On Blast

Allies from across Philadelphia came out to support PSU's action on February 25th and share their concerns about Imagine 2014.

Helen Gym, a leader of Asian Americans United and Parents United for Public Education, spoke about how we can build an equitable public school system that serves all of Philadelphia's students.

On February 25, PSU held an action in response to the District's new strategic plan, called Imagine 2014. During the action, students reflected on equity in the Philadelphia public schools 55 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, and presented a vision for community empowerment that will lead to whole school transformation.

Sadae Canty, a junior at West Philadelphia High School, presented a poem about her dream for equality in schools.

On this month's show, we'll hear a report about the grassroots struggle to keep Philly's neighborhood libraries open, a piece about how young people around the world are using sites like Facebook as a way to organize people, and highlights from the Media Mobilzing Project's recent Community Building Dinner. Plus, we have music and other news.

This show was engineered by Simone Waller.

As 2008 came to a close, Media Mobilizing Project welcomed organizing groups from across Philly to the 3rd annual MMP Community Building Dinner. This dinner was a chance for Philly Student Union to share our 2008 victories and talk to allies about their struggles and successes. In this piece, Dan Jones talks to attendees (see MMP's Wall of Leaders, on right), including keynote speaker Gerardo Reyes from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

In December there was an action to protest the closing down of Philadelphia's libraries in front of City hall. Student Union members, Sylvia and Shaniece, attended and asked protesters why they were there. Since then, Mayor Nutter has been sued to keep the libraries open, and we won. The lawsuit kept him from closing our libraries, but he's still cutting the hours they are open. This piece was edited by Amber~Marie Felton.

Every year, the armed forces spend millions of dollars on targeted recruitment of "high performing, low income" students. More and more, the military is building a presence in public schools. From running JROTC programs to gathering mass contact lists, the armed forces are employing tactics to recruit more students straight out of high school. This piece explores the ways that the military targets certain students.This piece was produced by Dan Jones & Shaniece Mobley.

To download an opt-out form to stop yourself from being contacted by military recruiters, paste this link into your browser:

http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/a/accountability/documents/military_opt_out_form_english-2009.pdf

For more info about opting-out (and links to download opt-out forms in several other languages) visit the School District's page at http://webgui.phila.k12.pa.us/offices/a/accountability/forms/

To have your contact info will be withheld from military recruiters, mail completed opt-out forms directly to this address:

Joint Advertising, Marketing Research & Studies(JAMRS) ATTN: Opt-Out 4040 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite #200 Arlington, Virginia 22203-1613

Facebook isn't only used for status updates but also for networking. Learn how one man used the infamous Facebook to make a local problem be supported worldwide. Prouduced by Divante H.

On this month's show, we'll talk about ways that the military is recruiting students by getting inside high schools in lo-income neighborhoods, and how you can opt-out of the recruitment process. We'll also present PSU's platform for teacher equity and explain the 6 steps that the district needs to take to ensure qualified teachers for all students. Also, there's poetry from some PSU members, plus music and other news. This show was engineered by Matt Johnson.

"Teacher quality is the biggest equity issue in the district." This platform is what we, the community, want for our teachers. By helping out the teachers we are helping ourselves, the students and the community. These are recommendations that will help get qualified teachers evenly distributed all across the city. This was produced by Simone Waller.

What effect does hip hop have one the lives of young people, especially their lives as students? Does music distract students or help them make it through the school year? Mason Tyer & Candace Carter wanted to find out, so they got PSU members talking about a favorite subject: music.

Photo by © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net