RYH Newsletter 1.16.20

Jan 16

We need your Special Education questions! RYH is working on creating an online resource to help families navigate Special Ed in CPS and would love for you to fill out this survey in English and Spanish. Please share this survey with your contacts!

RYH Special Ed Tip of the Week: How many times have you left an IEP meeting and said, “Oh, s@#*, I forgot to say, [FILL IN WHAT YOU FORGOT TO SAY]!!!” To make sure you include everything you want to share about your child, fill out a “Pre-Conference Questionnaire,” where you can list your child’s strengths and challenges, as well as your specific concerns about your child’s education and what you would like to address with the IEP Team at your upcoming meeting. By putting what you want to share in writing and e-mailing it to the Team prior to the meeting, you can get it all included in the “parent concerns” section of the IEP and the Team can have your concerns in mind as they complete their draft IEP. You can find a simple “Pre-Conference Questionnaire” form here in English and Spanish.

Healthy Schools Campaign is collecting testimonials from advocates, service providers, school administrators and health staff, families, students, etc. on the importance of having quality school health services, as part of the effort to support free care, but also in terms of expanding school health services in general. Please submit a testimonial and/or share with your networks across the state - it only takes two minutes to complete. Link here.

Family Resource Center on Disabilities (FRCD), Chicago’s Metropolitan Area Parent Training and Information Center can provide you with no cost Special Education advocacy help. All FRCD asks of parents who want an advocate to help them navigate the special education process is that you complete one of their know-your-rights trainings so you will be empowered with knowledge that will benefit your child.

LSC Elections are in April! Come to the LSC Summit!

Local School Council Elections are Wed, April 22 (elementary schools) and Th, April 23 (high schools). Let’s kick off the LSC election season on the right foot!

LSC Summit: Elections 2020

Saturday, January 25; 10am - 2pm

Chicago Teachers Union, 1901 W. Carroll Avenue

Register here

Facebook event page here

Hosted by the LSCs.4.All coalition:

Blocks Together, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Chicago United for Equity (CUE), Lugenia Burns Hope Center, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Northside Action for Justice, Pilsen Alliance, Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education (RYH)

LSC Summit: Elections 2020 is for current LSC members and those potentially interested in running for LSC. We will have a panel session and 4 workshops on how to create engaged and effective LSCs. LSC Candidate materials are available now: CPS LSC Elections web page.

SUFEO: Great, free resource for parents & students!

Stand Up For Each Other (SUFEO) Chicago, is an initiative led by Loyola law students to disrupt the school to prison pipeline and address a gap in legal services in Chicago. SUFEO’s goal is to reduce the use of suspensions and exclusionary practices and to keep young people engaged and safe in school. SUFEO advocates on behalf of PreK-12 students in suspension appeals. We have also recently expanded our representation to students in need of safety protections in school as a result of bullying. SUFEO’s services are completely free.

SUFEO website | hotline: 773.800.0338 | email: SUFEO-Chicago@luc.edu

CPS nurses and social workers in the news

WBEZ: Chicago Wants A Nurse For Every School — Are There Enough? Listen to the audio for #youthvoice.

WBEZ: Number Of Social Workers Growing In Chicago Public Schools Read until the end to hear from Loyola University’s School of Social Work.

CPS School Resource Officer (SRO; school police) agreement signed

Chalkbeat Chicago covers the agreement in this article: Here’s a first look at the $33 million deal between Chicago schools and the city’s police department. The full agreement is posted here. WBEZ and the Sun-Times also covered this news.

CPS Board of Ed Early Childhood Committee hosted first meeting

On Tuesday, January 14, the CPS Board of Education Early Childhood Committee hosted a public meeting at Azuela ES. You can find a thread of our live tweets here. Chalkbeat Chicago wrote an article leading up to the meeting: Four things to know about Chicago Public Schools’ new early childhood committee. And at the state level, One Illinois reports on Governor Pritzker’s preschool commission: Preschool commission tweaks guiding principles.

Upcoming CPS meetings: Board of Ed and School Funding Working Group

➡️ CPS Board of Ed: Wed, Jan 22, 10:30am; CPS, 42 W, Madison. Online registration to speak or attend begins on Fri, Jan 17, 10:30am, cpsboe.org. (Note the change in registration day due to the holiday on Mon, Jan 20. Agenda will post at 10am on Fri, Jan 17.) You can find our more detailed instructions on signing up and surviving the process on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

➡️ CPS School Funding Working Group meetings: In Dec, Mayor Lightfoot and CPS announced that they will “...begin a community process to identify potential opportunities to further strengthen school funding.” School Funding Working Group public meetings: