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Ifay Chang for/on Education
Response to The Questions from The Journal News about School
Board Election(4/07)
School Board Statements (IFC)(4/07)
Press Release
Public Forum Related to School Board
Unfunded and Underfunded Mandates (3/9/12)
By the
terms "unfunded and underfunded", anyone with a brain would know
that it is not a fair mandate. It is equivalent to impose taxes
on citizens without the citizens' consent. Citizens have an
obligation to pay taxes but also have a right to approve or
disapprove the taxes through their legislative representatives.
When the legislative representatives fail to listen to the
voting citizens, it is time to vote them out. For struggling
public school systems, many unfunded and underfunded mandates,
such as pension contribution, transportation obligation and many
regulation for special ed exceeding the Federal Law requirement
must be relieved for the public schools to be sustainable
financially. The legislators must assist in this effort which
should be measured as their effectiveness.
LHCSS Documents on UUM
WPSBA's Focus on UUM www.wpsba.org
Pension Reform Is A Fairness Issue
It is
only natural that everyone would like to have a great pension
when one retires. However, it is only fair that everyone makes
fair contribution to one's pension so the pension system is
sustainable for current employees and future employees. If the
employer could not sustain such a pension burden, the end result
would have to be job cuts or bankruptcy. Then the pension
formula is clearly not a workable one. The NY State Assembly's
failure to initiate a Tier VI pension system is essentially
writing a death warrant for the NY State pension system and the
public servants in the system.
The
Impact of 2% Tax Cap on Schools
Governor
Cuomo finally got his tax cap passed as law. Doubtless, this
will have tremendous impact on schools as well as local
governments. Just focusing on the public schools, it is creating
a financial crisis for many districts, some in the near future
some immediate. Governor Cuomo must be given credit for
generating this crisis which will force the public and schools
to deal with it, hopefully with reforms and solutions that will
improve our public school systems.
As the
budget planning for 2012-13 is coming around the corner, the
question is whether a school district can live under the 2% tax
cap or not? In the days ahead, all school boards (and the
public) must face this issue and seek solutions.
Teacher and Principal Evaluation (5/14/2011)
New York
State is developing a teacher and principal evaluation method
and process, APPR.
This link is the task force report.
Center for Education Reform's Media Bullpen blog
(5/13/2011)
Controversy in Education
Reform (3/21/2011)
The education reform issue has
been grabbing headlines along with financial crisis and budget
deficits. True, our education system needs reform from students
outcome point of view and also true our public school systems
have become financially not sustainable. Fortunately, in our
democratic country, people are free to organize and deal with
crises and issues. In this website, I have been making links to
education related articles and news. Here in this column, I will
highlight the most important and influential articles to call
your attention. In the following, there is a video addressing
the LIFO (last in first out teacher layoff) issue and there is a
lengthy article about Michelle Rhee's reform effort or crusade.
Both are worthy your time to view them.
The
impact of LIFO (2 min video)
New York Magazine Article on ReformEffort
The Teacher Union Staff
Averages More than 50% higher Pay Than Classroom Teachers
According to an official report
from US Department of Labor, the over 500 staff employees in NY
Teachers Union get average pay of $103, 966 versus average
classroom teacher pay of $66,760 (9/09-8/10). The union
collected $218 million in revenue ($$113M directly from Teachers
payroll) whereas The teachers development funding from the State
via teacher centers program is barely a $100M. Do the math, it
seems to suggest that the teachers may not be worse off if
treated and rewarded as a professional like any other profession
(accountants, lawyers, etc) without a union. By and large the
communities would like to reward their teachers especially good
teachers with a decent salary for the sake of their children.
The inflexible pension contribution, the Last-in-first-out
layoff rule, the unfair contract negotiation process and strict
working hours are union's accomplishments not so much as true
benefits for teachers but diminution of the value and respect of
the teaching profession and worst of it damaging the usual good
relationship between teachers and parents when everyone is faced
with a financial crisis.
See
report on lavish teachers union
SCSD Hired Dr. Ray Blanch as
Its New Superintendent (7/30/10)
Over four months intensive search
effort, the Somers Central School District offered Dr. Raymond
Blanch the superintendent position to be effective as of August
25th in time to open the new school year. The employment of Dr.
Blanch is the result of launching a nationwide search, screening
55 applicants and conducting multiple interview processes
involving the full board and the school as well as the community
constituents. Dr. Blanch is formerly superintendent of Lewis
Palmer School District of Colorado with a BS degree from SUNY
Buffalo majoring in elementary education and concentration in
Psychology, a M.Ed. in Education Administration from Colorado
State University and a Ph.D. in Education Leadership from
University of Denver. With experiences as superintendent,
assistant superintendent, principal and elementary teacher, Dr.
Blanch is returning to his home state to lead Somers Central
School District to greatness and excellence as expected by the
board and the community.
Should School Board Groom
Potential Superintendent? (7/18/10)
The
question is a legitimate one. The most important responsibility
of the school board is to hire a qualified rightly matched
superintendent for their district. What would be a better way
than to groom a future superintendent with the current
superintendent? Of course this calls for a forward looking board
and a secure and cooperating superintendent. This is not a
difficult task for the board to put in a contract with a
superintend to make sure the board and the superintendent will
develop a succession plan jointly.
Editorial: School boards should groom potential
superintendents (7/15/10)
Something Bill & Melinda Foundation Can Help to Effect
Meaningful Education Reform (7/15/10)
After
reading the article, 'Teachers' Pest', by Daniel Golden, in
Bloomberg Business Week, (issue of 7/19-25), I sympathize
and admire more the Gates Foundation's effort. Millions of
dollars spent revealed that class size is not really a
significant factor for better education and quality teaching is.
Hence the foundation is turning its focus, aligning with NCLB
and RTTT and the current education administration, to address
the student performance issue by advocating removing bad
teachers and rewarding or incenting good teachers. I fully agree
with this concept or initiative, however, I am concerned that
the test score, used alone as the main data to drive the
implementation of achieving quality teaching, is lacking
scientific basis. The causality principle for quality teaching
leading to great student performance has many causes and the
test score may be a manifestation of the effect of the many
causes but by itself yields no explicit correlation to a single
cause leading to quality teaching.
I have
chosen education as my retirement focus (albeit with no
foundation) because I believe education is the most fundamental
issue over healthcare, poverty, global economy, environment...
even world peace; education is the ultimate solution to all the
other issues. Our challenge is to provide all children with
quality education so they will have knowledge, skills and desire
to deal with all life issues after being educated. Like Gates
and many others concerned with education, I struggled with this
challenge. Many times I thought about writing a proposal to the
Gates Foundation but was discouraged by its policy it would not
accept proposals from individuals. The business week article
referenced below prompted me to write this blog to propose a
solution to effect quality teaching which I believe will be
fruitful if it is implemented by an independent, self-funded
organization such as the Bill & Melinda Foundation. I will
outline the main points of this proposal in this blog hopefully
it will induce some organizations to bring to and work with the
Gates Foundation.
The
concept of the solution is quite simple, call it 'Dear Teacher
Card' (DTC program). A card filled out by each student for his
or her teacher each semester. The card will have simple
questions to reveal and encourage quality teaching, did I learn
'the subject'?, do I like to learn more? Can I learn more or do
better? How can teacher help me to learn more? What did I like
or dislike the subject class? Who is the best teacher I liked
before? I think I can learn more if ......... The student
report card that teachers write for each student serve as an
effective communication tool to a student and his or her
supporting parents about their learning process and progress.
Similarly, the 'Dear Teacher Card' is a communication tool for
students to build a bond with their teachers and their
supporting school administrators about learning and quality
teaching. The information obtained from DTC can be very helpful
in improving teaching and teacher development.
Why is
'Dear Teacher Card' useful? Students are the center of
education. They are all innocent to begin with, their feelings
are genuine and their observations are personal with little
bias. The good students will produce perhaps more feedback about
how good teachers teach and how they may teach more and the
problem students will reveal problems in ineffective teaching
and how to deal with the problems. Tracking DTCs over grade
progression and over time will help teachers (and
administrators) to be more effective. The new teachers can learn
through those direct feedback. All teachers will find
satisfaction when students express their appreciation and made
reference to their tender loving teachers.
Why do
we need an independent organization like Gates foundation to
promote and implement and track this program? I am sure you can
easily find the answers. The school administration even
motivated is not likely to have resources to implement this
program to track the 'Dear Teacher Card' over K-12 as a
continuum. Even though the feedback from DTC are valuable
for quality teaching, the teachers and the unions behind are
likely to oppose it. The parents and students are not likely to
give frank comments about teachers for fear of consequences if
DTCs are not handled by an independent organization.
An
independent foundation can underwrite the 'Dear Teacher Card'
program by (i) offering grants to willing/participating schools
to cover their material and clerical cost and (ii) employing an
independent consulting company to work with the schools to
accomplish the objectives. The program tasks that the consultant
company and the school district should perform can be outlined
as follows:
1. Hold
focus sessions with teachers and administrators to understand
their unique issues related to improving quality teaching.
2.
Develop a common set of 'Dear Teacher Card' questions for each
grade which will capture the feedback from students for
teachers. A few specific questions pertaining to the specific
participating school should be added to the card, including
questions allowing students to give anonymous answers.
3.
Analyze the 'Dear Teacher Card' and correlate and track K-12
over a a number of years to yield results (and improvements) for
elementary school, middle school and high school on quality
teaching.
4.
Publish analysis, recommendations and achievements derived from
the 'DTC' program to improve quality teaching.
5.
Disseminate 'DTC' cards and analysis back to students so they
can continue to participate in DTC program and get better year
after year.
6.
Distribute DTC analysis back to teachers and hold staff
development meetings with teachers and administrators when
specific improvement issues warrant such meetings.
With a
willing participating school's cooperation, the program can be
administered with a reasonable cost. The DTC cards are collected
twice a year (online submission may be a desirable way of doing
this) and bulk of the analysis work will be done during school
recesses by consultants with voluntary administrators. For a
typical school district of a few thousand students, this program
may cost about $1.5M for a period of 13 years. The initial
planning and first year implementation may be budgeted for
$250,000 then subsequent years down to $100,000 per year (the
administrative cost should go down sufficiently to cover
inflation) A one-time incentive to induce schools to participate
may be a teacher development grant of $500,000 to be used by
schools for staff development in conjunction with the DTC
program over the life of the program. If the foundation
allocates $200M and selects 100 school districts in the country
to participate in this program, I believe, a new culture and new
bonding between teachers and students will be created leading to
quality teaching/learning in a very fundamental manner visible
in a few years time.
Ifay
Chang
(This is
my personal opinion not necessarily endorsed by any school or
the school board and Teacher Center I serve)
Gates Foundation betting business approach can work wonders in
the classroom
(7/15/10)
Ravitch's 'modest' vision for school reform
(7/6/10)
Somers Central School District
Hires Dr. Stephen Leitman as Interim Superintendent (6/16/10)
Dr. Leitman formerly
Superintendent of Garden City School District, a graduate from
New York University and Fordham University with a PhD in
curriculum and teaching, has accepted an appointment as the
interim superintendent for SCSD effective July 1st, 2010 while
the school board is focusing on recruiting a permanent
superintendent. Dr. Leitman is a resident of Somers. He is
formally introduced to the community at the June 15 school board
meeting at Primrose Elementary School.
