The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Education Committee Presents A Free Bike Rodeo

BIKE RODEO by Robert D. Skeels

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The SILVER LAKE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL  EDUCATION COMMITTEE presents

A Free BIKE RODEO

Saturday, May 18th, 2013, From 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

MICHELTORENA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

1511 Micheltorena Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Everyone is welcome!

For KIDS ages 5 – 12

You DO NOT need a bike or a helmet to participate!

LADOT’s SAFE MOVES Bicycle Safety Course

Safe Moves allows children to bicycle through a miniature city called “Safe Moves City”. It consists of streets, sidewalks, intersections, crosswalks, traffic signals, traffic signs, residential areas, business districts, cars, trucks, buses and a railroad track with signals, crossing gate and train. “Safe Moves City” is designed to simulate the diverse traffic environments in Los Angeles and to create “problem solving” experiences for each grade level.

PLENTY FOR PARENTS TO DO:

Bring your bicycles for safety inspections! Check out the bicycle blender! Community partners will be tabling.

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CONTACT: SLNC Education Committee Co-chairs: Dorit Guerrero & Teresa Sitz at education@silverlakenc.org. The SLNC Education Committee meets the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 am at the Bellevue Park Community Room. Our next meeting is May 11, 2013.

El CONSEJO VECINAL SILVER LAKE COMITÉ DE EDUCATIÓN present

Un BICI RODEO gratuito

Sábado, 18 de mayo, 2013, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

MICHELTORENA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PLAYGROUND

1511 Micheltorena Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026

Todo el mundo es bienvenido.

Para niños de edad 5 a 12

Usted no necesita una bicicleta o un casco para participar!

LADOT’s SAFE MOVES Curso de Seguridad de Bicicletas

Safe Moves permite a los niños en la bicicleta atravesar una ciudad en miniatura llamada " Safe Moves City ". Se compone de calles, aceras, intersecciones, pasos de peatones, señales de tráfico, zonas residenciales, áreas de negocios, automóviles, camiones, autobuses y las vías del tren con señales de cruzar la pasada y el tren. "Safe Moves City" está diseñado para simular los diversos entornos de tráfico en Los Ángeles para ciclistas y la creación de experiencias para la "resolución de problemas" a travez de experiencias para niños de cada  grado escolar.

UN MONTÓN PARA LOS PADRES QUE HACER:

Traer sus bicicletas para las inspecciones de seguridad! Echa un vistazo a la licuadora de la bicicleta! Los socios comunitarios estarán presentación.

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CONTACTO: Comité de Educación SLNC Copresidentes: Dorit Guerrero y Teresa Sitz en education@silverlakenc.org. El Comité de Educación SLNC se reúne el segundo sábado de cada mes a las 10 am en el Bellevue Park Community Room. Nuestra próxima reunión es el 11 de mayo de 2013.

The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Education Committee Presents A Free Bike Rodeo

What is Prop 39, and What is the Colocation Fightback?

[click here if you can't hear this audio]

Politics or Pedagogy - KPFK - with John Cromshow and guest Robert D. Skeels. March 31, 2012 source: KPKF 90.7 Discussing the social justice struggles against Proposition 39, especially the efforts to save beloved Micheltorena Elementary School in Silver Lake from the deep pocketed Citizens of The World Charter Corporation.

What is Prop 39, and What is the Colocation Fightback?

Micheltorena Screening: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman Micheltorena Screening

Micheltorena Screening: The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman

Open Letter to Silver Lake NC Regarding motion opposing Prop 39 Colocation of Micheltorena Street ES

Dear Silver Lake Neighborhood Council:

As an eighteen year 90026 resident and a long time supporter of Micheltorena Street Elementary School, I urge you not to cave into the California Charter Schools Association's (CCSA) pressure to remove the following motion from the agenda for the March 7, 2012 Board Meeting:

VIII.c. Motion: Micheltorena Elementary School – Charter Co-location (proposal to not support co-location between schools per LAUSD/Prop 39)

Firstly, the representatives of Silverlake residents deserve to make their voices heard on this important issue without interference from outside organizations with vested interests. The proposed colocation of Micheltorena Street Elementary School won't only be disruptive to Micheltorena and the immediate community, but the community at large and surrounding neighborhoods. In my observation Prop 39 is a divisive and inequitable law that allows private charter school corporations to seize and occupy space on public school campuses. As one of the social justice writers who documented [1] the ordeals of the Gabriella Charter Corporation colocation of Logan Street ES,  I can tell you firsthand how divisive and destructive Prop 39 Colocations are. Initial research by community members and myself have brought up some grave questions about Citizens of the World Charter (CWC) Corporation as well.

Moreover, the CCSA  is not an organization the Neighborhood Council should be acquiescing to. Perhaps a brief history of their organization is in order. The CCSA was co-founded and led for years by right-wing reactionary Steve Poizner [2]. Poizner, if you recall, was a gubernatorial candidate whose platform was viciously anti-immigrant, anti-woman, and anti-gay rights. Obviously, these are positions incongruent with the progressive families and residents of Silver Lake. The CCSA serves on behalf of the lucrative charter schools sector much like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce does for big business. The CCSA receives billions from ALEC allies, right-wing billionaires, and ideologically charged foundations to carry out a school privatization agenda. For example, the arch-conservative Walton Family Foundation recently handed the CCSA 15 Million Dollars  [3] for it's dubious activities which are ultimately all aimed at increasing market share for the burgeoning charter school industry. [4]

Yet this about more than whether CWC Corporation has a spotty past or whether the CCSA uses its vast wealth and political influence to disenfranchise communities. This is about Micheltorena Street ES, the tremendous progress it has made, and the exciting future it can have. As a longtime advocate of dual language immersion programs, I would be saddened to see the proposed Micheltorena program lose the opportunity to flourish because of a collocation. Public School principals under duress of brokering and peace-keeping between their public schools and the privately managed charter schools occupying their campuses aren't able to devote all their energies to their own school. We've seen this exhausting ordeal with Logan's Principal Luis Ochoa, who won the Echo Park Patch 2011 Person of the Year [5], despite the pressures of a colocation by their bad neighbor in Gabriella Charter Corporation.

Indeed, Micheltorena Street Elementary School families and the Silverlake community benefit greatly from their public school. It would be a tragedy not to use every available resource to resist the colocation of the school. As the Neighborhood Council is the voice of the community, I urge you to allow this vote and to support public schools against the tide of school privatization.


Advocating public education and social justice


Robert D. Skeels

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[1]  Two articles on the tragic situation at Logan http://j.mp/qS1Ew8 and http://j.mp/pCbzmc
[2] Poizner founding CCSA and on immigration http://j.mp/csc5jM on women's rights and Prop 8 http://j.mp/zeOId0
[3]  See LA Times http://j.mp/Ay6yNc
[4]  http://j.mp/fDU7b3
[5] http://j.mp/z9DUuN

Open Letter to Silver Lake NC Regarding motion opposing Prop 39 Colocation of Micheltorena Street ES