Arne Duncan came into office as Secretary of Education claiming that he had done great things for school reform in his previous position as CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Subsequent years, however, have shown the results of his brutal policies of school turnaround, privatization, and parent disenfranchisement. Duncan’s policies have: 1. Not improved test scores. 2. Dislocated children and broken communities by closing down much-needed and beloved neighborhood schools, particularly in African American neighborhoods, despite intense community protest. 3. Completely ignored the input of parents and students on the issue of school closures. 4. Worked to eliminate Local School Councils, the premier forum for parental engagement and participation in the schools in Chicago, which have also been shown to be effective vehicles of school improvement. 5. Created a labyrinthian application and school system where siblings are split up, children who used to walk to school are required to cross dangerous streets or travel via public transportation. 6. Encouraged the narrowing of the curriculum via such policies as merit pay for teachers and increased high stakes testing. 7. Pushed an agenda of privatization and created dozens of new charter schools, despite the fact that charter schools, on average, have been shown not to outperform their equivalents in the regular public school system, and that parents have no input into the operation of charter schools. 8. Displaced thousands of workers by firing everyone associated with closing schools (including custodians, secretaries, lunch servers, and other non-academic employees who cannot possibly be blamed for student achievement levels). The evidence from Duncan’s Great Chicago Experiment shows that these policies harmed children and did NOT raise test scores. Yet Duncan has spent the last two years trying to force states to replicate these failed policies in their own school districts. He has consistently followed a policy of “top down” reform, ignoring the voices of parents, teachers, students, community members, and publically elected state officials, whose schools his policies impact. As the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, which has already harmed millions of children, becomes clearer on the Washington radar, it is particularly concerning to imagine Arne Duncan at the helm of American education. Tell President Obama to fire Arne Duncan. If we are going to do school reform, we need a Secretary of Education who will care about what our students and communities want and need.