{"id":13474,"date":"2011-05-10T18:19:57","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T18:19:57","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-10T18:19:57","modified_gmt":"2011-05-10T18:19:57","slug":"all-avenues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/2011\/05\/10\/all-avenues\/","title":{"rendered":"All Avenues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/s15.photobucket.com\/albums\/a397\/utbriancl\/?action=view&amp;current=SOE_Logo_Square_Color_Web.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i15.photobucket.com\/albums\/a397\/utbriancl\/SOE_Logo_Square_Color_Web.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\" align=right width=200><\/a>Beyond the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0511\/54635.html\">tragic news of Arnold and Maria&#8217;s possible breakup<\/a>, there was a bunch of actual news here in the state. &nbsp;Robert mentioned the <a href=\"https:\/\/calitics.com\/diary\/13471\/ctas-occupying-the-wrong-offices\">CTA protests in Sacramento yesterday<\/a>, but those weren&#8217;t the only ones. &nbsp;Teachers (and others) have been activating across the state. &nbsp;Beyond the scene in Sacramento, where a big group of protesters <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/california-politics\/2011\/05\/chp-.html\">were arrested by CHP<\/a>, the anger trickled down to specific local politicians. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Dozens of teachers marched outside state Sen. Tony Strickland&#8217;s Simi Valley office Monday, saying their students deserve a better future.<\/p>\n<p>Deep state cuts in recent years have prompted local school districts to cut hundreds of positions, increase class sizes and shorten the school year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve cut counseling and increased class sizes. We&#8217;ve reduced summer school and library hours. Our students are receiving less instruction and less support,&#8221; said Colleen Briner-Schmidt, president of the Unified Association of Conejo Teachers. &#8220;Our students deserve a better future.&#8221;(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/news\/2011\/may\/09\/in-simi-valley-protest-teachers-call-on-to\/#ixzz1LxycNBhT\">Ventura County Star<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And in Orange County:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Nearly 300 educators, parents, students and rallied on Monday outside the Orange County offices of state Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton to support proposed tax extensions they said will prevent billions in cuts to public schools.<br \/>\n<br \/>Clad in red and black, the demonstrators held signs reading &#8220;Save our schools,&#8221; &#8220;Stand up for schools &#8211; support tax extensions&#8221; and &#8220;Budget cuts to schools are killing the American dream&#8221; as motorists passing along Harbor Boulevard honked horns to show their support.(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/news\/schools-299783-tax-norby.html\">OC Register<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is by no mean sufficient to change the tide in the state. &nbsp;We still need a lot of work before we can really change the narrative in the state. &nbsp;But this is how we do it. &nbsp;Go to the offices of these intransigent legislators and let them know what these cuts are doing to the state. &nbsp;And more importantly, mostly because many of these legislators hear lobbyists dollars far louder than their constituents, make sure that the story is picked up by the media.<\/p>\n<p>And the California Teachers Association and their allies are doing a pretty good job at getting the attention of the media. &nbsp;Whether the state is listening is a better question. &nbsp;However, given the nature of this problem, we need to be using every possible avenue. &nbsp;Big protests like this, and small conversations with your neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>This budget is simply not going to resolve itself, no matter how much wishful thinking we engage in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/s15.photobucket.com\/albums\/a397\/utbriancl\/?action=view&amp;current=SOE_Logo_Square_Color_Web.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/i15.photobucket.com\/albums\/a397\/utbriancl\/SOE_Logo_Square_Color_Web.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Photobucket\" align=right width=200><\/a>Beyond the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/stories\/0511\/54635.html\">tragic news of Arnold and Maria&#8217;s possible breakup<\/a>, there was a bunch of actual news here in the state. &nbsp;Robert mentioned the <a href=\"https:\/\/calitics.com\/diary\/13471\/ctas-occupying-the-wrong-offices\">CTA protests in Sacramento yesterday<\/a>, but those weren&#8217;t the only ones. &nbsp;Teachers (and others) have been activating across the state. &nbsp;Beyond the scene in Sacramento, where a big group of protesters <a href=\"http:\/\/latimesblogs.latimes.com\/california-politics\/2011\/05\/chp-.html\">were arrested by CHP<\/a>, the anger trickled down to specific local politicians. <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Dozens of teachers marched outside state Sen. Tony Strickland&#8217;s Simi Valley office Monday, saying their students deserve a better future.<\/p>\n<p>Deep state cuts in recent years have prompted local school districts to cut hundreds of positions, increase class sizes and shorten the school year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve cut counseling and increased class sizes. We&#8217;ve reduced summer school and library hours. Our students are receiving less instruction and less support,&#8221; said Colleen Briner-Schmidt, president of the Unified Association of Conejo Teachers. &#8220;Our students deserve a better future.&#8221;(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.vcstar.com\/news\/2011\/may\/09\/in-simi-valley-protest-teachers-call-on-to\/#ixzz1LxycNBhT\">Ventura County Star<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And in Orange County:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Nearly 300 educators, parents, students and rallied on Monday outside the Orange County offices of state Assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton to support proposed tax extensions they said will prevent billions in cuts to public schools.<br \/>\n<br \/>Clad in red and black, the demonstrators held signs reading &#8220;Save our schools,&#8221; &#8220;Stand up for schools &#8211; support tax extensions&#8221; and &#8220;Budget cuts to schools are killing the American dream&#8221; as motorists passing along Harbor Boulevard honked horns to show their support.(<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/news\/schools-299783-tax-norby.html\">OC Register<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is by no mean sufficient to change the tide in the state. &nbsp;We still need a lot of work before we can really change the narrative in the state. &nbsp;But this is how we do it. &nbsp;Go to the offices of these intransigent legislators and let them know what these cuts are doing to the state. &nbsp;And more importantly, mostly because many of these legislators hear lobbyists dollars far louder than their constituents, make sure that the story is picked up by the media.<\/p>\n<p>And the California Teachers Association and their allies are doing a pretty good job at getting the attention of the media. &nbsp;Whether the state is listening is a better question. &nbsp;However, given the nature of this problem, we need to be using every possible avenue. &nbsp;Big protests like this, and small conversations with your neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>This budget is simply not going to resolve itself, no matter how much wishful thinking we engage in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[117],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-117"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pvhz-3vk","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13474\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/calitics.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}