Intercepts

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 16:06 | Permalink | Comments

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After the Barbara Bullock scandal (see Item #2 here), the last thing anyone expected to see from the Washington Teachers Union (WTU) was more allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement. But union vice president Nathan A. Saunders has made those claims against president George Parker and other WTU officials in a lawsuit filed in federal court yesterday.

The Washington City Paper reports:

"Named in the lawsuit are Parker, WTU Chief of Staff Clay White, Al Squires and Edward J. McElroy of the American Federation of Teachers (the WTU's parent organization), four members of the WTU executive board, and three unnamed DCPS employees. The various defendants are charged with offenses including fraud, racketeering, and breach of fiduciary duties. In the complaint, Saunders says he has been exposed to "direct intimidation and retaliation impacting employment benefits, rights and privileges" for speaking out on labor issues, including [DC school chancellor Michelle] Rhee’s attempts to reclassify central-office employees as 'at-will.'"

Saunders claims WTU officers "embezzled, stole, or unlawfully and willfully converted WTU money and funds to their own use or the use of others," including a "diversion of WTU funds, though an out of state company, to a family member over a protracted period of time," and an "undecipherable $10,000 finder’s fee."

Saunders has credibility because he is in a position to know what is going on in his union. At the same time, because his first action was to file suit, rather than notify law enforcement of his suspicions, we should be very cautious about accepting his version of events without further evidence.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:29 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) California and Arkansas School District Statistics Posted
2) Did School District Boundaries Lead to Mortgage Crunch?
3) That's Why It's Called the Golden State
4) Last Week's Intercepts
5) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 12:28 | Permalink | Comments

An Associated Press story from Douglas, Georgia:

A Coffee County High School substitute teacher has been arrested in
what police say appears to be a scheme to bilk money from students promised a
trip to Disney World.

Police charged 39-year-old Christy Wise with theft by conversion after
they say she collected more than $7,400 from students for their senior trip but
never booked the reservations.

Nearly 50 students toting suitcases and bags lined up outside Coffee
County High on Friday waiting to start their vacation, but the bus never came
and Wise never showed up. Police believe Wise never had any intentions of
scheduling the trip.

An official at the Coffee County Jail said Wise posted bond and was
released Sunday. The amount of the bond was not immediately known.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:22 | Permalink | Comments

Barack Obama on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace interviewing:

WALLACE: And we are back now with Senator Barack Obama. Senator, one of the central themes of your campaign is that you are a uniter, who will reach across the aisle and create a new kind of politics. Some of your detractors say that you are a paint by the numbers liberal and I’d like to explore this with you.

Over the years, John McCain has broken with his party and risked his career on a number of issues, campaign finance, immigration reform, banning torture. As a president, can you name a hot button issue where you would be willing to cross Democratic party lines and say you know what, Republicans have a better idea here.

OBAMA: Well, I think there are a whole host of areas where Republicans in some cases may have a better idea.

WALLACE: Such as.

OBAMA: Well, on issues of regulation, I think that back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, a lot of the way we regulated industry was top down command and control. We’re going to tell businesses exactly how to do things.

And I think that the Republican party and people who thought about the margins came with the notion that you know what, if you simply set some guidelines, some rules and incentives for businesses, let them figure out how they’re going to for example reduce pollution. And a cap and trade system, for example, is a smarter way of doing it, controlling pollution, than dictating every single rule that a company has to abide by, which creates a lot of bureaucracy and red tape and oftentimes is less efficient.

I think that on issues of education, I have been very clear about the fact, and sometimes I have gotten in trouble with the teachers union on this, that we should be experimenting with charter schools. We should be experimenting with different ways of compensating teachers. That –

WALLACE: You mean merit pay?

OBAMA: Well, merit pay, the way it has been designed I think that is based on just single standardized test I think is a big mistake, because the way we measure performance may be skewed by whether or not the kids are coming in the school already three years or four years behind.

But I think that having assessment tools and then saying, you know what, teachers who are on career paths to become better teachers, developing themselves professionally, that we should pay excellence more. I think that’s a good idea. So –

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:59 | Permalink | Comments

* Iowa legislators were unable to develop compromise amendments to a bill that would expand the scope of collective bargaining, so the bill will go to Gov. Chet Culver as is for signature or veto. Culver has expressed misgivings about the legislation, but he is closely tied to the state's unions. He has 30 days to decide.

* The Missouri House passed a bill that would create teacher councils as a structure to negotiate labor contracts. The legislation is an effort to comply with a state supreme court decision that granted collective bargaining rights to public employees. Missouri NEA is unhappy with the bill because it doesn't allow exclusivity - any organization that can prove it represents more than 10 percent of the employees in a bargaining unit gets a seat on the council.

* Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed card check legislation earlier this week, and Democratic lawmakers say they don't have the votes to override it - even though there were only 8 "no" votes in the House, 4 "no" votes in the Senate, and the bill had 41 co-sponsors. Can you say "lip service?"

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 09:17 | Permalink | Comments

Last year the Columbus, Ohio, school district failed to spend $3.4 million in federal Title I grants.

This year the district overspent its grant by $735,000.

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

Varying salaries and benefits for employees caused the problem in this
year's audit, said Jeff Warner, spokesman for the district.

The district estimates that it will spend $60,000 per employee on
salaries and benefits, he said. When the actual figure is higher — because
teachers either have enough experience or education to be higher on the salary
schedule in the teachers union contract — schools go over their budgets, he
said.

"We've been more aggressive trying to see that the services that were
planned were performed," Warner said. "The bulk of the question is labor."

This is how you determine what the labor costs will be? You WAG it? No wonder the kids aren't learning math.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:38 | Permalink | Comments

In a twist on the usual seniority-based layoff story, about 75 teachers in Seminole County, Florida - most of whom have 35 years or more of experience - are being let go because they lack seniority.

These old-timers signed up for Florida's Deferred Retirement Option Program (DROP) five years ago, which was an effort to keep experienced teachers in the classroom during the state's enrollment boom and class size reduction. DROP teachers are essentially allowed to retire, but their pension payments are put aside until they actually stop working.

Now that the five-year term of the program is up, the DROP teachers are eligible to be rehired for up to three more years. The problem is that they dropped their seniority when they entered the program, so these veteran teachers are now near the bottom of the seniority scale.

The solution here is simple: Flip a coin.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:02 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) New York Members Form National Merger Caucus
2) California Teachers Association Announces "Voluntary" Dues Hike
3) Union Finds 57 Moonlighting Teachers in Texas
4) That Didn't Take Long
5) All Executive Director, All the Time!
6) School District Tables for Alabama, Alaska and Arizona Posted
7) Last Week's Intercepts
8) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 16:47 | Permalink | Comments

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Enrollment in voucher schools: up.

Enrollment in alternative schools: up.

Enrollment in state's public school open enrollment program: up.

Enrollment in charter schools of all types: up.

Enrollment in traditional Milwaukee public schools: down 20%.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:26 | Permalink | Comments

In a memo to state affiliate leaders yesterday, National Education Association President Reg Weaver described the union's interaction with the presidential candidates, where NEA stands in its endorsement process, and what steps might be taken if the nomination isn't settled in time for the NEA Representative Assembly (RA) in July:

"Regardless of whether the eventual Democratic nominee for President is
Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, I am confident that our members will be
well-served in terms of NEA's policy priorities by either candidate. State
affiliates have done a great job over the last several months in educating both
candidates on our issues and persuading their campaigns to adopt positions on
those issues that are aligned with NEA. Both candidates have rock-solid voting
records on education and other important national issues such as health care,
jobs, and the economy. This will not change. Indeed, I personally met with each
candidate (and our staff met with the candidate's senior policy and political
staff) to discuss NEA's legislative and policy priorities and how we will work
in partnership with a new Administration. Each candidate agreed to be a
'partner' with NEA on issues that will affect our members across the
country....

"In the event that the Democratic nomination is still up in the air by the
time of the RA, the NEA Fund Council Guidelines provide for a general election
recommendation to be made after the RA by mail ballot sent to the delegates to
the RA.

"The Guidelines provide that the NEA Fund Council is authorized to conduct
a mail vote by the RA delegates on a general election recommendation for
President as late as two weeks after the last of the national party nominating
conventions, and that the NEA Fund Council may make a recommendation to the
delegates on how they should vote in a letter mailed at least three days prior
to the date on which the official ballot is mailed."

In other words, NEA could wait unti mid-September before endorsing, and then conduct a mail-in vote for delegates to concur with that endorsement. Since the union technically can't spend money in support of a candidate until he or she is endorsed, expect an awful lot of "issue" campaigning and McCain-bashing in the meantime.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:48 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) NEA Affiliates as Employers: Navigating the Maze
2) Public School Workforce Swells While Enrollment Growth Flattens
3) Randi Weingarten Makes Her AFT Accession Official
4) Why Math Is Important
5) Scheduling Note
6) Last Week's Intercepts
7) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 14:38 | Permalink | Comments

The April 4 issue of New York Teacher, the organ of the New York State United Teachers, has an article about the situation in New Orleans. Headlined "New Orleans school system teeters," the union's story describes things this way:

UTNO [United Teachers New Orleans] President Mitchell said about half of
the Recovery Schools' teacher population is new, while the teachers at the few
remaining New Orleans Public Schools are mostly experienced.

"Some charters have zero teachers with experience or who were here
pre-Katrina," Mitchell said. "The majority have very little classroom
experience." Last year in one charter school, she said, 20 out of 30 staff
members had left.

UTNO has spoken out against the lack of professional development for
teachers, especially newer teachers. "These teachers need mentoring," said
Mitchell. "There is a disconnect between cultures; teachers are being pushed
into a situation and they are not being given the support they need."

