A coalition of progressive education and political organizations has issued a set of demands for the upcoming school year.
The Demand Safe Schools’s list is a far-left ambition which includes police-free schools, moratoriums on new charter/voucher programs and standardized testing, a “massive infusion of federal money to support [school] reopening funded by taxing billionaires and Wall Street,” and no in-person classroom instruction “until the scientific data supports it.”
Other demands include:
* All schools must be supported to function as community schools with adequate numbers of counselors and nurses and community/parent outreach workers
* Safe conditions including lower class sizes, PPE, cleaning, testing, and other key protocols
* Equitable access to online learning
* Support for our communities and families, including moratorium on evictions/foreclosures, providing direct cash assistance to those not able to work or who are unemployed, and other critical social needs
The coalition features the Chicago and Boston teachers unions, the United Teachers Los Angeles, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, Journey For Justice, the Center for Popular Democracy and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Demand Safe Schools’ “About” section describes its purpose thusly:
In this movement moment, our organizations have come together to unite students, educators, parents and community to advance a racial justice agenda in public education, in particular by organizing for police-free schools. We’re working to galvanize a strong and growing student/educator/parent/community voice; a voice that says the government must go much further to provide the resources to ensure a safe and equitable school reopening and must provide for our communities and working families through transformational Common Good demands.
One might think a group so concerned about a safe reopening of the nation’s schools would be wary of large gatherings, even with the usual COVID-19 protocols. Not so. The coalition’s “National Day of Resistance” is slated for August 3 at which “tactics and targets” include occupying city halls and local banks, “taking over” city property to give to homeless students, and marches and “car caravans.”
h/t: Corey DeAngelis
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