EduShyster here reviews some of the very worst movies now available through Reed Hastings’ Netflix.
She begins by reminding us that Hastings is certain that elected school boards will soon be consigned to the dustbin of history as corporate style charters take their place, relentlessly determined to push test scores through the roof. Hooray for the corporate takeover of public education and the demise of democracy!
EduShyster envisions the films that will titillate the viewing public about the valiant reformers. Surely they will do better than that non- blockbuster “Won’t Back Down,” which opened in 2,500 theaters, had big-name stars, a huge publicity campaign, but quietly disappeared in less than a month.
This was my favorite:
“When a Stranger Calls”
“A high-profile, no nonsense superintendent makes headlines and enemies with her plan to at last bring excellence and high expectations to Newark NJ—whether Newark, NJ likes it or not. But things take a turn for the non-communicative when said superintendent announces that she will no longer attend School Advisory Board meetings because they are *dysfunctional* and *set a bad example for children.* Also, she stops returning the calls of board representatives making this technically a silent film.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
LOL
It’s great.
Have you seen this? It’s another self-pitying piece by a billionaire.
I wait for the “UNIONS!” attack and it’s always there:
“The organized and very well-funded apparatus that exists to protect the financial and political stakes of entrenched interest groups is what leads to public policy that is skewed in favor of special interests and bad for America. According to documents publicly filed by labor unions, organized labor spent $4.4-billion from 2005 to 2011 in political donations and activities. Combined, our foundation, advocacy organization and we personally have spent less than $10-million in 2013 on pension education and reform efforts, and we are among the largest grant makers in this area. The political pressure these special interest groups can and do place on politicians is extraordinary. If you faced an election every few years, which would draw your attention—the billions spent by organized labor in political campaigns or the thousands spent by reformers?”
Does Texas even have unions? Isn’t it a RTW state?
They’re also reforming criminal justice.
I look forward to publicly-funded private courts. “They’re non profits! That means ‘public’, right?”
http://philanthropy.com/article/AttacksVitriol-Will-Not/145647/?utm_content=bufferb3eae&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Chiara,
Poor, poor billionaire John Arnold. He wants to take away your pension, and you have the gall to not thank him.
Also, ands this if off topic so I apologize, Ohio newspapers and some public colleges and journalism students are doing a series of “transparency” pieces on charter schools.
It’s great stuff. The goal is to create a database so the public will be able to search a school in their local community and see who owns it, runs it, etc.
The next piece in the series will focus on who owns the property, which I have been curious about but is impossible to determine in this state from public records:
“Some of the schools are run by for-profit companies and some are run in conjunction with traditional public schools. The requested information included the names of school board members, when the boards meet, names of top administrators and management companies.
About half of the schools actually supplied that information. The reactions of the others included ignoring the requests and hanging up on the students.
Doug Oplinger, managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal. says the requests are a first step in creating a database of the charter schools. Such a database exists nowhere else in Ohio, and he says it could be used by parents, researchers, policy makers and reporters to track the performance of the publicly financed, but privately run, schools statewide.
Some of that tracking will be done with a set of standards that already exists for nonprofits.
“The IRS has about 70 questions that they’re supposed to ask of a charter school applicant seeking tax-free, nonprofit status,” Oplinger said. “There has to be a clear line of separation between the school board that is establishing the school and the management company that is often hired to manage the school.”
“The students and one of our reporters went to some school board meetings and it was clear in the school board meeting that the school board was recruited by the for-profit management company and the for-profit management company takes 95 percent of the money. The board members said they have very little authority in terms of the administration of that money and the hiring of the employees,” Oplinger said.”
I’m really grateful to the students, who are doing all the fact-checking and legwork. It’s a huge project. Maybe we could get a billionaire grant for them, huh? 🙂
http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2014/03/31/newspaper-series-examines-how-charter-schools-operate/
I cannot watch the movies about teaching that you describe.
It is part of the insane national narrative.
BUT..
Now here’s a film that should go viral.
Any teacher who has not seen it, should watch it ,because it is the truth about the way they destroyed public education in NYC… and created the template for its destruction nationwide.
GRASSROOTS AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH WAITING FOR SUPERMAN
The actual film can be downloaded here.
Oh! Diane; it’s Ken!
I have much respect for your efforts. However, I rarely reply to … because I am on the offensive not defensive side of the ball. Although I know that “public awareness” is your mission; I wish you would inform practitioners about the potential to “organize” democratic communities (i.e. re-blog of the conceptual framework posted — yesterday). It is the only way to defeat the “imperialist”. Promote my strategy (please) — It is the most promising of (effective) counter measures. Resources @ http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/kennethfetterman
Visit/Follow my Blog @ http://kennethfetterman.wordpress.com
Activism? or …