At Thursday’s School Board meeting, teachers from one of the district’s highly touted turnaround schools were abuzz. Seems half of their administrative team — three out of six administrators — will be, in the following weeks, making a premature exit from the “turnaround thing,” leaving for other venues next year. This is one of the schools constantly being promoted in the district’s “partner,” the Las Vegas Sun, as if it has gone, in one year, from a ghetto school to something resembling the elite Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass. This is also a school bragging that it has raised its attendance rate from 90 to 93 percent this year.

When asked about its attendance improvement, one teacher said the school has been “getting rid of the bad lemon students,” i.e. kids with poor attendance. This is what is known in the profession as cooking the books. Get rid of the recalcitrant students and attendance rates instantly go up. (more…)

In this week’s edition of CityLife, columnist Chip Mosher conducted an exit interview with former Review-Journal education reporter James Haug, let go from the paper a few weeks ago. They discussed the perils of education reform, media coverage of education and more. The transcript ran longer than we had room for in the paper. Here’s the rest:

Chip Mosher: Was writing about education in Las Vegas what you thought it was going to be?
James Haug: I don’t really remember having any expectations going in. I wanted to have an open mind.

Did the school district ever try to get you fired at the R-J?
I’m not sure if the word “fired” was actually used, but the district did try to make my life difficult, frequently calling my supervisors at the newspaper to complain about my stories. Also, the district limited my access to important sources and tried to kick me out of the press office at the school district.

Your thoughts on the R-J’s ongoing editorial policies toward public education?
As a libertarian paper, the R-J doesn’t believe that a publically funded school system is a legitimate use of taxpayer dollars. Everything proceeds from that premise.

In your experience, would you say the R-J’s ongoing anti-teacher, anti-union editorial stance is out of touch with reality regarding public education?
Nevada is a company-run store controlled by the casino industry. This is pretty evident during an election season, when candidates for public office, especially for governor, all agree on the state issues of substance. There is little more variance at the federal or local levels. The R-J cannot admit this truth despite it being glaringly obvious. So it must go out of its way to browbeat any opposition, such as the teachers’ union or any Democrat who might stray too far from the herd.

Do you have any parting words for school district lobbyist Joyce Haldeman, who, according to you, tried to strong-arm you into writing the district’s propaganda the district’s way?
In hindsight, it’s amusing and almost flattering to reflect on the ways the school district tried to manipulate reporters it did not like. Associate Superintendent Joyce Haldeman tried to kick me out of the press office, and even told me I should not be seen sitting next to certain people at school board meetings. Local board meetings are a farce of democracy, larded with award ceremonies and check presentations to delay the most relevant and substantive discussions until very late at night, after story deadlines have passed. District officials would call to complain to my bosses about my coverage, which usually helped more than hurt me. Not surprisingly, they leaked stories to reporters they liked. But these same officials would limit my access to sources and delay the release of critical information to me.

What are the difficulties to education writing? 
Education reporting is difficult because the stories are not obvious, like “man robs bank.” The stories are usually buried beneath the surface. The more facts you know, the more difficult stories become to write. Plus, you must constantly contend with this rush-to-war mentality, this incessant hype that the children are not learning, which is then used to rationalize the most drastic and unpopular policies. If you’re not on board with the latest education fad, you’re letting the children down and standing in the way of “reform.” It’s disappointing that most media, especially the majority of our esteemed local columnists, seem to buy into this hysteria. And the climate becomes even more hysterical during legislative sessions, when there’s an unchallenged assumption that public schools are failing miserably. The reality, of course, is much more complex and nuanced. One reason Nevada often ranks near the bottom in education nationally has nothing to do with the performance of professional educators. A big drag on these rankings is that so few parents here are college-educated. And their children have a lesser likelihood of going on to higher education.

Is there a mania for data at any cost?
Yes, in this age of data, editors, politicians and the business community have become very fond of statistics to prop up their often ill-founded assertions. But you know what Mark Twain said about all this hype: “There’re lies, damned lies and statistics.” It’s all about how you manipulate the data.

What are your views on the Clark County School District?
I’m amazed by the students, teachers, staff and principals who succeed under such trying circumstances. This school district is like an ocean freighter with some crazies at helm, but somehow the boat still finds its way to port without causing too much damage to itself or others.

Your thoughts on the politics of education in Nevada?
It goes back to the company-run store mentality of Nevada and the need to find scapegoats to ignore obvious truths. To blame teachers is sort of like blaming the soldiers in field for the faults of the generals. I got that from education writer Diane Ravitch. And she’s correct.

What about business people – such as Jim Rogers, the late Terrence Lanni, Elaine Wynn and Maureen Peckman — trying to dominate policy in our schools?
I went to a meeting of educational policy makers at the Wynn Casino, of all places. I thought I was back in the court of Louis XIV at Versailles by the way everybody was fawning to please Elaine Wynn.

The bottom line on your experience at the R-J?
I’m mostly grateful for the opportunity. I’ll miss my colleagues and friends there.

Your final take on Las Vegas?
I will never forget the crying woman I once saw at the airport who lost a lot of money from gambling. Her money stayed in Vegas while she had to leave. Gambling is a really nasty business.

You glad to be out of here?
I’ll miss being close to L.A. and southern Utah.

Anything else about which you’d like to comment?
Nah. I could go on, but I want to avoid any self-pity and slamming the R-J.

We sent CityLife’s education columnist to check out the Cameron Diaz film Bad Teacher. His perspective:

Recently one teacher, who did not want his name used here, walking out of the Century 18 Cinemas at Sam’s Town after seeing Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher, said: “That movie was about a horrible teacher fucking over a good teacher and, in the end, getting promoted to administration. Sounds like a typical fumb-ducking day in the life of the Clark County School District.”

As a comedy, Bad Teacher ranks a little less than half-funny by most measurable scales – one-third of a thumb up; one star out of four; three-quarters of a tomato and so forth. But as social commentary, other than Justin Timberlake’s over-the-top dry humping scene, some serious cinematic points are scored on both sides of the currently raging public-education reform debate.

First, Cameron Diaz’s character, Elizabeth Halsey, really is a bad teacher. She smokes weed, does pills and drinks whiskey on the job — that is, when she’s not falling asleep in the classroom after plugging in horror movies for her students to watch all day. Her “across-the-hall-mate” — the anally retentive perfect educator, Amy Squirrel (actress Lucy Punch) — provides the main conflict of the story. Both women are hot for the same well-to-do, new substitute teacher, Scott Delacorte (Justin Timberlake). Halsey/Diaz feels all she needs to do to capture Delacorte’s heart and bank account is get a $9,000 boob job, which is difficult to negotiate on a teacher’s salary.

With a “new boobs (money) jar” at home, Halsey/Diaz approaches the mano-a-mano — or, gata-a-gata (catfight) — over the dweeb Delacorte/Timberlake with all the intensity of a psychopath on meth. She steals from the student car-wash fundraiser; bribes parents for their kids’ good grades; cheats on the state’s standardized test to win $5,000 in merit pay; and, finally, she rubs poison ivy all over a delicious apple for her adversary, Squirrel/Punch — in order to bed Delacorte/Timberlake for, yes, that overly extended dry humping scene. All the while, there is a goofball gym teacher, Russell Geddes (actor Jason Segal), waiting in the wings for Halsey/Diaz’s hot Hollywood bod.

The plot devolves too soon into two love triangles: two women after one man and, in the end, two men after one woman. With boob jokes galore. All to the movie’s detriment.

In the process, sadly, the children in the film have been relegated to mere props rather than characters commenting on the state of education in America. One funny gimmick, though, is the quick cuts back and forth between the “bad” and “excellent” teachers’ classrooms, the camera panning on students’ bored, dumbstruck gazes in both cases. This hilariously captures the fallacy of the education-reform movement’s excessive emphasis on “student critical thinking” in our schools. Most junior-high kids are not supposed to be miniature testatrons ready for Harvard just yet. Nor should they act like it.

So, when Halsey/Diaz finally decides to wake up and aggressively teach her classes in order to compete for the hefty individual merit-pay bonus, her students don’t learn any more than when she was sleeping and showing videos. The rejuvenated Halsey/Diaz angrily corrects mistakes on their essays with these comments: “Stupid,” “Stupider” and “Are you fucking kidding me?” It’s a scene most teachers who’ve spent late nights grading stacks of papers can relate to.

Desperate to boost her students’ knowledge, she takes them to the gym and bounces dodge balls off their heads every time they respond with incorrect answers. But that, much like the often cruel No Child Left Behind reform mandate of the past decade, doesn’t work either. In the end, through her sexy and wily ways, Halsey/Diaz gets a copy of the state proficiency exam before testing day and gives her students the answers, thereby winning the merit-pay bonus.

And, thus, perhaps life in public education today imitates cinematic art.

Pro-corporate-based school reformers — such as gadfly Michelle Rhee, education policy advisor to Gov. Brian Sandoval — would say this movie demonstrates that, through union protections, bad teachers like Halsey/Diaz can flourish in our nation’s education system, and that such a failed system is, in reality, anti-student and needs to be corrected.

Pro-teacher advocates would argue that the No Child Left Behind reforms based on merit pay and testing, as fairly accurately portrayed in this film, have pit teacher against teacher, school against school and, ultimately, led to cheating and gaming the system.

Interesting to note, Rhee, the former three-year teacher from Baltimore, former three-year Washington, D.C., school chancellor, actually, by her own admission, taped her elementary students’ mouths shut, sometimes until their lips bled, in order to get them to perform better. Not quite the same as dodge ball, yet there are no records of the miraculous gains in reading-test scores claimed by Rhee the teacher. And as chancellor, Rhee quit on the kids of Washington, D.C., after only three full years in charge. Contradicting her self-proclaimed great success in D.C., USA Today has reported serious allegations of a widespread cheating scandal during her brief tenure there. Perhaps pro-teacher advocates might point out that the truculent Rhee is Bad Teacher’s self-serving Halsey/Diaz in the flesh, and that Rhee’s reforms, based on erroneous data and moral chicanery, are the stuff that is truly anti-student in public education.

Indeed, had Bad Teacher striven more for institutional satire, as did the brilliant film Office Space, rather than a pedestrian love-triangle plot centered on a boob job, it might’ve been intellectually riveting. That said, Diaz gives it her nastiest best, in a league with Mae West’s saucy teacher scenes from the classic My Little Chickadee. But Diaz’s effectively raunchy performance here deserves a more focused script.

The smartest thing about Bad Teacher is the title itself, capitalizing on the widespread phrase made popular by the slanted, education-reformist documentary Waiting for Superman, starring the ubiquitous Rhee. In fact, the phrase has so infiltrated the nation’s political landscape that a new witch-hunt has blossomed among us.

Are you now, or have you ever been, a bad teacher? Are you a bad teacher sympathizer?

Be careful, be very careful, how you answer these trick questions, though. Re-education camps are being built as we speak.

Racial tensions between the Klark Klannish School District and leaders from Las Vegas’ Westside community have been heating up all summer. But during a special board meeting held Wednesday morning, August 5, these tensions have started to rage out of control.

The issue, on the surface, is a simple one. The Westside has no public high school building in its community. Never has. And, if our school district with its racist past (and present, apparently) continues to have its way, the Westside will never have a public high school building in its community.

Issues aside, what was most interesting about this meeting was the way the school board patronized and talked down to citizens from the Westside. At one point in the three-hour meeting, Board President Terri Janison stopped the proceedings to chastise audience members.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you are going to be respectful,” she demanded on her ample microphone. “No more catcalls. I’m going to thank the children [in the audience] for behaving. I hope [the adults] can all follow their example.”

Seemingly Janison was absent on the one day black history might’ve been taught in her American history class in high school. You know, the lesson revealing that blacks were viewed by many white Americans, for almost 350 years, as intellectual and emotional children (inferiors) for whom slavery was a benevolent and kindly institution. Janison’s total lack of sensitivity toward these local citizens was like throwing an accelerant onto smoldering flames. It would have been little surprise (or little different) had she just called them “niggers” and told them to shut the fuck up. (more…)

The following is a longer version of the interview I conducted with the anonymous person (pseudonym Publius), or persons (The Committee For Transparency And Fiscal Ethics), behind mass anti-union mailings to teachers in the Clark County School District:

Chip Mosher: How long have you been in the district? In the union?

Anonymous Self-proclaimed Teacher And Union Member: I do not know that it is appropriate to answer how many years I have been employed in the CCSD, but I have been a member of the union from the start of my employment, and have been active in some sort of leadership for quite some time now.

CM: Are you still in the union? Why?

ASTAUM: Yes, I am still in the union– though I believe the Clark County Education Association, the teachers union, is completely inept and unwilling to take the steps necessary to protect the interests of teachers. I know that if I were to quit, I would lose any say in what the contract looks like. While I understand my voice may be a minority, and I may lose when it comes to speaking out against the contract when ratification comes before members who bother to show up, I still want to be able to cast a vote in that matter. For that reason, I retain my membership.

CM: What is wrong with the teachers’ union?

ASTAUM: I believe the union does not do what it is supposed to do: represent teachers. It is no longer a service organization. It’s become a social club. We need hawks out there representing teachers, not canaries. Leadership has failed, and we need real leadership, people who will fight and make it so nasty for building administrators to mess with union members that no teacher would refuse to join. We don’t have that now. There is a total disconnect between union officials and classroom teachers. What we have are leaders who (more…)

At the latest local school board meeting (July 9) police officers were all over the place and highly visible. Why? Because angry black folks were in the audience. But you would not have known these folks were angry until they got up to speak, which was about three hours after the meeting started. Why not? Because they sat quietly for hours, patiently waiting their turns at the microphone, as most people do at school board meetings. It’s kind of a First Amendment thing. But because of this black presence, the district had at least three plainclothes school police officers posted throughout the audience throughout the meeting — about as discreet as three turds on a virgin’s wedding cake; while half a dozen more, mostly uniformed, officers stood prominently in the corridors outside the boardroom.

The district was making a statement: We won’t be having any trouble from black folks. This show of force was so embarrassingly heavy-handed it would not have been surprising to see the building’s perimeter being patrolled by snarling German Shepherds, or firefighters posted out front with big hoses. Just in case one black folk decided to get a little, you know, too First Amendmentish.

At issue was the spending of the remainder of the 1998 $5 billion bond fund. Local Westside activists have been turning out at recent board meetings, some shaking fingers and raising voices, over the perceived slight of the school district stiffing them, following promises to build an elementary and a high school on the West Prep campus — which is currently housing students in 28 portables containing 56 classrooms. In 2006, the district spent $2.35 million to buy 4.85 acres of land near West Prep. In 2007, Associate Superintendent Edward Goldman said he envisioned “a small elementary and high school being built on the empty plot.” But going into the upcoming school year, there are still no plans for these two new schools. Activist Marzette Lewis said, “Little children in kindergarten there have to walk a city block and a half, in the heat, just to take a piss!”

In the meantime, however, the district recently voted to build three new schools in other less-needy areas, although growth throughout the valley has dipped significantly. Which was like throwing grease onto the flames of slow-burning anger rising on the Westside over the issue. And this ignited more activist finger-wagging and recriminations. The school district’s response? Get more police!

“When we see extra police when we come out here, well (that just means) I’ll be seeing you at (more) future meetings,” said Beatrice Turner to the board.

At one point School Board President Terri Jansion told Marzette Lewis that Lewis had “more information” about West Prep than the board did.

“(So) I’m gonna ask you to sit down, and you’re gonna listen!” Jansion ordered Lewis.

Huh?

Janison — with her right-wing, corporate-fawning political axe to grind — has rarely demonstrated good listening skills on the board in tense situations. Hence, she has become one reason for the awkward escalation of rhetoric in this debate. At this point in the meeting, things started heating up a bunch and I would love to quote them for you, dear reader, but — are you ready for this? — the district’s recording system conveniently broke down here. This part of the meeting has not been released to the public. And though I was personally there, furiously scribbling notes, I am pathologic when it comes to accuracy. Therefore, I like to double-check most quotes against the district’s usually immediately released DVD of the events. I was told by district officials it will be a week or two before a DVD of the meeting could be available — after someone at Vegas PBS returns from vacation to make copies from PBS’s (separate) taping of it. But I’ve decided it won’t be important for me to get a copy of that.

Why? Because by then, another board meeting will be held. Where black folks will attend. And fingers will be wagged. And the school police, for sheer intimidation, will be out in full force. Here, in the Mississippi of the West’s finest education system.

A Clark County educator tries to opt out of the teachers' union.

It’s an oddity. Local teachers can sign up for their faux union anytime during the year. But they can drop out only during a small window of time, July 1 through July 15. That’s when, ahem, most teachers are on vacation and out of town.

The teachers’ union is divided into three parts: National Education Association (the national chapter), Nevada State Education Association (the state chapter) and Clark County Education Association (the local chapter). Each chapter receives one-third of a teacher’s dues, currently about $720 per teacher per year in Las Vegas. The importance of this division is that it’s all about the flow of money — away from teachers, into the hands of greedy union executives, all the way up the ladder.

Yet none of these arms of the union has done squat for teachers in Las Vegas, one of the largest local chapters in the country. For the fourth time this decade, the teachers’ union has once again negotiated a zero percent (0 percent) cost-of-living increase for teachers here (2000, 2001, 2002 and, now, 2009). Plus, during this decade, there has been a continually bizarre exodus of teachers from the valley: 5,000 of every 10,000 new teachers flee every five years. Why? Because of ongoing mistreatment by brutal administrators. In other words, union failure.

Now, from several insiders, comes the report that the local union is trying to make it as difficult as possible for those wishing to drop out. One member reportedly went into union headquarters to resign and was asked to go to a back room to, according to her, be pressured with some “scary tactics.” (more…)

If you will click to read something with “school board” in the title, then you are probably a masochist of giantess proportions. Apparently you love agony-filled, autoerotic punishment in long, slow, mind-numbing doses. David Carradine had little on your sick, secretive ways. Nothing tweaks your deviant desires more than the six sinister sorority sisters and their one sadistic eunuch sitting as trustees on the local school board. And, groveling groupie that you are, you probably like your school board meetings like you loved the movie South Park– “Bigger! Longer! Uncut!” Well, stray no further, ye spawn of sadism, and let the scourging begin.

Following are the tortuous, titillating moments from the most recent regular school board meeting (June 25). Let the screaming begin:

1)  First, the agony of irony. This past spring the Clark County School Board attended a touchy-feely workshop conducted by an $84,000-a-year consultant to help the trustees work together more efficiently. The consultant’s main criticism, according to an article in the Review-Journal (April 4), was that these trustees dragged out meetings too long with unnecessary blathering about how much they loved and appreciated each other, rather than sticking to the pressing educational issues at hand. The result of this workshop: The next few board meetings progressed nicely in an uncharacteristically timely fashion, lasting only two to three hours at a pop. Sadly, however, the young, debonair male consultant slipped out of town with his 84-thou, and the exhibitionistic sorority sisters (with their one eunuch) have had no one left for whom to perform for adulation. Consequently, board members quickly reverted to their former chattering Chimpanzee model. And the latest meeting lasted five tedious hours. The guiltiest trustee was newcomer Linda Young– who seemingly feels compelled to expound upon everything she knows about everything in the universe all the time. And then some. So move aside, Stephen Hawking. And for you school board groupies who get off on the agony of such extended banality, welcome to your greatest erotic dream ever. A bigger, longer and uncut school board meeting.

2) The most revealing quote from this latest, longer board meeting came from Charlene Green, the deputy superintendent for support services. (more…)

The following is the correspondence between local teacher and union member Brad Jacot and union officials attempting to intimidate him — to keep him from expressing his opinions, in an appropriate forum, about matters of gravity concerning teachers. All correspondence was reportedly sent on the Clark County School District’s internal e-mail system, InterAct. For further explanation, read the Socrates In Sodom column, “Teacher union boobitude,” in this week’s issue of CityLife.

—–

Dear NEA Representative Assembly Delegate:

My name is Brad Jacot, and I am a teacher at Southeast Career Technical Academy.  I am writing to tell you that as a teacher in the Clark County School District, I want you to vote “YES” on NEA Bylaws Amendments 1 and 2.  I do not want the NEA to be involved at all in the issues of abortion and family planning (Bylaws Amendment #1).  We are a diverse family of educators, and each of us has a different experience, viewpoint, and background when it comes to abortion and family planning.  I simply do not want any of my dues dollars being used for anything related to that topic.  Stay away from the question altogether.

On the matter of endorsing a candidate for President of the Untied States, I think that EVERY name of the candidates for President of the United States should be present on the ballot. Only Fascist dictatorships and communist oppression have a single name to choose from when voting on whom to elect or endorse.  We are not Cuba, we are not communist China, and we need to reflect the fact that we are all educated, informed adults.  Let us choose from a list of candidates please, even if they have not followed the NEA guidelines.  More freedom, not less!  Vote “YES” on Bylaws Amendment #2!

Respectfully Yours,
Brad J. Jacot
Southeast Area Technical Academy

***

Hi Bradley,

My name is Vikki Courtney. I am the CCEA Government Relations Co-chair. I received your email regarding the bylaw ammendments (sic). I am sure you are aware that the Interact Acceptable Use Policy states that Interact is not to be used for political activities. I do not want to see anyone disciplined for such things. You might want to unsend your mesage (sic).

–Vikki (Clark County Education Association Government Relations co-chair)

***

Vikki,

I am forwarding your response to my building members.  Don’t ever attempt a veiled threat with me again. It is neither professional nor appropriate, and you should know better.

–Brad J. Jacot

***

Brad,

I support your right to voice your opinion but this is neither the time or place for this type of activity. I encourage you to not use INTERACT during school hours for your personal campaign. As members of CCEA and NSEA we do not have that kind of access to this venue especially during school hours. Just a word of caution to you.

–Tom Wellman, CCSD Counselor and National Education Association Director

***

Mr. Wellman,

I sent my message during my duty-free lunch.  I am in fact sending this well past the contract day.  I emailed all of you because you are my elected CCEA representatives to the NEA Representative Assembly.  If this is inappropriate to do, then I would suggest we have some serious problems with the way the Association works, and I would suggest I may need to reconsider paying dues come the July 1-15 drop period.  I sincerely hope this is not the case.  I thought that the NEA and CCEA were responsive to its members in terms of being a representative democracy, and as an extension of this I believed that it was appropriate to communicate with you as my elected officials how I wanted you to vote.  If there is outside contact information available, I would encourage you to make that available to all members so that we can communicate with you our thoughts and wishes.  If not, this is the only avenue I see available to let you know how I want you to represent me and to determine in the future if you should receive my vote.

Respectfully Yours,
Brad J. Jacot

A rare showing of head honchos from the Clark County Education Association, local teachers’ faux union, attended one of the more bizarre Clark County School Board meetings of the year. The school board met Wednesday evening, May 20, to finalize the district’s budget for the 2009-2010 school year. But, strangely, the state Legislature, which funds education in Nevada, has not determined exactly how much money there will be for public schools next year. Yet, by law (NRS 354), the district had to finalize its budget prematurely. However, after the Legislature finally does decide to cough up some cash for our school kids (say, in another week or two or three), the district then will have something like 30 days to appeal this premature budget for next year based on the Legislature’s funding decisions. In other words, the bass-ackwardness of Nevada politics. Oh, and by the way, there’s also the issue of falling tax revenues — even against the background of promised tax hikes. Of which nobody knows what any of that means. The board meeting, then, was simply part of our current statewide political process about which nobody knows anything. With lots of cranium-scratching. Wringing of hands. And whining.

Mostly it was the whining that grated against the sensibilities of any thoughtful human being at Wednesday night’s board meeting. And most of the moaning and groaning was being accomplished by a parade of shills representing the teachers’ bogus union.

“O, woe are we,” the union shills in red shirts seemed to be bellyaching, almost in unison, as they went up to the public microphone one after the other. Thirty to 40 of them were in attendance in uniform red shirts.

The problem with this picture is that the teachers’ faux union is the main reason why local teachers are so impoverished in Las Vegas today. (more…)

True, most school board meetings are so mind-numbingly boring they can put you to sleep. During sex. Which I’m usually having inside my head when board trustees are debating the finer issues of instructional software consulting, or utility easements at elementary schools and so forth. But every now and then, the parliamentary action is so hot and heavy and vicious the school district could sell tickets and make a bundle. Which describes the latest board meeting, yesterday, May 14. Here’s the lowdown from this school board showdown:

First, was the protest. Outside. In front of the school district’s administrative center on East Flamingo Avenue. It was held by the Education Support Employees Association, or the district’s support staff union. Not a happy bunch. Their magic word for the night was “riff,” as in “I got riffed,” from the acronym RIF. It stands for Reduction In Force, a phrase used specifically in reference to Article 25 of their union’s contract with the district — which guarantees a protocol based on seniority when displacing workers by “surplusing” them (moving them around), or by flat-out laying them off. However, according to union officials, the school district has wrongfully chosen to ignore their labor contract and “do what it (the district) damn well pleases.” Thus the district’s shakedown of unsuspecting loyal employees allegedly went like this: When the support staff union requested the “seniority list” of its workers from the district in mid-February, officials inside the district refused to cough it up and said they had never heard of such a list. Well, after additional meetings with district officials over several months to obtain this crucial information, on May 8 support staff employees, according to sources, finally received this seniority list, showing exactly where they stood in the school district’s pecking order. Unfortunately by then, most of the displaced staff workers (custodians, bus drivers, etc) already had been given their walking papers. With no recourse for appeal. In other words, they got “riffed.”

“The district is pretty much walking all over our people’s rights,” said ESEA President Belinda “Bo” Yealy.

One vocal worker said he lost his job of eight years and was transferred to another district job at a lower wage with fewer hours. His beef? By contract, he said, he should have been able to go to a general surplus meeting to pick from the available jobs remaining in the district (seniority). But no such meeting was ever held. He got “riffed.” In the end, “riffed” is simply another word for screwed. By the Clark County School District. Go figure. (more…)

The usual whining, wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth dominated the ever-exciting action at April 23’s Clark County School Board meeting. But springtime is also award time, and, in the midst of all the above-mentioned wanking, the school district recognized two notable award-winning groups: First, the Asian Chamber of Commerce scholarship-award recipients, and, second, five of the best new teachers in the district.

This past year, the district hired 1,800 new teachers. Of these, 820 were first-time teachers. From that lot came 28 nominations for the New Teacher of the Year Award, in different categories. The five winners included: Rebecca Alleman from J. Harold Brinley Middle School (special education); first grade teacher Cantel McCurdy from Sunrise Acres Elementary School (primary level); fifth grade teacher Renee Duplessie, Ollie Detwiler Elementary School (intermediate level); Diane Babb, math instructor at Dr. William H. Bailey Middle School; and Duane Graham, a Basic High School history teacher. Winners garnered nifty plaques, and their photos will be posted for one year in the district’s administrative office building on Flamingo Avenue. Plus, by all indications from the state Legislature, for their efforts they also will be receiving significant pay cuts next year.

The Asian Chamber of Commerce honored 15 high school seniors with the William “Bill” Endow Scholarship, a $2,000 award. It was announced that many of these students would be valedictorians this year. Among the colleges they plan to attend are Yale, Duke, UCLA, et al. The number one educational goal for most of them: To become a doctor. Apparently this gang didn’t get the memo that the Clark County School District is supposed to rank last in most academic categories. Recipients were: Vivian Chan, Emily Hong, Eun Won Kang, Hae Jin Kang, Erwin Kim, Carmen Lai, Denise Lee, Susan Lee, Claire Quang, Jean Paul Santos, Ray Suzuki, Elaine Tan, Bobby Thomas, Leah Woods and Victoria Lee. Congrats from CityLife, kids!

Forget about the economicocalypse for a second, and let’s talk about the educatocalypse. You know, the other apocalypse, the one that’s ravaging America’s teaching force from both sides.

At the one end, we’ve got veteran teachers retiring in droves; some estimates see a third of the nation’s longtime educators retiring in the next four years. At the other end, new teachers simply aren’t sticking around. The Clark County School District is familiar with this particular figure, and is hardly alone: Districtwide, half of all new teachers quit within five years. Merely priming the pump with by boosting new-teacher recruitment efforts is not only expensive, but the time and energy it takes for a new teacher to build rapport with students and craft a curriculum means less time and energy spent teaching.

The overall picture of the U.S. educational system resembles a bathtub with the spigot on — and the plug pulled out. It’d be one thing if this churnover were happening at Taco Bell. But in the schoolscape, this leak-and-refill scenario translates into a chronic brain drain that only hurts student achievement.

That’s the grim scenario laid out in this new report by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, but what’s interesting is the proposed solution. Not panaceas such as merit pay. Rather, it proposes a robust, it-takes-a-village system that entails re-enlisting retired educators and connecting them not just with new teachers, but a whole host of education specialists, creating “learning teams.” It sounds like a cheesy term, but some studies suggest it works. From the report:

A recent Education Sector report (2008) on the Benwood school improvement initiative in Chattanooga, Tennessee found that the effect on student achievement of merit pay for new teachers was less than the effect of steady improvements in existing teachers’ effectiveness as a result of increased mentoring, support, and stronger collaborative leadership. School performance improved and student achievement increased because a significant number of the teachers who were already there were empowered by a team of colleagues to elevate their game.

And — bone-toss here to the “fiscal responsibility” crowd — it saves money that would otherwise be thrown at the hassles of turnover. Makes sense: Marrying wisdom with fresh energy.

The school district is going to start laying off bus drivers. Click the letters below for a larger version.

And for those of you getting all shruggy and so-whatty?, I will briefly impress upon you the distinct enculturating role the bus driver plays in shaping young minds: I still fondly recall my middle-school bus driver Terrence, who had our yellow childship rigged with a cassette stereo system. During those daily trips from the east side to John C. Fremont middle school, my whiteboy ass got a rich schooling in the art of rap.

I remember the thrill of discovery that danced down my spine when the synthy trumpet flares and hand-claps of Run DMC’s “Hard Times” broke from the speakers and I thought, “MUTHAFUCKIN’ PHAT FRESH DOPERY, YO!”

Okay, that’s not what went through my mind. I actually thought, “This strange music frightens me. I must hear more.”

Monday afternoon, students at Valley High School did themselves proud by organizing perhaps the classiest event to date regarding the funding woes of education in Las Vegas. Their “Nevada’s Child Left Behind Rally,” held outside in the football stadium, drew roughly 400 students and a smattering of adults, to hear 14 or 15 teenagers deliver something often lacking at similar adult-organized affairs — intelligent, concise, original speeches.

A good high school is about connecting all students to its community, regardless of race, creed or socioeconomic status. And these speakers delivered heartfelt testimony about programs connecting them to their school. Here are some quotes from their speeches:

-“Sports is not just about athletics. It’s about academics, too. You have to maintain a minimum 2.0 average to play ball.”

-”I want to be a NY Times best-selling author after graduating from Columbia University. The Creative Writing Club is supporting me in that dream.”

-“Yes, I am a theater kid. And when I heard the Legislature might take away our program, I felt sick. If you take away our theater, you are taking away a big part of our lives.”

-“The dance program is one of the few activities that involve art and physical education.”

-“When I was a freshman I entered high school without any social skills. And, then, I joined the Key Club.”

-“I dream about owning my own public relations firm, and DECA can help make this a reality.”

-“As we all know, Nevada isn’t on the top in education, and we need to let the Legislature know that we are great students and have great teachers.”

-“They keep saying we are tomorrow’s leaders, but, to become so, we need the proper education today.”

Equally as impressive as the speakers were the 400 students who turned out to hear them. Attentive, supportive and, yes, occasionally humorous, the energy of the crowd was wholesomely infectious. It just felt good to be there.

One young man in the stands said, “I’m really here because I care.” And a young lady said, “Listen to (the speaker from the French Club), she’s going to say bonjour.” And, sure enough, (the speaker from the French Club) said bonjour to start her speech.

Noticeably lacking were the whining sounds of begging, silly crocodile tears and the effrontery of anger frequently accompanying adult versions of education funding rallies. No melodrama here (including, the theater student). The speakers, again, were intelligent, insightful, unsentimental and brief. The entire event lasted 50 minutes. (Verbally flatulent school board members could learn a lesson here.)

Valley High School’s principal, Ron Montoya, and his teachers should also be commended. Great job, kids!