Jersey Jazzman warns of a very serious malady found in the charter industry: Charter cheerleading.
He says it is perfectly normal to be proud of your school and its accomplishments. It is normal to want the world to know that your teachers and kids are terrific.
But charter cheerleaders go beyond the bounds of normal pride. Their schools are far, far better than yours. They quote statistics that ignore the reality of skimming and cherry-picking. They even boast when their school has not been open long enough to have produced any statistics. The simple fact of being a “charter” makes them say that they are better than any public school.
These people need help.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
FYI… Cami is planning on closing another 10 schools in Newark, list is due out in December before Christmas break. This lady has to go!!!!
Oh, look! Democrats discovered public schools again! Just in time to rescue their own electoral chances 🙂
All of a sudden they’re HUGE public school supporters and it’s those mean old Republicans who have gutted and undermined public schools.
Judging by their behavior, public schools must be more popular than we’re told. None of them are running on cutting public ed funding and privatizing schools. In fact, they’re running as public school supporters. Welcome back! Maybe you could stick around after the election this time?
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/education-democrats-elections-111995.html?hp=f1
and when they win, it will be back to normal! NOT BUYING IT!
“Vallas, the Democratic candidate running with Gov. Pat Quinn, is a familiar face in Illinois politics and popular in national education circles. He says he’s no multimillionaire Rauner who wants to privatize public education. That’s despite Vallas’s own history with opening charter schools in the urban school districts he has run.
“Fundamentally, I believe that we are not going to solve the problems that ail public education by chartering schools,” Vallas said. “I believe in good schools. I believe in quality schools. I believe in schools that perform. That’s a major difference [between] me and Mr. Rauner.”
At this point it’s complete gibberish. He believes in good schools! Alrighty then! Who could oppose “good schools”?
The fact is they don’t run on what they do in office because if they did they wouldn’t get elected. It’s a sweet deal they have going though. Republicans who want to quickly destroy public schools or Democrats who will do so over 20 years. Pick one!
WOW talk about the lesser of two evils! We need independent candidates
Veronica – which one is the lesser of the two evils? I’m not convinced Vallas is.
Honestly evil is evil and I wouldn’t vote for none of them.
A commenter some time ago put it well: don’t frame it as the “lesser of two evils” but as the “more effective of two evils.”
Oftentimes the winning “lesser evil” candidates can get away with doing more damage because it takes time for people to realize that their deeds are literally the opposite of their words. And then it’s too late…
Paul Vallas is a star in the firmament of self-styled “education reform.” That includes endorsing, promoting and mandating charters.
Is he sincere when he says that “he’s no multimillionaire Rauner who wants to privatize public education” when we know of “Vallas’s own history with opening charter schools in the urban school districts he has run”?
His sincerity, or lack thereof, is irrelevant. Actions speak louder than words. His peers include John Deasy, Michelle Rhee-Johnson, Cami Anderson, Arne Duncan and the rest of the educrat wrecking crew.
One of the reasons they get picked to gut public education: they believe their own hype. They buy into their own pr. They’re in sync with their own spin.
But just because they’re delusional doesn’t mean that we have to be too.
Just sayin’…
😎
Charters run on “Charter Privilege”.
Public schools: public school children, public school teachers and public school parents are easily identified…the ones without feathers in the back of their necks, per pecking order.
“Charter-leading”
Charter-leading:
“We’re the best
Better schools
Than all the rest
Better teachers
Better lunches
Better bleachers
Better brunches
Better classes
Better students
No more masses
Or imprudence
Better testing
Better prep
No more resting
No more schlep
Better than
Your lousy schools
Number 1
You public fools”
I wish public schools did more cheerleading.
Something has to counter the droning, incessant “public schools suck” message from federal and state politicians. It’s WILDLY one-sided.
Tell me about it Chiara, every time I see one of those charter school commercials I want to vomit! The latest one from NY really sickens me!
They could ask Vallas about this:
“During the past three years, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools (INCS) has dramatically expanded its work to educate Illinois residents about the charter school model, and to support charter school “design teams”— made up of teachers, former educators, and community organizations, for example — that seek to launch new, high-quality public schools in their respective communities. With support from the Office of Innovation and Improvement, INCS has grown its Charter Starter Consulting program to deliver consistent content and counsel to design teams while maintaining a strong focus on customized services. ”
Does he support the Obama Administration funding marketing efforts for charter schools in Illinois? Where’s the Obama Administration support of public schools in Illinois? Why don’t we get any federal marketing money? It’s not a “competition” if both the federal and state government are pushing charter schools and funding charter school promotion campaigns.
http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/oii/2014/09/paving-a-new-path-the-growth-of-illinois-charter-schools-outside-of-chicago/
Don’t forget this:https://dianeravitch.net/2014/10/13/president-obama-race-to-the-top-and-the-advance-of-privatization/
They don’t need help. They need to be exposed for the frauds that they are. Too bad they can’t go to prison for the lies and misinformation they are spreading, but President Reagan made it clear that freedom of speech meant the freedom to spread lies and fool people in the pursuit of achieving political or religious agendas when he vetoed the Fairness Doctrine, and the 1st President Bush sent that message a second time when he killed the Fairness Doctrine for sure during his one term in the White House.
The Fairness Doctrine was written to bring honesty and balance to reporting and political debates. The only element of freedom of speech that it exposed were the lies and misinformation that have dominated politics before the Fairness Doctrine and after the end of those FCC guidelines.
There is only one way to stop the Charters from spreading these lies to fool people. Take them to court. When the milk producers claimed there was something in milk for every body—one of their most successful but misleading advertising campaigns in the dairy industry’s history—they were sued and lost.
“It was an unusual conflict. The antagonists represented two groups that usually try to work together. On one side were members of the medical research community, and on the other was a major player in American big business. What exactly was going on? Scientific community members through their research publications were, in effect, taking to task the forces of the American Dairy Association. The clear contention of their medical research was that the Association was engaging in misleading advertising by using the slogan “Everybody needs milk.” When the Federal Trade Commission looked into the matter, they came to a surprising conclusion: they agreed solidly with the researchers and issued a “proposed complaint” citing that the slogan “Everybody needs milk” represented false, misleading, and deceptive advertising.”
http://lifestylelaboratory.com/articles/proof-positive/milk-friend-foe.html
The question is: Who will fire the first shot in court against the Charters to stop their deceptive advertising?
Maybe the FTC or NEA or AFT? Anyone lawyers out there that want to take this one Pro Bono?
Would love to see that!
I will never understand why they continue to cheer-lead the completely unregulated charter sector in MI, OH and PA:
https://www.edreform.com/2014/10/biased-reporting-fails-to-meet-standards-of-journalism/
There is a local news story A DAY on charter school scandals in these states, yet they continue to insist it’s going GREAT. The disconnect between the national narrative and the local reality is huge, yet the national lobbying and marketing continues as if nothing has happened. It is amazing they didn’t intercede in Ohio. It’s been years and they are just now saying they may make some move towards regulation. It’s hundreds of millions of dollars, just gone. They have absolutely screwed the people in this state, and there doesn’t seem to be any recognition of it all.
Charter Cheerleading: sounds more like “Charcoal Chipping.”