March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education

[Communist]

_________________________________________

[FONT=Courier New]March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education[/FONT]


As people throughout the country struggle under the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, public education from pre-K to higher and adult education is threatened by budget cuts, layoffs, privatization, tuition and fee increases, and other attacks.



Budget cuts degrade the quality of public education by decreasing student services and increasing class size, while tuition hikes and layoffs force the cost of the recession onto students and teachers and off of the financial institutions that caused the recession in the first place. Non-unionized charter schools threaten to divide, weaken and privatize the public school system and damage teachers’ unions, which are needed now more than ever. More and more students are going deep into debt to finance their education, while high unemployment forces many students and youth to join the military to receive a higher education. And all of the attacks described above have hit working people and people of color the hardest.

In California, students, teachers, workers, parents, and faculty have taken action against these attacks. They took to the streets in a one-day strike on September 24th, organized strikes and actions across the state during the University of California Board of Regents meeting from November 18th to 20th, and have called for a state-wide day of action on March 4th.

These actions have created a broad mass movement in California, drawing in students from all over the state to create a powerful struggle. As the effects of the economic crisis continue to spread into the education system nationally, it’s time to join our voices with students and workers in California and draw inspiration from their example.

We support each group or coalition organizing in the manner and for the duration of their choosing. In solidarity with those in California, we the below-signed individuals and organizations call on students, teachers, workers, parents, faculty, and staff across the country to join together on March 4th to Take A Stand For Education! Visit the Web site for more details by clicking on banner above.

Endorse the call at the bottom of the page or by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction(AT)gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=213637229312.

To join the national discussion, please visit the March 4th Google Group at http://groups.google.com/group/march4thaction.

ENDORSED BY:

Organizations

All Nations Alliance
Animas Students for a Democratic Society (Durango, Coloardo)
Bail Out the People Movement
Chicago Students for a Democratic Society
College Park Students for Democratic Society (University of Maryland)
Community Organizing Center for Mother Earth (Columbus, Ohio)
Connecticut Students Against the War
CUNY Campaign to Defend Education
Education For All, San Diego
Fight Imperialism, Stand Together
Georgia State University Progressive Student Alliance
Graduate Student Employees Union (SUNY Stony Brook)
Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society
National Assembly to End the Iraq & Afghanistan Wars & Occupations
New School in Exile
NYC Anti-War Coalition
Peoples Video Network
Progressive Democrats of America-Ohio
Radical Student Union (Bard College)
Recreate ‘68 Alliance
Socialist Organizer
Socialist Party of Connecticut
Solidarity
SPEAK (Students Promoting Engagement Through Activism and Knowledge) at Georgia State University
Student/Farmworker Alliance
Students for Educational Rights (City College of New York)
Students Taking Action to Reclaim our Education (University of Maryland)
UNC-Chapel Hill Students for a Democratic Society
UW-Milwaukee Education Rights Campaign

Individuals (*all organizations listed for identification purposes only)

Frantz Mendes, President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston School Bus Drivers Union*
Steve Gillis, Vice President United Steelworkers L. 8751 – Boston School Bus Drivers Union*
Susan Massad, Associate Professor Framingham State College*
Ed Childs, Chief Steward UNITE/HERE L. 26 (Harvard Univ.)*
Phebe Eckfeldt, Harvard Union Rep., Harvard Union of Clerical & Technical Workers (HUCTW)/AFSCME L. 3650*
Eleanor J. Bader, writer and adjunct faculty member, Brooklyn, NY*
Peter Cook, Boston Teachers Union, Local 66 MFT AFT, AFL-CIO*
Heather Cottin Adjunct Lecturer, History, LaGuardia Community College, PSC member*
Susan E. Davis, National Writers Union, United Auto Workers Local 1981*
Mike Gimbel, Local 375, AFSCME delegate to the NYC-CLC & Chairperson of Local 375, AFSCME, Labor/Community Unity Committee*
Martha Grevatt, Chair, Civil Rights Committee, UAW Local 122*
Andy Griggs, United Teachers Los Angeles; Co-chair, California Teachers Association Peace and Justice Caucus; Steering Committee, US Labor Against the War*
Dr. Sue Harris, Co-Director, Peoples Video Network*
Imani Henry, Playwright/Performer*
Dan La Botz, Spanish teacher, Cincinnati Waldorf School, Cincinnati, Ohio*
Julia La Riva, member of United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA)*
Robin McCubbin, professor, Southwestern College, Chula Vista, CA*
Minnie Bruce Pratt, Professor, Women’s & Gender Studies, Syracuse University*
David Sole, Prof. of Chemistry, Wayne Co. Community College, Detroit.*
The Most Rev. Filipe C, Teixeira, OFSJC, Diocese of Saint Francis of Assisi*
Billy Wharton, National Co-Chair, Socialist Party USA*
Todd Vachon, Low Society Music*
Christopher Hutchinson, General Strike Comics*
Robin Anderson, Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) at UMass-Amherst, Part of UAW local 2322*
Others who are supporting March 4th Actions:
California Coordinating Committee
US Labor Against the War

http://www.defendeducation.org

[Communist]

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[FONT=Century Gothic]Students, youth pick up banner of struggle[/FONT]
By LeiLani Dowell
[FONT=Arial Narrow]Published Feb 15, 2010 [/FONT]


Click to view talk.

Following are excerpts from a talk given Feb. 6 at a Workers World forum in New York City commemorating Black History Month.

Feb. 1 marked the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the sit-ins at so-called “whites only” lunch counters in Greensboro, N.C., a struggle that effectively launched the student movement for African-American civil rights. On that day, four Black students sat down at a Woolworth’s lunch counter at 4:30 pm and ordered coffee. When they were refused, they remained in their seats until the counter closed at 5:30.

Five days later more than 500 students packed the Woolworth’s, as well as Kress, stores. In just two months, the sit-in movement had spread to 54 cities in nine states.

These actions led to the formation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and later, the Black Panther Party, with militant youth leaders like Fred Hampton, who was assassinated by the FBI at the age of 21.

In the 1970s, campuses rocked with protests to demand the inclusion of the histories, literature and other contributions of Black people and other people of color in school curricula.

So it is fitting that we discuss the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education, as it continues the legacy of the struggles of Black and other oppressed students and youth in the 1960s and 1970s. The ruling class today is attempting to use the economic and political crises to roll back the gains won by those struggles.

They’re trying to make students and youth pay for the instability of the capitalist system by raising our tuitions and slashing school budgets. Here in New York, they’re closing at least 19 K-12 [kindergarten through 12th grade] schools and raising tuition at the City University of New York and State University of New York schools. CUNY has historically been the college system for working youth of color, one that was once free after students fought for and won the right to education.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority wants to cut the free student MetroCards that K-12 students use to get to and from school each day — here in New York the subways are the equivalent of school buses in other parts of the country. The MTA uses students as pawns to negotiate for more money from the state. High school students have been protesting in the hundreds in demonstrations across the city.

In places like Arizona, they’re whipping up racism to eliminate ethnic studies programs. The ruling class knows all too well that these are programs that ultimately teach us our legacy of resistance to oppression and repression.
We learn these legacies to steel ourselves for future struggle, so that we can see where we’ve come from, how we did it, and where we have to go.

We honor these legacies not by remembering them, but by continuing them.

March 4 is where we’re going next. Like the student civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which was about so much more than rights for students, the March 4 demonstrations are also about more than the right to education. March 4 has really become a nationwide mobilization against the economic crisis. It’s becoming an action against all the budget cuts, in schools and other social services.

The demonstrations will challenge the increased privatization of K-12 schools — which President Barack Obama is trying to push with the drive for charter schools — as well as budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs, tuition increases and student loan debt.

March 4 actions are being endorsed by unions across the country — the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY, with 20,000 faculty and adjunct lecturers, recently endorsed. The Transport Workers Union had a meeting to build support for the event. In California, the executive board of the San Francisco Labor Council has endorsed, as has the American Federation of Teachers Local 2121, the California Faculty Association, the United Educators of San Francisco and the California Teachers Association. Many student organizations have also endorsed throughout the country.

In Baltimore, students with the Algebra Project are planning to march to a youth detention center to challenge “the school-to-prison pipeline.” In Baltimore, $300 million is slated to refurbish youth prisons. The Algebra Project is demanding that $100 million of that money go to youth jobs.

Here in New York, feeder marches are being planned throughout the city that will converge for a major march from Gov. Paterson’s office to the MTA. K-12, as well as college and university students, teachers, parents and families are all expected to participate.

The youth group FIST was instrumental in initially raising the idea of a nationwide protest to defend education, and has been equally instrumental in the organizing of that effort. All of us — whether you’re a youth or student, educator, parent or ally — have to seize this moment and join full force in the effort to make March 4 a success.

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[FONT=Garamond]
Articles [/FONT][FONT=Arial]©[/FONT][FONT=Garamond] 1995-2010 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
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[Communist]

_________________________
[FONT=Century Gothic]
Michigan tour builds support for [/FONT]
National day of student & worker actions

By Bryan G. Pfeifer
Detroit
[FONT=Arial Narrow]Feb 15, 2010 [/FONT]


In an effort to help mobilize actions in Michigan for the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education, organizer and FIST (Fight Imperialism, Stand Together) leader Larry Hales engaged a diverse range of student-workers at numerous locations during an exciting tour of the state Feb. 1-4.


Larry Hales, left. WW photo: Bryan G. Pfeifer

The tour, organized in conjunction with Detroit FIST, kicked off Feb. 1 at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor at the William Monroe Trotter Cultural Center, a building originally won in the early 1970s by Black students and their allies on that campus by protests, occupations and a strike led by the Black Action Movement.

“While students are on the move nationally, which is evident in the growth of the March 4 National Day of Action, it is the linkage of the student movement with workers that is imperative,” Hales said at the Ann Arbor meeting.

Students at Mumford High School in Detroit heard Hales at a Black History Month Forum on Feb. 2. Mumford, once known nationwide as a stellar school, has been devastated by budget cuts, the defunding of public education and the elimination of affirmative action in Michigan. Many seats in the auditorium where Hales spoke were broken and unusable and students had to enter the school through metal detectors, have their backpacks searched by private security guards and their bodies searched with electronic wands.

Hales engaged the students with a wide scope of revolutionary Black history. He called for the students to join in the organizing for March 4, to resist their oppressive conditions and to protest the military recruiters in their school.

“I follow in the footsteps of Denmark Vesey, John Brown, Gabriel Prosser, Malcolm X and Fred Hampton. I’m a political activist, a revolutionary,” Hales told the Mumford students.

He added, “You should not have to go to a school with metal detectors, with chairs in this auditorium that don’t work or to join the military to kill people that look just like you. We’re sick and tired of being treated like criminals. We can win but we have to fight and struggle for human needs.”

