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Jeff Sessions’ Other Civil Rights Problem - The New York Times
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
The results from Georgia— Victory in the Battle Against a State Takeover District - Network For Public Education
The results from Georgia— Victory in the Battle Against a State Takeover District - Network For Public Education:
The results from Georgia— Victory in the Battle Against a State Takeover District
by Bertis Downs – Athens, GA parent and Network for Public Education Board Member and Janet Kishbaugh – Atlanta, GA parent and Public Education Matters- Georgia Member
For those of us who support public education, a real bright spot in the November 2016 election was the defeat of Amendment 1 in Georgia. Amendment 1 proposed to allow the state to create a state-wide “Opportunity School District” (OSD) that would take over and privatize so-called “failing schools,” patterned after similar districts in Louisiana, Tennessee and Michigan.
The results from Georgia— Victory in the Battle Against a State Takeover District
by Bertis Downs – Athens, GA parent and Network for Public Education Board Member and Janet Kishbaugh – Atlanta, GA parent and Public Education Matters- Georgia Member
For those of us who support public education, a real bright spot in the November 2016 election was the defeat of Amendment 1 in Georgia. Amendment 1 proposed to allow the state to create a state-wide “Opportunity School District” (OSD) that would take over and privatize so-called “failing schools,” patterned after similar districts in Louisiana, Tennessee and Michigan.
The Amendment was backed by dark money from wealthy education reformers and companies seeking to do business in Georgia, all hidden behind a legal structure created at the Governor’s behest. The ballot measure itself was so deceptively worded that the opposition filed a class action suit on behalf of all Georgia voters claiming it effectively disenfranchised voters. From the start, it was clear that if the tricky ballot language was all voters read and knew when they entered the voting booth, we would lose badly.
The early polling showed that the language sounded great to most people, but the law wasn’t great for those who support democratically-accountable public schools. So our task for months was to relentlessly inform people of the real facts of the saccharinely-worded preamble and amendment that talked about “improving student performance” and “increasing community involvement.” The proposal would have taken over high-poverty, minority schools; silencing parents and community members in unprecedented ways.
Amendment 1 represented such an extraordinary power grab that a very effective and organized opposition formed and began working together in earnest more than a year ago. The coalition included a diverse group of organizations and individuals from across the state: teachers’ groups like the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), the Georgia Federation of Teachers (GFT) and the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE); parent organizations like the Georgia PTA; community organizations like Concerned Black Clergy, the NAACP, and Public Education Matters Georgia; and official and unofficial social media groups including T.R.A.G.I.C. and Better Georgia.
To show the diversity of the group, on the day that the Vote “NO” yard signs were made available, the first two phone calls requesting them in bulk came from a Democratic committee chair and from a tea party official.
The coalition became the campaign to Keep Georgia Schools Local. The goal was to turn “no-information” or “low-information” voters The results from Georgia— Victory in the Battle Against a State Takeover District - Network For Public Education:
Public school teachers worry for their profession under a Trump presidency
Public school teachers worry for their profession under a Trump presidency:
Public school teachers worry for their profession under a Trump presidency
The president-elect has called teachers “stupid.”
Public school teachers worry for their profession under a Trump presidency
The president-elect has called teachers “stupid.”
President-elect Donald Trump once called teachers “stupid” and sharply criticized teachers unions. Members of his family have minimized sexual harassment and suggested that teaching kindergarten would be a good job for someone who does not “belong in the workforce.” Now he is preparing to take over the U.S. Department of Education, and many teachers are worried about the consequences for their jobs.
Throughout his campaign, Trump offered scant details on how he would try to steer federal education policy. But he has hinted that major cuts could be coming to the Department of Education, and he has a long track record of making dismissive or demeaning comments about teachers.
Trump said teachers had very little intelligence in a 1997 legal deposition.
“I assumed that the people essentially teaching the kids were not stupid. They turned out to be very stupid,” Trump said.
He also wrote in The Art of The Deal that he once hit his music teacher for “not knowing anything about music.” In his 2000 book, The America We Deserve, he suggested that teachers unions are harmful to the public education system. He wrote:
Defenders of the status quo insist that parental choice means the end of public schools. Let’s look at the facts. Right now, nine of ten children attend public schools. … When teachers’ unions say even the most minuscule program allowing school choice is a mortal threat, they’re saying: If we aren’t allowed to keep 90% of the market, we can’t survive.
His son Donald Trump, Jr. echoed his father’s comments last summer and said Democrats care more about saving teachers’ jobs than they do about providing students a good education. During a a 2013 appearance on the radio show Opie and Anthony, Trump, Jr. also suggested that teaching kindergarten was a job for women who weren’t tough enough to deal with sexual harassment in other workplaces.
“If you can’t handle some of the basic stuff that’s become a problem in the workforce today, then you don’t belong in the workforce. Like, you should go maybe teach kindergarten,” Trump, Jr. said.
His remarks implied that kindergarten teachers don’t get harassed, that women should just learn to live with sexual harassment in the workplace, and that being a kindergarten teacher is not a real job, Madeline Will wrote in Public school teachers worry for their profession under a Trump presidency:
CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Dan Rather
CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Dan Rather:
Dear Dan Rather
Dear Dan:
I just noticed your post on Facebook in which you said
Some disasters hit us with a sudden and unexpected fury like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. But some boil beneath the surface wreaking destruction without enough of us paying attention.
If you want to see the hair on the back of my neck stand up in anger ask me about one such disaster - our support for public education.
Please excuse me as I vent for a moment but If you aren't troubled by the state of public education in America - from kindergarten through college - you should be. If you really believe in making America great you should double down on the best investment in our social compact. I regret to say that Donald Trump, his close advisors, and many in Congress seem to be charting a course in the exact opposite direction.
I don't understand why public education has become such a polarizing issue. It wasn't that way when I was growing up or even for much of my life. But take my home state of Texas, where a Republican state legislature has set about to willfully and systematically decimate the state"s schools and public universities with cuts and politicized curricula on issues like history and science.
Now I read today that 70 percent of high school students aren't ready for college. 70 percent! Please check the story below from The Dallas Morning News in which business leaders in low-tax, pro-business Texas say the lack of spending on public schools is a long term recipe for disaster, or as CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Dan Rather:
Dear Dan Rather
I just noticed your post on Facebook in which you said
Some disasters hit us with a sudden and unexpected fury like 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina. But some boil beneath the surface wreaking destruction without enough of us paying attention.
If you want to see the hair on the back of my neck stand up in anger ask me about one such disaster - our support for public education.
Please excuse me as I vent for a moment but If you aren't troubled by the state of public education in America - from kindergarten through college - you should be. If you really believe in making America great you should double down on the best investment in our social compact. I regret to say that Donald Trump, his close advisors, and many in Congress seem to be charting a course in the exact opposite direction.
I don't understand why public education has become such a polarizing issue. It wasn't that way when I was growing up or even for much of my life. But take my home state of Texas, where a Republican state legislature has set about to willfully and systematically decimate the state"s schools and public universities with cuts and politicized curricula on issues like history and science.
Now I read today that 70 percent of high school students aren't ready for college. 70 percent! Please check the story below from The Dallas Morning News in which business leaders in low-tax, pro-business Texas say the lack of spending on public schools is a long term recipe for disaster, or as CURMUDGUCATION: Dear Dan Rather:
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