“Remember that fear is natural, but there is greater fear in knowing what will happen if we don’t take a stand.” – Jia Lee The following is a War Report on Public Education and Living in Dialogue exclusive interview with Jia Lee. By Lucianna Sanson. Jia Lee, a special …
By Julianna Krueger Dauble. This statement was delivered to the Renton School District Board of Education on Wednesday, January 28. (see details here.) Public Education Stakeholders, Are we willing to stand by while 2/3 of our children fail a state mandated test? Are our children so similar to business …
By Judy Dotson. This statement was delivered to the Renton School District Board of Education on Wednesday, January 28. (see details here.) I come from a family of low-income, minimally educated parents. My mother’s education ended at the equivalent of 7th grade. She had 13 brothers and sisters. They were a farm …
By Becca Ritchie. This statement was delivered to the Renton School District Board of Education on Wednesday, January 28. (see details here.) Martin Luther King said “Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must …
By Susan DuFresne. This statement was delivered to the Renton School District Board of Education on Wednesday, January 28. (see details here.) As a kindergarten teacher I am an early childhood educator. As a professional I am responsible for their very first experience in our schools – and working with a group …
The following is the full statement delivered to the Renton School Board on Wednesday, Jan. 28, by David Spring, in conjunction with presentations by four Renton teachers who delivered statements of professional conscience, declaring their unwillingness to administer standardized tests this spring (more details …
By John Thompson. Valerie Strauss does a great service for students and schools by showcasing the “small but growing number of teachers who are refusing to administer standardized tests that they think are harmful to their students and publicly explaining why they are doing so, sometimes at the risk of being …
By Anthony Cody. It is a strange commentary on the news media that the best portrait of what is happening in America comes to us from a former chef by the name of Anthony Bourdain. Bourdain’s show last week took him back to Massachusetts, where he first started working as a dishwasher and cook. He found much has …
By Anthony Cody. Returning from protesting the Gates Foundation’s funding of corporate education reform, I have been wrestling with some questions about the goals for their project. The Gates Foundation’s Vicki Phillips was interviewed the day of the protest, and had this to say about it: At the …
By Michelle Gunderson with Katie Osgood. Who in the world believes there is justice in telling a six year old that they are average – are a C? The whole definition of being six is to be someone who is extraordinary. When you ask first graders if they can dance – they say yes. If you ask first graders if they …
