RYH Newsletter 4.28.21

Apr 28

The youth led #PoliceFreeSchools movement has always been a deliberate and intentional campaign to center students' experiences and not to control them. Not spending money on police in schools during a pandemic is an obvious decision as we feel that the presence of full-time SROs is not necessary at any time. RYH will continue to work in lockstep as accomplices with the #CopsOutCPS youth group towards a school district that fully invests in what youth need instead of using policing as the solution to every issue.

Sun-Times: School cops won’t return to CPS high schools this spring, district says

More student voice here in the Sun-Times: Adam Toledo shooting reinforces CPS students’ views on school police

#PoliceFreeSchools Youth Meetings

This is a CPS student ONLY space and is led by CPS students with the goals of connecting youth to other school communities, building their base, providing resources, listening to students and planning together to win Cops Out CPS.

Fridays | Youth-led calls | 5PM | Register

#RYHGrow2021

Our spring fundraiser continues! Thank you to all who have contributed thus far! We have 3 more days to reach our goal of $20K- and we are at $12K+! Have we supported you in any way during this past year of uncertainty? Have we provided an answer, a resource, or a space that you appreciated? Please consider a donation in any amount to support our work and to help us reach more parents. Donate here. First time donors will be matched! We’ll send you seeds!

Elected Representative School Board (ERSB) | #DemocratizeCPS

Join us at the RYH ERSB Meeting!

Th, April 29 | 6PM | Register

Other actions you can take:

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. Takes 2 minutes! Thank you.
We are going to be ERSB flyering this Sun, May 2, 1-3PM in Austin. If you are interested please email rousemary@ilraiseyourhand.org.
We will have more upcoming ERSB actions and meetings ahead - please sign up here to take action!

CPS Board of Ed Meets Today

We’re hosting a press conference at 9:30AM with youth and parent leaders from Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Enlace Chicago, and RYH. You can watch it on BPNC’s Facebook page.

At 10:30AM, the mayor appointed CPS BOE will hold their monthly meeting. It is live streamed on the CPS YouTube channel. We will be live tweeting. We will also be speaking.

You can submit Written Comments to the CPS BOE. Go to cpsboe.org & click on the link for “Board meeting Apr 28 Form” which will take you to a Google form.

Trust Learning Care (TLC) | #TLCMakesSense

Chalkbeat: Federal officials are urging states to focus on finding homeless students with new stimulus money

Over the past few months, hundreds of 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

CPSuccess!

Block Club Chicago: Parkside Academy Teen Is A Junior High Chess Champion: 'It's Really Something I Want To Continue Doing Throughout My Life'

Chicago Tribune: Chicago teen owns Peke's Pozole restaurant at 18 years old

Upcoming Events

TONIGHT! Education for an Equitable Democracy! | DePaul College of Education
- Wed, April 28 | 5:30PM | Register | Flyer

TONIGHT! Democracy in Education | Education Policy Session: ERSB and LSCs
- Hosted by Lugenia Burns Hope Center
- Wed, April 28 | 6PM | Register
RYH ERSB Meeting
- 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
CPS Capital Plan Meetings
- Tues, May 4 | 3-4:30PM & 5-6:30PM
- Th, May 6 | 3-4:30PM & 5-6:30PM
- Fri, May 7 | 3-4:30PM | Spanish
  - Register | Live streaming here
  - WTTW: CPS Seeking Community Input on Capital Spending Plans

SpEd Concerns & GoCPS HS Admissions | #NoGoCPS

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. 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 program offers for 2021-22 will be available on April 30.
We encourage you to attend one of the meetings hosted by CPS about the CPS HS admission criteria changes & noted above.
Stay tuned for more!

IL Assessment for Readiness: Refuse The Tests!

Our friends at Illinois Families for Public Schools have some resources for you and we have them all here.

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.

Pandemic Schooling

Sun-Times: With as few as 1 student in a classroom, CPS high schoolers return to unusually empty buildings but familiar faces

Chicago Tribune: Soaring student quarantines are the latest obstacle to resuming school and youth sports

Chalkbeat Chicago: Chicago reopened high schools this week. Here’s what we’re watching.

Chicago Tribune: CPS plans for daily in-person classes, a remote learning option and bigger school budgets next fall

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

WBEZ: Class Of 2021: Reflect On Your Senior Year With WBEZ