Sunday, May 31, 2009

The news that didn’t fit from May 31st

California State PTA: NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO RETREAT FROM ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF ALL CHILDREN

California State PTA President Pam Brady called on state leaders to redouble their efforts to steer California through its current economic crisis, following the defeat yesterday of five measures on the May 19 special election ballot.

"The defeat of these measures doesn't change our need to find budget and funding solutions for California; it only adds new urgency to our task," said Brady, on behalf of California State PTA's nearly 1 million volunteer members.

"We also must dispel this notion once and for all that cutting vital programs is the only way to close the state's deficit. Polls consistently show the public does not want cuts to schools. We need a thoughtful, balanced approach both for the short and long-term."

"An entire generation of California children is threatened unless we change way decisions are being made in Sacramento right now."

L.A. SCHOOL WINS ENVIRONMENTAL PRIZE: Jefferson High School, Lexus and Alicia Keys Partner for 'Lexus Keys To Innovation'
Sunday, May 31, 2009 6:42 AM
FROM Lexus Cars Press Release       4/9/2009 - Lexus and Alicia Keys honor Los Angeles' Thomas Jefferson High School through 'Lexus Keys to Innovation'; awards TJHS a $10,000 Grand Prize to foster its environmental programs for future students and the community.   Lexus and multi Grammy award-winning recording artist Alicia Keys, announced today that Los Angeles’ Thomas Jefferson High School,


LAUSD CUTTING BACK ON SUMMER SCHOOL: Like the song says... school's out for summer.
Friday, May 29, 2009 11:49 AM
City News Service      Thursday, 28 May 2009, 10:56 PM PDT - Los Angeles -  Summer school has been canceled this year for Los Angeles Unified School District elementary and middle schools due to declining revenues and the current state budget deficit, officials announced on Thursday.  The move is expected to affect more than 225,000 students and save about $34 million, according to the district.

HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCH EFFORTS FACE DAUNTING HURDLES: The U.S. government spends about $11.7 billion a year on school programs that provide lunch for over 30 million children and breakfast for more than 10 million -- but has not updated nutritional standards and meal requirements since 1995.
Friday, May 29, 2009 11:27 AM
By Lisa Baertlein, Reuters from the Montreal (Canada) Gazette    Photograph by: Jana Birchum, Getty Images  LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - School cafeteria meals like low-fat pizzas with whole grain crust don't taste too bad to Paola Villatoro, a 17-year-old at Downtown Magnet High School in Los Angeles.  "Some of it is pretty good," she said.  But West Adams Preparatory School student Alfredo Segura

AN UNFINISHED CANVAS • Arts Education in California: taking stock of policies and practices
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 1:41 PM
sri International + THE WILLIAM AND FLORA HEWLETT FOUNDATION | March 2009     California policymakers have established ambitious goals for arts education, calling on schools to provide a standards-based, sequential course of study in dance, music, theater, and visual arts. Yet An Unfinished Canvas, a report by SRI International, revealed that an overwhelming majority of California schools fail to

DESIGNING THE ARTS LEARNING COMMUNITY: A Handbook for K-12 Professional Development Planners
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 12:27 PM
A Project of: Los Angeles County Arts Commission  | San Francisco Arts Commission and Santa Clara County Office of Education          Synthesizing extensive research of arts education practice across the United States, this handbook is a guide to designing arts education professional development for K-12 classroom teachers and provides a searchable database of 50 arts learning communities.


NYC TEACHER AGAINST MAYORAL CONTROL: All that power hasn't made things better
Tuesday, May 26, 2009 8:44 AM
By Arthur Goldstein | SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS   Sunday, May 24th 2009, 4:00 AM -- As a teacher in an A-rated school, I believe mayoral control has been an absolute disaster.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Our federal and state governments have checks and balances so no one person has total control, which is a synonym for dictatorship.   City kids need reasonable class sizes and

ALL SMOKE & MIRRORS: Schwarzenegger missed his golden opportunity to give Californians the truth
Monday, May 25, 2009 10:11 AM
He promised to make it work by cutting 'waste, fraud and abuse.' It was never that easy. The real solutions are obvious, though.     Michael Hiltzik’s Page One/Column One column from the May 21st LA Times – republished at 4LAKids A STATE WITHOUT A BUDGET/A GOVERNMENT WITHOUT A CLUE blog

HUNDREDS OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PROTEST TEACHER CUTS + STORM BREWING AT SANTEE
Sunday, May 24, 2009 6:30 PM
Hundreds of high school students protest teacher cuts: About 2,250 teachers are expected to lose jobs as L.A. Unified tries to balance its budget.  By Howard Blume From the Los Angeles Times  May 23, 2009 -- Hundreds of Los Angeles high school students stayed out of class on Friday to protest looming teacher layoffs. At one school, they also threatened to boycott important state testing that

GETTING SCIENTIFIC ABOUT ARTS EDUCATION: A new interdisciplinary field researches the effects of learning fine arts on a student's brain.
Sunday, May 24, 2009 5:50 PM
Liz Bowie From the Los Angeles Times  May 24, 2009 -- Reporting from Baltimore — For years, school systems across the nation dropped classes in the fine arts to concentrate on getting students to pass tests in reading and mathematics.  Now, a growing body of brain research suggests that teaching the arts may be good for students across all disciplines.  Scientists are looking at, for

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