There used to be a well-known saying: “You can’t fight City Hall.” Change that to: “You can’t fight the charter lobby.” Mayor Bill de Blasio ran for mayor with the promise that he would fight the charter lobby. He was a public school parent and
Two newsworthy items from Los Angeles: First, the new school board elected charter chain operator Ref Rodriguez as its president. Rodriguez leads the PUC (Partnership Uplifting Communities) charter chain of 16 schools. Rodriguez called for unity after the just-concluded dirty election, the most expensive in U.S. history. Politico reports: “LA SCHOOL BOARD PRESIDENT SEEKS UNITY AFTER UGLY ELECTION
Alternet posted an informative article that explains why charter schools churn through teachers. It was written by Rann Miller, who taught for six years in a charter school in Camden, New Jersey. He writes: “John was fresh-out-of-college
Many states are planning to lower standards for new teachers, because charter schools can’t recruit enough teachers to fill their staff. Speak out against lowered standards! Don’t let them destroy the teaching profession! Click here and stand
Daniel Katz prepares secondary school teachers at Seton Hall University. He knows the importance of having highly qualified professionals in every classroom, especially in urban districts where many students need extra support and individual attention. In this post , he expresses his bafflement that the SUNY Charter School Committee is considering a plan to permit charter schools to “certify” the
Jersey Jazzman explores the flap in New York about certification –or lack thereof–for charter school teachers. The charter industry says, if we get the test scores, we don’t need teachers with masters’ degrees or certification… JJ says: Yes, “better results” are all that matters, no matter how practically small they may be. And no matter how you got them: if your gains are from student attrition,
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, has been selected by the board of the Horace Mann League as its 2018 Outstanding Friend of Public Education. The presentation will be made at the HML Annual Meeting in February in Nashville (AASA Convention). The HML made an excellent choice. Carol has been a peerless leader in the fight against privatization and high-stakes te
DeVos’ world gets stranger by the day. After hearing from rape victims, DeVos and her top civil rights official have decided to champion the rights of those accused of raping the women. The New York Times calls this “a new look” at the issue of campus rape. Indeed. The letters have come in to her office by the hundreds, heartfelt missives from college students, mostly men, who had been accused of
Arthur Goldstein, a high school teacher in Queens, New York, has often criticized the UFT for not taking the militant stands that Arthur prefers. But now, he says, it is time to stand together and fight. Unions are facing an existential threat to their existence. The Rightwing billionaire Robert Mercer is behind an effort to call a state constitutional convention. Arthur knows what Mercer has in
Sound familiar? Read it again. Think about it. Which side are you on? Snopes says the poster was once available in the gift shop of the Holocaust Museum. Snopes says: The list was originally created by Laurence Britt in 2003, for an article published by Free Inquiry magazine (a publication for secular humanist commentary and analysis). While subsequent postings of the list often attribute it to “
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is the most powerful figure in state government. He is also the most loathsome person in the government. He had a talk show before he was elected to the State Senate. He was the Rush Limbaugh of Texas. His views are far right. He hates public schools. He has a passion for charter schools and vouchers. He doesn’t care about charter school corruption. He will not allow a
Good news from Detroit, the lowest performing urban district in the nation. After years of outsourcing students to privately managed charter schools, the new superintendent says he is considering no longer authorizing charters but focusing instead on improving traditional public schools. Imagine asking a business to jumpstart competitors and you can see how wacky the current policy is. I am very
Mark Naison is a professor of African-American Studies at Fordham University in New York. He writes: How Charter Schools Have Stifled Educational Innovation and Fought the Opt Out Movement Although charter schools were originally promoted as a vehicle to encourage educational experimentation, their meteoric growth in influence has actually coincided with a REDUCTION in innovation in schools becau
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos invested in a military technology company owned by her son-in-law. Her brother Erik Prince is advising the Trump administration on military strategy. I naively assumed that once appointed to the Cabinet, all outside business dealings were suspended.
Retired teacher Karen Gaddis won a surprise victory last night for the Oklahoma legislature, flipping a seat that has been held by a Republican since the early 1990s. Congratulations, Karen! Oklahoma will have a Teacher in the House! We
