May 4, 2016 - On Wednesday, May 4, parents, students, and educators at more than 150 public schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District will join tens of thousands of their counterparts in more than 80 cities to stage the second in a series of actions to demand resources for sustainable community schools.

Most local May 4 events will take place in the morning, before school begins, and sites are planning a variety of actions, from banner drops and walk-ins to flagpole rallies and marches.

At Bridge Street, the community has adopted a Star Wars theme for their action, with teachers dressing up as characters from the movie series. Parents, students, and teachers will march and chant slogans such as “Art classes would EWOK my world!” and “May the FOURTH be with you.” Members of the organization the Harry Potter Alliance will be interviewing parents and teachers and doing a live Facebook feed for Teacher Appreciation Week as part of their participation in the TeachMeYouDid challenge. TeachMeYouDid is an invitation for everyone to tell the story about a teacher or mentor in their lives who woke up the “Force” in them.

May 4 is part of a growing movement for the schools our students deserve, which includes smaller class sizes for more personalized attention, rich and diverse curriculum, expanding instructional time by eliminating unnecessary testing, and support for students’ socio-emotional needs. Participants will also be calling on LAUSD leadership to begin collecting fees owed for many years by charter operators who co-locate on existing campuses and are given more space than they use. Collecting these lawful fees would amount to tens of millions of dollars—enough to begin addressing students’ class size and staffing needs.

The first national Day of Action, organized by local school communities and the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools, was held on February 17 and involved nearly 40,000 people at 833 public schools in 30 cities. Wednesday’s action will involve around 80 cities, including an expansion into many Southern states. The expanding series of actions represents the leading edge of a growing movement for sustainable community schools—a proactive vision in opposition to the increasingly discredited corporate reform approach that features high-stakes testing, school closings, and privatized schools that lack public accountability and operational transparency.

4 April 2016