Opt Out Movement Throws Down the Gauntlet in B-Lo. It's On.

This news piece is amazing on so many fronts I am not even sure where to begin. So I will begin by thanking Chris Cerrone, Eric Mihelbergel and Co. for organizing the first solid ray of hope many of us have had in the fight against phony profit driven "ed reform" in quite a while. As my colleague and friend Julie said "I left there with a smile on my face." Now to the video... Channel Four I am sure we all know to be no friend of the unions, especially the ones representing their employees. That aside, I believe the overwhelmingly outrageous educational malpractice and child abuse slithering out of NYSED Commissioner King's office as well as the Governor's is of such an egregious and harmful toxicity that  even Channel Four couldn't help but pounce on it. Listen as Rachel Kingston ticks off the litany of uselessness contained in these shittily written and ill conceived "tests" 

•  They don't count towards your child's average 
• They don't measure whether your child needs extra help in reading or math 
• They're not a requirement for graduation or advancing to the next grade level 

No need to elaborate further on the non educational value of these time wasting, weaponized instruments of mass dys-instruction. These "tests" are simply another weapon in the arsenal of profit driven wealthy phonies -- Susan Ohanian aptly calls them "Vulture Philanthropists" -- who seek to divert billions in state and federal education funds away from our kids and into their own bank accounts. The "test" results will be used to condemn teachers and rate them as "ineffective." Two "ineffective" ratings and the teacher is terminated. Do that enough times and you break the unions, close the schools and re-open them as corporate owned charters with little to no oversight, a board of trustees and a CEO. Parents will do as they are told or their kid will be removed. Kids will be drilled and "trained" in a madrassa like oppressive atmosphere with Zero Tolerance and No Excuses, preparing them for  nasty, cruel, brutish and short lives of earning a sub living wage and/or incarceration. Parental input will not be tolerated. By the logic of these sociopathic billionaires, if any of these kids lives were worth a shit they'd  all be enrolled in private schools like our kids are. See how simple it really is when you are a master of the universe? 

This is the magnum opus wet dream of mangled megalomaniac perverts like Michael Bloomberg, whose most recent ejaculation to the media celebrated our loss of personal privacy and the invasion of our personal lives by domestic spy drones, Eli Broad  -- whose Superintendent's Academy is currently embroiled in a game of hot potato over the revelation that they created and promulgated a field manual describing how to orchestrate school closures. Oh and let's not forget those lovely Walton's of Wal Mart infamy - remember these great philanthropists whose corporate policy included "dead peasant" life insurance policies on employees in ailing health that Wal Mart would cash and keep upon the death of said "peasant" -- or Wal Mart employee, whichever nomenclature you prefer... And yes, Billinda Gates, the double headed hydra of Microsoft fame whose anti social nerd background plays strongly into his remote control notion that kids don't really need to connect with their teachers when all they really need to do is stare at a computer monitor. I wonder how that would work at my job the next time a student whispers to me that she is hearing voices and can I walk her down to see the nurse or the psychiatrist. Thanks but no thanks Billinda, Eli, Wee Mayor Bloomberg and Waltons. 

WNYers hold forum for Opt Out Movement

And after WIVB's piece, check out the only American journalist I know of who actually understands and articulates our struggle in the exactly correct terms in which it deserves to be framed. David Sirota is THE MAN. He gets it completely as if he's been sitting in the faculty lounge or the blogger's elbow. May he spread our message far and wide.