Busy Days

Some busy days coming up - almost too busy to do this blog. I didn't even get to write about last week when I debated a NY Charter School Center guy at Hofstra followed the next day by the screening of our film at NYU and the follow-up discussion which led to the invitation below.

Dear Norm Scott,
I'm writing as a member of an NYU student group organizing in support of Occupy Wall Street. For the past few weeks we have been holding open forums that we are calling the People's University in Washington Square Park, bringing teachers and activists out into public spaces to talk about current social issues.

Last Thursday I attended the GEM screening of An Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman at NYU (which was really great, by the way). I was wondering if you would be interested in coming out to a People's U this Saturday, 11/5 at 1:30pm.
The session will be on public education in NYC, and we would be thrilled to have you speak about your work as an NYC public school teacher and activist. Our events on Saturday have drawn upwards of around 75-100 folks, and our speakers have generally used the people's mic and talked for 10-15 minutes or so. (Here's our website with past events, if you're interested: http://peoplesu.tumblr.com/ .)

The session on public education will see a mix of public school teachers, parents, students, and activists speaking about their experiences under mayoral control, and (if they are inspired to do so) on the connections between education activism in NYC and the OWS movement.
If this would interest you, and/or if you have any recommendations for others who could speak at the People's U, please let me know. Thanks for your time!

Sincerely,

If you are around Washington Square Park on Saturday afternoon around 1:30 come join the crowd. If you would like to speak at People's U email me
-----------------


Screenings Galore of GEM Film as UFT Continues to Boycott


There are some screenings of the film coming up. Nov. 7 at Teachers College, Nov. 9 at PS 261K. There is a big organizing drive going on for the Nov. 9 screening as a way to inform the community that Eva is looking to invade about charter schools using our film as a tool. 


I will be flying up to SUNY Cortland on the 9th (also a DA which I will thankfully miss) for a panel on the film. Here are the nitty gritties. We need to RSVP for the TC screening so email me if interested. 

--------------------
And then a special event at SUNY Cortland where I will be on a panel - they actually sent me a plane ticket to fly up on Nov. 9th for an overnight stay, so I will miss the screening at PS 261 in Cobble Hill (see below).

FREE FILM SCREENING

Eva Moskowitz wants to bring her Success Charter Schools to District 15!

What does that mean for our neighborhood public schools?

What happens when charter schools are given space in public school buildings?

Why is the DOE supporting charter schools and cutting the budgets for public schools?

Learn more by joining us for a screening of “The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman”, produced by The Grassroots Education Movement.

Followed by a panel discussion featuring:

Becky Alford

NEST program teacher & parent, PS 32

Ina Pannell-St. Surin

MS 447 PTA Co-Vice President

Khem Irby

1st Vice President, District 13 CEC & co-founder of The MANY

Leonie Haimson

parent & director of Class Size Matters

Brian Jones

teacher at PS 261 & member of GEM

Wednesday, Nov 9, 2011
6:00 PM

PS 261 Auditorium
314 Pacific Street (between Smith & Hoyt)
Brooklyn, NY

Sponsored by PS 261 Unite
Contact 261Unite@gmail.com for more information
==============

Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on the right for important bits.