It was a huge relief to hear CPS Board of Education president Frank Clark announce at Wednesday’s meeting that it was his and the entire Rahm appointed board’s last meeting. There will be a whole new unelected CPS BOE seated at the June meeting!

Chalkbeat Chicago: ‘It’s our last meeting’: New mayor Lori Lightfoot moves to disband Chicago’s school board, setting up major shift

Sun-Times: All 7 members of the Chicago Board of Education step down

And, in case you are wondering about the CEO position...

Chalkbeat Chicago: Lori Lightfoot makes it official: She’s keeping Janice Jackson as Chicago schools chief

As you know, Jennie Biggs, our Communications and Outreach Director, participated in the three meetings of Mayor-elect Lightfoot’s Education Transition Committee. There were about 50 people in the Committee. We shared information about this Transition Committee and a link to the RYH Memo to the Mayor here. We were skeptical and wary of the process and we still are. We are dedicated to our parent powered and informed advocacy in Chicago and Illinois and we will continue to hold elected officials and decision makers accountable.  

In a historic election, Lori Lightfoot was elected mayor on April 2. For now, the mayor still controls the school system. On September 5, 2018, we released this statement: Rahm’s not running- What does that mean for the public schools? In it, we reflect on our time with Rahm and we list the ed policies we have deep concerns about. We stand by this list and look forward to Mayor Lightfoot using it as she works with all stakeholders - students, parents, educators, and community members -- to reimagine Chicago Public Schools. More on what parents want from our new mayor, here.

Chalkbeat Chicago: Lori Lightfoot is Chicago’s next mayor — which means big changes are coming to schools and check this out: Letters to Lori Lightfoot: Tell Chicago’s mayor-elect about your school

Earlier in 2019 we shared the exciting news about staffing transitions in RYH and RYHA as both organizations grow. Earlier this week Raise Your Hand began the search for our next Executive Director. Now we need your help.

The window for the IL Assessment of Readiness (IAR) opens Monday, March 11. Use this weekend to review our 2019 Toolkit for Standardized Testing and Opt Out to learn more about this “new” assessment and how you can #ChooseToRefuse #ZombiePARCC! 🧟 The three main resources are now translated into Spanish: Q & A, Notification Letter of Refusal (scroll to p. 2), and Refusal Cards- all three can be found in the Toolkit.

This RYH research report and summary of several meetings with CPS, entitled Improving Nursing Care in Chicago Public Schools: Creative and Meaningful Solutions Left on the Table, was delivered to CPS at the February 2019 monthly meeting of the CPS Board of Education.

You can find the full report here- it is downloadable, printable, and contains links to resources.

At the February 27, 2019, unelected CPS Board of Education meeting, RYH delivered a parent research report entitled Improving Nursing Care in Chicago Public Schools: Creative and Meaningful Solutions Left on the Table. You can find the report here.

Below are the prepared statements from three RYH parents who delivered the report and explained the need for a complete overhaul of the CPS nursing design system. The fourth prepared statement below includes several questions from RYH on various CPS issues such as the ARA meetings, an overhaul of SQRP which hasn't involved parents, and implementation of a new IL CPS facilities law. 

You can find 3 videos of our speakers, plus a video of the CPS BOE and Central Office discussion after our 3 speakers here.

Happy, Happy 2019! You are all an important part of RYH and we look forward to working with you to strengthen public education during this new year & beyond! Thank you so much for your participation AND a special shout out to all the donors who helped us raise more than $10,000 in our #RaiseOurVoices end of the year fundraising campaign! We far exceeded our goal and raised over $13,000!!! We’re also proud that we now have 43 monthly donors- we added 10 during this campaign. Wow!!! THANK YOU.

(Spanish below. Español abajo. Chinese below & linked here: 芝加哥公立学校 （CPS）护理服务调查问卷 )

We are passing on this important message from Access Living:

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.