Archives for category: Unions
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Randi Weingarten Arrested in Philadelphia Protest

By dianeravitch
March 7, 2013 //
126

Randi Weingarten and other protestors were arrested and hauled off in handcuffs while demonstrating against school closings in Philadelphia. Neither the Mayor nor the School Reform Commission was willing to meet with Weingarten.

After her release from custody, said the article in the Huffington Post,

“Weingarten said she sees the school closure plan as siphoning money away from public schools, since the plan doesn’t touch charter schools. “This was really a plan to eliminate public education,” Weingarten said. “This is not about how to fix public schools, but to close them — not how to stabilize but to destabilize public schooling.”

“Weingarten called the closings immoral. “When the powers that be ignore you and dismiss you, then you don’t have any choice but try to resort to civil disobedience to try to confront an immoral act,” she said.

“So she joined parents and union activists to form a group of 19 people who blocked the entrance to the meeting. She said she intentionally told Philly teachers not to join, lest they lose their teaching certification, and discouraged parents who are undocumented immigrants from participating.”

Categories Closing schools, Philadelphia, Support for public schools, Unions

CPS Plans to Close Schools, Increase Class Sizes

By dianeravitch
March 7, 2013 //
27

I just received a press release from the Chicago Teachers Union, alerting the public that CPS plans to close schools and to increase class sizes. To call this “reform” is outrageous. The children in Chicago needs smaller classes, not classes of 35-40. A teacher who is a “high-quality” teacher in a class with 24 students will not be a “high-quality” teacher if placed in a class of 35-40 students. Many of the students will have disabilities, or language learning issues, or behavioral problems. Instead of instruction, the teacher will spend most of his or her time on classroom management. This is just more of the corporate reform babble; neither Bill Gates nor Michael Bloomberg ever put their own children in classrooms with 35-40 students. Why do they want to do that to other people’s children?

 

Below is the CTU press release:

 

 

 

CPS Target of 30 to 40 Students in a Classroom is a

Dangerous Benchmark for Utilization ‘Crisis’

If 80 schools are shuttered class sizes will balloon

 

CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) opposes the larger classroom sizes that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) targets as “ideal” in its threats to close 13 percent of the city’s neighborhood schools by the end of this school year. Both research and teacher experience indicate that smaller class sizes, particularly at lower grade levels, contribute to increased learning and optimal classroom activity as teachers are better able to modify instruction to meet the needs of individual children and better communicate with their parents.

 

A recent press report indicated that the so-called “utilization crisis” manufactured by CPS is based on the assumption that 30 the ideal number of students for an “average class size.” Because the typical Chicago classroom has far fewer than 30 students, raising the target figure to 30 made it easier for CPS to manufacture a utilization crisis and use that as justification for closing scores of public schools.

 

“What CPS has done is damaging on two fronts,” said CTU President Karen GJ Lewis. “First, they’re misleading the public with this space ‘crisis’ they’ve created using their own benchmark, and second, the benchmark they’ve set is much higher than the city and state average and what we know provides the best environment for our students to succeed.”

 

CPS class sizes are already among the highest in Illinois. Last year, early grade classrooms in the city were on average larger than those in 95 percent of the districts in the rest of the state. Classrooms in CPS high schools had the fifth highest class size compared to other districts in Illinois. Many high schools and elementary schools slated for turnaround actions in recent years had multiple oversized classrooms.

 

Tennessee’s Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio) found that smaller class sizes had positive effects at the early childhood level (k-3),  across all school locations (rural, urban, inner city, suburban), on every achievement measure and for all subjects (reading, mathematics, science, social science, language, study skills).

 

The study also found that students assigned to small classes of 15 students in early grades graduated on schedule at a higher rate (76 percent) than students from regular classes  of 24 (64 percent). The same students also completed school with an honors diploma more often than students from regular classes and dropped out of school less often (15 percent) compared to the regular classes (24 percent).

 

“Smaller class sizes are a proven school policy that works, narrows the achievement gap and is manageable for both our teachers and students,” said CTU Research Director Dr. Carol Caref.

 

Echoing education reformers Bill Gates and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CPS Communication Director Becky Carroll was quoted in the press saying that a teacher of high quality “could take 40 kids in a class and help them succeed.”

 

Lewis said, “This just evidence of what we’re dealing with at City Hall and CPS–insults and untested hypothesis.  This is the result of having decision makers who are completely out of touch—or just plain ignorant—when it comes to what’s going on in the classroom.”                                                 

 

Categories Chicago, Class size, Unions

Philly Columnist: Time for Teachers to Strike

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2013 //
42

Philadelphia columnist Will Bunch couldn’t believe the onerous, mean-spirited proposal made by school officials to the city’s teachers. They are asked to accept a cut in pay and benefits, larger classes, a longer work day, and, adding insult to injury, no copying machines or supplies, no water fountains or parking facilities, not even desks.

Students will be in larger classes, in schools with no libraries, no librarians, no guidance counselors, and a corps of beaten-down teachers.

Way to go, School Reform Commission! I am reminded that the best corporations in the United States pamper their employees and make sure they have excellent working conditions. They want their employees to have high morale. In Philadelphia, they want to crush their teachers’ morale. The school officials are not employing a business model, unless they have in mind the 19th century idea of treating workers like scum.

If ever there were conditions for a strike against witless, cruel management, this is it.

Bear in mind that Philadelphia has not had an elected school board in over a decade. The School Reform Commission is appointed by the governor and mayor.

Will they care if there is a mass exodus of teachers? Will they happily employ scabs? Do they care about the quality of education? Or is driving down the cost of teachers more important than anything else?

Categories Broad Foundation, Budget Cuts, Corporate Reformers, Education Reform, Philadelphia, Teachers and Teaching, Unions

Philadelphia Insults Its Teachers and Other Employees

By dianeravitch
February 28, 2013 //
46

Philadelphia’s Broad-trained Superintendent William Hite offered the district’s employees an insulting contract: pay cuts up to 13%, benefit cuts, longer school days, and no pay increases until 2017. After 2017, any increases would be “performance-based,” dependent on the principal’s recommendation. Seniority would be abolished, as well as any payment for advanced degrees. See here and here

In addition, schools with more than 1,000 students would not be required to have libraries or librarians. No more counselors. No limits on class size. The district would no longer be required to provide teachers lounges, water fountains, etc.

This is the most insulting, most demeaning contract ever offered in any school district to my knowledge. The terms seem more appropriate to a prison than to a school, although it seems that both teachers and students are treated as wards of a cruel, harsh state. Who would want to teach in such a district that cared so little for students and teachers?

Is this what Dr. Hite learned at the Broad Superintendents Academy? Crush the workforce?

Didn’t anyone ever tell him that teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions?

Leaders of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers said his members would never accept such demeaning terms and predicted many would leave for districts where they were treated with dignity.

District officials defended their proposal:

“Deputy Superintendent Paul Kihn said he could not comment on ongoing labor talks, but said that the school system “actually values teachers as the most important resource in our district. We are committed to providing teachers with a set of working conditions…that will actually in the long run make Philadelphia a place that people will want to come and work.”

“Under the district’s opening proposal, issued Friday, the PFT’s 15,000 members — 10,000 teachers, plus nurses, counselors, secretaries, aides and others — would take pay cuts ranging from 5 percent for those who make under $25,000 to 13 percent for those who make over $55,000.”

Who will want to teach in a district that offers less pay, fewer befits, longer hours, no libraries, no counselors, no place to sit and rest between classes?

There was no discussion of reducing the pay of the superintendent, William Hite, who is paid $300,000 yearly and is surrounded by a coterie of six-figure assistants, including Deputy Superintendent Kihn ($210,000),

On another topic, Superintendent Hite plans to close 29 schools. A new study shows that the receiving schools perform no better than the closing schools. The closings do nothing to improve education for the students. Are they intended to save money or to make room for more charters (even though many of the charters in Philadelphia are low-performing or are under investigation for financial irregularities)?

With this contract and the proposed closings, the School Reform Commission and Superintendent make clear that their goal is to end public education in Philadelphia.

Categories Philadelphia, Unions

Insiders’ Report on History of Chicago Teachers Union

By dianeravitch
February 24, 2013 //
9

SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION

George Schmidt is the quintessential fiery fighter for workers and teachers rights. His analysis oh how the CTU got to where it is today and the challenges it faces in the coming months is below:

George Schmidt

by George Schmidt, Chicago Teachers Union/ Substance News http://www.substancenews.net/

One of the most important things about the past 13 years in the Chicago Teachers Union is that all of us — including those of us at Substance — have a record to stand on (or fall on our faces with). In August 2000, the Chicago Board of Education, at its monthly meeting, voted to fire me, on a motion (“Board Report”) from Paul G. Vallas. At that time, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union was Tom Reece, of the United Progressive Caucus. A year before the Board fired me, Reece had stood up at a Board meeting (February 1999) and told the Board and the world that Paul Vallas and Gery Chico were “the best Board we had ever worked with.”

In May and June 2001, Deborah Walsh (soon, Lynch) and Howard Heath and their slate of candidates defeated the UPC (and Reece) by a wide margin (57 percent of the vote) and the union’s members, after nearly ten years of relentless attacks by corporate “school reform” and mayoral control had high hopes. Sadly, in May (a four way race with no one winning the majority) and June (a two-way runoff) 2004, the union’s members voted against Debbie Lynch and PACT and returned the UPC to power.

On August 31, 2007, the UPC, under Marilyn Stewart, brought in its first post-PACT contract, proclaiming it a great one. But at the union’s August 31, 2007 House of Delegates meeting, the union’s delegates experiences the infamous “No No Vote Vote…” What happened was that Marilyn Stewart called for the “Yes” votes on the proposed contract, then refused to call the “No” votes and ran downstairs at Plumbers Hall to hold a press conference. The result was raucous. But Stewart had been re-elected that year. And the CTU had become a kleptocracy, as the record shows, where the union’s officers and staff were padding their pockets to the point where the union had to borrow $3 million when it faced problems. (The best place to see who profited from those years is to read the list of retired union officials we’ll be publishing at substancenews.net in April, along with their annual pensions, which tell the tale…).

The reign of Marilyn Stewart’s UPC by 2010 led to a union election with five caucuses (out of a promised six) running for election. In the May 2010 voting, Stewart got the largest number of votes, but not a majority, so in June 2010 it was Marilyn Stewart and the UPC in a runoff versus Karen Lewis and CORE. CORE won even more decisively in 2010 than PACT had in 2001. But the nearly ten years of contracts that were negotiated without a fight had done a great deal of damage to the union, and the failure of the leaders of the first decade of the 21st Century to fight strongly against charter school expansion and privatization had done almost fatal damage to the union.

When CORE came into office, lots had to change fast, and it did. The unconscionable pay and benefits of the union’s officers and staff ended. (Again: a check of the annual pensions of those people who have since retired will tell the tale of that era). The hiring of a scab as a very unsuccessful CTU lobbyist ended. And a lot of cleaning up had to begin — while the new officers had to rebuild the union and negotiate a contract which was set to expire in June 2012. Then came Rahm, whose job was to declare war on the union and continue the privatization attack on public institutions that his version of the Democratic Party had been doing for nearly 20 years.

The rebuilding of the Chicago Teachers Union required enormous work, both by union staff and by hundreds (ultimately thousands) of union members. But by September 2012, the union was ready to lead the Chicago Teachers Strike of 2012. Despite the sabotage of the strike preparations tried by the remnants of the UPC and some remnants of PACT, the strike was as successful as it would have been, and the members of the union returned to work on September 19, 2012 with the strongest contract — at the local school level — in union history. Not everything had been won, but more had been won during the two years of CORE than during the previous 15 years of PACT and UPC.

I know. I was there for all of it, and we at Substance were reporting it monthly at first, and then daily as our staff and website matured. Now we are facing the odious attacks on the leadership that has literally saved the union (and many of the hopes of unionism) by a coalition that claims it wants to “save” the union! For what? To return union officers to salaries that leave them with pensions of $120,000 to $140,000 per year? To hire lobbyists who are known scabs? To hire research “directors” who not only don’t know how to use computers, but who refuse to learn!?

Rahm Emanuel now has his candidates for the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union, and the members will be voting twice in the next 90 days. For the next month, the members will be able to decide whether to sign nominating petitions for the new “Coalition” and for CORE. There may be other caucuses, may not. We will know that when nominating petitions are turned in to the union’s financial office at the end of March.

Then, on May 17, the union’s active duty members will get to vote for the officers to serve from July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2016.

CORE has stood for a kind of democracy rarely seen in any union, and I have stood with CORE since the beginning. We had confidence in the CTU members during the harrowing years that led up to the legal strike of September 2012, despite the attacks from right wing politicians, on the one hand, and union saboteurs, on the other. And the strike was successful — as successful as any contract fight could be in the USA in 2013. My brothers and sisters are going to hear a lot of pseudo-history and many faux militancy in the next couple of months, but the fun of publishing the facts and analyzing them every day makes my job one of the best in Chicago, whether I am working as editor of Substance or helping with research as a consultant for the Chicago Teachers Union.

But one thing will be very clear by the time the members of the CTU face the choice of reinstating those who held power and “disappointed” (that’s putting it mildly) them between then and now is a promised. Whether we are reporting about the end of the Reece UPC era (2000 – 2001), the machinations of the Lynch PACT era (2001 – 2004) or the the odious and corrupt kleptocracy and scab regime of Marilyn Stewart and the last gasps of the UPC (2004 – 2010) the facts will be available by the two times the members get to vote: first over the next four weeks as they decide to sign petitions, and then on May 17 when we decide who leads the most militant union in the USA for the next three years.

Categories Chicago, Unions

More About Vouchers in Wisconsin

By dianeravitch
February 10, 2013 //
4

A reader who is a parent in Wisconsin notes that the far-right group American Federation for Children is reaching out to disability groups to get their support for vouchers. AFS is committed to privatization, and they know full well that vouchers for special education students is a first step. It is also high on ALEC’s agenda. It arises not from concern for the students, whose rights are protected by federal law in public schools, but out of concern for their own political agenda, which is anti-public education, anti-union, and anti-professionalism.

Writes the reader:

More about Wisconsin and vouchers — I and two other parents of students with disabilities have just had a column published in Wisconsin’s Capital Times:

http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/parents-why-we-must-stop-special-needs-vouchers/article_1d0779cc-151a-53d2-b575-62de8feadfbe.html

Amanda’s link above, about expanded vouchers expected to be part of the budget plan, also holds true for special needs vouchers, although the Walker administration has been silent on that aspect so far. Just this week, however, the national American Federation for Children lobby has begun contacting disability groups across Wisconsin, with a pitch for putting the vouchers INTO the budget.

This although no statewide disability group in Wisconsin is asking for these vouchers, and we particularly DON’T want them in the budget where they wouldn’t get a separate public hearing. Such a controversial statewide policy change, full of problems and pitfalls, must be debated and exposed and voted on separately!

Stop Special Needs Vouchers, a statewide grassroots group led by families of students with disabilities, is spreading the word: we need to keep special needs education strong in Wisconsin public schools. We’re on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StopSpecialNeedsVouchers — please join us!

Categories Special Education, U.S. education, Unions, Vouchers, Walker, Scott, Wisconsin

Charter Schools Unionize

By dianeravitch
February 9, 2013 //
6

About 90% of the nation’s charter schools are non-union. The charter owners want it that way. It enables them to hire and fire at will and to make unreasonable demands on teachers, like a 9-hour or more work day. Some charters routinely expect teachers to work 50 or 60 hours a week. Unions get in the way of the owner’s control over the lives of teachers. Owners also like high turnover as they can constantly replenish their staff with those at the bottom of the salary scale and never have pension obligations.

The AFT announced that teachers at a few charters have voted to unionize. It is a drop in the bucket. But an important drop. Factory owners fought to keep unions out 100 years ago. Workers rebelled. Will teachers? Or is there an endless supply of college graduates ready to work two years and move on?

Here is the AFT press release:

AFT Welcomes Charter School Educators in Michigan, California and New York

Washington—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten released a statement welcoming charter school educators into the AFT family following victories in Michigan, California and New York.

“More than 200 charter school educators and school employees in Michigan, California and New York will walk into their classrooms Monday morning with a stronger voice for their profession and for their students. I congratulate the educators at Detroit’s Cesar Chavez Academy, Los Angeles’ Ivy Academia and Ithaca, N.Y.’s New Roots Charter School on their efforts to win a union voice, and I welcome them to the AFT family.

“Their strength and determination—in the face of enormous odds—demonstrates their commitment to each other and the children they serve. And they will now have the support of 1.5 million AFT members beside them in their continued effort to strengthen their schools.”

Background

On Feb. 7, in the shadow of Michigan’s recent passage of so-called right-to-work legislation, teachers and counselors on the four campuses of Detroit’s Cesar Chavez Academy won an election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board after a five-month effort. Cesar Chavez is the largest charter in Detroit and is the second-largest charter in Michigan. The Detroit victory was the first election conducted by the NLRB since a December ruling that charter schools may be considered private sector employers.

In the same week, teachers at two other charter schools successfully won access to the path toward certification under their states’ public sector labor laws. In Los Angeles, teachers at Ivy Academia received voluntary recognition of their union after 54 of 56 faculty members signed a union petition. United Teachers Los Angeles now represents more than 1,600 educators at independent charter schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Also, on the East Coast, educators at New Roots Charter School in Ithaca, N.Y., recently received voluntary recognition of their union at the end of January.

Categories Charter Schools, Teachers and Teaching, Unions

Jersey Jazzman Evaluates Governor Cuomo

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2013 //
3

Jersey Jazzman has been wondering whether governor Andrew Cuomo would copy the bullying tactics of New Jersey’s Governor Christie or would he adopt the collaborative style of Governor Jerry Brown.

Those of us who live in New York wonder why it took our brilliant friend in New Jersey to make his decision.

Categories Bloomberg, Michael, Cuomo, Andrew, New York, New York City, Race to the Top, Teachers and Teaching, Unions

A Billionaire Obsessed by Union-Phobia

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2013 //
9

What do you say about a billionaire in Idaho who sees unions as the biggest threat to the American way of life?

As most people know, the number of people who belong to unions has declined dramatically in recent decades. As manufacturing jobs were outsourced to low-wage non-union countries, private sector unions shrank. Today, the majority of American workers are hourly workers with little or no job security and no pension.

And yet, here is a man who poured $1 million into a campaign to support Idaho’s so-called Luna laws (for rightwing state superintendent Tom Luna), which would have crushed the unions, which are already weak, initiated bonus pay, and made it easy to fire teachers at any time for any reason.

The good news is that voters across Idaho repealed the Luna laws, while voting Republican for state offices and the presidency.

To see the depth of his obsession, open the link in this comment by a reader.

“Eastern Idaho billionaire Frank VanderSloot, CEO of the direct-marketing company Melaleuca, contributed well over $1 million to the efforts to support State Superintendent Tom Luna’s Propositions 1, 2, and 3. Prop 1 would have eliminated much of the due-process provisions from teacher firings, limited contract negotiations to salary and benefits only, eliminated renewable contracts (so-called “tenure”), eliminated collective bargaining, among other things. Prop 2 would have instituted a pay-for-performance/merit-pay scheme based, in part, on student scores on standardized testing and on parent evaluations of teachers. Prop 3 (defeated by a 2 to 1 margin) would have spent $180 million over 8 years to purchase a laptop computer for every high school student while require each student to take two online courses in order to graduate.

“Mr. VanderSloot’s $1 million investment was in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent over the last two years placing full-page ads in numerous newspapers throughout Idaho. One such ad in Idaho’s largest newspaper, the Idaho Statesman, has been estimated to cost $20,000 per insertion. These ads are archived in a web site maintained by Mr. VanderSloot at http://www.communitypagenews.com/ . Without exception, they are anti-union, casting the opposition to the Luna legislation as out-of-state “union bosses” financed by union interests. In fact, they rarely address any issues related to education, other than the pernicious influence of unions.

“A few headlines give the flavor of these lurid ads, but they really have to be seen in full to be believed.

“Unions Declare War On Idaho”
“It’s Time To Put Our Kids First!(Ahead of Union Bosses)”
“Union Against Putting Students First”
“Unions Try To Block Teachers From $38 Million in Bonuses”
“Washington, D.C. Union Tries To Buy Control Of Idaho School”

Categories Idaho, Unions

Is the Tide Turning?

By dianeravitch
January 31, 2013 //
11

The Journey for Justice brought civil rights activists from across the nation to Washington, D.C., where they presented their demands to Secretary Duncan.

This is an important development because until now the leaders of the corporate reform movement have called themselves leaders of the “civil rights issue of our times.” This phrase has been bandied about by Joel Klein, Condoleeza Rice, Mitt Romney, Michelle Rhee, Michael Bloomberg, and Arne Duncan, as they applaud the closing of schools in minority communities, attack unions, and privatize public schools.

Now grassroots activists are speaking out in defense of their schools and communities. They are reclaiming the leadership of the civil rights from the 1%. Add to this the determination of the Garfield teachers in Seattle, the student protests in Portland, Oregon, and Providence, Rhode Island.

Something is in the air. Teachers, students. school boards, and parents are beginning to see what is happening, to understand that what is happening in their community is not a local issue but a determined, coordinated effort to privatize their schools.

Spring is coming.

Here is a first-hand account of the events associated with the Journey for Justice:

1/30/13
Dear SOS,
Many activists went to Washington, DC on a “Journey for Justice” to protest the school closings that are targeting our minority students living in impoverished communities.
Hear what transpired and be inspired.

This email came from Jaisal Noor- his coverage of the day

“Parents and Students Demand Nationwide Moratorium on Schools Closings
//”Journey for Justice” activists rally in DC to DOE investigate alleged Civil Rights violations in school closings
link: http://youtu.be/pCGrkb1qc7o

Chicago Parent and Activist Jitu Brown at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 2 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/1PX7y9-GWzI

New Orleans Parent and Activist Karran Harper Royal at “Journey for Justice” Hearing in DC
//Part 3 of TRN’s coverage of the “Journey for Justice” DOE Hearing on School Closings
link: http://youtu.be/c00PWQl8wLk

JAISAL NOOR: PUBLIC SCHOOL PARENTS AND STUDENTS FROM 18 CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY GATHERED IN WASHINGTON, DC THIS WEEK TO DEMAND A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS.
FEDERAL PROGRAMS LIKE RACE TO THE TOP OFFERED FINANCIAL INCENTIVES TO CITIES AND STATES FOR RADICALLY CHANGING THEIR SCHOOLS, INCLUDING FIRING STAFF AND SHUTTING SCHOOLS DOWN. WHILE THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOUTED THE COMPETITIVE MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR PROGRAM AS A WAY TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND BETTER PREPARE STUDENTS FOR COLLEGE AND THE WORKFORCE, MANY PARENTS, STUDENTS AND TEACHERS SAY THE CHANGES ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTING LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “I came here to demand, I am demanding an education for our children. We pay the money, we have a right to have our kids educated”

THAT’S HELEN MOORE, A DETROIT EDUCATION ACTIVIST. SHE WAS ONE OF HUNDREDS WHO ATTENDED A HEARING TUESDAY IN WASHINGTON DC CALLING FOR A NATIONAL MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS. BROWN WAS PART OF A GROUP THAT FILED A TITLE VI CIVIL RIGHTS COMPLAINT LAST SUMMER CHALLENGING THE POLICIES. SHE SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS IN DETROIT, A CITY ALREADY MARKED BY HIGH RATES OF UNEMPLOYMENT, VACANT HOUSES AND FORECLOSURES, ARE DESTABILIZING THE COMMUNITY.

(CLIP HELEN MOORE) “The neighborhood start going down as the families start moving out. They don;t want to be told what school to go to because there is no other school.

WHEN A SCHOOL IS CLOSED, THE STUDENT POPULATION OFTEN HAS TO TRAVEL TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL BUILDING OR RE-APPLY TO GO BACK TO THEIR SCHOOL. ADDITIONALLY, THE STAFF IS OFTEN REPLACED AND RESOURCES ARE REGULARLY CUT, SOMETIMES IN FAVOR OF A CHARTER SCHOOL THAT IS OPENED IN THE SAME BUILDING.

SETH GALANTER IS WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS. HE SAID THEY ARE INVESTIGATING PEOPLE’S CONCERNS AND THE 6 TITLE VI COMPLAINTS THAT WERE FILED:

(CLIP SETH GALANTER)” When we look at these things, i need to emphasize, we cannot deal with every harmful decision that happens. sometimes people are negatively affected, but that doesn’t mean civil rights violation. THe question we are asking is if there’s an intent to discriminate or decision to make an illegal closing. Not only investigate weather to close schools, which schools to close, and how these decision impacted and affect on students. ”

AFTER THE HEARING, HUNDREDS OF PARENTS AND STUDENTS MARCHED TO THE MARTIN LUTHER KING MEMORIAL FOR A RALLY, CONTINUING THEIR CALL FOR JUSTICE. JOEL VELASQUEZ , A PARENT FROM OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA SAYS HE FOUGHT PLANS TO SHUT HIS SON’S SCHOOL BY LEADING A 3-WEEK LONG SIT-IN AT LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARY.

(CLIP JOEL VELASQUEZ) “After a year of trying to meet with officials, superintendent, we were left with no options, we took our school back. ”

HE WAS JOINED AT THE RALLY BY OAKLAND EDUCATOR AND ACTIVIST MIKE HUTCHINSON WHO SAYS SCHOOL CLOSINGS AND INCREASED CHARTER SCHOOLS ONLY TARGET THE CITY’S LOW INCOME COMMUNITIES

(CLIP HUTCHINSON) “If you look at a map of Oakland, we have the flatlands and the hills. In the flatlands, which are less affluent, that’s where all the school closures have happened, thats where all the charters are. There are no school closures and charters in the hills. If charter schools and school closures are the best option I would expect them to be applied across the board, but I haven’t seen that happen”

A DELEGATION FROM NEW ORLEANS, THE CITY WITH THE HIGHEST PROPORTION OF CHARTER SCHOOLS IN THE COUNTRY, ALSO TRAVELED TO DC. STUDENT TERREL MAJOR SAYS HIS PUBLIC SCHOOL GETS LESS RESOURCES THAN THE CHARTER SCHOOL THAT SHARES THE SAME BUILDING.

(CLIP TERREL MAJOR)”Like when the storm Issac came, after we came back from the storm, – their side of the cafeteria- we sit on different sides, their side of the cafeteria and our side was damaged for weeks. It made me feel lesser than, that I didn’t really matter in our own school.”

MAJOR CALLS THAT DISCRIMINATION. DESPITE THE CHALLENGES, SOME ARE ENCOURAGED BY THE GROWING GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT AGAINST SCHOOL CLOSINGS, INCLUDING NEW ORLEANS PARENT AND ACTIVIST KARRAN HARPER ROYAL.

(CLIP KARRAN HARPER ROYAL) I think we are at a turning point because there are people organizing around the country. In Seattle its testing, we are organizing around school closures, there are teachers organizing around evaluation systems. We are at a critical point because we are not getting the desired outcomes. ”

IN ADDITION TO A NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM ON SCHOOL CLOSINGS, ACTIVISTS ARE CALLING FOR SUSTAINABLE SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION, INCREASED RESOURCES AND A COMMUNITY-BASED INPUT PROCESS . ORGANIZERS HAVE VOWED TO RETURN TO WASHINGTON IF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION DOES NOT TAKE ACTION. REPORTING FOR THE REAL NEWS AND FSRN, THIS IS JAISAL NOOR IN WASHINGTON.”

—

Melody
Colorado Information Coordinator
Save Our Schools
saveourschoolsmarch.org
http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/285175064843594/

Categories Charter Schools, Closing schools, Corporate Reformers, Duncan, Arne, Education Industry, Parents, Privatization, Students, Testing, U.S. Department of Education, U.S. education, Unions
« Older Entries
Newer Entries »