Many of you know about this already, but OEA is hosting a town hall exclusively for OEA members about public education policy in our state and the nation. The event is being held due to the arrival of U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan in our city this upcoming Tuesday, October 12, 2011. Mr. Duncan will be present to hear directly from OEA members in K12 and community colleges about the challenges our members face in our schools and colleges. While the date of Mr. Duncan’s visit has been known for while, it’s only recently that the event has been confirmed with Secretary Duncan and his staff.
Duncan is in town to meet with the Oregon Business Alliance over dinner to thank them for their success on their education agenda in the last session of the legislature. OEA members and activists have seen this agenda translate into decreased funding, increased class sizes and an even greater intrusion of a private-sector model of education into schools and colleges. This meeting is our opportunity to let Arne Duncan and the President know that the dream of quality public education and popular democracy is under threat.
OEA is canvassing members about what questions Mr. Duncan should be asked to publicly respond to. We need your help to identify those questions. All OEA members can leave a question by using the link in the email below, or by emailing a question to myself – I will pass any questions I get on to my hard-working fellow staff responsible for coordinating the event.
The event will be held near the location of two of our largest community college employers – Clackamas Community College and Mt Hood Community College. We very much hope that we can get as many of our members from those two locals to attend by asking people to get a ticket to the event as per the email appended below this message. The tickets are free. Please encourage members of your Association to go as well.
For local Associations unable to attend due to distance, OEA is asking for members to submit questions. Also, we expect to have other ways for locals some distance away to participate – via live feed over the internet, and also via a signed petition. I hope to have details about that out shortly.
I will be in touch with you about this event again over the next few days. In the meantime, best wishes to you for the new term and for your families. Thank you for everything you do to build a strong voice for education professionals in Oregon’s community colleges.
In Solidarity,
--
Brett Nair
Community College Consultant
6900 SW Atlanta St
Portland, OR 97223
(503)684-3300 (w)
(503)495-2150 (f)
"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. "
-Stephen Jay Gould
From: Oregon Education Association [mailto:webadmin=oregoned.org@mail8.us1.mcsv.net] On Behalf Of Oregon Education Association
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 6:01 PM
To: Nair, Brett (OR)
Subject: Arne Duncan to Meet With Oregon Educators: Get Your Ticket Now!
Sent: Monday, October 03, 2011 6:01 PM
To: Nair, Brett (OR)
Subject: Arne Duncan to Meet With Oregon Educators: Get Your Ticket Now!
October 3, 2011 | |
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