‘A Day Without a Woman’ Strike Shuts Down Alexandria Public Schools
Residents in Virginia rally in solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington(Coy Ferrell ,flickr)
What would happen without women? Paola Mendoza, co-artistic director of the Jan. 21 Women’s March on Washington, wanted to find out, so she organized the ‘A Day Without a Woman’striketo demonstrate “a day without us is actually a day when the world stops functioning.”
In the case of Alexandria, Va., she is right.
More than 300 staff members of the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) district requested leave for March 8, the day of the demonstration. The huge number of requests resulted in the district’s closure and a lost day of instruction for its 15,056 students.
Helen Lloyd, the director of communications for the ACPS, relayed the message to the public:“When personal leave is requested, we are not in a position to deny it [and] staff have requested leave for multiple reasons on this day—one of which is in support of the Day Without Women [sic].” Lloyd said no rules were broken and described parent and student reactions to the closure as “mixed.”
Although the school complied with the request, the school district’s superintendent, Alvin L. Crawley, stated in a letter sent to parents that the closure “is not based on a political stance or position.”
“The decision is based solely on our ability to provide sufficient staff to cover all our classrooms, and the impact of high staff absenteeism on student safety and delivery of instruction,” Crawley said in the letter.
While the Alexandria school district has been shut down for the day, organizers of the “Day Without a Woman” demonstration were prepared for women across the nation to follow suit, building on the momentum generated from the “Women’s March on Washington” that took place on Jan. 21, the day after President Trump’s inauguration.
The purpose of the “Day Without a Woman” strike is to promote “
economic solidarity” by encouraging women to abstain from work and avoid shopping, except at businesses owned by women and minorities. Women are also encouraged to wear red. A day without women is a day when the entire would be completely paralyzed. We hold up half the sky & are the foundation for everything. https://t.co/3EgymQA391 — Paola Mendoza (@paolamendoza) February 25, 2017 “The point to that is not just to cause chaos and disruption for disruption’s sake but to actually say you need us,” Mendoza said. “So respect us, hear our voices. Allow us to be represented the way we should be.” Related Entries
Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/a_day_without_a_woman_strike_shuts_down_alexandria_public_schools/
Alexandria, you had better fire every one of those pink horny hat idiots because they have shown that their responsibility to their students does not mean very much. If I was a parent there, I would be suing the school system and the teacher who my tax dollars paid while they were skipping school. What a horrible example has been set for the students!
A Day without a woman.
What a great idea.
We should have three of these days a week!!
We men have decided (just to be fair) our neighbourhood should have a reciprocal ‘Day without a mans wallet’
Sadly, no-wallet day appears to fall on combination beauty parlour and shopping day in our hood. Gotta go, there’s a golf club polishing tutorial on down at the country club and us blokes have booked three tables and lunch.