Earlier today, I posted the form letter that the White House is sending to people who write to complain about the damage caused by Race to the Top.
The form letter shows clearly that no one read your letters indicting RTTT. The White House response is canned and insulting. There are hundreds of individual letters. Every one of those letters was written from experience. None was slapdash. Some were eloquent.
None deserved this shabby response from a President who needs our votes. At the very least, you would think by now the White House would have a form letter explaining why the President still believes in Race to the Top, asking for patience. Instead, we got indifference and self-congratulatory pap.
We won’t give up. We will continue to raise our voices. We will stand together, speak out, document the damage done by high-stakes testing and privatization, whether the White House responds or not.
It’s time to plan for collective action. It’s time to encourage opting out of high-stakes testing by parents, school boards, superintendents, entire districts. It’s time to mount demonstrations at strategic places against the privatization and profiteering that now shows its ugly face without shame.
It’s time to act up to save our children and grandchildren. It’s time to do what we must to protect a basic democratic institution and keep it out of the hands of speculators, entrepreneurs, rightwing ideologues and amateurs.
Look to yourselves, your colleagues, your associates. You have the power to change the present destructive course. Organize, mobilize, educate the public, use your imagination.
It’s time to think anew. It’s time to stop complying with mandates that demand educational malpractice.
Diane
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The reason why they’re not listening, why they don’t care what teachers have to say, is that they think most teachers and most union members are going to vote Obama/Biden no matter what.
If the unions, union members and unionized teachers withdrew support, money, and GOTV efforts, if they told the administration they will not be voting for them specifically because of RttT, NCLB waivers, etc., they’d get a better response from Obama and his lackeys.
But the Obama people KNOW the unions and many teachers are voting for them and putting together a GOTV effort for them, so they treat them with disdain.
Can’t say I blame them. If WE don’t hold them accountable with our votes and our support, why should they hold themselves accountable?
I write the prez every couple of weeks to tell him I won’t vote for him if he doesn’t fire Duncan and dismantle these policies. He’s calling my bluff, and I’m sorry to say that I dislike the Reps so much that he may be right.
If I receive that response I will crumble it up and put it in an envelope and mail it back to them.
That was exactly my reaction maybe with a few choice (printable) words. When I am wearing my teacher hat my vocabulary is respectable.
However, good news coming out of NYC regarding Julie 🙂
What is the good news?
She is running for UFT president under the MORE slate 🙂
It’s time for Labor to create its own party, with its own program, and run its own candidates.
Agreed!
Vote Green.
Agreed. Creating yet another “third” party isn’t going to help the situation. The Green party platform is quite good on labor issues. We all need to unite under one banner to have any hope of being effective.
We need to mix our griping with action. Where are our unions in this struggle to take back education? They are in the unique position of being able to mobilize teachers and parents throughout the nation yet they do nothing. We need to hold demonstrations, we need to march in the streets! This is far too important for us to acquiesce. Chicago showed us the way; let’s build on their example!
Where are the unions? They are helping Obama throw the nation’s teachers under the bus. I just got an e-mail newsletter today from the NEA, which approvingly quotes an article praising RTTT in glowing terms. Reading it made me sick.
We won’t get our unions to support us again as long as Obama is in office. Dennis Van Roekel is bed with Arne Duncan (sorry for the crude analogy.) The only way to pull him out of there and get the national unions to support teachers again is to get Obama out of the White House.
YOU are the union…..we are the union….there is no union that can take any action if the members stand around saying “what the Union doing about this?” As a former WEA council president, I speak from experience when I say that member are the only ones who can take the actions…..don’t wait for the union…..you are the union.
Well, as “the union,” I just voted for Jill Stein.
Absolutely right! In Illinois, locals are strong, but the state is weak.The locals need to get together and vote out the leadership. That is how CTU became strong and, according to the comment above, the UFT will follow this plan with MORE. Yes–YOU are the union, so stop your whining and start your winning!
Maybe send a song… can they reply to that with a form letter? Here’s a song about Indiana’s current education situation. It basically applies nationally as well. A National version will come soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=JfrKDoeG_Gk
A singing telegram!!!
