Since the reach of PAA has been expanding lately, two of our co-founders, Pamela Grundy and newsletter editor Julie Woestehoff, thought newsletter readers would like to learn more about some of our organization's key figures. Due to space limitations, we're publishing excerpts of the profiles here. You can find longer versions on the PAA blog. There are a lot of great people to cover, so it will take a while. Look for future installments in coming weeks!

In the beginning, there was      Leonie Haimson.

Leonie was a key force in the creation of Parents Across America, and remains at the heart of our activities. From her computer in her Greenwich Village office, she writes, researches, and stays in touch with activists and reporters across the country. After more than a decade of educational work, she has become an expert in the ins and outs of politics and policy - how to organize a conference or a demonstration, when to alert the press to an important story, when and how to investigate a dubious educational claim.

Leonie always grounds her actions in schoolhouse-level reality, drawing on her lengthy experience as a New York public school parent, and her concerns about the way she has seen corporate "reforms" demonize teachers, ramp up high-stakes testing and promote privatizing measures such as charter schools. In addition to PAA, her activities involve running the influential Class Size Matters organization and helping administer the always-lively New York City Public School Parent blog, which has become a center for information and discussion about New York City schools.

PAA came out of the contacts forged by Leonie and educational activists working in other communities around the country. These contacts helped them realize that many of them were battling the same forces and the same bad ideas. "A lot of us were saying the same things and fighting for the same things," Leonie explained. "We thought if we got together it would amplify our voices."

Although it's hard for an organization with a shoestring budget to combat the well-financed forces of privatization, Leonie is proud of the variety of actions that PAA and its members have taken and of the respect the organization has gained with the quality of its position papers and its stands on key issues such as class size, testing, fairness and equity.

"Our strength is that we're right on the issues and most parents agree with us," she explains. "Our message resonates with a lot of people."

Read more about Leonie here.    

CPS to hold forum with Jonathan Kozol

From our Boston affiliate: Our public school teachers and students are increasingly under siege. Groups like Stand for Children, Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst and similar phony grassroots organizations have become channels for the billionaire owners of Bain Capital, Walmart and others who think they know what is best for our schoolchildren. These groups invest millions in lobbying and public relations to privatize and reshape public education to their liking.

Citizens for Public Schools has been fighting for excellent and equitable public education for 30 years. As part of this effort, we are delighted to present:

 

30th Anniversary Mary Ann Hardenbergh Lecture
The Memorial Church, Harvard Yard
Cambridge, MA 02138
September 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m.

Click here to register online.