Step Up Campaign Steps Out
Hundreds of students, teachers, parents and staff turned out yesterday for the launch of AEF’s Step Up campaign.
While the Chipman Drum Corp drummed out rousing beats and high school cheerleaders gave rousing cheers, Alamedans climbed into garbage cans on Park and Webster Streets, as well as at Alameda Towne Centre. “This really represents Alamedans comming together as a community,” executive director Brooke Briggance said in speech on the steps of the AUSD offices. “What we’re saying is enough is enough. We’ve had enough.”
The campaign seeks to make Alamedans aware of what they’re about to lose under the governor’s proposed budget plan. But as Briggance noted, while “this is Alameda’s demonstration today, I believe this California’s problem. We’re hopeful that other districts will join with us in advocating for something new for public education.”
Throughout the city, cars honked at the sight of community members standing in garbage cans covered with slogans, including “Music education is too valuable to throw away. Help keep it in our schools” and “School athletics are too valuable to throw away. Help keep students active in our schools.”
In comments directly to the district’s 10,000 students, Briggance said, “I want you to know that Alamedans will fight for your rights. We will not stop fighting on your behalf until you get the public education you deserve.”
The Step Up program, which was conceived and designed by Oakland-based ad agency Wrecking Ball, Inc., aims to bring home the message that “public education is too valuable to waste.” “We want to put a face on the people who are being trashed by the governor’s proposed budget,” Briggance explains. “We want people to see that the budget will affect real students, real teacher, real staff, and real programs.”
The groundbreaking campaign also includes giant decals on the sides of Alameda’s garbage trucks and curbside cans, as well as signs placed throughout the city.
The governor’s proposed $4 billion cut to public education translates into a $4.5 million cut to AUSD. To absorb that cut, the district passed a budget earlier this month that slashes high school sports, music for grades 1-3, and reduced class sizes for 9th graders this year, as well as the end of small classes for K-3 and potential school closures next year.
The entire campaign—from conception to design to printing—was done by volunteers, notes Kevin Lee, founder of Wrecking Ball, Inc. “Given the devastating budget cuts AUSD is being forced to make, I felt strongly that I had to do everything within my power to raise awareness around this crisis in our public schools. Not only are we facing severely overcrowded classrooms and drastic personnel layoffs, but our students are now saddled with a curriculum sorely lacking in music, art, athletics, technology and so much more.”
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