The folks at the Thomas Fordham Institute are handicapping President-elect Barack Obama's pick for secretary of Education. If they're right, it looks like Obama might be looking for a big-city schools chief, someone like Arne Duncan of Chicago or Joel Klein of New York.
Notice who's missing from that list?
That's right -- of the nation's Big Three school superintendents, only David L. Brewer of Los Angeles is NOT considered to be in the running for the Cabinet post.
In some ways, Brewer might seem the perfect pick. After all, he has a home in Virginia, just across the Potomac from Washington. As a retired Navy vice admiral, he knows the federal bureaucracy. And, well, unlike Duncan or Klein, he might soon be available.
Not surprisingly, Duncan -- who's not only from Obama's hometown but regularly plays basketball with the incoming gym-rat in chief -- leads the list. Most interesting addition: Caroline Kennedy. Most of the rest are governors, including Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Tim Kaine of Virginia. For the entire list, with odds, check out Fordham's Flypaper Blog here.
--Mitchell Landsberg
Photo: Arne Duncan. Credit: Milbert O. Brown / Chicago Tribune
Does your school charge for road trips?
A national school administrators group says it's worried about what it sees as a growing trend of "pay for play" trips that effectively discriminate against the poor -- a trend, it believes, that will only be exacerbated by the country's economic problems.
In a position statement issued Monday, the National Association of Secondary School Principals wrote: "The pay-for-play trend has triggered a legal, philosophical, and educational equity debate. The question centers on whether co-curricular activities are part of the free public school system to which everyone is entitled by law." The activities it has in mind include athletics, music, drama, clubs and so on. The statement says that California is among four states that require that any "school sponsored curricular or co-curricular activity be offered free of charge."
Is anybody seeing otherwise?
-- Mitchell Landsberg
The Westridge School in Pasadena has named Elizabeth J. McGregor as the next head of the independent girls campus effective July 1, 2009. She will become only the 11th head since the school’s founding in 1913. McGregor currently serves as associate head of school at the Buckley School, a co-ed Sherman Oaks campus where she has held teaching and administrative positions for 16 years.
Westridge began a national search in 2007 to replace Fran Norris Scoble, who retired in July 2008 after serving for 18 years as Westridge’s head of school. Rosemary C. Evans, an alumna and assistant head of academic affairs, has been occupying the post in the interim.
“The Search Committee was impressed from the outset with Elizabeth’s professional experience and personal qualities,” said Richard H. Patterson Jr., chairman of the Westridge Board of Trustees. “Her ability to connect with students, faculty, parents and other constituencies at Westridge was immediately apparent during her campus interiews and visits.”
McGregor received her master of education degree from Columbia University and a bachelor of education degree from the University of London. Before joining Buckley, she was a teacher in New York, Connecticut and Johannesburg, South Africa.
She attended an all-girls school the final two years of high school and considered it a formative experience.
“I am so impressed by the girls — their enthusiasm, their confidence, their intellectual curiosity and their concern for others,” McGregor said. “I am honored to have been named the next head of school.”
--Carla Rivera
The Board of Education on Tuesday named Richard L. Millar as the new superintendent of the Riverside Unified School District. He is expected to begin his post at the 43,400-student district in early 2009.
Miller, who has worked in education for 37 years, has been superintendent at one district in Idaho and three in California, including his current post as leader of the Oxnard School District.
Miller is replacing Susan J. Rainey, who retired in July after 10 years as superintendent.
-- Seema Mehta
Anum Khan, a student at Whitney High School in Cerritos, writes:
In less than two months, I will have applied to all my colleges.
Meaning no more writing essays. No more agonizing over short answers. No more wondering which activity to put and which to leave out. No more analyzing my chances of getting in.
In other words, no more stressing.
From now until the end of December is the high point of senior stress. UC applications are due Nov. 30, and USC's is due Dec. 1 (for scholarship consideration).
After lots of speculation and serious consideration, but mostly because our counselor required us to finalize our colleges two weeks ago, I’ve finally finalized my list, which includes UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, USC, as well as my out-of-state schools (more on that later).
