Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/34960
March to save our schools Teacher and blogger Anthony Cody, shown at a solidarity rally for Wisconsin workers held in Sacramento in the spring, is one of the organizers of the Save Our Schools March. urday, July 30, for a Save Our Schools March and National Call to Action. CTA has endorsed this movement where participants are demanding an end to so-called reforms that have undermined the public education system, demoralized teachers and threatened to reduce the education of students to nothing more than test prepa- ration. Movie star Matt Damon and education experts Jonathan P 22 California Educator | JUNE 2011 eople from across the country will gather in Washington, D.C., on Sat- Kozol, Diane Ravitch and others are headlining the event, which will call for the Obama adminis- tration to restore public schools to places of learning, joy and democrac y, instead of continuing the top-down federal mandates and over- emphasis on stan- dardized testing that have harmed public education for the past nine years. For those unable to attend, there will be a rally in Sacra- mento on the same day on the front lawn of the state Capitol from noon to 2 p.m., co-sponsored by Student CTA and Save Our Schools. The Save Our Schools March and National Call to Ac- tion is the product of a grassroots move- ment dedicated to restoring educator, parent, student and commu- nity influence over education policy and practice. Organiz- ers are demanding: • Equitable funding for all public school communities. • An end to high-stakes test- ing used for the purpose of student, teacher and school evaluation. • Curriculum developed for and by local school communities. • Teacher and community lead- ership in forming public edu- cation policies. Oakland Education Associ-