Grassroots©, eh?

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.nationalcharterconference.org/







And with a registration cost for the conference between $500 and $700 dollars. Oh my.

[Donnachaidh]

1. more like vultures circling a carcass

unbelievable that this is being done in this country. CHANGE we can believe in?

[Reader Rabbit]

2. Meanwhile, the attacks against teachers over in GD continue.

I have to say, I don't come to DU much anymore.

[Starry Messenger]

3. I have so many people on ignore I'm surprised I can still see DU.

:D Too bad we aren't cops, attacking us would be forbidden now. I don't know if posting here will really help. I just want this information to be on the web, like an archive, so someone knows that we noticed. We know what is going on and we are not fooled. It's nice to see you RR. :hug:

[Reader Rabbit]

4. I'm with you on the "Ignore" function.

There are so many anti-teacher, candy-ass punks that wouldn't last five minutes in the classroom who somehow think they should be able to dictate to those of us who have spent a lifetime in the classroom. If I didn't use Ignore, I'm sure I would get myself tombstoned in a flash.

Although I'm starting to wonder if that would be a bad thing.

Geez, I'm glad it's summer! LOL

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. LOL me too

[Dinger]

5. That's For Sure (nt)

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Wow

What a line up :puke:

[Starry Messenger]

8. I guess Joe is in there, helping pull the party left

Isn't that what we said we were doing? Or did I mishear that...

[AnneD]

9. Why is it....

That people that have success in one area think that makes them experts in other areas? I am a good Nurse but I would not presume to tell the coach of the Chicago Cubs how to win the pennant (but that is me near the second plate, crying). I don't want the coach telling me how to change a post surgical dressing. By George, I am hired for my credentialed expertise. Let me do the job I know how to do. Measure the results if you want so I can make adjustments, but don't throw the baby out with the bath.

At those prices-district superintendents are the only folks that can afford to go.

[Reader Rabbit]

12. The Peter Principle

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle

[mzteris]

10. how many of you attack charter teachers with your every post? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

11. none. no one attacked charter *teachers*. arne, bill, etc., otoh, are fair game.

they deserve everything it's possible to dish out.

[noamnety]

13. For $3-20K you can be a corporate sponsor for the NEA meeting this year.

"The NEA Annual Meeting is a week-long convention that is attended by more than ten thousand of NEA’s most influential members and senior leaders. These elected “delegates” attend the ANNUAL MEETING to conduct NEA business and to visit the EXPO. The ANNUAL MEETING and EXPO represent a multi-million dollar opportunity for your company to showcase its consumer and educational products, services, and programs to over 10,000 of our country’s most influential educators. By becoming a sponsor at the ANNUAL MEETING, your company will gain maximum exposure to these leaders of American education."


Past NEA meeting sponsors:

Alamo Mutual of America
American Cancer Society Mutual of Omaha
American Express NEA Health Information Network
American Fidelity NASA
American Kennel Club National Board for Professional
Teaching Standards
Anheuser-Busch, Inc. NEA Foundation for the Improvement of Education
AT&T Nestle Corp.
Bank of America NEC Technologies
BIC Consumer Products Oreck Vacuum
Business Software Alliance Peace Corps
California Casualty People PC
Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids Philips Electronics
Cable In The Classroom PlanetKids.COM
Campbell's Soup Company PNY Technologies
Cartoon Networks Prudential
Classroom Direct.com Purifan
Collette Vacations Random House, Inc.
Combined Book Rainforest Preservation Society
Defense for Children International SanDisk
DirectTV for Schools Saturn Corporation
Discovery Toys Sanford Brands
Disney Quest, Inc. Security Benefit
Downhill Publishing/Fonts 4 Teachers Schwab Learning
EBAY Social Security Administration
E S P N Sprint
Educational Testing Service State Farm Insurance Companies
Family Education Network Staples
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Target
Frog Publications Teacher Magazine/Education Week
Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program Teachers Stamp Company
General Mills The Marker Board People
Google The New York Times
Great American Life Insurance Co. The Horace Mann Companies
Hertz Corporation The Pin Man/ PositivePins.com
Health Information Network The Wall Street Journal
Horace Mann TIAA-CREF
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Tivo
Hyundai Turner Learning, Inc.
ING Northern Annuity U.S. Department of Education
Jenny Craig U.S. Department of Energy
Kitchen Craft U.S. Department of Treasury
Lycos Network U.S. EPA-Indoor Air
Marsh UNICEF
Whaley Gradebook Company
Mayer-Johnson Walt Disney Corporation
McDonald's Corporation Wells Fargo
MetLife Resources Whittaker's
Microsoft VISA
Minnesota Life Volkswagen
Zurich Kemper Life

[Reader Rabbit]

14. Is this why I keep getting NEA credit card offers?

They're friggin' annoying, and they wear out my shredder.

[Hannah Bell]

15. which is the slippery slope that's bringing us TOTAL PRIVATIZATION.

[mzteris]

17. do you hear

crickets?

:rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. I am reminded of kids when they say "But he did it too!"

And the adult response is "That doesn't make it right". :)

[noamnety]

19. I was reminded of adults with double standards.

You are correct, in any event. It's not right that there is corporate sponsorship in ANY of our schools.

One small thing I appreciate is that my school hasn't caved to the ubiquitous Channel One.

[Starry Messenger]

20. Did NEA claim to be grassroots?

Are Joe Scar and Bill Gates speaking at their convention? :shrug: I fail to see the "double standard". I reject the frame that the charter school movement is a just a bunch of scrappy little neighborhood wunderkind, that is all. I belong to AFT and I'm not happy with their direction or the leadership right now. I'm adult enough to say so.

[noamnety]

21. So the problem is with the speakers, not corporate sponsorship?

I mistakenly thought the OP was complaining about corporate sponsorship of the meeting as if that was something unique to charters. I was pointing out that teacher unions do the same thing.

But if taking offense at corporate sponsorship of education-policy related conferences wasn't the point, my apologies.

[Starry Messenger]

22. Is that a rhetorical question or a request for clarification?

Maybe I need some coffee but I'm not seeing a lack of an answer in my other post...anyway, apology accepted. :hi:

[noamnety]

23. lol, I missed ptbl's thread

apparently Bill Gates IS speaking at the AFT convention.

[Starry Messenger]

25. Yuck.

I hope his presence will be strongly protested. As I said, I am unhappy with the leadership of my union. However, I don't think the NAPCs group is the equivalent of a union, and I find it interesting that you keep bringing up the union when there isn't one mention of unions in my OP. Are you claiming that the NAPCs is your leadership? I thought your charter claimed to be unaffiliated with a leadership outside the public school system.

[noamnety]

26. I just brought up the unions

because I was seeing a double standard. Not because I approve of what either organization is doing.

It's like when a charter has a problem with embezzlement, and a traditional public school at the same time has an even larger and more wide spread problem with embezzlement, what we tend to see posted in this forum is "CHARTER SCHOOL OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLEMENT!!!" and the other story is swept under the rug. It creates a false sense of reality. You know how the media likes to show photos of black people charged with a crime, and white people charged with an identical crime never have their race reported or shown? It serves an agenda, and we can point that out without approving of the crimes themselves.

[Starry Messenger]

27. I was responding to a statement that Arne Duncan made recently

to Diane Ravitch. If I need to be even more clear, I am totally against the charter project and will fight it tooth and nail. I will never view them as equivalent to the actual public school system. They are a right-wing stalking horse for privatization, no matter who is promoting them. Those are my standards. I understand that you like your school and it is working out for you and that's fine. I simply don't buy the "grassroots" argument for them. I hope I can avoid misunderstandings in the future on this topic, since apparently my agenda was muddy.

[Hannah Bell]

28. i think it's ironic to talk about fairness. welcome to the tactics used on public education for the

last 30 years.

a little late to complain about fairness.

[SJC55]

16. Wish I could rec this.

This is good.

[mzteris]

24. the fact that corporate america is seeking to

join in now does not mean the movement was not grass-roots in it's inception.

And please remember, EIGHTY PERCENT of all charter public schools are run by local boards consisting of teachers and former teachers, administrators and former administrators, parents, students, and concerned community members.