Charter Industry Demands Access to TN Student Data: Parents Say No

Under the misdirection of Commissioner Candice McQueen, the TN state legislature recently passed a sweeping new charter law that is aimed to expand the footprint and to give more public money to the charter industry's corporate welfare reform schools. And money is not the only thing that Dr. McQueen is offering charter corporations like Green Dot and KIPP.

With the passage of the new state law this summer, predatory charter chains may now demand student directory information on each public school child. This information may then be used to decide which children's homes that charter operators  will flood with slick school marketing brochures that conceal the dehumanizing environments of these "no excuses" institutions for cultural sterilization.

Parents, however, can say no to such requests by contacting their public schools and requesting that their children be excluded from these data sweeps by the charter industry:

Shelby County Schools is required to send a notice to parents at the beginning of each school year about how student information is used. Parents have the option to leave their contact information out of the student directory, or other such lists.

Or, you can write a letter requesting that your student’s directory information remain private. Write to either of the addresses below:

Shelby County Schools
Student Records Department
160 S. Hollywood St.
Memphis, TN 38112

Shelby County Schools
Department of Attendance and Discipline
Shelby County Schools
2800 Grays Creek, Arlington, TN 38002

Meanwhile, the leaders of these dehumanizing and exploitative hell schools pay themselves very well, even though these child centers for paternalistic brainwashing are advertised as "non-profit." Oligarchs like Eli Broad amass huge tax savings for donations to these racist outfits, while leaders amass personal fortunes for exploiting the poor:

Charter School Segregation Week and the Celebration of Corporate Welfare

Below are some charts you might find useful in understanding how much money is being wasted on corporate efforts to use slave labor by disadvantaged children to fuel segregated and abusive charter school empires that are largely funded by state and federal governments. 

The goal by the National Alliance for Public [sic] Charter Schools is a half-billion dollars a year from USDOE.  If the new ESEA now being considered becomes law, the numbers below will look like coffee money. 

From the Center for Media and Democracy's PR Watch: (click to enlarge)

What many people don't realize about the paternalistic charter industry is that the real payoff is in real estate and the issuing of bonds to fund new capital and capital improvement programs.  In Memphis, for example, charter operators look for buildings worth renovating that can be bought for a song after Chris Barbic, the corporate skinhead in charge of the state office that hands out charter contracts, labels the target school as one for closure.  Shelby County Schools Supt. Dorsey Hopson serves as the local enabling corporate whore, who rubber stamps the Barbic choices.  

Big name charter chains that have abused their way to high test score bottom lines are lined up in Memphis and other cities for a chance to cash in with new contracts to open new chain gang "schools."  Renovation as well as new facilities funding is made possible by issuing tax-sheltered bonds, which has become a new growth industry for Wall Street investors.  

Below are three slides from a slide presentation recently presented online by the Bond Buyer (yes, I signed up for a free introductory membership):