[RSCT] Fw: [epata] Fwd: The California Teachers Association has joined the call for a March 4 Day of Action...

[Monty Neill]

Cal Teachers Assn has joined the call for a March 4 day of action, while 
some say - per message below- they are not doing enough or trying to limit 
the kinds of actions - see the discussion below. Monty

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Susan Harman" <susanharman1 at gmail.com>
To: "EPATA" <epata at interversity.org>
Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 1:07 AM
Subject: [epata] Fwd: The California Teachers Association has joined the 
call for a March 4 Day of Action...




Begin forwarded message:

> From: Jack Gerson <jackrgerson at gmail.com>
> Date: January 21, 2010 9:54:37 PM PST
> To: eastbaymarch4outreach at googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: Fw: The California Teachers Association has joined the  call 
> for a  March 4 Day of Action...
> Reply-To: eastbaymarch4outreach at googlegroups.com
>
> That's right. The CTA leadership wants teachers to keep March 4 as  tame 
> as possible.  Clearly, they want teachers to stand outside for  a few 
> minutes at 7 am, then go to work for the day. So we need to  respond, and 
> should decide how. I have a few thoughts, and would  like to hear from 
> others:
>
> (1) At CTA State Council in LA next week, we should counterpose the  Local 
> 444 motion -- adding a few words specifically calling on CTA  to lead a 
> statewide strike of all education workers on March 4  (OEA's 
> Representative Council passed a motion with such wording in  early 
> November, and that can be cited in the motivation.  The  chances of this 
> getting to the floor are not great -- although we  can try to gauge that 
> in advance on the listserve of urban state  council delegates.
>
> (2) Despite CTA's desire to take over and mute March 4, they're  feeling 
> pressure of the mass protests of September, October and  November and the 
> clear bankruptcy of their rely-on-the-Democrats  strategy. I think this is 
> why they inserted the following line:
>
> CTA also supports the other activities going on throughout the day  and 
> encourages members to attend those events as they like.
>
> So I suggest building early morning student / parent / community /  staff 
> (including teacher) picket lines in front of schools, letting  everyone 
> know about the morning marches and noontime rally, and  letting them know 
> that CTA encourages members to go to these events  (even if OEA doesn't 
> strike on March 4 ). I don't think students  will need much more 
> encouragement to stay out of school and  demonstrate all day than a picket 
> line in front of school and flyers  calling on them to assemble and march. 
> This will in turn encourage  more teachers to stay out, join the marches, 
> come to the rally.
>
> (3) We need to build the classroom presentations about March 4,  which 
> Jevon, Nick, Javier and others are taking a lead on. That's a  way to get 
> more momentum on students joining the marches and rally,  which will 
> encourage more teachers to do so.
>
> Jack
>
>
> On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 8:59 PM, Humanist Workers <hw4rs at yahoo.com> 
> wrote:
>
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Charles Rachlis <crachlis at yahoo.com>
> To: Humanist Workers <hw4rs at yahoo.com>
> Cc: newwovo Humsocrev <newwovo at yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 6:21:54 PM
> Subject: The California Teachers Association has joined the call for  a 
> March 4 Day of Action...
>
> The union leadership has taken the task to limit the struggle to  before 
> school on March 4th.
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Steve Zeltzer <lvpsf at igc.org>
> Sent: Thu, January 21, 2010 2:53:08 PM
> Subject: The California Teachers Association has joined the call for  a 
> March 4 Day of Action...
>
> The California Teachers Association has joined the call for a March  4 Day 
> of Action...
>
> From: "David A. Sanchez" <CTAPresidentDavidSanchez at cta.org>
> Subject: Urgent: CTA Leads Statewide Day of Action on March 4 for 
> Students and California’s Future
>
> We’re just one month into the New Year and it is already a tough  budget 
> year for public education with the governor’s recently  proposed budget 
> shorting public schools and colleges by more than  $2.4 billion — that’s 
> on top of the $17 billion cut over the last  two years.  CTA is taking a 
> stand against these cuts by joining in a  statewide day of action for our 
> students and the future of  California on March 4.
>
> The CTA Board of Directors approved the recommendation from State  Council 
> to participate in a spring statewide day of action to  support funding for 
> public education and other social services. We  are asking every member to 
> participate in demonstrations and  activities at their school on the 
> morning of March 4 before school  starts. We are asking you to help lead 
> this effort and “Start the  Day for Students” as part of our ongoing 
> campaign to make our voices  heard about the painful effects of these cuts 
> on students and  teaching, and to engage our communities in supporting 
> public  education and building a better California for all of us.
>
> CTA’s “Start the Day for Students” actions will be part of a larger  day 
> of protests that includes college students, faculty and other  labor 
> unions. Local chapters and schools will have the flexibility  to do 
> various actions and activities, but we are targeting our  actions in the 
> morning to encourage and make it easier for more  members to participate, 
> and to capitalize on the early morning news  coverage. We need an immense 
> number of actions across the state that  morning to convey just how 
> desperate the situation has become in our  schools. CTA also supports the 
> other activities going on throughout  the day and encourages members to 
> attend those events as they like.  I know some local chapters have already 
> planned events on that day.
>
> You will be getting more information soon, but we need everyone to  save 
> the date and start planning now. March 4 is a key opportunity  for every 
> CTA member to “Start the Day for Students” to bring  attention to the real 
> victims of education cuts and to encourage  parents and community members 
> to do the same.
>
> We must also use this day as part of our first step toward reforming  the 
> state’s tax structure and providing additional revenues for  schools, 
> colleges and other critical services. This starts with  closing the 
> corporate tax breaks that were handed out to the state’s  largest 
> corporations last year. When class sizes are increasing,  educators are 
> being laid off and taxpayers are paying more, everyone  must be paying 
> their fair share.
>
> Take urgent action now to save our students and our future.  Join  “Start 
> the Day for Students” on March 4! We must stand up for  students, public 
> education and our future.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Jonah Minkoff-Zern
> J.D Candidate, 2011
> Golden Gate Law School
>
>
>
> -- 
> Jonah Minkoff-Zern
> J.D Candidate, 2011
> Golden Gate Law School
>
>
>

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