I am sending a contribution to Meryl Johnson, an experienced educator who is running for the Ohio State Board of Education.
I met Meryl when I was in Cleveland. She is an active member of the Network for Public Education. She is not in the pocket of the corporate elites.
She is dedicated to children and public schools. Having worked in Cleveland, where almost every child is classified by the government as living in poverty, she has a keen sense of what children need: Not charter schools, not vouchers, not testing, but love and care and dedicated teachers.
This is how you can help her too:
Meryl’s friends are holding a fundraiser for her on July 16 in Cleveland Heights:
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2016
4:00 p.m.—7:00 p.m.
AT THE HOME OF
Dr. Mary E. Rice
3362 Monticello Blvd. Cleveland Heights
Contribution Levels: ______$35 _____$50 ______$100 ______$250 $_____other
___Yes, I can attend! Enclosed is my check for $_________.
___Unfortunately, I cannot attend. Please accept my contribution of $_________ in support of Meryl.
PLEASE MAKE CHECKS PAYABLE TO:
MERYL JOHNSON FOR STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION, P.O. BOX 20095, CLEVELAND, OH 44120 (No Corporate Checks, Please.)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Have you met the other candidates?
On Sun, Jul 10, 2016 at 2:01 PM, Diane Ravitchs blog wrote:
> dianeravitch posted: “I am sending a contribution to Meryl Johnson, an > experienced educator who is running for the Ohio State Board of Education. > I met Meryl when I was in Cleveland. She is an active member of the Network > for Public Education. She is not in the pocket of ” >
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I have met Meryl Johnson, and I support her: http://meryljohnson.net/Classroom.html
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What is are Ohio’s STRS, and all of the other Ohio public pensions, the OEA and OFT and, all of the other union members and their families doing to get a candidate elected who serves taxpayers, communities and students? KnowYourCharter.com has information that all Ohioans should read. Also, citizens deserve to know that the Gates Foundation promotes Common Core, while Microsoft has a deal with Pearson to create products for Common Core and, that Bill Gates is an owner of schools-in-a-box, retailer,
Bridge international Academies.
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Impressive candidate. See, for example, http://meryljohnson.net/Classroom.html
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I have met Meryl a few times and also had a chance to hear her speak at a recent state school board meeting. While nearly everyone else in the room was arguing that the state should not raise the cut scores on the bogus new tests our high school students recently took, Meryl was there advocating for equal access to a properly funded education for ALL of Ohio’s kids! She is well informed, has several years of classroom experience, and has a true understanding of what our kids really need. I wish that I was in her district so I could vote for her but since I can’t, I will settle for encouraging those in her district to do so and I will contribute to her campaign. She is a true advocate for children and public education. We NEED her on our state school board.
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Thank you, Diane Ravitch, for supporting Meryl Johnson for State Board of Education!
Meryl is a former colleague of mine and I know her quite well. Meryl has spent her life advocating for children, and she has been absolutely relentless when it comes to fighting for public education. Her passion and energy when it comes to helping children is unparalleled.
If anyone would like to meet with Meryl, please drop her a line. Meryl would love to hear from teachers, students, parents and any other public education stakeholders:
meryl4stateboard@gmail.com
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Thank you, Diane for supporting such a strong candidate for Ohio’s schools. Meryl is the real deal. She knows the issues and will fight for public education. Meryl wants more accountability for charters, fewer high stakes standardized tests, and teachers voices to be heard. Her record proves that she will fight for our children.
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Diane, I am so honored to have your endorsement. Ohio, as well as our nation, has its priorities wrong when it comes to what’s good for our children. Our children deserve a classroom where teaching is the priority, not test preparation. Our children deserve a classroom where their teachers have time to bond with them and develop meaningful relationships. The children in Cleveland where I taught for 40 years bring so much trauma and toxic stress with them everyday. Those important teacher/student relationships make it possible for students to regulate their behavior in a safe space and focus on what’s happening in class with someone he/she can trust. Now, there’s no time for teachers to spend that kind of valuable time with their young people. And, our preschool and kindergarten classrooms have turned into uncomfortable places where young children have less time to play and teachers have very llittle time for meaningful interactions with their children. Making 70 observations of a child is not meaningful. It’s unnecessary busywork thought up by a non-educator who has no idea what the research says about successful preschool classrooms. These are just a few of my thoughts. I hope everyone will take a look at my website: meryljohnson.net. Again, Diane, your endorsement touches me deeply. I have admired your steadfast advocacy for public education for a long time. Thank you, from one of your many grateful fans.
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Diane, I am so honored to have your endorsement. Ohio, as well as our nation, has its priorities wrong when it comes to what’s good for our children. Our children deserve a classroom where teaching is the priority, not test preparation. Our children deserve a classroom where their teachers have time to bond with them and develop meaningful relationships. The children in Cleveland where I taught for 40 years bring so much trauma and toxic stress with them everyday. Those important teacher/student relationships make it possible for students to regulate their behavior in a safe space and focus on what’s happening in class. Now, there’s no time for teachers to spend that kind of valuable time with their young people. And, our preschool and kindergarten classrooms have turned into uncomfortable places where young children have less time to play and teachers have very llittle time for meaningful interactions with their children. Making 70 observations of a child is not meaningful. It’s unnecessary busywork thought up by a non-educator who has no idea what the research says about successful preschool classrooms. These are just a few of my thoughts. I hope everyone will take a look at my website: meryljohnson.net. Again, Diane, your endorsement touches me deeply. I have admired your steadfast advocacy for public education for a long time. Thank you, from one of your many grateful fans.
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As an Ohio public school teacher, I am appalled at the decisions our state board of education makes in regards to throwing money at charter schools, despite our state’s nationwide reputation as the “Wild West of charter schools”.
Meanwhile, in our legislature, Andrew Brenner, the chairman of the education committee, sings the praises of ECOT, the online charter school, whose owner has generously funded the campaign coffers of like-minded legislators whose goal is to obliterate public education through school “choice”.
We need Meryl Johnson on our state board of education. Unlike many of the elected and appointed members, Meryl has actually worked as a teacher in public schools. She has experienced the lack of equity and the disadvantages that our state’s unconstitutional school funding system has caused. She is a champion of the ones who are prohibited from having a say in their own future because they are too young to vote: the children of Ohio. We need Meryl Johnson on the state board of education.
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