AFT leader Randi Weingarten arrested for protesting school closings hearing in Phillie
Randi Weingarten being put under arrest. (Photo By Helen Gym)
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten was arrested along with 18 other activists in Philadelphia today as they were protesting a hearing by the School Reform Commission on a plan to close nearly 30 public schools in the city.
Weingarten, who runs the second largest teachers union in the country, and the other activists were protesting and blocking the entrance to the room where the hearing was going to take place. Weingarten sent text messages to colleagues saying she was placed in handcuffs and arrested.
The School Reform Commission was set to vote on a highly controversial proposal to close nearly 30 poorly performing public schools as part of an effort that officials say will save money and help students achieve better at other schools. Researchers, however, told city officials at earlier meetings that school closings often don’t save money — in fact, one wave of school closings in Washington, D.C., by former chancellor Michelle Rhee, wound