by Steve Timmer

Oct 12, 2013, 4:30 PM

Drinking Liberally hosts education forum by teachers!

Update: I invited Sen. Patricia Torres Ray to come to our forum. She wrote back and said she’d be there. I suggested that she offer some remarks, too. Sen. Torres Ray is the chair of the E12 education policy committee in the Minnesota Senate.

On Thursday, October 17, 2013, Drinking Liberally – Minneapolis St. Paul is proud to host a forum about public education, and mirabile dictu, it features teachers as speakers. If you think that is an unremarkable fact, you would be sorely mistaken, and frankly not paying attention, kids. The event is co-sponsored by the Public Education Justice Alliance of Minnesota (PEJAM).

We’ll meet at the 331 Club in Minneapolis that evening at DL’s regular time, 6:00 PM. Our speakers will take the stage at 7:00. Since Thursday is in the middle of “MEA” week, here’s a special invitation to public school teachers — and anybody else who supports public education actually run by the public and not private companies — to come on out and express your support for the institution that’s the backbone of American democracy.

We have slated as speakers:

Robert Panning-Miller, a founder of PEJAM and a twenty-plus year teacher who teaches at South High School. Rob is active in the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, and he is a past president of the union. He’ll talk about corporate educational “reform” movement and PEJAM’s response to it.

Pia Payne-Shannon, a veteran English language arts teacher at the north side’s Nellie Stone Johnson elementary school. Pia is a member of PEJAM, too.

Sarah Lahm, a parent of students in Minneapolis Public Schools and a writer for Twin Cities Daily Planet. Sarah is leading the Opt Out Movement here in the Twin Cities, and she is a member of PEJAM.

Here’s your chance to come out and hear a side of the story that the mainstream media — and some pretenders to it — neglect, and to express your appreciation for the people who commit multiple acts of education every day.