We are 20 days away from Raise a Glass! Thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket, become a sponsor, bought an advertisement or given an in kind donation for our auction- over half of our support comes from donors like yourselves. As we continue our work on remote learning, school funding, local school councils, and special education, we cannot do it without your support! We are 35% of the way towards our goal. We are shipping out our swag so this week, can you support Raise Your Hand by buying a ticket? Thank you for supporting our work!

During Summer 2020, RYH provided resources and events for LSCs to learn about School Resource Officers (SROs). RYH believes schools should be police free. 

RYH Compiled SRO Resources - This Google folder contains many resources from various sources including those created by RYH.

RYH's CPS-CPD SRO Toolkit for Parents-Caregivers-Community

This toolkit was created with Chicago’s public school primary stakeholders in mind.  This resource is intended to inform and engage the community on the discourse whether to remove or retain the Chicago Police Department’s (CPDs) School Resource Officers (SROs) from Chicago Public Schools (CPS). We encourage school stakeholders; students, parents, caregivers and guardians, educators, faculty and community members use these resources to engage Local School Councils (LSCs) in the decision-making process of whether to maintain the SRO program.

RYH's Infographics Created via SRO Public Comments, June 2020 CPS BOE Meeting

RYH's Special Education School to Prison Pipeline Infographics

Reimagining Public Safety in Schools- Video of a webinar hosted by RYH plus our Webinar Companion Guide.

When school facilities were shut down and the IL Stay At Home Order was enacted, RYH mobilized to bring parents together, virtually, for discussions, problem solving, and action. One way we did this was to host a weekly LSC-Community Solidarity Call via Zoom from March 26 - June 18, 2020. Below you will find some videos & notes from the calls. In addition, these calls guided the RYH Remote Learning Survey (results linked below) & a CPS Stakeholder Letter (linked below with a summary of results.) We've also included some CPS communications to LSCs during this time. COVID-19 keeps us physically distanced but we are so grateful to those of you who virtually connected with us & one another to push for solutions while navigating uncharted waters.

Actions & Results

CPS Stakeholder Letter, May 20, 2020

CPS Official Response, May 26, 2020

Results: The Office of Local School Council Relations (OLSCR) hosted LSC Bi-weekly Chats with OLSCR Assistant Director Myra Winding starting July 9. The last Bi-weekly Chat was held on Sept 3. On Sept 16 we received an email stating that these Chats will now take place monthly on the first Thursday of every month beginning October 1st at 4:00 pm. Dr. Willy Montes De Oca will continue to host his LSC Monthly Chair Meetings.

Please see far below for some Bi-weekly Chat presentations from the Summer.

RYH Progress Report Survey, May 2020

Results: Please see the Parent Survey Results on Remote Learning published here. 

LSC Resource-Share on CPS-CPD School Resource Officers, June 2020

Results: Reimagining Public Safety in Schools webinar and extra resources. | Please see this webpage (coming soon) for more results.

Highlights from a few of the Solidarity Calls

CPS Responses to LSC-Community Questions May 7, 2020

Budget Awareness Training, RYH LSC-Community Solidarity Call May 13, 2020 (video)

Office of Local School Council Relations Responses from 5/21 meeting

Notes from LSC-Community Solidarity Calls with highlights of call in parentheses

RYH Notes #1: LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 3/26

RYH Notes #2: LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 4/2 (CPS OLSCR Listening Session, 41 questions asked)

RYH Notes #3: LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 4/9 (CPS Chief Equity Officer Listening Session)

RYH Notes #4: LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 4/16 (Discussion on what's happening at schools and with families; Actions begin to be formulated)

RYH Notes #5, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 4/23 (Director & Co Director of OSLCR: Briefing, Q & A; Draft of Stakeholder Letter shared; CIWP Awareness Training)

RYH Notes #6, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 4/30 (LSC-Community Testimonies with CPS Board of Education & CPS personnel; reponses; RL Survey & Sign On Letter shared)

RYH Notes #7, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 5/7 (LSC-Community Listening Session with CPS FACE, OLSCR, Board of Ed Member; responses

RYH Notes #8, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 5/13 (Budget Awareness Training)

RYH Notes #9, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 5/21 (Testimonies; OLSCR Director & Co Director Briefing & Responses; students join re: RL grading policy concerns; PAC funds)

RYH Notes #10, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 5/28 (Sign On Letter & CPS Response discussed)

RYH Notes #11, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 6/4 (Racial Equity, Social Justice, Restorative Practices, Initial discussion of LSC role in upcoming SRO votes)

RYH Notes #12, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 6/11 (Racial Equity, Social Justice, Restorative Practices)

RYH Notes #13, LSC-Community Solidarity Call Agenda 6/18 (CPS District Brief and Q & A: LSC Elections moved to Nov 2020; as result of CPS Stakeholder Letter, OLSCR Co Director will host BiWeekly LSC Chats; Draft of RYH RL Survey results shared)

CPS Documents, Emails, & Presentations

Toolkit for LSCs During COVID19 Closures (Google Drive Folder)

• General LSC Guidance Email- March 17
• Virtual Guidance Email- March 31
• Hot Topics FAQ

LSC Elections Communications

• Email sent May 28
• Email sent Aug 28

BiWeekly LSC Chats

• Slides from Session II- July 23, 2020: LSC Elections, Filling LSC Vacancies, LSC Virtual Meeting Guidance, SRO Updates
• Slides from Session IV- August 20, 2020: Meeting slides (LSC Elections, LSC FOIA Guidance) & Chicago Connected slides 

Chicago Connected (One Month Update) presentation slides, Sept 22, Local School Council Advisory Board (LSCAB)

Join us in toasting parents & caregivers at our annual event, Raise a Glass! We will be mailing out our RYH swag next week so get your tickets today!

Several powerful statements are below. The meeting is live streamed on the CPS YouTube channel. Our live tweets are here and we recommend following today’s #ChiDocumenter for every bit of board action. (Read more about City Bureau’s Documenters here.) Press coverage of the meeting is far below. 

TODAY, Wed, Aug 26 | 10:30AM | CPS, 42 W. Madison

Hosted by #PoliceFreeSchools youth

Wear a mask. Plan to physically distance. Bring water.

What concerns you? What's missing? What questions do you still have? Anything awesome?

On Monday, CPS released its proposed FY2021 budget. You can find the CPS Budget 2021 webpage here- it includes both the operational and capital budgets- and the Budget Book is here.

The announcement is expected today (9AM per this tweet), according to multiple news reports last night.