Hearings scheduled across Chicago for elected school board bill... HB 4268 has five chief sponsors in the Illinois General Assembly... 50 State Reps have signed on as co-sponsors, and work now begins in the Illinois Senate...
Students from across Chicago, many from the city's most prestigious selective enrollment high schools, learned a lesson in tyranny when they took the day off to protest at the October 28, 2015 Board of Education meeting and were then barred by police and security from entering the supposedly public building (CPS headquarters at 42 W. Madison St.) to attend the supposedly public meeting (the monthly meeting of the school board of the third largest school system in the USA). So the students sat in the rain outside and held a "study in" while the Board members met behind a phalanx of security and then voted against the overwhelming opposition of the city's citizens to further expand Chicago's charter schools. Substance photo by David Vance.Following the outrageous vote of the seven appointed members of the Chicago Board of Education to expand the city's charter schools despite a supposed financial "crisis" and the massive opposition from the community to the new Noble charter school "campus" on the Southwest Side, citizens across Chicago are expanding the organizing to get legislation to have Chicago get an elected school board passed by the Illinois General Assembly in Spring 2016. Hearings have now been scheduled across the city on the issue.
According to a recent notice from Teachers for Social Justice in Chicago, the hearings will be held across Chicago in November 2015:
UPDATE! ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD-THIS IS OUR MOMENT... This is a game changer!
The popularity of an elected representative school board in Chicago (2 advisory referendums with close to 90% of voters in favor) and CPS's chaos and damaging policies have spurred the Democrats to introduce House Bill 4268 to end mayoral control and give Chicagoans the same right as every other Illinois school district to elect our school board. HB 4268 has 5 chief sponsors in the Illinois General Assembly; 50 State Reps have signed on.
We are beginning work with the State Senate. This is OUR BILL (school bd members elected from geographic districts representative of Chicago's majority Black and Latino voters). The Grassroots Education Movement (GEM-city-wide coalition of community orgs, parent orgs, TSJ, CTU) is working closely with Rep. Martwick who is chairing the ERSB task force. We need a veto-proof majority in the Assembly (71 votes) and comparable in the Senate.
Before the October 28, 2015 meeting of the Chicago Board of Education, Board President Frank Clark (left) consulted with Abigayil Joseph (right), "Chief of Staff to the Board of Education." Like most bureaucrats at the top of the CPS staff, Joseph had no teaching experience when she was hired in 2003. In 2015, she is paid $145,000 per year and is one of nearly a dozen people with six figure salaries and the title "chief of staff" sprinkled throughout the CPS administrative and bureaucratic ranks. Prior to mayoral control in 1995, there was one person working for the Chicago Board of Education with the title "Chief of Staff." Substance photo by David Vance.WE CAN GET THIS BILL PASSED SPRING 2016! WE need to mobilize to make sure it happens.
WHAT WE NEED TO DO:
* attend town hall meetings across the city to show support and make sure the elected officials follow through (see schedule below. Sign up to testify in favor. MAIN THING TO DO NOW.
*hang a window sign at your house and work and distribute window signs (coming soon)
*help with phone banking (just one hour makes a difference)
*participate in a door-door canvas to mobilize support
*contact your elected official to ask if they are supporting. Thank them or tell them to get on board. *come out to mass rallies in Chicago and Springfield when we need to demonstrate mass support
*donate to our crowdfund campaign for a lawsuit for an elected school board Email teachersforjustice@hotmail.com to let us know how you will be involved. Check TSJ website for updates.
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STATE REPS. TOWN HALL MEETINGS FOR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD
State Rep. Date Time Location Ann Williams 11/11 6:30-8:00pm Athenaeum Theater 2936 N. Southport
Art Turner 11/1 6 - 8pm Sinai Community Institute 2653 W. Ogden
Greg Harris 11/12 7 - 9pm Institute for Cultural Affairs (5th City Rm) 4750 N. Sheridan Rd
Elizabeth Hernandez 11/16 6- 8pm Little Village High School
3120 S. Kostner Ave.
Pamela Reaves-Harris 11/17 7- 8:30pm William H. Brown School of Technology 54 N. Hermitage Ave.
Will Guzzardi 11/17 6:30-8pm Armitage Baptist Church
2451 N. Kedzie
Jaime Andrade 11/18 6- pm Avondale-Logandale School
3212 W. George St.
Mary Flowers 11/18 6- 8pm Thurgood Marshall Library
7506 S. Racine Ave.
Rob Martwick 11/18 7- 8:30pm Theatre at Copernicus Center
5216 W. Lawrence
Luis Arroyo 11/18 7 - 9pm Steinmetz College Prep 3030 N Mobile
Elgie Sims 11/19 6- 7:30pm TBA (check on TSJ website)
Camille Lilly 11/19 6- 8pm Austin Town Hall Auditorium 5610 W. Lake St.
Cynthia Soto 11/23 6- 8pm Humboldt Park Fieldhouse 1440 N. Sacramento Ave
