On Blast

On this month's show:

Students, parents & teachers untite to form One Voice

Students reflect on their defeat of school vouchers

A third grader speaks about the school to prison pipeline

The importance of art & music in school

Plus music & other news.

Cities across the USA are closing schools rapidly. This story features interviews with parents and students from New York City & Philadelphia, who shed light on the effects of school closings. This piece was made to encourage people to continue to fight for pubic education and their human right to learn. Produced by Ericka Johnson.

One Voice is a new formation emerging in Philadelphia. The purpose is to get parents, students and teachers talking about issues that affect our schools. Each of these three groups have been working to improve education in their own ways, but over the past year some key students, parents & teachers have seen the need to come together.

Especially in this time of transition in the Philadelphia School District -- with new School Reform Commission members, & the search for a new Superintendent -- One Voice believes that now is the time for students, parents & teachers to have a voice in the new leadership.

Shamiah Williams interviewed One Voice members to produce this report.

On this month's show:

Chester schools feel the pain of budget cuts

Students speak out about the conditions that push them out of school

Furness High School stays off the closure list after pressure from students

Youth across the country see victory as a new Congressional Youth Caucus is created

Plus music & other news!

This show features Pushed Out, a track produced by PSU's Movement Music, and segue music by Koby Murphy, a PSU alum.

Students all over Philadelphia are being pushed out of schools and right into the school to prison pipeline. This is happening because of the lack of resources inside schools and the use of harsh discipline practices that force students into the criminal justice system.

But students from several organizations are fighting to end the school to prison pipeline, as members of the Campaign for Nonviolent Schools. Many of these students shared their experiences at an event called Youth Speak-Out Against Push Out. It was a part of the Dignity in Schools National Week of Action on School Pushout.

This radio piece features students' voices from this powerful event. It was produced by Shayla Johnson and Andrea Jobe.

State budget cuts have hurt the Chester school district in many ways: Class sizes have grown beyond capacity, two high schools merged into one overcrowded building, some elementary school grades have been combined due to lack of staff. In this report, Chester students, parents and community members speak out about how the massive cuts to state education spending are affecting them. This piece was produced by Keith Lomax.

When students at Furness High School found out that their school was on the School District's list of potential school closures, they were shocked.

This radio piece, produced by Furness senior Bernard Nesmith, features interviews with students and Principal Tim McKenna to shed light on how Furness High School rose to become one of the best neighborhood high schools in the city. This is also the story of how the Philadelphia Student Union Furness Chapter fought to keep the school open.

Photo by Harvey Finkle

Kim Reed joined hundreds of youth from across the country in Washington DC, to report on the historic launch of a new Congressional Youth Caucus. For the first time, the U.S. Congress will have a Caucus where legislators will be talking and thinking about youth issues. This victory was won through the work of the Alliance for Educational Justice (AEJ) and the Leaders Investing For Equality (LIFE) Campaign. Kim Reed produced this report for On Blast.

The Coalition of Immokalee Workers organized a rally in front of a center city Trader Joes and the Philly Student Union was there to help support.

Immigrant farmworkers across southwest Florida have been working under low wages and have been treated unfairly for many years. Back in 1993 they began organizing and between there hunger strike and their historic 230-mile march in 2000, their organizing ended over declining wages in the tomato industry. By 1998 they won industry-wide raises but wages still remained below poverty level. Today they are called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and they are currently fighting for big chain companies like Trader Joes, Walmart, Stop and Shop, ect to sing off on their fair food agreement.

This radio piece was produced by Ericka Johnson and it includes a interview with Oscar from the CIW.

Devon Henderson & Felix Baez interviewed Ron Blount, the president of the Unified Taxi Workers Alliance. Ron explained the struggles that taxi drivers in the city face, including unsafe conditions, getting paid below minimum wage, and not having any health benefits.