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West Virginia: Why Teachers Are Still Striking

By dianeravitch
March 2, 2018 //
15

 

In this article, a teacher in West Virginia explains why teachers decided not to end their statewide strike. Promises from politicians are worthless. They want action.

Here is the interview. Go online to open the links.

“Public schools in West Virginia were closed for a sixth day on Thursday, as teachers striking over health care costs and pay largely rebuffed a deal this week between Gov. James C. Justice and union leadership aimed at getting them back to school.

Mr. Justice has ordered a task force to examine health care costs and the State House passed a bill raising wages by 5 percent. But with the bill’s fate in doubt in the Senate and scant details on health care funding, many teachers remained angry, and they flooded back to the Capitol, wearing red and black, to protest on Wednesday and Thursday.

We spoke on Wednesday night with Katie Endicott, 31, a high school English teacher from Gilbert, W.Va., about why she and many other teachers are not yet prepared to return to school. The interview has been edited and condensed.

What are the origins of the strike?

They told us that essentially if you weren’t a single person, if you had a family plan, your health insurance was going to rise substantially. As a West Virginia teacher — and I’ve been teaching 10 years — I only clear right under $1,300 every two weeks, and they’re wanting to take $300 more away for me. But they tell me it’s O.K., because we’re going to give you a 1 percent pay raise. That equals out to 88 cents every two days.

They implemented Go365, which is an app that I’m supposed to download on my phone, to track my steps, to earn points through this app. If I don’t earn enough points, and if I choose not to use the app, then I’m penalized $500 at the end of the year. People felt that was very invasive, to have to download that app and to be forced into turning over sensitive information.

Go365 was thrown out. Of course they decided to give a freeze [on insurance rates], and I think people thought that might be enough. But we understand that this is an election year. They can freeze it right now, but what happens after the election? The feeling is, we have to get this fixed, and we have to get it fixed now.

What compelled you to strike?

I take care of the bills in my family and knew I can’t afford it, I can’t. I have two children, I live paycheck to paycheck. When I realized that they were taking hundreds of dollars and then they tried to tell me they were giving me a pay raise of 1 percent, I knew I can’t just sit back. I can’t be complacent, something has to change.

We went to the Capitol on Feb. 2, we stood in solidarity, and they would not talk to us.

When we walked out of there, my husband looked at me and he said, “I feel so defeated.” They didn’t listen to anything that we had to say.

We were just walking silently from the Capitol and one teacher said, “Guys, we’re really going to have to strike.” At that point, I knew.

What was it like to leave your classroom?

I teach seniors and 10th graders, my kids are aware of everything that’s going on. I’m the pep club leader at my school, the prayer club leader, on the prom committee. My first period senior class, I started crying and I said, “Guys, I legitimately don’t know when I will be back.” I have an A.P. exam on May 9, and that is not going to change.

We have been having local rallies as well as going to the Capitol. Our son is a little confused because we’ve been wearing bunny ears because the governor called us dumb bunnies. He’s been telling everyone that if his mommy and daddy are dumb bunnies he’s a dumb bunny, too. He insists on wearing bunny ears in public like we’ve been doing at the protests.

[Tuesday] was my day to be at a local rally. I was at that rally for approximately three hours. I got in the vehicle with colleagues, we drove several hours to Charleston to the Capitol. There was music playing, the crowd was singing “Country Roads.” It was really amazing to see all the educators come. So many people were there. Students were there. People brought their kids.

How did you feel after the deal was announced?

Initially a lot of people around me were very happy, because we thought we won. I was excited. And then the union leaders came out and talked to us and we realized really quickly we did not win anything. The crowd turned very angry very quickly. Just because the governor suggests a 5 percent pay raise doesn’t mean it’s going through.

Now they’re saying you get 5 percent and well P.E.I.A. [the public insurance offered to teachers and state employees] is still frozen. At that point the crowd starts chanting, “A freeze is not a fix.” Everybody was very angry, very angry that we were told to go back to the classroom when we felt like had not achieved what we set out to achieve.

Our county said we would not be returning to the classroom. We did not want to go back with a promise. We wanted it signed, sealed and delivered. We wanted it to be fulfilled, not just empty words. We knew that if we went back and there were not details of a plan and a true commitment, then we could easily lose everything.

Where do you think the protest goes from here? What do you hope to achieve?

They are telling us that P.E.I.A. cannot be fixed overnight. While we understand that, simply saying there will be a task force is not enough. We need to know who is going to be on this task force. We need specific details about how this is going to be fixed.

The governor mentioned, I think, three different sources of possible revenue to fix it. Which one? How much? We feel like the plan is too ambiguous right now. We need to know.

West Virginia has a long history of protest. How does this strike fit into that?

We know that we come from these mountains and we are strong and we have pride and we love this state. We come from an area that is known for standing up for what they believe in. The union wars, they originated in the south in Mingo County.

We believe we’re following in their footsteps. We believe the movement was started years ago through the mine wars. We’re just reviving the movement that was started years ago.

Categories Resistance, Unions, West Virginia

I Have Had a FEDEX Account for Many Years. I Just Canceled It.

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2018 //
35

I signed on to FEDEX soon after the company came into existence in 1971. Maybe in 1975, about then.

FEDEX is one of the few corporate partners of the National Rifle Association that refuses to withdraw its sponsorship. It gives NRA members discounts.

I called FEDEX to complain and found I was talking to someone at a call center in Mexico who had no idea what I was talking about. After repeat phone calls, I got connected to a nice  young man in Virginia who told me about FEDEX support for good causes (“FEDEX Cares”). I told him the NRA is not a good cause. They promote legislation that allows mass murderers to get weapons of death. I said, I give you a week.

Today, after the Florida Senate House Appropriations Committee refused to ban assault weapons and decided to arm teachers (who don’t want guns in schools), I decided I had had enough.

I called FEDEX and after many diversions from one machine to another, I finally got a phone number for the department where you can cancel your account.

The number is 1-800-622-1147. You have to go through a few “press 1, press 2, press 3” things, but eventually you can ask for a “representative.”

I canceled my account. The representative didn’t say, “sorry to lose your business” or anything else. She just said, “It is canceled. Goodbye.”

A small act, but if 1,000,000 other customers did the same, FEDEX  might actually “CARE.”

Also, one of the Republican candidates for governor of Georgia is threatening to cancel a tax break for Delta Airlines, which did withdraw its alliance with the NRA. Delta, says the New York Times today, brings billions of dollars of revenue to Georgia, because Atlanta is its hub.

Delta, consider moving to Nashville or some other city that would be glad to have the revenue you bring in. If the legislature of Georgia is dumb enough to punish you for standing up to the NRA, move out!

 

 

Categories Guns, Resistance

California: Professors Call on Other Educators to Support Student Walkouts

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2018 //
6

A group of faculty members at the University of Redlands in California has posted an open letter calling on the state board of education and educators to support student walkouts in protest of gun violence in schools. Click on the link to fill out the letter and submit it.

 

Open Letter in Support of School Walkouts to Protest Gun Violence
 

This letter will be submitted by a group of faculty in the CEJ (Center for Educational Justice at the University of Redlands in the School of Education) to the California Department of Education in response to the recent call for several National School Walkouts. All university-based researchers (including faculty, researchers, and administrators) throughout California are invited to sign their names in support of this letter.Listed on the letter will be each signer’s Name, Title, and College/University/Affiliation.

To sign, please submit information in the form fields below the letter by March 9, 2018.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————

This letter was co-authored by the following faculty in the School of Education (SOE) in the Center for Educational Justice (CEJ) at the University of Redlands: Brian Charest, Ph.D., Mikela Bjork, Ph.D., and Nicol Howard, Ph.D.

Open Letter in Support of School Walkouts to Protest Gun Violence

Dear California State Board of Education President, Dr. Michael Krist, State Board Colleagues, and California School Principals, Teachers, and Administrators:

Last week, 17 students were shot and killed at a Florida high school by a former member of the school’s JROTC program. The shooter, who expressed white supremacist views online (footnotes listed parenthetically – 1), was trained to shoot lethal weapons by the Army on his high school campus (2). Teachers, students, parents, and allies have had enough. Students are standing up. Teachers and parents are supporting them.

As university and teacher educators (including faculty, researchers, and administrators), we strongly urge you to publicly support all principals, teachers, and students in our California schools and universities, who wish to participate in the upcoming National School Walkouts to protest gun violence (the first of which is scheduled for 17 minutes—one minute for each victim of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting on March 14).

