Yes, folks, Supermayor will be helping to write the planks on education.Newark Mayor Cory Booker is among a raft of Democratic Party leaders chosen to draft the party platform for the next four years, according to a report in the the National Journal.The four-year tradition involves party leaders drafting a series of priorities or "planks" such as job creation, developing more renewable energy or immigration reform.Those priorities are codified at the national convention, which will be held from Sept. 3-6 in Charlotte, N.C.
The guy who wants to do away with seniority for teachers.
The guy who welcomed Eli Broad's money into Newark to remake the public schools with a minimum of local input.
The guy who wants more charters and more vouchers, even if they lead to segregation by income, disability, or even race.
The guy who turned Zuck's bucks into a gravy train for his friends.
The guy who said of gutting tenure: "There is no greater urgency in my city," apparently unaware of his city's soaring murder rate.
The guy who got a paid consultant in his first mayoral campaign hired as the superintendent of schools; the same superintendent who overrides the will of the citizens elected by the people to ensure a system of charters replaces public schools in Newark.
The guy who endorsed a report that threw the teachers who serve the most difficult students to educate under a bus.
Yes, folks, that Cory Booker will be helping to write the planks on education. How do you think it will turn out?
Teachers, parents, students, and the rest of you who care about education, get one thing straight: there is a fight going on right now in the Democratic Party for the future of public education. Right now, the hedge fund managers and edu-preneurs and think-tanky types and reformyists are winning. What are you going to do if they get their way and turn against us once and for all? Go to the Republicans? Vote for Nader? Good luck with that.
I know you hate politics; too damn bad. This is a fight for the future of our students, our families, and our profession. When Democrats pull this crap, they need to hear from all of us, loud and clear:
Enough.
Politically savvy teachers are my kryptonite!