We represent
organizations across Massachusetts, including communities that Stand for
Children now claims to represent. When a well-financed group like Stand for
Children, backed by out-of-state and corporate money, arrives with a plan to
“fix” our schools, but fails to consult with any of us or solicit our input, it
raises deep concerns.
At a time when many of our
organizations are struggling to provide essential services, or even to remain
afloat, Stand spent more than $250,000 to essentially buy its way onto the
November ballot—at $3 per signature—and still had enough money left to blanket
the state with radio, television and newspaper ads.
We now learn that Stand is backed by corporate foundations
connected to Walmart, Bain Capital and JP Morgan Chase, and that your ballot
initiative would diminish community voice, strip teachers of their rights, all
the while failing to deal with many of the real issues confronting our
children.
Had you consulted with any of our organizations and community
leaders, we would have told you what our children need: a fair and substantive
opportunity to learn in a safe environment. This consists of a well-rounded
curriculum that includes art, music, theater programs, vocational and
technological training—not just test prep; an end to discipline practices that
push our kids into the school to prison pipeline; and better programs, services
and supports for our English language learners and special-needs students that
respond to their genuine needs. Most of all, our communities need more and
better jobs so that our kids believe that school actually leads to something.
Your ballot initiative addresses none of these needs.
We need a real conversation in Massachusetts about
the best way to improve our schools, an honest, collaborative exchange that
includes parents, students, teachers and the community. What we don’t need are
phony sound bite “solutions” backed by big corporate money.
Stand:
please respect our communities and withdraw your ballot question today.
Marya Axner, Executive Director, Jewish Labor Committee of
New England
Cara Lisa Berg Powers, Co-Director, Press Pass TV & Community Organizer,
Institute for Democratic
Education – Worcester, MA
Louis Bernieri, Director, Andover Bread Loaf Teacher Network
Kathleen B. Boundy, Co-Director, Center for Law and Education
Russ Davis, Executive Director, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice
Eleanor Duckworth, Professor of Education, Harvard University
Debra Fastino, Executive Director, Coalition for Social Justice
Andrew Fischer, President, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Heloisa Maria Galvão,
Executive Director Brazilian Women’s Group
Milagro Grullon, Executive Director, Lawrence Community
Connections Micah Worker’s Center
Curdina Hill, Executive Director, City Life/Vida Urbana
Carla B. Jentz, Executive Director,
The Massachusetts Administrators for
Special Education (ASE)
Juan Leyton, Executive Director, Neighbor to Neighbor MA
Jose Lopez, Co-chair, Coalition for Equal Quality Education
Reverend Jason Lydon, The Community Church of
Boston
Judith Meredith, Executive Director, ONE Massachusetts/Public Policy
Institute
Eva Milona, Executive Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy
(MIRA) Coalition
Patricia Montes, Executive Director, Centro Presente
Monty Neill, Executive Director, FairTest
Reverend Aaron Payson, Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, MA
Roger Rice, Executive Director, Multicultural Education, Training & Advocacy,
Inc
Marilyn J. Segal, Executive Director, Citizens for Public Schools
Horace Small, Executive Director, Union of Minority Neighborhoods
Aaron Tanaka, Executive Director, Boston Workers Alliance
M. Natalicia Tracy, Executive Director, Brazilian Immigrant Center
Gladys
Vega, Executive Director, Chelsea Collaborative,
Inc.
1 comment:
Everyone supports “great teachers, great schools,” but Stand for Children’s misguided ballot question won’t accomplish that goal. Instead, it will impose more top-down mandates on teachers without helping students.
Stand is an out-of-state, corporate-backed organization that filed a ballot question without once consulting with the educators it affects. It is opposed by the Massachusetts PTA, the associations representing teachers and principals, three recent Teachers of the Year and Education Secretary Paul Reville.
The long and complicated initiative is a mish mash of policies that undermine teacher bargaining rights and gut due process rights for part-time teachers.
There serious flaws with Stands proposal and the potential for its abuse.
Seniority plays an important role in protecting teachers against nepotism, which can cost experienced teachers their jobs.
Experienced teachers should never have to fear they might lose their jobs because they are at the top of the pay scale and can be replaced by less expensive new teachers.
Many of the problems we face in our schools did not start in our schools and undermining teacher collective bargaining rights is not a viable solution to improving our schools. Teachers must have the right to expect to be treated fairly. Stand needs to withdraw its question from the ballot and work with teachers on real solutions.
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