In May, Chris Janotta, an Illinois language arts teacher, started the website Save Our Schools Million Teacher March. The plan was to organize a march in Washington on July 30th to protest a lack of respect for the teaching profession.
On his website, Janotta mentions high stakes testing, unfair performance evaluations, poor working conditions, and inadequate funding among the reasons for the march. But the plan for the Washington march has been scrapped in favor of local marches across the country, although it’s not exactly clear why.
According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, Janotta is asking people to organize local July 30th marches to tell the president and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan that teachers are not happy with the administration’s reform efforts. Janotta cites Florida, Illinois, and Wisconsin—all of which applied for the second round of Race to the Top funding—as three states in which protests are planned.
The effort is also on several Facebook pages, including Janotta’s own SOS Million Teacher March, (1700 fans), Testing is Not Teaching (11,300 fans), Florida Teachers and Parents for a Better Education (139 fans), and Stop Race to the Top (590 fans).