There is significant backlash against education “reform” developing around the state, including West Tennessee. A West TN public school mother, known as “Momma Bear”, recently wrote a letter to Governor Haslam, notifying him of her concerns with “reform” and a petition she recently launched. We are posting her letter to Governor Haslam as part of a new blog topic series focusing on voices from around the state. While ST4SCS advocates for local control of education policies, we are expanding our blog coverage to include at-large issues that are linked to local control. We strongly feel that points of view from across our great state need to be highlighted. Would you like your voice to be heard? Contact us at info@strongcommunityschools.com.
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I’m Momma Bear, a parent in TN and this is the email I sent to Governor Haslam.
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Dear Governor Haslam,
I voted for you because I believed in you. Now, I’m not so sure.
The more I find out about education “reform,” the more I see how billionaires are changing our public schools for the worse:
…with each new charter school I see popping up where a neighborhood school should be fully funded and thriving,
…with every report of Charter Schools: achievement rates (at the expense of students being kicked out to public schools for low test scores), corruption with money, discriminating against students, being operated by non-Americans (Gulen Charter schools), etc.
…with every teacher lost to the profession because they were unappreciated or offered a job that pays much more,
…with every minute wasted on Standardized Testing and stressing our students,
…with every teacher stressed over how her students will score on Standardized Testing because it will affect her employment,
…with every dollar paid to testing companies that could be spent funding classrooms,
…with every teacher that spends out of her own paycheck to buy supplies for her students,
…with the student TEI “Tripod” surveys that were given to our children, without parental consent, that asked personal questions about our homes, our TVs, their parent’s education, etc.
…with every unqualified, inexperienced Teach For America person that is put in a classroom with poor students who deserve an experienced, qualifed educator,
…with forcing our kids to Race to the Top of nowhere for money,
…and now with the Common Core being forced upon us…
I’m just not so sure anymore that I made the best vote for Governor. I think you’ve been bought out by your rich buddies. I think you’ve been fed a pail of hogwash with this education reform movement. You have lost touch with those that voted you into this office.
When I heard that the minimum salary ranges for teachers had been approved last week, that was the last straw for this Momma Bear. I started a petition on change.org to demand that you to get rid of Kevin Huffman. I’m sure it made a rotten Monday for you to find those in your email inbox. Well, it was a rotten weekend for those who are in college wanting to be teachers knowing they’ll never make what they deserve in TN. It has been a rotten decade for teachers and for students. Their morale is worn, and they are afraid of the future. I had to speak up and do something, and I’m glad I did because…
In less than 24 hours over 300 people have signed it from across the State of Tennessee. Some are teachers and some are parents, but all are FED UP with our schools being “reformed” by those who have no vesting in TN public education, no children in the public school systems, no qualified experience in classrooms, and no business telling teachers and educators how to do their jobs. We’re fed up. Do you hear us???
We’re demanding that you listen to teachers and parents, and NOT Students First, NOT Stand For Children, NOT Achieve, NOT ALEC, NOT Teach for America, NOT The New Teacher Project, NOT Education Pioneers, NOT Charter School Vultures, NOT Bill Gates, NOT Sam Walton, NOT Eli Broad, NOT Michelle Rhee, and NOT any other “non-profit” education reform group. It is imperative that you listen to your voters, and represent us, or we will elect a candidate who will in 2014.
Sincerely,
a Momma Bear in TN
Reposted by ST4SCS with permission.
Photo Credit: National Geographic