Happy Birthday, BATS!
When I first heard about the BadAss Teachers two years ago, I had trouble saying their name. It seemed rude and crude. But I overcame my reaction and celebrated the emergence of a group of teachers who were prepared to stand up and be bold and fearless on behalf of their students and their profession.
They asked me to share this news with you:
BATs are 2 years old on Sunday. two years of teachers speaking the truth about what is really happening to their schools, their children, and their communities
From July 23-26 BATs will be meeting in Washington, D.C. at the BATs Teacher Congress.
Suggested by Dr. Yohuru Williams at the BAT meeting last year with Arne Duncan, the Congress will convene over 300 educators, parents, students, and advocates from around the nation.
Over 20 BATs State groups will lobby their lawmakers on Capitol Hill July 22nd and 23rd.
BATs will conduct a protest parade on July 24th to the USDOE with Jesse Turner as he walks his last mile of a 400 mile journey from Connecticut to D.C.
SOS will host a mock trial of the USDOE on the 24th and “Heal our Schools”, an amazing documentary by Laurie Gabriel, will be shown after the trial.
300 BATs from around the nation will then convene on July 25th in a Congress where they will create resolutions on such topics as The School to Prison Pipeline, Union Strong, and Creating Positive Change. Dr. Yohuru Williams, Dr. Denisha Jones, Jesse Turner, Morna McDermott, and The Youth Dreamers will be the keynotes.
The event will be radio broadcast on The Rick Smith Show and livestreamed off several twitter feeds on Periscope.
After the Congress, United Opt Out will give a 1 hour book talk over their amazing book “An Activist Handbook for the Education Revolution: United Opt Out’s Test of Courage.”
Finally, on the evening of the 25th, the BATs will meet for the BAT Social with performances by The BAT Band “A Class Act”, Hip Hop sensation and NY teacher Jeremy Dudley, and NY Theatre Teacher Karen Sklaire will perform her one woman show “Ripple of Hope: One Teachers Journey.” The event will be groundbreaking and family friendly!!!
To learn more about the BATs Teacher Congress you can visit the BAT website
http://www.badassteacher.org/ or their open event Facebook page herehttps://www.facebook.com/BATsTeacherCongress2015
To contact BATs you can email Marla Kilfoyle or Melissa Tomlinson at contact.batmanager@gmail.com
