Momma Bears, BATs, and TREE are still on cloud 9 after Wednesday night's event with Diane Ravitch.  It was powerful to see so many "just Moms," Dads, grandparents, teachers, administrators, elected school board members, and legislators there to support the PUBLIC education of children.  It was uplifting, it was inspiring, it was definitely something we will do again!

Words of widsom from Diane Ravitch's speech:

• Race to the Top... What is the top?  As long as we have 25% of children in poverty, we cannot reach the top.
  
• They say that charter schools are for black and Hispanic children so the Democrats will fall for it, but the money goes to the Republicans.
  
• Public education is a civic responsibility, not a consumer good.
  
• We should reduce poverty and segregation as a matter of public policy.
  
• Billionaires love the free market because it worked for them.
  
• Reformers want us to think as consumers, and not as citizens. 
  
• Education is a basic human right.
  
• Charter schools will never take over an entire district. There must always be public schools to dump the struggling students.
  
• The biggest hoax of all is that school choice is the civil rights issue of our time.   
  
• We are the most over-tested nation on earth.  We are the only nation testing every child every year.
  
• Japan has the highest test scores in the world, but a stagnant economy.
  
• If we want to raise test scores, we need to reduce the number of 'have-nots'.  
  
• There's this crazy idea that if kids can't pass the test, just make the test harder.
  
• The Opt-out movement is the biggest way to say 'no' to the testing.  It is growing day by day.
  
• Test results don't show student learning, they show who is in the class.
  
• The strongest educational systems in the world don't allow amateurs to become state superintendent.
  
• Reformers love data more than they love children.
  
• Poor kids get computers to teach them, rich kids get teachers. That's not right!
  
• Charters today look like the schools of the 19th century (with regards to segregation and rigidity)
  
• We are many. They are few.
  
• Merit pay  for teachers is like a zombie... It never works and it never dies.
  
• Teach For America makes a lot of money renting young people to school districts.  It is destroying the teaching profession.
  
• There is no 'Teach for Finland'.  You cannot fire your way to Finland.
  
• I think it is very important to interact with children before becoming a teacher. (referring to TFA-like programs)
  
• Don't hire amateur teachers, amateur principals, amateur superintendents... or amateur commissioners of education!
  
• Poverty is not an excuse.  It is a reality. 
  
• There are too many billionaires in America for so many children to be in poverty!

There were so many great things she said.  Even the Q & A at the end was terrific!  Watch the entire event below or click HERE to open it in a new browser:

Shocking news:  this was NOT a grassroots event.  
No, it was something much more terrifying to reformers... Click HERE to see what we mean.

Every fashionable Momma Bear, BAT, and TREE should have a shirt!  Click HERE to get your very own festive green shirt just in time for the holidays!  You can order and pay online via Paypal.  To get a shirt:
   1. Log into Paypal. 
   2. Click "Pay for goods and services"
   3. Enter April's email:  wawinton@gmail.com
   4. include $15 per shirt + $2.50 shipping for a total of $17.50 per shirt 
   5. In the notes, include your shipping address, shirt size, and contact info (your email or phone).
The proceeds from these shirts will help to make other such events possible in TN.  Thank you!!! 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 11, 2014

For more information, contact:
Anne Marie Farmer, 615-295-8733, annemarie.farmer@treetn.org

Education Advocacy Organizations to Welcome Education Historian and Best-Selling Author Diane Ravitch to Nashville

November 19 event in Nashville to discuss the hoax of privatization and the future of education in Tennessee

NASHVILLE, Tenn., (Nov. 10, 2014) – Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE), Tennessee BATs, and Momma Bears today announced a special event featuring acclaimed historian, best-selling author, and former Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch.  Ravitch served in the administrations of President George H.W. Bush, where she worked alongside then-U.S. Secretary of Education and current U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander, and President Bill Clinton.

The event, “Educating Nashville,” will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Nashville. The venue will be announced via TREE’s Facebook page, http://facebook.com/TNExcellence, on Monday, Nov. 17. Dr. Ravitch will be introduced by local officials and will hold a question-and-answer session after her remarks regarding the hoax of education privatization. Following the program, attendees are encouraged to stay and meet with public education advocates from across the state.

“We are honored to welcome Dr. Ravitch to Nashville,” said Lyn Hoyt, president of TREE.  “She has seen and studied the effects of education privatization across the country and is the nation’s foremost expert on what works and doesn’t work when it comes to reforming our public schools.”

Ravitch frequently writes about topics including Common Core, charter schools, vouchers, and standardized testing and is well respected across partisan lines.  Tennessee’s own Senator Alexander urges readers of his “Little Plaid Book” to “[r]ead anything Diane Ravitch writes about education.”

The event is free.  Parents, teachers, elected officials, policymakers, and members of the media are encouraged to attend.  To RSVP, visit http://ravitchnashville.eventbrite.com.


About Diane Ravitch
Diane Ravitch is Research Professor of Education at New York University and a historian of education.  She blogs at dianeravitch.net, a site which has had nearly 8.3 million page views in less than a year.  From 1991 to 1993, she was Assistant Secretary of Education and Counselor to Secretary of Education Lamar Alexander in the administration of George H.W. Bush.  From 1997 to 2004, she was a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the federal testing program. She was appointed by the Clinton administration’s Secretary of Education Richard Riley in 1997 and reappointed by him in 2001. From 1995 until 2005, she held the Brown Chair in Education Studies at the Brookings Institution and edited “Brookings Papers on Education Policy.” Before entering government service, she was Adjunct Professor of History and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She has authored 11 books and edited 14 others.

About TREE
Tennesseans Reclaiming Educational Excellence (TREE) is a statewide volunteer advocacy organization rooted in fighting for strong, equitable public education, and committed to growing child-centered education policy. www.treetn.org

About Tennessee BATs
Tennessee BATs (Badass Teachers) is an affiliate of the national BATs organization and is a rich and diverse group of education professionals and concerned citizens/families who strive to engage in discourse that improves their profession.

About Momma Bears
Momma Bears is a Tennessee-based grassroots organization of public schools advocates who defend and support children and public schools and recognize quality public education as a right for every child.  www.mommabears.org

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NOTE:  Momma Bears will also announce the event location on our blog and Facebook page.  If you RSVP for a ticket, you'll get an email about it.

After a number of failed attempts, Knoxville may be opening its first charter school in the Fall of 2015. Previously, Knox County Schools rejected several charter school applicants including Beta Theta Foundation who proposed a residential charter school on the campus of Knoxville College; Genesis Rock, the perennial applicant for Dream Academy; the IRIS Foundation with its alleged ties to Turkish Islamic scholar, Fetullah Gulen; and SMART Schools, Inc., an outfit out of Memphis headed up by Tommie Henderson. 

SMART Schools is the same operator that shoved its charter school down Shelby County's throat in 2011 before the merger with Memphis City Schools. Interestingly, also in 2011, both Knox County and Hamilton County rejected applications from SMART Schools. Hamilton County suffered the same fate as Shelby County with the state reversing its decision; however, Knox County's decision was affirmed and the application denied. The TN BOE cited SMART Schools' lack of familiarity with Knoxville's demographics and its lack of local support to find that SMART Schools was not in the best of interest of Knoxville's students, school district, or community. 

It would seem that SMART Schools is good enough for Memphis and Chattanooga but not good enough for the Governor's hometown of Knoxville. Or maybe the Governor has his own charter school in mind and doesn't want any competition?

It's always best to start at the beginning. So put on your emerald glasses and take a look at all the Emerald entities needed to form Haslam's shiny new charter school. 

First, there is Emerald Youth Foundation, an urban ministry that has been serving inner city children in Knoxville for a number of years. Christian ministries are not allowed by law to operate charter schools, so Emerald Youth Foundation formed a secular 501c3 non-profit organization called Emerald Charter Schools. This second entity will be the actual charter school applicant and operator. Then finally, there is the school itself named Emerald Academy. Confused? Here is the Emerald shell game players -- 

• Emerald Youth Foundation (Ministry Program)                 
  
• Emerald Charter Schools (Charter School Applicant)
  
• Emerald Academy (School)
  

Brian Hornback's blog reveals that Knox County School Board member, Doug Harris and former school board member, Sam Anderson, who is currently employed by KCS both serve on the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation. And that's not all....the Governor, his sister-in-law, and others close to him are also on the Board of Trustees. The Metro Pulse's article names "some longtime friends and supporters of the Haslam family, like Larry Martin, Haslam's former mayoral chief of staff and current head of the state Department of Finance and Administration, and Rick Johnson, the head of the newly-created Governor's Foundation for Health and Wellness" who serve on the Foundation's board. 

Not only does Gov. Haslam have personal ties to the Emerald Youth Foundation but he has also given them plenty of money. Every year but 2008, the Governor's non-profit foundation, Charis, has annually donated to Emerald Youth Foundation. The yearly gift in 2002, 2003, 2004 was $30,000. Then around 2007, the donations began to increase dramatically and almost tripled by 2012. You can see the actual amounts listed below and can click on the year to see the tax return. 

• $33,333 in 2005
  
• $33,334 in 2006
  
• $70,000 in 2007
  
• $76,000 in 2009 
  
• $75,000 in 2010
  
• $75,000 in 2011
  
• $85,000 in 2012

School Matters blogged on the potential conflicts of interest and included a handy list of who's who on the Emerald boards. Take a look below, the picture on the left is the Board of Trustees for Emerald Youth Foundation and the one on the right is the board for Emerald Charter Schools. Steve Diggs the Executive Director of Emerald Youth Foundation is also the Board President for Emerald Charter Schools. 

The concern over conflicts was quickly dismissed by Indya Kincannon who served on the school board at the time. And school board chair, Lynn Fugate called it "a bunch of B.S." for people to think there’s some hoodoo behind-the-scenes actions regarding the Emerald Academy application and its approval. So, there you have it. The great and powerful Haslam has spoken and charter schools are on the horizon for Knoxville.

Only you might get the feeling you are not in Knoxville anymore. That's because Emerald Academy will be based on Cleveland Ohio's Breakthrough Schools Preparatory Model. These things happen when Dee Haslam, owner of the Cleveland Browns, sits on your board. Like most other charter schools, the Cleveland model calls for a super rigid environment and Teach For America. 

But hey, isn't that what inner city kids need to straighten up and fly right? No, those happy endings are only found in the movies. In reality, militaristic discipline administered by inexperienced TFA corp members leads to kids dropping out or being kicked out of school. And when your truancy rate goes up, watch out!! Memphis saw gangs of teenagers terrorize the city with random acts of violence.

What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .What-a-World. . .