Strike Update: 

Last night CTU’s House of Delegates set Thursday, October 17 as the possible start of a teachers’ strike. This is the same day that SEIU Local 73 (school district staff) and Chicago Park District workers could start strikes.

WBEZ: Chicago Teachers And Two Other Unions Set Strike Date

Sun-Times: 35,000 Chicago teachers, school support staff and park district workers set joint strike date

As we noted in our email blast sent last week: This does not mean there will definitely be a strike. We urge both sides to take every measure possible to avoid a strike.

The Advocate Group is holding a series of Special Education Workshops to help parents determine if their child may be eligible for extra special education services. Please join us!

On Wednesday, September 11, we joined our fellow plaintiff, Grassroots Collaborative, and our lawyers, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights, and 60 supporters at the Circuit Court, Daley Center. The City filed a motion to dismiss our TIF litigation case which was filed in April. We heard the oral arguments from both sides. We expect a written ruling from the judge in a few weeks.

Marca Bristo, a dynamic and inspiring Chicago-based disability rights activist, died this past Sunday and leaves behind an incredible legacy where she transformed the landscape for people with disabilities in this country. The Founder of Access Living, she was tenacious, gregarious, strategic and had a vision of a world where people with disabilities would live in a world of inclusion, independence and empowerment.  As she took a leading role in the creation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, she changed the conversation about accessibility for people with disabilities from one where public and private institutions had no obligation to provide access to one where access for all is a Civil Right.

In April, we and Grassroots Collaborative filed a lawsuit against the city over their administration of TIFs, specifically the Lincoln Yards MegaTIF. Here's an article from the day of the filing. Our lawsuit is a piece to the TIF reform puzzle. Of course, the city has filed a motion to dismiss our case. Our lawyers (Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and national Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights) will be arguing against the dismissal on Wednesday, September 11, at 9am, downtown, Circuit Court at Daley Plaza, 50 W Washington. We would love to pack the courtroom that morning! If you can join us, please fill out this Google form. Facebook event page here. So many of you have joined us in TIF reform advocacy and actions throughout the years- you won't want to miss this one! 

It’s just a start. We parents know that the reality on the ground, in our schools, ultimately doesn’t reflect the promises made by a mayor- we heard too many promises made at press conferences by Rahm.

CPS failed thousands of students in 2016 - 2018!

This new, Lightfoot appointed CPS Board of Education is implementing all sorts of changes to bring greater transparency! We attended and spoke at the July 24, 2019 meeting. You can see our prepared statements below. Our thread of live tweets is here. You can find press coverage of the meeting far below.

Blocks Together and RYH hosted Schools As Anchors: Communities Planning for Their Schools last weekend. We learned about best practices in planning for school facilities and programming from local experts and from national expert Mary Filardo, Executive Director of the 21st Century School Fund. You can find all of the resources from the event- and more!- here.

Check out Chalkbeat Chicago’s coverage: Are there alternatives to closing schools? Chicago parents consider options.

We are grateful to Crossroads Fund who supported this event! We also want to thank Alexios Rosario-Moore for all his work organizing the agenda, materials, and workshops!

We attended and spoke at the June 26, 2019 monthly meeting of the CPS Board of Education- the first one of the Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed BOE. Find the new appointed BOE members plus their bios here. 

Our prepared statements are below. You can watch video of our speakers here. You can find our live tweets from the meeting here. Follow #cpsboard as well. 

Here is the document we submitted about the CPS School Quality Rating Policy(SQRP) written by Cassie Creswell of Raise Your Hand Action.