8th Annual A.R.E. Conference

WORKSHOP PRESENTATION PROPOSAL

APPLICATION FORM

8th Annual A.R.E. Conference

Saturday, March 1st, 2014

C.K. McClatchy High School

Sacramento, CA

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday, January 31st, 2014

Email Application to: Sacra.ARE@gmail.com

CONFERENCE TITLE

20 Year Effort: Raza Educators Building Liberated Spaces

WORKSHOPS

·       Critical Pedagogy: Theory and Practice

·       Media and Education

·       Immigration and Its Relationship to Education of Raza Youth

·       Role of Community In Education

·       Art and Culture

·       Educational Empowerment and Self-determination

·       Violence, Drugs, and Imprisonment of Raza Youth

·       The Struggle Against Cutbacks and Teacher Layoffs

·       Corporate Take Over and Privatization of Public Education

Please submit your workshop proposal using the enclosed form and send it via email to sacra.are@gmail.com

The conference will be free for all attendees and will include continental breakfast. Lunch Options: A) $5 donation or B) on your own. All presenters will be required to pre-register.   Pre-registration is available online, please visit the following webpage: www.razaeducators.org/conference14/theme2014.html

8th Annual A.R.E. Conference

At least as far back as Plutarch wise scholars knew the phrase "rule of law" meant "rule of plutocrats."

At least as far back as Plutarch wise scholars knew the phrase "rule of law" still meant "rule of plutocrats." http://t.co/iEe765Tcop

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) January 23, 2014

…he laughed at him for imagining the dishonesty and covetousness of his countrymen could be restrained by written laws, which were like spiders’ webs, and would catch, it is true, the weak and poor, but easily be broken by the mighty and rich.

Plutarch Solon

At least as far back as Plutarch wise scholars knew the phrase "rule of law" meant "rule of plutocrats."

George Takei's awesome message to edreform minded politicians

A group of baboons is called a congress, you know... pic.twitter.com/0zRpe2IB6N

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) January 22, 2014

George Takei's awesome message to edreform minded politicians

Meet the new exploitation, the same as the old exploitation

My comments on Michael Staton's "The Degree Is Doomed"

You have to love all the corporate psychobabble like "use the language of innovation theorists and practitioners, being unbundled" that this piece is replete with. It sort of reads like a Tom Vander Ark meets Thomas Friedman at an all-you-can-eat-mescaline-venture-capitalist-buffet.

At the end of all his nonsensical ramblings, the author gets to the meat of the matter. It's not just that he and all these greedy tech companies see a way to get University of Phoenix rich by peddling these so-called "alternate credential solutions," it's also about driving down the prevailing wage for all fields, including those of educated professionals. Hence phrases like "avoids job candidates with advanced software engineering degrees because ... brings with it both higher salary demands and hubris ... candidate is likely to be an expensive, hard-to-work-with diva who will show no loyalty to the company."

Meet the new exploitation, the same as the old exploitation.

Meet the new exploitation, the same as the old exploitation

SKrashen: Heritage Language Development: Exhortation or Good Stories?

SKrashen: Heritage Language Development: Exhortation or Good Stories?:   Lao, C. and Krashen, S. 2008. Heritage language development: Exhortation or good stories? International Journal of Foreign Language Tea...

SKrashen: Heritage Language Development: Exhortation or Good Stories?

The Zinn Education Project goes where Corporate Core (CCSS) refuses to go

In memory of Hugh Thompson, Jr. who died #tdih2006 (age 62.) On March 16, 1968, during the My Lai Massacre, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson blocked fellow U.S. troops with his helicopter, had his crew train machine guns on them, and rescued a group of civilian Vietnamese villagers hiding in a bunker. His actions led to an end to the brutal massacre. Learn more from this ballad by David Rovics, here:http://bit.ly/19ZLJWY (A related new book is "Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam" by Nick Turse that documents (tragically) that My Lai was not a rare event. Learn more from this Democracy Now! broadcast:http://bit.ly/1hre14h)

Please visit and support The Zinn Education Project

Bruce A. Dixon of Black Agenda Report posted addional information from Wikipedia

via Karen Watson...
Thompson: What's going on here, Lieutenant?
Calley: This is my business.
Thompson: What is this? Who are these people?
Calley: Just following orders.
Thompson: Orders? Whose orders?
Calley: Just following...
Thompson: But, these are human beings, unarmed civilians, sir.
Calley: Look Thompson, this is my show. I'm in charge here. It ain't your concern.
Thompson: Yeah, great job.
Calley: You better get back in that chopper and mind your own business.
Thompson: You ain't heard the last of this!
Thompson took off again, and Andreotta reported that Mitchell was now executing the people in the ditch. Furious, Thompson flew over the northeast corner of the village and spotted a group of about ten civilians, including children, running toward a homemade bomb shelter. Pursuing them were soldiers from the 2nd Platoon, C Company. Realizing that the soldiers intended to murder the Vietnamese, Thompson landed his aircraft between them and the villagers. Thompson turned to Colburn and Andreotta and told them that if the Americans began shooting at the villagers or him, they should fire their M60 machine guns at the Americans: "Y'all cover me! If these bastards open up on me or these people, you open up on them. Promise me!" He then dismounted to confront the 2nd Platoon's leader, Stephen Brooks. Thompson told him he wanted help getting the peasants out of the bunker. ~ Wikipedia

The Zinn Education Project goes where Corporate Core (CCSS) refuses to go

SKrashen: The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting Students from the Effects of Poverty

SKrashen: The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting St...: Stephen Krashen Published in: iLeader: Journal of School Library Association of New South Wales 1(4): 3-6 (2012) ...

SKrashen: The Spectacular Role of Libraries in Protecting Students from the Effects of Poverty

My comments on Mike Klonsky's 'Belmont's Blues'

My comments on @mikeklonsky 's "Belmont's Blues" #LAUSD http://t.co/wkV9ckSoCV pic.twitter.com/ZwXItnhU93

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 26, 2013

I live within walking distance of Belmont, and Roybal is just a bit further to the east (they're separate schools). Because of Monica Garcia, the proliferation of privately managed charters in this area has caused both of the former to become under-enrolled and have drained their resources. Well financed charters use laptop giveaways and other perquisites to attract higher performing students over to their lucrative operations, leaving our public schools with both less resources, and the harder to educate students. Over the summer our community fought hard to keep Richard Riordan's real estate cum charter school empire from staking out the highly prized parcel across the street from Belmont http://echopark.patch.com/groups/robert-d-skeelss-blog/p/college-ready-alliance-charter-corporations-big-scam We succeeded in getting our Neighborhood Council to vote against Alliance, but with their connections, they'll probably still expand and further dismantle our area's public schools.

My comments on Mike Klonsky's 'Belmont's Blues'

Gentrification...is not a natural process...it grows out of...institutional arrangements and deliberate actions

"Gentrification...is not a natural process...it grows out of...institutional arrangements and deliberate actions" http://t.co/s2iR1TjvWH

— ken montenegro (@kmontenegro) December 25, 2013

The Ins and the Outs: The Gentrification of Franklin Avenue

Gentrification...is not a natural process...it grows out of...institutional arrangements and deliberate actions

M Night Shyamalan's privatization agenda exposed as soon as he cites his model schools

.@tessvigeland might want to ask reactionary @MNightShyamalan how CNCA's 6% CSU proficiency is 'successful' #LAUSD http://t.co/uwJw7v65Lg

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) January 4, 2014

M Night Shyamalan is crusading the right-wing, corporate edreform project. He lauds the abject Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Corporation (CNCA) as one of 50 schools that are "successfully" using his method. Those of us who have had to resist CNCA's corporate take-over of our public schools have exposed those charlatans, but don't let facts get in the way of Shyamalan and all the other self-appointed education experts' privatization narrative.

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UPDATE

Here are the comments I made on SPCR's site. People might want to do the same and also reach out to Tess Vigeland letting her know the regurgitating Press Releases is NOT journalism.

Tess Vigeland might want to ask reactionary M. Night Shyamalan how he finds Camino Nuevo Charter Academy Corporation (CNCA)'s abject 6% CSU proficiency "successful."

http://dissidentvoice.org/2011/01/crafty-camino-nuevo-charter-charlatans/

Reporters used to ask difficult questions of power and privilege, but it's a given that SCPR will just toss Shyamalan softballs. Ask him how many of the "papers, journals and studies" he and his foundation "researched" were actually peer-reviewed, juried works.

At the end of the day Shyamalan is crusading the right-wing, corporate edreform project. Lauding CNCA, which are, as pointed out above, abysmal, as one of 50 schools that are "successfully" using his methods exposes his privatization agenda. Those of us who have had to resist CNCA's corporate take-over of our local public schools have exposed those charlatans, but don't let facts get in the way of Shyamalan and all the other self-appointed education experts' privatization narrative.

Worst thing is these reformers never engage in honest debate because they are not only out of their element, but are easily discredited with facts. Rather than having Ana Ponce—who herself has made a fortune off the corporate edreform project—why not have an academic who could challenge Shyamalan's schtick?

M Night Shyamalan's privatization agenda exposed as soon as he cites his model schools

Corporate Core updates 2014-01-02

Common Core Puts the Unqualified In Charge via @susanoha #LAUSD #CCSS #edreform http://t.co/s23FWMLg63 pic.twitter.com/prE1OWWhjE

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) January 2, 2014

MT @skrashen The CC$$ ignore the evidence: http://t.co/NStMrJYTc3 #CCSS #LAUSD pic.twitter.com/uuxnC9NmPw

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) January 2, 2014

Corporate Core updates 2014-01-02

SKrashen: The common core ignores the evidence

SKrashen: The common core ignores the evidence: Sent to the Los Angeles Times, January 2, 2013 Al Austin, in his letter to the Times (Jan 2) notes that the common core calls for "a s...

SKrashen: The common core ignores the evidence

Corporate, neoliberal edreform is racist and classist at its very core

#edreform is segregation: "Thousands of black and Latino kids lost their schools in 2013" http://t.co/lm6K1K2iaC #LAUSD @parentrev @uwgla

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 30, 2013

Corporate, neoliberal edreform is racist and classist at its very core

CA-NAME Conference Reclaiming Multicultural Education: Fighting Back, Imagining and Building Socially Just Worlds

Reclaiming Multicultural Education by Robert D. Skeels

previous post

CA-NAME Conference Reclaiming Multicultural Education: Fighting Back, Imagining and Building Socially Just Worlds

There are solutions to fascism, and patriarchy for that matter

There are solutions to fascism, and patriarchy for that matter.

There are solutions to fascism, and patriarchy for that matter

Final Grade: first class back UCLA after 19 years—5 unit Capstone Seminar: Classics: Ancient Novel

First class back @UCLA after 19 years—5 unit Capstone Seminar: Classics: Ancient Novel #UCLA http://t.co/h1LlpKYVuU pic.twitter.com/2bdvdmBgzO

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 17, 2013

While my initial goal was just to pass, earning that “A” really boosted my morale. Class was hard though, hundreds of pages of reading a week for 10+ weeks. Two classes next quarter and I’m done!

Final Grade: first class back UCLA after 19 years—5 unit Capstone Seminar: Classics: Ancient Novel

MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking

MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking http://t.co/edCbAClW1g

— Diane Ravitch (@DianeRavitch) December 17, 2013

MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking via Professor Diane Ravitch

MIT Researchers: Higher Test Scores Do Not Translate into Higher Levels of Thinking

CA-NAME Conference Reclaiming Multicultural Education: Fighting Back, Imagining and Building Socially Just Worlds

MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE

JANUARY 11, 2014

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON

OVER 25 WORKSHOPS! POWERFUL KEYNOTE SPEAKERS! 

REGISTER ONLINE! REGISTRATION WILL BE CAPPED AT 250 PARTICIPANTS!

www.CaliforniaNAME.org

On behalf of the California Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (CA-NAME), we invite you to our 3rd annual conference, entitled "Reclaiming Multicultural Education," that will take place Saturday, January 11, 2014 at California State University, Fullerton.

The conference is an all-day event that offers teachers, counselors, and others working directly with diverse student populations an opportunity to learn about multicultural teaching, curricular, and community strategies.   We have a line up of respected scholars in the field of multicultural education, including Dr. Antonia Darder, Dr. Kevin Kumashiro, and Dr. Thandeka Chapman.  

Workshops topics include:

• Culture, Community, and the Arts

• Multicultural Literacies

• Critical Media Literacy

• Literacy and Social Studies

• Second Language Learners & Policy Changes

• Student Identities and Institutions

• Teacher Identities and Practices

• Ethnic Studies: Surviving Neoliberal Assaults

Panel topics include:

• Decolonial Perspectives on Higher Education

• Bilingual Teachers: Raising Critical Consciousness

• Student Organizing in the CSUs

• School-Based Family Counseling

Conference registration: University Affiliates: $50.00; Teachers and Community Activists: $25.00; Students: $15.00.  Registration fees include access to conference, conference program, lunch, and gift.  Attendees can register online at: www.CaliforniaNAME.org.  If you have any questions, please contact ca.name.conference@gmail.com.

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: California Teachers Association (CTA), Student California Teachers Association (SCTA), Los Amigos of Orange County, Researchers and Critical Educators (RACE), Cultural And Public History Association (CPHA). Cal State Fullerton Departments: Chicana & Chicano Studies, African American Studies, Asian American Studies.

CA-NAME Conference Reclaiming Multicultural Education: Fighting Back, Imagining and Building Socially Just Worlds

UCLA F13 Survived

Noon: turned in overwrought 3750+ word Classics 191 paper. @UCLA F13 done. Won't miss carrying these everywhere #UCLA pic.twitter.com/HSQfjHCnId

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 13, 2013

UCLA F13 Survived

Parents in Action for Student Services (PASS) organize to return LAUSD Breakfast in the Cafeteria!

Parents in Action for Student Services (PASS) organize to return Breakfast in the Cafeteria! by Robert D. Skeels

A parent organization, Parents in Action for Student Services (PASS), is organizing to have Breakfast in the Cafeteria, before school. They are educating parents about school privatization and connecting it to BIC. This week they showed the connection between privatizers and BIC. Next week they plan to show the video from UTLA to drive the point home to fellow parents.

The messaging for this is very simple and effective:

"Should children eat breakfast in the classroom during instruction, or before school in the cafeteria?" Even L.A residents with no connection to public schools sign these petitions. This is not a ballot initiative petition, therefore signers do not need to be U.S citizens.

There are 1,000 schools in LAUSD. If each school in can collect 100 signatures, that would be 100,000 signatures! In our school alone, we have collected 300. We have received another 200 signatures from a school in the Valley. Between staff and parents at each school site this is very doable.

Please have people in your school communities circulate widely and sign. Turn in all petitions to the PASS address at the bottom of the petition by January 31, 2014.

Parents in Action for Student Services (PASS) organize to return LAUSD Breakfast in the Cafeteria!

An investigative documentary into the Common Core State Standards Initiative

BUILDING THE MACHINE (2014) - Official Trailer [HQ]

I want to use the same disclaimer here that I did the last time I posted Common Core State Standards (CSSS) related materials from sources that I disavow any connection with. The video is produced by, and also features, individuals that are from fringe-right-wing groups. The last time I published a disclaimer like this, I was subjected to a firestorm of criticism from the right. That's fine, we will never be allies in any sense other than shared opposition to the vile corporate CCSS curriculum being foisted on students. That said, there's a distinction to be made between factual information about CSSS, and ideological opposition. That's why I am posting this film trailer, because the factual case against CCSS can be made from either end of the political spectrum.

An investigative documentary into the Common Core State Standards Initiative

School Matter: Thieving charter charlatan-scoundrel Juan Rangel steps down from UNO! He was a darling of the AEI

First published on Schools Matter on December 06, 2013

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Thieving charter charlatan-scoundrel @JuanRangel steps down from #UNO! He was a darling of @AEIeducation http://t.co/svdm81drB5

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 6, 2013

Via Professor Diane Ravitch: Powerful Chicago Charter Leader Resigns in Wake of Financial Scandal

My commentary: Thieving charter charlatan-scoundrel Juan Rangel was a darling of the fringe-right American Enterprise Institute (AEI). In addition to their loving his stuffing of public money into his private pockets, AEI gushed about Rangel and UNO's systematic program of right-wing indoctrination.

School Matter: Thieving charter charlatan-scoundrel Juan Rangel steps down from UNO! He was a darling of the AEI

Alex Russo, intrepid blogger defending the 1%'s education privatization project

Alex Russo, intrepid blogger defending the 1%'s education privatization project http://t.co/09j2GXLCu1 pic.twitter.com/hGsm62NM9e

— RDSkeels4Schoolboard (@RDSkeels4LAUSD) December 6, 2013

Alex Russo, intrepid blogger defending the 1%'s education privatization project

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update

Alexander Russo has finally exposed @TeacherSabrina as a teacher! World is shocked and stunned by his incisive reporting.

— Arthur Goldstein (@TeacherArthurG) December 6, 2013

Alex Russo, intrepid blogger defending the 1%'s education privatization project

Ms. Klein your schadenfreude over LaMotte's death was more than a little offensive

From: "Robert D. Skeels" <*********@ucla.edu>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2013 23:43:47 -0800
Subject: Ms. Klein your schadenfreude over LaMotte's death was more than a little offensive
To: Karin Klein <karin.klein@latimes.com>
Message-Id: <93C75696-38C7-49D2-8770-C53706CFAA8F@ucla.edu>

Ms. Klein:

Your fringe-right leanings coupled with your limited knowledge of pedagogy have always tainted your awful editorials and op-eds. However, you really outdid yourself with today's painfully gleeful obituary of the Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte. In the future when someone asks me how to define schadenfreude, I'll point them to the mean spirited and duplicitous screed you penned today.

You are truly shameless.

Advocating Public Education and Social Justice

Robert D. Skeels

"Problem posing education does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor" — Paulo Freire

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Update: Here's the conversations we're having about this on fb:

• Vik Chaubey: No surprise. Lamotte stood for principle and integrity people like that are usually attacked. When you challenge charter schools you get attacked.
• Robert D. Skeels: Los Angeles Times' Karin Klein uses the word "feisty" to describe LaMotte over and over. She may as well have used "uppity" to express her (and her handlers) disdain of a woman of color who stood up to Eli Broad's cabal. Every time I think the LA Times can't be more disgusting I'm sadly proven wrong.

Ms. Klein your schadenfreude over LaMotte's death was more than a little offensive

John Deasy prioritizes corporate handouts over student lives—let's provide LAUSD kids with nurses!

Deasy prioritizes corporate handouts over student lives—let's provide #LAUSD kids with nurses! http://t.co/BF7SEAHnLs pic.twitter.com/EbfKp7cb6X

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 6, 2013

The tragic death of sixth-grade Philadelphia student Laporshia Massey illustrates the dire need to ensure that every child has access to quality health and wellness services at school. I urge you to support requiring that every school have a full-time health professional on staff — and to commit to fully funding this critical resource.

In LAUSD, John Deasy prioritizes corporate handouts over student lives—let's provide all LAUSD kids with nurses! As a community, we've grown weary of school resources being diverted to tests and test-prep, when tragedies like the one described above are entirely preventable.

John Deasy prioritizes corporate handouts over student lives—let's provide LAUSD kids with nurses!

Rest in Peace: LAUSD's Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte

Honoring Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte. #LAUSD champion for students & bulwark against corporate #edreform. #RIP pic.twitter.com/rI0c6Ju5P3

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 5, 2013

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Update: check out these amazing comments by people on facebook in response to the above tweet.

Rest in Peace: LAUSD's Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte

Charlatan John Deasy calls transferring LAUSD's wealth to corporations a "civil rights issue"

Charlatan @drDeasyLAUSD calls transferring #LAUSD wealth to corporations "Civil Rights Issue" http://t.co/k0YkfzlM4S pic.twitter.com/MjmXgymf3G

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 5, 2013

Charlatan John Deasy calls transferring LAUSD's wealth to corporations a "civil rights issue"

Parent Engagement Committee as opportunity to address LAUSD CAC concerns

From an avid reader [edited for anonymity]

Here's the link to the next Early Childhood Education and Parent Engagement Committee meeting scheduled for next Thursday, December 12, 1013. It has an unfortunate late start of 4PM due to Curriculum and Instruction Committee scheduled at 10am, and the Budget, Facilities and Audit Committee scheduled at 1PM the same day. Hopefully the Budget meeting won't go overtime and we can start at 4. As they will be speaking about Local Control Funding Formula, it is possible that public comment will not occur until around 6PM.

