Schedule for 2014 PAA Leadership Conference Day 1 – Monday July 28 10 am to 6 pm (optional) – Join BATS march. More info here. Beginning at 8:30 am (optional) – Meet your legislators on Capitol Hill. Pick up PAA materials if you have not already downloaded them (location TBA). We will coordinate communications and visits as we get closer to the day. Anytime after 3:00 pm – Check in at George Washington University Inn (GWUI), 824 … →
By PAA-Suburban Philadelphia leader Danielle Schwartz, reprinted from her excellent blog, What’s the Big Idea? Politicians are ignoring research, allowing re-segregation, and supporting charter schools over public. As I posted here, economist, Milton Friedman developed the concept of school choice in 1955, a year after desegregation. Friedman wrote about his desire for parents to chose if their children would attend racially desegregated schools: ” Under (a choice) system, there can develop exclusively white schools, exclusively colored schools, and mixed schools. … →
By PAA-Suburban Philadelphia leader Danielle Schwartz, reprinted from her excellent blog, What’s the Big Idea? In President Obama’s Proclamation on the anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, he confuses those of us who fully understand the fallout of this administration’s decisions and actions on public education. He states, “On the 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, let us heed the words of Justice Thurgood Marshall, who so ably argued the case against segregation, “None of us got … →
North Carolina Parents call on General Assembly to end Read to Achieve Contacts: Pamela Grundy, Mecklenburg ACTS.org, pamgrundy@earthlink.net, 704-806-0410 Janna Robertson, UNC-Wilmington Dropout Prevention Coalition, Robertsonj@uncw.edu, 910-777-1930 Ilina Ewen, third-grade parent, Raleigh, theewens@gmail.com, 919-632-2915 MecklenburgACTS.org, Fix Read to Achieve Now and a coalition of concerned North Carolina parents call on our fellow parents across the state to urge their state representatives to end the disastrous Read to Achieve program, and to invest instead in more efficient and effective … →
This week the U.S. House is likely to pass HR 10, what we call the charter expansion bill. Then it is on track to move to the Senate. So, now’s the time to contact your Senators and tell them that parents’ CHOICE is more resources for local schools, not more money for charter schools. It wouldn’t hurt to contact your Congressman, too – they haven’t voted yet! Here’s what PAA faxed to every U.S. Senator today (and you can send … →
By Danielle Arnold-Schwartz, leader of PAA-Suburban Philadelphia I am grateful to live in a country where we have had First Amendment rights since 1791. “This clause prohibits the government from banning speech because it does not agree with the message… James Madison pointed to freedom of speech as a vital aspect of a healthy republic. While originally written to apply to actions of the federal government, the Supreme Court incorporated it into state governments through the Fourteenth Amendment in the … →
From Deb Mayer, leader of PAA affiliate Oregon Save Our Schools: Oregon Save Our Schools and other interested parties, with PPS school board member Steve Buel at the helm, has put together a resolution calling for a three-year moratorium on CC$$ in Oregon. Here’s the article in today’s Oregonian and the statement from Buel below, followed by the resolution, which Deb suggests could be used as a model by other communities. COMMON CORE PPS RESOLUTION Here is the copy of … →
By Steven Norton, PAA Board of Directors member and head of PAA affiliate Michigan Parents for Schools After a bruising vote in the House, the Michigan Senate is slated to take up the latest version of HB 4369, the state school takeover bill. Most people, including us, have been calling this the “EAA bill,” but that’s a misnomer. The latest version of the bill doesn’t even mention the Education Achievement Authority by name, though it would allow the EAA to … →
(En Inglés) La Voz de los Padres Facsímil sobre la Educación 10 de abril de 2014 Padres se OPONEN al Proyecto de Ley de la Cámara de Representantes HR 10, Éxito y Oportunidades Mediante las Escuelas Charter,” ( Success and Opportunity Through Charter Schools”). La posición de PAA: La organización nacional de padres, Parents Across America ( PAA), se opone a cualquier intento de privatizar la educación pública mediante la expansión de las escuelas charter, los vales, o cualquier otro … →
After months of parent pushback on the threat to student data privacy, a campaign spearheaded by PAA co-founder Leonie Haimson of NYC’s Class Size Matters, inBloom today announced that they are closing their offices. We congratulate Leonie and all of the parents, teachers, students and others around the country who stood up and spoke out against the potential commercialization of our children’s school information. Here’s Leonie’s statement: Today’s announcement that inBloom is closing its doors will hopefully make government officials, … →
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