Resolution 12-087 recognizing the members of the Miami-Dade County Legislative Delegation for their support during the 2012 legislative session of the School Board's legislative priorities.
Miami-Dade County Legislative Delegation Chair Representative Carlos Lopez-Cantera accepted the proclamation: "I know that we all serve, as do all of you, not for recognition but for the outcomes. And the outcomes are the children. What we do is to better their lives. At the end of the day, they are the reason we do what we do and why we fight what we fight for this school system and this state. Each and every member of this delegation worked together in harmony to fight for this school board."
It was ironic to hear Lopez-Cantera saying that he had worked as a champion for public schools. This state representative has repeatedly voted for legislation that has harmed public schools and teachers, including SB 736, the 3% pay cut, and the bill that changed the class size requirements. He could hardly be considered a champion of public schools in general or Dade County schools in particular. He will not be returning as a state representative in 2013, as he faces term limits.
Special Recognition of Project RISE participants
Board chair Perla Tabares Hantman recognized UTD President Karen Aronowitz, teachers Karen Gant, Alexandre Lopes, Constance Dakadya, Linda Brent, and Vivian Vega, all participants in Project RISE, "a federal Department of Education teacher incentive fund grant awarded to M-DCPS for implementation at designated high-needs schools to raise student achievement and transform school cultures by strengthening teacher effectiveness, developing strong classroom instructional leaders, enhancing leadership skills of principals, and increasing student access to rigorous homework or coursework. Through Project RISE, teachers participated in professional development opportunities aligned to each school's School Improvement Plan and received financial assistance to seek National Board Certification. Over the five-year period of this grant, teachers in 36 of our schools were recommended by their principals as potential leaders, participated in leadership training, and collaborated with their colleagues to create outstanding learning environments for our students. We are very, very proud to be partnered with the UTD in developing and supporting exceptional teachers."
Karen Aronowitz spoke to the achievements of these teachers: "Very often our district is able to negotiate our participation in grants, and one of these grants is Project RISE. I'm a little sad today, because it has been a tremendous grant for our teachers and for holding hands with our colleagues to improve instruction in our classrooms. The great thing about a grant is it gives you the opportunity to move forward and try new things, but the bad thing about a grant is when it's over, the funding ends for programs that should continue. We have with us today just a sample, a few of our representatives who have participated in Project RISE, National Board Certified teachers, again, a program that has been decimated by loss of funding. I want to point out that one of our Project RISE participants is Alexandre Lopes, who is our new Miami-Dade Teacher of the Year and also a state finalist. We feel very confident that he is going on to win the state competition for Teacher of the Year, and he was a participant in Project RISE. I'd like our public to look at how we're funding public education, so that the good ideas that we bring to the county don't end because the funding itself is pulled."
A-1: Superintendent's Announcement
Changes to Accountability Formula
Superintendent Alberto Carvalho spoke yet again on the changes to the school accountability system, repeating several times that we had seen 18 changes to the accountability system in less than a year, and that, while the drop in FCAT writing scores were predicted as a result of the changed scoring rubric and standards, it was even sharper than we had thought, and served as a bad omen of things to come with end-of-course exams.
Ms. Gisela Feild, Administrative Director of Assessment Research and Data Analysis, gave a presentation on the changes to the accountability system, including:
- increasing the proficiency level on the FCAT writing from 3.0 to 4.0
- the introduction of the FCAT 2.0 with new standards
- baseline administrations of the algebra end-of-course exams
- change in scoring rubrics for FCAT writing, late in winter after most professional development had already taken place
- new cut scores for the FCAT 2.0 (increased)
- raised reading cut scores for grades 8 through 10 to make them more rigorous
- went back to two scorers for FCAT writing instead of one
- added additional requirement that high schools administer PERT as part of accountability formula
- baseline administrations of geometry, biology and U.S. history end-of-course exams
- new school grading system unveiled, where ESE and ELL students will be included for proficiency scores and scores from students in ESE centers would revert back to their home schools according to boundaries
Ms. Feild also discussed the ELL and ESE task forces convened by the state Department of Education to make recommendations following the outcry over including proficiency scores from ESE students and ELL students who had been in the country less than two years. Superintendent Carvalho was the head of the ELL task force; together, the two task forces presented over 30 recommendations to the state board of education, none of which were adopted.
"We do have the largest ELL population in the state, and although the inclusion of our ESE students in the accountability model may cause some decrease in scores, the impact will not be as huge as that of our ELL population. 18.8% of the population of M-DCPS is ELL, whereas the state of Florida as a whole has only 8.9%," noted Ms. Feild. "In the past, students who were English language learners and had been here for less than two years were not being included in our school grading system in proficiency. Under the NCLB law, any child who has been in the country for less than a year, having actually received an educational instruction for less than a year, is allowed to be excluded from the accountability system. The changes that our state have approved include the kids that were between one and two years."
Superintendent Carvalho followed up that going forward, the district would be joining forces with ELL advocates statewide to pressure changes in the accountability formulas that would stop penalizing schools and districts with significant ELL populations.
Dr. Marta Perez spoke to disagree with some of the conclusions of the presentation. "Here we had a writing test, where we said if a student gets four correct out of six that's a passing grade, and that doesn't seem that unreasonable. Four out of six as a passing as opposed to all you need is half? Three? And the fact that we said, OK, the state board said, we're going to change it back--I think it gives the perception that when we don't like the score, we can kind of change it? And say OK our kids are writing OK. That doesn't sound right, and it isn't right, and are our children writing all that well? Some are, but some are not, and I have to say that some adults sometimes punctuation is not there, misuse of grammar, so we have a long way to go. I don't want to give the false impression that our students are writing just fine and there's something wrong with the test. I think there is a long way to go to help our students become better writers, but I think that the process and the way this has been handled has been mishandled in many ways."
Dr. Perez seems not to understand a lot of basics about how the writing test is scored; who is scoring it (not teachers, but often unqualified temps; read Making the Grades by Todd Farley); and how teachers are taught to teach children to write a certain way for the test, so that changing how it is scored could dramatically affect scores.
She also argued that five to seven years to become proficient in a language was not reasonable; that students should be speaking English within a year of being here, and that if not, why were we teaching foreign languages? (Her point is instructive only in that foreign language instruction should indeed begin in elementary school and continue uninterrupted throughout middle school and high school, because it does take years and a lot of practice to become proficient; two years is simply not enough, especially in a non-immersion environment.)
Carvalho responded to this: "The five to seven years comes from a Stanford study. I actually don't subscribe to it; I think children can learn faster; but the study determined that for a child to be--and this is the issue of fairness and equity--for a child to be par in terms of English proficiency and his or her ability to demonstrate proficiency in core subject areas--with a native born student of the same age and same grade level, this is ideal. We don't live in an ideal setting, so I understand that. But what I reject is that one year alone is sufficient. Mind you that up until now, it was two years, not one year. The state, in its zeal to comply with the requirements of the waiver of NCLB, decided to go down to one year without making any modifications, and we provided a number of models that would comply with the waiver but still provide for a soft landing for ELL children."
Ms. Feild then stepped in to correct Dr. Perez's faulty reasoning that a child scoring a 3 on the FCAT writing was showing 50% mastery. "In reference to the rubric, or a score, on an FCAT, whether it's achievement level 1-5 on reading or math, or achievement level 1-6 in writing, is not to be compared to an average test score, where 50% out of 100 points is an F. A 3 out of 6 does not mean the child mastered 50% of the writing. A 3 out of 6, which, by the way, according to the federal government is grade level, we on the other hand chose to raise up beyond grade level, but what that really means, when you're looking at the writing, is that that child, in a 45 minute period, under a draft mode, put together a response to a prompt that was on topic, that addressed the prompt, that had information that was related, that was coherent--that's what a 3 means. It has nothing to do with he got half the answer right. It means you read that essay, you comprehended it, the child stayed on topic, he had a conclusion, he had some arguments. A 4 means the child may have had additional information to enhance it, and a 5 or 6 means that the child had, in a 45-minute draft, literally a perfect paper. So as a parent, if my child receives a 3, I will be very pleased because that tells me she was able to, in 45 minutes, in writing, not a computer with spell check, she had a coherent draft completed."
Dr. Perez persisted in demanding whether a 4 was above grade level, meaning that a student had to be above grade level in order to pass the writing test.
Carvalho confirmed that the score of 4 as passing was an arbitrary decision by the state.
