We are showing a united front against the possibility of the Charter School coming to SD 170 and impacting our District's future. Allowing LEARN Charter School to come into SD 170 is not in the best interest of our students and staff. LEARN wants to take over our students by September 2015......KEEP THEM OUT OF OUR STUDENT'S EDUCATION!

I am a Little Tor parent and we are trying to keep our school open for the 2015/2016 school year. We are a newer school with updated equipment, with a booming housing development and award winning academics.

I am the mother of a student attending Strawtown Elementary School in West Nyack, NY. The school may close next school year due to schools lacking student enrollment and will result in redistricting . We need the school and state to see the support that our community has for this wonderful school! Keep Strawtown open. Please support this cause and sign the petition now!

My children have lost adequate special education classes.

State Appointed Newark Public Schools Superintendent Anderson has continued to ignore and disrespect Newark parents, students, school staff, clergy, and elected leaders who have spoken out against her One Newark plan. Anderson, and the One Newark plan, have closed neighborhood schools, displaced children throughout the city, and left special needs students and English language learners without needed supports, violating numerous district, state, and federal policies. Despite wide spread opposition, Anderson has continued to impose her harmful plan on the parents and children of Newark. It’s time we all stood together to demand the resignation of State Superintendent Anderson.

I had been a victim of this kind of abuse while I had attended a boarding school back when I was a child, and the events had just come to surface years ago. And yet, one of the abusers still remains there, and I have bad dreams in distorted form about the assault that had taken place some 37-40 years ago. All of these incidents of sexual abuse in schools and acts of violence either happen in unsupervised locations, or the staff are not carrying out their supervisory duties properly or they want to chalk the incidents up as provoked, even though they may know fully well that they are not truly ready to take on behaviorally challenged students who have behavioral problems that causes therm to act out in a violent manner. Back in the 1970's the topic of sexual abuse was hardly talked about or dealt with properly. Now, as more and more people are coming forward and talking about their past of being victims of sexual abuse, it is now time to set the records straight and set some concrete policies and procedures by operation of statutory law. I am asking that all college students, former college students and parents all stand with me on this issue. We have to do this as a group effort to make things safe for all across the board, no matter when or where it happens and that these people who engage in these kinds of acts face the consequences of their actions. If they do not face the consequences of their actions, then what have they really learned about life. Us grown ups are our children's teachers, including, parents and school officials. Although the Co-Sponsorship deadline had been extended to February 4, 2015, due to lots of inclement weather, that has gone by and at this time, there are two other legislator, State Representative Marcos Devers of Lawrence, Mass and State Senator Kathleen O'Connor Ives from Newburyport have gotten on board with me and state Representative Diana DiZoglio.. I talked to a school committee member who was from one of my nieces' schools that she attends and talked about the bill with her. I had told her about a provision that would also give staff and students a reprieve from dealing with school-aged children, and that there is a provision that would allow for the school term to end no later than the third Friday in June and start no earlier than two days after the Labor Day holiday. The true history behind summer vacation was so that school-aged children could help out on the family farm during the growing season, which also allowed for school-aged children to also get quality family time. But, yet, this particular school committee member asks questions about, "How does changing the school year tie into the Juvenile Violence Act." Well, to make a long story short, this very same school committee member who asked that question had an incident of Juvenile violence happen to her. Another answer to that question is, if the teachers have to work beyond June 30'th of each fiscal year, they have to be paid the same rate as the same fiscal year. However, I am not convinced and you should not be convinced either that they will get their pay in a timely manner, by these very same school districts as the state is often slow in appropriating the necessary funding and local communities are always fighting for more funding. The school districts are left to their own devices as to how to deal with any school days missed beyond the five allotted snow days per year. This Juvenile Violence Act does give many options from A-E as to how the school districts can make up the missed snow days beyond five and end at the mandated time frames as proposed in the bill. Do not let these school committees fool you. We all may had heard about the events of October 22, 2013. A popular teacher's life was taken by an act of Juvenile Violence. The question that should remain in your head is, where was security and other faculty members when this teen followed this teacher into the faculty bathroom on that fateful day of October 22, 2013, and yet, there is talk about extending the school year depending on inclement weather. These regulations were promulgated by 603 CMR 27. This lets the school districts make their own decisions. So, folks, it is time to sign this petition and keep up the fight. By keeping up the fight, we will be sending a message loud and clear that we do not trust the school districts or schools themselves in keeping things safe for our children nor the people that work with them. One other thing to make noteworthy is that the law does recognize self defense when someone is being harmed, however, in a school, if a teacher uses self defense, onto another student to protect themselves from serious bodily injury or death, because, it is the youth that perpetrate these violent acts in some cases, such as what happened to Miss. Ritzer on October 22, 2013. If she had been able to use self defense to fend off her attacker, a student, she may had been alive today. But, here's the problem. One cannot use self defense on another student, even though the law recognizes such, because, the youth or their parents may cry corporal punishment, thus they are asked to refrain from doing so by school policy. Don't be fooled by that either. Why? Even though the youth had engaged in the violence that resulted in serious bodily injury or death, the parents of some of these youth will use Corporal punishment or the video game made my son or daughter act in such a violent manner, that they will get lawyers and psychologist to back up their cases and sue for lucrative money, thus, the youthful offender ends up getting a reward for their own bad behavior. Thus, by signing, we together will be letting our legislators know that they need to pass this law and let the law take command and start down the road of real reform.

