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Thursday, September 13, 2012

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The back-to-school bus in Sacramento
The "Education Drives America" bus arrives in Sacramento


Education Headlines

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Galt high school district board approves employee contracts

Classified and certificated employees of the Galt Joint Union High School District will work two fewer days this school year under separate contracts unanimously approved Tuesday by the school board.

Columbia criticisms continue at meeting

A new school year has started, but many of the same concerns about administration and a two-year-old campus sex scandal persist at Columbia Elementary School.

Local educators keep close tabs on Chicago strike

Chicago may be 2,000 miles away, but Ventura County educators are watching the teachers' strike in the nation's third-largest school district very closely.

Fresno Unified at odds on reviewing legal expenses

Fresno Unified School District spent nearly $2 million on legal fees last year, but it used to spend a lot less. A decade ago, annual legal expenses were often about half that. And district officials used to offer detailed information about how much they spent, why and what legal firm got paid. Now, officials say they can't.

Secretary of Education meets in Sacramento with mayors, superintendents

While in Sacramento during a national bus tour, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said the biggest challenge facing public education is complacency, and he challenged parents and students to demand more of those in charge.

Parking problems a hazard at new Porter Ranch Community School

The new $56 million Porter Ranch Community School is winning raves for its innovative curriculum and architecture, but it's also raising safety concerns because of a parking crunch that's emerged since the K-8 school opened a month ago.

Oakland school district holds off on civil rights agreement

The Oakland school board will wait to vote on a plan to reduce the suspensions of the city's African-American schoolchildren. The school board decided Wednesday night it needed more time to discuss the proposed agreement, or "voluntary resolution," which would be made with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

Vargo: The crisis that we don’t discuss

One result of the last decade of “education reform” has been to discourage, demoralize, and disempower teachers. Any review of any of the various surveys of teachers confirms this. If still in doubt, do your own data collection: Find a teacher and ask.

Batron: Duncan tight-lipped on California’s waiver

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan wouldn’t reveal even a hint regarding the status of California’s request for a waiver from the most unrealistic provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, also known as No Child Left Behind, in an interview on Wedneday.

What really happens if both Prop 30 and 38 pass in November?

Voters in fact do have the option to vote Yes on both measures, a strategy that could help to secure for each some of the votes that may otherwise have been lost to the "competition." It's a strategy that could increase the probability that at least one of the measures passes, but the question remains: what really happens if both pass?
Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Stockton USD moves to close tech gap

By a 5-2 vote Tuesday night, the school board approved the purchase of 4,500 computers - seven Windows laptops for every one of the 640-plus K-5 classrooms in Stockton Unified.

No room in class for some students in neighborhood schools

The good news for Ontario-Montclair school officials: The district has a ratio of 20 students per teacher at a time when many districts have had to repeatedly increase class sizes. The bad news: There isn't room for some students at their neighborhood schools.

State's teaching needs makeover, report says

California needs to overhaul its teaching profession to address a looming shortage of educators as student enrollment is projected to rise, according to a state report released Monday.