PHOTO/HARVEY FINKLE
PHILADELPHIA—Over the past several years, Philadelphians have rallied to save their public education system in the streets, and in the halls of government and the school district. The crisis has brought together groups often divided—teachers, students, parents and community members—to fight one for one common cause—quality public education.
In May 2013, three thousand Philadelphia students walked out of public schools, and marched to the School District headquarters and City Hall. This walk-out united students of every race, language, ethnicity and economic background, and brought together students from prestigious magnet schools with students from struggling inner-city neighborhood schools.
The struggle continued during the summer, when laid-off staff members held a hunger strike to demand their jobs back, and community members rallied in support. Since school began in September, Full Funding Fridays have brought together parents, students, teachers, school employees and community members at local neighborhood schools every Friday morning for vigils to support public schools.
Organizations of poor and homeless families, youth, immigrants and teachers—including the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC), Asian Americans United, Philadelphia Students’ Union, the Teachers’ Action Group and Youth United for Change—have been deeply involved in this fight, which was recently featured at PPEHRC’s World Court of Women in Kensington, North Philadelphia.
In addition to protests and actions, Philadelphians have come together to propose solutions to the crisis. The Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS)—uniting students, teachers, counselors, nurses, parents, community members and advocates—has created the “Philadelphia Community Education Plan” for “Excellent Schools for All Children.” Based on community listening sessions and other outreach among thousands of Philadelphians, the Plan demands quality conditions for learning, safe schools, support for struggling schools, support for students that is holistic, turning school buildings into community hubs, and the restoration of Philadelphia’s local school board. The Plan also includes a “Student Bill of Rights.” PCAPS and many others are working together to demand and develop community schools.
The people of Philadelphia refuse to allow schools to be privatized, or turned into charities or the graveyard of organized labor. Despite well-funded PR campaigns by the city and the state to blame the crisis on teachers—and to weaken the union and to force the teachers’ union to give up valuable benefits and pay—a recent poll showed that Philadelphians understand that the blame for the crisis belongs with the system and its representatives in government, not with teachers. Philadelphians recently protested at a national conference of philanthropists in Philadelphia aimed at further privatization and the increased destruction of public education.
The destruction of public education is going hand in hand with the building of prisons and other means of controlling our class—the class that has no future in capitalism. But the fight for public education in Philadelphia and across the country is bringing together our class across all of the lines that the capitalists have developed to divide us, uniting us in a struggle for a system and society that meets the needs of all of its people.
