Showing posts with label Save Our Schools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Save Our Schools. Show all posts

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Video: Jaisal Noor at Save Our Schools

I've done videotaping at many events with Jaisal, who really knows how to tell a story. So well, I'm jealous. I often just try to copy what he is doing, from camera angle to just point my camera while he interviewing people.

I have a bunch of raw videos  up from the same SOS event that you can see at https://vimeo.com/gemnyc/videos. Speeches by Kozol, Meier, Carlsson-Paige, and entire workshops. Here Jaisal gets a lot of the essence of SOS in 9 minutes.
Hey folks,

I wanted to request you all check out and tweet/facebook/ blog my report from the SOS conference in early August (I know several people on the listserve were present as well). I spoke to teachers and activists from across the country.

The video already has 2,000 hits since it was released Friday morning and I'm getting lots of good feedback. I'm hoping to get to 3,000 by tomorrow!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=quQLMCzz7dw
Thanks
Jaisal Noor

http://youtu.be/quQLMCzz7dw



Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Video from SOS12: Teachers' Unions, Teachers' Rights, Teachers' Voice

This is must see though I know it is long. This workshop led by Mike Klonsky and featuring his brother Fred, Dr. Michael A. Walker-Jones, Executive Director, Louisiana Association of Educators, along with one of my Chicago pals Xian Barrett is loaded with meat. Even Leo Casey makes an appearance with a comment that may cause some comments. In the audience were John Elfrank-Dana, CL of Murry Bergtraum HS and Arthur Goldstein, CL of Francis Lewis HS.

Xian's comments offer some blueprints on the organizing in Chicago. Unfortunately my battery ran out and I lost the last part of his comments. But later, Jaisal Noor, from The Real News Network, interviewed Xian and was kind enough to let me film it. It is included at the end. So if you don't have time to watch the entire thing at least scroll ahead to that part. It was about 10 minutes. (I will put that up in a separate post with come commentary on how the unions in NYC and Chicago differ.)

Here is the official lineup:

Dr. Michael A. Walker-Jones, Executive Director, Louisiana Association of Educators; Fred Klonsky, Chicago activist, blogger, and former local union president of the Park Ridge Education Association, and Xian Barrett, member of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). SOS Steering Committee members Lee Barrios and Mike Klonsky will help moderate and act as respondents.

https://vimeo.com/47136948




Teachers' Unions, Teachers' Rights, Teachers' Voice - SOS 2012 Washington, DC August 4, 2012 from Grassroots Education Movement on Vimeo.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

@SOS Karran Harper Royal: How [Some] African Americans and Civil Rights Leaders Got on the Wrong Side of the Ed Reform Movement

Karran is the best there is at exposing the ed deform New Orleans "miracle." And a founder with Leonie Haimson and others of Parents Across America.

She opposed the status quo back in the 90's so she can't be accused of defending the SQ.
She could have been on the ed deform side given her history of activism but saw through it. She knew Howard Fuller and was sympathetic at times. Thus she can understand why some African-Americans line up there.
One of major Afr-Am who line up on wrong side of ed reform is Pres. Obama.
Waivers for NCLB worse than the original NCLB. Can keep child in failing school forever thru turnaround.
New Orleans choice is often NO  choice. She can't out her son in the charter school 2 blocks from her house because of "choice."
Her son goes to a charter miles away -- if her son gpa drops below 2.0 in 11th grade he will be kicked out.
Language of corp reform -- data walls.
Neediest children get unqualified teachers thru TFA -- make out like bandit -- almost a million $ to TFA for bringing in only 250 teachers.
We're being forced into school choice which depends on segregating children -- ability and socio-economic means by not providing transportation. Her son's school -- principal gets $5000 a yr car allowance while kids denied trans expenses. Before Katrina - 55% Af-Amer to 33% post Katrina - counseled out. And all sorts of fees ---school is 2nd highest performer in NO.
Language of some of the initiatives -- eg. highly effective teachers = rated by test scores.
Partnerships -- someone will be making money.
Al Sharpton got on the wrong side of ed reform.
We need our civil rts ldrs to be on right side.
Lists Afr-Amer on wrong side: Mayor Cory Booker, Kira Orange Jones TFA Ex Dir), Jonah Edelman.
Scared of Cory Booker.
SEIU - supported Kira Jones -- mentions Dana Peterson SEIU organizer -- saw SEIU organizers.

Teachers who say cannot say they don't like to be political -- MUST.
[Depends on how you view "political" - Karran says run for office and lobby -- I tend more toward only doing that after you build a massive support org. Become organizers first. Not sure we disagree on anything. Maybe nuanced.]
Q from teacher trainer -- dangers of resistance.
Karran - we all have to work but we also have to have principles. In NO - New Teacher Roundtable -- with former TFA people doing outreach to TFA teachers. They have no support net -- gotta reach out to them. Use work to hide realities.
http://newteachersnola.posterous.com

Karran going to New Zealand where they want to use earthquake in Christ Church to charterize all schools.

Check out James Boutin SOS Posts:

SOS Conference 2012, Day One

SOS Conference 2012, Day Two Morning

 

@SOS - Teachers' Unions, Teachers' Rights, Teachers' Voice

 Panelists: Mike, Fred Klonsky (Frmr Park Ridge Ed Assoc Pres), Sian Barrett (Chicago TU), Michael Walker Jones (Exec Dir of Louisiana Assoc of Ed).

Room is filled with many union activists -- a bunch from NYC. CLs Arthur Goldstein and John Elfrank-Dana plus Leo Casey.

Interesting there are people from groups similar to MORE from Providence and Newark and some other areas of Jersey. A principal from NYC just said (proudly) that her new chapter leader ran on a MORE platform. (I'm glad Leo wasn't eating anything he could choke on.)

But in the spirit of good fellowship, Leo and I continued our detente from last year's SOS - Mike Klonsky even took a pic of us shaking hands yesterday.


Michael Walker Jones
Catalogs outrages (similar to what Nancy Carlson-Paige (Matt Damon's mom) did at last night's keynote --- which I'll edit and post next week). 
Leo just commented on Walker-Jones comment about John White that your loss was our gain. WJ: we have let the opposition bring us to our knees with attack on the unions. He has counseled out 75 people from profession. How they have framed the union. LO tchrs have no protection. White has no sense of history -- he can't bear to sit next to him. Boy can I show him video of this bloodless vampire in action in NYC.

Jones makes great point about unions backing down and apologing. Stand for Children in Mass forced union of highest performing state to back down and make a deal. Expresses the real outrage many of us are feeling at the defensive posture of unions.

I've been pointing out that the worm is turning in many ways and one of them is inside the top union leaderships themselves --- the attack is so fierce that they almost have no choice.

Fred Klonsky:
Just retired from suburban Chicago district. Bargained about 10 contracts, attended every NEA conv since '93. Had union background in prev work.
Took him 5 years to know what he didn't know -- why objects to TFA.
Began to look at social role of unions and teachers once he got teaching down. (my experience in my 4th yr.)
Talking about what union should do.
Really good stuff from personal view --- I have to post the video when I get home.
Fred and I had some rough spots over the years and I introduced myself to him yesterday and glad I did. I find him really impressive.
Was told when bargaining: "Teachers just another cost to be contained." Now barg not for bread &butter but for dignity and self respect.
Also have to build consensus with colleagues. Eg. common core -- some tchrs like idea.
Also -- world outside classroom - political and social. Many tchrs not comfortable in that role.
Senate bill 7: Tells Jonah Edelman story - I won't repeat.
Rights reg tenure, seniority removed, Val Added count 50% of eval. 75% vote to strike. All unions lobbied for it except Fred's union. (AMAZING).
IA (state union)  spun it as victory for teachers. Now accepted as disaster. In one yr went from 1 local to entire state.
New unionism -- results based unionism - Randi's gig. Really old -- concessions redefined. Fighting back would be new,


Xian Barrett from Chicago TU

I got to know Xian real well over the years. He often represented the involvement with student activist element of CORE and CTU. Stud and comm organizing.
Until 4 yrs ago he was a teacher in southside of Chi in poor area.
Careful about getting rid of Duncan concept -- replace one neo-lb with another.
New Orleans most extreme but Chicago and everyone else facing the same.
Even mom and pop charters being attacked and cannibalized by charter chains.
Old CTU leadership hostile to own members. Wanted to be active in the union but had doors slammed in his face. Not from TFA perspective of I want to solve unionism but want to contribute.
Opposition in Chi fragmented.
Met 10 fellow activists. Some were in a book group. Push union and take back our schools. 2 yrs later -CORE -- every elected position of the union. Didn't appoint only from own caucus -- chose best out of r&f and not caucus. (HEAR THAT UNITY).
He headed polit caucus of CTU -- now back in classroom and proud of it. I was fired and terminated from CHI -- blacklist not for people who hurt children but for people who organize -- he got off that list (HEAR THAT UNITY WHICH COVERS UP THE DREADED DISCONTINUED LIST).
I'm back where I was -- but now have a fighting leadership and union --- not just about the leadership but everyone. Needed 75% of all members. As we org buildings they got scared -- Rahm org camp to attack tchrs -- tchrs had to hand out letters to parents that said if your teacher voted for strike were aganst children. Hard for isolated tchr but having a fighting union made it easier -- voted 98% of those who voted and 92% of all tchrs.
Another vote on fact-finding report -- report came out for 18% raise for tchrs based on longer school day --- coming to all as part of Deformer astro turf report.
CTU House of Del voted unan against that report offering an 18% raise (HEAR THAT UNITY which would have gobbled that up.)
Now want to fight for class size and tenure etc not just for raises.
Working w comm orgs to have elected school bdds -- who governs schools (HEAR THAT UNITY).
CORE began as social justice caucus -- not vie for leadership initially -- attacks from old CTU ldrship -- attacked them for working directly with parents and comm - they responded that that YES WE ARE).
Important to give people in power choices as opposition -- rep members demo -- can be done with old or new ldrship -- could be very excited to have new group working with them -- then if they don't -- take next step. (Interesting point that some were making in MORE -- to not run this time but start out with campaign to give Unity a choice. But time frame of elections made that difficult.)
****We brought in a lot of active political people representing leftist orgs -- we were not going to bring in outside leftist agendas -- ISO, Solidarity, PLP. etc. ) we would slap each other back when it began to look like a leftist agenda with overly ideological components. I starred this because MORE in its early stages has to address this issue.)

Every single ed gathering we tried to get a few people to --- not to control dialogue but to reach out and support.
We had a political plan for org but also a plan on how to govern. We got to 600 out of 650 schools -- won 60% of vote. Oh shit -- we are in power. But not capital Oh shit since we had a plan. CTU new ldrsh supported SB7 but realized they would take damage and didn't defend a bad decision.
This is OUR civil rights struggle of our time. We win by taking on the struggle they say they are taking on that struggle.
DAMN -- battery ran out and I missed part of one of the best presentations. Xian rocked.

Leo
Politics of governance -- in oppositon can do polit of protest. Given we are in a war --- impor to hold ground we can defend. If we gain ground we can't defend we can be routed. Fighting on max ground we can hold. Leave us w ground we can't hold.

Jones - prob w unions claiming victory to members -- we took gas but didn't claim victory.
Natl and state ldrs talking about wrong thing. We need to go back on natl and st level and go back to roots.

Xian -- can have a pretty rad agenda and still be positive. Ie. Just don't say common core sucks but talk about uncommon core -- what will work with students. Don't just say Obama sucks -- not as a counter to elect Obama but what will work for students and communities. As educators we are the experts .

James -- reported -- community centured pedagogy. COCO in Chicago.
Mike K: Common Core comes out of struggle for equity -- the class nature of curriculum -- Jean Anion at CUNY studies -- what kids in Miss and Boston get. One reason for CC idea. Problematic. Community engagement also used to create segreg and -- think what they want to teach down south.

I wanted to make a point about without a democratic union we have

Tomorrow morning they will reconvene but I have to leave.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

@SOS - Shanta Driver on Building New Civil Rights Movement

Wasn't I just in Detroit @AFT? Well now I'm in DC @SOS. 
But I can't get away from Detroit.

Speaker Shanta Driver from Detroit doing early keynote (Saturday, August 3 9AM):
Building the New Civil Rights Movement: Why We Need Direct Action to Defend Public Education." Shanta is a civil rights lawyer based in Detroit and with the group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN).

A few notes:
Last 10 years the worst in history -- our own trail of tears. 1/3 of schools left from 7 years ago. Entire neighborhoods with no public education. A master plan for Detroit to turn city from 1 million to half a million and closing public schools is an integral part of the plan. Anyone who could get out has gotten out.
One of first acts of Arne Duncan was to come to Detroit and declare war on the public ed system under the guise of "improvement."
I'm taping so the video will be available at some point so I won't go into more detail.

Best point -- Detroit Federation of Teachers had a secret rep (they didn't tell the members) on the board that was looking undermine the public schools. (see the video I put up a few days ago where DFT leader Keith Johnson makes a rousing speech about what was done to them --- these guys really need to be hit over the head over and over again with an ed deform plank before they even begin to think of putting up a sign of resistance.

4 years of RTTT has done nothing to put a dent in the popularity of pubed --  key is to organize students. One of problems with resisters it the idea of "we just have to convince the politicians as if they don't know what is going on."

She went to last 2 AFT conventions and it is clear that teachers hate Arne Duncan but leadership of those unions believe in working with Obama and Dems - has made the one force capable of leading the fight for public Ed has handicapped the movement.
Joe Biden at AFT convention. Same speech an NEA -- but had problem getting it out. Biden knows the crimes that have been committed but knew a lot of teachers would not walk out. That sense is palpable to the politicians. Standing up to them is what it would take.

Next workshop sessions will include a labor one with Fred and Mike Klonsky (I met Fred for the first time yesterday and Mike last year at SOS). I'll blog during that one too.

Yesterday was also a busy day and I'll catch up on that later.

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The opinions expressed on EdNotesOnline are solely those of Norm Scott and are not to be taken as official positions (though Unity Caucus/New Action slugs will try to paint them that way) of any of the groups or organizations Norm works with: ICE, GEM, MORE, Change the Stakes, NYCORE, FIRST Lego League NYC, Rockaway Theatre Co., Active Aging, The Wave, Aliens on Earth, etc.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Register for SOS People's Education Conference Aug. 3-5

Register for the...


Save Our Schools People's Education Conference

August 3rd - 5th

onvention-2012/ 
 
CCSOSFrmdSpkrs
Hear and Be Heard by Expert Speakers
Shanta Driver * Deborah Meier * Jonathan Kozol * Nancy Carlsson Paige * Rose Sanders 

* Help build the Save Our Schools Movement and Days of Action in August *
* Bring your energy and enthusiasm to the People's Education Conference *
* Speak with experts. Share your knowledge *
* Discuss the urgent issues that challenge real education reform *

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Brian Jones on SOS March

Brian, Alev, Norm, Lisa, Julie
Here's  a great piece from my DC roomie and car mate driving down (see crew above) Brian Jones in Socialist Worker, who co-narrates our film. Brian was treated like a rock star by SOS participants who saw "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Auperman."


COLUMN: BRIAN JONES [1]
A stand to save our schools

The recent Save Our Schools conference and march drew thousands as part of a movement for real education reform and against teacher-blaming.

August 2, 2011

LAST SATURDAY, I joined thousands of educators, parents, students and activists who gathered in Washington, D.C., for the Save Our Schools (SOS) march. Coming from all parts of the country, participants were united by outrage with federal education policy and local school budget cuts.

Homemade signs spoke clearly to the growing frustration with privatization, attacks on teachers' unions, and especially to the use of high-stakes standardized tests to measure student achievement and, increasingly, teacher effectiveness. "Spend $ on kids, not te$t$!" read one sign, and another "Education > testing". My personal favorite wasn't a placard or banner, but a mock graveyard arranged near the rally site where tombstones indicated that Joy, Creativity, Cooperation and Critical Thinking, were among the deceased.

Before the protest, I spent two days in the classrooms and hallways of D.C.'s American University, rubbing elbows with hundreds of parents, students and educators--including some of the biggest names in progressive education. This was the Save Our Schools conference.

I found myself in conversation with people from Florida, Oregon, Georgia and Arizona. I saw scruffy activists in shorts and flip flops holding court with administrators in heels and pearls. We debated and discussed everything from the motives of corporate reformers (profit? ideology? both?) to the strategies we can use to fight for progressive reform and to defend public education.

The legendary educator Debbie Meier had to step over me to get into a jam-packed workshop, where the author Jonathan Kozol was among those looking for a place to sit ("What do you mean there aren't enough seats?" he quipped). We listened to the leading lights of Rethinking Schools magazine, from Wisconsin, New York, and New Jersey. Bob Peterson, newly elected president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, quoted the late historian Howard Zinn: "Teachers can't just be teacher-unionists, but need to be teachers of unionism."

On the first morning, Kozol had opened the conference with a blistering assessment of the growing racial and economic segregation of the nation's schools. The pressure to demonstrate "progress" on high-stakes standardized tests has instituted a "reign of terror" in urban schools, Kozol said, making the savage inequalities he wrote about decades ago, even more savage:

In too many of the urban schools I visit--and principals will tell me this with despair--two-thirds of the school year is consumed by preparation for exams. As a result, culture is starved. In the elementary grades, music and art and history and geography and science and exploratory subjects and projects, which bring exhilaration and excitement to a child are exiled from the course of study, or are included only in the most truncated forms.

Of George W. Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation (which Obama has pursued and expanded) Kozol said, plainly, "We're not here to ask Congress to make a few minor changes. We are to say that you cannot fix this awful law, it needs to be abolished!"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I TRAVELED to D.C. from New York City with a group of educators and parents from the Grassroots Education Movement. Our workshop (on building a grassroots movement to defend public education) was well-attended, and our film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, received a standing ovation at a Friday night screening.

The closing plenary featured a group of student activists from New Orleans. This spirited group of activists ranged from high school down to elementary grades. They call themselves "Rethink."

They learned how to organize around issues that directly affect them--from the quality of school food to high-stakes tests, to the school-to-prison pipeline. "They try to fix little things in the school to get us to shut up," one of them observed.

Another student, a poet, mused, "Oh my god, it's a Black youth from New Orleans! We are smart, fun, powerful, open-minded..." and concluded, "I am truth. I am justice. I am forgiveness. But why can't it be: we are?"

During the question-and-answer period, an adult asked, "What can we do to help you?" One of the youngest members answered: "Don't try to force youth to do things. Listen to us. Guide us, but let us lead our own struggle."

One of the most interesting developments of the weekend occurred outside of the conference, however. On Wednesday, three members of the SOS March Executive Committee staged a symbolic protest at the Department of Education. To their surprise, a DOE staffer invited them inside. They met with various officials for about an hour, including approximately 15 minutes with Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan.

Duncan allegedly insisted that he had a lot of "common ground" with the march organizers--an assertion they repeatedly denied, arguing instead that his policies were punitive and damaging to the process of genuine education.

The next day, the organizers received a phone call from the White House--an invitation to meet, on Friday, with President Obama himself. For three hours Thursday night, the committee debated what to do. I was told by one of the participants that the committee reflected on the way that President John F. Kennedy succeeded in blunting the militancy of the famous 1963 March on Washington, and were keen to avoid being similarly co-opted. With the debate raging, someone pulled up Arne Dunan's Facebook page and noticed that he had already posted a note about his meeting with the SOS organizers. The posting allegedly emphasized their "common ground" (and has apparently since been taken down).

Sensing that a meeting with Obama could be misused in the same way, they decided to decline the invitation. They released the following statement:

We sincerely appreciate the interest of the White House in the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action. We'd be pleased to host any White House or Department of Education personnel on the Ellipse on Saturday so they can hear firsthand what teachers, students, parents and community members from around the country have to say about public education. Thousands of concerned citizens will be sharing their experiences and their thoughts on the future of our schools. July 30th is your opportunity to listen to us. After the march, we will be open to meeting with White House or Department of Education leaders to further discuss our specific proposals.

This was an act of remarkable political courage. Progressives face tremendous pressure to play ball with the Democratic Party come hell or high water. Maintaining this loyalty, they are told, is the only way to stay "relevant" or "in the conversation." But this simple act of refusal sent a more powerful message than any that they could have possibly delivered in person. Here, a large group of fairly mainstream educators (including some well-known and respected public figures) decided that their arguments would be more effectively delivered in the streets than in the Oval Office.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ON SATURDAY, we gathered just a stone's throw from the White House to do just that. From the front, speakers included education historian (and former United States assistant secretary of education) Diane Ravitch. "I'm a historian," she began, "there has never been a spontaneous national grassroots movement of parents, teachers, and students to save our schools!"

Ravitch blasted President Obama and Secretary Duncan for pursuing a business oriented approach to reform. "Carrots and sticks are for donkeys," she told the crowd, "not professionals."

Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of education at Stanford University, was a key figure in Obama's transition team back in 2008, and many thought she was a shoe-in for secretary of education. When Arne Duncan got tapped instead, it was an ominous sign. Duncan has never been an educator, but that didn't stop him from leading the charge for corporate "reform" when he oversaw the Chicago Public Schools, to disastrous results. So there we were, in the shadow of the White House, and I saw Darling-Hammond approach the microphone.

In the age of budget cuts and austerity, she spoke to the shameful priorities of the government: "We won't spend $10,000 a year to educate children, but when they grow up we'll spend $40,000 to keep them in prison," she said.

And to the poisonous atmosphere of teacher-bashing that prevails, conveniently absolving political leaders of any real accountability, she said, "If the banks are failing, they think we should fire the tellers--and whatever you do, don't look for the man behind the curtain."

Comedian Jon Stewart's pre-recorded video message elicited a few chuckles, but the speech that moved many to tears was given by the actor Matt Damon.

He wasted no time getting right to the point--the obsession with testing and "data" is killing real education:

I had incredible teachers. As I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself--my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity--all come from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I've just mentioned--none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success--none of these qualities that make me who I am...can be tested.

But the part of the speech that hit many of us in the gut was the ending. He spoke to our collective sense of pain and frustration, and offered sincere solidarity, and the hope that broader forces might be rallied to our struggle:

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can't imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I'm not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you're feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called "overpaid;" the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that's been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything...Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.

I'm sure the SOS organizers have their own assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the conference and the march. I wasn't able to stay for the congress on Sunday, but I look forward to hearing more about the ideas it was to generate about where we go from here.

From my perspective, I would have liked to see more workshops run by K-12 teachers. I would have like to have seen some of the teachers I met speaking from the stage on Saturday. Clearly, there needs to be more of a conscious effort to bring the younger echelons of our ranks on board, and to make special outreach to parents of color. But overall, I was impressed with what they were able to pull off with so few resources. For their vision and hard work, they deserve our praise and sincere thanks.

For their political courage in declining Obama's invitation, they deserve our support and solidarity. The SOS march has laid down an historic marker, and perhaps even the seeds of something we have desperately needed, but haven't seen in this country in over a generation--a large, national grassroots political movement that is truly independent of the Democratic Party.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Columnist: Brian Jones
Brian Jones is a teacher, actor and activist in New York City. He is featured in the new film The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman [2], and his commentary and writing has appeared onMSNBC.com [3], the Huffington Post [4], GritTV [5] and theInternational Socialist Review [6]. Jones has also lent his voice to several audiobooks, including Howard Zinn's one-man play Marx in Soho [7], Wallace Shawn's Essays [8] and Noam Chomsky's Hopes and Prospects[9].

http://www.www.socialistworker.org/2011/08/02/a-stand-to-save-our-schools

Monday, August 1, 2011

SOS Report: Back Home

Previous coverage:


Left DC around 1:30 Sunday, got home at 9pm (loads of traffic and drop-offs in Manhattan and Brooklyn.) Amazing and heroic driving by Julie Cavanagh even though using no hands while turning around to the back seat is a pretty unique method of freeing me from driving. Hey, I could have driven using my left arm. My CRV came through - except for dead battery Sunday morning. More on that in future post.

So many stories, so little ability to type. If I could type with 2 hands this update would run forever. Luckily you will be spared. I'll have to put up a few of these as long as I can remember. I'll say one thing about the GEM crew I went with: I was back in camp as a 10-year old. I laughed so hard at times my broken wrist took on a life of its own. What fun to see a group that can stand up and argue policy with the best of them also get real silly. But I'll embarass them all another time - maybe with pics - if I don't get bribes.

The showing of our film to this audience was an important event and got a really great response. Julie and Brian were treated like rock starts. Both Susan Ohanian and Debbie Meier were in attendance. But more on the film, which was shown in multiple cities over the weekend in a follow-up post.

There are lots of analyses out there as to what really happened over the past 4 days around the Save Our Schools conference and march. It is hard not to mix the political with the personal. There was minimal union involvement - intentionally, though the NEA and AFT gave $25 Gs each. So much of this bubbled up from the classroom. I really liked the people running SOS. The entire 4 days were rich in content to such an extent that the march itself was only one factor.

Estimates run from 5-8000 mostly teachers (k-grad school), parents, policy people, some administrators, and superstars like Ravitch, Kozol, Meier, Matt Damon, etc. Kozol and Meier did not just give speeches but hung around for all 4 days of the conference to mingle and build for the future - when we left  around 1pm yesterday Kozol and Meier were still there.
A few of the Gemers who took good care of me in DC: Left: Jones, Dervish Right: Donlan, Cavanagh

To me the entire trip - and why I wanted to go so badly - is/was about building relationships locally (our GEM crew bonded and our work will be better for it) and nationally. How great to see Susan Ohanian and Juanita Doyan again after 8 years - when we gathered in Birmingham AL to oppose NCLB. How nice to see the rest of the world catching up. We distributed buttons made by Juanita all over the place.

See this "We're not gonna take it" montage on you tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EumSu0t6Ec&feature=share) where you can see a glimpse of the GEM banner and Julie wearing her Diane Ravitch tee-shirt.

It was such an era of good feeling I went over to Leo Casey at the Friday night reception and said "Let's make up" and shook his hand. (I mean I hugged Joel Klein.) Leo was gracious. Leo and my close pal (and chauffeur) Julie Cavanagh have an excellent relationship so does it make sense for me to be so hostile? Maybe it reflects a shift in my attitude about the UFT/AFT in the context of my work with GEM where our position vis a vis the union is: we are doing what we are doing because the UFT doesn't but if they want to come along they are welcome. It's more complex than that, but some of my colleagues have been critical of me when I just let it fly without any analysis or reasoning behind it. So despite my outreach, don't expect any lessening in my criticism of the UFT, just less personal attacks. Won't be as much fun though. (A shout-out to Michael Mendel, who called my wife this weekend to see how I was doing. What a love-fest this is turning out to be.)

There's so much to report maybe it's best to return to some chronology from where I left off Friday, which I'll do in upcoming posts where I'll fill you in on who we hung with and more about the turn-down from the White House meeting on Friday.

In the meantime:

How nice to see The Reflective Educator, James Boutin (thanks for the shout out to GEMers, James), again.We talked about working together in the future no matter where he is located.

Here are links to his excellent reports:

SOS Conference Day One

SOS March in DC



Matt Damon:

http://youtu.be/HqOub-heGQc


Stories in WAPO

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/teachers-march-on-washington/2011/07/30/gIQAz48zjI_story.html?wpisrc=emailtoafriend


More on this Story

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

David Greene - Why I ain’t ain’t marching anymore (with apologies to Phil Ochs) - Save Our Schools (SOS) March- July 30 in Washington

I march because of what this war on education will do to my former colleagues and the new teachers with whom I work.
I march for change.
I march for reform.
I march for academic freedom.
I march for curricula and methodologies to develop the best-informed, critical thinking, problem solving students in the world.
Most of all I march for our kids.


David Greene
MARCH WITH GEM ON JULY 30

 I said the following to an ed deform slug from CEC6 at Monday night's PEP - a guy who loves Joel Klein and anything the ed deformers do - he got up at the mic and attacked the NAACP and UFT law suit as a job protection program - he said to me why can't people be civil - I responded: "There is a war on. One side has the atom bomb and the other side - the side of truth, justice and the American way – has pee shooters and he has chosen to be on the side of the people with the bomb." Sort of shut him up.

As I reported this morning, at yesterday's DA Yelena Siwinski asked Michael Mulgrew about the SOS march in Washington DC on July 30 (http://www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/) and whether the UFT would support it. Mulgrew said they would support(we think he said that) and the AFT has already endorsed but that every major education leader would be in South Africa that day. I love that because we don need no stinkin leaders there – imagine Randi Weingarten preening in front of that crowd, though it wouldn't surprise me if she didn't figure out a way to be in 2 places at once.

I know people are asking for the UFT to provide a bus for those who want to go on July 30 and come back that night. Many of us in GEM are going to the pre- march 2 day conference on July 28 and 29 (our film is being shown in two auditoriums at the same time at American University on July 29 and we are doing a GEM workshop on July 28 at 10:30 AM). But if you want to go for the march only send me your name and if we get enough people the UFT may get that FREE - I repeat - FREE - bus.

Well, here are a bunch of good reasons to go in an absolutely brilliant post from David Greene.
(and read Diane Ravitch on Reasons for Hope).

David Greene On Why He Is Joining the "Save Our Schools" March in Washington where he makes an apt comparison to the Vietnam War. Instead of the military-industrial complex we have the edu-industrial complex.
Why I ain’t ain’t marching anymore. (with apologies to Phil Ochs)


The last and only time I marched on Washington D.C. was the Moratorium to end the Vietnam War in November 1969. Hundreds of thousands marched through the cold streets of Washington D.C. while FBI agents took pictures of us as we shouted “Peace Now” and waved our flags and signs. My friend and I had constructed a giant (we thought it novel) Peace Flag that was eventually used up on the speaker’s platform. We were so proud. We slept on the gym floor of a local parish church. When it was time to leave, at first we couldn’t find our bus to go back to NY, but eventually we did. Frankly, it is all a blur but a well worthwhile one.


I was not a joiner, a marcher or a protester. I was not much of an activist either. I had friends who were deeply involved in the movement but I was happy to get involved in conversations and do my little part to convince people, one at a time, that the War was wrong. However, when friends were deployed I felt it important to do more. So I marched.


Here we are 42 years later. I will march on Washington this July because again we must stop a war. This time it is the war against teachers, students, and education. Over the past 10 years what started as an intervention has become a full-scale assault. The parallels with Vietnam are astounding.


Now as well as then presidential decisions to begin by giving assistance in “the battlefield” became congressional acts to fund, arm and send troops. Corporations were enlisted to fund and manufacture the goods to fight. Escalation became the operating word.


This time I was content to argue against standardized testing, No Child Left Behind, and most recently, Race To The Top. This time I pointed out not how a military-industrial complex gained control of foreign policy, but how a new education-industrial complex had seized control of education policy, for their own profit.


In addition, what seemed like a good idea, TFA, had morphed into what I now call a 5th branch of the armed forces. At first it innocuously sent advisors in small numbers to educational “battlefields”. But now its power and numbers escalate as we idly sit by.


Not for nothing, but TFA recruits young men and women in a not so unfamiliar way. “Join the Army- Be All You Can be? Join the Marines- Looking For A Few Good Men? Join the Navy- It's Not Just a Job, It's An Adventure? Join the Air Force- Aim High? TFA- This could be the best career decision you make?”


TFA recruits are also thrust into a war zone, yet less prepared than my friends were 42 years ago. Often misled and naive 20 somethings, they are unarmed when they go to war to defeat the enemies of education: poverty, poor training, poor leadership, and a host of other saboteurs.


So now 42 years later I go to Washington to march again. But this time I go as more than a marcher. I go as an organizer, presenter, and activist. I do all this because the Chief Executive, Congress, and an Industrial Complex including TFA threaten the avocation I have loved for 41 years.


I march because of the high school kids and programs I see threatened by this assault.


I march because of what this war on education will do to my former colleagues and the new teachers with whom I work.


I march to teach how good high schools can be if we let professionals do the work.


I march to fix how we train new teachers (traditional and TFA) to be better able to fight the real war they and our students face day in day out.


I march to get TFA to change; to work with traditional teacher training institutions; to stop vilifying veteran teachers and actually recruit them to train their recruits; to help us recruit top talent to stay in teaching; to become "lifers". I march to get TFA to listen.


I march for change.
I march for reform.
I march for academic freedom.
I march for curricula and methodologies to develop the best-informed, critical thinking, problem solving students in the world.


Most of all I march for our kids.


David Greene

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.