Lengthy Labor Beat video highlights growing movement to challenge the Hit List, promote an elected Chicago school board
In early December, 2011 Chicago Public Schools announced its "hit list" — schools it is targeting for closings or turning-around. Recently, the Chicago Education Facilities Task Force created guidelines, where the CPS followed none before, on how targeting of schools had to be first discussed with those communities affected. Gearing up for this next phase, the Chicago Teachers Union held a teach-in about the hit list on Dec. 3, 2011 at MLK Prep High School. This meeting and rally marked a new level of militancy underlined by Jitu Brown's (KOCO) statement: "This will not stop until we stop it!" Speech excerpts from: Kristine Mayle (CTU Financial Secretary); Angela Surnuy (Marconi school); Prof. Pauline Lipman (Univ. of Illinois-Chicago); Jitu Brown (Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization).
Jitu Brown of Chicago's Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) told the crowd it's time to stop the machine from crushing people. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.The URL for this video for those who can't get hotlinks is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPyiW-XQfQc
There are also interviews with teachers and parents from Casals and Stagg schools, which are on the hit list.
Video includes Valencia Rias-Winstead from Designs for Change (and a member of the Educational Facilities Task Force which legally formalized requirements mandating timely public input on CPS school actions). Valencia Rias-Winstead talks with CTU President Karen Lewis about what happens next in the public discussion period and how Chicago Public Schools will manoeuvre between now and the final decisions early in 2012. They also discuss the growing movement for an elected school board instead of the undemocratic process now in place. Length - 26:35
