"nea hearts arne" or "WTF? are you crazy!!!"

New Business Item 36 called for the removal of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education. Despite several well-informed speeches in support of this NBI, it was defeated. It is a mystery to me how a room full of educators, all of us victims of Duncan's horrific education policies, could continue to support Arne Duncan. His policies are harming our nation's non-elite children and the majority vote seems to send a message that that's OK with the majority of teachers. WTF? Either there's not much critical thinking going on among the delegation, or people are just plain stupid.  Here's what I had to say...

ATeacherAnon addressing 10,000 delegates at the NEA RA 2013

 

My name is *ATeacherAnon* from California. I am a proud member of the Badass Teachers Association. I am speaking as an individual in support of NBI 36.

As CEO of Chicago Public Schools, Arne Duncan instituted policies that were harmful to the city's children. In Chicago, he instituted school turnarounds, firing the staff and turning schools into charter schools managed by for-profit management companies.

He closed neighborhood schools, forcing children to walk through the communities of rival gang members and attend schools along with those gang members. This policy resulted in increased violence, including murder.

Arne supports charter schools, as well as the highly unqualified Teach For Awhile program which sends recent college graduates with 5 weeks of training into schools serving our neediest children.

He supports evaluating teachers by test scores.

He supports high stakes testing.

He reveres truth-challenged Michelle Rhee yet doesn't support public school teachers.
(See Rhode Island and New Orleans)

Race to the Top and Son of Race to the Top are nothing more than bribery schemes. Education is not a competition. Bribing financially strapped districts to adopt expensive, bad ideas is unconscionable.

And non-educator Arne Duncan, along with Bill Gates's former staffers, have been working diligently to impose Duncan's failed Chicago strategies on our nation's public school children.

As Secretary of Education, Arne totally sucks... And not in a good way.

We need a lifelong educator as our Secretary of Education.

Support NBI 36

nea ra 2013 - in opposition to nbi a

I tried, but the delegation voted to support spreading the Corporate Core propaganda.  Here's what I said:

My name is ATeacherAnon from California and this is my first RA.  I am speaking as an individual.

I strongly oppose NEA’s support of the Corporate-, Privatizer-, Education Deformer-, Bill Gates-driven Common Core State Standards, which were NOT developed by real, certificated CLASSROOM teachers or child development experts.

Nationally renowned early childhood expert Dr. Nancy Carlsson Paige's research told us that out of the 135 people who developed the K-3 standards, there were NO classroom teachers or child development experts among them,  resulting in standards that are not developmentally appropriate.

Dr. Stephan Krashen predicts that the CCSS will increase testing twentyfold.

I predict that that our already narrow, boring curricula will continue to be so. I predict that we will continue to ignore the needs of the whole child. I predict that we will continue to waste months of instructional time on test prep and testing.

As our class sizes continue to grow, precious dollars will be used to buy technology to serve the Corporate Core. I've read the Finnish national education standards. They do not look at all like the Common Core.

My professional conscience leads me to support real, classroom teacher-driven change, not corporate driven change.  We are burning out and stressing out kids. Kids have become disengaged from learning.

I oppose having my union dues spent to support the CCSS and spread Corporate Core propaganda to our students, families, and colleagues.

I urge you to oppose support for the implementation of these expensive, unproven set of standards.

I urge you, instead to support real, classroom teacher-driven change that will address the individual needs of all of our children.

Haven't we learned anything from NCLB?

rufkm?

The past few weeks have been kind of sucky for public education teachers. The end of the school year is an exhausting yet rewarding time as we finish our year with culminating activities. We know we will miss our current students yet we look forward to what and who next year will bring.

Teacher Appreciation Week began with a love letter from Arne Duncan to teachers. Despite the plethora of policies and rhetoric that are clearly anti-teacher, Arne waxed poetic about our nation’s teachers:

I consider teaching an honorable and important profession, and it is my goal to see that you are treated with the dignity we award to other professionals in society.

That letter certainly impassioned teachers. It also really pissed them off. That was RUFKM moment #1.

Next, Laurie Calvert, a Washington Teaching Ambassador Fellow, posted “More than a Memory: Teacher Appreciation Week” on the Department of Education’s website.  Calvert wrote:

No doubt about it, last week was a great time to be a teacher at the Department of Education. During Teacher Appreciation Week, the atmosphere brimmed with teacher focus and teacher gratitude.

Ms. Calvert, I’m really glad that last week was a great time to be a teacher at the Department of Education. But for those of us out in the trenches daily…. not so much.  RUFKM moment #2.

Then, when I thought things could not possibly get any more depressing, National Education Association Endorses Obama screamed the headline. Seriously??? NEA’s endorsing the guy who’s made George W. Bush look like public education’s best friend? Have you forgotten that President Obama and his faithful sidekick, Dumber Arne Duncan, applauded when every teacher at Rhode Island's Central Falls High School was fired? This is the administration that ignores scholarly work in favor of poorly done research by think tanks, advocacy groups, and the media. This is the guy who wants to impose failed strategies nationwide: charter schools, school turnarounds, increased testing, and linking test scores to teacher evaluations and merit pay, to name a few. On top of all that, Obama cozied up to Jeb Bush in Florida recently:

We are also honored to be joined here today by another champion of education reform, somebody who championed reform when he was in office, somebody who is now championing reform as a private citizen -- Jeb Bush...The truth is I've gotten to know Jeb because his family exemplifies public service. And we are so grateful to him for the work that he's doing on behalf of education. So, thank you, Jeb.

All I can say at this point is OMG!!!  RUFKM moment #3.

So today, I will gather with teachers, students and parents as we protest the massive budget cuts to education in our state. It will feel good to be among people who get it and support public education. I’ll look forward to going to Washington, D.C. in July to participate in the Save Our Schools March and Call to Action. To gather with teachers, students, parents, education scholars, and interested citizens from across the nation will be invigorating and uplifting.

I’m glad the sleeping giant has finally awakened. We are poised to take back the pulpit from the corporate education deformers and their supporters. It's about time!