Striking Denver Teachers Are Fighting To Be Able To Live Where They Teach #DCTAstrong #RedforEd #edcolo #coleg #copolitics #FairPayForTeachers

Striking Denver Teachers Are Fighting To Be Able To Live Where They Teach

Striking Denver Teachers Are Fighting To Be Able To Live Where They Teach

On Monday, more than 5,000 teachers, parents and students from public schools across Denver took part in a festive rally on the steps of the Colorado state capitol. The demonstration marked the first day of a teacher strike to demand higher base salaries and a pay scale system that’s clear, predictable and that will allow teachers to afford to live in the neighborhoods where they work.

Despite freezing temperatures, the mood at the capitol was energized, the air filled with chants, a lively brass band and a stream of enthusiastic honks from passing cars. Demonstrators wore red hats and parkas, a nod to the growing national “Red for Ed” movement, and carried signs with slogans such as “You can’t put students first if you put teachers last” and “A is for Apple. B is for Raise.” Supporters offered free coffee, tamales and donuts, or sold snacks as fundraisers for school groups. One message emerged loud and clear: Teachers would rather be in the classroom, but the strike was too important.

After more than 15 months of negotiations with Denver Public Schools (DPS) failed to result in an agreement over its pay-for-performance compensation schedule, on Jan. 22, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association voted to strike for the first time in 25 years.

“We’re disappointed that the DCTA walked away from the table,” DPS said in a statement, claiming its updated proposal aligns with its values of equity and significantly increases base pay. The union said in a statement that the district’s proposals “exacerbate the problems educators are trying to fix” and that the salary maintains “unpredictable bonuses that disrupt our students’ education.” While DPS CONTINUE READING: Striking Denver Teachers Are Fighting To Be Able To Live Where They Teach

The Idea That Black Lives Matter Is Not New - Neither Is Your Hatred For It. - Philly's 7th Ward

The Idea That Black Lives Matter Is Not New - Neither Is Your Hatred For It. - Philly's 7th Ward

THE IDEA THAT BLACK LIVES MATTER IS NOT NEW – NEITHER IS YOUR HATRED FOR IT.

On Wednesday, February 6, 2019, I had the honor of speaking at the Black Lives Matter in Schools Week of Action rally last week. The audience was mostly educators, with a few powerful students (several spoke as well).

It is good to be here and great to see all of you.

As an educator who was born to two Black Panther Party (BPP) parents and had three cousins who were also in the BPP, I can tell you, unequivocally, that we cannot afford to assume that any American institution—including schools—naturally and without accountability holds Black students’ lives dearly.

Our Week of Action highlights the necessary recommitted action to ensure that Black lives matter. Your presence uplifts the humanity of our Black students and represents a call to action for all who lead in our classrooms and schools and those who lead in positions adjacent to our schools.

Some ask why Black lives matter at all, let alone an entire week. I tell them, it’s not a week, it’s a mindset and lifestyle— a core belief and a rallying cry.

Those of us who know better have never been inebriated with a false idea of a post-racial society in America. Those of us with clear mind and vision easily recognize that the points of Black Lives Matter (BLM) are similar to the 10 point programs of Black Student Union and the BPP.

We know that the BLM core is similar to the Organization of Afro American Unity CONTINUE READING: The Idea That Black Lives Matter Is Not New - Neither Is Your Hatred For It. - Philly's 7th Ward

Teachers and immigrant rights activists gather in El Paso to call for an end to the detention and | MENAFN.COM

Teachers and immigrant rights activists gather in El Paso to call for an end to the detention and | MENAFN.COM

Teachers and immigrant rights activists gather in El Paso to call for an end to the detention 

(MENAFN - PRLog) Organization led by Mandy Manning, 2018 National Teacher of the Year will live-stream a Teach-In For Freedom in El Paso, Texas on Sunday, February 17, 2019 Teach-In For Freedom Spread the Word 
Listed Under

Tag:
• Child detention

Industry:
• Education

Location:
• El Paso - Texas - US

Subject:
• Events

EL PASO, Texas - Feb. 12, 2019 - PRLog -- Teachers from across the country as well as Mexico will gather in El Paso, Texas this Sunday, February 17TH, to participate in a day-long Teach-In For Freedom (https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/teach-in). They are calling on the U.S. government to end the detention and criminalization of immigrant children and their families. The Teach-In, to be hosted by Teachers Against Child Detention (https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/), will start at 8:45 AM on San Jacinto Plaza and run till 6:00 pm. The entire event will be live-streamed at; https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/about-the-teach-in 

Other speakers attending the Teach-In include John King, Secretary of Education during the Obama Administration, Rep Joe Moody, Texas House of Representatives, Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Alfonso Cepeda Salas, Secretary-General, Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación, Marisa Limón Garza, Deputy Director, HOPE Border Institute, and Linda Rivas, Director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. 

2018 National Teacher of the Year, Washington-based Mandy Manning, founded Teachers Against Child Detention in response to the fact that more than 10,000 innocent immigrant children are still being detained by the U.S Government. 

"Teachers like me know first-hand the effect that detention can have on immigrant children once they return to school. I have found that children who experience the trauma of detention and separation from their parents live with a great deal of depression and anxiety. This manifests as extreme fatigue, crying, inability to focus, absenteeism, suicidal ideation and actual suicide attempts," she said. Manning said that teachers are mandated by U.S law to report suspected child abuse to responsible authorities. 

"We chose El Paso for the location of the Teach-In for Freedom because this city has become the frontline for our government's unjust and cruel immigration policies which have devastating impacts on children," she said. 

During the Teach-In, TACD aims to present facts and stories which will deepen understanding about immigration. They will also call for the government to protect immigrant children in strict compliance with the Flores decree. This means that immigrant children in U.S. custody should never be separated from their families, be held in the least restrictive settings possible, and be released to their sponsors within 20 days as required by Flores. 

"Educators have a moral and professional responsibility to nurture, educate and protect children, especially innocent immigrant children fleeing abuse, violence and war," said National Education Association (NEA) President Lily Eskelsen García. "Children belong together with their loved ones, not in detention centers." 

A growing number of organizations ( https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/partners ) are partnering with TACD to host the Teach-In For Freedom including the Southern Poverty Law Center's Teaching Tolerance project, Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA/NEA), American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, Ysleta Teachers Association, Indivisible, Hope Border Institute, United We Dream, El Paso Chapter, "Sonando Juntas" (Dreaming Together), Borderland Rainbow Center, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Texas Board of Education and Educators for Migrant Justice. 

"The HOPE Border Institutes stands in solidarity with Teachers Against Child Detention and is honored to host them during their El Paso Teach-In. The detention of migrant children is abhorrent and unjust. At a minimum, all children in the custody of the US government regardless of the type of facility, should have access to a high quality education," said Deputy Director, Marisa Limón Garza. 

"I am proud to join Teachers Against Child Detention, AFT members from around the country and our other allies at the Teach-In for Freedom because there is no force more powerful than a human shield of educators, parents, and other community members. Together we will listen, teach, share and fight to help restore the soul of our country," said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). 

### 

KEY INFORMATION 

TACD Website 

https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/ 

Teach-in For Freedom 

Sunday, February 17, 2019 

9.00AM onwards 

San Jacinto Plaza, 114 W Mills Ave, El Paso, TX 79901 

Live-stream: https://www.teachersagainstchilddetention.org/about-the-teach-in 

FOR INTERVIEWS OR TO ARRANGE TO SEND A CREW TO COVER THE TEACH-IN FOR FREEDOM 

Contact: 

Janinne Brunyee / 

TACD Spokespeople: 

MANDY MANNING 

Mandy Manning teaches English to newly arrived refugee and immigrant students in the Newcomer Center at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington. She is the 2018 National Teacher of the Year. Manning has taught for the past 19 years, seven of which have been in her current role. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from Eastern Washington University, a Masters of Arts from West Texas A & M University, and a Masters of Fine Arts from Northwest Institute of Literary Arts. Manning is a National Board Certified Teacher. 

IVONNE OROZCO 

Ivonne Orozco is New Mexico's 2018 Teacher of the Year. She is also is one of the nearly 9,000 K-12 teachers protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Orozco, 26, teaches high school Spanish at the Public Academy for Performing Arts, a charter school in Albuquerque, N.M. She has used her platform as state teacher of the year to advocate for a bipartisan solution to restoring DACA protections. 

ARLINDA VALENCIA 

Arlinda Valencia is an El Paso, Texas retired Broadcast Journalism teacher of 32 years. She is currently serving her 8th year as the President of the Ysleta Teachers Association representing 2300 employees of the Ysleta ISD. She holds a Bachelor of Music, Masters of Arts and Technology certified. She is well known for her activism for public education and for educational justice both nationally and in our local community. 

Contact
Janinne Brunyee
***@sugarbirdmarketing.com

MENAFN1202201900703076ID1098111240

Teachers and immigrant rights activists gather in El Paso to call for an end to the detention and | MENAFN.COM

House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools

House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools

House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools

WASHINGTON (CN) – Reminded about the human toll of their funding decisions, House lawmakers heard unsettling testimony Tuesday on the efforts by public schools to educate America’s youth in crumbling and moldy classrooms.

“Most of our schools do not meet the baseline standards required to adequately support 21st century learning,” Sharon Contreras, a 30-year educator who serves as superintendent for Guilford County Schools in North Carolina.

Part of a bevy of witnesses who testified today before the House Education and Labor Committee, Contreras described how some of the teachers at her school have had to repurpose their classroom trash cans as water buckets for leaky roofing.

The buildings in her district, Contreras said, are “designed for an industrial era that no longer exists.”

“it is important that we address this situation, or we will be talking about this for the next 50 years,” she added.

Against calls by Democrats to appropriate more funding for school infrastructure, however, Republicans say that irresponsible money management is precisely the problem.

“Instead of increasing salaries, improving structures and investing in classroom equipment, many school districts have ended up pouring taxpayer funds into administrative bloat that leaves students and teachers high and dry,” ranking member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., said in her opening statement. “Higher price tags, and more bureaucracy in Washington, don’t deliver higher results.” 

Foxx’s sentiment was echoed Tuesday by Ben Scafidi, an economics professor at Kennesaw State University who testified that non-teaching staff has been the only thing to increase in the last few CONTINUE READING: House Hearing Puts Spotlight on Dilapidated US Schools

'Staggering': 30,000 Oklahoma teachers have left profession in the past 6 years, report shows | Education | tulsaworld.com

'Staggering': 30,000 Oklahoma teachers have left profession in the past 6 years, report shows | Education | tulsaworld.com

'Staggering': 30,000 Oklahoma teachers have left profession in the past 6 years, report shows

A new report released by the state shows 30,000 Oklahoma teachers have left the profession in the past six years.

“The loss of 30,000 educators over the past six years is staggering — and proof that our schools must have the resources to support a growing number of students with an increasing number of needs,” State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister said in a news release issued Tuesday about the report.

“Steep budget cuts over the last decade have made the teaching profession in Oklahoma less attractive, resulting in a severe teacher shortage crisis and negative consequences for our schoolchildren,” she said.

The 2018 Oklahoma Educator Supply & Demand Report indicates that the percentage of Oklahoma educators leaving the profession has increased over the past six years, representing more than 5,000 per year, a total of approximately 30,000.

The exodus represents an average of 10 percent of Oklahoma’s teacher workforce, in comparison to a national attrition rate of 7.7 percent, the state Department of Education said in a news release.

However, the figure does not include new teacher hires, which ranged from 7.8 percent to 10.2 percent between 2012-13 and 2017-18, according to the report.

The 124-page report “seeks to explain the state’s persistent teacher shortage while offering recommendations on how to stem the crisis. State law requires that the report is updated every three years,” the department said.

The report includes multiple indicators of a teacher shortage, including teacher-pupil ratios, supply-side trends and the number of emergency-certified teachers approved by the State Board of Education.

“So far in the 2018-19 school year, the latter figure is 2,915 — an all-time high and a massive increase over the 32 emergency CONTINUE READING: 'Staggering': 30,000 Oklahoma teachers have left profession in the past 6 years, report shows | Education | tulsaworld.com

Read the report

• 21 hrs ago

See the full 2018 Oklahoma Educator Supply and Demand Report here

Charter school strike nears 7th day, could match length of CTU walkout in 2012 | Chicago Sun-Times #REDFORED

Charter school strike nears 7th day, could match length of CTU walkout in 2012 | Chicago Sun-Times
Charter school strike nears 7th day, could match length of CTU walkout in 2012

It’s poised to match the length of Chicago’s famous 2012 public school teacher strike.

It’s quickly become the longest charter teacher strike ever.

And there’s no end in sight.

Wrapping up the sixth day of picketing at four campuses across the city, Chicago International Charter School teachers marched to the Loop office of Kwame Raoul Tuesday afternoon to urge the Illinois attorney general to investigate the charter network’s finances.

“Six days. We are beyond offended at the need for us to continue to get up every single morning, [in temperatures] below freezing, on a picket line, because we’re asking for enforceable class-size limits. Because we’re asking for counselors. They should be ashamed of themselves,” Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said.

“The end is in sight when [CICS CEO] Elizabeth Shaw takes a seat at the table.”

CTU VIce President Stacy Davis Gates speaks Tuesday at a rally outside the Thompson Center. | Mitchell Armentrout/Sun-Times

CTU leaders accuse the CICS management firm Civitas Education Partners and its web of three subsidiary organizations of siphoning off $36 million in public money to line executives’ pockets instead of bringing teacher salaries up to scale with their Chicago Public Schools counterparts.

The charter operator has defended their reserve funds as fiscally responsible and insist teacher evaluations and compensation are the sticking points holding up a deal, despite the operator’s offer CONTINUE READING: Charter school strike nears 7th day, could match length of CTU walkout in 2012 | Chicago Sun-Times

The Difficulty of Cleaning Arne Duncan’s Awful Policies Out of the Laws of 50 States | janresseger

The Difficulty of Cleaning Arne Duncan’s Awful Policies Out of the Laws of 50 States | janresseger

The Difficulty of Cleaning Arne Duncan’s Awful Policies Out of the Laws of 50 States

Sometimes I find myself considering how our society arrived in 2019 at what striking schoolteachers this year have been demonstrating is an existential crisis for our system of public education.

Partly, of course, Betsy DeVos, our current Education Secretary, and all her friends including the Koch brothers have been working for years to substitute privatized, marketplace school choice for what many of us prize as our universal system of public schools. The idea of public education is a network of schools in every American community, schools that are publicly owned, regulated by law, and operated by locally elected school boards. Our society’s promise, an ideal we have increasingly realized through a history of making the dream accessible to more and more children, is that the public schools will meet all children’s needs and protect their rights.  Supreme Court cases and civil rights laws have expanded protection for children of all races and ethnic backgrounds, no matter their immigration status. The law protects services for children whose primary language may be other than English, for children who are disabled, and for children whatever their gender or sexual orientation.

But even with all her money, added to the money of her friends, and with the help of billionaire philanthropists who have served as her allies, Betsy DeVos isn’t powerful enough to have so thoroughly upended public education. We were all complicit somehow, although we didn’t collectively realize it, despite that many of us have been protesting along the way.

Over half a century ago, in The Affluent Society, economist John Kenneth Galbraith coined the term “the conventional wisdom” to describe “the ideas which are esteemed at any time for their acceptability.” “The conventional wisdom is not the property of any political group.… the consensus is exceedingly broad. Nothing much divides those who are liberals by common political designation from those who are conservatives.”  In other words the conventional wisdom about hard and complicated subjects in public policy is made up of what we all believe because everybody else seems to believe it.

More recently, the political scientists Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson have described how such CONTINUE READING: The Difficulty of Cleaning Arne Duncan’s Awful Policies Out of the Laws of 50 States | janresseger

California governor taps renowned educator Linda Darling-Hammond to head state Board of Education - The Washington Post

California governor taps renowned educator Linda Darling-Hammond to head state Board of Education - The Washington Post

California governor taps renowned educator Linda Darling-Hammond to head state Board of Education

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) just tapped Linda Darling-Hammond, a giant in the world of education, to head the 11-member state Board of Education.

During his first State of the State address Tuesday, Newsom announced that Darling-Hammond would work alongside the newly elected state superintendent, Tony Thurmond, to help “confront” problems plaguing California’s public schools.

Referring to last month’s six-day strike by Los Angeles teachers, he said:

The teachers’ strike in LA is over — but the need to confront its  underlying causes has only just begun. Understaffed schools, overcrowded  classrooms, pension pressures, the achievement gap, and charter school growth — these stressors are showing up all over the state, right here in Sacramento, in Fresno, and Oakland. ...

Seven years ago, we invested $47.3 billion in our schools. Next year, with your support, we’ll invest more than $80 billion — that includes $576 million for special education.

But it’s not enough. We’re still 41st in the nation in per pupil funding. Something needs to change.  We need to have an honest conversation about how we fund our schools at a state and local level.

Darling-Hammond is one of the most renowned names in education. An expert in teacher education and educational equity, she served as transition chief to Barack Obama after his 2008 presidential election win, and many in the education world thought he would select her as secretary of education.

By the time Obama was elected, major flaws in the No Child Left Behind K-12 law were obvious and its mandates to states were impossible to meet. With Darling-Hammond, then a Stanford University professor, stewarding the transition team, some in the education world were given hope that the new president would make equity a key goal. Those in the corporate-based school reform community, however, saw her as being too tied to unions and blasted that decision.

But instead of naming her as education secretary, Obama tapped Arne Duncan, a former chief of Chicago schools and a friend of Obama’s who was deeply steeped in the corporate reform movement that embraced the Common Core standards, tests, data and school “choice” as the way to close the achievement gap.

Darling-Hammond then wrote an award-winning book, “The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future,” about authentic educational equity and had two copies printed in hardback. One was for her; the other she sent to Obama in an effort to try to steer his reform policies toward equity. He didn’t.

Darling-Hammond has an extraordinary résumé and has long been sought out by federal, state and local officials and educators to help improve education policy and practices. CONTINUE READING: California governor taps renowned educator Linda Darling-Hammond to head state Board of Education - The Washington Post

Writing as Threat | The Jose Vilson

Writing as Threat | The Jose Vilson

WRITING AS THREAT

On the Saturday after I spoke on a panel at the Schomburg, I attended the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators conference here in NYC. I supported my friends Julia Torres and Cornelius Minor as they gave a framework for authors and artists to ingratiate themselves to PK – 12 educators. After the spot-on workshop, Elizabeth Acevedo graced the ballroom stage. The voluminous curls on the gracious Dominicana can be seen a bodega away (in NYC, we have them on every block or two, right?). I carried de lo mío’s book The Poet X in my bookbag for the last couple of weeks. I am both exhilarated and infuriated that only now can such a young adult novel with a core identity of a poetry anthology.

The poet in me, who once read at the now defunct Cornelia Street Cafe and still yearns to do so at the Nuyorican, dedicated what little free time I have to this tome.

Somewhere in her speech, she speaks to her insecurities and how she eventually came to the conclusion that she would write for her very specific audience. The shift from “trying to write for everyone” to “putting the onus on audiences to move to her” is underrated. In a room full of white people, many of whom influence the bookshelves for major publishers and partnering districts, this was a queen telling the court that the food she decides to serve will be the main course. She wrested this power from the gatekeepers much to their amazement. For Julia, Dulce-Marie Flecha, and I, it’s the story of our survival in predominantly white spaces.

Then, she prophesied, “It didn’t matter how many stickers were on my book because, no matter how many awards and accolades I got if I didn’t believe that I was a writer.”

That jabs so many of our sides, too. I have the uncanny ability to believe exponentially in other CONTINUE READING: Writing as Threat | The Jose Vilson

“It’s a Deaf Thing” to Host Third Annual Deaf Expo in October 2019 | deutsch29

“It’s a Deaf Thing” to Host Third Annual Deaf Expo in October 2019 | deutsch29

“It’s a Deaf Thing” to Host Third Annual Deaf Expo in October 2019

I received an email request from Terry Hunt, deaf business owner, volunteer, and committee chair for the Florida-based nonprofit, It’s a Deaf Thing, asking me to promote the nonprofit’s 2019 expo on my blog.

Happy to do so, Terry.

It’s a Deaf Thing describes itself as “a 501(3)(c) non-profit organization (registered in 2015; EIN 47-2187874; principal officers: David and Bobbi Lind) that is hosted and managed by ProjectDEAF (official name of nonprofit). We are a deaf expo that is located in Lakeland, FL. It’s a Deaf Thing bring the deaf community and deaf people together. Our primary language is American Sign Language.”

The organization’s primary mission “is to support and empower the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community. [Plan] Deaf Expo to help expose the Deaf-Owned Business, Deaf-Friendly Business, and Deaf-Related Business, also to bring the Deaf community together and awareness of the Deaf community.”

To learn of the new sign name for It’s a Deaf Thing, see the video below featuring event coordinator, Rebecca Hunt:

2019 Deaf Expo

It’s a Deaf Thing has been hosting its Deaf Expo since September 2017; its second expo (October 2018) included 44 vendors and over 1,200 attendees.

The Third Annual Deaf Expo is scheduled for October 05, 2019, in Lakeland, Florida, and includes the blind community:

Save the Date – October 5, 2019, Lakeland, FL

The Deaf Expo will have over 60+ vendors and 4,000 tickets! It’s a Deaf Thing expecting 2019 Deaf Expo to be the biggest expo ever hosted by ProjectDEAF. Let’s make this Expo the best expo for the Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Blind community!

Since the event is being underwritten by a private donor, tickets to the 2019 Deaf Expo are FREE and can be ordered by CLICKING HERE.

“It’s a Deaf Thing” Logo



“It’s a Deaf Thing” to Host Third Annual Deaf Expo in October 2019 | deutsch29

Why we need to rethink education in the artificial intelligence age

Why we need to rethink education in the artificial intelligence age

Why we need to rethink education in the artificial intelligence age

Artificial intelligence (AI) and emerging technologies (ET) are poised to transform modern society in profound ways. As with electricity in the last century, AI is an enabling technology that will animate everyday products and communications, endowing everything from cars to cameras with the ability to interact with the world around them, and with each other. These developments are just the beginning, and as AI/ET matures, it will have sweeping impacts on our work, security, politics, and very lives.[1]

These technologies are already impacting the world around us, as Darrell West and I wrote in our April 2018 piece “How artificial intelligence is transforming the world,” and I highly recommend that anyone just discovering the topic of AI policy read it thoroughly. There, Darrell and I describe several important implications related to AI/ET, but chief among them is that these technology developments are on the cusp of ushering in a true revolution in human affairs at an increasingly fast pace.

As AI continues to influence and shape existing industries and allows new ones to take root, its macro-level impact, particularly in the realm of economics, will become more and more apparent. Control over the research and development of AI will become increasingly vital, and the winners of this upcoming AI-defined era in human history will be the countries and companies that can create the most powerful algorithms, assemble the most talent, collect the most data, and marshal the most computing power. This is the next great technology race of our generation and the stakes are high, particularly for the United States. If American society is to embrace the full range of social and political changes that these technologies will introduce, CONTINUE READING: Why we need to rethink education in the artificial intelligence age

Author

John R. Allen

President, The Brookings Institution

Editor's Note: 

This report is part of "A Blueprint for the Future of AI," a series from the Brookings Institution that analyzes the new challenges and potential policy solutions introduced by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

APNewsBreak: Teach for America slammed over Oakland strike #Unite4OaklandKids #WeAreOEA #WeAreCTA #strikeready

APNewsBreak: Teach for America slammed over Oakland strike

APNewsBreak: Teach for America slammed over Oakland strike

Hundreds of Teach for America alumni are slamming the educator placement program for telling members to cross the picket line during a potential teacher strike in Oakland, California, or risk losing thousands of dollars at the end of their service.

More than 300 alumni signed the letter delivered Monday to Teach for America’s leadership, asking it to stop “pressuring” young teachers to break a strike that could come next week.

The Associated Press obtained the letter sent to a nonprofit known for placing high-achieving college graduates without formal teaching training into two-year educator jobs in low-income communities.

Payton Carter, a 1999 Teach for America alumnus and current Oakland teacher, said he was outraged that members may lose an award worth $2,000 to $10,000 — a financial incentive the nonprofit uses as a recruiting tool.

“We feel it’s really unethical and an unfair use of the funding, as basically financial leverage to coerce them into crossing the picket line,” Carter said. “No TFA corps member would willingly do that because of the professional damage to relationships.”

Spokesman Jack Hardy said Teach for America didn’t provide recommendations on what its 58 teachers should do in the school district, where a possible strike would affect 36,000 students. He said there’s a misunderstanding on the guidance it communicated outlining rules from AmeriCorps, a federal service program that bans striking and provides the awards at the end of teachers’ two-year service commitment.

“We don’t have a position on the strike or organizing. Our corp members, we stand behind them, we stand beside them. Our goal is to help them be successful,” Hardy said.

Teach for America has for years faced criticism and skepticism by those who call the education CONTINUE READING: APNewsBreak: Teach for America slammed over Oakland strike

Big Education Ape: Oakland Strike: Support Students and Educators With Bread for Ed – California Educator #Unite4OaklandKids #WeAreOEA #WeAreCTA #strikeready - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2019/02/oakland-strike-support-students-and.html