Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Note [of exasperation]: I'm beginning to think the Star has a policy: "Never write the words, 'According to an article by Craig Harris in the Republic . . .'" Harris has written a groundbreaking series of articles on charter school corruption and profiteering which has statewide relevance, but to my recollection, the Star hasn't mentioned any of them, nor has it done similar investigations on its own.
Craig Harris has a new article in The Republic that takes another look at the lack of charter school regulation and accountability. Not only does the State Board for Charter Schools conduct minimal charter school oversight, it doesn't acknowledge public complaints about charters on its website.
For the past three years, each charter school's profile on the site displayed the message: "This charter has no complaints."According to Harris, the board received 91 complaints during the 2017-18 school year. Two months into this school year, it has already received 141 complaints.
The board's motto: See no evil. Hear no evil. Post no evil.
According to Harris, the website has addressed the problem, though the board has yet to release complaints, which are public records, to the paper.
None of this is recent, or accidental. It's part of a pattern that goes back to charter school beginnings in Arizona. The state charter board has always been more a promoter of charters than a regulator. Here's some historical background.
Tags: Craig Harris , Charter schools , Charter school complaints , Lisa Graham Keegan , Image
Monday, October 8, 2018
As someone who minored in poetry in university, I was baffled and somewhat saddened at my own lack of response, lack of ability to pin down a favorite, or even a couple of favorites, from four years of study.
And so I went home, sat on the carpet next to my bookshelf and set out to reacquaint myself with the much thumbed and sticky-note covered volumes I have collected over the years from classes, bookstores and friends, and I settled on some favorites, well, sort of, there are 11 books.
Who should care what the favorite books of poetry from a random local journalist are? Well, no one really, but in case you are like me and are always on the hunt to find a way to narrow down the seemingly never-ending pile of poetry out there to be read, this might give you a few recommendations of where to start.
After much narrowing down, here are three that are my absolute favorites from my bookshelf:
Green Ash, Red Maple, Black Gum New Poems by Michael Waters.
This is a sensual book following the story of a man (potentially the author) and his many love affairs. While the poems tap into oft-used and cliched descriptions of women's beautiful hair and soft skin, they also encourage the reader to engage with their imperfections. Loss plays as much of a role in Waters’ love stories as does falling in love, and so the cycle continues forward. As the name indicates, there are also many references to specific trees and flowers throughout the book, grounding the metaphors while at the same time making them flowery and intriguing. While some of the poems stick to airy language that is the cause of so many people who say, “I hate poetry, it doesn’t make any sense,” there are others that drop all pretense and speak in plain text. One poem starts, “These winter trees charcoaled against bare sky,” and you can see where that one's going. Yet another starts, “The Sunday I blew sixty dollars on a taxi,” and continues on with a much more accessible poem. If you do read this book, keep an eye out for “Whitefish,” a poem that stands out from the rest and was my favorite of the 73 pages.
Tags: poetry , recommendations , books to read , literature , poems , poets , authors , recommended , Image
Friday, October 5, 2018
Here are two overlapping stories. First, Tucsonan John Brakey, head of AUDIT-USA and longtime election integrity watchdog, recently received a cease-and-desist order from Election Systems & Software, one of the big three election machine companies. Second, a lengthy article in this week's New York Times magazine details the very problems Brakey is concerned about: ways voting machines can malfunction or be hacked which can change election results, turning winners into losers and losers into winners.
Brakey put instruction manuals for ES&S voting machines on his AUDIT-USA website. They look like the typical, detailed user manuals we get when we buy software packages, but ES&S doesn't want them in public view. The company wrote Brakey a cease-and-desist letter demanding he take the material down. If not, the company threatens to take him to court for copyright violation.
Has Brakey violated copyright law by posting the ES&S manuals? I won't venture a lay person's opinion, though I've talked with people who say, as with many copyright cases, there's not a clear answer. But another question has a clear answer for me. Should a company whose products are used to count votes in elections be allowed to work in secret, out of public view? My answer is no. When one of the foundations of our democracy, free and fair elections, is at stake, machines and software created by a private, for-profit vendor should not collect and tally votes under cover of darkness. If bad actors can change election results at will, it's game over for our democratic system.
Brakey's reaction to the cease-and-desist letter? If a company which works so hard to guard its secrecy wants to take him to court, that's fine with him.
The New York Times magazine article is titled, The Crisis of Election Security. The shoddy programming described in the article, the gaping security holes, the ease with which the machines can be hacked and votes altered, were serious problems when the voting systems were first put into common use. Today, when we know Russian hackers have their tendrils in our election systems, the possibility that election results can be changed by a foreign power is all the more frightening.
Tags: Election integrity , John Brakey , AUDIT-USA , Election Systems & Software , Image
In Arizona, 92,000 children have young adult parents (ages 18-24), and seven out of 10 of those children are in low-income families, according to a recent policy report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
The Children's Action Alliance, which works to improve children's health, education and security, says the Arizona legislature has left nearly $56 million in child care funds unused and state budget cuts have lowered funding for initiatives that help young and low-income families.
