After the Save Our Schools Blown Opportunity, Where Do Progressive Educators Go From Here? (Please Tell Me What You Think!)

I went to the Save Our Schools March on the White House Ellipse 3 weeks ago with enthusiasm and an open mind. I was eager to hear the speeches by edu-luminaries Jonathan Kozol, Diane Ravitch, Linda Darling-Hammond, and Pedro Noguera. I was especially interested, like most of the other attendees and all of the media, in hear what Matt Damon had to say. I tried to block out the name-calling and nasty puns (ex. “Duncan is flunkin’”) that peppered the crowd.

I went home excited, posted my video of Matt Damon’s speech on Youtube (quickly drawing 130,000 hits), and googled around for others write-ups of the event. What I found made my jaw drop.

Save Our Schools March organizers turned down a meeting at the White House with President Obama’s education advisers. Let me say that again: educators rejected an invitation for a seat at the table of power. The march organizers wanted to meet after the rally, not before.

They ended up with nothing. Talk about overplaying your hand. What was the point of rallying and marching next to the White House if not to actually attempt to have your ideas discussed inside it?

And we have real problems for which teachers and parents must have a voice in shaping policy if we are to have any hope of solving them:

High-stakes testing is venom in the heart of American schools. Privatization is threatening to engulf ever more neighborhoods and school communities. Teachers are being vilified in the mainstream media on a regular basis. The best and the brightest college grads don’t want to become career educators. There are no clear career ladders for teachers except to leave the classroom permanently. Poverty is a diagnosis, not an excuse, for millions of students’ academic and social struggles.

The George W. Bush administration would never have invited parents and educators to come to the White House for a meeting. The Obama administration may not offer the progressive education agenda that many of us were hoping for, but at least they’re opening to listening to us.

The Save Our Schools March was a lost opportunity. Hopefully, Matt Damon’s star power can raise a bit of awareness among many not typically attuned to the edu-blogosphere. (TMZ and the Huffington Post front page shared video of some of Damon’s profanity-enhanced backstage comments, propelling the Youtube clip to over 1.8 million views.

Where do we go from here, Parents Across America? Where do we go from here, righteously frustrated teachers? Which organizations will lead the way? What are the next steps?

I’ll offer some ideas in my next posts, but I’d love to get your thoughts in the comments section.

Comments

[akamomteach]

I write an email to President Obama every week about the need to include true educators in conversations about educational policy and reform. I attended the SOS March and the pre-conference,as well. I received a lot of useful information. I left the rally wanting to be more involved in my local NEA affliate as well in local activities to re-elect President Obama. I do think he's listening to the wrong advice on education but I think I feel that he's willing to listen and turn around some of the ideas he's picked up from corporate reformers. I think the GOP has proven their lack of concern about public school education.
I was also surprised that SOS organizers turned down an opportunity to meet with White House education panels. This is the chance we've been asking for to let our voice be heard.

[Katherine Cox]

Do you know why the organizers of the march chose not to meet with the White House? Because unknown to us, after our organizers met with the DOE,the DOE immediately began tweeting the message that we had met with them and were in agreement with them on most points. We had pointed out in the meeting that we were NOT in agreement. The DOE spun the story and used it for its own purposes --PR --no substance. They did not tell the truth. We are not fools and we had no intention of having the WH do the same. We told the DOE and the WH if they really wanted to hear us to come to the rally and listen to thousands of teachers and parents, THE people, and then if they wanted to really listen we were happy to meet with them. They did not show up at the rally. They did not really want to hear. Meeting with the WH would have had no impact whatsoever.The Interim Steering Committee of SOS is meeting this Sunday. We are on the move. SOS actions have been taking place all over the country since the march. Stay tuned.

[Peg Noicholson]

It is no more constructive to label the march a "fail" Than it is to do that the same to our schools. Schools are not overcoming poverty all on their own; the march is working to turn around a dialogue from which teachers and parents have been excluded for years. The march was a much-needed and overdue first step, and is already spurring many local activities. We didn't get into this mess in a day, and one meeting could not solve it, even if both parties participated in good faith.

[Cindi]

It was NO seat at the table that Duncan was offering. You are naive if you think that. It was an attempt to thwart the effect of the march and the movement. Don't you see? If they agreed- arne would have been able to say "see, i'm listening" while not changing a single thing. just a show. and if they didn't meet, he'd spin it to look like the sos folk were not willing to work. it was a politician's game. i'm sorry to see you fell for it.

[Nadine Kirby]

No disrespect to anyone but I must agree with the writer of this article. Many of my friends attended this March and I applaud their efforts, they know who they are and they have my respect . That being said I was also astonished that many of the "Leaders" did not jump at the chance to sit down and discuss their/ our ideas ! I do realize that the whitehouse would have turned it into a photo Op; but so what the foot was already in the door! Finally we were close enough and people were listening ! Now what ?? I just don't know : (

[Nadine Kirby]

No disrespect to anyone but I must agree with the writer of this article. Many of my friends attended this March and I applaud their efforts, they know who they are and they have my respect . That being said I was also astonished that many of the "Leaders" did not jump at the chance to sit down and discuss their/ our ideas ! I do realize that the whitehouse would have turned it into a photo Op; but so what the foot was already in the door! Finally we were close enough and people were listening ! Now what ?? I just don't know : (

[Stephen Lazar]

Although I might have made a different decision, I completely understand the decision made to not take the meeting. If nothing else, taking the meeting would have disempowered the thousands who traveled to DC for the march. The march was not about a small handful of token teachers getting a seat at the table, but rather it was about getting politicians to try and listen to the real experts on education.

As a teacher who does occasionally get to be that token teacher at the table. at Education Nation and again this week (http://www.cityhallnews.com/event/on-education/), I can say it's better than nothing. At the same time, I'm not sure if my presence will ever do anything, if not backed by a mass movement.

[Nadine Fisher-Kirby]

Stephen everything that each one of us does on a daily basis even if it reaches one child or changes one persons mind is worth all of your efforts . While I agree that their needs to be more people involved if anything is to change, your efforts do not go un noticed to a child or a parent that needs your help... Never forget that ! As a parent of a special needs student I applaud all of the teachers who believed and worked with him and me and not in opposition, So Thank You for doing what you do everyday : )

[Amy M.]

The SOS organizers did the right thing. Our movement is only beginning and the SOS National Call to Action continues on. Nowhere near a fail.

[Dan Brown]

I hope the SOS movement carries on. The message is certainly a crucial one. I just don't see the upside in refusing a dialogue with the White House. It would not have taken the wind out of the sails at the rally. I would have been encouraged at the rally to know that the protest was really being heard.

If the refusal was prompted by a belief that there is zero chance that leaders would listen, what are we even doing except talking to ourselves?

Stephen, I'm a fan of yours. You wrote: "The march was not about a small handful of token teachers getting a seat at the table, but rather it was about getting politicians to try and listen to the real experts on education." Why not try for both? It seemed within reach--- a White House meeting followed by a big rally.

I get that the WH meeting wouldn't have yielded a sea change in policy, but again, I don't understand what is gained by refusing a discussion in the halls of power.

[Peggy Quinn]

The 4-day SOS conference and march last month were both significant because they brought the struggle for quality public education to Washington DC and because they were the first efforts to mobilize a national movement to fight the ongoing attacks on public education.

At the Congress held the day after the march, there was resounding concensus that the ongoing leadership of SOS needed to reflect the racial composition of students attending public schools in our nation. There was also discussion of the importance of building an SOS organization led by students, parents, local education/community supporters, teachers, and education reform activists.

Our local/regional actions will be much stronger and can lead to a truly massive national mobilization if we are led by the ones who are making the demand for quality public education for themselves and their families. I look forward to organizing students, parents, and community supporters in Jackson, MS this next year. I also hope to bring hundreds to the next conference and demonstration in Washington DC. We began something last month that can change the course of education for all the children of this country.......now, let's get to work. Peace and Justice

[TeachMoore]

Sorry, Dan, I have ,to disagree with your assessment on this one. Clearly the offer to meet coming right before the March was an attempt to diffuse its impact and to distract the key organizers from the many last minute preparations for the events.

More important, if the desire to dialogue was genuine, then the actual meeting(s) could have taken place after the march, and there should have been more than one. There have been meetings between teachers, teacher leaders--including many of the leaders of the SOS march--and representatives of the Administration over the past two years. It's not that they are uninformed or ignorant of what teachers are saying or feeling. The best proof of that is to look closely at Arne Duncan's chapter in the book you and I both have articles in--The American Public School Teacher. Like ours, his piece was written almost a year ago, and much of it echoes the comments that came from the stage of the SOS Rally!

But one of the important lessons of past struggles (I'm thinking particularly of Dr. King and the CR movement here)is that sometimes direct actions must be used to get those in power to talk or negotiate in good faith. As the Bible says, "Faith without works is dead."

I agree there was some distracting noise at the March and some unnecessary comments, but that happens when you get a lot of very frustrated people together. For the most part,the Ellipse was full of sincere people who love children, love our country, and know we can do better than what we have now.

[lbkyyyqnrl]

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