Showing posts with label Chicago Teachers Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago Teachers Union. Show all posts
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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!
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Join CTU at Feb 4th Rally Against Mass Layoffs

February 2, 2016 0 comments

It's time to show our strength. 

Graphic by Ellen Gradman @sparkyourart
VIA CTU Facebook Event Page:

 CPS has done it. As expected, they have announced layoffs of 1,000 or more educators in a letter sent today to the CTU. They also said that they would take 7% of our pay through the pension pickup within 30 days and redirect anti-poverty funds to general expenses.

The union spent fifteen months trying to get a serious offer out of the Board. After only three weeks of negotiations, CPS made an offer that (1) relied on a reduction of more than 2,000 educators from the system, (2) made no provision against ballooning class sizes as a result, and (3) included nothing but the vaguest indicators of where new revenue will be pursued. 

The mayor has had every opportunity to pursue revenue from his wealthy friends and backers. Instead he has targeted educators and students to pay for the Board’s mismanagement. CPS has shot down the flag of truce and peace talks are over. It is time for Chicago’s educators and public school supporters to take off the gloves and head out to the streets. 

We will start the march at Bank of America at 135 South Lasalle and finishing at City Hall. Please note: THIS WILL BE A NONVIOLENT AND SAFE RALLY! Attending the rally will not put you at risk of arrest or sanction.

 RSVP to CTU at https://www.facebook.com/events/1674831469456432/ 

 TSJer Phil Cantor explains a teachers view of the CPS/CTU contract fight: http://phillipcantor.com/2016/02/03/why-ctu-still-doesnt-have-a-contract/ Read the Full Story

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Stop the School to Prison Pipeline - Fruitvale Station Screening

February 4, 2015 0 comments

RSVP here to reserve your spot at this screening and discussion of Fruitvale Station and Stopping School to Prison Pipeline.

Fruitvale Station Screening Feb. 12  5:30 PM www.bit.ly/FruitfaleRSVP
Why do young Black men in the Chicago Public School system get suspended disproportionately at 11 times the expulsion rate of district schools within charter schools? How do racially unjust police practices play out in the school system and what can we do about it?
Join us for a film screening of Fruitvale Station and a “Stop the School to Prison Pipeline” conversation in partnership with Chicago Teachers Union, Teachers for Social Justice, and the Social Justice initative.
Following the film, activists, teachers, students and community members will come together to explore the relationship between budget cuts, school closings and the school to prison pipeline. The discussion will address the disporportionate punishment and policing of African-American students happening thoughout the Chicago school system and what we can do about it.
*Refreshments available during the movie & discussion to follow.
SEATING LIMITED --- RSVP today!!!!

Email essence1@uic.edu with any additional questions or concerns.  

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Students Teach: Racial Profiling, From the Classroom to the Street

January 12, 2015 0 comments




Public Event on Racial Profiling: From the Classroom to the Street

2229 South Halsted Street
SEIU Healthcare 
Chicago, IL 60608
logo

 
This educational after-school event brings together a diverse group of CPS students, Chicago youth leaders, social justice organizations, CPS teachers, and other educators. This event will allow youth and educators to discuss how the events outside of school can and should shape teaching and discipline policies in schools. The event will provide some specific teaching tools that educators can use to continue the discussion/activism in schools and connect students and educators to existing social justice organizations, campaigns, and activism taking place in Chicago that is part of the larger new 21st century youth movement. 

Youth from schools are encouraged to bring their teachers and teachers are encouraged to bring youth from their schools in the hope that groups pursue ongoing activity and activism both in school-through ideas like service learning projects, lessons and extracurricular activites-as well as outside of school. Individual teachers and students are also welcome to attend and participate.

Co-Sponsors: Alternatives, Black Youth Project 100 - Chicago, Chicago Freedom School, Chicago Teachers Union, Mikva Challenge, Project NIA, Teachers for Social Justice, VOYCE (Voices of Youth in Chicago Education), We Charge Genocide

 


January 19th King Day Rally for:
Elected, Representative School Board & Sustainable Community Schools
Rainbow PUSH Headquarters
930 E. 50th Street
12 Noon

Email here to RSVP or for further information
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Photos from TSJ's 13th Teaching for Social Justice Curriculum Fair 2014

December 10, 2014 0 comments


(photo credit: Ervin Lopez)
On Saturday, November 22, 2014, Teachers for Social Justice (TSJ) hosted their 13th Annual Teaching for Social Justice Curriculum Fair. TSJ is an organization of educators who is committed to education for social justice. The fair brings together educators and supporters from across the county to educate and share ideas about how schools can empower students.

(photo credit: Ervin Lopez)
This year's fair focused on 'Democratize Education! Democratize Chicago!' This year, TSJ was honored to host two educators who have dedicated their lives for a just educated. Kali Akuno from Malcom X Grassroots Movement and Jackson from the Chicago Teachers Union were the keynote speakers. In addition, 15 workshops were held on issues, a few included discussing using education to resist neoliberalism, strategizing for economic and political democracy, resisting standardize tests, cop watching, among others. Also, over 60 excellent exhibitors and organizations presented their resources and curriculum to share with attendees. This year's curriculum fair attracted over 800 people. The fair  was held at North Grand High School in the North West side of Chicago.


(photo credit: Ervin Lopez)
(photo credit: Ervin Lopez)

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April 1, 2014 0 comments

Closings by Another Name

On Friday, March 21, The Chicago Board of Education announced that it would fire every single adult in three of Chicago’s schools and hand over management of the schools to the Academy for Urban School Leadership—a politically connected private management organization with close ties to Board President David Vitale. Calling this practice “Turnaround,” the Board claims it will help students. But studies show otherwise. This is an attack on Black schools that continues the assault carried out by CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett last year, when she closed fifty schools (claiming they were the last closings for at least five years).
Calling the turnarounds, “a slap in the face to those of us who are attempting to negotiate for more resources, collaboration and support throughout our district,” CTU President Karen Lewis called for us to step up and defend our schools. “This is nothing more than school closings by another name,” said President Lewis. “After closing 50 schools, now we find three campuses more on the chopping block while the mayor continues his televised propaganda campaign of promoting these disastrous policies.”
Stand with these schools by signing up to bear witness at one of the hearings mandated by law for each affected school. Our schools need every voice to ring out for them.
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Lessons from the 1963 Boycott: The Struggle for Quality Education

October 10, 2013 0 comments


Join us on October 22nd, the 50th anniversary of the 1963 Boycott of Chicago Public Schools, when an estimated 250,000 Chicagoans – mostly CPS students – protested segregation and inequality. The evening features a screening of in-progress documentary '63 Boycott from Kartemquin Films (The Interrupters), a panel discussion with education activists from then and now, and a spoken word performance by Malcolm London of Young Chicago Authors. The panel includes Karen Lewis of the Chicago Teachers Union; 1963 Boycott leader Rosie Simpson; Fannie Rushing, a young organizer of the 1963 Boycott; Elizabeth Todd-Breland, a historian at University of Illinois in Chicago; and Jasson Perez from Black Youth Project.

The DuSable Museum of African American History
740 E 56th Pl 
Chicago, IL 60637
Tuesday, October 22, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM (CDT)

Co- Sponsored by Kartemquin Films, Chicago Teachers Union, Education for Liberation Network, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture at the University of Chicago, Crossroads Fund, Grassroots Collaborative, Black Youth Project, Young Chicago Authors, Chicago Grassroots Curriculum Taskforce, Human Rights Program at University of Chicago, Chicago Freedom School, Chicago Area Women's History Council, Teachers for Social Justice, Save Our Schools








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