 25 countries.
Imagine what happens when students from India and Pakistan study together. They learn to know each other, to respect each other. Instead of being enemies outside of the class, they become friends. We believe that by doing so we make peace a bit closer.
Q. What about the instructors?
- For our 1,500 students we have 2,900 volunteer professors who jumped on board to help our students - a ratio of about two professors for every student. I don't think there are many universities with this ratio.
Q. What do students pay?
- When they apply, students have to pay an application fee, which ranges from $10 to $50 depending on the gross domestic product of their country of residence. For example, the United States would be $50. So would the United Kingdom and Japan.
Q. What are some $10 countries?
- South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nepal. If they don't have it, we waive it. But starting in September we are also asking our students to pay for exams. While we waive 95 percent of the cost of higher education, we want the program to become financially sustainable. An exam costs us $100 to administer and grade. But if a student can't afford that, he or she can go to our micro-scholarship portal.
Q. Explain the micro-scholarship portal.
- We are the second largest university on Facebook after Harvard, which obviously means we should try harder, right? What we are trying to do there is to tell them, "Please help our students, some of them can't even afford the $100 for an exam." Let's say a student needs $500. This will come from small amounts of $5 or $10 rather than a single donation. Also there will be a direct connection between the students and the donors.
Q. How does the teaching work?
- When students sign up for a class they are put together with students from 20 or more different countries. They study together for 10 weeks. When they go into the "classroom," the first thing that they see is the profile of their fellow students, which is very similar to a Facebook profile. Then they find the lecture notes for the week, the reading assignment for the week and the homework assignment. They also find the discussion question of the week.
The discussion question is the core of our studies. Let's say the first student is Chinese. Just because the morning starts earlier in China, so he will go into the classroom, read the material, see the discussion question and post his own original contribution to the discussion. Let's say that the second student is Indonesian and she does the same thing. But she decides to comment on what the Chinese student said.
Every week each student is expected to make one original contribution. The instructor reads everything going on in the classroom, but gets involved only if the peer-to-peer learning doesn't work as well as it should. For example, if a student asks a question and none of their fellow students was able to answer it. Or a student says something wrong and nobody corrected him or her.
At the end of the week the students take a quiz to see if they have mastered the material. They hand in their homework, which is assigned randomly to peers and graded by them, under the supervision of an instructor. They get a grade, start a new topic next week. At the end of 10 weeks they take a final exam and go on to the next course
Currently, you are in the process of applying for accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. government. What difference will being accredited make?
- We are talking about students from the entire world. Having said that, most of our students, be they American or from developing countries, appreciate the American higher education system. They want to study in an American university. And our students want us to be accredited.
Accreditation means, for a student, both that it's a legitimate institution and that they will find a job. All over the world people are worried about this phenomenon of diploma mills. And people are afraid of institutions which are not legitimate. And I think that they are right. Because accreditation is a stamp of quality.
Q. What distinguishes University of the People from other online universities like P2P University?
- That's a good question, but I would even broaden it to include the new phenomenon where Harvard and M.I.T. give away their courses for free online to hundreds of thousands of people.
We are not doing this just for the sake of the knowledge. We are offering a degree program. P2P is a great thing for people who are seeking knowledge. People can study any subject they want. But that is not a diploma. The same goes for Harvard and Stanford putting their courses online. These are courses that hundreds of thousands of people take, and great professors teach them. But people do not get credit for them.
Q. What are some of the factors behind limiting the number of students?
- It's less than three years since we started teaching our first students. So while we are done developing all the courses, we're still working on strengthening our academic quality. We want to make sure that the quality is there. And that whatever is needed to give good service to our students is also there before we start to grow faster.
Every 10 weeks we accept another 100 students. We'll do that for the next few terms, until we feel completely confident about our academic base, and about our ability to grow, and at that point we'll start to grow much faster.
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Boston MA/ Back to School: From Rural Africa to Ivy League
The United States Achievers Program provides funding and moral support for promising but disadvantaged students from 13 countries on four continents to pursue their educational goals.
By Scott Baldauf, Staff Writer
CSmonitor.com
September 2, 2012
In early 2008, Joshua Foromera was a talented Zimbabwean high school graduate living as a refugee in South Africa. He fled Zimbabwe because of political and economic collapse, seeking higher education opportunities.
Today, Mr. Foromera is a biology and chemistry major at Duke University in North Carolina, following his dream of finding a safer, more effective treatment for the virus linked to AIDS.
Good grades and standardized test scores got Foromera, a graduate of a rural Zimbabwean public school, into Duke. But a small public-private partnership between US universities and the United States government helped him navigate the unfamiliar process of taking American-style tests, filling out college applications, seeking financial aid, and finally, applying for US student visas.
The program, called the United States Achievers Program (USAP), aims to help promising students from disadvantaged backgrounds to further their education in the United States, and then return to their home countries to make a difference.
Joshua Foromera is just one of hundreds of foreign students with modest incomes attending university in the United States, thanks to private scholarships, enthusiastic volunteers, and the relatively small $12 million USAP program run out of US embassies in 13 countries on four different continents.
At a time when the US's strategic advantage in higher education is being tested, and global talent moves to emerging economic powers such as India and China, programs like USAP help ensure that America's colleges and universities still draw in the lion's share of academic talent, and contribute to the economic boost higher education brings to the US economy.
- "The primary goal for what we do and why we do it is to cultivate relationships with future leaders around the world," says Meghann Curtis, deputy assistant secretary of state for academic programs, including USAP, the Fulbright program, and other scholarships.
"With US Achievers Program, we are trying to tap into the underserved students, to give opportunities of an educational experience to people who otherwise wouldn't have it."
'Tell us your budget'
Foromera, now a college senior, just finished a summer research internship with Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital's AIDS research center, working to find specific enzymes to target in the latest generation of AIDS drugs. But if he hadn't heard about education opportunities in the states, he would still be a refugee in South Africa, unable to afford higher education there, he says.
"I didn't have a cent," Foromera says. "When I applied for Duke, they knew I would need money for everything, but they said, 'tell us your budget.'"
In total, US scholarship programs have educated some 310,000 Fulbright students (192,800 of them from foreign countries), and a large number of these have gone on to important careers.
- "Not only do we help people to go back to serve their countries, we help them to become leaders," says Ms. Curtis. "Three hundred and fifty Fulbright alumni have gone on to become heads of state, 16 have become Nobel laureates, and the US Achievers Program now makes this possible for those of limited means."
There is another advantage. Congressional studies have found that the $12 million spent for international scholarships through USAP's parent organization, Education USA, brings in some $21 billion to the US economy each year, generating new business ideas, innovations, and economic activity.
America 'is a meritocracy'
The achievers program had humble beginnings, and was the brainchild of an employee at the US Embassy in Harare, Zimbabwe. As an academic adviser on the embassy staff, Rebecca Zeigler-Mano noticed one common feature of all the prospective students coming to her office. They were almost all wealthy and well-connected.
So in 1999, she started visiting schools outside of the capital city, first in modest towns, and finally into rural areas, asking school principals to keep their eyes out for promising students who might benefit from higher education. Money wasn't an issue, she assured the educators. Private universities, particularly rich institutions like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, have scholarship funds to meet the needs of those with talent but no money.
- "I have this belief about America: It is a meritocracy," says Ms. Zeigler-Man, talking by telephone from Harare. "If you are a talented and bright student, let me handle the fundraising, and help to prepare those students for SAT tests, and if you don't have financial capabilities yourself, then let's still go for it."
Finding scholarships for talented students was the least of Zeigler-Mano's problems, she soon found. Many of these students, even those who had scored best in their class, had never taken standardized tests before. Some were unable to pay even the standard fees for an SAT test. Most didn't have passports. Few could imagine affording a plane ticket. Zeigler-Mano realized that getting these students into US colleges would require individualized help for each student, and a lot of patience.
Zeigler-Mano's can-do spirit - as well as the efforts of dozens of USAP volunteers around the world - is an important source of support for the hundreds of USAP students now attending US-based universities.
- Jonah Kadoko, a Zimbabwean student in mechanical engineering at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. says that Zeigler-Mano's efforts on his behalf helped him to do things he could never do in Zimbabwe, gave him the "opportunity to talk with some of the greatest minds in the world," and allowed him to do extensive research in both solar energy and in global positioning system technology.
