From the Washington Post:
When it comes to the future of a public school in the nation’s capital, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has taken a stance: D.C. leaders should keep it open.
The Democratic presidential candidate waded into a contentious local debate Tuesday when he criticized D.C. leaders on his campaign’s Facebook page for their decision to close Washington Metropolitan Opportunity Academy at the end of the academic year.
The school — known as Washington Met — is an alternative middle and high school in the traditional school system that serves students who struggled in mainstream classrooms.
Here is the Bernie Facebook Post on closing schools in full:
Bernie Sanders
February 11 at 10:11 AM ·
It is unacceptable that we are closing public schools in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. Together alongside Washington Teachers’ Union and teachers across the country, we will make transformative investments in our public schools, our teachers, and students.
Students from Washington Metropolitan Opportunity Academy, an alternative charter school in Northwest, made final effort to save school at D.C. Council meeting.
Sanders defending teachers and public schools is real. The D.C. situation just gives some further evidence.
Speaking of the primaries, I kind of figured the freakout was coming if Sanders won New Hampshire.
From a post from last week:
If Bernie wins by a lower than expected margin in New Hampshire, we will hear about how it is really a loss. We will also be reminded how he won a much higher percentage against Hillary in New Hampshire in 2016. I am certainly not the first or only one who sees the huge anti-Bernie bias. We have to ignore the noise. Might be time for another donation.
I didn't think it would be this bad with Chuck Todd calling Bernie supporters like me "Brown Shirts" and Chris Matthews talking about executions in Central Park. It's only going to get worse.
Ok, when a school is failing for decades, we should do what? Please don't say throw more funding at it.
ReplyDelete"We will make transformative investments in our public schools." LOL. We already spend the most, I guess putting another trillion into the ed system will make the studnets behave, show up and work hard...And of course they would be more respectful. Yeah, right.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should ask Old Major if he will allow people to keep private property (he has a lot of it!) and how he got so rich on a government job.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what did he learn on his honeymoon to Moscow/USSR?
And finally, does he really think the government can spend my money better than I can.
More to come for Old Major...
isnt 1 trillion dollars a year thrown at poverty? What has changed?
ReplyDelete@2:49pm...not a damn thing. Why would there be change? Haven't you heard: teachers have been bullied by administrators to just pass the little poor children. I guess EVERYONE likes to thow away trillions.
Deletesupporting teachers is one of Bernie's major goals. Trump wants to privatize education. Bloomberg wants to charterize it.
ReplyDeleteTax rates for the 1% are way too low in this country. Having a medical system where everyone is covered is a very good idea. 32 of 33 developed countries manage to do it. The only exception is the United States.
ReplyDeleteBernie is not going to have the government take over the means of production. In that way he is not a socialist. You can keep your private property.
ReplyDeleteBernie wrote books that people actually want to read. That is how he has made some money. Not his fault. Stupid talking point even for a republican that he got rich on a government job.
ReplyDeleteThere was a report that came out in 2008 called the Parthenon Report that said a school that is not meeting its test score and promotion goals should get no high needs students until it increases scores. There is your answer. Easy fix.
ReplyDeleteIf you think closing schools and just sending the kids somewhere else is an answer, you know nothing about public schools. Schools just reflect the area they are located in.
ReplyDeleteAny New York City teacher who votes for Bloomberg is a true idiot.
ReplyDeleteBernie's honeymoon in the USSR was during Glasnost when Gorbachev was reforming and democratizing the country. Now say something relevant.
ReplyDeleteBernie when he was the mayor of Burlington had a sister city in the USSR. Trump has plenty of Moscow baggage.
DeleteAnd they were making the economy more capitalist with Perestroika at that time too.
ReplyDeleteOur victory in New Hampshire means the billionaire class of this country will only intensify their efforts to defeat us, and they are already getting started. It is so important that we have the resources to take them on, which will require lots of people making small donations.
ReplyDeleteSo if you can afford it, please make a contribution to our campaign. The path forward will not be easy, but if we stand together, I know that there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
Help us ensure we have the resources to WIN.
Bernie Sanders
Check out Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting for a thoughtful skepticism about the relationship between the Sander's campaign and most of our mass media, owned by corporate interests. They are proving blatantly unobjective: Sanders and the growing support he's earning represents a sea change in politics as usual.
ReplyDeletePresident Donald Trump insulted former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg over his height again Thursday, prompting the billionaire Democratic presidential candidate to blast Trump as "a carnival barking clown. Trump called Bloomberg "a LOSER who has money but can’t debate and has zero presence, you will see."
ReplyDelete"He reminds me of a tiny version of Jeb 'Low Energy' Bush, but Jeb has more political skill and has treated the Black community much better than Mini!" Trump said, resurfacing his attack on Bush from the last campaign and pointing to years-old eye-opening comments Bloomberg made in defense of "stop and frisk" — a policy Trump has backed as president — that gained attention this week.
Trump continued in a second tweet that Bloomberg "is a 5’4” mass of dead energy who does not want to be on the debate stage with these professional politicians."
"No boxes please," Trump said. "He hates Crazy Bernie and will, with enough money, possibly stop him. Bernie’s people will go nuts!"
Gotta agree with Trump here.
Bloomberg was first elected to the mayoralty in 2001. There was a two-term limit. He ran again in 2005, for what should have been his second and last term, and won easily. In 2009, he used his vast resources to persuade the City Council to vote to give him and themselves a third term. And that he is how he qualified to run for a third term and used his education record as a reason to be re-elected.
ReplyDeleteNow, after all this investment in testing, test prep, interim assessments, etc. what were the results?
New York State has shown no gains in reading on NAEP from 2003-2019, in either fourth or eighth grades.
From Ravitch:
New York City has shown no gains in reading on NAEP from 2003-2019, in either fourth or eighth grades.
Make of it what you will.
If Bloomberg is the Democratic candidate against Trump, I will vote for him.
But please don’t believe the boasting about the New York City education miracle.
It never happened.
Hmmm. Trump has been in office for over 3 years. Can he be directly blamed for a single school being closed due to his politics? Yes, Betsy D. is total clam but even she has not really done much of anything in 3 years that has affected teachers in public schools. The fact is, Trump does not care about getting involved in public education. His kids went to private school and the rest of his rich buddies will continue to put their kids in private schools. If I am wrong, please correct me on this. Trump may be crass man, but he has not done much if any damage to public schools as far as I can see.
ReplyDeleteLove how B pivoted from vilifying millionaires to billionaires--once his wealth and properties became public knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBut we have to hate someone for our life choices, so why not people who made $ providing products or services we cant wait to have? Hate is a powerful motivator; B and all leading dems promise your life will be better if you let your misery flow through them.
Never had a job B--I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
To start: remember the student loans you worked hard to pay? Now you get to pay for others' loans too!
See, fun huh?
Patrick James Walsh:
ReplyDeleteBut of course! Bloomberg wishes to do on a federal level what he attempted to do on a municipal level in NYC: undermine the public school system largely through a ceaseless billionaire backed PR campaign and destroy teacher unions. Bloomberg's ideal student is a testing machine. His ideal employee a person who goes to bed at night terrified that they may have no job in the morning. The man is as close to being a-human as a human can get.
Yes, school failure does happen because of the spot they are located.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I are both retired teachers and we support Trump, as do most of our teacher aquaintanances, neighbors and friends.
ReplyDeleteJust because you have no meaningful career, no money, no future and AntiFa won't call you anymore, take it out on someone else.
The dems gave marched off a cliff of hatred and socialism and I won't follow anyone from what USED TO BE my party.
@5:36pm: Trump has said cruel, mean spirited things about poor countries and their people. I think this has given some people license to act out more freely in a negative way against non whites. You can like who you like obviously. However, he will not be in office forever. Please keep that same energy/belief if and when someone is elected and their language and behavior swings in the opposite direction. I want the best for ALL Americans: Republican Democrats Black Asian Brown White. If one group suffers we all suffer. As an African American i have experienced racism. Thankfully I had amazing parents who told us early on: No one is better than you. Work hard, get a good education and maintain your integrity. Be kind and don't take any sh/# (my phrase). Anyway, it seems like the country is becoming so divided now. It's sad.
DeleteAnyone see how Warren said she would pick her Sec of Ed?
ReplyDeleteTalk about crazy!
But woke---wayyyyyyyy woke.
@5:38pm: what does woke mean?
DeleteAny teacher that votes for the Bloomberg should be sent to teacher hell - yearly rotations in the South Bronx as an ATR. Mini Mike must be stopped. Can Bolshevik Bernie do it or Toddler Trump? I’m rooting for Bernie.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as a bad school. However, there are such things as broken families and broken family values which translates into schools filled with chaos. Nobody wants to admit this but any teacher who has been around for a bit knows this as truth. You can take the most troubled kid from an inner city school and place him or her in a posh private school and the kid will behave the exact same way.
ReplyDelete@5:54: I guess these kids are throwaways? Should we just lock them up now? What should be done with them in your opinion? ?The most troubled (your terminology) may need mental health supports. If they are in a dysfunctional home then we all know that a posh (your terminology) private school will not change anything. What should we do with the most troubled? How about the least troubled? How about those not troubled at all?
Delete"trump's rhetoric has resulted in more attacks in schools." Yeah, against Trump supporters. Who was school discipline from 2009-20167
ReplyDeleteI don't think many Black and Latinx voters will come out for any dem now. Unhappy White liberals still will. The party as it was may be toast. AOC and other suppressed voices will be the new leaders of the party. Congrats all!
ReplyDeleteHey Anno 5:54. I did not say anything about "locking kids up". The problem with troubled kids is poverty and the lack of a structured family with values. I do NOT know how how to fix that. There are troubled white kids in poor neighborhoods all over America as well. However, after 26 years teaching in public schools I can tell you what DOES NOT work. Bussing poor kids into wealthy schools does nothing to help them. Closing schools does nothing to help them. Unless we see a reversal of the destruction of the basic family that has been going on since the 1960's, we will continue to have troubled kids. And yes, I am not politically correct and I have no problem using the terms "troubled kids" or "posh schools". I wish I had the answer to help these kids and families but I do not. Do you have any ideas? Please chime in.
ReplyDeleteIt is like asking why 13% of the population commits 50% of the murder. If this is what bloomberg meant, doesnt he have point? Or why does location of school matter. Because if is factual.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to end the segregation we have to stop school screenings. Kids are separated by their race but by their academic abilities. It just so happens that black and hispanics have lower abilities than whites and asians and that's what causes the segregation. Why can we just send some of these lower level students and troublemakers to the good schools. If the schools are so good and the teachers are so effective, they should be able to help them. Maybe then they will realize that it's not the school or the teachers but the students themselves. Don't tell me they can't handle the academic work. I worked in a struggling high school for years and we were forced to teach high school material to kids who had 3rd grade reading levels, so I think these elite schools can handle a few more troublemakers and low level students. Put your money where your mouth is and prove you truly are an elite school and not just a school with elite students. If they were true teachers they would work in the tough schools. They only work in these elite schools to not to have to deal with the trash.
ReplyDelete@8:52am and 8:50 am: And here we go. The monsters have arrived. Hide the children. Guard the door. The brains of the operation. "Forced to teach high school material"... "lower abilities".
ReplyDeleteAs usual, waiting for support just name calls, doesnt counter a fact.
ReplyDeleteWhy do certain schools and certain neighborhoods always do poorly?
ReplyDelete@152... 1. What fact? 2. I won't waste my energy on folks who spew ignorance. 3. Which "anonymous" are you? List your timeline or fact. Be specific.
ReplyDeleteIt's Valentine's day...I'm not bothering with this lightweight nonsense tonight. Await a response tomorrow...anonymous
ReplyDeletefact...certain schools fail
ReplyDeletefact...certain groups commit all the crime
Guy is lonely on Valentine's night. He would not be so angry.
ReplyDeleteKeep lagging
ReplyDeleteConfused? Bloomberg apologizes for stop and frisk, which worked, took illegal guns. Then he says that murdereds fit the same profile, also correct. Must he pander? Next he can say he carries hot sauce in his wallet he tried weed and inhaled.
ReplyDeleteBernie didnt do so great, last year I know it was against criminal Hillary but he took 60% in new hampshire
ReplyDeletehe barely beat Pete a mayor who thinks his smooth talking gives him a shot.
Need way more vocational schools and coop tech type schools. Anyone coming into this country with little or no english going to these high schools is a joke. If making this state more sanctuary, need more specialized ESL ENL schools. If I went to spain or germany and enrolled my kids they would be in trouble too. Not easy.
It's 2020, no more excuses about race or holding back. Families need to put more emphasis on education, reality is they do not. If you really think old marshmallow man Bernie will change things, living pipe dream.
@8:35 pm. I agree that certain schools have failed. Your second opinion is dumb azz f#@& and I don't have time to nor do I even see the need to tell you how dumb azz f$@/ it is. Did you have a wonderful Valentine's day with your love? Even if you are your own love.
ReplyDeleteWatch BNC ch 232 on Spectrum. It's a wonderful way to get out of your bubble and hopefully learn something new today. Happy Saturday folks. You're alive, try and be happy.
ReplyDelete