Thread by @il_fps

Press conference starting shortly calling on @DonHarmonIL to let the elected school board bill have a floor vote in the Senate like he promised. We'll live tweet it here.

Labor leaders standing with elected, parents, community orgs and teachers @AFTunion, @J1Ramann, @SigchoFor25, SEIUHC,

@brothajitu of @KOCOmmunity & @J4J_USA: Mayor Lightfoot who said she would be different and support an elected board wants a hybrid that she controls

Brown: The senate president @DonHarmonIL who said he would be different and would stand with labor is refusing to call a bill

Next up Bob Reiter, @chicagolabor: the appointed board just represents the mayor's office. There is no reason why this school district should be different than any other district in IL. Parents need to elect their representatives

Reiter @chicagolabor: The time is now to rectify not just the restriction of bargaining rights [that passed yesterday]; this is a century old travesty in Chicago that the board is not elected.

Next up @rweingarten, @AFTunion: I have been around for a long time & seen reforms cycle around the country. But mayoral control stifles democracy and doesn't create resources or allow community voices to be heard

@rweingarten: It shouldn't have taken a hunger strike to get Dyett HS the resources parents and students wanted and needed

@rweingarten: The elected school board was intended to go side-by-side with the bargaining bill. These two bills need to go together.

@rweingarten: @DonHarmonIL was terrific on the bargaining bill, but the business community is influencing him to block this bill and preventing parents from having rights

@brothajitu: the overwhelming number of districts that don't have democratic control with an elected board are majority Black & brown. This is voter suppression #hb2267

Next up Alderman @J1Ramann of the 20th Ward: what we have said for two decades is that Black and Latinx families don't deserve to have control over their schools

@J1Ramann: District is currently ignoring communities most impacted by pandemic. Taxpayers and parents who look like me aren't valued.

@J1Ramann: We need an elected representative school board *yesterday*. I have been fighting for this for 10 years. others on this call have been fighting for 25 years #ERSBnow Call your legislators!

@brothajitu: Why are Chicago politicians afraid of democracy? It is the business community. Same people who had Daley put it into place in the first place

@brothajitu: Opportunity gap has grown under this form of school governance. Equity must be determined by those who are most impacted by inequity

Next up Greg Kelley, SEIU Healthcare IL-IN, and CPS parent: the families with children in the Chicago Public Schools deserve better!

Next up @SharkeyCTU1--@brothajitu says that Jesse Sharkey has been working with community since 2006 to get an elected school board bill when he partnered with Jitu and others to pass out flyers about the appointed board at the Bud Billiken parade that year

@SharkeyCTU1: plan to privatize Chicago Public Schools was developed 20 years ago in private without the input of families and communities. We need democracy in our public schools.

Next @ByronSigcho: In times like this when democracy is under attack and we see the consolidation of white supremacy at the highest levels of government, if there is any other time that representation matters is now

@ByronSigcho: we need a voice to parents, families, educators. Reopening plan is perfect example. Elected school board is the say to give communities of color a voice.

@ByronSigcho: @chicagosmayor promised Chicago a fully elected school board and got elected on that promise. She was supposed to be different from the previous mayor @RahmEmanuel

@ByronSigcho: If this bill doesn't pass, it will be devastating for families who have been strung along by the @ChicagoMayor #ERSBnow

@brothajitu: Legacy of mayoral control: Only 1 out of 5 schools that have replaced closed schools perform well. Vast majority of charters underperform district schools. 250K Black people have been pushed out of Chicago bc of lack of housing and lack of schools

@brothajitu: over 40 Senators support this bill. We call on @DonHarmonIL to call this bill! #ERSBnow #HB2267

Media question: Why not a hybrid model?

@brothajitu: We don't have a hybrid legislature or a city council. The school board levies taxes. It should be elected.

@brothajitu: We need to take a more critical look at the results of the appointed board. A hybrid board controlled by the mayor is no different than a mayoral appointed board.

@chicagolabor's @BobReiterJr: A fully elected school board will provide democracy and it won't prevent the mayor from working in partnership with the Board of Ed. A hybrid model is just a way to hide power

@BobReiterJr: once we have one, every level of government would work with the elected board to make sure Chicago students succeed. Just like they work with the MWRD board

@rweingarten: Just the last few weeks show alarmingly the problems of not giving families a voice. You can't say that there can be accountability via a mayoral election; voters vote on many things in those elections.

@rweingarten: Appointed board has not brought labor peace. Strikes, hunger strikes show how a mayor alone is not responsive to the needs and the will of communities #ERSBnow #HB2267

@brothajitu: we are also joined today by comm orgs @PilsenAlliance, @KOCOmmunity @EnlaceChicago, @BPNCchicago, @ActionNowChi, @ILRaiseYourHand, @LSNAChicago, @SWOPorg

Media question: Have you seen any movement since Sunday?

Since Sunday bill moved last night to third reading

Question: why *hasn't* @DonHarmonIL called HB2267?

Brandon Johnson: Business interests are trying to block democracy. Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago

Also here in support of @DonHarmonIL calling HB2267 for a vote locals of @ueunion @CCCTU_Local1600 @atucomm #ERSBNow

Watch the whole thing at: facebook.com/80979529911613…