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Issue: # 2
March 29, 2012

Information and action for parents who want to help strengthen our public schools. Comments? Suggestions? Stories? E-mail us info@parentsacrossamerica.org.  

More at www.parentsacrossamerica.org. 

PAA Action Alert

Occupy the DOE in DC! United Opt Out is sponsoring a five-day event in Washington DC this weekend. If you can't attend, there are lots of other ways to participate. PAA member Dov Rosenberg will be joining Chicago activist Mike Klonsky to present a workshop on parent organizing on Monday 4/2 at 10 am. Events will also livestream.    

PAA News

PAA and PAA founding member Rita Solnet honored in Florida! Watch the tribute by the Palm Beach County School Board here.   


PAA in the media
Two PAA founders published columns in this week's Washington Post Answer Sheet blog:

Leonie Haimson, who runs Class Size Matters in NYC, raised the concern about growing class sizes resulting from budget cuts, with more on the way under federal budget proposals, in "Ignoring a Reform that Works,"

Sharon Higgins (PAA-Oakland), wrote about the secretive Gulen Charter Schools in "Largest Charter Network in the US: Tied to Turkey."
PAA Blog Highlights

In addition to PAA blog posts cited elsewhere in this newsletter, here are some of our recent posts:   

Join Us!

Parents Across America invites existing local or statewide groups who share our overall goals of progressive, positive education reform and more parent input in education policymaking to affiliate with us. The more of us there are, the stronger our voice will be at every level. We are also looking for parents who are interested in forming new chapters of PAA in their states and/or local communities. Check out what we believe, and if you agree, join with us! Read more here.

PAA Chapter/Affiliate News
Welcome new affiliates!
  • Communities 4 Education (Delaware) Contact: aekbladh@verizon.net
PAA's Karran Harper Royal and other parents protest Louisiana education policies
PAA-NOLA:
Parents voiced concerns about local education bill: PAA founding member Karran Harper Royal, member of the statewide group the Coalition for Louisiana Public Education, criticized the plan's focus on vouchers, expanding charters, "Parent Trigger" concept, and other problems. Press release here.

PAA-South Carolina:
New PAA chapter (see above) prepares to welcome Education Secretary Arne Duncan with concerns about the over-influence of corporate reform on US education policy.  
From PURE/PAA-Chicago:
PAA co-founder Julie Woestehoff joined local academics
who presented a letter signed by 88 education experts warning Chicago's Mayor and schools CEO against overuse of student test scores in teacher evaluation. 

Also in Chicago, a bill was passed out of the state Senate education committee banning charter school fees for disciplinary infractions, a direct response to PURE's challenge to such a policy by the highly-touted Noble Charter School Network which has netted the company nearly $400,000 from its mostly low-income students.
Parents Across America (PAA) is a non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that connects parents and activists
from across the U.S. to share ideas and work together  
on improving our nation's public schools.    

PAA is committed to bringing the voice of public school par�ents - and common sense - to local, state, and national education debates.