Garth Brooks, Josh Groban rock out for teachers

Garth Brooks performs at CBS' Teachers Rock Special concert at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Aug. 14, 2012, in Los Angeles.

/ Getty

(CBS News) Garth Brooks and Josh Groban were among the artists who got together Tuesday night in Los Angeles to perform at "Teachers Rock," a concert benefiting teachers and education that airs Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Dierks Bentley, Carrie Underwood and pop group Fun. are among the other artists who will be seen on this weekend's TV special.

Read more: Carrie Underwood to perform on CBS' "Teachers Rock"

"Teachers Rock" will also feature personal recollections from Dave Grohl, Usher and Maroon 5's Adam Levine and James Valentine. Actors, too, will appear on the program, including Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jennifer Garner, Jack Black, Morgan Freeman and Matthew Morrison.

The benefit concert special will preview scenes from the upcoming film, "Won't Back Down," starring Davis and Gyllenhaal as two determined mothers who plan to transform their children's failing inner-city school.

[sk8grobie]

I was at the taping and this was an enjoyable evening of great music. It started with Garth Brooks and ended with Josh Groban and the LACHSA choir. Dierks Bentley and FUN. had everyone on there feet singing and dancing along. Let' s honor the teachers and not argue about being pro or anti union. The air date is Friday Aug 17th and not the 18th though.

[BNNesbitt]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 15, 2012
Contacts:
Bonnie Northrop Nesbitt, Steering Committee
Save Our Schools
703-536-2497
Lee P. Barrios, Steering Committee
Save Our Schools
985-789-8304

PRESS RELEASE

Save Our Schools challenges beneficiary choice
of "Teachers Rock 2012" Concert

The national public education advocacy group Save Our Schools is challenging the sponsors and entertainers involved in the heavily promoted musical event "Teachers Rock 2012" to engage in a public dialogue regarding their motivation for participation in the fundraiser and their choice of Teach for America as a beneficiary.

The concert is a promotional scheme for the upcoming anti-teacher movie Won't Back Down. Leonie Haimson, a co-founder of the parent activist group Parents Across America, said, "The movie is supposedly based on a process called the 'parent trigger' which purports to empower parents. But actually, the 'parent trigger' has a track record of 100% failure and has pitted parents against parents and torn apart school communities at the two schools where it has been tried."

Won't Back Down was produced by Walden Media, owned by conservative mogul Philip Anschutz, a major donor to anti-gay, creationist and other right-wing causes. Walden Media was the co-producer of the 2010 anti-public education pseudo-documentary "Waiting for Superman."

The live concert, held in Los Angeles August 14, is to be broadcast on CBS Friday, August 17. It is billed as a charity event celebrating teachers and educators. However, the education organization selected to receive the proceeds was Teach for America (TFA).

At its inception, TFA's mission was to place college graduates with five weeks of intensive training into high poverty, inner city schools where shortages of certified, experienced teachers occurred.

Since then, TFA has grown into a fast track employment agency to provide charter schools with low-cost instructional personnel, avoid union membership with collective bargaining, eliminate costs of retirement and health benefits and provide submissive employees who may be unaware of federal and state laws designed to protect the welfare of our children in public schools. TFA instructors are no longer limited to filling vacancies but have displaced thousands of highly qualified certified teachers.

"Teachers Rock 2012" is sponsored by Walmart, the retailer owned by the Walton family. The Walton Family Foundation, which has given over $159 million in support of charter schools and vouchers both of which have drained public school districts of funds for traditional schools, is one of the most anti-union corporations in America. The Walton Family promotes an anti-union, democracy distorting agenda.

Save Our Schools questions whether the celebrities who have attached their names to "Teachers Rock 2012" have any idea what they've gotten themselves into. Many are members of unions like Actors Equity and The American Federation of Musicians (AFTRA) and yet they are willing to get behind a project with a barely concealed anti-union agenda. Among the listed performers are Dierks Bentley, Fun., Josh Groban, Carrie Underwood, Meryl Streep, Jennifer Garner, Matthew Morrison, Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl, Usher, Maroon 5's Adam Levin and Garth Brooks.

Representatives of Save Our Schools and Parents Across America are asking CBS and other media outlets for equal time to voice their concerns and to make the public aware of the veiled attempts to push a privatization of public education agenda that threatens the teaching profession.