Obama spearheads nationwide assault on public schools

[Karmadillo]

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/scho-m13.shtml

The Obama administration is spearheading an unprecedented assault on public education in the US. The White House and Education Secretary Arne Duncan are promoting a nationwide wave of school closures, teacher and staff layoffs, attacks on teachers’ wages and conditions, and an expansion of privately run charter schools—all in the guise of education “reform.”

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Obama’s policies have encouraged these attacks on public schools. The administration and the Democratic-led Congress have refused to provide emergency funds to enable states and localities to close huge budget deficits resulting from rising unemployment and falling tax revenues, even as they handed over trillions in taxpayer dollars to bail out the banks.

The White House is seeking to exploit the fiscal crisis to push through its anti-public education agenda, tying whatever federal funds are on offer to attacks on teachers’ jobs and pay, the closure of schools in working class communities, and the expansion of publicly subsidized but privately owned charter schools.

Speaking before an audience of business executives at the US Chamber of Commerce March 1, the president welcomed the mass firing of teachers at a public high school in Rhode Island. Obama insisted that the 74 teachers and 19 other school employees at Central Falls High School, a “failing school,” had to be held “accountable.”

As with Ronald Reagan’s mass firing of the PATCO air traffic controllers in 1981, the White House endorsement of the Central Falls firings is a signal to state and local authorities across the country to demand that teachers accept lower pay, fewer benefits and longer hours, or face the loss of their jobs.

Teachers are being scape-goated for an education crisis for which they bear no responsibility. The media has fallen into line. The editorial in Thursday’s USA Today was headlined, “Unions protect bad teachers, harming kids’ education.” The cover story of the latest edition of Newsweek is entitled “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers.”

more...

[maryf]

1. Thank you, thank you, thank you...

I've been searching for just such an article!! wish I could rec this forever, I'll be kicking it alot!!

[maryf]

9. wrong place, delete

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lerkfish]

3. frightening, actually

recc'd.

[exboyfil]

4. I asked my daughter's Physical Science teacher

if they were going to the Women in Science event at one of our state colleges. She sent me a message back saying that definitely funds were cut for that. She also told me that are having staff reductions, salary reductions, and program reductions because of the fiscal issues. I plan to take my two daughters and two of their friends to the event myself (I had already planned to take the younger one anyway since her school wasn't ever planning to go).

I agree that teachers are being scapegoated, but I see how much I pay in taxes and I really don't know how I could pay much more without really taking away from my family. I guess I could cut back on these enrichment oppotunities for the good of all, but why should I? I am willing to sacrifice for my family (as well as society since my family volunteers and helps out in our school and community).

[maryf]

30. Education should be covered by progressive income tax...

Reagan cut the taxes from the wealthy to a huge degree, another thing we're now hurting because of...

[jody]

5. Solutions soon Obama's "Federal agency to investigate L.A. schools" will recommend solutions to

"close the achievement gap that separates white, Asian and higher-income students from low-income, black and Latino students."

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/10/local/la-me-lausd10-2010mar10

[mrdmk]

24. If the student does not speak English, one can infer that the family does not speak english

To further the point, how a person thinks relies heavily on their language. Thus, if a student lives in a Spanish speaking home that is surrounded by a Spanish community, then the student will in a unconformable position concerning their education. Another words, if the elders do not care to assimilate into the greater society by speaking English, why should the student. This is not the fault of the schools, this is the fault of the United States as a whole toward its southern neighbors.

About the African Americans, there are many successful, highly intelligent, well educated people of that part of our society. On the other hand, there are many more racially and economically repressed persons that cannot break out of that state of being. If you have trouble believing that, I will personally give you a tour of those neighborhoods! This is not a problem of the schools, but the people who have an influence of the society.

Putting a corporation in charge of educating our children will only worsen these problems not to mention that proper education of these children starting from the middle class and down will be cost prohibitive to a lot of families. In-turn, no one will accountable because they are corporations.

[RainDog]

6. this is detestable

I would never have voted for Obama if I knew he was going to be such a corporate whore.

he is shameful.

[ReverendDeuce]

7. Schools fail because not enough people give a shit...

And that includes parents, teachers, and politicians of all stripes.

Note I did not say all, but there are too many to count that don't.

[Odin2005]

27. +1

[snot]

59. Consider the likelihood that parents are all working too hard to be able

to pay attn the way they used to. The middle class has been eviscerated; it now takes 2 incomes to support a family, and hours worked per worker have gone up, and yet wages have stagnated severely while costs of living have gone up.

