Chalkbeat

Chicago Public Schools is in new era for negotiations with the CTU. What could it mean for schools?

2024-03-06T22:24:06+00:00

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When former Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey thinks about the dynamics between City Hall and the union, he flashes back to 2011. That’s when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended a decision to cancel pay raises for teachers by saying they got other types of salary boosts, while “our children got the shaft.”

The stinging quip illustrates how contentious contract negotiations and the relationship between the CTU and city officials were back then, ultimately leading to a weeklong teachers strike in 2012, said Sharkey, who currently sits on the union’s executive board.

After years of thorny relationships with district officials and mayors who did not align with the union on how to improve or support schools, the CTU is expected to begin bargaining this spring over a new contract with a district that now answers to Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher who rose to power as a CTU organizer.

“This is going to be a struggle because the culture in Chicago with the public schools and the teachers union is a culture of ‘No,’ and ‘Make me,’ and ‘OK,’” current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said during a City Club speech Tuesday. “That’s different from what we are embarking on this time. We’re saying, ‘How might we?’ That’s a different question.”

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Damen Alexander said the district “looks forward to negotiating a fair contract that balances both the interests of the District’s hard-working educators and our duty to be fiscally responsible.”

A City Hall spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

The latest contract talks will come amid massive change for Chicago Public Schools. The first-ever school board elections will take place this fall and a 21-member partially elected board will take office next January. And bargaining will happen as the district attempts to fill a projected $391 million budget deficit for next year, after four years of being buoyed by $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief dollars that will soon run out.

Amid those challenges, the union has a strong ally in office.

The CTU was Johnson’s largest campaign donor, and Davis Gates introduced him at his victory party.

Before the union propelled one of its own into the mayor’s office, the teachers union regained some bargaining power in 2021 when state legislators passed a law that restored its right to bargain over a broader set of issues — such as class size or the length of the school day — which had been restricted since 1995.

Still, Johnson signaled on the campaign trail that he would face “tough decisions” as mayor in negotiations with the CTU and wouldn’t be able to meet all of the union’s demands.

“So who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?” he said during a mayoral forum last year.

But the Johnson administration has already overseen policy changes the union counts as victories, including expanded parental leave for CTU members, a promise to remove school resource officers by next school year, and a commitment to rethink school choice policies.

The union’s House of Delegates, made up of hundreds of educators across the city, is scheduled to vote Wednesday on proposals crafted by the union’s various committees and developed as a response to what CTU members said they wanted to see in the next contract, according to the union.

Those proposals include a wide range of ideas, from pay raises and housing assistance for teachers to providing affordable housing and support for homeless students and their families.

While union officials acknowledge that things are different this time around, they have also emphasized that Johnson does not “have a magic wand” and pushed back against the idea that the union will get everything it asks for.

“I think it is ridiculous for anyone to think that the Black man on the fifth floor who comes from the progressive movement has fairy dust to sprinkle to end this quickly,” Davis Gates said in an interview with Chalkbeat last month. “There is an entire bureaucracy that has been hired and trained to tell the Chicago Teachers Union, ‘No.’”

Joe Ferguson, president of Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said the mayor can’t meet all of the union’s demands because “the money isn’t there for it.” He said the public deserves to hear from the board and the mayor on where they’ll draw the line.

“Where those boundaries are, nobody can say,” Ferguson said.

Past tensions between CTU and City Hall prompted strikes

Over the past decade, contract negotiations between CPS and the CTU have resulted in two strikes that garnered national attention and inspired education labor fights around the country.

In 2012, after months of simmering disagreement and the city skipping a raise for teachers, the union went on strike for seven days at the start of the school year. Emanuel had pushed for a longer school day and embraced education reform ideas sweeping the country at the time, including a new way to evaluate teachers, which the union strongly opposed. He also refused to bargain over issues like class size, which at the time, state law did not require CPS to do.

An 11-day strike happened in 2019 under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who the union had initially expected to align with more than Emanuel. The union was fighting for “common good” ideas that exceeded the scope of a teacher’s daily duties but were meant to improve students’ and families’ lives, such as ensuring that every school had a nurse, social worker, and librarian. The contract ultimately locked in some of those demands, as well as other wins, such as a $35 million fund to help reduce class sizes, but ultimately, the long strike left many teachers and families frustrated.

Those sour dynamics appear to be gone with Johnson’s election, said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who co-wrote a book about CTU’s 2012 strike.

“Both parties believe that the other party understands and would be respectful of each other’s perspectives, which certainly wasn’t the case with the two previous mayors or even the previous CEOs — and we’ve gone through a few of them in Chicago,” he said.

Sharkey noted that Johnson’s priorities include many ideas the union agrees with and gave rise to, such as creating more sustainable community schools that provide wraparound services to families. His campaign platform also closely mirrored a document CTU first put out in 2012 titled “The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve,” which was updated in 2018 and most recently, in 2022.

In general, the union has found that working with the district has been easier and more receptive since Johnson has taken office, according to Sharkey and Davis Gates.

But Davis Gates said she expects plenty of disagreement because she still feels that the agency has a bureaucracy “that cannot collaborate, that does not say yes, and has a difficult time understanding how to partner with us.”

Union again pushing ‘common good’ demands

The union is expected to push for cost-of-living raises that keep up with or exceed inflation and a more uniform overtime pay policy, according to proposals leaked to conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute, which a CTU spokesperson confirmed are real. The union also wants changes to the teacher evaluation process, including to codify that evaluations cannot be used for layoffs.

Proposals also include codifying health care policies, such as gender-affirming care, paid parental leave for employees, abortion coverage, and access to weight loss medical care, such as bariatric surgery.

In a more novel demand, the union will also push for housing assistance for its members, but the leaked proposal doesn’t include more details on how that would be done. Under Emanuel, the city offered assistance to police officers who wanted to buy homes in the areas they worked in, but few officers took advantage of the program.

In the classroom, the union is expected to renew a push to give elementary school teachers more preparation and collaboration time during the school day, Sharkey said. That was a major demand in the 2019 contract negotiations that largely did not come to fruition – and could again be difficult to secure this time around given the complicated logistics of tweaking a school day.

Union officials also expect proposals around bilingual services for students, including on attracting staff and expanding access to bilingual training for teachers, and retaining more special education staff. Both bilingual and special education are teacher shortage areas.

Davis Gates said they’ll continue demanding a librarian and nurse be staffed at every school.

Separately, union officials are expecting to push for more common good items, Davis Gates said. This will include creating a career and technical education program that would involve building houses for homeless students and their families, according to the leaked proposals.

Common good proposals will also include creating more sustainable community schools, Davis Gates said. The union is also interested in pushing for more “green” – or energy efficient – schools, such as by installing more solar panels. The district is already planning to purchase 50 electric school buses.

CPS’s budget deficit could complicate negotiations

Contract talks will begin as the district plans for its budget next year, which is projected to be $391 million in the hole. That could make costly union proposals a tough sell for the district.

District officials have for months publicized the budget deficit as federal COVID relief dollars run out. The district can either cut programming or find more money, which officials want to do by demanding more funding from the state.

Bruno, the labor expert, said it is a good sign the union agrees that Springfield should provide more money, because that means all negotiating parties agree on a solution to a significant problem.

However, Ferguson, from the Civic Federation, has little hope that more money is coming, in part because of what appears to be a “frayed” relationship between City Hall and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office. Pritzker recently proposed a budget that provides the same increase to K-12 funding as last year. And because CPS’s deficit is driven by the loss of COVID relief dollars, this year’s negotiations are “a fairly unique stew,” he said.

“There have been deficits being faced in the past [and] constraints on funding sources, but none that have come in this particular context, where not only is there a question of, where is more money coming from, but it also comes at a moment when we all know that recent existing streams are going to end,” Ferguson said. “And it has also been made abundantly clear by Springfield, by the governor, that there is no money to be gotten from the state.”

Union officials said they don’t yet know the price tag of their proposals, and they don’t expect to propose “money-saving” ideas. But Sharkey said they’ll have ideas on how the district can fund their proposals “and would expect the board to try to work with us on that.”

Asked how the district’s financial picture will impact its approach to negotiations, a CPS spokesperson pointed to the district’s budget deficit and said the district must be “fiscally responsible.”

Even with financial challenges, Sharkey said he expects the union and the district to work out disagreements in a more timely manner, unlike past negotiations that were “unproductive for months.”

Davis Gates said CTU continues to see its contract as “leverage for the common good,” has “high expectations” for upcoming negotiations, and is hoping for more agreement that will finally deliver on the CTU’s push to get schools more resources.

At the City Club speech this week, in a room full of business leaders, educators, and philanthropists, Davis Gates said she expects people to be skeptical that the mayor is going to “give CTU everything it’s asking for.”

“I hope he does,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago is getting an elected school board. What questions do you have?

2024-02-06T22:22:30+00:00

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Less than a year from now, Chicago Public Schools will swear in its first elected school board members.

Chicago’s elected school board is coming soon. Here’s what you need to know.

But even with a firm swearing-in date of Jan. 15, 2025, many unanswered questions still remain about the election on Nov. 5 that would usher in those new board members — and how the board will function once in place. State law says 10 members will be elected this year, but lawmakers are debating whether to elect all 21 now. (Mayor Brandon Johnson recently asked the legislature to ensure that just half are elected this year, the Sun-Times reported.)

The state legislature must also finalize district boundaries for school board members. Lawmakers appear to have agreed on a third draft of the map last November.

Once members are sworn in next January, what’s next? How will the board work in comparison to the appointed board it will replace?

Chalkbeat Chicago wants to hear your questions about the upcoming school board elections and the elected school board. We’ll aim to answer your questions through our reporting as we follow campaigns and elections this year.

Answer the survey here or fill it out below. We will not use your name in our reporting without your permission.

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Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Who’s the boss? Chicago principals report to many different people.

2024-02-27T20:48:12+00:00

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During Femi Skanes’ 10 years as a Chicago principal, her boss was primarily a district official known as a network chief, she said. Alan Mather, who was also a principal for a decade, says he answered to then-Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan.

Many principals in Chicago also feel their Local School Council, or LSC, is a boss, while others view the council as more of a partner.

Principals are the leaders of their schools and staff. But in Chicago, multiple entities have power over principals. Later this year, Chicagoans will begin electing school board members, marking another shift in control over the city’s school system, which has been run by the mayor and a hand-picked CEO since 1995 and by a decentralized system of elected LSCs since 1988.

The city’s principals have unionized in hopes of creating more job protections for a role that has seen high turnover in recent years.

“Right now it’s kind of the wild wild west,” said Cynthia Barron, program coordinator and assistant professor with UIC’s Urban Education Leadership Program. “We’re kinda all waiting to see what’s going to happen.”

Barron, who spent more than three decades at CPS, said she doesn’t foresee immediate changes as a result of unionization or an elected school board. But, given that details around the future principals union contract and the elected school board are still being ironed out, she said there are “so many unknowns.”

How Chicago principals ended up with many bosses

Those unknowns — as the principals union takes root and the city moves to an elected school board — may disrupt an already complicated hierarchy.

As it stands now, a Chicago principal’s direct supervisor is the head of their network — the geographic area their school is organized under — and they are also accountable to their Local School Council, or LSC, a unique-to-Chicago elected body at most schools made up of parents, teachers, students, and community members, that can hire principals. Both have different hiring and firing powers.

Local School Councils were created in 1988 under the state’s Chicago School Reform Act, which gave LSCs the power to hire principals, approve school budgets, and approve annual school improvement plans.

The state amended that law in 1995 in an effort to centralize and improve the city’s school system. Lawmakers voted to keep LSCs but mandated training for them. The changes also gave the mayor sole authority over appointing the school board and replaced the superintendent title with “chief executive officer” — which stands today.

Today, LSCs can hire a principal and offer them a four-year contract. They can decide to keep the principal or fire them when their contract is up for renewal.

Network chiefs, on the other hand, work for the district and are tasked with ensuring that schools are complying with district policies and meeting academic and instructional goals, according to interviews with school leaders. Network chiefs answer to district leaders who report to the CEO, the Board of Education president, and the mayor. School leaders can also turn to their chiefs when they need extra support.

Both chiefs and LSCs use a similar rubric to evaluate principals annually. Only network chiefs can fire principals at any time for just cause.

Though LSCs hold power over principals, they do not have the same connection to district officials and the school board that a network chief does. It’s also not clear how they’ll interact with the school board once it expands and includes elected members.

Froy Jimenez is a member of the city’s Local School Council Advisory Board, which the state created to advise the Board of Education. Jimenez, a teacher and LSC member at Hancock College Preparatory High School, said he believes that LSCs and principals are “co-leaders” with the shared goal of supporting students.

“When we look at [the] budget, when we look at curriculum, when we look at any specific need of our school,” Jimenez said, “we’re doing it like we’re collaborating.”

Principals balance multiple interests

Principals’ responsibilities have grown over the past two decades and especially since the pandemic. Today, in addition to being instructional leaders, they’re expected to maintain relationships with students, families, staff, and sometimes elected officials, said Jasmine Thurmond, director of Local School Council principal support at CPS.

Some school leaders appreciate the variety of voices, but others often feel torn between conflicting demands.

One principal, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly, was asked by parents who attended LSC meetings to “publicize or encourage things like picketing or public demonstrations” over a district decision this year to suspend bus service for 5,500 general education students, largely those at selective enrollment and gifted schools.

The principal agreed that the lack of busing has been challenging for many of her students. But she explained to parents and the LSC that publicly protesting the busing decision could put her in hot water with her other boss: the district.

“I have to figure out how I can advocate for the needs of my students and the needs of my families,” she told Chalkbeat, “but in a way that is very respectful of the people that are making these decisions — and that is a really difficult balance to strike.”

She has a good relationship with her LSC, which she said is “fair and reasonable” but also demanding. The council requests a lot of data and presentations. Meeting those needs and building personal relationships can be difficult along with all of her other responsibilities as a school leader, she said.

Ryan Belville, principal of McAuliffe Elementary School, said he has a close bond with his LSC that grew during the pandemic, when they worked hand-in-hand to make sure students and families had what they needed. Belville said the LSC has also held him accountable “to serve the school community effectively.”

“I really see why LSCs were developed and why they were put into action,” Belville said. “It’s something we’re very fortunate to have in Chicago.”

Sometimes the LSC wields its power, as Hancock College Preparatory High School did last year when it decided not to renew its principal’s contract in the face of student and teacher opposition.

But there are limits to an LSC’s authority.

At Jones College Prep, the LSC voted in 2022 to recommend the district fire then-principal Joseph Powers based on various allegations, including that he was ignoring problematic teachers and was not addressing issues around gender and racial discrimination. His contract was not up for renewal at the time, so the LSC could not fire him outright.

CEO Pedro Martinez declined to fire Powers, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence. Later that year, CPS put Powers on leave after a student dressed in a Nazi uniform was seen goose-stepping in the school’s Halloween parade. Powers then retired.

One Chicago elementary school principal, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly, said that contract renewal time can sometimes feel political. She must ensure that she’s keeping “these X number of people happy or satisfied” so that she can keep her job. At the same time, she wishes she had “more robust” feedback from her LSC, which she thinks is lacking at her school because people often don’t have time to participate — an issue many LSCs face.

On Chicago’s West Side, the LSC at Oscar DePriest Elementary School is working on ensuring enough participation on its council. It is also figuring out how it will work with the school’s new principal, whom it hired in November after interviews and a candidate forum, said Wallace Wilbourn, a teacher and LSC member.

He wants the LSC to have a greater voice on the school’s curriculum, its culture, and how it approaches assessments.

But he’s already seen that many people are trying to hold the principal accountable. Ever since being hired, Wilbourn said, his principal has had to spend a lot of time in meetings with the network.

Network chiefs, top CPS officials hold power

Barron, with UIC, said the relationship between a network chief and principal more closely resembles a typical employee-manager relationship: The two work together on a leadership plan that has goals to hit throughout the year.

Skanes, who was the principal of Morgan Park High School until 2022, always viewed her network chief as her main supervisor. Feedback from the network chief was sometimes “attached to next steps, even in terms of promotion and opportunities,” she said.

The Chicago elementary school principal said the network chief is looking for things at the school that parents or community members may not have expertise in, such as best teaching practices, she said. Her LSC is more interested in school uniform policies or community events for families, she said.

“I think both of those perspectives are super important,” she said. “It shouldn’t be all one or another.”

A former Chicago principal, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak candidly, said most of his network chiefs were good listeners and open to his ideas of how to improve his school. But he also felt pressure from the network to boost certain metrics, such as raising attendance by 10 percentage points, including by visiting student homes.

Those efforts resulted in a lot of pressure on staff and kids at his school who were already experiencing “so much trauma,” he said. After hitting the network’s goal, the principal eased up those efforts, saying it didn’t feel “worth the squeeze and my time and emotional energy.” Attendance rates dropped.

In that case, he decided to “take the heat from the network” because it meant more “sanity” for his school, he said.

A small share of schools have Appointed Local School Councils, or ALSCs, which don’t have the power to hire or fire principals but can provide nonbinding input on who they want to lead their schools. In those cases, the CEO gets final say on hiring a principal.

That was the case for Alan Mather, now the president of the Golden Apple Foundation. He became the principal of Lindblom Math and Science Academy in 2005 when the school was reopened as a selective enrollment high school. Mather was appointed by then-CEO Arne Duncan and the new school, which drew high-performing students from across the city, did not have an LSC. It wasn’t until his last year at Lindblom that an ALSC was formed, Mather said.

Mather considered Duncan to be his boss and was given a lot of autonomy to craft Lindblom’s culture and academics, such as adopting a year-round schedule during his time.

“It was the CEO who could have removed me at any time,” Mather said. “I was not working under a contract.”

As principals unionize, a question about management

When the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, or CPAA, decided to unionize last year, its president Troy LaRaviere promised to fight for better pay, less focus on bureaucratic tasks, more job security – including the ability to voice opinions publicly without punishment – and more due process when principals face accusations of misconduct.

LaRaviere did not respond to multiple requests for an interview for this story. Another CPAA representative declined to comment, including to confirm whether the union has started bargaining, and deferred to LaRaviere.

The unionization effort could impact how network chiefs discipline and evaluate principals. But huge questions remain.

“We don’t know what is to come,” said Thurmond, from the district. She added that they’re “looking forward to deepening the collaboration” with CPAA to make sure principals are supported, versus the district “being perceived as an enemy.”

Some observers have wondered how a union contract might impact the authority of a network chief or LSC. For instance, will it be tougher for the LSC not to renew a principal’s contract?

Changes to an LSC’s powers, however, would likely require a change to the state law that created them, said Barron, the expert from UIC.

For the district’s part, Thurmond said CPS will continue “empowering LSCs and ALSCs” so that “communities continue to have control of their schools.”

One former principal thinks an elected school board could make LSCs feel redundant or powerless, since board members will represent different parts of the city.

LSCs were created when there wasn’t an elected board and are seen by some as mini-school boards at individual schools. But come January 2025, the Chicago Board of Education will be made up of 10 members elected by their communities and 11 members appointed by the mayor.

“If we have an elected school board of 21 and you have them passing resolutions saying we’re doing this, this and this,” he wondered, “then what does the LSC have the autonomy to say and do if it’s all coming from downtown?”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s school board wants to remove police from all schools starting next school year

2024-02-20T19:32:03+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education wants to remove police officers from schools starting next school year, according to a resolution included in the agenda for Thursday’s board meeting.

The resolution directs CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to come up with a new policy by June 27 that would introduce a “holistic approach to school safety” at district schools, such as implementing restorative justice practices, which focus on resolving a conflict instead of punishment.

That policy “must make explicit that the use of [school resource officers] within District schools will end by the start of the 2024-2025 school year,” the resolution said. (Find the resolution on page 15 of your PDF reader.)

The resolution nods to the district’s shift in student discipline to more restorative practices, which has led to “significant progress” in reducing suspensions. However, the resolution notes that disparities in suspension rates are disproportionately higher for students with disabilities and Black students, compared to their Hispanic and white peers.

Most CPS schools don’t have school resource officers who, unlike security guards, are trained and employed by the Chicago Police Department, but are stationed in schools full-time. If passed, the resolution would directly impact 39 schools – all high schools – that have a total of 57 officers on campus, according to the resolution and district officials. Fourteen schools voted to remove a total of 28 officers and instead received a total of $3.9 million for “alternative safety interventions,” including for restorative justice and social service coordinators, the resolution said. CPS also employs more than 1,400 security guards at schools, according to staffing data from the end of December 2023.

Schools that have voted to keep their officers have cited a variety of reasons for doing so, including that in some cases, school resource officers have strong relationships with students. Opponents of police on campus argue that the presence of officers can lead to more punitive student discipline and can leave children feeling unsafe.

Last month, Nadig Newspapers and WBEZ reported that the board was planning to remove Chicago Police Department officers from schools. Mayor Brandon Johnson later confirmed to WBEZ that he’s in support of such a plan.

The resolution, which the board is slated to vote on Thursday, represents Johnson’s hand-picked school board’s clearest statements on removing police officers from Chicago schools. As a mayoral candidate, Johnson had said police officers “have no place in schools,” WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times reported. However, last year, he told the outlet he would leave the decision up to LSCs.

The resolution said the district would continue to partner with the Chicago Police Department, but district officials did not immediately explain what that relationship would look like.

Having police stationed inside Chicago schools came under scrutiny in 2019 as part of the police department’s federal consent decree. In 2020, amid protests and the racial reckoning that swept the country after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police, Chicago schools began voting one-by-one on whether or not to keep their school resource officers.

Driven by similar issues, Denver Public Schools removed police from schools in 2020 and 2021, but its work to implement a new school safety policy, as Chicago’s board is seeking, was derailed by the pandemic. The Denver school board reversed its decision last June after a shooting inside a high school.

In 2022, the Chicago school board reduced its contract with the police department from more than $30 million to roughly $10 million and allocated money for schools to implement alternatives to police, such as restorative justice counselors. The contract was renewed last summer for $10.3 million and about $4 million to improve school climate was separately allocated to schools that had removed their officers.

Research from the University of Chicago released last fall found an improvement in student engagement and a decline in suspensions at schools that had implemented restorative practices in recent years.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools enrollment climbs as more migrant families arrive

2024-02-08T23:43:51+00:00

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More than 5,700 newly arrived immigrant students have enrolled in Chicago Public Schools since the beginning of the school year, district officials said Thursday.

Preliminary school enrollment data updated daily on the city data portal and analyzed by Chalkbeat shows overall enrollment increased by 4,500 students since the official count on the 20th day of school in September. After more than a decade of decline, CPS saw its enrollment stabilize this school year.

“The number is fluid and evolving,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said Thursday. “Our principals and teachers and school communities have been incredibly welcoming to the students and their families.”

His comments came during a virtual press conference about a new volunteer coordination effort launched by the City of Chicago aimed at supporting migrant families. It also comes after city officials once again delayed its plan to enforce a 60-day shelter stay limit on migrant families.

Publicly available data does not reveal how many CPS students are migrants or how many are living in city shelters. District officials said they do not collect information about the immigration status of students or their families “to support the City of Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance.”

Preliminary enrollment data analyzed by Chalkbeat indicates nearly 7,000 more students have been identified as English language learners since the end of September, when the district officially counted enrollment. English language learners can include both newly arrived immigrants, as well as students already living in Chicago.

Last school year, English language learners made up about one-fifth of all students; a decade ago, these students made up roughly 16% of CPS.

Last month, educators, union officials, and some local lawmakers raised concerns about schools without enough bilingual staff and other resources struggling to meet those students’ language and mental health needs.

District officials said Thursday that just under 6% of schools are lacking teachers with necessary ESL or bilingual credentials. Karime Asaf, the district’s chief of language and cultural education, said officials are prioritizing those roughly 30 schools — which officials did not identify — “for any kind of services or resources.”

Asaf said schools are working to get more teachers certified to teach English learners. District officials said they’ve allocated a total of $8 million to schools that saw increases in English learners since the 20th day of school.

Martinez said around 600 teachers are currently working toward getting bilingual or English as a Second Language endorsements.

Martinez said currently 7,200 teachers have these qualifications, up from about 5,100 teachers in 2018. However, bilingual staffing can vary by school, and often support staff, such as social workers, are not bilingual. CPS does provide a 24/7 language interpretation hotline that schools can call to get assistance communicating with families, but some parents have said they’ve struggled to communicate with schools or understand their school options when it’s time to move.

Students who are homeless — those in shelters, living doubled up somewhere, or living in a public place — have a right to remain at their school even if they move out of the school’s boundary and are entitled to transportation provided by the district, such as free CTA passes. By state law, if a school enrolls 20 or more students who speak a language other than English, the school must set up a bilingual education program with qualified staff. Asaf said this is “a multi-year process.”

“Generally, the challenge we have is when families just walk up to our buildings and we always tell our schools: Enroll the families. And then we have a process to work with those families to make sure we find the nearest program,” Martinez said.

The district also has bi-weekly meetings with staff at the city’s largest temporary shelters that are housing migrants, to “make sure that our families understand that there’s always a way to connect with the Chicago Public Schools … to make sure all their questions are answered,” Asaf said. She added that most school leaders attend these meetings.

Martinez said CPS is planning to hire newcomer adults who have received work authorization for “critical needs” at schools, including as custodians, as well as positions in transportation, nutrition, and classroom support.

Many of Chicago’s migrant families have been searching for work but need authorization to obtain jobs legally. Axios reported that about 1,000 newcomers have received work permits as of late January, four months after the federal government expanded eligibility to nearly half a million immigrants from Venezuela, where political and economic turmoil has pushed many residents to leave.

“We were proactive working with the city to say, since we know we have these families who are looking for jobs, we have many openings,” Martinez told reporters on Thursday. “We are now just trying to make it easier for our families to be able to apply for these different jobs.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org. Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

As Chicago gets its first elected school board, Local School Councils may become a proving ground for candidates

2024-02-08T16:32:48+00:00

Updated: This story has been updated to reflect an extension to the deadline for candidates to file paperwork to run for LSC. It is now Wednesday, Feb. 14.

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In the halls of Uplift Community High School, Karonda Locust is known as “Mama T.”

“If you need help, go tell my mom,” her daughter Tiara, now 23, would tell her friends when she was a student there.

“That’s how I got stuck here,” Locust said with a laugh on a recent Monday.

For four years while her daughter attended Uplift, Locust served as a parent representative on the school’s Local School Council, the governing body of community members, parents, and school staff that make decisions about the school’s budget and academic plan and evaluate the school’s leaders. Locust has also served on the LSC at Willa Cather Elementary school, where her youngest daughter still attends, for nine years.

For Locust, the LSC was a gateway to more involvement in the school.

“That’s how it should be,” said Locust’s sister Taschaunda Hall, who is also an active member of the Cather’s LSC and briefly served on the LSC at Uplift as well.

Chicago’s LSCs are unique and powerful. There’s nothing quite like them in other school districts across the U.S. The Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 established that every CPS-run school would have a Local School Council. Today LSCs are made up of six parents, two teachers, two community members, a student representative, and the school’s principal.

But while the first LSC elections in 1989 had over 17,000 candidates, those numbers have plummeted over the years. The last LSC elections in 2022 saw just over 6,000 applicants, but voter turnout was at its strongest in a decade, with students making up the majority of the 110,700 voters.

Still, LSC members have successfully advocated for change and improvements and many believe the councils are the key to better schools across the city.

Now, with Chicago’s Board of Education adding elected seats for the first time this year and transitioning to a fully elected board in 2026, LSCs may become a sort of proving ground for positions with a broader reach.

“I do predict many of our LSC members may put their hat in the ring,” said Kishasha Ford, director of the CPS LSC Relations office. “Our LSC members [are] very well-equipped to do this work because they have some experience being on a kind of a board, because if you think about it, LCSs are like mini school boards for their local school.”

Elections for these “mini school boards’' are happening again this spring. The deadline to run for LSC is 3 p.m. next Wednesday, Feb. 14 and election day for elementary schools is April 10 and April 11 for high schools, with new two-year terms of office beginning July 1, 2024.

As of Feb. 1, 1,902 people had filed to run for LSC, according to district officials. At the same time last election cycle in 2022, 852 people had applied.

Over the decades, LSCs have changed the names of schools named after enslavers, removed controversial leadership, won capital improvements, even helped open new schools. Others have sat mostly empty, served as little more than a rubber stamp, or been rendered ineffective by infighting and conflicting interests.

It depends on who’s running the ship, says Kendra Snow, the lead parent organizer for grassroots organization Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education.

Studies showing that parent involvement in schools can have a major impact on student outcomes are abundant, but for LSCs to be effective, Snow argues, parents have to do more than just show up, they have to be informed.

But the “showing up” part is still a major part of the battle.

After elections in 2022, over a thousand LSC positions were unfilled and according to CPS data, 311 schools still have vacancies on their councils. Still, according to CPS, 97% of LSCs had enough members to meet “quorum,” which requires that seven members be present for the LSC to vote and conduct business.

Chalkbeat caught up with four parents who have served on LSCs, where they called for improvements and guided their schools through challenges. Their experiences demonstrate what LSCs are capable of, some of the reasons parents may be opting out, and how the role of LSCs may shift as Chicago gets an elected school board.

The mom who wants to open LSCs to more people

Karonda Locust (right), a current LSC parent representative at Willa Cather Elementary School and former LSC parent representative at Uplift Community High School, stands with her sister, Taschaunda Hall (left), on the playground outside Cather.

Karonda Locust is decked out in the red and black of Willa Cather Elementary school on a recent Monday morning. Today, she’s helping out at the security check-in at the front doors before heading to work, but “I’m always there, everywhere,” she says.

She chats easily with staff and students and no one questions her presence as she walks the halls. They all know who she is.

Locust has served on the LSC at Cather alongside her sister Taschaunda Hall for nine years. When her eldest daughter moved on to Uplift Community High School in 2019, she joined the LSC there as well. For four years, she served on both LSCs at the same time.

Her time on the LSC at Uplift helped her forge relationships with the staff and kids and she continues to volunteer there even though her daughter has graduated. That’s the point of LSCs, she said, to invest in not just your own kids, but the school community as a whole.

That’s why in 2022 when her daughter was a senior at Uplift, she and her daughter (who sat on the LSC as a student representative) advocated for a bus service to bring in more students from the West Side. Her own daughter would never benefit from it, but other kids would.

Now, a bus picks up kids from Cather Elementary to bring them to Uplift, giving West Side kids a chance to attend the school without leaving parents to figure out the hour-and-a-half commute.

“That’s one of the things that I’m most proud of – that we were able to bring kids from other neighborhoods to Uplift and they can have that experience as well,” said Locust.

With the first Chicago Board of Education elections happening later this year, Locust said several friends and community members have asked her to run for a seat, but she doesn’t have the time.

Instead, now that her daughter has graduated – she earned a scholarship to study education at Truman College and plans to become a teacher – Locust is shifting some of her focus to advocating for changes to the structures and rules of LSCs.

Some of the requirements for serving on LSCs, she says, are keeping people out.

When Locust herself was a teen mother, she had a hard time making it to her daughters’ school events. In her stead, she often sent grandparents or aunts or uncles, any way to make sure her kids felt supported. But none of those family members could run for the LSC as a parent representative – and none lived within the school’s neighborhood boundaries, making them ineligible to serve as a community representative.

Family structures have changed in the past three decades, said Locus, and she wants to open up LSCs to more family members outside of the traditional parent-child paradigm.

“We’re actually losing out on opportunities for family members that could support the school because of the structure that was created over 30 years ago,” said Locust. “This is a non-paid position, so if somebody wants to serve and help my kids’ school, God bless ‘em.”

She also hopes to end the fingerprinting and background check requirements for LSC parents, saying it alienates parents with criminal records and scares off parents who are undocumented, though, barring convictions for certain offenses, both are legally allowed to serve on LSCs.

The veteran LSC leader who built a new school

José Quiles, a community representative on LSCs at Mary Lyon Public School, Steinmetz College Prep, Belmont-Cragin Elementary School in Belmont-Cragin, speaks inside of a classroom on Fri., Jan. 25, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

José Quiles has served on LSCs since they were first created in 1989. In his 35 years as a parent representative and then as a community representative, he’s seen it all.

The stories roll out of him with ease on a recent Thursday as he leads a Local School Council information session at the Belmont-Cragin not-for-profit organization he founded in 2015, the Education Community Committee (ECC).

He currently sits on LSCs at three schools – Mary Lyon Public School, Steinmetz College Prep, and Belmont-Cragin Elementary School – and when he’s not conducting LSC business, he’s teaching other people in the neighborhood how to join their LSCs and get things done on them.

In the workshops at ECC, they talk about things like how to read a budget and the rules and expectations for LSC members.

But what he hones in on and repeats over and over in the workshops is that the LSC is about the kids. All of the kids, not just their own.

That’s what sustained the eight-year movement he helped lead to get a new school built in Belmont-Cragin, he said – knowing that it was what the kids in the area needed.

“Belmont-Cragin started because Mary Lyon had 1800 kids,” said Quiles.

Initially, to address the overcrowding, some of the Mary Lyon kids were sent to a nearby site on Mango St. that was formerly the Catholic school St. James. When it became clear that the principal at Mary Lyon was struggling to oversee both school facilities, the LSC requested a separate principal and LSC to separate the school from Mary Lyon altogether, thereby creating a new school.

“Basically, we gave birth to it,” he said with a laugh.

Amid the swath of school closures in 2013, the St. James facility was closed and the students were relocated to a site on Palmer St., but the LSC found that there were not enough bathroom facilities for the students.

The LSC and other community organizations began pushing for a new school to be built at Riis Park.

In January 2023, the new Belmont-Cragin Elementary School officially opened in the park, offering 32 classrooms with park views, a black box theater, library, music room, and access to the connected park fieldhouse.

Quiles’ own children and foster children have long since graduated from the schools where he currently serves as community representative on the LSCs.

At 68, he says he wants to retire, but he’s worried that the LSCs aren’t ready for him to do so.

“A strong council moves mountains,” he told participants in Spanish during a recent LSC workshop. “But a weak council goes in no direction. And when you don’t move in any direction, there is no progress.”

That’s what his work with ECC is all about – educating parents so they know what questions to ask and how to push for change, whether on LSCs or as members of the new elected school board or as the voters who put people on those governing bodies.

Despite his insistence that he needs to retire, Quiles still has his ear to the floor at his local schools.

Right now, he says the biggest issues his LSCs are working on are the social emotional impacts of the pandemic on the students and supporting immigrant students and parents.

Advocating for the South Side

Kendra Snow is running for LSC at Christian Fenger Academy High School in Roseland. She is a former LSC member at Harvard Elementary School in Auburn-Gresham.

Back in 2002 when Kendra Snow sat on her first Local School Council at a school in Auburn-Gresham, “it was like a puppet show,” she said.

The principal “hand-picked” the parents she wanted on the council and ran the meetings, quickly going over budget lines. No one asked any questions or knew what anything meant.

“We were just bodies here to put a signature to something,” she said.

Then, Snow began to learn on her own.

“I had to learn this for myself, it’s the parents with the power, and if you want to know something then you read into it the same way she did,” said Snow. “So now I’m the troublemaker, because I challenged things.”

CPS supports LSCs with trainings and office hours, as well as 13 specialists supporting 511 LSCs, according to the department’s director Kishasha Ford.

There is a 300-page manual for LSC members and online modules as well as in-person trainings, said Ford.

“That’s the biggest part of our job is the education piece.” she said. “Because it is a lot to know and we can’t expect every single LSC member to know every single nuanced thing. That’s why we’re here to help support and to guide them.”

Snow read the manual and did the online modules, but she says, it’s not quite enough.

“You got to just do more than just watch these videos,” she said, suggesting that CPS incorporate questions into the modules to make sure viewers understood the material before moving on to the next video.

She supplemented her CPS training with resources and workshops from community organizations. Now, Snow works to empower other parents so they can have a voice on their LSCs. She is the lead parent organizer with Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education.

The mother of seven, Snow has been entrenched in public education since her eldest son, now 31, first attended school. In fact, it was when her son was accepted into a school on the North Side that Snow was able to compare his experience there to the schools her other children attended on the South Side.

The biggest difference?

“Resources,” she said. “We’re not fighting the same battles. The resources that are in those schools, we don’t have in our schools.”

In her experience, Snow said parents are angry about the lack of resources and come into the schools shouting about it. She sees it as her job to give them a more effective way to get things done.

“You’re not getting results that way. So now let’s fight a different way for what we need in the school,” she said. “You hit them with policies. You hit them with facts.”

Snow has concentrated her efforts specifically on the South Side where she grew up and where most of her children have attended public schools.

In her work as a CPS-certified LSC trainer, she hopes she can not only encourage more South Side parents to run for LSC seats, but help make sure they are informed and therefore empowered to help improve their schools – one parent at a time, one school at a time.

“Know your power. Know that this is for your kids,” Snow said. “You have to fight for your kids. Just be there. Just show up. It’s a couple hours out of the month. Just show up. That time is worth it for public education.”

Educating fellow parents, ousting a principal

Vanessa Espinoza is former LSC member at Orozco Community Academy in Pilsen.

Vanessa Espinoza has been volunteering in Chicago Public Schools since before she had kids.

When she became a mother and began making friends with other parents, it opened her eyes to some of the inequities and challenges in CPS. Espinoza, who is bilingual, became particularly interested in supporting English language learners as well as students with IEPs, or Individualized Education Programs, to help students with special needs.

She soon joined the LSC at Orozco where her kids were enrolled and was surprised that few of the parent representatives understood the documents and policies they were supposed to be making decisions about.

“Why are you expecting the parents to approve something that they don’t understand totally?” she said. “You gave them the power just to say yes and no, but not do anything else.”

The trainings offered by CPS to parent representatives, she said, were superficial. For example, they teach the names of the budget lines, but not that each budget line can only be used for certain purchases.

“None of that was taught to the parents who were going to make this decision on the budget” she said.

However, Espinoza’s background as a support worker at another school gave her a leg up in this area. And her knowledge of finances turned out to be particularly important on Orozco’s LSC in 2014.

Because she knew how to read the budget, Espinoza soon discovered that the principal at the time was transferring large sums of money between budget lines, something that required approval from the LSC.

So she asked to see all of the reports on the budget and the school’s internal accounts. The principal refused and Espinoza requested an audit. The LSC tried to work with her, Espinoza said, but the principal was not amenable.

“This money’s for the kids. You don’t want to tell us where the money is and how you’re going to use it, then that’s it,” she said. " So we requested her removal.”

The council voted unanimously to remove Principal Nancy Paulette-Aguirre in November 2014.

But it wasn’t an entirely popular decision.

Most of the teachers at the school supported the decision, raising issues about turnover among other things and other LSC members said Paulette-Aguirre refused to work with the council, but non-LSC parents were split. On the day of the vote, 12 parents protested outside the school. Paulette-Aguirre was later removed from a second school in 2019.

“Even though the parents have the power to make significant changes, you have to be able to educate the parents with the information needed to make educated decisions, and [CPS] is not. In my opinion, they’re not.” said Espinoza.

She worries that these same issues might bleed over into the newly elected school board but is still hopeful that parents will gain some of the 10 elected seats this year.

“To have an elected school board that is going to be successful you have to have parents involved,” she said. “They know what their kids need.”

Espinoza’s children have graduated out of CPS, but Espinoza remains an advocate for education and serves as the bilingual communication specialist with Kids First Chicago and as the president and co-founder of Amigos de Gunsaulus, a parent-led non-profit that supports Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy in Brighton Park, where one of her children graduated.

Despite her challenging experience on Orozco’s LSC, she’s hopeful things can change as long as LSCs are filled with people who put the kids first.

“To be honest with you, it’s a lot of responsibilities, and it’s not well rewarded in a sense, not a monetary reward. Sometimes you get enemies,” but, she said, “If in your mind and your heart is the best for the kids’ education, I think you should run.”

Chicago Board of Education renews contracts for 49 charter schools

2024-01-25T23:01:29+00:00

The Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to renew agreements with 12 charter networks, impacting 49 schools. The decision followed months of pleading from charter school leaders, educators, and students.

The board extended contracts for all of the schools up for renewal. It renewed most of the contracts by either three or four years, starting this July. The maximum extension allowed under state law is 10 years.

Each renewal came with a set of conditions, ranging from monitoring services for students with disabilities and students learning English as a new language to improving facilities, financial compliance, and accuracy of teacher licenses. Those conditions were a result of “issues that were identified during our comprehensive review,” said Zabrina Evans, executive director of the district’s Office of Innovation and Incubation in the Office of Portfolio Management.

The vote represented the first round of charter renewals under the current board. In the months leading up to Thursday’s vote, Chicago’s charter school community worried that the board, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, would make it more challenging for charters to get renewed. Johnson, who rose to power as an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, has long been critical of charter schools, but has also said he doesn’t oppose them.

More recently, the board passed a resolution stating its intention to move away from school choice and focus on sending more resources to neighborhood schools. The resolution does not call for the closure of schools of choice, such as charters, but board leaders said they would be more closely scrutinizing charter schools.

The board’s vote to renew all contracts isn’t surprising: State law has barred school closures in Chicago until 2025. In July, a Cook County judge overturned the previous board’s decision not to renew its contract with Urban Prep Charter Academy after ruling that the state’s school closure moratorium applies to charters.

Board Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland said she appreciates the improvement she’s seen in some charter schools, but said that others have failed to keep up finances or follow federal laws.

“I still maintain that as a private operator getting public money, there should be a higher level of scrutiny,” Todd-Breland said.

District officials said they evaluate charter schools based on performance in three criteria: academics, finances, and operations, which focuses on 13 areas related to state and federal law, requirements in their charter contract, and CPS policy. Five-year extensions are awarded to schools that meet or exceed academic and financial standards and receive the highest rating for operations. Extensions beyond five years go to schools that exceed all standards.

Board President Jianan Shi said he wanted the district to continue focusing on the student experience portion of the operations category for charter evaluations. He said he was concerned to see schools not meeting expectations focused on students with disabilities, students who are learning English as a new language, and student discipline. No school met standards for all three of those categories.

“‘I’m elated that we have schools that are doing well academically and financially, but I want kids to enjoy going to school every day,” Shi said.

During several board meetings since the summer, charter school leaders have asked the board to renew their contracts for the maximum 10 years. While it was previously common for schools to receive five-year extensions, district leaders have more recently renewed charters for shorter terms. Last January, the previous board – appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot – handed out two-year extensions to nearly half of the charter schools up for renewal, while another two got five years.

On Thursday, no school received five years. Just over half were extended for four years, and just over 40% were extended for three years. The board approved a one-year extension for Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy Charter High School and a two-year extension for Chicago High School for the Arts.

Ebonie Durham, executive director of Great Lakes Academy, a charter school that received a three-year extension, asked the board to provide schools and families with more clarity on what it takes to get a 10-year extension.

Great Lakes met academic and financial performance standards, but did not meet benchmarks for operations, including for student discipline, students with disabilities and students learning English as a new language.

As conditions of Great Lakes’ extension, the board called for the school to implement the district’s recommendations for serving students with disabilities. The conditions also call for monitoring how the school is serving English language learners, its disciplinary practices, and how it tracks repairs to facilities.

“If the CEO’s recommendation is accepted and we receive three years, in two years I will be back in front of this board again pleading to be renewed,” Durham said.

Before the board vote, some teachers raised concerns about Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy, which serves students ages 16-21 who became disengaged with school. The teachers at the school, who are part of the Chicago Teachers Union, have voted to strike Feb. 6 in response to concerns over several issues, including staffing levels for students with disabilities, “sanctuary protections” for immigrant students and employees, and compensation, according to the CTU.

Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, highlighted the fight at Instituto as one reason the renewal process should reflect “what the people, the stakeholders in that school community deserve.” One of her recommendations included creating Local School Councils so that charter parents have more of a voice.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Inspector general’s report prompts Chicago Public Schools to propose changes to device tracking policy

2024-01-17T23:39:41+00:00

Chicago Public Schools is working to improve how schools keep track of electronic devices and other items, in response to an inspector general’s report that found the district had lost more than 77,000 devices.

The proposed changes — some of which were outlined at a school board committee meeting Wednesday — include disciplining staff for failing to abide by the district’s policy for managing school assets, such as devices, and updating policy language to say that training is “mandatory” for staffers who are responsible for keeping track of devices. The district’s asset management team would also create an annual report about theft and loss of devices, according to the proposed changes.

Last week, CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher released his annual report which, in part, found that the district had marked more than 77,000 devices lost or stolen in the 2021-22 school year. The district has found 12,000 of the missing devices, nearly all inside schools, district officials said.

Fletcher’s report cited a lack of training and an unreliable tracking system as some reasons for why so many devices were missing or unaccounted for. He also said staff and students were not held accountable for devices. Last year, a Chalkbeat and WBEZ investigation also found that the district didn’t have a structured system for tracking down devices and lacked a clear plan or vision for how to best use the technology in the classroom.

“The [policy] has been amended to reflect a more accurate description of the current process, eliminate sections of the policy which are obsolete, and overall improve CPS asset and inventory management practices,” said Rolando Hernandez, assistant deputy controller for CPS’ finance office, during Wednesday’s meeting.

The district’s asset management policy doesn’t just cover technology. It applies to any item that is not real estate, that is purchased by or donated to CPS, is valued at more than $500 but less than $25,000, and has a lifespan of more than a year. The current policy applies to schools, central offices, and network offices, which are responsible for managing their devices.

Each school and district office should have an “accountable official” who is responsible for keeping track of devices, the existing policy says.

Other proposed changes include:

All devices must be entered into CPS’ electronic inventory system once they are delivered – not just purchased – within 30 days.
Each person designated to track devices within their school or office will be responsible for complying with their annually required inventory and ensuring its accuracy.
Schools and offices will report potential loss, damage, or theft to the district’s asset management team. That team will share an annual report on such loss or damage to the district’s Risk Management team, the Department of Facilities, and Safety & Security team.
If a student or staffer transfers to a new school or department, any devices they’ve received from the district will follow them, which their old school or department must log into the district’s asset management system. Once students or staff leave the district, they must return devices and other “assets.”
Broken computers must be disposed of through a special process created by the Information and Technology department, though that process was not spelled out in the proposed changes. Items that are not computers will be disposed of by the Department of Facilities, including through contracted salvaging companies.

The board is expected to vote on the proposed changes in March after a month-long public comment period, which is slated to begin Jan. 26.

Separately, the district is also working on several other changes “to more accurately represent” what devices are in schools, district officials said Wednesday. That includes automating the process of recovering computers, which would involve freezing and sending notifications to devices that would ask students or staff to return them. The district is also considering replacing its current asset management system because of “functionality and data issues” that must be improved.

On Wednesday, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez disputed Fletcher’s estimate that the missing devices were worth $23 million. Martinez said many of those devices were old, bringing the total cost to about “a tenth” of Fletcher’s figure. However, he added that’s “not an excuse” to explain the lack of tracking at a time when the district added hundreds of thousands of devices to its inventory.

“It’s been great that now all of our children have access to devices [but] it is easy for us to not prioritize how we get rid of old devices, and it’s not always clear even to staff, and so I just want to call that out,” Martinez said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

How do families use Chicago’s vast school choice system? Five people tell us their stories.

2023-12-20T22:53:13+00:00

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One mother in West Pullman on Chicago’s South Side sends her daughter to a charter school even though there are two neighborhood schools down the street.

Up in Albany Park, a mother is for the first time confident in her daughter’s neighborhood school after two decades of sending her older children to magnet and test-in programs.

A high school student attends one of the district’s most coveted high schools — but wants the city to undo the system she used to get there.

There’s a lot that goes into how families choose a school in Chicago.

Last week, the city’s school board made waves by announcing they want to move away from that system of choice and build up neighborhood schools, especially in areas that have lacked investment from the city. The board passed a resolution last week stating its intent, but does not call to close any schools or change specific admissions policies.

Originally established to help desegregate schools, the system has recently earned a reputation for stressing out students, who are competing for seats at a limited number of sought-after schools, many of which are segregated by race and income.

Despite that, students have increasingly chosen schools they’re not zoned for. Last school year, 56% of students attended their zoned neighborhood school, or roughly 20 percentage points fewer than in the 2002-03 school year. A quarter of students attended their zoned high school last year, compared to 46% 20 years ago.

The district also won a federal grant in October that they will use to collect community feedback on how they can make neighborhood schools more attractive. In the grant application, Chicago Public Schools said its goal was to reduce the percentage of families attending school outside of their regions by 3%. The district did not answer questions to clarify their definition of region or why 3% was their goal.

How much the district will try to change the city’s school choice system will depend on feedback from the community, board members said. Already, a mix of reactions have emerged. Some community groups praised the board’s support of neighborhood schools. But former CPS CEO Janice Jackson wrote in an op-ed to the Chicago Sun-Times that moving away from school choice would ultimately hurt Black and Hispanic children.

“Trying to do anything in a district that large is going to take a long time if you’re going to do it right,” said Jack Schneider, a professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who studies education policy. “It’s going to turn quite slowly and particularly so if your effort is rooted in engaging communities and really listening to them and trying to respond to what you’re hearing.”

Chalkbeat asked readers for their thoughts on school choice and got nearly 80 responses from families across the city about how they’ve navigated the system. We spoke to some of those families to understand how — and why — they chose their schools.

From left to right: Tiffany Harvey walks her dog, Mila, alongside her daughters Isabel Harvey, 21, and Amalia Harvey, 10, as they walk to Haugan Elementary School in Chicago on Dec. 18, 2023. Amalia is a fourth grader at Haugan Elementary School.

Preschool sells mom of four on neighborhood school

About 20 years ago, when Tiffany Harvey was deciding where to send her firstborn to school, she kept hearing that aside from some gifted and magnet programs, Chicago’s schools were “terrible.”

Harvey applied to magnet schools and had her son tested for gifted programs. She also toured a kindergarten classroom at the neighborhood school, Haugan Elementary, a couple blocks away from their Albany Park home. But at the time, Haugan didn’t have before- or after-care programs to accommodate her work schedule, while magnet and gifted programs came with busing. And Haugan’s test scores seemed low to her, she said.

“I honestly felt like I was a bad parent if I didn’t explore all the options and find the best option,” she said.

Over the next two decades, Harvey would send her first three children to magnet, gifted and selective enrollment schools outside their neighborhood.

A few years ago, that changed.

In search of preschool for her fourth child, Harvey applied for the district’s full-day pre-K program and saw that Haugan had seats. She didn’t want to pay for preschool again, and after so many years in Albany Park, she wanted to invest in her neighborhood school as someone who was better-off than some of her neighbors. Her daughter got a seat at Haugan, where 89% of students come from low-income families.

Some research shows public pre-K programs can “attract a more integrated group of families” to schools, while some districts notice families flee after preschool, said Halley Potter, senior fellow at The Century Foundation, who has studied school segregation.

Harvey, who had low expectations, found Haugan was “phenomenal,” she said. Her daughter’s teacher was creative and kind. There was a good combination of play-based learning and introduction to academics. Her daughter was meeting kids from all kinds of families. The next year, she enrolled her daughter in a nearby lottery dual-language program, but they missed Haugan. Her daughter returned for second grade and is now in fourth grade.

“We never looked back,” Harvey said.

Harvey supports families having the ability to choose a school for their child. However, she wishes more parents would realize that schools can’t be measured by test scores alone, and more-advantaged children, like hers, can flourish alongside peers who are different from them. It’s also easier for parents to get involved at schools that are nearby, she said.

As district leaders consider how to invigorate neighborhood schools, they should add more services, such as pre-K programs or after care, as ways to draw in more families, she said.

“I don’t know what the right balance is,” Harvey said. “I do want our neighborhood schools to be celebrated and promoted and have the resources they need, where parents don’t feel like they have to drive across town to find a better option.”

A mom who chose a charter school

Charity Parker lives a couple of blocks away from two neighborhood schools in West Pullman. But her daughter, Aikira, attends a Chicago International Charter Schools, or CICS, campus that’s a roughly 15-minute walk from their home.

Parker, who attended Catholic and charter schools growing up in Chicago, said the neighborhood schools close to her — Curtis and Haley — are “poorly funded” and don’t have good test scores. At both neighborhood schools and Aikira’s charter school, more than 90% of students are from low-income families. But CICS is designated as “commendable” by the state, the second- highest designation out of five. Haley and Curtis have lower designations.

Charity Parker, left, and her daughter Aikira Parker, 8, right, smile as they pose for a portrait together outside of CICS Prairie Chicago International Charter School, where Aikira is a second grader, in Chicago on Dec. 18, 2023.

Aikira is learning more advanced topics than other neighborhood kids Parker knows, she said. She placed fifth in the school’s science fair for a solar panel project, Parker noted.

“An 8-year-old doing engineering work — I’m not getting that at my local CPS school,” she said.

Another selling point for Parker, who is Black, is that about one-third of Aikira’s peers are Hispanic, so she’s exposed “to another culture besides her own.” At Curtis and Haley, more than 90% of students are Black, which is common in Chicago’s segregated neighborhoods.

Parker said all parents should have the right to choose where their children go to school, and the district should never mandate attending neighborhood schools. While Parker loves some things about CICS, she has some issues with the school.

Aikira “loved” kindergarten at CICS, but the next year, Parker had some disagreements with Aikira’s first -grade teacher over coursework. This year, Parker has some concerns about behavior issues in Aikira’s classroom and has considered transferring her out.

But other charters are far away, and she doesn’t have a car. Private school is too expensive.

So, she’ll stay at CICS, she said.

“I’ll admit there are some things about my daughter’s school that rub me the wrong way, but the education is awesome,” Parker said.

Dad sought out selective schools for his son

Since kindergarten, Clyde Smith’s son, Kadin, has exclusively attended selective public schools located 5 to 6 miles south of their Bronzeville home.

Kadin tested into McDade Classical School, a selective enrollment elementary school in Chatham. Then, he tested again in sixth grade and got a seat at an accelerated middle school program located inside Lindblom Math and Science Academy, a selective enrollment high school in West Englewood. Kadin, 16, is now a sophomore at Lindblom.

The stressful nature of admissions never felt “unhealthy,” Smith said. His son has always been surrounded by peers who aimed for similar programs, so he was used to the competition.

“It’s always been in the air,” Smith said. “It’s almost like asking a fish, ‘How’s the water?’”

Kadin Smith, left, stands with his father, Clyde Smith, at their Bronzeville home.

A simpler option might have been to attend his neighborhood school where he’s guaranteed a seat: Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts. District officials closed Dyett in 2015, but the school was revived in 2016 after protests and a hunger strike that Mayor Brandon Johnson participated in as an activist.

The district hosted a press conference in October at Dyett about the school’s rising graduation rates, and officials noted that the school’s 86% graduation rate had surpassed the citywide average.

Smith said he “understood the activism” that brought back Dyett, but it wasn’t enough to win him over.

“The test scores, the classes offered, the colleges they get accepted into overall, to me, doesn’t lay proof that that’s the strongest academic environment like some of these selective enrollment schools are,” Smith said.

Smith complimented the district’s desire to boost neighborhood schools, adding that segregation and “racial inequities” have left many schools under-resourced. Neighborhood schools need “strong teachers,” challenging courses, and more internship opportunities, he said.

Paul Hill, an architect of the idea that districts should create a mix of school options for parents, said the district could risk driving away parents like Smith.

“If the district is really serious about working hard on the neighborhood schools and trying to figure out what would keep people in them… that’s responsible,” said Hill, the founder of the Center for Reinventing Public Education. “On the other hand, if they really attack the schools of choice that probably will drive down enrollment.”

Smith agrees. After all, if Kadin didn’t get into a selective enrollment high school, he and his wife would have sent him to private school.

Mom is daunted by high school admissions

Laura Irons loves Logan Square and their neighborhood school, where her 7-year-old daughter is in first grade. But the thought of choosing a high school is so daunting, the family is considering leaving Chicago by the time their daughter finishes eighth grade.

Irons’ daughter passed up a seat at a magnet school to attend her zoned school, Brentano Math and Science Academy, because the family liked walking to school and didn’t want their daughter to lose friends.

“Being nearby the school, I think, has tremendous social-emotional benefits,” Irons said.

For the future, her family would consider the neighborhood high school. But other parents tell Irons it’s dangerous, with lots of fights and nearby shootings. Irons doesn’t know whether to believe them.

Laura Irons, far right, poses for a photo with her husband and two children at the Logan Square Blue Line stop.

Irons worries about the impact of the competitive application process on her daughter. Through friends and community Facebook groups, Irons hears about kids being “so tremendously stressed out” by the application process. She hates that some schools are considered good or bad without any clarity about why.

“I don’t like [the idea of] making such a big decision at such a young age,” Irons said. “It feels like the college process, which is hard already in itself.”

Even though Irons and her husband love city life, they’re leaning toward leaving unless there is more clarity and transparency around how the choice system works, she said. And she doesn’t know where to find accurate information.

“I do value choice in certain situations so I’m not anti-choice,” Irons said. “I think the system that we have, though — to sound so cliche — it’s just a broken, very opaque system. I wonder if kids would even be stressed if the parents weren’t so stressed.”

Selective enrollment student sees problems with the system

One of Tess Lacy’s earliest memories of discussing school choice was in fourth grade. Her physical education teacher told her class, “I want you to go to good high schools,” Tess recalled.

Comments like that were common throughout Tess’s elementary and middle school years. Teachers talked often about applying to sought-after high schools. Many of her friends felt they’d fail their parents if they didn’t get into those schools. While her own parents didn’t care where she went, the stress around Tess conditioned her to focus on selective enrollment schools, she said.

Tess Lacy poses for a portrait in front of George B. Swift Elementary School, which she used to attend, in Chicago on Dec. 18, 2023. Lacy is currently a sophomore at Jones College Prep.

She took the High School Admissions Test and got into her top-ranking: Jones College Prep in the South Loop.

Now, three years later, Tess wants to see the selective enrollment system abolished.

Selective enrollment schools tend to have more resources, not just from the district, but also from families who can fundraise, sometimes millions of dollars, Tess noted.

“If you intentionally, institutionally, structurally create schools that have more resources, parents with more resources will send their kids there,” Tess said. “I feel like a lot of people are able to realize that’s not normal, but there’s a lot of people who would rather forget about the tens of thousands of students who don’t have that privilege.”

Tess doesn’t regret attending Jones, where she finally feels accepted as a transgender young woman and has made friends from all over the city. She enjoys doing technical work for the school’s drama department.

But her decision to attend Jones now feels like it was influenced by everyone around her. She regrets not ranking Edgewater’s Senn High School higher. Senn was not her zoned high school, but is a neighborhood school closer to home that has a good arts program — one of Tess’s interests.

She would encourage eighth grade students to “really, truly think about what they as a student want.”

“Now I look back, and I see how my decision was so not my own decision,” Tess said.

Correction: This story orignally stated that McDade Classical School was a gifted program. McDade is another type of selective enrollment elementary school in Chicago.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools won’t bus general education students for the rest of the school year

2023-12-21T22:54:15+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools won’t provide busing to general education students for the rest of the school year, officials said Thursday.

In a letter to parents, the district said a driver shortage persists and is preventing it from providing busing to general education students — largely those in magnet and selective enrollment programs. The district will continue to provide free CTA cards, valued at $35, to those roughly 5,500 families; about one-third of those children are using the passes, according to a CPS spokesperson.

“We fully understand how frustrating this news will be for many of our families, and sincerely empathize with the challenges and inconvenience that this situation has caused,” the letter said.

The update comes after the district announced in late September that it couldn’t provide busing to general education students this semester but would share an update with families before winter break regarding the second half of the school year. In November, the district cast doubt that it would be able to expand bus service this year.

Citing a driver shortage, the district announced in late July that it would limit busing to students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, call for transportation, as well as students who are homeless. Both student groups are legally entitled to transportation — and the district is on state watch to improve commute times for students with disabilities.

The district left open the possibility that general education students could get busing later in the year.

The district is currently busing 8,133 students with disabilities and another 146 students who are homeless, according to a CPS spokesperson.

Thursday’s busing update comes a week after the school board passed a resolution saying it wants to bolster neighborhood schools and move away from a system of choice where families travel outside their neighborhood for school. Asked if the district’s desire to move away from school choice informed their decision to sever busing for general education students, a spokesperson said the district is following state law and board policy by prioritizing students with disabilities for transportation.

Parents of children in selective enrollment and magnet programs have repeatedly shared frustrations with the Board of Education about the difficulties they’ve faced without busing to schools that are far from their homes, including difficulties balancing the school commute with their work schedules. Some parents have transferred their children to other schools.

Aria Haque, a sixth grader at Keller Regional Gifted Center in Mt. Greenwood, lives 20 miles from her school, and transferred to her neighborhood school after “so many hurdles and almost no time” to figure out the commute, Haque told the board at its meeting earlier this month. Her new school, however, was teaching material she said she’d learned two years ago.

Haque decided to re-enroll at Keller “even with the killer commute.” Her father now drives Aria and another Keller student whose family doesn’t have a car and lives 15 miles away from the school.

“That has been our routine ever since: An hour-and-a-half on the road for me, which isn’t bad, but over three hours for my dad, which is horrible,” Haque said.

Natasha Haque, Aria’s mother, said she’s been advocating with a group of parents to get busing reinstated for general education students in magnet and selective enrollment schools. She worries that students from low-income families at Aria’s school, Keller, will lose out on the chance to attend a great school. Roughly a third of Keller’s students were from low-income families last year.

“If the message to families is: ‘You cannot rely on us to transport your child to a selective enrollment school,’ it’s the lower income families that will be the first to say, ‘Yeah, I cannot afford to take my child to school. I cannot quit my job,’” Natasha Haque said Thursday after the letter to parents was sent out.

Limited busing has also helped the district comply with a state corrective action plan to keep commutes under an hour each way for students with disabilities. Last school year, about 3,000 students with disabilities were on routes longer than an hour. As of October, the district was busing an average of 7 students with disabilities per route, a Chalkbeat analysis found.

Commute times had improved this year as the district has limited busing, but have worsened in recent months: In August, 47 students with disabilities were on routes longer than an hour; that’s grown to 111 students as of Thursday, a slight dip from late November, according to the district.

CPS said another 115 students with disabilities are in the process of getting bus routes. The district has received 4,649 requests since the start of the school year, close to 900 more requests than last year. It is also continuing to hold job fairs to hire more bus drivers.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools leaders want to move away from school choice

2023-12-12T18:45:13+00:00

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Chicago school leaders want to move away from the district’s system of school choice — in which families apply to a myriad of charter, magnet, test-in, or other district-run programs — according to a resolution the Board of Education will vote on this week.

The move puts in motion Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign promise to reinvigorate Chicago Public Schools’ neighborhood schools. On the campaign trail, Johnson likened the city’s school choice system to a “Hunger Games scenario” that forces competition for resources and ultimately harms schools, particularly those where students are zoned based on their address.

District leaders’ goals include ensuring “fully-resourced neighborhood schools, prioritizing schools and communities most harmed by structural racism, past inequitable policies and disinvestment,” the resolution, which was released Tuesday, said.

The board wants to pursue that policy goal — and several others — as part of the district’s five-year strategic plan, which will be finalized this summer. In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, Board President Jianan Shi, and Board Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland declined to specify changes or say how far they want to move away from the choice system. That’s because they want to collect community feedback on how far the district should go, which would be outlined in a final five-year strategic plan this summer, they said.

The board is expected to vote Thursday on the resolution, which doesn’t create or get rid of any policies; rather, it formalizes and publicizes the district’s goals.

The district wants to “transition away from privatization and admissions/enrollment policies and approaches that further stratification and inequity in CPS and drive student enrollment away from neighborhood schools,” the resolution says.

This marks the first time the board has formally stated it wants to move away from selective admissions and enrollment policies. It says the school choice system, as it exists today, “reinforces, rather than disrupts, cycles of inequity” and must be replaced with “anti-racist processes and initiatives that eliminate all forms of racial oppression.”

Some selective enrollment and magnet schools lack the diversity of the city, enrolling larger shares of white and Asian American students, while others remain largely segregated by race and class.

Martinez said it is painful to hear of students traveling far distances to attend school, or when parents ask if they should get their 4-year-old child tested for gifted programs. He said he can “scream as loud as I can” about all that he believes neighborhood schools can offer to families versus highly sought-after magnet or selective enrollment schools — but “it’s not going to be enough.”

“We see this as an opportunity to, again, build trust, because I want to keep calling that out — that is a huge challenge for us,” Martinez said.

Any number of big changes could be on the horizon, Todd-Breland said.

“There likely will be policies that need to be revised and changed, so the admissions and enrollment policy is on the table as something that through this process of engagement, likely there will be some changes to it,” Todd-Breland said.

Todd-Breland and Shi said they’ve heard many pleas from the community to overhaul the choice system. The board’s goal to move away from school choice is framed in the resolution as a response to the district’s ongoing challenges, such as budget deficits and academic disparities between students citywide and Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities, those who are homeless, and children learning English as a new language.

District leaders imagine prioritizing neighborhood schools to receive more resources and programming. Martinez said universal preschool is one example of an initiative that can draw families into a school.

The system of school choice in Chicago grew over many decades.

Data shows around 56% of elementary school students attended their zoned neighborhood school last school year and 23% of high school students did. Twenty years ago, during the 2002-03 school year, 74% of students attended their zoned elementary school and 46% of high schoolers did.

Many of the district’s most popular magnet and selective schools were created in the 1980s and 90s under a court-ordered federal desegregation consent decree that officially ended in 2009. In the 2000s, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley opened 100 new schools under an initiative known as Renaissance 2010. Most of those schools did not have neighborhood attendance boundaries and many were charter schools run by third-parties.

The expansion of school options also contributed to the mass closure or shakeup of nearly 200 schools, including 50 schools in 2013. Enrollment has further declined since then, but under state law, the district cannot close schools until 2025. Officials would not say if the five-year plan would eventually include closing schools and emphasized their plans to engage communities.

However, Todd-Breland did signal that the board might move to close charter schools.

“If you are a privately-managed school, taking public dollars from our taxpayers that would otherwise go to the other schools that we know need to be invested in because they haven’t [been] for years, and you are not performing at a level that we find to be a high quality educational experience for young people, then why do you continue to exist in this system?” she said.

Nearly half of the charter schools authorized by the Chicago Board of Education are up for renewal this year and dozens more will be next year. If a charter is not renewed, it most likely would close, though operators can appeal to the state.

The previous administration, under the leadership of former CPS CEO Janice Jackson, also tried to reinvigorate underenrolled neighborhood schools. In 2018, the district offered additional funding for specialty programs to local schools looking to attract more students.

Though the current system has long been criticized for stressing out students and families as they compete for spots at the most sought-after schools, many families value having options outside of their assigned neighborhood school. Student admissions to gifted programs rely on a test, while admissions to selective enrollment high schools are based in part on the High School Admissions Test and previous school performance.

The board’s policy priorities come less than a year before Chicago will for the first time elect school board members. State law currently says 10 members will be elected and the mayor is to appoint another 11. That shift is one reason the board is focused on getting a lot of community feedback on their vision, so new board members “understand this is the direction that the district is moving in,” Shi said.

Political shifts, such as this transition to an elected school board, could upend what the current board wants to do, said Jack Schneider, an education policy expert and professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

“The last thing you want is to put all of this effort into something like promoting neighborhood public schools and then have a massive change in the composition of the board that then leads to a 180 in priorities,” Schneider said.

The resolution also highlights several other policy goals under the district’s next strategic plan, including creating more community schools over the next five years. These schools provide wraparound services to students and families, another priority for Johnson. It also includes adding staff, ensuring culturally relevant, anti-racist lessons for students and similarly framed professional development for educators, and prioritizing collecting feedback from students and the community.

The board also wants to ask the community’s help in creating plans for “previously closed and currently ‘underutilized’ schools,” the resolution says.

Read the full resolution on page 21 of the board’s agenda posted online.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools is tapping principal Joshua Long to lead its special education department

2023-12-11T20:31:00+00:00

Joshua Long, currently the principal of Southside Occupational Academy High School, has been selected to lead Chicago Public Schools’ beleaguered special education department, according to district officials.

The department — known as the Office of Diverse Learners Supports and Services — serves nearly 52,000 students with disabilities and has been without a chief since June. That’s when Stephanie Jones stepped down amid fallout from Chicago’s violations related to the use of restraint and timeout of students. The department has also struggled in recent years to ensure students with disabilities are getting services they’re legally entitled to under federal law.

Long sent a letter to families whose children attend Southside this morning announcing “with mixed emotions” that he accepted the role and would start after winter break, pending confirmation by the school board this Thursday.

“I am excited to continue working for students with disabilities and look forward to new opportunities to engage with all stakeholders as we move to positively impact each student’s experience in every school,” he wrote.

Ben Felton, chief talent officer at Chicago Public Schools, said the district used an external search firm and input from city officials, local advocates, educators, and other staff in its search for a new department head.

“We approached this differently than we had in the past given how critical this role is to CPS and how deeply invested many of our stakeholders are in special education and in this position,” said Felton.

Representatives from Access Living, the city’s Office of People with Disabilities, district principals, the Dyslexia Collaborative, and the Chicago Teachers Union were among the community groups that had a conversation with finalists and provided feedback, Felton said.

CEO Pedro Martinez made the final recommendation; the school board, which meets on Thursday, must approve the appointment.

Long would be inheriting a department beset with problems. The district is under state watch on multiple issues, including providing timely transportation to students with disabilities and for how it physically restrains students in the classroom.

Long has been the principal of Southside since 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile. In 2019, he won the prestigious statewide Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership.

Joshua Long, second from left, speaks with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson in Sept., 2023 in Chicago, Ill.

Before that, Long worked in various positions, including as a speech pathologist in a dozen schools, he told Chalkbeat in 2019. At the time, when Chalkbeat asked Long how the district should help students with disabilities, Long said he saw classes that “were not being run effectively” and weren’t “as rigorous” as other schools he’d been in. With that in mind, Long said “that the biggest thing is establishing equity for all students no matter which school or neighborhood they are in.”

Some district leaders have known Long for years. Board of Education member Mary Fahey Hughes, a longtime advocate for students with disabilities, sent her son to Southside. During a school visit with Mayor Brandon Johnson in September, Hughes praised the school and its model, which is designed to help those with more challenging disabilities transition into the real world.

“The thing I love about this place is there is so much respect for students where they’re at,” she told Chalkbeat at the time.

Long was a proponent of changing the timeline for when students with disabilities could transition out of public schools. Previously, under state law, some students with disabilities could receive services until the day before their 22nd birthday. In 2021, state law changed to allow students who turn 22 during the school year to remain eligible for services through the end of that year.

Long has also advocated for improving funding and availability of services for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities once they graduate from CPS. In an interview with Chalkbeat during the September school visit with Johnson, Long said the state has a yearslong waiting list for people with more challenging disabilities who want to access state-funded adult services, such as for community-based living or day services, that are meant to provide people with more independence. One of his former students accessed such services eight years after she graduated from Southside, he said.

“Our students do best through routine and through daily interactions,” Long said. “Now, she sat home for eight years and likely lost a lot of skills that she learned here with us.”

Long’s appointment comes after the district leaders signaled this fall that they were interested in expanding the school model Long oversaw. Southside is one of a handful of so-called specialty schools that focus on teaching students with intellectual and developmental disabilities about work and life skills. Southside, for example, has classes that teach students how to work in retail, food service, and auto mechanics. Unlike most schools, the district assigns students to these schools.

The district is under state watch regarding multiple issues for how it supports students with disabilities. Last year, the state launched a corrective action plan requiring the district to cap bus commute times for students with disabilities to 60 minutes each way. About 3,000 students with disabilities exceeded that limit at the start of last school year, according to the district.

Under state watch, those travel times have vastly improved this year, after the district decided to stop busing general education students, largely those in magnet and selective enrollment programs. In September, the state launched a new corrective action plan to ensure the district is providing transportation to all students of disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, call for bus service.

This spring, documents obtained by Chalkbeat revealed the district had been under state watch for failing to follow state law on physical restraint and timeout for students. The state board said that Chicago was not notifying parents of incidents, staff and faculty were not trained in how to properly restrain and seclude students, and untrained staff were using outlawed methods of restraint.

The state board named Jones for failing in her role as a designated official to look into restraint and timeout incidents. In that role, she was required to maintain copies of incidents, be notified of incidents that occurred during the school day, and receive documents of physical restraint and timeout incidents that went on for a long time.

Prior to Jones’s time as chair, the district’s department responsible for supporting students with disabilities had been in trouble with the state before. A 2017 investigation WBEZ found Chicago Public Schools secretly overhauled the special education department in 2016, resulting in students losing access to vital services. The State Board of Education placed the district under a corrective action plan in 2018, which lasted until 2022. During the 2022-23 school year, the state placed Chicago under a general supervision plan to continue to watch how the district handles special education services.

Now, Long could play a key role in ensuring that the department is delivering services to students with disabilities, monitoring physical restraint and timeout incidents, and helping students catch up after the coronavirus pandemic disrupted education.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago district official says adding busing this year will be tough as driver shortage persists

2023-11-29T03:16:15+00:00

Chicago Public Schools officials expressed doubt Tuesday that they will be able to provide busing to general education students for the rest of this school year.

“It’s very difficult to make a pivot within midyear to be able to add transportation now,” Charles Mayfield, the district’s chief operating officer, said during a hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development.

Mayfield’s comments come as the school district is still working to shorten bus rides for more than 100 students with disabilities to comply with state law.

In response to questions from aldermen about the state of student transportation, district officials cited a shortage of drivers as the core reason they’ve limited bus service so far this year to students with disabilities whose individualized education programs require transportation and those who are living in temporary housing. Both groups are legally entitled to receive bus rides to school.

About 5,500 general education students who were previously eligible for bus transportation were not offered busing this year — mostly those who attend magnet and selective-enrollment schools. The district is instead offering those families CTA passes, including a companion pass for a parent or guardian. Many parents have complained about the change, with some saying it’s hard to meet their work obligations and get their kids to school. It has led some families to transfer children out of their schools.

The district had already announced that it wouldn’t be able to expand busing to general education students for the rest of this semester. Officials have promised an update on transportation in December, before the new semester begins.

As of mid-October, the district said it had created bus routes for about 8,100 students, mostly children with disabilities.

Mayfield told aldermen that the district has now hired 715 drivers, compared with about 680 in July — meaning it has 54% of the drivers it needs. That’s only a small increase, he said, even though the district has held dozens of hiring fairs and worked with its bus vendors to increase hourly driver pay rates by $5 since last year.

“We just haven’t seen much traction with being able to build that pipeline back for drivers,” he said.

Officials added that the number of students with disabilities has grown by about 20% from last year, and the district is regularly receiving new transportation requests.

Chicago Public Schools has been under state watch since last November for failing to get students with disabilities on bus rides shorter than an hour each way. Last year, the district reported that 3,000 students were on rides longer than an hour, with 365 on rides lasting more than 90 minutes each way.

This year, with transportation for general-education students sharply limited, the district has touted an improvement in travel times for students with disabilities. As of Monday, 116 students with disabilities were commuting more than an hour to school, according to Mayfield’s presentation. That is, however, an increase from August, when 47 students with disabilities were on routes longer than one hour.

The state opened another investigation in September after advocates and parents complained that students with disabilities whose individualized education programs include transportation are being denied their federal right to a “free appropriate public education.”

The complaint alleges “widespread … delays and denials” across CPS and an “unnecessary administrative burden,” because families have to request transportation even after they’ve already been deemed eligible, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by Chalkbeat.

Looking ahead to next year, Mayfield said the district will be discussing various strategies to make bus transportation “more efficient.” The options could include creating regional bus pickup sites and adjusting school start and dismissal times. He emphasized that those decisions would be made in collaboration with unions.

“Candidly, there will be some decisions that will need to be made, because we’re not seeing that driver population come back,” Mayfield said.

Becky Vevea contributed reporting.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools graduation rates hit record high, data show

2023-10-31T19:01:51+00:00

A greater share of Chicago Public Schools students graduated last school year than in 2022, reaching a new record, officials announced Tuesday.

The graduation rate of 84% — representing students who graduated in four years — was 1.1 percentage points higher than the graduation rate for the Class of 2022, when 82.9% of high school students graduated on time. The dropout rate for the Class of 2023 was slightly higher at 9.4% than it was for the Class of 2022, which saw 8.9% of students drop out between freshman year and graduation.

Chicago Public Schools’ five-year graduation rate for the Class of 2022 — which includes students who take extra time to finish their diploma either at a traditional or alternative school — was 85.6%, 1.6 percentage points higher than for the class of 2021 when it was 84%.

District officials announced the numbers with fanfare at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts, with CPS CEO Pedro Martinez flanked by Mayor Brandon Johnson and joined virtually by U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Martinez said the rising graduation rate was a sign that the district is continuing to recover from the pandemic, reminding the audience that the students in the Class of 2023 were freshmen as the pandemic started in 2020, followed by two school years of remote and hybrid learning.

“When you think about their last year, their senior year, was probably their most normal year, I want you to take these results and put them in that context,” Martinez said.

Cardona described the graduation rates as “promising signs for the future of education in Chicago.” He highlighted the district’s use of federal COVID relief dollars, which CPS has put toward several purposes, including covering teacher salaries and hiring more instructional staff.

The announcement came one day after Illinois state education officials released statewide data, including graduation rates that had also increased across Illinois. (The state and Chicago Public Schools calculate graduation rates differently, so Chalkbeat is unable to provide direct comparisons.)

Chicago’s graduation rate has steadily increased over time, hitting a record high in 2022 even as students have faced academic challenges connected to the pandemic. Tuesday’s announcement comes on the heels of another report that found a rising share of CPS students are enrolling in college.

Racial disparities among graduates still remain, though they are narrowing. Graduation rates increased for Black, Hispanic and Asian American students, while dropping slightly for white students — by .4 percentage points — compared to the Class of 2022. Rates also dropped for multiracial students by 5.7 percentage points.

Nearly 75% of Black boys graduated in four years, up from roughly 65% five years ago, according to district data.

Despite higher graduation rates, SAT scores dipped for the Class of 2023, to an average composite score of 914. The average score for the Class of 2022 was 927, according to district data. Separately, the district also saw slightly fewer ninth graders — 88.7% — who were on track to graduate by 2026. That’s compared to 88.8% of the class that’s one year older than them.

As the pandemic set in, the district relaxed some grading policies, as did other school systems across the nation — raising questions about how such policies may have contributed to CPS’s rising graduation rates. Martinez argued that an increase in students completing college-level credits was a sign students were held to a high standard. Just under half of the Class of 2023 earned early college credits, a 5% increase from 2022, according to the district.

One of those students is Zaid Orduño, who said at Tuesday’s press conference that he took college-level courses at Daley College during his time at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy, through the district’s Early College Program. His classes at Daley included English, math, sociology, and psychology, and he ultimately earned an associate’s degree alongside his high school diploma.

Taking those classes, he said, inspired him to pass up his original plan of joining his family’s construction business and instead pursue a civil engineering degree at Illinois Tech, he said.

A wall at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts is dedicated to remembering a hunger strike held in 2015 to demand for the reopening of Dyett, which was closed at the time.

Dyett, located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side, saw its graduation rate tick up by more than 3 percentage points, to 86%. Johnson noted how far the school had come since he and other community members participated in a highly publicized hunger strike in 2015 to demand that Dyett, then shuttered, reopen. He also recognized fellow hunger striker Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who now represents the neighborhood nearby in City Council and serves as the chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development.

“A hunger striker can turn into a mayor and an alderman, and more importantly, a hunger strike can lead to the success that we are experiencing with our students right here at Dyett High School,” Johnson said.

He also used the moment to once again advocate for expanding the Sustainable Community Schools Initiative that Dyett and 19 other schools are a part of. The program partners schools with a nonprofit that provides wraparound services for students and families.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools could see a $391M budget deficit next school year, official says

2023-10-25T21:59:31+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools is expecting a $391 million budget shortfall next year as federal COVID relief money runs out, officials said Wednesday.

The district has received $2.8 billion in COVID relief since the onset of the pandemic. The last $300 million of that will be spent in 2025, according to Mike Sitkowski, chief budget officer for CPS, who shared the figures during a Board of Education meeting. The current budget is $9.4 billion. Next year’s budget starts July 1, 2024 and will cover the 2024-25 school year.

By law, the school district must balance its budget, Sitkowski noted. That means district officials will either have to cut expenses or find a way to boost revenue. Board President Jianan Shi called for the latter.

“Our district needs more revenue, and this is a moment for all of us at every level to stand up and advocate for our teachers, our students, our families, for this board to advocate for more revenue at the state, local, and federal levels,” Shi said after the presentation.

The financial update comes as the City Council holds budget hearings for the city’s next budget, which is due by the end of the year but is typically finalized by Thanksgiving. The district’s budget operates on a different timeline, more closely matching the school year. The district will also hold budget community roundtables for the public throughout November. (Dates can be found here.)

Districts across the nation have been bracing for financial challenges as their pandemic relief dollars run out. Chicago officials have directed their relief dollars toward employee salaries, hiring more instructional staff and creating several new programs. About $670 million of federal relief was included in this year’s budget — representing about 7% of the current budget set to end June 30, 2024.

Asked on previous occasions about what CPS will do once the federal money runs out, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has said district officials plan to ask the state for more support.

The $391 million deficit is the result of complicated collection of revenues and costs the district is projecting for next year: First, the district will have a $670 million hole in next year’s budget due to the loss of federal pandemic aid, according to Sitkowski’s presentation. That gap will be partially filled by the last bit of federal relief — about $300 million. However, the district is also expecting $123 million more in expenses it says it can’t control, including for teacher pension costs, debt service, health care costs, and inflation, Sitkowski said.

Those costs will be partially offset by rising revenues of $102 million, which include $23 million more from the state, as well as some rising tax collections, and more state support for pensions, according to Sitkowski.

The projections shared on Wednesday seem to outpace what a previous analysis warned of. A report issued under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned of a potential $628 million deficit by 2026 and predicted a neutral outlook for 2025. The report also noted that as the city has shifted more costs onto the district, it could shoulder more expenses as the board goes from mayoral control to an elected body.

District officials have been ratcheting up pressure for more money from state officials. This school year, CPS is projected to see a $23 million increase in state funding, for a total of about $1.77 billion this school year.

But on Wednesday, Sitkowski said that if the state fully funded districts under the Evidence-Based Funding Formula, CPS would have an additional $1.1 billion in funding.

Last month, the board highlighted the need for $3.1 billion to address critical repairs at school facilities over the next five years.

Sitkowski said direct funding at the school level has also increased by $1 billion since fiscal year 2019, even as enrollment dipped. More than 2,300 teachers were hired in that time, including classroom teachers, interventionists, and educators for the arts and physical education, he noted.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

This Chicago principal creates a sense of belonging for migrant students and their families

2023-10-18T21:50:45+00:00

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When Maureen Delgado walked into her first classroom at Clinton Elementary in 1999 to teach middle school English and Social Studies, it was virtually empty — no textbooks, no pens, nothing.

“If I hadn’t had experience previously teaching, I probably would have really struggled,” Delgado said. “But that’s also one of the things that I think about when I hire new teachers: How can I support them? How can I make sure that they have what they need?”

Delgado is now the principal at Clinton, a kindergarten through eighth grade school in Chicago’s West Ridge neighborhood on the city’s north side. It’s a role she took on in 2016 after several years as the school’s assistant principal.

This month, Delgado and a handful of Chicago Public Schools principals are being featured on Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains as part of Principal Appreciation Month. District officials said she was chosen for creating an inclusive environment for Clinton’s immigrant and refugee population.

Delgado spoke with Chalkbeat Chicago about how she leads one of the city’s largest elementary schools, serving more than 1,000 students, 90 percent of whom are from low-income households and 62 percent of whom are English learners.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What made you want to be a principal?

I think if you were to ask me, back when I was doing my undergrad work, I would say I just wanted to be a teacher, and that’s all I wanted to do. But through my experiences here, I found myself being pushed into leadership roles, such as a grade-level instructional team leader. I think one of the things that really propelled me, though, was I realized that the opportunities and structures I had set up in my classroom were not necessarily the same across the school. I thought I could do more good as a school leader in order to support all of our learners.

Tell me a little bit about your own experience with school growing up and how it affects your work today.

My own experience in school is kind of embedded in working in this neighborhood. My father was an immigrant from the Middle East. My mother was a second-generation American. School was always important. I was the first person in my family to go to college. There were no ifs, ands, or buts in our family. You were going to get a college degree. It was always ingrained in us that school is important, that we’re here in this country being given the opportunity to better ourselves. My father felt that education was really the driver to seek a better life, and he was a proponent of making sure that that happened for his family.

I always wanted to be a teacher. I tortured my family, my cousins by playing school on the weekends. I had a chalkboard that I was given as a birthday gift. I just was always really drawn to education and drawn to helping kids and to helping students learn. When I was attending school at nearby Rogers Elementary, I spent a lot of time volunteering in younger grades like kindergarten and first grade. I’d spend my lunch periods or other free periods helping out in those classrooms. In high school, there was a child development class and we had a preschool in our high school, where I would volunteer. At Clinton, I feel like I found my niche and I found the perfect community to do that in.

Chicago has seen a big influx of migrant students. How is your school helping newcomer students?

One of the things that has drawn me to this community and has helped me stay here is being a child of an immigrant myself. My family comes from the Middle East and my aunts’ education stopped at what would be the equivalent of third or fourth grade. They never felt like they could go into their children’s school. So they relied on my mother who was English-speaking to be able to advocate for my cousins because they just never felt welcome in the school and they felt that that barrier would hinder them.

West Ridge and Rogers Park is a very diverse part of the city and it’s been diverse for years. Clinton is right off of Devon Avenue, which is known as Little India. We’ve had a lot of Asian families from Pakistan and India, but we also have a lot of different families from the Middle East. When I was teaching, we would get a lot of families from Eastern Europe, especially Kosovo, Bosnia, when there was a civil war there. We’ve always been welcoming different immigrants and different refugees from around the world.

We’ve continued to do that at Clinton. What has been a little bit more challenging this year is that we’ve had over 115 kids that have enrolled as newcomers since the beginning of the school year. We do have a lot of support in place, but it’s just been very fast. And while about a quarter of them are Spanish speaking, there’s another quarter that are Arabic speaking. We also have students that speak Rohingya, Burmese, Somali. We have 45 different languages spoken here. Our issues have been, ‘How do we support this huge influx that we’ve gotten?’ Because we’re also expecting more.

Over the last few years, our teachers have gotten English as a Second Language endorsements. About 95% of our teachers have their ESL endorsements. One of the things we focused on, particularly last year, was doing a professional learning community with those teachers. We have our English Language Program teachers who work as coaches and so they go in and support teachers.

We also have a lot of teachers that speak another language. Whenever we have parent meetings or one-on-one meetings about a student’s progress, we make sure that if we don’t have somebody on staff who speaks that language, we utilize the language line [a hotline we can call to get a translator]. So that helps us strengthen that home-to-school connection.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received and how have you put it into action?

I think the best advice I’ve ever received is to really listen. One of the things that I’ve had to do as an administrator is really to listen to my community, our school community, and kind of hear what we’re struggling with and being able to have people express their concerns or question things. That has really helped to guide where we’re headed as a school and to guide our new instructional shifts and our focus is just really being able to listen to the community.

I think a lot of times people are always thinking about how to respond to something or about how they’re gonna get their point across. But I think for me, just really taking the time to listen and process what I’ve been told.

How has your school worked to support students’ mental health?

One of the things that we’ve always offered here is a partnership with Asian Human Services, now known as Trellus, so we’ve always been able to offer counseling within the school day, which I think really helps some parents become more comfortable with the idea [of counseling] because they trust the school.

Thankfully, the district has given us a second counselor. That has been phenomenal for our school. We have a rainbows group that’s meeting about loss. We have a positive minds group that’s talking about self esteem and really growth mindset. We have a wellness group that’s talking about wellness, holistically, not just physical wellness, but also mental health. We have different “lunch bunches” where kids are able to meet and have lunch with the counselor and talk about things very organically.

In addition, our counselors are supporting our teachers, with programs such as Second Step and Calm Classroom. We’re also working on restorative practices within our school.

All of that has helped to make parents more comfortable so that when we have students who do require some additional support, they trust us. We also do workshops on mental health with our Parent Advisory Council.

How do you take care of yourself when you’re not at work?

If you ask my family, they’ll say I’m never not at work. Even if I’m not physically in the building, my mind is constantly thinking about school. But I think the way I take care of myself is really spending time with family and friends and taking care of my own mental health. Sometimes it’s getting a massage, sometimes it’s reading, sometimes it’s vegging out on Netflix.

Principal Maureen Delgado reads to a student at Clinton Elementary, where she’s served as principal since 2016 and has worked since 1999.

How does it feel to have pictures of yourself on Chicago Transit Authority buses and trains?

I haven’t physically seen one yet, but I know one of my clinicians did. I will say, I am really committed to this school and this community. I am really proud of the work that we’re doing. And I’m very proud of the teachers, our students, our staff, and our parents. Whatever I can do to share that I’m more than willing to do it.

My father passed away a few years ago and I was telling my mom about it and I said, ‘You know what, I think he would have been proud of me.’ And she goes, ‘Yes, he would be so proud of you.’ On a personal level, it’s kind of nice to know that I’m being recognized. But in terms of the school, I’m happy that we’re being recognized. Our goal is to be the best neighborhood school in the city of Chicago, and I think we’re on our way to doing that.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools reschedules High School Admissions Test

2023-10-18T21:27:08+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools announced a new testing schedule Wednesday for the High School Admissions Test, which was canceled last week after technical problems.

District students will take the test next week, on either Oct. 24 or Oct. 25. The district will assign one of those dates to each eighth grader’s school, according to a CPS letter to families. Students taking the exam in Spanish, Arabic, Polish, Urdu, or simplified Chinese will test on Nov. 1.

Non-CPS students — whose testing window last weekend was canceled — can take the exam on Oct. 28, Oct. 29, or Nov. 5 at Lane Tech or Lindblom high schools, the district said. These students must sign up for an exam date in GoCPS, the city’s admissions application system, by 9 a.m. Oct. 23.

The exam will not be the same one as was planned for last week, and students who were able to access the test will not see the same questions, officials said.

Students who were able to complete the exam will be allowed to retake the test, and their new score will be used for admissions even if it’s the lower of both tests, officials said. Students who don’t want to retake the exam must opt out by filing out this form and returning it to their school by Oct. 23. However, due to last week’s glitches, district officials “strongly recommend that students take advantage of this opportunity” to retake the exam, they said in the letter to families.

CPS’ roughly 24,000 eighth graders were set to take the HSAT in school on Oct. 11. The exam is part of admissions requirements for selective enrollment high schools and for enrollment at some schools outside of their neighborhood boundaries.

But on test day, a technical problem broke out with the testing vendor, Riverside Associates, LLC, officials said. The company later discovered that backlogged servers caused the problem, according to an FAQ on the district’s website. Students were unable to log into the testing platform, and the company’s help desk could not be reached, educators told Chalkbeat. District officials instructed principals to stop exam administration for students who were unable to log in.

The district later canceled the exam for non-CPS students, who were scheduled to take it Oct. 14 and 15.

The company fixed the problem by “adding server capacity” and testing the system to ensure that it works, the FAQ said.

Students’ HSAT scores help determine which selective high schools they might be admitted. This year, students must submit their top choices in the district’s admissions system — GoCPS — by Nov. 9, a month earlier than usual. Students were originally allowed to re-rank their choices by Nov. 22, but given the rescheduled HSAT, district officials have extended the re-rank deadline to Dec. 1.

After last week’s glitches, the district plans to be “very cautious” about the new testing plan and is “putting some strategies in place” to eliminate potential issues, said CPS Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova during a Wednesday Board of Education meeting to review the agenda for an upcoming full board meeting. Neither she nor district officials immediately elaborated on what extra steps they’ve taken to ensure the test will resume smoothly.

In the online FAQ, the district said that its team has “reviewed results of vendor testing to confirm preparedness for resuming the HS Admissions Test program.”

During the board meeting Wednesday, Chkoumbova apologized to families for the glitches and said she was “a little bit disappointed” by the problems, given that the district’s aim was to reduce anxiety for students. The district had shortened the test length this year to an hour, from a previous 2 ½ hours, and had offered it for the first time in Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, Urdu, and Polish.

“Our team went into the testing session with a lot of assurances,” Chkoumbova said. “We did triple check everything, but the platform failed.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

At one magnet school, Chicago’s bus crisis has parents grasping for options — or leaving

2023-10-13T18:14:26+00:00

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Mónica Meléndez spent the first half of the last school year driving her three kids at least an hour each way to Inter-American Magnet School in Lake View.

She felt she had no choice after the district said it would not provide transportation at the beginning of the year for two of her children.

By the time all her kids got bus service in the second semester, Meléndez was exhausted — especially on days she spent another hour driving to work.

So shortly after Chicago Public Schools announced this summer that it wouldn’t provide busing to about 5,500 eligible general education students, largely those in gifted and magnet programs, Meléndez and her husband pulled their two youngest children out of the school. It was a wrenching decision: The Spanish dual language school felt perfect for the couple, who are originally from Puerto Rico and want their children to be bilingual.

Meléndez recalls telling her husband: “Sweetie, I can’t do this anymore.” Their oldest, a seventh grader, now takes a CTA bus two hours each way.

The family’s decision illustrates one way Chicago’s school bus crisis could impact enrollment and the socioeconomic and racial diversity of the city’s magnet and gifted programs. Many of these schools were created under a federal desegregation consent decree, but have been criticized for lacking diversity and enrolling larger shares of white and Asian American students since federal oversight ended in 2009. As working-class families find it difficult or impossible to take their children far distances to school, the absence of a transportation option could segregate the schools even more.

Parents at Inter-American are looking for solutions, as other gifted and magnet programs have also sought their own alternatives to the lack of busing.

Inter-American is already seeing the impact and some families have left.

“I would be really worried about what this change would mean for the demographics for these schools and for the goals of magnet schools in Chicago more generally,” said Halley Potter, an expert on school integration policy and a senior fellow at The Century Foundation.

Parents share transportation challenges

Citing a severe driver shortage, Chicago Public Schools announced in late July that it would limit bus transportation this year to students with disabilities and those who are homeless, both groups which are legally required to receive transportation. The district is currently under state watch to make sure it’s meeting those legal requirements.

The district said it has pursued several solutions to hire more drivers, including boosting driver pay rates by $2 – to $22 to $27 an hour – and hosting hiring fairs. But as of late last month, the district still had only half the number of drivers on hand and announced that busing would not be extended to more families for the rest of the semester. The district offered CTA cards to the 5,500 children who lost busing, but as of late last month, just about 1,600 took that option.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Samantha Hart said the district is “acutely aware” of the challenges families are facing with longer commutes.

“We are committed to continuing to work with our vendors, City partners and our families to identify solutions and ensure every eligible student has safe, secure, and reliable transportation to and from school,” Hart said.

The transportation crisis has already had a small impact on enrollment at Inter-American, where nearly half of the school’s 641 students come from low-income families. Fifty-three families were eligible for transportation at the school. As of Oct. 2, six children have transferred out of the school due to the lack of transportation, according to the district.

At least two more children transferred out after Oct. 2 because of transportation issues, said Maria Ugarte, chair of Inter-American’s Local School Council. Ugarte has also heard from many parents who are considering leaving, and she wonders how lack of busing will impact next year’s enrollment.

At a meeting last month with the school’s principal, one parent said he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the commute to school. A mother shared that her commute involves taking the CTA with her three children, including a 2-year-old, every morning and evening— and doing that daily is becoming stressful.

Alexis Luna, who lives in Belmont Cragin, splits dropoff and pickup responsibilities for her third grade daughter with the girl’s father. But her daughter may have to miss school on days that the girl’s father is out of town for work, since Luna’s work schedule is inflexible and she can’t take days off.

Luna “lost everything” when her business closed during the pandemic, so she cannot afford to miss work or quit. She said she is struggling to pay for the increased gas costs.

For Rocio Meza, the lack of transportation means she can’t search for a job this year as she handles the hourlong pickup and dropoff each way at Inter-American for her 12-year-old daughter. She’s also responsible for driving her older son with disabilities to doctor’s appointments on some mornings, which sometimes makes one of the children late.

She and her husband have discussed transferring their daughter out of Inter-American – two other schools are within a few blocks of their house – but the family loves the school.

”Do I really want to do this and give up the education and experience she’s getting at Inter-American to go to another school?” Meza said.

Some attempts to find solutions at the school level haven’t come to fruition.

The school’s principal, Juan Carlos Zayas, launched a voluntary task force with parents to look for ways to ease the transportation issue. Ideas included a rideshare app and hiring a bus company on their own, according to recordings of the meetings. Both options would likely be too costly for parents, task force members said. For example, one parent found a company that would charge $158 per child this month — if the bus was full with just a couple of stops.

The district granted the school $157,000 in funding to host before- and after-school programs to accommodate more flexible pickup and dropoff times. The principal recently surveyed families for their interest and expects programming to start Oct. 23, a district spokesperson said.

Last month, Luna tried to distribute a survey to arrange carpooling for interested parents. The survey asked for information such as where their child’s old bus stop was and how many children they had. Zayas emailed Luna and several other parents that the “attempt to collect personal information” was a “clear violation” of district policy and that it was circulated to teachers without his knowledge.

District officials pointed to a CPS policy that prevents anyone from circulating ads, subscription lists, meeting invitations, books, maps, articles, or other political or commercial materials among school employees or students without approval from the principal or other district officials.

Still, some parents are trying to figure out carpool arrangements, Luna said.

Transportation woes could decrease diversity in magnet programs

During CPS board meetings, parents at magnet and gifted programs have said they are worried that the lack of transportation will most greatly impact children whose parents don’t have flexible work schedules to take young children on lengthy transit commutes or the money and time to drive them. That could force less-resourced families to transfer out of magnet programs or gifted programs or choose not to apply for them for next school year.

Once seen as a solution to the city’s segregated schools, the city’s magnet, gifted, and selective enrollment programs have been criticized for failing to achieve their diversity goals. A 2019 WBEZ analysis found that just 20% of these schools met the definition of racial diversity embedded in a now-lifted court order for Chicago to integrate its schools.

CPS uses a lottery for enrollment in magnet programs like Inter-American. Seats are offered based on the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood a student lives in. Sometimes priority is given to siblings or to students living close to the school.

Inter-American lacks racial diversity — 85% of its students this year are Hispanic, and 10% are white, according to district data. However, the school is more socioeconomically diverse, with 47% of its students coming from low-income families, still far below the district’s average of about 71%.

During one of the task force meetings, one parent expressed concern that working-class families would leave, and more local families from the surrounding affluent Lake View neighborhood would get seats — changing the face of the school.

At the same time, less transportation for magnet and gifted families could mean more students enrolling in their neighborhood schools. Bolstering neighborhood schools is a priority for Mayor Brandon Johnson.

After pulling her daughter and son out of Inter-American, Meléndez enrolled them in her local neighborhood school, Canty Elementary. There, about half of the students are Hispanic, 44% are white, and about 2% are each Black and Asian American. Just over 43% come from low-income households.

Her daughters like the school so far, Meléndez said. Canty, which is not a dual-language school like Inter-American, is just a five-minute drive away from home. But the outcome of their story is likely not the norm: In a city as segregated as Chicago, more integrated neighborhood schools like Canty are a rarity.

Potter, from The Century Foundation, said Chicago Public Schools has done “really important work” in finding ways to spur diversity in selective and magnet schools. The district’s lotteries that try to enroll students from different socioeconomic backgrounds often result in more racial diversity, too, she said.

But, Potter said, “without transportation support, a lot of that can fall apart.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Rising share of Chicago Public Schools graduates are pursuing college, study finds

2023-10-12T18:25:42+00:00

A rising share of Chicago Public Schools students enrolled in college in recent years, and far more are earning degrees or certificates at two-year colleges.

That’s according to a study released Thursday by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the To & Through Project, which tracks college enrollment. Additionally, the study found that more Chicago students than ever are projected to pursue and complete college over the next decade.

The study’s findings run counter to national trends of sagging college enrollment during the pandemic; nationwide enrollment in two- and four-year colleges fell by .6% from 2021 to 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Many young people across the nation are questioning whether higher education is worth the cost, said Jenny Nagaoka, one of the study’s authors and deputy director of the Consortium on School Research.

Higher education is “tremendously expensive, student debt is a huge issue [and] ultimately for a lot of students they’re unclear if the payoffs will be there,” Nagaoka said. “But CPS students are still going to college. They’re still seeing there’s value in it.”

Research shows that a college education can lead to better salary-earning potential, provide better access to high-quality housing, and contribute to better overall health, according to a review of literature by Healthy People 2030, a federal government-led project that tracks health data.

“We are hearing so much discouraging news about achievement in our schools right now, and this is not to say that’s not real, but I think it’s really important to note that at the same time, we’re actually also seeing increases in attainment,” Nagaoka said.

The study used a measure called the Post-Secondary Attainment Index, or PAI, to project college enrollment and completion based on current high school graduation and college enrollment and completion rates. Researchers calculated graduation rates slightly differently from the district, which is why they’ve come up with an 84-percent graduation rate for 2022 versus 82.9% reported by CPS. (The authors emphasized that the index is not meant to be a prediction; rather, it is a “starting place” to understand how to improve current patterns.)

This year the index is 30%, meaning that if CPS graduation and college enrollment and completion rates remained the same over the next decade, 30 out of 100 current ninth graders would earn a college credential by the time they are 25, researchers project. That is a 2.4 percentage point increase over last year and the highest rate on record since researchers began calculating this index in 2013. At that time, the index was 23%.

This year’s ninth graders were in middle school when the pandemic shuttered school buildings.

Nagaoka said they’re “cautiously optimistic” that these trends won’t reverse in the future, since this year’s record-setting data reflects students who were in high school and college during the pandemic.

But the study also found significant racial disparities within the data. For example, 66% percent of Asian American women would earn a college credential over the next decade according to the PAI, but just 13.6% of Black men would do the same.

During an event Thursday announcing the study’s findings, CPS Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova acknowledged that the district has more to do to close racial disparities.

“With these groups, especially at the high school level, we’ve learned that one of the most impactful ways we can provide support is by establishing partnerships that will provide mentorship and guidance to the students throughout their high school experience,” she said.

The researchers also studied college enrollment data from 2022 and college completion data from 2021, based on data that was available. Some highlights included:

60.8% of CPS students who graduated in 2022 immediately enrolled in two-year or four-year colleges, 1.5 percentage points higher than the class of 2021.
There are stark racial disparities in who pursued college upon graduation in 2022. For example, nearly 80% of white women immediately enrolled in college upon graduation, while just 45% of Black male students did the same.
Just over 53% of English learners immediately pursued college after graduating last year, compared with 68% of former English learners.
For the class of 2015, nearly 56% of students who immediately enrolled in a four-year college and roughly one-third of students who immediately enrolled in a two-year college eventually earned a bachelor’s or associate degree, or earned a certificate by 2021.
For those who did not immediately enroll in college in 2015, roughly 3% earned a bachelor’s degree within six years. Another 5% completed an associate degree or certificate. While those rates are on the rise, they are 1.7 percentage points smaller than similar completion rates for the class of 2009.
The percentage of students who earned some sort of college credential after enrolling in four-year schools dipped by .6% between the graduating classes of 2014 and 2015.

Chkoumbova attributed the gains to various efforts across district schools to keep students interested in school and prepared for the future, including more career and technical education and dual-credit programs. She also pointed to the district’s work on how it disciplines students. Rather than suspending students, schools are using restorative practices to keep them connected and in class.

A district spokesperson pointed to a host of other programs, such as a new pilot initiative that aims to re-engage young people who are no longer in school or working. The spokesperson also pointed to efforts to get students interested in college and staying there. That includes the Direct Admissions Initiative, which tells seniors whether they can get into a select list of colleges, and another program that provides students with support and mentorship in the two years after they graduate from high school.

Nagaoka also highlighted the increase of 5.6 percentage points in the two-year college completion rate for class of 2015 graduates, the largest increase by far over at least the past six years.

That increase, researchers and Chkoumbova noted, coincides with the onset of Chicago’s STAR Scholarship, which former Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced in the fall of 2014 and offers free tuition to City Colleges for any CPS student with at least a 3.0 grade point average by high school graduation.

Chicago’s college enrollment rates beat national figures for high-poverty schools by about 11 percentage points, researchers found. Nagaoka attributed this in part to efforts by counselors, nonprofits, and others who work in schools to ensure students know about their college options.

More specifically, CPS requires students to create a post-secondary plan, or “evidence of a plan for life beyond high school,” in order to graduate from high school. That requirement forces students to have a conversation about what’s next, she said.

Ninety-seven percent of seniors in the class of 2022 submitted a post-secondary plan, a district spokesperson said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first city budget plan includes $76 million for youth jobs

2023-10-11T18:15:18+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson put forward a $16.6 billion city budget proposal for 2024 that includes $76 million for youth jobs, the reopening of two public mental health clinics, and a push for a one-time tax on expensive homes to fund affordable housing.

The spending plan Johnson shared Wednesday is his first since taking office in May. The former organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union dashed former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hope of a second term in February and defeated former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in an April runoff.

Johnson, a former middle school teacher, got elected on a progressive platform embraced by the CTU and other community activists over the past decade that aimed to improve education by tackling issues beyond the classroom, such as affordable housing, environmental justice, and alternatives to policing.

The budget blueprint provides the first glimpse at how he might deliver on those promises. In a speech inside City Hall, he emphasized that the 2024 spending proposal is meant to uplift families like those he served as a teacher in Cabrini Green and as an organizer fighting the closure of public schools and mental health clinics.

“As we begin this work, I’m thinking about my family — especially my father. He was a pastor and a union laborer, raising 10 children and taking in foster children, working multiple jobs to keep us fed and sheltered,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s city budget proposal does not undo a cost shift implemented by Lightfoot in 2020 to have CPS pay for crossing guards and the pensions of non-teaching staff — two things long paid for by the city. The move angered the CTU at the time. The district’s portion of that pension payment grew to $170 million in 2022. The school district’s most recent budget did not list an amount.

Though the city’s budget is separate from the school district’s budget, it’s possible that the school district could take on additional costs traditionally included in the city’s budget in future years as the school board moves to being elected, rather than appointed by the mayor.

The proposed $78 million for youth jobs is an $11 million increase from last year. The additional money comes after the Johnson administration worked to boost the city’s longstanding summer jobs program, One Summer Chicago. It also comes as Chicago grapples with how to re-engage an estimated 45,000 youth who are neither in school nor working.

“We know that unemployment among young Chicagoans, in particular young Black women, rose during the pandemic and is lagging behind in the pandemic rebound,” Johnson said.

Ald. Maria Hadden, who represents Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood along the north lakefront, said she was happy to see the expansion in youth employment.

“It’s a number one thing, year after year,” Hadden said. “Our high school age youth and those who are just out of high school are looking for entry to careers, they’re looking for employment, they’re looking for activities, and things to do.”

Hadden noted that many young people are working to help contribute to their household income.

The Chicago Teachers Union issued a statement applauding Johnson’s 2024 budget proposal and said it “starkly contrasts with other mayors who have utilized austerity and privatization to shape policy, limit democracy and balance budgets at the expense of our city’s most vulnerable residents.”

One win for Johnson’s progressive base in his first budget proposal is the plan to reopen two of the city’s public mental health clinics that were shuttered in 2012 by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The decision preceded Emanuel’s decision to close 50 public schools, but was met with similar outrage. Activists have been pushing to reopen the six facilities ever since.

The 2024 budget plan also re-establishes the city’s Department of Environment, which was closed early in Emanuel’s first term. On the campaign trail, Johnson talked about the need to create green school buildings and update schools so they’re accessible for people with physical disabilities according to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. But the city budget does not does not spell out specific funding for school construction and upgrades.

The $9.4 billion budget for CPS includes a pared-down $155 million capital budget for school repairs and construction. It doesn’t include a controversial plan to build a $120 million high school on the Near South Side.

But school district officials indicated over the summer that they would release a supplemental capital plan later this year. Late last month, CPS debuted a new Education Facilities Master Plan that said the district would need more than $3 billion in the next five years to address critical facility needs.

The mayor and City Council frequently allocate money from special taxing districts known as TIFs to help repair schools. The city will also declare a TIF surplus and return unallocated funds collected in those districts to the taxing bodies, including the school district. This year, CPS will get $226 million from the TIF surplus.

Johnson’s budget plan does not appear to include significant increases for child care, which Johnson argued for on the campaign trail. Advocates recently pushed for a dedicated revenue stream to help fund child care providers, which are regulated and supported by the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.

During the campaign, Johnson also promised to make bus and train rides on the Chicago Transit Authority free for students. (Like CPS, the CTA has a budget that’s separate from the city’s.) Amid a bus driver shortage and ongoing transportation troubles, the school district has offered CTA passes to roughly 5,500 students, mostly those attending magnet schools.

Only about 1,600 have taken advantage of the free transit passes, district officials said last month.

The City Council will hold budget hearings over the next month and is expected to vote on a final budget for 2024 before Thanksgiving. By law, it must approve a balanced budget by Dec. 31.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

At six Illinois college campuses, advocates seek to create ‘comfort’ for foster care peers

2023-10-02T10:00:00+00:00

Grace Ward spent four years in foster care before enrolling at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2021. On campus, 200 miles south of her hometown of Rockford, she felt alone.

Before Ward entered care, she had missed three years of school and had briefly lived in homeless shelters with her mother. In her foster home, she was expected to prioritize chores over homework, babysit younger children, and call the police if a child was having a mental breakdown, she said.

A few months before coming to the university, she had a violent disagreement that involved her foster parent, leading Ward to end that relationship and head to school without knowing anyone well on campus.

“You kind of have to figure out and navigate for yourself now,” Ward said. “How do you find comfort in your life?”

Now a junior studying animal sciences, Ward has taken up a new role: peer advocate for youth on campus who have experienced foster care. The new gig, she hopes, will create the support system for others that she craved as a freshman.

Ward has joined the state’s new Youth in Care - College Advocate Program, or Y-CAP, which pairs peer advocates like Ward with other college students who have experienced foster care. The goal is for the advocates to check-in regularly with their mentees, help them navigate college life, and ultimately create a support system they’re missing.

A 2021 study found that of Illinois youth in foster care who turned 17 between 2012 and 2018, 86% enrolled in community college. Of those, just 8% graduated, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Students told researchers that they felt alone, largely weren’t aware of financial aid options, and that they needed more specialized attention.

As for what would help them, some interviewees said they wanted someone to help monitor their academic progress. Others said they wanted a support group, the study said.

“Young people with a background in foster care on college campuses are not getting the supports they need to be successful,” said Amy Dworsky, a senior research fellow at Chapin Hall at University of Chicago who co-authored the study and helped the state create the advocate program.

The state’s Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS, launched the $200,000 program this year after its youth advisory board signaled that college-bound foster youth needed more support on campus, said Chevelle Bailey, deputy director of DCFS’s office of education and transition services. Some colleges have similar mentorship programs, but “there’s no consistency” across all Illinois campuses, Bailey said.

The program has launched one year after a new state law went into effect requiring each Illinois college to have a liaison that is charged with connecting students who are in foster care or are homeless with resources and assistance.

Department officials want colleges to be more “foster-friendly,” Bailey said, noting that foster youth need extra support in a new environment like college. These youth are at higher risk of dropping out of school, according to the U.S. Department of Education. In Chicago, which houses the most foster youth of any jurisdiction, 40% graduated on time from the city’s public schools last year, compared with 83% of all CPS students, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

DCFS contracted with Foster Progress — an advocacy organization for foster youth that runs its own high school mentorship program — to oversee YCAP on six college campuses this year. That includes University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northern Illinois University, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, Harold Washington College, and Kishwaukee College.

“One reason we started small is to make sure we do this right and not take on too much we can’t handle,” Kim Peck, DCFS’ downstate education and transition services administrator.

Nearly 20,000 Illinois children were in foster care as of last month, according to DCFS data. These youth have likely experienced abuse or neglect that led them into the system, and often cycle through multiple foster homes before they age out of care at 21.

So far, Foster Progress has hired three advocates on Ward’s campus, and they’ve identified four mentees, said LT Officer-McIntosh, program manager for Foster Progress. She’s expecting to hire a total of 10 peer advocates, who are paid $15 an hour, to support up to 100 mentees across all the campuses.

There are three parts to the mentor-mentee relationship, Officer-McIntosh said.

Advocates are supposed to hold regular check-ins, where they’ll track goals for what the mentee would like out of the experience and will also navigate college questions and deadlines, such as for financial aid.

Peer advocates and mentees will also pick a short group training they want, such as on resume building, and volunteer together so that they feel more rooted in the surrounding community.

Beyond this framework, program leaders want peer advocates and their mentees to figure out a support system that works best for them.

“Our goal with YCAP is to not tell them, ‘This is how you build community from our perspective,’” Officer-McIntosh said. “It needs to be rooted in the things that they identify, that they want out of a campus community and the experience in YCAP.”

Ward wants to help mentees with whatever they need to grow, whether that means being “a shoulder to lean on” or just instructions for how to do laundry.

Sometimes when she walks around campus, Ward thinks about how different her life is now. She wants her mentees to similarly feel like they have a “safe space” that doesn’t involve talking about required paperwork or upcoming court dates, if they don’t want to.

“It’s not something to be like, ‘You’re a foster youth,’ Ward said. “It is something to be like, ‘You have gone through challenges in your life; this is a time to ease those challenges, so you don’t constantly struggle and feel like you’re struggling.’”

Correction: Oct. 2, 2023: A previous version of this story said a 2021 study was conducted by researchers at the University of Chicago. The study was conducted by researchers at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools says $3.1 billion for ‘critical’ building repairs needed

2023-09-29T02:30:03+00:00

Chicago Public Schools facilities need $3.1 billion in “critical” repairs that must be addressed in the next five years, according to a district plan released Thursday.

The cost is part of a total of $14.4 billion in updates that the district identified in its Facilities Master Plan, which CPS is required by state law to produce every five years.

“In a district as large as ours, and with a building portfolio as old as ours, this is the investment it would take to repair and modernize each and every one of our current facilities and give our students the learning environment we know they deserve,” CEO Pedro Martinez wrote in the plan’s introduction.

The $3.1 billion in costs identified as the most urgent work includes repairs to windows, roofs, masonry, and heating and cooling systems. Another $5.5 billion would go toward repairs in the next six to 10 years, according to the facilities plan. Beyond that, the district wants money to build labs “to support STEM education,” accommodations for students with disabilities, new auditoriums, new fields for sports, and classrooms “outfitted” for career and technical education — programming that Martinez wants to expand, according to the plan.

The district released the plan during Thursday’s Board of Education meeting, which was held in the auditorium of Austin Career and College Academy High School on the West Side and drew at least 200 observers. The changed location was the board’s attempt to address the longstanding criticism that the meetings, which are typically held during the day downtown, are inaccessible for many families and teachers who work during the day. (The last meeting held outside of district headquarters was in 2019, according to a district spokesperson.)

District officials said this summer that they had budgeted $155 million for facilities projects this fiscal year — roughly $600 million less than the previous year — and planned to ask for more capital funding this year.

Martinez used the plan to make another plea for more funding and “partnerships” from the city, state, and federal government. Martinez plans to press the state for more money as a way to address costs once COVID relief dollars run out in 2024.

“This plan will take coalitions and partnerships with our fellow officials at the city, state, and federal levels,” he wrote in his introduction to the plan. “It will take administrators, teachers, parents, students, and advocates pushing for the changes we need.”

Martinez said the facilities plan is a “critical” early part of its process to create a five-year strategic plan for CPS. That plan — which will build on Martinez’s three-year blueprint released last year to help the district recover from the pandemic — will be finalized next summer.

The district will also launch an advisory team that would make recommendations to Martinez on how to narrow academic disparities of Black students compared to their peers. Those recommendations would also inform a “Black Student Success Plan” and be part of the strategic plan, according to CPS.

Some advocates, however, immediately rejected that idea Thursday night. They had previously pressed officials to create a Board of Education committee that focused on Black student achievement.

“To have a strategic plan is not enough to say, ‘Oh, we hear you,’” said Valerie Leonard, a longtime West Side education advocate and the co-founder of Illinois African Americans For Equitable Redistricting. “I want to know that you see me; I want to know there is some action. At what point will Black children be prioritized?”

District officials are asking for community feedback as they develop the strategic plan. The public meetings to gather that input will be on:

6-7:30 p.m. October 17 at Kelvyn Park High School, 4343 W. Wrightwood Ave.
6 - 7:30 p.m. October 18 at Westinghouse College Prep, 3223 W. Franklin Blvd.
10 a.m. - noon October 21, virtual meeting
6 - 7 p.m. October 23, Little Village high school campus, 3120 S. Kostner Ave.
6 - 7:30 p.m. Julian High School, 10330 S. Elizabeth St.

Those wishing to attend should register here.

The facilities plan includes information like enrollment trends to highlight the district’s needs. District officials offered more analysis Thursday of enrollment this year.

Chicago Public Schools enrollment grows by nearly 1,200

Preliminary data on the 20th day of school — when district officials tally up students for the year — indicated that enrollment, at just over 322,500 students, is essentially flat compared to last year, Chalkbeat reported last week. On Thursday, officials revealed that 323,291 students were enrolled, or nearly 1,200 more students than last year.

It’s the first time since 2011 that the district’s enrollment has not dipped. Since that year, enrollment declines were driven by several factors, including population changes and dipping birth rates. Last year’s decline cost CPS’ title as the nation’s third largest school district.

The small enrollment bump was due to fewer students leaving and more new students, including a 7% increase in preschool students, officials said. Additionally, the number of students living in temporary housing increased by 47%, which could be one sign of an increase in migrant students who are living in shelters or other temporary circumstances.

The district does not track students’ immigration status. But another sign that the population of newly enrolled migrant students is growing is the increasing number of English language learners. About 7,800 more English learners enrolled this year than last year, officials said. CPS typically enrolls an average of 3,000 new English learners a year.

English language learners now make up nearly a quarter of the district’s students, up from 22% last year, according to Chalkbeat’s analysis.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools won’t bus general education students for the rest of the semester

2023-09-27T19:41:03+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools won’t provide busing to general education students for the rest of the semester, officials said Tuesday.

District officials informed families of the decision Tuesday morning, said Charles Mayfield, CPS’ chief operating officer.

“We really wanted to give parents an early notice to let them know that you don’t have to come back and keep asking and hoping,” Mayfield said.

Mayfield said district officials will re-evaluate the decision in December before winter break and update families then on the state of transportation service.

Blaming a driver shortage, CPS has restricted bus transportation this year to students with disabilities and those who are living in temporary housing, groups that are legally entitled to transportation. District officials say they have just 681 drivers — similar to figures last month and half of what they need, Mayfield said.

At the start of the school year, Mayfield said the district would try to provide busing to more children if it could hire more drivers, but the needle hasn’t moved on new hires since August.

“We’re continuing to do more outreach,” Mayfield said.

Over the past year, the district has hosted roughly two dozen hiring fairs, raised driver pay rates by $2, to $22 to $27 an hour, and added more bus companies in an effort to ease the driver shortage, officials said. Mayfield said it may be too soon to try new strategies, given that boosting hiring can take a while, and some of the steps, such as increasing pay, went into effect only recently.

The limited bus routes have enraged many families of general education students who have relied on busing in the past, including those in magnet and gifted programs, and they have expressed their concerns at Board of Education meetings. These families are eligible for free CTA cards, including a companion pass for parents. But of the roughly 5,500 children who are eligible, just under 1,600 have used that option, Mayfield said. (The district mistakenly said in July that 8,000 students were eligible.)

Some parents of young children have said they can’t send their kids alone on buses or trains and also can’t accompany their children because of their work schedules.

Alexis Luna said the lack of transportation could force her to keep her third-grade daughter out of school occasionally. Because of Luna’s inflexible work schedule, the girl’s father usually drives her to Inter-American Elementary Magnet School in Wrigleyville in the morning, about 45 minutes from her Belmont Cragin home. Luna typically picks her up.

But if her father has to travel out of town for work, Luna won’t be able to cover the morning drop-off. In that case, Luna said, “I will have to put her in day care, and she’s probably going to have to miss school.”

Tuesday’s decision comes in the middle of the district’s school application season, during which families apply for gifted and magnet programs. The application period ends in November.

Last year, bus transportation was available to any eligible student. But the district has struggled since 2021 to provide timely and reliable service. For example, thousands of students with disabilities last year had commutes longer than an hour — a problem the district has nearly eliminated this year as it has restricted bus service.

Currently, the district is providing bus service to 7,300 students who have disabilities or live in temporary housing. It has also offered stipends to families of these students who prefer other modes of transportation. The first round of those are expected to be mailed out this week.

As of last Friday, 324 students with disabilities were waiting for routes, Mayfield said, adding that new requests continue to come in.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools shows off training program for students with disabilities — and considers opening more

2023-09-25T22:20:04+00:00

Mary Fahey Hughes, a member of Chicago’s Board of Education, went into mom mode Monday during a tour of her son’s former South Side school, which provides work and life skills training to older students with disabilities.

Standing to the side of a horticulture classroom at Southside Occupational Academy High School, Hughes smiled as she snapped photos of Aidan next to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who was also on the tour. Aidan has come far from when he was diagnosed with autism as a child — and Hughes was unsure what his future would look like, she said.

She credits the Englewood school — from which Aidan graduated in June — with giving him the confidence to chat up the mayor and show off his alma mater.

“He just gained so much independence,” Hughes said in a hallway at Southside. “The thing I love about this place is there is so much respect for students where they’re at.”

Chicago Public Schools officials are considering expanding the model at Southside and a handful of other so-called specialty schools, which are meant to help students with more challenging disabilities transition into the real world, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez said Monday.

Monday’s tour was the district’s opportunity to show off the model to Johnson and a slew of other city and district officials. If the district decides to grow the program, it would need to lobby the state for more funding, Martinez said.

“We’re having the conversation internally about, how do we look at these programs, build on their strengths and potentially expand them,” Martinez said.

The district has seven specialty schools that together enroll about 1,800 students with mild to moderate cognitive disabilities, said Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools. Three schools are early childhood programs that serve younger students with disabilities. The remaining four — including Southside — are for older students and have a focus on vocational and life skills.

Unlike traditional high schools, the district assigns students to these schools, Barragan said.

Some students with disabilities who look for work after graduation may benefit more from going through a specialty program first, Martinez said. He believes the need is enough to warrant doubling the number of specialty schools.

Other districts, such as New York City, have similar programs where students with disabilities learn vocational skills.

These programs, however, have drawn some criticism for segregating students with disabilities, instead of allowing students to build skills next to peers who don’t have a diagnosed disability.

Southside Principal Joshua Long has said his school model allows students to have the specialized attention they need.

At Southside, nearly 88% of students came from low-income families last year. Asked if schools like Southside limit students to low-paying jobs, Hughes said the programs hone skills that these young adults may otherwise miss out on, potentially leaving them stuck at home without work. Hughes noted that the schools serve students with a variety of strengths, and some graduates go on to community college.

“The problem is that a lot of jobs are low-paying, despite the amount of work that needs to get done,” Hughes said.

High school students can attend Vaughn Occupational High School and Northside Learning Center High School, both on the Northwest Side. Southside, in Englewood, and Ray Graham Training Center, in the South Loop, serve students who have met graduation requirements but still need “transition supports and services,” as determined by the team that creates their Individualized Education Program, according to the district. At these two schools, students are typically ages 18-22.

At Southside, where 360 students enrolled last year, students learn about various potential jobs and responsibilities they will need in the real world. Most students are exposed to every class, and some do internships, such as with the Museum of Science and Industry, said Kristen Dimas, a teacher at the school.

Long led the mayor and other officials through several different rooms that simulate a different career or life responsibility. Among the classrooms they saw were a horticulture class, a mock grocery store, a broadcast studio with a green screen, a garage where students learn to wash cars, and a café — complete with a bakery display case.

A group of students stopped by the horticulture room to ask if they had laundry. They would eventually go to the laundry room, where they learn how to wash clothes but also learn a mental checklist on basic hygiene.

“Smell your armpits. Do they smell fresh?” said a laminated list in the laundry room. “If not, put on deodorant.”

In a supply room, where a laminated document listed rules for folding a T-shirt, a student carefully practiced folding. Long gently asked her to get the mayor’s T-shirt size, but the student was shy. The mayor, who used to be a teacher, ultimately revealed he’s an extra large.

Mayor Brandon Johnson watches a student practice folding a T-shirt at Southside Occupational Academy High School in Englewood.

“But here’s the thing — you don’t have to tell everybody that,” he said to the student, who laughed and handed him a T-shirt.

The café and laundry classes are favorites of 18-year-old Josiah Hall, who enrolled at Southside in August. He especially enjoys spending time with the teachers, he said. He hopes to attend a four-year university, such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The school works to help students understand the career options that are right for them and to reach those goals, Long said.

For Aidan, Hughes’ son, that path has led to a new transition program for adults age 18 and older at Daley College. He’s also taking EMT classes and dreams one day of being a firefighter like his father.

Correction: Sept. 26, 2023: A previous version of this story said the program at Daley College is for people age 22 and older. It is for people age 18 and older.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s local school council elections are happening in April 2024. Here’s how to run.

2023-09-22T20:00:42+00:00

Interested in having a say in choosing your community school’s principal, greenlighting the school’s budget, and local curriculum priorities?

Run to be a member of your local school council. And bring a friend, too.

That was the message Thursday night to hundreds of parents, community members, and teachers who signed on for a crash course on what local school councils do and how to become a member.

Starting Oct. 16, people can file paperwork to become a candidate in next April’s LSC elections. Applications are due Feb. 8, 2024. Despite numerous vacancies, during the 2022-23 school year a record number of more than 6,000 candidates applied to become LSC members, according to CPS.

After last year’s election, more than 1,400 seats for LSCs across the city of Chicago remained open, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat. This year, Chicago Public Schools is trying to get ahead of the curve and provide as much information — and encouragement — as possible to parents and community members who might be interested in having a louder voice in how their child’s school is run.

“Serving on an LSC is one of the most important, most impactful ways you can make a difference in your school,” said Kishasha Williams-Ford, director of LSC relations, during the virtual meeting.

With 374 vacant seats, the majority are up for grabs, according to a map of current local school council members from CPS. That includes open seats all across Chicago — from the South and West Sides to the North Side.

Next November, voters will also elect 10 members to the Chicago Board of Education as Chicago moves to a 21-member school board that will eventually be fully elected.

One of the most important jobs for LSCs is agreeing on who will lead the school: Members have a voice in determining local schools’ next principal. They also vote on budget priorities and curriculum decisions that aren’t determined by the school district.

CPS officials reminded attendees of these powers and responsibilities during the virtual meeting Thursday, encouraging everyone with an interest to run and to persuade their friends to do the same after the heavy slate of vacancies in 2022, mostly on Chicago’s majority Black and Latino South and West sides.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez lauded parent and community involvement in local schools as being instrumental to recent student performance improvements. More Chicago students met state math and reading standards this year, but a majority of schools are still falling short of where they were pre-pandemic.

“The results are promising, why? Because we’re investing in our schools,” Martinez said Thursday night. “We can’t do this work without you. It is your voice, being connected at the local school level … that’s going to continue to make our district stronger.”

In a prepared video statement that aired during the Zoom meeting, Mayor Brandon Johnson praised the people willing to take the time to be on their local school councils and encouraged more to run in the next election.

“We need your voices and ideas to ensure our students receive the highest quality education and have every opportunity for success,” Johnson said.

Every two years, local school districts elect LSC members made up of parents, students, CPS staff, and community members. In order to become a member, people have to fill out an application form, meet the basic qualification criteria. Parent members must have a student enrolled at the school. Community members must live in the school’s attendance boundaries. Student members must be enrolled and teachers must work at the school they wish to represent.

Traditional LSCs are made up of the principal, six parent representatives, two community members, two teachers, one representative of non-teacher staff, three students for high schools, and one student for schools serving up to eighth grade. All positions — other than the one-year student terms — are for two years.

There are no term limits, so students, parents, and community members can run as many times as they want, as long as they still meet the basic qualifications. Anyone who has a child at the school or lives in the school’s attendance boundary can vote in the elections, including undocumented people.

Elections take place April 10, 2024 for elementary schools and April 11, 2024 for high schools.

Clarke Burnett, an eighth grade student at Skinner West Elementary School in the West Loop and a member of the school’s LSC, encouraged fellow students to run.

“If you’re passionate about your opinions about your school and have ideas … no matter what, your thoughts will be heard on the LSC,” Clarke said. “Whatever you have to say, it’ll be heard in some sort of way.”

Michael Gerstein is a freelance writer based in Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools enrollment is stable for first time in more than a decade

2023-09-20T02:26:40+00:00

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Enrollment in Chicago Public Schools is flat for the first time in more than a decade, according to preliminary data obtained by Chalkbeat.

New preliminary numbers for this school year show just over 322,500 students are registered at CPS schools. The data represents enrollment as of the end of the day Monday, the 20th day of the school year, when the district traditionally takes its official count. On the 20th day of last school year, 322,106 students were enrolled according to official data.

CPS enrollment has been in decline for 12 years, so this year’s shift is significant.

In the past decade, the district’s student body shrunk by 20%, with the district seeing multiple year-over-year declines of roughly 10,000 students. The dramatic contraction began after the 2011-12 school year, which was the last year CPS saw a bump in enrollment, from 402,681 to 404,151 students. Last year, Chicago lost its standing as the nation’s third largest district.

Enrollment now appears to be leveling off in Chicago. In the past year, the city has welcomed thousands of migrant families from the southern border and in July, a top mayoral aide suggested that newcomers were boosting enrollment in schools.

A district spokesperson, however, said enrollment changes are due to multiple reasons and cautioned against attributing the shifts to “any one group of students.”

“We will offer more analysis and context to our enrollment figures later this month,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in a statement. “We are honored and privileged to serve each and every student.”

It’s too early to tell if this is the start of a new trend, said Elaine Allensworth, who studies education policy and is Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.

“If it’s just a one-time pause in the trends of declining enrollment, it might not have a big overall long-term effect, but it’s really just hard to say right now since we don’t know what will happen in the future,” Allensworth said.

Thinning enrollment was driven by factors such as dipping birth rates and other population changes. With the onset of the pandemic, districts across the country enrolled fewer students, with more than 33,000 students falling off Chicago’s rolls since the fall of 2020.

Shrinking schools have left CPS officials and mayors to contend with how to best fund classrooms, especially as student needs grew during the pandemic. Enrollment has long been a determining factor for how much state and federal money a district gets. Mayor Brandon Johnson has been an outspoken critic of tying enrollment to funding, but past mayors have funded schools within CPS based on how many kids they serve.

Even with fewer students, the district’s budget has grown to $9.4 billion. That’s roughly flat compared to last year’s budget, but up from a decade ago when it hovered around $6 billion. A new state funding formula and a wave of pandemic recovery money have helped offset enrollment declines. Though state money is increasing, the district has recently seen fewer dollars than expected due to lower enrollment and increased property wealth.

According to preliminary enrollment data analyzed by Chalkbeat, there are 5,767 more students learning English as a new language this school year than last year. That’s a sizable jump: CPS has historically enrolled an average of 3,000 new English learners annually, a district spokesperson said.

CPS officials said they do not track immigration status of students. They have pointed to the growth in English language learners as one sign of newcomers, but emphasized that not all English language learners are newcomers.

The district enrolls migrant students in three ways. First, like any student, migrant children can enroll directly at schools. They can also make an appointment at the city’s new welcome center housed inside Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School on the West Side.

Finally, enrollment teams are going to families’ homes, after receiving information from the city’s Department of Family and Support Services about those in need of help who can’t make it to the welcome center, said Karime Asaf, chief of the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education.

Schools across the district have historically struggled to meet state regulations for providing proper support for English learners. When finding a school with the right program for English learners, officials try to stay within a two-mile radius of the child’s home, Asaf said.

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, which provides extra support for kids and families at a handful of Southwest Side schools as part of the district’s sustainable community schools initiative, said they’ve noticed an increase in migrant families among the parents they serve who don’t have stable housing.

Last year, the organization placed a case manager part-time at a high school in Back of the Yards that needed extra help with parents as they enrolled more migrant students, said Sara Reschly, deputy director of the group’s community services division.

At Brighton Park Elementary School, case manager Lupe Fernandez said newcomer families currently have very basic needs, such as undergarments and help navigating the CTA. The school is planning to create a free “closet” where families can pick up things they need for free.

“If there are schools that have those strong community partnerships, you know, like that would be a place to start because then you can wrap services around the whole family,” Reschly said.

Asaf, with the district, said they are processing more school transfers among newcomers as those families find new homes or more permanent housing.

Preliminary data analyzed by Chalkbeat show this school year, nearly a quarter of Chicago Public Schools students are learning English as a new language — a figure that trumps other large districts. For example, 14% of students in New York City public schools, the nation’s largest district, were English learners last school year.

The preliminary data signals the continuation of another trend over the past decade: a decline in the share of students from low-income households. Preliminary data indicate that number is 67%, down from 73% last school year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools is becoming less low-income. Here’s why that matters.

2023-09-06T22:09:52+00:00

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About six years ago, Lori Zaimi’s daughter told her mom that another longtime friend was leaving their elementary school in Edgewater on the North Side. The friend’s apartment building, she explained, had been sold to someone who was going to renovate it.

Zaimi recognized the familiar story of gentrification, when higher-income families move into a working class neighborhood and drive up property values. She’d seen property demolitions and pricey single family housing go up across Edgewater, the formerly working class neighborhood where she grew up.

She has also seen the impact in her daughter’s school, where Zaimi became principal in 2015. These days, she said, rent is “unaffordable for many of our families.”

A decade ago, nearly 73% of students at the school, Helen C. Peirce School of International Studies, came from low-income households, according to district data. Last school year, that figure was just over 34%.

Zaimi’s school is not alone. Ten years ago, 85% of Chicago Public Schools students came from low-income households. Now, that figure is 73% — a 12 percentage point drop — according to district data from the 2022-23 school year. Chicago Public Schools considers a student “economically disadvantaged” if their family’s income is within 185% of the federal poverty line. This year, that threshold is $55,500 or less for a family of four.

The drop, experts say, is driven by several factors, including gentrification, population and enrollment shifts, as well as a potential dissatisfaction with district schools.

Even though the number of students from low-income families has dropped, nearly three-quarters of the district’s student body is still considered “economically disadvantaged.” But if the downward trend continues, Chicago schools could continue to see fewer dollars than expected from the state, which funds districts in part by considering how many students from low-income families are enrolled.

For individual schools, such as Peirce, the decline has led to the loss of Title I money, federal dollars sent to schools with high shares of low-income students. But as the school has become more mixed-income, it has also become more racially diverse: Last school year, Peirce was 47% white and 32% Hispanic, compared to 17% white and 62% Hispanic 10 years ago.

As the district enrolls a smaller share of students from low-income households, Chicago’s schools continue to look different from how they did a decade ago, especially in rapidly changing neighborhoods. That shift raises questions about who schools are serving, how they should be resourced, and what the district — and the city — can do as it continues to lose students.

Low-income drops happening across Chicago, but steeper in some neighborhoods

Peirce is one of more than 200 schools that have seen their share of students from low-income families drop by more than the districtwide decline of 12 percentage points, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of the district’s public school enrollment data from the 2022-23 school year.

The analysis of the past decade also found:

While overall enrollment has also fallen, it’s still outpaced by the loss of students from low-income families. The district enrolled 31% fewer students from low-income families than in 2013, as the district’s overall enrollment dipped by 20%.
When looking at neighborhoods, schools in Lincoln Square and Irving Park, on the North Side, and West Elsdon, on the Southwest Side, saw a median 20 percentage point drop or more in students from low-income households since 2013. That’s more than any other community area.
Nine of the top 10 schools that lost the largest shares of students from low-income households were located on the North Side, across gentrifying neighborhoods.
Half of them enrolled more children last school year than they did 10 years ago, bucking citywide trends.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, 73 schools saw increases in their share of students from low-income families. One-third are on the South and West sides — regions that have also lost the most residents between 1999 and 2020, according to a 2022 report from UIC.

CPS officials use two methods to find out which students are from low-income households. They automatically count students who receive certain government aid meant for low-income families, such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits. And they collect forms handed out at the start of the school year that ask families to report their income, which in the past helped the district determine students who qualified for free or reduced price lunch.

In 2014, CPS became eligible for the federal universal free meals program for districts that serve at least 40% students from low-income families. With less pressure on schools to collect the forms, which are not mandatory, some have suggested that the district may be collecting fewer of them, potentially skewing the data about low-income families.

A CPS spokesperson said it could be “one of several reasons” behind the drop in the district’s share of low-income students. However, district officials declined to share the rate at which forms have been returned over the past decade, instead asking Chalkbeat to file an open records request for that information.

There’s some evidence that those forms do not get filled out, particularly among new students, said Elaine Allensworth, who studies education policy and is Lewis-Sebring Director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.

In the 2014-15 school year, 86% of preschoolers and 81% of kindergartners were listed as coming from low-income families, on par with children in other grades, district data show. The next school year, after the district became federally eligible for universal free lunch, around 62% of preschool and kindergarten students came from low-income families, while figures in older grades shifted just a couple percentage points from the previous year.

“That says to me new families that are coming into CPS are not signing up for free lunch,” Allensworth said, who added that population shifts are also a likely contributing factor.

The current data for early grades could also signal that CPS is likely to see its low-income population decline further. Last school year, nearly one-quarter of preschoolers and close to half of kindergarteners were from low-income families, compared to more than three-quarters of students in nearly all of the older grades.

Multiple principals told Chalkbeat they don’t believe missing paperwork is a big contributor — or that it is a factor at all — since their funding heavily relies on collecting those forms.

Another factor in the drop of low-income students could be a slight uptick in families seeking out private schools. Of Chicago’s low-income families, 10% were enrolled in private school in 2021 — an increase of 3 percentage points from 2019, according to an analysis of Census data by Jose Pacas, chief of data science and research at Kids First Chicago. That’s after little change since 2012, the last time there was a similar increase.

That coincides with the COVID pandemic when CPS switched to virtual learning, as well as the launch of Illinois’ tax credit scholarship program, which began in the 2018-19 school year. The program grants tax credits to people who fund scholarships for low-income students who want to attend private schools. That program is expected to sunset this year.

Some low-income parents, like Blaire Flowers, say they’re frustrated with the lack of good school options available in the neighborhoods they can afford to live in. Her daughter takes two buses to a charter high school miles away from their home in Austin on the West Side because Flowers wasn’t able to find a school she liked in their own neighborhood.

West Side parent Blaire Flowers, pictured in the center, is surrounded by four of her five children.

The mother of five also fears that CPS won’t provide her 4-year-old son who has autism with an adequate education. She’s already struggled to secure bus transportation for him this year, and she’s heard frustrations from parents of older students with disabilities who have had trouble securing services they’re entitled to.

If Flowers left Chicago, she’d follow in the footsteps of many friends and family members, some who found the city too expensive, she said.

“Everyone I know, that I was close to, has left the city,” Flowers said.

As neighborhoods gentrify, schools face stark choices

The demographic changes in Chicago Public Schools are largely a reflection of a changing city, experts said.

From 2010 to 2020, Chicago’s population grew by 2%. The median household income also grew by more than $20,000, according to U.S. Census estimates. But during that time, the school district saw enrollment decline by 60,000 students. In recent years, the city’s population has dipped by 3%, driven in part by an exodus of working class families.

“The share of working class families in Chicago is decreasing with time, as its industry and economy shifts toward white collar jobs that skew upper class, college educated,” said William Scarborough, the lead author of the UIC report, who is now an associate professor of sociology at the University of North Texas.

School closings, including the mass closures under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, may have also pushed some working-class families to leave the city if they lost a beloved neighborhood school, Scarborough added. More people left the majority Black census tracts that experienced those 2013 school closures versus similar areas that did not, according to a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times investigation.

As schools lost students, some principals doubled down on enrolling the kids who lived in their neighborhood.

That’s what happened at Alexander Hamilton Elementary School in Lake View on the North Side, which saw one of the biggest drops in the share of students from low-income families. In 2013, Hamilton enrolled nearly 40% of children from low-income households, according to district data. That dropped to roughly 9% last school year.

James Gray, who was the principal from 2009-17, inherited an enrollment crisis when he took over Hamilton, which had narrowly escaped closure. The school enrolled 243 students when he arrived – roughly half of the almost 500 it served in 1999. He set out on what he called a “guerrilla effort” to sign up more neighborhood children, offering tours of the school, hosting weekend events and open houses, and even venturing to the park to chat up parents of toddlers — or potential future students.

Gray was successful. By the time he left, enrollment had jumped back up to about 480 students. He noticed that his students were increasingly coming from wealthier families. They were also more white. But that’s who lived in the neighborhood.

In 2013, the school was 47% white, 12% Black, 30% Hispanic and 4% Asian. Last school year, 73% of students were white — on par with the racial makeup of Lake View — while just 3% were Black, just under 13% were Hispanic, and nearly 4% were Asian American. (Hamilton’s current principal did not respond to a request for an interview.)

Though the shifts at individual schools can be stark, the racial breakdown districtwide has only changed slightly. As of last school year, the district’s students were 4% Asian American, 11% white, 36% Black, and 46.5% Hispanic. Ten years ago, 3% were Asian American, 9% were white, 40.5% were Black, and close to 45% were Hispanic.

Research has shown that students in diverse schools, both socioeconomically and racially, perform better academically than schools that are not integrated.

At the same time, families who become the minority may not feel as included or even shut out from their schools. As more neighborhood white families enrolled at Hamilton, Gray said, he received an anonymous note that said he had “driven Black and brown families away.”

It also stung when former students would visit and notice improvements at the school — bankrolled, in part, by parent fundraising efforts — such as new hoops and backboards in the gym and a new science lab.

They would say some version of, “Oh Mr. Gray, I wish you could have done this while I was here,” he recalled.

“They realized their experience was different from the kindergarteners or first graders’ experience over time,” Gray said.

While the demographic shifts have led to more income and racial diversity at some schools, that diversity could be fleeting as gentrification continues to push longtime neighborhood families out.

John-Jairo Betancur, professor of urban planning and policy at UIC, said as property values “dramatically” increase, families — and their children — leave for other neighborhoods or the suburbs, causing enrollment in the local schools to drop. At the same time, birth rates are declining in Chicago and more households do not include children, Betancur noted.

That has happened in Logan Square, home to Lorenz Brentano Math & Science Academy elementary school.

Similar to Hamilton, Brentano was at risk of closure due to low enrollment in 2013. Principal Seth Lavin’s priority when he became principal in 2015 was to bring in more students. He, too, was successful through various efforts, giving more than 100 school tours his first year, he said.

Today, the school enrolls almost 700 children, a 62% increase from a decade ago. But the school looks different. Roughly 39% of students come from low-income households, a nearly 50 percentage point drop from 2013 when 88% did. The school has also become more diverse: Half of Brentano’s students are Hispanic, just over a third are white, and about 5% are Black. A decade ago, 85% of students were Hispanic, while 5% were white, and 4% were Black.

Lavin said he is worried that gentrification has already “pushed out a lot of families” and will continue to do so, leading to a “great sense of loss” for families who have long called Logan Square home, and believe Brentano is at the heart of their community.

“It’s heartbreaking that even as we grow, and there’s expansion and the programming and things we didn’t have before that we’re able to get because of enrollment growth, that we’re losing families that should have those things, too,” Lavin said.

‘We have to keep kids in neighborhoods’

Lavin can spot six buildings outside of Brentano that have been renovated and hiked up rent prices in the last several years. He said the city “desperately” needs affordable housing and a pathway to home ownership.

“If we want to keep kids in neighborhood schools, we have to keep kids in neighborhoods,” he said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson has said that building more affordable housing and boosting neighborhood schools are priorities for his administration. Specifically, the mayor wants to grow the district’s Sustainable Community Schools model, which provides extra money for wraparound support and programming.

Separately, Johnson’s vision for school funding would alleviate pressure on principals to enroll more children in order to have a well-resourced school, or even to avoid closure. Though in the past more students meant more funding, CPS officials have been shifting toward funding schools based on need, not just enrollment. But that comes as the district stares down financial challenges, including a fiscal cliff as COVID relief dollars are set to run out.

If the city does nothing to address issues such as affordable housing, Chicago will shift toward “a city that primarily serves elites,” said Scarborough, the author of the UIC report.

District officials have not yet researched the trend around losing students from low-income families, a spokesperson said.

But many principals have noticed these shifts for years.

Even with how her community has changed, Zaimi’s school has two counselors and more staff focused on academic intervention. Still, she wishes she had more funding to hire a parent resource coordinator who could work with families, as well as instructional coaches who could help new teachers or those using new strategies in the classroom.

After all, she emphasized, her students have a lot of needs, regardless of their income. And, last year, more than one-third — about 370 — came from low-income families. That’s larger than the enrollment of entire schools in Chicago.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Thomas Wilburn is the senior data editor for Chalkbeat. Reach Thomas at twilburn@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools reverses policy that docked pay from teachers taking religious holidays

2023-08-31T18:42:54+00:00

Chicago Public Schools teachers will no longer be docked pay when taking a religious holiday.

The Board of Education approved the change last week, overturning a yearslong policy that deducted the cost of hiring a substitute from the teacher’s salary. Different types of substitutes are paid at different daily rates, ranging between $170 to $264, according to the teachers union contract.

“I have friends who couldn’t afford to take off for Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur because they couldn’t afford to lose that money,” said Wendy Weingarten, a physical education teacher at Lasalle II Magnet School, who’s advocated for a change since 2016.

Teachers will still get three paid days off for religious holidays, such as the Jewish holy day Yom Kippur. But now, they must provide seven days advance notice before taking their holiday, instead of the previously required two days.

In a statement, district spokesperson Samantha Hart said the change was the result of feedback from teachers, school leaders, families, and others in the community.

“This is an important first step in ensuring that CPS’ holiday pay policy better reflects the values and diversity of the District and our staff,” Hart said.

During the board meeting, Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates said it was “shameful” that the policy had remained unchanged for so long.

Chicago’s public schools are off on seven federal holidays, including Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day and Memorial Day, according to the calendar.

Weingarten and Davis Gates noted that the district’s holiday schedule aligns with Christian holidays. While not denoted as an official holiday, Christmas is included in the district’s two-week winter break. Good Friday is typically included at the end of the weeklong spring break.

The district said the old religious holiday policy for teachers stretches back at least a decade. Weingarten, who has worked for CPS for 25 years, said she’s always been docked pay for taking off on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah.

Eliminating that requirement will cost the district about $250,000 a year, a spokesperson said.

Weingarten said she began formally pressing the board for a change in 2021, when the start of the school year clashed with Rosh Hashanah. But she didn’t receive an explanation for why the district didn’t want to change the policy.

The next year, Weingarten said she filed a complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which investigates employee discrimination. She does not know the status of that complaint. She mentioned it to district officials during a joint meeting this April with the teachers union and CPS over the school calendar, after getting pushback about changing the religious holiday policy.

A district spokesperson did not directly say whether the policy change was sparked by the federal complaint. However, they said the change was a “preliminary step in remediating the inequities related to pay,” and that the district will review other board rules “to ensure our policies reflect the values of our diverse workforce.”

Correction: Sept. 1, 2023: A previous version of this story said Wendy Weingarten began advocating for a policy change in 2014. She began advocating for the change in 2016.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

After first week of classes, hundreds of Chicago students with disabilities waiting for bus routes

2023-08-29T17:50:44+00:00

A week into the new school year, hundreds of Chicago students with disabilities were still waiting to receive bus service, officials said.

A total of 733 students with disabilities, who are legally entitled to transportation under federal law, were waiting for bus service as of Monday, according to a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools. Additionally, 10 students living in temporary housing, who are also legally entitled to transportation, had yet to be assigned to routes.

Lacking half of the drivers it needs, the district decided this year to limit bus transportation to students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. These students can alternatively choose to receive stipends of up to $500 a month to cover transportation costs, which families of close to 3,270 children have done, the district said. The district is continuing to receive new requests for transportation, a spokesperson said.

For the families who haven’t accepted the stipends, the lack of bus service can be challenging, especially for students with disabilities who have varying needs. Working parents may not have the flexibility to drive their kids to school, and taking public transportation may also not be feasible.

The district said its policy is to pair students with routes within two weeks of their request, and it appears to be making progress. As of Thursday last week, 1,045 students with disabilities were waiting for a seat on a bus — about 300 more than the number at the start of this week. The district has also shrunk travel times for most students with disabilities, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez announced at last week’s board meeting.

However, that progress is happening as the district said it would not provide bus service this year to other students, including those attending selective enrollment and magnet schools. Those students have instead been offered Ventra cards, including another card for a companion, such as a parent.

Parents of some of those children, who are also struggling to accommodate their children’s commutes, sharply criticized the decision during a Chicago Board of Education meeting last week.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Board President Jianan Shi said he understands “the challenges that this has on families.” But he believes the district is doing better, citing the improvement in commute times for students with disabilities, as well as the district’s efforts to address the driver shortage by planning to boost pay.

“CPS has the responsibility to serve our students with special needs and our students experiencing homelessness, and I believe we are doing that,” Shi said.

During last week’s meeting, chief operating officer Charles Mayfield said that even as the district has employed marginally more drivers, it has received more transportation requests. As of Aug. 19, the district employed 678 bus drivers, 22 more than it did at roughly the same time last year, a spokesperson said. The district has received just over 1,000 more requests for transportation as of this August compared to last year.

This is at least the third year that Chicago Public Schools has struggled to provide bus transportation for all students who are typically eligible. Last year around this time, roughly 3,000 students with disabilities were on routes that were longer than an hour, while more than 1,800 had not been routed, officials said.

The Illinois State Board of Education has taken notice of these issues. In 2021, state officials placed the district on a corrective action plan to ensure it was providing bus service to all students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs called for it. One year later, the state instituted a second corrective action plan to shorten commutes for students with disabilities.

Chicago bureau chief Becky Vevea contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago shortens bus routes for most students with disabilities, while others wait for service

2023-08-24T22:14:56+00:00

Just 47 Chicago Public Schools students with disabilities are on bus routes longer than an hour, an improvement over last year when that figure was roughly 3,000 and 365 children had trips lasting longer than 90 minutes, district officials said Thursday.

“We are working to get that number down to zero,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez during Thursday’s Board of Education meeting.

The progress comes after more than 8,000 students who may have been eligible for bus service in the past, including those in selective and magnet schools, were told in late July they would not receive busing, but can instead receive free Ventra cards, including for one companion, such as a parent.

Martinez said again Thursday that the district was focused on providing busing to students who are legally entitled to it, such as students with disabilities and those in temporary housing.

CPS officials did not immediately share how many students are waiting to be routed as of Wednesday. As of the first day of school, 7,100 students were on bus routes, and another 3,100 chose the stipend, according to a Monday press release from CPS.

The district has blamed an ongoing nationwide bus driver shortage. In late July, officials said they had just half of the roughly 1,300 drivers they needed.

At Thursday’s meeting, some parents whose children could not get busing, including Patricia Rae Easley, blasted the district. Easley lives in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side and has a daughter enrolled at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park on the South Side — a route familiar to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who also lives in Austin and has a son enrolled at Kenwood.

“I’m trying to reach out to him,” Easley said. ”Maybe we can get in on their carpool.”

Charles Mayfield, the district’s chief operating officer, suggested CPS is not far from shortening long rides for students with disabilities. Three-quarters of those remaining 47 students who are on rides longer than an hour are on routes that are 61-66 minutes long, he said.

The district’s recent transportation struggles stretch back at least two years. In order to spur more hiring of bus drivers, Mayfield said the district has hosted several hiring fairs and is planning to work with bus companies they contract with to raise driver pay by $2.25. Currently driver pay ranges between $20-25 an hour.

The district was able to accommodate all students with disabilities or those living in temporary housing who requested transportation by the end of July, after extending the sign-up deadline twice, officials said at the time. But they could not guarantee immediate service for families who signed up after that.

Families can opt for stipends of up to $500 a month until they get routed. On Thursday, responding to criticism from some families, Mayfield described the transportation changes this year as a “tough decision that we all needed to make.”

Easley, the parent whose child attends Kenwood, said she pulled her daughter out of a private school so that she could attend the sought-after South Side school as a seventh grader this year.

She was caught off guard with CPS’s announcement three weeks ago that she wouldn’t get bus transportation. Easley said she has no use for the free Ventra card because she doesn’t feel public transit is safe enough for her daughter. That commute would involve two buses and a train, she said.

So she drives her daughter 40 minutes to Kenwood.

“It’s definitely not only an inconvenience but an expense,” Easley said. “An unexpected expense when we’re paying for gas that’s $4.57 a gallon.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

First day of school: Chicago Public Schools reopens under a new era of leadership

2023-08-21T21:28:02+00:00

Chicago Public Schools is officially back in session.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, the first Chicago mayor in recent history to send his children to public schools, kicked off the first day of classes by joining educators, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates outside Beidler Elementary School on the West Side.

Under a sweltering sun at 8:30 a.m., Johnson greeted parents and children in front of a chorus of reporters and cameras, before ringing the ceremonial bell to start the school year.

The joint appearance with Davis Gates, Martinez, and other district and union officials was unsurprising for the union-friendly mayor who came up through the CTU’s ranks, but still a break from the past when the union and City Hall officials would visit schools separately.

