In case you need more evidence...

Only five states do not allow collective bargaining for educators, effectively banning teachers unions. Those states and their SAT/ACT rankings are as follows:

South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44th

Meanwhile ground zero of the union battle, Wisconsin, is ranked 2nd in the country.-- Business Insider

Mendoza's firing was an outrage

Former CPS art teacher Francisco Mendoza (wearing hat), talks with friends and well-wishers during an auction of donated art items for his benefit held at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago on February 27, 2011 . Mendoza has cancer and was fired last summer by CPS. l Keith Hale~Sun-Times

I went to the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum in Pilsen last night to help fired CPS teacher Francisco Mendoza. The place was packed with hundreds of Mendoza supporters who raised thousands of dollars to  support the renowned artist/teacher in his battle with cancer and CPS.

Mendoza, a painter, muralist and pillar of Pilsen’s art community, tried not to cry Sunday night as hundreds of friends showed up to support him at an art auction fund-raiser — yards from Orozco Elementary, where he once worked. “I’ve got to stay strong,” said Mendoza, smiling beneath a black cowboy hat, seated in a wheelchair. “I feel like if I cry — everyone here will start crying.” -- Sun-Times

The firing of Mendoza while he was on sick leave, was a disgrace and a big blow to his students and the entire school community. He was diagnosed last April with multiple myeloma, a form of bone marrow cancer. He spent five months at Rush University Medical Center undergoing chemotherapy, and survived a close call with a lung infection, before returning home to find a termination letter. 

Corporate reformers, including mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel, want to eliminate tenure and other collective-bargaining rights so they can easily fire teachers like Mendoza, leaving them with no health care or any means of support and replace them with younger (certainly not better) teachers who are paid less and are less likely to get sick.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

I was just asking, whatever happened to Solis?

"...we've seen our brothers and sisters in the public employees unions willing to give their share, and to negotiate in good faith to help their states get through tough times. But the governors in Wisconsin and Ohio aren't just asking workers to tighten their belts, they're demanding that they give up their uniquely American rights as workers." -- Labor Sec. Hilda Solis

Walker can thank Rhee

"But Walker's argument - that greedy teachers are putting their own interests over the interests of the public - resonates in part because in recent years, many Democrats have made that argument as well. Exhibit A is former D.C. schools chancellor Michelle Rhee." -- Richard Kahlenberg, Washington Post

At Moscowitz' Upper West Side charter school meeting

"The guests sipped wine and nibbled sushi, guacamole and Gruyere..." -- New York Times

Here's how I spent my day

Where are you, President Obama?

Obama 2007 campaign speech from Spartanburg, S.C.

See my latest post on Huffington: "President Obama, Where Are You on Teachers Union Rights?"

It's not just about unions...

When the prankster called Gov. Walker and mentioned "special interests" the governor didn't flinch. He didn't have to be told in whose interests he was working. David Koch had bankrolled his campaign and contributed over $1 million to the Wisconsin Governor's Assoc. The Koch-funded Wisconsis T-Party were his campaign workers.

Walker's pay-back: The gov's bill gives him power to sell off state-owned power plants to Koch Bros. in no-bid contract at any price.
Shock troops: Faced with no-let-up protests against the union-busting bill by teachers and public workers, the Koch Bros. are mobilizing their T-Party shock troops for a confrontation Saturday in Madison.

Media "Research" : In a near hilarious piece in today's Wall Street Journal by L. Brent Bozell's  far-right loony Media Research Center, Rupert Murdoch's crew complains of teacher and union worker media manipulation in coverage of the protests. Seriously!

Deb Meier reflects on her accidental trip to the protest in Madison in today's Bridging Differences.

Which side are you on?

After his friend and former colleague, Diane Ravitch declared, "I Stand With the Teachers of Wisconsin," AEI's Rick Hess somehow felt compelled to make clear to his patrons exactly where he stands. No surprise there since Hess' organization is funded by union-busting billionaires like the Koch Brothers. 

***

Speaking of which-- Gov. Walker is now the laughing stock of Wisconsin after his recorded butt-kissing conversation with David Koch impersonator and Buffalo Beast editor, Ian Murphy. Trying to impress his patron with his cleverness, Koch revealed his secret plan to trick boycotting Democratic senators back to Madison for a pretend compromise meeting.  What great grist for Jon Stewart's mill. 

President Obama's lips remain sealed. How far he's drifted since that December, 2008 day of hope, when then president-elect Obama came out strongly in support of Chicago union workers who sat-in at Republic Window and Door to keep the plant from leaving the state.

Side Note on the Republic battle: Obama's new chief of staff, Bill Daley, was Midwest chairman of JPMorgan Chase, which owned 40 percent of Republic.

***

If you can make it to Mad City this Saturday, the teachers unions have scheduled a giant rally at the capitol for 3 p.m. See brother Fred's blog on this.

Miguel's speech

The victory party

Last night's Miguel del Valle victory party at Revolution Brewery, over in the 35th Ward, actually felt like victory. Even though big-money candidate Rahm Emanuel, as expected, won the mayor's race handily, spirits (no, not just those) ran high. When Miguel finally arrived, the place went up for grabs. The hundreds of supporters, including many young, hard-core community organizers,  exploded into chants of "Miguel, Miguel..." I had the feeling that this was the beginning of something big, rather than just the end of another campaign.

Of course, time will tell. I had the same feeling standing in Grant Park at Obama's victory celebration in 2008. But after that victory, the movement went to sleep, anesthetized by phony Democratic Party promises. Still, given the events of the past two weeks, from Cairo to Madison, I walked out into the crisp Chicago air feeling as hopeful in this local electoral defeat as I did that night of victory in '08.

These two young campaign organizers sum things up perfectly.

In what could have been a concession speech, del Valle laid claim, “There are people willing and able to fight the battles that need to be fought… We are going to build an agenda that says progress should be for all and not for some. I can feel it coming.” We haven’t missed our opportunity. Our moment to democratize Chicago has just begun. February 22^nd doesn’t mark a loss but a first step toward victory. -- - B. Loewe & Josh Prudowsky

From Brenda Engel of the North Dakota Study Group

To the NDSG: An account of my experience Saturday (requested by a French journalist in Paris, Sylvie Laurent, who is a friend of my son-in-law). Feel free to quote any part of it if useful. Brenda

 
Madison, Wisconsin, February 19, 2011

“The North Dakota Study Group,” a national group of progressive educators, was holding its annual conference in northern Illinois over the weekend of February 18th. The second morning, Saturday, a scheduled speaker – a teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin – spoke eloquently and movingly about the mass demonstrations in the state capitol, Madison, not too far to the north of us, and made an urgent appeal for support. The Group, of which I’ve been a long-time member, voted to cancel activities for the remainder of the day and about fifty of us drove in tandem (in a fleet of vehicles) to Madison – a trip of something over two hours.

Arriving in mid-afternoon, we parked our van in a huge multi-leveled garage and proceeded on foot towards the Wisconsin State Capitol. As we neared the scene of the demonstration, our feelings of expectation began to intensify. The distant waves of sound became louder, the elements more distinct: magnified voices of speakers, roared responses of the audience, occasional shouts and whistles: the expressed reactions of a multitude– an estimated fifty thousand – of outraged citizens, outraged at the union-busting, reactionary bill proposed by their newly elected Republican governor.

We entered the crowd, holding onto each other in order not to become lost – although, as is usual in these high- tech times, each of us (with one exception) was equipped with a cell phone and we had, with forethought, exchanged numbers in advance. At about fifty feet before us rose a hill, also dense with people, crowned by the magnificent State Capitol itself, a luminescent, neo-classical building with high Corinthian columns and lofty dome – in style non unlike other state capitols but at that moment it seemed more beautiful than any, almost celestial, a symbol - of what? democracy? people power? hope for the future?

Before the building was the podium on which a knot of people clustered, one of whom was speaking, exhorting, encouraging and eliciting a huge response from below. Some of the words were understandable but we got the idea even when they weren’t. We were surrounded by placards, posters and banners, among them: “This is what democracy looks like” (my favorite); “Governor Walker, the whole world is watching;” and “Kill the Bill!” People of all ages and ethnicities surrounded us. More speakers, ending with a speech by an eloquent snow-plow operator: “This is not just a movement; this [has to do with] a way of life!”

After the speeches ended, we climbed the hill and joined a line entering the Capitol itself. I was surprised both at its accessibility and by the friendly welcome given us by the guards. (Of course, they are public servants as well and vulnerable to the Draconian measures being proposed by the Governor.) There were signs everywhere cautioning that the demonstration was to be “peaceable” – an echo, not the first, of Cairo. In the rotunda under the dome, a small group of teen-agers were beating out rhythms on drums and calling out slogans, on an electric megaphone, in support of “our teachers,” words then chanted by the surrounding crowd. For the first time we felt comfortably warm. After a while we were aware it was getting late, we were getting hungry and felt ready to leave.

