Here's the agenda for tonight's Board meeting. I note that people can no longer sign up to speak at a Board meeting by phone. It is strictly by online sign-up. Not good. Public Testimony seems to cover two topics. Apparently, the Chinese program at West Seattle High School is in jeopardy and there are several speakers for that issue. The other issue is, of course, school closures. There are six people on the waitlist. Here's the latest from the Times which says that " Seattle Could Close about a quarter of its elementary schools." First, that would be a heck of a lot of schools (17) and two, only elementaries? My cynical side is that the district is throwing out a big number so they can "generously" only close 10-12. The article claims that the district is taking "$32M from its reserves" which is not true; they have no reserves. I think the reporter means capital reserves. I'll be tuning in with updates. 4:15 pm and has the 4:15
Comments
Joel Klein is stepping down as NYC Chancellor of schools after 8 years.
He will be replaced by incoming NYC Schools Chancellor Cathie Black.
http://www.hearst.com/about-hearst/corporate-cathie-black.php
The New York Times
Tue, November 09, 2010 -- 3:56 PM ET
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Cathie Black, Publishing Executive, to Replace Joel I. Klein as New York City Schools Chancellor
Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein is resigning and leaving city government and will be replaced by Cathie Black, the former publisher of USA Today and chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced this afternoon. Mr. Klein, in turn, will become the executive vice president of the News Corporation.
The mayor called Ms. Black "a superstar manager" and added, "There's no one who knows more about the skills our children will need to succeed in the 21st-century economy."
[{ but does this lady have even the slightest clue about how children learn or what teaching is really about?}] {The good news is she is likely not worse than MGJ}
The mayor lauded Mr. Klein for taking a "dysfunctional" system and turning it into "one that the Obama administration has hailed as a national model."
Read More HERE
And this line from the NYT story should get tongues wagging among our local Ed Privitization watchers.
"Mr. Klein, 64, said his job at News Corporation would be to develop “strategy to put them in the education marketplace.”
Lines of Influence
You can check the Broad and Gates infiltration via their own websites and other sources, such as:
faces of school reform
and:
http://techrights.org/2010/06/07/gates-family-us-franchises/
and:
Gates and DOE
And it is time we did another one, this time focusing on business interference in education...
This is cronyism... and more than that - its the final push to corporatise everything in this country...
Education and Social Security were the last quasi-public institutions left that had been roped off from capitalists...
Education has fallen to the vultures and social security will be next...
Oligarchy here we are...