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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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 Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 2:39 pm Post subject: |
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I still often spend 4 days a week in a classroom teaching kids. I have read endless claptrap about how charter schools and the profit system are the solution to our schools. But here is one blatant example of the profit motive at work:
| Quote: | In a vigorous defense, officials behind the California Virtual Academies fought back Monday, calling this newspaper's investigation into the embattled network of online charter schools 'wrong and insulting' and an attack against a model of school choice. But critics of K12 Inc., the Wall Street-traded company that runs the profitable but low-performing academies, called for greater oversight of its practices.
The newspaper's two-day series examined how K12 Inc., reaps tens of millions of dollars in state funding while graduating fewer than half of the students enrolled in its high schools.
In a letter sent to teachers Monday afternoon, the schools' academic administrator, April Warren, called the newspaper's investigative series "a gross mischaracterization of all of the work that you all do on a regular basis." But despite their broad condemnations, neither Warren nor other school officials alleged any specific factual inaccuracies in the series.
The investigation, published Sunday and Monday, also reported that teachers have been asked to inflate attendance and enrollment records used to determine taxpayer funding.
K12 says the schools operate independently and are locally controlled. But the newspaper's review of the academies' contracts, tax records and other financial information suggest the Virginia-based company calls the shots, operating the schools to make money by taking advantage of laws governing charters and nonprofit organizations. K12's heavily marketed model in California has helped the company collect more than $310 million in state funding over the past 12 years.
State Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, said the performance of any publicly financed school should be a matter of concern for taxpayers -- and lawmakers.
"Charter schools were created to give parents and students an alternative to how public schools were delivering instruction," Beall said Monday. "But it has never been the state's intent to permit online for-profit charter schools to fail students or gouge taxpayers. Students must not be viewed as cash cows."
However, the company, a top administrator for the online school network and the board of directors for one of the academies serving Bay Area students all released similarly worded statements Monday, blasting the newspaper's investigation.
Together, members of the California Virtual Academy at San Mateo's board of directors called allegations that they have "any other interest except for our children" and their families both "wrong and insulting."
The statement said the network of online schools has for years endured similar attacks on its track record from charter opponents and the California Teachers Association, which is attempting to unionize employees at the schools.
"Parents want choice in education," the statement said. "Students deserve options because one size does not fit all. We love our school."
The board insisted in its statement that each of the K12-partner schools are "governed independently by their nonprofit school boards made up of California residents including parents, educators, and local community leaders."
The newspaper's investigation revealed that two of the four board members at the San Mateo County school -- board president Don Burbulys and member Stephen Warren -- are related to top academy administrators who are hand-picked by K12.
Burbulys, who is married to Dean of Students Laura Terrazas, lives in Soquel in Santa Cruz County, and Warren, who is the brother-in-law of April Warren, lives in Riverside County.
Defending her brother-in-law's oversight of her work, April Warren wrote in her letter to teachers that "relatives are permitted to serve on a California nonprofit board" and that "several school districts have people who sit on their boards that are either parents, employees or are related to employees of the district that they serve."
The California Charter Schools Association and California Teachers Association on Monday said the Legislature should take a hard look at whether for-profit companies like K12 should be operating schools in California and whether the state can do more to ensure charter schools are overseen properly.
"When taxpayer money is used to fund education, those dollars should go to help kids," said California Teachers Association President Eric Heins. "In this case, we have no idea how the company is spending our tax dollars and it's not right. This is pretty basic stuff."
Online charter schools only work with a fraction of the kids enrolled in California's roughly 1,200 charters, but that doesn't mean they should be held to a lower standard of accountability, said Emily Bertelli, a spokeswoman for the California Charter Schools Association, which publicly called for the closure of a K12-run school in 2011 only to see the school reopened with a new name under the same authorizer.
Former Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman said in an interview Monday that none of the newspaper's findings surprised him. He said he'd seen many of the same issues unfold in his state, where he tried, and failed to shut down K12's Tennessee Virtual Academy because of poor performance.
"This company's efforts to grow bear no relationship whatsoever to the quality of their results in California and across the country," Huffman said.
"You would hope that an online virtual school -- especially one run by a for-profit company -- would only have the opportunity to grow with really high-quality results," Huffman said. "K12 isn't coming close to meeting a high bar in terms of quality."
