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Stand for Children? Not in 2015

12/31/2014

This year, We Fight for Our Children!

Around Thanksgiving, Stand for Children's National Digital Director, Brendan Burns sent out an email saying, "I'm tired. Between Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, I feel like I haven't slept since last week. And yet here I am asking you to do one more post-Thanksgiving ritual: Giving Tuesday." Then he begs for money.

Stand for Children?

Hmm, looks more like he is sitting down. Guess, he really is tired of children.

Well, Momma Bears know a thing or two about being tired but its not from shopping. We are tired of Stand For Children.

A few days ago, another begging-for-money email was sent out by Stand for Children. This one was e-mailed from Jonah Edelman, the Co-Founder and CEO. It asks everybody to chip in and "help us make sweeping and immediate change by investing in the most powerful advocates in the world: parents."

It is interesting that Stand for Children insinuates itself to be a parent organization. We know that Edelman has children now but did he have children back when he founded Stand for Children in 1996?

Hmmm....

Welcome to the Bizzaro World of Stand for Children

In the comics, there is a poor, pathetic creature who desperately wants to be like Superman. But he is only the imperfect, mirror image of Superman, everything is reversed. He am Bizzaro and in his Bizzaro world everything is opposite. Good is Bad. Right is Wrong.

Meet Jonah Edelman whose mother is the famed civil rights activist, Marian Wright, who founded the Children's Defense Fund, a non-profit child advocacy organization that champions policies and programs to lift children out of poverty; protect them from abuse and neglect; and ensure their access to health care, quality education and a moral and spiritual foundation.

Decades after his mother created the Children's Defense Fund, Edelman co-founded Stand for Children, a corporate-driven, artificial imitation of his mother's foundation.

Look!...It's a charity...It's a PAC...No, It's SUPER PAC!!

STAND is a schizophrenic organization with many different sides.

It can appear to be a sweet little registered charity asking for a few dollars from ordinary folks. People give and think they are supporting awareness campaigns or advocacy on issues affecting children. It can also appear to be a parent organization affiliated with schools like a PTA or PTO and charge parents dues for membership.

But unlike charities and parent groups, Stand for Children also operates as a political action committee (PAC) where it endorses and financially supports political candidates. Something charities and 501c3 parent groups are not allowed to do. And, Stand for Children operates multiple PACs in Tennessee using slightly different versions of its name.

In 2010, STAND PAC OF TENNESSEE donated $2,400 to Bill Haslam's gubernatorial campaign. And over the years, it has supported candidates in a variety of races on both state and local levels. Mostly, the support comes in the form of monetary campaign donations. The reports can be found here.

But there is another PAC, called Stand for Children, Inc. whose address is in Portland, Oregon. This Stand PAC has paid out THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of dollars for political consultants, advertising and other campaign expenditures in the last two school board races in Nashville and Memphis. More than just contributing money to candidates, this PAC furnished mail-outs, advertising, websites, and other professional services, practically running their campaigns. Here is a list of the candidates who received services:

Chris Caldwell
Raphael McInnis
Billy Orgel
Reginald Porter
Kim Wirth
Kevin Woods
Roshun Austin
Tyree Daniels
Jarod Delozier
Margaret Dolan
Bernie Driscoll
Elissa Kim
Will Pinkston

You can read the reports at the links below:
2nd Quarter 2012
3rd Quarter 2012
Amended 3rd Quarter 2012
Pre-Primary 2012
3rd Quarter 2014
Amended Pre-Primary 2014

In 2015, Momma Bears just want you to pay attention...

We are not soliciting any end-of-year donations. We don't need your money. But we do need you to pay attention when legislative season starts in 2015. This is going to a big legislative year for education issues and we don't want you to be fooled by astro turf groups like Stand for Children or state officials like former Education Commissioner Huffman who dismissed his critics as faux parents. We are real alright and so are the threats to our children. No more standing around, its time to fight for our kids. We want 2015 to be the year when Momma Bear instincts kick in for every Tennessean and we protect our children and their schools from those who want to politically exploit and monetarily profit from them.

