After I wrote about a new parent group in Tennessee, I received a comment about a similar group in Georgia, protesting budget cuts and legislation hostile to public schools.
Be sure to checkout their website, which has excellent resources for parents, educators and other concerned citizens: http://empoweredga.org/
“Here’s a similar group in Georgia, where we need it more than ever as we brace for the usual fun and games of the upcoming session: http://empoweredga.org/
“Op-Ed in yesterday’s Atlanta Constitution by the group’s founder, a Teacher of the Year from south Georgia named Matt Jones: Lawmakers ignore their moral and constitutional duty to support public education, http://bit.ly/VNJA9p Someday this headlong rush to easy “fixes” and snake-oil “solutions” will stop– but the opposition is clearly coming from grassroots efforts of people forming these groups. Let’s hope this someday is soon before there are no schools left worth fighting for.”
Just last night, the citizens of Cherokee County and North Fulton County (District 21) elected a candidate who is willing to fight for public education. Chip Rogers (public ed foe) had resigned his seat in the state senate. Sean Jerguson (public ed foe) then resigned his house seat to run for the senate seat. BRANDON BEACH (public ed champion) was backed (in part) by a group of teachers and parents who became strong activists and campaigned hard for him. Brandon won by a wide margin! With this one race, there are 2 public ed foes gone! Don’t be afraid to band together and work for what is right. It takes time, but we are getting results! It’s not for the faint of heart, but then again, neither is teaching.
Thanks for the uplift, especially for those of us who understand your last sentence.
The rest of the story about Chip Rogers…
He resigned his Georgia Senate seat to go work for Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB).
http://blogs.ajc.com/political-insider-jim-galloway/2012/12/04/chip-rogers-exits-to-georgia-public-broadcasting/
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2012/12/05/lets-be-honest-chip-rogers-is-being-paid-to-go-away/
Then on December 28th GPB broadcast arguably an infomercial featuring Rocketship Education Charter Schools, favorably presenting Rocketship “education mass production” like Henry Ford’s assembly line mass production of the Model T.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec12/rocket_12-28.html