A local business is proposing to build an asphalt batching facility next to our community's elementary school

This is an educator’s petition to protect our students. As teachers, we have the responsibility to protect our students which starts with classroom safety. We witness first-hand how gun violence has affected our students. Each year in America, 30,000 people are killed by guns (Nicholas Kristof). Many students have lost loved ones, and many teachers have lost students due to gun violence. In some communities in America, it is far easier to obtain a gun than access a public library. More guns are not the answer. The high capacity magazines make any gun a military grade weapon, enabling the slaughtering of young as happened at Sandy Hook, Columbine, Northern Illinois University, Virginia Tech., Aurora, CO; Oakland, CA; and Lancaster, PA. There is no reason for individuals to own military style guns and assault weapons. They should be relegated to military use only. Guns that can kill 10 children in 30 seconds have no place in society. By requiring universal background checks, convicted felons and people with mental illnesses will be prevented from making gun purchases, and the registering of gun sales helps law enforcement trace guns at crime scenes. It has been proven that more guns create more carnage (Mark Follman). Therefore, teachers and administrators would likely do more harm than good if required to lock and load during a crisis situation. Our role is to inspire, instruct, guide, and nurture and not to kill. It is important for educators to band together and be part of the dialogue on gun, student, and school safety. We recognize that these measures will not eliminate all gun violence, but will greatly reduce the ability for mass murders. Teachers, please sign this petition for our students’ sake. Passing strong gun safety legislation will keep more of our students alive. In 2013, your voice will be heard on real gun legislation. Help us create a safer America for our students. Sincerely, Olivia Bigsby Elementary School Teacher Sources: Nicolas Kristof http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/opinion/sunday/kristof-do-we-have-the-courage-to-stop-this.html?_r=2& Marc Follman http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/mass-shootings-investigation “After Bullets Hit bystanders, Protocol Questions” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/nyregion/bystanders-shooting-wounds-caused-by-the-police.html?_r=0 “Mass Shootings in America,” http://www.nycrimecommission.org/initiative1-shootings.php

For years now Portland Public Schools has been systematically closing down its neighborhood schools, primarily those serving students and families of color. Last year they closed 2 schools. This year they are preparing to close yet another one. This practice undermines public education, segregates schools and tears neighborhoods apart. If PPS truly believes in equity like it claims to, school closures are NOT a solution!

I am a teacher in the Middleton School District. We currently have 15 furlough days. Providing quality educators need to be a priority. We will not be able to retain and attract quality teachers in our state if we do not provide adequate funding for education.

My personal experiance with the School Voucher System has been a blessing for my daughter. There are groups that would like to eliminate the voucher system. Please sign this to let our representatives know that we should keep the school voucher system in place.

Keeping the school voucher system in place.

As a parent and teacher, I want the Chicago Board of Education to postpone their vote on the proposed schedule until parents and teachers have had a chance to evaluate the effects of the new schedule on their children's education.

By pegging per student expenditure levels to those at the best academically performing schools in America, the new funding mechanism will establish a per-student expenditure that insures all public schools will have equal access educational resources and professional quality curriculum while minimizing the destabilizing effects on public education quality created by the funding parameters set by the "No Child Left Behind" policy.

Lt. Gov. Dewhurst just removed Sen. Wendy Davis from the Education Committee. She has been one of the few real voices for public education in Texas, and they are trying to silence her! We need Sen. Wendy Davis on the Education Committee to hold them accountable.

Lecturers and professors at the University of Michigan teach the same courses with no evidence of any difference in the quality of their teaching. Students pay the same amount of tuition for a course, regardless of who teaches it. Yet lecturers are paid significantly less for their teaching than professors are. (For additional information, visit the website http://www.leounion.org and read the report "Teaching Equality.")

Student Loan payments, I am concerned because I do not know how much longer I can continue to pay which will only put me in default and the interest will start all over again. I will never finish paying my student loans not because I am not complying but because it is abuse on the part of the Federal Government. yes I feel I have been personally effected by it. I have been paying for 5 years $300.00 per month and now $320.00 for one year. I feel I have paid my debt and should been forgiven on Student Loans.

After all the school shootings that have taken place in our country all we do is look for a scape goat. When the real blame should be in ourselves as a nation. We have stepped away from God and the bible and taken away the very reason to act as a civilized peoples. Let's put the Ten Commandments back in our schools as well as singing the Pledge of Alegiance in the morning at every school. One nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all