Saturday, July 15, 2017

Betsy DeVos’ plan to sell out public schools is a Koch Brothers dream come true - Salon.com

Betsy DeVos’ plan to sell out public schools is a Koch Brothers dream come true - Salon.com:

Betsy DeVos’ plan to sell out public schools is a Koch Brothers dream come true
The plutocratic policies pushed by DeVos and the Kochs reject our country's one-for-all, all-for-one egalitarianism



Where are Charlie and Dave, Mrs. Koch’s two mischievous boys?

While the Koch brothers have stayed out of the national limelight since the White House was acquired by Trump and Company, that doesn’t mean the two right-wing billionaire brats are any less active in trying to supplant American democracy with their little laissez-fairyland plutocracy. In fact, in late June, you could’ve found them in one of their favorite hideaways with about 400 other uber-wealthy rascals, plotting some political hijinks for next year’s elections.

This is the Koch Boys’ Billionaire Club, which meets annually at some luxury resort to schmooze, strategize, hear a select group of GOP elected officials kiss up to them — then throw money into a big pot to finance the Koch’s planned takeover of America. It costs $100,000 per person just to attend the three-day Koch Fest, but participants are also expected to give generously to the brothers’ goal of dumping $400 million into buying the 2018 elections.

This year, the group gathered in Colorado Springs at the ultra-lux Broadmoor Hotel and resort, owned by the brothers’ billionaire pal and right-wing co-conspirator, Philip Anschutz. Among the recent political triumphs that these elites celebrated in the Broadmoor’s posh ballroom was the defeat this year of the Colorado tax hike to fix the states crumbling roads. After all, who needs adequate roads when you can arrive in private jets? This attitude of the Koch’s privileged cohorts explains why the public is shut out of these candid sessions. A staffer for the Koch confab hailed such no-tax, no-roads policies as a “renaissance of freedom.” For the privileged, that is — freedom to prosper at the expense of everyone else.

This self-absorbed cabal of spoiled plutocratic brats intends to abandon our nation’s core democratic principle of “We’re all in this together.” If they kill that uniting concept, they kill America itself. Their agenda includes killing such working class needs as minimum wage and Social Security and privatizing everything from health care to public education.

For example, Betsy DeVos and her hubby are part of the Koch brother’s coterie. They are lucky enough to have inherited a big chunk of the multibillion-dollar fortune that Daddy DeVos amassed through his shady Amway corporation. But what they’ve done with their Amway inheritance is certainly not the American Way.

The DeVos couple are pushing plutocratic policies that reject our country’s one-for-all, all-for-one egalitarianism. In particular, Betsy DeVos has spent years and millions of dollars Betsy DeVos’ plan to sell out public schools is a Koch Brothers dream come true - Salon.com:


Uproar Over Education Department Officials' Approach To Campus Sexual Assault : NPR Ed : NPR

Uproar Over Education Department Officials' Approach To Campus Sexual Assault : NPR Ed : NPR:

Uproar Over Education Department Officials' Approach To Campus Sexual Assault


Hello! No shortage of education headlines even in the height of summer for our weekly roundup.
DeVos meets with "men's rights" groups on campus sexual assault
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has indicated that she will loosen Obama-era guidance and practices on the department's pursuit of campus sexual assault cases. She met Thursday with survivors' advocates and feminist groups, as well as three so-called "men's rights" groups, to advise her on this process, drawing criticism and concern from the survivors and advocates.
As Slate reported, one of these, the National Coalition for Men, has published the personal information of women who have accused men of rape, and its leader has labeled women the instigators of domestic violence. The second, SAVE: Stop Abusive and Violent Environments has lobbied against domestic violence protections. And Families Advocating for Campus Equality takes the position that current campus sexual assault guidelines are skewed against the accused.
Candice Jackson, whom DeVos appointed as the top enforcer of sexual assault cases at the Department of Education, seemed to agree with that position in remarks to The New York Times on Wednesday. Campus rape "accusations — 90 percent of them — fall into the category of 'we were both drunk,' " she said in part. She apologized later that same day, calling the remarks "flippant."


In a rare press availability after Thursday's meeting, DeVos told reporters that "lives have been ruined" by allegations of sexual assault.
"No student should be the victim of sexual assault," she added. "No student should feel unsafe ... and no students should feel like the scales are tipped against him or her."
Students, colleges spar at reopening of regulatory hearings
Last month, DeVos walked back two Obama-era regulations aimed at protecting student borrowers. Beginning with two public hearings this week, in Washington, D.C., and in Dallas, the Education Department has reopened the "negotiated Uproar Over Education Department Officials' Approach To Campus Sexual Assault : NPR Ed : NPR:

Sleep In Saturday Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Sleep In Saturday Diane Ravitch's blog
A site to discuss better education for all






Senator Lamar Alexander: Did Anyone at Department of Education Read ESSA?

Senator Lamar Alexander took great pride in the Every Student Succeeds Act, passed at the end of 2015 to replace the failed and rancid No Child Left Behind law of 2002. ESSA explicitly prohibits the Secretary of Education from telling 

Who Is Natalia Vesilnitskaya? Follow the Money, Part 2

Martin Longman, web editor for The Washington Monthly, gives a valuable explanation of the Russian lawyer Natalia Vesilnitskaya and why she wanted to meet with the highest levels of the Trump campaign. We were told that she was lobbying to remove the American sanctions that provoked Putin to suspend the adoption of Russian orphans by Americans. What a touching story. It was all about the children


“The Settlement:” Follow the Money

Remember Preet Bahara? He was the fiercely independent U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He was fired by Trump. Remember the Russian lawyer who met with Don Trump Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort (and 

John Merrow Punches a Gaping Hole in the Great Big Hot Air Balloon of Corporate Reform in D.C.

In his retirement, John Merrow has turned into a tiger, pulling apart the frauds that are regularly reported by the mainstream media. In this marvelous post , he punctures the great hot air balloon of “reform” in the District of Columbia under 

“Democracy”: The New, For-Profit High School Rankings

A regular reader uses the pseudonym. He/she posted this comment about high school rankings: “It isn’t just the US News & World Report school rankings that are dubious. It’s also Jay Mathews Challenge Index rankings at The Washington Post, which have been discussed on this blog. “But there’s another set of rankings that are equally suspect. And no one is saying anything much about them. These are
Why Oklahoma’s Teacher of the Year Left for Texas, “Kicking and Screaming”

Jennifer Berkshire released this podcast about the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year who left his job to teach in Texas. It is part of the Have You Heard series. Here is an excerpt: When Oklahoma Teacher of the Year Shawn Sheehan decided to leave his job as high school math teacher for a better paying position in Texas, he didn’t go quietly. Sheehan left “kicking and screaming,” warning Oklahomans tha

YESTERDAY

There Is Hope for the World in This Wonderful Story

Read this story and share the joy! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/07/11/a-riptide-swept-away-a-florida-family-then-beachgoers-formed-a-human-chain/?utm_term=.d9e60b8ab518&wpisrc=nl_most-draw7&wpmm=1 People can rise to the occasion to save others. What a great story and photo.
Karen Wolfe: Why Students at Venice High School in L.A. Staged a Walkout

Karen Wolfe writes here about the decision of students at Venice High School in Los Angeles staged a walkout. They were protesting the removal of an African-American guidance counselor. The problem was the principal, who wanted to squelch free expression: Complaints against Principal Oryla Wiedoeft had been brewing since she arrived a year and a half ago. Some students complained about a repressi
Dora Taylor: Four Things Betsy DeVos Does Not Want You to Know about Tax Credits

Dora Taylor writes in “The Progressive” about the disadvantages of tax credit, aka vouchers. 1. Education tax credits deplete state budgets, diverting money from public schools to private and religious schools. 2. Education tax credit programs benefit the rich. 3. Education tax credit programs are risky for students because the private and religious schools are not covered by federal civil rights
New York: Who Is Behind the Effort to Allow Charter Schools to Hire Uncertified Teachers?

