Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts

Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts:

Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts

Charter schools are not the issue here.  --Senator Al Franken at Betsy DeVos hearing

Indeed, charter schools are not the issue, since Democrats have long supported the billions of federal dollars that Team Obama gave to vastly increase the number of charter schools over the past 8 years.

During the failed Clinton campaign of 2016, NPE, NEA, and AFT were on the hot seat for their candidate's staunch support for even more charters. 

Now they have launched campaigns against the nomination of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.  DeVos supports privatization of schools, and she doesn't much care how she does it.  Charter, voucher, private, for-profit charter, non-profit charter--it just doesn't matter--she is on a mission from god, or someone.

NPE, NEA, and AFT, however, have more discriminating tastes when it comes to school privatization. They Schools Matter: Anti-DeVos Sentiment Almost Makes Us Forget Dems' Privatization Efforts:

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation:

Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation

Swagbucks.com and Instagc.com are sites where users can, in exchange for a few cents, complete small tasks such as filling out forms or surveys and—as of yesterday—begging the Senate to confirm Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s education secretary nominee. Someone is paying these sites to pay people to go to SupportDeVos.com, a website run by the formerly DeVos-led American Federation for Children, to express their support for her nomination.

The campaign was first spotted by a user over at Daily Kos, who found the offer on Swagbucks. Several Reddit users claimed to have discovered the same thing on Swagbucks and similar sites yesterday.

redirected to a website urging them to tell government officials to confirm DeVos’s nomination:

Once at SupportDeVos.com, all you have to do is enter your name and address, hit submit, and sit back while the quarters roll in. In the meantime, some “official” (presumably in the Senate) receives this:

Dear Official,

I am writing to ask and encourage you to confirm Betsy DeVos as our next Secretary of Education. Betsy DeVos is one of the most accomplished and dedicated advocates for children and education reform in America. Mrs. DeVos has nearly three decades of experience successfully improving our nation’s education system and ensuring all children have access to a quality school, especially the most disadvantaged children in our country.

Betsy DeVos believes the best education decisions are made at the state and local level and she will fight relentlessly on behalf of all families. Mrs. DeVos is an experienced, proven and dedicated leader who will empower parents, protect students and support teachers.

You can change the letter to say whatever you like—and some people have done exactly that as a protest against her nomination—but if you’re filling out forms for pennies online, you’re probably more concerned with how many forms you’ve filled out than what they say.Someone Is Paying Strangers Online to Beg For Betsy DeVos's Confirmation:

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education:

The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning.

What do you think should happen in this scenario?

The superintendent of the largest school district in the state, through mismanagement and carelessness, runs up a crippling 35 million dollar deficit?

If you believe in the efficiency of the market, the answer should be easy.

The superintendent would be immediately fired. Since his actions lost the school district money or in business terms – became extremely unprofitable,  he would never again have a job related to education.

Meet Joseph Olchefske, an expert in finance, and a rising star in Seattle Public Schools in the late ’90s. After the untimely death of his mentor, John Stanford, Olchefske officially became Superintendent of SPS in February of 1999.

Within four years of his tenure, the district would be facing a 34 million dollar deficit and Olchefske would be on the receiving end of two separate votes of no confidence.

Here’s a timeline from the Post-Intelligence which documents the unravelling.

Timeline

Sept. 14, 1995: Seattle Schools Superintendent John Stanford appoints Olchefske to be chief financial officer for district. He had been a public-finance manager for brokerage firm Piper Jaffray in Seattle since 1986.

Nov. 28, 1998: Stanford dies of acute myelogenous leukemia.

Feb. 09, 1999: Olchefske, who had been interim superintendent after Stanford’s death, is named permanent superintendent.

Aug. 16, 2002: Olchefske’s chief financial officer, Geri Lim, resigns in exchange for $51,000, a letter of reference and $1,000 for job-hunting costs.

Oct. 4, 2002: Olchefske announces that accounting glitches and computer problems led to a $35 million budget shortfall.

Oct. 28, 2002: Principals Association of Seattle Schools votes against holding a no-confidence vote.

Nov. 1, 2002: Seattle School Board votes in support of Olchefske.

Nov. 05, 2002: Seattle Education Association, the teachers union, publicly calls for Olchefske to resign.

March 28, 2003: Principals Association executive board votes no confidence in Olchefske.

April 4, 2003: Teachers union votes no confidence in Olchefske. “I’m committed to being superintendent,” he responds.

April 14, 2003: Olchefske resigns.

You would think a 35 million dollar financial meltdown would be a big red flag on The Ballad of Joseph Olchefske: Middle College, Ed-Reform Market Failure, and the March of Online Learning. | Seattle Education:

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!:

Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!

The final vote in the Senate on Betsy DeVos in now scheduled for Tuesday.   

According to informed sources, the best chances we have now against her appointment as Education Secretary lie with Sens. Thad Cochran (MS) and John Barrasso(WY) who haven't yet announced their positions.   Remember we need only one more vote against her to defeat her nomination.

If you live in either of these states, please call these offices today today or early Monday.  If you know someone who does, please share this information with them: 

Cochran: 202.224.5054 or 601.965.4459 or 662-236-1018 or 228-867-9710  

Barrasso: 307.261.6413 or 307-261-6413 or 307.772.2451 or 307.856.6642


That these two men have not yet announced their vote appears to be confirmed by this helpful list,  posted two days ago that includes all the Senators and cites their positions on DeVos, along with links to their contact information.  

There are other GOP Senators that according to this list hadn't announced their position on DeVos by Friday, including those from Idaho, Indiana, South Dakota and Utah.  Check to see what your Senator has said or not said about DeVos here:
www.romper.com/p/does-my-representative-support-betsy-devos-one-republican-senators-vote-needs-to-change-35360/

After you've checked the list, and called your Senators, watch this hilarious sketch on last night's Saturday Night Live, featuring Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer and Kate McKinnon as Betsy DeVos.   

You can also check out Friday's Rachel Maddow show on the unprecedented grassroots opposition to the DeVos nomination throughout the nation.  

NYC Public School Parents: Make your calls now - to the Senators who haven't announced their vote! then watch these segments from SNL and Maddow!:

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke

CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke:

Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke

I am about 72% certain that this is a practical joke, right down to this stock photo:

"Seriously, dude?"

That photo is on the top of a Chiefs for Change news item for the new Student Growth Simulator. 

A new web-based tool will offer far greater ease and clarity for state and district leaders seeking to set learning goals and measure progress under the sweeping Every Student Succeeds Act.

The Chiefs for Change, you may recall, was part of the Jeb Bush Edu-reform Complex, and was going to be a group of the very reformiest education chiefs in the country, helping to sweep Jeb to power. Things haven't quite worked out (though Chief Hanna Skandera does seem poised to sweep into DC as part of an ed department that doesn't look too much different from the one that President Bush III would have installed), and it turns out that Hot Ed Reformster Celebrities don't have a very long shelf life (how's Chris Barbic doing these days, anyway?) and the whole Chiefs thing has been losing steam, even going so far as to let people into the club who aren't even actual chiefs!

So, anyway-- since the Simulatoir is web-based, I thought I'd see if i could use it-- and it turns out that anyone can. Which is cool, because this thing was developed by Chiefs for Change, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Education, and Tembo, an education technology firm.

I'll put some screen shots further down the page so you know i'm not making this up, but let me describe how it works. First, you enter the name of your indicator (I went with "BS Test") and your target year. then you tell it what percentage of students fall into which ethnic groups, and how CURMUDGUCATION: Chiefs' New Hilarious Practical Joke:

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post:

SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference

It was inevitable. The unprecedented controversy surrounding Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s nominee for education secretary, gave “Saturday Night Live” a new target — and Kate McKinnon, who had previously played Hillary Clinton and Kellyanne Conway, got the role.

“DeVos” appeared on the Feb. 4 show during a mock press conference by White House press secretary Sean Spicer, played by Melissa McCarthy.

At one point during the press conference, Spicer brings out “DeVos,” saying, “I’ve been getting a lot of questions about Betsy DeVos” — mispronouncing her last name — “so we have her here to field some simple questions, which I’m sure she’s capable of doing.”

A “reporter” asked her this: “How do you value growth versus proficiency in measuring progress in students?”

That may sound technical, but it is actually a fundamental question in the world of education and has been for years. During the real DeVos’s Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 17, the real Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) — who was an SNL player before he was a senator — asked her about it, and she looked at him with something resembling a blank stare. He said: “It surprises me that you don’t know this issue.” And then he said, “No, it doesn’t” surprise him.

[Six astonishing things Betsy DeVos said — and refused to say — at her confirmation hearing]

That was a reference to the nominee’s inability to speak knowledgeably about a number of important education issues. Her confirmation-hearing performance, not to mention the facts that she never attended a public school, never sent her children to one and has called the SNL takes a jab at Betsy DeVos during a mock Sean Spicer press conference - The Washington Post:

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718:

Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price

The Fundamental Rule of Math Class:  I teach something, you go home, open up the homework, do what I showed you in class, and you’ll be fine. Same thing on the test.

If a student gets some math published, should that hurt the teacher’s evaluation?

Many teachers never deviate from the rule. And me?  I obey the rule, too. Most of the time. Even those of us who don’t always do it, we do it more than we used to. (thanks to standardized testing and the insane link between standardized test scores and the teacher’s evaluation score.)

I taught you how to simplify square roots? When you look at the home work, you’ll be asked to simplify square roots. Do what we did in class, and you’ll be fine.

Breaking the Rule

But some days are different. I introduce “problems” – little ones that take a few minutes, and big ones, where I have moved ahead in my curriculum so that we can carve out a day or day and a half here or there. I offer problems that do not fit the Math Class Game – always off-topic, usually using skills from prior units, or prior years. How many games will there be in a single elimination tennis tournament (singles) with 73 players? How many times a day do the minute and hour hands point in the same direction? What’s the biggest perfect square with only even digits?

“… I ask a group of you a question, unrelated to what we did yesterday, seemingly out of left field, that requires only math that you already know, but without any of the usual cues about what tool to use… Questions mix counting, arithmetic, organization, and visualization skills. They require reasoning, planning.”

Going Further

And for the last three years, I have asked the students to do more, and more. Take one of the “problems” that you already solved, and propose an extension. Change it up to make a new problem, and solve that one. Mostly I get variations of the checkerboard, how many subsets, and Ghost the Bunny.

The Price or the Payoff?

As these are the same students whose standardized test scores determine my year-end rating (Thank you Breaking the Fundamental Rule of the Math Class Game – and paying the price | JD2718:

Try to Keep Up - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

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

Try to Keep Up - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education

Aaron Pallas Reviews Betsy DeVos’ Performance and Responses

by dianeravitch / 21min

Aaron Pallas of Teachers College, Columbia University, reviewed Betsy DeVos in The Hechinger Report. In her testimony and in her written responses, he found her to be largely evasive and misleading. In the matter of graduation rates, her answer was simply untrue. Although there were more bright spots in the relatively polished written testimony than in her awkward oral testimony, DeVos remained e

Europe’s Comedy Shows create Videos to Trump!

3by dianeravitch / 1h

You will enjoy these videos. The Netherlands did it first: they created a video and said if America is first, we should be second! Then other countries did their response, and the results are hilarious! Enjoy!

YESTERDAY

Another Billionaire Weighs in Against DeVos

27by dianeravitch / 15h

Yesterday it was Eli Broad, the Los Angeles billionaire, who turned against Betsy DeVos. Today, it is Arthur Rock, a Silicon Valley billionaire who is one of the biggest supporters of Teach for America. They are troubled by DeVos, maybe because she is a religious zealot, maybe because vouchers might force them to compete, maybe because her brand of reform taints theirs. Whatever it is, the reform

“Buy Pat Toomey’s Vote” Campaign Goes Viral, Raises Over $64,000

58by dianeravitch / 17h

Take a look at the GoFundMe page to “Buy Pat Toomey’s Vote.” When I googled, I found articles from many sources about the campaign, and a profile of the educator who started it. She says to the few critics and skeptics who have complained, all the money raised will go to three charities: Betsy DeVos has donated $55,800 to the campaign of United States Senator Pat Toomey. Incidentally, despite all

Mercedes Schneider: What Betsy DeVos Told the Senators about Special Education

11by dianeravitch / 18h

Mercedes Schneider has been reading the written responses that Betsy DeVos gave to the Senate Committee’s questions. One question was whether all schools receiving federal funds should be required services for children with disabilities. Her answer, in many words, can be boiled down to one word: no. https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2017/02/04/betsy-devos-responds-to-senator-patty-murrays-question-

Andy Borowitz: Betsy DeVos Taught Him Everything He Knows about Frederick Douglass

12by dianeravitch / 19h

Andy Borowitz, humorist, wrote about Trump’s comments about Frederick Douglass, in which he referred to Douglass in the present tense. Trump rattled off a few names of distinguished African Americans in tribute to Black History Month. Borowitz says that Betsy DeVos wrote the names down on a piece of paper for him.

David Frum: How to Build an Autocracy

12by dianeravitch / 20h

When large numbers of people send me the same article, I know that it has struck a chord. This article, by David Frum, describes the fears that many people share about Trump’s lack of respect for the norms of democracy. Frum is a conservative: he was a speechwriter for George W. Bush. He is now a senior editor at The Atlantic. He did not vote for Trump because he sensed that Trump was neither a R

North Carolina: Public School Advocates Start Campaign to “Buy” Senator Burr’s Vote

11by dianeravitch / 20h

Following on the great success of the campaign to “buy” Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey’s vote (it raised $60,000 in three days, which will be donated to charities for children in the state), a similar GoFundMe campaign has been launched in North Carolina. It is a great consciousness-raising activity. The funds will go to an organization that supports public schools. “Durham, N.C., February 3, 20

Jim Hall: Arizona Charter Operator Makes Millions by Real Estate Deals with Taxpayer Money

100+by dianeravitch / 21h

Jim Hall, whom I wrote about in the previous post, has uncovered many charter scams in Arizona. Here is his latest report. Open the link to read his attachments and documentation. Arizonans for Charter School Accountability arizcsa1000@gmail.com 602-343-3021 The Consequences of Unregulated Charter Schools: The Leona Group LLC Reaps Millions in Real Estate Profits While Arizona Taxpayers (and Stud

Retired Educator Creates “Arizonans for Charter School Accountability,” Exposes Frauds and Scams

21by dianeravitch / 22h

Jim Hall retired after three decades in education. He founded Arizonans for Charter School Accountability. He explains here: I retired in June after over 30 years in education and 23 years as a school principal. One day I happened to find my research on charter school financing that was to be my dissertation for a PhD I never completed. I did a little research into one of the charter school compa

Capitol & Main: How Betsy DeVos Crushes Moderate Republicans Who Get in Her Way

19by dianeravitch / 23h

Danny Feingold writes in Capitol & Main about Betsy DeVos’ hardline education ideology and the ruthless way she uses her family money to smash those who don’t go along with her wishes. http://capitalandmain.com/how-betsy-devos-ignored-and-targeted-michigan-republicans-to-advance-her-hardline-education-ideology DeVos wants choice. She loves vouchers but thus far has been able to impose them in Mic

Rachel Maddow on Betsy DeVos: Must Watch

38by dianeravitch / 23h

This is the Rachel Maddow Show on Betsy DeVos and the historic uprising against her. Senate phone lines crashed. http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/gop-opts-for-fundraising-over-quick-vote-for-hotly-opposed-devos-869938243633

Politico: Opposition to DeVos “Snowballs into an Avalanche”

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

Politico reports that the offices of Republican Senators are overwhelmed with letters, emails, and faxes opposing Betsy DeVos, according to Politico. She is the most controversial and unpopular cabinet choice of Trump, and Senators have been overwhelmed by negative comments. Most of them have gone into hiding. Their phone lines are jammed or off the hook. The reasons for the avalanche of oppositi

Gary Rubinstein: Lying about Detroit and Muskegon Heights and Michigan

14by dianeravitch / 1d

In the debate about the appointment of Betsy DeVos, the failure of her brand of reform in Michigan has not gotten enough attention. Would you hire a plumber whose previous jobs were all failures? Would you trust your car to an auto mechanic who was known to be incompetent? Would you go to a doctor who lost his medical license for malpractice? DeVos’s allies have been beating the drums about a Det

FEB 03

Update on GoFundMe Campaign to Buy Pat Toomey’s Vote: Success!

98by dianeravitch / 1d

A teacher in Pennsylvania named Kate Fritz created the GoFundMe campaign to buy Senator Pat Toomey’s vote, hoping she could persuade him to vote NO on DeVos by raising as much money as DeVos has given him ($55,800). Tonight her campaign was featured on the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC. https://www.gofundme.com/buy-pat-toomeys-vote?viewupdates=1&rcid=fcbe93fdd75345159a94f1c296a099b3&utm_source=inte

Cleveland Plain-Dealer to Senator Rob Portman: Vote NO on DeVos

35by dianeravitch / 1d

Senator Rob Portman of Ohio announced that he would vote for DeVos but the Cleveland Plain-Dealer urges him to take a stand and vote no. http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/02/sen_rob_portman_should_reject.html “Sen. Rob Portman, who just got a huge vote of confidence from the people of Ohio for his re-election, now owes it to the citizens of this state to do the right thing and vote

Is Betsy DeVos a Victim of Gender Bias?

70by dianeravitch / 1d

Anya Kamenetz, who reports on education for NPR, said that Betsy DeVos is the most controversial of Trump’s nominees, and she wonders why. Some people don’t like her live of privatization, charters, and vouchers. Some people say she is unqualified but then so is Dr. Ben Carson, and he hasn’t generated so much opposition. Some say the unions are stirring up opposition. Some people want to protect

“Lawyers for the Good” Summarize Trump’s First Week in Office

10by dianeravitch / 1d

This is a useful record of the extraordinary steps taken by Trump during his first days in office. During the campaign, we learned that it was difficult to react to an outrageous statement because it was quickly succeeded by yet another one. Now, we find that each outrageous executive action is followed by yet another one. It is hard to protest on so many different fronts. Yet we must.

Trump Administration Mulling Religious Exemptions to Permit Discrimination against LGBT

15by dianeravitch / 1d

The Washington Post (and also The Nation) obtained a leaked draft of a plan to allow individuals, organizations, and businesses to opt out of federal regulations on religious grounds. Critics say this would permit discrimination against LGBT persons. This would implement the controversial “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” that Mike Pence tried to enact in Indiana and was forced to withdraw when

Cedar Riener: Should There Be Limits to Free Speech?

5by dianeravitch / 1d

Cedar Riener is a professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. In this post , he debates the dilemmas of free speech. What stance do you take when confronting fascists? Do you ignore those who bully the vulnerable in public? He uses the example of a rightwing provocateu r who humiliates a transgender student at the University of Wisconsin by displaying photographs of her as part

Phyllis Bush: The Expensive Hoax of Vouchers

100+by dianeravitch / 1d

Phyllis Bush is a retired educator and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education who lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She writes here about the hidden cost of vouchers, which are a gift of public dollars to private schools with no accountability. Here is an excerpt: Vouchers drain state tax dollars from the entire education funding pot. This often causes district budgeting deficits a

Senate Agrees to Move Forward on DeVos Vote, Despite Unprecedented Public Opposition

19by dianeravitch / 1d

The Senate agreed by a vote of 52-48 to move to a vote on the DeVos nomination. Two Republican senators will vote against her. Unless one Republican breaks ranks, the vote will be 50-50, and VP Pence will cast a tie-breaking vote for her. Public reaction has been intense and negative. Senator Toomey’s office received 8,000 faxes against DeVos in one hour. Read Senator Patti Murray’s comment in th

Texas Tribune: Vouchers Are Not About Kids, They are About Money

21by dianeravitch / 2d

Ross Ramsey of the Texas Tribune reviews the upcoming voucher battle in Texas . The voucher fight is not about kids. It is not about education. It is about who gets the public money. “While it seems to be a fight about education, it’s really a fight about money — about whether taxpayers should foot some or all of the tuition bill for private elementary and secondary education.” Lt. Gov. Dan Patri

Great News from Oklahoma! Pastors Are Organizing to Support Kids and Public Schools!

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

As the forces of reaction gather for an assault on public education in Oklahoma, pastors across the state have joined in an organization called Pastors for Oklahoma Kids. They have an alliance with the dynamic Pastors for Texas Children, which anticipates growing its membership in other states. They 

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