She walks the line for equity and jusitce

-->

Day 5, schools are still in session in Connecticut, so there were no walkers with me today. Two and half hours of walking in the rain on my own, check off 51 miles on my walk to DC.    My umbrella and raincoat did not prevent me from becoming cold and drenched to the bone.  I keep humming Michael Row the boat a shore, singing “the river Jordan is chilly and cold, chills the body not the soul.” When you stand on the side of justice your soul never gets cold.  Today’s walk is dedicated my dear friend and tireless soldier of equity in Connecticut Dr. Dianne Kaplan deVries. Dr. Dianne is the Project director for CCJEF, (Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding), and has been helping to lead the battle for equity in our public schools.  http://ccjef.org/.
CCJEF v. Rell has been in the courts for over a decade now, the final case is pending in the Connecticut Supreme Court. We are facing that historic question” do children have the right to an adequate education? YES, said the lower courts. Two Connecticut governors representing both political parties have opposed the right of children to an equitable and adequate education. How anyone could vote for any candidate fighting to maintain an inequitable public school system is beyond me.  The state has fought in the courts at every step to kick the case out of our courts. While Dianne and her colleagues for over a decade have travel up, down, and side to side to every corner of Connecticut to gather testimony and evidence for the people against their own state. Connecticut like 48 other states are dens of inequity in their public schools. While corporate education reformers peddle their fuzzy choice without equity scams my dear friend and fellow soldier for equity fights for our day in the courts everyday.  James Baldwin wrote in “The Price of the Ticket”:
“If one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected--those, precisely, who need the law's protection most! --and listens to their testimony.”
Listening deeply and gathering the testimony of the unprotected has been Dr. Dianne Kaplan deVries life’s work, and that work is going to have it’s day in our supreme court this fall.
This tireless soldier is battling cancer; she no longer is driving our highways. She is using her phone and email to see this fight through. She will see her day in court.
As Dr. King wrote from his cell in a Birmingham jailhouse “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Some walk, some stand in our nation's classrooms, some testify before boards of power, and their legislative bodies, some write letters to editors, some fight on social media, some take to the streets, some battle in the courts, but we all stand together for equity in our public schools.
Someday these tests will go away, someday the standards will be more pliable, but we soldiers of equity will still be battling for equality in our public schools.
I humbly bow my head,
I salute you,
I whisper your name on the winds of hope,
I call you my sister,
This rain filled day’s walk is dedicated to my hero Dr. Dianne Kaplan deVries.
Sincerely,
Jesse The Walking Man Turner

 

 If you are wondering what this rain soaked walking man was listening to on his walk to day...it was Johnny Cash's "I walk the line" > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq0fUa0vW_E <

10 for Eddie, and every other boy that testing killed their love of reading

http://childrenaremorethantestscores.blogspot.com/2010/10/another-parent-phone-call.html

21 miles down, and 30 more by Monday. Three Connecting The Dot Walking Man events in the next  three days. This campaign for Justice not just tests is rolling along. It sure feels good to meeting and listening to children, parents and teachers coming out to meet me. I am a man on a mission! A man on fire. I am one man walking in the name of love to DC for our children, their teachers and public schools. 

Today’s walk is dedicated to Eddie and all our boys who use to like reading. I first met Eddie when he was in second grade in 2011. Eddie’s mother reached out to me when Eddie had a fight with his best. His best friend noticed Eddie’s name on his school’s data wall in the parent/teacher resource room. Eddie was at the bottom of the list. His best friend tells Eddie you are the dumbest kid in the whole school. Next thing you know they are fighting.  His mother wanted to talk about the root cause of the fight, the data wall and the testing, but the school insisted they only discuss the fight. She wanted to discuss how Eddie a boy who loved reading, began to hate reading, because of all the testing. Eddie started coming to our Literacy Center 4 years ago, we turned around his reading attitude, but he still hates all the testing. I am worry about all the Eddie’s who are being tested 8 weeks of every school year. The price for many is reading has become something they hate. They may even do well on the test, but the testing has tainted their view of reading. If you like to know more about Eddie and his mother follow the above link to the blog I wrote about them on my 2010 walk to DC.
Today, I dedicate my 10-mile walk to Eddie, and every other boy like him who used to like reading,
Jesse

If you want to listen to what I am listening to this morning on my way from Willamantic to Bolton Connecticut...It's Peter Gabriel's Don't Give Up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjEq-r2agqc

Day # 2, Dear Lord, please don't let teaching lose this one

Day 2 of my walk to DC is dedicated to a young teacher from Texas. Jenn sent me a "Dear Walking Man" letter last night. She shared how she had always wanted to be a teacher, and chased her dream down. We are losing young teachers at an incredible rate. More than half leave before five years. In high stressed testing districts trust me that number is much higher. Jenna's letter, which I will share on YouTube tonight, starts off chasing her teaching dream. Then shares the pain of a young teacher feeling oppressed by endless testing. She has all the right tools to be a great teacher, but these Education Deformers have turned our public schools into testing factories. In her letter she starts doubting her teaching dream.
Readers make predictions as they read. Reading her letter my gut told me it would end with another teaching dream crushed. At one point I just stopped reading, and bowed my head and folded my hands in prayer. Dear Lord please Lord, don't let teaching lose this one. I started to read young Jenn's letter again still thinking I knew where this was going.
Then I read the last paragraph it came " All across the nation, teachers are quitting in droves. I must admit, I thought about it this year. However, at the end of the day I realized I am right where I am supposed to be and there is nothing I would rather be doing. And so I stand up and fight for my students and I fight for my school. I will not let someone who has never entered my classroom take my career that I have worked so hard for and destroy it. I will be the teacher I want to be despite standardized testing."
Today I am walking for a young Texas teacher who decided to stay. Today I am walking for every young teacher's dream of becoming a great teacher. A dream that is being crushed a little more each day with the insanity of high-stakes testing that crushes the desire to learn in our children, and demoralizes our teachers.
This 10 miles is for our young resilient teacher Jenn from Texas,
You inspire me to walk,
Jesse
PS if you want to know what I listened to on Day 2 of my walk it's Jackson Brown's "Stay"
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aljOzYLG57A < 

Day # 2 down, another 10 miles checked off. I wouldn't let anyone walk with me today, because I had to walk on some busy roads with just about enough room for one person. As you can see in this picture it can get a little tense on some roads.