Afternoon Announcements: January 18, 2012

Happy Wednesday. As you reflect on the amount of cups of coffee it took to reach this day while contemplating how many it will take to finish the week, enjoy the latest in education news.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia School District has failed to report crime consistently. A new report has found numerous safety flaws within the school district including not offering enough counseling for kids traumatized by violence, and failure to replicate best practices citywide. The school district in response has promised to focus more attention on violence prevention, offer more transparency around violence data, enact better reporting, and modify their zero tolerance policy.

Tomorrow, Hawaii’s school teachers will vote on a new, six-year contract. TeacherBeat reports that the new contract would establish a new teacher-evaluation system. As a result, pay raises for teachers will be partly determined based on these evaluations. The contract would also end a 5 percent salary reduction that Hawaii Governor Neil Abercrombie enforced last July.

The Los Angeles Times reports that teachers who lost their jobs after blowing the whistle on a cheating scandal at Crescendo schools have announced plans to open their own charter school. Former union chief and charter foe A.J. Duffy will lead the way.