Parents urged to 'stand up' for education
In an example of grassroots advocacy at its best, the Plumas Lake Elementary School District offered up morning goodies and coffee Thursday morning in exchange for a little bit of parents’ time and voices.
As part of a statewide effort to bring forward the need for investment in California’s schools, parents, teachers, staff and students are coming together to voice one message: Stop cutting schools’ funding.
“We believe this is a very important message for our legislators to hear,” said Cheryl Bell, a fourth grade teacher at Rio del Oro and a primary organizer for the district’s event.
The morning’s activities included coffee, donuts, fruit and other morning goodies along with a flyer that urged parents and others to call their state legislative representatives and encourage them to not cut the school districts any further.
The Plumas Lake district has faced a $1.5 million cut out of its original $8 million budget throughout the past two years. The board just met Tuesday to make some initial decisions in order to reach the $500,000 hole it needs to fill for the 2010-11 school year.
In order to meet the anticipated cuts the district faces, the board will have to eliminate services that will impact the community’s students. Among the cuts proposed for next year include: elimination of fourth and fifth grade music; elimination of elementary P.E. teachers; reducing the library clerk time; charging for bus transportation; and possibly raising class sizes in kindergarten through third grade.
“It is saddening and frustrating to have these teachers and our community in this situation,” said Laura Bolden, parent of a kindergartner at Rio del Oro. “Our kids and community deserve better.”
The event Thursday morning is part of the ongoing “Stand Up for Schools,” a grassroots Web site that has been set up to encourage individuals to contact their elected representatives and let them know the impact these cuts are having on schools districts statewide. The site offers information on events going on throughout the state as well as resources for parents and community members to reference when making calls to their legislators.
With more than 300 flyers going out district-wide Thursday morning and an expected group of several thousand from around the state arriving at the Capitol later in the day, organizers hope that this “day of action” would ring loud in the ears of legislators.
“Most parents we talked to were positive about our message this morning,” said Bell. “We hope they will take the flyer home and make those calls.”
For more information on Thursday’s events or for information on how to contact your legislative representatives, visit www.standupforschools.org.
PlumasLakeLife.com correspondent Michele Perrault can be reached at 763-3380 or e-mail her at mperrault@plumaslakelife.com
