Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/4/17

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/4/17

Featured Post

Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump - The New York Times

CURMUDGUCATION: Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot

by mike simpson / 20min

CURMUDGUCATION: Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot : Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot March continues to come in like a lion who really wants to create a blog about his experiences over the past five or eight years. We have looked at FutureEd and The Line , two new websites that are make sure we can all still get to hear the voices of a bunch of ed reform types who wouldn't shut up for the

The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

by mike simpson / 23min

The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing : The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things Education, like life, is not about the macro or the big things. Like life, it is all about “the little things strung together.” It’s a lot like the quote that asserts, “There are no extraordinary people, there are only ordinary people in extraordinar

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday - LA Progressive

by mike simpson / 26min

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday - LA Progressive : STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday O n Tuesday, March 7th, Los Angeles voters can say NO to Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos by casting their ballots to re-elect LAUSD President Steve Zimmer of District 4, a swath of land that stretches from Westchester’s jet stream and Venice’s beach boardwalk

Badass Teachers Association: From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford

by mike simpson / 2h

Badass Teachers Association: From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford : From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford When you are the mother of a teacher you will get to listen to people criticize public school teachers without a second thought. They will demonize them as lazy leeches who teach for the money and not because they

BHM Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow - The War Report on Public Education

by mike simpson / 3h

BHM Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow : BHM Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow Please join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for the final show in our series for Black History Month. The series has been exploring the 400 year struggle for freedom, justice, and equality affecting African Americans, and how these struggles have contri

Schools of LAst Resort – Have You Heard

by mike simpson / 3h

Schools of LAst Resort – Have You Heard : Schools of LAst Resort The Network for Public Education Action is proud to endorse two candidates for the Los Angeles Board of Education District 2 primary election—Lisa Alva and Carl Petersen. Although it is very unusual for us to endorse two for the same position, both are well qualified and are committed to the ideals of NPE Action. The third candidate

Immigrant students tweet to Trump: This is how our families help make America great - The Washington Post

by mike simpson / 3h

Immigrant students tweet to Trump: This is how our families help make America great - The Washington Post : Immigrant students tweet to Trump: This is how our families help make America great Bruce Randolph School is a public school in Denver with this mission: “to graduate 100 percent of seniors prepared to succeed without remediation in a four-year college or university.” With more than 850 stu

Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION

by mike simpson / 3h

CURMUDGUCATION : Catch up with CURMUDGUCATION The Line: Yet Another Not New Voice 1 by Peter Greene / 2h Apparently we are in the season of website launches. An outfit called FutureEd has entered the thinky tank and website world with a spirited return to the ed reform greatest hits of yesteryear . Refugees of the Obama education department have launched a website that is... I don't know. Cementi

Jeremy Scahill proves that Betsy DeVos is a corrupt Christian supremacist - YouTube

by mike simpson / 5h

Jeremy Scahill proves that Betsy DeVos is a corrupt Christian supremacist - YouTube : Jeremy Scahill proves that Betsy DeVos is a corrupt Christian supremacist Jeremy Scahill proves that Betsy DeVos is a corrupt Christian supremacist - YouTube :

What You Should Know About “Pay for Success” as Testing Season Approaches – Wrench in the Gears

by mike simpson / 5h

What You Should Know About “Pay for Success” as Testing Season Approaches – Wrench in the Gears : What You Should Know About “Pay for Success” as Testing Season Approaches From this week’s newsfeed: Chicago schools may end classes three weeks early due to lack of funding. Several dozen Detroit schools close temporarily due to a “boil water” advisory. Some Boston schools anticipate 20%+ cuts to al

CURMUDGUCATION: The Line: Yet Another Not New Voice

by mike simpson / 5h

CURMUDGUCATION: The Line: Yet Another Not New Voice : The Line: Yet Another Not New Voice Apparently we are in the season of website launches. An outfit called FutureEd has entered the thinky tank and website world with a spirited return to the ed reform greatest hits of yesteryear . Refugees of the Obama education department have launched a website that is... I don't know. Cementing their legacy

It' Saturday What is on Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

by mike simpson / 5h

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all : DFER Launches Phony Phone Campaign in DC to Promote Common Core and High-Stakes Testing The hedge-fund manager group called Democrats for Education Reform (DFER) is conducting an aggressive telephone campaign in D.C. to promote the Common Core and high-stakes standardized testing. The rhetoric is deceptive, as usual. Jeffrey Ande

David Berliner on The Purported Failure of America’s Schools | VAMboozled!

by mike simpson / 6h

David Berliner on The Purported Failure of America’s Schools | VAMboozled! : David Berliner on The Purported Failure of America’s Schools My primary mentor, David Berliner (Regents Professor at Arizona State University (ASU)) wrote, yesterday, a blog post for the Equity Alliance Blog (also at ASU) on “The Purported Failure of America’s Schools, and Ways to Make Them Better” (click here to access

Why Teachers Should Almost Always Be Calm - Teacher Habits

by mike simpson / 6h

Why Teachers Should Almost Always Be Calm - Teacher Habits : Why Teachers Should Almost Always Be Calm Like most Americans, I associate success with passion and intensity. The Detroit Pistons of my youth would have never won back-to-back championships without the intensity of Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer. Indiana basketball would have never been Indiana basketball without the passion of coach B

'Scared straight' response: Teachers don't use fear in drug, alcohol lessons (Opinion) | OregonLive

by mike simpson / 6h

'Scared straight' response: Teachers don't use fear in drug, alcohol lessons (Opinion) | OregonLive.com : 'Scared straight' response: Teachers don't use fear in drug, alcohol lessons Gaye Chapman I am a health educator at Cleveland High School, where Griffin Jourda goes to school ("' Scared straight' teaching approach doesn't help students in real-life drug, alcohol situations ," Feb. 24). I want

Keeping retirement weird. Crossed wires. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 6h

Keeping retirement weird. Crossed wires. | Fred Klonsky : Keeping retirement weird. Crossed wires. Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! 3:35 AM - 4 Mar 2017 31,652 31,652 Retweets 77,543 77,543 likes The question remains. Is he crazy? Or crazy like a fox? The Preside

Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump - The New York Times

by mike simpson / 6h

Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump - The New York Times : Campus Backlash After Leaders of Black Colleges Meet With Trump WASHINGTON — It was a scalding message, painted on a university campus sidewalk this week: “Welcome to the Trump plantation. Overseer: Wayne A. I. Frederick.” What made the message more jarring still was that Dr. Frederick is the black president of

Deportation inc | Ingles o español

by mike simpson / 7h

Deportation inc | Deportation inc : Deportation inc HOME MARVIN’S LABYRINTH WHEN TRUMP TWEETS THE VIRTUAL BORDER RETURNS AND BECOMES PART OF THE GAME THE TWO FACES OF FAIR Conservative journalist Ann Coulter enjoyed each and every word she used to describe the satisfaction she would derive from watching undocumented people running along the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the threat of a drone

Teachers, Parents Struggle To Comfort Children Of Color Fearful Of Targeted Raids : Code Switch : NPR

by mike simpson / 7h

Teachers, Parents Struggle To Comfort Children Of Color Fearful Of Targeted Raids : Code Switch : NPR : Teachers, Parents Struggle To Comfort Children Of Color Fearful Of Targeted Raids In early December, Joann Lee and her family were crossing the street in front of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A white van was stopped at the light. Out of nowhere, Lee says, the driver of the van, a white

Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump made news on school vouchers, charter schools and race this week. : NPR Ed : NPR

by mike simpson / 7h

Betsy DeVos and Donald Trump made news on school vouchers, charter schools and race this week. : NPR Ed : NPR : Betsy DeVos' 'School Choice' Controversy; Historically Black Colleges And More It was another big week for national education news. Here's our take on the top stories of the week. Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump meet with HBCU leaders The Education Secretary seems to be racking up controversi

Ethics violator Riordan weighs in: Lanches a Smear Campaign Against Steve Zimmer - LA Times

by mike simpson / 8h

Election heavy hitter Riordan weighs in: more charter schools and more tents for homeless - LA Times : Ethics violator Riordan weighs in: Lanches a Smear Campaign Against Steve Zimmer Former LA Mayor Richard Riordan fined $11,250 for ethics violation - http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20160621/former-la-mayor-richard-riordan-fined-11250-for-ethics-violation Former Los Angeles Mayo

An hour with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers: The downloadable podcast. | Fred Klonsky

by mike simpson / 8h

An hour with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers: The downloadable podcast. | Fred Klonsky : An hour with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers: The downloadable podcast. Hitting Left with the Klonsky Brothers #5 This morning we spent an hour with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis on episode

Who knew it could be so complicated?: DeVos edition | Eclectablog

by mike simpson / 8h

Who knew it could be so complicated?: DeVos edition | Eclectablog : Who knew it could be so complicated?: DeVos edition Donald Trump, in a moment of rich irony, appears to have been caught just a bit off guard with just how complex the American health care system really was last week. “Now, I have to tell you, it’s an unbelievably complex subject,” he added. “Nobody knew health care could be so c

The Testing of States’ Blaine Amendments– No Public Funding of Religious Schools | deutsch29

by mike simpson / 9h

The Testing of States’ Blaine Amendments– No Public Funding of Religious Schools | deutsch29 : The Testing of States’ Blaine Amendments– No Public Funding of Religious Schools Given that President Trump and US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos are poised to offer states financial incentives for instituting/expanding school vouchers, the issue becomes whether state constitutions allow public mone

Allowing Guns in Schools is a Bad Idea by Steven Singer - Badass Teachers Association:

by mike simpson / 9h

Badass Teachers Association: Allowing Guns in Schools is a Bad Idea by Steven Singer : Allowing Guns in Schools is a Bad Idea by Steven Singer Originally posted at: https://gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com/2017/03/03/allowing-guns-in-schools-is-a-bad-idea/ Guns were not allowed at Donald Trump’s inauguration . They were not allowed at his speech to the National Rifle Association (NRA). Nor were

YESTERDAY

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/3/17

by mike simpson / 23h

Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/3/17 Featured Post Stanford Researcher Presents the Evidence Against Trump-DeVos Voucher Plans | janresseger Growth/Achievement vs Left/Right – Educate Louisiana by mike

Top Posts This Week

• Stop HR 610 | Real Learning CT
• 

  Betsy DeVos, Religious Extremist: Watch This Video Before It is Deleted | Diane Ravitch's blog
• 

  These kids made flyers to protest "Dr. Seuss Week" at school
• 

  Educators Told to Intern at Local Businesses To Renew Teacher Licenses
• 

  Will Betsy DeVos Kill Sex Ed in Public Schools? - The Daily Beast
• 

  How Betsy DeVos Could Fail | Daniel Katz, Ph.D.
• 

  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 2/26/17
• 

  Special Nite Cap: Catch Up on Today's Post 3/3/17
• This is a provocative, revealing movie you must see - Lily's Blackboard
• Trump Can’t Fight Anti-Semites. They’re His Base! | gadflyonthewallblog

CURMUDGUCATION: Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot

CURMUDGUCATION: Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot:

Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot

March continues to come in like a lion who really wants to create a blog about his experiences over the past five or eight years. We have looked at FutureEd and The Line, two new websites that are make sure we can all still get to hear the voices of a bunch of ed reform types who wouldn't shut up for the last decade. FutureEd has set out to plug Common Core and all the fun things that came with it, while The Line seems dedicated to making sure that Chiefs for Change and the Broady axis of reform still get the word out (I am wondering if Peter Cunningham, previously tasked with this important work at Education Post, is feeling abandoned).

But good lord, that's not all. Because who needs a website to get the word out about their hard work then the folks at the Obama Department of Education.

