Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.

Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role

When I woke up on November 9th, I had to explain to my children, aged 7 and 9, that Donald Trump is going to be the next President of the United States.  They cried.  They cried because they know, at most, a fraction of the horrible things he has said in his campaign and that was enough to convince them that he should not be President.  They cried because although they are young, they believe that America is a country for everyone and that Donald Trump has attacked that ideal.  They cried because they have friends and people they care about who are terrified that a Trump administration will break apart their families.  They cried because we have taught them to value kindness and respect and to abhor bullies.

I cried with them and told them that we would always protect them and that our job now is to make certain if our new President tries to hurt anyone that we protect them.  My children are fortunate, though – their fear quickly subsided probably because they have never personally experienced the injustices promised by the incoming administration, and because as children of white, professional parents they are inclined to believe that they have strength in our society.  Friends of mine who teach in schools with minority, immigrant, and Muslim children had much harder work trying to allay their students’ genuine apprehension about what might be coming.  And my friends are not alone in New York City or elsewhere for that matter.  A teacher in Chicago set up this message for students:

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As they are almost always called upon to do, teachers this week have been seeking ways to help anxious and shocked students to cope with circumstances that are both beyond their control and threatening to their well being.  I do not need to reiterate the ways in which a Trump Presidency is poised to harm millions of our students – his campaign promises make that crystal clear as does the bigoted and inflammatory rhetoric with which he made those promises.  His enablers assure us that he intends to be the President for “all” Americans, but many of his supporters appear to have very clear ideas of what his victory means, so even if President Trump takes a softer stance than candidate Trump, he has unleashed Repairing Our Civic Discourse – Teachers’ Role | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.:

My Last Thoughts About the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Last Thoughts About the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog:

My Last Thoughts About the Election

Several readers have written to say that they were very disappointed that I have spoken ill of the President-elect. They said they would not read the blog any more because I do not share their admiration for our next President. I hate to lose readers, but part of the point of this blog is that I write what I believe and I invite readers to do the same. I will not change my views to pander to readers.

I did not support Donald Trump for the Presidency. I thought he was unqualified to serve, had no relevant experience, and had repeatedly expressed bigotry towards many fellow Americans. I supported Hillary Clinton after she won the Democratic primaries. I would have supported Bernie Sanders with equal zeal had he won the primaries. I did not want Trump to be elected. Okay, he was elected, and I am a loyal American. I respect the office, and I watch with concern as he decides how to staff his administration and which of his campaign promises he will keep.

This is a blog devoted to “a better education for all.” Its central purpose is to support public education as a public good. I oppose privatization of public schools. That much has been clear to anyone who has read the blog on any given day. Donald Trump has pledged to direct federal funding to privately managed charter schools, to vouchers for religious schools, and to homeschooling. He has no problem with for-profit schools. Those are reasons enough for me to oppose his candidacy and to worry about his presidency. I worry that he will damage public education irreparably in the next four years, with his party in control of the Congress and equally committed to privatization of public education.

Thus, if a reader says I will stop reading your blog because you didn’t support Trump, I don’t think they understand that Trump’s promise to privatize public schools is directly in conflict with the essential purpose of this blog.

I opposed him because of the horrible things he said during the election campaign about women, immigrants, Muslims, Mexicans, and others. I opposed him because of his campaign’s use of anti-Semitic images. I opposed him because of the many years he devoted to proving that President Obama was not an American, a charge he retracted during the campaign, with little remorse. Since his election, in a very few days, there have been many incidents of hatred towards people who are nonwhite, Muslim, Hispanic, or “Other.” Just yesterday, CNN played a clip of middle-school students in the Midwest chanting “Build the wall, build the wall,” to intimidate their Hispanic schoolmates.

David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker, says that Trump’s election is nothing less than “an American tragedy.”

He wrote on the day after the election:

The election of Donald Trump to the Presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a triumph for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism. Trump’s shocking victory, his ascension to the Presidency, is a sickening event in the history of the United States and liberal democracy. On January 20, 2017, we will bid farewell to the first African-American President—a man of integrity, dignity, and generous spirit—and witness the inauguration of a con who did little to spurn endorsement by forces of xenophobia and white supremacy. It is impossible to react to this moment with anything less than revulsion and profound anxiety.

