CPS Local School Council (LSC) Elections

The Bridgeport Alliance Encourages Local Residents to Vote in CPS Local School Council (LSC) 

Elections On Monday, April 7, parents and community members can vote at their local elementary school.

On Tuesday, April 8, parents and community members can vote at their local high school.

Local School Councils or LSCs are very important to our local Chicago Public Schools. They approve a school’s budget, help write a school’s improvement plan, and they hire and evaluate principals.

A LSC consists of 6 parents, 2 community members, 2 teachers, 1 nonteaching staff member, and the principal. A student is a member at high schools.

Strong communities have strong schools. It takes all of us, together, to strengthen our schools.

Will you commit to vote in the LSC Elections? 

Who is running at our local schools?

This link to a DNAinfo article has a complete list of Parent and Community candidates. We welcome candidates to respond to this blog with their qualifications or to post on the BA Facebook page

To find your elementary school and high school: Please use this website & plug in your address. You do need to select the “Search by Address” button. http://www.cps.edu/schools/find_a_school/pages/schoollocator.aspx

If this does not work, please call the Department of School Demographics and Planning at (773)553-3270. Local school phone numbers are included below.

There are 2 exceptions to the above that we are aware of:

• For Sheridan (a magnet school), anyone who lives in these boundaries can vote there: the lake to the east, Ashland to the west; 12th Street to the north, 39th Street to the south.) 
•  For Air Force Academy High School, only parents can vote. We understand that the 2 community representatives on their LSC are appointed by the AFA Board. 

 Voting Requirements:

• Community members voting must be at least 18 years old. 
• You can vote anytime during the hours of 6:00 am to 7:00 pm. 
• Voting takes place at each school. 
• You can vote for UP TO 5 candidates. 
• You will receive a ballot that includes both Parent Rep and Community Rep candidates. 
• You do need to present current identification. 
•  If you are a CPS parent voting at your child’s school, you will need the report card you just picked up, plus one more form of ID. 
•  If you are a community member, you need 2 forms of ID to prove you live within the school’s boundaries 
• Accepted forms of ID include: 
•  Driver’s License 
•  IL State ID 
•  Credit Card with picture 
•  Voter Registration Card 
•  Matricula Consular 
•  MediPlan/Medicaid Card 
•  Permanent Resident Card 
•  Current Lease or Utility Bill 

 Thank you so much for your time and commitment to our community and our schools!

Local school contact & location information:
 Philip D. Armour, 950 W. 33rd Place, 60608, 773-535-4530
 Alexander Graham, 4436 S. Union Ave., 60609 (773)535-1308
 John C. Haines, 247 West 23rd Place, 60616 773-534-9200
 Holden Elementary School 1104 West 31st Street, 60608 (773) 535-7200
 Robert Healy, 3010 S Parnell Ave., 60616 (773) 534-9190
 George B McClellan, 3527 S Wallace St., 60609 (773) 535-1732
 Mark Sheridan, 533 W 27th St., 60616 (773) 534-9120
 James Ward, 2701 S. Shields Avenue, 60616, 773-534-9050
 Tilden Career Community Academy HS, 4747 South Union Avenue, 60609 (773) 535-1625
 Air Force Academy HS, 3630 S Wells St., 60609 (773) 534-7706

 Voting issues? Please contact: Election Central Office of Local School Council Relations 773.553.1400

Elected School Board!

Please - CONTACT YOUR ALDERMAN BEFORE THE FEBRUARY 12 COUNCIL MEETING, urging them to vote both the ordinance for an elected school board referendum out of committee and to place it on the November 2014 ballot. 

Also, check out the LSC (Local School Council) fact sheet below to learn how to help schools in your neighborhood.

McKinley Park Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Community Meeting:

McKinley Park Neighborhood Advisory Council (NAC) Community Meeting:
Tuesday, December 10
SEIU
2229 S. Halsted
7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

 The McKinley Park NAC has been meeting once or twice a week since October 16 to review a charter school proposal for our area. This proposed charter, Be The Change, may locate in West Bridgeport and will be recruiting students from Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Pilsen and Bronzeville. One of the NAC's responsibilities is to give a recommendation to CPS as to whether CPS should approve this charter or not. Another responsibility of the NAC is to host a community meeting so they can share the process they followed, introduce the charter Design Team, share the NAC's findings on the proposal, and hear from the community. Charter proposals are supposed to be made public on the Office of New Schools (a part of CPS) website on Thursday, December 5. Please plan on attending this meeting on December 10 and please share this information with others in Bridgeport, McKinley Park, Pilsen, and Bronzeville as well as Canaryville and Chinatown. If you are interested, here is a link to the 2013 CPS Request for Proposals for New Schools which will give you an idea of where this NAC came from: http://www.cps.edu/newschools/documents/rfp_fornewschools.pdf

Protect CPS Kids!

Across the city, school budgets have been slashed - taking with them teachers, programs, counselors, even basic supplies. There are many proposed solutions to this problem, but they all start with the same step - letting your legislators know that you believe education is a priority in Chicago.

The short form here does all of the work for you - it quickly locates your legislators based on your address, provides you a prewritten message that you can edit any way you like, and handles all of the addressing and sending.

A few years ago, lawmakers threatened to increase class sizes to 37 students. Parents and community members just like you used this site to send over 150,000 messages to legislators, and turned back the attack on our children's - and our city's - future. So please invest 30 seconds to let your legislators know where you stand - and share this site with your friends, family and community.

Bridgeport Residents - Please call Alderman Balcer and Senator Munoz:

For Alderman Balcer (773) 254-6677
Thank you for supporting our schools. We need you to ask CPS to provide a 10 year plan that improves all of our Bridgeport/Chinatown area schools. A plan that lists the facilities, curriculum, tech, environmental and community support our children deserve. Please join us at the September 11 CPS hearing and insist that CPS create a real plan. Thank you.

For Sen. Munoz (773) 869-9050 or (217) 782-9415
The CPS 10 Year Master Facilities Plan draft needs to be revised to show how CPS intents to improve our Bridgeport/Chinatown schools. We need to know what CPS plans to improve the facilities, curriculum, tech, environmental and community support our children deserve. Please join us at the September 11 CPS hearing and insist that CPS create a real plan. Thank you.

Then, join us on September 11!
It is very important that Bridgeport Alliance and all of its allies have a presence at this meeting and provide testimony as to how they want to see CPS facilities (i.e. what type of school is in them) run over the next 10 years.
Pershing Network:
CPS 10-Year Educational Facilities Master Plan – Public Information Session
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Gage Park High School - 5630 S. Rockwell

A Small Victory

Your calls, emails and visits to his office worked!

Along with 26 other colleagues in the Chicago City Council, 11th Ald. James Balcer stood with Chicago's children and signed onto the ordinance that return this year's TIF money back to CPS, fully funding our schools for the next school year.

This is a great first step, but there's still much work to be done.

Kudos to Ald. Balcer for standing with parents, neighbors and children in the 11th Ward, and city-wide.  773.254.6677

Your calls and emails helped demonstrate what an important issue this is to Bridgeport.

If you can, please call or email Ald. Balcer to say thanks for the support!

Our work isn't done - getting this ordinance proposed is only the first step to making sure our schools are fully funded.

Call Alderman Balcer TODAY

7/23/2013 - Schools Action Alert - Call the Alderman!

Our schools will experience major budget deficits next year. To give you an idea of local loss:
Armour $430K
Graham $300K
Holden $150K
McClellan $150K
Sheridan $516,329
Tilden $800K

Please call Alderman Balcer and ask him to tell the Mayor to declare a TIF surplus.
Alderman Balcer's Office phone number: 773 254 6677.

Possible scripts:

a) If you just want to leave a message OR that's the only option: "Hi! I'd like to leave a message for Alderman Balcer. My name is ____ & I am a (CPS Parent/Parent/Concerned Citizen/Taxpayer/Voter) concerned about the severe budget cuts to our schools. (Pick a school or Pick all 3 above) lost $___ which will result in the loss of teachers, support staff, supplies and textbooks, impacting the education of thousands of kids in our Ward. The mayor needs to declare a TIF surplus & give money back to the schools. Mayor Daley declared a TIF surplus 3 years ago and returned $90 million to CPS. We know this can be done. We expect you to call the Mayor and ask him to declare a TIF surplus. We'll be bringing a letter by to get your support. Thank you."

b.) Maybe you actually get him on the phone: "Hi, this is _________I am a constituent and my school _______just lost _________ ( x dollars or x positions). We need Alderman _______'s help in restoring these positions. As you know, our schools weren't properly funded to begin with and we can't operate with this loss. Possible answer: Well, there's not much the City Council can do when it comes to education. You: "Actually, there was $1.7 billion in TIF accounts at the end of 2011 and $454 million was diverted from Chicago property tax revenue into TIF accounts. 53% of all TIF surplus money would go back to the schools. We would like you to call Mayor Emanuel and ask that he declare a TIF surplus so that we don't have to lose ______ positions." Possible answer: "Well, much of that money is tied up. We don't know for sure how much is in there." You: "Mayor Daley declared a TIF surplus 3 years ago and returned $90 million. We know this can be done. We expect you to call and we'll be bringing a letter by to get your support." Thank you so much!

Learn More About TIFs Here!

New Charters while Public Schools Close?

Updates from the May Meeting

The BA is continuing to work with local schools by recruiting volunteers to help with reading, tutoring and office work. Teachers, principals, parents and school members met on June 6 to list their most pressing concerns. Future meetings are planned.

BA member supported Communities Organized for Democratic Education (CODE) which is working to pass a corporate tax accountability bill in the Illinois General Assembly. Closing corporate loopholes would add approximately $440 million to the state budget. Allowing the State Treasurer to post corporate taxes would allow Illinois citizens to see how corporations doing business in Illinois contribute to our economy. BA members hopped a bus to Springfield to lobby our local senators and representatives to support these bills.

The 31st Street bus effort is still going strong. State Representative Esther Golar introduced a Resolution in the House in support of the bus. The BA will be meeting next month with the CTA to learn more about the planned study of the eastern portion of the route.

The Active Transport Alliance (ATA) requested that we consider becmoing the host organization for Bridgeport. A special meeting was held and members agreed. The ATA works closely with the CTA and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) to improve public transportation, biking and pedestrian safety.

The TIF meeting on June 5, in cooperation with the McKinley Park Neighbors Association, was well attended. Members that went to the session plan to meet again.

Check out the BA display at VersionFest 13. This year's theme is “the human operating system” and what could be more human than what neighbors are doing at BA meetings.

We helped close down the coal fired power plant that was harming our children and seniors. We started meetings with the CTA to bring back our bus on31st Street. We helped parents and school members keep our local schools off the CPS closing list. We helped get a new playground for McGuane Park. And BA members are continuing to help where we can.

David Hatch presented a great deal of information at the May meeting. For those who missed this, please see his website

It is time to elect new leaders for the B A. Elections will be held on June 27 at general meeting

Education News

BUDGET CUTS
In a partnership with Raise Your Hand, a citywide parent group, we are helping to form a Ward 11 TIF Squad. CPS has drastically cut individual school budgets for next school year. Some known examples in our neighborhood include: Graham -$300k; Haines -$300k; and Sheridan -$516k. We need people to call Alderman Balcer at 773 254 6677. Ask him to call the Mayor to tell him he needs to declare a TIF Surplus to give some funds back to our schools. If you'd like to get updates on the TIF Squad and possible Toilet Paper Drives (yeah, it's that bad) in our neighborhood, please contact Jennie at jenniebiggs72@yahoo.com.

10 YEAR DRAFT MASTER FACILITIES PLAN Please read this blog post to find out more about our efforts to bring people together to provide input to CPS: http://bridgeportalliance.blogspot.com/2013/06/schools-update.html Thank you!!!

Rally at the Board of Education

Please join us!!!

The Board of Education has told the city that their reckless school closings would fix the budget, provide resources and relieve overcrowding at other schools. Instead, Local School Councils have been handed draft budgets that would force layoffs and program cuts in nearly every school in the system.

Rally at the Board of Education Meeting, 125 S Clark St. Wednesday June 26th
Beginning 8:30am

The Board of Ed is tripping over itself to close schools and slash budgets. They are happy to fix their supposed budget problems at the expense of students and educators, but haven’t lifted a finger to raise money from their millionaire friends and the business community. CPS should join parents and CTU members in fighting for hundreds of millions of dollars for schools through: Returning TIF money to schools

Renegotiating predatory interest rate swaps with major banks A progressive income tax that makes the rich pay a fair share Join parents, students and educators from across the city to demand that Chicago puts our schools first! Fight the budget cuts and help win for our students.

Please invite LSC members, parents and students from your school!

BA in the News!

CPS protesters claim budget cuts could leave students without toilet paper

"So we got socked," says CPS parent Jennie Biggs. "Losing money and now we also, my principal also has to pick up supplies, so there's a real chance he's going to have to pick between teachers and toilet paper."

Schools Update

The Bridgeport Alliance hosted a School Task Force meeting Thursday, June 6, from 6:30 - 7:30 at Benton House. Our goal for this initial meeting was to start building a school and
community network of people who want to get involved in strengthening our schools and our community. We need all of our school communities to come together, learn from one another, and help each other out when needed.

Also, as a community, we should give input into the "Bridgeport-Chinatown" (CPS title of our neighborhood) section of the CPS Draft 10 Year Educational Facilities Master Plan. This, by law, was due May 1, 2013. The final 10 Year Facilities Plan is due October 1, 2013. If you would like to get involved in collecting information, checking data, and responding to this Plan on behalf of our community, please get in touch with the BA at info@bridgeportalliance.org.

Please get in touch, too, if you'd like to get involved in our schools.

Here's a link to the Draft 10 Year Educational Facilities Master Plan:

Things to pay special attention to:

• Pages 78 & 79.... It's officially due October 1, 2013 so there's a list of how CPS will engage communities this summer. You can also find the "Conclusion" here.
• Pages 124 - 129... "Bridgeport-Chinatown" section. If anyone would like to help come up with input on this section OR if you want to check CPS data for accuracy OR if you see a glaring error, please see the email above and get in touch.
• You can also find an individual school's "Educational Facilities Master Plan" on www.cps.edu.

• Click on the "Schools" Tab (on the far left of the CPS homepage)
• Go to "Find a School."
• Type in your school's name and click Find.
• Once on your school's page, scroll all the way down to the very last report under
• "Report Name". Click on "Education Facilities Master Plan."

We recommend you look this over within your school community: at a LSC or PAC meeting, with teachers or with your principal, etc. We know there are some errors for some schools & we should try to get them corrected.

Thanks for your continued commitment to our schools and our community!

Help Build Strong Schools in Our Community

Community Meeting

June 6, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

Benton House, 3052 South Gratten

Three of our local schools were on the CPS closing list. Community support saved them. Now we need to make them the best in Chicago. Join us on June 6 and help build strong schools in our community.

This will be a working meeting. Please bring your lists of ideas, resources, needs and problems. We hope that you will attend and we encourage you to discuss this effort with your friends and neighbors.

Sponsored by The Bridgeport Alliance School Task Force

Bridgeport Bus to Fight School Closings!

This Wednesday, join the Bridgeport Alliance as we march against school closings with GEM, CTU and neighborhood organizations across the entire city!

http://www.facebook.com/events/441102002634744/

Where: Benton House (3052 S. Gratten)
When: Wednesday, March 27th. Meet at 3:00pm. BUS LEAVES PROMPTLY AT 3:15.

We are all very pleased that our neighborhood schools did not end up on the school closings list. Even though our schools have been spared (this time), CPS still plans to shut down more than 50 schools across the city.

At the February 6th Fuller Park meeting, the Bridgeport Alliance proudly declared we would be stand to fight ALL school closings.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=577884305573261

Space is limited! To get a seat on the bus, please RSVP to Ben: ben@bentonhouse.org.

BRIDGEPORT ALLIANCE, COMMUNITY ACTION STOPS CLOSURE OF SOUTH SIDE SCHOOLS

BRIDGEPORT ALLIANCE

Contact: Maureen Sullivan
Tel: (773) 719-6655
maureen@southloopdigital.com

March 21, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRIDGEPORT ALLIANCE, COMMUNITY ACTION STOPS CLOSURE OF SOUTH SIDE SCHOOLS

Bridgeport Alliance has learned that the Chicago Public Schools have decided to reverse their earlier decision and to keep Libby, Hendricks, Dewey, McClellan, Armour and Graham schools open.

While there are other schools in the affected neighborhoods that deserve to stay open, and all the information is not in yet, Bridgeport Alliance celebrates today's decision by CPS as a victory of community activism in the face of bureaucratic indifference to economically hard-hit South
Side neighborhoods.

Earlier in the year, Bridgeport Alliance reached out to neighboring Bronzeville, Back Of The Yards, Fuller Park, Chinatown and Canaryville and found lots of concern among parents about announced closures of schools but little to no organization against efforts to close neighborhood schools.

Bridgeport Alliance hosted its Public Education Forum on February 6th 2013, bringing over 80 activists by bus to the CPS public forum in Fuller Park to add to the chorus against singling out the schools in the city's most economically vulnerable areas.  Later Bridgeport Alliance school forums and meetings with Fuller Park concentrated nearly 300 activists in opposition to the CPS closure plan.

Targeted schools remain open.  Community activism works.  But the fight is not over.

Public education as a whole is in serious danger from misguided attempts to address the effects of poverty without addressing its causes.  School performance is driven by a neighborhood's economic health, not the other way around.  Neighborhoods across the South Side have served notice that
we will not let CPS,  The Board Of Education and City Hall get this wrong

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Maureen Sullivan, please call Mary Welter at (312) 339-4369 or email Bridgeport Alliance at mvawelter@gmail.com

Our Fight To Save Our Schools, by Jenny Biggs

Jenny Biggs at BA forum at First Trinity,
February 6, 2013

This article is written by Jenny Biggs, Loving Mother, Community Leader, and a Leader with Bridgeport Alliance and Raise Your Hand!

In December, I attended my first Bridgeport Alliance meeting. As a CPS Mom, public education advocate, and member of Raise Your Hand (a citywide organization of parents & community members advocating for quality public education for all children), I suspected that some of our schools in Bridgeport, Canaryville, and Chinatown would be on CPS's potential school closing list. 

CPS has also talked about other “school actions” such as consolidating schools, co-locating a charter school into an existing school and school turnarounds- the school stays open and every adult in the building is fired and a new staff is hired. I knew I needed to find some local people to rally around this issue to fight for our schools and work to make our schools and community stronger. 

A friend said, “You should go to the Bridgeport Alliance.” 

I'm glad I did. 

This may be a long blog post because we have done so much in this short time.

Before I talk about the work of BA in educating our neighbors and in fighting against the possible school actions, let me share some of the details of what has been happening this
school year leading up to the coming school closure list. The official CPS school closure list has to be released on or before March 31, 2013. 

In the past, CPS has used a school's performance to determine school closures. This year, CPS is using a school's “Utilization Rate” to determine a school closure list.

  • In December, CPS released a spreadsheet that contained each school's utilization rate. This is a calculation done at Central Office using a formula.

  • On this December spreadsheet, the schools in our community that CPS labeled
“underutilized” are Air Force High School, Tilden High School, Armour, Graham,
McClellan, and Ward.

  • CPS has a new CEO, Barbara Byrd-Bennett and she set up a Space Utilization Commission that held public meetings in November and December around the city to get public input. It is very confusing what the role of this Commission is in the decision making process. In January, the Space Utilization Commission released their “first list of recommendations” to Byrd-Bennett. She took two of their recommendations: Level1 Schools will not close (this is a label CPS gives to it's highest performing schools & it's based, mainly, on test scores) and High Schools will not close. (Although, later, Byrd-Bennett backtracked & said 1 or 2 high schools could be on the list.) And just this week, they released their “final” report which says that CPS has the capacity for 80 school actions.

  • After the first report, this meant Air Force High School & Tilden should be off the list as
should Ward (Level 1). But, this also meant that Armour, Graham, and McClellan were
still at risk. When the “first list” was released on February 13, Armour was not on it.
Right now, Graham and McClellan remain in danger of being placed on the “official list”
due on 3/31/13.

  • Let me get back to the formula that CPS is using to calculate a school's Utilization rate.
Raise Your Hand analyzed the data & deconstructed the formula. What we found was
that the formula is flawed- it allows for 36 kids in a homeroom which really skews the
numbers. We found that overcrowded schools are UNDER reported and underutilized
schools are OVER reported. A school can be labeled as “efficient” with 36 students in
every homeroom. On the flip side, a school can be labeled as “underutilized” with 23
students in every homeroom.

  • The formula also allows for only 23% of a school's total classrooms to be used for
ancillary classes- meaning Special Education, art, technology, etc. The flawed formula
forces principals to make trade-offs on having rooms for art, music, Special Education,
science labs, etc. It can be hard to maintain enough space to offer a well-rounded
education.

  • Raise Your Hand did bring the data & flawed formula information to the Space
Utilization Commission (and Frank Clark, the Commission's Chair said he did not refute
the data and agreed with it), the Chicago Education Facilities Task Force, and the CPS
BOE.

  • Raise Your Hand has also found, via walk throughs of various schools, that the reality
within our schools is quite different from what shows up on the CPS spreadsheet. Let's look at Armour as an example: CPS reports they have 29 classrooms. In reality, they have only 22 due to an ADA project and a Target Library Grant. 

When I read aloud the list of Bridgeport, Canaryville and Chinatown “underutilized” schools at December's BA meeting, there were audible gasps and a lot of shaking heads.
After the meeting I spoke individually to almost everyone. BA members were very concerned and wanted to get involved in this issue. 

From that meeting, a small Education Committee was formed within BA. We've met almost weekly since mid-January to plan events and outreach activities. We've worked hard to include every school community in our area, underutilized or not, as we see the value and power of everyone joining this fight for all our schools and for our community.

Our first event was on February 6, when we hosted a Community Forum and Direct
Action for Our Neighborhood Schools sponsored by the Bridgeport Alliance, Chicago Teacher's Union, Parents 4 Teachers, Raise Your Hand and Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation. 

140 people came out to the Community Forum to hear what was happening with the potential school closings in our own neighborhood. When we planned the Feb. 6th Forum, we had no idea that the Pershing Network (our Network within CPS) would be hosting it's first “Community Engagement” meeting on the same night at 7:00 at Fuller Park. In planning our event, we realized the enormous importance of getting people to Fuller Park to be present and, possibly, speak to our Network. We adjusted our original plan and cut the Forum down to 30 minutes and added a Direct Action into this night. We provided a bus to Fuller Park and encouraged everyone to get over there to fight for our schools. With a full bus and many cars, at least 80 of us arrived at Fuller Park ready to rally! 

Reverend Tom Gaulke brought down the house and brought lots of attention to our schools in a very passionate speech he delivered as the second speaker of the night. After the speech and after a few chants, those that arrived on the bus, walked out of the meeting. 

Why? 

These “Community Engagement” Network meetings are not a civil, engaging process. 

Schools are begging to remain open. Not everyone gets a chance to speak. CPS asks questions that pit schools against other schools. The format CPS wants to follow- schools take turns speaking, then schools attend breakout sessions run by independent facilitators- feels like a show to make it look like they are engaging community. 

Catalyst Magazine and the Tribune found that the Walton Family Foundation- Walmart- is funding these independent facilitators that run the breakout sessions. 

Walmart has a clear agenda of privatization. 

That night at Fuller Park, we needed to send a strong message to CPS that they will not be able to close our schools without a fight and that CPS can not engage us in this manner. Instead of staying at this Network meeting and being a part of the farce, we said our piece, made noise as a unified front, and walked out.


The next day, the Network team came out to Armour to have a meeting with the staff.

The Network felt that, due to the structure of the meeting the night before, Armour did not get a fair chance at being heard. Word about the Network coming to Armour spread among parents and community like wildfire. When the meeting started, about 60 people- teachers, parents, community members and some press- were in the classroom sharing the wonderful things that Armour offered the community. It was a very emotional, from-the-heart meeting that BA was proud to be a part of.

On February 13, CPS released a list of 129 schools that “remain under consideration for closure to be discussed in round 2 of community meetings.” 

As was mentioned earlier, Armour is not on this list of 129 but Graham and McClellan still are. BA has attended parent meetings at Graham and McClellan and we are actively working with these two school communities as we all make plans for next steps. We have met wonderful people at each of these schools and we have learned so much about each school:

  • Did you know that Graham has 2 buildings? This definitely has an impact on their
Utilization Rate. With 2 buildings the school needs more classrooms for ancillary
classes- art, music, Science lab, etc.- because you can't have kids crossing a campus
throughout the day to get from one building to another to attend various classes.

  • Did you know that Graham has a beautiful auditorium that allows for a school
Orchestra and school Choir? They performed before the 2nd Pershing Network
meeting and they are quite good!

  • Did you know that McClellan houses an Autism Cluster program? They have 3
classrooms solely dedicated to students with Autism. By IL state law, these
classrooms can have no more than 8 students without an Aide, but can go up to 12
students with an Aide. CPS, in it's flawed formula, allows each of these classrooms to
hold 30 students each. CPS did (just last week) visit the school and make adjustments
to the Utilization Rate- McClellan went from 64% to 69%- still labeled “underutilized”.
However, no correction was made to reflect these very important self-contained Autism
rooms.

  • Did you know that McClellan has 19 Community Partnerships? The parents, teachers,
principals, and surrounding community have creatively solved many issues and
received necessary resources that CPS will not provide via these partnerships.

To continue the discussion that our community started and to continue to fight for our
schools and our community, we hosted a School Closings Meet-Up Workshop on February 19 at Benton House, two days before the Pershing Network's next “Community Engagement” meeting. Our goal was to keep everyone connected, to give an update on what was now happening, to allow schools time to work together to plan for the upcoming Network meeting, and to reiterate that we need to fight together. About 60 people attended and we accomplished quite a bit that night. 

There is still time to fight and get more schools off this list AND we need to fight as a community and say, “No school closures! No co-locations! No turnarounds! No school consolidations!”

On February 21, the Pershing Network hosted their 2nd round of meetings. There are 7
schools in our Network on this “first” list of potential school closures. At this meeting, our
Network split up the schools into three different areas of Fuller Park. 

McClellan, Parkman and Sherman were in the Main Auditorium. Graham and Hendricks were in the East Gym. Dewey and Libby were in the West Gym. It was an exhausting night trying to get from area to area to hear what the schools had to say and to show support to each of these schools in our community. Each school had 15 minutes to present information on their school. After the schools were done, there was time for community members to speak if they had signed up to do so. 

Many of these schools came out in force, wearing school T-shirts, and waving signs. They all had great things to share about their school and how it fits in their community.

Where are we at now? 

Well, we are all waiting for that final list due to come out on March 31. From there, there will be more “Community Engagement” meetings as we get closer to the late May CPS Board of Education meeting when the CPS BOE will make the final judgment on our schools. 

As for the BA, we continue to stay in touch with the schools in our community. We continue to meet with parents and educators and talk strategies. We continue to meet as an Education Committee on this issue and to discuss the bigger picture- How do we strengthen all of our schools? How do we get our entire community together to support these schools? Can we, as a community, come together and write a community plan
for education? 

We are planning to host more Education Forums over the coming months to educate our neighbors on issues that schools face and to encourage everyone to get involved
in our schools. 

We have really accomplished a lot in less than 2 months but there is still so
much more to do. 

If you'd like to get more involved, please contact Bridgeport Alliance at
bridgeportalliance@gmail.com. We look forward to working with you!

BA In the News

A great article in the Gazette features Jennie Biggs and Tom Gaulke:
“We parents have the strongest voices,” Biggs added. “We need to start using them.
Read it here! 

Also in the Gazette, Tom Gaulke on the systemic issues that are causing violence in our neighborhood.  Read it here!

BA in the News

Kevin Robinson on School Closings, Charters and Clout

CPS School Closings Plan Has South Side Schools Making Pitch to Stay Open

Public School Closings Could Harm Special Education Students, Critics Say

Southwest Side Braces for More CPS School Closings Forums

Ald. James Balcer: McClellan and Graham 'Should Not Close'

And, Claudia in the World Journal!

BA In the News

CPS Forum on School Closings Packs in Pershing Network Teachers, Activists

Teacher Meeting at Armour School Turns into Community Forum

Community Forum on School Closings - Bridgeport, Canaryville, Chinatown, Chicago

Elementary schools in our Chicago neighborhoods are at risk of being closed.

Join parents, students, leaders, and community members who want to keep our schools safe from school closings, and strengthen our schools for the future.

Learn what schools are at risk and what you can do about it and take action after the forum! We will attend the CPS meeting for our area immediately after the forum. A bus will leave First Trinity Church for Fuller Park and return after the action. Please contact Maria at maria@soulinchicago.org if you would like a space on the bus.

Sponsored by Bridgeport Alliance, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Raise Your Hand, the Chicago Teachers Union, Parents 4 Teachers, and First Lutheran Church of the Trinity.

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DNA Info - Bridgeport Parents Plan Rally Before CPS Utilization Forum