Won't Back Down II: The Sequel

Charter Manager: Oh, Jamie, I'm sorry to tell you this, but all you did with the trigger was force a change. No one said you would have any say in what that change would be. No one made clear who would make the decisions about how the school would be structured or who would run it. No one had a procedure to appoint a board of directors. I'm sorry Jamie, but when you allowed this school to be converted to a charter, you gave up many of your rights as both a taxpayer and as a parent.

Jamie: Well, I'll go the local school board! They'll force this charter school to have parental involvement!

Geoffrey: My dear Jamie, you didn't think this through, did you? Charter schools offer you "choice"; they do NOT offer you "involvement." If you don't like the way we do things at KSSA, you can "choose" to leave; that's what school "choice" is all about. But your local district, even though it must give us money to run the school, has no say in how we run the school. We are, in effect, our own district now.

Hilarious must read as Jersey Jazzman skewers KIPP and WBD.

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2012/09/wont-back-down-ii-sequel.html?spref=tw

---------
UPDATE FROM LEONIE:

Illuminating radio show from Education Radio: the Truth about #parent trigger http://shar.es/5pc0k

It’s longish but well worth listening to.  Includes interviews w/several parent activists incl. me; most fascinating interview w/ CA parent telling what really happened in Adelanto where parents were tricked into signing petition by Parent Revolution who told them, among other things, it called for cleaner bathrooms! 

When they learned the truth, parents weren’t allowed by the judge to take their signatures back.  Any law that calls for radical changes to be made through signing petitions alone is one that cannot be supported, no matter what it calls for.

My interview was done over the summer before I’d seen the movie; I regret that I said that I’d heard it was well-written etc. when this is far from the truth.  I was unfortunately relying on 2^nd hand accounts.  Lesson learned: never comment on the quality of anything until you’ve seen it yourself!

Leonie Haimson

Executive Director

Class Size Matters

Lisa Featherstone Reviews "Won't Back Down" at Dissent

“Be the change you want to see!” Jamie crows to a throng of cheering parents—but democracy is the enemy. Getting rid of representative government and calling in a private entity to handle things, in our current Opposite Day political moment, represents a glorious triumph of people power. The “parent trigger” invites parents to use their vote to give up their vote—that is, to be enormously powerful for one short moment of direct democracy, which they will use to dispose, in the long run, with the “public” part of public school, and thus with any actual power over their children’s education.----Liza Featherstone, a real, not fictional, NYC public school parent.

according to data from National Center for Education Statistics, there is no correlation between teacher dismissal rates and union membership. In Massachusetts, where almost all public school teachers belong to a union, the firing rate for experienced teachers is nearly twice that in North Carolina, where just 2.3 percent of the teaching force is unionized.

Oh Liza, those pesky facts just get in the way of the message.

"Empowerment" Against Democracy: Tinseltown and the Teachers' Unions

Liza Featherstone - September 26, 2012

“You know those mothers who lift one-ton trucks off their babies?” says Jamie Fitzpatrick, a working-class mom (played Maggie Gyllenhall), in a confrontation with a corrupt union rep in Daniel Barnz’s edu-drama, Won’t Back Down. “They’re nothing compared to me.”
It’s a “you-go-girl” moment. But real moms can’t lift trucks. And just about everything in this movie is as wildly fantastical as that image.

Fed up with her daughter’s horrible public school, Jamie learns about a law that allows parents and teachers to “take over” a failing school. Against the odds, she organizes the powerless and wins over the naysayers. The movie is inspired by real-life “parent trigger” laws, which are pushed by right-wing groups like ALEC, but backed with equal enthusiasm by progressive urban mayors nationwide. The laws allow a charter takeover if 50 percent of the parents agree to it. Charter schools are mostly non-union, and democratically elected officials have little control over them.

Won’t Back Down is liberal Hollywood’s second blast of gas on what was once a bugbear of the Right: the badness of public schools and teachers’ unions, and the magic bullet of hope offered by privatization. The first was Davis Guggenheim’s documentary Waiting for Superman. Barnz’s movie, featuring great actresses Viola Davis and Gyllenhall, is far more watchable than Guggenheim’s, but the fantasy world it inhabits is exactly the same. Its release, just on the heels of the Chicago teachers’ strike, feels eerily timely, as its anti-union talking points are just the same as those of Rahm Emanuel and the monied interests of Chicago.

The film’s presentation of the social context is heartbreakingly accurate—poor kids like Jamie’s daughter, Malia, don’t get the education they deserve. But otherwise, the movie presents a Mad Tea Party view of urban education, and of social change itself. In Won’t Back Down, and in the bipartisan neoliberal fairytale that passes for education reform, teachers and parents are good, but the institutions that represent them—unions, the state—are bad. “Empowerment” is desirable, even ecstatic—“Be the change you want to see!” Jamie crows to a throng of cheering parents—but democracy is the enemy. Getting rid of representative government and calling in a private entity to handle things, in our current Opposite Day political moment, represents a glorious triumph of people power. The “parent trigger” invites parents to use their vote to give up their vote—that is, to be enormously powerful for one short moment of direct democracy, which they will use to dispose, in the long run, with the “public” part of public school, and thus with any actual power over their children’s education.

Jamie leads the fictional takeover because her daughter, who is dyslexic, can’t read. Yet not a word is said in the movie about the need for more services and teachers for special needs kids. The school is depicted as depressing and shabby—what about the need for more resources? What about all the extra support poor children need? We see kids acting out and falling asleep in class—where are the social workers to help those kids?

Never mind those wonky details. The problem, we’re repeatedly led to believe, is the teachers’ union. But if unions were to blame for failing schools, wouldn’t unionized public schools in Princeton or Scarsdale also suck?

Hollywood hasn’t been known to let logic get in the way of a good story, and neither do education reformers. Facts are similarly irrelevant. In the movie, Malia’s teacher—a repellent timeserver who locks the little girl in a closet as punishment—can’t be fired because of the union. There are more than a few problems with this scenario. Outside of Tinseltown and the corporate reform imaginary, union members do get fired. In fact, according to data from National Center for Education Statistics, there is no correlation between teacher dismissal rates and union membership. In Massachusetts, where almost all public school teachers belong to a union, the firing rate for experienced teachers is nearly twice that in North Carolina, where just 2.3 percent of the teaching force is unionized.

Despite scapegoating teachers’ unions, Won’t Back Down is not an anti-teacher movie. Most of the teacher characters—especially Nona, played by Viola Davis—are heroic. That’s because one of the film’s messages is that busting teachers’ unions is better for teachers. In one scene, a meeting to discuss the possible takeover, Nona argues that losing the union will be worth it, “because we’ll be able to teach the way we want.” (The movie is vague on Nona’s pedagogy and why the union prevents it. In real life, charter teachers certainly don’t have any more control over curriculum than public school teachers do.) It is a ruling-class wet dream: workers who are happy to help destroy their own institutions. By giving up the organization through which they wield power, the fictional teachers reason, they will gain more power.

We have wandered deep into the swamp of Upsidedownlandia. Yet the same paradox colors the film’s view of parent power. The movie celebrates parents rising up and taking control of their children’s education—in order to rid themselves of all representation. Though the film does not discuss such pesky governance matters, a “takeover,” in real life, usually means that the school is run by a private organization with limited accountability to the public. While the state does decide ultimately which charters to shut down, there is no oversight by the school board, nor the city government, and certainly not the parents.

Of course, democracy and its institutions are horribly flawed. But to conclude that, therefore, dictatorship would be empowering is just weird. It’s not the first time that idea has been presented in film. Daniel Barnz is no Leni Riefenstahl, of course—he’s not as skilled a filmmaker, and there’s nothing racist or hateful in this movie—but the emotional experience of Won’t Back Down is, for the viewer, not unlike that of the best propaganda. As we cheer for Jamie and Nona, we are rooting against ourselves, against our own capacity for self-governance.

Liza Featherstone is a contributing writer to the Nation. She also writes about education for Al Jazeera English and Newsday, as well as the Brooklyn Rail, where she is the author of the “Report Card” column.

Julie Cavanagh: The Truth Behind Won't Back Down

The leadership of our national and local unions do not help when they call for "solutions" and collaboration with deformers instead of calling for teacher unions to lead real reform and collaborate with actual stakeholders.  ----Julie Cavanagh

Julie talks about teachers and parents fighting back in real life, as we did in making our film. See her companion piece on the battle of PS 15 over the PAVE charter invasion: We fought the invasion of PS 15: a real-life "Won't Back Down" Story...


Julie sent this out:

The piece talks about our film, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman, being filled with real "Won't Back Down" stories and highlights the one truth in the film; that it is imperative for parents, educators, young people and community to authentically work together.  It amazes me (though at this point it shouldn't) that the deformers gain the national microphone on education issues, particularly parent empowerment, while they promote policies that result in the exact opposite.  The leadership of our national and local unions do not help when they call for "solutions" and collaboration with deformers instead of calling for teacher unions to lead real reform and collaborate with actual stakeholders.  

Here it is in full from Huffington Post blog: I highlighted a section in blue.

The Truth Behind Won't Back Down

by Julie Cavanagh, special ed teacher, Red Hook, Brooklyn
 
This week a film partially funded by Walden Media, which is owned by entrepreneur and conservative Philip Anschutz, will be released in theaters. 

The film, Won't Back Down, is a work of fiction but claims to be based on real life events and tells the story of a teacher and a parent in a 'failing' school who join forces to 'save their school.' Walden Media also funded Waiting for Superman, which was billed as a documentary on education and chronicled the stories of several families navigating the educational landscape intermixed with commentary from journalists, economists, philanthropists, and business folks who surmised the troubles of public education today. These two films differ in style, but their substance is aligned and their conclusion is the same: teacher unions are the obstacle to student achievement.

When Waiting for Superman was released, a group of parents and teachers, of which I was a part, responded to that film with our own documentary, The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman. We highlighted the myths we believed were propagated in that film, shining a light on the corporate education reform movement, and called on parents, educators, young people and community members to demand real reform. Since then, the national conversation regarding education reform has gained more prominence. When we were making our film, the idea that there were forces attempting to privatize our public education system and that they aimed to use teacher unions as a scapegoat while citing poverty as an excuse rather than an important factor we as a society must address, was controversial. Today it is fair to say this conversation is accepted on national television. 

Even though the national consciousness has been raised regarding issues related to education and folks are more engaged and informed than ever before, the efforts to misinform, malign, and muddy the truth remain. Won't Back Down takes its viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride and clearly pushes the perspective that teachers and their unions prevent progress. While I have my own views about an alternate vision for teacher unions, I am a proud union member, and know that teacher unions, regardless of their flaws, are committed to progress and student achievement; I also know they are all that stands in the way of the sale of our public education system to the highest bidder and that is precisely why they are being attacked.

In our film, we featured several parents and teachers who actually took a stand against the corporate reform movement. Whether it was parents and teachers who joined together to stop a charter school from being forced into their building against the will of the community, or to fight budget cuts that were ravaging their school, to beg the powers that be to stop the closing of a beloved neighborhood school that was long under-resourced and undermined, or begging for policy makers to prevent ballooning class sizes or stop wasting precious funds on high stakes testing when they could be diverted to culturally relevant and rich curriculum; they all shared real, true, authentic stories about how they, together, would not back down. There are thousands of real won't-back-down stories out there (I have shared my school community's here and you can too), not based on actual events, but are actual events. Most of them involve fighting the very forces folks like Philip Anschutz fund. 

There is at least one thing however that Won't Back Down gets right; it does take parents and teachers and young people working together to make our schools great. Unions are not obstacles in this and in fact are positioned to lead the collaboration. One must only look to Chicago to see a real won't-back-down story where the cast of characters include not lazy unionized teachers, but educators who together with parents, young people and community members are fighting for the schools they deserve. 

I hope the folks who choose to see Won't Back Down return to their communities energized with the spirit of collaboration, not demonization, and together fight for real reforms for our schools.

 

Follow Julie Cavanagh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/juliecavanagh15

Salon: "Won't Back Down" is an offensive, lame union-bashing drama, which somehow stars Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Someone needs to launch an investigation into what combination of crimes, dares, alcoholic binges and lapses in judgment got Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal into this movie” -- Salon

Leonie sent this along (here is her own review of the film and FAQ about its backers and their political agenda.)

Scathing Salon review.  Some excerpts:

“offensive, lame union-bashing drama”…

“inept and bizarre “Won’t Back Down,” a set of right-wing anti-union talking points disguised (with very limited success) as a mainstream motion-picture-type product. Someone needs to launch an investigation into what combination of crimes, dares, alcoholic binges and lapses in judgment got Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal into this movie”

“…. script that has that disconnected, amateurish quality distinctive to conservative-oriented entertainment and plays written by fourth-graders”

“….simpering, pseudo-inspirational pap, constructed with painful awkwardness and disconnected from any narrative plausibility or social reality…”

Go read the rest! Let’s hope other reviewers follow in  similar vein

Salon review: “Won’t Back Down”: offensive, lame, America? http://shar.es/5nEwI

“Won’t Back Down”: Why do teachers’ unions hate America?

"Won't Back Down" is an offensive, lame union-bashing drama, which somehow stars Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal

By Andrew O'Hehir

Stills: Real Parents Don't Back Down at Premiere of Won't Back Down

Here are some stills I took at yesterday's  Parents to Hold Red Carpet Event Protesting Lies,...
Will try to get some video up later.

Press coverage with some comments:

UPDATE FROM SHARON HIGGINS:

Leonie and the other protesters were featured on E!News last night, along with some nervous looking Hollywood types!
http://www.eonline.com/videos/196045/premiere-won-t-back-down

The actors clearly don't know this "debate" is being blocked and one sided, and that those who were there have been "there" for a decade and more! 

www.nbcnewyork.com/video/#!/on-air/as-seen-on/Movie-Premiere-Brings-Praise-And-Protestors/170925861
 
love the second one:  UNION PROTEST???  hahahahaha---even Fox was more accurate!

Parents protest premiere of “Won’t Back Down”

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/19618903/parents-protest-premiere-of-wont-back-down

Union protest greets cast and crew at premiere of 'Don't Back Down' in NY

 http://www.examiner.com/article/union-protest-greets-cast-and-crew-at-premiere-of-don-t-back-down-ny

The producers probably love the protest(s). Gets them free publicity. So ignoring it might be the best policy, but think how much fun we would all be missing. In fact, holding these events -- and a bunch of us were at the screening last week with Leonie on the panel  -- bring people together who might not ordinarily get together and that is the essence of building a movement. People begin to work together and support each other and things begin to click. I can't tell you how many people I keep meeting who quickly become political pals. People I barely knew. I try to have my pinky into as many activities going on as possible so I have a handle on what is happening. And then when people ask I can help them make connections.

Teacher Julie Cavanagh and Parent Lydia Bellahcene: A Real-Life "Won't Back Down" Story

Our story doesn't fit into simplistic narrative that the makers of “Won’t Back Down” would like to portray:  that teacher unions are the main obstacles to school reform.  We don’t believe that closing public schools and opening charters are the answers to any of the problems that public schools face.  Our fight is against the billionaires and hedge fund operators who are intent on undermining our public schools in their fierce campaign to privatize the system. Sad to say, our story won't be the subject of any Hollywood film, and it does not have a Hollywood ending, but it is real and should serve as a cautionary tale for parents, educators and all others who believe in fighting to preserve and strengthen our public schools as the centerpiece of our nation’s democracy.

Parent Lydia Bellahcene and teacher Julie Cavanagh, a member of Movement of Rank and File Educators, tell their own "Won't Back Down" story fighting a charter invasion in their school on the NYC Parent blog, a story a told in the film "Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman".

I met Julie in July 2009 after her group contacted GEM for assistance in their fight. Julie joined up with GEM soon after and has become one of the most dynamic voices for the Real Reformers, in addition to proving to be a supreme organizer with a high level of leadership skills. Over the past year she was involved with organizing the new MORE caucus in the UFT. She gave birth 10 weeks ago to her son Jack.

We fought the invasion of PS 15: a real-life "Won't Back Down" story

Lydia Bellahcene and Julie Cavanagh

The following was written by Julie Cavanagh and Lydia Bellahcene, a teacher and a parent at PS 15 in Brooklyn.  This is their real-life “Won’t Back Down” story, unlike the Hollywood version featured in the film of the same name that will open nationwide on Sept. 28.  You can also check out my review of the movie.  If you are a parent or educator and have your own real-life Won't Back Down story you’d like to share, please send it to us at info@classsizematters.org  Thanks!

 

The movie “Won't Back Down” is a work of fiction but is said to be based on real life events.  It tells the story of a teacher and a parent in a 'failing' school who join forces to 'save their school'.  The tale is a powerful one and some viewers may find themselves rooting for the protagonists.   We too identify with the film, but not because we belong to a poorly performing school.  Instead, we have fought to save our successful public school from the invasion of a charter school, which is not a story that the pro-privatization producers of the film would be likely to tell.

Full story at: http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/2012/09/we-fought-invasion-of-ps-15-real-life.html

NYC Parents Won't Back Down - Rally Before Film Premiere - Sunday

Please consider coming to this event and help spread the word!

PARENTS "Won’t Back Down"

FROM FIGHTING THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF OUR SCHOOLS!

The film “Won’t Back Down” is backed by conservative billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Philip Anschtuz. The law portrayed in the movie, called parent trigger, claims to be about parent empowerment but actually promotes the privatization of public schools and blaming teachers for struggling schools. The movie claims to be 'inspired by actual events' but not a single school in the country has successfully used Parent Trigger. 

This Sunday, at the red carpet world premiere of the movie, JOIN us in showing Hollywood & the paparazzi the REAL parents who "won't back down."

=> Sunday at 4:30pm

Ziegfeld Theatre

Meet at corner on 54th st. and 6th Ave. Midtown

Subways: B, D, E to 7th ave, N, Q, R or F to 57th St.-7th Ave.

For more info, call or Email Julian Vinocur (212) 328-9268, julian@aqeny.org

What Goes on in Charlotte Doesn't Stay in Charlotte

Karran Harper Royal

Last Update: Monday, Sept. 3, 10PM

Parents Across America, a national grassroots parent organization Leonie Haimson helped found, along with amazing people like Karran  Harper Royal from New Orleans (see the wonderful video I shot of her as SOS - see Afterburn for more on Karran), and with outlets in many cities across the nation, is taking action this week in Charlotte, North Carolina and not letting people claiming to be Democrats off the hook.

For immediate release: September 3, 2012
Contact: Pamela Grundy, 704-806-0410, shamrockparent@earthlink.net
           
Members of MecklenburgACTS.org and Parents Across America will be rallying and distributing literature at two events associated with the Democratic National Convention here in Charlotte.

We will call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject the ineffective "reform" measures being pushed by well-heeled organizations such as Students First and Democrats for Education Reform, and instead join parents and education experts in support of a more proven, community-based set of changes.

As the Charlotte Observer and the Huffington Post have noted, Democrats differ significantly over ways to improve the nation's schools. We will be highlighting this debate.

On Monday, we will be at the Students First-sponsored showing of the controversial movie "Won't Back Down" at the Epicenter complex, 201 E. Trade St., from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Although several of us signed up to see the movie and attend the discussion some weeks ago, we were informed early this morning that we would not be admitted. So we will make our case outside.

On Tuesday, we will be at the "Town Hall" sponsored by Democrats for Education Reform at the Knight Theater, 4:30 S. Tryon St., from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

We will present the following statement:

Our Children Need Education Reforms that Work

Students First, Parent Revolution and Democrats for Education Reform are pushing for education policies that have no track record of success:

• An expansion of high-stakes testing that turns schools into testing factories and drives families and top teachers away from public education.

• Relentless charter school expansion even though charter schools regularly perform less well than comparable public schools.

• School closings which disrupt families and communities and send most students to schools that perform no better than the ones they left.

• Parent trigger laws which divide parents and have yet to improve a single school.

We've seen here in Charlotte how these policies destabilize communities, anger parents and demoralize our best teachers. We call on President Obama and other Democrats to reject these policies and join parents and education experts in support of a more positive set of changes that includes small classes, a well-rounded curriculum, more meaningful parent involvement and greater investment in teachers and families.

For REAL solutions visit MecklenburgACTS.org and ParentsAcrossAmerica.org.

Afterburn Update:
Leonie Haimson posted a link on PAA to the Karran Harper Royal SOS video I shot with this perfect comment summing up ed deform:

How did some African-Americans get on wrong side of ed reform?

How can you tell if you’re on the wrong side of reform: Does the policy shut down open debate? Does it remove the democratic process? Do parents get to elect the charter board? Do the policymakers have to focus on a villain, in this case, teachers and unions as the bogeyman? Do they insist on closing schools rather than improving them? Do they impose on high stakes decision for children or teachers or schools? Do they talk about return on investment and are there billionaires pulling the strings? Do they focus on “school choice” over civil rights? These are signals that they are on the wrong side of education reform. And yet it’s easy to fall into the wrong side. Check out Karran’s brilliant analysis why -- video link here   or here

Democrats (and Republicans) to Show Parent Trigger Movie at Convention

The Democratic Party has committed the gravest of insults by permitting Rhee's Astroturf group to air the parent trigger film "Won't Back Down" at the Democratic National Convention. SHAME!

Check out my post on StudentsFirst's September 3 screening of the film at the convention.

