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Thomas Frank: The Teachers’ Strikes Burst a Lot of Bubbles

By dianeravitch
May 28, 2018 //
40

Thomas Frank, author, commends the striking teachers in Arizona and elsewhere for dashing the neoliberal dream of demonizing teachers.

He writes in “The Guardian”:

What I like best about the wave of teachers’ strikes that have swept America these last few months is how they punch so brutally and so directly in the face of the number one neoliberal educational fantasy of the last decade: that all we need to do to fix public education is fire people.

Fire teachers, specifically. They need to learn fear and discipline. That’s what education “reformers” have told us for years. If only, the fantasy goes, we could slay the foot-dragging unions and the red-tape rules that keep mediocre teachers in their jobs, then things would be different. If only some nice “tech millionaires” would step in and help us fire people! If only we could get a thousand clones of Michelle Rhee, the former DC schools chancellor who fired so many people she even once fired someone on TV!

Now just look at what’s happened. We’ve seen enormous teacher protests in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Arizona, with more on the way. Actions that look very much like strikes by people who, in some of these states, are legally forbidden to strike. It was the perfect opportunity for education “reformers” to fire people, and fire them en masse. It was the politicians’ chance to show us what a tough-minded boss could do.

And in most cases, it was state governments that capitulated. It was hard-hearted believers in tax cuts and austerity and discipline who caved, lest they themselves get fired by voters at the next opportunity.

That, folks, is the power of solidarity, and the wave of teacher walkouts is starting to look like our generation’s chance to learn the lesson our grandparents absorbed during the strike wave of the late 1930s: that given the right conditions and the right amount of organization, working people can rally the public and make social change all by themselves. Irresistibly. Organically. From the bottom up.

Teachers won’t stand for austerity any more. They are rising.

It is a wonderful article. I urge you to read it in full.

Categories Resistance, Teachers, Unions

Leonie Haimson: Parent Activists Win a Temporary Restraining Order to Prevent NYC ED from Closing PS 25

By dianeravitch
May 25, 2018 //
14

Parents have been outraged by the New York City Department of Education’s policy of closing schools as a “reform” strategy. They were especially outraged by the decision to close PS 25 in Brooklyn. The DOE says it is “under enrolled,” which it is, but it is one of the most successful elementary schools in the city. Since it is doing such a good job, why not recruit more students instead of closing it? One answer: closing it would allow Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter school to take over the entire building.

Leonie Haimson led an effort to save PS 25. She got a lawyer to sue the DOE pro bono, and yesterday her group won a temporary restraining order which will likely save PS 25 for at least another year. If the DOE comes to its senses, it may save the school, period.

The judge ” seemed impressed with our research showing how all the other 33 schools DOE offered these students to apply to 1- all had far lower positive impact ratings 2- many of them were miles away, 19 of the schools in Staten Island alone 3- 25 were overcrowded, and 4- none had class sizes as small as PS 25. And the DOE has not offered to provide busing for the students.

“In short, she was impressed that in most every other proposal to close schools, the DOE had promised higher performing schools that students could apply to, but they didn’t in this case, because according to DOE’s own estimation, there are only three other public elementary schools as good as PS 25 in the entire city and they are full.

“In fact, the City itself admitted in their response papers to the lawsuit that according to the school performance dashboard, PS 25 is the “second best public elementary school in Brooklyn and the fourth best in the City, and that PS 25 outperforms charter school other than Success Academy Bronx 2 in its positive impact on student achievement and attendance.”

Why in the world should the city close one of its highest performing schools? The Bloomberg administration closed scores of schools, routinely, without a second thought.

Good work, Leonie!

PS: The annual dinner of Leonie Haimson’s organization, Class Size Matters, will hold its annual fundraising dinner on June 19. All are invited to attend. The price is modest, as these dinners go. Invitation to follow.

