Plz add the following mail to ms stf louisamaryfran...@yahoo.co.in On 17-Apr-2016 8:39 AM, "Gurumurthy K" <itfc.stfk...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear teachers, > > Sometimes we hear of 'charter schools' as ways of reforming the public > education system. charter schools are being used in some states in USA to > privatise public education, and they are failing for obvious reasons - > pushing out children with marginalised backgrounds, taking out funds for > profit distribution to owners, focusing on failed/poor teaching methods > based on standardised assessments... read article on the Detroit schools > ... it is clear that privatising education is no solution to reforming the > public education system, privatisation is a remedy worse than the disease! > > > http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/35585-stop-oppressing-us-detroit-teachers-speak > > > "Stop Oppressing Us": Detroit Teachers Speak > Monday, 11 April 2016 00:00 By Eliza A. Webb, Truthout | News Analysis > > A new investigation by the US Attorney's Office has uncovered evidence of > long-lasting corruption within the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) system and > has charged 12 current and former Detroit principals with fabricating > invoices, evading taxes and taking $1 million in bribes and kickbacks from > the district's vendors. > > This newly unearthed scandal is wholly unsurprising to the teachers of > Detroit, who have seen corruption and injustice dominate the city's > education system since 1999, when state-appointed emergency managers were > first given the power to override Detroit's elected school board. > > "I've seen DPS decline. Each year it has gotten worse," said fourth-grade > teacher Yolanda Harris, who has worked in the district for 15 years. "It's > corruption." > "The governor [is] trying to silence any opposition. It's a scare tactic > to try and prevent any further teacher action." > > Beginning in mid-January 2016, an ongoing series of teacher sick-outs, > marches and protests have brought national attention to this corruption, > arguably leading to the investigation that uncovered the citywide bribery > scheme, as well as to the resignation of emergency manager Darnell Earley > -- but, teachers say, it is too little, too late. > > "We've already made our kids suffer and be at fault," said Jacob Robinson, > a primary school teacher. "It's such a sad and angering situation." > > Further stoking the teachers' anger is the fact that Earley has simply > been replaced by a new state-selected "transition manager," Steven Rhodes, > who holds virtually the exact same duties and high salary ($225,000) of an > emergency manager. > > "[Rhodes has] got to go, now," said Nicole Conaway, a teacher at East > English Village Preparatory Academy. "He's nothing more than the next > emergency manager, and that policy has to end. We need real democracy back > for the people of Detroit with an empowered, elected school board, now." > > Additionally, the teachers' actions, while bringing much-needed attention > to the dire straits of Detroit's schools, have also unleashed an > aggressive, statewide backlash. > > The Detroit school district has filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the > Detroit Federation of Teachers and its interim president, but is still > continuing to push for a preliminary injunction against Conaway and her > fellow Detroit teacher, Steve Conn. > > "The governor [is] trying to silence any opposition," Conaway said. "It's > a scare tactic to try and prevent any further teacher action. We will use > the trial as an opportunity to put [Gov. Rick] Snyder's policies on trial." > > Added to the teachers' opposition is the Michigan Legislature, led by > State Sen. Phil Pavlov (R-St. Clair), which is currently attempting to pass > three bills aimed at penalizing the city's educators and making such > sick-outs illegal. > > "We're talking about strengthening the strike legislation and to make sure > kids get the public education that they deserve," Pavlov said in early > February 2016. > > But teachers say this is exactly why they are protesting: Detroit's > children are not receiving the education they deserve underneath the > current state-controlled, financially starved, increasingly charterized > school system. > > "I look at each and every one of those kids as if they were one of my > own," said Mario Inchaustegui, a teacher at Maybury Elementary School. "We > just don't see who is advocating for [them]." > "Emergency management has not produced any measurable positive results in > Detroit Public Schools." > > Sixth-grade teacher William Weir concurs. "I was crestfallen when [former > emergency manager] Darnell Earley had a press conference at Martin Luther > King Jr. High School and decried teachers for protesting," Weir said. "How > could you, as an African-American man, stand in a school named after a man > whose civil disobedience was generated by unjust laws, and decry us for > protesting for our kids and our rights? That bothered me more than what > Pavlov proposed." > > "The teachers are not doing this without understanding the effect on the > students," said second-grade teacher Emily Simon. "The fact that we're > willing to do this anyway should be evidence of how extreme the issues are." > > Those issues include lack of educational materials, cuts in musical and > artistic programs, health and safety hazards, 40-student classrooms, overly > strict curriculums, excessive testing, the proliferation of charter schools > and the emergency manager laws that loom over the entire district. > > A School District Under Control > > Appointed by former Michigan Gov. John Engler and armed with the power to > override the city's school board, emergency managers first came to Detroit > Public Schools in 1999, when the district had a $93 million surplus. By the > end of the state's initial period of control in 2005, the surplus had > vanished, and in its place sat a $31 million deficit. > > "I started [in DPS] in 1994," Inchaustegui said. "DPS had its problems > then, [but] the emergency managers who were purportedly going to solve the > problems -- they exacerbated the problems." > > In 2009, under then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm, the state again took control > of DPS, and, since then, the system's debt has exploded to $515 million, > while the number of students in the district has shrunk by 50 percent, in > part because families are leaving the city, but also because of the > state-authorized spread of semiprivate, loosely regulated charter schools. > "Since the public can't hold the emergency manager accountable, the > governor must intervene and act to ensure they have a voice." > > "Emergency management has not produced any measurable positive results in > DPS," said Weir, who has been teaching in Detroit for almost 20 years. > "They've all come in and promised test scores will go up -- even though > [scores] have improved, they have not gone up in the amount the emergency > managers promised; class sizes have increased; teachers have lost [money] > in the form of pay and benefits. Nothing that they have promised has > changed, or had any positive impact at all." > > Although, as Weir says, reading and science test scores did improve under > emergency management, the achievement disparity between DPS students and > the rest of the state remained gaping, the debt increasingly worsened and > class sizes shot up, this year reaching 45 to 50 students per teacher. > > As Craig Thiel, a senior research associate at the Citizens Research > Council recently told The New York Times: > > We're on our fourth emergency manager here.... They each seem to be > borrowing from the same playbook: figure out a way to get through the > current year, end the year without going insolvent, and then push costs > onto the next year in the hopes that things will improve in some way. > They're dealing with these debts that should have been paid off years ago > that have instead been put on future budgets. > > Underneath emergency management, the district is also currently siphoning > off 40 percent of the money allocated for Detroit's children to pay its > long overdue debts. > > The CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, Gilda Jacobs, said the > statewide effects of these cuts have been drastic. "We have a state that is > lagging in the number of students who are reading by third grade," she > said. "If we want to have a strong, educated workforce, then we're really > going to have to ... put money into the K-12 education system." > > The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in its December 2015 report, > ranked Michigan's education cuts the 12th worst in the nation, and, in its > 2011 yearly ranking, Excellent Schools Detroit found that 75 percent of the > city's schools don't provide an adequate education. > "There's definitely a move toward privatization [of the school system], > but those moves are stronger in disadvantaged areas." > > Meanwhile, as the city's educational institutions flounder, Governor > Snyder has cut taxes for corporations by $1.7 billion (thereby foisting a > greater monetary burden upon working families); limited the ability of the > Treasury Department to hold corporate officers responsible for the unpaid > taxes of their corporations; and allowed the district's emergency managers > to be paid six-figure salaries by the cash-deprived communities of which > they are in charge. > > In 2014, the elected Detroit school board voted to oust the emergency > managers, but a judge ruled against their decision, and the emergency > managers remained. > > "We voted against the emergency managers, and then they came back out with > another bill," Harris said. "You took away our civil rights. You took away > the democratic process." > > Robert A. Sedler, a distinguished professor at Wayne State University Law > School, explained why Detroit's citizens have no power to overthrow or even > hold accountable their emergency managers: "The law is so broad and gives > so many powers that it's very difficult to find a violation ... I don't > know how many [lawsuits] have been filed, but none have been successful." > > In a 2012 letter to Snyder, the NAACP and Michigan Forward protested these > broad and unlimited powers, writing of the "failure of transparency and > accountability," and citing a "clear example of exclusion and voter > disenfranchisement" when the financial review team selected for Detroit met > in Lansing, about 100 miles away. > > As Martin O'Neill, a teacher at Davis Aerospace Technical High School, > said, "No one can tell you how they're spending the money. There's no > oversight." > > The ACLU wrote a similar letter to Snyder in 2014, urging him to "ensure > transparency and implement methods for the public to hold emergency > managers accountable for their decisions." Mark P. Fancher, staff attorney > for the ACLU's Michigan Racial Justice Project, added that, "Since the > public can't hold the emergency manager accountable, the governor must > intervene and act to ensure they have a voice." > > "This is the new Jim Crow," Conaway told Truthout. "This is stripping away > the rights of Black and Latino and minority students, and attempting to > create another second-class status." > > Poverty and Racism in Detroit > > Detroit is the poorest major city in the United States, with 40 percent of > its residents living below the poverty line, and more children living in > extreme destitution than any other large US city. > > Children who grow up in poverty face mental and physical health issues > that wealthy children do not: hunger, crowded living conditions, affected > brain development, financial worry, toxic levels of stress, higher chances > of abuse and neglect. > "The privatization and charterization of schools is a failing experiment." > > Detroit is also, at 82 percent of the population, majority Black. This > means that from birth, many of the city's children are victims of the > systemic poverty and oppression borne of the United States' living legacy > of racism: from the slavery, Jim Crow and "separate but equal" of the > not-so-distant past, to today's housing discrimination, redlining (denying > services, either directly or by selectively raising prices, to communities > of color), lower pay, institutional racism in colleges and universities, > job discrimination, obstruction of voting rights, police brutality, > punitive juvenile legal system, extreme incarceration, and, as found in > DPS, unequal K-12 public education. > > "People refuse to recognize that institutionalized racism and oppression > is happening," Robinson said. "But whether people want to accept [it] or > not, the statistics are there to prove it." > > Despite these monumental challenges, the education of Detroit's children > -- one of the keys toward ensuring equality and eliminating poverty -- is > actually less well-funded than the schooling of their wealthy counterparts > (Michigan's schools are the fourth-most regressively funded in the United > States). > > Along with the city's debt, this means that Detroit's children are > receiving less than half as much funding as their peers in Bloomfield > Hills, Michigan, a wealthy, majority white suburb north of the city. > > "We do not have the funding that suburban schools have," Weir said. "And, > on top of that, [over] a third of our money is being taken to pay for the > debt, which is totally unfair." > > According to the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Michigan is one of the > worst states nationwide for guaranteeing Black children, who > disproportionately grow up in urban areas like Detroit, an equal, effective > education. > > Additionally, teachers say, the proliferation of charter schools has > detrimentally targeted their low-income, at-risk students. > > "There's definitely a move toward privatization [of the school system], > but those moves are stronger in disadvantaged areas," Inchaustegui said. > "They're not opening charter schools over in Northville and Novi." > > The Charterization of Detroit > > In 2011, Gov. Rick Snyder signed Public Act 277, lifting Michigan's cap on > charter schools and thereby allowing the explosion of semiprivate > educational institutions across the state -- and especially in the city of > Detroit. In 2006, 20 percent of Detroit's school-age children were enrolled > in charter schools. Eight years later, that percentage had shot up to 55 > percent. > > A yearlong 2014 investigation by the Detroit Free Press found that > "Michigan taxpayers pour nearly $1 billion a year into charter schools -- > but state laws regulating charters are among the nation's weakest, and the > state demands little accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent and > how well children are educated." > > The abuses unearthed by the newspaper include improvident spending; > charter school officials, founders and other employees using their power to > secure "lucrative deals" for themselves and their fellow insiders; charter > schools that stay open for years "despite poor academic records"; and no > state standards for the operation or oversight of these charters. > > At the root of these abuses, teachers say, is the fact that over > three-quarters of Michigan's charter schools are run by for-profit > companies. > > Teachers tell stories of how charter school companies come in, line their > friends up with well-paying gigs, make millions, and, in some cases, the > schools fail, and then the companies leave with their multimillion-dollar > profits. > > "I want people to look at how each one of these companies have made > millions of dollars," Weir said. "They have left, and education scores have > not gotten any better." > > As a former Michigan Education Association representative and a former > National Education Association representative, Inchaustegui has seen this > happen across Detroit. "If you look at the legislation, it definitely > points to the direction of 'We want to privatize, or charterize, Detroit.'" > > Meanwhile, the charter schools are not sufficiently educating Detroit's > children. > > Recent research from the Stanford University CREDO Research Center shows > that 80 percent of Michigan's charter schools have academic achievement > below the state average in reading, and 84 percent have lower academic > achievement in math. > > Roughly 70 percent of charter schools in Detroit ranked in the bottom > quarter of all Michigan public schools in 2013-14. Additionally, among > Detroit charter districts with high Black student enrollment, two-thirds of > the students performed below Detroit Public Schools on the state's 2013 > eighth grade math assessment. > > "The privatization and charterization of schools is a failing experiment," > said Weir, "and it's disproportionately in poor, Black and disenfranchised > neighborhoods." > > Effects on Detroit's Children > > Statewide, Michigan's high school graduation rates have risen in recent > years, but Detroit Public Schools' rate still lags behind most other > districts by 10 to 15 percentage points. > > As Weir said, "They're not prepared for the 21st century -- what else are > they going to do? They're headed for that school-to-prison pipeline. We > hate that we are a part of that." > > Children who do not graduate from high school have much higher chances of > ending up in jail or juvenile detention and will earn $10,386 less per year > than the typical high school graduate (and $36,424 less than a college > graduate). > > In 2010, 14.7 percent of male high school dropouts aged 18-34 spent time > behind bars, while only 3 percent of male high school graduates in the same > age group were incarcerated. > > "If you have an entire society of young people that aren't getting the > education they need -- if they dropped out of high school, they're not > going to get a job, so what are they going to turn to?" asked former > kindergarten teacher Nancy Pate, who taught in Detroit for 16 years before > quitting this January because of DPS's rampant problems. > > "When you don't have the necessary education that you need, it's > definitely going to contribute in the future to the jobs that [our kids] > can hold," Harris said. "Those skills [are built] up from primary, to > elementary, to high school -- and if those resources are not being > provided, our kids are really not going to be prepared as well as another > district that has those resources for their children. There has to be > equality." > > The Future > > No matter what happens, Detroit's teachers say they will continue to fight > for their children until they get an equal and fair education. > > As Conaway said, "This is the most dynamic movement I've ever been in in > my life to restore civil rights ... This is our opportunity to make > history, to restore democratic rights, against these outrageous racist > attacks ... [We want] the restoration of a fully empowered, elected school > board to Detroit, and then we can negotiate to stop the selling off of our > schools to charters. The key for the teachers right now is to keep this > momentum going and to unite." > > When asked what's needed for the education system of Detroit to prosper, > Robinson responded, "For [the state] to stop oppressing these > neighborhoods, and these towns, and these cities. Allow them to be how they > were, under elected control, and take away the systemic oppression ... Our > communities don't need the saving grace of white people; we just need to be > allowed to flourish and do what we want to do to rise their city up. > > "Stop oppressing us." > Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission. > Eliza A. Webb > > © 2016 Truthout > > > > > IT for Change, Bengaluru > www.ITforChange.net > > -- > 1. If a teacher wants to join STF, visit > http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Become_a_STF_groups_member > 2. For STF training, visit KOER - > http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php > 4. For Ubuntu 14.04 installation, visit > http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Kalpavriksha > 4. For doubts on Ubuntu, public software, visit > http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions > 5. Are you using pirated software? Use Sarvajanika Tantramsha, see > http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Why_public_software > ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಇಲಾಖೆಗೆ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Maths & Science STF" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to mathssciencestf+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to mathssciencestf@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/mathssciencestf. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- 1. If a teacher wants to join STF, visit http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Become_a_STF_groups_member 2. For STF training, visit KOER - http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php 4. For Ubuntu 14.04 installation, visit http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Kalpavriksha 4. For doubts on Ubuntu, public software, visit http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions 5. Are you using pirated software? Use Sarvajanika Tantramsha, see http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Why_public_software ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ಇಲಾಖೆಗೆ ಸಾರ್ವಜನಿಕ ತಂತ್ರಾಂಶ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Maths & Science STF" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to mathssciencestf+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to mathssciencestf@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/mathssciencestf. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
