There was a little grumbling at the State Capitol yesterday as hundreds of parents, teachers, and students gathered for a rally in support of education on Lingle’s first Furlough Friday.
Union leaders weren’t invited to speak to the crowd. Muted behind the scenes grumbling from some union supporters. Politicians and candidates weren’t invited to speak to the crowd. Less grumbling, a little frustration, although they worked the crowd anyway.
But, overall, the hastily organized group (Hawaii Education Matters) pulled off a coup in terms of both public relations and political communication. I give them lots of credit.
Their message got across to the public and to the folks upstairs in the Capitol.
Just click on this photo to view a bunch more from the gathering.
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Have you tracked Larry Geller’s writings on the possible impact of losing instructional days?
http://disappearednews.com/2009/10/hawaiis-furlough-fridays-may-deny-its.html
His latest post notes that Mililani Middle School, where my daughter goes, could have as few as 144 instructional days, depending on the track. That’s astonishing, considering:
“The minimum school year for Hawaii students was 179 days in 2006, down from 183 days in 2004 and 184 days in 2000, according to the digest, compiled by the National Center for Education Statistics. Kansas’ public schools had the most instructional days in 2006 — 186 — and North Dakota had the fewest, 173.”
From:
http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20090603_School-year_saga.html
But as to why union leaders weren’t part of yesterday’s rally… am I misunderstanding this, or wasn’t it the HSTA, and not “the administration,” that put the furlough days on instructional days, rather than other days that were just as eligible for savings and didn’t affect students? Says the lawsuit Larry examines:
“Furloughs were deliberately and intentionally not scheduled for holidays or other paid non-work days or for professional development days during which students do not attend class.”
As a parent, I’m concerned about the effects of these furloughs on my kids, but it’s the kids that should be the priority here. Some of this fight seems to be indirectly supporting unions and their fight against pay cuts (regardless of students), which is a separate issue entirely.
I also went and was impressed by the size of the crowd and generally upbeat atmosphere. The Star-Bulletin estimated 800 people at 11 am, but I think it must have grown to 2-3 times that number at the peak. I wonder how many more people would have attended if the state parking lots had been open!
You took several pictures of Neil Abercrombie. I think he deserves the extra attention since right now, he is one of a few politicians who seem to be taking a proactive stance on solving this sooner rather than later. The kids need a special legislative session to come up with a better plan than all these furloughs.
I think the photos very starkly show the complete lack of solutions the anti-furlough camp has to offer. We can wish for a perfect world, but wishes don’t amount to much. Clever slogans do not a solution make.
In response to “stupidity”:
The rally was billed as a call to our elected leaders and the unions/teachers to work together for a better solution. The event was explicitly not pushing a specific solution, which is why there were people with signs like “audit the DOE” as well. Our leaders need to be seeking a better solution rather than just sitting on their hands and saying, “wait until the regular legislative session,” when it really will be too late for most of this year. Obviously, it is a complicated problem, but furloughs are surely not the only nor the best solution.
There really are no better solutions. People just have to come to terms with that. They need to be willing to pay up or deal with reduced services. As the saying goes, it’s a s–t sandwich and everyone has to take a bite. No amount of glib rallies will change that.
Note that unions are there to serve their workers. The elected so-called leaders are the ones who serve the people.