Rafe Esquith, the acclaimed teacher who created the Hobart Shakespeareans, is in teacher jail, suspended from teaching his fifth graders, their production canceled.
Andrea Gabor interviewed one of his former students to get a sense of Esquith the teacher.
He is a teacher who changes lives.
When will LAUSD file charges , present evidence, and give him a chance to clear his name?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
LAUSD had proven one thing – its own incompetency… and dare I use the word “evilness”? .. Rafe Esquith’s words are true… “be nice and work hard” and LAUSD has been working very hard at being “NOT AT ALL NICE” and as a result has denied a countless number of 2014-2015 fifth grade students in room 56 a mind and life-expanding opportunity (and potentially each and every class he would have had in upcoming years ) and this is THE GREATEST CRIME OF ALL. Esquith cares first and foremost about maximizing his students’ potential for a life well lived and is being denied the ability to spark this potential. What a crime!!!!! What a horror proving man’s inhumanity to man is very real and never far beneath the surface. I should think troubled school districts around this nation should be clamoring to have Esquith on their team! How about Detroit?
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His case points out the importance of due process if schools districts are going to conduct witch hunts. Today it is likely the Supreme Court will gut public unions. If this occurs, it will further weaken labor and the ability to fight back.
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I cannot urge strongly enough that viewers of this blog click on the link and read the full article, especially the comments by the Hobart Shakespeareans.
Just one line from the letter that Rudy de la Cruz wrote about his teacher, Rafe Esquith:
“He brought down Promethean Fire in the form of books, art, and cinema.”
The words of very old and very dead and very Greek guys echo through the millenia:
“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” [Plutarch]
The rheephormsters bray from the rooftops: “It’s all about the kids!”
Yet for the vast majority, OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, it is all about extinguishing that fire.
For THEIR OWN CHILDREN, well, take Lakeside School, Bill Gates and his two children:
“Starting this summer, Lakeside will begin a master-planning process, working with Seattle firm The Miller Hull Partnership. As part of the master plan, the school will explore the possibility of adding a performing arts center to the Upper School campus and performing arts practice space at the Middle School, as well as consider possible locations of future buildings, should the board decide to increase the size of the student body.”
Link: http://www.lakesideschool.org/podium/default.aspx?t=204&nid=984830&bl=/default.aspx
Of course, that is not how the leaders and enforcers of the “new civil rights movement of our time” sell their wares. It’s the one of the oldest dodges around, as another very old and very dead and very Greek guy reminds us:
“Hateful to me as the gates of Hades is that man who hides one thing in his heart and speaks another.” [Homer]
So let’s make them match words to deeds. Lakeside School for everyone. No exceptions. No excuses. Whatever it takes.
Opt out of standardized mediocrity. Opt in to a better education for all.
😎
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I of course do not know the whole story behind this
bu t
I saw enough of this same kind of thing when I was teaching to know that all you need is one or two people in power who for some reason dislike you personally for something of which they disapprove to make life miserable for you.
I found this out myself but saw it happen to other good teachers and coaches also. Their child was not chosen to be the “star” etc ad nauseum.
This kind of thing has happened since Socrates had to drink his hemlock. Through the “Inherit the Wind” Scopes trial etc etc.
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“”Be nice and work hard”” in order to confidently say I KNOW I CAN.
Teacher Rafe Esquith and his devoted wife are truly a team of Angels on Earth.
It is time for LAUSD administrators and investigators to witness/suffer on their lives and their immediate family members’ lives the consequences of their FABRICATED facts that they inflict/damage on thousand of teachers with dedicated teaching career for all unfortunate students’ learning with joy for life.
This is what we believe in the universal law of Karma within this life on Earth. Back2basic
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I am seeking to learn about any support from the community for this man. Am pleased to see that a couple former students have come forward. Have seen the LA Times articles and that he has a supportive lawyer. I live in the Midwest so I don’t know what the vibe is in his community among the families he has served. Are the parents of former and current students demonstrating any sort of active support? Is the PTA taking any approach? IS there any entity who won’t be locked up in teacher jail willing to step up and speak favorably for his accomplishments? Link me up if there is any sort of community support. It can’t be as quiet as it seems. Somebody must be making some sort of noise.
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I don’t understand LAUSD’s actions on this matter. In the *best* case scenario (for them, that is), Esquith is guilty as charged and their concern is merited. But that would mean they sat on the allegations for 10 years at the risk of who knows how many other kids being harmed in that time. How does that make them look good? Of course, it’s more than likely that Esquith is not guilty, which makes LAUSD look really bad. I understand that they’re clearly out to get Esquith, but they’re doing a mighty fine job of chopping off their own noses.
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The NEA Representative Assembly will vote today or tomorrow on an item to increase awareness of teacher jails. I hope anyone who knows someone attending that convention in Florida right now will send a quick message asking for support of the item. http://ra.nea.org/new-business-item/new-business-item-60/
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