Speaking as an elected school board member and tax payer in Detroit, I believe we deserve the same rights as elected officials in white districts. We demand an end to back door deals between philanthropists and politicians.

As a student currently enrolled at the University of Vermont, I've experienced the overwhelming burden of higher education. I won't stand by while our nation's young people struggle to realize their dreams of a better tomorrow. The future of our country depends on the affordability of college today.

President Obama is proposing free community college, and Republicans are already opposing it. This is the kind of big idea that voters need to see Democrats stand for -- because it impacts millions of people's lives. We need to urge President Obama and Congressional Democrat to embrace this fight, and showcase it at the upcoming State of the Union. We're keeping the media and Democratic allies informed of our momentum, so they see the huge public support for progressive big ideas.

I have nearly $100,000 in student loans because college was an economic burden. Congress should work to pass legislation to make attending college a path to prosperity instead of a debilitating burden that harms middle and lower income Americans. Free college is the future and it's affordable for our country.

We are petitioning against the Closing of Benton!!

The West Virginia Board of Education just voted to adopt K-12 science standards that include inaccurate and misleading content about climate change. At the request of Board member Wade Linger–who denies the fact that global temperatures are rising–the Department of Education rewrote the climate science sections of the Next Generation Science Standards (1) (2). The doctored standards contain blatant errors and misrepresent the scientific consensus on climate change. For example, Linger had the standard on factors affecting rising temperatures changed to now consider “the rise ‘and fall’ of global temperatures.” The change was made as data was coming in showing 2014 to be the hottest year in recorded history, and the 38th consecutive year that yearly global temperatures were above average (3). Another Board of Education member, Tom Campbell, is on record saying that he supports changing the science standards in consideration of the role of the coal industry in the West Virginia economy (4). As a citizen of West Virginia and as a father, it is important to me to see our children receive the best education possible. Science education should be free from political agendas or from misinformation resulting from such agendas. Our children should be taught the truth and to think critically, built upon a foundation of accurate science. The new standards will be taught in West Virginia starting next year, so there is still time for the Board to fix its climate education errors. Please join me in telling the Board of Education to correct all inaccurate and misleading climate science content in the state’s new science standards. Thank you for taking action for our children and grandchildren! Sincerely, Chris Clark, Father and Climate Parents member Charleston, WV (1) "Climate change denials added to West Virginia science standards to appease coal loving officials." Raw Story. http://bit.ly/1zY2deh (2) West Virginia Department of the Environment. New science standards. http://bit.ly/1Dr5Dwt (3) NOAA. National Climatic Data Center. http://1.usa.gov/1f58TjF (4) "Climate change learning standards for W.Va. students altered." Charleston Gazette. http://bit.ly/1zMTVKV