Articles in the Uncategorized category

New Mexico School Boards Association Executive Director receives the Abrazo Award

The National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) National Hispanic Caucus of School Board Members (NHC) awarded New Mexico School Boards Association (NMSBA) Executive Director Joe Guillen with the Abrazo Award, NHC’s highest honor. This award is given annually to honor individuals who have committed their time, energy, and resources to improving educational opportunities for all Latino children. The term “Abrazo” translates in English to “hug or embrace,” a gesture Latinos use to greet or say goodbye to each other. Guillen was selected as the Abrazo recipient for his leadership and dedication to the NHC and for his commitment in advancing Hispanic students academic achievement. The award was presented at the 2013 NSBA Annual Conference in San Diego in April.

Before becoming Executive Director of NMSBA, Guillen was a school board member for more than ten years on the
Española Public Schools Board of Directors and was the 2004-2006 Chair of NHC and an ex-officio member of the NSBA Board of Directors during his time as NHC Chair.

The NHC works to promote and advance equal educational opportunities for Hispanic children. NHC members are actively engaged in a national dialogue on educational problems, issues and concerns in conjunction with NSBA and other national organizations committed to the continued growth and development of minority youth.

Alexis Rice|May 7th, 2013|Categories: School Boards, State School Boards Associations, Student Achievement, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , |

Professor learns by labeling students ‘designers, artists, and writers’

When S. Craig Watkins, a professor of radio-television-film at the University of Texas at Austin, and his partners went into an Austin high school to help the students make an interactive iPad book in three weeks, they wanted to make changes based on the research they had done on how students learn best with technology.

Watkins told audience in a Sunday session at NSBA’s annual conference about how he and other researchers got the students, many from disadvantaged, non-English-speaking families, to create so quickly. “We flipped the environment, the norms and expectations,” said Watkins. “We called it a studio, not a classroom.”

Other changes they made: They created spaces where students could visualize their ideas. They didn’t call them students. “We called them designers, artists, and writers. They took on other learner roles.”

Another important aspect: They asked the students to consider each other resources, important sources of social capital.

The students decided to work on a book about student obesity, so they took a field trip to the local hospital to gather information and data and do interviews. “They met a community and made important connections,” said Watkins.

Watkins and the other researchers wanted learning to be hands-on. “We wanted kids to be makers, innovators, authors.” And they not only learned about the technical side, but also about the skills side. “We can’t get kids to do this if they can’t read,” he said.

The class was successful in getting the book done in three weeks, and Watkins showed some samples of the students’ work.

In putting this project together, he said, “We asked ourselves these questions:
• What skills do your kids need?
• What kind of dispositions do they need?
• What learning environments do they need?

Kathleen Vail|April 14th, 2013|Categories: Educational Technology, NSBA Annual Conference 2013, Uncategorized|

NSBA, AASA leaders: We’re stronger working together

Just as it’s essential for school boards and superintendents to work well together on behalf of their schoolchildren, it’s equally important for NSBA and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) to partner successfully on behalf of public education.

That was the opening observation of NSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel during an informal discussion with AASA Executive Director Dan Domenech at a Focus on Education session Saturday.

Both national organizations are committed to strengthening public education, which “is under attack right now in a lot of different ways,” Gentzel said. “The question is how do we defend against those attacks and promote quality education.”

One concern for both organizations is the accelerating erosion of local school control in the past decade, Domenech said. Although state policymakers can claim education is a state responsibility, federal officials can’t make the same argument when explaining their interference in local decision-making.

Yet, “we’ve seen just a growing involvement and intrusion” by federal officials who’ve used the promise of federal dollars to both encourage and coerce state and local officials to accept new federal initiatives, programs, and policies.

That’s one reason AASA gave its support to NSBA’s proposed legislation, the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act, Domenech said. The bill is designed to curb the power of the U.S. Department of Education to impose unnecessary rules and regulations.

“When you folks came up with your bill, we thought it was great, and we were more than happy to sign up,” he added.

Both men expressed similar attitudes about charter schools and school choice. Although not opposed to these reform models, they agreed that more deliberation should be put into their use. There are times, Gentzel said, when other strategies would likely prove more successful.

For example, he said, the enthusiasm of some state and federal policymakers for charter schools seems unwarranted. “If charter schools are not outperforming public schools, then why the push to create more and more of them?”

Similar concerns also were raised during the discussion about other reform models, such as state takeovers, the firing of principals or turnaround efforts at so-called failing schools, and recent experiments in teacher evaluation systems.

One concern in the rush to use these strategies is that state and federal policymakers seem to ignore the powerful impact of poverty on the academic performance of school districts that are identified as low performing, Domenech said. The reality, at times, is that policymakers aren’t willing to put the money and resources into helping a struggling school or district to improve.

“We don’t have the moral courage or the political courage to do the right thing by these kids.”

There may be a way that NSBA and AASA can provide a better alternative, Gentzel suggested.

“Where there have been failing school systems that have managed to turn themselves around, one of the things we can work on together is to identify those places as models [we can study] and transfer their lessons to others. I think it’s an important message to send to state policymakers before they consider other ideas … let’s consider what works.”

Del Stover|April 14th, 2013|Categories: Uncategorized|

Attorneys look at legal effect of transgender employee cases on districts

Many schools are dealing with transgendered students, but more and more are now faced with the legal ramifications of transgendered employees, according to two Council of School Attorneys’ (COSA) lawyers at a Friday morning session of COSA’s School Law Seminar.

Karla Schultz and Carol Helms, with Walsch, Anderson, Gallegos, Green, and Trevino, of Austin, Texas, revealed that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) had decided that transgender status and gender identity discrimination is included under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

“No federal law prohibits discrimination on the basis of transgender,” said Schultz. “That is why the EEOC ruling is significant.

Schultz talked about the EEOC ruling in the case of Mia Macy, a public employee who was employed as a male police officer in Phoenix. When he changed genders, she moved to San Francisco and was offered a job at a ballistics lab. But when the lab discovered that she was transgender, it rescinded the job offer and Macy sued. Macy won a settlement from the lab.

Helms discussed a case in New Mexico that involved an elementary school music teacher. The teacher, who was male, became a female while employed at the district. The district was supportive of the move, and did all the right things in an employment sense, said Helms. However, when a parent discovered that the teacher had YouTube videos of her cabaret act, she and several other parents asked that their children be removed from the class.

The school put the teacher on administrative leave to let the situation calm down. The teachers union and the media got involved, and the situation still hasn’t played out, said Helms.

In dealing with transgendered employees (or really any employees), Helms recommends that employees and managers must avoid discriminatory remarks. ‘“Just kidding,’ — that gets us sued. You may prevail on an EEOC clam but it costs school districts a lot.”

Kathleen Vail|April 12th, 2013|Categories: Council of School Attorneys, NSBA Annual Conference 2013, Uncategorized|

Author: Students are ‘rarely the problem’

After getting a doctoral degree in urban education at Temple University and creating a career teaching and writing about urban schools, Camika Royal realized something: “The children are rarely the problem.”

Rather, institutions and leaders of institutions – including school boards and school board members – let our children down, Royal told attendees at a luncheon session of the National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education.

“Despite our best efforts, we know all is not well on the education front,” she said. She cited “school closings in Philadelphia, the murder rate in Chicago, the massacre in Newtown, the horror in Steubenville.”

“A 40 percent graduation rate is pedagogical violence,” she said. “It is criminal.”

Educational leaders need to look at themselves and ask how they bear some degree of responsibility for our schools’ and communities’ shortcomings, she said. When nearly one in five African-American students are suspended each year, “ We are all at least partially complicit.”

She quoted Pedro Noguera, a noted author on urban school issues who teaches at New York University: “Those who manage public institutions often respond differently to different constituencies.”

At the same time, “treating all people equally is not an equitable response,” she said. Often, what’s needed are policies that reflect values of patience, forgiveness and give students a way out, she said.

School boards need to care about all students, “not just those who score well or whose parents are involved or are good at sports or know how to behave.”

For leaders, improvement must start with self-examination, she said. “Challenge the assumptions and biases you bring to your work … We have to search ourselves about what we believe about young men of color.”

Too often, board members “fail to see how our own biases interview with the district’s success,” she said. “What must change most is you.”

— Eric Randall

Andrew Paulson|April 12th, 2013|Categories: NSBA Annual Conference 2013, School Climate, School Reform, School Security, Student Achievement, Uncategorized, Urban Schools|Tags: , |

School boards look for more ways to cut budgets as sequester becomes reality

With across-the-board federal cuts taking effect today through sequestration, school boards will need to make tough budget decisions to account for the decrease in federal education funding. As school boards begin to craft budgets for the 2013-14 school year, the National School Boards Association (NSBA) is calling for Washington leaders to work out a deal to ensure schools are able to continue programs and avoid teacher and staff layoffs.

“Congress and the Obama administration must act now to alleviate these cuts to education before school districts have to issue pink slips and inform parents that vital programs and resources are going to be cut,” said Thomas J. Gentzel, NSBA’s Executive Director. “These new federal cuts to education will push back the progress our school districts have made in student achievement. School districts are going to have to make difficult choices as they develop their budgets for the next school year, and for years to come as the cuts continue.”

More than 700 school boards have passed resolutions urging Congress to avoid the sequestration process, which will now impose across-the-board cuts of about 5 percent to education and other domestic programs beginning in FY2013. Nationwide, K-12 programs and Head Start would face almost a $3 billion reduction for Fiscal Year 2013, according to the White House. These new cuts are an additional reduction to federal funding for education, as K-12 education programs were already reduced on the federal level with cuts to education funding in Fiscal Year 2011.

According to Feb. 14 written testimony by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Title I federal grants for disadvantaged students would be cut by $726 million, reducing instructional support to almost 1.2 million educationally disadvantaged children and eliminating more than 10,000 teachers and aides, and special education funding would be reduced by $579 million, shifting those costs to states and school districts. These federal budget cuts are scheduled to continue through 2021 and will have a substantial effect on our schools, eroding the base of funding for key programs year after year.

Earlier this week, NSBA President C. Ed Massey, a school board member for the Boone County Schools in Florence, Ky., was featured on NPR discussing the impact to his school district from sequestration noting that he expects to see a significant hit — between $1.1 and $1.3 million to Boone County Schools which would be a loss of approximately 15 teachers.

Joetta Sack-Min|March 1st, 2013|Categories: Board governance, Budgeting, Federal Advocacy, Federal Programs, Policy Formation, Student Achievement, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , , |

NSBA urges White House to protect federal K-12 funding

The economic impact of federal budget cuts now scheduled for early March would lead to long-term damage to investments in education and the nation’s infrastructure, White House economic advisers told representatives from Washington organizations at a Feb. 6 meeting.

National School Boards Association (NSBA) Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel participated in the White House meeting to discuss ways that the impending federal budget cuts could be halted for education and other domestic policy programs.

The sequester, which is the automatic across-the-board cuts amounting to about 5.1 percent reductions in all federal programs, will take place in March unless Congress approves a new plan. The sequestration was scheduled as part of the Budget Control Act of 2011.

The White House officials said that a total of about $4 trillion needed to be cut from the federal budget over the next 10 years, and were confident that tax increases and budget cuts that were approved to avoid the first deadline on Jan. 2 should cover up to half that amount, although other estimates have put the savings at $1 trillion or less. The White House has pushed for a “balanced, rational approach,” and has lobbied Congress to make changes to the plan, but neither Republican nor Democrat leaders have been able to craft a plan that could pass both chambers of Congress.

“The long-term impact of cuts to education programs, particularly those for students with disabilities and students from low-income homes, would hurt the quality of education in many school districts,” said Gentzel.  “NSBA is committed to working with the White House and members of Congress so that they understand the potential damage these cuts would inflict on our schools and on our nation’s economy.”

The White House advisors also expressed concerns that new plans floated by members of Congress would have a detrimental impact on education and other domestic programs. Specifically, Gentzel said the advisors warned groups to be skeptical of a plan that would give agencies flexibility in how to manage the cuts, as that would not have significant benefits.  They also warned the group that if the sequester takes place, the cuts might not appear to have a large impact immediately, but over the course of the 10-year schedule the reductions would significantly damage the nation’s economic infrastructure.

Michael A. Resnick, NSBA’s Associate Executive Director for Federal Advocacy and Public Policy, estimates that the planned cuts to K-12 programs would only amount to about .0007 percent of the total federal budget.

“Education cuts would have very little impact on the plan to reduce the nation’s deficit, but these cuts would have a dramatic long term effect on local school district budgets,” said Resnick.  “This is not a strategic way of managing the economy.”

Some 700 school boards have passed resolutions to oppose the sequester, and NSBA is encouraging all school board members to contact their members of Congress and urge them to spare education programs. For more information and sample resolutions, visit NSBA’s Stop Sequestration web page.

 

Joetta Sack-Min|February 11th, 2013|Categories: Budgeting, Educational Finance, Educational Legislation, Federal Advocacy, Federal Programs, Legislative advocacy, Policy Formation, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , |

NSBA works with White House on school safety issues

President Barack Obama issued 23 executive actions today that he says will strengthen school safety and prevent gun violence. He also called on Congress to pass tougher gun-control measures, including banning some assault rifles and magazines and requiring  background checks for purchasing all guns, one month and two days after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn.

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) was represented by Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel at the White House event. Obama announced a campaign entitled “Now is the Time” that outlines his plans for preventing gun violence.