Categories Class Size Matters Org, Closing schools, New York City, Resistance

Peter Greene on Bill Bennett’s Screed Against Teachers’ Strikes

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2018 //
16

Peter Greene says that Bill Bennett’s blast against teachers’ strikes boils down to this: Teachers, Know Your Place!

https://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2018/05/bill-benett-teachers-know-your-place.html

Bennett and his co-author complained that teachers were hurting the children, and worse, using their perivileged role for “financial gain.” Oh my, they said, as they clutched their pearls!

Greene responded:

“Yes, it’s the old Think of the Children argument, which plays better than the real argument here, which is that teachers should know their roles and shut their holes. This paragraph also captures the belief in really low expectations for school (just teach ’em readin’ and ‘rithmetic). And the special hypocrisy of charter fans arguing that schools should not use children as a way to make money.

“But see– only such confusion would “drive mass school closures and disruptions right in the midst of a critical time in a school year.” One wonders when a better, unimportant time in the school year might come; one also enjoys the irony of choice fans decrying “disruption,” which is usually one of their favorite things. I thought disruption was supposed to be a good way to break moribund institutions out of their terrible rut.”

Peter Greene really takes the Bennett piece apart and shreds it.

Here is a small sample. I suggest you open the link and read it in its entirety.

“First, abrupt school closures interrupt and damage student progress. “Teaching time does matter, and we should be very reluctant to interrupt it.” Boy, that line makes great reading as I sit here in the middle of Pennsylvania’s two-week testing window, during which my classes are suspended and interrupted so that we can give the BS Test. I might also direct Bennett to the problem of charters that close without warning during the year.

“Bennett and Flak try to hit a quotable line here: “When coal miners strike they lay down their equipment. When teachers strike, they lay down their students’ minds.” So, in this analogy, my students have pickaxes for brains? My students are my tools? No, this is not a winner.

“Second, the old “if you want to be treated like a professional, act like it.” Which is a crappy argument, because you know what professionals do? They set a fee for their services, and if you want to hire them, you pay it. My plumber and my mechanic and my doctor and my lawyer do not charge me based on what I feel like paying them– they set their fees, and if I want my pipes fixed, I fork over the money.

“Bennett will add the old “teachers get summers off” argument for good measure. Fine. If you think we should have year-round school, do that. But don’t diss me and my professional brethren because you’re too cheap to pay for a full year’s worth of services. Yes, teachers can use the summer to “pursue their financial goals or other endeavors,” and I’m not sure what your point is. If you want more money, go get a job at the Tastee-Freeze?

“And also (this second point turns out to be several points that seem to add up to “teachers are a bunch of lazy unprofessional money-grubbers anyway”) Bennett wants to play blunt straight-shooter, saying “let’s be honest” and admit these strikes have been about “pursuing financial ends.” Which is unprofessional and unseemly.

“There is a time, place and manner for these fiscal discussion. Strikes during the school year are not it.

“Oh, bullshit. The teachers of Arizona and West Virginia and Oklahoma and Kentucky and Colorado and North Carolina have had all the discussions so very many times in a wide variety of places in every imaginable manner, and for their trouble they have gotten bupkus. Worse than bupkus– they’ve gotten disrespect and abuse and in the meantime they’ve gone back to their moldy classrooms to do their professional best to work in a crumbling environment without enough resources. Bennett doesn’t list the times and places and manners that would be more appropriate because he knows damn well whatever circumstances he describes, those teachers have already tried.

“Third, Bennett argues that some of these strikes have been about misdirected anger or invalid complaints, but teachers just want to “maneuver a sweeter deal.” Yes, those damn scam artists, striking on a lark just to make a buck.

“I give Bennett credit for just one thing– usually when folks start flinging these arguments around they try to cushion them by saying that teachers by themselves are just swell– it’s those damned unions. But no– Bennett and Flak go straight for the classroom teacher jugular.”

Categories Education Reform, Resistance, Teacher Pay, Teachers

North Carolina: Thousands of Teachers Crowd the Streets Around the Capitol in Raleigh

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2018 //
18

North Carolina joined the wave of teacher protests against underfunding.

Read about their protest hereand here (great photo)and here (where teachers cornered the legislator who called them “thugs”).

In the last link from the local paper:

“Rep. Mark Brody spent a lot of time Wednesday explaining that when he wrote “union thugs” were behind the rally that brought thousands of educators to Raleigh, he wasn’t talking about individual teachers.

“It was not intended that way,” he told one group.

“Brody, a Monroe Republican, said he was referring to the National Education Association in his Facebook post.

“Teachers made it a point to find Brody on Wednesday to tell him that they were hurt, shocked or offended when they heard about his comments.

“I’m a grandmother, not a thug,” said Ira Reed. She works for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg arm of the N.C. Association of Educators, retiring from work in local school districts after 39 years.

“Reed defended unions after Brody said his strong opposition to public employee unions were at the root of his “thugs” Facebook post.

“I’ve been schooled a lot in the last couple of hours,” Brody said. “I support the message that you’re bringing. I just don’t support the method.”

“Brody said teachers shouldn’t have had their rally on a school day. At least 42 school districts, including the state’s largest, canceled classes Wednesday.

“During the wide-ranging conversation, Brody agreed with Reed that teacher “pay-for-performance” was wrong. He said also that he wants to eliminate end-of-grade exams, eliminate Common Core standards and return control of school calendars to the local districts.”

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article211269714.html#storylink=cpy

Categories North Carolina, Resistance

Surprise! Bill Bennett Opposes Teachers’ Strikes

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2018 //
53

Bill Bennett was Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Education. He went on to become a multimillionaire from the royalties “The Book of Virtues” and other books. He is a hero to conservatives and homeschooling families, even though he admitted that he has a serious gambling habit, gambling millions of dollars. After the gambling story came out in 2000, he cut back on the moralizing.

But now he is back, chastising teachers for hurting children by striking. Bennett wrote an article in Education Week with Karen Nussle, president of Conservative Leaders for Education, an organization I never heard of. They speak out against striking teachers.

They warn that continued strikes will turn the public against public schools, but they don’t admit that they don’t believe in public schools and are devoted to vouchers and choice, like DeVos.

Here comes the moralizing:

“There is a fundamental problem in education that has been on vivid display recently: confusion about whom our schools exist to serve. Our public school system exists to give our children a foundation in literacy and numeracy and to help them become informed citizens. It is not the purpose of the public schools to use children as leverage for the gains of others.

“Only that base misconception could drive mass school closures and disruptions right in the midst of a critical time in the school year. Only that misconception could lead adults to go on strike, thrusting chaos and untenable choices on the most vulnerable families least able to cope with abrupt changes in the routines of their children.
“When coal miners strike they lay down their equipment. When teachers strike, they lay down their students’ minds.”
We strongly believe in the importance and honor of great teaching and teachers. We believe policymakers should set budgets so that the best teachers are attracted and retained. Those decisions must be made at each state and district level.

“We strongly disagree that adults in our public schools should use systematic disruption of students and families—that is, strikes or walkouts—as a tactic to secure financial outcomes. There are several basic reasons for this:
First, abrupt school closure interrupts and damages the progress of students. We either believe that school and teaching time matters, or we do not. Teaching time does matter, and we should be very reluctant to interrupt it. Strikes (and walkouts) do exactly that. When coal miners strike they lay down their equipment. When teachers strike, they lay down their students’ minds.”

Second, they write, teachers should act like professionals. Professionals don’t strike. Professionals politely ask for higher compensation.

When you are a multimillionaire, it’s easy to sneer at people earning $40,000 a year and working two or three jobs to make ends meet.

Hypocrisy is not virtuous.

Categories Education Reform, Hypocrisy, Resistance, Teacher Pay, Teachers

Justin Parmenter: Here Come the N.C. Teacher Thugs!

By dianeravitch
May 14, 2018 //
19

Justin Parmenter writes here about a state legislator in North Carolina who denounced the teachers who plan to protest on May 16 as “thugs.”

He says, here come the teacher thugs!

He writes:

Brody is right to be concerned about the more than 13,500 thugs who will be storming Raleigh on Wednesday. After all, these thugs bring a very special skill set that make us extraordinarily effective advocates:

We are black belts in sarcasm and penmanship. Just wait til you see our signs.

We can hold our pee all day long.

We reserve a special teacher voice that demands attention.

We are very good at waiting in line (no cutting).

We can go 8 hours without sitting down once. The secret is in the shoes.

Most importantly, these thugs are experts in fact-based arguments.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Categories Budget Cuts, Education Reform, Funding, North Carolina, Resistance, Teachers

North Carolina Charter Teachers: We Refuse to Be a Trojan Horse to Destroy Public Schools!

By dianeravitch
May 13, 2018 //
8

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article210896254.html

Two charter school teachers in Durham, North Carolina, write that their schools are closing on May 16 to join the protest against the Legislature’s underfunding of public schools.

Taylor Schmidt and Morgan Carney, teachers at Central Park Charter School, reflect on their school’s advantages and point out:

“As the 10th largest economy in the nation, North Carolina is currently ranked 39th for per-pupil spending. Public school teachers often reach into their own pocketbooks to buy essentials like pencils and copy paper for overcrowded classrooms, nevermind having the financial support to take 95 sixth graders on a bus to a local farm for project work.

“Adding to these challenges is the broken system of creating and managing charter schools in our state, a system that includes our own school. Soon after we arrived at Central Park, structural shortcomings became apparent. Students of color comprised 81 percent of the demographics of Durham Public Schools in 2013, while students of color at Central Park comprised only 29 percent of the student population. Whereas 66 percent of students in Durham Public Schools were eligible for free and reduced lunch, only 7 percent of CPSC students were eligible for the program.

“This realization led to greater clarity: regardless of our intentions, we had become part of the problem of school resegregation. We petitioned the state to become the first charter school to give weighted lottery preference to economically disadvantaged families. We have changed our policies to provide free and reduced-price lunches and transportation assistance. While there is more work to be done, each year the socioeconomic diversity of our student body better reflects the strengths found in the rich diversity of our community and delivers on the mandate for NC charter schools to provide increased learning opportunities for those most in need.

“In 2018, Central Park is arriving at another moment of clarity. We recognize that, despite positive intentions, we are still part of the problem. As a charter school, we play into a system that has strayed from the original goals. The charter school system has been turned into a Trojan horse that severely underfunds our state’s public schools, creates competition for resources, resegregates our schools, and provides blinders to cover the increasing privatization of North Carolina’s educational institutions through for-profit charter schools. The mission of our school, and the original mission of charter schools, forbid us from staying silent on these issues.

“We intend to actively fight against resegregation of schools by race and class in North Carolina. We stand against privatization, vouchers, and for-profit charter schools, believing passionately that we must serve in collaboration and partnership alongside our communities’ public schools.”

Read more here: http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/article210896254.html#storylink=cpy

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, Education Industry, Education Reform, Funding, North Carolina, Privatization, Resistance, Teachers

Justin Parmenter to N.C. Teachers: Professional Teaching Standards Support Your Right to Speak Out on May 16

By dianeravitch
May 12, 2018 //
2

North Carolina teacher Justin Parmenter says that some districts have resorted to intimidation tactics to discourage teachers from showing up at the State Capitol in Raleigh on May 16.

But, he writes, North Carolina professional standards encourage teachers to act and speak on behalf of improving working conditions for teachers and students.

He writes:

“On the contrary, the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards actually encourage teachers to be active in their advocacy and work to improve teaching conditions and change policies that negatively impact our profession.

“Take a look at Standard 1 for yourself:

“Teachers lead the teaching profession.

“Teachers strive to improve the teaching profession. They contribute to the establishment of positive working conditions in their school, district, and across the state. They actively participate in and advocate for decision-making structures in education and government that take advantage of the expertise of teachers. Teachers promote professional growth for all educators and collaborate with their colleagues to improve the profession.

“Strive to improve the profession
“Contribute to the establishment of good working conditions
“Participate in decision-making structures
“Promote professional growth”

He recommends that you take a selfie on May 16:

“While you’re at the General Assembly advocating on behalf of your students and colleagues, be sure to get some pictures of yourself. They will serve as useful evidence of your distinguished performance on Standards 1c and 1d.”

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, North Carolina, Resistance, Teachers

E.J. Montini: That 20% Raise for Arizona Teachers Was 100% Bull

By dianeravitch
May 12, 2018 //
16

E.J. Montini, opinion columnist for the Arizona Republic, explains how Governor Doug Ducey pulled a fast one on the teachers who thought they won a promise from him.

“An analysis by The Arizona Republic – based on the state auditor general’s numbers – indicates that 59 school districts wouldn’t get enough money under the law to give all of their teachers the promised raise.

“In other words, that 20 percent pay hike for all teachers was 100 percent bull.

“Sure, some teachers will get raises, but apparently not all of them and not at the level that was promised.

“In addition, the devastating education spending cuts made for years were not reversed. Support staff salaries were not guaranteed an increase. And there was no moratorium on tax cuts.

“If the RedForEd people want to accomplish their goals they’re going to have to do it on their own.

“With a ballot initiative.

“Perhaps it will be one that has been put forth by coalition of teachers, parents and education advocates led by the Center for Economic Progress.

“The plan, called the Invest in Education Act. would increase taxes for individuals earning more than $250,000 a year and couples earning more than $500,000.

“The wealthy prefer a sales tax

“A group of local CEOs, along with the Chamber of Commerce – people who earn that kind of money – would rather place the tax burden for education on our poorest brothers and sisters by boosting the sales tax.

“They’re prepared to spend a ton of money to fight the income tax proposal.

“(They’d rather do that, apparently, than put the money into public education.)”

They will need to collect 150,000 signatures by July 5 to get the proposition on the ballot. A number of groups and faith communities have offered their help. They say it is a moral issue.

“The protesting educators in the RedForEd movement tried to teach that lesson.

“The governor and Legislature failed the exam.

“They’re going to need a make-up test.”

Categories Arizona, Funding, Resistance, Teachers

Stuart Egan: North Carolina Teachers Will Confront Legislators on May 16

By dianeravitch
May 5, 2018 //
4

 

The General Assembly convenes in Raleigh, North Carolina, on May 16.

Stuart Egan writes that teachers will be there to meet them. 

On May 16th, teachers in North Carolina will begin to make a stand for their profession and the state’s public schools.

What these teachers and advocates want Raleigh’s lawmakers to understand is that there is a difference between “rewarding” teachers and respecting the teaching profession and the public schools.

A reward is something that is given in recognition of someone’s service, effort, and/or achievement. One could get a reward for doing well on a project or completing a task. Some could look at a bonus check as a reward for accomplishing a goal.

However, NC’s teachers want more than a reward from the General Assembly. They want respect for all of our public school teachers and the public schools which serve a vast majority of our children.

To have respect is to have a deep feeling of admiration for someone because of his abilities, qualities, and value. It is understanding that someone is important and should be taken seriously.

In this highly contested election year, many will be fooled by lawmakers wanting to “reward” the teaching profession with bills that might offer more pay or actually fund a mandate and mistake that for respect. Respect goes much deeper.

That is why teachers and advocates will march and rally on May 16th when the NCGA reconvenes because it reminds policies makers that there are many stark differences between rewards and respect.

 

Categories Accountability, Education Reform, North Carolina, Resistance, Teachers
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