Teachers and parents, after 17 years of failed education reforms
that spent over 1 trillion dollars, and counting. Reforms based on test scores,
data sink holes, and school choice without equity programs, after giving
billions and billions to failed charter schools. The mission is clear, we must
place the blame where it belongs. It is clear our children, their parents, teachers, and
their community schools are not failing. But America's presidents, senators,
congress members, state governors, mayors, and legislators at every level have and are
continuing to fail our children.
We have an opportunity to reshape public education, a chance to
put humanity, equity, music, art, physical education, inquiry, hope,
compassion, first. I welcome this struggle, I became a teacher to fight this fight,
and I am willing, able, and already marching for equity and justice for all in
our children in our public schools.
Leslie O'Shaughnessy, asked where do we start with messaging this? Perhaps we
start with saying no more lies, no more scams, no testing and rigor with save
our children, our teachers, and our public schools. Maybe we start by saying
the whole system was built on 'Systemic Racism", and that has to end
first.
We can start calling out these snake oil education reformers,
legislators of both parties. We begin with saying all children deserve equity
in our public schools not just some.
If you can’t give all children equity, then you stand for equity
for “some”. Teachers and parents won’t vote for equity for some. We are drawing
our line in sand of liberty and justice for all…ALL MEANS ALL. We will not vote
for those standing for Liberty and Justice for some in our public schools.
Our message is clear, it is simple, and it’s speaks truth to
power. America's children, all our children deserve fully funded public schools
today. Equity now, not tomorrow, next year, ten years from now, decades from
now. Black, Brown, Poor and Special Education Children have already been
waiting for over 170 years. They have waited long enough!
Fully funded equitable public education is the place we should have drawn our line in the sand long ago. Tis, not too late, it’s never too late for justice. We draw the line for Justice and Liberty for all. Now show us your true colors? Where do you stand?
No legislator who stands against equity for all deserves the
votes of parents and teachers. Every education reform with equity is a scam,
and every education researcher and educator must call them out on this. We can
give no cover to these compromises of justice, these sellers of forever compromises of fairness,
these purveyors of a 170 years of status quo of inequity and injustice.
I will give no quarter to any legislator, policy maker, or
education reformer promoting we can't do equity today, justice today,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
Uniting to Save Our Schools
Silence and apathy are not me,
Dr. Jesse P. Turner
