Schools Matter:
Schools Matter All Week
Newark AFT Members Begin to Suffer Effects of Weingarten Deal
The following links and annotations are from Ken Derstine in Philadelphia. We have to wonder how much longer Diane Ravitch will keep her buried while Randi Weingarten makes off with more millions in hard-earned dues from teachers who are losing their jobs because of Randi’s complicity with CorpEd and misleadership of AFT. Ravitch posted Randi’s letter to Christie, but she dares not post anything
Where Do Corporate Welfare Charter Kingpins Send Their Children to School?
One answer here from Tamarac Talk:By: Sharon Aron BaronImagine your neighbor owns a Ford dealership, however not only will he not drive a Ford, none his family will either, preferring to drive BMW’s. Now imagine this: the state is giving his dealership money because they believe in his business.Charter Schools USA operates 58 schools in several states, including Florida, for a combined 48,000 stud
Corporate Astroturf Vultures Line Up in Memphis
As the corporate stooges of the school board waited on Tuesday evening for community members to utter their final useless pleas to keep their community schools open in Memphis, a group of fat corporate vultures had their own perch near the front in an area designated for "district officials." Any parent upset about public school closings should take the opportunity to spit in the face of
FEB 25
Getting Organized for the Restoration of Sanity in Schools
COMMUNITY FORUM ON STANDARDIZED TESTING: “TESTED TO DEATH”Tennesseans Reclaiming EducationalExcellence (TREE) is excited to announce “Tested to Death,” a community forum featuring the authors of The Mismeasure of Education, Dr. Jim Horn and Dr. Denise Wilburn. The event will be held at the New Song Church auditorium (formerly Turner School) at 2949 Nolensville Pike in Nashville on Saturday, March
FEB 24
Tennessee Taliban Challenges Rights of UT Students to Discuss Sex
From Huffington Post: Tennessee lawmakers advanced legislation this week officially condemning a group of students for holding a "Sex Week" event on campus.A resolutionwith 29 co-sponsorscurrently moving through the Tennessee House of Representatives will do nothing to stop "Sex Week" from taking place at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Instead, it declares the event
Political Cowards Blaming Parents for School Closures
Tomorrow evening the titans of King Cotton in Memphis will decide the next round of public school turnovers to the corporate welfare kings and queens lined up at the public feeding trough.Superintendent Dorsey Hopson is correct about one thing: closing these schools is not about saving money. If it were, he would be hard pressed to explain the economics of handing over $7500 per child to corporate
FEB 23
Please take a closer look at the Common Core
Sent to the School Library Journal 2/23Librarians may be "findings aspects of the common core to celebrate"("What's happening at the core," Feb. 2014), but they are ignoring very serious problems. The standards might look like look like they involve "deeper levels of critical thinking" but they are completely untested. There were no pilot studies. The language arts s
FEB 22
Colonial Philadelphia, or Colonized?
from Ken Derstine:Is the School District of Philadelphia a colony of the state of Pennsylvania?by Ken DerstineFebruary 20, 2014Parents of Philadelphia students and prospective students should know their right to choose a school for their children is under attack. Several weeks ago the SRC held round table discussions about Universal Enrollment. Participants were asked their opinion about a system