Friday, June 22, 2018
8:30 - 10:00 p.m. (EASTERN TIME)
In solidarity with the families, educators and activists in Puerto Rico, Save Our Schools is hosting an informational webinar and action-oriented dialogue regarding the government's newly announced plan to close a third of the public schools on the island. Public school closures and their replacement by
charter
schools and private school vouchers are part and parcel of the educational (de)form movement sweeping the U.S. Increasingly, these market based "reforms" are traveling through global policy networks in what has been referred to as the Global Educational Reform Movement (GERM).
This webinar makes the case that the current destruction of public schools in Puerto Rico is both premised on neoliberal capitalism's effort to shock the island into compliance with anti-public reforms and in the long history of colonialism. The fact of the matter is that Puerto Rico is a colony. The webinar also claims that the attacks on other public spheres in Puerto Rico should also be thought about as educational policy, since they are having and will continue to have a profound effect on children and families. The webinar seeks to both map out the problem and resources in the effort to strengthen activism and organizing.
Presenters:
Dr. Kaliris Yimar Salas-Ramirez - Assistant Medical Professor
- CUNY School of Medicine
Mercedes Martinez
- President of the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR)
