Baltimore students march for equal education
By
Sharon Black
Baltimore
Published May 26, 2005 4:45 PM
Several hundred high-school
students and their supporters marched in downtown Baltimore May 17, from the
harbor to the nearby school board, to demand an end to unequal funding and
abysmal conditions in city schools. Later they faced arrest.
Students demand more teachers, more classes.
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The students
shouted, “Arrest Gov. Erh lich,” and, “Arrest Nancy
Grasmick!” They also chanted, “We don’t want your racist Iraq
war.”
Members of the Baltimore Teachers Union, Service
Employees-1199 and the All Peoples Congress also marched with the
students.
When the students arrived at the State Board of Education,
scores of police formed a line between marchers and the building.
Several
students who had planned to participate in civil disobedience, along with a
teacher and a community representative, crossed the street and slipped behind
police lines. Police had quickly locked doors to the building. The group refused
to leave and instead began to poster the building with “Wanted”
posters with the pictures of the governor, mayor and superintendent of schools.
The posters charge them with “failure to pay child
support.”
Steven Ceci, a union and community organizer with the All
Peoples Congress who was also a participant with the students, said: “The
students who are risking arrest are very brave. The youngest of our group is 13
years old. The reason for this action is because the schools are so
horrible—overcrowded classrooms, lead in the drinking water, the students
don’t even have toilet paper.”
For about 20 minutes the group
faced off against police, who were obviously angry but who also refused to
arrest the group. Two police officers grabbed both Ceci and Jay Gillian, a
teacher and adviser for the Algebra Project. They twisted Ceci’s arm and
pushed Gillian.
Despite the intimidation, students continued to tape
posters on the Board of Education building and surrounding poles.
The
group returned to a cheering crowd of supporters.
The march itself was
called to coincide with the 51st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme
Court’s Brown vs. Board of Edu cation ruling, which ordered an end to
school segregation. A coalition of groups led by the Algebra Project, a group of
young students, has been fighting to force the state to abide by a court ruling
that would give equal funding to Baltimore city schools. City schools receive
less than the surrounding counties, which are more affluent.
Maryland Gov.
Robert Ehrlich has ignored court orders. Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley
has also been silent on the issue. The court had ordered $225 million additional
spending on Baltimore schools every year.
The Algebra Project, Baltimore
Edu cation Advocates, All Peoples Con gress, Council of PTA’s Parent-Commu
nity Advisory Board, Generations for Peace and Democracy, Green Party,
SEIU-1199, and others called the May 17 action.
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