How likely is it this can come to your school district? How would you respond? The Daily Wire is the source of the report: Starting next week, many children as young as 5 who attend Los Angeles Unified public schools will participate in a weeklong celebration of “National Coming Out Day,” which falls on October 11. The district issued its “Week of Action Toolkit,” emblazoned with a Black Power Fist over neon rainbow stripes and is nominally optional, although peer pressure will likely prompt elementary school teachers to use its programming. Its version for elementary students contains an “Identity Map activity” that “Prepares students to think critically about identity and … [Read more...]
Hidden word searches for kids
Looking for ways to stimulate the kids? Here are a number of links to sites that offer hidden words from easy to hard. Thanks to the Spruce Crafts! These word searches for kids are all free for you to print and hand over to your kids or students. The kids will have a great time hunting for the hidden words and you'll love that you know they're increasing their problem solving and vocabulary skills. There's a lot of word searches for kids below and you can find more holiday word searches, math word searches, and online word search games for kids that are great for kids. You can also make word searches for kids so you can cover the exact topic or use just the right words you want them … [Read more...]
New Teachers contracts in Southwest Washington State: Update Sept 22, 2023
It's Friday morning September 22, 2023. We just got off the phone with the Evergreen School District HR; Evergreen Teachers Association Union office; Camas School District HR and Battle Ground HR. We contacted Evergreen and Camas to get copies of the newly approved teachers contracts. Neither contract is published and there is no target date for publication. Both districts said that once the teachers have approved the contract the district must then go through a review process to correct any wording and formatting. The proposed final document then goes back to the Union with any revisions and then back to the district, rinse and repeat until it's approved by both parties. In the case of … [Read more...]
School choice foes turn to ballot referendums as states expand voucher programs
The number of states that have added an option to allow some or all of the funds for K-12 education in public schools to follow the children appears to be causing issues with....teachers unions. In the following article from The Washington Examiner they spell out some of the efforts and tactics teachers unions are going to try and stop "choice" Voters in Nebraska are likely to weigh in on the state's school choice program after a group submitted more than 100,000 signatures last week, seeking to force a ballot referendum. The effort seeks to repeal a state law passed this year that established a $25 million tax credit program for donors who give money to a scholarship fund that … [Read more...]
Portland Public Schools considers move to ‘equitable’ grade system
So grades are under attack as being unfair? Teachers would determine the grade based on their assessment of the student and various factors? Opinions will matter more than results? Your thoughts? What's your school district planning? Do you know? By Paulina Aguilar Published: Aug. 31, 2023 at 8:52 PM PDT Link to original story PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) - Portland Public Schools is considering moving to an “equitable grading system,” in which teachers assess students’ work while considering their diverse background needs to promote fairness in the classroom. PPS currently runs on a traditional grading system. “Maybe there some like linguistic inaccuracies … [Read more...]
Facing mounting challenges, schools embrace the 4-day week
We've run articles in the past about shortening the school week to 4 days. Today is an update from The Hill: Facing mounting challenges, schools embrace the 4-day week | The Hill 850 districts have made the move and more are considering Hundreds of U.S. school districts have sought to combat the teacher shortage and raise the quality of life for their students and faculty by making a big change: a four-day week. The trend of a four-day week has been rising among American companies and schools since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many finding benefits to having an extra day off. In schools, most students and teachers are getting Friday or Monday off while having … [Read more...]
Washington Policy Institute article on teacher strikes in 2023
For those of you who aren't aware of the Washington Policy Institute give Liv's article a read: WEA union threatens illegal strike to close public schools in Evergreen and Camas » Publications » Washington Policy Center Check out our other articles on this topic as well. … [Read more...]
Washington State K-12 compensation and other data
Our friend Jeff has a website we've mentioned before. Given the strikes at Evergreen and Camas and talk of striking at Battle Ground and other districts around the state we reached out to Jeff asking for an overview of the information he tracks. Following is that discussion with links to his website and data for your perusal. Note: Jeff does an annual update in December to capture the most current data published by OSPI. This data is entirely from OSPI. Jeff amalgamates and organizes it. So if someone claims the data is false refer them to Chris Reykdal the State Superintent of Schools. I have these charts already online for all 295 traditional school districts in WA plus most of … [Read more...]
Battle Ground School District – compensation history 2016-2022
As the Battle Ground Teachers decide whether to strike or not it's appropriate to look at the changes to their compensation since McCleary. Please note the salary + benefits as well as the compensation growth vs inflation. Are your earnings growing faster than inflation? Do you earn more than the median in Clark County? Where will the school board get the nearly 17% increase? … [Read more...]
Evergreen School District – Compensation history 2016 to 2022
Here's the snapshot of the earnings changes since McCleary for the Evergreen School District: Notice that they all are ahead of inflation by a wide margin? Have your earnings stayed ahead of inflation? … [Read more...]