ORGANIZING NOTES
October 15, 2024
|
Our Revolution Massachusetts Endorses Tamisha Civil For Governor’s Council
by Ryan Costa, Representative Council Member
Tamisha Civil is running for Governor’s Council in the 2nd District, which is southwest of Boston, and represented by 25 different State House Representatives. With the endorsement of many Our Revolution MA members, she won her primary earlier this year. Tamisha is building a coalition that will improve people’s lives here in Massachusetts and beyond. Her experience working over 10 years in the MA criminal justice system includes the Suffolk County DA’s office as a Victim Witness Advocate, a legal advocate for a domestic violence shelter, as a probation officer to reduce recidivism, and as a Stoughton Town Meeting Representative. With inspiration from her parents who immigrated to the US from Haiti, Tamisha became the first person in her family to graduate college, including a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice and Leadership from Northeastern University. Tamisha’s motivation to improve the criminal justice system also stems from the fact that her cousin was wrongfully imprisoned for 27 years before he was exonerated in 2021.
During her endorsement interview with Our Revolution MA, Tamisha expressed a strong willingness to help further progressive values. She will work with progressive coalitions in each congressional district to advocate for our Congresspeople to co-sponsor Medicare for All, the Green New Deal and a progressive foreign policy. Similarly, Tamisha will work with members of the MA State House and other local officials to pass a progressive agenda. District 2 includes 3 ORMA chapters/affiliates who worked with the statewide Our Revolution MA Representative Council to make this endorsement of Tamisha Civil possible. We are very thankful for Tamisha’s enthusiasm in carrying forward Our Revolution’s values.
Tamisha Civil’s election demonstrates the immense importance of voting, and with 3 weeks until the general election on Tuesday, November 5th, we need all hands on deck to get out the vote for progressive candidates up and down the ballot here in Massachusetts and all across the country! Please see Tamisha’s website where you can find more about how to volunteer for her campaign as well as donate. Thank you to everyone who helped with this endorsement and for making the 2024 Massachusetts Primary Elections good for progressives. Now, let’s win the General Election! https://www.tamishacivil.com
|
For the last 20 years, parents, educators, and students have said the same thing: a single, one-size-fits-all standardized test should not determine a child’s future. Voting yes on 2 will not eliminate MCAS testing. Again, yes on 2 does not eliminate the MCAS test, it only eliminates the requirement that a student pass the test to graduate. Students would still take the test but the score would be just one of many data points used to assess a student’s likelihood of success after high school.
Opponents of Question 2 claim that it will eliminate standards and accountability for our schools. This is false. Massachusetts already has rigorous, world-class state standards that students must meet to graduate. The MCAS undermines our high standards by narrowing the curriculum and forcing teachers to focus on dull, drill-and-kill test prep. Teaching to the test means students lose access to a holistic curriculum that includes history, music, art, project-based learning, critical thinking, and real-world problem-solving skills. The Commonwealth’s business and civic leaders have become increasingly vocal supporters of Yes on 2 because they believe teaching to the test prevents engagement in a curriculum that builds critical thinking and the problem-solving skills needed for the 21st century.
For 20 years this test-and-punish accountability system has failed its own purported goals to close achievement gaps for low-income students, students of color, students with disabilities, and multilingual learners. Instead, the MCAS has hurt students and perpetuated inequality in our schools by race, class, language, and disability. For instance, a recent study by the Annenberg Institute found that, while most students eventually pass, 85 percent of those who never pass are English Language Learners and students with disabilities. According to an analysis by Northeastern University Professor Emeritus Louis Kruger, during the three-year suspension of the MCAS graduation requirement during the pandemic, there were substantial increases in graduation rates for underserved students including an 8.5% increase for English Learners. 6.3 percent for Black Students, 6.8 percent for Latino students, and 4.7 percent for low-income students, compared to only a 0.5 percent graduation rate gain for white students. When the graduation requirement was reinstated in 2023, the graduation rate for English Learners declined by almost 6 percentage points, the largest decline ever recorded for English learners, using the current method of calculating grad rates.
MCAS scores are a poor measure of a student’s intelligence, teacher effectiveness, or school quality. Research shows that MCAS scores most closely reflect out-of-school factors such as family income and education level rather than student achievement or school quality. We should support more holistic, community-driven assessment models such as that used by the Massachusetts Consortium for Innovative Education Assessment (MCIEA) which focuses on more meaningful school quality measures of student and family engagement, student achievement, and school climate.
This is why most states no longer require that a standardized test determine graduation, while only Massachusetts and eight other states still cling to this antiquated policy.
(Adopted from an article by members of OR-Cambridge’s Education Committee.)
|
The goal of Ballot Question 5 is to raise the wages of salaried waitstaff to that of the state minimum wage. This would be done over the course of five years. At the same time, tipping would be eliminated. The financial conditions of waitstaff and restaurants have slightly improved in all states that have made these changes. There is some concern that some of the highest-paid wait staff would lose income, particularly because when the transition occurs tips would be pooled and shared with all staff. There is strong data indicating that with the elimination of tipping, the frequency of sexual harassment of wait staff goes down.
It is also possible that undocumented wait staff might not make a claim for tip revenue because that might lead to their exile. Overall, it seems that the increased wages for about 125,000 wait staff in the Commonwealth far outweigh the financial risk to a small section of the economy.
|
Let your Representative know you want them to support Single Payer Health Care legislation. Medicare for All will be on the ballot in 11 Rep Districts across the State. Save Money and Save Lives with Single Payer Health Care. To see which districts, go to Mass-Care 2024 Ballot Question
|
|
We will have Activist Afternoons on: Sunday, October 20th AND November 3rd
|
Can’t travel to a battleground state this election cycle? The next, most-effective action you can take is calling voters or even helping our phone banking team organize a phone bank! Recruit, Inform or engage, there’s a phone bank for everyone! With only 3 weeks eft every call counts! Join us!
|
Join JPP this coming Sunday, October 20 at 11 am at JP Licks, for a YES on 2 canvass! Our JP electeds, including Rep. Montaño, Senator Miranda, and Councilor Weber, will be kicking us off before we hit the doors!
RSVP here!
|
Join Yes on 5 for a Get-Out-The-Vote kick-off and phonebank TONIGHT at 5:00 pm in support of One Fair Wage plus tips on top! Voters started receiving ballots in the mail in early October, and two weeks of in-person Early Vote starts this Saturday, October 19 – we need all hands on deck to make sure voters know to vote Yes on 5 on or before November 5!
Register here to join the phone bank!
|
The speakers will offer a public health perspective on the proposed recommendations of Project 2025, specifically examining sections related to health, healthcare, peace and justice, nuclear issues and environmental concerns.
The role of elections as social determinants of health and health equity, along with the importance of voting, will be addressed.
|
Good News – Vigilance Required!
|
At the end of September, forest protection and climate activists (including the Trees as a Public Good Network – founded by ORMA) got a piece of good news as Governor Healey rejected a controversial plan to clear cut 170 acres of forest to make way for a machine-gun range on Cape Cod for use by the Massachusetts National Guard. This would have added to the annual assault on trees in the Commonwealth which is losing 65,000 acres of trees annually! The plan generated fierce opposition by local cape cod activists, federal, state, and Barnstable County officials who cited the loss of forestry and proximity to the area’s drinking-water supply.
A spokesperson for the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, which opposed the range, said Healey’s action effectively killed the project.
“They were trying to cram it down and get a contract signed, and we and others pushed hard on the governor to block it,” he said in an interview Monday. Representative Bill Keating and Senator Elizabeth Warren played a key role when they took steps to remove federal funding for the project from the federal armed services bill.
Forest and Tree activists seeking to preserve one of the key resources in the fight against climate change, must remain vigilant, the threat to forests may not be ended. The statement rejecting the project specified that the rejection took place “… because the funding has not been reauthorized and the project was still undergoing review.” Combined with the Governor’s comments about wanting to work with the Guard to meet their needs, this leaves the door wide open for a future proposal on the cape or elsewhere.
To learn more or get involved, contact the Trees as a Public Good Network.
|
If you would like to work with ORMA Members on
- Climate Change
- Community-Based Alternative Emergency Response Teams
- Ranked-Choice Voting
- Housing For All
|
ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
If you value Organizing Notes and its twice a month distribution schedule, please make a donation to ensure its continued existence.
Invest in Change Now!
|
Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com by Thursday, October 25th.
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
|
Campaigns End, Movements Endure
|
|