The report, called "Opening Doors for Young Parent" also recommends ways that young parents can receive help in work and higher education, so they may find other ways to provide for their children.
“It’s time for candidates and elected leaders to make families a top priority,”said Dana Wolfe Naimark, President and CEO of Children's Action Alliance.
Tags: healthy families , childcare , education , Image
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Forbes is not my go-to source for educational news and insight, but you get news and insight where you find it. In this case, it's from a 39-year-veteran high school English teacher, a fellow English teacher who outranks me by five years. I have to pay attention to what he says, right?
The headline asks, Is The Big Standardized Test A Big Standardized Flop? The answer, according to the writer, is yes, and teachers knew it when the testing craze began ramping up 20 years ago. The people who didn't catch on were leaders of the education reform/privatization movement. Now a few of them are beginning to.
The author cites the work of two conservative educational scholars, Jay Greene and Frederick Hess. Greene is head of the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas (If the "education reform" in the department title and Arkansas as the location aren't clues enough to Greene's conservative educational leanings, let me add for longtime followers of the Goldwater Institute and my posts, Matthew Ladner, ex-education guy at the Goldwater Institute and current senior research fellow at the Charles Koch Institute, has been a frequent contributor to Greene's blog.) Greene says, rightly, test scores aren't valuable in and of themselves. They are supposed to be predictors of success in students' future lives. The problem is, they're not very good at it.
If increasing test scores is a good indicator of improving later life outcomes, we should see roughly the same direction and magnitude in changes of scores and later outcomes in most rigorously identified studies. We do not.And he goes further, saying test scores and VAM (Value Added Measurement) don't tell us much about the quality of the schools or the programs the students are enrolled in.
Tags: Standardized testing , Jay Greene , Frederick Hess , NAEP , Image
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
"The Democrats are playing politics." "The Republicans are playing politics." "Mitch McConnell is playing politics." "Chuck Schumer is playing politics."
And your point is?
Of course they're playing politics. It's what politicians do. Politician: practitioner of politics. It's in the name. It's in the job description. Politicians pick their causes, they pick their moments, they plot, they strategize, they use tricks of the trade to get what they want. Meanwhile, politicians on the other side of the aisle do the same. Politicians who don't play politics either aren't very good at their jobs or they're back benchers who sit quietly, vote aye or nay, then sit quietly again.
Politicians who accuse other politicians of "playing politics" are playing politics.
It's the word "play" that makes "playing politics" sound like it's something politicians shouldn't do, like they're playing games with something that should be taken seriously. If you say "practicing politics," or "strategizing," it doesn't sound nearly as petty. It's like when people talk about "throwing money at education." The word "throwing" makes funding education sound like it's foolish and wasteful.
Politicians should be called out when they practice dirty politics. Lying. Cheating. Ducking legitimate questions. Selling their souls and their votes to special interests. Call the political sins by their names. Saying politicians are "playing politics" is accusing them of plying their trade.
Tags: Playing politics , Politicians , Image
Monday, September 17, 2018
Arizona became an early adopter in the privatization/"education reform" movement almost a quarter century ago when it opened its first charter schools.
From the beginning, the Republicans pushing charter schools had two overlapping goals: open as many charters as possible, and regulate them as little as possible. They're fine using taxpayer money to fund the schools, but their mantra has always been, "Keep your government hands off my charters!" They've kept rules and regulations as few and as toothless as possible.
As a result Arizona has the highest number of charter schools per capita in the country, though other states are catching up. We also have some of the worst examples of unchecked profiteering and what can only be described as legal corruption in the charter school sector you're going to find anywhere.
I'll get to the most recent example of profiteering and corruption involving State Representative Eddie Farnsworth (R, LD-12) in a minute, but first let me make one thing absolutely clear. Republicans have had plenty of opportunities to increase transparency and tighten financial rules on charter schools. The media has written articles about problems for years. Democratic legislators have proposed legislation to put a check on some of charter school operators' worst practices. Republicans have purposely ignored the media warnings and shot down Democratic legislation at every turn. If they retain their control over the legislature and the governor's office, nothing is going to change. You can bet money on it. However, if Democrats increase their power November 6, there's a good chance we'll see increased transparency and tighter regulation, which will, ironically, improve the quality of the charter schools Republicans hold so dear.
Now, to Rep. Farnsworth, who has figured out a way to turn charter schools into a multimillion dollar goldmine.
Tags: Charter schools. Eddie Farnsworth. Benjamin Franklin Charter Schools. Elections , Image
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
I've never used emoticons before, but these angry little guys may be just what I need right now.
"Read my emoticon. Damn right I'm mad! I plan to stay mad through November 6. After that, we'll see."
Republicans are doing everything they can to tell Arizona educators to calm down, there's really nothing to be upset about. It's your own fault the Invest in Ed initiative isn't on the ballot. As for your salary problems, blame your school district, not the legislature or the governor. You educators shouldn't bother your pretty, pedantic little heads about all this complicated governing stuff. Just stay in to your classrooms where you belong. After you vote us back into office, don't worry, everything will be fine.
