Maybe you have heard their slick, expensive radio spots? They claim they are Tennessee moms.  Hmmm... Why, then, is Haslam's former campaign manager the Executive Director?  LOL!  We have a hunch they were paid voice-over actors reading a script written by their professional PR department.  

Take a look at the rest of the TN Success team and you'll notice that not a single person on their "team" (aka. paid grassroots staff) is actually a real honest-to-goodness parent of a child currently in public schools.  But, hey, at least they didn't forget to include which sports teams they root for because that is what really matters, right?  (Maybe with politicians, at least.)  Here are their biographies as shown on their website:

Momma Bears is proud of our growing parent network across the state of Tennessee.  Our connections with public school activists continue to grow.  And we are always on the look out for more parent groups, teacher groups and parent and teacher bloggers.  They just keep popping up.  We will gladly keep passing great information along.

We can tell you it is wonderful mental therapy to blog and organize activism for your kids, especially when sometimes you just don't know what to do to fight big government money and power.  Blogging and networking help express the many wrong turns we see reform taking in our children's classrooms.  It is even more exciting to read about what parents and teachers DO want in our classrooms. (Hint- it is not more testing or common core.)

We are proud to share a great blog roll and website list of all the authentic parent and teacher groups in TN.  But first, before we share, we feel we must point out the latest AstroTurf attempt at a parent group in Tennessee.

Say "hellno" to plastic networking, just in time for Tennessee's 2015 legislative session:  http://tnsuccess.org/

Yes, Tennessee Success is another bought & paid for mouth piece for the 1%, corporate interests, and Governor Haslam (just like SCORE, StudentsFirst, and Stand For Children).  Tennessee Success is conveniently registered as a 501c4 nonprofit, which means they can give politicians thousands of dollars (and, thereby, influence their vote).  Yep, another check writing pass-through for the governor and corporate interests.  This is dark money being used to influence the public education system in TN.  This organization specifically exists to push charter schools (aka: "choice"), vouchers, testing, and common core in our state. 

Hey Governor, our children's classrooms could use some of that dark money for copy paper.  Kleenex is really low with flu season, too.  But, I suspect they don't want that cash to really raise more than enough to pay for a reading or math specialist, another ELL teacher, or a desperately needed raise for teachers in TN?  No, instead, it will buy radio ads to convince Tennesseans that the Governor's next four years of education policy will be the same as his first.  Disgusting.

So don't be fooled by another Haslam money funnel. Support these real grassroots parent and teacher groups we are about to list for you.  Read & share these blogs.  Because they ARE making a difference and our voices ARE being heard.  Proof: the Governor had to buy his own "team" to combat our advocacy!  Keep it up, parents & teachers!!!

These parents and teachers have the Momma Bear "stamp of approval" as the real deal telling the stories inside the classrooms of public education:

List of GREAT blogs, websites, & facebook groups in TN:

• Dad Gone Wild (a TN Dad's blog about education matters)
• East Nashville Unites (Nashville activists fighting the ASD & charter takeover of their neighborhood schools)
• Mama Thoughts (a Nashville Mom who blogs about the ASD charter takeover of her neighborhood school)
• Nancy E. Bailey (Retired teacher, author, & expert on all things educational.  We LOVE her blog!)
• Rocky Top Politics (sometimes has tidbits regarding education that you won't find in the media)
• Schools Matter (excellent, insightful, well-researched blog by Dr. Jim Horn)
• Screams from the Porch - (witty Knoxville blogger with political insight)
• SPEAK (Knoxville activists who are really making an impact in their school district)
• Stop TN Testing Madness and on Facebook (find allies + answers in fighting standardized testing)
• Teachers Advocating for Children (Facebook group for teachers who support public education)
• Tennessee Against Common Core (fighting against Common Core)
• Tennessee Parents (blog that shares anonymous voices of real TN teachers & parents with elected officials)
• The Dyslexia Spot (a must-read for parents with Dyslexic children)

• TN BadAss Teachers (for teachers who bravely stand up for children and public education)
• TN Education Matters (a great legal blog about education matters in TN)
• TN Education Report (education politics and policy in TN)
• TREE - Tennesseeans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (rooted in fighting for strong, equitable public education and is committed to growing child-centered education policy)
• United Opt Out Tennessee (the info to know to refuse standardized testing for your kids)

Do a search for your city/county on Facebook. There are many parent groups discussing reform and specifics going on at the local level. Some groups are private, some public. There are so many, we can't list them all here.

