The following article from The Texas Observer was posted by the Texas Observer. Journalist Josephine Lee reports that teachers are under pressure to pledge their support for the sweeping plans of Broad-trained Superintendent Mike Miles. Miles was appointed city superintendent by the State Commissioner Mike Morath. Neither is an educator.
Houston is the site of yet another doomed takeover of a local school district by an anti-public ed activist with little real education expertise.
Mike Miles has a vision of a district that is narrow and meager, a system where teachers read from scripts developed by a charter chain that Mile happens to own. New schedules. New job assignments.
Miles insists that Houston teachers are excited, that Houston parents are pumped. But reporter Josephine Lee went out and actually talked to them, and–surprise–it appears that Miles is blowing smoke.
“Our hours will change. Our schedules will change. Our curriculum will change. But we have no input in it,” said Michelle Collins, a teacher at DeZavala Elementary School. “Neither do parents.”
Texas requires a shared decision making committee that includes all stakeholders. Miles appears to be ignoring that.
While Miles has publicly asked principals to obtain school input, SDMC committee members from five schools in the program confirmed with the Observer that they never met to discuss the issue. SDMC members and teachers from other schools reported that even when they did meet, they did not have a vote in the decision. One teacher said their staff voted not to opt in, but then later saw their school’s name included in the list of 57 schools in the news.
In an audio recording of Wainwright Elementary School’s SDMC meeting held July 10 and shared with the Observer, Principal Michelle Lewis told committee members, “If you’re not willing to dive in and do this with us, then this is not the campus for you.” No teacher representatives attended the meeting.
Revere Middle School Principal Gerardo Medina did not consult with the school’s SDMC committee or with teachers. In lieu of discussion, he sent out an email on June 29 to campus employees informing them of his decision to join Miles’ NES-aligned program.
“If you decide this is not something you want to commit to, you will be allowed to transfer,” Medina wrote.
This gave teachers only a few days before this Friday to decide if they want to continue to work within the district. To avoid losing their state teaching certification, they have up to 45 days before the first day of school to withdraw from their contract.
Meanwhile, Houston doesn’t have enough teachers to fill the openings it has.
State takeovers virtually never work. This deep dive lets us see the Houston takeover start to unravel from the beginning. Read the full article here.
You can view the post at this link : https://networkforpubliceducation.org/blog-content/josephine-lee-teachers-strong-armed-to-get-on-board-with-houston-schools-takeover/
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“But we have no input in it. . . . Neither do parents.”
“One teacher said their staff voted not to opt in, but then later saw their school’s name included in the list of 57 schools in the news.”
Utterly eliminate teacher authority and autonomy. Micromanage them. Then, when your magic elixir fails miserably, fail upward to an even more remunerative position in an even larger district across the country.
–from “Is Becoming an Ed Deformer Right for You? Notes on the Career Path,” by Toady Ing Hucksterbee.
[[Noting my sarcasm in advance]]
Those teachers can’t say a voted wasn’t taken.
You’ve nailed Ed Deform, Bob.
One of the worst events in American education is the intrusion of the corporate know nothings and and their political sycophants that do their bidding. The goal is not to improve education. The goal is to reduce costs and commodify our young people to create streams of revenue for wealthy special interests. Shame on all the politicians that take the money and look the other way!
retired teacher,
👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
So AGREE. “The corporate know nothings and their policy sycophants that do their bidding”…are CORRUPT to the CORE. They don’t care a wit, and their pocketbooks grow.
Mike Miles is another person I am adding to my growing list of Fascist. Such as Trump, DeSantis, Abbott, etc., etc., etc. I am positive Miles and Abbott are buddies and like minded when controlling want people think, say and do on a daily basis.
The take over of schools and the minds of the young was one of the first steps in controlling the German population in the 1920s and 30s.
In both Florida and Texas cronyism is rampant. Good ‘ole boys get installed in positions of influence and power.
Eugene Grant,
Mike Miles is that kind of guy. When he arrived in Dallas, he laid out his goals. One of them was that as of a date certain, 80% of district employees would embrace his goals.
Thought control?
Mind, Soul, and Body Control For me, this better describes what people like Miles is all about. They have to totally own a person or group of people or they are not satisfied. If they do not own you, they will destroy you if they can.
From Heather Cox: “And that is the fundamental story of this curriculum: nonwhite Americans and women “contribute” to a country established and controlled by white men, but they do not shape it themselves.”
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-22-2023?utm_source=substack&publication_id=20533&post_id=135369253&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true
From Dan Rather: “Teach the Truth”
https://steady.substack.com/p/teach-the-truth?utm_source=substack&publication_id=247881&post_id=135361839&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true