The new loyalty oath for teachers

From my perspective, academic freedom means that we have the right to engage in public discourse, the right to engage certainly in academic discourse, about issues that are of great importance, both long-term and short-term, both historical issues and current issues, both domestic issues and foreign issues, both popular issues and unpopular issues, and popular ideas and unpopular ideas. -- Marc Lamont Hill

I'm looking back, remembering the McCarthy period and the red scare, when thousands of teachers and other government workers, lost their jobs after being accused of being reds. My own parents were victims of that period.

Back then, teachers were forced to sign loyalty oaths to the United States and the flag. The oaths included swearing that you weren't a communist, socialist or member of any organization or movement opposed to the U.S. government or to the capitalist system.

In many states today, teachers and professors must still take a loyalty oath, but it's usually not as broad, after many 1st Amendment court suits. 

Fast forward and we find teachers and college faculty now being forced to sign a new type of loyalty oath. But this time it's not to the U.S., but to the state of Israel. The new oath includes a promise not to support the boycott movement (BDS) at risk of being fired or worse.

Many have refused to sign, including Bahia Amawi, a children's speech pathologist who has worked for the last nine years with developmentally disabled, autistic, and speech-impaired elementary school students in Austin, Texas. Amawi, an American citizen of Palestinian descent, has been told that she can no longer work with the public school district. A lawsuit on her behalf was filed Monday alleging a violation of her First Amendment right of free speech.

Bahia Amawi,

According to the Intercept,

On August 13, the school district once again offered to extend her contract for another year by sending her essentially the same contract and set of certifications she has received and signed at the end of each year since 2009.

She was prepared to sign her contract renewal until she noticed one new, and extremely significant, addition: a certification she was required to sign pledging that she “does not currently boycott Israel,” that she “will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract,” and that she shall refrain from any action “that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations with Israel, or with a person or entity doing business in Israeli or in an Israel-controlled territory.”

...That’s one extraordinary aspect of this story: The sole political affirmation Texans like Amawi are required to sign in order to work with the school district’s children is one designed to protect not the United States or the children of Texas, but the economic interests of Israel. As Amawi put it to The Intercept: “It’s baffling that they can throw this down our throats and decide to protect another country’s economy versus protecting our constitutional rights.”

The latest assault on our First Amendment rights is not exclusive to Texas, nor to teachers. A few weeks ago, CNN severed its ties to African American Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill after Hill gave a speech at the United Nations supporting Palestinian rights. While the president of Temple University defended has right to free speech, the school’s Board of Trustees has condemned Hill's remarks.

Here in Chicago in 2015, in a shameful display of aldermanic toadyism, the city council unanimously passed -- 50-0 -- Resolution 2015-569 , pushing the Municipal Employees' Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago to divest from foreign companies seeking to economically boycott Israel.

That same year the Illinois legislature voted unanimously in favor of a similar bill impacting the state’s pension funds.

The unanimous vote came without a peep of resistance from progressive council members or even from socialist Ald. Carlos Rosa. Rosa, at one time a candidate for Lt. Gov., would later split with his running mate for governor, Daniel Biss over Biss' support for Israel.

Go figure.

I just read a Tribune article from 1996 pointing out that the state's loyalty oath can be traced to Clyde Choate, a former state representative from Anna.

Elected to the state House in 1946, he sponsored legislation creating the oath in 1951 after serving on an anti-communist legislative committee.

It was an anxious time, Choate said. What with the Second Red Scare when China fell, the dividing of Berlin and McCarthy making claims of communists in high government, the threat of the Soviet Union seemed quite real.

"You've got to remember, this is immediately after the cessation of hostilities in World War II. The whole world was extremely conscious of any `ism' other than `Americanism,' " he said.

Choate said he's surprised to hear that the oath still is being given out. In fact, he came to see it as unnecessary and ineffective and tried unsuccessfully to repeal it.

The state loyalty oath in Illinois is now "voluntary". But I'll bet even the late Rep. Choate couldn't have imagined a mandatory loyalty oath to Israel.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Mercedes Schneider

America needs less of Pearson. A lot less. -- Deutsch29

NEA president Lily Eskelsen Garcia

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think Arne is decent and honest,” says National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen Garcia, whose union has called for Duncan to resign. “But his reforms are so ridiculous, he’s uniting teachers, PTA’s, principals, everyone. We’re writing each other’s talking points!” -- Politico: Arne Duncan Wars

Rosenbaum

R.I.P Terry Rosenbaum

“My goal was to be a teacher of history in the New York City high schools. Which I did. I loved teaching.” -- NYT: Teacher Who Was Fired After Defying McCarthy, Dies at 97

Bob Quellos, one of the founders of No Games Chicago 

“They were there early, they were bulky guys, and they just didn’t fit the activist profile.” -- THE WATCHDOGS: Spy cops: Chicago police routinely spied on protesters

Rebecca Sibilia, CEO of Edbuild

“When you think of bankruptcy … this is a huge opportunity. Bankruptcy is not a problem for kids; bankruptcy is a problem for the people governing the system, right? So, when a school district goes bankrupt all of their legacy debt can be eliminated . . . Look, if we can eliminate that in an entire urban system, then we can throw all the cards up in the air, and redistribute everything with all new models. You’ve heard it first: bankruptcy might be the thing that leads to the next education revolution.” -- PR Watch

We need to end 'regurgitation education' now https://t.co/I6rhn790PN

— John Merrow (@John_Merrow) September 28, 2015

Student debt tripled after passage of @VP Biden-backed bill to help Wall St prevent students from reducing their debt http://t.co/cgjXVBo6WC

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) September 28, 2015

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Strawberry Mansion High in North Philadelphia is one of 37 schools the school had slated for closing. 

Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite 

"Alarming. "This diagram suggests that children who are most in need of resources are receiving the fewest amount of resources." -- Philly Public Schools Notebook

Cassie Creswell, More Than A Score board member

“The state must administer the test but that doesn’t mean the kid has to take it. On a legal basis, the parent should have the right to refuse for the kids.” -- Sun-Times

Rev. Barber

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber

"When you look at Moral Monday and our movement, you see North Carolina and America in all of its beauty." --  NC Civil Rights Leader Questioned About Being Featured in Campaign Attack Ads

Danny Glover

 “Harry was a kind of bridge between the blacklist and the actors who were beginning to speak out.” -- Harry Belafonte Receives Humanitarian Oscar

Richard Berman, right-wing media guru

“I get up every morning and I try to figure out how to screw with the labor unions — that’s my offense,” Mr. Berman said in his speech to the Western Energy Alliance. “I am just trying to figure out how I am going to reduce their brand.” -- N.Y. Times

NYT Editorial

The economy is not working for those who rely on paychecks to make a living, which is to say, almost everyone. Steady gains in the October jobs report, while welcome, do not change that basic fact. -- Job Growth, But No Raises

The message is on the meter

I'm starting to see these stickers on parking meters around the city. They are to remind us of the need to tell our Aldermen to support the Privatization Transparency and Accountability Ordinance. Check it out on Twitter #PTAO. 

Closings

Chicago school closings have crippled parent participation in their children's education, writes Catalyst editor Lorraine Forte on Huffington. She says that parents interviewed for the latest issue of Catalyst

"...expressed dissatisfaction and dismay about the rocky transition to new schools. They cited bus schedules that don't accommodate after-school activities, crowded classrooms, students feeling anxious and unwelcome. The problems are magnified because many parents were already notoriously distrustful of the district and fought against the closings." 

Two Chicagos
To best understand the context for the mayor's school closings, in nearly all in the city's poorest, isolated African-American communities, you need only glance at Nickolay Lamm's two animated GIFs on Chicago Wealth Inequality Project, which show -- surprise! -- "the city's Near North Side is where the rainbow ends and the city's South and West Sides are mere anthills when compared to the lakeshore communities from the South Loop north and the suburbs." 

He's back
I had the honor of being red-baited yesterday on Twitter by none other than right-wing think-tanker Michael Petrilli from the Fordham Institute. Petrilli's McCarthyite slime came in response to my summary of the latest debate at Bridging Differences between Petrilli and Deb Meier. Here's my tweet which I think summed up the debate quite nicely:

@michaelpetrilli wants us to rely on "faith" in Social Mobility. @DebMeier says faith not enough http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2013/10/dear_mike_wow_youve_raised.html?cmp=SOC-SHR-TW … EDWEEK

Here's pathetic response from Petrilli:

 .@mikeklonsky @DebMeier I'll take my faith in America over your faith in Chairman Mao. http://www.city-journal.org/2013/23_4_diane-ravitch.html …

I'm beholden to those like @katieosgood and others who joined in the TweetFest that followed.

@MichaelPetrilli @mikeklonsky @DebMeier Actually, I KNOW the Klonskys personally. Staunch advocates of kids, public ed, & heroes in my eyes.

Petrilli responded this way:

.@KatieOsgood_ @mikeklonsky @DebMeier OK. Also avowed Maoists, at least at one time, no? If I'm wrong, tell me.

They did.

Putting Petrilli's McCarthyite tactics behind us for a while, Deb Meier's response to his call to end poverty by stopping poor people from having children is worth reading. She ends with this strong statement:

There's no guarantee that the odds favor the survival of America, much less America as a beacon of democracy and equity.  So we both have a stake in seeking solutions that don't rest on fantasies about being saved by the chastity of poor young women.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Cheney on Mubarak

“So he’s been a good man and a good friend and ally of the United States, and we need to remember that.” -- Dick Cheney at Reagan celebration.

Wrong Message

Seething about coverage that made it look as if the administration were protecting a dictator and ignoring the pleas of the youths of Cairo, the president “made it clear that this was not the message we should be delivering.” -- NY Times

Teachers in the cross-hairs

Groups like EAG go after public school teachers through the back door. They lie about who they are. They video tape teacher’s private lives and activities. They make FOIA requests of teacher emails. Then they cry the blues when they get caught and have their slime activities brought to light. In the end they’re all just different wings of the same bird. -- Fred Klonsky's Blog

Wisconsin gov threatens troops against unions

Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees. --AP

A good day for democracy

Not just in Egypt

This morning I warned  the EAG wing-nuts about stalking my brother. I even expressed pity for the poor schmucks (h/t Mel Brooks). Now they are whining like babies just because brother Fred spanked them on his blog. So they went slobbering to Fred's boss but got nothing but a lesson in free speech from the school board president. Fred says, "Today I am proud to be a teacher in Dist. 64."

Read the exchange between EAG's Steve Gunn and Dist. 64 Board Pres. John Heyde -- obviously a stand-up guy.

"Just as you have a right to make a FOIA request under the law, Mr. Klonsky also has a right, protected by the First Amendment, to offer commentary on his personal blog. His blog apparently has developed a healthy readership, including – I have to assume – your organization. Because I am not aware of any connection your organization has with Park Ridge or Niles, Illinois, I assume your organization got the idea of requesting Mr. Klonsky’s e-mails because you did not approve of what he writes in his blog. And I understand that you also do not approve of his latest posts. I respectfully suggest that, if you do not like what Mr. Klonsky writes in his blog, you stop reading it."

It's a great day for democracy. A bad one for dictators and wing-nuts.  

Wing-nuts stalking my brother? Oops, a tactical mistake.

There's a tiny group of right-wing crazies in Michigan called the Education Action Group. EAG claims it's all about "school choice." But for them, choice is merely a code word for privatization, anti-union, and anti-teacher politics. While they're tiny, as you might expect, they are heavily funded by a rich and powerful bunch of conservative types who group around the Mackinac Center for Policy Research. EAG serves as the Center's hired attack dogs, used against teacher unions and even spying on individual teacher pro-union activists. One of those they're currently stalking is my brother Fred. Ooops, a tactical mistake.

Fred is a veteran elementary school art teacher and a damn good one. He's well respected by his colleagues and has represented them for two terms as their elected local union president. Fred is also a long time social-justice, civil rights, anti-war and union political activist. He's very open about his political views and makes them known to all who are interested on Fred Klonsky's Blog. You can also follow him on Twitter.

Olsen

The other day, the district supt. informed Fred that someone named Ben Velderman had filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding to see all of Fred's work emails. There is nothing specific about their request. It's just a fishing expedition and job harassment reminiscent of Joe McCarthy's tactics back in the '50s.  And there's good reason for the similarity. Venderman works for  EAG founder Kyle Olsen. Olsen is a disciple of McCarthy and a pal of new McCarthyites like Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart.  He is a contributor to Breitbart's blog,  BigGovernment.com, Fred is actually in very good company. Olsen, Beck and Breitbard are currently cranking out vicious attacks on liberals like the  renowned sociologist Frances Fox Piven. Previous targets include civil rights hero Shirley Sherrod and President Obama.

Knowing Fred as I do, there is no chance in the world  that he will be dissuaded  from his social-justice efforts or from the way he teaches his kids. If you want to know more about his teaching methods, read this letter to Velderman in response to his stalkers, written by film maker and Columbia College prof, Jeff Spitz. Fred's classroom work was featured in a Spitz film. In fact, I kind of feel some pity for Olsen, Velderman and their gang now that they have pissed off my brother. But as Fred points out, the real purpose of McCarthy-style bullying attacks is to intimidate other teachers and spread fear.

But I think we can turn that around. If you would like to respond to Velderman or Olsen and tell them what you think of their attack on Fred or on other educators, you can reach them at the Education Action Group Foundation, Inc at 213-733-4202. Velderman's email is ben@edactiongroup.org. Please copy me on any missives to EAG so I can post them here.

Academic freedom "a core principle..."

Unless of course, it causes "controversy"

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- The University of Wyoming has canceled a speech by former 1960s radical William Ayers after it raised a slew of objections from citizens and politicians. Ayers -- an education professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago-- was scheduled to speak next Monday on the Laramie campus about social justice issues and education. He was invited by the UW Social Justice Research Center.

In a statement released by the university, UW President Tom Buchanan thanked the center for reconsidering its invitation to Ayers. Buchanan says academic freedom is a core principle of higher education, but he says the visit by Ayers would have adversely impacted the public's confidence in the university. He noted that the Ayers invitation had caused intense controversy.
-- Associated Press

Right-wing goes bananas over social-justice teaching

"They're even playing dominoes at Banana Kelly"

The two words that strike fear into hearts of right-wingers everywhere are SOCIAL JUSTICE. Right-wing think tanks like Manhattan, Fordham and the American Enterprise Institutes go ballistic every time they hear of a teacher raising issues of of racial injustice or gender equality in the classroom. Not to mention the growing number of small schools that focus on the social-justice theme as a way of tapping into student interest in social causes like the environment.

The latest diatribe against social-justice teaching comes from the filthy little tabloid, the N.Y. Post ("Crackpot schools--City lets ACORN, other radicals run wild"). Post writers use age-old red-baiting tactics to try and pin social-justice teachers to ACORN's philosophy of "reform and change" (I thought that was Mayor Bloomberg's campaign slogan. Maybe he needs some investigating). They even drag up my favorite witch-hunter Sol Stern, who's made a fair living hunting down S-J teachers.

In their never-ending search for evidence of S-J teaching, Post investigators actually find kids at Banana Kelly High School in the Bronx playing dominoes in the classroom, not to mention their use of "restorative justice techniques" to deal with discipline problems. At Bushwick Community High School, they even found "an illustration of Che Guevara wearing a graduation cap" (Che did graduate from medical school).

The Post diatribe was, as expected, picked up by the more respectable S-J hunters Mike Petrilli and Chester Finn at the Fordham Institute:

Then there’s the Vanguard High School in Manhattan that recently hosted a “radical math” conference--not to be confused, mind you, with “Social Justice Math.” That no-doubt enthralling confab included a session on “how to use the history of the Black Panther Party to fuel an algebraic curriculum.”

OMG!

Side note: If you are interested in teaching math or literacy using dominoes, here are some good sites: Teaching Pre-K-8, Sen Teacher, Domino Theory, AAA Lab at Stanford.

And here's one of dozens of S-J teaching tip sites.

No it's not the Onion

It's the other McCarthy--just as funny though

Andrew McCarthy our favorite commie hunter during the Obama campaign, is back again raising that hair-raising question--did Bill Ayers really write Obama's autobiography, Dreams From My Father? Real conservatives must be nauseous over what's become of Buckley's old National Review.

What McCarthy doesn't realize is that Ayers actually ghost wrote War & Peace and the New Testament. Shhh!

A letter from the New Confederacy

Rep. Pence, recruiting an Armey

Has Indiana joined the New Confederacy? As I recall, Obama carried the state (obviously not all of it). Opinion-maker that I am, I just received a 13-page letter from Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) that rivals anything Dick Armey (most aptly named man in America) could have thought up down in Texas. All I could remember about Pence's views on public ed was that he led the struggle to have classroom prayers "during the war on terror" and came out against the teaching of evolution. On the more interesting side, Pence is also against mandated state testing and national standards.

His Dear Mike letter begins with a rant about Obama/socialism/govt-rationed health care/etc... His appeal is underwritten by a group called Americans for Prosperity Foundation. The foundation is bankrolling a recruiting campaign for more "ground troops" and Pence's letter is full of military metaphors.

When they're not busy trying to privatize public education, Pence and the AFP Foundation are recruiting soldiers to join the "grassroots citizens army" from the ranks of small business owners, those he claims, who are being "punished for their success." He's appealing to "hardworking families who've played by the rules" as opposed to all those others, I suppose, who just lay around the house all day, collecting entitlements. Together, rich and poor alike are, according to Pence, "marching under the banner of free enterprise." They're "fighting and winning battles" against "big government." They're building "an army of citizens" to fight the liberals, the unions, environmentalists, and especially MoveOn.org.

Hey, Congressman Pence. Sorry about the postage (oh wait, it's taxpayer's postage), but you've got the wrong guy. I'm not joining your Dick Army.

"The President is speaking. Don't let the children hear"

No more concessions, please

The dregs of the Republican Party, from Limbaugh, to Beck; from Malkin, to Palin, are frantic. They've got to keep their dwindling troops moving from battle to battle without time to think, (they must be reading Clausewitz) from death panels to Henry Louis Gates. And no wonder. Every time they shake a fist or show up with a gun on their hip, the Democrats either turn and run or else try unsuccessfully to coalesce with them.

This time it's the president's back-to-school speech. Obama is calling on kids to stay in school--an obvious "socialistic" ploy to indoctrinate our children in public Medrasaas or re-education camps, according to the tea-baggers.

I only hope that Obama doesn't make any more concessions to these whackos.

The New McCarthyism

Taking names in Ohio

Right-wing students at the Univ. of Toledo are taking names and making lists of "liberal" professors.

“We’ve been portrayed in the media, as well as comments from people in the community including College Democrats, saying that we’re creating a blacklist in order to smear the names of professors and that’s not true,” Rubin said. “We’re giving a voice to the students that have been harassed because of their political beliefs. It’s the same thing as bashing a student because they’re gay.”

Wait a minute. Isn't it these same wing-nuts who have been bashing gay students?

Hundreds of N.Y. teachers were fired during '50s red scare

Yesterday's Times, "When Suspicion of Teachers Ran Unchecked in New York" tells the story of McCarthy-period witch hunts in the N.Y. City public school system"

Outside the written record, Ms. Harbatkin did discover unexpected moments of humanity. The Board of Education was often reluctant to oust a husband and wife when both were teachers, and her mother, who died in 2003, confided to her that after she told Mr. Moskoff she would never sleep again if she provided or verified the names of fellow teachers, he turned off his tape recorder “and told her to keep saying she didn’t remember the names.”

She was not charged and continued teaching into the 1970s.

Limbaugh: Obama's a 'Maoist'

Republican Party boss says ed plan is "Bolshevik, Maoist, Klonsky-ist, Ayers-ist"

For those of you are concerned that Obama's education policies may be drifting rightward, Limbaugh will straighten you out.

A March 12 entry (subscription required) on Limbaugh's website, he stated that Obama's policies are "about 'social justice.' " It continued: "His education plan is Maoist (no surprise given the Ayers/Klonsky influence), and he is otherwise a Bolshevik. I'm also quite sure, given his character traits, that he would be a Stalinist if he thought he could get away with it ... and he's working on that, too. I wonder what the country will look like in his 10th or 15th year as president?" (Media Matters)

Quotables

Arne's biggest fan

Margaret Spellings rolled into Chicago yesterday, to endorse Arne Duncan as her successor. While George Bush called himself, "The Decider," Spellings simply wants to be remembered as “the practical implementer of the law” (NCLB). Whatever has she been smoking? Spellings would do well do get out of town and back to Texas soon after Jan. 20th before the law catches up with her.

Clout Street says:

Duncan, who appeared embarrassed as he stood along side Spellings, downplayed her comments and continued to refuse to say whether he is interested in the job if Obama offers it to him.

I’m quoted in Alfie Kohn’s upcoming Nation piece, “Beware of the School Reformers.” Alfie needed a succinct summary of Arne Duncan’s Renaissance 2010 initiative. So I gave him one:

Just as the test-crazy nightmare of Paige’s Houston served as a national model (when it should have been a cautionary tale) in 2001, so Duncan would bring to Washington an agenda based on “Renaissance 2010,” which Chicago education activist Michael Klonsky describes as a blend of “more standardized testing, closing neighborhood schools, militarization, and the privatization of school management.”

Did I leave anything out?

Religion Dept.

Dan Terkell, Studs’ son, changed the spelling of his surname during the McCarthy era when Studs “never met a petition he didn’t like.” At last week’s N.Y. tribute to Studs, Dan says, referring to Wisconsin’s fascist Senator Joe McCarthy:

“I honestly don’t know whether there is a heaven or hell. But I would guess that tail Gunner Joe and my father are not in the same place.”

Michelle Rhee, D. C. schools chancellor, in The Atlantic

"As a teacher in this system, you have to be willing to take personal responsibility for ensuring your children are successful despite obstacles. You can’t say, 'My students didn't get any breakfast today,' or No one put them to bed last night,' or 'Their electricity got cut off in the house, so they couldn’t do their homework.'"

You can’t?

'Smaller-is-better trend in jeopardy'

From the Washington Post

For more than a decade, billions in federal and state dollars were targeted to whittle classes so that teachers can devote more time and attention to each student, crafting lessons to fit the needs of struggling students, high-achievers and everyone in between. Nationwide, the average number of students in elementary classes dropped from 29 in 1961 to 24 in 1996, according to the National Education Association. In 2004, the average elementary class nationwide had 20 children, the U.S. Education Department says, with about 25 in the average secondary class.

But this smaller-is-better trend is in jeopardy. A survey of more than 800 districts released last month by the American Association of School Administrators found that 36 percent have moved to larger classes in response to the economic downturn. Many are also putting off maintenance, buying fewer textbooks and lowering thermostats.

Palin around

Marshall University prof Joseph Wyatt writes:

…McCain took a skinny dip into the deep end of the hypocrisy pool when he spoke of a fictional "close relationship" between Obama and former 1960s bomber William Ayers. And McCain did so while overlooking his own chummy outings with G. Gordon Liddy, a felon who attempted to undermine the fair election of the president in 1972 when he and others bugged the offices of the Democratic National Committee. McCain has remained conveniently oblivious to Liddy's plot to bomb the Brookings Institution and his sociopathic plan to kill columnist Jack Anderson. The nutty Liddy more than once has instructed his listeners on the proper methods to "off" federal agents. Oddly, Sen. McCain praises Liddy as a fellow who upholds American values.

Golden State offers Obama a “dream team”

A trio of writers at the Contra Costa Times offers up some prominent west coast folks who would make good picks for the Obama team. I like most of them, especially LDH, Van Jones and Jeff Bleich (I worked with him on youth violence issues during Clinton years).