Life at the Intersections | …of spirit, people, and politics

Life at the Intersections | …of spirit, people, and politics:



HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT PROTESTS CREATE HEADACHES FOR SOME, HOPE FOR OTHERS

 Recent spontaneous and unprecedented high school student protest movements are causing a growing panic among the wealthy investor class who want to convert much of American education from public, democratic control to corporate investor control for their profits. It is showing that high school students are finding their own voice distinct from just joining in with adult protests.



Newark



The Newark Students Union was formed to resist the corporate takeover and charterizing of most of public education in Newark, New Jersey. No matter what excuses are attempted to dismiss this movement, it is real and powerful. Students in Newark are not willing to be widgets produced on an assembly line. They have become the wild card for the carefully laid plans of investors and the corporations they control.



This is a video report of their latest protest that involved over 300 students. Take note that these are very smart, politically astute high school students in a place where no one can argue that these are just brats being put up to this by adults, which has been the oft-repeated criticism.

Their protests began in April and lasted through May of last school year when big plans for transforming Newark to mostly charters were announced after Governor Chris Christie took control of Newark Public Schools and appointed his own superintendent. She immediately laid plans to convert most of Newark’s Public Schools into corporate charter schools. My criticism of this massive corporate charter takeover is in my earlier post HERE, a third post in my series criticizing the misuse of charters at the expense of the poor.

Since long-time education writer Anthony Cody pulled out of foundation-influenced Education Week and started his own independent blog Living in Dialogue, he has reported extensively on these and  other student protests.

You may follow and support these students by liking their Facebook page and following them on Twitter @NewarkStudents .

Colorado

The high school student protest movement has expanded in Colorado to include students from several high schools in Jefferson County, a suburban area of Denver.

They walked out of school to protest highly restrictive standards about the teaching of U.S. History imposed by the Jefferson County School Board. It is controlled by a slim hyper-conservative majority. Students correctly see it as being propagandistic and not Life at the Intersections | …of spirit, people, and politics:

9-28-14 the becoming radical | Jesusland?: Bible Belt Raises Welt of Corporal Punishment - A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness

the becoming radical | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness (the public and scholarly writing by P. L. Thomas, Furman University):

Jesusland?: Bible Belt Raises Welt of Corporal Punishment

“Jesusland” by Ben Folds includes a powerful verse against the energetic piano and soaring harmonies: Town to town broadcast to each house, they drop your name but no one knows your face Billboards quoting things you’d never say you hang your head and pray While the music and rhythm sound uplifting, the message of the lyrics is a sharp criticism of the Bible Belt, where I grew up, where I live. Fo

10 by plthomasedd / 47min 

9-27-14 the becoming radical EMPATHYEDUCATES! | A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by P. L. Thomas, EdD

THE BECOMING RADICALEMPATHYEDUCATES!the becoming radical  A Place for a Pedagogy of Kindness by Misguided Reading Policy Creates Wrong Lessons for Students as WritersHaving taught writing to teenagers and young adults at the high school and undergraduate levels for over thirty years now, I have a standard approach to the first few classes: We identify and then unpack and challenge the lessons the

2 by mike simpson / 9h 

9-28-14 Perdido Street School

Perdido Street School:

Cuomo And Christie - A Bromance

Don't read this WSJ article on an empty stomach - it details now close Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo are, the closest any two governors of New Jersey and New York have ever been:The two powerful governors have dined together in Manhattan and chat by cellphone. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has asked staff to leave the room when he talks to his New York counterpart, Andrew Cuomo.And while Mr. Cu

by reality-based edu... / 3h 

How Are Schools Supposed To Work When Everything Else Around Them Is Broken?

Had a discussion with NY Daily News reporter Ben Chapman over the "disruption" that education reformers bring to the education system (and the money they make off of that "disruption") that went like this the other day:@NYDNBenChapman Cuomo's Smart Schools jive all about "disrupting" system to help marketeers - http://t.co/1wqvQFrqBD— realitybasededucator (@perdidosts

by reality-based edu... / 36min 

9-27-14 Perdido Street School Week

Perdido Street School: Perdido Street School WeekCuomo: No Shift In Treatment Of Teachers In Second TermFrom State of Politics:Asked about whether he’s shifting his tactics post-primary, Cuomo said he wouldn’t change his approach to public workers and teachers labor organizations. “I knew what I was doing when I did not cater to the teachers union. I didn’t have to take the endorsement of the teac

2 by mike simpson / 9h 

9-28-14 Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.:

Karen Lewis. We can’t think in silos any longer.

10 by Fred Klonsky / 42min 

Signatures far outnumber votes in school board election. Hinsdale clock is ticking.

For Immediate Release   Contact: mike.palmquist@hhsta.org   Over 1,100 Community Members Sign Petition to Accept Teachers’ Proposal Hinsdale, IL – September 29, 2014 – A Change.org petition created by Darien resident Anna Cepeda asks the Hinsdale District 86 school board to accept the teachers’ latest contract proposal. As of September 29, over 1,100 people—mostly community members, alumni, and c

4 by Fred Klonsky / 1h 

Sunday reads.

. Following a teacher strike, the Galesburg, Illinois school board refuses to return school days to the calendar. Why don’t we have real data on charter schools? The Koch brothers toxic empire. It extends to Chicago’s 10th Ward. Vote for Susan Sadlowski Garza for Alderman. “No excuses” charter schools make Zombie Kids. Chicago’s privatization strategy is symbolized by the disastrous parking meter

by Fred Klonsky / 3min 

9-27-14 Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data.: Fred All Week Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher“I made a mistake.”Ferguson Police Chief Thomas Jackson tries to join protesters. Another riot nearly ensues. . The other day Rahm said he made a mistake. He’s made many. But he only copped to one: Naming the planned north side se

2 by mike simpson / 9h 

9-28-14 Ed Notes Online

Ed Notes Online:

MORE Takes a Stand Against Eva Moskowitz at Hearings - Last Monday and Today in Manhattan

Thanks so much to all of you dear sisters and brothers who organized around getting folks out or going to the charter school hearing on Monday. These pics from DNAinfo are worth a thousand words and clearly show who's active and ready in the fight for Public Ed! So proud to wake up and see this today, so proud to stand in solidarity with all of you! http://dnain.fo/1xhTsyY.. Megan M. MOR A gaggle

1 by ed notes online / 2min 

NYCFIRST LEGO League Kickoff - Photos

I had a great time yesterday at NYU/Poly on Jay Street at our annual FLL kickoff. We have about 170 NYC teams registered so far for the Challenge which is called World Class, all about learning. Kids not only build a robot for the game field - below - represent different styles of learning - but also do and present an extensive research project on the subject. Teams spend  the next 3 months preppi

1 by ed notes online / 20min 

9-27-14 Ed Notes Online Week

Ed Notes Online: Ed Notes OnlineThe Secret to Eva Moskowitz’s ‘Success’Another curious fact about Success Academy is the attrition of both students and teachers. For schools that are widely acclaimed, this is surprising indeed. Why do so many students and teachers leave?... What we can learn from Success Academy is that it is possible to winnow out the most intractable students and be left with th

2 by mike simpson / 9h 

Man in Red - Two Teachers and a Microphone featuring Erich Schneider - YouTube

Man in Red - Two Teachers and a Microphone featuring Erich Schneider - YouTube:

Man in Red - Two Teachers and a Microphone featuring Erich Schneider

"Man In Red" - A reimagining of "Man in Black" by Johnny Cash

Two Teachers and a Microphone featuring Super Substitute Teacher Erich Schneider

Well, you wonder why on Tuesdays I wear red,
Did I wake up on the wrong side of the bed?
And why does my appearance seem to have an angry tone.
Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the red for my brother beaten down,
Who teaches in the hungry side of town
In crammed and dirty classes, yes the funding is a shame
And when the test score's low, he's he one to blame.

I wear red for those who've fallen through the cracks
For the kids who never took a music class;
For those who felt abandoned, so small and so alone
Why, their school should be a second loving home!

I wear red for all the parents in the struggle
Job and school and family to juggle
No pension or due process, a barely living wage
When we stand together, we can bring a change.

I wear it for the people who believe
In organizing our communities
Each of us embracing responsibility
Our public schools belong to you and me.

So if on Tuesday, you're not wearing red
We'll wonder what is going through your head
Perhaps your shirt is dirty, or misplaced under your bed 
Perhaps we'll get a raise when we're all dead. 

Such a small decision, so it seems
The clothes we wear, what does it really mean?
The actions that we take, speak louder than our words
Let's stand up for the schools our kids deserve!

Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell John Deasy everything's OK,
But that would take a lobotomy, a mallet to the head
'Till we get a contract, I'm the man in red.

A level playing field at school can't make up for a broken democracy - LA Times

A level playing field at school can't make up for a broken democracy - LA Times:



A level playing field at school can't make up for a broken democracy

 In the fall of 2010, after a
14-year hiatus from the classroom, I began a one-year job filling in for a teacher on leave from the same rural Vermont high school that I'd entered as a rookie 30 years before.

Almost from my first day, I was moved by the sight of what had always been a good school straining to be a better one. Multiple tutoring centers did a brisk business at every period and not infrequently after the buses had gone for the day. Hardly a week went by when teachers were not summoned to an early-morning meeting to discuss an individual student's progress. Study halls no longer functioned as de facto prep periods for their faculty minders or as down-time for sleepy kids. Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the boy who woke at 2 in the morning to do his barn chores no longer had a place to lay his head.





By all official measures, the school was succeeding. Ranked as the state's poorest on the basis of the number of its students eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, Lake Region Union High School was outperforming many of its more affluent competitors on standardized tests. The year before I returned, its writing scores were the highest in the state. The next year, the free-and-reduced-lunch students performed above the state average in reading, writing, math and science on the New England Common Assessment Program exams.

But I also knew the school's sincere efforts were in the service of a cynical agenda. The battle cry of the school reform movement, that “poverty should never be an excuse for poor academic achievement,” all too often masks the blithe conviction that good academic achievement can serve as an excuse for poverty. As long as the test scores are at par, you see, we need not be overly concerned if the pantries are bare, the parents jobless or jailed, and the gap between rich and poor more appalling than it's been since 1928.





In the same county where Lake Region is achieving its impressive test results, an estimated 1 in 4 children is “food insecure.” It's a phrase that tries the imaginations of those who have the luxury of spicing their security with complaint. “What to cook for dinner, always such a dilemma.” 

I threw myself into the mission with as much gusto as a man can summon in late middle age. I did my best to coach for the NECAPs — yes, we took time away from our lesson plans to do some teaching to the test — and resolved to keep my skepticism about the ultimate value of the tests to myself. There were good reasons for doing so. I knew that voters in the community were likelier to approve the school budget if the tests results were good. I also knew that some of the kids I coached and cajoled would go on to surmount the social conditions that stood in their way. I knew this because a few of them always had.A level playing field at school can't make up for a broken democracy - LA Times:

Decriminalizing School Discipline | Marian Wright Edelman

Decriminalizing School Discipline | Marian Wright Edelman:

Decriminalizing School Discipline

I believe the purpose of public schools is to educate not exclude children and to help identify and meet child needs, not make children serve adult convenience, self interest, and systems. So huge reforms are required in school discipline policies and practices across our nation as school pushout has worsened in past decades with the criminalization of children at younger and younger ages aided and abetted by school expulsion and suspension policies which funnel children into the prison pipeline often crippling them for life.

Nationally, the number of secondary school students suspended or expelled during a school year increased about 40 percent from 1 in 13 in 1972-73 to 1 in 9 in 2009-10 -- although we know suspensions are more harmful than helpful to children. Schools with higher suspension and expulsion rates have worse school climates, lower student academic achievement, and are often less safe. Racially discriminatory school discipline policies contribute to the Cradle to Prison Pipeline crisis with a Black boy born in 2001 having a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime and a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance of the same fate.

The March 2014 report from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights included troubling findings on how unfair and excessive school discipline policies can be beginning as early as preschool. But there is some encouraging news. Some school districts are significantly reforming their discipline policies and, more fundamentally, how they view and treat children by moving away from harsh and exclusionary policies toward more positive and restorative approaches that improve discipline outcomes and keep children in school. The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) applauds such school district actions and hopes that districts across the country will follow. 

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest in the country, has the largest school police force in the nation closely followed by New York. Of approximately 9,000 arrests and tickets issued to LAUSD children in the 2011-12 school year, 93 percent involved Black and Latino students. The Labor/Community Strategy Center reported the district had the highest "Student Criminalization Rate" -- the number of arrests and tickets or citations per 100 students -- among all the largest districts in the country. In May 2013, after years of struggle, community organizing, and advocacy by many organizations that make up Dignity in Schools-Los Angeles and the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition -- including the Children's Defense Fund-California -- the school board adopted sweeping policy reforms in the School Climate Bill of Rights. It eliminated suspensions for the subjective catch-all category known as "willful defiance" and directed all district schools to implement PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports) and restorative justice programs to ensure students access to schools that reflect caring, inclusive, safe, and healthy learning environments.

The Los Angeles Unified School District announced additional positive changes recently thanks to efforts led by Public Counsel and the Labor/Community Strategy Center. The district will stop issuing citations for most campus fights and many other minor infractions. School police will follow a step-by-step formula that should result in students being referred to off-site counseling, mental health services, or other school- and community-based solutions for offenses that until now sent them to court or probation. Juvenile Court Judge Donna Groman said about the new protocol: Decriminalizing School Discipline | Marian Wright Edelman:

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 9-28-14 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Join the Network for Public Education on October 11 at “Public Education Nation”

JOIN US FOR THE FIRST PUBLIC EDUCATION NATION ON OCTOBER 11! NBC has abandoned its annual “education nation” funded by Gates and featuring the leaders of privatization and high-stakes testing. Now is our hour! We are here for you! We are here for the millions of students, teachers, parents, and administrators who are part of public education. We are here permanently. We are not going away. Comin

12 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Charter Advocates in NYC Launch Ad Buy, Rally This Week

The charter school industry plans a half-million dollar TV campaign this week in New York City, capped by a big rally later in the week. By closing their schools, they can turn out tens of thousands of children and parents, especially if their charter school directs them to show for the rally and provides buses to transport them. What if the public schools held a rally for the 1.1 million childre

2 by dianeravitch / 46min hide  //  save

Adam Urbanski: Teacher Ratings Are Nonsensical

Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester, Néw York, teachers’ union, is struggling to make sense of the state’s teacher and principal evaluation system, which varies wildly from district to district. Scarsdale, perhaps the most affluent and high-scoring district in the state, had no “highly effective” teachers. But Rochester, one of the districts with high poverty and low scores, had many. The re

6 by dianeravitch / 1h 

How Do New York Parents Grade Common Core?

The New York State School Boards Association is running a poll to ask parents their views about the Common Core standards. When I last checked, the results were overwhelmingly negative, with 78% saying the CC “hindered” learning, and 85% saying that the CC standards were viewed unfavorably by parents in their district.

5 by dianeravitch / 1h 

Tim Farley to a Former Regent: Please, Don’t Stay the Course

Tim Farley, a school administrator in New York, has become an education activist. He feels that he must, for the sake of his own children and for the sake of the children in his school. He is a leader in the group of parents and educators from across the state called NYSAPE (New York State Allies for Public Education).   Farley writes: As a school administrator, I receive NYSSBA’s (New York State

1 by dianeravitch / 49min 

Denny Taylor Responds to Marc Tucker About the Power of Elites and $$ to Control Our Lives

Denny Taylor, a professor emerita of literacy studies at Hofstra University, here comments on the recent exchanges among Marc Tucker, Anthony Cody, and Yong Zhao about high-stakes testing and education reform. The key issue, she believes, is not so much about policy as it is about money, power, and control. When big money takes control of public policy, what is at risk is not only children’s lives

by dianeravitch / 9min 

Nancy Bailey: Most Freshmen at the Top Universities are Graduates of Public Schools

Nancy Bailey taught for many years but retired due to the misguided reforms that now plague our students, teachers, and schools. She lives in Tennessee. She now devotes her time to writing in support of public education and sensible reforms. In this post, she asks a simple question: if our public schools are “failing” (PS, they are not), why is that the majority of freshmen at our nation’s most p

6 by dianeravitch / 20min

Veteran Teacher In California Named Teacher of the Year

Glendale Unified School District in California named math teacher Win Saw its teacher of the year. The son of two teachers in Burma, Win Saw never expected to be a teacher. But while in college at Santa Barbara, he realized that was his calling. He has been inspiring students for more than 20 years. With all the attacks on tenure and experience, it is easy to forget that teachers like Win Saw are

2 by dianeravitch / 46min 

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONG Diane Ravitch's blog 9-27-14 #thankateacher #EDCHAT #P2

Diane Ravitch's blogLISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH ALL WEEK LONGDIANE RAVITCH'S BLOGYohuru Williams: Attacking Teacher Tenure Does NOT Promote Civil RightsYohuru Williams, a historian at Fairfield University, sharply rebukes those who seek to eliminate tenure and claim to be advancing “civil rights.” His article on Huffington Post is titled “Lies My Corporate Ed Reformers Told Me: The Truth about Teacher

2 by mike simpson / 10h