Virtual charter school network making profit at the expense of California schoolchildren, study finds - ContraCostaTimes.com

Virtual charter school network making profit at the expense of California schoolchildren, study finds - ContraCostaTimes.com:

Virtual charter school network making profit at the expense of California schoolchildren, study finds

California schoolchildren studying at home through a growing network of for-profit online charter schools often lack functional computers and other materials they need to learn -- even as millions in state tax dollars flow to the schools' operator, according to a report released Thursday.

California Virtual Academy's high schools graduated just 36 percent of their students from 2011 to 2013 and had more dropouts than graduates, the report found.

"This is not what virtual education in California should look like," concludes the report by In the Public Interest, a Washington, D.C.-based research group that focuses on contracting and privatization.

The troubling findings about the network's academic performance, resources and finances suggest that the company managing the 11 California schools -- Virginia-based K12 and its California subsidiary, K12 California -- is rewarding shareholders and executives at the expense of the 14,500 children enrolled in them from kindergarten through grade 12.

"There's an increased feeling that corners are being cut so that profits can be maximized," said Cara Bryant, who has taught for nine years at a Davis school operated by K12.

One of the largest virtual charter-school companies in the nation, K12 manages -- and sells technology and other services to -- online schools in dozens of states. One of the 11 California Virtual Academies is based in San Mateo County, which is permitted to enroll students from the adjacent counties of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Alameda.

In the Public Interest did not contact K12 or K12 California before releasing the report, which the head of school at California Virtual Academies, Katrina Abston, called "inaccurate and deeply flawed."

In a statement, Abston accused the organization of having a bias against publicly funded, privately run charter schools and getting much its information from the California Teachers Association. (The report's 16-page appendix lists numerous sources for its data, including the California Department of Education, news stories and interviews.)

"Our schools provide families a public school option for children who need alternatives to traditional public school," Abston said. "Efforts by powerful special interests opposed to charter schools and parent choice will not deter us from that commitment."

The report highlights a complicated relationship between the taxpayer-funded schools and their for-profit operators that allows for self-dealing and conflicts of interest.

Through its California subsidiary, the company not only manages the schools and control their bank accounts but also serves as its main vendor; contracts reviewed by researchers forbid the schools from seeking competitive bids from other companies, the report found.

In exchange for management, technology and administrative services, K12 received $47 million from the California schools -- nearly half of K12's total revenue -- during the 2012-13 school year, the report found.

How much of those dollars were spent on services for California schools and how much paid for profits, advertising and executive pay remains a mystery, said Shahrzad Habibi, the lead author.

K12's top executive in 2011-12 received nearly $4 million in pay and bonuses, while teachers in the California network averaged wages of about $36,000 -- at least $20,000 less than the public school teachers in the area, a disparity that fueled teacher turnover, the report found.

Teachers interviewed in the report said that in the push to expand, the company aggressively recruited and enrolled students who weren't likely to succeed in an online-only setting. The report also suggested the network encouraged teachers to fudge student-attendance records, instructing teachers to mark students as present even if they had logged on to the system for a single minute Virtual charter school network making profit at the expense of California schoolchildren, study finds - ContraCostaTimes.com:

Charter school group is political force in L.A. Unified board election - LA Times

Charter school group is political force in L.A. Unified board election - LA Times:



Charter school group is political force in L.A. Unified board election

Los Angeles mayors once played the role of kingmaker in school board elections.

Both Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa took on the teachers union, leading campaigns to raise money for favored candidates. When those candidates won, the mayors influenced district spending, the hiring of superintendents and the direction of reforms — often over union opposition.

In Tuesday's election, this role has shifted to a statewide charter school group, which is raising money, sending mailers and rallying parents in an effort to become a permanent political force. The push comes at a crucial time for charter schools, which have been growing at a rapid clip in Los Angeles Unified despite concerns from some — including union officials — that they are sapping vital resources from traditional public schools.

California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, a political action committee, has put its muscle into a race it considers crucial. The charter group seeks to unseat one-term incumbent Bennett Kayser and elect charter school founder Ref Rodriguez to represent an area that encompasses Silver Lake and Eagle Rock as well as southeast L.A. County.

The teachers union, United Teachers Los Angeles, is pouring money into the race on behalf of Kayser.

Another candidate for District 5 is parent leader and education consultant Andrew Thomas, who frequently reaches for middle ground between his two opponents.

Through Wednesday's campaign filings, the charter group had spent $699,688 to support Rodriguez. UTLA had spent $384,109 for Kayser. Those totals far surpass donations directly to the candidates as well as the spending totals for the other contested board races.

Since September, the donors to the charter PAC include Netflix Chief Executive Reed Hastings ($1.5 million), former New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ($450,000), Jim Walton of the Wal-Mart founding family ($250,000) and local philanthropist Eli Broad ($155,000). All are longtime charter school backers with a broad interest in education.

"At least for this election, and in board District 5, where it's going to be the most competitive race, this looks like a proxy war between the California Charter Schools Assn. and United Teachers Los Angeles," said Dan Chang, who heads a different political action committee that supports the same candidates as the charter PAC.

Four seats are on the ballot for the seven-member school board. George McKenna, who recently took office in a special election, is unopposed. Two other incumbents, Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic, are seeking to retain their seats in contested but lower-cost races. The union is silent in these races; the charter group endorses the incumbents.

The next Board of Education will choose a superintendent for the nation's second-largest district and face difficult decisions over how best to restore programs and staffing as funding recovers from the recent recession. L.A. Unified also is mired in contract talks with the teachers union.

Another challenge is how to deal with the growing number of charter schools, a main point of distinction between the candidates.

Charters are independently operated and exempt from some rules that govern traditional campuses. Most are nonunion.

According to the charter group, Kayser cast votes supportive of charter schools only 11% of the time. Kayser's vote was usually symbolic because the board majority regularly approved valid petitions for new charters, as required by state law.

But Kayser's reflexive opposition made him enemy No. 1 for charter advocates.

More than 100,000 students, or 15% of L.A. Unified's enrollment, attend charters, the most of any school system in the nation. State funding, at least $8,000 per student, goes to the charter school where a student enrolls, leaving fewer resources in L.A. Unified to pay for infrastructure, programs for the disabled, retiree Charter school group is political force in L.A. Unified board election - LA Times:

Charters (Buicks) are Good Because They are Charters (Cars): DUH! | Cloaking Inequity

Charters (Buicks) are Good Because They are Charters (Cars): DUH! | Cloaking Inequity:

Charters (Buicks) are Good Because They are Charters (Cars): DUH!

Does this sentence make sense? Just because I call it an car (charter school), it has high reliability and quality in build. Are all cars (charter schools) awesome because I call them automobiles (charters)!? Or is car (charter schools) awesome because it hangs out with other cars in the same sentences (charter schools)?

I am paying attention to which automobiles are actually desirable this month because I need to replace my Chevrolet Volt. Consumer Reports came out this week with their list of 10 Top Picks of 2015.  For the first time in many years, American automakers had three entries on the Consumer Reports top ten list. This news makes me happy as the grandson of two American autoworkers, I of course want to buy an American automobile. A big surprise on the list was the Buick Regal. There is no question that some cars (charter schools) perform better than others. Is that really under debate? Because a Buick made the list does that mean that all Buicks (charter schools) outperform all Hondas (traditional schools)? Because a Buick (KIPP school) made the list and beat the BMW for the first time in many years, does that mean that all Buicks (KIPP schools) are good or bad? I had my eye on the list. Now I am definitely not besmirching the reputation of Buicks. My parents have had two Buicks over the last decade and a half and have collectively put nearly a million miles on those two cars. So let’s take this logic a little farther. Whats fantastic about ALL Buicks (charter schools) is that they have done a few things. First, they have solved the effects of poverty. Second, we no longer have to worry about school finance because, well, charters— of course it never mattered anyways according to a particular group of politicians (although there is this Top Ten List: Why “choice” demonstrates that money matters). Buicks (charters) have also solved the issue of school discipline. You get my point, I could keep going. 

Scot Lehigh, a columnist at the Boston Globe, sought to weigh in to this debate recently in his column entitled Foreshadowing the charter school debate(Thanks to Karen from Houston for the heads up on piece).

His argument went like this: 1) The BAEO folks in the panel were better debaters. 2) The unions didn’t directly address the success of charters. 3) They hadn’t read that the two studies ahead of time that I thought were interesting. 4) The unions are obstructionist.

1) So what about BAEO. See this The Teat: BAEO, Choice, $, and Strings Attached?

2) My research and writing on charters and achievement at Cloaking Inequity spans a few years. Check it out here.

3) See below

4) Obstructionist? See EdWeek Series Beyond Rhetoric: Should Teachers Unions Reform?

Lehigh first mentions a “Harvard study.” The study is not actually a “Harvard” study, its a study paid for by the Boston Charters (Buicks) are Good Because They are Charters (Cars): DUH! | Cloaking Inequity:

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm asked by Ponce: 'Do you need to tweak your style?' Or 'Why are you such a dick'?

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm asked by Ponce: 'Do you need to tweak your style?' Or 'Why are you such a dick'?:

Rahm asked by Ponce: 'Do you need to tweak your style?' Or 'Why are you such a dick'?

"You know, Phil. I'm human just like you."

Telling interview with Mayor 1% on Chicago Tonight.



Rahm is not used to being confronted face-to-face interview style where he can't sneer, give a glib answer, and walk away. Phil Ponce basically asks him why he is such an asshole (Ponce doesn't use those words of course) and Rahm struggles for words. He tries to force a smile -- they've prompted him to smile more, to be a softer, gentler Rahm -- but his mouth just doesn't seem to stretch that far. He's just not a self-aware guy and all the coaching by Axelrod's people can't change that.



After denying the Guardian report that Chicago PD has an off-the-books, secret interrogation spot at Homan Square ("We follow all the rules... Everything's done by the book."), Rahm is asked about the PARCC test fiasco.



He's lost. Non-responsive. I can't really blame him on that one. He's an education know-nothing and his own schools chief Byrd-Bennett has ordered that full PARCC testing be put off for a year, blasted the testing process and called the PARCC test “unproven.” All Rahm can do is mutter something about how the test needs improvement. He admits, "We haven't even gotten the results back from last-year's tests." But you can tell he's going to cave to Arne Duncan and Rauner's guy Meeks on this one and give the test anyway ("There is a serious financial and that's what we have to weigh"). What?



Then comes Ponce's asshole question. Why do so many Chicagoans hate you? Actually, he asks, "Do you need to tweak your style?" Rahm hesitates, trying to Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Rahm asked by Ponce: 'Do you need to tweak your style?' Or 'Why are you such a dick'?:

To Tom Balanoff and the SEIU: Join me in song. | Fred Klonsky

To Tom Balanoff and the SEIU: Join me in song. | Fred Klonsky:

To Tom Balanoff and the SEIU: Join me in song.

 SEIU President Tom Balanoff.

My grandfather was a rabbi. My dad was one his four sons. My uncle Ben became a Cantor, but all all my uncles and my dad had beautiful voices. And they all sang in my grandfather’s temple, including my dad until he split at seventeen to join the International Brigades in Spain.

But that is another story.

My dad had this wonderful deep voice and he loved singing Paul Robeson songs. We would find him doing some household chore while singing, “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child…”, which would cause my brother and me to crack up. But really, he had a great voice.

I did not inherent the gene.

However, this morning I would ask you to join me in an old Methodist hymn.

Stand up, stand up for JesusTo Tom Balanoff and the SEIU: Join me in song. | Fred Klonsky:

Chicago Teachers Force Rahm into a Runoff | Labor Notes #Chuy2015

Chicago Teachers Force Rahm into a Runoff | Labor Notes:



Chicago Teachers Force Rahm into a Runoff

Chicago teacher Tara Stamps campaigns in the 37th Ward for a spot on the city council, and for mayoral candidate Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. Both Stamps and Garcia earned enough votes to make the April 7 runoff. Photo: Tara Stamps - See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2015/02/chicago-teachers-force-rahm-runoff#sthash.Z3bdWj3B.dpuf

 On election night the Chicago Teachers Union and its new independent political organization didn’t knock out Mayor Rahm Emanuel—but they did take him down a notch, forcing him into a runoff with the union’s preferred candidate, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

It’s the first runoff in a Chicago mayoral election in 20 years.

Union-friendly city council candidates and ballot initiatives gave Garcia’s campaign a boost. Three rank-and-file CTU members running for city council seats—Tara Stamps, Susan Sadlowski Garza, and Tim Meegan—made it into the April 7 runoff, too.

Nearly 90 percent of voters favored an elected school board, in an advisory referendum for which CTU and United Working Families gathered signatures. The referendum appeared on the ballot in 37 of Chicago’s 50 wards, including the ones where Stamps, Garza, and Meegan are running.

Citywide, 82 percent of voters supported an advisory referendum to mandate paid sick leave.

The mayor, who’s raised $30 million, has been pulling out all the stops in the effort to solidify his lead in the race, spending $7 million on 4,600 TV ads and holding strategically timed events with Magic Johnson and even President Obama. The president has endorsed Emanuel, his former chief of staff.

