Easter Sunday was the third birthday for the Michigan Populist Blog. Here is a quick look back.
The first post: The first post, entitled Snyder Uses Poor and Politicized Data to Judge Public Schools, was actually an adaptation from a letter written to one of Governor Snyder’s constituent liaisons. The post, and the letter, poked holes in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) data that the Governor and his staff were using to suggest Michigan’s students were not getting a quality education.
The most successful post: The most successful post by far was from this January and was entitled Governor Snyder Deceived You on School Funding. Here is How. The post, which points out that per pupil funding is below 06-7 levels, and highlights inequity in school funding, was viewed 48,000 times and shared over 8,000 times. Not too shabby.
The most respected post: My 2011 post called Great Lakes Education (Read DeVos) Project outlined the background and agenda of the DeVos funded anti-public education group. The post has been referenced by several blogs including the best progressive blog going, Ecletablog.
Most disappointing: I was hoping I would get more of a response out of my post Legislators Have the Means to Make Schools Safer. Here is What They Should Do and How You Can Help. I outlined my ideas and created a petition asking legislators to fund secure school entrances, mandate a reasonable counselor to student ratio, and put intermediate school districts in charge of school safety. Not only were none of my suggestions implemented, and all my tweets, emails, and Facebook post ignored, legislators did virtually nothing to make schools safer in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy.
A post people should have read but didn’t: My post How the Winners and Losers Nearly Clashed at the Capitol on Tuesday was a first hand report of how police and protesters found themselves in a potentially deadly, and easily avoidable, situation during the right-to-work protest in December of 2012. Even if you don’t read the article, take a look at the pictures. Then remember that Governor Snyder likes to say they should do things in Washington like they do in Lansing.
Biggest surprise: Meeting Lynn Mason, candidate for the 102nd House, and finding out that she referenced my blog post Posthumus Lyons is Michigan’s Least Ethical Legislator in her campaign materials and stump speech. I sure hope it helps contribute to a defeat of Posthumus Lyons this November. I highly encourage public school activists to volunteer and/or contribute to Lynn’s campaign.
People I would like to thank: I would like to thank my wife Amy who typically proof reads my posts and gets stuck watching the kids when I decide to write a blog post on short notice. I’d also like to thank the many kind people who have read and shared my posts and those who have given me words of encouragement. Lets do this again in three years!
Chad