RYH Newsletter 4.21.21

Many Upcoming Ed Events | #RYHGrow2021 | ERSB News | CPS HS App Changes | Opt Out Info

On Monday, RYH launched our annual Grow With Us online fundraiser! We are less than $1300 away from meeting our first 3 day goal! Our goal this year is to raise $20,000 and bring in 100 new donors!  Donors this year will receive a seed package in the mail from us just in time to plant them for the spring. 

Every week, we release this newsletter that goes over the essential information that parents need to stay on top of what is going on in CPS and around the education justice organizing world. If you have received this RYH Newsletter as a forward, please sign up to subscribe here. If you have found these valuable, please consider a donation to support our work. If we are able to reach our goals, we want to start sending out our newsletters in Spanish as well this year! #RYHGROW2021

Donate here: www.ilraiseyourhand.org/grow2021 Thanks for considering & for supporting our work! Check out this graphic of what your donation will support.

Trust Learning Care (TLC) Forum Recap

On Friday, RYH and several other orgs hosted a powerful TLC Forum! 

You can watch it here. | RYH live tweets here.

Sun-Times: CPS is getting $1.8B in federal relief funding. Parents and students are demanding a say in how it’s spent

Over the past few months, CPS parents & students have developed community-backed demands under the Trust, Learning, & Care (TLC) framework. Now that CPS is expected to receive $1.8B in the American Rescue Plan (ARP), shouldn’t parents and students have a voice in how that money is spent? Please consider taking the following actions:

• Take the TLC Community Survey: English | Spanish

• Sign & Share the TLC Petition

• Consider taking some TLC Action Steps at your school or in your neighborhood 

Upcoming Events & Important Dates

Quite a few so bumping this UP in the RYH newsletter!

• The Chicago Early Learning Preschool Application opens for SY21-22 TODAY April 21, 2021. Here’s a Save the Date flyer (available in English and Spanish)

• CPS Ask The Expert : Early Childhood Education

  • Th, April 22 | 4-5PM | The Expert: Bryan Stokes, Chief of Early Childhood Education

  • Topic: Early Childhood Enrollment & Updates | Register

• CPS Parent, LSC & Community Solidarity Call | Hosted by RYH

  • Th, April 22 | 6-7:30PM | Register: SolidarityAmidCOVID

• LSC Training | Module 4: Budget | Hosted by Lugenia Burns Hope Center

  • Th, April 22 | 6-7:30PM | Register

• The Gathering: Budget | Hosted by LSCs.4.All Coalition

  • Tues, April 27 | 4:30PM | Register 

• Monthly Meeting of the CPS Board of Education

  • Wed, April 28 | 10:30AM | More info & registration details here.

• Education for an Equitable Democracy! | DePaul College of Education Spring Forum

  • Wed, April 28 | 5:30PM | Register | Flyer

  • What should a civics education for our times look like?  How can we help students understand - and respond to- a time of increased political polarization,  decreased faith in democracy and its institutions, a threat to voting rights, bombardment of misinformation and historical reckonings that call many of the myths of American civic life into question?

• Democracy in Education | Education Policy Session: ERSB and LSCs

  • Hosted by Lugenia Burns Hope Center

  • Wed, April 28 | 6PM | Register

• ERSB Meeting | Hosted by RYH

  • Th, April 29 | 6PM | Register

• GoCPS HS Admission Criteria Changes

  • Sign up for a meeting here: Sat, May 8, 10AM OR Wed, May 12, 4PM

  • GoCPS webpage about the changes here

Recent Emails From CPS: The Devil Is Always In The Details. 

Next Year’s Budget | No NWEA This Year | Changes to HS Apps... & SpEd Concerns  

CPS sent an email to parents today regarding 2021-22 school level budgets. 

You can read the email here. We have not had the opportunity to dig into this yet. Please look out for upcoming CPS meetings and/or LSC meetings that might discuss how your individual school(s) will be impacted. Some initial press coverage:

Sun-Times: CPS announces full-time, in-person learning in the fall

Chalkbeat Chicago: Chicago will increase school budgets by $225 million as it pushes full-time fall schedule

Spring 2021 District Assessment Update | HS Admission Changes

CPS sent an email to parents last Thursday. It’s worth a read! 

Sun-Times: CPS to promote all elementary students this year, nix standardized tests for competitive high school admissions

Chalkbeat Chicago: Under pressure from pandemic, Chicago lays out changes to competitive high school admissions process

CPS is hosting 2 meetings about the changes for high school admissions. We encourage you to attend:

• GoCPS webpage about the changes here. 

• Sign up for a meeting here: Sat, May 8, 10AM OR Wed, May 12, 4PM

#NoGoCPS | SpEd Concerns & GoCPS HS Admissions

At RYH we’ve been pointing out the discrimination in the HS application process for students with diabilities (see this quickish video explaining the issue) and have been talking to CPS about this for some time (see timeline graphic below.) We are skeptical and still concerned about the impact of the proposed changes on students with disabilities.

• We still want to hear from parents who have children with IEPs who were denied CTE, Arts and other high school programs due to NWEA and Grade cut scores. If this is you, please fill out this form. HS acceptances for 2021-22 will be available on April 30.

• We encourage you to attend one of the meetings hosted by CPS & noted above.

• Stay tuned for more!

But What About the IL Assessment for Readiness (IAR)?

Refuse The Tests!

• Any IL public school student can refuse state testing this year.Our friends at Illinois Families for Public Schools have some resources for you:

  • Already ready to refuse/opt out? Refuse the Tests: How to Opt Out of 2021 State Testing Toolkit

  • Considering refusal but want to understand the issue better? Opt out: Refusing state tests 

  • For current juniors… Opting out of the SAT this spring

  • Video of Refuse The Tests! Webinar hosted on Mon, April 12, 2021

The state of IL (via the IL State Board of Education or ISBE) does not recognize a parent opting a child out of a state mandated test. However, ISBE does recognize a child's right to refuse this testing. Please see the resources above to learn more. If you are told you "can't opt out" this is *technically* true so change your language use to refusal and send a letter on your child's behalf saying your child will be refusing the test. Is your child a remote learner? Don't send them to school on IAR day(s) and prepare for asynchronous learning during in person IAR days (we don't know what any district's plan is for remote learners during in person test administration.)

​​​​​​​Bottom line: Lost instructional time because of standardized testing is usually ridiculous but in the midst of pandemic schooling it's extra ridiculous. RYH Twitter thread of all of the above here.

Springfield Updates: Elected Representative School Board (ERSB)

The Senate ERSB bill passed out of committee last Wednesday. The House ERSB bill passed the full House floor last Thursday. 

Sun-Times: Elected Chicago school board bill passes Illinois House — a day after a different advanced in Senate

Lightfoot, who campaigned on an elected school board, introduced her own bill which is best described as “mayoral-control light” by Jitu Brown of Journey 4 Justice and KOCO in Chalkbeat Chicago: Four things to know about the elected school board debate in Chicago

Some commentary on all of the above here in the Sun-Times: Legislators face tough negotiations to craft a bill for an elected Chicago School Board

• What can you do? 

  • Email your state senator and tell them to support SB2497, a FULLY elected CPS school board. Please do this no matter where you live in Illinois. Thank you. 

  • Join the fight with RYH - we have 6 weeks to win an elected school board!

    • We are going to be flyering this Sat, April 24, 1PM in Austin about ERSB. If you are interested please email rousemary@ilraiseyourhand.org.

    • We are going to have a general ERSB meeting for any parent or community member who wants an update and to get involved in the fight on April 29th at 6PM. Register here.

    • We have upcoming ERSB actions and meetings ahead - please sign up here to take action! Questions? Email Jianan at jianan@ilraiseyourhand.org. 

CPS Parent, LSC & Community Solidarity Call

Th, April 22 | 6-7:30PM | Register: SolidarityAmidCOVID

Last March when school facilities closed, RYH began holding space for weekly solidarity calls with CPS stakeholders to hear one another, share resources and above all… support and show solidarity across the city. At times, we invited CPS leadership to join us for listening sessions where they’d take our concerns back to the district for action. Above all else, we've cultivated lasting relationships and we enjoy the ongoing organizing and support with each other.

Given all that’s going on right now and with many new LSC members… we are excited to hold space again. Feel free to invite your fellow LSCs, parents/caregivers and concerned community to join us for a safe, welcoming space prioritizing parent and LSC voices.

Local School Council (LSC) Resource

If you are a LSC member and would like to connect to a larger group of LSC members from across the city, please email us: info@ilraiseyourhand.org.

#PoliceFreeSchools Youth Meetings

This is a CPS student ONLY space led by CPS students with the goals of connecting youth to other school communities, build their base, provide resources, listen to students and plan together to win Cops Out CPS. Fridays |  Youth-led calls | 5PM | Register

Jobs!

South Side Weekly is hiring several part-time section editors, including an education editor. More information here.

Block Club Chicago is hiring summer interns: We're Hiring Paid Summer Interns

And ICYMI… Block Club Chicago: Young Chicagoans Can Apply For Jobs, Internships With One Summer Chicago Program

Pandemic Schooling

In CPS, Quarter 4 started Monday! 

We hope that no matter your family’s pandemic schooling type that you all are having a great week! Here’s some coverage of Mon:

• WBEZ: Chicago High Schools Restart In-Person Classes More Than A Year After Shutting Down

• Sun-Times: Chicago Public Schools: Some high school students head back to their classrooms

• Chalkbeat Chicago: Final high school vote caps long and disruptive reopening journey in Chicago

• Chicago Tribune: ‘The first day of school, in April’: CPS high schools reopen 13 months after COVID-19 shutdowns

• Sun-Times: Competitive high schools to see greatest numbers of students return Monday

• Chicago Tribune: Hundreds of CPS students and staff are in quarantine, but as high schools reopen, COVID-19 cases remain isolated in the district so far

We try to stay on top of all the news & we post daily on our social media platforms. Follow us! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram 

In Other News

Chalkbeat: Relief and reflection: After Chauvin guilty verdict, teachers and students look to the work ahead

Chalkbeat Chicago: Illinois will spend another $140 million to stabilize its daycares

Sign up to receive the RYH weekly email newsletter here!

Thanks for reading! We hope you are all well!

RESOURCES 

Food Benefits For Families With School Aged Children (P-EBT)

PLEASE SHARE THIS INFO- not many people know about this yet and it will be hugely beneficial to many families and communities. 

• RYH Twitter thread with the below resources here.

• RYH FB post with the below resources here.

We recommend the following resources to learn more:

• The Southwest Collective has this FB post which summarizes the program and this post with FAQs on P-EBT.

• Greater Chicago Food Depository has a helpful FAQ webpage here. Leer en español.

• Chicago Coalition for the Homeless hosted a webinar on P-EBT.

CPS: Resources | Ask The Expert Series

CPS Online Reopening Guide | CPS Twitter | CPS Facebook

Watch out for emails from your school(s) and following your school social media accounts. 

CPS FACE YouTube Channel- Ask The Expert session videos are here.

From CPS’ Family & Community Engagement (FACE) | Upcoming Ask The Expert:

• Th, April 22 | 4-5PM | The Expert: Bryan Stokes, Chief of Early Childhood Education

• Topic: Early Childhood Enrollment & Updates | Register