Police officer presence in schools (SROs), Replacing the School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP) system, General Iron
Hi, hello everyone! I’ll be covering todays Board of Education meeting for @CHIdocumenters, so stay tuned because today’s going to be a good one
11:10 AM Jul 27, 2022 CDT
The board will be voting on two big decisions today, a $10.2M contract with CPD and terminating several teachers, with two being active protestors of General Iron
The $10.2M contract is drastically less than their usual amounts of $30+ million before 2020, after over more than a third of schools voted to remove SROs from their campus
At schools with at least one SRO, principals have the discretion of rejecting officers placed on their campus and all officers will complete a series of trainings on youth crisis intervention, interactions with disabled and special education students, as well restorative practice
Most importantly, The contract would also forbid SROs from getting involved in routine disciplinary actions, students from being transported in cop cars unless under actual arrest, and will no longer be allowed to add students into the gang database.
https://news.wttw.com/2022/07/25/chicago-board-education-vote-10m-school-resource-officer-contract-renewal
The teachers facing being fired, Chuck Stark and Lauren Bianchi, are from Washington HS and say they’re being targeted for participating in protests against General Iron the past year
https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1552042939886583808
CPS claims the teachers committed policy violations and, “repeated instances of poor judgment and bias in their instructional roles and in their faculty adviser roles,” by providing rides to protests to students and offer credit for attending
The two heavily deny the claims and emphasize that students were involved in protesting General Iron on their own time
General Iron was set to be bought, rebranded and moved from Lincoln Park to the Southeast side, just a few blocks away from Washington HS
While at Lincoln Park, General Iron had been cited 11 times for pollution in just four months, and had two explosions in May of 2020.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-violated-residents-civil-rights-relocating-polluting-business-rcna39097
After several protests and a hunger strike, HUD found the move to be a case of environmental racism, with the City of Chicago consistently endangers black and latinx communities over their white counterparts when it comes to approving these contracts https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/07/26/2-george-washington-high-school-teachers-say-theyre-being-fired-in-retaliation-for-their-activism-against-general-iron/
Stark, a biology teacher, was apart of the month long hunger strike last year, and Bianchi, a sociology teacher, was arrested at a protest held at the Public Health Commissioners house in December. https://southsideweekly.com/stories-and-lessons-from-inside-the-general-iron-hunger-strike/
The meeting is officially started @ 10:33am beginning with attendance and Honoring Excellence
Todays honoring excellence is to the 31 students who have completed their Associates Degree while still in HS https://t.co/kQOSQcnbaH
Moving on to CEO Remarks Pedro Martinez answers several questions regarding the bus shortage and the stipends parents would be receiving for transportation
- How will you be considering safety for students that will have to take the CTA? https://t.co/K4o25ZOMk5
Jackson Potter, CTU vice president kicks off public commentary advocating against the termination of Washington high school teachers Stark and Bianchi. https://t.co/QqurCO2SdH
“Let me be clear,” says Potter. “They’re being accused of doing virtually what all civics teachers are required by the district and state law, what student voice committee coordinators are required to do.” https://t.co/2jaYBpnTpH
Many are bringing attention to the transportation issues the bus shortage has caused and call out the stipend program a band aid solution that barely helps disabled students https://t.co/LcbvTqLEAV
Coming back from recess at 1:26pm, the Whole School Safety plan presentation begins https://t.co/LS37EBNEpd
Presenting on summer engagement outcomes and plans, this summer has been one of the most successful ones CPS has had with over 90,000 students still enrolled in an activity https://t.co/QZs5bTNiXB
CEO Martinez ties the positives of this engagement presentation to the whole safety one, by emphasizing how school safety is actually a constant priority https://t.co/rPOS45ZSkw
Moving on to voted items, first the board will vote on rescinding their current School Quality Rating System
This policy’s been controversial for some time, with many considering it reductive for weighing test scores so heavily.
https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2022/2/23/22948107/chicago-public-schools-school-ratings-sqrp-accountability
This vote along with several others approving vendors has been approved
Voting on the $10.2m contract with CPD, Member Todd-Breeland is the only nay.
The contract is now approved and will be set from September 2022 - August 2023
