MEET THE BAT LEADERSHIP TEAM!
BRITTANY ALEXANDER
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| BRITTANY ALEXANDER |
Brittany currently teaches sixth grade Language Arts in a
suburb of Columbus, Ohio. This is her eighteenth year of teaching, though the
majority of her career has involved teaching students with special needs in
elementary settings. Brittany has taught in multiple school districts, but
she’s finally found the school where she wants to stay. Brittany joined BATs on
the second day of the group’s founding. She had been learning and following the
actions of groups like Save Our Schools, Dump Duncan, and Occupy NEA. One by
one, all of these groups began sharing the invitation to BATs. The mission
statement of BATs is what ultimately pulled her in, though. Ever since the
eye-opening experience with Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 and its eventual repeal, she
has become more active in the political aspects driving education.
TINA ANDRES
TINA ANDRES
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| TINA ANDRES |
REBECCA ARMSTRONG
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Rebecca Armstrong teaches 3rd grade. She has been a public school teacher in Michigan since 1991. She has seen the negative impact of corporate greed and flawed government policy on education. She felt isolated in her concerns, and her distress about trends in public education kept her up night after night. When she joined BATs over a year ago she found, and continues to find, ways to add her voice to those of other like-minded people in the effort to take back our public schools. She is a moderator for the national group and an administrator for Michigan BATs.
SARA ATTLESON
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| SARA ATTLESON |
Sara Attleson is a Teacher/Librarian. Due to budget cuts in her district (Albuquerque Public Schools) she is also a classroom teacher, teaching Lit Strategies and Media Literacy. She is in her 38th year as an educator and all of her years have been in public schools in New Mexico. She has been a BAT since the very beginning (June 2013). Sara became a BAT because she found a group that was fighting the corporate take-over of public education, a struggle that she has been fighting for years. Joining BATS has verified for her that there are thousands of others who are fighting the fight and this brings her comfort to be in the company of so many who “get it.” As an out-spoken activist in her local union, Albuquerque Teachers Federation, she has been organizing, educating and agitating her colleagues to raise their voices against the corporate billionaires who want to dismantle public education. BATS is a great fit for her and she is honored to have met so many vocal activists. Whenever others ask her about her plans to retire, her response is “when every child in this country receives the quality education they have a right to, when every educator receives the respect they deserve and when every corporate interest is out of public education, then maybe I’ll think about it.”
JEANNE BERRONG
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| JEANNE BERRONG |
KELLY ANN BRAUN
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| KELLY ANN BRAUN |
Kelly Ann whose name means “Warrior Maiden (Kelly) Full of Grace (Ann)" is a widowed (RIP, Rich ‘01) mom of five children between the ages of 15-27, but has played a “make-a-difference” role in literally hundreds of children’s lives through babysitting, counseling, sponsoring, ministering, tutoring and yes, ‘educating’, but never in a typical classroom setting. She has 1 1/2 years Early Childhood Education, and is 6 credits (or $2038 and a long story) shy of BS in ED -Integrated Social Studies 7-12 from YSU, with a specialized slant in historical human geography and foods history. She graduated from two separate College-level Inductive Bible Studies (11 years total).. She has homeschooled all five of her children for 26 years with 4 more years to complete, but has the whole time been on the peripheral of public education through babysitting children before and after school for years, through being a Afterschool Language Arts Program Leader, through helping drop-outs and adults to get their GEDs, and most recenly through owning an Education-related micro-business. The shop was a consignment store for Teacher Resources. It was through this venture that Kelly was in contact withliterally hundreds of teachers in a two-hour radius in any direction of Youngstown, Ohio (including W.PA) . From about Jan. or Feb. of 2013 it was the tension, tears and terror tales of those teachers (all by now friends ) that led her to search fervently for how to help them. One fateful night in June of 2013, she hammered angrily on the keyboard, typing into the searchbar—-”Is anyone DOING ANYTHING to fight all of this Common Core stuff?’ And the answer that popped up was Badass Teachers Association. On Nov. 2nd of that same year, she and her children were sadly forced by complete lack of sales for two months prior, to close the doors of their dream. Peasron had panicked the teachers as they scrambled to “be aligned’. Kasich killed their joy and composure and corrupted their confidence. Kelly, takes the badass role of amplifying teachers’ voices in this BATtle very seriously to heart, soul and mind.
MATT CHONKA
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| MATT CHONKA |
Matt Chonka is a High School science teacher who has taught
for the past 10 years in Washington state.
Matt's undergraduate work was in biochemistry and his master's in
curriculum and instruction focused on authentic assessments. A member of BATs since July 2013 he
initially got involved while doing personal research on the CCSS. Now having gone down the rabbit hole and
found the deception being perpetrated he makes it his cause to inform everyone
he can.
DR. DEBORAH CORNAVACA
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| DEBORAH CORNAVACA AND BATMAN |
WILMA De SOTO
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| WILMA De SOTO |
Wilma is currently an ESOL teacher in a school that has K-6
student. She is certified in several states from K-12, Instructional I and II
in Music Ed., Spanish, School Program Specialist, (which is the equivalent of
ESOL in my state,) and Elementary Education under the G.W. Bush Highly
Qualified Teacher edict. Her undergraduate studies were at Oberlin College AND
Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Double Major in Music Ed. and Foreign Language.
She has an M.A. from LaSalle University in Bilingual/Bicaltural Studies and
Spanish. She was one of the first graduates of this program. LaSalle University
stole her thesis and made another course for their Bilingual/Bicultural Studies
and then did not ask her to teach it. She has taught people from K-12 in at
least 15-20 language groups. She has been involved in many political issues
regarding her students from around the world. Her students, worldwide, STILL
keep in touch and honor her by saying how much I have taught them and helped
them with the issues involving their countries by teaching them to speak, read
and write in English. Many of them are political activists around the world and
in the US. This is the last year she
will do this work in poor inner-cities with immigrants.
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| MARY CARR DICKER |
MARY CARR DICKER
Mary is a teacher in Michigan with two grown sons. She has
taught for over 25 years in 3rd grade and middle school (Language Arts, World
Studies and Reading). She has a Master’s Degree in Curriculum, Instruction and
Leadership. She became a BAT from the very beginning because she saw what was
happening to her students since NCLB and she wanted and needed a voice and
found it through the BATs. She is active in the daily BAT actions and
especially enjoys learning and sharing with other parents and educators through
the National BATs Pinterest page
DR. MICHAEL FLANAGAN
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| MICHAEL FLANAGAN |
Dr. Michael Flanagan has been a social studies and special
education teacher in New York City public high schools for the past 19 years.
He earned his BA and MSEd at Lehman College CUNY while working as a school aide
and a paraprofessional in the Bronx for 10 years. He completed his Doctorate in
Special Education at Columbia University’s Teacher College in 2006. Michael joined the BadAss Teachers Association
on June 17th, 2013, after a friend added him to the group. He became a BAT
moderator and administrator shortly after that.
Although new to educational activism, Michael feels he can help fight
for teachers and students as a member of BAT, standing up for teachers who have
been scapegoated by the corporate reformers and their political shills. Michael is proud to work with the leaders of
BAT and promises that we teachers will be the last ones standing when all is
said and done. Being BadAss is not a
membership in a Facebook group, it is a state of mind. So Knuckle up and guard
your grill. 5 shows a day. ^0^
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| MARIA GLASS |
MARIA GLASS
Maria retired in June after 23 years of teaching. She came to teaching in her 30s after becoming
an ESL adult instructor upon her arrival in the US from Europe. She started as a middle school bilingual
Language Arts teacher in AZ and moved to VA, where she taught HS English and
creative writing. Maria became a BAT in early July of 2013 while researching
her archenemy, Pearson. Now living in
NC, but still spending much time in VA with her granddaughter.
LORRI GUMANOW
Lorri Gumanow is a retired special educator from the NYC Department of Education. She
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| LORRI GUMANOW |
MIKE HARRIS
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| MIKE HARRIS |
After graduating from Kenyon College in 1982 with a degree
in religion, Mike Harris kicked around in banking and insurance before becoming
an alternate route candidate in New Jersey's experimental program in 1986. For
the past 29 years he has been a high school social studies teacher, supervisor
and coach. Concerned over high stakes testing and Governor Christie's attacks
on public education, funding, teachers and unions, Mike joined UOO and began
educating himself about so called school reform and its consequences. He has
been a BAT from the very early days in June 2013 and has been part of the
Moderating team for over a year.
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| SUE GONCAROVS |
SUE GONCAROVS
Sue is a retired Teacher.
She taught visual Art for 22 years.
She has been a BAT for 16 months. Sue came to BATs because Kindergarten
testing/removal of one Fine Arts graduation requirement/marginalization of
Visual Arts as a core curricular subject K-6. Sue is originally from NY and
received her higher education in Massachusetts.
KATHLEEN HAGANS JESKEY
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| KATHLEEN HAGANS JESKEY |
Kathleen Jeskey is a 6th grade teacher on the Spanish side
of a dual immersion (Spanish/English) program. She has been teaching since
1987. She holds certifications in ESOL and Spanish. She has been an education
activist with Oregon Save Our Schools since 2009 and a BAT since June of 2013
when she found BATs via the Dump Duncan
Facebook page. She was born in Iowa and has also lived in California and
Hawaii. She currently lives in Oregon.
OWEN JACKMAN
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| OWEN JACKMAN |
Owen Jackman has taught Middle School Special Day class in
Sacramento for 14 years. Owen got his undergraduate degree in political
science/history at UCLA and got his teaching credential and Masters degree at
Sacramento State University. Owen has been very involved in the political
involvement committee's in his local and State Union(Sacramento City Teachers
Association, California Teachers Association). Owen joined BATS after hearing
Diane Ravitch mention them at an event she spoke at for the Sacramento City
Teachers Association a few years ago. Owen feels strongly that BATS are one of
the last lines of defense against school privitization. While Owen is a
dedicated and ardent union member. One of the things Owen really likes about
BATS are that they can act with lightning speed while unions can sometimes move
slower than molasses in January. Owen brings his many years of political
activism (his first campaign was Walter Mondale's presidential run against
Ronald Reagan in 1984) to the BAT Cave. Owen assists the BAT Cave with election
strategy and planning and is a de facto /pro bono"political
consultant"
DR. DENISHA JONES
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| DR. DENISHA JONES |
PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Indiana University.
She has taught kindergarten, preschool, served as a campus based preschool
director, and taught college for over 10 years. Currently she is a Visiting
Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Howard University. Her
research interests include service-learning, dealing with challenging
behaviors, the de-professionalization of teaching, and promoting diversity in
education. She is an administrator for both Badass Teachers Association and
United Opt Out. She has also been a strong figure in the Save our Schools movement.
TERRY KALB
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| TERRY KALB |
Terry Kalb has lived in NY all her life. She has an MS Ed in
Early Childhood Sp Ed, and BA in Sociology. She taught for 34 years in public
school special education- first in early intervention (Birth-4) and then middle
school Social Studies and ELA. Terry was a building union rep for many years.
As the mother of a gay son who came out as a teen, she became involved with the
Long Island Gay And Lesbian Youth (LIGALY) organization, and did outreach on
creating safe schools for LGBT kids. She also served on the Shoreham-Wading
River School Board. Terry joined BATs in the summer of 2013 and was thrilled to
become a national admin that September. Activism through social media can only
effective if it is also connected to real world grassroots organizing, and Long
Island has been in the forefront of the test refusal/opt out movement in NY. NY
BATs is working very closely with our allied parent groups across the state to
inform and ignite our communities against privatization, Common Core, high
stakes testing and VAM. This inspired a new career as a Sp Ed/parent advocate
as the impact of corporate ed reforms in NY threaten IDEA protections and services
to our kids with disabilities. Being a BAT has created opportunities for public
speaking, collaboration, and connections all over the country. We are building
a movement that will save our public schools and our profession!
EJ SAVAGE KELLY
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| EJ SAVAGE KELLY WITH MELISSA TOMLINSON |
Server and web site administrator for several sites around
the web he has been doing web and graphics design for 16+ years. He has been
involved in activism for much of his life participating in such things as OWS,
LGBT Movement, and of course the fight for a better education when he was
introduced to BAT by Love Light in 2013.
EJ’s passions lay in technology and the arts. He has been working with
the Adobe systems for many years as well as photography and music. He is also
an IT specialist. He is always willing to lend a helping hand so do not
hesitate to ask if you see him around
MARLA KILFOYLE
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| MARLA KILFOYLE |
Marla Kilfoyle began her adventure into the Badass Teacher
Association by way of being a parent advocate on Long Island in such groups as
Parents and Teachers Against Common Core and LI Opt-Out. Marla has been a
teacher in the Social Studies Department at Oceanside High School (NY) for 27
years. She is also an NBCT and has a MS in Education from Queens College. In addition,
Marla coached the Oceanside Girl’s Track and Field team for 15 years and runs
her district’s social science research program. She also works as
an education advocate in LI Opt-Out and NYSAPE . Marla has been the General Manager of the BATs
organization since June 17, 2013.
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| KATHIE WING LARSYN |
Kathie Larsyn’s heart was left in Chicago, where she grew
up, moving to AZ in the 80s to pursue higher education. She has a B.A. in
English Literature, and minors in Women’s Studies, Comparative Religion, and
Children’s Literature. Kathie also earned two master’s degrees, an M.Ed., and
an M.C. at ASU. Her teaching license includes endorsements in 7-12 English,
K-12 Librarian, and School Counselor. The last nineteen of her 28 years teaching
were as a pre-k – 8 librarian in South Phoenix, AZ. She is also the mother to
two daughters, one a professor of Education in WA, and the other a Kinder
teacher, and Nonna to two grandchildren, and many foster babies, who bless her
life. One favorite educational
experience that Kathie enjoys sharing is her summer as a National Endowment for
the Humanities Fellow in New Orleans, where she participated in a class:
Linking Gender, Genre, and Region in the Works of Flannery O’Connor, Eudora
Welty, Alice Walker, and Kate Chopin.
Kathie became a BAT early in the summer of 2013. In BATs, she found a
home with like-minded individuals fighting against destruction of public
education and the profession of teaching. When Kathie was invited to become an
administrator for BATs that fall, she respectfully accepted, and loves it! Finally, having been forced into an early
retirement, Kathie feels an acute responsibility to speak out loudly,
especially since so many educators cannot speak out….fearing for their careers.
Being a teacher never ends….it merely changes with the seasons of life. BATs is
a place where teaching continues, and has brought a fresh, exciting reason to
never stop learning nor sharing. Kathie plans to teach, collaborate, and fight
with all BATs for the remainder of her life.
BONNIE CUNARD MARGOLIN
Bonnie Cunard Margolin is a wife, mother, and Middle School Language Arts teacher in Florida. Certified in English and ESOL (K-12), Bonnie studied at University of Florida. She has been teaching English, Writing, and Language Arts for 24 years in FL public schools. Bonnie spends much of her free time advocating for public education. Working with a dynamic group of educators and parents for many years, Bonnie utilizes social media to fight privatization and high-stakes testing in FL. Through the combined efforts of many in her community, she helped to convinced her Lee County School Board to be the first county to opt out of state mandated tests (for a short while) and to revise their testing policies in 2014. She also joined with her local parent group to restore recess to her local elementary schools. Bonnie co-admins many websites for activists fighting to preserve public education including BATs, Wear Red for Ed, and Vote Your Kids. She supports many causes including Network for Public Education, United Opt Out, Awake the State, Save our Schools, and others. In the past, Bonnie has served on her union executive board, attending state and national assemblies as a delegate. Last spring, Bonnie spoke on the BAT panel at NPE’s first national conference in Austin, Texas.
LEE ANN PEPPER NOLAN
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| BONNIE CUNARD MARGOLIN |
LEE ANN PEPPER NOLAN
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| LEE-ANN PEPPER NOLAN WITH DIANE RAVITCH AND LARRY PROFFITT |
Lee-Ann Nolan is a fifth grade math teacher in an elementary
school on the outskirts of Memphis, TN.
This is her nineteenth year teaching, beginning her first 4 years in a
Memphis urban school before moving to a neighboring county and teaching in a
rural school. She has a bachelor’s
degree in Elementary K-8 and a master’s degree in Curriculum, Instruction,
& Assessment.
She is happily married to a video director from England who
tolerates her obsessiveness with this.
They have three grown children and one 5-year-old grandson who rules
their world right now.
She found BATs as she was growing more and more frustrated
over the excessive testing required in the classroom, the crazy education
reforms, and ridiculous requirements of students & teachers. She has always maintained positive
relationships with the parents of her students, so she spoke with them. They were not aware of anything new. She joined BATs not too long after BATs began
and her addiction kicked into gear. She
is online in some format (FB, Twitter, researching,…) most of the day other
than time spent in the classroom. It was
a relief to find other like-minded individuals who felt so strongly about
education & children. They were also willing to fight for them. This was the beginning of a very meaningful
relationship. She joined other groups
and started local groups to spread the word to parents and to encourage
teachers to speak out.
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| HEATHER POLAND |
Heather Poland is a 7th and 8th grade English teacher in San
Diego, CA who holds an Elementary Teaching Credential, a K-12 Reading
Specialist Credential, and a Secondary English Credential. She is also a parent to almost 7 year old
twin girls who are in first grade. Heather has been teaching for 13 years,
almost all of those years at the middle level. After increasing stress levels,
and seeing the detrimental effects of the deformers to her students, Heather
started a blog and Facebook Page, A Teacher’s Perspective. Soon after that,
BATs was formed and Heather joined in the beginning, July 2013, getting
involved immediately with actions and moderating the group. Heather has always
been involved in education activism and sees BATS as a way to finally get teacher
voices heard, and to make a large impact on educational policy.
As a parent, Heather helped to start a local parent and
educator group concerned about the district her daughter attends, and has
helped to educate and organize many local parents about Education deforms and
standardized testing.
ANNE PRITCHETT
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| ANNE PRITCHETT |
LARRY PROFFITT
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| LARRY PROFFITT |
MICHELLE MURPHY RAMEY
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| Michelle Murphy Ramey |
Michelle Murphy Ramey is a third grade teacher from the
state of Washington where she is in her tenth year of teaching. Her experience
is in elementary but she has subbed in kindergarten through 8th grade.
Michelle is also her local's secretary and proud union member. Michelle has been a member of BATs since the
first week and was invited by another Washington educational activist.
DAWN NEELY RANDALL
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| DAWN NEELY RANDALL |
Dawn Neely-Randall is a fifth-grade Language Arts teacher from Ohio who likes to snap photos and travel in her spare time. After she wrote a lament about feeling so disheartened by mass standardized testing, it was picked up by the Washington Post and she subsequently wrote another piece about not wanting to throw her students to the "testing wolves" (who are still howling outside her classroom door). When BATs opened the cave to give her refuge in the spring of 2014, she was thrilled to hang around with a group of activists working hard to protect students and had a blast meeting many of them in person at the March in Washington last summer. Twenty five years of teaching; achieving National Board Certification; writing an education column for her local newspaper for two years; and now, advocating with all her might for legislators to back off from the political addiction of high-stakes testing, all Dawn really wants is to help give children their childhoods back and to be allowed to use their precious time learning.
TERRI MICHAL RECTOR
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| TERRI MICHAL RECTOR |
Terri Michal has been advocating for the teachers and
students in public schools in Alabama through her own grassroots organization
that she created in Sept of 2012. While doing education research online she
came across the Badass Teacher Association, at the time 'only' 6,500 members
strong. Right away she knew that it was
an organization she had to be a part of. Within just a few weeks she became an
Admin. She finds the information and support provided through the members of
BATs to be invaluable to the battles being fought in her home state. She's proud to say she no longer has children
in the public schools as students, they are now teachers!
BECCA RITCHIE
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| BECCA RITCHIE |
Becca Ritchie has taught middle school in Washington State for 25 years.
She has taught choir, general music, drama, study skills, Quest (adolescent
development and communication) and computer education. She joined BATs on the first day the page was
founded after returning from Occupy the DOE II.
She has been involved in Save Our Schools, United Opt Out and Union work
for her local and council. She is also a
member of WA BATs and works with other Washingtonians to design creative
actions that draw attention to the corporate takeover of our schools by using music
and art.
DR. MITCHELL ROBINSON
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| DR. MITCHELL ROBINSON |
Mitch taught music in upstate NY for 10 years, mostly high
school band. He now works as a music teacher educator at Michigan State
University. Mitchell taught for 10 years
in the public schools, 15+ in higher ed. ,all music. Mitchell has an Administrative certification
and a Ph.D. in music education. He has been a BAT for over a year, almost since
the beginning! Mitch is passionate about
protecting public education from attacks from the corporate reform movement. He
believes that we find ourselves in a "manufactured crisis," and that
the vast majority of schools and teachers are excellent. Mitch is from Buffalo,
NY, but has lived in Michigan for the last 15 years.
AIXA RODRIGUEZ
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| AIXA RODRIGUEZ WITH DR. YOHURU WILLIAMS |
Aixa created and has grown the BATs DREAM page. NYCDOE High School ESL Teacher Fordham
University FCRH ’00 BS Psychology and Latin American and Latino Studies .
Fordham University Graduate School of Education FGSE ’05. MST TESOL Bronx born
Puerto Rican raised and still living there and teaching there. Lived and worked
in Japan ’00-’01 which cemented desire to teach ESL
PRISCILLA SANSTEAD
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| PRISCILLA SANSTEAD |
BAT Co-Founder, is an education activist currently living
with her family in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She is a graduate of Florida State
University and holds an MBA/Marketing from the University of West Florida.
Priscilla has experiences with a wide number of educational choices through her
grown daughter. She was an active volunteer in schools – Montessori, Public
Charter (1999 – 2000, before corporate deform), Public, Private, and
Progressive – then transitioned to homeschooling through a CA state charter,
and finally to unschooling with her autodidact daughter. A big advocate for
libraries, she has run many school and public book sales. She assembled,
funded, and operated a Florida public charter school library (1999 – 2001) and
volunteered full-time for a private school library for a year. A volunteer
nature guide for 6 years, she managed the volunteer group and led hundreds of
school tours. She taught remedial math at a private college for a year, and
became a vocal advocate for changes in math as well as reading education.
STEVEN SINGER
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| STEVEN SINGER |
Steven Singer is a husband, father, teacher, blogger and
education advocate. Before entering the education field, he was a professional
journalist for 5 years. He has taught Language Arts for 12 years - mostly in
8th grade. He is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher, has a Masters of Arts in
Teaching and undergraduate degrees in both Creative Writing and Philosophy. He
can’t remember exactly when he became a Badass Teacher. Before the group was
even incorporated, Singer had co-created an education advocacy group in
Pennsylvania to fight Governor Corbett’s draconian school budget cuts. The
group was called T.E.A.C.H. - Tell Everyone All Cuts Hurt. (He came up with the
name.) In Corbett’s first year in office, T.E.A.C.H. was the leading opposition
to Corbett and woke up many in the state to this battle. However, massive
teacher furloughs dwindled its numbers until it was mostly just Singer holding
a sign, shouting for all he was worth and typing on a computer. He joined the
steering committee of Yinzercation, Great Public Schools Pittsburgh and worked
closely with PSEA and moveon.org. He even spearheaded a highly successful
petition campaign asking Pennsylvania officials to engage in civil disobedience
and ignore the state’s unconstitutional voter ID law. At some point in the early days of BATS,
Singer saw a Facebook post about the organization and joined. He was delighted
to find there were so many others out there just like him. He is so grateful to
have found BATS. To him, it’s not just an advocacy organization - it’s a
community. For more on Singer, please visit his blog Gadflyonthewallblog at
http://www.gadflyonthewallblog.wordpress.com . For more on T.E.A.C.H. visit the
organization’s Website at http://www.svteach.wikispaces.com .
MELISSA TOMLINSON
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| MELISSA TOMLINSON |
A teacher of students with special needs at the middle
school level, realized that she was not alone in questioning the role of
standardized testing in schools when she found the Badass Teachers Association.
She was first pushed into the spotlight of fighting the methods of corporate
educational reform when she faced Governor Chris Christie to ask about his
public degradation of NJ Schools when they were rated one of the top three in
the nation. Along with teaching and advocacy, Melissa runs the after school
program in her school building, providing a place for students to receive extra
educational assistance, exposure to career possibilities, and a safe place to
be after school hours.
Melissa is the mother of two teenage sons and she fights for
equitable education for all students, now and in the future. Melissa became the Asst. General Manager of
BATs in Dec. of 2013.
ROUSEMARY VEGA
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| ROUSEMARY VEGA |
Rousemary Vega is a 33 year-old mother of four public school children, Nidalis 17, Meleny 12, T.J 8, and Zamara 3 years-old. Rousemary became active when they closed down her children's school in Chicago. She has become one of the most outspoken and symbolic parents for the devastation of school closings on a family and community. She lives in Chicago♡ and became a BAT because she believes in their vision and actions they took. Rousemary believes that when you have educators fighting for the education and future of our children, parents move to the front lines and support such an organization. Rousemary loves the outstanding support BAT offers....in and outside the organization. Rousemary is honored to be a BAT and has been in the organization for a little over a year:)
KRISTIN VOGEL
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| KRISTIN VOGEL |
Kristin Vogel is a Resource Specialist from the state of
California. She is currently in her ninth year in education, having served in a
range of schools, both public and private. She has a Masters in Childhood
Special Education and a Masters in Education with a concentration in Special
Education. Kristin has been a BAT since July of 2013. Laws and mandates that have
been passed from the federal government continue to marginalize and underfund
programs for students with special needs, and students from oppressed
communities. As a teacher who views education through a social justice lens,
the time has come to join collectively and act on what is wrong with our
educational system. Kristin wants to see an end to the vicious cycle of toxic
testing, as well as a well-funded program for students with special needs.
DR. YOHURU WILLIAMS
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| DR. YOHURU WILLIAMS |
The author of Black Politics/White Power: Civil Rights Black
Power and Black Panthers in New Haven (Blackwell, 2006) and Teaching U.S.
History Beyond the Textbook (Corwin, 2008). He is the editor of A Constant
Struggle: African-American History from 1865 to the Present, Documents and
Essays (Kendall Hunt, 2002), and the co-editor of In Search of the Black
Panther Party: New Perspectives on a Revolutionary Movement (Duke University,
2006), and Liberated Territory: Toward a Local History of the Black Panther
Party (Duke University, 2009). He also served as general editor for the
Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s 2002 and 2003
Black History Month publications, The Color Line Revisited (Tapestry Press,
2002) and The Souls of Black Folks: Centennial Reflections (Africa World Press,
2003). Dr. Williams also served as an adviser on the popular civil rights
reader Putting the Movement Back into Teaching Civil Rights. Dr. Williams’
scholarly articles have appeared in The Black Scholar, The Journal of Black
Studies, The Organization of American Historians Magazine of History, Delaware
History, Pennsylvania History, and the Black History Bulletin. He is the
Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Fairfield University. Dr.
Williams is an administrator for the Badass Teachers Association.
STACEY WOLFF
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| STACY WOLFF |
Stacey is an 18 year veteran middle school teacher. She has
spent her entire career in the same district in Nevada teaching 8th grade ELA
and advising the yearbook staff. Stacey joined BATs as a member and a moderator
soon after BATs was established. She believes BATs is crucial to the
continuation of the teaching profession as a whole and knows the day will come
when the deformers are defeated and the teachers will once again be treated as
the educated and trained professionals they are and be allowed to address the
needs of all students in ways they know to be most effective. She has no plans
on letting the deformers, politicians and oligarchs force her out of the job
she genuinely loves and will continue to fight alongside her BAT brothers and
sisters for as long as necessary. ^0^
KAREN WOLFE
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| KAREN WOLFE AND JUAN CABALLERO |
Karen Wolfe is a Los Angeles parent activist for public education. With a professional background in communications, she blogs about education issues, especially politics, and works to help shape media coverage about public schools and education policy. Through her writing and advocacy, Karen promotes public schools as a democratic institution and builds support for sustainable neighborhood schools. Her belief in professional educators as our best resource for forming education policy drives her involvement in political campaigns, school board accountability and the Badass Teachers Association. She and her husband have two children in Los Angeles public schools.
DR. AMY WOLPIN
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| AMY WOLPIN |
Amy Wolpin is a retired elementary teacher and parent of two
adult children who are both teachers. She is from WNY and lives with her
husband, a retired social worker, near Northampton, MA. Amy has a BA in Art
(Binghamton University), M.Ed in Open Education (Lesley University) and Ed.D in
Mathematics and Science Education (UMass Amherst). Amy retired in 2011 after 36
years of public school teaching in Massachusetts in grade 3-6 classrooms,
special education, math intervention and math coaching. Her dissertation,
Becoming an Elementary Mathematics Teacher Leader, was a self-study of her
professional development and her collaborative working relationships with
teachers she coached while she was her school district’s Elementary Math
Coordinator. In addition, Amy taught many workshops and courses in math methods
and math content to both pre-service and experienced teachers. She served on
and chaired district curriculum committees and was active in her union as a
building and district rep providing counsel to teachers in pre-grievance
situations. Since retiring, Amy has volunteered as a tutor, Sped/504 parent
advocate, synagogue education director and math classroom assistant. Her
biggest volunteer involvement is with BATs which she joined in December 2013.
She joined to give support and voice to parents and educators fighting to
preserve public education for all children from corporatization and
privatization. She is an admin in BATs Math Geeks and Massachusetts BATs.
Missing but hope to add soon are our other amazing team members
Pamela Nagler, Gus Morales, Donna Mace, Michael Pena, Juan Caballero, Roberta Reid
This is IMPRESSIVE! I just KNEW as a BAT, I was in the company of greatness! Thank you all for your contributions to this cause!
ReplyDeleteWhere's Grumpy Cat? :)
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