Public School Policies

Recent news out of Detroit finds that thousands of teachers and school staff have been notified they will have to reapply for their jobs for the next school year. What does this mean for students and the district?

In response to numerous changes made to the Detroit Public School system at the time, thousands of teachers in the district received “pink slips” telling them they could reapply for their jobs over the summer. With more than 4,000 teachers affected ahead of the upcoming school year, many predicted that chaos would reign when students returned to classrooms in the fall.

At the same time, district officials attempted to reassure students and parents that the decision to lay off teachers was the best way to ensure they had sufficient teachers, and the right teachers, heading up classrooms at the beginning of the school year.

Changes to the District Prompt Layoffs

One reason for the mass layoff was the many changes the Detroit school system faced during that period. A new system, the Educational Achievement Authority, was put in place to deal with schools that were consistently unable to perform at state standards. Under this system, 15 Detroit schools were slated to switch districts for the following school year, removing those schools from the Detroit Public School system. All of those schools were classified as low-performing, according to state standards.

This change involved approximately 12,000 students leaving DPS for the Educational Achievement Authority system. According to eSchool News,

Teacher unions have been a part of American education for well over a century, beginning with grassroots efforts to support teachers through improved salaries, benefits, and working conditions. The two national organizations, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA), have paved the way for dozens of state and local teacher associations, often referred to as Independent Education Associations (IEAs). In light of education reform gaining speed nationwide, these teacher unions have recently been put in the spotlight – either as the major hurdle standing in the way of true reform, or a potentially valuable tool in bringing about the sort of change needed in education today.

This video offers an overview of the National Education Association.

History of the Teacher Union

According to the PBS website, the early beginnings of the teacher union can be traced all the way back to the early years of the 20^th century, when city boards of education began the first efforts at education reform. While this early focus was positive in some respects - including raising the standards of teaching, ensuring student achievement, and rooting out corruption - teachers at the time did not feel like a significant part of the reform process. Teachers rebelled against the changes implemented by business leaders and education bureaucrats, and they began forming local associations that eventually grew into the

With the Mega Millions craze sweeping the country in recent weeks, how have public schools benefited? According to lottery advertising, one of the benefits of this form of gambling is generating funding for public schools. While it sounds good on paper, how much benefit do lotteries really offer to public school systems? It turns out the answer to that question may be much more complex than it appears on the surface.

An Overview of Lotteries

According to the website for the Georgia Lottery system, lottery is a “game of chance in which players have an equal opportunity to win prizes.” The first American lottery was held in Jamestown in 1612, and it made up half the entire budget the early settlers needed to build their colony. Lotteries were used by President George Washington to support the Revolutionary War, and Thomas Jefferson used them to fund a variety of public projects.

Lotteries have traditionally been used to support public works projects like building and street construction, as well as education and environmental projects. Today’s lotteries utilize the latest technology to allow players the choice between instant tickets, online games, and the standard lottery drawing games. Prizes for lotteries have also become more extravagant, as evidenced by the recent Mega Millions game that has made headlines in states like Virginia, California, and North Carolina.

Where does Lottery Money Go?

The proceeds from lotteries can

Amidst numerous allegations of sexual misconduct among staff members, the New York City Department of Education is taking another look at disciplinary procedures and policies regarding teachers in their schools. A recent arrest of a Brooklyn gym teacher brings the grand total of school employees facing potential criminal charges to more than a dozen during 2012 alone. Now the questions become what to do about the teachers that have been identified as possible sex offenders and how to prevent these types of problems from occurring in the future.

Latest Arrest May Result in Firing

The New York Daily News reports on the recent arrest of Esran Boothe, a gym teacher at Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, who was accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old female student. Boothe, who has worked in New York schools since 2003, was charged with third-degree sex abuse and forcible touching. Currently, Boothe has been removed from the classroom, and the chancellor of NYC schools, Dennis Walcott, is looking into having the instructor fired.

“A staff member who violates the trust of our students and families does not deserve to work in our schools – period,” Walcott told the New York Daily News. “Anyone who does will be removed and we will do everything in our power to make sure they never work here again.”

This video reports on the sexual abuse situation in NYC schools.

As Louisiana Governor Jindal Fights to Reform Louisiana Schools, Teachers Push Back

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has taken his sweeping education reform to state lawmakers, while educators in the state who are more than a little unhappy with Jindal’s proposals are finding ways to push back. Jindal’s plans would usher in some of the most significant education reforms in the country, with Jindal tackling sticky issues like teacher tenure and retirement plans, charter schools, and a voucher program that would impact half the children in the state. While Jindal’s proposals are garnering support from many state lawmakers and residents, others are downright furious with Jindal’s ideas on how to transform the state’s education system.

Teacher Tenure Tied to Job Performance

One of Jindal’s proposals that has won the ire of local teachers’ unions involves how teachers are hired and granted tenure. According to the Daily Comet, the bill would shift hiring new teachers to principals and superintendents rather than school boards. The bill would also make significant changes to current teacher tenure procedures, which are tied to annual evaluations for three years. Current evaluations rank teachers as either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, which makes it challenging to weed ineffective teachers out from the rest.

Under Jindal’s new tenure proposal, teachers would be subject to annual five-year reviews under a more complex rating system. Teachers who received “highly effective” ratings for five years straight would be eligible for tenure. “Ineffective” ratings would result in loss of