Mussotte et al v. Peyser et al press conference liveblog

Learn those names, because here comes the lawsuit.
Live feed coming from the conference on this page.

The front row: the plantiffs
Taking this photo kind of broke my heart. 

Juan Cofield, NAACP
“We felt it necessary given the harm that continues to be done to our children”

Regarding the new MA Secretary of Education...

Sorry for the long break in posting: holidays!
There's not much more to add regarding Governor-elect Baker's selection of James Peyser as Secretary of Education that isn't already revealed by his biography. I posted that with the notion that at least we knew where the administration in general was going; what I didn't entirely anticipate was that we'd have a "Dick Cheney heads up the vice presidential selection team" moment and Peyser would become Secretary of Education.
As Peyser's only experiences have been with cheerleading and funding charter schools and with standardized testing, we know what direction he's approaching this from; he has no experience in teaching, administrating, overseeing, or, honestly, having anything to do with public education at all, save his service as Undersecretary of--you guessed it--charter schools. Thus, I don't have a lot of confidence that we're going to see much that's of use to most of what we do in education in Massachusetts, 'though I would love to be surprised on this.
Before we give up in despair, however, realize that the Secretary of Education in Massachusetts oversees only the Executive office of Education, reporting to the Governor. Of the actual administration of K-12 education, the Secretary has a single seat of the Board of Education, the board that oversees the Commissioner, who in turns runs the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Governor only further appoints members to the Board as the seats come up for renewal or become vacant; the incoming Governor, thus, is working with the currently appointed Board, not only newly appointed by him.
Other that? More reasons to go to Board of Ed meetings.


And on a related note: Secretary Malone's enthusiasm for all things education, both in person and on Twitter, will be sorely missed. Best wishes on your future endeavors, Mr. Secretary! 

Board of Ed today: public testimony on student growth (and the NCLB waiver)

...posting as we go...
As they're all commenting, it's a big agenda today. I'm hearing that the whole issue of growth is just going to be postponed entirely: waiver, charter, accountability status. We'll see. Right now, the Commissioner and Secretary are just giving their updates. 

Notes on the Board of Ed: introduction

Chair notes that Duncan has visited "clear how much he cares about engaging with teachers"
students making the case of how the Common Core is improving their education

No inBloom for Massachusetts

Odd way to get the information, but we'll take it!

See the below exchange from Twitter this afternoon:

(I suppose we can parse "are not" vs. "are and will not" but we'll take the "No" for certain!)

State Education Budget hearings announced

Monday, December 2^rd, 4:00-6:00pm
Somerset Berkley Regional High School Auditorium
625 County Street
Somerset, MA 02726

Tuesday, December 10^th, 5:00 – 7:00pm
Orchard Gardens K-8 School Auditorium
906 Albany Street
Roxbury, MA 02119

Information here. 
If you feel, as I do, that Somerset and Roxbury don't exactly cover the state, you might send along an email...

Fence sitting

This morning, Diane Ravitch posted the news that North Carolina has become the latest state to drop out of inBloom:

Guilford County, N.C. told POLITICO on Wednesday that the state decided to stop using the service...

Guilford schools’ departure doesn’t put the project in any kind of jeopardy, inBloom said, although Louisiana withdrew in April and other states once affiliated with the project no longer are. That leaves New York, two Illinois districts and one Colorado district as firm participants for now; Massachusetts is on the fence.

emphasis mine

After I tweeted this earlier today, I urged Secretary Malone to reconsider Massachusetts' position:

Hey, @MassEducation! Let's get off the fence!
— Tracy Novick (@cascadingwaters) August 1, 2013

After asking what I was talking about, he replied:

@cascadingwaters We have a better view from the top of the fence at this point in time. As we learn more we'll make a thoughtful decision.
— MassEducation (@MassEducation) August 1, 2013

All right: bonus points for running with the fence metaphor, but clearly, the Secretary still needs, shall we say, a push.
Keep up the pressure, folks.

Secretary Matt Malone is taking questions

Massachusetts Secretary of Education Matt Malone is taking questions on Twitter today. Just use the hashtag "#MassEd" to mark them; you can follow that hashtag here.

And if you're not on Twitter and have a question for him, let me know!

Interested in hearing from our new Secretary of Education?

Secretary Matt Malone will be speaking on "Public Education in Massachusetts: A Vision for the Future" as part of a Rappaport spring speakers series.

Wednesday, April 10 at 12:00 p.m. Center for Government and International Studies- Room South 153, 1730 Cambridge Street, Boston

Whats up with Commissioner Killins?

If like me you were wondering what was going on with the resignation of Early Education Commissioner Sherri Killins yesterday, the Herald has more information. In working to fulfill the 300 hour requirement for certification as a superintendent in Massachusetts, Killins has been doing an internship in Ware. As she lives in New Haven and works in South Boston, there's been some question of the time involved. The Herald reports that the state board asked Secretary Matt Malone to investigate, and Killins resigned Monday.

Someone please fetch a fainting couch

...for the editorial board for the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, as they appear to have had an attack of the vapors in this morning's paper.
You see, Commissioner Chester had the temerity, the unmitigated gall, to fail to recommend the SABIS charter school application for Brockton to the Massachusetts Board of Education.
Horrors!
Yes, this would be the same Brockton that has received national praise for what a great school it is. The same Brockton that got to that place because teachers took the lead in making changes at their public, unionized, school. The same Brockton that saw citizens turn out for a public hearing to make it clear that they did not want or need a charter school.
Yes, that Brockton.
Frankly, the only things that are "worn out" are the claims that "unlimited competition and choice" does anything to help students (note that SABIS horribly underserves ELL students in, for example, Springfield) and that districts aren't harmed by charters opening in their communities (guess where those ELL students do go to school? Yes, the public schools that serve everyone).*

We all know the "lift the cap" campaign is on, and clearly the T&G editorial board wishes to be early out of the gate in pushing for it. Casting the new Secretary of Education, Matt Malone, as the villain in this melodrama due to his public opposition to SABIS when he was superintendent of Brockton is also rather rich. There's not a superintendent in Massachusetts that doesn't know precisely what effect a charter school actually has on public education.
One only wishes for an editorial board that had such knowledge.


*Oh, that's worn out, as is the T&G continuing to run these pieces without noting that the writer may have a conflict of interest. Ethics 101, gentlemen: if it affects a family member, you have to disclose it.

Outgoing Brockton Superintendent Matt Malone to be next Massachusetts Secretary of Education

Matt Malone, last in the news when the Brockton School Committee voted 5-2 to end his contract despite there being one year left in it, will be Governor Patrick's next Secretary of Education. (That's him to the left of outgoing Secretary Paul Reville in the Globe photo.) He is a 2003 graduate of the Broad Academy.
The Brockton vote came after a June evaluation in which Malone was given a composite 2.77 out of a possible 5 score, and after what appears to be a contentious time (and an ongoing issue over residency, which is required of the Brockton Superintendent). Malone came to Brockton, hailed as a "rock star," in 2009 from Swampscott, where he faced a vote of 'no confidence' from the local teachers' union in 2008; you can find his response here. He also denied being a rock star. Malone came to Swampscott from a job as assistant to the superintendent in San Diego, where he worked on "school turnarounds." Before that, he was a headmaster in the Boston Public Schools, having first taught social studies and having begun his career in education as a paraprofessional.
He is a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps, and a graduate of Suffolk University and of Boston College.