Friday, May 20, 2016
NYC Fight Against Mayoral Continues Contiues Under DeBlasio Dictatorship
Assmeblyman Charles Barron Passion Call to Vote NO! For Mayoral Control
Monday, April 4, 2016
Black EDSTATS In The Age of Educational Genocide
Percentage of 8th Grade Black Boys in Large American Cities Reading at a Proficient Level
Above Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
NOTE: 8th Grade Black Girls only do a little better.
...And
here's one reason why: Most of our children's teachers are white and
have low expectations for academic success of Black boys and girls. But,
we also see that Black teachers have also internalized white
supremacist assumptions about academic achievement... resulting in a
slightly higher level (9%) of Black academic achievement in 2002.
Fourteen years later, we see (above) that the situation either
degenerated or- at best -remained horribly the same.
Thanx to Brother Phillip Jackson of Chicago's Black Star Project for originally posting this data.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
2PM JULY 8, 2016 Save Our Schools Rally at Lincoln Memorial
JULY 8 @2PM
SAVE OUR SCHOOLS RALLY AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL- WASHINGTON DC!
SAVE OUR SCHOOLS RALLY AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL- WASHINGTON DC!
On July 30, 2011, many thousands of us gathered in
Washington, DC for the historic Save Our Schools March and National
Call to Action. We came from across the country to
voice our grievances about the state of public education
and to share our visions for the future. We stood in
solidarity to denounce an unresponsive political process
and its dehumanizing policies. We returned to our cities,
communities, organizations and unions committed to the
goal of building an equitable, democratic education system
for our students, their communities, their schools and
educators. We have not rested since in our collective
struggle for humane public schools and policies across the
nation.
Today, we have a
burgeoning coalition of grassroots groups, union
organizations, and activists who will rally and march in support of
education and social justice. We are marching for
community-based, equitably-funded schools that are the
heart of neighborhoods.
We stand and march for:
·
Full, equitable funding for all public
schools
·
Safe, racially just schools and
communities
·
Community leadership in public school
policies
·
Professional, diverse educators for all
students
·
No high-stakes standardized testing
The Save Our Schools Coalition for
Action envisions a mass gathering of
like-minded people – from all walks of life and with
diverse causes – speaking and marching in solidarity once
more. We envision bold actions and expressions of
resistance for children and adults alike, which foster
awareness and camaraderie in the movement. Join us in Washington D.C. on
July 8-10th to celebrate democracy by living it. The
general schedule for the event is:
·
July 8th: Rally
& March (Lincoln
Memorial)
·
July 9th: National & International
Summit with family and kid-friendly events (at Howard
University)
·
July 10th: Coalition Congress – member
organizations meet to plan next steps for the movement
This is an election year, and surely
there can be no better time to show our government and our
fellow citizens, “This is what democracy looks like!” We
look forward to marching with you this summer in D.C.!
Save Our Schools Coalition Demands, Principles
Wednesday, March 9, 2016
A MAJOR HISTORIC EVENT: More than 2,000 Boston public school students walk out of class to protest budget cuts
More than 2,000 Boston public school students walk out of class to protest budget cuts
Students marched through downtown Boston and converged on Boston Common.
Ryan Breslin/Boston.com
Daphne Partridge spent Monday
morning debating whether to walk out of her class at Boston Teachers
Union School. The blond sixth grader worried she might be suspended for
abruptly standing up and leaving, but, more than that, she worried about
what would happen if she didn’t walk out.
As she stood cheering and shouting on the
Common with more than 2,000 other students from across the school
system, Partridge knew she’d made the right choice.
“At our school we’re worried about
language programs being taken away, but now that we’re here we see the
ways all the other schools are affected,” she said. “It’s crazy how many
kids are here. But it makes me feel like I have a voice.”
The students marched through downtown Boston after walking out of class
to protest planned budget cuts, carrying signs and chanting, “What do
we want? Education!,” as shoppers and onlookers walking down Newbury
Street pulled out their cell phones to record the demonstration.
Students made their way in large throngs toward Boston Common, the State House, and Faneuil Hall, on foot and by bus, despite warnings from the school district that they would be marked absent if they left class.
“Pretty much every student in my class
walked out. I don’t think there’s anyone left,” said Harry Saunders, a
senior at Snowden International School. “But I’m surprised how many
people are here.”
Protest organizers posted a letter on Twitter
prior to the walkout stating that budget cuts next year will prohibit
students from learning “at full capacity” and “make it impossible to get
into the college of your dreams.”
The city’s public schools are facing the
deficit due to rising expenses and a decline in state and federal aid.
The exact amount of the deficit, however, has yet to be determined. The
initial budget shortfall was estimated at about $50 million, though the
mayor’s office has said the total figure will be lower when the school
committee votes on the final budget March 23.
-
Over 1,000 Boston public school students staged a walkout Monday afternoon, marching downtown, through Boston Common, and outside of Faneuil Hall. Ryan Breslin / Boston.com
This isn’t the first public protest
regarding the budget cuts. During February vacation week, several
hundred parents, teachers, and students held a rally in downtown Boston.
Many parents also protested outside of Mayor Marty Walsh’s “State of
the City” address in January. But this was the first student-organized
demonstration.
City Councilor Tito Jackson marched with
the students, and encouraged them to walk inside the State House to
voice their opinions.
“I’m so encouraged by the massive turnout
and voices of our young people,” he said. “They should be holding
lawmakers accountable. They should demand that they have enough teachers
who will encourage them to stay in their classrooms. They shouldn’t
lose their JV programs, which keep some kids involved and are a lifeline
for them. And they shouldn’t lose funding to charter schools.”
Jackson abruptly broke away from the rally
to go address two students who were fighting on the Common. After the
tussle, the crowd diminished, but several hundred students marched to
Faneuil Hall, where Walsh and Gov. Charlie Baker held a press conference
for a “Forbes Under 30” event.
Once the students realized Baker and Walsh
were no longer inside, they slowly began to walk away. Some students
went back to the State House, where they testified before the Joint
Committee on Education regarding funding.
About two dozen students remained in front of Faneuil Hall, including Nathan Metz-Lerman, a junior at Boston Latin Academy.
“We have to continue fighting,” he said
into a megaphone. “We’re not just gonna let our education be destroyed.
Who wants to do a chant?”
The remaining students cheered.
“They say cut back, we say fight back,” he said. “Cut back.”
“Fight back,” the crowd answered.
Then, as more students dispersed to go home to do homework, Metz-Lerman led the crowd in one last cheer.
“I believe,” he yelled, then paused. “That we. Will win.”
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Corporatizing MisEducation: Charter Schools
Friday, February 26, 2016
How to Get Rich From Public Schools (Without Actually Educating)
"Someday
people may wake up and demand more for their tax dollars and for their
children. But until then…There’s gold in them thar schools!" (Photo: Bullion Vault/flickr/cc)
Gold!
There’s gold in them thar schools!
Don’t believe me?
When you drive by an inner city school, it doesn’t exactly look like the Taj Mahal. Does it? Even relatively upscale suburban schools wouldn’t be mistaken for a house on MTV Cribs. And some of those fly-by night charter schools look more like prisons than Shangri-La.
But I’ve got it on good authority that there’s $1.3 trillion available for someone who knows how to take it.
That someone is Harold Levy, an expert on how to get rich through school privatization.
The former chancellor of the New York City School System has begun a second career managing an investment company.
“For-profit education is one of the largest U.S. investment markets, currently topping $1.3 trillion in value,” according to the Website for one of his master classes for rich investors.
Wooo-weee! That’s a lot of money!
To put it in context, that’s more than 10 times the amount the federal government spends on education per year. And it’s all yummy profit!
So how do you get your hands on some of those delicious taxpayer greenbacks?
You gotta’ invest.
No! I don’t mean increase education budgets for traditional public schools that can barely make ends meet! I mean invest in shiny new charter schools.
Here’s how it works.
