McGehee School District and Wimberly Head to Court

Kymberly Wimberly will face the McGehee School District in a jury trial on August 6, 2012 at 9:30 am in Pine Bluff Federal Court Room 3602 before Judge Susan Wright.

On July 21, 2011 attorney John Walker filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of Wimberly claiming the McGehee School District racially discriminated against the black Wimberly by naming a second (white) valedictorian even though Wimberly had the highest GPA. Wimberly demands that the white valedictorian be stripped of her title and that she receives $75,000 in punitive damages from the district.

A Recap of Wimberly’s complaint:

#1 & #2 explains Wimberly’s right to sue and why the Pine Bluff federal court has jurisdiction over this case

#3 describes Wimberly

#4 describes the McGehee School district

#5 describes the McGehee School Board. “On information and belief, the School Board is predominantly Caucasian” -see #7

#6 describes the principal, Darrell Thompson, and notes he is “Caucasian”

#7 describes the superintendent, Thomas Gathen. “Gathen is African-American but serves at the pleasure of the predominantly Caucasian School Board”

The school board has seven members: three African-Americans, three Caucasians, and one Asian.

School Board at time of the class of 2011 graduation

William Campbell-President, African-American

Joe Herren-Vice-President, Caucasian

Katie Daniels-Secretary, African-American

Clarke Pugh, Caucasian

Alice Banks, African-American

Toby Young, Caucasian

Jeff Owyoung, Asian

The complaint lists #8-#29 as FACTS

#8 Wimbelry’s grades were all A’s except one ‘B’ and that she had an “honors and AP laden course load”

So did the white student. After reviewing the white student’s final transcript, the white student had three Advanced Placement classes, worth 5-points each, and one ‘B’ in physical science, a regular 4-point class. According to several students in their class and interviews Wimberly made to many news organizations, Wimberly also took three Advanced Placement classes and made one ‘B’ in 11^th grade English, also a regular 4-point class. I also contacted Wimberly but she did not return my message.

#9 After receiving her ‘B’ Wimberly’s class rank dropped so she took more Honors and AP classes to raise her rank.

Based on my calculations and interviews with the white valedictorian, Wimberly was rank 1 until she made the ‘B’ during the middle of her 11^th grade year. At this time the white student was taking two AP classes in which she made A’s while Wimberly only had one AP class. The extra AP class on the 5-point scale bumped the white student to rank 1 and Wimberly to a lower rank. Also honors classes do not raise G.P.A only Advanced Placement classes and McGehee does not offer extra honor classes only the four required for the honor diploma.

#10 “[S]chool administrators and personnel treated two other white students as heir apparent to the valedictorian and salutatorian spots”

Is this a fact or a perception?

#11 & #12 The school counselor told Wimberly’s mother that Wimberly had the highest GPA. Wimberly’s mother was the high school media specialist.

Nothing mentioned here about the counselor telling Wimberly’s mother that she was the only valedictorian; just that she had the highest GPA. See #17

#13 Wimberly’s mother was overjoyed with the news

#14 Wimberly’s mother immediately passed the news on to Wimberly and told her “she had the highest G.P.A and was therefore the valedictorian”

In quoting a piece I published in the McGehee Times-News: “[F]or some reason this case wants to discredit the honor of co-valedictorian from the original word, ‘valedictorian.’ Many schools across the country honor more than one valedictorian in a single class, and schools sometime label these valedictorians as “multiple valedictorians” or “co-valedictorians” or in the case of Jericho High School “creative valedictorians” or they may just describe them each as “the valedictorian.” Just as someone might say, “I’m turning onto the road now,” the term ‘road’ represents almost anywhere someone drives a car and ‘the’ is just a reference to which one. ‘The’ valedictorian simply references a particular valedictorian and is not synonymous with ‘sole.’ Regardless of which way a school labels multiple valedictorians, the title still means the same, Rank 1. In the world of transcripts, we don’t say “½ of 1” rank. We say rank 1. We just add the ‘co’ as a mere warning to readers and graduation attendees that this class happens to have more than one top achiever.” In 2006, McGehee had four valedictorians. In 1997, McGhee had three valedictorians.

