Three plans, one goal: More vocational schooling in D-11
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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.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Waiting on Amy
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?
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
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.
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
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
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
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
YouTube - Colorado Editorial Forum: Education Innovation and Economic Stimulus#watch-main-area
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"
Monday, July 13, 2009
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