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Chicago Teachers Union
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.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
8:03pm
Tue May 7

Community Activists Say Bank Of America Is A 'Destabilizing Force' In Chicago (VIDEO)

Bank of America (BOA) serves as a destabilizing force in Chicago’s blighted communities, according to approximately 50 protesters who took their message to a downtown branch on Tuesday.

Organized by the Grassroots Collaborative on the eve of Bank of America’s shareholder meeting in North Carolina, demonstrators rallied against policies that, according to protesters, has led to Chicago school closures and community devastation.

“We have schools that are closing, homes that are abandoned, and neighborhoods falling apart; this is a time when we need our neighborhoods to be built up and not destroyed,” said Amisha Patel, executive director of the Grassroots Collaborative. “It’s time for Bank of America to do everything they can to strengthen our communities.”

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
2:09pm
Fri May 3

Lewis Elementary Teachers Call For Alternative Turnaround Plan At CPS Hearing

Lewis Elementary teachers agreed to have their school turned around but only if Strategic Learning Initiatives (SLI) is leading the action, they said at a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) hearing Thursday night.

Under CPS' proposal, Lewis' teachers and staff are slated to be fired and the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) would take over the school in the fall.

But teachers at Lewis say they have been used as "guinea pigs" for various programs that begin to show improvement after a few years, such as the Teacher Advancement Program, but are then abruptly ended by the district. 

"We all know that when you introduce a new program it takes time for the staff and students to adjust," said Corliss Wade, a first-grade teacher at Lewis. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
10:49am
Tue Apr 30
1 comment

Low Turnout At Ryerson's CPS Public Hearing Suggests Parents Are 'Giving Up' (VIDEO)

Yesterday’s public hearing for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposal to close Martin Ryerson Elementary saw less than 10 attendees and only three speakers, leading one grandparent to believe the Humboldt Park community has resigned to the inevitable.

“People are giving up, CPS has made their mind up; I’m here speaking, but it’s not going to do any good,” said Katherine Wilson, a grandparent of three Ryerson students, ages 10, seven and four. She represented the only Ryerson parent or grandparent to attend yesterday's event.

“They say power to the parents, but we don’t have a voice in what CPS does.”

Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ashlee Rezin
12:39pm
Mon Apr 29

Uptown Residents Rally Against Proposed School Closures, Gentrification (VIDEO)

Quanzina Haynes plans to pull her children from the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district if the Chicago Board of Education votes in favor of closing their school, Graeme Stewart Elementary.

“The closure for me would really mean a hardship for my family, because I feel I have no choice but to enroll my kids in a Catholic school,” said Haynes, 33, a single mother of two sons, ages eight and 10.

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PI Original
by Ellyn Fortino
5:36pm
Fri Apr 26

A Look At How Charters May Fare If CPS School Actions Are Approved

Education

The Chicago Public Schools’ plan to shakeup and shut down a record-breaking number of neighborhood schools in June will likely lead to further charter school expansion in the city, education policy experts and activists predict.

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
10:58am
Fri Apr 26

Ald. Graham, Austin Community Make Final Push To Save May And Armstrong Schools

Ald. Deborah Graham (29th) said she was upset to see three of her neighborhood schools "pitted" against each other at a Chicago Public Schools' hearing last night regarding the possible closure of May and Armstrong elementary schools.

Under CPS' proposal, students at the two Austin schools would fold into Leland Elementary, which would take over May's current building in the fall.

“Tonight was the first time I really witnessed this process pitting schools against each other,” Graham said. "It is disheartening, and it puts each of the schools in an awkward situation. How can we create the comradery that we need to have a successful school? I think that’s in real jeopardy." Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
3:28pm
Wed Apr 24
1 comment

Henson Elementary Hosts Unity Rally Against School Closings

Students at Matthew Henson Elementary released dozens of balloons Tuesday afternoon signifying their unity and hope that the school will remain open despite the Chicago Public Schools' plan to shut it down in June.

“Henson is everything a community school ought to be," said Valerie Leonard, of the Lawndale Alliance and the Committee to Save North Lawndale Schools. "They’re the model for what we want to include in all of our schools in North Lawndale."

Henson has a health clinic, a parent resource center, two technology labs and a library, speakers at the rally said.

“The school that they’re going to doesn’t have nearly the number of resources that Henson has," Leonard said. Read more »