Tonight, Feb 22, 2012, at about 6:15 PM, the appointed Board of Education of the city of Chicago closed, phased out, and turned around all 17 schools on their chopping block without a dissenting vote and hardly a blink of an eye. Despite protests ranging from the sleepover on the sidewalk and mic-check takeover of the Board meeting in December, the 4-day sit-in at the mayor's office, the occupation of Piccolo school, the 500-plus person candlelight vigil to the mayor's house Monday night and the dozens of hearings, speakouts, and organizing meetings around the city where parents, students, teachers and community member poured out their hearts, developed plans, and were deeply involved in our children's education--this Board callously ignored the wisdom and love of Chicago's people. Even though we knew it was coming, we were deeply hurt and angered. They gave six schools to the very politically connected AUSL, rapidly on its way to building its empire in Chicago (now 25 schools) and soon to go national.

As Jitu Brown of KOCO told the press immediately after the so-called vote, "only in Black and Brown communities would this happen, not in Winnetka or Oak Park." This is a deeply racist city, where the 1% ignores the knowledge and experience of its residents about the education of their children, overwhelmingly of color in Chicago public schools (92%).

We need an elected and representative school board, elections with spending limits, and bottom-up, community-driven plans for real school transformation and community control of schools. And we need real popular political education, as to the nature of what we're up against. This is a business plan, hatched by the 1%, for the 1%--not an education plan. We have much work to do, in educating and organizing ourselves. This fight is far from over, and we will continue to fight it in the streets, courts, legislature, board rooms, classrooms, schools, media, and everywhere else.

To quote our brother in the struggle, Adourthus McDowell (look at the mic-check video!), "THESE ARE OUR CHILDREN! NOT CORPORATE PRODUCT!"



Read the Full Story

Read the Full Story

Teachers for Social Justice and the Education for Liberation Inquiry to Action Group (ItAG) invite you to the Freire Forum:

• Learn about Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy
• Build a movement of education for liberation 
• Meet fellow educators from across the city 
• Develop curriculum for your classroom and education practices

DESCRIPTION: Even though students may live in a city, where the people they encounter each day come from all over, they might still be unfamiliar with any neighborhood outside their own. This lesson seeks to open the door to the exploration of Chicago neighborhoods and the unfamiliar through the use of mapping in abstract art. Students will explore the idea of creating artwork from the lines, shapes, and design of neighborhood maps. Students will select two neighborhood cutouts at random in addition to their own neighborhood, to trace and create an abstract design, exploring different techniques with oil pastels. They will utilize the elements and principles of line, shape, balance, and pattern in their composition. In the end, students’ compositions will connect the three different cutout neighborhood shapes into one cohesive design, allowing them to contemplate how these different shapes and neighborhoods exist in the same space.