Linda Whittington writes from Mississippi to explain what happened because of her opposition to chartre schools:
As a member of the Mississppi House of Representatives, I agree and am doing what I can to stop the charters from coming into our state. So much so that the Speaker of the House removed me from the House Education Committee where I had served since 2007. No sitting member had ever been removed without consenting to the move. The Speaker acknowledged that I was removed because of my votes against charter schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As I keep telling everyone they declared war and that is what it is and until people wake up to that and deal with this on that level they will continue to get wiped out. They have no real capability of selling this fake tonic any other way as their ideology does not stand on its own.
Thank you for for fighting for “Real Public Education.” We need more dedicated and brave legislators who will deal with the facts on the ground.
How is it that we can have a serious conversation with parents and students about bullying while our legislators openly bully each other?
I’d call that a teachable moment. Maybe, just maybe, those kids will grow up to do something about it.
In TN a similar thing just happend. Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, a very good advocate for public schools, was removed from the House Education Committee. He says it is because they didn’t want him on the committee opposing reforms.
Tennessee is where Michelle Rhees former husband lives with custody of their daughters as he is head of education for that state and politically they are one and the same. So this is not any wonder, to be considered normal to them. Wipe out the opposition so that there is only one voice being heard therefore it must be good.
Find out WHY daddy has custody. That is an unusual move in the South. It is almost a given that mama gets the kids and daddy is the ATM.
See here:
Stories broke this morning in the Los Angeles Times and in the Examiner reporting that D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee took an active role in investigations of her fiance, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2009/11/20/what-was-michelle-rhees-damage-control-for-kevin-johnson/
Wow, Lorrie. I follow TN very closely, and I’m disappointed this hasn’t hit the press yet. Looks like you tipped off a Memphis blogger:
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/tn-state-rep-fitzhugh-forced-off.html
http://schoolingmemphis.blogspot.com/2013/01/harwell-shenanigans-confirmed-in.html
Diane and blog followers…HOT OFF THE PRESS from NWEA…their position statement on educator evaluation dated JANUARY 16, 2013….they must be getting nervous. http://www.nwea.org/sites/www.nwea.org/files/NWEA_Educator_Evaluation_Statement.pdf
Thanks for posting…we still do not need another test….testing, testing, 123…all we do is test.
You’d better believe we’re testing.
And don’t forget the progress monitoring. We used to have time to use meaningful assessments – teacher made – that gave us real feedback on exactly what kids were and were not learning. In the primary grades we spend over 3 months a year on an all out assessment barrage and the gaps are filled in with progress monitoring on Dibels Next and mClass math…. add MAP and ACCESS for the ELL students… half the year testing?
Teachers should know where they are at with the weekly tests on each subject. Or do they still do that anymore? Especially in math, english and science we need to know whether they have the basic skills or not.
Just like the legislators in Ohio who opposed Senate Bill 5.
Sounds like Mississippi pulled a Bobby Jindal with the Education Committee member. He has done that kind of thing lately with any department head or committee member that disagrees with him. Being so close I guess that is how they found out about this trick.