School board staffers recently spoke regarding difficulties with our Community Advisory Committee (CAC) meeting structure today and ongoing since PCSB has been helping us. It's been requested that this issue could be placed on the agenda as a whole, but it's full for next week. Officials facilitating the Ad Hoc committee suggest that it would carry weight if members of the CAC and other interested members of the public could come to the meeting and speak to the committee regarding this. The public could ask to have the committee consider this for a future agenda item. If anyone is able to attend, it would be beneficial to the CAC.

Link to committee info and agenda.

Parent Engagement Committee as opportunity to address LAUSD CAC concerns

What Does the PISA Report Tell Us About U.S. Education? (corporate edreform is a bust)

When the OECD releases the PISA report every three years, many people use the ranking to claim public education in the U.S. is failing and push their corporate education reform agenda. But looking at the data, lessons that can be learned from the highest performing countries point in a completely different direction. For more information: http://go.aft.org/pisa #ReclaimIt

What Does the PISA Report Tell Us About U.S. Education? (corporate edreform is a bust)

Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education

Cheryl Ortega for #UTLA Director of Bilingual Education #LAUSD http://t.co/bQ32mfIniz pic.twitter.com/Usfrdc92jF

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) December 1, 2013

Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education by Robert D. Skeels

Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education

Endorsements

"I am an enthusiastic supporter of Ms. Ortega not only for her deep understand and support of bilingual education but also for her ability to see the big picture, to consider what is right for all students. In Gandhi's terms, Ms. Ortega one of the "perfect resisters" we need to win the battle of right versus wrong." — Professor Stephen Krashen

"Cheryl fights, heart and soul, for Bilingual Education and has a sense of justice that UTLA needs." — Lisa Karahalios Board of Directors Valley East,  Milliken Middle School

"I wholeheartedly endorse Cheryl. Her dedication and tenacity are a great service to our teachers and students. She was there at the beginning of LAUSD's implementation of bilingual education. No one has the same experience or institutional memory that she has." — Marina Salas, Chair UTLA Bilingual Ed Cmte, Hoover St. ES

"We need to keep our most experienced, dedicated individual at the helm of UTLA Bilingual Education." — Robert D. Skeels

Cheryl Ortega for UTLA Director of Bilingual Education

Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee: The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directors!

Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directo... by Robert D. Skeels

We are three independent voices for constructive change who share a common vision of inclusiveness and union solidarity. We are not beholden to any faction; we know that the only way to make our union strong is to respect our diverse membership and work together with everyone for the common good.

We ask to serve you because we want to work to strengthen our union’s collective ability to champion members’ rights and stand up for public education. It’s time to turn away from destructive internal factionalism and focus on what really matters. We can’t do this alone. We need your help. If you entrust us with your vote, we pledge to work with all of our union brothers and sisters to:

• Build union solidarity and recruit chapter chairs for all North Area schools.
• Defend and empower all members and all schools, raise pay and boost morale.
• Protect your contract rights and benefits from all threats.
• Fully staff schools, reduce class size and secure full funding for Arts, Health and Human Services, Libraries, Adult Education, SRLDP, Bilingual Education, Field Trips, and more.
• Make sure teachers get the subs they request, and subs get called when requested.
• Eliminate excessive high-stakes standardized testing and test prep.
• Return Breakfast to cafeterias and halt the theft of instructional time.
• Make schools safer and healthier for us and for students.
• Hold elected officials accountable for votes that harm our members.
• Strengthen organizing ties with families, school communities, and other unions.

Matthew Kogan, Jeff Pott & Anne Zerrien-Lee: The best team to serve you as UTLA North Area Chair and Directors!

Charlatan Steve Perry exposed for the world to see!

Charlatan @drStevePerry exposed for the world to see! http://t.co/iDjFd9GXH8 pic.twitter.com/IflQ6Qfsm7

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) November 28, 2013

Ebony Murphy-Root's courageous exposure of one of the most pernicious corporate neoliberal education reformers is a must read: 'Did You Grow Up Around Black People?' My year working for "America's Most Trusted Educator"

The comments under this reprint of the piece are worth visiting as well: A powerful and haunting report from a former Capital Prep teacher

Charlatan Steve Perry exposed for the world to see!

Thank you for Klansplaining me Brian!

My response to a bigot on The Daily Bruin

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Thank you for Klansplaining me Brian!

Your fact-free diatribes about documents, citizens, governments, and such almost made me forget the long history of genocide, trail of tears, stolen lands, and broken treaties (Guadalupe Hidalgo for one) that comprise the so-called nation of laws you mention. "Free to return to their native land"? I know you probably didn't learn this in your white supremacist studies classes, but the indigenous peoples of this continent ARE ALREADY on their native land. The depraved depths of racism and ahistoricism one must plumb to insinuate that "we [sic] are being colonized" is breathtaking. Save that Klanspeak for your next JBS meeting, this isn't the forum for your brand of bigotry and hate speech.

Thank you for Klansplaining me Brian!

What's left for me to do at UCLA?

It's been a long road for this 48 year old undergraduate. My last complete year of high school was the tenth grade. I passed the GED test while stationed at Pearl Harbor in the Navy. I started at Glendale Community College in 1988 and transfered to UCLA in Spring 1991. I was forced to drop out of UCLA by my capricious employer at the end of the Winter 1995 term before I was able to graduate. Recently, after finishing second in the 2013 LAUSD School Board elections, my wife strongly encouraged me to return to UCLA. Readmission to the UC was painless, and under the new requirements I only had 12 units left to graduate.

I'm currently finishing this, which was the only required class...

and then all that's left is...

I had classes with Professor Morris when I was last at UCLA some nineteen years ago. She's one of the smartest people I've ever known, and it will be nice to study under her again.

I'll be walking in June of 2014—the first time graduating from anything ever for me. Then hard choices. UCLA GSE&IS? Peoples College of Law? A MSW program somewhere? The first two choices are pretty attractive given my social connections and the people who would recommend me. However, I'm not sure at this point. First things first.

What's left for me to do at UCLA?

Getting some Twitter love from LA's BEST

LA's Best helps public schools. While they're unable to offset the hundreds of millions the privately managed charter industry gets from right wing billionaires like Reed Hastings, David Welch, Rupert Murdoch, and Eli Broad, it still helps.

I'm a million times more comfortable getting favorited by LA's BEST, than that #ff I got the other day from you-know-who. At the end of the day, they're still both Nonprofit Industrial Complex #NPICs. We need an entirely new model that is a) resistant to control by plutocrats and their foundations; b) responsive to the community instead of a corporate 501C3 structure. Heck, we just need a new socioeconomic system... period.

Robert D. Skeels, Your Tweet got favorited!         Robert D. Skeels @rdsathene Recolonizing Our Classrooms: The Race and Class Hypocrisy of Corporate Education Reform #CCSS #edreform #LAUSDscribd.com/doc/185511197/… 11:37 AM - 19 Nov 13 Favorited by LA's BEST @LAsBEST LA's BEST is an after school education, enrichment and recreation program serving more than 28,000 children in L.A. #LAsBEST

Robert D. Skeels, Your Tweet got favorited! Robert D. Skeels @rdsathene .@ProfessorJVH hits another one out of the park: "Reframing the Refrain: Choice as a Civil Rights Issue" j.mp/1dkV16k #LAUSD 08:32 AM - 21 Nov 13 Favorited by LA's BEST @LAsBEST LA's BEST is an after school education, enrichment and recreation program serving more than 28,000 children in L.A. #LAsBEST

Getting some Twitter love from LA's BEST

A friendly note on organizing and UTLA

I keep hearing a lot of UTLA people complaining that they can't organize because of leadership. I sure want to know how those people explain how amazing UTLA activists like Anne Zerrien-Lee, Ingrid Villeda, Cheryl Ortega, Kelly Flores, Sean Abajian, José Lara, Mike Gonzales, Matthew Kogan, and others who organize successful actions and campaigns on a constant basis.

Maybe because instead of saying that they "can't organize because of leadership," or the just as cynical "organize in spite of leadership," they do it because they are the leadership. When our left political theory becomes nothing more than mere talk shop, I applaud those that put social justice into praxis. Like the trite expression goes: "be the change you are looking for."

first published here

A friendly note on organizing and UTLA