Time to contact the U. S. Senate about charter schools

PAA NC affiliate Mecklenburg ACTS.org has started a statewide campaign to convince North Carolina legislators to repeal the damaging third-grade Read to Achieve act.

Here is their MecklenburgACTS press release on the effort. North Carolinians interested in joining the effort, and especially in helping to organizing parents to speak out on Read to Achieve in their own communities, please contact them at info@mecklenburgacts.org.

The piece on Read to Achieve originally published in the Raleigh News & Observer by MecklenburgACTS.org co-chair Pamela Grundy and UNC Wilmington professor Janna Siegel Robertson was reprinted this week in the Winston-Salem Journal and the Wilmington Star-News as well as in Diane Ravitch's blog.

Pamela Grundy will speak on parent advocacy at the Community Rally for Public Education to be held in Charlotte this Saturday from noon-2 p.m. at Marshall Park. More information can be found here.

PURE's Julie Woestehoff to guest on progressive talk radio show

PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff is scheduled to join long-time Chicago political reporter Dick Kay on WCPT AM and FM this Saturday for an hour of progressive talk about education issues. The podcast will be available online after the show.

Mike Klonsky to the rescue

Julie's comment in a Chicago Sun-Times story, that Chicago's selective enrollment high schools are "gated communities for children of privilege," created some controversy. Another Sun-Times reporter characterized the comment as "divisive" in a news story about two Chicago Aldermen calling for an investigation into the declining numbers of African-American students selected for these elite and well-resourced schools. Coming to the rescue was long-time PURE friend Mike Klonsky, who defended Julie on his Small Talk blog:

Thanks, Mike!