Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, Walks Out on 1,000-Plus Parents Who Traveled to His L.A. County Town Hall

     Sounds like a partisan campaign rally was what Arne Duncan was conducting rather than a real discussion with those parents.

What a valuable post.Thank you very much.

It's time for the federal government to relax its death grip on parents, teachers and principals.  What good has the DOE done in its thirty years? 

I a member of the Congress of racial Equality of California (CORE-CA) called Lydia Grant from the Parent Revolution and Yolande Beckles from the Parent Union to have them contact Secretary Duncan's office for them to bring some into the meeting.  The Department of Education is the one who told them to bring every student, parent, teacher and community member they could find to the Town Hall Meeting in Pico Rivera because the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, wanted to hear from them.  We did that.  People from as far away as San Bernadino and San Diego came at the Secretary's request.  

Secretary Duncan also was at the LAUSD Board of Education with Superintendent Deasy and Mayor Villaraigosa earlier to announce the agreement with LAUSD on the civil rights violations of African-American and English as a Second Language (ESL) students.  At the meeting he also said he wanted to talk with students, parents and teachers.  In the press conference room a (CORE-CA) member says to Secretary Duncan and Villaraigosa separately "How can the Federal Government back Mayor Villaraigosa's schools with a Roosevelt High School dropout rate of 66% and scores at one of the seven academies dropping 85 points in one year.  To Secretary Duncan he adds "I hope you want to speak to students, parents and teachers as we have over 200 waiting for you." 

Secretary Duncan arrives there early for a private meeting with the "Big Wigs" and politicians.  He enters the room late and takes only a few questions.  He answers some, not all, questions and says "I am leaving now."  Unacceptable.  I was in the question line and yelled load enough for all to hear "He does not care about students, parents or teachers, he is leaving to go get money."  1/3 of the audience looked at me and were saying to themselves "Why is he talking to the Secretary of Education like that?"  2/3 looked and I could see them thinking "I wish I had said that."  You know he was on his way to a fund raiser where everyone will pat him on the back.  1/2 of the audience left in disgust, I have heard, as I went outside with one  of Secretary Duncan's aides, about 6 police and lots of students. 

 I then laid into the aide with the history of Secretary Duncan in Chicago, a failure, and his lying to the California Legislature for Mayoral Control of LAUSD.  I have the documents.  The police even started laughing about what I was saying.  He had no ability to say anything to rebute me as this is the documented truth.  When he left it was me, my advocate friends who got over 200 people there and the students.  The students were the best part of the whole thing.  They are so smart and have such good questions.  Why is it we wanted to hear from students and the Secretary of Education did not?

Mr. Buzzetti,

You are a hero for speaking out!  Thank you for proclaiming that Emperor Duncan has no clothes.

I am the person who yelled to the audience "He has no respect for students, parents or teachers, he is now on his way to get money."  I did not plan that.  It happened as a reaction to his total disrespect, and if not addressed right then and there he would get away with it.  I was not going to allow that to happen as I am the one who originated opening up a closed meeting to all comers through Lydia Grant, Board Member of the Parent Revolution, and Yolande Beckles with the LAUSD Parent District Advisory Council (DAC) and new Parent Union.  I am with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) of California and requested attendance for three members myself, Celes King IV and Miguel Paredes.  We received that Sunday.  Monday I called Lydia and Yolande to send in requests on their letterhead, they did.  Within several hours both received phone calls, from officials representing Duncan, asking them to bring every student, parent, teacher and community member they can so they can be listened to by the Secretary of Education.  Also, go to the press so we can have as many people there as possible.  This was done.  From San Diego to the edge of L.A. County they came including a bus load paid for by The California Teachers Association (CTA) who helped parents go to this supposedly important event for the public to be heard.  Channel 11 was there and got video of me calling down Duncan and ran on the news he ran from parents.  He was there by helicopter no more than 20 minutes total. 

When I went outside with one of his aides, and a lot of police, I ripped his aide apart so much the police started laughing.  Students were watching all of this intently.  The aide left and I spent the next hour plus with many students who told me and my other friends there what is really happening to them.  I also had my laptop and wireless card and showed them the statistical facts.  I took them to the California Dept. of Education (CDE) website and asked them to give me a school and we went there and I showed them how to use the website to do what I do to learn the truth.  They gave me their emails and I am sending them my spreadsheets and the instructions on how to use the CDE website. 

I must ask you to also ask youselves the same question I asked myself, and that is "Why were they not out there talking with the students?"  Isn't that supposed to be their MISSION!!!!!

Unfortunately, we are seeing the same Arne Duncan as in Chicago.  He helped to ruin the Chicago Public Schools academically and financially.  Please go look at the new University of Chicago study on Chicago Public Schools from 1988 until now.  He did not do good.

Also, while superintendent of Chicago he and Senator Feinstein wrote letters to the California Legislature stating that those before Daley and Vallas took over in 1995 had put the district into $1.8 billion in debt.  I have the financial income and expendatures from 1994 and there was a surplus.  They lied.  Is this who we want for Secretary of Education?  A person with no respect for the public and a liar!

In the wake of Occupy Wall Street, there needs to be a movement to retake our schools.http://www.examiner.com/public...