Thoughts on the Legacy of Karen Jennings Lewis - LA Progressive

Thoughts on the Legacy of Karen Jennings Lewis - LA Progressive

Thoughts on the Legacy of Karen Jennings Lewis

When I think of Karen Jennings Lewis, I not only think of someone who led the most important teacher’s strike in modern US history, but someone who did more to undermine the Obama Administration’s attacks on teachers unions and public schools than any other person in the country.

By going head to head with Rahm Emmanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff before he became Mayor of Chicago, and Obama Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who stood behind Emmanuel one hundred percent, Karen Lewis, a beloved chemistry teacher as well as union leader, challenged the “civil rights rationale” for school privatization head on.

Karen Lewis, a beloved chemistry teacher as well as union leader, challenged the “civil rights rationale” for school privatization head on.

For those who don’t remember, the Obama administration, almost immediately after the President’s inauguration, launched a broad-based attack on public education with three key components:

• promotion of the Common Core Standards and universal testing

• the implementation of “test based accountability: for teachers, schools and entire school districts; and

• preferential funding for charter schools over public schools.

These measures were promoted with the argument that public schools had failed students of color CONTINUE READING: Thoughts on the Legacy of Karen Jennings Lewis - LA Progressive