#15 Someone in the school copy room “expressed concern [to Wimberly’s mother] that Wimberly’s status as valedictorian might cause a ‘big mess’”

From the middle of their junior year, the white valedictorian was ranked #1 and had only made ‘A’s since that ‘B’ during their ninth grade year. How can you lose rank 1or even have a lower G.P.A if you have the same number of AP classes as the student with the highest GPA, you made A’s in those AP classes, and you both have only one ‘B’ each in a regular class? Perhaps that was the big mess-GPA calculations, not the color of their skin. However, this fact is nothing more than a statement of idle gossip. Also, the complaint fails to mention the name of the other party who ‘expressed concern.’ See #17

#16 Wimberly’s mother went to Superintendent Gathen for assurance. He told her Wimberly was the valedictorian.

Wimberly was indeed the valedictorian. Period. Also if Gathen told Wimberly’s mother anything regarding the white student’s class rank or GPA before the parents of the white student were notified, Gathen would be violating the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA prevents school officials from discussing a student’s record which includes GPA and grades with someone other than that student’s parents.

#17 Wimberly’s mother was told by Principal Thompson that a white student would be named co-valedictorian. “[H]e made that decision after reading something in the handbook”

Here is that something: And it a BIG something!!!

From the McGehee Student handbooks 2006 through 2010. Taken from pg. 12 Handbook 2010-11

CLASS RANK

The determination of class rank will be:

$ Students will be ranked by grade point averages.

$ Grades from all four years of an accredited high school will be used; including Algebra I taken in the 8th grade.

$ The final senior ranking will be figured at the end of the school year.

$ If two or more students take the same or equivalent course work and receive the same grades of “A”, a student with a greater number of courses will not be penalized.

The white student took an extra course-Advanced Music, giving her 28.5 credits. Wimberly had 28 credits. The extra 0.5 credit was a regular class worth 4-points. Any 4-point class will lower a student’s GPA after the student made an ‘A’ in an Advanced Placement class. This phenomenon is as much a fact as a² + b² =c².

#18 “Gathe[n] explained that Thompson approached him about the white student…[and] he affirmed Thompson’s decision to have the white student with the lower G.P.A. also listed as a valedictorian.”

In a conversation I shared with Gathen on Sept. 27, he said “I’m the one who caught the mistake.” He showed both the counselor and the principal the student handbook and made the decision to have two valedictorians.

According to the former counselor who helped write the class rank policy prior to the 2005-06 handbook, the district wanted a policy that assured students would take as many classes as they wanted since the district did not offer many AP classes. In 2006, there was only one AP class offered, calculus. The state legislation passed a law in 2004-05 requiring all schools to offer at least one Advanced Placement class in science, English, history, and math by the 2007-08 school year. Also Advanced Placement classes must be worth 5-points. Without such a policy, students who received credit for band or music or physics would not be valedictorian if there were other students who took non-credit classes such as study hall or athletics, and the students had the same grades and the same number of AP classes. The Monticello school district has the same policy in their student handbook.

#19 The counselor sent out a press release with only Wimberly as valedictorian. They then sent out a retraction.

The local paper did publish Wimberly as Valedictorian and the white student as Salutatorian. In a later paper, both students had pictures from the governor’s banquet but the paper did not denote either student as valedictorian or salutatorian only as a “McGehee high school graduate.”

#20 Wimberly protested the decision to Gathen.

#21 Wimberly’s mother filled out the wrong form to address the school board at the May school board meeting, and Gathen would not allow her to talk until the June 27^th meeting

#22 The last African-American valedictorian was in 1989

#22 & #23 The district is 46% African-American. “African-American students were by large regulated to the regular classes by school administration and personnel. … Caucasian student had to almost opt out of being assigned to the honor’s track. Conversely –or perversely, African American students had to make an effort to be considered for the honor’s track.”

Actually, test scores regulate who takes advanced classes. And here are McGehee’s test scores by race for Wimberly’s class according to the NORMES website. Also remember state tests measure basic knowledge.

2007 8^th grade literacy 14.3% proficient and 2.4% advanced for African-American and 39.7% proficient and 8.6% advanced for Caucasian students.

2008 Algebra I (8^th and 9^th grade) 35.7% proficient and 7.1% advanced for African-American students compared to 54.8% proficient and 14.3% advanced for Caucasian students.

2009 Geometry (10^th or 11^th grade) 62.5% proficient and 6.3% advanced for African-American students compared to 83.9% proficient and 12.9% advanced for Caucasian.

2009 Biology (10^th grade) 16.7% proficient and 4.8% advanced for African-American students compared to 45.1% proficient and 11.8% advanced for Caucasian students.

