Students in last summer’s program, with signs depicting their goals.The nonprofit NELA Center for Student Success, 1500 N.E. Irving St., is hosting a free summer program open to rising high school seniors who could use help preparing for college applications and essays, and navigating financial aid documents. The group works with all students but especially first-generation and low-income high school students.
“Our aim is to help high school students become well-prepared college applicants so that they can focus on their studies and on having fun during their senior year,” says Ellie Brown, coordinator of the summer program. “It takes a lot of the stress out later if they already have essays, a portfolio and an understanding of what they’ll be looking at with their applications.”
The free program starts in July and registration is still open at www.centerforstudentsuccess.org. Or call 503-488-6000.
Follow me on and check out The O’s new Northeast Portland blog
Teacher Sophia Du Brul writes that it’s central office spending — all $1.6 billion a year of it — that is the real problem, not teacher salaries or school-level spending . She says that cutting just 40 percent of that spending, which makes up 43 percent of the CPS budget, would fix the $700 million budget hole. But is that right, and if so what programs would you cut that would be big enough to make a real difference?
Summer break just started, but local health officials say now’s the time to be thinking about getting ready for the next school year – specifically by making sure your children have the required physicals and immunizations.
Make appointments now at your pediatrician or family physician. But if that’s not an option, the Palm Beach County Health Department reports that it will be offering school physicals and wellness exams for $35 at its health centers.
This school year, incoming kindergarten students are required to have been given their last dose of polio vaccine and Diphtheria/Tetanus/Pertussis vaccine after their fourth birthday.
Seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders will need the tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis booster. All students should have received other vaccines like mumps, measles, rubella, hepatitis B, chicken pox and their Form 680 on file as proof of receipt.
The health department will be conducting immunization outreaches to help parents get their children’s shots and their records up to date.
July outreaches include:
Fri., July 1: The Soup Kitchen, 8645 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Tues., July 5: Lantana/Lake Worth Health Center, 1250 Southwinds Drive, Lantana, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m.
Wed., July 6: Guatemalan Maya Center,110 North F. St., Lake Worth, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thurs., July 7: Boys Girls Club, 221 W. 13th Street, Riviera Beach 12:30 p.m.-4 p.m.
Fri., July 8: Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist Church, 2727 Georgia Ave., WPB, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Sat., July 9: Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, 1220 Pioneer Rd, Mangonia Park, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Tues., July 12: Bridges at Boynton Beach @ St John Missionary Baptist Church 900 N. Seacrest Blvd., Boynton Beach, 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Wed., July 13: West Palm Beach Health Center 1150 45th St., WPB, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Thur., July 14: Victory Baptist Church, 4601 Forest Hill Blvd, WPB, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Charismatic Newark Mayor Cory Booker told the annual National Charter Schools Conference in Atlanta this morning, This room is full of modern-day freedom fighters who refuse to accept what is and demand every day what we know can be.
In fiery rhetoric suitable for a civil rights rally, Booker called for an end to an achievement gap that he described as wide as the Grand Canyon. He applauded an effort by charter schools to transform pitfalls into pools of potential.
This is not our childrens fault. It is our fault, Mayor Booker said. We must stop playing the blame game where we blame the parents or the teachers or the politicians or the community. This is what the charter movement is about. Democracy is not a spectator sport where you stand on the sidelines and give colorful commentary.
Charter school advocates do not let their fear grow bigger than their faith. They do not let their inability to do everything stop their determination to do something, he said to applause.
We are part of a charter school community under attack in every single state, Booker told the 4,000 attendees. We are part of a charter school community that is trying to show the nation that our children should be our focus, that we not have vilification of children in charter schools.
But Booker cautioned the advocates, If we become an establishment that defends charter schools just because they are a charter school, then we have failed as a movement. Our charter schools must be schools of accountability. Our charter schools must be schools of excellence.
Booker talked about the 13-year-old shot and killed in Newark over the weekend in an argument that the mayor says was over a girl. He bemoaned the high incidence of homicides among young black men and the school-to-prison pipeline.
We fought the greatest war on American soil for the liberation of our people yet we imprison more and more of our own in prisons of ignorance every single day.
from Maureen Downey, for the AJC Get Schooled blog
Multi-Cultural Academy Charter School, located in the Logan section of North Philadelphia, was named a “distinguished school” this year and the school says that 100 percent of its graduating classes have been admitted to college for the past 11 years. Opening in 1998, the school touts strict discipline, small classes, and academic rigor. Founding CEO Vuong Thuy cited “collective decision-making” as one element of the school’s success.
But MACS teachers thought otherwise. Frustrated with Thuy’s refusal to respond to staff grievances, they voted last month by a two to one margin to join the Alliance of Charter School Employees (ACSE).
The main impetus for turning to the union was Thuy’s behavior, according to MACS teachers who spoke with the Notebook.
“One man silenced the whole staff… neglected and shut out parents and the community”, first year social studies teacher Aaron Pagoda explained. “That made it easy to organize… he kept fueling our fire the entire way.”
During the 2009-10 school year there were the first rumblings of a union drive when staff complained about the school’s lack of a security guard. When Thuy ignored them, the concern was raised with the school’s board. According to 2nd year social studies teacher Kimberly Kennedy, the board, while directing that a security guard be hired, said “staff had no business bringing the issue to the board…The only place we could go was Dr. Thuy.”
But it was last school year that teachers really came together. Health insurance was one of the issues. In violation of charter school law the school denied married teachers health insurance, requiring them to sign a waiver. The school was forced to change this policy when teachers made clear they would challenge its legality.
Another issue was the employee handbook Frank Mannino, a veteran teacher who played a leading role in the union drive explained:
“We heard about the existence of an employee handbook, but no one had a copy. When we asked for one, we were told it couldn’t be made available because it ‘could fall into the wrong hands.’ When teachers asked how could they be held accountable for following policies they didn’t know about, every teacher was told to come to the office, read the policy, and sign a statement that they had read it.”
Deteriorating sanitation was also an issue. Trash went uncollected over the summer months, the school was infested with rodents, and at one point sewage backed up into the lunchroom. When Mannino called the health department, inspectors told him “if this was a restaurant we’d close it down.”
While money for sanitation was scarce, unknown to the staff at the time, the school was spending huge amounts on the legal expenses of Thuy, the target of multiple federal and state investigations.
The school spent $222,000 in one year on Thuy’s legal defense. He is also paid $206,000 in salary and collects an additional $69,000 from the Indo-Chinese Council (IAC) ,which he founded. The IAC also owns the school building which it leases to the school for $500,000 a year. The IAC paid the School District $1 million dollars for the aging building that once housed a parochial school.
Parents wage a parallel struggle
As the staff launched the union, parents began to organize as well, driven by many of the same concerns. At a board meeting with upwards of 70 parents and staff, the extensive misuse of school funds came to light. The board, largely recruited by Thuy, was forced to take action. Thuy was suspended and this month his relationship with the school was severed.
Parents, while not taking an overt position for the union, expressed support for concerns raised by the teachers. “I’m not sure without the parents involved we could have gone as far as we did,” Kennedy said.
Math and science teacher Rob McMillan added that another major factor in the union drive’s success was the growth of a community of dedicated teachers. “The school used to have a staff turnover rate of 50 percent. This year all but two teachers returned.” The high turnover rate “kept people weak, separated, and divided,” Kennedy added.
Thuy dismissed concerns from staff that the turnover hurt students. Mannino put it this way, “Education is a relationship business, students want to know their teachers, but he just saw it as another warm body…everybody is replaceable.”
While 90 percent of staff signed union cards, the election was closer with a little more than two thirds voting for the union. An appeal by the new and widely respected headmaster James Higgins arguing that the union would undercut the school’s mission had some impact.
But the leaders of the union drive remain dedicated to their school and its mission.
Even with all the problems over the last year, the teachers remain proud of the school’s achievements. “It’s been a pleasure to teach here,” Pagoda says, “an ideal first year teaching job.” With a fresh start, these teachers believe the school will be even better.
With the board reorganizing under the watchful eyes of parents, the teachers hope they can negotiate a fair contract. “Nobody here is looking for a new Cadillac,” Kennedy said. “We just want what is fair and equitable.”
While a contract survey has yet to be completed, due process is at the head of the list “because we never had it before,” Mannino said.
Headmaster James Higgins did not respond to a request for comment.
Students in last summer’s program, with signs depicting their goals.The nonprofit NELA Center for Student Success, 1500 N.E. Irving St., is hosting a free summer program open to rising high school seniors who could use help preparing for college applications and essays, and navigating financial aid documents. The group works with all students but especially first-generation and low-income high school students.
Teacher Sophia Du Brul writes that it’s central office spending — all $1.6 billion a year of it — that is the real problem, not teacher salaries or school-level spending . She says that cutting just 40 percent of that spending, which makes up 43 percent of the CPS budget, would fix the $700 million budget hole. But is that right, and if so what programs would you cut that would be big enough to make a real difference?