Protests Affirm Public's Stand
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Our Schools, We Decide!
• Measuring Our Success
Protests Affirm Public's Stand
Our Schools, We Decide!
Whose Schools? Our Schools! Who Decides? We Decide! rang out repeatedly inside and outside the School Board meeting February 11. The stand of the public is firm and undaunted. Decisions about education belong to the public and must be in their hands and no one else’s — We Decide! Speakers inside and out emphasized that the broad mobilization and activization of the public that has taken place over the past several months is of great value. It is a main success of the organizing efforts to be strengthened as the struggle goes forward.
Large numbers again rallied in the snow outside the board meeting and then hundreds again filled the auditorium inside. Students are increasing their role, leafleting and mobilizing in their schools and working together with teachers and organizers. This includes those in the four schools scheduled for closure, Bennett, East, Lafayette and MLK. Other students, from City Honors, Riverside and elsewhere also spoke out against the attacks on the public schools and stood with their fellow students demanding the equal right to education for all.
As in the previous board meetings, those who spoke outside and inside stood firmly for a Yes Vote on the Redesign Plans created by the schools. They emphasized that the teachers, staff, parents, students, principals and community are mobilized and organized to support and implement these plans, and such unity and passion must not be wasted. In speeches and chants and other actions, participants affirmed they will keep up the struggle for rights, however the board votes. That is what We Decide means.
This active and united public has emerged despite efforts by local and state officials to divide teachers and parents, completely ignore students and tire people out. Votes have been delayed, meeting locations and times moved, and the repeated stand of the public in favor of the redesign plans and for public control of public schools ignored and openly dismissed. As one board member put it, reflecting the actions of the majority, “Your comments mean nothing to me.”
The fear by government officials of a rising public, a public that is defending its right to decide, was also evident in efforts to silence opposition — something denounced by those at the rally and board meeting. This included having a teacher escorted out of a board meeting simply for because he was a union member. One of the speakers addressed the fact that these efforts to silence people are undemocratic and unacceptable. He was joined by teachers and students in the audience who used large stickers to cover their months. He ended with the audience standing in support and joining the chant, as people took off the stickers to chant Whose Schools? Our Schools! Who Decides? We Decide!
People also rejected the plan to extend criterion schools, like City Honors and Performing Arts, into Bennett and MLK. Students who have experienced such co-location in New York City brought out what a disaster such actions are, whether they involve all public schools or a combination of public and charter schools. Co-location is disruptive, increases conflicts and does not contribute to raising the quality of education. The redesign plans, and the broad and active support for them do contribute to improving education, with new ideas for curriculum, for involving students more in decision making, and for developing the schools as organizing centers, which itself improves education.
The practice now developed for people to address the audience and involve them in chants and other actions took various forms at this meeting. In addition to that opposing the silencing, another one called for “shining a light” for the board to see the just demand for a yes vote on the redesign plans. The whole audience joined in standing up, waving small electric candles to light the way forward. Others included use of music, providing the “prize” of Bennett’s redesign plan and large numbers of students with T-shirts demanding a yes vote and calling for Public Control of Public Schools! What stands out is that the meetings are now mainly used to further unite and engage people in the struggle, rather than submit to the board majority and its anti-education plans.
Organizing efforts are going forward with enthusiasm and with the firm stand that however the board votes, and however the state tries to intervene, these are Our Schools, We Decide!
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As the struggle to defend the equal right to education for all goes forward, centered on the content, Our Schools, We Decide! it is useful to look at how to measure successes to date and their significance. A main thing that stands out is that over the past several months of organizing, the content of Our Schools, We Decide! has been widely demanded and repeatedly fought for. It has now emerged as the unifying central demand of the public. The consciousness has emerged that the public schools belong to the public, should stay public and that defending them and improving their quality requires decision making by the public. The united stand, expressed repeatedly at rallies and board meetings is We Decide! This is a significant success. It enables all to keep our fight in our hands and based on our demands — not the resolutions or votes by the board. It is this orientation that guides work now as the struggle goes forward. We Decide means We Decide.
Secondly, people are not willing to accept decisions by the board that trample on the right to speak and organize. The court of public opinion has roundly rejected efforts to silence people, whether union members or community organizers or students. Use of police, refusing to allow signs in, repeated threats to remove people, robbing people of their time to speak — none of this has intimidated people.
On the contrary, tactics have emerged that put the tone and spirit of the board meetings in the hands of the public, not the board. This is evident in the t-shirts worn by more and more students, demanding Vote YES on the redesign plans and calling for Public Control of Public Schools. It is seen in the readiness of the entire audience to join in chants and use this as a method to unite and inspire the public while silencing board members. It is seen in the fact that speakers now address themselves to the audience and use tactics that engage the audience, such as the more recent one using candles to “shine a light.” These tactics and stands reflect the recognition that this is our fight, in our hands and We Decide! not the board.
Thirdly, attention is being paid to mobilize more students at more schools. This is an important means to strengthen the resistance and block efforts to target and isolate teachers. It also contributes to involving more parents. And positions students to play a role on other fronts, such as refusing the state tests coming up in April. Participation of students in the various actions has been increasing as has conscious organizing, school by school. This too is an important success.
At this time, when the board has approved a resolution concerning the four schools, these successes also serve as a means to resist the pressure being exerted to limit the struggle based on the vote, or look at it solely from the perspective of the board. There is pressure to focus debate on whether the board listened, or to what degree they did, or accept this is the most we can get. That is, we are to be reactive to a decision out of our control, rather than pro-active based on decisions in our control. Our job is not to hand decision making over to the board and accept their votes, which also means we do not measure success based on their actions. We measure it based on our own and what we decide is needed and implementation of those decision. While the board did vote, and we take their resolution into account and need to now analyze its content as part of moving forward, it is we who decide what is needed, not the board. Our Schools, We Decide!
Our work is to further advance the consciousness and organization of the public as a whole — of students, teachers, staff, parents, all concerned — with the necessity for decision making by the public. The fight for the equal right to education for all demands public control, public decision making, not that by a few board members elected by a tiny handful of voters. Our success is measured first of all by how far our organizing has come, how far the common consciousness about what we are fighting for has come. It is measured by the unity achieved and determined spirit that says this fight is not over. It is measured in the fact that the public is standing true to its right and its demand: Our Schools, We Decide!
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