- Yemurai Mangwendeza, a medical student from Harare turned African and gender-studies double major at Yale, remembers the day Zeigler-Mano handed her an alphabetical listing of 4,000 US universities and colleges and asked young Yemurai to circle the colleges that interested her.
After a half hour, Ms. Mangwendeza handed the book back. She had found dozens of colleges, but never got past the letter "A." "Mai Mano told me, 'you're selling yourself short. Why not look at Smith and Yale,'" Mangwendeza recalls with a laugh. Mai Mano, a term of endearment meaning "Mother Mano," is a nickname many of Zeigler-Mano's students call her.
Months later, Mai Mano called Mangwendeza. "I have news for you, you're going to Yale." Mangwendeza did what one would do in such a situation: "I screamed."
Simply getting to college, however, was only the beginning of the challenges, says Mangwendeza.
Being a foreign student in America can be an isolating experience. Fellow Zimbabweans who come from richer families don't understand the financial challenges faced by their poorer countrymen, she says, and even poor or middle class African American students often don't understand the cultural differences that an African student faces in American universities.
But the USAP program, by bringing together fellow scholarship students from time to time, tries to create a sense of community that helps students like Mangwendeza survive.
"What I love about USAP is: community, community, community," Mangwendeza says.
"There are other Zimbabweans at Yale, but there is something special about USAP people. When you tell them your story, they understand. When talking of the concept of sending money home to help send your siblings to school, they understand."
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Washington DC/ High-Performing Teachers in Low-Income Schools to Get Fastest Raises
By Emma Brown
Washington Post
September 4, 2012
High-performing D.C. public school teachers who work in high-poverty schools will be able to accelerate through the pay scale to reach top compensation levels more quickly under a "career ladder" announced Tuesday.
Elsewhere across the region and the country, teachers get pay raises according to their years of experience and levels of education.
A "career ladder" will allow teachers who work at high-poverty schools will be able to accelerate through the pay scale to reach top compensation levels more quickly.
The leaders of public schools in the District, Montgomery County in Maryland and the Virginia school districts of Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Alexandria talk about teacher evaluation, how to measure school success and more - including the one thing they would do if they had a magic wand.
Read more
The new D.C. system is meant to reward teachers instead for their performance in the classroom, continuing a shift that began three years ago with evaluations that linked pay and job security to student performance on standardized tests.
Besides making bigger salaries, teachers who reach higher rungs will undergo progressively fewer classroom observations and will qualify for more - and more substantial - leadership positions within their schools and across the school system.
Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson said the aim of the initiative is to entice excellent educators not just to come to the city, but to stay here and to stay in the classroom. Teacher turnover - a problem in almost all city school systems - is notoriously high in the District.
- "Our goal is to be the highest-performing urban school district in this country," the chancellor said, "and the only way we do that is to ensure that we are able to attract and keep the very best people."
Henderson announced the initiative in a joint event Tuesday with Washington Teachers' Union President Nathan A. Saunders, who endorsed the career ladder as "a good program" that will make the city a more attractive place to teach.
Mid-career teachers in particular, Saunders said, can make more money than was previously possible in the District and get raises faster than in neighboring school systems.
In Fairfax, for example, a five-year veteran with a master's degree makes $53,262. In the District, a teacher with equivalent experience who moves up the ladder with two highly effective ratings - or four effective ratings - can make almost one-third more, or $69,132.
The D.C. public school system has offered merit pay since 2009. Outside donors footed the bill for the first three years, but now that money has dried up. The school system has absorbed the costs, budgeted for $6 million next fiscal year, according to a spokeswoman.
The career ladder doesn't change the pay ceiling, which is $131,540. But incentives have been tweaked so that the largest increases are reserved for teachers in schools where more than 60 percent of children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, a federal measure of poverty.
Critics, meanwhile, continue to wonder whether evaluations based on test scores are a fair way to judge the complicated craft of teaching. "It's a very simplistic notion of what it means to be a good teacher," said Mark Simon, a longtime observer of D.C. public schools and former president of the Montgomery County teacher's union.
There are five rungs on the career ladder. At the bottom is a "teacher," who gets normal pay and four formal classroom observations each year.
Climbing the ladder requires earning "effective" and "highly effective" ratings on annual evaluations. An educator who reaches the top rung, an "expert teacher" - which requires at least six years' experience - is subject to just one classroom observation a year. Experts also leap ahead in pay, receiving the salary of someone with five more years' experience and a doctorate.
Expert teachers are also eligible for the broadest array of leadership positions, including assistant principal, curriculum specialist or instructional coach.
All of the city's approximately 4,000 teachers have been placed on the ladder based on their evaluation scores over the past three years.
- A quarter are on the bottom rung.
- Half are "established," the second rung.
- Fifteen percent are "advanced," the third rung, and
- 10 percent are "distinguished," the fourth rung.
No one is at the top yet because there isn't enough evaluation data; the earliest anyone will be able to reach "expert" is the 2014-15 school year.
Teachers cannot move downward on the ladder. That's meant to lend more stability than was available under the previous system, in which rewards hinged on annual evaluations that vary from year to year.
But even experts aren't protected from losing their jobs if they have a year or two of weak evaluations.
"Nobody's safe from IMPACT," Saunders said, referring to the evaluation system that he has long criticized as arbitrary and overly punitive.
"Nobody's safe from low performance, and that's the way it should be," Henderson replied.
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Berkeley CA/ New Attendance Push Prized by Students, Educators
By Lisa Leff, Associated Press
The Denver Post
September 3, 2012
School day wake-up calls recorded by celebrities. Weekend makeup classes. Contests with laptop computers, private concerts and cars as prizes.
Educators across the nation are using creative strategies as another school year gets under way to convince students and parents that regular attendance matters-and not just for grades and achievement.
New research suggests missing as little as two weeks of school can:
- put young children behind their peers,
- burden overworked teachers,
- cost districts state dollars and
- undermine mandates to raise standardized test scores.
So many public school districts have launched campaigns to reduce all absences, not just those serious enough to warrant a home visit from a truant officer.
- "Students who are getting a 'B' and are OK with a 'B,' they think it's in their rights to skip school now and then," said Berkeley High School Attendance Dean Daniel Roose, who offered a movie night to the grade-level boasting the best attendance last semester. "I've tried to challenge those kids and their families to change the mindset that you aren't impacting anyone but yourself when you skip."
The rewards are designed to supplement courts, mentors and other interventions for addressing serious truancy. They direct attention to what education experts call "chronic absenteeism," which applies to students who miss 10 percent of their classes for any reason and may even have parental permission to be out of school.
To counter slumping attendance that tends to worsen as adolescents get older, about 200 middle and high schools in 17 states will be competing this fall in a challenge organized by Get Schooled, a New York-based nonprofit that uses computer games, weekly wake-up recordings from popular singers and actors, and social media messages to get students to show up in the name of school spirit.
The winner of last year's seven-week competition, a Seattle middle school, received a private concert from R&B performer Ne-Yo, who also served as principal for a day to recognize the 3.7 percent jump in the school's average daily attendance rate of 89 percent.
"The issue of attendance, if you look at the evidence, there are many things that drive it, but one of those is engagement and feeling part of a school community," said Get Schooled Executive Director Marie Groark. "A friendly competition motivates people. It motivates students, all of us."
Elk Grove Unified School District outside Sacramento has made rewards a hallmark of its school attendance strategy for six years. As part of the "No Excuses-Go to School" campaign, middle and high schoolers with a month's worth of perfect attendance have been entered into raffles for laptops, while elementary schoolers with the same records have for bicycles. Local businesses donate the prizes.
The program has been so successful the district changed the rules for winning the grand prize-a $20,000 voucher for the local auto mall, which also agreed to pay taxes and licenses on the winner's new car. To be eligible, high school seniors used to need one month of perfect attendance over the school year. Starting last year, the criterion was raised to five months.
The attendance push has been particularly strong in California, New York, Texas and other states where schools funding is based on how many children are in their seats each day, rather than enrollment. Several California districts have made a back-to-school ritual of reminding parents that schools lose money whenever kids are out.
Some have asked families with children who missed school for avoidable reasons such as family trips to reimburse schools the $30-$50 a day the absence cost in lost funding, or at least consider having a child with the sniffles or a stomach ache show up for the first part of the day so he or she can be counted before going home sick.
- "If a child is not at school for any reason at all, including sickness, the district does not collect revenue," the Spreckels Unified School District in Salinas, Calif., wrote in a pledge form issued this month asking parents to take vacations and to schedule routine doctor's appointments when classes are not in session.
Under pressure from the local district attorney and others to improve its attendance rate, officials in Berkeley last year got much stricter about demanding meetings with parents of students with three unexcused absences and conducting midday "sweeps" of local teen hangouts to identify ditchers. By June, the district had made $1.4 million more for the current school year and avoided laying off 148 teachers, said student services director Susan Craig.
The Pomona Unified School District in Southern California last year launched a voluntary four-hour Saturday school on alternate weekends to help recoup some of the money it was losing due to student absences. A few parents initially objected to infringing on traditional family time, but most warmed up to the idea of kids having a way to get caught up, Superintendent Richard Martinez said.
- One-third of the district's 30,032 students attended at least one Saturday session, earning the school system an additional $1 million in state funding. "It made people feel like there is a financial benefit to this whole notion of responsible behavior and establishing good habits," Martinez said.
Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that studies chronic absenteeism, said that while it may seem evident that children will not learn when they are not around to be taught, schools only recently have begun to examine their rolls for students who are falling behind due to excessive excused and unexcused absences.
"If you have a parent who calls in and says my kid is sick, the kid might be sick. Sometimes, they can have transportation issues, or if there is a lot of bullying or separation anxiety for a kid going to school, it will come out as sick," Chang said. "If it continues as a habit, someone needs to notice and talk to the kid and the family ... so you can nip it before it becomes a big problem."
When it comes to devising strategies for getting kids to school, the approaches do not need to be flashy, according to Ken Seeley, president of the National Center for School Engagement in Denver. In Martinez, Calif., teachers had their classes write letters to absent students with at least three unexcused absences to let them know they were missed. And some parents created a "walking school bus" that picked up students who had had a hard time making it to class.
"We give away a lot of alarm clocks," Seeley added.
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Omaha NE/ OPINION: Indoor Air Quality Management Helping to Improve Academic Achievement
By Shelley R. Bengtson [Environmental Specialist, Omaha Public Schools, Nebraska]
US Department of Education [ED.gov]
August 31, 2012
Every school district values educational achievement, low absentee rates, high grades and test scores, and an active and engaged student body. To achieve these aims, schools across the country are focusing on creating healthy indoor environments.
With two 2012 ED-Green Ribbon Schools located in my district, I am excited to share the story of Omaha Public Schools (OPS) in Nebraska in creating healthy indoor environments for our students. Our school district has proactively addressed student environmental health issues for the past 13 years and has also earned EPA's IAQ Tools for Schools awards.
To ensure a healthy indoor school environment-a critical Element of Pillar Two of the ED-GRS award-OPS implemented EPA's IAQ Tools for Schools Framework for Effective School IAQ Management.
- This helped our district organize an effective IAQ management program that was tailored to meet our needs, and
- effectively communicate best practices and concerns with building and grounds departments, facilities and maintenance staff members, administrators, teachers and parents.
- Communication with the school community is one of the most important steps to ensuring a successful and sustainable IAQ management program.
Recent research has demonstrated that poor IAQ can affect the health and comfort of students by causing allergy and asthma attacks, headaches, tiredness, and other symptoms, making it difficult for students to concentrate and excel in school.
To assess IAQ concerns, OPS conducted school walkthroughs to detect:
- nuisance odors;
- radon and other source contaminants;
- chemical exposure; and
- asthma triggers including dust, mold growth and vehicle exhaust.
We used checklists in EPA's IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit to plan how to address IAQ concerns, including problems that could be fixed relatively easily and those to be incorporated into a long-term IAQ management plan.
Another key component of our IAQ management plan is to evaluate the impact our program has on student and staff health, productivity and performance.
- OPS found a decrease in the frequency and severity of asthma attacks with the implementation of our plan.
- By collecting data, we were also able to effectively communicate the results of our program and secure buy-in among school administrators.
An easy way to take action is to reach out to mentor school districts to learn about IAQ management best practices and form partnerships within your community. The Omaha Public School District has partnered with several other organizations and programs including state and local agencies, which is a fun and engaging way to improve and refine your school's IAQ management program.
I am proud to be a part of Omaha Public Schools' success over the past 13 years; we have overcome challenges and created a green and healthy learning environment for our students.
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Los Angeles CA/ OPINION: Schools Push Out Best Teachers
By Sujata Bhatt
ABQ Journal [from the Los Angeles Times]
September 4, 2012
A great teacher can have a huge effect on a child's life. So, unfortunately, can a bad teacher. But in education, job performance has virtually nothing to do with opportunities for advancement.
Teachers who are consistently successful with students are not given leadership roles that would allow them to reach students beyond their own classrooms, and if they don't have enough seniority, they can be let go without anyone seeming to care come layoff time. This is enormously frustrating.
I've taught for 11 years at the same high-poverty elementary school in the Los Angeles Unified School District. My fourth- and fifth-grade students arrive in my classroom with varying degrees of preparedness, but they leave with a strong set of skills and a desire to continue learning. Both their intellectual curiosity going forward and their test scores reflect what they get from my class.
I'm just one among many hardworking, high-achieving teachers in LA. Unified and other districts. But we are at risk. A recent study by the educational nonprofit organization TNTP found that each year urban school districts are losing high-achieving teachers because they make little effort to retain them, or to push out the low achievers.
The report, "The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in America's Urban Schools," estimates that the nation's 50 largest school districts lose about 10,000 excellent teachers a year. Those teachers are extremely difficult to replace. The report estimates that it takes 11 hires by a district to yield one truly great teacher, and so it strongly behooves schools to make sure their best teachers stay.
That's often the opposite of what school districts do. In fact, TNTP found that high performance in the classroom actually may slightly lessen a teacher's chances of being offered leadership roles within a school. Among the 90,000 teachers it studied in four large, geographically diverse school districts, just 26 percent of high-performing teachers reported that they had been offered leadership opportunities by their principals, whereas 31 percent of low-performing teachers reported having such chances.
Reading that made me think about a teacher I know. A few years ago, she was teaching at a school that was about to be sanctioned under No Child Left Behind, so she and another excellent teacher were asked to rewrite the school plan in order to improve student achievement.
They took their job seriously. Each spent more than 40 hours attending meetings and sessions on school design before rewriting the massive document that was supposed to govern the life of the school. They homed in on better professional development for teachers as the key to improving instruction, and they devised a system in which teachers at each grade would co-create a lesson, rotate teaching it and observe and critique each other in the process.
The plan was approved by the district. The teachers were excited to put it into practice. But weeks passed and nothing happened.
The teachers went to the principal to get a timeline. He looked at them dismissively, explaining that the plan just needed to be written, not implemented. Little at the school changed. The next year, the principal was promoted. Today he's training other principals.
Luckily for L.A. Unified, the teachers who worked on the system, though disheartened, continued to teach in the district. But that kind of disrespect for a teacher's time, abilities and ideas is exactly what drives so many high-performing teachers from the classroom.
The good news is that, according to the report, it's not terribly difficult to keep good teachers happy. You see, we love what we do. And if we're just given support, encouragement and recognition, we're likely to stay around. Still, as "The Irreplaceables" points out, there is only so much a high-performing teacher can do in the face of a principal who is indifferent - or resistant - to change. Perhaps it's time to broaden our reform focus to include the leadership at schools.
Indeed, the study suggests as much. Several of the paper's recommendations point to a need for leadership cultures that are less top-down, more grounded in listening and more focused on supporting those teachers who teach students well.
The study recommends that we "overhaul principal hiring, support and evaluation to focus on instructional leadership abilities that result in smart teacher retention." And it suggests that "principals and district leaders should give teachers frequent opportunities to share feedback ... and they should use the results to improve teachers' day-to-day experiences."
Implemented together, these recommendations would encourage high-performing teachers to stay in the profession and make our schools better learning environments for more children. Principals who recognize and value teachers' hard-earned expertise and treat them as collaborative partners in transforming schools ought to be rewarded.
Leadership like that would encourage the excellent teachers of the world to continue doing what they do: changing young lives on a daily basis.
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Tucson AZ/ OPINION: Bonus? Did Tucson School Board Reward Superintendent for MAS Crackdown?
By Jeff Biggers [Author of forthcoming book, 'State Out of the Union: Arizona and the Final Showdown Over the American Dream']
Huffington Post
September 4, 2012
As San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro prepares to take the Democratic Party convention stage as keynote speaker Tuesday evening, the floundering Tucson Unified School Board (TUSD) quietly issued its own message on the city's nationally acclaimed but now outlawed Mexican American Studies program.
Under the cover of a distracted local news media focused on the primary election results last week-and in the face of a US Department of Ed Civil Rights investigation and book-banishing notoriety-the TUSD school board voted to raise the salary on the $211,000 contract of controversial Superintendent John Pedicone, whose use of excessive police force and demonization of Mexican American Studies advocates have earned him the title of "Sheriff Arpaio of American schools."
And the kicker: The TUSD board gave Pedicone a $35,000 performance pay bonus, including an extra ninth week of paid leave. (Pedicone donated the bonus to a non-profit foundation founded by Tucson's business community.)
Strangely enough, Pedicone's contract and bonus were not supported by board member Mark Stegemen, whose emotional state hearing testimony labeling the MAS program as "cult-like" fortified the state's attack. Nor did board member Michael Hicks, who brought national shame on Tucson for his embarrassing performance on The Daily Show, support Pedicone's contract. (Hicks did vote for the bonus.)
On the other hand, support for Pedicone's increased salary and bonus, did come from board member Adelita Grijalva, who voted against last January's suspension of the MAS program.
- "At the very least, we expect our elected officials to hold bureaucrats accountable and ensure that they manage day to day duties in the best interests of their constituents," long-time education activist Miguel Ortega noted. "But if the very process of hiring and evaluating top bureaucrats is flawed, the life of that boss/employee relationship will remain problematic. At its core, this is exactly what is happening now at TUSD and, as a result, our students, teachers and community are suffering the consequences."
With the Tucson school district still saddled with an embarrassing desegregation order, such conflicting, bungling and ultimately damaging power plays by the TUSD board on behalf of Pedicone's crackdown on Mexican American Studies, however, are nothing new.
According to TUSD parent and MAS advocate Jana Happel, the TUSD board failed to properly pursue a "safe harbor" for the acclaimed program from the git-go of the unabashed witch hunt of Mexican American Studies by Attorney General Tom Horne:
"One way to understand the safe harbor is to look at what the US did with regard to SB 1070. Like the U.S. in that case, and prior to taking any Board action to shut down the program, TUSD (or MALDEF on behalf of the Mendoza plaintiffs) could have asked Judge Bury to invoke the authority of the federal courts pursuant to the Supremacy Clause. Specifically, the court's authority under federal law to desegregate TUSD schools trumps state law and HB 2281 in particular. Bury already said this when he invoked that authority twice this summer when he denied Horne leave to intervene. TUSD could have asked Bury to enjoin (i.e. prohibit) Huppenthal from taking any enforcement action pursuant to HB 2281 or any other state law against the MAS program that is mandated by the Post-Unitary Status Plan, which is court-ordered."
Additionally, Happel pointed out that TUSD even failed in adequately carrying out last year's state-level appeal:
"As a second option, TUSD could have concurrently appealed (state Superintendent of Public Instruction John) Huppenthal's ruling in state court, but not necessarily with the objective of overturning his finding of violation. Rather, TUSD could have asked a real judge in Superior Court to rule on the constitutionality of HB 2281, something the administrative law judge believed he was not authorized to do. If TUSD's only objective on appeal was to overturn Huppenthal's decision, it would have a very heavy burden because it did not put on its strongest case in the administrative hearing. For instance, TUSD's lawyer did no cross-examination of Stegeman when he compared an MAS class to a cult. Anyone who has watched Law and Order knows that the lawyer needs to shred him on cross-examination."
As the new semester begins on this note, and as Tucson awaits the federal court decision on the constitutionality of Arizona's notorious laws on Ethnic Studies, it appears that the TUSD school board and Pedicone will continue to blunder on like a bad rerun itself.