2010 11^th grade literacy 47.5% of African-American’s proficient compared to 62.3% Caucasian’s proficient. No one advanced in either demographic group.

The McGehee handbook suggests that the only honor classes offered besides AP are Pre AP English I, Pre AP English, College Prep English III, and College Prep English IV (all 4-point, regular classes). However, the McGehee course codes from the Arkansas Department of Education do not distinguish between honors and non-honors courses. All students are enrolled in English 9, English 10, and so on or in Advanced Placement English. Therefore, we do not know how many students or their race for those enrolled in the pre AP or College Prep English classes. Students would opt into the pre-AP English classes in the 9^th grade year based on their test score performance and grades from their 8^th grade year. If a student did not enroll in the 9^th grade pre-AP English class they would not be eligible as an honor graduate nor valedictorian or salutatorian.

#25 “Out of seven (7) total students for the 2010-2011 school year, only (1) African American student, Wimberly, ended up enrolling in that teacher’s class. Conversely, the non-Caucasian Advanced Placement Biology teacher encouraged all the McGehee students to enroll in her class. Resultantly, four (4) out of eight (8) Advanced Placement Biology students in the 2011-2012 school year were African-American.”

According to the Arkansas Department of Education¹, in 2010-11 McGhee offered 4 AP classes with a total enrollment of 32 students. Of those, 22 students were white. The data does not distinguish if a student is counted twice. Wimberly, for example, took AP Biology and AP English IV, so she would be counted twice. In 2009-10, Wimberly’s junior year, McGehee offered 5 AP classes with a total enrollment of 56 students. Of those, 32 were white. In 2007-08, McGehee offered 3 AP classes with a total enrollment of 28 students. Of those, 14 were white. In all three years, McGehee High School was 46% African-American and 51% Caucasian.

Also, the district did not hire that non-Caucasian teacher until after students had already selected their classes for the 2010-11 school year (students chose their classes the prior spring), so unless she had some psychic powers and/or made friends on Facebook with the students of McGehee prior to her hire date, it is highly unlikely she “encouraged” all McGehee students to enroll in her class.

#26 “[N]one of the Advanced Placement Teacher are African-American”

Another wrong fact. According to the Arkansas Department of Education and confirmed by school sources, the AP English III teacher in 2010-11 was indeed African-American. She taught 8 students in which 7 were white.

#27 The district named the white student valedictorian intentionally to hurt Wimberly because of “continuous disparate treatment of African-American students” by the school district personnel.

So far the only disparate treatment described in this claim is that one AP English teacher warned Wimberly the work would be hard. According to school sources, this teacher also taught Wimberly in College Prep English III, the class Wimberly earned her ‘B’

#28 & #29 The school district does not support African American students, but most importantly, they do not support Wimberly, a teen-age mother. If the roles were reversed and the white student had a higher GPA then the white student would have been the only other valedictorian.

In the current federal education system, penalties from No Child Left Behind ensure schools support all students at least at the proficiency level. By 2014, 100% of a school’s students must be proficient or the state could take over the school if the school is not showing signs of improvement. One problem with NCLB is the focus on the lower performing students. Advanced students almost have to fend for themselves, regardless of race, and this is exactly why parental involvement is so important. Parents should not only be encouraging their students to take more rigorous courses and to make good grades, but parents should also know the student handbooks and school policies. Every student is given a student handbook at the end of the year and most handbooks, such as McGehee, is also online.

If the district’s main agenda was to discriminate against Wimberly for race or for being an un-wed mother they simply could have said that the white student had more credits, more ‘A’s and therefore was the sole valedictorian and violating the first part of their class rank policy. Instead their only goal was to follow the student handbook. Unfortunately, some school personnel jumped the gun and started making announcements without reviewing the handbook or discussing the situation with other administrators. Had the administration continued down that path, they would have been in complete violation of the student handbook. By declaring both students valedictorian they were then clearly following the class rank policy.

The problem with ‘what ifs’ and ‘reversing roles’ is just that. No one knows what would happen in an alternate universe. We can only assume. The bullet question is then in a court of law, are assumptions valid evidence?

Violation of Wimberly’s 14^th Amendment rights.

#30 & #31 The school district has violated all African-American students rights in the McGehee school system, including Wimberly’s.

#32 This treatment is a “violation of [Wimberly’s] rights under the Equal Protection Act and the Constitution of the United States.”

#33 School district administrators were racially motivated to deprive Wimberly “of her position as valedictorian”

Especially considering those administrators and school board members are equally composed of both races.

#34 Wimberly was not given due process when Gathen did not allow Wimberly’s mother to speak at the May school board meeting

#35 & #36 Arkansas State Constitution also protects Wimberly’s rights

#37 & #38 “[S]chool districts across the State must provide substantially equal educational opportunities”

Providing equal educational opportunities does not mean filling advanced classes with warm bodies just so the classes represent the demographics of the school. Advanced Placement students above all have to be motivated to take those classes. Most schools are willing to work with students not quite prepared for the course load, but again the keys for success in those classes are student motivation, student willingness to put in the extra effort, and a support system at home.

#39 The McGehee school personnel intentionally created a “hostile educational environment” for African-American students.

Obviously, not all personnel or administrators discriminate. The administrators did hire that non-Caucasian AP biology teacher who “encourages” all students to take her classes, and most importantly, they hired the school counselor who registered those students in her class before she arrived. This is also the same counselor who the year prior enrolled 24 minority students out of 56 total students in 5 AP classes and two years prior enrolled 14 minority students out of 28 total students in 3 AP classes

#40 Wimberly wants a declaration that the school district discriminates against black students, she wants to be the “sole valedictorian” of the Class of 2011 (although the white student took more classes than her and had the exact same grades as she did), she wants the school district to correct all records, and she wants $75,000 granted to her by the district.

Just remember that $75,000 is two teachers’ salaries, repairs for the school, field trip money, new textbooks, school computers, or science lab supplies. It is money used to pay for the education of all those other African-American students Wimberly claims the school discriminated against. Apparently, for Wimberly that does not matter since McGehee was just removed from the state’s financial distress list last year after a huge and successful rally by local residents of both races to raise the local mileage and save the schools from a state takeover.

Other court dates for this trail

March 9, 2012 Discoveries due

May 9, 2012 Motions due

July 6, 2012 Pre/Trial disclosure sheet due

_________________________________________________________________________________________

1. The Arkansas Department of Education course enrollment data duplicates black male for black female and Hispanic male for Hispanic female. I contacted them about a correction, but for now, we can only make conclusions about white students, total students, and overall minority students which include Asians, Native Americans, Blacks, and Hispanics. McGhee’s high school population from 2008 to 2011 is 46% African-American, 51% Caucasian and 3% other minority groups. Therefore, McGehee’s minority students are more than predominately African –American.

Online K-12 Schooling in the US

The National Education Policy Center launched a policy brief this week titled, ‘Online K-12Schooling in the U.S.: Uncertain Private Ventures in Need of Public Regulation’

, penned by Gene Glass and Kevin Welner. Some concerns about the brief immediately jump to mind.

The language of the brief is partisan and misleading.  For example, Glass and Welner state that because students in supplemental online courses are more likely to complete the bulk of their coursework at a traditional public school, “they are usually well known by their teachers” (p.1), implying that students at online schools remain anonymous to the teachers. It is not a fair representation to say that virtual schooling replaces classroom communities with laptops (p.1). In a recent survey of a Pennsylvania cyber charter school, Achievement House Cyber Charter, researchers at the University of Arkansas (myself included) asked parents and students to rate their satisfaction with a number of factors relating to school community, including a supportive learning environment, respect between teachers and students, respect between students, encouragement from teachers, and the opportunity to interact with peers. Students ranked all of these factors higher for Achievement House than for their previous school, which for over three quarters of our student survey sample (77%) was a traditional, public school. Mean differences were all statistically significant at the 1% level. When commenting on the particular strengths of this cyber charter school, one student said, “Everyone seems to care about your needs with everything you need help with compared to my old school they just didnt seem to really care.” (Achievement House student, Sept 2011)

Glass and Welner warn that we do not know much about “how full-time virtual school can or should serve special needs students” (p.5). Our research on Achievement House Cyber Charter School reveals fascinating data on this subject, however. PennData, the special education reporting system of the PA Department of Education shows the percent of special education enrollment in the state of PA to be 15.2% for school year 2010-11. The state’s report for Achievement House Cyber Charter based on the Dec 1, 2010 child count reveals a comparable statistic of 40.8%. Granted, other cyber charter schools in PA have lower special education enrollments than this, such as PA Learners Online Regional Cyber Charter School with 14.7% or 21^st Century Cyber Charter School with 11.8% but the available data suggest that special education students are certainly not being ignored by PA cyber charter schools. We surveyed special education students at Achievement House to assess their satisfaction with the services being provided. 56% of special education students at Achievement House strongly agreed with the statement, “The online format suits my learning style”. This is borne out in the comments section too, with one student saying, “I can work at my own pace. I do not have to deal with the weather or strict schedules and there is no bullying”. Another special education student noted the main strength of this school as, “working semi at my own pace and getting to talk to my teachers when I have problems is so much more relaxed at Achievement House. No one can make fun of me, if I can’t spell something and it’s much quieter to do work than in main school” (Special education student at Achievement House, Sept 2011).

Virtual charter schools represent one segment in a broader school choice movement. The likelihood is that they do not match the needs of every potential student but for certain types of students, cyber charter schools offer a mode of education that best suits their learning style and personal needs. The merit of charter schools generally is the inherent functionality of a system that depends on satisfying families and achieving positive student outcomes for its survival. These schools are granted the autonomy to determine their own budget, curriculum, and scheduling but not without conditions attached. In PA, state regulation rules require a charter school re-authorization process to occur every five years during which schools must provide “clear and credible evidence and data” on four indicators of success in order to remain in operation: student achievement, school operations and management, overall school design, and future plans. Failure to provide satisfactory evidence in these areas results in non-renewal of a child’s charter. In summary, a system limited by the constraints of market forces and appropriately regulated does not merit the alarmist response put forward by Glass and Welner in this policy brief.

-A. Jacob

Dear McGehee School Board and Administrators,

My original thought was that we should use this site to collect support for the McGehee School Board and Administrators, but Anna and I didn't design this blog for petitioning. We created Edspressway as a place to discuss current and relevent education policies in Arkansas and around the world. So instead of commenting your support for the McGehee School District below, you should tell them in person. So when you see Mr. Gathen, William Campbell, Joe Herren, Katie Daniels, Clarke Pugh, Alice Banks, Toby Young, Jeff Owyoung, and Darrell Thompson, let them know they have your support!

To read my letter to the McGehee Dermott Times click here:

To read Mr. Gathen's letter click here:

Congrats OWLS on your Homecoming Victory against the Hamburg LIONS!!!!

C Belin

The Great Schools Revolution

The Economist this week has a great piece on education reform, titled, ‘The Great Schools Revolution’.

They point out that education has moved to the forefront of political debate recently as a result of three factors. First, increased data availability has made it easier than ever to compare schools within and between countries. Second, experimentation with technology in education has launched successful internet-based education programs, such as the Kahn Academy. Third, a change in the quality of debates over education has dispelled popular myths such as the money myth (schools perform poorly because they need increased funding) or pinning failure to social class or culture.

The Economist identifies four factors for success in education reform movements: decentralization, a focus on underachieving pupils, school choice and high standards for teachers. They examine lessons from Ontario, Poland and Germany and finish with a discussion of America’s charter schools.

Read it for yourself here: http://www.economist.com/node/21529014

~A. Jacob

A Level Five Secretary?

Image from www2.ed.gov

In the 1960s, the Vietnam War divided the Democratic Party. In the most recent decade, it is education policy that has fissured the party into opposing camps on such issues as teacher pay for performance, attitudes towards union collective bargaining and accountability. In 2008, City Journal described it as the “great Democratic education divide” (Charles Upton Sahm, September 2008). Polarizing figures like Mayor Cory Booker of Newark, former New York City School Chancellor Joel Klein, and former Mayor Adrian Fenty of Washington, D.C. have spoken out fiercely against the teachers’ unions; bold facedly disregarding longstanding coalitions between the Democratic Party, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. One figure, however, seems to have found a way to straddle the Democratic divide, emerging as a centrist in the ideologically split battles over education reform in his party. Author and researcher, Jim Collins might describe him as a Level Five leader; Republican Lamar Alexander, education secretary under George H.W. Bush said he was the best of President Obama’s cabinet appointments, and former Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy praised him for having “championed pragmatic solutions to persistent problems”. The politician with across-the-spectrum appeal is Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