Lend money to a for-profit company to build a new charter school. If you do it just right, you’re almost guaranteed to double or triple your money in seven years.
You’ll want to take advantage of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), which began in 2000 at the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration. This will give you a whooping 39 percent tax credit. But here’s the best part, since it’s money you’re lending, you also get interest on it! And if that weren’t enough, you can piggyback all kinds of additional federal tax credits on top of that – things like historic preservation or job creation or Brownfield’s credits.
That doesn’t sound legal, does it? But it is!
In case that has you feeling queasy, you can hide what you’re doing by funneling the whole thing through a large non-profit organization like the Gates Foundation. They’ll be more than happy to help. They’ve done it for so many before you anyway.
However, make sure you whisk this money through something called a Community Development Entity (CDE). The federal website explains this can be either a “domestic corporation or partnership.” And it must have “a primary mission of serving LICs [Low Income Communities].” (Snicker!)
Here’s the best part. A CDE isn’t required to release information about who its donors are or how much they’re spending. So on paper the CDE – not you – gives the money to the non-profit, which, in turn, loans the money to a charter management organization. It’s like money laundering. No one can tell where the funds came from and thus it’s easy to escape from federal regulations or any appearance of wrongdoing.
There is a catch, however. You’re probably going to need a substantial amount of capital to put forward – at least a million bucks or so. No bank’s going to waste its time with only a few hundred thou.
This method is perfect for those who are already wealthy and want to increase their wealth or hedge fund managers out to boost their clients’ portfolios.
But maybe you just aren’t into the whole hedge fund game. Maybe you’re not the banking and investing type.
You can still make oodles of cash off public schools through real estate.
Here’s what you do – buy up cheap inner city properties that can be renovated or repurposed for charter schools. Then when a school privatization firm wants to set up shop in an impoverished city like Philadelphia, Chicago or Detroit, it needs someone like you to open the door.
You’ll get to charge the charter corporation rent and – get this – that’s not price capped! You can charge whatever you want! As long as you’ve got a good spot and no one else is trying to beat you to it, charter corporations are willing to pay bookoo bucks to get their money-making enterprises rolling!
A good rule of thumb comes from privatization expert Charter Schools USA, which recommends rental costs not exceed 20 percent of a school’s budget. However, there are plenty of examples of charter schools paying 25, 30 even up to 43 percent of their money just on rental costs! Ca-Ching!
And if you really want to boost the bottom line, open a charter school, yourself! That way you can both rent out the real estate and pay for it!
Think about it. Who sets the rental price? You do. Who pays the rental price? You do. So you can pay yourself WHATEVER YOU WANT! And where does the money come from? The taxpayers!
Doesn’t sound legal does it? But it is!
According to the Miami Herald, which conducted an in-depth investigation into these practices, many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools. Property records show at least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sitting on land whose owners are tied to management companies.
Of course there are so many other ways to set things up like this with a charter school. Unlike most traditional public schools, charters contract with for-profit companies for everything from curriculum development to construction. So there are many opportunities for creative investors to figure out how to both set the price and pay it TO THEMSELVES!
Moreover, every state has different laws about charter schools so check for loopholes. You’ll find ‘em!
Just don’t forget to set up that CDE to hide your shady dealings from the public. After all, if taxpayers could easily see how you’re sucking up their hard-earned money that they thought was going to help school children (Tee-hee!) they wouldn’t be happy.
And if you’re reading this from somewhere outside of the USA, don’t despair. You, too, can make a ton of money off school privatization in the United States. It’s like the Statue of Liberty says – wealthy foreign nationals welcome! (Or something like that.)
Since the Immigration Act of 1990, investors have been allowed to purchase visas for their families by investing in U.S. corporations. Just stash some cash into a hotel, ski resort or charter school and – voilà! – Move directly to GO and collect way more than $200!
It’s called the EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors. For the low price of at least $1 million -or $500,000 to a rural or high unemployment neighborhood — you can get visas for the whole family.
Sounds like some crazy new loophole – right? It isn’t. It’s been around for decades. Every year, the federal government hands out 10,000 of these visas. So while Syrian refugee children drown seeking asylum, wealthy foreign nationals get an express ticket to the US of A.
You might be thinking, ‘That gets me into the country, but where do I cash in?’ Easy. You now have a stake in a U.S. charter school and have access to all the same easy money as native-born investors.
It’s an incredibly lucrative model even for those more interested in the Prophet than profit.
Just look at Gulen charter schools. It’s the largest single charter school network in the country. More than 150 schools in Texas, Ohio, Illinois and other cities are funded by Turkish investors following an Islamic nationalist named Fetullaf Gülen. These schools are part of a “worldwide religious, social and nationalistic movement in his name,” according to the New York Times.
Be warned. Many of these schools are under investigation for using U.S. taxpayer dollars meant to educate U.S. children in non-educational or otherwise shady ways. Some of this tax revenue has allegedly been spent on political and religious causes championed by the Prophet Gülen. Other funds have gone to controversial educational practices. For instance, instead of hiring local teachers, the chain is infamous for shipping in Turkish educators to the United States. As if it wouldn’t be cheaper to hire locals! And guess where the money comes from to pay for these Turkish teachers’ visas? That’s right – from the charter school’s funding!
Still. Even with a few setbacks, there’s never been a better time to invest in the privatization of public education. Sure there are financial, behavioral and educational scandals at charter schools throughout the country being discovered everyday. But fortune favors the brave!
Money is just hanging on the tree waiting to be plucked. It’s hard to walk into a charter school and not come out with pockets fit to bursting with cold, hard cash.
In fact, the only folks not making bank in this whole scheme are the teachers!
Don’t be one of them.
Teachers at charter schools – where unionizing is often prohibited – take home even less than those working at traditional public schools. And those traditional educators aren’t getting rich, either.
A new report by the Center for American Progress argues that U.S. teachers usually have bad starting pay and are unlikely to see major salary gains even after several years of teaching.
Growth in teacher salaries is especially bad when comparing the U.S. to other developed countries:
“The bottom line is that mid- and late-career teachers are not earning what they deserve, nor are they able to gain the salaries that support a middle-class existence,” the report concluded.
There appears to be a golden rule in education: the less you actually help students learn, the more money you get to take home.
Perhaps if public schools were kept out of private hands where profit is the overwhelming motivation for everything you do, things would be different. But thank goodness that isn’t happening!
Someday people may wake up and demand more for their tax dollars and for their children. But until then…There’s gold in them thar schools!
Don’t be a sap. Don’t be a teacher. Don’t help children. Invest in a fly-by-night charter school and get rich!
There’s gold in them thar schools!
Don’t believe me?
When you drive by an inner city school, it doesn’t exactly look like the Taj Mahal. Does it? Even relatively upscale suburban schools wouldn’t be mistaken for a house on MTV Cribs. And some of those fly-by night charter schools look more like prisons than Shangri-La.
But I’ve got it on good authority that there’s $1.3 trillion available for someone who knows how to take it.
That someone is Harold Levy, an expert on how to get rich through school privatization.
The former chancellor of the New York City School System has begun a second career managing an investment company.
“For-profit education is one of the largest U.S. investment markets, currently topping $1.3 trillion in value,” according to the Website for one of his master classes for rich investors.
Wooo-weee! That’s a lot of money!
To put it in context, that’s more than 10 times the amount the federal government spends on education per year. And it’s all yummy profit!
So how do you get your hands on some of those delicious taxpayer greenbacks?
You gotta’ invest.
No! I don’t mean increase education budgets for traditional public schools that can barely make ends meet! I mean invest in shiny new charter schools.
Here’s how it works.
Lend money to a for-profit company to build a new charter school. If you do it just right, you’re almost guaranteed to double or triple your money in seven years.
You’ll want to take advantage of the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC), which began in 2000 at the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration. This will give you a whooping 39 percent tax credit. But here’s the best part, since it’s money you’re lending, you also get interest on it! And if that weren’t enough, you can piggyback all kinds of additional federal tax credits on top of that – things like historic preservation or job creation or Brownfield’s credits.
That doesn’t sound legal, does it? But it is!
In case that has you feeling queasy, you can hide what you’re doing by funneling the whole thing through a large non-profit organization like the Gates Foundation. They’ll be more than happy to help. They’ve done it for so many before you anyway.
However, make sure you whisk this money through something called a Community Development Entity (CDE). The federal website explains this can be either a “domestic corporation or partnership.” And it must have “a primary mission of serving LICs [Low Income Communities].” (Snicker!)
Here’s the best part. A CDE isn’t required to release information about who its donors are or how much they’re spending. So on paper the CDE – not you – gives the money to the non-profit, which, in turn, loans the money to a charter management organization. It’s like money laundering. No one can tell where the funds came from and thus it’s easy to escape from federal regulations or any appearance of wrongdoing.
There is a catch, however. You’re probably going to need a substantial amount of capital to put forward – at least a million bucks or so. No bank’s going to waste its time with only a few hundred thou.
This method is perfect for those who are already wealthy and want to increase their wealth or hedge fund managers out to boost their clients’ portfolios.
But maybe you just aren’t into the whole hedge fund game. Maybe you’re not the banking and investing type.
You can still make oodles of cash off public schools through real estate.
Here’s what you do – buy up cheap inner city properties that can be renovated or repurposed for charter schools. Then when a school privatization firm wants to set up shop in an impoverished city like Philadelphia, Chicago or Detroit, it needs someone like you to open the door.
You’ll get to charge the charter corporation rent and – get this – that’s not price capped! You can charge whatever you want! As long as you’ve got a good spot and no one else is trying to beat you to it, charter corporations are willing to pay bookoo bucks to get their money-making enterprises rolling!
A good rule of thumb comes from privatization expert Charter Schools USA, which recommends rental costs not exceed 20 percent of a school’s budget. However, there are plenty of examples of charter schools paying 25, 30 even up to 43 percent of their money just on rental costs! Ca-Ching!
And if you really want to boost the bottom line, open a charter school, yourself! That way you can both rent out the real estate and pay for it!
Think about it. Who sets the rental price? You do. Who pays the rental price? You do. So you can pay yourself WHATEVER YOU WANT! And where does the money come from? The taxpayers!
Doesn’t sound legal does it? But it is!
According to the Miami Herald, which conducted an in-depth investigation into these practices, many of the highest rents are charged by landlords with ties to the management companies running the schools. Property records show at least 56 charter schools in Miami-Dade and Broward counties sitting on land whose owners are tied to management companies.
Of course there are so many other ways to set things up like this with a charter school. Unlike most traditional public schools, charters contract with for-profit companies for everything from curriculum development to construction. So there are many opportunities for creative investors to figure out how to both set the price and pay it TO THEMSELVES!
Moreover, every state has different laws about charter schools so check for loopholes. You’ll find ‘em!
Just don’t forget to set up that CDE to hide your shady dealings from the public. After all, if taxpayers could easily see how you’re sucking up their hard-earned money that they thought was going to help school children (Tee-hee!) they wouldn’t be happy.
And if you’re reading this from somewhere outside of the USA, don’t despair. You, too, can make a ton of money off school privatization in the United States. It’s like the Statue of Liberty says – wealthy foreign nationals welcome! (Or something like that.)
Since the Immigration Act of 1990, investors have been allowed to purchase visas for their families by investing in U.S. corporations. Just stash some cash into a hotel, ski resort or charter school and – voilà! – Move directly to GO and collect way more than $200!
It’s called the EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors. For the low price of at least $1 million -or $500,000 to a rural or high unemployment neighborhood — you can get visas for the whole family.
Sounds like some crazy new loophole – right? It isn’t. It’s been around for decades. Every year, the federal government hands out 10,000 of these visas. So while Syrian refugee children drown seeking asylum, wealthy foreign nationals get an express ticket to the US of A.
