Tuesday, March 23, 2010

A REAL Parent and Student Revolution brewing at Corporate Green Dot CMO Charter Schools

"Everything we do from now moving forward, will be to expose all of Green Dot's lies and everything they lied to us and to our parents." — Animo Justice Student

The ultimatum is at odds with Green Dot's principles, which call for teacher input into critical decisionsJudy Riemenschneider

Steve Barr's corporate charter-voucher establishment in Los Angeles, like all EMO/CMO factory schools with their unelected and unaccountable boards, have been a paradigm of parent and community disenfranchisement. &mdash Robert D. Skeels

Is there a PARENT TRIGGER for this?

Green Dot Public [sic] Schools' Marco Petruzzi recently announced that they were doing what all investment bankers, hedge fund managers and Corporate CEOs do when the aren't realizing high profitability, the closure of Animo Justice. Since children are mere commodities to the hedge fund manager and investment banker logic of individuals like Marco Petruzzi, Steve Barr, Gabe Rose, and Ben Austin, this is a sad extension of their business principles.

Think "parent advocate" Ben Austin will sweep in to rescue these parents from a lack of "adult accountability" and "mismanaged bureaucracy?" Wasn't it Petruzzi and Austin that came up with the farcical "give us three years and we'll give you a great school" motto? Is this an example of parent power? Is this what Yolie Flores Aguilar, inc. means by high performing charters? Is this what Ben Austin refers to as "a kid centered agenda?"

Downsizing. Corporate values through and through. As Social Justice Educator Jose Lara says "Welcome to the business model."

In Green Dot to close Justice Charter High School Howard Blume mentions Animo Film & Theatre Arts will probably be the next to "go out of business."

However, parents and students of the school aren't taking the shocking announcement by the well heeled corporate executives sitting down. Instead of posturing and misappropriating the language of revolutionary resistance, like corporate hack Ben Austin constantly does, these real Green Dot parents and Green Dot students are taking real direct action!

We in the social justice community fully support the students, parents, activists, and community members trying to prevent school closures!

Here's a quote from one of the organizers:

Today, over 400 students participated in a sit-in that lasted nearly 5 hours, culminating in a walk out, where press covered the action. Students are protesting the blatant disrespect Green Dot has shown them, their families, and their entire communities by promising to provide them a quality education and democratic schools, only to shut down the school at the end of this school year, with students and parents having absolutely NO say in the decision. For those who don't know, Animo Justice is the ONLY school in the Green Dot Jefferson cluster that accepts English Language Learners and the school with the 2nd highest proportion of students with IEPs in all of GD. Hmm ... sounds a bit like creaming the crop to me....


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Wasn't it Green Dot's David Ha that insisted that every Green Dot Public [sic] School had a huge waiting list since Green Dot offered "school choice?" How does that explain Green Dot closing schools due to low attendance? Then again, he also said Milton Freidman was widely respected, so we can understand his utter confusion.

Note to charters: children are not a commodity! Tell the greedy executives at this corporate CMO to keep Animo Justice open. On top of sucking up our tax dollars, Green Dot Public [sic] Schools get millions of extra dollars from the Waltons, Broads, and Gates. They are only closing to raise profitability and target other schools. I hope Arne "Katrina Schadenfreude" Duncan is watching, because this is what their corporate schools model inevitably leads to. Oh yeah, that's what he wants.

Pedagogy not profit!

More on this soon...

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