Last April, the city opened up public comments on the CPD's proposal to implement a new gang database. The comments obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show major discontent on CPD's plans to implement a new gang database. Alternatively, an overwhelming number of suggestions point to the need for solutions that center investment in public education and mental health resources instead of more systems of biased surveillance and criminalization. Last year, the Chicago office of Inspector general also published a partial audit of the Chicago Gang Database, confirming the information that community organizations have been highlighting for years: That it mostly targets Black and Latinx people (at 95% of the list), that it shares information with over 500 agencies, and that instead of being a tool to make communities safer, it is used to criminalize, intimidate, and denigrate Chicagoans. In response, the Chicago Police Department stated that they will only comply with a partial list of the recommendations, by creating a new gang database that is supposed to follow the guidelines but ignoring any grievances of people for the current gang database, with plans of continuing to share the inaccurate data with over 500 agencies indefinitely. Simply put, the research shows that we should not trust the police department to create a new gang database, without oversight, without input from experts, and against the recommendations from the Inspector General. There has been no guarantee that the issues identified with the Gang Database won't be replicated in the new one. Read the public comments here: http://bit.ly/CEDPublicComments Read memo here: http://bit.ly/MemoCEDPublic Find full OIG report here in English and Spanish: https://igchicago.org/2019/04/11/review-of-the-chicago-police-departments-gang-database/

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining their families in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many children. Leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir could have canceled both of these contracts. Its ICM contract was up for renewal on September 20, while its FALCON contract is up on November 27. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow moral considerations. Palantir has chosen profit over humanity. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. Earlier this year, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Duke to drop Palantir. Duke must refuse to support businesses that enable human rights abuses. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change the outcome of these tech companies. Duke: Drop Palantir #NoTech4Ice

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

My mom made it possible for me, an undocumented immigrant like herself, to attend and graduate from Pomona College in 2018, and to be accepted into Yale University’s prestigious History Ph.D. program. I am now on track to completing my PhD program at one of the nation’s top universities. But I can hardly study or think, knowing how much she is suffering. My mother also raised three phenomenal daughters, all of whom proudly work in the construction industry. My sisters, Saira, Driana, and Driany are also mothers, and their five beautiful children miss their doting “abuela” (grandmother) terribly. My mother is the bedrock of our family and community. An immigrant from rural Honduras, my mom has worked her whole life as a housekeeper, restaurant dishwasher, and construction worker so that my three siblings and I could have a better life than the one she lived back in Honduras, where she suffered from malnutrition, poverty, and very poor healthcare. Honduras lacks the proper facilities to treat my mother’s form of cancer, and has a severe shortage of treatment options for cancer survivors. She is profoundly religious and spiritual, and her Christian beliefs have led her to support others in the immigrant community. When she was diagnosed with cancer, she did not give up. In fact, her spirituality helped her survive, and she then built up the spirits of others struggling with cancer. Now she needs our community's help. My mother is strong, but she still needs adequate medical treatment and tolerable living conditions. The detention center has deprived her of regular medical follow-ups, and post-radiation and post-chemotherapy care. Detention doctors informed our mom that she now has a serious Vitamin B12 deficiency. We fear that her physical health is declining at an alarming rate. And if she is deported to Honduras, my mother would certainly face a decline in health, if not death. We urge ICE to be humane and release my mother to fight her case outside of detention and so she can fully recover from a long battle against cancer. We ask people to sign this petition. #ReleaseTaniaNow #LibertadParaTania Call ICE Director [Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Atlanta Field Office, Cesar Ciprian ([email protected]) Tel. (404) 893-1214] Here is a sample script: Hello, my name is _________, and I am calling to urge you to save the life of Tania Romero, A# 095-087-219, detained in Irwin County Detention Center, by releasing her to receive the medical treatment needed to heal from stage-4 cancer at home with her family. I believe she will abide by all the court dates and procedures. She deserves to process her case outside of detention in restorative conditions and among loving family and grandchildren. (Leave your name and zip code). You can also donate to our GOFUND.ME Page: https://bit.ly/2ouaazl For our press statement, see this link: https://bit.ly/2JtLgH5 Please share and repost this message to support our family. Thank you. Update: Checkout coverage by Spanish media, Univision Atlanta on my mother's story. https://bit.ly/2PvWNKa For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

The community asks for accountability and demand the following: DEMANDS: 1. We must hold both Principal Robert Miller and Superintendent Ventura accountable and demand transparency they must release a statement about the incident with the SRO and not ignore the impact it has caused students, teachers and concerned parents. 2. School must remove School Resource Officer Philip Vavrinec from school grounds. Isaac Middle School must change the culture of how we deal with conflict in Isaac Middle School by adding more counselors to help students on campus. 3. When we say, cultura not cops, we mean more ethnic studies programs, more teachers and counselors that have critical consciousness and the cultural competency training to empower and support students in order to create a well rounded learning environment. 4. We want an independent investigation of civil rights abuses at Isaac Middle School by School Resource Officers.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. Its ICM contract is up for renewal on September 20, while its FALCON contract is up on November 27. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. Earlier this year, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build it tools if we don’t work on it for them.

Palantir sells two tools to ICE. The first, Investigative Case Management (ICM), is “mission critical” to ICE’s efforts, according to government documents, and was used at the border to investigate the families and sponsors of children who crossed the border alone. The operation, designed specifically to dissuade children from joining family in the United States, resulted in the arrests of at least 443 people over 90 days. Its second tool, FALCON, is used by agents leading workplace raids, which increased by 650% during President Trump’s first year in office and arrest thousands of people every year just for being undocumented. During a raid in which ICE agents hit 7-11s nationwide, all agents were told to download Palantir’s FALCON mobile app for use during the raid. FALCON is used by agents who lead raids like those in Mississippi in early August 2019, when almost 700 people were arrested en masse during the first day of school for many, leaving some children without either parent when they came home; at least two children were left alone for eight days because both of their parents were arrested and detained by ICE. Palantir can cancel both of these contracts. It can, at any time, pledge to stop working for ICE going forward. We know Palantir workers, academics, and a wide coalition of ordinary citizens from Latinx and Jewish groups have called for the company to drop its contracts, but executives have ignored these calls, calculating that it’s better business for the company to stay close to the government than to follow ethical considerations. We hope they reconsider. There are dozens of schools represented by the students who have signed this pledge. All of us are committed to pursuing Palantir across our campuses. We will kick recruiters out of career fairs, protest company speakers on campus, and urge university administrators to drop the company’s sponsorship at every turn. We are not alone. In 2019, hundreds of academics pressured U.C. Berkeley to drop Palantir as a sponsor of a privacy scholars conference. In late August 2019, Lesbians Who Tech dropped Palantir as a sponsor of its annual conference, citing its work for immigration enforcement. Just two days later, the Grace Hopper Celebration, the largest conference for female tech workers worldwide, dropped Palantir as a sponsor just hours after learning of its role in human rights abuses. As more of us learn about Palantir’s work and refuse complicity in human rights abuses, the company’s recruitment will decline and its business will suffer. Palantir will become a pariah, shut off from academia and computer science talent unless it decides to change tack. Join us. If you are a student, sign below to tell Palantir you will not work with them while they build tools that enable human rights abuses. Through recruitment, seminars, and other events, we are funneled into tech companies that facilitate the detention and deportation of immigrants in the United States. Many students choose to work at tech companies immediately after graduation, and are thus either directly responsible or complicit in the violence tech companies facilitate on immigrants and refugees. We have the responsibility and the leverage to change this technology. They cannot build these tools if we don’t work on them. Note: This petition has been updated to change dates and reflect Palantir's public offering.

Between August 2018 and May 2019, Armando Arzate and his fellow workers at RSA Concrete put long hours of skilled labor into McMurray Middle School’s renovation, pouring concrete for new sidewalks, ramps, and other projects. Metro Nashville Public Schools contracted with Orion Building Corporation, their frequent construction partner, to oversee the project. Orion Building Corporation then subcontracted with Joe Haas Construction Company for cement work, and Joe Haas Construction hired Armando and his team (RSA Concrete). Despite having finished the job in May of 2019, Armando and his team are still seeking $43,000 they say they are owed for their work. Armando and the other workers, with the support of community members, MNPS parents, and Vanderbilt Divinity School students, have repeatedly requested that Joe Haas Construction and Orion Building Corporation do the morally right thing. This is not the first time that Orion’s subcontractor Joe Haas Construction has shafted workers. In July and August of this year, Armando and his team negotiated with Orion for $66,000 in unpaid work they performed at Vanderbilt University’s Divinity School. It became clear to all parties that Joe Haas was not paying the workers, and worse, that Joe Haas Construction did not use basic standards of entering into written contracts with their subcontractor. Finally, at the urging of the Vanderbilt University community, Orion paid the workers the full $66,000. We feel that this payment represents Orion’s acknowledgment of their responsibility for the mess they caused by their decision to contract with an unscrupulous subcontractor. But we still have a mess. Armando and his team are still seeking $43,000 for their work at McMurray Middle School. Representatives of Joe Haas have demonstrated to be dishonest and irresponsible. Why won’t Orion step up and take moral responsibility, even if they profited while some workers were not paid? Metro Nashville Public Schools needs to step in. We ask that MNPS superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle and the MNPS School Board ensure that our children's learning environments are built justly and fairly. We must set an example for our children. We ask that MNPS: 1) Make sure all construction workers and subcontractors on MNPS projects be fully paid for their labor 2) Hold general contractor Orion Building Corporation morally responsible for all laborers on their projects with MNPS. 3) Only enter into contracts with general contractors that use Surety Bonds or similar mechanisms that guarantee that everyone who works to improve our schools are fully paid. This should never have happened, and can be avoided in the future with this simple action.