The executive actions pertaining to school safety include:

  • Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers;
  • Develop model emergency response plans for schools, houses of worship, and institutions of higher education;
  • Provide law enforcement, first responders, and school officials with proper training for active shooter situations;
  • Launch a national conversation on mental health with Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

The orders and proposals were “based on an emerging consensus from all the groups we heard,” said Vice President Joe Biden. At the request of the president, Vice President Biden oversaw a task force designed to field recommendations from key stakeholder groups to curb gun violence in the United States. The White House has emphasized that local school leaders would be able to choose the safety measures for their schools as they see fit.

“We commend President Obama for his efforts to ensure that all schools are safe places,” Gentzel said. “We look forward to working with the administration and Congress in a collaborative effort to address this important issue.”

NSBA called for the expansion of school safety zones and more school resource officers during a Jan. 9 White House meeting with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Attorney General Eric Holder, and White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, who fielded recommendations from about a dozen major education groups as part of the vice president’s task force.

NSBA’s Director of Federal Legislation Deborah Rigsby participated in that session and also recommended greater access to mental health services and resources for greater coordination between law enforcement agencies and school districts.

Other organizations represented at the event included the American Association of School Administrators, National PTA, National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, School Social Work Association of America, Council of Chief State School Officers, Mothers in Charge, National Association of Elementary School Principals, National Association of Secondary School Principals, Council for Exceptional Children, and Council of Great City Schools.

Some of the groups discussed ideas such as creating a federal interagency council on school safety, and training development and support for school principals on preparation and preparedness.

NSBA and some other groups did not take a specific position on gun control, but others expressed opposition to arming teachers with guns, Rigsby said.

Joetta Sack-Min|January 16th, 2013|Categories: Bullying, Crisis Management, Educational Finance, Educational Legislation, Federal Advocacy, Federal Programs, Governance, Legislative advocacy, Policy Formation, School Climate, School Security, Uncategorized|Tags: , , , , , , |

NSBA urges Arizona court to scrap “empowerment scholarships”

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is encouraging the Arizona Court of Appeals to overturn an Arizona law that allows parents of students with disabilities to use taxpayer funds to pay for private schooling if they sign away their constitutional rights to a public education.

NSBA has filed an amicus brief in Niehaus v. Huppenthal, in which the Arizona School Boards Association and several other education organizations filed suit against the state’s “empowerment scholarship” as violating Arizona’s constitution.

The Arizona scheme allows parents of special education students to withdraw their students from public schools and receive up to 90 percent of the public funds to spend on private schooling. The law also includes students in public schools with a letter grade of D or F, children of active military members, wards of the juvenile court, and all previous scholarship recipients in the 2013-14 school year.

“This law requires parents to give up their constitutional rights to re-enroll their children in an Arizona public school for an entire school year, which violates a student’s fundamental right to an education under Arizona’s  constitution,” said NSBA’s General Counsel Francisco M. Negrón Jr.  “Unwitting parents hoping for the best education for their children may be lured into making a false choice that they cannot escape without incurring severe economic loss, because the law compels them to sign away their rights to a public education in exchange for the voucher money.”

Families would also lose the protections granted by the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which guarantees  all students with disabilities an individualized education program (IEP),  and a free, appropriate public education (FAPE), and the due process rights to ensure them in public schools. These guarantees would not be available to students opting for the “empowerment scholarships.”

“Arizona’s latest voucher scheme is bad public policy, and  is part of a nationwide effort by special interest groups to undermine public education by diverting scarce tax dollars to private hands, with little, if any, accountability,” Negrón said.

Joetta Sack-Min|November 6th, 2012|Categories: School Law, School Vouchers, Uncategorized|

NSBA to host Twitter chat during presidential debate at #debatedenverED

The National School Boards Association (NSBA) will be hosting a Twitter chat during the October 3 Presidential Debate, to be held from 9 – 10:30 pm EDT.

Be a part of this chat by using the hashtag #debatedenverED and share your thoughts about the debate and the emphasis placed on K-12 education. By using #debatedenverED in your tweets, you will be able to join in this virtual conversation. To see the entire conversation stream just go to Twitter and search #debatedenverED.

During the 2012 State of the Union, NSBA hosted a Twitter chat and according to Twitter, education was the top topic discussed. Now help us get education to be the top issue discussed on Twitter during the first presidential debate!

Alexis Rice|October 2nd, 2012|Categories: 2012 Presidential race, Educational Finance, Educational Legislation, Federal Advocacy, Federal Programs, School Reform, Student Achievement, Teachers, Uncategorized|Tags: , , |
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