High School Walkouts and Rally Today

FOR IMMEDIATELY RELEASE!!! Shut Down the Failed System

Nidalis Burgos, 18 Lincoln Park High School nidalisb1@gmail.com 

Sabah Hussain,  Lane Tech College Prep   773-961-6029   

Sarah Jesterk, Walter Payton College Prep  sarjester@gmail.com 

Students from Chicago Public Schools all over the city, will gather at 100 W Randolph St on June 10th at 3:30 pm. The students will first walk out of their classrooms and arrive at the Thompson Center with their respective schools. The walkouts will happen at different times throughout the day in the afternoon of the schop’day. Students will be leading, delivering speeches, and showcasing the positive aspects of the schools that would be cut with the proposed budget cuts.

After the report of millions being cut from each and every school in Chicago, it's clear that the only plan the officials have for our education is failure. Over the years CPS schools have continuously been under attack, from school closures to staff layoffs. This demonstration is concentrated on the stalled budget announcement implemented by Bruce Rauner. Chicago Public School students will not settle to be labeled as failures. At this demonstration students will demand better learning environment and appropriate funding for all schools. With numbers the students of Chicago Public Schools will achieve our demand.

There are schools without hygienic products and no room in classrooms, but what has become even more evident is a city run by individuals who care only in front of the cameras. Numerous principals from all around the city have had to divert meager resources-that were meant to be used to improve the quality of the school- to simply keeping the doors open, but our city’s administrators are too busy searching for the doors that will get them re-elected.

Students are here today to open those school doors, prepared to show the world how much they value their education even though our elected and unelected officials do not. 

Sarah Jester, a student from Walter Payton, states that, “"We live in a state where our governor calls our schools 'crumbling prisons' but refuses to actively improve public education. We live in a city where our corrupt mayor appoints only his good friends to our Board of Education, although boards are usually elected in many other districts.” 

In addition, Lane Tech junior, Sabah Hussain notes, “The power of the people is stronger than the people in power”. 

Lincoln Park senior, Nidalis Burgos adds, "this is where the bullying starts and ends, where students come together is where the politicians come to a halt. this is our education they're toying with, and we refuse to allow it. we understand the state is monstrous for denying our funding, but we can't forget about the monsters in our city: mayor Rahm Emanuel and the CPS board of education. we're here today to prove to everyone in office that we are not to be labeled as failures and surpassed."