Elmo isn't Gramsci for kids and the mythical soft bigotry of low expectations

This short essay was originally published on The Daily Censored on August 11, 2011. It would seem that all of the old works on that site are gone. That's unfortunate because I published a lot of work there. I had a teaser here linking to it, a practice I stopped doing precisely because I've learned from harsh experience that websites die and all the content is lost (like my At The Chalkface works). I was able to track down a reprint on Susan Ohanian's site, but her site is having issues as well. Ultimately, I was able to retrieve a copy of the reprint from the Wayback Machine.

I want to reproduce this last sentence from Ohanian's introduction, since she had such insight into why the essay was important:

“The hardline right wing may well love the vacuous phrase “soft bigotry of low expectations,” but let’s remember that education deform democrats love it just as much. It is mostly used to put progressive activists on the defensive.” — Susan Ohanian

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Elmo isn't Gramsci for kids and the mythical soft bigotry of low expectations

“We address the soft bigotry of low expectations so that we may ignore the hard racism of inequity.” — John Kuhn

Although this footage isn't new and commentators have already discussed it, it deserves reexamination since it illuminates one of the core false tenets of the corporate education reform canon.

Amidst the bizarre assertion that Sesame Street is indoctrinating children in some sort of insidious left wing plot, reactionary Ben Shapiro says that:

"I talked to one of the guys who's at Children's Television Workshop originally and he said the whole purpose of Sesame Street was cater to black and hispanic youths who, quote unquote, did not have reading literature in the house, there kind of this soft bigotry of low expectations that's automatically associated with Sesame Street."

Ahhh — the chimerical "soft bigotry of low expectations." As opposed to the hard bigotry of the pervasive institutional racism underpinning our economic system, which facilitates the division of workers and submerses a majority in abject poverty in order to make a small minority obscenely rich. The very same minority, by the way, that supports privatizing public education via charters and vouchers.

The dubious phrase is beloved by the hardline right. The Birchers at the Heartland Institute [1] use the phrase with reckless abandon. Cato, Manhattan, Hoover, and all the other reactionary right wing think tanks repeat the phrase "soft bigotry of low expectations" as if it's the mantra necessary to permanently bring back the gilded age they all pine for.

Of course the nonsensical phrase isn't limited to fringe right-wing kooks that also think John Galt and Howard Rourke are historical figures. Many supposed-liberals, or at the very least Democratic Leadership Council party operatives, use the phrase as often, if not more often than their teabagging counterparts.

The vile billionaire hedge fund shyster Whitney Tilson uses the phrase incessantly. Remember too that the ever obtuse Tilson helped form two of the most virulent corporate reform and privatization pushing organizations in existence: Teach for America (TFA) and Democrats for Education Reform (DFER). The latter, DFER, uses the phrase in its privatization propaganda. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has used the phrase. TFA's Wendy Kopp has had a lucrative career peddling the phrase. The snarling queen of Erasuregate, Michelle Rhee, cherishes such phrases. Los Angeles' poverty pimping opportunist Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa proudly plasters the phrase on twitter.

The unprincipled construction "soft bigotry of low expectations" is typically credited to the Council on Foreign Relations's arch-reactionary Michael Gerson, who was the speechwriter for fraudulent Rod Paige's Texas Education Miracle co-fraud, George W. Bush.

Like all the philosophically threadbare propaganda from the right, the expression is vapid and vacuous, without any real meaning whatsoever, putting it right along with "no excuses," and "working hard and being nice." Professor Noam Chomsky best addresses these types of phrases:

"It doesn't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?" [2]

The policy in question is to ignore poverty and demand a false accountability from all of poverty's victims. While there are countless works discussing this, a recent pair of essays by my Schools Matter colleague Professor P. L. Thomas, EdD, really get to the heart of this issue: Poverty and Testing in Education: "The Present Scientifico-legal Complex" part 1 and part 2.

Humane Expectations Devoid of any Bigotry

In my many years I've never come across an educator that had anything but "realistic expectations tempered with compassion and empathy" for their students, regardless of where they taught. Moreover, for right wing reactionaries to accuse hard working women and men that have dedicated their lives to educating inner city students of bigotry of any sort smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order. It's laughable on its face.

Of course compassion and empathy are foreign words to the rogues gallery discuss above, none of whom have ever taught in their lives. Well, with the exceptions of Wendy Kopp and Michelle Malkin — I mean, Michele Bachmann, er, — I mean Michelle Rhee (sorry it's so easy to confuse those three). Rhee is so devoid of empathy and compassion that one of the most enduring stories from her short stint as a TFA missionary is when she taped her students mouths shut with masking tape and then walked them to the lunchroom, bleeding lips and all. Kopp is seemingly less of a sociopath than Rhee, but it's clear her passion for fame and fortune outweigh any compassion she might have once had.

Access To Books

The other thing reactionary Shapiro gets entirely wrong before employing the hackneyed "soft bigotry of low expectations" nonsense, was to dismiss the Children's Television Workshop's catering to children that "did not have reading literature in the house." Access to books in the home is a major indicator of academic achievement and impoverished families have very limited access to books. This is a fact, and not something to be dismissed by a sniveling right winger threatening to "take them [Elmo and Big Bird] out back and cap them."

Another one of my Schools Matter colleagues, the distinguished Professor Stephen Krashen, PhD, has researched and written extensively on the subject of access to books. Here are a small sampling of his available short articles linking to longer works on the subject.

• Children of poverty and access to books
• IRA President: Access to books makes a difference
• Heroic First Book Marketplace Can't Do It All Get caught reading month?
• Policy: protect children from poverty before we discuss pedagogy

Given the staunch anti-intellectualism, lack of knowledge about all thing pedagogical, and academic aversion that whiny right wingers like Shapiro are known for, it's no wonder that he didn't get the whole importance of providing additional educational resources for children that "did not have reading literature in the house" like the prescient folks at Children's Television Workshop always have.

"True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity." [3]

Now that we're discussing these things, let's talk about the stark racism and classism stemming from the corporate education reform movement, which is orchestrated by the same plutocrats that aired Shapiro's television program. After all, those are the sort of things that vacuous phrases like "soft bigotry of low expectations" are supposed to distract us from.

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NOTES

[1] Heartland Institute is none other than Parent Revolution's sister organization. Word is that in addition to co-hosting school privatization forums that Ben Austin and Ben Boychuck formulate policy together.

[2] Chomsky, Noam. Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, Second Edition. New York: Seven Stories Press., 1991. pp. 25-26.

[3] Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 30th Anniversary Edition. New York: The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2009. p. 45.

Elmo isn't Gramsci for kids and the mythical soft bigotry of low expectations

Schools Matter: Corporate Education Reform: the "civil rights issue" up until it actually addresses civil rights issues like segregation

First published on Schools Matter on June 26, 2014

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"Children have a right and a need to have quality schools in their neighborhood." — Francis Howell School District

White school district sends black kids back to failed schools

The one upside to the article is that it clearly puts to lie the corporate reformers' assertion that equitable funding isn't the issue. The resegregation—and in many cases, the continuation of segregation—of schools was the first step in creating these inequities that the neoliberal corporate education reformers would later exploit through austerity and privatization programs. This is why monsters like Ben Austin can say he wants all schools to be like Warner Elementary School, knowing that his school is "safely" ensconced in Holmby Hills. Ask any corporate reformer if they are for desegregation and busing. Watch how all their rhetoric about the "civil rights issue of our time" changes immediately when they are faced with a solution that would actually begin to address issues of race and class.

At the end of the day these students are sent back to their segregated schools, ripe for take over by corporate entities like KIPP and Green Dot. We'll cover up the systemic racism and class exploitation by drill-and-kill Common Core test preparation, and throw in some "grit training" for good measure.

h/t Sandy Stenoff

Schools Matter: Corporate Education Reform: the "civil rights issue" up until it actually addresses civil rights issues like segregation

Just got great news that the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council voted not to support the racist gang injunction and seeks community based alternatives!

Just got great news that the @GEPENC_Official voted not to support the racist gang injunction and seeks community based alternatives! #90026

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

Just got great news that the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council voted not to support the racist gang injunction and seeks community based alternatives!

Ethnic Cleansing Illustrated: The Echo Parque Gang Injunction. Join the resistance!

Ethnic Cleansing Illustrated: The Echo Parque Gang Injunction. Join the resistance! http://t.co/XoLXq3Ft1Y pic.twitter.com/eAhm27E1A6

— Robert D. Skeels (@rdsathene) July 25, 2013

Ethnic Cleansing Illustrated: The Echo Parque Gang Injunction

The rapid gentrification of Echo Parque and its surrounds just can’t happen fast enough for development firms like Van Daele Homes and others waiting to profit from the Glendale Boulevard Corridor Project. Standing in their way are low income households with children—predominantly families of color and indigenous peoples.

On the right is an overlay of the proposed gang injunction over the area income map. Neighborhoods that poor families of color have lived in for decades, and in some cases generations, are targeted. This damning visual evidence confirms the project as being what can only be termed ethnic cleansing. Both the former and current Los Angeles City Attorneys received donations from developers with stakes in the Glendale Boulevard Corridor.

Join the the resistance: http://j.mp/12njtiv

“Gentrification is Genocide!” — 2008 Graffiti on the Patras’ parking lot wall

Ethnic Cleansing Illustrated: The Echo Parque Gang Injunction. Join the resistance!

@TCFKSM: Say that again Mr. Kayser! LAUSD should have more public meetings

First published on @TCFKSM on June 6, 2013

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"As it is, the meetings are held downtown in the middle of the day when most parents, students and employees cannot participate. Ultimately this behavior pattern leads to decisions made in a vacuum, isolation from reality and the rubberstamping of pre-determined outcomes."—Bennett Kayser

Former teacher and current Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Board of Education member Bennett Kayser's Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Daily News entitled LAUSD should have more public meetings is well worth reading a sharing widely. Following the piece are excellent comments including ones by special needs children advocate Sonja Luchini and substitute teacher Fredrick Bertz. Not surprisingly, my favorite commentary following the piece is mine, reproduced here:

The current one-public-meeting-a-month schedule was imposed by Mónica García so that she would have more time to spend with her real constituents: billionaires, real estate developers, and well heeled 501c3 sector and charter industry executives.

How does holding frequent public meetings accessible to working class families mesh with certain board members' pro-corporate education reform agenda of forming policy with millionaire Elise Buik of the United Way at Chamber of Commerce luncheons, or deciding which new district building to give away to Philip Lance and Anna Ponce while grazing the buffet at the California Charter School Association headquarters?

Mr. Kayser is right to call on the LAUSD Board to open itself up to the public that pays for the board and our schools. It's time for LAUSD to actually listen to voices of the community instead of outsiders greasing palms of certain board members who have turned the district into a handout for corporations, developers, and greedy charter executives.

With a new board member who actually knows something about education because she was a classroom teacher, and the end of the tyrannical reign of the perpetual president, we might see a district that finally prioritizes people over profits.

The struggle to make LAUSD meetings more accessible has been going on for some time. United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) has been circulating bi-lingual petitions in support of evening meetings for over a year. During my campaign for LAUSD I wrote the following.

For far too long only the well-paid members of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) posing as parents have been able to attend public LAUSD board meetings. Why? Because the meetings are intentionally held when working people...well, are at work or attending school. This petition calls on LAUSD to move public meetings to the evening so that the true voice of the community will be heard. Parents, students, educators, and community have been shut out of LAUSD. Meanwhile the charter industry and the NPICs have dominated the dialog and continue to provide the "Anschutz Four" board members political cover.

As a District 2 Trustee candidate for LAUSD, I endorse all efforts to make board meetings accessible to real stakeholders, and not just the NPICs and wealthy charter sector executives. Download these bilingual petitions and get them into our communities!

Petitions to Move LAUSD Board Meetings to the Evening by Robert D. Skeels

@TCFKSM: Say that again Mr. Kayser! LAUSD should have more public meetings

robertdskeelsforschoolboard.org: Petitions to Move LAUSD Board Meetings to the Evening

From my LAUSD Campaign Site on September 6, 2012

For far too long only the well-paid members of the Nonprofit Industrial Complex (NPIC) posing as parents have been able to attend public LAUSD board meetings. Why? Because the meetings are intentionally held when working people...well, are at work or attending school. This petition calls on LAUSD to move public meetings to the evening so that the true voice of the community will be heard. Parents, students, educators, and community have been shut out of LAUSD. Meanwhile the charter industry and the NPICs have dominated the dialog and continue to provide the "Anschutz Four" board members political cover.

As a District 2 Trustee candidate for LAUSD, I endorse all efforts to make board meetings accessible to real stakeholders, and not just the NPICs and wealthy charter sector executives. Download these bilingual petitions and get them into our communities!

robertdskeelsforschoolboard.org: Petitions to Move LAUSD Board Meetings to the Evening

Thoughts on Matthew Di Carlo's recent Shanker Blog piece on the 'parent tricker'

Barr's parent organization gave... a grass-roots visual... And his paid staffers hit the right rhetorical notes... while identifying themselves to reporters and officials only as parents. — Howard Blume (Los Angeles Times)

Matthew Di Carlo recently penned a thoughtful and somewhat nuanced piece on the vile so-called "parent trigger" legislation being pushed by the school privatization industry. In When Push Comes To Pull In The Parent Trigger Debate he suggests that support for or against anti-democratic triggers is often dependent on an individual's stance on charter schools to begin with.

Interestingly, he posits that if triggers were associated with authentic reforms like class size reduction as opposed to seizing property for the lucrative charter industry, that there might be less opposition to parent triggers and other shock doctrine style swindles. I for one think that's the point. Triggers were not devised as a way to improve or help public education. They have always been a way of increasing market share for the charter sector, union busting, and have been widely embraced by the fringe-right as a pathway to vouchers and other forms of plunder and poverty pimping.

Had trigger laws been a means for democratically engaging entire communities in the improvement of their schools, I would have become their biggest supporter. Instead, they are simply another way to stuff more money into the pockets of charter executives and their wealthy associates. Here are my comments posted to the Shanker Blog, which still apparently hasn't made it through the moderation process:

I'd agree that some perspective on corporate charter trigger laws is influenced by an individual's views on school privatization and the neoliberal project in general. However, that doesn't mean that the overarching problem with triggers is the fact that they are entirely anti-democratic to put the fate of a public resource into the hands of a minority of the community. More than that, the huge amounts of money and resources expended to sway parents to triggering their school into private hands has been seen repeatedly, with corporate charter advocacy groups like the so-called Parent Revolution with it's multi-million dollar budget from nefarious funders like the Walton Family Foundation.

We can learn much about the origins and motives of groups pushing the corporate charter "parent" trigger by where the majority of its support comes from—fringe right wing groups like The Heartland Institute and The American Legislative Exchange Council.

Parent Revolution can deny their ties to ALEC and other reactionaries all they want, but they can't hide the fact that they have had deep and long-standing partnerships with ALEC members, including fringe right-wing The Heartland Institute. In addition to constant collaboration with Heartland, Parent Revolution hosts forums with them. See the following flyer from one of their events and an article discussing it:

The Heartland Institute and Parent Revolution panel on the Trigger Law

Parent Revolution's mendacious minions to appear with The Heartland Institute reactionaries

For the actual ALEC legislation crafted from Governor Schwartzenegger, Ben Austin, Gloria Romero's original bill, see:

Ben Austin, Gloria Romero and ALEC's Parent Trigger Act

Gloria J. Romero, who along with former Governor Schwartzenegger's staff, and Parent Revolution's Ben Austin, drafted the parent trigger (more aptly, tricker), is also known to work hand and hand with the most extreme forces of reaction on education issues. She works closely with members of the Koret Foundation and The Hoover Institution. Shunned by her own party, she works with teabaggers and other right-wing politicians.

Peas in a pod: Koret Foundation, The Hoover Institution, and Democrats for Education Reform

Senators Romero and Huff to Hold Education Summit

The evidence is damning, and their claims that they don't represent right-wing interests ring hollow. Bear in mind Parent Revolution was originally the Los Angeles Parents Union, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Green Dot Charter School Corporation. Parent Revolution's sole reason for existence is to build market share for the lucrative charter school sector. This is born out both by the comments of their funders, and by the privatization policies of their funders.

See this piece for a statement by Eli Broad on why he funds Parent Revolution:

Eli Broad pays Parent Revolution to champion charters not to empower parents!

See these documents to see the names right-wing plutocrats who fund Parent Revolution and the staggering amounts they contribute. Tops on the list, the privatization reactionaries at the Walton Family Foundation. 

Los Angeles Parents Union DBA LAPU or Parent Revolution 2010 Form 990

To be sure, "school choice" was the clarion call of segregationists. It still is. Why the Racist History of the Charter School Movement Is Never Discussed

Quick look at the "there's no money" in charters deception

I was recently asked on facebook to explain how charters make money. This is important since the charter industry has recently been trying to convince the public that they're nothing more than a charitable exercise. Here's what I wrote back to them:

Here's just a taste, but it should be enough for you to answer such inquires.

Operators like Edison make profit directly, as do most EMOs, from the difference between "services rendered" and ADA money. CMOs don't make profit per se, but they pay their executives exorbitant (confer Petruzzi or Ponce to Deasy versus number of schools and students) salaries and make additional money from special relationships with vendors (look up companies like ExED and charter operator Judy Burton's very special relationship with them). Many charter executives set up these sweet vendor deals and then go on to work for the vendors. Another big money maker is charter financing and financial services by corporations like Charter School Capital, pushed by local CMO executive Ricardo Mireles.

The most lucrative part of the charter industry however, is real estate. How big is the charter-voucher school real estate bubble? Big enough to attract big names like Goldman Sachs, Andre Agassi, Citibank, and Richard Riordan to the lucrative land grab ventures. Big enough that Gloria Romero was rewarded with a cushy six-figure job as CEO at Democrats for Education Reform in California for her servile gift the privately managed charter industry called SB 592, which hands public school property over to privately managed charter corporations. New York based vultures, like Gideon Stein, are making a fortune in brokering charter real estate (and the raising of property values via gentrification of neighborhoods through those charters).

There's also all the lucrative "distance learning," "online charters," and "blended learning" cash cows. Bill Gates and Tom Vander Ark are never far from the picture when those money making scams are at hand. In fact, the vile Vander Ark was very recently on the all white (sans one) Board of Directors from LA's Promise that is now firing all of their hard working educators, so they can hire cheaper ones. Sure that has nothing to do with profits though.

Thoughts on Matthew Di Carlo's recent Shanker Blog piece on the 'parent tricker'

Tonight: Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation

Come meet two of the authors from a new book on capitalism and education, Gillian Russom and Sarah Knopp. The book traces Marxist theories of education under capitalism; outlines the educational experiences of emergent bilingual and African American students historically; recaps the theory and history of teachers’ unions; analyzes the neoliberal attack on public schools under Obama; critically appraises Paolo Freire’s legacy; and makes the link between social revolution and struggles for literacy.

United Teachers Los Angeles building (Room 816)
3303 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Wednesday, May 30, 2012 5:00PM

haymarketbooks.org

Tonight: Education and Capitalism: Struggles for Learning and Liberation

Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ) Annual Fundraiser Party December 10, 2011

UCLA Community School ASGE multi-purpose room
3201 W. 8th St. Los Angeles, CA 90005
Saturday, December 10, 2011 from 6:00 — 10:00 PM

FLYER FOR THIS EVENT


C E J MASQUERADE fundraising party!
CEJ parents, students and teachers invite you to our annual end of the year party. Please come celebrate a successful year with us.
Dinner, child care, games, performances, translation and DJ/dancing
Teachers and other professionals - $25 donation
Students, Parents and Community Members - $5 donation
NO MASKS OR COSTUMES REQUIRED

C J E ¡MASCARADA! Fiesta para recaudar fondos
Padres, alumnos y maestros de CJE les invitan a nuestra fiesta anual del fin del año. Por favor vengan a celebrar un año de éxito con nosotros.
Cena, cuidado de niños, juegos, representaciones, traducción y DJ/bailar
maestros - donación $25
alumnos, padres y miembros de la comunidad - donación $5
LAS MASCARAS Y LOS DISFRASES NO ESTAN NECESARIOS

Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ) Annual Fundraiser Party December 10, 2011

Special LA Screening: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, October 24, 2011

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
A screening of the film. Followed by a panel with special guests including Dr. Stephen Krashen. Event opens with Dr. Diane Ravitch via conference call introducing the film.


Monday, October 24, 2011 at 6:30PM
Union Avenue Elementary School Auditorium
150 S. Burlington Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Nota: Cuida de niños disponible y traducción en Español disponible.
Note: Childcare and Spanish Translation Available.

Sponsored by PESJA-LA, Coalition for Educational Justice, Echo Park Moms 4 Education, and UTLA North Area.

About the film: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
Dir. The Grassroots Education Movement, 2011, 55 min.
http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org See the trailer.

A group of New York City public school teachers and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement wrote and produced this documentary in response to the Davis Guggenheim's film, Waiting for Superman. The Inconvenient Truth provides a critique of an increasingly free-market driven education system, the undermining of teachers unions and the overall faith in the idea that charter schools are just what the country needs. This film highlights the real-life experiences of public school parents and educators inside schools and in our society and takes a holistic look at education reform.

Building grassroots struggle
Building grassroots struggle: If you’re an educator planning to attend, please attempt to bring at least one community member or parent along. The information about corporate charters and school privatization presented at this event is far too important to be "preaching to the proverbial choir."

RSVP: Due to building safety requirements, we have a limit on attendance. Please RVSP with Robert D. Skeels rdsathene@sbcglobal.net or (213) 234-8561. Other confirmed guests include prospective District 2 LAUSD School Board candidates Abelardo Diaz, Gloria Martinez, and Robert D. Skeels.

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

Special LA Screening: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, October 24, 2011

Make Banks Pay

My dear friend Ernest Savage produced these documenting a local struggle to save a homeowner from foreclosure by their capricious bank. Like the man at the end of the first video says, "you can't foreclose on justice."



[click here if you can't view this video]



[click here if you can't view this video]

Make Banks Pay

Mayberry Street Elementary School Needs Help!

"The original vision of charter schools was that they would help strengthen public schools, not compete with them." — Diane Ravitch (celebrated education professor and author)

NOTE: This is happening precisely because the deep pocketed CNCA Charter Corporation was allowed to go outside of its attendance boundaries and poach students from neighborhood public schools including Mayberry. LAUSD promissed that CNCA would not effected our local public schools, but clearly that isn't the case. Once more, our neighborhood public schools are being sacraficed so that lucrative charter-voucher companies can increase market share and profitability. — Robert D. Skeels


Mayberry Street Elementary sent out an urgent email asking for help - please read the following communication and help take action:

Hello Everyone - WE NEED YOUR HELP!

We are calling on you today to please take action and take a stand!
 
At Mayberry we need 6 new student enrollments to meet NORM DAY requirements. If by next week, October 5th we don't have these 6 students (K-3rd) then we lose Mr. Avina, 6th grade teacher.

That's not all! It will also have a domino effect in all grade levels and most would be forced to become split classes to meet the numbers. We can't permit this mass disruption for our children and fine teachers. Our students are not just numbers that you pack into a classroom! LAUSD promised that Mayberry would not be affected with a new school less than a mile away! We have already lost 2 of our fine teachers due to enrollment... NO MORE!!
 
WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TIME TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD.
DON'T PUT OFF THIS EMAIL FOR MONDAY.
WE NEED TO TAKE ACTION TODAY!
 
PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL THE DECISION MAKERS THAT CAN STEP UP AND STOP THIS FROM HAPPENING.
 
FEEL FREE TO FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS, NEIGHBORS, AND STAKEHOLDERS. HAVE THEM CALL OR EMAIL.

Important phone numbers and contact information:
Mónica García, Board President, Board District 2: monica.garcia@lausd.net, 213-241-6180, Fax 213-241-8459
Bennett Kayser, Board Member, District 5: bennett.kayser@lausd.net, 213-241-5555
Dale Vigil, Local District 4, Superintendent: dale.vigil@lausd.net, (213) 241-0100
John Deasy, LAUSD Superintendent: john.deasy@lausd.net, 213-241-7000
Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, District 1: marguerite.lamotte@lausd.net, 213-241-6382

Echo Park Improvement Association
PO Box 261021
Los Angeles, CA 90026

Mayberry Street Elementary School Needs Help!

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

"We are told that this 'reform' alliance of everyone from Rupert Murdoch to the Walton family to leading hedge funders spends huge amounts of money pushing for radical changes to public schools because they suddenly decided that they care about destitute children, and now want to see all kids get a great education." — David Sirota


In Los Angeles, nobody has been more adept at stuffing public money into their pockets via charter-voucher sector windfalls than Caprice Young. Her early career showed a trajectory of opportunism and greed that would place her in ever more lucrative positions as time progressed.

In my new Schools Matter article When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience I trace her nefarious career in which she has worked for people ranging from the racist, bigoted, anti-immigrant nativist Steve Poizner to the predatory capitalist and junk bond felon Michael Milken. We also see how she and her husband have both cashed in at the public's expense at the charter-voucher cash cow. Most importantly, we feature an informative letter from a reader who explores Young's newest hustle — EnCorps, Inc. — an odious organization designed to deprofessionalize teaching.

Published 2011-10-01 on Schools Matter, please read it there and share widely.

Schools Matter: When Capricious Young says no experience required, she requires no experience

October 24, 2011 Los Angeles Screening The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

October 24, 2011 Los Angeles Screening The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

Special Event - Punishing our Future: School Discipline in Los Angeles

"While KIPP schools ostensibly claim that college acceptance for all students is their primary goal, the principles and practices that undergird their mission are founded upon capitalistic and militaristic ideals that run counter to the ideals of democratic education... By subscribing to a dictum of no excuses, KIPP essentially puts the onus on the victims of poverty and institutional racism. This clearly conveys the fallacy to urban students that failure in this society will solely be a reflection of not working long and hard enough, or simply not complying with rules set by those with authority." — Brian Lack

I'm attending this event next week. I'm not too familiar with the organizations holding it, but anyone questioning the outrageous and racist disciplinary systems proffered by the corporate education reform camp is worth checking out. Go to the event site for full details on this panel and the speakers.

Punishing our Future: School Discipline in Los Angeles

Texas suspension and expulsion rates are no longer a secret to most, but in California, almost 800,000 suspensions and expulsions are administered each year, approximately doubling Texas’s rates. In Los Angeles alone, these extreme policies are proving to be all too common for nonviolent offenses, like being tardy to school, which historically would have warranted a trip to the principal’s office at most. More alarmingly, research indicates that resulting student absenteeism can be used to forecast school dropout rates with chilling accuracy, causing a spiral of negative consequences with lifelong repercussions for affected youth, their families, and our communities.

In an effort to explore how we can return to common sense alternatives instead of current disciplinary measures, CenterScene Public Programs invites you to an evening of surveying the advocacy, policy, and social justice work being done around school discipline. Moderated by journalist and author of Lockdown High, Annette Fuentes, panelists will demystify school discipline jargon, examine the implementation of Zero Tolerance policies, and tackle the issue of school bullying to highlight the nuances of school discipline and student safety today.

Join us Wednesday, October 5, 2011 for an evening discussion with those at the forefront of reshaping a more just school discipline landscape. 

Special Event - Punishing our Future: School Discipline in Los Angeles

October 24, 2011 Save the Date for a Special Event

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
A screening of the film. Followed by a panel with special guests including Dr. Stephen Krashen.
Event opens with Dr. Diane Ravitch via conference call introducing the film.


Monday, October 24, 2011 at 6:30PM
Union Avenue Elementary School Auditorium
150 S. Burlington Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90057

Sponsored by PESJA-LA, Coalition for Educational Justice, Echo Park Moms 4 Education, and UTLA North Area.

About the film: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman
Dir. The Grassroots Education Movement, 2011, 55 min.
http://www.waitingforsupermantruth.org See the trailer.

A group of New York City public school teachers and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement wrote and produced this documentary in response to the Davis Guggenheim's film, Waiting for Superman. The Inconvenient Truth provides a critique of an increasingly free-market driven education system, the undermining of teachers unions and the overall faith in the idea that charter schools are just what the country needs. This film highlights the real-life experiences of public school parents and educators inside schools and in our society and takes a holistic look at education reform.

Building grassroots struggle
Building grassroots struggle: If you’re an educator planning to attend, please attempt to bring at least one community member or parent along. The information about corporate charters and school privatization presented at this event is far too important to be "preaching to the proverbial choir."

RSVP: Due to building safety requirements, we have a limit on attendance. Please RVSP with Robert D. Skeels rdsathene@sbcglobal.net or (213) 234-8561. Other confirmed guests include prospective District 2 LAUSD School Board candidates Abelardo Diaz and Robert D. Skeels.

October 24, 2011 Save the Date for a Special Event

Elizabeth Terzakis and Adrienne Johnstone on Pedagogy and Liberation

"It is not surprising that the banking concept of education regards men as adaptable, manageable beings. The more students work at storing the deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that world. The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is and to the fragmented view of reality deposited in them." — Paulo Freire (Pedagogy of the Oppressed)

Elizabeth Terzakis and Adrienne Johnstone speaking at Socialism 2011 on July 01, 2011 — Chicago, Illinois.



[Click if you can't listen to the audio]

Elizabeth Terzakis and Adrienne Johnstone on Pedagogy and Liberation

How do we win back our schools?

"After years of teachers union bashing and corporate-led school 'reform' efforts, anti-public school forces are now on the defensive. And the main reason is that the statistical measurements do not support their arguments, and even show a pattern of falsification." — Randy Shaw


For our students, communities and ourselves.

September 15, 2011 @4:15PM
3303 Wilshire Blvd., Room 816, Los Angeles, CA 90010

PEAC will be holding a forum to talk about how bottom-up reform, community organizing, and union transformation are key to preventing school takeovers and fighting for educational change and full funding!

Come and make a plan for how your school can get involved and how you can be part of shifting both UTLA and LAUSD.

Join other social justice education activists from around the city to discuss what's going on with LAUSD and UTLA, and plan out a proactive plan for what UTLA can be doing citywide around PSC, the contract fight and winning back RIFed jobs. We will also focus on how we can be pushing for reform that will serve our students and communities in communities that have historically underserved.

Join PEAC on September 15th at 4:15PM in room 816 to get involved.

Rebecca Solomon
Call (213) 713-1402 for childcare or translation needs

How do we win back our schools?

Nativo Vigil Lopez: Katt Wiliams' Anti-Mexican Rant a True Kramer Moment

Katt Wiliams' Anti-Mexican Rant a True Kramer Moment

By: Nativo Vigil Lopez


Not dissimilar to an experience lived by standup comedian Michael Richards, who played the fictional character of Cosmo Kramer in the sitcom Seinfeld, who repeatedly yelled the n-word at a supposed audience heckler, Katt Williams repeatedly taunted an audience member with anti-Mexican vitriol in a recent comic performance in Phoenix, Arizona.

Williams' set began with an assumptive statement that "it seems to me that you all like it over here a lot." He ridiculed the giving up of California by Mexicans to the U.S. An audience member yelled back to him that "this is Mexico," but not all was picked up by the audio. Williams taunted back with, "this used to be Mexico motherfucker, and now it's Phoenix" - to cheers from the crowd. He even referred to the audience member as "nigger," although he was clearly of Latino appearance. The heckler vulgarly gestured back to Williams. It was clear that the heckler dished out as well as he got from Williams. It was obviously no accident that the standup comic had a large statue of the American eagle on the stage surrounded by six young black women?

And, so it continued, taunting the heckler with chants of "USA, USA, USA," which were repeated by other audience members. The Latino man, now standing, engaged Williams who was visibly reactive and at one point even declared, "fuck him," and told him, "if you love Mexico, bitch, get the fuck over there." He angrily engaged the Latino with his interpretation of the Star Spangled Banner, and others in the audience picked up the tune in chorus. After physically plucking the eagle statue in front of the heckler he yelled, "we were slaves, bitch, you all just work like that at a landscapers, motherfucker." After that outburst he circled the stage and was high-fived by a black audience member.

He referred to the heckler as "nigger," and "bitch." At the end of the tirade five burly security guards removed the Latino from the audience.

The crowd was clearly racially mixed, and as much as could be observed from the video, now replayed ad nauseam on YouTube, was supportive of Williams' rage.

Williams was subsequently interviewed on CNN and refused to apologize for his angry outbursts. He excused his words as responsive to a heckler who "claimed this land as Mexico." He wrapped himself in the American flag as a defense of his comments. He even disowned and disapproved of a public apology that was issued by his publicist.

Sad is the day that the popular comedian would choose Phoenix, Arizona as the place to unleash his jaded sense of patriotism to his public. Only a fool would not be aware of the political significance of the location in what is considered the national epicenter of the anti-immigrant/anti-Mexican right-wing movement, nationally. The origin of virulently anti-immigrant laws, SB1070 in particular, Arizona has become the template model for similar legislation in other states. Today, Phoenix is to Mexicans what Birmingham, Alabama of the Deep South was to blacks during the civil rights movement era. Williams' rant more than hurt, it was outright destructive and divisive.

Williams' comments could be reflective of a current of opinion amongst the African American community, albeit not a majority one, especially in these tough economic times. It trashes, however, the historic strides towards unity between brown and black communities throughout the country before a common foe. Our common African origin is ignored. The violent annexation of half the national territory of Mexico, now the southwest of the U.S., is ridiculed, as is the uninterrupted resistance to conquest by indigenous peoples.

Just as Richards' tirade had no place in a public forum (or private for that matter), notwithstanding the comic venue where in most instances everything goes, Williams' comments have no place in the America he proclaims to love, nor does his use of the terms "nigger," or "bitch."

Some comedians, journalists, and media commentators still believe that they are protected by the First Amendment in their use of colored language, and terms as "illegal alien," "illegal immigrant," and other such references to immigrants, people of color, women, and gays. The word is powerful, and its inappropriate and uncultured use denigrates and dehumanizes the powerless. What is even worst, however, is when individuals of the powerless use the word of the powerful to refer to themselves and others of the same social class. And, when such occurs they are nothing more than servants and slaves to their pay-masters - the corporate media, even those of medium stature or alternative "progressive" mediums.

I have a remedy for Katt, though, and it relates to a personal story of mine. One day as young boys, 8 and 9 years of age, my brother and I were playing outdoors within earshot of my mother. My brother called me a "nigger." Well, when my mother heard that she called him into the house and literally washed his mouth out with a bar of soap. He claimed to her that he didn't even know what it meant, and that he was just repeating what a Mexican girl, with much darker complexion than him, had called him on the school playground. He was never again heard to utter the word.

My suggestion is that we boycott Katt Williams, not unlike the black community called for a boycott of Michael Richards after his uncouth racial tirade, and that this boycott should continue until Williams' makes an unreserved public mea culpa to the Mexican community or until his Mama publicly washes his mouth out with soap. In the alternative, I have only one thing to tell Mr. Williams, as I would to any Minuteman spewing anti-Mexican hate language - No, fuuuuck you, motherfucker!

* The author authorizes the re-publication of this article. Please credit the author.

nativolopez@sbcglobal.net

Nativo Vigil Lopez: Katt Wiliams' Anti-Mexican Rant a True Kramer Moment

Schools Matter: Occupation of Logan Street School Rooms by a Corporate Charter Continues

"[C]reating a 'separate and unequal' education system through the co-locations of charter schools in public school buildings." — NYC Parents' Lawsuit

Photo by Lisa Baca-Sigala

A day after the Echo Parque community learned that Gabriella Charter Corporation had ended their week long occupation of Logan Street Elementary School's auditorium, evidence that Gabriella had merely taken over another room and moved their furniture into that room once they had emptied it of its existing contents came to light. Moreover, it looks like wealthy white Wendy Kopp's Teach for America (TFA) missionary corps is establishing a beachhead in our neighborhood. For the whole sordid story see: Occupation of Logan Street School Rooms by a Corporate Charter Continues.

For a background on this story please see: Gabriella Charter Corporation further encroaches Logan Street Public Elementary School. There is a gallery of photos related to these articles.

Schools Matter: Occupation of Logan Street School Rooms by a Corporate Charter Continues