The crowd outside was thinning; it was dark and becoming colder. As we left, I turned back and had one last view of the Wisconsin State Capitol, artfully lighted – glowing gold against the night sky.  Please reply to Brenda by email at: brendaengel@gmail.com

Watch 17-year old student demolish Tom Luna's bill

Groups rally in Idaho to "Save our teachers! Save our schools!"

Charter schools: Public or private?

Another Chicago charter has claimed it's a "private" school in order to stop its teachers from unionizing. The school has received $23 million in public funds since it opened in 2004. But eight months ago, a solid majority of the school's teachers voted to organize. The school's board, with backing from the charter school association and the Civic Committee, decided to spend tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in hopes of stalling off union certification.

In papers filed with the National Labor Relations Board, attorneys for the Chicago Math and Science Academy on the city's North Side say the school should be exempt from an Illinois law that grants employees of all public schools the right to form unions for contract negotiations. -- Tribune

Teachers report threats by principal, Ali Yilmaz as well as the firing of a popular and well-respected teacher who was part of the union organizing drive.

In the same Trib article, University of Chicago's Tim Knowles is sounding more and more like Wisconsin's Gov. Walker, claiming that collective-bargaining rights for teachers are "a risk to those basic freedoms".

Rahm Emanuel, who is the poll leader in today's mayor's race, promises more of the same if he's elected.

Third-year teacher Kate Ostler says the process has brought many teachers closer together.

"We've built a real community here, and that's helped," she said. "We're sticking this out because we love the kids and we love what we do."

A truly selfless Wall Street guy

 Ownership Society News

Bill Daley will earn a meager salary of only  $172,200 as White House Chief of Staff. That means he's taking a pay cut of $19,827,800 this year and every year he's doing the job. Why would someone take a pay cut of nearly $20M you ask?

Daley, brother of Mayor Daley, got much of his income from JPMorgan Chase & Co., where he was a top executive. Daley also served on the boards of directors for Boeing and Abbott Labs and owned shares of stock in both companies. Daley resigned his seats on the two boards after joining the White House in January. The White House says Daley has divested all of his holdings in individual companies and reinvested the proceeds in “non-conflicting assets” such as diversified mutual funds. -- Sun-Times

Just dedicated, I guess. Hmmm.

IN MY MAILBOX

From Deborah Meier in Madison 

Mike,


It was anything but an "angry crowd"! There is something joy-prodcing about this kind of protest--as though in releasing our voices we are refilled with energy and affection for each other. An occasional Tea-partyer (a few thousand at most of "them" amongst 75 thousand pro-unionists, etc hardly made for ay problems at all! In fact sometimes their slogans just fit into ours. It was only the media saw it as a serious "confrontation" between Wisconsin citizens! Bah humbug.)


What ingenuity the signs themselves showed, as families and kids held up their ingenious ideas. Finding rhymes and slogans that were filled with the fun of language. Lots of it fgocused on respect and democracy. Chants and songs that have grown up over the years since I was a regular demonstration goer. I needed a day like this one--and appreciated those who stayed behind to get some other work for the North Dakota Study Group done. The Wisconsinites really appreciated our presence and folks came up to ask us were we "really" from Boston, California, Texas, etc???

Bob Peterson spoke at 9am at the Mundelein center and by 10:45 we were all abuzz--shall we go? How can we stay away? We're "this close" (2-3 hour drive away) how can we not go? By noon we were all in cars and vans and off we went. Poor Bob P's van got a flat! He got picked up by others in our retinue. Some were a little cold--as we rushed off without proper sweaters, coats, mittens, etc. But we warmed each other with many hugs.


Deb

Are they still calling it "reform"?

Reform Detroit style: Bobb will close half of city schools, raise class size to 60. This is nothing less than criminal.

President's Day in Boise. Thousands of teachers, parents, and students are spending their day off protesting Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Luna's plan to require high school students to take four online courses, introduce merit pay for teachers and end tenure for new teachers.  It would also eliminate about 770 teaching positions.

Boise

Thousands of Wisconsin union members and supporters are packing the Capitol again today to protest T-Party Gov. Walker's plan to not only to cut wages and benefits for some public employees, but go after teachers' and public workers' collective bargaining rights as well.

View from right field: Even the conservative, pro-business Madison Chamber of commerce has condemned Walker's "adversarial" approach.

NDSG 2011

North Dakota Study Group stopped work and went to Mad City. Here's Francisco Guajardo's video.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

An assault on unions...

"Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally; seems like more of an assault more on unions. And I think it's very important for us to understand that public employees, they are our neighbors, they are our friends." -- Barack Obama to Milwaukee T.V. station

Critical thinker

"You say that education is the way out of poverty right?" 16-year-old Yamilet Miranda asked Duncan from the crowd. "So then why is education always the main target during budget cuts?" -- Southern California Pacific Radio (Audio)

Ezra Klein:

"Don't blame the union" for budget crisis. -- WaPo

Fred Klonsky:

"How did a crisis created by Wall Street, with huge profits still being made by Wall Street, ever get framed as being the fault of a kindergarten teacher, a nurse or a fireman?" -- Solidarity Forever!

Inside Miguel del Valle's campaign

Why We Fight Back - March 2011 Month of Action to Defend Public Education

Endorse the Call to Action OR via contact page
Add your Action/Event to the listing
Calendar of Events for March

As we enter into the spring semester, the struggle to Defend Public Education continues. This semester will play a significant role in the future of this struggle. We will be facing greater austerity measuresbudget cuts, continued attacks on public education and social services, and another year of layoffs, fee hikes, and cost increasesnot to mention foreclosures and unemployment that continue to devastate our communities.

The economic policies of neoliberal capitalism that have enriched Wall Street while exploiting working people will not change. The wars will continue as our schools and communities are devastated with massive cuts. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that the bombs dropped in Vietnam explode at home and this holds true today.

Students and youth across the globe have been responding to this crisis for years. Over the past few years, we have seen major actions in the UK, Greece, Puerto Rico, France, Argentina, Brazil, and many other countries. January 2011 saw students and youth play a significant role in the uprisings in Egypt and Tunsia. We have been inspired by the courage of our brothers and sisters and it is this inspiration that we must bring into our struggle.

In the US we have organized for two major days of action to defend public education, as part of the larger movement to fight back against the economic crisis. This year, we need to make a strong statement with our actions. It is our turn to step out and be bold. We must join with those fighting racist attacks and the banning of ethnic studies. This year we are calling for Month of Action in March to begin building a stronger student fight back, and to pull the energy of the youth into the streets.

We must be clear, this is only the beginning. March 2011 will be a month of escalating actions, beginning on March 2nd with a national day of action, called for by activists in California. We call for participation in the following actions:

March 1st Social Media Status day to Defend Public Education
March 2nd National Day of Action to Defend Public Education
March 19th Demonstrations against the Wars and Occupations
March 31st National Day of Student Walkouts and Strikes
April 9th and 10th Demonstrations against the Wars and Occupations 
April 18th Actions in Defense of Ethnic Studies
May 1st International Workers Day and Actions for Immigrants Rights

People are often afraid to act alone. We must counteract this by being bold, stepping out and showing that we can, and will, win. As we break this mold, as we begin to unite our struggles and share our collective stories, fear will be taken over by inspiration; apathy will be taken over by a desire to fight. We must build our struggle so the media cannot ignore us. We must spread the struggle all over the country and learn from the models in California, New York, Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Milwaukee and elsewhere.

We are incredibly inspired by the actions of our brothers and sisters internationally and continue to work with them to build for the Spring of Resistance. We know that this fight is not ours alone. We know that it will take more than one month to win it, but we must begin somewhere. We call on all students, youth faculty, teachers, parents, community members, and anyone who is concerned about the future of public education to join together in building for March. We are the ones with the solutions that can carry us forward. Let us join together in continued struggle.

The National Committee to Defend Public Education

Are they really trying to resurrect Renaissance 2010?

HUBERMAN: We're continuing to learn from what's worked well in Renaissance 2012…2010!...and what we need to improve on…

ambi: tape rewind

Did he say Renaissance 2012??

HUBERMAN: No, that was just a slip, Linda.--WBEZ report from Jan. 12, 2010.

Chicago's local public radio station WBEZ jumped into the exciting world of school reform program evaluation this week and as one might expect, they made quite a muck of it.

While several previous studies and analysis of Mayor Daley's signature Renaissance 2010 campaign have either been inconclusive or shown it to be a flop, leaving the district with a widening so-called achievement gap and essentially no better off than it was before the expensive and divisive campaign started, this new "study" is dazzling only in its mystification.

It was  supposedly concocted with the help of Columbia Teachers College, appears to be little more than a pre-election gambit at resurrecting a discredited reform strategy of mass school closings in targeted neighborhoods and turning them over to private operating companies.

The study pitches itself, "a progress report, not a final grade." But that implies that Ren10 is still alive and kicking with the final verdict still in doubt. The BEZers like Linda Lutton must not have read or listened to their own report from a year ago, "Renaissance 2010: A Tainted Brand", announcing that the mayor and former schools chief Ron Huberman had already declared the program over, kaput, dead and buried. In fact after the plan's Civic Committee architects called the results of the mayor's reform "abysmal," Huberman  even banned use of the term Renaissance 2010 within the hallowed halls of 125 Clark Street. And for good reason.

WBEZ report's low-lights

This is what WBEZ did: grade by grade, subject by subject we compared test scores from the Renaissance 2010 schools to the neighborhood schools right around them.

Do any credible researchers still consider this a valid way to measure school reform progress? Please write in and let me know who you are.

WBEZ found a third of the city’s Renaissance 2010 schools do not beat out their neighborhood comparisons even half the time.

Huh? What?

Interim schools chief Terry Mazany: Clearly, as I’ve been saying, there is no silver bullet.

Who could argue with that? Although Ren10 was pitched as a silver bullet by the mayor, Arne Duncan and the Civic Committee. Duncan even rode the rigged results of this Chicago Miracle all the way to Washington.

Overall, WEBZ  found Renaissance elementary schools outperformed nearby schools 58 percent of the time on the grades and subjects students were tested in.

And what did they do the other 42 percent of the time or in subjects that weren't tested? For example, Huberman cut important foreign language programs, ostensibly to save money, because foreign languages aren't tested. Is this making any sense yet? It's more or less left to the University of Chicago's Tim Knowles, himself a charter school starter/operator to sum all this up.

KNOWLES : Are we willing to live with some margin of error? We should be, because we’re trying to create new paths forward for children and family.

Tim, of course there is always some "margin of error." That's not the problem here. It's comparing, closing, or privatizing schools and firing thousands of teachers based on a single, standardized test score. Ah, but you already know that. Right? Remember Tim,  it's those kids, parents and teachers that have to live with your margin of error, not you.

KNOWLES: The city should make Renaissance 2010 routine.

But why, Tim? The study is inconclusive. Previous studies called it a failure. Why make it "routine"/

KNOWLES: But along the way, we should be doing careful cost-benefit analysis. And asking ourselves is this worth the upheaval.

Ah yes, a cost-benefit analysis. Harvard grad school tuition wasn't wasted. But why along the way? Why not do it before we embark?

KNOWLES:  The critical question is whether more children are being better educated now. And whether the results justify the costs.

Yes indeed. Now you're talking. Please consider real studies, not just those done by radio stations, that answer those two questions along with questions of equity (the gap, remember?) before resurrecting Ren10 and "making it routine."

Previous looks at Renaissance 2010

The Chicago Tribune, January, 2010:

• "In Renaissance 2010 elementary schools, an average of 66.7 percent of students passed the 2009 Illinois Standards Achievement Test, identical to the district rate."
• "The Ren10 high school passing rate was slightly lower on state tests than the district as a whole -- 20.5 percent compared with 22.8 percent."
• "Only a quarter of Renaissance 2010 schools had test scores high enough to meet the federal goals set by No Child Left Behind."
• "Nothing created more disruption to the city's educational landscape."
• "Chicago students as a whole still post some of the lowest test scores on national math and reading exams."
• "Even in schools with single-digit pass rates, violence-filled hallways and embarrassing absentee patterns, parents picketed the streets and filled the school board chambers, begging that their schools be left alone."
• "The new schools mirror the district demographically, except they enroll fewer special education students and those who speak English as a second language."

SRI International and the Consortium on Chicago School Research  (August 18, 2009)

Furthermore, although researchers note that the initiatives are still in the early stages and that more time may be needed before drawing definitive conclusions, descriptive analyses show that the average standardized test performance of freshman students in most high schools in all three initiatives remained similar to historical levels relative to overall CPS performance.

SRI International (June, 2009)

Overall, we found no dramatic improvements. We did find a few hopeful signs, but results were generally mixed.