Serving the Executive Board of
the Westchester Putnam School Board Association (WPSBA) (6/4/10)
After being elected on May 18 to
serve three more years as the trustee for the Somers Central
School District, Dr. Chang was sought out by WPSBA to serve on
its executive board. After consulting with his district, he
accepted WPSBA's nomination. On June 3rd, he was elected to that
board. Already serving as the representative from Somers Central
School District to the Legal Actions Committee of WPSBA, his new
role will get him more involved in school board and school
issues such as unfunded mandates, school aids, pension reform,
...Dr. Chang urges you to visit the new WPSBA website and get
involved if you can raise awareness of any school board issue or
support any WPSBA's action plan
http://www.wpsba.org/
Ifay Chang Decides to seek
re-election to the SCSD school board (4/19/10)
With family's support, Dr. Chang
will seek re-election to serve the SCSD school board in the
coming election on May 18th. Dr. Chang urges voters to cast
their vote of confidence for the candidates and pass the school
budget which is thoughtfully constructed with economic situation
and NY State financial crisis in consideration. The Westchester
Putnam School Board Association has made a survey on school
budgets which is shown below for your review:
Comparisons of School Budgets - a survey (updated 5/1/10)
Challenges of Finding
Education Leadership for Somers Central School District - Public
Survey (3/27/2010)
Due to retirements, SCSD now has
three key positions (Superintendent, Primary School Principal
and Middle School Principal) to be filled for the coming
academic year. While the able current superintendent is working
diligently to get the recruiting process for principals
launched, the board is challenged to search for an new
superintendent to fill a very big pair of shoes. In the interest
of conducting an efficient and productive search process, the
board is working with a search consultant and soliciting public
support in terms of ideas and suggestions. Hence, there is a
public survey for Somers school district residents and school
personnel online. I urge you to take a look and send in your
opinion.
Somers School District Public Survey
www.surveymonkey.com/s/somers
Assessment of Westchester High
School
The April issue of Westchester
Magazine have a nice article assessing the performance of our
county's high schools. Statistical numbers can only be used as a
general reference, they can hardly give an in-depth
representation of specifics that are unique and important to our
high schools. However, the magazine also has a few nice articles
written by Dave Donelson on teacher quality, programs for
stellar students and the principals' pick of best teachers.
These would be worthy reading material if you did care about our
kids' education. The interviews with the best teachers is also
available on-line at
http://www.westchestermagazine.com
A Presentation Related to
Pedagogy
I had the pleasure conducting an
experimental teaching of Mandarin in a Cablecast environment.
The results were astonishing. The following link is a paper
written about this experiment.
Slide Presentation at www.tlcis.us with YouTube
Full Paper at www.tlcis.us
What Does Max Out Mean in A
Career?
This seems to be a question for
public careers such as public servants like educators in the
public schools. It is a question best answered in financial
terms. Max out generally means the financial reward for continue
working is diminishing to almost zero compared to the financial
reward by taking the retirement. Unfortunately, many
retirement systems (such as teachers, police etc) have been set
to have a max out 'age' too young. Such a retirement system
gives a negative incentive to capable and experienced
professionals to continue on a career to benefit the public or
children in the teacher's case. In a society, life span is
increasing and working age is being extended beyond 65, any
early max out retirement system is definitely counter productive
and it may not even guarantee a happy retired life watching
peers of the same age being productively working.
Tracking Student Progress and
Linking to Public School Performance
The ultimate goal and measure of
public school is their students performance, not only in school
years but beyond. Hence tracking student progress and making
such statistical data available to guide public school reform
and evaluation of pedagogical results seems to make a lot of
sense. A number of states are attempting to do just that. It
seems to be a reasonable goal for every school board to set; the
public schools should begin to take advantage of the digital
technologies invested in public schools to track student
progress from K to 12 and with students (families) cooperation
going beyond graduation. The following linked article should
stimulate some thinking. Some are concerned about the Federal's
role in controlling education and some are concerned about
invasion of privacy. To the former, the Federal education
department can simply encourage the local schools and States to
move in the right direction. To the latter, we can point to the
experience of school systems dealing with Special Education.
With today's information technologies, the privacy concern on
student data seems to be just an excuse for inaction in view of
the fact that vast data systems have been built in medial
(healthcare and insurance) and financial (banks and credit
cards) industries for operational and efficiency purposes. Can
we live without those data systems?
Student data systems, unite!
