Comments

• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  7:23 am on Monday, May 20, 2013

  Thanks Julie,
  Will be happy to share my findings but will not do it on the fly because as you say this is serious business.

• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  1:51 pm on Sunday, May 19, 2013

  Alpharetta Resident,
  You are absolutely right about the money; http://bit.ly/11ZWJjf. Parents neded to be watch dogs. Dr. Avossa stood up to the folks at Fulton Science Academy when our local legislators were condeming him for telling the truth about what was going on. He deserves much credit for that action. With regard to Klein and Amplify I don't think we can assume that a back room deal will be done - the school board has to approve any contract that is signed with Amplify or anyone else and I can assure you several school board members are very concerned about privacy and cost. We'll have to stay tuned in and speak up when needed.

• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  12:41 pm on Sunday, May 19, 2013

  Hi Julie,
  Foundations and non-profits are not subject to intense scrutiny by the IRS - I am so upset about that one in Georgia I may have to write a blog about it. It appears that just about anyone can set up a 501(c) 3 in this state and call it "education' or "student scholarship." They can pay themselves a huge salary and not distribute the donations. Has the IRS shut them down? Absolutely not. Check out Matchbook Learning - a new non-profit with the aspiration to turnaround the 19,000 low performing schools in the US with a blended learning model. The CEO is a CPA and former turnaround guy with Alvarez and Marsal - global corporate turnaround specialists - the two guys on the board are CPA's in Atlanta. Do we really think they are in this "for the public good?" It's good to be trusting but please don't underestimate the major effort in this country for the past decade to privatize education and the role Gates, Walton, Broad, deVos - the list goes on - have played in it. A free public education for all? What a quaint notion and what a huge opportunity for making money. As for wealthy individuals giving their money away in meaningful ways, of course it's their perogative but one might ask Alice Walton what precisely the meaning behind her donation of $600K to push the Charter Amendment last fall was? She has the wealth as does Bill Gates to define the meaning of public education not only for her kids (not even sure she has any) but for everyone elses. I object.

• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  11:48 am on Sunday, May 19, 2013

  The standards are just one component - will the assessments be used to help teachers teach more effectively or will they be a big stick to "root" out the "bad teachers." This is a huge and very important question to be asking. What will happen to the children who perform poorly on the assessments? With a state budget for education being underfunded in Georgia by $1 billion every year, where is the money for the support going to come from? What will be the consequences for schools which get poor scores? All of these decisions will be made on assessments and standards that have not been piloted - what is the rush? See this from Randi Weingarten head of the AFT which publicly supports the standards.
  The assessments have begun in NY,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-weingarten/common-core-do-what-it-ta_b_3300790.html

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• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  3:58 pm on Saturday, May 18, 2013

  Good point Ann - there are also a ton of 501(c) 3 non-profits who put "education" down, get non-profit status and then fail to follow the IRS code. Too many of them to track down I guess. I still think there are many good non-profits. For those of you who have interpreted this blog (I'm obviously not a journalist) as some kind of political conspiracy mongering, honestly, I suggest you read it again. This is not about politics - this is about foundations and corporations calling the shots. Democrats and Republicans take the money. The backlash is also bipartisan. Look into it. Read here how Mr. Gates has covered his bets - he has spent $5 billion in the last decade to promote his vision http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/05/12/gates-gives-150-million-in-grants-for-common-core-standards/. This is not about the standards (although may experts have criticized them). Do your homework. NCLB will be minor compared with the "assessments' required in Common Core. What do you know about them? What I find CREEPY is the attitude that we, the "little people" and our truly little people, should just trust that our government and Bill Gates know what they're doing. How did that work out for you all during the financial crisis (not implying that Bill Gates was involved)? Do your homework, ask alot of questions and see what's happening in other states. http://bit.ly/13wL7nw

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• On the Blog Post Common Core by Bill Gates

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  9:23 pm on Friday, May 17, 2013

  Hi Julie,
  Please follow this link to the potential data that could be collected from InBloom
  http://bit.ly/16EZCw4
  Also - The Gates Foundation has invested a total of $100 million in InBloom - $16.7M was a line item in their grant report. Some states have agreed to provide this data - Georgia has said they will not but each district can make their own decision.

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• On the Blog Post Who is Chip Rogers, Really?

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  1:52 pm on Tuesday, April 30, 2013

  Honestly, I hope this isn't a sign that Mr. Rogers is going to run for something. He did his best to privatize public education and would have turned what was left into a virtual charter school. His kids didn't attend public school. Hope they stay "forever young" and he stays at home with them..

  Reply

• On the article The Parent Trigger/HB 123 - Does it Make Any Sense?

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  3:26 pm on Tuesday, February 26, 2013

  Liza,
  There are many other issues with HB 123 but I ran out of room. Teachers and parents already have the means to convert an existing public school into a conversion charter school. Much like the constitutional amendment, which duplicates what already existed in the law, HB 123 duplicates what already exists. How many ways do you think are necessary to turn open public schools into charter schools? I have read nothing by anyone worth their salt in education that supports this divisive method for "transforming" public schools. In addition, are you aware that the law as currently written allows a simple majority of parents or teachers to trigger a charter petition at a meeting called with two weeks notice? Does that sound remotely fair? With regard to curriculum, my local school board didn't pick the Common Core Standards. It was opted into for them by Gov Perdue and the DOE. We are spending millions to train teachers to teach to these standards and will be spending millions more to "assess" student performance and teacher effectiveness next year. The program has nothing to do with local control.

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• On the article Alpharetta Postpones Hearing on $10 Million Bond Issue for Amana Academy

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  4:43 pm on Tuesday, December 4, 2012

  Honestly folks, please do your homework before accusing me of insulting you. The term "start-up charter" is a technical term defined by your state DOE. Here is the definition. "In Georgia, there are two types of charter schools: start-up charter schools and conversion charter schools. A start-up charter school is a charter school that did not exist prior to becoming a charter school." http://bit.ly/ViGPvH
  A conversion charter school pre-existed as a traditional public school. Amana Academy, is, and always will be, defined as a "start-up charter" school - not according to me but according to your state deptartment of education. Apology accepted.

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• On the Blog Post Georgia DOE Finds Enough Funding for Branding Program / Furlough Days Still on Calendar

  

  Elizabeth Hooper

  3:13 pm on Wednesday, November 14, 2012

  Debbie, why don't you look into Fulton Science Academy's tax returns and let us know how much they spent on "marketing." They had a full time PR director that we, the taxpayers, were paying for. Charter schools that belong to the Georgia Charter Schools Assoc. don't have to worry about marketing because The Walton Family Foundation takes care of that expense for them. They are just one of the out-of-state "non-profits" that spend money "branding" charter schools as superior to traditional public schools. Alice wants competition doesn't she - competitors have to market their brand. So why don't you bemoan that fact that all public schools, including charters, are now forced to market themselves and defend themselves using tax payer money. That's just the way it will be now. Charter schools and other public schools targeting their customers. Certainly Alice would want "other' public schools to compete and be able to advertise like Walmart does. I think Dr, Barge should be able to compete dollar for dollar with the advertising/PR money that flows to charter schools. May the best advertising program win - not like the spending imbalance of the Amendment campaign. At least take a bit of the blame for starting this mess.

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