A few readers have urged the Network for Public Education to cancel its conference in Raleigh to protest the legislature’s passage of a bill to remove any rights from transgender students. We will not cancel because we knew when we chose Raleigh that North Carolina has one of the most backward legislatures in the nation, that the state is controlled by forces that want to roll back the rights of many groups and individuals, and that the legislature is trying to extinguish public education by establishing charters and vouchers. Public funds are being used to discriminate against children, are being used to fund religious schools that exclude children who do not meet their “moral” requirements, and charter schools have been established to generate millions for politically-connected persons. We knew all this in advance, and we chose to go to North Carolina to support parents, students, and teachers who want a good public school system that is open to all and that respects the rights of all. Thus, the latest insult from the legislature will not persuade us to abandon our friends in their time of need. Please join us to support our allies in North Carolina.
This just in from Public Schools First in North Carolina:
On behalf of our 85,000 members (teachers, parents, and students) and our nearly 11,000 Facebook friends, Public Schools First NC thanks Network for Public Education – NPE for keeping their plans to have their 3rd annual conference in Raleigh, N.C. Many companies and organizations are cancelling their plans to NC due to recent events – on behalf of parents, teachers, and students all across NC, we appreciate NPE standing with NC. This conference is an opportunity to hear from national education researchers and advocates. This is a time we need to work together to make sure that our public schools are inclusive, fair, innovative and accountable, this is not a time to back down to those who do not support public education or social justice in our schools.
Public Schools First NC – Board of Directors.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I agree with the decision to have the Network for Public Education meetin in NC and to stay the course, and for all the right reasons.
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Let’s hold a drag party Friday night in the hotel bar. First place winner for best costume/outfit gets to choose next year’s conference location.
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Liz,
I’m in!
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Does inclusive mean embracing children of conservative families too?
Does fair pertain to those who live conservatively?
Does accountable mean everything RttT brought us?
Does innovative simply mean how teachers respond to top-down control of education?
Post a comment of support from a group not connected to the usual list of public school spoken support, and you’ll catch more compelling energy. How about Lady Liberty? What does she think? What about conservative parents? Or religious ones? I think most of them don’t see the significance of having an event in NC by NPE and the future of our schools. I don’t see a correlation anymore than I would see a correlation between a medical meeting in Houston meaning an organization was showing solidarity with sick people using the hospitals there.
Maybe there was the notion of more significant symbolism in the planning and choosing of Raleigh as the location than there really is.
Did teachers choose the right approach when they aligned with the labor approach to cohesion, or should they have gone more the way of the American Medical Association? Or does it really matter when the charter movement is growing like kudzu and the very political forces who enabled it are the ones claiming to be the clear and necessary heroes to save public schools? That’s what I see in NC. RttT, brought to you by Democrats. Oh but wait, Democrats are the only ones who can possibly think well enough to consider the education of children. ?? Education. Education.
http://governor.nc.gov/press-release/myths-vs-facts-what-new-york-times-huffington-post-and-other-media-outlets-arent
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Ask her. (Does inclusive mean her too?)
http://ladyliberty1885.com
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Involved Mom,
Fairness means that government should treat all people equally. Conservative people should be treated with respect. So should those with different values and views. You have a right to your convictions. But when you try to impose them on others who don’t share them, that’s not fair.
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On this Easter eve, I can’t help but ponder why we have the chaos of understanding what motivates certain legislation and so forth.
I always read both sides. (We have to–when there is conflict, we must understand both sides especially if inclusion is the name of the game).
So here is what I think. Here is how I summarize the conflict of energy I see in NC right now. The more conservative and religious leadership are guided by principles that may or may not be important to everyone. And if they stay more on the side of their own thinking (which has been the trend in a Bible Belt state like NC, which many people are fine with—obviously, because they elected these leaders), and if their impetus is questioned, rather than buy into hysteria, I tend to assume they are interpreting two gospel messages in a different way than others are. (And by the way, that’s just exactly what Jesus enabled by speaking through parables and questions—he left folks confounded). I think that anyone claiming to have the upper hand on what is righteous should always go back to sources of wisdom and question themselves.
So, Matthew 26:11; Mark 4:7. Dead in the tomb (which is where Christians are right at this moment of remembering Holy Week), and still awaiting the resurrection, I imagine his followers thought of his words from these two gospel accounts. The poor. Of course, we know Jesus meant the poor in spirit and the poor in everything when he spoke of the poor, but if we do consider his words in these passages (as millions celebrate his life and his ministry and his resurrection around the world now) what did he mean by this and how does it apply to any conflict or anger felt today? How does policy address, best, the least of these my brethren and their chances at realizing their fullest potential as Americans, as North Carolinians? What did he mean? I’ll just bet that folks arrive at different conclusions. But the important thing is that they think about it. And not mock others for a different understanding. What do we celebrate as humans? And how is that reflected in our policies? And how is it reflected in our priorities? And how is it reflected in our sense of what is righteous? What makes us forget the poor? What would it mean to remember the poor, but also the words in these passages?
Taking time to be holy often unlocks new understanding. I hope on Easter eve those who presume to have insight on what is right will do that.
I believe that not everything coming out of Raleigh is evil. And if there is a misguided notion of how best to serve a state where those who have standards motivated by religious grounding must consider safety and well-being, then won’t they have to look at things at the most basic level? And what pushed Raleigh to do that?
I don’t have the answers. I don’t claim to have an upper hand on righteousness. But I am thinking about it. I hope others will too. Isn’t that what being educated means we should do?
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Conservative doesn’t equal Christian.
The vast majority of teachers, by definition are “conservative” (no not the current meaning of conservative as regressive hoping to harken back to a supposedly golden time that never was) wishing to preserve what is good and virtuous in society.
“Unlocking the holy” is religious mythology that has no basis in rationo-logical thought. While it may work for you and it is your right to believe so that does not make it a suitable rationale for all. That is why there needs to be a strict separation of church and state-to keep religious mythology from being forced on others.
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I understand what you are saying. What I do not understand is what religion or the Bible may have do with a law that discriminates a group of people.
What are the two sides of the coin people are supposed to look at? One side reads “you do not discriminate based on sex”. What does the other side say?
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Understood, however, if I had been planning on attending (and I couldn’t) I would have personally cancelled. I have a very strict personal rule about supporting businesses that violate my personal code if ethics. No Walmart, Amazon, Papa John’s Pizza, Proctor and Gamble products, I’ll stop here. GA is now on the list and NC has been on the list for 3 years for successfully brainwashing their populace against teachers. But this is me and I understand why NPE is not cancelling.
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“I have a very strict personal rule about supporting businesses that violate my personal code if ethics. ”
So not supporting certain businesses is more important than supporting friends? Why?
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Why would you cancel? Disinfect this bacteria with light!
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I’m appalled that the statement justifying having the NPE stay in North Carolina couldn’t find space for a single sentence to demand that the most anti-LGBT law in the country be repealed.
Protecting public schools and advocating on strongly on behalf of LGBT teachers and students will be subject to the depredations of the lase are absolutely morally and ethically consistent. NPE couldn’t even be bothered to include a separate and clear statement deploring the new law and talking about its effects on LGBT teachers and students.
The statement reflects a very scrimped and narrow view of the connection between what’s happened in NC the last few days and the core mission of the NPE.
I understand that you may not have been able to cancel the conference for logistical reasons but not to issue a clear and ringing defense of LGBT rights and connect them to strong and fully funded public schools in NC is evidence for a lack of concern and lack of understanding at NPE about how the political world really works.
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Harris, of course we want the law repealed. We hope that this odious regime is ousted by voters and that a progressive legislature and governor repeals all of the laws that are an affront to human rights.
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Did that odious bill to allow bullying of an LBGT student ever make it through the Tennessee legislature???
You need to choose more states like this for these conferences.
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i support having the conference in Raleigh and I look forward to learning about how people like Rev. Barber have galvanized opposition to this backwards legislature. I have seen friends outside education posting articles about North Carolina this past week and I’ve commented with one of the posts from this blog to show that public education advocates are leading the way. It’s impressive.
Would NPE consider some specific ways in which conference attendees can make their disagreement with the NC legislature known? What if we had paper tokens printed with some clear message? Every time we bought a coffee or spent money in a local establishment, we could pay and include the token. It could even include a legislator’s phone number to urge locals to call. Or could someone provide a list of businesses that oppose the draconian legislation and encourage attendees to spend our money there? Or we could pass out quarter page flyers everywhere we go in North Carolina that summarize what Diane wrote on this post? This conference could provide an opportunity for us to actually help North Carolinians if we have a direct action to take while there that leverages our presence.
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Karen,
I am distributing your good idea to the NPE board
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Yeah!
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