A Day of Action: Educators Pledge to Teach the Truth, June 12 - PopularResistance Org

A Day of Action: Educators Pledge to Teach the Truth, June 12 - PopularResistance.Org

A DAY OF ACTION: EDUCATORS PLEDGE TO TEACH THE TRUTH, JUNE 12

Lawmakers in at least 15 states are attempting to pass legislation that would require teachers to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, and oppression throughout U.S. history.

In response, educators across the United States are signing a pledge to teach the truth. The pledge states: 

We the undersigned educators will not be bullied. We will continue our commitment to develop critical thinking that supports students to better understand problems in our society, and to develop collective solutions to those problems. We are for truth-telling and uplifting the power of organizing and solidarity that move us toward a more just society.

To raise public awareness about the danger of these bills, we invite educators to make that pledge public in gatherings nationwide on Saturday, June 12, 2021. This invitation is extended by the Zinn Education Project (coordinated by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change) and Black Lives Matter at School.

This is a national call. While bills and budget resolutions are being proposed — and in some cases passed — in specific states (Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, West Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas), the threat to teaching — and the need for solidarity — is everywhere. 

How To Participate

• Select a site in your town or city that symbolizes or reflects history that teachers would be required to lie about or omit if these bills become law, which is already the case in some states. (It could be identified by an historic marker, statue, archive, burial ground, or museum.)
• Organize a rally at the site (or online) with fellow educators, family members, students, and community members. The group can be any size. (If you don’t have time to organize a group, pick a site and go on your own. Every voice and action counts!)
• Invite local associations to endorse or join your action, such as the state council for the social studies, teacher education programs, teacher unions, student groups, voting rights groups, climate justice groups, education advocacy and racial justice organizations
• Make signs or download them, when available, from this site
• Print handouts, when available, from this site
• Invite media 
• Prep participants to engage with the public and the media (toolkit will be posted by June 2 and an optional media prep session will be offered during the week before the event)
• Post photos and videos to social media with hashtags: #TeachTruth #WeWontLie #NothingButTheTruth

Fill out the form here to be updated with resources for June 12

A Day of Action: Educators Pledge to Teach the Truth, June 12 - PopularResistance.Org

New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - Popular Resistance Org

New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - PopularResistance.Org

NEW STUDY: SCHOOL STREETS IMPROVE AIR QUALITY

New Study Finds That School Streets Reduced Nitrogen Dioxide By Up To 23 Per Cent During Morning Drop Off.

81 per cent of parents and carers supported the measures at their children’s school and 18 per cent of parents reported driving to school less as a result of School Streets.

London, UK – Closing the roads around schools to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times has reduced polluting nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23 per cent and is strongly supported by parents, new research published by the Mayor Sadiq Khan reveals.

To measure the air quality benefits of the new School Streets, 30 cutting-edge sensors from the Breathe London network were installed at 18 primary schools across Brent, Enfield and Lambeth to record nitrogen dioxide levels. The air quality monitoring project, funded by FIA Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, was launched in September 2020 to give the most accurate indication yet of how the School Streets scheme is working. 

Since April 2020, almost 350 School Streets have been delivered across London with funding from Transport for London (TfL) and the boroughs to tackle children’s exposure to air pollution and improve their health.

Roads surrounding schools are closed to motor traffic at drop-off and pick-up times, enabling children to walk or cycle to school, reducing car trips and improving air quality. School Streets also provide space for social distancing and help to reduce road danger around schools, making journeys safer and easier.

Around half of London’s emissions come from road transport, and London’s toxic air already leads to thousands of premature deaths in the capital every year as well as stunting the development of young lungs and increasing cases of respiratory illness. Air pollution has also been linked to increased risk of contracting Covid-19 and experiencing the most serious effects.

TfL has also today published new survey results which suggest that interventions outside schools to make walking and cycling safer are popular with parents and carers and have contributed to a drop in car use. Parents and carers from 35 schools took part in the study and the results showed:   CONTINUE READING: New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - PopularResistance.Org

Are Urban Schools A Site of Occupation? - PopularResistance Org

Are Urban Schools A Site of Occupation? - PopularResistance.Org

ARE URBAN SCHOOLS A SITE OF OCCUPATION?

In the third season of Black Lightning, the fictional Black city of Freeland was living under a military occupation by the ASA (the quasi governmental organization occupying Freeland). Not only did the city have heavily armed troopers patrolling the streets, but also had troopers patrolling the schools– detaining anyone they deemed a threat – using violence if necessary.  In episode four, students are in a classroom discussing similar military occupations in multiple countries around the world and their harmful effects on the people being occupied.  Some students agree, but then others claim the ASA occupying their city might be a good thing, suggesting that the ASA’s presence comes with safety.  As they are discussing, the ASA comes into the classroom to detain (and abduct) a student named Tavon, under the suspicion of having powers.  Although his teacher tries to protect him from the ASA’s unlawful detainment, his teacher is beaten with the butt of an ASA officer’s gun, and Tavon is taken away and murdered by the ASA. Enraged by the murder of their classmate, students confront the ASA with a protest to get them out of their schools as well as demand answers for what happened to Tavon.  As one student tries to show ASA officers a picture of their murdered classmate (pictured above), another ASA officer beats the student with their gun and tries to detain him until Guidance Counselor Jefferson Pierce (Black Lightning) arrives to protect his students. Although Black Lightning is a fictional show with CONTINUE READING: Are Urban Schools A Site of Occupation? - PopularResistance.Org

Chicago Teachers' Struggle At A Crossroads - PopularResistance Org

Chicago Teachers' Struggle At A Crossroads - PopularResistance.Org

CHICAGO TEACHERS’ STRUGGLE AT A CROSSROADS

The drive to reopen Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third largest school district in the country, has become a pitched battle between educators and the state apparatus, the latter backed up by the corporate media and the unions. The fight by Chicago educators to prevent the reopening of schools is the focal point of the class struggle in the United States, with every other major district in the country looking to Chicago to set a precedent.

In this context, it is of the utmost importance for teachers and other educators to organize independently of the unions and join the Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, as well as attend this Saturday’s national meeting of the Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, which will bring together the network of committees that have formed across the country, as well as committee members in the UK and Germany.

Resisting the campaign by the Biden administration and the media to reopen schools, Chicago educators are leading the struggle against the resumption of in-person instruction as the pandemic enters a new and deadlier phase. Underscoring the stakes involved are recent reports of the presence of more CONTINUE READING: Chicago Teachers' Struggle At A Crossroads - PopularResistance.Org