Chalkbeat has the story on a group of teachers in Memphis organizing against the Tennessee Achievement School District’s takeover of schools there.
The ASD has faced a particularly challenging environment this year as it prepares to takeover 9 more Memphis schools.
The Shelby County Teachers Coalition, as the group is calling itself, points out that ASD schools are getting mixed or disappointing results and that the disruption ASD takeovers cause is bad for kids and their communities.
For his part, ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic says he welcomes the dialogue, even if it is rather intense:
“So much of this conversation is right—people asking great questions, voicing support for their schools, and expressing deep emotions about education, schools, and community,” ASD superintendent Chris Barbic said in an e-mail to his community Monday. “We don’t believe authentic community engagement is a neat and tidy process. Not if it’s done right. It’s totally understandable that last week’s meetings spurred people’s emotions and generated good, hard questions. We commit to standing with communities and, together with our operators, answering these questions and listening to parents’ input.”
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Teachers you are not wrong on this issue. Charters are meant to eliminate traditional teachers, eliminate elected school boards and privatize education. You need to speak with Sen. Thelma Harper. She voted against Race To The Top because she felt it was a plan to privatize eduction and she was 100% correct. Get her on your side. If Tennessee Against Common Core can be of any help please feel free to contact me. We are with you and will proudly stand with you and fight. Charters will do more damage in the end and the hidden agenda is to run education like a business. Chris Barbic is a graduate of the Broad Superintendent Academy Class of 2011. Eli Broad is one of the 3 major funders of Common Core and Charter Organizations. He believe education should be run like a business and this is what is taught at his academy and this is a course that Barbic completed. So what the heck do you think his real motivations are? It is for self promotion, increase the wealth of him and his rich friends, and to take away all local and parental control because THEY think they know better than we do what is good for us and our children. I say organize a mass walk out of teachers AND students. ASD needs to be shut down and it only came about so TN could get $500Million from RTTT. It was part of the application. They will and are lying to us and they will continue to lie as along as we allow them to do so.
Pingback: Tennessee Education Report | ASD Flexes Muscles in Memphis
Pingback: Tennessee Education Report | A Tennessee Teacher on Diane Ravitch’s Nashville Visit
Pingback: Tennessee Education Report | More Trouble for the ASD in Memphis