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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Who will stand up against the lies of school choice?

I hear this Psalm in my dreams. "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?"
I rise every day saying here I am Lord. How could I call myself a Professor of Education without advocating for children, parents, teachers, and our local schools without standing up against those who constantly are assaulting the humanity of our children.
This is National Charter School week, what you won't hear from Washington DC, any Governor's mansion, or the mainstream media is in Florida alone in just three countries we have 200 million dollars in fraud. You won't hear that the FBI is investing fraud involving Charter schools in almost all major cities.
You won't hear that the data indicates only 17% of children attending charter schools are out performing the students they left behind. Not one word will be written about the billions being spent on an education reform where 83% do perform no better or worst on testing. No one in the media is going to tell parents Charters have the highest turn over rate for teachers.
No one wants to stop the money train, the train with no rules, the train that answers to no one, and does more to racially isolate children of color than any other type of school.
I am walking to DC,
Because children and parents deserve more than a lottery,
Because choice without equity is the wrong choice,
Jesse

If you want to listen to what I was listening to on my walk this morning...it's "Here I Am Lord" by Michael Talbott  > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFFhZM4rn-c <

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

It never been about the numbers, it's about fighting for what is right for children

3000 members today, it's not about the number for me. It's about fighting for our children, their teachers, and their public schools. A little throwback story to a day when we went from over 7,000 members to 1.
In January 2012 our group had over 7000 members. Then Facebook reconfigured Facebook Groups, and force this group down to 1 member on Valentines DAY 2012.
So I pieced up the pieces, continued to fight the good fight, I spoke up, stood up, carry signs to bring humanity back into our public schools. I pushed hard in the face of legislators, BOE members, and Education Deformers pushing high stakes testing on our children.
I held on to our one certain truth here "Children Are More Than Scores"and I continue to fight against a reign of testing abuse in our public schools,. Once again find myself walking to DC to tell those in power our children are more than test scores.
Someday our children, the ones who have been turned into test scores, data charts, and profits are going to ask us why did we let this happen to them...My plan is and has always been we fought it every step of the way, and together with determined parents and teachers we took our public schools back. We did this out of respect for childhood, we did did out of love for you. 3000, or 1 it does not matter, what matters is each one of us reject the silence and the apathy that is turning public education in a mockery of childhood.
Walking to DC In The Name Of Love,
Jesse
http://childrenaremorethantestscores.blogspot.com/…/saint-v…

Friends on May 1, 2015 I am releasing my 2015 walk Youtube trailer about my 400 miles, 40 days from Rural Promfet Connecticut to DC for the BAT Teachers Congress. It will be short, but point people in the right direction for following my walk, or for meeting up with me. People are always welcomed to walk a mile or two with me.
My plan is listen deeply to the stories of students, parents, teachers who feel abused by this education reform policies that have turned education into a game of numbers. Listen to the voices of the people who mainstream media passes over everyday. Their stories matter to me, and they matter to America. I will walk and talk with anyone who comes out to meet me. The plan is to connect those dots of testing abuse from state to state. To take those stories to Congress and the Senate, to the White House, and to testify at the SOS Mock Trial at the BAT Congress.
I am one Man Walking in The Name Of Love To DC,
Jesse
If you like to know what the Waking Man was listening to on his walk today...it's Eric Clapton's
http://www.cmt.com/videos/eric-clapton/46587/change-the-world.jhtml#artist=985
Walking and singing if I could change the world.....

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Rosa Parks second refusal inspries me to walk again


Below is a link to a story from my 2010 walk. The song remains the same...I reject the notion that testing and standards are replacements for equity in our public schools. 

http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/9304637/article-Walking-the-walk-Jersey-City-native-treks-from-Connecticut-to-DC-to-raise-awareness-of-education-crisis-?instance=search_results



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Rosa Parks in her autobiography we find Rosa had a prior encounter with James Blake, the bus driver who demanded she vacate her seat.
In 1943, Blake had ejected Parks from his bus after she refused to re-enter the vehicle through the back door after paying her fare at the front. She wrote “I never wanted to be on that man’s bus again,” in her autobiography, but Rosa got back on James Blake's bus in 1955, and he had her arrested, but her act of civic disobedience launch the movement that changed America. With Rosa's spirit I am putting these walking shoes back on. Rosa inspires me, drives, me, and lifts me up. This story is from my 2010 walk. Trust me in 2015 this second walk is going to crash through those Ed Deformer walls. Can't wait until June
One man walking to DC in the name of love,
Jesse