Social media in public office

When I presented two weeks ago at the MASS/MASC conference on social media use, I was asked if I could give some examples of those in public office who were good examples on social media use. This is really only the beginning of a list; I'll add to it as I am able.

And these are in no particular order

This one came across my Twitter feed, as his response on Somerville's position as a sanctuary city came as an @ message response to someone tweeting at him: Mayor Joe Curtatone of Somerville. One of my measures of social media use is if someone uses it only to project their own voice, or if they show any signs of interacting with others (either by answering them, or by retweeting them). Mayor Curtatone does both.

Likewise, Mayor Marty Walsh of Boston does a decent job of not only talking about what he's doing, but also of broadcasting what is going on around across the city. While he doesn't do as much interaction, what he does do is once in awhile is open his feed up to questions.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut first came to my attention last year during his filibuster on the floor of the Senate around gun laws. It's clear that, unlike some senators, he at least to some degree runs his own feed.

The example that I always point to is (state) Senator Jamie Eldridge, who not only runs his own Twitter feed, but is far and away the most interactive of any public officials. He regularly engages with not only those who agree with him, but those who vehemently disagree with him.

Mary Ann Stewart is currently the parent rep on the Board of Ed, and she uses her both her Twitter feed and her blog to share both what she learns from her work there and her thoughts on process and policy.

continuing to update...

Newark students protesting school closures, privatizations sitting in at Board of Ed tonight

Amazing stuff in Newark tonight, where the Newark Student Union disrupted a Board of Ed meeting where the members (who, surprise, surprise, are not elected) were voting on the administration's plan to close and privatize public schools there. They now are staging a sit in at the building. It doesn't seem to have yet gotten coverage anywhere other than Twitter; follow #OurNewark to catch the latest.
Newark, of course, is where they've just elected a mayor who stands in direct opposition to the plans of the school administration, who answer only to Governor Christie.

What did Mayor Marty Walsh say about education?

As education played a big role in Boston's mayor's race this past fall, I was interested to see what the winner in that contest, Marty Walsh, had to say about education in his inaugural address earlier this week.
In terms of issues, he started with public safety and then moved to education as the second thing to address. The segue is here:

We have to make our communities safer to secure a future of opportunity for our kids. But that’s not all. We have to make sure every kid gets a great education.

So far so good...what does that mean?

Every kid in every neighborhood deserves the chance for a pathway to higher education or a good career. Every kid in Boston deserves a great education that will give them the opportunity to get ahead.

Well, someone on his staff has at least been in the "college and career" lingo loop. Being able to make a living is certainly part of what education is about, 'though I do like to see public officials in particular acknowledge that we live in a democracy and the schoolchildren of today are the voters of tomorrow. Narrowly restricting education in this vision isn't healthy for schools or for democracy

The biggest issue facing Boston right now is that they don't have a superintendent. There had been some question if Mayor Menino would try to rush the appointment to be sure it was his to make; honorably, he did not. Thus, it is left to Walsh, who appoints the School Committee who hires the superintendent, to do so:

Tomorrow, I will begin conversations with our school committee to launch a nationwide search for the next Superintendent of the Boston Public Schools. Our acting Superintendent, John McDonough, deserves our thanks for his capable, steady leadership in a tough job – he has earned mine.

I want our next superintendent to be a proven urban education leader who shares my commitment to eliminating the achievement gap, universal early education, high school reform, inclusion programs, dual language programs, a new approach to school construction, and expanded, high quality career and technical training. 

A nationwide search is good (and hopeful). I've gotten somewhat leery of "proven education leader" in combination with an immediate reference to the "achievement gap" and "reform," as that reads like our friends from Broad again. There's no indication one way or the other on that, but if you're in Boston, it's certainly something to watch for.
 I'll be interested to see where he goes with early childhood ed, as it's already become the big issue in New York City for Mayor DeBlasio (who came in with a plan to pay for it). Is this going to be another attempt to expand preschool, which is great but not enough? Or is this going to incorporate some of what we know about child development and look at kids younger than three?
I have no idea what he means by "high school reform" unless it has to do with the relationships the exam schools have with the rest of the system; if it is, that'll be a hot button issue.
Inclusion programs--special education? or language?--again, not clear. Dual language programs would be a great thing for Boston to further capitalize on, if they're willing to support them. Let's come back to school construction (as he does). Career and technical training is shaping up to the 2014 political deal; looks as though Treasurer Grossman is going after this one in the gubernatorial race. Provided that his thought is that Boston has the same difficulty Worcester does--kids who could really use the vocational training aren't getting it, due to the way the admissions process for vo-tech ed is now set up in the state--it's worth tackling. Simply expanding without looking a setup is not enough, though.
After giving an example of what he means (from Roxbury), he goes back to early childhood education:

Study after study has told us that universal early education and these other changes can be transformative. They give every child a more equal chance to thrive and succeed. Yes, these things cost money – but we must find a way.

While "study after study" is certainly with him on the importance of early education, I'm not sure which "other changes" he's referencing when he says that they "can be transformative."  And I'd feel a little bit more assured that he means this if he had some reference to how he'd pay for it. While no one (or virtually no one) expects a spreadsheet at the inaugural, he's going to be starting his budget for FY15 now. Someone needs to have a thought.
And speaking of the budget:

Education spending is the biggest piece of our city budget*. So we start with this principle: Every dollar we spend on education must be put to best and most effective use. That’s why I will work with the school committee and acting superintendent to commission a Performance Audit of our school department – a close look not just at where the money is going, but whether it is being spent most effectively and efficiently.

Taking a quick perusal of the budget memos and presentations that the BPS office has been sending to the School Committee, I have some questions myself (mainly, where's the rest of it?). I'll be interested in seeing who he pulls in for a performance audit; if he gets some knowledgeable school finance people in, it could be worthwhile, but if this is one of those "let's learn from business" groups, it could well be a waste of time.
Finally, as promised, back to school construction:

And we can change the way Boston pays for school construction, renovation, and maintenance – another major expense. As a legislator, I supported the creation of the Massachusetts School Building Authority to ensure a fair, transparent and accountable process to make quality school buildings available to every child.
Now, as Mayor, I will work to make sure Boston secures its share of equitable state funding as part of a plan to rebuild its long‐neglected and antiquated school buildings.

Let's quickly clear up that MSBA does not pay for maintenance of school buildlings; he's going to have to tackle that one internally.  MSBA does provide funding for "construction (and) renovation."

Words that strike fear in the heart of everyone west of 128: anyone in Boston talking about "mak(ing) sure Boston secures its share of" anything. You might remember that Boston doesn't have a great record with MSBA right now; that letter spells out a number of school buildings that Boston chose to close in which MSBA had some interest. They don't like wasting their money.
And that was before Boston proposed what would be the most expensive school built in the state. I'd take that as a call for anyone who has any interest in schools being built or repaired anywhere other than Boston proper to keep right on top of this, lest we find MSBA's funding staying right there by the State House.

We'll keep watching.

*for FY14, the City of Boston's budget is $2.6 billion; Boston Public Schools' is $934 million.

Score one for the good guys in Bridgeport

You have to read pretty far down in the press coverage to get this, but score one for the local, small money, grassroots, non so-called ed reform crowd in Bridgeport, Connecticut yesterday:

The victory tips the balance against the mayoral-backed Democratic majority on the nine-member board that has supported schools superintendent Paul Vallas and his education reform efforts. 

Mayor Bill Finch and the three party-endorsed candidates all support Vallas, whose qualifications to keep the job will be weighed by the state Supreme Court later this month.The three challengers all indicated the district would be better off with someone else. 

Their campaign manager, Marilyn Moore, said she felt Finch's failed quest for a mayoral-appointed board led to the challengers' victory."They're saying we want people who are going to answer to us, not to the mayor," she said.

More from Diane Ravitch here.  You can get the full picture on how this fits into the larger picture of Bridgeport from Jonathan Pelto.

Connolly's not taking the money

Just following @universalhub on Twitter:

Cpnnollu rejects Stand for Children money, said he never asked for it #bospoli
— Adam Gaffin (@universalhub) August 21, 2013

And yes that's a mistype on a phone...
More to come!

