Kathleen Pointer

public education super fan | kc tenants board member

[Local Progress @LocalProgress]

LP School Board Members know - school takeovers are about control.

As far-right state legislators back abusive preemption to take authority away from local officials, they also use school takeovers to weaken the powers of school boards, community voices, and local democracy.

[Dr. Anthony Lewis @draslewis]

North Carolina just lost another 12,000 students from public schools through the Opportunity Scholarship voucher program…draining approximately $97.3 million in state headcount-driven funding from public education.

Let’s be honest: public school education may not be working for families because it is not being adequately funded.

The state calls vouchers “one of the state's biggest educational investments in recent years.”

Imagine if we could instead say:

“Increasing teacher salaries has been one of the state's biggest educational investments in recent years.”

What if that $97.3 million had been invested in:

Raising teacher salaries that remain among the lowest in the nation

Addressing the more than $13 billion in school facility needs across North Carolina

Removing the outdated 13% cap on Exceptional Children funding while Durham Public Schools serves 16.6% EC scholars

Removing the 10.8% cap on English Language Learner funding while DPS serves 22.8% multilingual scholars

Removing the 4% cap on AIG funding while DPS serves 21.7% academically/intellectually gifted scholars

Public schools educate every child who walks through our doors regardless of need, language, disability, or circumstance. Yet we continue to be asked to do more with less while public dollars are redirected away from the very system that serves the overwhelming majority of North Carolina students.

If we truly care about student outcomes and their future, we must fully fund public education which is the bedrock of democracy. We are preparing scholars for the future and the future doesn’t look like a private school education. Our public schools are diverse and represents the real world they will be living in. We will all be ancestors one day. Act accordingly.

Contact your legislators and have family members and friends across the state to contact theirs.

Demand investment in public schools, not abandonment of them.

Our scholars deserve better. Our educators deserve better. DPS deserves better. North Carolina deserves better.

https://t.co/YH4xeKOU3v

[Johnathan Duncan @JDuncanKC]

I had the privilege on working through city problems with visionary future leaders of Ms. Hobbs’ ESL class at East High School this morning. We talked affordable housing, homelessness, potholes, immigration, schools, trash, and road diets!

[The Kansas City Star @KCStar]

After 7 years of making power squirm, KC Tenants turns to a new leader | Opinion https://t.co/cKO6FACXoI

[The Kansas City Star @KCStar]

After 7 years of making power squirm, KC Tenants turns to a new leader | Opinion https://t.co/4shuHdpYSv

[Johnathan Duncan @JDuncanKC]

Congrats to my friend/organizer Jenay Manley for stepping into the role as Director of THE most powerful tenant union. Thank you to my friend & forever coconspirator Tara Raghuveer for your leadership, sacrifice, & constant commitment to the growth of others. Long live the Union!

[Johnathan Duncan @JDuncanKC]

We marked 7 years of KC Tenants building power, picking fights, & winning material gains with the people. KCT has empowered thousands who feel tired & beat down to do something about it- to build anyway, to organize anyway & to fight like their lives depend on it because they do.

[WBEZ @WBEZ]

Following Aspira’s financial problems, the Chicago Board of Education on Thursday revoked the operator’s charter, a dramatic step the board hasn’t taken since 2019. https://t.co/jxd0UKaFY5

[The Kansas City Star @KCStar]

After 7 years of making power squirm, KC Tenants turns to a new leader | Opinion https://t.co/IAawBsRYOv

[Kathleen Pointer @kathleenpointer]

"For years...orgs here worked mostly within the system, mostly politely. They did some good. But they did not build a movement. @kctenants has. The group has been aggressive occasionally, belligerent and ...unbound by the traditional rules of engagement." that's my tenant union❤️‍🔥

[The Kansas City Star @KCStar]

After 7 years of making power squirm, KC Tenants turns to a new leader | Opinion https://t.co/BDPLfoutjJ

[Tenant Union Federation @TenantFed]

Help us call tenants across the Twin Cities and build 10,000 pledges for the March 1st rent strike!

We fought ICE out of Minnesota. Now we’re fighting to keep them in their homes.

No experience needed. Out of towners welcome.

Sign up: https://t.co/jCIInHOgDc

[Elise Joshi @EliseJoshi]

The largest rent strike in MN history could start March 1st.

Twin City tenants aren't leaving any power on the table. Keep your eyes on Minnesota.

[Tara Raghuveer @taraghuveer]

MAJOR: Twin Cities Tenants joins five labor unions, together repping 25,900 members, to launch a rent strike drive, vowing to withhold rent March 1 if @GovTimWalz fails to deliver an eviction moratorium and rent relief. If launched, the largest US rent strike in 100+ years.

[Local Progress @LocalProgress]

BREAKING ‼️135+ state & local electeds across 30 states demand that @GovTimWalz allow Minnesota cities to enact eviction moratoriums.

As ICE rips families apart, these leaders say families belong at HOME.
https://t.co/QDjoQ8cSZo

[Local Progress @LocalProgress]

"A World Cup that lives up to its name belongs to everyone, not a wealthy few."

Today's joint op-ed from @kendraforphilly, @tiffany_caban, and @JackieFielder_ in @NextCityOrg on the opportunities and the threats that the World Cup poses to our cities:
https://t.co/oSiRa895Up

[ProPublica @propublica]

New: ProPublica went inside the detention center for immigrant families in Dilley, Texas. Children held there told us about the anguish of being ripped from their lives in the United States and the fear of what comes next. https://t.co/EmeC0skBMh

[ProPublica @propublica]

1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.

Hundreds of kids are still detained. We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵

[KC Tenants @KCTenants]

All power to the Raytown tenants ❤️‍🔥

[More Perfect Union @MorePerfectUS]

Tenants from Raytown, Missouri, just won a historic 4-month rent strike.

They won:
-Two-year leases
-Rent reductions by $90-150 a month
-Good cause eviction protections
-A schedule for major pest, bug, mold, water repairs by the end of March
-No retaliation against tenants for organizing
-All 27 eviction notices and 7 lease non-renewals against striking tenants dropped
-$115,000 in withheld rent and rent debt cancellation

[Johnathan Duncan @JDuncanKC]

Ryan and Terry Anderson want to sell out our community to ICE . May they never so much as get a coffee or go to the grocery store without whispers and glares. Let’s force them to save face and make a different choice.