( 2/16/2010)
Once-In-A-Life-Time Art
Performance
Somers Central School District
(SCSD) had the fortune to host the Special Experimental High
School (SDSZ, of Beijing Normal University) to visit and perform
their arts program (dance, chorus and music instrument) at the
Somers Middle School on January 29, 2010. As an exciting global
exchange event, the SCSD mdidle school and high school students
performed for the visitors and the visiting SDSZ group held a
public performance at the SMS auditorium. The auditorium was
filled to capacity with many dignitaries and school supporters
attended including State Senator, Assemblyman, County Government
and Somers Town Supervisor. SDSZ is not only a famous school
with achievements, it is chartered to be a model school for
China's public school systems in terms of pedagogy and education
reform.
Beijing SDSZ Arts Performance
SDSZ Program
Photo Gallery (2/1/2010)
Be The Change for Kids
We are all concerned about the
education for kids. "Be the Change for Kids" is the slogan of
the New York State School Board Association. While NYSSBA is an
organization supporting school boards and their members, its
ultimate purpose is focused on kids' education. There are many
issues facing our public schools and education in general. These
issues are not just the school boards' concerns, they are really
yours, parents and community residents. The school board need
your inputs and support to weigh in on the issues and to find
the right solutions. As the representative of Somers Central
School District to the WPSBA (Westchester & Putnam County School
Board Association) Legislative Action Committee, I urge you to
pay attention, to get involved and to Be the Change for Kids.
Please take four minutes to watch the following video and take
an action.
http://www.bethechangeforkids.org/
New Year Resolution - Race To
The Top
The Federal Government proposed a
federal program - Race To The Top with four billion dollars
funding to help States to raise school standards, train
effective teachers, build instruction data system and turn
around low achieving schools. New York responded with an
application for the RTTT funding seeking all schools to endorse
and participate by signing a MOU by January 8th, 2010. We
should all view this as a new year resolution for our public
schools. Let's all work to race to the top! Somers
Central School District for one will sign the MOU!
http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/
(12/21/09)
Do You Know Why Contract
Negotiation with Teacher's Union Is So Difficult?
Any one who is concerned about
school contract negotiation (ultimately impact your school tax)
should read the article,
BTA Negotiating Impasse Statement. It is a very well written
document which lead you to understand how the process works and
what are the crucial issues involved.
Are Journalists Helping
Education Enough?
The Brookings Report obviously
believes that Journalism is not doing a fair share when comes to
education both within K-12 and outside of K-12. I tend to agree
with the assessment. The recent passage of Tier V Pension Law
(vigorously lobbied by NYSUT) draws complaint hindsight may be
attributed to the lack of effort on Journalists' part in
dissecting the bill and making adequate reporting on the issue
to the public to influence the legislators.
A
push for education journalism to think outside the K-12 box (12/2/09)
McMahon: Teachers clean up on 'pension reform' (12/2/09)
Should Our Law (Court) Always
Side with Minority Interest Even at the Expense of the
Majority's Rights?
The news below strikes me as
another case a minority group or even a few individuals can make
the law to deprive the rights of the majority in a public school
system just to "uphold" a minority view which does not even
benefit the minority necessarily. What harm might singing
celebratory religious songs at Christmas time in a school
concert do to the young minds? versus What harm might preaching
acceptance (tolerance seems not enough) of false sex identity,
unnatural sexual behavior and same sex 'marriage model'
practiced by a minority do to the physical and mental
development of all children? It is unbelievable how our law and
constitution can be twisted by a few activists.
NJ
school's ban on religious songs upheld
(11/25/2009)
Beware of Misleading Data on
School Spending
Though school spending per pupil
in Westchester County are very high in general, the comparison
between school districts in the county must be examined more
carefully. For instance, the Somers Central School District's
expense per pupil number calculated and reported included the
entire capital expenditure (bond for construction) in 07-08
budget year which obviously skewed the data incorrectly. The
following article pointed out such incorrect assessment.
Database lists local schools' spending
(11/19/09)
Dropouts Are Serious Issues in
Education
31% of students who didn't
graduate in 2009 will cost the United States $335 billion -- as
dropouts continue to earn less and face higher unemployment
rates over their 50+ years of life span -- on top of the tax
dollars wasted in schools. $260,000 is the estimated lifetime
earnings difference between a high school dropout and a high
school graduate. It is important for school administration to
track students from elementary school to high school graduation
to account for the effectiveness of our public education system.
Dropouts to cost state billions
Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension depends on
having prior knowledge of the subjects in the reading material.
The only way of building prior knowledge on any subject is to
read more on that subject. Hence a simple strategy of enhancing
reading skill in students is to stimulate interests (curiosity
or thirst of knowledge) in students in as many subjects as
possible. Expose students to all sorts of interesting reading
materials on a broad category of subjects from newspapers,
magazines and books will lead to good readers. That is good
readers are well-read readers! I recommend all English
teachers read
Prof. Williamham's article.
Healthcare Cost in School
Systems
This Consrotium report contains some factual information.
More on "True Tolerance"
When children are still in
physical and mental development stage, it is logical and safe
for schools to take neutral and non-aggressive position in
informing children about complex sex-identity issues. The
following link, in my opinion, offers a simple, fair statement
and a good advice to parents and children without being
aggressive and narrow-minded.
http://www.truetolerance.org/
http://www.truetolerance.org/keyfacts.pdf
http://www.truetolerance.org/action.html
"Tolerence", "Mandatory", and
"Democracy"
When a 3-2 vote of a school board elected by a
small number of voters to 'mandate' a 'LBGT Lesson #9' to all
kinder gardeners in public school under the banner of learning
"Tolerance" along with the other behavior issues such as
'Bullying', it seems that we have a problem with our democracy.
Often activists can mandate a minority will onto a silent
majority through a "democracy". Is that the fault of our
democracy? No, it is the fault of being silent. The following
news in California perhaps can be a wake-up bell to the silent
majority. The public education system needs a true majority to
support it, to get involved with it and to express the majority
voice about issues.
Mandatory 'Gay Day' for K-5 Students
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=99442
Congratulations to all in the
Somers School District for passing the school budget with >2:1
votes.
Rachel's Challenge - An Excellent School Seminar presented
at Somers High School on 3/25/09. I enjoyed very much this Key
Note on SHS seminar day. The messages were powerful. After
listening to the presentation, we (my family) and many of the
audience all signed the banner to accept Rachel's five
challenges: 1. find the best in others, 2. dare to dream, 3.
choose positive influences - what goes in comes out, 4. Kind
Words and 5. Start a
Chain reaction - express compassion. If you missed this
talk, you may visit the website at
www.rachelschallenge.com
Paterson proposes cutting state's teacher center;
supporters to lobby March 24 in Albany
(3/2/09)
The Teacher Center is a good concept, but its administration
is failing it. Its strong tie with teacher's union discolors the
objective of providing teacher's training and development. Like
any other profession, teachers need training and skill upgrade
to remain competent and competitive. Cutting the program is an
irresponsible act of dodging the real issue - How can the State
support an effective teachers' development program? Can
the State provide a single virtual Teacher Center for the entire
State offering training programs, guided online study courses,
and workshops and seminars in collaboration with the State
University system, for instance?
------------------------------------------------------
Trimmed bill still offers vast sums for education
(2/9/09) The stimulus plan passed by
Senate contains a significant amount of funds for education,
$83B for child care, public schools and universities. let's hope
the funds will be spent wisely. All public schools should look
out for any new federal program for education.
-----------------------------------------------------
Personal income decreased $25.3 billion, or
0.2 percent, and
disposable personal income (DPI) decreased $25.1 billion,
or 0.2 percent, in December, according to the
Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) decreased $102.4
billion, or 1.0 percent. The trend is worsening..... It is time
for everyone to consider voluntary reduction of annual raises,
benefits hike, discretionary increases and any bonuses. Let's
give and share a little to ease the pain of job losses and
financial troubles of many others. Let's start in schools, teach
humanity and social conscience with examples.
The full text of the release on BEA
-------------------------------------------
Global Barter Stimulus Program - An Idea Just May Work - by IFC
-------------------------------------------
Quote from Dr. Wills, Superintendent of Briarcliff School
District
"On Saturday, January 18, I spent some time in
the morning in the middle school’s multi-purpose room, enjoying
the celebration of Chinese New Year and graduation with the
Chinese School that leases our facility. As I noted in my
remarks to the celebrants on that day, the opportunity to
maintain and celebrate individual culture and language is a
wonderful and uniquely American vision of diversity and freedom.
Meanwhile, at that same moment, in the middle school gym, youth
basketball was in full swing, with fathers gathered to watch
their sons play. In the high school, Varsity practice was in
progress. Our schools are Briarcliff’s community center of
activity and social networking, providing opportunities for
friendship, comfortable familiarity and connection nourished in
Briarcliff’s special small-town environment. These are the
special qualities that we strive to sustain in a most
challenging 2009-10 budget planning process."
-------------------------------Public Debate on the school
facility usage fee
For the first time since a long while, there was
a open debate in Somers Central School District School Board
Meeting; the subject issue was debated on 1/13/09. The board is
apparently not unanimous on the issue whether community
non-profit organizations should be charged for their usage of
school facilities. At the meeting, representatives of boy scouts
and girl scouts have expressed their opinions eloquently.
-------------------------------"Someone said:
Fiscal crisis is a terrible thing to waste"
"What New Yorkers should insist on is that the
pain be shared fairly.
What they shouldn't tolerate is politics as usual
— even if they think it might help them in the short run. This
crisis is a chance for the state to change its bad fiscal
habits, which it has to, even as it distinguishes itself as a
place that still cares, which it must."
By LAWRENCE C. LEVY
---------------------------------------------
Summary of Local Government
Efficiency (LGE) Workshop (10/14/08)
LGE is a New York State Grant
Program evolved from SMSI (Shared Municipal Services Incentive
Program) designed to encourage operational efficiency and
savings through consolidated and shared services.......
The grant has 4 categories:
.........
As for what areas may be of interest
to Town of Somers and Somers Central School District,
..............
This summary is published in
mwsearch.com/schoolboard/LGE.htm; for more information about
LGE visit
http://www.dos.state.ny.us.
---------------------------------------------
Freedom of Expression
(Dow Jones Newswires 05:41 AM ET 01/05/2009)
Google Inc'A' (GOOG) (328.05 +6.73)
SHANGHAI (AFP)--China announced Monday it was cracking down on
major Web sites, including search engine giants Google and
Baidu,over the spread of pornography and other material that
could corrupt young people. China's Ministry of Public Security
and six other government agencies announced the crackdown at a
meeting Monday, the official China Internet Illegal Information
Reporting Centre said in a statement. "For those Web sites that
repeatedly ignore warnings, we will publicize a few, punish a
few and even close down a few," Cai Mingzhao, deputy chief of
the cabinet's Information Office, said in the statement. Cai
said some Web sites had taken advantage of government policies
and loopholes to publish "low-class, crude and even vulgar
contents, which severely corrupted the public mentality." "The
vulgar trend has deeply harmed the mental and physical health of
young generation...Many parents are calling out: 'Save our
children'
More
(1/6/09)
COPA dies quietly in Supreme Court
(1/22/09, A federal law intended to restrict children's access
to internet pornography died quietly Jan. 21 at the U.S. Supreme
Court, more than 10 years after Congress overwhelmingly approved
it.)
---------------------------------------------
Should Teachers Be Permitted to Wear Political
Buttons in Schools
Teachers Union can endorse a political
candidate but is wrong to urge teachers to wear a political
button which supports a political candidate. Schools are for
learning, not a political forum; teaching American political
process and democracy must refrain from preaching or giving any
partisan statement. Wearing a candidate's button is making a
biased political statement which is clearly violating the law.
It is amazing that Randi Weingarten is fighting a DOE decision
on this issue.
