[nabs-l] SFGate: Schools in state fired up over Day of Action

[Darian Smith]

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Sunday, February 28, 2010 (SF Chronicle)
Schools in state fired up over Day of Action
Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer


   March 4th has gone viral.
   The upcoming Day of Action to Defend Public Education - rallies, marches,
teach-ins, even political theater - began as an idea on the UC Berkeley
campus last fall and has caught fire up and down California, from
elementary school to graduate school, and across two dozen states.
   On the surface, Thursday's Day of Action seems likely to be an
unprecedented show of unity among public education advocates at all levels
who are angry that politicians and university officials with fingers on
purse strings are letting the system decay.
   "Everybody's coming together," said Callie Maidhof, a student at UC
Berkeley, where students have protested tuition hikes, budget cuts and
layoffs since last fall.
   But some say the event is already scorched by the threat of violence. At
an outdoor dance party early Friday, a crowd of Berkeley campus protesters
seized a building, torched trash cans, threw bottles and got into an angry
confrontation with police. Hostilities unwanted
   Students said protesters occupied the building in part to call attention
to March 4th, and don't expect the hostilities to be repeated Thursday.
   "It's important not to inject that level of damage into every action, or
you'll alienate lots of people who don't want to act that way," said
Xander Lenc, a student at the dance party that got out of hand.
   A major goal of Thursday's Day of Action is to draw attention to education
woes not only in California, but all over the country, Maidhof said. "We
want public education to be open and free to all."
   Instead, college tuition has been climbing steadily in most states and in
California, despite a state master plan calling for tuition-free colleges.
   At UC, next year's base tuition of $10,302 will be more than double that
of six years ago. Recent tuition hikes of more than 30 percent at UC and
at California State University have forced students to shoulder more of
the cost of their education as state lawmakers have cut back on funding to
the universities in response to the state's epic budget crisis. Schools
are offering fewer courses, cutting wages, laying off employees and
reducing enrollment.
   At community colleges, course cuts will close the door to 21,000 students
next year.
   In the lower grades, thousands of teachers will get layoff warnings by
March 15. Holding the Day of Action in time to highlight those pink slips
is one reason students and teachers say they chose the date March 4.
   "We hope to educate our politicians that the system they have for funding
schools is not equitable and needs to be changed," said Megan Caluza, who
has taught special-needs students at El Dorado Elementary in San Francisco
for two years and expects to be laid off.
   She'll march with colleagues and parents through the Mission District
after school, then head to a 5 p.m. rally at Civic Center - one of many
sponsored by labor unions and faculty.
   "Everyone agrees that education should be a right, not a privilege," said
Joan Berezin, co-chairwoman of the social science department at Berkeley
City College and an organizer. "This is our state, our education. If we
don't defend it, who will?"
   All 23 campuses of California State University are holding events. A sense
of humor
   Rachel Kerns, a sophomore at San Francisco State, recently put final
touches on a 12-foot papier-mache "Draculator." It's one of four huge,
in-your-face puppets that students, theater Professor Carlos Barón and
artist Colette Crutcher are creating for Thursday's rally.
   The group is building a traditional Mexican weeping figure called "La
Llorona" to cry for students, dinosaur bones to signify the extinction of
education, and a huge skeleton in a graduation cap.
   "It's a student who's still paying college loans even after he's dead,"
Crutcher said with a laugh.
   "March 4th, I hope, will give the students a feeling of accomplishment,"
Barón said. "If we make noise, and if we're heard - if people laugh at our
work - then we'll have achieved something very positive. We're not there
to scream at people."
   March 4th was born on Oct. 24, when hundreds of students and employees
from dozens of schools met at UC Berkeley to decide how to keep momentum
alive after a major statewide campus walkout a month earlier to protest
the fee hikes and cuts in the works.
   Since then it seems everyone is planning something for that day.
   "We wanted to get involved with the national call by California students
who are facing the same crisis as we are," said Chris Persampieri, a
student at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Mass., one of several
schools in dozens of states holding rallies.
   Will it make a difference?
   "I don't think March 4th is going to do anything," said UC Berkeley
student Yana Pavlova. "We don't have the tangible power to change the law.
So at the end of the day, we're back where we started, paying $30,000 for
a 'public' education."

   A Day of Action: Events planned in the Bay Area and Sacramento. C3
   A Day of Action to Defend Public Education
   Events planned Thursday in the Bay Area and Sacramento: Sacramento
   -- 11 a.m.-1 p.m.: State Capitol rally on the north steps. The purpose is
to feature lessons on California's public education system, focusing on
history, political science and economics. Speakers include Assembly
Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, and UC Berkeley Professor
George Lakoff.
   -- Two-minute testimonials from faculty, alumni and public college
students will follow. San Francisco
   -- Daylong: San Francisco public schools will host teach-ins, marches,
rallies and letter writing starting at 7 a.m. Many will host rallies and
marches, including El Dorado Elementary from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.; George
Washington High from 11:20 a.m. to noon; Feinstein Elementary at 1 p.m.;
and Miraloma Elementary at 2:15 p.m.
   -- 7 a.m.: San Francisco State University campus action.
   -- 3 p.m.: March from 24th and Mission streets to Civic Center.
   -- 4 p.m.: March to State Building on McAllister Street.
   -- 5 p.m.: "Rally for Our Future" at Civic Center, with speakers and
performances. Oakland
   -- Daylong: Oakland public schools will offer activities highlighting the
impact of school funding cuts. Activities include leafleting and picketing
before class.
   -- 11 a.m.: Laney College rally, followed by march (via Fruitvale BART) to
Oakland City Hall.
   -- Noon-4 p.m.: Rally at Frank Ogawa Plaza (in front of Oakland City Hall,
14th and Broadway).
   -- 4 p.m.: Oakland school officials hold press conference at 1515 Clay St.
UC Berkeley
   -- 7 a.m.-noon: Pickets on campus.
   -- Noon-1 p.m.: UC Berkeley rally at Bancroft and Telegraph, followed by a
march to Oakland City Hall. Cal State East Bay, Hayward
   -- Noon: Rally, walkout and open mike/speak out at Agora Stage at noon;
delivery of student demands to campus president. California Maritime
Academy, Vallejo
   -- Noon: Street Theatre/Mock Die-In at Maritime's main quad. San Jose
State
   -- 11 a.m.: March from San Jose City Hall to San Jose State Tower Lawn.
   -- Noon: Keep the Doors Open rally at San Jose State Tower Lawn Sonoma
State
   -- 11:30 a.m.: Student walkout
   -- Noon-1:30 p.m.: Rally near Stevenson Quad

E-mail Nanette Asimov at nasimov at sfchronicle.com. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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