Press Release: 

CPS Fails To Negotiate Fair Contract To Prevent First Strike In 25 Years

09/09/2012

More than 29,000 teachers and education professionals will not report to work today 9/10

CHICAGO— After hours of intense negotiations, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent the first teachers strike in 25 years. Pickets are expected to begin Monday at 675 schools and the Board of Education as early as 6:30 a.m. Teachers, paraprofessionals and school clinicians have been without a labor agreement since June of this year.

Union leaders expressed disappointment in the District’s refusal to concede on issues involving compensation, job security and resources for their students. CTU President Karen Lewis said, “Negotiations have been intense but productive, however we have failed to reach an agreement that will prevent a labor strike. This is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could avoid. Throughout these negotiations have I remained hopeful but determined. We must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve.

“Talks have been productive in many areas. We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers and have put more than 500 of our members back to work. We have restored some of the art, music, world language, technology and physical education classes to many of our students. The Board also agreed that we will now have textbooks on the first day of school rather than have our students and teachers wait up to six weeks before receiving instructional materials.

“Recognizing the Board’s fiscal woes, we are not far apart on compensation. However, we are apart on benefits. We want to maintain the existing health benefits.

“Another concern is evaluation procedures. After the initial phase-in of the new evaluation system it could result in 6,000 teachers (or nearly 30 percent of our members) being discharged within one or two years. This is unacceptable. We are also concerned that too much of the new evaluations will be based on students’ standardized test scores. This is no way to measure the effectiveness of an educator. Further there are too many factors beyond our control which impact how well some students perform on standardized tests such as poverty, exposure to violence, homelessness, hunger and other social issues beyond our control.

“We want job security. Despite a new curriculum and new, stringent evaluation system, CPS proposes no increase (or even decreases) in teacher training. This is notable because our Union through our Quest Center is at the forefront teacher professional development in Illinois. We have been lauded by the District and our colleagues across the country for our extensive teacher training programs that helped emerging teachers strengthen their craft and increased the number of nationally board certified educators.

“We are demanding a reasonable timetable for the installation of air-conditioning in student classrooms--a sweltering, 98-degree classroom is not a productive learning environment for children. This type of environment is unacceptable for our members and all school personnel. A lack of climate control is unacceptable to our parents.

“As we continue to bargain in good faith, we stand in solidarity with parents, clergy and community-based organizations who are advocating for smaller class sizes, a better school day and an elected school board. Class size matters. It matters to parents. In the third largest school district in Illinois there are only 350 social workers—putting their caseloads at nearly 1,000 students each. We join them in their call for more social workers, counselors, audio/visual and hearing technicians and school nurses. Our children are exposed to unprecedented levels of neighborhood violence and other social issues, so the fight for wraparound services is critically important to all of us. Our members will continue to support this ground swell of parent activism and grassroots engagement on these issues. And we hope the Board will not shut these voices out.

“While new Illinois law prohibits us from striking over the recall of laid-off teachers and compensation for a longer school year, we do not intend to sign an agreement until these matters are addressed.

“Again, we are committed to staying at the table until a contract is place. However, in the morning no CTU member will be inside our schools. We will walk the picket lines. We will talk to parents. We will talk to clergy. We will talk to the community. We will talk to anyone who will listen—we demand a fair contract today, we demand a fair contract now. And, until there is one in place that our members accept, we will on the line.

“We stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters throughout the state and country who are currently bargaining for their own fair contracts. We stand with those who have already declared they too are prepared to strike, in the best interests of their students.”

“This announcement is made now so our parents and community are empowered with this knowledge and will know that schools will not open on tomorrow. Please seek alternative care for your children. And, we ask all of you to join us in our education justice fight—for a fair contract—and call on the mayor and CEO Brizard to settle this matter now. Thank you.”

###

The union is not on strike over matters governed exclusively by IELRA Section 4.5 and 12(b).

The Chicago Teachers Union represents 30,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please visit CTU’s website at www.ctunet.com .

8989899889898989898989889

The Schools Chicago's Students Deserve

The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve is a new Chicago Teachers Union study which argues in favor of proven educational reforms to dramatically improve the education of more than 400,000 students in a district of 675 schools.

These reforms are desperately needed and can lead Chicago towards the world-class educational system its students deserve. As CTU President Karen Lewis stated, “This report will quickly become the leading public policy platform for all people truly interested in how to reverse the status quo in our city's public schools.”

Download Full Report Here: http://www.ctunet.com/blog/text/SCSD_Report-02-16-2012-1.pdf

An Open Letter to Our Black Youth
 

www.theafricanamericanchild.com

We, the individual members of the NATIONAL BLACK EDUCATION AGENDA (NBEA) are mothers and fathers, grandparents, God-parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers and sisters entrusted as the loving adults and tradition-keepers who hold together our own Black families. We are also your neighbors, mentors, counselors, coaches, pastors, teachers and professors. It is in the spirit of love and family responsibility, that we write to you— our urban African American youth— and extend our heartfelt apology.

Each one of us deeply regrets that America's education system and its urban schools have failed you so miserably, for so long. Many of us work in the schools. Many of us also run after-school or cultural enrichment and college-prep programs. We have an inside view and know exactly what the education system's problems are and who is responsible for them being, and staying that way.

We are writing this letter to you because from this day forward, we refuse to allow public perception to continue to blame you for the gross failures, racist practices and educational negligence of a society. America is a very wealthy nation run by grown-folks who make laws and education policies, yet in every area pertaining to Blacks and other people of color, there are just too many shameless, selfish adults of every racial background who aren't abiding by the very laws and rules they get paid to enforce.

This country has consistently undervalued the African American people. Stolen and brought here in chains, it does not acknowledge that its wealth was created by the centuries of forced labor, toil and tears of our ancestors. Nor does it readily recognize our vast Black history of accomplishments, scientific, technical and every-day inventions, intellectual gifts, cultural contributions, patriots and heroes except for using them during the month of February to try to sell the world a false notion that African Americans on the whole, are seen as valued and important. If that were true, then there would be no excuse for why the national priority isn't making right your schools; ensuring that you excel by affording you the exact same, rich opportunities to advance yourselves to lead the same kind of happy, successful and productive lives promised and realized by others in America.

The NATIONAL BLACK EDUCATION AGENDA (NBEA) formed because we know this. We know our African American history and the history of America, and we are stepping up to lead our Black youth in knowing it too. This country cannot fathom how deep our African-ancestral blood still runs within our families, providing us the individual will to endure and determination to struggle to overcome the horrible atrocities of discrimination in the most basic areas of life; equality in housing, jobs, access to healthy food, medical care and education. Remember that racial injustices, poverty and the inhumane conditions we endure, can never define who you, or we are as a people. The famous African American— the U.S. poet-laureate, Maya Angelou has written a poem called "Still I Rise"­ and we want you to find it, read it and take it to heart.

Know that the NBEA is growing our membership to survive any obstacles put in the way of demonstrating our abiding love for you— our glorious and brilliant Black children— and we will put forth the energy to see that you not only rise, but thrive.

The NBEA is individually related to each of you by a shared African ancestry, and our work is to create a sort of national family reunion of African-centered consciousness and principles that demonstrate respect for each other, our diverse experiences, knowledge, education levels, talents and gifts. As one giant Black family across America, the NBEA is hereby declaring to use all of this in our collective protection of your educations. We will no longer allow what you learn about yourself as a child of African ancestry, and your human potential to contribute to the betterment of your family, community and this society, to be controlled solely by others.

We promise to do everything in our power to positively change what your educational paths and schools are like, only we need your help.

First— we need you to honor life. It is never too late to love and respect yourself and decide once and for all, to take ownership over your academic and social lives. We need you to continue to make positive choices and allow your brilliance to shine through everyday, in everything you do. This means you must study, demonstrate self-discipline, Black pride and a personal determination to do what you can to avoid the trouble that seems to be around every urban corner.

Next, we know you are resourceful! We know you have dreams, goals and great ideas. We encourage you to keep following them along a positive path. We need you to step up as a leader in your own life. Do your best to help your parents and/or those whose roofs you live under, and remember to be respectful of our elders— forgiving them even if they aren't especially of you. Stop and consider what they must have endured in their lives to make them who they are. Treat yourself and others kindly, and know that good and decent people come in all colors of the human rainbow.

Please send us an email teaching us about you and the positive things in your life, along with a picture. Let us acknowledge your pride and share your accomplishments with your national Black family.

When we roll-out our Regional Action Groups, get involved and help the NBEA put your ideas and role-modeling to work for other young sisters and brothers.

We are asking you to take control over you— and think very carefully about how you choose to respond to challenges and hardships. Think about your individual power to overcome adversity, remembering that violence begets more violence. Giving up your inner peace because you are carrying hatred and grudges gets you nothing, and takes you no where good. We urge you to do things that invest in your brain, are healthy for your body and give you peace of mind: exercising, practicing a sport and expressing your hurts and hopes through the creative power of music, art, dance, writing and other positive outlets. If you believe in a higher power, invest in your faith. And make time to read everyday. Knowledge really is the base of your power. When you continuously fuel your brain, no one can hijack or steal it away from you. If you don't own a library card, get one. Read the "Autobiography of Malcolm X," even if you've seen the movie. The library will let you download free audio books for your iPod or phone. Hear the true stories of how our oppressed people have endured for centuries and learn what they did to make good and productive lives for themselves. Through the transformational power of books, find those that inspire and allow you to escape to distant lands. Allow yourself to travel the limitless world of your imagination. Hold on to that.

Should the problems you face be more than you can handle, look to your parents and if that's not an option, seek out a caring teacher, religious leader or youth worker in your community to talk to. Don't stop looking for help if any one person lets you down— decide never to give up on yourself.

As we lovingly make this request of you— we know change isn't easy. But we "feel you" and we've got your back. Meanwhile, the NBEA and our allies are fierce in demanding that this nation's schools and system of education implement policies that respect your intelligence, your parents, and your rights.

Again, change will not come easily. Just know that we believe in you— our brilliant, beautiful Black children, and we believe in our united power to make a difference in your lives, schools and communities. Hold onto hope and do your part. We are here for you. Know that we love you because we are you. You belong to us and we belong to you.

Lastly, we need you to know from America's history that every single time Black people in this country have decided to organize and mobilize, the nation has shifted a little more towards freedom and justice for all. That is our undeniable legacy. Our Black education agenda is a movement that will soon make history in this same manner: moving all of us closer to freedom and justice for all.

True that.

Signed, with love, hope and respect,

The members of the National Black Education Agenda

September 8th, 2012

www.theafricanamericanchild.com

08/17/2012--http://www.washingtonpost.com

The Big Business of Charter Schools

By Valerie Strauss

If you are wondering why you should add charter schools to your investment portfolios, here’s David Brain, head of a major investment concern called Entertainment Properties Trust, to tell you.

This isn’t a joke.

You may think charter schools are just one option for parents looking for an alternative to traditional public schools for their children, but they are big business in some quarters.

What is Entertainment Properties Trust? According to its website, it is “a specialty real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in properties in select categories which require unique industry knowledge, and offer stable and attractive returns.”

And the website also says this: “Our investment portfolio of nearly $3 billion includes megaplex movie theatres and adjacent retail, public charter schools, and other destination recreational and specialty investments. This portfolio includes over 160 locations spread across 34 states with over 200 tenants.”
This is why some people see the growth of charter schools run by for-profit management companies as part of a movement to privatize the country’s public education system, which has been the country’s most important civic institution.

Above is a video — with the headline “Invest in Charter Schools?” — that shows an interview that Brain did with anchors at CNBC. Here is part of the dialogue:
 
Anchor: Charter schools have become very popular as parents seek more choice in educating their children. But are charter schools a wise addition to your investment portfolio? Well let’s ask David Brain, president and CEO of Entertainment Properties Trust. ....Why would I want to add charter schools into my portfolio?
DB: Well I think it’s a very stable business, very recession-resistant. It’s a very high-demand product. There’s 400,000 kids on waiting lists for charter schools ... the industry’s growing about 12-14% a year. So it’s a high-growth, very stable, recession-resistant business. It’s a public payer, the state is the payer on this, uh, category, and uh, if you do business with states with solid treasuries. then it’s a very solid business.
 
Anchor: Well let me ask you about potential risks, here, to your charter school portfolio, because I understand that three of your nine “Imagine” schools are scheduled to actually lose their charters for the next school year. Does this pose a risk to investors?
DB: Well, occasionally — we have Imagine arrangements on a master lease, so there’s no loss of rents to the company, although occasionally there are losses of charters in certain areas and they’re used to peculiar, ug, particular circumstances. In this case it’s a combination of relationship with the supervisory authorities and educational quality. Sometimes educational quality is very difficult to change in one, two, or three years. It’s a long-term proposition, so uh, there are some of these that occur, but we’ve structured our affairs so this is not going to impact our rent-roll and in fact we see this as uh maybe even a good experience as the industry thins out some of the less-performing schools and we move on to the best-performing schools.
 
Anchor: David, there has been somewhat of a public backlash to charter schools in some areas given their use of public money, as you noted. Any risk to the growth of charter schools generally?
DB: I don’t — there’s not a lost of risk, there’s probably risk to everything but the fact is, this has bipartisan support. It’s part of the Republican platform and Arne Duncan, secretary of education in the Obama administration, has been very high on it throughout their work in public education. So we have both political parties very solidly behind it, you have high demand, high growth, you have good performance across the board. Most of the studies have charter schools at even or better than district public education. So, I think it has some risk because it’s new and it’s emerging and it is a high-growth category. But at the same time I think ... much more’s going forward so it’s still a safe area for investment.
 
Anchor: You’ve invested in retail centers, ski parks, you’ve got charter schools, you’ve got movie theaters.... If you could buy one thing right now, David, one type of asset in real estate, what would it be?
DB: Well, probably the charter school business. We said it’s our highest growth and most appealing sector right now of the portfolio. It’s the most high in demand, it’s the most recession-resistant. And a great opportunity set with 500 schools starting every year. It’s a two and a half billion dollar opportunity set in rough measure annually.

By the way, it isn’t true that “most of the studies have charter schools at even or better than district public education.”

But why let facts get in the way?

Stop the 'Special Education Placement' bill!!

The Racist Power of Ten: 

 East Ramapo, NY School Board Bumrush

Veto S7722!!

This bill would destroy East Ramapo!

The NY State Senate sent the 'Special Education Placement' bill to the Governor on Friday. He could sign it any day now, so there is no time to waste. Please reach out to all your contacts right now! E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, or any other way you know. Let's stop this unfunded mandate that will promote segregation in special education!

Urgent: Sign the petition to veto a bill which would devastate East Ramapo

http://www.change.org/petitions/governor-andrew-m-cuomo-veto-s7722-the-special-education-placement-bill

Racist Roots of Charter Schools

Why the Racist History of the Charter School Movement Is Never Discussed 

Touted as the cure for what ails public education, charter schools have historical roots that are rarely discussed.

Christopher Bonastia 

 March 9, 2012  |  http://www.alternet.org  

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

As a parent I find it easy to understand the appeal of charter schools, especially for parents and students who feel that traditional public schools have failed them. As a historical sociologist who studies race and politics, however, I am disturbed both by the significant challenges that plague the contemporary charter school movement, and by the ugly history of segregationist tactics that link past educational practices to the troubling present.

The now-popular idea of offering public education dollars to private entrepreneurs has historical roots in white resistance to school desegregation after Brown v. Board of Education (1954). The desired outcome was few or, better yet, no black students in white schools. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, one of the five cases decided in Brown, segregationist whites sought to outwit integration by directing taxpayer funds to segregated private schools.

Two years before a federal court set a final desegregation deadline for fall 1959, local newspaper publisher J. Barrye Wall shared white county leaders’ strategy of resistance with Congressman Watkins Abbitt: “We are working [on] a scheme in which we will abandon public schools, sell the buildings to our corporation, reopen as privately operated schools with tuition grants from [Virginia] and P.E. county as the basic financial program,” he wrote. “Those wishing to go to integrated schools can take their tuition grants and operate their own schools. To hell with 'em.”

Though the county ultimately refused to sell the public school buildings, public education in Prince Edward County was nevertheless abandoned for five years (1959-1964), as taxpayer dollars were funneled to the segregated white academies, which were housed in privately owned facilities such as churches and the local Moose Lodge. Federal courts struck down this use of taxpayer funds after a year. Still, whites won and blacks lost. Because there were no local taxes assessed to operate public schools during those years, whites could invest in private schools for their children, while blacks in the county—unable and unwilling to finance their own private, segregated schools—were left to fend for themselves, with many black children shut out of school for multiple years.

Meanwhile, in less blatant attempts to avoid desegregation, states and localities also enacted “freedom of choice” plans that typically allowed white students to transfer out of desegregated schools, but forced black students to clear numerous administrative hurdles and, not infrequently, withstand harassment from teachers and students if they entered formerly all-white schools. When some segregationists began to acknowledge that separate black and white schools were no longer viable legally, they sought other means to eliminate "undesirables."

Attorney David Mays, who advised high-ranking Virginia politicians on school strategy, reasoned, “Negroes could be let in [to white schools] and then chased out by setting high academic standards they could not maintain, by hazing if necessary, by economic pressures in some cases, etc. This should leave few Negroes in the white schools. The federal courts can easily force Negroes into our white schools, but they can’t possibly administer them and listen to the merits of thousands of bellyaches.” (Mays vastly underestimated the determination of individual black families and federal officials.)

These nefarious motives may seem a far cry from the desire of many charter school operators to “reinvent” public education for students whom traditional public schools have failed. In theory, these committed bands of reformers come with good intentions: they purport to bring in dedicated teachers who have not been pummeled into complacency; energize their students by creating by a caring, rigorous school environment; and build a parent body that is inspired (in some cases compelled) to become more involved in their children’s education both inside and outside the school. And in some cases, charter schools deliver what they promise. In others, however, this sparkling veneer masks less attractive realities that are too often dismissed, or ignored, as the complaints of reactionaries with a vested interest in propping up our failed system of public education.

The driving assumption for the pro-charter side, of course, is that market competition in education will be like that for toothpaste — providing an array of appealing options. But education, like healthcare, is not a typical consumer market. Providers in these fields have a disincentive to accept or retain “clients” who require intensive interventions to maintain desired outcomes—in the case of education, high standardized test scores that will allow charters to stay in business. The result? A segmented marketplace in which providers compete for the “good risks,” while the undesirables get triage. By design, markets produce winners, losers and unintended or hidden consequences.

Charter school operators (like health insurers who exclude potentially costly applicants) have developed methods to screen out applicants who are likely to depress overall test scores. Sifting mechanisms may include interviews with parents (since parents of low-performing students are less likely to show up for the interview), essays by students, letters of recommendation and scrutiny of attendance records. Low-achieving students enrolled in charters can, for example, be recommended for special education programs that the school lacks, thus forcing their transfer to a traditional public school. (More brazenly, some schools have experienced, and perhaps even encouraged, rampant cheating on standardized tests.)

Operators have clear motives to avoid students who require special services (i.e., English-language learners, “special needs” children and so on) and those who are unlikely to produce the high achievement test scores that form the basis of school evaluations. Whether intended or otherwise, these sifting mechanisms have the ultimate effect of reinscribing racial and economic segregation among the students they educate -- as the research on this topic is increasingly bearing out.

A 2010 report by the UCLA-based Civil Rights Project, "Choice without Equity: Charter School Segregation and the Need for Civil Rights Standards," uncovers some troublesome facts in this regard. “While segregation for blacks among all public schools has been increasing for nearly two decades, black students in charter schools are far more likely than their traditional public school counterparts to be educated in intensely segregated settings. At the national level, 70 percent of black charter school students attend intensely segregated minority charter schools (which enroll 90-100 percent of students from under-represented minority backgrounds), or twice as many as the share of intensely segregated black students in traditional public schools.”

In the first decade of the 2000s, charter school enrollment nearly tripled; today around 2.5 percent of public school students are enrolled in charters. Blacks are overrepresented in charter schools (32 percent vs. 16 percent in the entire public-school population), whites are underrepresented (39 percent versus 56 percent), and Latinos, Asians and American Indians are enrolled in roughly equal proportions in charters and traditional public schools. These snapshots mask considerable variation. In the West and some areas of the South, it appears that charter schools “serve as havens for white flight from public schools,” according to the Civil Rights Project.

There are also preliminary indications that some charter schools under-enroll students qualifying for free lunch and English-language learners, thereby reducing the enrollment of low-income and Latino students, but data is limited in these areas, as it is on non-test-related factors such as graduation rates and college enrollment. How can we compare the performance of charters versus traditional public schools if we don’t know whether they are enrolling the same types of students? At the national and state levels, policymakers are pushing for the rapid expansion of charter schools on the basis of hope rather than evidence.

This points to a larger historical issue. The widespread enthusiasm for and rapid proliferation of charter schools also appears to mirror a persistent issue in American education: expanding new programs before we know if they work, and how successes might be replicated on a larger scale.

As the historian Charles M. Payne observed, “Perhaps the safest generalization one can make about urban schools or school districts is that most of them are trying to do too much too fast, initiating programs on the basis of what’s needed rather than on the basis of what they are capable of.” As charter schools face the uncertainty of contract renewal (which occurs typically at the three- to five-year mark), they may be tempted to overlay a multitude of seemingly innovative instructional strategies without sufficient monitoring of effectiveness.

Some schools do adopt approaches that seem to help students make demonstrable gains in achievement tests. (There are ongoing debates about the extent to which increases in test scores reflect authentic hikes in skills and knowledge, as opposed to a mastery of test-taking techniques.) But even when we identify charter schools that appear to improve performance in relation to students with similar characteristics in the public schools, the question becomes one of scaling up. The concept of charter schools is that they will all be distinctive, with different mixes of students, teaching philosophies, school environments and so on. In theory, other schools—traditional public and other charters—will learn what works, and replicate these innovations.

