On Thursday January 19, at 3 pm, come join hundreds of your fellow DC citizens, including teachers, parents, and students, at rallies around DC public schools to ensure our public schools remain places of learning and freedom as a new presidential administration gets underway.

Here is a a flyer with more information.

Rallies will be held at Anacostia HS; Deal MS; Payne Elementary; Simon Elementary; Thomson Elementary; and Tubman Elementary. In addition, Beers Elementary will also host a rally, with media and special guests invited.

The purpose of the rallies is severalfold:

–Demanding that our schools are centers of learning and safety, harboring no bullying; racism; and threats of (or actual!) deportation; and

–Demanding the U.S. Senate does not confirm Betsy DeVos as secretary of education, as she has fueled efforts to use public education monies for private (and privatized) schools, ensuring public schools do not have the resources they need; and

–Demanding an increase in investment in our public schools as one of the most important parts of American democracy; and

–Ensuring our nation has equitable policies in place to support our public schools–not policies to close, dismantle, or defund them.

So come out this Thursday and support our city, our communities, and their lifeblood, our public schools.

(And, if you wish for drama, recall that our new, at large state board of education member, Ashley Carter, wrote in a December 10 twitter note that DeVos would be a “breath of fresh air.” No word (yet) on that same twitter account about the January 19 rallies to support our public schools–or whether our schools are a “breath of fresh air.”)