by Wrench in the Gears
January 30, 2018
Public education activists are
living through an interesting moment now in Philadelphia. The School Reform
Commission is being disbanded. In the coming months Mayor Jim Kenney will be
appointing a school board from nominations put forth by a select panel.
The process is murky, and a pattern of closed-door education policy
decision-making has been established here, here,
and here.
Last night, the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce held a ticketed event to
discuss the future of business in our schools at Girard College, an
important site of struggle in
the Civil Rights Movement. You had to be a Chamber of Commerce affiliate to
purchase a $35 ticket for the event, which included the following language on
the event website.
It appears the
future of public education in our city is being mapped out by industry, venture
capital, and well-connected non-profit and higher education partners. The people, meanwhile, are left standing
outside the gate. Last night, however, the real action WAS outside the gate as
a dozen activists carried out an act of civil disobedience to contest policies
of exclusion and shine a light on the mayor’s hypocrisy in casting this new
school board as a step towards accountable local control. Because what does
“local control” actually mean if educational policies are being directed by the
hands of elite interests in Greek Temples with no teachers, students, or
parents present?
On January 29, 2018
from 5-5:45pm we claimed the space in front of the entrance to the Girard
College campus, carrying banners that read “Nothing About Us Without Us,”
“Public Schools NOT Private Profit,” “Teachers Before Tech,” and “Our Children
Are NOT Data, Human Capital, or Impact Investment Opportunities.” This blockade compelled attendees to park
along a nearby street and walk past the people to the gates where members of
the Caucus of Working Educators pressed our demands for transparency in school
governance into their hands. Click here for a copy of the handout we gave
attendees. The video below provides a 15-minute overview of the action.
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