What does the face of a defender of childhood look like!

What does a parent defending children look like? I am seeing their faces everywhere, and they are called Opt Out Parents!

http://conversationed.com/2015/02/02/opt-out-orlando-just-took-fl-legislators-to-school/

"On January 29, 2015 she [the co-founder of Opt Out Orlando] addressed the Orange County Legislative Delegation. The legislators on this panel serve the Orlando area. Ms. Hamilton, one of the founders of Opt Out Orlando, began as she detailed the circumstances of one student’s current situation. He has a 2.9 GPA, has met all the requirements for graduation, but cannot pass the FCAT. Therefore, he will not graduate. Most of the legislators in the room were unmoved."

Who are these legislators who can't understand that a student who has pass every class for 13 years, should not be held back by a standarized test?

Who are these Ed Reformers who can not understand that no single test defines any student?

Who are these policy makers who mandate polices that denied parents their right to reject a test they feel harms their child?

Let us name them?

They are people who do not care for children, they are people who fear our children and the future, and they are in the pockets of the testing companies.  

When legislators can't see that our children are not test scores, not data, not profits it's time to vote them out. The people elect legislators not Pearson. I recognized evil, and I reject silence and apathy. I am walking to DC for every child, teacher, and school dehumanized, demoralized, and punished by this reign of testing terror. I will bring the stories of Florida's Opt Parents to DC for SOS's Education Malpractice Mock Trail to the BAT Teachers Congress this July 23-26. Silence and apathy are not acceptable when our America's children and teachers are demoralized, and parents are ignored. I stand with Ms. Hamilton and Orlando Opt Out.

One Man Walking In The Name Of Love To DC,

Jesse

If you are wondering what the Walking Man is listening to today preparing for his walk to DC on the treadmill...it's Ben E. King's Stand By Me > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTd2ylacYNU <

I am walking to DC again in 2015

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I Love Public Education

I cried the first time my Mother left me at your door,

I would learn to love you with every morning cookie and container of milk,

I would love you more with every song we sang within your hallowed walls,

I found your love in every teacher’s smile in your halls

I loved the reverence and respect you showed our flag every morning.

When the evil darkness of assassination

took the life of President Kennedy ~ you were there,

You calmed us, and helped us understand that although things could never be the same ~ our nation would be mended,

You kept us warm during the winters from 9:00 to 3:00 ~ when there was no heat in our old cold-water flat,

You were there when they murdered our heroes Martin and Bobby, to help us wipe away our tears,

You ensured that although they were taken from our world ~ these men would remain in our hearts forever,

You gave us hope through the riots and the protests,

You gave us color when there were no crayons in our homes,

You gave us poetry to ease our pain,

You gave us poetry to celebrate our lives,

You gave us history to give us roots,

You gave us geography, the stars and the moon landing ~ just to let us know we had no boundaries,

You taught us mathematics and science,

But most of all you gave us literature,

You gave us a love of books,

You handed us a little more of our dreams every single day,

You were there, year after year, as we spent our summer vacations under the cooling spray of fire hydrants ~ dancing in the streets,

As every summer ended we longed for another school year to begin,

You were beaming with pride at every graduation,

My loves still grows

I am confused by:

A nation’s leaders ~ who bash public schools at every opportunity,

An American media ~ that ignores 150 years of noble service to our nation’s children,

I find myself distraught ~ by the titans of industry, who blame you for every social ill, while they drink from the cup of plenty, time and time again,

I am troubled by their mantra of testing will save us,

I am saddened by their infatuation with fictional heroes like Superman, and homage to those with no real classroom experience,

I am bewildered by leaders who say teachers are the essential ingredients to success, and then in their next breath say our teachers are not good enough.

All I am I owe to you,

I can’t remember one single standardized test,

I do remember teacher after teacher telling us those tests were no measure of who we really are,

I remembered loving Mr. Bass’s reminders that poor boys and girls could be anything they dreamed,

His boys and girls were more than test scores,

We were his endless possibilities,

Yes, I love public education,

I love public education enough to fight for it,

I love public education enough to stand up for it,

I love public education enough to take it back from the

The billionaires club,

The politicians,

The policy makers,

The ones who only see test scores,

The ones who count numbers not tears,

The ones who refer to America’s children as “Data”

Yes, I love public education; enough to walk to Washington DC again in 2015.

Forever in your debt,

Jesse Turner

If you are wondering what song I am listening to today it is Jonh Legend's Selma >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzbKaDPMoDU<
Friends, I have this deep down spiritual feeling that this is the year we shatter their walls of testing pains. If you happened to be free on July 23-26, consider joining us for the BAT Teachers Congress. We plan on taking our fight to the halls of congress, to the senate, to the White House. I bet a 1000 BATs, SOSers, UOOs, parents, children, and teachers walk that last mile with me. Momma said "You can trace the origns of every tidal wave to a single drop of rain" Come join our wave? 

A new narrative of love

Martin Luther King said "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

My dear friend Kris Nielsen, asked for some advice about addressing an audience tonight on Badass Teachers Facebook page. > https://www.facebook.com/groups/BadAssTeachers/ <
He asked what should I tell them.
So I said, tell them that Ed Reformers live in fear, sell fear, they fear the future. Their mantra of fear is, your children won't be able to compete in the twenty-first century. You need to be afraid of the future. Your children need tough love, more rigor, more testing. Know that these very same people pushing this fear-do not send their children to our public schools. Their children attend schools of love.
Kris, tell them you come in the name of love. A love of children, parents, teachers, and our public schools.
Tell them one man is walking in the name of love from Connecticut to DC for them.Tell them they are loved. Tell that I am walking for them.
One Man Walking In The Name Of Love To DC,
Jesse

PS, did I say it's official I am walking to DC(-: You can find all about my walk at https://www.facebook.com/events/297723840427078/ And if you want to find out more about my first historic walk to DC. From Mark Larson from his "Legion of Davids" an online community that shares the efforts of education activists. Here's Mark's 2012 interview with me about the genesis of his first walk to DC. http://americanstoriescontinuum.com/2014/08/jesse-turner/