Tomorrow: Echo Park Moms 4 Education on KPFK 90.7 FM

"You are playing with the lives of children — not cars, not bicycles." — The Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte (LAUSD District 1)

Politics Or Pedagogy with John Cromshow
Next show is Thursday, July 21, 2011 at 8 PM*

Echo Park Moms 4 Education once again provide an another exciting example of genuine parent activism, not the kind that is funded by the nefarious Broad, Gates, or Walton Foundations like the wholly astroturf Parent Revolution or Families That Can charter proxy groups.

Here's the announcement of their upcoming radio appearance by our very own long time educator and activist Cheryl Ortega:

Tomorrow on "Politics or Pedagogy" John Cromshow will be speaking with Echo Park activist parents Windy O'Malley, Kim Pesenti and Eva Rivas and me about the board giveaway of CRES 14 to Camino Nuevo. Windy was the mom that Nury publicly denounced as a racist. When I listened to the "Beautiful Struggle" interview last night, it hit me again how similar are all the giveaway stories. CRES 14 is a new school and Clay is an already-existing school, but they were both thrown over to charters in spite of parent/community wishes. Please do listen and call in. — Cheryl Ortega

For full coverage of LAUSD Board Member Nury Martinez's unconscionable accosting of an activist mother from our community who had the courage to speak truth to power see: A Mother's message to LAUSD Trustee Nury Martinez.

Our struggles to have had our publicly financed CRES #14 become a public school are well documented. While the privatization junta of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) thought that their underhanded decision would end all community activism in the Echo Parque/Historic Filipinotown area, it only served to strengthen our resolve. Possible topics for tomorrow's discussion could include the giveaway of CRES #14, the killing of democratic Parent Advisory Vote in the PSC privatization process, the Board's unwillingness to listen to community and parents, and future local education activism opportunities.

Ms. Ortega's comparison of our community's and the Clay community's struggles against privatization and takeover by private charter corporations is very profound. She mentions the recent "Beautiful Struggle" program featuring Clay activists and The Honorable Marguerite Poindexter LaMotte, which further showed how our communities are ignored by LAUSD in favor of corporations. My favorite quote is when Ms. LaMotte calls the give away of Clay MS to the deep pocketed Green Dot Corporation "racist and discriminatory." To download a podcast of the show: Beautiful Struggle Tuesday, July 19, 2011 7:00 pm.

Please listen to our local mothers tomorrow and call in to support them! Please consider joining Echo Park Moms 4 Education and/or the local Coalition for Educational Justice to help strengthen our community's voice.

* The program is on air Third Thursdays of the month at 8 PM.