At BlogHer, looking for other school-family-education bloggers

I am not sure if "school-family-education" adequately captures what this blog is about, I'll have time to work on describing my blog as I meet thousands of other bloggers who are here in NYC for BlogHer. I'm posting this on the off chance I miss anyone (and with 2,000 people here, there's a slight possibility that I may not be able to have a meaningful conversation with everyone), because I want to get the word out that I am looking for other bloggers who are writing in the the terrain that Providence Schools and Beyond occupies, the place where parents/family members and students are writing about the schools their kids attend and about the learning experiences their families are having both in and out of school.

So I'm waving this post as a big flag for other BlogHer participants, or any other education bloggers. Let's start to make a list of ourselves. I want to read about other families experiences with schools and school systems for sources of inspiration, alternate perspectives, and different experiences. If we come together and compare notes, we may be able to have a better sense of the ways blogging out school experiences from the parent/family perspective might be having on our kids' education, learning, and growth, and on the ways we may or may not be serving as advocates for all young people, their teachers, and schools themselves.

I am here with Kristen McClusky, writer of Motherload - just go read it, so funny and smart, and if you need another reason, she's from and currently spending time in Rhode Island. Wait, no, she's currently here in New York with me. Okay, where Kristen is at this actual moment is perhaps not mission critical. I mention Kristen so that I can go ahead and use the third person plural and say "we" without sounding overly regal.

We met a good fraction of the BlogHer 2,000 last night, madly exchanging cards and stories, so if any of you are among the readers of this, hi! And I know that today will yield more connections to other snappy, wise writers who are smart about life online and off and to bloggers in the "school-family-education" category (let's work on a better name for that!).

Save a school library (earn good karma which your own kids' school library may well need soon enough)

Read my friend Marjorie's words about what's happening in her kids' NYC public elementary school. Due to horrible budget cuts that are following draconian budget cuts which themselves followed devastating budget cuts, the library - the heart of their school - will be closed, and the PTA is doing all it can to forestall that. This is not Providence, the place that I usually focus on in terms of doing what needs to be done to preserve meaningfulness in schools. If you're looking for a connection, Marjorie is from Providence, grew up here, went to Classical.

Up to you to respond - whether you do or not, we all need to come together to say ENOUGH to destroying our schools and the souls of our kids. This will be us soon enough if we don't all figure out a way to insist that we stop underfunding schools. There is no way that our kids can bear the punishment, no way that our society can in the long run. No dollar saved today is worth it.

Update: several people have asked where to go to donate. Go here: http://tnsny.org/savethelibrary! You are excellent.

"Why Aren't Parents Rioting in the Streets?"

NYC public school parent Rebecca Levey asks, "Why aren't parents rioting in the streets?" Her post, and a slightly different version of the same that appeared in Valerie Strauss' Answer Sheet in the Washington Post online edition, provides specific examples of why New York City students, educators and families have been, in her view, ill-used, abused, and lied to.

Is it a call to arms? I'm not sure. I'm not there and while the specific instance that pushed her over the edge is indeed egregious, so are so many other instances of inequitable treatment in NYC and elsewhere. Ms. Levey's voice joins those on other forums, such as the NYC Public School Parents blog, Leonie Haimson's Class Size Matters, and Gotham Schools, that passionately detail what's not working in the NYC public school system and what parents and the public can do to demand and create change.

Toward the end of her piece, Ms. Levey asks what many of us have often asked herself:

I used to joke about a city where private school was not an option. How quickly would the schools change if those with the most power to change them had to be part of the system? 

No joke, Ms. Levey. I want all of us to have options to send our kids where we think is best - and among those options must be a range of strong, supportive, thriving public schools.

And related: a parent/family group worth keeping an eye on, and joining, is Parents Across America, which has gathered a strong group of activists from across the United States to assert the primacy of parents in education policy and practice. Their kickoff event featuring Diane Ravitch is happening right now in NYC. Right on. Wish I could be there. Maybe someday, Providence Schools and Beyond might be a part of such a national conversation and movement.