The legislative session in the state of Washington lasts for about two months of the year. There is a flurry of activity during that brief time and then the legislators go home. I’m getting used to it, sort of. That’s why recent posts have been about bills that are under review by our state House and Senate. The bills are assembled, either heard or not by the appropriate committees and then the decision is made to either send it on to the Ways and Means Committee for a cost estimate or drop the proposed bill. If it is sent to the Ways and Means Committee, a cost is established for the implementation of the bill and then it is off to the appropriate sitting body for a vote. This all happens within a blink of an eye so you have to watch what is happening not just on a daily basis but hourly.
The Broad backed, Gates funded League of Education Voters is at it again with another one of their spam e-mails. So far they have backed both bills that propose to determine teacher layoff’s by student performance, basically test scores, and permanently fire teachers if there is a school closing, Senate Bill 5399 and House Bill 1609. They desperately want folks, under the guise that it’s all about the children and not their salaries, to call their representatives in support of Bill 5399.
If the bill doesn’t go into hearings by the end of this week, it won’t be going anywhere. Because of that, I am asking that parents, teachers and concerned members of our community contact the appropriate representatives below today and let them know that there is a better way to educate our children and that Bill 5399 is not the way.
Our representatives who want to hear from us are:
Senator Rosemary McAuliffe, Chair of the Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee
(360) 786-7600 mcauliffe.rosemary@leg.wa.gov
Senator Lisa Brown (360) 786-7604 brown.lisa@leg.wa.gov
Senator Maralyn Chase (360) 786-7662 maralyn.chase@leg.wa.gov
Senator Nick Harper (360)786-7674 nick.harper@leg.wa.gov
Senator Bob Hasegawa (360) 786-7862 hasegawa.bob@leg.wa.gov
Senator Adam Kline (360) 787-7688 adam.kline@leg.wa.gov
Senator Sharon Nelson (360) 787-7667 sharon.nelson@leg.wa.gov
Regarding Bill 1609, there were hearings yesterday about the bill. I very much wanted to be there to testify as a parent who was not being paid to speak but my other responsibilities were a priority.
One individual who spoke was an anomaly among the other speakers who were teachers. He is a teacher at one of our schools in Seattle and a former Teach for America (TFA) recruit. One thing that I must say about them is that they do come out of the woodwork when the issue is ed reform and someone needs to speak on the behalf of Wendy Kopp and the other millionaire/billionaire reformers. For an interesting piece about the recent TFA convention that brought together hundreds of them, see Live Blogging at the TFA Summit.
What is of particular interest to me is that his wife, Bree Dusseault, was recently hired by our superintendent as an Instructional Director. This is a new set of positions that was recently created by our superintendent. Ms. Dusseault’s background includes work at the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) which is funded by Gates, the Waltons and the Seattle Foundation. The CRPE is dong a research study for Gates now on charter schools. Hmmm, I wonder how that study will turn out.
This same teacher also got up at the Seattle Forum and said he thought that the Strategic Plan was okey doke by him.
Coincidence? Perhaps, they are birds of a feather but something to pay attention to.
And the House Bill 1546 regarding “Innovation Schools” got a pass by the House Committee on Education. It looks and smells like a charter school bill without saying that it is. This bill could easily turn into a charter schools’ bill with just the change of the name. A bill that requires scrutiny by all.
That’s it for now.
Please contact your representatives and tell them what you think. It does make a difference.
Dora
The big charter school push will go away once it sinks in that charter schools are not the cure-all at all. In fact their success rate is rather low. Pick any study in the right hand column under “A List of Studies re: Edicts of RTTT” or any title under “Charter Schools” and you’ll get the picture on that.
Hopefully unions will never go away. They protect all of us. If you can’t appreciate why unions exist just read a little bit about how workers were treated before unions were established in our country.
Education is not an “us versus them” kind of thing even though reformers have managed to frame it in that light. It’s not about unions, it’s about the best way to communicate to our children the information so that they can understand it. It is also about teaching children how to think and how to think for themselves. It’s about understanding that there are different ways to solve any problem, whether it be in mathematics or out on the playing field. It’s about teaching our children that there should be justice for all and that all should be respected.
That’s education.
Dora
No problem, Michael.
Regards,
Sue
Clearly, I should have come back to these comments earlier. I have a lot of reading to do now! Thanks for the reference points on the blog. I will check them all out. No promises I’ll be won over, of course, but I think saying something like this is foolish anyway. The charter movement isn’t going away, the teachers’ unions aren’t going away, and the only solution to fixing this system is a compromise that works for teachers, students and parents. We’re all on the same page – we want our children to achieve at high levels no matter where they live or what they look like. It’s going to take a lot of stepping back, examining the big picture, and working together. So, thanks for ‘working with me’ and providing me with more information.
Oops, Sue, looks like we had the same idea at the same time! Great minds and all that.
Also Michael, check out “About Us” in the tab above that will explain further our position on education and under the tab of “A Better Way” you will find more information on what we see as a better path.
Dora
Oh yeah, and about the status quo? Check out Sue’s post on just that subject, Why I am Not a Defender of the Status Quo.
Michael, we aim to offer a mix of opinion and reporting on this blog. But we try to base our opinions on facts.
This should give you an idea of what parents like Dora and I do and do not support: https://seattleducation2010.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/why-i-am-not-a-defender-of-the-status-quo-in-education-because-the-status-quo-is-failed-ed-reforms/
Thanks.
Sue p.
Michael,
Check out the post I recently wrote titled “What works”.
In terms of the bills, check out the posts that I have recently written on both bills.
In terms of Teach for America, we don’t want TFA recruits teaching our children. We want teachers who are making a commitment to our communities for the long haul. We want teachers who have spent their time educating themselves and getting the training that they need to be teachers. We want teachers who want to be teachers.
We don’t need young recruits who plan to stay for awhile before moving on to what they always wanted to do but for now are padding their resumes or putting in time until the economy turns around.
Seattle has four excellent teaching colleges and more graduates than can be hired by our district. This is not a high need area where it is hard to place teachers, we have an abundance of great teachers who have been educated in their field and we don’t want inexperienced recruits with five weeks of training coming in and taking the place of a person who wants to be here, has worked hard to be here and wants to become an integrated part of our community for years to come.
Thanks but no thanks.
Dora
Michael, check out the “A better way” link on the right. Sue also has a great manifesto somewhere. We are always talking about how to flesh out our vision-if only the other side didn’t keep us so busy fighting off “talking points.” If you would like to help, you are welcome.
I came to this blog expecting a more objective view on Seattle education, given the title. Man, was I let down. Do you ever talk about anything productive, as opposed to spending all of your time bashing Teach For America?
“…I am asking that parents, teachers and concerned members of our community contact the appropriate representatives below today and let them know that there is a better way to educate our children and that Bill 5399 is not the way.”
Fair enough… except you never mention what that better way is. Do you not have one because you’re satisfied with the status quo and how teachers’ unions protect our teachers so heavily that our students suffer? Teachers’ unions are certainly not to blame either, but you’ve got to recognize the facts at how they are harmful in some ways.
I’m not writing this to be accusatory or mean. I’m just concerned that you’re broadcasting your opinions without any factual basis. Scary.
Chris,
Those faux-roots organizations will have packed up their green tents next to the highway and left town before most folks know what happened.
Then the rest of us will be left standing in their dust trying to figure out how to get out of the mess they want to put us into so badly without ANY money because by that time Gates will be off on his next big adventure.
Dora
Any good business-person would replace a fantastic union-protected teacher with two TFA recruits. What amazes me is that our representatives don’t realize that is going to make their contstituents VERY unhappy. If that happens, faux-roots organizations won’t need to pay people to round up unhappy parents.
It’s to make way for the Bush Institute’s 50,000 ‘principals’ they hope to put in schools by 2020… people from business, the military and sports they want to run schools…
So Broad trains school district superintendents and senior management (and infiltrates his graduates into DOE) …
Broad brainwashes School Board members, and/or gets mayoral control of school districts in place…
TFA provides the ‘teachers’
and Bush provides the ‘principals’…
there you have it, public education all sewn up and under corporate control…
Good point Chris about the principals.
They did that with teacher certification last year which was the opening for TFA to come to town. What do you think the thinking is behind this one? To allow non-educators to run our schools as charter schools are usually run?
Dora
It’s also highly ironic that this bill, which gives principals unprecendented power to decide which teachers are “effective,” was heard directly on the heels of the bill that allows “alternative/conditional principal certification” which removes any assurance that the principal has any knowledge whatsoever of “instructional practices.”
I went to the hearing yesterday. I signed in as a parent opposed, but I did not get a chance to testify.
I probably could if I knew the ropes or a paid organizer were there to smooth the way for me. Anyway, I overheard a committee member say at the end that the testimony was 50-50, but it stuck me that the parent subset was not 50-50, (more like 5-0) so we parents need to be heard. Please call or email your legislators by tomorrow.