Teachers and their unions are gearing up to take on the Obama administration’s pro-charter, pro-merit pay “Race to the Top” initiative. Paul Abowd writes in Labor Notes reports that teachers from New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles met recently in LA “to bring a vision of education reform that puts educators, not ‘education management organizations,’ in the driver’s seat.”
Kim Melton reports on OregonLive.com that PPS staff are recommending the school board approve a charter high school with a focus on hip hop, modeled on the High School for Recording Arts in Minneapolis.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
Amidst unstable funding for education and a lingering recession, Portland Public School teachers like me are stuck in the middle of contentious contract negotiations, one year overdue. Much information that is available to the public is filtered through Portland administrators, namely Carole Smith, who seems very much out of touch with the day-to-day workings of most teachers.
As news stories broke about $500,000 spent on Blackberries for “higher ups”, and $80,000 spent on hotel meetings for the same, one starts to wonder how much more is being spent on “non-classroom” items. One such story saw Matt Shelby, district spokesperson, say something to the effect that these items were very minor compared to the overall budget. And this got me wondering, “If these items were just “drops in the bucket” so to speak, how many drops in the bucket do there need to be, before the bucket gets filled, and people get mad?”
Drops in the bucket. There are 80+ schools in the Portland district. If each of these schools received $1,000, then that $80,000 spent on hotels takes on greater significance. I have had to scrounge for materials each and every year I have taught. $1,000 to buy the novel sets I desperately need to teach 7th grade. Wow, what a luxury. How many drops is that $80,000 now?
Not to mention $500,000. As I think about the computer lab our school was promised, but then denied, because we didn’t have the room, I wonder. Would half a million buy a lab? Or how about an addition to our cramped, “only suitable for elementary students but made to serve middle school students as well” library? A place to house our nurse and counselor and special ed. teachers, who currently have to share small quarters? This would not go far to fix all of our K-8s that are sorely lacking in facilities and resources. But, what if even one school got the treatment it deserved? How many drops in the bucket is that worth?
As we see the district move forward with its grand high school redesign, one cannot help but wonder what happened to the K-8 redesign. Did we miss it? And can we really trust a district that feels as if several hundred thousand dollars are just drops in the bucket?
Approximately 400 people gathered before the school board meeting last night to demand a new contract that doesn’t balance the budget on the backs of teachers.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
Please join us in standing with Portland’s Teachers:
Monday, Oct. 12, 6:15 p.m. Rally to Support Teachers*! At Blanchard Educational Service Center (PPS), 501 N. Dixon. Support the Portland Association of Teachers’ Bargaining Team and its efforts to achieve a contract settlement with the Portland Public Schools!? Please join us after the rally to attend the school board meeting.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
Comments Off on Rally for teachers before school board meeting
Families unable to attend the all-day high school redesign sessions hosted by the district will have the opportunity to engage the district on the topic at the PPS Parent Union Parent Information Gathering this Saturday, October 10, from 1 to 2 p.m.
The full event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m at the Curious Comedy Theater at Vanport Square, 5225 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. There will be door prizes, Mom’s Comedy Theater skits and children’s activities. The event coincides with the anniversary celebration for the Vanport Building.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
Comments Off on PPS Parent Union hosts high school redesign round table
Superintendent Carole Smith is back on the job today, according to a PPS status update on Facebook. Smith has been on a leave of absence following the passing of her life partner. Welcome back, Carole. Our thoughts have been with you.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
“American children and adolescents spend 22 to 28 hours per week viewing television, more than any other activity except sleeping. By the age of 70 they will have spent 7 to 10 years of their lives watching TV.”
– The Kaiser Family Foundation
Ms. Nancy discusses strategies for getting kids to read in the latest episode of her podcast Book Geek.
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
Comments Off on From Ms. Nancy’s Library: How to get a kid to read
This week in PPS, the school board and community get their first chance to really dig in to high school redesign, and the PPS Parent Union kicks off.
But first, a review of last week’s news.
On PPS Equity.org, Parent Polly Zagone tells more of the story that Beth Slovic introduced in Willamette Week September 23. Zagone complains that her son, who was given a modified diploma, was denied the basic education the state requires local school districts to provide. Zagone lists the eleven so-far-unanswered questions to the district, beginning with: Is Pioneer a school? If not, what school did my son graduate from?
The Lincoln High football coach discipline situation has been resolved, but the football program is left hanging. Portland Public Schools has fired head coach Chad Carlson, who refused to step down. Two assistants stepped down, and can coach next year. A fourth coach was suspended for three weeks.
In The Oregonian, Kim Melton writes about the dearth of environmental education in Green Portland. This as the North American Association for Environmental Education prepares for its annual conference and symposium in Portland Tuesday through Friday this week.
This week in PPS:
The school board will begin to dig deeply into the high school redesign at their regular board meeting tonight. According to senior staff and board members, it is becoming more clear which specific issues — such as the nature of modifications of the transfer policy — will be directly addressed and decided by the board, and which will be left largely to staff. The board meets at 7 p.m. at BESC, 501 N. Dixon St., and is aired live on Comcast channel 28 in Portland and rebroadcast through the week.
On Friday, the PPS Parent Union holds a kick-off press conference and rally at the Mallory Avenue Community Enrichment Center, 126 NE Alberta. The Parent Union is also holding a Parent Information Gathering Saturday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Curious Comedy Theater, 5225 NE Martin Luther King Blvd.
Corrected information: Portland Public Schools holds the first of two all-day meetings this week on high school reconfiguration, getting down to nuts and bolts about the size and number of neighborhood schools that will remain. The meeting is Friday the ninth from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Marshall High School in southeast Portland. The second meeting is Saturday, October 17 at Rosa Parks Elementary in north Portland, also 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (The original version of this report listed the second meeting as October 10, not October 17. We regret the error.)
Steve Rawley published PPS Equity from 2008 to 2010, when he moved his family out of the district.
