A group of teachers in New York have an audacious idea. They are raising money to make a Robo-call to every public school parent in the state. They are close to their goal. They need your help.
They write:
“We have, in a little over a week, come very near to achieving what seemed like the impossible. At the time of this writing, we are on the final push to our funding goal. We did a tremendous amount of work, sometimes going without sleep or meals, and hope that our action inspires others. We have raised enough funds to place robocalls to strategic areas throughout New York, and our ultimate goal is to call the entire state, so donations are urgently needed at this time. Our ripple in New York will add to the wave being felt throughout the nation. To donate and help us complete our mission, go to:
http://www.crowdrise.org/refusethetestsrobocall.
I will contribute, will you? If they got $10 from everyone who reads this, they would succeed and keep going.
The billionaires have the money. We have the ideas, the enthusiasm, and the energy of millions of educators and parents. And we are on the right side of history. Not high-stakes testing. Not privatization. Great public schools for all children.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
As a former NY teacher, now living and working in North Dakota, I donated. I left NYS 2 years ago, for my sons and for my career. When we stop them in NY, we will stop them everywhere else. The same fate awaits every teacher, every student if we do no stop them!
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In light of the following information/guidelines on NYSUT’s website, can anyone advise as to whether or not sharing a link to Diane’s above post about the robo-call initiative on a personal FB page is an issue for an individual who happens to be a NYS teacher? Thanks in advance for any information!
‘A teacher who, in conversations with students or parents, takes a position on testing contrary to the school district’s educational program may potentially be subject to disciplinary action, e.g. charges of misconduct or insubordination. The Supreme Court has held that when a public employee speaks in his/her capacity as an employee, the speech is not constitutionally protected
However, because standardized testing is a matter of public concern, a local speaking as a union, or an individual member speaking as a parent or citizen, about educational
concerns over standardized testing, for instance, in a letter to the editor or in a statement
to the Board of Education, is protected by the U.S. Constitution at least so long as they
are not encouraging other parents or students to opt out from a test.’
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M, interesting question since Karen Magee, NYSUT president, is urging parents to opt out
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I don’t want to be a downer, M, but regardless of the consequences for teachers (punished if they speak out against testing while in the scope of employment or punished if their pedagogy is excellent but their scores are not high enough), the state will FIND ways to punish parents.
If they opt their children out, it is only a small matter of time before the state and/or federal government withholds money from the schools, especially Title 1 and 3 funds, but not limited to that. There are ways to reduce or take away tax credits and write-offs, such as property taxes or mortgage interest if your child opts out. If you receive state aid to your family because your child has an intense IEP, such aid could be withheld.
I am not trying to give anyone any ideas because the state is already thinking of ways to implement sanctions not just against schools but against parents.
This is why Ms. Tisch is pushing for this exemption component that is supposed to sooth the savage beast, and if it passes it will sooth the savage beast between the state and those parents who are wealthy enough to fund their public schools well and give their children many advantages.
It will, however, create a new beast between the haves and have-lesses and another beast between the haves and have nots.
It is a textbook case of divide and conquer. This is beyond diabolical, but believe me when I say the state will find ways to impose financial sanctions against parents who opt out, whether directly to their own coffers, through funding to the public schools they send their children to, or likely to be both. If it looks and walks like taxation without representation, then it probably is precisely that.
It’s just a matter of time.
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For someone who doesn’t want to be a downer, you do an awfully good job!
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Betsy, I don’t mean to, but when you play devil’s advocate and prepare for the worst, you stand a far better chance of defeating the enemy . . . .
Of course, one strikes a balance between imagining the worst and being outright paranoid, but knowing all the possibilities of your foe gives you an advantage over them.
One cannot underestimate the power and clout of these reformers. I remember Diane once told me that we are up against big money and some very powerful people. She’s right.
Let’s all be prepared and continue to build solidarity and strength. . . .
David overcame Goliath. . . . so too can we.
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What if EVERY teacher broke this rule in some way – as a collective group and all at the same time. To be consistent, wouldn’t they have to bring us ALL up on the same charge -morals, misconduct, insubordination, whatever they want??? Then, of course, we could all file a grievance. Could districts get rid of every teacher and go through the hiring process for thousands of teachers? It would all come to a grinding halt. If there were only a way to do it and call their bluff.
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In case it wasn’t obvious, I am speaking about myself and specifically trying to ascertain whether or not sharing the link to this aforementioned, very worthwhile endeavor on my own social media page could be grounds for disciplinary actions. I have been sharing on my FB page the links to multiple, amazing posts on your blog, under the assurance that I am providing information, not direct commentary, per se. A link to a specific site completely devoted to spreading the refusal movement via financial support, though, just gave me pause. I despise the fact that I even have to concern myself with this. I would ask my lawyer-turned-social-studies-teacher-in-an-inner-city-poverty-stricken upstate district, but she is probably out buying snacks for her students (who often come to school after a weekend having not eaten since Friday’s school lunch) and is preoccupied with figuring out how to best reach her students who have to be locked inside her classroom during her lessons for their own safety and for hers. Did I happen to mention that her observation scores last year were perfect, but strangely, the portion of her APPR score that was reliant on the ELA scores of students she doesn’t even teach was quite poor. I am sure the new education initiatives will fix this, though. She just needs to be a better teacher to get those test scores up!
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M,
I can’t answer your question. Maybe some other readers can. Does your supervisor read your FB page?
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Opt-out in Fairport NY likely to break 60%
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2015/04/10/fairport-opt-cala/25575961/
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Even though I have enabled all of the necessary privacy settings on my FB page, I still understand that anything posted can be accessed, in some form or another. Given the delicacy and legalities of the entire situation, I would never want to put you in a position to speak personally with me about this, even if you did have an answer in mind. When I posed my initial inquiry, I was hoping that, with the vast number of intelligent and informed readers out there, someone more anonymous or with less of a stake in the situation could advise me. Thank you for even taking the time to address my concerns! Your blog has been my source of sanity as an educator for quite some time, and I cannot begin to express how much your words mean and how much I appreciate your unwavering support of public education.
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I’m sending money to the New York group because if WE can stop Common Core & testing there it will be like nuking Common Core.
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I think I got two of these calls yesterday.
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