Speech for 7/4 Rally: The Fight Against Austerity
Below is the copy of a speech I gave during a rally against Austerity outside Mayor Emanuel's home. Here are a couple links to news coverage of the event here, here, and here.
Hello! Happy Independence Day!
My name is Katie Osgood and I am a teacher. I teach at a psychiatric hospital here in the city, working with students from all over the Chicagoland area and of all ages including hundreds of CPS students. And in my hospital, I have seen directly the impact of Rahm Emanuel’s terrible school policies. We are seeing higher rates of depression, suicide attempts, school refusal, family conflict, anxiety, and aggressive behaviors all directly related to current school policies in this city.
To put it bluntly, CPS’s policies are hurting children. When you viciously close schools, slash budgets-including taking money for social workers, smaller