May 21, 2016 10:00 am
Martha Bruckner is the President of the National Superintendents’ Roundtable, and she is also the superintendent of schools in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She noted that the presidential candidates were ignoring education but offering many campaign promises. She decided to write an educator’s platform for presidential candidates.
A Superintendent’s Presidential Campaign Platform
Inspired by the campaign promises of some of our 2016 Presidential candidates, Roundtable superintendent Martha Bruckner of Council Bluffs, Iowa, writes,
“Listening to some presidential candidates makes me wonder if school superintendents could do similar things. Just announce what you will do. No plan or work needed!”
In that spirit, here’s Martha’s campaign platform:
All children will be loved.
No families will live in poverty.
All children will start school on an equal basis, economically and socially, and will be ready (eager) to learn.
All children will read by third grade, and will love reading.
Every child will love middle school and will use those adolescent years to discover his or her best future self.
No students will ever purposefully bully others, and if a student unintentionally hurts another student, classmates will help minimize the hurt and inform the misguided bully.
All students will graduate from high school after a successful 3, 4, or 5 years…whatever is most appropriate for their learning needs and styles.
Student assessment will be fair, multi-faceted, timely, informative, and will help educators discover how to best help each individual child.
Funding for schools will be sufficient.
Every teacher and school leader will be caring, talented, successful, and appropriately rewarded.
Every child will be safe, healthy, engaged, supported, and challenged.
Jim Harvey, executive director of the National Superintendents’ Roundtable responded to Martha’s platform:
Martha has our endorsement! Make America great again – Bruckner 2016!
The National Superintendents’ Roundtable is an association composed of experienced educators who rose through the ranks to become superintendents. They tend to represent small to mid-size districts. They are not Broadies. If your district is conducting a search for a new superintendent, contact James Harvey, National Superintendents’ Roundtable, harvey324@earthlink.net
Posted by dianeravitch
Categories: Administrators, superintendents, Education Reform, Real Education
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Martha is a smart and dedicated educator. She represents her organization and profession elegantly and eloquently!!! Go Martha!
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By Lynn Macan on May 21, 2016 at 10:19 am
Adminimal speak through and through.
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By Duane Swacker on May 21, 2016 at 10:29 am
If I may correct one sentence:
“The National Superintendents’ Roundtable is an association composed of experienced educators who EARNED THEIR BROWN NOSE KISSING ASS through the ranks, HAD THE RIGHT POLITICAL CONNECTIONS AND ARE OTHERWISE ARE GAGA GOOD GERMANS to become superintendents.”
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By Duane Swacker on May 21, 2016 at 10:32 am
Your extreme cynicism this morning is disappointing.
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By Laura H. Chapman on May 21, 2016 at 1:23 pm
“Cynic, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are not as they ought to be.”
― Ambrose Bierce, The Unabridged Devil’s Dictionary
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By Duane Swacker on May 21, 2016 at 2:36 pm
as you know,Diane, I have been awaiting some indication from Bernie and Hillary, that they GRASP THAT DEMOCRACY DEPENDS ON AN INFORMED PUBLIC, AND JOBS DEPEND ON A SKILLED CITIZENRY WHICH CAN THINK CRITICALLY, AND do work!
E.D. Hirsh, “our democracy depends on shared knowledge.
Click to access hirsch.pdf
Education issues were not worth 2 minutes of their time in national conversations.
If we educators don’t take front and center, as YOU do, and tell it like it is, then WHO WILL? The billionaires get to direct the entire conversation, and we see what happened in the two and a half decades since they began their war on public education with the REFORM MENDACITY.
Noam Chomsky weighs in, but not them
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/16651-noam-chomsky-on-democracy-and-education-in-the-21st-century-and-beyond
HAVEN’T WE HAD ENOUGH OF LIES?
Not knowing the reality, the TRUTH, makes it impossible to make any decision on cruciial issues, and EDUCATING OUR PEOPLE IN A COMPLEX ERA OF TRANSFORMATION, when informant flows like water, and much of it is false and misleading, it is up to our school to inform and educate our children WHO ARE NOT CHILDREN FOR LONG.
Over 20 million are food insecure, and more than that living in poverty. This nation has NO future if we don’t have leadership… 3 CHEERS FOR MARTHA…. AND BOO ON THOSE WHO DERIDE PEOPLE WHO GET TO THE TOP.. Yes, being politically correct is often necessary, but knowing sh*t from shinola and standing up for the teacher and the nation is important.
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By Susan Lee Schwartz on May 21, 2016 at 12:17 pm
All students will reach 100% education!
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By Ed Detective on May 21, 2016 at 12:33 pm
I’m not for platforms that start “children, or all children, will…”
Sent from my iPhone
>
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By debmeier on May 21, 2016 at 3:11 pm
debmeier: a subtle but good catch.
😎
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By KrazyTA on May 21, 2016 at 4:22 pm
That’s one of the reasons I called it “adminimal speak” above.
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By Duane Swacker on May 21, 2016 at 4:53 pm
Agreed, Deb. You almost don’t need to know what comes after those words. Whatever they are, the students will not have a say in what they’re doing, learning, and becoming. What makes us think we can define all their goals for them? Is it because they are young and powerless against our authority?
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By Ed Detective on May 21, 2016 at 6:37 pm
Sounds great ..Now let’s just get it done …
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By Teacher1206 on May 21, 2016 at 5:41 pm
Reblogged this on maureenkeeneyblog and commented:
This can work…lets get it done.
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By Teacher1206 on May 21, 2016 at 5:42 pm
This is all “pie in the sky” thinking. Life simply is not fair. Of course we would love for all those things to happen, but there’s not a politician on earth that can accomplish that through federal gov’t intervention. I say give the power back to the individual districts. Weaken the power of the NEA so bad teachers can be fired. (Those not working hard, not those with low beginning test scores.) It’s not rocket science to figure out what works when teaching beginning reading and math, for example. Find districts of all kinds that are educating their students well, and emulate them.
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By e3342 on May 21, 2016 at 10:07 pm
e3342,
Where did you get the idea that bad teachers can’t be fired? They certainly can be fired.
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By dianeravitch on May 21, 2016 at 10:59 pm
“Weaken the power of the NEA so bad teachers can be fired. (Those not working hard”
Take that out of your thought and you would be more correct.
“Pie in the sky thinking” is all adminimals know. It’s in their very being.
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By Duane Swacker on May 22, 2016 at 9:09 am
Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t that superintendents’ manifesto come with an implied snark alert? I am a little confused by the tone some comments. I took it as intended to mock campaign style slogans that promise to honor “truth, justice and the American way.”
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By 2old2teach on May 21, 2016 at 10:55 pm
I came to a similar conclusion 2old2teach. The post is sounding familiar with the rhetoric of recent conventions, unfortunately by what seems to be all candidates.
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By PositiveSkillsInSchool on May 22, 2016 at 12:36 pm
“What makes us think we can define all their goals for them?”
Excellent question EdDetective. I’ve seen many teachers, counselors and adminimals, who instead of opening the world to their students, attempt to place the students into that world taking over the student’s personal agency/being in the process.
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By Duane Swacker on May 22, 2016 at 9:05 am
Thought you would be interested in the detail Kevin has brought to this discussion. Thanks for all you are doing.Best,Eva Peterson
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By Eva Peterson on June 3, 2016 at 5:28 pm