Thursday, September 1 is Glenda Ritz's Birthday. Hoosier
Voices is hosting a twitter storm to celebrate this day by sharing Glenda's
accomplishments. Join us by tweeting all day using #istandwithritz #ritz4edand
showing your support for her re-election bid.
In order for this storm to be effective it should follow
some simple guidelines and run continuously from 7:00am through 8:00pm.
1. Posts should be supportive of Glenda and highlight her
accomplishments
2. Posters should post on both Twitter and Facebook
3. Posts should be shared by one's self as well as
"re-tweeted" and "shared"
4. Posts by teachers should NOT be made during school time
or on school technology; however, posts can be scheduled for twitter using
TweetDeck This is a simple site and multiple posts can be written and scheduled
hours (even days) in advance. This will
allow those who work during the hours of the STORM to post LEGALLY by having
their posts scheduled in advance so they will post during selected time
frames.
 |
| TweetDeck |
SUGGESTED TWEETS/POSTS
It would be fun if everyone would start with this post at
7:00am
Happy Birthday Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction Glenda
Ritz #HappyBDayGlenda #istandwithritz #ritz4ed
#istandwithritz because we need fair funding for PUBLIC
schools
#istandwithritz because she respects teachers and their
profession
Glenda has always put students before politics, that's why
#istandwithritz
Glenda knows that students are more than test scores #istandwithritz #studentsRmorethanscores #ritz4ed
Glenda knows that students are more than test scores #istandwithritz #studentsRmorethanscores #ritz4ed
Superintendent Ritz knows that teaching is more important
than testing #istandwithritz
We need someone who will stand up for PUBLIC education,
which is why #istandwithritz
More time for teaching, less time for testing
#istandwithritz
PUBLIC schools need an advocate in state office #istandwithritz #NoTonyClone #ritz4ed
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Point to these accomplishments in posts or summarize into tweets.
-Replaced
a political agenda with an education agenda
-Replaced
a “school takeover” agenda with a “school outreach” division
-Improved
103 schools in a single year, by increasing direct support to schools and
educators through her innovative Division of Outreach.
-Led the
effort to end the ISTEP and is working across the aisle to replace it with a
test that is less time-consuming, less costly, and more informative
-Travels
2-3 days every week to local schools to listen to their needs
-Hosted
Indiana’s first statewide teacher recruitment conference to encourage high
school students to pursue teaching as a career.
-Created
a list of Promising Practices found in Indiana schools to improve the
visibility of how educators change lives every day
-Achieved
a 95% graduation rate for CTE students, by providing more high-quality Career
and Technical Education opportunities
-Trained
more than 1,700 new school safety specialists and created the IDOE Response
Team to better serve schools during a large-scale crisis.
-Meets
with education stakeholders every week, including state agencies, non-profit
groups, legislators, chambers of commerce, mayors, and more.
-Created
the Student Advisory Council to get input from students on education policy
Imagining 2020: In the next four years, Superintendent Ritz
will
-Make
high quality Pre-K available in every school corporation in the state for every
parent who wants it
-Continue
to provide more time for learning and less time for testing
-Work
towards achieving a 91% graduation rate for all students, the highest in the
nation, training them to enter living wage careers or post-secondary education
-Propose
fair and adequate funding for all public schools
-Treat
our teachers like professionals, including them in the process to end the
teacher shortage and increasing opportunities for professional development
To learn more about what Glenda Ritz has accomplished,
visit: the Ritz4Education website
We need four more years of Glenda Ritz’s leadership
- another four
years giving teachers more time to teach
- another four
years reducing costly, high-stakes testing
- another four
years expanding a bottom-up outreach program to schools
- another four
years building a statewide literacy initiative
- another four
years increasing wraparound services for our most vulnerable students
- another four
years advocating for the recruitment and retention of quality educators
- another four
years advocating for more money to go to public education
The Story of Why Glenda Ritz Ran for Office
In 2012, a third-grade student walked into the library and I
asked her if she would like to check out a book. She replied, “Mrs. Ritz, I
don’t need to check out a book, because I just passed my iRead3 test.” I
thought to myself, “What are we doing to these kids? They think the only purpose
of reading is to pass a test.”
That’s when I decided to run for Indiana Superintendent of
Public Instruction.
I had never run for office before; I am an educator, not a
politician. But federal and state politics had entered our schools pushing high
stakes testing, demeaning the teaching profession, privatizing public schools
through state takeover, and worsening the fight for funding and resources. I
could no longer stand by and let out-of-state special interest groups and their
political agenda continue to harm our students, educators, schools, and
communities.
