Archives for category: Parent trigger
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Why Robert Skeels Should Be Elected to LAUSD Board

By dianeravitch
November 4, 2012 //
1

A retired educator in Los Angeles writes:

Los Angeles is the only city in the big 3(New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago) that is not run by a mayor. It almost happened and is still a threat. Several years ago, when Mayor Villaraigosa did not get control of the schools, he threw money and support behind friendly board member candidates. This has been a disaster for Los Angeles children. One of the mayor’s favorites, Yolie Flores Aguilar, presented a plan to put LAUSD schools out to bid. This lead to disruption and more privatization. As a result, funding for traditional schools has been severely cut back with thousands of teachers laid off including librarians and nurses.

Robert Skeels has been a tireless advocate for all the children in LAUSD and if elected, would unseat Monica Garcia, one of the mayor’s favorites. This would end years of gridlock and political cronyism. It is even more important now because the candidates running for mayor next year have not shown independence from Villaraigosa’s failed policies, even though mayoral control in New York and Chicago has been an unmitigated disaster for the educational system in both these cities.

As an example, our mayor successfully pedaled the “Parent Trigger” law at a meeting of mayors from across the country even though the Parent Trigger has NEVER been implemented. It failed miserably in Compton, CA and now, in Adelanto, CA, a recent parent vote to pick a charter under California’s Parent Empowerment Act attracted only 53 voters, even though the school itself serves close to 700 students. And they call this Parent Empowerment?

Robert Skeels has revealed the true nature of the Parent Trigger whose two attempts in California were backed by Parent Revolution, which in turn is backed by the top school privatizers in this country. The tide is turning, with more and more members of the public realizing that there are hidden agendas within the privatization of our public schools. We need more potential board members, like Robert, to come forward and turn the tide all across the country to wrench control out of the hands of those whose only interest is to financially profit off of our public school children.

Categories Budget Cuts, California, Charter Schools, Los Angeles, Parent trigger

Why Washington State Should Vote No on 1240

By dianeravitch
November 2, 2012 //
5

This article explains succinctly why certain members of the billionaire boys club have decided that Washington State absolutely positively must have charter schools. Their recipe for school reform: the free market. And why not? The free market works for them. Will they put their own children (or in the case of the Bezos family, grandchildren) in charter schools? Don’t be silly.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, For-Profit, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Parent trigger, Privatization, Unions, Walton Foundation, Washington State

The Strange Disappearance of “Won’t Back Down”

By dianeravitch
November 1, 2012 //
28

I decided that I had to see “Won’t Back Down.”

I had read so many reviews that I felt I knew every line.

But I still wanted to see it.

Morbid curiosity.

But it is not showing anywhere in the New York City metropolitan area.

The producer of the movies owns a 12-plex only a few blocks from my home, and it is not showing there.

It was released only a month ago (September 28), and it has disappeared.

Where did it go?

I checked the website that tracks box-office receipts. It is being shown nationwide in only 65 theaters.

It took in a little more than $14,212 nationwide last weekend, an average of $219 per theater.

I guess I will have to wait and see the DVD when it comes out.

The lesson here is that parent activists got out early, created the narrative, and let the world know that it was a propaganda film for the charter industry, sponsored by a rightwing billionaire movie mogul who wants to push privatization.

The unions didn’t give this film a bad name.

Parents did.

Specifically, credit goes to Parents Across America, whose members in California put out a fact sheet and whose members in North Carolina demonstrated at the door when it was shown at the Democratic National Convention.

Despite the heavy promotion of the film by CBS and NBC, by Michelle Rhee and Education Nation and Murdoch publications, parents got out the word about its rightwing political message.

You see, our voices and our actions do make a difference.

Never give up hope. Speak up. Don’t back down.

Categories Parent trigger

“Won’t Back Down” Goes Down, Down, Down

By dianeravitch
October 25, 2012 //
10

It was supposed to be the movie of the year.

Big stars, big budget for promotion.

All of Rupert Murdoch’s publications sang its glories.

CBS held a greatly hyped rock concert to “honor teachers” just as the film “honored teachers” (not).

NBC gave it a big sendoff as part of Education Nation.

The New York Public Library hosted a grand premiere and private showing for high society.

All to promote a film produced by a rightwing billionaire who hates public education and teachers’ unions.

The good news: Never has a lavishly promoted film sunk so fast.

It opened in over 2,500 theaters and had the worst opening week of any film in wide distribution in the past 30 years.

The box office was so bad that two weeks after opening, it was being shown in only 513 theaters.

Now, three weeks after its opening, the film is playing in 168 theaters nationwide. The weekend gross was $44,889.

Down, down, down.

Categories Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Parent trigger

Parent Trigger Hoax

By dianeravitch
October 23, 2012 //
6

Parent Revolution, the organization handsomely funded by the Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, and the Walton Foundation, has finally gotten a charter conversion in the state of California, nearly two years after the law was passed.

Some victory: In a school with 600 plus students and 400 families, only 286 parents voted for the charter; when some changed their mind and tried to rescind their vote, they were told by a judge that they could not take their signature off the petition.

Only those who supported the charter were allowed to vote on which charter operator would run the new charter. That reduced the number of eligible voters to180.

Of the 180 who were eligible, only 53 voted on which operator would win control of their public school.

The winning operator received a grand total of 50 votes. That is 1/8 of the parents in the school. That is less than 15% of the parents in the school.

In the linked article above, no mention is made of the fact that the Adelanto school district had a charter that was closed last year because its operators engaged in funny business with the public’s money.

Categories Broad Foundation, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Parent trigger, Walton Foundation

Indiana Voters Can Defeat Privatization Movement

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
5

The big corporate money is flowing into Indiana to re-elect privatizer Tony Bennett as its champion.

But fortunately the voters have a chance to throw him out and elect Glenda Ritz, an educator who wants to improve public education.

Please read this post from a Hoosier.

I commend to you the anonymous comment by a man who served as a teacher and principal for many years in the state. He understands what is happening, as Bennett systematically gives away public schools to private interests.

“At no time in the one-hundred-and-twenty-one years that my grandfather, my father, my kids and I have been teaching in Indiana public schools has education faced a bigger crisis. We are on the verge of losing local control of our schools to the corporate, for profit, privatization movement. This movement has started in parts of Indiana already as State School Superintendent Tony Bennett has sold off inner-city schools to private, profit making companies and charter schools. Studies show that these schools either fail or do no better than public schools, even though they are often given more money, more staff and more resources. What this does is take money away from public schools and gives it to private, profit-making schools. This year Fort Wayne Public Schools lost 2.6 million dollars that was given to private schools in their district. This sets up public schools to fail, which some feel is the purpose anyway (the more public schools that “”fail” the more private, for profit schools we can create.)
Why is he doing this? Follow the money. Check out the big donors to Tony Bennett’s campaign. It is pouring in from out-of-state, from big corporations and testing services that stand to make a profit from privatizing Indiana’s schools. If Tony wins re-election, they stand to make a nice profit. Tony Bennett doesn’t want to answer public concerns about this. He stays out of the public eye, failing to show up over four times in my town when asked to attend a forum. He even delivered his annual State of Education speech to a hand-picked, private audience so he wouldn’t face any embarrassing questions.
How is he setting up schools to “fail” so he can take them over? By spending millions of dollars on testing programs (pleasing his donors) that don’t begin to assess what all schools really do. He repeats the dubious message that schools are “failing” until it becomes his and his followers reality, neglecting to praise schools for their many successes (when we were in high school, the graduation rate in the U.S. was 50%: now it is 85% and climbing; actually higher when you factor in those who go back and get a G.E.D.) He is setting up a grade system for schools, publicly calling them out as F, D, C, B, or A schools, based on what kids did on a test. Does anybody not know how that will come out? Indianapolis Public Schools will largely “fail.” Carmel will be “A+, and he will award them and turn IPS over to private, corporate schools which will do no better and maybe worse.
What is the elephant in the room? What Bennett and his friends don’t want to admit is what hundreds of studies have shown: that the number one predictor of lower functioning schools is their level of poverty. This is obvious to any teacher who has taught in the inner city. I personally have visited over 130 schools in Indiana and several out of state, and have served on and chaired North Central Association (the nation’s major school accreditation agency) evaluations of over 25 inner city, rural, and surburban schools, from Lake Michigan to the Ohio River . I have great respect for the teachers in the inner city schools. No one works harder under adverse conditions than they do. To let Tony Bennett label them failures is beyond reason and shows how great his disconnect is from the reality of what schools really do. Heard enough? Then hear this: after he labels them failures, he plans to get rid of them!
What can we do about this? We need to let everybody who cares about the future of education know what is going on. Feel free to share his and talk about it before the election. I have grave doubts that the schools we knew and benefited from will be available to kids in the future if we don’t speak up and become active.”

Categories For-Profit, Indiana, On-Line Education, Parent trigger, Privatization

“Won’t Back Down” Continues to Plummet

By dianeravitch
October 21, 2012 //
14

Memo to Hollywood: The American public will not pay to see a movie that demonizes teachers’ unions and public schools, while touting the glories of privatization.

“Won’t Back Down” was supposed to be the movie of the year. It had nonstop promotion by NBC’s Education Nation, big-name stars, a stint on Ellen’s show, and a glitzy opening at the New York Public Library.

What was the result?

The movie opened to the worst box-office of any film in wide distribution in thirty years (in 2,504 theaters).

Most theaters dropped it after its poor opening weekend, but it hung on in 513 movie theaters.

Last weekend, the film had box-office receipts of $138,709.

This averages out to $270 per theater, barely enough to pay the ticket-seller.

But the film won’t die.

It will now be shown for free wherever an audience can be gathered to sell the idea that parents should seize their public school and give it to a charter operator. At last report, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was planning free screenings across the nation. Now the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can claim to be part of the new “civil rights” movement, the one that wants to privatize your public schools. It is only fitting for the Chamber to join the “civil rights” movement of our day, since they missed the last one.

Categories ALEC, Charter Schools, Parent trigger

Short Memory Alert! About that Parent Trigger

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
6

With all the national publicity about the world’s first parent trigger in Adelanto, California, you would think someone might have noticed that the new charter is not the first charter in this town.

Only a little more than a year ago, the Adelanto Charter Academy had to close because of multiple operational and fiscal problems. The biggest problem was that the operators of the charter were involved in questionable self-dealing.

As the local newspaper put it, “The Sentinel has learned that much of the academy’s academic imperative was suborned to the mercenary intent of those involved at the school, shortchanging the educational mission.

“While charter schools are by law non-profit entities, it appears that those involved with the school in some cases formed for-profit companies that were devoted to providing the charter academy with materials, ranging from furniture to computers to visual aids to books to writing materials that were sold at inflated prices.”

It gets worse. Read the article.

How soon we forget.

So now, with the votes of only 50 parents in a school enrolling more than 600 children, the charter idea gets another run in Adelanto.

Categories California, Charter Schools, Parent trigger

Would You Support the Parent Trigger If….

By dianeravitch
October 20, 2012 //
15

This came from a retired California teacher:

“Won’t Back Down” is loosely based on the Parent Trigger Law in California, which has only been tried twice. Neither attempt was successful. The law was created on a drawing board and has no basis in prior experience or knowledge.

Would you support the Parent Trigger Law if:

• You discovered it was designed to hasten the destruction of public education and replace it with privatized for-profit corporations?
• You discovered privatization (i.e. handing over a school to privately run charter school entities) has already created a two-tiered educational system that has greatly increased racial and economic segregation?
• You discovered that the law first passed in California without any trial or pilot program to test the process and its possible outcomes?
• You discovered that this law therefore has no evidence of success?
• You discovered that Florida soundly defeated a similar law because parent groups rallied against it?
• You discovered that the Parent Trigger idea was hatched in Los Angeles by Parent Revolution, an organization created by the large charter group, Green Dot Schools?
• You discovered that Parent Revolution is led by an attorney, not an educator?
• You discovered that Parent Revolution’s paid solicitors go door to door targeting neighborhoods with high rates of immigrant/non-English speaking parents whom they barrage with publicity and promises?
• You discovered that the Parent Trigger Law is a model legislation being pushed by the American Legislative Exchange Counsel (ALEC), which promotes privatization and de-professionalizing the teaching profession?
• You discovered that charter and voucher schools, on average, underperform traditional public schools?
• You discovered that charter schools have been known to prevent low performers from applying, counsel them out during the school year, require large donations from parents, or cheat during standardized testing?
• You discovered that charter schools service a much lower percentage of special education and English language learners than traditional public schools?
• You discovered that a high percentage of students at charter schools require remediation when entering college?
• Last, you discovered that a large number of parents targeted in California’s first two Parent Trigger takeovers tried to rescind their signatures once they understood that they may ultimately have less control over their school?

Categories California, Parent trigger

Small Minority of Parents at “Trigger” School Choose Charter Operator

By dianeravitch
October 19, 2012 //
10

According to the latest news, the parents at Desert Trails Elementary School in Adelanto, California, have chosen a charter operator to take over their low-performing public school.

This is the first instance in the nation where the “parent trigger” has been put into effect.

But it is not a demonstration of parent empowerment or democracy.

There are over 600 children in the school.

286 signed the petition to convert to a charter.

Some parents asked to have their names removed when they realized that the school would be handed over to a charter operator. The judge said no. He said they were not allowed to revoke their signature.

When the vote to choose a charter operator was taken, only parents who signed the petition were allowed to vote.

Parents who did not sign the petition were not allowed to vote.

Only 53 parents voted.

Fifty parents selected the charter operator. Three voted for another operator.

Some parent empowerment.

Categories Charter Schools, Education Reform, Parent trigger
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