With the school year coming to an end, now comes the all-too-familiar moment when certain public school doors are shuttered. This is the case in Oakland where five public schools are being closed, with children being sent to charter schools (some as far as 10 miles away) with no guarantee of transportation. Parents and teachers, however, are fighting back with a sit-in today.
According to SaveOaklandSchools.org:
At the end of this school year, the Oakland Unified School District plans to close 5 public elementary schools and hand children’s school buildings over to private charter schools and district administration offices. Hundreds of the displaced students have been placed by the district in elementary schools that are 10 miles away, and the school district has offered no guarantee that transportation will be provided for families.
Parents, teachers and students will be sitting in at Lakeview Elementary with a “community speak out and BBQ” at 1:00pm, followed by a People’s School Solidarity Rally on Saturday at 2:00pm. Every night after that there will be a Solidarity Watch at 9:00pm.
Parents and teachers are demanding that the schools not be closed; that attacks on school teachers and works must end; that schools should not be forced to pay for the “unjust state debt”; and that public education should be fully-funded.
Head over to SaveOaklandSchools.org for more information.
June 15, 2012 at 3:24 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
This is so fucking stupid.
A sit-in is suddenly going to make the money for these schools magically reappear in the state budget?
We should require anyone lobbying for the state to fund anything whatsoever to provide their opinion of what the state should cut in order to fund their cause, or where the tax dollars should come from to pay for it.
If they can't then we should regard them for what they are- a bunch of clueless fucks that don't know shit about dick.
June 15, 2012 at 3:30 pm, Dan Power said:
Schools need the money! If we start skimping on education we are going to go down hill even faster and we will have no hope of turning things around. maybe we need to cut back on
June 15, 2012 at 3:32 pm, Dan Power said:
…..welfare and invest in schools and the sports and arts programs. If not the amount of people on welfare is just going to increase and there will be no way to support the system.
June 15, 2012 at 3:32 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
Everyone needs the money. Our transportation dept. needs the money, the battered women's shelters need the money, child protective services need the money, the police need the money, the hospitals and clinics need the money
Unless they can explain why any of those departments deserve to withstand more cuts so this school can stay open, they have nothing of value to say. It's like listening to a kid go off about a cut in his allowance while his parents' home is in foreclosure. He just don't fuckin' get it.
June 15, 2012 at 3:46 pm, Dan Power said:
True, but the schools everywhere are getting cut back or closed. More and more people are learning to survive by holding out their hands and expecting someone else to carry their weight. If we turn out an under educated generation the country will never recover. times are hard and i think it's a good thing. People need to remember what made this country what it is, Hard work and sacrifice. The middle class needs to understand that you can not live the high life as a truck driver, construction worker, etc. I'm not saying the middle class should be taken advantage of, but we cant expect a 60K or 70K a year salary and only work a 40 hour week. If people would live within their means and work for their money we would not be in the situation we are now and we wouldn't be talking about schools closing and the country being in astronomical debt. Yes we have some very rich and greedy people/corporations, but the general public has become very greedy. People want more and want to work and give back less. Until the country changes it's mindset no president, political party, or movement will change the direction this country is going.
June 15, 2012 at 3:54 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
I agree, however the public school system's finances are not what cause it to offer sub-par education.
If we really want to turn out an educated electorate, we need to stop throwing away money on a failed system. It doesn't matter how much you spend on a personal trainer, if the curriculum they put you through consists of ineffective exercises you will not achieve the same goals as joe blow with a $20 gym membership.
We need to re-assess the entire education problem, and it isn't money. Public schools get a budget of roughly $16,000 / student while private / charter schools make do with an average of only $10,000 / student, yet their students achieve higher standardized test scores and college acceptances.
Money is not the problem.
June 15, 2012 at 4:07 pm, Dan Power said:
Very true. I think it all comes down to people expecting something for nothing. If the students were disciplined and accountable for their actions and not just pushed through we would be in a lot better shape. I know that I work my ass off now, but in school I was an ass. I did not study and pushed buttons whenever I could. I dont know if my career path would be any different, but I can think of a few teachers that would have less grey hair if I had to worry about real consequences!
June 15, 2012 at 4:12 pm, Jeremy Arthur Vandelay said:
hah. Well I mean, you were a kid. I was concerned with hardcore bands and whatever else, you were concerned with football. That's how it is.
But the policies of public schools are just ridiculous because there is no real vested interest. When I went to private school, my parents were up my ass because they were paying tuition.
Public schools, it's no skin off their back if you dick around, because they're not paying for it. It's like anything in life- handed to you, you will rarely treat it with the same respect as the thing in life you worked for, because there is no pride in accepting a gift, there is only pride in earning it.