Shawgi Tell: Charter School Promoters’ War on Consciousness | Dissident Voice

Charter School Promoters’ War on Consciousness | Dissident Voice

Charter School Promoters’ War on Consciousness

Charter school promoters have always relied on disinformation and irrationalism to justify the existence of charter schools, but in recent weeks and months it appears that a new, more pernicious, form of self-serving disinformation and irrationalism has reared its head.

This new disinformation and irrationalism seeks to further debase social consciousness and takes the form of casually and repeatedly declaring the exact and complete opposite of what research and experience confirm. The hope is that just by asserting and declaring something repeatedly, people will spontaneously believe it and abandon any conscious act of investigation.

Charter school promoters are increasingly desperate to make their pay-the-rich schemes look and sound like they are harmless and exist for the good of humanity. They have to do this because consciousness of the retrogressive character of privately-operated charter schools keeps steadily growing.

Several forms of this newly concerted strategy of disinformation and irrationalism have emerged.

The main one, however, has to do with school funding. Common sense, CONTINUE READING: Charter School Promoters’ War on Consciousness | Dissident Voice

Bill Phillis: Why Do Ohio Republicans Hate Public Schools? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bill Phillis: Why Do Ohio Republicans Hate Public Schools? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bill Phillis: Why Do Ohio Republicans Hate Public Schools?

Bill Phillis is a retired state education official who writes frequently about the Republican war against public schools and against the education provisions of the state constitution. He created the Ohio Coalion for Equity and Advocacy of School Funding to publicize his campaign for equitable funding and his opposition to privatization.

He writes:

SENATE PRESIDENT HUFFMAN: THE EDUCATION IN OHIO NEEDS TO BE STUDENT-OR USER-BASED, NOT INSTITUTION-BASED

The Senate President, in response to the Universal Voucher bill (HB 290), is quoted in the May 9 Gongwer, as saying:

“The education in Ohio needs to be student-or user-based, not institution-based.” The Ohio constitution (Article VI, section 2) requires the legislature to secure and fund a thorough and efficient system of common CONTINUE READING: Bill Phillis: Why Do Ohio Republicans Hate Public Schools? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Ed Notes Online: Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do Not Privatize Our Medicare - and some reason why

Ed Notes Online: Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do Not Privatize Our Medicare - and some reason why

Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do Not Privatize Our Medicare - and some reason why

Ed Notes Online: Final Call for Monday Noon press conference: Do Not Privatize Our Medicare - and some reason why

Monday Noon near City Hall: Media Advisory: Press conference to save Medicare for NYC Municipal workers

Join us Monday and make sure to vote RA in chapter election. The more people who are there the more impact.

VOTE NOW FOR RETIREE ADVOCATE/UFT SLATE IN RETIREE CHAPTER ELECTION

Yes, a vote for us is a vote for stopping some of the crap that is going on.

Monday will be a rare day where I will venture forth from my fortress to join other municipal retirees, many from the UFT, in a press conference to focus attention on the move toward moving us from public Medicare to privatized Medicare Advantage, the very wrong direction our union should be going in.

I helped write more detailed info piece. click here.

This advisory, which I helped put together (this entire process had been a real learning experience for this old dog)  is going out to the press.

From:  RetireeAdvocate/UFT   RetireeAdvocate@gmail.com  Visit us on Facebook

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  

Media Advisory: Press conference to save Medicare for NYC Municipal workers

Press Contacts:

Bennett Fischer (tremblychap@gmail.com)

Prudence Hill (pruhill@yahoo.com)

Norm Scott (normsco@gmail.com)

WHAT: NYC municipal union retirees gather to save Medicare and protest Municipal Labor Committee/NYC attempt to force them out of Medicare into privatized Medicare Advantage plan.

WHEN:  Monday, May 24, 2021

TIME: 12 Noon

WHO: Retiree Advocate/UFT, a caucus of retirees in the United Federation of Teachers and allies in other municipal unions and supporters defend our ability to remain on Medicare and reject attempts to move us to a privatized plan.

WHERE: Park Row/Centre St. outside City Hall Park by the 4/5/6 City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge Subway Station

DEMANDS:

A moratorium on any change to existing Medicare plan

NO to privatization of government managed Medicare 

Transparency on all negotiations with decision-making from all members

The Metropolitan Labor Council (MLC), consisting of a number of unions, including the UFT, and the NYC Office of Labor Relations are in the final stages of negotiations to move 250,000 municipal workers currently enrolled in government-managed Medicare into privately-managed Medicare Advantage with inherent disadvantages:

·       High administrative costs

·       Profit motive

·       Excessive executive salaries

·       Restrictions on patient services

We condemn unions’ willingness to move away from public to privatization of government-manages Medicare. Supposed savings can only come on the backs of retirees. Stop the sell! Save traditional Medicare for NYC retirees!

