StudentsFirst, Parent Revolution, and Democrats for Education Reform are hosting a screening of the film “Won’t Back Down” at the Democratic National Convention. It is not on the official program, so I hear.
UPDATE: This screening is not sponsored by the DNC. It is being shown independently by the sponsors mentioned above.
This is the film celebrating the parent trigger, the law started by the billionaire-funded Parent Revolution in California and since adopted by the far-rightwing group ALEC as model legislation to encourage parents to seize control of their public school and hand it over to a charter school operator.
http://www.studentsfirst.org/page/s/dnc-signup
Join Us for a Screening of Won’t Back Down at the DNC
You and your guests are cordially invited to a pre-screening of Won’t Back
Down at the Democratic National Convention sponsored by Democrats for
Education Reform, Parent Revolution and StudentsFirst. The film will be
followed by a panel discussion with Michelle Rhee, Ben Austin, Joe Williams,
Mayor Kevin Johnson and others.
Where: EpiCentre Theaters – 210 E. Trade St., Charlotte, NC 28202
Date: September 3, 2012
Time: 1:00 – 3:00pm
Diane Ravitch's blog 
At the RNC here in Tampa, the screening will have discussion by Rhee and also Condi Rice and Jeb Bush, moderated by Campbell Brown.
I posted about that today. Another member of the panel is the director of the movie. Like Davis Guggenheim, he thinks he has made a progressive movie.
i got an invite to a screening of this movie, “from” Ms. Rhee, which makes me think they really believe that liberals/progressives are in support of this nonsense. this sort of rhetoric is just conservative politics dressed up as neo-progressive clap-trap–as they say in the South, “this dog won’t hunt.”
btw–i sent back a response that not only would i not be attending the event, but would be doing everything in my power to fight against Ms. Rhee and StudentsFirst’s agenda.
oddly, no reply.
“Won’t Back Down” fits Michelle Rhee’s agenda and also fits ALEC’s agenda.
There is nothing progressive about privatizing public schools.
Unfortunately, there is nothing progressive about the Democratic Party either, at least when it comes to education.
I already wrote the White House in protest of this. No response, yet. Doubt that I’ll get one, but I’m not going to stop writing.
And AFT is surprised teachers don’t want to vote for Obama.
Since Randi promotes “supplicant-serf unionism, I guess they are.The thinking must be who else would they vote for. A little arrogant and contemptuous if you ask me.
I love your discription of AFT unionism, and I’m afraid you are right. My union president signed on to RttT without asking us. Later, he said he really didnt understand what it was all about. I don’t believe that, Randi calls the shots and she told locals to sign on and make nice.
So true. Just because the AFT leadership gave the endorsement, does not mean that the membership of this substantial union will follow suit at the polls.
So,… if teachers do not vote for Obama, for whom do they vote? Not voting at all is irresponsible and effectively gives each vote for Romney more power–essentially, each Romney vote counts for more than a 1.0 vote.
The Green Party is one that values education
Yeah, but look what happened in 2000. We can’t afford to have Romney elected by diverting votes from Obama.
Maureen,
See: http://www.cagreens.org/alameda/city/0803myth/myth.html to understand that “what happened in 2000” didn’t happen the way you think it happened.
Voting the lesser of two evils still gets you evil.
No thanks! I’ll vote my conscience and give it to the one who most clearly represents what I believe the president should be/do.
i don’t think anyone is saying not to vote for Obama. i agree–a vote for a 3rd party candidate is a wasted vote, so Obama is the only valid choice for me. but that doesn’t mean we don’t keep the pressure on in terms of his ed policies, which are pretty indistinguishable from Bush’s.
I disagree. No vote is wasted. Vote your conscience. Write your local, state and Federal legislators. But again, vote and vote your conscience. Otherwise there will be no change. Talk about the “status quo”. That’s an apt description of our political parties today. Extremist and conservative. Check out O’s record on Wall Street and banker prosecutions, indefinite detention, NDAA, drone-strikes, wiretapping,civil rights, etc., etc. Liberal and open-minded. Sorry-I don’t think so. But like I said vote your conscience. When Educators for Obama was established the WH knew there was a problem. (I sincerley believe they think that teachers will vote in lock-step. Cripes NEA and AFT endorsed them without reservation-what fools!)Remember the old saying ? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me Something to think about.
Voting for Obama sends a message to the Democrats that they can betray their base with impunity. It’s not a good message to send. Teachers have suffered much greater damage under Obama then we did under Bush, and the Democrats need to be shown that this is not acceptable.
I only know a couple of teachers who are voting for Obama in November. They are diehard Democrats who would follow their party no matter what. The rest of us are either sitting this election out, voting third party, or even voting for Romney as a way of sticking it to the Dems after their gross betrayal of our trust.
Obama is the one who made us political orphans. We used to have a party upon which we could depend for protection. We used to be able to look to the Democrats to counterbalance the attacks by the Republicans and keep their agenda from completely taking over. Now thanks to Obama, we have no one, not even our unions, and the Republican education agenda is being implemented by both parties.
I find it amazing that anyone who cares about the fate of public schools and their teachers would cast a vote for this man.
But if we “stick it” to them, education suffers, not the Democratic Party. I agree that we’ve been betrayed. We have to keep pushing the right reforms whether the feds get it or not. Eventually the results will show that teachers and administrators who care, not the Fortune 500, should be making policy decisions.
As a matter of conscience I can not support either candidate. I find it repulsive that one of them will win. I agree with Paul Thomas, we have no party.
“The rest of us are either sitting this election out, voting third party, or even voting for Romney as a way of sticking it to the Dems after their gross betrayal of our trust.”
Ouch. A vote for Romney is a vote for privatization of public systems, so it may be a way to “stick it to the Dems,” but the American people will end up losing.
A vote for Obama is a vote for privatization of public systems. Look at what has been happening all across the nation since he has been in office.
A vote for Obama is also a vote for telling the Democrat Party that all this is a-okay.
Voting for Obama is ALSO a vote for the privatization of public education. I am actually a Democratic Party official in my swing state, but I am teacher first. I have spent the last two years telling my party and my president that they need to back off on their education reform policies, and I am met with nothing but shrugs. There is no way I can support my president this time unless he turns away from these policies that will ultimately hurt our most vulnerable kids.
Guest and A Teacher have it right. If the short-term policy is the same in either case, we are best served looking at the long game. The Dems need their noses bloodied in the same way the Republicans got their heads handed to them in 2006. After losing both houses of congress, the whole party swung further Right, following the dictates of the Tea Party. In short, their base taught them a lesson about what it means to be “conservative,” and the GOP has hewed much more closely to those principles ever since.
The time has come for the Dems to learn what it is to be a liberal (if not a true progressive). For today and tomorrow, public education is going to become more privatized: Duncan, Obama, and every Republican candidate has made that clear. The only question then remaining becomes: what will public education look like in 15 years?
If Dems do not learn their lesson – if they can spit on us and safely walk away – education in 15 years will look the same as it will in five under Romney OR Obama. On the other hand, if they lose and then are made to understand WHY they lost, things can change.
Its no surprise that Maggie gyllenhaal is in another self-loathing vehicle of Americana bashing. Remember her saying 9/11 was our fault.
I honestly believe that four years of Romney will end the Republican party in this country. Maybe that’s a good thing–the long game. Either way, Obama is a snake for turning his back on us, and especially, trying to pander to us now. Fool me once…