CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings
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| Rousemary Vega (r.), her husband and daughter holed themselves in Lafayette Elementary School after its last day of school ever last summer. They both have been banned from Chicago Board of Education meetings. |
DOWNTOWN — When Rousemary Vega screamed at a Chicago Board of Education member and called him a "coward" during a meeting, and her husband fought with security guards as the couple were escorted out, they joined a small list of activists who have been barred from CPS meetings in the past year.
Since December, the district has banned four people from attending the typically contentious meetings, documents obtained by DNAinfo Chicago through a Freedom of Information Act request show. They are the first people banned from the monthly meetings — including one Wednesday — at 125 S. Clark St. under rule changes implemented in August 2013.
Ben Woodard explains how he got the blacklist and why people are on it:
The set of guidelines issued by board president David Vitale dictate the terms of public participation at board meetings and prohibit "unsolicited comments and disruptive behavior. ... If any individual is removed from a meeting as a result of disruptive behavior, then the individual may forfeit their right of reentry to future Chicago Board of Education meetings."
A CPS spokeswoman said the rules "ensure that the public's right to be informed of the Board's proceedings and actions is honored, and not impeded."
In addition to Vega and her husband Jesus Ramos, the other bans were issued after one man allegedly got into an altercation with a speaker at a meeting, while another man allegedly threatened to go to an administrator's CPS Blacklist: Meet the People Banned From Board of Education Meetings - Downtown - DNAinfo.com Chicago: