This just in from Pittsburgh, where common sense triumphs!
Kathy M. Newman, an English professor and education activist in Pittsburgh, sent this message about yesterday’s school board election:
In Pittsburgh yesterday voters delivered a resounding message that they support the broad platform of education justice for the Pittsburgh Public schools.
This platform includes: Community Schools—schools which provide wrap-around, nutrition and psychological services to needy children during the school day and beyond, restorative justice rather than discipline and punish, more resources for nurses, librarians and counselors, a push back against over-testing, and a district budget that is determined by what students need to succeed rather than austerity, closing schools, and right-sizing. This platform was developed by Great Public Schools Pittsburgh, a coalition of labor organizations, faith based organizations, community organizations, and parent groups, all of whom were involved in grassroots campaign efforts—door-knocking, phone-banking, fundraising, and poll watching, in each of these school board races.
Each of the four school board candidates who ran on this platform won the Democratic primary nomination, and they are all but assured to win in the fall, and to begin serving on the school board in late 2015.
The first winning candidate, Dr. Regina Holley, is from Pittsburgh’s School Board district 2, a district that includes the rapidly developing neighborhoods of East Liberty and Lawrenceville. Holley is a retired African American Pittsburgh Public School principal and teacher with a distinguished record as an educator, has served on the board since 2011. She ran uncontested.
The most hotly contested race was in Pittsburgh’s affluent East End, where a revered long-time school board member, Bill Isler, was stepping down. The education justice movement coalesced around school board candidate Lynda Wrenn, a Pittsburgh Public School parent with 4 children who are attending or who have graduated from Pittsburgh Public schools. Wrenn also holds an MA in education and has served on several district task forces over the last 10 years. Wrenn won by a wide margin against Kirk Burkley, a bankruptcy and real-estate lawyer who promised to be a strong advocate for charter schools and to keep a tight lid on the district’s budget on behalf of tax payers.
In the South Hills area of Pittsburgh a young woman, Moira Kaleida, mother of two and married to a school teacher, won against her opponent, a public school parent, Tracy Link. Moira has been active in Great Public Schools, and will be a strong voice for increasing equity and education justice on the new school board.
On Pittsburgh’s North Side a young African American, Kevin Carter, only 26 years old, defeated his opponents, Rosemary Moriarty, a retired school principal and, Patricia Rogers, a legislative aid and former Juvenile substance abuse supervisor. Carter is the founder and CEO of the Adonai Center for Black Males, a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth move from high school to college or trade school, and from higher education to the workplace. Carter, like each of the other winning school board candidates, ran a grassroots campaign on the platform of equity and education justice.
We are smiling and celebrating today in Pittsburgh! Maybe the education reformers thought that Pittsburgh was so full of Gates money and Broad graduates that we were a “safe city” for them. No longer!!!! The progressives have helped to elect a school board that sees poverty and inequality as the biggest challenges faced by our schools, and who see education justice as the solution!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Maybe the Billionaire Boys & Broads will go back to buying whatever toys they used to buy before they became so bully on buying school boards.
Hope springs eternal …
Yes it does.
Anyone that understands the true nature of wrap around schools would not agree this is a good thing. Data collection under one roof is what it is all about. This all melds in with the gutting of FERPA, Charters, Vouchers etc. UNDERSTAND HIPAA DOES NOT pertain to inside the school. FERPA does. I have tried to get my US House Rep (Chuck Fleischmann to get HIPAA changed to include education records but so far I might as well be spitting in the wind. ANYONE that is against Common Core but supports wrap around schools, community schools, Charters, vouchers etc really does not get the big picture. The community should rally around the church and the family not hand over parental authority to the “community” school. What parental control do you have now? Do you think all these programs will give that power back? Wake up. We need to get back to basics. We need to get rid of the US Dept. of Education. Until that happens education will continue to erode and along with it parental control and authority. THEY want your kids and they are going to lie and deceive if that is how they have to do it. And we fall for their snake oil every time.
Congrats for Pittsburgh, grassroots uprising for public education. May it spread like wide fire all over America.
Three elections: one for our side and two for the oligarchs.
In Los Angeles, Rodriguez beats Kayser.
“In the most of expensive and vitriolic of all three LA Unified board races, Bennett Kayser lost to Ref Rodriguez in the battle to represent District 5.”
“This is a historic victory, as Los Angeles embraces positive change for our schools,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
“The message of transforming middle schools and supporting innovation really resonated with voters,” he wrote, adding words of gratitude for the “community victory.”
http://laschoolreport.com/category/lausd-elections/lausd-school-board-election-2015/
But the Ref Rodriquez message was based on a foundation of lies and the majority of foolish voters swallowed the lies.
I predict that in time, the news out of Los Angeles will be about the fraud and corruption that resulted from the Rodriguez victory—but the lies and cherry picked facts will keep coming to counter that truth when it comes out.
And another loss in state senate district 7 in California.
Steve Glazer, who ran on an anti-union, school reform platform beat Susan Bonilla by a wide margin. Corporate and Oligarch money paid for two victories based on viscous smear tactics and lies—proof that money and lies will win more elections as corporations and the Bill Gates cabal sweep across the country in a hostile takeover of democracy.
The evidence clearly shows that the oligarchs intend to take over every state legislature, the U.S. Congress one seat at time no matter the cost with an eye to buy the White House too.
Meanwhile, news broke today of the fraud, corruption and failure of privatization under Governor Scott Walker who ran on the same lies and false promises we heard from Glazer and Ref Rodriguez. Will this news of more than a half billion dollars lost to fraud and corruption reach the front page of the NY Times and Time Magazine and be broadcast as honest news from FOX—-don’t count on it?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-bottari/privatization-fail-scott_b_7339010.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592
Yes, but we also managed to defeat Tamar Galatzan, who got a ton of money from charter people. That was a boots on the ground campaign by teachers, who helped elect an educator to the board. So we kept a reasonable majority. Ref Rodriquez deeply angered people with his lies and innuendoes during the campaign, and he is already the subject of two investigations. We will see how much influence he will have.
Then congratulations are in order for that one victory in Los Angeles over the oligarchs and their puppet. I also read today that in Long Island all the reform backed candidates lost. That means there may have been more victories than losses for the public schools.
Governor, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh.
If this keeps up Pennsylvania is going to turn into the “pro-public school state” 🙂
Congrats to Lynda Wrenn! She was my student at Chatham (where she earned her Masters) and I’ve also taught two of her children at Allderdice HS, where she remains active in the school community. She is a strong supporter of public education and will make a great addition to the Pittsburgh school board.
As happy as I am for the Pittsburgh Schools (former student and principal in the district), I am wondering why this release only mentions Regina Holly and Kevin Carter’s race and/or ethnicity and not Bill Isler or Tracy Links. Did we need to know that there were two African Americans elected? If the answer is yes, why isn’t the race of the other two people mentioned? Do they not have a race or as members of the dominant culture, are they just normal?
Dear HBailey: I take your observation and I accept full responsibility. I wrote this quickly, and I didn’t take the time to proofread the article for the kind of imbalance you point out. I’ll add to your criticism in fact—I also used Kaleida’s first name only when I should have used her last name only. I hope you will accept my apology and believe that I will try to do better the next time I have this opportunity. I also hope we get a chance to work on some of these issues together in the near future.
Classy response Kathy. “to err is human; to forgive, divine” Congrats on the successes.
Hi Kathy,
This is NOT an attack. I respect your response 100%. But….
I believe you missed the point of my asking the question. See, a lot of well-intentioned people still think that they are either colorblind or that we live in a post-racial society. I’m not implying that you think this, but I am worried about the people who read ‘dog whistle’ releases that paint a picture. I do not think your release needed proofread for such errors. You wrote that because that is the reality of how we think, write, talk, and ultimately ‘see’ the world. If a bar or workplace is filled with 100% men, it is noticeable and “notable” when the first woman walks on or is hired. You subconsciously noted their race. It was not an error. We all do it with non-white race and sex when there is evident disparities.
The more interesting question to me would have been if their race would have been mentioned if they had been, as the other people were, pro charter anti union pro testing, etc. In other words, if they didn’t agree with your platform or goals, would their elections as people of color been cause for celebration or mention?