You might be thinking, ‘That gets me into the country, but where do I cash in?’ Easy. You now have a stake in a U.S. charter school and have access to all the same easy money as native-born investors.
It’s an incredibly lucrative model even for those more interested in the Prophet than profit.
Just look at Gulen charter schools. It’s the largest single charter school network in the country. More than 150 schools in Texas, Ohio, Illinois and other cities are funded by Turkish investors following an Islamic nationalist named Fetullaf Gülen. These schools are part of a “worldwide religious, social and nationalistic movement in his name,” according to the New York Times.
Be warned. Many of these schools are under investigation for using U.S. taxpayer dollars meant to educate U.S. children in non-educational or otherwise shady ways. Some of this tax revenue has allegedly been spent on political and religious causes championed by the Prophet Gülen. Other funds have gone to controversial educational practices. For instance, instead of hiring local teachers, the chain is infamous for shipping in Turkish educators to the United States. As if it wouldn’t be cheaper to hire locals! And guess where the money comes from to pay for these Turkish teachers’ visas? That’s right – from the charter school’s funding!
Still. Even with a few setbacks, there’s never been a better time to invest in the privatization of public education. Sure there are financial, behavioral and educational scandals at charter schools throughout the country being discovered everyday. But fortune favors the brave!
Money is just hanging on the tree waiting to be plucked. It’s hard to walk into a charter school and not come out with pockets fit to bursting with cold, hard cash.
In fact, the only folks not making bank in this whole scheme are the teachers!
Don’t be one of them.
Teachers at charter schools – where unionizing is often prohibited – take home even less than those working at traditional public schools. And those traditional educators aren’t getting rich, either.
A new report by the Center for American Progress argues that U.S. teachers usually have bad starting pay and are unlikely to see major salary gains even after several years of teaching.
Growth in teacher salaries is especially bad when comparing the U.S. to other developed countries:
“The bottom line is that mid- and late-career teachers are not earning what they deserve, nor are they able to gain the salaries that support a middle-class existence,” the report concluded.
There appears to be a golden rule in education: the less you actually help students learn, the more money you get to take home.
Perhaps if public schools were kept out of private hands where profit is the overwhelming motivation for everything you do, things would be different. But thank goodness that isn’t happening!
Someday people may wake up and demand more for their tax dollars and for their children. But until then…There’s gold in them thar schools!
Don’t be a sap. Don’t be a teacher. Don’t help children. Invest in a fly-by-night charter school and get rich!
Friday, January 22, 2016
VIDEO SERIES: Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Explained In Detail
Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed Broken Down Point By Point
Prof. Jason J. Campbell gives us 10 videos that help us understand the central ideas of Paulo Freire's seminal work on how the oppressed learn about the world about them and their power to transform it on their terms and not on the terms of the oppressor.------------------------------
------------------------------------
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Videos 4 thru 10 can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKTrdlVVDIs
Monday, December 21, 2015
High Stakes Testing and the Black Community: Just Say No!
Standardized tests? Principal Jamaal Bowman says 'Know your rights'.
President Obama recently spoke out against excessive standardized testing. The POTUS claimed that this issue, "takes the joy out of teaching and learning, both for them (teachers) and for the students". Long before Obama's declaration, Jamaal Bowman, Founding Principal of CASA (Cornerstone Academy for Social Action) in Bronx, NY, has been advocate for student and parent rights and the movement to opt out of standardized tests to promote more holistic approaches to assessment of student learning. Bowman speaks with YBE about the impact of standardized tests on Black and Brown students and offers his advice to their parents.
President Obama recently spoke out against excessive standardized testing. The POTUS claimed that this issue, "takes the joy out of teaching and learning, both for them (teachers) and for the students". Long before Obama's declaration, Jamaal Bowman, Founding Principal of CASA (Cornerstone Academy for Social Action) in Bronx, NY, has been advocate for student and parent rights and the movement to opt out of standardized tests to promote more holistic approaches to assessment of student learning. Bowman speaks with YBE about the impact of standardized tests on Black and Brown students and offers his advice to their parents.
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