The Save Our Schools March: Why I Won't Be Marching

By: Monica Caldwell

In May, I was appointed as Last Stand for Children First's East Coast Director of Teacher Development.  This has been a wonderful experience for me and I would have to say even more rewarding than either of the other jobs I have had.  

In this capacity I have worked to lead professional development for teachers in Last Stand's 5P technique of Prepare, Predict, Practice, Proctor, and Performance.  Frequently, I hear teachers from urban schools talk about the difficulties their students face on a daily basis and immediately feel sorry for these kids being saddled with teachers who have low expectations for them.

Some of these teachers have actually tried to encourage me to go with them to Washington, DC for the Save Our Schools March from July 28th to 31st.   I'm sorry, but the last thing I need to do is hear a bunch of teachers whine about how difficult their jobs are.  Boy, I'd love to have the handkerchief concession for that cry fest.

As I look at the guiding principles of the organizers, I see a lot of talk about teachers, students, and families, but if we are going to get real reform shouldn't we start with eliminating collective bargaining?  All these other issues like child poverty, unequal funding and a well-rounded education need to take a backseat to teachers asking for raises.

I'm not totally unsympathetic to the difficulties of teaching in the inner city.  The very first thing I did when I got my Netflix account was to watch the gripping HBO drama The Wire.  I even watched the second season, which dealt with the docks, but I didn't really get it except it was cool to see Michael's girlfriend from The Office.  I cried when I saw the lives that good kids like Michael and Bug were forced to endure and how it proved too much for them in the end.   However, I also saw a movie called Stand and Deliver and I know if more teachers were like Edward James Olmos, we could defeat poverty through education.   Before you teachers complain about underfunded education, I ask you how many of your students have you tutored. while you made them dinner?

No, I won't be marching to Washington, with all the Union apologists.  However, there was a march on Washington today that gives me hope.  President Obama had an education round table at the White House today and the list of participants inspires me:

Marguerite Kondracke, president & CEO, America’s Promise
· Alma Powell, chairwoman, America’s Promise
· General Colin Powell, founding chairman, America’s Promise
· Craig Barrett, former president & CEO, Intel
· Glenn Britt, CEO, Time Warner Cable
· Steve Case, former chairman & CEO, America Online
· Brian Gallagher, president & CEO, United Way Worldwide
· William Green, president & CEO, Accenture
· Fred Humphries, senior vice president, Microsoft
· Rhonda Mimms, foundation president, ING
· Kathleen Murphy, president, Fidelity Personal Investments
· Ed Rust, CEO, State Farm
· Randall Stephenson, chairman & CEO, AT&T
· Bill Swanson, chairman & CEO, Raytheon
· Laysha Ward, foundation president, Target
· David Zaslav, president & CEO, Discovery Communications
· Former governor Bob Wise, president, Alliance for Excellent Education
· Anne Finucane, chair of the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, Bank of America

When you put people with those kind of expertise on any subject together, what can't they do?  Imagine the company that gave us Vista, the person who gave us America Online, and AT&T together to discuss education?  This isn't Superman, this is the whole Justice League.   Now, this is reform we can all get behind.

Congressman Jack Kimble Unveils Our Legislative Agenda

I grew up in olive country.  From a young age, I saw young children on my father's farm working hard to grab their piece of the American dream even as the hard work turned their skin to leather and gnarled their hands.   Sure, the vast majority of those kids were here illegally, but I have always been struck with the inhumane conditions they were willing to put up with, in order to have a chance at a better life.

Our children don't face the same struggles that those children had, but their grasp on the American is just as tenuous.  Sure, no employer is going to cheat them or call INS to do a raid just before the end of harvesting to avoid having to pay them, but inadequate schools put them at a serious disadvantage.

The problem is teachers, like all public employees, have gotten lazy.  They have stopped teaching our kids and as a result our kids have stopped learning.   As Michelle Rhee said, "If you have a pulse and can pass a background check, you can get hired as a public school teacher."

Michelle Rhee would certainly know this.  After all, she got hired to be a teacher without a teaching degree and wasn't fired even after she put tape on her students' mouths, causing them to bleed.

The people who do care about children in this country are billionaires.  Philanthropists like Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and Sam Walton are the ones who care about the children and that makes sense.  As billionaires they have the most to lose by an inadequate education system.  To be sure parents play an important part too.  They look great on camera at our events and in states with the parent trigger, they play an important role in getting rid of public schools for a charter alternative.

While my position with Last Stand is only honorary, I will be pushing our legislative agenda.  These are the things that we believe are important for the future of our nation and our children:

1. The Survivor Option - The time has come to tie teacher evaluations to standardized testing.  We favor quarterly testing with the bottom two teachers fired at the end of each quarter unless they have completed some sort of competitive task as chosen by the principal.

2. Any teacher who received a complaint from either a parent or student will be returned to probationary status and in the case of a second complaint the teacher will be immediately dismissed.

3. We support the parent trigger, which allows parents to get rid of lazy public servants in favor of a friendly corporation run charter school.

4. We are in favor of dropping all investigations of financial irregularities at Imagine Charter Schools.

5. We are in favor of prohibiting Teachers Unions from any collective bargaining with school districts although they will  still be allowed to request pay increases where appropriate.

6. We believe that white children from wealthy backgrounds make the best teachers for urban schools regardless of whether or not they have teaching credentials.  For that reason, we favor increasing support for programs like Teach For America, who have proved excellent suppliers of uncertified wealthy kids.

7. We wish to limit curriculum to reading, math, and a bit of science so that we may better compete with other countries.

8. We favor making the Bush tax cuts permanent and ending the death tax so that the wealthy will have more money to spend supporting school reform.

If you agree with our agenda, I hope you will join Last Stand for Children First.  Isn't it time we put children first at last?