200,000

Yesterday I was on Facebook and read something that struck me as pretty major. According to a post on the Reject Luna Laws Facebook page, they collected over 200,000 verified signatures. That is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. While my friend, Dennis Mansfield, is taking this as an opportunity to bash the IEA, I think it says a lot more about the pathetic excuse for education reform better known as "Student's Come First" than it does the power (or lack thereof) of the IEA.

Getting 200,000 signatures from people in Idaho to do anything is a feat in and of itself. I know people that would have signed, but never got the chance. The Statesman Editorial Board says that it won't be a slam dunk. They are right. It won't be. What it will be is the single most important issue of the 2012 election cycle. I invite the Idaho GOP to use its power to align itself as pro-Students Come First in hopes it can kill the referendum. I hope they do so because when moderates and independents get burned by the fact they aren't welcome in the GOP primary in May their arrogance and cavalierly support of Student Come First will be the final straw in November. You reap what you sow.

You can take that to the bank.

Changes in Education

Quick little post... Today my wife, a sixth grade teacher in the Meridian School District, received proof that the grandfathering of continue contracts in the "Students Come First" legislation was pretty much worthless. Due to the failed levy from last month, the school district is going to have to RIF about 100 teachers. In an email to my wife (and likely every other teacher) was informed that all teachers would be given RIF numbers (I guess like draft numbers from the military). The numbers are assigned based upon scores on evaluations the teachers received in their last formal evaluation. In other words, bad eval, low RIF number, good eval, high RIF number. Seems fair enough, but what if the teacher was just having a bad day? Plus, it doesn't sound like any teachers actually knew that evaluations would have that sort of impact. That sort of lack of transparency really calls into question the fairness and efficacy of using that sort of standard. More on this later...