Voices echo outside City Hall and CPS... Elected school board and an end to charters are among demands of rally
Hundreds of parents, students and community members voiced their opposition to the new school budget, school resource cuts and the closing of 52 schools, Wednesday, August 28, at the CPS headquarters located at 125 S. Clark and later in a march to City Hall and the State of Illinois building.
One of the demands of the march and rally was an end to mayoral control of Chicago's public schools. Substance photo by David Vance.The marchers began at CPS headquarters, then proceeded to City Hall (four blocks to the north) to talk with Mayor Rahm Emanual. The Mayor did not come out or let anyone inside City Hall, a public building. The marchers were barred from the building by police.
Prior to the march Jitu Brown, education organizer for KOCO (Kenwood Oakland Community Organization) answered questions from the media.
Brown stated that Chicago Public Schools have got to be accountable to the public. Brown continued, "If the appointed CPS Board of Education really listened to the public, they would resign. You don’t see the appointed board at hearings or in the schools. The CPS Board of Education must invest in neighborhood schools. Dyett High School had their budget slashed by $1 million this school year. “
The Reverend Robert Jones, pastor of Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church pointed out to this reporter that “the fabric of any community is its’ faith, education and health care, if any of these three are affected, it affects the entire community.”
The introductions were made by Jitu Brown who stated that, “the CPS Board of Education was closing 52 schools and opening 25 new charter schools. Are you going to take that?”
The people yelled “No!”
Brown also asked the people something like this; “How many of you jumped through hoops for CPS? Every time they raised the bar, you complied and still they closed the schools? We are no longer going to do that.”
The marchers noted that on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech Chicago was still denying Dr. King's dream. Substance photo by David Vance.Brown stated: “Vitale, we don’t recognize you as a Chicago Public School Board President. We are going to Trump you, You are Fired.”
A student talked about conditions at Dyett High School. “Dyett does not have a library, computer or art teacher all of these classes are taught on line. Social studies is taught on line also.
There is a bill entitles HB 2793 which calls for an elected School Board. Everyone should be calling State Representatives to pass this bill.”
Brown stated “20% of the schools who replaced our neighborhood schools are on level or exceed the state standards. Many of these schools are selective enrollment schools.”
Teachers for Social Justice Rico Gutstein spoke next citing our schools that have been stolen from us. He pointed out that these are schools from all over the city: Stewart, Dyett, Lafayette, Peabody, the library at La Casita were stolen. Gutstein said that Chicago has more military schools than anywhere else in the country.
Rousmary Vega talked about her family’s attempt to occupy Lafayette Elementary School.
Their daughter was told that she would have to go to juvenile court and her future would be ruined. The family was told that they would all be placed in separate jails.
Vega feels that if they destroy our schools and call it reform there is no justice and no peace. The next speaker was from Albany Park Community Council who stated that CPS is asking Albany Park and the city schools to do more with less money.
“CPS is cutting our money, our budget to our schools while CPS is opening charter schools in our community. They must give our money back. Our children are suffering malicious attacks.”
Another speaker made these demands. We demand a stop to opening new charter schools. No more charters. We demand an Elected School Board. Outside City Hall, Brown stated that we will no longer go to Board of Education meetings or hearings. We will have a Peoples Board meeting on the same day as the CPS Board meetings. Brown also mentioned a sustainable transformation plan that would be more effective than closing schools. A student was telling the media that the supply list at her school asks students to bring paper towels, toilet paper and a gallon of bleach to school.