Once a Rat, Always a Rat

12/28/2014

Last year, the ASD used Happy Hour invitations to encourage Teach for America corp members to sign contracts obligating them to teach some of America's poorest and neediest children in Memphis.

So where did this crazy idea of mixing education reform efforts with cocktails come from? Maybe it came from Houston, Texas when Chris Barbic and his wife, Natasha Kamrani co-starred in the My Houston 2040 Happy Hour circuit touting education reforms.

In those days, Kamrani was running for school board in Houston and had to do some fast talking to convince her constituents that she actually supported public schools. As the wife of YES Prep Charter School founder, she faced heavy criticism that she would favor charter schools over her district's schools. One Houston constituent point blank asked:

Is Kamrani really interested in making Hogg, Marshall, Burbank and Hamilton better? Will the upper middle class Heights residents send their kids to the neighborhood schools? Or is she going to vote to divert more money to places like KIPP, further starving the neighborhood schools and not making them better at all?

Photo Credit: Gabriel Suárez/Houston Chronicle

"I do not support charter schools that mismanage funds and fail to provide children with the opportunity to attain an excellent education." --Natasha Kamrani

Well, that is what ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic's wife said back in 2005 when she was running for school board in Houston, Texas. She further responded to critics by promising, "[L]et me first say that I would never support any effort that would lead to 'starving the neighborhood schools and not making them better at all.'"

Years later in Nashville, when no longer answering to constituents, Kamani seems to have changed her tune.

In 2013 when Tennessee was considering a bill that would create a nine-member appeals panel to vote on charter applicants denied by local boards, MNPS Budget and Finance Committee chairman, Will Pinkston raised concerns that such a bill could have serious fiscal impacts on local school districts. “We need some sort of guardrail in place to prevent the charter appeals process from inadvertently running us off the fiscal cliff.”

Kamrani, now the state director for the Tennessee branch of Democrats for Education Reform, dismissed Pinkston's concern and calling it nothing more than a "scare tactic for political purposes." “I don’t buy it,” Kamrani said. “It sounds like folks aren’t ready to roll up their sleeves and work to solve a kid attrition issue of their own creation due to consistent low-performing schools."

But when the shoe was on the other foot and Kamrani was responsible for the fiscal well-being of her school district, she was soundly criticized in Houston for putting greed ahead of the needs of children:

Natasha Kamrani, the executive director of the Arnold Family Foundation, was a leading backer of linking teacher employment to student test scores, and an opponent of just about anything the Houston Federation of Teachers favored, while she served on the school board. It was the victory of two candidates backed by Ms. Kamrani, Laura Arnold and John Arnold that produced the policy where teachers can be fired based on student standardized test scores. After linking teacher evaluations with student test scores, the next area for reform is school lunches: charging more for them, cutting costs by eliminating “fresh fruit” and other quality ingredients, and firing or reducing the work hours of underpaid cafeteria workers.

Once a Rat, Always a Rat

Cost cutting in the cafeteria? Sound familiar????

It should, we blogged earlier about the ASD in Tennessee coming under fire for molded hot dog buns and rodent droppings in one of their school cafeterias in Memphis. Click the picture below to read our blog about it.

If Only the ASD came with a Money Back Guarantee

12/27/2014

Momma Bears hopes everyone enjoyed the holidays but we know some of you may have gotten presents that you didn't want, need, or like. And then there are those gifts that don't work or live up to their promises. So now that the holidays are over, we need to return those useless gifts and get our money back.

Let's start with the ASD and Chris Barbic. Back in 2010, when everyone was waiting for Superman, we all thought Barbic was it. He appeared on Oprah and collected a cool million for his charter school, YES Prep in Houston. Both he and his wife, Natasha Kamrani received numerous accolades for their efforts in education reform.

But his leadership of Tennessee's ASD has been a bitter disappointment and it's clear that Barbic is no Superman. Under his direction, the ASD has failed miserably and been the subject of on-going litigation. It has never lived up to its promises of catapulting the bottom 5% of schools into the top 25% in only five years. Instead, the data shows that ASD charter school operators are no more successful than the school districts who ran the schools before they were taken over by the ASD. In many cases, ASD schools are even falling behind their traditional public school counterparts.

So we'd like our money back. The ASD is not best for our kids and we need to return it for traditional public schools that serve the needs of all children and are governed by locally elected school boards. After all, we suspect the Barbic's would demand a tuition refund if their child's private school did not live up to its promises.

Which bring us to a rather unusual message received over the holidays...

Momma Bears received a message from someone purporting to be Chris Barbic's child. We were asked to quit blogging about him and were blamed for his recent heart attack. We don't personally respond to those types of messages and believe these issues are best handled by adults. So we would like to publicly address the issues about our blog and its impact on the health of someone's dad.

We would like everyone to know that we don't blog to cause heart attacks. We blog because we are directly connected to public schools across the state. People need to know our perspective as public school parents.

We know first hand, the impact stress has on the health, well-being, and personal lives of all those affected by ASD takeovers and other corporate driven reforms in public education. It's not just one person's dad who is affected. Entire communities are under stress. Children are publicly crying and begging for their schools to remain open. Good teachers are stressing out because they are being replaced by unskilled TFA corp members. Parents are confused and often mislead by the takeover process. Imagine their stress.

But unlike the students, teachers and parents across Tennessee, Chris Barbic has always had a choice in the matter. He chose to move to Tennessee. He chose to be superintendent of the ASD. He chose to collect a hefty paycheck for his troubles, not to mention the profits from nepotistic side deals. He has always had a CHOICE in the matter.

We, however, were never given a choice. We never voted for the ASD nor did we elect their school board. The ASD and its appointed superintendent were forced on the good people of Tennessee. We never asked for it nor do we want it. It is an unwanted present that doesn't work!! So, it is high time, we declare the ASD to be failed experiment and get our money back so we can spend it on what we really want---good quality neighborhood public schools.

McQueen takes the throne

12/23/2014

Momma Bears eagerly awaited the announcement of who Governor Haslam would appoint to serve as TN Commissioner of Education now that Kevin Huffman resigned. After years of rigorous, relentless, profit-driven reforms on public schools, we worried about who would be chosen to fill Huffman's shoes. Could it get any worse?

Finally, the announcement was made that the heir to the throne would be... Dr. Candice McQueen! A woman! A mom! A person who spent 5 years as a real teacher! We knew a little bit already about her from writing a past Momma Bear blog, but we researched her even more. There wasn't much new to learn. We were disheartened to see that she has been a tireless cheerleader for Common Core. She testified to the TN legislature in support of the Common Core and the high-stakes PARCC test. Pooey. She is serving on the board of SCORE (the organization funded by Bill Gates to support Common Core and reformy stuff). Double pooey. She's also served on boards that profit from Common Core (like the Ayers Foundation who received a huge chunk of the Race to the Top prize money to develop Common Core videos). Triple pooey. She's involved with Pearson (a British mega-corporation) through Pearson's EDTPA program that grants teaching licenses to people who can pass Pearson's tests. Quadruple pooey. That's a whole lot of poo, people!

On the other hand, her own private school, Lipscomb, was not doing Common Core; Lipscomb's three private schools have their OWN standards. In fact, there was nearly a parent revolt at Lipscomb when the private school parents thought their little darlings would be doing the same Common Core standards as public school darlings... but Candice wiggled her way out of that one, assuring them there is no way in H-E-double-hockey sticks that Common Core has been adopted at Lipscomb and there are no plans for Common Core ever at Lipscomb, saying, "We make decisions about what's going to be best within the context of our community. I would say that's absolutely what we're going to do now and for the future." (insert applause from the Momma Bear gallery)

That's about all we could find on Candice McQueen, but then Christmas came a little early because someone sent Momma Bears a gift... Dr. Candice McQueen's doctoral dissertation paper! It is a doozy! It is long, but totally worth reading. We'll highlight some nuggets for you:

What was her dissertation about?
The title is "Preservice Teachers' Beliefs about and Experiences with Parents and Parent Involvement". Basically, it is about how potential teachers feel about parental involvement. Hey, Momma Bears know about parental involvement, so this is right up our alley! "Preservice" means the time when wanna-be teachers are completing the process to become a teacher, which generally includes at least a semester of student teaching under the mentorship of a real teacher with real students. (Teach For America and other teach-quick programs skip this step or condense it to a couple of weeks). Anyway, McQueen studied six brand new, white, female teachers at a private Christian college (the pseudonym is "Kane University", but we are guessing it was probably at Lipscomb) as they did their semester of student teaching. She turned her research of these 6 teachers into her doctoral thesis about how new teachers need training on dealing with parents.

Why this topic for her dissertation?
As a brand new 5th grade teacher in 1996 at Lipscomb Middle, McQueen thought that she was at the top of her game and doing everything right. So she was shocked to get a letter from a parent pretty much blasting her for assigning too much homework. This made her question the value and role of parents in education. Here is the letter:

How did McQueen respond to this letter? She wrote, "I was completely shocked. I had not seen this coming at all. I spent over a week trying to sort out Mrs. Dugger's comments in relation to what I thought about my own teaching. I dealt with several emotions during that week, including anger, sadness, and pride. Initially, I wanted to defend myself against a scathing attack. Who did Mrs. Dugger think she was? Why did she not try to step into my shoes for a week and teach a classroom full of students? How could she say such things to a person who put her heart and soul into teaching? Then, I began to feel sorry for myself. What had I done to deserve this? Why had I been working so hard? Why didn't anyone appreciate me? Finally, I dealt with my own ego. What if other teachers found out? How was I going to save face with other parents? How could I get out of this mess while still maintaining my exemplary reputation?" (p.2)

Notice, she doesn't write a single word about her struggling, overwhelmed 5th grade student. Not a word.

What did McQueen do about the letter? Nothing. She pretended it never happened. She writes, "After a week of deliberation, I actually chose not to respond to Mrs. Dugger at all. In fact, I decided to ignore the parent population entirely. Apparently, Mrs. Dugger had made an unsubstantiated general statement about other parents agreeing with her. I had not heard from other parents about homework. I decided that I was hired to teach fifth graders, not deal with parent complaints. I knew I was doing a good job. My test scores were fine and student outcomes on other assessments were excellent. I decided to keep pushing my students while avoiding the issues brought up in the letter."

Bad idea.

Two weeks later, McQueen was called to the principal's office. The parent had complained to him about McQueen's lack of communication. The principal asked McQueen about her homework policy and then asked her, "How are your relationships with your parents?". McQueen was taken aback by that question. The principal said to think about it and to come back to see him the next day. Gulp.

This next part gives us a glimmer of hope. McQueen writes, "For the first time, I realized my past individual merits and accomplishments were not necessarily indicators of my success in the classroom, particularly with parents. Consequently, I began to discern many of my shortcomings. I recognized that I was struggling with parent relationships and I did not know how to remedy the situation. Internally, I knew why I was assigning the homework, but I did not know how to communicate that to the parents. I even found myself wondering why I needed to communicate that to them - I was teaching fifth graders, not their parents. In an attempt to find answers, I mentally searched my repertoire of knowledge and skills to access my experiences with parents in the classroom. My undergraduate teaching preparation had been filled with learning theoretical teaching strategies and methods with some practice, but had lacked discussion of how to build a parent involvement relationship." (p.5)

So what happened??? What did she say to her principal the next day? Did McQueen change her ways? Did she assign less homework? Did she talk to Mrs. Sue Dugger about this issue and work out a solution to help the child? I know you're dying to know, right??? We are, too. But it doesn't say in her dissertation. It only says that it made her question parental involvement and led her to this particular dissertation topic.

McQueen went on to teach for 1 more year at that private middle school (Lipscomb Middle), quit teaching to get a Masters of Education from Vanderbilt in Nashville, and then taught for 3 years at a public elementary school (Lakeway Elementary in Austin, TX) while earning her doctorate from University of Austin. Leaving the classroom after only 3 years in public schools, she climbed the proverbial career ladder to reach the top, to be appointed Tennessee's next Commissioner of Education in January 2015. It is remarkable that with a public school foundation and a public school diploma from Northeast High in Clarksville, TN, McQueen achieved such success! We simply must ask the question: How on earth was she college and career ready without Common Core and lots of standardized tests? Anyway, let's get back to that doctorate dissertation...

What did her thesis research conclude?
Basically, parental involvement is important, and there is plenty of research to support it. Therefore, teachers should be trained on how to deal with parents. Communication is key. That is good to hear. The Momma Bears agree with and support that.

Timing is everything...
Before we wrap up this blog, it is worth mentioning the timing of her appointment. Timing is everything, and Governor Haslam's strategy is no accident. Notice that McQueen starts her new job on January 20, just before legislative session starts for legislators (the time when legislators across the state come to Nashville for a few months to draft, vote upon, and pass new laws). Many are speculating that this is just another stalling tactic to further embed the Common Core standards in our state, and they very well could be right. After all, McQueen hasn't had a chance to put her foot in her mouth, yet, and legislators will listen to her kind demeanor and give her a chance, thereby delaying action to eliminate Common Core. Unfortunately, it just might work, so we need to keep communicating with our elected officials. Hey, communication is key, right???

Momma Bears have a whole bunch of questions that nobody will know the answers to for a few years:
Will she be the Governor's puppet? Will she still be a champion for the Common Core initiative? Will she defend and strengthen the battered teaching profession? Will she be an advocate for children or for business interests? Will she listen to parents when we tell her the testing is excessive? Will she understand and act wisely upon what she hears? Will she see parents as the enemies as Kevin Huffman did? Will she truly listen?

If we could ask her some literal questions, we'd like to know:

What were McQueen's TVAAS scores were when she taught? Was she a level 5?
Why didn't she teach longer? 2 years at one private school + 3 years at a public elementary school don't seem to be very long at all. That's not even long enough to gain tenure. Why did she quit so soon?
What happened to the 5th grade student she wrote about in her dissertation who was frustrated to tears over math homework? Would Sue Dugger, the student's mother, rate McQueen as an excellent or poor teacher?
Does McQueen keep in touch with any of her former public school students? (we're not talking about the adult students in her grad programs, but want to know about the children she taught because teaching is a lot about building relationships) Did her students feel valued, respected, and did they enjoy learning?
Where do her own children attend school? Is she involved as a parent there? Does she volunteer with the PTO/PTA?
What does parental involvement mean to her? Private schools often have different expectations than public schools.
What would she do if her own child was overwhelmed with testing and/or homework?
Would McQueen support suspending TCAP testing for 2015, or at least make it a no-consequences test since it is not aligned with the standards that are in limbo?
Would McQueen support throwing the secretive TVAAS formula and evaluation system out?
Will McQueen push the Governor for increasing teacher pay in Tennessee as he promised to do years ago?
Will she advocate for smaller class sizes and more support staff in schools?
Will she be a supporter of Art, Music, and sports in every school in TN?
Will she respect a parent's choice to opt-out of standardized testing for their child?
Will she get rid of all these expensive benchmark assessments and screener tests that are eating up instructional time and recess for our children?
Will she take an honest look at the new RTI2 program mandated in TN? Is it really helping students, or is it helping the testing companies? Is it hurting students with disabilities and special needs?
Will she hire qualified, experienced people within the Tennessee Department of Education, or will she favor young, inexperienced Teach For America yes-man types like Huffman did?
Will she strengthen our locally elected school boards or seek to further revoke their power?
Will she favor charter schools over public schools?
Will she have the guts to close failing or corrupt charter schools, including the online K12 virtual school that is making so much money for its owner and for politicians' campaigns?
Will she get rid of the ASD and give failing, poor schools the support they desperately need to help their students succeed?
Will she sign a multi-million dollar no-bid contract with Teach For America with our tax dollars?

Goodness, that's a whole lot of unanswered questions!
and a whole lot of poo!!!

Momma Bears will be watching...

Photo by The Associated Press/Times Free Press. 12/27/14

...and so will Governor Haslam.

Everybody Hates Chris

12/9/2014

Tennesseans are growing increasingly louder in their disdain for Chris Barbic and the state-run Achievement School District. We told you in our last blog, Who Loves Ya, Baby? about the ASD starting out on the wrong foot in Memphis where parents complained their children were mistreated by the new charter schools. Over two years later, things have not yet improved in Memphis and now, the ASD has set its sites on expanding in Nashville.

Once again, Chris Barbic is facing outraged parents, community members, and concerned local officials.

In Nashville...

Photo Credit: The Tennessean

Photo Credit: WSMV-TV Nashville

Photo Credit: NewsChannel 5 Nashville

Only one school in Nashville is currently under ASD control, Brick Church Prep. In 2012, at the direction of Tennessee's Achievement School District, LEAD charter school chain took over operations of the school's fifth grade while the older grades at Brick Church remained under the control of Metro Nashville Public Schools. LEAD, a chain that operates several other charter schools in Nashville promises that it will to do whatever it takes to "graduate 100% of their students and send them to a four year college."

It'll be years before those fifth graders at Brick Church Prep are headed off to college. But in the meantime, LEAD has come under scrutiny for its poor performance data. In a letter dated October 27, 2014, MNPS served official notice to LEAD that its middle school is performing significantly below expectations. At the same time, Barbic has made it clear that MNPS will lose another school to LEAD.

Unlike Memphis where schools taken over by the ASD are matched with the best charter school choice, Nashville schools will not have a choice of charter schools. KIPP, Green Dot, and Freedom Prep all pulled out of consideration leaving only LEAD as the default choice for the ASD's newest takeover in Nashville. So, which MNPS middle school will be taken over by the ASD?

Two schools are being considered: Neely's Bend Middle School and Madison Middle School. Edushyster wrote a hilarious blog based on the bachelor. We are still waiting to see which school Barbic will hand the final rose. That lucky school will then be taken over by the ASD and run by LEAD charter schools.

But parents, teachers, students, even some Metro Nashville officials are fighting back against the ASD and are especially critical of Barbic's choice of LEAD for the charter operator:

Madison Middle School boys basketball coach Marketo Days delivered this message to Supt. Barbic:

"I think you jumped the gun a little too early because you have people here at this school who give everything that they have," shouted Days, standing a foot from Barbic. "We love this school, and we want it to stay exactly how it is."

At Neely Bend Middle School, the audience was equally unwelcoming of the ASD and the accusations flew:

"At Neely's Bend, some parents accused the ASD of trying to select one of the Madison schools because they are on the cusp of making it off the ASD-eligible list: "Would you take the worst car or the best car?" said Krishonda Lanier, a parent of a sixth-grader at the school. "Even if you like a fixer-upper, you're going to take the better of the two cars."

One Nashville dad has even accused the ASD of gaslighting parents:

"Gaslighting is a form of mental abuse in which false information is presented with the intent of making victims doubt their own memory, perception, and sanity." "I’ve been in a fair amount of schools that are described as failing schools over the last several years. The thing that always baffles me is that they never feel like places of failure." "Last night teachers from the school were introduced at the beginning of the meeting and they were greeted like they were the Rolling Stones taking the stage." "Looking around I see a well kept school. Examples of student work litter the halls. Teachers move about interacting with students and their families. They obviously have formed strong bonds. Trust me, I know failing and this didn’t look like it."

And the angry parents have even started a petition against the ASD takeover:

"It's clear from this week's meetings that parents, students, educators, and the community do not want these schools turned into charters. Over and over parents have asked that available resources be directed to these schools before resorting to charterization. [T]ell Dr. Register and MNPS to direct appropriate resources to these schools, and tell Chris Barbic of Achievement School District to respect the Madison community's desire to reject a charter takeover."

But there's more than just outraged parents. There is real evidence. As mentioned above, MNPS has found LEAD Middle School to be significantly lacking in achievement. And there is evidence that LEAD's other charter schools are not performing well either.

Let the Data War commence:

Who Loves Ya, Baby?

12/9/2014

Whoopsies, our bad, Telly is one of the good guys. Let's try this again.

Everybody Hates Chris

From Memphis to Nashville, the ASD, the state run Achievement School District, has become so increasingly unpopular among parents, students, and teachers that communities have gone from begging and pleading to now demanding that the state-run ASD and its system of low achieving charter schools stay away from their children.

In Memphis...

Photo Credit: Commercial Appeal

Photo Credit: Antonio Parkinson Facebook Page

Photo Credit: Fox13 Memphis

Since the ASD first began operations in Memphis, parents have been complaining that their children are being mistreated at ASD schools. And the complaints from parents are growing even louder. Barbic's own, YES Prep, was recently shouted down by parents at American Way Middle School. While on the other side of town, Raleigh-Egypt High School parents successfully stopped the ASD from handing their school over to Green Dot charter schools.

In 2012, Chris Barbic promised to catapult the bottom 5% of schools in Tennessee to the top 25% in five years. But as the years pass, his promises fade as his tenure with the ASD seems riddled with mistakes and failures.

At Lester Elementary School, one of the first schools taken over by the ASD in 2012, parents sounded off against Barbic over how their children were being treated at school. From The Commercial Appeal:

"One mother brought her small daughter to the microphone to tell ASD Supt. Chris Barbic that she wet her pants twice because teachers would not let her use the restroom and then had to wear the same clothes until school was out. The child also said teachers took her shoes and made her walk barefoot, apparently because she failed to ask permission to tie her shoes."

Also in 2012, the first year of operations for the ASD, a SPED teacher at Westside Middle School was appalled by the lack of care for special education students. She went on to file suit against the ASD suing Chris Barbic personally. Tennessee Education Matters explains:

"Dr. Morgan filed suit against the ASD and its officials for violating guidelines set by the Tennessee DOE, Division of Special Education as well as violating federal law including the Education for All Handicapped Children Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Her lawsuit essentially accuses the ASD of not adequately preparing and equipping Westside Middle to provide special education services."

And now as 2014 comes to a close, the ASD is drawing more criticism than ever...

According to Tennessee Education Reports:

"The ASD’s student achievement numbers have failed to meet their own ambitious targets and also failed to grow at a rate consistent with that of district schools." And "...it seems irresponsible to allow the ASD to take on more schools."

And the Commercial Appeals says:

"The ASD, now in its third year of trying to turn around low-performing schools, is up to its neck in credibility issues." "It is also being sued over how Yes Prep was selected to be part of the stable of charters that receive 10-year contracts to run schools in Tennessee. (Superintendent Chris Barbic, 42, founded Yes Prep nearly 15 years ago.)"

Memphis is a prime example of the dismal failures of the experimental Achievement School District and its novice superintendent, Chris Barbic. In his efforts to force success on schools struggling with generational poverty and social injustice, Barbic is leaving angry parents and hurt children in his wake. And now, he has set his sites on Nashville.

Everybody Hates Chris---to be continued

To Read about the ASD takeovers in Nashville click here.

You Dirty Rat

12/5/2014

Yesterday, we told you about Gulen & Gun in a Memphis charter school. Today, we hope you have a strong stomach because we are hearing about some really nasty things were found in an ASD school in Memphis.

WMC Action News 5 Investigator Andy Wise is reporting that the Health Department found MOLDY FOOD and RODENT DROPPINGS in Whitney Achievement School's cafeteria. Whitney was taken over by the Achievement School District in 2013 and is one of the few schools that is actually operated by the ASD itself. Chalkbeat explains. "Though most of the schools the ASD runs are charter schools, the five Frayser schools are directly run by the district as a sort of internal charter school network, known as the Achievement Schools."

According to the news report, Cozette Wells, a cafeteria worker at Whitney Achievement School tried to call attention to the situation but she was ignored. Wells then contacted reporter Andy Wise. He attempted to interview Wells' supervisor but the leaders of the Achievement School District would not allow it. After a call to the Health Department, a surprise inspection was done confirming the rodent droppings and moldy food.

So what was ASD Superintendent Chris Barbic doing while news spread about the critical health code violations at one of his schools? He was in Nashville serving up pizza to parents with no appetite for the ASD. Oh sure, its all food trucks and pizza delivery for cameras but in the school cafeterias, its moldy hot dog buns and mice poop.

So, Mr. Barbic, Momma Bears want you to know:

Our Kids Really Don't
Our Kids Really Don't
Our Kids Really Don't Want None of Your MOLDY Buns, Hon!

And we don't want your failing schools, your nepotistic dealings, your false promises, and your arrogant attitude.

So follow Huffman out the door and out of Tennessee.

Gulen & Gun in Memphis Charter School

12/4/2014

Muhammet Turkay, the Executive Director/Principal of the Memphis School of Excellence charter school informed parents that one of their students was caught on campus with a handgun. Earlier reports from WREG, the CBS affiliate in Memphis indicated the student was attempting to smuggle the gun into the school using a sock.

But WREG has updated their story and is now reporting, charter school staff members saw the 15 year old boy showing off the gun to other students in the cafeteria. Police confiscated the gun and the student left campus.

Memphis School of Excellence is a controversial charter school that opened in 2010 and was later criticized by County Commissioner Terry Roland for having ties to a U.S. Islamic network. The school brochure says, "teachers are recruited from around the world." And they have the green cards to prove it according to this 2012 Commercial Appeal article.

In 30,000 square feet in a former IRS building on Mendenhall, Ali Gumus and Muhammet Turkay run a charter school that likely has more Turkish employees than any school in the city.

Although the school denied allegations of connections to Islamic networks, it admits to paying a significant amount of tax payer funding to the Cosmos Foundation. The New York Times exposes the Cosmos Foundation as a "close-knit network of businesses and organizations run by Turkish immigrants" many of whom follow Fethullah Gulen, a charismatic Turkish preacher whose Islamic "devotees have built a worldwide religious, social and nationalistic movement in his name."

So, was this just another case of a Memphis teenager bringing a gun to school or something more sinister?

A Charter School Watchdog group found pictures online from a Gulen teacher's Facebook page. The teacher, Ali Oksuzer is posing with a gun in one picture then alongside another teacher, Alisher Matkulov, who is pointing a gun at Ali's head. There are also pictures of students brandishing guns.

The Zaman School may be on the other side of the world from Memphis but since these pictures were published, the Facebook page was taken down and the teachers are rumored to now be in the U.S. According to the Watchdog group, Ali is supposedly involved with GENIUS Olympiad and the Terra Science and Education Foundation in America.

This year, We Fight for Our Children!

Welcome to the Bizzaro World of Stand for Children

Look!...It's a charity...It's a PAC...No, It's SUPER PAC!!

In 2015, Momma Bears just want you to pay attention...

Once a Rat, Always a Rat

In Nashville...

Everybody Hates Chris

In Memphis...

Everybody Hates Chris---to be continued

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