RYH Newsletter 9.30.20
As part of our annual fundraiser, Raise Your Hand is curating a virtual art show and auction asking artists to creatively reimagine education. We want to take this moment to reframe the dynamic and dream about the education we want for the future. Proceeds from art sales will support the advocacy work of RYH!
If you are interested in donating work for our virtual gallery and auction, please submit an image and description of your work here by Oct 9. Images need to be sharply focused, evenly-lit, hi-resolution photographs, saved in un-compressed .jpg format.
We are less than 2 weeks away away from Raise a Glass! Thank you to everyone who has bought a ticket, become a sponsor, bought an advertisement or given an in kind donation for our auction- over half of our support comes from donors like yourselves. As we continue our work on remote learning, school funding, local school councils, and special education, we cannot do it without your support! We are actively shipping out our swag, can you support Raise Your Hand by buying a ticket? Thank you for supporting our work!
Remote Learning: Event, Quarter 2 Questions, Resources & News
Remote Learning Best Practices: A Virtual Forum
TONIGHT, Wed, Sept 30, 6PM | Register here
RYH board member & CPS parent, Cassandra Kaczocha, is a panelist. We're looking forward to an interesting & informative event!
What's happening with Quarter 2 in CPS? Remote Learning? Hybrid?
Short answer: it's unclear.
Mayor Lightfoot answered some questions during TRiiBE Tuesday: A Town Hall with Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and at a press conference on Monday:
Chalkbeat Chicago: Lightfoot on reopening CPS: We’re ‘following very closely’ the experience of Catholic schools
Sun-Times: Will CPS kids go back to schools this fall? Lightfoot says ‘we’re not there yet’ | ¿Regresarán pronto los alumnos de CPS a sus escuelas? Lightfoot dice: ‘todavía no’
Chalkbeat Chicago: Chicago eases restrictions on bars and gyms. What does that mean for schools?
There was an #AskDrJackson on Twitter yesterday which also did not reveal a whole lot. You can find some of those tweets here.
Last week at the CPS Board of Ed meeting, RYH and numerous parents were asking & were advocating for parents to be involved in any decision making as well as transparency in the decision making process.
Remote Learning Resources
Slides from Reimagine Remote Learning event hosted by LSNA, GEM, and RYH
More Remote Learning In The News
Sun-Times: Thousands of suburban students going back to school after starting fully remote
WBEZ: To Be 16 Years Old, In Your Bedroom And Doing School
Local School Council (LSC) Candidate Materials due Friday, Oct 2, 3PM
Check out our Local School Council Resources on the RYH website to learn more about LSCs, campaigning as a candidate, and voting.
This is the CPS webpage for LSC Elections & candidate materials.
Which LSCs can you serve on (& vote at) as a community member? Use this cool tool & search.
Chalkbeat Chicago’s LSC Election Guide: Chicago’s school council elections are around the corner. Here’s your guide
LSC Events
We are hosting a series of virtual workshops providing Local School Council (LSC) basics, candidate and election support. These sessions are intended to connect and empower parents and caregivers, community members, advocates and alum to engage schools through LSCs.
LSC 201: LSC Campaign Support
TONIGHT, Wednesday, September 30th at 7:30pm | Register
LSC 301: LSC Elections Support
Tuesday, October 6th at 6:00pm | Register
Wednesday, October 14th at 7:00pm | Register
The LSCs.4.All Coalition is hosting a LSC Training, Module 4: Budget.
Thursday, October 8th at 6:00pm | Register
Special Education Resources, Survey, Event, & Disturbing News Story
We have a new RYH Special Education Parent Resources for Remote Learning and More webpage. Check out this cool resource found on our new webpage: RYH Special Education Acronyms Guide! We also added more Transition Resources this morning. This webpage is a work in progress. If you have any suggestions for additional resources, please pass the links along to Mary at faheyhughes@gmail.com.
Chalkbeat Chicago has a survey for families of children with disabilities here and in Spanish here: Familias de Chicago: ¿Cómo funciona el aprendizaje a distancia para su hijo/hija con necesidades especiales?
➡️ SAVE THE DATE! Sat, Oct 17, 10AM - 12PM. Special Ed Legal Clinic with Loyola School of Law Civitas ChildLaw Center and Equip for Equality where you can speak 1:1 with an attorney or advocate about your specific special ed concerns. More details coming soon!
RESERVE LA FECHA para una Clínica Legal de Educación Especial con “Loyola School of Law Civitas ChildLaw Center,” “Equip for Equality,” y varios abogados privados de Educación Especial, donde puede programar un bloque de 15 minutos para hablar con un abogado o defensor de educación especial experiencia educativa - Sábado 17 de octubre de 2020, 10:00 am - 12:00 p.m.. Detalles de registro por venir.
Disturbing Story from the Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Schools pays $400,000 to settle lawsuits alleging physical abuse against 2 special education students by staff
CPS Board of Ed Meeting Last Week
We spoke at last week’s meeting. You can find our statements + all the press coverage of the meeting here.
Follow RYH Social Media!
We share news & upcoming events daily. Search @ILRaiseYourHand: Facebook Page | Twitter | Instagram | Linktree . Our Facebook group is where lively discussions occur.
Worth A Read
A ‘generation of school closings’ offers lessons on a better way to combat violence | Letters
Letter to the Editor from Julie Woestehoff, retired Executive Director, Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), Parents Across America.
In Other News
Illinois Newsroom: Student Arrest Records A 'Disturbing Mess' At Illinois School Districts -
Chicago Tribune: Federal investigators seek to question 3 CPS employees; Board of Ed pays for lawyers to represent them
Chalkbeat: Another pandemic shift: In many school districts, 1 in 10 kindergartners didn’t show up