A reader passed along this message. Since I too am a member of StudentsFirst, I am surprised that I did not get this email. Readers may recall that I unknowingly became a member of StudentsFirst when I signed a petition at Change.org supporting teachers or calling for higher pay for teachers. The petition did not mention StudentsFirst, and I learned about my “membership” only when contacted by someone from Change.org. See my post about it here.
I am glad to see that StudentsFirst is not offering its members prizes to post on this blog (yet).
From: Catherine Robinson <crobinson@studentsfirst.org>
Date: July 26, 2012 9:58:12 PM EDT
To: Catherine Robinson <crobinson@studentsfirst.org>
Subject: rapid responses needed – and a contest!Hi all,
I’m going to be in Orlando all next week for the KIPP Conference. If you’d like to meet up and discuss ways you can get more involved in our movement, please let me know!Also, starting right now, there will be a monthly contest for the best rapid response. The more comments you leave on blog posts, the more times you can enter! Post a polite and persuasive pro-reform comment and email me the link so I can check it out.That’s all you have to do!At the end of the month (August 26th at midnight) I will announce the winner. Not only will that winner get a gift card to the restaurant or store of choice, but he or she will also be promoting the cause of real and transformative change in public schools! What could be better?Here are some links for your review:(Regarding Polk County’s at-risk charter schools) http://www.theledger.com/article/20120725/NEWS/120729506?tc=arI look forward to reading your comments!Have a wonderful weekend,Catherine
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Diane Ravitch's blog 
Yikes! The end is near. :>)
Well, since we all now have Ms. Robinson’s email it would be worthwhile to make contact.
I just emailed her and I asked her to be so kind as to define PRO REFORM vs. ANTI REFORM. It would be difficult to meet her challenge without a clear direction.
I will send along her reply as soon as I receive one.
Feel free to make contact: Catherine Robinson
Email was cut off..but look above in orange.
I think we should all counteract all of those posts they make on those websites. I checked out a few, and there isn’t much activity.
I think we should bombard her with links to comments left on this site….hundreds of them from multiple email addresses.
Hey, if we each choose our top two favorites all under the category of “pro-reform” we may even win the restaurant gift card. Yippee!
I love the irony!
At least the folks at Students First are consistent. They are using the same Pavlovian
Response of reward for desired behavior as the cyber oriented charter schools they support use. B.F. Skinner would be rejoicing!
Well you know the charter school people. They think teachers can be prodded to perform better with financial rewards. That is so Pavlovian.
They will be handled if they post on here. I have done that for SaveTony.com when people make negative comments about the housing of the Iberville Louisiana Truck Stop tiger. I know him and his father personally. Got kicked off of Care2 Animal Welfare once for a month for my words. Strange thing about freedom of speech when you disagree.
I too got membered into StudentsFirst accidentally. You would think they would be a good organization, but look where the writer is going, to a KIPP conference. I knew KIPP was trouble when they came to Atlanta several years ago and were profiled in the AJC. The founder was not a teacher and her first “teachers” were, like her, Business graduates. They recruited heavily on Buford Highway where there are so many immigrant kids in the dozens of apartment complexes that the fire department takes a translator on calls. They wanted only 5th graders at the time. They treated their teachers poorly, underpaid them and expected long hours six days per week in a rigid, prison-like environment of extreme structure, uniforms and, reportedly of humiliation for students who could not keep up. You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep. They ran off a lot of their students because of the schedule not showing respect for family time.
I am going to work on sending some comments to the listed entities but will probably be disqualified. They will be pro-reform, alright. But they won’t say what she wants to hear.
Yes, that’s what I am talking about!
Why not we all go and leave a comment on each article that exposes this scam? Copy and paste and post so people visiting the articles understand that pro-reform comments could be the genuine views of concerned citizens, or they could be from someone regurgitating reform “talking points” in exchange for a free meal.
One caveat on the restaurant gift card : you can’t talk during the meal.
Some of the sites linked above have to approve comments first, so guess which ones will appear.