Closing Schools Makes No Sense …for Children - LA Progressive

Closing Schools Makes No Sense …for Children - LA Progressive:

Closing Schools Makes No Sense …for Children

Hillary Rodham Clinton has attracted a lot of attention recently for making a bold statement about closing schools that were performing “below average,” saying: “I wouldn’t keep any school open that wasn’t doing a better-than-average job.”US News & World Report rushed to Clinton’s defense, claiming her words were “taken out of context.” You can read the article and make up your own mind, but I think all of this commentary is missing the larger point around Ms. Clinton’s remarks.

Hillary, in suggesting that the solution to poorly performing students is simply closing schools, is merely following what has become a common trope in the corporate education reform community–the notion that “the problems” in education can be solved simply by, variously, “getting rid of the bad teachers“, converting public schools to charter schools,raising standards, or increasing the amount of standardized testing for students. Much of this rhetoric chooses to ignore the role that the corporate reform agenda itself has played in contributing to “the problems” in education, but that’s an issue for another post.

Whenever I hear public officials and education policy decision makers suggest that closing schools is a legitimate strategy, I know that person is not serious about actually improving educational outcomes.

Whenever I hear public officials and education policy decision makers suggest that closing schools is a legitimate strategy, I know that person is not serious about actually improving educational outcomes. The decision to close a school is not made to improve student learning, or to increase the effectiveness of teachers. Put simply, closing a school is a business decision. School closings are a strategy lifted from the “creative destruction” school of thought championed by economists like Joseph Schumpeter, and vulture capitalists such as Mitt Romney. The goal is to maximize financial resources, sell off existing assets, and provide an attractive return to one’s investors.

For these reasons, we tend to see more school closings in the charter school sector, especially for-profit charters–some for financial mismanagement, others for low enrollment, and still others for…more nefarious reasons. Now, while I’m no fan of for-profit charters, I still don’t believe that closing these Closing Schools Makes No Sense …for Children - LA Progressive:

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter Schools - As the World Turns

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter Schools - As the World Turns:

Charter Schools - As the World Turns

You could call it a soap opera or use another, more colorful, word (but this is - mostly - a family blog.)

Updates

Mary Walker School District.  Rolling in the dough and that would be Gates Foundation dough.  So now we're at over $2M for the last couple of years.  That's buying them four consultants to help manage the work of the six schools that are going to use ALEs to limp thru the rest of this school year. 

Summit - the outlier

I had it wrong in saying that Summit would have to go thru Cascadia for students who live in Seattle to homeschool. First, it would have been Cascade, not Cascadia.  BUT, as I learned at the Executive Committee meeting yesterday, those students don't have to go thru any real education entity.  Their parents just have to submit a form.  (More on this further down.)

Washington Policy Center.  The Gates Foundation is not the only big spender; the WPC announced today that they have a couple of commercials for charter schools that will run 700(!) times in the next two weeks.  Where they got the money for that kind of media spending is a mystery but I'll give you three guesses.

OSPI - I received an e-mail from OSPI on Wednesday, answering some questions I had asked about this situation.  From one answer, it would appear they didn't know Summit was going a different direction. 

Frankly, I don't believe there is one single person in the entire state who truly knows the entire story for all the former charter schools.   No one.

Seattle Schools
The district sent out two different emails on the subject of charter schools.  (link at the end of this thread via Seattle Education 2010).  All bold is mine.

The first was dated December 8, 2015 and it was from Ken Gotsch, CFO, to JoLynn Berge, CFO, at OSPI.  The subject line was "choice forms for Seattle Schools Community Forum: Charter Schools - As the World Turns:

Guest Commentary: When school reform harms - The Denver Post

Guest Commentary: When school reform harms - The Denver Post:

When school reform harms 

Defenders of the status quo and those trying to empower students and parents in the K-12 system call themselves reformers. Even the doyenne of the status quo, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, claims to support education "reform."

In Colorado, Denver-centric "reform" organizations like Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) promote centralizing decision-making power at the state level rather than in local districts. Their view of education reform is to promote one-size-fits-all solutions to the state legislature or costly ballot initiatives to benefit a few districts while treating counties like ours as expendable and our students as mini-ATMs.

In Colorado, reform used to mean empowering parents and communities by creating choice — for example, the legislation authored by then-state Sen. Bill Owens created charter schools and established open enrollment. Peter Groff also had a long history of defending charter schools when he was in the state Senate. Even initial legislation mandating statewide student assessments was a positive development. Choice requires comparison between district schools, which assessments were initially designed to enable.

However, for the Denver-centric "reform" crowd, "fixing" K-12 has come to mean using the state legislature as an uber statewide school board to press legislation that sounds good in press releases. A great example of this is legislation passed several years ago that, among other things, dramatically increased the hours student spend on assessments and requiring that districts Guest Commentary: When school reform harms - The Denver Post:

Right-Wing Network Puts Friedrichs v. California Teachers in Samuel Alito’s Lap | PR Watch

Right-Wing Network Puts Friedrichs v. California Teachers in Samuel Alito’s Lap | PR Watch:

Right-Wing Network Puts Friedrichs v. California Teachers in Samuel Alito’s Lap

Justice Samuel Alito has been scouring the land looking for a case to make his mark on history.

Could he hold a big bank accountable for ripping off millions of consumers? Could he interpret intellectual property law to give more desperately ill  people access to essential medicines? Could he hold a chemical company to account for poisoning people and hiding it for decades? 

No. Alito apparently decided to make his mark by helping a massive right-wing funding machine crush wages for teachers, firemen and nurses in America.

The case is Friederichs vs. California Teachers Association will be heard on Monday at the U.S. Supreme Court.

There will be a big crowd outside. Those cheering on Alito on have been called to action by the the State Policy Network (SPN), a $84+ million network of state-based "think tanks," funded by the Kochs, Bradley and others with close interlocking ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). CMD first documented this anti-worker Koch-ALEC-SPN agenda in a 2013 report.

Today, CMD obtained a rally flyer with the SPN logo on it. Also putting out the call to come to the court Monday is Americans for Prosperity, the Kochs' phony astroturf group, which will soon unveil its StandwithRebecca.com website. The Kochs not only want to get rid of unions, they want to get rid of the minimum wage. 

The phony grass-roots support for the case makes a lot of sense. Friederichs seeks to overturn decades of law and tradition as well as the 1977 unanimous Supreme Court ruling Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, which upheld the legality of "agency shop" arrangements. These allow public sector unions to assess a fee to non-members in a

- See more at: http://www.prwatch.org/news/2016/01/13010/friedrichs-v-california-teachers-funding-alito#sthash.pjyflas2.dpuf

The Working Families Party and the Future of the Democratic Party - The Atlantic

The Working Families Party and the Future of the Democratic Party - The Atlantic:

The Pugnacious, Relentless Progressive Party That Wants to Remake America

The Working Families Party has pushed the political debate to the left in the states where it’s already active. Now—in the era of Occupy and Bernie Sanders—it’s ready to take that fight nationwide.

 At a recent private dinner in Manhattan, a small group of leftists plotted to take over America.

The group, a dozen community organizers and activists from all over the country, had convened at a sushi restaurant in the Flatiron District with the leaders of the New York-based Working Families Party. They were heads of organizations from Boston to Albuquerque, with names like National People’s Action and Washington Community Action Network. And they were there to hear why their states should form their own chapters of the insurgent party, in order to capitalize on the country’s rising liberal tide and push the national conversation leftward.

The party’s deputy director, Jon Green, a pale, bespectacled 42-year-old, made the pitch. “In 2010, we saw the Tea Party yank the entire political discourse way to the right,” he said. The Tea Party was powerful, he said, because it was boldly ideological; it recruited and groomed candidates; and it created a strong national brand. “Our view is that there isn’t anything analogous to that on the left, and there ought to be.” Heads nodded around the table.

The Working Families Party’s agenda—frankly redistributionist and devoted to social equality—targets a class of Democratic elected officials who, in the view of many liberals, seem to listen more to their moneyed donors than to the left-wing rank and file. Aggressive, tactical, and dedicated to winning, the WFP would like to force Democrats—and the country—to become more liberal by mobilizing the party base, changing the terms of the debate, and taking out centrist incumbents in primaries.

If there’s ever been a moment for this, it is now. Four years after Occupy Wall Street, with the socialist Bernie Sanders pushing Hillary Clinton leftward in the Democratic presidential primaries, liberal frustration with national politics has reached a boiling point. Enter the WFP: Since its founding nearly two decades ago, it’s become an influential fixture of Democratic politics in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Now, the party is going national. By mid-2016, the WFP The Working Families Party and the Future of the Democratic Party - The Atlantic:

'Difficult conversation’ on charters finally comes to LAUSD board - LA School Report

'Difficult conversation’ on charters finally comes to LAUSD board - LA School Report:

'Difficult conversation’ on charters finally comes to LAUSD board 

After three revisions, a resolution aimed at curtailing future charter school expansion in LA Unified is finally coming before the school board for a vote on Tuesday.

While the measure is largely symbolic in that it cannot change policy regarding charter growth — that is a state matter — it’s a way to open a “difficult conversation that is long overdue,” said its only sponsor,Scott Schmerelson.

General in scope, the resolution is an obvious response to the Broad Foundation-inspired plan, Great Public Schools Now, that is proposing a dramatic increase in the number of LA Unified charters over the next eight years. Schmerelson and other board members have characterized the plan as dangerous to the district’s traditional schools.

“As a retired, life-long LAUSD educator, I believe that I have a moral obligation to raise awareness and understanding of externally driven strategies that support the uncontrolled proliferation of charter schools at the expense of the District’s ability to adequately provide for the needs of all students, especially the most disadvantaged students who rely on public education,” Schmerelson told LA School Report.

As impassioned as the resolution may be, it’s effectively toothless in terms of changing how the district deals with charter applications and renewal requests that come before the board. State law creates the rules for charters, and it only provides for denials in the cases of questionable finances or managerial weakness.

In his review of the resolution, LA Unified’s chief legal counsel, David Holmquist, said as much: “It should be noted that any analysis done by the district on any charter school proposal needs to be in accordance with the provisions of the Education 'Difficult conversation’ on charters finally comes to LAUSD board - LA School Report:

John Bel Edwards has not Taken Office and Already his Team has Made Some Major Missteps | Crazy Crawfish

John Bel Edwards has not Taken Office and Already his Team has Made Some Major Missteps | Crazy Crawfish:

John Bel Edwards has not Taken Office and Already his Team has Made Some Major Missteps

I am not happy.

I’m actually quite pissed off and had to take extra blood pressure medication today to prevent my head from exploding off my shoulders.  I think I am like a lot of people that supported John Bel Edwards for Governor for his stands on education, who got the shaft after the election.

Is John Bel making all the decisions on education committees and BESE picks?

Probably not.

Whomever is doing it however is doing a piss poor job.

I contacted Edward’s Facebook page, Onward Louisiana site, and a number of close contacts to inquire about his education agenda and to offer my help or input.  I was ignored in some cases, and told to wait until after he takes office before brining my concerns or ideas so John Bel could tackle the budget crisis and his top priority, Medicare expansion.  Doing so has proved to be a disastrous mistake on my part, compounded by horrible decisions by his education team.

