Schools Matter: Kopp's shameless self-promotion in the guise of a Kozol book review
*"Ms. Kopp's husband, Richard Barth, was an Edison executive before taking over as CEO of KIPP's national foundation, where he has sought to decertify its New York City unions." — Jesse James Alred* [image: Separate is never equal: TFA, KIPP, and corporate charter schools are the new Jim Crow.]One thing I'll concede to the corporate education reformers is their uncanny ability to use anything as a sales pitch for neoliberalism and profitability. Perhaps the most egregious example of this was Arne "Katrina Schadenfreude" Duncan's racist pro-charter school statement that the abject ... more »
Robert D. Skeels, candidato al distrito 2 para desplazar a Mónica GarcÃa
*Robert D. Skeels* explica por qué se ha lanzado como candidato al distrito 2 para desplazar a Mónica GarcÃa, a quien considera pésima dirigente escolar. Programa de radio dedicado a la educación en Los Angeles, California - Martes y viernes 9pm por W Radio 690 AM y 11pm México por http://wradio690.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/laeducacionus
EchoParkPatch: Expired food products being served by Walmart Foundation funded LAUSD Breakfast in the Classroom
*"So long as there are children who are coming to school hungry, there will be a need for school breakfast programs, and until workers are guaranteed a living wage, there will undoubtedly be hungry kids." — Dana Woldow* [image: Expired Oatmeal Bars arrive for the day's Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC)]Ballyhooed as "historic" by Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) President Mónica GarcÃa, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Broad Foundation backed InnerCity Struggle, Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) is a poorly thought out program with noble intentions, but plagued from start ... more »
Schools Matter: Comments on Fordham's Adam Emerson's latest pro-CCSA screed
*The driving assumption for the pro-charter side, of course, is that market competition in education will be like that for toothpaste — providing an array of appealing options. But education, like healthcare, is not a typical consumer market. Providers in these fields have a disincentive to accept or retain “clients” who require intensive interventions to maintain desired outcomes—in the case of education, high standardized test scores that will allow charters to stay in business. The result? A segmented marketplace in which providers compete for the “good risks,” while the undesi... more »
robertdskeelsforschoolboard.org: Petitions to Move LAUSD Board Meetings to the Evening
*From my LAUSD Campaign Site on September 6, 2012* For far too long only the well-paid members of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) posing as parents have been able to attend public LAUSD board meetings. Why? Because the meetings are intentionally held when working people...well, are at work or attending school. This petition calls on LAUSD to move public meetings to the evening so that the true voice of the community will be heard. Parents, students, educators, and community have been shut out of LAUSD. Meanwhile the charter industry and the NPICs have dominated the dialog ...more »
Chicago Teachers Union Versus Astroturf Billionaires
Billionaires like the Koch Brothers, Betsy DeVos, and Bill Gates fund astroturf tools like Jonah Edelman, Rebecca Nieves Huffman, and Kyle Olson. Working with anti-working class politicians like Rahm Emanuel, these groups and individuals strive to privatize public education, union bust, and profit off the sufferings of the poor. Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is on the front lines of the battle to save public education, but they are fighting right-wing forces with limitless resources. Their bold actions in the face of overwhelming odds may well be the turning point in the battle to... more »
Schools Matter: Tami Abdollah and John Deasy gush that 'Size Matters'
*"Just continue to follow the money. This Race to the Trough will make the Reading First crooks under Bush look like dopey Boy Scouts." — Professor Jim Horn* [image: Plutocratic priest of privatization, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy]The neoliberal cabal at Southern California's KPCC can't cheerlead for school privatization loud or frequently enough. Not content with Pat Morrison lobbing softballs to Broad Superintendent Academy graduate and former Gates Foundation employee John Deasy once a week, KPCC's intrepid education beat reporters are always looking for the latest anti-pu... more »
The Daily Censored: Mónica GarcÃa champions the Gülenist Charter Movement in LAUSD
*"This increasingly well-rooted network provides the Gulen Movement with daily access to the minds of over 45,000 students, and yearly access to hundreds of millions of hard-earned tax dollars." — Sharon Higgins* [image: Corporate Education Reformer and Gülenist Champion Mónica GarcÃa, President LAUSD]Charter schools are privately managed entities with negligible oversight, but funded with public money. The somewhat secretive Gülenist Islamic sect, named after charismatic Turkish Imam Fethullah Gülen, runs more charter schools than any other charter school chain in the United Stat... more »
Schools Matter: Obscuring history and human agency through NCLB, RTTT and CCSS
*"Prior research, then, strongly suggests that charter programs have not lived up to their initial promise of transcending the segregating effects of traditional district boundary lines. In fact, these studies indicate charters exacerbate already rampant school segregation, particularly for Black students." — Erica Frankenberg, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Jia Wang* [image: The Smith and Carlos Statue at San José State University] The Smith and Carlos Statue at San José State University I was reading Dave Zirin's latest piece, *Fists of Freedom: An Olympic Story Not Taught in School*, t... more »
Schools Matter: New Jersey's big fat corporate ed reform liars
*Al denounced the idea of charters when it became clear that the concept had changed and was being hijacked by corporate and business interests. In Al’s view, such hijacking would result in the privatization of public education and, ultimately, its destruction — all without improving student outcomes. — Edith Shanker* [image: Chris Christie and Laura Waters wreaking havoc on Garden State education]It all started a few days ago when Edison scoundrel and Broadyte Chris Cerf published a fact-free diatribe extolling a charter school solution to a non-existant problem. To say that Cerf... more »
Daily Kos: American Center for School Choice Versus The John Birch Society
The so-called "Parent Trigger" is an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) template law written primarily by right-wingers Bill Lucia of EdVoice and Ben Austin of Green Dot School Corporation. DFER Corporate school privatizer Gloria Romero, who signed her name on that bill that was snuck through the California legislature in a desperate attempt to win Race to the Trough bribe dollars, recently took offense to the fact that many people are starting to learn the reactionary origins of charter trigger laws. Romero recently penned a ridiculous attack on the distinguished Profes... more »