Among the mayor’s other endorsers are 15 Chicago unions, representing 70 locals. They include UNITE HERE Local 1, Chicago and Cook County Building Trades, and the Teamsters Joint Council of Chicago.

But Emanuel failed to secure the 50 percent plus one needed to avoid a runoff. His four opponents combined got more votes—indicating that the slogan “Anybody but Rahm” rang true to many voters.

‘A MORE INDEPENDENT VOICE’

Garcia, a Cook County commissioner and former member of Chicago’s city council, got 34 percent. His credentials go back to his alliance with the city’s first black mayor Harold Washington in 1983—the last time a progressive coalition including African Americans, Latinos, and organized labor came together to elect a mayor.

Garcia pledges to stop school closings, block the expansion of charter schools, bring back an elected school board, and reform Chicago’s tax increment finance system—all key issues for CTU.

It’s been a grueling four years under Emanuel. CTU beat back some of the worst concessions the mayor’s school board pushed, but the union was hit hard by a record 47 school closings in a single year. Broader attacks hit public sector workers and their pensions.

The new, independent political organization United Working Families—formed by CTU and SEIU Healthcare Illinois along with community groups such as Action Now—isn’t just out to oust the mayor. It’s trying to create a pro-labor political infrastructure to challenge the mayor’s pro-business agenda.

“We certainly want to break from the politics of austerity,” CTU organizer Brandon Johnson said. “We want a break from the disinvestment. Whenever you have incumbents that vote 100 percent of the time with the mayor of Chicago and his corporate interest agenda, there is clearly a need to have a more independent voice.”

GRASSROOTS CAMPAIGNING

United Working Families hosted one of several community forums on the West Side, where Stamps is running to unseat Emma Mitts—known for bringing Walmart to the 37th ward. In last night’s primary Stamps got 32 percent, and Mitts 49.

The coalition has given training and support to Stamps and the other CTU candidates. Garza, a 19-year school counselor from the South Side’s 10th ward, won 24 percent in the primary. Meegan received 35 percent to Deb Mell’s 50. Two other rank-and-file candidates didn’t make it past the primary.

Garza said Emanuel’s campaign cash is bankrolling her opponent, John Pope. Voters in Ward 10 were polled by a live caller

- See more at: http://www.labornotes.org/blogs/2015/02/chicago-teachers-force-rahm-runoff#sthash.Z3bdWj3B.dpuf

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago  Website

#Chuy2015

Big Education Ape: Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money - Vote for Chuy!!! http://bit.ly/1AaLZT1

THE SCORES ON YOUR SPREADSHEETS REPRESENT ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS!!! Badass Teachers Association

Badass Teachers Association:



THE SCORES ON YOUR SPREADSHEETS REPRESENT ACTUAL HUMAN BEINGS!!! 



By:  Lorri Gumanow

After a week off from school, one would think that a teenager would be happy to go back to school. Not my kid!



Last night, my 15 year old freshman told me he hated school, he hated studying things that were not interesting, and there was too much boring writing. He hates all the talk and pressure about being “college-ready,” “this will be on your Regents exam next year so we have to get ready,” and “this type of writing requires a lot of practice.” But all kids complain about things like this, so what’s the problem? My son has an IEP, is in all general education classes, and realizes he isn’t going to make it. He is passing all his subjects and is working very hard, but knows that the tests he has to pass to get a diploma are going to be out of his reach. He gets great supports from the special education staff at his school. He is making great progress. And unfortunately, he also realizes he doesn’t have “the right stuff.”



This past week, he happened to see questions from the recent ELA Regents exam given in January, posted on Facebook. And his heart sank! He attempted to try to answer the questions, but gave up before finishing the first reading passage. His brain is not wired to do this kind of reading. And we can’t refuse the tests anymore because in NY State, students in grades 9-12 must pass specific Regents exams to get a high school diploma.



He’s got severe ADHD and executive functioning challenges. What does that mean? He has trouble juggling more than one idea at a time, and needs very specific types of instructional strategies that none of his teachers know, or don’t have enough time to use with him.



When asked to read three 3-page passages of single-spaced text on topics he is not familiar with, and compare/contrast, infer meaning, and answer questions like: on page 2, line 23, what does the author infer by… he completely shuts down. Can he orally read on grade level? Yes. Does he understand what he reads? Could he complete these tasks, independently, even with extended time? No. Could he complete these tasks with assistance? Yes. Would he choose to do this type of task, close reading and analysis, as an adult? No. Is this type of reading that is going to be required in his chosen career as a puppeteer? No. So he asks himself – why are they making me do this when I can’t do it?



Most of the parents of children with disabilities that are protesting excessive standardized testing are parents of children with severe disabilities. My child, by definition, does not have severe disabilities. We have always believed that through his hard work, our unending love and support, and the hard work and support of his teachers, he would be successful. Now that we are in the home stretch of high school, that dream has been destroyed. He feels like a failure that he has let everyone down, and he wants to give up. Getting a tutor would just be rubbing salt into a wound that won’t heal, and would take him away from the one thing that boosts his self-esteem – performing in musical theater. I won’t Badass Teachers Association:

Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends | MindShift

Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends | MindShift:



Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends 

 ten frustration with the public education system is directed at teachers, even when they are following the standards and guidelines set out by the government. Everyone from politicians, to non-profits to parents tell teachers how to do their jobs better. So it’s no surprise that when the federal state education officials or school superintendents announce a new initiative that not all teachers are ready to jump on the new trend. Education has a long history of reform, each succeeded by another, and teachers have learned to pick and choose carefully where to put their energies.

“There is such a gap between policy talk and what happens on the ground,” said Larry Cuban, professor emeritus of education at Stanford University and a former high school social studies teacher and district superintendent. Cuban, a respected voice in the education community, says it can take a long time for new policies to actually get implemented in classrooms, and as schools are gearing up, new policies often come in to replace the ones being implemented. It’s a frustrating cycle for teachers and often leads them to follow their own best judgement about what works in the classroom and ignore the winds of change that can shift so quickly.

“They have history on their side,” Cuban said. He’s not surprised that teachers are reticent to immediately accept new trends in learning, especially if that trend is coming around for the second or third time. Takeproject-based learning, for example. It has become the catch phrase du jour, especially with the arrival of Common Core State Standards, but the concept isn’t new and many schools have been quietly practicing project-based learning since the time of John Dewey and Maria Montessori.

“It’s never disappeared,” Cuban said. Schools that were committed to a project-based learning approach continued to use it and made sure that their students also did well on state-mandated assessments. The practice has a history well over a century long — it didn’t arise just because new Common Core State Standards are now requiring similar skills, he says.

Even with other “new” teaching practices and ideas, “among teachers there are early adopters, so some teachers buy into it very quickly, and then when administrators pull back or funding dries up they’re stuck,” Cuban said. To avoid that kind of disillusionment many teachers have decided the best policy is to keep their heads down and continue to do what works — using trial and error to figure out how to reach kids, sticking to the textbook, and focusing on building strong relationships with students.

THE ROLE OF TECH

Technology is another hot button. Cuban points out that education has a long history of expecting new technologies to “revolutionize” the classroom. Thomas Edison believed the instructional film would replace the textbook, and radio was supposed to change how teachers taught. None of the previous technological inventions have fundamentally changed the purpose of school, he argues.

Similarly, computers have been in schools since the 1980s, but were rarely used. Now that the price point has come down and tech devices have become a ubiquitous part of society, there’s a push for that same change in education. But Cuban is skeptical that this new round of excitement about technology is any different from those that came before. He points out that technology is an expensive investment and an ongoing expense as devices quickly become obsolete. “When dollars get short, administrators bristle at that,” he said. If education funding gets cut, as it often does, he predicts the technology dollars will dry up and that trend will go the way of so many others.

But perhaps even more importantly, the transformative potential of technology has not yet taken hold. “In comparing [mid-1980s] and now … high-tech champions (and vendors as well) expected that teachers using these devices with students would shift from teacher-centered practices to student-centered ones. Comparing then and now, that shift has not occurred,” Cuban writes on his blog.

For Carrie Oretsky, a 40-year veteran public elementary teacher in Oakland, Calif., technology is Why Some Teachers May Question ‘New’ Education Trends | MindShift:

UNITE HERE Considers Itself Progressive. So Why Is the Union Standing with Rahm Emanuel? - Working In These Times

UNITE HERE Considers Itself Progressive. So Why Is the Union Standing with Rahm Emanuel? - Working In These Times:



UNITE HERE Considers Itself Progressive. So Why Is the Union Standing with Rahm Emanuel?

BY FRED KLONSKY

UNITE HERE members and staff, in red shirts, can be seen behind Mayor Emanuel as he spoke after Tuesday's election results came in.  

In the winter of 2011, I was running as a delegate to the annual Representative Assembly (RA) of the Illinois Education Association (IEA), the largest teacher union in the state. The 1,000 delegates to the state’s RA had long met at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in Rosemont. Running as a union delegate in 2011, my platform was simple and concise: “If the IEA RA is held at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, don’t vote for me because I won’t attend. I don’t cross picket lines.”

UNITE HERE Local 1, who represents the housekeepers and other employees of the Hyatt Hotel chain in Chicago, were engaged in a labor dispute with the company. The downtown Hyatt Regency and North Michigan Park Hyatt were targeted with mass protests and non-violent arrests.

Members of my teachers local and I had joined with hundreds of others demonstrating union and labor solidarity against one of the city’s wealthiest and powerful corporate families, the Pritzkers. The owners of the Hyatt chain, the Pritzker family were prominent supporters and funders of the national and local Democratic Party. Penny Pritzker had been the chief fundraiser for Obama’s first presidential bid, and would soon serve on Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand picked board of education; later, she would leave to be President Obama’s Commerce Secretary.

I wrote to the president of Local 1 and asked that a letter be sent to Ken Swanson, then-President of the IEA, supporting my call for the RA to leave the Hyatt for another location. And the IEA did move its convention. So did the National Education Association, which held its 10,000-delegate national meeting in Chicago the next year. Soon after, many other large organizations also cancelled their meeting contracts with the Hyatt.

This history with UNITE HERE makes my disappointment in the union’s support of Rahm Emanuel in the 2015 Chicago Mayoral election that much more bitter.

In service to Mayor Emanuel’s campaign, UNITE HERE produced a slick and, assumedly, expensive video showing Rahm and a group of hospitality workers who are members of the union. Near the beginning of the video, Local 1 President Karen Kent introduces the mayor by saying, “The best city in the world, the best hospitality in the world, [and] the best mayor.”

Watch the slick video and the message is clear: UNITE HERE supports the mayor because he brings tourism to Chicago. That means jobs for the hospitality industry.

What isn’t said is, what kind of jobs? Good paying jobs with good working conditions? That would require a union leadership with fire in its belly—one that does not depend on simply having a good relationship with the mayor.

UNITE HERE has certainly shown such fire in their bellies in the past, as it did in the streets during the last campaign against the Hyatt. But the decision of Local 1 to back Mayor Rahm sends a message that says that cooperation between labor, city and corporate management is the best route for unions to take. Such relationships simply don't exist—at least for the rest of the labor movement in the city. Yet it is a message promoted by a union leadership that seems to have lost its stomach for a UNITE HERE Considers Itself Progressive. So Why Is the Union Standing with Rahm Emanuel? - Working In These Times:

Decarcerate The Garden State: Interviewing Free Alabama Movement (FAM)

Decarcerate The Garden State: Interviewing Free Alabama Movement (FAM):



Interviewing Free Alabama Movement (FAM)

The following is an interview with Free Alabama Movement Founder Bennue Hannibal Ra(y)-Sun (Spokesman Ray) and Co-Founder Kinetik Justice Amun (Robert E. Council).

For more information about the Free Alabama Movement – check out their site:http://www.freealabamamovement.com

In order to share the unique perspective of the Free Alabama Movement and their perspective on the means of struggle against the system of mass incarceration, the NJ Decarcerator conducted this interview with two of its founding members.  Please share this interview widely as it could help open our minds to outside the box, avenues for our struggle to defeat mass incarceration.

Question 1: What do you see as main motivators of mass incarceration?

At the heart of mass incarceration we see economics. It iss so much money involved, many jobs across all branches of government, and now private businesses have access to this market of human capital that can be forced into free labor that produces hundreds of billions of dollars worth of products and services. The money that is being made off of mass incarceration is just . . . massive. What they say is a crime, is a crime. Whomever they say is guilty, is guilty. The Constitution only applies to who they say it applies to. Businessmen and women write laws like mandatory minimums, to make sure that you stay long enough to pay for college for their children to finish college. When the police in New York went on protest and stopped making "petty crime" arrests, the first people to complain were defense attorneys and bailbonds companies. Mass incarceration is all about the money, and many people are getting paid B-I-G !!!

The only other main factor is race, because someone has to serve the rich and provide the free labor. In America, we already know how that works. The exception in the 13 th Amendment is there for a reason. Right there is where you find the heart of mass incarceration. "Neither slavery or involuntary servitude" is an expression of economic principles. So that's (economics) is where you have to look to find the solution. We see McDonald's, Bob Barker, Koch Brothers, ALEC, Wells Fargo, Wal Mart, Wendy's, US military, Dick Chaney, AT&T, you name a company, and all of them are using prison labor. We know that when vulture capitalist like some of those whose names we see are hovering over private prisons or private factories, then that should tell you that mass incarceration is about money.

QUESTION # 2:

You advocate a particular form of resistance to mass incarceration – can you give a high level overview?

KINETIK:

Today, Mass Incarceration is one of the most talked about issues plaguing this country. However, only a few years ago, there were only a hand full of people that had ever heard the term.

It is our understanding based on various in depth studies that *MASS INCARCERATION, UNCONSTITUTIONAL OVERCROWDED PRISONS AND THE INHUMANE TREATMENT ARE MORE ABOUT ECONOMICS THAN THE HUMANITY OF PEOPLE. 

The numbers support our contention that "MONEY" is the motive and most important factor in explaining the policies and conditions within the D.O.C. Therefore, an economical response is our most effective strategy. A PEACEFUL & NONVIOLENT ECONOMICAL RESPONSE...Each institution is a"STATE FREE LABOR FORCE", which generates BILLIONS of dollars each year, in tax dollars, industry market, imposed fines & fees, co-payments, court costs and the millions saved by inmate "FREE LABOR." We have researched and studied the lessons of previous prison movements throughout the country; and the evidence of the Jan. 1, 2014 - Jan. 21, 2014 work stoppage has confirmed that prisons do not function without inmate labor. And every day that the prison does not function the prison profit margin plummets.

Based upon these premises and understanding the motive behind Alabama's Prison Policies, Free Alabama Movement takes the position that - if we, collectively, engage in a proactive peaceful & nonviolent work stoppage, the financial burden will compel the Dept. of Corrections and the law makers of this state to be more Decarcerate The Garden State: Interviewing Free Alabama Movement (FAM):

BATs Teachers Congress 2015 by Marla Kilfoyle - GoFundMe

BATs Teachers Congress 2015 by Marla Kilfoyle - GoFundMe:

BATs Teachers Congress 2015

The Badass Teachers Association is an education activist group of 53,000.  The Badass Teachers Association was created to give voice to every teacher who refuses to be blamed for the failure of our society to erase poverty and inequality through education. BAT members refuse to accept assessments, tests and evaluations created and imposed by corporate driven entities that have contempt for authentic teaching and learning.  Last year we held a successful rally in front of the USDOE with over 38 states present.  This year, we want to hold a Teachers Congress to create resolutions and actions to defeat the privatization agenda of the 1%.  We hope to have teacher, student, and parent delegates attend this Congress to give their voice to the resolutions and actions that will define BATs as they go into the 2015 school year.  We are honored  to celebrate with Jesse "The Walking Man" Turner as he walks again from Connecticut to D.C.   to protest the education malpractice that is demoralizing parents, teachers, and turning our children into human capital.    We hope to use the donations for:
1.  Our Congress Venue at the Holiday Inn
2.  To continue to fund our website
3. To fund the BAT Student in Need Book Scholarship (which was launched this year and we hope to extend).

Click Here to go to BATs Teachers Congress 2015 by Marla Kilfoyle - GoFundMe:

What Would Matt Damon's Mom Say? | BustED Pencils

What Would Matt Damon's Mom Say? | BustED Pencils:

WHAT WOULD MATT DAMON’S MOM SAY?

Question:  What would Matt Damon’s mom say and who cares?  Answer:  We all should!

Matt Damon’s mom, also known as Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige, is an early childhood scholar who knows what she’s talking about when it comes to education.  Yes, Matt–her son–is an awesome actor with a lot to say about education, but let’s face it, he’s just another celebrity with an opinion.  If you’re looking for expert analysis concerning public education policy then “Mom Knows Best.”  Especially Matt Damon’s mom!

Below are extended clips with Matt’s MOM–Dr. Nancy Carlsson-Paige.

WWMDS – 2/26/15(2/26/2015)-What is this Common Core stuff?  Where did it come from and who actually produced the standards? Listen to Nancy for this primer on the Common Core State Standards.

WWMDMS – 12/1/14(12/1/2014)-This week Nancy comments on Arne Duncan’s inability and lack of qualifications to be Secretary of Education.

Rahm Emanuel Seemed Unstoppable—Until He Ticked Off Chicago’s Teachers | #Chuy2015

Rahm Emanuel Seemed Unstoppable—Until He Ticked Off Chicago’s Teachers | The Nation:

Rahm Emanuel Seemed Unstoppable—Until He Ticked Off Chicago’s Teachers

John Nichols on February 25, 2015 - 12:16 PM ET

Chicago mayoral candidate, Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Rahm Emanuel had everything going for him in his race for a second term as mayor of Chicago.

He was the incumbent in a city that tends to keep its mayors—sometimes for decades.

He had the endorsements of the city’s major daily newspapers—and a constant media presence in the form of more than $7 million in TV ads.

He had a twelve-to-one fundraising advantage against his closest competitor—and his campaign treasury was constantly being refueled by wealthy out-of-town donors and corporate special-interest groups.

He had the endorsement of his former boss, President Obama, who recorded campaign commercials for Emanuel and who jetted into Chicago just days before Tuesday’s election and appeared at the mayor’s side.

Emanuel had everything—except a sufficient number of votes to avoid an April 7 runoff election that will now become a referendum on policies that have been so friendly to corporate elites that the incumbent has been dubbed “Mayor 1%.”

Emanuel needed another percentage to avoid the runoff—50 percent plus one vote. Under Chicago’s system, all candidates for mayor and for aldermanic seats run on a nonpartisan ballot. If any candidate gets more than 50 percent, she or he is elected outright. If no one gets over 50 percent, the top two finishers in the initial election face one another in a runoff.

A lot of the betting in Chicago was that Emanuel would get his 50-plus-one.

But when the votes were counted, all bets were off.

Emanuel finished first, with 45 percent. But that was far short of the “50-plus-1” mark, so far that the Chicago Sun Times termed the result “a huge embarrassment” for the former White House aide and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair who many see as the most politically-connected mayor in the United States.

Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the candidate of progressive labor groups such as the Chicago Teachers Union and the defender of public education and public services that have been threatened by Emanuel’s “pay-to-play” politics and municipal neoliberalism, finished a solid second with 34 percent. And the rest of the vote went to critics of the mayor: progressive Alderman Bob Fioretti, businessman Willie Wilson and William “Dock” Walls III, a former aide to the late progressive Mayor Harold Washington.

“Political dynamics change as Emanuel, Garcia move into runoff campaign,” Wednesday morning’s Chicago Tribune headline declared. The featured photo was not of a triumphant Rahm running a victory lap but of “Chuy” Garcia surrounded by a multiracial, multi-ethnic circle of activists raising clenched fists of labor and community solidarity.

Though his is still an uphill run, it was Garcia who took the victory lap.

“So, nobody thought we’d be here tonight. They wrote us off. They said we didn’t have a chance,” he told the cheering crowd on election night. “They said we didn’t have any money while they spent millions attacking us. Well, we’re still standing. We’re still running and we’re gonna win.”

Garcia explained his unexpectedly strong showing—with numbers well above what polls had predicted—in the progressive populist language of his campaign. “Today, we the people have spoken.” he declared. “Not the people with the money and the power and the connections. Not the giant corporations. The big-money special interests. The hedge funds and Hollywood celebrities who poured tens of millions of dollars into the mayor’s campaign. They all had their say. They’ve had their say for too long. But today, the rest of us had something to say.”

Across the country, progressives rook notice, and started talking about Chicago in the way they did New York during the early stages of that city’s 2013 mayoral race—when it started to look like Bill de Blasio might have a chance.

“The next six weeks in Chicago will be the biggest fight of 2015 between the power of people and the power of big money,” declared Dan Cantor, the national director of the Working Families Party. “The good guys won round one. Forcing Mayor 1% into a run-off is a remarkable achievement. Along with the run-off, the progressive caucus on the Council is poised to make gains. Chicago is showing signs of the progressive wave that has washed over cities across America.”

How did it happen?

How did Rahm Emanuel, who was elected without a runoff four years ago, win too few votes to Rahm Emanuel Seemed Unstoppable—Until He Ticked Off Chicago’s Teachers | The Nation:

Click here to go to Jesus "Chuy" Garcia for Mayor of Chicago  Website

#Chuy2015

Big Education Ape: Chicago Inc. Rahm Emanuel Dances for Corporate Money - Vote for Chuy!!! http://bit.ly/1AaLZT1