From a reader:
Change.org & Students First are STILL at it! Yet ANOTHER Students First petition is attached to a valid one. This petition is titled
“Good Teachers Deserve Decent Pay.” REALLY?? Can someone out there get them to stop loading these phony petitions? It
says that 1,300,000+ people signed!!! To whoever can do anything–THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Note: I am still a “member” of StudentsFirst, having signed a petition without knowing that I was joining an organization that I did not wish to join.
I assume that a significant portion of the alleged 1.3 million “members” are like me. I’m guessing that over one million of her supposed members are like me: Duped into joining.
Don’t count anyone as a member who has not knowingly signed up.
I have been listed by StudentsFirst as a “member” for over a year without knowing about it. It was only when I complained on this blog about Change.Org facilitating this deception that a staff member of Change.Org contacted me, and in an exchange of emails, told me that I had signed one of the petitions that made me a “member.”
Shame on StudentsFirst for continuing to deceive innocent people who want to show their support for teachers, not to join Michelle Rhee’s campaign to undermine the teaching profession and promote the privatization of public education. And shame on Change.Org for allowing this deception to continue on their website.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Can anyone find out who is the CEO or whatever he or she is called for Change.org. Email is pointless. We need an old fashioned letter writing campaign to tell them to stop deceiving and tricking people. Better yet a petition to petition Change.org for their deceitful ways. Sick of this _____!
Do they have any connection to Care 2 which also does petitions? I think they might. Seems like the petitions get intermingled at times. I once got kicked off a section of Care2’s website for a month for my vehement opposition to how animal terrorist groups (PETA, ALDF) were portraying the owner of Tony the Truckstop Tiger in Louisiana. I knew THEY were lying because I know Michael Sandlin and Tony.
I think the most effective thing is to shout this on every website there is…
The petition is titled: “Pay Effective Teachers What They Deserve” and it’s clearly marked as a StudentsFirst petition.
https://www.change.org/petitions/pay-effective-teachers-what-they-deserve
Here’s what it says…
The implication is, of course, that America’s most qualified teachers are those who raise test scores. Teacher quality = test prepping kids till they can pass the test.
I don’t recommend signing…
But where does it say that if you sign this petition you will be considered a supporter of Michelle Rhee/Students First?
She counts all of these signers as her supporters and they are not one and the same.
Too bad she can’t get her supporters directly through her organization.
“StudentsFirst is working to elevate the teaching profession by advocating that teachers be rewarded for excellence. “
Teacher 111
Are you making light or are you serious? If you are serious you have been duped. How exactly would Michelle Rhee, not a very good teacher herself, determine excellence? How would the TFA dropout make this decision? I suppose it would be test scores because within the deform movement test scores are all that matters.
I don’t since Rhee as an expert in anything related to education.
I view her as an expert in self-promotion, raising money and deception. She has her 7-8 talking points and she is sticking to them, not tape needed. Time for her to fly away on her broom.
Check out http://www.rheefirst.com for the full scoop on the Queen.
By the way, if that was a joke. That we a good one.
Hahahahahahahahahhahahhahhahahahahahahah!
The one that I read was just what the reader sent Diane–“Good Teachers Deserve Decent Pay,” & was attached to a petition about discrimination at a pool. Therefore, this makes me think that they are re-wording petition titles & having them attached to various other petitions. No matter–same tomfoolery. DON’T SIGN ANY OF THEM!!!
Friends,
I just created a petition: Students First: Stop Sending Deceptive and Fraudulent Petitions, because I care deeply about this very important issue.
I’m trying to collect 100 signatures, and I could really use your help.
To read more about what I’m trying to do and to sign my petition, click here:
http://www.change.org/petitions/students-first-stop-sending-deceptive-and-fraudulent-petitions?share_id=ZRrPhkSRyg
It’ll just take a minute!
Once you’re done, please ask your friends to sign the petition as well. Grassroots movements succeed because people like you are willing to spread the word!
Charles
I tries to sign and write a note as well. You will not believe this, but it brought me directly to the Students first petition….did I want great teachers to have good pay, like it says above. I panicked and hit the back button. How is that possible? Try it yourself. Now I don’t know if I signed it. I am afraid to try again.
Does it look for similar verbiage and then bring you to another petition?
I signed and sent me to a screen that had the rheeject’s petition but also 4 others in order of Claire McCaskil, Obama, Sierra Club and one other. I think it looks at where one is located and trys to demographically fit the other petitions to your profile.
Is Change.org getting paid for putting up their petitions?
Yeah, I got on their list too, not knowing they were connected to TFA. It’s getting to where they are like the groups with FAMILY or Christian in their name. They are always Religious Right. Someone at a meeting yesterday, I think it was Leigh Barrios of Geaux Teacher talked about reclaiming our vocabulary. I think we need to find a way to do that.
The problem with the Presidential support is that Obama is not a teacher and neither is Arne Duncan and neither is Michelle or Hillary. They have no idea what good and bad teaching is. Remember early in his administration when Obama was going around talking to teachers and asking if they knew any bad ones? Well, I think he might have assumed that because there are some, that the approach to evaluation needed to be changed. I tried early on to get a letter to the president begging him to hire a teacher as the Secretary of Education but I don’t think he got the letter. I am sure it was too long. I do that. I did get something back from the Dept of Education acknowledging it, but nothing was done.
That reminds me, letters to the President would help defuse the testing mentality, a lot of letters from real teachers.
Diane,
Here are 2 useful URL links for us to embed in your blog posts:
So readers will sign this important petition: [great job, Charles!]
Drop Michelle Rhee: A Petition to Stop Pushing Petitions by StudentsFirst on Change.org
http://www.change.org/petitions/drop-michelle-rhee-a-petition-to-stop-pushing-petitions-by-studentsfirst-on-change-org?
And here’s where one can tell StudentsFirst.org exactly what they think of the shamefully duplicitous petitions:
Contact StudentsFirst.org
http://www.studentsfirst.org/page/s/contact
Cheers from an American teacher in Amsterdam who continues to pay attention.
Mary MacKay
I would not click on the Rheejects site…she will count you as a supporter and they will delete all critical entries anyway.Avoid her site completely!
I did read that someone applied for a position via the website and listed all these sleazy qualities as to why they should be hired: good at lying, loves to demean people, good at manipulating data, etc.. I thought that was creative.
Report the change.org and Students First connection and dishonesty here:
1. Rip Off Report: http://www.ripoffreport.com/
2. Crooks and Liars: http://crooksandliars.com/
Spread the word!
Here’s one more place to file a complaint: http://www.complaintboard.com/