A small number of charter schools have gone on strike in Los Angeles. This is remarkable because charter schools were created to eliminate teachers’ unions. That’s why the Waltons Fund them. That’s why DeVos and the Koch brothers fund them. The remarkable story in the following press release from UTLA is what happened when charter school parents tried to meet with the charter Zceo. Instead of listening to them, he called the police.
MEDIA ADVISORY
Contact: Anna Bakalis, 213-305-9654
Kim Turner, 213-305-9316
TODAY, FRIDAY, JANUARY 18
Bargaining between UTLA and LAUSD begins at 11 am at City Hall.
• 10:30 am: MAJOR RALLY: “Let the Sunshine In”
Where: Grand Park, in front of City Hall
Musical performances by:
Tom Morello
Aloe Blacc
Maya Jupiter
Marisa Ronstadt
• 3 pm: CHARTER PARENT ACTION
Contact: Ed Gutierrez, 213-595-7949
What: Accelerated parents and students will demand a face-to-face meeting with CEO Johnathan Williams to deliver their petition
Where: The Accelerated School, 4000 S. Main St. Los Angeles 90037
Who: Accelerated parents, students and striking teachers
On Thursday afternoon parents and students of The Accelerated Schools charter network attempted to deliver a petition including hundreds of parent signatures to CEO Johnathan Williams. The petition calls on Williams and the charter schools’ board of trustees to negotiate a fair contract for teachers and to end the bitter strike at the three schools. Parents and students entered the school premises demanding to speak directly with Williams, but rather than meeting to discuss resolving the ongoing work stoppage and its impact on teachers and students, Williams called the police.
Outraged parents are determined to have their voices heard and will be returning this afternoon to again attempt to deliver their petition in support of teachers’ demands. Approximately 80 Accelerated teachers are heading toward the fourth day of their historic strike – the first charter school strike in California’s history.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Tom Morello is a good man. He came up to Ohio a few years ago with Wayne Kramer (MC5) and Tim McIlrath (Rise Against) to do concerts to raise funds and awareness to fight SB5, the Kasich/GOP-led attempt to kill unions. Tom and Wayne were also in Wisconsin during the public employees strike. Check out Tom’s work in support of unions and working folks on his Night Watchman albums.
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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just re-tweeted this dance video of LAUSD striking teachers and students boycotting school (student participation is key here), dancing as one, doing a flashmob line dance in front of their school (Venice High, I think).
Each dance move communicates a different contract negotiation talking point:
FIRST STEP: Reach up and lower those class sizes.” — reach and pull down motion
…
THIRD STEP: “Scoop into that billion-dollar reserve.” — two-hand scooping motion
Then Aretha Franklin music kicks in. Watch it. It’ll give ya chills.
The apoplectic right-wing tweets below this video give you an idea of its effectiveness.
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I also retweeted this yesterday. It is wonderful! You might also like this:
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Please read this about Florida.
Thank you teachers of LA for doing what we cannot do in Florida.
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/lake/lauren-ritchie/os-ne-lauren-ritchie-legislature-charter-schools20190117-story.html
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UTLA striking teacher here. We are unbowed, unbent, and unbroken. We support our fellow educators at Accelerated Schools and their fight for their students and the teaching profession. ❤️
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POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!
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