Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Democrats call on Missouri education commissioner to resign UPDATED with DESE reaction - KansasCity.com

Democrats call on Missouri education commissioner to resign UPDATED with DESE reaction - KansasCity.com

Missouri Sen. Paul LeVota has called on Missouri Education commissioner Chris Nicastro to resign.

In a statement, also signed by St. Rep.Genise Montecillo, he said:
“Dr. Chris Nicastro has demonstrated a troubling tendency to abuse power. The recent revelations concerning her involvement in overruling Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education staff to secure a more favorable cost estimate for a ballot measure being proposed by a special interest group is just the latest example...
“We believe the faith that Missourians once had in DESE has been shattered.”
LeVota and Montecillo are Democrats.
Nicastro has been accused of working with well-known conservative activistRex Sinquefield on a ballot measure related to education.
UPDATE:
This, from Peter Herschend, president of the Missouri State Board of Education:
“Commissioner Nicastro’s review of this petition was nothing out of the ordinary. Department staff performed routine consultation on this measure just as when staff consulted on charter school legislation with Rep. Montecillo during the 2013 session.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2013/11/26/4651393/democrats-call-on-missouri-education.html#storylink=cp
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School Learns Lessons After "Scream Room" Investigation | NBC Connecticut

School Learns Lessons After "Scream Room" Investigation | NBC Connecticut

A year and a half after a “scream” room investigation at Farm Hill Elementary School in Middletown, the Superintendent of Schools said the staff has been completely retrained, and school policies reevaluated.
Dr. Patricia Charles said educators at Farm Hill have been working with the State Department of Education to learn how to deescalate a child’s behavior before resorting to seclusion, a process in which children are placed in empty rooms and monitored by an adult until the child calms down.
“We do still have the rooms at Farm Hill School,” said Dr. Charles, who was hired after the allegations first came to light.
In 2012, Farm Hill School parents complained of children coming home and describing screaming students being dragged into seclusion rooms in the school. Investigations by the State Department of Education, Department of Children and Families, Office of Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Disabilities, and Office of the Child Advocate concluded that staff were not notifying parents regularly when a child was placed in the room.
The investigation found huge holes in state-mandated documentation of the use of the rooms. The investigations also revealed that of the 15 children placed in seclusion that school year, only four had individualized educational programs in which parents were aware of the use of that technique.
A federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is ongoing.
“We wanted to make sure we were doing it correctly, the State wanted to make sure we were doing it correctly, and so together, through their guidance, we've been able to put together a good plan so we don't end up with those same issues again,” Dr. Charles said.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

St. Louis Public Schools to pay state for attendance fraud - St. Louis Business Journal

St. Louis Public Schools to pay state for attendance fraud - St. Louis Business Journal

St. Louis Public Schools will reimburse the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education $145,000 for funds it received due to attendance fraud.
An audit in 2011 found that the principal of Patrick Henry Downtown Academy had directed the school secretary to alter attendance records in 2008, 2009 and 2010., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The altered attendance numbers helped the school meet federal No Child Left Behind requirements and allowed the school to receive state funding.

Bloated attendance data could cost Ferguson-Florissant schools $80,000 : News

Bloated attendance data could cost Ferguson-Florissant schools $80,000 : News

Results released Friday from a state review of attendance data in Ferguson-Florissant show that someone in the school district made changes in August 2012 that increased the student attendance rate.
But what state and district officials haven’t said is who was responsible.
Student attendance is a factor in the formula that calculates how much money a school district receives from the state. Attendance rates also contribute to a district’s accreditation score.
The findings mean that state officials will now work with the district to make necessary data corrections and recalculate its state aid payment based on the updated attendance numbers. It is estimated the changes could mean a loss of $80,000 this year for the district. The district has an annual budget of about $141 million.
The inquiry followed the controversial suspension of the district’s superintendent, Art McCoy, who has been on paid administrative leave from the district since a Nov. 6 School Board vote. An initial statement from the board said it was not an indication of wrongdoing. On Monday, Ferguson-Florissant School Board President Paul Morris said that the board had received information “serious enough” to be required by law to notify the state education department.
Ron Lankford, a deputy commissioner in the state education department, sent a letter Friday to the district saying the department found information that verified the district’s report of significant alterations to student attendance data on Aug. 6, 2012.
The state review showed that on that date, someone in the district increased the attendance data in files for 3,357 students. The change resulted in about 20,569 more attendance hours than had been previously reported, and an increase in average daily attendance to 10,336 from 10,317.
State education officials plan to work with district staff to make the necessary data corrections. The financial impact will be determined once the adjustments to student attendance data are made. After that, the state department’s role in resolving the issue will be complete, according to a statement released today by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
For its part, the Ferguson-Florissant School Board plans to continue its investigation into the matter. The board met in closed session Friday morning, but no decisions have been made as a result of the letter, district spokeswoman Jana Shortt said. No other district employees have been placed on administrative leave related to this issue.
McCoy has not returned messages from reporters about his suspension and the state’s review. But in a letter he wrote to Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro this week, he said he was ready to respond to any allegation or concern that her department was reviewing.
At a town hall meeting in September, McCoy presented information that showed Ferguson-Florissant had a 95.8 percent overall attendance rate in August 2012. For the year, the average was 94.2 percent. The data that was changed would have been for a previous period.
It’s not the first time the state has investigated irregularities in attendance reporting.
Earlier this month, state education officials found evidence that Hope Academy, a charter school in Kansas City, may have inflated attendance and enrollment information.
A state audit also revealed that the principal of Patrick Henry Downtown Academy in St. Louis had orchestrated the alteration of hundreds of attendance records. The department found that it had paid St. Louis Public Schools an excess of $145,000 as a result. The district repaid that money earlier this month.
Elisa Crouch of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Jessica Bock covers K-12 education for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on twitter @jessicabock

Friday, November 22, 2013

Union: MO education commissioner too involved with lobbyist backing teacher tenure initiative

Union: MO education commissioner too involved with lobbyist backing teacher tenure initiative

Union: MO education commissioner too involved with lobbyist backing teacher tenure initiative

The Missouri chapter of a national teachers’ union says the state’s education commissioner went too far in working with lobbyists creating a ballot initiative to eliminate teacher tenure and institute evaluations based on student performance.
The Missouri-National Education Association obtained a series of e-mails from September of last year through March of this year between Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and other Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials and staff members and Kate Casas, state policy director for the Children’s Education Council of Missouri, a group backed by political activist Rex Sinquefield.
MNEA Political Director Mark Jones says those e-mails show Nicastro editing the proposed initiative and making comments to expand its scope. He says the e-mail communications, “show a disturbing level of collusion and cooperation between a high-ranking official and a paid lobbyist.”
In one e-mail, Nicastro instructs DESE Counsel Mark VanZandt to bring copies of the proposed language to the closed session meeting of the State Board of Education and not to include it in the publicly posted agenda.
After the ballot initiative had been submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office, Nicastro changed a proposed cost estimate to be submitted to the State Auditor from reading local governments could face the “potential for significant unknown costs” to reading “cost unknown.”
Three analyses were done by local school districts in Missouri of the costs of the new evaluations the initiative would require. The Cape Girardeau District says the tests could cost it more than $2.6 million up front and more than $105,000 annually. The Hannibal District put those costs at more than $1.7 million initially and more than $79,000 annually. The Rockwood School District said the initial cost would be more than $10 million, with an annual cost of nearly $557,000.
Jones says MNEA also submitted a cost analysis.
“We estimated the initiative requires high stakes, standardized testing in every subject and every grade,” Jones says, “and will cost at least $200-million, and the upward cost is actually several billion dollars.”
The summary of the Auditor’s fiscal note for the initiative reads, “Decisions by school districts regarding provisions allowed or required by this proposal and their implementation will influence the potential costs or savings impacting each district. Significant potential costs may be incurred by the state and/or the districts if new/additional evaluation instruments must be developed to satisfy the proposal’s performance evaluation requirements.”
Attempts to reach Casas for comment were not responded to by the time this story was posted.
The State Board of Education in a statement says, “It is the duty of Missouri Commissioner of Education to serve all members of the public not just select groups. It’s unfortunate that special interest groups want the Commissioner to choose sides in debates that serve the interests of adults not children.”

MO Education Commissioner addresses e-mail controversy (AUDIO)

MO Education Commissioner addresses e-mail controversy (AUDIO)

Missouri’s Commissioner of Education says she and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education did nothing unusual in working with a lobbyist on the development of a ballot initiative.
Chris Nicastro testifies in a House Committee Hearing (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)
Chris Nicastro testifies in a House Committee Hearing (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)
The Missouri chapter of the National Education Association obtained and released e-mails exchanged among Chris Nicastro, staff members at DESE and Kate Casas, state policy director for the Children’s Education Council of Missouri. MNEA Political Director Mark Jones says those e-mails, “show a disturbing level of collusion and cooperation between a high-ranking official and a paid lobbyist.”
The ballot initiative Casas was working on would eliminate teacher tenure and institute teacher evaluations based on student performance. The campaign has been financed by political activist Rex Sinquefield.
Nicastro tells Missourinet her office routinely reviews proposals from individuals and organizations from varying points of view to make sure they don’t conflict with the State Board of Education’s vision for education in the state.
She stresses DESE was not working with Casas on the tenure issue.
“We made it very clear from the beginning that we did not have a position on tenure and would not weigh in on that topic,” she says.
Nicastro says her staff instead focused on the student performance testing component of the initiative and how that might mesh with what DESE is doing regarding educator evaluations.
“We’ve been working on that with all of our education partners, including the NEA, for three years and we wanted to make sure that whatever they put in the petition, should that prove to be passed at some point, that it didn’t conflict with that work.”
Jones keys on two points in the e-mail communications. In one, Nicastro instructs DESE Counsel Mark VanZandt to bring copies of the proposed language to the closed session meeting of the State Board of Education and not to include it in the publicly posted agenda.
Nicastro says there was “nothing nefarious” or unusual about that.
“We do not post things that go into closed session. That’s certainly in compliance with the law,” says Nicastro. “The reason we would do that in executive session is so that the Board’s attorney could brief them on the implications of that initiative petition relative to the Board’s role in dealing with evaluation or other issues that might come up legally, related to that petition.”
Jones also criticizes Nicastro for changing a proposed cost estimate to be submitted to the State Auditor from reading local governments could face the “potential for significant unknown costs” to reading “cost unknown.”
Nicastro says her change made the wording more concise, and was meant to keep DESE’s input on the fiscal note objective.
“Any time we do a fiscal note we have to be sure that we can document exactly where those numbers came from,” she explains.
She says the costs of student testing in support of new staff evaluations could vary widely across Missouri’s 520 school districts and more than 50 charter school local education agencies.
“If they choose to adopt the state model as it exists, if they choose to use all the forms and procedures that we’ve outlined, if they choose to use the training that we’ve provided, their cost could be zero or very little. If, on the other hand, a district were to choose … which they can … to develop their own model aligned with the seven principles that we’ve put forth and do their own development and their own training, their cost could be quite significant,” says Nicastro. “In a case like that we would simply say we don’t know. ‘Cost unknown.’”
Nicastro says she does not know if at the time she changed the fiscal note, information was available from the cost analyses of cost of the new student testing the initiative would require.
In those analyses the Cape Girardeau District said the tests could cost it more than $2.6 million up front and more than $105,000 annually. The Hannibal District put those costs at more than $1.7 million initially and more than $79,000 annually. The Rockwood School District said the initial cost would be more than $10 million, with an annual cost of nearly $557,000.
Nicastro says, “I wouldn’t be privy to that.”
The State School Board President has revised its statement in support of Nicastro. It asserts, “The Commissioner and her staff routinely respond to requests for review of legislative proposals. In this case the primary focus was on alignment with the Department’s work on a state model for educator evaluation.”
Listen to Mike Lear’s interview with Chris Nicastro:

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

St. Louis Public Schools to pay state for attendance fraud - St. Louis Business Journal

St. Louis Public Schools to pay state for attendance fraud - St. Louis Business Journal

St. Louis Public Schools will reimburse the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education $145,000 for funds it received due to attendance fraud.
An audit in 2011 found that the principal of Patrick Henry Downtown Academy had directed the school secretary to alter attendance records in 2008, 2009 and 2010., the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The altered attendance numbers helped the school meet federal No Child Left Behind requirements and allowed the school to receive state funding.

KC area lawmaker says he plans impeachment effort against Nixon : News

KC area lawmaker says he plans impeachment effort against Nixon : News

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.  •  A Missouri House Republican says he intends to seek articles of impeachment against Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.
Nick Marshall, of Parkville, referred to the governor's executive order directing officials to accept joint tax filings from same-sex couples who are legally married, the release of the names of concealed gun permit holders to a federal agent and driver's license procedures.
Marshall says he believes the governor's administration has violated the law and that his motivations are not political gain or attention. He has not spoken to House leaders.
A Nixon spokesman declined to comment. The Missouri attorney general's office has said the tax filing policy appears to follow the requirements of Missouri tax law.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Blue Springs mother outraged school district allowed to investigate alleged abuse internally

Blue Springs mother outraged school district allowed to investigate alleged abuse internally

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - Should a Missouri state law that allows school districts to internally investigate child abuse allegations against educators be changed?

One Blue Springs family is questioning whether the current law allowing school districts to do just that serves the best interest of children in the Show-Me State.

Jake Livingston looks like the average 9-year-old boy next door.

“(He) likes to write jokes and tell stories. Just overall if you met him, you would think he’s a normal kid,” said Susan Wolfe, his mother.

Jake has childhood alopecia. The disease caused him to lose his hair. He also has a high-functioning form of autism and ADHD. His school, Sunny Pointe Elementary, offers him some extra individualized help through its Special Education classroom.

But Wolfe said an incident in that classroom on May 7 came as a complete surprise.

Wolfe said it started as a misunderstanding between the special education teacher and Jake regarding a school assignment.

She said Jake believed he had completed the assignment the night before. The special education teacher believed it was not completed. The teacher brought Jake a new worksheet and asked him to complete it.
Wolfe said Jake ripped up the paper. That’s when she said the teacher crossed a line.

“She actually grabbed him by the back of his neck and the arm and pushed him to the floor out of his chair,” said Wolfe.

Jake had a small mark on his head from the incident. Wolfe took a picture and reported the incident to the child abuse hotline. However, she said she was surprised to learn the school district would be allowed to investigate itself. 

Missouri law allows a school district to choose whether to investigate the allegation itself or have the Department of Social Services conduct the investigation.


Wolfe told 41 Action News Investigators she believes that is a conflict of interest. She said she was not happy with how the Blue Springs School District performed its investigation.

“During this whole investigation I never knew the investigator’s name. They never contacted us," Wolfe said. "The only thing they had from us was a statement that my son wrote as a third grader as to what happened.”
The investigator obtained written statements from Jake, the teacher involved and two other paraprofessionals who were working in the classroom at the time.

Jake’s handwritten statement mirrored the statements of the two paraprofessionals. All three wrote that the teacher grabbed Jake’s arm and neck and pushed him to the floor.

The statement the teacher wrote said Jake fell to the floor.

In a letter to the Missouri Department of Social Services, the school district's Board of Education president wrote the investigation found the charge was unsubstantiated.

Wolfe told the 41 Action News investigators she was angered by the report.

“How can two adults and a child have similar report, and then the one teacher that did the assaulting has a different report and it can be dismissed?” said Wolfe.

In the report, the investigator described another incident at the same school involving the very same teacher. The investigator wrote that the principal told him in February -- just three months earlier -- that he had written and spoken to the teacher for grabbing a child by the neck and forcing his head down on the desk.

“That's alarming to me that this is not the first issue that she has had and has been addressed with her,” Wolfe said.

Her attorney, Deborah Johnson, said she believes this presents a conflict of interest.

“Why are school districts allowed to investigate themselves when there is an allegation of abuse or neglect? That makes no sense,” Johnson said.

Johnson told the 41 Action News Investigators she thinks lawmakers should take a second look at the provision of the law that allows school districts the option to investigate themselves.

“A hotline report is filed against me for social services to investigate, and that report is given to me to investigate myself? What am I going to say ‘Yes, I am guilty?’ No, I'm not going to say that. That just seems insane to me,” Johnson said.

Information obtained from the Missouri Department of Social Services shows the state received 600 calls about schools, both private and public, into the child abuse hotline in 2011. Statistics show 29 of those calls were substantiated. The Department of Social services does not keep statistics on how often school districts choose to perform investigations themselves.

The Blue Springs School District told 41 Action News the teacher in question resigned while the district was performing the investigation. A spokesperson said the district would have no further comment on the incident due to pending litigation.

A 41 Action News investigation found that teacher is still teaching special education at another school in the Kansas City area.

Jake’s family and their attorney feel that is proof the law needs


Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/parents-question-conflict-of-interest-in-one-state-law#ixzz2kZT4Hz00

Blue Springs mom drafts petition to close loophole in state child abuse law

Blue Springs mom drafts petition to close loophole in state child abuse law

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - A Blue Springs, Mo., mom hopes a petition she has drafted will help close a loop-hole in state law that the 41 Action News Investigators first exposed last year.
Susan Wolf learned about the loophole in 2012 when her son Jake was involved in an incident with his teacher.
See the petition | http://chn.ge/16SnQDA
Students and other adults in the room told administrators the teacher grabbed Jake by the neck and forced him to the floor.
However, the teacher told administrators the incident did not happen. The district dismissed the abuse allegation.
Wolf was surprised to learn Missouri state law allowed districts the option of investigating cases of child abuse by its own staff.
Wolf drafted an online petition and started a Facebook page hoping to solve what she thinks is a blatant conflict of interest.
“My son asked why did this happen to me and I said ‘It happened because you can handle it and you are strong. And you have a mom who will stand up for other children and make a change,” Wolf said.
Susan is working with an attorney to draft potential legislation.


Read more: http://www.kshb.com/dpp/news/local_news/investigations/blue-springs-mom-drafts-petition-to-close-loophole-in-state-child-abuse-law#ixzz2kZSh9oYd

Missouri lawmakers among best paid part-time officials in the nation « Watchdog.org

Missouri lawmakers among best paid part-time officials in the nation « Watchdog.org

ST. LOUIS — How does nearly $36,000 a year with full health benefits sound for a job that technically lasts about half a year?
Like the idea? Then run for theMissouri General Assembly at your next available opportunity.
An examination of the pay and perks forMissouri’s lawmakers shows their part-time gig is pretty sweet, if not out of line with those in other states.
The exact pay for Missouri legislators is $35,915 per year plus a $104 a day per diem for miscellaneous costs such as food and lodging. The daily per diem is determined by roll call, so your area’s lawmakers won’t earn their lunch if playing hooky.
The actual number of days those lawmakers must work is not set in stone, although theMissouri Constitution requires them to start the session two days after the first Monday in January and end its regular session by May 30, with the possibility of a veto session later in the summer.
While the Missouri General Assembly meets from January to May, its members take some time off in between, including Fridays and a couple of weeks for a spring break.
Lauren Hieger, the communications director for the Missouri Senate Majority Caucus, said a regular session usually consists of about 70 days.
“There are actually not a certain number of days required to be in session for the Senate,” she told Missouri Watchdog.
Lawmakers in session for 70 days are getting more than $500 a day for their time in theCapitol.
Consider this: The average year has about 260 work days. Accounting for holidays, vacation time and sick days, the average employee will work around 240 of those days. If Missouri legislators earned their regular pay and worked that schedule, they would make about $123,000 a year in taxpayer-funded income.
David Stokes, a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute, said many lawmakers put in a lot of time during the four-day Jefferson City workweek or outside of session when back home with constituents.
“Most legislators would tell you they work it like a full-time job,” Stokes said.
He doesn’t think the legislators’ pay is out-of-bounds, but the number of them may be.
“I do think we need fewer legislators. That’s where you could see some savings,” he said.
In total, the Missouri House of Representatives consists of 163 members; the Senate has 34 elected officials. Total size of Missouri General Assembly: 197. Total payroll: about $7 million.
The perks of governance
Looking at total pay, Missouri’s lawmakers rank 16th in the nation, but it’s somewhat of an apples and oranges comparison, considering some legislatures meet longer than others. For example, California legislators reap $95,291 a year but essentially work full-time.
MISSOURI: Legislative pay is actually less than some bordering states with similar workloads.
MISSOURI: Legislative pay is actually less than some bordering states with similar workloads.
MISSOURI: Legislative pay is comparable to bordering states with similar workloads.
Some neighboring states’ Capitol gangs make better comparisons.
Illinois’ representatives and senators are handsomely rewarded, with annual pay of $67,836. That state’s 97th General Assembly, which adjourned in January, met for 135 days over two years, averaging about $1,000 per day of governance in Springfield.
Missouri is one of 30 states providing no extra compensation to serve as a committee chair. That extra pay amounts to thousands of extra dollars in some states, including up to $34,000 in New York.
The presiding officer in the House, now House Speaker Tim Jones, gets $208.34 a month in extra pay, while the majority and minority leaders each get $125 a month. Senate leaders do not get this extra compensation.
Lawmakers are required to participate in the Missouri State Employee Retirement System, which faces an ever-growing pension shortfall. Taxpayers will shell out an additional $55 million this year to help cut into the debt.
As with other state employees in the system, legislators weren’t required to contribute to their pensions until 2010. Now, 4 percent is deducted from the paychecks of MOSERS participants toward the retirement fund.
Lawmakers must have six years of service to collect retirement, beginning at age 55.
Their monthly pay is divided by 24 and multiplied by years of service, and the annual payout is capped at 100 percent of their annual salary. A lawmaker serving two terms in both the House and Senate, reaching the maximum term limits of 16 years, would get about $24,000 a year in pensions.
Lawmakers can increase that overall benefit by continuing in the government sector after their time in the General Assembly is up, as long as that state job falls under the MOSERS umbrella.
Rep. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, wants to make his peers put in more time before collecting retirement benefits.
Shelia Weinberg, founder of the Institute for Truth in Accounting, said that would seem to be a positive step.
“To fix your pension you need to bring more money in or take less money out,” she said. “That would seem to take less money out so on the surface that is a good thing.”
Legislators contribute to their health insurance, but taxpayers pick up most of the tab. The state also pays the full amount of life and disability insurance. Lawmakers can get extra life insurance coverage at their own expense. They are also on the hook for dental and vision coverage.
The total life insurance and long-term disability costs are nominal, about $10 and $80 per lawmaker per year, respectively, MOSERS benefit counselor Andrea Binkley told Watchdog.
Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan operates the medical side of lawmaker insurance. Emily Kampeter, spokeswoman for that organization, said a number of legislators use their existing insurance when they are elected, saving taxpayers from funding their health care.
“They can become a legislator and not use our health-care plan,” she said.
Kampeter wasn’t sure of the total cost of all lawmakers’ health-care plans, but said the most common MCHCP plan with a $600 deductible costs taxpayers about $460 a month.
Missouri’s legislators don’t get access to state cars, which some lawmakers in other states do. However, they get 37 cents a mile mileage allowance and a monthly expense allowance of $700 a month to cover “all reasonable and necessary business expenses.”

State to raise minimum wage in 2014 | Springfield News-Leader | news-leader.com

State to raise minimum wage in 2014 | Springfield News-Leader | news-leader.com

For the second consecutive year, Missouri’s minimum wage will increase in 2014, rising to $7.50 an hour from $7.35.
The increase is automatically triggered by a cost-of-living formula. The increase, supported by groups such as Missouri Jobs with Justice, is opposed by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce.
Since 2006, Missouri’s minimum wage has been tied to a cost-of-living formula, after voters approved a constitutional amendment requiring an annual adjustment. Though the wage can fall under the formula, it has never done so. Between 2009 and 2012, the wage held steady at $7.25 an hour.
“As the minimum wage increases, the ability of employers to continue to employ workers is damaged — hitting entry level jobs especially hard,” Chamber President Dan Mehan said in a statement. “It causes uncertainty and positions Missouri to raise its minimum wage to uncompetitive levels. We opposed the change to the law in 2006 and maintain that wages should be set by market demand, not bureaucrats.”
The chamber did not respond to questions about Mehan’s statement, but a news release from the organization notes that the state’s minimum wage will be 25 cents higher than the federal minimum wage after the increase and higher than all neighboring states except Illinois.
The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce also opposes tying the minimum wage to the consumer price index and encourages lawmakers to eliminate it in its legislative priorities.
Lara Granich, director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, said that without cost-of-living adjustments, the minimum wage “lurches up” when lawmakers approve increases.
“What you want are those regular, steady increases that a COLA provides,” Granich said.
While lawmakers could place a constitutional amendment on a statewide ballot eliminating indexing, the General Assembly cannot outright get rid of it because of its constitutional status.
State Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, said that while he is philosophically opposed to minimum wage laws, there has not been much discussion about the minimum wage in the General Assembly.
“No, it’s not something that was a hard-driving issue, especially when you had a federal minimum wage that’s not far below,” Burlison said.
Jobs with Justice welcomed the increase but says it does not go far enough. A full-time, minimum wage worker will earn $15,600 a year after the increase, the group says, pointing to a study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, that shows a two-parent, two-child family living in Kansas City needs an annual income of $64,332 for a modest but decent living.
In Springfield, the 2013 Community Focus report names income and wages as a red flag for the city. The report says that average wages remain lower in Springfield than in other communities.
“Despite some increases in average wages over the last decade, Springfield still falls behind its peers and this wage gap is growing,” the report said.
Burlison said a high minimum wage may encourage high school students to drop out if they can make a living wage on their own. He said a low minimum wage or no minimum wage encourages people to improve themselves and their productivity.
“The notion that minimum wage should be enough for someone to live on, I would challenge that premise,” Burlison said.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

A Better Bottom Line: Employing Individuals With Disabilities | Gov. Jack Markell

A Better Bottom Line: Employing Individuals With Disabilities | Gov. Jack Markell

Ten years ago, I met a 25-year-old employee of Bank of America in Delaware. He had Down Syndrome and was enthusiastically making t-shirts on a silk screen press. He told me how thrilled he was to be working.

I asked him what he had done before getting that job. He told me he had sat at home for six years watching TV with his parents. And during that time, his parents watched after their disheartened son.

This is the reality for too many Americans with disabilities and their families. Twenty-three years after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, only 20 percent of the 54 million Americans living with a disability are employed or seeking employment, compared to almost 70 percent of people without disabilities.

It's time, once and for all, to move the needle. That's why I recently released my "A Better Bottom Line: Employing Individuals with Disabilities" blueprint for governors at the conclusion of my one-year tenure as Chair of the National Governors Association.

This blueprint is not about feel-good social policy. As Greg Wasson, CEO of Walgreens, has told his peers, Walgreens employs people with disabilities not out of charity, but as a business decision. 

At Walgreens' distribution facilities in Connecticut and South Carolina, approximately half of the employees have disabilities. And those two centers perform as well as, if not better than, any other facility in the Walgreens supply chain.

At Acadia Windows and Doors in Maryland, six out of 60 employees have disabilities. Neill Christopher, the company's vice president, said he resisted hiring the first employee with a disability out of a fear that window manufacturing is too dangerous. Now, several employees later, he reports that the company operates safer than ever and that his new employees not only make the company better, but also kinder.

CAI, a regional IT company, has committed to making people with autism 3 percent of its consultant base within three years. SAP, the mammoth enterprise software company, has made a similar commitment. Both companies have done so because they recognize that many people with autism excel at software testing.

My blueprint is designed to give governors tools to increase employment of people with disabilities in their states. Based on input from business leaders, it suggests that states change their approach. Historically, our Divisions of Vocational Rehabilitation have asked companies to do a favor to those with disabilities by offering them a job. That will change. In the future, our Departments of Labor will seek to be real business partners to companies looking to hire people with particular skills. Some of those people recommended may have disabilities and some may not. But the real focus will be on the ability and not the disability.

In addition, states must do a better job of preparing our youth with disabilities. Too often in the past, there has been an expectation that they would sign up at 17 or 18 for a lifetime on public benefits. No more. Now our young people will know that we have an expectation that they will find work and even a career. They will be educated and have access to career exploration opportunities accordingly.

In an era when there seems to be so little common ground between Democrats and Republicans, this issue stands apart. For my blueprint, I teamed up with South Dakota Republican Governor Dennis Daugaard, a remarkable man who grew up in South Dakota with two parents who are deaf.

Federal officials as far apart as Democrat Senator Tom Harkin and Republican members of congress Pete Sessions and Cathy McMorris Rodgers are working together on this issue.

And when I testified at the Senate HELP Committee at the invitation of Senator Harkin, I was approached afterward by Republican Senator Lamar Alexander. He told me how much he appreciated that our approach is focused on how states can help businesses identify, hire and retain people with disabilities rather than how we can extract more federal government money for additional social programs.

In fact, that's one reason that our initiative is a real win-win-win. Not only will the individuals themselves have a sense of purpose and know what it's like to be productive. Not only will their family members have a chance to live fuller lives themselves. But in addition to that, taxpayers win. Instead of spending millions of dollars on benefits and welfare for people with disabilities, many of these budding employees and entrepreneurs will turn into productive taxpayers themselves. And that's something that liberals and conservatives alike should embrace. 

All it takes is for companies throughout the country to follow the lead of businesses like Bank of America, Walgreens, Acadia Windows, CAI and SAP, who are all employing skilled people like the 25-year-old I met a few years ago. 

Jack Markell is in his second term as governor of Delaware. He previously served three terms as the state's treasurer and was the 13th employee at Nextel (a name he coined), where he served as senior vice president for corporate development.
 

Monday, November 11, 2013

The Concerns Regarding School Assessments for Educational Autism

Lee's Summit R-7 School District: The Concerns Regarding School Assessments for Educational Autism

This is happening a lot in Lee's Summit.  At one point it was happening 50% of the time.  When I last checked there were 250 students in the district with a medical diagnosis of autism and only 98 had an educational diagnosis.

From the Article The Concerns Regarding School Assessments for Educational Autism

Please read the rest.  Here is a portion that I find significant.

I recently assessed a teenager and diagnosed him with Asperger’s Syndrome. Within the past year two psychologists for different purposes (hospital and disability determination) also diagnosed him with Asperger’s Syndrome. Yet the school believed that he did not fit the criteria for educational autism based on their assessment. He was failing every subject and having behavioral and social difficulties. No other explanation was given for the problems in school and he was denied special services. Due to a predictable problem he was suspended from school and is now, ironically, receiving services. We are not sure what will happen when he returns to school.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Missouri School District Faces Second Federal Lawsuit in Two Years - Yahoo News

Missouri School District Faces Second Federal Lawsuit in Two Years - Yahoo News

The Republic School District in southwest Missouri is facing its second lawsuit in federal court in four years over a special education student. The Springfield News-Leader reports the Hansen family won a case against the school district after four years of litigation stating their son needed individualized attention since the fifth grade.
The federal lawsuit litigated in June 2009 that he had conduct and personality disorders that required the school district to adapt to his needs for an education. Eventually, he got four hours of individualized tutoring which helped improve his grades.
Since the lawsuit was settled in 2010, the family moved away. It was also reported the family had more than $27,000 in legal costs paid by the district. Republic itself spent over $60,000 in legal fees.
Another lawsuit was brought against the school district in federal court alleging another pupil's rights were violated. A girl and her family are suing Republic Schools over multiple rape allegations by a boy on middle school grounds. Plaintiffs say they have DNA evidence and juvenile court records to back up their claims. Republic schools have denied the accusations. The current litigation received national media attention from the likes of CBS News .
That makes two lawsuits in federal court in a two-year period for Republic Schools regarding special needs children. Even though the recent lawsuit is just beginning, there clearly is something wrong in the once proud school system. Added to these lawsuits was a controversy over the past year regarding the banning of two books from the high school's library. That issue also received national attention.
The $87,000 in legal fees could easily pay for two or three teachers to help kids learn. It could also go towards improved curricula or funding for special education programs. Instead, it went to fees to clean up a mess that administrators and leaders in the Republic School District created themselves. The next school board election in Republic will be very interesting to watch.
What's even worse is that both students' lives were changed forever. No one should have to endure the humiliation of these kids who were just trying to be normal kids. This is America where no one should be treated as a second-class citizen. How we treat the future of this country today will largely effect how the next generation of leaders will work with citizens to better their communities.
For some children who attended schools in Republic, their lives 10 years from now will be irrevocably altered by men and women who were trained to protect them. Instead, they were ignored.
William Browning, a lifelong Missouri resident, writes about local and state issues for the Yahoo! Contributor Network. Born in St. Louis, Browning earned his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Missouri. He currently resides in Branson.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Parents accuse substitute teacher of assaulting their son | fox4kc.com

