Thursday, March 31, 2016

How Urban Moms of Color- UMOC's- Are Revitalizing the Opt Out Movement

Based on what I have seen in the Bronx, and in Philly, I think we need a new acronym to describe the leadership of the Opt Out movement, replacing Arne Duncan's pejorative category WSM's-- White Suburban Mothers. The new category is UMOC's-- Urban Moms of Color.
More and more , resistance to testing is finding a home in inner city communities where testing has been linked to school closings, charter school favoritism, elimination of recess, physical education and the arts, humiliation of ELL and special needs students and adoption of zero tolerance disciplinary policies.Parents in these communities are getting fed up with the tests and are rejecting the "testing is civil rights" mantra promoted by all to many of those shaping education policy
Three weeks ago, Philly moms headed up an incredible session at the United Opt Out Conference and yesterday, Bronx moms were the leading voices at a press conference sponsored by Opt Out NYC on the steps of City Hall
And this is grounds for hope. When the WSM's and UMOC's start joining forces, they represent an unbeatable combination.