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Done deal in Cleveland?

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Deal reached.

The compromise struck by the mayor and union after several weeks of marathon negotiations, will bring major changes to the contract rules governing teacher assignments, seniority, pay, evaluation, layoff and recall that give the district more flexibility as it tries to improve schools.
[...]
Jackson, district officials and CTU representatives all said today that they negotiated an agreement on the plan because it will provide a better education for students.

As CTU President, David Quolke said, "This agreement is a testament to the idea that when collective bargaining trumps conflict, progress can be made that helps the children of Cleveland."

Frank Jackson got into this mess because he didn't show respect to the teachers in his school district, and didn't trust the collective bargaining agreement. He famously avoided involving educators in his reform plan because

Mayor Jackson said he did not talk to the union before coming up with his latest plan because he wanted to avoid further delay.

"We need to get something done," he said. "We've been in perpetual discussion about a lot of things. Our sense of urgency is such that something has to happen in a systemic way and it has to happen now."

How much delay was caused? A week? Maybe 2? If he had of respected the teachers and the process, imagine the good will that would have been garnered, instead of the acrimony.

If the defeat of SB5 wasn't a strong enough message, maybe politicians will look at this example and finally realize that collective bargaining and collaboration will get you far further, much faster than a my way, or the highway approach.

This should cause some pause for thought however

The plan has also gained wide support from business and political leaders in the city, with Cleveland City Council voting this week to endorse the plan and the cities' charitable foundations and the chamber of commerce, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, helping to write it and sitting in on negotiations with CTU.

Under what statute does the Greater Cleveland Partnership get to sit in on negotiations between public employees and their government employer? The GCP was front and center supporting the Governor's efforts via SB5 to dismantle worker protections, and they were instrumental in adding the union busting measures into the "Cleveland plan" too. Now a deal is done - let's see them step up to the plate and fund efforts to pass a much needed levy. That, after all, is still the biggest crisis facing Cleveland Municipal Schools.

Czar leaves as "work calls"

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It was announced in late breaking news that the Governor's education Czar, Robert Sommers will be leaving his highly paid post to start his own education consulting company. In his own words

Shortly after his appointment by the governor, the Plain Dealer ran an article with the headline "Can Ohio Gov. John Kasich's education adviser and state superintendent co-exist?", the answer was no, since Sommers was seeking the post for himself.

But even as Sommers was passed over and Stan Heffner assumed the role, the question still remained. Could an education Czar and State Superintendent co-exist? Stories, like this one abounded of the Governor's office of 21st century education duplicating and working at crossed purposes to the Department of Education.

He leaves while Ohio's school funding mechanism is in shambles, school budgets in ruins, and a workable teacher evaluation system is yet to be developed. He advocated for the policies that have led to this situation, and leaves for corporate pastures greener now that the destruction is complete, and all the actual work left to be done putting it back together.

He acted like a corporate raider to the end, and it's not like we didn't see it coming.

We constantly call on the administration to include educators in the development of policy. Not because we believe they have all the right answers, though they have many. Not because they have all the experience, though they have much. But, because unlike those who espouse the latest fads, they are the ones who will still be on the front lines executing policy and doing the work of educating our children long after the fadsters have gone.

That's the real work that calls.

Education based on fictional movies

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We recently ran a 3 part series, taking a look at the Gates Foundations corrosive impact on public education, which you can read here:
Part I
Part II
Part III
The Wall Street Journal had an interview with Bill Gates over the weekend, confirming many of the facts we brought to your attention

One of the foundation's main initial interests was schools with fewer students. In 2004 it announced that it would spend $100 million to open 20 small high schools in San Diego, Denver, New York City and elsewhere. Such schools, says Mr. Gates, were designed to—and did—promote less acting up in the classroom, better attendance and closer interaction with adults.

"But the overall impact of the intervention, particularly the measure we care most about—whether you go to college—it didn't move the needle much," he says.

What follows in this article is deeply disturbing. Mr. Gates, seemingly from watching some fictional movies about teaching, now believes he should experiment with teachers careers and students learnging

"I watched the movies. I saw 'To Sir, With Love,'" he chuckles, recounting the 1967 classic in which Sidney Poitier plays an idealistic teacher who wins over students at a roughhouse London school. "But they didn't really explain what he was doing right. I can't create a personnel system where I say, 'Go watch this movie and be like him.'"

The article goes on to discuss his various classroom experiements, and denigrates teachers associations as standing for "the status quo" - which apperently means opposing Bill Gates movie based reforms. Most corporate eduction reformers come to the table with the same resume. Little or no education experience or expertise, a business background, an unwillingness to listen to anyone else, and to attack experts in the field as supporting the status quo. Bill Gates is no different, but what is different is his ability to wield hundreds of millions of dollars to get his way.

It's a pity Gates didn't get inspired by "Armageddon" or some other Sci-Fi movie, becuase then, instead of wrecking public education, he could be spending his money helping to build a replacement for the now retired Space Shuttle.