As faithful readers of this blog know, this week has been a busy one for me.
It started last Sunday night when I arrived in Chicago after a six-hour flight delay caused by possible tornados near Chicago.
On Monday, I began the day speaking at the Chicago City Club, where I was introduced by Governor Pat Quinn. I then went to the headquarters of the Chicago Teachers Union, where I had a long talk with the amazing and dynamic Karen Lewis. The most memorable line of our talk was this one. I told her that national commentators scoffed at CTU’s insistence that schools need air-conditioning. Karen said she heard that, and she proposed that the air-conditioning at the Board’s headquarters be shut down to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter. And the Mayor’s offices too! Vintage Karen!
I flew to Columbus that afternoon, where I was met by the tireless Bill Phillis. Bill formerly served as a deputy in the Ohio Department of Education and has contacts in every district; he is passionate about equitable funding and public education. When I spoke to the Cleveland City Club earlier in the year, i told him that if he organized a group to fight for public education, I would come back. He did and I did. He brought together 400 people from across the state to plan their strategy on behalf of public education. The counter-revolution against privatization and greed now begins in Ohio.
I then headed for Lansing, Michigan, where I was hosted by the Tri-County Alliance of school superintendents, who represent 86 districts and nearly half the students in the state. I met a room full of dedicated public servants who are outraged and baffled by the persistent effort to destroy public education in Michigan. The reactionary elements in the state come up with one scheme after another to try to destroy any community attachment to public schools and to turn education in the state into a free market of choices. I was stunned to learn that every district spends about $100,000 on advertising to poach students from other districts, to bolster their budget. the superintendents know it is wrong but this is the system that the legislature has imposed on them in an effort to create “schools of choice.” The pressure for an education marketplace has been going on for a decade or more and is now accelerating, with bills proposed to eliminate district lines and to allow “selective enrollments,” in which schools could choose to accept only one race or one gender or only high-performing students. The raid on public funding by for-profit charters is nonstop, as are the attacks on public schools and those who work in them.
Last stop was Minnesota, where I thought I would have a quiet dinner alone, but to my surprise and delight, was contacted by Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg, who happened to be in town for another event. So we met with other educators over a pleasant Japanese dinner.
Today, I addressed Education Minnesota, which represents the teachers of Minnesota. The state and its educators are fortunate in having Governor Mark Dayton, who prevents some of the usual efforts to attack teachers and public schools. Minnesota has its challenges but it is very fortunate compared to Ohio and Michigan, where the ALEC forces are in charge.
So I am in the Minneapolis airport now, waiting to go home. What a week.
I was able to blog and tweet while I traveled, and if you noticed more typos than usual, blame it on my iPad.
The letter-writing campaign came to a conclusion. In only two weeks, nearly 400 educators, parents, students and others wrote eloquent letters to President Obama. Thanks to Anthony Cody for coordinating the campaign and doing the heavy lifting of collating and assembling what amounts to a book. It is worth pointing out that every letter we received was included and not one of them expressed satisfaction with the current direction of federal education policy.
My week is done, but our struggle for better education has just begun.
Diane
Your energy and perseverance give me hope as a retiree and a teacher-pension/public-education advocate at a very grassroots level.
Diane – I just want you to know how much I appreciate your tireless energy on behalf of children. I am proud to be a participant in this blog , the petitions, and the letter writing campaign. Thank you!
Marge
A caval donato non si guarda in bocca!
Marge
You are one amazing woman. Thank you for all you do.
“…in which schools could choose to accept only one race….” ?!?! ‘Nuff said.
Anyway, Diane, ditto the first two commenters. You do more in a week than many do in a lifetime. Thank you!
Diane… thanks for coming to Columbus! You truly are an inspiration. Seeing all of those people from across Ohio coming together for the betterment of our public schools gave me hope. 🙂
Thank you for everything Diane. I am so thankful for you and the community that has developed on this blog. Where would we be without you?
Your energy is amazing. Keep going!
Diane: What role , if any, was played by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty in the moderate, more rational educational environment you described?
Nice. I felt like I was traveling with you. I love being able to fly with Internet access. I’m not a big traveller.
Diane, you said:
[The reactionary elements in the state come up with one scheme after another to try to destroy any community attachment to public schools and to turn education in the state into a free market of choices]
You said that about Michigan. It could be any number of states, unfortunately.
Public school students in most states won’t have choices. They are the market.
They will be taught under the umbrella of Common Core State Standards. Here, in NY, NYC students’ education data will be used by vendors to create for-profit Common Core aligned education products. The vendor’s products will be tagged with Common Core taxonomy. Bing, Yahoo! (Microsoft), Google & Yandex (not always referenced) are collaborating & have developed a thruway of sorts to the vendors’ tagged products. schemaDOTorg.
http://schema.org/docs/faq.html
Not many choices in the future for US public school students.
Education could become a knowledge tunnel. Not a good thought.
Education content on the Internet will be very narrow.
Education entrepreneurship may be good for the economy. Too much unprotected information about children is at stake. There are no functional laws in place protecting these data & even if there were — there will always be people who exploit children. Students/families don’t have a private right of action under FERPA.
Do parents know how their children’s education records are used? Ask NYC parents.
Does Congress?
Do Governors? (we’ll see)
What about state legislatures or schools boards?
They can’t know, because once a child registers for public school their personal information can be shared with anyone, for profit.
Without a parent’s consent.
Courtesy of FERPA.
Don’t forget to thank the NGA & CCSSO, the owners of the Common Core State Standards copyright.
Are governors & state education officers controlling the education agenda?
Children aren’t tested to evaluate teachers. And they’re not tested to make money.
Oh wait — that’s right. It’s OK to exploit children if they’re public school students.
It’s OK in the USA to use student data for reasons other than for which it was collected. It’s OK to misuse children’s information.
No one is stopping this from happening, so it must be OK.
CORRECTION: CCSS is state officials, not officers.
CORRECTED CORRECTION: OH NO. Time to go to sleep. CCSSO — state school officers. I had it right the first time & then made 2 makes in 1 the second time. Final answer & comment. And good night.
I am appalled that enterprises like Rupert Murdoch’s can get hold of personal student data and use it for commercial purposes and FERPA doesn’t apply. I am a retired teacher from a School for the Deaf. We were told we couldn’t put the students’ art work up in the hall with their last names on it because someone might come into the building and see it. We had to lock up our IEP folders (even though we had no drawers that locked), and not leave anything on our desks with students’ names in case a maintenance person or repair person might see it. Apparently parents wouldn’t want anyone to know that their child is deaf and attends a school for the deaf. Anyway, we had to be this careful, and commercial enterprises can wreak havoc and have no worries. Something is very wrong with this, among so many other things.
It sounds like a great week! Thanks for all you do!
Will you share the diet that gives you all this energy? I want some 🙂
You are a GIFT to all of the teachers and the kids they teach.
Thanks for creating this “blog Community”…I appreciate all of folks who share their experiences and expertise.
Thank you for putting the effort to ensure a “better education for all” before your personal ease and comfort.
The eduprivateers have put immense resources into play: the seemingly limitless wealth of grumpy billionaires, the endorsements of well-meaning but clueless celebrities, the backdoor machinations of the political elite, the twisted verbiage of the eduspeak crowd. Yet even with these seemingly insurmountable advantages they still can’t appear on some media forums unless they outnumber you three or four to one. Why do they do this? Because they hope to drown out your voice with a cacophony of pleasant sounding but meaningless bromides. Turn up the volume, turn off your brain, listen to your betters — we know what’s best for you!
You raise your voice as best you can and make it impossible for them to [truthfully] assert that silence is consent — and you do get through to many who thought they were the only ones who thought things could be better. A wonderful AsstPrin I worked with once said to me: “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” It was in a context where he meant that we all must expect, and demand, the best of each other in order to better serve our schools, our community, and our nation. He put out his best effort, and didn’t allow anyone around him [subordinates, coworkers, bosses] to get away with anything less.
I am not a betting man, but I would put money down that ArneRhee&Co never figured that there was that much fight in Diane Ravitch and a whole lot of other folks.
🙂
As the son of a pediatrician and the brother of an oncologist, one would think that Mayor Rahm Emanuel would understand the importance of air conditioning for the asthmatic students. Difficult to learn when one is having an asthma attack breathing smoggy urban air.
I would love to know if MN, having Pasi Sahlberg there too, is looking to do something different? If so, better get my resume ready so I can head home!!!
“I told her that national commentators scoffed at CTU’s insistence that schools need air-conditioning. Karen said she heard that, and she proposed that the air-conditioning at the Board’s headquarters be shut down to demonstrate that it doesn’t matter. And the Mayor’s offices too! Vintage Karen!”
I agree. Let’s see the Congress manage without their AC for a week in May.
Holy moly, Diane. You are just amazing on so many levels! I am grateful for your fierceness!!!
Thanks Diane your efforts belongs and remain for humanity not a nation!
To echo the sentiments of others here, thank you for your dedication and tireless efforts to stand up for public education and our communities. Hope you have an opportunity to get some rest after this long week. (I recommend chamomile tea, a few candles, and a nice warm bath.)
Thanks, I hope you know how much educators appreciate your efforts. Please keep fighting and writing!