Category Archives: children

My Criteria for a Model School by Mark Naison

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1. Children are loved and walk around the school with smiles on their faces.
2. Teachers are respected and stay in their jobs for a long time.
3. Parents are welcome in the school and are made to feel an integral part of the culture of the school.
4. The culture and history of the community the school is located is honored in displays and in what is taught in classes.
5. Arts, physical education, recess and sports are NEVER sacrificed for higher test scores.
6. ELL and Special Needs students are treated with respect and are given the counseling and special attention they need to thrive.
7. Students have such a positive experience at the school that they return on a regular basis after they have graduated.

If you think that these features are only found in private schools or schools in affluent middle schools, you need to visit the CASA Middle School in the Bronx where Jamaal Bowman is the principal.

This is not only something that CAN be done in all communities, it is something that MUST be done so that ALL our children can grow up with confidence in their abilities.

And Poetic Justice would add to the list the following:
8. All children will be encouraged to find and use their voices in academic subjects and particularly in creative writing and POETRY classes.

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The Truth About Flint, Water, and Oppression – from LaMar Lemmons

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Poetic Justice stands with the people of Flint, Michigan as they fight for the most basic of human rights – the right to water.

Poetic Justice also stands with the teachers, parents, and students of Detroit, Michigan as they fight for the right to an equitable and humane education.

Please read this letter from LeMar Lemmons.

“End State Oppression:

Rachel Maddow showed the world the sad truth many of us have known for a long time: Snyder is oblivious to the life of ordinary Michigan citizens. He is a cardboard cut out politician. For him, doing a good job is reading what his speech writer wrote correctly.

This tragedy is real. And it is happening to people I care about. Snyder’s agenda is clearly prepared by the donors to the NERD fund. Each day he asks himself, ” I am meeting my donor’s objectives?” The idea that human beings needed water, never occurred to him. The idea of safety never occured to Earley when he told Sue McCormick, “thanks but no thanks”. They had a plan and they were sticking to it.

As far as Governor Snyder is concerned, if the water is poisoned, just get water from somewhere else. Where is up to you. In his free market mindset, the choice of where you shop for water, is yours. It’s all supply side economics. So, shop wherever you like.
If you like Perrier, buy Perrier. He has read his speech to us, now it is time for he and his appointees to get back to the agenda of creating a better climate for his donors. He just wants this stuff off his desk! He just wants us off his desk. They don’t care about Flint. They don’t care about kids. Do you think he has met with me – a Detroiter, former State Representative and now a DPS Board member with 197 family members in the Detroit schools, even once? FYI: No, he has not!

A Little Background on Flint: Flint resident, Lee Ann Walters’ children tested high for lead poisoning. She called the EPA and Miguel Del Toral – one of the top water scientists in the world, tested her home and was shocked! Concerned for her well being, as a courtesy, he gave her a copy of his draft report showing that there was lead in her water, although her pipes were primarily plastic.

He knew that the source of the lead was not from her home. He recommended Flint water be treated.

Del Toral argued with MDEQ calling and writing back and forth. Patrick Cook, and Stephen Busch, MDEQ employees decided since Flint was hooking up to KWA in a year, there was no need to treat the corrosive water Flint residents were drinking. Lee Ann Walters gave the report to Curt Guyette, who made a phone call to Natasha Henderson, an appointee of Darnell Earley.

Rather than handling the safety of citizens herself, Henderson, who earns $140,000 plus $8,000 a month for expenses, passed the ball to Mayor Dayne Walling. Walling had asked for help from Washington DC, but he had neither the gumption nor courage to articulate concerns to the residents drinking the water. He kept looking to MDEQ for help. Why? Because they were calling the shots.

The Flint water emails, obtained by FOIA, show Brad Wurfel, the MDEQ Spokesman,was the one gathering facts from MDEQ so that he could refute the claims of Guyette. Wurfel called EPA employee Del Toral, a “rogue” EPA employee! Stephen Busch assured Wurfel in writing, that new MDEQ numbers would not justify Guyettte’s alarm. How did Busch know the outcome of the testing?

WMDEQ ALTERED the documents. Blamed the switch on Detroit and people with old houses. Rather than having 99 samples, they threw out the 30 samples showing high lead content to show just 69 samples of the best results. And they did this right around the time of a meeting with the Governor.

That is not the first time the administration made up their own science. Andy Dillon ordered a test to determine whether Flint should switch from Detroit. The engineering firm advised that it was a bad idea. It wasn’t what Dillon wanted to hear, presto chango, they throw out the report. Now refresh your memory of Earley’s lies, now caught on camera. Blaming Detroit, blaming Walling, blame the victim.

I can tell you working with Earley now, as a DPS Board Member it is HIS WAY OR THE HIGHWAY style management. He won’t even allow us to change the paper in the copy machine at the Fisher Building, let alone change a source of drinking water.

This is called oppression. Oppression is the exercise of power in a burdensome, unjust manner. In order to destabilize the DWSD, they needed to disconnect Detroit from it’s biggest customer permanently. Earley even sold a pipe that connected the two. It should be noted, Flint’s current city manager, Natasha Henderson, was hired by Earley AFTER she destabilized Muskegon Heights Water, and as a result Muskegon Heights lost their biggest customer, Norton Shores. Norton Shores purchased 70% of Muskegon Heights water. So what is this about?

Is this about Earley and Snyder are nice guys who just want to help? No. Later for that BS! Snyder’s administration makes up their own science on an as needed basis, alters documents, discredits anyone who stands in the way, removes from power and replaces anyone who is not with the agenda. Destabilizes public institutions so that they have to be privatized to survive. And they lie. Does any of this sound familiar?

I hope it does. Because sitting here as a Detroit School Board member with no power, watching Darnell Earley run our district into the ground, I weep.

Pastor Bobby Jackson in Flint has been distributing water to all who can’t afford $300 per month to buy drinking water from the grocer. These are the families Snyder is blind to. Bobby Jones ran out.

The next day, a Detroit teacher and I drove in the rain to Flint and we formed an assembly line to help distribute water. A grandmother tells me that she doesn’t drink the poisoned water, she just washes her greens in it. She says thank you and squeezes my hand. I am humbled.

She could be anyone’s grandmother. So many people said, “Thank you,” as I handed over my jug. I realized then how desperately they needed the water. Now we learn 10 people have died from Legionnaires disease!

An astounding 87 people have gotten sick. I have 197 children in my family attending Detroit Public Schools who are cold in their classrooms and I have friends and family in Flint. Snyder can’t relate, but for me, this is personal.

Snyder has now asked that Flint be declared a National Emergency.

Help us God.

LaMar Lemmons
Detroit Board of Education”

Please support the oppressed in Michigan. Read about what is going on. Help in any way you can. Justice must prevail and good must conquer this evil.

As LeMar Lemmons pleads in his letter – “Help us God.”

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“Today I resigned from the school board.” From Teacher Wendy Bradshaw PhD

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Teacher Wendy Bradshaw PhD from Florida handed in her resignation letter today. Her letter speaks the unspoken words of thousands of professional educators across the country. Her letter is the cry of what is in the hearts of teachers who, also, can no longer harm the children.

Please share her words so just maybe, we can once again have schools that love and tenderly care for the well-being of our most precious gifts – our children and grandchildren. #DoNoHarm

“Today I resigned from the school board. I would like to share with you what I gave them. Feel free to share it if it strikes you as important.

To: The School Board of Polk County, Florida

I love teaching. I love seeing my students’ eyes light up when they grasp a new concept and their bodies straighten with pride and satisfaction when they persevere and accomplish a personal goal. I love watching them practice being good citizens by working with their peers to puzzle out problems, negotiate roles, and share their experiences and understandings of the world. I wanted nothing more than to serve the students of this county, my home, by teaching students and preparing new teachers to teach students well. To this end, I obtained my undergraduate, masters, and doctoral degrees in the field of education. I spent countless hours after school and on weekends poring over research so that I would know and be able to implement the most appropriate and effective methods with my students and encourage their learning and positive attitudes towards learning. I spent countless hours in my classroom conferencing with families and other teachers, reviewing data I collected, and reflecting on my practice so that I could design and differentiate instruction that would best meet the needs of my students each year. I not only love teaching, I am excellent at it, even by the flawed metrics used up until this point. Every evaluation I received rated me as highly effective.

Like many other teachers across the nation, I have become more and more disturbed by the misguided reforms taking place which are robbing my students of a developmentally appropriate education. Developmentally appropriate practice is the bedrock upon which early childhood education best practices are based, and has decades of empirical support behind it. However, the new reforms not only disregard this research, they are actively forcing teachers to engage in practices which are not only ineffective but actively harmful to child development and the learning process. I am absolutely willing to back up these statements with literature from the research base, but I doubt it will be asked for. However, I must be honest. This letter is also deeply personal. I just cannot justify making students cry anymore. They cry with frustration as they are asked to attempt tasks well out of their zone of proximal development. They cry as their hands shake trying to use an antiquated computer mouse on a ten year old desktop computer which they have little experience with, as the computer lab is always closed for testing. Their shoulders slump with defeat as they are put in front of poorly written tests that they cannot read, but must attempt. Their eyes fill with tears as they hunt for letters they have only recently learned so that they can type in responses with little hands which are too small to span the keyboard.

The children don’t only cry. Some misbehave so that they will be the ‘bad kid’ not the ‘stupid kid’, or because their little bodies just can’t sit quietly anymore, or because they don’t know the social rules of school and there is no time to teach them. My master’s degree work focused on behavior disorders, so I can say with confidence that it is not the children who are disordered. The disorder is in the system which requires them to attempt curriculum and demonstrate behaviors far beyond what is appropriate for their age. The disorder is in the system which bars teachers from differentiating instruction meaningfully, which threatens disciplinary action if they decide their students need a five minute break from a difficult concept, or to extend a lesson which is exceptionally engaging. The disorder is in a system which has decided that students and teachers must be regimented to the minute and punished if they deviate. The disorder is in the system which values the scores on wildly inappropriate assessments more than teaching students in a meaningful and research based manner.

On June 8, 2015 my life changed when I gave birth to my daughter. I remember cradling her in the hospital bed on our first night together and thinking, “In five years you will be in kindergarten and will go to school with me.” That thought should have brought me joy, but instead it brought dread. I will not subject my child to this disordered system, and I can no longer in good conscience be a part of it myself. Please accept my resignation from Polk County Public Schools.

Best,
Wendy Bradshaw, Ph.D.”

do no harm
Letter printed with permission from the author.

Jitu Brown Fight for Dyett #fightfordyett12

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Here is an interview with Jitu Brown about the critical lens through which we need to see our children, especially our brown and black and most at-risk children.

Are our children commodities to control, or are our children precious gifts to treasure and protect?

Film maker Michael Eliot captures the heart of the hunger strike in this short video. Please watch and share.

<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/138892667″>Jitu Brown #FightforDyett</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/michaelelliot”>Michael Elliot</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Please Support Aggie Kurzyna for New Britain Board of Education – the Best Choice for the Children

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My friend and fellow CT activist Aggie Kurzyna needs two things from the people of New Britain CT.

First, she needs your signatures on her petition to run for the Board of Education. She needs to get 700 signatures of New Britain registered Democrats by August 12th.

The second thing she needs is your vote on primary day September 18th.

Please email Aggie at Aggiekurzyna@hotmail.com or visit her Facebook page if you want to sign her petition, pick up a petition to circulate, or just to get more information.

Also, Aggie will be on The War Report for Public Education Radio Show on Sunday August 2nd at 5 PM to talk about her platform and why she is trying to get elected to the Board of Education.

Below are Aggie’s own words. Please read and take action for the children and families of New Britain.

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“My name is Aggie Kurzyna and I am a petitioning candidate for the New Britain Board of Education. I am a parent, a grandparent and a lifelong New Britain resident who cares deeply about my community. I am taking the leap to run for a seat on the BOE as I have found education advocacy is my life’s purpose and passion.

My running mate, Violet Sims and I did not get the endorsement from the Democratic Town Committee this past Thursday, July 24th, 2015. Unfortunately, they chose to stick with the 3 incumbents who are currently sitting on the board. Their reasoning was its tradition to back the incumbents. Sounds like a pretty lame reason to me. Never did we discuss the issues and what everyone’s thoughts were about how to improve our schools. The decision was basically one of relationships and who knows who.

Violet and I are ready to take this race to the next level, which means that we have to petition for a primary election. This means that all registered democrats will be able to vote on Wednesday, September 16th on who they want represented on the New Britain Board of Education. In order for us to get to the vote in September we have to gather 700 signatures from registered democrats that live in New Britain by 4:00 PM Wednesday, August 12th.

For too many years, New Britain parents have struggled with trusting the New Britain school district. My mission once on the board of education will be to rebuild the trust between parents, students and the school district. Clearly, if families and schools are to form partnerships that work, there must first be a foundation of mutual trust, confidence, and respect.”

Here are more of her words from an article in the New Britain Herald:

“Kurzyna, a 40-year-old city native, said Wednesday, “We were not happy with the Democratic Town Committee process. There was no dialogue other than with the nominations committee, and that was a quick 20 minutes. There was no opportunity for me to talk about the issues with the greater town committee.”

With regard to school policies, Kurzyna, who served at various times on the governance councils at New Britain High School, DiLoreto School and Smith Elementary School, said, “I really want to focus on rebuilding parents’ trust. I don’t think the school district is going in the right direction.”

Specifically, Kurzyna, a project manager in IT for Hartford-based Phoenix Companies, said, “The elimination of dual language at DiLoreto was done behind closed doors. There was no transparency and no communication with parents.”

Another issue Kurzyna believes had a negative effect on students was eliminating bus transportation for elementary school students living less than one mile from school.

“There was no direct communication to parents that this was going to happen,” said Kurzyna. “Bus transportation is the best way kids get to school. The school district was trying to save money by doing this. In the winter time, especially, it’s dangerous for kids to walk to school.'”

There is no doubt it. Aggie will work to take our schools back from the corporate reformers and from political parties that have lost touch with the citizens. Please support Aggie as she fights for the children of New Britain CT.

 

Aggie’s Family:

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Listen to Aggie this Sunday on The War Report for Public Education radio show. Call in:
A direct listen-in line only
Station 1 – 716-748-0150
To call-in and interact live
Station 1 888-627-6008 toll free

 

The Walking Man is Still Walking – an Update and a Plea for Support!

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I am Reblogging this from Jesse Turner’s blog!

The Walking Man is Still Walking – and could use some more support for the last days of his walk

SOS Go Fund Me shout out, I see a day coming where millions are marching..

A few pictures from some walk stops on my way to DC.
Some people are asking if my walk has a website. I am a one man PR machine with limited resources. I am using Facebook to pushed the walk. I am an activist that has for over a decade been fighting against high-stakes testing and NCLB.
In 2010 I stepped outside my local comfort fighting zone. I decided to push things nationally started walking to DC. Had no idea where it would lead me, but understood that silence and apathy was destroying our public schools. I do remember writing one of those Anthony Cody letters to President Obama, and understanding that no one in DC was listening to teachers. I started this blog right here, and a Facebook group called “Children Are more than test scores.”

I have no budget, no grants, no support staff, but I do have two feet made for walking, a voice made for talking, and a pen made for writing. I am not perfect or some kind of hero. I am a man on a quest for justice for our children, their teachers and public schools.
I believe in the “Power of One…that math concept that explains if you double a number starting with one..in 30 days you have millions. I see this struggle not in terms of 30 days, but a long term Power of One battle for the salvation of our children and our democracy.
So no website people, but a big heart, an open mind, and two strong feet made for walking. My faith in every day Americans to do the right thing inspires me. I see a time of millions marching coming. I see it coming sooner not later.
I read Man Of LaMancha when I was 10 years old, and fell in love with the thought of a knight errand on a quest to do right. I am in love with fighting the good fight.
I believe victory is coming, and even if I fall I know I am the better for it. As sure as night turns to day I see change coming.
Walking to DC,
Jesse

PS, I am 11 days from DC, could use a little help with my Go Fund Me campaign. I have been asking people to give 10 dollars for 10 miles. Every 10 dollars helps cover the cost of my Walking To DC campaign. No pressure, give if you can, and know just reading my blog inspires me to walk.
http://www.gofundme.com/JesseWalkingToDC

If you are wondering what song this walking man was listening to it’s Eric Clapton’s Change The World.
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AirSAQZv63E7A5oZfwtpjsKbvZx4?fr=yfp-t-901-s&toggle=1&fp=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&p=youtube%20change%20the%20world%20eric%20clapton

In the Beginning …

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In the beginning,
there was a good teacher.
And the good teacher taught
with passion and with eloquence.
The good teacher taught with love
and compassion.
The good teacher touched many lives
forever with light, love, and learning.

Those were
the best of times.

One day the good teacher awoke
to a siege of terror
creeping into her classroom –
the Great Teacher Displacement
had begun while she was asleep.

Her voice was dismissed.
Her power was slowly drained.
And her students stumbled more
fell more
searched more
and started losing the precious seeds
of education.

These are the worst of times.
These are the times that try men souls.
These are the events that spark –
a revelation
a renovation
a reimagination
a reformation
and most importantly ~
a revolution.

Let the revolution break forth.

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“Thugs” Are Nothing But Children in Transition – A Repost and Reflection

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by Mark Naison

Whenever there is urban unrest following a death of a young man at the hands of law enforcement, especially a young Black man, the word “thug” is brought forth, not only to dismiss outpourings of rage and violence the death might inspire, but to imply that the person dying some how deserved their fate and would not be missed.

I cannot stand silent when the term is used that way. It was the same term applied to many of the young people I coached and mentored during the 15 years I was coaching and running sports leagues in Brooklyn from the early 80’s to the late 90’s.

There were many young men in our youth program, which was based in Park Slope, but drew from Red Hook, Boerum Hill, Bedford Stuyvesant, and occasionally as far away as Bushwick, who were feared by other coaches and parents, and occasionally by teachers and school officials. Some of them were the most talented athletes we had; others were merely angry, troubled young people looking for a physical outlet for their emotions.

I refused to give up on them. Working with other coaches and league directors, some of whom were police officers, who believed no child was a prisoner of their fate, we created spaces where these young men could express their emotions without destroying the atmosphere required to maintain a team or a league; where they could find an outlet for their energy and athletic talents, where their leadership skills could be recognized, and where they could find love and support and mentoring when they were desperate.

Sometimes that meant more than sports- it meant taking them into our homes, getting them tutors, organizing them into reading groups, finding the right schools for them.And lo and behold, many of these “thugs,” over time, underwent profound personal transformations, becoming star athletes at their high schools, attending community colleges and four year schools, entering the work force and becoming parents themselves. None ended up in prison.

The faces and names of these young people, and the fear they once inspired, are etched in my memory as a reminder that no child- and teenagers are still children- should be written off because they are angry and rebellious, much less defined for life through their actions in such a way as their deaths can be justified.

That was my philosophy as a teacher and a coach.

It is also my mantra as I survey the current political landscape.

Click here for the original post on Dr.  Naison’s blog With a Brooklyn Accent.

Poetic Justice Reflects:

A long time ago, I stopped using the term “thug” to describe the young people I teach and counsel every day. There was a “check” in my spirit. It felt like my words were perpetuating the inequality and injustice I was seeing done daily to my students. I stopped using that word. It broke my heart to hear our president use it this week to describe the young people in Baltimore.

As Dr. Naison expresses in his blog post, “Every child is precious. Every child has potential. Every child in trouble should be viewed as someone in transition to a better place, not someone who deserves a life of misery.”

The message we need to give our young people is – we love you – without conditions – we love you because we see you as you will be when you grow up – we love you and we have faith in you.

My job as a public school teacher should not be to call the cops on my students. That the “school to prison pipeline” exists is bad enough. I refuse to be part of this pipeline that channels children into a second class citizenship. I refuse to look at my students as “less than” and “not good enough” and as “those kids” and as “thugs”.

Sometimes I feel like I am a lone voice crying out to save the children. We need more educators decrying the injustice, and the inequity, and the disparate treatment in our public schools.

My students are precious.
I refuse to allow them to be called thugs.
And I choose to believe in them.
I choose to protect them.
I choose to love them.hands

This is what we are fighting for – exceptional children like Super Ewan – all children are exceptional in my world..

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Super Ewan has made it to the main stream TV news! Last night he was on Erin Burnett’s Out Front show on CNN. He is totally amazing.

150313202434-eb-super-ewan-comes-to-detroits-rescue-large-169Click on this link to view his appearance on CNN:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/api/embed.html#/video/tv/2015/03/13/exp-erin-dnt-burnett-super-ewan-comes-to-detroits-rescue.cnn

Super Ewan represents all our children. They are wonderful – unique – powerful – and full of all the good things that can turn this world around. They are not common and standard as the school reformer’s rhetoric declares to the world. We adults must protect ALL, empower them, allow them to speak out in truth, and help them make the world a better place.

We salute you Super Ewan and we support you as you help the people in Detroit. You inspire us grownups to do the right thing because … it is the right thing to do. Thank you.

Please visit Super Ewan on his FaceBook page and on his website. Also, you can help his cause from afar by supporting his Gofundme account.