Forms, forms, forms
First, I had to submit all my forms for recommendation letters to my teachers, as well as a secondary school transcript request to my counselor.
Our school also had a workshop on how to get these forms, when to submit them, how to prepare them, etc. We were even given a mock envelope that told us where to write our name and address, the school’s name and address, and most important, where to affix the stamps (because there are just too many seniors who don’t know that stamps go in the upper right-hand corner of anything that has to be mailed).
After staying up until 3 a.m. finishing my activity resume and autobiographical sketch for my counselor and teachers (to help with filling out the letters of recommendation) came the actual application.
The actual application
It seems kind of weird that it’s in the fourth part of my series on applying to college that I’m talking about the actual application.
That’s because the term "college application" ought to be synonymous with confusion. It seemed easy enough when I started on my UC and USC applications. I made an account, and slowly started filling out all the information needed.
I started with the things I couldn’t change (bio data, grades, test scores), then got into the short answers, and finally the essay (which unfortunately hasn’t been finalized yet).
Though looking through a drop-down list to find the classes that I took may seem easy enough, it’s not.
In the USC application, for example, there’s the option for Spanish 2 H and Spanish II H, which seem to be the same class. But this doesn’t even stay consistent, as the level three choices are Spanish III Honors and Spanish III H.
After chatting with some of my friends, we decided to just choose the class that looks the best. Spanish II H and Spanish III Honors it is.
Next came the problem of my classes not all fitting in the space provided. Because journalism and Model United Nations are once a week at our school, we get graded for them, but they don’t take up extra space in our schedule. The USC application, however, only has two spaces for electives (which are filled by ceramics and PE for me).
Side note: if you’re a USC admissions officer, please don’t hate me for bagging on your app. I’m sure the other private school ones are more confusing, but I haven’t started on them yet!
Read more College applications are really confusing »
Jacqueline Mendoza, an eighth-grader at Florence Nightingale Middle School in Los Angeles, is going to attend the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Jacqueline was one of several students selected by the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference as a result of her participation last year. Her four-day trip includes watching the Obamas walk to the White House next January.
Jacqueline will be honored by the Los Angeles City Council on Nov. 18 at her school.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Antero Garcia, a teacher at Manual Arts High, writes:
It’s gotten to be somewhat of a tradition here at Manual Arts High School. My first Thursday back after a two-month vacation last week, and the principal summoned the faculty for a brief after school meeting. Standing before us, our principal announced that he has been granted a transfer request from the school. Our principal was leaving.
This is my fourth year as a part of the Manual Arts faculty. Once we have hired our new principal, it will be the fourth official principal to run the school. That’s not to mention the interim principals who fill the position while the job search and interviews are conducted, which takes several months.
Last Wednesday, there was a giddy, strange atmosphere at Manual Arts. The campus was abuzz with the news of President-elect Barack Obama’s victory. At the same time, it was our principal’s last day at the school. During our nutritional break, a brief farewell ceremony was conducted. I took the opportunity, before returning to class, to shake our principal’s hand and let him know that I had learned quite a lot from him during his time at our school.
That being said, our principal’s departure was not without mixed feelings. As he explained in his farewell speech, “The process for converting Manual to an i-Design school has been taxing, to say the least, and the vision that I have for our students and school community may not be aligned with that of the new partnership and the groups that are creating the new governance structure.” I know that in the various roles I’ve taken on while our former principal was at Manual Arts –- school site council member, small learning community lead teacher, dedicated classroom teacher –- I have not always felt that my voice was recognized or valued by the principal.
I have no illusions about the unique challenges of leading a school such as Manual Arts. One of the strengths of our staff is that they are not afraid of voicing opinions or challenging ideas. I also recognize that the students and parents rightfully expect their culture and community practices to be recognized. Our school deserves visionary, collaborative and lasting leadership. I hope the fourth time will be the charm.
Erin Shachory, a parent at Riverside Drive Elementary School in Sherman Oaks, writes:
Last Sunday, Riverside Drive Elementary held its fifth Annual Fall Festival, the biggest fundraiser of our school year. As a vice president of our parent organization, I was heavily involved in the planning and logistics of the event, which included a haunted house, bouncies, bumper cars, food vendors, silent auction, live entertainment, game booths ... and lots and lots of pleas for money, both direct and indirect.
"Wow! The games are only one ticket each!" I overhead a second-grader say to a friend. Both smiled because they had tickets in their pockets -- only their parents knew that each ticket was $1, hard-earned in this tough economic time.
Last week, as I hyperventilated and sweated the small stuff, my husband asked why I was so nervous. "What if we don't raise as much money as last year?" I asked, thinking of the more than $100,000 that the parent organization raised in the last year and the budget that was designed around that figure to pay for computer education, drama, teacher aides. My head was swirling already, and I knew that other schools in Sherman Oaks were holding their own Halloween fairs over the same weekend.
My husband laughed. "Isn't it about fun? Won't the kids and the community have a good time? Even if you make 40 bucks, isn't it a success?"
I stopped my shallow breathing. He had a point. It's not always about exceeding our financial goals; sometimes, the tradition and good old-fashioned fun are enough of a reason to have a party.
So, on Sunday at around 2:30 p.m., when I had trouble walking through the crowds to get from one end of the school to the other, I smiled. My kids ran with their friends from booth to booth, accumulating face paint, hair streaks and fake tattoos. I don't know what our numbers are yet, but I know that one of our teachers supervised the toddler bouncy for two hours. Nearly 100 parents volunteered to set up and run the festival. Our principal helped clean up. Fifth graders manned the haunted house. Kindergartners sang.
In uncertain times, maybe we can't measure success by dollar signs. Maybe it's just the taste of cotton candy and the sound of laughter on a sunny Sunday in October.
The last question in the final presidential campaign debate was about education, and it gave voters their best chance yet to hear what John McCain and Barack Obama might do -- or not -- for the nation's schools. Education is, of course, primarily a local function in the United States, so presidents rarely have much impact on schools. Still, there are exceptions -- the most recent and obvious being President Bush and his No Child Left Behind program. That came up, not surprisingly, in the candidates' debate answers, with Obama calling it "a bunch of unfunded mandates," and McCain describing it as "a great beginning."
Both candidates spoke out in favor of charter schools -- no surprise there. Obama made the curious statement that "I doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois," imputing that he possesses unilateral powers wielded by few other state legislators or members of Congress. The two tangled a bit over vouchers, which McCain supports. McCain praised a voucher program in Washington, D.C., and said the local superintendent supports vouchers. Obama corrected him, saying she "actually supports charters." (The Washington Post says the superintendent, Michelle Rhee, has actually not stated a position on vouchers, although she has described McCain as being the stronger candidate on education.)
Keep reading to see the entire transcript, courtesy of Congressional Quarterly.
-- Mitchell Landsberg
Read more McCain, Obama discuss education »
You might wonder why we have a week to celebrate some of the most criticized food around -- school lunches. But even the president has issued a proclamation to mark National School Lunch Week. Which is this week, through Saturday.
The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program that since 1946 has served more than 187 billion lunches. Anyone want to hazard a guess about how much mystery meat that might include? These days there are plenty of regulations about fat, salt and other contents of school meals.
In my own childhood, there were "lunch ladies" who made tuna salad or meatloaf or sloppy Joes. Never did we get anything like "Petunia Pita Pocket" thwapped onto our plastic trays.
But the School Nutrition Assn. is holding an election with her as well as Pete Pizza, Biff Burger, Gloria Grilled Cheese and Larry Lasagna in the running. Pete -- he of the wholegrain crust and lowfat cheese -- is ahead; the winner is to be announced Oct. 24.
The idea is to promote healthy habits. And some school districts and legislatures are stepping in to try to make school food healthier. But that effort often collides with budget restrictions. There are other problems, too, writes Jacqueline Domac, who has been a teacher and school food activist.
-- Mary MacVean
Photo by Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
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Jimmy Biblarz
Lance Chapman
Sophy Cohen
Antero Garcia
Nick Giulioni
Steven Hicks
Anum Khan
Lauren McCabe
Tim Schlosser
Erin Shachory
Phoebe Smolin