There are, inevitably, miseries to come: an increasingly reactionary Supreme Court; an emboldened right-wing Congress; a President whose disdain for women and minorities, civil liberties and scientific fact, to say nothing of simple decency, has been repeatedly demonstrated. Trump is vulgarity unbounded, a knowledge-free national leader who will not only set markets tumbling but will strike fear into the hearts of the vulnerable, the weak, and, above all, the many varieties of Other whom he has so deeply insulted. The African-American Other. The Hispanic Other. The female Other. The Jewish and Muslim Other. The most hopeful way to look at this grievous event—and it’s a stretch—is that this election and the years to follow will be a test of the strength, or the fragility, of American institutions. It will be a test of our seriousness and resolve.

I am an Other. Probably many of you who read this are Others. I hate to hear the words he uses about women. I hate to hear what he says about women in the locker room or on the bus with the boys. I have grown up with sons and grandsons, and that is not the language they ever use. I hate what he said about Mexicans. I hate the idea that he proposed banning all people of one religion from entering our country. I am afraid that he will remove all regulations on guns, and we will all be armed and suspicious of one another. I am afraid that he will remove all regulations on drilling and fracking, and the air and water will be polluted, and oil rigs will be permitted in our national parks and everywhere else.

I will no longer engage in any arguments about which Democrat might have been a better candidate than Hillary. That’s over. Now we must deal with the fact that the man who will be our President for the next four years has been elected on a platform and promises that resurrect nativism, racism, white nationalism, and division.

He will be our President, and, as I said, I respect the Office of the Presidency. But I cannot endorse any of the appeals to bigotry and bias. I cannot endorse his rejection of the science about climate change. I do not agree that our nation should abolish all controls on guns.

I will watch and wait to see if President-elect Trump moderates his views and policies. I will hope for the best. I want America to be a land of hope and dreams, of idealism and mutual respect, of e pluribus unum, not just unum. We are a quilt of many colors and it is a beautiful quilt. We all belong here. I will wait to see if President-elect Trump is willing to speak to and for all of us and not just for his rabid movement.

I want America to be America. I want it to be a land of liberty and justice for all. I want my grandchildren to learn what I tried to teach my children: kindness, compassion, a commitment to fairness, a love of justice, and a willingness to defend the underdog. I want them to aspire to be good people. I want them to treat others with respect for their individuality and humanity.

If you have read this far, and you hate what I have written, don’t read the blog. Unsubscribe. Delete.

I have always said that I will speak as honestly as I know how, and I would write from the heart. This is written in honesty, from the heart. You don’t have to agree. This is what I wanted and needed to say.My Last Thoughts About the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog:

Senator Warren: 'We stand up and we fight back' | MSNBC

Senator Warren: 'We stand up and we fight back' | MSNBC:

Senator Warren: 'We stand up and we fight back' 

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Rachel Maddow about the election of Donald Trump, what non-Trump voters can do to assuage their despair, and the path forward for Democrats.Duration: 9:35

Warren on Trump: We've got some places where we could overlap

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren talks with Rachel Maddow about where she sees common ground with President-elect Donald Trump that they could work on together. Duration: 8:24

Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.

Joint Statement from California Legislative Leaders on Result of Presidential Election - Speaker Anthony Rendon Representing the 63rd California Assembly District:

Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.

SACRAMENTO – California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) and California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon(D-Paramount) released the following statement on the results of the President election:

Today, we woke up feeling like strangers in a foreign land, because yesterday Americans expressed their views on a pluralistic and democratic society that are clearly inconsistent with the values of the people of California.

We have never been more proud to be Californians.

By a margin in the millions, Californians overwhelmingly rejected politics fueled by resentment, bigotry, and misogyny.

The largest state of the union and the strongest driver of our nation’s economy has shown it has its surest conscience as well.

California is – and must always be – a refuge of justice and opportunity for people of all walks, talks, ages and aspirations – regardless of how you look, where you live, what language you speak, or who you love. 

California has long set an example for other states to follow. And California will defend its people and our progress. We are not going to allow one election to reverse generations of progress at the height of our historic diversity, scientific advancement, economic output, and sense of global responsibility.

We will be reaching out to federal, state and local officials to evaluate how a Trump Presidency will potentially impact federal funding of ongoing state programs, job-creating investments reliant on foreign trade, and federal enforcement of laws affecting the rights of people living in our state. We will maximize the time during the presidential transition to defend our accomplishments using every tool at our disposal.

While Donald Trump may have won the presidency, he hasn’t changed our values. America is greater than any one man or party. We will not be dragged back into the past. We will lead the resistance to any effort that would shred our social fabric or our Constitution.

California was not a part of this nation when its history began, but we are clearly now the keeper of its future.

###

Hoy despertamos sintiéndonos extranjeros en tierra extraña, porque ayer los estadounidenses expresaron sus opiniones sobre una sociedad pluralista y democrática que es claramente inconsistente con los valores de la gente de California.

Nunca nos hemos sentido más orgullosos de ser Californianos.

Por un margen de millones de votos, los californianos rechazaron abrumadoramente la política alimentada por el resentimiento, la intolerancia y la misoginia.

El estado más grande de la unión y la locomotora de la economía de nuestra nación ha demostrado que también tiene su conciencia más tranquila.

California es - y debe ser siempre - un refugio de justicia y oportunidades para las personas de todos los orígenes, lenguas, edades, y aspiraciones - independientemente de su apariencia, dónde vivan, qué idioma hablen, o a quiénes amen.

California, por mucho tiempo, ha sido un ejemplo a seguir  para otros estados. Y California defenderá a su gente y nuestro progreso. No vamos a permitir que una elección sea un revés para el progreso de generaciones en la cima de nuestra histórica diversidad, el avance científico, la generación económica y un sentido de responsabilidad global.

Estaremos comunicándonos con los funcionarios federales, estatales y locales para evaluar cómo una Presidencia Trump podría afectar potencialmente los fondos de programas estatales en curso, las inversiones creadoras de empleos que dependen del comercio exterior y la aplicación de las leyes federales que afectan los derechos de las personas que viven en nuestro estado.

Estaremos utilizando al máximo el tiempo durante la transición presidencial para defender nuestros logros, usando cada herramienta a nuestra disposición.

Aunque Donald Trump haya ganado la presidencia, no ha cambiado nuestros valores. Estados Unidos es más grande que cualquier hombre o partido. No seremos arrastrados de vuelta al pasado. Lideraremos la resistencia a cualquier esfuerzo que destruya nuestro tejido social o nuestra Constitución.

California no era una parte de esta nación cuando comenzó su historia, pero ahora somos claramente los encargados de mantener su futuro.Joint Statement from California Legislative Leaders on Result of Presidential Election - Speaker Anthony Rendon Representing the 63rd California Assembly District:

Election Inflections: Why California’s Deep-Pocketed Charter School Backers Went for Broke – Capital & Main

Election Inflections: Why California’s Deep-Pocketed Charter School Backers Went for Broke – Capital & Main:

Election Inflections: Why California’s Deep-Pocketed Charter School Backers Went for Broke

Yesterday the subscriber-only political almanac California Target Book reported that spending by all independent expenditure committees (IECs) on Sacramento legislative races in the general election had topped $41 million. That brought the year’s total of outside money for state Assembly and Senate seats, including primary races, to $70 million.

But the real surprise of this election was just how much of 2016’s independent expenditure spending can be attributed to a handful of committees tied to charter school groups. According to the California Secretary of State’s Cal-Access website, charter IECs pumped close to $24 million into about 35 Assembly and Senate races, along with school board races in Alameda and Sacramento counties in the north, to Riverside and San Diego counties in the south.

Under state law, an independent expenditure is any campaign spending that is “outside” the control the candidates whom it is benefiting or opposing. An IEC can funnel unlimited amounts of money from corporations, nonprofits and wealthy donors, as long as it does not coordinate the spending activity with candidates, who are under strict, albeit voluntary campaign limits.

Consultant: The charter lobby was tired of getting beaten in elections and so doubled down in 2016.

CLICK TO TWEET

California’s “school choice” movement has always benefited from generous subsidies by a narrow spectrum of big-spending entrepreneurs, many of whom are billionaires. Their wealth has helped give the state the highest number of charter schools in the U.S., even as their election largess has left it with the nation’s most expensive school board elections.

Capital & Main’s analysis of the latest campaign-finance records for the five largest charter school IECs reveals that those same personal fortunes are at the center of the charters’ apparent attempt to buy some Sacramento political insurance against a growing resistance among both lawmakers and the public to the industry’s unbridled expansion in the state.

The amount spent by charter IECs represents about $40 for each of California’s 581,100 charter school students, and a 300 percent jump from 2014 charter election spending — about 570 percent over 2012. (See infographic below.)

Click to enlarge

Why did California’s charter industry choose this election to spend its way into the electoral fray? The answer depends on whom one asks.

“They were tired of getting beat,” Democratic political consultant Gale Kaufmann asserted in an email. “They had lost nearly every election in past years and obviously this year, their strategy became, 1: Let’s see how much money our billionaire donors can put in; and then, 2: Let’s see how much can we spend to buy some legislative and school board seats. The charter industry spent $11 million in the primary and had an impact, so they [. . .] doubled down in the general election.”

Twenty-six open legislature seats — 12 in hotly contested swing districts — shared the ballot with 17 statewide propositions. With early-voter turnout already setting records, Democrats stood poised to reclaim the legislative supermajority they lost in 2014.

But the election would also decide the political complexion — and the progressive-stopping power — of the informal group of bill-killing “moderate” assembly members so friendly to big business that it has been informally dubbed the “corporate Democrats caucus.”

Charter schools are privately managed but taxpayer-funded schools that are virtually free from most of the laws — and much of the accountability or transparency — under which traditional public schools operate. Protecting that status quo, public school supporters insist, drove this year’s independent expenditure spending spree.

“Charter schools used to be a boutique thing,” Cal State Sacramento education and policy studies professor Julian Vasquez Heilig said. “Now they have incredible money and power behind them: They have Eli Broad’s very deep pockets; the Gates Foundation has spent $300 million on charter schools in the last couple years; the Walton Family Foundation. … Parents and families and civil rights folks that are asking the charter schools to reform are really the underdog in this conversation, because the money and power is on the side of charter schools.”

Most of the charters’ IE spending (88 percent) was directed by three committees that served as the 501(c)(4) political arms of industry lobbyists California Charter School Association (CCSA) and EdVoice, the charter school advocacy nonprofit founded by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: CCSA’s California Charter Schools Association Advocates IE Committee, and the Parent Teacher Alliance (sponsored by the CCSA’s IEC); and the EdVoice Independent Expenditure Committee. (Neither EdVoice nor CCSA responded to requests to comment for this article.)

The remainder was distributed by the Govern for California Action Committee, a PAC controlled by anti-public-pension gadfly and neoliberal Democrat David Crane; and by Parents and Teachers for Student Success – StudentsFirst, the IEC of the national pro-charter group founded by Michelle Rhee.

“They’re investing heavily in maintaining a deregulated environment,” said United Teachers Los Angeles Secretary Daniel Barnhart before the election. “This really isn’t about kids. In their own words, they say it’s about market share.”

He may be right. Though the teachers union spent nearly $33 million on the election, the bulk of that (around $20 million) went to Proposition 55, the education-funding measure that aimed to benefit all California classrooms — both charter and public school students. The charter IECs spent solely on pro-charter legislative and school board candidates.

In Sacramento, where charters are represented by CCSA, the 2015-16 legislative session was a mixed bag for the industry. Lobbyists succeeded in killing two big reforms: AB 1084, a Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) bill that would have outlawed for-profit Election Inflections: Why California’s Deep-Pocketed Charter School Backers Went for Broke – Capital & Main:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Resist!

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Resist!:

Resist!

Shortly after Donald Trump delivered his victory speech, about 2,000 people rallied against the election at UCLA. (Los Angeles Times)

Trump and the Republicans were able to tap into a wave of deep-seeded white anger and frustration the likes of which I haven't seen since the violent reaction to the black freedom movement in the south, 50 years ago. Only this time, it was expressed through the ballot box. Will the reaction stay constrained? Or are we in for another wave of violent, racist, anti-immigrant attacks that Trump is more than capable of unleashing?

Van Jones made an emotional and powerful statement on CNN last night, wondering what he should tell his children about the election of a neo-fascist to the highest political office in the land.

“This was a white-lash,” he said. “This was a white-lash against a changing country. It was a white-lash against a black president in part, and that’s the part where the pain comes.”

 If you don't know Van, in 1996, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. He was appointed Obama's Special Advisor for Green Jobs in '08, but soon came under attack from the far right (Mike Pence) was deemed "too radical" and thrown under the bus by the Dems.

As someone who grew up in a left-wing household during the McCarthy period, survived the repression and political assassinations of the '60s, and endured the Nixon, Reagan, and Bush years, Trumpism is no stranger to me. The tears, the eerie quiet, and then anger that befell Clinton's "victory party" in N.Y. around midnight, are things I have experienced too many times.

Trump's election victory was a devastating blow, not only to the Clinton dynasty, but for all of us who value democracy and social-justice. Now comes a brief, hopefully thoughtful and introspective period in which to gather ourselves and prepare for the reactionary winter that's about to be unleashed.

It's too soon to begin assessing blame for the loss or settling accounts. That time will come and we all have our lists.  But first, we need to let the dust settle and see what we're really up against here. There's also a lot we can learn about organizing election campaigns in the modern era -- besides not nominating the most hated, untrustworthy (even by her own supporters) candidate in party history.

We can also anticipate lots of spontaneous anti-Trump protests breaking out, starting today.

Agenda Topics from now until January...Who will be part of Trump's new ruling coalition and how will it rule? What are the inevitable divisions within it? What's left of the Democratic Party and progressive forces and how badly are they in disarray? How swiftly will Trump move on his campaign promises to round-up millions of immigrants in deportation centers? What will happen when he tries to smash the Affordable Care Act, pulling health care from some 20 million citizens? What about the Supreme Court and the future of same-sex marriage and Rowe v. Wade? And what will happen to public space (including what's left of public education) and public decision making?

And then, most importantly how do we resist?Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Resist!:

A Time to Think About The Future, Our Kids, Education and Our Country

A Time to Think About The Future, Our Kids, Education and Our Country

See Ya Soon

Reaction of Education Bloggers to the Election UPDATE #2

Reaction of Education Bloggers to the Election

(Will Be Updated as the Shock Wears Off) 

Don’t Mourn, Organize | One Flew East - http://wp.me/p5IMdV-rQ 

TBFURMAN: The Failed State - http://www.tbfurman.us/2016/11/the-failed-state.html

Hard times. | Fred Klonsky - http://wp.me/p4C3g-hLS

Dark Mourning in America: “The world is at least/fifty percent terrible” | the becoming radical - http://wp.me/p2GmBR-5fb 

Schools Matter: Stop Crying--Start the Fucking Revolution - http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2016/11/stop-crying-start-fucking-revolution.html

NYC Educator: Holy Fucking Shit - http://nyceducator.com/2016/11/holy-fucking-shit.html

CURMUDGUCATION: Teaching in Trump's America - http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2016/11/teaching-in-trumps-america.html

Three (No, Four) State Elections that Turned Out Well–and Our Plans for the Future | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://wp.me/p2odLa-fDW 

Statement on the Defeat of Charter Initiatives | Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools - http://www.reclaimourschools.org/node/152

glen brown: America - http://teacherpoetmusicianglenbrown.blogspot.com/2016/11/america.html

What one Chicago Public Schools teacher will teach after the presidential election | The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher - http://www.chicagonow.com/white-rhino/2016/11/what-one-chicago-public-schools-teacher-will-do-after-the-presidential-election/

Big Education Ape: Does It Really Matter? | commoncorediva - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/11/does-it-really-matter-commoncorediva.html

U.S. 2016: “Every woman adores a Fascist” | the becoming radical - http://wp.me/p2GmBR-5fV 

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope." - Martin Luther King, Jr - Wait What? - http://wp.me/p2fII0-32R

What Crazy Will Trump and the Republicans Deliver? – Cloaking Inequity - http://wp.me/p2D92I-4t6 

It's time to Push Back! Here's a Playlist. - SF Public School MomSF Public School Mom - http://wp.me/p4ndvh-1tZ

Ed Notes Online: Election Shock and Awe: Is The Clintonite/Obama, Neo-liberal “New Democrat” Party Dead? Has Our Democracy Died Too? - http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2016/11/election-shock-and-awe-is.html

A Dozen Quotes for the Morning After – Live Long and Prosper - http://wp.me/pUgLi-10n

The Morning After | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://wp.me/p2odLa-fDQ

Ed Notes Online: Donald Trump is moving to the White House, and liberals put him there | Thomas Frank | Opinion | The Guardian - http://ednotesonline.blogspot.com/2016/11/donald-trump-is-moving-to-white-house.html

Perdido Street School: Brexit Redux - http://perdidostreetschool.blogspot.com/2016/11/brexit-redux.html

Big Education Ape: a reasonable response to an unreasonable situation - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2016/11/a-reasonable-response-to-unreasonable.html

UPDATE #1 UPDATE #1 UPDATE #1 UPDATE #1 UPDATE #1 UPDATE #1

President Donald Trump Promised To Dump Common Core, Hillary Clinton Never Said The Words – Exceptional Delaware - http://wp.me/p4JboV-3ZR 

Seattle Schools Community Forum: What to Tell The Kids about the Election - http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2016/11/what-to-tell-kids-about-election.html

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Election Results/ Thought Regarding Education - http://saveseattleschools.blogspot.com/2016/11/election-results-thought-regarding.html

A teacher wrestles with what to say to his students about Trump win - The Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/09/a-teacher-wrestles-with-what-to-say-to-his-students-about-trump-win/

Georgia Voters Say No to State Takeover of Schools | deutsch29 - http://wp.me/p36Q2R-27L 

How Did This Happen? Post-Election Thoughts - Living in Dialogue - http://wp.me/p4iUc2-1wY

Trump Set to Shift Gears on Civil Rights, ESSA, Says a K-12 Transition-Team Leader - Politics K-12 - Education Week - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/11/trump_ESSA_civil_rights_transition_education.html

America Votes NO and Elects Trump: Speculation on a Trump Presidency | Ed In The Apple - http://wp.me/p2zCG-1OH

President-Elect Donald Trump on Education | Truth in American Education - http://wp.me/p1ASmC-2iz

A Letter from a Parent in Massachusetts Who Fought Question 2 | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://wp.me/p2odLa-fE6

'I’m Going to Reassure Them That They Are Safe': Talking to Students After the Election - http://wp.me/p5kbFE-9bY

Don't Mourn, Organize! - Lily's Blackboard - http://wp.me/p2mU9Y-1h8

Fred Klonsky | Daily posts from a retired public school teacher who is just looking at the data. - http://wp.me/4C3g

(Will Be Updated as the Shock Wears Off) 

'I’m Going to Reassure Them That They Are Safe': Talking to Students After the Election

'I’m Going to Reassure Them That They Are Safe': Talking to Students After the Election:

'I’m Going to Reassure Them That They Are Safe': Talking to Students After the Election

Stories are flooding social media from parents whose children are afraid of what the 2016 presidential election results might mean. One boy with Autism was crying because he saw Trump mocking a disabled person. A teenager who is gay is afraid of what he will do to the LGBT community. Muslim students are asking if they’re going to be safe; Latino students are asking if they will be deported.

In partnership with parents America’s educators are offering support and a safe place for kids to talk about their concerns, like in Robert Ellis’ first grade classroom at Washington Elementary School in Richmond, California.

“I arrived this morning determined to provide these students with the support they need,” he says. “I’m not sure what the tone will be like over the course of the day, but I know they’re fearful. I’m going to reassure them that they are safe. I don’t want them to shoulder the burden of worry and concern.”

The election results will have a traumatic experience on our students. The best thing we can do today is be there for them, talk to them about their experience, and listen” – Robert Ellis, teacher

Ellis’ students, who are mostly from low-income and Hispanic families, have a very sophisticated understanding of government for a group of first graders. They’ve learned about the different branches and checks and balances, and Ellis will remind them that no one person can make the decisions that affect the country. They have to be agreed upon by different parts of the government and the voices of the citizenry.

“I’m also going to tell them that nothing is going to change overnight,” Ellis says. “I want them to feel safe. As educators, that’s what we do in difficult times.”

Demetrio Gonzalez, president of United Teachers of Richmond CTA/NEA acknowledges that in the wake of the election, there are students and kids hurting.

Throughout his district, many kids will go to school scared that it might be their last day in this country. Many kids will go to school scared that their parents will be sent back to their countries of origin. Some might feel defeated and broken.

“The election results will have a traumatic experience on our students,” he says. “The best thing we can do today is be there for them, talk to them about their experience, and listen. Hold them and tell them we love them, and that in moments of uncertainty and fear, we have to hope and believe we will have a brighter tomorrow. We can reassure them that this country was built in the backs of people who persevere and people who have gone through struggle. Hold that sad student a little tighter and please do not forget to also take care of yourselves in your incredibly challenging roles, but remember that at times we are all they got. ”

Talking to High School Students

Teaching tolerance and acceptance is a top priority for Fakhra Shah, a Muslim teacher at Mission High School in Oakland, California. When the election results became clear last night, she came up with tips and lessons for educators to use in high school classes where kids are from diverse backgrounds.

“I hope you will take the time to put all lessons aside and talk to students about what has happened and how they feel,” she says. “Let them say what is on their minds, this is crucial for our schools and our communities.”

Shah’s Class Discussion Tips

• The objectives of the discussion should be to let students express their concerns and voice their thoughts and feelings, gain feelings of empowerment and hope, and feel safe and respected.

• Ask students to speak one at a time and validate their feelings by saying things like, “What you are saying is valid,” or “I hear you,” “I support you and I understand you.” Let them speak, guide the discussion, and use a talking piece if necessary.

• Offer students hope and empowerment. Offer them opportunities to uplift themselves and their communities. Ask them what they would like to do or express. Can we come up with a plan to uplift our school community?

• Tell them that we demand justice and equality and we will keep on fighting for those rights.

• Tomorrow and every day must be a day of empowerment, hope and justice.

Resources

What Do We Tell the Children?

Tell them, first, that we will protect them. Tell them that we have democratic processes in the U.S. that make it impossible for one mean person to do too much damage, says a teacher writing for the Huffington Post.

Facilitating Difficult Conversations

How can we as educators best support our students as they process the results of this divisive political season? “Fostering Civil Discourse” is a free resource that offers strategies for establishing a safe space for sensitive topics, creating a classroom contract, providing opportunities for student reflection, and modeling respectful civil discourse.

 'I’m Going to Reassure Them That They Are Safe': Talking to Students After the Election:

Does It Really Matter? | commoncorediva

Does It Really Matter? | commoncorediva:



Does It Really Matter?

Warriors, it’s the day AFTER the biggest election we’ll see for another 4 years. Did your anti CCSS candidate win? While the dust is settling, let’s please remember we have SERIOUSissues, especially when it comes to education.
I realize I may lose some followers after this article, but I feel we MUST look at the entire scope of who’s leading in D.C….and in your States.  Warriors, we must not let our guards down. The CCSS Machine is JUST as much in the Republican party as it is the Democratic party. With both Chambers of Congress, we’ve seen a tea-totaling sell out to federally led education, NOT less! Are we really so caught up in the moment we are forgetting that while our President is important, it is Congress which is participating with the CCSS Machine evenmoreso?

As anti CCSS Warriors, we oppose not only Common Core, but:

CTE, Career Tech Education; which has been proven to be not only the adult form for the express purpose of skilled laborers to boost the national and global economy but has been tracked to trickle down from jobs to higher education all the way back down to early learning.

ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act; which mandates MORE federal control; gives power to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services; embeds skill based education for post-secondary readiness (embedding the U.S. Dept. of Labor); mandates STEM {Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math}, which embeds the U.S. Dept. of Education, the U.S. Dept. of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. State Dept., and more; re-brands Common Core as “Challenging State Academic Standards”, “College and Career Readiness”, “21st Century Learning Skills”, etc.; states that ‘region specific’ education is to be taught; makes teachers and school leaders into puppets for the CCSS Machine agenda; be it in the career and college readiness trap OR the ‘let’s all micromanage education by becoming pseudo doctors so we can  diagnose students of all ages and abilities. That way, the federal government can justify giving more Title One Funding with oh, so many MORE strings!’

WIOA, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (which embeds U.S. Dept. of Laborinto the education of our nation at ALL grade levels and consumes EVERY school choice!)
You’ll also find certain mandates from WIOA woven into ESSA. Without CTE, WIOA would be hard pressed to even exist as a federal law. Those mandates include: massive data collecting, tracking, and streamlining (the CCSS Machine uses the phrase ‘personalized Does It Really Matter? | commoncorediva:

a reasonable response to an unreasonable situation

a reasonable response to an unreasonable situation