PSAT for 12-4-12: Give a PURE gift!
“They are watchdogs for public education in Chicago,
and they are fearless.
Every city should have a group like PURE.”
Diane Ravitch, May 26, 2012
PURE believes in promoting good solutions to the real problems of public education along with our diatribes against “reformers” bad ideas like reckless school closure/charter school expansion and misuse and overuse of standardized tests.
So, instead of talking about boycotting the bad guys on today’s Public Schools Action Tuesday, let’s talk about supporting one of the good guys, a corporation with a proven track record of positive contributions to public education in general and especially to the parents and families of Chicago school children.
That not-for-profit group is, of course, Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), which incorporated in Illinois in the fall of 1987 – 25 years ago.
Give a PURE gift!Over our 25 years of service, PURE has consistently and effectively spoken out against harmful education policies and practices, and promoted positive change. We have made sure that parents’ voices were heard, no matter who was in power or whether those in power wanted to listen or not.
Give a tax-deductible gift to PURE using our DONATE button or snail mail (see below) – do it for yourself, for Chicago school children and their parents, or as a gift to a public school supporter that you care about. PURE will send you and your friend a gift card acknowledging the gift.
In the mid-to-late 2000s, the corporate funding community in Chicago began to blackball groups that opposed Mayor Daley’s Renaissance 2010. Several citywide and local grass roots public school support groups were forced to close their doors, and many expected PURE to go away, too. But we didn’t. Although we currently receive no money at all from Chicago foundations, we have been able to access funds though progressive national foundations including W. K. Kellogg Foundation, the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, the 21st Century Foundation, and RESIST. We are deeply grateful for this support.
But we also need the support of Chicago parents and others who care about our schools, both in Chicago and across the nation. That means you!
PURE success 2012
PURE is a still great investment! With our small budget and mostly volunteer staff, we have been able to do some amazing things in 2012! Some highlights:
- PURE successfully called attention to the overly harsh discipline policies of one of the nation’s most highly-touted charter school networks. We helped organized a demonstration march and press conference. The story gained national attention, led a state senator to propose legislation against the school’s discipline fees, and inspired Cong. Danny Davis to order an investigation of the school’s approach. More parents are calling us with their stories about charter school abuses.
- PURE exposed yet one more ridiculous standardized test question, helping the public better understand the tests’ limitations. We have organized a citywide coalition against excessive testing and developed new fact and tip sheets for parents to address testing problems.
- Based on PURE’s input, our national network, Parents Across America, adopted the Local School Council model as our alternative to the corporate reformers’ unsound “parent trigger” concept. With PAA, we made national news debunking the parent trigger and the “Won’t Back Down” movie that was made to push this unsound idea.
- PURE’s executive director, Julie Woestehoff, wrote a chapter in the book, “Education Courage,” which the Christian Science Monitor named one of the “15 must-read books about K-12 education in the US.” A web site dedicated to the book included links to several of PURE’s fact sheets.
Thank you!!!