In response to recent events, the educators and parents of Westside Elementary School have heard "Schools, not Jails" chanted by protestors and comments from politicians like this one from Elijah Cummings, "[W]e must start working now to secure the safety of our children's futures." And yet, the City still plans to close Westside Elementary School, which is only a few blocks away from the heart of Baltimore's rioting and subsequent calls for change. Westside Elementary School serves meals to 300 children, has a high-quality pre-K program, houses a HeadStart program, and operates a weekly food pantry. These programs are in addition to K-5 instruction in literacy, mathematics and, most importantly for any child in America, the lessons in civics and American history that are taught in the building. Westside's teachers hail from some of the best colleges and universities in America including Villanova, Princeton, Lehman College, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Maryland, Towson, Wesley, the University of Virginia, and the University of Chicago. Do not close this school because of a budget issue or because the people in the community were not politically proactive or visible in the ways that the City required. Before you take any action on the fate of the school, why not ask the community what it really thinks? Go door to door. Make phone calls. Come to the school and speak to parents daily. Conduct a study. Get a sense of the will of the people who live there. What do they want? Even if they decide they would rather close the school than renovate or rebuild it, their voices matter. As a teacher in the school, I can see the value that a small community school can have for a neighborhood. I also believe that schools have a sacred value to neighborhoods beyond test scores and attendance numbers. But that is only one opinion. And I don't think the City really knows what the parents and citizens of the neighborhood actually want. So, let's save Westside and start a conversation that includes all the key stakeholders, including the children.

We must act with urgency! As part of the receivership process, a local stakeholders group will be established. This group will make recommendations to the content of the turnaround plan in order to maximize the rapid improvement of the academic achievement of all students. This group must be convened within 30 days of the designation of chronically underperforming. We believe that HTA members selected to represent the entire membership must be determined by a membership vote instead of being appointed by the HTA President, HTA Executive Board or any other party.

Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederate States of America explained in his inaugural speech the founding values of the Confederacy. He said, "our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition". The Confederate States of America's most popular symbol should not be flown on the state house grounds. The Confederate flag's display at the central law making institution in South Carolina is unethical, especially amidst concerns of racial injustice nationwide.

I am starting this petition because the proposed pipeline will destroy some of the most beautiful parts of West Virginia and threaten our watershed area and national forest. It personally affects me because the proposed pipeline crosses my land and a compressor station is located just over a half mile from my property. However, even if it did not cross my land I would stand in opposition to the expansion of nonrenewable energy and the environmental damage it causes.

A group of parents of Chatham Middle School students are concerned that middle school math performance is in need of improvement. We feel that the program is not working for many of our children. We are starting this petition because we feel this program is doing our children a disservice. These are our key areas of concern: 1) There is insufficient mastery of basic math concepts due to the overemphasis on higher-level problem solving. 2) Small group (peer to peer) learning format is less effective at this age than teacher-led clear direct instruction. In addition, with larger class sizes there are more groups, this makes it hard for teachers to identify which groups/students may be struggling. This method can intimidate those afraid to speak out and get extra help, and it can also hold back the most able students because they are forced to collaborate with less able and motivated students. It can also create confusion if students are unable to explain concepts clearly to one another. This places a lot of burden on our children who are only just learning to self-advocate and are working on building their confidence. 3) Due to the reduced amount of teacher-led instruction, when students are left to investigate and discover key mathematical concepts and skills on their own, this may lead to critical gaps and misconceptions in their knowledge. 4) Language based math programs are discouraging to students who are weaker in language arts, along with adding unnecessary complexity with insufficient practice time. 5) Inadequate information and lack of explanatory prose in the workbooks and online for homework review. This makes it hard for parents to help their children with homework. Some parents have felt they've had no choice but to get outside help when faced with falling grades and frustrated kids. This places additional financial and scheduling burdens on families. If you share these concerns, we ask that you support our request for the School District to review and strengthen the program.

Since 12 April, 2015 when Mr. Fredrick C. Gray, Jr. was wrongfully arrested, assaulted and man-handled by members of the Baltimore Police Department, a handling and arrest by the way that lead to his eventual death on 19 April, 2015. Congressman Elijah E. Cummings and Dr. Jamal H. Bryant, along with many other Community Leaders and Civil Rights Activists for the City of Baltimore, have been on the ground, where they live and work, speaking to and well-representing the People of the City of Baltimore. They openly called for cooler heads, calmer hearts and patience, as best as possible, of the People of Baltimore, for justice to begin to take a due and steady course. As of the posting of this petition, 01 May, 2015, that process has begun with the formal arrest and charges of six police officers involved in the Freddie Gray incident. Join with me in ensuring that this high civilian honor is bestowed upon these two men in representation of their exemplary work and public service to the People of Baltimore. Thank you! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Gold_Medal

HB 149 and SB 134 are universally denounced by fair housing advocates, attorneys, and disability groups as unnecessary pieces of legislation that pander to the brazen assertion that housing discrimination should actually be tolerated in Ohio. SB 134 makes an artificial distinction between so-called "actual" discrimination and that discrimination which is proven by time-tested controlled investigations run by private fair housing organizations. Among other regressive measures, the bill would lower the penalties for housing discrimination and damage the important safeguards provided by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission (OCRC). Ohio residents would either need to use the administrative process provided on the federal level through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or be forced to use attorneys to sue violators in state court. In addition, Ohio law would no longer be "substantially equivalent" to federal law, thus ending substantial HUD funding to our state.

Bernie Sanders can win this thing, and Move On should be a part of that.

Everyday when I walk down the street, I notice that there is at least one homeless person on the street. It hurts my heart whenever I walk by them. Also I personally have a friend who was homeless and is scared by what people told him when he was homeless. Our school is working with a program, Generation Citizen, and are trying to solve this issue.

Good news! We are gaining ground in the fight to build a food system that’s better for people and the planet! In a huge step forward, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has recommended that Americans eat less resource-intensive meat and more plant-based foods for the sake of our health and that of the environment. This is a potentially game-changing move. But now we need to make sure the Obama Administration includes the Expert Panel’s recommendation in the final Guidelines (a.k.a. the “Food Pyramid”). More than 140,000 people like you have already signed petitions in support of sustainability in the guidelines, Now we can have even more impact by submitting comments directly to the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services. If the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends a more sustainable diet, the impact on our food system would be huge. But Big Food has millions of dollars on the line and isn’t letting this happen without a fight. The Obama Administration will decide what to do based on the number of people who submit comments. So it’s crucial that our voices are heard louder than the industrial meat industry’s!

We the people have witnessed injustice at the hands of juries. Regardless of the selection process to weed out bias of the jury, it is our observation that bias does exist among jurors chosen. This case is huge and at this point I assume everyone has a prejudged opinion on whether or not the officers involved should be prosecuted. On behalf of the people , I would like to ask that we are able to vote on the decision especially considering these officers are placed in our city to protect us. This decision will affect the people of Baltimore city because we are the ones who have daily interaction with these officers as they police our neighborhoods.

This will negatively impact the local business on Old Causeway Dr. To include Mellow Mushroom, SurfBerry, Lighthouse Beer & Wine, Redix, and Causeway Cafe.