            A Level Five leader paradoxically combines intense professional will with deep personal humility. Such a leader possesses fierce resolve with which he builds enduring greatness but his ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not himself. Secretary Duncan is a study in duality, humble yet fiercely willful, modest yet stoically determined. Duncan lasted longer in Chicago than most urban superintendents despite bold moves such as opening 75 new schools staffed by non-unionized teachers, introducing a teacher pay-for-performance plan and working with a diversity of groups from the New Teacher Project to Teach for America, both of which offer alternative paths to teacher certification than the traditional education-school route. Yet rather than aligning himself exclusively with the reformers, Duncan put ambition for his organization first and foremost ahead of concern for his personal renown or popularity. At the same time as he was working with such organizations as New Leaders for New Schools, Duncan maintained a working relationship with the Chicago Teacher’s Union and at the time of his nomination for Secretary of Education with the Obama Administration, received the backing of both the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. Speaking about Duncan’s nomination, President Obama said, “ Let’s not be clouded by ideology when it comes to figuring out what helps our kids,” articulating a shared desire by these men to put the goals of their office ahead of building personal repute.

Level Five leadership requires ferocious resolve to do whatever it takes to make an organization great. Level Five leaders are driven to achieve results, almost to the point of fanaticism. Demonstrating this level of commitment and resolve, Duncan signed two manifestos in the run up to the Democratic primaries. The first, a document assembled by the liberal, nonprofit Economic Policy Institute called “A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education” acknowledges that education policy must address the barriers to learning that are driven by child poverty and that schools alone cannot overcome the impact of social and economic disadvantage. As a signatory to this document, Duncan finds himself amongst a host of unlikely bedfellows, including education historian Diane Ravitch, economists Glen Loury and James Heckman, and Bella Rosenberg, education policy analyst who worked for 22 years at the American Federation of Teachers. The second manifesto was issued by a nonpartisan advocacy group called the Education Equality Project, a coalition that is focused on closing the achievement gap in education. The EEP supports accountability- driven reforms such as changes to teacher compensation to ensure education success for students from different economic circumstances and racial or ethnic backgrounds. EEP signatories incorporate a diverse group of educators, reformers, policymakers, elected officials, and business leaders including Michelle Rhee, Cory Booker, Howard Fuller, and Eric Hanushek. Duncan joins these men and women in calling for “swift, decisive, nontraditional action” in order to bring equity to the education system.

Duncan possesses an unwavering resolve to produce the best long-term results in education. Speaking at the press conference when President Obama announced Duncan as his pick for Secretary of Education, the man who wrote his undergraduate thesis on America’s underclass described schooling as “the civil rights issues of our generation”. His resolute determination to make systemic change was evident once again in his confirmation hearing, when the 44-year-old Harvard graduate declared, “We must do dramatically better. We must continue to innovate. We must build upon what works. We must stop doing what doesn’t work. And we have to continue to challenge the status quo.”

Arne Duncan has not mastered all sides of Level Five leadership yet. This elite class of leaders develops enduring, great organizations whose success persists in their absence. Not only that, but leaders of this caliber set up successors for even greater success. Duncan’s replacement as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Ron Huberman lasted only one year. Asked for his assessment of Huberman, former president of the CPS school board, Gery Chico said, “I thank [him] for his very strong work ethic and dedication to working on the Chicago public school system, and I’ll leave it at that.”

Level Five leaders are also known to serve as obvious catalysts in the transition from good to great. In his role as Secretary of Education, Duncan is responsible for reshaping No Child Left Behind, the controversial accountability program implemented by President George W Bush that is in need of reauthorization. State school officials have staged a mounting clamor to waive substantial parts of the law, in particular the law’s requirement that all students be proficient in reading and math by 2014. Duncan’s efforts gained little traction on Capitol Hill where he was unable to convince the 111^th congress to renew and upgrade the education law. Frustrated with the lack of progress, Duncan signaled in June 2011 that he would use the power of his position to free states from the 100 percent proficiency by 2014 rule. News of the potential waivers was met with mixed reactions. Chester E. Finn, president of the education research group, the Fordham Institute was skeptical of the waivers, saying, “If the Congress can’t fix, after 10 years, something that is widely seen as in need of repair, and the executive takes the law into its own hands, then we are looking at a dysfunctional government and a disruption of our separation of powers.” Some state education chiefs lauded Duncan’s plan, however. Diane DeBacker, the commissioner of education in Kansas, a state that previously requested and was denied such a waiver. DeBacker announced that she is “pleased that there is an option for a Plan B […] This would work great for Kansas.” Similarly, in Arkansas, Tom Kimbrell, the education commissioner said of Duncan’s waiver plan, “It’s better than the direction we have now, because we’re being held to the old accountability system even when we’re trying to adopt these new standards and put into place new assessments.” Level Five leaders create superb results by acting as clear catalysts in their organizations. Fourteen months out from the next Presidential election, the clock is ticking for Duncan to achieve this in his current role.

~ A. Jacob

Did Duncan Forget about Texas Demographics before Dissin' on Rick Perry?

Before his interview for Bloomberg Television last Friday, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan should have checked all his facts about Texas Governor Rick Perry’s education record. If nothing else he should have at least held his tongue when prompted by Al Hunt to “stack” on the criticism toward Perry and the state he governs. However, if Secretary Duncan has ever spent any time in Texas, he would know better than to “dis on Texas,” and dissin’ on Perry is dissin’ on Texas. Even if the educators within Texas truly deep down feel bad for Texas children, they don’t take kindly to non-Texans saying that they “feel badly for the children there.”

However, in a very minute defense of Secretary Duncan, Political Capital host, Al Hunt, directly asked Duncan to talk about Perry’s record in Texas, and even egged on the Secretary by noting how Perry is perhaps Duncan’s harshest critic. Yet with Perry’s recent entrance to the Republican presidential campaign, there is no excuse for Duncan, as Secretary of Education, to arrive for his interview ill prepared and to make inaccurate claims about the Texas education system.

In an article for Bloomberg following Duncan’s interview, Margaret Telev expands on Duncan’s criticisms by providing actual numbers for Texas education budget cuts ($4 billion in cuts to public schools and cut financial aid to 43,000 college students-according to the Dallas-Morning News) and high school graduation rates (Texas ranked 43^rd of 50 states at 61.3 percent). Telev, on the other hand, does not provide any evidence to support Duncan’s claims of “massive increases in class size” or how the Texas school system “has really struggled” under Perry’s watch.

However, she does add that in 2008-09, 48.8 percent of Texas children were eligible for free or reduced lunch and 15.1 percent were in limited-English proficiency programs. Although, she left out data describing how many Hispanics (the majority of limited-English language learners in Texas) actually attend Texas schools (49%, according to the 2009 National Center of Educational Statistics database. Texas has the third largest population of all states following only California at 50% and New Mexico at 60%). Also according to the Dallas-Morning News, 8% of Texas students in 2009 do not have social security numbers on file. Based on this 8% number, we could consider two assumptions. First, this is a higher percentage than the actual number of illegal immigrants because some parents of legal children choose not to report a social security number to schools. Secondly, we assume this is a lower number because we do not know how many illegal immigrants use a fake social security number on school paperwork.

So to keep the calculations and assumptions simple, we are just going to say about 8% of Texas K-12 school children are illegal. In Texas terms, this is about 388,000 children. In terms of Texas costs, in 2007-08, Texas averaged $10,662 per student per year on education. This number does not include local school debt, building and land expenses, or health care costs. So for a low calculation, Texas spent 4.14 billion dollars in 2008-09 educating illegal immigrants. At the college level, Texas spent $33.6 million in state and institutional financial aid between fall 2004 and fall 2008 educating illegal immigrants. In fall 2009, 12, 138 illegal immigrants attended Texas higher education intuitions as in-state residents.

Although Ms. Talev seeks to criticize Texas and Rick Perry for having 48% of students on free and reduced lunch and 15% labeled ELL, I just have to ask, isn’t illegal immigration under Federal jurisdiction and where is the 4 billion dollars that Texas needs each year to teach these children reading, writing, and mathematics, as well as how to speak English? The Hispanic population is ten percent or less in more than half the 50 states and 41 percent or more in just four states. And those four states not only have to provide regular education but special teachers and special programs to turn these English-language learners into fluent English speakers. Yet policy makers, academics, and Secretaries of Education keep trying to compare apples to oranges, when they are obviously dealing with a handful of pears. And not surprisingly Perry is just one of a few government leaders that actually made a conscious effort to handle those pears with care- just in case the federal government ever made some real improvements on immigration policy.

So if you want to know whose either defending Perry or simply correcting Duncan, check out these links:

New York Post

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/already_hearing_footsteps_hv70gEUDCj3FouvwtSiAiL

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/22/rick-perry-education-policy_n_932780.html

Education Week

http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2011/08/fact_check_has_education_gotte.html

Dallas Morning News

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2011/08/arne-duncan-has.html

Time

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2089503,00.html

PolitiFact

http://www.politifact.com/texas/statements/2011/aug/19/arne-duncan/arne-duncan-says-class-sizes-texas-have-grown-mass/