Delia Armstrong-Busby -Milken Educator

Untitled Photo - MindViz Photos

2010-04-02T14:10:00.000-06:00

Untitled Photo - MindViz Photos

bliss's hi today Photos - MindViz Photos

2010-04-02T13:58:00.000-06:00

bliss's hi today Photos - MindViz Photos

1963 letter shows former pope knew of abuse

2010-03-31T22:13:00.001-06:00

1963 letter shows former pope knew of abuse

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Educational Flow

2010-01-28T07:29:00.002-07:00

The room was mostly full as I began my introductions. Now the participants for the college summit were half my age and well launched in their teaching roles. Mostly, they were from Cherry Creek school district, a Colorado place seldom associated with diversity or financial hardship. Yet, they had trekked the sixty or so miles for a conference focused on minority youth. Hats off to them. Saturday efforts of this nature helps to grow the mind. More knowledge, more understanding, greater future lives for the children they face on that daily relationship.

Facebook | Delia Bliss

2009-11-26T03:41:00.000-07:00

Facebook | Delia Bliss

2009-11-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

Facebook | Delia Bliss

Developer hopes to buy former school site in D-11 for retail, brownstones | school, former, site - Education - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO

2009-11-17T03:42:00.000-07:00

Developer hopes to buy former school site in D-11 for retail, brownstones | school, former, site - Education - Colorado Springs Gazette, CO

Budgetary Shortfalls Births an Irving Village

2009-11-13T09:19:00.002-07:00

"Why close our schools?" Shock permeated the room. Weeping parents and students shared in disbelief as eight neighborhood schools were closed by the local board of education. They fell victim to budgetary shortfalls. The Irving Villiage Initiative led by Delia Armstrong Busby and other engaged community is born soon after the flurry of school shutdowns subsides.
The first wave of vocal participants in community meetings on school closure is teachers. Why did the school close? "We raised the test scores." "We strengthened instruction." Make the nonsensical make sense.
The next wave of meetings brought the ideas. "What about a vocational training center?" A hub if you will.
Pastor queried, what about a community garden? He suggested too, cradle to grave services in this "village- Irving Village.
Soon, a trek to the state capital in Denver bolstered the ideas for the village. Business leaders from the vocations-plumbing, electricity, construction ensue. Labor union leaders join the group as well. "Let's update the job preparations" they ask. Hence the word greening is introduced to the conversation. The talk turns to the environmental consciousness now leading the construction of wind driven energy sources. Now conversation turns to the needed preparation for green jobs.
In the spirit of true grassroots activism, the committee created an RFP for partnering with the school district to re purpose the now defunct middle school as a vocational hub with an inter generational center also to be housed on the campus. The plan visioned a regional vocational hub supporting a cradle to grave service center for the neighborhood community. A childcare center, non profit services and even a senior citizen's band could find a space in the Irving Village.
Recently, the school district's board of directors tasked the administration to start to incorporate the grassroots Irving Village initiative into a fully developed district plan for future implementation pending funding.
In the face of budget shortfalls, it is important for the community to stay engaged. Indeed, community can actively push the shifting paradigm to empower its own needs.
Weather the emotional waves fueled by change. Vision with fellow villagers to reconstitute the present for a new future. Remember the chaos precedes new social and economic norming. Each community can birth its own Irving Village Concept over time.
http://deliabusby.blogspot.com/2009/11/three-plans-one-goal-more-vocational.html

Three plans, one goal: More vocational schooling in D-11

2009-11-08T12:53:00.000-07:00

Three plans, one goal: More vocational schooling in D-11
Comments 4 | Recommended2
November 07, 2009 3:25 PM
SUE McMILLIN
THE GAZETTE
Some teens drop out of school because the required courses seem irrelevant to their lives. What they’d rather have are classes that provide the skills to get a decent-paying job when they graduate from high school.

In the education world, there’s a lot of talk these days about ensuring that high schools grads are “workforce ready.” And many of the programs aimed at giving teens job skills are specifically aimed at retaining those who might drop out in school.

So it’s no surprise that some folks started to explore the idea of creating a vocational school in the Pikes Peak region.

Two community groups formed last spring for that purpose. One has applied to Colorado Springs School District 11 to open a charter school next fall. The second proposed a partnership with D-11 to include a vocational program in an intergenerational community center at the former Irving Middle School.

Both groups talked to D-11 as they drew up their plans. And D-11 board members and administrators attended some of the community meetings held by the Irving Village Community group.

That’s why members of both groups said they were surprised when D-11 unveiled a concept in late October for a “community career tech center” at Irving.

“They used the work of the Irving Village Community without acknowledgement or collaboration,” said Delia Armstrong Busby, who led the effort to propose an intergenerational center at Irving, which closed in May. “It smacks of disrespect. They didn’t even notify us of their presentation so we could be there to support it. We do support that concept; we just want the community that started it to be part of it.”

The charter group also said it wasn’t aware that the district was developing its own concept for a career and technical education center.

“We have been in daily contact with D-11 officials and I had no idea they were talking about this,” said Deb Chamberlain, a steering committee member for the proposed Colorado Springs Vocational Academy.

D-11 Deputy Superintendent Mike Poore said the district’s concept for a community career tech center is not an attempt to undercut the other efforts. He said administrators wanted to make sure the board liked the concept before they spent more time and resources fleshing it out and lining up community members to partner on it.

On Sept. 23, the D-11 board asked the administration to report on what vocational-type courses the district offers and develop some broad concepts on how it might expand or reconfigure those offerings. That report was presented at the Oct. 28 D-11 board meeting. It included a rundown of what the district offers at its five high schools, how students get college credit for certain coursework and an initial peek at how the district might expand its offerings.

Poore prefaced his remarks to the board by acknowledging the charter application and a “group of citizens that want to come into partnership” with D-11, and the apparent community interest in offering more vocational type classes so students could be prepared for the workforce or college.

He also warned them: “Once you see the challenges behind expanding career/tech programs, you might want to pull back.”

After some discussion, the board indicated it wanted the district to take the next steps, although several board members said they weren’t sure the district could afford such a large undertaking.

Poore said this week that there’s plenty of opportunity for the community to get involved. In fact, he said, the concept presented likely would be dependent on partners that would invest in portions of the program and revenue-producing activities that could support the other programs.

“It will take a tremendous amount of work to pull it off, and we’d have to have community partners to do that,” he said.

Poore and Kris Odom, D-11 executive director of contracting and procurement, said they envision members of the Irving Village group working with the district on plans for a career tech center, even through the group’s proposal was rejected by the district.

The Irving Village Community was notified in early October that its proposal didn’t meet the requirements of the contracting office, Odom said.

“It was a very good idea,” she said, but it didn’t fulfill their requirements for consideration. The letter she sent to organizers in October explained the shortcomings and offered a meeting, but no one responded to the contracting office, she said.

The D-11 concept
The district would continue to offer career-type courses in its high schools, but could expand the offerings at the Irving center. The concept includes renting out some space at the former middle school, such as the auditorium for performances and office space for community organizations, to help pay for other programs. It would operate more as a center where students might come for part of a day or evening rather than as a comprehensive high school.
Among the ideas:

• A culinary arts/catering program supported by a student-run restaurant at the site.
• A community clinic where students in medical technology and nursing courses could get practical experience.
• A student-run art gallery where student art could be sold.
• A digital/online learning center where students could make up credits or get ahead.
• Community gardens.
• A crafts/trade/hobby center.
• A cosmetology school supported by services it offers.
• Businesses, community groups, colleges or trade schools could run some of the program under partnership agreements with the district.

What’s next: The D-11 board directed the administration to pursue the concept, including some analysis of the resources that would be required.

—

Call the writer at 636-0251.

Waiting on Amy

2009-10-22T12:57:00.006-06:00

I just called Washington D.C. pursuing Amy Wilkins. Amy Wilkins is a principal of the Education Trust. All Kids can learn is one of the beliefs that I share with Amy so I am most interested in what other ideas may converge. Amy also shares a belief, that the teachers association or union if you will can voluntarily link teacher evaluation and assessment to student achievement. The recent Innovative Fund grants are indicators of a possible new direction from the AFL-CIO and its leader Randi Weingarten.

3.3 million dollars have been granted to the AFL-CIO's teachers. Parts of these funds are going to two of eight winning affiliates who will work to modify the link between teacher assessment and student attainment. The Obama administrations Race to the Top funding is a catalyst for this reform thinking. The Race to the Top funding includes the accountability premise: that student achievement is indeed linked to the quality of instruction.

New thinking can grow new tools in the educator's tool kit. If Amy and I are correct in our perspectives, the next four years of Obama incentivized reform, may bare sweet fruits for our nation's children. Possibly, this is the beginning of a means for reducing the oppressively high poverty rates among Americans. At the root of prosperity is a sound educational system.

Amy, where are you?

Educational Innovation and Economic Stimulus

2009-10-22T12:51:00.000-06:00

The U.S. Department of Education's 2010 fiscal year budget of $47.6 billion includes an allocation of $517 million dedicated to the Teacher Incentive Fund which rewards principals, teachers, and other school personnel who raise student achievement, close achievement gaps and work hard to staff schools.

School districts across the country will be competing for the billions of dollars on the line. They will showcase their great schools, exemplary teachers and innovative ideas. There's no doubt that the stimulus money will be a boon for school reform. For years, school districts have shown that they have innovative ideas, but without proper funding those ideas never come to fruition.

Innovation and change should be energized with both an incentive and reward to replenish resources of ingenuity, commitment, and creativity. Only in public education is going the extra mile a donation expected of the dedicated few.

It is empowering to be recognized for turning gang infested schools from the strong hold of the socially impaired to havens where students can remediate themselves to academic achievement. Yes, placards and pats on the back feel good; but, they don't buy anything. Why are educators the only missionaries who trek the roadways of the under-achievers --prodding them to the higher places with maybe a brief notation in the annual assessment of their deeds and misdeeds in the educational workplace?

When an inspired teacher or administrator makes the difference in average yearly attainment a reward is more than appropriate. It is fully earned for having the tools to enable the struggling student to complete a toolkit that is in ill repair.

Based on the state funding tables issued by the U.S. Department of Education, Colorado is expected to receive $33,845,209 in Recovery Act funding for schools identified for improvement, corrective action and restructuring under Title I. This money is expected to come into play this fall.

