Parents 4 Teachers
Defending Public Education
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Parents 4 Teachers (P4T) has come together to stand up for teachers and work for real education reform. Standing up for teachers means standing up for our kids!

On the Radar

More questions about school closings process. By Curtis Black, Newstips 

The rapidly shrinking CPS "utilization crisis." Excellent analysis by Curtis Black, News tips

The Reader's Ben Joravsky urges a yes vote on Elected School Board Referendum

P4T Parent Erica Clark says  teachers' strike was an "Us" moment in the Chicago Tribune

Basic description of reasons for the strike from The Washington Post

Teacher's personal account of the strike at Huffington Post

Jim DeRogatis discusses the strike from a parent's perspective

P4T parent Rhoda Rae Gutierrez Calls for an end to test score based pay in the Tribune (scroll down to End Testing)

Standarized Test Scores Are the Worst Way To Evaluate Teachers by Isabel Nunez in the Sun-Times
Two Visions For Chicago Schools by Diane Ravitch













P4T stands with communities against school closings

In response to the city's plan to close 54 schools, P4T took to the streets--and overpasses--in the Loop March 22 to send a message to the mayor and CPS: NO SCHOOL CLOSINGS.  Not 50…not 20…not ONE.  ZERO!

Banners decked the Madison and Washington overpasses at 90/94 and the Randolph St. entrance to City Hall during the evening rush hour. Cars honked horns in support and passersby stopped to talk about how the city should be supporting our neighborhood schools, not closing them. 

Why did we spend a Friday afternoon out in the cold holding banners and handing out flyers? There are a lot of reasons:

  • 50 school closings will wreak havoc on our entire school system and our city.
  • The school closing agenda is based on lies and a blatant disregard for the facts.  If CPS used a smaller class size and made the legally required adjustments for special ed classrooms, few schools would be labeled under enrolled.
  • School closings disproportionately impact low-income children of color, whose communities are already reeling from violence, unemployment and lack of resources.  The families and children that need the most, get the least.
  • CPS is opening new charter schools—at taxpayer expense—at the same time it’s closing neighborhood schools.  The real agenda here is to break the teachers’ union.
  • These actions will put thousands of children in danger due to neighborhood violence.
  • One man and his hand-picked board of ed should not wield unchecked power over the lives of our children.  Mass school closings put thousands of children in harms way.


And finally…

This is our school system, our city. We all have a stake in this. We all need to fight back.

 

City-wide Save Our Schools Rally

If you’re concerned about quality education for ALL of Chicago’s children, please attend the city-wide rally on March 27. Bring your children, your family and your friends.

Wednesday, March 27

4 p.m.

Daley Plaza

50 W. Washington


P4T seeks independent probe of school closing process

P4T has filed a complaint with the CPS inspector general asking for an independent investigation of the CPS school closing process, a process that has been plagued by misconduct, misinformation and conflicts of interest.

We announced the complaint at a press conference, joined by parents and community members from schools at risk of closure--and parents from well-resourced schools that aren't. It was an inspiring show of unity. Thank you to everyone who participated. Let's keep up the momentum as we move into the next phase of this battle to save our neighborhood schools.

Read our press release and the complaint. And check out some of the coverage:

School closings panel has conflicts of interest, group charges , Chicago Sun-Times

 Community groups: Inspector General should investigate closings, Catalyst Magazine
Our kids are more than a score

Parents at 35 schools Wednesday kicked off a petition drive demanding that CPS reduce the amount of standardized testing in our classrooms—and eliminate the high-stakes attached to those tests for students and teachers alike.

Parents fanned out during morning drop off and afternoon dismissal collecting hundreds of signatures to go along with the 2,700 plus signatures an online petition garnered in just the first week.

The petition drive is the work of More Than a Score, a new coalition of parents, teachers and community organizations that have come together to improve learning in our schools. Founding members of the coalition include, Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), Parents 4 Teachers, Illinois Raise Your Hand and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

Sign the online petition or, even better, print out the pdf and take it to you school to get signatures. Contact info@parents4teachers.net for instructions on  how to turn them. This is a great way to talk to parents and organize in your school.

CPS pushes ahead with massive school closings

CPS is continuing plans to close as many as 140 schools, despite loud and unanimous opposition from parents, teachers, and students across the city and, apparently, its own "independent" school utilization commission.

The commission appears to have concluded that CPS doesn't have the capacity to carry out massive school closings without disastrous effects. But we didn't need former ComEd CEO Frank Clark, chair of the new commission, to tell us that.

Ask any parent, student or community resident impacted by last year's 17 "school actions." CPS still doesn't know--or won't say--what happened to the 7,000 students impacted last year.

Are they attending the new school CPS assigned them? Did they drop out? How are they doing academically and emotionally?

A preliminary list of targeted schools is expected Feb. 13.

Everyone concerned about quality schools for our children needs to express outrage at the goings-on, corruption, conflict of interest and misinformation surrounding these decisions. We need to fight for our schools and demand an immediate moratorium on all school closings, turnarounds or phase outs.

Become informed. Read the P4T factsheet, The Truth About CPS School Closings.

Attend the CPS school closings hearings. Two are being held in each CPS network area. Schedule is here.

Organize parents in your school and build alliances with your teachers. We're all in this together.

Elected school board campaign presses on

 CODE--the city-wide coalition pushing for an elected school board--continues it campaign to replace the current appointed school board with one elected by the people across Chicago that the schools serve. 

We've been conducting meetings with legislators through out the fall and winter and will continue as the Spring legislative session kicks into full gear. The people have spoken--87 percent of voters in 327 precincts approved the elected school board referendum on the ballot in November. It garnered nearly 66,000 votes in 35 wards across the city.

But this won't be an easy battle. Every senator and representative in the state Capitol to needs to hear from their constituents. Call, write, email, visit and call, write, email and visit again. It's that important.

While the current school board is a rubber stamp for the mayor's agenda of closing public schools and turning them over to private operators, we harbor no illusions that an elected school board is a panacea. Instead, we think it's a necessary first step to making the school board accountable to the people the schools serve--parents, teachers and children across Chicago.

Join us in our work to put the public back in public education. Email info@parents4teachers.net to get involved. 









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