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PI Original

by Ashlee Rezin

9:31pm

Wed May 22

1 comment

Board Of Ed Vote A 'Slap In The Face', Say CPS Parents (VIDEO)

Education

Parents and students affected by the Chicago Public Schools closures, consolidations and turnarounds are heartbroken by the board of education's vote to shutter 50 schools and turnaround and consolidate a number of others. Progress Illinois spoke to some of the many people who were at CPS headquarters today for the highly-anticipated vote.

PI Original

by Ellyn Fortino

7:24pm

Wed May 22

Education Activists Decry CPS Closings At Tense Board Of Ed Meeting (VIDEO)

Education

The Chicago Board of Education has voted to close 49 elementary schools and one high school in order to address the Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) reported underutilization crisis. Progress Illinois was there for the tense and emotional meeting.

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

2:04pm

Wed May 22

Protesters Rally Against Proposed CPS Closings Outside Board of Education Meeting (VIDEO)

Energy was high outside the Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday morning as education activists, union members, teachers, students and parents gathered in anticipation of a vote that could close a staggering amount of schools across the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district.

“All I keep hearing is ‘we’re doing this for the kids,’ but there’s not been one iota of a discussion about the educational plan,” said Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), said as she arrived for the meeting.

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

10:16am

Wed May 22

Education Activists Trek To Springfield To Lobby For Moratorium On School Closings (VIDEO)

Education activists headed to Springfield early Wednesday morning to lobby for a moratorium on school closings. Their campaign for legislative action comes on the same day as the Chicago Board of Education votes on a proposal to close a record-breaking number of public schools in Chicago. Meanwhile, the Illinois General Assembly has less than one month left in the spring session, which ends May 31.

“We’re going to put pressure on state legislators,” said Hueron Wilks, a senior staff member of Action Now and one of Wednesday’s trip organizers. “Our representatives have failed their constituents, they could have done something about these school closings a long time ago.”

PI Original

by Ashlee Rezin

11:53am

Tue May 21

Protesters Wrap Around City Hall Demanding A Stop To Chicago School Closings (VIDEO)

Education

Three days of marches from across the city and countless acts of civil disobedience culminated on the steps of City Hall Monday, as more than 500 protesters called on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to stop closing Chicago’s neighborhood schools.

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

4:20pm

Mon May 20

Chicagoans Continue Three-Day March Calling On CPS 'To Keep Our Schools Open' (VIDEO)

The West Side leg of the Chicago Teachers Union's (CTU) three-day march against school closings saw dozens of parents, teachers and education activists blocking traffic throughout the area's streets Monday, chanting “Save Our Schools!”

“We are marching to keep our schools open,” said Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the CTU, at the launch of Monday’s West Side march at Elizabeth Peabody Elementary School, at 1444 West August Blvd.

Peabody is one of 54 schools slated for closure under a CPS proposal to shutter, consolidate and turnaround a record-breaking number of schools at the end of this school year. The district says it is attempting to address a $1 billion deficit and “utilization crisis” of more than 100,000 empty seats. The proposed plan has incited massive protests and outrage throughout Chicago.

“If some of these schools don’t come off the closure list, there’s going to be a ton of outrage and moral indignation from people all across the city,” said Sharkey in an interview with Progress Illinois. “But how do you do get your point across to a board that doesn’t really listen? This thing is being driven by the mayor, and the mayor doesn’t care.”

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

1:41pm

Thu May 16

Protesters Say Woodlawn School Actions Endanger Students, Hold "Die In" To Show Area Violence

In the Woodlawn neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Cottage Grove Ave. serves as the dividing line between two violent gang territories, according to area residents.

And concerned community members say a Chicago Public Schools’ proposal to close John Fiske Elementary and send its students to Austin Sexton Elementary means students will be forced to to travel across the invisible barrier.

Cottage Grove, according to the proposal’s opponents, is a boundary not to be taken lightly.

“That’s a line you just don’t cross,” said Randy Pouncy, 22, a Sexton Elementary alumnus who said he’s been shot at too many times to count. “It’s so dangerous.”

Quick Hit

by Ashlee Rezin

12:47pm

Thu May 16

3 comments

Brighton Park Students Gather To Discuss Gang Violence, Ways To Unite The Community (VIDEO)

In the interest of fostering a broad educational community in one of Chicago’s most gang-ridden Southwest Side neighborhoods, the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) hosted its annual Youth Summit at Loyola University Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m so proud of myself,” said Danny Zamudio, 14, an 8th grade student at Nathan Davis Elementary School. “I’ve evolved because of this, I think I have a stronger character and I’ve become a better speaker.”

Zamudio was one of 23 youth leaders to help plan and lead a day of workshops for 325 seventh and eighth grade students from six Brighton Park schools. Called “Teen Life 101”, the fourth annual five-hour summit focused on social issues that, according to organizers, are not taught enough in the classroom.

Quick Hit

by Steven Ross Johnson

2:58pm

Tue May 14

Chicago Teachers Union To Ramp Up Protests Against Proposed School Closings (VIDEO)

Vowing to keep up the fight to stop a Chicago Public Schools’ proposal to close more than 50 schools, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis unveiled plans Monday for protests that will include three days of marches beginning this weekend.

Lewis, who was joined by parents as well as neighborhood and labor activists, held a press conference in front of William & Charles H. Mayo Elementary School on the city’s South Side. Mayo is one of 54 schools slated for closure by CPS, but was one of 13 plans rejected last week by an independent panel of hearing officers.

A final vote by the Chicago Board of Education is still needed for CPS to move forward with its plan, which if approved would be the country's largest number of closings by a single school district at one time. The Board of Education will vote on the proposal May 22.

Lewis, who has called for a moratorium on all school closings, said it is not too late for the Illinois General Assembly to intervene, adding that the CPS proposal would be detrimental to the education of many of the students the district claiims to be helping.

“They’re bad public policy,” Lewis said. “We have been looking at school closings for over 10 years, they have not improved education, will not improve education, and even though they say it over and over and over again, there is no proof.”

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