Free Republic

Last week’s California superior court decision, which struck down teacher tenure law in California public schools, is good news for everyone worried about America’s future. The decision, finding these provisions unconstitutional and discriminatory against low-income and minority students, was even applauded by Education Secretary Arne Duncan. With the success of this lawsuit, similar suits can be anticipated around the country. Everyone, except the teachers unions, seems to grasp that public education in America, particularly in low-income communities, suffers because of lack of competition. The lawsuit, filed by 9 California public school students, was backed by a non-profit organization, Students...

LOS ANGELES — A California judge ruled Tuesday that teacher tenure laws deprived students of their right to an education under the State Constitution and violated their civil rights. The decision hands teachers’ unions a major defeat in a landmark case, one that could radically alter how California teachers are hired and fired and prompt challenges to tenure laws in other states. “Substantial evidence presented makes it clear to this court that the challenged statutes disproportionately affect poor and/or minority students,” Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court wrote in the ruling. “The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it...

Today’s reflection:Can you connect the dots in the three stories below? I’ve provided some hints along the way.Story #1: “Paul Robeson High School’s 2014 prom theme: “This is Are Story.” Drafted by prom committee, reviewed and approved by their TA (teacher advisor). And since this is the Senior Prom, we assume that this was written by one of the lucky 25% who are/our actually going to graduate high school. Story #2: LOS ANGELES—A California judge declared the state's strong teacher-tenure laws unconstitutional in a rebuke that promises to spur similar challenges around the country.The student plaintiffs in the lawsuit against...

The Jeffco Public Schools Board school board tossed out a tentative deal with its teachers union during Thursday night’s board meeting. Board president Ken Witt said he could not endorse the deal because the agreement provided raises to an estimated 56 teachers who were rated “partly effective” on the district’s evaluation rubric. ... teachers union representatives were disappointed

Sixteen percent of all teachers are considered chronically absent, missing 18 days or more per year, a new study said. A Think Tank in Washington, D.C. looked at 234,000 teachers in 40 of the country's largest school districts. It found teachers miss an average of 11 days. In Sacramento, more than 51 percent of teachers are chronically absent. In San Francisco, the number is more than 41 percent. And in San Jose, it is about 45 percent. Uber, Lyft and Sidecar Operate at SFO Illegally The study looked at short-term absences and did not count absences for serious illness, or...

The public schools in Washington, D.C., spent $29,349 per pupil in the 2010-2011 school year, according to the latest data from National Center for Education Statistics, but in 2013 fully 83 percent of the eighth graders in these schools were not "proficient" in reading and 81 percent were not "proficient" in math. These are the government schools in our nation's capital city -- where for decades politicians of both parties have obstreperously pushed for more federal involvement in education and more federal spending on education. Government has manifestly failed the families who must send their children to these schools, and...

The Democracy Alliance, a top-secret collective of ultra-rich left-wing political donors, has a new member — Randi Weingarten, who heads the labor union that represented Douglas County teachers until two years ago when the district went union-free. ... Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), an arm of the AFL-CIO whose affiliates include the Douglas County Federation. ... Ben DeGrow, Independence Institute senior education policy analyst, said Weingarten’s joining the Democracy Alliance shows that the union is using dues collected from teachers to pursue an extreme political agenda. ... Unlike other school districts, Douglas County no longer...

Chicago Teachers Union Joins War on Common Core 09 May 2014 The powerful Chicago Teachers Union joined the bipartisan war on Common Core, the controversial Obama administration-pushed national education standards.... Related Articles: Common Core: A Scheme to Rewrite Education Orwellian Nightmare: Data-mining Your Kids New York Revolts Against Common Core SPLC Launches Hysterical Attack on Common Core Critics As Common Core Becomes Punchline, Critics Win Battles Nationwide Pro-Common Core Deception Falling Apart Indiana Replaces Common Core ... With Common Core Common Core Architect Now Dumbing Down SAT Common Core: People vs. Big Government, Big Business, and Billionaires

almost 50 self-described "Patriots" held tall U.S flags in front of a high school still at the center of a public debate over free speech and cultural pride. (barf)

The nine student plaintiffs in the case – known as Vergara v. California - are challenging two main areas of state law: permanent employment and dismissal statutes the plaintiffs say make it difficult to get rid of bad teachers, and the seniority-based layoff system, which they say makes it hard to keep good, less-senior teachers during difficult times.

**SNIP** As a teacher who worked there for many years, I can tell you that it wasn’t because the city wasn’t warned. The children of PS 106 were failed by administrators, government lawmakers and union officials — a host of top people who couldn’t be bothered to care. **SNIP** To show just how clueless and uncaring the administration was — in December 2013, PS 106 received a glowing report. At the time, there was no mandated gym, no special-education teacher (I had left and wasn’t replaced), no books, no art and no extended-day services! PS 106 received millions in extra...

A Missouri grade school coach has been charged in the murder and kidnapping of a 10-year-old girl whose suspected body was found in his basement with what police said was a gunshot wound to the head. Craig Wood, a football coach and teacher's aide at Springfield's Pleasant View K-8 School, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Hailey Owens, whose body police believe was found in a storage bin. The little girl was last seen walking just a block from her home at 4:48 p.m. Tuesday when a terrified couple called 911 to report her seen being...

7 elementary school staff hire lawyers Fallsburg police investigating the reported discovery of heroin and drug paraphernalia in a faculty bathroom at Benjamin Cosor Elementary School say the refusal by a group of teachers to cooperate is hampering their probe. No one has been charged, but six teachers and an aide were identified as having used the men's room before a school staff member reportedly found a heroin baggie on Feb. 11. Just before the winter break in December, heroin and needles were reportedly found in the same bathroom. Each of the seven faculty members initially agreed to give urine...

There are times where someone actually takes a stand and gives me hope that we can eventually roll back the progressive liberal tide and bring sanity back to our country. One such instance is taking place in California, where nine public school students and their families are suing the state over its laws governing teacher tenure, seniority, and the last hired, first fired practice. The aim is to dismantle a system that keeps bad teachers in the classroom; a system that teachers unions fully support. The lawsuit, filed by an advocacy group called Students Matter on behalf of the students,...

Two of the most powerful unions in the country have voiced objections to a bill that would provide better background checks for teachers, Campbell Brown writes in a Thursday Wall Street Journal column. After the Government Accountability Office found “hundreds of potential cases of registered sex offenders working in schools” across the United States in 2010, the House passed a bill that would streamline the vetting process and close inconsistencies across state lines. The bill is a common sense measure, according to Campbell, yet powerful teachers unions are opposed to the new standards. Anyone with violent or sexual convictions against...

A recent report on a school in Queens, N.Y., is so unbelievable, so terribly sad, that it has left many readers practically speechless. A public school in Far Rockaway Queens, N.Y., has been accused of operating under unacceptable conditions (image source Google Maps) From students reportedly being forced to attend class in vermin-infested “temporary classrooms” that “smell like urine” to Principal Marcella Sills, 48, apparently being a frequent no-show, public school (PS) 106 in Far Rockaway, N.Y., is a “school of no,” according to the New York Post.The students don’t get gym or art classes, one source said. Instead, many...

Chicago Public School officials say they’re canceling classes ahead of Monday’s bitter cold temperatures, after first saying they would be open. The reversal comes after withering criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union, though officials say they made the decision after (they) “evaluated the situation again.” …

Numbers of public sector unions in Wisconsin collapsed in the wake of an historic vote that ended on Thursday. The unions are acutely feeling the impact of Act 10, Governor Scott Walker’s controversy-generating collective bargaining reforms of 2011. The reforms require public sector unions to hold annual recertification votes. In order to be certified as unions by the state, the labor groups must get the approval of over 50% of their members. For several weeks now the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission has been holding an open and ongoing vote for over 400 unions, mostly made up of public school teachers...

The media are currently filled with reports of students in the U.S. scoring poorly on international tests. The Program for International Student Assessment, which compares 15-year-olds in most industrialized countries, reports that American students dropped from 25th to 31st in math, 11th to 21st in reading and 20th to 24th in science. The solution consistently offered for these low rankings is to spend more money on schooling. But numerous studies examining the billions of dollars we've spent on education in the last decade show that money has not improved the performance of U.S. students, and higher-scoring foreign countries spend far...

The Thomas B. Fordham Institute sponsored a recent panel discussion titled, “Traversing the Teacher-Evaluation Terrain.” Inevitably, the discussion veered from teacher-evaluation criteria at the federal and state levels to upcoming requirements of Common Core. One of the panelists, Rob Weil, represented the American Federation of Teachers as their Deputy Director of Education Issues Department. He voiced his opposition and disapproval of the top-down, federal government approach of Common Core throughout the discussion. Weil argued that the legislators and bureaucrats “like putting numbers down in legislation because it makes them feel good.” He said that teachers “were hoping that the effort...