And: Rhee has also advised Republican Governor Rick Scott:

see how she has advised Republican governor Rick Scott.

No surprised that DFER's Joe Williams, the charter school promoter, is there for the DNC screening of "Won't Back Down."

From:  NY_I has left a comment on your post "Parent Trigger in Adelanto, CA":

Below I have links to Schmidt and Strauss.
In particular for Valerie: It’s really about the principals
Yes it is about principals and on the whole you can't get much worse than NYC.
 Three ed reforms parents should worry about most -- 
One of the great principals Carol Burris is at it again. What a voice for all of us ( and don't forget how Leo Casey attacked her.)

And Rita Solnet: ‘Won’t Back Down’: Realities the movie ignores
 
Substance and Strauss links below the break.

Supporters of Parent Trigger Film "Won't Back Down" Come Under Attack

Over the years, the teachers’ unions have indeed guarded tenure protections and last-in-first-out layoff practices to a zealous degree that could at times seem indifferent to the welfare of schoolchildren. “We bear a lot of responsibility for this,” Weingarten told me in a phone interview on Friday. “We were focused — as unions are — on fairness and not as much on quality.”  -- Frank Bruni on "Won't Back Down" in NY Times

There she goes again. Randi straddling the line instead of using an opportunity to educate the press and the public about what is really going on.

Given my history of frustration with the union and my own maverick tendencies, the idea of teachers and parents voting to overturn the bureaucracy is appealing. In fact, in the late 90s I went to Randi Weingarten and proposed the UFT set up a charter school support system for teachers to work with parents to take over NYC schools one school at a time saying, "The people running the schools are just awful and we will never make progress until we have some control of the system." She responded, "You're probably right, but how can we trust....." and she stopped there. I know she was thinking, "How can we trust just any teachers?"

I had been so frustrated at the joint union and district oppression in my district and if there were a genuine trigger movement I might have gone that way too. I want to stress right here that the film does show a teacher fighting back and I will see the film before saying it out and out sucks.

But we always have to put films like "Won't Back Down" in context. Who is backing it? The same "Waiting for Superman" gang. The parent trigger concept in the hands of the people pushing it is extremely dangerous. And of course the union is evil in the film. But then again how often to I feel that way from the other side of the fence about our own union after fighting the Unity machine for over 40 years?

I will give the film credit for waking up some of our colleagues to the dangers while our union leadership seems to be asleep at the wheel. Or worse, collaborating on the other side, but not collaborating enough according to DFER and right wingers. Which makes my point -- why collaborate at all and not go all out?

The Frank Bruni article in today's New York Time about "Won't Back Down" made some interesting points about  unions and how they are vilified for not being willing to give when in fact Randi has been the gift that keeps giving. My response to Bruni would be how tenure protects kids and how the alternative is so much worse --- why doesn't he touch on the states where there is no tenure or effective union? Why doesn't Randi hammer this home in every interview and every tweet? Because you know my feelings: she is a neo-liberal lawyer with serious ed deform tendencies, not a teacher.

Here is a comment on the Bruni piece from Leonie Haimson:

As usual, treats this as solely a battle between union and “reformers”, and interviews Micah Lasher and Joe Williams. Dreadful piece. Micah Lasher claims “Democratic executives say “‘I’ve devoted all the resources I can, why can’t I get better results with the resources I have?’” With the largest class sizes in 13 years? Go leave a comment and tweet him at @frankbruni; he also has a Facebook page. He writes: I invite you to visit my blog, follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/frankbruni and join me on Facebook. Please DO!
Teachers on the Defensive - NYTimes.com - http://goo.gl/LNo7l

Diane Ravitch on the Bruni column. Here's an excerpt:

I am not going to write anything substantive about the movie celebrating the so-called "parent trigger" until I have seen it.

But the stories about it continue to miss the point about  why parents and teachers think it is a corporate-conceived and corporate-driven idea, for the benefit of corporate charter chains. Why not mention the Florida parents' fight to stop this so-called "parent empowerment"? If it really empowered parents, why did parents oppose it?

Here is the latest example. Frank Bruni, usually a thoughtful writer, has an article in today's New York Times. He sees the movie as part of the ongoing (and at least partially justified) critique of teachers unions. He never mentions that the two states that enthusiastically endorsed parent trigger laws (after California did it first, during the Schwarzenegger years), are right-to-work states, Texas and Mississippi. Nor did he mention the role of the rightwing group ALEC in promoting the trigger idea as a way to hasten the privatization of public education.

Diane links to another critique by Larry Ferlazzo, a prolific blogger and Sacramento teacher, calls Williams on his line about finding and rewarding the best teachers.

More from Diane: A Parent’s Letter to Frank Bruni of the New York Times
--------

Save Our Schools Takes a Stand

Here is the 6 page document they produced regarding the film and the Teachers Rock concert. You can download it here.

Press Release Teachers Rock Documents

--------

Mona Davids jumps on the movie bandwagon

In this war we are in those who try to straddle the line don't make friends on either side. See one Randi Weingarten. Thus, some activists in NYC were disappointed to learn that Mona Davids of the NYC Parents Union has jumped on the bandwagon with her support of the film. The press release from Parents Unions in 4 states used the ed deform buzz words (adults and children to define which side you are on:

 putting aside politics and adult self-interests by putting children first

Words that could come right from the pages of Joel Klein and Michelle Rhee.

Tne NYC Parent Union press release with links to the movie FB and Twitter feeds. (Note the WBD FB page is censoring comments.)

Now, Mona has been an ally over the past few years and had a role in our film criticizing charters despite her being a charter supporter. I can't even tell you how much help she was and she has taken flack for her support of the film.

She had gotten off to a pretty bad start when I first met her in the summer and fall of 2009 when she supported Joel Klein and then showed up from her Bronx home at a hearing at PS 15 over PAVE charter school in Red Hook Brooklyn to charge the teachers at the school with being interlopers from outside the neighborhood. I dubbed her "Moaning Mona." Some of the videos I shot were pretty funny.

But Mona began reaching out early in 2010 and over the years everyone made nice despite differences and I began to refer to her as "Magnificent Mona." And she has been a stalwart lining up with anti-corporate ed deformers on many issues, including helping lead the assault on the Cathie Black chancellor case.

Now I should point out that Mona has been pushing her own version of a parent trigger law here in NY State, which has caused some people to take issue with. But as I say, in the overall context of her work, many of us didn't get our underwear in a knot over it.

But her signing onto the film did bother me and some others. I feel that by supporting this film at this time of a general assault on unions and public education by the right, Mona's support for the film puts her in the public perception on the wrong side of the line. Here is a comment from someone associated with the national Save Our Schools Movement -- a person who doesn't know Mona or her work:

We MUST do all we can to fight this. Note the name of the group, "Parent's Union." Someone said at at our meeting that the right wing is taking over our terminology, so no one knows who is on what side.

Mona's hard work being branded by someone in SOS as a right wing front group which is not true. Another parent wrote:

Has she suddenly flipped sides? She quite publicly tweeted her thanks to Campbell Brown as well.

That is the danger Mona faces in linking the NYC Parents Union with a film being pushed by the right wing, DFER and all the other ed deformers. Emails have been flying around about this behind the scenes and there is a renewed wariness about Mona and her motives. I'll wait and see and give her the benefit of the doubt, for now. It might be fun to see her at the premiere of the film on Sept. 28 if we manage to hold some protest rally over the message of the film.

Mona and I had a bit of a testy interchange yesterday over her support for the film after I asked her if "Moaning Mona" was returning. She said she wanted people to see the film and make up their own minds. Hey, Diane Ravitch is also saying she won't comment on the film until she sees it. But I pointed out this point from her press release:

The “Won’t Back Down” movie displays a beautiful partnership between parents, teachers and the community to improve a low performing school.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

FAQ re the movie “Won’t Back Down” and the Parent Trigger 

 

Don't Back Down From Protesting "Won't Back Down" Movie

If you haven't noticed this yet, tonight there is a gala billed as "Teachers Rock" to support the parent trigger movie "Won't Back Down." It will be broadcast on CBS on Aug. 18. (Don't tell me CBS is trying to out "education nation" NBC.) There is so much material coming in I can't include it all. So look at this as a data dump of web sites and some commentary (sorry for some redundancy). If you have more leave the link in the comment section and I'll update this post.

Leonie put up a superb FAQ re the movie “Won’t Back Down” and the Parent Trigger

Here are some more key ref's on Won't Back Down and its corporate backing:

http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13643/walmart_

anschutz_teachers_rock_wont_back_down_union_parent_trigger_viola_da/

http://https://www.facebook.

com/pages/Boycott-of-Movie-Wont-Back-Down/270090189772778

Ravitch's twitter campaign:

http://dianeravitch.net/2012/08/07/tell-wont-back-down-to-back-off/

Parent trigger laws are designed to allow parents at a school to vote to close it and reopen it as a charter. In reality the parents end up with less rights than they started with given that a public school is subject to more pressure than a charter. Go ask the people behind parent trigger laws if they will allow the parents to elect the charter board.

The charter chains are behind these moves and pour money into getting signatures through hook or crook and then drive the engine the rest of the way. Even when parents realize they have been fooled they are not allowed to withdraw their names one court ruled. An attempt to push through a parent trigger law failed recently in Florida. (Sorry I don't have time to include all the links).

This movie is a fictionalized version of PT laws in that a majority of the teachers also have to vote, which on the surface seems like a pro-teacher point of view which is what the movie is pushing. Of course they are voting to turn themselves into non-unionized teachers, I guess something a corps of Teach for America might do. (By the way, the concert tonight will raise funds for TFA amongst other orgs.)

Jose Vilson tackles the point about the so-called teacher voice in the movie:

Parent Trigger And Why We Need To Talk [Let's Be A Solution]

A call has been issued to parents and teachers here in NYC to hold protest event at the September 28 premiere of "Won't Back Down" similar to what was done at the premiere of "Waiting for Superman" two years ago. GEM, ICE, MORE, Change the Stakes and others have been notified and a committee to Stand Up to Won't Back Down (can we call it SUWD?) hopefully will be formed by the end of the month. Some of us envision rolling out those red Real Reform capes.
This caused some comment:

We can’t attack frustrated working class parents, nor teachers who want to fight for change. It would seem to me that we have to say that
1)      We need to fight for all students,
2)      Teachers, and their unions, are not the enemies,
3)      The system is at fault; it can’t and won’t educate all working class students.
4)      The same folks financing the movie are the same capitalists who’ve created the problem.

It’s a fine line, but….

It is a fine line, more than Waiting for Superman. But the backers of the film pretty much cinch the case for holding a protest. We'll see if something gets off the ground. I do admit that after fighting the old line pre-Bloomberg bureaucracy, the political ed machines and the UFT/Unity gang since 1970 sometimes movies like this or elements of the charter movement do appeal to me and taking a stand against them is a fine line. When the people running the unions are if not enemies, obstructions, exactly what approach do you take? We had the same problem in our movie -- while we defended teacher unions we also tried to make a point that they were not doing enough to defend public education though we didn't go into details. (We need a movie just to deal with that.)