Republicans hate it when their opponents get mad. Oh, they love to rile up their own base. The Tea Party named itself after a bunch of colonists in Boston who were so pissed about taxes, they threw a shipload of tea in the harbor. Our Liar in Chief inflames his base with a steady diet of hate directed at his growing list of enemies. They know it works.They know it brings their supporters out to the polls.
Which is why they want the opposition to stay calm and quiet. Get sad, not mad. Lose gracefully.
I was surprised to find myself featured in an op ed by Jonathan Hoffman in Sunday's Star. I was the poster child and whipping boy for every educator who is angry at Republican elected officials and their fat cat donors and plans to vote them out of office. Hoffman was complaining about a quote from one of my recent posts, Don't Get Sad. Get Mad!:
“We need to be Red-hot angry over the decision by Ducey’s Supreme Court, backed by the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, to take the Invest in Education initiative off the ballot.”Hoffman hated that "Red-hot angry" phrase so much, he repeated it four times. If anyone missed the point about how dangerous it is to be that angry, he warned teachers they're turning into "Antifa thugs" instead of quiet, staid "college-educated professionals."
Your problems are your own fault, he said.
"You created the problems with the Invest in Ed initiative, not the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry or the Arizona Supreme Court. So, be professional, own the screw-up, and do it right next time."Take the blame. Slink away quietly. Lick your wounds. You can try again two years from now.
Tags: Invest in Education initiative , Doug Ducey , Teacher salaries , RedforEd , Image
Friday, September 7, 2018
Brnovich must be new to the concept of privatizing government and profiting handsomely from public funding. For instance, he probably doesn't know much about the Arizona's conservative/libertarian Goldwater Institute, which advocates for privatization and deregulation. Wait, check that. He was Director of the Goldwater Institute's Center for Constitutional Government. OK, so maybe he doesn't have any real world experience with for-profit businesses which make big money by performing government services. Wait, check that too. He was Senior Director for the Corrections Corporation of America, the private prison company.
I guess it's possible Brnovich hasn't read or seen the many news stories about charter schools misusing state funds during his years in Arizona, or heard the topic mentioned in the halls of government. Possible, but not likely.
So why this sudden concern about charter schools ripping off the public and his call for "a mechanism . . . to make sure that charter schools . . . are not enriching themselves at the expense of students"? Here are four good reasons.
1. He's running for office in a year Democrats look like they have a shot at winning statewide races.The first three reasons are self explanatory. Number four deserves more explanation.
2. He has an able, hard working Democratic challenger, January Contreras, who has a strong record of serving and protecting Arizonans.
3. Education is the top issue for most Arizonans.
4. He's one of 20 attorneys general who signed onto a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. If they're successful, insurance companies can refuse to cover people with preexisting conditions. He'd rather talk about how much he loves children and education than how he's working to deny people health coverage.
Tags: Attorney General Mark Brnovich , Charter schools , Goldwater Institute , Corrections Corporation of America , Affordable Care Act , Texas v. United States , Craig Harris , Image
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Saturday I was a guest on the John C. Scott radio show. John and I were discussing the push to arm teachers, which I find abhorrent. A caller wanted to let me know how wrong I was. Here's what she said.
"There was a massacre in 1974 in Israel called Ma'alot. There were 31 children and 4 teachers killed and 115 people wounded. The next day the military moved into the school, and they taught the teachers how to protect the children with guns. Since 1974 there has never been another school shooting in Israel."It's a perfect story. Children harmed, teachers armed, children safe. Perfect. Too perfect.
It's a safe bet, stories this neat and tidy are either complete lies or they leave out important details. That's why as I listened, my Bullshit Detector was maxed out at eleven, lights were flashing and sirens were blaring. But what could I do? I'd never heard of the incident, so I couldn't tell the caller she was wrong. Yet I was damned if I was going to leave what sounded like a perfect fabrication hanging there without a response.
If she was lying, or if she was retelling an inaccurate story she believed, any chance of us carrying on a reasonable discussion was gone. For people to talk about something with the purpose of understanding the issues and arriving at conclusions, not just winning, both sides have to play fair. Otherwise, it's just a question of who's better at fighting dirty.
My sense was, purposely or not, she was fighting dirty. But was the Ma'alot story she told incorrect? I couldn't be sure.
The one card I had to play was my knowledge of how restrictive gun laws are in Israel. It's much harder to get guns there than in the U.S., so the notion that their schools would be filled with gun-toting teachers doesn't make sense. Did the caller know anything about Israeli gun laws, I wondered, or was she just repeating a story she heard?
When she finished talking, I asked, "Do you know anything about how difficult it is to get a gun in Israel?" Silence. Either she knew nothing, or she had already hung up.
I took a chance, figuring the odds were with me.
After I explained how difficult it is to own a gun in Israel, I said, "With all due respect, I'm going to look this up after the show is over, but I don't believe teachers are armed in Israel's schools. I think that's a bogus argument."
After the show, I looked it up. I was right. The thrust of her argument and most of the details were wrong.
Tags: School shootings , Ma'alot massacre , Israel , Gun regulations , Fox News , NRA , Image
