{"id":152071,"date":"2025-08-17T02:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T02:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/152071\/"},"modified":"2025-08-17T02:54:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T02:54:10","slug":"chicago-teachers-union-hosts-back-to-school-summer-jam-before-chicago-public-schools-students-return-to-class-monday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/152071\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Teachers Union hosts Back-to-School Summer Jam before Chicago Public Schools students return to class Monday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; It&#8217;s hard to believe, but the summer is just about over for Chicago Public Schools students. Classes start Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">On Saturday, the Chicago Teachers Union helped CPS families get ready.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/watch\/live\/11064984\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24\/7. Click here to watch<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Students, teachers and parents alike were jamming in the street outside the CTU HQ on the Near West Side ahead of the first day of school on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We are really excited to be out here today,&#8221; said Dr. Diane Castro,  CTU&#8217;s newly-elected financial secretary. &#8220;It&#8217;s a joyful, gorgeous day to be out in Chicago. Really welcoming them back to a wonderful new school year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The CTU hosted its third annual Back-To-School Summer Jam, giving back to the community as families gear up to start the new school year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;We&#8217;re going to continue fighting, fighting for the rights of every student in this district, so we&#8217;re really excited to be here,&#8221; Dr. Castro said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">SEE ALSO | <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/abc7chicago.com\/post\/cps-news-battle-brewing-pension-payment-chicago-public-schools-budget-proposed\/17538529\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Battle brewing over pension payment after Chicago Public Schools budget proposed<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;There&#8217;s a part of me that&#8217;s of course excited but you know kids have been idle,&#8221; CTU member and parent Ashley Harris said. &#8220;But there&#8217;s a part of me that&#8217;s pretty nervous or whatever because as an educator I understand what the classrooms are looking like.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Harris says she wants her students to know they are being taken care of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;More than ever we need parents, communities and all stakeholders to come together to make sure our students have access to an equitable education,&#8221; Harris said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Families at the Back-to-School Summer Jam were treated to books, haircuts, physicals, vaccinations and more.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;It&#8217;s great but sad. She&#8217;s my last child that&#8217;s going into seventh grade,&#8221; parent Antoinette Palmer said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Palmer is feeling bittersweet about the start of the new school year, but says she grateful the CTU is helping off on a positive note.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I feel like it gives them a happy mindset,&#8221; Palmer said. &#8220;Like, it gets them in the mindset that this school year is going to be great and have fun right before. These are the teachers that are going to be teaching you and they are providing this so it helps them understand they are dedicated to them learning.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">The CTU and CPS families are getting the school year started on the right foot.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2025 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO (WLS) &#8212; It&#8217;s hard to believe, but the summer is just about over for Chicago Public Schools&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":152072,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[89133,960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-152071","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-89133","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-il","11":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115041852838847752","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}