Grassroots Education Network- March 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- March 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- March 2021 Newsletter

The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 165 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools. If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign on. 

If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Education Network please contact Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

Notes from Marla

In this newsletter, you will see a general theme of many organizations fighting both voucher and charter expansion legislation.  As you read through this newsletter, please share action alerts from those organizations issuing them to engage people to stop this assault of public education.  Some states to focus on are Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and North Carolina.  Our organizations need your network help and reach out to anyone living in these states to join the fight for public education.  

The other theme you will see is that organizations are leading test refusal movements across the country.  Sec. Cardona has stated that the testing mandate will not be cancelled. Please make sure to follow FairTest for assistance in state testing waivers. Opt-Out information is available from various organizations in this network:  LI Opt-Out, NYSAPE, NYC Opt-Out, Opt-Out Florida Network, Opt-Out Georgia, United to Save Our Schools, Oregon Save Our Schools, and Our Schools San Antonio.  If you need to be connected to anything opt-out related, please email me at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

National Organizing

 Network for Public Education released their latest report, Chartered for Profit: The Hidden World of Charter Schools Operated for Financial Gain, this month. The report focuses on the world of charter schools run for profit, a world both hidden and CONTINUE READING: Grassroots Education Network- March 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

8 to 3 parent newsletter about kids, school and education - Los Angeles Times

8 to 3 parent newsletter about kids, school and education - Los Angeles Times

Introducing 8 to 3, a newsletter for parents about kids, school and education

A new chapter is opening for families of school-age children and teenagers. Campuses throughout California are finally opening after a year of coronavirus-forced closures — and for parents who have navigated distance learning alongside their children, their connection to education has been rewired.

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The perils of parenting through a pandemic

What’s going on with school? What do kids need? Get 8 to 3, a newsletter dedicated to the questions that keep California families up at night.

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You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.

The shared frustrations, struggles, empathy and resilience between parent and child has reshaped engagement in schooling. With a new newsletter called 8 to 3, The Times aims to be a part of the back-in-school life of parents and guardians as we recover from a year like no other and move forward.

We begin this endeavor painfully aware of how the pandemic has upended education and exposed the depth of inequities families face. Our foremost mission is to help navigate new challenges with powerful storytelling, useful guides, vital data and personal stories — whether on campus in a classroom or in front of a laptop in the living room. The Times’ coverage of COVID-19-era schooling places considerable attention on systemic inequities, which we will continue to explore in depth.

The newsletter, sent every Monday evening, is written by Sonja Sharp and edited by Mitchell Landsberg, with support from Education Editor Stephanie Chavez and education reporters Nina Agrawal, Howard Blume, Paloma Esquivel, Melissa Gomez, Laura Newberry and Teresa Watanabe.

A veteran journalist, Sharp joined the education team during the pandemic to cover the crisis in early childhood education and day care. She will draw on her experience as a reporter, the mother of a 5-year-old and a kindergarten-through-UC-Berkeley graduate of California public schools to help readers navigate everything from daily struggles of parenting school-age children to coping with thorny policy issues.

The name of the newsletter refers to the traditional school day — but we know that education never really stops, and that parents, above all, are their children’s primary teachers. We are ready to answer your questions, aiming to give you insight into both emerging and ongoing issues while offering a forum for dialogue. And we will also point readers to the best stories in California education, both our own and those from other publications.

Schooling these days is already overwhelming, but we are here to help. We hope you will add 8 to 3 to your reading list. Sign up here or on our newsletters page.

8 to 3 parent newsletter about kids, school and education - Los Angeles Times

ARGUING OVER MARKETING TERMS – Dad Gone Wild

ARGUING OVER MARKETING TERMS – Dad Gone Wild

ARGUING OVER MARKETING TERMS

“If I were going to tell one of my sons how to possess the world, I would simply bring him into my house, show him that solid wall of books, and say to him: ‘the secret is in there somewhere, and even if you never find out what it is, you will still have come closer.”
― James Dickey

 

Some of you may notice the Spotify header. From here on out, you can listen to Dad Gone Wild as a podcast or read it traditionally. The podcast is obviously in its beginning stages, so it’s going to be a little rough for a while, but the option is available for those who so chose.

I’ve also started distributing posts via Substack. Substack allows you to sign up to receive posts via email. Currently, subscriptions are free, but there is an opportunity to help support my work as well. It’s my hope that Substack provides a means to decrease my social media footprint. As much as I once loved Twitter and found it to be an irreplaceable source of information, over the years its toxicity has only grown and it continually regresses into something that strangely brings forth recollections of high school.

People have retreated to their individual tribes and honest discourse seems to occur with increasing infrequency. Rare is the Tweet that says, “Hmmm…I never considered that. You’ve given me more to think about”, or, “I concede your point and I appreciate the thoughtful argument.” Instead, it’s personal attacks when someone voices an opinion that runs counter, disparaging terms, like “boomer” and “Karen”, are tossed around as if they aren’t the latest tool to dismiss and marginalize people.

The only thing that does hold me to social media is old friends and the positive voices of people like Hume-Fogge librarian Amanda Smithfield, Cresswell Middle Arts, and Matt Taibbi. There are others, but today these 3 people standout, for always keeping the bar high, even when I don’t agree with CONTINUE READING: ARGUING OVER MARKETING TERMS – Dad Gone Wild

Grassroots Education Network- February 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- February 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education

Grassroots Education Network- February 2021 Newsletter

The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of over 160 grassroots organizations nationwide who have joined together to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen our public schools. If you know of a group that would like to join this powerful network, please go here to sign on. 

If you have any questions about the NPE Grassroots Education Network please contact Marla Kilfoyle, NPE Grassroots Education Network Liaison at marlakilfoyle@networkforpubliceducation.org

Notes from Marla

February ushered in like a lion on the education front.  As I sat down to put together our February newsletter, action alerts were happening all over the country against new school choice legislation.  At a time when lawmakers should be focused on supporting families and children, they decided to focus on defunding the bedrock of our communities….public schools.  As you read through this newsletter, you will see state after state fighting school choice legislation (vouchers and charter expansion).  If you know anyone living in states fighting school choice legislation, please pick up the phone, or send them an email, so they can connect with the organization in their state fighting for our kids to have well funded public schools.  

National Organizing CONTINUE READING: Grassroots Education Network- February 2021 Newsletter - Network For Public Education