Diane Ravitch posts today:

About that “Teachers Rock” Concert

A reader asks a reasonable question about the concert in Los Angeles tonight celebrating a film that disparages teachers, public schools, and unions:

Here's another thought.  You could also contact the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the American Federation of Musicians to express your opinion about this situation.  It does seem a little odd that professionals in these unions would take part in a production that is sponsored and promoted by private parties intent on disparaging professionals in a different union.  Just saying.

George Schmidt has a good take on "Won't Back Down."

Won't back down...' is latest Hollywood addition to the 'Waiting for Superman' propaganda trail. Teacher bashing. Union busting. Privatization agenda again on display thanks to Hollywood moguls and brain-dead stars

George N. Schmidt - August 10, 2012
Recently, the preliminary propaganda for the upcoming Hollywood movie "Won't Back Down" has caught the eye of many of us and sadly misled some of us (including this reporter). A closer look at the pre-release propaganda for the movie and the agendas of the movie's creators and promoters gives everyone an idea of what we're facing. And what we will be facing is that latest iteration of the "Waiting for Superman" genre of pro-charter school attacks on public school teachers, unions, and the public schools themselves.

Union members across the country are beginning to ask why union actors and actresses like Maggie Gyllenhaal (above) are working like dogs to produce union-busting and teacher bashing propaganda like "Won't Back Down" for the right wing propagandists who have begun a new generation of anti-public school media work since "Waiting for Superman" two years agoThe best comprehensive analysis of what is looming came to us through Oakland and friends there. This was an email from Sharon Higgins (sharonrhiggins@yahoo.com) that arrived at Substance on August 9, 2012.

“Won’t Back Down” (WBD) is pure, unadulterated propaganda which was designed to stimulate intense emotional support for The Parent Trigger. WBD was produced by Walden Media, as was “Waiting for Superman,” its documentary predecessor. It is strongly believed that one major reason "Waiting for Superman" failed to even get nominated for an Oscar because the director had staged scenes.

Walden Media is owned by Philip Anschutz, an extremely conservative Colorado billionaire and major donor to right-wing causes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Anschutz
The Parent Trigger was originally conceived by a phony grassroots organization birthed from a charter chain in Southern California (Green Dot Public Schools). More about that here:

http://thebroadreport.blogspot.com/2010/02/connections-between-eli-broad-parent.html
Union teachers and other union activists are expected to picket and protest at the opening of the latest union-busting Hollywood propaganda film, "Won't Back Down" when the film opens in September. Like the 2010 movie "Waiting for Superman," "Won't Back Down" is a slick propaganda piece promoting charter schools and bashing real public schools, real public school teachers, and teacher unions.Then the idea was picked up by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) who then wrote model legislation for The Parent Trigger Act. The text was adopted by the Education Task Force at ALEC’s 2010 States & Nation Policy Summit in December 2010, then approved by the ALEC Board of Directors in January 2011.”

ALEC had the document posted on their website for a while, but then removed it at some point. The cached document can still be seen here: http://www.webcitation.org/5yGOUW6Ll

Scrubbing that document and revising parts of their website came about with the growing awareness of ALEC – and the accompanying outrage – which occurred in late 2011 and earlier this year, much of which resulted from the work of this group:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/ALEC_Exposed

The corporate ed reformers who are pushing privatization are subjecting American citizens to a propaganda campaign to advance their agenda. Michelle Rhee is a big part of it, and that is why her organization, StudentsFirst, has collaborated with many of the Tea Party-type governors who are intent on crippling what remains of public education.

“Won’t Back Down” has now become a part of the long and extensive history of propaganda film making. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_film

The hype for WBD started to get underway last week in NYC w/a promotional screening, and it will be non-stop for the next few months. It has also been timed to coincide with other efforts.

Parents Across America has also done a critique of it: http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2012/06/parents-give-wont-back-down-movie-trailer-a-thumbs-down/?utm_source=8-9-12&utm_campaign=8-9-12&utm_medium=email

More
 Diane Ravitch here.

Some satire at http://studentslast.blogspot.com/:

Stoning Teachers Raises Some Eyebrows - with Updates

More from Chicago:

Chicago Parents Urge Streep Avoid Parent Trigger Movie Event

As one Chicago parents group's blog (Parents United for Responsible Education: Building powerful public school parents and communities) notes, the education deform / privatization forces are in full propaganda war mode as they push the pro-parent trigger movie, "Won't Back Down." Parents United for Responsible Education publicized the letter it sent to acclaimed actress Meryl Streep, asking her to avoid a promo "Teachers Rock" subterfuge event for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) promoted film.


Blogger New York City Eye asks other progressive pro-student, pro-parent, pro-teachers to likewise petition Streep and other Hollywood media heavies to distance themselves from or renounce the mean undertoned "Won't Back Down."

Immediately after this letter I have posted contact information for personalities connected to the "Won't Back Down" film.

PURE's letter's text appears below:

Dear Meryl

August 10th, 2012

Ms. Meryl Streep

c/o Leslee Dart

Dart Group

sent by facsimile

212 277 7550



If you really appreciate teachers, please pull out of

phony “Teachers Rock” event promoting

the themes of the “Won’t Back Down” movie:

public school privatization and wholesale teacher firing



Dear Ms Streep:

I am writing to ask you to reconsider your participation in the “Teachers Rock” event next week. As parents, we are concerned that this event is part of a larger propaganda campaign to force privatization on public schools. The movie, “Won’t Back Down,” is just the latest and most intensive move in this effort.

While we have been unable to view the entire movie, we have seen the trailer and read promotional stories that are already being published. We also know that the producer, Walden Media and Philip Anschutz, were behind the “Waiting for Superman” documentary whose one-sided and often misleading content created a great deal of controversy among those of us who strongly support our nation’s teachers. Even Roger Ebert eventually rethought his positive “Superman” review.

“Won’t Back Down” is poised to be equally if not more controversial because it claims to be “based on real events” about the “parent trigger law” which allows parents to sign petitions to close their school and turn it into a charter school.

As an active and informed parent, I know that parent empowerment is not the real agenda behind this so-called parent trigger law. It was in fact written by the head of a charter management company which initiated the first parent trigger campaign. The law was taken up by ALEC and has been pushed in a number of other states with generous financial backing of the Walton Foundation (which is sponsoring “Teacher Rocks”) and other corporate school reform funders.

Our small Chicago organization and a larger network with which we are affiliated, Parents Across America, are working to get out the truth about “Won’t Back Down.” We can’t afford to put on a big show or produce a Hollywood movie to make our voices heard, but we do hope you will listen to us. You can find more information about this issue on our web sites, www.pureparents,org and www.parentsacrtossamerica.org.

Thank you so much for your attention.

Best wishes,

Julie Woestehoff

Executive Director

PURE's previous post:

Time to tweet some stars about the Won’t Back Down movie

August 10th, 2012
The propaganda campaign for the parent trigger law created by charter school operators and promoted by ALEC is in full swing.

The big kick-off event is a concert called “Teachers Rock.” Like the “parent tricker” itself, this concert pretends to honor teachers while promoting a movie, “Won’t Back Down,” that is designed to get a lot of them fired and replaced by Teach for America newbies.

The concert will take place this Tuesday, Aug, 14th, at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. CBS will air a one-hour special using footage from the concert and the WBD movie, tributes to teachers from stars, etc. on Friday, Aug. 17th, at 8 pm EDT.

We know that most of the performers, like the actors in the movie, don’t have a clue how they are being used to promote school privatization in the guise of parent empowerment, but this concert and WBD movie are going to put the issue front and center and we need to make sure that our voices are heard.

Here’s what you can do:

PAA and I have written about the Won’t Back Down movie before, but if you don’t remember details, take a few moments to read PAA’s review of the WBD movie trailer (which is all we have been able to see so far – we are requesting a screening) and fact sheet on the WBD movie.

Then reach out to everyone you can about this movie and concert. This movie is designed to be even more powerful than Waiting for Superman, and we need to counter it with every thing we have. How do you fight Hollywood? Make the movie controversial, not feel-good. Take it to the stars who mean well but need to open their eyes to what they are doing. Everyone needs to write to CBS, too.

Everyone wants to write to a star, right? A list of contact info for a few of those involved in the Teachers Rock concert follows (gleaned from posters on Diane Ravitch’s blog). The easiest thing to do is to facebook and tweet them, keeping on mind that they are not the enemy. Post your thoughts on their facebook pages, twitter feeds, use their e-mails, write to their publicist! This is the big one and we need all hands on board!

I’ll post my letter the Meryl Streep next.

Here are a few message points:

*The Won’t Back Down movie and the 8/17 Teacher Rocks concert are propaganda for the parent trigger law created by charter school operators and promoted by ALEC.
*Won”t Back Down is a “feel-bad” movie for parents and teachers who support public education.
*The controversial WBD movie promotes charter takeovers of schools, yet charter schools are no better than our regular schools.
*No real teachers were depicted in the filming of the WBD movie.
*Parents won’t be fooled by the “Parent Tricker” or the Won’t Back Down movie.

Teachers Rock performers:
1. Dave Grohl: Manager-Gabby at 323-856-8222
2. Adam Levine: Receptionist will take message at 310-776-7640
3. Jack Black: email to sjackson_asst@WMEentertainment.com
4. Meryl Streep: publicist’s voice mail at 212-277-7555
5. Viola Davis: email to ewolff@apanewyork.com
6. Morgan Freeman: email to stan@sra-pr.com

More:
1. Dave Grohl – Foo Fighters – Agent: Don Muller – WME 1325 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10019 T.212.586.5100 F.212.246.3583
2. Adam Levine – Maroon 5 singer – Manger: Career Artist Management – 1100 Glendon Avenue, Suite 1100 | Los Angeles, CA 90024 | 310.776.7640 (p) | 310.776.7659 (f)
3. Jack Black – Agent: WME 1325 Avenue Of The Americas, New York, NY 10019 T.212.586.5100 F.212.246.3583
4. Meryl Streep – Publicist: Leslee Dart. Dart Group. 90 Park Avenue. 19th Floor. New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212-277-7555.
5. Viola Davis – Agent: Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) 45 West 45th St. 4th floor, New York, NY 10036 T. 212.687.0092 F. 212.245.5062
6. Morgan Freeman – Publicist: Stan Rosenfield & Associates, Inc., 2029 Century Park E., Suite 1190, Los Angeles, CA 90067, USA. Phone: (310) 286-7474, Fax: (310) 286-2255.
7. Josh Groban
8. Maggie Gyllenhaal (last, but not least)

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

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.