This has proven terribly difficult to do with successful public schools; doing so with a small, idiosyncratic charter school geared toward students who love the cello poses even greater hurdles.  When researchers from the RAND Corporation studied charter schools in Philadelphia, they noted that “with so many interventions under way simultaneously…there is no way to determine exactly which components of the reform plan are responsible for [any] improvement”—though ultimately they found that privately operated schools produced no more successful outcomes than their traditional public counterparts.

As important as applying successful techniques to other schools is an issue at the other end of the spectrum: when to conclude that a charter has failed. Policymakers such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg who have sold charters as the route to educational salvation may be reluctant to pull the plug on failures. The Big Apple has closed roughly 4 percent of charters since its first one opened in 1999, well below the national closing rate of 15 percent. The appropriate rate of charter revocation is anyone’s guess.

By all appearances, charters will remain on the educational landscape for the foreseeable future. While charter skeptics can’t merely wish them away, they can push for greater accountability—after all, isn’t this the whole point of charters? Anyone who blindly accepts that competition will improve education for students in charters and traditional public schools alike should remember that other articles of faith about the market—like cutting taxes on the rich will make all of our yachts and rafts rise—have proven illusory.

The market is not a self-regulating mechanism: players need rules to guide their behavior. Educational history offers some valuable lessons to keep in mind. First, when public schools have great influence in selecting their student body, this can either lead to greater diversity and opportunity while retaining choice (as in some magnet schools), or it can exacerbate persistent problems of racial and economic segregation. Businesspeople respond to incentives, and the impetus for charter-school operators is to “skim the cream” and avoid undesirables. Tangible rewards for charter schools to offer free transportation and lunches, and to craft racially and economically diverse student bodies, could be a step in the right direction.

Educational history also teaches us to be wary of the deep and authentic desire to find the “secret sauce” that produces hard-working, high-achieving students and committed teachers.  It is not easy to identify the factors that make a school great, and it is even harder to disseminate these reforms widely. If, for example, we discover that Charter School X produces exemplary outcomes because of exceptionally talented, committed teachers and unusually industrious students, how do we go about replicating that -- and at what cost? Are all teachers and students capable of reaching these heights, or is there a limited pool? It would be nice to think the former, but evidence for such optimism is scarce.

There is no magic elixir that will fix our educational system. Of course, we should continue to be open to fresh ideas about improving school organization, teaching and learning. But if we continue to ignore important historical lessons about the dangerous consequences of educational privatization and fail to harness our desire to plunge headlong into unproven reform initiatives, we may discover that the cure we so lovingly embraced has made the patient sicker.

Christopher Bonastia is associate professor of sociology at Lehman College and the CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of "Southern Stalemate: Five Years without Public Education in Prince Edward County, Virginia" (University of Chicago Press, 2012).

This Is What's Wrong With America: Ignorance By Capitalist Design

Critique of the Charter School Invasion- Frontline for the Privateers

 

Jun 3, 2012 by laborvideo

Danny Weil, a charter education expert, journalist, former public policy lawyer and activist discusses Governor Brown's so called "compromise" tax initiative and what it will really mean for public education. He calls it a subsidy for charters that will help further privatization of all public education in California. He also discusses the role of the NEA, AFT, and CFT in "lacing" themselves with money from privatizers such as the Bill an Melinda Gates Foundation and other "non-profit" foundations. 

Weil is also author of "Vouchers and Privatization of Education" and "Charter School Movement" 

The presentation was made in Berkeley, California on June 2, 2012

Production of United Public Workers For Action www.upwa.info
----------------------------

Public Education, Privatization, Corruption And The Destruction Of Our Schools

 

At a California conference titled "Keep the Community in Community College"
on May 12th, a panel at San Francisco Community College Mission campus
was presented by United Public Workers For Action UPWA.info about privatization and the attack on public education. The title was Public Education, Privatization, Corruption And The Destruction Of Our Schools.

Madeline Mueller, AFT 2121, Professor San Francisco City College Music Department George Wright, Professor, AFT 1493 Skyline College San Mateo College District Kathy Carroll, lawyer and whistleblower at the California Commission On Teacher. Attorney Kathleen Carroll reported that the Governor Brown tax initiative "compromise" supported by the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers along with the California AFL-CIO would permanently deregulate the oversight of the charter schools in California and allow further corruption, nepotism and conflicts of interests.

The conference had other panels and discussed the formation of a student union in California.

United Public Workers For Action www.upwa.info