A weekly report on education news and commentary you won’t find anywhere else — from the nation’s leading voice on education innovation and opportunity.
UNIONS STAGE WALKOUTS. In case you hadn't heard, the national teachers’ unions are staging/pushing for teacher walk outs across the country. In case they hadn't heard, the nation's report card says less than 50 percent of our kids are proficient in the basics – with the percentages being dramatically less if you're a minority or at-risk student. The exception to this persistent years-long rule can be found in the states that have seen dramatically more opportunities offered to kids…
LIKE ARIZONA — where charter students boast larger NAEP gains than any state. Ironically, despite this success, teachers are being pressured to walk out, even among the leading charter schools. This was anything but organic - In fact, West Virginia labor leaders claim to have inspired Arizona’s walk out this week.
BUT IN COLORADO… Scores have remained stagnant and the achievement gap unacceptably wide. In fact, Colorado is near the bottom of states in making progress in closing that gap. Despite that, teachers across Colorado are also planning walkouts. Their gripe is funding. It should be achievement.
A friend in Colorado shared a letter from the Douglas County School District, excerpted below.
“…teachers across Colorado are attending rallies at the State Capitol later this week to call for increased education funding. Many districts decided late last week to close school on either Thursday, April 26 or Friday, April 27. We have been monitoring time-off requests carefully over the last few days. Yesterday, requests increased significantly, such that there are not enough substitutes in the system to cover all classrooms across our district.
“As a result, our neighborhood, magnet and alternative schools will be closed on Thursday, April 26. District charter schools, that manage their own staffing, will remain open and operating on a normal schedule. [Editors note: we would like to repeat that last sentence. “District charter schools, that manage their own staffing, will remain open and operating on a normal schedule.”] …we recognize that this presents challenges for many of our families. However, with over 500 of our educators out, we will simply not be able to provide a safe and effective learning environment for all of our students.
“WANT TO KNOW WHEY THEY ARE STRIKING?” According to the Denver Post It’s about pay and benefits and spending of course. (The Post doesn’t mention the four-day school week that more than half of schools now have in CO, by the way.) Nor is there coverage anywhere about the “School-Staffing Surge,” the phenomenon that has dominated US public schools for more than 50 years. It goes like this: “Public schools grew staffing at a rate four times faster than the increase in students over that time period. Of those personnel, teachers’ numbers increased 252 percent while administrators and other staff experienced growth of 702 percent, more than seven times the increase in students.” And the number of teachers since prior to NCLB have grown more than twice that of students!
BUT THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN EVEN THAT. We agree that “There’s an important conversation to be had about teacher pay, benefit costs, and how to attract and honor terrific teachers — and pay fairly professionals who put in a solid day’s work,” as one of the nation’s leading education policy experts Frederick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute posits. “And, like many, we think the gains that Oklahoma’s teachers have now won are reasonable and appropriate.
“But it appears that, even more than in the case of West Virginia — where teachers returned to work with a comparatively Spartan 5 percent pay bump — Oklahoma’s walkout is quickly becoming detached from efforts to ensure that dollars are spent responsibly. When teachers who have already claimed a massive win are shuttering schools over demands for retiree cost-of-living-adjustments and the need to “staff-up” other state agencies, it seems farfetched to say that student concerns are still front and center.”
Let’s be clear: The unions want to make teacher pay a defining issue. But it's not, or at least it shouldn’t be. The defining issue is educational excellence. Pay should not simply be an award for time spent at a job. But few teachers are paid for their success or for being great educators. They’re paid for their longevity, based on fixed pay scales designed to achieve “fairness” instead of reward excellence. It’s a system that’s been legislated and lobbied for by the unions (and which has helped massively in sustaining the unions) who are now urging protests – not to improve education, or reward excellence – but to, simply, increase teacher pay.
FINALLY, IN PUERTO RICO TOMORROW… teachers will walk out to protest not pay but the introduction of choices for kids trapped in failing schools. These walkouts are hardly spontaneous uprisings by local teachers. Indeed, AFT President Randi Weingarten was overheard “…plotting a teachers' strike to shut down schools in Puerto Rico…” Yes, you heard it right, as did all her fellow Amtrak passengers who were able to hear her surprisingly unguarded cellphone conversation with an unknown co-conspirator. The gist of the story is that Weingarten was calling for teachers to use personal and sick days, not for their intended purposes, but to stage a strike, which she cautioned should not be called a “strike” but, rather, union members serving as “human shields for kids.” Read about it here.
ONE MORE THING. These latest union-led shenanigans are, in part, what the Janus case that's before the U.S. Supreme Court (and Friedrichs before that) is all about. If you’re a teacher and you don’t agree with what the union is doing, and how it’s using the money it takes from you in dues: tough! You have to pay up anyway. A ruling in favor of Janus would change that miscarriage of fairness and justice.
Founded in 1993, the Center for Education Reform aims to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved economic outcomes for all Americans — particularly our youth — ensuring that conditions are ripe for innovation, freedom and flexibility throughout U.S. education.
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LOST IN SOCIETY
Announce Upcoming EP
Eager Heart
Signed to Wiretap Records
First Single "Creature" Premiering
Now with Substream Magazine
"An absolute anthem for anyone
who listens to punk-rock"
April 24, 2018 - ASBURY PARK, NJ - Three-piece Alternative Punk Band Lost In Society is thrilled to announce they have joined the Wiretap Records family and will be releasing the Eager Heart EP on May 25, 2018. The first taste of the new music, "Creature," is premiering exclusively with Substream Magazine today. Fans can check out the punk anthem at https://substreammagazine.com/2018/04/premiere-lost-in-society-creatures/.
The EP was recorded with Pete Steinkopf of The Bouncing Souls and will be the band's first release with Wiretap. On the upcoming release, front man Zach Moyle shares, "I think with this EP, I dove into some emotional and psychological channels more than the previous releases. I questioned myself and who I am as a person a lot while writing some of this record." Fans can pre-order the album in both physical and digital versions here: http://wiretaprecords.limitedrun.com/
Lost In Society are currently gearing up for a brief run of shows in May kicking off in Atlanta, GA on May 12th and wrapping up in Wilmington, NC on May 24th. The band will also be playing at The FEST this fall in Downtown Gainsville, FL. Early Bird Tickets for FEST 17 are on sale now at https://thefestfl.com/. A full list of dates can be found below.
Upcoming Lost in Society Tour Dates:
5/05 - Asbury Park, NJ - Asbury Park Brewery
5/17 - Atlanta, GA - Star Bar
5/18 - Tampa, FL - Lucky You
5/19 - Orlando, FL - OLD 64
5/20 - Gainsville, FL - Looseys Pub
5/21 - Orlando, FL - Old 64
5/24 - Charlotte, NC - Milestone
5/25 - Charleston, SC - Tin Roof
5/26 - Wilmington, NC - Calico Room
10/26-29 - THE FEST - Gainsville, FL
New Jersey has a long history with punk music and Asbury Park's Lost In Society is proud to carry that banner. With a killer 2017 behind them, seeing support tours for Face to Face, Unwritten Law and 88 Fingers Louie, the trio plan on taking that momentum with them in to 2018. Having spent the last 5 years intensely on the road, this new release on California's Wiretap Records sees the band in top form.
Jolting, fierce and raw: Lost In Society's live show has been described as all of the above. The NJ-based alternative punk act has performed at large festivals including Vans Warped Tour, Punk Rock Bowling, Fun Fun Fun Fest, SXSW, CMJ Music Marathon and Fest. Lost In Society is known for bringing fans out the same way old punks did -- by word of mouth. Having toured all over the map and sharing the stage with the likes of Taking Back Sunday, Dead Sara, The Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion, The Flatliners, Misfits and SWMRS, the trio is showing no signs of stopping.
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Photo Credit: Mallory Turner
Lost In Society is Zach Moyle (guitars + lead vocals), Nick Ruroede (bass), and Hector Bonora (drums).
For updates on Lost In Society, please visit:
Website: http://www.lostinsociety.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lostinsociety
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lostinsociety
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostinsociety
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/lost-in-society
ownload EP Cover Art Here
Download Tour Admat Here
Download Press Photo Here (Photo Credit: Mallory Turner)
=============Judicial Watch Sues for Obama State Dept. Records of Its Facilitation of Russian Amb. Kislyak’s Attendance at 2016 Republican Convention
(Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State seeking all records regarding the Obama State Department facilitation of Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s attendance at the 2016 Republican National Convention (RNC) (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:18-cv-00844)). Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation of alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia after reports emerged of his conversing with Kislyak on this and one other occasion.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia after the DOJ failed to respond to a November 21, 2017, FOIA request seeking:
All records regarding Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak’s attendance at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July 2016. Such records include, but are not limited to, communications between the State Department and the Russian Embassy regarding arrangements for Kislyak’s attendance, such as an invitation to attend, and records of the Diplomatic Security Service relating to Kislyak’s travel to and attendance.
The time frame of Judicial Watch’s records request was identified as “July 1, 2015 to October 1, 2016.”
The Obama-era State Department funded and made arrangements for foreign ambassadors to attend the RNC convention. Current Attorney General Jeff Sessions, then a Trump campaign adviser, reportedly met with Kislyak at the convention and subsequently recused himself from the Russia investigation.
Obama’s State Department helped set up a separate event in 2016, titled “Global Partners in Diplomacy,” at which Sessions and Kislyak reportedly spoke. Sessions was the keynote speaker at the event.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has sought details into the Sessions-Kislyak conversations, Reuters reported on March 29, 2018.
Kislyak has reportedly suggested that he also attended the 2016 Democratic National Convention, but an official from the DNC said “the group could not release the list of attendees due to security concerns, but could find no indication Kislyak attended. No one remembered seeing him there.”
“Judicial Watch is trying to figure out the Obama administration’s role in getting the Russian Ambassador to the RNC convention,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Deep State would have it appear the Trump campaign colluded with the Russians to have the Russia ambassador visit the RNC convention, when the fact seems to be that the Obama State Department was behind his attendance. Attorney General Sessions’ communications with the Russia Ambassador have been the subject of controversial unmasking and illegal leaks, so this new federal lawsuit may provide essential information.”
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