Thursday, January 27, 2011

Today is Rally Day - Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Sleet...Snow Closings- YES, School Closings -NO

Greetings to all  supporters and endorsers of the Rally to Stop School Closings & Charter Takeovers ,
Today is Rally Day.  
Snow or no snow. Our schools are being attacked by the draconian policies of the DOE  and we are not going to sit back and let this happen. Get out all of your members and supporters to ensure a huge turnout.  Let's tell City Hall and tweed that the parents, teachers, students and community members of this city will fight to defend public education. All of our kids must get the excellent education they deserve!
             
           At the rally we will be treated to Jamaica and Queens Collegiate students performing an abridged performance of "Declassified: The Struggle for Existence [We Used to Eat Lunch Together]" which is a reinterpretation of Antigone and a candid and scathing critique of school reforms. Also students and teachers facing school closings and charter takeovers as well as representatives from sponsoring organizations will speak. 

              
We encourage all groups to bring signs, banners, instruments, and their favorite slogans and chants so that together we can make a strong statement to the Mayor, the Chancellor,   the PEP  and all other forces who are trying to destroy our public schools.

See you later,

Gloria Brandman
for the Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closing and the
Grassroots Education Movement (GEM)


Stop the school closings!
Stop charter takeovers
Defend public education
Say no to privatization
Mayor Bloomberg's Department of Education plans to close 26 more schools this year.  Despite the DOE's claim that these school closings are aimed at reforming schools, they have instead opened the door to privately-run charter schools and have limited school options for those affected.  According to the accounts by parents, students and teachers, DOE policies have had the effect of sabotaging the schools that are slated to be closed, not "fixing" them.

Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school.  This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City.

In addition to closing schools, the DOE plans to grant more public school space to charter schools through co-locations, undermining public school resources and pitting school communities against each other. 

We demand quality resources and support for our public schools, not closings and privatization!

Join parents, students, teachers and community members at a rally to stop school closings.
Thursday January 27 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
City Hall Plaza near the Brooklyn Bridge
Trains:  4, 5, 6, 2, 3, R, A and C
(Lists in formation)
Sponsored by: The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop School Closings and Charter Takeovers, Grassroots Education Movement NYC (GEM), New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCoRE),Coalition for Public Education/Coalición por la Educaci
ón Pública (CPE-CEP), The Manhattan Local of the Green Party of NY State, Class Size Matters, United Federation of Teachers (UFT)

Endorsed by:Teachers for a Just Contract (TJC), Concerned Advocates for Public Education (CAPE), Independent Community of Educators (ICE), Center For Immigrant Families (CIF), The Puerto Rico Solidarity Network - PRSN NY, People Power Movement,  Renaissance School of the Arts-M377(UFT Chapter), City-Wide Coalition for Education Excellence Now, Black Women Against Urban Youth Violence, Teachers Unite (TU),  South Bronx Community Council, NY with UPR (NY with University of Puerto Rico), Dee Knight, The Independent Workers Movement/Movimiento Independiente de Trabajadores,, District Leader Chris Owens (52nd Assembly District, Brooklyn), Retiree Advocate Caucus-UFT, CUNY Mobilization Network, The Green Party of NY State, Independent Commission on Public Education (ICOPE), Radical Women, Answer Coalition, Community Education Council 1 (CEC1), Black New Yorkers for Educational Excellence (BNYEE), New Action/UFT, National Black Education Agenda (NBEA), State Assemblywoman Annette Robinson 56th AD, Youth on the Move (a Program of Mothers on the Move), PACE Network. Roots Revisited, S.E.E.D.S., Inc., The Healing Drum Collective, Batay Ouvriye (Workers' Struggle) Solidarity Network, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, Councilman Charles Barron and Operation P.O.W.E.R., Time Out from Testing, The Mothers' Agenda NY (The MANY)

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