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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!
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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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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.
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TSJ ERSB March 1 Field Trip to Springfield - and Emergency Rally against CTU Layoffs

February 7, 2016 0 comments


Get on the TSJ Bus March 1!
Springfield Rally and Lobby Day for ERSB
Rally Day Details: Tuesday, March 1
6:00 AM till 6:00 PM
Bus will leave from 1100 S. Hamilton.
Parking is available, $2-3 for the day

On February 17, the Illinois House Education Committee passed by a vote of 15 - 9 (along party lines) the bill for the Elected Representative School Board (now HB 557, formerly HB 4268). The next step is that the full House has to pass it-we have 60 pledged "yes" votes (enough to pass the bill), BUT we want to make SURE that the vote occurs before the March 15primaries. The February 18th Springfield Rally Day was cancelled because the Legislature took the day off!, so we have RESCHEDULED to MARCH 1.

Sign up to get on the TSJ bus to join hundreds of other parents, teachers, community members, and students in Springfield, Tuesday, March 1, to let legislators know we want an elected representative school board in Chicago-now!! We will have a rally in the capital and talk to legislators.
The time is now! This is our alternative to Rauner's state proposal to take over our schools, and Rahm's racist corporate agenda to break the CTU, cut resources to neighborhood schools, and privatize. When parents and grandparents have to go on a 34 day hunger strike to get a quality neighborhood high school (Dyett HS), it's time for an elected school board that represents the people who actually attend and teach in CPS schools.

* Space is limited!! Reserve your spot on the TSJ bus TODAY! Fill out the form here! And please-we want to accommodate everyone who can go, so please do not commit unless you are sure that you can make it (to the best of your knowledge, of course!).

Email us if you have any questions!


 Keep contacting your IL legislators to let them know you want an elected representative school board in Chicago-now!! 

Find your IL State Representatives at http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/addressfinder.aspx

Find contact info for your IL State House Rep at http://www.ilga.gov/house/

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






































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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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TSJ Fight for an Elected Representative School Board

December 13, 2015 0 comments


Teachers for Social Justice
Elected Representative School Board (ERSB) Campaign

Did you know Chicago is the only school district in Illinois (of 891) without an elected school board? Enough is enough! Democracy Now!!

Go to our ERSB Resource Page for updates, downloadable window signs, downloadable info-sheets and more. 

 The 1/9/16 Teach-In was a great success! We shared resources, got organized and made plans for this continued campaign. 
  






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