Getting Our Public Schools Back For The Public

We are battling over public resources in the United States of America because our government wants to privatize our country and close doors of opportunity to our most vulnerable members of society, much like the Kansas clerk who refused to recognize the rights of gay marriage and insisted on imposing her beliefs on the public. Sad reality of the need to feel superior or maybe pure greed is fueling the battle. Nevertheless, now we are able identify the members of our society who pretend to want to help when there actions prove they are out to destroy through colonialism and prison slavery.

Parents and Educators are raising their voice and fighting our government and corporate America ignorance and greed. We are winning one big battle at a time!! Support and understanding of the need for our public schools to remain public is growing thanks to those of us advocating via social media and public demonstrations. Educators, parents and elected officials in Philadelphia have come together to address the crisis going on in our schools. 

 More and more educators are taking a stand because their profession is under attack with the dismantling of public education. We need our educators to teach and not online, but in person so that they can see the students body language and actions. i was a home school coach for a family who didn't have the time or skills to coach their youth. My first day i observed the students turn their online class on then lay their heads on their desk as if they were not engaged. Online learning is not for everyone, we need professionally trained educators and support staff. Parents and Educators have to come together if we want to save the best resource ever, public education.

In Chicago parents are on a hunger strike to save Walter H. Dyett high school. Their battle exemplifies the sad separation that  happens with citizens get elected. Why does the title elected official create the us and them caste? The elected official comes from our community and is suppose to be representing the best interest of those who elected the official. i don't understand this rite of passage to disconnect with the community they come from.

The Dyett 12 are winning, the mayor has agreed to open enrollment for the currently closed Walter H. Dyett high school, but refuse to recognize Title 1 Section 1118, which states that parents are suppose to help create their public school.

Coalition to Revitalize Dyett High School List of Demands:
1. Green Technology in school name and in school curriculum.
2. Global leadership/ world studies curriculum
3. Duane Turner as the school principal, who was selected by Coalition to Revitalize Dyett
4. Fully elected local school council in year 1.
5. Coalition to Revitalize Dyett represented on design/planning team with 6 members in prominent positions. Those who paid protesters to support closing Dyett cannot be on planning team.
6. The school must retain the name Walter H. Dyett.
7. Vertical curricular alignment with the 6 feeder schools identified in the Coalition proposal.
8. Community school (open till 8pm daily, with programs and resources for parents, students and the community)

The true issue here is the violations of human rights. We will continue to fight and unite by informing our communities of educators, parents, and concerned citizens about our rights.

#parentseducatorsunite #parentstrike #saveourschools #stopcommoncore #fundourschoolsnotprisons #nationaloptout #hungryfordyett #wearedyett #wesupportdyett12  #fightfordyett 

Philadelphia Parents list of demands:

1. to stop teaching to the test
2. allow parents to assist in developing curriculum as we are suppose to according to Title 1 Section 1118
3. we want local control over our school district, no more hiring outsiders who only want to privatize our schools.
4. we want our electives back, art, music, recess, foreign languages ....
5. we also want shop back for everyone is not going to college
6. we also demand schools that are functioning with heat in the winter and cool air in the summer, have professionally trained staff, books and technology for our youth to develop into safe and productive citizens.
7. School district budgets displayed for public notice and comments
8. School budgets displayed at each school for public notice and comments
9. Parental and Students Rights displayed

City of Philadelphia Resolution No. 140997

Introduced December 4, 2014 

Councilmembers Squilla, Quiñones Sánchez and Blackwell

Calling upon the School District of Philadelphia and the School Reform Commission to analyze the financial and human impact of standardized testing, to identify strategies to minimize its use, and to request a waiver of the Keystone Exams from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to adopt assessments that better serve local needs and priorities.

 WHEREAS, Standardized testing has dramatically increased since 2002’s No Child Left Behind Act imposed federal mandates requiring the testing of every student in reading and math from 3rd grade to 8th grade and again in high school, implemented in Pennsylvania through the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) tests; and 

WHEREAS, In addition to federally-required tests, states have layered on additional assessments, including in Pennsylvania new requirements for Keystone Exams that will be required for high school graduation as of 2017; and

 WHEREAS, On average, students in large urban school districts take a total of 113 standardized tests between Pre-Kindergarten and 12th Grade, with students in 11th grade forced to devote as many as 27 days or 15% of the school year to testing and yet many more hours to test preparation; and

 WHEREAS, Since 2002 spending on standardized tests has skyrocketed, with the Keystone Exams projected to cost hundreds of millions even billions, without the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania providing any corresponding or dedicated funding to local districts for these costs or for the necessary supplemental education to help struggling students; and

 WHEREAS, The over-reliance on high-stakes standardized testing interferes with educators’ efforts to focus on students’ development in areas such as problem-solving, City of Philadelphia RESOLUTION NO. 140997 continued City of Philadelphia - 2 - creativity, and critical thinking, thus undermining skills needed to excel outside of the classroom; and

 WHEREAS, There are indications that this increase in testing is causing children to experience stress, anxiety, and even in some cases even physical illness; and

 WHEREAS, Minority and low-income students, special-needs students including those impacted by trauma and those with Individual Education Plans, as well as students who do not speak English as their first language, are disproportionately harmed by the overuse of standardized tests, particularly when those tests are used to determine ranking, admission, and graduation of students or to evaluate teachers and school staff as well as overall school performance; and

 WHEREAS, The City of Pittsburgh engaged in a thoughtful process to evaluate how to minimize and mitigate the use of testing, and has adopted a plan that will cut over 33 hours of annual testing for students in certain grades; and

 WHEREAS, Pennsylvania law provides the opportunity for local districts to request waiver of the Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement and seek approval of alternative assessment strategies; and 

WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s ongoing and serious budget crisis as well as its high concentrations of minority, low-income, special-needs, and Limited-English Proficient students, justify the critical examination of state-mandated testing as applied to Philadelphia students and the development of a more streamlined, demographically appropriate, and cost-effective testing structure for the Philadelphia School District; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Respectfully calls upon the School District of Philadelphia and the School Reform Commission to analyze the financial and human impact of standardized testing, to identify strategies to minimize its use, and to request a waiver of the Keystone Exams from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to adopt assessments that better serve local needs and priorities. FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be sent to William R. Hite, Jr., Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, and the members of the School Reform Commission.

I LOVE MY CITY!!