Free Bus Trips + Call to Action for People’s Summit in Chicago 5/18 | OccupyWallSt.org #ows #soschat

Free Bus Trips & Call to Action for People’s Summit in Chicago 5/18 | OccupyWallSt.org:

Free Bus Trips & Call to Action for People’s Summit in Chicago 5/18

Posted 4 hours ago on May 6, 2012, 9:16 a.m. EST by OccupyWallSt

via 99% Solidarity:
99% solidarity is excited to participate in nonviolent direct actions in Chicago from May 18 to 22, 2012. We have secured buses to bring people to these actions from several U.S cities.
We are currently working on the travel schedule, agenda and other important details of this trip. We will be contacting you with updated information shortly. For now here are a few updates:

• The Bus trip is free
• 50 people from each city must sign up and board the bus for the trip take place. If a city has less then 50 sign ups, then we may have to cancel the bus for that city.
• Meals will be provided on board the bus to and from Chicago
• We are working on housing and meals while in Chicago

There are several direct actions and events that we will participate in while in Chicago including:

• May 18 – The People’s Summit
• May 19 – the 99% Solidarity People’s Convention
• May 20 – CANG8 rally and march.

Please visit 99solidarity.net often to get the most up to date information and be sure to invite your friends and fellow occupiers to join you on this exciting, historic trip.
In addition, please follow us on Facebook and Twitter: @99solidarity
Currently, buses will be leaving from the following cities in time to arrive in Chicago on May 17.
New York City
Washington DC
Boston, MA
Providence, RI
Burlington, VT
Salem, NH
Philadelphia, PA
Atlanta, GA
Oakland CA
Los Angeles, CA
San Francisco, CA
Portland, OR
We are working hard to add more cities, so please check back often if your city is not listed.

See below for the call to action!

also via 99% Solidarity:
From 5/17-5/22 occupiers throughout the country will be joining with the National Nurses United, and many other unions and groups, in Chicago for the People’s Summit, and to protest at the NATO summit on 5/20. The purpose of the People’s Summit is to join together in solidarity, address the grievances of the 99%, and advance the process of truly changing this country. The NATO summit provides an opportunity to directly confront some of those grievances; our nation’s exorbitant spending on the military, global militarization, and the culture of war. It is ludicrous that in a time of economic hardship our military spending is higher than the other ten top spending countries combined. Our tax dollars fund useless wars and support the military industrial complex while social programs are being cut and our infrastructure is crumbling.
Though the G8 punked out and will conduct their nefarious business in the secluded, well guarded confines of Camp David, the gathering in Chicago will still be an important event, showcasing the frustrations of the 99% and our willingness to act in the struggle for a just and fair society.
This is a key moment in the American Spring. Following the nationwide actions on May Day, the Chicago actions will keep the pressure on and show the determination of the Occupy Movement and its many supporters and allies to keep up the fight and get the message out to the people.
This is the time for action. The fact that Rahm Emanuel has trashed the constitution in his attempts to quash protest and stifle dissent makes it all that more important that we show up in Chicago to raise our voices. The repressive measures taken by Mayor Emanuel encapsulate the broader assaults on freedom by our city, state, and federal governments; all to serve their masters, the 1%. The gathering in Chicago has thus become an even more powerful symbol, a chance to show the true passion and determination of our movement.
We are at a crucial time in American and world history, a crossroads which will lead to subjugation by the 1% or a new age of justice and freedom. The choice is yours. Our country was founded through revolution. Though the results of this revolution were imperfect, it was still a great advance for the cause of individual liberty. The people who fought for and supported the American Revolution knew that it was time to stand up for their rights or be subjugated. We now face the same choice. If the 99% finds common cause and courage, if we rally together and demand change, demand a more just and fair society, our revolution need not be a violent one, but an enlightened one. Our numbers are unstoppable. Our unity is our strength, our resolve is our weapon. Our greatest enemy is apathy. Come to Chicago on 5/18 for the People’s Summit and help create a world you will be proud to pass on to your children and grandchildren. Let the future remember you as one of the heroes.

AP Interview: URI says nonprofit drained resources - Boston.com

AP Interview: URI says nonprofit drained resources - Boston.com:

AP Interview: URI says nonprofit drained resources

By Laura Crimaldi

Associated Press / May 6, 2012

• E-mail|
• Print|
• Comments (0)

Text size – +

• 

  0
•  0
•  
• ShareThisNew

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I.—The president of the University of Rhode Island says the school's 26-year partnership with a sports nonprofit now facing a police probe was a drain on university resources that could have been better spent elsewhere than on the ill-fated collaboration that faced financial difficulties right from the start.

President David M. Dooley said in an interview with The Associated Press that URI was not as aggressive as it should have been in protecting the university's interests in its dealings with the Institute for International Sport.

The institute has its offices on URI's campus and was allowed to use the school's 

PENCILS DOWN – End High Stakes Testing - Mecklenburg ACTS News

Mecklenburg ACTS News:

PENCILS DOWN – End High Stakes Testing

Posted on May 5, 2012

Testing Season is at hand.  We’re fighting back.  Please join us!

