Comments on: Hartford’s Milner School debacle gets attention across Connecticut

By: msavage

msavage — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:22:00 +0000

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again–I think the only thing that will stop them is radical, mass action. Unless you’re willing to wait a few years until they finish with their feast and then try to reassemble a working system from the picked corpses that are left.

By: msavage

msavage — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 11:18:00 +0000

Great idea! All those newly-graduated lawyers who can’t find jobs should consider setting up “charter-chaser” practices. If only it weren’t so sad, it’d be funny.

By: Linda174

Linda174 — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:36:00 +0000

They have no shame.

By: Querculus

Querculus — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:31:00 +0000

My God. I hadn’t thought of things like profit-motivated DCF threats. Wow.

By: guest

guest — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:08:00 +0000

If I were a lawyer I would be waiting on Jamoke’s doorsteps with business cards and legal documents in hand waiting for the exited children and their families so we can sue the living hell out of all of them. A new niche business “charter chaser”.

By: Linda174

Linda174 — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 00:01:00 +0000

Unfortunately they have plenty of money left. Don’t worry…for every three STEM graduates there is only one job.

By: Apartheid First

Apartheid First — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:54:00 +0000

this is so incredibly accurate!
so many people have seen through the reformers/rheeformers. They have no credibility left.
(and now a note of paranoia–my computer is so slow tonight–I wonder if I’m being hacked? Sorry for missing some caps and misspelling things–it’s almost as if I can’t backspace and shift won’t work).
Then again, I am a STEM flunk-out…

By: Linda174

Linda174 — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:25:00 +0000

PAA – How to tell if your School District has the Broad Virus:
Schools in your district are suddenly closed.
Even top-performing schools, alternative schools, schools for the gifted, are inexplicably and suddenly targeted for closure or mergers.
Repetition of the phrases “the achievement gap” and “closing the achievement gap” in district documents and public statements.
Repeated use of the terms “excellence” and “best practices” and “data-driven decisions.” (Coupled with a noted absence of any of the above.)
The production of “data” that is false or cherry-picked, and then used to justify reforms.
Power is centralized.
Decision-making is top down.
Local autonomy of schools is taken away.
Principals are treated like pawns by the superintendent, relocated, rewarded and punished at will.
Read here for more:
http://parentsacrossamerica.org/2011/04/how-to-tell-if-your-school-district-is-infected-by-the-broad-virus/

By: Aparteid First

Aparteid First — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Just in case anyone missed this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/school-segregation-sharply-increasing-studies-show/2012/09/22/5b34111a-04c6-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_blog.html#pagebreak

By: Aparteid First

Aparteid First — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Great work, Jon and Wendy! And wonderful comments and links by Linda174.
Adamowski, Vallas, Fischer in New London, Kishimoto–they are leading the charge to increase segregation in schools; to deprive poorer children of art and music (an award-winning Middle School music program at Windham Middle School is currently languishing, with students not allowed the time to take what used to be daily music classes–more test prep, more test prep); to turn schools over to for-profit companies and mercenary non-educators from TFA and Broad–but all roads lead back to Hartford. With the current commissioner, Stefan Pryor, things will only get worse. Pryor is truly a force of reaction and racism.
Will it take a strike? How can we expose the interests who are guiding the policy, the Broad-funded privatizers who are given positions of power and authority with no public imput or scrutiny? How far are Malloy’s hands in the pockets of the hedge-fund managers’ school reform wallets? It may indeed take some radical, mass action.