At a public comment session of the Denver school board, Kate Burnite, a student who had just graduated from DPS, scolded the entire Denver school board for taking dark money from the Koch brothers, DFER, and other outside groups who love charters. All seven board members were funded by corporate outsiders.
Kate called upon the board to represent the people of Denver, not the big money that funded their campaigns.
She is well-informed and fearless. Watch the proceedings. Find Kate’s 2 minute speech at two hours into the proceedings.
Or you can see it on Facebook here:
Also be sure to watch the mother at one hour and 40 minutes into the livestream, who asks why the board closed Gilpin, which she described as the best integrated school in Denver, where test scores were on the rise.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Wow! Terrific. Thank you, Diane.
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Rock Star!
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I nominate Kate Burnite for your Honor Roll, Diane!
Could we please have one such student in every village, town & city emulate such behavior?
Please tell me:did this happen to make the local news in print or via television?
I’m betting it didn’t go national. & definitely not on PBS.
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Kate’s speech of 3 minutes is all over the Internetbut not in MSM
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WOW – thank you so much for sharing this pull-no-punches call for pro-citizen school board decisions vs. votes that please pro-charter campaign funders – and for total transparency of funding sources.
Sad that something so obvious even to one so young is apparently unknown, overlooked and/or blatantly ignored by her elders in power.
SHAME on all national media outlets who did not have the courage to carry it (and I am very careful with my usage of that “s” word, btw).
Thank God for the internet and the blogging community – and no wonder the media is rapidly losing viewer/listener shares!
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to transform a world!”
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Whether she wrote that speech or just delivered it , Chuck Schumer could take a lesson. I would love to put a side by side up . Someone go tell Bernie that he may want to get in touch with this young lady . With a couple of AP courses which I am sure she had , he may have a Colorado Senate candidate for 2020.
Proof that when Public Education works it works well.
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I wrote it too 🙂 I was IB, not AP, but thank you so much!
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great job
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Great work, Kate. And thank you.
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Thank you so much for the share, Ms. Ravitch! I so appreciate all of the feedback I’ve received.
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Kate,
Keep speaking up, Kate! Believe in the truth. Most people in Denver and Colorado are unaware of the Dark Money making decisions that affect the lives of students and schools.
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You go, Kate. I remember you from GWHS debate. (I am Alex Zavislan’s mother).
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It was pretty incredible to be there live. Even Superintendent Boasberg couldn’t keep a straight face. Kate – thank you for saying what needed to be said and doing so eloquently! Let’s keep this going viral! The students and families of Denver deserve better representation!
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