Keynote speaker Diane Ravitch
On May 1st Take Action Long Island (TALI) hosted a forum, “Public Education at the Crossroads.” TALI is composed of a group of Nassau and Suffolk teacher union locals who want to address educational challenges facing educators on Long Island today. In attendance from our district were teachers, Board of Education members, administrators and parents. The event was both informative and empowering. The keynote speaker, Diane Ravitch, spoke in depth about the interconnectedness between politics, private corporations and charter schools. She highlighted the dangers of the privatization of public schools and how there has been a rampant increase in this practice across the United States. Ms. Ravitich also provided specific evidence citing the fallacies of a system like APPR that uses testing in a high stakes and non-diagnostic way. In her words, “Testing does not close achievement gaps, it measures them.” She was articulate and extensive in pointing out the many ways in which educational reforms are really “educational deforms.”
Following the keynote speaker was a panel of four individuals who play different roles in a variety of school districts from Long Island. Each panel member spoke about the economic dangers of the tax cap for Long Island public school districts. In fact, if the tax cap was put in place 10 years ago, Massapequa School District would have to be functioning with approximately one-third less of their budget this year. By the end of this forum it was clear that the current reform movement in education is fraught with problems and needs to be stopped. The most effective way we can do this is to unite together: teachers, parents, administrators, and community members. There is an upcoming Rally for Public Education in Albany on June 8th to use one voice to fight for the future of our public schools. - MICHELLE SORISE
Following the keynote speaker was a panel of four individuals who play different roles in a variety of school districts from Long Island. Each panel member spoke about the economic dangers of the tax cap for Long Island public school districts. In fact, if the tax cap was put in place 10 years ago, Massapequa School District would have to be functioning with approximately one-third less of their budget this year. By the end of this forum it was clear that the current reform movement in education is fraught with problems and needs to be stopped. The most effective way we can do this is to unite together: teachers, parents, administrators, and community members. There is an upcoming Rally for Public Education in Albany on June 8th to use one voice to fight for the future of our public schools. - MICHELLE SORISE
Great Neck teachers, administrators, board of education members, and parents taking action!
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