Morale is flagging, especially among teachers who taught in New Orleans
before the storm. "Veteran teachers who were highly qualified and certified
before the storms have been told they have to take a basic skills test,"
Mitchell said. Many veterans who tried to come back after the hurricane were not
rehired or even interviewed for openings.

Contrast that sour tune with this music, played in this morning's New Orleans Times-Picayune:

Average salaries for New Orleans public school teachers have jumped by more
than 16 percent since Hurricane Katrina, a rise that local educators attribute
to statewide raises and increased competition by schools to recruit good
teachers.

Although not all teachers share equally in the wealth, as more schools
experiment with merit pay, nearly every public school in the city now has a
higher average salary than the districtwide average in 2004-05.

Average teacher salaries in surrounding parishes have also gone up by as
much as 25 percent since 2004. The comparative jump in New Orleans might be more
substantial than the numbers indicate, however, because the city now has
hundreds of rookie teachers, recruited through programs such as Teach for
America, who make entry-level salaries....

At schools operated directly by traditional school districts, a central
administration typically sets salaries on a set scale based on years of
experience and college degrees. In charters, it's "more market-driven," said Ken
Campbell, the state's director of charter schools. "If you are the best math
teacher in the city in elementary school, people should be bargaining for your
services."

Across the city, principals have more authority than ever to
financially reward or punish teachers based on their performance.

Looks like the New Orleans schools are recovering faster than the union, whose membership is less than one-quarter of its pre-Katrina levels.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:32 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:12 | Permalink | Comments

A South Carolina lawmaker has introduced a bill that would ban lap dances in the state's strip clubs. After providing us with deep insight from strip club patrons, like...

I would just go to North Carolina, no purpose in going without a lap dance,"
said Watkins. "I mean, even chicks go and get lap dances ... The whole
purpose of going is the lap dance, and the [strippers] you actually meet that
come over and chat. And then you find out they working on, like, two degrees in
college and you just be like, wow, that is crazy."

...Creative Loafing makes an abrupt left turn without signaling, and informs us that "South Carolina also ranks 28th in the nation for teacher pay, according to the American Federation of Teachers. (North Carolina is 23rd, but you can still get a lap dance in the Tar Heel state.)"

In the same spirit of non sequitur, let me add that lap dogs are still legal everywhere.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:15 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:33 | Permalink | Comments

Its board of directors met and held a conference call with both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but the Pennsylvania State Education Association still isn't endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primary.

I can understand neither candidate wanting to leave anything to chance, but aren't they getting tired of genuflecting to no result?

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 09:10 | Permalink | Comments

Click here to read:

1) Bad Week in Court for Labor Unions
2) Why They Leave 2.0
3) NEA State Affiliates Plan Significant Dues Increases
4) NEA Provides Stipend to Political Party Delegates
5) Digital-Era Sweatshop?!?
6) Misinformation or Disinformation?
7) Last Week's Intercepts
8) Quote of the Week

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 15:09 | Permalink | Comments

Washington Post columnist Jay Mathews and TeacherKen of Daily Kos list their favorite education blogs of 2008. Some excellent links if you're building a blogroll.

Intercepts didn't make the cut this year, but I'll soldier on.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:41 | Permalink | Comments

Good thing it wasn't an anti-nuke rally.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:05 | Permalink | Comments

More signs of the apocalypse – this bill is sponsored by a Democrat:

An education group and a local senator are trying to repeal a Rhode Island
law that uses seniority as the primary criteria for teacher layoffs.

The effort is being spearheaded by the East Side Public Education Coalition
and state Sen. Rhoda Perry, D-Providence.

"We believe that seniority is a standard that should be considered in
combination with other standards," said Samuel Zurier of the East Side Public
Education Coalition. "The problem we have is right now that seniority is the
only standard. So you have situations where you have very talented teachers who
lose their jobs because there's a more senior teacher who wants their
job."

The coalition said a biology teacher at Classical High School in 2004 was
named Teacher of the Year and two weeks later was bumped out of his job.

"That's an example of an excellent teacher whose only fault is that he
doesn't have enough seniority," Zurier said.

Bob Walsh of the National Education Association Rhode Island disagrees. "If
there's an issue with a particular teacher, there is a procedure for addressing
that. They seem to think that they are going to erect a wall around the way
things are," he said.

NEARI, which represents teachers in many districts across the state, said
it plans to fight the proposed change.

"The goal of any employment situation is to attract and retain
professionals and the idea of having someone get a lot of experience and
seniority and then suddenly be in danger of losing their job is problematic,
especially in a situation that is filled with politics," Walsh said.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:24 | Permalink | Comments

The U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on public education finances, which means I'll be spending most of my time over the next few weeks digging through source data in order to update my massive number of tables detailing the enrollment, per-pupil spending, and labor costs for more than 14,000 public school districts.

Should have some good stuff when I emerge, but I'll need a tan.

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 08:28 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Mike Antonucci at 07:49 | Permalink | Comments