Advocates Alarmed By 'Backtracking' On Teacher Standards - Disability Scoop

Advocates Alarmed By 'Backtracking' On Teacher Standards - Disability Scoop

Disability advocates are protesting a move by the U.S. Department of Education that they say could leave students in the hands of poor-quality teachers.

In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan this week, a coalition of almost 100 civil rights and disability advocacy groups including the Council for Exceptional Children, The Arc and the National Down Syndrome Society, among others, blasted federal education officials for what they called “apparent backtracking” on measures to ensure that all children have access to good-quality teachers.

The issue harkens back to a provision under No Child Left Behind requiring that children from poor and minority groups are not disproportionately taught by less-experienced or less-qualified educators. More recently, when the Education Department granted states waivers exempting them from some of the law’s obligations, the so-called “teacher equity” requirements remained.

However, members of The Coalition for Teaching Quality charge in their letter this week to Duncan that his department has done little to enforce the rule in recent years. They are further concerned by a letter from the Education Department to chief state school officers last month that backed off plans to require as a condition of the waivers that states use teacher-evaluation data to ensure that certain types of students are not disproportionately taught by ineffective teachers.

The current approach “misses a major opportunity to address one of the most significant issues facing public education,” the coalition said in its letter. “These waiver renewals are an excellent opportunity for the department to advance its equity agenda in a meaningful way.”

Children with disabilities and those from poor and minority backgrounds are least likely to be taught by the most qualified teachers, advocates say.

The Turner Report: Kraus withdraws bill, says he never meant to keep teachers out of politics

The Turner Report: Kraus withdraws bill, says he never meant to keep teachers out of politics

Today (12-13), Sen. Will Kraus, R-Lee’s Summit, comments about the recent withdrawal of his sponsored legislation, Senate Bill 576.

 “On Dec. 2, I prefiled Senate Bill 576 regarding ethics and campaign finance reform.  One section dealt with a prohibition on schools using public funds to campaign for or against issues or candidates.  Unfortunately, a drafting error in the first sentence of the bill makes it unclear.  As is evident in the second sentence, and in the summary of the bill posted online, the intent was to ban the use of “public” funds for campaigning.

 As a member of the military, I have fought for every American’s rights.  That includes the right of free speech and the right to participate in the political process.  My mother and several others in my family were teachers, and I would not ever consider inhibiting their right to speak out or campaign.   I regret that the error gave some that impression.

Rather than wait for an opportunity to fix the drafting error in committee, I have decided to withdraw SB 576.  In return, I will file another Senate bill, which will put public school districts and public institutions of higher learning under the same statute as political subdivisions.  They will be restricted from using public funds to advocate support or oppose any ballot measure or candidate.

I think most people would agree that taxpayer dollars should not be used to campaign.”

Bill would ban Missouri teachers from political activities | Watch the video - Yahoo News

Bill would ban Missouri teachers from political activities | Watch the video - Yahoo News

A bill filed by Missouri State Sen. Will Kraus would keep educators in Missouri from getting involved in any sort of political activity short of voting.

State auditor requests records from Missouri's education chief : News

State auditor requests records from Missouri's education chief : News

Missouri Auditor Thomas Schweich is weighing whether to launch an audit of the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in light of recent controversies involving the education commissioner.

Schweich sent a letter to Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro this week stating his office is considering a probe into the very issues that have triggered calls for her resignation from teachers unions, more than a dozen lawmakers and even the St. Louis County Branch of the NAACP.

Schweich is requesting department documents relating to the development of a plan calling for a new statewide district for underperforming schools, which Nicastro is expected to unveil in January. He wants records concerning the process by which the department procured a contract with CEE-Trust — Cities for Educational Entrepreneurship — an Indianapolis-based firm that’s drafting an improvement plan for Kansas City Public Schools. Schweich also has requested any internal and external communications concerning the proposed constitutional amendment that would eliminate teacher tenure.

