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Winter Break 2020…the only clearly identifiable San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) scheduled event under  incompetent Superintendent Cindy Marten and corrupt Trustee Tricky Dick Barrera that DOESN’T damage the education of tens of thousands of SDUSD Students.

This Sunday Reads features an article from Education Week that profiles the educational positions of  “Connecticut Education Commission Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. secretary of education”.

District Deeds strongly urge our readers to click on the article title and read the full article including videos and graphics for themselves on Education Week.

BE WELL…TAKE COVID 19 PRECAUTIONS…

And have a SAFE and Happy Holiday Season!!!

Where Biden’s Choice for Education Secretary Stands on Key K-12 Issues

By Evie Blad

QUOTES FROM ARTICLE:

Connecticut Education Commission Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. secretary of education, would have to navigate myriad contentious education debates if the Senate confirms him for the role.

Among them: addressing student segregation, winning public trust and reopening school buildings during the COVID-19 crisis, and setting policies related to accountability and charter schools.

Here is where Cardona stands on some of these key K-12 issues.

Reopening Schools

Cardona’s position: As leader of Connecticut’s 530,000-student K-12 education system, Cardona has encouraged schools to open for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic. But, unlike some schools chiefs in other states, he has not sought to mandate in-person instruction, and he has acknowledged that local circumstances vary.

“We all know remote learning will never replace the classroom experience,” Cardona wrote in a November opinion piece published in the Connecticut Mirror. “We also know that the health and safety of our students, staff, and their families must be the primary consideration when making decisions about school operations. The two are not mutually exclusive.”

Cardona released a video in November to encourage school reopenings with precautions like face masks, saying that state data had tracked the transmission of many COVID-19 cases detected in schools to out-of-school settings.

The state’s education department also created a public dashboard to report coronavirus cases identified in schools. And it held virtual town halls for parents and virtual trainings in remote instruction for teachers.

What it means for the Biden administration:
Biden’s administration will start at a complicated time for the ongoing debate over reopening schools. Some epidemiologists have said schools should be more aggressive about the return to in-person learning. But as some major cities have plotted strategies to bring students back, virus rates have spiked around the country, complicating their efforts.

On the campaign trail, Biden won favor with many teachers when he was critical of the Trump administration’s aggressive push to reopen schools. Biden released a plan that called for additional federal funding and guidance on how to conduct in-person learning safely. Since the election, he has campaigned to work with state and local leaders to open most of the nation’s schools within his first 100 days.

If confirmed, Cardona would be a visible part of the administration’s efforts to win public trust on the divisive issue.

Charter Schools

Cardona’s position: Cardona hasn’t taken a strong position for or against charter schools. His state education department has renewed charter school plans, but it has not approved any new ones since he took was appointed in August 2019, the Connecticut Mirror reports.

“Charter schools provide choice for parents that are seeking choice, so I think it’s a viable option, but [neighborhood schools] that’s going to be the core work that not only myself but the people behind me in the agency that I represent will have while I’m commissioner,” he said during his state confirmation hearing.

What it means for the Biden administration: As the Trump administration pushed private school choice options, like vouchers, the debate heated up among Democrats over charter schools, a concept the party had embraced in the past.

Biden himself was critical of charter schools, and he pledged not to provide federal funding for “for-profit” charter schools. Biden’s campaign team said he would focus his attention on “neighborhood public schools” that the majority of U.S. students attend.

Cardona’s less-aggressive position on the issue, compared to some other candidates Biden reportedly vetted, may help build a bridge between different parties in the debate. It may also comfort some charter school supporters, who feared a candidate with a more combative tone. But it may not satisfy some progressive critics of charters, who’ve argued they siphon resources from traditional public schools.

High-Stakes Testing

Cardona’s position: Like all states, Connecticut used a federal waiver to cancel mandated state testing as schools quickly switched to remote learning at the end of the 2019-20 school year. But in a Dec. 7 memo, the agency said the state would conduct testing as planned this year, even as some schools remain closed for in-person learning and others are dealing with the fallout of interrupted schooling.

“State tests are the most accurate guideposts to our promise of equity for ALL,” that memo said.

The state plans to assess all students and report the data, but it will not use students’ test scores or to identify schools that need improvement, the guidance said.

In general, Cardona hasn’t been a strident critic of standardized testing like some of Biden’s other reported candidates for education secretary, but has emphasized the appropriate use of test scores. Serving on a state advisory panel that assisted in the design of teacher-evaluation policies as a district administrator, he stressed the importance of multiple measures of success.

English-Learners and Students of Color

Cardona’s position: Cardona wrote his doctoral dissertation on closing the achievement gap between English-language learner students and their peers.

As a Latino American and former English-language learner himself, he has said he relates to students of color and those who speak other languages at home.

“For Latino children from communities that are below the threshold of poverty, you know you’re not typically thinking, the data doesn’t suggest that they’re going to be the next principal of the school … or state education commissioner,” Cardona told the Connecticut Mirror last year. “There were times throughout my youth that I think people had lower expectations than they should have. It just made me hungrier.”

As education commissioner, Cardona agreed to a state settlement in a decades-long Hartford school desegregation case that allowed more students in the city’s segregated schools to enroll in magnet programs.

What it means for the Biden administration: White students make up the minority of enrollment in U.S. public schools, compared to the combined representation of students from all other racial groups.

And, as those demographics have shifted in recent years, so have debates over how to best serve students from all racial, ethnic, and demographic groups.

Biden’s education plans include efforts to encourage voluntary school desegregation, and to train, recruit, and retain more teachers of color. He has also pledged to boost federal funding for special education and for students with high enrollments of students from low-income families.

If confirmed, Cardona would oversee those efforts. It’s also expected that a Biden Education Department will reinstate key Obama-era civil rights directives that were rescinded by the Trump administration, including guidance on racial disparities in school discipline.

Teachers and Unions

Cardona’s position: When he designed his district’s teacher-evaluation system Cardona emphasized the importance of cooperating with educators and seeking their input.

In 2013, the American Federation of Teachers highlighted that work and called the district “a roadmap for union-district relations.”

AFT President Randi Weingarten praised Cardona Tuesday.

“If you want an example of how labor and management can come together to improve learning and student achievement, you need only look at Meriden,” she said in a statement. “His deep respect for educators and their unions will travel with him to Washington—and that commitment to collaboration is crucial to providing the resources and social and emotional supports to safely reopen schools.”

He has faced some opposition to his push from teachers who are concerned about the risks of returning to the classroom. But some education groups have also praised his approach as thoughtful.

What it means for the Biden administration: Teachers’ unions were key allies for Biden during his campaign, promoting his plans to boost federal funding for schools and his approach to school reopenings.

Biden also reportedly considered Weingarten and former NEA President Lily Eskelsen García as potential education secretary picks.

That relationship comes following a contentious relationship between teachers unions during the Trump administration. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos frequently criticized the organizations, saying they stand in the way of the changes necessary to reimagine education.

It also follows several years of muscle-flexing from local teachers’ unions, and grassroots groups that have pushed states and districts to improve contracts, raise school funding, and increase teacher pay.

Cardona would be the face of the Biden administration for teachers’ unions, which haven’t hesitated to criticize education secretaries from both parties in the past.

DISTRICT DEEDS SYNOPSIS AND COMMENTARY:

Nominated U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona

How refreshing to read about an educational leader that has successfully addressed all the key Student learning issues during the Covid 19 Pandemic and is ready to hold school districts accountable for doing so.

That capable, straightforward and transparent leadership approach is something SDUSD Stakeholders haven’t experienced since at least 2013 when Marten was illegally appointed Superintendent.

This District Deeds synopsis is a comparison on each of the items highlighted in the article by “Connecticut Education Commission Miguel Cardona, President-elect Joe Biden’s choice for U.S. secretary of education” to the current SDUSD remote learning educational disaster dysfunctionally deployed by the incompetent Marten and Tricky Dick Barrera.

Unsubstantiated rumors in the SDUSD indicate that incompetent Supt. Cindy Marten is lobbying the incoming Biden Administration to promote her to a federal education position that she would also NOT be qualified for.  Hopefully the following comparison won’t prevent the departure of Marten since there is always room in the federal government for an incompetent hack like Marten.

Here we go!

Reopening Schools

“Cardona’s position: As leader of Connecticut’s 530,000-student K-12 education system, Cardona has encouraged schools to open for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.”

Marten/Barrera position:  Fear and avoidance borne from total incompetence.  Marten and Barrera have used every excuse possible to avoid reopening schools even failing to deploy their own simpleminded and dysfunctional Phase 1/2/3 plan.  The corrupt SDUSD leadership started the reaction to the Covid 19 pandemic in March 2020 without a Disaster Recovery Plan for the $1.5 billion SDUSD and things have gone downhill for all SDUSD Students since then.

Charter Schools

Cardona’s position: Cardona hasn’t taken a strong position for or against charter schools. His state education department has renewed charter school plans, but it has not approved any new ones since he took was appointed in August 2019, the Connecticut Mirror reports.

“Charter schools provide choice for parents that are seeking choice, so I think it’s a viable option, but [neighborhood schools] that’s going to be the core work that not only myself but the people behind me in the agency that I represent will have while I’m commissioner,” he said during his state confirmation hearing.

Marten/Barrera position:  Totally opposed to Charter Schools and willing to pull any dirty trick possible to subvert and eliminate Charter Schools that “provide choice for parents that are seeking choice” as we described in District Deeds Sunday Reads last Sunday.

Marten, Barrera and their corrupt senior SDUSD cronies don’t recognize Charter School Students as real children that require an alternative to the educationally ineffective SDUSD public schools but only as units of lost SDUSD revenue.

High-Stakes Testing

Cardona’s position: Like all states, Connecticut used a federal waiver to cancel mandated state testing as schools quickly switched to remote learning at the end of the 2019-20 school year. But in a Dec. 7 memo, the agency said the state would conduct testing as planned this year, even as some schools remain closed for in-person learning and others are dealing with the fallout of interrupted schooling.

“State tests are the most accurate guideposts to our promise of equity for ALL,” that memo said.

Marten/Barrera position: Like all measures that provide Student, School Site and District educational/financial performance, transparency and honesty, Marten and Barrera desperately fight against all Standardized testing and other performance measures that will expose their total financial, operational and educational incompetence.

The cornerstone “measure” for Marten and Tricky Dick is begging for more money to finance their ongoing deficit spending, ballooning legal bills, useless crony promotions and educational malpractice for thousands of SDUSD Students.

English-Learners and Students of Color

Cardona’s position: Cardona wrote his doctoral dissertation on closing the achievement gap between English-language learner students and their peers.

As a Latino American and former English-language learner himself, he has said he relates to students of color and those who speak other languages at home.

“For Latino children from communities that are below the threshold of poverty, you know you’re not typically thinking, the data doesn’t suggest that they’re going to be the next principal of the school … or state education commissioner,” Cardona told the Connecticut Mirror last year. “There were times throughout my youth that I think people had lower expectations than they should have. It just made me hungrier.”

Marten/Barrera position:  Since Marten was illegally appointed Superintendent in 2013, students of color and English Language learners have been consistently ignored as proven by seriously substandard testing results in the poorest clusters.

Teachers and Unions

Cardona’s position: When he designed his district’s teacher-evaluation system Cardona emphasized the importance of cooperating with educators and seeking their input.

In 2013, the American Federation of Teachers highlighted that work and called the district “a roadmap for union-district relations.”

Marten/Barrera position: Like almost all Democrats, Cardona and the Biden administration is beholden to the Teachers and other labor unions. 

The Teachers and other unions in San Diego OWN the current SDUSD Board of education and Superintendent. 

Fortunately the federal government can somewhat balance attempted union buyoffs with citizen action groups and organizations like the NAACP demanding performance transparency.  In the SDUSD a strong union is required to defend its workers against corrupt SDUSD senior leadership and we can only hope that demands for full educational performance transparency from ALL SDUSD Stakeholders including Teachers will even the scales of justice for the neediest SDUSD Students.

Another article in Education Week by Ms. Blad titled “Biden’s Pick for Ed. Secretary: U.S. Must Help Schools ‘Forge Opportunity Out of Crisis’” clearly illustrates how far away from real leadership we are with Marten and Barrera.

In the article Mr. Cardona says:

I, being bilingual and bicultural, am as American as apple pie and rice and beans,” Cardona said. “For me, education was the great equalizer. But for too many students, your ZIP code and your skin color remain the best predictor of the opportunities you’ll have in your lifetime.

Mr. Cardona could have been describing the CURRENT SDUSD situation under Marten and Tricky Dick.

Unfortunately the only way the current SDUSD Senior Leadership has proven to “Forge opportunity out of crisis” is to “forge” their own financial corruption opportunities out of the Covid 19 crisis.

And based on SDUSD test results it is impossible for anyone in SDUSD leadership to argue against the fact that your SDUSD “ZIP code and your skin color remain the best predictor of the opportunities” a SDUSD Student will have in their lifetime.

Now with the Covid 19 Pandemic even Students in affluent SDUSD ZIP codes are suffering the incompetence and corruption of Marten and Tricky Dick,

Through the horrible SDUSD Covid 19 Pandemic response ALL SDUSD Stakeholders now realize that the only skill that Marten and Tricky Dick possess is to beg for more money to fund weak performance propaganda schemes, legal defenses against Stakeholder lawsuits and to cater to the special interest groups that got them elected and assigned.

Hopefully Mr. Cardona can find a harmless bureaucrat position DEEP in the Federal Government for a scheming, dishonest, incompetent and vengeful Superintendent with a horrible legacy of harming the futures of the most disadvantaged students.

Just to help, here is her contact info:

Cindy Marten – Office of the Superintendent
4100 Normal Street, Room 2219
San Diego, CA 92103
cmarten@sandi.net
619-725-5506

Please call her right away…she is anxiously waiting by the phone!!!!

Now our Quote of the Week dedicated to the the spirit of hopeful future bureaucrat and currently incompetent SDUSD Superintendent Cindy Marten:

“For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.” – Karl Marx

 

#UNCONSCIONABLE

MARTENSGOTTAGO

#BARRERASGOTTAGO

#PAYNESGOTTAGO

__________________________________________________________

IF

  • Your family has been injured by the San Diego Unified School District, go to the District Deeds Complaint Forms page to find instructions to fight for your Civil Rights!
  • YOU ARE TIRED OF THE COVER UPS AND LIES BY SUPT. CINDY MARTEN…

Please Click the Link Below and sign the Petition Today and READ the COMMENTS to Support the REMOVAL of Marten by SDUSD Stakeholders!

FIRE San Diego Unified School District Superintendent Cindy Marten Immediately!

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