Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Save our Schools Protect our Teachers

At this point the only way to protect our neighborhood schools is to mobilize the community for massive actions including student and teachers strikes supported by the parents. Protests leading to srike action, sit-ins at the schools, are needed to get the national attention necessary to force a favorable resolution. If the community does not prepare itself to take such actions the board will carry out the proposed closures and the politicans in Sacramento and Washington will do nothing.

Massive March !!!
Date: Wednesday, February 4 & 11, 2009
Time: 5:00 PM
Where: Meet at the Pinole Valley Shopping Center, March to the school board meeting at Pinole Valley High School, 2700 Pinole Valley Road, Right off Pinole Valley Freeway Exit

DEMAND:
1) No to all school closures
2) No teacher layoffs no cuts by attrition
4) Fill Vacancies, restore cut programs, reduce class size
5) Restore Quality Education. Bring back music, art, sports…
6) Hands off teachers wage and benefit package!


Take action now! Contact: West Contra Costa Community for Quality Education (WCCCQE)
English Margaret Browne (510) 234-3957
Spanish Wendy Gonzalez (510) 332-9320

Thursday, January 8, 2009

ORGANIZE TO SAVE OUR SCHOOLS

The School Board has taken its stand and is determined to make cuts to our schools, educational programs and teaching staff. The community has the power to stop the cuts and expand the quality of education in the WCCUSD. If we come together as a community, stand united, and take direct action we can save our schools!

The school board was elected to lead our community in its quest for quality education but they have abdicated their responsibility. The school board has initiated a School Closure Committee of 279 members to create a semblance of community participation in the school closure process. This action is proof of their lack of creativity and leadership.

Current events have shown us that there is plenty of money available it is just a question of priorities. The Congress made 800 billion dollars available in little over a week to bail out the bankers and speculators who have used our tax dollars to assure their million dollar bonuses. Ten billion dollars a month is wasted on a useless and unwanted war. So to those who say there is no money, we respond, “All that is needed is a change of priorities”. Where is the bail out for our schools? We pay our taxes! Teach our kids!

A committee of parents, teachers, and students has come together to form the West Contra Costa Community for Quality Education, (WCCCQE). We invite parents, teachers, students and organizations who are committed to providing a quality educational experience for our children to join us at an organizing meeting to build for direct actions to unite to demand quality education be treated as a priority.

Mass Organizing Meeting January 13th
6:00-8:00PM
Richmond Public Library Community Room
corner of 25th and MacDonald Ave
West Contra Costa Community for Quality Education

OUR DEMANDS
1) NO TO ALL SCHOOL CLOSURES

2) SHUT DOWN THE SCHOOL CLOSURE COMMITTEE

3) NO TEACHER LAY OFFS, NO CUTS BY ATTRITION

4) FILL VACANCIES, RESTORE CUT PROGRAMS, REDUCE CLASS SIZE

5) RESTORE QUALITY EDUCATION: BRING BACK MUSIC, ART, SPORTS…


Take action now: contact the: West Contra Costa Community for Quality Education

Join the Steering committee meeting on January 5th. Place and time to be announced. Call for information:

English: Margaret Browne (510) 234-3957

Spanish: Wendy Gonzalez (510) 332-9320

e-mail wcccqe@yahoo.com

QUALITY EDUCATION BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!
OUR WORKING CONDITIONS ARE YOUR KIDS LEARNING CONDITIONS!

Mayor McLaughlin - Speaks to Community

Gayle McLaughlin: Unity is the way forward for saving our schools

By Gayle McLaughlin
Published 1/4/09 Contra Costa Times

IN RECENT WEEKS I have received many comments from Richmond residents about the possibility of school closures in our city. I have heard concerns about certain individual schools in particular, as well as suggestions for all of our schools.

More than anything, Richmond residents have told me they want to avoid pitting one school against another in making closure decisions, and instead work together to find a way to keep all schools open.

Longtime community leaders and activists who live in South Richmond are concerned that students who walk to Kennedy High School may end up dropping out if they are moved to a more distant campus, or that students will fear for their safety if required to cross certain neighborhood lines to attend another school.

In addition, there are lingering hard feelings in the neighborhood that so little of the bond money is being used to upgrade Kennedy High School facilities.

Kennedy High recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, and distinguished alumni have repeatedly expressed to me the importance of keeping their beloved high school alive and well for future generations.

Teachers, parents and students from many schools have stressed that having local, walkable neighborhood schools is critical to the successful achievement of students.

The more challenges parents face with transportation, the more difficult it is to meet children's academic needs.

While I appreciate the dire straits the district is in and the need to make tough decisions, I join Richmond residents and others throughout the district in asking the School Board to look for more creative and less damaging solutions that could save all our school from closure. Here are some of the ideas my constituents have shared with me:

--To bring in significant one-time revenue, the district could sell other properties it owns that are not school sites.

--The district could substantially reduce operating expenses on an ongoing basis by initiating a plan to solarize all schools in the district. A possible use for part of Richmond's increased revenue from Measure T, which the voters passed in November, could be to train and employ our youth to solarize our schools.

--Maximizing recycling throughout the district and renegotiating contracts for waste management could also reduce operating expenses.

--Many in the community have repeatedly asked School Board members to join them in taking strong leadership in promoting a vigorous advocacy campaign with the governor and state Legislature to put an end once and for all to the district's loan from 1991. As a result of hundreds of students, parents, teachers and community members marching to Sacramento in 2004, the loan payments were slightly lowered for a while, but at the same time, the loan was privatized. In other words, we are in the perverse situation in these dire times of having to pay money to banks that could be used for educating our children. Because of misdeeds that occurred before any of our students were born and which no one currently employed in the district had anything to do with, our children continue to be punished unfairly with crippling loan payments. This is unacceptable, and I would gladly join the community in doing whatever it takes to convince state leaders and banks that these loans must be forgiven to remove an unfair burden from West Contra Costa County youngsters.

These are but a few of the good ideas I've heard, and I'm sure there are many more out there. The community has been asked by the district to respond with very short notice to what we've been told is an inevitable necessity. Before a new school is built, a comprehensive environmental impact study is required, and the same should be required before any school is closed.

At its meeting Tuesday, the Richmond City Council will be discussing ways Richmond could participate in helping to save schools.

With regard to the district's "school closure committee," on Dec. 15, I received a packet from Superintendent Bruce Harter asking me, as mayor of Richmond, to make 10 appointments to a WCCUSD districtwide committee with a total of 279 members and submit the names by Dec. 19.

Given the extremely short turnaround time, I relied in some cases on strong recommendations by certain Richmond residents I know who are very involved in and knowledgeable about the school district and share my overall vision.

I chose appointees who, to my understanding, held the interests of Richmond, as well as the interest of the entire school district, in their view. Most, but not all, of my appointees are Richmond residents.

One resident has suggested, let's replace the "school closure committee" with a "school opening committee." Indeed, that is a committee we can all be part of. There is still a need for continued advocacy along with the throngs of parents, students, teachers and community members who have been speaking out already in a very visible and vocal way. Strong voices in large numbers at the School Board meeting (Wednesday) and at the public meetings of the school closure committee (Jan. 8-20) will definitely have an influence over any decisions that are ultimately made by the School Board. On Jan. 10 at 10 a.m. at Lovonya DeJean Middle School there will be a joint meeting of the School Board and elected officials from cities throughout the district. I urge everyone to get involved.

McLaughlin is mayor of Richmond.