Calling All Advocates
by Fawn Johnson
National Journal
September 10, 2012
Politicians love to say the word “education,” but when it comes to actually doing something about it, outside forces must do the pushing. That is the lesson I learned from the political conventions that took over the airwaves and newsrooms in the last two weeks.
Former District of Columbia Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee is one such outside force. She was at both the conventions with the same message, which she outlined for me when I sat down with her in Tampa where Republicans gathered. “There is a huge possibility for both parties to say, ‘OK on this issue, because it has to do with our kids, we can disagree about taxes and everything else, but let’s choose this issue that we can show the American people that we can come together,'” she said.
More from that interview here.
Rhee’s grassroots education group StudentsFirst screened Won’t Back Down, a movie about two mothers who take on a failing inner-city public school, for delegates and convention guests.
BELL, a nonprofit summer and after-school learning provider, was another outside force. “I probably lost 10 pounds of perspiration,” said vice president of schools Joe Small about his two days manning a booth at CarolinaFest, an outdoor carnival of good causes–and bands–organized by the Charlotte host committee for the Democratic National Convention. (The Republican convention did not have a similar exhibit space.) In Charlotte, BELL highlighted the benefits of summer learning for at-risk youth, showing the impact its summer programs have made in a low-income district in the city. Small said the reaction from delegates and visitors alike was, “Wow. How do we bring this back to our community? How do we replicate a Bell program?”
These are just two groups that I happened upon in my wanderings. There
