by David Safier As you can see, I'm one of the hosts of the event. I'm in the middle of "Mexican White Boy," written by the evening's featured guest, Matt de la Peña. It's a good read, gripping and enjoyable. At this point, I'm very worried about the fates of the likable but flawed young … Read more
by David Safier Craig Barrett, the man Brewer appointed to head A-Wreck (that's how it sounds. The acronym is AREC: Arizona Ready Education Council), likes to brag about BASIS schools, where he's the President and Chairman. But he doesn't talk much about sitting on the Board of Directors of K12 Inc., a for profit, publicly … Read more
by David Safier This is one of my favorite education pieces recently. It's an Ed Week (subscription only) opinion piece titled What Research Says About School Choice. The conclusion? School choice works . . . um, pretty well. Not terrific, just, um, pretty well. The "nine scholars and analysts" who signed onto the study are … Read more
by David Safier
This Sunday, a group of people interested in recalling TUSD Board member Michael Hicks will be meeting with Randy Parraz. If anyone knows anything about running a recall, it's Parraz who spearheaded the successful effort to take down Russell Pearce.
The question is, why recall Hicks? [You don't need a reason, by the way, only the required number of signatures.] By me, it shouldn't be for his votes alone. Hicks was elected to vote as he sees fit. The real question should be, is Hicks unfit to be on a board whose purpose is to oversee the education of Tucson's children? My tentative answer is yes, he is unfit. I say "tentative" because I'm basically a cautious guy who tries not to rush to judgement. I need to give it more thought. But here is my reason for saying Hicks is unfit to serve on the board.
In a radio interview Hicks gave and in a phone conversation with me, Hicks showed he was willing to hurl unwarranted accusations with racist overtones at people connected with the Mexican-American Studies program. On the radio show, he implied TUSD middle school students could have been subject to sexual abuse, similar to what allegedly occurred at Penn State, when they went into a UA Mexican-American Studies classroom. Hicks' implication was, not only are these MAS people animals, but they are so vile, it's possible a group of them — a prof and his students — could physically abuse the TUSD students with everyone in the classroom participating or watching, then keep silent about what happened.
(You can read the rest of the post below the fold.)
by David Safier When I was a young teacher, I was surprised more than once when a sweet, gray haired, conservatively dressed librarian would talk, voice quivering with passion, about the right to have books in the high school library some community members found objectionable. Occasionally, I'd ask, "Really? That's in our library?" Librarians are … Read more