JUNE 26 - ACTION Right Now on CPS Accelerated Placement Act

May 30, 2019 irene gottlieb

The Accelerated Placement Act proposed Policy is supposed to be voted on by the CPS Board on June 26th at 10:30 AM. No one has a copy of the draft which will go before the board. What’s a big deal is that this is going to be a completely new board! The board will be likely sworn in on that very day and may have never heard of the policy before. There is no telling in advance about how much the board knows about gifted children or academically talented children, equity, and other issues around the Accelerated Placement Act.

We will be holding a free seminar about gifted advocacy in schools in general, Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at 6:30 PM in River North. CPS Accelerated Placement Act is definitely an item that we will cover. Please feel free to join us to discuss these new developments.

The new CPS Board may be sworn in on Wednesday, June 26th unless a special meeting is called. The agenda for that board meeting will be posted on Monday, June 24th at 10 AM. Advanced registration for speakers opens at 10:30 AM Monday, June 24th. Because this is a new board, expect that the speaker slots will “sell out” in seconds. The sign up and agenda will be here. The top improvement ideas (biggest overall impact, most in line with state law) over the draft that we saw in the CPS forums, some of which may be in the draft policy that will go before the board are here. The biggest thing is that no matter how small the policy impact and scope, as CPS is considering this a Phase I, is that it has to pass. If the people who drafted the policy put too much in, CPS Board may view the policy as too over-reaching, may view it as something that will take up too many resources, and not even pass it. Passing something is better than waiting another year for any accommodation. So, if you go that day to speak, try and get a hold of the policy draft ahead of time, to know what you are advocating for, and then just ask them to vote yes. That is, unless they added something that would be a big step back after the forums. CPS Board needs to hear from the gifted community, and it is in everyone’s interest that there is some policy instead of nothing at all. Drop us a note if you will be involved.

And if a future CPS Board member or even the Mayor is reading, let’s sit down with our State Gifted Organization, IAGC, and talk about ways to strengthen gifted education in this city. It does not cost extra and it’s in everyone’s best interest.

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