RYH Newsletter 2.12.21
Over the past month, parents and youth have gathered to craft our Trust, Learning, and Care (TLC) Demands.
#TLCMakesSense #TrustLearningCare
Read the TLC Demands: English | Spanish
Support Our TLC Demands By Signing Our Petition Here - We would like to get 500 more signatures on this TODAY. Can we count on you? Please share with 5 other CPS parents and/or youth + share on social media after you’ve signed. Thank you!
CPS families are tired. They are tired of not being included in the decision making. They are tired of being ignored; told to look for “tables” where they will be heard when none have ever truly existed.
On January 31st, Mayor Lightfoot said that “we have done everything that we can to make [remote learning] work as good as possible”. CPS families know that is not true. In fact, with the focus on returning in person, we are actually seeing learning quality decrease - that is unacceptable.
CPS families also know that the current return to in person learning plan falls well short of what families need to feel safe and supported. This public fight over safety needs has only built more distrust in the district.
Under Trust, we want CPS to be more transparent and to stop cutting corners. For Learning, we must center the needs of those who need the most and respect local school stakeholders’ authority. For Care, we remind ourselves that we are still in a damn pandemic and must do more to support our school and family community. We are requesting a meeting with CPS leadership to demand that new federal funding is used to support all of these demands.
Yesterday we hosted a press conference where the TLC Demands were released and CPS parents shared what Trust, Learning, and Care mean to their families. Watch the press conference here. Some press coverage is below.
Block Club Chicago: CPS Parent Group Says Kids Learning From Home Need More Support From District
Chalkbeat Chicago: As students return to Chicago classrooms, some families call for remote learning improvements
A Series of Reimagining School Safety Community Chats & Workshops
We are hosting a series of workshops and meetups during Feb and March- join Chicago's Youth and Adult Allies! We will provide CPS stakeholders the opportunity to listen, be heard, debate and organize together for real safety in our schools. This is an open call for CPS parents, caregivers, neighbors and community to join us.
Form to register and to see all of the upcoming workshops & meetups. In this email we are highlighting the first workshop in our series:
History of Policing In Schools & School-to-Prison Pipeline
Discussion areas highlighted in the graphic below.
TOMORROW, Sat, Feb 13 | 10:30 - 11:45AM | Register on Zoom
(Also hosting it on Wed, Feb 17 | 6 - 7:15PM | Register on Zoom)
Special Education Resources
Equip for Equality held a webinar on the long-awaited rollout of CPS’ SSCA (Student Specific Corrective Action) and UER (Universal Enrichment Remedy). Here is a UER Fact Sheet and a UER Checklist with calculator, which should help you with any UER calls.
Elected Representative School Board
We have until the end of May to win an elected representative school board. We have upcoming actions and meetings ahead - please sign up here to take action! Questions? Email Jianan at jianan@ilraiseyourhand.org
We’re Hiring! (Again!)
Join our amazing RYH team! We are hiring a full time advocacy director. You can find the job description and how to apply here. We are accepting applications through Sun, Feb. 21. Thanks for sharing with possible candidates!
Take A Stand For Inclusivity!
Our friends at IL Families for Public Schools have an Action Alert here. From IL-FPS:
The IL State Board of Education has proposed a rule change which would include more culturally responsive teaching and learning standards in teacher prep programs, the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards. Unfortunately, some IL legislators want to block the passage of these rules. The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules will be taking a vote on it in the JCAR committee on February 16th.
You can sign a petition here and IL-FPS explains other action steps you can take to support these standards.
Another Petition To Consider
We are thinking about families walking to school and being able to access school buildings safely during the Chicago winters. This petition calls on Chicago to prioritize pedestrians as much as cars and create a plan for clearing snow from sidewalks courtesy of Better Streets Chicago.
A Tribute to Karen Lewis
Our friends at Parents for Teachers (P4T) have a lovely tribute here which is worth a read.