Colorado Parents See Wizard Behind the Curtain

"It's time to unite our community"

"Teachers can be silenced, but you can't fire a parent"

"Teacher morale will improve overnight when we get our four candidates elected"

"Parents, teachers students rallying together to win schools back"

Listen to this radio broadcast from Douglas County, CO @thechalkface radio to get a nuanced look into the brilliant way ALEC and friends' divide and conquer community by community.

Conservatives in Douglas County Colorado won school board election by vilifying the teacher union and dividing parents and teachers in the local community. This was done through a well-financed campaign by ALEC and friends.

ALEC approved school board members get in, the board silences the administration, the administration silences the teachers and the parents are left in the dark to figure out who turned out the lights on their children's education. Looks like some parents are trying to put the lights back on.

Share this radio broadcast from Douglas County, CO @thechalkface radio with suburban parents all across the country who are still scratching their heads as they watch their local public schools turn into slums.

It's coming to a community near you!

If you don't believe me, read this: From The Progressive

In what has become a typical divide-and-conquer tactic of the Wisconsin Republican legislative leadership, the hearing was scheduled at the same time as three other public education-related hearings involving school mascots, scholarships, and a high profile Common Core hearing. 

It was sparsely attended by public education advocates, who wanted their voices to be heard in the Common Core hearing. Most of the people who testified were registered lobbyists for the charter school industry, or people who work in charter schools.

In her opening statement on the bill, Sen. Darling used the frame favored by school privatizers to justify their theft of public resources: failing schools and bureaucracy vs. kids. “This bill gives children the opportunity to attend a charter school that works,” she said. 

When challenged by Sen. John Lehman (D-Racine), who called it a “statewide mandate requiring school boards to approve schools whether or not they want to approve them,” Darling replied, "You could look at it as diminishing the authority of school boards, or as increasing the freedom of charter schools to innovate."