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Education
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – On Tuesday Rep. Mike Thompson (CA-05) announced that Kai Rush and Benji Ryuijin have been selected as the 2019 App Challenge winners for the Fifth Congressional District for their app Space Trace.
Rush and Ryuijin are seniors at Benicia High School and competed against more than a dozen other app designers in this year’s challenge. They were selected by a group of local technology experts.
“Each year I am thrilled to see so many great ideas and innovative designs from our local student app designers and I am excited to congratulate Kai and Benji as this year’s winning team for their app called Space Trace,” said Thompson. “Their innovative design will be on display throughout the upcoming year in the U.S. Capitol and featured on the House website, proudly representing our district to the nation. Congratulations to Kai and Benji and all the incredible and innovative students who competed in this year’s challenge!”
Thompson is proud to represent California’s Fifth Congressional District, which includes all or part of Contra Costa, Lake, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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- Written by: Mendocino College
Mendocino College is currently accredited by the ACCJC and was last evaluated and reaffirmed in June 2014.
This upcoming review coincides with the normal accreditation visit cycle of every six years.
“The accreditation process has been put in place so that we can take a close look at what we do very well for our students and communities and to find areas where we can improve. We want the accrediting team to see the quality work we do and learn how we are meeting the education and training needs of our district,” said Mendocino College interim Superintendent/President Eileen Cichocki.
The ACCJC works with its member institutions to advance educational quality and student learning and achievement.
This collaboration fosters institutional excellence and continuous improvement through innovation, self-analysis, peer review, and application of standards.
It is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a reliable authority regarding the quality of education offered by the institutions it accredits.
As part of the accreditation reaffirmation process, the public is invited to submit comments about Mendocino College to the accrediting body by completing a third party comment form on the ACCJC website, https://accjc.org/forms/third-party-comments/.
“Accreditation is an incredible process with so many faculty and staff contributing to the effort. We encourage the public to participate by submitting comments prior to the accreditation team’s visit in February,” says Debra Polak, vice president of academic affairs and accreditation liaison officer.
A copy of the Mendocino College 2019 Institutional Self-Evaluation Report will be available in December 2019 through the college website, https://www.mendocino.edu/college/accreditation.
If a member of the community has questions regarding the Mendocino College accreditation process, please contact Debra Polak, accreditation liaison officer, at 707-468-3068.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Dream Center’s schools — including Argosy University, the Art Institutes, and South University — closed in 2018, just 18 months after being acquired by the Dream Center, and after extensive fraud and mismanagement came to light. Under federal law, student loan borrowers have a right to a full discharge of their federal student loans under the federal “closed school discharge” rule if they are unable to complete their program because their school closed.
The letter asks Secretary DeVos to exercise her discretion to extend the period of student eligibility for closed school discharge and to take immediate action to automatically discharge the federal student loans of these student borrowers.
Affected students should not be obligated to repay federal student loans taken out for programs of study they could not complete through no fault of their own.
“The Dream Center schools created a nightmare for these students seeking a higher education,” said Attorney General Becerra. “Secretary DeVos must act quickly to review and approve relief for these students and to extend the withdrawal period to include all of the students misled by these predatory sham schools.”
Federal law provides a right to closed school discharge for students who were attending the school when it closed, or who withdrew up to 120 days before school’s closure, and who did not complete their programs of study.
It also allows the secretary of education to extend the period of eligibility to more than 120 days before closure, where appropriate.
In the letter, the attorneys general urge Secretary DeVos to exercise her authority to extend the 120-day period, given the fraud and mismanagement that occurred at these schools.
The states urge Secretary DeVos to extend the closed school discharge time frame to include any Argosy University, Art Institute or South University student borrower who withdrew from one of the closed schools after Oct. 17, 2017, or the day that the Dream Center took over management of the schools.
The letter discusses the myriad ways in which the Dream Center violated federal and state law and grossly mismanaged the schools, which led to the schools’ rapid closure less than 18 months after the Dream Center acquired them.
Tens of thousands of student borrowers were unable to complete their programs of study because the Dream Center’s mismanagement led the schools to close.
Exceptional circumstances exist which would provide for the discharge of federal student loans and the extension of the 120-day period, including adverse action by an accreditor, the institution’s discontinuation of a substantial amount of academic programming, action by states to revoke a school’s license to operate or award academic credentials, and findings by state and federal agencies that the school violated state or federal law.
Attorney General Becerra joined with the attorneys general of Minnesota, Oregon, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin in filing the letter.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
AB 1505 empowers communities to consider the fiscal impact of new charter schools on existing schools in the neighborhood, increases accountability and transparency for all charter schools, and ensures that high-quality charter schools continue to thrive.
“AB 1505 is the result of leaders from all sides of this issue coming together to enact a law that is meaningful, purposeful and, most importantly, prioritizes students and families from both traditional and charter schools across California,” said Gov. Newsom. “We now have the framework for charter and traditional schools to work together collaboratively in service of their communities and neighborhoods.”
“AB 1505 is a long overdue reform of charter school law,” said Assemblymember O’Donnell. “This bill ensures that we will have qualified teachers in all classrooms and gives local school boards more discretion over charter authorization. I want to thank Governor Newsom for his leadership and the stakeholders for their hard work to ensure student success and taxpayer accountability.”
Below are some of the items included in AB 1505:
– Allows charter authorizers to close a charter school for fiscal and governance concerns or if the charter school is not serving all student populations.
– Allows charter authorizers to consider, when reviewing a petition for a new charter school, or a charter that is expanding sites or grade-levels, how the charter school would financially affect the community and the neighborhood schools.
– Allows a charter school authorizer to deny a charter school when the district is in fiscal distress, as determined by the county superintendent of schools.
– Clarifies that charter school teachers must have a state level background check and the required credential for their assignment, with a transition period.
– Establishes a two-year moratorium on non-classroom based charter schools, with a commitment to reform the sector in the next two years.
– Transitions the charter schools currently authorized by the State Board to have oversight by their local school district or county office of education.
– Requires charter school authorizers to use the state accountability system as the basis for charter school renewal.
– Requires the California Department of Education to collect and monitor data on implementation of the bill, including patterns in authorization and appeals.
“This is historic legislation that marks a new chapter of collaboration between charter and traditional schools in California,” added Gov. Newsom.
“I want to thank Gov. Newsom, Assemblymember O’Donnell, and all the stakeholders for this important legislation,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said. “This represents the first significant overhaul of charter school law since it was introduced decades ago. This legislation allows for thoughtful consideration of the establishment of new charter schools by allowing us to weigh fiscal and community impacts when making decision about when to authorize a new charter school. It also provides clarity to authorizers and charter school applicants about how charter schools should be renewed.”
“Working together, we’ve made monumental changes to improve decades-old charter school laws,” said California Teachers Association President Toby Boy. “We profoundly appreciate Assembly Member O’Donnell’s hard work on AB 1505 and Governor Gavin Newsom’s leadership and commitment to begin fixing laws governing charter schools. This legislation protects students by strengthening local school communities’ decision-making power regarding all matters related to charter schools’ authorization and renewal. It also builds on efforts earlier this year to hold charter schools to the same standards of accountability and transparency as other public schools.”
“This historic agreement affirms that high-quality charter schools are here to stay and that the charter school model is a key lever in closing the state’s achievement gap,” said California Charter Schools Association President and CEO Myrna Castrejón. “AB 1505 can put to rest lingering questions about whether charter schools serve all students and help turn our collective attention to investing in and holding all public schools accountable. Governor Newsom and legislative leadership made all the difference here, and we look forward to working with leaders across California to usher in a new era of achievement and innovation for all students.”
Other related bills signed by the governor include:
– AB 1507 by Assemblymember Christy Smith (D-Santa Clarita), which removes exemptions in current law to require charter schools to operate within the geographic boundaries of their authorizing district.
– SB 126 by Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino). Signed by the Governor in March, SB 126 requires charter schools and charter management organizations to adhere to public records and open meeting laws, such as the Brown or Bagley-Keene Acts, Public Records Act, conflict-of interest-provisions, and the Political Reform Act.