Monthly Archives: January 2011

“Parent-trigger regs delayed – for good reason”

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Parent-trigger regs delayed – for good reason is the title of a blog post by John Fensterwald explaining that the California State Board of Education has delayed approval of regulations governing the parent trigger law.

It has a lot of good information and analysis, apart from a few comments I could have done without about teachers who have concerns about the law being “self-interested adults.”

Parent Trigger Advocate Removed From CA State Board Of Education

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Yesterday, newly-elected Governor Jerry Brown made major changes to the California State Board of Education, including removing Ben Austin, the primary advocate of the parent trigger law. You can read all about it at a post by John Fensterwald. Here’s an excerpt on Mr. Austin’s removal (I wonder if some “school reform” advocates will ever learn that self-righteousness does not help their cause?):

Sure enough, Ben Austin, the number one target for ouster by the Ed Coalition, did not go silently. “Unfortunately, in the Governor’s first full day in office, he chose to stand with the state’s most powerful interest group that spent millions to elect him, rather than the parents and children of California,” he said, referring to the state’s two teachers unions, in a statement Wednesday.

Austin is executive director of Parent Revolution, a nonprofit group that has been pushing the “parent trigger,” a mechanism adopted by the Legislature last year that permits a majority of parents at a school to demand a takeover by a charter school or other dramatic reforms. Knowing that Brown could replace most of them, the Board had hurried the parent trigger regulations along. I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Board takes a longer look and puts off their adoption next week.

“How Duncan Stayed Out Of “Trigger” Debate”

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Well, it appears that one of my predictions for the new year might be true — the Obama Administration is trying to reconcile a bit with teachers.

Read Alexander Russo’s short post about how Ed Secretary Duncan has managed to stay out of the debate on the “parent trigger”…..after opposing teachers in so many other issues — firings in Rhode Island, making public teacher evaluations based on test scores.

“How to better involve Latinos in education”

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How to better involve Latinos in education is an op-ed piece in the Dallas Morning News by a school administrator.

There’s nothing particularly new in it, but it does provide a good message. Here is how it ends:

So what is our challenge as educators? Embrace and understand parents’ cultural differences, needs and backgrounds, continue to be creative and innovative, create a climate of respect and understanding, eliminate the barriers that keep parents from becoming engaged, and, most importantly, listen to parent concerns as you build strategies for academic excellence and student achievement.

What In The World Are They Doing In Newark?

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Remember that $1 million they were spending in Newark to pay canvassers to find out from residents what they thought should happen in schools? The effort that I questioned in previous posts as a big waste of time since no long-standing relationships were being built between schools and parents during the process.

Don’t worry about it. As the Newark newspaper reports, “The effort has produced a mountain of survey answers so vague and simplistic that they are of little or no use” which is okay because it was just “meant to generate excitement in the city.”

California Parents Organize

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The Sacramento Bee published an article today about two Northern California parents groups merging — Parents Band Together To Support Public Schools. The two groups — one in the San Francisco area and the other in Sacramento — will be called Educate Our State.

I’m embarrassed to say that I’m really familiar with either one of them, but they appear to have good agendas and plans, and I respect a number of the organizations they list as allies. Let me know what, if anything, you know and think about the groups.