The Network for Public Education has endosed candidates in several crucial local school board elections. NPE has a process that involves surveys of all candidates in each contest. We give our endorsement to those who support their community public schools and oppose privatization and the pernicious misuse of high-stakes testing.
We don’t have money, but we count on the help of all those who care about the future of public education to stand with those courageous enough to run for office. We count on the power if numbers, the power of democracy.
An Update on NPE’s Endorsed Candidates
Welcome to the twenty-third edition of our newsletter. This week we are pleased to announce FOUR new endorsements! We also have updates for you on our previously endorsed candidates.
New NPE Endorsements in Rochester, Bridgeport
We are pleased to announce the following endorsements:
Liz Hallmark, Rochester County School Board (NY)
Howard Gardner, Bridgeport School Board (CT)
Andre Baker, Bridgeport School Board (CT)
Dave Hennessey, Bridgeport School Board (CT)
The primaries in both Rochester and Bridgeport take place in two days, on September 10th, so please spread the word!
We are delighted to announce our endorsement of Liz Hallmark! Liz earned a Doctorate in Education at the University of Rochester and has worked as a teaching artist at schools throughout the Rochester City School District. Currently, Liz is an Adjunct Professor who teaches Masters-level teaching candidates at Nazareth College and the Warner Graduate School of Education.
As both an educator and a parent of two children who graduated from city schools, Liz firmly believes that it is time for there to be an educator on the Rochester City School Board, and NPE agrees! The Democratic Primary is on September 10th (only two days away) so spread the word. We invite you to read our full endorsement here and visit Liz’s website.
We are excited to announce our endorsement of three candidates for the Bridgeport Board of Education: Howard Gardner, Andre Baker, and
Dave Hennessey.
The September 10th primary in Bridgeport — Connecticut’s most populous city — looks to be a key contest in the battle for control of the school board. In recent years, politicians and school officials have enacted damaging reforms in Bridgeport and a change in the make-up of the board is necessary to correct the course of the school district.
Andre Baker, a four-term Bridgeport City Councilman, brings a political experience and history of working cooperatively with the diverse electorate of Bridgeport. Dave Hennessey served 38 years as a teacher and coach in Bridgeport and has also been a member of the Bridgeport City Council. Information Technology Professional, Howard Gardner, brings extensive business and community service experience to the race.
To continue reading about our endorsement of these candidates, click here. There are only two days left until the primary, so please spread the word!
An Update on NPE’s Endorsed Candidates
The summer is ending, but our candidates are still up and running!
This summer, NPE has endorsed several candidates. We thank all of our followers for helping to support these great candidates. As the summer comes to an end, we would like to give you a brief update on where our candidates stand:
Sue Peters is running for Seattle School Board, District 4. Sue has nearly a decade of experience in Seattle public schools.
This summer, Sue won 41% of the primary vote, despite being outspent by her opponent by 8:1. The general election will be held on November 5th. You can visit Sue’s website to read more.
Marie Corfield is running for New Jersey Assembly. As a mother and public school teacher, Marie is truly dedicated to protecting public schools and helping their students thrive.
This summer, Marie held the #CorfieldMoneyBomb, and we thank you for helping to make this fundraiser so successful! The general election will be held on November 5th. You can visit Marie’s website to read more.
Ronda Scholting is running for Douglas County School Board in Colorado. Ronda is a proud mom of two sons who graduated from Douglas County schools. She also works with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. Last week, we wrote to you about the Koch brother’s plans to contribute thousands of dollars on her opponent’s campaign. Please help support Ronda by visiting her website. You can also RSVP here to see NPE’s Anthony Cody speak in Douglas County on September 12th.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
From the Pelto blog, posted by jrp1900:
It’s all very familiar. According to the humble Mr. Boas, the teachers’ union has “handpicked” Democrat challengers “who will not serve the best interests of the children and families of Bridgeport.” Of course, they won’t! As we all know, teachers are parasites: they are all too happy to live high on the hog, with their generous salaries and benefits, while enjoying great vacation time and showing no real commitment to the learning of their students. Because they have a great thing going, teachers band together into a mafia-like union, and they do their utmost to protect their own interest, while completely abandoning children to “low expectations” and “failure.” Now comes Mr. Boas with his Orwellian outfit “Citizens for Students” to save the poor little mites in terrible public schools from the bad old public school teachers.
This stupid, deceitful and monstrous narrative would be almost laughable if it is wasn’t so effective. The corporate reformers understand that many parents in impoverished communities are desperate for some sort of hopeful change. And it seems to be a sad fact of human nature that you can manipulate desperate people if you get them to “buy into” the notion that the cause of their troubles is an easily identifiable “enemy.” In other words, by focusing on the evil teachers the corporate reformers are making use of the classic strategy of the scapegoat. As is amply demonstrated in history, stigmatizing a scapegoat is often a prelude to a reign of atrocity. I hope there are enough people in this country who understand that public school teachers are NOT the enemy. Otherwise there will be plenty of blood on the floor, as corporate reformers are bent on reducing teachers from esteemed professionals to mere “factory operatives,” who can be “flexibly” managed as the administration sees fit.
Common sense tells us that most people go into teaching because they have a commitment to educating children. In many places, teachers suffer poor pay, difficult work conditions and stressful “assessments” and “evaluations,” and yet they remain in the profession, doing the best they can. How, then, does the teacher become the enemy? Corporate reformers like Mr. Boas often know nothing of children and they have no interest in the SOCIAL LIVES of poor people in cities like Bridgeport. Mr. Boas is not an activist for health-care, for affordable housing, for drug treatment centers, for family support programs, for effective monitoring of police conduct in minority communities, for job training and job opportunity programs, for enforcement of EPA regulations in poor neighborhoods, for wider recreational services and so on. No, Mr. Boas advocates the privatization of public schools in poor communities and he is allied, not with ordinary people in the community, but with the masters of Wall Street.
Be aware that when a powerful privatizer starts shedding tears over poor children, you are in the presence of a weeping crocodile!
http://jonathanpelto.com/2013/09/09/achievement-first-inc-pushing-finchvallas-slate-bridgeport-democratic-primary/
I was taking a page from the free market reform movement and thinking about the advantages of a public school versus a charter chain, outside test scores. I’ll just list them.
1. experienced staff, diverse in age and background
2. teachers who choose this work as a career, and stick around longer than 2 years
3. local teachers, who have past experience with families (siblings, etc) and the community, not just individual students
4. due process rights for students
5. transparency and a democratic scheme for parents and community members
6. transparency in ownership of publicly-funded assets and state statutes governing disclosure and production of financial records
7. public money stays in the community and then state where it was collected
8. schools that are an integral part of communities and neighborhoods, rather than schools that are headquartered and run from out of area or out of state