Board member Raquel Regalado spoke to the issue, emphasizing once again that the new guidelines were arbitrary, and could give parents the impression that their children might not be receiving a good education, when school scores would often depend on factors beyond the teachers' or district's control, such as ESE or ELL populations.
Board member Dr. Martin Karp asked whether the decision of the state was based on any research. Ms. Feild explained that federal law mandated that students be tested and counted as of their second year, but that she did not know whether it was based on any research; none that she knew of.
Superintendent Carvalho said that if children were negatively impacted in promotion, graduation, etc., we would explore all options, including direct conversations with the federal Department of Education, continued conversation with the Florida Department of Education, and legal options.
In response to a question from vice-chair Dr. Larry Feldman, Ms. Feild explained that the state gave two options for counting students in ESE centers: the ESE center could receive a school grade, or a rating, but if it were to choose a rating, then the children's performance would count toward the school they were zoned for. She said that because of this, they would be forced to give the ESE centers a school grade, in order to avoid adversely affecting the home schools.
Superintendent Carvalho spoke again: "In the state's conversation regarding special ed centers, I so resented the fact that some folks referred to these centers as 'dumping grounds'--now I have gone on a listen and learn tour of our school system, specifically into ESE centers and schools with high percentages of students with disabilities, and I have been all over the place. From Merrick Center to Amelia Earhart, I've been all over the place, and I take issue with anybody referring to those centers as dumping grounds, because in many instances these are centers where teachers are the only ones often who show any passion, compassion or love to these children, where a measure of success over twelve years may simply be a child's ability to go to the restroom or feed himself or herself. And that child may still have to sit in front of an FCAT or a Florida Alternate Assessment. It is not humane. I saw it. These teachers, the way they care for these children--they eat their meals with them, they feed them, they change their diapers in many instances, do remarkable work. I will not accept anybody, I don't care who it is, I put my job on the line--if there is a law, a rule, it is the wrong law, it is the wrong rule. That's why we have courts. It's to challenge the ethic behind some of these pronouncements. What I saw, once again, reinvigorated my belief that at some point, whether people like it or not, we need to do the right thing. And basically treating an ESE center as an alternative school because that's the model that the state has is so wrong. Alternative schools rely on the assignment of students there based on behavior. These children in ESE centers are not there because they chose to behave a certain way. They have certain conditions. And they are deserving of far more and better consideration than what has been shown to them. We cannot accept it. I knew what I was going to see because I've been there many times like you have. But I wanted to be shocked and awed and inspired once again. And I was. I'm ready to fight. It's not right. And on the other side it's not right for teachers and principals who have never seen these children--these children have been in these programs since the very first day they started school. So for their achievement data to be transported over to their home school is insane. It's not acceptable." He was obviously moved, nearly to the verge of tears.
Later in the meeting, UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke on this issue that is pressing down upon Florida teachers right now. "I was very engaged in what I thought was the most comprehensive discussion that this Board has ever held on FCAT. A system of punishment will never be a system of achievement. A great deal of what has happened with the FCAT is moving at too fast a pace, and I think what Americans understand is the idea of fairness. When you move and change the goals so that no one can ever reach the goal, when you do not allow students to work toward meeting a goal, then you cannot expect them to perform as asked, especially since the conditions they were working toward were different when they started and were changed in the middle of the game. That is what has happened with FCAT. Our state speaks about the lack of money to do appropriate programming for our children; there's always talk of cuts to what I consider a comprehensive education for every child, and I certainly implore accountability, but accountability has to be inclusive of letting children work at their own pace, and achieve as they go along.
And understand where the goal post is set. That is not what is happening with the FCAT. I am urging a moratorium on FCAT testing, because our state can recoup a great deal of money that would be better spent looking at the goals for education that are coming and not have a two-year race to the bottom based on standards that are changing, when we know that comprehensive education includes so many aspects that are being ignored. This board recognized that when students earning special diplomas are now counted as dropouts--I have you understand the damage that does to children, to their parents, to their teachers, and to a system. So a great deal of what we use to make up these scores is not based on research; it was based on a desire to make an uncapturable goal post, and that isn't fair. I think we want all our children to have physical education. We want children to be good writers, good readers, able to do what we ask them to do, and we bring them to those points. But we also have to understand that timing for one is not always the same as timing for another, and that when we limit what we can offer because there isn't the funding, then insist that everybody's into the hopper in a way that is damaging to children and their teachers, then we have nothing to advance education for our children. I am speaking on their behalf today, as well as on behalf of us educators who work diligently to help every child achieve his goal."
UTD Vice-President Artie Leichner reminded Superintendent Carvalho that in those ESE centers that had been referred to as 'dumping grounds,' there are more paraprofessionals than teachers, and that it should not be forgotten how important they are. He then spoke on the ELL portion of the conversation. "When you go to Israel and you want to become a citizen, you get placed in an immersion, where you're constantly spoken to in the language of the land. My son went to a university in China last summer for two months. There was hardly anybody in that university who spoke English. But he learned more in those two months because he had no one to speak English to and had to force himself to learn as much Mandarin as possible in a very short amount of time. The problem we have in Dade County with our students is the de-inforcement, not the reinforcement. In schools that are predominantly Hispanic, you don't hear the students speaking to each other in English, you hear them speaking in Spanish. They go home to communities where they don't need to be able to speak English, where they can survive 100% in Spanish, in homes where Spanish radio is the predominant voice they hear. It's not that we have a situation where the language is not being learned in the school, it's being subtracted out by the culture of the community. It's the same in the Haitian community. It's not a negative thing, it's just a reality, and that does make it very difficult for them to get caught up, because how do you do that when you're constantly exposed to one language, but being taught to try to use another language with the same fluency as someone like me who was raised here? I think the state is trying to destroy public education, and the buck is going to stop here, because you guys are going to make it stop, too."
Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram took the mic to speak on this issue, explaining that the testing system has been in place for over twelve years. "Every student in the K-12 system has been exposed to this regimen for their entire school life. If this approach is a good one, and students understand the testing system, why hasn't it been more of a success? The education leadership and the state governors, legislative leaders, the state Board of Education and the Department of Education have consistently ignored teachers, education professionals, administrators and research experts and followed this disastrous testing course. It hasn't helped students, it hasn't helped teachers, and parents are frustrated, and it costs millions of taxpayer dollars. In an effort to discredit public schools and public school teachers, and in an effort not to pay employees adequate wages, a drop from 80% to 20% in writing is not just a mistake. It's criminal. Make no mistake about it. We are being forced to teach to a test. Now we just don't know which one."
Public Hearing
UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke to the upcoming re-ratification vote (to take place on Tuesday, May 22). "Today I'm going to be discussing an important issue that our bargaining issue is going to have to vote May 22 to re-ratify agreements on which we have already voted. What I want the Board to understand is when we come across the table and we negotiate we try to give as good as we get. I know that the Board itself listens, but operates in a certain reality, and the money that we have given to insurance has been money that this Board has seen fit to provide an employer-paid employee-only insurance option for our employees. I think it might be the last such model in existence. I am urging everyone in our bargaining unit to avail themselves of the right to vote on May 22, and I am urging them to vote yes for each of the agreements. There may be people who address this board later, but it is important for our bargaining unit to recognize that when we have come to an agreement, that we implement that agreement at that moment, and go along to the next time we can negotiate. If our bargaining unit does not re-ratify the previous three agreements then we will not be able to move forward into collective bargaining until such issues have been resolved. I urge the bargaining unit to take the time to vote on May 22. We will be reporting the results of that vote to the Superintendent following that vote."
UTD Secretary/Treasurer Fedrick Ingram then spoke on the same issue: "About the re-ratification vote for next Tuesday: many documents and e-mails are circulating regarding the re-ratification vote. They attack the union and the status of public education in this state and in this nation. The statements made about the positive aspects of a no vote are simply not true. Additionally the allegations about the inaction of UTD are not true. UTD continues to fight bad educational policy and inadequate funding from Tallahassee. As an example, one of the many battles we have will end up in the Florida Supreme Court on September 5 to get retirement funds repaid with interest. It is easy for dissidents to throw rocks when they have no responsibility to deliver anything, and in fact have never delivered anything to our bargaining unit. I know that our bargaining unit will do the right thing next week, because we are better than any e-mail, accusatory or incendiary blog. We are education professionals, that start out with our frontline security guards and extend through our secretaries, the heartbeat of our schools, and paraprofessionals that are indispensable. We are teachers and a no vote could do irreparable harm to thousands of employees. I urge everyone in the UTD bargaining unit to be informed and exercise your right to vote next Tuesday at your school or work site."
UTD Vice-President Artie Leichner then spoke to funding: "Friday we had a meeting with Dr. Hinds, and I heard some things that really shocked me. I heard that we received an FTE $20 more per student than we did in 2002. Now think about that for a minute. $20 more in ten years. That's irrational. We have a constitution that says that the legislature is required to provide an adequate funding for education. It's a constitutional obligation that they're not living up to. Now, I don't know how we're going to continue to move forward when we just seem to keep rolling backward. The price of gas is not the equivalent increase of the $20. One of my pet peeves is I go around from school to school, and I find the mold, and I find raccoons, all kinds of things, and everything gets fixed as much as possible, but when all the PECO money, all the money for repairs goes to charter schools, how are we supposed to deal with these fifty-plus-year-old buildings? How are we supposed to take care of protecting the kids and adults in those buildings from all kinds of degradation? I think it's time that you take the political risk and levy the amount of extra millage that the state has allowed you to do. There has to come a point where if the state is not going to come through, you have to come through. Teachers haven't received raises in years; neither have most of the staff. It's not like we're talking about something unreasonable. The community has to understand the miniscule impact that levy will have on their taxes and the gigantic impact that it has on the school system. We're moving into a whole new era of defensive mode that we've never been through before, not just us as a union, but us as a system. This past week I celebrated my thirtieth year. I got into DROP. That was a big deal. Because I don't know that DROP will be there next year. It's not so much the fact that I got into DROP. It's the fact that I don't like to keep on watching that we have to keep on battling for every crumb for the people in Tallahassee who are misrepresenting us, who are not coming through for us. I think it's time to levy the millage. I know it's politically unpopular, I know nobody wants to get Alvarez-ed, but at some point, you've got to do what you've got to do."
Ron Beasley took the mic during public hearing to accuse UTD leadership of changing votes for some nefarious means, which he justified by the "notice to employees" that have been posted at school sites. These are in reference to the PERC ruling that found the secure Internet voting system to be an invalid method of voting. The committee (which is chaired by the governor's appointees) found no evidence whatsoever of fraud--in fact this was said very explicitly in the ruling--and also threw out the allegation that employees had not received ample notice about the vote. Mr. Beasley was made to stop these allegations by Dr. Feldman acting as chair on the advice of the school board attorney.
An employee at Excelsior Language Academy, an Academica charter school (Academica is the for-profit charter school management organization owned by state representative Erik Fresen's brother-in-law) spoke to complain about an injustice that had occurred at her school with regards to the School Recognition Funds money. State law says that, while the EESAC committee approves disbursement of those funds, the decision on how to distribute the funds is to be made jointly with staff. At her school, this meeting was held during school hours without staff being provided coverage to attend. The decision was to award the money only to current employees who had also been there the year before, yet the money also went to former employees who were currently working at other Academica charter schools. She said that she had pursued this all the way up to the state. "The district director of charter operations said that it had to be resolved by the conflict resolution person for the school, as charter schools have that as opposed to the union. Unfortunately that person works for Academica, so as you can all see that's kind of a conflict of interest. It's a very biased party. And so it kind of puts me in a compromising position. I just ask that for this and other future issues similar to this that there be accountability on behalf of part of the district and the state, because I feel that in this process I've been bounced around to different resources with no recourse. Luckily for the people I'm doing this on behalf of, I'm very stubborn, and I'm continuing to basically put this out there, if anything just to bring it to light. It's all about fairness, so I hope there's some call to action as a result of this meeting."
This is just one small example of what will happen in the privatized-public education this state is trying to bring about.
Osselyn Scott, the PTA secretary, from Miami Norland Senior High spoke. "We've had numerous meetings with the principal and the ETO superintendent [Nikkolai Vitti], and we can never get recourse. We had as an ongoing situation, we keep addressing the issue, and it just keeps being set aside. Like they hear but they don't hear. I understand that we're not Carol City, we're not Ronald Reagan, but we're Norland Senior High. We've got pride." She said that there are significant problems with the principal at Norland interrogating and harassing teachers and students, and that it has not been dealt with by the district.
H-15: Request the State Board of Education to Explore Acceptable Alternatives in Relation to the FCAT
Board member Raquel Regalado explained her item: "We've been discussing the FCAT for the last two hours in one way or another. As you can see from the item, it mentions the SAT and the ACT, which are viable alternatives in some cases, but what the action requests is to look at different alternatives. I don't think it's an opportunity to get into the merits of the FCAT, because there are a lot of people concerned with the nature of the exam and the teaching to the test complaints, which we hear a lot here at the school district. I think it's a very simple request to consider other options. I would love a national option; unfortunately, there are no national options for every single grade level. Now with Race to the Top we are creating a more national system. It's not something I think would be so far-fetched, if we're all pushing in that direction; I just think it would make more sense if we're clear with parents about the alternatives. For example, I think a portfolio in third grade is a much better option than a test; I think the portfolio is fantastic at the third grade level. But the request is to explore alternatives. I'm leaving it at that."
UTD President Karen Aronowitz spoke to this item. "I am president of United Teachers of Dade, and we do represent teachers, paraprofessionals, clericals, security monitors, and certificated employees that include specialists, and all of that. One thing I wanted to bring to the attention of the board is that I serve on the American Federation of Teachers Pre-K-12 Policy Program, and we are involved in the discussion on Common Core Standards. One of the things that is happening with FCAT is that FCAT doesn't represent anything in terms of how students do nationally. Now, we do not want people to look at a clock and know what every child in America is doing at that moment, which some nations have as their educational policy. But Common Core Standards provide a way to measure student achievement that is not at a state level but at a national level, so that is a conversation that is important to have. I urge the public to suggest a moratorium on the FCAT."
Board member Dr. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall then spoke on the item. "When we study the children that we teach, some of them are not even in the conversation. I know what we've talked about today, but we have another community of children who are really going to be hurt by this, and I really wonder, as someone said earlier, what is the real reason for doing all of this to our children as it relates to FCAT? I've seen some changes that I detest since I was principal, since I was state representative, and now as a school board member. We've got to include them in the conversation. I heard the names of some community groups, of some advocates, who will be joining in this conversation, and I for one will not sit by and observe that community of children not to be discussed. I've already started in our community to educate many of the parents who would not understand the word "arbitrarily," who would not understand the word "skewing," who will not understand why this is happening to the children. Then they'll get labeled. Then they'll get thrown into a group. Then they'll be told, 'You're out of this group now.' So what will they do then? They'll put you in another group. It is not very tasteful--in fact, it is distasteful, what is happening to our children. I for one will not sit and compromise the lives of our children, our teachers, our parents, especially those who have worked so hard. Teachers, parents, children know when they're learning. You don't need a whole lot of people in the state to say, we're going to make sure they land on a certain list. Because we're going to grade it this way. Because who's going to stop us? Well, yesterday they stopped themselves. Because it wasn't quite right. So I suggest we pay close attention to what is happening to our children. We can't continue to mistreat them." She was also close to tears.
Board member Carlos Curbelo gave a stern reminder that the FCAT is mandatory by state law and that parents or children opting not to sit for the test would suffer negative consequences both for themselves and their schools, and that the elections coming up would be a much better vehicle for expressing discontent with the FCAT and the way it is being used.
Dr. Perez spoke up to defend the FCAT, saying that many good things had happened as a result of the FCAT and that she didn't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater; that there were more important things for the Superintendent to be doing with the state Board of Education right now than asking them to explore alternatives to the FCAT. She asked that the item be tabled.
H-23: Request that the School Board authorize the Superintendent to explore Miami Children's Hospital's Offer of EKG Screenings at no cost for M-DCPS student athletes.
UTD Vice-President Artie Leichner spoke on this item: "We have been having a lot of discussion about wellness in the health care subcommittee, and I was wondering if, as part of this, we could try to get more teachers and staff members to be able to have more of those same kind of tests as part of the wellness and prevention program. I think it's just another component that might keep our employees healthy and bring down our health care costs."
This item is offered by Miami Children's Hospital in response to numerous deaths of young athletes that could have been prevented had there been an awareness of preexisting heart conditions.
