Parents of closing school lead voter registration drive and rally in an effort to defeat Mayor Rahm Emanuel

CHICAGO, IL – Parents and students of Sexton Elementary School, a Woodlawn School slated for closure, will rally at 61^st and Cottage Grove and register voters, in an early effort to vote out Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

“School closings will lead to more violence” says Marilyn Harper, parent at Sexton Elementary School, “closing Sexton will force children and their relatives to cross gang lines and will result in violence”. Harper says that they are registering voters because “school closings are not about making our school better, they are about privatization and the mayor and his band of puppets making money; we need to vote him out of there.”

Four students and community members were arrested last month protesting the closing of Sexton Elementary. Protestors held a die-in along 61^st and Cottage Grove, a gang line which students will be forced to cross when Sexton closes.

WHAT: Parents of closing school lead voter registration drive and rally

WHEN: Mon. 6/24 3:30pm

WHERE: 61th & Cottage Grove

WHO: CPS Parents United and community allies

For more information, contact: Alex Goldenberg (773) 543-9153