This from David Bernstein:

Shorter Connolly to Stand for Children: " #nothelping"
— David S. Bernstein (@dbernstein) August 21, 2013

Stand for Children, DFER, pushing Connolly in Boston mayor's race

We've seen this happen from farther away in the past, but it now has come to Boston: the big money ed interests are trying to buy themselves the mayor's seat:

Stand for Children, a national nonprofit, said it decided in early August to back Connolly. The group is planning what one adviser called “a full-frontal assault” on his behalf, replete with advertising on broadcast and cable TV, direct mail, a phone campaign, and door-knocking by more than 1,000 of the group’s supporters.
The campaign is intended to boost Connolly above the field before the Sept. 24 preliminary election whittles the 12 candidates down to two finalists.
A person with direct knowledge of the Stand for Children strategy, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said the advocacy group had told fund-raisers it plans to have between $500,000 and $750,000 ready to spend by Labor Day.

Having Stand for Children's Jason Williams say that you're "incredibly well-aligned" with their positions means you've given it all away.
Here's what Stand for Children has been up to Boston so far.
And yes, Boston's mayor does appoint their School Committee.
As for me, I'm not endorsing anyone, but I'd take a look at what the Indignant Teacher has to say about Rob Consalvo.

Meanwhile in Chicago

...the Chicago Board of ed (mayorally appointed) voted to close 49 elementary schools and a high school.
That's about 10% of their district.
More on this tomorrow.Check out #CPSclosings on Twitter for more. 

Elsewhere on the ballot on election day: a wrap-up UPDATED

So we know the news from the top of the ticket--and there's a good letter here to President Obama this morning--but there were a number of other education-related issues and positions of interest nationwide.

• Congratulations this morning to Glenda Ritz, the state superintendent-elect in Indiana! Ms. Ritz defeated Tony Bennett, who has been pro-corporate type reform and was HUGELY funded by those sources. Ritz has been quoted as saying there's too much emphasis on standardized tests. Good news!
• Bridgeport, CT defeated a ballot question calling for a mayorally-appointed school board. Score one for democracy! Michelle Rhee's group spent $100,000 on that loss.
• According to the tweets coming out of Chicago last night, the city would like to elect their school board, by an overwhelming (80%!) margin. That measure was non-binding. 
• Miami-Dade County in Florida has passed a $1.2 billion (with a "B") bond issue for schools. 
• Houston, Texas passed a $2 billion (likewise, "B") bond issue for their schools.
• California defeated Proposition 38 which would have progressively increased state income taxes to fund education. However, the state passed Proposition 30, which is Governor Jerry Brown's measure to increase taxes on the wealthiest, as well as add a temporary increase to the state sales tax, all for education funding.
• Alabama defeated the change to their constitution, that, while taking out the language on segregated schools, would have cast doubt on the guaranteed right to a public education.
• Georgia passed a measure that moves the power creating of charter schools back to the state level (from the local level). And we know how well that one works...
• I've heard reports that Washington also passed their measure 1240 on charter schools--that state hasn't allowed them--but I can't find definitive word.

Mixed, but not a bad night for education. And Mr. President? We're holding you to that promise on sequestration not happening.

Challenges to Superintendent Carol Johnson in Boston

The recent report that Superintendent Carol Johnson did nothing after one of Boston's school principals was arrested and jailed on a domestic assault charge (five weeks after his wife gave birth to their son), a charge to which he plead guilty, and that she later wrote him a letter of recommendation has stirred things up in Boston. Per Boston.com:

Boston School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson took no disciplinary action after one of her headmasters was arrested and briefly jailed on a domestic assault charge, and even wrote a glowing letter of support to the judge who sentenced him. 

Rather than put Rodney Peterson on administrative leave — a common practice in government when an employee is arrested — records show that she did nothing, not even informing City Hall attorneys of the charges against the co-headmaster at one of Boston’s three exam schools.

City Councilor John Connelly (who chairs the Council's Education committee) called for her resignation; School Committee member Mary Tamer called for a Committee meeting to discuss it, which the chair, Rev. Gregory Groove, refused to call. Parents started a petition on change.org calling for her to resign or be fired; read more about it here. Supporters then had a rally in her support, one which administrators apparently encouraged employees to attend. 
Oh, and Johnson's former district of Minneapolis has now noticed.


