Bright and Early: The Education Newsblitz

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Make it even better with the newsblitz:

• We give you a chance to look over the agreement that San Diego Unified struck with its former finance chief. Notice anything interesting? Let us know!
• KPBS also talks about the factors that might have led the finance chief, James Masias, to resign and chalks much of it up to stress.
• Ninety percent of Vista teachers say they want their superintendent to be replaced, the North County Times reports. Teachers have been sparring with the school district over cuts.
• The Union-Tribune reports that Grossmont schools have scrapped the idea of naming an Alpine high school after Ronald Reagan.
• Marsha Sutton at SDNN highlights a gala to benefit Gompers Preparatory Academy.
• California Watch reports that across the state, kids will have a shorter school year because of budget cuts.
• Educated Guess delves into the possible impact of a new bill that would up the cutoff age for kindergarten in California.
• Oakland parents pulled their kids out of school to protest its failure to fire a teacher they claim isn’t cutting it, the Tribune writes. The school says it has to follow a lengthy process to do that.
• A charter school run by the education school at Stanford University landed on the state list of persistently failing schools this year. The New York Times reports that the school district that oversees the Stanford charter may not let it survive past June because of its state scores.
• Capistrano teachers may be headed for a strike, the Orange County Register writes.
• The Florida governor vetoed a controversial bill that would eliminate teacher tenure and tie teacher pay to student test scores, the New York Times reports. Doing so puts him at odds with his Republican party base.
• The Associated Press reports that New York is slated to close down its notorious “rubber rooms” where teachers are paid to sit idle.
• Education Week blogs about a documentary that takes a sweeping look at U.S. education.
• I couldn’t resist: The Huffington Post has this not-entirely-safe-for-work photo slideshow of the best detention slips of all time.
• Reason.com writes about the trouble with one-size-fits-all solutions for schools. “The main thing we know about improving schools,” it concludes, “is that we don’t know very much.”

— EMILY ALPERT