WU4PE Spotlight on Women Fighting 4 Public Education
Women United for Public Education is a group that is
interested in promoting the role women play in education as well as the fight
for public education and its true purpose.
As we reflect on what has occurred the past two years and
envision what is to come in 2015 we would like to recognize a few categories of
people and organizations that have stood out for us. Although we are a newer group, we have been
lurking and checking out the power of many women in our movement that are
demanding strong public education for all and refuse to placate to the false
narrative that is spun by the wealthy.
We start with education bloggers because we know the
strength of a well written blog and have witnessed the power that such pieces
can wield, more so than main-stream media. We were impressed by the work of Jennifer
Berkshire (Edushyster) this year. Her
wit and humor is wielded as the sharpest of weapons against corporate reform. You
can find her blog here
http://edushyster.com/ We also enjoy the work of NYC Parent
advocate Leonie Haimson. Leonie writes
citing research and backs up everything she says with the power of peer
reviewed research. Her
blog can be found at
http://nycpublicschoolparents.blogspot.com/ Finally, we noticed this amazing young lady
on twitter the other day, Melissa Katz.
We examined her blog and it is powerful because she is an education
student and a sound blogger
http://theeducationactivist.blogspot.com/
Next we want to recognize individual teachers who are
standing up this year and refusing to give tests that harm our children
(especially our younger children). A
true hats off to Peggy Robertson, Ceresta Smith, Susan Bowles, Karen Henderson,
and Nikki Jones. From Colorado to
Florida, to Oklahoma, these brave women are standing up for kids and true
education. We hope that many teachers
join them in 2015 by refusing to let testing define education.
The next category was tough.
We scoured twitter and Facebook sites for our top parent activists. There were so many but we have it narrowed
down to LI OPT OUT Jeanette Deutermann who led the largest opt out movement in
the country (60,000 test refusals in NYS).
Karran Harper Royal of New Orleans who is a powerhouse behind exposing
the post-Katrina charter school system that is failing the children of New Orleans. Finally, Zakiyah Ansari, an outspoken
advocate for public schools in New York City.
She was selected to be on Mayor
De Blasio’s transition team and was an outspoken advocate against the
devastating era of Bloomberg in NYC.
Students Activists defined the revolution against corporate
education reform in 2014 and we are sure will be a true powerhouse in 2015. The Newark Student Union, Philly Student
Union, Providence Student Union, and the students in Colorado who boycotted
testing all led the revolution by taking it to the streets and showing the
adults how it is done.
Great education activist organizations still continue to
expose the corporate reform rhetoric with strong facts and research, all led by
strong women, have sprung into action. A huge hats off to the women leading United
Opt Out, Parents Across America, and The Badass Teachers Association. Behind the scenes we have seen these women
writing, tweeting, blogging, organizing protests, and taking to the airwaves to
dispel the false rhetoric of the corporate education reformers.
Book writing against corporate education reform has been
powerful in the last few years. Diane Ravitch's Reign of Error is a
valued resource for many education activists. We particularly enjoyed
Mercedes Schneider A Chronicle of Echoes: Who's Who in the
Implosion of American Public Education.
Written in 2012, but we feel a missed opportunity by many, was Lois
Weiner’s The Future of Our Schools: Teachers Unions and Social Justice. All three are strong and powerful books that
highlight our fight to save our public schools and harness the need for
equitable funding .
Although not many politicians on either side of the aisle
fought for public education and equitable funding, three women stand out as
warriors for public school children, their parents, and teachers. Elizabeth Warren, Gloria Johnson of Tennessee
(who sadly lost in re-election), and Glenda Ritz who is Superintendent of
Education in Indiana (and fighting Rick Snyder a corporate hack governor attempting to strip her of her power to run
the DOE) are all women fighting for strong public education at the federal,
state, and local levels.
What would 2015 be without strong women leading our unions? Barbara Madeloni was elected Massachusetts
Teachers Association president and has already led that association in strong
initiatives. Lily Eskelsen was elected
the new NEA president and has shown early promise with articles geared towards
reduced testing and strong teacher due process rights. Of course no union leadership could be
spoken about without mentioning the name of Karen Lewis. Karen had to step down due to illness from
leading The Chicago Teachers Union but we look forward to her return to
education activism in the near future.
When we made our list of journalists we didn’t want to go
with the “famous” names so we found some real strong local journalists who were
writing the truth about what was really going on in education reform. A huge tip of the ink quill to Long Island
Press reporter Jaime Franchi, The Philadelphia Education Examiner reporter
Tamara Anderson, and Twin Cities Daily Planet investigative journalist Sarah
Lahm. Google them and read some of their
fine work in framing the truth about corporate education reform and putting a
spotlight onto what is really happening in their regions.
We have saved the best for last – our teachers. We give a huge shout out to these individual
teachers who stood up for kids in the public arena. Michelle Gunderson of Chicago was outspoken
during the testing boycotts by teachers in Chicago this past year. Melissa Tomlinson asked her governor one
simple question, “why do you call our schools failing?” which led to a public
temper tantrum by Governor Christie but
heralded Tomlinson into the national spotlight as a heroine to all
teachers. Finally, Neshellda Johnson, a
teacher in Memphis, Tennessee who is fighting the charterization of her
district got up and gave a powerful truth-filled speech that no Board of
Education could ignore (google her name and watch the video).
We are proud that we could harness such a strong list of
women who are united in their cause to save public education, a fight for
equitable and fair funding of our public schools, and a group not afraid to
raise their voice in truth and power for the children of this country.
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