Hundreds at Rally 'Stand Up for Schools'

This e-mail went out today from Mike Noce, MDEA president.

"I want to thank everyone that attended yesterday’s “Stand Up for Our Schools” Rally. In our estimates we had close to 500 people attend. Everyone was wearing stickers and pink arm bands to show support for over 600 teachers in our district that will be receiving pink slips tomorrow. Many were also holding signs with a variety of messages. There were a number of television news cameras there as well as a hovering helicopter from Channel 7. Print media was also well represented.
We had a variety of speakers that shared their perspectives of the current crisis public education is facing. These speakers represented Elected Officials, the County of Education, School Boards, Superintendents, Teachers, Labor and Parents. The key point speaker was Dean Vogel, our CTA Vice President, who urged us to let Sacramento know “Enough is Enough.” It was nice having such a broad coalition working together for our students. I especially want to thank Gary Eberhart, Sherry Whitmarsh, Dick Nicoll, and the number of site administrators that came out to participate.
The highlight of the afternoon was the march to Ygnacio Valley Rd. to inform the thousands of commuters about the crisis. It was awesome seeing our ranks stretched over 6-7 blocks as we paraded with our signs and chanted “Save Our Schools” and “Enough is Enough.” The chant leaders did a great job in keeping everyone involved and motivated. It’s also always nice to hear the honking cars and waves from the commuters as well to keep spirits high.
This was a kickoff event, we need to individually keep informing friends, families, and neighbors of how these massive cuts are affecting not only teachers, but our students as well. We need to reach those members of our community that don’t have kids in our schools. We need their support to pass Measure D, our parcel tax, and to remind their state legislators that enough is enough.
Ask your reps when your site is scheduled to phone bank so you can schedule it into your calendar. We also need you to write a check for $20-$89 to the MDEA PAC to help fund the Measure D campaign. It’s going to be a busy two months, but passing Measure D is our best local option.

Thank you,
Mike"

Teacher Lay-Offs & Stand Up for Schools

I'm in my 9th year of teaching.  I remember that for the first two years, I received lay-off notices.  Everyone told me not to worry.  Yes, the California budget was not great, there were some cutbacks, but all in all, teachers for required subjects need not worry about their job.

This round of lay-offs is different.  At least, that is the message I've been hearing from the media, from the California Teachers Association, and from following what has been happening with budget cuts in our own district.  Essentially, the California budget is a mess due to the recession and it's difficult to predict when things will improve.  My understanding is that there could be even more cuts down the road.  In other words, this past round of budget cuts that the MDUSD Board had to make might not be the last.

In my opinion, these budget reductions are a crime against our students.  Even when the California budget improves, it could take years to rebuild successful programs that were decimated.  

So what can we do?  We can Stand Up for Schools!

This week, CTA mounted a campaign called Stand Up for Schools.  The mailer I received on Saturday highlights that thousands of teachers will be receiving pink slips this year.  According to the CTA website www. pinkfriday09.org, over 20,000 California teachers have already received their Reduction in Force notices (pink slips).

  

Yes, teachers (not to mention administrators and support personnel) will lose their jobs, but what is the REAL impact of these RIF's?  Class size increases, cuts to support programs helping students to pass high school, the loss of librarians, elementary music, sports, ultimately fewer opportunities for students to go to college. 

The real purpose of the campaign is to raise public awareness of the devastating impact the budget reductions will have on California public schools.  

So, wear your pink armbands all week (if you're a MDEA teacher your rep should have some to give you).

Attend the rally at Civic Park in Walnut Creek on Wednesday from 4 to 6 pm.

Wear pink on Friday, March 13th.

Help pass Measure D (the parcel tax) that will be on the May 19th election.  This will raise 7 million dollars for the Mt. Diablo School District that helps fund some of the programs that had to be eliminated.

Tell everyone you know that California is destroying our children's future by placing them last in per pupil spending compared to all the other states (we were 47th before the budget revise was completed--now I've read that we are 50th).