Sunday, September 23, 2012

NBC's Education Nation: [Laughably] One-Sided Once Again? Where is Karen Lewis?



You won't see Teacher Julie Cavanagh and Parent Lydia Bellahcene (A Real-Life "Won't Back Down" Story) on any Education Nation panel. Or on Anderson Cooper, who issued a call for teachers to comment on "Won't Back Down" but only if they are of the E4E type who will not be critical of the film.

Read my follow-up on how I have [so far] been denied a press pass, as I predicted a year ago, to

But I supposedly have entry to the teacher panel today at noon -- will be wearing my MORE tee to counter the see of green e4es.

The parent town hall of Education Nation:

Diane Ravitch: Please Don’t Laugh
This is the panel for the parent engagement discussion at Education Nation.
Maybe it is a joke. 
·         Rep. George Miller
·         Randi Weingartner [NOTE MISPELLING]
·         Doreen Diaz, Desert Trails Parent Union
·         Michelle Rhee
·         Joel Klein
         ·         Vanessa Bush Ford, Black Star Project/The National PTA

Is Diane laughing that Weingart[ner] would agree to be on this joke of a panel? She could have said she would only appear if Leonie Haimson were on but Randi has to sell her solutions driven-unionism anywhere she can, even if the solutions destroys public education. Just the mispelling should be enough of an insult.

A teacher commented:
Looks like "parent empowerment" is the new deform narrative for turning parents against teachers.
More scorn for education nation from Ravitch:

Will Education Nation Chose a Teacher

by dianerav
Please read Students Last, who noticed the absence of any real, actual teachers at the New York Times conference on "Schools of Tomorrow."
He says there is a rumor that NBC's "Medication Nation" might invite a physician, to add to the panel of pharmaceutical giants.
Well, here is the teacher list -- anyone see one of the 26,000 Chicago striking teachers?




Description: PANELIST_Deena
Deena Bruce
Newark Elementary School
1st grade which includes all subjects
Cedar Ridge School District
Twitter: @TchrFrmTheBlock


Description: PANELIST_Ted

Ted Chambers
School name:  Clarence Edwards Middle School in Charlestown, MA
7 and 8th social studies. 
Boston Public Schools
Twitter handle:  @tedchambers

Description: PANELIST_Wanda
Wanda Neville
Oyler School
1-5 grades Reading
Teacher/Tutor coordinator
Cincinnati Public Schools


Description: PANELIST_Trevon
Trevon R. Jones
The University of Texas at Austin (Student)
I hope to teach Middle School Math
twitter handle: @TrevonRJones


Description: PANELIST_Deborah
Debora Ball
University of Michigan
@UM_EdSchool
@TeachingWorks
@jennydemonte

OH WE MUST HAVE A KIPPER

LEYLA BRAVO WILLEY
KIPP Infinity Charter School in Harlem, NY
Subject: English/ Assistant Principal
Grades: 5th and 6th Grades

Selina Alonzo
Maryvale High School
9th and 12th grade English
Twitter: @selinaalonzo


6 comments:

Sandrine said...

Ugh! Melissa Harris Perry asks Democrat, US Rep-CA, George Miller (major sell-out on ed deform, friend to DFER!) about the stand off btw CTU and CPS, on his take-away re struggle in Chicago.

He goes right out of the gate saying there was an 'agreement' to use evaluations based on student test data, its happening everywhere, it's necessary to really determine who is a good and not just "popular" teacher, and it's really "ignited" across the country and now "they are working out the details."

Great take on the struggle, George! Yeah, Chicago teachers agreed to be evaluated like that. They like it!

Or was it rammed down their throats, by RTTT, courtesy of Obama and Dems like Miller (most are go-alongs on deform, going along with the right wing) like in NY and elsewhere where high stakes testing has "ignited"?

Now onto the Romney rep sitting there with Melissa and George. Oh, never mind. He and Miller are interchangeable. Redundant.

NY_I said...

I want a dime for every time Randi says "collaboration."

Great comment, Sandrine-- Miller showed his true colors in bi-partisan collaboration in battling teachers. Can Miller really stand by test-based value-added evaluations after reading holes found in Chicago Public Schools arguments for such evaluations, as Richard Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute pointed out at Alter Net, in "Is 'Teacher Accountability' Ready for Prime-Time?."

Anonymous said...

I want to know when Ravitch will begin exposing Weingarten for what she is: an enabler of the privatizers.

Sandrine said...

NEW PANEL on CHARTERS:

Ugh again! (And, surprisingly, Not Ugh!) Now the pro-deform, perpetually dyspeptic (toward teachers, public ed, unions) media 'expert' Jonathan Alter, says of charters: "Let a thousand flowers bloom!" Why have a cap?

But when he is rebutted in his glowing portrayal of charters/KIPP by a Prof, University of Texas, Julian Vasquez-Heilig, an anti charter guest (thank god Harris-Perry's show has 2 pro and 2 ANTI deform guests, unlike the typical Education Nation fare), he really goes ballistic!

Prof Vasquez-Heilig: "83% [of charters] do not perform better than our urban schools." And then on KIPP, blasphemy to Alter: "About 40% of African Americans left KIPP in Texas over the last 10 years... It's a dirty little secret..."

There, Alter cuts him off, spitting venom: "You're just cherry picking bogus statistics, no offense!... I WONT let you DISS KIPP SCHOOLS!"

What an absolute ass! Alter is obviously not accustomed to having to listen to the OPPOSING VIEW on his MSNBC perch. Melissa cuts in to chill him out, saying its her show. He sets his face at uber dyspeptic. (Oh my! MSNBC? Am I dreaming?)

They go to break. Hopefully, the sane guest will be allowed to finish upon returning.

Sandrine said...

That is, of course, why she is the ONE and ONLY go-to guest these corporate media ed panels/shows invite on, to give the "oppositional view"... to appear "balanced."

Of course, she mealy mouths a little pro union, pro teacher pablum, while weaving in all her head bobbing agreement to deforms, cushioned by her little cooing sounds of love for teachers and public schools.

She is a (highly paid) traitor to her members, plain and simple. Disgraceful. She brokered the plum deform contract DC's Michelle Rhee got, and Rhee couldnt believe how much she got. She lauded Randi in the media as someone other deformers (like Rahm, like so many others) can and should "work with" ... that she is not a (deform) foe. She was right! Michelle Rheeform was actually right, for once!

(Thank god Chicago teachers didnt include her in their negotiations! They would have merit pay and 40% evals based on VAM, or maybe 50% like Randi got for Rhee!)

I remember reading a piece about yet another state legislature which voted in education deforms (Thanks, Obama!) for RTTT. The article stated that some truly progressive Dems who voted against it actually wept. Randi was mentioned in that piece, as she had meddled there as she has in so many other locales across the nation, to help push thru these reforms.

Oh, and what was said about Randi? That she was on the side of the AYE voters of that CO ed deform bill. The side progressives were not on. She was quoted with her typical mumbo jumbo about how it would all work out with teacher input, blah blah blah... (false!)

Time and again, she proves she is not on our side. I cant stand to listen to the woman.

NY_I said...

When is this actually airing on TV, live or at all? I noticed the NBC and mirror digital NBC station, and neither has any broadcasting of the event.

Is it that they a time delay or that they want to edit out any embarrassing fireworks, such as someone citing Rhee as a washout herself, with her mouth-taping incident during her tenure as a classroom teacher?