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Whoa! What Did DeNucci Know?
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Steve PoftakThe Lowell Sun’s Peter Lucas weighs in on the Merrimack Special Education Collaborative scandal (see my previous comments here and here) and performs a bit of (unknowing?) jiu-jitsu. The piece is driven by an internal leak from the State Auditor’s office where a DeNucci loyalist lets slip that the report leaked by Bump was actually conducted under the former Auditor: Although an investigation of the program covering 2008 to 2010 had been conducted by former state Auditor Joseph DeNucci, and a draft report written up, you would never know it. That audit, conducted before Bump took office in January, apparently sat on a shelf until Inspector General Gregory Sullivan, who had conducted a parallel investigation with DeNucci, released his explosive […]
National standards’ process and substance abuse
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byFor a while it looked like all of thinking Washington was gaga over US Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s agenda. The only opposition that stirred was from the teachers unions which came out this summer with their shortlist of 13 things they hated about the US Education Secretary. While Secretary Duncan may have seen that as a badge of honor, but there were in fact several items the unions noted that were spot on criticisms—specifically related to intrusions into personnel decisions, forcing federal experiments on states, and the Secretary’s silver-bullet-osis. Then came Secretary Duncan’s announcement that he would circumvent the legislative process needed to get the No Child Left Behind Act reauthorized and instead would dole out “waivers” to states that […]
Unions Have A Right to Fight – Legally
/0 Comments/in Blog, News /by Taylor ArmerdingUnions have plenty of rights. They have the right to strike, and to picket the employer with whom they are aggrieved. They have a right, as striking Verizon workers did in Massachusetts this past week, to have a giant, inflated rat at their pickets, if they are dumb enough to think that is going to bring them some public support. They have a right to shout insults and obscenities at those who cross the picket line to go to work, although it has always mystified me why they think acting like elementary school bullies earns them any respect. But they do not have a right to commit crimes – to sabotage equipment, to threaten those who don’t agree with them, […]
Arne Duncan gets sent to the principal’s office
/0 Comments/in Blog, Blog: Common Core, Blog: Education, Jim Stergios, News, Related Education Blogs /byUS Education Secretary Arne Duncan is losing his allies fast. As the Huffington Post noted in early July, At its annual meeting in Chicago, The National Education Association’s Representative Assembly passed Saturday New Business Item C., a strongly worded piece that comprehensively lists the NEA’s grievances with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan EdWeek’s Stephen Sawchuck summarized it this way: With a few minor amendments, the NEA’s Representative Assembly today passed New Business Item C, a.k.a. “13 Things We Hate About Arne Duncan.” One of its sponsors said that unions are tired of being attacked, and they are “especially upset that the U.S. Department of Education and Secretary Duncan are part of the problems we face every single day.” No one […]
Krugman, Comfy Pillows and Rick Perry
/0 Comments/in Blog, Economic Opportunity, News /by Jim StergiosPaul Krugman, economist polemicist extraordinaire, took out a very lightweight hammer and cushy tongs on Rick Perry’s job creation claims: Texas: It has, for many decades, had much faster population growth than the rest of America — about twice as fast since 1990. Several factors underlie this rapid population growth: a high birth rate, immigration from Mexico, and inward migration of Americans from other states, who are attracted to Texas by its warm weather and low cost of living, low housing costs in particular. And just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with a low cost of living. In particular, there’s a good case to be made that zoning policies in many states unnecessarily restrict the supply of housing, and […]