An unprecedented gathering of parents, students and teachers from over 30 Baltimore City schools is converging at the War Memorial Building downtown today at 4:30 p.m. to demand that Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Baltimore City Council and state lawmakers address an “urgent” need for repairs to city public schools.

The “Speak-Out” about dilapidated city school buildings is being organized by Transform Baltimore, a coalition of community groups working to get city school facilities modernized. On display will be more than 2,000 postcards being sent by parents, students and others to Mayor Rawlings-Blake reporting “the miserable conditions and calling for action.”

• “The bathrooms have no doors on the stalls,” says a postcard writer from Gwynns Falls Elementary.

• “Air conditioning is needed because summer programs have had to be cancelled due to heat,” says another, describing John Eager Howard Elementary.

The group is urging state and local leaders to adopt a school financing model adopted recently Greenville, S.C. They are meeting with Rawlings-Blake prior to the event and expect to report on her reaction to their eight-year, $2.8 billion school renovation proposal today.

The War Memorial Building is at 101 N. Gay St., across from City Hall.