METHUEN — The president of the teachers' union defended a decision made in a secret session to annul the results of an election she lost last month and schedule a new vote for May 24.

The Methuen Education Association executive board voted on May 2 to hold another vote for president after president Donna Gogas disputed the original election held April 12, which she lost by about 70 votes.

The MEA had 725 members in fiscal year 2011, according to state records.

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Last July, your editor argued for school choice activists and other reformers to take a page out of the playbook of funding and equity activists and embrace legal action to advance overhauls at the state and district levels. Since then, Parent Power activists such as those in the Los Angeles Unified School District organized by Alice Callaghan (with backing from the school reform group EdVoice) , and the Connecticut Parents Union have launched their own tort actions to force districts and states to use objective student performance data in teacher evaluations and end Zip Code education policies that criminalize the actions of families such as that of Marie Menard who want to keep their kids out of failure mills.

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Every few weeks, a group of education reform advocacy organizations (ERAOs) gathers in Washington, D.C., to compare notes and plot strategy in what is (half in jest) referred to as “fight club.” Like the subject of the 1999 David Fincher movie, this fight club sees itself as the underdog in an epic struggle for freedom and equality. While the target of the film’s ire is consumerism, these national ERAOs and their counterparts at the state level are focused on enacting sweeping education policy changes to increase accountability for student achievement, improve teacher quality, turn around failing schools, and expand school choice. As Terry Moe documents in his recent book, Special Interest, for decades the politics of school reform have been dominated by the education establishment, the collection of teachers unions and other school employee associations derisively called the “blob” by reformers. But the past two years have witnessed an unprecedented wave of state education reforms, much of it fiercely opposed by the unions. The ERAOs played an active role in pushing for these changes, and it is clear that they are reshaping the politics of school reform in the United States in important ways. But does the reform blob really stand a chance of defeating the education blob?

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On any given day, about 90% of USA students come to school — pretty good as attendance goes. But scratch beneath the surface and you may find less flattering figures.

New research suggests that as many as 7.5 million students miss a month of school each year, raising the likelihood that they'll fail academically and eventually drop out of high school.

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Photo Credit: AARON SHOWALTER FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Reprinted from The New York Daily News 

Applying for college is even more stressful for 200 city teens who have to retake the SATs after they sat too close together.

The high school juniors who took the exam May 5 at Packer Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn saw their scores tossed because anti-cheating rules were violated, officials said.

“I’m very, very upset,” said Allana Edwards, 17, a Packer junior from Queens has to retake the grueling, three-hour exam. “People burst into tears.”

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HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii's teacher union members begin voting this week on a contract they rejected earlier this year, despite warnings from the state that the agreement is no longer valid.

Hawaii State Teachers Association members will vote electronically and via telephone from Thursday through Tuesday.

Union leaders said the unusual, unprecedented effort to ask members to revisit the contract they rejected in January is an attempt to prevent the state from losing a $75 million federal grant to carry out education reforms. The U.S. Department of Education has warned the grant could be taken away because of unsatisfactory progress on promised reforms, including using student performance when evaluating teachers and determining compensation.

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Photo Credit: Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune

Reprinted from Nola.com 

In a move unprecedented in the recent history of Jefferson Parish public education, the School Board voted 8-1 on Wednesday to close seven campuses. The decision means next week, with the conclusion of the 2011-12 school year, the schools will adjourn for the last time.

The campuses going dark are Kate Middleton Elementary in Gretna, Homedale Elementary in Harvey, Rillieux Elementary in Waggaman, Maggiore Elementary in Metairie, Bunche Academy in Metairie, St. Ville Academy in Harvey and Waggaman School. The first four are traditional elementary schools whose students will disperse to other sites. The others are alternative programs for students struggling academically, which will shift onto high school campuses or join other alternative sites.

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Ellis-Stewart

Reprinted from Charlotte Observer 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board chair Ericka Ellis-Stewart said Wednesday that she’s thankful for the proposed $9.1 million increase in county support for schools, but added that it does not meet the needs of the school district.

“The amount last night was the (county) manager’s recommendation,” Ellis-Stewart said at a news conference. “Commissioners still need to hear from the public to support or adjust it up or down.”

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With more applications than spots available, IDEA Allan is holding a lottery today at Austin school district headquarters for admission to the new in-district charter program opening in August at Allan Elementary School.

More than 675 students applied to 600 spots as of the deadline earlier this month. As a result, IDEA Allan will hold a lottery, during which they will use a computer program used by the district to randomly select who gets to go to the school in East Austin.

About 30 percent — or 175 of the spots available — were filled by students who live near Eastside Memorial High School, a percent some argue is too low for a program that was supposed to help that particular part of the community. Attendance was guaranteed to students who lived in the area.

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Legislative leaders want the governor call a special session to correct a $25 million education budget mistake, they said Wednesday.

But lawmakers don’t agree about when it should be held or whether to also use the time to reconsider SB10, a bill to ensure college readiness testing, such as the ACT, for all students. That bill failed, without having received a final vote, when the clock ran out on the legislative session earlier this year.

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