One Redwood City parent who contacted this newspaper, saying the investigative series "hit close to home," said his son, who is now a sophomore in college, took K12's advanced courses, earned A's and B's and finished at the top of his class when he was a student at one of the company-run California schools. But when his son applied to a local community college, he was stunned to learn he had to take remedial math and English courses because he was so far behind.
Other parents, however, contacted the newspaper to defend the schools, saying the online learning model was vital to their sons' and daughters' academic success.
Maureen Behlen said her son thrived in K12's school because she "put everything into it," spending several hours a day teaching him and guiding him through his coursework. She said an online school isn't the right fit for families who can't devote as much time to the program as she did.
"Would you send a bunch of kids into a classroom with no teachers? Of course not," said Behlen, who lives in the foothills in East San Jose. "There has to be an adult responsible for overseeing what they're learning, and if there isn't, you're setting them up to fail."
Author: Jessica Calefati |
I don't think it is entirely coincidental that the for-profit company is based in Virginia. Many of those from Virginia who espouse quasi-libertarian talking points make money through government contracts or leases. Virginia has the highest per capita percentage of defense spending among the states, and is home to much of the security state contracting. Hypocrisy is easy when the Republican media provide you with new talking points every day. |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 3:56 pm Post subject: |
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Fresh from their hard work blocking language that would prohibit discrimination against gays, the GOP is hard at work trying to reduce school lunches for children.
| Quote: | A chaotic scene unfolded on the floor of the U.S. House on Thursday as a measure to ensure federal contractors can’t discriminate against LGBT people was defeated by a single vote.
It initially appeared that the measure — an amendment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies bill that would’ve narrowed a “religious liberty” provision allowing federal contractors to discriminate against LGBT employees — had enough support to pass. But Republican leaders persuaded a handful of members to switch from yay to nay, which resulted in the LGBT protection ultimately being defeated by a single vote. |
| Quote: | Rep. Barbara LeeEast Bay Times guest commentary
POSTED: 05/30/2016 10:00:00 AM PDT
This month, congressional Republicans will once again try to take food out of the mouths of hungry kids.
All across the country, low-income children rely on their neighborhood schools for healthy and filling meals. In urban, suburban and rural communities, schools are on the front lines ensuring students get enough to eat.
Six years ago, we expanded school meals to millions of low-income children by ending burdensome reporting requirements. Now, this program is at risk from House Republicans who care more about the bottom line than the health of American children.
Under the guise of reauthorizing the child nutrition program, House Republicans are endangering access to free school meals for more than 3.4 million schoolchildren.
As a young, single mother, food stamps were a bridge over troubled water. I don't know what I would have done had my children not had school lunches.
Today, my children and I have to thank my government for that helping hand in our time of need. |
Of course, this is the conservative view of "successful" education reform using market forces:
| Quote: | In a 10-month investigation, the I-News Network and Education News Colorado, examined the burgeoning business on online K-12 schools in Colorado. The findings:
Colorado taxpayers will spend $100 million this year on online schools that are largely failing their elementary and high school students, state education records and interviews with school officials show.
The money includes millions in tax dollars that are going to K-12 online schools for students who are no longer there.
The result: While online students fall further behind academically – their counterparts in the state’s traditional public schools are suffering, too, because those schools must absorb former online students, while the virtual schools and their parent companies get to keep the state funding.
Take the experience of high school senior Laura Johnson.
In the tiny Florence School District outside Pueblo, Johnson was one of 39 students who left Florence High School last year to sign up for online classes with GOAL Academy, one of the largest online charter schools in Colorado.
By January, she was back at Florence, disillusioned by the online experience and trying to make up for her lost time in class. She was joined by a dozen of her former online classmates.
Those 39 students who left Florence High School for GOAL represented one of every 10 students in the school. When they left, so did nearly a quarter million dollars in state funding – the equivalent of four to five teachers’ salaries. When a dozen of the students returned to Florence High mid-year, the funding to educate them did not come with them. GOAL got to keep it. |
Tea Party thinking--put amateurs in charge of everything. Soon everyone will be stupid and poorly governed. |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 6:53 pm Post subject: |
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mac, even though you didn't start this thread, you sure have adopted it as your home base, much like your tag team partner, real-whatever with his media is not liberal thread.