While I was waiting numerous education reformers secured a seat at the various tables and parents and regular teachers who fought so hard and for so long were left walled out and cut off.  Leslie Jacobs, Queen Reformer of Louisiana and Architect of the Recovery School Disaster was given a seat on a 53 member committee that included many union reps, and other reformers, but none of the folks that crossed party lines to vote for John Bel and for education.  The list did include these folks however:

• Ronnie Briggs Board Chairman of The Good Shepherd School (“School Choice Champion”)
• Gwendolyn Hamilton Community Affairs, New Schools for Baton Rouge/CEO EBR Redevelopment Authority (unelected and unaccountable private Charter School Authorizer)
• Leslie Jacobs Former BESE Member  (Queen of the Recovery School Disaster, John Bel Edwards has not Taken Office and Already his Team has Made Some Major Missteps | Crazy Crawfish:

The Mary Walker School District rescinds their request for charter schools in the Seattle Public School District | Seattle Education

The Mary Walker School District rescinds their request for charter schools in the Seattle Public School District | Seattle Education:

The Mary Walker School District rescinds their request for charter schools in the Seattle Public School District

The Mary Walker School District (MWSD) has rescinded their request for approval of charter schools in the City of Seattle after requests were made twice, first by The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and then by MWSD, for the school district to recognize the charter schools and thereby providing legitimacy to the schools.

In two memos made public yesterday in the Seattle School Board Executive Committee meeting, it is clear that the Seattle Public School district (SPS) has no intention of breaking the law.

This first email is from Kenneth Gotsch, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance, to JoLynn Berge, Chief Financial Officer at OSPI sent on December 8,2015:

From: Gotsch, Kenneth C

Sent: Tuesday, December 8, 2015 3:59 PM

To: JoLynn Berge <JoLynn.Berge@k12.wa.us>

Cc: Nyland, Larry L <larry.nyland@seattleschools.org>; … Tolley, Michael F <mftolley@seattleschools.org>; …

Subject: RE: Choice forms for charters converting to ALEs

Dear JoLynn:

Thank you for contacting me about OSPI’s willingness to process choice forms for students (detail in OSPI Memorandum No. 072-15M; dated December 3, 2015) who want to move from a charter school to an Alternative Learning experience school (ALE) operated by another school district.   After talking with the Seattle Public Schools Superintendent and with other senior staff, Seattle Public Schools does not want OSPI to initiate choice forms for charter students who are residents in the City of Seattle. At this time, we will continue to follow our existing Policies (Policy No. 3130 Student Assignment and Enrollment, Policy No. 3140 Release of Resident Students) and Procedures (Superintendent’s Procedures for Student Assignment 3130SP – see pg 59 of the document) for the release of any resident student wishing to attend another school district, including programs in the Mary Walker School District. By consistently applying our current Policies and Procedures, our District can ensure equity and proper processes to all resident families.

In addition, I want to let you know that Seattle Public Schools will object to any physical program placement in the City of Seattle without prior School Board authorization.

Sincerely,

Ken Gotsch

Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance

And then on December 17, 2015 an email from SPS Superintendent Nyland to Kenneth Jacka, Superintendent of MWSD:

RE: Charters

Nyland, Larry L

To: ‘kjacka@marywalker.org’

Cc: SchoolBoard‎; Gotsch, Kenneth C

Thursday, December 17, 2015 8:07 AM

Seattle Public Schools stands ready to work with our charter schools to reabsorb The Mary Walker School District rescinds their request for charter schools in the Seattle Public School District | Seattle Education:

NYC teacher fired for lessons about Central Park Five - NY Daily News

NYC teacher fired for lessons about Central Park Five - NY Daily News:

EXCLUSIVE: NYC high school teacher claims she was fired for Central Park Five lessons that administrators feared would create 'riots'

The Central Park Five ordeal led to a 2014 settlement and now a controversy at an Upper West Side school.

A teacher at an Upper West Side high school was fired for creating a curriculum with lessons about the Central Park Five that administrators feared would “rile up” black students, according to a new federal lawsuit.

English teacher Jeena Lee-Walker said her bosses at the High School for Arts, Imagination and Inquiry urged her in November 2013 to be more “balanced” in her approach to the racially charged Central Park jogger case that ended withfive black and Latino teens being exonerated after spending several years in prison for the attack.

DONALD TRUMP 'WOULD THROW US ALL UNDER THE BUS': KOREY WISE

They told her the lessons could create little “riots,” according to court papers.

“I was stunned,” she told the Daily News. “I was kind of like, the facts are the facts. This is what happened. These boys went to jail and lost 14, 18 years of their lives. How can you say that in a more balanced way?”

