So, I'm meeting with Arne Duncan Friday.

[donco6]

Ask me to ask him anything.

(I reserve the right not to get fired, however.)

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Ask him questions about pedagogy

:evilgrin:

[donco6]

4. Can I preface it with, "Arne, I know you don't know 'bout how to teach reading, but"? n/t

[YvonneCa]

14. I think that could be quite...

...appropriate. :7

[Sabriel]

62. Start with, "Do you know what pedagogy is?"

Then move on to other, more difficult questions.

Ask him to define "nepotism."

[Sabriel]

63. Ask if he's willing to be paid based on how much he improves US education

I'm guessing...NOT!

[Catshrink]

65. And only if teachers get to choose the "test" he gets evaluated by.

[Catshrink]

64. He'd probably say using one of these:

[proud2BlibKansan]

66. OOOH good question!!

[Hawkeye-X]

2. Tell the arsehole to submit his resignation letter to Obama ASAP

and GTFO.

Hawkeye-X

[donco6]

3. OK, how about one that WON'T get me fired?

:rofl:

[Dinger]

5. Seriously?

Tell him he's already lost Obama millions of votes. That won't change.

P.S. Ask him if he's related to Herman Munster?

[LisaM]

6. I don't really know how to phrase a question that isn't confrontational

I am so sick about our public schools being turned over to for-profit corporations that run charter schools that I almost feel ill at times.

I guess I'd ask him if he could stop blaming teachers. I mean, obviously, of course, all teachers aren't perfect, but it's the parents, damn it, that are responsible for sending a child to school ready to learn, and to listen to a teacher.

I'd also ask him whether re-instituting music and art classes, both of which are proven to enhance testing skills, isn't a good idea, and really, a modest investment given the payoff.

[4_TN_TITANS]

48. Excellent suggestion!

I'd recommend, before he makes another comment on teacher performance, that he spend a day teaching a class at one of those failed schools. He couldn't handle it.

[Dinger]

7. Ask him Why he Didn't Go To Public Schools When he Was A kid?

Ask him to go to hell too.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. I didn't go to public schools

When I was a kid, my parents chose where I went to school. And not attending public schools certainly didn't cause me to not support public education.

[Dinger]

15. I Just Wonder Where The Roots Of arne's hatred for Public Education And Teachers came from

I haven't figured that out.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Oh he's on a power trip

Too many of these types in our business.

[Dinger]

24. Ain't That The Truth (nt)

[mopinko]

27. that's cause you don't live in chicago.

ask him to please continue drawing the line on failing schools and insisting that public education without standards cannot continue to be business as usual.

ask him if he is sorry to be missing the beautiful weather in chicago.

tell him i said hi.

[Hannah Bell]

41. cause all people in chicago support what he did there. uh-huh.

Parents Protest Planned School Closings | NBC Chicago
Feb 25, 2009 ... Angry public school parents camped out at the school board headquarters overnight in an effort to saave their neighborhood schools.
www.nbcchicago.com/.../Parents-Protest-Planned-School-Closings.html -

CachedCity Room™ - Education - Teachers, Parents Protest School Closings
Mar 15, 2010 ... Chicago Public Radio ... Teachers, Parents Protest School Closings ... Chicago Public Schools is presenting a list of schools marked for ...
www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=40221 - CachedParents Camp Out Protest

Chicago Public School Closings ...
Parents and teachers camped out overnight, and are out in force at the Chicago School Board meeting on whether to go ahead with closings or shakeups at 16 ...
cbs2chicago.com/local/parents.school.closings.2.943300.

Labor Beat: Chicago Protest 16 School Closings ...
10 min - Feb 26, 2009
www.youtube.com

Protest against school closings, charter ...
9 min - Mar 17, 2009
www.youtube.com


City Room™ - Education - Teachers, Parents, Now Aldermen Protest ...
Feb 10, 2010 ... Teachers, Parents, Now Aldermen Protest School Closings ... Chicago Teachers Union president Marilyn Stewart is calling on the Board of ...
www.chicagopublicradio.org/Content.aspx?audioID=39972 -

protest possible school cuts - 3/12/10 - Chicago News ...
Mar 12, 2010 ... Cicero residents protest possible school cuts. Thursday, March 11, 2010 ... St. Patty's festivities held throughout Chicago area ...
abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7326515 - Cached

[Posteritatis]

49. Eww, EdSec who didn't attend public school?

My province had a minister of education who'd never set foot in one, and a conservative to boot. That was ... catastrophic.

