ORDINANCE
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6 (a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the City has a duty to protect kids and a primordial interest in ensuring child and student safety; and
WHEREAS, in June 2018, the Chicago Tribune published an investigation titled "Betrayed," of Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) mishandling of sexual misconduct cases; and
WHEREAS, the investigation revealed that CPS failed to protect students and report misconduct claims to the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) or the Chicago Police Department (CPD) as required by law; and
WHEREAS, the investigation exposed systematic failures of child protection and showed that police had investigated 523 cases of sexual violence against students inside Chicago public schools since 2008; and
WHEREAS, one case specifically exposed a teacher who sent text messages via personal phone to a student asking inappropriate questions and was eventually arrested for charges including indecent solicitation of a child; and
WHEREAS, most recently on September 1, 2018 the Chicago Tribune revealed another case of sexual abuse in the CPS system, this time involving a trusted mentor and employee at an elementary school who has been accused of sexually abusing at least 19 boys; and
WHEREAS, the Tribune article states the employee had been seen at a party "coming on" to teenage boys who were students at the school where he first began volunteering, and would take students to his apartment where they could come and go at any hour of the day; and
WHEREAS, the article explains that the employee's apartment was open to male students where he would offer them meals and a place t...
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