Showing posts with label PAA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PAA. Show all posts

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Battle of New Orleans: Support Karran Harper Royal

New Orleans is ground zero in the war to privatize education. Remember Arne Duncan's "The best thing to happen to NO was hurricane Katrina."

I just sent Karran a hundred bucks after Diane's plea (below). Just watch this video of Karran I shot at SOS this past summer and you'll know why. Karran is part of a network of amazing parents associated with Parents Across America, which Leonie Haimson helped get going.

(By the way, Leonie is coming out to Rockaway this Monday to speak at the CEC 27 event. I will be there to tape it.)


SOS12 Karran Harper Royal: How [some] African Americans and Civil Rights Leaders Got on the Wrong Side of the Ed Reform Movement from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.


Karran Royal Thanks You–and Me

by dianerav
Yesterday I urged you to send donations to help Karran Harper Royal in her campaign to win a seat on the New Orleans school board.
Karran faces an uphill battle against the leader of the charter sector in New Orleans, who has received $110,000 from the supporters of privatization.
I sent her $100 via Paypal. Others sent whatever they could: $5, $10, $20, $50, or more. If 1,000 people who read this post each sent Karran $10, we could match the campaign fund of the privatizers. If each sent $20---well, you can do the math. We can make a difference for an articulate, brave, dedicated and clear-eyed parent advocate.
Karran has stood up for public education. Let's help her.
This is the email I received this morning.
Hi Diane,
Thank you so much for your blog post regarding my campaign. Today I began receiving donations from various parts of the US and was very confused. I haven't had a chance to be online, so I did not know at the time about your blog post and it was tweeted by one of my Parents Across America members as well. I just knew that within a short period of time I was receiving donations from people I did not know. I was baffled. It is heartwarming to see that people are supporting my candidacy because they believe in me. It's especially special to me that you are supporting me and would write such a lovely post. I am so honored. Again, thank you very much.
Karran Harper Royal #86
Orleans Parish School Board, District 3
Let's Redefine Reform
Twitter @Karran4Kids
Facebook Karran4Kids
www.karran4kids.com
Donations Accepted
Make Checks Payable to:
Karran Harper Royal Campaign Fund
P.O. Box 791834
New Orleans, LA 70179

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Video: SOS12 - Karran Harper Royal: How [some] African Americans and Civil Rights Leaders Got on the Wrong Side of the Ed Reform Movement

Karran Harper Royal has some story to tell about New Orleans and the ultimate in ed deform. The fact that she was initially won over by the charlatans like Paul Vallas is instructional for all of us: don't give up in anyone. Thus, when you meet some of the arrogant parents from certain charters run by people named Eva. treat them with sunshine and tell them they will one day come back into the fold of real reform.

Karran by the way is a founder of Parents Across America and we used footage of her at the premiere PAA event in our film. I wish we had room to use more. (Here is the 11 minute video I made of that Feb. 2011 event).



SOS12 Karran Harper Royal: How [some] African Americans and Civil Rights Leaders Got on the Wrong Side of the Ed Reform Movement from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

https://vimeo.com/47206728

Thursday, May 10, 2012

AFT PA Offcial Helped Sell Out Philly School District

A pox on Jerry Jordan and especially former President Ted Kirsch of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers for allowing the Commonwealth of PA to take over the School District of Philadelphia.

A special mention to the wife of Ted Kirsch who had the second Charter School in Philadelphia; especially so since Ted was still "advocating" for the rank and file of the PFT as our President.

Please note Ted Kirsch, President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, quit the very next day after Paul Vallas left Philadelphia for New Orleans to assume leadership of the PA AFT.
----- Message from Philadelphia teacher to NYCED News listserve

 How many incidents do we need to show that teacher union leaders are in bed with the enemy? So here is Ted Kirsch, the President of the Philly union whose wife opens a charter school and then he becoems head of the state AFT. I don't know anything about him but I will bet he is an ally of Randi and Mulgrew and crew. Thank goodness for CORE in Chicago as the lone bulwark against handing over our public school system to privatizers. And of course the amazing parent activists connected to Parents Across America, with Helen Gym (see below) in Philly as a great rep.

I remember meeting someone from the Philly union at the AFT convention in Seattle who was an undercover dissident and told us how similar the union leaders there were to Unity Caucus. Yes, there are Unity Caucus Klones all over the nation – VichyitesQuislings. If you are not aware why I use these terms go and check them out.

I am more and more convinced that those who stay on the sidelines inside the union are in essence supporting the Unity sell-out because silence is used by Unity as evidence of support. [AD: MORE meets in an open and democratic process this Saturday at CUNY -- help build a democratic alternative to Unity.]

Later I'll post some of my back and forth tweets with Randi Weingarten which might make you pull your hair out.

Here is the full post.

Dear Leonie,

Thank you for putting this on the listserv again.

Special thanks to my dear friend Helen Gym of AAU for being one with whom the powers that be must reckon.

A pox on Jerry Jordan and especially former President Ted Kirsch of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers for allowing the Commonwealth of PA to take over the School District of Philadelphia which passed Act 96 which prohibited ONLY Philadelphia teachers from striking; an unconstitutional law gone unchallenged since 1996.

A special mention to the wife of Ted Kirsch who had the second Charter School in Philadelphia after St. Sen. John Perzel's wife right after Act 22 was passed; especially so since Ted was still "advocating" for the rank and file of the PFT as our President.

Please note Ted Kirsch, President of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, quit the very next day after Paul Vallas left Philadelphia for New Orleans to assume leadership of the PA AFT.

Thanks for the millions spent on outside consultants, outside unaccountable District SRC's, (School Reform Commissions), unaccountable CEO's brought in to privatise the School District and their buy-out packages for them and their cronies who promoted and protected them against us at our expense.

Thanks for selling off the School District's valuable Art Collection to persons unknown, our headquarters in an Art Deco building and refurbishing a former plant that printed TV Guide magazine and making District Headquarters into something reminiscent of "HBO's Series 'Oz.

Thanks for ignoring highly successful Philadelphia Public Schools, (Central High and Masterman) rated top schools in the US over and again.

Thanks for wanting to close primarily schools with African-American schools who have been successful since before NCLB because Universities and Realtors have plans to gentrify the neighborhood they occupy and not because they are failing schools.

Finally, thanks for giving whatever crumbs that were left to Charter Schools who squandered them and used them for self-aggrandizement and enrichment.  This is why we teachers have to buy paper, printer toner, software to protect our students from thinking all is not well.

After all the money spent, the sole alternative is to dismantle the School District of Philadelphia; and so it goes.

At LEAST, I kicked serious tail today for my final observation. My kids came through like the best ELLs in the world. Love them.

Here is a post by Helen Gym on the PAA web site:

Dear parents and PAA colleagues:

It’s taken me a while to talk about what’s happening in Philadelphia because of the destructive forces threatening public education in our city.

In case you haven’t read the news, Philadelphia’s Chief Recovery Officer – a gas industry executive paid $150K over six months – hired the Boston Consulting Group for a cool $1.4 million to create a “Blueprint for Reform”. The Blueprint sets out a five year course of action which calls for closing one-fourth of Philadelphia’s schools, 40 alone next year (64 total), placing 40% of students into charters, and dividing up the remaining schools into NYC-inspired “achievement networks” run by third party operators under a five year performance contract.

There are of course the standard union-busting threats, the exclusion of parent and community voices, and the consolidation of political interests, large charter operators, and voucher supporters. There is also terrible shock and awe rhetoric to silence Philadelphians into accepting this plan. Our Mayor for example said the school district was on the verge of imminent “collapse” and said the plan was something Philadelphians needed to “grow up and deal with.” Our Chief Recovery Officer just last week stated that schools may not open in September unless Philadelphians funded the plan with $94 million in increased property taxes.

And all of this is happening in a state where a Republican Governor has slashed $1.1 billion from public education in the last two years.

Parents United is up and running and working with clergy and community groups across the city. Last night over 1,000 people gathered for an education dialogue at one of Philadelphia’s most influential churches. Our radio ads with our teachers union will start running this week. We’ve reignited a Protect Public Education Coalition of student organizing groups, labor and others to work on City Council and launch a media campaign. But of course we’re outfunded and fighting an uphill battle against local and national forces that have completely lost their moral compass about the public in public education.

We’re asking for your help to publicize what’s happening to almost 200,000 children in public and charter schools here. Philadelphia is the poster child for the disasters of national education reform – we’re reeling from a state takeover, EMO’s like Edison Schools, privatizing and contracting out, unchecked charter school growth, massive education budget cuts, and constant turnover in leadership. We’re not unlike many cities across the country, but we are quite possibly the largest city to date to propose an effective dissolution of public education in the name of so-called “reform.”

Below is some basic reading. Feel free to share and spread the word.
Thanks everyone!
Helen Gym, Parents United for Public Education
parentsunitedphila@gmail.com