a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
a strong voice for kids 2nd Congressional District
BACA: Attended the CASB conference, as well as 30 students. Attended the press conference for the Mexican Consulate giving books in Spanish to the state. Teacher of the Year ceremony was last night. Was on the committee to select the TOY, so it was exciting. Felt like she knew them all. It was inspiring. Attended Dennison Elementary for receiving a Blue Ribbon award from President Bush.
BURNETT: Believes that people should announce for office in the year that they are running, but he is announcing today that he is running for re-election for the SBE. The Gazette in Colorado Springs has given his phone number, and he received two negative calls saying that they would never vote for him because of the Medicare vote in Congress; one person said that "it would be a cold day in hell before [she] would vote for him."
DEHOFF: Next month turns over the gavel to Polis. In a way is looking forward to it, but it has been a privilege to serve as the Chair. From the outside, people perceive the Chair/President of a board as powerful, but it’s service to members. Each member has his or her own agenda that is different but strong. Has seen his role to take those agendas and work to mold them into working together. We’ve done a good job, have a good reputation in the community for working together. Next challenge has to do with why he missed the CASB conference – went to a conference of Science teachers, discussing why students seem to lose interest in Science when they go to high school. Most concerned about how many kids are excluded from Science because they don’t have the basics in math – Algebra. It’s not just a K-12 problem. The country imports most of our scientists and engineers. In the next 20 years, 30-40% of our scientists will have to be minorities, yet very few Hispanic and black students go into Science or Engineering. We have to work on the system, and he intends to take on that challenge, getting the stakeholders in K-12, higher education, and industry to work on it. Need to radically change how we teach math and science. One of his strong agenda issues is school choice. Is glad that students have choices. As children’s needs change, need the opportunities to be in the environment that best fits their needs. In too many cases, the local public school cannot provide the education that they need.
HUDAK: I also attended the CASB conference last week. I commended Karen Gerwitz on her planning for the SBE’s reception on Saturday night – the chocolate fountain was a major hit. Baca, Polis, and I went to a social event on Friday night with the students attending the CASB student conference. We asked them where they were from. One student said "Center High School." We asked where that is, and she responded, "Center." Polis asked, "The center of what?" She responded, "Center – Center, Colorado." When he still looked confused, she explained that Center is a town in the San Luis Valley. (It was a very amusing interchange, along the lines of "Who’s on first?") I attended a meeting the other day about state charter school authorizers. This presentation was brought to us because both Representative King and Representative Carroll have bills that they are proposing. King’s plan is to have the SBE be the statewide authorizer, and Carroll’s plan is for an appointed "Institute" to be the authorizer. There are different agencies that are statewide chartering authorities in the states that have them, such as universities or cities. The presenters stressed the importance of any authorizing agency having adequate funding, a well-thought-out plan, and adequate staff.
MUNN: Traveled a lot for last few months for work, SBE, and wife’s birthday. Sits on what used to be the CDM in his local school, Ashley Elementary. To help them, has gotten help from Jan Silverstein at CDE for grants. Thanked CASB for inviting us to join them at their conference. Spoke to school attorneys in a class on legal ethics. Was a good opportunity. Several of them commended the Board on how we’ve operated. They don’t agree with us on several issues, however. The Colorado Alliance for Arts in Education hopes that he inherited Gully Stanford’s passion about arts. Recommended that they look at our strategic plan and suggest ways that they could help. They have good research on how arts education helps across content areas. Spoke with Northeast Neighborhood association (Montbello); they are very interested in how state developments affect them. It’s a large growth area. Changes in DPS because of development in Lowry and Stapleton. Went to the Logan Expeditionary School, located on what used to be Lowry, school for GT students. Importance for each of us personally to be in contact with kids. He and his wife have begun teaching Sunday School.
ORR: When first ran for the SBE, was sitting with wife and daughters at the dinner table, youngest daughter asked why he would want to run for something that doesn’t pay. His answer was what he can give rather than take from it. But lately has been stingy with his time, business was in free fall, and had to turn that around. Thankfully things are better. Appreciated urging by Hudak and Polis to attend the Civics and Citizenship forum last week. A lady from ECS asked if he would serve as one of 10 in the nation as part of a citizenship group. There was a representative from Wisconsin, one from Romer’s school district, and a teacher from Washington State; it was a diverse group exploring how to incorporation civics and citizenship across all the content standards. Need to increase consciousness about it among our students. Was very valuable. One thing that everyone can rally around is citizenship. There is work going on here in Colorado. That’s why he ran for the SBE, to set an example for daughters of taking responsibility as a citizen. Hopefully his daughters will do something to give back to our country, for those who have given their lives for our country.
POLIS: Looks forward to becoming Chair beginning next month and to help implement our strategic plan, work on issues like teacher quality, accountability, achieve, and help all students in Colorado achieve high standards. Hope to be able to inspire all Board members to make contributions that fit their individual expertise. We are diverse, which is good, because we go to different things – Suckla on school trust lands, Orr on civics, DeHoff on science, Hudak on early childhood.
SUCKLA: In 9 days away from home, including today, part was spent at the CASB conference. Was on a panel and presented several workshops. At one of the General Sessions, Jon DeStefano gave a big compliment to our Board, saying that we were the best SBE he’s seen. Her favorite quotes from one of the speakers are the following: "Always remember that life is a gift." "The greatest gift in your life is your mind – stretch it, develop it." "Share what you can do with others." "Live by trust and honesty." "Never take people for granted; you don’t know how they might surprise you." "POLE: Participation Offers Learning Experiences."
COMMISSIONER MOLONEY: Was also at the CASB conference. One attractive aspect of it is the large number of people attending, from nearly every school district in the state. Chance to "take the temperature" of the mood of the state in education. Was very positive. There was also good news with the NAEP results, which we decided to advertise through a press conference last month. Colorado came out 7th in the nation overall. The release of the SARs reinforced the positive trend in our state, with 40% of our schools in the High or Excellent category, and only 24% Low or Unsatisfactory. Only 7% had a decline in student achievement. SBE can take pride in its role drawing attention to that. Subtext going on, however, that despite the good news, there is much more to be done. The SBE has been working on this in various ways. For example, meeting with CCHE to address the low number of minorities going on to college – 15% of Hispanic males 10 years ago, dropping to 9% now. Less than one-tenth of one percent in college majors in Math and Science. The majority of Ph.D.’s awarded in math and science are going to people from foreign countries. We don’t have American citizens who can do technological jobs. Not enough kids are taking Advanced Placement Physics and Math in high school. Why? Not enough kids are taking Algebra. The income gap will get worse if we don’t address this problem. All of us need to support DeHoff in his quest in this area. Gil Ford of NAACP and CTAG told a story about a black man who got an honors scholarship to college but was told that he would have to take remedial math in college.
Distributed funds to eligible school districts in accordance with the English Language Proficiency Act (ELPA) for Fiscal Year 2004, in the total amount of $3,617,887. [These funds are to be used to defray the costs of ELPA programs established by the districts.]
Scheduled a hearing for February 12, 2004, to consider amendments to the rules for the Administration of the Colorado Basic Literacy Act. [Rules for the Colorado Basic Literacy Act were adopted by the SBE in 1998. Amendments to these rules have been drafted by Colorado literacy leaders and CDE staff to assure that these rules are consistent with the scientifically based research on reading and knowledge about viable assessments presently available to Colorado educators.
(1) TEACHER INDUCTION PROGRAMS
Approved Teacher Induction Programs for the following :
[The Educator Licensing Act of 1991 requires school districts wishing to hire provisionally licensed educators to have induction programs approved by the SBE.]
(2) EMERGENCY EDUCATOR AUTHORIZATIONS
Approved emergency Type III educator authorizations for 69 initially and 94 renewals .
[Local districts may request Type III Emergency Authorization to employ non-licensed teachers, principals, administrators, or special services providers if they agree to provide an induction program. The SBE’s approval is based on consideration of whether the district has demonstrated a shortage of licensed personnel and the employment of non-licensed personnel is essential to preserving the instructional program and to the well-being of the children enrolled.]
(3) DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS
(These remain confidential until action is taken by the Board.)
Scheduled a hearing for February 12, 2004, to consider permanent rules for the Administration of the School Improvement Plan. [At the October 9, 2003, meeting of the SBE, the rules for the Administration of the School Improvement Plan were repealed in their entirety, whereas only the portion relating to the school improvement grant bonuses needed to be repealed. Staff suggests readopting the entire rule and scheduling a hearing in February to repeal the obsolete paragraph.]
Approved payments of $215,501,792.62 under the Public School Finance Act for state share of total program for December 2003. [Local districts are entitled to receive monthly payments from the state by the 25th of each month, under provisions of the Public School Finance Act of 1994, as amended.]
Conducted a hearing to consider amendments to the rules for the Administration of the Educator Licensing Act of 1991. [The enactment of HB 99-1039 and 03-1114 necessitate amendments to these rules. The amendments relate to requirements for educator submission of fingerprints, requirements for school district reporting of educator misconduct, grounds and procedures concerning the denial, annulment, suspension, or revocation of educator licenses, and performance-based standards for Colorado teachers and principals. Other changes were made to comply with feedback from the Legislative Legal Services.]
RYAN WULFF (CEA): On behalf of the 37,000 members of the Colorado Education Association, asked for more time to examine the changes [based on the feedback from Legislative Legal Services] that were presented yesterday. Supported the changes on fingerprinting that were in the legislation, are are fine with those, but would like time to review the other changes made.
Motion passed unanimously to continue the hearing to the next Board meeting.
Adopted emergency rules for the Administration of the School Improvement Plan. [At the October 9, 2003, meeting of the SBE, the rules for the Administration of the School Improvement Plan were repealed in their entirety, whereas only the portion relating to the school improvement grant bonuses needed to be repealed. Staff suggests readopting the entire rules without the obsolete paragraph.]
I asked how this School Improvement Plan differs from the one in Accreditation. Sibigtroth explained that there are several different improvement plans: in Accreditation, districts put on Accreditation Watch submit an improvement plan, schools put on Watch do also, and Title I schools not making AYP do a similar plan.
Affirmed the decision of the Administrative Law Judge in the matter of Educator License Case No. 2000EC31 and the exceptions filed in that decision.
"MR. GOOD" – Orr signed up as "Mr. Good" to be able to say that DeHoff has been good.
I presented DeHoff with a gavel keyring and Polis with a simplified Parliamentary Procedure pamphlet in honor of the passing of the gavel for Chair from DeHoff to Polis as of January 1.
Copyright © 2001-2007 Evie Hudak - All Rights Reserved