Schools, Teachers etc.

[RTH10260]

Library cuts and teachers quitting: Texas’s takeover of Houston schools
Staff call for the state-appointed superintendent to be removed amid an implementation of a rigid curriculum as over 600 teachers resign

Michael Sainato
Tue 5 Mar 2024 12.00 CET

Teachers and other staff in the Houston Independent school district (HISD), which serves the fourth most populous city in the US, are calling for the state-appointed superintendent of the district to be removed amid a surge in resignations of employees, cuts to libraries and implementation of rigid school reform curriculum.

The Republican governor, Greg Abbott, announced last year that the state of Texas would take control over the Houston Independent school district in June 2023 and replace democratically-elected school board members with state-appointed ones. The move was criticized as part of Abbott’s agenda of expanding charter schools in Texas as one of his legislative priorities has been pushing a bill to expand vouchers for charter schools that failed to garner enough support to pass in 2023.

Floyd Mike Miles, the CEO of charter school corporation Third Futures Schools, was appointed superintendent of the Houston Independent school district last June by the Texas education agency. Miles previously served as superintendent of the Dallas schools district before resigning in 2015.

An online petition calling for Miles’ removal has received more than 13,000 signatures. The petition criticized Miles’ spending of $470,000 of district funds on a school play produced by a family member, and criticized his role in keeping schools open during heating issues several schools faced this winter.

The petition was started by the Houston Education Association, a chapter of the teachers’ union, the National Education Association. In Texas, teachers are prohibited by law from collective bargaining rights through a union.

Under Miles, the district is implementing a New Education System (NES) reform program, where teachers are directed to teach based on provided curriculum and scripted lessons with their pay tied to standardized test score performances and proficiency screenings to retain their jobs at NES schools.

In February, an education professor at the University of Houston suspended teaching a course in protest of the rigid lesson requirements in Houston independent school district that he said made it impossible for his students to complete their assignments.

By next school year, 130 schools in Houston will be under the NES program.

Brandie Dowda worked as the librarian at Burrus elementary school in Houston when she was informed last summer that she would be losing her position as the school changed to a NES school, which meant the library would be converted into a disciplinary center for students.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... t-takeover

[sad-cafe]

Well

It is official

USD 259 will close 6 buildings permanently in May

I am in one of those buildings. The buildings they are closing have the highest minority rate and highest poverty rate

We feel like we have been in a mass casualty event and we have lost all our kids and family

[p0rtia]

[AndyinPA]

[raison de arizona]

Really sorry to hear that. My mother-in-law's grade school closed a couple years ago, they moved her to the high school. It was totally different, but ended up working out ok. Hope things work out for you!

[sad-cafe]

I most likely will get reprimanded for this but I needed my voice heard

https://www.kake.com/story/50539022/jar ... ol-closure

[AndyinPA]

Good job!

[sad-cafe]

So

An educational reporter from "Christian Science Monitor" contacted me and am doing a phone interview Monday. She attended the "listening sessions" and the BOE vote to close our school.

I know that I don't share values with that organization but it raises my profile.

[sugar magnolia]

So

An educational reporter from "Christian Science Monitor" contacted me and am doing a phone interview Monday. She attended the "listening sessions" and the BOE vote to close our school.

I know that I don't share values with that organization but it raises my profile.

I'm not sure what the issue is with closing or consolidating schools. I can only speak to how they do it here, but when teachers are transferred they teach the same subject at the same level unless they ask for a change (and are certified for that grade/subject) and our schools are broken up into only 2 to 3 grades in one building anyway, so the kids move on to another school soon enough even if the teachers stay the same.

They are closing or consolidating 11 schools in our district next year and that means the school system will have more money, and a lower student to teacher ratio. There was initially some push back from teachers who didn't want to move to a school across town but that whining seems to have calmed down since the school system had a series of public meetings explaining things.

[Volkonski]

One reason school cyberattacks are on the rise? Schools are easy targets for hackers

https://www.npr.org/2024/03/11/12369954 ... press.coop

School systems of every size have been hit by cyberattacks, from urban districts like Los Angeles and Atlanta, to rural districts in Pennsylvania and Illinois. And the problem has been growing.

While it's hard to know exactly how many K-12 school systems have been targeted by hackers, an analysis by the cyber security firm Emsisoft estimates that 45 school districts were attacked in 2022. In 2023, Emsisoft found that number more than doubled, to 108.

"The education sector has been and continues to be very heavily targeted," says Brett Callow, an Emsisoft threat analyst.

Experts like Callow say these attacks are often carried out by hackers outside the U.S. They can involve ransomware, where hackers lock data up and demand payment to "unlock" it. They may also threaten to release data publicly if districts don't pay up.

These attacks can also involve "Zoombombing," where someone intrudes on a video call, often with pornographic or hateful images; denial-of-service attacks, which prevent or slow the use of networks; and phishing, an attempt to access data through fraudulent emails.

In many cases, sensitive data about students and staff – including social security numbers, sexual assault records and discipline information – has been stolen. Some of this information can be used to steal identities or redirect payments.

According to a 2022 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, it can take up to three weeks for classes to get back to normal after an attack; but behind the scenes, it's taken some districts nine months to recover.

One reason for the increase in attacks is that hackers have realized school systems are vulnerable. They often have older computer systems, rely heavily on technology and, Callow points out, "they don't necessarily have cyber security experts on staff."

[RTH10260]

[Suranis]

I most likely will get reprimanded for this but I needed my voice heard

https://www.kake.com/story/50539022/jar ... ol-closure

Excellent.

[pipistrelle]

Gift link: https://wapo.st/3JhNPL9

SOUTHWEST FLORIDA — Kali Fontanilla repeated the lesson title to herself one last time — “‘A Com-plete History of Slavery in America’” — sipped her peppermint tea and hit record.
“Hello, Exodus students,” she said, addressing the group of 90 fifth- through 12th-graders who would eventually watch the video as part of their lessons from the Exodus Institute, an online Christian K-12 school Kali and her husband founded in 2021 with the motto “Exit Public Education.” The video, which Kali was recording in her guest bedroom-turned-office, was the latest in a special enrichment program dubbed the “Young Patriots Academy,” which aims to “debunk the ‘woke’ lies taught in most public schools,” per the Exodus website.

[raison de arizona]

Imma break this down for this young fellow: just because a word is in the dictionary doesn't mean you can use it against your fellow classmates. Your Hispanic classmates might take offense to you throwing around the term "illegal alien," whether it is in the dictionary or not. The n-word is in the dictionary, does that make it OK to use against your Black classmates? How do you think that would go over? Take your lumps, learn from this experience, and stop throwing around offensive terms thinking you're clever.

Student suspended for using term ‘illegal alien’ in English class

A16-year-old student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, North Carolina was suspended for three days last week after using the term ‘illegal alien’ during a vocabulary assignment in his English class.

Leah McGhee’s son has a teacher who assigned vocabulary words during class last Tuesday, including the word ‘alien.’ McGhee says her son made an effort to understand the assignment and responded to his teacher, asking, “Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?”

According to an email describing the incident, sent to local officials and shared with Carolina Journal, a young man in class took offense to his question and reportedly threatened to fight him, prompting the teacher to call in the assistant principal. Ultimately, his words were deemed by administrative staff to be offensive and disrespectful to classmates who are Hispanic.

“I didn’t make a statement directed towards anyone; I asked a question,” said the student in response to his suspension. “I wasn’t speaking of Hispanics because everyone from other countries needs green cards, and the term “illegal alien” is an actual term that I hear on the news and can find in the dictionary.”

https://www.carolinajournal.com/student ... ish-class/