Why It's Time to Go Green- A Guest Pot By Laurel M. Sturt
In the last decade, the Democratic party has become increasingly indistinct from the Republican, both parties in virtually impervious thrall to the siren of money. As exacerbated by the Citizens United and McCutcheon Supreme Court decisions, the--for all intents and purposes--wholesale prostitution of both parties to special interests has forced the true agenda of today’s elected officials into th
We Are All Craig Charvat: Defend the Free Speech Rights of a Great Long Island Teacher!
Craig Charvat, the Social Studies Teacher from Center Moriches High School who made headlines all over New York State for denouncing the Common Core Standards, and refusing to accept evaluations based on Common Core tests, has been removed from his classroom.
The grounds for doing this were his refusal to participate in Professional Development sessions related to Common Core, which he felt were a waste of time, and for allegedly inciting students to rebellion, charges based on a recording of one of his class sessions in which he was leading a discussion about the American prison system!
The latter charge is the one most disturbing to me. Can you imagine Administrators enlisting student to surreptitiously tape their teachers during a class room discussion? That violates every rule of Administrative ethics I have ever heard of and is a deadly threat to the freedom of expression of every teacher.
I am calling on every teacher I know, from nursery school right up through to the University to write the people responsible for personnel decisions in the Center Moriches School District to demand that Craig Charvat be restored to his classroom and the secret taping of teachers be repudiated as a violation of With A Brooklyn Accent: We Are All Craig Charvat: Defend the Free Speech Rights of a Great Long Island Teacher!: