“The Heart of the Swarm” Bats Congress Speech 2015

Excerpts from Dr. Yohuru Williams BATs Teacher Congress Speech, “The Heart of the Swarm,” delivered Saturday July 24, 2015. This is a shortened version of Dr. Williams’s remarks during the BAT’S Congress on Saturday.

Welcome Back to DC Bats! A little less than a year ago today, we marched on the Department of Education to deliver a simple message. Restore our schools. We pledged then that we would not stop fighting until we had achieved our goal of the restoration of public education and re-centering of its focus back on children. We explained to the world then . . .and remind all today . . . that BATs privilege three things: people over profits, parity of charity and choice over chance.

We return today for phase two moving forward with a plan to reclaim our educational system from the forces of politics and enterprise who continue to endanger them.

This danger takes many forms. An education secretary, for example, with neither the credentials nor the political will to understand the necessity of public education. A mighty cabal of corporate interests pushing a program of high stakes testing and privatization that seeks to drain every penny from the public coffers. A host of unethical politicians and so-called community leaders who have swallowed the corporate education Kool Aide echo them in their claims that that our schools are failing and beyond hope. Add to this, fake grass roots organizations like Students First funded by the moneyed interests that promote their anti-union, anti-local control program under the guise of public service. Claiming their work to be the great civil rights issue of our time, they forge ahead administering one death-dealing blow after another to public education assisted by panoply of petty bureaucrats and civil servants without the knowledge or power to challenge them.

Last year we came to plead our case. This year we come to draft and mobilize behind a national platform, which we will decide . . . that that will allow us to fight as a unified force for restorative justice in reclaiming public education.

We recognize that there are rough waters ahead and we fight against a national narrative of failure informed by racism and poverty— however we will not back down.

We come today prepared to roll up our sleeves, hammer out our differences and begin mobilizing on a scale the likes of which have not been seen in the United States for decades. Welcome to the BATS Congress!

I feel a little like I am preaching to the choir this morning, but sometimes even the choir needs to be reminded why we sing. Our voices matter because we speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

A snapshot of the past six months, in this regard is instructive. Indulge me if you will for just a few moments to show you how. Despite a national opt-out movement, and on the ground actions by groups such as the Movement of Radical Educators, the Caucus of Working Educators, the Newark Student Union, United Opt Out and of course the BATS, the pied pipers of corporate education reform continue to push their poison penned legislation. They would have the effect of turning the nation into the charter barter tragedy that is the state of public education in the city of New Orleans today, unregulated, hyper-segregated, economically deflated, and politically negated.

They continue, nevertheless, to undermine democratic practice, flaunting their poor grasp of history and their lack of vision; attacking the very agents who are an essential line of defense for our youth, teachers, and schools.
                                                                                . . .
We are going to be clear, our schools are not for sale, and we are not interested in your Cartoon Education Reform. Stop turning public education into a mockery with your corporatizing crockery.

I recognize that they have cut instructional time for literature in our schools so it may feel for some like “Apocalypse Now” but I would remind you as my literature teachers would that “The Sun Also Rises.” Today over Morningside Washington, we rise with the sun with a powerful message for those who are in danger of finding themselves on the wrong side of history.

So I would like to, in conclusion. read to you from the Gospel of Bats A farewell to Arms: The BATs version.

Attention enemies of public education, time for you to go on a permanent vacation. Today you may smile and laugh with scorn. But do not be surprised in the next few months if you find yourself in the heart of the swarm.
                                                                                  . . .
The Bats are going to play TSA for TFA.

Because when we recognize, in your lack of training, a detriment to youth, we cannot hold back, we must tell you the truth.
We appreciate the deception but numbers don’t lie.
It was clear. so clear, you weren’t ready to fly.
So we show you the door, but don’t you despair, for I’m sure now that you’re jobless Ms. Rhee will be there.
And when she runs in the other direction clutching her purse, scream to her “But Michelle you said students first!” ask her to explain where is your piece of the pie and while you’re at it for BATs please tell her “Bye Bye.”

For nearly eight years Mr. Duncan, the balls been in your court.
But it is obvious to all, leadership wasn’t your sport.
Your reign is now ending in thunderous despair.
You hear a crack from the heavens and you wonder “Whose there?”                                               You reach for your binder and swing; 'swat swat'.
It’s a shame you didn’t play baseball, or you would know all about BATs.
BATs fly by radar; we see with mind, how you have left our children and schools in a bind.
When down in a block we descend from the sky, to show you the door and tell you “Bye Bye!”

Bill and Melinda Gates your intentions so clear, trading the humanities for technology is all you hold dear.
We can teach without your I Pad and you may wonder why because the center of everything you do begins with I, I, I.
But we are the people and we will decide what is best for our children and as an aside when we show you the door and free money, you cry . . .                                                            

We will do our best Backstreet boys impression and tell you Bye, Bye, Bye.

Corporate Education Reform lackeys too numerous to name, from small town America to Greece, Russia and Spain.
Your diabolical plans to drive our schools in a hearse was diagnosed and exposed by a public school nurse.
She took your temperature and grimly informed our nation has the Germ . . . Global Education Reform.
I suppose this is why you cut our school nursing jobs first, then libraries, athletics, music and verse.

But if you stay real quiet you can hear the beat of our drum for
we must
we can
we shall overcome...
We will restore our schools, so be forewarned, that truth and justice are at the heart of this swarm.
Our democracy is too important.
We can’t allow it to crash and that . . .you see . . . is why they call us badass!

For we will stand for the littles and fight for the truth, perish for principle in defense of our youth, do all in power to put the wrongs to end.

So BATs roll up your wings let the Congress begin!

Oregon BATs Storm Capitol Hill
By:  Kathleen Jeskey






Tom Kane, fellow Oregon BAT, and I started by meeting with Senator Merkley at his morning constituent coffee. I got about 10 minutes there to speak with him personally about what is going on in our schools as far as Common Core and the accompanying tests. I was able to tell him a story of two students I’ve had who share some similar characteristics, J. and E. . Both are ELL/SpEd dual identified students who held reasonable, modest goals for future employment as 6th graders (driving tractor at a nursery and tow truck driver, respectively). I shared with the senator that J. was able to graduate high school and attain his goal, and as a student was able to maintain a good level of self esteem and enjoy school. I also shared that I feared that E., who has to work under Common Core and the punishing testing, may not graduate from high school. I fear he will not feel good about himself during his school career, I fear that constantly being labeled a failure will beat him down and crush his spirit. I also shared with him that I feel it is wrong to denigrate students whose dreams are modest and reasonable, as well as adults who work at jobs like tractor or tow truck driver, by insinuating through our rhetoric around “college and career” and labeling as failure with test scores many of our students that those jobs are less than. The senator is a strong labor guy, and he really seemed to listen to that message.

Tom and I met later for about 40 minutes with his Legislative Assistant. Since Tom teaches at an alternative high school, where students are often working on credit recovery and struggling to graduate, while I work at an elementary school, that I see my students who struggle for a variety of reasons being beaten down by testing and labeling them early and Tom gets them at a point where they have to be built back up to feel like they CAN learn and CAN succeed and graduate. I quoted Frederick Douglass who said, “It’s easier to build strong children than repair broken men”. We asked that Senator Merkley support the Better Oregon funding campaign. We talked about the new assessment system that many teachers worked on at the state level, the New Path for Oregon Assessment, and how we support that as a more authentic assessment system but do not support high stakes decisions about students, teachers and schools being based on a year end, summative evaluation. We were able to share the many problems with the SBAC assessment: time wasted to “practice”, time wasted on the assessment itself, the quality of the assessment and the secrecy around the assessment and the difficulty in either students or teachers reporting errors on the assessment due to that secrecy. Senator Merkley’s assistant was a very good listener and seemed to understand what we were saying.

We did not meet with Senator Wyden himself, but did meet with his Legislative Assistant. We shared all of our same information and concerns with her as we did with Senator Merkley’s assistant. I felt that while she also listened, we were concerned about some of the statements she made and questions she asked us.

We were concerned that she stated that Senator Wyden “felt that concerns around testing should be handled at the state level" but then mentioned that he did not support the opt out campaign. Oregon passed a significant Parent Bill of Rights (HB2655) around opting out of testing. We then had to explain that opting out did not eliminate the requirement for being assessed and explained the requirement for work samples (authentic classroom based assessment). We also discussed that if there is a need for evaluative assessment for the government that this would be better done by using random samples rather than shoving everyone through "Smarter Balanced”.  At one point, when I was telling her about the lack of structure in place for a child (or a teacher) to report a problem on the test, she explained to us that her belief is that testing companies review test results and that if they see that there are many students missing a question, the question will be examined and evaluated. I wish I had the faith that she does in the testing companies. She also asked us what we would say to people who say that if teachers make their own assessments for evaluating students, they will just make assessments that all kids can pass in order to make themselves look good. I told her that I found that rhetoric insulting and that teachers are professionals who want to evaluate students in a way that helps both the student to learn and the teacher to design instruction. The Smarter Balanced Assessment does neither.

We also talked with both LAs about the narrowing of curriculum, elimination of vocational education and art, music, PE, foreign language and other enrichment classes. We talked as well about the our concern that the goal of corporate ed. reform is accessing public monies for private gains and that many so-called reform efforts are camouflaged with clever and "rational" arguments. We urged them to use teachers more as a resource when needing information. We also urged them to stop talking about an “achievement gap” and start looking at the “resource gap”. This was the original intention of ESEA: to provide equity in resources for all students. The current system punishes students in poverty by labeling them as failures, firing their teachers, and closing their schools. It does nothing to help them gain equitable access to the resources they need.

I hope that other Oregon BATs will follow up Tom’s and my visit by making appointments to meet with the Senators as well as their representatives in the House while they are here in Oregon during the remainder of the summer, or at the very least, write or call them and let them know that they support the lobbying agenda that BATs presented in DC during or lobbying at BATs Congress week.

I went to DC with Teachers from All Over Ohio

by Karen Linch, an Ohio BAT

 


I went to DC with teachers from all over Ohio.

One teacher shared how ESEA started; it was part of the war on poverty. Lyndon Johnson wanted to even the playing field for the poor. The law was twisted and turned over the years to blame communities and principals and teachers for failing kids. School funding in Ohio is illegal. It remains illegal. And thanks to the new budget, it will be worse next year. Wooster won't be as bad off as surrounding districts but we will feel it. Triway - oh my!

One teacher worked in a charter; she witnessed online charter abuse. Over 400 students who never logged in but received over $6,000 for each "student." Charters prey on students who are truant. It's easy money. That one online charter is in Wooster. Did you see how charters are lobbying now because they work with the most challenging kids in Ohio and they deserve a break from accountability? Seriously?!? What a crock!
One teacher works in Berea. She got into a bit of trouble last year because she showed her students how to find information about how to graduate WITHOUT passing a test. She also shared that our schools are not failing. Graduation rates are higher now than ever before. Poverty is the problem.

One teacher is from Youngstown. Her city has been duped big time. She will fight hard. Privatization of her public schools was slipped in at night by Kasich and the help of Dick Ross. The mayor will take over the schools; he didn't know it was happening! The legislator who worked on the legislation was duped. Her name was on it; it was high jacked and she refused to vote for her own bill. Kasich needs some talking points for the campaign trail.

One teacher is from Hilliard. She shared how the students who did not pass must take another reading class - no elective like art or music or gym. Another class to prove a child is a failure. That's NOT what's best for a child.

One teacher shared how she worked over 3 years to help a child grow and learn. 3 years to build up a child only to have it all torn down in one day. The child knew he would not pass. He knew he was letting down a much loved teacher (she never told him that!).

One teacher works in Dayton - 100% free and reduced lunch. Can you imagine? I can. Dayton will be next for the take over. 1. Prove schools are failing. 2. Keep them from improving. 3. Take them over. 4. The magic bullet didn't work? Why didn't it work? Because the magic bullet is who can make the most money from schools before anyone truly does something about it. Our own legislators "ran out of time" to take care of charter school accountability. Oh and they scrubbed the scores - teachers are in jail for that in Atlanta. A principal killed herself over that! What'll happen in Ohio charter land? They'll go on the campaign trail with Kasich.

I shared how I was told by a veteran teacher several years ago that my job depended on getting students to pass a test. I believed him. The only way we use the test data is to figure out which students get extra services. I shared how teachers teach to a test because they either actually believe a test shows a kid's growth and a teacher's worth or they are fearful of losing their job. I explained how I took kids to continue test prep. I explained how one student got so frustrated by what I was doing, he hit his head against the wall. I stopped teaching test prep. I will never do it again. I'm sorry I was so hard headed to not see without a child hurting himself. I stressed how the climate in our buildings to put test scores before a child's needs is creating a toxic climate. We are not able to take care or even acknowledge kids' needs because of the climate. Our kids are hurting themselves. They are screaming out for help in many ways.

I choose to listen to the children from now on. I choose to ask questions for the children. I choose to not blame a parent for a child's behavior. I choose to figure out what's best for each child and speak up for that child. I choose to take the time necessary. Relationships is what is most important for all children. For those of you who know me, that will be hard for me - slow down and get to know a child. I want to help them read! There's only so much time; read, read, read! Oh boy!

I left DC feeling defeated. We had 13 appointments. We spoke to one real legislator. He represented one of our teachers. He listened; he also has lots of misconceptions.

The rest were aides. Legislative aides are 20 something and not teachers keeping their boss up to date on legislation they will vote on. They rarely took notes on what we said. They rarely asked questions. They prob don't know what questions to ask. I know I didn't in my 20's.

Some had teachers in their families. Most listened respectfully. Most went to public schools.
Many are TFA alumni. They taught for 2 years and they know what's wrong with education. The most upsetting for me was Sherrod Brown's aide. She is smart and cares and she has TFA lenses. My interpretation of TFA. Smart kids from Ivy League schools teach/survive in a high poverty district with little to no support. The support depends on the veteran staff. If they survive they are experts in all things education. I know I was no expert year 2! TFA is in Cleveland. They usually go to places with teacher shortages but they are branching out. They use teaching as a stepping stone to bigger and better things - like government - informing legislators about education bills and legislation. They are cheap. They don't stay in a district saving money - lots of money.

Teaching is the bigger and better thing to me. I want people who represent me to know what I do and how laws effect/affect the students I get to work with.

The new ESEA (I don't have the acronym yet) will most likely put the power for most things at the state and local levels. That means our local legislators need to hear our stories. Our legislators need to hear from us - not through an aide.

Public education has lots of money. People who do not care about our students want to get a piece of the action. And that is definitely not what's best for kids.

I did have some hopeful moments. I will continue to look for hope.

What Teach for America Truly Values

by Dr. Mitchell Robinson, Member of the BAT Leadership Team

originally published on his blog: http://www.mitchellrobinson.net/2015/07/28/teach-for-america-experience-and-values/

28 Jul 2015

Recently, Teach for America posted a vacancy for the Director of their Government Affairs operations in Washington, DC. Interestingly, the job announcement includes the following information about the experience required for this position: "At least 7 years of work experience, with at least three years experience on Capitol Hill", and "Salary for this position is competitive and depends on prior experience."

As reported by the intrepid Mercedes Schneider, the former occupant of this office had been a TFA alum who "started in TFA with two years in the classroom in DC; became a “school operations manager” for five months, then moved on to legislative assistant for 13 months before becoming TFA’s director of government affairs for 27 months."


Clearly, TFA realized that experience in the areas of expertise required to be successful in the job were important considerations in the search process, and made sure that the job description reflected this understanding. Good for them. Just as I prefer that my airline pilot, or surgeon, or barista has extensive experience at flying, operating or drawing a cappuccino before they do these things for me, we should all expect that persons with more experience are capable of better performance at their jobs than those with little or no experience, at least initially...


...which--as I've pointed out previously here, here, and here, makes TFA's business model--of placing young college grads with no coursework in education, or teaching experience, in front of classrooms all across the United States, often in the most challenging teaching and learning settings imaginable--all the more problematic.


So, in the spirit of helping our friends at TFA, an education "non-profit" with assets of nearly half a billion dollars, refocus their values, here are a few questions:

• What does it say about your organization's values when you require 7 years of experience for a lobbying position and require zero years of experience for teachers in charge of classrooms full of young children?
• What does it mean when your organization charges resource-strapped school districts up to $9000 per year in "service fees" for each recruit placed, while private and public universities charge nothing when their graduates get hired for the same positions?
  
• What does it say about your "non-profit" organization's values when your top 3 executives are paid $381,946 (Co-CEO Matt Kramer) $342,134 (Elisa Villanueva Beard), and $176,657 (Wendy Kopp), while you attack public schools, teachers and unions for their "greed"?
• What does it mean when some of the top placement sites for TFA recruits happen to be the same cities and regions being targeted for predatory Achievement School Districts and portfolio school districts, like Nashville, Detroit and New Orleans?

Perhaps its time for TFA to update their mission statement from this:

Our mission is to enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation's most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.

 to this:

Our mission is to lobby, pressure and persuade as many as possible of our nation's most powerful political leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational privatization and profit.

Because, based on what your organization actually says and does, this is what you truly value.

BATs Quality of Workplace Team Meets with USDOE - 7/24/15
By: NY BAT Jamy Brice Hyde, M.Ed

I have had the privilege to work with a team of teachers who suffered enormous trauma while teaching. In September one of my team members was called to cover for her friend of 25 years as she had an emergency. There this teacher sat at her friend's desk with her friend's belongings strew on the desk and her friend's jacket left over the chair. Inside the top drawer was her friend’s suicide note. This teacher’s friend had left the building to commit suicide and succeeded. My team member has chronicled the emotional and mental abuse she and other teachers have suffered in this school.  It is a shocking story but the truth is, this is happening in our schools across America. The American teaching profession is under assault and the damage is catastrophic.

A teacher's work environment is a student's learning environment. Does this story make you wonder what is really happening in our public schools? 

Shortly after hearing this story, I heard of several more teacher suicides. These stories of teacher abuse were so very shocking to me as I had never seen nor experienced these things in my school; I sent an email to Randi Weingarten the President of AFT and asked her, “What are we doing to help our teachers?” She responded by having her Chief of Staff call me to ensure I was alright. That phone call resulted in a town hall phone call on the abuses suffered by professional teachers in public education. On that call Randi heard the testimony of several teachers from across the country. The stories were shocking, heartbreaking, and began a call to action. A team of volunteers from that group created an action plan to expose “teacher abuse” in public schools. From October 2014 until April 2015 a team of BATs partnered with the AFT to create a survey that would expose the changing environment in our public schools.  On April 21st we launched an 80 plus question survey on social media and via email in a ten day window 91,000 employees of public education responded and 31,000 completed the survey. The response was unprecedented. The results revealed the collateral damage of the "test and punish” environment currently engulfing public education.

Over the course of the past 9 months the BAT/AFT Quality of Work Life Team was formed. This team has forged a deep friendship as working toward our goal allowed much healing to take place. We have indeed become a strong sisterhood and empowered warriors. We fight abuses such as bullying, ageism, sexism, discrimination against those with disabilities and minority teachers! Our team had experienced all of these abuses first hand.  The AFT and Bats jointly released our top lines of the survey. We went into action calling for a national scientific study to be done of the quality of the education work environment. Together the Badass Teachers Association and the American Federation of Teachers took action. We sent letters to NIOSH, USDOE and called upon our legislators to create a law to mandate a study to address issues in the quality of the work environment in public education. NIOSH responded they are interested in conducting a study. Senators Booker and Bennet responded with an amendment to the ECAA. The legislative language was placed in the main frame of the ECCA and passed in the Senate on July 16th 2015. OUR TEAM HAS PASSED NATIONAL LEGISLATION!!! Our hope is it will be included in the reconciled bill between the House and the Senate. We may call for your support as the reconciliation process proceeds!

Our team was far from finished. Sandy Goodwick sent an email requesting a meeting with the USDOE. Laurie Clavert of the USDOE organized a meeting.   On July 24th at 3:30 the BAT/AFT team entered the infamous “house of pain.”  We were placed in the Secretary of Educations Conference room with a very long and large table. Name tags were placed in front of each of us.
The meeting began with introductions. Attending from the USDOE were:
Ruthann Buck, Senior Advisor to the Secretary
Brad Jupp, Office of the Secretary
Ronn Nozoe, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Ary Amerikaner, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Matt Lehrich, Strategic Advisor, Office of Communications and Outreach
Emily Davis, Office of the Secretary
Laurie Calvert, Office of Communications and Outreach

Each team member testified to the horrors they endured in their public schools while highlighting survey results reflective of the fact that they  experiences are occurring across the country. We discussed teacher suicides in light of test and punish evaluation systems. We discussed the mental well being of our students as they experience intended failure while corporations profit. We exposed the ugly side of ageism and sexism in our schools. We exposed the level of neglect our students and teachers with disabilities are experiencing. We exposed the horrors of the physical working conditions around the country including black mold, asbestos and rat infestation. BAT team members cried and wept as each finally had the opportunity to speak the truth to power. This was a tremendously empowering moment for those healing from deep traumatic wounds. These BATs are the most courageous warriors I have ever met! To bear witness to this event dug deep into the souls of those present. As each BAT ended their testimony you could have heard the flap of hummingbirds’ wings, the silence was solemn almost reverent for the suffering that was heard. There were no tissues in this room only tear drops on the table.
 
We called for the healing of public education and requested action be taken by the USDOE. We asked for a commitment to work with our team to change the climate of our public schools to positive healthy working and learning environments. 

The members of the USDOE were emotionally affected by the stories and extremely interested in the results of the survey. Some members of the USDOE had difficulty keeping their composure, some cried, others held their eyes low. Ruthann Buck committed to our team we will have an opportunity to collaborate with them on solutions and that they are in the process of responding to our AFT/BAT letter. She reiterated that what happened to the teachers in the room was simply wrong and would not be tolerated or condoned by the USDOE.

WE MADE AN IMPACT WE ARE SURE! We await the USDOE’s formal response. Stay tuned there is much more to come from the BAT/AFT Quality of Work Life Team.

THE BATs TEACHER CONGRESS – SUMMARY OF AN EVENT

 

In the summer of 2014 Dr. Yohuru Williams looked at Arne Duncan in the face and said, “Mr. Secretary, you need to meet with teachers once a year in a Teacher Congress so that you know what is happening in America’s schools.”  So, the BATs Teacher Congress was born – an idea from a visionary who knew that teacher voices needed to be heard.  Dr. Williams recognized that educators  would steer education in the right direction and restore public education to its original purpose, for the children.

 

Here is a video filled with highlight pictures of our 3 day event!  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r9CKBZuFOz0&feature=youtu.be

Our hashtag #BATCon2015 trended the entire day

 

Thursday 7/23 and Friday 7/24 – BATs Lobby Capitol Hill Day #1 and Day #2

Prior to our two lobbying days, Washington BATs got us off to a great start by participating in a “Coffee with Constituents” session with Sen. Patty Murray. This group led the charge and let the legislators know that the Badass Teachers Association had descended upon “The Hill”. Over the course of the next two days, BATs from 20 states conducted over 61 appointments with their Federal Lawmakers.  BATs shuffled from the House building to the Senate building over the course of these two days.  Appointments started at 8 a.m. and lasted until 5 p.m.  There will be a blog coming soon that will summarize these appointments.  This was a copy of our lobby sheet that addressed national issues and the various state delegations filled in issues germane to their state.  

Hawaii BAT Mireille Ellsworth on Capitol Hill

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Friday Sen. Bernie Sanders education legislative assistant, David Cohen, called Marla Kilfoyle, BATs General Manager after a team of BATs occupied Sen. Sanders office that very morning.  NY BAT Katherine Brezler also phoned Sen. Sanders office to facilitate a meeting.  Mr. Cohen stayed on the phone with Marla Kilfoyle for approximately 40 minutes.  “It was nice of David to call but we are disappointed that our request for a meeting with Sen. Sanders was ignored for up to 6 months”, Kilfoyle said.   BATs had utilized all the proper channels to secure a meeting with Sen. Sanders but were, unfortunately, ignored after several attempts to speak with someone in his office.   A BAT Team hearing that Sen. Sanders office had ignored requests for a meeting, jumped into cabs and headed to the Senate building where they occupied his office.  WA BAT Becca Ritchie, who led the Occupy Team, said, “We were concerned that our calls were not returned after we were told they would be, so we took matters into our own hands.”   The team left after being told that they would try to secure a Monday meeting and left some BAT literature upon their departure.   “The phone call with David was a nice gesture.   We spoke about funding equity, vouchers, charters, standardized testing, attack on our urban schools and communities of color, push out of our veteran teachers and teachers of color, and the push to privatize public education,” said Marla Kilfoyle.   “My hope is that we now have an open communication to share our concerns and issues with Sen. Sanders as he heads into the Democratic Primary,” Kilfoyle continued.   Time will tell. 

BATs Occupy Bernie Sanders Office Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 7/24 – Jesse Turner Makes it to DC

On Friday at 2 p.m. BATs, SOS, and UOO members met on the patio of the Holiday Inn to make our signs to meet Jesse Turner at Union Station.  Jesse had spent 40 days walking 400 miles for children, public education, and social justice.   At 3 p.m. a group of approximately 50 people began to walk the 1.2 miles from the Holiday Inn to Union Station.  This walk took us past the National Mall and The Capitol.  When we arrived at Union Station we were joined by others and our group of 50 doubled in size.  We left Union Station at 3:45 to walk to the USDOE (what Jesse calls the “House of Pain”) to call out Arne Duncan.  The 25 minute walk was filled with singing, chanting, and cheering as cars beeped in support.

 

When we arrived at the USDOE we chanted “He, Ho Arne Duncan has got to go.”  Here is the video

http://m.youtube.com/watch?sns=tw&v=YwHk22XudFo

 

Jesse gave an amazing speech and we were all inspired to fight for children, public education, and social justice.

 

 

 We had to leave the USDOE when the police showed up!

 

Concurrently with this event, the BAT Quality of Work Life Team was meeting with the USDOE to discuss what the federal office needed to do on their end to bring attention and help remedy the systematic intimidation, bullying, and push out of teachers across this county. The team will be reporting about this meeting in a separate piece to follow soon.

BATs Quality of Workplace Team w/ AFT Support Team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday 7/24/15  SOS Sponsored a Mock Trial of Corporate Education Reform

On Friday evening SOS, in coalition with UOO and BATs, sponsored a Mock Trial of Arne Duncan, Rahm Emanuel, Campbell Brown, and Eli Broad.   Thank you to the amazing Thomas Byrd for acting as our judge, Dr. Denisha Jones for her portrayal of the prosecuting attorney, and Becca Ritchie for acting as the defense attorney.  You can catch the livestream here, but  in case you don’t have time to watch, all of them were found GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY.

You can watch the entire trial here:  http://educationtownhall.org/2015/07/24/mock-trial-live-stream/

 

Saturday 7/25/15 BATs Teacher Congress

Starting at 8:00 a.m. BATs, SOS, and UOO members from around the nation checked in and had breakfast.  Over 150 warriors for public education started the day with an Arts in Activism presentation by the BATs Meme Team and a reading of the BATs Declaration for Great Schools.   Dr. Yohuru Williams opened the Congress with an amazing speech centered on beaming up, via Star Trek style, all the “deformers” that seek to close our schools and privatize our public education system (look for his entire speech on our blog very soon).   Jesse Turner followed with a rousing speech that had many reliving his walk for children.  The Youth Dreamers from Baltimore, an amazing group of young people, told their story of how they built, from the ground up, a youth center.  You can read their story here and we highly recommend you bring them to your town.  Please consider donating to their cause  http://www.youthdreamers.org/

 

Dr. Denisha Jones sent us into lunch with a powerful seminar on Cultural Competence.   Her powerful presentation was filled with a toolkit for teachers to use and share when they return back to their communities.    Please contact her if you wish her to come give this amazing seminar in your town (hint hint – ask your union to  sponsor it)! 

 

Morna McDermot sent us into our work for the afternoon with a moving presentation that was based around the word “hegemony.”  BATs value and honor their partnership with United Opt Out and are so grateful that Ruth, Morna, Denisha, and Ceresta came to spend the day with us.  Their participation was invaluable and we thank them so much.  Here is perhaps the most powerful quote from Morna:

 

 

After Morna’s presentation the real work began.  BATs, UOO, and SOS  spent over 2 hours working through the Congress topics:  Union Strong, Spaces for Dissenting Voices, School to Prison Pipeline, Preserving Participatory Democracy, English Language Learners, and Special Education.  The first hour was a Gallery Walk where event attendees took five post its and posted their thoughts/ides/research on each topic (5 stations were set up).  After an hour of visiting each station, there was a sharing session.   Attendees and facilitators spoke about their topics, offered important connections, and provided a framework for the future of BATs in regard to these topics.  We will be compiling all these ideas, as well as ideas we collected from our Facebook members. We are weaving them into a toolkit that members can access off our website.  These “resolutions” will be available at the beginning of September for BATs and anyone else to use for BOE meetings, meetings with lawmakers, or for PDP’s.   After our resolution discussion the amazing BATs Quality of Workplace Team ended the BAT agenda for the day.  The team, led by Jamy Brice-Hyde, spoke about their meeting with the USDOE.   We were honored to have Jessica Smith from the AFT join us for the day.  Jessica has been involved with the Quality of Workplace study since day one.  She has been a tremendous support to our team and to BATs.  Thank you to Wilma DeSoto, Sandy Goodwick, Keith Bryson, Kathy Berry, and Jamy Brice Hyde (also to members of this team who must remain anonymous).

 

 Bob George of Save Our Schools March made an appeal to the audience for Dyett HS.  The Chicago Board of Education voted to phase out Dyett in 2012. The high school was slated to close after its last senior class graduates at the end of the current academic year.  Upon the school's closing, Bronzeville will no longer have an open-enrollment, neighborhood high school that is not a contracted, charter or Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) turnaround school.  You can go here to learn more about Dyett HS  http://www.progressillinois.com/quick-hits/content/2015/02/03/chicago-education-activists-keep-pressure-ald-burns-over-dyett-high-0

United Opt Out ended the day with a book talk over their incredible book An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution which you can order here:  http://www.infoagepub.com/products/An-Activist-Handbook-for-the-Education-Revolution

 

 

BATs want to thank UOO and SOS, once again for this amazing partnership! 

 

Saturday 7/25/15 BAT Social

From 6-9 p.m. BATs had their social to celebrate our amazing 3 days together.  The BAT Band, A Class Act, rocked the house. 

 

 

 

 

A former teacher from North Carolina Lindsay Furst treated BATs to her spoken word poetry piece called The Power to Save Public School. 

 

After Lindsay’s amazing performance NY BAT Jeremy Dudley took the stage to sing several songs from his CD – here is his famous video “Stop this Madness” (check out the BAT references)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVPeTZDYTco

 

 

Ending the night was Karen Sklaire, a NYC Drama Teacher who has an amazing one woman show called Ripple of Hope:  One Teachers Journey to Make an Impact.  A young idealist from Connecticut, inspired by teacher-as-hero movies, begins her career teaching drama in the South Bronx.  In this autobiographical solo show, Karen navigates her way through the troubled NYC school system as she struggles to engage her challenging students with everything from ‘gangsta’ improvs to a rap version of ‘Annie’. Her dedication to her students and her desire to make a difference impels her to find a way to please an ever- changing administration in order to keep her job. She will soon realize that in a world of budget cuts, rubber rooms, and the common core the question is not “what’s wrong with me?” but, rather, “what’s wrong with this system?”   You can catch her show coming back to NYC here http://www.rippleofhopeshow.com/

Lastly, enjoy the Rick Smith Show Interviews of various BATs, SOS, and UOO members.  Thank you to Rick for traveling down and joining us to spread the word.  Please support Ricks show and listen in.

http://ricksmithshow.com/bat-congress-washington-dc

 

We hope that you will join BATs in 2016 when we return back to DC for a protest rally.  Details will be forthcoming and………..a possible visit to the west coast in 2017 – could there be a BATs Storm Seattle 2017?  We shall see! Until that time, keep fighting for our children, our schools, and for social justice.  Why? That’s what BATs do!

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