CBE is Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn. I spoke to about 700 people who turned out for a book talk. The moderator was David Denby. David inspired me to write “Reign of Error” because he told me–while interviewing people for an article about me for The New Yorker–that my critics said I had no solutions. I said, “but you just heard me speak. You heard my solutions.” And he said, “write a book,” and I did.
I was introduced last night by my son Michael, who is an active member of CBE. I started my talk by inviting the audience to join me in singing happy birthday to Michael, because I will be in Marquette, Michigan, tomorrow and will miss his birthday. So 700 people wished him a happy birthday! My littlest grandsons–ages 7 and 4 months–were also there, so it was a joyous occasion.
I asked how many people in the room were teachers or principals, and hands went up everywhere. At least 2/3 of the audience were educators.
At the end of my talk, and after the free-flowing Q&A, there was a long line of people for the book-signing. To my surprise, several were charter school teachers. Each told me horror stories about the schools they were working in now or used to work in. One was a refugee from Steve Perry’s school in Hartford, who told me how abusive he was to teachers there. Two came from a charter in Brooklyn, where they said that children were subjected to corporal punishment. Three others came from a celebrated NYC charter chain, where they said that children with special needs were humiliated. A school psychologist who worked in that chain said that a child with Tourette’s Syndrome was repeatedly humiliated because the school insisted he was “faking it.” She said he was not.
I can’t do anything to help these children. I can’t help the teachers. But I can continue to tell their stories and to get the truth out. We must make our public schools far better than they are today, and we must stop this idea that charters are an escape hatch for the best kids. This way lies a dual school system, in which public funds go to unaccountable charters that pick and choose their students, while the real public schools are turned into dumping grounds.
We must not let that happen.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“I can’t do anything to help these children. I can’t help the teachers. But I can continue to tell their stories and to get the truth out.”
That is your part. That is how you are helping those children and teachers.
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I admit I am frightened by these stories. I hadn’t heard such horror in Los Angeles where we have the most charters. In fact, the abuse is generally heaped on the teachers at charters in Los Angeles. This is an outrage. Thank you Diane Ravitch for all that you do.
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This post is a good reminder that charter school teachers are not the enemy. I feel for them. Yes, this reform atmosphere has made teaching more difficult for me. However, the terms of my employment are not left to the whims of some (possibly corrupt and constantly changing) charter chain. My work day is 7.5 hours. I am not required to be “on call” for my students at all times. I am not required to attend school functions at night or on weekends. I am not “required” to participate in pro-p;rivatization political marches. I cannot be fired in a day.
Believe me, those reform-bent “educators” without a fraction of my classroom experience are after the limits noted above. They want to do away with union protection for teachers and turn us into the virtual slave labor that many charter school teachers find themselves to be.
My hat is off to the charter school teachers who attended Diane’s function at CBE. We’re in this together.
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deutsch29: the only way for so many charter schools to humiliate and abuse students is to humiliate and abuse teaching staff. The first does not simply mirror the second; the first is predicated on beating down the frontline advocates for students, those in the classroom.
As difficult as it may be for so many—and I count myself among you—remember the words with which deutsch 29 began her comments:
“This post is a good reminder that charter school teachers are not the enemy.”
This notion that ‘united we stand, divided we fall’ has deep roots in American tradition: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” [Benjamin Franklin]
Thank you for your posting.
🙂
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Delightful
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What is the charter school in Brooklyn where students were subjected to corporal punishment? That’s illegal in NY. It’s very serious even as an isolated incident, and it’s extremely serious if it’s part of a pattern. Physical abuse of children isn’t something that should be lumped in with workplace “horror stories” that we can’t do anything specific about. It needs to be reported, to the school, to the DOE, and to the State.
http://www.p12.nysed.gov/sss/ssae/schoolsafety/CorplPunish/CorporalPunishment.html
And I’m now reminded that 20 or so states still allow corporal punishment in schools. I know that in some districts (perhaps most, for all I know), this is an “opt-out” system.
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I am happy to hear Congregation Beth Elohim continues its excellent education tradition, as evidenced by the fact that they hosted you and there was a big turnout. Back in the days when ‘terrible two’s’ was still a commonly-heard epithet (late ’80’s), my eldest spent a happy year in their ‘Terrific Two’s’ program.
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Sadly, it’s easy to envision charter schools telling Special Ed kids they’re “faking it,” since a lot of those who work there know nothing about typical child development, let alone atypical development, because so many TFAers with 5 weeks of training are employed in those schools.
The greatest irony is that this is national policy. Our nation’s leaders have promoted sending armies of poorly trained, ill-equipped young adults into inner-city war zones to save our country’s most disadvantaged children of color by debasing and humiliating them. How sick is that?
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Looking forward to seeing you and hearing you speak in Rhode Island!
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