Being the Change I Wish to See

The Catherine Ferguson Academy for Girls in Detroit, which I wrote about in April here, is scheduled to close next Friday, June 17, 2011. A big rally will be held next Thursday, June 16 at the school.

We must stop this! I need your to spread the word far and wide, and contact any celebrities you know for help.

Contact the ACLU Michigan chapter to petition them to file a stay in court to prevent the school closure.

ACLU of Michigan
Executive Director: Kary Moss, Esq.
2966 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, MI 48201
Phone: (313) 578-6800 Fax: (313) 578-6811
Email: aclu@aclumich.org
Web: http://www.aclumich.org

In my opinion, closing this special needs school is a direct violation of these students’ civil rights. The federal government requires all public school districts provide for the special needs of all their students. These students have special needs.

Tell everyone you know about this and call or write to the emergency manager in Detroit who is closing the school here:

Roy S. Roberts
Emergency Manager
14th Floor, Fisher Building
3011 West Grand Blvd.
Detroit, MI 48202
United States Phone: (313) 870-3772
Fax: (313) 870-3726

Call the Detroit Public school system here:

Phone: (313) 240-4DPS or (313) 240-4377

Rachel Maddow covered this story last night on her show. The interview with Principal Andrews is gut-wrenching. We the people must act now to stop this closure.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

If you have ideas on actions people can take, please post them on this Maddow Blog post. This post is being used as a resource and activism page to help CFA stay open. (You must get a Newsvine account to post).

If you don’t have a Newsvine account or don’t want to post to The Maddow Blog yourself, please leave your comments here and let me know if you want them reposted to the Maddow Blog. I am happy to do this for you; I’ll do anything I can to help these students.

Technorati Tags: Asenath Andrews, Catherine Ferguson Academy, civil rights, high school graduation

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The Catherine Ferguson Academy is a public school for pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers in Detroit that is slated to be closed in June if something isn’t done to stop it.

It provides a unique program to help these very poor, disadvantaged teenage girls graduate from high school. The vast majority go on to 2-year or 4-year colleges. It’s their ticket out of poverty and to a far better, middle class life for themselves and their children.

But this story is far bigger than just CFA. If you don’t pay attention to anything else in American politics this year, please, please pay attention to this!

Watch this video (9 min.). You will be awed, seriously:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It’s horribly shocking that anyone anywhere would want to close this school for any reason. Every community needs a similar school for pregnant teenagers and teenage mothers. This is a real, working solution to educating and pulling teenage mothers up out of poverty. It’s a phenomenal model, and the powers that be want to get rid of it.

The new emergency financial manager, Robert Bobb, who took over Detroit under Gov. Snyder’s new law, is putting 1/3 of the public schools on the chopping block, including Catherine Ferguson Academy. They may be bought and turned into charter schools, but they won’t operate the same way. It’s another example of Republicans grabbing power and privatizing public services that cost more and provide less. (If you haven’t read The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein, now is the time. The entire book is a warning about what is coming true in the mid-west today).

In Michigan, an emergency financial manager, or EFM, can be installed in any town or city for almost any reason by the governor with no input from the people. Their elected city or town government is unilaterally emasculated, and the EFM has the authority to basically declare martial law. He can do anything the governor has on his agenda, which so far does not appear to be in the best interest of the people.

This new law makes Detroit and Michigan ground zero for the fight for real freedom and equality in America. This law is being used to disenfranchise the poor and powerless among us, and get around democracy. Our democracy itself hangs in the balance. If Snyder wins, the country loses.

Please read further and do whatever you can, from signing petitions to donating, to save this school from EFM Bobb and Michigan Gov. Snyder. It’s time to act NOW!

Change.org petition. We need a lot more signatures on this petition!

Independent Voice of Detroit–a very detailed and informative article about this story.

Defend Public Education–another petition to defend CFA and other Detroit public schools.

Grown in Detroit documentary film (sign the petition at change.org. The link on this site freezes. You can move it out of the way by clicking on it and dragging it). This site contains a lot of information about the school and its programs. You can donate and watch the movie online, or you can buy a copy on the “Store” page.

BAMN (by any means necessary), an activist group that provides legal services and organizing to help save public institutions the poor and people of color depend upon.

This is the school’s direct contact information:
Catherine Ferguson Academy For Young Women
main office: (313) 596-4771

The school address is:
2750 Selden St.
Detroit, MI 48208.

Source:
The MaddowBlog More information is on this post.

Technorati Tags: BAMN, Catherine Ferguson Academy, Change.org, Detroit, Michigan, Voice of Detroit

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