newteacher

Urban Ed & the Story of Stuff

So, last night I went to see this short film "The story of stuff" about rethinking consumption and our most basic economic assumptions about how we live our life. Check it out, you can download the whole movie. One of the interesting things that came up however was how our local, urban school district has moved to throw-away lunch trays for "cost cutting" reasons. Besides the unbelievable pile of waste they produce, think about what they're teaching the kids. Of course, in a lot ways, these are throw-away kids as well as the city, the state, the country, and our society backs away from supporting public education. I wonder if folks of a green variety might see public education as an allied cause.... coalitions across interests can make a big noise.

One of the best parts is on her Story of Stuff blog where a group of high school kids made a video in response, mocking her a little bit but engaged none the less. Her response is a thoughtful one. Maybe this is something that kids in schools could rally around as well.

Legislative Alert....again

Interesting day at the Indiana Statehouse yesteday as the state PTA organized a rally in support of public education (see IndyStar) and, in particular, in protest of the new property tax reforms that would cut the budgets of at least 38 school districts by $1million.  IPS in specfic stands to loss $15million if the bill goes through.  It should be noted that none of the speakers suggested that there isn't an issue with the recent property tax reassessments and how it was handled just that the bill as written would hurt public school children....