End NCLB now! Why haven't YOU signed?

These locals have signed the petition urging Congress not to reauthorize No Child Left Behind.  So why haven't you?

-Amanda Fritz, candidate for Portland City Council.

-Neighborhood Schools Alliance members Steve Kayfes (now Jefferson PTSA President), Jeanette Fruen, Nancy Smith, Lynn Schore, and Steve Linder.

-Joanne Yatvin, PSU School of Education, who also penned this satirical anti-NCLB letter-to-the- editor.

-And these area residents whom I don't know: Daphne Bethel, Allen Koshewa, Sarah Greenstein, Patricia Braunger, and Kathleen McMahon.

Here's an added incentive.  Sign the petition and send in $10.40 to sponsor a full page ad in the New York Times.  I'm not certain, but the ad will probably list your name.

By the way, you can also post a comment (or rant) along with your name.  Here's one that caught my attention:

"Why aren't the Democrats demanding its repeal? I just don't understand. Now Hillary Clinton wants a nationwide standardized test. Someone clue the woman in."

And maybe they ought to clue in members of the Portland School Board as well, none of whom has signed the petition.  Yet.

I forgot.  I also signed.  Number 188.

Comments

[Sid Leader]

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm a PPS teacher and I just signed.

Do not hold your breath waiting for the PPS school board to sign anything. They have to do, like, three internal polls, before ordering pizza for their Monday night work dinner, for gosh sakes.

The reason I signed are two-fold. One, W promised us ALL of the money it would take to do NCLB, but gave us a bit more than half. Hmmm... where is all the money these days? Oh yes, that shithole called Iraq.

Two, every single lobbyist involved received 100% of their pay -- at $200-400 an hour -- according to the contracts which are all public record at Margie's House, aka DOE.

BTW, I teach 150 kids a day for about $30 an hour, or 1/10 of NCLB consultants.

Thanks again for linking to the petition.

[Terry]

I of course knew that you would sign, Sid. Now where are the rest of the "progressives" in the community, and what are they waiting for?

BTW, the "unfunded mandate" of NCLB may be the least of its problems. For me (and others) the worst part of NCLB is its insistence on test-based school accountability. Standardized tests are useful tools for teachers and other school officials, but they're certainly not adequate indicators of the "performance" of schools.

Loved your comment on the school board. If you live in Zones 1,2,3, or 7, you ought to consider a run for the board yourself. It would be nice to have someone on the board who actually knew something about education.

[oakley frogskins]

The way to collect the votes and -- more important -- the money of these coveted constituencies, "New Democrats" think, is to stand rock-solid on