Teach-in/Art-Creation Monday: Media Advisory

Education Not Incarceration
A coalition of teachers, students, parents and concerned community members
c/o Critical Resistance
1904 Franklin Street, Suite 504
Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 444-0484
ed_not_inc [at] earthlink.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE For more information:
May 5, 2003 Alice do Valle, Justice Now, 510-839-7654 ext. 4#
Jonah Zern, East Bay Educators Justice Network, 510-654-8613
http://www.may8.org/pressroom.html

Bay Area Youth Gather To Make Signs, Banners, Build Props for May 8th “Education Not Incarceration” Rally at the Capitol

WHAT: Poster and Banner-Making, Street Theater, Song and Dance Numbers Rehearsal
WHEN: Monday, May 5, 3:30 PM - 5 PM
WHERE: School of Social Justice, the Harper Building, (10th St. and 3rd Ave.), first floor, Oakland

OAKLAND -- Youth from around the Bay Area will gather in Oakland on Monday, May 5, to paint banners, make signs and build props to carry to the Capitol for the May 8th “Education Not Incarceration” rally.

“Monday's visually telling event shows how passionate and deeply committed students are around this important issue,” said Jonah Zern, a teacher in Oakland and one of the event organizers. “These students are working hard to send a strong message to lawmakers that California needs to fund their schools instead of the prison system,” he added.

Monday's banner-making is the culminating event before the May 8th rally for these students who have been attending weekly organizing meetings for the past month. Many of the youth have been planning some key aspects of the rally, including choosing speakers and preparing to visit state legislators.

Several hundred Bay Area youth are expected to join teachers, parents and concerned community members in Sacramento on May 8th, the Day of the Teacher, to protest against the Governor’s proposal to cut millions of dollars from education while increasing the state's prison budget.

Support for the rally is pouring in from educators and elected officials. Assemblymember Jackie Goldberg, chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Education, and Dolores Huerta are confirmed to speak at the rally. Congresswoman Barbara Lee is among rally endorsers. Bay Area educational leaders also have signed-on to a letter in support of teachers using May 8th as a field trip and providing curriculum for their classes.





Education Not Incarceration is a coalition of teachers, parents, students and concerned community members who are outraged by the current cuts in education funding while prison spending rises. For more information and a full list of endorsers, go to http://www.may8.org

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