Showing posts with label
Alabama State School Board of Education.
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Showing posts with label
Alabama State School Board of Education.
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And it has nothing to do with improving educational achievement, it's all about the Benjamin's. Strike that. It's all about the AlaGop getting their greedy fingers on the public Benjamin's.
The charter school concept may soon come to Alabama. Gov. Robert Bentley intends to push for charter schools in the 2012 legislative session. Jennifer Ardis, Bentley's press secretary, said the governor wants to try charter schools on a small scale in Alabama.
The Legislature has shot down charter school ideas in the past, but with a new Republican majority, the idea may pass this time. The success of any charter schools Alabama gets may be dependent on how well the Legislature crafts a law allowing charter schools to operate here. Recent studies have shown that how states set up the enabling legislation for their charter schools can have a big impact on their success.
"My concern is that when the Legislature and the governor put in bills that they are very careful because I am completely opposed to charter schools run by non-citizens or private chains," said Betty Peters, a state school board member. "I believe that charter schools are supposed to be public schools, and if schools are going to be run with public money, we should be very careful."
You're darn Skippy we should be very careful, or Alabama will end up like Florida where the Charter School Industry is running amok with taxpayer money.
These days, it is the burgeoning charter school industry that is reeling in taxpayer dollars. As two Miami Herald reporters discovered, the charter school industry in Florida, which has been given the political stamp of approval of a thoroughly conservative state legislature and a series of conservative governors, allows charters to "play by their own rules."
According to an investigative report by The Miami Herald's Scott Hiaasen and Kathleen McGrory, the managers of charter schools in Florida, a project championed by former Governor Jeb Bush, are running amok.
As billions in taxpayer dollars have been shifted from traditional school districts to independently run charter schools, the charter school industry has become "one of the region's fastest-growing industries, backed by real-estate developers and promoted by politicians."
It's not about the children, it's about the bottom line.
While there are arguments to be had over the efficacy of charter schools, there is no disputing the facts presented by The Miami Herald's reporters that, in part due to a lack of oversight and accountability, Florida's charter schools have become a veritable gold mine for a number of corporations.
Now we know why the AlaGOP is pushing for Charter Schools.
But charter schools have also resulted in a "freewheeling system" with minimal oversight that "has given rise to a cottage industry of professional charter school management companies that-along with the landlords and developers who own and build schools-control the lion's share of charter schools' money."
These management companies are reeling in taxpayer dollars in several ways: they receive "roughly $6,000 per student from the state" and they "also get some state funds for facilities and maintenance." In fact, "Most schools rent their facilities-in churches, shopping centers, or brand-new school buildings erected by real-estate developers," and these properties are "exempt from property taxes."
According to Hiasson and McGrory, "Many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools, [and] .... At least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sit on land whose owners are tied to management companies, property records show."
Remember this mantra, Charter Schools are back door privatization of education.
Charter Schools are NOT a good thing in Alabama or any where else.
Just last Thursday Ron Sparks told the Madison County Democratic Women, "I am against charter schools in Alabama. ... I will not start dividing our children and segregating our children in Alabama." Today a release from the Artur Davis campaign accused Sparks of flip-flopping on the issue, appearing with Newt Gingrich and Al Sharpton to highlight the Obama administration's education reform efforts and seeking to "help rally support for lifting restrictions on the growth of high-quality charter schools."
republicans/conservatives/right wingers don't have a problem taking them there federal tax dollars it comes to funding private, I mean charter schools, but they claim to not want government bailouts, I mean handouts.
Go figure.
Freedom Rider: Black America at the Bottom New U.S. Census data show “black Americans are at the absolute bottom of the economic heap in a county still teetering from the effects of a seemingly endless recession.” With the median household income at $50,000, African American households earn only $32,000 – $5,000 per year less than Latinos. Insanely, however, Black Americans are more optimistic about the economy than all other groups. Obama twists Black minds. “Most black people still love the president who looks like them but who goes out of his way to ignore them and their needs.”
People of color just can't seem to get a fair shake when it comes to jail sentences and clemency. They have to deal with disparities in arrest, jail sentencing, and now it seems in clemency too. A report just came out regarding Presidential Pardons, which have been majority whites.
Republicans Racialize Abortion Debate The Washington Post reports that Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks (who once argued that, because of high abortion rates in black communities, African Americans were better off under slavery) chaired a Tuesday House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on legislation he is introducing that would make it harder women to have abortions – especially black women.
Communities of Color Oppose Punitive School Reform
New research on communities of color and public school reform shows that African-American and Latino parents support much of the AFT’s agenda for improving schools. In particular, the parents and other caregivers surveyed want to fix public schools rather than close them down, to help teachers improve rather than weeding them out of the profession, and to provide rigorous college-prep courses for far more students.
Black Voters Told, 'Relax, Don't Vote'Those who are still confused about why Republicans spend so much energy making it harder for people to vote should pay some attention to a case that concluded this week in a courtroom in Baltimore. There, the campaign manager for 2010 Republican gubernatorial candidate, and former Maryland governor, Robert Ehrlich was tried and found guilty of election fraud based on an attempt to suppress the African-American vote by authorizing the use of misleading robocalls.Hmmm..that sounds familiar...Alabama Democratic Party officials are asking state and federal authorities to investigate and Republican leaders are condemning a Tuesday election day prank by a Huntsville radio commentator.
Conservative commentator Dale Jackson of WVNN in Huntsville read a phony news release on air and posted a copy to his Web site Tuesday morning, the Huntsville Times reported. The release made prominent use of the Alabama state seal. Different results.
How to tell if a white person is racist First, the definition. According to the Oxford Dictionary a racist is someone who believes: each race or ethnic group possesses specific characteristics, abilities, or qualities that distinguish it as inferior or superior to another such group.
Dr. Ethel Hall was a respected figure on the Alabama Board of Education.
I was saddened to hear of the death of Dr. Ethel Hall. She was was role model and someone who I admired for her accomplishments. I am appalled The Birmingham News Editorial Board used the death of Dr.Ethel Hall to score cheap political points and advance the right-wing agenda. It starts with the first line and goes downhill from there;
It's fine to remember Ethel Hall for her firsts.
She was the first black woman elected to the state Board of Education, the first person to serve a decade as that body's vice president.
But to think of Mrs. Hall only as a pioneer would be to miss the message of her life.
She did not spend 24 years on the state school board because she was the first black woman elected to that position. She continued to be elected to the school board because she spent 24 years putting students first.
Oh really? I wonder why The Birmingham News gets to decide what the message of her life was? Why are they trying to minimize and marginalize her accomplishment at being the longest-serving and first African American elected to the State School Board?
It gets worse, they couldn't refrain from bringing politics into their view of her life. Why mention her party affiliation?
Mrs. Hall died last week after a dignified, respected 83 years of life. In politics, she was a Democrat from Fairfield. But she is remembered fondly by Republicans and Democrats across the state. Her good humor, old-school grace and analytical mind crossed aisles and eras.
Here's the Grand Slam, emphasis mine
Of course, Mrs. Hall was human, and we would be remiss not to point out that her tenure on the school board was not without failure. She served on the board, like many others, as corrupt two-year college officials robbed the state blind. That she did not recognize it and trusted the wrong people would become one of her biggest regrets.
Here they go, advancing the republican corrupt two-year college officials robbed the state blind tired, talking points, but attributing them to Ethel Hall. Have they no shame?
NO
But Mrs. Hall is remembered for other things.
Former School Superintendent Ed Richardson used to say Mrs. Hall "never let issues of politics or race or personal agendas of others get in the way."
That alone would be a wonderful epitaph for any school leader.
Notice how the only quote about her life and tenure on the Alabama State School Board are from The Birmingham News Editorial Board and Dr. Ed Richardson? What about fellow Board members, church members, friends, relatives, civic and social organizations? What about Ethel Hall's view of her life in her own words?
“I carefully and consciously prepared for a challenging, demanding career in education because I believe learning is a lifelong process that impacts every individual. Each of my employment and volunteer experiences has been important in performing my tasks on the State Board of Education. My formal training helped me to understand that all children can learn if they are given the resources and opportunity, and my volunteer experiences have affirmed my belief in a greater need for advocacy for those who are least able to make the changes needed in our social system.”
Dr. Ethel Hall, from My Journey
My Journey: A Memoir of the First African American to Preside Over the Alabama State Board of Education
In this wise, introspective, and touching memoir, Dr. Ethel Hall recounts the little “journeys” throughout her life which prepared her to become the first African American woman elected to the Alabama State Board of Education. Her experiences with racial tension, discrimination, and poverty are interspersed with portraits of the family and love which transformed her from a farmer’s daughter—determined to achieve the higher education others thought to be impossible—to a dedicated mother and educator, and even further to a statewide political leader. Dr. Hall also provides a detailed account of the problems faced—both solved and unsolved—during her more than two decades of service to the Alabama State Board of Education. Despite the difficulties she faced, Dr. Hall’s stories are filled with faith and hope, leaving the reader with memorable anecdotes for their own hardships.
Also known as a dedicated community servant, Hall is a member of the board of directors of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the National Conference of Community and Justice, the Women’s Exchange, Birmingham Museum of Art, and the Alabama Archives and History Foundation. She has also held positions with the Education Commission of the States, the Governor’s Commission on Instructional Improvement and Academic Excellence, and the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. Hall is the recipient of more than 200 honors and awards including being named by the “Birmingham Business Journal” as one of the Top Ten Women Making a Difference and in 1999 was awarded the NASBE Distinguished Service Award by the National Association of State Boards of Education.
Hall was married to the late Alfred Hall for 55 years.
That alone would be a wonderful epitaph for any school leader.
'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I shall set you over much; enter the joy of your Lord.' Matthew 25;21