As Connelly points out in the above linked article, this isn't just about Peterson:

Connolly pointed to “chaos” during the debate over moving schools and closing schools and a state inspector general’s report in April on the school district overspending on textbooks, among other incidents. The school year had rocky start as the system struggled to get buses to schools on time, which led to Mayor Thomas Menino to step in.The troubles come as the teacher union contract remains unresolved.

Also, in May, the Massachusetts School Building Authority stopped payments to the Boston Public Schools due to vacant space and the use of three school buildings that have closed on which the district is still receiving state funds.

In all of this furor, however, I should point out that there's actually only one opinion that really counts.

Tom Menino's.

Boston has a school committee which is appointed by the mayor. They serve entirely at his pleasure. Thus the news that Menino supports Johnson effectively ends the conversation.

This is what democracy looks like, Denver style: UPDATED

Big report from Denver on the big money pouring into the city school board election. The same story is playing out there as elsewhere: privatizing interests pushing an elected board which has a (vocal) minority standing against them (and, as it happens, their second superintendent in a row).
Now from Mayor Hancock comes this:

“I’m very nervous,” he said of the impending election. “I don’t believe the current board of education and its level and tone of conversation reflects the values of our city. I have painfully watched board of education deliberations on television. And as a former legislator, I was embarrassed by the discourse that occurs. No protocol, no decorum, just absolutely disrespectful of one another and the superintendent,  and no one talking about kids. It was painful to watch.”

Now, I'll admit that I don't watch Denver School Board meetings, and maybe they are lacking in "protocol" and "decorum." I'm suspicious, however, that this is less about procedure and more about content in the meetings. In an elected body, people are going to disagree (one hopes). There are going to be split votes. That's actually the way it's supposed to work. It's when all your votes go 7-0 that one should examine if things are working.

 UPDATE: Here's the word from the ground troops on one of the campaigns facing that big money:

As many major campaigns as I’ve worked on, and as much experience Emily has in the public policy arena, we didn’t realize that local races had become this corporatized. Maybe we were naive, or overly idealistic, but the point is that something has gone deeply wrong in America when elections about our local schools have becomes yet another chess board for oligarchs...

 along with wanting her to win, I also want our family’s experience to be a small, microcosmic reminder about how high the stakes now are in every level of our politics. Big money is intent on owning every public institution from the White House to the schoolhouse. You need to know that if you ever think of running for office — and, as important, you need to remember it the next time you get your ballot.

And on that big money and where it's heading:

...a few years ago, insiders say, Senator Michael Bennet, then Denver Public Schools Superintendent, went to Republican oilman (now-University of Colorado president) Bruce Benson. What followed was unprecedented campaign contributions from large Republican donors into school board races in Denver. The big contributions changed the face of Denver's school board races.

Two years later, a so-called "grassroots" group based out of Portland, Oregon called Stand for Children came to Denver. It's first organizer, Johnny Merrill, was open about the intent of the group: to impact the Denver school board races, and that Bennet had invited the group to Denver.

Make no mistake about it: this group, with an avowed agenda to undermine teachers, is specifically designed to siphon dollars from Wall Street and the Chicago investment community into local races across the country.

In 2010, for instance, Stand for Children spent unprecedented sums in Illinois in legislative races last election cycle, outflanking the supporters of traditional public education, resulting in legislation that killed basic protections for teachers in the state. The group's executive director subsequently bragged that in spending such huge sums of money, "individual candidates were essentially a vehicle to execute a political objective" - one aiming to fundamentally undermine traditional public education. He also bragged that "luckily it never never got covered that way" as "the press never picked up on" what they were doing.

In other words, this organization fully acknowledges that it's whole r'aison d'etre is to secretly buy education policy. And now this very same organization has joined with the biggest of big money donors to dump massive amounts of corporate cash into the Denver School Board elections.

It's happening all over, folks. Pay attention.

Go, Chicago!

Parental, teacher, and other advocates trying to take back their school system:

In a letter addressed to "citizens of Chicago," the coalition members say that parents have been shut out of decision-making by Daley, who has controlled the city schools since 1995. He selects both the chief executive officer for the school system, and the seven-member school board. Arne Duncan, the current secretary of education, was appointed as Chicago Schools CEO in 2001 and served until his appointment to federal office in 2009.

They're looking for a 13 member board, half of whom are PARENTS!
UPDATE: and at least one mayoral candidate supports the idea (if not this plan).

As goes Chicago

And how's that mayoral control going in Chicago?

Not so fast, Mr. Zuckerberg, Mayor Booker, and Governor Christie!

It appears that the Governor does not have the legal power to grant the mayor any power--let alone executive power--over the Newark Public Schools:

David G. Sciarra, the director of the Education Law Center, a Newark-based organization that represents poor urban schoolchildren in a lengthy equitable-funding lawsuit against the state, said that no New Jersey law permits a mayor to run schools, and that approval by the state legislature would be required for such a change. Nearly all the state's 600 school districts have elected school boards; a handful have boards appointed by mayors.

In addition, a 5-year-old law governing state intervention in struggling school districts vests authority over those districts in the governor's appointed state commissioner of education, not the governor or a mayor, say experts and current and former lawmakers.
"There is no provision for the mayor to have that kind of control. The [state] commissioner [of education] is really the one who is given that authority by the law," said Craig A. Stanley, a former Democratic state assemblyman who co-authored the 2005 law...

Paul L. Tractenberg, a Rutgers University law professor who is an expert on education law, called the Christie-Booker proposal "an effort to totally blur the lines" of authority over Newark schools.

"It's a basic, established principle of law that you can only delegate the authority you actually have, and I don't think the governor has the authority to operate the Newark schools," he said.

The response of Derrell J. Bradford, the executive director of Excellent Education for Everyone, co-founded by Booker?
"These people are punks."

$100 million is a lot of money

about a third of the Worcester Public Schools' annual budget

The news that Mark Zuckerman, co-founder of Facebook, is reportedly donating $100 million towards (note the preposition) the Newark Public Schools has lit up the blogsphere. The donation will be made (where else?) live on Oprah. On Friday...the day The Social Network, which is apparently rather unflattering in its portrayal of Zuckerman, opens in at the New York Film Festival (it opens nationwide next week).
A few things to note in this:

• the money isn't going directly to the Newark schools. It's starting a new foundation which will work with the schools
• while there's ties between Governor Christie and Mayor Booker of Newark on standardized testing (pro), charter school expansion (pro), and tying teacher evaluation to student test scores (pro)--your basic "edeform" package--Newark is different from many of the pushing-for-school-control strong mayor cities in that Newark has been under state control for 15 years (with, by most accounts, no improvement). Christie is giving Booker more of a say in the public schools, while not at all increasing public control.
• there's some talk they may hire Michelle Rhee when/if she leaves D.C.
  

Eduwork looks at political ties.
Jim Horn quits Facebook.

In or out on Race to the Top?

A few Race to the Top related news items that came in today:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said that new teachers in New York City will be evaluated using student test scores. While Bloomberg does have oversight of city schools, such a radical change in working conditions usually would have to go through the teachers' contract; I assume we'll be hearing more on this. Also note the interesting response and then clarification from Secretary Arne Duncan.

And Governor Rick Perry of Texas has said that Texas will not be a part of any joint standards. He argues this as a "local control" issue. The Dallas Morning News correctly notes that this does NOT disqualify Texas from Race to the Top funding in this first round (it would seem to disqualify them from the assessment round), as that assessment piece is worth only 40 of the possible 500 points. Kudos to DMN for catching this nuance; they're doing much better than the Boston Globe which continues to insist that lifting the cap on charters and other things are "required" to apply. It's more complicated than that.
No word here on whether Texas is out or in on applying; it would make a difference, as if the bigger states are contenders, the awards given after theirs would consequently be smaller (or fewer).

What happens when Duncan runs your schools?