List of GREAT national blogs, websites, & Facebook groups:

• Cloaking Inequity (blog by Julian Vasquez Heilig, an award-winning researcher, teacher, and professor in California)
• Curmudgucation (witty, insightful blog by Peter Greene, a teacher in Pennsylvania who must not sleep because he writes so much awesome stuff)
• Diane Ravitch (Do we seriously even need to tell you who she is?  She relentlessly shares education news from across the U.S. on her blog.  It is like an encyclopedia of reform-crap.).
• Education Talk New Orleans (because TN's ASD is modeled after Louisiana's Recovery School District)
• Edushyster (Oh, her sarcasm is absurdly wonderful!)
• Gary Rubenstein (a teacher and incredible researcher who writes about TN sometimes)
• Mercedes Schneider (Superpower blogger and teacher in Louisiana) 
• National BATs (50,000+ Badass teachers fighting for public education)
• Network for Public Education (a collaboration of superheroes for public education)
• Parents Across America (Parents fighting for public education)
• The War Report on Public Education (blog & online radio show that focuses on the rising public resistance movement against the corporate war on public education)

• United Opt Out (The encyclopedia of fighting Standardized Tests)
• What is Common Core?  (3 Amazing Moms in Utah)

UPDATE 1/30/15:  Be sure to read our next about how this brand new "astroturf" organization, Tennesseeans For Student Success, bought itself a commercial spot for the 2015 Super Bowl.  Because nothing says "grassroots movement" than the most expensive commercial spot on public television, right?  Click HERE to read it.

There's Bull's Gap and the Cumberland Gap but Momma Bears have looked high and low and we can't find Belief Gap anywhere. It is simply not on the map, no matter how much ASD Superintendent, Chris Barbic talks about it. 

Maybe, Belief Gap is one of those magical places, like Brigadoon? It appears long enough to take on the ASD's shortcomings, poor achievement scores, and lack of accountability then "poof" all those things just disappear into thin air. All you have to do is simply believe.

"During this season of hope, please know that we at the ASD believe —and we partner with school leaders, teachers and parents who also believe—that every single student can realize their full potential, regardless of ZIP code or circumstance. We believe that our schools have both the ability and responsibility to unlock this potential," says Barbic. But an on-line review of Gestalt Community School, an ASD charter school in Memphis indicates that at least one teacher isn't a believer. The former GCS teacher claims that: 

"Actual company practices are not aligned with mission that is portrayed to the public. [Gestalt Community] School is actually run and operated like a company with no regard for students and their well-being. Inconsistencies between charter management office and school leadership causes a great deal of confusion for teachers who do not know whose directives to follow. Teachers are not provided any support or feedback to help improve instruction and quality of lessons. Teachers are also not respected by school leadership or charter management office. Most teachers fear reporting concerns to human resources due to lack of confidentiality and fear of retaliation. Teachers have extremely long work days with no flexibility or concern for personal obligations i.e doctor appointments, leaving for lunch, parental obligations, etc."

The ASD could dismiss the negative review on glassdoor.com as just sour grapes from a former employee. But its doesn't explain this scathing review from a current teacher:

"Leadership is ill-equipped and ill-prepared for their roles in a turnaround school, specifically at Humes Preparatory Academy. When members of the CMO are on campus, the lines of authority are blurred, leading to mass confusion. Teachers are terminated without regard to consistency from school-year to school-year. Teaching positions receive permanent substitutes for more than 50% of the school-year (7th grade science, 8th grade social studies - 2013-2014) leading to low-scores on state tests in traditionally "easier" core subjects. Teachers are not given autonomy in their classrooms and the school-wide behavior/consequence matrix is not implemented. Scholars are suspended without cause or allowed back into class when they should be suspended, contrary to network policy. For the 2013-2014 school year, Humes Preparatory Academy was rated a level 5 school; however, 90% of the teachers were non-renewed, with a handful choosing to leave the school."

Another review warns: "AVOID AT ALL COSTS"

"Constant top down reform implementation without consideration to feasibility of implementation, inconsistent and hypocritical implementation from charter and admin as to school and charter policies, no respect for teachers, extremely long work day."

Then, there is this laundry list of criticisms from someone who worked at Gestalt Community Schools full-time (more than 3 years):

- The roadmap is constantly changing and never properly communicated to essential stakeholders in the process for fear of leaking to the media.

- The leadership play ping pong with who managed what depending on how they feel about the project at hand and do the same thing with the blame if something falls apart.

- So much time in the CMO office is left to petty banter and gossip about competition and name dropping as a way of one upsmanship while the organization continues to suffer from the bottom up as no one in the CMO office has a grasp on the pulse of the schools.

- Prioritiziation of work that's spread amongst a minimal team is non-existant as leadership changes priorities on the tasks to be completed on a day to day or (legitimately) hour to hour basis throughout the day.

- Leadership is only honed in on what they specifically find interesting and if something falls outside of that scope it will not be taken seriously or invested in even if it's seen as a necessary evil. This has consistently been the case with technology in the schools.

The reviewer adds, "The current structure that GCS maintains on a leadership level requires those who want to have opportunities for growth to become YES men and women and to sacrifice their talent in order to avoid making leadership uncomfortable or to feel like their perceived understanding of an area of the organization is not as informed as they believe it to be."

Speaking of YES people, they are coming to Memphis. The ASD's website has news of adding three more charter school operators for the 2015-2016 school year including Yes Prep which was co-founded by Chris Barbic in Houston, Texas. 

So, what do teachers have to say about Yes Prep in Texas? 

The glassdoor reviews started off with high ratings in 2012 and 2013. But by 2014, the bloom was off the rose and the reviews turned ugly:

• District-wide micromanagement.
• Inexperienced school leadership and instructional coaches - 2 years of classroom experience does not make a "great" teacher, despite what I was once told.
• Lack of teacher recognition outside of the almighty "continuum" and no respect for content knowledge.
• Lack of professionally-developed curricula.
  

Chris Barbic says, "The Belief Gap is the persistent and deep divide between what parents believe their children are capable of and what some elected leadership, through word and deed, believe the very same kids can do." But while Barbic insists that elected officials give the ASD a break, the reviews indicate that Yes Prep does not extend that same courtesy to their teachers:

"The responsibility of learning is on the teacher, not the student, so expect to blamed if a student isn't performing or passing your class. Also expect to work 60+ a week and give up weeknights for variety of school functions that aren't "required" but "recommended" strongly."

"Unrealistic expectations lead to high rates of burnout/turnover; baited reviews in order to collect employee satisfaction information to make decisions upon retention/advancement; the organization states the continuum for advancement is based on objective grading, however, it is completely subjective and counterintuitive; management frowns upon employees with family or religious obligations."

Rather than blaming teachers for the lack of success, maybe Yes Prep should just believe more in their students? 

If only it were that simple. 

But for those of us who live in reality and not in a make-believe world, we know that no matter how much Supt. Barbic would like us to believe otherwise, things aren't going so well for him and the ASD. You can read the details on the protests against the ASD in both Nashville and Memphis; rats and moldy food in a Memphis ASD school cafeteria, the ASD using Happy Hours to recruit teachers, and much more in our recent blogs. 

Who Loves Ya, Baby
Everybody Hates Chris
You Dirty Rat
If Only the ASD came with a Money Back Guarantee
Once a Rat, Always a Rat