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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Parents’ Banner Praises ‘Super’ Teachers at Bay Area High School Slighted in ‘Waiting for Superman’ Film - California Teachers Association

Parents’ Banner Praises ‘Super’ Teachers at Bay Area High School Slighted in ‘Waiting for Superman’ Film - California Teachers Association

Parents’ Banner Praises ‘Super’ Teachers at Bay Area High School Slighted in ‘Waiting for Superman’ Film

Contact: Mike Myslinski, CTA, 408-921-5769; Woodside High Teacher Gregory Gruszynski, 415-264-1798 (cell).

Woodside High teacher Gregory Gruszynski, left, says teachers greatly appreciate the banner effort, which parent Anne Kopf-Sill launched.

Woodside -

In a public show of support for teachers at a San Mateo County school slighted in the flawed “Waiting for Superman” documentary that offers an incomplete picture of public schools, parents at Woodside High School this week put up a huge banner on a fence in front of the high-achieving campus that praises educators.

The defiant banner reads: “Woodside High School Teachers – Man, You’re Super! Thank you for teaching ALL the students in our community!” It’s prominent and hard to miss by drivers onWoodside Road who pass by the campus, home of the Wildcats, at 199 Churchhill Ave., in Woodside.

Woodside High parent Anne Kopf-Sill organized the push for donations for the banner (designed by parent Amber Ramies) over her concerns with all the negative national publicity for Woodside from the emotional film, which tells the stories of a handful of students’ journeys to get into charter schools that use a lottery system to pick students. One of the students fights to avoid Woodside High and ends up in a nearby charter.

Kopf-Sill is not criticizing charters, just the way the film slights the diverse school her two sons attend,