Education officials clamp down on teachers' political buttons
(10/2/08)
--------------------------------------------
A Splendid PTA Idea - Soup Day
A bunch of parents (Helen et al) organized a
wonderful event at Somers Intermediate School, called Soup Day.
The PTA volunteers cooked several kinds of delicious soup using
the vegetables planted and harvested at SIS by its students. The
soups with a variety of breads are served on 9/26 to the entire
student body from 3rd to 5th grade. Telling the children about
eating healthy and conscious of environment preservation, the
soups were served with bowls made of sugar cane, spoons made of
potato and napkins made of recycled paper. Witnessing the kids
and the Moms (also Dads) having a great time and a learning
experience at this event, I must say out loud, caring and
volunteering (parents) are the best medicine for our schools and
our kids.
(9/26/08)
SIS
Principal, Mr. Griffiths took a few photos for this event. Classroom
breakfast a hit with pupils (A news article of interest)
--------------------------------------------
A free volunteer afterschool program for developing
children's learning habits through game playing will be offered
at the Somers Intermediate School this coming Fall (2008). The
focus will be introducing SIS students the Award-Winning
National School Scrabble Annual
Tournament for 5-8th graders. Children will be encouraged to
play Scrabble and develop vocabulary learning skills (which are
also critical in winning Scrabble Games and Tournaments).
The
children-oriented Scrammble Tic-tac-toe, Scrammble Go-Fish,
Scrammble Mastermind and Scrammble Word games invented by Somers
Resident Dr. Wordman will be used to help children develop
vocabulary learning and spelling skills. Starting from 3-5th
grade, children can develop a life-long critical learning skill
through these games, which also can help them win the
National School Scrabble Tournament if they wanted to
participate when they reach 5-8th grade. In Middle school they
can continue to form a NSS club to continue the games. (8/28/08)
-------------------------------------------- According to the
National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, in 2005 and 2006, five New Jersey teenagers
were killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents in prom and
graduation season; in Connecticut, one teenager was killed in
2006, down from two in 2005. The Century Council in Washington
said that in 2006, 714 youths under 21 died nationally in
alcohol-related traffic fatalities in April, May and June.
--------------------------------------------
Advanced Placement, Computer- based teaching and learning,
encouraging kids to learn in different and more effective
ways...Harvard
professors' article resonates with Ifay Chang's views while
he was developing I-CARE (Internet
Cyberspace Assisted Responsive Education). There are issues,
however, one most critical is how to motivate teachers to
embrace computer and technologies so they can motivate their
students to learn more and better. This is an Issue NY State
Teacher Centers ought to focus on in close collaboration with
school districts.
---------------------------------------------
Is it a joke or truth? The secret of Bernanke’s success: School
board service (8/18/08)
---------------------------------------------
Intel et al awarded six best schools in math and science
instruction:
Schools that received math recognition were
Sojourner School in Milwaukee, Ore.; DeLay Middle School in
Lewisville, Texas; and Sabino High School in Tucson, Ariz.
Schools that received science recognition were Laguna Elementary
School in Scottsdale, Ariz.; Key Peninsula Middle School in
Lakebay, Wash.; and Townsend Harris High School in Flushing,
N.Y.
The winners received their larger-than-life checks
of $10,000 from the Intel Foundation and an award package that
includes curriculum materials, professional development
resources, hardware, and software valued at more than $160,000.
----------------------------------------------
About IFC's
Educational Interest
Word Puzzles for SIS Students
After School Word Games geared for National
School Scrabble Competition See above and call SIS office
Supplemental Teaching Material Prepared for SIS 4th Grade
Science
Community
Education - Scrammble Word Game Tournament and TV Show
IFC's
Bio's
IFC's
Publications
Short
story - Blue Golf Ball for Christmas
Short
story - Outopians
Teaching Web Site for Northern Westchester Chinese Language
School
Ifay Chang's Work
at TLC Information Services and Its Public Web Sites
Federal Resources for Education - Lesson Plans on Various
Subjects
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