We’re Public … No, We’re Private

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• Reader Comments (7)

  Page 1 of 1 pages

  Good coverage….this gives us a clear idea about what is going on…Thanks!

  Posted by becomelawyer001 on Aug 3, 2009 at 4:05 PM

  The idea that organized labor would support charter schools is one that surprises me, however given the conservative positions of AFT’s Albert Shanker the idea shouldn’t surprise me.

  Organized labor has a deep history of pushing for public schools in this nation. I believe rather than destroy our public school system or replace it with the profiteers of “free enterprise”, local, state and federal education laws should make local school boards more accountable to the communities in which they serve.

  Given the fact that charter schools are receiving both state and federal funding, special laws must come about to give teachers and other school employees full organizing rights, thus avoiding the unjust and cumbersome procedures of the NLRB!

  Another suggestion I have is that both the AFT and NEA should get it together on the charter school issue as the predators of SEIU will take advantage of the situation and push sweetheart labor agreements with charter school bosses as they are doing in the hospital and nursing home industries!!

  Posted by Frank Valdez on Aug 10, 2009 at 5:39 PM

  Charter schools are great for disadvantaged students. The teachers unions are already fucking up too much of the educational system. Can they please not rape this too?

  Posted by cyberella2002 on Aug 10, 2009 at 7:33 PM

  This situation is a two-headed sword. The eight-hundred pound gorilla in the room that nobody is recognizing, is that the curriculm is the main problem , both from a cultural and financial perspective.
  The main theme as Blackhorse sees it is that ; first of all, the elite in amerika that originally set up public education, did so with very low and limited objectives; basically that was to provide workers for their businesses or corporations. This model has not changed.
  Secondly, cultural and financial curriculms where not included, so what we have now are school systems that at there best, still under-educate their students.
  And of course last but never least we have the problem of racism, and the dimensions that come along with this problem, mainly under-funding of the public school systems in so-called minority communities
  Blackhorse doesn’t have a dog in this fight, but personally, I have no problem with either public or charter,both are at the shorthand of the stick from this Horses perspective.
  Give the school systems the kind of money the military gets for starters…

  Posted by blackhorse on Aug 14, 2009 at 7:58 PM

  Blackhorse;
  In my hometown of San Antonio, TX we have no less than 16 separate and unequal public school districts! Talk about the last bastion of segregation!

  The inner city districts: San Antonio ISD, Harlandale ISD, Edgewood ISD, South San Antonio ISD, etc do not offer the same caliber of schooling such as Alamo Heights, Northside or even Northeast School Districts! The fact that these school districts are in communities heavily populated by blonde haired, blue eyed folks is more than just coincidence! The inner city schools are attended primarily by Mexican American and African American children. There it is, the cat is out of the bag!

  My personal theory is that the inner city schools offer “education” for kids to do one of three things: 1) drop out and go nowhere, 2) graduate and maybe get jobs at local hotels, restraurants, and other tourist attractions, or 3) to join the military to guarantee a never ending supply of cannon fodder for our government’s imperialist wars abroad!

  As I said before in the first posting, school boards need to be more accountable to the communities. In San Antonio we do not have 16 separate fire departments, sanitation departments, police departments or public transit! So why do we need 16 separate public school districts??

  Posted by Frank Valdez on Aug 16, 2009 at 11:46 PM

  Mr. Frank Valdez, what can be said about the situation in San Antonio, TX; is beyond comprehension except to respond with my sympathies for the students and families involved. It is clear that not only do the good people of Texas want to uneducate, miseducate and break the will of the students in your city, they also what to keep all of the folks involved separate and unequal.
  Blackhorse was born and raised in Washington,D.C., the public school system in this town is as bad or worse than most, there is no doubt in my mind that the under-performance not so much by the students( test score are not good ), but by the administrators is the core or the problem. Basically they do nothing,the curriculm is substandard and the schools literally are falling apart. The former school superintendent made some progressive reforms, but then a new administration comes into the mayors office, and Mayor Fenty brings in a new super.. So now basically, they are starting all over again..This is how they under-cut the students time after time,it’s actually quite criminal to watch, and in the end, things just get worst. Nobody above the grassroots level ever points this out, the intentional, almost pragmatic way the power structure destroys the public school system without blinking an eye, not a tear drop or a sniffle….

  Posted by blackhorse on Aug 17, 2009 at 8:06 PM

  Sir…You also mentioned the military, aside from the accurate points that you made, it is also quite strange or sad or again quite criminal; that most young people that find themselves in the military, get better treatment and a better standard of education than in high school..This can’t be a mistake when you look at the money going to the military in relation to the education budget…Just a thought….......true.

  Posted by blackhorse on Aug 17, 2009 at 8:13 PM

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Also by Michael Klonsky

• We’re Public ... No, We’re Private
  Charter school corporations take on public school teacher unions.