Powerful Speech to Her Local Rotary Club by a North Carolina Teacher
...Cristi Lackey Julsrud Hi BATs! As my school's teacher of the year, I was invited to speak at our local Rotary Club for their monthly luncheon. The people there were representatives from the business community. I was supposed to talk about my school, and myself , and my teaching, and how everything is all hunky-dory, but when it came right down to it I just couldn't lead those people to believe
While Diane Ravitch Recovers, the BATS will Carry on Her Wor
As we all hope and pray for Diane Ravitch's full recovery, let us take a moment to contemplate what with her full and enthusiastic support, this group has accomplished. In five short months, we have built an organization that has as much, or more public presence, as any Astro-Turf school reform organization funded by billionaires, and a lot more grassroots support. And the best is yet to come. Our
Tennessee BAT Tales- Installment Two
I changed schools last year to be closer to home and to work in the community in which I live. Previously, I was driving an hour each way to a job I loved, but the distance got to me. I teach middle grades math, which I have taught for 15 years. My current school is a rural, preK-12 school with relatively high free-and-reduced numbers. The teachers before me, who have been let go or reassigned, le
NOV 07
Tennessee BAT Tales- Installment One
Here is what is happening in Tennessee. For the past few years, working conditions for teachers and learning conditions for students have gotten progressively worse. The emphasis on testing is hurting our schools. Teachers and students are constantly preparing, taking, or reviewing tests. Many teachers are afraid to teach anything that “isn’t on the test.” Teacher evaluations and jobs are now tied
Our Children's Grim Future
Our children are being prepared, through relentless testing, now beginning as early as pre-K, for a world in which they are constantly going to be observed, monitored, evaluated, and measured in every dimension of their life, a world with little privacy, and shrinking opportunity. What is happening to their teachers is what awaits them in almost every occupation they choose to enter. If we don't r
NOV 06
The BATS, Diane Ravitch, and the DeBlasio Victory
Bill DeBlasio, a candidate who decisively rejected most of Michael Bloomberg's Corporate Education Reform agenda, has just won election as Mayor of NYC with a 49 Percentage Point Margin, the largest any mayor has achieved since 1985. Although Education was not the only area where Mr DeBlasio sought to sharply distinguish himself from his predecessor, opposition to excessive testing and school clos
NOV 05
Melissa Tomlinson's "Rosa Parks" Moment
This is an amazing moment in the history of Public Education discourse. Our own Melissa Tomlinson, a long time public school teacher from New Jersey known to all BATS as "Love Light" has engineered a media breakthrough of unimaginable proportions. Not only has her story been on numerous national media outlets, not only did she present her views with great eloquence on the Ed Show, but he
NOV 04
Teachers Enemies are in BOTH Major Partie
As we watch, with excitement and some trepidation, how our Hero-BAT Love Light is being given national exposure because of her campaign trail encounter with Republican Gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, let us remember that there are two other Presidential aspirants in the New York Metropolitan area- both of them Democrats-whose positions on education issues are indistinguishable from that of
NOV 03
Letter to Governor Christie from the New Jersey Teacher He Screamed At
Dear Governor Christie, Yesterday I took the opportunity to come hear you speak on your campaign trail. I have never really heard you speak before except for sound bytes that I get on my computer. I don't have cable, I don't read newspapers. I don't have enough time. I am a public school teacher that works an average of 60 hours a week in my building. Yes, you can check with my principal. I run th
Why Some of Our Best Teachers are Leaving the Classroom- Letter to Her Students from a Georgia Teacher
To My Students, I did not return to the classroom this year and I want to apologize. I am truly sorry for having left you. It was the hardest decisions I have ever made. I want you to understand why I left. It had nothing to do with you. I still love you and believe in you. You are still amazing and you can do anything you want to do. I did not give up on you. I left to fight for
NOV 02
Six Debating Points for CCSS Opponents
1. CCCS and the tests created to comply with them, cost money, and takes money away from things that make school enjoyable and exciting like art, music, hands on science, and physical education. Worse yet, the money it removes goes into the hands of for profit test companies 2. It discriminates against huge groups of children for whom the standards are developmentally inappropriate, especially ELL