This is a link to an article on Leonie Haimson’s blog that describes the public school parents’ rally on the steps of City Hall.
You will see a photo of a parent holding up a handmade sign: “MY CHILD IS NOT YOUR CUSTOMER.”
There is a post and a video. The post begins:
This afternoon, in front of the NYC Department of Education headquarters, NYC public school parents told Mayor de Blasio to stop bowing to the charter school lobby and halt the practice of giving charters access to student personal information to market their schools. Instead, they said, he should listen to parents’ concerns, stop violating their children’s privacy, and cease this practice, which by helping charters expand, causes the loss of funding and space from our public schools.
In recent weeks, Chancellor Carranza has repeatedly promised parent leaders, both publicly and privately, that this practice would be discontinued, but the Mayor has yet to make a commitment to do so, and in the last few days he has said that he has not yet made a decision.
Said Johanna Garcia, public school parent and President of Community Education Council in District 6 in Upper Manhattan: “It is unconscionable that this practice continues. For more than a decade, parents and advocates have complained to DOE about the privacy violations incurred by allowing charters to access our children’s personal information without our consent. I filed a FERPA complaint to the US Department of Education about this practice in November 2017. Moreover, I am not aware of another school district in the country that voluntarily makes this information available to charter schools and undermines our public schools in the process.”
NeQuan McLean, co- chair of the Education Council Consortium and the President of Community Education Council in District 16 Brooklyn said: “My mailbox is continually flooded with deceptive promotional materials from charter schools. As a result of expensive marketing campaigns and the damaging co-location policies of the DOE, my district has been overrun by charters. The Mayor repeatedly says he listens to parents; we are saying loudly and clearly that he should end this practice now.”
“Not only is personal student information unnecessary for appropriate marketing, providing access to it is an unacceptable violation of student privacy,” said Mark Cannizzaro, president of the Counselor of School Supervisors and Administrators.
Shino Tanikawa, the co-chair of the ECC and a member of NYC Kids PAC, agreed: “For years, DOE has ignored parents’ complaints about this practice, which started in 2006 when Joel Klein agreed to help Success Academy charter schools expand their “market share” as Eva Moskowitz put it in an email. The result is that this year, more than two billion dollars has been diverted from our public schools. Why should our supposedly progressive Mayor continue this practice, when he promised parents he would defend our public schools in the face of charter encroachment? “
Please note that the parents were not wearing matching T-shirts. Their children were not let out of school for the rally. They paid their own way to the rally.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“Why should our supposedly progressive Mayor continue this practice, when he promised parents he would defend our public schools in the face of charter encroachment?” says pres of Education Council Consortium, correctly pinning the tail on the donkey. Privatization of public services is not progressive. It is neoliberal. Think Milton Friedman. It’s the cuckoo’s egg in the Democrat nest.
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In 2010, the Massachusetts legislature passed “An Act Relative to the Achievement Gap”, which expanded the charter industry in the state. Marty Walz, the representative who sponsored the bill, now works as an advocate for DFER.
One of the gains made by the charteristas was access to student data, which the public schools now spend time gathering. In Boston at the beginning of the school year, parents are asked to sign off on various policies: field trips, use of photos, military recruitment (a part of the Patriot Act), computer use. Some are opt-in, others are opt-out, which makes for a confusing process. Older kids often sign these on their own, without parent oversight. One of these is sharing personal data with charters, which is by default an opt in process.
The rationale in the law was that charters were unable to reflect the demographics of the communities in which they were located because they needed better access to recruit more equitably. Nine years on, the demographics of the charters still don’t match.
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Getting ahold of data on children is what deform is all about.
Data equates to future profits, whether it be for charter schools, for textbook companies, for software companies producing curriculum software or for testing companies.
Not incidentally, getting data on people is also what companies like Fakebook, Google and Amazon are about, so it’s no surprise that some of the same actors appear on the stage in different plays.