For further information, click here.

=======

This is not going out to the press:

To clear up a bit of confusion for some. While we whistle while we work we are under a private plan which continues when we retire - until we reach 65 when we go onto Medicare for 80% of our health care - I haven't heard any complaints and 98% of doctors take it. The other 20% co-pay is still privately managed.

Before reaching 65 we generally had a choice of GHI where we have more freedom to choose our doctors and a more restricted HIP plan where your doctors have to be part of the network and you need permissions to go to specialists. Some are very happy with HIP.

And the UFT leadership has used the fact that we have had privately managed care as a way to attack us for making a mountain out of a molehill. We are not.

Neo-lib Dems like Clinton wanted to save money on our backs and in the 90s allowed private insurance to offer Medicare type plans on their own to compete with Medicare -- with the obvious aim of killing Medicare off altogether. This causes some confusion for people hitting 65 and I get calls all the time about what to do, upon with I ask my wife who managed medical billing in a large hospital for decades who then shouts - tell them NO - stick with Medicare.

Funny, but as recently as March when a Retiree Advocate member went for a meeting at the UFT they were being told the same thing -- stay away from Medicare Advantage plans. Some are scams in essence.

So low and behold as we are in the final stages of the UFT retiree chapter election, we begin to hear that the Municipal Labor Committee, where Mulgrew is VP, is about to announce a forced move out of Medicare into a MedADV plan and people are reprising our youth in the 60s:

HELL NO WE WON'T GO!!

Monday Noon near City Hall: Media Advisory: Press conference to save Medicare for NYC Municipal workers

EdAction in Congress May 23, 2021 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress May 23, 2021 - Education Votes

EdAction in Congress May 23, 2021

Victory! And your advocacy helped make it happen

President Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act into law on May 20. Introduced by Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), it will strengthen federal efforts to address hate crimes targeting Asian-Americans in several ways: designate a Department of Justice employee to expedite the review of COVID-19 hate crimes, provide guidance for state and local officials for online reporting of such crimes, and require the department to issue guidance to mitigate racially discriminatory language in describing the pandemic.

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Urge senators to support the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (H.R. 1065) passed the House by a vote of 315-101, with 99 Republicans joining every Democrat present voting “aye.” Key provisions include creating a uniform national standard for reasonable accommodations for pregnancy, childbirth, and related conditions; prohibit employers from denying pregnant workers employment opportunities; require the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to make rules implementing the law; and address the issue through a framework modeled after the Americans with Disabilities Act.

More than three-quarters of women—half the American workforce and nearly 80 percent of educators—will be pregnant and employed at some point in their lives. Women are important breadwinners in their families, yet all too often, pregnant women are pushed out of their jobs or forced to risk their health to continue earning a paycheck when they are pregnant. TAKE ACTION

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Anniversary of George Floyd’s death fuels new push for congressional action

Tuesday, May 25 is the anniversary of George Floyd’s death. He struggled for his life for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as a police officer thrust a knee against his neck, maintaining the pressure even as he repeatedly said, “I can’t breathe” and bled on the ground. Americans saw what happened with their own eyes—bystanders recorded it on their cell phones—and responded with an outpouring of anger and grief that has fueled a renewed push for racial justice and an end to the police brutality that disproportionately kills African Americans. One in every 1,000 Black men can expect to be killed by police, according to a 2019 study published in a National Academy of Sciences journal.

The House passed the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R. 1280) by a vote of 220-212 in March, but the Senate has yet to act. The bill takes initial steps to end police brutality, protect civil rights and liberties, and change the culture of law enforcement agencies. They include ending racial and religious profiling and no-knock warrants, mandatory de-escalation training for police, prohibiting chokeholds and other potentially fatal maneuvers, and requiring police to use dashboard and body cameras—many of the same steps called for by the Justice for Black Lives document issued by NEA’s executive committee. TAKE ACTION

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We need to invest in fixing school buildings now, say educators to Congress

Every student and educator deserves a safe learning and work environment, and educators around the country are speaking out about the conditions they face and how it affects their students. Read more

 

 

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Cheers and Jeers

Cheers

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) reintroduced the HEAL Act (S. 1660/H.R. 3149), which expand immigrants’ access to Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health insurance sold on Affordable Care Act online marketplaces.

Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) introduced the School Safety Drill Research Act (H.R. 3432) to determine the unintentional impact of such drills and help schools move forward with trauma-informed alternatives.

EdAction in Congress May 23, 2021 - Education Votes

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” – Grumpy Old Teacher

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” – Grumpy Old Teacher

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

And a #2 pencil.

The quote is attributed to Winston Churchill as he received the King’s appointment to be Prime MInister in May 1940 to form a new government and prosecute the war with Nazi Germany. However, for the last 20 years, it is the plaintive cry of every American school child in grades 3 through 10 taking numerous state tests because we must have data to measure … it used to be student learning, but now takes in school quality, teacher accomplishments, administrative worthiness, and district whatever … Grumpy Old Teacher (GOT) supposes that in the year of 2021, school testing is used to measure everything but the level of water in the kitchen sink.

It is 2021 and the ‘compassion and grace’ of the previous year has been replaced by the driving need, which rhymes with greed, of the Testing-Reform Complex to measure learning loss, a dubious concept at best that actually means how much worse will kids score on the tests this year.

Yes, we are testing this year and doing our best to intimidate parents and children who opted to continue their learning in their bedrooms to come onto our campuses because the test must be taken. CONTINUE READING“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” – Grumpy Old Teacher

Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard?

A case study in the performative stupidity of your state government and its fake, impotent, embarrassing outrage at real history.

Part 1: The voices of the Great Migration laugh at Richard Corcoran — A grifter who can't make finalist in a university president search rigged for him is no match for the honest, competitive study of America, which is an unpoliceable classroom without walls.

This is part 2 — in which I “teach” a lesson about the Ocoee racial pogrom of 1920. The Florida Legislature recently required the state education system to “teach” it. But I can’t find the actual standard, now long overdue, anywhere.

A new 2020 law requires the task force to recommend to state education leaders by March 1 how to teach the massacre.

But in a state where fewer than 20% of the teachers are Black, and lots of new teachers enter classrooms each year, many teachers are unaware of these events or unsure sure how to tackle tough subjects of violence and racial discrimination.

There may not be a standard yet because Ron DeSantis is unilaterally making it illegal to teach it. What follows is my case study for testing that.

Hopefully, DeSantis and Corcoran and Chris Latvala will tell me if this is fireable so CONTINUE READING: Indoctrinate this, part 2: Would DeSantis and Latvala fire me for teaching this lesson on the state-mandated 1920 Ocoee pogrom standard? - Public Enemy Number 1

Why Our Many Big Plans to Raise Educational Standards Will Never Work (Jay Mathews) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Our Many Big Plans to Raise Educational Standards Will Never Work (Jay Mathews) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Why Our Many Big Plans to Raise Educational Standards Will Never Work (Jay Mathews)

Jay Mathews is a veteran journalist for The Washington Post who has covered education for more than three decades. He has written books on Jaime Escalante, a Los Angeles high school math teacher and KIPP charter schools. This article appeared in the Post April 17, 2021.

As one of our most celebrated education reforms — the Common Core State Standards — sinks into oblivion, will we finally give up on big-time top-down plans to save our schools?

I bet we won’t. We can’t help ourselves, even with convincing proof from an intriguing new book that any further outsized attempts to raise achievement with better standards will fail, as all the others have.You can feel the exasperation in every word as Tom Loveless, a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, sums up his main conclusion in “Between the State and the Schoolhouse: Understanding the Failure of Common Core.”

“The idea of standards-based reform should be abandoned. It doesn’t work,” he wrote.

Those of us who put our faith in bottom-up reforms, with individual teachers raising standards for each child, can find some hope here. “It could be that CONTINUE READING: Why Our Many Big Plans to Raise Educational Standards Will Never Work (Jay Mathews) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Top 6 Administrative Failures of the Pandemic Classroom | gadflyonthewallblog

Top 6 Administrative Failures of the Pandemic Classroom | gadflyonthewallblog

Top 6 Administrative Failures of the Pandemic Classroom

This school year has been a failure in so many ways.

But don’t get me wrong.

I’m not going to sit here and point fingers.

The Covid-19 pandemic has tested the public school system like never before.

Teachers, administrators and school directors have been under tremendous pressure and I believe most really tried their best in good faith to make things work as well as possible.

But as the year comes to a blessed close, we need to examine some of the practices common at many of our schools during this disaster and honestly evaluate their success or failure.

Some things worked well. Many made the best of a bad situation. But even more were blatant failures.

We need to know which was which.

As a classroom teacher with 17 years experience who worked through these times, CONTINUE READING: Top 6 Administrative Failures of the Pandemic Classroom | gadflyonthewallblog

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent?

On Sat. May 22, 2021, we had a great Parent Action Conference, co-sponsored with NYC Kids PAC and Teens Take Charge, to brainstorm on how parents, educators and students would like the $8B in additional federal and state funds should be spent to meet our students’ needs.  Thanks to all her participated!

Rep. Jamaal Bowman

Our terrific keynote speakers were from the federal, state and local levels: former NYC principal and now US House Rep. Jamaal Bowman, State Senator Robert Jackson, who was a parent and former D6 School Board member and original CFE plaintiff, and former NYC teacher, City Councilmember Mark Treyger, now chair of the Council Education Committee.

Council Member Mark Treyger

                                           

We presented a brief power point (also below) that included more info on the resources our schools are receiving, and summarized the results of our online survey.  We then broke into six different groups focused on Elementary schools, Middle and High Schools, Students with Disabilities, Multi Language Learners, Health and Safety, and a student group led by Teens Take Charge.

Members of our groups wanted to emphasize the need for smaller classes, more counselors and social workers, a nurse for every building, more extracurricular activities and programs and more.

Here is a recording of the session with Passcode: w!vhA8LG.  The Jamboard with ideas from our breakout groups is also  below.

Results from Parent Action Conference 2021: How do parents, educators & students want $8B in additional funds to be spent? | Class Size Matters  | A clearinghouse for information on class size & the proven benefits of smaller classes

CHOICES, IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES. – Dad Gone Wild

CHOICES, IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES. – Dad Gone Wild

CHOICES, IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES

“I volunteer because it makes me look helpful, and it gives me first dibs on the refreshments.”
― Richard Osman, The Thursday Murder Club

 

For all intents and purposes, the school year all over but the shouting. Grades have been turned in. Graduations scheduled. Library books returned. By mid-week next week, most districts will be closing the books on the 2020/2021 school year. But that doesn’t mean everything is going quietly into the night.

In Nashville, there is considerable unhappiness with MNPS’s decision to limit the number of tickets for graduation to 4. It’s an asinine decision, based on a PR move intended to paint the district as being safety first. One not being replicated anywhere else in the city. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, and other assorted cultural milestones are wide open for attendance. Only graduation participation is being curtailed.

If ever there was a time to celebrate public schools, and a need to bring communities together, it’s CONTINUE READING: CHOICES, IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES. – Dad Gone Wild

A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 #tBATs

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007 -

http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/05/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_22.html

Infographic Of The Week: “The Happiest Countries in the World”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay I’m adding this new infographic from Statistica to The Best Sites To Learn About…Happiness? : You will find more infographics at Statista

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2020. Also, check out A Collection Of My Best Resources On Teaching English Language Learners. In additi

My Favorite Posts That Appeared In May

by Larry Ferlazzo / 9h

I regularly highlight my picks for the most useful posts for each month — not including “The Best…” lists. I also use some of them in a more extensive monthly newsletter I send-out. You can see older Best Posts of the Month at Websites Of The Month (more recent lists can be found here ). You can also see my all-time favorites here . I’ve also been doing “A Look Back” series reviewing old favorite

Today Is The International Day for Biological Diversity – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

The United Nations has declared May 22nd to be the International Day for Biological Diversity . You might be interested in The Best Resources For World Biodiversity Day (& Endangered Species Day) ,

George Floyd Was Murdered A Year Ago On May 25th – Here Are Teaching & Learning Resources

by Larry Ferlazzo / 16h

George Floyd was murdered nearly one year ago. It was terrible, and Mr. Floyd was just one of many African-Americans who have been the victim of police violence. You might be interested in: HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR TEACHING ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD’S DEATH CLASSROOM LESSON IDEAS TO DISCUSS THE CHAUVIN VERDICT – PLEASE SUGGEST MORE New & Revised: A Collection Of Advice On Talking To Students About Race & R

The Guardian Publishes Amazing Visual Guide To Racist Monuments & Brands Removed Over Past Year

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

How Centuries Of Racist Images Came Down In One Year – A Visual Guide is an amazing interactive from The Guardian. It highlights Confederate monuments, ones to colonization, and product brands that have been removed since George Floyd’s murder. I’m adding it to The Best Resources For Teaching About Confederate Monuments .

Saturday’s Must-Read Articles On School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

stevepb / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING (& SHOWING) WHAT SCHOOLS LOOK LIKE DURING THE PANDEMIC (you might also be interested in SCHOOLS WENT REMOTE A YEAR AGO – HERE ARE MY CHOICES FOR THE BEST PIECES WRITTEN ABOUT SCHOOL REOPENING SINCE THEN): Schools Are Dropping Mask Requirements, But A New CDC Study Suggests They Shouldn’t is from NPR. The Rush to Reopen Schools

Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. Of course, this is a crazy time for “classroom” instruction…. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON INSTRUCTION IN 2020 – PART TWO . Here are this week’s picks: Teach About Inequality With These 28 New York Times Graphs is from The NY T

“Ten Ways I’ll Be Teaching Differently Next Year”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Ten Ways I’ll Be Teaching Differently Next Year is the headline of my latest Education Week column. I share 10 instructional practices I’ve developed during the pandemic that I will be continuing into the next school year. Here are some excerpts:

 Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007