What We Want and Need- A Friday Afternoon Message to Arne Duncan:

We Need to show appreciation and respect for public school teachers and make them an integral part of every education policy making body.

We need to develop strategies to attract and retain great teachers- teachers for life.

We need to ramp up efforts to recruit and retain teachers of color.

We need to transform schools in high needs areas into round the clock community centers and help them, not close them, when they are nun trouble.

We need unleash the creative power of teachers and students and respect all students, irrespective of their background, aptitudes and developmental level.

We need sharply cut expenditures for testing and use the money to lower class size and use the money to fund arts programs, libraries, counseling centers, technology centers and school farms.

We need to see public education as a place where every child is honored and respected and where the goal is to develop good people and knowledgeable citizens, not the workforce of the future.