Every day the list of CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS grows and grows. The inevitable result of putting public money into private hands. CHARTER SCHOOL SCANDALS' sister site, THE BROAD REPORT, detailing the depraved machinations of the vile plutocrat Eli Broad, was recently updated as well.
Our quote of the week comes from Professor Linda Darling-Hammond in Darling-Hammond: U.S. vs highest-achieving nations in education:
[T]he United States has been pursuing an approach to teaching almost diametrically opposed to that pursued by the highest-achieving nations.
California State Senator Carol Liu's SB 433 would require charter schools to follow public school rules in regard to suspension and expulsion of pupils. A step toward fairness and equity. You can be assured the reactionary CCSA will oppose it since takes away another vector of charter school discrimination, and could effect their market share and scores.
Kenneth J. "TeacherKen" Bernstein's I am a proud union teacher is a brilliant piece that dismantles the vapid Scott Walker/Ben Austin/Andy Smarick arguments about seniority, tenure, evaluations and more.
Opposed to Yolie Flores 2.0? Here are five articles explaining why LAUSD District 5 voters should REJECT the unethical and unprincipled Luis Sanchez.
LA Weakly [sic] Alert
What does one get when they mix yellow journalism with laughable misinformation? Simone Wilson! Wilson, whose inability to grasp even simple facts is exceeded only by that of her rich right-wing libertarian boss Jill Stewart. Wilson writes in her piece:
"Central Region Elementary School 14: Convert to Camino Nuevo charter campus"
The school is newly built and has never been opened. Precisely how is it being converted Ms. Wilson? Moreover, how is it a "low-performing campus" if it has never been open? Wilson's lack of cogent writing is matched only by her obvious cheerleading for Stewart's wealthy fellow socialites in the lucrative charter-voucher school industry.
The screed Wilson et al write is indicative of why the LA Weekly is considered a trashy masseuse and porn ad pennysaver amongst all other Los Angeles journalists. I suppose that's what we can expect from smug white libertarian hipsters that never outgrew their angst filled teenage years reading sociopath Ayn Rand. Although all their ideas are highly discredited, they maintain the answer to poverty is privatization. I'd call on social justice activists to boycott the LA Weekly's advertisers, but all those escort services, "gentlemen's" clubs, and other questionable enterprises already know we're not their customer base, so it's doubtful they'd care at all.
The LA Weekly's ideological counterparts — the teabaggers — have been hard at work. From Wisconsin, there's a neoliberal gambit to privatize the whole education system. Coming soon to a district near you: Republican bill calls for a board of political appointees to authorize charter schools. The Heartland Institute's bosom buddy Ben Austin must be drooling over that news, who needs a "trigger" when you can privatize the whole system at once? More corporate obsequiousness. For those of you that thought "The L Word" meant one thing, think again. Turns out the "L" word, the people that actually provide it, and depictions of it are so hated by right wing reactionaries, that the teabagging Governor of Maine wants to remove all signs of it. See Wingnut ME gov takes labor mural down for full details.
Timothy D. Slekar's Teachers, This One Is for You addresses some of the issues with opting out of high stakes testing mandated by the reactionary NCLB. Dr. Jim Horn speaks to NCLB and corporate power in Barack and Arne Van Winkle.
"The No Child Left Behind Act has been deadly to public education. So why has the president embraced it?" Dr. Diane Ravitch addresses this in Obama's War on Schools. Dr. Ravitch argues elsewhere that We Must Change the Narrative About Public Education.
[click here if you can't view this video]
ISR issue 71 still has some of the best articles on school privatization to date. Let's review:
- Obama's neoliberal agenda for education by Gillian Russom
- The case against charter schools by Gillian Russom
- The education "shock doctrine" by Adam Sanchez
I'm partial to the second article since Gillian quotes two of my essays in it. We all know I am not above shameless self promotion. Speaking of that, SW reprinted my defense of Matt Damon — Matt Damon stands up for teachers.
NYC Public School Parents recently featured a satirical short entitled Bringing the War Home. Interesting piece in Education Notes, which is cogent and compassionate, and probably one of the best I've read in terms of starting a very necessary dialog: When will we start talking to charter school parents?. Let's remember that dialog with parents and community is different than with the financially and politically motivated. Can You Have Dialogue With Ed Deformers? discusses why the DFER types have to be treated differently.
Dr. Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's The Charter School Industry – Part I is first in a series exposing the charter charlatans. Michelle Rhee Versus Michelle Rhee catches serial liar Rhee in a contradiction, as if that's hard to do.
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