I fear because it got buried in most national papers (p. A17 of the New York Times, for example), you may have missed the University of Chicago's study of just what happens to kids when you close schools.
For those of you who haven't followed the national press on this, Arne Duncan became Secretary of Education under President Obama after running Chicago's public schools. Duncan was appointed by Mayor Richard Daley (yes, Chicago's schools run on the "strong mayor" model) as CPS Chief Executive Officer. Duncan was a big part of implementing the "Renaissance 2010" program, which has, to say the least, been controversal. Duncan has closed numerous schools (22 have closed since 2001, 'though not all of that was under Duncan), fired teachers and principals, and thrown neighborhoods into turmoil.

Has it done any good?

Not so much, it seems.

• When it's announced that a school will close, student test scores go down.
• Once a school has closed, student achievement returns to what it was prior to the announced closing.
• Student improvement, long term, depends entirely on the sort of school the student ends up in (and most students, in the Chicago study, ended up in schools that mirrored the schools from which they'd come).

This is the "chronically underperforming" question now before the Massachusetts Legislature and this is part of Race to the Top. Worth keeping a close eye on.

Deb Meier gets it right...

again, as she so often does:

President Obama's message throughout the campaign was a reiteration of the concept of the "common good," at a time when we were experiencing the impact of a society built around "the more I get, the better." But I agree with you, Diane. What we're hearing now is rather different than what we expected. Neither Education Secretary Arne Duncan's failure in Chicago, nor the mayor's in N.Y.C., nor Michele Rhee's in Washington, D.C., are on the table; it's as though we can sweep that inconvenient evidence under the rug by a constant repetition of good PR.

Producing schools that do right by all children AND by the nation is, in fact, more complex than rocket science. It means, for example, concerning ourselves with the children in that other ward across the levees, not just our own. Democracy works most easily when our personal short-term interests and the interests of the least advantaged match. But democracy can't depend on that.

Comments from the members: Rushton

Rushton, asking the Manager: how close are we to settling with the WPD (re: Quinn Bill)? "I'm an eternal optimist" is the short answer. He hopes we can get to that $2.2 million gap through contract negotiations and departmental restructuring.
Warned by the Mayor that they have an executive session coming, Rushton calls his question "lame" and then tries to ask about departmental restructuring, which the Mayor attempts to rule out of order, which he persists in asking, which the Manager more or less answers the way that he already has (fully vetted plan, adjustments...)
Hopes that they can resolve the Quinn bill deficit

grant fee of 3% only applies to non-stimulus money for this year; stays at 1% for the stimulus funding...FY10 budget assumes no increase in the grant fee, Boone says.

Much close questioning on the projected 10% health increase...
Eddy interrupts to ask if we are operating under the 5 minute rule of Council meetings, as the Council meeting starts in about 15 minutes. Or doesn't, if they keep going.

"Only one more comment" from Rushton..."good fruitful discussion"

2009 city election forums

Two forums this week of interest in the 2009 Worcester election:

On Monday, October 19, join the Worcester chapter of Stand for Children at a forum for mayoral candidates from 7-9pm at the Beechwood Hotel. Remember that the mayor of Worcester serves as the chair of the School Committee!

On Wednesday, October 21, the Citywide Parents Planning and Advisory Board will hold a forum for School Committee candidates at from 7-9:30 at Worcester Technical High School. THIS IS THE FINAL SCHEDULED FORUM for School Committee candidates!

I'm told that at both events there will be some chance for questions from the audience.

Get yourself informed!

Mayoral forum on education

Stand for Children is holding a mayoral forum exclusively on education:

All four mayoral candidates are attending. Learn about their priorities for Worcester Public Schools before heading to the polls on November 3rd. The evening will include time to meet the candidates, hear from them about their priorities, and ask them questions.

Stand for Children's Worcester Mayoral Candidate Forum
Monday, October 19, 2009
6:30 – 7:00 PM Meet the candidates, 7:00 – 8:30 PM Program
The Beechwood Hotel: 363 Plantation St. Worcester, MA 01605

Candidates need to hear that citizens and parents value our public schools. Attend on October 19 to show your support for Worcester’s children.

This is also a great opportunity to meet new Central Massachusetts Organizer, Jabián Gutiérrez.

Space is limited, so please RSVP to Jabián at jgutierrez@stand.org or by calling 508-831-8797.