Statement from PCDC

The following is a release sent from the PIke County Democratic Committee regarding the recent resignation of Yolanda Goldsack as Director of Elections in Pike County:

The Pike County Democratic Committee has issued the following statement:

“Yolanda Goldsack’s decision to resign as Director of Elections is an act of service to Pike County’s voters,” said Julius Litman, Chairperson of the Pike County Democratic Committee (PCDC). Litman went on to say that during the more than two years that Mrs. Goldsack has held this position, Pike County Democrats have warned repeatedly against the corrupting conflict of interest represented by her presence as Director of Elections, even as these protestations fell on the deaf ears of the County’s Board of Commissioners. According to Elizabeth Forrest, the county’s State Committeewoman to the Pennsylvania Democratic Committee, ”Recent events have not only demonstrated the accuracy of our predictions of trouble during the 2009 election cycle, but have caused many in Republican and Independent ranks to echo our concerns.”

The PCDC wishes Mrs. Goldsack well and hopes that the transfer she seeks to another County position will be a better fit for her and for taxpayers. In order to regain the trust of Pike County’s voters, the PCDC is confident that the Board of Commissioners will publicly advertise for and actively seek a variety of qualified candidates in order to avoid any further suspicion of cronyism or patronage in a job that must be wholly non-partisan, both in practice and appearance. It is the PCDC’s fervent hope that the position of Director of Elections will be filled only after careful consideration and evaluation of candidates based on merit, proven experience, and tested professionalism. Forrest said, “The complexities of election law make it imperative that we find a candidate, regardless of party, who can execute its requirements with confidence and accuracy.” Both Litman and Forrest stated that the PCDC stands ready to cooperate with the new Director of Elections whoever he or she may be.

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On Our Radar: PCPL Tax Referendum

The Pike County Public Library, facing increasing demand and limited resources, is seeking to ask voters this November for a 1-mill dedicated library tax. Funding for the Library from the County has not increased in about a decade, and as a result, neither has that from the state. The Library requested the Pike County Commissioners place a referendum on the fall ballot, but the Commissioners denied the request last week. Forbes and Caridi reasoned that forcing the library to take the alternative means to get the question on the ballot, by collecting 800 signatures on a petition, would raise awareness about the issue so that citizens are not caught by surprise. Wagner disagreed, according the Pike County Dispatch, but still voted against it.

The library will be taking this route, and our committee looks forward to meeting with library representatives in the near future to discuss the issue. What do you think? Is this something the Future of Pike County PAC should support?

Delaware Township Embraces Sunshine Law

In a move that should be applauded, the Delaware Township Supervisors approved a resolution last Wednesday that would move public comment to the beginning of their meetings and prohibit gatherings with third parties unless it is publicly advertised. The Dispatch's Lisa Mickles reports that work sessions will also be moved from the back offices of the township building to the main hall. The changes will move the township toward compliance with the Sunshine Act and toward greater transparency and accountability.

The Tie is Broken!

The tie on the Republican side of the ballot was broken today at noon.

For the play by play, see Ryan Baton's blog, RBforDV.

There will be 5 candidates vying for 4 seats in November. Pam Lutfy, Sue Schor, Jack Fisher, Bill Greenlaw and Bob Goldsack will be on the ballot November 3, 2009.

Chuck Pike will be the only candidate on the ballot for the 2-yr slot.

An update was published in the on-line edition of the Pike County Courier, and the Pike County Dispatch.

This November...

REMEMBER...

...EVERY vote counts!

Do we encourage effective teachers?

"The Widget Effect", a study by The New Teacher Project was released yesterday.

From the press release:

Though a teacher’s effectiveness is singularly important to student success, schools do not distinguish great teaching from good, good from fair, or fair from poor, and a teacher’s effectiveness in helping students to succeed academically almost never factors into critical decisions such as how teachers are hired, developed or retained.

This pervasive indifference to teacher performance is fundamentally disrespectful to teachers and gambles with the lives of students. It means that excellent teaching goes unrecognized, hard-working teachers who could improve are ignored, and poor performance goes unaddressed.

The study illustrates that teacher evaluation systems reflect and codify the “Widget Effect”—the tendency of school districts to treat teachers as essentially interchangeable—in several major ways:

• All teachers are rated “good” or “great.” Less than 1 percent of teachers receive unsatisfactory ratings, even in schools where students fail to meet basic academic standards, year after year.
• Excellence goes unrecognized. In districts with more than two ratings, 94 percent of teachers receive one of the top two. When superlative ratings are the norm, truly exceptional teachers cannot be formally identified. Nor can they be compensated, promoted or retained on a systemic basis.
• Professional development is inadequate. Almost 3 in 4 teachers did not receive any specific feedback on improving their performance in their last evaluation.
• Novice teachers are neglected. Low expectations for beginning teachers translate into benign neglect in the classroom and a toothless tenure process.
• Poor performance goes unaddressed. Half of the districts studied have not dismissed a single tenured teacher for poor performance in the past five years. None dismiss more than a few each year.

Please visit the site and read more about the study. I think there is much here that can generate good discussions about how to encourage more effective teachers. Teachers, students, and the community will all benefit from efforts to encourage effective teachers.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

May Campaign Finance Reports

After many issues at the County administration building, we were able to obtain copies of campaign finance reports from all candidates and committees that are involved in the DV School Board Election for the reporting period before the primary election. We will continue this practice in the future, as additional reports become available. 

• Candidate Bob Goldsack
  
• Committee to Elect Goldsack, Marasa, and Wright
• Committee for Education and Economic Balance
• Future of Pike County Political Action Committee
• Download All

At the May 13 Commissioners Meeting, County Solicitor Tom Farley stated among other things that the requester of the above documents, Nick Troiano, was not permitted by the County to post these public reports online. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania only prohibits the publication of "public information lists" on the Internet, such as voter registration roles. But Solcitior Farley said that “[the County has] the right to say also campaign finance reports.” He also stated: “we as a county have the right to say we don’t want certain information on the Internet” and “we have that one restriction, and we can do that restriction.” 

Such a "restriction" would violate the Right to Know Act and the First Amendment of the Constitution. 

Perhaps that's why the Solicitor recalled differently. A 5/24/09 Times Herald Record article reported: “Farely says he didn’t tell Troiano he couldn’t put the documents on the Web, just that the County preferred he didn’t.” 

You decide if the County handled this situation professionally or ethically. Instead of restricting access to public information and prohibiting its dissemination, Pike County officials should follow Allegheny County and just post the records online themselves. We should strive for more transparency and more accountability. The Internet can facilitate this. 

From the Times-Herald Record:

• News Article - "After Dispute, Pike Man Allowed to Keep Campaign Documents"
  
• Editorial -  "Obey the Law, Don't Make It"
  

Common Core State Standards Initiative

The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released the names of the states and territories that have joined the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Pennsylvania and 48 other states and US territories have joined the Initiative.

• According to a press release by The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO):

"By signing on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, governors and state commissioners of education across the country are committing to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12. These standards will be research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills."

• Purpose of the Initiative:

"The Common Core State Standards Initiative is being jointly led by the NGA Center and CCSSO in partnership with Achieve, Inc., ACT, and the College Board. It builds directly on recent efforts of leading organizations and states that have focused on developing college-and career-ready standards and ensures that these standards can be internationally benchmarked to top-performing countries around the world. The goal is to have a common core of state standards that states can voluntarily adopt. States may choose to include additional standards beyond the common core"

• Committee composition and timing:

"This committee will be composed of nationally and internationally recognized and trusted education experts who are neutral to – and independent of – the process. The college and career ready standards are expected to be completed in July 2009. The grade-by-grade standards work is expected to be completed in December 2009. "

• We will watch this effort and see what this will mean to the patchwork quilt of state tests under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and for DVSD, the PSSA. United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan indicates that he belives that the state initiated standardized tests are not always adequate, and that the Initiative has his support:

Secretary Arne Duncan praised the effort to create common core state standards in math and language arts. “This is a giant step,” he said of the initiative, which includes 46 states and 3 territories and is being led by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers.

Secretary of Education Speaks at the National Press Club

Secretary Arne Duncan discussed President Obama’s education agenda in a speech at the National Press Club on May 29, 2009.

A video of the speech is at the National Press Club’s website. Here are text excerpts from the speech.

I found the following excerpts particually interesting:

• You should not be comforted by meeting state standards under NCLB:
  

"When children are told they are “meeting a state standard,” the logical assumption for that child or for that parent is to think they are on-track to be successful. But because these standards have been dummied down and lowered so much in so many places, when a child is “meeting the state standard” they are in fact barely able to graduate from high school."

• A call for transparency, access to information, and data analysis, some of my passions:

"We have to be transparent about our data. We have to raise the bar so that every child knows on every step of their educational trajectory what they’re going to do."

• Assessing and correcting deficiencies. This is fundamental to improvement:

"You should know in fifth and sixth and seventh and eighth grade what your strengths are, what you weaknesses are. And we should be working with teachers and parents, and students should be taking responsibility for their own education to really improve where they have deficiencies, where they have weaknesses."

• How Chicago was able to turn around some of their under-performing schools:
  

"We kept the children and brought in new teams of adults – same children, same families, same socioeconomic challenges, same neighborhoods, same buildings, different set of expectations, different set of beliefs. And what we saw was dramatic changes."