Oh, the fun we had trashing public ed

That's right-- a bunch of USED refugees have created a website as a monument to eight years of.. well, we'll get to that. Of all these sites, Education44 most explicitly promises to keep its eyes on the rear-view mirror of education policy:

Under President Obama – the 44th President of the United States – the U.S. Department of Education worked to make America’s promise attainable for more students. The administration’s agenda focused on protecting access to a high-quality education for all students while reforming and innovating public education to produce greater equity.

Here you will find the legacy of the Obama administration’s work, and a balanced platform where you can learn about policies and ideas for improving public education.

That link takes you to our first legacy document-- John King's exit memo that attempts to sum up CURMUDGUCATION: Education44: Obama USED Parting Shot:

The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing

The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things

Education, like life, is not about the macro or the big things. Like life, it is all about “the little things strung together.” It’s a lot like the quote that asserts, “There are no extraordinary people, there are only ordinary people in extraordinary situations.”

The reform of education is focused on the big changes as opposed to understanding that change is a step by step process. The educrats are playing for the big moment, yet they fil to understand that they can’t pull big moments out of thin air, consequently, their “big moments” exist in vacuums, totally disconnected and disembodied from reality.

From teaching students to be better writers, better students and better thinkers, to mentoring teachers to be better at teaching, to helping players to become better hitters or shooters, it was and is always about starting at step one and moving forward, step by step.

The reformers and the experts want to be able to say they did big things, that they changed everything, the only problem is, you can’t start out “big” – you have to start with the little things, and string them all together.

Are there poor teachers? Of course there are. There were bad teachers when I went to school, there were bad teachers when you went to school. If I were to ask you how many good or great teachers you had all the way through your college career, how many would you be able to list? I’d guess three or four- if you were lucky. Despite that fact, you are still successful today, you still survived. Good and great teachers don’t grow on trees and they are not “developed” or created in special teaching programs or institutes.

Good or great teachers grow and develop through experience and experience takes time and patience. Step by step. Slowly, based on little things strung together. When you marry that time and patience to extraordinary passion, The Elephant In The Room: The Process of Little Things | DCGEducator: Doing The Right Thing:

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday - LA Progressive

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday - LA Progressive:

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday

On Tuesday, March 7th, Los Angeles voters can say NO to Trump’s Education Secretary Betsy DeVos by casting their ballots to re-elect LAUSD President Steve Zimmer of District 4, a swath of land that stretches from Westchester’s jet stream and Venice’s beach boardwalk to East Hollywood’s hip cafes and parts of the sun-drenched Valley that include working-class Tarzana and Van Nuys.

I am a 20-year public school teacher, now teaching special education at Venice High School in Zimmer’s district, and there’s a reason I’m phone banking on weekends to re-elect Zimmer, a teacher of 17 years and former counselor at Marshall High School.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the second largest behind New York City, is under attack again and the stakes are high — the future for 550,000 students, over 75% of them people of color.

No one needs to schlep to DC in a pink pussy hat to beat back billionaires salivating to bankrupt the Los Angeles Unified School District by turning 50% of the district’s schools into charters

No one needs to schlep to DC in a pink pussy hat to beat back billionaires salivating to bankrupt the Los Angeles Unified School District by turning 50% of the district’s schools into charters — taxpayer-funded crap shoots privately run in the shadows, often beyond even the sleepy eyes of an anemic charter school board. When in 2015 the LA Times leaked billionaire Eli Broad’s 8-year plan to siphon off half of LAUSD schools into charters, Zimmer opposed the plan publicly, saying, “It’s not even a plan that uses competition as this lever for profound change; it really is a takeover strategy.”

But Broad and the Waltons of union-busting Wal Mart fame haven’t given up on massive charter expansion, spending millions on independent expenditures to defeat Zimmer, even though privatizers’ last effort to bounce Zimmer and bust public sector unions failed miserably. As Zimmer explained to teachers at a union conference in 2015, former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg wasted a million dollars trying to unseat him because Zimmer was and is wary of charters.

In purist circles, some critics complain that Zimmer has approved too many charter applications during his eight-year tenure on the board, but we must remember that California state law leaves districts wide open to costly lawsuits and county and state board of education appeals if charter applicants who meet state criteria are turned down.

Nevertheless, Zimmer has used his bully pulpit and wonk hat to limit the proliferation of charters by making public schools more appealing with new magnets — schools within schools – like Venice High School’s STEMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine) and World Language Magnet or the Spanish, Mandarin and French immersion programs at various Westside schools.

A champion of arts education, Zimmer saved the arts from devastating budget cuts, mobilizing parents, students, and teachers at rallies to preserve music, drama, dance, painting and other arts programs in the classroom.

Besides protecting and expanding arts education, Zimmer has gone to bat to save early childhood education programs — the ones that teach 3-year olds to identify colors and letters and take turns and share — and went the distance to make sure budget cuts did not close the doors to adult education — a critical resource for my students who need to make up credits to graduate and for young adults who need parenting skills or immigrants who yearn for citizenship.

Lest any voter ponder staying home — like the 50 million who sat on the couch during our last disastrous Presidential election — know that the billionaire boys are backing Zimmer’s opposition for a reason — because they need a partner to form a majority to plan and execute the dismantling of public education in Los Angeles. It’s not a matter of backing someone who will approve their charter application, for it is fundamentally far more threatening than that. At issue is subsidizing a candidate who can huddle in the back room to plot the multiplication of charter schools where non-union teachers work at will, subject to termination at any time, and students contend with a revolving door of inexperienced teachers amid incompetent yet highly paid management.

During Zimmer’s tenure on the board, graduation rates increased from 54% to 75%, while truancy and suspension rates decreased. Zimmer kept the district on a sound financial track, working to bring in $300 million federal dollars to LAUSD through the 2010 Education Jobs bill, making a strong case for passage of additional school funding guaranteed under Prop 30, then more recently Prop 55, and addressing the underfunding of special education with an eye to equity and access. Under Zimmer’s financial stewardship, LA Unified has been awarded the highest bond credit rating of AAA. Can’t beat that.

To avoid an expensive run-off and spare us another round of deceptive billionaire attack ads, Zimmer needs a simple majority of the vote next Tuesday. It could come down to a few thousand votes. Make one of them yours. Forget the couch. Don’t let someone else make this crucial decision for you. Get to the polls on March 7th to re-elect Steve Zimmer. Show Betsy we mean business.

Marcy Winograd

STOP DeVos in Los Angeles: Re-Elect Zimmer Next Tuesday - LA Progressive:

Badass Teachers Association: From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford

Badass Teachers Association: From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford:

From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers 

by Tara May Crawford

When you are the mother of a teacher you will get to listen to people criticize public school teachers without a second thought.

They will demonize them as lazy leeches who teach for the money and not because they care about the future of their students. (Because we all know they make soooo much)

You will spend hours of your family time with your child watching her work on paperwork because she spends the day teaching and has to use most of her evening getting the rest of her duties done.

You will answer the phone and listen to her heartbreak when there is a student she feels powerless to save from poverty or abuse.

You will call her and hear the stress in her voice because she doesn't have Badass Teachers Association: From the Mothers (Fathers, Husbands, Wives) of Teachers by Tara May Crawford:

Black History Month Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow - The War Report on Public Education

BHM Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow:

BHM Part 4 - From Slavery to Reconstruction Elites to Jim Crow

Please join Internet radio host Dr. James Avington Miller Jr. for the final show in our series for Black History Month. The series has been exploring the 400 year struggle for freedom, justice, and equality affecting African Americans, and how these struggles have contributed to their current social, cultural, social-economic status in the context of a political economy within America.

This show will examine the tragic rise and fall of the African Americans - from slavery to Reconstruction elite status to Jim Crow which was a return to another kind of slavery for the African Americans.

During Reconstruction, high achieving black men would rise and thrive across America. The nation's capital would become the center and the birth place of country BLACK ELITE. The elite were to be the proof that blacks could assimilate into the cultural, social, political and economic world of White America.

Once again, the rug was pulled out from under them, and all African Americans, when these elites were betrayed by the federal government, PAID the price for reuniting the union. This was the return of slavery by another name - JIM CROW.

Listen to Part 1 - The Origin Story - This show will open your eyes and you will see that we owe our nation's existence to the first Black Americans. They are our pride and the way they were treated is our shame.
http://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-february-5-2017

Listen to Part 2 - The Origin Story of Black Studies - the story of the student movement that changed the face and nature of higher education institutions, and gave birth to AFRICAN AND AFRICAN- AMERICAN STUDIES.
http://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-february-12-2017

Listen to the first part of Part 3 -
https://bbsradio.com/podcast/war-report-public-education-february-19-2017

Listen to the second part of Part 3 -
https://www.facebook.com/events/274775389622289/?active_tab=discussion%08%08

Do not miss Dr. Miller's critical examination of the African and African American experience.

Knowledge is power!

RESISTANCE MATTERS
RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE
RESISTANCE IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF EXPRESSION OF DEMOCRACY
RESISTANCE IS SURVIVAL
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Schools of LAst Resort – Have You Heard

Schools of LAst Resort – Have You Heard:

Schools of LAst Resort

The Network for Public Education Action is proud to endorse two candidates for the Los Angeles Board of Education District 2 primary election—Lisa Alva and Carl Petersen.
Although it is very unusual for us to endorse two for the same position, both are well qualified and are committed to the ideals of NPE Action.
The third candidate in the race, the incumbent Monica Garcia, has clearly demonstrated by her record that she is not aligned with the pro-public education agenda of the Network for Public Education Action.
We therefore urge our supporters to vote for either Lisa or Carl.

NPE Action endorses Lisa Alva for LAUSD School Board - NPE Action - https://npeaction.org/?p=7175 

Could the only teacher in LA’s school board race pull off a surprise win?

LOS ANGELES TEACHER LISA ALVA

In this season of election surprises, could an upstart candidate win a spot on the Los Angeles school board, powered by little more than enthusiasm and word-of-mouth? *I think we might be surprised on March 7,* says teacher Lisa Alva, the upstart candidate herself. The school board election has attracted close to $5 million in outside spending, a not insignificant chunk of which has gone to Alva’s opponent, charter advocate Monica Garcia. Alva may not have glossy mailers or an army of paid canvassers going door to door, but she has something that all those independent expenditures can’t buy. She’s a voice of genuine resistance—to reform experiments gone wrong, to *choice* for the sake of choice, and to the kids, the parents and the teachers that are being left behind. Can you tell I have a bit of a crush?

I met Alva two years ago when I was in Los Angeles to talk to people about Eli Broad’s *bold* plan to move half of the city’s students into charter schools within six years. I did what I always do on one of these edu-reporting adventures: I asked anyone I knew with an LA connection to hook me up. Which is how I ended up spending an afternoon with Alva in her English classroom at Roosevelt High School in LA’s Boyle Heights neighborhood. A virtual edu-pal had introduced me to Alva; another contact, a documentary filmmaker, introduced me to Boyle Heights. Once the *Ellis Island* of LA, Boyle Heights was sliced apart in the 1960’s by the East LA Interchange. That would be the intersection of six freeways built to transport Los Angelenos to the new suburbs and the tract houses that were blooming across California, thanks to a young home builder named Eli Broad. But I digress…

In the endorsement that Alva scored from the LA Times, she’s described as espousing an *interesting mix of beliefs, including some that align with the school reform movement and others more in line with the positions of the teachers unions.* I’d put it a different way. Alva thinks teachers deserve to have more of a voice, in part to push back against misguided reform policies, like the botched experiment that played out at Roosevelt High School. In 2010, Roosevelt was broken up into seven small schools, each with its own principal and schedule, which created some, um, logistical Schools of LAst Resort – Have You Heard: