Neighborhood Schools And The Public Charter Scam

by Dorothy Reik
President, Progressive Democrats of the Santa Monica Mountains

It should be a given that all schools must be created equal and that they must provide the same great education to all of our children. That is why I am opposed to "public" charters-- and "magnet" schools. Let's remember the genesis of these schools-- they were created in response to forced busing. If minority children were going to be bused in, these white parents were going to be sure the "right" children were going to com-- those whose parents could navigate the system-- find the schools, fill out the applications, follow through and then drive their kids to school-- and maybe even contribute money to fund the librarians, music teachers, etc. that these schools needed to fill the gaps left by our fatally underfunded schools. These children were effectively removed from their neighborhood schools.

Meanwhile, left behind were the latchkey kids, the ones whose parents couldn't play the game, parents who worked multiple jobs and had other challenges. Their kids stayed in their neglected neighborhood schools with no parents who could raise funds to fill the gaps in their education, sparse supplies, old textbooks and, too often, failed administrators. Their teachers were and are new, inexperienced, many from Teach for America-- two years, a line on their resumes, and they were out, making way for another round of political wannabes looking to benefit from saying they were teachers. There would be no libraries, music teachers or other perks for these children-- children who were and are the most in need of special care-- music and art to bring them out of their shells, paper and pencils, and most of all experienced teachers with a history at their school-- teachers who taught their older siblings, who understood the neighborhood, who had met the parents. And without the friendship of those children who had moved on to greener pastures.

Patrice Cullors writes movingly of her experience when she transferred out of her neighborhood school to one in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood. Her mother did not fill out her form but her friend's mother did and Patrice moved from a prison-like school with metal detectors to one with green lawns and shade trees as well as experienced teachers. What would become of her had her friend's mother not filled out those forms? Would she have been a co-founder of Black Lives Matter? Would she have written a great book-- When They Call You a Terrorist? And what became of the friends she left behind who needed her to inspire them?

Segregated schools are still with us but even in the inner city some families are better off than others and their children have moved out of the neighborhood schools leaving the other, less advantaged students behind to fend for themselves and try to avoid the school-to-prison pipeline. What are their chances without friends whose achievements can inspire them, committed teachers, successful administrators who have not been transferred from other schools whose activist parents won't have them, without music and art to help them express themselves when they cannot verbalize their experiences? I taught in a neighborhood public school before busing and I can tell you today which children would have left for "public charters" and "magnets" which ones would have been left behind. Almost forty years after leaving teaching their faces are still with me-- especially the ones who would have been left behind.

Some California Down Ballot Suggestions

There's no one that great running for governor but there's a great candidate for Superintedent of Public Instruction

Every couple of years at this point in the cycle, Californians ask me who to vote for in down ballot races. I don't know who will be the best judges but I try to figure it out. I spend my time trying to figure out who the best candidates for Congress will be. And in California the Democratic incumbents who really don't deserve reelection are Jim Costa, Ami Bera, Scott Peters and Lou Correa. Some the others are great-- like Ro Khanna, Ted Lieu, Alan Lowenthal, Barbara Lee, Mark DeSaulnier and Judy Chu-- and others are just the lesser of two evils. As for non-incumbents congressional candidates, these are the ones I'd vote for:

First and foremost is Kevin de León for the U.S. Senate. As far as the House:

• CA-8- Marge Doyle
• CA22- Ricardo Franco
• CA-23- Wendy Reed
• CA-39- Sam Jammal
• CA-45- Katie Porter
• CA-49- Doug Applegate
• CA-50- Ammar Campa-Najjar

Go ahead-- give it a try

The very worst Democratic congressional non-incumbent candidates are, the ones for progressives to avoid like the plague:

• CA-22- Andrew Janz
• CA-25- Bryan Caforio
• CA-39- Gil Cisneros
• CA-45- Dave Min
• CA-48- Omar Siddiqui
• CA-49- Mike Levin
• CA-49- Paul Kerr

The California gubernatorial race doesn't excite me, although we laid out the strategic reasons to vote for Antonio Villaraigosa. Too bad Gvin Newsom will probably win; he's terrible. There are more interesting candidates for Lieutenant Governor, Democrat Jeff Bleich and independent Gayle McLaughlin. I'm going to vote for Dave Jones for Attorney General and Richard Lara for Insurance Commissioner. As far as state Senate goes, opposing the Josh Newman recall (SD-29) is really important. For Assembly, Steve Dunwoody (AD-54) and Eloise Reyes (AD-47) are important candidates to back and the Speaker who killed Medicare-for-All, Anthony Rendon, should be defeated and made an example of. His district is AD-63, which includes Maywood, Bell, Cudahy,South Gate, Lynwood, Paramount, the eastern part of North Long Beach and Lakewood. If I lived there I'd vote for Maria Estrada.

That all said, I asked my old friend-- a progressive and school teacher-- to explain why she supports Tony Thurmond for state Superintendent of Instruction over right-wing privatizer Marshall Tuck.




Why I'm Voting for Tony Thurmond for CA Supt. of Instruction
by Marcy Winograd

As California’s June 5th primary approaches, please help me save public education from deep pocket Republicans trying to take over our schools.

Elect a progressive: Tony Thurmond, Oakland Assembly Member, former Contra Costa School Board Member, 20-year social worker, and champion for publicly run and publicly operated schools; endorsed by the LA Times & California Teachers Association.

As a California lawmaker, Tony Thurmond authored AB1014, a bill that allocates 35 million from the criminal justice system directly to the schools. Plus, this week, Tony's bills to increase resources for special education and bilingual education passed through the Assembly and are on their way to helping two of the student groups most impacted by the achievement gap-- students with special needs and English language learners.

As chair of the Assembly STEM Education Committee-- that's science, technology, engineering, and math-- Tony is pushing the state to allocate $200 million to expanding STEM education, especially in low-income and rural school districts. Trump has suggested $200 million for the entire country, but Tony understands that we have to invest more in preparing our kids for the jobs of tomorrow.

Tony Thurmond and the people of California are engaged in an epic battle to save public education from the likes of Betsy DeVos. His opponent, funded by rich Republicans and the charter school lobby, is also running as a Democrat, but not as a progressive Democrat. For more on Tony’s opponent, read this.

Below is a video of Tony’s speech to the California Democratic Party. It'll help you understand who he is and why Marcy is so enthusiastic about helping elect him: