District Administration - July/August 2012 - (Page 61)

dent. Not trained as an educator, he was budget director for the city of Chicago, where he closed a $125 billion shortfall and increased city revenues before Mayor Richard Daley appointed him as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools in 1995. Prior to the post, he was the city’s revenue director, executive director of the Illinois Economic and Fiscal Commission, and a policy advisor to the Illinois State Senate. After resigning from the Chicago school job in 2001, he ran for governor of Illinois in 2002, narrowly losing in the Democratic primary. He considered running for governor again in 2006 and 2010 but stayed in education instead. Vallas resigned from the Chicago schools post and took the CEO position in the School District of Philadelphia in 2002. While he was credited with implementing reforms there similar to the ones he instituted in Chicago, he left the Philadelphia job with “a sour taste and a big deficit,” according to a 2008 article in Education Next, which stated that “his endless array of new programs and initiatives exhausted not only those around Paul Vallas, former superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana, is surrounded by Benjamin Banneker Elementary School students. Right, Vallas listens to former Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek in a 2008 press conference. him, but the district’s available resources as well.” In 2007, he was hired to essentially pull the New Orleans Recovery School District out of post-Katrina chaos. Then in December 2011, he went to Bridgeport. Vallas, a Chicago native, appears to be planning a return to his home state in his school turnaround consulting role. The Illinois State Board of Education gave pre- liminary approval in May to a contract of nearly $1 million to the Vallas Group to work on “coordination of interventions” in low-performing school districts. Vallas stated in mid-June: “We have not signed a contract as of yet, but it is our understanding that we would be asked to come in to support the superintendents in two very poor districts in Illinois that, for years, “Read me a book!” How many times have you heard that? With the AnyBook Reader you can record any book in any language with 30 hours of recording time. You can also record worksheets, directions or monitor your student’s pronunciation by recording them. Headphone jack is perfect for private listening. DRP-4100 Some ideas: • Record dual language material • Record your student’s pronunciation of a second language • Listening Centers 14-Language Speaking Global Translator A powerful translator for students, language lovers and world travelers. Hear over 130,000 words and 14,000 phrases pronounced in recorded human speech in 14 different languages including Spanish, Portuguese and English. Translates to and from 14 popular languages. Just select a source and a target language. Also includes Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian and Turkish Large screen is ideal for viewing the two selected languages simultaneously. EST-5014 www.franklin.com • 800-525-9673 © 2012 Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. Burlington, NJ 08016-4907 U.S.A. All rights reserved. Certain trademarks and logos set forth hereon are the property of their respective owners. Due to continuous product improvements, the photography may differ slightly from actual product. U.S. Patent: D631465. Patents Pending. www.DistrictAdministration.com July/August 2012 61 http://www.franklin.com http://www.franklin.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - July/August 2012

District Administration - July/August 2012
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Research Center
Professional Opinion
Supervisor's Opinion
Crisis Response
Going Mobile
Gaming Gains Respect
A Running Start for ELLs
Paul Vallas for Sale
Unsung Heroes
CIO News
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Virtual Schooling
Noteworthy Books
New Products
Product Focus
Problem Solution

District Administration - July/August 2012