Newsletter www.SaveOurSchoolsMarch.org

Newsletter #2 from www.SaveOurSchoolsMarch.org

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ www.SaveOurSchoolsMarch.org Newsletter April 29,2011 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In This Edition Matt Damon - - YES! -- Matt Damon Endorses SOS March! Diane Ravitch Get Involved! Information Coordinators Greetings! We've got some more exciting news to share with you. In addition to the DC march on July 30, we are beginning to hear about marches being planned on the same day -- or close -- in California, Florida, Colorado --- and maybe Arizona. If you have been thinking about a march or a rally for your state or area, email us at saveourschoolsmarch@gmail.com. Or if your state has an Information Coordinator, let him or her know. We're reached a critical point where things are popping and moving fast. We have a few people trying to take care of a lot of tasks, and we need some help as we get ready for the march. Email us at saveourschoolsmarch@gmail.com, and we will put you in touch with Elisa Waingort, our Volunteer Coordinator. For a list of things that you can do locally to help out, see below. It's almost time to register for the workshops at American University on July 28 and 29. The march is on July 30. Then on July 31, we will hold committee and planning meetings. You can join us on Sunday and help us plan what we need to do to keep our momentum moving forward once the march is over. When registration for D.C. opens up, members of this website will be the first to receive an e-mail with the link for registration. Look below for more information. Sincerely, The Organizing Committee

You Read It Here! Matt Damon Has Endorsed Our DC March! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Great news arrived yesterday. Academy Award-winning actor and philanthropist Matt Damon has endorsed our July 30 march! Matt is the son of Professor Nancy Carlsson-Paige, who has become active in our grassroots movement. Dr. Carlsson-Paige, who teaches at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, will participate in one of our panels at American University. She tells us that Matt would like to speak at the rally on July 30 if his schedule will permit it. Diane Ravitch -- More Good News! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We know how disappointed some of you were when you found out that Diane would not be at the rally and march on July 30. The good news is that Diane has rearranged her schedule so that she is able to join us on July 30. She is still scheduled to be the keynote speaker at American University on July 29. Thank you, Diane! You've made a lot of people very happy! Your "To Do" List -- Get Involved . . . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (Start with #1, #2, and #3 right away). 1. *Print out attached flyer (see "Flyer" under Quick Links at the bottom) and put it on the bulletin board in your faculty lounge. 2. *Print out copies of the flyer and take them with you wherever you go. Pass them out at faculty meetings, union meetings, professional meetings, PTA meetings, school board meetings, rallies -swap meets - wherever people are assembled. 3. *Forward the flyer to colleagues in your building and your district and ask them to forward it on to their colleagues and give them the directions for #1 and #2 and #3. 4. Put a flyer on every bulletin board in town. 5. Ask your union to sponsor the costs for some members so they can go to DC. 6. Go to our Facebook causes.com page and leave messages about the march and what's going on where you are. Do the same with your own FB page. 7. Go to our website and leave messages on the Forum 8. Follow @sosmarch on Twitter and tweet and retweet links to recent website info about the march and other things 9. Help us populate our map with events by telling your Information Coordinator about events in your area. If your state does not have an Info Coordinator, (see the map) please e-mail us at our e-mail address at the bottom. We will need the name of the event, the date/time, the address. 10. Become an information coordinator for your state by emailing us at the address in #9. 11. Go to major online websites such as Huffington Post.com or Washington Post.com, and find a blog you like. Leave a comment on the blog. Refer to the march in DC on July 30 and include the url to our website (see the heading at the top of the page) - and also go to your favorite blogs and do the same. 12. Ask local groups that support education to sponsor a billboard, a newspaper ad, a local event and/or a bus. 13. Ask local reader board owners in your area if they will periodically run the Save Our Schools advertising. (We have a white background image and a black background image.) 14. Call in on talk radio. Do your best to mention the march in DC on July 30 and the website at www.saveourschoolsmarch.org. 15. Write letters to the editor and to your Senators and Representatives. 16. If you can't make it to DC, help organize a march in your state or region on July 30. 17. If you use Twitter, put the SOS twibbon on your avatar. (The link to the twibbon image itself as a layered PNG file is http://dl.dropbox.com/u/65745/SOS%20march%20tw.png . You can use it as a layer when creating avatars.) Send messages about the march and the movement. Retweet messages about SOS from people you follow. Compose messages about SOS and send them. Join in the monthly campaigns for the website. This month's theme is based on never being fooled again. Send a message with the hashtag #wontbefooled@SOSMarch so that your message will show up in the SOS twitter feed. 18. Write a post for the SOS website. Send it to our gmail account. Link it to Facebook. Tweet it. States That Have an Information Coordinator ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California,Colorado,DC,Florida,Georgia,Illinois,Indiana,Kansas,Kentucky,Louisiana,Maine, Maryland,Massachusetts,Michigan,Missouri,Nebraska,Nevada,New Hampshire,New Jersey,New Mexico,New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania,Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming. If you would like to be an Information Coordinator, e-mail us at saveourschoolsmarch@gmail.com.

Quick Links... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Our Website FLYER Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ saveourschoolsmarch@gmail.com