Join the National Week of Actions for Black
Lives Matter at Schools. Starting Monday, February 4th
educators in cities across the country will draw closer attention to four
national demands
An end of zero tolerance policies
Black students in CPS are overwhelmingly under punitive
school conditions that include metal detectors, armed police officers, and
booking facilities on school sites.
However, there are alternatives.
Last Year, CPS and CTU partnered to create 20 Sustainable Community
Schools (SCS). One of the pillars of the
SCS model is restorative justice, an alternative to zero tolerance policies and
practices in schools. Transformharm.org
is a new resource hub about ending violence.
Visit their site for more information, including curriculum, on
restorative justice.
More Black teachers
Nationally, 16 percent of k-12 students are Black, yet Black
teachers only make up 6 percent of the almost all-white teaching force. We know that school privatization and
closures negatively impact Black teachers.
Check out 9th grade teacher, David Jackson’s, article
on the importance of Black teachers.
Support more Black teachers in schools.
Black history and ethnic studies in every school
CPS requires ethnic studies in all schools but this is a
policy yet to be enforced. Ethnic
Studies provides all students, regardless of background, a context to explore
the lives of people of color. Students
of color rarely see themselves reflected in school curricula, Ethnic Studies
counters this white-centered mainstream narrative.
Counselors not Cops
Over 4.6 million students in U.S. schools attend schools
where there are no counselors, but there are police. In Chicago, 2/3 of students attend schools
with no librarian. In Chicago, 4.1
million dollars a day is spent funding the police and the city has plans to
build a 95 million-dollar police training facility. That money could go towards the hiring of
more counselors and counseling services for students under these traumatic
conditions. No Cop Academy in Chicago has resources for
educators.
