On Blast

Student leaders speak about how Philadelphia Student Union has affected their lives and their futures, in this piece by Dylan Washington, Jaileah Gibson & Kimora Lamotte. Zakia Royster, Lawrence Jones Mahoney & Khalif Dobson talk about how they became part of this youth-led organization and how their identity as organizers and their sense of purpose has been shaped through their work with PSU.

If you are a high school student in Philadelphia who wants to get involved, come to our citywide meetings every Saturday 1-4pm at 4205 Chestnut St.  Or go to our website to find out more.

On this show we hear a feature about how Philadelphia Student Union has affected the lives of members. We also hear a piece that asks whether Advanced Placement classes are dividing students and distributing schools' resources inequitably. Then we look at the ways music shapes people, with a Song Breakdown of 'One More Drink' and a story about conscious hip hop. Plus, there's music and other news from Philly's schools.

Dan Jones wrote the news stories this month. Keturah Bailey, Azeem Hill and Greg Jordan-Detamore hosted the show.

From several students point of view education is stil not equal. Othella stanback(freshman) and Shaniyra Curry-Scott(senior) from University high school were  interviewed on what they think of their classes. Many logical and emotional points were made and discussed .This piece was produced by KETURAH BAILEY  with help from Zakia Royster.

Tune in to On Blast every Wednesday from 6-7pm on WPEB 88.1FM in West Philadelphia!

A year and a half after our launch, On Blast is still going strong as the only youth-produced radio show in Philly that's focused on making positive changes in our public schools. Learn more about Philadelphia Student Union's youth-led campaigns at our website: www.phillystudentunion.org. Thanks for listening and subscribing!

This promo was created by Dylan Washington & Greg Jordan-Detamore.

On this month's show we hear a report from students' confrontation of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Rev. Al Sharpton; an interview with long-time organizer Willie Baptist; a conversation with Heidi Ramirez of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission. We'll also hear a story about the history of coal miners' organizing and how it relates to students' struggle -- which was recorded while we were in West Virgina for a Leadership School. Plus, music and other news.

This show was hosted by Keturah Bailey & Dylan Washington, and produced by Dan Jones.

Azeem Hill's piece on "The Listening and Learning Tour" led by Arnie Duncan, Al Sharpton and Newt Gingrinch that kicked off in Philly. This happened on Tuesday, September 29th. The community and the students were concerned and wanted to talk about what national education reform should look like. The only time we got to talk to Arnie Duncan and Al Sharpton was when they were separated from the community by a gate. This piece tells the story.

Willie Baptist, a leader in the movement to end poverty, shares some of his experiences working with the Kensington Welfare Rights Union in Philadelphia. Much of the work that the KWRU did relied on its being a cross-racial movement, and Mr. Baptist explains how deep racial divisions are overcome when the focus is put on people's common struggles.
This piece was produced by Dan Jones.

This past summer students from the Philadelphia Student Union and other organizing groups went to West Virginia and participated in many workshops and took many trips. One trip in particular included a visit to Matewan, West Virginia which was a site for previous coal mining strikes. There, a man named Wes Harris explained the situation in which many coal miners of the time experienced, and in which some are still experiencing today. He also explained the need for unionizing, and the power it can bring.
This piece was edited by Matt Johnson & produced by Kimora Lamonte.

During BAYM (Building a Youth Movement), PSU's summer program, we had media training time where students were in several different media groups. Among other things, the groups interviewed different people, including Heidi Ramirez, a member of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission who recently announced her resignation. We talked about subjects such as teacher quality and the school district's strategic plan.

This is a short version that includes only some of the interview. For the rest, listen to the long version, soon to be published on this podcast.

This piece was produced by Gregory Jordan-Detamore.

This show has several segments, plus news headlines and music. One segment is from the B'more Fair in Baltimore, a march for the rights of workers in the Inner Harbor, organized by the United Workers Association. Another story is about the community struggle to keep William Penn High School from being closed. There is also a piece about how we are taught in school versus how we learn best. Finally, there is a segment (which includes Khalif Dobson's testimony from a School Reform Commission meeting) about the struggle to stop our schools from being privatized.

This show was hosted by Azeem, Amber, Simone, Matt, Cherelle, Candace & Dan.

In this piece, several PSU members were interviewed about how they learn best, and about how that is different from how they are taught in school. Their answers are very insightful, and clearly show why so many students dislike school and do not find it to be very educational. This piece also offers clues as to how we can improve things.

This piece was produced by Gregory Jordan-Detamore.

Months ago, when the school district first announced that it would be closing William Penn HS, almost no one doubted that that would be the case. However, thanks to the quick and effective organizing of the community around William Penn, the school is going to remain open and there is a new plan to turn it into a cutting edge career and technical school.

The building, located on Broad and Master Sts., is on prime real estate for developers, and there was a lot of pressure to close it so it could be put up for sale. However, the strong and organized messages put forth by the Committee to Revitalize William Penn made it clear that the district could not get away with ignoring the school's problems for decades and then saying that is was too much to fix.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the campaign to reinvest in William Penn High School!

This piece was narrated by Candace Carter and recorded by Dan Jones for On Blast Radio with the Philly Student Union.

On June 17th, the School Reform Commission voted 3-1 to renew the contracts with all of the private managers running schools in the district. This vote came over loud protest from community groups including the Philadelphia Student Union, who pointed out that there is no proof that the management organizations (EMOs) have been working, and that in fact, many studies point to the opposite. There has been a lot of pressure from the state legislature to renew the contracts, many of which were already operating on a one year probation renewal.

Commissioner Heidi Ramirez was the only dissenting voice against renewal: She also noted that the proof of the effectiveness of EMOs just isn't there.

EMOs have failed thousands of students for 7 years now. At what point do we demand accountability from them and from their supporters in Harrisburg?

In late April, the Baltimore based human rights organizing group United Workers Association held a major human rights march and protest to announce the worst of the worst of the employers in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The Inner Harbor is a major tourist hot spot, with a lot of restaurants and shops. However, despite the apparent affluence of the Harbor, the workers there are treated with a total lack of respect for their humanity. The United Workers Association, fresh off of their recent victory at the Camden Yards baseball field, is leading the charge in organizing these workers to demand their basic human rights.

Student Union was a part of a Philadelphia delegation of over 65 people that helped to support and cover the event.

On May 24th, PSU rallied in front of the School District, then traveled to the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT) and rallied there too. We had the same message for them both: Teacher Quality & Equity Need to be the Top Priority in the Teachers' Contracts!

Here are some of the specific things we want to see in the contract:
1. Incentive grants to attract experienced teachers to hard-to-staff schools.
2. Full site selection.
3. Performance standards and evaluations for teachers, developed in collaboration with teachers.
4. Teacher-driven professional development.

This piece was produced by Eric Yates.

In this installment of our Song Breakdown, Zakia Royster & Candace Carter analyze the real messages in the song, "One More Drink" by Ludacris featuring T-Pain. Candace & Zakia break down Ludacris' lyrics and end up talking about men, women, alcohol, drinking and driving, sex, and self-esteem.

On this month's show, we hear testimonies about Imagine 2014 from students at the School Reform Commission, a discussion about militarization of schools, and a song breakdown of 'One More Drink.' Plus, there's music and other news. Hosted by Eric Yates & Greg Jordan-Detamore, and produced by Matt Johnson.

In this piece, students talk about the ways that the military targets poor and working class youth, including some subtle ways that the military tries to infiltrate schools, fashion, and even youth culture. This piece was produced by Dan Jones and Simone Waller.

On this month's show we hear audio highlights from PSU's action about Imagine 2014, a report about community groups in Chicago resisting school closures, an interview with West student about news that her academy (Creative & Performing Arts) will be shutting down, a collection of youth voices about military recruitment, and a rap written and performed by two PSU members. Plus, we'll have music and other news.
This show was hosted by Cherelle Reed & Mason Tyer.

Sadae Canty (right) is a student at West Philadelphia High School and is part of the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA) Academy. Last Thursday, March 19, West's principal announced that the CAPA Academy would be closed down after only it's second year, in favor of creating a new 9th Grade Academy.

In this piece, Sadae talks about the importance of having a Creative and Performing Arts curriculum, and what it would mean for students if West loses this Academy.

The last week of February, students from each of PSU's chapters held an action to respond to the District's plan, Imagine 2014. This plan is directly based off Renaissance 2010, the Chicago plan for closing and taking over low-performing schools.

We know that closing schools or having them taken over by Charter Management Organizations or EMOs (private companies) is not the answer for fixing our schools. So at this action we presented a different vision for empowering students and communities to really transform our schools.

This audio for this piece was recorded by Amendu Evans (SEIU 32BJ) and Kistine Carolan (Media Mobilizing Project). The piece was produced by Candace Carter, PSU.

As part of PSU's recent action about equity, Eric Yates & Koby Murphy performed a piece they wrote. They are both part of a group of PSU students who are creating a PSU album. The album is set to drop this summer. It will feature student artists rapping, singing and doing spoken word about the issues that PSU organizes around.

Allies from across Philadelphia came out to support PSU's action on February 25th and share their concerns about Imagine 2014.

Helen Gym, a leader of Asian Americans United and Parents United for Public Education, spoke about how we can build an equitable public school system that serves all of Philadelphia's students.

On February 25, PSU held an action in response to the District's new strategic plan, called Imagine 2014. During the action, students reflected on equity in the Philadelphia public schools 55 years after Brown vs. Board of Education, and presented a vision for community empowerment that will lead to whole school transformation.

Sadae Canty, a junior at West Philadelphia High School, presented a poem about her dream for equality in schools.

On this month's show, we'll hear a report about the grassroots struggle to keep Philly's neighborhood libraries open, a piece about how young people around the world are using sites like Facebook as a way to organize people, and highlights from the Media Mobilzing Project's recent Community Building Dinner. Plus, we have music and other news.
This show was engineered by Simone Waller.

As 2008 came to a close, Media Mobilizing Project welcomed organizing groups from across Philly to the 3rd annual MMP Community Building Dinner. This dinner was a chance for Philly Student Union to share our 2008 victories and talk to allies about their struggles and successes. In this piece, Dan Jones talks to attendees (see MMP's Wall of Leaders, on right), including keynote speaker Gerardo Reyes from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

In December there was an action to protest the closing down of Philadelphia's libraries in front of City hall. Student Union members, Sylvia and Shaniece, attended and asked protesters why they were there. Since then, Mayor Nutter has been sued to keep the libraries open, and we won. The lawsuit kept him from closing our libraries, but he's still cutting the hours they are open. This piece was edited by Amber~Marie Felton.

Every year, the armed forces spend millions of dollars on targeted recruitment of "high performing, low income" students. More and more, the military is building a presence in public schools. From running JROTC programs to gathering mass contact lists, the armed forces are employing tactics to recruit more students straight out of high school. This piece explores the ways that the military targets certain students.

To find out more about youth and militarism, go to the American Friends Service Committee's website at http://www.afsc.org/Youth&Militarism/

From there, you can download an opt-out form to stop yourself from being contacted by military recruiters. You can send completed forms to:

Joint Advertising, Marketing Research & Studies(JAMRS)
ATTN: Opt-Out
4040 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite #200
Arlington, Virginia 22203-1613

Facebook isn't only used for status updates but also for networking. Learn how one man used the infamous Facebook to make a local problem be supported worldwide. Prouduced by Divante H.

On this month's show, we'll talk about ways that the military is recruiting students by getting inside high schools in lo-income neighborhoods, and how you can opt-out of the recruitment process. We'll also present PSU's platform for teacher equity and explain the 6 steps that the district needs to take to ensure qualified teachers for all students. Also, there's poetry from some PSU members, plus music and other news. This show was engineered by Matt Johnson.

"Teacher quality is the biggest equity issue in the district." This platform is what we, the community, want for our teachers. By helping out the teachers we are helping ourselves, the students and the community. These are recommendations that will help get qualified teachers evenly distributed all across the city. This was produced by Simone Waller.

What effect does hip hop have one the lives of young people, especially their lives as students? Does music distract students or help them make it through the school year? Mason Tyer & Candace Carter wanted to find out, so they got PSU members talking about a favorite subject: music.
Photo by © Jacques-Jean Tiziou / www.jjtiziou.net

In September, students from Philadelphia Student Union went to Immokalee Florida for a conference put on by the Student Farmworker Alliance (SFA). Eric Yates conducted this interview with John Michael Torres, an activist and steering committee member of the SFA, which is part of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers(CIW).
During the conference, PSU members learned about the CIW's campaign for a better contract with Subway. On December 2, Subway gave in to the workers' demands and CIW announced a major victory in this campaign!

Almost every student in Philadelphia has to wear uniforms. But what is the real purpose? And are uniforms helpful or hurtful to students? Produced by Sylvia Wright and Eric Yates.

On this month's show we'll hear a roundtable discussion about the military's new methods of recruiting young people, an interview with hip-hop artist and activist Omecka, a story about how immigrant parents are fighting for more traslators in Philly public schools, and a report back from PSU's recent Student Summit. Plus, there's music and other news!

With less than a month left until the teacher contracts expire, PSU held an action in front of Masterman (the 'best' school in the city) to say that the negotiations must include students' needs and fix the inequitable distribution of qualified teachers across schools. We believe that one solution to this problem is the use of teacher incentive grants, which would help keep qualified teachers at 'hard-to-staff' schools. Audio from this action was recorded by Amber Felton and Andrew Perez, and produced by Greg Jordan Detamore.

On September 17th, there was an incident at Sayre high school in which 50 police officers brutalized Sayre students. Twenty-two students were arrested as a result of this and one student was hospitalized for several days, yet none of the police officers were reprimanded.

The press reported that this "riot" was caused by unruly young people. But Sayre students believe that the real root causes include a poor learning environment, isolation of students, lack of community, students' day to day frustration of being in an underfunded school, negative perceptions of neighborhood school students and a tense relationship between students and school police.

On October 9th, Philadelphia Student Union held a press conference in front of Sayre to bring the truth about this so-called "riot" to light. This piece was produced by Dan Jones and Matt Johnson.

Arlene Ackerman, the new Superintendent of the Philadelphia School District, has said that she may push to implement a method of funding schools called Weighted Student Funding (WSF). To find out what WSF really is and what it would mean for Philly students, Khalif Dobson researched how it has worked in other cities and then produced this radio piece.

This past year, Philadelphia Student Union's campaign to get equitable school funding had a major victory. PSU helped secure a $274 million increase in PA's education budget, including $51 million in new money for Philadelphia schools. PSU's organizing and lobbying efforts also helped put a new funding formula in place; a formula that is based on what students in each district actually need.

Dan Jones spoke to Vince Gordon, School Board Director for Upper Darby, about what the new funding has meant for his district and what we need to do to make sure we get the future increases our schools need.

On this month's show: Audio from our recent action about the distribution of qualified teachers, an update about PSU's school funding campaign, an interview with a student organizer from the Student Farmworker Alliance, and a piece about Weighted Student Funding, which is a new way of funding schools that might be coming to Philly. Plus news and music!

Aramark provides food service for prisons, schools, and venues across the country. But do they provide health care, adequate pay, and a good environment for their workers?

PS: We know from experience, their food is crappy.

Produced by Dan Jones and Matt Johnson.

On this month's show: An audio introduction to Philadelphia Student Union, UNITE-HERE's campaign against Aramark, the United Workers mission to end poverty in Baltimore, and a student perspective on Mayor Nutter's plan to cut the Drop-Out rate. Plus news, music & more!

Greg, from the United Workers in Baltimore, speaks about the values and philosophy of this union, which is run by poor people for poor people. He also talks about their campaigns and about gentrification in Baltimore.
Produced by Eric Yates & Amber Marie Felton.

What's the connection between art & organizing? And how can artists use their talents to create social change? Amber Marie Felton & Simone Waller spoke to musicians, poets, organizers and artists to hear what they had to say.

On this month's show: Interviews with Baltimore Algebra Project & Wide Angle Youth Media, a song breakdown of 'Low,' activist Larry Gibson explains mountain top removal mining, and a look at teacher quality in Philadelphia schools. Plus news, music & more!

While we were in Baltimore, we met other young people making media and using it as a tool for change. Produced by Eric Yates & Matt Johnson.

Why don't all students in Philly have teachers who are experienced and qualified? What makes a teacher qualified? This piece talks to parents and a teacher at a 'hard-to-staff' school to find answers. Produced by Candace Carter.

Larry Gibson lives on Kayford Mountain in West Virginia. Most of the mountains around him have been destroyed by Mountain Top Removal, a destructive and dangerous type of coal mining. Larry is fighting to save the mountains and the people who live in them. We visited his mountain in June, and recorded him talking about his struggle. Produced by Ruth Kodish Eskind, Eric Yates & Lawrence Jones Mahoney.

Magnet and neighborhood schools are different. Magnet schools get more freedom, funding, and resources. And neighborhood schools are usually considered 'hard-to-staff'and dangerous. This piece explores the stereotypes that neighborhood students and magnet students have about each other, and how students are kept apart. Produced by Amber Marie Felton & Ruth Kodish Eskind.

This June, PSU visited Baltimore Algebra Project as part of our Immersion Trip. We learned about the work that Baltimore Algebra Project is doing and saw a lot of similarities to the struggles we face in Philly. This piece was produced by Eric Yates & Matt Johnson.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-9dabe7e395d317acd93966374efa6604}

During the '07-'08 school year, violent incidents happened both at West Philly High and Masterman. In this piece, we look at how the media covered these events very differently and how stereotypes about neighborhood school students and magnet school students get perpetuated.

Produced by Amber Marie Felton & Ruth Kodish Eskind.

This story was produced in winter '08, when private companies (EMO's) were running 38 Philly public schools and were trying to get control of more. Now, after months of organizing and outreach by PSU, EMO's lost their control of 6 schools and are on probation for 20 more schools...which means that they will lose their contracts if they don't show major improvements. In this piece, students explore the problems with privatization. Produced by Lawrence Jones Mahoney, Dan Jones, Eric Yates & Matt Johnson