person:shannon jones

Anger grows over Michigan school closures - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/20/dpsc-f20.html

If you attack one school, you attack them all”
Anger grows over Michigan school closures
By Shannon Jones
20 February 2017

Opposition is mounting to the threat by Michigan’s State Reform Office (SRO) to close as many as 38 schools by the end of the school year for “non-performance.” The threatened closures would have a devastating impact on communities and students, many of which would be forced to travel long distances to alternative schools.

The closure threat is the product of a right-wing attack on public education long championed by Michigan billionaire heiress Betsy DeVos, who was recently installed as Trump’s secretary of education. Under a 2009 state law schools ranked in the bottom five percent on standardized tests for three years in a row can be closed. Another 35 schools are targeted for state intervention and could face closure at the end of the 2017-18 school year.

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Baltimore public schools face $129 million budget deficit, plan mass layoffs - World Socialist Web Site
▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/02/20/balt-f20.html

Baltimore public schools face $129 million budget deficit, plan mass layoffs
By Ron Barzel and Brad Dixon
20 February 2017

The head of Baltimore public schools announced last month massive budget cuts and layoffs intended to offset the $129 million deficit facing the school district in the fiscal year starting July 1.

“Baltimore city public schools will look drastically different on July 2,” said Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore Public Schools, stated in the announcement. “This is going to hit everything kids love about coming to school,” she said.

#états-unis #édication #privatisation #démolition_du_service_public

New figures show continued decline in US union membership - World Socialist Web Site

New figures show continued decline in US union membership
By Shannon Jones
28 January 2015

The rate of US union membership continued its fifty-year decline in 2014, falling from 11.3 percent to just 11.1 percent of the workforce. The new numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show that unions added just 50,000 members last year compared to an overall employment growth of over two million.

Unionization rates are now at their lowest level in the US in 100 years. According to a study by two Rutgers economists, the 1916 US unionization rate was 11.2 percent. While public sector unionization showed a tiny rise in 2014, the private sector unionization rate collapsed to just 6.6 percent.

Urban matters : Détroit n’en finit pas d’agonir, c’est maintenant au tour des parcs et des terrains de jeux pour les enfants de disparaître. La municipalité prévoit d’en fermer une cinquantaine.

Detroit to close 51 parks - World Socialist Web Site

▻http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/02/04/park-f04.html

By Shannon Jones
4 February 2013

Detroit’s Democratic Party Mayor David Bing announced Friday that his administration will close 51 city parks and sharply cut back operations at recreation centers by the spring. The cuts mean that only 57 of the city’s more than 300 parks will be in operation this year. Those that remain open will see reduced staffing and maintenance.

Romanowski Park in southwest Detroit is slated to be closed

The park closures are in line with the plans of the Bing administration to deny services to so-called unviable neighborhoods, forcing residents to move out.

One life-long Detroit resident told the WSWS, “Recreation is an important part of a child’s development. When you close down recreation centers and don’t allow children to play it is a detriment to future generations. People still use the parks even though they are not in the same shape they were in previously.

“I believe the closing of these parks is part of a plan to turn the land over to private developers at a cut-rate cost.”

Homelessness soars among US Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans - World Socialist Web Site

►http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2012/12/31/vets-d31.html

Homelessness soars among US Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans
By Shannon Jones
31 December 2012

According to a new government report, the number of US Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who are homeless or at risk for becoming homeless is rising at an alarming rate, more than doubling over the past two years. The US Veterans Administration said that through the end of September 2012, 26,531 veterans were living on the street, at risk of losing their homes, staying in temporary housing or receiving federal vouchers to pay rent. That compares to 10,500 in 2010.

Graves violations des droits humains dans des centres de détentions pour immigrés aux Etats-Unis

Report details abuse at Georgia immigrant detention centers
►http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/immi-m22.shtml

By Shannon Jones
22 May 2012

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation of Georgia has issued a devastating report documenting widespread abuse at four immigration detention facilities in the state. The facilities investigated by the ACLU included the Stewart Detention Center, the largest in the US.

The 182-page report, titled “Prisoners of Profit: Immigrants and Detention in Georgia,” was released last Wednesday. It details what the ACLU of Georgia characterizes as “systemic violation of immigrant detainees’ civil and human rights while detained in substandard prison-like conditions ill suited for civil detainees.”