I will share my plans for voting: In Tennessee my vote wouldn’t make much of a dent either way. I have been planning to vote for a write in candidate (I am assuming I have that option in a presidential election) I have considered naming lots of people. But my favorite write in candidate right now is Diane Ravitch. I may not be voting Romney, but I will not vote Obama, no matter what my union thinks. I know many of you may be horrified by this, but I just can’t.
He may think he has the union. He doesn’t have the teachers.
It’s time to vote Obama out of the White House. His education policies are no worse than Romney’s and they have actually been worse than Bush’s.
Much more to the point, as long as it is Obama trashing teachers and public education, we can’t count on any Democrats to defend us. Rather, Democratic governors, mayors, and legislators have joined forces to help Obama dismantle the public education system.
This needs to stop. I voted by mail-in ballot today, and my vote was for the Green Party. If I were in a swing state, I probably would have voted for Romney. With a Republican in office, instead of a Democrat, we might have a chance at getting the Democratic Party back on our side. If Obama wins in November, the whole nation will look like New Orleans in four years.
It is not the educational policies that you need to worry about with Romney….it is the privitization of education and the fact that you will become a minimum wage at-will worker when you are no longer employed by a public school. I don’t like voting for Obama either, but I want to have a union to protect me, my job and help me protect my students from crappy policies. The whole nation will look WORSE than new Orleans with Romney in office. It will look more like a double-down on Wisconsin.
It’s Obama who is currently privatizing education. Charters existed during the Bush years, but they have spread like flesh-eating bacteria since Obama has been in the White House.
Merit pay was a far off dream to the Republicans during the Bush years. It was Obama who established tying test scores to teacher evaluations and teacher survival. It is Obama who is currently destroying teacher job protections and due process rights, replacing them with evaluations based on VAM. I was not aware of any mass firings of teachers over test scores until Obama took over. Obama has done more to undermine collective bargaining rights for teachers than any Republican in history.
He is not the less of two evils. He is the more effective evil, since he is implementing the Republican education agenda without opposition from Democrats or our national unions.
Put Romney in the White House, and I think we will see at least some Democrats fighting for us again. That will at the very least slow down the current catastrophe, if not put a stop to it.
I, too, will vote Green Party. It’s a protest vote – but a conscience vote. How can I vote for a person and a party that has thrown public education under a Bentley?
Diane,
Very interesting to see this. I try to keep my stronger opinions away from school and my wife. I don’t need her riled up. Tonight she was expressing her very own disgust for the ever increasing amount of time spent testing instead of teaching children. She wanted to know what she could do about exercising her rights (our rights) as a parent to protect our youngest (#3, 1st grade) from poor educational practice. The summary score for our middle child (#2) has a note describing NY State tests as mandated. I told My wife that means schools are mandated to give them, not that the state has the right to make parents subject their children to them. I have never been more in love with this woman, but I need to be careful. I work in the district my kids attend, and can’t endorse action that conflicts with district goals and policies. On the other hand, blatant ignorance and intent to enact destructive policy is a call to action. This president hasn’t only dropped the ball, he has ruined the game.
Time to focus on local and Congress elections. We have been duped into thinking that the Pres. will make a difference in the country. Time for bottom up action. This is not a president who will admit or learn from his errors. Most of the stimulus money was given to thieves with their hands out from both parties.,knowing they were dealing with a “babe in the woods.” This is no Clinton.
I’m a lifelong Democrat, but Obama has lost my vote. RTTT and extrajudicial killings of American citizens, among other major concerns, have convinced me to vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party. Jill Stein has voiced strong support of public schools. She is also in favor of free higher education (which sounds like pie in the sky until you think about how much money America wastes on the military.)
Caveat: I live in a solidly red state so my vote doesn’t really count. Swing state voters carry a heavier burden and might prefer to choose the lesser of evils.
Reblogged this on Transparent Christina.
Great points from all.
We in southeastern Massachusetts have decided not to wait for anyone else to act on what is best for our kids and our profession. Instead, we are taking our message to the people who matter the most; parents and community members.
We always knew we could be stronger if we joined forces, but we never seemed to have the time. We are now making a concerted effort to unite, starting with our urban districts. We have found solid, supportive allies in our local labor unions and groups such as The Union of Minority Neighborhoods. Citizens for Public Schools has been a wonderful partner as well.
We are holding workshops and forums around the important issues. There was a great event in New Bedford last weekend and another is scheduled for Fall River in November. This is just the beginning of a fire we hope will spread across the state!
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121014/NEWS/210140341/1011/town10
How incredibly stubborn, arrogant and short-sighted of the President, Duncan, Axelrod and Emanuel to bet that lifelong Democrats, teachers and parents won’t be so ticked off at their manipulation of public education.
I can’t make myself put an X in the box for Obama.
Don’t send him letters —
Send him shoes ❢❢❢
I need my shoes, I’ll be walking when they cut my pay or fire me. I won’t be able to afford gas. Besides, I don’t think he really is Muslim or would understand.
I am a parent of three school aged children. I cannot bear the thought of the wholesale destruction Romney would bring about in the next four years. I do not have time for a “correction” four or eight years from now. My kids are students NOW. I do not have time for a long-term plan. I will therefore vote for President Obama even though his education policies break my heart. If he responds to my letter with the form letter others have received, I will copy it 100 times and send each one back to the white house with a note attached – “Please re-read my letter. Race to the Top is a catastrophe. Do not let your legacy be that you destroyed public education. Believe in it. Improve it. It is not too late.”. I will do this again and again.
When is the next Save Our Schools march? That may be our opportunity.
If you don’t have a Parents Across America affiliate where you live, help to start a parent group. Follow commenter RAC’s plan above.
There are sure to be many like-minded parents–find them and start organizing locally, because that’s how action is taking place in other parts of the country. You’re right–there’s no time left, so do it now,where you are, for your kids and your neighbors’ kids. Good luck!
And President Obama continues to send email after email asking me for money. Everytime I see one in my inbox, I am even more insulted by his disregard.
Click reply and write “Arne Duncan needs to go”.
My friends and I have already done that–it does no good; the comments are not read, as the campaign is just looking for the money/volunteers. After numerous comments, I simply unsubscribed, and I haven’t received anything since.
It’s time to vote third party. Get over it teachers. Obama doesn’t care about you.
Not only is it time to focus on state and local races, it’s time to join them. Everyone with an interest in real public education should consider running for local office – school board, state senator or representative, municipal office, even library trustee. Sure, we’re likely to be routinely defeated by opponents with deep pockets, but the very process of running will start to build awareness and networks of like-minded people. And, who knows, maybe a few will be successful. It’s hard to see it now, but that’s how the enormously powerful right built their power back up after the 60s and 70s, largely on the fuel of their indignation over the removal of prayer from schools. I think we should get equally upset over the removal of education from schools.
I don’t see that this is a place for Obama-bashing. There are enough of those already, though many of them are indecipherable. Positive words and actions bring more rewards.
I understand how everyone feels. I have been teaching for 28 years and it is not the same profession. My only child is a first grader. I agree with everything everyone has said except for voting for anyone other than Obama. I am not now, nor will I ever be, a single issue voter. If Romney is elected, there is no doubt that teachers will no longer have a union to turn to in four years. If Romney is elected, there is no doubt in my mind that we will be at war in Iran within the year. This is no different from organizing. Make sure that we don’t saddle ourselves with more republican destruction of the middle class and protections for women. Elect Obama. Then IMMEDIATELY begin building the green party for 2016. Work to pass a constitutional amendment to repeal Citizens United. Start with at least a little breathing room. You won’t have even that if Romney is elected. While education is critically important, it is not the only issue at stake in this election.
I am totally with you. Obama’s eduction policy is an abomination (or an obamanation), but there is too much else at stake.
I just can’t help remembering how we ended up with Bush in the first place. I could not live with my self if I voted third party and Romney won a contested election.