Notes from the Field
by Frank Murphy on Jul 28, 2011
This Saturday, the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action will take place in Washington D.C. The rally, which will be staged at the ellipse, starts at noon. Around 1:30 p.m., participants will march to the White House where the demonstration will continue.
Many readers will recognize that most, if not all, of the issues that we regularly discuss in the comments of the Notebook blog are represented in the march’s guiding principles.
In an earlier post on City School Stories, I wrote about the significance of this event and how it relates to the education reform turmoil currently occurring in the School District of Philadelphia.
Participating in this national demonstration is just one more way for public school parents, teachers, and students to express their dissatisfaction with the course of school reforms, not only in their local communities but throughout the nation as well.
Parents Across America, one of the sponsoring organizations of the march and rally, offers a wealth of relevant information on their website for anyone concerned about the current direction of school reform in our nation. PAA’s position papers are intended to be useful guides for teachers and parents who are committed to promoting policies that will help to strengthen public schools.
PAA also offers fact sheets including:
- Tying Teacher Salaries to Test Scores Doesn’t Work,
- a comparison chart of the relative success of reducing class versus using Race to the Top strategies, and
- a summary of independent polling information showing a drop in support of Obama administration’s education policies.
Hopefully, a good representation of our Philadelphia school community will be present in D.C. this Saturday. Will you be there?
Let us know how it goes and follow tweets about the march via the #SOSmarch hashtag.Save Our Schools March
Carol T.
July 31, 2011 at 7:32 pm
My husband and I just returned from the SOS March and National Call to Action. We only attended the actual march on Saturday, and in hindsight wish we had also gone to the full conference at American University.
One of my initial reactions was how “relaxing” the gathering felt; I was being supported rather than attacked, and everyone knew what I have been thinking about and experiencing. This is positive on a personal level, but astonishing on a larger level. People from all over the country were sharing experiences of overtesting, budget cuts, scapegoating, politiking, etc. All the things that we have been experiencing in Philadelphi/ Pennsylvania are happening in ALL OVER our country! This is somewhat comforting, but also alarming. It was SO GOOD to hear several of the speakers actually say that the school reform movement really has to do with political money, racial/class bias, and the changing demographics of our country, among other things. Many people were thoroughly thrilled by Matt Damon’s (the son a public school teacher & one of my teachers in grad school) speech, but I was more impressed with John Kuhn, a superintendent from Texas. It was amazing to hear a superintendent support public education and it’s teacher passionately. Can you imagine that in Philly?! Here’s a link to listen to a similar speech he gave recently,
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/living-in-dialogue/2011/03/i_am_educator_hear_me_roar_an.html. Attending the rally has made me a bit more confident and stronger. I am right and my core instincts are right. As John Kuhn said “I’m a public school teacher and will fight for public education, because it is the right thing to do.” Clear and simple.