Events in Washington D.C. and Nationwide – including Massachusetts

July 16, 2011

This week the Administrative Committee of the Green-Rainbow Party voted to endorse the Save Our Schools March on July 30 as well as other actions taking place at the end of July. We urge Green-Rainbow Party members to travel to Washington to participate in the March.

The Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action is organized around four basic principles:

1. Equitable Funding for All Public School Populations
2. Ending High-Stakes Testing for Student, Teacher and School Evaluation
3. Curriculum Developed For and By Local School Communities
4. Public Education Policies Formed by Teachers, Families and Local Leadership

The focal march will take place on Saturday, July 30, in Washington, D.C. Keynote speakers include: author Jonathan Kozol; Stanford University Professor Linda Darling-Hammond; former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch; award-winning actor Matt Damon; New York University Professor Pedro Noguera; and Deborah Meier, the first teacher ever to win a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award; among others. Parents, educators and local activists will gather on the Ellipse at noon to listen to the speakers and then march around the White House to demonstrate dissatisfaction with “failed top-down policies,” which they say ignore local communities, reject proven research, and undermine both school quality and equity.

Those unable to travel to Washington are encouraged to participate in various events that will take place in Massachusetts and all over the country.  Details can be found on the Facebook page Massachusetts Save Our Schools.

The Green Rainbow Party’s position on education encompasses these points:

• ·      We call for a value-oriented public education system that emphasizes the importance of literacy, good citizenship, civic participation, and healthy self-realization.
• ·      We oppose the privatization of public education and the distortion of the educational mission that occurs when education becomes the mere training of students to serve near-term corporate employment needs.
• ·      We call upon educators to prepare students for living in a sustainable society.
• ·      We support access to quality, free public education at all levels, and support significant rollbacks of tuition and fees at public institutions of higher learning.
• ·      We support real commitments to eliminate disparities in education and to prohibit using standardized testing (such as MCAS) to punish students.
• ·      We support a fully funded public library system.
• ·      We support the right of school systems to provide bilingual education classes when they judge this is in the best interests of their students.

More information about the March and Rally can be found by visiting www.saveourschoolsmarch.org/event_info/the-march/