Save Our Schools DC

Welcome to Save Our Schools

Teaching for Change and Rethinking Schools Present:

An Evening of Readings, Performance and Discussion for Action:

Radical Education in DC and the Nation

FEATURING:
Activists Amina Althea and Amber Wood, and
Authors Lee Glazer and Zein El-Amine

Thursday May 22, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 PM
Busboys and Poets Café
2021 V Street NW – (14th and V)
Washington DC
202-387-7638
http://www.busboysandpoets.com/

Admission is Free – Donations Gratefully Accepted

The Event

Authors Lee Glazer and Zein El-Amine will discuss and sign their recently released book "Keeping the Promise? The Debate Over Charter Schools." With a chapter on the DC experience.

Amina Althea and Amber Wood will stage a multimedia performance piece based on their recently release Audio Documentary "I Want To Do This All Day." dancers and visual artists weave excerpts from the documentary with dance, song, and projections to bring to life the stories of young people making their own paths in learning and life.

TO RSVP and obtain more information contact Jim Baird at wycbaird@erols.com

Click here for more information.

Keeping the Promise?

SOS members Lee Glazer and Zein El-Amine have written a chapter in a new book called Keeping the Promise? published by Rethinking Schools in collaboration with the Center for Community Change. Their chapter looks at how charter schools have affected Washington DC.

Keeping the Promise? examines one of the most complex reforms in education: charter schools. In this wide-ranging and thought-provoking collection of essays, authors including nationally known educators Ted Sizer and Linda Darling-Hammond examine the charter school movement’s founding visions, on-the-ground realities, and untapped potential.

Essays also include interviews with leaders of community-based charter schools, and analyses of charters in places such as Washington, DC, Boston and Ohio ; and an exploration of the charter-takeover of the New Orleans public schools after Hurricane Katrina by the Center's Leigh Dingerson.

For more information and to order the book go to www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/promise/promise.shtml

Save Our Schools has produced a NEW BROCHURE about the dangers of charter schools and their effects on public education in DC. Please distribute it widely!
Click here to download the brochure.

The School Stay-Out and the Meeting to Boycott the 23 were both huge successes!
For more information on these events go to the website of the Coalition to Save Our Neighborhood Schools at www.SaveOurNeighborhoodSchools.org
Save Our Schools is a member of the Coalition.

Call for Emergency Legislation on School Closures

Council Members Barry and Thomas are considering introducing emergency legislation that would require community and council input before any school closures occur. PLEASE EMAIL OR CALL THEM URGING THEM TO INTRODUCE THIS EMERGENCY LEGISLATION ASAP!
mbarry@dccouncil.us 202 724-8045
hthomas@dccouncil.us, 202 724-8028
For more information: www.SaveOurNeighborhoodSchools.org

Click here to see the Coalition's Statement and Demands

The levees are breaking here in Washington D.C. Our city is being flooded with developers and gentrifiers as long-time residents are forced out. Charter schools, convention centers, hotels, condominiums and a baseball stadium threaten our public spaces and access to a quality life. Our traditional public schools have been undermined by the political meddling of Congress, chronic under-funding, low expectations and shocking disregard for our children.

This has set the stage for privatization of our school system – which means that our schools are being gradually handed over from our local government to private non-profits and corporations in the form of charter schools and vouchers. The privatizers would have us believe that our only choice is between an overwhelmed, neglected traditional public school system and unaccountable charters.

In the Spring of 2007 Mayor Adrian Fenty took over DC Public Schools and almost immediately appointed Michelle Rhee as DC School Chancellor. There was public outcry over the non-democratic process during both of these moves, but Fenty ignored community concerns and went right ahead with his plans.

Now Fenty and Rhee have announced the closing of two dozen DC public schools, a move they made with no community input and without the involvement of the DC City Council. Click here to read SOS's response to the school closures.