Dear Friends,
It is time to organize to support our children, our schools, and our educators against the well-funded attacks on them.
Please join me and a group of education leaders from across the country in building a movement for improving and strengthening our schools with research-based reforms, not fads and sanctions.
Today we announce the creation of the Network for Public Education. We invite you to join as an individual. We invite you to join as an organization. We will create a huge social network of parents, students, teachers, administrators, school board members, and all others who believe in public education and sane educational policy that focuses on a full and rich education for all children.
Diane
Here is the press release:
For Immediate Release
March 7, 2013
Contacts:
Anthony Cody, 707-459-2147, 510-917-9231 (cell) Anthony_cody@hotmail.com
Leonie Haimson, 917-435-9329, leonie@classsizematters.org
Today marks the public launch of a new network devoted to the defense and improvement of public education in the US. Led by renowned education historian, Diane Ravitch, the Network for Public Education will bring together grassroots activists and organizations from around the country, and endorse candidates for office, with the common goal of protecting and strengthening our public schools.
Diane Ravitch said, “The Network for Public Education will give voice to the millions of parents, educators, and other citizens who are fed up with corporate-style reform. We believe in community-based reform, strengthening our schools instead of closing them, respecting our teachers and principals instead of berating them, educating our children instead of constantly testing them. Our public schools are an essential democratic institution. We look forward to working with friends and allies in every state and school district who want to preserve and improve public education for future generations.”
Our nation’s schools are at a crossroads. Wealthy individuals are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into state and local school board races, often into places where they do not reside, to elect candidates intent on undermining and privatizing our public schools. The Network for Public Education will collaborate with other groups and organizations to strengthen our public schools in states and districts throughout the nation, share information and research about what works and what doesn’t work, and endorse and grade candidates based on our shared commitment to the well-being of our children, our society, and our public schools. We will help candidates who work for evidence-based reforms and who oppose high-stakes testing, mass school closures, the privatization of our public schools and the outsourcing of core academic functions to for-profit corporations.
Renee Moore, former Mississippi Teacher of the Year, said, “One of the greatest gifts the U.S. has given to the world is the promise of quality public education. It is also an unfulfilled promise. Public education is a critical part of America’s legacy, and the key to our future. We must defend and constantly improve it.”
According to Anthony Cody, retired California teacher and columnist for Education Week: “As a teacher in Oakland I saw the effects of our obsession with tests first hand. Our students are learning less, and losing the chance to think for themselves as we put more and more pressure on them to perform well on tests. It is time for the millions of us who know better to challenge those who have put our schools on this path. This Network will allow us to learn from and support one another as we push for real school change.”
Leonie Haimson, NYC parent advocate and head of Class Size Matters, said: “With all the billionaire cash trying to buy elections, we need to amass people power to ensure that individuals who care about preserving and strengthening our public schools are elected to positions of power. As the recent Los Angeles school board election shows, when we are organized we can overcome the forces of the privateers and the profiteers, intent on pillaging and dismantling our public schools.”
According to Arizona parent activist and director of Voices for Education, Robin Hiller: “No school was ever improved by closing it. Every community should have good public schools, and we believe that public officials have a solemn responsibility to improve public schools, not close or privatize them.”
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig of the University of Texas stated “This new network will seek to empower communities nationwide to unite to be more influential than the powerful. The network will also be an important vehicle for the latest data and research on the strengths and weaknesses of reform fads espoused by a multitude of talking heads.”
Phyllis Bush, a retired teacher from Indiana, said “Public schools are under assault in this country. Now more than ever it is imperative that concerned citizens unite to save the public school system. Our group, Northeast Indiana Friends of Public Education, and other grassroots groups helped to elect Glenda Ritz to become our Superintendent of Public Instruction, a huge victory against rampant and destructive education policies. With the creation of the Network for Public Education, we will reach out to others across the nation to fulfill the promise of public education.”
Added board member and Alabama education activist Larry Lee, “From my view, a lot more “ed reform” is because of the love of money, not the love of children. The result is that kids have become a very poor rope in a political tug of war. The only way to turn this tide is with the collective voices of the American public saying, ‘Enough is enough.’”
The Network invites individuals to join as members and welcomes other organizations to become our allies, to fight with us to preserve and strengthen our public schools.
The group’s website is http://www.networkforpubliceducation.org
and the Twitter feed is at https://twitter.com/NetworkPublicEd
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Fabulous! Here’s hoping the organization can fight those who, by way of money, power, and influence, are taking over our democratic process and the rights of the ALL U.S. citizens to have access to education.
(Wish we didn’t have to join Facebook to comment on the organization’s page, however. I almost feel that by connecting with FB, one must sleep with the privatization enemy.)
Let’s do this.
Thanks for doing this… It is astonishing how few people understand what is happening to our schools… I hope numbers of bodies matter more than the number of dollars… it seems to be less and less true…
Yes! We can!
I’m in and will include materials on my school board campaign site.
Done!
This is so wonderful. Many thanks to you, Diane, and the rest of the Network officers for organizing this!
This is exciting!
Wooo-hooo. Spreading the word throughout NJ!!
Great news! As always, I support Diane’s, Leonie’s, Julian’s and Anthony’s work. I look forward to energizing and engaging stakeholders here in NJ and staying involved in your efforts. By the way, I’ve decided to run once again for state assembly here in New Jersey. Doing all I can to engage our community in the fight for social justice—of which education is a huge part.
Thank you for noting that social justice can’t happen without fair public education. Keep spreading that word. Also, please spread the word about the reverse- good public education can’t happen without social justice.
I just joined. Proud to be a member. The Steve Zimmer victory is proof positive how strong we are.
Thanks to everyone for joining in. We are hoping that this will mark a new day in our efforts to strengthen our schools.
We will add a blog to the Network web site soon, so there will be a place for people to post comments there as well as at the Facebook page.
There was another nice bit of news in my email this morning. Steve Zimmer was not the only California school board race that pitted a grassroots candidate against one backed by Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst. In West Sacramento, Sarah Kirby-Gonzalez was running against an opponent well-financed by StudentsFirst and the California Charter Association. Kirby-Johnson is a National Board certified teacher and parent. She defeated her opponent with 51% of the vote!
Diane, Leonie and Anthony,
Thanks, so very much, for what you’ve done here, on behalf of all students, parents, educators and citizens.
This will indeed, be the Shot Heard ‘Round The World!
(And you’ll soon be hearing back from those of us in Washington State with a similar announcement of our own.)
Thank you so much. I joined and invited all my FB friends, too.
I am concerned about the road public education is on and worry not only for my own children but also for the ESL students I teach. Because of this concern, I have chosen to run for the open NEA State Director position from Washington State. Once in the position, I will advocate the union for greater support in combating the federal mandates for testing and the CCSS. To you and your readers, what other issues would you like to see brought to the attention of the National Education Association?
Thank you! This is so exciting. The news from LA on the upcoming board elections has been tormenting me this week.
Just joined with pleasure. What is the tax status of this new org? Members will want to know. I don’t care as I want advocacy and likely that means non-deductible. List of topics: Vallas Watch. We have him in Bridgeport, CT now. CT is the bluest of Blue States, yet we have Stephan Pryor and Vallas to contend with. We have Mayor Bloomberg writing checks to the wrong causes here and other billionaires besides. If CT goes the way of Michigan or Louisiana symbolically it will be dreadful for the nation. And for our students, worse.
This is exciting!
In.
YES! So excited about this! I’m going to spread the word! Way to go, Diane!
joined, shared! thanks to diane and all for forming this much needed coalition!
In. Thank you.
A week of good news. Steve Zimmer’s victory and now a way to organize. There’s strength in numbers – already signed up as a member!
This is wonderful news! The coming together of those educators who truly put children first. A wonderful new day! My humble thanks to the NPE organizers!
Well done! I just joined!
I tried to sign up twice but both times it said, “Email format is invalid.” I was very careful to write my correct email address the second time, so I don’t know what this means. I’m not sure if I’m signed up or not.
try again. I had trouble too, but worked it out. I hate all this electronic stuff, but it is the only way to make social media work for us.
This is essential! Thank you, Diane and all other involved.
thank you, long overdue so let’s get to work!
Ditto, Don Dawson…..I’m ready to get started..
At the ready.
I joined today and I’m spreading the word as far as I can.
This is a BFD, and I hope the unions wholeheartedly get behind you (I saw Randi gave you a shout-out on twitter today) and groups like Parents Across America and other coalition groups become associated. We have to gain forces against the Koch brothers *and* the dreadful Michelle’s Rhee *and* DFER and several I’m forgetting.
I am in and proud to be a member!
Great work every one.
Thank you.
Now, how can I help?
Ang
PS: idea…sicker for window, bumper etc…
YES
I’m sure you have many pressing priorities as a new organization, but I would strongly recommend that you devote considerable attention to actively engaging US high school students in the process of reversing the privatization of public education and ending the obsession with standardized testing. Students have intimate knowledge of what really works in the classroom and doesn’t. They have borne the brunt of the testing regime and understand better than anyone the horrors of obsessive standardized testing. They should (and most want to) take ownership for the quality of their OWN education, and now have an opportunity to do so. As educators, we should recognize this as the “teachable moment” of a lifetime for young citizens and we ought to seize the day (Carpe Diem!) Please have a Network youth wing (by whatever name). I hope you will help educate and coordinate the actions of young activists nationally, provide them with first rate resources to organize peaceful, effective actions, and access to advice from wise, sympathetic adult educators. To do otherwise would ignore perhaps the most powerful constituency for authentic reform, as well as the main victims of our misguided policies of recent years.
At http://www.teachersspeakup.com We’re pleased to complement this effort by helping teachers tell their positive classroom stories to the public, to build support for this more direct advocacy.
It’s about time we join together to defeat the Michelle Rhee’s of the world. Public ed. exists to further our democratic values. Now all that’s needed is money to run ads to educate the public and support those politicians who believe like we do.
Let me know what I can do to get the process moving!
M. Crout, join and we will plan together.