Daily Bulletin
By Monica Rodriguez
Mar 13, 2009
POMONA - About 1,000 teachers, parents and students on Friday afternoon rallied and called on state officials to spare education as they try to resolve the state's financial problems.
The majority of the teachers, many clad in pink shirts, who gathered on the lawn of the Pomona Unified School District Education Center were district employees but many others came from neighboring districts.
Around the state on what was called "Pink Friday," people held other rallies in support of education and protested thousands of preliminary layoff notices sent to teachers statewide.
A group of teachers and their supporters rallied at the corner of Vineyard Avenue and Fourth Street in Ontario and in front of Alta Loma High School in Rancho Cucamonga.
Rally participants in Pomona stood along both sides of Garey Avenue holding signs and in some cases noisemakers while they urged motorists to honk in support of teachers and education.
Not all were supportive.
One motorist drove past the crowd and flashed a thumbs down. As the car drove away some people gasped.
A message on the car's rear windshield read: "LAY OFF OVER PAID UNION THUGS."
The rally included short speeches from various people such as Assemblywoman Norma Torres, D-Ontario, who said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger initially sought a $12 billion cut in education.
"Finally, we talked him down to $10 billion," Torres said. "It's still drastic, and it's still too much."
She said she understands the impact that the cuts will have on students.
"I stand here not just as an elected official, I stand here as a parent," Torres said.
State leaders need to understand the impact of education on California, said Mathew Holton, Chaffey Joint Union High School District superintendent.
"When are they finally going to understand education is critical for California's economic recovery?" Holton said. "Every school district will do as much as they can to rescind as many notices as possible."
Pomona Unified Superintendent Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana was not present at the rally because she was returning Friday from Washington, D.C., where she was lobbying federal officials for help for California schools.
In meeting with Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan and other top education advisers to President Barack Obama, Melendez heard good news.
"They want stimulus money to go to schools," she said by telephone.
Melendez said she hopes the state does not try to divert the money to other uses.
"We need the money for our kids and to avoid massive cuts," she said.
Throughout the state, people are seeing their educational systems affected by cuts to education, said Dean Vogel, California Teachers Association vice president, at the Pomona rally.
Often the notifying process went beyond what was necessary.
"When you have to lay off maybe 100 teachers and you send out 600 notices, that's inappropriate. That's disrespectful," he said.
Vogel called on members of the crowd to continue working together.
"We are hurting. We are all having a difficult time, and we all have to speak with one voice, and that voice is right here," Vogel said.
Parents were also represented among the speakers.
Guadalupe Gallegos, a parent leader at Lincoln Elementary School in Pomona and a member of the grass-roots organization OneLA, said children are being distracted from their studies because they are afraid of losing their teachers.
Gallegos asked how can schools and children make academic progress when they are enveloped by such uncertainty.
Lincoln Elementary was a school that some years ago had some of the lowest Academic Performance Index scores in the city, but through the efforts of teachers, parents and others, scores increased from 440 to 730, she said.
Debbie Stevens, a teacher with Chino Valley Unified for 23 years, said she was spared from the layoffs but knows others who weren't as fortunate.
She is saddened by the way education is being affected by the cuts.
"It's disheartening not only to see the state of education," Stevens said. "It's also very painful to see that the Legislature would think so little of the future of the kids and their families. It's very frustrating."
The crowd later walked a short distance to Mission Boulevard and Garey Avenue where they continued the rally for a short time.
Danielle Russhan, a Ganesha High teacher with two children of her own in the district, said afterward she was glad Pomona residents backed teachers and understand the importance of education.
People know teachers just aren't seeking to save their jobs, Russhan said, adding they know the issue is much greater.
"Teachers are an essential element of their children's education," she said.