NYC Public School Parents: A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondents

NYC Public School Parents: A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondents:

A very twittery Thanksgiving, thanks to StudentFirst NY -- and some not-so thankful respondents

Michelle Rhee of StudentsFirst

StudentsFirst was founded and is led by former DC chancellor Michelle Rhee andfunded primarily by hedge fund operators, the Walton Foundation and Wall St. financiers.  She claims two million members, hyperbolic assertions that are oft repeated by credulous reporters, despite the fact that many of these "followers" landed on her mailing list by mistake, after signing one of  the organization'sdeceptive petitions promoted by for-profit sites like Change.org.

The New York chapter of the organization, StudentsFirst NY, run by Jenny Sedlis, formerly of Success Charter chain, makes similarly  inflated claims of 150,000 members. Exaggerated assertions seem endemic to the organization. In recent testimony, SF organizer Tenicka Boyd  maintained the organization has "talked to over 300,000 New Yorkers" to gauge their support for the corporate reform agenda of Common Core and more high-stakes testing.

Jenny Sedlis of StudentsFirst NY

Despite any evidence of real grassroots support, these organizations do have a substantial budget and paid staff here in New York and across the nation, making it somewhat surprising that when they send out a message, the response is so overwhelmingly negative.

On Thanksgiving, this phenomenon was put in high