You are invited to a major event honoring Leonie Haimson, a brilliant, fearless leader. Please make plans to attend and meet her and other allies in the fight for better education! Haimson led the fight to block inBloom from gaining access to the confidential records of millions of children. Thanks to her leadership, inBloom went out of business even though it was backed by the Gates Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation, and Rupert Murdoch’s Corporation. One principled woman defended the privacy rights of children and families, and she won! She showed all of us the power of one person.
Join Parents Across America at its first annual Parent Voice Award Dinner honoring PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson, leader of New York City-based Class Size Matters in DC on July 28.
This year, Leonie nearly single-handedly organized parents around the U.S. to oppose the impending commercialization of student information by the inBloom company, which ultimately went out of business after every state on its original clientele list pulled out of the program. Leonie is also the founder of NYC-based Class Size Matters, a group dedicated to promoting smaller class size – a proven, effective school reform strategy. Leonie started the New York Public School Parents’ Blog and has been a leader in challenging school privatization, misuse and over use of standardized tests, and, most recently, the threat to student data privacy.
The 2014 PAA Parent Voice Award Dinner is being hosted by the National Education Association at their headquarters in Washington, DC.
Tickets will include cocktails and a buffet dinner — and are only $20!
Proceeds from the dinner will support PAA’s programs and the work of our chapters around the U.S.
The registration form also includes an option for those unable to attend who would like to make a fully tax-deductible contribution to PAA in honor of Leonie, or anyone who can attend and would like to make a tax-deductible donation to PAA over and above the cost of the ticket.
Thank you!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Is this part of the BAT days? Or is it separate but concurrent?
We planned our event to come right after the BAT program. Hope our BAT friends will stay and celebrate with PAA and honor our first Parent Voice Award winner!
Leonie’s work, while contained in New York City and New York state, has deep, acute implications for the rest of the nation. Her accomplishments have set a precedent, have been the model for the rest of us activists, have shown that democratic voice trumps the will of a few rich people, and that schools, children, parents, and voters will not be bullied by the overclass.
Leonie has confronted everyone from the left to the right and in the center. She is a scholar, an intellect, and one of the most quintiessential egalitarians in modern day American history.
Watch and follow her work closely. What she does here will reverberate heavily, and is a critical component in regaining public education and addressing poverty, something the reformers are not interested in doing on any large scale, save for the education system.
After having met, talked with, and corresponded with Leonie in the last 8 years, I can personally say she is among the most honorable and pure people I know.
I join everyone in celebrating Leonie’s work and tireless, scholarly, fearless, and powerful advocacy . . . . . .
Leonie for President!
A good woman! I’m glad we have her with us in the fight against the corporate dirtbags.
Robert Rendo and Dr. Ravitch’s comments are a wonderful tribute to a courageous woman.
I am delighted to see Leonie receiving the recognition she so richly deserves.