Tuesday, August 18, 2015

The Prison of the Mind [On Kalief Browder] | The Jose Vilson

The Prison of the Mind [On Kalief Browder] | The Jose Vilson:

The Prison of the Mind [On Kalief Browder]



IMG_0274


“You see, mama? This is why, sometimes, I’d rather just be in jail. It’s much easier than this. This is too much.”
Richard had just passed away, a victim of his own addiction. The syringe, found seven stories under his lifeless carcass a few hours afterward, had injected a high-inducing substance mixed with an adulterated chemical that slowly switched his nervous system off. His brother was either speaking jibberish or speaking from his heart depending on the listener’s perspective. I’ve heard it too many times, but this time was particularly poignant.
Richard’s brother preferred the normalcy of the gated cells to the uncertainty of what the rest of us consider real life.
Prior to his passing, I hadn’t seen him in almost a decade. It had been so long that I forgot what he actually went to jail for. We lived a few buildings apart, my building facing the ave and his building facing the river. As youth, I remember him as a young man with ambitions with enough charisma to make us believe he could do anything he put his mind to. As time passed, though, this ambition had him bobbing and weaving the very streets I faced. He landed in jail for a crime we weren’t told about, and he wouldn’t tell us after he got out. Their humanity is erased, and criminality subverts them as human beings.
When they pass, they’re not seen as victims even as the current they’re swimming against needs more than wooden oars and life jackets. 
So when I heard of Kalief Browder’s passing, I thought back to my cousins who’d ever done a stint in jail, and the offerings they needed to make to the jail gods to make it to their release date. The justice system doesn’t just fail our system from the point of entry into steel-gated rooms. It starts from birth, and having to swim twice or thrice as hard to meet what the rest of the country considers The Prison of the Mind [On Kalief Browder] | The Jose Vilson:

Chicago Organizers Lead Hunger Strike to #SaveDyett High School | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools

Chicago Organizers Lead Hunger Strike to Save Dyett High School | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools:

Chicago Organizers Lead Hunger Strike to Save Dyett High School

Chicago Organizers Lead Hunger Strike for Dyett High School 
  Tweet your support to #SaveDyett, #WeAreDyett & #FightForDyett

Dear Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools Family,
Today, 11 parents, teachers and community supporters began a hunger strike at Dyett High School on the south side of Chicago in order to finally win our sustainable community school, the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology Academy. Dyett will be the hub of a "Sustainable Community  School Village" with 6 primary feeder schools.
Three years ago, Mayor Rahm Emmanuel announced the closing of Dyett High, the last open-enrollment public high school in Chicago’s historic Bronzeville neighborhood. Despite the fact that charter schools in Chicago have been a huge and consistent failure, even according to the Walton Family Foundation-funded CREDO study, Rahm has been steadily opening more and more of them as he systematically closes and defunds our public schools.
In Bronzeville, we refused to allow the destruction of our own public high school. We kept the school open until June, and then we won a commitment to reopen it from Rahm’s own appointed school board.
But the reopening of Dyett as a sustainable community school, the school all our children deserve, is in doubt. Chicago Public Schools promised to make a final decision on August 26, but now they have taken the issue off of the Board of Education’s agenda. Will CPS instead turn our school over to a corporation to run it as a citywide “contract” school, denying entrance to local students?
We cannot allow that. I am joining in the hunger strike today, and I urge the people of the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools family across the country to join me in whatever way you can.
We are using the hashtags #SaveDyett#WeAreDyett and #FightForDyett, and we would love if you could join us on Twitter.
If you stand with the 11 strikers, let us know by emailing us at info@reclaimourschools.org. We'll be sure to send you updates as the hunger strike progresses. We hope we can count on you as we move forward to win the schools all our children deserve.
Yours for the schools all our children deserve,
Jitu Brown
Executive Director, Journey for Justice Alliance
Member, Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School
Chicago Organizers Lead Hunger Strike to Save Dyett High School | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools:




Save Schools: Fire the savage editor who stooges for corporate education reform. | Reclaim Reform

Save Schools: Fire the savage editor who stooges for corporate education reform. | Reclaim Reform:
Save Schools: Fire the savage editor who stooges for corporate education reform.

The days of the Tribune as an actual daily newspaper are over. The Trib is a mega-corporate propaganda machine that kills trees to print hatred, and it imitates an actual American newspaper as defined by respected schools of journalism.
The Trib supports the privatization of public education in order to enrich the corporate education reform investors in the rich-boys’ private club, the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. The Trib supports spending millions of dollars on useless, corporate education reform’s high stakes tests. Those rich boys are also drooling over managing and looting teacher pensions and other public employee pension funds for their own private profit.The Trib blames the victims who are teachers and other public employees.
Destruction for profit is vulture capitalism.
Crisis capitalism. If there is no crisis, create one. Corporate controlled media outlets such as the Tribune shriek destruction as they claim salvation.
McQueary1
What can we do about it?
First, let’s distinguish between nostalgia and good-riddance.
I remember years ago when I designed, printed and sold bookplates (Those small adhesive backed “from the library of” labels.) with designs of the Tribune, the Art Institute, Marshall Fields, etc. directly to the stores and offices of those institutions. After I delivered packages of these to the Tribune and the Oak Street Bookstore in the Drake Hotel, I walked along old Navy Pier talking with fishermen. I ate at Rocky’s Fish House at the base of the pier. I sat along the concrete pier edge, dangled my legs over the lake water, and Save Schools: Fire the savage editor who stooges for corporate education reform. | Reclaim Reform:


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/18/15


SPECIAL NITE CAP 

CORPORATE ED REFORM



The Art of Deception: Friedrich vs. CTA - Badass Teachers Association
Badass Teachers Association: The Art of Deception:  Friedrich vs. CTAHistory is a great teacher. Now everyone knows that the labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standards of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these sim
New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity
New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosing | Cloaking Inequity: New Research: Vouchers— schools do the choosingThe racist history of vouchers is very clear and apparent. What was the origin of the school voucher movement? The Daily Kos wrote in the piece Jim Crow and school vouchersThe Richmond News-Leader wrote at the time: “To acknowledge the Court’s authority [in Brown v Board] does not me
Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed
Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA Times - LA Observed: Beutner unveils grant-funded education push at LA TimesThe Los Angeles Times today took the wraps off Education Matters, an initiative to cover K-12 education more aggressively. The effort is timed to today's start of the fall semester for most LA Unified students. The Times is "rededicating itself to coverage of teaching
Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy
Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step Down - The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Head of Walton Family Foundation to Step DownBuddy Philpot will step down as executive director of the Walton Family Foundation, the philanthropy started by Sam Walton, the Walmart founder, and his wife, Helen.Mr. Philpot has served in that post for 15 years. In a letter, board members and family heirs Alice, Jim, and R
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood | Johnathan Chase | LinkedIn: Don't Let Me Be MisunderstoodThe Common Core English Language Arts standards emphasize text-based instruction and call for "shifts" that state;"...The reading standards focus on students’ ability to read carefullyand grasp information, arguments, ideas, and details based on evidence in the text... Students should be able to
Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The Times - LA Times
Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The Times - LA Times: Austin Beutner: A renewed emphasis on education at The TimesDear Reader,Today is the first day of school for hundreds of thousands of children throughout Los Angeles, and for students, teachers and parents, the occasion is cause for both excitement and trepidation.Education, it has been said, is the soul of society, and few i
CURMUDGUCATION: What Failing Schools?
CURMUDGUCATION: What Failing Schools?: What Failing Schools?Education Next is trotting out its Big Fat Survey of Educational Stuff for 2015, and for eduwonks it's twenty-three pages of interesting stuff. I'm sure many of us will be parsing, mining and massaging the results, as well as discussing how much the reform-loving sponsors of the survey can be trusted. But as I poked through it, two result
Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money - LA Times
Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money - LA Times: Arne Duncan: Where California schools need to put their money On the Westside of Los Angeles, there's a school where eighth-graders code and build websites, develop entrepreneurial ventures and use gaming software to design solutions for saving local endangered species. At the Incubator School, teachers leverage technology t
How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years Later | Decolonizing educational research
How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years Later | Decolonizing educational research: How Whiteness tells the Story of Katrina 10 Years LaterMalcolm Gladwell’s essay on New Orleans ten years after Hurricane Katrina is but one of the many narratives that center whiteness as the protagonist of the city during and after Katrina. The purchase this essay has by virtue of its publication in a nat
Teachers For Social Justice: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School
Teachers For Social Justice: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School: Support the Hunger Strike for the Dyett Global Leadership and Green Technology High School12 Parents, grandparents, community members and supporters from around the city started a hunger strike on August, 17th. Their demand is simple. Rahm Emanuel and his appointed school board
Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state Legislature | EdSource
Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state Legislature | EdSource: Efforts to attract new teachers stall in state LegislatureEfforts to reinstate state support to attract new teachers to the profession have stalled in the state Legislature, despite a shrinking supply of teachers that is spreading beyond traditionally high-needs areas such as special education, math and science, and bilingual e
Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the Hook | janresseger
Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the Hook | janresseger: Blaming Teachers Gets Us All Off the HookIt is important to read stories like Joe Mozingo’s piece, San Bernardino: Broken City, or listen to the NPR broadcast based on Mozingo’s reporting.  The subject is desperation and family homelessness among the destitute in a faded California city where many children reside in cheap motels.  I watched
Data Shows Opt-Out Students Are More Numerous But Not So Diverse - US News
Data Shows Opt-Out Students Are More Numerous But Not So Diverse - US News: Who's Out?Proponents and opponents are both right about who is opting out of standardized tests.Speculating about how many and what kind of students were opting out of standardized tests was a fun education parlor game this spring. Highly energized proponents claimed the opt-out movement was a diverse cross-section of publ
Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public education | Bob Braun's Ledger
Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public education | Bob Braun's Ledger: Five steps Cerf can take today to prove he supports local control and public educationThe Newark school board has scheduled its regular business meeting at 5:30 pm today. It will be the first meeting the newly-imposed state superintendent of Newark schools, Christopher Cerf, will likely att
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schools
Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schools: Dyett hunger strikers keeping the PUBLIC in public schoolsA SmallTalk Salute goes out to the 12 Dyett hunger strikers who are putting their bodies on the line to keep the public in public education. The community-based movement to put a real public, neighborhood school back into Dyett has drawn support from
NYC Educator: The Accountability Scam
NYC Educator: The Accountability Scam: The Accountability ScamSean Crowley, my brother blogger from Buffalo, has a great column about how educational leaders are popped into place with no public input. A secondary point he makes is about accountability. This is the word we invariably hear when insane systems are initiated. Why should teachers be judged by test scores? Accountability. Why must ever
Think It Up - STUDENT POWERED. TEACHER LED. CROWD FUNDED.™
Think It Up: STUDENT POWERED. TEACHER LED. CROWD FUNDED.™Think It Up:Think It Up:
State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendent - City & Region - The Buffalo News
State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendent - City & Region - The Buffalo News: State commissioner recommends candidate for Buffalo school superintendentBoard to interview former Memphis chiefAfter the Buffalo School Board spent more than a year on failed efforts to recruit a superintendent, state Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia has stepped in to find a new
Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’ - The Washington Post
Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’ - The Washington Post: Teacher: ‘ We know that what we are doing to children is wrong’Some teachers in Florida are speaking out about their concerns that students this year will face way too many standardized assessments — even after the governor, Rick Scott (R), has admitted children are being over-tested.This video from Fox 35 in Or
Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening School - Hyde Park - DNAinfo.com Chicago
Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening School - Hyde Park - DNAinfo.com Chicago: Dyett Activists Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Decision on Reopening SchoolGRAND BOULEVARD — Twelve school activists started a hunger strike Monday morning, demanding Chicago Public Schools halt delays on determining the future of Dyett High School.The 12 people who have vowed to subsist
What Poverty Does To Your Brain | PopularResistance.Org
What Poverty Does To Your Brain | PopularResistance.Org: What Poverty Does To Your BrainRecent research suggests that poverty may have a profound effect on the brain. Imaging studies show that the conditions that go hand-in-hand with poverty — a combination of environmental factors and emotional stressors — can actually slow the development of crucial parts of the brain involved in regulating beha
Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common Core - The Hechinger Report
Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common Core - The Hechinger Report: Poll finds for the first time that majority of teachers shun Common CoreJust a week after the New York State Education Department confirmed that the proportion of students refusing to take annual state tests had quadrupled from five percent last year to 20 percent this year, the results of a new poll r
Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summit - CBS News
Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summit - CBS News: Election 2016: GOP candidates to to be pressed on education reform at summitSix Republican presidential hopefuls head to New Hampshire this week to take part in an education summit where they will be expected to dive deep into their visions for education reform. Wednesday's event will also be a test for candid
The Real Failure Of Common Core | Ted Dintersmith
The Real Failure Of Common Core | Ted Dintersmith: The Real Failure Of Common CoreThe Common Core State Standards were developed in 2009 in an effort to create more rigorous K-12 curriculum standards in math and literacy. To date, 44 states have adopted the standards. But even with such widespread adoption, the Common Core State Standards are among the most hotly contested pieces of legislation in
States Gaining a Say on School Accountability - Education Week
States Gaining a Say on School Accountability - Education Week: States Gaining a Say on School AccountabilityWhether a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind Act makes it over the finish line this year, the federally driven accountability system at the heart of the law seems destined to go the way of the Blockbuster video.The Obama administration has already opened the door to major flexibility by is
John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter Schools
John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter Schools: John Kasich’s Biggest Joke: Ohio Charter SchoolsJohn Kasich is a master of making jokes at other people’s expense. His reputation of delivering snide, snarky comments, after nearly 40 years as a performance politician, is legend.One joke making news Monday is the expectation that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will endorse Gov. Kasich for president. T
We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education Reform | gadflyonthewallblog
We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education Reform | gadflyonthewallblog: We Are All on the Lunatic Fringe – The Centerless Battle Against Corporate Education ReformIt was one of the strangest meetings I’ve ever had with a state legislator.Why?First of all, we were all teachers.Even the legislator. Even his Aide!Pennsylvania State Rep. Dan Miller (D-Mt. Leb

YESTERDAY

Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New Orleans | deutsch29
Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New Orleans | deutsch29: Chicago Tribune Editor Kristen McQueary’s Romanticized View of Paul Vallas’ Role in Post-Katrina New OrleansOn August 13, 2015, Chicago Tribune editor Kristen McQueary published an editorial in which she wished a “Hurricane Katrina” upon the city of Chicago.A Katrina would forc
Alexandra Miletta: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in Court
Alexandra Miletta: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in Court: It’s All About the Bell Curve: Sheri Lederman’s Day in CourtI traveled up to Albany this morning to hear the oral arguments in the Lederman v. King case presented to Acting Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough by Bruce Lederman, and Colleen Galligan representing the State Education Department. This is the first time
The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail? | Bob Braun's Ledger
The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail? | Bob Braun's Ledger: The “turnaround” snafu–deliberately making neighborhood public schools fail?The latest round of state-mandated school “reforms” imposed on the children, parents, and employees in the Newark public schools has created a bizarre situation in which virtually the entire staffs of so-called “turnaround” s
Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide Results | KPLU Seattle
Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide Results | KPLU News for Seattle and the Northwest: Standardized Test Refusals Ripple Through Statewide ResultsListenListening...1:24New statewide test scores released Monday largely confirm what a sneak peek suggested earlier this summer: Pass rates on the new, tougher assessments have dropped, though by less than many feared. But those results c
from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU! | Reclaim Reform
from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU! | Reclaim Reform: from a loyal teachers union member – Dear NEA Retired: HOW DARE YOU!Today, August 17, I received the new Summer 2015 issue of neaTODAY: for NEA-Retired Members with the following cover article:NO PLANS TO RETIRE! ~ 87-year-old school counselor’s high-touch, personal approach boosts student success.NEA President
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 8/17/15
SPECIAL NITE CAP CORPORATE ED REFORMShould You Opt Out - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial VoiceShould You Opt Out - The Crucial VoiceThe Crucial Voice: Should You Opt Out Opting out of state tests means: You are using an effective tool to fight the unethical use of standardized testing that has, for decades, hindered real progress in providing equal access to quality education in America.United Opt Ou