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Sept. 23rdSept. 23rdSept. 23rd---27th, 201327th, 201327th, 2013

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rThe Week Ahead at DMHS.The Week Ahead at DMHS.The Week Ahead at DMHS.The Week Ahead at DMHS.

Mon. Sept. 23rd, 2013:Mon. Sept. 23rd, 2013:Mon. Sept. 23rd, 2013:Mon. Sept. 23rd, 2013:

leigh & Duane GONE all day to Raleigh for a Law Sym-posium

6:00pm: RCS Board meeting (Work Session)

Tues. Sept. 24th:Tues. Sept. 24th:Tues. Sept. 24th:Tues. Sept. 24th: leigh & Duane GONE all day to Raleigh for a Law Symposium

8:00-11:30am: Tina GONE: Tammy Heath, AP at WRMS, will be at DMHS tomonitor and help out (Tina will be back by 11:30am)

Wed. Sept. 25th:Wed. Sept. 25th:Wed. Sept. 25th:Wed. Sept. 25th:

2:00pm: CASA in Barnetts room

Thurs. Sept. 26th:Thurs. Sept. 26th:Thurs. Sept. 26th:Thurs. Sept. 26th:

PD during planning:

8:30-9:30am: Coxs room

10:00-11:00am: Carlisles room

12:00pm-1:00pm: ROTC room (Davis and Mercers room)

2:00pm-3:00pm: Cuthbertsons room

9:30-11:30am: Picture make-up day

Fri. Sept. 27th: HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!Fri. Sept. 27th: HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!Fri. Sept. 27th: HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!Fri. Sept. 27th: HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!

leigh GONE all day to Raleigh for a meeting

Upcoming Events:Upcoming Events:Upcoming Events:Upcoming Events:

First Round Observations: Sept. 9thFirst Round Observations: Sept. 9thFirst Round Observations: Sept. 9thFirst Round Observations: Sept. 9th----Oct. 11th: Standards 3 & 4Oct. 11th: Standards 3 & 4Oct. 11th: Standards 3 & 4Oct. 11th: Standards 3 & 4

Oct. 1st: Staff meeting about State Health Plan and Open EnrollmentOct. 7th: End of 1st Grading period and STAFF MEETING: 3:30-4:30pm

Oct. 10th: PD during planning

Oct. 14th: Report Cards GO HOME

Oct. 24th: Early Release Day

Oct. 30th: Progress Reports GO HOME

Nov. 5th: PD w/ Dr. HARDY during planning period

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rI'm going to finish the week with one more post on education historian and researcher DianeRavitch's new book Reign of Error: The Hoax of the Privatization Movement and the Danger toAmerica's Public Schools. The last I heard, in just 3 days the book has risen into the top 50 insales on Amazon and is the #1 public policy book in America. It's a good start. A lot of people

need to read this book and I want to do what I can to help that happen.I suppose if you want to say one good thing about the corporate education privatizationmovement it is that they, with their billions of dollars and bully pulpits, have helped makepublic education a front burner issue. In a political climate in which it seems very little canget done, this is one issue upon which legislatures and executives across America have actual-ly found enough common ground to make something happen. Sadly, it's a common groundbuilt upon the big lies of the privatizer's well-funded misinformation campaign, and thesereforms have done nothing but further damage our schools, placing their very survival inquestion.

Of course, as Ravitch repeatedly points out, that's their plan: the destruction of public educa-tion in favor of a "free market" system, one driven by competition and profits rather than,you know, actual education.

A lot of people need to read this book because the only thing that has ever successfully pushed

back against monied elites is we the people, collectively saying, "Stop!" I know, I sometimeshear that cynical voice the back of my head as well, doubting the efficacy of our democracy,but when I look back over my lifetime, I've seen major progress on issues once thought toowell-entrenched to change: the women's rights, civil rights, gay rights have all made dramaticprogress in my lifetime. Peaceful popular resistance has ended wars, and recently, in the re-cent case of Syria, may have averted one. What I've come to understand is that democracy inthe real world is both slow and messy, and it only works for the people when the people stayengaged.

Going forward, I intend to use Ravitch's book as a tool and to continue using this space as asoap box from which to discuss these vital issues, but if we are truly going to serve our chil-dren and, through them, our democracy, we will need to do more than to shout, "Stop!" alt-hough that is the necessary first step. And while we have managed, I think, to slow down theprivatization train, it continues to move forward. We need more well-informed citizens tojoin us, and a good place to start is this book.

(W)henever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government . . .~Thomas Jefferson

The second half of Ravitch's book is her proposals for solutions to many of the very real prob-lems in education, most of which, as she clearly details, are merely symptoms of the muchlarger societal problem of poverty. Yes, Ravitch does go into specific research-based reformproposals, relatively more manageable solutions like more early childhood education, smallerclasses, strengthening the teaching profession, reforming charters to work with and notagainst public schools, the end to high stakes standardized testing, and a broad and deep cur-ricula instead of the increasingly narrow one envisioned by the privatizers. But at the core ofher message is that our schools are operating in a world that is increasingly hard on children,and schools cannot be expected to handle these problems on their own. It will take our fulldemocracy, all of us working together as we have in the past to affect real change.

Of course, none of this is the kind of shiny object quick fixes being promised by the privatiz-ers. It will take money and political will. And sadly, it will likely take a long time, but that

shouldn't stop us.People often believe that there is nothing they can do, that thelevers of government are so remote from their day-to-day livesthat they despair of anything ever getting done. Yet when welook over the scope of our history, we see the American peopletime and again, when we are well informed, making the rightthing happen. It may take a long time and there will be setbacks along the way, but it is the story of our country.

The Civil Rights Issue of Our TimeThe Civil Rights Issue of Our TimeThe Civil Rights Issue of Our TimeThe Civil Rights Issue of Our Time

By Teacher TomBy Teacher TomBy Teacher TomBy Teacher Tom http://bit.ly/1dwWpzmhttp://bit.ly/1dwWpzmhttp://bit.ly/1dwWpzmhttp://bit.ly/1dwWpzm

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Here's what you can do: start by becomingwell informed. A good starting point wouldbe reading this book. Then talk to the peoplein your world about what you know andwish for our schools. This is the kind of day-to-day, retail level politics that winds upshaping the world. Write and call your elect-ed representatives and write letters to theeditors of your local newspaper. Attend yourlocal school board meetings. Become activein your neighborhood school's PTA. Butmostly talk. Talk about these matters aroundyour dinner table, at the coffee shop, andwhile otherwise engaged in your social net-works.

The local school just up the hill from Woodland Park is where many of our studentswind up after leaving preschool. In the last two years, parents of three of our chil-dren have been hired as staff, and several more are involved as parents. Engagement:this is how to get the education you want for all children.

Despite its faults, the American system of democratically controlled schools hasbeen the mainstay of our communities and the foundation of our nation's success.We must work together to improve our public schools. We must extend the promiseof equal educational opportunity to all the children of our nation. Protecting ourpublic schools against privatization an saving them for future generations of Ameri-can children is the civil rights issue of our time.