Parents of Piccolo
As I write this members of the Occupy Chicago Social Media
Team are supporting the Parents of Piccolo at Piccolo Elementary School, 1040
N. Keeler, in Chicago. The issue is simple. After years of neglect the Chicago
School Board is going to vote to approve dismissing all the teachers. The action
was started by a few parents yesterday afternoon at approximately 4:00 PM
yesterday (February 17, 2012). With the help of Occupy Chicago, the Parents of
Piccolo have release their statement.
Declaration #1 from Piccolo
occupation
11:49pm - February 17th, 2012
We, the Piccolo Occupation, are
putting our children’s education first. Piccolo has failed because CPS has
refused to invest in public education. The school has struggled for years but
you have taken out all the programs, classes and opportunities to learn. We
have had 3 principals in the last five years. We have not been able to work
with anyone on a long-term basis to address the chronic disinvestment in our
school. CPS and City Hall have failed us and our children. Your goal is to
privatize the education system by giving it to corporations that support the
mayor. We have been ignored, you have ignored our children and now you are
trying to make money off of them.
The Chicago Public Schools is in
violation of its own remediation and probation policy. CPS is in violation of
the Illinois School Code and the Illinois Civil Rights Act. CPS is in violation
of Illinois Senate Bill 630. Because of this, a moratorium has been introduced
in the Illinois Legislative Assembly by the School Facilities Taskforce.
We are
enacting our moratorium for ourselves with this sit-in due to the fact that CPS
not once has laid out the necessary corrective action for Brian Piccolo or
Paolo Cassals along with the Local School Councils for getting them off of
probation during the last five years. The School Improvement Plans for Academic
Achievement (SIPAA) at these two schools have lacked the budgetary resources to
bridge the achievement gap of our student populations. Further, the SIPAAs
along with the budgets at the time of their signings have not had real
community input.
Therefore, these actions could very
well be civil rights violations. At the recent CPS hearings, the former
principle of Cassals testified that not once in the last five years had CPS met
with her nor with the LSC about any of the necessary corrective action for Paola
Cassals to be removed off of probation.
Because CPS (Chicago Public
Schools) has been not willing to meet with or listen to us, this is what we
want:
1) A meeting with Mayor Rahm
Emanuel
2) A meeting with at least five of
the Chicago School Board members present
3) The removal of Piccolo and
Cassals from the turnaround list
The situation is fluid....
Parents, Students, Teachers and the Social Media and
Streaming team of Occupy Chicago are standing ground under the threat of
arrest. I do hope Rahm is so very proud of himself in his sellout of the people
of Humboldt Park.
@OccupieChicago Live Stream.
Update February 14, 2012 4:15 PM CST
After 20 hours of Occupation, the Parents of Piccolo, accompanied by the Occupy Chicago observers, exited the building with a promise from the Chicago School Board of Education to meet with them, and discuss their concerns. No arrest were made.
Good Work, Parents of Piccolo and Occupy Chicago!
Update February 14, 2012 4:15 PM CST
After 20 hours of Occupation, the Parents of Piccolo, accompanied by the Occupy Chicago observers, exited the building with a promise from the Chicago School Board of Education to meet with them, and discuss their concerns. No arrest were made.
Good Work, Parents of Piccolo and Occupy Chicago!
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