Archives for category: Florida
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DeVos Visits MSD High School, Angers Students, Walks Out on Her Own Press Conference

By dianeravitch
March 7, 2018 //
31

 

Gun Advocate Betsy DeVos did not get a warm welcome when she visited Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, this morning. Some students, like Emma Gonzalez, didn’t come to school. Others confronted her.

If she expected adulation and deference, she must have been disappointed.

“Her visit immediately sparked criticism and backlash from shooting survivors and advocates on social media.

“Do something unexpected: answer our questions,” Aly Sheehy tweeted at DeVos. “You came to our school just for publicity and avoided our questions for the 90 minutes you were actually here. How about you do your job?”

And this:

”She also told reporters she toured the school with student journalists, and vowed to return to sit down with them and further delve into the issues. The editor of the school’s newspaper “The Eagle Eye,” however, said DeVos “refused to even meet/speak with students…

”When further pressed on the issue of arming school staff, with questions surrounding training standards and student opposition to such a program, DeVos walked away from her podium and ended the press conference.”

 

Categories Betsy DeVos, Florida

Gun Advocate DeVos Makes Surprise Visit to MSD High School Today

By dianeravitch
March 7, 2018 //
43

 

Students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, were surprised to learn that gun advocate Betsy DeVos is visiting their school today.

Is she on a listening tour? Will she speak to the student leaders, who are leading the fight for gun control? Will she advise students to abandon MSD and transfer to a charter or a religious school? Will she urge teachers to carry arms?

Did it occur to her that the Trump administration is not exactly a symbol of reconciliation and solace for those who suffer?

Methinks she can learn more from the MSD community than they can learn from her.

Categories Betsy DeVos, Florida

Where Was the National Democratic Party During the West Virginia Teachers Strike?

By dianeravitch
March 6, 2018 //
82

 

An article in the Daily Beast asks the question that is the title of this post.

Another question: Where was President Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker stripped away collective bargaining, and union members encircled the State Capitol in protest? Answer: absent.

They did, however, find time in March 2011 to fly to Miami to join Jeb Bush in celebrating a “turnaround school” whose staff had been replaced. (A month later, the same high school was listed by the state as a “failing school” slated for closure, but the national media had moved on.)

Categories Bush, Jeb, Democrats, Duncan, Arne, Florida, Obama, Turnaround Schools, Unions, Walker, Scott, West Virginia

Florida: Senate Approves Bill to Punish Teachers’ Union

By dianeravitch
March 4, 2018 //
31

 

At a time when teachers in Parkland proved that they are braver than armed guards, the Florida Senate struck a blow at the union that represents the state’s teachers. One senses the ugly hands of Jeb Bush and his consigliere, Patricia Levesque, behind the scenes.

“The Senate on Friday narrowly defeated an effort to eliminate part of a major education bill that could force teachers’ unions to disband if they don’t meet new membership standards.

“In a 21-17 vote, the Senate rejected a proposed amendment by Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, that would have removed the controversial provision from the bill (HB 7055). The provision could cause teachers’ unions to lose their state certification if their membership falls below 50 percent of the employees they represent in the collective-bargaining process. If decertified, a union would have to reorganize and seek another majority vote from the members they are seeking to represent.

“Thurston said the provision was singling out teachers among all unions and that there is already a decertification process in state law that would allow teachers to disband a union if they were unhappy with the representation.

“It’s not right that we say teachers are the only ones we are going to punish,” Thurston said.”

Maybe it is time for a statewide teachers strike in Florida.

The articulate students at Parkland should speak out for the teachers who saved their lives. Name the bill for the teachers who lost their lives shielding students.

Start a fund to defeat the senators who voted for this bill. I want to contribute.

This is an outrage.

 

 

 

Categories Education Reform, Florida, Teachers, Unions

Florida: The Parents’ Opt Out Guide

By dianeravitch
March 3, 2018 //
7

 

Testing season has started in Florida.

Test scores are used by the privatization industry to seize public schools and punish teachers.

Deny them the data!

Here is a guide written specifically for Florida parents about how to opt out of testing.

Starve the beast!

Opting out against punitive and pointless tests is the most effective way to make your voices heard.

Categories Education Industry, Florida, Opt Out, Parents, Privatization, Students, Testing

Florida Senate Committee Approves Two New Voucher Bills, Plus Anti-union Bill

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2018 //
6

 

Why do the people of Florida elect these people?

The Florida Senate Appropriations Committee approved two new voucher bills and a bill that would require teachers unions to seek recertification.

The Florida State Constitution explicitly bans the transfer of public funds to religious schools. In 2012, Jeb Bush sponsored a statewide referendum to delete that provision, and the people of Florida voted down his proposal.

why do the state legislators ignore the state constitution and the expressed will of the people, who said NO to vouchers?

Why do the state legislators hate public schools?

Vote them out!

Categories Florida

Florida: House Appropriations Committee Rejects Weapons Ban, Votes to Arm Teachers

By dianeravitch
February 27, 2018 //
42

 

Despite the pleas of anguished survivors of the Parkland massacre, the Florida House Appropriations  Committee voted against a ban on assault weapons and voted to arm teachers. 

The $67 million “school marshal” program is the most controversial aspect of a House bill that imposes a three-day waiting period for gun purchases, raises the age to buy any gun from 18 to 21 and gives police more power to seize guns from people who threaten themselves or others. Most of the money for the marshal program would be spent on training.

Oliva said the bill doesn’t address whether teachers would be provided guns or would have to buy them. He said that should be decided locally by school boards and superintendents.

The goal: 10 marshals (teachers trained to carry a gun) in every school, which would equate to 37,000 statewide. The state would cover the costs of background checks, drug testing, psychological exams and 132 hours of training. The bill does provide a one-time $500 stipend for those who volunteer to have a gun.

The bill also calls for spending $400 million to put a school resource officer in every school, improve mental health counseling and make public school buildings safer.

 

Categories Education Reform, Florida, Guns in Schools

Parkland: Claims That At Least 3 Armed Officers Refused to Enter School to Stop Shooter

By dianeravitch
February 23, 2018 //
33

 

Police officials are investigating the possibility that at least three armed deputies stayed outside the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School while mass murderer Nikolas Cruz was gunning down students and teachers.

The “good guys”with the guns did not even attempt to stop the “bad guy”with an AR-15. They knew they were outgunned and they failed to do their duty. They left zcruz to kill at will.

Trump used this information to argue at the Conservative PAC that teachers should be armed because they “know”and “love” the students, and they would confront a mass murderer with an AR-15 armed only with a handgun.

New York Police Department statistics show that well-trained police officers are accurate only 18% of the time in a gunfight.

Imagine the scene in a school, where there is pandemonium, and teachers start firing wildly. How many students and teachers will be killed by friendly fire? Trump imagines that 10-20% of America’s teachers are highly trained marksmen, perhaps with Marine training. At one of his news conferences, he said that General Kelly could have stopped Nikolas Cruz with a handgun. Since General Kelly is unlikely to be located in any American school at any future time, this claim is pure fantasy.

Trump forgets that 70% or so of educators are women. Very few of America’s teachers are former Marines or expert marksmen. His remedy will guarantee mass mayhem.

The only meaningful cure is banning military weapons, keeping them out of the hands of civilians.

 

Categories Accountability, Florida, Guns in Schools

Warning: This Cartoon Might Make You Cry

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2018 //
12

 

Football coach Aaron Feis shielded students with his body from the gunfire of a mass murderer in their school in Parkland, Florida. He left a wife and young child.

Cartoonist Oia Guerra couldn’t sleep, thinking of the trAgedy inFlorida. She drew this cartoon.  

Categories Florida, Guns

Nancy Bailey: No Mending of Broken Hearts: Time to Ban Assault Weapons

By dianeravitch
February 21, 2018 //
14

 

Nancy Bailey writes about the wounds that will never heal, about the unnecessary deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Add to them the still-grieving families of those who lost their children in many other school massacres. Their wounds will never heal.

Bailey writes:

”Even if you don’t live in Parkland, many knew those who did. Maybe you sat on the edge of your seat Wednesday, hoping against all odds that it wasn’t the parent you knew who was going through hell trying to hear a word from their child hiding in the building.

“Yet you still knew in your heart that no matter whose child or staff member it was, whoever didn’t make it out, it was another senseless tragedy. Another one! Another one! Another one! How many children this time? How many teachers?

“How much longer must we subject children to a society that pretends civility, while forcing us all to yield to those with money who force their power of war-like weaponry upon us? Who endanger us all and especially our children? What gives them that right?

“What’s it going to take to get Americans to actually do something to end the violence in our schools and in the country, and to actually care about all our children?

“This isn’t about hunters and rifles. It isn’t even about handguns. It’s about war machinery that has no logical use in a peace loving nation. No use but to kill innocent people.”

Senator Marco Rubio, a favorite of the NRA, sent his prayers.

Governor Rick Scott, who will give the keynote speech at the NRA’s annual convention in Dallas (May 3-6), mourned with the families. What will he tell the NRA? Will he boast that in Florida a teenager can buy an assault weapon but not a beer?

 

Categories Accountability, Florida, Guns in Schools
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