Tacoma SDS

By Tim Dobson

On October 23, an estimated 30,000 university students took over Rome’s streets. Marching to the chant of “Berlusconi is a piece of shit”, students passed the train station, receiving cheers from young Kurdish immigrants.

The students then joined up with young people from the Horus social center, which was brutally cleared out by the police a few days earlier. The students were met with a large police presence.

The Seattle School Board is considering closing the Alternative School #1, the first alternative school in Seattle. Many parents at the school did not even know the school was on the chopping block until very recently, but the school board has been having "community meetings" since September and will be voting on the issue on November 12th. You can help us! This is Activism at Home!

What could be more crucial to the future of the world than the progressive education of children? Don't roll your eyes and give up on this yet, people. This school needs to be saved for a number of reasons:

http://www.nwtsj.org/

This will be a chance to meet other K-12 teachers, student teachers, teacher educators, and parent activists who see their work as part of a broader education for social justice project. There will be excellent workshops, discussions, and displays of social justice teaching materials, including Rethinking Schools magazines and books.

Saturday October 4th: "Rethinking Our Classrooms, Organizing for Better Schools." Details are posted at the conference website:

9 am to 4 pm
Meany Middle School
301 21st Ave. E.
Seattle, WA

Washington State Refuses Abstinence-Only Programs

Washington state is one of the numerous states that will no longer receive federal funds for abstinence-only education programs. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that the state's legislature passed a measure in last spring that rendered comprehensive sex education mandatory in Washington schools. A separate state law requires that Washington apply for the abstinence-only education program grant, but the federal government will no longer provide the $800,000 it had in the past because of the comprehensive sex education law.

Two Darfuri refugees will share stories of the devastation in their homeland when the University of Puget Sound hosts Voices from Darfur: Personal Stories of a Genocide at 4 p.m., Friday, Nov. 2, in Kilworth Memorial Chapel.
The program, part of the Save Darfur Coalition tour, features a short documentary film and talks by two refugees: