As The Badass Teachers Association Approaches 10,000 Members

Originally posted by Mark Naison on his blog: With A Brooklyn Accent
Reposted with permission.

Friends!! Everyone here is part of something truly historic. We have recruited 9,000 members to this page in the first week of its existence, and will surely hit the 10,000 mark this weekend. There have been incredible stories posted on this page, and the debate has been passionate, as well it should be, given the issues at stake. The group has flourished as an open, non-partisan ( or as my friend Michael Bohr says multi-partisan) space, and the administrators will try to keep it that way.

As we go forward, I would suggest folks keep a couple of things in mind. First, that the Education Power Brokers know that we exist, and are worried. Don't be deceived by the lack of mainstream media coverage. People in the US Dept of Education, in the big education lobbies, and at the top levels of the major teachers unions are talking about us. Keep recruiting!!! The bigger we get, the more chance we have of really shaking education discourse in this nation to its foundations.

Second. Think of ways of translating this group's growth into action, on both a local and national level. There is now a critical mass of BAT's in many states. The administrators will help you find them. And we are gradually moving to create other vehicles for discussion and action other than this page. We will issue our first press release this weekend, create a blog and perhaps a website.

While I would be lying if I said I knew where this initiative is going, I feel in my gut that it might be a way for teachers to force themselves into education policy discussions from which they have been conspicuously excluded. This group is your instrument, and your voice. Keep building, keep recruiting, and we might well find our voice is finally being heard