CPS parents, students and teachers call on 46th Ward Ald. James Cappleman to cancel vote on Lincoln Yards project by rubber stamp City Council and let Chicagoans weigh in on the $1.3 billion decision when they vote in April 2 run-off election.
Picketing continues at 15 UNO/Acero sites, culminating in a rally downtown at the Chicago Board of Education.
Community organizations and unions from across the city are mobilizing on Wednesday to target Trump secretary of education and billionaire heiress Betsy DeVos. Locally, we're also targeting Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, who joined billionaire IL Governor Bruce Rauner last month in pushing through a school voucher 'compromise' that DeVos is promoting nationally.
Our message is simple: Our children are not tax shelters for the rich. We reject privatization schemes that continue to decimate and defund our school communities. And we demand that local, state and federal officials fully fund our schools!
After the Wednesday protest, parents, teachers, community activists and students will deliver a letter to DeVos and Emanuel that condemns their refusal to tax the wealthy to support public schools. Protesters are demanding that both Emanuel and DeVos take meaningful steps to defend neighborhood schools and public education from vouchers and other privatization schemes. GEM -- the Grassroots Education Movement -- and its national counterpart, the Alliance to Reclaim our Schools, are coordinating similar actions at regional Department of Education offices across the country.
Emanuel’s, Rauner’s and Trump’s collective support of vouchers and private charter operators continues to create conditions that destabilize school communities that serve black and brown children. GEM also fully expects that Emanuel will move to close scores of predominantly Black high schools this year after the five-year moratorium on school closings expires. To push back, grassroots coalitions are forming across the nation to drive elected officials in both major political parties away from these devastating privatization policies. Join us on Wednesday to unite for our schools!