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“Chancellor Carranza has repeatedly promised parent leaders, both publicly and privately, that this practice would be discontinued, but the Mayor has yet to make a commitment to do so, and in the last few days he has said that he has not yet made a decision. ”
Why does the NY Mayor believe he is the Decider(TM) of the issue rather than the parents of individual students?
Isn’t FERPA applicable in this case?
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If you think NYC public school parents hate charter industry mailer brochures, watch what they do to Eva’s live people when Eva’s paid shills lurk like child molestors outside schools accosting students and parents as those parents & students, attempting to poach those students/parents, and have them transfer to Success Academy..
A few years ago, someone whipped out their cellphone and captured such a confrontation, then posted it on YouTube, where it thankfully still survives.
Over the years, II’ve been posting this riveting video here on the Ravitch blog, one showing pro-public-school parents confronting a shill — proselytizing for Eva Moskowitz’ SUCCESS ACADEMY — who accosts parents and children as the enter and leave their public school, P.S. 261. I even discovered the on-line job listing for the job that this “Shill-Meister” is doing. Please indulge as a I post some of this here:
==============
Eva from Success Academy has the audacity to send her winged monkey recruiters to lurk outside traditional public schools — some of them upscale, well-regarded schools with top-notch faculty — and accost parents bringing their kids to school. They then tell them every lie, scare tactic, and phony promise they can, to get contact info, so they can poach these students.
There’s a great video of public school parents and students at a more upscale part of New York City confronting one of Eva’s Shill-misters (the crowd calls him “charter school flyer man”, since he hands out flyers. The recruiter appears to be losing an argument to what looks like a 4th or 5th grader (which I guess is a credit to the school that it produces such brilliant students who can debate off-the-cuff with adults like that.) A renown teacher, Jamie Fidler, is in this debate as well.
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 00:29 – 1:22 )
( 00:29 – 1:22 )
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: ‘So you don’t have to prove it when you say that it (Success Academy) is ‘the best elementary school in New York State’ ?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “No, I don’t have to prove it. I have- ”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “So how can you just rely on somebody’s word?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “Someone else rated it. I can’t* … I can’t re-run every experiment that’s done. I can’t re-run every rating system.“
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: *“No, but- *“
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I have to accept- ”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “Can you each time just research people who says who your quoting pro-noy(?) ?”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “Boy, everything I say -?”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: (to the CHILD) “Yeah… That is SUCH a GOOD point.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “So everything I run into. .. I can’t… I have to … I can’t just accept an outside expert’s … conclusion?”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “Well, if you make a statement like it (Success Academy) is ‘the best school in the state’, you kinda need to be able to back it up with SOMETHING.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I’m repeating… Yes, and they-“
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “You can’t even tell us WHO is saying this (i.e. Success Academy is “the best school in New York State.) You can’t even tell us WHERE YOU GOT THAT, or where it can be found?!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I assume if you went to the web, and googled what I just said, you can come up with the report, which you could criticize yourself.”
PUBLIC SCHOOL CHILD: “But you DON’T EVEN KNOW WHO DID that report.“
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I have NOT read that report.”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “I mean I could say that Rick Santorum is best candidate for president, but that doesn’t mean it’s true. Right? So, you know -”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER:* “But, but you’re saying that an opinion* -“
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “* “If you’re making an assertion, you need to have SOMETHING* – You need to be able just- “
VIDEO CUTS OUT
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
More on the next post.
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Oh and again, here’s Jamie Fidler — a career teacher, like her father, who plans to be teaching for decades— on a talk show refuting the propaganda vilifying career unionized teachers:
Oh, and don’t forget the end of the “mic check” that sent Eva’s Shill-meister running for the warm comforting bosom of Lady Eva:
(By the way, the parents and students refer to “EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER” as “charter school flyer-man, as he’s handing out flyers.
x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 2:11 – 2:46 )
( 2:11 – 2:46 )
Mic Check Leader: “.. told this charter school flier-man. .. ”
CROWD: ” … TOLD THIS CHARTER SCHOOL FLIER-MAN … ”
..
Mic Check Leader: “.. that he should NOT be soliciting … ”
CROWD: “THAT HE SHOULD NOT BE SOLICITING … ”
Mic Check Leader: ” … in front of OUR public school.’
CROWD: ” … IN FRONT OF OUR PUBLIC SCHOOL!”
Mic Check Leader: “Our students …
CROWD: “OUR STUDENTS …
Mic Check Leader: ” … have told you that also!”
CROWD: ” … HAVE TOLD YOU THAT ALSO!”
Mic Check Leader: ” … and now these cameras.. ”
CROWD: ” AND NOW THESE CAMERAS … ”
Mic Check Leader: ” … are here to help us tell our story.”
CROWD: ” … ARE HERE TO HELP US TELL OUR STORY.”
Mic Check Leader: “.. mic check!”
CROWD: ”* MIC CHECK!”*
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EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “What’s wrong with solicitation?”
ANOTHER PARENT: “Children are NOT commodities!”
— public school PARENT telling off one of Eva Moskowitz’ shills who stands outsidide accosting parents as they pick up and/or drop off their students ad P.S. 261
————————————-
That two-line exchange sums up the market-based school reform.
Here’s PART 2 of the parents, teachers, and kids confronting Eva’s Shill-Meister.
First, here’s the title card, which I have transcribed here:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
( 2:46 – 2:57 )
( 2:46 – 2:57 )
TITLE CRAWL:
“Teachers at P.S. 261 said that they first tried asking the man handing out fliers to leave, but to no effect. Then on Thursday, parents, teachers, and students gathered in front of the school to confront him and ask why the Success Acadeny school was superior to their own.
“The conversation did not go well — he was hired to hand out fliers, not to defend the school’s existence — but it energized the parents and teachers.
” ‘We can still fight in our little ways.,’ Ms. Fidler said.”
( 2:58 – 3:51 )
( 2:58 – 3:51 )
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I didn’t make the rating (that he claims says that Success Academy is ‘the best elementary school in the state.’) Someone ELSE did.”
ASIAN PARENT: “You don’t even know his name (the name of the guy who made the rating).”
TEACHER/PARENT JAMIE FIDLER: “Look, the point is .. is that we have no reason to believe you.”
OTHER PARENT: ‘“You’re passing out fliers for something you don’t know about. That’s kind of embarrassing.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: *“Well then it would be my expert *(?).”
OTHER PARENT:* ‘Would I ever stand out on a corner and hand out fliers with something that I know NOTHING about? ‘That’s kind of like despic-* * That’s like DECEIVING to the people to whom you’re handing out literature.””*
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t know NOTHING about it. I know that the students do well in (Success Academy) schools.”
ASIAN PARENT: “I’m sorry, but the students to well in OUR school as well.“
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (sarcastic) “That’s terrific.”
ASIAN PARENT: “So there is NO REASON why you should be POACHING OUR STUDENTS! ”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (sarcastic) “I’m, I’m…* totally in favor of GOOD SCHOOLS.”*
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation! It’s like anybody who’s trying to SELL A CAR!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “What’s wrong with solicitation?”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation.”
OTHER PARENT: “”Children are NOT commodities!”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation!”
— (mimicking EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER)
” ‘Would you like to apply to our school?’ as you have a flier in your hand.
It’s a solicitation!”
OFF-CAMERA PARENT: “When we can’t even afford copy paper!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t see anything wrong with solicitation.”
PARENT: “Exactly!”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “What’s wrong with solicitation?”
ANOTHER PARENT: “Children are NOT commodities!”
ASIAN PARENT: “This is solicitation.”
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: (to ASIAN PARENT) “I don’t see anything wrong with solicitation.”
TEACHER: “We don’t have any of that paper (pointing to SHILL-MEISTER’s solicitation fliers) in our school, and you want to know WHY? Because we don’t have the budget for it. But if we had a multi-million-dollar (advertising)* budget that was funded by Wall Street and hedgefunds as they* (Success Academy) have and are, then maybe we can have them (public school’s version shill-meisters) out there (at charter schools.) You’re talking about here’s like competition, like you’re the best choice when that playing field not really even.”
VIDEO CUTS OFF
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I really find this video …
… so disturbing on so many levels.
I know Eva’s shills have a Constitutional right to be there and talk to people… you know… the whole concept of freedom of speech in a public space, and all o’ that, but shouldn’t the space outside a school — where parents escort their children on the way to and from school — be off-limits to this bullsh#%? Shouldn’t parents and students be free from this type of high-pressure sales and marketing? Has Eva no freakin’ shame?
It should be like the area where people traverse to and from a church, synagogue, mosque, or whatever place of worship. For example, do Christians — the ones who aren’t psycho fundamentalists, that is — hang outside a synagogue or mosque, and harass people as they enter or exit,:
“Your place of worship sucks. Your religion is all a total lie. Come on over to our place of worship, and find out all about Jesus, and how he died for your sins”?
Or perhaps religious competition within Christianity — of within the same denomination of Christianity — would be a better comparison. Would Baptists hang out and bother Catholics as they enter or leave a Catholic church, in an attempt to lure them away from their current place of worship?
Or do Catholics representing one parish annoy those entering a different Catholic church of a neighboring parish.
“Hey, our church Blessed Sacrament Church is so much better, or more true to Catholicism than your lousy, mediocre church, St. John’s. Our priests are so much holier, and that leads to our parishioners lead more Godly and holy lives. Here, take this flier, then come on over and hear what we have to offer.”
The other thing that hit me:
Could you imagine of parents or representatives of P.S. 261 fought fire with fire, and then showed up outside Success Academy Cobble Hill (or whatever Success Academy hired Eva’s Shill-meister to bother parents outside P.S. 261), and then engaged in the same high-pressure proselytizing?”
Imagine them passing out fliers Success Academy parents and students, and saying stuff like:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Almost all of your kids’ teachers at Success Academy are totally unlicensed and uncredentialed. Come over to P.S. 261, and your children will not only be taught by fully credentialed teachers, but many of those teachers are National Board Certified, and are highly acclaimed.”
OR
“Don’t let those claims of high test scores mislead you.
“Your students are being turned into ‘little test-taking machines’, as one Success Academy executive bragged to NEW YORK MAGAZINE, because Eva and her untrained staff are giving children the educational equivalent of steroids, in the form of massive, toxic test prep — hours each day as the days for testing approaches — which, in turn, results in a narrowed curriculum devoid of anything creative — the arts, P.E., music, dance, critical thinking, creative thinking … again, all to achieve these worthless high test scores, scores that in the long run don’t mean a damn thing in terms of a child’s long-term success in school, or in life.”
OR
“Check out this video *… (projecting the Charlotte Dial “rip-and-redo” video on a portable laptop, then showing it to the parents)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzWicLyDTkw
*“This callous b-word of a teacher, Charlotte Dial *— *and almost all Success Academy teachers — have never been licensed or credentialed in any state. She’s following Eva’s bogus, untested, and abusive teaching techniques that involve abuse and humiliation of children as young as four… as, incredibly, this is what Eva & Co. believe is the proper way to educate children, the same stuff that educational experts have studied and universally condemned.
“Come over to our school P.S. 281, and spare your child from such despicable educational malpractice!?”
OR
“Also, come over to P.S. 261, and your children won’t have to wear those godawful orange and navy blue Success Academy uniforms, those ugly duds that Eva makes you pay L.L. Bean through the nose for, and which Eva probably gets a taste of the sales. Your kids can wear whatever he or she wants, expressing their individuality through their wardrobe — among other avenues of self-expression — …* just like Success Academy Board of Director Campbell Brown’s kids get to do at the rich kids’ private school, Heschel, that her own kids attend. This school’s run by hypocrites. Leave it, and come over to P.S. 261*”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
First of all, unlike Eva and her minions, the folks at P.S. 261 — BOTH the parents or those who work there — have too much class and too much concern for the harmful impact such outrageous shilling would have on the SUCCESS ACADEMY children to ever go and lower themselves into the same goopy, gunky slime that Eva and her Shill-Meisters inhabit, and thus engage in this type of activity, with a total disregard for the well-being of the children involved.
But just for sake of argument, what if this did happen?
Eva would use her pull in NYC city government, and those parents or school representatives would end up in handcuffs, with Eva and her connections within government and the police working out beforehand some underhanded way to trump up some bogus charges for which to arrest them.
Yet, Eva sees no problem with Success Academy folks doing the same thing at traditional public schools.
My mother, now retired, was a 50-year career teacher — 35 years full-time, then another 15 subbing until she couldn’t do it anymore.
I told her about this situation captured in the video — high-pressure salesmen accosting parents, attempting to get them to switch to a privately managed school — and she absolutely cannot believe what I’m saying.
Now, in her 80’s, she started teaching when Harry Truman was still President — Fall 1952 — and she can’t believe that what Eva’s Shill-meister in the above video is permitted, or that Eva and he doing it believe that they are “the good guys” in this situation. She thinks the whole competition between schools over children — like Burger King trying to steal away McDonald’s customers — is crazy as a soup sandwich, and will lead to a disaster of epic proportions.
“What’s wrong with solicitation?” Shill-meister asks.
Sweet Jesus!
Here’a good comment on this video
———————————–
Michael Fiorillo
September 23, 2016 at 3:03 pm
Parents and teachers at these schools should surround these shills and harangue them until they leave; make it impossible for them to do their job, and show Evil Moskowitz there is aggressive pushback from the public school community to roll back her deceptive schemes.
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As promised, here’s the title of the actual Success Academy job — and the actual on-line job posting — that “Shill-Meister” was carrying out at Success Academy:
*“Community Organizer”
… which, after the poor slobs start working for Eva, quickly morphs into…
“Parent / Child Annoyer”
(as seen in this video)
… upon orders from Eva, of course.
Here’s the actual job posting: (since been taken down … it says 404 … but thankfully, I transcribed it for posterity)
https://www.themuse.com/jobs/successacademycharterschools/community-organizer-e3cff4utm_source=Indeed&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Job%20Individual&utm_campaign=NYC%20Jobs
It’s says that Eva’s looking for for someone who …
— has experience with “2+ years canvassing”, which is sort of what the guy was doing with his clipboard outside P.S. 261 in the video;
— reports “directly to the (S.A.) Associate Director of Enrollment” … enrollment, of course, meaning of course, the process of recruiting, or to be it better, “poaching” students to “enroll” in one of Eva’s schools;
— can “develop comprehensive outreach plans that carefully consider the needs of each community and fits into a larger Enrollment strategy” … which, translated, means come up with whatever sleazy tactic and slick pitch which or whatever that will lure students into enrolling in S.A. … again, accomplishing this by any means necessary;
— “enjoys collaboration and will work with Parent Engagement Managers to schedule, host and facilitate events and identify further opportunities to reach (i.e. recruit or poach”) prospective families”;
— “has a positive, ‘can do’ attitude and will identify opportunities to gain deeper insight into creating more efficient and streamlined processes” … whatever that last part means … faster, cheaper ways to lure in suckers, I guess.
Here’s full text:
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
“Community Organizer — Success Academy
“We are seeking a motivated, goal-oriented “Community Organizer” to create and maintain positive working relationships with community leaders and organizations on behalf of Success Academies. S/he is a self-starter committed to educational choice, education reform and the development of exemplary schools.
“Reporting directly to the Associate Director of Enrollment, our Community Organizer should be someone who…
” – Has 2+ years canvassing and organizing experience in political or issue campaigns;
“- Can develop comprehensive outreach plans that carefully consider the needs of each community and fits into a larger Enrollment strategy;
” – Is a skilled relationship builder that can identify community organizations and leaders to establish and nurture relationships to help build awareness of and partnerships with Success Academy;
” – Enjoys collaboration and will work with Parent Engagement Managers to schedule, host and facilitate events and identify further opportunities to reach prospective families;
” – Has a positive, ‘can do’ attitude and will identify opportunities to gain deeper insight into creating more efficient and streamlined processes; and
” –* Is fluent in English and Spanish.*
“To join our team, please upload a cover letter and resume that outlines your candidacy. Your cover letter should explain in detail your qualifications for the position. Resumes without cover letters will not be reviewed.”
x x x x x x x x x x x x x x
Keep in mind the money paid to these Shill-misters are your and my tax dollars, money coming from the majority parents and citizens. All polling says that this same overwhelming majority supports the survival of public education and support teachers as professionals, but in this instance, this overwhelming majority have no say in the way Eva is using this tax money for — to pay her salary, to fulfill her goals and to serve her motives which again, are anathema to what the public actually wants regarding education.
Those same parents and citizens may be firmly opposed to the privatization of public education via the expansion of Eva’s (and others’) privately-managed “public charter schools,” and who are also opposed to the de-professional-ization of teaching that goes hand-in-hand with this privatization of schools … as the less professional, less-trained, and less qualified “the help” is required to be, the less you have to pay them, and the more the bosses can pay themselves, and also, the more money they have on hand to these expand privately-managed charter schools.
That’s why I’m only semi-sympathetic to Shill-meister.
BOTTOM LINE: he’s just a hired shill, or a carnival barker trying to get suckers or marks to come in the tent where the more qualified and seasoned hucksters (Eva’s “Parent Engagement Managers”) then take over and try to close the sale…
… or perhaps he’s a hunter of humans; if you will, who will, per Eva’s orders, will bring in his catch of the day … in the form of signatures and contact information from strangers whom he Eva orders him to accost and annoy outside schools, or on playgrounds, or wherever parents will likely be hanging out.
At the end of the day, Shill-meister’s one and only commitment is merely to get paid — first, last and always — while, as to the negative long-term effect that the way he earns his living has on the future survival of democratically-governed and truly public education,
… OR …
… as to that harmful impact that his efforts have on the profession of teaching — turning teaching from a respected, decently-compensated profession such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. … and then degrading it to that of a low-level, poorly-compensated, dubiously-trained service job like fast food, office temping, retails sales, etc…..
… well, he couldn’t give two sh#%’s about ANY of that.
All he cares about is whether, after he does what he was hired for, Eva’s checks will clear.
Near the end of the video, he cluelessly opines:
( 3:24 – )
( 3:24 – )
EVA’S SHILL-MEISTER: “I don’t see any problem with solicitation… what’s wrong with solicitation?”
A lot, you money-motivated douchebag!
You know, as I re-wartch the video …
… it’s interesting to see how civil, calm and polite the parents are towards Eva’s Shill-Meister — way more than I would have been in that situation. The only one who shows a little anger is ASIAN PARENT at the very end, and, again she’s just demonstrating her understandable frustration at Shill-meiester’s inability to grasp why they object to what he’s doing.
“This is a solicitation! This is like someone SELLING A CAR!”
The off-camera ANOTHER PARENT put it best:
“Children are NOT commodities!”
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Wow, these are nine really long comments!
If I hadn’t written this before, I’d like to thank Jack for his lengthy & sourced comments.
You’re truly a wellspring of information, Jack. Thank you!
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You’re welcome.
I keep re-posting this so it can be shown to public school parents and teachers out here in Los Angeles, who, in turn, can respond like the parents are the video are, if and when such a situation arises.
Those who forget the past …and all that.
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