This just in from NEW Caucus - a followup to our last post:
Video: Newark Student Union Conducts a Sit-in at The Newark Public Schools Board's Budget Meeting and Cami Walks Out Again!
As of 11:55 tonight, there are 10 members of the Newark Student Union spending the night at 2 Cedar Street in the room where the Advisory Board holds its business meetings.
After
our small but successful rally this afternoon, the students went
upstairs, issued their demands and sat down in the floor in the front of
the room. The demands were:
1) The immediate resignation of Cami Anderson
2) An immediate halt to One-Newark
3) Implementation of Newark Promise (the community driven report created over months and presented Saturday)
4) A meeting with Anderson and NJ Commissioner of Education David Hespe.
When
they were offered the meeting with Anderson and Hespe, but had the
other demands refused, they remained seated and refused to leave. The
meeting was ended, the adults all left, and the students controlled the
room. And they still control the room right now.
This
is an INSPIRING example of what human beings can do when they show
solidarity with each other and work together to fight injustice imposed
by the wealthy and powerful! A small group of students are literally
putting their bodies on the gears of power, and stopping those gears
from functioning!
For
we adults - often too afraid to take action even when our own
profession, reputations, livelihoods and callings are under attack -
this action should show us that it is not acceptable to bury our heads
in the sand as public education is destroyed! We hope this
will be a call to action for the many adults who have thus far refused
to stand up for themselves, their schools, and their students!
BUT, the students have not eaten much since 6 or 7 pm,
and are hungry now. And, they will be truly hungry in the morning.
AND, they need moral support. So, if you are at all able and have time
in the morning, please help and support these students in any way
possible, either materially (food and beverages) or morally (going to 2
Cedar St to show support, or telling friends about their action).
Please
tell friends, family, and colleagues about their fight and their
current situation. They need all the support they can get.
NEW Caucus stands in solidarity with the Newark Students Union!
In Solidarity,
Has anyone seen activists face the audience like this? In two seconds, they cut the power of the Board at least by half and acted out a "Speak to the hand" gesture on a giant screen.
ReplyDeletePowerful, but if adults did it, we'd be taken out by security, and probably arrested.