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Thursday, June 1, 2017

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 6/1/17


Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 6/1/17
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Elizabeth Warren Launches 'DeVos Watch' in Bid to Make Education 'Corruption-Free' | Common Dreams





Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord - The Washington Post
Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord - The Washington Post : Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord President Trump on Thursday announced his decision to pull out of the landmark Paris climate agreement — the one that virtually all countries in the world signed onto except Syria and Nicaragua — and his education secretary,
CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers
CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers : DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers First came the LA Times op-ed co-authored by Randi Weingarten (AFT) and Jonah Edelman (Stand for Children). This in itself is another troubling move by Weingarten (add it to the list) because astroturfist Edelman is no angel when it comes to support of public schools. The op-ed tweaked a lot of antennae because buried i
The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post
The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post : The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been pushing the expansion of school choice — alternatives to traditional public schools — for decades. You could say she has been playing a long game. DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who has publicly called traditional public education a “dea
Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union at the City Club of Chicago
Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union - YouTube : Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union at the City Club of Chicago (25) Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union - YouTube :
Voucher Advocates Pivot Following Negative Research - The Atlantic
Voucher Advocates Pivot Following Negative Research - The Atlantic : How School Choice Affects Test Scores Recent studies show vouchers fail to improve some student outcomes, but that hasn’t deterred advocates of the approach. At last week’s gathering of school-choice supporters, there was an awkward fact in their midst: A wave of new studies had shown that students receiving a voucher did worse,
Jeff Bryant Welcome to the Opportunity Network Update!
6/1/2017 – Our School Funding Crisis Has A Cause: Bad Leadership : Jeff Bryant Welcome to the Opportunity Network Update! THIS WEEK: Americans Want Integration … Pre-K Inequity … College Debt Fiasco … Beware ‘Pay For Success’ … DeVos Chooses Discrimination TOP STORY Our School Funding Crisis Has A Cause: Bad Leadership By Jeff Bryant “State lawmakers’ inability to do basic arithmetic is having pa
School Vouchers' Dismal Record of Failure Comes Into Focus
School Vouchers' Dismal Record of Failure Comes Into Focus : School Vouchers’ Dismal Record of Failure Comes Into Focus Any lingering questions over how aggressively the Trump administration was going to pursue school privatization were answered on March 16 with the release of its FY2018-19 budget proposal. If approved by Congress, federal education programs will be slashed across the board, all
John Thompson: Pick your battles: A letter to 7 new OKCPS principals - NonDoc
Pick your battles: A letter to 7 new OKCPS principals - NonDoc : Pick your battles: A letter to 7 new OKCPS principals O n Monday, The Oklahoman’s Tim Willert reported on the replacement of seven Oklahoma City Public Schools principals . The decisions will be controversial. In light of this expected controversy, I offer the following letter to the new principals and assistant principals. (Conserv
City Democrats betray their base. | Fred Klonsky
City Democrats betray their base. | Fred Klonsky : City Democrats betray their base When I applauded the plan to merge the Chicago Teachers Union with ChiACT, the union organizing charter teachers, former Arne Duncan press agent Peter Cunningham, who I assume is a Democrat, suggested it was just a way for the unions to recruit more members. I had to explain to Peter that a union recruiting member
Increasing Salaries So Teachers Don't Have To Become Principals : NPR Ed : NPR
Increasing Salaries So Teachers Don't Have To Become Principals : NPR Ed : NPR : Increasing Salaries So Teachers Don't Have To Become Principals Spencer Campbell spends much of his days walking the halls of Elk Ridge Middle School, checking breezeways for kids playing hooky, redirecting foot traffic in between classes and checking in on substitute teachers. Campbell is one of two assistant princi
The Quiet Wave of School District Secessions | Education News | US News
The Quiet Wave of School District Secessions | Education News | US News : The Quiet Wave of School District Secessions Since 1986, 47 school districts have splintered off to create their own whiter and wealthier districts. When a judge ruled last week that the predominantly white Alabama city of Gardendale can secede from the majority black Jefferson County to form its own school district, the de
Most Americans Want To See More School Integration As Trump Destroys Existing Efforts | HuffPost
Most Americans Want To See More School Integration As Trump Destroys Existing Efforts | HuffPost : Most Americans Want To See More School Integration As Trump Destroys Existing Efforts American schools are divided by the haves and the have-nots. Many Americans want this to change. Over 63 years after Brown v. Board of Education made state-sanctioned school segregation illegal and set off a wave o
Elizabeth Warren Launches 'DeVos Watch' in Bid to Make Education 'Corruption-Free' | Common Dreams
Elizabeth Warren Launches 'DeVos Watch' in Bid to Make Education 'Corruption-Free' | Common Dreams : Elizabeth Warren Launches 'DeVos Watch' in Bid to Make Education 'Corruption-Free' Resistance to Devos's agenda has "spread like wildfire," Warren notes. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) announced on Wednesday the launch of ' DeVos Watch ,' a new initiative tasked with holding Education Secretary B
Jeff Bryant: Our School Funding Crisis Has A Cause: Bad Leadership
Our School Funding Crisis Has A Cause: Bad Leadership : Our School Funding Crisis Has A Cause: Bad Leadership This week’s disturbing news that Oklahoma schools are so poorly funded some of them may move from five days a week to four got a lot of people’s attention, including my colleague Richard Eskow , who called this an example of “the Republican party’s sickness of the soul.” Unfortunately, th
Trump’s Budget Proposal Neglects Children and Defines Human Decency Down | janresseger
Trump’s Budget Proposal Neglects Children and Defines Human Decency Down | janresseger : Trump’s Budget Proposal Neglects Children and Defines Human Decency Down From the perspective of the welfare of America’s children, the assumptions underneath President Donald Trump’s 2018 federal budget proposal are deeply troubling. The budget reinforces the theory that everybody ought to be earning a livin
Is Love Enough to Fight Today’s White, Male Terrorists? | gadflyonthewallblog
Is Love Enough to Fight Today’s White, Male Terrorists? | gadflyonthewallblog : Is Love Enough to Fight Today’s White, Male Terrorists? When I was growing up, I was told that love is all you need. But now in the face of such hatred toward people of color, I’m not so sure. Three brave people put their lives on the line to stop a knife-wielding white supremacist on a bus in Portland, Oregon, yester

YESTERDAY

Lost Causes
Lost Causes "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" Mr. Smith : I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain, simple rule: "Love thy neighbor." And in this world today full of
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/31/17
Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 5/31/17 Featured Post Puerto Rico: 179 public schools to close amid financial crisis | News | Al Jazeera 10 Best Teacher T-shirts - Teacher Habits by mike simpson / 10min 10 Best Teacher T-

Top Posts This Week


Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord - The Washington Post

Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord - The Washington Post:

Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord


President Trump on Thursday announced his decision to pull out of the landmark Paris climate agreement — the one that virtually all countries in the world signed onto except Syria and Nicaragua — and his education secretary, Betsy DeVos, was part of the cheering section.
DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who has said publicly that “government really sucks” and strongly supports the president’s efforts to eliminate regulations, said in a statement:
“The announcement made today by the President is one more example of his commitment to rolling back the unrealistic and overreaching regulatory actions by the previous Administration. President Trump is making good on his promise to put America and American workers first.”
(She didn’t mention, not surprisingly, that some of the country’s largest companies and their leaders had urged Trump to stay in the accord, arguing that withdrawal could make it harder for them to create jobs.)
DeVos and her family have financially supported many Republican candidates who oppose climate change, as does Trump, who has in the past called it a “hoax.” And DeVos’s primary education priority is to expand school choice, including programs that allow public funding to be used for education at private and religious schools, some of which teach that evolution and climate change aren’t real.
During her February confirmation hearing, DeVos did not reveal her view on climate change when the issue was raised by  Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) He mentioned that she had been involved with the climate change-denying Acton Institute for the Study of Betsy DeVos applauds Trump for pulling U.S. out of historic climate accord - The Washington Post:

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers:

DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers

Image result for democracy

First came the LA Times op-ed co-authored by Randi Weingarten (AFT) and Jonah Edelman (Stand for Children). This in itself is another troubling move by Weingarten (add it to the list) because astroturfist Edelman is no angel when it comes to support of public schools. The op-ed tweaked a lot of antennae because buried in the condemnation of vouchers was a ringing endorsement of charters. 



Almost instantly, a response came back from the American Federation for Children, a group founded and financed by Betsy DeVos. Kevin Chavous, the legal mouthpiece for the group broke out the high dudgeon.

But I want to skip past all of that for the moment and focus on one statement from the AFC response:

It is school choice–directly empowering parents to choose the best educational environment for their child–that is the most democratic of ideas.

Nope. Nope nope nopity nope. There are arguments to be made for parent choice, but "it's the essence of democracy" is not one of them.

Democracy, even the sort-of-democracy practiced by the USA, is not about saying, "I want to make this personal choice, and I want everyone else to pay for it."

Democracy is not saying you want a six-lane highway to run back the lane where only your 
CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos, Democracy and Vouchers:

The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post

The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post:

The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos


Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has been pushing the expansion of school choice — alternatives to traditional public schools — for decades. You could say she has been playing a long game.
DeVos, a Michigan billionaire who has publicly called traditional public education a “dead end,” says all parents should have educational choices for their children. Her critics argue that she has been trying to privatize public education, with her advocacy efforts having begun in Michigan and then moving to other states.
DeVos and President Trump have made clear that their top priority in education is to expand school choice, not continue the efforts of former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama to hold schools “accountable” largely through test scores. This post looks at how she has operated and what her ultimate goals seem to be. It was written by Carol Burris, a former New York high school principal who is executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education.
Burris was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, the organization named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year. She has chronicled problems with standardized-test based school reform and the school choice movement on this blog for years.

By Carol Burris
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is not always confused by the facts, such as when she said that historically black colleges and universities were “pioneers of school choice,” or that a school in Montana probably had a gun to protect itself from “potential grizzlies.” Her recent speech at this year’s convening of the American Federation for Children was no exception.
If you are not familiar with the American Federation for Children, you should be. SourceWatch tells you all that you need to know:
The American Federation for Children (AFC) is a conservative 501(c)(4) dark money group that promotes the school privatization agenda via the American 
The long game of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos - The Washington Post:


Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union at the City Club of Chicago

 Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union - YouTube:

Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union at the City Club of Chicago




(25) Karen Lewis, President, Chicago Teachers Union - YouTube: