Okay, taking a little bit of a break from the Charter School stuff other than to report that this was the decision made at last night’s meeting, denial of the Charter School by a 5-0 vote.
Even I am getting a little fatigued of all the Charter School talk and generally when I get obsessive about something I can talk about it forever. It’s been on my mind so much I even had a dream about it one night. Probably the best sign that I need a much needed mini vacation from Charter School talk, but first, I have to say that this is what I would have said had I gone to the meeting last night, if I had ended up speaking near to the end:
Good evening. Tonight, a lot of supporters of the charter school have asked you to be couragous and take a leadership role and vote for the charter school. However, I believe that it will take courage to vote against the charter school application. It would be easy for you to all take the attitude that the charter school, with its endless abilities to appeal to higher and higher bodies and the power of Prop 39 behind it to say, “It’s inevitable, so let’s just make sure we have a measure of control.”
Other supporters of the charter school have told you that the “system is broken” and that they need other options, they need “choice” for their children. When I look to the student representatives from Encinal and Alameda High that sit before you and the handful of Alameda and Encinal students that have spoken so eloquently on this subject, it is evident to me that it is not the system that is broken, but what is broken is some parents’ expectations of what the role of public schools should be. But if these parents truly think that the system is broken, instead of jumping ship and trying to find an alternative, they should take the passion that they have for their children’s education and participate actively in the children’s education and in their children’s classrooms.
This charter school application had its bite of the apple so to speak to present their best foot forward and they failed. They now want the school district to work with them to craft a proposal that would work, but it is not the responsibility or the role of the school district to do the job that the charter school applicants. And to expect it speaks to the nature of the sense of entitlement that pervades at ACLC.
Please be couragous and deny this charter school application.
Okay maybe I wouldn’t have said the stuff about the sense of entitlement, so anyway here is my attempt at some non-charter talk as a palate cleanser.
The Alameda Journal reported yesterday that the 9th annual chili cookoff is scheduled for January 26th at the O’ Club. Returning champions: Girls Inc, will be back to defend their chili making title, do you have the beans to challenge them? From the Journal:
…”Last year, they won both the judges’ competition and the people’s choice competition,” [Kendra Holloway] said.
But the girls will face stiff competition from the Alameda Fire Department, Hartman Insurance, the La Leche League and Terry Landetta, who bills herself as “Chili Wench.” There are still slots available for a few more teams.
…
All proceeds go to the Kiwanis’ many youth programs, including the Alameda Education Foundation’s Adopt-A-Classroom program, Alameda Family Services, the Alameda Free Library and the Kiwanis’ own Safety Town, which takes kindergartners by bus from throughout the city to Alameda Point, where they learn skills such as obeying stop signs, crossing the street safely and how to drop-and-roll if their clothes catch fire.
It also sponsors two Key Clubs — one at Alameda High and one at Encinal High — and the local Special Olympics. On Jan. 19 it will hold a Special Olympics bowling tournament at Alameda Bowl…
Tickets are $40 for adults and $25 for kids and you can buy tickets at www.alamedakiwanis.org/. Personally, I have been developing my own personal chili receipe over the past few years, I’m not sure if its competition quality just yet, but maybe I’ll shell out the $80 (one ticket for me, one for the Mr.) to see if it would hold up.
And, since chili is generally made primarily of beef, I thought I would share this story I found for Jack B. This one’s for you: Quest to make cattle fart like marsupials. From The Age, an Australian publication:
…Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.
While the usual image of greenhouse gas pollution is a billowing smokestack pushing out carbon dioxide, livestock passing wind contribute a surprisingly high percentage of total emissions in some countries…
Just think, if they can get it into pigs too you can start enjoying bacon with the rest of us.
“They now want the school district to work with them to craft a proposal that would work, but it is not the responsibility or the role of the school district to do the job that the charter school applicants. And to expect it speaks to the nature of the sense of entitlement that pervades at ACLC.”
Lauren, funny you might not have used this if you had spoken because it is the last line that popped when I read it.
I think somebody who wants so much from AUSD and it’s supporters should have some humility and in Paul Benz comments I saw very little.
Comment by Mark I — January 9, 2008 @ 8:50 am
Mark I, you could use the same argument that ACLC’s sense of entitlement is no greater than AUSD’s. AUSD has determined that they and only they are entitled to the entire bag of funding for public schools. Why isn’t it in the best interest of the community for both entities to work together for the good of the students and community. Where’s AUSD’s humility?
Comment by Jack Richard — January 9, 2008 @ 9:07 am
Jack,
Let me get this straight. AUSD should play nice and give up lots of the little dollars it has. They should keep all the students that cost all the extra dollars and/or the snobby school doesn’t want, stick to all the rules that the state says a district has to abide by and a charter doesn’t and help them run it since they are incapable of doing so. IF THAT IS WHAT YOU CALL SHARING, A PLAY-DATE WITH YOU MUST HAVE SUCKED!
Comment by Barbara M — January 9, 2008 @ 9:39 am
Lauren,
Exceptionally well-said. I couldn’t agree more that parents need to be more involved with their children’s educations REGARDLESS of whatever school they attend. Public,private,charter, or magnet schools are only good if there exists parental involvement at home.
Secondly, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, we’re heading into a national recession.(As I’ve mentioned before, this will be the first time in US history that housing crashed the economy) Due to a dramatic drop in collected taxes in the form of lowering RE values, California in particular is losing and will continue to lose billions of dollars in a system that already has serious financial shortfalls and deficits. This goes for schools as well. If the state and local governments have troubles keeping public schools operational, then I seriously doubt that there will be funds for alternative schools in the near future. Perhaps a shift in plans to work with what already exists would actually help eradicate even more financial shortfalls in the future, or until such a time when the economy is back on track.
If parents want to assure that their children receive the best optimum care, then these upcoming times will demand close and careful involvement between students and parents in and out of the classroom in order to maximize available resources. Times like these demand creative solutions and often lead to breakthroughs. When I was a kid during the recession-filled 80’s, our classes shared books with 2-3 kids each. That and the playground was built with donated lumber and parents on weekends.
Improve what already exists. Keep it simple. With a close community, that’s about the single most powerful tool at your disposal.
Comment by edvard — January 9, 2008 @ 11:03 am
Edvard, your best post yet. The economy is about to turn to deep doo doo. My crash hat is firmly on head. If you are shorting the NASDAQ, perhaps you will get your California home after all.
Lauren, thanks for the dedication,,, but the recent global warming attention has nothing to do w/ me being a vegg-head. Plenty of other, better reasons that I won’t go into right now. I’ll just have to settle for Facon.
Comment by Jack B. — January 9, 2008 @ 11:35 am
My bet’s these days are not in the U.S. I think anyone with investments these days needs to yes- keep a healthy portfolio that consists of mutual funds, a few big-wig internationally traded US companies like GE, and what is referred to as a BRIC fund: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In other words- keep a diversified mix of both US and international companies, but hedge your bets a tad on international perhaps a bit more so than in the past. The US Dollar is going to be valued even less once the Fed lowers rates again… which they will since Countrywide just reported their highest level of foreclosures ever and the California based KB homes also reported a $773 million dollar loss.
I have no crystal ball, but the likelihood of a recession, a deflated dollar, rising inflation, and the subsequent fallout it will create has me being somewhat cautious. ( Not investment advice)
Ultimately… I can’t deny that the thought of a recession makes me a tad giddy.Recessions make stocks more affordable and create investment opportunities while most panic. It also crashes housing prices. In other words, it cleans out the the rot and returns the economy back to an ultimately more healthy standard. The cost of housing in the US and particularly the East and West Coasts has dramatically and negatively affected the quality of life for millions of people. A recession would probably do a neat job of correcting that problem come time for things to turn positive again.
Comment by edvard — January 9, 2008 @ 11:48 am
no, edvard. SHORT the markets, or stay in cash. (I am not an investment advisor, but you gotta be whacked to go into ANY equities long right now, IMHO.) We’ve headed into a very nasty bear market.
To the point on this board,,,, tax revenues are goin’ down, and this will be very challenging for our schools, among other things.
Comment by Jack B. — January 9, 2008 @ 12:00 pm
Barbara # 3
So, in your analogy, AUSD is the duped partner in a blind date arranged by the State. AUSD wants to go Dutch, ACLC says okay but then insists that they dine at the Ritz in spite of the fact that their combined funds are barley enough for Weinersnitzal. During the ensuing spat, AUSD screams, “You extravagant, elite, snobby thing”, and stomps off. ACLC runs to parental State and cries “State, you arranged this date so make AUSD pay the fair share of the Ritz bill even if neither of us can afford it”. State says, “I don’t have any money. Go talk to uncle Tax, he’s rich and can’t we just all get along?”. Knowing full well we can’t. You’re right, this date sucks.
Comment by Jack Richard — January 9, 2008 @ 12:12 pm
…. but Uncle Tax is on hiatus,,, and Aunt Lendi is hording her cash,,, leaving ACLC to labor over the dishes.
Comment by Jack B. — January 9, 2008 @ 12:23 pm
Jack,
I said a play-date. You know the kind when you are 5 years old and you learn how to share your toys or your mother talks to you about
what is fair.
The state basically is going to make us approve one of these charters and if not NCLC or the new one, then one coming down the pike. The way the state wrote the system is so bias to help the charter with loop-holess and put another stone wall up for true public education.
Comment by Barbara M — January 9, 2008 @ 12:32 pm
Barbara Mooney is talkiing about parenting vs. the idea of instilling a sense of priveledge. I want what is best for my children and that includes having them feel a sense of responsibility to the common good.
In addition, the schools in AUSD are good! Really good! All middle and high schools in California were allowed to choose from State Board adopted texts. In the case of English Language Arts, there were two choices. For middle school there were four choices. So, why are people at Edison up in arms about getting into their school that has the same curriculum as Washington? I think Washington is a great school with some great teachers! I think Edison parents LOVE the community that they are a part of. I think ACLC parent LOVE the community that they are a part of. I think the Washington parents who I have heard speak are speaking as much about something that they are not feeling about their community as the need for better teachering.
They certainly have a right to want something else. But is it ok to hurt other children to help your child? If you don’t hurt other children, will your child be hurt?
Last night, an old white man in a business suit who used to be a partner in the infamous accounting firm, Arthur Anderson said something very close to this, “I have heard many people say that by approving this charter, a large number of other children will suffer. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices to serve the greater good.” After I looked to see if he had a bat phone to George Bush, I was became so very sad that this man who does not live in our community, came out to make such a statement. How do we define the greater good? Whose child is deserving of the greater good? Was his accouting firm practicing this theory when they went out of business?
If we put all the elemntary kids in one room, would the parents backing the charter be willing to look them all in the face and say, “We belive in this so much that we are willing to risk the result of you loosing… and name the items that will likely be put on the chopping block.” Would they be willing to answer the questions that the children would want to ask? Would they be able to do this and feel good confident that the children would walk away saying that they understood and agreed?
This is not about adults. It is about children.Many, many small children.
Comment by sylvia Kahn — January 9, 2008 @ 1:11 pm
correction. All middle and elementary schools were given the choices. High Schools do not have to adopt from a state board approved list and have much more flexibility.
Comment by Sylvia Kahn — January 9, 2008 @ 1:12 pm
Here is the legislative history of CA charter schools:
http://www.lao.ca.gov/handouts/education/2006/Charter_School_Policy_080106.pdf
All legislation can be modified or repealed.
The same with NCLB.
Here’s my chili contribution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vCO7yeIMbE
Comment by Alameda NayTiff — January 9, 2008 @ 1:24 pm
Jack,
It depends on how old you are in terms of how you invest. I’m 30 years old. I’m not concerned about the market at all because of the last 100 years, the market has been up seven out of ten years. Is the market and the economy going down? Well, the indicators are there: Job reports are negative and consumer spending is down. Home sales are now nationally at levels not seen since WW2. California’s homes sales the worse since 1987. The Bay Area’s… much the same.
So indeed- a recession is on it’s merry way. But long term, investments, mutual funds, and so on are the single best way towards retirement. If you live in the US, then you’ll need at least a million dollars by the time you retire. If you live in CA… 2.5 million.
Simply put, the average person in the US is now in debt and most of that is attributed because a larger chunk of their incomes are going towards their mortgages. The supposed ‘healthy’ level for a family to pay on a mortgage is 3 times annual income. In CA, that number has actually been 5 times Annual income. The recent boom brought it to 10 times. That means the avg homeowner in CA is paying over 50% of their income for their homes. That versus the recommended 28%.
If such people do not invest in the market in one form or another, they will not be able to retire lest they sell and move elsewhere.
Bottom line, am I worried about a recession? Heck no. I have a friend who used to be in the investment biz and mentioned that he and his buddies used to do high-fives on ‘bad’ economic news.
Another thing to think about is that if you look at which companies are doing well right now: aka- Mcdonalds, Nike, Microsoft, GE, and so on, they are selling well in countries like China, India, and so on. That is the key here. There are opportunities, but not as much in the US. Financials, retail, and Real Estate are now dead. International companies are fine.
I’m not afraid to lose money because I intend to keep my investments long-term. Who cares about today when 30 years from now things will be entirely different? Just imagine if you’d invested in all those companies that went down the toilet in 2000? You’d be sitting pretty right now.Lastly, cash doesn’t protect you from inflation. You have to offset that inflation with investments.
Anyhow, don’t be afraid of bear markets. Embrace them and have fun!
(not investment advice)
Comment by edvard — January 9, 2008 @ 1:41 pm
>> Anyhow, don’t be afraid of bear markets. Embrace them and have fun!
Afraid??? I love a big bad bear market. What do you think I mean when I say “short” and “nasdaq” together in a sentence? (this is not investment advice, entertainment purposes only) hahahha…. but this isn’t the forum for this… seeya on the ticker.
Comment by Jack B. — January 9, 2008 @ 2:07 pm
Re # 11 tsk, tsk on the ist ist
The ‘old white man in a business suit’…you looked at to see if he was talking to George Bush on a bat phone’ (let’s see how many insults do we have here; racist, ageist, sexist, jobist, dressist, politicist and still counting). What’s the difference between you wanting to instill, ‘… a sense of responsibility to the common good’ and him saying, ’sometimes sacrifices must be made to serve the greater good”?
Insults aside, it’s no more than a difference in a point of view.
Comment by Jack Richard — January 9, 2008 @ 5:03 pm
#2 “Why isn’t it in the best interest of the community for both entities to work together for the good of the students and community. Where’s AUSD’s humility?”
It is in our best interest as Janet Gibson implored in her remarks before the vote, but this is not the way to do it.
I don’t expect the district administration to embrace any charter proposals. I would hope that if the innovative proponents of charters do care about the larger community that they might spend more time coalition building in the parent/student at large community before they launch a proposal in a huge state budget deficit year.
Instead I listened to a Nea principle complain that there will never be a better time than now because all of Paul Benz appeals to Ardella have been shunned, etc. Well, duh!
I was personally criticizing Paul Benz attitude because he professes to be doing this because of his great dedication to the cause of quality education, but he seems to willfully ignore the negative impacts of what he proposes on many many students. As Barbara Kahn noted in her remarks at the meeting, Mr. Benz basically said that the budget problems of AUSD are it’s own and it’s not his concern what his proposal does to us. He is not indicating to me that he cares about the basic education of all students. If we are supoposed to care about his elite fleet then it’s two way street. I find the attitude smug, and this in leadership of ACLC no less.
It’s not like AUSD is being selfish with it’s money since these charters are completely dependent on the public system to exist and function at all. If Nea succeeds in appealing it will be interesting to see how things function. I for one would be happy to see Encinal teachers stop teaching AP to ACLC and then see how great their program looks. I wonder if under state or county charter AUSD teachers can be forced to teach these kids.
Comment by Mark I — January 10, 2008 @ 9:15 am
By your statement you would have made, it is obvious that you have not tried to work with the schools to better you children’s education. We have tried many times and been stonewalled. Not enough monitors on the playgrounds, the principal rarely leaves her office, no advanced learning programs(the big one!), suspending 1st graders for acting their age, no teacher involvement during recess. Also, the money that would go to fund this charter school comes from a different fund and will just go to some other charter school. My son will either go to a charter school or a private school. AUSD had its chance and has failed.
Comment by robert — January 10, 2008 @ 10:37 am
Forgot to say that we were told directly by the principal that the school policy is not to allow parents to help in class or otherwise. They “would prefer” that we “were not involved”. How does that translate to getting more involved and helping? Charter or not, AUSD needs to be restructured.
Comment by robert — January 10, 2008 @ 10:42 am
Robert, can you please tell us which school you are at? thanks,,,
Comment by Jack B. — January 10, 2008 @ 11:18 am
Lum
Comment by robert — January 14, 2008 @ 10:24 am
Hi Robert, I’m at Lum too and — so far — we have been allowed to help out in the classroom… but I agree w/ your statements about he MIA principal and the recess problem.
Maybe it depends on the teacher?
Sometimes I think the good things about Lum are thanks to ghost of the previous principal and are slowly slipping.
Comment by Jack B. — January 14, 2008 @ 10:28 am