Protesting Mass School Closings in New York City - 27:54
Instruction, Not Destruction: Protesting Proposed School Closings
with
Carmen Applewhite, Teacher, Candidate for UFT President, Chancellor, International Assocation of Educators for Peace.
and
James Eterno, Teacher, Jamaica High School, UFT Chapter Chair, Candidate for UFT President
and
William Hargraves, Member Coalition for Public Education, Parent
The Department of Education’s Panel for Education Policy was meeting at Brooklyn Technical High School, and thousands of teachers, parents, students and concerned community members were out on a chilly January evening to protest the D.O.E.’s plan to close at least 19 city schools this year. All 21 of the schools slated to close are in largely Black and Latino areas and overwhelming populated by students of color. We’ll talk with parent and teacher representatives who were chanting “Instruction, not Destruction”, and claim there’s no justifiable reason for closing the schools and even raise the spectre of privatizing the public school system.
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