Other walkouts are scheduled on March 24, and April 20, and additional walkouts may occur. We believe educators and students should have your support to participate in these actions. Current gun regulations do not reflect current research or knowledge on gun violence prevention, nor do they reflect public opinion on gun safety. (3)

Our schools, for better or for worse, reflect our priorities as a society and should be spaces where students and teachers discuss what those priorities should be. We believe that any discussion about solving the problem of gun violence must be a conversation about public safety and must also address root causes of this violence, such as the culture of violence in the US that equates masculinity with guns, (4) bullying in schools and on campuses, violence against women, the increase in militarism in schools that serve our most vulnerable youth (e.g, ROTC programs, military-run schools, junior police academies, etc.) (5) (6), state sanctioned violence through policing, and racism that blinds us to the effects of gun violence in poor communities of color. (7) (8)

We believe that the National School Walkouts are the first step toward a public conversation about these root causes, one that can help lead to the enactment of a public safety plan to reduce gun violence in the US. Such a plan would emerge from what we currently know about gun safety and gun violence prevention.(9) Such a plan would also align with the views of a majority of Americans (10) who believe in things like background checks for all gun buyers (93%), a ban on the sale of guns to anyone convicted of a violent crime (88%), and for waiting periods for all gun purchases (72%).

We urge you to take this moment to voice your support for public engagement in the gun safety debate and for students and teachers who seek to pressure lawmakers to enact effective gun safety legislation. Doing so would not only encourage teachers in California to teach about the power of civic engagement, but also provide an opportunity for students to see firsthand the importance of civic action in a democracy. Democracies require citizen participation, and it is through a combination of careful study and debate combined with civic action that citizens shape their world for the better.

We, the undersigned, believe in the need to address the root causes of gun violence and for new laws to promote public safety to end the epidemic of gun violence in the US; we support the right of principals, teachers, and students to participate in the National School Walkout.

#NationalSchoolWalkout #GunReformNow #StudentsStandUp #ArmMeWith

Footnotes:

1. https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/us/exclusive-school-shooter-instagram-group/index.html
2. http://www.accuracy.org/release/shooter-cruz-jrotc-and-the-nra/
3. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/06/opinion/how-to-reduce-shootings.html
4. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a18207600/mass-shootings-male-entitlement-toxic-masculinity/
5. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4969649w#main
6. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20442093?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
7. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/reducing-gun-violence.html
8. https://www.theroot.com/why-it-hurts-when-the-world-loves-everyone-but-us-1823253675
9.http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/71705/file-2141494158-pdf/_DOCUMENTS/CaseStudy_TheBostonGunProjectAndOperationCeasefire_2005.pdf?t=1431722966085
10. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/11/06/opinion/how-to-reduce-shootings.html

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As of February 24, 2018, the following education scholars have signed in support of this open letter (Names are listed in alphabetical order):

Brian Charest, Assistant Professor, University of Redlands
Kevin Kumashiro, former Dean, University of San Francisco
Mikela Bjork, Assistant Professor, University of Redlands
Nicol Howard, Assistant Professor, University of Redlands

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Categories Education Reform, Resistance, Students

Chris Cotton: High School Students Are Shaking Up the Status Quo

By dianeravitch
February 27, 2018 //
7

Christopher Cotton is a high school English teacher in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

He wrote this article for the school newspaper. 

He writes:

The pattern of responses to school shootings is maddeningly familiar: carnage, thoughts and prayers, too soon to talk, don’t politicize, stalling, relegating, forgetting. People who support some sort of common-sense gun restrictions —  the vast majority of Americans —  have been driven to near-insanity by the impotence of our legislators. We thought Columbine might force a change. We were sure that Sandy Hook, with its young victims, would be the tipping point. But America fell into the same pattern.

Now there is something new under the sun.

What’s new is: YOU.

We adults have utterly failed to budge Washington’s inertia. But you students have a unique moral authority on this issue. You are the ones who pay the price. You are the ones who have to live or die with the results of Congress’ prostration to the gun lobby. As we have seen with news footage and viral videos, when teenagers speak up on this issue they cannot be shouted down. They have a clarity and authority that utterly dissipates the smog that befouls our political discourse.

“You are the ones who have to live or die with the results of Congress’ prostration to the gun lobby.”

I’ve seen legislators hamstrung by that mantra, “It’s too soon to talk about gun restrictions.” I’ve never heard an effective response; the argument has taken on the force of self-evident truth. But now I’ve seen a teenager pop that balloon with a single piece of common sense: “It’s not too soon. It’s too late.”

Teachers care, but the legislators ignore them. Oh, it’s just those unions, looking for smaller classes or other privileges.

Parents care, but they are not organized.

Administrators care, but they have to worry about their school’s public relations.

Students care, and they are not afraid. They are idealistic. They want fairness. They want justice. They have energy. They have not been beaten down by the system. No one can accuse them of being self-interested, unless self-interest means you hope to stay alive.

 

Categories Accountability, Resistance, Students

Mike Klonsky: A New Student Movement, Beginning at Parkland

By dianeravitch
February 26, 2018 //
13

 

Mike Klonsky was a leader of the students’ rebellion against the Vietnam War and racism in the 1960s.

He just returned from a visit to Parkland, and he thinks this new movement may be the change we need now, especially if it expands its vision.

“Florida happens to be the state most averse to gun control legislation with a majority of state legislators receiving big campaign donations from the NRA. In FL, for example, if municipal officials pass a firearms-related law, they must pay a $5,000 fine and lose their jobs. They can also be forced to pay up to $100,000 in damages to any “person or an organization whose membership is adversely affected by any ordinance” —such as, say, the NRA.

“To show how deep the divide is, the old, white male Republicans who rule the state, after refusing to meet with Parkland students to consider a ban on assault rifles, passed a resolution declaring that pornography endangers teenage health.

“Refusing to be demoralized or turned around, not even by death threats from the right, the students are turning their grief and anger into militancy, organizing an NRA boycott, two national student walkouts against gun violence and lobbying for a ban on assault weapons. The shootings have sparked a new national movement with students taking the lead.

“Students have traditionally been the igniters of larger and broader progressive social movements. That was true of the Civil Rights Movement (SNCC) anti-war and anti-imperialist youth revolt (SDS) of the ’60s and the student uprisings here and in Europe 50 years ago.

“The power of the youth movement rests in its embodiment of a vision that transcends the immediate demands and aims at reshaping the world in which the next generation will live, work, and lead.”

 

Categories Guns, Injustice, Resistance, Students

New Paltz, New York: School Board Member Defends Rights of Students to Join Protests Against Gun Violence

By dianeravitch
February 26, 2018 //
13

 

The New York State School Boards Association sent out a warning to local boards across the state about the risks of letting students join protest actions in support of the gun control movement. It is ironic to see the sudden outbreak of pearl-clutching when charter advocates have repeatedly closed their schools and bused their students, parents, and staff to Albany to lobby for more money for their charter organizations, with nary a peep from the NYSSBA.

Incidentally, many colleges and universities have declared that they will ignore any sanctions imposed on students because of their participation in walkouts related to gun violence.

A school board member in New Paltz responded:

“In a recent Legal Alert email from the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA) to its members, advice was offered to school boards considering whether to support students participating in a planned national walkout in protest of gun violence in schools, or to exempt participating students from disciplinary action resulting from a violation of school policy. NYSSBA offered very cautious, sensible advice from a purely legal perspective. In short: policy should always be upheld in order to preserve order and prevent the danger of setting a precedent which might, in the future, be used by students to evade repercussions for other policy violations; and that school boards should not support such activities, because school districts have “no express authority to engage in political activities,” but rather should always assume a position of neutrality. In addressing the issue of students’ First Amendment rights, NYSSBA cited the U.S. Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines, which states that schools can curb students’ free speech rights when they cause a significant disruption to the learning environment.

“As a school board member, I could hardly disagree more with everything I read in this email. Public education has become a highly politicized environment. Governor Cuomo, the New York State Education Department, Commissioner Elia, the Board of Regents, corporate reformers and charter school advocates have turned our public education system into a political football that gets trotted out and kicked around the field during every election cycle. To say that school boards should remain neutral, even apolitical, is ridiculous. We are elected officials, and though our elections are nominally nonpartisan, we are individuals with viewpoints, we represent our voters’ viewpoints, and have obligations to them and to students. The very notion of free public education for all was once considered a radical idea, and still faces attack today from various opponents.

“As school officials, one of our first and most important duties is to ensure that our students, teachers, administrators and staff have a safe and welcoming place to learn, teach, and work, free from fear. We are facing an ongoing crisis in our schools, a repeating cycle of violence, followed by fear, then inaction, and finally complacency. Over the past 20 years, we have seen tragedy after tragedy unfold, from Columbine, to Newtown, and now to Parkland, each with its horrific, bloody, senseless deaths, each ultimately marked by the failure of leaders to take action. As the alleged adults in the federal government prepare to once again sadly shake their collective heads and tell us they wish there was something that could be done, young people across America are preparing to come together in solidarity with one another, and to demand that leaders take action to protect them.

“Our kids and our teachers are being shot down in the hallways and classrooms of the one place they should feel safe from harm. This is not a time for cautious sensibility on the part of school officials. It’s a time for outrage, a time for anger, a time for grief, and a time for change. It’s a time for school board members to stand up on behalf of our students and staff, not to hide behind the board table. Some of our students will choose to walk out and demand that change. Some will not. Either is a brave choice, and should be supported, not punished.

“Brian Cournoyer
“Member of the New Paltz Central School District Board of Education”

 

Categories Accountability, New York, Resistance, Students

Emma Gonzalez: What Should We Say to Adults Who Want Us to Be Silent?

By dianeravitch
February 26, 2018 //
17

 

Thanks to principal Jamaal Bowman for sending me this story about Parkland student leader Emma Gonzalez:

Emma says:

“Adults are saying that children are emotional. I should hope so—some of our closest friends were taken before their time because of a senseless act of violence that should never have occurred. If we weren’t emotional, they would criticize us for that, as well. Adults are saying that children are disrespectful. But how can we respect people who don’t respect us? We have always been told that if we see something wrong, we need to speak up; but now that we are, all we’re getting is disrespect from the people who made the rules in the first place. Adults like us when we have strong test scores, but they hate us when we have strong opinions.”

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a18715714/protesting-nra-gun-control-true-story/

Emma’s Twitter account is @ Emma4Change

Categories Guns, Guns in Schools, Resistance, Rhee, Michelle, Students

A Message from David Berliner about the Day of Action

By dianeravitch
February 25, 2018 //
7

David Berliner wrote a series of tweets, calling for a national teachers’ strike, on February 14, after the news of the massacre at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That night, he combined the tweets into a short post, which I put online. That post received more than 100,000 views in a bit more than 24 hours. Clearly, many teachers, parents, and students were eager to find a way to express their sorrow and outrage.

This is the product of Dr. Berliner’s brilliant idea. 

David Berliner sent the following message as a follow-up:

“I think my essay, sent to Diane’s many followers, sparked the fire we now hope to build under the NRA. We have had enough. It’s a representative democracy and our representatives need to do what we want, not what the NRA wants.

“I had proposed May Day as the day of action. For lots of other reasons many groups preferred April 20, the anniversary of the Columbine massacre, as a day of remembrance and action. I will happily join with teachers and administrators. I will happily walk with school bus drivers and school lunchroom, janitorial, and maintenance staff. I hope also that the millions of ex-educators, parents and grand-parents are with us too, demanding safety for our children and our teachers. We need gun control and more widespread and better mental health services now!

“April 20th will be a day to show what democracy looks like. A day our citizens order our representatives to make us a safer nation.”

DCB

David C. Berliner
Regents’ Professor Emeritus
Arizona State University
120 E. Rio Salado Pkwy, #205
Tempe, AZ 85281-9116
Phone: 480-759-5049

Categories Accountability, Democracy, Education Reform, Guns in Schools, Resistance

Dahlia Lithwick: What We Can Learn from the Student Leaders of the MSD Rebellion

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2018 //
19

Slate writer Dahlia Lithwick describes what she has learned from the students who emerged as spokespersons for the student survivors of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

They are the most eloquent and most effective protest leaders in our nation since the 1960s and 1970s, when civil rights and anti-Vietnam war activists converged to change the nation’s direction.

She derives five lessons that they have taught us.

The first is that they ignore Donald Trump.

The second is that they don’t waste their time arguing with people who don’t share their values and goals.

The third is that they share leadership and don’t care who gets the credit.

Read the piece to learn the other two lessons for making change in the Trump era.

Categories Education Reform, Resistance

The New Yorker: Calling B.S. in Parkland, Florida

By dianeravitch
February 19, 2018 //
6

 

Emily Witt writes here about her visit to funerals and memorial services and grieving in Parkland, Florida.

Amidst the grief, she found one sterling beam of hope: Emma Gonzalez called “BS” on the ineffectual politicians who could find no reason to do anything at all.

It was a bad week for a lot of reasons, but at least we had evidence of one incorruptible value: the American teen-ager’s disdain for hypocrisy.

Categories Guns, Guns in Schools, Resistance, Safety, Students
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