Pink Friday

pink friday dot org

Today, all across the state of California, teachers and staff in all the various districts are wearing pink in comradery for Pink Friday.

Today is the deadline for school districts to issue preliminary pink slips to California teachers. As of Wednesday this week, over 26,000 teachers had received such notices, TWENTY-SIX-THOUSAND!!! I am absolutely astonished by this number.

Children Are Our Future! ... ?

I am livid.

It's the same old say-one-thing-and-do-another hypocritical bureaucratic bullshit that keeps actual learning from taking place.

I received walking papers this week. And you know what? I'm thankful, yes, thankful. I'm thankful that I'm not a parent having to worry about my kids losing their health care benefits at the end of this school year when my termination will be official, or strapped with a mortgage whose adjustable rate just spiked, or someone with years and years invested into a school community only to be then be told, "It's not you, it's the system"

Well, you know what?

System Fail.

And you know what else? The system has been failing! California Public Schools need a change, but this is most definitely not it!

Song for California's Children



My Pragmatist is choking out my Idealist and I'm afraid the Idealist may die.
So today, at the school I work, red balloons are being passed out to the students in order for them to show solidarity with the teachers whom have received their walking papers as well as for them to make the statement, "I care about my education and so do these tens and tens of thousands of educators who will no longer have a classroom"-- It's truly touching.

Sure, the books may have been old, bindings fraying; and maybe there weren't enough desks to fit all the students in the class. And maybe the copy machine was broken every time they went to make copies, relegating them to become fast friends with the staff at their local Kinkos. And perhaps the idea that one person could possibly teach 35 students at different reading levels without the help of an aide is ridiculous... but my point is that these educators in the state of California are "make it work" kind of people.

The state has been slacking on funding for far too long, compromising the education of the next generation. But this, Pink Friday, maybe this will be different. Maybe the problems will become, to the population at large, to gigantic to overlook, too horrendous to take.

One woman said on pinkfriday.org:

"LAUSD has stated they would send 5,500 RIF (Reduction in Force) Notices to LAUSD classroom teachers. Today our principal told the 18 teachers, YES 18, that they would be RIFed today. That is 51%!!!! How do they NOT think that will negatively impact the school. We teach in South Central LA, Watts! Its has always been hard enough to staff our school now it will be nearly impossible! Those 18 teachers included 12 probationary teachers and 6 permanent teachers. I am so upset, I know now how people are supposed to finish out this school year with this looming in the distance!"
-elizvalla

And this woman is not alone... In districts all over the State teachers are getting RIFed; many individual school sites stand to lose close to if not over
HALF its teaching force.



And yet they still say that children are our future...

perhaps "they" should start acting as such.