Teacher Speaks Out Against Teach For America Teachers

Some public school teachers are speaking out against Teach For America, alleging that the organization’s training is insufficient and that it threatens existing jobs. In Chicago earlier this month, critics gathered at the Free Minds, Free People conference to discuss the organization’s role in the local school system.

Katie Osgood, a special education teacher in Chicago, told HuffPost Live Monday that she feels Teach For America educators and leaders have done “extremely damaging reform” to the education system, placing inexperienced teachers with the neediest students and putting other teachers’ jobs at risk.

Justin Fong, Teach For America’s Vice President of Internal Communications, responded during the segment. He acknowledged that the organization has room to grow, but said that overall a lot of good comes out of it and that he hopes the critics can partner with them to build a better education system overall.

Watch the video…

http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/archive/segment/teacher-blames-teach-for-america-for-layoffs-tfa-responds/51ede44afe3444737300057a

 

Newark Public School Student’s Takeover

Newark student sit-in lasted through the night at district headquarters

  New Jersey Communities United organizer and NSU co-founder Thais Marques said the school district is preventing food from coming up to the students during their sit-in; The students have not eaten for 12 hours, Marques said.

But Newark Public Schools spokeswoman Brittany Chord Parmley said the district is not withholding food and that it will be available for them when they come downstairs where there is a bus waiting to take them to school.

“We encourage the kids to go to school,” she said.

NEWARK — The youths who staged a sit-in at Newark Public Schools’ headquarters Tuesday night in protest of superintendent Cami Anderson’s leadership stayed the night.

“We are staying until Cami comes in to her office and faces us or until her resignation,” New Jersey Communities United organizer and NSU co-founder Thais Marques said in a phone interview this morning

More on this story here…http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2015/02/newark_student_sit-in_lasted_through_the_night_at.html#incart_river