Education

The Chicago Teachers Union Won Big; What Comes Next?

September 9, 2023 Jim Daley, In These Times. Organize! Chicago, Education, Schools, Teachers, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

On the last Friday of summer break, Stacy Davis Gates was in high spirits. At a back-to-school party in the parking lot of Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) headquarters, she bounced from one group to another, smiling as she posed for photos with alderpersons, union activists, parents and children. Davis Gates, who has been the president of the CTU for a little over a year, has good reason to be happy. In April, Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher and CTU organizer, was elected mayor. And Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Pedro Martinez, who often mentions that he’s a product of CPS, was also at the party, beaming and shaking hands.

Southern Washington Educators Are On Strike

September 9, 2023 Lyn Neeley, Workers World. Resist! Education, Strike, Teachers, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

A huge picket line stretched nearly a half mile around the Washington State Evergreen Public Schools headquarters on Sept. 1. It was the first day of school, and 1,500 educators from Evergreen County, on the third day of their strike, were joined by 450 Camas County educators who had been out since Aug 28. Evergreen School District No. 114 is a public school district in the state’s Clark County, and serves the city of Vancouver, Washington. Passing cars honked, and chants rose from a sea of red Tee-shirt-wearing teachers, all carrying strike signs reading “Evergreen Education Association: ON STRIKE!” Numerous local area businesses put up signs in their windows supporting the educators’ strike.

‘There Is An Attack On Black Literacy’: Education And Activism Go Together

September 7, 2023 Tinashe Chingarande, The Real News Network. Strategize! Activism, Black America, Education, Literacy

A 2022 report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, dubbed the nation’s report card, reported that 33% of Maryland’s eighth graders could not read at a basic level. For Black students, this number was an alarming 46%. Furthermore, 82% of Black students could not read at a proficient level, according to the report. As reading levels fall, Black Baltimoreans are slipping further away from their ability to liberate themselves. Particularly during a time where socioeconomic barriers, further pronounced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and draconian legislation actively bar Black children from accessing wholesome education.

Camas Teachers Go On Strike; Battle Ground And Evergreen Could Follow

August 28, 2023 Anthony Macuk, KGW. Resist! Education, Strikes, Unions, Washington, Worker Rights and Jobs

Camas, Washington - Hundreds of teachers in the Camas School District officially went on strike around 9 a.m. Monday morning, cancelling what would have otherwise been the first day of the school year. The union representing Camas School District teachers announced Sunday evening that it would follow through on plans to strike and confirmed there would be no classes on Monday. The announcement came after a last-ditch round of bargaining on Sunday, which the Camas Education Association said ended when "the district refused to make commitments to reasonable class sizes or equitable funding for music, PE, and libraries."

Traditional Indigenous Education Creates Stable Productive Members

August 5, 2023 Damon Corrie, Last Real Indians. Create! Education, Indigenous culture, Indigenous Peoples

I never understood why so-called ‘highly intelligent’ people never merely looked at the man-made non-indigenous educational system and realized it is a totally unnatural way for humans to learn, just because we have sophisticated technology does not mean the modern educational construct creates better human beings who are productive members of society if you were ever as privileged as I am to have seen and lived among TRADITIONAL indigenous societies (not the semi-modernized or modernized ones which are just as corrupted as the non-indigenous societies around them) who still use their own natural educational processes - you will quickly notice they have no crime, no homeless people, no addicts, and no mentally unstable children going on murder rampages in their societies (as happens in the USA every month), yet YOU are utterly convinced of the ‘superiority’ of the non-indigenous educational system. Where fools rule ignorance is bliss!

50 Years Older And Deeper In Debt

August 3, 2023 Stan Karp, Rethinking Schools. Educate! Budgets, Education, Public schools, Supreme Court

This year marks the 50th anniversary of San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, the landmark 5-4 Supreme Court decision that held that education is not a fundamental right protected by the U.S. Constitution. The decision dashed hopes that the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling that ended legal segregation in 1954 would be followed by a sustained federal commitment to making education equality a reality. Demetrio Rodriguez was a sheet metal worker and a member of the Edgewood Concerned Parent Association when he became the lead plaintiff in the case. He thought his three children were being shortchanged by wide disparities in schooling across the sprawling San Antonio school district and the state of Texas.

Climate Education Suffers From Partisan Culture Wars

July 30, 2023 Eduardo Garcia, Resilience. Create! climate crisis, Education, Environment, Youth

Climate change education has been caught in the crossfire of the culture wars. While some U.S. states are boosting climate literacy, others are effectively miseducating children by depriving them of the skills they’ll need to face the biggest challenge of their generation. Studies show that climate education can help inspire kids to become more resilient, teach them about climate solutions, and prepare them to take jobs in the flourishing clean energy economy ― all while reducing climate anxiety and the carbon footprint of schools. Perhaps more importantly, advocates say that climate education has a positive ripple effect in local communities and across generations.

Largest School District In Texas Eliminates Libraries

July 29, 2023 Kylie Cheung, Jezebel. Educate! Education, Libraries, Public schools, Texas

The largest public school district in the state of Texas is converting libraries in 28 schools into disciplinary centers and eliminating school librarian positions, local news outlets reported on Thursday. The alarming change comes as part of a sweeping reform program led by the Houston Independent School District’s (HISD) new superintendent Mike Miles, who oversees 85 schools. Of the remaining 57 schools with libraries, the district said each will be assessed on a case-by-case basis, indicating more libraries could be closed. Under Miles’ New Education System (NES) program, libraries in the 28 schools will become “Team Centers,” where “kids with behavioral issues will be sent,” per the Houston-based NBC affiliate, KRPC.

Nicaragua’s School For Food Sovereignty

July 21, 2023 Teri Mattson, WtF is Going on in Latin America and the Caribbean. Podcast – WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean Agroecology, Education, Food Sovereignty, Nicaragua

Friday, June 30, WTF returned to Managua, Nicaragua to do follow-up study of Caribbean Coast government funded infrastructure projects and to celebrate the 44th Anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution on July 19. While on assignment, each week we will share with you segments of the documentary Nicaragua Against Empire. The film journals our March 2021 Sanctions Kill / Friends of the ATC, Nicaragua delegation. This episode is an inside look at the Latin American Institute of Agroecology (IALA) Ixim Ulew in Chontales, Nicaragua. Ixim Ulew means "Land of Corn" in Maya K’iche’, paying homage to the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica.

Mandatory Media Literacy Education Could Be Coming To California Schools

July 21, 2023 Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff, Project Censored. Educate! California, Curriculum, Education, Media, Media Literacy

California is currently considering two media literacy bills, both of which have sailed through the California State Assembly and are being reviewed by the Senate Education Committee. The first, Assembly Bill 873, authored by Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, requires teaching media literacy in K-12 schools throughout the Golden State. The Second bill, sponsored by Jesse Gabriel (D-Woodland), Assembly Bill 787, mandates schools to implement curriculum at every grade level and relies on a more informed and civically engaged society. As part of these efforts, the bill seeks input from teachers, tech experts, and researchers on how to teach media literacy in California schools.

Plenty Of Black College Students Want To Be Teachers

July 20, 2023 Jill Barshay, Portside. Educate! Black America, Education, Michigan, Systemic Racism, Teachers

A growing problem in American classrooms is that teachers don’t resemble the students they teach. Eighty percent of the nation’s 3.8 million public school teachers are white, but over half of their students are Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American and mixed races. The small slice of Black teachers has actually shrunk slightly over the past decade from 7 percent in 2011–12 to 6 percent in 2020–21, while Black students make up a much larger 15 percent share of the public school student population. A Black teacher can make a positive difference for Black children. Research has shown that Black students are less likely to be suspended and more likely to be placed in gifted classes when they are taught by Black teachers.

How To Create A Debt Co-Op To Take Back Your Student Loans

July 15, 2023 Salish Sea Cooperative Finance, Erika Lundahl and John Beatty, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Education, Student Debt, Washington

The day we refinanced our first student loan, four debt cooperative members met for coffee and eggs at a greasy spoon at 8 a.m. to prepare the paperwork. Together, we all went to the bank, got the cashier’s check, printed the letter, and put it in the mail, and it was elating. So elating, in fact, that residents of downtown Seattle looked concerned as four grown adults let out shouts of joy outside a perfectly average post office after doing a seemingly simple task. But the task was anything but simple—and we had done it together. Like an untold number of ideas throughout human history, the nuts and bolts of what would become Salish Sea Cooperative Finance (SSCoFi)—a cooperative built to address the student debt crisis—were hammered out over nachos and beer.

Students Sue Idaho Officials To Protect Transgender Youth

July 9, 2023 Mia Maldonado, Idaho State Journal. Resist! Education, Idaho, LGBTQ Rights, Transgender Rights, Youth Activism

Students in the Boise School District have filed a federal lawsuit against Idaho school officials to keep them from enforcing a new law meant to prevent transgender students from using school restrooms that correspond with their gender identity. Signed into law by Idaho Gov. Brad Little on March 22, Senate Bill 1100 requires that public schools maintain two separate multi-occupancy restrooms, showers, changing facilities and overnight accommodations for students based on their sex assigned at birth. The law took effect July 1. According to the law, “no person shall enter a multi-occupancy restroom or changing facility that is designated for one sex unless such a person is a member of that sex.”

New York City Teachers: Vote No And Fight For More

June 22, 2023 Keegan O'Brien, Left Voice. Strategize! Education, New York City (NYC), Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Three years ago, we were essential frontline workers, heroes that kept this city running. Now; we are barely worth 3%. But our value is *so* much more than what this contract offers. Yes, there are some decent things, the city knew they couldn’t get away with giving us nothing, so they sprinkle in a few concessions to make it appear like they care; a sign on a bonus, a reduction in time it takes to move up in pay scale. These victories matter and we deserve them. We also need to be sober and honest with ourselves that sub inflation 3% annual raises, even with bonuses, utterly pale in comparison to what teachers desperately need and deserve in todays economic landscape, and essentially amount to a pay cut from previous years.

The 2023 Oakland Teachers Strike: An Assessment

June 16, 2023 Heath Madom, The Stansbury Forum. Strategize! Education, Oakland, Strikes, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

At the end of May, I closed the books on my tenth year as a classroom teacher, my seventh in Oakland Unified. When the year got underway back in August of 2022, I was hoping for something that had eluded me for most of my time in OUSD: an uninterrupted school year. While contract negotiations were set to take place, I did not anticipate any major escalation on the union front. For most of the year, that proved to be the case. But then shortly before spring break, word spread that the Oakland Education Association (OEA) bargaining team wanted to escalate to a potential strike before the end of the year.

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