Want to meet Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez? So do I. If you are in New York City or its environs, here is your chance.
Public Education Town Hall
A conversation on a bold new vision for public school justice and equity
Featured speaker: Diane Ravitch with education advocates
With responses from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and NYS Senator Jessica Ramos
Panel and discussion followed by audience Q&A
Saturday, March 16
2:00-4:30PM
Fiesta Hall
37-62 89th Street, Jackson Heights
Subway: 7 train to 90th Street
Participating Organizations:
Alliance for Quality Education
Class Size Matters
Network for Public Education
NYC Opt Out
NYS Association for Bilingual Education
Sponsored by Jackson Heights People for Public Schools
RSVP at: jhschools..org/events
Seating will be on a “first come first served” basis
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Profound thanks to you, Diane, for speaking at the event.
YES!
Diane Ravitch, and AOC, and public education! 3,000 miles away and teaching. Must have video. Must. Have. Video.
Agree, agree.
I adore AOC!
AOC is a fantastically smart natural politician. The fact that the Repubs bash her is a sign of greatness.
I adore AOC, too. Glad you are speaking. YAY.
Hope the DFERS from CO are paying attention.
Oh my! This video from the weekend’s SXSW in Austin demonstrates the brilliance of this young leader. She’s speaking without notes but with great passion and intellect. Well worth an hour of your time:
Hello Christine Langhoff
March 12, 2019 at 12:27 am
Thank you very much for the wonderful video clip about the youngest Congresswoman AOC.
This young leader is definitely adorable. She is very intellectual, courageous, and passionately practical in her duty.
There is a self claim American Educator who accuses me that I am a troll in Dr. Ravitch’s blog and that I have a motive to repeat and to emphasize all of the wisest suggestions and all wisdom advice from Dr. Ravitch.
My pure motive to ease readers without time to read clearly many posts which have some arrogant, ignorant, and intentional submissive ideas of giving up their right to vote or to question about candidate’s working and experience background.
I hope that you will post this video clip again before March 16, 2019 in upcoming post. Love you. May
Any chance of C-Span coverage?
Notlikrly, unless she dances.
In that case, you need to provide the beat! 🎤🥁🎧
The event will be videotaped by master videographer Michael Elliott.
It will be posted here.
Amen to that, GregB!
That is how citizens should have in democracy in any democratic country.
I am with a delighted heart and mind in acknowledging that Dr. Ravitch will be a speaker at this special PUBLIC EDUCATION justice and equity EVENT with responses from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and NYS Senator Jessica Ramos.
Hopefully, all other 50 States will follow New York State to have “PUBLIC EDUCATION justice and equity EVENT” with Dr. Ravitch as a SPEAKER to all attendants like students with their parents PLUS all politicians who support Public Education in that State.
If people truly believe in humanity, then this special event can prevent all invasions from corrupted and manipulation of communism and fascism NOT ONLY within North America, BUT ALSO in the world = WORDS are the BEST WEAPON to protect COMMONERS’ freedom of speaking from harm and danger = to FIGHT BACK CORRUPTION that definitely ruin our country and the own lives of those ignorant mega rich corporate.
Back2basic
I’m a big fan but I wish she wouldn’t describe herself as an educator (which she has done). She worked in a couple of programs who’s focus was education but that’s very much not the same.
A year ago, she was a bartender.
I love AOC. Glad she was a bartender. She learned a lot.
Yes, AOC was a bartender but with a BA from Boston University.
I think it is worth mentioning: “She graduated cum laude from Boston University’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2011, majoring in international relations and economics.[26][30][31]”
During college, she served as an intern in the immigration office during the final year of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s tenure.[29] “I was the only Spanish speaker, and as a result, as basically a kid—a 19-, 20-year-old kid—whenever a frantic call would come into the office because someone is looking for their husband because they have been snatched off the street by ICE, I was the one that had to pick up that phone,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I was the one that had to help that person navigate that system.”[29]
Early Career:
After college, Ocasio-Cortez moved back to the Bronx and found work as an educational director (whatever that means).
Following the death of her father, she took on an additional job working as a bartender and waitress to help her mother—a house cleaner and school-bus driver—fight foreclosure of their home.[34][35]
Ocasio-Cortez later launched Brook Avenue Press, a publishing firm for books that portray the Bronx in a positive light.[36]
She worked as lead educational strategist at GAGEis, Inc.[37]
Ocasio-Cortez also worked for the nonprofit National Hispanic Institute, serving as the Educational Director of the 2017 Northeast Collegiate World Series, a five-day long program targeted at college-bound high school students from across the United States and other countries, where she also participated in the panel on the future of Latino leadership.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Ocasio-Cortez
IT doesn’t look like AOC was a teacher but she seems to have been involved in educational issues.
Maybe Dianne can ask AOC what she did in those “educational” roles and what she learned while in those positions.
As I said. I’m a big fan but when one calls themselves an educator but has not taught nor studied teaching etc it cheapens their stance. I expect that from reformers not our team. We complain when TFA reformers are in the classroom for a cup of coffee and then call themselves educators who know better than the rest of us so I just think we can do better.
Don’t say you’re an educator unless you’re really an educator. Rather say “I worked in education” or something like that.
I mean, I’ve poured drinks for my friends but I’d never say I was a bartender.
Big fan of AOC and consider myself a supporter. This isn’t an attack but rather I think we send a stronger message when we don’t muddy the waters with language as reformers do.
AOC has had three separate jobs as some sort of administrator-counselor-advisor dealing with education issues.
AOC has never claimed she was a teacher but there are more people working in education than just teachers.
For instance, most of the U.S. military DOES NOT serve in combat roles, but they wear the same uniforms in support positions so the combat troops can fight to survive another day. They also go through the same boot camp training. For every combat trooper, there are several military troopers supporting them from the rear.
I think it is safe to say that most teachers are educators except the 1 to 3 percent that are incompetent (a guess based on the expert witnesses from Harvard that testified in the Vergara trial).
It is also safe to say there are educators that have never been teachers. Isn’t a counselor working at a high school an educator even if they never taught a class as a teacher?
You have a right to your opinion as long as it is an honest opinion and you were not paid to write it, but I think what you said about AOC and your attempt to smear her because she wasn’t a teacher “SUCKS”, and since I don’t remember seeing your anonymous sock puppet name here before, I suspect you are a drone paid to troll AOC and leave negative comments in an attempt to smear her.
REPEAT: AOC has not claimed she was a teacher. But she did have roles/jobs that had the word “education” in the title. In that respect, she is correct to claim that experience.
What smear. I think she’s what the Democrats need and I’m a fan. I said she works in education but I don’t think she’s an educator. I’d love to get smeared like that by my detractors.
You think I’m a drone? Wow, that sounds off the rails.
I’ve posted here before on and off but that’s neither here nor there.
You too are entitled to your opinion as well. No skin off my back.
She’s not an educator, but she supports public education. She was one of the first Democrats to applaud striking teachers. She is in a position to make a difference, and this is a great opportunity to exchange ideas with her. Wonderful news!
To zamanskym:
You do not confirm who you are in this educational forum.
You do not realize that the majority of veteran educators and all conscientious readers who have more than one degree in Bachelor of Art or Science, plus Master Degree.
We do not need to be a teacher to be named as EDUCATOR. In other word, those “teaching” Degree, from Eli Broad institution or from NOT NATIONAL CERTIFIED TEACHING DEGREE, “CANNOT BE QUALIFIED” to be called educator.
So, are you the one with that typical NOT NATIONAL CERTIFIED Degree?
Please pay attention to each word from Guru Master veteran Teacher
Lloyd Lofthouse who is generously cultivating your narrow mindset with a gentle suggestion which we all agree with him that you are paid to smear our Angel AOC. Shame on you! Back2basic
I want to add this list: jobs for educators
What are some careers in education?
An education degree is an excellent starting point for the following careers, although many do require additional training.
What are the best jobs in education?
Top 10 Highest Paying Jobs in Education
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=a+list+of+jobs+in+public+education
All of the people who had these jobs and worked in education can call themselves educators — not just classroom teachers.
I am stunned at these responses to Zamansky. These are really over the top critical and seemed to have missed a perfectly reasonable point that Zamansky was making.
(By the way, I have been reading this blog long enough to know that Zamansky was a long-time teacher in a well-known NYC public school.)
Too many people in the education reform business whose goal is to destroy public education claim the mantle of “educator” in an attempt to mislead the public that they have direct experience in schools and know all there is to know about them.
I almost never see Diane Ravitch refer to herself an “educator”. On this blog she is a “historian of education”. Of course one could identify her as an “educator” but there is nothing wrong with someone talking about what most people think of when they hear the term “educator” — someone who teaches a classroom of students.
I thought zamansky’s post made it clear from the very beginning that he is a big fan of AOC. Trying to reserve the word “educator” for people who directly teach students (and by that I mean more than one year in Teach for America) does not seem all that unreasonable.
NYCPSP, you will never see me giving advice on how to teach. That’s above my pay grade.
^^^I should add that I’d include principals in there, too, and perhaps some other jobs.
But “education consultant”? I know parents who pay a lot of money to people who identify themselves as “education consultants” who help their children get into private schools or colleges. I don’t have a problem with them calling themselves “education consultants” but I would not call them “educators”. I believe it is perfectly reasonable for someone to say “let’s reserve that term for people who actually are involved in teaching students in school settings.”
I would not use “educator” to describe an SAT prep tutor who is hired to come to affluent teenager’s homes to prep them for the SAT. Other people may believe those people should be called “educators”. But I would object if they were highly critical of me for my opinion that using “educator” to describe a recent college grad who gets $100/hour to tutor a kid for a standardized test was a sign that I was a troll.
Will it be livestreamed?
I hope it will be videotaped.
Me, too, Diane! So glad you are speaking. So glad this is being done. Good for AOC. And yes, she can dance!
Two great and courageous advocates for our public school system and other progressive causes. I love it and many thanks!
I’m so glad that you are participating in this.
I hope you will make it clear to AOC that there is no such thing as a “public charter school” — a term used all too frequently (and wrongly) by Democrat and progressive politicians that makes it impossible to have a proper discussion of education issues and the move to privatize public education.
I hope you will ask AOC to keep mentioning the NAACP’s moratorium on charters and encourage her to keep criticizing the Democrats who insist that it is fine to ignore the NAACP’s call for a moratorium because they support those “high performing” charters that exclude lots of severely disadvantaged or special needs children who then disproportionately fill public schools seats.
I have heard far too many Democrats insist that they “only” support “high-performing public charters” — or I hear people like Bernie Sanders referring to “public charters”. AOC is so good at calling out that deceptive language for other issues and she would do a huge service to those of us who believe in public education if her support led to changing that deceptive language that charter supporters use and that Democrats and even progressive Independents ignorantly (or intentionally) repeat.
I hope you get the opportunity to remind AOC that the longitudinal attrition rate of “high performing charters” is one of the most hidden secrets in the charter movement. It’s possible that as a relatively recent college grad, AOC knows that there is a Common Data Set for colleges and universities where colleges have to report how many of their entering freshmen graduated four years later and cannot fudge those numbers by including transfer students who come in later to replace students who leave. If AOC realized that charter schools absolutely refuse to make public the kinds of attrition data that is most useful for parents enrolling their kids — whether their entering child is likely to be at the school 4 or 5 years later successfully moving along with the cohort they started with — perhaps AOC would start publicly questioning why the charters are so desperate to hide the very same data about retention and progression rates that colleges provide.
We need a Common Data Set for charter schools for the last 10 years. The information is obviously available but the overseers of charter schools act as if such information is “proprietary”. Can you imagine a college or university refusing to make public how many of their entering freshmen graduated 4 years later the way charters say that they don’t have to provide that?
How many of the entering Kindergarten students in charters progress to third grade with their cohort and how many progress to 4th and 5th grade with their cohort. I hope AOC will ask other Democrats and Independents who support “high performing” charters why they believe that information should be kept hidden from parents.
This is so freaking awesome.
Hi NYC public school parent:
The truth is that if I admire a certain person, I will have all good and best INFO about that person. Yet, if I am that close and respectful to that person, I will answer them with my honest experience in a private meeting, NOT in public so that bad people cannot twist my honest idea to SMEAR that adorable and innocent person.
In short, in all circumstances, the wise EDUCATOR only say the best to any adorable person/student/other teacher…and definitely stay away or keep quiet about people’s innocent and NOT SERIOUS mistakes in their youth. Most of all, being Educators, we must be cautious and must prevent all opponents to attack our admiring AOC by twisting our own comments into a smeared comment in public. Back2basic