AFT President Weingarten, Rep. Keith Ellison Join Broad Coalition of Parents and Community Groups for National Day of Action for Public Schools

AFT President Weingarten, Rep. Keith Ellison Join Broad Coalition of Parents and Community Groups for National Day of Action for Public Schools – SAT Press Releases:

AFT President Weingarten, Rep. Keith Ellison Join Broad Coalition of Parents and Community Groups for National Day of Action for Public Schools
Tens of Thousands Participate in Day of Action Events in More Than 200 Cities and Towns

WASHINGTON—Tens of thousands of parents, teachers, students and community members took action in more than 200 cities and towns today as part of the #ReclaimOurSchools National Day of Action. The day of action was spearheaded by the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools with support from the American Federation of Teachers.

Community members took to the streets on the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration to draw a stark contrast between his destructive agenda to undermine public education and the growing movement to fulfill the promise of public education. AFT President Randi Weingarten and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) joined the historic day of action at an event in Washington, D.C., and Weingarten also joined community members in Newark, N.J., earlier in the day.

“This is really a tale of two movements. We are a movement of educators, parents, students and neighbors, standing up to make sure every child has access to a great neighborhood public school—a school that is safe and welcoming, that is focused on the well-being of kids, and where there is powerful learning,” said Weingarten. “That’s the opposite of the agenda being pushed by Donald Trump and his inexperienced and unqualified education nominee, Betsy DeVos, who simply want to privatize, defund and destabilize public education.”

Today’s mobilization took place at more than 2,000 sites from New York City to San Francisco to Cincinnati to Detroit, and included schools, hospitals, college campuses and government buildings. The events included rallies, marches, demonstrations, “walk-ins” and community forums, and mobilized around three national demands:

• That all schools and campuses be named “sanctuary spaces” free from the threat of deportation, racism and bullying.
• That the U.S. Senate support public education and reject Betsy DeVos as the secretary of education.
• That policymakers invest in high-quality public schools; make billionaires and Wall Street pay their fair share; and protect Title I, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other federal funds directed to at-risk students.

In Washington, D.C., hundreds of community members were joined by Ellison and Weingarten at Anne Beers Elementary School, where they held hands around the school—a symbolic action to show the community’s commitment to public education and the well-being of all the district’s students. Beers Elementary is a thriving public school with deep community ties that has suffered funding cuts due to the unregulated expansion of charters and a congressionally mandated voucher program that has siphoned off the limited educational resources in the District of Columbia.

“Day after day, public schools help educate our children and prepare them for a brighter future. And so, the work that AROS and the AFT are doing could not be more important. Through ‘walk-ins’ and days of action, they’re getting parents, community members and students to voice their support for public schools and a high-quality education,” said Ellison. “That’s exactly the approach we’ll need to fight back against Donald Trump and his secretary of education nominee, Betsy DeVos, a notorious anti-public schools crusader.”

During the day of action, AFT Secretary-Treasurer Lorretta Johnson stood with Baltimore educators and parents in their struggle to increase the number of community schools and fight back against Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s attempt to open more charter schools. In St. Paul, Minn., AFT Executive Vice President Mary Cathryn Ricker stood alongside community members in their fight to ensure that all students, no matter their race, religion or neighborhood, have access to safe, high-quality public schools, free from discrimination.                                                

This is the third national day of action organized by AROS in the past year. 

AFT President Weingarten, Rep. Keith Ellison Join Broad Coalition of Parents and Community Groups for National Day of Action for Public Schools – SAT Press Releases:

No Struggle, No Progress — 50+ Organizations Working to Defend and Improve Public Education

No Struggle, No Progress — 50+ Organizations Working to Defend and Improve...:

50+ Organizations Working to Defend and Improve Public Education.

I asked my social media feed to send me the names and links of organizations that are working to defend and improve public education. The 50+ that were sent to me are listed below. This is, of course, a partial and provisional list. There are many, many states and organizations not represented below. Also, some may disagree about whether certain organizations should be included or not, based on stances or compromises they may have made. I cannot vouch for these organizations. I asked for organizations that people know and trust, and this is what I received. Personally, I think we are going to need broad, principled and democratic organizations and alliances in the next few years. I am publishing this list in that spirit. If you think something should be added or subtracted, I may not agree with you, but i’m happy to hear about it. Write to me. See you in the streets.

NATIONAL

The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools

Annenburg Institute for School Reform

Badass Teachers Association

Class Size Matters

EduColor

Education Law Center

Education for Liberation Network

Fair Test: The National Center for Fair and Open Testing

GLSEN

Journey for Justice

Live Above the Hype

National Association for Multicultural Education

National Coalition on School Diversity

Network for Public Education

Parents Across America

Rethinking Schools

Save Our Schools

Teacher Activist Groups

Teaching for Change

United Caucuses of Rank and File Educators

Zinn Education Project

REGIONAL

Northwest Teaching for Social Justice Conference

CALIFORNIA

Grassroots Coalition for the Schools LA Children Deserve

Homies Empowerment Program / Adelante

Peoples Education Movement

Roses in Concrete

Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing

ILLINOIS

Blocks Together

Caucus of Rank and File Educators

Chicago Student Union

Chicago Teachers Union

Parents 4 Teachers

Teachers for Social Justice

MARYLAND

Baltimore Algebra Project

Teachers’ Democracy Project

MASSACHUSETTS

Citizens for Public Schools

Educators for a Democratic Union

Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts

MICHIGAN

Michigan Parents for Schools

NEW JERSEY

Newark Education Workers

Newark Student Union

NEW YORK

Alliance for Quality Education

Black New Yorkers for Educational Evidence

Buffalo Parent-Teacher Organization

Community Task Force on School Climate, Rochester

Conference of Big 5 School Districts

Independent Commission on Public Education

IntegrateNYC4Me

Movement of Rank and File Educators

New York Collective of Radical Educators

New York State Allies for Public Education

New York State Youth Leadership Council

New York Student Union

Participatory Action Research Center

Port Jefferson Station Teachers Association

Teachers Unite

Youth Activists — Youth Allies Network

NORTH CAROLINA

Public Schools First, NC

Organize 2020

PENNSYLVANIA

215 People’s Alliance

Caucus of Working Educators

Philadelphia Student Union

RHODE ISLAND

Providence Student Union

WASHINGTON

Social Equality Educators

WISCONSIN

Educators’ Network for Social Justice

IWW Education Workers, Industrial Union 620

No Struggle, No Progress — 50+ Organizations Working to Defend and Improve...:

John Thompson: A 'grizzly' scene: Democrat senators devour DeVos - NonDoc

A 'grizzly' scene: Democrat senators devour DeVos - NonDoc:

A ‘grizzly’ scene: Democrat senators devour DeVos

This past week, President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees seemed to be competing for the honor of having the weirdest confirmation hearings.

Although former Texas Gov. Rick Perry beat out current Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin for the title of Most Bizarre Potential Appointee some time ago, the recent combination of good ol’ Okie science deniers Attorney General Scott Pruitt and Sen. Jim Inhofe provided some surrealistic moments in Pruitt’s nomination hearing to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

As the week began, my hope was that President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education would embarrass herself the most — perhaps to the point where even Republicans would reject her.

Alas, it would take quite a fiasco to persuade 10 of the 12 Republican senators who have been funded by Betsy DeVos or her family to convince a majority of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to reject her.

But DeVos, the Amway heiress who sees school choice as a way to “advance God’s Kingdom” to “greater Kingdom gain,” may have actually pulled it off.

Clueless on metrics, federal policies

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Although the questioning of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) failed to produce the belly laughs we might have hoped for from a former Saturday Night Live cast member, he still managed to elicit a stunner from DeVos.

She touts her decades of education advocacy — a movement preoccupied with data-driven accountability — but apparently DeVos doesn’t even know the difference between A 'grizzly' scene: Democrat senators devour DeVos - NonDoc:

Betsy DeVos — A clear and present danger by Ann Policelli Cronin - Wait What?

Betsy DeVos — A clear and present danger by Ann Policelli Cronin - Wait What?:

Betsy DeVos — A clear and present danger by Ann Policelli Cronin

First published in CT Mirror, educator and advocate Ann Policelli Cronin highlights what she learned  from watching three hours of the Senate confirmation hearing for Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education:

Ann Conin writes;

• Betsy DeVos demonstrated a lack of any understanding about student assessment.

• Betsy DeVos said that permitting guns in schools is a decision that should be left up to individual schools.

• Betsy DeVos did not commit to preschool for all children.

• Betsy DeVos said that educating children with special needs and disabilities is up to individual schools and districts, and she did not commit to upholding existing federal mandates regarding the education of children with special needs and children with disabilities.

• Betsy DeVos said that she does not support equal accountability for all schools that receive taxpayer funds. Charter schools, funded with taxes, will not have the same accountability and transparency as traditional public schools.

• Betsy DeVos said that charter schools, funded with public taxes, do not have to adhere to the same policies as traditional public schools in regard to regulations about student bullying and student suspensions.

• Betsy DeVos did not commit to the enforcement of existing federal laws Betsy DeVos — A clear and present danger by Ann Policelli Cronin - Wait What?:

The Work Ahead [An Annenberg Institute Interview] | The Jose Vilson

The Work Ahead [An Annenberg Institute Interview] | The Jose Vilson:

The Work Ahead [An Annenberg Institute Interview]

Here’s a little something.

“As far as the election is concerned, I’ve always felt that we were having to do the work regardless. There was always a sense of creating a path for equity, for access for true integration, for true understanding of what the work needed to be for all of us in our schools and in our democracy. What the election result highlighted for me, however, is that we definitely need to create broader senses of coalition among many different peoples, whether they be Native American people at Standing Rock, or the Black Lives Matter Movement or our Dreamers – anyone who has been disenfranchised. These are the folks who we need to start building coalitions with, because we need to create a government that suggests that everyone is included, not just for a small percentage, but for every single body in America.”

I had more to say about the future of organizing, elections, race, and inclusion. There’s even a glossy video of me wearing my EduColor shirt. Swag!

Read on, and let me know what you think below.

 The Work Ahead [An Annenberg Institute Interview] | The Jose Vilson:

Portland students protest DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary | OregonLive.com

Portland students protest DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary | OregonLive.com:

Portland students protest DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary

On the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration and amid anticipation of high-turnout protests in the coming days, Portland students took to the streets to decry Trump's pick for education secretary.

A group of Portland Public Schools students, known as Portland Student Action Network, organized an after-school march and rally in downtown against Betsy DeVos, a billionaire known for her advocacy to move money from public schools to private alternatives.

"DeVos has never attended or sent her kids to public school and has no experience as an educator. She is a corporate lobbyist who is unqualified to be Secretary of Education. We are urging U.S. Senators to vote against her confirmation and prevent long-term damage to millions of students," the Portland Student Action Network wrote on its Facebook page. "We instead call for a massive and equitable federal investment in public education that focuses on closing the opportunity gap and strengthens our public schools."

In a combative confirmation hearing the day before the Portland students' protest, DeVos refused to answer some questions from Democrats and indicated she didn't understand basic programs such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

"It's really scary to think about someone advocating for schools for white, privileged people," said Nika Bartoo-Smith, 17, a Grant High School student.

Bartoo-Smith marched while hoisting a sign that read, "Guns In School, Not Portland students protest DeVos, Trump's pick for education secretary | OregonLive.com:

Worried about what Trump might say, Michigan teacher won’t let fourth-graders watch inaugural address - The Washington Post

Worried about what Trump might say, Michigan teacher won’t let fourth-graders watch inaugural address - The Washington Post:

Worried about what Trump might say, Michigan teacher won’t let fourth-graders watch inaugural address

A fourth-grade teacher in Michigan sent an email to parents saying he was so concerned about what Donald Trump might say in his presidential inaugural address on Jan. 20 that he won’t allow his students to watch the new commander in chief deliver it.

Bret Meteyer, of Explorer Elementary School in the Williamston Community Schools district, told parents he was concerned about derogatory remarks Trump has made about women, minorities and other groups of people. The email was published by Michigan radio host Steve Gruber, who said he received the email from a parent. Meteyer said his students would watch the inauguration ceremony but not the speech:

“Because I am concerned about my students and your children being exposed to language and behavior that is not in concert with the most conservative social and family values, I have decided to show the inauguration of Donald Trump this Friday, but we will not view Mr. Trump’s inauguration speech.”

Parents apparently complained to the district superintendent, Narda K. Murphy, who posted a letter on the district website saying that it was up to teachers to decide how to run their class. Her letter is below:

The inauguration will be broadcast during the school day — at different times depending on time zone — and across the country teachers are deciding whether to let students watch and/or listen. In most places, it appears that teachers are being given discretion by administrators. That’s what 9News found in a survey of big school districts in Colorado, for example. “Watching Worried about what Trump might say, Michigan teacher won’t let fourth-graders watch inaugural address - The Washington Post:

Protecting Public Education Will Be a Challenge under the Trump Administration | janresseger

Protecting Public Education Will Be a Challenge under the Trump Administration | janresseger:

Protecting Public Education Will Be a Challenge under the Trump Administration

Today we mark the inauguration of a new U.S. President and a new administration. Public education is perhaps the quintessential American institution, designed to educate all children—helping them develop personally and forming an educated public. All indications are that President Donald Trump’s administration will set our society back by undermining public education.

A group of 175 deans of colleges of education and chairs of college departments of education has released a declaration of principles to remind us all what we must try to preserve as the new administration takes over federal policy and seeks to privatize education.

First, “U.S. public education policy should: Uphold the role of public schools as a central institution in the strengthening of our democracy... Students are not merely commodities or consumers, and when we treat education as a competitive marketplace fueled by privatization we set up a system that ensures that some win while many others lose…”

Second, “Protect the human and civil rights of all children and youth, especially those from historically marginalized communities. The federal government has historically played a leading role in advancing educational access and equity, as with the passage and enforcement of civil rights laws, targeted funding to address poverty and resource inequities, and appropriate supports for English-language learners and students with disabilities…”

Third, “Develop and implement policies, laws, and reform initiatives by building on a democratic vision for public education and on sound educational research… The U.S. educational system is plagued with oversimplified policies and reform initiatives that were developed and imposed without support of a compelling body of rigorous research or even with a track record of failure.  We urge you to build on the ample evidence from the high-quality research that exists….”

Finally these academic professionals ask our society to support the work they do: “Support and partner with colleges and schools of education to advance these goals.”  They are speaking for the need to sustain an education profession informed by academic research—teachers who know what the fields of psychology and sociology can tell them about their students and their Protecting Public Education Will Be a Challenge under the Trump Administration | janresseger:

Dark Money, Betsy DeVos, Blackwater, Lamar Alexander, Erik Prince and our children | Reclaim Reform

Dark Money, Betsy DeVos, Blackwater, Lamar Alexander, Erik Prince and our children | Reclaim Reform:

Dark Money, Betsy DeVos, Blackwater, Lamar Alexander, Erik Prince and our children

CONNECT THE DOTS.

Jane Mayer in her 2016 New York Times bestseller, Dark Money, intersperses the DeVos family scandals from page 15 to page 360. Yes, Betsy Prince DeVos, the prospective Secretary of Education, is the sister of Erik Prince of Blackwater mercenary infamy.

Senator Lamar Alexander, the elderly republican Chairman of the Health, Eduction and Pension Committee, is pulling DeVos through the cogs of the Congressional Confirmation Hearings. The senior senator’s ultra-right wing history and his connections with the Military Industrial Complex and the Corporate Education Industrial Complex are legion; it would take most of a day to google his background and connections. Sen Alexander is cheating in as many ways as he can get away with in order to skate through the spectacle.

Betsy’s brother, Erik Prince, has garnered hundreds of millions of dollars per contract for his mercenary Blackwater (later renamed XE Services and then Academi) corporation which was and is involved in one deadly and scandalous operation after another.

At this moment, Prince has been exposed as the adviser to the Trump transition team, the same team that vets Cabinet choices, one of which just happens to be his billionaire sister who just revealed that Betsy DeVos has been listed as a director of her mother’s super-right-wing foundation due to a “clerical error.” The Elsa and Edgar Prince Foundation, of Dark Money, Betsy DeVos, Blackwater, Lamar Alexander, Erik Prince and our children | Reclaim Reform:

Destroying Special Ed. For Free Market Reform? Question About Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District

Destroying Special Ed. For Free Market Reform? Question About Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District:

Destroying Special Ed. For Free Market Reform? Question About Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District

Was the defunding of special education used to pave the way for school reforms that would eventually take place in the Douglas County, Colorado school district? Was special education sacrificed to make 21st Century Schools?

There’s lots to talk about with this case, but I want to discuss the school district and what was happening there when Drew’s parents filed their case.

If you have already read the specifics surrounding the case, feel free to skip down to Free Market Run Amuck in Douglas County, CO.

I have been wondering about this while reading about the most significant special education case in decades, Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District. It is being considered by the Supreme Court, and it raises interesting, but complicated, questions.

Parents in this case claim they should be compensated $70,000 for the yearly private school tuition. They believe the public school failed their child. The child called Drew who has autism and ADHD attended public school in Douglas County starting in preschool.

In 4th grade Drew’s behavior worsened. According to the Washington Post:

He was yelling, crying and dropping to the floor. By fourth grade, the problems had Destroying Special Ed. For Free Market Reform? Question About Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District:

Audio: At LA rally, national teachers union leader criticizes Trump's ed secretary nominee | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: At LA rally, national teachers union leader criticizes Trump's ed secretary nominee | 89.3 KPCC:

At LA rally, national teachers union leader criticizes Trump's ed secretary nominee

On a day teachers unions across the U.S. staged protests against the incoming presidential administration, the president of the largest such union — the National Education Association — chose Los Angeles as the venue to deliver a message to President-elect Donald Trump: leave public schools alone.

NEA president Lily Eskelsen García also criticized Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, during a rally at Grand View Boulevard Elementary School in west L.A.'s Mar Vista neighborhood, attended by hundreds of teachers, parents, local officials and students.

Eskelsen García and local union leaders ticked off a long list of concerns, ranging from Trump's promise to step up deportations of undocumented immigrants to fears DeVos would promote broad, nationwide expansions of school choice that would undercut funding for public school districts.

And Eskelsen García — who has led the politically-powerful teachers union since 2014 — dismissed DeVos' assurances that, if confirmed, she would leave it to states to decide whether to expand school choice through charter schools or private school voucher programs.

"Even the things [DeVos] has said she would devolve to states scares me, like the rights to special ed services," said Eskelsen García — a reference DeVos' comments at her Senate confirmation hearing this week suggesting enforcement of the federal mandates in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ought to be left to the states. (DeVos later said she "may have confused it.")

"But let me tell you," Eskelsen García continued, "I do not believe she will not try very hard to voucherize and privatize special education funding, Title I funding, English Learner funding — those are the special funds for targeted communities of children who've been underserved by their states. It's why the federal government stepped in."

Fears of "privatization" tie together many of the criticisms teachers unions and Democrats have lobbed at Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Education. In her home state of Michigan, DeVos' influence was critical in expanding charter schools. She also led an unsuccessful campaign to create a private school voucher program in the state in 2000.

During her confirmation hearing, DeVos said her support for school choice springs from the belief that "parents no longer believe that a one-size-fits-all model of learning meets the needs of every child."

"We acknowledge today that not all schools are working for the students that are assigned to them," DeVos said when pressed by a Democratic Senator. "I am hopeful we can work together to find common ground in ways we can solve those issues and empower parents to make choices on behalf of their children that are right for them."

Union leaders said Thursday's rally was planned in response to Trump's comments that have unnerved "immigrants, people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, Audio: At LA rally, national teachers union leader criticizes Trump's ed secretary nominee | 89.3 KPCC: