Are community schools privatizing public education from within through partnerships? If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, isn’t it a duck? It’s hard to distinguish the Biden administration’s Full-Service Community Schools and Charter School difference (see below). Americans fail to invest in schools and children have unmet […]
Cult-Like Social-Emotional Learning? Questioning Valor Charters and Powered by Compass
How many hours during the school day should students reflect upon how they think and act? Valor Collegiate Charter Schools focus heavily on social-emotional learning (SEL). They aggressively market their program Powered by Compass to schools. Students gather in circles to contemplate their lives and analyze their behavior. Valor’s philanthropic partners include the Bill & […]
Green Schools: Are they Child and Teacher Friendly and Public?
Environmentally friendly school facilities are critical. Teaching students environmental awareness and how to be good stewards of the earth is imperative. But are new green school buildings encompassing a whole curriculum? Are they practical, focused on the environment and the students, supportive of real teachers, designed to be democratic and public, or are they about […]
A Chat About Public Schools with Eli Broad’s Ghost
When someone gets to the other side, if they look back, do they question how they could have led their life differently, in this case, in particular, the late Eli Broad and his influence on public education? First, it’s troubling the United States doesn’t tax the wealthy the way they should and that Americans don’t […]
Where’s the Biden Administration on School Problems Facing Students, Teachers, and Parents?
The pandemic showed us that public schools are critical. Understandably, Covid-19 has been front and center. But the Biden administration glosses over or is silent on critical school issues. Sometimes these topics are front and center not in a good way in State legislatures or ignored altogether. Frustrated parents will seek alternatives, and there’s a […]
Education Unity? Save Democratic Public Schools!
Congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris! How refreshing to hear a President speak of uniting the country and saving America’s democratic institutions. One of the largest institutions is the public school system, run by local school boards, supported by the states, with oversight and administration by the federal government. President Biden […]
Selling Charter School Class Size as “Innovative Medical Experimentation” During Covid-19
Efforts to destroy public schooling in America have not disappeared during the pandemic. While Education Secretary Betsy DeVos displays her hatred for public education, especially with Fairfax County public school teachers, DC Charter Schools are advertising innovations during the pandemic. They’re promoting smaller class sizes as innovative medical experimentation. Their innovations, however, are not ingenious. […]
The Longtime Plan for Screens to Replace Teachers: School Choice the Prenda Way
No matter your viewpoint on the coronavirus, for those who care about democratic public schools, our fears merge when it comes to worrying that technology will replace teachers and end those schools. Covid-19 is the perfect storm, and Prenda micro-schools are the prototype. These are schools that focus on commercial tech programs without real teachers. […]
Impact of President Trump’s Covid-19 Deception on Public Schools
The chief function of a President is to make responsible decisions and to keep Americans safe, especially children and society’s most vulnerable. Bob Woodward, in his new book Rage tells of a president who was publicly playing down the coronavirus threat without acknowledging the severity of the virus, which has now claimed over 190,000 American […]
Is She Focused on Grizzlies Again? DeVos Fails to See the Covid-19 Danger to ALL Schools!
Sidestepping Covid-19 to focus on school choice is like DeVos skipping over gun safety concerns about schools to focus on the threat of grizzly bears. I’m of course referring to comments made during her confirmation hearing. Once again, she fails to focus on the real risk. Covid-19 is not going to discriminate between schools. It […]