Teachers In District 86 Plan Rally To Support Students

JOLIET, IL —From 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 13, teachers from Joliet Public Schools District 86 will be rallying on four sites within the city.

Laura Jackson has been a teacher at Singleton Elementary for eight years and she and a group of about 10 educators wanted to turn out for their students.

“We’re focusing on our students and their lives,” she said. “We wanted our students to see us in the community.

“We want them to know that we see them and we hear them and we love them.”

Joliet School District 86 has four middle schools spread throughout the city. The four rally locations are based on the locations of the middle schools. They are as follows:

The corner of Ingalls Avenue and Larkin Avenue, Hufford Junior High; Jefferson Street and Midland Avenue, Dirksen Junior High; Briggs Street and Washington Street; Gompers Junior High (this location is in front of Culbertson Elementary for traffic flow issues. And 4th Street and Richards Street; Washington Junior High & Academy.

Jackson said she chose the word rally specifically.

"Sometimes a protest has a negative connotation - rally is about bringing people together, uniting towards a common cause," she said. "We are about building bridges, not tearing people down.

"We believe when we acknowledge a problem, we need to educate ourselves, engage in conversation, get comfortable being uncomfortable so that we can shed light on the injustices and inequalities and come alongside and support (the) Black and African-American community."

In addition to being there for her students, Jackson has a personal reason for wanting to plan a rally.

“My family dynamics have been affected throughout our lives. My husband is African-American and my children are biracial,” she said. “I have been a voice from behind the scenes.
“As an educator I think it is our responsibility to see our students to hear our students and to know about our students’ lives.”

To that end, when planning the events, Jackson sought out the help of other teachers.

“I am the one who actually came up with the idea and reached out to people who I knew were gifted in many areas and asked if they would come along for the ride and everyone was very willing,” she said.

Initially there were seven teachers and six had taught together at Singleton Elementary. The teachers decided on four locations so they could stand with the students they teach.

“We wanted our students to see us in the community,” she said. “We’ve got our Eastside teachers and we want them to be represented on the East side.”

Jackson said the hope is that teachers for each individual school would attend a rally at the middle school where their students attend or will attend, but that teachers are welcome to attend a rally at any of the four locations.

Jackson said those not able to attend can still participate by photographing themselves in front of their schools and using the hashtag #BREATHE_teacherstrong. Breathe is an acronym for Be Respectful, Educated, An Advocate, Trusting, Healer, Empowered.
For more information on the group or the rally, visit their Educators for Students Facebook Page, the Educators for Students Rally event page or follow them on Twitter.