Elected School Board Hearing and Rally

From: electedboard@aol.com
To: PG-Politics@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2004 03:41:09 -0500
Subject: [PG-Politics] ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD HEARING AND RALLY

Missing from every ballot in Prince George's County--for the second time in a row--was the chance to vote for a local school board member. Our right to vote for school board was taken away in 2002 by members of our county's legislative delegation who decided that democracy was inconvenient and forced in an appointed board. We want our civil rights back!

Remember Question H? County voters rejected two at-large seats on the County Council by an overwhelming margin, but our legislators are "giving" us a board in 2006 with ALL the seats elected at large. At-large seats are wrong for the school board for the same reasons they were wrong for the Council: at-large members are not locally accountable and are beholden to special interests and partisan power brokers. They would have no reason to care about your child, your school, or your community.

Some delegates and senators even want to continue the appointed board or include several appointed seats on a hybrid board. We don't want any appointed members, and we don't want any "annointed" at-large members, either.

The fight to take back our schools starts Tuesday, November 23, at Prince George's Community College, where the delegation's County Affairs Committee is holding a public hearing on education proposals. Citizens for an Elected Board (CEB), the group that circulated the petition to stop the school takeover bill, is sponsoring a rally at 6:15 p.m. at the Rennie Forum - Largo Student Center prior to the 7:00 hearing.

CEB will testify at the hearing AGAINST any current or future bill to keep even a single appointed member, AGAINST a bill with three at-large seats, and FOR legislation to elect all school board seats by district (with no at-large seats). You may testify as well, but there is no advance sign-up.

The original of this message is being posted on the PGPublicEd, MarylandCharterSchoolNetwork, Beltsville_Ed, and PG-Politics discussion groups, as well as being sent to EducationDoctors. Please post it to other groups and forward it to your friends.

Please join the rally at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, November 23, at PGCC and bring as many friends as possible. The legislators belive nobody cares about their right to vote. Help prove them wrong!

CITIZENS FOR AN ELECTED BOARD (ElectedBoard@aol.com)
David L. Cahn and Janis M. Hagey, Co-Chairmen

NO APPOINTED BOARD! NO ANNOINTED BOARD! SAVE OUR VOTE!