Parent Teacher Connection - October 23, 2007
Critical NCLB Vote Could Happen Any Day
In January, 2002 the No-Child-Left-Behind Law (NCLB) took effect. Since then schools have been plunged into chaos as they have faced punitive measures for low scores on standardized tests.
These include reorganizations which frequently mean school principals are removed from a site, and all teachers are made to reapply for their positions. Principals are being put under pressure from the mid-level managers and superintendents of their school districts to raise test scores. Teachers, in turn, are feeling the heat from their principals.
Now House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller have co-sponsored an NCLB reauthorization bill that could be voted on any day.
This bill makes a bad law even worse. It keeps most of the punitive measures against schools who don’t improve their standardized test scores. This means that, if this bill becomes law, many teachers will keep teaching to the test. Students will not get the balanced education they deserve—an education that should include music, art, and P.E.
The NCLB reauthorization also contains a bitter new pill for hard-working educators to swallow. It calls for teachers to be paid based on their students’ standardized test scores. This will result in even more teaching to the test and in even more teachers leaving the profession.
Despite un-founded claims by its proponents, NCLB has hurt public schools. The teachers of Oakland call on all Oak-land parents and citizens to join them in phoning Pelosi, Miller and our representatives in Congress and urging them to vote NO on the NCLB re-authorization.
Why does an L.A. Billionaire Have an Agenda for Oakland Schools?
Eli Broad, a former Los Angeles property developer and insurance magnate, is using his billions to push his agenda in our public schools. The people of Oakland need to consistently and forcefully demand an end to the state administration of the Oakland Unified School District. Until our schools are put back under the local control of a democratically elected school board we will be subject to the whims and pipe dreams of billionaire “philanthropists.” People like Broad are hiding behind a smokescreen of charity in order to push their own agendas. They believe that they have a better idea of how to run schools than the school boards we elect.
The answer for our schools is, in their opinion, the business model. Decisions are made by a CEO at the head of a school district, and are passed down to the classroom through a top-down system.
Former OUSD State Administrators Randolph Ward and Kim Statham, and new appointee Vince Matthews are all graduates of Eli Broad’s leadership training academy. So are nine other high level OUSD administrators according to the East Bay Express ( 10-10-07).
State Administration makes it easier for Broad to use programs like the District’s Expect Success! to impose his ideas on our public schools. When assemblyman Sandre Swanson introduced a bill to end the state take-over, the EdVoice Foundation spent thousands of dollars to campaign against it in the California Assembly. Broad has contributed $350,000 to EdVoice.
Broad has also given money to the campaigns of the governor and State Education Superintendent Jack O’Connell, who both oppose returning Oakland Schools to local control. Who runs our District? Broad and O’Connel. Who should run our District? We should!
Teacher-District Contract Talks Only Months Away
“We invite you to share our common goals of excellent public schools … [and] universal college readiness.” That’s what the Oakland Unified School District’s website says. Soon everyone will get a chance to see whether the District will put its money where its mouth is. The contract agreement between the teachers and the District expires at the end of this school year. Negotiations for the next contract will begin early in the new year.
If the District is serious about universal college readiness they will improve the counselor-to-student ratio that is currently guaranteed to stand only at 700-1. They will also ensure that students receive the staffed enrichment programs that, studies show, improve achievement.
If the District is serious about excellent schools they will do everything they can to attract and retain experienced, expert teachers to Oakland. Under the current teacher contract, this is not happening. In months we will see whether the District is true to its word.
Call Congress to stop NCLB reauthorization
(phone call script on back – column 1)
Nancy Pelosi
SF Office:
415-556-4862
DC Office:
202-225-4965
George Miller
Concord Office:
925-602-1880
DC Office:
202-225-2095
Your Representative
Call 1-888-268-4334 to get their phone number
This Month’s
Quotation: “This is a hard bill to explain.”
–President Bush on NCLB
Fox News, 10-15-07
This Month’s Number: $44 Million – the unspent surplus in OUSD’s 2006-07 accounts.
This Months FunFact: In the past seven years new State Admin. Vince Matthews walked out on Dewey Alternative High School after 4 months, was judged unfit for a mid-level administration job at OUSD, and left an Edison charter school in SF amid allegations of admissions bias.
