SAN DIEGO
Protest draws angry teachers
By Gloria Verdieu
San Diego
After weeks of planning, a May 14 teachers' union protest
drew teachers here--from San Diego's poorest neighborhoods to
its wealthiest. More than 2,000 teachers rallied outside a
public meeting called by the school board. Their picket signs
showed the anger and frustrations of teachers in the San Diego
School District about the policies of Superintendent Alan
Bersin.
A petition circulated at the rally also demanded the recall
of two board members who voted for an academic curriculum that
does not meet the needs of all students despite the objections
of parents, grandparents, teachers and students. The "Blueprint
for Student Success" does not require students to read to state
standards, deprives students of balanced curricula and equal
opportunity to earn a high school diploma. It also fails to
provide students with sufficient math, science, and arts
electives to get into the colleges of their choice.
A message from the San Diego Education Association
distributed at the rally stressed that the district
administration had unilaterally announced it would allow only a
1.3 percent raise for teachers this year and that there would
be no raise the following year. The SDEA added that the
administration has stalled negotiations on this year's raise
for six months.
Reprinted from the May 30, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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