Press Release for Memphis Protest Rally

Press Release

Memphis Parents Urge SCS School to Stop Closing Community Schools and to Start Supporting Them

April 21, 2015

Memphis, TN—Parents, students, teachers, and community members will rally April 21 at 160 South Hollywood at 4:30 PM to demand support for community schools and to oppose SCS Board plans to turn over community schools to the IZone and to charter school companies chosen by the State’s Achievement School District.  The protest rally is sponsored by OurStudentsMatterNow, and all citizens who care about keeping public schools public in Memphis are urged to come out and support this effort.

OurStudentsMatterNow demands and end to the use of high stakes tests to target schools in urban communities for closure and turnover, and the organization is urging the Shelby County School Board to commit the financial support required to improve the quality of historically underfunded public schools in economically-disadvantaged neighborhoods of Memphis.

This protest rally represents the first of many public efforts by OurStudentsMatterNow to generate support for quality public schools for all Shelby County children.  OurStudentsMatterNow has established a legal defense fund to take their case into the courts, and they are planning for public demonstrations and organizing events this Spring and into the next school year.

  

Those wanting to contribute to the effort to save community schools in Memphis may do so by coming out to rally with OurStudentsMatterNow and by giving generously at the GoFundMe site here:  http://www.gofundme.com/ourstudentsmatter

For further information, contact
ourstudentsmatternow@gmail.com or memphis.teachers@mail.com