Archives for category: Resistance

Leonie Haimson provides a comprehensive report on the context for the Brooklyn high school protest against the Chan-Zuckerberg tech program called Summit. As she says, this is a David-Goliath situation. The students are powerful!


Last week, on November 5, about 100 students at the Secondary School of Journalism in Brooklyn walked out of their schools to protest the Summit online program. This digital instruction program, funded by Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and Bill Gates, forces students to spend hours staring at computers, left at sea with little human interaction or help from their teachers, all in the name of “personalized learning.”

As one of the students, Mitchel Storman, said to Sue Edelman who reported on the protest in the NY Post, “I have seen lots of students playing games instead of working….Students can easily cheat on quizzes since they can just copy and paste the question into Google.”

Zenaiah Bonsu, Kelly Hernandez and Akila Robinson credit: Helayne Seidman
Senior Akila Robinson said she couldn’t even log onto Summit for nearly two months, while other classmates can’t or won’t use it. “The whole day, all we do is sit there.” A teacher said, “It’s a lot of reading on the computer, and that’s not good for the eyes. Kids complain. Some kids refuse to do it.”

Since Norm Scott wrote about the walkout on his blog, and Sue Edelman’s reporting in the NY Post, the story has been picked up elsewhere including Fast Company and Business Insider. The online program, which originated in the Summit chain of charter schools in California, and was further developed and expanded with millions of dollars from the Gates Foundation, Facebook and nowthe Chan Zuckerberg LLC, has now invaded up to 300 or so public schools, and is collecting a huge amount of personal data from thousands of students without their knowledge or consent or that of their parents.

I have been writing and questioning Summit for the past two years, and last year, met with Diane Tavenner, asked her all sorts of questions she never responded to, and toured her flagship charter school in Redwood City. My description of this visit is here.

Since then, parents in 15 states have reached out to me in huge distress about the negative impact of this program on their children. Many report that their children, who had previously done well in school, now say that they aren’t learning, that they feel constantly stressed, are beginning to hate school and want to drop out. Some parents have told me that they are now homeschooling their kids or have decided to sell their homes and move out of the district

Norm Scott, retired teacher, blogger, videographer and resistance leader, reports on the success of the Brooklyn student protest against the Chan-Zuckerberg Summit Learning Program.

Norm begins:

Here is today’s ed notes post on the situation at SSJ on the John Jay Campus.

How amazing are the students? At the SLT meeting, at first I could see some of the parents rolling their eyes at some of the things we were saying as the principal is so smooth. But when Leonie hit them with the data being collected, the mood shifted and so did the principal who had at first refused to talk about it but then backed off and there was an at times intense debate. Sue Edelman was there too.

I think the way the meeting played out itself is a story – maybe a play. So much better than the Del Assembly.

Norm

Congratulations to public school advocates in Indianapolis, who were vastly outspent by the “School Choice Trust” (Mind Trust and Stand for Children), yet still managed to win two out of three seats on the school board!

The Indianapolis story is here.

Vocal critics of the Indianapolis Public Schools administration looked poised to unseat two incumbents in Tuesday’s school board election. The results signal opposition to sweeping moves that have reshaped the district, such as high school closings and partnerships with charter school operators.

The race for the at-large seat remained close as the final votes were tallied Wednesday night, with retired IPS teacher Susan Collins taking 43.7 percent of votes over incumbent Mary Ann Sullivan, a former board president. Collins led by about 600 votes — Sullivan held 42.4 percent of the vote, and Joanna Krumel, another challenger, had about 14 percent.

Taria Slack, a federal worker, defeated incumbent Dorene Rodriguez Hoops with 59 percent of the vote to represent the northwest side of the district.

The third seat was won by a proponent of school choice, a policy usually associated with conservatives and opponents of public education.

Beto O’Rourke lost his race against Ted Cruz, but became a national figure because of his charisma and upbeat goodwill. And he did something else: He helped many down-ballot candidates.

Public education was one of the beneficiaries.

According to the Texas Parent PAC, last Tuesday was “a very good night for public education in Texas!” The legislative candidates endorsed by the group went 42-13, defeating six incumbents who are hostile to public education for all Texans. Among the winners are 16 freshmen who will be seated in January. The only incumbent they lost – Dallas Republican Linda Koop – was beaten by liberal Democrat Ana-Maria Ramos, whose lead campaign issue was public education.

Texas Parent PAC emphasizes that support for public education is bipartisan.

Forty-two candidates endorsed by Texas Parent PAC won their general elections on November 6. It was a very good night for public education in Texas! Congratulations to these candidates and their campaign teams.

Texas Parent PAC helped the winning candidates in many ways, including campaign coaching, mailers, calling services, promotion via email and digital advertising, and funding to pay for TV and radio advertising, signs, canvassing, campaign staff, and more.

Thanks to all the generous Texas Parent PAC donors who made this possible!
Every election has unique drama, and the November 6 general election was no exception. For example:
Beto O’Rourke’s vigorous campaign for the U.S. Senate helped to generate record-breaking voter turnout. While he did not win, Beto’s campaign helped many down-ballot candidates to be successful.

Texas educators and public school supporters were extremely engaged in the election and voted in record numbers thanks to turnout efforts by the Texas Educators Vote coalition, Texans for Public Education, Association of Texas Professional Educators, Texas AFT, Texas State Teachers Association, Texas Classroom Teachers Association, United Educators Association, Pastors for Texas Children, Texas Parent PAC, Texas PTA, and many other groups. This energetic involvement bodes well for the future!

Two incumbent senators lost, which will help to change the dynamics in the Texas Senate. Former Burleson school board trustee Beverly Powell defeated Sen. Konni Burton, and Dallas attorney Nathan Johnson defeated Sen. Don Huffines. These were significant victories! In the Texas House, candidates endorsed by Texas Parent PAC defeated four incumbents: Vikki Goodwin (Rep. Paul Workman), Terry Meza (Rep. Rodney Anderson), Julie Johnson (Rep. Matt Rinaldi), and John H. Bucy III (Rep. Tony Dale).

A summary of the results for endorsed candidates is below. Unofficial primary election returns are at the Secretary of State web site and the Texas Tribune web site.

Endorsed First-Time Candidate Winners
SD 10—Beverly Powell, D-Burleson Web Site
SD 16—Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas Web Site
HD 4—Keith Bell, R-Forney Web Site
HD 8—Cody Harris, R-Palestine Web Site
HD 46—Sheryl Cole, D-Austin Web Site
HD 47—Vikki Goodwin, D-Austin Web Site
HD 52—James Talarico, D-Round Rock Web Site
HD 62—Reggie Smith, R-Van Alstyne Web Site
HD 105—Terry Meza, D-Irving Web Site
HD 113—Rhetta Bowers, D-Garland Web Site
HD 114—John Turner, D-Dallas Web Site
HD 115—Julie Johnson, D-Addison Web Site
HD 118—Leo Pacheco, D-San Antonio Web Site
HD 121—Steve Allison, R-San Antonio Web Site
HD 126—Sam Harless, R-Houston Web Site
HD 136—John H Bucy III, D-Round Rock Web Site

Endorsed Incumbents Re-Elected in the General Election
SD 31—Senator Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo Web Site
HD 3—Representative Cecil Bell, Jr., R-Magnolia Web Site
HD 10—Representative John Wray, R-Waxahachie Web Site
HD 14—Representative John Raney, R-Bryan Web Site
HD 16—Representative Will Metcalf, R-Conroe Web Site
HD 17—Representative John Cyrier, R-Lockhart Web Site
HD 18—Representative Ernest Bailes, R-Shepherd Web Site
HD 24—Representative Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood Web Site
HD 33—Representative Justin Holland, R-Rockwall Web Site
HD 34—Representative Abel Herrero, D-Robstown Web Site
HD 41—Representative Bobby Guerra, D-McAllen Web Site
HD 49—Representative Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin Web Site
HD 57—Representative Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin Web Site
HD 64—Representative Lynn Stucky, R-Denton Web Site
HD 71—Representative Stan Lambert, R-Abilene Web Site
HD 78—Representative Joe Moody, D-El Paso Web Site
HD 88—Representative Ken King, R-Canadian Web Site
HD 95—Representative Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth Web Site
HD 99—Representative Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth Web Site
HD 101—Representative Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie Web Site
HD 117—Representative Philip Cortez, D-San Antonio Web Site
HD 125—Representative Justin Rodriguez, D-San Antonio Web Site
HD 127—Representative Dan Huberty, R-Houston Web Site
HD 137—Representative Gene Wu, D-Houston Web Site
HD 144—Representative Mary Ann Perez, D-Houston Web Site
HD 149—Representative Hubert Vo, D-Houston Web Site

Heartfelt thanks to the other endorsed candidates who campaigned very hard but unfortunately did not win. All were seeking political office to make a positive difference. They are Texas House candidates Joanna Cattanach, Alex Karjeker, Neal Katz, Michael Shawn Kelly, Adam Milasincic, Lorena Perez McGill, Steve Riddell and Texas Senate candidates Steven Kling, Rita Lucido, Mark Phariss, Kendall Scudder, and Meg Walsh.

We are grateful to State Representative Linda Koop for her two terms serving in the Texas House. Her many contributions made Texas a better state, and she will be greatly missed.

This was the first election cycle that Texas Parent PAC endorsed candidates running for statewide office. While Mike Collier and Scott Milder (Republican primary) did not win their races for Lieutenant Governor and Justin Nelson for Attorney General, they made public education an important issue in the election and helped down-ballot candidates to win.

With Texas parents, grandparents, and public school supporters working together on campaigns, we can elect even more advocates for Texas children. Let’s do it. It’s the American way.

The United Teachers of Los Angeles have voted to authorize a strike. The union has been negotiating with Superintendent Austin Beutner, a former investment banker who has no experience in education.

I sent the following message to the teachers of Los Angeles.

I am writing to my friends who teach in the Los Angeles Unified School District to encourage you to stay strong in your demands for smaller classes and the resources your students need.

Your working conditions are your students’ learning conditions.

You should not be expected to pay out $1,000 or more from your salary for school supplies.

I am astonished that one of the cities with the greatest concentration of wealth in the world is unwilling to pay what it costs to educate its children.

John Dewey wrote more than a century ago: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his children, that must we want for all the children of the community. Anything less is unlovely, and left unchecked, destroys our democracy.”

The billionaires who have declared war on public education and who are funding the California Charter School Association would not tolerate overcrowded classrooms, obsolete textbooks, and crumbling buildings in the schools their children attend. They should not tolerate such conditions in the public schools of Los Angeles that other people’s children attend, people without their wealth.

They want the best for their children, and they should demand the best for all children, and pay for it.

Please fight against “school choice,” an idea that was first launched by segregationists in the South to block the Brown decision in the late 1950s. It is now the favorite cause of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who wants to replace our nation’s democratically-controlled public schools with a menu of “choices,” none of which are as good as public schools.

In California, as elsewhere, charter advocates oppose accountability and transparency. Furthermore, charters have been characterized by scandals and fraudulent financial practices, a result of their lack of oversight and accountability.

Charter schools should be subject to the same laws, rules, and regulations as public schools if they want to give themselves the name of “public schools.”

Your superintendent Austin Beutner came to the job thanks to a takeover bankrolled by the charter lobby. He has never been an educator, and you will have to help him understand the importance of teacher professionalism, of reducing class sizes, and of public education in a democratic society. He just doesn’t get it.

Public schools are, have been, and will continue to be the foundation stone of our democratic society. If we lose it, we put our democracy at risk.

Fight for your students. Fight for public education. Fight for the teaching profession. Fight for a better future for the children and for our society.

Your friends across the nation are watching and will cheer you on!

Diane Ravitch

Jeff Bryant describes the brave teachers who decided to fight the Koch brothers’ plan to introduce universal vouchers in Arizona.

The rightwing strategy has been to take a bite, then another bite, than another bite, until every student is eligible for a voucher.

The teachers fought to get a referendum on the ballot on November 6. The Koch brothers sent their legal team to defeat the referendum and keep it off the ballot.

The teachers fought for a referendum called #InvestinED, to create a dedicated funding source for public schools. That referendum was knocked off the ballot for narrow technical reasons.

The schools in Arizona are underfunded. The vast majority of students attend public schools. The Koch brothers believe that no one should pay taxes, especially not billionaires like them.

VOTE NO ON PROP 305 to defeat vouchers.

Ruth Conniff, editor of “The Progressive,” suggests that the Save Our Schools Movement could be the determining factor in the midterm elections.

She writes:

The “education spring” protests, in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado and North Carolina, won increases in teacher pay and education budgets, launched hundreds of teachers into campaigns for political office, and showed massive support for public schools this year. In Wisconsin and other states, education is a key issue in the 2018 governor’s race. Public opinion has turned against budget cuts, school vouchers, and the whole “test and punish” regime.

“The corporate education reform movement is dying,” Diane Ravitch, the Network’s founder declared. “We are the resistance, and we are winning!”

As the Save Our Schools movement swept the nation this year, blaming “bad teachers” for struggling schools also appears to have gone out of style.

A Time Magazine cover story on teachers who are underpaid, overworked, and have to donate their plasma to pay the bills painted a sympathetic portrait.

“As states tightened the reins on teacher benefits, many also enacted new benchmarks for student achievement, with corresponding standardized tests, curricula changes and evaluations of teacher performance,” Time reported. “The loss of control over their classrooms combined with the direct hit to their pocketbooks was too much for many teachers to bear.”

