Fenty Gets Schooled

Disappointed in DC Mayor Adrian Fenty
The people who lined up to attend tonight's one-on-one debate between D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and his rival, Council chairman Vincent C. Gray, have every reason to be disappointed with Fenty's last minute decision to back out . Unlike other forums in which the two Candidates have appeared this election year, tonight's event would have been exclusively devoted to Education issues. I know because the event's sponsor, the Young Education Professionals-DC , tapped me to moderate. We had...

POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Thursday, July 1, 2010
From CNN's Leslie Bentz The CNN Washington Bureau's morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Washington/POLITICAL For the latest political news: www.CNNPolitics.com CNNMoney: House OKs Wall Street Reform Bill The House voted 237-192 Wednesday to pass a sweeping package of Reforms to the Financial regulatory system, moving the Bill a step closer to the finish line. But the Senate isn't likely to take up the measure until the week of July...

Yes, Kagan hearings do matter
Elena Kagan’S Confirmation to the Supreme Court is considered such a sure thing that this week’s Hearings have assumed an air of dull formality. On Monday, a White House official told me that he hoped the public would tune out entirely by the middle of the week. That would be unfortunate. For while Kagan’s fate may not be in doubt, her Confirmation Hearings come at a time when the Court is shifting ever more firmly to the Right. A clear sign of this came in January, with the...

Lottery winners look forward to charter school
Renee Oliver let out a little bit of a scream Tuesday night, as a ping-pong ball with the No. 132 written on it was the first pulled out of a lottery machine at Huth Middle School in Mattson. That meant Oliver's daughter, Nia, would be the first Student admitted to Southland College Prep Charter School -- the first Charter School in the south suburbs and one of few in the state outside of Chicago -- when it opens in the fall. And, thanks to a caveat in the Charter School law, Nia's luck meant...

As states cut public workers, Congress Is reluctant to act
For tens of thousands of America's Teachers, it is the start of an endless summer. The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Des Moines Public Schools Laid Off 74 Teachers in April in an effort to help offset an $11.1 million Budget shortfall. The School Board in Dubuque approved the layoffs of 70 Teachers , including 15 special-education Teachers, nine Social Studies Teachers, eight English Teachers and six art Teachers. Numerous other Districts around the State have also had to lay Off...

Union Thugs Attack Non-Union Workers with Baseball Bats
Violence erupted at a King of Prussia construction site Wednesday, and today, Police are seeking the public’s help to apprehend some bat-wielding assailants.   Upper Merion Township Police gave this account:   Officers responded at 7:10 a.m. Wednesday to the King of Prussia Plaza area of Mall Boulevard for reports that union protestors were blocking the entranceway to the new Toys R Us building site. While en route, an assault was reported in the mall Parking Lot.   Upon...

San Jose city council casts final, contentious vote on new budget
The San Jose City Council gave the final sign-off on its Budget Tuesday — a week later than expected — with one member phoning in from a fishing trip in Mexico and Labor Unions making a last pitch to save janitorial Jobs. The 8-3 vote on a Budget that was passed in concept June 17 officially approved appropriations for the 2010-2011 Fiscal Year, which begins Thursday. The final Budget deal was delayed a week so the Council could accept last-minute concessions from five employee...

Ed. Dept. to alert schools of educators' arrests
FORT COLLINS, COLO. — The Colorado Department of Education says starting in July, it will step up compliance with a state law requiring it to alert all School Districts and Charter Schools when a licensed educator is arrested. Department officials say they notify Schools about such serious cases as Child Abuse or Sexual Assault. Department spokesman Mark Stevens says the agency receives about 50 notifications about School employees weekly from the Colorado Bureau of Investigations. State...

Who wants to answer for Rick Perry's policies?
There was a hearing of the House Public Education Committee yesterday to discuss the Texas Education Agency’s Controversial methodology for rating School Districts , but the person responsible for that metric declined to show up to explain it. Rep. Scott Hochberg, chairman of an appropriations subcommittee overseeing the education Budget, was not too pleased that Education Commissioner Robert Scott stood up the committee on Tuesday. Scott's absence, Hochberg said, reminded...

For Senate Advocates of Unemployment Insurance Extension, a Battle to Nowhere
Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have repeatedly blocked attempts to extend Unemployment Insurance over Deficit concerns. (epa/ZUMApress.com) On Wednesday night, a bare-bones measure to keep federally funded Unemployment Insurance checks headed to the long-term unemployed failed in the Senate. Moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine had signed on to vote for cloture on the $34 Billion bill. But without Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who passed away...

O'Malley: Ehrlich platform 'two phony promises and a fairy tale'
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley insists that it’s his likely opponent, former Republican Gov. Bob Ehrlich, not him, who views this year’s race as a grudge match. But the first-term Democrat took some swipes of his own at his GOP foe Wednesday. “He’s the sort of man who’s always fouling and always crying foul,” O’Malley said in an interview with Politico. O’Malley said Ehrlich, the Incumbent Governor he defeated in 2006, is basing his...

Blog: Graph of the Day for June 27, 2010
"President Obama and Congress have entrusted us-you, me, and educators all across the country-with the largest one-time investment in Education Reform in history.  My department has more money for Education Reform than all of my predecessors-combined.  Former Secretary Paige told me that he had $17 million for Reform.  My department now has $5 Billion for Race to the Top and Investing in Innovation.  We have another $5 Billion for School turnarounds, the Teacher...

Charters Kill Private Schools and Add to Taxpayer Burden
Tradeoffs are an incurable part of reality. Unfortunately, many School choice supporters like to believe that there are no tradeoffs between School choice policies; public and Private School choice, targeted or restricted, big or small, Voucher or Tax Credits, it's all choice and it's all good. But some good things are better than others. And most things have some mix of positive and negative effects. Charter Schools often provide a safer, better alternative to traditional public Schools....

After November's Election: December Crunch Time
July is an odd time to be thinking about Christmas, but this year both parties are already looking ahead to December, which could be the Hottest political month of 2010. Several of Washington's key Debates are stacking up like reindeer over O'Hare during the winter holiday rush. December is the month President Obama is expecting to get the results of a crucial review of the War in Afghanistan and a report from a blue-ribbon commission on Deficit reduction, two issues vexing enough that the...

The Ugly Models
American leaders, impressed by the Economic success of Singapore and China, frequently sound envious when talking about those countries’ educational systems. President Obama, for example, invoked  Singapore in a March 2009 Speech, saying that educators there “are spending less time teaching things that don’t matter, and more time teaching things that do. They are preparing their Students not only for High School or college, but for a career. We are not.” New York...

NASA Program Remains Uncertain After House Vote
By ANDY PASZTOR In the latest sign that future U.S. space efforts remain mired in uncertainty, a House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday voted to temporarily withhold all funding for NASA's manned exploration programs until lawmakers hammer out a consensus on spending priorities. The unusual vote highlights the extent of Bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill to President Barack Obama's bid to reshape NASA. The White House wants to end most of NASA's current manned exploration projects,...

Union thugs attack construction workers with bats at Toys R Us
There’s a reason we call them union thugs. There’s a reason unions have such a bad name. Here’s a prime example: union Workers were protesting at the Construction site of what will be a Toys R Us. Two Construction trucks had their windows blown out, and two people were beaten with Baseball bats . Officers responded at 7:10 a.m. Wednesday to the King of Prussia Plaza area of Mall Boulevard for reports that union protestors were blocking the entranceway to the new Toys R Us...

90 Students Graduate from National Labor College
Doug Swanson, a teacher from Wisconsin, spent 12 years Working to earn a college Degree while coping with his wife’s illness and three job changes that required moving to two different States. Deborah Thiri, a Burmese Refugee now living in Los Angeles, spent years in Thai Refugee Camps before she was able to come to the United States and get an Education. But now, Swanson and Thiri are college graduates. This past weekend, they joined 88 other union members who received Degrees during...

Hey, Senator
Washington —One of the strangest lead sentences I have ever encountered appeared in Politico last week. It read: "John Kerry has been the most aggressive advocate of Climate Change Legislation in the Senate this year—so aggressive that it's rubbed some of his colleagues the wrong way." The story went on to say that Kerry's "zeal" is "making some Swing-vote Democrats cringe at the thought of negotiating with someone they fear is tone-deaf to the political...

Have Obama and the Democrats forgotten how to fight?
One of the strangest lead sentences I have ever encountered appeared in Politico last week . It read: "John Kerry has been the most aggressive advocate of Climate Change Legislation in the Senate this year -- so aggressive that it's rubbed some of his colleagues the wrong way." This Story The story went on to say that Kerry's "zeal" is "making some Swing-vote Democrats cringe at the thought of negotiating with someone they fear is tone-deaf to the political realities...

In speech, Obama to argue for immigration overhaul
Washington — President Barack Obama hopes to rally new momentum behind the push for an Immigration overhaul by explaining why he thinks a comprehensive approach is the only way to fix what he and others say is a system badly in need of repair. Obama was laying out his rationale in a Speech Thursday, his first as president on the issue. Obama wasn't expected to announce any new proposals or policy changes. But feeling pressure from a range of supporters, he was aiming to jump-start the...

In speech, Obama to argue for immigration overhaul
Washington— President Barack Obama hopes to rally new momentum behind the push for an Immigration overhaul by explaining why he thinks a comprehensive approach is the only way to fix what he and others say is a system badly in need of repair. Obama was laying out his rationale in a Speech Thursday, his first as president on the issue. Obama wasn't expected to announce any new proposals or policy changes. But feeling pressure from a range of supporters, he was aiming to jump-start the...

SPIN METER: What happened to the Kagan standard?
Washington— Elena Kagan declined to discuss her passions, demurred when asked anything that might tip her hand on the Supreme Court and invoked her right to remain inscrutable even on cases buried in the past. In short, Kagan did her best to ensure her High Court nomination Hearing was just the kind of benign event she criticized years ago for lacking "seriousness and substance." Her dodges over two days of questioning prompted chuckles in the Senate Judiciary Committee as members, keenly...

Council, school board races draw large field of hopefuls
WARWICK — There’s a bumper crop of Candidates in the City this election season with at least one opponent for all but two of the nine City Council members seeking Reelection in the fall. By the time the declaration period for Candidates came to a close at the Board of Canvassers’ office, 17 Democrats, Republicans and Independents had filed papers stating their intention to run. The two Incumbents on the Council who will face no opposition are Council President Bruce S. Place...

Rhee praises mayor, says she doesn't see the same dedication from Gray
In an interview that aired Wednesday on WAMU 88.5 with senior reporter Kavitha Cardoza, D.C. Shools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee again downplayed her role in the election between Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and chief rival Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. But when pressed about whether she would stay or go under a different mayor, Rhee said she did not see the same dedication to Education Reform from Gray that she has seen with Fenty. "...I came to this city to take on this job specifically because...