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AUSTIN WEEKLY news ■
Vol. 31 No. 48
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Austin library patrons should brace for temporary closures,
December 13, 2017
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austinweeklynews.com
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Also serving Garfield Park
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Austin A ti celebrates l b t the th holidays, page 9
Austin school to stay open Board of Ed votes to renew Plato Learning Academy’s contract for 2 years By XUEER ZHANG AustinTalks
Parents and faculty of Plato Learning Academy are relieved their school will remain open after the Chicago Board of Education voted to renew Plato’s contract for two years. The K-8 contract school, which has two campuses in Austin, was being considered for closure after Chicago Public Schools placed it on the academic warning list earlier this year, AustinTalks reported. “It’s a great relief,” said Linda Christian, 65, whose grandchildren Kamron and Kiaun Garth have been attending Plato since the family moved to Austin four years ago. “They are A students; they are getting along at Plato,” Christian said after the board voted on Dec. 6 to renew Plato’s contract, which was set to expire June 30, 2018. Charles Williams, who took over as Plato’s principal in August 2016, made a public appeal before the school board Wednesday, urging them to vote “yes” on a two-year contract renewal that CPS recommended after months of consideration. Williams said Plato is “committed to delivering a high-quality instruction to all of our students.” “We’ve already begun to work … to not only reach the goals at the beginning of this year designed to enrich our class, but also started exploring methods of meeting conditions that we’re sure are in our contract,” he said. See PLATO ACADEMY on page 6
ALEXA ROGALS/Staff Photographer
IN SOLIDARITY: Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia joins Brandon Johnson, center, a candidate for the 1st District commission seat, and Anthony Steward, of Black Workers Matter, outside of an Aryzta bakery in Galewood on Dec. 11.
Workers, activists protest Galewood bakery After mass layoff of immigrants, Cloverhill’s now abusing blacks, they say
By MICHAEL ROMAIN Editor
Former and current workers at a Galewood bakery, along with various activist groups, say that recent reports about the bakery’s losing more than one-third of its employees in an immigration clampdown have obscured the bakery’s history of labor abuses — which, the workers and activists claim, include wage theft, unlawful termination and racial discrimination.
Bloomberg first reported last month that the Cloverhill Bakery, 2035 N. Narragansett Ave., which makes baked goods for restaurants and grocery stores, lost 800 employees after federal authorities came down hard on immigrant workers “without sufficient documentation.” Bloomberg reported that Cloverhill’s immigration issues “led to a 7 percent decline in Aryzta’s sales from North America in the three months through October,” according to information provided by Kevin Toland, the CEO of Zurich-based Aryzta AG,
in a call with analysts. Cloverhill, which opened in 1961, was bought by Arytza in 2014. In addition to McDonald’s hamburger buns, Cloverhill also produces cheap packaged products like glazed donuts and honey buns. Bloomberg, in addition to multiple media reports, called the immigration action a “raid,” but according to Tracy Stecko, an Aryzta spokesperson, the immigration en-
Austin Chamber of Commerce on the move... 773.854.5848 • www.austinchicagochamber.com
See ARYZTA PROTESTS on page 4