Students!

Parents! Grandparents!

Teachers! Principals! School board members! Staff!

Friends!

Citizens!

Organize now for a national action against gun violence on April 20!

Take the pledge to participate in the action!

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-day-of-action-against-gun-violence-in-schools

Join the National Day for Action to Protect Students and Schools from Gun Violence!

No more murders in schools!

Students, teachers, parents, families, members of the community—join together, and you decide what works best in your community. Walk out, strike, sit-in, teach-in, protest, demonstrate, encircle the school with linked arms, March to your legislators’ offices. Be creative. Let your legislators and other elected officials know: It is time to act now to protect students, staff and schools.

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. But they change nothing. What’s needed now is legislation to stop the carnage. Weapons of war belong in the hands of trained military and police, not civilians, not children.

This action is sponsored by the Network for Public Education, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the BATS, and many more organizations that care about the safety of our children and our educators.

Please take the pledge to join this national action on April 20. 

https://actionnetwork.org/forms/national-day-of-action-against-gun-violence-in-schools

If your organization wants to sign on as a sponsor of the National Day of Action to Protect Our Students and Schools, please contact Carol Burris of the Network for Public Education.

Cburris@networkforpubliceducation.org

David Berliner shook everyone out of their lethargy and state of shock by proposing a national teachers’ strike. Many people loved the idea, but more than a few teachers pointed out that they would be fired if they went out on strike. Lots of people came up with alternatives. Some wanted to exclude elementary schools, but they too have suffered from gun violence. Some wanted actions that took place when school was not in session, but that was like holding a strike on weekends.  It quickly became clear that we would get nowhere if we tried to settle on one plan that was acceptable to everyone. In the end, those of us who wanted action realized that communities should crowdsource their protests and coordinate locally. There was no good reason to impose a one-size-fits-all plan on everyone.

And so we turn to you to do what is most effective for your schoool and your community. But make it loud and bold!

What matters most is to organize, plan, raise your voices, and make sure your legislators hear you.

Don’t settle for thoughts and prayers. Don’t settle for bland promises about mental health services (that are being cut). We need real change. We need to learn from nations that don’t tolerate gun violence. In the five years since the massacre of first graders and staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been “at least 239 school shootings nationwide. In those episodes, 438 people were shot, 138 of whom were killed.” (New York Times) The slaughter of children must stop!