On Feb. 3 Hales joined the student organizations Alleft, the Undergraduate Alliance and the Michigan State University chapter of Students for a Democratic Society at a rally at the East Lansing campus. Activists gathered at the MSU administration building to protest education cuts and then marched five miles to the state Capitol building in Lansing.

All along the march route the students and their allies were menaced by cops but stood their ground chanting and hoisting their placards and banners. A March 4 banner declared, “Jobs and Education: Not War and Jails! Bail Out the Students — Not the Banks!”

Upon entering the state Capitol grounds, the students were welcomed by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, which was having a rally at the Capitol to demand that Gov. Jennifer Granholm issue an immediate state of economic emergency in Michigan and declare a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions and utility cutoffs. Granholm was inside giving her final “state of the state” address as governor.

Members of the student organizations and Moratorium NOW! joined forces to directly confront the racist Tea Party members who had been given a permit to rally on the Capitol steps. Directly confronting the racists and then the state cops who formed a line between the two groups to protect the Tea Party, students and their allies chanted “Power to the students! Power to the workers!” and other slogans.

After the Capitol actions, a meeting organized by SDS took place at MSU. As at the Ann Arbor meeting, students discussed possible actions for March 4 in East Lansing and statewide and shared literature and contacts for mobilizing purposes.

On Feb. 4 Hales addressed a noon class at Wayne County Community College in downtown Detroit, where a lively conversation about contemporary economic, social and political issues took place. Leaflets were given to the students and discussion ensued about possible March 4 organizing activities in Detroit.

Wrapping up his tour at an evening meeting on Feb. 4 at the Detroit FIST and Moratorium NOW! office, Hales described his tour and encouraged the audience to build March 4 activities in Detroit and statewide. Other speakers included members of the Restaurant Opportunities Center-United and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition. A multinational group of labor, community and student activists from various cities in Michigan participated in the meeting.

Said Hales at the Feb. 4 meeting: “Detroit is a city with boarded-up schools, shuttered factories, boarded-up homes, no grocery stores and closed businesses. The children of Detroit and their families have long been neglected and abused by the conditions of the system. The prospect of linking the struggle of the unemployed and underemployed and the attacks against workers, which include foreclosures and evictions and the attacks on public education, with the student struggle is greatest in Detroit. This points the way for the direction of the struggle that is needed to win worker and student power.”

For more information on March 4 organizing, visit defendeducation.org or fistyouth.wordpress.com.


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[FONT=Garamond]
Articles [/FONT][FONT=Arial]©[/FONT][FONT=Garamond] 1995-2010 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of entire
article is permitted in any medium without
royalty provided this notice is preserved. [/FONT]

[Rusty Shackleford]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked

[Kassad]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked

What's going on on the 22nd?

[Rusty Shackleford]

What's going on on the 22nd?

March 22nd is a capitol rally. at sac. the 22nd is the ASCCC's date to march in sacramento to protest education cuts. on my campus were having a teach inon the 4th and were trying to get people to go to the march on the 22nd.

apparently there is a mach on a campus on the 16th

[Communist]

[FONT=Times New Roman]. [FONT=Arial Black] F.I.S.T.[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia][FONT=Garamond]

[/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia][FONT=Garamond]FIST Statement: Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts[/FONT][/FONT]

Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) calls on all students, teachers, faculty and staff to help organize for the March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education.

This March 4 is an opportunity to mobilize against the ruling class’ coordinated assault on students and education workers, including:

• Tuition hikes
• Budget cuts
• Privatization of K-12 schools
• Cuts in student transportation assistance
• Layoffs and furloughs of education workers

Education in the U.S. is under attack. Students and workers are organizing to fight back.

Enough is enough. Students and teachers in California know that, and they made a stand this past Fall with actions around the state.

California students took bold action and occupied a number of universities, including the University of California Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

California activists issued a call for statewide actions on March 4, 2010 coming out of an October conference of students, faculty and teachers. Since that time organizers in California and around the country have expanded the call to include a nationwide day of actions.

Actions will be taking place around the country. FIST will be helping to organize in many of those cities from New York to Raleigh to Miami.

Fight Imperialism Stand Together will mobilize in full force for the March 4 effort to fight back against the attacks on education. Will you join us?
Whether you organize for March 4 with FIST, another organization or on your own–the most important thing is to organize.

Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts

For more information on organizing for March 4 with FIST check out the website [FONT=Century Gothic]here[/FONT].


[FONT=Garamond]No to the cruel tuition hikes! No to the war on the poor! Education not incarceration! Jobs for all! Education is a right![/FONT]

[which doctor]

March 4th, 20th, and 22nd... CA is going to get rocked

What's happening on the 20th?

[Rusty Shackleford]

March 20th

Kassad was kind enough to link me this. there is an event in LA and SF and other cities and DC

[Kassad]

What's happening on the 20th?

March 20th, as Vacant said, is the National March on Washington with coinciding marches in San Francisco and Los Angeles. The event is organized by the ANSWER Coalition and endorsed by over 1,000 individuals and organizations.

[Communist]

_________

[FONT=Century Gothic]S T R I K E S!

W A L K O U T S!

R A L L I E S!

M A R C H E S![/FONT]

--[FONT=Georgia]Tax the Rich, Reverse the Layoffs, End the Fee Hikes[/FONT]--

If you are near any of these cities, towns, villages on March 4 in the
Golden State...show up!

