With limited instruction time and resources, teachers may find it difficult to ensure all students are on a path to perform at their optimal learning level. You've been able to identify which students are struggling, but do you have the tools and ability to meet their individual needs and capabilities?
On October 25th we will discuss successful approaches for improving learning outcomes using Response to Intervention (RtI) programs and techniques. Hear from two educators as they share their success stories for how they have approached intervention in their schools.
You will learn how to:
Detect when learners are not performing well to make the necessary changes before it's too late
Respond to student needs by providing them with an adaptive, easy-to-use individualized program for future success
Provide students with the skills necessary to benefit from classroom instruction
Also joining the conversation, Dr. Marta Leon, Headsprout’s director of instructional development. She will discuss the foundational elements required for Intervention and how Headsprout’s automatically adaptive, individualized approach has helped schools nationwide.
Enough is enough! Some community members refuse to drink the kool aid from the Minneapolis Public Schools. Like the Noble Charter School fiasco, there is no “community buy-in” with the new design of North High School, simple because there’s been no information distributed in an intentional way by the faulty leadership of the Minneapolis Public Schools. One thing to remember, “The same conciseness that created the problems in the Minneapolis Public Schools certainly cannot solve the problems.” Just ask the North High School group what happened to the 125 freshmen? Are we to forget about that too?
Minneapolis, MN (IBNN NEWS/April 15, 2011)…Today at the new district headquarters job site, a Native American iron worker confirmed the iron/steel being used for the new building comes from Canada and China.
In a “celebration” that seems premature, and a move that is nothing more than pomp & circumstance, a steel beam to be signed by political hacks and faulty district officials with community members who attend , (if they got the information in advance which is highly unlikely).
Without answers on women and minority compliance, school district and political players will celebrate the beginning of construction on the $36 million Minneapolis Public Schools Educational Service Center by signing this 30-foot long steel beam, which will be installed along the front of the building, facing West Broadway Avenue.
I got a beam you can sign – with some good ideas where you can put it.
On hand for this lustrous event will be:
Mayor R. T. Rybak, MPS Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson, MPS School Board Chair Jill Davis, Council Member Don “Burn North High down” Samuels, State Senator Linda Higgins, State Representative Bobby Joe Champion and Tom Lander from Mortenson Development.
Still no information on women and minority goals – this is a misdirect from the Minneapolis Public Schools administration.
“The City of Minneapolis’ Civil Rights director sat silent as she listened to what could probably turn out to be one of the worse violation of state and federal laws in Minnesota’s history as it pertains to prevailing wages and non-payment of salvage workers from the Network for Better Futures. Rather that sitting silent, Ms. Velma Korbel should have excused herself from the committee citing the violation and demanding an explanation and immediate corrective actions be taken. By the way, where is Legacy Construction?”
Watch the video below – why doesn’t the Black community qualify for pay?
Minneapolis, MN (Source: IBNN NEWS)… The Minneapolis Public Schools ESC New District Headquarters Oversight Committee held a meeting at the District Headquarters located at 807 Broadway Avenue NE on Thursday, March 10th at 5:30 p.m. – shocking revelations came to surface about a group of men, associated with a non-profit group that worked on the project for no payment at all.
Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry states, prevailing wages are the wages required to be paid on state-funded construction projects. If $5 bucks came from the state, the unpaid workers need to get paid…period!
Wage rates paid for comparable work are certified by DLI as the prevailing wage rates after the department conducts a survey of contractors, labor organizations and interested parties statewide. This information is furnished to entities covered by prevailing wage laws that are letting contracts for inclusion in their bid specifications.
The Minneapolis Public Schools – District 1 and Mortenson Construction clearly understand the consequences to what IBNN alleges as a blatant violation of federal and state law.
Wage rates are established for construction to include commercial construction, which is building projects exclusive of residential construction. This means the Educational Service Center salvage project done by the Network of Better Futures and unpaid workers qualify for payment immediately.
The Minnesota Constitution, Article I – Bill of Rights – Section 2 titled “Rights and Privileges” says, “No member of this state shall be disfranchised or deprived of any of the rights or privileges secured to any citizen thereof, unless by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the party has been convicted.”
The original demolition bid does include ALL work done at the site. Which means anyone who “worked” on the site, by law should be paid. Without payment, this amounts to Slavery.
How was it that 728 man-hours worked by personnel from the organization Network for Better Futures was not compensated based on Davis Bacon or prevailing wage federal and state regulations?
If anyone on the construction site for the two-weeks Mortenson representative Lynne Littlejohn speaks of received any compensation, workers from the NFBF are owed the same.
Mortenson Construction and representatives from the Educational Service Center’s Oversight Committee have not given full disclosure on which minority contractors have received or awarded contracts, nor have they provided dollar amounts of the mysterious awards. Mortenson/Thor Construction cites Women and Minority Participation currently at 45%, according to a document dated March 4, 2011. IBNN alleges this is not the case based on workers-on-site, payroll information and the inclusion of workers from a non-profit agency who did not receive payment.
One item of concern is were does Legacy Construction and president Archie Givens fit in. At a June 10, 2010 community meeting at the Capri Theater in north Minneapolis, Givens stated that he was in on the deal (new district headquarters construction) for 40%. Year-to-date, no documents have been provided to establish a connection between Mortenson/Thor and Legacy – which could mean Legacy is nothing more than a “pass-through” for minority goals on this project.
The blog, Construction Adviser Today reports, “Subcontractor “pass-through” claims, sponsored by a prime contractor against a public project owner, are both useful and controversial. A pass-through claim results from a claim liquidation agreement between the prime and the sub. The prime agrees to pursue the project owner, at the prime’s expense, for the subcontractor’s increased costs. The prime will pass through the recovery, if any, to the sub. In return, the sub agrees to accept only what the prime is able to recover from the owner and otherwise hold the owner harmless. The prime seemingly cares little about the entitlement, the accuracy of the quote or for that matter much of anything other than the modest mark up associated with the possible yield.
But pass-through claims are not viewed favorably in all circles. They expose public entities to liability to parties that never received a public contract. A recent Tennessee case held that pass-through claims are not allowed in that state.
This could possibly be the worse example of contract negligence in Minneapolis’ history, second only to the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights Contract Compliance Unit.
The Educational Service Center project, or known in the community has the New Minneapolis Public Schools Headquarters Project is flawed in community engagement to include women and minority contractor outreach, community benefits agreements and a total disregard for homeowners who are concerned about a process that has not been informative or inclusive.
The Educational Service Center Oversight Committee must call an emergency meeting and take corrective actions.
