Everyone, Please see the email below from a friend who is proposing a new charter school focusing on Social Justice for the public schools here in Pittsburgh. They seem to have a great idea and if it speaks to you please show up tonight to support their idea. I apologize for the late notice, but was pretty much off of email all weekend. Heather Conrad ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Carolyn Glass <carolynjglass@hotmail.com> Greetings All, Those of you who have known me for a while know that my husband and I are big proponents of urban school reform. We have been leading an effort to start a charter school in the Pittsburgh district with a Social Justice/Social Service theme--based on the philosophies of Gandhi and King. Our website is outdated right now, but does have some useful information ( www.questinternational.org). I will attach our Executive Summary and a piece of our proposal outlining our educational program if you are interested in learning more. Our proposal was turned down last year by the PPS school board. They gave us a list of reasons for the denial, supplied by the PPS review team. After spending several months revising our proposal to address their concerns, we re-submitted our proposal to the Pittsburgh Public Schools on November 13th, 2009. On Monday the 7th of December, at 5:30 P.M. at the Board of Education Building in Oakland, we once again need to appear at a public hearing to show strong, sustainable community support for Quest. It is vital that we have hundreds of bodies there to cheer us on and to have as many city residents as possible speak on our behalf before the school board. We appreciate very much all of you who came out to support us and who spoke on our behalf at last year's public hearing, and I am writing now to ask if any of you would be willing to come out and/or speak in support of Quest this year. Attached also is a flyer with more details about the public hearing. The need for Quest International in our community is even greater than before, and we need to show the PPS directors that we still have a broad base of community support to back us. Even though the majority of us on this list are homeschooling their children, not all families who are interested in an alternative to traditional public schools have the option of homeschooling. We want to provide one such alternative. Bringing your children out for the hearing on Monday will also be a good homeschooling lesson--to allow your children to experience democracy in action. *If you know of others who would be willing to **come out on Monday to be a part of the "cheering section" or **city residents who would be willing to speak, please forward this message and the attached flyer. Speakers must call the Board of Education (412-622-3600) between now and no later than noon on Monday the 7th to be put on the agenda. * Thank you, and I hope to see you on Monday! Carolyn ** Quest International 412-761-1502 [image: i'm] EMAILING FOR THE GREATER GOOD Join me <http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=EML_WLHM_GreaterGood> -- Heather Einstein Quote "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid."