Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/42291
SOS draws big response in state, national rallies WHETHER THEY TRAVELED to Wash- ington, D.C., or to the state Capitol, CTA and Student CTA members found plenty of like minds at the Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action on July 30. Edu- cation supporters throughout the U.S. joined together in publicly protesting federal edu- cation policies that they feel are destroying schools with drill-and-kill instruction, ruin- ing the morale of both students and teachers. It's just the beginning of an effort to raise public awareness of how federal policies are hurting schools, says Oakland Education Association member Anthony Cody, a blog- ger for Education Week, who served on the SOS Organizing Committee. Despite the distance to Washington, there was a strong showing from California of teachers who "plunked down their own money" and got on a plane to attend the his- tory-making event. He described the spirit in Washington as a "mixture of defiance and determination" to change the future of edu- cation. Teachers, he says, have been blamed for problems in public education that are beyond their control, and the SOS March was a way of fighting back against continued attacks on public schools and NCLB policies that punish schools instead of helping them. "There was a lot of excitement about pushing back these phony reforms that are really hurting our schools," says Cody. "And there was a fresh interest on the part of the media to see a grassroots effort where ordi- nary teachers and parents are taking it upon themselves to get organized and do some- thing about what is happening. Of course, we got extra coverage with the presence of Matt Damon, who made a very inspiring speech." Damon, a well-known actor, was one of dozens of speakers at the event, including education experts Linda Darling-Hammond, Jonathan Kozol and Diane Ravitch. Accord- ing to the Washington Post, 8,000 teachers, Credentials and Certificates Bachelors Masters Doctoral * U.S. News & World Report and Forbes Magazine degreeinfo@laverne.edu | laverne.edu College of Education and Organizational Leadership September 2011 / www.cta.org 35 Molly Servatius (left) from San Francisco and Amy Louise Glanzman from San Jose were among the Cali- fornia contingent at the Save Our Schools March in Washington, D.C. parents, administrators, school board mem- bers and other education activists stood for hours in higher than 90-degree temperatures near the White House to protest the testing mania, then marched to the White House to let President Obama know they were disap- pointed in his education policies. continued on page 36 *