JULY BOARD OF EDUCATION MEETING

SPEAKER SIGN-UP

• Advance Speaker Registration will open the Monday July 22nd  at 10:30 a.m. and close Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., or until all slots are filled. Advance Speaker Registration is available online at www.cpsboe.org, by calling 773-553-1600, or in person at 1 North Dearborn, Suite 950. 

OBSERVER REGISTRATION

Observer registration begins at 10:30 a.m. and close Tuesday at 5:00 p.m., or until all advance slots are filled. Advanced Observer Registration is recommended to assure your seat. Advanced registration is available online at www.cpsboe.org, by calling 773-553-1600, or in person at 1 North Dearborn, Suite 950.

There are 100 observer slots available for advance registration. If advance observer registration has filled or has closed, same-day, in-person observer registration is also available. Same-day, in person registration begins at 10:15 a.m. the day of the Board meeting in the lobby at 42 W. Madison (unless otherwise indicated). Please be aware that same-day, in-person observer registration is taken on a first come first served basis, and registrations will be taken as open seats are available.

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***If you cannot register to observe please contact us with the following information and we can register you:  Name, Address, Phone Number, Email Address

PRE-REGISTRATION INFORMATION

• Online sign up starts at 10:30am, Monday, July 22nd. Speaking spots can go quick so it's important to be at a computer at 10:30am sharp.

• Use this link to register to speak or to observe: www.cpsboe.org A button will pop up at the upper right when registration officially begins. Keep refreshing until you see it, then click on it. Then you come to a page where you can select if you want to attend "to observe" or "to speak." Click on the relevant one and follow the instructions: inputting name, address, phone number, email address, etc.

• Speakers can have others stand with them in support. Those people need to be registered observers. (You can also attend to just observe.) Follow #2 to "register to observe" the meeting.

•  You have exactly 2 minutes to speak.

• You can NOT speak 2 months in a row.

• No more than 2 people can speak on the same topic. (So be strategic... don't use "budget cuts' use "[Your School Name] Budget Cuts".)

•  No more than 2 people can speak from the same organization. (Again, be strategic.)

• The actual meeting is Wednesday, July 24th, at 10:30am at CPS, 42 W. Madison. It's very hard to say how long the meeting will be. You should plan on 4 hours. You can leave right after you speak.

• No food or drink is allowed in the Boardroom area. They search bags on your way in. No signs are allowed either.

• The agenda for the meeting posts at 10am the same day as sign up at the cpsboe.org website.

DETAILS

• The most important thing is to be organized.

• Observers can stand with each of the speakers. This is allowed & should be honored.

• Observers will most likely be in the overflow room, not the boardroom. They are right next to each other. Typically, just registered speakers are allowed in the boardroom.

• Observers will need to pay attention to the upcoming speakers (they are announced by the secretary; everyone will have a speaker's list BUT they don't call speakers up in order) 

• Observers can line up at the door of the overflow room and security will allow them to walk to & enter the boardroom.

• Speakers can delay starting their speech until your people standing with the speaker are in the board room.

• I think there is a rule that someone can only stand with 1 speaker but I have not seen that enforced. Also, since they put speakers together who have like topics, your standers can stay through all of the speakers. If they do break up your speakers into multiple times during the meeting, your standees should go each time. If they are denied going up, tweet about it and/or (if you are comfortable with it) make a stink about it. Chances are, they will then let them stand with the speaker.

• If you can tweet that day from the meeting, you should. Use the hashtag #cpsboard. If you can't tweet that's ok.