Last week, the storm developing around Nicastro intensified after a release of department emails triggered questions about how it entered into a $385,000 contract with CEE-Trust, whose bid was three times higher than the next-highest of four bidders.

The emails showed that Nicastro had been communicating with the firm’s executive director for four months before the contract was agreed upon in August by the state Board of Education.

They also show that she tried to give the contract to CEE-Trust without seeking other bids, until members of the state board raised concerns about circumventing the typical bidding process.

The contract is being paid by private dollars from two groups supportive of charter schools — the Kauffman Foundation and the Hall Family Trust.

Late last month, other department records that became public showed that Nicastro had been consulting with Kate Casas, the state policy director for the Children’s Education Alliance of Missouri, about how to craft a ballot initiative petition aimed at eliminating teacher tenure. Rex Sinquefield, the billionaire investor and school choice advocate, is a primary backer of the organization.

The auditor’s office is requesting the education department to provide the requested documents by Dec. 31. The education department is working to accommodate the request, a department spokeswoman said Friday.

Criticism of Nicastro builds - Columbia Daily Tribune | Columbia Missouri: News

Criticism of Nicastro builds - Columbia Daily Tribune | Columbia Missouri: News

Missouri's top education official is increasingly becoming a flash point as the state wrestles with how to address its most troubled schools.

The pressure on Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro rose another notch yesterday as lawmakers and others criticized the way the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education hired a consultant to develop a turn-around plan for Kansas City Public Schools and other struggling systems across the state.

Their concerns followed the release of emails and a Sunday story in the Kansas City Star that showed Nicastro had been talking with a firm supportive of charter schools for several months before the Missouri Board of Education awarded it a contract to develop the Kansas City school improvement plan.

The firm, Indianapolis-based CEE-Trust, which stands for Cities for Educational Entrepreneurship, received the contract despite costing three times more than the next-highest bidder. The department attempted to hire the consultant without bids but then solicited other proposals after the Missouri Board of Education raised concerns about circumventing the typical process.

State board President Peter Herschend defended the hiring of CEE-Trust as "open and competitive."

"After more than 30 years of failure in" Kansas City schools, "we need to seize this moment to have a community conversation about how we educate our kids," he wrote in a statement. "We ask that you reserve judgment before any plan has been formulated or even ideas discussed."

The emails, obtained through the Open Meetings and Records Law, or Sunshine Law, by an interfaith social organization called More2 and provided to the Post-Dispatch, offer a glimpse into Nicastro's support for creating a statewide district that would operate some of the state's lowest-performing schools — a concept supported by many school superintendents.

The emails show that Nicastro met in August with Norm Ridder, the retiring superintendent of Springfield schools, about the establishiment of this special school district and the possibility of his leading the transition.

They also show that the department's determination to craft a new plan for the unaccredited Kansas City schools didn't waver, even when the district posted its best academic gains in years. The district's annual performance report in August put it in range of provisional accreditation.

In January, Nicastro is expected to present a long-range plan to the state Board of Education on how to address struggling schools. It will fold in recommendations from CEE-Trust and perhaps from school superintendents and school-choice advocates.

Also next month, lawmakers will begin debating potential changes to the school transfer law, which is allowing 2,200 children in the unaccredited Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts to attend higher-performing schools. Normandy and Riverview Gardens are footing the bills.

At a gathering yesterday in north St. Louis County, some members of Metropolitan Congregations United said they've become increasingly disenchanted with Nicastro and the direction the state is heading in addressing the problems of struggling school districts.

The $385,000 contract with CEE-Trust is fully funded by the Kauffman Foundation and Hall Family Trust — two groups that are supportive of charter schools.

"They're totally about privatization," said Carolyn Randazzo, a former teacher who attended yesterday's rally. "Schools are not businesses and cannot be run as businesses."

A storm has been developing around Nicastro for weeks.

Late last month, other emails obtained by the Missouri National Education Alliance showed Nicastro had been consulting with Kate Casas, the state policy director for the Children's Education Alliance of Missouri, about how to craft a ballot initiative petition aimed at eliminating teacher tenure. Rex Sinquefield, the billionaire investor and school choice advocate, is a primary backer of the alliance.

The revelation led Sen. Paul LeVota, D-Independence, and state Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis, to call for Nicastro's resignation. Yesterday, six more lawmakers joined them and called for an investigation into "potential bid-rigging" by Nicastro.

"It is imperative that she resign immediately as state education commissioner or, if she fails to do so, be removed from her post by the Missouri State Board of Education," said the statement signed by Montecillo; LeVota; Rep. Bonnaye Mims, D-Kansas City; Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City; Rep. Judy Morgan, D-Kansas City; Rep. John Mayfield, D-Independence; Rep. Ira Anders, D-Independence; and Rep. Joe Runions, D-Grandview.

Chapelle-Nadal has filed legislation that would allow the Senate to fire the education commissioner with a two-thirds vote. Such a change would require a statewide vote to alter the Missouri Constitution. Currently, Nicastro works for the Missouri Board of Education, whose members are appointed by the governor.

But others came to Nicastro's defense yesterday.

At the rally, Rep. Tommie Pierson, D-St. Louis County, said the transfer situation and funding problems had created a tough political environment for Nicastro.

"A lot of my colleagues are calling for her dismissal," he said. "I hope she weathers this storm."

Herschend suggested the attacks were political. The board urged Nicastro last year "to act swiftly to institute change in unaccredited school districts," Herschend wrote, "but some groups are fighting even suggestions of change."

He said something different was needed. "Change is always hard, and many will oppose change, but what we are doing now is not working."

Calls increase for termination of Missouri education commissioner - KansasCity.com

Calls increase for termination of Missouri education commissioner - KansasCity.com

Why aren't any Republicans calling for this?

The legislators asking for Nicastro’s firing or resignation:

Rep. Genise Montecillo, Democrat; Sen. Paul LeVota, Democrat; Rep. Bonnaye Mims, Democrat; Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, Democrat; Rep. Judy Morgan, Democrat, ; Rep. John Mayfield, Democrat; Rep. Ira Anders, Democrat; Rep. Joe Runions, Democrat

Proposed changes to teacher certification worry some - Columbia Daily Tribune | Columbia Missouri: Education

Proposed changes to teacher certification worry some - Columbia Daily Tribune | Columbia Missouri: Education

A proposed change to certification for early childhood and elementary school teachers has some local education experts concerned.

The proposal, which was developed by the Office of Educator Quality and is recommended by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, would remove kindergarten from the early childhood certification.

Right now, early childhood certification covers working with birth to third grade and overlaps with elementary certification, which covers grades 1-6. In the proposal, early childhood would be limited to birth to pre-K, and elementary would include grades K-6.

Kathy Thornbrook, a researcher for the Center for Family Policy and Research, doesn't think that is the right move.

"I think it would be a disaster for several reasons," Thornbrook said. "One, there would not be near enough pre-kindergarten teachers being trained" if kindergarten teachers no longer get early childhood training.

Overlapping early childhood and elementary certifications means more qualified preschool teachers, she said. That's important, she said, because there will likely be a need for more preschool teachers as federal and state funding increases.

But Thornbrook also stressed that education and development needs differ from kindergarteners to sixth-graders, which is why she suggests breaking up the early childhood certification into two categories, birth to pre-K and pre-K to third grade.

"I think we need to keep the notion of early childhood being birth through third grade and just have teacher training programs be split into those age groups," she said.

Thornbrook isn't alone in having concerns about the proposal.

Karla DeSpain, a former Columbia Board of Education member who now is involved with two early childhood initiatives, said she has mixed feelings about the proposal. She sees a need for more stringent requirements for certification but said she sees the point that fewer people might seek early childhood education certification if kindergarten is no longer a part of that certification.

"As a … community volunteer, I want to make sure we have the people trained and … educated to work with kids before they get to kindergarten," she said. "I'm not sure what's proposed is going to achieve that."

Peter Stiepleman, assistant superintendent of elementary education, said Columbia Public Schools sees some benefits in the changes, such as the opportunity for education majors in the elementary program to do their student teaching in a kindergarten classroom, which hasn't been possible in the past. But the district also has concerns, he said.

"There is a real concern about the level of training elementary teachers will get on early childhood development if kindergarten teachers are no longer a part of the early childhood certification," he said.

DESE spokeswoman Sarah Potter said the department is still gathering feedback on the proposal, but so far DESE is seeing "a lot of consensus" around keeping the birth-to-third-grade certification. She stressed that nothing has been decided yet.

"We put a proposal out there, but nothing is final until we've gathered all kinds of feedback," Potter said. "We've been really happy to get that feedback and really happy to get a consensus."

Missouri school district protects children from critically acclaimed books, but not from rape. | Sky Dancing

Missouri school district protects children from critically acclaimed books, but not from rape. | Sky Dancing

This is one of the most outrageous stories I have ever come across. Via Jezabel, the family of a girl in Springfield, Missouri has filed a lawsuitagainst the Republic School District, claiming the girl was harrassed, sexually assaulted, and raped by a male student on school property.

The suit, filed July 5, alleges when the girl — a special education student — told officials about the harassment, assault and rape that occurred during the 2008-09 school year, they told her they did not believe her. She recanted.

The suit also alleges that, without seeking her mother’s permission, school officials forced the girl to write a letter of apology to the boy and personally deliver it to him. She was then expelled for the rest of the 2008-2009 school year and referred to juvenile authorities for filing a false report.

The suit notes that school officials did not report the girl’s accusation to law enforcement officials, as they are mandated by law to do. Not only that, they apparently didn’t even read the girl’s psychological evaluation–in the school’s files–which described her as “conflict adverse, behaviorally passive” and likely to “forego her own needs and wishes to satisfy the request of others around so she can be accepted.”

In 2010, the girl was “allowed” to return to school, and the harrassment and assaults continued.

In February 2010, the boy allegedly forcibly raped the girl again, this time in the back of the school library. While school officials allegedly expressed skepticism of the girl, her mother took her to the Child Advocacy Center and an exam showed a sexual assault had occurred. DNA in semen found on the girl matched the DNA of the boy she accused, the suit says.

The boy was taken into custody in Juvenile Court and pleaded guilty to charges, the suit says. The specific charges are not stated in the suit.

So there is no question whatsoever that the second rape took place–in the school library! But the school district’s response to the suit claims that the girl’s accusations are “frivolous and have no basis in fact or law.” They further claim that the girl “failed to…protect herself,” and so whatever happened to her was her own fault.

Ironically, this is the same school district that recently banned Kurt Vonnegut’s brilliant novel Slaughterhouse Five and Sara Ockler’s Twenty Boy Summer from their school curricula and libraries. The books were banned by school board members all of whom except one had never read either book, but had been shocked by newspaper column by a Missouri State professor.

Wesley Scroggins, a business professor at Missouri State University, who also pioneered a movement to reshape middle school sex-education classes in Republic’s schools, wrote in a column last year that Vonnegut’s classic contained enough profanity to “make a sailor blush,” and warned that “Twenty Boy Summer” was similarly dangerous.

“In this book,” Scroggins wrote, “drunken teens also end up on the beach, where they use their condoms to have sex.”

Apparently books about consensual sex are wrong, but rapes that take place in the school library are just fine. And if a girl reports being raped, she’ll have to apologize to the boy who did it for speaking up.

This case is very reminiscent of the case of the cheerleader in Texas who was forced to pay damages because she refused to cheer for her rapist, a basketball player. It also reminds me of the case in Muncie, Indiana, in which a girl was raped on school property, and when she reported it, school administrators interrogated the girl and held her for hours in the principal’s office, refusing to report the crime to police.

What is it with school officials who refuse to protect girls from sexual harrassment and rape? The mother of the girl in Muncie is also suing the school system as well as the 16-year-old rapist’s family.

I hope both of these families are successful and that having the pay the settlements will force these school districts to get serious about sexual assault.

