Years of school reforms have stripped public schools of disability services, creating problems for parents (See Carl Peterson’s recent Exterminating Special Education). Parents may turn to charter, parochial or private schools, online learning, or homeschooling, only to find choices lacking, or the school may not want their child, leaving parents in the lurch. Charter Schools […]
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. […]
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 […]
Benton Harbor’s Schools are America’s Schools! Tell Gov. Whitmer, Ed. Sec. Betsy DeVos, and the MEA!
Everything in the dark comes to the light. ~Former BHHS student. Across the country, citizens, parents, and educators have watched their public schools close due to underfunding and high-stakes student testing. These schools are predominately black, Hispanic, and poor. Public education with elected school boards are democratic institutions. Closing a school or school district, or […]
Mother’s Day 2019: Moms Want Their Children To Be Safe at School!
If mothers could have anything they wanted for Mother’s Day, they would say I want my child to be safe. I want them to be safe at school! Here’s why they worry they aren’t. The NRA After Sandy Hook, most of us thought the NRA would scale back its rigid position about gun control, especially […]
How is School Choice “Freedom” When Students Lose School Libraries and Librarians?
Libraries allow children to ask questions about the world and find the answers. And the wonderful thing is that once a child learns to use a library, the doors to learning are always open. ~Laura Bush What choice and charter advocates don’t advertise is that most charter schools don’t invest in school libraries with qualified […]
How DeVos & Co. Use Special Ed. to Privatize Public Schools and End Student Services
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her corporate friends are about dumping civil rights protections regarding IDEA. Special education has become a means to transform public education into choice and charter schools while ending student services. This is done by defunding special education and convincing parents that services don’t matter. Dismantling services in public schools shouldn’t be allowed. […]
Love OUR Public Schools: Children & Their Teachers!
On this one-year anniversary of the shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School, I am remembering the students and their parents and teachers, especially those who lost loved ones. MSD represents a great public school. Beyond the sadness of that day, we saw what a good public school can be. We saw loving, supportive parents. […]
School Choice Deception: Florida’s Plan and Students Who Don’t Measure Up
Florida is a bellwether state. What happens to schools there will move to other states in one form or another. I would like to share a personal story of how I met school choice as a teacher in Florida and how it helped cement in me the desire to advocate for a public school system […]
How Do We Stop Bullying? Florida’s New Voucher Scam Doesn’t Ask that Question
Behind bullying behavior we usually find a depressed individual who needs help. We need to understand why a child bullies and get them that help so they will stop bullying. Most people understand how serious the issue of bullying is to children and the country, and how schools should be on the forefront of addressing […]