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Thursday, February 12, 2015

Inspired to walk by the acts of courage of fellow teachers




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. 

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

Is this how the Common Core keeps good teachers in the classroom, or chasing them out? Is this how testing improves learning, or it?

Every day I find another reason to walk to DC, another reason to stand up, speak out, and act.
Today my reason to walk to DC came from Ohio Veteran teacher Stacie Starr when she announced her retirement.
She was chosen as the winner of the “Live with Kelly and Michael” 2014 Top Teacher Search. This past Monday she announced her retirement. Her reasons, she cited the increasing pressures on students and teachers under the mandated Common Core standards and testing mandates
.
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 reply: 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.’

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 teacher and student in Ohio. A change is gonna come, and I plan on fighting for that change.
One Man Walking In The Name Of Love,
Jesse


What am I watching as I prepare for my walk today? I am watching the utube video of Stacie Starr when her school found out she won Top Teacher award.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AGtFJ0qg9c <
My song of the day Sam Cooke's A change is gonna come"
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs <

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

One Man Walking In The Name Of Love To DC



49 states spend more money on their wealthy schools then they do on their poor schools. When pushed they claim testing and the Common Core is the answer. Isn't it time to hold 49 governors, 49 state legislators, 49 commissioners of education accountable for a failure to provide all children an equitable start and finish in our public schools?

1.2 billion dollars was allocated for No Child Left Behind. Isn't it time that the United States General Accounting Office conducted a forensic audit of where and who every dollar went do?
Equity will never be achieve by reducing our children to test scores.
One Man Walking In The Name Of Love,
Jesse 

If you want to know what the Walking Man was listening to on the treadmill preparing for his 400 mile walk to DC today...it U2 "In The Name Of Love" http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xnais_u2-pride-in-the-name-of-love_music

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

We love your dream Dr. King, but when do our students discuss the nightmares?


The most recent data on lynching, compiled by the Equal Justice Initiative, shows premeditated murders carried out by at least three people from 1877 to 1950. The killers claimed to be enforcing some form of social justice. The alleged offenses that prompted the lynchings included political activism and testifying in court. FEB. 9, 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/10/us/map-of-73-years-of-lynching.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Something you'll never find on any state mandated test. Perhaps something never even discussed during Black History month, or any month in our public schools. I bet those Common Core Standards passed this over every time. We'll discuss Martin's dream, and stay within the safe places if anything. But, we have no time for those first 16 slaves at James Town, those million Black souls lost during the Middle Passage, Lynching, Travon Martin, Michael Brown, or Eric Garner. History matters, but only when we open the books, open the wounds, open safe discussions, find the time to heal, and share what really matters. Freedom was never free, and the cost should be studied in our public schools. 
See you again in Selma next month. Race Matters! History Matters! Dreams Matter, but so does facing our nightmares.
One Man Walking To DC In The Name Of Love,
Jesse

If you want to know what I listened to on my walk today? If was John Legend and Kanya West
https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AwrBT.K6B9pUNvAAWhNXNyoA;_ylc=X1MDMjc2NjY3OQRfcgMyBGZyA2FhcGx3BGdwcmlkA29ZdUoySDl3UVBlbmx3V1ozM1VoaUEEbl9yc2x0AzAEbl9zdWdnAzIEb3JpZ2luA3NlYXJjaC55YWhvby5jb20EcG9zAzAEcHFzdHIDBHBxc3RybAMEcXN0cmwDMjAEcXVlcnkDdGhlIGdsb3J5IHV0dWJlIHNvbmcEdF9zdG1wAzE0MjM1NzUyMTE-?p=the+glory+utube+song&fr2=sb-top-search&fr=aaplw  

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Come sign it with me?
" Freedom is like religion to us

Justice is juxtaposition in us

Justice for all just ain't specific enough

One son died, his spirit is revisitin' us

Truant livin' livin' in us, resistance is us

That's why Rosa sat on the bus

That's why we walk through Ferguson with our hands up

When it go down we woman and man up

They say, "Stay down" and we stand up

Shots, we on the ground, the camera panned up

King pointed to the mountain top and we ran up



One day, when the glory comes

It will be ours, it will be ours

Oh, one day, when the war is one

We will be sure, we will be here sure

Oh, glory, glory

Oh, glory, glory glory"