WHEREAS the closing of public schools in Chicago, turnarounds, and other school actions have negatively and disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities; and
WHEREAS according to the Chicago Reporter (December 2017), “In the past decade, Chicago’s public schools lost more than 52,000 black students” and, according to the Chicago Sun Times (October 2019), Chicago has lost 256,000 Black residents, “more than any other city in the U.S.” as housing becomes more unaffordable; and
WHEREAS as of December 2019, Chicago Teachers Union members served Chicago Public School students who are nearly 90% students of color (46.6% of students are Latinx, 35.9% Black, 10.8% White, 4.2% Asian, and 0.3% Native American); and
WHEREAS since 2001 (when Black teachers made up 40% of CPS teachers) the number of Black teachers in CPS has dropped by 5,500, and as of 2019, there were too few Black teachers and teachers of color (50.4% of teachers are White, 20.7% Black, 21.2% Latinx, 3.9% Asian, and 0.4% Native American) in proportion to the number of students of color they teach; and
WHEREAS Illinois House Bill 2859 was signed in 1991 and section 27-20.4 of the Illinois School Code mandated that “every public elementary school and high school shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction studying the events of Black History;” and
WHEREAS Chicago Public Schools rolled out a K-10 Interdisciplinary African and African American Studies curriculum in 2013 and a K-10 Interdisciplinary Latino and Latin American Studies curriculum in 2015; and
WHEREAS in 2015 Chicago City Council passed a reparations resolution requiring that the history and fight for justice of the John Burge police torture survivors be taught to all 8th and 10th grade students in CPS; and
WHEREAS the CTU supported the development and implementation of this now named “Reparations Won” curriculum which was a part of the nationally historic and precedent setting reparations package; and
WHEREAS the implementation of ethnic studies and culturally sustaining curricula is of critical importance to supporting the learning needs of all students, but particularly Black and Brown students who make up the vast majority of CPS students; and
WHEREAS according to the Washington Post, in 2019, 885 people have been shot and killed by police, down only slightly from the nearly 1,000 people killed in each of the previous four full years, and of those killed Black men were still disproportionately represented; and
WHEREAS the CTU House of Delegates, “as a matter of our commitment to the fair treatment of all citizens in the city of Chicago” passed a resolution in December of 2015 supporting the creation in Chicago of a Civilian Police Accountability Council among with community members; and
WHEREAS according to the “Handcuffs in Hallways” report by the Shriver Center (February 2017), “In total, between 2012 and 2016, the police officers assigned to CPS schools accumulated $2,030,652 in misconduct settlements for activities on and off school grounds,” and “of that total, nearly $1.5 million resulted from excessive use of force against a minor and $215,000 from incidents that occurred on CPS grounds;” and
WHEREAS according to the University of Chicago CCSR (September 2015), Black and Brown students face suspensions from school at disproportionate rates even when risk factors “such as poverty and low achievement” are controlled for; and
WHEREAS Illinois Senate Bill 100 was signed in 2015 and was intended to reduce exclusionary discipline which disproportionately kept Black and Brown students out of school and contributed to them entering the school-to-prison pipeline; and
WHEREAS discipline, criminalization, and over-policing of Black and Brown students has proven to be ineffective in the improvement of outcomes, damaging on their health and well-being, and restorative practices are proven to be a powerful tool in the reduction of disproportionate discipline and improved school climate; and
WHEREAS CPS often ineffectively implements restorative practices without adequate training, support, and understanding of their role in a developmentally appropriate system of accountability, consequences, and harm reparation; and
WHEREAS the CTU fought for and won in its most recent contract increased staffing of social workers and nurses and the protection of counselor time to do counseling work and will continue to fight until CPS hires, staffs, and retains clinicians and counselors in schools at levels recommended by their respective national professional organizations in order to support and address students’ socioemotional and other needs; therefore, be it
RESOLVED that the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) endorses participation in Black Lives Matter at School Week to begin Black History Month the week of February 3-7, 2020; and
RESOLVED that the CTU will host events during or around this week and engage in advocacy on an ongoing basis aligned to the national demands for hiring more Black teachers and ending the pushout of Black teachers in our schools, proper implementation of restorative practices in schools and ending zero tolerance discipline, teaching students Black history and other ethnic studies curricula, and funding more counselors in schools as opposed to police officers; and be it finally
RESOLVED that the CTU encourage its members to wear Black Lives Matter at School shirts to school that week and teach lessons about related topics.
