It was very exciting that Glenda Ritz managed to oust uber-privatizer Tony Bennett in Indiana, but meanwhile the privatization movement gained ground in Indianapolis, where a group called the Mind Trust has called for the abolition of the school district.
Its candidates captured control of the school board in yesterday’s election, promising the moon, the sun, and the stars once public education was abolished and replaced by private management.
And the voters fell for it.
As the linked article shows, Ritz will have a rough time dealing with the new governor and legislature, who are firmly opposed to public education and antagonistic to the wisdom and experience of a veteran educator.
Being politicians, they think they know how to reform schools. No experience necessary.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
My thoughts on Indy style reform.
The Everly Brothers – All I Have To Do Is Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWmp1_OP65k
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This is where you need AFT’s Randi Weingarten with an appearance to these locations to tell parents about the propaganda they just voted for! These newly elected people cannot do it alone. They need the big guns to give them support and P/R
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If you can get Randi off the bus and away from Arne.
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You may have something there although I might phrase it “off of Arne and away from the bus”.
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Dear Ms. Ravitch,
I have been involved with many of Indiana’s reform movements throughout my educational career, and I believe in the case of The Mind Trust, you may not be fully informed about their plans for Indianapolis Public Schools. I have taught for 44 years at North Central High School located in Washington Township, Indianapolis, Indiana, and for thirty of those years I worked with Glenda Ritz. There is no doubt thatt she will make an outstanding superintendent of education, someone that cares about teachers, students, and school reform. For the last twelve years, I have also worked with Lumina Foundation for Education as project manager for a grant, Advancing Academic Excellence, to promote AP, IB, and dual credit for first generation, free/reduced, and minority students throughout 39 Indiana high schools.
I also know David Harris, and I am familiar with The Mind Trust’s plan for IPS. In fact, when the plan was published, I invited several IPS teachers to meet with Mr. Harris and share their ideas about working to improve the school district. If you read The Mind Trust’s entire plan, you will see that it is about preserving the district’s public schools instead of allowing Tony Bennett to continue to privatize them. It would be wonderful if you and Mr. Harris, two people that care about school reform, could have an opportunity to talk to one another. I think that you would find that there may be much common ground between your ideas and those of The Mind Trust.
By the way, I have read many of your articles in the NY Review of Books and gave our 39 AAE project directors your book last year at one of our meetings.
Thank you for caring about public education and working for teachers and educational reform. I hope that you will revisit The Mind Trust’s Plan for IPS and let me know your views after reading it.
Best wishes,
Judith Libby
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