Although Lee-Walker, 37, agreed to soften her approach, she argued “that students in general, and black students in particular, should be riled up.”NYC teacher fired for lessons about Central Park Five - NY Daily News:

SCHROCK: A teacher’s creed

SCHROCK: A teacher’s creed:

SCHROCK: A teacher’s creed

John Richard Schrock is a professor at Emporia State University.

I am a professional.

I do not earn hourly wages or punch a time clock. I am a salaried professional who works as long as needed to get the work done. My salary should reflect the importance of my profession in society.

I alone determine what, how and when to teach the components of my discipline within a range of recognized professional practices. I consult with my professional colleagues, but in the end I determine my teaching practices. I do not yield that curricular duty to textbook publishers or external agencies. While discipline knowledge may be universal, students are not uniform in experience background nor ability.

I teach both my discipline and my students. Students come into my course as unique students. They should graduate from my course as unique students.

I know my discipline thoroughly because a teacher cannot teach what a teacher does not know. And I know my discipline at least one level deeper than what I teach because I must get the lesson correct and be able to carry advanced students further. I have a broad liberal arts education because I am preparing students for a full life, not just for a job.

I have a unique set of communication skills that fit with a particular range of students. Other teaching colleagues have unique sets of skills as well that may often be different. By interacting with a variety of teaching personalities, students learn to interact with the variety of people they will encounter in life.

The duty of school administration and staff is to provide teachers and students with the support and resources we need.

Just as doctors are the core professionals of a hospital, teachers are the core professionals of a school. And just as the best of doctors lose patients, the best of teachers lose students. This does not mean that doctors want patients to die or teachers want students to fail, but that despite our best efforts, there are many factors beyond our control that are involved in the medical and teaching arts.

Teaching is an art. And artists vary in how they practice. A teacher who inspires one student may not inspire another.

As a teacher I am a role model for honesty, work and study ethic, and dignity. Within the SCHROCK: A teacher’s creed:

King: Schooled by loss, ‘saved’ by teachers - POLITICO

King: Schooled by loss, ‘saved’ by teachers - POLITICO:

King: Schooled by loss, ‘saved’ by teachers

The man charged with downsizing the federal role in public schools is a passionate policy geek who says his own teachers saved his life.

John King, who stepped in as education secretary Jan. 1, spent his free time in college designing curriculum modules on Puerto Rican history. As New York state’s education commissioner, he came under withering criticism for aggressive reforms that many teachers and parents said steamrolled their concerns.

Story Continued Below

The wonky and polarizing King now faces the most delicate task of his career, designing regulations for the law replacing No Child Left Behind, which pares back the education secretary’s authority and gives states broad flexibility in making decisions for students, teachers and schools. He could have a huge influence on how much sway over states his successors will have.

King will be racing against the clock, said former Education Secretary Arne Duncan. “These 13 months are going to fly by,” he said. “The enemy now is time” — though King has the laser-like focus to get it all done, Duncan said.

King, whose educator parents died young, has by all accounts been preparing for the top job in the American education system his entire life.

“The notion of being able to help students feels right and feels morally urgent,” he said in a recent interview with POLITICO. “It feels like an opportunity to pay forward the opportunities I had.”

‘Lots of folks could’ve given up on me’

King, who turns 41 next week, often talks about his difficult upbringing — his mother died when he was 8 and his father died four years later. King’s father had undiagnosed Alzheimer’s before his death, making the last few years King lived with him tumultuous.

But teachers created opportunity, King said. They saved his life.

“Lots of folks could’ve given up on me,” he said. “They could’ve said, ‘Here’s an African-American, Latino male student. ... at a New York City public school with a family in crisis. What chances does he have?’ But they didn’t do that. They

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/king-schooled-by-loss-saved-by-teachers-217495#ixzz3wg6L0VCz

Concerns about racism help drive more African-Americans to home-school | Michigan Radio

Concerns about racism help drive more African-Americans to home-school | Michigan Radio:

Concerns about racism help drive more African-Americans to home-school

Brandon Kirksey, 7, is home-schooled

CREDIT GABRIELLE EMANUEL / MICHIGAN RADIO

On a quiet street in Detroit, light pours in the back windows of the Kirksey home. It falls on a wall of textbooks, puzzles and multi-cultural children's books.

Brandon, who is 7 years old, is sprawled out on the wood floor examining a laminated world map.

“Michigan,” Brandon says, pointing enthusiastically to his home state. His 3-year-old brother, Zachary, tries to echo him. Their mother, Camille Kirksey, coaches Zachary on the correct pronunciation.

This might seem like a classic weekend scene, but it’s a weekday scene. That’s because this isn’t just a family home, it’s also a tiny school. A school for one. For Brandon.

Listen

Listening...

4:38

Click here to listen

Brandon's two younger siblings, Zachary and 10-month-old Ariyah, tag along for the fun.

For three years, Camille Kirksey has home schooled her children. They are part of a growing number of African-American families choosing to home-school.

In the U.S., home-schooling is one of the fastest growing forms of education. The number of kids in charter schools and the number of kids being home-schooled are comparable. Each hovers around 2 million.

However, research suggests that African American families choose to home-school for very different reasons than white families. It often has to do with how African American children are treated in school. That was the case for the Kirksey family.

In their household each school day starts with yoga in the back room. Then, the Kirkseys move to the dining room, where bowls of fruit mix with stacks of books. From there, they do poetry recitation, reading and math. And Fridays are reserved Concerns about racism help drive more African-Americans to home-school | Michigan Radio:

Readers Need Not Apply (by Ann Policelli Cronin) - Wait What?

Readers Need Not Apply (by Ann Policelli Cronin) - Wait What?:

Readers Need Not Apply (by Ann Policelli Cronin)

Connecticut educator and fellow education blogger Ann Policelli Cronin recently posted a great article about how the “education reformers” and their Common Core and Common Core testing scheme are seeking to narrow down the role of public education.

In the name of making students “College and Career Ready,” those who seek to profit off public education see little role for concepts like literature, music, arts and the humanities.

In a piece that first appeared on her blog entitled Readers Need Not Apply, Ann Cronin writes;

In the early 1960’s, as the United States was becoming the leading economy in the world, the International Paper Company posted an ad in every edition of The Reader’s Digest which said: “Send me a man who reads”.  It always had an accompanying text which indicated that the one who reads is the one who  thinks, is the one who is productive, and is the one becomes the successful leader of the company.

I am sure that the reading referred to was not the short test prep informational articles or excerpts of full-length texts as now are read in U.S. schools.

No longer is that slogan relevant. Not only is it both women and men that we expect to be in positions of leadership, but also now reading literature is no 

Readers Need Not Apply (by Ann Policelli Cronin) - Wait What?:

CURMUDGUCATION: Getting Low Income Students to College

CURMUDGUCATION: Getting Low Income Students to College:

Getting Low Income Students to College

The issue was raised again last summer in Hechinger's in a story that in turn called back to a book from 2014, so this is not a new issue. But as Benjamin L. Castleman and Lindsay C. Page noted inSummer Melt, we don't just have a problem getting low-income students to aspire to college or apply to college-- we have a problem getting them to show up once they're in.

Back in August, Meredith Kolodner wrote the piece "Why are low income students not showing up to college, even though they have been accepted?" but August is not the time to think about the problem because by August, it's too late.

Students are applying. Students are being accepted. And then, Castleman and Page report, 40% of the accepted students just don't show up at campus in the fall.

This is a problem.

Kolodner reports that financial issues are often a leading culprit. Financial issues can be more than simply not having the money. Navigating the FAFSA is hard. Figuring out the loan system is hard. For a first generation college student, college loans can add up to the biggest amount of money the family has borrowed ever, and that can be scary as hell.

Financial issues for poor families also include just about anything unexpected. An unanticipated medical bill is enough to trash a family's finances and make borrowing five figure amounts seem irresponsible.

And as often noted, many poor and first-time-college families just don't know how to navigate the bureaucratic highways and byways of attending college. Meeting deadlines, knowing what fees are necessary and which are optional, knowing what to expect-- these may all seem like second nature CURMUDGUCATION: Getting Low Income Students to College:

Join the Feb. 17 Nationwide Walk-Ins for the Schools All Our Children Deserve! | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools

Join the Feb. 17 Nationwide Walk-Ins for the Schools All Our Children Deserve! | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools:

Join the Feb. 17 Nationwide Walk-Ins for the Schools All Our Children Deserve!

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools is linking together parents, educators, students, school staff and community members in dozens of cities across the country on February 17 as they WALK-IN to support the quality public schools that all our students deserve.

What are Walk-Ins?

Just that! Parents, teachers and students gather out front of their school 30-45 minutes before their duty-day starts. They picket, have donuts, coffee, etc. And then they all walk in to their schools together.

Given the never ending attacks on public education that many of our cities endure, this provides a positive action that that says that these are our schools and our communities. It also builds solidarity amongst our members as they will feel the power of collective action without risking arrest or retaliation. Walk-ins build relationships.  Walk-ins build power. Walk-ins build hope.

National Message / Local Flavor

The Walk-Ins will have a national message frame something like this:

Teachers, parents and students are walking in to reclaim our schools and advocate for the public schools all children deserve.

But each individual city will have its own local focus or flavor. In Milwaukee, folks are fighting against the takeover and chartering of their schools. In San Diego, the focus is opting out of high-stakes tests. In Seattle, they’re fighting for more funding. In your city, your coalition of labor and community partners will tailor your walk-in to the issue that is right for you.

What’s the Point?

The walk-ins have been used in different cities for different reasons and purposes:

During their contract campaign two years ago, The St. Paul Federation of Teachers organized walk-ins. The actions gave them the high road message of taking back our schools, and gave people courage and built confidence in their ability to pull off big collective actions. They report that the walk-in effort also gave them a very solid assessment of where their membership was at. And the district settled almost immediately afterwards because they knew a strike threat was real and that community support was on the side of educators. Watch this great video showing and describing a St. Paul walk-in.

In Milwaukee (MTEA), two sets of walk-ins have protested a new law that could result in Milwaukee public schools being taken over and converted to charters. As a result of the walk-ins, by a united coalition of parents, educators and students, the power brokers are backing off. By organizing walk-ins at over 105 schools MTEA has built 105 community organizations ready to defend their public schools. The actions have also created an incredible opportunity to build a base of parents and community members who can be allies in future events. Watch some videos from Milwaukee walk-ins here andhere.

Where Will Walk-Ins Be Happening on February 17?

So far, the following cities have committed to coordinated walk-ins on February 17:

• Austin
• Baltimore
• Boulder
• Camden
• Cincinnati
• Chicago 
• Dallas
• Grand Junction 
• Green Bay
• La Crosse
• Los Angeles 
• Milwaukee 
• Newark
• Pittsburgh
• Pueblo (CO)  
• Racine
• San Diego 
• Seattle 
• St. Paul 

We hope you can join us on February 17! 
For more information, check out the resources below or email to Ldingerson@gmail.com.

Walk In Resources:

• One Pager: Brief description of the nationwide walk-in action planned for February 17, 2016.
• Site Coordinator Form: Sample form you can use to collect information from each of your school sites on the day of the walk-ins to document participation, event highlights, and media hits.
• Building Walk-In Commitment Form: Template you can use to sign up school sites to walk-in on February 17.
• Flyer: Feel free to personalize this template for outreach in your city, and be sure to put in a local contact for folks who are interested!

Who donates to Jeb Bush’s education foundation? Here’s the somewhat surprising list. - The Washington Post

Who donates to Jeb Bush’s education foundation? Here’s the somewhat surprising list. - The Washington Post:

Who donates to Jeb Bush’s education foundation? Here’s the somewhat surprising list.

When Jeb Bush was governor of Florida from 1999-2007, he became a pioneer in the corporate education reform movement that centered around using standardized test scores as the chief metric of “accountability” for schools and the privatization of public education. His “Florida Formula” became a model for other states — and Bush was praised as a “champion” of education by none other than President Obama.

In 2011, Obama shared a stage with Bush at a Miami high school and said this about Bush:

“We are also honored to be joined here today by another champion of education reform, somebody who championed reform when he was in office, somebody who is now championing reform as a private citizen — Jeb Bush. (Applause.) And we are grateful — we’re grateful for him being here. Aside from being a former governor of this great state, Jeb, of course is best known as the brother of Marvin Bush. (Laughter.) Apparently the rest of the family also did some work back in Washington back in the day. (Laughter.) The truth is I’ve gotten to know Jeb because his family exemplifies public service. And we are so grateful to him for the work that he’s doing on behalf of education. So, thank you, Jeb.”

When Bush left office in 2007, he continued his reform evangelism by creating the Foundation for Excellence in Education, which promotes school reform and hosts a national school reform “summit” every year that brings together like-minded reformers from the worlds of business and policymaking. Last year, when Bush was getting ready to jump into the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice (who served in his brother, George W. Bush’s administration)  took over leadership of the foundation.

Who supports his foundation? The 2015 list (see below) represents many of the big foundations and companies who support corporate school reform, including Pearson and the Walton and Broad foundations. The College Board donated in 2015, and the Educational Testing Service has donated in past years.

One interesting donor is the foundation of Bill Gates, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars to develop and promote the Common Core State Standards. Bush himself has been a strong supporter of the Core and has been the target of criticism by other Republican candidates for his strong support of the Core.

A look at the past donors of the foundation finds that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began donating to Bush’s foundation in 2010, shortly after the Core was first announced. Here is how much Gates has given to the Bush foundation by year, according to the Foundation for Education Excellence website:

2015: Greater than $1 million PLUS a separate donation from the Gates-founded Microsoft in the amount of Who donates to Jeb Bush’s education foundation? Here’s the somewhat surprising list. - The Washington Post:

LAUSD teachers union to challenge number of tests students take | 89.3 KPCC

LAUSD teachers union to challenge number of tests students take | 89.3 KPCC:

LAUSD teachers union to challenge number of tests students take

For years, teachers unions and activists in California have protested that there’s too much testing in public schools that eats away at precious learning time.

The largest teachers union in California, United Teachers Los Angeles, is now beginning steps to challenge the number of tests given in the 650,000 student school district -- or to at least document exactly how much testing is happening.

“We want a full documentation of what standardized tests are used, at what grade levels, how much instructional time they take up, how much time they take to prepare for, who the testing publishing companies are, and what they’re supposed to measure,” said UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl.

The school district requires too many tests, he said, so the first step is to know how many are being given.

UTLA leaders said their challenge to standardized tests will be part of a national effort ramping up next month. The union is highlighting the experiences of teachers like Ingrid Villeda, a fifth grade teacher at 93rd Street Elementary School in South L.A.

“The last time I counted there were 26 assessments scheduled for the year,” she said.

The tests include three tests for math, three tests in language arts, and tests for students whose first language isn’t English.

“I’ve decided that I’m not going to do all this crazy testing because it doesn’t make me a better teacher,” Villeda said.

An L.A. Unified spokeswoman said Villeda’s number is off by about half. That kind of confusion is one of the reasons UTLA wants a sit down with district officials to clarify what teachers are expected to do.

State Board of Education President Michael Kirst said that the union's challenge to the district was actually about the ways that schools use assessments, not just about the quantity.

"That’s not less testing, that’s better testing," he said. Kirst said the state board will give the state legislature a state testing plan that will outline how tests are to be used to hold schools accountable.

L.A. Unified says it will work with state officials on this effort.

Criticism of the amount of testing in schools has trickled up from national education associations to the White House.

UTLA officials said they will be part of a national mobilization next month that will highlight unnecessary testing.LAUSD teachers union to challenge number of tests students take | 89.3 KPCC: