DUMP ARNE DUNCAN!
The time has come to end the controversial and damaging tenure of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education.
We the undersigned are demanding the immediate dismissal of Arne Duncan from his position as Secretary of Education. Please act swiftly before he can inflict any additional harm to the public school system or further demoralize the nearly three million public school teachers that have devoted their careers to the parents, students, and communities that they serve.
Our case for immediate dismissal rests on five key points:
1) Arne Duncan is unqualified to be a public school teacher; he has not spent one minute of time teaching children. This fact should have disqualified him from consideration for this cabinet position.
2) Arne Duncan has been a shameless promoter of charter schools and the privatization of America?s public school system. As public policy, this is irresponsible. His comments and actions call into question Mr. Duncan?s integrity as a member of the President?s cabinet.
3) Arne Duncan has publicly expressed contempt for public schools, teachers, students and their parents.
He has openly supported the Vergara decision, railing against the importance of teacher due process rights.
Mr. Duncan?s positions regarding the very system and people he serves, represents the antithesis of leadership.
4) Arne Duncan has colluded with Bill Gates to extort virtually every state in the country to commit to the implementation of the de-facto set of national standards known as the Common Core. Untested and unproven, these standards and the required high stakes companion tests are being used to surreptitiously discredit and dismantle the public school system in this country. These unproven tests are also being used to unfairly threaten the reputations and careers of public school teachers. The use of punitive measures to coerce performance from teachers and students alike is a failed idea and counterproductive to authentic learning. The data driven high stakes testing of America?s children promoted by Mr. Duncan is a form of educational malpractice.
5) Under Mr. Duncan?s direction, the USDOE has funded two national consortia to develop Common Core tests. The consortia have pledged to use part of the money to develop curricular materials in direct contravention of federal law. To make matters even worse, Arne Duncan, without congressional approval, made adoption of Common Core a condition for states seeking waivers from the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind law. Circumventing Congress and extorting taxpayer money is the ultimate abuse of power.
There is a groundswell of public and professional opposition to the Common Core standards. The lack of transparency, the absence of democratic process, and the abuse of federal power exercised by Secretary Duncan are more than enough to warrant his immediate dismissal. Our students, their parents, and our public school teachers deserve much better. The time has come to end the controversial and damaging tenure of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education
Our case for immediate dismissal rests on five key points:
1) Arne Duncan is unqualified to be a public school teacher; he has not spent one minute of time teaching children. This fact should have disqualified him from consideration for this cabinet position.
2) Arne Duncan has been a shameless promoter of charter schools and the privatization of America?s public school system. As public policy, this is irresponsible. His comments and actions call into question Mr. Duncan?s integrity as a member of the President?s cabinet.
3) Arne Duncan has publicly expressed contempt for public schools, teachers, students and their parents.
He has openly supported the Vergara decision, railing against the importance of teacher due process rights.
Mr. Duncan?s positions regarding the very system and people he serves, represents the antithesis of leadership.
4) Arne Duncan has colluded with Bill Gates to extort virtually every state in the country to commit to the implementation of the de-facto set of national standards known as the Common Core. Untested and unproven, these standards and the required high stakes companion tests are being used to surreptitiously discredit and dismantle the public school system in this country. These unproven tests are also being used to unfairly threaten the reputations and careers of public school teachers. The use of punitive measures to coerce performance from teachers and students alike is a failed idea and counterproductive to authentic learning. The data driven high stakes testing of America?s children promoted by Mr. Duncan is a form of educational malpractice.
5) Under Mr. Duncan?s direction, the USDOE has funded two national consortia to develop Common Core tests. The consortia have pledged to use part of the money to develop curricular materials in direct contravention of federal law. To make matters even worse, Arne Duncan, without congressional approval, made adoption of Common Core a condition for states seeking waivers from the accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind law. Circumventing Congress and extorting taxpayer money is the ultimate abuse of power.
There is a groundswell of public and professional opposition to the Common Core standards. The lack of transparency, the absence of democratic process, and the abuse of federal power exercised by Secretary Duncan are more than enough to warrant his immediate dismissal. Our students, their parents, and our public school teachers deserve much better. The time has come to end the controversial and damaging tenure of Arne Duncan as Secretary of Education
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