That’s a very different message from Time’s December 2008 cover featuring Washington, D.C., schools chancellor Michelle Rhee, standing in a classroom and holding a broom: “her battle against bad teachers has earned her admirers and enemies—and could transform public education,” Time declared.

The idea that bad teachers were ruining schools, and that their pay, benefits, and job security should be reduced or revoked, spread across the country over the last decade. Doing away with teachers’ collective bargaining rights propelled Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to political prominence in 2011. In October 2014, Time’s “Rotten Apples,” cover declared “It’s nearly impossible to fire a bad teacher. Some tech millionaires have found a way to change that.”

But today, demoralized teachers, overtested students, and the lack of improvement from these draconian policies have pushed public opinion in the opposite direction.

Charter schools, it turns out, perform no better than regular public schools. School-voucher schemes that drain money from public education to cover private-school students tuition yield even worse results—and are unpopular with voters. And testing kids a lot has not made them any smarter.

The bold walkouts and strikes of teachers and the determined resistance of parents and students are making a difference.

The public is getting “woke.”

Billionaires have poured many millions into demonizing teachers, attacking their rights, and privatizing public schools, but they have spent not a penny to increase the funding of our nation’s public schools, not even in the most distressed districts. All they have to offer are tests, charter schools, and vouchers.

It’s a hoax, intended to cut taxes, not to help children or to improve education.

We are no longer fooled.

Jan Resseger writes here about the grassroots organizers she met at the Network for Public Education conference in Indianapolis. Her first report appeared yesterday.

This is part of her report:

One of the highlights at NPE’s Conference were presentations on excellent community organizing that is finally making a difference. Yesterday’s post and today’s describe two very different and encouraging initiatives.

What if parents, teachers and community united across an entire state to insist that the state fund its schools adequately? Well, advocates in Wisconsin are doing just that. As a bit of context, remember that Wisconsin has the nation’s oldest and one of the largest voucher programs and that the Bradley Foundation, located in Wisconsin, has historically been among the most lavish funders of the school privatization movement that drains tax dollars out of the public education budget.

Today, however, the Wisconsin Public Education Network has been mobilizing citizens and pulling together a mass of local parent and advocacy groups around a unified, pro-public school agenda across Wisconsin. Executive Director Heather DuBois Bourenane explains: “The Wisconsin Education Coalition is the hub for education advocacy in Wisconsin. We are a project of the Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit. Our work is supported by voluntary contributions of our partners around the state… Our partners don’t always agree on every issue or policy, but our common ground is always rooted in our deep commitment to the success of every student in every school.” The organization’s website displays a map of the Coalition’s partner organizations—at least 39 of them across Wisconsin.

Launched last summer at the Wisconsin Public Education Network’s 4th Annual Summer Summit, the #VotePublic Campaign has invited, “all supporters of public schools to make public education a focus of all elections—local, state and national. Knowing where candidates stand on issues impacting our public schools is essential to electing strong supporters of our students. #VotePublic is also a challenge to hold our elected officials accountable for making votes that benefit our students and public schools once elected.”

The #VotePublic platform demands fixing the school funding formula “to prioritize student needs over property values”; working for funding fairness; restoring funding including the state’s obligation to meet mandated costs for special education; raising standards for licensure of educators and providing hiring incentives; making private and privately-operated schools receiving tax dollars fully accountable; and forcing the state to pledge not to expand the state’s already large private school tuition voucher program.

In Wisconsin, advocates have set out to reframe the political conversation. Besides spreading thousands of yard signs and postcards across Wisconsin announcing the campaign’s theme: “I Love My Public School & I Vote,” the coalition has packed its website with accessible information to educate the state’s supporters of public education. Posted there is toolkit with easily reproduced materials There are also facts and figures and copies of public speeches and legislative testimony from the organization’s leaders.

And there are explanations and graphs including one that is particularly applicable for the Wisconsin gubernatorial election in two weeks. Governor Scott Walker has been trying to brand himself “the education governor” because the legislature raised school funding this year—a budget he signed. But the urgency of the need for more funding this year also reflects on his leadership, “In 2011-12, lawmakers reduced district budget limits by 5.5%, which resulted in an average decrease of $529 per student to districts’ budgets.” Even this year’s budget increase won’t bring the state back up to its educational expenditure level before Walker’s cuts. The 2011 spending reduction was unprecedented, as was another Scott Walker priority—Act 10—the 2011 law to destroy public sector collective bargaining in Wisconsin.

Jan Resseger attended the annual conference of the Network for Public Educatuon and was impressed by the panels featuring grassroots organizations.

Here is part of her excellent report:

One of the highlights of the Conference were presentations on excellent community organizing that is finally making a difference. Today’s post and tomorrow’s will describe two very different and encouraging initiatives.

What if city parents were supported in ignoring the glitzy brochures, radio ads, and even incentive gifts encouraging them to escape public schools and experiment with charter schools? What if, instead. parents were encouraged and supported to demand public schools designed to meet the needs of their families and children? I found hope this past weekend in a workshop where the Journey4Justice Alliance (J4J) told the story of mobilizing Black and Brown parents to demand the kind of stable, quality public schools middle class children take for granted: no more experiments with state takeover, privatization, and school closure at the expense of their children. The #WeChoose Campaign is national—connecting and organizing parents across America’s big cities. For years, there has been a sense of confusion and despair as corporate reformers with big money swept in to seize governance and policy in big city school districts. Finally a moment of clarity and empowerment is being created.

At last weekend’s NPE Conference we listened as national organizers from the Journey4Justice Alliance and local leaders of their multi-city partners—Chicago’s Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; New York City’s Alliance for Quality Education and Coalition for Educational Justice; Camden Parents Union and Camden Student Union; Newark’s Parents Unified for Local School Education; Pittsburgh’s Education Rights Network and One Pennsylvania; and the Detroit L.I.F.E. Coalition—explained how their communities are proclaiming #We Choose Public Schools: “We choose educational equity in public schools, not the illusion of school choice.”

The Journey4Justice Alliance (J4J) launched its #WeChoose campaign in February, 2017 with plans in at least 25 cities for press events, policy forums, meetings with elected officials, and direct actions along with a coordinated social media campaign. Jitu Brown, executive director of J4J describes the campaign’s message which organized parents are proclaiming to policymakers: “There is no such thing as ‘school choice’ in Black and Brown communities in this country. We want the choice of a world class neighborhood school within safe walking distance of our homes. We want an end to school closings, turnarounds, phase-outs, and charter expansion. We have an evidence-based solution for America’s struggling, neglected schools.”

At NPE”s Conference, Brown presented a tight, pro-public education #We Choose agenda, developed from the bottom up through a series of over 30 local Town Hall meetings plus two national Town Halls which together reached over 200,000 people in cities across the country:

1. We choose a moratorium on school privatization. “The evidence is clear and aligns with the lived experience of parents, students, and community residents in America’s cities: school privatization has failed in improving the education outcomes for young people.”

2. We choose the creation of 10,000 sustainable Community Schools. “Schools that are successful… are grounded in 5 pillars: relevant rigorous and engaging curriculum; supports for quality teaching and not punitive standardized tests; appropriate wrap-around supports for every child; student-centered school climate; and transformative parent and community engagement…. These are the interventions we recommend for struggling, underserved schools….”

3. We choose the end of zero tolerance discipline policies. “We want an immediate end to zero tolerance policies expressed by out-of-control suspensions and expulsions and the over-policing of our schools. We want resources dedicated to the expansion of full restorative justice initiatives….”

4. We choose a national equity assessment to move toward erasing the effects of poverty. “America does everything but equity. Closes schools. Online charter schools. Zero tolerance policies to push out students. Creates a charter industry. Puts a positive media spin on mediocre corporate education interventions. Anything but equity. Equitable schools are spaces where inspiration happens.”

5. We choose to stop the attack on black teachers whose numbers have declined rapidly. “A study in 9 American cities, Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., all noted a decline in the number of black teachers. All of these cities curiously are places where school privatization has taken root.”

6. We choose to end state takeovers, appointed school boards and mayoral control. “We have a crisis in school governance. The overwhelming majority of state takeovers, mayoral control and appointed school boards exists in cities that serve primarily Black and Brown families… We need the elimination of these oppressive structures that ignore the voices of concerned constituents and grease the rails for politically connected charter and contract school operators.”

7. We choose to eliminate the over-reliance on standardized tests in public schools. “Multiple studies have confirmed that standardized tests are an excellent indicator of one’s zip code, not their aptitude.”

Here is the video of the first session of the just-concluded annual conference of the Network for Public Education in Indianapolis.

You will hear opening remarks by our executive director Carol Burris. She introduces Phyllis Bush, who gives a witty summary of what has happened to Indiana and how she and her friends built one of the nation’s first activist organizations to oppose destructive “reforms.”

Phyllis introduces me, and I describe my new book, which is about the slow but sure collapse of corporate reform. I bring hope.