I’m dashing out to a school this morning before we find out who San Diego Unified is eyeing as its interim chief. Can’t bear the suspense? Distract yourself with the morning newsblitz:
- We blog on why two La Mesa-Spring Valley school board members now say their vote to delay showing the speech from President Obama to schoolchildren was a mistake. The Union-Tribune recaps the issue here.
- We also blog on allegations of conflicts of interest at a Vista charter school, and how they tie into a larger debate over whether employees can legally sit on charter school boards.
- It’s official: Superintendent Terry Grier from San Diego Unified is going to Houston. We blog that Grier is leaving in just a week, taking advantage of his vacation time for much of his 30-day notice. The school board is expected to announce an interim superintendent today. KPBS does a nice job summing up what the interim chief will face — a litany of budget issues.
- The North County Times reports that the future of a controversial reading program is uncertain in Vista schools. Schools will use similar strategies after class, but will not use the consultants who are supposed to oversee the program.
- Santa Rosa schools will allow companies to sponsor classes and buildings, the Press-Democrat reports. They want to limit the advertising to related things — a computer lab sponsored by Apple, for example — but one school board member remains uneasy with the idea.
- Schools historian Diane Ravitch blogs at Education Week that the reforms boosted by the stimulus may not be so hot: “What is extraordinary about these regulations is that they have no credible basis in research,” she writes. “They just happen to be the programs and approaches favored by the people in power.”
- The Washington Post reports that the D.C. teachers union may be nearing a deal with firebrand Superintendent Michelle Rhee on a contract. Rhee has relinquished the idea of a two-tiered salary schedule with higher pay for teachers who give up key job protections, but the nascent deal could still give D.C. schools more power to fire ineffective teachers.
- And the USA Today zeroes in on a Kentucky school district where a football coach took players on a voluntary trip to be baptized in church. He used a school bus — but another coach paid for the fuel. Is that a problem? Their superintendent says no. The American Civil Liberties Union says yes.