Diane Ravitch posted a link to this biting piece. Apparently, Rhee knew when it comes to her failed education mandates, she was going to get schooled by Diane.
And yet…she is still telling the American public she knows whats best for their children.
Category Archives: libraries
Fact-Checking Eva Moskowitz; Dangerous Bipartisan collusion
Diane Ravitch has posted this on Eva Moskowitz’s loose version of the facts.
Moskowitz’s Success Academy 4 has almost none of the highest special needs students as compared to nearby Harlem public schools. In a school with nearly 500 students, Success Academy 4 has zero, or one, such students, while the average Harlem public school includes 14.1 percent such students. With little sense of irony or embarrassment, Moskowitz has attacked Bill de Blasio for preventing the school’s expansion inside PS 149. Her school’s expansion would have come at the cost of space for students with disabilities. The school has already lost “a fully equipped music room … A state-mandated SAVE room … A computer lab… Individual rooms for occupational and physical therapy … and the English Language Learners (ELL) classroom,” due to earlier Success Academy expansions in the same building.
~~~~~~~
Moskowitz made a number of other claims during her Morning Joe appearance. She said “we are self-sustaining on the public dollar alone.” In fact, Success Academyspends $2,072 more per student than schools serving similar populations. This additional funding comes from donations by the very same hedge fund moguls who have donated over $400,000 to Governor Cuomo’s re-election campaign (charter supporters in the financial and real estate sector have contributed some $800,000 to Governor Cuomo’s campaign).
~~~~~~~
Jan Resseger posts about the dangerous bipartisan conventional *cough* wisdom.
As early as 1989, President George H.W. Bush, responding to fears that the United States was becoming uncompetitive, launched a movement based on standards, assessments, and accountability by convening an education summit of the nation’s governors, chaired by Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, to agree on national education goals. Through the 1990s states began to embrace test-based accountability. Then in 2001, when Congress—under President George W. Bush—reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, with a new name, “No Child Left Behind,” the federal government mandated test-and-punish.
~~~~~~`
Once again, the Bushes and Clintons responsible for so much destruction and misery.
Today, DN hosted a debate between public schools and charters. The car salesman, er I mean, charter school proponent, Steve Barr,of Green Dot, who was behind the fiasco of Los Angeles schools, Parent Revolution, and Brian Jones , a public school teacher now pursuing a doctorate.
Barr did the usual charter proponent schtick: he tried to once again pull the wool over the public’s eye and say that charter schools were public schools; he refused to answer direct questions (because he knew it would make charters look bad); and repeatedly stated he was a “progressive”. Yeah, right. Just like Bill Clinton is a progressive. Wink, wink. Nod, nod.
He was pushing the “progressive” schtick a little too much in hopes that would make opponents back down, I guess, because he’s a “good guy”. Pffft. He also lied about charters NOT being about profit. Thankfully, he got called on that….but some key points were not countered by Amy or Juan. I was disappointed in that.
Finally, Reclaim Reform has a post up on Diane and the FUD, or Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt propaganda campaign to destroy public education. This is one of the psychological techniques used in communications that turned my stomach and why I would never be in PR. Fear, sex, anger, and love are the top communications techniques to persuade people….keep that in mind, folks, whenever you view any type of media: spoken word, radio, TV, internet, printed, etc.
Related to this, the local school administration said this on the radio: “A teacher can ask the student how many nickels equal a quarter…but if they go to a computer, it can be illustrated how many nickels equal a quarter, and then a dollar, and so on…” (may not be verbatim, but close). What I heard from that is two things: 1) teachers are boring, so we have to have computer animation; and 2) another way to slip online/computer learning as a replacement of live, human beings. I personally would have illustrated how many nickels equal a quarter by bringing out five nickels. I would always use visual cues to help kids understand. This is especially important for dyslexics, of which I am one.
And a question that keeps rolling around in my head is…why are these people called philanthropists? Isn’t philanthropy giving money away, not expecting anything in return? ‘Cause the Broads, Clintons, Bushes, Gates, and billionaires boys clubs absolutely expect to gain from their so-called philanthropy. Absolutely. So I don’t see that this is philanthropy, but should be called “investment”…
Chicago Teachers Under Fire
Ken Previtti has this up on the bullying of Chicago Teachers….a modern day twist of McCarthyism, where if you don’t tow the line, you’re blacklisted via losing certification.
Democracy, meet dictatorship.
This is unconscionable. The teachers refuse to subject the kids to it. The parents don’t want it. And the kids certainly don’t benefit from it. As Ken states, the only people that benefit are the education profiteer$ who sell the test prep, the tests, scoring the tests, and anything else they can think of to profit.
Are the parents not taxpayers? Are the teachers not taxpayers? And the public taxpayer who does not want CCSS? Again I ask, if the taxpayers don’t want this…then why are their wishes being ignored?
Meanwhile, in Indiana, they are going to push online learning to make up for all the snow days we had this winter….nice way to shoehorn the kids into online learning…
…and get rid of teachers altogether.
My environmental journey
The critics of environmentalists claim that we’re phonies…okay, well, here is my journey…
…my advocating for the environment has been a slow evolving process that includes my experience with mercury poisoning, growing awareness of what we’re doing to the atmosphere, and a spiritual component of realizing everything is connected.
Here are some of the things I do:
–use cloth bags when going to the grocery. I might use plastic for meat, but I re-use those bags, too, bringing them to the grocery along with the cloth bags. If you use the cloth bags for meat, be sure to launder them before using again, to avoid contamination.
–avoid plastic packaging. …well, plastic *everything*. This has been much easier following the GAPS diet because you don’t eat the processed food in packaging, but real food. If I am given an option, I will buy something in glass packaging before plastic.
—re-use the glass containers for drinking glasses, food storage, plants, etc. I try to avoid ziploc bags when possible.
—don’t purchase synthetic materials like nylon and other materials requiring petroleum. The list I think is a catch-all, because I think some of the things listed are made with petroleum if plastic or manufactured cloth such as nylon, so some of the products listed could be okay if not using those materials. Here’s a website on organic cotton, fyi.
–When I had my home, I made a conscious decision not to pave the driveway–it was gravel. I didn’t spray for weeds, either. I let my grass grow to 3 inches so that the roots could grow deeply enough to avoid having to water the lawn, especially during the dry time in July–this also helped keep the weeds down. Meanwhile, my neighbors practically shaved the grass off and…wait for it…had to waste precious water to keep the grass from dying in July. I let a patch of ground that was the former owner’s garden, grow its natural way, without my interference. Yeah, I was the neighborhood hippie…
—use baking soda, borax, and vinegar for cleaning. A formula I found in a natural health mag goes like this: Bathroom cleaner: 6 T vinegar, 2 T borax mixed with a cup– of warm water. Put this in a 1 qt. spray bottle and fill the rest with water. Works great, especially if used every day.
—I would like to use non-toxic natural cleaners for laundry, dish washing, etc., but with my finances, this isn’t doable right now. Oh, and fyi, avoid dishwashers–the detergent used in them is highly toxic.
—ride a bike or walk when going somewhere. This was easier for me when I lived in Fort Wayne, where everything was within walking distance. I could get to the downtown in 45 minutes to an hour. There is something to be said for walking or riding–you are much more connected to what is going on around you. You hear the birds sing. Feel the breeze. Hear the ripple of water along the river…driving a vehicle cuts you off from so much, besides polluting.
—use flannel cloths instead of toilet paper and re-wash them. I know, I know, some of you are going “ick” right now. No. 1 is fine…No. 2 still requires paper. So there.
—cloth pads instead of chemically manufactured pads.
—use less. I just use less. This was part of the learning process of being poor–you just learn how to manage on less. Not easy, for sure. I became much more adept at planning meals and using food up before it went to waste. I didn’t buy as much at the grocery until I needed it. This is easier if the grocery is within walking distance….which is becoming harder as the independents are being forced out while big box stores are situated out in no-man’s-land, forcing people to drive there.
—garden organically, using compost from kitchen waste, and if you’re really adventurous, pee and poo. This is not for sissies…so come with your brain in active mode and your determination to get away from petroleum and chemicals. You will succeed, but you can’t give up when challenged. Nature does challenge you, but also gives such splendid rewards. 😉
This is an ongoing process, for sure. I didn’t just wake up one day and start doing all of this. It was a gradual endeavor with every new discovery of my own contribution to pollution.
So…there you have it…my efforts towards helping instead of hurting the environment.
I think if we all took those first steps, and built on that, we would greatly reduce our dependency on petroleum. Everything helps and every bit matters.
Moskowitz using the kids for her personal gain
David Sirota has this up on Eva Moskowitz, queen of charters in NY. She closed the schools to bus children to her rally. Unfreakingbelievable. Can you imagine anyone in public education being allowed to do that?? They would be fired.
Next, we have this from Fred Klonsky on the close ties of pro-charter education profiteers and our elected representatives. Sleazy opportunists.
One notorious group, “Democrats for Education Reform” (DFER), is a front for financiers that seek to spread charter schools in Chicago, even at the expense of neighborhood public schools. DFER has given extensive support to Christian Mitchell, placing him on their “Hot List of 2012” and naming him their “Reformer of the Month” for January 2014, in which they solicited political contributions on his behalf.
Rep. Mitchell has also accepted over $100,000 in political contributions from “Stand for Children,” an organization that wants to defund public education through voucher programs and other failed policies that only hurt Chicago students.
Last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 neighborhood schools which put more than 80,000 children at risk. The closings are the largest in U.S. history. Rep. Mitchell showed little support to his constituents as they protested the drastic action. Instead, he has loudly supported private charter expansion, which research shows have little accountability and a questionable academic success rate.
~~~~~~~~~~~
In more education news, Fred Klonsky has this up about DFER and David Axelrod.
Julian Vasquez Helig, PhD, has a great summary of the billionaires’ club influence on public education and charters here.
Diane Ravitch features a poem by a teacher who couldn’t take any more.
Their innocence plundered their self now askew,
They hardened completely while no one even knew.Their spirits were taken their childhood replaced
A new breed of children – a much meaner race.Now where are those sadists who made up such rules
to torture young children with cruel cunning ruse?They’re safe in their castles no thoughts of that time,
When children were maimed by their heinous crime~~~~~~~~~~~
Victory for Saucedo teachers
Woot! Teachers taking back their classrooms! The tactics of intimidation by Barbara Byrd-Bennett did not work.
…and the teachers, bless their hearts, still taught a lesson in civil disobedience and nonviolence, a la Ghandi and Rosa Parks.
Makes me smile. 🙂
Supporting teachers, supporting public schools
Bill de Blasio, the mayor, and Gov. Cuomo were at what could be described as dueling rallies.
Eva Moskowitz, the queen of charters with Success Academy, claims their rally was not meant to compete with Mayor de Blasio’s. Um-hmmm…
You might remember Success Academy with this post.
Meanwhile, support came far away for the Saucedo teachers in Chicago…from the big ole’ state of Texas.
Public Education: The Hunger Games
Wow. This old post by School Finance 101 really drives home the utter madness of school “reform” and draws a correlation between the pitting of kids against each other that Race to the Bottom and Common Core demand in order to receive tax dollars and falsely rate students, teachers, and schools…..and The Hunger Games.
I haven’t seen the movie, but I have seen examples of the pitting of people against one another to “increase production”. Personally, I have always felt that this was just a sick game by dark ones who enjoy seeing people beat each other up or use underhanded tactics to win. Kind of like the show “Survivor” put on by “devout Christian” Mark Burnett. Tell me, Burnett, would Jesus approve of pitting people against one another to win?? Didn’t I read that he fed everyone loaves and fishes…not feeding just a few after making them fight for it??
But, I digress…
I have never understood why business models were held up as some sort of panacea. If the business model is an elaborate pyramid scheme, how can it possibly be sustainable? It all depends on making a profit–make that bigger profit. Greed is the goal instead of sustainability. It just doesn’t make sense.
Phrase of the day: cannibalistic management practices.
As I’m reading this, I’m thinking of that gym teacher that used to punish the group that lost when we played sports games. It was punitive and counter-productive–I hated gym class because of it. It certainly didn’t make me want to exercise more or win more games. Even if one is good at a particular game, if you have folks on your team who are not, you still lose. His thinking was that you would shame or bully your teammates to perform better, but that was a stupid, thoughtless gesture that created a negative atmosphere. It did not allow for some folks being more coordinated and therefore better at sports. It totally missed the point that it was about getting exercise and making that enjoyable instead of competitive.
It is important to note Microsoft’s copying this insanity…with predictable results.
We have to fix it
This from Fred Klonsky’s blog.
Very powerful. People have the power to change things.
CPS Professional Development
Yes, folks, this is where your hard earned tax dollars are going to…not to teachers’ salaries or the unions like the education profiteers would like you to think….
Good Grief. I have no words.
Wait…yes, yes I do…how many people in this room would like to get up and walk out?
How many?
How many?
Eagle 
You must be logged in to post a comment.