If past history is any indicator the incentive program will be a success. Programs such as the Absence Addiction Approach recognized by the National Interagency Drug Institute and the U.S. Department of Education helped an academically impaired high school move from low attendance and floundering graduation rates to turn around status celebrated by its principal winning recognition as Outstanding Individual In School and feted by the state's governor. This turn around scenario was incentivized by outside funding. This shows what dynamic effects special funding can have.

The rewards reaped from the Teacher Incentive Fund will provide a tremendous opportunity for improving schools with hard work and innovation. The real winners though, will be the children.

Busby is a former Colorado Springs high school principal and school board member and an educational consultant with the Women's Workplace and Educational Initiative.

The Grassroots Organizers' Perfect Storm - The Fight For Paid Sick Leave

2009-10-22T12:46:00.001-06:00

Grassroots groups stir the pot of human understanding. They fuel the awareness about why forty percent or more of hourly workers nationally are left outside the door of paid sick leave. Social change cannot occur without the inclusion of the disempowered workers who people the realms of the disposable employees are who are cast aside when illness overcomes the will to work.

Collectively, we as a society are no more powerful than the weakest among us. Some studies show that more than sixty percent of Americans workers receive paid sick leave. These of course are the workers who people the union roles or the ranks of the salaried employees. The forty percent or more in the ranks of the unpaid sick days remain dependent on grassroots advocacy groups such as 9-5 Women, Acorn, Citizen's Project, and Youth United for Work, JwJ as well as numerous other in the trenches organizations across the United States.

This state by state organizing is interminably slow with paid medical leave advances most prominently displayed in San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Washington D.C. In the case of Youth United in San Francisco, California, does regional culture influence the paid sick leave legislation which occurred? This legislative change is born in a state with a historic tendency to support paid leave for its workers. On a national state ranking system, California is among the most highly ranked and graded at B with no state earning an A. The ranking results from the quantity of paid leave allocated to workers. States such as Colorado rank at the C/D level due to the dearth of medical leave policy to democratize paid sick leave. Now, the city by city approach to change is moving to a country-wide effort to support the health initiative lead by Senator Kennedy.

Organizations are on board to promote social change legislation for paid sick leave. One such organization whose national office is in Denver, Colorado is 9-5 Women which is part of a broad national network pushing for country-wide paid sick leave relief. Value Families at Work includes this description of 9-5's effort at broad-based reform.

In Colorado, 9 to 5 has built a work-family coalition that is engaged in grassroots organizing, media outreach, and building support for public education and state policy efforts to provide time off work to parents to attend children's school activities; and to guarantee workers paid sick days. The coalition also works to bring Colorado voices into national efforts to protect and expand FMLA, win paid sick days, and to include work-family issues in local community benefits campaigns. Colorado is powerfully positioned in view of its recent victory over the Ward Connerly funded initiative to undermine civil rights.

Acorn is another imminent grassroots organizer. Acorn boasts an extensive national network infrastructure.
With a posted membership of 400,000; the organization identifies 116 chapters through out the United States. The Wall Street Journal included this information about the work of Acorn.

Since 1970, ACORN has been building community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice, and won victories on thousands of issues of concern to our members, through direct action, negotiation, legislative advocacy and voter participation. ACORN helps those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system.

With grass roots leaders at work, opponents of paid sick leave may have their hands more than full. The controversial effort continues.

Delia Armstrong Busby is an award winning educator and former school board member. Contact at rubusy1@comcast.net

American Forum: The Benefits of the Teacher Incentive Fund#links#links#links

2009-07-31T17:31:00.000-06:00

American Forum: The Benefits of the Teacher Incentive Fund#links#links#links

YouTube - Colorado Editorial Forum: Education Innovation and Economic Stimulus#watch-main-area

2009-07-30T11:26:00.000-06:00

YouTube - Colorado Editorial Forum: Education Innovation and Economic Stimulus#watch-main-area: "delia armstrong busby economic stimulus obama alan ohashi o'hashi colorado editorial forum american"

Delia Armstrong Busby for School Board

2009-07-13T10:07:00.001-06:00

Delia Armstrong Busby for School Board

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Close a school, open a village by Sue McMillin

2009-06-10T12:05:00.002-06:00

Close a school, open a village
May 27th, 2009, 5:40 pm · Post a Comment · posted by Sue McMillin

Sometimes ideas blossom quickly. That seems to be the case with a group of citizens who have gathered a few times in recent weeks to talk about the fate of Irving Middle School after it closes this week. When many folks were relaxing over the Memorial holiday weekend, the stalwarts in the group were doing paperwork to establish the Irving Village nonprofit to create an intergenerational community center at the school on Murray Boulevard.

And they're thinking that part of the center would house a charter school, the Irving Village Career-Vocational Prep Academy that would serve students in sixth through 12th grades. The kids could get training/apprenticeships/vocational certifications, and even walk away with associates degrees, according to Delia Armstrong-Busby, one of the leaders of the effort. Those involved in recent meetings have said there's a huge need for vocational education in the region because students who aren't college-bound find the traditional high school offerings irrelevant to their lives.

Some of the folks and businesses who've joined this effort include attorney Pete Lee, Rick Johnson of Johnson Plumbing and Heating, Open Range Construction and Pikes Peak Workforce.

Busby said the group will seek a charter from D-11 or the state charter authority, and has already floated the idea to the League of Charter Schools, which found the idea innovative. Busby said those interested in the projects or in donating to the start-up can contact her at rubusy1@comcast.net
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DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 8/16/2004 4800.00. DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 8/31/2004 4800.00 ... DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 6/30/2005 4800.00. Total: 91419.24 ...

2009-06-01T11:43:00.006-06:00

DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 8/16/2004 4800.00. DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 8/31/2004 4800.00 ... DELIA ARMSTRONG-BUSBY 6/30/2005 4800.00. Total: 91419.24 ...

Delia Armstrong Busby Consulting provides drop out intervention services to many districts over time. Delia Armstrong Busby created the Absence Addiction Approach which is a proven intervention for dropout intervention. The creation of this program assisted in award winning out comes for students.

The D-11 Fact Sheet Alliance for What?

2009-05-31T21:38:00.002-06:00

The Alliance for Quality Public Schools was formed by Karen Teja, Jan Tanner, Tami Hasling, John Garten, as well as myself and numerous others in 2003.
It was used as a springboard to elect Tami Hasling to the School Board in 2005. I assisted with the appointment of Jan Tanner to the treasurer position through the intervention of then board president Sandy Shakes.
Through the efforts of the Alliance, a more moderate and less strident voice was established at the board level.
By 2007 Jan Tanner would be formally elected to the BOE where she was elected to a full term subsequent to her winning a recall election where she ran against Sandy Shakes

"Yes She Can Campaign"

2009-05-29T21:19:00.000-06:00

The "Yes She Can Campaign" of Delia Armstrong Busby is launched. With a career focussed on the interests of students and parents, Busby represents the best of the best when it comes to public service.

During her tenure on the school board, she helped fund the parent empowerment program with a sizable grant and assisted the training of parents in dealing with the affairs of their children in school.

She assisted parents and teachers in building teacher contracts that protected the rights of teachers and the needs of students and families.

She supported the building of Christa McAuliffe Elementary School on the eastside to empower all regions of the district to have needed access to schools.

She voted to support the continuance of neighbhorhood schools. She vote to allow parents a voice in schools where the environment was not in the best interest of students and families.

She facilitated community meetings where parents could voice concerns.

She supported and assisted achievement for students and staff

She understands the needs for and the validity of the master agreement to protect the interests of educators

She insisted that the superintendent contract included that the superintendent is responsible for student achievement and that this must be included in the contract between the board of education and the superintendent.

She understands perseverance overcoming unfair actions as an employee and moving to serve the community as the first African American woman to serve as a member of the district eleven school board in 143 years.

She has worked to develop the community involvement in the newly formed Irving Village non profit to stop the urban decay promoted by the closure of nine district eleven schools.

When School Bells Lose Their Ring

2009-04-29T07:14:00.000-06:00

When School Bells Lose Their Ring
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Contributed by: delia armstrong-busby on 4/29/2009

Reflections on the passing of your neighborhood schools...

New school buildings, new furnishings, great curb appeal. These are blessings coming with living in the newer parts of town --- often where the money is budgeted to put the new schools in place.

But watch out if you purchased your home in the older parts of your school district. You may find that your school district starts a process of neighborhood school deconstruction ---- which may mean a nightmare in some homes.

If you fail to live in the newer parts of town, you may find your school on the chopping block some time in the future.

Our property taxes don't go down immediately. But your neighborhood school services disappear. It can take about twenty-four to thirty six months for the value of your home to go down.

So, you keep paying the same prices for school taxes while neighborhood school services are reduced.

Yes, we hear this scenario is the right thing to do.

On the other hand, if your next move is out of the school district--- then what the school district says is a savings can be lost as the exodus away takes flight.

Picture neighborhood school fans flying the coop.

We Are Barak Hussein Obama

2009-01-18T10:00:00.002-07:00

Delia Armstrong Busby was the first African American principal in Colorado Springs and the first to serve on the District 11 Board of Education.
Provided by: Delia Armstrong Busby

The inauguration of Barack Obama leads me to these reflections---

The people of Colorado Springs were poised for change when Barack Hussein Obama appeared on the electoral scene. My first wave of "what in the world is happening here?" occurred during the democratic caucus in our neighborhood which is near Wasson High School.

My husband (Ron) and I arrived at Audubon Elementary School to find the largest democratic turnout in30 years. The next eye-opener was the campaign field workers at the Obama Party the evening of the caucus.

As newly selected Obama caucus delegates, Ron and I were surprised when we entered the Party at Phantom Canyon, to find a room full of energetic 20-somethings with faces aglow with happy and voices bubbly with "Yes, we can". It quickly reminded me of my days of high school supervision when the highlight of the evening might be stopping some youthful PDA (public display of affection). But the only PDA I found at Phantom Canyon was a philosophical love affair for Barack Obama.

This is my first experience with impassioned, youthful, campaigners in large numbers. To me it signals the changing of the generational guard. I am impressed.

Since moving to Colorado Springs in 1969, I have always had a personal sense of what I can do. And within this community, I have had the professional and personal opportunity of many firsts. This includes being the first African American female to be appointed to a high school principalship. In 1999, I became the first African American female elected to the Colorado Springs District Eleven School Board in over 140 years. Because of these experiences, the election of Barack Obama never seemed out of reach to me.

I certainly have been at the forefront of educational change in Colorado Springs for nearly40 years. My conclusion is that the community is empowering based on its perception of your ability to make a meaningful contribution. Obama arrived on the scene of a community hip-deep in a desire for better. A community still wanting to believe that America can indeed renew itself with the best leadership. There was and is a strong feeling of "we can be better" and "we can do better." Further, there are still numbers of people willing to extend themselves to make it so.

Since his election, the Obama team has been in constant touch keeping the dream of a renewed America alive. A day of service is being encouraged this month. The push for all of us to better our community by acting to make improvement or to just make a personal contribution to the common good is inspiring. We are Barack Hussein Obama. We make him possible because we make dreams come true when we continue to say yes to change and to hope and to seeing the possibilities of the new reality that emerges on Tuesday January 20, 2009.

Currently listening to:
Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement (Barack Obama)
Released on: November 11, 2008
By: Various Artists and Barack Obama

Children Engaged:AVisit To the Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development Center

2009-01-13T12:47:00.003-07:00

Children Engaged: A Visit to the Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development Center
Smiling faces highlighted by hopeful, enthusiastic eyes helped to communicate the effectiveness of the Urban League Child Development Center run by Mrs. G. (Mildred Galbreath).
The Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development is partnered with Hope On Line Academy to create the educational setting which captures the learning energies of these children who are aged from kindergarten to second grade.
Research demonstrates that the years before the third grade are crucial. With this development center as a staging ground, young minds are being effectively prepared with literacy and mathematical curriculum. This rich curricular content is enhanced by a student-teacher ratio of about one to four. Add to this certified social worker support. With the assistance of a credentialed instructional coach, students have the equivalent of individual learning plans supervised by qualified instructional specialists.
What a wonderfully well executed design --- not only for at risk early learners---- but any early learners.
Hats off to Mrs. G and her children loving staff and the curricular/instructional assistance provided through Hope On Line Academy.
Observation completed by Delia Armstrong-Busby, Milken Educator, former School Board Director

Children Engaged: A Visit to the Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development Center

2009-01-13T12:32:00.002-07:00

Children Engaged: A Visit to the Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development Center

Children Engaged: A Visit to the Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development Center
Smiling faces highlighted by hopeful, enthusiastic eyes helped to communicate the effectiveness of the Urban League Child Development Center run by Mrs. G. (Mildred Galbreath).
The Pikes Peak Urban League Child Development is partnered with Hope On Line Academy to create the educational setting which captures the learning energies of these children who are aged from kindergarten to second grade.
Research demonstrates that the years before the third grade are crucial. With this development center as a staging ground, young minds are being effectively prepared with literacy and mathematical curriculum. This rich curricular content is enhanced by a student-teacher ratio of about one to four. Add to this certified social worker support. With the assistance of a credentialed instructional coach, students have the equivalent of individual learning plans supervised by qualified instructional specialists.
What a wonderfully well executed design --- not only for at risk early learners---- but any early learners.
Hats off to Mrs. G and her children loving staff and the curricular/instructional assistance provided through Hope On Line Academy.
Observation completed by Delia Armstrong-Busby, Milken Educator, former School Board Director

Doubt:The Movie and Pedophilia in the Schoolhouse

2009-01-06T12:16:00.001-07:00

Sister Aloysius, the catalytic character in the movie, Doubt; portrays the responsible educator confronted with the duty to act when faced with pedophilia in the schoolhouse.
My own experience with this duty to act was driven by the complaint raised by the boyfriend of a former student. The student, still traumatized by the experience of the sexual betrayal at the hands of a trusted staff member. I was newly appointed to my position as a high school principal, yet I did take the responsibility. At the time, the laws were different on one level, but the individual accountability for doing the "right thing" are always present. I initiated an investigation, talking to staff members who came forward with what they knew. It was a floodgate with yearbooks used to point out students who were victimized over time.
My investigation revealed that the staff member in question had seventeen years of complaints about inappropriate sexual relationships with male and female students.
After bringing this information to the superintendent, he then hired an investigator.
The investigator compiled an overwhelming body of evidence as a result of gathering signed statements from parents and students regarding the sexual activity with children in the school.
As the episode progresses, politics prevails. The individual in question is permitted to resign.
when he surfaces again it is as a staff member in an adjacent school district with a recommendation from a then member of the state board of education.
And parallel to the outcomes for the accused in the movie, the individual is left to repeat the behavior with a new audience of students.dophilia

Doubt:The Movie and Pedophilia in the Schoolhouse

2009-01-06T10:12:00.002-07:00

Sister Aloyious, the catalytic character in the movie, Doubt; portrays the responsible educator confronted with the duty to act when faced with pedophilia in the schoolhouse.
My own experience with this duty to act was driven by the complaint raised by the boyfriend of a former student. The student still traumatized by the experience of the sexual betrayal at the hands of a trusted staff member. I was newly appointed to my position as a high school principal, yet I did take the responsiblity. At the time, the laws were different on one level, but the individual accountability for doing the "right thing" are always present. I initiated an investigation, talking to staff members who came forward with what they knew. It was a floodgate with yearbooks used to point out students who were victimized over time.
My investigation revealed that the staff member in question had seventeen years of complaints about inappropriate sexual relationships with male and female students.
After bringing this information to the superintendent, he then hired an investigator.
The investigator compiled an overwhelming body of evidence as a result of gathering signed statements from parents and students regarding the sexual acitivity with children in the school.
As the episode progresses, politics prevails. The individual in question is permitted to resign.
when he surfaces again it is as a staff member in an adjacent school district with a recommendation from a then member of the state board of education.
And parallel to the outcomes for the accused in the movie, the indiviual is left to repeat the behavior with a new audience of students.

Connecting the Dots On Octoberquest and the Lost Students

2008-12-21T13:07:00.003-07:00

Connecting the Dots on Octoberquest and the Lost Students: New Legislative Initiative to Create Accountability
In my blog Octoberquest and the Lost Students I wrote about what is described by Colorado State Representative Micheal Merrifield in “Life takes Visa”
Rep. Mike Merrifield wants to remove incentives from the ‘school-count game’
"This is a glaring loophole that needs to be closed," he says. "This law is going to apply evenly across the whole

“Educational Octoberquest and the Lost Students by Delia Armstrong Busby July 29, 2008
Is your local school district coming to you with the empty pocket pleas?

Assuring you that they have no money or that educational poverty requires that they close all the schools in the district.

No way can they hire the teachers to teach the students. No way can they continue to warm the schools or even open the cafeteria with the federally subsidized lunches.

If you are faced with the scenario identified so far

do this, look into the Educational Octoberquest.

This is when the schools are busy reaching out to the community looking for students.

This is the student count time. This is when school districts get the money that pays everyone.

Incentives are offered to get those student bodies into seats to fund the district.
Delia B Armstrong Busby
Deliabusby.blogger.com

From Adrian Stanley writer at the Colorado Springs Independent Newspaper (December 11, 2008):

Now if these school districts are asking you for this money. If the latest Colorado Student Assessment Program test results are to be believed, not all the kids in the popular Pueblo-based Cesar Chavez Academy School Network know their math. But, clearly, the administrators do.
In a Pueblo promotion, the Academy Network — a collection of charter schools in Pueblo and Colorado Springs — offered parents $100 Visa gift certificates and a chance to win a car or thousands in gift cards if they enrolled their kids in a Cesar Chavez school by Oct. 1. That just so happens to be the date of the head count that determines per-pupil state funding for schools.
Rep. Mike Merrifield wants to remove incentives from the ‘school-count game’
"This is a glaring loophole that needs to be closed," he says. "This law is going to apply evenly across the whole
This is positive leadership

More state legislators need to take the Merrifield initiative to heart and lower the dropout rate through such leadership

The Mythology of the Impoverished HIgh School Dropout and Other Misperceptions About HIgh School

2008-11-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

The Mythology of the Impoverish High School Dropout and Other Misperceptions About High School…
Introduction
The typical high dropout is not poor.
Review the statistical report of the performance of schools statewide and review the economic status of the students who dropout and you will find that the ratio of poverty to discontinuance from school is not as highly correlated as the ratio of race/ethnicity to dropout
The typical dropout is not a minority.
Numerically, the typical high school dropout is a non minority who is not poor.
Minority governed schools do not assure that minority students will thrive there.
Some charters which are created expressly to show that minority governed schools will be more successful because of the race or ethnicity of the school leaders in relation to students have proven to be unsuccessful in student retention or academic achievement.
The truth is the unengaged student will disengage in a school environment that does not positively engage with the educational attainment of each and every student.
On the surface, minority students in predominantly white schools will attain greater levels of retention to graduation, as well, as proficient academic attainment. What would make this so? What is in the culture of some schools and districts that make the success quotient higher when the quotient is not being driven by wealth or affluence or race?
A truth
Effective Administrative and Classroom Leadership are Great Myth Busters
Clearly, there is superior educational leadership in the culture. There is a sound instructional staff. The administration and the classroom leaders facilitate the level of attainment represented in the positive statistical data. The data displaces mythology related to graduation rates, dropout rates and standardized tests performance.

Readers may want specifics to a greater extent. The reality is that success is homegrown. The best answers are found within the environment that seeks growth and improvement for its students. It is the school staff and community that govern the success of students. Parents are as a chorus to the sermon of the school culture. They can connect with the school leadership – administrative and classroom staff and students to create the mythology busting tapestry of effective schools.
More to come---

Delia Armstrong-Busby : Delia Armstrong-Busby EducationQuest: Educational Octoberquest and the Lost Students

2008-07-29T18:29:00.001-06:00

The Education Equality Project

2008-07-14T18:19:00.003-06:00

The Public always has a place in our k-12 education system. I have attached a blog regarding the recent statements of the Education Equality Project. Leaders of this group include civic and organizational leaders such as Joel Klein, Al Sharpton, Corey Booker, Roy Romer and numerous others.
The issue is one of civic engagement. Civic engagement is essential to establishing the appropriate public scrutiny to enliven and strengthen the American education system.
Should we de-select the civic voices with whom we find dis-agreements? Or should we seek to incorporate all of the voices to enable the essential cultural changes to eliminate the historic mis education and under education trends of our society?
I say, now more than ever we need to attain the collective sophistication to make our schools better.

Friday, July 11, 2008
Written by: Alan Gottlieb

Coming to a press conference near you: The Education Equality Project. Led by NYC Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, a diminutive heavyweight, the EEP rolls into Denver Sunday for a 2:30 p.m. press conference.

That’s right. A press conference. On a Sunday afternoon. In the middle of summer. Oh well, I’ll be there to cover it in my Education News Colorado reporter hat. I guess this is what we get for hosting the convention this fall. After all, this is a project of Democrats for Education Reform. Whitney Tilson calls it “the teacher unions’ worst nightmare.”

The project sounds worthy:

“…a new organization focused on transforming America’s public schools and educational outcomes for high-needs students. The Project will challenge politicians, public officials, educators, union leaders, and others to view fixing public schools as the foremost civil rights issue of the early 21st Century. It will focus America’s attention on its highest needs students, who 54 years after Brown v. Board of Education, still receive far less educational opportunity and often struggle and fail in school.”

It’s studded with big names spanning the political spectrum – among them Geoffrey Canada, Corey Booker (rising star mayor of Newark), Chicago Supt. Arne Duncan, our own Peter Groff, the Ed Trust’s Kati Haycock, Roy Romer…the list goes on and on.

And it’s co-chaired by Joel Klein and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Talk about strange bedfellows!

So is this another high-wattage political stunt, or will this group insist on cutting through the happy-talk B.S. that permeates Eduworld? Sounds like a question I’d better ask Sunday.

Around here, certainly, there’s often a lot more spin than substance, and some of the local luminaries participating in Sunday’s press conference are spinners par excellence when it comes to our local schools. Count me skeptical until EEP proves me wrong.

So head on over to the Denver School of Science and Technology (2000 Valentia St) Sunday at 2:30, and see whether there’s more hot air outside or in.

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Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?

2008-06-26T11:31:00.001-06:00

Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?
This headline is taken from the June 26, 2008 edition of the New York Times. The answer to the question is that failure is always stigmatizing to students in school. This is true of all grade levels. The school district initiating the retention of 12% of its first graders is East Ramapo school district. If this school district is aware that twelve percent of its student population is deficient then why not have pre-first grade interventions that prevent rather than intervene? Certainly the pre-first grade prevention approach is most beneficial to all ---- especially the children being stigmatized by the choice of the district board and administration.
Points of reference on tracking
Academic Tracking the practice of grouping students according to ability and placing these students into separate curricula tracks or courses. The tracks cover distinctly different material, are binding across all academic subjects, and often lead to different destinations upon graduation from high school.
This quote is drawn from the definitions of terms phrase of a North Carolina standards document.
What federal law says?
Assignment to Classes
Schools may not segregate students on the basis of race, color, or national origin in making classroom assignments. Some schools offer courses of study that result in the assignment of students to classes with a substantially disproportionate number of minority or nonminority students. Schools must be able to demonstrate valid and nondiscriminatory reasons for such assignments. For example, valid educational reasons may exist when a class provides specially designed instruction to enable limited-English proficient students to acquire English language skills. Students may be assigned to such courses only when appropriate and nondiscriminatory evaluation, placement, and exiting criteria and procedures are followed.
This is taken from
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Prohibits Discrimination in Assigning Students to Schools, Classes or Courses of Study in Programs or Activities That Receive Federal Financial Assistance

Holding Back Young Students: Is Program a Gift or a Stigma?

2008-06-26T11:31:00.000-06:00

The Magic of the Absence Addiction Approach

2008-06-20T08:23:00.002-06:00

The Magic of the Absence Addiction Approach: A proven response to student engagement and retention

The Absence Addiction Approach is a proven response to meeting the needs for secondary student engagement. With the proper commitment of all in the school setting, all students can be linked to the pathways of their life journey. The teaching of readin and writing and rithmatic is conducted in a school context that can be enriched by adding school cultural adjustments that enhance the success factor of the students and the staff.

It is my deep belief that the biggest factor in the assisted completion of the high school curriculum or course of study is the affective relationship of the student intra-personally and extra -personally. My next deeply held belief is that every secondary school in the United States has the potential to assist the graduation of every student who enters its doors. Any high school staff or concerned parent group or central office staff that wants more “kids” to graduate has all of the ingredients for attaining that outcome already. Each school setting must create the culture essential to the student outcomes it professes for all of its children.

“The Absence Addiction Approach (AAA) is a proven response to meeting the needs for secondary student engagement. “ This statement is repeated to bridge to the creation of an award winning conceptualization for the purpose of empowering students to take control of their success factor in the school setting. Using this process for student re-engagement, the measurable retention rate for students at risk of discontinuing from the high school setting rose to one of the highest reported in the state of Colorado. This retention growth was verified by the Colorado Department of Education and Denver Post reporter Bernie Morrison.

The content for the change in the curricular instruction for targeted students is driven by de-briefing students about their school behavior patterns in ways that permitted them to objectify rather than personalize past successes or failures in the school setting.
Next, brief lessons in the repetition of behavioral patterns are given as information. This imparting of information about personal choice assists the eagle’s view or balcony approach. This is energizing because it frees the energy being sapped by the student remaining equal to her least effective school performance. Next of course is the goal-setting. It is impossible for students to set meaningful goals with inhibiting barriers intruding on the success tract. Inherent in this educational approach is that both the staff and student can change to create new academic outcomes.
The third significant step in the AAA is the establishment of means to support the students and staff in managing change. In one case, this may mean some type of weekly or daily re-enforcement for change in the academic achievement gulf for targeted students. It may also mean some type of initially frequent re-enforcement for appropriate staff members. It is important that the majority of the staff involved is certificated elders in the instructional village also known as a school.
The fourth step is frequent assessment of the attainment of staff and student change goals. And in between practice, practice, practice.

The process above assisted in my selection for the National Educational Leadership Award given by the Milken Foundation and the Colorado Governor’s Award as Outstanding Individual

Has No Child Left Behind Failed?

2008-06-19T18:26:00.001-06:00

An educator's response to Claudia Wallis.
Ms. Wallis, I recently read your article on Time.com regarding Dr. Neuman and No Child Left Behind.
I am most drawn to the article statement which shares that the "Economic Policy Institute,... is releasing a document entitled "A Broader Bolder Approach to Education" which "lays out an expansive vision for leveling the
playing for low income kids, one that looks toward new policies in
child health and support for parents and communities."
To me, the crux of the statement by the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank, is the approximately 25 billion dollar budget allocation to
Title One. The figure regarding the budgetary allocation is sourced by the Democratic staff committee on Education and Labor, US House of Representatives, February 5, 2007.
The Economic Policy Institute statement -proposal is intended to influence the dollars currently allocated to instruction under the current Title One parameters.
Under the current title one guidelines additional vendors
outside of the instructional realm are not the primary recipients of these monies.
Title One dollars do not necessarily flow directly into the hands of social interventionists or developmental theorists.
Yet, if the representatives of the Broader,Bolder, Approach attain political leverage, then the amended allocation guidelines can reflect their political influence.

Why Small High Schools Movement Alone Will Not Improve Student Achievement

2008-06-18T18:10:00.002-06:00

David H. Hoff writes in Ed Week that high schools funded for "smaller learning communities" cannot definitively say that ,to paraphrase, student achievement is improving in the funded small high school setting
The report, released by the US Department of Education, finds "no significant trends
in achievement on state tests or college entrance exams"
In my mind, growth in student achievement and assessment is driven by instructional competence and quality. Engaged students learn best. Heightened assessment performance is driven by leveraging the quality of instruction and maximum student focus on the learning task at hand.
In closing, one on one instruction fails if the quality of instructional competence and student engagement is low. So no, a smaller high school is not guarantee of greater student achievement.

The Robin Hood Effect of NCLB?

2008-06-18T17:41:00.006-06:00

Sam Dillon, writer for the New York Times, writes the following in Wednesday's New York Times, June 18, 2008
" A new study argues that the nation's focus on helping students who are furtherest behind may have provided a Robin Hood Effect, yielding steady academic gain for low achieving students in recent years at the expense of top students"
What? One wonders why the research dots are connected so that the above conclusion might be reached?
On one level, lets take the high schools. Top students tend to have highly qualified teachers. These teachers meet the standards in some cases for teaching advanced placement classes. Such teachers, because of their qualifications, may not maintain a teaching schedule that includes academically underachieving students.
On another level, lets look at lesson planning. Are we saying that classroom teachers do no planning for any students but the low achieving? Thus, the improvement in scores for that demographic? Really? My reality is such that the high achieving student requires the most extensive planning to address the depth of curriculum content that their intellect and cumulative knowledge requires.
Hmmmmmm-more to come on this topic

Educational Octoberquest and the Lost Students

2008-06-11T13:04:00.002-06:00

Is your local school district coming to you with the empty pocket pleas? Is your local school district assuring you that they have no money or that educational poverty requires that they close all the schools in the school district? Stating to you "no way can [they] hire the teachers to teach the students. No way can they continue to warm the schools or even open the cafeteria with the federally subsidized lunches."

If you are faced with the scenario identified so, do this, look into the Educational Octoberquest. This is when the schools are busy reaching out to the community looking for students. This is the student count time. This is when school districts get the money that pays everyone. Incentives are offered to get those student bodies into seats to fund the district.

Now if these school districts are asking you for this money. ask them how many secondary students are lost from the high schools each month after Octoberquest student body hunt. Each student lost was worth money to the school district in October, but lose value after the moneyquest is fulfilled.

Aren't the school district responsible for educating the students for whom they are funded? What is the ultimate loss in money and human capital when as many as 1500 to 2000 students will leave a mid sized school district in the first semester?

And this number will increase incrementally by the end of the first semester. Don't fall victim to the we are poor scenario while not holding school districts accountable for the loss of the student body after the count. Ultimately the loss of the student body after the count is worth millions of dollars both short term and long term.