Three public school teachers and parents signed up for “Camp Philos,” the meeting in the Adirondacks where Governor Cuomo plans to meet next week with other politicians committed to privatizing our nation’s public schools. The three say they were turned away. By limiting attendance at this event to those with deep pockets and to political sympathizers, the sponsors of the event— Democrats for Education Reform, Education Reform Now, and Governor Cuomo—have made clear that they do not want to hear the voices of parents and educators. How can the event’s featured panel discussions about “Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation” and “Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies” be fairly addressed without the participation of educators and parents? Who cares more about the children-their own parents or elected officials? Who knows the children best–their own parents or Governor Cuomo? Who knows more about the needs of schools–teachers or elected officials? Would you let Governor Cuomo or any of the other elected officials babysit for your children? Why would you trust them to redesign the nation’s education system? Governor Cuomo never attended public school, never sent his children to public school, and never taught. Exactly what are his qualifications for reforming the nation’s or his own state’s schools?
Bianca Tanis wrote the following report:
We are deeply dismayed by what seems to be a deliberate attempt by the organizers of Camp Philos to exclude members of the teaching profession and public school parents from their retreat. By limiting attendance at this event to those with deep pockets, corporate influence and “insiders,” Democrats for Education Reform, Governor Cuomo and the hedge fund billionaires who contribute to both have made it clear that the voices of those on the front line in education are not invited. How can the event’s featured panel discussions about “Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation” and “Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies” be fairly addressed without the participation of educators? What does Governor Cuomo have to hide?
When Bianca Tanis, a parent and educator and one of the founders of NYS Allies for Public Education went to register on April 17th, she noticed that the online registration was no longer available and the website said to call the event administrator. Although Bianca left 3 messages with the administrator, she never received a call back. Today, April 22nd, She managed to reach Sean Anderson, the Chief of Staff for Democrats for Education Reform. She did not identify herself as an educator. He stated that even though “they are pretty full, there are still openings.” He advised Bianca to email Kate Gavulis as she was handling “the arrangements.” Bianca emailed Kate Gavulis and quickly received a response indicating that there were no openings.
The same day, Bianca spoke with Gail DeBonis Richmond, a retired teacher, who had registered successfully on April 15th and received two confirmation emails. Suddenly, with no explanation, Gail received a refund on April 17th. When she inquired about the refund, Gail was told that they had filled to capacity before she registered. Unlike the organizers of Camp Philos, Gail had engaged in complete transparency and had listed her affiliation as “retired teacher.”
In an article published on April 19th in which Joe Williams, president of Education Reform Now and the executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, was asked whether teachers would be attending the retreat. Williams responded that “teacher administrators” would be there. This begs the question, which ones? Will they be educators pre-selected by Teach for America or by Educators for Excellence, corporate reform organizations aligned with DFER’s ideological positions? Will they be charter school administrators, or perhaps John King, the NYS Education Commissioner and a former charter school operator himself?
( You can read the article here: http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/542473/Local-man-will-host-national-education-conference-in-Lake-Placid.html?nav=5008)
Three weeks ago, Marla Kilfolyle, a parent and educator, emailed the organizers of Camp Philos to request that they waive the $1,000 fee and allow her to attend. While Marla emailed the organizers in good faith, hoping that they would see the value in including the voice of an experienced educator, she never received any response to her email or request.
The exclusive nature of this meeting makes it clear that contrary to their claims, DFER and the Wall Street financiers who fund the group are not interested in collaboration, but are intent on using their wealth and access to wield disproportionate influence over public education. This is despite the fact that they have no teaching experience and in the main, do not send their children to public schools.
New Yorkers have had enough of secret deals and politicians serving the narrow interests of billionaires. It is time to open up the education debate to include true stakeholders, public school parents and teachers, who know best what is wrong and what is right with our public schools. Camp Philos is an egregious violation of the public trust and of the ideals of public education. The benign image of a rustic, Adirondack retreat to discuss how best to serve public school children belies the sinister nature of this brand of “education reform.”
Sincerely,
Gail DeBonis Richmond
Marla Kilfolye
Bianca Tanis
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Have the media been made aware of this?
Apparently the local media are very much aware. Here’s a really good write-up which quotes Bianca.
Carl Korn, a NYSUT spokesman, pulled out all the stops and reached out to Lake Placid media contacts.
“Union to protest at Lake Placid conference”
“”It’s a reformist retreat by hedgefund supporters and billionaires,” Korn said. “Democrats for Education Reform and Education Reform Now give hundreds of thousands of dollars to political candidates every year. They are trying to use their wealth to impose their radical ideas on all children in New York schools.”
http://www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/542558/Union-to-protest-at-Lake-Placid-conference.html?nav=5008
Deborah, I am the person mentioned in the article. I can assure you Bianca and I have shared it with every major news outlet.
I emailed CBS 6 and Fox23 news stations in Albany. I did not receive any acknowledgement from them, time will tell.
Here’s another press note:
PICKET IN THE PINES — Capital’s Jessica Bakeman: Teachers’ unions and public-education advocacy groups plan to protest a Lake Placid education conference next month run by pro-charter school hedge funders that will feature Governor Andrew Cuomo as “honorary chairman.” New York State United Teachers and the labor-backed Alliance for Quality Education are organizing a “Picket in the Pines” outside the May 4 “Camp Philos” conference, hosted by the nonprofit group Education Reform Now. “This picket is aimed at those hedge-fund operators and billionaires who make outlandish campaign contributions and try to impose their version of reform on all students,” said NYSUT spokesman Carl Korn. http://goo.gl/VTf5nK
I emailed Ed Schultz at MSNBC. Have no idea of their volume, but maybe they will catch it.
“National” thought leaders? Exclusive, top-down, command-and-control, opaque, secretive, misleading, and lying leaders. Can’t wait to hear their plan
“’National’ thought leaders?”
NO! Supposed and self ordained “National” thought control leaders.
Anyone who calls themselves a “thought leader” with a straight face deserves to be laughed out of the room.
Where is the Twain or Mencken to expose the preposterous arrogance of these people who try to convince the public that their voraciousness is akin to thinking?
Camp Philos.
One of many ancient Greek words for love, philos refers to the concern and care that is given to one’s friends, families, and community.
Camp Love.
As in the Ministry of Love in Orwell’s 1984?
The only way the media is going to cover this at all is if we manage to get a large, loud protest outside that “retreat” on each day of its occurrence. Copies of Bianca’s article, or bulleted points with references to it, should be handed out. PTA’s in the area should be contacted. These liars need to change the word “ground-breaking” to “ball-breaking” and the word “collaborative” to “corrosive”.
This really is pretty bad, especially the teacher who’d received the confirming emails. Tacky and pathetic really and they should read this: http://bit.ly/RUJlhO, Jeff Bryant’s latest for the Education Opportunity Network: Parental Advice To Education Policy Makers
Bertis, I am the teacher. Retired teacher. And yes, I have the emails confirming my attendance.
Cuomo is delaying this and that aspect of the reform movement by putting out not too specific rhetoric that sounds like he is opposed to it at this point.
And as soon as he is elected, he will go back to having a bacchanal with his sugar daddies.
Protestors there (I wonder if they are meeting at the famed Irondoquot Inn in reality instead of the reported Lake George?) should be chanting, “Go jump in the lake!”.
Bingo!
This isn’t even state-specific, remember.
DFER and politicians are planning NATIONAL public school policy at this closed, exclusive retreat. There are two former USDOE employees on the list, several senators and mayors from all over.
“Collaborative Models for Changing State and Local Teacher Policies”
I love the arrogance and cluelessness inherent in that session. They’re going to “change” local teacher policies in a meeting with national ed reform politicians and lobbyists? How exciting for us at the local level! You think they’ll let us know what they plan to do?
They can plan all they want, and I don’t underestimate their power.
But not listening to their general citizenry will be the biggest rope of theirs that they will evnentually hang themselves with, popping eyes, blue-ish skin and all.
I compare it to what just happened here locally. One public school district.
To build a new school it took three tries on the ballot- three elections- countless meetings, endless adjustments to the building plans and budget, hundreds of letters to the editor, pro and con, and when the bond issue finally passed we had three full days of community meetings on what the new school will look like.
That’s one rural public school district. That’s what it took to get authentic community “buy in” for a new school.
DFER, on the other hand, will “transform” every local public school district in the country from DC and a private meeting at a NY resort.
It’s arrogance.
Democracy is interactive hard work, long hours, and very messy. Arrogance is cleaner and neater and shorter, but does not allow for social and economic justice . . . . . . .
The irony of the name Camp “Philos” is sickening. What has this to do with love? Who comes up with this stuff?
Wikipedia definition of “Philos” :In ancient texts, philos denoted a general type of love, used for love between family, between friends, a desire or enjoyment of an activity, as well as between lovers. Storge (στοργή storgē ) means “affection” in ancient and modern Greek.
It is because they love themselves and everything they do. They love getting together with their friends and having a vacation. Teachers are not in their love club. Naming it Camp Philos was probably the most honest thing that they have done or will do.
Teachers are not in their love club.
That is most certainly the case. Kids neither.
These Ed Deformers fancy themselves philosophers. The self-parody there is priceless.
“A film maker best known for his horror pictures The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable, in 2008 M. Night Shyamalan decided to take an active role in fixing the American education system. Although a novice to the world of classrooms and teachers, he believed there must be better ways to help our schools. To educate himself, he and his foundation spent the next four years examining research in papers, journals and studies.”
http://www.scpr.org/events/2014/01/13/1277/schooled-m-night-shyamalan/
A film director gets to go because he read papers about education in his off-hours but teachers aren’t invited? Politics has reached a new low of ridiculous insanity.
He certainly fits the mold of his Phellow Philosians. He attended Episcopal Academy in suburban Philadelphia. He lives in what is generally regarded as one of the best suburban school districts in the Philadelphia area. Naturally, he sends his children to private school. Of course Baldwin, the school his children attend, emphasizes small classes (something Mr. S thinks is unimportant) and Baldwin most certainly does not have a pedagogy based on strict, repetitive classroom regimes, which Mr. S thinks is important in the absence of super-star teachers. You know, like the dolts … err … I mean teachers who work in public schools such as the ones my children attend. School reform is inevitably an experiment best conducted on someone else’s children.
He has also greatly influnced fellow privately-educated dilletant Bill Green, recently appointed chairman of the School Reform Commission, the city’s nominal school board. Ugh.
M. Nignt Shyamalan wrote a book about education “reform” that is a ruse and which came out the very same week as Diane’s Reign of Error. In it, he feigned ignorance about the state of public education and corporate “reform” and supposedly had a team from his foundation help him research the matter, just out of the goodness of his heart. However, he presented the same “research” from belief-tanks and economists which corporate reformers typically tout and included many of the usual talking points of corporate “reformers”.
He acknowledged some curious people, too, including a famous ghost writer who assisted someone else in writing a book trashing public education, as well as his literary agent, Ari Emanuel, brother of Chicago’s chief school privatizer, mayor Rahm Emanuel. So Shyamalan is very much a tool of corporate education “reform.”
I sent a letter to Sherrod Brown. I told him public school parents were told the Common Core was Job One, and that it was a huge national undertaking and a “game changer” and yet I saw the Obama Administration were out in force yesterday pushing yet another teacher measurement scheme.
What happened? I thought we were all going to get tons of “support going forward” on the CC? Have ed reformers moved onto the next project already, now that the CC testing is in? This wasn’t all about putting in a new testing scheme and then abandoning public schools, again, was it? My goodness. The kids aren’t even finished with what Duncan referred to as “the national tests” and the Obama Administration is moving on to teacher testing!
“Good luck with that CC thing, public schools! We’ll let you know when we have the data analyzed and then we’ll resume public school bashing!”
I thought ed reform was all about teaching kids resiliency and purpose and “deep dives”? These adults can’t even stick to a huge national scheme longer than two weeks. I’m not sure they’re even good role models for students, let alone “experts”.
I am working on a doctoral research project inspired by Diane’s book, Death and Life of the Great American School System (2011). If the public school system–as many of us knew it, at least–is dead or near death, it would stand to reason that public school teachers who remember the system as it was prior to No Child Left Behind (2002) have experienced loss and grief. If you remember what it was like to teach prior to No Child Left Behind, if you feel as if teaching completely changed when No Child Left Behind was implemented, or if you ever felt saddened by some of the changes that resulted from educational reform, then you may be interested in taking my survey.
Professional Loss and Grief in Teachers (a survey)
https://ndstate.co1.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_5nCLnPAFadWZX93
Jackie, I took that survey, shared, and will share again. Yes- I believe we are and have been experiencing the stages of grief.
Camp Philos? What rubbish. Maybe it is time for a camp-in? Sympathetic locals allow land access and the roadway into this sanctuary is decorated with picket signs, banners, photos of test items, data points on cardboard blow-ups, liberation flags painted by elementary students who opted out of the madness, a dramatic play center representing those decimated by these technocrats? No more placid at Lake Placid.
“Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation” probably means more programs like Match and Relay, which were created by no-excuses charter schools and train people to implement exactly one pedagogical approach, that of the drill sergeant teacher in military style test prep factories.
Public school teachers need not learn how to promote critical thinking, divergent thinking or higher order thinking, since the children of elites can learn that in private schools and the masses in public education are to be subservient laborers. God forbid the commoners are empowered enough to know better and rebel against the ruling class that condemns them to a caste system and jobs with unlivable wages.
THAT is the secret these politicians and business people are trying to hide –that behind the euphemisms and PR, all of their efforts are self-serving and aimed at maintaining and furthering the foothold of elites in the plutocracy that is ruling our already highly stratified society.
Public School Parent and Teacher Tourists are coming to Lake Placid and will be staying here on May 4. Please join them!
They will be staging a protest called “Picket in the Pines.” It is led by New York State United Teachers. The teacher’s union members will protest an education conference, run by Education Reform Now, a pro-charter school group. The three-day conference called “Champ Philos,” will be held on May 4 through 6 at Whiteface Lodge.
Carl Korn, a NYSUT spokesman, said the group plans to mobilize “several hundred” teachers and parents from across the state. They will be taking buses to Lake Placid and plan to stay at the Comfort Inn.
It was bad enough when corporate donors were called “reformers”…now they are called “educational philosophers”. Some educators who wanted to join Camping with Cuomo wanted to share stories around the campfire about the real costs of Cuomo’s attempt to dismantle public education, were denied registration. May the ghosts of Dewey and Humboldt haunt the Camp Philos with scary intelligent questions from some one….anyone.
For this event, better it be called “Camp Nihilos,” since its fundamental purpose is social looting and vandalism.
exactly
My fantasy is that the airspace for the site would be filled with sky writing that says this a the meeting of the education mafia. Add a bunch of helicopters with camera crews to buzz the place. After all, this is the group that champions “disruptinve innovation.”
I think the FBI raided a meeting of bigtime mobsters in a similar venue a long time ago. The mobsters thought they were meeting in secret. The bust lead to multiple trials and a few prison sentences.
I do hope that the protesters will have cameras so that they can create a Hall of Shame of attendees.
We need a repeat of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apalachin_Meeting
Perhaps someone like Jon Stewart or Matt Damon should sign up! Both have mothers who are educators – and Nancy Carlsson Paige is certainly speaking out these days (she was great at the 2011 SOS Rally as was her son). Both are famous. Would they too be denied? Afterall, they are not educators but then again… neither are any of the participants in the conference so they cannot deny them admission based on education experience!
Reblogged this on Schools of Thought Hudson Valley, NY.
“On May 4-6, Education Reform Now, the 501c3 partner of Democrats for Education Reform, will assemble the nation’s premier progressive leaders on education for the first ever Philosopher’s Camp. “Camp Philos” will be the insiders exchange for policy and political ideas on education reform among the nation’s top elected officials, advocacy leaders, and philanthropists.”
How much tax money is being used to send the nation’s top elected officials to a retreat for insiders which determines public policy?
And there is not a single “progressive” leader on education in the group! Dewey must be rolling over in his grave. Those people inhabit opposite world. Do not trust a word they say, including “and” and “but.”
Does anyone doubt that those names were Googled and each was found to be a tireless education activist? I like to think those names instill fear in the governor’s office.
As educated people, we want to avoid needless speculation and have a look at the program for the event: http://www.campphilos.org/schedule . You will see that from 3:30 – 5:00 on Monday is a session where parents and teachers speak out about reform and school choice. So the answer to the title question, “Will Camp Philos exclude public school parents and teachers?” is easily answered. No.
As knowledgeable people, we know that charter public schools, like magnet public schools and general public schools are, after all, part of the mix of public schools.
As civilized people, we want to avoid needless fear mongering and encourage our best minds and thinkers to participate in analytic processes instead of negating them. This would be a good place for those who have new and innovative ideas to share them.
The hatred, meanness, and desire to inflict harm on others shown in the comments here is a sad statement about the goals, objectives and state of mind of some of your readers Ms Ravitch. If I were hosting a think tank event, I would certainly want to exclude anyone, of any viewpoint, who demonstrated the dangerous state of mind shown in many of these comments.
It will be interesting to see which parents and teachers are allowed to speak at Camp Philos. Will they be from public schools or charter schools?
Charter schools are public schools.
Charter schools are privatized schools and that’s what they tell the courts whenever it’s more convenient for them to be seen as private than public –and the courts have agreed.
Vistorino Verboten – Please attach a link to cite the courts decision that charter schools are not public schools.
“Charters are privately managed entities whose only claim to the word public is the fact that they drain public funds. Roughly a dozen of court cases have ruled that charter schools are not “public entities.” Two well known examples include the following:
The California Court of Appeals (2007-01-10) which ruled that charter schools are NOT “public agents.” [SEE LINK BELOW http://j.mp/wGmLtB%5D
The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals (2010-01-04) which ruled that charter schools are NOT “public actors.” [SEE LINK BELOW http://j.mp/x4Y9KT%5D
The courts aren’t the government entities that have stated incontrovertibly that charters are private entities. So have other authoritative agencies.
The US Census Department expressed difficulty in obtaining information from charter schools because the are NOT public entities. [SEE LINKS BELOW http://j.mp/ytdtYv http://j.mp/14i5jg2%5D
The National Labor Relations Board joins a host of other government agencies that have unequivocally ruled that that charters are “private entities.” [SEE LINK BELOW http://j.mp/ZdWEeg%5D
We understand in the light of all the scandals and bad press (http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/) that supporters of lucrative charters are desperate to paint them as public schools, but outside the corporate spin cycle that is the the school privatization camp, charters have been found to be anything but public. Charters are one in the same with the 501C3s or other organizations running them. Here is an excerpt from one of the court cases cited above: “The Court determined the charter schools did not qualify as “public entities” under the CFCA. (Id. at p. 1203, 48 Cal. Rptr. 3d 108, 141 P.3d 225.) Because they competed with the traditional schools for students and funding, neither did the Court find them to be “governmental entities” exempt from the UCL’s restrictions on their competitive practices.” Moreover, nonprofits are PRIVATE sector. In many cases, businesses and industries are actually far more regulated than 501c3s. This excerpt from a Census Department Document sums this up: “A few “public charter schools” are run by public universities and municipalities. However, most charter schools are run by private nonprofit organizations and are therefore classified as private.”
The language courts and government entities use is precise and unambiguous. Charter charlatans have created a lucrative quasi-public market niche. The schools are public so long as they can garner public funds and cash in on lucrative real estate deals. However, as soon as a family, community member, educator, or other persons outside of those profiting form charters need to seek legal or civil remedies against the charter school sector, then they are conveniently NOT public entities. Charters. No oversight, no democratic controls, but lots of opportunities for swindlers to make boatloads of cash and plutocrats to push propaganda instead of pedagogy.”
http://bitly.com/bundles/rdsathene/f
California Court of Appeals (2007-01-10) ruled that charter schools are not “public agents.” http://j.mp/wGmLtB
The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals (2010-01-04) ruled that charter schools are not “public actors.” http://j.mp/x4Y9KT
Manhattan Supreme Court (March 13, 2014) ruled that charter schools are not “units of the state”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/state-comptroller-audit-charter-schools-judge-article-1.1721265#ixzz301V5dfzN
The US Census Department expressed difficulty in obtaining information from charter schools because the are not public entities. http://j.mp/ytdtYv http://j.mp/14i5jg2
The National Labor Relations Board joins a host of other government agencies that have unequivocally ruled that that charters are “private entities.” http://j.mp/ZdWEeg
The US Census Department expressed difficulty in obtaining information from charter schools because the are not public entities. http://j.mp/ytdtYv http://j.mp/14i5jg2
V V in a landslide!
Teachers did not ask to hold every seat. They want to be represented, have a voice and be heard. Don’t make them out to be like the greedy, self-serving non-educator profiteers who want to own everything and everyone in education.
Teachers are represented, along with everyone else, by their votes.
Victorino Verboten: ::applause::
If we must “Stick to the Facts”, the charter Schools do not want to be treated as Public Schools. The charters have gone to court to block the New York State Comptroller from auditing their financial and educational practices. This begs the question: “Why?”. Every Public School District in New York State is subject to a NYS Comptrollers Audit. The transparancy of the audit is to ensure that the tax dollars are used appropriately and that students are receiving all of the services they are entitled to under NYS Education Law. The Comptroller will ask one basic question: Are the funds staying in that classroom for supplies,materials ,salaries and maintenance costs or are some of the funds going directly to the Company that runs the Charters and then distributed to the the school? The audit would also reflect other means of support for these schools and there could be some entities that may not like the “light of day” . The Comptroller is very concerned with Special Needs students and how contracts are awarded.
People in other professions have opportunities to be involved in driving policies within their own professions AND they are represented as ordinary voting citizens.
Better trolls, paleeeeze!
Thanks, NY and LG!
As long as education is primarily in the hands of state governments, the legislatures of state governments will have ultimate control over educational policy.
The state does not “have ultimate control” over the policies of other professionals who work in schools, such as social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists, etc. Teachers are easy fodder for authoritarian rule in this country because they are not valued and respected as professionals by politicians and appointed government officials, as modeled from the top by Arne Duncan. Can’t recall ever hearing the Secretary of Health and Human Services announce to Americans that we have a serious problem with failing hospitals and bad doctors who have been lying to patients about how healthy people are –or any other cabinet secretary who regularly trashes the primary professionals in their field.
The state can, of course, fire all the social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists that work in public schools and decide what qualifications are required to work in schools. Seems like a lot of power to me.
It is true that schools of education do not have a good reputation in the academy.
State certification is usually required for such professionals to work in schools, but as with doctors, those professions typically self-regulate.
And I have as little respect for your field as you have for mine, only that’s not based on “reputation”, it was earned.
State certification is required because a goverent entity makes it required.
There is a large contrast between schools of education and the other schools at a university, especially in graduate education. A senior faculty member in the school of education at my institute will have more active doctoral students in a year than a faculty member in the liberal arts school will have in a lifetime. Education schools are different from the rest of the academy.
States do not set the POLICIES of psychologists, social workers, etc..
We could do with a lot fewer know-it-all-trolls here.
State set the Requirements for who can and who can not be hired at a school and what qualifications are required.
Right, it will be especially interesting to see if only cheerleaders were invited, since the topic of that session is “From the Front Line: Parents and Teachers Talk About Ed Reform and School Choice.”
It will also be interesting to see which Teacher Educators will be speaking at the session “The Next Big Thing: Groundbreaking Approaches to Teacher Preparation.”
Yes, participation and representation of dissenting viewpoints from commoners is certainly a dangerous state of mind to the plutocracy, because you are few and we are many and we cannot be bought.
Dear Stick to the Facts,
How is a movie director of horror films included in the group that you call the “best minds and thinkers?” Just because a person has great wealth, power, or fame doesn’t make him/her an expert in everything or qualified to decide what is best for the rest of the nation.
Yes, the anger down here is growing. It is from the teachers and parents because their input is not genuinely considered when policies are being determined and yet, these policies directly affect their students/children. People are growing tired of the corrupt politics and the attitude that the wealthy, the powerful, and the famous somehow know what is best for everyone else.
You can “think tank” away but unless these self-proclaimed philosophers have spent many years in a classroom, their opinions and ideas have no credibility or value with the people have actually teach every day.
All of the discussions and lectures at this retreat should be live-streamed so their knowledge and wisdom can be shared with the public who voted all of these politicians into office.
Dear Marianna,
I can honestly understand your concern and anxiety about this. It is important to note, however, that innovation frequently comes from the cross-pollination of ideas from various fields. Many, many inventions are born when people from two or more different fields share what they know.
I think educators, with the very powerful support of NYSUT in New York state, have done a pretty good job of voicing their views. From what I read above, most people who are responding in indignation to this event are concerned that their own well-iterated views will not be considered. So be it. They have been heard.
Maybe what this conference is looking for is new ideas, new approaches, things that haven’t been considered by those with many years in a classroom.
Look back at history and you will see reform upon reform, innovation upon innovation. If these reformers want to know what they are trying to fix, have them teach for at least three years so they know what they are trying to fix.
Many of the regular contributors to this blog know that I am a Montessori teacher. The reason I have respect for Maria Montessori as the original reformer is that she had the humility to find out what worked for children by spending time with poor, disadvantaged children. She didn’t create her ideas at resorts while cross-pollinating with other “thinkers.”
It is time to get real. If these “educational philosophers” want to have any credibility, they should think-tank in a school gymnasium and bring their own lunches. Their lectures and ideas should be live-streamed and out in the open for public discussion.
There has been a long history of non-educators getting together to determine the course of education without including educators, starting with the first Education Summit that was convened by President George H. W. Bush in 1989, when no educators were invited to attend. Politicians and business people from both sides of the aisle have been leading education “reform” for decades and their policies are the status quo. Now they are in the throws of a neo-liberal movement to privatize public education across our nation and it’s high time that genuine educators and parents took back education from these profiteers and their political lackeys.
I would categorize school board elections as part of “a long history of non-educators getting together to determine the course of education without including educators” though, of course, educators do get to vote just like anyone else.
Educators can and do run for seats on school boards, as do parents and other members of the community who are stakeholders in education..
Indeed teachers can vote and run, but they are surely a minority of the voters even in a school board election, and certainly in state legislative elections.
I know of no laws restricting the number of teachers on school boards, or parents, or community members –and board members can be in all three groups simultaneously. Besides, when one has had no representation whatsoever on the federal level for decades, some representation at the local level can feel like a Godsend.
I know of no laws preventing teachers from being every member of a state legislature, but it does not seem to happen.
Stick to the Facts.
Go cross-pollinate yourself.
This part of the retreat was only added to the schedule AFTER the fact that parents and teachers were being turned away was reported in the media. The fact is, I was informed by the DFERN chief of staff that there were spots open, only to be denied when I emailed the event planner minutes later, identifying myself as a teacher. It would be naive not to find this suspect. Phone calls and emails from teachers to the DFERN were not returned, the press is not welcome…..the fact is, this is highly suspicious. At $1,000 per ticket, it is clear that only some public school parents could ever attend. Also, if there are a number of public school educators and teachers attending, why have they not come forward to refute the ideas my colleagues and I have put forth in our letter? Why did Joe Williams refuse to answer the question about public school teachers and parents attending when asked by a Lake Placid journalist? This state of mind is only dangerous to those who have something to hide.
Ah, so there will be an event in this echo chamber in which teachers hand-picked for their reliably rheeformish views will parrot back what the other attendees are saying? Well, that’s good to know.
“Dangerous state of mind”–interesting choice of words. So when are you going to start equating opposition to school privatization, numerological decision making, and turning our schools into institutions for test prep to terrorism? Oh, I see, you are already on the way to doing that. These people are “dangerous.” They think that the new national tests are invalid and abusive. They care about kids. Dangerous people.
It’s really funny that “Stick to the Facts” should throw out what he or she (these people are always anonymous) considers to be a rhetorical question only to be overwhelmed by “the facts.” But these deformers aren’t interested in facts. Theirs is a cult, a faith-based ideology.
Bob Shepherd: that’s the sort of “reply” you get from someone who is defending/promoting a business plan rather than an education model/a better education for all.
It gets better—or worse. For the same “informed” commentary, see below re “If you are going to cause trouble, regardless of your views, you will not be welcome” and “To all those who have decided why the conference was closed to more educators, you do not have the intellectual skills that a think tank conference is looking for.”
Correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t a very dead old Greek guy nail this over two thousand years ago?
“Words empty as the wind are best left unsaid.” [Homer]
An excellent example of why the stars of the education status quo and self-styled “education reform” movement commit RheeFlees when confronted with even the possibility of carrying on a public discussion with Diane Ravitch.
Counter-factual history: the Feb. 6 Lehigh University event that featured Michelle Rhee and Diane Ravitch. Result: Ravitch by a walkover.
Excuse the presumption, but let me end on a point that I think people may not always fully appreciate: getting the supporters/defenders of the education establishment to go on record is an important function of this blog. Just think of such self-damaging tidbits as Eva Moskowitz’s ‘miracle schools’ and Diane Ravitch’s deep-pocket funding by unions [to pay her staff of 92, of course!] and the truly amazing attempts to paint charters as somewhat public/somewhat private/somewhat both public and private at the very self-same time!
And never forget: we could never provide material to contradict the hysterical exaggerated claims of the self-styled “education reformers” if they didn’t keep giving us so much ammunition to use against them!
Yes, “laughter may be poison to the pompous”—but it is especially effective when they’re doing such a good job of ridiculing themselves.
😎
Stick to the facts- the fact is I registered to attend. I was sent 2 emails of confirmation. 2 days later I received an email refunding my payment with no explanation. I believe Mr. Lambert, above, is correct. They saw what and who I stood for (public schools and public school children) and decided I was not their type. Yes, facts are facts.
“As civilized people. . . ”
Don’t include me in on your “civilized” group!
“. . . who demonstrated the dangerous state of mind shown in many of these comments.”
Afraid of a little verbal bantering and battling? Yes, those with “the dangerous state of mind” would eat you alive, and then lick the blood off every fingertip.
This smacks of a totalitarian state. A private event to discuss public education is simply wrong. This will backfire on them like just about every initiative they have come up with. They have created the most toxic brands in America with, “Common Core”, “InBloom”, “PARCC”, “SBAC”, “Pearson” “ALEC”, “TFA” and others. For bunch of high flying corporate thought leaders their track record in public education is pathetic.
It has been a totalitarian state for quite some time, only most of us didn’t know until it was revealed that groups like this, including ALEC, the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, have been operating in stealth for years. They do their dirty work as private organizations to avoid being subject to Sunshine (open meetings) laws, public participation and democratic representation. The biggest problem with having so many lawyers who are politicians, like Cuomo and Obama, is that they know better than anyone else how to circumvent laws and the Constitution.
A banana republic. But the commodities being traded are not bananas but kids.
In every area that affects our children and grandchildren we find the tentacles of the rich sucking the life out of our lives, be it in education, the environment, local politics. And those who live in New York dairy country can easily recognize cow shit when we see it. Except that actual cow shit enriches the soil and stimulates growth. This other form does not.
I suspect that at any relatively private affair, the organizers don’t want troublemakers signing up just for the purpose of being the skunk at the garden party.
Next time NPE has an organizers’ conference, see how eager you are to sign up one of the staffers from Students First, an employee of the Walton Foundation, and someone from TFA.
I highly doubt NPE would exclude them. Diane has been wanting to debate Michelle Rhee for some time now.
This is a good point. There are many reasons why, at a private event, organizers may choose to include or exclude people who want to come. If you are going to cause trouble, regardless of your views, you will not be welcome. If your focus is to avoid any discussion that does not specifically include your own personal viewpoint, this narrowness would not be useful or welcome. If the organizers are looking for a mix of parents, teachers, administrators, public officials, business leaders, policy analysts, etc. at an event with a limited number of seats, your group may have already met its quota and they may not be looking for over-representation from your profession.
It is just as likely that teachers were turned down from attendance because many teachers had already enrolled as it is likely that the scheduling organizers know all about your personal views and want to exclude them. They may be looking for more policy analysts, more inventors and thinkers from outside the current educational provider system, for people with technical skills who could advise about the use of modern technology in the education delivery system, etc. No one has any idea what the real reason is, yet most are happy to quickly jump to whatever conclusion suits them. To all those who have decided why the conference was closed to more educators, you do not have the intellectual skills that a think tank conference is looking for.
Stick to the Bullshyte
Were you Nurse Ratched in you previous life?
Stick to the Facts,
Powerless citizens can try to get elected, struggling against the deep pockets of the billionaires or, they can do what oppressed people have done historically.
An editorial reported that Canada’s middle class is stronger than the US middle class. The Canadians response was, “comparing ourselves to a sinking stone, is no solace.”
Events like Camp Philos guarantee uglier times ahead.
“If the organizers are looking for a mix of parents, teachers, administrators, public officials, business leaders, policy analysts, etc….”
…I can only ask why they are looking for a mix of business leaders and policy analysts for education conferences.
I have never seen an influx of educators invited to conferences on energy, military, and other publicly funded institutions. Have you?
The difference is that this is a private event attended by public officials to decide public policy.
At no place in the information about this event does it say that public policy will be decided here. How do you jump from concern that a public official will hear some views “privately’ among 200 people from what appears to be somewhat diverse fields (and probably with some press in attendance), and that this is ‘a private event attended by public officials to decide public policy’? You are making an illogical jump to an unsupported conclusion.
Public officials hear private perspectives and views all the time. It’s part of what informs their decisions. Public education touches everyone in New York, not just school employees. If the governor were only listening to educators and administrators and public education, he would be omitting the views of the majority of New Yorkers.
http://adirondackdailyenterprise.com/page/content.detail/id/542473/Local-man-will-host-national-education-conference-in-Lake-Placid.html?nav=5008
“Gov. Andrew Cuomo and political figures from around the country are expected to attend.”
“Education Reform Now is a nonprofit policy think tank, whereas Democrats for Education Reform is politically driven and lobbies elected leaders, Williams said. The organizations, which have offices in several states including New York, has successfully advocated for policies most recently in New Jersey and Washington state. It supports charter schools and tougher teacher evaluations and tenure requirements. Williams said his group has been doing work with the governor on education policy. Cuomo has vacationed in the Adirondacks over the years.”
Dear Stick to the Facts,
I do believe that public policies will be made in the Adirondacks in May.
Yes, Marianne, I believe you are correct. Making back room deals on the future of our nation’s children is the MO of corporate “reformers” and it is precisely how education policies have been determined for decades.
Here’s an example of Arne Duncan getting caught doing just that, when he was CEO of the Chicago Public Schools and had a private meeting in the back of a restaurant with the school board president, an alderman and a state senator regarding privatizing public schools:
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2009/11/breakfast-at-ednas-backroom-starring.html.
Political party conventions come to mind as examples of private events attended by public officials to decide public policy.
“Political party conventions come to mind as examples of private events attended by public officials to decide public policy.”
Public policy is crafted in legislatures (legislative). Implementation of policy is then enacted by appointed members of government departments (regulatory). In other words, elected officials and those who contribute to their campaigns have a great deal of power to influence public policy. All you have to ask yourself is: Who is attending this conference?
This is an opportunity for the players to play, being wined and dined, while they plan the next step in changing and shaping public policy in education. They are the ones with the power, money and influence to call the shots. Why else would the ticket cost $1,000? That’s a drop in the bucket for these types–probably even tax-exempt–while it is way beyond the daily bread of the actual experts on education. As an economist, surely you can see the political ramifications of the economic hardship built into this conference.
You might also ask who gets credentials to attend any gathering of folks interested in public policy.
WT
Stop embarrassing yourself. NPE would not only welcome them, and would gladly put them in their place as well.
Dear Stick to the Facts….Press have been told they may not attend.
So, Stick to the Facts (lol) tells us that the plutocrats are convening to cross pollinate. I don’t even want to go there.
And what are the qualifications for being invited to this pollination fest? Well, Stick to the Facts is clear about that: The qualification one be from outside education, that one can, for example, bring those wonderful ideas from hedge fund management to bear on teaching and learning.
Better trolls please.
From the Rheeformish Lexicon:
public-private partnership. Backroom deal; more generally, any mechanism for subverting or circumventing democratic processes.
http://bobshepherdonline.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/from-the-reformish-lexicon/
philos. Oh, that is funny! This stuff is deliciously self-parodying.
cx: The qualification is that one be from outside education
Oh please, Mr. Cuomo, would you be my thought leader? This trying to think on my our is so HARD.
Did anyone else notice that every bit of the Camp Philos invitation, from the name of the event to the descriptions of the sessions to the graphic design of the web page, is as hackneyed, as cliched, almost, as are the Common Core State Standards in ELA? (well, not THAT hackneyed) The invitation to the event looks to my eye very like an illustration from a 1950s cub scout manual.
Oh, the nostalgia! Leave the Beaver and Wally at home with the little woman and have your driver drop you off at the White Face Lodge, where Stepin Fetchit will show you to your room for a little Burma Shave before we get together for some Wonder Bread and baloney sandwiches and a little Father Knows Best time!
Back to the future, boys. Way, way, way back!
Feel the philos, folks!
I’m am beginning to think that cliches are the very livery of the Ed Deformer. This is not surprising from people who think that
that standardization and regimentation lead to creativity and innovation,
that testing kids to find out where to plop them down in some preprogrammed learning progression is personalization,
that we need the creative disruption of nationalized ed tech to replace all those messy human and humane transactions between teacher and learner,
that David Coleman is an educator,
that the amateurish, backward, stultifying, curricula-and-pedagogy narrowing and distorting CC$$ are “higher standards,”
that teaching is about extrinsic punishment and reward, and
that the learning is checking off items on the bullet list, the national educational Powerpoint copyrighted by the good people at the Commoners’ Core Curriculum Commissariat and Ministry of Truth on behalf of theBill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
By gum, by golly, we’ll have great fun, off in the woods, thinking BIG thoughts about BIG DATA, with our White Face friends at the White Face Lodge.
Yo ho, yo ho.
cx: Oh please, Mr. Cuomo, would you be my thought leader? This trying to think on our own is so HARD. Thank goodness we had Lord Coleman to make up a list for us. Otherwise, we would have had no notion what to do with these–what do you call them–books?
“Feel the Philos Folks”
Serious alliteration.
http://www.campphilos.org/
But hey, why let real educators in on the discussion at this point? Why spoil what has been, up to now, a PERFECT RECORD?
Why don’t we just storm the gates? Buses should be organized and maybe create a little civil disobedience. Let the media notice. Of course, the disobeying educators who will be protesting will be called all sorts of names by the mainstream media. Just remember what the original Vietnam protesters were called a half century ago. And yet, in the end, they got their point across, without the Internet!!!
Liberal teacher, go!! You won’t be alone.
Legislative Exchange Council involvement?
Q: How many think-tanks does it take to reform a light-bulb?
A: Five. One to break it into pieces, one to glue it back together again, one to put it into the light socket, one to flip the switch, and one to think of an innovative idea of how to fix it.
SIX!
You forgot another one to break the bulb again after the attempted fix.
For only $2,500 you can be one of the VIP philosophers!
Provided, of course, that you are appropriately Rheeformish–that you have been vetted and determined to be entirely committed to Rheeformish numerology (aka, data-driven decision making) and to the narrowing and distortion (“personalization”) of curricula, pedagogy, assessment, and evaluation via the latest, greatest extrinsic punishment and reward system, Son of NCLB, that is the Common Core College and Career Ready Assessment Program, or C.C.C.C.R.A.P.
Because you can never have enough gritful bubbling of bubbles by the children of proles.Where else are they going to learn proper obedience to their superiors in the oligarchy, their betters among the philosopher kings?
https://register.edreformnow.org/civicrm/event/info?id=1
NOTE: This event open only to the future philosopher kings of Kallipolis (formerly the United States of America), their sycophants, toadies, and political windup toys.
http://blindnoise.wordpress.com/tag/camp-philos/
Could not an event like this with Governor Cuomo attending and the goal being to steer state policy not violate the public meetings law?