[Catshrink]

8. Ask him why he isn't listening to the voices of classroom teachers.

Ask him what a billionaire knows about teaching.

Ask him how he plans to address the underlying issues of poverty, etc. that plague so many of the schools he is targeting.

Ask him why he thinks all kids should go to college and why there isn't a movement to bring back vocational education.

Ask him how he intends to deal with a school that "fails" because of a large special ed. caseload.

[madinmaryland]

9. In light of the teacher firings in the Rhode Island (i think) school, is the Obama

administration trying to break Teachers Unions and their "control" over the schools.

[donco6]

11. This is one I might be able to get in.

If I phrase it carefully, he may answer it without knowing what he's answering.

[madinmaryland]

23. I'm sure that he has a stock answer for that question (the one we heard

over and over from the M$M and the Admin), but if you can find a way to ask it, let me know how it goes!

Thanks!

[ChicagoSuz219]

10. Ask him about the Texas textbooks. n/t

[donco6]

12. I'd like to ask about the impact of national standards on national curriculum.

And therefore, the impact on a national approved list of textbooks, and do we need to worry about such a list being influence by politics, ala Texas.

[ChicagoSuz219]

39. Ask how he'll improve it once he gets rid of...

...All Children Left Behind...

[Posteritatis]

50. That the answer would be "yes" goes without saying, doesn't it?

They'd rewrite the textbooks every time the executive branch switched parties the way things are now.

[Fire1]

16. I wanna know how YOU got to have a meeting with him! n/t

[donco6]

29. Metro area Supts meeting and mine can't go.

So I'm filling in.

[Fire1]

31. How lucky are you?!! Good for you and Bravo!!! n/t

[Dinger]

17. Ask him About rural School Policy.

How's that?

[YvonneCa]

18. How about this...

...Mr. Secretary, given that research tells us that student acheivement is a function of several factors...such as poverty, etc...how will you assure dedicated, effective teachers that they will not be punished when a failing school is closed?

[Fire1]

19. As for the all important question at hand, which I'm sure you

won't get an answer to is: How do structural changes and accountability have anything to do with standards, curriculum and the substance of learning? "Accountability makes no sense when it undermines the larger goals of education."

[Dinger]

25. Whoa, Touché! + INFINITY!!!

:bounce: :headbang: :yourock: :patriot:

[donco6]

30. That's a good one, and a frustration the other Supts. will share n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. I'll pay you if you spit in his coffee

:)

[donco6]

32. It'd have to be a LOT!

Like 5 years salary - then I can retire!

[proud2BlibKansan]

33. Leaving now to stock up on lottery tickets then I'll hit the casinos

:rofl:

[donco6]

34. good luck with that - i'll look for the check in the mail! n/t

[Catshrink]

22. Here's one from a nice little youtube video.

It isn't really Jimmy Buffet, but the photo is right.

[Starry Messenger]

26. How is not funding struggling schools supposed to aid them?

What are the origins of his philosophy of running schools like a business? What is his explanation for the failure of charter schools to outstrip the performance of public schools?


Can you tell I'd like to get this guy alone in a elevator? :) Let us know how it goes if you can.

[Celebration]

28. here is a good one

If we reward teachers on the basis of the results of their students' multiple choice test answers, how to we keep an entire generation of school children from solely being able to make cookie cutter decisions based on a. b. c. or all of the above? How does NCLB help foster creativity and innovation? Since that is the key to our economic future, do you worry that drills and pat answers will be taught and that our future rests with students whose strengths lie mainly in passing state mandated tests?

[femmocrat]

35. Hear hear!!

:applause:

[erinlough]

37. These are great questions, all of them.

I would love to hear his answers.

[femmocrat]

36. Ask him how many students he has taught.

And watch him implode.

[AwakeAtLast]

38. Has he ever read the blueberry story?

It's a true story, BTW.

[Hannah Bell]

40. why do you get to meet with arne?

[donco6]

54. He's here to campaign for Bennet

But using a meeting with Supts as cover. So we got invited because Colo is RTTT recipient and my Dist is prob set to get funds. And all that goes with that.
In Baltimore today looking at charter school that's applying to us.

[Hannah Bell]

42. ask him how long this "get rid of the lowest 5%" is going to continue.

is he going to "fire" the lowest 5% of schools every year, year after year, until there are no more public schools? or just until every big-city district is privatized?

or what?


oh, & ask him why he's pushing these particular four remedies so hard (close, charterize, fire staff, pay for performance) when there's no good evidence that they improve students' learning or performance.

[proud2BlibKansan]

44. Duh. He only has to do it for 20 years.

Come on Hannah do the math. LOL

[Dinger]

43. Ask Him To Read "My Pet Goat"

Wonder if he would?

[Reader Rabbit]

45. Ask him if he is aware of the following:

• In a calendar year, students spend less than 20% of their waking hours with teachers.
  
• "Waking hours" assumes students are all getting the recommended eight hours of sleep each and every night.
  
• This 20% assumes perfect attendance, no class disruptions, no fire drills, no assemblies, no trips to the bathroom, etc.
  

Then ask him if the people who influence our students the other 80% of the time will also be "held accountable" when students do poorly at school?

[LWolf]

46. Ask him why he and Obama

support a "reform" plan that places blame on teachers while ignoring the poverty elephant in the room.

Ask him how Obama plans to win in 2012 without the support of educators.

Ask him something he has to address directly, and can weasel out of.

I'm sure you'll be able to phrase it better than I.

Ask him why he supports privatization in the form of charter schools but doesn't support giving actual public schools more flexibility so that charter schools wouldn't be necessary.

[Fire1]

47. I like that second one!! True dat!! n/t

[lutefisk]

51. Ask if he would take the job of NBA Commissioner if offered

Maybe it will plant the idea in his head.

[tonysam]

52. +1,000

He would do better in that role.

[LuckyLib]

53. Ask him: "What do you and your boss intend to do about poverty? America wants to know!"

[Hannah Bell]

55. so how'd it go?

[Fire1]

56. I'm anxious to find out, too. n/t

[mzteris]

57. so - how'd it go?

Did he have horns and a tail? :rofl:

Sorry, just trying to interject some humour!

Really, though - how was it?

[southerncrone]

58. Ask him WHO is going to teach our children in the future, since

experienced classroom teachers are leaving the profession in droves & few young people are interested in a career with low pay, heavy work load, & the blame of all the ills of society.

Ask about that low pay in comparison to workload/responsibility, in particular. Do our youth not deserve teachers who are compensated for the many jobs that they MUST do?

[Reader Rabbit]

59. Kicking this to find out what happened.

I hope donco6 didn't ask one of our suggested questions and get fired!

[donco6]

60. LOL! No, still here - but been really busy

It's federal grant season, and I've been swamped.

OK, what happened -

Well, there we all were at University of Denver - way more people than I thought would be there - I thought it was just Metro Denver, but it was everybody. So we're in an auditorium. I got there early and got up front.

Bennett came in and talked about RTTT and how Colorado was a finalist because we had such a progressive (yes, he said that) view of education and reform and how we had implemented several new laws to keep us competitive. Then he explained that Arne could talk for a few minutes, but that he had to get to the airport before it closed (we had a huge snowstorm that day) so that he could catch his flight out and probably wouldn't have time for questions. :(

Then Arne came in. He focused almost solely on the new i3 grant program, which is distributing another $650 million in funding to school districts. I just got the handouts today, so I can finally remember everything he talked about.

It's a federal grant that will focus on 4 options: Teacher and Principal effectiveness, Improved use of data systems, College and Career-ready/Standards and High Quality assessments, and Improving achievement in persistently low-performing schools.

So, basically, a district that has been working on innovation and needs to expand that innovation can apply to the feds for funds and work to "scale-up" that innovation.

It all sounded interesting and I'm sure there will be lots of apps. Reading between the lines, it sounds like they're really fishing for a district that has tied teacher evaluations and DISMISSALS to student test scores - nothing said outright, but that's the impression I got. But after he was done, he excused himself and his handlers came and whisked him away.

The end.

[Reader Rabbit]

61. Thanks, donco6!

This part was discouraging:

Reading between the lines, it sounds like they're really fishing for a district that has tied teacher evaluations and DISMISSALS to student test scores - nothing said outright, but that's the impression I got.

But not too unexpected, given what Duncan has done to teachers so far.

[soleiri]

67. Nothing constructive to say here,

but my goodness that man is an asshat.