Massive Resistance Required Against NC Taliban

The Koch Brothers now own North Carolina state government, and until that changes, the rights of NC citizens will be subjected to any number of schemes to limit free speech, the right to demonstrate, and to express grievances against the John Birchers who would like to return North Carolina to the era of Jim Crow social policy and the politics of McCarthyism. 

From the Charlotte Observer:

Last week, a group of three dozen teachers marched in Raleigh in an effort to draw attention to the appalling lack of basic educational materials available in their classrooms. When Governor McCrory refused to meet with them, 14 of these dedicated educators were arrested for sitting down in the street in protest. Under a new Senate bill, teachers who are arrested for failure to disperse could potentially lose their teaching licenses.

Senate Bill 867’s intent is stricter background checks for teachers applying for teaching licenses in North Carolina. Its current language requires the Department of Public Safety to provide criminal histories on individuals who apply for licensure to the State Board of Education. The board then makes a determination on whether the aspiring teacher has the “moral character required for professional educators” before issuing the teaching license.

The majority of the crimes listed in the bill make perfect sense if the goal is – as it should be – to keep our students safe. Few would argue that individuals who have been convicted of homicide, arson, prostitution, or misconduct in public office should be allowed to mold the young minds of tomorrow.

But the inclusion of Article 36A, which includes the act of remaining “at the scene of ... disorderly conduct by an assemblage of three or more persons, following a command to disperse,” departs from that sincere desire to protect our children. It means that individuals who have been arrested for protesting the lack of textbooks and toilet paper in North Carolina schools could be denied teaching careers, and those already teaching could potentially have their licenses revoked due to such an arrest. . . .

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article85880232.html#storylink=cpy

Tennessee State Board Set to Further Demoralize Teachers and Open the Floodgates to New Lawsuits

Update 9:34 AM Jan. 27:  Last evening the State Board of Education pulled the "Scarlet Letter" reprimand action item from today's agenda.  

The commentary below was provided Knoxville, TN educators who prefer (for now) to remain anonymous:

In light of the planned action by the State Board of Education (download pdf from state website here complete with red ink), Knox County educators are bracing for the next shoe to fall from the Haslam/McIntyre(Broad)/Huffman nexus of destabilization, deprofessionalization, and corporatization of public education in the state of Tennessee.

Already, teachers in Knoxville schools administered by quislings from McIntyre’s Leadership Academy are reporting increasingly Orwellian levels of administrative surveillance regarding teacher activities both on and off the clock, with explicit threats of reprimand for any number of murky, undefined “unprofessional” or “unbecoming” activities.

Rumors abound regarding the intent and extent of McIntyre’s office, as well as what offenses might bring a reprimand. [Thus far the State has provided no list of offenses that might yield a public reprimand].  One version  to have teacher’s driver’s licenses flagged in order to be informed of possible moving violations committed by KCS employees, as well as of intentions of certain administrators to rid the teaching pool of staff members whose personal, private life choices, or physical appearances may conflict with the values held by fear-fanning politicians or moneyed individuals in the larger community.

Not only do we have the punitive, unproven, critically-flawed, multi-million dollar Milken Brothers TEAM evaluation system (combined with Broad-Stooge McIntyre’s pet project of pay-for-performance APEX program) to marginalize, demoralize, deprofessionalize, and ultimately drive out seasoned, professional educators (those most likely to speak out against the wrongs currently being perpetrated against their students and communities in the name of “reform”), we now have the beginnings of a 19th-century throwback policy by which public school educators can be censured, publicly humiliated, and blacklisted without the benefit of due process for as yet unspecified indicators of “unprofessionalism” and “moral turpitude.”

By using that most dog-eared page from the reformer’s playbook of “getting tough on teachers.” while simultaneously pandering to the most intolerant and prejudiced segments of the local population with the hot-button, evangelical issue of “morality,” McIntyre has demonstrated his commitment to diligently promote the Business Roundtable’s agenda by any means necessary.

Which leaves the educators of Knox County to wonder: What will be the NEXT reason that some Knox County teachers--most likely tenured veterans near the top of the pay scale--will find themselves “out of alignment” with McIntyre’s “vision,” and acted against accordingly?  A speeding ticket?  A bankruptcy? Holding hands in public? Unsubstantiated allegations related to a divorce or custody dispute?  Complaints from a disgruntled parent?  Being seen consuming a glass of wine at a restauraunt?

