Caucus member Luigi Borda is many things. He is a parent, social studies teacher, and PFT building representative at Masterman Elementary. He is an avid runner who has been very involved in local politics as a tireless advocate for our city's children. Luigi has combined these two interests to help make some very powerful statements for the need for full and fair funding for Philadelphia's students.
Luigi started in 2011 by running 100 miles from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to bring the message of the support our students so badly need to our state representatives. He continued this at Masterman with the school wide Laps for Education event in 2012 and 2013. Luigi was joined by his fellow teachers, parents, students, and community members as he ran 100 laps around Masterman's city block.
Both events raised thousands of dollars to help save extra curricular activities that were cut from the budget. This year's Laps For Education takes place on June 12th, All are welcome to join in the run or you can donate at the Masterman Home & School Website.
After helping to found the Caucus of Working Educators this spring, WE members helped Luigi develop his idea for the WE Run Philly Schools initiative. We wanted to let our elected and appointed officials know that it is the hard work and dedication of students, parents, and teachers that keep our schools running in the face of terrible and chronic continued neglect.
In April, we demonstrated this by joining together to run laps around school district headquarters.We came back bigger and better in May, at last month's SRC meeting, pictured above.
Our next event is WE Run For Philly Students. Philadelphia has a wonderful running community that supports so many great causes in our area. We'd like to mobilize and activate our city's runners to raise awareness and money for groups that help our city's children, at a time when they need it most.
We need more running events that benefit our students and we'd love your input on how to make that happen! What running groups should we partner up with? What worthy organizations should we raise money for? We'd love to hear your thoughts at our End of Year Happy Hour Celebration at Frankford Hall on Friday, June 13th!