MARCH 4 REGIONAL EVENTS

List will be updated frequently as more events and details are finalized

LOS ANGELES REGIONAL MARCH/RALLY
4 pm Assemble at Pershing Square (5th & Hill) in downtown L.A. March to the
Governor's office (300 Spring St.) for 5 pm Rally. Sponsored by the Southern
California Public Education Coalition (includes UTLA, CFA, CFT, CTA, CSUEU,
community college groups & others). Participants from: Cal State Los
Angeles,
CSU Dominguez Hills, CSU Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, LA City College & more.
Contact: Marla Edy (UTLA) 213-305-9310 or Blanca Castaneda (CFA)
626-379-7380.


SAN FRANCISCO REGIONAL RALLY
"Rally for California's Future"
5 pm Rally at San Francisco Civic Center Participants from: San
Francisco State,
CSU East Bay, California Maritime Academy.
Contact: Matthew Hardy (UESF) 415-513-3179 / [email protected] or Kat General
(CFA) 415-728-8927.


SACRAMENTO/STATE CAPITOL REGIONAL RALLY
"Educate the State"
11 am-1 pm Rally at State Capitol, North Steps * Theater * Music * Speeches
Action includes holding classes for legislators on importance of public
education to California with lectern, desks, chalkboard on North Steps of
Capitol. Participants from: CSU Sacramento, CSU Chico, California Maritime
Academy, UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, local community colleges and K-12
schools.
Sponsored by the California Faculty Association.


SAN FERNANDO VALLEY REGIONAL MARCH/RALLY
"Unite for Public Education: Stop Layoffs, Fee Hikes, Cuts to Education &
Community Services."
3:45 pm gather at CSU Northridge Sierra Quad * 4:15 pm March * 5 pm
Hands around
CSUN * 5:30 pm Rally at Sierra Quad. Participants from: CSU Northridge, CSU
Channel Islands (Camarillo), United Teachers of LA, Cal. Teachers Assoc,
Cal.
Federation of Teachers, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor & more.


MARCH 4 CAMPUS EVENTS
List will be updated frequently as more events and details are finalized

CSU BAKERSFIELD - Rally for Student Access "Keeping the Doors Open."
11:30am-1pm at the Student Union Patio (rain: Stockdale Room in Runner Caf?).


CSU CHANNEL ISLANDS - CFA members will go to the San Fernando Valley to
participate in Regional Action at CSU Northridge. See regional listing
above.


CSU CHICO - Ride the Bus with "Charlie" to "Educate the State." Campus
community holds an 8 am sendoff for buses bound for 11am rally at the State Capitol.
Puppet of CSU Chancellor Reed will hop on the bus. See regional listing
above.


CSU DOMINGUEZ HILLS - CFA members will go to Wilson High School Long
Beach and Los Angeles Regional Action. See Long Beach details below or regional action
listing above.


--ALSO: "All Aboard the Fast Track to Graduation" Students hold a fair
on CSUDH
East Walkway 11 am-1 pm. Games to learn about public education costs,
access and
quality.


CSU EAST BAY - Campus Walkout and Open Mic/Speak Out to "Defend Public
Funding for Public Education" at Agora Stage at Noon; delivery of demands to campus
President Qayoumi, then travel to San Francisco Civic Center for
regional action at 5pm.


FRESNO STATE - "March & Rally for Public Education" starts at NW corner of
Blackstone and Shaw and goes down Shaw to Fresno State where the
marchers will join a rally in the Peace Garden. Start time is 10:30 am, Noon-1pm rally on
campus.

CSU FULLERTON - CFA members will travel to Los Angeles' Pershing Square
to join the Los Angeles Education Coalition on a march to the governor's office.

HUMBOLDT STATE - "Fund Public Education" Rally in front of Humboldt County
Courthouse-Eureka with CSU and K-12 faculty and students. 3-5pm.

CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - Students and CFA faculty will go to downtown Los
Angeles Regional March & Rally (see regional event listing above). Contact Anthony
Francoso (sociology faculty) 626-353-6116 or Blanca Castaneda

CSU LONG BEACH - "Unite for Education" & "Stop Clowning with Our Education"
Noon-1 pm rally at South Campus, Upper Quad, Music, performers,
speakers, aerial
banner. * 1-2 pm Parade * 4 pm Rally with K-12 and Community college
(see below)
Contact: Teri Yamada, 562-229-2066

--ALSO: "Long Beach Unite for Education" rally, 4:15 pm at Wilson High
School Gymnasium, 4400 E. 10th St., Long Beach. Speakers from CFA, Teachers
Association of Long Beach (K-12), Long Beach City College. Music by Tom Morello, The
Nightwatchman.

CALIFORNIA MARITIME ACADEMY - CFA members will head for regional actions
in San Francisco (5 pm SF Civic Center) and Sacramento (11 am, State Capitol North
Steps).

--ALSO: "Stop the Bleeding" action, Noon in Maritime's main quad. Street
theatre, mock "Die-In." Sponsored by CSU Employees Union and student groups.

CSU MONTEREY BAY - Walkout and Teach-In by students followed by a campus
march, 11 am - 1 pm. Followed by car pools to Community Rally for Education at
Colton Hall, 570 Pacific Street (between Madison & Jefferson) in Monterey at 4 pm.


CSU NORTHRIDGE - CFA faculty plus student groups will host a regional march.
3:45-5 pm. Sierra Quad. See details in regional listing above.

CAL POLY POMONA - Send off Rally "Fight Back- No Program Eliminations-
Keep the Doors Open!" 1:30-2:30 pm as students and CFA members board buses at for
regional rally at Pershing Square Los Angeles. Signs, banner, speakers.
SACRAMENTO STATE -- "Educate the State" Rally. CFA at CSU Sacramento hosts
regional rally at the State Capitol, 11 am. See regional listing above for
details.

CSU SAN BERNARDINO - "March In on March 4." March for student access to
the CSU.
11:30 am March begins at Marquee entrance (NW corner of University Pkwy and
Northpark Blvd). March through campus to Pfau Library for Noon rally. Music,
signs, speakers.

--ALSO: Advance Action Sat, Feb 20, 10 am: Coalition meeting of parents,
students, school employees, and educators from CSUSB, UC Riverside and local
public schools at San Gorgonio High School, 2299 Pacific Street, San
Bernardino.


SAN DIEGO STATE - "Vent at the Tent: How is San Diego State important to
you, your family, and the community?" Collect video testimonials from students,
campus community. Peak time 11:30-12:30 pm next to Aztec Center. Large
"scoreboard" showing the loss of students, teachers and classes at SDSU
due to budget cuts. Contact: David Berman - 707-616-1387

--ALSO: Student march through campus will culminate at the "Vent at the
Tent."
Currently planned for Noon. Go to "Tent" by Aztec Center by 11:30 am to
connect with CFA faculty contingent.

--ALSO: Education for All Coalition rally 3 pm at Balboa Park, march to
governor's office and rally 4 pm in downtown. CFA members from SDSU will
participate. More information to come.

SAN FRANCISCO STATE - CFA members will join rally at SF Civic Center 5
pm. See details in regional listing above.

SAN JOSE STATE - "Keep the Doors Open: March-In for Higher Ed" 11 am
Gather at
San Jose City Hall * 11:45 am March to San Jose State Tower Lawn (7th Street
Plaze entrance) * Noon Speakers on keeping the CSU open for current and
future students. Three "box" pyramids representing: 1) missing students
(access), 2) missing faculty, 3) missing class sections. Participants will include
teachers and students from K-16,and community leaders.

CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO - "Rally in Support of Public Education" 3:30-5
pm at Office of state Senator Abel Maldonado, 1356 Marsh St., San Luis Obispo.
Sponsored by: Central Coast Education Coalition (CFA, CCFT, CSUEU, APC).

CSU SAN MARCOS - "Public Funded Higher Education: Why Does it Matter?"
10:30-11:30 am Teach-in on State Budget at Academic Hall (ACD) 102,
simulcast to other classrooms * Noon-1 pm Public Rally at the Kellogg Library. 500
silhouettes will be placed around campus with fact pages attached to them.
Sponsors: CFA, Save CSUSM, CSUEU, ASI.

SONOMA STATE - "Fund the CSU, Fund the Future" 11:30 am Student walk out *
11:30-1:30 pm Rally near Stevenson Hall quad. Speakers. Later, student
action at Salazar Hall.

CSU STANISLAUS - "Rally for Education" at the campus Quad from 11:30am -
1pm.

OTHER EVENTS

March 4 events being put on by other organizations

SANTEE HIGH SCHOOL, LOS ANGELES
March 4 Walk Out. ALSO: February 26 plans for sit-ins with other high
schools in the LA area. Sponsored by Students Enforcing Educational Demands,(S.E.E.D)
Contact: Julia Wallace LA March 4th Committee, 310-404-6729 UCLA Actions
All Day 6 am - 5:30 pm * Including 11:30 am Walk Out * Noon Rally at Bruin
Plaza. Learn more at 'save ucla!' on facebook.

UC RIVERSIDE
March & Rally * Market and University in downtown Riverside. 1 pm Meet
at UCR Bell Tower * 2:30 pm March to downtown * 3:30 pm Rally at University Ave and
Market St. Participants include: students and faculty from UC Riverside,
Riverside Community College, and San Bernardino Valley College, community
members, workers, and teachers.

UC SANTA CRUZ
The March 4 Strike Committee of Santa Cruz announced likely closure of
campus and traffic jams at the entrances to campus. Contact information not
provided.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Planning protests on March 4 * nobudgetcutsuw.blogspot.com/

[Communist]

___________[FONT=Century Gothic]
[/FONT] [FONT=Century Gothic]Protests defend public education, support March 4 national action[/FONT]
By Bill Bateman
Providence, R.I.
Feb 18, 2010


Attacks on public education in Rhode Island are coming one after another.

Gov. Donald Carcieri proposed $125 million in cuts to education and services this year and proposes to cut $162 million next year. Providence, with the state’s largest school system, has lost $5.8 million in state funding for its 24,000 students in the last two years and will lose $7.1 million next year.


[FONT=Times New Roman]High school student tells 200 supporters he wants his school kept open.
WW photo: Bill Bateman [/FONT]

The Providence School Department unveiled a proposal to close seven schools. In a series of six public forums in January and February, 500 parents, students, teachers and concerned community members turned out. One hundred people took the microphone and spoke to oppose the school closings. Not one person supported the idea.

Hope High School’s turnaround and progress since being put into receivership in 2005 — through hiring more teachers and advisors, and going to 90-minute class blocks — are now in jeopardy of being reversed.

The closure plan is seen as a way to keep students packed into oversized classes. Teachers from various schools explained that more students per school will also deprive students of the spaces needed for physical education and the special areas needed for quality music and art classes.

The Rhode Island Unemployed Council pointed out that Providence has an official unemployment rate of 14 percent, and that some of the 11,000 unemployed should be put to work fixing the schools. It said that federal stimulus money is explicitly targeted for repairing schools and hiring more teachers.

The school superintendent of the city of Central Falls presented an ultimatum list of six demands to the teachers union. The teachers said they were willing to sit down and talk but they would not be forced into anything by bullying tactics. The superintendent then said all teachers and staff would receive layoff notices and only 50 percent would have a chance of being rehired next year.

In response to these attacks, the S.O.S. — Save Our Schools — Coalition was formed. Its goal is to defend public education in Rhode Island and fight for safe, secure buildings, up-to-date books, quality resources and equipment, smaller class sizes, and appropriate and specific spaces for art, music, science, etc.

On March 4 — the National Day of Action to Defend Education — the S.O.S. Coalition together with the Rhode Island Unemployed Council will march for jobs and education. A rally will take place from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Providence School Department headquarters at 797 Westminster Ave. A march downtown will start at 4 p.m. and end with a rally at 5 p.m. at Providence City Hall.

_______________



[FONT=Garamond]Articles [/FONT][FONT=Arial]©[/FONT][FONT=Garamond] 1995-2010 Workers World.
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[Communist]

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Bail Out the People Home | Donate
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[FONT=Arial Narrow]Thursday
MARCH 4
NATIONAL DAY of ACTIONS to DEFEND EDUCATION[/FONT]

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The Bail Out the People Movement endorses the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education.

Across the country, students, teachers, faculty and other workers, along with concerned parents, community activists and organizations, will be using the week of March 4 to strike decisively to defend public education and the right to pursue higher learning.

The effects of the economic crisis have been felt in all sectors. Hundreds of thousands have faced having their homes foreclosed on or being evicted. Millions have lost their jobs and have added to the ranks of unemployed, especially people of color. Many families face hunger on a daily basis.

The crisis has not abated but continues like a storm. Federal, state and local governments are now cutting back on vital social services; closing schools; defunding education, health care and other needs; and laying off more workers.

There has been an accelerated push to privatize public education under the guise of “school choice,” using the crumbling infrastructure of inner city schools as an excuse. This crumbling is due to decades of systemic underfunding.

Parents and their children are wooed by for-profit and even nonprofit charter schools as a way out. But the charter schools offer a clear and present danger to teachers’ unions and are not bound to provide English as a Second Language or special education services. Charters can be granted to companies or a group of individuals who ultimately select the students and control the curriculum and budget.

Besides the above, corporations and financial institutions would like to get their hands on the $800 billion a year spent on education.

The Obama administration has contributed to the race to privatize public education. It has dangled $4 billion in front of strapped state governments to compete for by devising a new plan for education. This “Race to the Top” program calls not only for diminishing or eliminating altogether the cap on charter schools, but also calls for the tying of teacher pay to performance, opening the door for the firing of teachers at “underperforming schools.”

The state budget crisis, which grew out of the general economic crisis, has provided state governments across the country a pretext for further attacks on public education. As of December, 36 states have made higher education budget cuts, resulting in tuition increases and reductions in faculty and staff. Twenty-seven states and the District of Columbia have cut aid to K-12 schools. Additional cuts across states are expected to be widespread in 2010.

In this climate of severe and relentless education cuts, March 4 is just the beginning of a movement to unite students, educators and other workers against the attacks on public education. That is why the Bail Out the People Movement is proud to stand up for public education on March 4 and raise the demand: “Money for Jobs and Education, Not for War and Incarceration.” As the struggle continues to grow post-March 4, it will be critical to link together the movements for jobs and education with the movement to stop the wars and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[FONT=Arial Narrow]For more information on the March 4 National Day of Actions to Defend Education:[/FONT]
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• [FONT=Georgia]Visit the Web site for more details at http://www.defendeducation.org.[/FONT]
• [FONT=Georgia]Endorse the call by sending an email to march4nationaldayofaction(AT)gmail.com.[/FONT]
• [FONT=Georgia]Find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=213637229312.[/FONT]

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[FONT=Times New Roman]Bail Out the People Home[/FONT][/FONT]

[RedScare]

On my campus we're gonna soft occupy a building.

[Rusty Shackleford]

On my campus we're gonna soft occupy a building.

if this movement hangs on and grows(as it is right now) there will be more occupations ^^

i have yet to take part in ANY action like this. but march will surely be taking my activism virginity.

Also, i was looking at the california gubernatorial campaign and saw 3 people on the PFP ticket. one from SPUSA, PSL, and i guess a non party member. the primaries are set for june 8 but after a candidate is selected... my hopes are this student movement may get behind a candidate.

[Antifa94]

This looks great! We need occupations! If only I were a university student.

[Communist]

[FONT=arial, helvetica][FONT=verdana,arial][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT]
February 22, 2010[/FONT] [FONT=verdana,arial]
[/FONT] [/FONT][FONT=arial, helvetica][FONT=Book Antiqua]Arts lose out in Metro school cuts[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Serif]Music, drawing, theater slashed in budget crisis
[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]
MICHAEL H. HODGES
Detroit News Arts Writer [/FONT] [/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Kids bob like small boats around Carrie Fonder as she tries to navigate the halls of Detroit's Edison Elementary School. "Miss Carrie!" they call, tugging on her sleeve. "Are we coming to art class today?" Fonder isn't a Detroit Public Schools teacher. She's a visiting artist whose salary is paid by a nonprofit group.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]In that regard, Edison's 375 children are luckier than they know. Only 40 percent, or 69, of the 172 DPS schools have an art teacher, down from 80 percent 10 years ago. And just 30 percent of Detroit schools -- the engines that powered Motown -- offer music instruction.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Detroit's public schools have been in crisis mode for far more than a decade. But suburban schools may not be far behind. In October, all public schools suffered a $165 per pupil cut in state aid -- some suburbs lost even more -- leaving even wealthy-by-comparison systems contemplating cuts to programs once regarded as indispensable.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Student achievement in core subjects like English and math gets tested yearly under the federal No Child Left Behind Act and Michigan Educational Assessment Program exams, to which state aid is tied. So when budgets shrink, art or music -- which are not tested -- are often the easiest to drop.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"The pressure to improve math and reading scores is so great that the fear response has been to get rid of everything else," said Ana Luisa Cardona, a fine arts curriculum consultant at the Michigan Department of Education. "So administrators eliminate the arts, even though research tells us they help engage a student and turn an entire school around."[/FONT]
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[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]Fine arts decimated[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Karen Roney, a Detroit mother of three, adored art classes in the Detroit schools years ago, giving her a lifelong affection for Picasso and abstract art. But her daughters don't seem to have gotten much art exposure from kindergarten to high school.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"They'd bring home drawings and whatnot when they were in Head Start," Roney said, "but that was the end of that."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Detroit's public schools have been whiplashed by budget cuts, crashing test scores and a rapidly shrinking student population. In 1992, DPS boasted 160 visual arts teachers.

Now there are 68. As a result, over the years some parents yanked their kids out of Detroit, enrolling them in resource-rich charter or suburban schools, which only made the problem worse.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Benjamin L. Pruitt Sr., head of fine arts for DPS, said that as enrollment declined, so did fine arts offerings in Detroit schools. "The fine arts program has been decimated over the past 10 years," Pruitt said. "What bothers us is that the fine arts declined faster than enrollment."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Yet countless studies link arts instruction to lower dropout rates, improved academic performance and more socially responsible behavior in adulthood.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Edison Principal Beverly Green put it this way: "When you've got $10 and need groceries, you buy staples first. That's what happened in Detroit."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]The situation is so extreme that a charitable group has chipped in to help.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Edison Elementary hadn't had a DPS art teacher since 2000. But a tiny nonprofit called Art Road approached Green and proposed funding a visiting artist one day a week.

Green jumped at the chance. And that's how Fonder came to spend every Friday at the little school in the city's Rosedale Park neighborhood.[/FONT]

[FONT=Times New Roman]High-tax districts hit hard[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]For high-schoolers, playing Carnegie Hall, as the Troy High School band did in 2004, is about as good as it gets. But an invitation to the band from Queen Elizabeth to march in the 2007 London New Year's parade topped even that.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Troy has long been admired for music and performance. But hacking millions in withdrawn state aid from the budget -- with more cuts expected next year -- risks sabotaging the very excellence the district is so proud of.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"The arts are very important to us and our board," said district spokesman Tim McAvoy. "But the cuts are so severe that it gets more difficult to protect programs."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Bad enough to lose the $165 per child that Lansing cut last fall, but some suburbs also lost "20-J" funds -- doled out to certain high-tax districts after Proposition A passed in 1994 -- making their total per-pupil hit far bigger than Detroit's.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Proposition A aimed to equalize per-pupil funding across the state, but high-tax districts -- the 20-J towns -- complained it would punish them by slashing what they spent per student to bring up poorer districts. In a compromise, Lansing granted 42 districts statewide an extra annual allowance.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Until this year. Troy, which has 12,060 public school students, lost $248 per child in 20-J funds. Added to the $165 per pupil cut, that's a perilous drop of $413 per student, or nearly $5 million, in just one district.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]School administrators are still in the thick of developing proposals for next year, but it stands to reason that something -- obviously subjects not covered by standardized tests or No Child Left Behind -- will have to go. And because Michigan's recession started right after Sept. 11, 2001, school administrators have, in effect, been trimming for years. [/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Birmingham, which also has well-regarded arts programs, has lost 20 percent of its music teachers to attrition over the past five years.

The district has rejiggered elementary school music from 30 minutes twice a week to 45 minutes every four days, and expanded some classes like band and orchestra at the higher grade levels.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Berkshire Middle School Principal Jim Moll is hopeful his Birmingham school will be able to hold onto art, music and theater.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"I greatly value the performing arts for kids of this age in particular," he said. "It's a place where they can belong."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Plymouth-Canton, the state's third-largest school district and famous for its marching band, held onto teachers but also expanded class size.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]And Southfield, which faces a $20 million deficit in the coming school year, retained teachers but clipped their hours -- often by 20 percent.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Every Southfield elementary school offers vocal music, said Deputy Superintendent Kenson Siver, but instrumental music is present in only three of the nine schools. "And I don't know how much longer we'll be able to hold onto that," he said.[/FONT]
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[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]Arts benefit kids[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"Disastrous" is the term Shirley Woodson Reid applied to the lack of art and music instruction in most Detroit elementary schools.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"The arts are an initial way of communicating," said Woodson Reid, who headed DPS fine arts until last year. "Little children explain everything with their images and creations."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Such creations foster eye-hand coordination. "But our kids can be in the third or fourth grade," she said, "and still don't know how to hold scissors."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Antonia Caretto, a Farmington Hills clinical psychologist, said it all boils down to mental development.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"The more we can develop both sides of the brain," she said, "the better the long-term implications for creative problem-solving," which might be key to keeping this country competitive in a globalized world.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]In one of the largest studies of its kind, James S. Catterall in the 1990s tracked 12,000 California students from eighth grade to age 26. He found that kids who took band or orchestra in middle school and kept at it did 50 percent better in 11th-grade math than peers who never played an instrument.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"That's one of the big stories," said Catterall, who chairs the University of California-Los Angeles education department. "Kids in arts-rich schools who didn't participate in those subjects still did better than children at schools without arts programs."[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]His results suggest the payoffs reach well into adult life, particularly for children from poorer families. Almost 40 percent of disadvantaged kids in arts-rich schools went on to college, he said, compared to 17 percent from schools without art or music. As adults, Catterall found that those students from art-rich schools volunteered, registered to vote and participated in organized religion at much higher rates than their arts-poor peers.[/FONT]
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[/FONT] [FONT=Times New Roman]Legendary programs[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Downsizing or killing school arts programs strikes Rick Sperling as nothing short of tragic. The Detroit schools were legendary for music and performance, said the founder and CEO of Mosaic Youth Theatre.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Indeed, every Detroit student was required to audition for at least one of the performing arts in a mandatory class called "Auditorium." While the city does boast standout programs like those at Renaissance, Cass Tech and Martin Luther King high schools, only 55 percent of city high schools even have a music teacher today.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Sperling worries this wholesale abandonment is cheating kids and jeopardizing minority representation in the arts. "One of the reasons Motown happened in Detroit was because of the public schools' incredible music programs," he said.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]In one positive move, DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb announced last week that 31 art and music teachers who had been pink-slipped will be reinstated, owing in part to parental protest.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]Still, that does nothing for Detroit schools that haven't seen an art or music teacher in years.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]For DPS' Pruitt, the worst part of his job is dealing with all the violins, trumpets and drums now gathering dust at schools without music programs.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"I'll have the instruments lined up in the hall waiting for the truck, and kids walk by with wide eyes," Pruitt said.[/FONT]

[FONT=arial, helvetica]"At first they think I'm their new band director. And I have to tell them, 'No. I'm here to take your instruments away.' " ****

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March 4 National Day of Action to Defend Education
[/FONT] [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]
[FONT=Impact]Organize to smash tuition hikes and budget cuts[/FONT][/FONT] [FONT=Impact]
Education is a right![/FONT]
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[Communist]

_________________

[FONT=Arial Black]DETROIT[/FONT] / [FONT=Arial Black]March 4 [/FONT]

FUND EDUCATION, NOT BANKS & THE WAR MACHINE
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Students, youth, educational workers and community activists are all joining together to participate in the National Day of Action to Defend Education on Thursday, March 4 2010.

The politicians and administrators say that there is no money for education and social services. They contend that there is no alternative to the massive layoffs of teachers, clerical workers, custodians, social workers and counselors.

However, everyone knows that there is plenty of money and resources for wars, bank bailouts, mass incarceration of people of color and the poor. We must take a stand to demand that local, state and federal governments fund education, not military occupations and wealthy financiers.

We must demand the end to privatization of public education and the usurpation of local control and self-determination. Education is a fundamental human right, not a privilege for the rich and powerful.

Join us on March 4 for a march and rally from Wayne State University to the New Center area where we will demand:

-- Full funding of public k-12 education and the restoration of music, arts and sports programs;

--The reduction of class sizes to 16 students in all schools;

-- A halt to all tuition hikes in higher education and the rolling back of recent tuition increases;

-- Increased funding for breakfast and lunch programs in all K-12 educational institutions;

-- Stop the privatization and charterization of public schools;

-- Restore state funding for the Michigan Promise Scholarship, not a phony tax credit;

-- Increase funding for state universities and community colleges and university workers;

-- Stop layoffs of secondary school, community college and university workers;

-- Rehire all workers laid off in the current crisis;

-- Hands off unions and student organizations;

-- Fire the DPS Emergency Financial Manager; restore local control to Detroit Schools;

-- Increase African-American, [email protected], Middle Eastern and Native American enrollment in higher education

Rally at Gullen Mall on the Wayne State University Campus in Detroit, MI -- 4 p.m.

March to Cadillac Plaza and Detroit Public Schools Headquarters -- 4:30 p.m.

Picket and Rally Outside Cadillac Plaza and the Fisher Building (Grand Blvd. & 2nd Ave.) -- 5 p.m.


Sponsored by FIST Detroit, the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) and the Moratorium NOW! Coalition To Stop Foreclosures, Evictions & Utility Shutoffs. Endorsement list in formation.

For more more information:

313-671-3715;

313-559-7074;

248-990-0275;

email: fist.detroit(AT)gmail.com;
or see: www.defendeducation.org.


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[which doctor]

On March 4th, there will also be a rally in Chicago at the UIC Quad at 2:00pm, more details to come soon.

[Communist]

[FONT=Arial][FONT=Times New Roman].[/FONT]
Please note: The people of Michigan will pay $18.7 billion for Total Defense Spending in FY2010. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:[/FONT]

• 
  
  • [FONT=Arial]
  • 1,924,702 Scholarships for University Students for One Year OR
  • 7,037,020 People with Health Care for One Year OR
  • 338,748 Music and Arts Teachers for One Year OR
  • 3,372,216 Students receiving Pell Grants of $5550 OR
  • 150,871 Affordable Housing Units OR
  • 264,394 Elementary School Teachers for One Year[/FONT]
  
  

[FONT=Arial]See http://www.nationalpriorities.org/ for more ways that your money is wasted on war.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]
[/FONT] [FONT=Arial]For more more information:
313-671-3715;
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]313-559-7074; [/FONT] [FONT=Arial]248-990-0275;
email: [/FONT][FONT=Arial]fist.detroit(AT)gmail.com[/FONT][FONT=Arial];
or see: [/FONT][FONT=Arial]www.defendeducation.org[/FONT][FONT=Arial]. [/FONT]




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