A day after a major snowstorm that turned into an ice storm many brave souls with 4 wheel drives carpooled with others to make the trek to Olympia to provide testimony to the House Education committee regarding HB 2428 “Establishing alternative forms of governance for certain public schools”, meaning establishing charter schools in our state.
You can watch the testimony at TVW.
Many parents, teachers and other concerned citizens were not able to get to Olympia, some couldn’t even get out of their driveways or to the main roads. For those who could not participate but want to be a part of the political and democratic process, now is the time to contact the education committee members in both the State House and Senate regarding the charter school bill.
Each representative has staff who will receive your phone calls and make a note of what you have said and maintain a tally of who is for and who is against the bills. E-mails are also an effective way to let your opinion be known. To follow is a list of committee members in the House and Senate. Let them know where you stand on charter schools. They do want to hear from you.
The Washington State Senate Committee on Early Learning and K-12 Education
Chair
Vice Chair
Committee Members
On the House side, the committee on education contact information is:
santos.sharontomiko@leg.wa.gov
For the Republicans on the House Education Committee, you can call Julia Kwon and leave a message, 360.786.7292.
Let’s make sure that these bills go no farther than committee review and a “No” vote.
Education Radio
On another note, someone sent me a link to Education Radio and specifically to a program titled Audit Culture, Teacher Evaluation and the Pillaging of Public Education. This is an introduction to this program episode:
In this weeks’ program we look at the attempt by education reformers to impose value added measures on teacher evaluation as an example of how neoliberal forces have used the economic crisis to blackmail schools into practices that do not serve teaching and learning, but do serve the corporate profiteers as they work to privatize public education and limit the goals of education to vocational training for corporate hegemony. These processes constrict possibilities for educational experiences that are critical, relational and transformative. We see that in naming these processes and taking risks both individually and collectively we can begin to speak back to and overcome these forces.
In this program we speak with Sean Feeney, principal from Long Island New York, about the stance he and other principals have taken against the imposition of value added measures in the new Annual Professional Performance Review in New York State. We also speak with Celia Oyler, professor of education at Teachers College Columbia University, and Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, about the impact of value added measures on teacher education and the corporate powers behind these measures.
It’s a very thoughtful conversation on the issue of teacher evaluations. At the end of the program you can hear Diane Ravitch when she spoke at the SOS March and Rally meeting. Check it out.
Dora
Seattle Education 
David,
A similar Gates backed failure occurred in Philadelphia. Here is an excerpt from the article School of the Future:Lesson in failure, http://www.eschoolnews.com/2009/06/01/school-of-the-future-lessons-in-failure/.
When it opened its doors in 2006, Philadelphia’s School of the Future (SOF) was touted as a high school that would revolutionize education: It would teach at-risk students critical 21st-century skills needed for college and the work force by emphasizing project-based learning, technology, and community involvement. But three years, three superintendents, four principals, and countless problems later, experts at a May 28 panel discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) agreed: The Microsoft-inspired project has been a failure so far.
You’re right, teachers need to be supported, not demonized and marginalized.
Dora
Dora, thanks a million, I was able to send a parsimonious email to the pols on this list. Below is the text of what I sent to each and every one of them.
I worked for public education as a teacher and as an activist and taught for 25 years. I was part of the Gates small schools fiasco at Cleveland high School in Seattle which was a charter- like school in which we did all kinds of experimental activities, classes and administrative assignments. We were overworked, under-compensated, and misguided, all of which destroyed our morale. The students were the most impacted by the experimental small school and suffered false expectations, unwanted class assignments, scheduling problems, and a number of other academic issues.
The best thing you can do for education is provide serious tutorial and mentoring resources. This could be provided by local businesses and other non-profit foundations. In fact, these business people are most often times misguided themselves in their quest to take over public education. They should stay out of the way of the teachers instead of blaming them for inequities created through their own corporate business habits and practices.
HB 2428 is not a good idea. I’ve been there and experienced the problems first hand. Unfortunately the deeper pockets promoting this bill also have a conflict of interest; after all public education offers a huge financial market for those invested in privatizing it.
David Fisher
Retired public school teacher