This week, the Ann Arbor Education Association will be sponsoring a forum on the Governor Snyder’s failed education experiment known as the Education Achievement Authority. I will be speaking at the event and participating in the panel discussion along with Wayne State University professor Thomas Pedroni, State House Rep. Jeff Irwin, Eastern Michigan University professor Christopher Robbins, and others.
The event takes place Tuesday, February 11th from 7:30 until 9:30 p.m. at Pioneer High School in the Little Theater.
From the AAEA’s press release:
From the onset, the EAA has been fraught by questions regarding its computer-focused curriculum, high teacher turnover, declining enrollment, its handling of students with special needs, conflicting progress reports, and its long-term financial viability. Most importantly, it has been highly criticized for its lack of transparency and its anti-democratic practices (the EAA operates under a state-centralized model that reports to its own “board of education” appointed by the Governor). Typically, when the EAA takes over a school, it performs a mass firing of teachers and administrators and the school is removed from its local school district and thus all elected local control. Faculty members at Eastern Michigan University, its collegiate partner, want the university to cut ties with the EAA, and most recently the Ann Arbor Education Association joined the rest of the Washtenaw County teachers unions in supporting a ban on accepting EMU student teachers until the university does so.Scheduled speakers include State Representative Jeff Irwin along with other members of the Washtenaw County delegation, Tom Pedroni—Associate Professor of Education at Wayne State University, Christopher Robbins—Associate Professor of Social Foundations at the Education School of Eastern Michigan University, Chris Savage-owner of Eclectablog, and other local public educators and concerned citizens.
We hope that our Ann Arbor Public School Community will attend this important forum to be duly informed about the issues surrounding the Education Achievement Authority
I hope you’ll join us.