GO TO 

National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing

Tuesday, May 8, Board of Education meeting, Government Center, 6 p.m

We will be asking the CMS School Board to endorse the National Resolution on High-Stakes Testing. If you plan to come, we’ll be in the lobby of the Government Center starting at about 5:45 with signs and giant pencils to wave. We expect to present at about 6:15. We’d love to have you. If you can’t come, please e-mail your school board representatives to let them know that you support the resolution. You can find theire-mails here.

Friday, May 11, Westin Hotel, 601 S. College St., 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

We will be demonstrating outside of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) national summit meeting. ALEC is a group of corporations and individuals that sponsors high dollar “educational” meetings for legislators that write model legislation to be introduced in state legislatures across the country.  Pearson (the big test producer) is a major player. Pearson is responsible for absurd test questions about the “Hare and the Pineapple” now dubbed “Pineapplegate.”  ALEC is pushing lots of education legislation in North Carolina and elsewhere, including (surprise) lots of high-stakes testing. Read the-hare-and-the-pineapple test questions.

The demonstration will involve our “High-Stakes Testing Drill,” featuring bubbles and giant pencils. (If you’re feeling creative, we would appreciate your help with choreography, etc – contact Carol.) We’ll be doing the drill at 11:45 a.m., and at 3:45, 4:45 and 5:45 p.m. It should be a lot of fun. We hope you will join us at the Westin some time during the day. Kids welcome!

The best way to get to the Westin is by light rail — the Stonewall Street station is right next to the hotel. There are also a number of decks and surface lots, and you should plan to spend about $10 for parking if you drive. We’ll be on a sidewalk somewhere near the Westin. Look for the yellow pencils. There will be several other groups demonstrating as well.

If you would like to participate in any of these events, please contact us (although you can come even if you don’t get around to e-mailing).

See you there!

Mother Crusader: Christie and Cerf: CLUELESS About Public Education

Mother Crusader: Christie and Cerf: CLUELESS About Public Education:

Christie and Cerf: CLUELESS About Public Education

by darciecima

I've been spending a fair amount of my time thinking and reading about the proposals Acting Commissioner Cerf has put before the State Board of Education.  To date, the changes to high school testing requirements have gotten the most press attention, and the changes to the charter school regulations have taken a back seat.  I am sure this will change in the coming weeks, and if nothing else I certainly plan on addressing the proposed changes to charter school regulations in depth.  


Before I dive in, I want to take some time to look at what the recent proposals tell us about Governor Christie and his Department of Education.

NJ Spotlight had a great overview of how the new high school testing plan was presented to the press:

Christie on Monday unveiled a plan to replace the High School Proficiency Assessment -- students get three chances to pass it, beginning in the spring of junior year -- with end-of-course exams in language arts and math at the 9th, 10th and 11th grade levels. The HSPA only measures skills at an 8th grade level, the governor said. The state may also recommend science and social studies tests.


The next day, the DOE released data showing the percentage of 2011 graduates in 

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky

Sunday links. « Fred Klonsky:

Sunday links.

by Fred Klonsky

Cairo, Egypt. May 4th.
John Dillon’s Pension Vocabulary Word of the Week: Misinformation. “Working as a hand puppet for the Illinois Policy Institute, ABC’s Chuck Goudie, the crack investigative reporters for the “I” Team (Eyewitness News) on Channel 7 Chicago, announced that he and the IPI had uncovered a “brand new and improved” pension scam as Illinois face “a financial cliff.” Goudie’s sober delivery and impeccable report would have made William Randolph Hearst Proud. I found  my own heart racing and anger escalating toward the local high school, but then I wondered if there were other sides to this perceived theft. Why would Channel 7 run such a story?”
Robert Reich. “With only 115,000 jobs in April, the hole is getting even deeper.”
In five years, after billions of dollars down the drain, they will conclude that the Common Core, like

Gerard Robinson Testy, Defensive in Tampa Bay Times Interview | Scathing Purple Musings

Gerard Robinson Testy, Defensive in Tampa Bay Times Interview | Scathing Purple Musings:

Gerard Robinson Testy, Defensive in Tampa Bay Times Interview

by Bob Sikes

Florida’s Commissioner of Education Gerard Robinson has apparently been designated as the one who will be taking the tough questions on education policy so Rick Scott and Jeb Bush won’t have to. His rambling and often sarcastic answers for reporter Jeff Solochek were indicative of a man who realizes he’s defending the indefensible. Writes Solochek:

Earlier in the discussion, Robinson delayed answering a question about the “parent trigger” bill that failed in the Florida Senate during session. He returned to the subject midway through the talk.
Parent trigger. I’ll share with you what I said before. I don’t think the word trigger should have any place in education. So I will call it parent empowerment. What else do you want to know?

So Robinson wants to argue semantics. It’s what we call it, you see. Making how parent trigger is packaged for 

Minority legislators back Malloy -- to a point | The Connecticut Mirror

Minority legislators back Malloy -- to a point | The Connecticut Mirror:

Minority legislators back Malloy -- to a point

2 Comments    

• Printer-friendly version
 
• Send to a friend

May 3, 2012

By Mark Pazniokas and Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

With time running short, the legislature's Black and Puerto Rican Caucus tried Thursday to nudge forward some of the education reforms that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says are needed to turn around troubled urban schools.

But the caucus, which includes 22 of the General Assembly's 187 members, offered a mixed message at a press conference, embracing some reforms, while opposing or offering no opinion on areas most strongly fought by teacher unions.

Also undercutting the presentation was the absence of two key caucus members, Sen. Toni Harp and Rep. Toni Walker of New Haven, the co-chairwomen of the Appropriations Committee negotiating a final bill.

Rep. Gary Holder-Winfield, flanked by other Black and Puerto Rican Caucus members.

Still, the long-delayed statement by these Democratic legislators whose constituents could be most affected by the governor's struggling reform effort was applauded by the Malloy administration as a positive step.

"You can't have total agreement on everything, but there is a lot of common ground there," said Roy Occhiogrosso, the governor's 

Are Test Scores the Point? « Diane Ravitch's blog

Are Test Scores the Point? « Diane Ravitch's blog:

Are Test Scores the Point?

by dianerav

We have reached a point in our public life where the only way to demonstrate the success of a school is to say it has higher test scores than some other school. But we all know–or should know–that there are many ways to get higher test scores without having a better school.
Some schools get higher test scores because they have a selection mechanism. The selection mechanism might be as simple as a test for entry. That screens out low-scoring students. But no one would be so brazen as to say that an exam-entry school was therefore better than an open-admission school.
But there are more subtle ways to get higher scores. Another is to have a lottery for admission. That means that parents must fill out papers to apply for admission. That screens out parents who don’t have the knowledge or the motivation to fill out an application.
Another way is to limit the admission of special-education students because your school doesn’t have the 

Hunting or Gathering? | Connected Principals

Hunting or Gathering? | Connected Principals:

Hunting or Gathering?

by Lynn Hardin

Amongst your students and the staff you work with reflect on who is “Hunting” and who is a “Gathering.”  This awareness will give you a better understanding of how to differentiate instruction, how to teach certain students, see where a parent is coming from, and have empathy for others.  This awareness will create better relationships!
Purpose of hunting and gathering
o    For Both is Survival.  That means there is a lot of intensity and energy around it.
Version
o    Hunting is the masculine. While both men and women can both do this, it’s fueled by testosterone. On average, men have 16x more testosterone than women. Without the same amount of “jet fuel”, women can become exhausted with hunting.
o    Gathering is the feminine. Because it’s Survival driven, don’t think of the softer, gentler spiritual aspects of femininity here.
Focus
o    Hunter is Single Focused. He or she is paying attention to one thing at a time. It could be a complex thing but it’s one ultimate result, like “Win the Game, Pass the Test, Score the Highest on This Exam, Increase API.”

The in box. From Glen Brown (a wonderful poet himself), a poem for Teacher Appreciation Week. « Fred Klonsky

The in box. From Glen Brown (a wonderful poet himself), a poem for Teacher Appreciation Week. « Fred Klonsky:

The in box. From Glen Brown (a wonderful poet himself), a poem for Teacher Appreciation Week.

by Fred Klonsky

For Fred Klonsky and all teachers
 
The Thing You Must Remember by Maggie Anderson
The thing you must remember is how, as a child,
you worked hours in the art room, the teacher’s
hands over yours, molding the little clay dog.

You must remember how nothing mattered
but the imagined dog’s fur, the shape of his ears
and his paws.  The gray clay felt dangerous,
your small hands were pressing what you couldn’t

Schools Matter: Walking Man, Jesse Turner: "Arne Duncan, You're a Failure"

Schools Matter: Walking Man, Jesse Turner: "Arne Duncan, You're a Failure":

Walking Man, Jesse Turner: "Arne Duncan, You're a Failure"

Any day you are feeling down and dispirited, just click back here and play Jesse Turner's beautiful harangue from the UOON's Occupy the DOE last month:

califather on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

The Broad Foundation | Seattle Education

The Broad Foundation | Seattle Education:

The Broad Foundation

A Parent Guide to the Broad Foundation’s training programs and education policies

This guide can also be downloaded as a pdf fact sheet.

The question I ask is why should Eli Broad and Bill Gates have more of a say as to what goes on in my child’s classroom than I do? – Sue Peters in NYC

In recent months, three prominent school district superintendents resigned or were fired, after allegations of mismanagement, autocratic leadership styles, and/or the pursuit of unpopular policies.

All three were trained by the Broad Superintendents Academy: Maria Goodloe-Johnson (class of 2003) of the Seattle school district, LaVonne Sheffield (class of 2002) of the Rockford, Illinois school district, and Jean-Claude Brizard (class of 2008) of the Rochester New York school district. Brizard resigned to take the job as CEO of Chicago schools, but his superintendency in Rochester had been mired in controversy. Another Broad-trained Superintendent recently