It's just really convenient for the few that the many are working to hard to pay much attn to either schools or politics in general.

[ncteechur]

8. So what you all are saying is that we shouldn't fire bad teachers? They should just be allowed to

continue to fuck kids up.

1. President Obama didn't fire anyone.
2. Education is the responsibility of the states.
3. The teachers were not getting the job done.
4. Teacher unions can be good or bad. Bad if they protect teachers from accountability. Good if they are partners in helping kids.
5. The teachers were asked to do a bit more for pay to improve the school. They refused.

[Bluebear]

11. Your comments indicate you have not been following the actual situation whatsoever.

[maryf]

12. The number of bad teachers vs. good

is about 2 to 100 in my 20 years experience. Obama is allowing all kinds of fantastic teachers to be let go....
Bad teachers rarely make it...they can't handle it...

[truth2power]

14. You're buying into the propaganda. n/t

[tonysam]

16. Oh, for shit's sake, KNOW WTF you are talking about when it comes to firing teachers.

They are fired all the time and not because they are "bad." Teachers have little legal recourse when a principal decides to shitcan you because it is governed by ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, not civil law.

Meanwhile, principals are getting away with murder.

I am fucking sick and tired of ignorant comments being posted on this board.

The following is a typical example of how capricious teacher firings are, and it is even more outrageous than mine. The principal she names in the story is now dead:

I filed criminal charges against Los Lunas High School principal, Rex Henington, after he assaulted me in March 2001. Charges against him were dropped because of a technicality; according to Senator Michael Sanchez, who represented Mr. Henington, I had done some of the legal paperwork incorrectly while acting pro se, although I completed it exactly as a local judge advised.

Between March 2001 and October 2001, the district made my life hell by sending employees to my home with letters from the administrative office, by having a vice-principal follow me in the halls at school, by interrupting my class several times a day, and by keeping one of my paychecks as “a form of discipline. ” Administrators threatened me, as well as teachers seen speaking to me, and students who stood up for me. I pleaded with Superintendent Danny Burnett and the Board members for help. Not only did they ignore me, they encouraged, and joined in, the harassment.

I was terminated on October 30, 2001, for sitting on the floor in the Los Lunas High School library during a staff meeting in August 2001, which I did. There were no empty chairs. The district denied that the assault charges I filed against Principal Henington played any part in the termination.

My termination appeal was held in February 2002. My lawyer seemed incapacitated during the appeal, and complained about not being prepared for the hearing. Her behavior was so strange, and her representation so inept, that I knew my chance of winning was slim. In addition, I did not have enough money to buy so much as a loaf of bread, and was desperately attempting to hang on until my unemployment check arrived. I accepted the district’s settlement offer. They were to give me all of my back pay, including the paycheck an administrator had kept, my sick day pay, and the money students earned for me by having a carwash; administrator Bill Moffett had taken the carwash money. The school placed me under a gag order, which I intended to honor. When the written settlement papers arrived, they bore little resemblance to what the district had promised. I did not receive all of my back salary, nor my sick-day pay, nor the money from the carwash. In addition, the written gag order was ridiculous, stating that I, nor my family, could ever say anything negative about past, present, or future Los Lunas administrators. The district would fine me $5000 for every negative thing I said about the district. I refused to honor it. I must owe the district about a million dollars by now, but since they know that the gag order was unconstitutional, they have not taken me to court.

Lots, lots more at the NAPTA site

[Fire1]

50. "Oh for shits sake.............." LMAO!!!!! n/t

[ncteechur]

55. WTF does the situation to which you refer have anything to do with your complaint?

I do know what I am talking about. Perhaps you are the one that doesn't know what the fuck you are talking about.

[Starry Messenger]

17. I really hope to hell you don't actually work in education

If you do, you are passing on a delight in logical fallacies which will have tragic consequences for any child that passes under your tutelage.

[QC]

29. I hope he teaches P.E. Lord, God, how I hope he teaches P.E. n/t

[Starry Messenger]

61. He claimed to be a school administrator last week

I worry about teachers who work under him, if that's the case.

[ncteechur]

54. Actually, I do. I have worked in education for over 20 years at all levels.

[Starry Messenger]

56. The Peter Principal. I've seen it all now. n/t

[ncteechur]

62. And your educational expertise would be based on what exactly?

[Starry Messenger]

63. Not screaming TEACHERS DESERVED TO BE FIRED!!11 in all caps on websites that's for sure

What school did you go to that taught you that management style?

[tekisui]

33. Nice post John Galt.

[jefferson_dem]

39. Amazing, isn't it.

The contorted illogic. Somehow...firing bad teachers is a bad thing.

[tonysam]

42. Most teachers fired aren't bad. Keep peddling the lies.

You just have too much invested in Obama to face the truth.

[jefferson_dem]

49. So we agree that firing "bad" teachers is ok?

The challenge, therfore, is determining when a teacher is "bad" enough to fire.

[Hannah Bell]

57. if education is the responsibility of the states, why is the ed secretary making policy?

fyi, it was federal grant requirements which precipitated the rhode island firings.

[maryf]

10. More on education union busting...

http://www.blackagendareport.com/?q=content/obama-acts-reagan-1981-union-buster

[Bluebear]

13. thank you for the link

[maryf]

22. my pleasure, Glen Ford is fantastic, nt.

[tonysam]

48. The comments following the piece

are great.

[Therellas]

15. this PISSES me off.

meanwhile back at the ranch eliot spitzers snorting coke off a hookers ass .....

[blindpig]

18. It's all bidness....

Capital's search for profits has neither common sense nor morality, it's all bidness.

[Starry Messenger]

19. "The media has fallen into line"

And so have several DUer's. What, suddenly the MSM is trustworthy when it's doing an orchestrated attack on public education?

[maryf]

31. Like sharks on a feeding frenzy nt.

[bvar22]

20. The Giant Invisible Hand will save us all.

All HAIL The Giant Invisible Hand (of the Marketplace).

I refuse to believe that our President actually believes that Free Market nonsense.
He would have to be an idiot.
It is more digestible for me to believe that he is willfully corrupt like most of the "Centrist" Democrats, and is parroting all that Free Market bullshit because he knows it will fool the peasants and make him and his friends rich.
THAT makes more sense.
I can understand THAT.

[Lothrop]

21. Bump

K&R

[troubledamerican]

23. Is Obama a Cheney Sleeper Cell?

[jefferson_dem]

35. Good Lord...

:crazy:

[dionysus]

46. it's a new low, for sure...

[lumpy]

26. World Socialist Web Site? Is this article to be trusted?

x

[maryf]

28. Why not? their journalism is reputable...

even if you might not like their political persuasion...

[jefferson_dem]

37. Sure...

Trusted to be loaded up with bull and bias.

[tonysam]

40. Well, they're telling the truth about Obama here.

You don't need WSWS to tell you how anti-public education this president is.

[Karmadillo]

53. The article isn't accurate?

nt

[proud2BlibKansan]

32. K/R

[Donnachaidh]

34. So when are we going to be honest and call it an attack on UNION teachers?

What better way to take out the underpinnings of one of the strongest remaining unions in the country than to proclaim they are correcting bad policy by replacing teachers protected by unions - instead of doing the REAL heavylifting of reviewing the actual courses being taught and changing THAT?

When our unions are totally crushed this country will be a truly 3rd world banana republic. And we won't HAVE class distinction anymore. There will be 2 -- the Haves and the Have NOTS.

[jefferson_dem]

36. “Why We Must Fire Bad Teachers.”

Let's do it.

How dare anyone, especially the President and Secretary of Education, demand excellence from our American public education system.

How dare anyone, especially the President and Secretary of Education, expect that good teachers be rewarded and underperforming teachers improve or leave.

Sarcasm above.

Yes, I'm an educator.

[tonysam]

41. Prove you are. You wouldn't be so big on this scheme if this were Bush

pushing this instead of Obama.

Obama is anti-teacher and anti-public education. You sound like a fool. Your cheerleading for Arne tells me all I need to know.

[jefferson_dem]

44. Whatever.

I don't have to prove shit to you.

Besides, given your reactionary reductionism, it's fairly obvious you're not able to engage in rational discussion on this topic.

[Bluebear]

43. 'Yes, I'm an educator.'. lol nice touch

[jefferson_dem]

45. Or perhaps not.

:)

[maryf]

51. What about why we must support good teachers and help bad teachers

become better...most bad teachers just don't make it...Teachers have to deal with up to 150 kids a day, everyday, some folks can't handle that, could you??

[Jkid]

38. Actions speak louder than words, and words speak louder than promises.

n/t

[dionysus]

47. LOL, those guys are always good for a chuckle...

[BrklynLiberal]

52. Why??????????????????? WTF are they thinking???

[Skittles]

58. I'll say it:: he is disgusting

[maryf]

60. Thanks again...

This raised me out of depression and into thinking about how to organize more about education, but more about the class struggle...:yourock: