Sunday, September 26, 2010

Reform Surge?
If your TV is stuck on ESPN, you might not have heard. Otherwise, you've likely been told of the premier of Waiting for Superman. Somehow, this film has ignited in the main stream media the passion we have been seeking since 1990 at least.

First Oprah, who reviewed the movie on Monday, and then on Friday hosted Geoffrey Canada, Mayor Corie Booker and Gov. Todd Christy, and Mark Zuckerberg for a $100,000,000 reform and challenge announcement.

NBC has taken up the baton with its Education Nation effort (pressroom). (Kudos to the VP of Strategic Initiatives Lisa Gersh). All weekend and into the week, shows from Today to Meet the Press to a special 2 hour Teacher Town Hall. They've converted the plaza at 30 Rock to a Learning Plaza for the Week, and tomorrow a primetime interview with the President. Tonight, a townhall meeting, and there's also a great resource for looking up school performance info: http://nbcscorecard.greatschools.org/


Among all the debate what will probably be missed is that we are talking about the right to remove maybe 5000 to 10,000 of the 3 million public school teachers. A third of one percent.

They showed a stat several times: 1 in 57 doctors lose their license, 1 in 97 attorneys, and 1 in 2500 teachers lose their licenses.

For thirty plus years now, we've been fighting for the right to say, "sorry, you're no longer cut to teach here". Yet the election and the lawsuits in DC are merely the latest proof of the NEA's aversion to the needs of our children.

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