Anyway a bit of balance for you here.
This shock poll shows just how out of touch the dems are with their girl Hillary and the rule of law, or just rules, if that makes it easier to comprehend.
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Among Democratic voters, 71% believe Clinton should keep running even if indicted, a view shared by only 30% of Republicans and 46% of voters not affiliated with either major party.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/may_2016/50_say_clinton_should_keep_running_even_if_indicted
I wouldn't even be surprised if those numbers didn't change if she picked Rahm Emanuel or Anthony Weiner as a running mate.
And the republicans are supposed to be the root of all evil, LOL!!!!!!! |
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mac
Joined: 07 Mar 1999
Posts: 17747
Location: Berkeley, California
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 8:18 pm Post subject: ro |
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| Another diversion. Mrgybe would be proud of you. You forgot to tell us all how proud you are that the GOP is guaranteeing government contractors the right to discriminate --with our money, cut funding for poor kids school lunches, and get money into the hands of "entrepeneurs" that don't actually teach much. |
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nw30
Joined: 21 Dec 2008
Posts: 6485
Location: The eye of the universe, Cen. Cal. coast
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| Posted: Tue May 31, 2016 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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No, that's your job, why would I want to take any joy away from you?
This is your go-to thread!
BTW you used a diversion, in your attempt to claim a diversion, but I'll let that slide. You have no debate going on here, you've been posting to yourself. |
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isobars
Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| nw30 wrote: | | You have no debate going on here, you've been posting to yourself. |
That explains why I've been seeing from zero to 1 or 2 posts per page lately in the political forum, compared to 6 or 8 in an actual windsurfing thread.
Ahhhhhh, blessed relief. |
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techno900
Joined: 28 Mar 2001
Posts: 4161
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 8:59 am Post subject: |
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mac said: | Quote: | | Of course, this is the conservative view of "successful" education reform using market forces: |
See above for the story he posted.
From the same story that Mac posted: | Quote: | Of 10,500 students in the largest online programs in fall 2008, more than half – or 5,600 – left their virtual schools by the fall of 2009. They were more than replaced by 7,400 new recruits by that fall. That new group also experienced high turnover, with more than a third of the students leaving by the end of that school year, the analysis showed. By October 2010, only about a quarter of the students remained in their same online program after two years.
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I wonder if this FIVE YEAR OLD story with 6 year old statistics is relevant today? |
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real-human
Joined: 02 Jul 2011
Posts: 14879
Location: on earth
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| Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| isobars wrote: | | nw30 wrote: | | You have no debate going on here, you've been posting to yourself. |
That explains why I've been seeing from zero to 1 or 2 posts per page lately in the political forum, compared to 6 or 8 in an actual windsurfing thread.
Ahhhhhh, blessed relief. |
Nope because we beat the piss out of the lies of the right and point out how racist and hateful the right wing is. And as their role model The Donald.
It must suck to be a republican and have him as the torchbearer when Basically he can not go to any country in the world and be safe. That even before he is elected he has the hate of the world setting records like bush had when he left.
Again if a Pope died and The donald attended and if he was shown on the camera just like the joke Bush made america The crowd would boo trump like they did Bush. What a disgrace to the Presidency and America to be booed by the people attending a Popes funeral.
And that is the core of the right wing, hate as we have said and racism. You best qualities before we get to the other ones.
again just think about it how the media never went after this embarrassment and what it really means to be booed at a Popes funeral by the people attending a funeral. and the media never brought this to me huge telling moment of the worlds disgust with the american right wing.
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when good people stay silent the right wing are the only ones heard. |
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real-human
Joined: 02 Jul 2011
Posts: 14879
Location: on earth
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| Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2016 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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this is the huge turning point under Bush... up to that point the two main things that have changed is primarily republican presidents, and the end of the domination of congress by the dems.
http://www.asicentral.com/news/web-exclusive/june-2016/is-falling-entrepreneurship-hurting-the-promo-market/
| Quote: | | American entrepreneurship has dramatically fallen over the last 40 years. The once-mammoth gap between new and closing businesses disappeared completely by the recession of 2008. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s findings four years ago, the United States was in the red by 70,000 businesses. |
_________________
when good people stay silent the right wing are the only ones heard. |
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