6/14 10am Presser: Parents announce school boycott, dem

Media Alert: Press Conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY

June 14, 2013


What: Press conference: Parents announce school boycott, demand CPS reverse school closing

When: Friday, June 14, 10 a.m.

Where: Goodlow Elementary School, 2040 W. 62nd Street, Chicago

Who: Speakers: Melanie Goldman, Bobbie Brown, Michelle Clark, Goodlow parents


Parents to announce extended boycott, demand CPS keep Goodlow Elementary School open


CHICAGO 6/14 – In the Englewood neighborhood, parents of Goodlow Elementary School students will announce a school boycott until Chicago Public School agrees to keep the school open. Over 120 students have been kept out of school this week and more are expected to join the boycott on Monday.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS plan to close Goodlow and 49 other neighborhood schools at the end of the year and move students into nearby schools. Despite the facts that Goodlow has a science lab, computer lab and library, which are all of the resources that CPS is promising to closing schools. In CPS's recently released five-year plan, they promise to give all children access to Arts Education classes and access to more counselors, which Goodlow already offers. Goodlow has small class sizes with an average of less than 22 students per homeroom. CPS and Emanuel intend to close Goodlow and move students from nearby Earle Elementary School into the Goodlow building, which will lead to overcrowding for the combined students.

“Rahm Emanuel and CPS are telling us that they know what is best for our children and that we don't. The parents have no say in the situation,” Bobbie Brown, a Goodlow parent, said. “How are they going to fit all of these kids into a class? You can't pack kids together like that. How are they going to give us resources we already have? Is the reason our school is closing is to give our kids iPads? Are we supposed to be happy now?"

Brown noted that Goodlow already has all the programs and service CPS is promising to closing schools and the school is not underutilized. Additionally, Earle is not an academically-higher performing school than Goodlow.


Parents kept over 120 Goodlow students out of school this week and they are vowing to keep them out until CPS backs down on its plans to close the school.

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