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"