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Friday, June 19, 2015

Day # 9 is dedicated to Stacie Starr, Dawn Neely, and every beautiful Ohio teacher standing up for our schools

This is a must read for every teacher and parent. It gives us a clear human picture of what these fake education reformers, and our policy makers and politicians are do to our schools. High Stakes Testing, the Common Core, and new test connected teacher evaluations are not keeping good teachers in the classroom, but chasing them out.

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2015/02/10/gasps-of-disbelief-as-live-with-kelly-and-michael-top-teacher-winner-resigns-over-common-core-testing/


Every day I find another reason to walk to DC, another reason to stand up, speak out, and act. Day # 9 of my walk to DC is dedicated to Ohio Veteran teachers Stacie Starr and Dawn Neely. Stacie announced her retirement rather then spend another day reducing Ohio's children to test scores. She was chosen as the winner of the “Live with Kelly and Michael” 2014 Top Teacher Search. She announced her retirement in the spring at the very Board Meeting called to honor her. Her reasons, she cited the increasing pressures on students and teachers under the mandated Common Core standards and testing mandates
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At the same Board Meeting Dawn Neely another teacher told the board:
“I don’t know what to do. I am morally against what we are doing, and I think history will judge us for what we do to fight for our kids,” she told the Elyria school board. “Look through the test books and you tell me if you think they are developmentally appropriate. No one is advocating for our district, and I am asking my district to be honest with the parents about what we are doing to students.”

Board President Kathryn Karpus replies: The district’s hands are tied. They are bound by Ohio laws that mandate the testing. Dr. Martin Luther King said this about laws: "There are just laws and there are unjust laws. I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that ‘an unjust law is no law at all.’" Board President Karpus, a person can not do good supporting unjust laws. Morality matters more than any unjust law. I stand with my fellow BAT Dawn Neely, and every other Ohio beautiful Ohio teacher fighting back.

It is a teacher moral responsibility to obey just laws, but it is also his/her responsibility to disobey unjust laws. Ms Starr and Ms. Neely are answering the call to their moral responsibility as teachers. I am humbled by them, and salute them. God bless you Stacie, God bless you Dawn, and God bless every parent and teacher who answers this moral call to stand up for our children.

Why are you walking to DC Jesse?

I am walking, because someone has to tell them in DC that our children, our teachers, and our schools are more than test scores. More than their data, their profits, and their scapegoats that allow 49 states to spend more money on their wealthy schools than their poor schools. This walk is my moral responsibility, my higher call to serve the children in our public schools.
Who are you walking for Jesse?
I am walking for Stacie Starr, Dawn Neely, every Ohio teacher and student living under unjust laws that reduces them to data.
A change is gonna come, and I am walking for that change.
One Man Walking In The Name Of Love,
Jesse


2 comments:

  1. Thank you Jesse! See you in DC the end of July!

    The more we fight, the more we realize that the issues and obstacles confronting us are more complex and corrupt than we could have ever imagined.

    msvigeljsmith.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Jesse! See you in DC the end of July!

    The more we fight, the more we realize that the issues and obstacles confronting us are more complex and corrupt than we could have ever imagined.

    msvigeljsmith.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete