Teachin' and Protestin'

The headquarters for the San Francisco School District is at the corner of McAllister and Gough Streets...



...which is across the street from where I live.



There are frequent organized protests in front of the building, usually in conjunction with the monthly Board of Education meetings, such as this one on Tuesday the 24th.



There was a table set up on Gough Street with loads of premade signage in about four different languages...



...covering a bewildering array of issues.



I asked a number of participants what they were protesting, whether it was something specific or "just everything as usual," and after laughter received a whole range of responses from "our 6% pay raise which has been in arbitration forever," to "the treatment of 'paras' (meaning 'paraprofessionals') to "oh, the usual."



For more information about the meeting, though not about the protest, click here for Kim Knox's account on the "Left in SF" website.



Though I hate the way the crowd baits passing motorists on Franklin Street into honking their obnoxious horns for two straight hours, the crowd itself was quite sweet, and even included the Raging Grannies in a sing-a-long. If any educators are reading this and want to explain further what the noise was all about, please do so in the comments.