Welcome to the New Dark Ages, brought to you by this generation's efficiency zealots and supporters of plutocracy.

Local story by WATE reporter, Hana Kim:

By HANA KIM
6 News Reporter

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - The State Board of Education could pass a new rule this week that would allow it to publicly reprimand a teacher for misconduct.

However, the initiative is creating some fear that teachers' personal rights would be infringed upon.

If the board passes the agenda on Friday, it will give the board the option to publicly reprimand a teacher for bad behavior. That reprimand will be on the teacher's record permanently so that every school district in Tennessee could find out about it.

School districts are required to turn over a teacher's case for evaluation if there's a misconduct problem.

The board can either suspend or even revoke a teacher's license, depending on the case. The state says a public reprimand would be something in the middle, given out for an offense that is not worth a suspension, but still frowned on.

General Counsel Dannelle Walker deals with most of the state's licensing cases and came up the initiative.

"We have pretty much a small hammer and a big hammer. We want to have like a screwdriver to make it a little bit better, and we are not pulling out the big hammer for such small offenses," Walker said.
However, the initiative is stirring a lot of confusion.

Sherry Morgan, president of the Knox County Teacher's Union, says there isn't a clear definition of what violations would warrant a public reprimand.

For example, could a bankruptcy, a domestic issue or a first time DUI offense be enough for a reprimand?

"They have their professional life. They have their personal life, and are they going to infringe on their personal lives? I honestly think it could ruin their careers," Morgan said.

"It's not going to be frivolous or arbitrary," Walker said. "It has to be in precedent of what we've done before."

Walker says teachers would not be unfairly targeted for bankruptcy or minor issues. . . .

National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action to Defend Public Education

At this point nothing can stop the resistance that is mounting against the corporate takeover of public education in the U. S. The possibility for a democratic nation state hinges upon the outcome of this fight

by Elly
National Call for March 4 Strike and Day of Action To Defend Public Education
California has recently seen a massive movement erupt in defense of public education — but layoffs, fee hikes, cuts, and the re-segregation of public education are attacks taking place throughout the country. A nationwide resistance movement is needed.

We call on all students, workers, teachers, parents, and their organizations and communities across the country to massively mobilize for a Strike and Day of Action in Defense of Public Education on March 4, 2010. Education cuts are attacks against all of us, particularly in working-class communities and communities of color.

The politicians and administrators say there is no money for education and social services. They say that “there is no alternative” to the cuts. But if there’s money for wars, bank bailouts, and prisons, why is there no money for public education?

We can beat back the cuts if we unite students, workers, and teachers across all sectors of public education — Pre K-12, adult education, community colleges, and state-funded universities. We appeal to the leaders of the trade union movement to support and organize strikes and/or mass actions on March 4. The weight of workers and students united in strikes and mobilizations would shift the balance of forces entirely against the current agenda of cuts and make victory possible.

Building a powerful movement to defend public education will, in turn, advance the struggle in defense of all public-sector workers and services and will be an inspiration to all those fighting against the wars, for immigrants rights, in defense of jobs, for single-payer health care, and other progressive causes.

Why March 4? On October 24, 2009 more than 800 students, workers, and teachers converged at UC Berkeley at the Mobilizing Conference to Save Public Education. This massive meeting brought together representatives from over 100 different schools, unions, and organizations from all across California and from all sectors of public education. After hours of open collective discussion, the participants voted democratically, as their main decision, to call for a Strike and Day of Action on March 4, 2010. All schools, unions and organizations are free to choose their specific demands and tactics — such as strikes, rallies, walkouts, occupations, sit-ins, teach-ins, etc. — as well as the duration of such actions.

Let’s make March 4 an historic turning point in the struggle against the cuts, layoffs, fee hikes, and the re-segregation of public education.

- The California Coordinating Committee
To endorse this call and to receive more information contact march4strikeanddayofaction@gmail.com

Thousands March Against Rhee's Firings of Hundreds After Hiring of Hundreds of Her Clones

Since 2001, DC Schools has hired about 300 teachers per year. This year, even though school officials projected an equivalent enrollment to last year, Rhee hired 934 teachers who fit her mold of script readers and test preppers. Now she thinks she can get away with firing 229 experienced educators (story here on the human toll) with solid evals. Don't think so. From WaPo:

Brandishing signs that read "This is not Rheezistan" and "Sweep Her Out," demonstrators demanded reinstatement of the 388 school employees, including 229 classroom teachers, who were fired to close what Rhee has described as a $43.9 million gap in the system's 2010 budget. Teachers union leaders say that the fiscal crisis was contrived to purge the system of veteran teachers, an accusation Rhee denies.

A sense of frustration and pent-up anger permeated the gathering, one of the largest shows of labor muscle in the city in recent history. It was designed by organizers to ratchet up political pressure on Rhee and Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), who is running for reelection next year.

"We are tired of being quiet, of just accepting whatever Mayor Fenty and Chancellor Rhee impose," said Leonel Popol, 49, a counselor at Cardozo High School. "The time has come to speak up."

Newly installed AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka called the layoffs "a cold, hard case of union busting" and pledged his support. "The labor movement is right here with you," he said. "We'll stand shoulder to shoulder with you for as long as it takes."

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, denounced the city for what she described as a lack of candor in handling the layoffs.

"We are not getting any real, valid, truthful information from DCPS," she said. [can Randi be this stupid, really?]

The rally occurred a day after teachers had taken their fight to court, filing a lawsuit in D.C. Superior Court that seeks to enjoin the city from executing the layoffs. The dismissed school employees were placed on administrative leave and are scheduled to be dropped from the payroll Nov. 2.

The suit challenges Rhee's hiring of 934 teachers in the spring and summer, far more than the usual number. The union lawsuit says the number of newly hired teachers usually ranges from 250 to 350. That range is consistent with testimony to the D.C. Council this year from D.C. schools budget expert Mary Levy, who said the city averaged 294 new-teacher hires annually between fiscal 2001 and 2008.

"DCPS' attempt to disguise this mass discharge as a 'RIF' [reduction in force] caused by a 'budget shortfall' is clearly a pretextual attempt to sidestep the [Washington Teachers' Union] contract and to discharge a substantial number of veteran teachers," wrote teachers union attorney Lee W. Jackson.. . . .

Rhee's "Green Tier" Gives Green Light for Firing

Photo by Susan Walsh-AP
Michelle Rhee has a big bonus for DC teachers who choose the greenbacks of her Green Tier, those teachers who are willing to, 1) give up tenure, 2) spend a year on probation, and 3) trust Michelle Rhee to re-hire them following that probationary year with or without their big bonuses intact.

On the other hand, stubborn red bird teachers who insist on preserving what remains of the due process and academic freedom guarantees that are still offered to the tenured, must wear the scarlet R of the red tier, a clear acknowledgment of their unwillingness to be judged on their true merits (as defined by test scores in databases controlled by Michelle Rhee.)

The younger green birds, many of them like the TFA (Teach for Awhile) contingent, are temporarily padding their resumes with the generosity of their good works while making plans for grander futures. For these ambitious folks who wouldn't be caught dead committing themselves to a dead end career like teaching, they would really like to have those big bonuses to pay for law school or to get their MBAs. It all makes for a perfect divide and conquer strategy that Rhee hopes to exploit for its full potential to gut the teaching profession.

A clip from the Washington Post:

. . . .Teachers who attended the session, which was not open to the media, seemed to remain split on the merits of Rhee's proposal and whether it should come to a vote. Several said the two-tiered system was Rhee's attempt to drive a wedge into the union.

"The red-green salary proposal is designed to divide teachers into two opposing camps," longtime Woodrow Wilson High School history teacher Erich Martel wrote in a flier he distributed. Those choosing green, he said, "surrender tenure in exchange for trusting the objectivity and fairness of the principal and chancellor." Instructors who opt for red will have chosen "the scarlet letter" and "will be stigmatized for not being on the principal's -- and chancellor's -- team."

Other teachers, especially younger ones less concerned about tenure, expressed disappointment that their chance at higher salaries linked to performance might be slipping away.

Some union activists accused Parker of misrepresenting Rhee's plan by downplaying the level of risk that teachers would assume under the new salary framework. Several said that Parker was repeatedly asked why it was necessary to split teachers into two groups but that he never answered the question.

"All they got tonight was bamboozled and confused," said General Vice President Nathan Saunders, who announced the formation of a new teachers group, Committee for Fair Reform in D.C. Public Schools, to oppose Rhee's plan and other personnel decisions she has made as chancellor.

The committee is sponsoring a prayer service for "social justice in the workplace" Friday evening at Covenant Baptist Church in Southwest Washington.