In this article , Alan Singer of Hofstra University connects the dots behind the effort to allow charter schools to hire uncertified teachers. He follows the money, and it leads to one man: Governor Andrew Cuomo. Charters need to hire uncertified teachers because they churn through teachers and need newcomers who can devote long hours to the job without the diversion of a family. “The finger poin
The Book That Betsy DeVos Should Read about Fraternity Life and Sexual Assault on Campus Today

We have had a vigorous discussion on the blog about Betsy DeVos’s decision to reorient the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights towards protecting the rights of those accused of rape rather than those who alleged that they were victims of rape. Candace Jackson, DeVos’s controversial choice to lead OCR, made these startling remarks to the New York Times, which caused such an uproar


Tim Slekar: Next Step in Wisconsin’s War on Teachers

Having treated teachers shabbily, Wisconsin now finds it needs to take desperate measures to hire teachers: lower standards. Tim Slekar of Edgewood College in Milwaukee says this is madness . He writes: “There is NO NEED for an 
 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

A teacher’s anti-solution to a big problem - The Washington Post

A teacher’s anti-solution to a big problem - The Washington Post:

A teacher’s anti-solution to a big problem

Image result for professional development

It’s no secret that teachers don’t get enough quality professional development — or even the kinds of development — that can help them grow as educators.
That has been a particular frustration to Ashley Lamb-Sinclair, the 2016 Kentucky Teacher of the Year who teaches high school English and creative writing. Lamb-Sinclair decided to do something about it, and this post explains what she did, why she did it, and the continuing problems of professional development that hinder teachers.
Lamb-Sinclair authors the www.beautifuljunkyard.com website, and is the founder and chief executive officer of Curio Learning, an educational technology company launching a platform for — you can probably guess this — teacher professional development.  (Her Twitter handle: @AshleyLambS)

By Ashley Lamb-Sinclair
As I write this, sitting in the back corner of an evening lecture on customer discovery for startups, learning how to develop the business I have created, the creative writer in me studies the people in the room — mostly men, many middle aged and white. They huddle around the lukewarm pizza and sodas in the corner, meander back to their seats, work on their phones, and make small talk with each other. These are people who want to build businesses. They are aspiring and working entrepreneurs. I feel like an alien in this room; the creative writing teacher wearing sandals and big earrings among suited businessmen with jargon like “minimum viable product” in their heads. These men might look at me and wonder why I’m here, and more frustratingly, when I go back to my “real job” tomorrow to teach reading and writing to high school students, my colleagues in the world of A teacher’s anti-solution to a big problem - The Washington Post:

Every Student Deserves to Be Heard - Lily's Blackboard

Every Student Deserves to Be Heard - Lily's Blackboard:

Every Student Deserves to Be Heard


Students who are victims of sexual assault or harassment are often afraid they won’t be believed or taken seriously, and terrified they’ll be victimized in a different way by people who refuse to investigate their claims and even insinuate that they “asked for it” based on what they wore, said, or did.
Rather than reassuring and supporting students, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the department’s head civil rights lawyer, Candice Jackson, are intensifying these fears and letting them know, in no uncertain terms, that their safety is not a priority.
Under DeVos, the most unqualified, out-of-touch secretary ever to head the department, guidance issued to schools and campuses in 2011 encouraging students to report sexual assault or harassment is being questioned. The guidance did not establish new law; it simply clarified schools’ responsibilities under Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in any federally funded education program.
In justifying the department’s skepticism, Jackson told The New York Times that most sexual assaults reported on campuses “fall into the category of ‘we were both drunk,’ ‘we broke up, and six months later I found myself under a Title IX investigation because she just decided that our last sleeping together was not quite right.'”
Jackson has since apologized for her callous, offensive words. She says she was “flippant” and would never “diminish anyone’s experience,” particularly since she is a rape survivor herself. But in my view, she’s already done damage to students’ actual safety, as well as their sense of safety.
This only exacerbated actions by DeVos. The education secretary spent hours meeting with individuals and groups Every Student Deserves to Be Heard - Lily's Blackboard: