Friday, November 2, 2012

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 11-2-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

Diane Ravitch's blog:

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Councilman in NYC Has Idea for Marathon Runners

The council member from southern Brooklyn suggested that marathon runners should deliver water, food, medicine and other supplies to elderly people trapped in high-rise buildings in the Coney Island area, who have no power. No elevator, no refrigerator, no heat.
Mayor Bloomberg says the Marathon will go on, no matter what.


The Most Astonishing Post Ever On This Blog Is…

When I printed the post by Kris L. Neilsen explaining why he quit his teaching job in North Carolina, I had no idea what the reaction would be.
It went viral.
Kris’s post has been read–to this point–by more than 130,000 people. It has been retweeted more than 800 times.
Previously, the post that had the largest readership was “I am a teacher. Let me teach,” read by 4,000 people.
For Kris’s post, more than 130,000 page views.
Wow.
I have only been blogging for six months, so maybe others have experienced posts that took off like a rocket.


Should NYC Marathon Proceed?

Mayor Bloomberg told President Obama not to visit NYC because he would be a distraction.
But he has given approval to the annual NYC marathon, which attracts thousands of runners from around the world and requires hundreds of police to supervise.
The borough president of Manhattan Scott Stringer has called for the cancellation of the marathon.
Justin Wedes of Occupy Wall Street has an even better idea. How about directing the energy of he runners to bring relief supplies to the communities that are suffering?
This is the message Justin sent on the NYC Parent website to Scott Stringer:
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer calls on Mayor Bloomberg to cancel the #NYCMarathon 


Why Washington State Should Vote No on 1240

This article explains succinctly why certain members of the billionaire boys club have decided that Washington State absolutely positively must have charter schools. Their recipe for school reform: the free market. And why not? The free market works for them. Will they put their own children (or in the case of the Bezos family, grandchildren) in charter schools? Don’t be silly.

No on 1240 (click on picture)

I Cut Another Big Check

Yesterday the New Orleans Times-Picayune revealed that I had “cut a check” for school board candidate Karran Royal Harper. It’s true. I flooded her campaign with a contribution of $100.
That was intended to offset the $110,000 that other out-of-state donors like Joel Klein of Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp and Reed Hastings of Netflix and Boykin Curry of Wall Street had given to Sarah Usdin of TFA-New Schools for New Orleans and the New Teacher Project.
With the infusion of big checks like mine, Karran might have raised as much as $6,000 or so by now. Those are 


Shadowy Group Funds Idaho Luna Laws

A group called Education Voters of Idaho refused to disclose its donors until required to do so by a court order.
The biggest donor is a businessman who is an investor in K12, the online charter corporation ($250,000); the second biggest donor is Mayor Michael Bloomberg ($200,000).
EVI promotes the anti-union, anti-teacher, privatizing policies of state superintendent Tom Luna. Supporters of public education are seeking to repeal the Luna laws, which are deceptively called “Students Come First.” The phrase echoes Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst and Joel Klein’s Children’s First.
Luna has received heavy funding from technology corporations, and his laws mandate the purchase of a laptop 


Where Should We Look for School Leaders?

Andrea Gabor asks whether Brockton High will do a better job in the selection of a successor than Mayor Bloomberg.
Brockton High is a large high school in Massachusetts that successfully turned around its performance through teamwork and coloration, not punishment, closing and privatization.
Now that the principal is retiring, Gabor hopes the successor will be a knowledgeable insider, not a “star” intent 



Using Rap to Support Education

Two California teachers have created a rap video to exhort peope to vote “yes” on Proposition 30, which raises taxes on incomes over $250,000 to fund education, and to vote “no” on Proposition 32, which is intended to take away automatic contributions by members to their unions, a longtime goal of anti-union activists.
The video describes the “pre-school to prison pipeline.”
Pay now or pay later.



In Colorado, Stand on Children Shows Its True Colors

Long ago there was an organization called Stand for Children that advocated for children and their public schools. Unfortunately, the organization jumped on the money train and joined the corporate reform movement. Now it is flush with cash. It still pretends to care about children but it uses its clout to strip teachers of any rights and to advocate for privatization. It is anti-teacher, anti-union, and anti-public education. Some of its former supporters now refer to the organization as Stand on Children.
In Colorado, where there is a heated contest for control of the Legislature, Stand on Children removed the mask. 



Diane in the Evening 11-1-12 Diane Ravitch's blog

coopmike48 at Big Education Ape - 4 hours ago
Diane Ravitch's blog: In New Orleans, Students Lead the Way by dianerav Several student groups convened an open forum for candidates running for the local school board. This gave students an opportunity to question candidates about where they stand on issues that affect students. Only one candidate did not appear: Sarah Usdin, who confirmed that she would show but did not. Usdin is the ex-TFA executive director of New Schools for New Orleans. She has received more than $110,000 from generous out-of-state donors like Joel Klein, who sells technology for Rupert Murdoch, and asso... more »