"Students First" does not put students first. "Stand For Children" does not stand for children. "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) leaves lots of children behind.

POLITICALLY MOTIVATED PROGRAMS LIKE: "Students First" does not put students first. "Stand For Children" does not stand for children. "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) leaves lots of children behind.

from Schools Matter by skrashen

Sent to Yakima Herald-Republic (WA) for "Saturday Soapbox"
By Jane Watson
August 31, 2012

“Doublethink” is alive and well.

In 1948, George Orwell wrote 1984. “Big Brother is Watching You” was born. So was “doublethink,” the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them. TVs watch YOU. Language is paradoxical. Less is more. War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

The organization Stand For Children endorses gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and Charter Schools. Who doesn’t want to Stand For Children? Who wants Children Left Behind? Who doesn’t want Students First?

The fallacies and failures of NCLB (No Child Left Behind – aka No CORPORATION Left Behind) are well documented. ‘Nuff said.

The CEO of Stand For Children is Geoffrey Canada, a well financed man who opened Harlem’s Children’s Zone, a school which was able to provide many benefits to students who otherwise would have been left to the resources of public schools. Canada was able to spend $14,000 per student to help mitigate the effects of poverty. [Wish public schools could do that!]

When students did not get acceptable test scores, Canada kicked an entire class out of school to maintain Harlem Children Zone’s high test scores. http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9289. Presumably, these students went to public schools, which don’t turn away anybody – kind of like the Statue of Liberty.

Charter schools take money from public education. They do not do better than public schools. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/charter-schools/about-the-brill-story-on-chart.html
Most national research shows that on average public schools perform as well as charter schools or better.

Michelle Rhee heads Students First. She was chancellor of DC public schools, (2007 – 2010) which had low test scores. When she was chancellor, test scores rose. Ms. Rhee’s reputation rests on those test scores, which soared while she was chancellor. Last March, USA Today published the results (http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-03-28-1Aschooltesting28_CV_N.htm) of a yearlong investigation of the Washington schools that found a high rate of erasures on tests as well as suspiciously large gains at 41 schools — one-third of the elementary and middle schools in the district. Michelle Rhee is now under investigation for fixing test scores. Michelle Rhee taught third grade for one year, but couldn’t control her class, said the stress gave her hives, and taped children’s mouths to keep them quiet. Rhee’s first year test scores showed a precipitous drop in her class: Average math percentile dropped from 64% to 17%. Average reading percentile dropped from 37% to 21%

In straight talk, Students First does not put students first. Stand For Children does not stand for children. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) leaves children behind.

Where does one get the truth? Talk to teachers. They’re the ones on the front line. They know students are more than test scores. They know children are being robbed of music, art, and many other things by the narrowing of the curriculum as a result of excessive testing.

Go to Parents Across America website. http://parentsacrossamerica.org/ Sign up for their newsletter.

Go to the Save Our schools website. Help them keep the “public” in public ed. http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/ Attend their webinars and tweets with educational professionals. (499)


CITATIONS

Charter Schools
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/charter-schools/about-the-brill-story-on-chart.html

Charters vs. public schools: Behind the numbers
http://www.educationjustice.org/newsletters/nlej_iss21_art5_detail_CharterSchoolAchievement.htm

CHARTER SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT: HYPE VS. EVIDENCE
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/27/education/duncan-and-rhee-on-panel-amid-dc-schools-inquiry.html?_r=1

Gerald Coles: KIPP Schools: Power Over Evidence
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2012/08/gerald_coles_kipp_schools_powe.html

Rick Sayre and Mike Rios Can't Figure Out What 45 Other Area School Board Trustees Have

Moreno Valley USD Desperately Needs Bond Funds but the Sayre and Rios "Brain Trust"  Don't Understand Why!

Nine school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties have placed bond measures on the Nov. 6 presidential election ballot, hoping that voters will agree to tax themselves to help schools catch up with technology and repair or replace outdated buildings.

Without much hope that the state will pay for such improvements anytime soon, districts are turning to voters during an election expected to draw a higher-than-usual turnout.

“It’s just a large turnout,” said Bob Brown, president of the Temecula Valley Unified School District board, which will be asking voters to approve a $165 million bond measure.

“The more people you get, the more people are interested, the better chance you have,” Brown said.

School districts’ needs are many, and the list grows every year: leaking roofs in San Bernardino, an old air-conditioning system in Hemet, a lack of technical education labs in Temecula, the demand for a high school in Menifee, to name just a few.

Still, many district leaders are concerned that survey results may not reflect voters’ true sentiments and that, when faced with the anonymity of their ballot, they will say no to adding possibly $100 or more to their annual tax bills. That is why some districts, such as Corona-Norco Unified, decided against bond measures.

Voters also will have to decide whether they want to support their local district’s school construction bonds as well as Prop. 30, which seeks to raise taxes temporarily, with a major portion going to education. Many districts will have to cut their budgets midyear if Prop. 30 fails.

Districts are not allowed to spend taxpayer money on bond campaigns. They can ask volunteers to form committees, which can solicit contributions to pay for advertising or other campaign materials.

DEFERRED MAINTENANCE

Since 2009, school districts have been allowed the flexibility to spend many previously restricted funds to save teaching jobs, preserve class sizes and keep student services such as busing, music and counseling.

One of those previously restricted funds was for deferred maintenance and went to pay for periodic work like new paint, fresh asphalt and roofing.

Christakos said Hemet decided it was important to maintain facilities and keep up with that deferred maintenance schedule.

But the deferred maintenance fund normally isn’t enough to pay for a whole new roof intended to last 30 to 50 years, he said. Likewise, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems are supposed to last 30 years, Christakos said.

“That’s the kind of stuff you want to invest your bond money in,” he said.

Alvord Unified, Hemet Unified and Nuview Union school districts in Riverside County are among a dozen statewide asking voters to reauthorize some of the bonds they approved in 2006 and 2007.

When property values dropped, the districts never issued some bonds because the tax rates needed to pay off the bonds would have been too high. Now they want to decertify the unissued amounts and reauthorize them, without increasing authorized total debt.

TECHNOLOGY NEEDS

When many Inland districts approved bonds during the construction boom several years ago, educators didn’t foresee the huge demand for computers.

Since then, California and most states have adopted Common Core Standards. With the new curriculum, the state plans to replace its paper standardized tests in 2014-15 with tests students take online.

Most schools have a computer lab, often an aging one, that typically will accommodate one class at a time. Standardized tests now are taken by the whole school at the same time. Educators are worried about logistical challenges to get all students to take online tests in the short period allowed by the state.

Hemet Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Vincent Christakos is also vice president of the California Association of School Business Officials. He said wiring and servers for more Internet access are needed by many districts.

“Everybody expects we’re in the modern age,” Christakos said.

Schools also need computer access for programs to help struggling students, he said. Those computer programs automatically adjust to match a student’s current skill levels, rather than wasting time drilling them on what they already know or overwhelming them with questions way beyond their current ability.

BANKING ON ‘YES’

Many districts said the projects that would be covered by the bonds can’t be postponed forever.

In their bond documents, districts say it is important to get that work done now, before it becomes more pressing and costly. Construction costs and interest rates are historically low, so the money will go further, they say.

Passing a bond measure requires a “yes” from at least 55 percent of voters. The districts must appoint citizen oversight committees to make sure the bonds are spent as intended.

Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified is another district with a bond. It placed a $98 million bond measure on the Nov. 6 ballot to help upgrade its aging facilities and classroom technology.

The school district would sell the bonds in three or four series over a span of 10 to 15 years.

In January, when the Yucaipa-Calimesa school board was researching whether to float a bond measure, consultant Ann Feng-Gagne acknowledged at a board meeting that November's ballot is going to be crowded.

The board decided to proceed because Assistant Superintendent George Velarde said the district’s needs have become astronomical.

Calimesa resident Linda Molina supports the bond measure.

"These are desperate times,” she told the school board. “I see this as a way for our community to support our district in ways we haven't been able to."

Also contributing: Staff writer Erin Waldner, ewaldner@pe.com

SCHOOL BONDS

Nine school districts in Riverside and San Bernardino counties are putting bond measures on the Nov. 6 ballot.

Temecula Valley Unified, $165 million, cost to property owners $10 per $100,000 assessed valuation annually. Needs: facilities, equipment for vocational education in health, science, technology and the trades; upgraded computers and classrooms science labs.

Perris Union High School District, $153.4 million, cost to property owners $30 per $100,000 assessed valuation annually. Needs: improved classrooms, science labs, vocational education and instructional technology; hazardous materials removal; fire safety improvements; other upgrades.

Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified, $98 million, cost to property owners up to $44.25 per $100,000 of assessed valuation annually. Needs: computer and instructional technology upgrades; new or improved vocational classrooms and labs; repairs, replacement of leaky roofs, aging classrooms, old restrooms and other facilities.

Alvord Unified, in parts of Riverside and Corona, $79 million reauthorization of 2007 bonds, cost to property owners $51 per $100,000 in assessed valuation annually. Needs: new or refurbished classrooms and schools, including vocational education facilities, heating and air-conditioning systems, science labs and computer technology access.

Hemet Unified, $49 million, cost to property owners $27.50 per $100,000 assessed valuation annually. Needs: upgrade or replace heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems; reduce borrowing costs on 2006 bonds.

Nuview Union School District, east of Perris, $4 million reauthorization of 2006 bonds, cost to property owners $27 (capped at $30) per $100,000 assessed valuation annually. Needs: better student access to computers and technology; building or renovations; new equipment; lower borrowing costs.

San Bernardino City Unified, $250 million, cost to property owners up to $34 per $100,000 assessed valuation annually. Needs: repair or replace leaky roofs, deteriorating classrooms, fire alarms, security and electrical systems; remove asbestos; update classroom technology, labs and other upgrades.

Coachella Valley Unified, $41 million, cost to property owners not available. Needs: upgrades to electrical and computer systems; new mobile learning devices; and school facility upgrades.

Chaffey Joint Union High School District, in Ontario, $848 million, cost to property owners up to $19.94 per $100,000 assessed valuation. Needs: repair restrooms, leaky roofs, heating, air-conditioning and fire safety systems; remove asbestos; upgrade handicapped accessibility; science and computer labs; other upgrades.

Arne Duncan Dishes $21.5 Million to College Board and Calls It Helping the Poor

originally published in "School Matters"
Wednesday, August 01, 2012 

Duncan Dishes $21.5 Million to College Board and Calls It Helping the Poor
Arne Duncan has a No Excuses approach to education, and to prove it once more, he has just signed off on a plan to give every American child living in a car, motel room, or urban hovel a chance to take another test to show how hopelessly behind she is.  As a side benefit for the testing-industrial complex, the College Board collects the entire sum:

The U.S. Department of Education announced the award of more than $21.5 million in grants to 43 states to cover all or part of the fees charged to low-income students for taking Advanced Placement tests. . . .
"These funds will help eliminate financial roadblocks for more low-income students and allow them to fully benefit from the AP program,” Duncan said.

Yes, those nasty financial roadblocks for which there are no excuses.  Does one know whether to laugh or cry?

Clearly, it looks like the $750,000 that the College Board spent on lobbying last year is paying off big time. Here is a clip from PalyVoice, which had an informative spread in May 2012 (my bolds):

. . . As the records from the most recently released Form 990 indicate, the College Board has been breezing through the 2009-2010 fiscal year with profits enviable by comparable industries in the private sector.

Of the over $594 million in total expenses in the 2009-2010 fiscal year, $7.8 million was allocated for the compensation of current officers, directors, trustees and key employees, $111.1 million went towards other salaries and wages, $13.7 million was for traveling expenses and $2.9 million paid for advertising and promotions, among other items.

Among the total of 1370 employees hired by the College Board, 456 individuals received more than $100,000 in compensation.
The multitude of Senior Vice Presidents and Officers received even more in total compensation and nontaxable benefits; Chief Executive Officer and President Gaston Caperton, the highest paid employee, received $1.3 million of such compensation and benefits, while the second highest paid employee, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President Herbert Elish, received nearly $600,000.

Even after all of these expenses, there is still a $65.6 million gap between the expenses and the total revenue. From the College Board’s Form 990, it is unclear as to what the nearing $70 million profit is going towards.
However, one expense in particular is salient: over $750,000 spent towards lobbying in the 2009-2010 year. While it is illegal for a nonprofit organization to participate in “direct or indirect political campaign activities,” it is still allowed to engage in lobbying activities.

The Form 990 indicated that the College Board has attempted “to influence foreign, national, state or local legislation, including any attempt to influence public opinion on a legislative matter or referendum, through the use of... paid staff or management [as well as] direct contact with legislators, their staffs, government officials or a legislative body.”

According to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group in Washington D.C., three separate lobbying firms and seven different lobbyists represent the College Board on Capitol Hill.
The organization has been lobbying the federal government on issues and bills pertaining to education since 1998, as well as matters regarding Federal Budget and Appropriations since 2002...

FOR EACH TIME A MAN OR WOMAN STANDS UP...

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and during those ripples builds a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and injustice." 
 given

Robert F. Kennedy"
narative of a speech given in South Africa

From - Narrative of the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty—to wit, the white man’s power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. ... Though conscious of the difficulty of learning without a teacher, I set out with high hope, and a fixed purpose, at whatever cost of trouble, to learn how to read." Frederick Douglass, aged about 10, after hearing his master say teaching him to read "would forever unfit him to be a slave."

What was the administrator's power to enslave the teacher? We think it was using terror to figuratively lobotomize our teachers so they would stop thinking. We propose that the solution that worked for the slaves, will work for teachers - READ. It will unfit you to be an abused slave and bring you back to your calling that made you want to be a teacher in the first place. We suggest you start with BREAKING THE SILENCE, the revolutionary book by Joseph and Jo Blase. It will not only help you see how this system insidiously controls your mind, but it will help you see what we are doing to children by not being the adults and taking a stand against abuse. Together we can sweep down this wall of oppression and injustice.

READ. READ. READ... Read our web site(s). Read the teacher stories. Learn the politics by going through the POLITICS section. Come back as many times as it takes to get through it and read new information each time. Our REFERENCES page will have a continually growing list of books and links that will help give you insight and support to stay in your power and not let fear drive your decision making. A critical mind is the only protection againt propaganda, a speciality of this system. Learn about your situation and about yourself and draw strength from this knowledge. Books and our web site will empower you. Visits other sites that offer support and knowledge to stay strong.

Learn who your enemies are. Yes they are real. As you read about the union and think beyond the hype, you will see that they empower our administrators to abuse us. There is a lot of information on this site explaining their priorities that do not add up to caring about teacher abuse, and instead prove that they have a vested interest in its existence. This information includes teacher testimonial about how they have let them down or even sabotaged their cases. Become wise and you will regain the reins for your own life.

Contact teacher friends who have stories to tell, and encourage them to send them in to us. The more we have, the more we have to be believed. Once believed, the system will be forced to change. This is all too outrageous and it only can exist in the darkness. Shine a light on it any way you can.

The courage you need is in you, buried under the scars of abuse that our school systems have so successfully created in you to keep you under their tyrannical control. If your district objects to the t-shirt, ask them why. If they have rules about all t-shirts, then wear them only to events where t-shirts are acceptable. If they object due to the message, ask them why? If they do not abuse teachers, why would they object to you being part of a group that wants to eradicate teacher abuse? Their objection to your wearing it speaks for itself. Let us know the name of the district that prohibits them. Don't be afraid to speak up about it.

Get your friends to wear t-shirts with the message. Get the message out as well as start breaking the silence. You will find many people who support ending teacher abuse once the topic is public. You can help make it public, and help yourself at the same time.

 Emotional support is very important and we find that family members can only hear so much about this topic before they stop listening. But other abused teachers welcome conversation about teacher abuse as it helps them heal too. Contact us and we will provide you with support buddies as well as give you support from our staff.

Tell everyone about our web site(s), and encourge people interested in donating to a worthy cause, to donate money to us. This might include businesses you frequent as well as family members. Everyone has an interest in the future of our country. This is important to everyone.

Contact your former university or college and make sure at least their teacher education department knows about teacher abuse, NAPTA, and our web site. Spread the word.

Students and Parents will benefit from all of the above. In addition, contact us for consultation regarding specific problems with your children dealing with our schools. From us you will get advice that is based on our professional knowledge, as well as our willingness to speak truthfully about what you need to help your child, or reality. You will not get appropriate advice from anyone oppressed by the terror, or lining their pockets with the failure of our schools. We are the authentic teachers that care about and know how to help children. If you have any doubt about the political climate of your school, contact us and we will help your through the intentional obstacles in place with our candid, practical advice. We will also match you up with a teacher informed in the particular area and grade level of concern for a phone consultation.

Turn to your religion and/or to spirituality to stay in the eye of the hurricane throughout this abuse. Some things that happen in this life cannot be explained. Teacher abuse seems impossible. Why would the people who care so much about others be treated so badly? The main reason it is happening is because it can. People have choices between good and evil and there is more opportunity in education for all the reasons we explain on the site. Wherever there is opportunity, there will be greed. There are just some things that can only be understood through spiritual avenues and if you haven't developed it before, you need to now. We will have many book suggestions for spirituality. Your religious leader can suggest books also.

AS WORKPLACE ABUSE ESCALATES

WHY DON'T WE WORKING PEOPLE CONFRONT IT COLLECTIVELY?

by Judith L. Wyatt.

We are all in psychotic denial when due to speed up on the treadmill of daily life we don't confront the assaults on our freedoms, and we don't admit how bad work abuse is getting. Presently, as things get worse, we hang on tighter to whatever we've been doing -- we do it harder, even though it isn't working, rather than to stop, look at the situation and take action to prevent what's inevitable.

1 in 10 New Yorkers Has PTSD

Trauma of Sept. 11 Lingers in Wide NYC Area

-- More than one in 10 New York-area residents suffer lingering stress and depression in the aftermath of the attack on the World Trade Center, new research shows.

After correcting for background levels, the study suggests that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks resulted in an extra 532,240 cases of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the New York City metropolitan area. The study -- conducted two months after the disaster -- appears in the Aug. 7 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Many psychologists predicted that the trauma of watching the Sept. 11 events on television would cause a wave of PTSD to sweep the nation. The study shows no evidence of this, even though television watching was associated with a high degree of distress.

"That is a piece of good news for the country as a whole, but we find an important public-health problem for New York City," researcher William E. Schlenger, PhD, tells WebMD. "There is a substantial PTSD problem well beyond the downtown area. PTSD is quite high in all five boroughs of the city as well as in the suburbs of New Jersey and Connecticut."

When you are directly in it, it can effect you. Have compassion for others too.

You may be directly in a situation that causes PTSD - teacher abuse. Do not minimize its effects. Stay on top of your mental health by saying no to teacher abuse. You may think you can live in an abusive situation without consequences, but it has a way of seeping into your psyche unless you are proactive. That is why you have to learn about it, address it, and protect yourself by refusing to be a victim. Remember, even if you are not being abused, watching colleagues while doing nothing is an affront to you too. Also, the things you do to play it safe, and the compromises you make to stay on the good side of the abusers, slowly strangle your sense of power, making you a victim too. BE A SURVIVOR. 

Author Rene Dietrich describes Herself as: ART SOLDIER! Artist, Writer, Poet, Teacher, Scholar, Editor, Advocate for Students/Teachers, Education Activist, Emberrorist, Proletariate, Bad Speller with Joan of Arc Complex. Single mom with one very fine young son and usually a few strays in tow. I like books, readings, MAC (mad art APPs No Bill Gates), independent films (Baxter, Vagabond, wings of Desire, Dark City, City of God, Brazil) experimental theater, exceptional music: Cohen, Morrisons, Cave, Cale, Coletrain, Winehouse, VU, QT soundtracks, Miles, and Iggy.

A DESPERATE PLEA FOR HELP TO CTA PRESIDENT DEAN VOGEL FROM ONE TEACHER OUT IN JURUPA USD, RIVERSIDE CA.

Subject: Teacher Abuse in the Jurupa Unified School District by CTA representatives and JUSD Administration
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2012 07:47:58 -0700

Dear Mr. Vogel,

We at Jurupa Unified School District need your help, desperately!!!

The Union is in collusion with the district.

One example:  I was terminated by JUSD, (but the decision was overturned in Superior Court).
Throughout the entire 2+ year process, I begged and pleaded for legal help from my Union, John Vigrass President, and Ed Sibby CTA representative.  I was repeatedly told that "if the district chose to go for termination" then I would receive legal help.  Despite repeated written requests, text messages and verbal phone calls begging the union to be proactive rather than reactive, I was lied to and ignored.  The Union President usually said he would "ask the Assistant Superintendent, Tammy Elzig, what to do" and get back to me.  The same is true for Ed Sibby.

I was forced to pay inordinate amounts of money for private lawyers.  The Union did nothing.

I was placed on a 9-month administrative leave without being told why; was denied my Weingarten Rights, being told by Tammy Elzig that I was not in trouble, so I was not entitled to Union representation, but to say nothing.  I told the Union and they did nothing.

I was forced to undergo a psychiatric evaluation in violation of Ed Code.  I was not provided a list of doctors.  The evaluation was held in the district office in a room adjacent to the Assistant Superintendent's office.  No psychometric evaluations were administered.  The "Dr." kept leaving the room to consult with the Assistant Superintendent during the evaluation. I told the Union and they did nothing.

I was not provided a Skelly prior to my CPC hearing, and the Union did nothing.

Unverified evidence was presented in the hearing, a violation of CA Ed Code, and the Union did nothing.

Evidence which was over 10 days old, which had never been presented and shown to me prior to the hearing, was presented and the Union did nothing.

I was not allowed to gather exculpatory evidence or interview witnesses prior to the CPC hearing, and the Union did nothing.

Proper discovery did not occur, and the Union did nothing.

False information was added to my personnel file during the course of the proceedings.  The Union did nothing.

I was denied access to my personal posessions, classroom, records and even my right to associate with other unit members, and the Union did nothing.

All Union communications are sent via District email.  I was blocked from using District email.  I complained to both John Vigrass and Ed Sibby, and the Union did nothing.

I filed numerous grievances which were denied at level one, and the Union did nothing.

I was not paid for the last month of my administrative leave and the Union did nothing.

I was not compensated for disciplinary meetings held outside my workday and the Union did nothing.

When terminated, I begged for help with an appeal.  The Union attorney who was finally assigned to me, Marianne Reinhold, told me to find a job outside of education.  The Union did nothing.

The Union President kept telling me to take early retirement, as suggested by the Assistant Superintendent.  I was not eligible, and will not be until September 2012.

I appealed in Pro Per via Writ of Administrative Mandamus.  I retained an attorney after the second amended complaint was filed and prevailed.  On Dec. 2, 2011, the judge ordered that I be reinstated, paid back pay, back medical, out of pocket costs, attorney's fees, etc.  I told the Union President, John Vigrass, his response was that I was in no way shape or form employed by the school district, that the district would, of course, appeal, and only if I prevailed in the District's appeal would I receive help from the Union. 

 One cannot even get assistance when one prevails! 

Why did I pay Union Dues for almost 28 years?  (I was unable to pay while not receiving a check.)

I have a "Right to Sue Letter" against the Union from DFEH.  I will file more PERBs, none of which was or will be done with any Union assistance.

There are over 20 of us in JUSD who are part of a representative group action against the district.  All of us have undergone most if not all of what I have described in the foregoing list of injustices.

I do not want to engage in a legal battle with those whom I paid to protect me for almost 28 years.  Please, for God's sake, help us! 

ANN (LAST NAME WITH HELD) 

A Pretext for Removing as Many High Priced Teachers as Possible

Written by Leonard Isenberg
(one of my civil rights heroes)

(For a national view of public education reform see the end of this blog post) 

Since the regrettable Miramonte child molestation scandal, the numbers of teachers that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is targeting, harassing, and summarily removing on bogus charges has exploded as Superintendent John Deasy and others in charge at LAUSD try to use this administratively allowed scandal as a pretext for removing as many high priced teachers as possible. This has created a culture of fear at LAUSD where those attacked tend to allow LAUSD to frame the conversation while trying to defend themselves against trumped up charges. This is a big mistake.

 Yesterday, when I appeared at the LAUSD Board meeting to speak against the proposed settlement of the Scot Graham - Ramon Cortines sexual harassment allegation, I bumped into LAUSD Head of Human Resources Vivian Ekchian, who asked me who I was. When I told her that I was a teacher who she had illegally terminated as an LAUSD teacher almost two years ago, she told me to send her any other information I might have to prove my innocence. 

 This is a perfect example of allowing LAUSD to frame the conversation. Under American law, I am presumed innocent until proven guilty, something that has not been the case for close to three years, since I was removed from my classroom. It is not for me to prove my innocence, but rather for LAUSD to prove that I did anything wrong that justifies my removal as a teacher without due process of law, which should take place in a timely manner to avoid the de facto punishment it continues to allow against myself and teachers who should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

 As I was not given a legal Skelly Hearing, where charges, evidence, and witnesses were presented by the District nor subsequently dismissed with a "verified" letter under penalty of perjury by Ms. Ekchian, who actually has no knowledge of the facts in my or any other teachers' cases she signed to dismiss, minimal due process of law had not been met.

 It is LAUSD that must fulfill its legal burden to show that I was guilt of a firing offense by a preponderance of the evidence. As I pointed out to Ms. Ekchian, the vast majority of teachers are not in the financial position to fight back against the coordinated assault that LAUSD levels against them, with the active and/or passive collusion of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) and their attorneys at Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad. So why am I different, I asked her? Because, as I explained to her, "I have "f..k you" money sufficient to pay my overhead for the years LAUSD gets its expensive outside attorneys to unjustifiably protract the legal process. Most teachers who have been put on unpaid administrative leave pending termination do not have this luxury. All that Ms. Ekchian could say was that she found my use of the "f" word regrettable as did I. So I tried to put it into a context where she might better understand what I believe to be my justifiable use of this regrettable term under the circumstances. "Ms. Ekchian, if you were dealing with a Turkish official today in 2012 that continued to deny the murdering of one and a half million Armenians in the Armenian genocide in 1915, clearly perpetrated by the Turkish government, might you not use the "f" word too? Ms. Ekchian did not answer.

 To my way of thinking, vulgar is firing hundreds of teachers without cause or recourse to law. In my case or yours, if Ms. Ekchian or Mr. Ira Berman of Staff Relations, who was also sitting with her for hours in the LAUSD Board room, waiting for the Board to return from closed session, actually wanted to know more about my case or yours, all they would have to do is ask LAUSD legal counsel or the outside counsel they have hired at great expense to harass me and protract the process to let them see for the first time what evidence LAUSD has - or doesn't have - in any of the hundreds of cases against good teachers they are presently moving to fire. Ms. Ekchian chooses to sit and do nothing, which is probably what got her the job in the first place. Ms. Ekchian, Mr. Berman, and all the other employees of LAUSD are for the most part decent people, they just live and try to survive without making waves in the longstanding purposefully dysfunctional environment of LAUSD, where blindly following orders is the longstanding essence of LAUSD's change nothing philosophy, where no good act goes unpunished. If consequences, both good and bad, as well as external checks and balances against LAUSD's present unbridled power are put in place, Ms. Ekchian, Mr. Berman, and the vast majority of LAUSD administrators might actually do a good job.
 At the very least, they might even enjoy their work for a change.

If you or someone you know has been targeted and are in the process of being dismissed and need legal defense, get in touch: Lenny@perdaily.com

 NATIONAL EDUCATION REFORMERS LA Progressive Dick Price and Sharon Kyle http://www.laprogressive.com/ Dick and Sharon dick_and_sharon@yahoo.com Dick and Sharon are a pair of citizen journalists and information activists who were fed up with mainstream media. Rather than just kvetch about the media, they decided to try to become the media. So, together they founded the LA Progressive. Dick is the editor and Sharon is the publisher and webmaster, handling all technical aspects of the site. This site was launched in March 2008, with Dick and Sharon doing most of the writing. Today, a host of gifted writers contribute to the LA Progressive's daily offering which typically amounts to about 45 articles a week. Dick and Sharon continue to write for as well as edit and publish the LA Progressive and distribute its daily e-news each morning. 

 Jo Scott Coe Riverside, California Jo.Scott-Coe@rcc.edu www.joscottcoe.com Excellent Video Interview about Professor Coe http://vodpod.com/watch/4959969-jo-scott-coe-teacher-at-point-blank Assistant Professor of English at Riverside Community College and former high school English teacher. She is the author of Teacher at Point Blank and has been a teacher of English and literature in California since 1991. Her writing on intersections of gender, violence, and education has appeared in the Los Angeles Times as well as literary venues including Hotel Amerika, Fourth Genre, River Teeth, Ninth Letter, Memoir(and), Bitter Oleander, and Green Mountains Review. Her essay, "Recovering Teacher," won the NCTE 2009 Donald Murray Prize, and other selections of her work have received a Pushcart Special Mention as well as Notable listings in Best American Essays 2009 and 2010. As an independent researcher, Jo authored and published the most extensive study to-date of Adams v. LAUSD, a nearly 10-year legal case of student-on-teacher sexual harassment, in (Re)Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women's Experience (Cambridge Scholars Press). Jo values the aesthetic, political, and socially transformative powers of literary narrative--especially to dispel unhealthy silences and witness cultural blindspots. She works currently as an assistant professor of English at Riverside Community College in SoCal, and her book, Teacher at Point Blank (Aunt Lute 2010), has been selected as a Great Read for Fall 2010 by Ms. Magazine. Punk rock? Yes. Hockey games? Yes. Coffee? Always black. Find Jo on the web at joscottcoe.com and on Twitter @joscottcoe. 

 Betsy Combier New York, New York betsy.combier@gmail.com Betsy Combier's blog - http://www.parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=488; This article is a jewel that chronicles the corruption in NYC's Dept of Education. She has accomplished a wonderful piece of journalism, and created one of the rare places where corrupt educational governance is chronicled and revealed. Professor Samuel Culbert Los Angeles, California is a professor at the UCLA Andersen School of Business who also teaches in the Education Department's Principals' Leadership Institute. Check out the following 3 minutes on ABC News:
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/conversation-performance-review-11126992 

 Stuart Goldurs Los Angeles, Califonia StuartComputers@gmail.com Don't send LAUSD Librarians to the Inquisition, send the downtown bureaucrats Tests, What Are They Good For? Absolutely Nothing! LAUSD students to attend school on contaminated land, again! Some schools teach only to the tests, so how are the students being prepared for the next grade and for life? New LAUSD superintendent adds six-figure positions to management team

 http://www.examiner.com/public-education-in-los-angeles/lausd-test-scores-up-to-failure-levels-what-are-the-students-learning Has been a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District for 30 years. He is greatly aware of the district waste, large bureaucracy, and other major issues of the time. He started his blog with the sole purpose of informing the world about the truths of education in LAUSD. E-mail him at: StuartComputers@gmail.com. 

 LAUSD has selected a new Superintendent of Schools Karen Horwitz Chicago, Illinois wccbook@gmail.com Former award winning teacher who co-founded NAPTA, National Association for the Prevention of Teacher Abuse, and wrote the book White Chalk Crime: The REAL Reason Schools Fail to expose how teacher harassment and terrorization maintains a system of deeply hidden corruption. Disposing of dedicated teachers forms the core of the "White Chalk Criminal's" agenda since dedication and white collar crime do not mix. Given that all agree that good teachers are essential to good teaching, a system that cannot tolerate good teachers is worthless. This is what we have in place. With Bernie Madoff-like leaders - he was as much about investing as our school leaders are about educating - anointed with unlimited power, including the ability to fill the airwaves with propaganda, education is no longer about education. It is about money and power for those who play a very corrupt game and with an agenda of privatizing schools so their power, profit, and personal beliefs will increase and take hold. (Privatization may have merits. NAPTA does not take a position on that. But privatizing a system that is rotten to its core - where quality teaching cannot survive, where a cover up of pretense that they do not know this despite so many of us reporting these truths prevails - documents that those advocating privatization cannot be trusted! It shows they want our schools for their own interests, not the children, nor the community.)

 NAPTA welcomes parents, teachers, students, citizens or anyone who understands that without a real system of education, we no longer have a democracy! Membership is free.  (Truth is we no longer have a democracy, if ever. What we have is a corrupt mutation of capitalism in its stead. Not born of freedom but of corporate and personal greed. A "Cult of Wealthy Personalities" as our chosen leaders. With one national religion, the worship of the dollar above all lesser gods) 


Go to: EndTeacherAbuse.org or WhiteChalkCrime.com. Become educated about what is going on. Jerry Mintz Director Alternative Education Resource Organization (AERO) 417 Roslyn Rd., Roslyn Hts., NY 11577 For those of you who cannot wait for corrupt public education to be turned around, AERO offers an excellent source to get connected with viable alternatives right now. www.EducationRevolution.org info@EducationRevolution.org 800-769-4171 (domestic) 516-621-2195 (international) 

 Susan Ohanian Charlotte, Vermont susano@gmavt.net http://www.susanohanian.org She is a longtime public school teacher who, after 20 years, became staff writer for a teacher magazine and then went freelance. I've maintained a website of activism for nearly 9 years--ever since the passage of NCLB. People can subscribe to the website and then they get updates about new content. I answer all the mail I get through the website and with the answer, people have my e-mail. I also try to stir things up on Twitter, though I find this medium frustrating. I have a Facebook page--just so people can find me. I don't initiate anything on it, The website keeps me busy. http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9593

 Susan Lee Schwartz Suffern,
New York,  Susan studied literacy education, English literature, and fine arts and holds a BA ('63) and MS ('65) from Brooklyn College, and has the equivalent of two master's degrees, earned in graduate studies of literacy, arts and education. She taught literacy skills and art, for four decades in NYC in elementary and secondary school. In 1998 she won the New York State English Council (NYSEC) Educator of Excellence Award for her successful teacher practice, studied by Harvard and the LRDC at the University of Pittsburgh for the New Standards research. At the end of her research, her unique curriculum was selected by the LRDC to be used in their national staff development seminars for school superintendents. She was among six teachers -- from among the thousands across the nation-- observed during the research project, and her teaching practice met all the principles of learning. In the nineties, she rose to prominence in national educational circles, while teaching at a new magnet school, East Side Middle School. The reading scores of her seventh grade students were at the top of the city, and on the first ELA, which two thirds of city students failed, her former students (then in the eight grade) were TENTH IN THE STATE. She writes often about what she learned about the genuine standards for learning, in an attempt to begin a national conversation about the authentic standards, so that there can be genuine reform. Her experience that ended her fine career in the NYC Public Schools has led her to write about the process that removed the top educators, silencing the voices of the classroom practitioners who would not accept anti-learning policies. Her essay here on Perdaily, is one that describes this process.

Read more as she talks about education, literacy and learning on her site, from the perspective of the experienced teacher-practitioner of pedagogy. She is the voice of dedicated and talented classroom teachers who know why the schools are failing. 

Her website is: http://www.speakingasateacher.com/Susan_Lee_Schwartz_(Steiner)_/index.html Joel Shatzky: Brooklyn, New York Joel.Shatzky@cortland.edu Professor of English Emeritus--SUNY, College at Cortland (1968-2005) Adjunct instructor-Kingsborough CC (CUNY) 2006-- ) Regular contributor to the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/searchS/?q=Joel+Shatzky Author of "The Thinking Crisis" with Ellen Hill (Authors Choice Press: New York, 2001) Numerous articles on education in Jewish Currents. Script-writer for three YouTube satires on educational "reform." "The Lessons": www.youtube.com/watch?v=D712J1V2Jsg&feature=player_embedded

"Numbers Lie": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BRNLviVTQ "The Charter Starters": www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrrw5CV3Gw Here's Joel's latest post about the low percentage of "college ready" high school graduates. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-t_2_b_821410.html

 Lorna Stremcha Havre, Montana http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Stremcha.html http://twitter.com/lornapstremcha lornastremcha.com callmescarlet.blogspot.com facebook HER STORY: "I know first hand the financial, personal, emotional and physical damage that can result when school administrators, the Montana Education Association and the National Education Association put their own interests above the students, teachers and the taxpayers of the State of Montana My files contain mountains of paperwork including depositions, declarations of truth, notarized documents and exhibits resulting from an arduous legal process that finally ended when the Havre (Montana) School District settled two lawsuits - a Federal suit and one filed in State District Court. These documents also include a letter from a union representative stating, " This is nothing more than a witch hunt." Yet the union continued to allow the school administration to harass, bully and bring harm to me. These two lawsuits resulted from a single incident that, had it been handled differently and under the light of public scrutiny, would not have snowballed into awards of more than $200,000 worth of damages. Funds that eventually came from the taxpayers' pockets. Ironically, as a taxpayer in Hill County, my family and I are helping to pay for the damages awarded to me. This covered the attorneys' fees. The settlement did not include my attorney fees, however the district, insurance and taxpayers paid the defendants attorney bills, which exceeded mine. The settlement was made on March 2, 2006.

"http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652 http://twitter.com/search?q=DrJimTaylor Lois Weiner Jersey City, New Jersey Professor, Elementary and Secondary Education New Jersey City University 2039 Kennedy Blvd. Jersey City, New Jersey 07305 drweinerlo@gmail.com Blog http://newpolitics.mayfirst.org/blog/5 

Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business RESEARCH INTERESTS Impact of urban school characteristics on teachers' classroom practice How race, class, and gender mediate academic achievement Teachers' work and the school as a workplace. Effects of changes in global political economy on teaching, teachers, and schools.

 (Para una visión nacional de la reforma de la educación pública ver el final de esta entrada del blog) Desde el escándalo de abuso sexual infantil Miramonte lamentable, el número de profesores que el Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) está apuntando, de acoso, y de la remoción de los cargos falsos se ha disparado como Superintendente John Deasy y otros a cargo en el LAUSD intentar usar esta vía administrativa permitido el escándalo como pretexto para eliminar a muchos profesores de alto precio como sea posible. Esto ha creado una cultura del miedo en el LAUSD donde t manguera \ atacado tienden a permitir que el LAUSD para enmarcar la conversación mientras intentaba defenderse de acusaciones falsas. Este es un gran error. Ayer, cuando me presenté en la reunión de la Junta del LAUSD para hablar en contra de la propuesta de acuerdo del escocés Graham - Ramón Cortines alegación de acoso sexual , me encontré con la cabeza de los Derechos Humanos del LAUSD Ekchian Recursos Vivian, quien me preguntó quién era yo. Cuando le dije que yo era un profesor que había terminado ilegalmente como profesor de LAUSD hace casi dos años, ella me dijo que le envíe cualquier otra información que podría tener que demostrar mi inocencia. Este es un ejemplo perfecto de lo que permite el LAUSD para enmarcar la conversación. Bajo la ley estadounidense, estoy presunción de inocencia hasta que algo pruebe lo contrario, que no ha sido el caso durante casi tres años, desde que fue retirado de mi salón de clases. No es para mí para demostrar mi inocencia, sino más bien por el LAUSD para demostrar que yo haya hecho nada malo que justifique mi remoción como un maestro sin el debido proceso de ley, que debe llevarse a cabo de manera oportuna para evitar el castigo de facto que sigue para permitir que contra mí mismo y los profesores que deben ser considerado inocente hasta que se demuestre su culpabilidad. Como no se le dio una audiencia judicial Skelly, donde los cargos, las pruebas y los testigos fueron presentados por el Distrito, ni posteriormente despidió con un "verificado" carta bajo pena de perjurio por la Sra. Ekchian, que en realidad no tiene conocimiento de los hechos en mi o cualquier otro de los casos de otros profesores que firmaron para despedir, el proceso de un mínimo de vencimiento de la ley no se habían cumplido. Es el LAUSD que debe cumplir su obligación legal para demostrar que yo era culpable de un delito de disparo por una preponderancia de la evidencia. Como he señalado a la Sra. Ekchian, la gran mayoría de los maestros no están en la posición financiera para luchar contra el asalto coordinado que los niveles del LAUSD en contra de ellos, con la complicidad activa y / o pasiva de Maestros Unidos de Los Ángeles (UTLA) y sus abogados en Trygstad, Schwab & Trygstad. ¿Por qué soy diferente, yo le pregunté? Porque, como le expliqué, "Tengo" f .. k que "el dinero suficiente para pagar mis gastos para los años del LAUSD recibe sus abogados externos costosos para prolongar injustificadamente el proceso legal. La mayoría de los profesores que se han puesto en licencia administrativa sin pagar hasta que se ponga no tienen ese lujo. Todo lo que la Sra. Ekchian podía decir era que se encontró con mi uso de la palabra "F" lamentable al igual que I. Así que traté de ponerlo en un contexto en el que podríamos entender mejor lo que creo que ser mi uso justificado de este término lamentable que, dadas las circunstancias. "La Sra. Ekchian, si se trataba de un funcionario turco de hoy en 2012, que siguió negando el asesinato de un año y medio de armenios millones en el genocidio armenio en 1915, claramente perpetrado por el gobierno turco, no podría utilizar la palabra "F" también ? La Sra. Ekchian no respondió.A mi modo de pensar, vulgar está despidiendo a cientos de maestros sin causa o el recurso a la ley. En mi caso, o la tuya, si la Sra. o el Sr. Ira Ekchian Berman de Relaciones con el personal, que también estaba sentado con ella durante horas en la sala de Junta del LAUSD, esperando a que la Junta volviera a sesión a puerta cerrada, en realidad quería saber más acerca de mi caso, o la tuya, todo lo que tendría que hacer es pedirle a un abogado del LAUSD legal o el asesor legal externo que han contratado a un gran costo para acosarme y prolongar el proceso para que vean por primera vez, lo que evidencia el LAUSD tiene - o no tiene - en cualquiera de los cientos de casos en contra de los buenos maestros que actualmente están en movimiento para disparar. La Sra. Ekchian elige para sentarse y no hacer nada, que es probablemente lo que le consiguió el trabajo en el primer lugar. La Sra. Ekchian, el Sr. Berman, y todos los demás empleados de LAUSD son para las personas decentes su mayor parte, que acaba de vivir y tratar de sobrevivir sin hacer olas en el ambiente desde hace mucho tiempo a propósito disfuncional, donde las órdenes ciegamente siguientes es la esencia de muchos años de LAUSD cambiar la filosofía de la nada. Si las consecuencias, tanto buenas como malas, así como los controles externos y contrapesos contra el poder desenfrenado de la actualidad del LAUSD se ponen en marcha, la Sra. Ekchian, el Sr. Berman, y la gran mayoría de los administradores del LAUSD en realidad podría hacer un buen trabajo. Por lo menos, que incluso podría disfrutar de su trabajo para un cambio. Si usted o alguien que usted conoce ha sido blanco de ataques y se encuentran en proceso de ser despedidos y la necesidad de defensa legal, póngase en contacto: Lenny@perdaily.com Los reformadores nacionales EDUCACIÓN LA Progresista Dick Price y Kyle Sharon http://www.laprogressive.com/ Dick y Sharon dick_and_sharon@yahoo.com~~V Dick y Sharon son un par de periodistas ciudadanos y activistas de información que fueron alimentados con medios de comunicación. En lugar de simplemente kvetch acerca de los medios de comunicación, decidieron tratar de convertirse en los medios de comunicación. Por lo tanto, juntos fundaron la progresiva Ángeles.Dick es el editor y Sharon es el editor y webmaster, el manejo de todos los aspectos técnicos del sitio. Este sitio fue lanzado en marzo de 2008, con Dick y Sharon haciendo la mayor parte de la escritura. Hoy en día, una gran cantidad de escritores de talento contribuir a la realización progresiva del ofrecimiento diario de Los Angeles que por lo general equivale a cerca de 45 artículos por semana. Dick y Sharon seguir escribiendo para, así como editar y publicar la progresiva Ángeles y distribuir su día por e-noticias todas las mañanas. Jo Scott, Coe Riverside, California Jo.Scott-Coe @ rcc.edu www.joscottcoe.com Video Entrevista con el Profesor Excelente Coe http://vodpod.com/watch/4959969-jo-scott-coe-teacher-at-point-blank Asistente de Profesor de Inglés en el Riverside Community College y ex profesor de escuela de Inglés. Ella es el autor de Profesor en Point Blank y ha sido profesora de Inglés y la literatura en California desde 1991. Su escritura en las intersecciones de género, la violencia y la educación ha aparecido en Los Angeles Times, así como lugares literarios, entre ellos Amerika Hotel, de Género En cuarto lugar, los dientes del Río, la Carta Novena, Memoria (y), Bitter Oleander, y Revisión de Las Montañas Verdes. Su ensayo, "Recuperación de Maestro", ganó el NCTE 2009 Premio Donald Murray, y otras selecciones de su obra ha recibido una Mención Especial la carretilla de mano, así como listados de notables en mejores trabajos de América de 2009 y 2010. Como un investigador independiente, Jo escribió y publicó el estudio más extenso hasta la fecha de Adams v LAUSD, un caso de casi 10 años de acoso judicial por estudiantes y maestros en el sexual, en la (re) interpretaciones: Las formas de la justicia en las mujeres La experiencia (Cambridge Scholars Press). Jo valores de las facultades estéticas, políticas, y la transformación social de la narrativa literaria - especialmente para disipar los silencios no saludables y ser testigo de ciegos culturales. Ella trabaja actualmente como profesor adjunto de Inglés en el Riverside Community College en SoCal, y su libro, Profesor de Point Blank (laúd tía 2010), ha sido seleccionada como una gran lectura para el otoño de 2010 por la revista La Sra.. El punk rock? Sí. Hockey sobre los juegos? Sí. Café? Siempre de color negro. Buscar Jo en la web en joscottcoe.com y en Twitter @ joscottcoe. Betsy Combier Nueva York, Nueva York betsy.combier @ gmail.com Blog de Betsy Combier de http://www.parentadvocates.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=article&articleID=488 es una joya que narra la corrupción en la Ciudad de Nueva York Departamento de Educación nacional (DOE). Ella ha logrado una maravillosa pieza de periodismo, y ha creado uno de los pocos lugares donde se narra la gobernabilidad educativo corrupto y reveló Profesor Samuel Culbert Los Ángeles, California es un profesor de la UCLA School of Business Andersen quien también enseña en el Instituto de Liderazgo de los directores del Departamento de Educación ". Echa un vistazo a los siguientes 3 minutos en ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/conversation-performance-review-11126992 Stuart Goldurs Los Ángeles, Califonia StuartComputers@gmail.com No envíe a los bibliotecarios del LAUSD a la Inquisición, enviar a los burócratas del centro Las pruebas, lo que son buenos para? Absolutamente Nada! LAUSD estudiantes asistan a la escuela en tierras contaminadas, otra vez! Algunas escuelas sólo enseñan a las pruebas, así que ¿cómo son los estudiantes se están preparando para el siguiente grado y para la vida? Nuevo superintendente de LAUSD se suma de seis cifras posiciones al equipo directivo Ha sido un maestro en el Distrito de Los Angeles Unified School durante 30 años.Él es en gran medida al tanto de los residuos del distrito, gran burocracia, y otros aspectos importantes de la época. Él comenzó su blog con el único propósito de informar al mundo sobre las verdades de la educación en el LAUSD. Su e-mail a: StuartComputers@gmail.com. El LAUSD ha seleccionado un nuevo Superintendente de Escuelas Karen Horwitz Chicago, Illinois wccbook@gmail.com Profesor galardonado ex cofundador NAPTA, Asociación Nacional para la Prevención del Abuso de Maestros, y escribió el libro de la delincuencia White Chalk: Las Escuelas VERDADERA razón por la falla para exponer cómo el acoso y el terror profesor mantiene un sistema de corrupción profundamente escondido.Eliminación de los maestros dedicados constituye el núcleo de la agenda del Penal White Chalk desde que la dedicación y la delincuencia de cuello blanco no se mezclan. Teniendo en cuenta que todos coinciden en que los buenos maestros son esenciales para una buena enseñanza, un sistema que no puede tolerar a los buenos maestros no sirve para nada. Esto es lo que tenemos en su lugar. Con Bernie Madoff como líderes - que era tanto de inversión como los líderes de la escuela tienen que ver con la educación - ungido con poder ilimitado, incluyendo la capacidad para llenar las ondas con la propaganda, la educación ya no es acerca de la educación. Se trata de dinero y el poder para aquellos que juegan un juego muy corrupto y con una agenda de privatización de las escuelas por lo que su poder se incrementará. (La privatización puede tener méritos NAPTA no toma una posición al respecto, pero la privatización de un sistema que está podrido hasta la médula -.. En la enseñanza de calidad no puede sobrevivir, en un encubrimiento de la pretensión de que ellos no saben esto a pesar de que muchos de nosotros la presentación de informes estas verdades prevalece - documentos que las privatizaciones defender no se puede confiar Esto demuestra que queremos que nuestras escuelas para sus propios intereses, no los niños, ni la comunidad) NAPTA da la bienvenida a los padres, maestros, estudiantes, ciudadanos o cualquier persona que entiende que sin un real!. sistema de educación, ya no tenemos una democracia. La membresía es gratuita. Ir a: EndTeacherAbuse.org o WhiteChalkCrime.com. Infórmese acerca de lo que está pasando. Jerry Mintz, director De Educación Alternativa Resource Organization (AERO) 417 Roslyn Road., Roslyn Hts., NY 11577 Para aquellos de ustedes que no pueden esperar a que la educación pública corrupta que se dio la vuelta, Aero ofrece una excelente fuente para conectarse con alternativas viables en estos momentos. www.EducationRevolution.org info@EducationRevolution.org~~V 800-769-4171 (nacional) 516-621-2195 (internacional) Susan Ohanian Charlotte, Vermont susano@gmavt.net http://www.susanohanian.org Ella es una maestra de escuela pública que desde hace mucho tiempo, después de 20 años, se convirtió en redactor de una revista de maestro y luego se fue por cuenta propia. He mantenido un sitio web de activismo desde hace casi 9 años - desde la aprobación de la ley NCLB. La gente puede suscribirse a la página web y luego obtener las actualizaciones de nuevo contenido. Contesto todos los correos que recibe a través de la página web y con la respuesta, la gente tiene mi dirección de e-mail. También trato de agitar las cosas en Twitter, aunque encuentran en este medio frustrante. Tengo una página en Facebook - sólo para que la gente me puede encontrar. Yo no inician nada en ella, el sitio web me mantiene ocupada. http://susanohanian.org/show_atrocities.php?id=9593 Susan Lee Schwartz Suffern, Nueva York Susan estudió la alfabetización, la literatura Inglés, y las bellas artes y tiene una licenciatura (63) y MS (65 ') en el Brooklyn College, y tiene el equivalente de dos grados de maestría, obtuvo en los estudios de posgrado de la alfabetización, las artes y la educación. Ella le enseñó las habilidades de alfabetización y el arte, desde hace cuatro décadas en Nueva York en la escuela primaria y secundaria.En 1998 ganó el estado de Nueva York Inglés Consejo (NYSEC) Educador del Premio a la Excelencia por su exitosa práctica de los docentes, estudiada por la Universidad de Harvard y el LRDC en la Universidad de Pittsburgh para la investigación de nuevas normas. Al final de su investigación, su plan de estudios único fue seleccionado por el LRDC para ser utilizado en sus seminarios nacionales de desarrollo del personal de los superintendentes escolares. Ella estuvo entre los seis profesores-de entre los miles en todo el país - observados durante el proyecto de investigación y la práctica docente, se reunieron todos los principios del aprendizaje. En la década de los noventa, se levantó a la prominencia en los círculos educativos nacionales, mientras enseñaba en una escuela magnet nuevo East Side Middle School. Las puntuaciones de lectura de sus estudiantes de séptimo grado se encontraban en la parte superior de la ciudad, y en el primer ELA, que dos tercios de los estudiantes de la ciudad no, sus antiguos alumnos (en ese entonces en el octavo grado) fueron DÉCIMO EN EL ESTADO. Ella escribe a menudo sobre lo que había aprendido acerca de los estándares reales de aprendizaje, en un intento de iniciar una conversación nacional acerca de los estándares auténticos, por lo que no puede haber una verdadera reforma.Su experiencia que puso fin a su carrera muy bien en las escuelas públicas de Nueva York la ha llevado a escribir sobre el proceso que elimina los mejores educadores, silenciando las voces de los practicantes del aula que no aceptaban las políticas anti-aprendizaje. Su ensayo aquí en Perdaily, es la que describe este proceso. Leer más como ella habla de la educación, la alfabetización y el aprendizaje en su sitio, desde la perspectiva de la experiencia docente-profesional de la pedagogía. Ella es la voz de los maestros dedicados y talentosos que saben por qué las escuelas están fallando. Su sitio web es: http://www.speakingasateacher.com/Susan_Lee_Schwartz_ (Steiner) _ / index.html Joel Shatzky: Brooklyn, Nueva York Joel.Shatzky @ cortland.edu Profesor Emérito de Inglés - SUNY College at Cortland (1968-2005) Adjunto un instructor Kingsborough CC (CUNY) 2006 -) Colaborador habitual de The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/searchS/?q=Joel+Shatzky Autor de "La Crisis del Pensamiento" con Ellen Hill (Prensa Autores Elección: Nueva York, 2001) Numerosos artículos sobre la educación en Corrientes judías. Guionista de tres sátiras de YouTube en la educación "reforma". "Las lecciones": www.youtube.com/watch?v=D712J1V2Jsg&feature=player_embedded~~V "Los números mienten": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57BRNLviVTQ "Los arrancadores de la Carta": www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnrrw5CV3Gw Aquí está el último mensaje de Joel sobre el bajo porcentaje de universitarios "listos" los graduados de secundaria. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joel-shatzky/educating-for-democracy-t_2_b_821410.html Lorna Stremcha Havre, Montana http://www.endteacherabuse.org/Stremcha.html http://twitter.com/lornapstremcha lornastremcha.com callmescarlet.blogspot.com Facebook Su historia: "Sé de primera mano el daño financiero, personal, emocional y físico que puede resultar cuando los administradores escolares, el Montana Asociación para la Educación y la Asociación Nacional de Educación anteponer sus propios intereses por encima de los estudiantes, profesores y de los contribuyentes del Estado de Montana Mis archivos contienen montañas de papeles, incluyendo declaraciones, declaraciones de la verdad, los documentos notariales y exposiciones resultantes de un arduo proceso legal que finalmente terminó cuando el Havre (Montana) del Distrito Escolar se establecieron dos pleitos-. una demanda federal y una presentada en la Corte de Distrito del Estado Estos documentos también incluyen una carta de un representante del sindicato diciendo: "Esto no es más que una caza de brujas". Sin embargo, el sindicato continuó permitiendo la administración de la escuela para acosar, intimidar y hacer daño a mí. Estas dos demandas el resultado de un incidente aislado que, de haber sido manejado de manera diferente y bajo la luz del escrutinio público, no habría una bola de nieve en los premios de más de $ 200,000 en daños y perjuicios. Los fondos que eventualmente llegaron a los bolsillos de los contribuyentes.Irónicamente, como contribuyente en el Condado de Hill, mi familia y yo estamos ayudando a pagar las indemnizaciones concedidas a mí. Esto cubre los honorarios de los abogados. El acuerdo no incluye honorarios de mi abogado, sin embargo el distrito, los seguros y los contribuyentes pagan las facturas de abogado del acusado, que superaron la mina. El acuerdo se hizo el 2 de marzo de 2006. "Http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652 http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jim-Taylor/125893225652 http://twitter.com/search?q=DrJimTaylor Lois Weiner Jersey City, Nueva Jersey Profesor de la Educación Primaria y Secundaria New Jersey City University 2039 Kennedy Blvd.. Jersey City, New Jersey 07305 drweinerlo@gmail.com Blog http://newpolitics.mayfirst.org/blog/5 Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org/2010/9/3/educators_push_back_against_obamas_business INTERESES DE INVESTIGACIÓN Impacto de las características de las escuelas urbanas en la práctica docente de los profesores ¿Cómo la raza, clase y género mediar en el rendimiento académico Trabajo de los docentes y la escuela como un lugar de trabajo. Efectos de los cambios en la economía política mundial sobre la enseñanza, los maestros y lasescuelas.