RFArea REA Newsletter August 2014

Volume 11           Issue 4           August 2014

From Marylin

By Marylin Plansky, President

It’s been an interesting summer to say the least.  Conflicts in the Middle East, airplanes falling out of the sky, weird weather patterns, Vladimir Putin . . . and Wisconsin politics.  As if these weren’t enough to cause me to age, in July my high school alumni association had its annual reunion for all classes.  Interestingly, the update newsletter it sent out as a follow-up to the festivities listed me as part of the class of 1925.  So, without celebration, I’ve reached the age of 107, and I’ve received no comments or congratulations from anyone.  My brother did comment, though.

Last spring we awarded two $500 scholarships for high school graduating seniors.  Both the New Richmond and Baldwin-Woodville recipients sent very nice letters of appreciation.  At our board meetings we have discussed possible changes regarding scholarships, but at this point, things remain the same.

At our August 20^th meeting, we’ll be electing officers for two-year terms: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Legislative Chair.  A slate of candidates will be presented, and nominations from the floor will be entertained.  The newly elected officers will begin their duties at the October meeting.

I hope everyone has been enjoying summer weather.  We deserve it after the winter we suffered through.  That was enough for me to sign up—a year late perhaps—for a month in southeast Georgia, so I’ll be on St. Simons Island next February.

WINE AND CHEESE—SEPTEMBER 11, 2014 AT 4:00-6:00—Junior’s Bar & Restaurant

The Membership Committee is inviting potential new members to join all of us for WINE AND APPETIZERS on Thursday afternoon, September 11 from 4:00-6:00 at Junior’s Bar and Restaurant located at 414 S. Main Street (in the Best Western Hotel).   Please come to help us welcome our invited guests, show them our friendliness, and persuade them to join RFArea REA.   We also encourage you to invite recently retired persons you might know.   This occasion is a good opportunity for current members to socialize and for potential new members to become acquainted with WREA.  Mark your calendars and we look forward to seeing you then!  For more information, contact Jane Harred at 715-425-1574 or jane.harred@gmail.com.

BOOK DISCUSSION DELAYED—BUT COMING ON SEPTEMBER 24th!

Though we promised a book discussion in August, summer seemed to get in the way.  The conversation about Richard Rodriguez's The Hunger of Memory:  The Education of Richard Rodriguez will, in fact, be held on Wednesday, September 24^th at 10:30 a.m. in the Board Room of the River Falls Public Library.   Not only is Rodriguez an excellent writer, but his memoir provides wonderful insights about the challenges of English language learners navigating American education, the "cost" of education to immigrant children, and other educational issues.  It's a great book, and we would love to have lots of enthusiastic folks join the conversation, especially those of you who have had experience teaching students whose first language was not English.

RFAREA MINUTES FOR THE JUNE 18, 2014 MEETING and POTLUCK

Hoffman Park, River Falls, WI

Submitted by Jane Harred, for Ethel Johnson

President Marylin Plansky called the meeting to order at 10:45 a.m.

Secretary’s Report

The minutes of the April meeting were approved as printed in the newsletter.

Treasurer’s Report

Bernie Brohaugh distributed the report, indicating that additional funds will soon be deposited in RFArea REA’s bank account.  No need for correction to the treasurer’s report was noted.  The report will be filed for audit.

Legislative Report

Larry Harred mentioned that Wisconsin’s battle over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage is beginning.

Program Committee Report

Ruth Wood mentioned several book or movie discussions that are being planned.  She is hoping to obtain a copy of the film American Winter, on poverty in the U.S., to show sometime in this summer.  Details will be sent in email notices and by phone, and an announcement will appear in the River Falls Journal.

Our organization will help the local Peace and Justice group sponsor a screening of a film about the Koch Brothers.  The screening will take place at the River Falls Public Library.  Bernie will keep us informed.

A different film on the Kochs will screen late in June.  If anyone wants to see it, Bernie will pass along the information he has regarding times and places to view the film.

In August (date to be announced), the WREA will host at the River Falls Public Library a discussion of Richard Rodriguez’s book Hunger of Memory.  This memoir depicts the divide that opens between a child and his parents when, as an English Language Learner, the child acquires a language different from his home language and enters a culture different from that of relatively uneducated parents.   A local ESL teacher may join us for the discussion.

Membership Committee Report

Laura Zlogar has had training in how to use the WREA database of membership information, including lists of retirees, and she can now also enter our local group’s information into this database. 

Laura, Jane Harred, and Larry Harred discussed the possibility of our local group’s hosting a wine and cheese membership event, probably in September.  Laura would send postcards to prospective members, and we would also ask that current members invite possible new members.  We will discuss this event further at the August regular meeting.

Laura is also considering distributing newsletters to administrators in area school districts to increase our organization’s visibility and elicit information from them about potential new members.

A question was raised about why we now have so few members who were elementary school teachers.  One person said that it is because retirees from the university are taking over the organization and added that Republicans feel unwelcome and some resent negative comments about Wisconsin’s governor.  Responses to these comments included expressions of concerns that some members feel about the current political climate and its negative effects on public education and about the Wisconsin governor’s positions on education.  Another response pointed out the benefits of union membership to many teachers and their standards of living, benefits that have been decimated.

Current membership stands at 46.  Retirees from area technical colleges are another potential pool of members.

Laura requested that members inform her of their email addresses, if they have them, and let her know which schools or districts they were affiliated with during most of their careers.

Educational Issues Committee Report

There was no report this month.

Election of Officers

Election of officers will take place at the August meeting.  Larry Harred will run the election and, in October, will install the new officers.  A slate of officers has been determined, but other candidates may also be nominated at the August meeting.

Bylaw Revisions

Revisions to Bylaw IV, no. 1 and Bylaw IV, no. 2 were passed unanimously as presented.  The new wording reads as follows:

Bylaw IV, no. 1:

If the Association wishes to send a delegate to the state convention, the President shall have first right of refusal.  If the President declines, an alternate may be selected.  In any case, the delegate shall be reimbursed for registration, food, lodging, and gasoline expenses.

Bylaw IV, no.2:

If the Association wishes to send a delegate to the fall district meeting, the delegate shall be reimbursed for the registration fee and for the cost of gasoline required for the trip to and from the convention site.

The Newsletter, the Blog, and the Tri-fold Pamphlet

Hard copies of newsletters were mailed to all this past month.  From now on, those who have email addresses will get their newsletters via email, as attachments.  The newsletters are also posted on our blog (see below).

The newsletter’s appearance drew positive comments.  One member asked that the pages be numbered.

Laura has prepared a draft of a tri-fold pamphlet that contains information about our organization.  The pamphlet will be distributed to prospective members and perhaps made available in locations such as the public library and teachers’ lounges.

Our local Association now also has a blog online, which Laura has set up for us.   Newsletters are posted on the blog, along with other information about us, and the blog address will be included in the pamphlet and in other communications with prospective members. 

Anyone may post comments on the blog.

In addition, any member of our organization may contribute items beyond comments to the blog.  Just ask Laura to designate you as a blog author.  Author contributions can then be posted at any time.  

Royal Neighbors Matching Funds Check

Gene and Liz Kreibich presented to Treasurer Bernie Brohaugh the Royal Neighbors Matching Funds check for $1,704.  The money, which matches the amount collected at our bake sale, will help fund our two scholarships.   Royal Neighbors invited us to undertake another matching funds project next year.

Several possibilities for using the funds in the organization’s savings were discussed, including increasing each scholarship, perhaps to $750, or increasing the number of scholarships offered.  The suggestion was made that the board re-examine the list of local schools to which scholarships are offered.  Another option would be to offer a grant or grants (one at $500 or two at $250 each) for which teachers could apply to fund projects such as buying classroom books or materials that their districts do not supply.  It was felt that teachers accustomed to applying for foundation grants would welcome another source of funds.  Caution was urged, however, that we take care not to over-spend.  The board will discuss these options further.

Member Volunteer Work

Ruth Wood displayed a “check” that represents the $110,192.03 that members’ volunteer work has been calculated to be worth this year.  Kudos to Evelyn Johnson for doing so much of this work!

Music

Doug Johnson expressed excitement about the local music scene and urged us all to take advantage of the university’s Tuesday evening concerts as well as the music in Veterans’ Park on Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the summer.

Upcoming Events

July 29 Board Meeting, 10 a.m., Perkins

August 20 Regular Meeting, 10:30 a.m., West Wind

September 29 Board Meeting, 10 a.m., Perkins

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m., and the members turned to the picnic lunch and Antiques Road Show show-and-tell.

EDITORIAL:  THE COMMON CORE DEBATE

By Bernie Brohaugh

Recently Governor Walker reneged on his support of the Common Core Standards (CCS) that have been adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia to evaluate English and math skills in grades K-12.  This sudden flip-flop probably has very little to do with a genuine concern for the welfare of Wisconsin’s elementary and secondary students but a whole lot to do with the upcoming election.  Overwhelmingly, conservative Walker backers oppose these standards, which they say are simply a means for big government to intrude once again in education.  And for goodness sake, who knows where such an intrusion might lead?  The discrediting of creationism as anything other than an unprovable myth?   The affirmation that climate change is a reality and that human greed and carelessness are at least two of the causes?  The realization that poverty is caused not only or even primarily by sloth?   The recognition that women, racial minorities, and non-Christians should have the same rights and privileges as rich, Christian white people?

To be fair, some liberals oppose the Common Core standards as well.  Their main concern seems to be that all teaching will be focused on preparing for the test and that a rigid, lockstep, unimaginative, tediousness will supplant what is best—whatever that may be—in the art of teaching.   One well-known commentator on American education says the Common Core standards are invalid because the American National Standards Institute hasn’t accredited them.  That this organization should be granted such a god-like prerogative is not, I think, beyond dispute.

Likely, many of those who object to the Common Core have little or no familiarity with them.  One common complaint is that they will impose upon curricula an assembly-line rigidity, and yet—surprise, surprise—there are no prescriptions specifically pertaining to curricula.  What is prescribed is proficiency in various skills such as analytical thinking, and the skills that are identified can be taught in numerous ways with the use of diverse teaching approaches and materials.

I think the worst that can be said about the Common Core Standards thus far is that they may be an exercise in futility.  How do we know if they are really needed?   Lately, we have been hearing more and more from people who say that for decades we have been sold a bill of goods by those who want to discredit public education because it has failed to follow a particular religious and/or political agenda and by others who stand to reap huge profits from the privatization of education.  We are learning that our students have never been exemplary test takers in international competition and yet, for the last two decades, their performance on these tests has steadily improved rather than deteriorated.

To be sure, there are trouble spots—such as Milwaukee and two-thirds of the states in the Bible Belt--but almost always low achievement by students is linked to family poverty and/or underfunding of the school system.  The root of the problem is not bad teaching, inappropriate curricula, or insufficient brainpower of American youth, but malnutrition and an unwholesome home life. 

Bad as it is, this problem would not be insurmountable if would-be reformers really wanted to fix it.  But because of their niggardly attitude toward the less fortunate in our society, compounded by greedy expectations of those hell-bent to privatize education, the poverty will continue and the problem will persist—at least until we all get mad enough to confront the snake-oil salesmen and other frauds who now hold sway.

To read more about the Common Core Standards, you can go to the program’s website at http://www.corestandards.org.  According to State Superintendent of the Department of Public Instruction, Wisconsin was the first state in the nation to adopt the Common Core.  It is on schedule to be fully implemented by the 2014-15 academic year.  You can read on DPI’s website how Wisconsin public schools have integrated the Common Core standards with its own state standards at http://standards.dpi.wi.gov/stn_ccss.   As Bernie mentions in his editorial above, Governor Scott Walker has just recently proposed that the state legislature takes up as one of the first items of action in January the rejection of these standards, as reported in an article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Thursday, July 17, 2014.

MEETINGS FOR 2014-15

At August’s meeting, you will be asked to vote upon the Board’s recommendation that RFArea REA begin meeting monthly on the 3^rd Wednesday from August through June (except for an earlier date in December). These meetings will alternate between business and socializing (with a focus on members getting to know one another better) one month and programming the next month. 

NEXT MEETING OF RFAREA REA—AUGUST 20, 2014 AT 10:30—WEST WIND

“Adventures in Education”:  Cheryl Maplethorpe will be our featured speaker for the first meeting of the 2014-15 year.  Her talk will focus on her varying teaching experiences in Kuwait, in a small town in Iowa, and at a for-profit university. She will talk about the differences in teaching in these settings.  Cheryl has an undergraduate degree in biology and secondary teaching as well as advanced degrees in counseling and higher education administration and policy.  She also worked for many years at the Minnesota Department of Education as director of student financial services and at Globe University.  Tony Pedriana will also provide comments about Amanda Ripley’s book, The Smartest Kids in the World:  And How They Got That Way in light of our discussion of comparative educational contexts and philosophies.

ISSUES OF NOTE AND INTEREST FOR RFAREA REA MEMBERS

Wisconsin Supreme Court:  An appeal to Wisconsin’s Supreme Court upheld Governor Scott Walker’s limits on public employee unions, Act 10, which precipitated not only the end to state employees’ right to organize and to be represented by unions, but to most teachers’ unions across the state.  It also upheld new restrictions placed on voters’ right by the governor and legislature, though these restrictions are under appeal on the federal level.  Finally, the court affirmed the limited benefits afforded to gay and lesbian couples.

Teacher Tenure:  A judge ruled in Vergara v. California that teacher tenure denied students in low income  minority schools violated the students’ civil rights.  The suit was brought by David Welch, a wealthy high tech entrepreneur who has donated generously to the NewSchools Venture Fund, which—according to the Huffington Post—“invests in charter schools and the cyber-charter industry and has links to Pearson, the textbook and testing mega-giant.”  For more, see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/the-case-against-teacher-_b_5527306.html.  A similar lawsuit is being brought by former CNN anchor Campbell Brown and her new organization to end teacher tenure, Partner for Educational Justice.  As Diane Ravitch observes, “It’s hard to understand why anyone thinks taking away teachers’ due-process rights will lead to great teachers in every classroom” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/campbell-brown-goes-after-teacher-tenure-in-transition-from-journalist-to-advocate/2014/07/14/58fdb33e-0919-11e4-a0dd-f2b22a257353_story.html).   In response to Campbell Brown’s dubious claims, Asst. Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State offers research-based facts in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2014/08/03/fact-checking-campbell-brown-what-she-said-what-research-really-shows/

Standardized Testing and Cheating:  Rachel Aviv writes a good account of the Atlanta cheating scandal in which many struggling schools teachers and administrators were caught up.  See “Wrong Answer” http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/07/21/wrong-answer.

For Further Reading:  Two new books on teaching have been receiving a good deal of attention and might be of interest to some of you.

Dana Goldstein, The Teacher Wars:  A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession http://www.danagoldstein.com

Elizabeth Green, Building a Better Teacher:  How Teaching Works (and How to Teach It to Everyone).  Interviews with Green can be found at http://www.vox.com/2014/8/4/5959389/building-better-teacher-elizabeth-green-japan-teaching-math (print) and an audio interview on the NPR website at http://www.npr.org/2014/08/09/338831269/building-a-better-teacher-dissecting-americas-education-culture?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr.