Congratulations to the NTA community on their historic victory; NTA will remain open as an elementary school! For details see #1 in our "public ed news this week" list below.

On Wednesday, City Council's Committee on Education and Child Development finally had a hearing "to address issue of sexual abuse and safety of children in Chicago Public Schools." You can find our thread of live tweets from the 3 hour hearing here. We spoke at the hearing and you can find our prepared statement here.

On Wednesday, November 28, 2018, City Council's Committee on Education and Child Development finally had a hearing "to address issue of sexual abuse and safety of children in Chicago Public Schools." 

Please join us tonight: Parent Training: Know Your Rights on 504 Plans vs. IEP Plans! Details and RSVP here.

After a temporary CPS employee was fired, she downloaded a database containing names, employee ID numbers, phone numbers, addresses, birth dates, criminal histories and any records associating individuals with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Parents who were in the process of the CPS background check and school volunteer approval process and many CPS employees are saying they received an email last night from CPS indicating their data was downloaded by the former employee.

CBS 2: Fired CPS Employee Steals Personal Data Of 70,000 People, Charged With Multiple Felonies

Since the Chicago Tribune uncovered the rampant sexual abuse cases in CPS, the district has taken steps to address glaring deficiencies in policies and procedures found by Maggie Hickey who was hired by CPS to do a thorough review of the district’s handling of sexual misconduct in schools and make policy recommendations.

This week’s RYH email newsletter brought to you by the letters S, Q, R, and P!

Why support RYH at our annual fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct 2, 5:30-8:30pm? A note from a CPS parent & member of our fundraiser committee:

Hello fellow public education supporter,

I have a photo from six years ago almost to the day: it's my family holding picket signs in the playground behind Ray School from when teachers went on strike over a longer school day and labor conditions. It reminds me of the school closing hearings, state budget fights, and assorted other CPS zaniness over the years. I believe Raise Your Hand keeps the people inside the Board of Ed building from going totally off the rails, which is one reason we helped plan a fundraiser to honor special education parents’ epic fight this past year and raise funds to support continued organizing on this issue and so many other issues on Tuesday, Oct. 2.

We would be honored if you would join us and Raise a Glass for RYH on Tuesday, October 2, 5:30-8:30 in the “basement” of Lagunitas Brewery, 2607 W. 17th St.

Buy tickets here. Buy an ad in the program book here. You can still join the host committee here.

Our Facebook event page is here: please share on your Facebook page and invite your friends! We’ll see you there!

The CPS BOE voted to update certain policies around student-teacher/staff communication through technology and vetting of volunteers. These policies come in the wake of the CPS sexual abuse scandal.