Bad Ass Teachers Assn rally demands end to corporate school "reform" agenda

On the 28th of July, the Bad Ass Teachers Association staged a rally of hundreds of teachers, students, and supporters in front of the Dept of Education. They demanded nothing less than an end to high stakes standardized testing, an end to charters schools and privatization, and an end to the sale of student data to corporations.

Video featuring Newark Student Union members who occupied and shut down a school board meeting over the so-called school reform agenda

Speaker after speaker excoriated the GOP agenda of corproate takeovers of schools, closures of neighborhood schools, anti-union crusades targetting teachers, No Child Left Behind/Common Core style standardized testing, all of the so-called "school reform" agenda so recently exemplified in DC by Michelle Rhee.

Two of the star speakers was from a rather militant student organization in Newark, NJ. They recounted how they have hammered Gov Christie's "school reform" efforts and their local supporters with student walkouts, occupations of board meetings, and are now threatening to shut down the entire city of Newark with obstructive protests unless these programs are cancelled. In short, they are warning Gov Christie that corporate-centric school "reform" is a bridge to far and will not be tolerated!