Program for Education not Incarceration Teach-in - Speak-out TOMORROW!

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EDUCATION NOT INCARCERATION

TEACH IN / SPEAK OUT

SATURDAY MAY 1, 2004

10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Oakland Tech High School

4351 Broadway near 45th Street

Near Macarthur BART and Bus Route 51



WELCOME

10:00 A.M.

Location: Auditorium

Welcome, art and sign-making





WORKSHOPS 10:30 A.M. -12:30 P.M.




SHRINKING EDUCATION BUDGETS; RISING PRISON BUDGETS: RE-PRIORTIZING THE WAY CALIFORNIA INVESTS IN THE FUTURE

Location: Room A3, Ground Floor Auditorium Building

Throughout the state’s multibillion dollar budget crisis, education budgets have shrunk for those inside and outside prisons, while the state’s $5.3 billion prison budget has been untouched or actually risen. This session will look at the education and prison budgets, what other states have done, and we will strategize about how we can impact the budget process.

Presenters:
Ida McCray, Education Administrator, S.F. Sheriffs Department

Gary Daniels, San Quentin Teacher, SEIU/CSEA



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WHY ARE WE CLOSING SCHOOLS INSTEAD OF PRISONS?

Location: Room A6, Ground Floor Auditorium Building

At the same time that five schools in Oakland are set for closure, and the state says it will be reducing the number of people in prison by 15,000, California is building its 34th prison at Delano. This session will discuss the proposed closure of Oakland schools, the campaign to keep them open and the effort underway by Californians United for a Responsible Budget to close California prisons.

Presenters:

Dan Siegel, President of Oakland School Board, Coalition Against Oakland School Closures

Rose Braz, Californians United for A Responsible Budget (CURB)



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WHO MAKES THE DECISIONS? CONTROL OF EDUCATION AND PRISON SYSTEMS

Location: Room 205, Main Building, 2nd Floor

At the same time that control of the Oakland schools has been taken from the school board and given to the state appointed administrator, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed a panel to reform Corrections comprised entirely of individuals who built up and profit from the system they are now charged with reforming. This session will look at how we got to this point and grassroots organizing efforts to we take power over these decisions.

Presenters:
Cesar Cruz, West Contra Costa County organizer of the March 4 Education to Sacramento
Dorsey Nunn, Member of the "Shadow Commission" review panel on Corrections



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TEARING DOWN BARRIERS

Location: Room 206, Main Building, 2nd Floor

Every year over 100,000 people are released from California prisons only to face enormous obstacles to finding a job, a home or education. This session will look at these barriers and discuss current strategies to tear them down.

Presenters:
Linda Evans, All of Us or None

Tommy Escarcega, Proyecto Common Touch
Renita Pitts, Women of Color Resource Center, National Radio Project



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CRIMINALIZATION VS. EMPOWERMENT OF YOUTH

Location: Room 203, Main Building 2nd Floor

California has the second highest youth incarceration rate in the US. At a cost of $385 million a year, California locks up 4,300 youth at any given time. California spends $28,000 a year to incarcerate one youth, but only $3,400 a year per Oakland student. Join the School of Social Justice in creating a budget for Oakland students at $28,000 per student.

Presenters:
Mike Molina, Books Not Bars

Kali Akuno, School of Social Justice and Community Development



***



ZERO TOLERANCE FOR ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES AND MILITARY RECRUITMENT

Location: Room 201, Main Building 2nd Floor

So-called "zero tolerance" policies and military occupations do not decrease violence and terrorism in schools, on the streets or inside prisons. While these "tough on crime" ideas are often politically popular among middle-class and white constituencies, in practice they punish low-income people of color. This session will look at how these forms of aggression-street sweeps, recruitment in schools and suspension/expulsion practices-add up to racist tracking of youth and adults of color away from education and into the most violent places on the planet, prisons or into the military. We will explore ways to resist these policies and alternative forms of resolving conflicts.

Presenters:
T.R. Amsler, Teachers for Social Justice
Malaika Parker, Police Watch
Aimara Lin, Not In Our Name Campaign Against Military Recruitment in Our Schools







ART WORKSHOPS
Hip Hop: Song Writing and Performance

Location: Auditorium

Hip Hop artist Javier Reyes of Colored Ink will lead participants in the creation of a hip hop song that the group will perform during the festival. Javier will first facilitate activities that address the issues of injustice in education and tells the story of one person who is incarcerated and how people outside the



Graffiti: Culture and Art-form

Location: Outside of Auditorium

Graffiti artists Desi and Zare of Higher Gliffs will present on the culture and history of graffiti and help participants create a mural.



YOUTH FESTIVAL, LUNCH, TABLING

12:00 Noon - 1:15 P.M.

Location: Outside Auditorium



SPEAKOUT

1:30 P.M. – 3:00 P.M.

Location: Auditorium

Join in testimonials, spoken word, role plays and graffitti art where we bring forth our concerns and proposed solutions.





EDUCATION NOT INCARCERATION

DEMANDS / SOLUTIONS:



1. Reduce the prison budget by reducing the number of people in prison. Re-invest saved funds in jobs and programs inside and outside prisons including k-12 education, higher education, re-integration of former prisoners and community-based social services. Restore control of school districts taken over by the state to democratically elected representatives. Add former prisoners and anti-prison activists to the Governor's new Independent Review Panel on corrections.



2. Don't close a single school in California. Close California Correctional Center, Susanville and Pelican Bay, Folsom State, and Valley State Prisons. Don't open the Delano II Prison. Erase school district debts to the state.



Total Funds Available from cuts to prison spending for spending on education in prison and outside*:

Prison Closures: $510 million annually

Prisoner Population Reduction: $427 million annually

Cancel Delano II: $700 million

*Based on research by Californians United for A Responsible Budget







The Education Not Incarceration Coalition

is a grassroots coalition of teachers, students, parents and concerned community members

seeking to reprioritize the way California invests in the future

away from prisons and toward education inside and outside prisons and other important social services





Please Join us at the Next Coalition Meeting:

Monday, May 10, 2004

7p.m.
The Coalition meets the 2nd & 4th Mondays
7 p.m. - 9 p.m. at Niebyl Proctor Library
6501 Telegraph Ave. (near Alcatraz), Oakland



For More Information Go to:

http://www.ednotinc.org

or call us at 510.444.0484