UPDATED With Link: TODAY, OPT OUT - Brian Lehrer 10.30-11, Johanna Garcia

UPDATE FROM JANINE SOPP:

For those who missed it, go to https://www.wnyc.org/story/opt-out-or-not-opt-out

Johanna SLAMMED this interview. And Jody (first caller) was amazing.

Finally, breaking the sound barrier.

 

Greetings Everyone!

After a week or so of flexing some serious activist muscle, we have wrangled an interview on the Brian Lehrer show on line, or 93.9 FM from 10.30-11 today (Thursday) Listen as Brian interviews Johanna Garcia (President, District 6 CEC) and Richard Buery (former Deputy Mayor under De Blasio and Chief Policy Officer for KIPP), discussing the pros and cons of high stakes testing. 

We are so grateful for the strong voice and advocacy Johanna is doing on behalf of NYC students, and to all those who have worked tirelessly to move the needle on bringing more awareness of the harmful effects of state tests in NYC. If you've not seen this video, it's worth a view and a share. Thank to Ted Pauly for this great piece! https://www.facebook.com/groups/nycoptout/permalink/1996624193933535/

And if you have some stories to share, we are compiling here, which will be very helpful if you fill this quick questionnaire out and share with your community. See explanation below.

Opt Out & Test Prep Troubles:
Your NYC Story

Parents: Were you or your child given false or misleading information about opt out from someone in your school or district? Were you or your child treated unfairly or pressured to change your mind about refusing the tests? Do you feel like the nature, amount, and frequency of test preparation is out of balance in your child's school?

NYCDOE employees: Did your superintendent, principal, or other supervisor pass on false, misleading, or incomplete information about opt out or its consequences? Were you asked to dissuade families from refusing the test or encourage them to take it? Is the curriculum you are expected to teach dominated or inappropriately shaped by test prep?

Please fill out the form below to help NYC Opt Out document the difficulties New York City families and educators encountered during the spring 2018 testing season. If we share your stories on the web or with the press, we will not include any specific identifying information (your name, school, etc.) unless you give us permission to do so.

Riveting Video : Jeanette Deuterman, Opt-Out Leader

Among all the reasons to Opt out is to undermine the massive profits of the educational-industrial complex - and I include the charter industry - imagine all that draining of public funds out of the classroom. Michael Elliott has another in a series of short films out today. Make it go viral.

Jeanette Deutermann was the inspiration for this whole series of films about public education. She links Opt Out to so many other issues. It's the canary in the coal mine. How to we value our kids and their education, what does it mean for the future, are we empowering them or are we just force feeding them and killing their innate curiosity? She knows the answer

.... Michael Elliott

The tests are coming and we know the outcomes of the ent

Our latest video from the event in Brooklyn last April features Jeanette Deutermann, the founder of Long Island Opt Out, telling a very personal story of her own awakening. It launches on social media SUNDAY March 25th @10 AM Eastern.

Testing season is upon us and we need to reach as many potential parents as possible, so please share this video, comment on it, and like it on every page you find it.

Please share this video!!!  But first, please read specific sharing/re-Tweeting strategies below. This IS VERY IMPORTANT IN LIGHT OF CHANGES TO THE FACEBOOK ALGORITHM!

1) Watch the video in its entirety (2 mins 20 secs). It will be in the following places, watch/like/comment on one or all (the more, the merrier): Shoot4Education & Network for Public Education Facebook pages and Twitter. (It will be the pinned post on all of these, starting at 10AM eastern time.)

2) Share the video from Shoot4Education Facebook & re-Tweet from Shoot4Education Twitter, according to the instructions below.

3) It is essential that you create a personal framing of the video in your own post. So please tell other parents how you came to be involved in opt out and how you discovered your voice in this movement.  OR Tell them opt out is our most potent weapon to gain the attention of politicians and to regain our control over education policy. No matter what you say, make it personal. Don’t just click the share button and post, you must write your own headline!

4) Do not mention the words “like" or “share" in your own post.

5) Adding specific recipients (your friends or people you know to have good social media followings): On FB: Use the tagging feature to tag friends in the body of your post (not comments) On Twitter: add handles (quote tweet)

The closer to 10 AM that you can do any or all of the above, the more likely that the video will pick up steam and take off; everyone sharing at once at the very start really fuels visibility.

The  more you interact with the video through watching, liking/reacting, commenting, reTweeting, etc. the greater the probability that it will push into more feeds.

Thanks,

Michael and Kemala

Remember:

Watch—Like—Share—Comment—Tag