Seattle Schools Community Forum: Student Walk-Out is On

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Student Walk-Out is On:

Student Walk-Out is On

 I received a press release this morning about the high school student walk-out. 

The walkout will take place starting at 1:30 from the students school of origin (included schools: Franklin, Garfeild (sic), The Center School, Nova, Sealth, and UW). Students will then meet up at Cal Anderson park (1653 11th Ave, Seattle WA, 98122) at 2:30. It’s a positive opportunity to show the greater Seattle community how much they care / are impacted by the issue.

The students will also be hosting a later “Protest for Solidarity” at Westlake Park (401 pine st, Seattle WA, 98101), at 4:15 pm, to express their feelings after the election and how they plan to about it going forward. Hosted by Emma Reid, Viv Nicole, and Samantha Wisner-Simmons. “EVERYONE is welcome…”

“Seattle is a diverse community, and it's our immigrant/refugee populations, LGBTQ folks, religious diversity and colorful mix of racial demographics that makes us who we are. as students, we grew up in classrooms that reflect that. Trump is threatening our core value of tolerance as a city. We had to use our voices and numbers to show that we stand with members of our community who may not feel safe now. we'll continue to resist attacks on those around us with any/all forms of student activism!” 

-Quinn Angelou-Lysaker on why they are taking a stand. (An organizer of all school walkout)

I visited Hale about 1:30 pm but saw no students leaving.  Then I headed to Roosevelt where about 100 students walked out and had a police escort down the sidewalk/street.  They were headed down the Ave towards UW where Seattle Schools Community Forum: Student Walk-Out is On:

Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization

Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization:

Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization

We have just come to the end of a long and contentious political season. Many of us are worried about America’s future. It’s never too late to ask how civics education is being addressed in our public schools.

Public schools don’t usually teach civics well. Have you ever wondered why it isn’t a priority?

The National Council for the Social Studies claims we have narrowed the curriculum over the years to mostly exclude civics instruction. They say this especially threatens the poor and nonwhite students who get less civics instruction than middle class and wealthy white students.

Put that together with the privatization forces which have been at work in public schools. School boards face budget cuts—defunding—and the sole push for students to be college ready. There appears to be less concern that students be good citizens.

In elementary school, high-stakes testing in reading and math pushes other subjects out of the curriculum.

In high school, students are driven to take Advanced Placement (AP) classes (a program that makes the College Board a lot of money). Students who qualify can sign up for Lacking Civics Education and School Privatization:

Will Donald Trump destroy U.S. public education? - The Washington Post

Will Donald Trump destroy U.S. public education? - The Washington Post:

Will Donald Trump destroy U.S. public education? 

There’s a reason that people who care about public education in the United States are mightily worried about President-elect Donald Trump. There are, actually, a number of reasons — all of which lead to this question: Will Trump’s administration destroy U.S. public education?

The short answer is that he can’t all by himself destroy America’s most important civic institution, at least not without help from Congress as well as state and local legislatures and governors.

State and local governmental entities provide most of K-12 public school funding. And there is no appetite in the country for intense federal involvement in local education, which occurred during the Obama administration at such an unprecedented level that Congress rewrote the No Child Left Behind law — eight years late — so that a great deal of education policymaking power could be sent back to the states.

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But the more complicated response is that if he pushes the education policies that he espoused during the campaign — especially for more “choice,” such as voucher programs in which public money is used for private school tuition — he can drive the privatization of public schools with unprecedented speed, furthering the movement that has been growing under former president George W. Bush and then President Obama. Some public systems are already threatened — and nobody knows what the tipping point for many others could be.

[Trump faces backlash over appointing Bannon as a top aide]

He can do this through funding and regulation, and by selecting an education secretary who supports privatization, which he is expected to do. In fact, Education Week reported that Gerard Robinson, a member of Trump’s education transition team, said that Trump would seek to implement “a new way of how to deliver public education” — a statement giving some public education advocates panic attacks. It is likely sobering as well to Obama administration officials who could see some of their efforts toward educational equity reversed.

Trump said he would take $20 billion in federal funding — though he didn’t make clear where he would get it — to establish block grants that states can use to help children in low-income families enroll at private and charter schools. In a somewhat mixed message, he said that although states would be able to use the money as they see fit, he would push them to use it for school choice. And the names of potential candidates for education secretary that have been Will Donald Trump destroy U.S. public education? - The Washington Post:

Post election thoughts | Deborah Meier on Education

Post election thoughts | Deborah Meier on Education:

Post election thoughts

Dear friends,

I was hoping that if I waited to write until after the election it would be easier to think of what we must do. But….

Maybe it isn’t so different? Clinton would have needed mobilized nudges on a lot of fronts and maybe especially on education. But I am kidding myself if I pretend it is not going to be a lot rougher. What our new president wants is unknowable but given his alliances here’s a guess: a push for privatization in every sphere: health, social security, prisons and schools. An end to abortion rights. A takeover of the courts. Not to mention what cruelty he will inflict on the undocumented, those hoping to escape horrendous circumstances (that we are largely responsible for) and citizens who don’t fit the picture of the “model” “normal” American: White Christians.

Probably.

Of course, egotistically I think this is all my fault because for health reasons I have done so damn little this year on the campaign trail!! I didn’t do much for Bernie or Hillary. Maybe with only one working eye I will be able to focus on the hopeful half. And soon enough my nonworking left eye will almost look like the working right one. The “hopeful” side is the possibility that we can carry out the task we have been working for since I was a young girl. Changing the Democratic Party. My political allies in the 50s and part of the 60s were for creating a Labor Party. So I didn’t vote for any “bourgeois” party etc. until… hmmm. Not sure when I got wiser, or so I think. I voted for the Socialist Party. Maybe it is why I have a harder time than some being mad at those who voted third party last week. It useful to remember the changes we have made in our own viewpoint before counting those who disagree with us as out. And if we had made no changes, that too would be suspicious.Post election thoughts | Deborah Meier on Education:

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Pritzker gives Hillary a pat on the head and wants her to move into ed philanthropy.

Schooling in the Ownership Society: Pritzker gives Hillary a pat on the head and wants her to move into ed philanthropy.:

Pritzker gives Hillary a pat on the head and wants her to move into ed philanthropy.

Chicago Billionaire J.B. Pritzker was the chair and chief money bungler bundler for the Clinton campaign. He's the heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and hotel union-buster supreme. He told Crain's that his aim, "isn't ego gratification; it's all about making money". I suspect it's both.

Last month I called him out on his special-ed hustle with Goldman Sachs. It allows private firms to foot the initial bill for public education services and then be repaid with interest if those services reduce the number of kids in special ed. They call it "social impact" investing. I call it a plot to reduce services for needy kids -- or public education meets the Ownership Society.

Chicago Mag calls him, "the other mayor of Chicago" even though he's lost every political election in which he's run (I think it's one). He's even got a Chicago charter school named after him.

In this morning's Sun Times, Pritzker hands out the party line on the election postmortem. Like the rest of the Democratic leadership, Pritzker takes no responsibility for the defeat and puts all the blame on Comey, the pollsters, and men. He forgot about the Russians and the electoral college for some reason.

So the story goes,

 He praised Clinton for running “a campaign of substance” and made up of “the best statisticians and data analytics people in the world.”

If any of that were true, H.C. would have won by a landslide. What were the substantive issues of her campaign? Basically, "I'm not as bad as Trump and the Russians are rigging the election." Certainly nothing young potential voters or much of anyone else could get excited about. She barely mentioned the education.

And if her statisticians and data analysts were so great, couldn't they at least have Schooling in the Ownership Society: Pritzker gives Hillary a pat on the head and wants her to move into ed philanthropy.:

Seattle’s response to the election: Student walk outs, community meetings and more | Seattle Education

Seattle’s response to the election: Student walk outs, community meetings and more | Seattle Education:
Seattle’s response to the election: Student walk outs, community meetings and more

This is one of the many reasons I love Seattle.

First, a press release:

All School Walkout and Students Protest for Solidarity

November 14, 2016

Students all across Seattle, will be hosting a walkout and gathering to protest the election of Trump to office. There have been several walkouts organized after the election of Donald trump. Now, students invite the community to come see for themselves why they are so opposed to Trump’s leadership.

The walkout will take place starting at 1:30 from the students school of origin (included schools: Franklin, Garfeild, The Center School, Nova, Sealth, and UW). Students will then meet up at Cal Anderson park (1653 11th Ave, Seattle WA, 98122) at 2:30. It’s a positive opportunity to show the greater Seattle community how much they care / are impacted by the issue.

The students will also be hosting a later “Protest for Solidarity” at Westlake Park (401 pine st, Seattle WA, 98101), at 4:15 pm, to express their feelings after the election and how they plan to about it going forward. Hosted by Emma Reid, Viv Nicole, and Samantha Wisner-Simmons. “EVERYONE is welcome…”

“Seattle is a diverse community, and it’s our immigrant/refugee populations, LGBTQ folks, religious diversity and colorful mix of racial demographics that makes us who we are. as students, we grew up in classrooms that reflect that. Trump is threatening our core value of tolerance as a city. We had to use our voices and numbers to show that we stand with members of our community who may not feel safe now. we’ll continue to resist attacks on those around us with any/all forms of student activism!”

And from the Capitol Hill blog:

“Seattle Public Schools is steadfast in our support for all students,” a spokesperson said about the planned Monday protest. “While the protests are not sanctioned by the district, SPS students do have the right to peacefully demonstrate and express their personal views.”

The citywide walkout would follow a walkout last week in West Seattle and a major demonstration involving more than 5,000 people that marched peacefully from downtown across Capitol Hill Wednesday night. Unrest and protest in major cities across the nation has continued including protests in Portland that have been declared “riots” by police after violence and property damage.

There is more to come in Seattle. City Council member and District 3 representative Kshama Sawant has lead her Socialist Alternative party’s call for a massive general strike on Inauguration Day, January 20th, 2017:

This is only the beginning. Plans are underway for huge nationwide protests around Trump’s inauguration on January 20th and 21st to send a clear message that we reject his right-wing agenda of bigotry and pro-corporate policies. We need to build a grassroots movement against threats to escalate mass deportations of immigrants and a clampdown on Muslim communities, among other attacks. Socialist Alternative will be at the forefront of building these demonstrations and organizing broad community coalitions to stand united against bigotry and hate.

Mayor Ed Murray has also responded to the election, taking part in a rally at City Hall and declaring that Seattle will remain a Sanctuary City welcoming immigrants and standing in defiance to any new policies from the Trump administration.

This weekend will bring opportunities to gather — and organize — to Capitol Hill.

Sunday, a group of SPU graduate students in marriage and family therapy are organizing a community gathering in Cal Anderson Park with hopes of a non-political show of “love,  Seattle’s response to the election: Student walk outs, community meetings and more | Seattle Education:

From parents to partners - Lily's Blackboard

From parents to partners - Lily's Blackboard:

From parents to partners

Rearrange the letters in “PARENTS,” and what do you get? PARTNERS!

Of course I’m cheating a little bit; you have to add another “r.” But you get the point I’m trying to make: Aside from the relationships we build with our students, the connections we establish with their parents or other caregivers are the most important partnerships we forge. 

Those relationships can make the difference between a student who just coasts along on the breeze, and a student who—because we’ve learned what motivates and makes them tick—soars to new heights.

If you count up the hours, we spend more time with students (at least during the hours they’re awake) than their family members do. It just makes sense to connect with those who love them. (It takes a village, after all.)

November 14-18 is American Education Week (AEW), founded by the NEA in partnership with the American Legion 95 years ago, and I find myself thinking of the many solid relationships I had with parents back home in Utah. Some could be volunteers in my reading program or on a field trip; some couldn’t. But all of them wanted to help their children, and they all wanted to help me. Like every educator, I am grateful for those parent relationships.

NEA’s Parent’s Page provides information for parents who want to partner with educators for the benefit of their kids, but it has a new look and additional resources to help our relationships flourish, just in time for AEW—which is now sponsored by NEA, the National PTA and several other education organizations.

I think all educators would agree that family engagement is important, but we also know it isn’t easy.

There’s the sheer number of hours—or lack of them—in a day. And the fact that our days are already so jam-packed that it’s hard to find time for our own families, let alone reach out to our students’ families.

There’s the reality of pouring our hearts and souls into the job when we’re at work, and then bringing a ton of stuff home with us.

There’s the advocacy work we’re engaged in to shut down the school-to-prison pipeline, or to pass the ballot measure for schools in our district, or to make sure the Every Student Succeeds Act really does benefit all students.

There’s the debate club or pep squad we advise in our “spare” time.

Cultivating solid relationships with parents can seem like just one more item on an already overflowing to-do list.

And of course, our students’ parents have their own extraordinarily busy lives. The balancing act in today’s families qualifies them to join the circus as high-wire performers. No one’s saying that it’s easy to create or maintain the connection between home and school.

But we know how important these relationships are to the growth and development of students, particularly those who face special challenges. Some schools have parent coordinators onboard who specialize in engaging families. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) even contains a provision that focuses on parent engagement and requires schools receiving Title I funds to have written policies on parent and family engagement.

The more information we share with each other, the better off our students are, and you are clearly the experts on what works.

But here are a couple of suggestions for connecting with parents in case you’re looking for something new.

• Share the good news! Call or email them when there is not a problem to pass along a bit of praise, or just to say hello. One family per school day equals about 20 positive connections per month.
• Encourage your school to take part in the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools walk-ins, when parents and educators rally together to demand the schools our students deserve.
• Who has time for lunch, right? But if there’s a pause in your day when you snag a nutrition bar or some trail mix, invite a parent to join you. Throw their names in a hat or pick some other random method of choosing.
• And if you can, try home visits. These can help us become more culturally aware while also showing parents we are serious about engaging them in their children’s education.

We’ve heard this many times: Every child in your class is someone’s whole world. Which means, we’ve got to inhabit that world, too. From parents to partners - Lily's Blackboard:

Filling the Dozen Top Jobs in Trump's Department of Education - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week

Filling the Dozen Top Jobs in Trump's Department of Education - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week:

Filling the Dozen Top Jobs in Trump's Department of Education

In Washington, when a new president is elected, it sparks weeks of feverish ruminating on each personnel decision, with breathless discussions of everything from high-profile cabinet appointments to who should (or will) be the Bureau of Migratory Waterfowl's next deputy assistant secretary for planning and policy. All of this tends to invest these jobs with more glamor than they probably deserve—since they're mostly marathons of meetings, glad-handing, budgeting, damage control, and bureaucratic oversight. But that's how Washington works.

And the truth is that these appointments really do matter. As the old saw has it: "Personnel is policy." It's the appointees in the various departments who will ultimately shape the Trump administration's educational priorities and agenda. This has never been truer than now, given how much of Trump's educational platform is a blank slate—or one filled with only the broadest of notional directives (e.g. school choice good, Common Core bad).

I'll be clear: I don't know who will populate the Trump administration's Department of Education. I do have a few thoughts on some of the folks I'd like to see in the mix, though—and I figured I'd share them with you, if only so that fewer folks feel obliged to inquire. Please understand that this isn't an exhaustive, careful, or complete list. After all, I have no particular thoughts, for instance, on the commissioner of the Rehabilitation Services Administration. It's more an eclectic mix of some names I'd like to see considered. I'm sure I've forgotten some names that I'd have included if I'd given this more thought, and it's obviously limited to individuals who I'm guessing/hoping might be willing to serve in this choice-friendly, Common Core-skeptical, Republican administration. I've also omitted some of the most outspoken NeverTrumpers (like John Bailey, Jeanne Allen, and Mike Petrilli), for obvious reasons.

Keep in mind that I have no juice in any of this and there's no reason to expect anyone to listen to me. But so it goes. With all that in mind, here are some of the names I'd love to see considered for a dozen of the top jobs (I'm not bothering with bios or current positions; if you don't know who someone is, just ride the google):

U.S. Secretary of Education: Mitch Daniels, Scott Walker, Bill Evers, Gerard Robinson
Deputy Secretary: David Cleary, Brian Jones, Lisa Graham Keegan, Larry Arnn
Under Secretary: Nina Rees, Paul Pastorek, Jim Peyser, Vic Klatt, Hanna Skandera
Assistant Secretary - Civil Rights: Joshua Dunn, Greg Lukianoff, Robert Scott
Assistant Secretary - Communications and Outreach: Jenna Talbot, Joy Pullmann, Holly Kuzmich
Assistant Secretary - Elementary and Secondary Education: Dwight Jones, Robert Pondiscio, Tom Luna, Matt Ladner, Jim Stergios
Assistant Secretary - Legislation and Congressional Affairs: Lindsay Fryer, D'arcy Philps, Lindsey Burke
Assistant Secretary - Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development: Peter Oppenheim, Brad Thomas, Andy Smarick, Robert Enlow
Assistant Secretary - Postsecondary Education: Andrew Kelly, Jason Delisle, James Bergeron
Assistant Secretary - Special Education and Rehabilitative Services: Joe Siedlecki, Mike McShane, Max Eden
Assistant Secretary - Vocational and Adult Education: Tom Stewart, Tony Bennett
Institute of Education Sciences - Director: Patrick Wolf, Jay Greene, Caroline Hoxby, Martin West, Rick Hanushek

 Filling the Dozen Top Jobs in Trump's Department of Education - Rick Hess Straight Up - Education Week:

Saturday Night Live, Leonard Cohen, Hillary Clinton, and Hallelujah | The Huffington Post

Saturday Night Live, Leonard Cohen, Hillary Clinton, and Hallelujah | The Huffington Post:

Saturday Night Live, Leonard Cohen, Hillary Clinton, and Hallelujah 

Countless Americans woke up Sunday morning with the words of the late Leonard Cohen echoing from their night’s dreams, “From your lips she drew the Hallelujah. Hallelujah.”

Hillary Clinton, performed by Kate McKinnon, played the piano and sang Cohen’s masterpiece to open Saturday Night Live. Across the world last week, tributes were offered to the poet who guided us through our individual crises and the shared mourning of 9/11, and now we are comforted by his Hallelujah:

... all I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who’d out drew ya

... It’s not somebody who’s seen the light

It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

Then, Mrs. Clinton looked directly into the camera and out of McKinnon’s lips came the words we need to hear, “I’m not giving up, and neither should you. And live from New York, it’s Saturday night.”

Part of the beauty of the scene was that we were experiencing the greatness of American (and Canadian) democracy in a personal sense, bonding with both Hillary Clinton and the artist who was actually on the stage. We were sharing the “secret chord” with the actual woman who had been our Secretary of State. How else could we respond to the emotion when her character sang such lyrics?

I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor
I used to live alone before I knew ya ...

Love is not a victory march

It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah

We will keep up this battle for democracy by drawing upon art, comedy, music, street theater, and smart political tactics to declare that racism and sexism can’t take over the White House. We’ll step up to the comedy stage, go into the streets, employ social media and not-yet-invented tactics, and draw upon traditional backroom politics to battle for our ideals. Even as other anti-Trump political and governmental leaders work with his administration to avoid worst case scenarios, we must embrace bipartisan coalitions, as well as rigorous investigations of the FBI’s possible interference into the election and Trump’s business affairs with Russia and others.

We must also reach out to Trump supporters. And that brings me back to McKinnon’s brilliant performance. Her statement of determination at the end prompted boisterous shouts at the screen, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” It was the personal expression of Hillary’s grief that brought me to tears.

We’re destined for some bare-knuckled brawls, but we must be as willing to offer the olive branch as to engage in political battle. To get our country out of this mess, we must also understand the suffering of so many millions of Americans that produced Trumpism. If we can be so deeply moved by a television performance, surely we can be open to the grief of the individuals who voted for the other side.

Trump opponents must openly thrash out our thinking on the dilemmas that all Americans now face, as we must also converse with Trump voters. So, here are my first and contradictory thoughts:

When Richard Nixon was reelected and when Ronald Reagan took office, I was horrified. On the eve of Watergate in 1972 and with Gore v Bush, evidence was already available that something was suspicious about with the way Nixon and George W. Bush were elected. But, few denied that they were our presidents. We didn’t challenge their legitimacy until proof emerged and was documented through our time-tested institutions.

Conversely, had Father Coughlin, George Wallace, or David Duke received 270 electoral votes, would Americans have felt compelled to say we hope their administrations succeed?

A clear distinction between Trump voters and Trump must be communicated. I don’t know how many of his voters are racists, sexists, and xenophobes, but I know that it is not my job to judge my fellow human beings. Even when Trump voters have deplorable beliefs, that is different than having a president who got into office by appealing to the worst of them. Trump voters have first amendment rights.

Trump, however, sought the responsibility of representing America. Anti-Trump voters have the right to take any legal actions we believe necessary to rid the White House of anyone who proclaimed such hatred.

Who knows what will happen next? All I can say for sure is that a venerable American institution, Saturday Night Live, did its patriotic duty when making us listen anew to the words:

I did my best, it wasn’t much 
I couldn’t feel, so I tried to touch 
I’ve told the truth, I didn’t come to fool you 
And even though 
It all went wrong 
I’ll stand before the Lord of Song 
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah 

Saturday Night Live, Leonard Cohen, Hillary Clinton, and Hallelujah | The Huffington Post:

Follow John Thompson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drjohnthompson

Which President Trump Will Show Up Jan.20

Which President Trump Will Show Up Jan.20

Here Is What Donald Trump Wants To Do In His First 100 Days

Below is the 100-day plan Trump's campaign released in October, called "Donald Trump's Contract With The American Voter."

---

What follows is my 100-day action plan to Make America Great Again. It is a contract between myself and the American voter — and begins with restoring honesty, accountability and change to Washington

Therefore, on the first day of my term of office, my administration will immediately pursue the following six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC:

* FIRST, propose a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress;

* SECOND, a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);

* THIRD, a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated;

* FOURTH, a 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service;

* SIXTH, a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.* FIFTH, a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government;

On the same day, I will begin taking the following 7 actions to protect American workers:

* FIRST, I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205

* SECOND, I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership

* THIRD, I will direct my Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator

* FOURTH, I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately

* SIXTH, lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward* FIFTH, I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars' worth of job-producing American energy reserves, including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.

* SEVENTH, cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America's water and environmental infrastructure

Additionally, on the first day, I will take the following five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law:

* FIRST, cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama

* SECOND, begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States

* THIRD, cancel all federal funding to Sanctuary Cities

* FOURTH, begin removing the more than 2 million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won't take them back

* FIFTH, suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered extreme vetting.

Next, I will work with Congress to introduce the following broader legislative measures and fight for their passage within the first 100 days of my Administration:

1. Middle Class Tax Relief And Simplification Act. An economic plan designed to grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs through massive tax reduction and simplification, in combination with trade reform, regulatory relief, and lifting the restrictions on American energy. The largest tax reductions are for the middle class. A middle-class family with 2 children will get a 35% tax cut. The current number of brackets will be reduced from 7 to 3, and tax forms will likewise be greatly simplified. The business rate will be lowered from 35 to 15 percent, and the trillions of dollars of American corporate money overseas can now be brought back at a 10 percent rate.
2. End The Offshoring Act. Establishes tariffs to discourage companies from laying off their workers in order to relocate in other countries and ship their products back to the U.S. tax-free.
3. American Energy & Infrastructure Act. Leverages public-private partnerships, and private investments through tax incentives, to spur $1 trillion in infrastructure investment over 10 years. It is revenue neutral.
4. School Choice And Education Opportunity Act. Redirects education dollars to give parents the right to send their kid to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious or home school of their choice. Ends common core, brings education supervision to local communities. It expands vocational and technical education, and make 2 and 4-year college more affordable.
5. Repeal and Replace Obamacare Act. Fully repeals Obamacare and replaces it with Health Savings Accounts, the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, and lets states manage Medicaid funds. Reforms will also include cutting the red tape at the FDA: there are over 4,000 drugs awaiting approval, and we especially want to speed the approval of life-saving medications.
6. Affordable Childcare and Eldercare Act. Allows Americans to deduct childcare and elder care from their taxes, incentivizes employers to provide on-side childcare services, and creates tax-free Dependent Care Savings Accounts for both young and elderly dependents, with matching contributions for low-income families.
7. End Illegal Immigration Act Fully-funds the construction of a wall on our southern border with the full understanding that the country Mexico will be reimbursing the United States for the full cost of such wall; establishes a 2-year mandatory minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a previous deportation, and a 5-year mandatory minimum for illegally re-entering for those with felony convictions, multiple misdemeanor convictions or two or more prior deportations; also reforms visa rules to enhance penalties for overstaying and to ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.
8. Restoring Community Safety Act. Reduces surging crime, drugs and violence by creating a Task Force On Violent Crime and increasing funding for programs that train and assist local police; increases resources for federal law enforcement agencies and federal prosecutors to dismantle criminal gangs and put violent offenders behind bars.
9. Restoring National Security Act. Rebuilds our military by eliminating the defense sequester and expanding military investment; provides Veterans with the ability to receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice; protects our vital infrastructure from cyber-attack; establishes new screening procedures for immigration to ensure those who are admitted to our country support our people and our values
10. Clean up Corruption in Washington Act. Enacts new ethics reforms to Drain the Swamp and reduce the corrupting influence of special interests on our politics.

On November 8th, Americans will be voting for this 100-day plan to restore prosperity to our economy, security to our communities, and honesty to our government.

This is my pledge to you.

And if we follow these steps, we will once more have a government of, by and for the people.

To comment, go to this story on NPR's Facebook page. Here Is What Donald Trump Wants To Do In His First 100 Days

Everyone's saying-give #Trump a chance. Then he names White Nationalist #SteveBannon as his Chief Strategist. #TheResistance #WereStillHere pic.twitter.com/qgkw9wfsYd

— W Smith 📎 (@WesSmith123) November 14, 2016