{"id":9360,"date":"2012-06-08T17:21:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T01:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/flash\/?p=9360"},"modified":"2012-06-08T17:21:11","modified_gmt":"2012-06-09T01:21:11","slug":"urgent-information-about-keeping-lee-at-steller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/urgent-information-about-keeping-lee-at-steller\/","title":{"rendered":"Urgent Information about Keeping Lee at Steller"},"content":{"rendered":"

OCCUPY ASD\u00e2\u20ac\u009d PROTEST: \u00e2\u20ac\u015335 HOURS FOR 35 TEACHERS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00c2\u00a0 A Message from Concerned Steller Students and Parents<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A group of Steller parents were able to gather on short notice today to strategize about how best to retain Lee Weiland as our art teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of all the complications of the AEA contracts and the re-shuffling that has already occurred, it appears that the only possible way that Lee could remain in his position as art teacher at Steller would be for all of the 35 displaced ASD teachers to be rehired and the positions that were cut to be re-instated.\u00c2\u00a0 The Steller community strongly believes that these cuts and re-shuffling are detrimental to the education of all<\/em><\/strong> of the students in the schools that are being affected and we are willing to advocate for all of those students, teachers and their communities.\u00c2\u00a0 We are asking the ASD board to dip into their emergency funds in order to re-instate displaced teachers.<\/p>\n

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As a way to draw attention to this issue from the wider community, we are planning an OCCUPY ASD: 35 HOURS FOR 35 TEACHERS event.\u00c2\u00a0 We will occupy the area around the flag pole on the Park Strip from 6AM on Sunday morning until 5 pm on Monday evening, just prior to the ASD Board Meeting.\u00c2\u00a0 There will be food, art and art making, supplies to make posters, and lots of great Steller folks.\u00c2\u00a0 It would be great for people outside of Steller to join us as well since this is a district wide issue.<\/p>\n

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Whether you consider yourself an art family or not, we need you to join us!\u00c2\u00a0 This is a great opportunity for our students to effect change in their school and in the community.\u00c2\u00a0 Teach them that we can make a difference!<\/p>\n

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Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what you can do:<\/p>\n

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(1)\u00c2\u00a0 There is a planning meeting Saturday at 4:30 pm at Amy Holonics house, 4721 New Castle Way.\u00c2\u00a0 Email her at billamy@gci.net<\/a> for any questions.\u00c2\u00a0 We will be hashing out logistical issues.\u00c2\u00a0 Please come if you are able!<\/p>\n

(2)\u00c2\u00a0 Plan to join us for some or all<\/strong> of our 35 hour occupation.\u00c2\u00a0 We especially want our students to be there.\u00c2\u00a0 And bring your friends!<\/p>\n

(3)\u00c2\u00a0 Support our effort with food, water, drinks, tables or chairs.\u00c2\u00a0 Email Rebecca Johnson @ beckinak@gmail.com<\/a> if you have something you can offer.<\/p>\n

(4)\u00c2\u00a0 Sign up to speak at the school board meeting.\u00c2\u00a0 Encourage your students to sign up.\u00c2\u00a0 Their testimony is very effective and impressive.\u00c2\u00a0 Please do it SOON.\u00c2\u00a0 You need to be heard.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We will send out talking points soon.\u00c2\u00a0 Sign up at http:\/\/www.asdk12.org\/school_board\/signup.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

(5)\u00c2\u00a0 Email the school board members.\u00c2\u00a0 Addresses are at the same site as above.\u00c2\u00a0 Ask that emergency funds be used to re-instate all displaced teachers and lost positions.\u00c2\u00a0 Let them know that you will be willing to lobby our state legislature and Governor to increase education funding next year.<\/p>\n

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Here is a press release that Andromeda Romano-Lax has released to the local press:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

OCCUPY ASD\u00e2\u20ac\u009d PROTEST: \u00e2\u20ac\u015335 HOURS FOR 35 TEACHERS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d BEGINS SUNDAY MORNING AND RUNS UNTIL ASD BOARD MEETING OF 6-11-2012 <\/strong>
\nAnchorage<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00c2\u00a0A group of students, parents, and concerned community members will be occupying the Park Strip flagpole area beginning at 6 a.m. Sunday to bring attention to the recent school district cuts of 35 positions (and additional support staff), which will be a subject of public discussion at an Anchorage School District Board meeting on Monday night at 6 p.m. During the protest, art will be created and on display; the public is welcome to participate.<\/p>\n

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The group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message is that a state with our fiscal resources has the capacity to restore the 35 cut positions, which include counselors as well as art, foreign language, and English as a second language teachers. Following that one-time emergency restoration of positions, parents aim to spend the next year raising awareness of the need for greater long-term funding of teacher positions, with an emphasis on stability and prioritizing student needs.<\/p>\n

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Steller students and parents packed the most recent Anchorage School District Board meeting (May 21, see May 22 ADN <\/em>coverage by M. Boots), outnumbering testifying individuals from other schools, and specifically calling attention to the loss of a treasured first-year art teacher, Lee Weiland, who brought not only a long-term arts vision to Steller, but also doubled and tripled as a physical education teacher and acrobatic club leader, as well as a champion of self-directed learning, one of Steller\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hallmarks.<\/p>\n

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But Steller activists feel it is essential to send a larger message that goes beyond one school and recognizes the plight of parents and students who haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t yet testified or even been made fully aware of the issue. Cuts and involuntary transfers have affected many schools and furthered the problem of turnover that undermines the ability of each school to serve the needs of its students.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Restore 35\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u015335 hours for 35 teachers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d are two key slogans for this event, which aims to recognize the plight of every person cut. Another slogan is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153the right people for the right places,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d emphasizing the fact that current cuts are leading to a haphazard process of assigning teachers to schools where they might not be the best fit\u00e2\u20ac\u201despecially disappointing in cases where schools were having success with the teachers that were already in place.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OCCUPY ASD\u00e2\u20ac\u009d PROTEST: \u00e2\u20ac\u015335 HOURS FOR 35 TEACHERS\u00e2\u20ac\u009d; \u00c2\u00a0 A Message from Concerned Steller Students and Parents   A group of Steller parents were able to gather on short notice today to strategize about how best to retain Lee Weiland as our art teacher.\u00c2\u00a0 Because of all the complications of the AEA contracts and the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stellerschool712.org\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}