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Pennsylvania: Haverford School Board Opposes Charter “Reform” Legislation

By dianeravitch
June 19, 2017 //
1

The Pennsylvania legislature is considering a bill to “reform” charter schools, but it still allows charters to drain resources from public schools without reimbursement, and it still preserves the low-performing cybercharters that milk resources from public schools with providing a decent education to any students.

Many grassroots groups oppose this bill, and the Haverford School Board just voted 7-1 against it.

The board of school directors recently joined Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Education Law Center and other school districts around the state that have voiced opposition to provisions for charter school reform in House Bill 97.

School directors voted 7-1 to adopt a resolution opposing the bill, which they allege “fails to establish meaningful change” from the state’s 20-year-old Charter School Law.

Approved by the state House in April, HB 97 is currently in the Senate Education Committee where amendments are under consideration, said school director and chair of the Delaware County School Boards Legislative Council Larry Feinberg, the resolution’s sponsor.

The resolution states that charter schools that are “publicly funded and privately operated institutions governed by non-elected boards …not accountable to taxpayers, yet paid for with local school district funds….”

Larry Feinberg said that while Haverford has no brick and mortar charter schools, the district has spent $2.4 million since 2012 on historically underperforming cybercharters, with $90.9 million spent county wide for “something that doesn’t work.”

And, “I have grave concerns about accountability,” Feinberg said, recalling Pennsylvania Cyber Charter founder Nick Trombetta’s diversion of funds to make lavish purchases for himself, his girlfriend and family members.

Categories Accountability, Charter Schools, For-Profit, Fraud, Funding, Pennsylvania, Resistance

Contact Your PBS Station to Demand Equal Time for Pro-Public Education Message

By dianeravitch
June 15, 2017 //
61

The Network for Public Education invites you to contact your local PBS station to protest the one-sided three-hour special “School Inc.” The letter in the link tells you how to contact your PBS affiliate.

We urge two courses of action, for the sake of balance. Please request that they air my 10-minute response which was filmed by the NYC affiliate of PBS. Please urge them to show “Backpack Full of Cash,” made by award-winning Stone Lantern Productions; it tells the story of the corporate assault on public schools.

That is 70 minutes of time, certainly not equal time. PBS, in the interests of fairness, should identify and run three hours of documentaries that show an accurate picture of the accomplishments and challenges of public schools.

PBS is running a three-hour special that attacks public schools and celebrates privatization. “School Inc” claims that public schools are not “innovative,” but not one of its free-market examples are innovative in any way, other than that they are run by private corporations, many for profit. The narrator and creator of this series is the late Andrew Coulson, a libertarian who believed in free-market education.

I watched all three hours of the program twice, preparing for a 10-minute interview at WNET, the New York City affiliate of PBS. I learned that the three foundations that funded the program are libertarian supporters of vouchers. The program is pro-privatization propaganda. At no point does Coulson interview anyone who disagrees with him. He lauds the free-market reforms in Chile and Sweden, which reputable scholars have found wanting. Chile is one of the most segregated school systems in the world, and Sweden’s scores on international tests have fallen since the introduction of Choice and for-profit schooling.

This program leads the way in promoting the DeVos agenda of free-market education.

Please send your email. Be heard.

Categories Accountability, Betsy DeVos, Corporate Reformers, Education Industry, Funding, Network for Public Education, Privatization, Resistance

Edgar A. Guest: How the Race and the Battles Are Won

By dianeravitch
May 29, 2017 //
10

Retired teacher Frank Breslin shared with me this poem by Edgar A. Guest. It seems appropriate from this time, when the people at the top seem to be intent on obliterating all progress made in the past 60 years towards a more just society.

LITTLE BY LITTLE

Inch by inch and a foot is gained.
Two feet more and a yard is made.
Little by little is much attained.
Ounce by ounce and a pound is weighed.
Day by day and a week has passed.
Four full weeks and a month has flown.
Twelve brief months and we find at last
Out of them all a year has grown.

A day seems long and a mile seems far
And you scarcely notice the yard you’ve gained,
But by that much nearer the goal posts are,
And nearer still when the mile’s attained.
Oh, the hills seem steep when you start to climb,
But upward struggle and don’t you stop,
As the acorn grows to an oak in time,
Little by little you’ll reach the top.

Ounce by ounce and a pound is weighed,
And by and by are the pounds a ton;
Though swift or slow was the progress made,
It is all the same when the goal is won.
For whether you leap or whether you crawl,
You’ll find this truth — and it’s ages old!
That success is merely the sum of all
The tedious inches in miles retold.

~Edgar A. Guest~

Categories Resistance

Bob Braun Reports: Student Sit-In in Newark

By dianeravitch
May 23, 2017 //
6

Bob Braun, veteran New Jersey reporter, just tweeted:

“BREAKING NEWS–Newark public school students have seized the offices of the Newark School Charter Fund and are staging a sit-in.”

Newark students are amazing. Eight of them staged a sit-in in Superintendent Cami Anderson’s office for four days in February 2015, vowing to stay until she quit. People from across the nation sent pizzas to them. In June 2015, Anderson quit.

Categories Newark, Resistance, Students

Anthony Cody: Activists Fight Corporate Media with Short Videos and Powerful Message

By dianeravitch
May 19, 2017 //
13

Anthony Cody, co-founder of the Network for Public Education and retired teacher, describes the day nearly three weeks ago when education activists from across the nation met in a grimy warehouse in Brooklyn to tape videos about the fight for better schools and against privatization.

I posted a request on the blog inviting people to join the audience. Several readers asked if the day would be live-streamed. The documentarian Michael Elliott told me it was a filming, not an event, so live-streaming was impossible. Some speakers did retakes. There were long pauses while the cameras were readjusted. No, it was not right for live-streaming. The end result will be a number of short videos, featuring some terrific speakers.

By the way, the audience was full of teachers, BATs, parents, and other educators. They were very patient and very enthusiastic.

The filming was a project of the Network for Public Education. It is part of our ongoing efforts to inform the public about the fight against privatization and the importance of improving our public schools.

Categories Network for Public Education, Resistance, Supporting public schools

Great New Documentary–“Backpack Full of Cash”–is Finished and Ready for Screenings in Your Community

By dianeravitch
May 18, 2017 //
40

Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow announce that their long-awaited film “Backpack Full of Cash” has been completed, and they are now taking it to film festivals and community screenings. This is the film that tells the story of the dangers of public school privatization and the undermining of public education in many districts.

Dear BACKPACK Friends and Supporters,

We want to share some good news. BACKPACK FULL OF CASH––a documentary film narrated by Matt Damon, that explores the impact of privatizing public schools––is now finished, updated and complete with a new Epilogue. With the appointment of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos––a longtime advocate of charter schools, vouchers and online schools, there is a pressing need for public awareness of these issues. BACKPACK seems to be striking a nerve with audiences.

We just showed BACKPACK to sold-out crowds at film festivals in Nashville and Washington, DC where the film won Runner Up–Audience Award, Best Documentary. We are getting many requests for screenings from around the country–and the world! If you or someone you know would like to host a screening, please visit our website. You can also make a donation––now urgently needed––to help us launch the outreach/ distribution campaign for the film.

We have been invited to show BACKPACK FULL OF CASH in Seattle, WA and Alberta, Canada in May/June. If you know anyone in these areas who would be interested, please help us spread the word. Here is the schedule and ticket info:

BACKPACK FULL OF CASH SCREENINGS

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
(filmmakers in attendance at June screenings only)
Friday, 5/19 at 3:30pm at SIFF Cinema Uptown
Tuesday, 6/6 at 7:00pm at AMC Pacific Place
Wednesday, 6/7 at 4:30pm at AMC Pacific Place Click here for tickets.

ALBERTA, CANADA
presented by Support Our Students Alberta,
sponsored by Alberta Federation of Labour
(filmmakers in attendance in Calgary only)

Thursday, 5/25 at 7:00pm in CALGARY, Globe Cinema
Saturday, 5/27 at 7:00pm EDMONTON, Art Gallery of Alberta, Ledcor Theater
Tuesday, 5/30 at 7:00pm in LETHBRIDGE, City of Lethbridge Sterndale Bennett Theater
Thursday, 6/1 at 7:00pm in RED DEER, Red Deer College, Welikoland Cinema
Click here for tickets.

Thanks again for your support.

Sarah Mondale, Vera Aronow, and the BACKPACK Film Team

Categories Charter Schools, Education Industry, Media, Privatization, Resistance, Vouchers

A Teacher in Florida Reacts to the LAUSD Election

By dianeravitch
May 17, 2017 //
38

The good guys lost. The guys with the backing of the billionaires won. The public schools of Los Angeles will shrink in numbers as the charter industry takes charge of the district.

Although the charter candidates wrapped themselves in the banner of Obama and Duncan, their victory is indeed a victory for the Trump-DeVos agenda.

A teacher in Florida reacted:


I am sitting here at 6 am in So. Florida crying. I feel like I am living in a nightmare and can’t wake up. So many good teachers jumping ship and the new ones coming in are doing so with no intention of making this nearly impossible job a career. With the chaos of moving ESE behaviors into the gen ed popuation as it is “least restricitve” to “restorative justice” (time out for desk throwers and send ’em back to class), overworked and overwhelmed guidance counselors, shared psychologists with 3-4 schools and an IDIOT state legislature that loves “births”, hates “lives” and depises the poor. Does anyone else see this as the beginning of the end of a free society or am I catastrophizing? What is wrong with this country? Why can’t the public see what is happening? If they see, why don’t they care? The defeat in teacher’s eyes is palpable. It can’ t continue.

As devastating as the defeat in Los Angeles is, we cannot give up hope for the future. As the saying goes, it is always darkest just before the dawn. This darkness is deep right now, and the dawn is nowhere in sight.

But the only certainty of defeat is giving up. The loss in Los Angeles was due to money and lies, but also apathy.

The message is clear: if we don’t rally the people, the parents, the citizens who owe their education to public schools, we will lose. If we give up trying, we will lose. Those of us who believe in democratic control of public schools that take responsibility for all children, that are financially and academically accountantable, that hire only certified staff, must fight on.

We must not lose hope. Without hope, we are lost. Hard as it is to sustain hope, we must persist. To abandon the struggle is to abandon our belief in a basic democratic institution. We can’t and we won’t. The struggle is not over, nor is it lost. Consider the loss in L.A. to be a loud wake-up call to fight the free-market ideologues and entrepreneurs. Consider it a challenge to redouble our efforts to save public education and resist privatization.

Categories Accountability, Billionaires, Charter Schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Lies, Los Angeles, Privatization, Propaganda, Resistance

Texas Southern University Cancels Senator Cornyn’s Commencement Speech Due to Student Opposition

By dianeravitch
May 16, 2017 //
66

Texas Southern University canceled Senator Jon Cornyn’s commencement speech, due to student opposition.

Trump gave the commencement address at Liberty University, Jerry Falwell’s university, where he knew he could expect a friendly reception.

It appears that neither Trump nor DeVos will be giving many commencement addresses, except at small evangelical colleges. Students are not passive, and they know that this administration cares more about the student debt collectors than students. They know that this administration will do nothing to reduce their debt burden. They know that this administration wants to take away their family’s health insurance.

The cancellation of Senator Cornyn’s speech suggests that campuses will not be friendly environments for anyone supporting the mean policies of the Trump administration.

Categories Higher Education, Resistance, Students

The Best Shout-Out to the Graduates of Bethune-Cookman, Class of 2017

By dianeravitch
May 11, 2017 //
18

Blogger Luvvie Ajayi salutes Bethune-Cookman’s graduates for standing up against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, a woman with zero understanding of their lives or the life of Mary McLeod Bethune.

She writes, “Thank You for Telling Betsy DeVos ‘Nah.'”

She writes:

“Y’all are the real MVPs. Really and truly. I am applauding you with the fervor I’d use during praise and worship right now. You know the kind of clapping that’s heavy-handed, and leaves your palms red and burning? The one your Grandma can keep going for 30 good minutes, and you wonder if she had an Apple Watch, how many steps it’d give her for that? That praise clap. You deserve the props, because today, you showed courage. You showed integrity. And you showed that you are more principled than the administration of people who are the ones supposed to show you what all those things are.

“Before I can truly thank you, I need to apologize to you on behalf of people with sense, and people who saw what you’d have to be in presence with and scratched our heads. You were not supposed to be placed in the position to have to defy your school president and administration. You were not supposed to be asked to watch an idiot who would fail the curriculum you had to take, and applaud her. You were not supposed to have to cheer on the woman who is about to flush our kids’ futures down the river. NO YOU WERE NOT. But your GOOFASS administration decided that it was a good idea to have Betsy DeVos, in all her ignoramus glory, on your stage. The woman who always looks like in quiet moments, slow jazz plays in her head. The lady who probably still says “colored people” when she’s at High Tea with her girls, the other Miss Annes. It defied all logic but it must have been led by stupidity and greed.”

The rest of her post is very funny and very serious.

She goes on to say:

“Because in these acts of defiance, you showed that you are more brave than the rubber-backed people who run your school and placed a stamp of approval on one of Cheeto Satan’s collaborators.”

And quotes Mary McLeod Bethune:

“If we accept and acquiesce in the face of discrimination, we accept the responsibility ourselves. We should, therefore, protest openly everything … that smacks of discrimination or slander.” – Mary McLeod Bethune

Categories Betsy DeVos, Resistance

Hundreds Show Up to Protest Paul Ryan’s Visit to Success Academy Charter School in New York City

By dianeravitch
May 9, 2017 //
7

Although advance notice was minimal, and most people had no idea that Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was visiting Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy Charter School in Harlem, hundreds of protesters showed up. Ryan briefly stopped in the Mickey Mantle public school (P.S. 811) that is co-located with Success Academy. The public school is devoted to students with special needs. Eva tried to push out PS 811 a few years ago to make more space for her school, which is infamous for excluding the students enrolled in the Mickey Mantle School.

Leonie Haimson gathered pictures of the protest.

It is ironic that Ryan would be invited to visit any school in Harlem, since his health care bill will leave the parents of these students without health insurance.

Categories Harlem Success Academy, New York City, Resistance
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