I should correct that statement. It¹s not just Philly schools. It¹s PA schools. It¹s urban schools. Eventually, if that succeeds, it will be suburban schools.
Kimm On 5/3/12 10:48 PM, "Kimm Tynan" <kimm.ty...@verizon.net> wrote: > This is an absolute must-read article for anyone concerned about what is > happening to our public school system in Philadelphia. And just reinforces > what I said below re the importance of alternative media. Dan Denvir is > starting to look like Philadelphia¹s Matt Taibbi. > > Enjoy (h/t Amara Rockar/WPCNS). > > Kimm > > http://www.citypaper.net/news/2012-05-03-whos-killing-philly-public-schools.ht > ml > > > > On 4/27/12 1:10 AM, "Kimm Tynan" <kimm.ty...@verizon.net> wrote: > >> Wilma, >>> >>> So the carving up of Philadelphia public schools IS a national story. It's >>> just one that corporate media won't tell. Not in Philly, not in LA, not in >>> Kansas City or anywhere, for fear that ordinary people might try to write >>> themselves into a leading role. Polls show that the American people don't >>> want their schools privatized, and don't believe education should be run by >>> business people like a business. People want to take the money we spend on >>> wars and bailouts and use it on education. Telling the story might give >>> people the notion that the ultimate power is in their hands, not of mayors >>> and chambers of commerce or the so-called ³CEOs² of school system. It's time >>> that story was told, and more of us heard it. >> >> Reflecting on the Roebuck/Muhammad race, this paragraph really resonated. >> One of the things that struck me about this election is the powerful role >> that the internet and alternative media played in Muhammad¹s and her >> funders¹/handlers - defeat. The neighborhood listservs, especially UC >> Neighbors, galvanized grassroots opposition to Muhammad very early on by >> facilitating people¹s ability to talk to each other. Alternative media, the >> City Paper and West Philly Local and yes, even Tony West, did the early >> investigative digging that raised the early questions about where her money >> was coming from and the agenda behind her candidacy. From there, citizens >> started asking questions and googling madly, searching and finding new online >> resources to investigate candidates campaign finance reports, Google street >> view of ³Women for Change²¹s headquarters . . . . and people shared what they >> learned online. And then even better, outstanding, investigative reporting >> on this tiny local race with huge ramifications appeared on Alternet. And >> out of all of that communication and information people formed their >> opinions and made their decisions. Educated, informed, thoughtful decisions, >> in my opinion. >> >> One night, close to Election Day, I searched philly.com for articles on >> Fatimah Muhammad. I found a bit of stuff, but I was astonished at how little >> there was. >> >> Many people reading this are probably saying, ³Well, duh . . .² I get that >> many people gave up on mainstream media the day the Internet was invented, >> but not all of us are geeks. I loathe Twitter and I am a Facebook refusnik >> on principal. My undergrad degree was in journalism, at one time I thought I >> was going to be the next Bob Woodward. And, corporate or not, there was a >> day, before their staffs were decimated, in part by hedge-fund guys, when the >> Inky and Daily News were outstanding newspapers doing outstanding >> investigative reporting. Capitalist, profit-driven principles fail the >> media as much as they do the schools.They still are, in spite of everything, >> hence the most recent Pulitzer, and they are worthy of saving, IMO. But I >> couldn¹t help feeling wow, they have become so irrelevant. Bob Baer had a >> column about how boring this election was. Yes, I understand how local this >> fight was, and so how intensely we all felt about it, but the issues were >> citywide, statewide, national issues the role of unlimited private funding >> in politics, and the privatization of public schools. I haven¹t been this >> emotionally invested in an election in 27 years, since I was a naïve >> 17-year-old working on her first and last - electoral campaign. But >> reading philly.com headlines dominated by the results of the irrelevant GOP >> primary nonrace, rather than real local news that real people cared about, >> and that had broader political meaning . . . . >> >> I cut my political teeth on the antiapartheid movement, back in the late >> 1980s, and that was amazingly empowering what we did here ended apartheid >> half a world away. That experience inspired me to become a community >> organizer, to teach others so they could have the same experience of >> empowerment that I did. But after 10 years of trying to influence my own >> country, I quit in defeat, burnt out, not empowered (although I think some >> folks I worked with felt empowered.) I don¹t know that that is my failing, I >> think it may just be that it is much, much harder today for those of us >> outside of the 1% to feel like we can affect anything. In the wake of >> Citizens United, that is probably far more true. >> >> I had given up, more than I realized, on my faith in the power of grassroots >> folks to make a difference. But I just witnessed it happening. And I have >> hope again, for the first time in a long time. Thank you, neighbors, for >> that. >> >> This is a story that someone should tell. ;-) The story of the 188th >> district, of the Muhammad/Roebuck election, is that informed, organized, >> intelligent citizens with access to technology can in fact beat back the >> moneyed interests. That is what I used to believe, back in the day . . . I >> have hope now that it can still be done. And that is the story that should >> be told. I¹ve toyed with telling it myself, but that will never happen. But >> someone should. ;-) It¹s an awesome story. :-). Good guys win, bad guys >> lose . . . . . >> >> Kimm >> >> >> On 4/26/12 7:18 AM, "Wilma de Soto" <wil.p...@comcast.net> wrote: >> >>> Why Isn't Closing 40 Philadelphia Public Schools National News? Where Is the >>> Black Political Class? >>> By Bruce A. Dixon >>> Created 04/25/2012 - 13:50 >>> >>> By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon >>> If some racist made an inappropriate remark about the First Lady or her >>> children our national "civil rights leaders" Obama fans all of them, would >>> be all over that. But standing up for ordinary black children is something >>> our leaders just don't do much any more. When was the last time you heard >>> Sharpton, Jealous or any of that tribe inveigh against school closings and >>> the creeping privatization of our schools? >>> >>> Why Isn't Closing 40 Philadelphia Public Schools National News? Where Is the >>> Black Political Class? >>> By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon >>> >>> In what should be the biggest story of the week, the city of Philadelphia's >>> school system announced Tuesday that it expects to close 40 public schools >>> next year and 64 by 2017. The school district expects to lose 40% of current >>> enrollment to charter schools, the streets or wherever, and put thousands of >>> experienced, well qualified teachers, often grounded in the communities >>> where they teach [4], on the street. >>> >>> Ominously, the shredding of Philadelphia's public schools isn't even news >>> outside Philly. This correspondent would never have known about it save for >>> a friend's Facebook posting early this week [5]. Corporate media in other >>> cities don't mention massive school closings, whether in Chicago, Atlanta, >>> NYC, or in this case Philadelphia, perhaps so people won't have given the >>> issue much deep thought before the same crisis is manufactured in their >>> town. Even inside Philadelphia the voices of actual parents, communities, >>> students and teachers are shut out of most newspaper and broadcast accounts. >>> >>> The black political class is utterly silent and deeply complicit. Even local >>> pols and notables who lament the injustice of local austerity avoid >>> mentioning the ongoing wars and bailouts which make these things >>> ³necessary.² A string of black mayors have overseen the decimation of Philly >>> schools. Al Sharpton, Ben Jealous and other traditional ³civil rights >>> leaders² can always be counted on to rise up indignant when some racist >>> clown makes an inappropriate remark about the pretty black First Lady and >>> her children. >>> >>> But they won't grab the mic for ordinary black children. They won't start >>> and won't engage the public in a conversation about saving public education. >>> It's not because they don't care. It's because they care very much about >>> their funding, which comes from Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation, from >>> Wal-mart and the Walton Family Foundation, from the corporations that run >>> charter charter schools and produce standardized tests. >>> >>> To name just one payment to one figure, Rev. Al Sharpton took a half million >>> dollar ³loan² from charter school advocates [6] in New York City, after >>> which he went on tour with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Newt >>> Gingrich [7] extolling the virtues of standardized testing, charter schools >>> and educational privatization. >>> >>> Bill Gates delivered the keynote speech [8] at the latest gathering of the >>> National Urban League. And the nation's two big teachers' unions, NEA and >>> AFT have already endorsed Barack Obama's re-election, and will funnel him >>> gobs of union dues as campaign contributions, despite his corporate-inspired >>> ³Race To The Top [9]² program which awards federal education funds in >>> proportion to how many teachers are fired and replaced by inexperienced >>> temps, how many schools are shut down, and how many charter schools exempt >>> from meaningful public oversight are established and granted public funds. >>> >>> The fix has been in for a long time, and not just in Philadelphia. Philly's >>> school problems are anything but unique. The city has a lot of poor and >>> black children. Our ruling classes don't want to invest in educating these >>> young people, preferring instead to track into lifetimes of insecure, >>> low-wage labor and/or prison. Our elites don't need a populace educated in >>> critical thinking. So low-cost holding tanks that deliver standardized >>> lessons and tests, via computer if possible, operated by profit-making >>> ³educational entrepreneurs² are the way to go. >>> >>> The business class can pocket the money which used to pay for teachers' and >>> custodians' retirement and health benefits, for music and literature and gym >>> classes, for sports and science labs and theater and all that other stuff >>> that used to be wasted on public school children. >>> The national vision of ruling Democrats and Republicans and the elites who >>> fund them is to starve, discredit, denounce and strangle public education. >>> Philly and its children, parents, communities and teachers are only the >>> latest victims of business-class school reform. And they won't be the last. >>> >>> One of the recent CEO's of Philadelphia Public Schools was a guy from >>> Chicago named Paul Vallas. Vallas's previous job was head of Chicago's >>> Public Schools where his ³innovations² included military charter schools and >>> wholesale school closings to get around local laws that school parent >>> councils veto power over the appointment of principals. Vallas was succeeded >>> by Arne Duncan, now Secretary of Education, and arrived in Philly in 2002. >>> >>> As CEO of Philly schools he closed and privatized chunks of 40 schools, >>> leaving town for post-Katrina New Orleans where he closed more than 100 >>> public schools and fired every last teacher, custodian and staff person to >>> create a business-friendly citywide charter school experiment. After his >>> post-Katrina destruction of New Orleans public education, Vallas went to >>> post-earthquake Haiti to commit heaven only knows what atrocity on the >>> corpse of public education there. >>> >>> So the carving up of Philadelphia public schools IS a national story. It's >>> just one that corporate media won't tell. Not in Philly, not in LA, not in >>> Kansas City or anywhere, for fear that ordinary people might try to write >>> themselves into a leading role. Polls show that the American people don't >>> want their schools privatized, and don't believe education should be run by >>> business people like a business. People want to take the money we spend on >>> wars and bailouts and use it on education. Telling the story might give >>> people the notion that the ultimate power is in their hands, not of mayors >>> and chambers of commerce or the so-called ³CEOs² of school system. It's time >>> that story was told, and more of us heard it. >>> >>> Kwame Toure used to say that the thing to do is join an organization and >>> pick a fight. If you can't find an organization you like, he said, start one >>> and then pick a fight. It's that time in Philly, and in Los Angeles and New >>> York and wherever you are. It's time to stand up for our children and >>> grandchildren. >>> >>> To find out more about the bipartisan war against education, check >>> outhttp://dumpduncan.org <http://dumpduncan.org/> [10], and sign the >>> petition to dump Arne Duncan. Go tohttp://substancenews.net >>> <http://substancenews.net/> [11] for news of the national struggle for >>> education and democracy. Listen to Education Radio at >>> http://www/education-radio.blogspot.com [12]. Visit the blogs of Susan >>> O'Hanion [13] and Diane Ravtich [14] online, and a hundred other similar >>> places. See for yourself what real principals and teachers have to say about >>> standardized testing [15]. It's time to pick a fight, to join something, or >>> start something. >>> >>> Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and lives and >>> works in Marietta GA. He is on the state committee of the Georgia Green >>> Party and can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com. >>> >>> >> >
