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April 1 #ShutDownChi Day of Action!

March 27, 2016 0 comments

Join TSJ for the April 1 #ShutDownChi Day of Action!

Friday April 1 All Day, Everywhere  

RSVP Here to get text action alerts!

April 1 in Chicago will be a day of mass action against austerity politics, racist violence, anti-immigrant and Islamaphobic attacks, the savaging of human needs in Illinois, growing poverty, attempts to smash unions, and economic violence against the vast majority of people in our state. And, it will be a day FOR justice, fair distribution of wealth, progressive revenue solutions, full funding of our schools and human needs, and racial and social justice.

Map of April 1 Events 

Click on a star to see what events you can plug into.
Link to share the map: https://goo.gl/ePT0tr

Hashtags    #ShutDownChi   and    #FightForFunding  


On April 1, 2016, we are asking all concerned Chicago citizens to unite in a day of action by:

• Withholding your labor
• Joining morning pickets at CPS schools
• Attending events at CSU and NEIU 
• Marching from UIC to the Downtown Rally
• Withholding your dollars
• Boycotting the Magnificent Mile
• Protesting Governor Rauner, Mayor Emanuel and billionaire Ken Griffin
• Protesting banks such as Bank of America
• Engaging in nonviolent direct action protests
• Demanding progressive taxation
• Demanding the release of the TIF surplus


Join families, students, teachers, workers, and all those who thirst for justice.



More than 100,000 workers in the state of Illinois are out of a contract and are bargaining directly with our adversaries—Governor Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, bankers and billionaires like Ken Griffin, who are calling for school closings, university closings, budget cuts, lower wages for workers and restrictions on collective bargaining.

Racial injustice fuels the prison industrial complex by sending poor Black and brown men and women to prison each day. Chronic disinvestment has caused poverty in the state to grow considerably. Law enforcement agencies are under federal scrutiny for the murder of unarmed people and the mentally ill. Child-care workers and low-income parents are under attack. Yet multimillion-dollar arenas, museums and millionaire condos are being built all around us.

Tax cuts for those with the highest incomes, an unfair, regressive flat-tax system, and corporate loopholes galore have put Illinois in this fiscal distress. In Chicago, the mayor refuses to renegotiate bad deals with the banks profiting off of our “broke on purpose” schools. The mayor's TIF program siphons money from schools, parks, libraries and other public needs and hands it to wealthy developers. Rahm's handpicked board of education wastes millions on excessive testing and mismanagement while they cut and cut from school budgets. Enough is enough!
Read the Full Story

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March 26 TSJ Teach-In on the April 1... SHUT IT DOWN! action

March 10, 2016 0 comments

Join TSJ for a Teach-In on the April 1 SHUT IT DOWN! action

Saturday March 26th from 5 to 7 pm UIC College of Education 1040 W. Harrison St. Chicago, IL  

We'll have Child Care and Refreshments 

Room 3427

Please RSVP Here

April 1 in Chicago will be a day of mass action against austerity politics, racist violence, anti-immigrant and Islamaphobic attacks, the savaging of human needs in Illinois, growing poverty, attempts to smash unions, and economic violence against the vast majority of people in our state. And, it will be a day FOR justice, redistribution of wealth, progressive revenue solutions, full funding of our schools and human needs, and racial and social justice. 

This Teach-In will address WHY Teachers for Social Justice and so many others in Chicago, from labor (e.g., CTU), education justice organizations, racial justice groups (e.g., Black Youth Project-100), community organizations (e.g., Kenwood Oakland Community Organization), economic justice groups (e.g., Fight for 15), religious progressives (e.g., ARISE-Chicago), and many others are coming together April 1 to #ShutDownChi! 
  • What are the connections between all these issues and movements and how does April 1 relate to our larger efforts to create a new world that is possible and necessary? 
  • How can you help organize in your workplace/community/school to build for April 1 and make this an historic day in Chicago as we fight for a better future? 
Come to the Teach-In to discuss and learn about these issues and their interconnections, and to help plan and organize for April 1.

For more info, email here. 

PLEASE RSVP! Especially!!! if you will need childcare! Click here


On April 1, 2016, we are asking all concerned Chicago citizens to unite in a day of action by:

• Withholding your labor
• Joining morning pickets at CPS schools
• Attending events at CSU and NEIU 
• Marching from UIC to the Downtown Rally
• Withholding your dollars
• Boycotting the Magnificent Mile
• Protesting Governor Rauner, Mayor Emanuel and billionaire Ken Griffin
• Protesting banks such as Bank of America
• Engaging in nonviolent direct action protests
• Demanding progressive taxation
• Demanding the release of the TIF surplus


Join families, students, teachers, workers, and all those who thirst for justice.


#ShutDownChi     #FightForFunding  


RSVP to the April 1 Action and get Text Alerts!  http://fightfor15.org/s-petition/ctu-april1-rsvp/ 

Map of the day's events is here 




More than 100,000 workers in the state of Illinois are out of a contract and are bargaining directly with our adversaries—Governor Bruce Rauner, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, bankers and billionaires like Ken Griffin, who are calling for school closings, university closings, budget cuts, lower wages for workers and restrictions on collective bargaining.

Racial injustice fuels the prison industrial complex by sending poor Black and brown men and women to prison each day. Chronic disinvestment has caused poverty in the state to grow considerably. Law enforcement agencies are under federal scrutiny for the murder of unarmed people and the mentally ill. Child-care workers and low-income parents are under attack. Yet multimillion-dollar arenas, museums and millionaire condos are being built all around us.

Tax cuts for those with the highest incomes, an unfair, regressive flat-tax system, and corporate loopholes galore have put Illinois in this fiscal distress. In Chicago, the mayor refuses to renegotiate bad deals with the banks profiting off of our “broke on purpose” schools. The mayor's TIF program siphons money from schools, parks, libraries and other public needs and hands it to wealthy developers. Rahm's handpicked board of education wastes millions on excessive testing and mismanagement while they cut and cut from school budgets. Enough is enough!
Read the Full Story

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Elected Representative School Board Bill PASSES in IL House!

March 3, 2016 0 comments

Elected Representative School Board Bill Passes House in 
bi-partisan landslide!


#ERSBnow #ERSB #NoHybrid

CHICAGO MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO DEMOCRACY IN OUR SCHOOLS WITH HISTORIC VOTE TO APPROVE ELECTED, REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD BILL

The years-long battle to win an elected, representative school board for Chicago is one step closer to victory after the Illinois House gave overwhelming support to the measure in a historic vote today, March 3.
Parents, teachers, labor groups, community organizations, and education justice organizations across Chicago have been pushing for the bill, which would take unilateral control of the schools away from the mayor and allow Chicago voters to elect their school board members.
The bill, HB 0557, won by a bi-partisan landslide vote of 110-4, a tribute to the hard work of Rep. Rob Martwick, the bill's chief sponsor; 67 co-sponsors; House leadership; and the Grassroots Education Movement(GEM), the community coalition that has been pushing the measure  for years.
Elected school boards are the norm nationwide and here in Illinois. Chicago is the only district in the state where the mayor appoints school board members.
Chicago parents, teachers and students understand that the current school board works for the mayor, not for the people the schools serve. Today's vote could usher in a new day of accountability and democracy in the nation's third largest school system, though we understand that an elected board is NO guarantee of democracy-it is only a condition for it, and an important marker in an ongoing struggle for justice and equity in education and ACROSS society.
GEM organizations will now focus their attention on passing the bill in the Senate.

Since mayoral control of schools started in the 1990s, and mayors began appointing school boards, NO education justice movement has successfully overturned this massive public disenfranchisement. Chicago's movement is on its way! Stay tuned, there will be plenty more to do!

Find out who your IL State Senator is here.

Find contact info for your IL State Senator here.

You can learn more about this fight and TSJ's role in it on our ERSB Resource Page.

GEM is a city-wide coalition of parents, teachers and community members dedicated to bringing democracy and accountability to CPS  Member organizations are:  Action Now, Blocks Together, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Teachers Union, CODE - Communities Organized for Democracy in Education, Communities United, Enlace, Grassroots Illinois Action, Jobs with Justice, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Northside Action for Justice, Parents 4 Teachers, People for Community Recovery, Pilsen Alliance, Raise Your Hand, Teachers for Social Justice and United Working Families.
Read the Full Story