Kitty Boitnott is a National Board Certified Teacher in Virginia who now coaches teachers and teacher leaders.
She here reviews Reign of Error.
Boitnott summarizes the main arguments of the book and then says:
This is a must-read for any public school educator, for any parent who still cares about public schools and their role in the community, for the administrators who haven’t been so brainwashed that they have forgotten why they went into education in the first place, and many, many more. I cannot recommend this book more highly. If I were writing a review for Amazon (which I may do come to think of it) it would definitely get a five-star rating. For teacher leaders and parents who are concerned about what is happening to their communities because of the demise of the neighborhood school, I urge you to read it as soon as possible and start using the information inside its covers. More importantly, I urge you to get involved in the grassroots movement that has already started in some parts of the country. There are a number of groups around the nation where the push back has begun. Some of these groups have been founded by parents, some by students, and of course, teachers have started some. It isn’t too late, but time is ticking away. We need to start speaking out and organizing now.
She is right. As more parents and teachers become informed about the coordinated campaign to privatize our schools and to destroy the teaching profession, it becomes urgent that we organize and resist. Those who are funding and leading this campaign have wealth and power, but their numbers are few. Leaving aside their paid employees (some of whom send me their personal disgust with their organizations), the number of those pushing the privatization movement are quite small. I have often speculated that they could probably fill a hotel ballroom. But perhaps not.
Those of us who oppose their efforts to destroy our community public schools are in the millions. We can stop them if we organize. They have money, but we have numbers. This is still a democracy.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree that this is a must read.
I pre-ordered it and it arrived on my daughter Sally’s birthday which I took as an excellent sign of its reach since Sally spoke out for animals and gave them a voice. Diane reaches and gives voice to parents and teachers and children who are often not in a position to voice discontent.
The enormous pressure of work slowed me down and I have only just been able to start reading. I have been following Diane from the beginning and thought I knew just about everything. I was mistaken; so much I didn’t know
This amazing book is written so everyone will understand what has happened to education in our country and now how to really fix it. I am just starting to read the solution section.
It’s clear and has all the “rigor” that those in power are always clamoring for but written in such a clean and easy style that everyone will understand her message.
Thank you again Diane. It was my privilege to hear you speak in the Bronx several years ago and that day will forever be etched in my memory. When I feel discouraged, I remember you and your energy and I push on.
Thank you for writing this amazing book.
LikeLike
Kitty Boitnott is the past president of the Virginia Education Association, and prior to that she was a Library Media Specialist. Like most of her VEA predecessors, once her term as president ended, she did NOT return to the public schools. She is now a “life coach.”
Want to know (at least in part) what ails public education? Look at many of it’s so-called “leaders” (yes, and that means you too, Randi Weingarten).
LikeLike