Meanwhile, Republic school superintendent Vern Minor should be fired immediately.

Group demands top educator to step down after alleged ‘misuse of power’ | fox4kc.com

Group demands top educator to step down after alleged ‘misuse of power’ | fox4kc.com

A coalition of Kansas City teachers, parents and lawmakers chanted in below-freezing temperatures in the Kansas City Power and Light District to shed some light on what they call “their fight for public education” and they want Missouri State Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro to step down.

“Nicastro must go, Nicastro must go!” shouted the group during their protest Monday near 13th and Grand.

They’re upset after they say Nicastro, in emails obtained by a group and detailed in Sunday’s Kansas City Star, shows support for a school reform agenda that strongly favors charter schools, run by private companies.

“She was wrong. She should be fired,” Amye Cooley, retired Kansas City teacher, said.

“She wasn’t upfront,” Andrea Flinders, president of the Teachers’ Union Local 691, said. “She wasn’t transparent and I just didn’t like the way it was done. It looks like she had a plan for us no matter how well we do with our scores.”

The teachers’ union and its supporters insist Nicastro has teamed up with CEE-Trust, an out of state consulting firm, to pave the way for a corporate takeover of the unaccredited school district at students’ expense.

FOX 4′s Robert Townsend couldn’t reach Nicastro on Monday in Jefferson City.  However, in a statement, State Board of Education President Peter Herschend said in part, “We as a state and the State Board of Education have to find better ways of helping students, schools, teachers and education leadership over the barrier of failing schools.”

Herschend added, “change is always hard and many will oppose change, but what we are doing now is not working.”

“We are committed to another year of showing improvement in the areas that we need to show improvement,” Dr. R. Stephen Green, the Superintendent of Kansas City Public Schools, said.

Meantime, Democratic State Senator Paul LeVota, from Independence, is one of eight Missouri legislators now calling for Chris Nicastro to step down.

“She’s misused her power. She’s done this in the past,” Senator LeVota said.

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Anti-bullying presentation at S-C — Sedalia News Journal

Anti-bullying presentation at S-C — Sedalia News Journal

Tom Durkin, public education director for the State of Missouri Attorney General’s Office, came to Smith-Cotton High School on Tuesday to educate students on the importance of Internet safety.

He started off the presentation by stating just how much technology has progressed since he was a child, and how our uses of it have advanced over that time. But with that came the true meaning of the assembly when he began to talk about the consequences that evolved technology can bring.

The main idea behind his speech was that the Internet is a tool that can be used for good or bad intentions. Using this tool cautiously is the first step behind being safe on the global web. With his main point out on the table, Durkin shared several stories of web tragedies that have occurred in the past several years. These stories were all in the idea of informing the students to see just how much at risk they can be if they put themselves out there.

A few other topics were brought up, such as the damage to your future career that can be caused by doing something quite small on a social media site.

Student perception of this assembly was quite diverse. Ramey Baro said, “It was inspiring, humorous, and presented the information in a fun and relatable way.”

Durkin closed with stating his main and only goal: To instruct the student bodies of the world to be wise when it comes to interacting on the web.Photos courtesy Sedalia School District 200.

Chicago Tribune - More students switch to online schools to escape bullies

Chicago Tribune - More students switch to online schools to escape bullies

My son dropped out to avoid the psychological and emotional damages of adult bullying.

DAYTON, Ohio Krista Hooten saw "terror" in her daughter's eyes as they started back-to-school shopping for seventh grade.

Her daughter, Kelsey, had been bullied the previous year. It started emotionally: Other girls called her ugly and spread rumors about her. But it quickly turned physical: They pulled her hair on the bus and shoved her to the ground.

"It changed her personality," Hooten said. "It was a horrible, horrible year."

Hooten and her husband decided that night they had to make a change. They pulled Kelsey from public school and enrolled her online, through a charter school affiliated with the national education company K12.

Nearly a quarter of parents who enroll their children in K12 programs said bullying is a reason they removed their children from brick-and-mortar schools, according to a recent survey.

About 94 percent of those parents said going online helped address the issue, the survey commissioned by K12 found.

But bullying is a larger issue than that in America.

One-third of all children an estimated 13 million students nationwide are targeted each year, according to the White House. Those students are "more likely to have challenges in school, to abuse drugs and alcohol, and to have health and mental health issues." In some widely publicized cases, victims have committed suicide.

Krista Hooten said her daughter did not vocalize the extent to which she was bullied during sixth grade at Northeastern Local Schools district in Clark County.

Even when the attacks became physical, the Springfield teenager would "come home and not act like it was fine, but act like she was dealing with it and it wasn't that big a deal," Hooten said.

"All I knew at that point was she didn't want to go to the point where she would leave in the morning, she cried all the way to the bus stop," she said.

Hooten said she talked to her daughter's teachers and school administrators but, "their suggestion was: Just tell her to find another group of friends."

Now 16 and in 10th grade, Kelsey said she has been able to escape bullying since she started attending the Ohio Virtual Academy.

The academy now enrolls more than 12,600 students across the state, according to the Ohio Department of Education. It was given an "F" for the indicators it met on the latest state report card, which measures what percent of students passed achievement and graduation tests. About 42 percent of its students graduate in four years, according to its latest report card.

Students are given home computers, printers and a microscope and watch live videos and do chats with licensed teachers.

The online school was created in 2006, and has grown as an option for bullied students even as cyberbullying has become more prominent.

While bullying has always been an issue, one of the reasons it is more discussed today is the rise in activity online, said Susan Davies, school psychology program coordinator at the University of Dayton.

She trains school psychologists on how to recognize, react to and prevent it.

"Because of cyberbullying, students can't escape it," she said. "It's not something that's just happening at school. They're being targeted in their home when they're not even around other kids. That has become really difficult to address at the school level because there's kind of that question: Where does our jurisdiction end when it's our students that we're caring for throughout the day being bullied through the Internet?

"The kids are so savvy that they're kind of escaping notice of the adults in their lives. As soon as we get on whatever the next hot social media site is and start monitoring kids on Facebook. Well, Facebook isn't cool anymore, we're going to move to Twitter. And we're going to move to Instagram. It's hard for us to monitor them."

The Ohio Virtual Academy is not immune to cyberbullying, but does have a zero-tolerance policy, like many schools, said Kristin Stewart, senior head of school.

The school has expelled and suspended students in the past, though it's not common, she said.



The academy trains its teacher to look for signs of bullying, and Stewart said she thinks "in some ways it's brought to light even sooner because the teachers are online with students."

"Sometimes it takes these students a little bit to earn trust back," Stewart said. "But once they do, we have especially in middle school and high school we have blogs and Facebook where kids can go online and meet each other. They can approach getting back to school safely because they're in their homes and they're feeling safe. They can move at their own pace."

The school also offers extra curriculars, dances and other get-togethers for students.

Students also choose the school because they are struggling in certain subjects, because their families rely on them to work, because they have children of their own or because they want to challenge themselves, Stewart said.



Hooten's two other daughters also attend the Ohio Virtual Academy. Lexie, 14, started to give herself more time for her 20-hour-a-week dance commitment. Hannah, 11, enrolled because she was missing many days of traditional school due to her asthma.

Kelsey will begin next year taking college courses for free through the state's postsecondary enrollment option.

Her mother said the change in her personality was almost immediate after she left pubic school.

"She was just happier again," she said. "You just really underestimate, even though she's beautiful ... it's amazing what peers can do when they're telling you the opposite."

Education Week

Education Week

In response to a slew of complaints from schools and districts, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to delay for two years a significant expansion of its civil-rights data collection that asked more questions about student discipline and bullying. 

The Education Department had wanted to dig deeper into school discipline and other issues starting in the 2013-14 school year. But now, that information won't be collected until the 2015-16 school year, according to new documents posted on the office for civil rights' website. 

