Annette "Polly" Williams question and answer session concerning MPS takeover

Annette “Polly” Williams is the 10^th district Assembly Representative from Milwaukee. In this exclusive group question and answer session, Williams introduces members from The Coalition to Stop MPS Takeover to the December 16^th, 2009 Special session of the State legislature. Members from The Coalition to Stop MPS Takeover met with Williams to express opposition to the Senate Bill 405 Relating to: the powers and duties of the board of school directors and the superintendent of schools in a first class city school district, awarding a grant to a nonprofit corporation, requiring a referendum, and granting rule-making authority, by Senators Taylor, Plale and Carpenter; cosponsored by Representatives Colon, Fields, Richards, Staskunas, Hintz and Danou. They also expressed concern over Senate Bill 437 Relating to: authorizing the state superintendent of public instruction to direct a school district to implement a new curriculum or instructional design, make personnel changes, or adopt accountability measures, and requiring the exercise of rule-making authority, by the Committee on Education. Finally, the Coalition members expressed interest and support in principle for additional legislation by Sen. Coggs and Rep. Grigsby regarding governance of Milwaukee Public Schools.

Polly Williams 

Polly Williams part 2

Polly Williams Part 3

Polly Williams Part 4

Commercial Club of Chicago

Books not Bombs; Opposing the Mayoral Takeover of the Milwaukee Public School System

Books not Bombs, Madison, Wisconsin 
November 4, 2009




Video coverage of the City Hall rally against the Mayoral takeover of MPS, November 3rd, 2009





Teachers, parents, and workers locked out
of Doyle and Barrett's Mayoral Takeover plan

Five vying for state superintendent - WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Five vying for state superintendent - WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

When I received enough of the nomination paper signatures to be able to officially file for the candidacy, the number one issue I stumped for was to fix the school funding formula and insist that we should support the schools, not cut their funding. Little did I imagine at the time that there would be not only a steep cut in funding for the schools, but a threatened take over of a school district, Chicago style.

American Association of University Professors

These are the videotaped interviews of AAUP organizers from the recently completed "Summer Institute"; posted for your consideration. The issues raised at this working conference revolved around traditional themes of academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance and even more particularly around the immediate concerns of compensation and leadership in hard economic times. Sure to provoke needed discussion amongst faculty, enjoy!

Asian Association of Open Universities' (AAOU) proposal

Here is my proposal as accepted for the AAOU 23rd International Conference to be held in Tehran, Iran November 3-5, 2009:

Technology for Democracy:
Evaluating the Impact of Social Networking on Open Distance Learning Systems
Subtheme 3)c

Todd Alan Price, Associate Professor
Educational Foundations & Inquiry,
National-Louis University, USA.

Background
Great Britain’s Labor government ushered in sweeping higher education reform, using
audiovisual materials to build a high quality education comparable to the Cambridge and Oxford
universities. Chinese “television” and “radio” universities grow, providing “non-traditional”
students access to college. In the United States, Information Superhighway was the slogan
deregulating telecommunications corporations.

Yet only in the 21st century have the benefits truly arrived with the emergence of social
networking.

I use videotaped in-depth interviews of education policy makers placed on YouTube to
teach the politics of education. Despite my own experience with video production and online
education, it was not until I was provided the opportunity to run for higher office as a potential
education policy maker that I became convinced of the efficacy of Facebook, YouTube, and
blogging for distance learning. After the campaign ended, I considered using these applications
to develop a robust Open Distance Learning system.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether social networking can advance
democratization through education. Can social networking advance the aims and ends of Open
Learning and the Open University?

Methodology
My case study considers three research questions: how does social networking
application usage 1) change the role of the student, enhance learning and empower student-led
knowledge acquisition? 2) change the teacher role, develop teacher effectiveness, and improve teacher satisfaction? 3) spur curriculum development?

My work is to convert a course, Social Justice Perspectives on the History and
Philosophy of Education into one offered entirely online. Thus far, I’ve created a course shell, a
“jump” page, and several topics for reading and discussion; my next assignment is to create 6
themes or “course packets” for inclusion.

I began converting my campaign blog into an education blog to discuss education policy
issues. I aim now to engage the public to view the same YouTube videos my class does, and to
post replies to my initial posts on my “Putting the Public back in Public Education” blog.
I use Facebook to network, bringing in former voters outside of my immediate classroom
to discuss the politics of education.

Following the completion of the course, I will administer a student survey, review my
online teacher blog, and analyze curriculum content for themes and patterns.

Social Networking

This is the first post concerning the use of the following Social Network technologies of:
Facebook, YouTube and Blogger to speak about Technology for Democracy. I will invite others to join in this conversation...

Introduction

Hello,
This blog will serve as a forum to speak about education, politics and technology issues.
I will be in the process of sharing what I learn as I work with the Macintosh.

I will often use pictures and video, occassionally even a few of my beloved family