Make a contribution to the Brady Center, which works against guns and the NRA.
Gun advocates think he answer is that everyone should pack a weapon. They want armed teachers and principals. Shoot outs in school.
How about if no one had a gun except law officers?
Give a gift to the Brady Center to honor those you love and to honor those who died in Newtown, the babies and their teachers and principal.
As readers of the blog know, I posted a tribute yesterday to “The Hero Teachers of Newtown.”
Soon after, the vice-president of Teach for America responded with outrage on Twitter and said that the post was “reprehensible” and should be retracted. I had no idea what he was offended by, but not long after I received many Tweets and comments on the blog from his followers, chastising me for daring to….well, I am not sure why they were upset. Some thought I slandered TFA, though the post didn’t mention TFA. Some thought I slandered non-union teachers, because I praised the Sandy Hook teachers and said they belonged to a union. Some alleged that I politicized the massacre by acknowledging (as many others have) that teachers have been demonized for at least the past two-three years in the media and by politicians, who blame them (and their unions and their right to due process) for low test scores. Sandy Hook demonstrated the falsehood at the core of that narrative. Why TFA decided to turn it into a cause célèbre, I do not know. But as I told one of the complainers earlier today, “Don’t be defensive. It’s not about you.”
I was pleased to receive this comment from Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union:
Diane, et. al.
I have read these posts (alas I do not do Twitter), and I am struck by the lack of authenticity by the Rosenberg comment. Diane has been at the forefront of the desire to lift up the beleaguered profession of teaching in each and every post. She has drawn the connections between people who wouldn’t think of sending their children to public schools and their policies that are destroying the common good. Anyone who doesn’t know that in the marrow of their bones, doesn’t read her blog.
On the other, the educrats who do not agree with her, read her posts, too so as to keep abreast of her thoughts and are ready to pounce if they see an opening. There might have been a time where “politicizing” tragic events, especially mass shootings was thought to be in poor taste. That has changed with the 24/7 news cycle that continues to focus far too much time and energy on the perpetrator of the massacre than that of our precious victims. Rosenberg’s “false outrage” needs to be checked. That same false outrage should show itself when policies his colleagues support kill and disenfranchise children from schools across this nation. We in Chicago have been the victims of their experiments on our children since the current secretary of Education “ran” CPS.
The accolades heaped on a group of education missionaries, (hopefully with beautiful intent on the part of the TFA teachers) cannot go unchallenged. Diane does that. Day in and day out, she champions rank and file educators and the hard work they do. She has a special place in heart for those who see the value of the classroom and not as stepping stone to a more lucrative career or the opportunism of self-promoters like Michelle Rhee who, with her lies about her own classroom experience has catapulted herself into the welcoming arms of those who hate unions, tenure and anything else that provides due process and gives teachers real voice.
To David Rosenberg, Shanda! Shame on you for such a paranoid rant. If you had nothing of which to be guilty, those words would have rolled off your back.
To Diane – Keep speaking the truth!
Karen Lewis
Connecticut blogger and political consultant Jonathan Pelto points out that teachers are first responders.
He commends teachers for their daily dedication.
But he puts his reflections in the recent plague of teacher-bashing, which was in vogue until December 14. Pelto writes:
“….we’ve seen a growing trend in which politicians have used teachers as pawns or even scapegoats in a terrible game of political pandering and maneuvering. Unfair, inappropriate and mean-spirited verbal attacks on teachers and their unions have become commonplace.
“It wasn’t long ago that a Democratic state legislator in Rhode Island called teachers, “pigs at the public trough” during a hearing on public employee pension reform, despite the fact that it is federal law that requires that states have public teacher pension programs, and it is federal law that prohibits teachers from participating in social security, meaning those mandated state pensions are their only direct mechanism for retirement payments.
“Meanwhile, Republican Governor Chris Christie’s mean-spirited attacks on New Jersey’s teachers have become legendary.
“Sadly, earlier this year, as a way to build support for his education reform proposal, even our own Governor, Dannel Malloy, claimed that all a teacher need do is “show up for four years” to be given tenure, when nothing could be further from the truth.
“Malloy’s comment was not unlike the one made by Republican wing-nut, Governor Bobby Jindal, who said – during the very same month, when Jindal introduced his own education reform bill – that getting tenure was nothing more than a “reward” for a teacher based on “the length of time they have been breathing.”
Pelto goes on to write about he heroic teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who worked very hard for their pay. They were not paid for breathing r for showing up.
It makes you wonder whether Sandy Hook will put an end to this era of low and disgraceful attacks on educators. Will elected officials feel ashamed now to say such insulting things about teachers just like Vicki Soto, Anne Marie Murphy, Dawn Hochsprung, Lauren Rousseau, Rachel D’Avino, Mary Sherlach, and the thousands and millions of educators like them?
Last night I posted a tribute to “The Hero Teachers of Newtown,” briefly describing each of them , noting that they were members of a union, they were career educators, and that the attacks on career educators and unions should stop.
Shortly after, a TFA officer demanded on Twitter that I retract the post, calling it reprehensible.
I was baffled. The post made no reference to TFA.
Someone then wrote on the blog that I was casting aspersion on non-union teachers, which I was not. I was called many names for using this occasion to call for an end to the relentless attacks on dedicated career educators.
Here, Jersey Jazzman explains what happened.
I doubt that I would ever have the amazing courage of the educators of Newtown, but this much I can say for sure. I will not be intimidated by tweets.
A veteran teacher in Pittsburgh explains what she does every day to serve and protect her students. She is a special education teacher.
Looking at the courage of the Newtown teachers, she sees in them the ethos that career educators share: we protect our students.
She writes: “Yet these same teachers are members of a profession that is increasingly being attacked for what we don’t do, for how much money we make, for how powerful some of our unions have come to be. After the dreadful tragedy in Newtown, it is time to reestablish our faith in our nation’s teachers.
“We need to remind ourselves why teachers do what they do, how they care for our children, how they are co-guarantors, along with parents, of our future. Far beyond instruction, fidelity to curriculum, Common Core State Standards and the like are the daily challenges of teaching children who come to school with a limitless supply of problems and struggles.”
The policymakers seem to have lost sight of the multiple roles that teachers assume in the lives of children and look only at test scores. “The press, public, legislators, government officials and those ever-important tests often seem to reduce teaching to standardized exams, using test data to drive instruction and then judging teachers based on how their students performed on one test on one day. It doesn’t matter if students have a bad morning, or were exhausted, or had a family crisis the night before or couldn’t read the test because of a learning disability.”
The teacher hopes that after Newtown, the public will have a deeper understanding of the challenges faced daily by teachers.
StudentsFirst has decided to remain neutral on a bill just passed by the Michigan legislature to allow concealed guns in schools.
Most of the candidates supported by StudentsFirst in the recent election voted for the legislation.
“Asked about its stance, StudentsFirst spokeswoman Ileana Wachtel said, ‘StudentsFirst believes that schools have to be a safe haven for kids. It is incumbent upon our elected officials to ensure that every single child is protected, particularly those under the care and direction of our public schools.'”
Most of the legislators supported by Michelle Rhee’s group are far-right Republicans. Their idea of making schools safe is to make sure that the principals and teachers are carrying guns.
Where will they keep them? In a holster at their waist? Locked in a drawer? Strapped to their ankles?
But wait! The intruder in Newtown had an assault weapon, a semi-automatic that fired six bullets a second. Shouldn’t principals, custodians, security guards, and teachers have the same weapons? This sets the stage for universal home-schooling, where of course every family would be suitably armed to prevent home invasions.
How crazy can we be?
What happens in a society when no one trusts anyone les?
What kind of world do you want to live in?
Mike Huckabee said that the murderous spree at Sandy Hook Elementary School happened because we have “systematically removed God” from the schools.
So, let me get this right: If the children had been praying every day in school, the killer would never have entered the building?
I don’t follow the logic.
Public figures should get their facts right before they sound off.
Eclectablog reports that the lame duck legislature in Michigan was set to pass a bill legalizing people to carry concealed weapons in schools, churches and elsewhere. But the shooting in Connecticut brought a pause. Apparently some of the gun zealots think that if principals and teachers were armed, they could have had a firefight in the school.
Others think it would be best to keep high powered weapons out of the hands of everyone but the police and military.
UPDATE: ACCORDING TO A REPORT FROM A READER (SEE BELOW), THE LEGISLATION HAS PASSED AND IS GOING TO THE GOVERNOR FOR HIS SIGNATURE.
Dawn Hochsprung was beloved by her family, her staff and her students.
Now she is beloved by the nation and beyond.
Here is an interview with her husband and five of her six daughters.
She gave her life to save others.
She loved teaching and learning and wanted her students to love learning.
She kept abreast of current national issues.
We know that from her Twitter feed.
She retweeted articles about Joshua Starr, the Montgomery County (Md.) superintendent who opposed high-stakes testing and opposed evaluating teachers by student test scores.
I am proud that she was one of my Twitter followers; she followed only 70 people.
She was devoted to her family, her students, her school.
She died protecting others.
She was a great hero.
We should all keep her memory in our hearts forever.
This much is clear: the teachers and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School reacted with astonishing courage to the unthinkable, the terrifying intrusion of a man intent on murdering them and their students. With no thought of their own safety, they defended their children..
Everyone of them is a hero, those who died and those who survived.
Six of them died protecting the children.
We don’t know the names of the survivors, but we know who made the ultimate sacrifice. For their courage and selflessness, they are heroes of American education.
The principal, Dawn Hochsprung, 47, and the school psychologist, Mary Sherlach, 52, ran towards the intruder to try to stop him. They both were killed.
The killer went in search of defenseless babies and teachers. The teachers heard the gunfire, tried to hide their children, hid them in closets and cabinets.
Vicki Soto, 27, put herself between the killer and her children. He killed her. Somehow some of them escaped. Six ran to a nearby house. They told the surprised homeowner,, “We can’t go back to our school. Our teacher is dead. We don’t have a teacher.”
Anne Marie Murphy, 52, was a special education teacher who was devoted to the children she taught. When her body was found, little Dylan Hockley was in her arms.
Rachel D’Avino was a new teacher, who was getting her doctorate in special education. She was a behavioral analyst. Her boyfriend planned to ask her to marry him during the Christmas holiday. Like the other teachers, she died shielding students.
Lauren Rousseau, 30, had joined the faculty in November. She was thrilled. All her life, her mother later said, she wanted to be a teacher.
Every one of the teachers was a career educator. Every one was doing exactly what she wanted to do. They’ve worked in a school that was not obsessed with testing but with the needs of children. This we know: the staff at Sandy Hook loved their students. They put their students first, even before their own lives.
Oh, and one other thing, all these dedicated teachers belonged to a union. The senior teachers had tenure, despite the fact that “reformers” (led by ConnCAN, StudentsFirst, and hedge fund managers) did their best last spring to diminish their tenure and to tie their evaluations to test scores. Governor Malloy said, memorably, to his shame, that teachers get tenure just for showing up. No one at Sandy Hook was just “showing up.”
Governor Dannell Malloy has led the effort in his state to expand charter schools and high-stakes testing. He appointed a state commissioner of education who co-founded a charter chain. He said, memorably, that he didn’t care how much test prep there was so long as scores go up. Sandy Hook is not that kind of school.
Let us hope Governor Malloy learned something these past few days about the role of public schools in their communities.
Newtown does not need a charter school. What it needs now is healing. Not competition, not division, but a community coming together to help one another. Together. Not competing.
Diane Ravitch's blog 