Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog:
Schooling in the Ownership Society
The struggle continues
Just how much abuse will we accept?
Chris Hayes on PISA: 'Global capitalism is like the Olympics'
Sen. Warren warns Duncan: Don't be a 'lapdog' to the banks
Why doesn't Moskowitz pay rent?
From Walmart to the White House
Schooling in the Ownership Society
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk
Schooling in the Ownership Society
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Nelson Mandela after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964Bridget Murphy writes, re. community resistance to the military coup at Ames Middle School:The referendum drive is in full swing. 40 parents will be meeting at Ames (1920 N. Hamlin) this morning (Friday, Dec 6th) at 10:30am to continue collecting signatures door to door. We will be out on the doors every day between now and Dec 15th. Come join a pair of doorknockers! Don Washington (Mayoral Tutorial) admits he's guilty of a little hyperbole here but I think he's right-on.Mayor Rahm Emanuel is already running for re-electio
Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them. -- Frederick Douglass If the great Illinois pension robbery holds up in the courts, many career teachers and other public workers stand to lose upwards of $200,000 in retirement income over the next decade or so as their cost-of-living adjustments are capped. This is not money that was being "given" to them as a gift. It's money that we have contributed to our own retirement accounts and money that was contractually promised us and Constitution
Hayes says he's "skeptical of the American schools are failing line." But, he says, "global capitalism is like the Olympics.g"AFT Pres. Randi Weingarten, former elementary school teacher and schools activist Sabrina Stevens (union hunter Russo tweeted, she worked for the AFT -- horrors) and Gov. Christie's guy, Durrell Bradford offer their takes of the latest PISA scores.I like the sports metaphor. I call PISA the World Cup of standardized testing. Only difference is, in the World Cup, the soccer field is even. PISA, like all standardized testing regimens, tilts towards th
DEC 04
No Tolerance for Zero Tolerance
Finally, it appears that school districts are rethinking their Zero Tolerance policies. Many of us have been arguing for years that ZT does little to reduce school violence and does great harm to the culture and content of schools. Now, according to the New York Times, cities and school districts around the country are rethinking their approach to minor offenses.Broward Supt. RuncieRather than pus
DEC 03
Taking Names
Retirees put sellout Rep. Mussman up against the wallCarol Marin on Chicago Tonight: "It's like WWIII down there [in Springfield] in terms of phones ringing off the hook."Ralph Martirie, with some support from IFT Pres. Dan Montgomery, did a great job on last night's panel. He blew away each and every point made by pension thieves, Msall and Tillman. His main point -- the pension bill is
PISA -- The World Cup of Testing
It's that time again -- the silly season when the countries of the world have their schools rated on the basis of the PISA tests. It's like the World Cup of standardized testing. And like the World Cup, the U.S. continues to wind up in the middle of the pack, somewhere behind Ireland and Poland. Look for a new round of racial theories about Asians being smarter, and lots pissing and moaning about
DEC 02
Weekend Quotables
Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren on the conflict between capitalism and humanism: "You can't have both." -- Big Philanthropy and Philanthro-FeudalismIFT Pres. Dan Montgomery“This is a grotesque taking of employees’ retirement security that seems both patently illegal and unfair. It’s a sharp jab in the eye — and the heart — of public employees. There’s a lot of anger out
NOV 29
Chicago teacher and 'urban mom' responds to Duncan on Common Core
Carolyn Alessio, a teacher at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, has a piece on the Common Core in today's Tribune. Allessio is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council. She's also a writer of nonfiction and fiction.Notice, she refers to the Common Core as a "curriculum" and not just as state standard
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The U.S. Department of Education risks becoming a “lapdog” as a result of recent actions toward financial companies such as Sallie Mae, Sen. Elizabeth Warren charged Thursday.“The Department of Education needs to be aggressive in watching out for students, not for profit-making loan servicers,” Warren said. “They’re there for our students, not to help loan servicers make a profit.”Run, Elizabeth run!
From deutsch29, Mercedes Schneider's EduBlog:Since 2006, Eva Moskowitz has been running a small charter empire that has at least $50 million in government per-pupil funding, at least $30.9 million in total, end-of-year assets, and the support of hedge fund millionaires. Why is it, then, that her Success Academies have never paid a dime in rent for the public school space occupied by her charter schools?Recently-elected New York Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to put an end to the rent-free usage of public school space by charter schools.Moskowitz’s response? Read the rest here
Sylvia Mathews BurwellAs Wal-Mart workers are engaging in protests and Black Friday job actions nationwide, to shine another spotlight on the company's anti-worker policies and unlivable wages, the Obama White House is building a new, cozy relationship with the company.Remember back in 2007, when candidate Barack Obama told union voters, "I won't shop at Wal-Mart" and when 8 days later, Michelle Obama resigned from the board of the anti-union company's supplier? My, how times have changed.Since April, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the former president of the Walmart Foundation, has been se
NOV 26
The wild expansion of privately-managed charters
NEWS RELEASE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY CENTERFor Immediate Release November 26, 2013 Contact: Jamie Horwitz, 202-549-4921, jhdcpr@starpower.netPrivate Education Management Organizations Running Public Schools Expand –44 Percent of Charter School Students in 2011-12 Attended Schools Operated by EMOs New report shows 908,000 students in 2011-2012 attended privately-managed schools in 35 states plus