Statement by Chris Bern, President of the Iowa State Education Association

on Iowa's Application for a Waiver to the No Child Left Behind Law

DES MOINES, IA (02/28/2012)(readMedia)-- At this time, the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA) is not signing on in support of Iowa's application for a waiver to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law. While we understand the need to move away from the one-size-fits-all approach to testing and school accountability under NCLB, the ISEA still has questions about the specifics of this application that need to be addressed.

One area of concern for educators is tying student achievement data to teacher evaluations. As frontline professionals, our members need to be at the table when those decisions are made and the state should be cautious when proceeding with this large policy shift.

In addition, we are concerned that implementation of the waiver application will require resources and education funding decisions are still a long way off in the legislative session. From its inception the education community has realized that NCLB did not provide states the resources to meet the demands of the law. As Iowa applies for the waiver, we do not need to trade in one unfunded mandate (NCLB) for another.

The ISEA remains deeply committed to the success of every child and is ready and willing to work with all of the partners in the education community; teachers, administrators, parents, and policymakers, to ensure our education policies place students at the center. Until our members have had adequate time to review and contribute to the NCLB waiver discussion, the ISEA will not be lending its support to Iowa's application at this time.

The ISEA is a private, professional organization made up of over 34,000 educators who are dedicated to promoting and preserving public education for all Iowa students. Great Education. It's an Iowa Basic.

Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye Hits Theaters March 2nd

(Des Moines, IA) - Greetings from Modern American Cinema! We are proud to announce that Kristian Day's documentary Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye will begin its theatrical run starting this Friday in Iowa City, IA and will continue the run in select theaters until the end of September. Most cities will only be offering a one or two day showing and a small number of theaters have been selected to include film maker Q&A sessions after the screenings.

Kristian Day's documentary film chronicles the history of the infamous whiskey cookers of Carroll County from their outlaw days of Prohibition to when the liquor became legal in 2006. During the Prohibition Era, west central Iowa farmers cooked whiskey in their barns and machine sheds to supplement their income in the harsh times. The finished product was of such a high quality that it quickly made its way to speakeasies in Chicago, Kansas City, and Omaha through Italian gangster Al Capone. For almost 80 years the product was considered illegal until it was introduced in 2006 as a legal brand of top shelf liquor. The film made its debut on December 4th, 2011 at the Fleur Cinema in Des Moines, Iowa.

"This film uncovers a part of Iowa's history that has been kept in the dark for almost a hundred years," says Day. "I wanted to tell a story of survival and community spirit without taking away the mystique that it has carried with it for so long."

Theaters who are interested in booking Capone's Whiskey: The Story of Templeton Rye should contact Kristian Day and Modern American American Cinema, LLC directly at kristianday@gmail.com.

Day, 26, a native of Rock Island, IL, went to high school in Cedar Rapids and attended the University of Colorado at Denver in the music industry studies program. In 2008, Day began directing and producing his own movies. His short films have played all over the world including Austria, Greece and Italy. His films have also been screened at various festivals in cities across the United States including Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.

This movie is the third movie in Day's MADE IN IOWA documentary series, which has previously included Brent Houzenga: Hybrid Pioneer (available on DVD) and Templeton Rye: Iowa's Good Stuff (30 minute short), which aired along side the Ken Burns' series Prohibition on Iowa Public Television this past October and is currently available on Amazon's Video On Demand. The ongoing series tells the stories of the innovative people, places and ideas that have influenced Iowa's culture.

Modern American Cinema, LLC is an independent film production & distribution company based in Des Moines, Iowa. Founded in 2010, the company specializes in creating full-feature narratives and educational documentaries for international distribution.

 

Important Links:

 

Official Film Trailer

 

Facebook Fan Page

 

Templeton Rye Spirits

Move to Privatize Prisons Threatens Genuine Inmate Reform, He Says

The statistics are overwhelming and irrefutable: The less education a person has, the more likely he or she will end up in jail or prison.

Once in prison, the more education an inmate receives, the greater the chance he or she will remain free once released.

"The correlation is so dramatic, I can't understand why we as a nation are more interested in building and filling prisons than in educating people who haven't finished high school or could benefit from post-secondary school," says advocate Adam Young, citing a recent Huffington Post news story about Corrections Corporation of America. The business is attempting to buy prisons across the nation - with the stipulation that states agree to keep them 90 percent full.

Young, www.communityservicehelp.com, partners with charities to help people sentenced to community service get credit for taking classes like algebra and English instead of picking up trash. He says it just makes sense to take advantage of any opportunity to educate people who've already had a brush with the law.

"About 40 percent of all U.S. prison inmates never finished high school, and nearly 44 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school," he says, quoting from a 2003 Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. "More current data shows that hasn't changed. In Washington, D.C., for instance, 44 percent of Department of Corrections inmates are not high school graduates. Less than 2 percent had 16 years or more of schooling.

"Isn't it better for all of us, for both economic and public safety reasons, if we help educate people so they can get jobs?" he asks.

The trend of budget-strapped states looking to economize by selling their prisons to Corrections Corporation worries Young. As the business cuts expenses to boost profits, prison-run GED and college degree programs will likely be among the first on the chopping block, he says.

"If states really want to save money, they should address recidivism through programs that include education," Young says. "There's a 2011 Pew Center study that found the 10 states with the highest recidivism rates could save $470 million a year, each, if they lower those numbers by just 10 percent."

Those states are Alaska, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

A widely cited 2006 study of two groups of inmates in three states found that those who participated in education programs in prison were less likely to be arrested again within three years of their release, and more likely to be employed. Of the inmates tracked, 31 percent of those who did not take classes were back in prison within three years compared with 21 percent of those who did study.

Arizona, South Carolina and Nevada all have recently passed laws that allow inmates to cut their sentences or shorten their probation by doing things like taking classes, Young noted.

"In early February, there was an interesting conversation about education and crime on Real Time with Bill Maher," he says. "Maher said, 'If you spent the money you were spending to send people to prison on schools, those people wouldn't wind up going to prison.'

"He's 100 percent correct on that."

About Adam Young

Adam Young is a longtime internet marketing professional who launched his educational community service alternative in January 2011. He was inspired by a minor brush with the law when he was an 18-year-old; the community service hours he received cost him his job and nearly caused him to drop out of college. Through his website, offenders have logged more than 300,000 hours of self-scheduled schooling that allows them to remain employed while completing service hours. Young advocates education as the most cost-effective tool for rehabilitating offenders.

Washington, DC - Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-01) released the following statement after the Iowa Board of Regents voted to close the Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls by June 30^th:

 

"It's a sad day when state funding cuts force a choice between keeping a university functional and keeping a special school like Price Lab open.

 

"At a time when politicians talk endlessly about education reform, closing a top-notch, nationally recognized school that actually walks the walk on educational innovation is the wrong thing to do.

 

"Iowa's economic success depends on our ability to properly educate a new generation of teachers and innovators.  There is no innovation without education.  We should be investing in and improving education for our kids - not closing our best schools."

 

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