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Response from the Change.org “help desk” re deceptive Rhee petition

Apr 30, 2011 16 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Goldenberg’s earlier post on this matter is here. If you’d like to weigh in on whether change.org should continue diverting nearly ALL signers of progressive education petitions  to Michelle Rhee’s, promoting the elimination of  teacher seniority protections, deceptively entitled “Save Great Teachers,” send a message to ben@change.org and cc. nonprofits@change.org  Also check out Rheefirst.org on [...]

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About Brizard: A message from the Rochester community to Chicago

Apr 30, 2011 1 Comment ›› leoniehaimson

Jean-Claude Brizard is leaving his post as Rochester Superintendent to become head of Chicago schools.

Here is a video of parents, teachers, students and community members warning Chicago about their new schools CEO.  PAA has chapters in Chicago and Rochester, and our members have supported each other and shared information.

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Ask Congress to reform NCLB now!

Apr 28, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

The US Congress is considering how to revise No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most important federal law that governs our public schools.  NCLB has been extremely damaging in the eyes of most parents, and needs fundamental reform.  Unfortunately, the Obama administration plans to make it [...]

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Regrets & clarification…after signing one of Michelle Rhee’s petitions

Apr 28, 2011 5 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Michael Paul Goldenberg, a PAA member and mathematics coach in Michigan, responds to an email from State Senator Pavlov  (see Pavlov’s note at the bottom). He received this email from Pavlov after inadvertently signing one of Michelle Rhee’s Student First petitions on change.org, which are deceptively phrased to oppose the laying off of great teachers, [...]

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A Very Testy Town Hall meeting in Boca Raton

Apr 28, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

by Rita M. Solnet If the audience had their way Thursday evening, I think the Don Estridge High Tech Middle School janitors might have found dumpsters filled with FCATs in a show of solidarity the morning after a testy Town Hall Meeting was held! U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch hosted an Education Town Hall in his [...]

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Chicago charter-funding group will pay to improve failing charters

Apr 25, 2011 1 Comment ›› pureparents

To every thing, turn, turn, turn… Catalyst Notebook reports that the Renaissance Schools Fund – which is about to “turnaround” its brand name and call itself “New Schools for Chicago” — is going to budget a few million to “restructure at least a handful of low-achieving charters.” Does that mean it’s time to reform “education [...]

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Sign our petition to reform NCLB!

Apr 25, 2011 4 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

The US Congress is considering how to revise No Child Left Behind, the Bush-era version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the most important federal law that governs our public schools.  NCLB has been extremely damaging in the eyes of most parents, and needs fundamental reform.  Unfortunately, the Obama administration plans to make it [...]

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Sign our petition against budget cuts to schools!

Apr 25, 2011 3 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

In states and districts all over the country, public school budgets are being slashed to the bone, and class sizes have increased at unprecedented rates.  Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives has proposed cutting federal aid to education by nearly $11 billion, which would lead to even larger classes, hurt millions of students, and cause [...]

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PAA’s Pamela Grundy at the White House

Apr 24, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Pamela is a parent at the Shamrock Gardens Elementary School in Charlotte NC, and a member of Mecklenburg Acts, an affiliate of Parents Across America.  She was chosen to be a part of the Mom Congress. by Pamela Grundy, cross posted at Seen from the ‘Rock The night before Barack Obama was elected President, I shook [...]

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Union-busting budget-cutting Supt. to be appointed in Katonah NY!

Apr 24, 2011 1 Comment ›› leoniehaimson

We have a terrible situation here in Katonah-Lewisboro, Westchester County, where Paul Kreutzer, a superintendent from New Berlin, Wisconsin, is about to be offered our  superintendent position in a back-room way by our school board and we have only until Tuesday evening to try to stop this. Kreutzer has done so much to harm his previous [...]

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Is the Chicago honeymoon over for Supt. Brizard, before even starting?

Apr 23, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

by Julie Woestehoff On the first day of spring break for the Chicago Public Schools, Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel came out with guns blazing, drawing clear battle lines with Chicago teachers and parents by announcing that he will appoint Jean-Claude Brizard as the district’s Chief Executive Officer. Brizard has been school superintendent in Rochester, N.Y., for [...]

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Closing Detroit school for pregnant teens; ground zero for democracy?

Apr 23, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

See Rachel Maddow’s show from March 22, in which she explains how Robert Bobb, the Broad-trained manager of Detroit schools, plans to close the Catherine Ferguson Academy,  a special public school for pregnant teens.  In the video,  the girls enrolled in the school are shown being arrested after protesting the school’s closure.

Recently, Bobb was given expanded “emergency powers” to do an end-run around democracy.  This is what he said according to the  April 8, Detroit News about his new powers: …I do drool when I think of the pace of change we could achieve under the new law.”

Bobb is paid $420,000 a year, with one third of his salary paid by two foundations that support charter schools, including the Broad Foundation.  Coincidentally (or not), he has decided to turn over about one third of the district’s schools to charter operators, or close them.

Another school slated for closure is Detroit’s Day School for the Deaf.  For more on this, see the website of By Any Means Necessary, the Daily Kos, or the Detroit News.

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Seattle speaks out; Newark, please listen!

Apr 22, 2011 No Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Check out the Seattle town hall meeting aired February 10, with parents and community members speaking out about the failed leadership of their Broad-trained Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson, who was recently fired from the post but is reportedly a top candidate for the Newark superintendency.

See also Sue Peter’s post, Seattle’s Fired Superintendent, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, on the short list for Newark School District’s top spot: Seattle says Huh??? — and Heads-up!

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An afternoon at Princeton with Arne Duncan

Apr 21, 2011 25 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

by Leonie Haimson Yesterday, I attended a speech by Education Secretary Arne Duncan at Princeton University.  I was accompanied by Justin Wedes, the webmaster and social media expert for Parents Across America, and parent activist Julie Sass Rubin of SOS New Jersey, a PAA affiliate. It was a gorgeous spring day, with the magnolias and [...]

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PAA press release on new ESEA position paper

Apr 20, 2011 2 Comments ›› pureparents

It’s time for lawmakers to listen to parents! National parent group reaches out to Congress on ESEA, demanding less testing and privatization and more proven, effective reforms As Congress considers the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, aka No Child Left Behind), Parents Across America, a national network of public school parents, [...]

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How to tell if your School District is infected by the Broad Virus

Apr 20, 2011 16 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

This was originally posted on seattleducation2011. For more information see: A Parent Guide to the Broad Foundation’s training programs and education policies by Parents Across America  (or as a pdf factsheet.) Chicago has just learned that it will inherit Rochester, New York’s controversial and unpopular school superintendent, Jean-Claude Brizard (Broad Superintendent’s Academy “Class of 2007″).  [...]

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A Parent Guide to the Broad Foundation’s programs and policies

Apr 19, 2011 24 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

This guide can also be downloaded as a pdf fact sheet. A Parent Guide to the Broad Foundation’s training programs and education policies The question I ask is why should Eli Broad and Bill Gates have more of a say as to what goes on in my child’s classroom than I do? – Sue Peters, [...]

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James Milgram on the new Core Curriculum standards in math

Apr 17, 2011 3 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Just as Sandra Stotsky has criticized the new Core Curriculum standards for English Language Arts in her testimony before the Texas legislature, in his testimony, James Milgram, Professor emeritus at Stanford and a member of the Common Core Validation committee, points out their  flaws in math: I would like to testify in support of the [...]

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Sandra Stotsky on the mediocrity of the Common Core ELA standards

Apr 17, 2011 12 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Parents have deep concerns about the Common Core standards and their associated assessments, signed onto by 43 states and the District of Columbia.  They have been adopted and developed in a rushed manner, because of pressure from the Gates Foundation and the US Department of Education, which threatened to withhold “Race to the Top” grants [...]

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More clap trap from CAP on class size reduction

Apr 16, 2011 3 Comments ›› leoniehaimson

Last week, the Center for American Progress released a report by Matthew Chingos, who previously wrote a highly-flawed critique of Florida’s class size reduction program.  (See my recent debate with Chingos on CNN.) CAP has put out a series of crude reports posing as educational research, but this must be one of the least impressive.  [...]

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