Parents accuse substitute teacher of assaulting their son | fox4kc.com
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — The parents of an East Antioch Elementary student are pressing charges against a substitute teacher after hearing their son’s story of how she assaulted him in class.
“Yesterday, on Thursday, my son comes in the same as everyday, except he’s crying,” said 11-year old Payton Jackson’s mother, Angela. “I asked him, ‘What is the matter?’ And he said that a teacher had grabbed him.”
When Payton took off his jacket, his mother said she saw this large scratch on his neck.
“While we were investigating, the principal called and said she had been made aware by another student that there was an incident in the classroom where Payton was grabbed,” said Angela. “She just wanted to let me know that the teacher was removed from the premises and she would no longer be allowed back at East Antioch.”
The Shawnee Mission School District spokeswoman confirmed the teacher is being made unavailable district-wide at least until the investigation is complete. Angela and her husband, Frank, still decided to press charges against the substitute with the Overland Park Police.
“I think if it affected another student enough for that student to come forward to go to the principal, then we cant just brush it under the rug,” said Angela.
“I was really upset. I couldn’t believe a teacher would do that,” said Frank.
Payton told his parents the teacher got upset because she thought he was throwing erasers in class. Still, Payton’s parents say the Shawnee Mission School District prides itself in its strong anti-bullying policies, so it’s disappointing to see a teacher setting a poor example.
“Teachers are advocates for students and this type of behavior is uncalled for, whether its physical abuse by a teacher or sexual abuse by a teacher,” said Angela.
“That’s not showing the kids to not touch people. That’s showing kids it’s alright to bully someone and put your hands on someone, and it’s not,” said Frank.
The Overland Park Police Department Spokesman Gary Mason says they have not spoken to the teacher yet, but are making an effort to contact her. If she is found at-fault, Mason says she’ll be charged with battery.

Education Week: Missing: A National Education Policy for Low-Income Families

Education Week: Missing: A National Education Policy for Low-Income Families


Let's face it. When it comes to the transformation of public education, families and students are at the bottom of the partnership feeding chain. And our poorest families often wield the least power and have little political or social capital. Their voice is hardly ever sought after, and their children attend the lowest-performing schools. Missing in action are the well-integrated national education policies that should assure these families that they have a voice at the reform table. The landscape for low-income parents, however, was not always this bleak.
As a young staffer for the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York, I remember distinctly an exchange that the senator had with President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration officials, when the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act was being debated in the Senate education committee in 1965. Sen. Kennedy peppered them with questions about why poor parents were not given more power to hold school districts accountable for the federal money they were receiving under the ESEA's Title I. He contended that parents in the South Bronx should have the same clout over education decisions as the parents in Westchester County, an affluent community just north of New York City.
In promoting federal mechanisms that evened the playing field in the early years of the ESEA, Robert Kennedy saw the role of parents as one of mobilizing, organizing, and changing the power relationships to ensure that federal funding would be used to desegregate the schools as well as build demand for improved student performance. That discussion raised some of the first questions about the relationships between instructional quality, assessment data, and the use of that information by low-income parents to demand improved public schools—an issue we continue to grapple with today. In essence, the legislation dramatically changed the relationship that low-income parents had with school officials.
But there were many school districts that either resented the federal parent requirements or that were threatened by the increase in parent participation. They staged mass resistance against parent organizing and, during the 1980 ESEA reauthorization process, persuaded Congress to gut the core of the parent-involvement provisions. That significant shift sent a national message that administrator control was more important than collaboration or shared decisionmaking, and that parental involvement would now be voluntary and not protected by federal law.
Today, the rhetoric of family engagement has overshadowed any serious policymaking. We have shifted from an ESEA that was primarily community-based and into building relationships to one that is highly school- and test-based, and inhumanly technocratic. And while the U.S. Department of Education talks a good game, charter schools, teacher evaluation, and competitive grants like Race to the Top have trumped family engagement as national priorities. Curiously, instead of building on the new research that demonstrates the importance of linking families to school transformation, the Education Department has actually diminished family provisions. It eliminated statewide Parent Information and Resource Centers, failed to monitor the family provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act (the current version of the ESEA), and emasculated the parents'-right-to-know provision of NCLB, which endowed parents with the right to inquire about the qualifications of their children's teachers. All of those are tools to support low-income families.
When asked at a National Press Club presentation last year how he would grade the Education Department's family-engagement policies, Secretary Arne Duncan gave his agency a D. The department has not been a safe haven for low-income parents, and Congress and the Obama administration have largely been unable to incorporate the family evidence we have into the policies we need.
For many state and local leaders in family engagement, Congress and the Education Department have become irrelevant forces in helping to level the playing field in the balance of power and school-family collaboration, as well as in helping to build demand for schools that are responsive to the particular needs of low-income parents. This unfortunate void leaves low-income parents to fend for themselves and build from the ground up—school by school and district by district. And here is some advice: Don't expect your federal government to help in this process. Parental choice, market models, and rhetoric do not substitute for family mobilization, advocacy, or organizing.
We know sound family policies work. They help grow district capacity, teacher and administrator professional development, community engagement, integration of services, funding, best practices, communications, and respect for voices and needs. When coordinated, these elements build a seamless link between school and family, increasing student success and performance.
If we give up on our families, we give up on our community. If we lose our community, we lose our democracy. If we lose our democracy, we lose the public. And if we lose the public, we lose public education. The stakes are too high for our national policymakers to ignore what makes sense.