And now, a word from our superintendents...

"The No Child Left Behind Act is the most damaging, intrusive piece of legislation to enter education in my 32 years as a public school administrator. "
—Bill Powell, Superintndent, Strasburg School District, Colorado

"The [NCLB] law is sounding the demise for public education as we know it. . . . the law was enacted to grease the skids for vouchers."
—Elizabeth Grouse, Ludlow , KY Schools Superintendent, in Sunday Challenger

"I think the whole [NCLB] rating system is deceiving and doesn't reflect all the factors. If you want to talk about destroying the motivations of both students and staff, the state and federal governments are doing a great job of that. "
—Robert Andrzejewski, Red Clay, Delaware Superintendent of schools

" I think the very first quality that a good teacher has is that they care deeply for children and they want to see them learn; they want to see all children learn and succeed and realize their potential. They have to have the heart, the caring."
—Lea Alpert, school superintendent, in Hawaii Advertiser

"We need to stand up for what we are supposed to be doing in public education."
—Tom Kelly, Westchester superintendent

"There does seem to be a campaign against public education in this state"
—Washington Township (IN) Schools Superintendent Eugene White

"The implicit message from the state to local schools [in their aiding and abetting NCLB] is 'send away your moderately to severely disabled students, don’t include them in regular classes, and do everything in your power to discourage immigrants, minorities, and the poor.' A message of disgrace."
—William C. Cala, Superintendent , Fairport, NY Central School District

"This is an artificial score, and I don't think it accurately judges a school system at all. No urban system is going to do well with No Child Left Behind. It's a joke."
—Bert Bleke, Grand Rapids Superintendent

"What if we say to Sammy Sosa, ‘We will base your contract on how you bat on July 5,’ and what if he has a bad game that day? The problem is the NCLB system is based on a single, high-stakes test, and it does not even test what we are teaching. "
—Tom Jobst, Ottawa Township (ILL) Superintendent

"We're now in the brave new world of No Child Left Behind and multiple tests at every grade level. In order to figure out if we're leaving kids behind, that means we test them till the cows come home."
—Tony Evers, Wisconsin Deputy State Superintendent of Schools

"We moved so quickly. We did ready-fire-aim. We never should have given $1 billion in rewards [to schools making high scores on standardized tests]. . . . It was a waste of money.''
—Delaine Eastin, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction

"NCLB: I want superintendents to stand up and say they aren't going to do this to our children. If one does it, he would be looking for work the next day. But if we can get all 501 to do it, they would have no choice but to listen and understand the problems."
—Jerry Oleksiak, Pennsylvania teacher

"In March, I traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, to help honor a brave group of individuals, who dare to stand up to test-driven oppression in that city's public schools, at a school rightly named the World of Opportunity. While there, thirty educational activists from around the country formed a new organization, ACT NOW--- Advocates for Children and Teachers National Organizing Workshop. One of our activities at this first annual gathering was to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Among the examples of successful activism and life-changing struggle was a small piece of encouragement to our fight here in Washington. On a table, there was a stack of paper, an announcement of a bus boycott. How simple and effective! Don't ride the bus. Don't drink the tea. Don't take the test."
—Juanita Doyon, candidate WA state superintendent of public instruction

http://susanohanian.org Susan Ohanian and her website are the Library of Congress of information about education, schools, policy, resources, nclb, research, media, commentary, etc, etc, etc...Her quotes section is a place of magic for me. Her spirit, her energy, and her encouragement are endless treasures. Get on her e-mailing list and you will not be sorry.


SCHOOL REFORM AND THE ATTACK ON PUBLIC EDUCATION
by David G. Stratman(a few excerpts)

The following speech was delivered as the Keynote Address to the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Summer Institute, 1997. The audience included about 275 school superintendents and assistant superintendents.

"...the process of formulating positive reforms should begin with a far-reaching dialogue at the local and state levels, involving administrators, teachers, parents, and students, about the goals of education. This dialogue should examine present educational policy and practice to find what things contribute to self-confidence and growth and healthy connections among young people, and strengthen the relationships of schools to communities, and what things attack this self-confidence and growth and undermine these relationships. A similar dialogue should be organized in every community and at every school. It might include public hearings, at which parents and teachers and others are encouraged to state their views on appropriate goals for education, and to identify those things in their local school which support or retard these goals. Superintendents would have to be both leaders and careful listeners at such hearings."

"The most important thing to do is to reach out to the community with information explaining the attack on public education. We should remember that the community begins with us--that is, with all the many people involved in public education: teachers, administrators, parents and students. If we can educate and mobilize this great community force, we can achieve a great deal."

"We are called to a great purpose. We are called to build a movement capable of defending our institutions from corporate attack and capable too of transforming them, to lead them in a more democratic direction. We must build a movement to take back America from the corporate powers and the masters of great wealth, to place our country truly in the hands of the people."

http://newdemocracyworld.org/edspeech.htm

David Stratman was the Director of Governmental Relations of the National PTA from 1977-79, and directed the National Coalition for Public Education in its defeat of the Tuition Tax Credit Act in 1978. He works now as a consultant to education organizations and school districts.