The UCC and Public Education.

Since this is the first week of school for most children and teachers I thought I would discuss public education.  The UCC is the only religious group that has a full time minister devoted to public education.  Her name is Jan Ressinger and she is my friend.  We have talked every time I see her at Synod and I will have lunch with her when I go to Cleveland next month for another conference.

Below is the information about Public Education for this year.  She is appalled at the growth of the number of charter schools which are public private partnerships.  Since children are assigned by lottery not all children can get into these schools which leaves some children behind in failing schools so in that respect she is right to condemn those schools.  But charter schools give some children, such as my cousin, a chance for a great education which they might not have had in the urban school.  So I guess I wish  that all children had the same chance to get a good education.

Jeannette Brown

UCC Representative.

PS, I will down load and print the resource and put it on the information table in the Atrium.

2013 Justice & Witness Ministries Message on Public Education

Every fall, as the school year begins, Justice & Witness Ministries publishes a resource to comment from the point of view of the church on the conditions in public schools and public school reform. This resource is designed not only to inform but also to stimulate conversation in a justice committee, a women's group, or an adult Sunday School class.

This year's 2013 Message on Public Education, The Public Purpose of Public Education, explores the implications for America's poorest children of the rush to privatize public schools, the institution our society has valued for more than 200 years as the foundation of our democracy. Most of us imagine that what is happening in our own city is a local phenomenon. In fact the trend is connected from place to place by federal policy, trends in state school funding, and growing segregation by income inequality.
This resource is free to download (available online only).

Download Resource