Data points that will be delayed include: the number of incidents of violent and serious crimes, number of school days missed by students who received out-of-school suspensions, and number of allegations of harassment or bullying on the basis of sexual orientation or religion. 

Reporting that data will be optional. And the department says in its Dec. 4 Federal Register response that it will use the extra time to "provide intensive technical assistance to schools and school districts so they will be prepared to provide accurate data when required for the 2015-16 collection." 

The Education Department, which received nearly 300 comments on the proposed new questions, said "many of the commenters who raised concerns about the proposed data collection focused on the need for more notice and lead time to provide comprehensive and accurate data..." 

Indeed, accuracy of the civil rights' data has been a problem. The data collection became public last year for the first time, and reports school-level data that often can't be found anywhere else on everything from course-taking to grade-level retention. 

Federal officials, however, are keeping a few new questions for the 2013-14 year, including ones about chronic absenteeism, distance education, and the cost to parents of preschool and kindergarten programs. (Schools and districts will answer the survey questions in the fall of 2014, which will reflect data from the 2013-14 academic year.) 

Final approval of this new data collection, which must come from the federal Office of Management and Budget, is expected in early 2014. 

New York City special-education cases against the city on the rise - Daily News

New York City special-education cases against the city on the rise - Daily News

SO MANY PARENTS filed complaints over the city’s handling of special education for their kids that the state was forced to call in upstate hearing officers to help with the caseload, the Daily News has learned.

State figures show a whopping 2,114 complaints filed during September and October — roughly 50 cases per business day, and a more than 33% spike compared with last year.

Almost all of them — 97%— are seeking public funding for private school tuition, the city said.

Experts suggested multiple factors could account for the increase: The state’s decision to limit the use of certain private schools, an earlier backup in appeals that may have delayed lawyers from filing new cases, and the city’s special-education reforms for public schools.

The city has been pushing for more special-needs students to attend public schools that are closer to home — but the United Federation of Teachers and some parents argue these schools aren’t always equipped to serve the kids.

“The kids are not getting what they need for services,” said Carmen Alvarez, the UFT’s vice president for special education.

City officials say it’s too early to be sure the pattern will hold and that November already shows a downtick in hearing requests.

The city Education Department “is committed to making sure that students with disabilities receive the programs and services they need,” said schools spokesman Marcus Liem.

U.S. Department of Education official discusses federal education priorities with NSBA « School Board News

U.S. Department of Education official discusses federal education priorities with NSBA « School Board News

A top federal official outlined the U.S. Department of Education’s priorities and upcoming initiatives at the National School Boards Association’s (NSBA) 2013-14 Board of Directors meeting on Dec. 6, 2013.

Deborah S. Delisle, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE), oversees more than 100 prek-12 programs, including early learning, accountability, mental health, literacy, civic education, and school safety; as well as programs for disadvantaged students, including Title I, and programs for homeless and migrant students.

Delisle emphasized the need for local control and flexibility as she spoke to the group of school board leaders and NSBA staff. She discussed topics including flexibility to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—and noted that there currently there are 37 separate accountability systems. She also touched on college affordability and funding; the increasing number of homeless kids in college; and school climate and safety, including the agency’s Project Serve.

Delisle also discussed the disparate suspension rates among students living in poverty and students with disabilities, a topic of interest to NSBA. She referred to evidence in civil rights data collected by the agency–as an example she spoke of a school that suspended an African-American kindergartener for five days for pulling a fire alarm; a similar incident in another school resulted in a one-day suspension for a student who was white.

And Delisle pointed to the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., as an example of the need for enhanced mental health support.

The Department of Education also is examining ongoing “opportunity and expectation gaps,” and the ongoing need to deal responsibly with equity issues, she noted in her remarks.

NSBA is represented by Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel in bi-monthly meetings with top Department of Education officials and leading education organizations, which include AASA, the School Superintendents Association, National Association of Elementary School Principals, Council of Chief State School Officers, National Association of State Boards of Education, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The meetings serve as a platform for the groups’ executive leadership to convene to discuss various issues, share new policy and update the entire group on happenings within each organization.

Feds decline civil rights investigation of EPISD cheating scandal - El Paso Times

Feds decline civil rights investigation of EPISD cheating scandal - El Paso Times

Department of Education won't take action on potential civil rights violations from cheating at El Paso Independent School District because they occurred prior to the last six months, two top department officials told U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke in a letter this week.

The officials said department regulations bar such investigations if the allegations are more than 180 days old, but another Department of Education official told the El Paso Times that the agency has much broader discretion that would allow an investigation if high-ranking officials so chose. The conflicting responses left O'Rourke frustrated and seeking additional answers.

Two assistant secretaries of education wrote a letter to O'Rourke this week in response to his request for an update on the federal agency's actions since an audit released this summer found widespread cheating between 2007 and 2010 in EPISD. In particular, O'Rourke had asked whether the agency was following up on an audit recommendation that the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights investigate whether the cheating scheme violated the civil rights of EPISD students.

The audit found that the cheating scheme targeted students in EPISD's Priority Schools Division -- particularly Mexican immigrant students in high schools. Some were improperly retained in ninth-grade to keep them from taking the 10th-grade standardized test used for federal accountability measures; others were inexplicably vaulted from ninth to 11th grade for the same purpose, the audit found. Others were simply pushed out of school

Department of Education regulations prevent an investigation of civil rights violations in the EPISD cheating scheme because the allegations are too old, two assistant secretaries of education told O'Rourke in a letter Tuesday.

"(The Office for Civil Rights') regulations require that complaints be filed within 180 days of the alleged act of discrimination -- the underlying incidents at issue occurred in the 2007-08 and 2008-09 school years, with ramifications for graduation rates through the 2011-12 school year," said Deborah Delisle, the assistant secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary of the Office for Civil Rights.

But the Department of Education regulations allow broad discretion in ordering civil rights investigations beyond the 180-day window, said Catherine Grant, the spokeswoman for the agency's Office of the Inspector General.

It was an audit by the inspector general, begun in December 2010 and finalized in June of this year, that recommended a follow-up investigation by the civil rights office.

The Times asked Grant if the auditors were aware of the 180-day provision and, if so, why they'd suggest further investigation of allegations they knew were several years old.

"Yes, we were aware of the 180-day complaint filing time frame," Grant said in an email to the Times.

"We made the recommendation because OCR has discretion to extend the 180-day complaint deadline," she said.

"Second, a complaint is only one of the bases on which they are authorized to conduct a review or investigation. OCR can conduct a review whenever they want; and can investigate based on any information that indicates a possible violation."

The media office at the Department of Education declined requests for comment on the letter sent by Delisle and Lhamon to O'Rourke.

O'Rourke has been pushing the Department of Education for months for explanations about actions it's taking toward EPISD and other El Paso County school districts where cheating was alleged. He was clearly exasperated with the latest developments, saying the speed of the department's response so far has been "incredibly frustrating."

"This doesn't seem to be a priority for them," he said. "I'm just expecting more out of the Department of Education. I want to be constructive. I don't want to just rail against them, I want to find a way that we can work to get this done."

After learning that Grant had told the Times that the department had broad discretion on civil rights investigation, O'Rourke sent another letter Friday night to Delisle and Lhamon, the two assistant secretaries.

"Could you clarify whether the (Office for Civil Rights) has declined to exercise this discretion in this case or whether you would consider future complaints from the time period covered in the audit? Additionally, given your broad authority ... to investigate outside of the complaint process, will you be using that authority to carry out recommendation 1.10 of the audit to determine whether students' civil rights were violated and what the appropriate remedy for those students should be?" he wrote.

Department of Education media officials couldn't be reached for comment after O'Rourke sent the letter Friday night.

"The single most urgent part of this whole scandal is trying to get justice for these kids who were denied an education," O'Rourke said in an interview with the Times.

Andrew Kreighbaum covers El Paso Independent School District. He may be reached at 546-6127.