Education

We’re Failing To Prepare Our Children For The Climate Fight

April 16, 2022 Eleanor Cummins, Portside. Strategize! Children, climate crisis, Education, Parenting

Climate change is hurtling forward at frightening speed. And the American K-12 system still isn’t remotely prepared to teach children about what they’ll soon face. Today, the majority of students in U.S. schools get between zero and two hours of instruction per year about climate change—hardly enough time to discuss the political, cultural, and environmental ramifications of greenhouse gas emissions, let alone make space for the emotions elicited by such an existential threat. In some districts, climate education is actually disinformation, as teachers rely on materials created by the fossil fuel industry to mislead children on the origin of the problem and our possible futures.

Texas: Progressive Student Union Wins Victory At Referendum

April 11, 2022 Fight Back News. Resist! Education, Texas, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

On April 4 and 5, the University of Texas at Arlington held its semester student elections. In addition to these elections was a referendum brought forth by the administration of UTA to justify raising tuition and fee costs related to the school. This fee increase would be a four-fold increase, from $39 per semester to $150, making it more expensive than most of the UT system schools student union fees. The caveat was that this fee increase would not take place until “significant construction” had been completed on the New UC. What had not been properly conveyed is that the UT Systems Board and UTA administration reached an agreement whereby the UT Systems would grant a loan to help construct this ‘New UC’ which would approximately cost $100 million – but with the collateral that the student union fee increase be tied to it via a referendum in order to begin paying back the New UC the moment of its technical completion. Progressive Student Union (PSU) kept an eye on the issue, and resolved to be the bulwark of the ‘No’ vote when the referendum came.

Fordham Graduate Students Vote 94% For A Union

April 9, 2022 Steve Wishnia, Labor Press. Organize! Education, Student Activism, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

New York, New York - Graduate student workers at Fordham University in the Bronx have voted overwhelmingly to join the Fordham Graduate Student Workers union. “We did it!” one called out from a balcony in the student center’s atrium after the results were announced April 7, as a few dozen supporters gathered below. The vote was 229-15. The bargaining unit, part of Communications Workers of America Local 1104, will include about 360 graduate student workers at both the University’s Rose Hill campus in the Bronx and its Lincoln Center campus in Manhattan. “It’s a very clear message: We want a union. We got it,” Nick McIntosh, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in philosophy, told LaborPress.

Student Loans Are A Burden For Black Educators

April 7, 2022 Paige Oamek, In These Times. Resist! Chicago, Education, Illinois, Joe Biden, Student Loans

On April 5, the White House announced it is extending the pandemic-era pause on federal student loan payments through August 31. (It had been set to expire on May 2.) The development followed escalating calls for debt cancellation from teachers, students and advocates, including an April 4 protest put on by the Debt Collective, the first union of debtors. The Biden administration’s decision to extend relief was welcomed by advocates but fell short of meeting the demand for permanent loan forgiveness. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), for example, passed a resolution in March calling on President Biden to use his executive power to cancel student debt and “increase spending in our local community.”

DC Protest Calls On Biden To Cancel Student Debt

April 6, 2022 Kenny Stancil, Common Dreams. Resist! Department of Education, Education, Student Loans, Washington D.C.

Washington, D.C. - Hundreds of people converged in Washington, D.C. on Monday for a national day of action to demand that the Biden administration cancel all outstanding federal student loan debt via executive order. "All it takes is a signature," said the Debt Collective, a debtors' union that organized the "Pick Up the Pen, Joe" demonstration, which was supported by a coalition that includes dozens of progressive advocacy groups and labor unions. Following speeches and performances in front of the Eisenhower Memorial, the crowd marched outside the U.S. Department of Education (DOE). Monday's rally and march in the nation's capital had a simple message for President Joe Biden: Use your executive authority to wipe out the roughly $1.6 trillion in federal student debt that is holding back more than 45 million federal borrowers in the United States.

Higher Ed Labor Unites For Equity For All: Faculty, Staff And Students

April 5, 2022 Aimee Loiselle, Convergence. Organize! Education, Solidarity, Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

Students swell the picket lines of dining service workers. Staff fight for cancellation of exorbitant graduate student workers’ fees. Undergraduate student workers learn about the precarity and low pay behind the title “adjunct” and demand their university administrations do better. Tenured faculty insist that part-time instructors receive benefits. Across higher education, workers are realizing that they depend on each other to get work done, from faculty, academic staff, graduate and undergraduate student workers, to janitors and clerical and technical workers—and the landscape of organizing is changing. Higher education labor unions have generally been stratified, but now universities with multiple unions representing various types of employees are seeing increased cooperation and collaboration.

Parents And Students Sit-In In Solidarity With Striking Teachers

April 4, 2022 Molly Rosenzweig And Emma Lee, Left Voice. Resist! California, Education, Strike, Teachers

Sacramento, California - In an incredible show of solidarity, Sacramento parents and students have organized a sit-in to support striking teachers and support staff. Parents have been camping out at district headquarters in the Serna Center, calling for the school board to meet with teachers and reach an agreement. They are watching movies and playing board games, and have vowed to continue the sit-in until the district takes action. These community-led tactics demonstrate the interconnectedness between teachers and their communities. Since March 23, 4,000 educators in Sacramento have been on strike demanding higher pay in pace with inflation, increased staffing in their schools, no cuts to health benefits, and improved support for students.

Biden Faces Rising Pressure On Student Loans With Deadline Looming

April 4, 2022 Alex Gangitano And Aris Folley, The Hill. Educate! Debt, Education, Joe Biden, Student Loans

President Biden is in a difficult position on student loans ahead of the midterms, as pressure builds from borrowers and Democrats for widespread cancellation. Adding to the pressure is a key deadline: On May 1, millions of borrowers will have to pay unless a freeze on federal student loan payments put in place during the pandemic is extended. Biden has been called on to extend the freeze until the next year — beyond the midterms. But advocates for forgiveness, along with key Democrats, want more than another freeze. “We’ve been saying for years now that we need to keep payments on pause until we cancel student debt,” said Natalia Abrams, president and founder of the Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC).

Tallahassee: A Betrayal Of Black People By Black Politicians

April 3, 2022 Edward Hollified, Fight Back News. Educate! Budget, Capitalism, Education, Florida, Taxes

Tallahassee, Florida - The $27 million in regressive sales tax money diverted from potentially legitimate Blueprint projects to enhance the football experience of powerful white friends of the Chamber of Commerce and Florida State University (FSU) trustees who could care less about poor people in general and Black and brown people in particular, represents a betrayal. It is a betrayal by Nick Maddox and every single Black politician that sold their souls in support of this FSU monstrosity. These include Bill Proctor, Carolyn Cummings, Curtis Richardson and Dianne Williams Cox. Obscene levels of Black infant mortality have not gone anywhere. Yet the Tallahassee power structure would never spend this amount of money to deal with the mortality of Black and brown infants and their mothers.

Students Launch Campaign For Fresher Food, More Options, Better Pay

April 2, 2022 Rory Linnane, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Create! Education, Food and Agriculture, Worker Rights and Jobs, Youth Activism

Calling attention to the lack of fresh food in their lunches at Milwaukee Public Schools, student leaders have launched a "school lunch justice" campaign outside the district's central offices. The students are part of Youth Empowered in the Struggle (YES), the multiracial youth arm of Voces de La Frontera, an advocacy organization for the rights of immigrants and workers. "Our lunches are cooked in a central location and distributed to the schools to be reheated, resulting in undercooked food and of substandard quality," said YES leader Katherine Villanueva, a senior at Milwaukee School of Languages. "This is not acceptable." Villanueva said YES surveyed more than 1,000 MPS students and found that the quality of school lunch was the "most pressing issue" with the school environment.

From Minneapolis To Sacramento: Teachers Teach Us How To Fight Back

April 1, 2022 John M.F. Vergara, Left Voice. Resist! California, Education, Strike, Teachers, Worker Rights and Jobs

Teachers have taken the lead in the fight against inflation, precarious working conditions, racist education systems, and the lack of resources for public education in America. This time it is the Sacramento teachers who have been on strike for a week. Three years ago, these same teachers in Sacramento staged a 24-hour walkout to defend the contract that education officials signed in 2019 but refused to honor. The walkout culminated in a rally at the district building where thousands of educators accompanied by the community gathered to demand that the district honor the contract. Perhaps inspired by combative teachers in recent struggles seen in the U.S., such as in Chicago and more recently Minnesota, and aware of the strength of the union and the power of struggle, this time Sacramento teachers are fighting for a wage increase in line with inflation, to keep the health care plan they have, and to increase the support available to their own students.

Oakland, California, March To Stop School Closures Reaches Thousands

March 31, 2022 Judy Greenspan, Workers World. Resist! California, Education, Oakland, School closures

Oakland, California - Students from three Oakland area schools, scheduled to be closed at the end of this school year, led a spirited march and rally today. Young people from Parker Elementary, La Escuelita Middle School and Community Day School chanted from the sound truck, carried signs and banners and spoke about how teachers in their neighborhood schools have changed their lives. Rank-and-file members of the Oakland Education Association, parents and community members participated in today’s action. Since February, a grassroots community-led coalition has come together to stop the Oakland Unified School District’s plans to close or merge 11 public schools serving primarily Black, Latinx and other students of color in East Oakland.

Colorado Community Stops Profit-Driven School Closure

March 29, 2022 Dakota Dexter, Liberation News. Resist! Colorado, Education, Privatization, Victory

Aurora, CO - On March 22, residents of the Sable Altura Chambers community in Aurora, Colo., won a four-month-long struggle to keep Sable Elementary School from being shut down by the Aurora Public Schools Board of Education. This grassroots struggle, its members made up primarily of parents and teachers, has called into question the true motives behind the BOE’s “Blueprint APS initiative” and the decision to close Sable Elementary. Blueprint APS is a plan created by Aurora Public Schools Superintendent Rico Munn that aims to consolidate and repurpose multiple public schools in Aurora due to what Munn refers to as “changing enrollment trends.” Blueprint APS divides Aurora into seven geographical regions.

New Orleans: Hundreds Unite To March Against Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation

March 29, 2022 Quest Riggs, Fight Back News. Resist! Education, LGBTQ Rights, Louisiana, New Orleans

New Orleans, LA - Around 250 community members gathered at New Orleans City Hall, March 25, to forcefully voice their opposition to a string of legislation introduced by Louisiana Republicans in recent weeks. This includes bills that would restrict trans minors’ access to healthcare, their ability to participate in school sports, and could criminalize LGBTQ+ students and educators for being “out” in Louisiana schools. The demonstration was attended mostly by students from three New Orleans high schools who have taken the initiative in organizing bold actions both on and off their campuses. Earlier in the day students at Benjamin Franklin High School held a walkout where hundreds of their classmates marched to the front of the school chanting “We say gay!”

Striking Sacramento Teachers Union Slams District For Rejecting Invite

March 28, 2022 Sawsan Morrar, The Sacramento Bee. Resist! California, Education, Sacramento, Strike, Worker Rights and Jobs

Sacramento, California - A day after Sacramento City Unified superintendent rejected State Superintendent Tony Thurmond’s offer to bring district and union officials together to resume negotiations, union leaders sent a scathing email criticizing district officials. Sacramento City Unified teachers and district classified staff have been on strike since Wednesday with no end in sight, leaving more than 40,000 students unable to attend classes. Schools were expected to remain closed Monday. District officials met Saturday with SEIU Local 1021, the union representing classified staff. After the negotiating session, SEIU asked the district to consider additional improvements to the “total overall economic package that meets or exceeds the agreement with SCTA.”

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