The school-to-prison pipeline is a heartbreaking problem with huge costs to our state. Not only are we paying more in criminal justice costs than it would take to educate every young person, California is losing the creative energy and productivity of too many students — especially students of color.
The legislature is considering taking a huge towards disrupting California’s school-to-prison pipeline. Assembly Bill 420, which requires approval by the Senate and Governor, will provide educators the guidance they need to keep more kids in front of a blackboard instead of behind bars.
California issues too many suspensions and expulsions, sending students on unsupervised vacations rather than keeping students in school and learning. In fact, California public schools suspend almost twice as many students as they graduate each year.
If you think that suspensions and expulsions cannot play a major role in sending kids into the criminal justice system, think again. Just one suspension triples a child’s likelihood of becoming entangled in the juvenile justice system within one year. A single suspension also makes that child five times more likely to drop out of school. The fact is that harsh punishment like suspensions, which are all-too-easily handed out, is often among the first stops along a pipeline to prison and the unrealized potential of our youth.
And the cost to our state is staggering. Incarcerating just one juvenile costs roughly $200,000 more per year than does educating her.
Let’s consider the role that race plays in determining a student’s likelihood of suspension. Young people of color in our state are much more likely to be suspended than white kids for the same behavior. Vague infractions, such as “willful defiance” can include missing a homework assignment or even wearing a hat. In fact, African-American kids are over four times more likely to be suspended than white kids for this largely undefined infraction.
This is California in 2013. It is mind-boggling that the color of a child’s skin can play such a significant role in the treatment they receive in our schools, and ultimately, in setting the course for their future.
There is one important step we can take towards fairness, justice and safety in 2014, though. AB 420 would bar “willful defiance” suspensions in elementary schools. It preserves educators’ ability to suspend older children for “willful defiance,” but only as a last resort, after other alternatives have been utilized.
AB 420 leaves in place 23 other grounds for suspension or expulsion, giving educators the discretion they need to maintain discipline. It places appropriate limits, though, on this subjective and overused ground for suspension that is so disproportionately applied to children of color.
“Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice,” Governor Jerry Brown stated emphatically in his State of the State speech this year. The Governor’s clever turn of phrase depends upon one fact being universally accepted:
Unequal treatment for children in equal situations is also not justice.
Jory Steele is the Education Equity Project Director at the ACLU of Northern California.
Yes, I admit it, I’ve been a Sutter Brown fan for years now, well, since he set up shop on Facebook at least. He’s the First Dog here in California and he’s been touring the Golden State to “Bark out the Vote” for Prop 30. It’s brilliant really, who doesn’t want to meet Sutter, a well behaved Corgi who has a great sense of humor, is humble and yet takes the people’s business very seriously.
And today my daughter and I were lucky enough to meet Sutter on one of his stops through California to support Prop 30.
Sutter arrived to a gift from the Sharon Quirk-Silva campaign which he loved quite a bit.
And not only came to support Prop 30 but took to Sharon right away, letting her hold him for the group photo!
There was quite a turn out to help the Quirk-Silva campaign walk precincts and carry her to victory on Tuesday. The California Assembly could definitely use someone like Sharon and I am sure Sutter’s Dad wouldn’t mind another Dem in the legislature. Woof, woof.
But I can tell you, when Charlotte met Sutter, they were fast friends.
And the next thing you know, Sutter has a new body man, Charlotte was clearing the perimeter of dropped food, making sure there were no stray dogs in sight and procuring Sutter some water when he was parched from all the excitement!
But being the sensible dog that he is, Sutter knew when to rest and when to work. He was gracious and took many photos with his adoring fans and was kind enough to pose with Charlotte.
I don’t have any photos, but he slipped in some sloppy kisses with her too, he must know that she’s an animal love and wants to rescue dogs when she grows up and is trying to figure out a way right now how she can raise money to rescue dogs right now, even though she is only 9. I’m encouraging her to maybe find a way to use her artistic skills as a means to raise funds to help rescues. And she also wants to start her own Dog Walking business as well, she’s already called it “Pups and Pals”.
Sutter is an inspiration, to young and old and he’s pounding the pavement to help not only his Dad pass an important Proposition, but to help kids like Charlotte get more funding to her schools. Charlotte just knows she loves Sutter’s big smile and friendly disposition and just how darn cute he is.
Thank you Governor Brown and First Lady Anne Gust Brown for lending us Sutter, to steal our hearts and remind us that politics shouldn’t be so serious all the time. From one of my favorite photos (The infamous Eye Booger assist from Mom) to all the Sutter Cuteness in the State Capital, we love that you have let us into Sutter’s world and shown us that there is lots of joy in advocating for the big and the small 🙂
Hanging out in Dad’s office!
Sutter approves this message 🙂
Dictating a letter, so much to do!
And thank you Sutter for being a good sport, it was our pleasure to meet you today!
Proposition 30 is the most important proposition on the ballot this year.
More below.
California, as is well known, has a big budget problem. This problem started with the onset of the economic recession and was worsened by a number of factors, ranging from extreme constraints on the legislature’s power to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s incompetence.
Things have gotten better lately. Schwarzenegger has been replaced with a governor who knows what he’s doing. The two-thirds supermajority requirement to pass a budget, which was responsible for much of the deadlock, no longer exists.
There are still big problems, however. California has implemented massive spending cuts to balance the budget. Program after program has been cut to the bone. Worse still, the state seems poised to cut far more if this proposition fails to pass.
Why is this happening? It’s because the legislature has its hands tied. There are two ways to balance the budget: increase revenue and cut spending. California requires a two-thirds supermajority to do the former, and Republicans have consistently blocked revenue increases. So California has been left to cut, and cut, and cut.
Now, in general you should focus on cutting spending rather than increasing revenue to balance the budget. But California has taken it way too far. We have basically done nothing but cut and cut for nearly half a decade, without any revenue increases. There’s basically nothing left to cut at this point. But if Proposition 30 doesn’t pass the state will be looking once again for billions more to cut ($5.951 billion more, to be exact).
What Proposition 30 Does
Proposition 30 comes four years too late, but it’s still very necessary today.
Yes, Proposition 30 is a temporary tax increase. It falls mainly on families making over $500,000 - but the sales tax will increase as well. The sales tax increase lasts for four years; the income tax increase for seven.
But the truth is that in a budget crisis, eventually somebody will get hurt. If it’s not families making over $500,000 it’ll be students and teachers and policemen and firefighters. For almost half a decade, budget cuts have again and again shafted these people. If Proposition 30 fails, they’ll be hit once again. If Proposition 30 passes, the pain will shift to families making over $500,000.
I endorse this proposition knowing that I will sacrifice a bit. Many Californians (perhaps the majority) will vote against this proposition because of this fact. But it’s not as if they’re dodging the pain by voting against Proposition 30. They’re just shifting it to their children.
CSEA, the classified employees, endorsed three candidates who promise to make the Banning USD administration accountable to the students, parents, staff, and citizens of the Banning Unified School District. This is an important election for Banning schools. It can finally ensure that spending cuts start with management’s perks, instead of essential staff. Banning has no more bilingual aides, and is slashing library staff hours. Meanwhile, administrators continue to spend freely on attorneys and consultants, as though they worked at Goldman Sachs. They don’t. They work for us.
On November 8th, Banning residents can exercise their power to change the school district by electing Alfredo Andrade, Alex Cassadas, and Ray Curtis to the Banning School Board. You can give them the authority to supervise the administration.
Isn’t it about time that the Banning School Board did that?
Alfredo Andrade
Para Educator
For the past 10 years, Alfredo Andrade has been working with Special Education students. Andrade is a proud member of the California School Employees Association, actively engaged in the union’s efforts to improve the lives of its members, our students, and the community. He believes that the Banning Unified School Board needs to be accountable to the community, its students, and its employees. As a trustee, Andrade will ensure it. Alfredo Andrade is currently enrolled at at California State University – San Bernardino. He is the oldest of five children, and engaged to be married.
Ray Curtis
Retired Teacher and Administrator
Curtis is a Banning High School graduate, former Assistant Superintendent, school administrator, School Board Trustee, principal, and beloved teacher and coach. As trustee, he will focus on enhancing academic achievement for all students as well as focusing on the complete development of children to help them in becoming productive citizens, skilled workers, and good parents. He will insist on budget efficiency, fiscal accountability, and a culture of dignity and respect within the school district. Curtis has the capacity to ask the tough questions and hold the district administration accountable to the community and its children. Curtis will listen to the concerns of parents and teachers, and will work for respectful communication with all school, staff, and community participants.
Alex Cassadas
Child Case Worker
Cassadas believes in building positive, collaborative relationships between all stakeholders and he is committed to our students and their education. He believes we must preserve the full scope of quality academics, including Special Education, arts, music, athletics and programs for English language learners. Cassadas knows we must prepare our students for college or a career by supporting both college preparatory classes and vocational and technical programs. All students must have the opportunity to learn and succeed. As a lifelong Banning resident, Cassadas feels that it is his responsibility to give back to our community, and he currently volunteers in the district. Cassadas is running for Banning Unified School Board to improve Banning schools.
Vote for Andrade, Curtis, and Cassadas on November 8th!
I had the opportunity to speak this morning with three California teachers about the budget cuts they’ve faced. We also discussed the high stakes of the November election and Proposition 24. All three of the teachers to whom I spoke, Mary Rose Ortego, Sergio Martinez and Tyrone Cabell, are working actively to try and restore the terrible budget cuts in our schools.
Mary Rose Ortega, who teaches third grade, summed up the state of affairs. “30,000 teachers have been laid off in the last 3 years”, she said. With the budget the way it is, she told me, we can expect thousands more pink slips soon.
The numbers became even more shocking when we discussed the effects on individual classrooms. I learned that class sizes have gone up to 40 in most elementary schools, and resources are incredibly scarce. Teachers are rationing paper, textbooks aren’t updated or replaced even when torn, and teacher’s aides have had their hours cut so students are getting even less one on one attention.
Sergio Martinez, who teaches fifth grade, highlighted the damage to the school infrastructure. “We’ve had nurses, counselors, librarians’ hours cut”, he explained. With the library being closed more hours each school day, kids can’t get to the books or the computers. If they don’t have those resources at home, they just aren’t getting them at all.
Of course, test standards haven’t changed one bit. Students and teachers are simply expected to do more with less, and only they will suffer the consequences.
Finally, Tyrone Cabell, who teaches special education, laid out the most chilling picture. Before the draconian cuts began, special ed classes in California were supposed to hold 8-10 students each. Now it’s 15. I asked him to describe how he does his job, and he simply told me “It’s impossible”.
Impossible. That is a word we should NEVER have to use in reference to educating our children. If California cannot give veteran teachers like Mary Rose Ortega, Sergio Martinez and Tyrone Cabell the resources to make their jobs possible, then California is failing our children. Meanwhile, in 2009 California handed a generous set of tax breaks to multistate corporations. If those corporations don’t pay their fair share, schools suffer. There’s just no way around it.
All three teachers stressed to me that passing Proposition 24 in November to end the corporate tax giveaways is a key first step in restoring the funding schools deserve. The corporations don’t want to give up their tax breaks, and they’re running a vigorous opposition campaign. Please stand with the teachers, not the corporations. Vote Yes on 24.
Some things in life simply aren’t negotiable – like a high quality public education for our children.
My parents emigrated from China to San Francisco when I was three years old. San Francisco public schools gave me the foundation and opportunity to succeed in America. They did the same for all four of my children.
That’s why it’s so important that we stop the budget cuts to education being proposed in Sacramento right now. They will hurt our children, our families and our community.
Check out our first TV commercial of the campaign – on our Facebook page or at LelandYee.com – and join with me and teachers from across California to put a stop to these unconscionable cuts to education.
In today’s tough economy, middle class families depend on high quality public education. It’s the backbone that has driven California’s economy to become one of the most dynamic in the world and made our state a land of opportunity.
Join our campaign and send a message today that some things aren’t negotiable – even in Sacramento. Our children, our families, our teachers and our communities deserve better. Join the fight to protect public education.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger received a gift of nine works of art by local school children yesterday. The artwork was created “to save public education” by children and their parents at the Davis farmer’s market and third-graders at Dry Creek elementary in Roseville and included a piece titled, “Evil Money-Grubbing Robot Seeking to Destroy Public School.”
Twenty students participated in the presentation and asked for the governor’s help to get the framed paintings put on display in the Capitol.
While the children went inside to deliver the paintings, more than 1,000 members of the California School Employees Association (CSEA) and other supporters of public education rallied outside after a march from the Sacramento Convention Center where CSEA is holding their annual convention. On the final leg, marchers were escorted by school children pulling wagons loaded with broken and outdated school equipment, including broken music stands, outdated textbooks and flat soccer balls.
All of these children standing here with us today deserve the best chance we can give them to achieve their hopes and dreams for the future,” said CSEA President Allan Clark. “It’s time for our elected leaders to step up and commit to saving education.”
Parent Lonnie Buck from Plumas Lake said he is worried that his 10-year old won’t get the “gold standard” education that drew the father to California from Mississippi.
“I understand better than anyone the irony of California and Mississippi resting at the bottom of the school rankings,” Buck said. “I’ve watched our schools trying to keep up with less and less all the time.”
Student Mariana Rojas said budget cuts are having a disheartening effect on students.
“The budget cuts have undermined the determination and the inspiration and the spirit that we all need so much,” Rojas said. “Some of my classmates have become hopeless – hopeless in a land that was built on dreams and hopes. My goal has become the goal of so many others – we should all be fighting for our education.”
California continues to rank nearly last in the nation in per-pupil spending. Thousands of local schools have cut art and music programs, school transportation, tutoring programs, school libraries and countless other programs and services. Speakers called on state legislators to keep the promise they made to students in last year’s budget agreement and reject the $4 billion cut to public education proposed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in his May budget revision.
There is a path to follow in this series regarding the mess here in South Orange County and the Capistrano Unified School Districts Board of Trustees. The big picture needed to be outlined in one diary, to show how this board was working against the teachers and the bargaining process. It was merely a snapshot, the picture is bigger and it has been going on for years.
The second piece of the puzzle has to do with Education Alliance, a Political Action Committee in Tustin, CA and a number of other political entities hell bent on dismantling public education (And opposing other important political issues such as health care reform and climate change legislation) so that they can privatize and funnel money into charter schools.
The argument of the Charter school people is that Capistrano Unified isn’t working, even though it is ranked as 137th in the State out of 870 school districts and it’s the highest ranked school if you consider it’s size by number of students. Capo also has an amazing graduation rate with over 95% of their students graduating high school with the State average at 79%.
The district is working, the teachers are the reason why our schools are competitive and the students are high achievers as well as passionately involved parents. Pacific Research Institute would like you to think otherwise, that communities like Capo are dysfunctional. PRI has been touting their documentary, Not as Good as You Think: The Myth of the Middle Class School which attempts to paint this as an issue of public education, which it is not. It’s an issue of corrupt and ineffective board of trustees. And they were corrupt, it’s why so many parents wanted them gone, so beginning in 2006, recall candidates started to replace the corrupt board and replace it with new slate of “reform” candidates who would restore out district to sanity and transparency, or so we thought.
And the story to be told here is about another Board of Trustees that has replaced the last bunch by taking advantage of angry, hurt parents in a unimaginable situation. This is about the current board of Trustees and it’s not pretty.
“We have been engaged in this battle for many years and it just came to a point where it made sense to end this litigation,” said plaintiff Tony Beall, a Rancho Santa Margarita city councilman and a leader of Capistrano Unified’s “reform” movement.
…
The settlement agreements were authorized by Capistrano’s “reform”-minded school board, the same group many of the families in the lawsuits helped elect. Indeed, the leaders of the politically popular “reform” movement – including Beall and Tom Russell – will receive some of the $653,350 settlement money.
Trustee Ken Maddox defended the board’s decision to award money to some of the parents who helped get him and his colleagues elected, saying it was “silly” to suggest a conflict of interest.
I don’t think it’s silly, I think it’s a valid point, that Tony Beall, Republican Mayor of Rancho Santa Margarita and political backer of Winsten received settlement money from the board of Trustees just months after he was sworn in.
Capistrano Dispatch 12/12/08 – Winsten was sworn in by reform committee leader Tony Beall (Beall was a donor to Winsten’s campaign and a recipient of settlement funds). Capistrano Dispatch 12/12/08 – Winsten was sworn in by reform committee leader Tony Beall (Beall was a donor to Winsten’s campaign and a recipient of settlement funds).
Then the recall itself cost almost $700,000 because they couldn’t wait for the general election in November, which would have meant a lot more turn out. But what about saving the district some much needed money?
The school board on Monday authorized paying the Orange County Registrar of Voters Office $677,603 for the full cost of administering the special election.
…
Opponents of the recall say the special election was pointless and a waste of money, as the two recalled trustees would have been up for re-election in November anyway, less than five months after the June recall election.
And now that two of this current board are under recall threat? Guess what their argument is? Seriously. And the writer of this piece happens to be Tony Beall. I know, it’s so ridiculous, the same players with the same song, singing in tune and together for the same purpose. Starting to think it’s more than just “silly”?
The recall proponents were roundly criticized when they commenced this recall because it appears virtually impossible for any organization to gather more than 22,000 valid petition signatures in the short nine week period remaining before expiration of the deadline to qualify for the November 2010 general election – thereby making it:
far more likely the recall proponents would force an $800,000 special election upon the cash-strapped school district in the middle of the worst budget crisis in our country’s history; and
far less likely voters would sign the recall petitions because voters do not want to take $800,000 away from the students.
And then began the broken promises as soon as the votes had come in.
The night they were elected, Lopez-Maddox made promises, lots of them but this is the one that many hoped would stick.
Cost cutting: Maddox said one of the first things he will do is direct administrators to analyze all of the district’s outside service contracts to determine how much the district is paying and whether there are opportunities for cost cutting. Unlike when Bryson and others have asked for similar analyses, the new board majority will ensure district staff completes the tasks they are assigned, Maddox said.
“We had a group of recalcitrant trustees who refused to yield on any issue where they may be determined to be wrong,” Maddox said.
Now, rather than reinventing the wheel, I’m going to source two amazingly well researched sites,Capo Recall 2010 and Capistrano Unified Children First for the following information. I want to thank those who came before me to gather information and keep track of the current board and their repeated abuse of tax payer funds when our School District can least afford it (When can school districts afford blatant abuse of funds?)
One of the promises of this board was local control, Capistrano Unified is a huge district and a huge piece of reform that would keep influential money out of the system would be voting “by trustee area”. This would mean candidates from the local cities representing areas from Aliso Viejo for their schools to San Clemente for their local schools. Rather than it costing a candidate over a $100,000 to run for a seat, they could spend less than $20,000 and rely on the donations of parents rather than special interest groups!
All the Board of Trustees had to do was to request a waiver from having to vote on this issue and the problem is solved. But they refused to do so, five to one. So not only will it cost the district more money, they are attempting to make it seem like other entities are trying to waste money in “forcing this election”.
Then there is the Superintendent issue that’s been a tough one for many to swallow since there hasn’t been a new one in place for a little over a year now. The former Superintendent had a three year contract for almost a million dollars but as it stands, we’re paying an interim superintendent almost a thousand dollars a day who doesn’t have the kind of experience with this sized school district. How is this helping things?
SPECIAL CUSD BOARD MEETING AT THE LAGUNA CLIFFS MARRIOTT ON APRIL 26, 2010. The agenda is available is online. The question is this, why are they meeting at a local Marriott hotel when they have a perfectly good, 38 million dollar District office to meet at?
Ah yes, it’s the Superintendent that they are attempting to hire since currently paying the current one almost $1,000 a day doesn’t seem fiscally sound. I know. But this board likes to spend money on things like attorney’s fees.
Rather than retaining in house council as they promised, they’ve retained the services of 11 law firms and a PR firm called Communications Resources for Schools in December 2009, and have spent 2.3 million dollars of our tax dollars on outside Attorney fees.
And they don’t understand Brown Act laws either.
Judge finds Capistrano Board of Education
Violated “Brown Act” Open Meeting Law
Ruling confirms CUSD Board solicited assistance from attorney with known history of open-meeting violations
CUEA News Release
ALISO VIEJO – ‘This entire school board ran on a campaign dedicated to restoring ‘honesty, integrity, and accountability’ to public education,” said Capistrano Unified Education Association President Vicki Soderberg, “but if their action in this case is their definition of these qualities, I want no part of it, and thankfully, neither do the courts.”
In a writ of mandate issued March 16, 2010 stemming from a lawsuit initiated by CUEA against the Capistrano Unified Board of Education on November 3, 2008, Orange County Superior Court Judge David T. McEachen found that the CUSD board did violate California’s Brown Act open meeting law when it met in an illegal closed session meeting on August 11, 2008. The ruling specifically states that the school board “. . . did not adequately set forth closed session topics and is in violation of the Brown Act as to the unnoticed attendance of Spencer Covert and the proposed disciplinary action against Superintendent Carter.”
What’s so upsetting about all of this is that I have only scratched the surface. There are videos of parents being ignored and belittled by this board during BOT meetings. There is a lot of evidence of downright hubris by the board for completely turning their back on their promises documented on the blog, Beyond the Blackboard another amazing resource for parents in Capo. It’s all out there, one just has to dig. The problem is this, it goes so deep, you feel you might just bury yourself in this mess.
Some very well done videos to pull all this together.
And a video about the endless spending by this Board. Millions of dollars. It will make your stomach turn, it did mine.
So how does the local Republican Party feel about this? It’s Orange County, the local political machine is the Republican Party. When the Board talks about the powerful unions, it is almost laughable because the unions just don’t have that much power.
County Party Urges All Voters Not to Sign Recall Petitions
(IRVINE, CA) – The Republican Party of Orange County Central Committee unanimously approved the following resolution yesterday pertaining to the new recall campaign which is being promoted by public employee unions and their allies against Capistrano Unified School District Trustees Ken Lopez-Maddox and Mike Winsten.
So, why would the Republican Party care about a non-partisan Board of Trustees being recalled? Ah yes, they helped get this board elected. Note who wrote this piece too over at Red County. And note how they stick to the talking points, “Voters elected Trustees Lopez-Maddox and Winsten to bring positive change and reform to CUSD and that’s exactly what they’re doing,”.
Really? Do you think they’ve changed much? Really?
So now you know where the local Republicans stand on this who do run the show down here politically and I don’t hide my political affliation, I write for Daily Kos, Liberal OC and Calitics, it’s not secret. But I also wrote about the recall in 2008, happy to know that the corrupt BOT at that time were being removed. A lot of people were duped.
Why keep supporting a corrupt board? I don’t know, but here’s more posturing from Tony Beall at Red County when the teachers chose to strike and using talking points that have nothing to do with the issue at hand, that the teachers are willing to take the pay cuts they just don’t want them to be permanent. That’s it.
But he continues to bloviate about the busted promises of this board, this GOP Backed board.
The seven conservative republican trustees serving on the Capistrano Unified Board of Trustees are under attack by the powerful California Teachers Association – and they need the immediate support of all conservatives who are sick and tired of the abuses and undue influence exerted by this powerful union.
…
The seven Republican Reform Trustees in CUSD have proven they’ve got that political courage and resolve to change the status quo! Under their leadership, test scores across the district have soared to their highest levels. They have:
Stopped years of deficit spending;
Successfully balanced the budget;
Increased financial reserves;
Enacted strong anti-nepotism and conflict of interest policies;
Completed a district-wide facilities assessment;
Saved millions by cutting and streamlining the bloated bureaucracy; and
Demanded the union accept a 10% cut in their contract.
CUEA has accepted the ten percent pay cut that’s the only honest statement here because even with the cut to teacher’s pay and benefits, the Board of Trustees still have a budget deficit to contend with.
And of course, a lot of teachers and parents want to know what the board has to do with “soaring test scores”. Teachers are what make schools great. Teachers are who do the teaching, not Trustees and not bloggers and pundits or textbooks.
It’s about the teachers not a Board of Trustees that has broken it’s promises and spends my tax dollars to line the pockets of lawyers, their political allies and others in order to keep the power structure in Orange County intact.
They are on the wrong side of this issue. Republicans and Democrats both support Public Education and their teachers. There is a common ground when it comes to corrupt politicians and liars. Republicans might want to be careful who they support.
“Adequate control of human exposure would be difficult, if not impossible.”
-CA Scientific Review Committee
This is the time of year many talk about United Farm Workers’ founder Cesar Chavez. Cesar was many things, among them he was a strong voice on pesticides.
Cesar Chavez said, “In the old days, miners would carry birds with them to warn against poison gas. Hopefully, the birds would die before the miners. Farm workers are society’s canaries. Farm workers-and their children-demonstrate the effects of pesticide poisoning before anyone else…There is no acceptable level of exposure to any chemical that causes cancer. There can be no toleration of any toxic that causes miscarriages, still births, and deformed babies.”
Cesar’s UFW is currently working on a campaign that is critical for farm workers health and safety. We are working together with a coalition of environmental and farm worker groups to try to get the EPA to re-review the toxic pesticide methyl Iodide.
Science has proven that methyl iodide is a water contaminant, nervous system poison, thyroid toxicant and carcinogen. In other words, it’s a toxic poison that should not be used near where people live.
Despite this, the Bush Administration’s EPA registered methyl iodide nationally in 2007–automatically permitting this toxin for use in a number of states. Other states like California have their own state regulations and are still deciding whether to allow it to be used.
However, there is finally hope to pull this toxic poison off the market. On September 25, 2009, U.S. EPA publicly agreed to reopen its decision on methyl iodide, pending results of the California Department of Pesticide’s Scientific Review Committee, comprised of scientists from across the country.
In addition their report raised serious questions about the scientific accuracy of the federal review that was done under the Bush Administration.
Difficult if not impossible to control–yet this carcinogenic chemical is being used in North Carolina, Florida and fields across the country right now.
This has to stop. Help us hold EPA to their promise to follow the science on methyl iodide. Sign the petition today!
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger received a gift of nine works of art by local school children yesterday. The artwork was created “to save public education” by children and their parents at the Davis farmer’s market and third-graders at Dry Creek elementary in Roseville and included a piece titled, “Evil Money-Grubbing Robot Seeking to Destroy Public School.”
While the children went inside to deliver the paintings, more than 1,000 members of the California School Employees Association (CSEA) and other supporters of public education rallied outside after a march from the Sacramento Convention Center where CSEA is holding their annual convention. On the final leg, marchers were escorted by school children pulling wagons loaded with broken and outdated school equipment, including broken music stands, outdated textbooks and flat soccer balls.
“The budget cuts have undermined the determination and the inspiration and the spirit that we all need so much,” Rojas said. “Some of my classmates have become hopeless – hopeless in a land that was built on dreams and hopes. My goal has become the goal of so many others – we should all be fighting for our education.”
Despite this, the Bush Administration’s EPA registered methyl iodide nationally in 2007–automatically permitting this toxin for use in a number of states. Other states like California have their own state regulations and are still deciding whether to allow it to be used.
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