On April 10, public education
advocates from all over the United States gathered for a rally and march in
Washington, D.C. Meeting in front of the Department of Education headquarters,
people from as far away as California, Florida and Michigan joined
students, teachers and advocates from other states such as Pennsylvania, New
York, Connecticut, Virginia and Maryland to protest what many people called
“the attack on public schools” in the United States.
 Teachers speak out at rally in Washington, D.C., April 10, 2010 Photo: Roger Scott |
Rallying against education
“reforms” that have led to public school systems around the country closing
schools and firing teachers, protesters demanded an end to the racist,
anti-union tactics that are being used to dismantle the U.S. public education
system.
Many speakers focused on the U.S.
Education Department’s “Race to the Top” plan, which requires public community
schools, most often in poor and inner-city districts, to compete with privately
run charter schools for public funding. “This is an attack—a well-funded and
consistent attack—on the Black and Latino communities,” said Joyce Schon, of
Detroit, one of the organizers of the event. “Our children are not for sale!”
Educators from around the country
shared stories about the tactics used to replace experienced teachers with
lower-paid new hires just out of college, and the closing of schools that are
deemed to be “lower performing.”
“Why is it only teachers and
schools with the black and brown kids are being eliminated?” said Anna-Maria
Thomas from New York. “Seniority was sold out, and teachers are being
systematically removed and replaced with new ones that are young, white, and
not aware of the needs of the community.”
Many in attendance at the rally
were teachers and students from the Washington, D.C., public school system.
They held signs calling for the resignation of DCPS Chancellor Michelle Rhee
and urged the members of the Washington Teachers Union not to ratify a
controversial new contract with D.C. teachers.
Since taking charge of DCPS in
2007, Rhee has fired hundreds of teachers and school employees and has closed
dozens of schools, most of them in poor or Black neighborhoods. DCPS teacher
Chandrai Jackson said, “They need to be fair to teachers—this abuse is coming
from the top down. Children are hurting and it is the teachers who are vilified.”
Jackson
explained that school performance is an indicator of many social factors and
that teachers are being punished for low performance of students who live in
communities plagued by generational poverty and record unemployment. “Children
spend 80 percent of their time outside of school,” she pointed out.