Despite the district facing a number of challenges ahead, including unreliable bus transportation, ongoing enrollment shifts, and an influx of immigrant students, Johnson focused on a new era of collaboration at the city’s public schools.

Later in the morning, after touring two other campuses, Johnson visited Kenwood Academy, where his son is now a sophomore.

Speaking to a history class, he likened the first-day icebreakers the teacher was doing to what he’s doing as the city’s new mayor.

“I hope that you will lean into the collaborative approach that your teacher is taking, because that is what we’re doing as a city,” Johnson told the students. “We’re building relationships, we’re collaborating so that we can make collective decisions together that ultimately can help transform people’s lives.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and other city hall, school district, and union officials pose for a photo inside a classroom at Kenwood Academy on the South Side.

CPS claws back from enrollment losses

Visiting Beidler was a symbolic choice for the mayor. The school narrowly escaped closure about a decade ago and is now part of a program Johnson wishes to expand: the Sustainable Community Schools initiative, which aims to provide wraparound services and more programming for students and families.

But Beidler is among several other schools in the program that have lost at least a quarter of their enrollment since the initiative started.

The official enrollment count will not be known until after the 20th day of school in September. But last year, 80,000 fewer students were enrolled in Chicago Public Schools than there were a decade ago and it is now the nation’s fourth largest school district. Chicago’s declining enrollment predated the emergence of COVID-19, but continued during the pandemic.

And for many parents and kids arriving at Beidler Monday morning, more pressing thoughts — like wishing for a great year — were at the forefront. Dondneja Wilson hoped that her daughter, who started preschool, would “grow, and learn, and have fun.”

“She likes kids a lot, so I feel like that’s going to be her favorite part,” Wilson said.

Dondneja Wilson and her daughter pose for a picture outside of Beidler Elementary School.

Last year, data from the last day of school in June obtained by Chalkbeat showed little change in overall enrollment. However, the number of English learners grew by more than 5,000 students. District officials have pointed to the increase as an approximation of how many migrant students have arrived on buses in the past year.

Chicago is seeing an influx of newcomers, many of whom are seeking asylum, arriving by bus from the southern border in Texas.

The number of bilingual teachers in CPS has dipped since 2015, even as the English learner population has grown, according to a recent Chalkbeat analysis. While 6,900 teachers have earned bilingual education endorsements — more than ever before, according to the district — it’s unclear how many are actually assigned to teach bilingual education.

Educators and immigrant advocates have expressed concerns about whether schools can properly support these new students. Jianan Shi, president of the Board of Education, said the city’s new welcome center for migrant students on the West Side has enrolled “hundreds” of newcomer students. He’s requested more information on the system’s overall strategy for supporting newcomers.

A classroom door welcomes students in Spanish at Kenwood Academy in Hyde Park.

Outside Beidler, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez told reporters that “the biggest challenge” is ensuring that all newcomers are registered in school, but he said the district is well-positioned to serve them, noting that Chicago has one of the largest bilingual and dual language programs in the nation. About one-fifth of the city’s students are English language learners.

“The challenge we have right now is, again, keeping up with all the new asylum-seekers that are coming in, going to them, making sure that we’re able to register them, assess them,” Martinez said. “But we’re doing that as we speak now.”

Transportation woes continue on first day

Transportation woes that have plagued the district for the last few years also cropped up on the first day, as parents reported problems with bus routes and trips that took more than an hour.

Laurie Viets, a CPS parent of three children – two of whom have transportation written into an Individualized Education Program – said the district promised to have all transportation issues resolved by last Friday.

However, Viets found out on Friday that one of her children, a seventh grader, was not going to have transportation and another child, a first-year high school student, would have a long bus route. Today, it took 70 minutes to get to school; it’s normally a 12-minute car ride, Viets said.

Viets said she wished Chicago Public Schools would have given her more time to prepare for changes in the transportation plans. Now, she won’t have transportation for one of her children for up to two weeks and she is concerned that her other child will be on the bus without air conditioning in extreme heat until they shorten his route.

The district’s bus problems stem back to 2021, the first year back to full-time, in-person school after COVID forced CPS to close buildings in March 2020. Students were left waiting on the first day and beyond for buses that never showed. In emergency mode at that time, the district began offering $1,000 stipends for rideshare services such as Lyft and Uber. But the transportation troubles continued well into the school year.

Last year, some 365 students were waiting for bus routes the first week of school and in September, district officials said they were still working to reduce 90-minute rides for some students.

The district has blamed and continues to point to a nationwide bus driver shortage as causing the transportation troubles. It signed a $4 million contract with a longtime vendor and bus-routing software company to try to fix the issues.

But last month, on July 31, district officials announced that it would not be able to transport roughly 8,000 students on the first day of school. They offered $500 monthly stipends to families of CPS students with disabilities or those in temporary living situations. Both groups are legally entitled to transportation. The district said at the time that 3,000 students had chosen the stipend option.

Davis Gates called the transportation troubles “a disaster” and a “failure of privatization.” CPS contracts with private bus companies to provide students with transportation. Davis Gates said she would like to see the district bring busing “in-house” and experiment with having its own fleet of buses that could start small by covering field trips and sporting events and then grow.

“These are Band-Aid approaches. I have not seen anything transformative or revolutionary in this space. And again, three strikes you’re out,” she said. “This isn’t a good way to start the school year with respect to transportation.”

The district has previously increased pay rates for bus driver companies, and is hoping to do so again this year. Martinez said he hopes that will help fill the driver shortage.

Viets, the parent worrying about her children’s transportation, said more needs to be done.

“Next year, if CPS is going to start by Aug. 21, by Aug. 1 they should know what the routes are,” said Viets.

If Chicago finalizes plans the Friday before the start of school, she said, the district is “not giving parents any kind of respect at all. They’re not giving us an opportunity to make other plans when they mess up.”

As Viets noted, the extreme heat also adds to worries about long bus rides. The weather also raises concerns about conditions inside buildings once students arrive.

Air-conditioning, aging buildings prompt push for green schools

With temperatures expected to reach 100 degrees this week, Martinez said his team worked “around the clock” to ensure classrooms are equipped with air conditioning this week.

Martinez said every classroom has at least a window unit, a key union demand during the CTU’s 2012 strike that was implemented a couple of years later by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Still, in some cases, hallways are not air-conditioned, Martinez said.

Johnson has touted “climate justice” as a key focus of his administration and reiterated Monday that includes schools.

“Having buildings that are retrofitted, as well as an economy that’s built around green technology, some of that is top of mind,” he said.

Davis Gates used this week’s weather forecast to illustrate climate change’s impact on the city and why it underscores the urgent need for a new CPS facilities master plan, which hasn’t been updated since 2018. She added that building greener schools will be one issue the union will bargain over ahead of its contract expiration in 2024.

The school calendar’s pre-Labor Day start is an issue Davis Gates would immediately bargain over, she said. The late August start date began in 2021, matching up with many suburban districts.

The union was not able to bargain over the school calendar in 2019, Davis Gates said. But the passage of a 2021 state law reinstating some of the CTU’s bargaining rights could allow the calendar to be back on the table. The union’s contract expires next June and it’s likely the district and new mayor will begin negotiations with the teachers this winter.

The larger issues that officials highlighted were likely not top of mind for many students, such as 5-year-old Pierre, who started kindergarten at Beidler.

Asked what he was most excited about this school year, Pierre replied, “Playing.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago public schools run by principals given more independence saw better student achievement: study

2023-08-03T21:55:39+00:00

Eight years ago, Chicago Public Schools launched a program that gave certain principals more control, such as more flexibility over budgets and being freed of extra oversight from district leaders. It was an effort to reward effective veteran school leaders with “more leadership and professional development opportunities.”

Now, a new study by a Northwestern University professor shows that the initiative — known as the Independent School Principals program, or ISP — resulted in better test scores and school climates and could be a cost-effective way to improve schools.

The analysis looked at 44 elementary schools that joined ISP between 2016 and 2018. Those schools saw pass rates for state reading and math tests grow, on average, by about 4 percentage points more than similar schools that weren’t part of ISP, according to the study. (Comparison schools were chosen based on things like demographics and test scores.)

The findings suggest that schools can benefit from more empowered principals, who are “closer to the ground” and may have a better sense than district leaders of what their students need, said C. Kirabo Jackson, an education and social policy professor at Northwestern who conducted the study.

But there are some caveats, Jackson said. The ISP schools with the best test score results were also run by principals who are considered “highly effective,” as determined by teacher ratings and other evaluations. Less effective principals saw test scores grow at a slower rate. Other studies have found mixed results when giving schools more autonomy, Jackson noted in his study.

The benefits of such a policy depend on “the capacity of the leaders to manage on their own,” said Jackson.

Test scores don’t show the full picture of how well students are doing, Jackson said, and his study found mixed results in other areas. For example, ISP schools on average had better ratings for school climate. But he found no evidence that these schools saw better student or teacher attendance.

The ISP initiative was launched under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel as part of an effort to pair principals with “more leadership and professional development opportunities,” according to the district.

Currently, district leaders identify veteran principals to apply for the program and then evaluate them based on several criteria, including their school’s test scores, their “five essentials” survey data and a series of interviews, according to the district.

A spokesperson did not respond in time for publication on whether there were minimum test scores that schools had to meet in order to be eligible.

Jackson noted that nearly all of the elementary schools he evaluated were highly rated by the state. In all, 86% of the city’s current 63 ISP schools — which also include middle and high schools and one early childhood education center — were rated either commendable or exemplary by the state, according to the most recently available Illinois Report Card information.

In addition to less oversight and more budget flexibility, ISP school leaders also have more power over professional learning for their staff and more flexibility over principal evaluations. In exchange, principals must meet several requirements, including maintaining or improving school performance, remaining compliant with district wide policies, and remaining as the school’s principal for at least two years.

Having more power over professional learning was among the biggest boons for Patricia Brekke, principal of Back of the Yards High School, who joined the ISP program in 2016. Her school, like others, used to spend time addressing student needs in ways that district leaders recommended.

While she considered those good strategies, her staff didn’t have extra time to focus on other issues they believed to be important, such as drilling down on students’ analytical and essay writing skills.

For the past seven years, she and other teachers have created their own professional development sessions to, in part, improve kids’ analytical skills. Her team draws on good examples from their own classrooms, including taking videos during the school day, so that teachers can see how their own colleagues are approaching instruction, Brekke said.

“I’ve got a lot of brilliant teachers, and their ideas really pushed me, I think, to be a better principal, you know?” Brekke said. “And it was really important for me to have them around the table and identify our problems of practice.”

Jackson only studied elementary schools, so he doesn’t know the program’s impact on high schools.

SAT scores at Brekke’s school were within five percentage points of the district’s. But Brekke said she’s noticed her students demonstrating “elevated” writing skills that go beyond a classic five-paragraph essay response.

“They’re really starting to think more deeply about text,” Brekke said.

Jackson found another bonus of the program: Principals “tend to remain in their schools” even after the two-year requirement. That is by design, said Jerry Travlos, a former ISP principal who now works as a district leader.

Travlos conducted a study, which Jackson cites, and found that ISP principals largely preferred the autonomy they got under the program. Extending more power to veteran principals is also a “retention strategy,” he said, at a time when school leaders are heading for the door.

Brekke, who has been an educator for 32 years, said she sometimes misses the camaraderie that comes along with a traditional network like most of Chicago’s public schools. But she loves being able to “geek out” and customize instruction for her students.

“Having those kinds of conversations are really just so refreshing and encouraging and motivating,” Brekke said. She paused and added, “Maybe it’s contributed to why I’m still here.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

8,000 Chicago Public Schools students won’t have bus service on first day of school, district says

2023-07-31T23:43:11+00:00

More than 8,000 Chicago Public Schools students will not have bus service on the first day of class on Aug. 21, a problem the district blames on an ongoing bus driver shortage.

With only half of the 1,300 drivers needed to transport students who require bus service, Chicago said it will instead prioritize transportation for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. Both groups are legally required to receive transportation to school.

For some students with disabilities, bus service is a requirement on their Individualized Education Programs. More than 7,100 such students have signed up for bus service so far, officials said. (Siblings of students with disabilities can still receive bus service if they attend the same school.)

This is the third year in a row in which the return to class has been marred by transportation woes that have left thousands of students without transportation or with long commutes. The district, which contracts with outside companies to provide transportation, has attributed bus service snarls in previous years to nationwide driver shortages.

In an effort to help fix ongoing transportation problems, the district in March approved a $4 million contract with Education Logistics Inc., known as EduLog, to schedule bus routes, determine start times for summer school and assign bus vendors during the school year. The contract is set to run through June 30, 2026.

This year, in the face of continued bus service troubles, the district will instead offer Ventra cards to general education students and one companion, such as a parent, “for as long as they are without school bus transportation,” according to a news release from Chicago. These families may have the option to get bus service “at some point” in the school year but the timing for that is not yet clear, said Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer for Chicago Public Schools.

Last year, Chicago provided bus service to 17,275 children, or about 5% of students.

“There’s been a nationwide shortage, and I think that is not an easy thing for any K-12 [district] right now,” Mayfield said Monday in an interview with Chalkbeat. “Even if you Google search bus driver shortage, you get a number of school districts that have the same issue that we’re having today and they are making adjustments similar to where we are, to try to provide alternatives.”

As of Friday, the district said it could guarantee bus service on the first day of school for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness, after Chicago twice extended a sign-up deadline this summer, Mayfield said. But it can’t guarantee immediate service for families who sign up now. The district is required to link those families to bus service within two weeks of their request for transportation.

As an alternative, CPS is offering families of students with disabilities and those in temporary housing up to $500 in monthly stipends to cover transportation costs. So far, 3,000 students have chosen this option, officials said.

The continuing transportation issues have Chicago parent Laurie Viets bracing for yet another chaotic start to the school year. Two of her three children have district-provided bus service written into their Individualized Education Programs.

This year, she said the district has been more proactive since parents have raised concerns about bus services issues over the past few years. Over the summer, Viets received a couple of phone calls from the district asking if she would like to take the $500 stipend, but she declined. She said she prefers that the district provide bus service for her children.

Viets only learned the district had yet to figure out routes for students when she talked to a district representative last week.

“I have no hopes at all that transportation will show up,” said Viets. “I’ve got three kids, three separate schools in three different parts of the city. We’re going to be scrambling to get the two that need transportation to school because I guarantee we will not have transport on that first day.”

It is a familiar scenario for Viets – last year, she said she couldn’t get transportation for one of her children for about six weeks – and for thousands of other CPS families.

In the 2021-22 school year, when students returned to classrooms after COVID shuttered buildings, the district did not have bus services for 2,100 students on the first day of classes. At the time, the district provided families with $1,000 to help with transportation and even reached out to ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft for support.

At the start of the next school year, the district was able to route 15,000 Chicago Public Schools students to classes but hundreds of students with disabilities dealt with long commute times. At the time, the district reported that 365 students with disabilities had to deal with commute times of 90 minutes or longer and could not arrange transportation for 1,200 students.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools with mostly Black student bodies share less information about LSCs: report

2023-07-27T21:17:13+00:00

Chicago families on the South and West sides were less likely to have access to information about their Local School Councils, compared with their North Side neighbors, according to a new analysis about the 2021-22 school year.

The report, released this week by advocacy organization Raise Your Hand, also found that most schools — 61% — had at least one parent vacancy on their Local School Councils, or LSCs. These school-based elected bodies, made up of parents, other community representatives, and students, can make school-level decisions, such as evaluating and selecting principals and voting on the annual campus budget.

The findings suggest that white and more affluent parents are more likely to have access to accurate LSC information and LSCs without parent vacancies. On top of the neighborhood disparities, schools with mostly Black student bodies were less likely to have updated information online about their LSCs, compared with schools citywide. They were also more likely to have at least three parent vacancies on their LSCs.

Last year, following LSC elections with significant voter turnout, more than 1,400 vacancies remained, mostly on the South and West sides, Chalkbeat found at the time.

“Vacancies make it impossible for the schools that need LSCs the most to have effective LSCs,” the just-released Raise Your Hand report said. “This means student needs are ignored, budgets are cut, and more.”

On the city’s North Side, schools were more likely to list basic information on their websites about their LSC, the report found. That information includes a mention of the LSC’s existence, meeting times, agendas, minutes, a list of current members, and contact information for those members.

For example, an average of 67% of schools across the Far North, North, and Northwest sides had LSC meeting times listed on their websites. In comparison, meeting times were listed for less than a quarter of schools, on average, in neighborhoods across the South and West sides, according to the report.

“This lack of transparency and accessibility is unacceptable and leaves parents feeling frustrated and powerless,” the report said.

Other findings include:

About one third of all schools have an LSC meeting time posted online, while the same is true for 14% of schools with student bodies that are at least 90% Black.
32% of all schools have three or more parent vacancies. The same is true for 36% of schools on the South and West sides, and 23% of schools on the North sides as well as the Loop.
42% of schools with more than 90% of Black students have three or more parent vacancies.

Raise Your Hand said that school websites have not changed even after they raised some of their findings with Chicago Public Schools “months ago.” The group has urged CPS to ensure websites have updated information, including meeting times and locations, a list of current LSC members, and contact information for the LSC.

After Raise Your Hand members revealed some of the study’s findings at a Wednesday Chicago Board of Education meeting, Board President Jianan Shi said the district “has to do better.” Shi is the former executive director of Raise Your Hand.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Evan Moore noted that the district saw a record-breaking 6,145 people apply for LSC positions last school year. He touted district efforts to raise awareness about LSCs, including roughly 100 “engagement sessions.”

Still, Moore acknowledged the need to improve and said officials are reviewing Raise Your Hand’s study.

“As a District, we are committed to continuing to work to improve awareness and access to this important democratic process,” Moore said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago swears in new members to city’s last fully appointed Board of Education

2023-07-19T19:58:21+00:00

Chicago’s Board of Education ushered in a new era of leadership Wednesday by swearing in five of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointees.

The new members, who include vocal critics of the system, took an oath of office during a meeting to review agenda items ahead of the board’s full meeting next week. They will be part of the last fully appointed board before it shifts to an elected body in 2025.

As board members introduced themselves, Mariela Estrada, director of community engagement at the United Way of Metro Chicago, recounted being a “fierce” parent advocate. New board president Jianan Shi, former executive director of influential advocacy organization Raise Your Hand, noted that he is the first educator appointed as board president.

“I am used to sitting on your side of the glass fence,” new board member Mary Fahey Hughes told the audience at the meeting. Fahey Hughes formerly worked for Raise Your Hand as a parent liaison for special education and is an outspoken advocate for students with disabilities.

The inclusion of board critics at the decision-making table is in some ways similar to Johnson’s path, who rose to power through his teachers union ties.

Earlier this month, Johnson nearly cleaned house by appointing six new board members, who come from advocacy, philanthropy, and business backgrounds. In addition to Shi, Estrada, and Fahey Hughes, the mayor also tapped Michelle Morales, Rudy Lozano, and Tanya Woods (read more about each here). Lozano and Morales were not present at Wednesday’s meeting; a spokesperson for CPS did not explain why but said they will be sworn in at the board’s July 26 meeting.

The only holdover from former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is Elizabeth Todd-Breland, who will be the board’s vice president.

All seven members’ terms end Jan. 1, 2025, when the city’s partially elected, 21-member school board will be seated. Several members highlighted that shift. Todd-Breland called her term a “bridge” to that elected board with “so much hope and optimism for Chicago Public Schools.”

Wednesday’s agenda review meeting was the third of its kind, allowing board members to publicly ask questions about agenda items ahead of the meeting where they’ll vote.

During the meeting, members reviewed and asked questions about a slew of agenda items expected to come up for approval next week, including a new agreement for marketing services, the opening of a comment period for a new parental leave policy for CPS employees, and a renewed contract for math tutoring.

One agenda item — about X-ray machines in school — signaled a possible shift in approach that Johnson’s appointees may bring to the board.

Shi asked a school safety official whether there is research that such machines, which are meant to detect weapons, make schools safer. The official said it’s hard to determine exactly what makes schools feel safe, but that such machines have found weapons in the past. Last month, the old board approved a slightly costlier contract for campus police.

Shi asked that district officials engage in “actual community dialogue” on school safety policies as the district continues work on its Whole School Safety initiative. The CPS official said it’s the district’s goal to get more “buy-in” from the community.

Board members like Shi have also previously expressed interest in making meetings more accessible to the public, such as working parents who can’t attend the meetings that are held downtown during weekday mornings.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago opens school enrollment center for migrant children and families

2023-07-17T20:28:56+00:00

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Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public Schools and the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and city and district officials unveiled the new center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a high school in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, on Monday. Officials said the center is a pilot effort — possibly the first of several such facilities across the city.

They also called it a centerpiece of a broader plan they have promised for better serving migrant families across the city, though the center will only help smooth the transition into the district for those living in the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods.

The center, which will work with families by appointment only starting later this week, is estimated to cost roughly $750,000, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who described it as a “very small investment” from the district’s operating budget.

More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August, many sent on buses from Texas by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Roughly half are staying in temporary shelters, including police stations. Hundreds of school-aged children are among the new arrivals, though the school district has not shared exact numbers. Helping these families find permanent housing and easing children into local public schools are key challenges facing the Johnson administration.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson — a former union organizer — to victory in April, had criticized district officials for not doing more to support newly arrived migrant students. Union leaders said some schools were overwhelmed by an influx of such students and scrambled to provide translation and other basic services.

District leaders have said they were working on a detailed, comprehensive plan for helping migrant students, to be released before the first day of school on Aug. 21. That bigger plan is still to come, Martinez said Monday.

Johnson said the area around Clemente was one of the city’s most densely populated with newcomer immigrants.

“We’re going to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and we’re going to bring people closer together to make sure that the families who have been here have the full force of government and families who wish to call Chicago their home also have the full force of government,” Johnson said at the Monday press conference.

Martinez balked at saying exactly how many migrant students enrolled in the district this past school year — it’s in the thousands, he said — or how many the district expects to serve in the fall. That latter number is too fluid, he said, but he promised to have an update at the start of the school year.

Johnson said his office will track “outcomes with this center” in order to improve how it operates and also use it as a model to potentially expand to other neighborhoods.

At the new “welcoming center” on the high school’s second floor, families will make their way through several classrooms to get a string of services, officials said. Children will get an English language screening, receive free supplies, and get assigned to a school.

Martinez said the high school students will be assigned to Clemente while younger children will be enrolled at one of eight nearby elementary schools — Chopin, De Diego LaSalle II, Mitchell, Moos, Pritzker, Sabin, and Talcott.

“These are migrant families who come here to seek their dream, and we’ll be part of that dream,” said Martha Valerio, the community coordinator at Clemente, standing in front of a table piled with coats, running shoes, and backpacks. “We are all going to receive them with a warm smile.”

Families will meet with a social worker and get help signing up for medical, dental appointments, and public benefits, such as food assistance and Medicaid.

“These are the types of services we have to provide across the entire city,” Johnson told journalists in front of the center.

According to WBEZ, some migrants are now living in tents, rather than police stations or crowded shelters, as they wait for permanent housing. School-aged migrant children are eligible to be classified as Students in Temporary Living Situations – a status that protects children without permanent housing.

Meanwhile, some teachers have been volunteering their time this summer to get students ready for school.

Earlier this month, the police department opened an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against officers, including one accused of impregnating a recently-arrived teen, at a west side police station. The investigation prompted city officials to move migrants out of police stations.

Johnson said at the Monday event that the investigation is ongoing, with an update slated for Tuesday.

Reema Amin contributed.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Calling all youth: Chicago’s Mayor Johnson wants your ideas for his first city budget

2023-07-14T19:22:46+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to the next generation for help on his first city budget proposal.

The former middle school teacher and union organizer is holding a budget roundtable discussion exclusively for Chicagoans ages 13 to 24. The July 25 event on the ninth floor of Harold Washington Library is an addition to the usual round of July budget engagement meetings.

The city is offering a perk: Five young people who participate, who are at least 16 years old, will be randomly chosen to win two four-day Lollapalooza passes.

In a statement, Johnson said the roundtable “allows our young people the opportunity to chart their own path in fulfilling that vision for hope, and become stewards for their own futures and eventual leadership of our city.”

The invitation comes as Johnson is stepping up efforts to get young people more involved in government decision making. His transition team recently recommended the creation of a paid youth council — which would resemble an existing youth commission created by his predecessor Lori Lightfoot.

City officials are inviting youth to share ideas directly with the mayor on various elements of the city’s budget, including affordable housing, homelessness, community development, arts and culture, mental health, safety, and infrastructure. But schools are not included on that list.

The Chicago Public Schools budget, which must be approved by July 1, already has been passed for the upcoming school year. The school board last month approved a flat $9.4 billion, with roughly half going directly to schools.

But financial challenges loom, with school district officials expecting a budget shortfall of $628 million by the 2025-26 school year with the depletion of federal pandemic relief funds. As Chicago shifts to an elected school board, the district may also have to pick up more costs currently paid by the city.

The next city budget will cover the 2024 calendar year. The City Council is required to pass a budget by Dec. 31 — but historically does so before Thanksgiving, and planning starts in summer. From June to September, the city’s budget office reviews departmental expenses and solicits public feedback. Mayors submit their budget proposals to the City Council by Oct. 15, which also includes a public hearing.

Typically, the mayor’s office releases a budget forecast in August. But in a rare move before leaving office, Lightfoot and her financial team released a midyear budget forecast that projected a relatively small shortfall of $85 million.

Doors to the youth budget discussion will open around 4:45 p.m., and the event will start at 5:30 p.m. City officials said there will be limited seating for adult chaperones, who cannot participate in the discussion. Youth can register here.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools violating state law on use of restraint, timeout in school, state says

2023-06-07T16:25:45+00:00

This story has been updated to include additional comment from Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.

Chicago Public Schools has put students — especially those with disabilities — at risk by not training staff on the proper use of physical restraint and timeout as required under state law, a nearly-yearlong investigation by the Illinois State Board of Education has found.

Documents obtained by Chalkbeat Chicago show that untrained staff restrained or secluded students for long periods of time, used outlawed methods of restraint, and restrained students who were not a threat to themselves or others.

The state has repeatedly warned CPS since the fall that it is not complying with state law on restraint and timeout. In multiple letters sent to the district this school year, the state cites the district for not properly training staff and not notifying parents within a legally required 24-hour time frame when a child has been restrained at school. The state defines physical restraint as holding a student or other methods to restrict a student’s movement.

In a letter dated April 18, the state board outlines a number of violations by the district. Among them:

CPS failed to report 15 incidents involving restraints that took place between Feb. 1 and March 8. Four incidents were not reported to the state board’s reporting system, and in 10 of 23 incidents reviewed, parents were not notified within the required time frame.
From Feb. 1 to March 8, the district reported seven incidents of either physical restraint over 15 minutes and timeouts or isolated timeouts over 30 minutes. But CPS did not clarify if licensed educators or therapists were involved to conduct an evaluation. The district also did not provide evidence that the staff involved were trained.
In some reported incidents, students were restrained for even longer periods of time: 45 minutes at Prussing Elementary School and Nixon Elementary School, one hour at Jones College Prep, and one hour and 15 minutes at Peterson Elementary School.
The district reported two incidents of prone physical restraint — when a student is placed face down and pressure is applied to their body to keep them in that position — on Jan. 30 and Feb. 9 at Roosevelt and Fenger High Schools, respectively. The state outlawed prone physical restraint at the beginning of the 2022-23 school year.

In the letter, the state warns that the continued use of physical restraint, timeout, and isolated timeout “by untrained staff demonstrates that CPS is jeopardizing the health and safety of CPS students and staff.”

Terri Smith, a Chicago parent and advocate for students with disabilities, said the state findings echo her concerns about the district’s practices.

“Just when I think I’ve seen the worst, I see something worse like this,” said Smith. “They’re putting children at risk knowingly, wantonly, and maliciously. Everyone can see that they have made a conscious decision not to keep our children safe.”

Over her time as a parent at Chicago Public Schools, Smith said, she has lost confidence in the district to do right by students with disabilities — and believes many of the parents she works with feel the same.

When asked about the violations Wednesday at an unrelated press conference with Mayor Brandon Johnson, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said complying with state law is a “top priority” and the state’s requirements will be met “this summer before the school year starts.”

“We will make sure that this is corrected. Not only that, we’re going to make sure also that the programs get strengthened,” Martinez said. “This is an area that has been a challenge in our district for the last two decades, but we’re gonna fix it.”

State investigates Chicago in effort to reduce restraint in schools

The state opened a “systemic complaint investigation” in October after the district reported numerous instances of restraint performed by untrained staff, according to a letter dated Nov. 30, 2022. The use of restraint, seclusion, and timeout to discipline students in Illinois schools has been under scrutiny for several years.

In 2019, ProPublica Illinois and the Chicago Tribune published a joint investigation that uncovered how districts around the state were secluding students in isolated rooms, or quiet rooms, as a form of discipline. A majority of students featured in the investigation were students with disabilities.

In 2021, the Illinois general assembly passed a law that prevents school staff and educators from locking students in isolated seclusion rooms and limits the use of restraint and time out on students.

During a compliance check with Chicago Public Schools in August 2022, the state board found the district continually reporting violations to the 2021 state law — many included incidents where students were restrained or put in timeout by untrained staff and the use of restraint took place when students were not a threat to themselves or others.

In late November, the state board sent CPS a list of action items to complete to comply with the state’s law.

The district was required to notify all Chicago Public Schools parents of the violations contained in the November letter and findings in the April 18 letter.

On May 26, the district sent an email to parents and guardians — after 4 p.m. the Friday before Memorial Day weekend — to notify them that the district is working with the State Board of Education to address violations for restraint and seclusion.

The state also required the district to set up an email address where parents can submit concerns about restraint and timeout incidents. Parents can look up who’s trained in restraint and timeout at their schools and submit concerns to PRTO@cps.edu.

As of May 26, CPS officials said, 3,546 district staff had been trained in de-escalation and physical restraint training through a contractor called QBS LLC. But 422 still need to receive training. The state board requires two staff members per school building to be trained — a requirement that had not been met as of the April 18 letter.

The state board is still working with the district to comply with state laws for restraint and timeout, according to Jackie Matthews, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Education.

“Student safety and well-being is our number one priority, and these requirements were put in place as essential precautions to protect students,” she told Chalkbeat.

In an emailed statement to Chalkbeat, a CPS spokesperson said the district remains “committed to continually reviewing and improving our services, working closely with the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and all partners, including parents and advocacy groups, to co-design an improved system that not only is in compliance with all State and Federal education requirements, but meets our own high goals for excellence.“

If Chicago does not come into compliance, the state could put the district on probation. If the school district still fails to comply after at least 60 days, it could lose state recognition, resulting in a loss of state funding and blocking sport teams from participating in state athletic associations. In 2021, some districts were placed on probation for not complying with the state’s mask mandate during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, Matthews said putting a district on probation is the last resort and the state board will continue to provide assistance to help students.

Students with disabilities are often restrained in classrooms

In one case cited in the state’s April 18 letter, a student with disabilities was restrained on three days within a 30-day period and the staff involved in the restraint — security officers, a special education classroom assistant, and a school counselor — were not invited to attend the student’s Individualized Education Program meeting.

Such incidents can reinforce the mistrust that students with disabilities and their families have in Chicago Public Schools, which has a history of failing to meet their needs. In 2016, Chicago was found to be denying services to students with disabilities leading to state oversight, fell behind on creating or updating Individualized Education Programs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and failed to offer transportation to students when school buildings reopened in 2021.

Frank Lally, an education policy analyst at Access Living — a nonprofit organization that advocates for Chicagoans with disabilities — said one of the major victories from the 2021 law limiting the use of restraint and timeout was ensuring that parents would be notified if a child was restrained.

But in Chicago, that is not happening, the state found.

“That struck me because there is a lack of trust between the district and parents of students with disabilities going back several years,” Lally said. “It’s kind of disheartening.”

Students have legally binding documents spelling out what supports and interventions they should receive, including which staff should support them when behavioral issues arise. In many cases, these are in the student’s Individualized Education Programs or Behavioral Intervention Plans. However, staff must be trained in de-escalation and physical restraint to intervene when a student has a behavioral issue.

Teachers union calls for firing top district leaders

Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union called for the firing of Stephanie Jones, the district’s top official overseeing services for students with disabilities. The union’s House of Delegates took a vote of no confidence in Jones last Wednesday for her “dismal failures to protect the district’s most vulnerable students, continued violation of special education laws and the creation of a toxic workplace.”

“Tonight our members said, enough. Enough with the lack of services and support, enough with ignoring the needs of our students, and enough with violating state law,” CTU president Stacy Davis Gates said in a statement.

Chicago Public Schools reported to the state board that Jones was the designated official responsible for restraint and timeout policies and incidents, according to the April 18 letter. Designated officials should maintain a copy of records, be notified of every incident by the end of the school day on which has occurred, and receive documentation or any evaluation of any incident that exceeds 15 minutes of physical restraint or 30 minutes for timeout, according to the state board.

Jones told the state board on Dec. 23 that she gave this authority to her team and to Erin Miller, then a manager at the Office of Diverse Learners and Support Services.

Miller left Chicago Public Schools on March 3 and her team set up a rotation, with each staffer taking one day of the week to review restraint and timeout data.

According to the board’s April 18 letter, Jones doesn’t meet the “requirements that the designated official must complete and is not acting as the designated official” and no other CPS staffer has taken on the duties.

As a result, the state board said, “CPS does not have a designated official who is informed and maintains RTO data as required.”

A group of teachers who challenged CTU leadership during its last internal election has also called for the ouster of other top district leaders, including CEO Martinez. In a statement, they said the violations extend “far beyond” Jones’ office.

The group of teachers — the REAL caucus — also called on the district to remove all police officers from schools, a decision currently left to Local School Councils. There have been instances of school resource officers using restraint on students in the past, such as a high-profile 2020 incident at Marshall High School. The teen whom officers dragged down a staircase sued the city of Chicago and was eventually awarded a $300,000 settlement.

A spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools responded to the teachers’ call for removing Jones and Martinez in a statement, “Our top leadership at CPS has been committed and transparent about the need for improved systems, strategies, and services to support our most vulnerable students through our Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services.”

Becky Vevea contributed to this story.

Chicago Teachers Union chief of staff named city’s deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services

2023-05-11T18:55:11+00:00

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, has named chief of staff at the Chicago Teachers Union and former high school history teacher Jennifer “Jen” Johnson to be the city’s next deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services.

Jen Johnson replaces Jaye Stapleton, who was appointed to the job last year after outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot promoted Sybil Madison from deputy mayor of education to chief of staff.

Johnson taught at Lincoln Park High School from 2003-2013 and left the classroom around the same time as Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, who will be sworn into office Monday. The two are not related.

Both were part of a grassroots movement led by the teachers union focused on social justice, community organizing, and pushing back against top-down school reform policies, including the closure of public schools and the expansion of privately-run, often non-unionized charter schools.

“These appointments reflect our policy priorities and strategic goals as we set a bold agenda for the next four years,” Mayor-elect Johnson said in a statement. “Together we can achieve our vision for sustainable, thriving communities, responsive services for our children and most vulnerable, and a budget that illustrates our values as a city.”

Chicago Teachers Union chief of staff Jennifer “Jen” Johnson has been appointed to be the city’s next deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services.

Jen Johnson’s appointment is a signal Chicago Public Schools could enter a period of labor peace with the teachers union for at least the next four years. At the bargaining table, she has sat across from past deputy mayors, who have historically served as the mayor’s representative in negotiations.

On the campaign trail, Brandon Johnson faced repeated questioning about how he would handle contract talks with his former employer, to which he replied during one debate: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?” The current CTU contract expires in 2024.

A spokesperson for the mayor-elect declined Chalkbeat’s request to interview the new deputy mayor Thursday.

As CTU chief of staff, Jen Johnson supports and represents 30,000 rank-and-file educators and union leadership. Recently, she spoke with Chalkbeat about the district’s rollout of a universal curriculum bank called Skyline. She applauded the effort, but said the union does not believe it should be mandated as that would take away teacher autonomy.

Jen Johnson has been at the bargaining table multiple times over the past several years and gave updates to the press and the public during the negotiations over virtual and in-person learning in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and during an 11-day strike in 2019.

Chicago remained fully remote longer than many school districts, returning in-person on a hybrid basis in the spring of 2021.

During talks in the summer of 2020, Jen Johnson said the district’s proposal for a six-hour virtual school day was not age-appropriate for the youngest students and lacked an infrastructure to serve students with disabilities and English learners.

“You have too much screen time and not enough prep time,” she said at the time. “You can’t impose in-person school on at-home learning.”

In a speech at a labor conference in 2012, Jen Johnson called herself a “born Michigander” whose dad also taught high school history for 34 years in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She said her grandfather taught high school English in Winnetka, a wealthy suburb north of Chicago, and mentioned that her mother wrote a book in 1970 “about her experience being the only white student in an all-Black public high school called Marshall on the West Side of Chicago in 1966.”

“I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a history teacher and that I wanted to work in public schools,” Jen Johnson said at the time.

According to a press release from the Mayor-elect’s transition team, Jen Johnson has sat on the boards of the Illinois Federation of Teachers Executive Board, Grow Your Own Illinois, and the Illinois State Board of Education State Educator Licensure and Preparation Board.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s elected school board is coming soon. Here’s what you need to know.

2023-05-04T20:36:02+00:00

Chicago voters will soon see a new office on their ballots: school board.

In November 2024, voters will elect 10 members to the Chicago Board of Education as the city moves to a 21-member school board that will eventually be fully elected.

The transition marks a dramatic change for Chicago Public Schools, which has been under mayoral control since 1995. Before that, school board members were seated through a nomination process.

The law — and its subsequent trailer bill — spells out a number of rules, regulations, and processes that have to be followed before Chicagoans are voting in school board elections every two years.

Here’s a closer look at some of the details – and outstanding questions.

How will the Chicago Board of Education change?

According to the school board’s website, it is “responsible for the governance, organizational and financial oversight of Chicago Public Schools.” Its mission statement promises “to set goals and standards and make policies that make a high quality public education system available to the children of Chicago.”

Currently, seven people are appointed by the mayor. They can step down or be replaced at virtually any time. Under mayoral control, the school board has been criticized by some as a rubber stamp that made decisions behind closed doors.

Advocates who lobbied for the elected school board wanted to change that and after many years of lobbying, lawmakers passed a law in 2021 to transition to an elected school board. That law expands the size of the board from seven members to 21. For two years starting in January 2025, the board will be a mix of elected and appointed members. By January 2027, it will be fully elected.

At that point, the school board will resemble Chicago’s current City Council — except instead of 50 aldermen elected from 50 wards and one mayor elected by all of Chicago, there will be 20 members elected from 20 different districts and one school board president elected at-large.

When and how will school board members be elected?

The first Chicago school board elections will be held Nov. 5, 2024. Ten members will be elected from 10 yet-to-be-determined districts representing different areas of the city. Those members will each serve a four-year term and will be up for re-election in 2028.

By Dec. 16, 2024, Mayor Brandon Johnson must also appoint 10 members from those same 10 districts to serve two-year terms. The 10 mayoral-appointed seats will switch to being elected to four-year terms in November 2026. Those seats will represent different districts at that point and will be up for re-election in 2030.

The mayor will also appoint a school board president by Dec. 16, 2024 from anywhere in the city to serve for two years starting in 2024. In Nov. 2026, all Chicago voters will elect a school board president at-large. That person will also be up for re-election in 2030.

In all, 21 new school board members — half elected, half appointed — will be sworn into office in January 2025. By January 2027, all 21 members will have been elected. From that point on, school board elections will be staggered, with half the seats up for reelection every two years.

Who can — and cannot — run for the elected school board?

Chicagoans who want to run to represent their community on the school board will have to collect 250 signatures from voters who also live in their district. Candidates for school board president will have to collect 2,500 signatures from registered Chicago voters.

Similar to other elected offices, candidates will have to submit those petitions to the Chicago Board of Elections a few months before the election in order to get on the ballot and could face challenges to the validity of their signatures. However, the threshold is far lower than other offices, like mayor, which requires 12,500 valid signatures to get on the ballot.

The dates for when school board candidates can start collecting signatures to get on the November 2024 ballot are not set yet, according to spokespeople with both the city and state Board of Elections.

A number of Chicagoans won’t be able to serve on the school board, according to the legislation.

School board members cannot be employees of Chicago Public Schools or employees or owners of companies that hold contracts with the school district. It is not clear, however, if a candidate could run and then resign from those jobs in order to serve. Like other school boards across Illinois, members also cannot hold other elected offices.

One point of contention that has come up during public hearings is that non-citizens are not allowed to vote in school board elections or run for office. This disqualifies many public school parents in Chicago and is a departure from a separate state law that allows non-citizens to vote in and serve on Local School Councils, which oversee budget and leadership decisions at individual schools. The law does call for the creation of a non-citizen advisory board appointed by the mayor, but it does not spell out what powers or responsibilities that group would have.

How will my school or community be represented?

This is perhaps the most critical — and most up-in-the-air question. The short answer is: No one knows yet.

State lawmakers from both the House and Senate have been hosting public hearings to gather feedback on how they should divide the city into districts from which school board members will be elected. The next hearing will be held virtually on Friday, May 5.

The law states “the City of Chicago shall be subdivided into 10 electoral districts for the 2024 elections and into 20 electoral districts for the 2026 elections.”

It’s not clear if lawmakers plan to draw both a 10-district map and a 20-district map by the statutorily required July 1 deadline.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, who represents parts of Chicago’s West Side and a handful of near western suburbs and is chairing the senate’s Special Committee on the Chicago Elected Representative School Board, said the group is evaluating input from the public, including “proposals that suggest a map with 10 districts, and submissions that call for 20 districts.”

State Rep. Ann Williams, who represents parts of Chicago’s north side and chairs a working group of House Democrats focused on Chicago’s elected school board maps, said the number of districts drawn in the next two months is still “to be determined.”

Like all electoral maps, the elected school board districts have to be “compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population and consistent with the Illinois Voting Rights Act.”

Several groups are already advocating for representation and have proposed maps, including Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and Kids First Chicago.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s win reflects local and national shifts on education

2023-04-12T20:35:00+00:00

The direction of public education in Chicago changed last week when voters elected a teachers union organizer and former middle school teacher to be the city’s next mayor over a former schools chief and education consultant.

Brandon Johnson, 47, clinched victory with 52% of the vote over Paul Vallas, 69, and will be sworn in as mayor on May 15.

He comes to the job with more experience in public education than most, if not all, previous mayors. Johnson will also be the first mayor in recent memory to hold the title of a public school parent. And he’ll be the last with the power to appoint the school board.

But most significantly, Johnson brings a teachers union-friendly perspective that rejects many of the education ideas that once dominated Democratic politics and defined Vallas’ career: a focus on accountability for schools, teachers, and students, market-based school choice, and top-down decision-making from the mayor. Support from Democrats for those ideas began to erode years ago, making Johnson’s rise part of a bigger national shift.

“The former bipartisan ground that the Paul Vallas-esque reformers used to occupy, where do they stand anymore?” said Sarah Reckhow, a political scientist at Michigan State University who studies education policy. “The ground has shifted beneath them.”

Brandon Johnson announced his bid for Chicago mayor on Oct. 27, 2022. His win over Paul Vallas on April 4, 2023 marked the culmination of a years-long effort by the Chicago Teachers Union to influence public policy beyond the classroom.

Johnson’s win is also a win for local progressives, who see it as the culmination of years of effort. His education agenda — which closely mirrors policy papers put out by the Chicago Teachers Union over the past several years — calls for more funding for traditional public schools, higher pay for teachers, and additional social services for students.

Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, which endorsed Johnson and helped turn out the vote with an army of field organizers, said Johnson’s victory comes after a “years-long journey” of “sustained, aspirational” organizing.

“Both (Donald) Trump’s secretary of education and (Barack) Obama’s secretary of education endorsed Paul Vallas and he lost,” said Tai. “A working-class majority defeated a bipartisan, wealthy donor consensus on public education. And I think that any Democrats with national aspirations or presidential aspirations need to pay pretty close attention to that.”

Johnson’s victory follows a decade of growing union strength

The start of Johnson’s political career can be traced to the summer of 2011, when he left the classroom to become an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union.

For more than a decade prior, Chicago had been a testing ground for a vision of school improvement that relied on accountability and pushed publicly-funded, privately-run charter schools as engines of improvement.

In this worldview, held by Democrats and Republicans alike, teachers unions were seen as stubborn barriers to progress, intent on preserving an adult-centered status quo.

When Johnson became an organizer, Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff, had just been elected mayor and Illinois lawmakers had passed a new law reforming teacher tenure and limiting the Chicago Teachers Union’s ability to strike. It was one of dozens of laws passed across the country — in red and blue states alike — aimed at weakening the collective bargaining rights of teachers.

That did not sit well with classroom teachers.

A year earlier, a high school chemistry teacher named Karen Lewis had been elected as the new president of the Chicago Teachers Union on a platform promising to oppose charter school expansion, stop neighborhood school closures, and take on high-stakes testing and accountability.

The headquarters of Chicago Teachers Union sit on Chicago’s Near West Side.

Lewis and Emanuel became foils on the future of public education in Chicago — and nationally. They battled over seemingly everything — how long the school day and year should be; how teachers should be evaluated and compensated; and eventually, whether or not 50 public schools should be shuttered.

Though Emanuel succeeded in shuttering 50 schools, Lewis said the “fight for education justice” would “eventually move to the ballot box.”

“Clearly, we have to change the political landscape in this city,” Lewis said on the day the school board voted on the school closures in 2013.

That moment galvanized more than just the teachers union. Tai, now the head of United Working Families, said those closures prompted her to get into politics.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want them to be able to do this anymore,’” Tai said. “What’s it going to take so that I never have to be at a Board of Education meeting again, watching as Black parents are dragged out by white jacketed security guards while they’re crying? I never want to have to see that again.”

Johnson was one of the boots on the ground for the teachers union during this time, convening groups of teachers from schools on the South and West Sides and building coalitions with community organizations.

He helped elect City Council members in 2015 and supported Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s bid for mayor when Lewis was sidelined by a brain tumor. In 2018, Johnson ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and won — a victory Lewis applauded in a letter to teachers when she resigned as CTU president.

But in 2019, the union’s endorsed candidate for mayor, Toni Preckwinkle, lost to outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a landslide. That fall, teachers went on strike for 11 days and although the union secured some significant wins, the protracted fight left some teachers and parents frustrated. Still, this spring, the union’s existing leadership won re-election.

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied outside City Hall on the 11th day of their strike in 2019.

Johnson’s ascension to mayor is now an ironic — and perhaps fitting — end to three decades of mayoral control over Chicago Public Schools, a major priority of the union’s. In an interview last week, Johnson told Chalkbeat that he still supports eventually relinquishing control to an elected school board now that he’s been elected.

“Anyone else would say, ‘Well, now that we have it, we’re good because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control,’” he said. “That would miss the moment … We still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system.”

Mayoral campaign becomes an indictment of education reform

The union had tried and failed twice in the last decade to put an ally in the mayor’s office. But Vallas was a different kind of opponent, and the union capitalized on growing skepticism among Democrats about his education record.

He rose to prominence in 1995 as the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools after the state legislature handed control of the system to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. He became a leading advocate for and adopter of the education-reform playbook touted by both Democrats and Republicans throughout the early 2000s.

Defenders of Vallas say he fixed entrenched problems and improved outcomes for students. But others, including the CTU, say he left a “trail of destruction” in the places where he worked — which Johnson supporters highlighted during an event on the city’s South Side just weeks before the election. Vallas supporters disrupted that event and called their claims “completely untrue.”

Still, Johnson’s campaign continued to focus on Vallas’ complicated schools legacy, even releasing a two-minute ad with parents from New Orleans and Philadelphia talking about teachers being fired during Vallas’ time leading those districts.

Paul Vallas represented a different kind of opponent for the Chicago Teachers Union, which had tried twice to put an ally in the mayor’s office.

Peter Cunningham, founder and board chair of Education Post and former assistant secretary at the U. S. Department of Education, said Vallas — and his record on education running school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Chicago — were mischaracterized and unfairly maligned. Vallas advocated for more than just school choice and high-stakes accountability, he said. For example, he started a program that still exists to provide Chicago Public Schools students with free eye exams and eyeglasses and developed a school-based teen pregnancy program. He built more than 70 new school buildings — including the one where Johnson eventually taught middle school.

“I would not say the reform movement was a failure in any sense,” Cunningham said. “I would say that it had considerable successes.”

And even though Johnson’s campaign criticized Chicago’s system of school choice that Vallas helped to build, he has taken advantage of it for his three children, two of whom attend a magnet elementary school and one who attends a neighborhood high school that is not his zoned school. That’s a reflection of the way Chicago Public Schools has been reshaped by the changes of the last two decades in ways that are likely to outlast any mayor.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement in Chicago over the last 15 years,” said Elaine Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring director of the UChicago Consortium on School Research, which has studied Chicago Public Schools since 1990.

More students are graduating high school, going to, and finishing college. Student learning accelerated between 2009 to 2014 — with students gaining six years worth of education in five — according to research out of Stanford University. Out-of-school suspensions have decreased.

“No matter what you think about the reforms of the last 30 years, that’s not the question,” Cunningham said.

“The question is: What do you want to do in the next 10?”

The work beyond the classroom walls begins

The vision laid out by the teachers union more than a decade ago will come to fruition on May 15 when Johnson is sworn in as mayor.

Now, he will have the chance to tackle the issues beyond the classroom, beyond the school building, beyond the district administration. As he moves from an outsider advocating for a certain ideology to decision maker, Johnson will face the realities of governing a city known for its provincial politics, despite being dominated by Democrats.

Johnson will be responsible for a police department grappling with reforms mandated by the federal government and a public health department still dealing with a global pandemic. He’ll oversee multiple city agencies that determine when libraries are open, whether trains run on time, how businesses are licensed, and how to manage garbage pickup and alley rats.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson spoke at a City Club of Chicago luncheon during his campaign for mayor.

Allensworth said educators have an “innate sense” of how those different sectors — such as transportation, public health, and safety — all impact public schools.

“I do hope that having that knowledge will help him be a good strong coordinator of all those different services in the service of young people in Chicago,” she said.

And although Chicago Public Schools has seen a lot of improvement, the pandemic stymied some of its progress. Chicago’s scores on the nation’s report card last year dropped in math and flat-lined in reading. Long-standing gaps between students of color and their white peers remain. The district’s handling of students with disabilities is being monitored by the state, after a 2018 report found it delayed and denied services to those children.

“There’s so much more work to do,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who led Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008 and now heads a nonprofit focused on violence prevention.

Duncan endorsed Vallas and in doing so, didn’t mention education or schools. In an interview with Chalkbeat, he said the mayoral election was as much about education as it was about public safety, noting that when students drop out of high school, they’re more likely to be shot and killed.

“The consequences here in Chicago for educational failure are pretty staggering,” Duncan said. “This is absolutely about education. It’s absolutely about breaking cycles of poverty and helping people have upward mobility and enter the middle class.”

Now, he said the city needs to rally around Johnson. And he applauded the former teachers union organizer for promising to double the number of youth summer jobs from 30,000 to 60,000 and make that employment program year round.

Johnson has also promised to fund the city’s public schools based on need, not enrollment, which has been declining for the past decade. With schools slated to get their budgets this month, it’s not clear if the formula for doling out money will change in time for next school year. He’s vowed to continue investing in support staff — such as social workers, school nurses, and librarians — which Chicago Public Schools has already started doing using federal COVID recovery money.

He’ll have to negotiate a new contract with his former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union, and decide whether to keep current district leadership, including CEO Pedro Martinez, in place.

Tai, with United Working Families, said Johnson’s win does not mean their work is finished.

“I don’t think it’s ever really over,” she said. “But it’s a game changer, a conversation changer, and once again, Chicago’s in the center of it.”

Patrick Wall contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to correct Peter Cunningham’s title.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Q&A: Chicago’s Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson on how being a public school parent will guide him

2023-04-06T18:30:05+00:00

Brandon Johnson took an unconventional path to becoming Chicago’s next mayor.

A decade ago, Johnson, 47, was teaching middle school at Jenner Academy of the Arts, which served mostly low-income Black students from the Cabrini-Green public housing complex. In 2012, he became an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, and in 2018, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Now he will be the first mayor in recent memory with children in Chicago Public Schools and the last to have control of the school system before it transitions to an elected school board.

Chalkbeat Chicago sat down with Johnson for a brief interview Thursday. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you talk to your own children about becoming Chicago’s mayor?

I spoke with my children about them being children. Not about me running for mayor. Our conversations were more about, “What are the things that are important to them? What are the areas of support they need from me and their mother?” We had a thoughtful conversation about their own personal desires. And that conversation led into: “Daddy’s running for mayor. You all are an important part of Daddy’s story. But you’re not running for mayor. Daddy’s running for mayor.”

It was important for me to sort of lay some of the foundation around making sure that my children know that whatever adventure that I take on, it’s attached to my purpose, and that they too will have to find their purpose. I spoke to it and in the biblical sense. As Jesus said, “We don’t bury our talents. We double, we multiply them.”

It got them thinking more about their purpose, their talents, their gifts, and how they will make a contribution to society by utilizing their gifts. The transition from running for mayor and the conversation about being mayor was pretty similar. Obviously, there’s more details around security, but my children are chill.

You will be the first mayor in recent memory that has children attending the Chicago Public Schools, and I wonder what you think of that?

I think about that (in the context of) the question about my ability to negotiate contracts particularly for the Chicago Public Schools, because I am now responsible and tasked with negotiating from the perspective of the public schools, right?

The question came up repeatedly about my ability to do that. I’m going to be negotiating that not just as a mayor, but as a parent. I want parents and students to win a good school system, not a contract. That negotiation is actually far greater now as mayor of the city of Chicago having children in the public schools.

I’m not calling for a system to be better so that other people can experience it. I’m calling for a system to be better that works through the lens of someone who trusts the system to provide the education that will ultimately prepare (my children) to fulfill their purpose. I’m going to take the lived experience of not just as a teacher, as an organizer, but as a parent.

What were the things that were frustrating for me and my wife? I’m confident that whatever we were frustrated about, there are countless other parents who have that same frustration. That will be the impetus behind whatever decision is being made or whatever dynamics are being negotiated.

How do we not only help children fulfill their purpose? How do we make sure that parents that rely on this system for their children have an experience that is not just pleasant, but that motivates parents to continue to trust and believe in this system?

What do you think the election result and your win say about how Chicagoans feel about the approach to public education policy in this city under previous mayors?

I believe that my election sets us up to fulfill a promise of what public education should be about. There’s more of an acceptance and agreement around a system that is not just equitable and just, but a system that works for every single family in the city of Chicago.

That’s the message that they accepted — that you do not necessarily have to subscribe to a stratified system, where there are winners and losers, (but that) every parent who gets what they want out of the Chicago Public Schools.

If you talk to most parents, it’s a relief. Why? Why is it a relief? Why do parents make sort of the internal motion of: “Whew! I don’t have to worry about my child’s education!”? If that’s the response of parents where they have like this relief, generally speaking, then what’s the opposite response? When you don’t get what you want or need for your children?

This election is about really eliminating these pressure points. Where you can still be curious and searching juxtaposed to “Oh, my gosh, thank God we don’t gotta worry about that.” Do you understand what I’m trying to say? I hope so.

I think so. You’re saying that because we have a system where you “win” admission to a school, then you’re happy and relieved, but if you don’t, you are just in the struggle?

We want to eliminate the struggle and the pressure of: “How do I get to a release point where I can take a deep breath?” Because that in of itself is very hostile and traumatizing, as well. There’s this dynamic of you got to be grateful because you could be at this other place.

What are we saying? We literally have places in the city of Chicago that people dread going or they’re in fear of having to attend or somehow they’re going to lose the quality of instruction or won’t be offered the fulfillment of what education should be about.

I believe people have accepted that Brandon Johnson believes that public education is far more dynamic than a bubble sheet. It’s about the fulfillment of purpose, and what is available within our public school system that sets up all of our children to be able to find their purpose, discover their purpose, and be good to live it out.

You’ve been part of a movement, built by (the late CTU President) Karen Lewis, to kind of turn the tide in Chicago when it comes to public education and mayoral control of Chicago Public Schools. What do you think about being the last mayor with control of the city’s public schools?

Karen really loved the opera. As I understand opera — and I’m going down a rabbit hole here — there’s always tragedy and triumphs, right? That’s my general frame. And I know that’s a real simplistic way to look at an incredible art, so please be gentle, I do not want to piss off opera lovers. But there’s this tragedy. There is this tension. And then you start to get to a point where there’s going to be a very dramatic end to something that would have otherwise been a constant state of tragedy.

That’s how we look at mayoral control. And to know that our movement has culminated at the very time (mayoral control ends) and we are actually really true to our word. Because anyone else would say, “Well, now that we have it, we’re good. Because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control.”

And that would be a flat note, as Karen would say. That would miss the moment. I think it’s actually quite the crescendo of the movement that pushed the political dynamics around public education, and particularly the harm of mayoral control.

Even with us being in a position where we could impose our ideology onto an entire system, we are still saying that even with us having the ability to direct traffic, we still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system. So I think it’s an incredible crescendo to our movement.

You will have some chances to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education. Do you have any shortlist of names? Do you plan to keep any current school board members?

Well, I don’t have a shortlist of names. What I do have, though, is a commitment to a process that is committed to equity in the distribution of the seats that I have the ability to assign. We will provide a process that allows for real community input. An equitable education really requires a dynamic, diverse makeup of experiences that I believe will be necessary to have the type of democratic structure that the city of Chicago has already united around.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools are at a crossroads. The new mayor will determine the district’s next steps.

2023-03-28T23:01:03+00:00

Public education in Chicago is about to enter a new era, defined by the person elected mayor on April 4.

Voters will choose between Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher turned county commissioner who is also an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, or Paul Vallas, a former city budget director and Chicago Public Schools CEO turned education consultant.

Either candidate would bring more knowledge and experience in Chicago Public Schools to the job than most, if not all, previous mayors. It’s nearly impossible to untangle their identities from the debates over public education policy during the past two decades that have left Vallas and Johnson with different perspectives on critical education issues.

“You have two people who really come to this position largely as a result of their work in education,” said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment at University of Illinois.

Johnson has roots as a labor organizer and progressive politician focused on improving the lives of working class and low-income people. Vallas is a technocrat and policy wonk who built a career as a “fixer” and “turnaround specialist” for large, complex school systems.

Those experiences will shape their responses to the once-in-a-generation challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s fourth largest school district. The next mayor will write the final chapter in Chicago’s story with mayoral control, appointing school board members as the district shifts toward an elected school board. He will grapple with declining enrollment as federal COVID recovery money runs out and will negotiate the next Chicago Teachers Union contract.

Perhaps most importantly, the next mayor will shape how more than 300,000 students are educated — after three years of pandemic disruption and decades of inequity.

Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson faces former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in an April 4 runoff for Chicago mayor.

The challenge ahead: Moving to an elected school board

Chicago’s era of mayoral control will end in 2027, when the next mayor is up for re-election. Vallas or Johnson’s first term will be a period of transition in which he will oversee the school system and still appoint more than a dozen school board members, ahead of and during the transition to an elected school board.

If voters pick Johnson, his election would be the crowning achievement in a decade-long grassroots battle waged by the Chicago Teachers Union against mayoral control and many of the controversial policies that came with it, like school closures and charter expansion. Johnson opposes adding charter schools and closing small district schools, of which Chicago has a growing number.

Vallas would bring a long history of expanding school choice and remaking big-city school districts. He’s signaled his approach wouldn’t precisely mirror the past, though, and recently said Chicago had enough charter schools.

They have also expressed different priorities for future board member appointments. Vallas has said he would endorse candidates for school board who align with his vision for the district. He also told Chalkbeat that he would work with the school board “as an equally elected official that is representing the needs of the community that elected them.”

Johnson, who advocated for the legislation creating the school board, has said he wants it to represent Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods “who are deeply invested and knowledgeable” about the communities they serve.

“We cannot have uber rich, arch-conservatives usurping the power that working people in Chicago fought so hard to win,” he told Chalkbeat in a questionnaire published earlier this year.

Reversing enrollment declines in a changing city

Chicago has lost more than 100,000 students since Vallas was schools chief.

When he left the job in 2001, there were roughly 435,000 students. Now, there are just over 322,000. Because schools are largely funded based on enrollment, this trend puts pressure on the district’s budget, even as Illinois has overhauled and increased funding for public education.

Creg Williams, a Vallas supporter who worked with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, said the mayoral hopeful has experience re-enrolling students. After Hurricane Katrina hit, public school enrollment dropped from 65,000 students to 25,000, according to Louisiana state records.

“When we got to New Orleans, there were no student records, there were no teachers, there were no students,” Williams said. “We drove up and down streets, recruiting children who were walking up and down the streets with no place to stay, no schools to go in.” (Enrollment did increase under Vallas’ tenure in New Orleans, but it did not return to pre-Katrina levels.)

Chicago’s declining enrollment, like many cities across America, is driven not by a natural disaster but rather by declining birth rates and a confluence of factors pushing people to leave the city, including the loss of public housing, gentrification, crime, and past school closures.

These are problems the school system cannot fix by itself. City Hall, which has control over zoning, tax policy, and economic development, will play a key part.

Both candidates have talked a lot about making the city a place families want to live, but offer different paths for getting there. Vallas says neighborhoods need to be safe above all else and is proposing a crime-fighting strategy that staffs up the police department and keeps school buildings open on nights and weekends. Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes and wants to grow jobs for both the parents of public school students, and for teens and young adults.

Working with fewer federal dollars and a looming fiscal cliff

Those promises will cost money, and the next mayor will need to find it.

Last week, district officials warned that Chicago Public Schools is facing $600 million-plus budget deficits beginning in 2026, when a $2.8 billion windfall of COVID recovery money ends.

“These issues have been papered over by federal support, but we need to confront them head on,” district CEO Pedro Martinez said recently.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez recently warned school board members that the district is projecting annual deficits starting in 2026.

Johnson has said he will not raise property taxes, a primary source of funding for local schools. Vallas has not ruled out property tax increases, but has talked about pushing more money down to individual schools and cutting costs at the central office.

The mayor has other options.

Johnson has talked about getting state lawmakers to ramp up funding increases to the state’s funding formula so Chicago and all districts get to so-called “adequate funding” more quickly.

He – and district officials – have also suggested pushing the state to kick in more for Chicago teachers pensions, which have been underfunded since the mid- to late-2000s. Chicago Public Schools began skipping annual payments to the pension fund in 1995 under Vallas, and did so until 2004. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, state lawmakers again allowed the district to skip pension payments. Today, the fund is less than 50% funded and requires much larger annual payments, which also puts pressure on the district’s budget.

The next mayor could also undo decisions made by current Mayor Lori Lightfoot to shift costs for police in schools, crossing guards, and non-teaching staff pensions from the city’s budget to Chicago Public Schools. Neither candidate has signaled they would reverse those cost shifts.

Bargaining a high-stakes contract

The Chicago Teachers Union’s current contract expires in 2024. If history is any guide, negotiations will begin this winter under the leadership of the new mayor. Two of the last three contracts were settled only after teachers went on strike, and the next mayor will be under considerable pressure to avoid another one.

It’s clear from Johnson’s education platform that he would approach the demands of the teachers union as an ally.

“Now more than ever, we need a partner in City Hall willing to work with school communities to ensure smaller classes, adequate staffing for special and bilingual education and a school nurse in every school,” the union said in a recent press release. “Brandon Johnson is that candidate.”

Throughout the campaign, Johnson has faced questions over whether he would be impartial in negotiations with his own union, to which he recently responded: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?”

Vallas has said he would be at the bargaining table with the teachers union if elected. He’s touted his experience negotiating contracts across multiple school districts, including two four-year deals in Chicago in the late 1990s. The city’s chief labor negotiator, Jim Franczek, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times those contracts provided “stability, flexibility, and predictability” to the school system, which had seen multiple work stoppages in the 1980s and early ‘90s.

“It wasn’t as if the Chicago Teachers Union were a bunch of pansies back then,” Franczek said. But even he acknowledged that the current teachers union is a different kind of bargaining partner now.

Since 2010 – under the leadership of the late former CTU president Karen Lewis — the CTU has pushed to negotiate more than just “bread and butter” issues like pay and benefits, to include broader social justice issues like affordable housing, homelessness, and environmental justice.

That broader approach to bargaining contributed to labor strife with newly-elected Lightfoot in 2019, when teachers went on strike for 11 days. Ultimately, the union secured significant wins to increase support staff, pay, and benefits.

Protesters with the Chicago Teachers Union march in downtown Chicago on Oct. 31, 2019.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan alluded to that strike in his recent endorsement of Vallas — arguing that the CTU went to war with Lightfoot after she defeated the union’s preferred candidate for mayor in 2019. The teachers union has been clear in their dislike for Vallas, highlighting what they say is a “record of failure” and a “path of destruction” he’s left behind in the public school systems he led.

Vallas has not been shy about his disagreements with the teachers union. But he said the 2019 strike and the COVID-related work stoppages could have been avoided and has vowed to bargain in “good faith.”

Deciding how to measure school and student performance

Early in the pandemic, district officials halted the annual school ratings based on test scores, attendance, and other metrics. And last spring, district leaders announced the old system, known as the School Quality Rating Policy, would no longer exist.

The decisions have prompted a broader conversation about how schools should be measured — or if they should at all — that will continue under the next mayor.

For some, the pause on high-stakes accountability has been a welcome reprieve. The teachers union and others have argued it put too much emphasis on test scores and penalized schools serving high-need populations. A low rating could turn off prospective new families, contributing to a cycle of declining enrollment and continued disinvestment.

But for others, the lack of a system for measuring quality can leave parents and the public wondering: How are students and schools doing?

For two years, the district, the union, and several stakeholders, including Kids First Chicago, have been working together to develop a new, more “holistic” accountability policy. Hal Woods, the chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, said the school board is expected to vote on it next month.

“A new mayor might come in and say, pump the brakes,” Woods said. “Obviously, we hope not.”

It’s not likely Vallas would do that. He created Chicago Public Schools’ first accountability system — putting more than 100 schools on probation for poor academic performance before the federal No Child Left Behind law required districts to do so.

Johnson is likely to be more skeptical. He has said the district does not need its own rating system since the state already has one, and has said schools need more support and resources, not accountability.

The new policy, Woods said, aims to do just that.

“It should be a tool to diagnose where extra support is needed and what that support looks like,” Woods said. “That could be financial, it could be other forms of support.”

Chicago students and schools are facing a pivotal moment. Test scores have fallen. Mental health concerns are rising, particularly among young girls. Additional social workers, counselors, and school staff worry the extra resources still won’t be enough.

The city’s next mayor will have to face these challenges — and decide how to respond.

Mauricio Peña contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Vallas supporters disrupt Johnson event focused on Vallas’ schools leadership

2023-03-17T00:19:35+00:00

A press conference denouncing Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ record running public schools devolved into a shouting match as his supporters interrupted an event for his opponent at Rainbow PUSH Coalition Thursday morning in Kenwood.

Supporters of Chicago Teachers Union organizer and county commissioner Brandon Johnson gathered ahead of the city’s April 4 runoff election to warn voters of what they called a “trail of destruction” Vallas left in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans — a narrative Vallas’ supporters said was “totally untrue.”

The dust-up underscored the stark differences between Vallas and Johnson — and highlighted a divided electorate. Both candidates are working to shore up support in majority-Black communities on the city’s South and West sides, where current Mayor Lori Lightfoot performed well in the Feb. 28 election.

Parent and activist Melissa Francis traveled to Chicago from New Orleans to share her experience navigating her hometown’s post-Katrina school system, which Vallas led from 2007 to 2011.

“Paul Vallas has never had families in his best interest,” Francis told the crowd of Johnson supporters. “Many citizens of New Orleans recognize Paul Vallas as a scammer.”

Others called Vallas “a thief and a liar” who left “a trail of destruction” in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“He comes into our communities and pillages them and leaves,” said Gema Gaete, an activist who was part of a 19-day hunger strike in Little Village when Vallas ran Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001. “We’re here to remind everybody that we don’t forget and he will be held accountable.”

As they began chanting “Vallas, Vallas, Vallas,” Johnson supporters bellowed, “We want Brandon,” in repetition.

Some Johnson supporters called Vallas backers “sellouts” and a few people got into one another’s faces. But the clash quickly ended and the Vallas supporters left the building.

On the sidewalk across the street, Vallas supporters held their own press conference to defend his education record and countered with their own experiences working with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“Folks who are trying to paint him as a GOP, trying to paint him as a racist, it’s just totally untrue,” said Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin.

“We weren’t being antagonists or anything like that,” said Caliph Muab-El, an organizer with the Midwest Coalition for Stopping Violence, the group that held the counter press conference in support of Vallas. “We just want to get the message across that there is a different side to this whole story that they’re painting.”

Vallas’ legacy in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans has been the longtime subject of scrutiny. Johnson and other candidates have criticized his record in Chicago for putting schools on academic probation and not paying into the teachers’ pension fund. State law at the time allowed Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration to use money earmarked for pensions to cover operating costs, as long as the fund remained healthy.

When Vallas left Chicago, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission hired him to run schools there after the state took over the public school system. He made dramatic changes, but left the system with a deficit.

Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks said school closures and destabilization of that city’s schools pushed her into politics.

“It was triggered by having someone as CEO come into our city, sell off properties, sell off buildings, steal money that is still unaccounted for, and walk away,” Brooks said.

Creg Williams, a former Chicago principal who was Chief of High Schools in Philadelphia under Vallas and also worked with Vallas in New Orleans, countered Brooks’ take on what happened in both cities.

“Paul did not devastate the community. The community was devastated when we arrived,” Williams said. He noted that in both Philadelphia and New Orleans, state lawmakers dictated some of the policies Vallas and other district officials put in place.

“There are stipulations in the law that you have to follow,” Williams said. “No matter what the people say, or no matter what you feel, or what you may want to do, you still have to follow those stipulations.”

In New Orleans, Vallas faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. Ultimately, student test scores improved at schools converted into charter schools, but at district-run schools, progress was uneven, according to New Orleans magazine.

If elected mayor, Vallas said he wants to keep school buildings open on nights and weekends, push more funding down to individual schools, and support a system of choice for families. Johnson’s platform emphasizes staffing all schools with enough teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses, and librarians and bolstering youth jobs programs.

Mauricio Peña contributed to this story.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

How former teacher Brandon Johnson organized his way to the doorstep of Chicago City Hall

2023-03-14T23:41:10+00:00

Brandon Johnson has knocked on a lot of doors in the last decade.

A former rank-and-file teacher turned Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson has met with thousands of teachers, pounded the pavement on behalf of dozens of candidates, and lobbied state lawmakers.

Still, he had little to no name recognition as he launched his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor.

“A few months ago, they said they didn’t know who I was,” Johnson told a crowd of supporters when he made it to the mayoral runoff election on Feb. 28. “Well, if you didn’t know, now you know.”

Although Johnson may not have been famous in Chicago politics before he ran, he didn’t come out of nowhere. Johnson is the product of a grassroots movement led by the CTU over the last decade that has focused on issues beyond the classroom, like affordable housing, public health, environmental justice, and police reform. The outcome of Johnson’s race will be an important signal about the strength of that movement.

His progressive message broke through in a field of nine candidates, and he got about 21% of the vote — enough to secure a spot in next month’s runoff election.

Now, Johnson will go head-to-head in the April 4 election with former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who got about 33% of the vote in February. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of the city’s school system. The district faces challenges disentangling its finances from the city as it transitions into an elected school board, declining enrollment, and academic disparities that widened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Vallas has garnered support by touting his reputation as a “fixer” who can lead in difficult times. But he has faced scrutiny on the campaign trail over his complicated history with public schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois and longtime observer of the Chicago Teachers Union, said to some degree, Johnson’s journey from classroom teacher to political candidate came as a reaction to policies put in place by Vallas and like-minded officials.

“I think maybe Paul Vallas helped to create the conditions that made Brandon Johnson inevitable,” Bruno said.

Those conditions have prompted the CTU — and all of its organizing power — to try to put an ally into the mayor’s office before. In 2015, the union helped U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia push then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff, only to have him fall short with 44% of the vote. And in 2019, the CTU backed Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who made it to the mayoral runoff, but lost in a landslide to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In order to win on April 4, Johnson will likely have to more than double the number of votes he got on Feb. 28. That will be difficult, but not impossible, Bruno said.

“If he’s doing the work as an organizer, then he has to be contributing to the mobilization and the high engagement that you see, “ Bruno said. “And that might be his secret weapon.”

A middle school teacher joins a labor movement

Last fall, Johnson announced his candidacy for mayor, steps from where he taught middle school social studies. Decades earlier, Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts served students from the nearby Cabrini-Green public housing complex. Now, it is a campus of the Ogden International School after a 2018 merger.

Tara Stamps, a former teacher who now works for the union coaching new teachers, recalled Johnson’s days at Jenner.

“He was very patient,” Stamps said. “He has a very calm demeanor. Brandon is not easily riled and you kind of need that when you’re going to be working with middle school kids.”

These qualities are important for a leader at a critical time for the city, Stamps said.

Stamps was Johnson’s mentor at Jenner and remembered advocating for him during the hiring process. He proved to be committed and connected to his students, and a necessary role model at the mostly Black school, Stamps added.

On the campaign trail, Johnson has shared his own memories of Jenner, such as the time students were displaced when the city leveled Cabrini-Green.

He’s also shared the time one of his students at Jenner told him: “You should be teaching at a good school.”

The comment caught Johnson off-guard. It also served as a call to action for him to address the lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, and gun violence — traumas that students carry into the classroom.

Along the campaign trail, Johnson has called for fully funded schools for all students and families regardless of ZIP code. “Every single child in the city” should get to have their needs met, Johnson said late last month.

After Jenner, Johnson spent about a year teaching at Westinghouse College Prep in East Garfield Park, a test-in selective enrollment high school in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But then Johnson decided to start solving those problems students faced outside of schools. So in the summer of 2011, Johnson, current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and other educators joined an organizing initiative at the union.

They helped to get buy-in from rank-and-file members at school buildings, create partnerships with like-minded unions and community organizations, and worked to bring parents into their movement.

“Many of us became teachers to change the world,” Davis Gates said. “We wanted young people to have a good opportunity at dreaming and reimagining and transforming. And all of us have been committed to that dream as educators.”

Davis Gates said Johnson helped usher in a type of “common good” unionism that their work is about more than wages and benefits for school staff. Led by then-CTU President Karen Lewis, the union pushed a progressive agenda that focused on the broader socioeconomic challenges that affect students and families.

In announcing his campaign for mayor, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson recalled his time as a middle school social studies teacher and the displacement his students faced as the city demolished Cabrini-Green.

Johnson hit the ground running as an organizer just as the union began strengthening its political identity, Stamps said. “He was very active” organizing members in school buildings, she added.

“We were breaking ground on this new kind of unionism,” Stamps said. “[It] not only just involved its members, but brought the community in as partners in this fight for a city and a school system that Chicagoans deserved.”

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union carried out its first strike in 25 years. The strike, which CTU used to highlight policies members said were hurting public education, attracted international attention. It also “reshaped the educational landscape in Chicago and across the country,” Johnson said in a statement emailed to Chalkbeat Chicago.

“Karen Lewis herself said it was a battle for the soul of public education, and about protecting the most democratic institution in America,” he said.

Bruno, the University of Illinois professor, said the strike is seen as a success by labor groups, in part because of the coalition-building done by organizers like Johnson.

From being educators to knowledgeable union stewards to informed about city and state laws, organizers have a diverse set of skills, Bruno said. “They’ve got to be really good coalition builders” because they’re trying to get people to take action, he added.

Since being hired by the union, Johnson has organized CTU members at schools primarily on the South and West sides. He’s also worked with community organizations and families who reside in those neighborhoods. It’s a job he still holds today, though the union said he’s been on leave since last November.

According to the union, while on leave, Johnson earns no salary, but like other CTU staff members on leave, Johnson “is allowed to utilize his unused accrued paid time off.”

That work, which is central to Johnson’s career trajectory, has also attracted skepticism. Some observers have said Johnson would be beholden to the CTU in a way that would not be good for taxpayers. Even fellow progressives who have been supported by the CTU, like Garcia, have raised questions about those ties.

“Will Brandon, if he’s elected mayor, be able to say that he is impartial?” Garcia, who ran for mayor but failed to reach the April 4 runoff, said in an interview with the Sun-Times ahead of the Feb. 28 election.

Garcia — who as of publication has yet to throw his support behind Johnson in the runoff — went on to question whether he would make the best decision for children and taxpayers.

Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes, but has proposed a slew of new taxes, mostly targeting corporations and wealthy individuals. He has also pushed back against the criticism, saying that he is grateful for the support from working class families, and that he would be a mayor for all of Chicago.

Electoral politics become crucial to the union’s mission

To the CTU, the policies put in place by Vallas and subsequent district leaders destabilized the public school system. That perspective prompted a new frontier for the union: electoral politics.

After 50 schools closed under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lewis took those grievances to voters and made the education system’s needs clear, Davis Gates recalled.

Johnson was a key part in those political campaigns. He helped organize members and allies’ campaigns for city council in 2015 and the state legislature in 2020.

Those efforts bore fruit. In 2015, Susan Sadlowski Garza, a school counselor, became the first CTU member elected to City Council. Union ally Carlos Ramirez-Rosa also won his aldermanic race. In 2019, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez and other CTU allies were elected to city council seats.

And in the intervening period, Johnson decided to test his own appeal to voters. In 2018, Johnson won a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, representing Chicago’s West Side and near western suburbs.

Not everyone in the union supports its focus on electoral politics. Some, for example, have said the union donated too much to candidates without a full accounting. Still, last spring, CTU’s leaders were reelected to their posts.

Johnson is the first rank-and-file member to ascend from organizer to CTU political director to mayoral runoff candidate since the union set out to get its members into elected office more than a decade ago. His rise matches Lewis’ vision of the union having political agency in every level of governance, as well as her policy priorities.

“We followed Karen’s lead and here we are today,” Davis Gates said. “We have an elected school board. We have our bargaining rights back. Our pensions are being funded.”

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will face off against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff election for Chicago mayor.

In his statement, Johnson said he views union organizing as key to developing a “coalition of people with interest and commission vision to bring that vision to life.”

“We have real issues in our city — the need to invest in people, the need for a public safety plan that works, the need to ensure schools are stable and predictable, and the need to grow our economy,” Johnson said.

His organizing experience, he argues, will help Chicago meet these goals.

The prospect of an organizer leading Chicago is promising to union members like Lori Torres Whitt, a 36th ward aldermanic candidate.

“I want a mayor who’s going to work with me, and make decisions for us with us,” Whitt said. “And that’s what you get with an organizer.”

Chicago High School for the Arts teacher Megan Pietz feels as though an organizer will leave the door open when it comes to making decisions.

“I feel like Paul Vallas is someone who closes that door,” Pietz said. “Being an organizer also means being willing to listen to and engage in a conversation, to engage in a discussion.”

Johnson performed well on Chicago’s Northwest and North sides, as well as some portions of the south lakefront, according to election results. But now he will have to persuade a divided electorate on the South and West sides of the city that voted for Lightfoot and Garcia.

Stamps said if anyone can do it, Johnson can.

“We earn the votes,” Stamps said. “We do the work. We out-organize and we out-work people. We knock on doors. We do the phone banks. We do the pop-ups. We do whatever is necessary to carry our message to the people. Because, ultimately, you want a people-powered campaign.”

Becky Vevea contributed to this story.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Lori Lightfoot could be the last mayor to control Chicago Public Schools. How has she done?

2023-02-16T20:55:50+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stood on a freshly-installed rubber wood floor in the gymnasium of the new Belmont-Cragin Elementary and delivered a long list of “thank-you’s” from behind a podium emblazoned with the seal of the City of Chicago.

“I can still smell the freshness and newness of this building,” Lightfoot said before using oversized scissors to cut a blue fabric ribbon at the Jan. 17 opening of the new $44 million school, a project set in motion by her predecessor Rahm Emanuel.

It is one of dozens of ribbon cuttings the incumbent mayor is doing in the weeks before the Feb. 28 election in which voters decide if she gets a second term. Lightfoot is facing eight challengers, some with strong ties to the city’s public schools, including former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and former teacher and current teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson.

“Our job is to come, like the calvary, to the rescue with those resources so we can help you fulfill your dreams and aspirations,” Lightfoot said at the Belmont-Cragin ribbon-cutting, where she was flanked by students, teachers, and other politicians. “This new building is absolutely what that is about.”

Since 1995, Chicago’s mayor has had control over the city’s public schools — deciding where and when to construct or repair school facilities, appointing school board members and a CEO, and negotiating contracts with the teachers union.

Lightfoot could be the last mayor — or one of the last — to wield this kind of power over education in Chicago as the city begins to transition to an elected school board in 2024.

“This is a pivotal or critical time for schools,” said Dick Simpson, a longtime observer and fixture in Chicago politics and retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago. “It’s also a critical time overall in Chicago’s history.”

Unlike her predecessors, Lightfoot did not come into office four years ago promising big changes at Chicago Public Schools. She kept existing leadership in place and continued implementing outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for universal pre-K for 4-year-olds. The one promise Lightfoot did make – to support an elected school board – shifted once she was in office.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, an ally of the mayor, said Lightfoot deserves credit for leading the school system through a once in a generation pandemic.

“Navigating that was something that was done partially on the fly, but also had a good set of directives that we had to stick to to make sure that the institutions survived, including CPS,” Waguespack said.

But what has Lightfoot done so far when it comes to education and what will she do with another four years?

Lightfoot prioritizes city money for school facilities

Deciding when and where to build new or repair old schools has been a core role of Chicago mayors, past and present.

Richard M. Daley’s Modern Schools Across Chicago program spent $1 billion to build 17 new facilities and renovate two others, mostly on the South and West Sides. Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, built new annexes in overcrowded areas where students tended to be more affluent and more white than CPS as a whole. He also closed 50 schools and mothballed or sold off the facilities in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods, before implementing a property tax levy in 2017 to bankroll new school construction.

The newly-constructed $44 million Belmont-Cragin Elementary at 6112 W. Fullerton Ave. sits next door to the Riis Park Fieldhouse on Chicago’s Northwest side. The project was set in motion by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and completed under Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Lightfoot harnessed city funding for school projects, but focused spending on fixing up existing facilities, repairing aging roofs, and boilers.

“We’re picking off these projects that are long overdue all over the city,” Lightfoot said. “Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez is very committed to making sure that we really invest in the infrastructure, not just band aids and trying to patch things up.”

Waguespack, who is also chairman of the City Council’s powerful Committee on Finance, said the mayor wanted to focus more money from special taxing districts known as tax-increment-financing — or TIF — districts on public schools and public parks.

A Chalkbeat analysis of finance committee records shows roughly $215.8 million in TIF money was allocated to school construction projects between when Lightfoot took office in May 2019 and today. Roughly $128.5 million was allocated between May 2015 and May 2019. Many of the projects tackled in the past four years were for long-deferred maintenance, not new construction.

In response to a Chalkbeat Chicago candidate questionnaire, Lightfoot also touted “$600 million in investments for facility improvements at neighborhood schools” in Chicago Public Schools’ 2023 budget.

A review of Chicago Public Schools’ capital plan does show larger portions of the district’s construction budget coming from “outside funding sources,” which is primarily city TIF money and state grants. However, the capital budget has declined in the last four years.

Years ago, community advocates fought to have more say over school construction decisions in Chicago, even passing a state law that created a now-dormant task force to oversee and guide school facilities planning. The city is currently under moratorium on closing schools, which will lift in 2025.

Disagreements over school construction projects have heated up recently around a plan supported by Lightfoot to build a $150 million new high school on the Near South Side, even as the district continues to lose enrollment and grapple with severely underenrolled high schools, including those that currently serve students in the area and sit just south of the site where the new school is to be built.

In an interview with Chalkbeat Chicago, Lightfoot said she sees investments in school facilities as investments in the city as a whole.

“They’ve got to be done in coordination,” Lightfoot said of the city and the school district. “They’ve got to work hand in glove and that’s really what we’ve been trying to do.”

Clashes with the Chicago Teachers Union disrupt learning

By now, it’s no secret: the mayor and the Chicago Teachers Union are anything but allies. From an 11-day teachers strike in 2019 and a delayed return to schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 to five days of canceled classes at the height of the omicron surge in 2022, the relationship has been on a tightrope made worse with every labor strife and a war of words.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois, described Lightfoot and CTU’s relationship as “very, very hostile,” and “difficult and strained.”

The deep level of distrust between the mayor and the teachers union is not without consequences.

The fraught relationship between Lightfoot and the union may even have complicated the district’s response to COVID and the return to in-person learning.

Chicago students stayed with remote learning longer than many other cities and states. Data released last fall showed the city’s math and reading scores on the “Nation’s Report Card” fell to what they were about a decade ago.

At the time, Lightfoot argued that a return to in-person learning would curb the adverse impact of remote learning, but the union said remote learning would protect students, their families, and teachers from severe illness and death. The push to return, the union argued, was tied to pressure from the business community.

Bruno said the mayor views the teachers union as a political body with the goal of undermining her leadership, and the union believes she’s “too beholden to corporate interest and not someone who has the best interest” of the school district’s large low-income working class and multi-ethnic population.

But the mayor’s difficult relationship with the teachers union pre-dates the pandemic. The CTU supported Lightfoot’s opponent in 2019 and when she stepped into office in May 2019, the political newcomer fresh off a landslide victory found herself in contract negotiations that dramatically fizzled out, leading to an 11-day strike in October.

Despite the acrimony, the teachers union secured $1.5 billion worth of concessions from the Lightfoot administration in a five-year contract that included raises for educators and support staff, hundreds of new staff positions, and $35 million annually to help reduce overcrowding in some schools.

Five months later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools once again. Students didn’t return in-person until a year later — after an impasse over safety protocols, a threat to lock out teachers from remote platforms, and finally an agreement that made way for a hybrid model with staggered reopening starting in March 2021. But the following school year was again disrupted after holiday break, leaving parents frustrated and teachers feeling deflated.

These four years are going to be remembered as “dysfunctional,” Bruno said. “She obviously has to take some responsibility for that.”

Chicago teachers picket downtown in May 2022. Lightfoot’s conflicts with the Chicago Teachers Union characterized much of her first term.

Moving forward the person who wins the mayoral election will need “to pick up the pieces of that relationship” with the union, Bruno said.

Turning things around would not be unprecedented. Rahm Emanuel famously clashed with the teachers union early in his first term, prompting the first strike in 25 years. He reportedly used an expletive in a meeting with former CTU President Karen Lewis. But years later, she admitted their tensions had softened. After Lewis died, Emanuel told the Sun-Times that the two had even attended the ballet together.

Responding to the Chalkbeat candidate questionnaire regarding the acrimonious relationship and upcoming contract negotiations, Lightfoot wrote that regardless of their “previous differences,” her team was committed to ensuring Chicago teachers were among the “best compensated in the nation and have the resources and support they need to educate the next generation of Chicagoans.”

“Our children deserve no less,” she wrote.

Lightfoot changes tune on elected school board

While campaigning for mayor in 2019, Lightfoot supported a fully elected school board, saying parents deserved a seat at the table. Elected members should be parents with “skin in the game,” she told WBEZ at the time, and suggested requirements such as first serving on local school councils.

Lightfoot’s first appointees included a group with deep experience in education, including parents who previously served on local school councils, teachers, principals, and community advocates — a departure from her predecessors whose selections were often described as a “rubber stamp” by critics.

Lightfoot told WBEZ in 2019 there would need to be thoughtful discussions on the number of board members, criteria, and how elections for these seats were financed.

But Lightfoot’s support for a fully elected school board dwindled and she instead called for a hybrid model. As legislation moved through Springfield, the mayor criticized the bill, arguing that special interests would pour millions of dollars into the races as had happened in Los Angeles.

She also criticized the 21-seat board as a “recipe for disaster.” Nevertheless, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the approved bill in June 2021, setting the stage for a phased-in elected school board starting in 2025. Next year, the mayor will appoint 11 seats and 10 will be elected. Another election, in 2026, would elect the 11 appointed seats, resulting in a fully elected board by 2027.

Responding to a Chalkbeat election questionnaire, Lightfoot vowed to work with Pritzker to improve the existing law to “establish clarity and ensure that our schools, teachers, and students receive the representation and resources they deserve.” She added that non-citizens, in particular, should be allowed to serve on the school board.

“Non-citizens are a significant part of CPS communities as parents, Local School Council members, and elsewhere,” Lightfoot said. “In a welcoming city, it is unconscionable that Springfield banned non-citizens from serving on the elected school board.”

Her office has created a team focused on education and human services that will work in partnership with the new school board on shared priorities, she said.

The mayor’s record on education will be an important marker in this election, Bruno said.

“As long as mayors have control over the city schools,” he said, “then it’s going to be a big determinant, I think, of how people judge their record while in office.”

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Tony Sanders named next Illinois State Superintendent of Education

2023-01-31T17:35:49+00:00

This story has been updated.

Elgin’s U-46 Superintendent Tony Sanders has been named Illinois’ next State Superintendent of Education. He will begin his term on Feb. 23.

Tony Sanders.

After a nationwide search to replace outgoing superintendent Carmen Ayala who is retiring after 40 years in education, the Illinois State Board of Education announced Sanders’ appointment during a special board meeting on Tuesday.

“Dr. Sanders’ breadth of experience as superintendent of School District U-46 and his entire background have prepared him to take on this role,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a statement. “His focus on innovation, social emotional development, and academic excellence make him an extraordinary pick. I can think of no better person to lead the Illinois State Board of Education as we continue to invest in, support, and elevate our students and educators.”

Sanders has been superintendent of Elgin’s U-46 since 2014. It’s the second largest school district in Illinois serving over 35,000 students.

In a statement to U-46’s school community, Sanders said leaving the district is bittersweet because his family lives in the community, his children graduated from the district, and he enjoyed his time working with teachers and support staff who dedicated their time to improving the lives of students.

“While I have such a strong connection to U-46, I have always set my sights on serving in the role of state superintendent,” Sanders said in a statement. “It is the only position that I would consider leaving U-46 to accept, and the fact that I was selected is an honor that I cannot decline.”

As the next state superintendent, Sanders will be responsible for helping schools, educators, and students recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as federal relief funds are expected to expire by 2025. The State Board of Education recently recommended a $350 million increase for the state’s evidence-based funding formula and a 10% increase to the board’s early education block grant.

But education advocates have said that’s not enough. They want the state legislature to increase funding for K-12 schools by $550 million and increase early education funding by 20%.

As U-46 superintendent, Sanders was a part of the push to enact the state’s evidence-based funding formula in 2017. That formula provides more money to districts if they serve higher percentages of students living in poverty, English language learners, or students with disabilities. About half of U-46 students are low-income, 40% are English language learners, and 16% are students with disabilities.

As superintendent, Sanders managed U-46’s $660 million budget. Sue Kerr, president of U-46’s Board of Education, said in a statement that Sanders eliminated the district’s structural deficit and built up cash reserves.

Pritzker, who had a hand in selecting Sanders, recently promised to provide free preschool to all Illinois families in his second term. In Illinois, children are not required to attend school until age 6 and many districts, including U-46, only recently added full-day kindergarten. Sanders oversaw the 2016 rollout of a play-based, full-day kindergarten in Elgin, which the state board touted in announcing his appointment.

Sanders comes to the state’s top education job at a time of great need. The COVID pandemic wiped away a decade of academic progress and left students, parents, and educators grappling with broader social and emotional issues beyond school.

During Ayala’s time in office, the board of education added social-emotional learning hubs through the state’s regional offices of education and expanded high-impact tutoring to catch students up academically. As superintendent at U-46, Sanders created a new alternative high school to reduce expulsions and provide students with trauma-informed care.

For a while, the state board seemed interested in overhauling how it measures academic progress, shifting from the annual state test at the end of the year, known as the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, to an interim assessment taken multiple times a year.

That issue is still unresolved, but the State Assessment Review Committee presented a list of recommendations on improving the state assessment during this month’s board meeting. Ayala led the charge on this issue during her time in office.

Over the past four years under Ayala’s direction, the State Board of Education has worked to increase the number of teachers throughout the state. While the state had a teacher shortage prior to COVID-19, the pandemic exacerbated the need for more teachers in classrooms.

The state launched initiatives to get more bilingual teachers into classrooms and increase the number of students of color in teacher preparation programs. Some school districts have invested in Grow Your Own programs that support new educators while they are getting licensure.

During Sanders’ time as superintendent in U-46, he invested in the same program and the initiative supported 60 employees to receive full tuition reimbursement as they work on getting a license.

Kerr, president of U-46’s Board of Education, said in a statement that the district’s board of education will deeply miss Sanders.

“He has been active in numerous community organizations, has been a constant presence in school buildings, and districtwide events, and has never hesitated to reach out to state legislators and the media to advocate on U-46’s behalf,” Kerr said.

One of the state’s largest teacher unions, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, congratulated Sanders in a statement and said they hope to work with him to “achieve policies that center and engage our students and teachers, especially our Black and Brown students who are still recovering from the pandemic.”

“During Dr. Sanders’ tenure leading Elgin District U-46, he was a strong advocate for equitable policies for Black and Brown students,” said Dan Montgomery, president of IFT. “His visionary leadership helped improve district assessment data collection to better the student and teacher experience.”

Until Sanders begins his term as superintendent, Krish Mohip, the State Board of Education’s deputy education officer, will serve as interim state superintendent starting Feb. 1.

I’m stepping down from the Chicago Board of Education. With change coming, some thoughts on its future.

2022-12-07T18:38:16+00:00

When I was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education in June 2019, I knew my prior experiences — as a teacher, a Chicago Public Schools employee, an educator collaborating with over 30 districts, a CPS parent, and a member of a Local School Council — still might not prepare me for the duties of effectively governing our large and complex district. What I didn’t know was what awaited us in the months and years to come, including a global pandemic.

The heroic efforts of educators and district leadership have kept our district running, and we’ve even made progress in some important areas. CPS launched its equity framework. The Office of Safety & Security reimagined an approach to whole school safety. The board livestreamed and recorded its meetings, and opened new and revised policies to public comment. We’ve engaged community members to inform policy on school programming, funding, and accountability.

Sendhil Revuluri

Today is my final board meeting. As I step away from the toughest and most rewarding volunteer role I’ve ever held, I want to share some reflections I have about the changes and challenges our district has in store.

Our educators focus on student learning outcomes. Our school board should, too.

School systems exist to improve student outcomes. Having great buildings, happy parents, balanced budgets, or satisfied teachers are incredibly important and valuable. But they are the means, not the ends.

Over the last few years, my fellow school board members and I have committed many, many hours to the role, far beyond those visible in public, holding office hours, attending events, visiting schools, talking with stakeholders. But the current reality is that much of our time, attention, and energy is spent not on student outcomes — what matters most to our students and their families — but on the methods used to get there.

Our educators focus on our students to guide their practice. But in some of our most contentious board discussions, on topics such as school reopening, COVID mitigation, or the role of School Resource Officers, the loudest voices often centered adult interests, values, or concerns.

The school board should represent the voice of our community.

Our role as a board is to represent the vision and values of the community. Our main duty as a board is to listen to the community, form a coherent vision, then set, resource, and monitor focused goals that advance that vision.

So while discussions and decisions about effective methods are essential, they’re not our job as a board, but the domain of district leadership. For example, if we hear our community say “it is important that our students read well,” our role is to set a clear goal about student literacy outcomes. What approach or curriculum to use, selecting staff, and so on — that’s the responsibility of district leadership. Then the board must monitor the progress toward that goal.

Our community has varied ideas about which student outcomes matter most, and which means should be used to achieve them. As board members, we have different experiences, opinions, and priorities. We may not agree on everything, including which student outcomes are the most important. As a fellow board member once told me, “if we all agree, then some of us are superfluous.” But when we find areas of broad agreement, we will know where to set our goals.

Whoever is on the board, however they’re selected, what matters most is how they work.

Many Chicagoans have (and have shared) strong opinions about how board members are selected. These discussions often focus on beliefs about what is more democratic, but it’s far less frequent that people ask what will most benefit student outcomes. I believe that the composition of the school board or the method of its selection is far less important than whether it is governing effectively.

Advocates of an elected board have embraced democracy and argued for parity with other Illinois school districts. One can agree with them on these beliefs — as I do — and yet push further, to ensure that the board, however it is selected, governs the district in a way that delivers educational experiences that work better for all of our students.

This is especially crucial right now. Recent results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress show that our students’ current achievement has been set back by the multiple effects of the pandemic. We must ensure this unfinished learning does not lead to a loss of future opportunity, especially given the challenges many of our students face accessing post-secondary education.

Our students need us to govern effectively, and there are tangible, evidence-based, and feasible steps to move in this direction. The steps are both well-defined and adaptable to local context, and with commitment and focus, can be accomplished in six months or less. We owe it to our students not to be distracted from these steps toward effectiveness by political preference, power dynamics, or adult needs.

Just as a classroom teacher assesses their students’ learning, the school board and the public will be able to see and monitor progress towards these outcomes in the whole district, allowing for adjustment and improvement along the way to deliver our students what they deserve.

We must ensure that board members, regardless of the selection process, are informed about their role, and skilled in how to govern to get results for our students. They must be ready to listen to the community, set clear goals, and be held accountable for student outcomes.

And the community must engage on the desired results — and not just at election time. Whether appointed or elected, I hope future board members will be selected based on their commitment, focus, energy, and ability to keep student outcomes first and foremost, rather than the opinions they embrace, the allies they bring, or promises to adopt specific methods.

If we don’t face facts about our buildings and budget, we will shortchange our students.

Like many large urban districts, our student enrollment has changed significantly — including an almost 20% drop in the last decade. While it’s helpful to understand the reasons for this decline, I believe it’s most important to best serve the students who are enrolled in the district now.

That won’t be easy with a finite and inadequate budget, as measured by the evidence-based funding methodology adopted by the state of Illinois. Data compiled by the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University shows that in some schools we spend far more per student while providing neither strong learning outcomes nor the rich and broad experiences they deserve. Our budget is currently balanced, thanks to a once-in-a-generation infusion of federal COVID relief. But as a recent report shows, in just a few years, continuing to do what we’ve always done will lead to annual deficits of hundreds of millions of dollars.

It is a time to choose: between preserving features of how the district has worked in the past and ensuring that our students’ futures are secure. We can’t move our buildings, but we can choose policies and spending to give our students the best possible educational experience we can with the resources and population we have.

At some point, choices to keep our existing buildings, addresses, or school names will impede the quality of students’ educational experience and their learning outcomes. While those spaces may have value to a person or a community, we can’t put that in front of whether our students are safe, learning, and thriving. We must look forward to their future.

One key lever that CPS could apply is making budget projections more visible. This form of long-term financial planning is a best practice recommended by the Government Finance Officers Association and is used by both the City of Chicago, under the direction of both Mayor Emanuel and Mayor Lightfoot, and Cook County.

When each of our students may be with our district for 14 years, a long-term perspective is essential. We are in a car heading for a fiscal cliff. While turning the car off our well-traveled road may be a bit bumpy, the reality of our finite resources means that the only alternative to making changes now is to turn abruptly in several years — causing nausea or injury.

Our choices will determine how well we deliver what our students need and deserve.

Like any big event in our own lives — a graduation, a wedding, or the birth of a child — this moment of governance transition may bring stress, but it also brings the joy of possibility. This is another opportunity to deliver what our students need and deserve. But if we don’t face and accept our current reality, it will be hard for us to change it.

To change, to adapt, to grow is hard — so hard most people don’t even try. But we can do hard things. And we owe it to our students to do so. Their futures, especially those most vulnerable and who are currently furthest from opportunity, are in the balance.

Sendhil Revuluri is a parent of two CPS students, a former teacher, and has served as vice president of the Chicago Board of Education since June 2019. He is stepping down this month.

Chicago school board moves to take over once-lauded charter serving Black boys

2022-10-26T22:35:09+00:00

Chicago’s school board moved Wednesday to take over two South Side charter campuses that specialize in serving Black boys — an unprecedented step to pull the school’s charter but preserve an academic model officials acknowledged has delivered for many students.

School board members voted unanimously to revoke the Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men’s charter. They forcefully rejected the school’s arguments for more time to prove they are on the right track, and voicing dismay at the school’s response to a sexual misconduct investigation involving the school’s founder.

Urban Prep leaders pushed back forcefully, calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to halt the district’s plan to take over its two campuses.

Urban Prep, which once received national recognition for steering its students to graduation and college admissions, has come under intense district scrutiny in recent years. Its founder, Tim King, resigned his positions as CEO and board chair this summer after a district watchdog report substantiated allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a former student — allegations King has strongly denied.

The district has also rung alarms about the school’s financial management, which is the focus of an ongoing district inspector general investigation, as well as its services for students with disabilities and the number of licensed teachers it employs.

In a Tuesday news conference on the Englewood campus and during Wednesday’s board meeting, the school’s leaders and supporters decried the district’s own track record of serving Black male students and said the school, run largely by Black men, has delivered better outcomes. They said Urban Prep has gotten its finances in order more recently, and accused the district of using the allegations against King to launch a takeover of the school.

But school board officials were unmoved.

“It’s an egregious report, and it should make everybody upset,” said board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland, referring to the investigation’s findings about King. “It’s shameful to me that the Urban Prep board had this information and did not act swiftly.”

However, district officials said Urban Prep has forged a strong academic model and a supportive environment for Black boys, who in Chicago and nationally have long faced the widest academic disparities. In an unusual move, district CEO Pedro Martinez said Wednesday the two campuses, which have a combined enrollment of about 370 students, will remain open under district management — either as free-standing schools or as programs of existing high schools. It plans to keep teachers and staff at the school.

“We want to make sure high-quality programs continue for children in Bronzeville and Englewood — it’s essential,” Martinez said. But, he added, “We cannot compromise. We need ethical behavior, and we need to make sure we are protecting our children.”

The school can appeal the district’s decision to the Illinois State Board of Education. The state took over a third Urban Prep campus in 2018 after the school board revoked its charter.

Tensions between school, CPS boil over

The inspector general’s report alleged King groomed and sexually touched a student who was 16 at the time. According to the report, the relationship continued after the student graduated, and he eventually came to work at Urban Prep; the report also says he continued to receive pay and benefits long after he stopped working there.

The district said the school’s handling of the investigation was troubling because it allowed King — who was featured on a 2010 People Magazine cover as “hero of the year” — to continue interacting with students after the inquiry substantiated the allegations.

Urban Prep also refused to email families about the investigation’s findings, and appointed King to two boards after he resigned, according to board documents.

Meanwhile, an ongoing district watchdog investigation is taking a closer look at the school’s finances. The district says that for years the school relied on district cash advances and high-interest loans to make payroll, racking up more than half a million dollars in finance charges in the process.

Yet Urban Prep still defaulted on paying salaries, leases, and vendors providing services for students with disabilities. The school was able to use a federal Paycheck Protection Program loan during the pandemic to balance its books, but a separate inspector general investigation found it inflated the number of employees on the loan application.

During public comment at the school board meeting and during a Tuesday press conference, Urban Prep officials and supporters decried the plan to revoke the school’s charter. They argued that district leaders can’t come in and replicate the charter’s climate and culture, which is steeped in the sense of identity and backgrounds of its leaders.

They touted the school’s outcomes, from its attendance rate to the 100% college acceptance rate that the charter has long made a cornerstone of its model.

(The rate of College Prep students who actually enroll in college within a year of graduation has plunged in recent years to 48% on the Bronzeville campus and 63% on the Englewood campus, according to state data.)

Troy Boyd, the chief operating officer, asked the board to at least delay the vote on revoking the school’s charter, insisting the school has done everything the district asked of it, and that its financial problems are a thing of the past. He called Wednesday’s vote “tragic.”

“The non-renewal of Urban Prep would mean the end of something that has been transformational for the city,” he said. “We won’t stop fighting.”

At the meeting, a string of students, dressed in the school’s uniform of navy blazers, red ties, and khakis, spoke about the impact the school has had on them, which many credited to the Urban Prep’s leadership and educator team of largely Black men.

Avery Barnes, a sophomore at the Bronzeville campus, said at the school he came to see his value as a Black male, built close relationships with educators, and went on several college visits as an underclassman.

“I feel like Urban Prep has already started the process of preparing me for adulthood,” he said, adding that, “Urban Prep Academies needs to be renewed simply because they make young Black males feel accepted and seen in a society where we are often predicted to go to jail or end up in an early grave.”

Kevin Scott, a senior at the Bronzeville campus, said the school gives students positive role models who look like them in the classroom and principal’s office. Unlike district-run schools, it remained open for in-person instruction throughout the 2020-21 school year, Scott, a National Honors Society member, pointed out.

“Urban Prep is more than just a school,” he said. “It’s been like a family, a safe place, a hangout and so much more.”

Urban Prep Charter Academy leaders and parents hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Englewood.

Inside Urban College Prep Englewood Tuesday afternoon, Dennis Lacewell, chief academic officer at the charter school, said the charter has made progress in rectifying past financial problems, and said Urban Prep officials had completed more financial reporting than at any CPS schools.

Leaders dismissed the district’s claim that the school has compromised its students’ safety. He also argued that the district has been unfairly attacking Urban Prep for some time by revoking the license for its downtown campus in 2018, and disparaging the charter to potential financial lenders.

“Despite CPS’ lack of success and commitment to Black male students, they have the audacity to think they can be successful taking over Urban Prep and turning it into a program of another CPS high school,” Lacewell added. “It is both ludicrous and infuriating.”

But school board members and district officials said they could not allow the charter’s current leadership to continue on. The board has granted the school a series of short-term extensions of its charter amid mounting concerns, in part because of its reluctance to cause any disruption to students at the height of the pandemic, members said.

“At this point, unfortunately, all doubt has been removed that the leaders of the organization do not have students’ best interests at heart,” board Vice President Sendhil Revuluri said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

5 takeaways from the Chicago Teachers Union’s latest policy paper

2022-09-28T14:37:01+00:00

Mandate COVID vaccines. Hire more parents. Electrify all school buses. These are just a few of the proposals the Chicago Teachers Union is putting forward in a sweeping policy paper released today.

The document – “From Pandemic to a Real Path Forward” – is the third version of a policy brief first issued by the union in 2012. That paper – “The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve” – was a first-of-its-kind move from a then-newly elected union leadership team led by the late Karen Lewis and became a roadmap for the union to move beyond bargaining over pay and benefits to advocating for broader political issues, such as affordable housing and violence prevention.

Now, as Chicago Public Schools continues its recovery from the pandemic that upended education and exacerbated pre-existing disparities for Black and Latino students, the union is calling on the district to make long-term investments by fully staffing schools, offering robust art programs, eliminating student-based budgeting, and more. Read the full report here.

“Short-term fixes for ‘recovery’ are not enough to mitigate both the harm of the pandemic and the harm of decades of segregation and disinvestment,” union leaders and some members wrote in the report. “Instead, the path forward requires a long-term commitment to students’ real needs, done in a way that recognizes the fundamental humanity of all students, not just those who happen to live in a select few zip codes.”

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

Require COVID vaccine mandate, other mitigation

In the face of emerging COVID variants, the union is recommending students, staff, families, and visitors entering any school building be vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. The union cited vaccination requirements for other deadly diseases as a reason to implement the requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine. The union also called for masking indoors and randomized testing unless students opt out.

The district has struggled to get students vaccinated. Across all district-run schools, the average school vaccination rate is 39.6%, a drop from May when the average school rate was 44.7%.

Majority Black elementary and high schools had an average vaccination rate of 23%, compared to majority Latino elementary and high schools, which averaged about 48.5%, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

Address student mental health

School districts across the country are grappling with how to deal with the mental health fallout from the pandemic. The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention released a survey in the spring that found 1 in 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic. About 44% of students nationwide also reported feeling “persistently sad or hopeless,” according to the survey.

Chicago students have also had to contend with the impact of gun violence. Last year, more than 50 school-aged children were shot and killed and hundreds more were wounded, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Since January, 42 people 17 and younger have been shot and killed this year.

Chicago Public Schools must create school-based mental health clinics staffed by clinicians to address the multiple traumas, the report recommends. School disciplinary policies should be “trauma-informed and supportive,” the union writes.

The union’s recommendations also include: staffing each school with enough social workers and counselors to meet professional standards, training these clinicians in trauma-informed care, and staffing schools with restorative justice coordinators.

The district should also partner with community-based groups already providing mental health services, according to the union.

Put electric school buses and solar panels at every school

Chicago Public Schools has over $3 billion in deferred maintenance of buildings, some of which are nearly 150 years old. In the report, the union calls for long-range planning to prioritize capital improvements to campuses and building maintenance.

The union calls on the district to incorporate green building initiatives such as expanding solar panels to all school buildings and to train students in solar technology as part of an expansion of a solar manufacturing career technical education program. The CTE program could help train students to build and install solar panels at every school, according to the union’s vision.

Beyond the classroom, the union is also calling on the district to use clean energy by adopting a fleet of electric school buses. Funding for electric school buses could come from the recently passed bipartisan federal infrastructure bill and Illinois’s new climate and equitable jobs act.

The electric fleet, the union says, would help reduce carbon emission and reduce health consequences associated with diesel pollution.

Guarantee every school a librarian, nurse, counselor, and technology coordinator

The union’s initial policy paper in 2012 demanded CPS increase the number of counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. This was a key issue – and win – during the latest round of bargaining in 2019. Building off the district’s agreement to ensure every school has one social worker and one nurse, the union is adding positions it deems essential: librarians and technology coordinators.

The goal, the union says, is to provide more individualized support to every student.

Key to guaranteeing every school has these positions, the union says, is funding them centrally, not from school budgets and regardless of enrollment. This is how district officials currently fund principals, for example.

Convert vacant schools to mental health clinics and affordable housing

There are dozens of vacant, boarded-up former schools across Chicago, most of them shuttered in 2013. The district put several up for sale and some were purchased by nonprofits, private schools, or developers, who converted them to luxury apartments.

But the majority remain vacant.

The union puts forward two ideas for reuse: Reopen mental health clinics shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel or turn them into affordable housing. At least one of the vacant school buildings – the former Von Humboldt school – was sold with the understanding it would become affordable housing for teachers. The project has stalled several times, but appears to be moving forward again.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

After 2020 slump, Chicago sees a surge in votes cast for Local School Council election

2022-05-26T18:40:57+00:00

Chicago Public Schools saw a significant increase in overall voter turnout during this year’s Local School Council election after a dramatic drop in 2020 when school officials navigated the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 110,700 parents, staff, students, and community members voted for council candidates at nearly 500 schools this spring. More than three times as many people cast votes in this year’s election than in 2020, when about 35,066 people voted, according to figures obtained by Chalkbeat through a records request.

Local School Councils, an example of hyperlocal school governance, are elected every two years. A facet of Chicago school governance since the first election in 1989, the councils vote on the annual school budget, approve the school academic plan, and select and evaluate principals.

The councils are traditionally made up of the school’s principal, six parents, two community members, two teachers, one non-teaching staff, and one to three students. For the first time in the district’s history, elementary students in the sixth grade and higher were eligible to serve one-year terms on their school’s LSC.

“This is the highest turnout we’ve seen since 2010,” Chief Education Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova said during the April board meeting. “This level of engagement is a huge part of what our district needs to emerge from this challenging time and once again take our place as a national leader in urban education.”

More than 6,000 parents, staff, students, and community members ran for open seats during the April election, officials said.

The largest turnout was among students, who cast 71,142 votes – a dramatic increase from the 2020 election when only 4,869 students cast a ballot, data shows.

Chicago Public School staff voter turnout also more than doubled. About 15,257 ballots were cast in April, compared with 6,286 in 2020.

But parent and community voters only saw marginal increases of 2 to 3%, figures show. About 17,065 parents cast a vote in the spring election, compared with 16,802 votes in 2020. Parent voters turned out at higher levels prior to the pandemic when 28,888 cast in 2018.

In April, community voters cast 7,328 votes, compared with 7,109 in 2020. This group cast 9,741 votes in the 2018 election, figures show.

The district has struggled with tepid participation in the last decade. After the last election, about 900 seats remained unfilled — a situation that prompted a wave of appointments.

A few days shy of the district’s deadline in March, only 722 candidate applications had been submitted for 6,239 total positions on councils across 509 schools. About 307 schools had no candidates for open positions.

The district ultimately received enough candidates to reach a quorum at 485 schools. About 24 schools did not garner enough applicants to meet quorum, according to the district.

Vacancies from the election will not be known until July 1.The District’s LSC Relations Department will work with school communities to fill vacancies.

This story has been updated to include the date of the first LSC election.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Talks between Chicago and its teachers union are stalled — but teachers will still return for first day of school

2021-08-18T21:44:33+00:00

With less than two weeks left before the school year starts, negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union are stalled. But whether or not the two groups can negotiate a reopening deal, teachers will still return to classrooms for the first day of school on Aug. 30, CTU president Jesse Sharkey said at a Wednesday press conference.

“We’re going into the school year, but we’re going into it without the safety provisions that would give us the confidence that we really feel like we need,” Sharkey said. “So we’re going to continue fighting.”

The union this summer has pressed the district to grow its vaccination program, expand social distancing guidelines from three feet back to six feet, clarify rules for student testing, and increase testing availability. The union also wants metrics for pandemic spread that would trigger school closures, among other safety measures to protect against the highly contagious delta variant.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson James Gherardi called the CTU’s demands “unscientific” and said the district is committed to the “health and safety of our students and staff.”

“All of the district’s health and safety protocols are in alignment with the health and safety guidelines recommended by the CDC, IDPH and CDPH, and in some cases go beyond them,” Gherardi said.

Nearly all CPS students will return to full-time in-person learning this fall, in line with a state board of education resolution. The district is offering a Virtual Academy for students with specific medical conditions, but signups are low, in part due to a lack of communication about the Virtual Academy’s setup. Some parents are organizing to advocate for expanded remote learning options, but the district has doubled down on its plan to limit virtual learning.

Chicago Department of Public Health commissioner Allison Arwady insisted last week that it is safe for students to return to classrooms, even as the city’s case count hits its highest level in months, most recently seeing a 4.5% positivity rate and 444 daily confirmed cases.

Chicago last Friday announced that all Board of Education employees who don’t have a medical exception must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15 or be ineligible for work until they submit proof of inoculation or exemption. The CTU said that it welcomed the mandate and urged the district to commit to additional safety and recovery measures before schools reopen. The district has also committed to universal masking in school buildings and three feet of social distancing whenever possible.

Previous efforts to reach pandemic reopening deals have brought the district and the union to heated stalemates before.

Tense negotiations between the union and the district stretched for weeks last winter, delaying reopening for elementary and middle schoolers and establishing what experts called the most detailed, comprehensive framework for reopening nationally.

Teachers also refused to report to classrooms for two days in April before reaching a high school reopening deal that included a student vaccination plan, limits on the amount of time students spent in-person at the district’s biggest high schools, and accommodations for staff members who are medically unable to work in person or are caregivers for at-risk relatives.

But right now, teachers aren’t gearing up for an action that would delay the start of school, Sharkey said.

“If this winds up being a runaway surge where people are getting sick, being hospitalized, and dying … we’re not going to simply sit there and participate in mass spreader events inside of our schools,” he said. “We will take action before that happens.”

In Chicago, poor turnout at student vaccination sites perplexes school officials

2021-07-29T21:47:19+00:00

Three weeks ago, Chicago Public Schools touted the opening of three school-based sites for student vaccinations, as well as mobile clinics and home visits. Now, the district has the capacity to vaccinate up to 200 students a day, but fewer than 70 have been showing up.

District officials sounded perplexed when recounting those statistics Wednesday. South Shore Works vaccine ambassador Melody Jones, who’s 19, isn’t surprised.

Jones is part of a team of 10 young adults who have spent the past three weeks toting facts and pamphlets door-to-door and room-to-room to engage in dialogue with vaccine-hesitant Chicagoans. Based on the conversations she’s had, Jones said fear and misinformation are getting in the way. Students are learning the bulk of their information on vaccines from their parents and potentially unreliable media, allowing hesitancy to fester. Many aren’t sure what’s in the vaccine or how a dose could affect them.

“They say, ‘I got the flu shot, and I got sick off that,’” Jones said. “[They have] very limited experience with vaccines and shots, period. We try to ease that fear. ”

The campaign to get students and their families vaccinated comes as the countdown to the district’s reopening begins in earnest: Only one month remains before students are set to return to classrooms.

Yet coronavirus cases are rising sharply across the city due to the delta variant, and the window of opportunity for students to be fully vaccinated before the first day of school has closed.

Low vaccine uptake is concerning district officials and adding uncertainty to an already fragile start of school after a year and a half of disrupted learning. About three-quarters of available appointments and walk-ins are going unfilled at the district’s vaccine distribution points, which started opening the week of July 12. The vaccines are available to students and their families.

According to interim CEO Jose Torres, low demand is preventing the district from opening more school-based vaccine centers across Chicago and running them for longer hours. The district needs “the right messengers” to book those slots, officials said.

“We need teachers to tell their students to go get vaccinated. To tell their parents,” Torres said.

By mid-July, 44% of Chicago’s 12- to 17-year-olds had received a first dose of the vaccine and only 33% had been fully vaccinated, according to city data. That number includes CPS students as well as young people who attend private school or another form of education. As part of its reopening demands, Chicago’s teachers union on July 5 pushed for 80% of the district’s qualifying students to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 1 through a mix of home visits and vaccines on school grounds. The district hasn’t yet committed to a vaccination rate target.

As of June 25, about 70% of CPS staff had received a first dose of the vaccine, and 82% of teachers had gotten their first shots, according to district data. New York City on Monday mandated that all teachers get vaccinated before schools open on September 13 or be tested weekly. Chicago hasn’t passed a teacher vaccine mandate yet.

After a person receives the first shot, it takes at least five weeks to build maximum protection from the virus: they must wait three weeks between their first and second doses, and two weeks after their second dose for the vaccine to act at its full potential. According to that timeline, July 26 was the last day a student could have received their first shot to be fully vaccinated by the first day of school.

The district had pledged to hire teens to conduct vaccine advocacy alongside other community-building activities through its Summer Kickback Series, but Jones says beyond her own team, she hasn’t met any other youth ambassadors.

Plenty of CPS parents are canvassing through city initiatives to encourage vaccinations, though. At a mid-July vaccine canvassing event in Bronzeville, Breakthrough Urban Ministries contact tracing supervisor Maya Johnson said through her advocacy, she’s found herself walking between two worlds. She’s vaccinated, and she’s pushing for other residents to follow suit, but her 18-year-old son has opted not to get a shot.

It’s a tricky tension. She understands that perceived risk will deter some from ever getting their shots. But that gap means it’s even more important for parents to get their shots, to ensure they don’t bring the virus back home to their children.

“We have a responsibility to the community,” Johnson said.

She’s hopeful vaccination rates will balance out enough to shield Chicago from the highly infectious delta variant. In the meantime, she’s leading her vaccine outreach with compassion. It’s all she can do.

‘Here to serve’: Five things to know about José Torres, interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools

2021-06-16T20:51:43+00:00

Two days into retirement, after a career in education spanning more than three decades, José Torres got an unexpected phone call.

It was Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson, asking the former Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy president if he wanted to serve as interim schools chief.

His answer? Yes.

“I’m here to serve. I’m not here to build my resume,” Torres said at a Monday press conference. “I actually was sitting under a palm tree yesterday in front of the ocean, thinking that I should get my head examined, but … we’re doing this for the mission and for the work.”

Pending board approval, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot named Torres interim schools chief Monday. City Hall has already said he’s not a candidate for a permanent role, but Torres, who spent six years as superintendent at Illinois’ second-largest school district, Elgin’s U-46, could be at the helm for several months depending on the speed of the search to succeed Jackson.

As interim CEO, Torres has a steep challenge ahead: he’ll need to oversee the initial stages of a full CPS reopening, work to address pandemic learning gaps, re-engage students and families, and revamp support for students with disabilities. And that’s just for starters.

Here’s what to know about the educator who has been thrust into a high-profile role atop the nation’s third largest school district.

He intends on fully reopening schools this fall.

Returning students to classrooms five days a week this fall is Torres’ number one priority, in line with the district’s May announcement. Citing student isolation as a barrier to well-being, he said at Monday’s press conference that he’ll work closely with parents, educators, and other stakeholders to make that happen.

Torres’ next priority is re-enrolling and re-engaging students and families in CPS, with a focus on early childhood education and the district’s oldest students. Torres also said he’s committed to maximizing summer learning programs to ensure students are prepared for in-person learning.

He started an equity office in the suburbs long before CPS did.

Under Torres’ guidance, U-46 saw its first Chief of Equity and Social Justice in 2011, well before CPS’ Office of Equity launched in 2018. The U-46 Office of Equity and Social Justice was built to promote closing the district’s achievement gap, and provided support for school leaders navigating district- and school-level conversations about race.

“The power of diversity is immediate and personal, especially when seen at the highest levels of organizations,” Torres said in a 2019 op-ed.

As superintendent, Torres started U-46’s “Ten Boys” initiative, which paired school administrator mentors with groups of boys within the district. He also launched the Superintendent’s Scholarship Program, which provided financial support for first-generation college students.

Torres praised Jackson at Monday’s press conference for her focus on developing a centralized curriculum, providing equity grants to schools struggling with enrollment, and expanding the pre-school system.

“The focus on equity under Dr. Jackson’s leadership is commendable,” he said. “Race, zip code, and socioeconomic status should not really predict the future, but in our society it has. But it cannot. It should not.”

He overhauled Elgin’s bilingual program.

In a district where about a third of students are English language learners, Torres implemented a dual language program. In a 2014 interview, Torres said the model, which started as a program for kindergartners, first- and second-grade students and added one grade level per year, was built on the motto: “You don’t have to lose a language to learn another language.”

The program was set up to allocate instructional time so that kindergarteners received 80% of instruction in Spanish, with that percentage decreasing each year until reaching 50% in third through eighth grade. The program currently serves more than 11,000 students through 11th grade.

During his tenure, Torres nearly quadrupled the district’s number of appointed principals of color, many of whom were bilingual. Torres said in a 2019 op-ed the move facilitated student growth and parent engagement.

At Monday’s press conference, Torres delivered his greeting in Spanish and then summarized his opening remarks in Spanish.

“¡Buenas tardes a todos!” he said. “Good afternoon, everyone!”

His career was not without controversy.

Torres ushered in a U-46 grading system that barred students from receiving zeroes for their work. Supporters of the scale said removing zero grades could increase student engagement, and that zero grades are unduly punitive. Critics said the scale would exacerbate grade inflation and credit students for work they didn’t do.

Additionally, Torres came under fire for signing a contentious 2010 manifesto titled “How to fix our schools.” The statement called for performance-based teacher compensation, hiring and firing regardless of seniority.

“As President Obama has emphasized, the single most important factor determining whether students succeed in school is not the color of their skin or their ZIP code or even their parents’ income — it is the quality of their teacher,” the manifesto said.

The manifesto further advocated for the expansion of charter schools, an unpopular concept with unions at the time.

As well, Torres was a 2005 fellow with the Eli Broad Urban Superintendents Academy, a reform-era training program that has been criticized for taking a business model approach to public education.

Torres and his wife are both teachers.

Before attending the Harvard University Graduate School of Education or taking higher visibility administration roles, Torres started his career as a middle school teacher and human relations specialist in Montgomery County Public Schools. His wife, Isabel Torres, is a board certified teacher and instructional coach in Elgin.

That classroom background is something he shares with Jackson, who leaned often on her educator resume when making tough decisions. Jackson said Torres’ educator experience, alongside his leadership work, will help him do the job well.

“Dr. Torres was the first person that I reached out to when we were trying to figure out who would be the right person to lead during this interim time,” Jackson said. “It makes it much easier to step away from this role … knowing that I’m leaving it in good hands.”

This family fought a West Side school’s ban on Black hair styles — and now Illinois could ban hair discrimination

2021-05-17T17:07:49+00:00

GARFIELD PARK — When a West Side preschooler was banned by his school from wearing his hair in braids, his mother resolved to take a stand against the school’s hair policy.

Though the school, Providence St. Mel, has not backed down, the family’s fight to wear their Black hair with pride has inspired a state bill that would bar schools from discriminating against students based on their hairstyle.

The bill drafted by Sen. Mike Simmons (7th) with the Illinois State Board of Education would require schools to remove any language from their policies and handbooks that prohibits students from wearing Black hairstyles. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate last week and will now move to the House.

High-profile incidents of schools and workplaces cracking down on Black hairstyles — including one in North Carolina last week where a softball player was forced to cut her hair during a game — have pushed more states to pass laws to ban hair discrimination. California, New York and New Jersey were the first states to adopt versions of the CROWN Act — Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair — and several other states have adopted or considered similar measures.

But parent Ida Nelson said it is “shameful” the Illinois legislators acted faster to address a hair policy rooted in white supremacy and respectability politics than a school founded and led by Black people.

“I’m very disappointed it has taken this long. Their inaction is speaking volumes about how they really feel about this issue,” Nelson said. “No child should have to experience discrimination based on something that is part of their bodies — something God blessed them with that makes them uniquely beautiful.”

State Senator Mike Simmons wears his hair in free-form locs.

‘A Larger Culture Of Anti-Blackness’

Nelson’s 4-year-old Son, Jett, asked her in March to get his hair braided. The preschooler was excited to show off his hair to his teacher and classmates, and Nelson was thrilled her son was embracing his Black heritage and “developing his own positive and happy self-image,” she said.

But Nelson got a call later that day from administrators who told her the hairstyle was banned.

“My son continuously asks me when he can get his hair braided. He’s telling people he can’t have his hair braided because he will get in trouble,” Nelson said.

The school’s policy is damaging to students’ mental health and self-esteem, Nelson said, and it encourages young people to hate their bodies and their culture by singling out traditional hairstyles worn by Black people for centuries.

The ban pressures students to conform to white beauty standards and reinforces racist stereotypes about people with natural Black hair that leads people to “automatically assume they are troublemakers, in a gang, up to no good,” Nelson said.

Simmons, who proudly wears his hair in free-form locs, wrote the bill outlawing hair discrimination in schools within a week of hearing Nelson’s issues with the hair policy at Providence St. Mel School. When he was younger, Simmons often heard offhanded comments from authority figures about his hair that made him second-guess himself, he said.

“I don’t want the next generation of young people to have to be traumatized like this and feel like there’s something wrong with something that’s God-given,” Simmons said.

Many non-discrimination laws put the onus on individuals to report violations and file complaints before any action is taken, which often makes them ineffective, Simmons said. But the hair discrimination legislation is designed to “put the burden on the system” rather than on individuals. If passed, the Illinois State Board of Education would proactively review school handbooks for language that violates the rule, Simmons said.

The hair policy at Providence St. Mel will be reviewed after the end of the current school year, Principal Timothy Ervin said.

“It’s not about disrespecting people or discriminating against people,” Ervin said.

The ban on certain Black hairstyles was created by school’ founder Paul Adams in the early 1970s. The rule was designed to ensure students are successful, Adams said. Providence St. Mel is known for sending 100 percent of graduating seniors to four-year colleges with competitive scholarships since 1978.

“It was just clearly trying to be very distinguished in the neighborhood. This is a pretty rough neighborhood. … I was just trying to make sure our students stood out in the community. It had nothing to do with discrimination,” Adams said. “I thought that was a professional look.”

But students shouldn’t have to change themselves or assimilate to be successful, Simmons said.

“It’s about being comfortable in your skin and honoring your ancestors,” Simmons said. “There’s this decades-old thinking around how to be successful if you’re Black. You have to carry your body a certain way. You have to wear your hair a certain way. You talk a certain way. And I think all of that is garbage.”

Adams is Black, and when he participated in the Civil Rights Movement, he kept his hair in a large afro.

The salutatorian of the class of 2001, Abdus-Salam DeVaul, also styled his hair in a large afro while attending the school. But teachers, deans and administrators often criticized his natural hair “because it doesn’t appeal to a white donor base,” he said.

“These sorts of policies undermine the African-American experience,” DeVall said. “At the crux of our education should be a student’s self-esteem in their identity.”

Keli Stewart, of the class of 1997, drew the ire of school officials for having natural hair and for wearing traditional headwraps like the Nigerian gele.

“The hair policy speaks to a larger culture of anti-Blackness,” Stewart said. “I just remember how I felt expressing my Black self that this wasn’t the space to do that in.”

If the hair discrimination ban passes the state Legislature to become law, Nelson plans to take the fight to the national stage. Black hair must be appreciated not only for its beauty, but also for the history and cultural symbolism in the hairstyles, he said.

“Our ancestors had cornrows that had maps to freedom in them. Locs are a symbol for strength. It’s like a superpower. The kinkiness of our hair is our protection,” Nelson said.

Pascal Sabino is a Report for America corps member covering Austin, North Lawndale and Garfield Park for Block Club Chicago. Block Club Chicago is an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom that covers stories in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

Parents, teachers wonder what’s next after Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson says she’s leaving district

2021-05-03T23:21:52+00:00

News that Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson planned to step down from her position at a critical juncture surprised some Chicago education insiders Monday and worried parents and teachers who wondered what’s next for the nation’s third largest school district.

Several praised Jackson’s steadfast commitment to doing better for Chicago students as they ticked off the challenges that marked her tenure and would likely affect those of any future leader: fully reopening schools, figuring out how to support students academically and emotionally in a pandemic, deciding how to spend billions in federal relief money, and winning back students and parents after a steep decline in enrollment.

And she isn’t the only leadership member leaving: Chief Operating Officer Arnie Rivera will also be leaving the district, school officials confirmed Monday. That announcement comes only five weeks after Chicago schools’ No. 2, LaTanya McDade, announced she would be leaving Chicago to lead Virginia’s second largest school district. (The district said in a Monday evening letter to families that it will host a virtual townhall about the forthcoming leadership changes and summer and fall planning on Thursday at 6 p.m.)

Education leaders across the city acknowledged how Jackson’s background as a parent and former Chicago student, teacher, and principal helped her set goals with the achievement of Black and Latino students at the core. Speaking at a press conference on Monday after Jackson formally announced her decision to not renew her contract that ends June 30, Miguel del Valle, president of the city’s school board, said Jackson’s involvement in the public school district at every level made her uniquely qualified for the role.

“She’s one of the strongest leaders I have ever met — not just in education but across the board,” said del Valle.

Femi Skanes, the principal at Morgan Park High School, said that despite the year’s challenges, Jackson had left the district “in a sound place” and that she hoped the next CEO would share the five-year vision Jackson made public in 2019. That vision established an office of equity and set ambitious academic benchmarks, including graduation rate and test score increases, for students.

“She’s been a tremendous leader,” said Skanes, who previously served as principal at Al Raby High School, which Jackson, who is now in her 40s, established as a 27-year-old teacher during a period when Chicago was rapidly opening new schools. “My initial reaction is of course some sadness, but also excitement, because according to her announcement, she will still be engaged in education advocacy.”

Skanes said she recognized that Monday’s announcement would spur anxiety and concern as part of a larger wave of district departures, but she said transition was happening throughout education. Several superintendents of large school systems have resigned or retired in recent weeks. “As difficult as it is, we have to continue to stay laser focused on the goals we have set for our own schools. The good work we’re doing in our schools everyday has to continue.”

Liz Dozier, a former Chicago principal and founder of the nonprofit organization Chicago Beyond, also felt that Jackson had set the district on the right path. Dozier’s organization invests in projects that involve city youth, and she believes Jackson’s policies were improving conditions for students. “Everything from gains in student achievement to the expansion of more academic programming across the city — we need to continue on the path and the precedent that she set,” Dozier said.

Hancock High School English teacher Ray Salazar said he was disappointed to hear the news.

“Already our district, our city, our world are in a precarious situation as we start finding our way out of the pandemic,” Salazar said. “We are going to have a major change that puts in a state of opportunity, or crisis. I’m not sure which.”

Some critics of Chicago Public Schools seized upon the announcement of the departure of three top district officials to call for a change of culture.

Troy LaRaviere, a former principal who now runs the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, said Jackson’s administration, like those before her, made too many decisions with too little input from principals, families, and students.

“No matter who becomes the next CEO, we won’t have any stability until we end this misguided approach to management and get meaningful ongoing input from principals and other key stakeholders when creating district plans and policies,” said LaRaviere.

Natasha Carlsen, a special education teacher at Marvin Camras Children’s Engineering Elementary School, said she had appreciated Jackson’s leadership, but was hopeful that a new chief would address gaps in special education services more adeptly. “It’s a flawed system that CPS is running,” said Carlsen.

That sentiment was shared by Christine Palmieri, a parent of a child on the autism spectrum, who said she hoped new leadership would prioritize better treatment of children with disabilities.

“Our kids are really suffering within CPS,” she said. “They need so much more — and we just don’t see the leadership seeming to care.”

Bobby Price, a Chicago parent who owns Principle Barbers in North Lawndale, wasn’t sure how to feel as he lamented another change up top — this is the sixth in a decade, though Jackson’s tenure was the longest at three-and-a-half years. His wife is a chemistry teacher who works in Chicago schools and together they have two students, a kindergartner and a second grader, enrolled at Suder Montessori School.

“We got what, six weeks before school ends,” Price asked. “It’s been tough,” he said, and the district had made it challenging for teachers and parents alike.

When his children were still remote learning and when his wife was working from her school building, Price would shuffle between logging a child into a Zoom class, running to his barbershop to cut hair, then running back home to teach his kids — again.

“Mercy on single parents. God help them,” said Price, who said he felt Jackson’s administration was insensitive to the needs of both educators and families during the pandemic. “I have a wife who’s a teacher, both parents at home married. What are other parents doing? God help them. I can’t even imagine.”

Allison Kaplan, a parent in Roscoe Village, also worried about stability in a year that has felt anything but.

“It doesn’t feel great as a parent to know that not only is the beginning of next year going to be chaotic just based on the circumstances of our situation … now there’s an added chaotic element of not only one leadership person stepping away, but three total,” she said. “It’s hard to feel stable.”

In January, Kaplan and her husband withdrew their kindergartner from John James Audubon Elementary School and enrolled him at a neighborhood daycare that offered care to kindergarten-aged children. Both parents needed to continue working full time — an impossibility with daily remote learning, Kaplan said.

At a time when she and her husband crave stability from CPS leadership, Monday’s shake up left them thinking about “greener pastures.” They don’t want to move to the suburbs, but they’re growing increasingly tired of Chicago’s educational upheaval.

“I believe in public education and I want my child to go to their neighborhood school. But can my family function if there’s chaos?” Kaplan said. “If people are going to be able to go back to work full time, there has to be a stable school structure in place. As it is now … it’s not possible for the economy to come roaring back at full speed. That falls disproportionately on mothers.”

Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson stepping down, part of wave of exits in district leadership ranks

2021-05-03T20:57:46+00:00

Janice Jackson, whose three-and-a-half year tenure was marked by record high graduation rates, a pandemic, and a tumultuous teachers strike, will step down as head of the nation’s third largest school district when her contract expires in June.

Jackson, who frequently called the CEO of Chicago Public Schools role her “dream job,” confirmed the news Monday in a letter to staff. She said she chose not to renew her contract after a challenging year full of issues that required round-the-clock attention and took her energy away from her school-age children.

Blinking back tears at a press conference, Jackson said that she was not leaving the district to run another and planned to stay active in public education — and in the short term, at least, spend more time with her family.

“I have lived my entire life and served this district for 22 years. It is with a full heart, and a grateful heart, that I have chosen not to renew my contract. This job has been everything I dreamt of — and sometimes a little bit more than that,” said Jackson, who added that the year had left her “a little tired.”

Jackson joins a wave of high-profile superintendents — including in Los Angeles, New York, and Broward County, Fla. — who have retired, resigned, or announced intentions to do so, in some cases citing similar fatigue.

Before she steps down at the end of the school year, Jackson said she planned to press ahead with a full-time reopening this fall for the district’s 340,600 school children and launch two much-touted plans that have not yet been detailed for the public: a learning recovery plan to address the academic and social-emotional fallout from the pandemic and a $135 million curriculum overhaul that will create a centralized learning plan for Chicago’s schools.

“While I feel there is still more work to be done in CPS, I also believe it is time to pass the torch to new leadership for the next chapter,” she wrote in the letter earlier in the day.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who said Jackson notified her previously that she planned to step down, said Monday that the city had retained a search firm to engage in a national search for a new CEO.

Chief Operating Officer Arnie Rivera also is stepping down, school officials confirmed Monday. Rivera organized the district’s free meal program during the pandemic and played a key role in negotiations with the teachers union during the 2019 strike and again during negotiations to reopen campuses in the pandemic.

Jackson said in a letter to some staff members that Rivera will depart the district “in the coming weeks” and that the district had appointed Lindy McGuire, Rivera’s current deputy, to serve as acting chief operating officer as it conducts a search for the next COO.

The departures come only months after the district’s No. 2, LaTanya McDade, announced she would be leaving Chicago to lead Virginia’s second largest school district.

The vacancies leave Chicago Public Schools without three key leadership positions as it tries to respond to the fallout from an unprecedented closure — and receives billions in federal funding to spend in response.

Jackson made several lasting changes as she steered the district through a year of building closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, the response to a widespread student sexual abuse scandal, a state investigation into delayed services for students with disabilities, and a bitter 11-day teachers strike in 2019. “My tenure has not been without its adversity,” she wrote. “However, from day one, I committed to own and face all of our district’s challenges head on. I thank each of you who played a role in helping us navigate those challenges by showing up daily with unwavering commitment to Chicago’s children. Despite a disruptive year, CPS is emerging stronger than ever.”

Challenges then and now

Jackson traces her experiences with Chicago Public Schools back to the Head Start program for preschoolers she attended as a youngster growing up in a family of five children in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.

She attended high school at Hyde Park High School, became a teacher and later founded her own school, at age 27, on Chicago’s West Side. From there, she held a series of key district positions before she was appointed to the job of network chief in 2014 overseeing two dozen schools. That’s when Mayor Rahm Emanuel began to talk to her about the top job. She’d go on to be named the No. 2 under former schools chief Forrest Claypool, who led the Chicago Park District and Cook County Board before taking the helm at Chicago Public Schools.

Emanuel, whom Jackson called a mentor and friend on Monday, named her to the top job in 2017 after Claypool resigned in an ethical scandal involving a top aide. Her first week in the CEO seat she was delivered a public records request from the Chicago Tribune investigating allegations of student sexual misconduct going back decades.

That event would hearken a deeply challenging next three-and-a-half years, she said — by the fall of 2019, the district’s powerful teachers union was laying the groundwork for an 11-day teachers strike. Those fault lines, once exposed between district and union leaders, would again factor into contentious talks about reopening Chicago schools during the pandemic.

Ultimately, Chicago school buildings would remain closed for nearly a year, with high school students only getting the option to return in the fourth quarter.

Jackson said Monday that the political gauntlet required to do the top schools job was brutal and ultimately did not benefit students.

“At the end of the day I’m an educator,” she said Monday. “Right now the politics in education are ugly, I think they are misplaced, and they should not get the coverage they get in my personal opinion ... All of the issues that rank-and-file teachers care about, I completely agree with. But the tactics that (union leadership) uses in order to get that, I don’t agree with, and I do think that they make it difficult for good people to do these jobs.”

In a statement Monday, the Chicago Teachers Union said that the “mass exodus” of district leaders should not be a deterrent to efforts to address the needs of Chicago’s schools and that it hoped the next CEO would enlist families and community leaders to bring the district stability after a decade that saw six CEOs.

“We are hopeful the mayor can improve on her ability to work collaboratively and cohesively with others, in particular her own staff and appointees in CPS,” the statement attributed to union leadership said, “because trauma support, special education and bilingual education resources, and equitable spending of federal funding remain high priorities for families and educators.”

Leaving her mark

Despite the myriad challenges, Jackson — who took the helm after a string of bureaucrats without classroom experience — often was celebrated as a homegrown CEO whose resume in schools throughout the district gave her particular insights to the challenges of running Chicago schools.

In 2019, just weeks before Lightfoot was sworn in as mayor to succeed Emanuel, Jackson announced a five-year vision plan in which she pledged to raise the achievement levels of Black and Latino students, boost the city’s high school graduation rate to 90%, and restore public trust in a school district that was under monitoring for violating the rights of students with disabilities and mishandling of student sexual abuse cases. The district had staged a successful turnaround, she said at the time, notching sustained academic growth that included annual increases in its five-year high school graduation rate (most recently, a rate that had reached 79%).

But some student groups, including Black and Latino boys, were not achieving growth at the same rate.

“We will not realize our collective goals as a city unless we make sure the most vulnerable students in our city are meeting the same goals,” she said at the time. “Because if you only look at the progress and look at the data, it can mask troubling signs and troubling disparities that lie beneath.”

In response, she created an office of equity to help dissect test scores and graduation rates and spearhead conversations about how resources, such as school funding and capital investments, are steered to schools — one of the accomplishments she said on Monday that she was proudest of. “It has been central to my decision making,” she said.

After a contentious decade that saw a proliferation of charter and selective-enrollment schools, she reenergized the district’s approach to its neighborhood campuses, launching a series of equity grants intended to bolster sagging enrollment and investing millions in programs intended to lure students back, such as International Baccalaureate and science and arts programs.

On Monday, she also spoke about responding to community demand and opening up two new South Side campuses: a new classical elementary school in Bronzeville and a STEM campus in Englewood, which the district opened amid the controversial closing of four area high school campuses.

Jackson said Monday that she planned to stay involved and joked that she might even run for a seat on the city’s elected school board if it could get it up and running — a nod to yet another divisive education issue as legislators battle over a proposal that would reshape city school governance.

“You will not see me running another school district,” she said, “but I will continue to devote my life to public education.”

Illinois Report Card: State reports 88% graduation rate, but some other accountability measures blank

2020-10-30T17:01:00+00:00

The four-year graduation rate in Illinois held steady at about 88%, according to the 2020 report card released Friday.

State officials cautioned against comparing this year’s rate to the previous year, however, because some requirements were relaxed amid the pandemic. In May, Gov. J.B. Pritzker waived the constitution exam and physical fitness test for eighth graders and high school students.

The annual report card is the most detailed look at how the state’s nearly 2 million students are faring in public schools. But this year, the report is missing data on a slate of closely monitored assessments — requirements temporarily waived by the U.S. Department of Education after school buildings abruptly closed in March. It’s also missing culture and climate surveys and new state school ratings (schools kept ratings from the previous year).

Since local school districts were not able to administer state assessments in the spring, there is not enough data to determine learning achievement gaps, which is a serious concern after months of remote learning. Brenda Dixon, research and evaluation officer at the state board of education, said the state will conduct a learning loss survey to get a sense of how students are doing.

She said the survey will at least provide a “snapshot” of how much the pandemic has affected students, with a sample of school districts voluntarily submitting several years of data.

This year’s report card does include data on student attendance and whether ninth graders are on track to graduate. Two other areas included in the report that weren’t affected by the pandemic include teacher workforce and advanced coursework.

Here’s a closer look at a few key metrics:

Teacher workforce

Illinois saw its teacher workforce grow by more than 2,000 teachers this year, but the percentage of white teachers barely budged. The state has slightly increased the number of Hispanic and Asian American teachers, but the workforce is still majority white, at almost 83%.

The three-year average teacher retention rate remained the same at almost 86%.

State superintendent Carmen Ayala said the state will be introducing culturally responsive teaching and learning standards to be implemented at teacher preparation programs in Illinois. The state also will start requiring teacher prep programs to create and implement recruitment plans for educators of color.

“We don’t know yet how the pandemic has impacted the current future workforce,” Ayala said. But she added that the state is surveying districts about unfilled positions to try to understand where there are talent gaps.

Advanced coursework

Illinois has been pushing districts to offer students more opportunities to earn college credit while in high school. According to one metric, that push has been paying off: High school students across the state took about 70,000 dual credit courses, up from 64,000 courses last year.

But despite efforts to encourage more students to take Advanced Placement courses, Illinois high schoolers took around the same number of AP classes in 2019-20 compared with the previous year, about 142,400.

There was an increase in the number of exams taken by high school seniors, even with the pandemic. Last school year, seniors took 278,000 exams, compared to 261,000 exams the previous year, a difference of about 14,500. Pritzker committed $2 million to cover exam fees last school year and has said that support will continue, despite flat education spending overall.

However, the number of seniors who took exams dropped by almost 3,300 students this year in comparison to last year. The number of seniors who passed at least one exam decreased by a little over 700.

International Baccalaureate, a rigorous academic program, had a modest increase of about 400 more students taking courses statewide. About 6,000 students took the courses in 2020.

Career and Technical Education programming

This year, about 1,500 more students took career and technical education courses, for a total of 286,237 students. State officials said they need to do more work to diversify the group of students who take the courses — 58% of white students were enrolled in courses, while the state’s overall white student population is 48%.

“For the first time, Illinois will now require CTE programs to analyze disaggregated data on students’ participation and performance. Programs must identify gaps and create strategies to recruit and support special student populations, such as students who are parenting, military connected or in temporary housing,” said Ayala.

New financial data included

This is the second year that the state has included site-based expenditure reporting. Last year the state only reported on expenditures at the district level, but this year it showed information at the school level.

Ayala said: “This data will indicate how well funded the district is, the school summative designation indicating school performance and the school’s percentages of low-income students, English learners, and students with IEP who all require greater investment to meet their learning needs.”

The board said they hope the information will aid conversations about funding equity at schools and within districts.

Coronavirus is rewriting teachers’ job descriptions — and unions are paying close attention

2020-04-10T20:34:02+00:00

Teacher Mueze Bawany will sign onto his laptop Monday, expecting to resume advising his Clemente Community Academy students on finances and post-high school plans when remote learning begins in Chicago. But with some students caring for siblings or working to help support their families, he’s not sure how to advise them in a world turned upside down by the coronavirus.

“I’ve had about a dozen kids ask some deeper questions — and I’m still figuring out what to say,” Bawany said.

The powerful union that represents Bawany is also facing a suddenly, and newly, challenging future.

The Chicago Teachers Union, riding a wave of success from its 11-day strike last fall that won better pay and staffing, is facing a steep challenge. A deadly virus, statewide school closures, and an economic recession have turned education on its head.

The crisis is rewriting teachers’ job descriptions as learning moves from classrooms and white boards to online teaching and written worksheets. And the union must scramble to keep members engaged when they can’t meet in person, to understand what members want in a world that people still can’t quite define, and to promote those interests.

The union, now engaged in bargaining with the Chicago school district, has already secured an agreement promising no layoffs, pay cuts, or benefit reductions for this school. The union also wants an agreement on tenure, grievances, and privacy safeguards related to remote learning.

The moment presents the union with an opportunity to carve out more gains in education’s new world, but also the threat of navigating a new challenge as teachers are faced with new demands and an uncertain economic future.

Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Columbia University, said that in this unprecedented moment, legal labor frameworks can provide some guidance but won’t be the deciding force in the coming months.

“In this strange time, more will rely on politics than on legal precedent,” said Henig, whose work focuses on privatization and school reform.

Strategically, the union’s image is very important right now, Henig said. “The union will want to send a signal to members that it has their back, but at the same time signal to the public that teachers care about their students and are willing to make sacrifices on their behalf.”

The union has held virtual town halls, emailed members, and surveyed them to find out what they want to know: how to respond to new demands from school administrators, how to make sure special education students aren’t being left behind, and how to keep the attention of students as mandatory remote learning begins next week.

“We are not trying to draw a new contract,” Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff, said, “but we do need written assurance. This is a moment where collaboration should be deep and trust should be built, and it’s being tested.”

Chicago Public Schools, in a statement, said it was in constant contact with the union, and would continue to be. “We will continue to engage them throughout the closure and beyond,” the statement said. “Educators play a critical role during this unprecedented time and we are singularly focused on working together.”

A survey of 41 large districts around the country by the National Council on Teacher Quality, taken after the coronavirus hit, found that less than half had policies that addressed teacher work expectations, pay, or leave around non-weather-related emergency closures. Of the districts with unionized teachers, only the Orange County school district in Florida required a new labor agreement in response to non-weather emergency closures. At least two other districts were in the process of bargaining, the report found.

The Chicago union, which traditionally has fought for issues beyond wages and labor conditions, also is pushing for more nurses and social workers when schools reopen, and for more resources immediately for student emotional and mental health.

“How do we meet the needs of students? Are we deploying paraprofessionals effectively?” Stacy Davis Gates, vice president of the union, said about questions popping up now. “It’s fundamentally messy.”

The union’s town halls have revealed teachers’ worries. At one call-in, a teacher named Samantha asked about the number of hours she was expected to be online, and how that time would be divided between planning and direct contact with students. “Our principal is very adamant that we sign up for 4-hour blocks,” Samantha said.

Another educator, Natalie, said she felt the hourlong teaching blocks were just too long for her fifth grade students. “It would be great to get some clarity as it pertains to age group and what is appropriate instructional time,” she said.

On the tele-town halls, Chicago Teachers Union leaders said they had secured flexibility on grievance timelines and a promise that any discipline timelines would be paused during the coronavirus-related school closures.

Illinois laid out some broad parameters for remote student learning, including that schools must provide digital and non-digital access to education content, and a recommended amount of learning time.

For unions and school districts, a coming financial crunch could hit hard, especially after a Supreme Court ruling that has made dues collection more difficult.

In Chicago, Davis Gates hopes the pandemic reveals the case for more, not less, school funding, for nurses, counselors and clean schools.

“We can’t go back to facilities that are not clean. Or think about what it means to do temperature checks before students enter the school building? Or the trauma students will have?” she asked. “I don’t know how anyone can make the case for a reduced public education budget.”

Amid school upheaval, Illinois’ top educator sees ‘goodness and ingenuity’ throughout state

2020-04-07T18:40:37+00:00

With Illinois schools closed at least through this month amid the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s board of education has sought to steer 852 districts on how to provide education as life takes drastic turns.

State schools Superintendent Carmen Ayala is leading the charge. Gov. J.B. Pritzker recommended her for the job last year, after she led the Berwyn North School District 98 — a predominantly Latino elementary school district outside Chicago — from being one of the lowest-performing districts in math and reading to outperforming most of its neighboring schools. She is Illinois’ first Latina state superintendent.

Ayala’s biggest concern is to ensure students will continue “learning without adding stress or harm to lives.” And amid great change and uncertainty, Ayala finds hope in seeing “the goodness and ingenuity shine brightly from every corner of Illinois during this scary time.”

Below is an interview conducted by email that has been condensed and edited.

Experts warn there could be significant lags in student learning. What will you do to address those gaps?

When ISBE filed emergency rules to define remote learning days we ensured schools had maximum flexibility, but we were intentional about requiring that each district include a transition plan for when students return to the school building. Schools are thinking now about what needs students will have when they return to the school building and how to support them in both academic and social-emotional growth.

We are also very happy that schools will soon have additional resources. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act is providing stimulus funding for education, and Illinois is anticipating receiving approximately $569 million for public schools. School districts could choose to use that funding both to build up their infrastructure for remote learning — such as purchasing laptops and tablets for students — and to plan for transitional supports like summer learning and supplemental after-school programs.

What did you learn from surveying districts about their remote learning plans/e-learning capabilities?  

Our Remote Learning Survey showed that most districts, more than 80%, are using a mix of digital and non-digital methods to deliver instruction.

Illinois State Superintendent Carmen Ayala

The governor has made historic investments in schools … [including] the per student cost of technology. The governor also launched a statewide broadband initiative last year through the Rebuild Illinois capital program to expand internet access across the entire state.

While we are headed in the right direction, the digital divide still exists.

The board of education said that it will help schools obtain devices and get access to Wi-Fi. Is the state planning on purchasing devices? 

Federal CARES Act funding will be distributed equitably. School districts that serve greater numbers of students from homes with limited resources will receive a greater share of the federal stimulus funding.

School districts have the flexibility to use this funding to meet what they believe are their students’ greatest needs, including purchasing devices and Wi-Fi hotspots. The board of education will also receive CARES Act funding as the state education agency. We intend to make funding available to school districts in the greatest need for them to expand students’ access to technology and the internet.

Do you think this pandemic will have a long-term effect on education policy?  

It is too soon to know the long-term impacts that this pandemic will have on education in Illinois.

What worries you the most right now?

I think about our students at home and all the different stressors they may be dealing with; having to work to help provide for the family if their parents have been laid off, being concerned about losing their health insurance and what they would do if they got sick, taking care of elderly grandparents who are more at risk during this crisis, and general anxiety about the world.

We are encouraging teachers to reach out to students regularly. Ensuring that every child knows that they have someone they can talk to, someone who cares and who can help them if they feel overwhelmed or need a friend — that’s a teacher’s most important role. Maintaining that connection is one of my highest priorities.

What gives you hope in this moment?

I have seen goodness and ingenuity shine brightly from every corner of Illinois during this scary time. I have seen school nurses and career and technical education programs answer the call to donate — and in some cases even 3D print — personal protective equipment for our health care heroes and first responders. I have seen teachers read bedtime stories to students via video chat. I have seen our principals and superintendents lead their communities with agility and generosity.

I can go on and on about the incredible work being done to get students and families through this tough time. It’s those stories that make me feel hopeful about the days, weeks, and months ahead.

Illinois state board rejects pleas to save virtual school and another Chicago charter school

2020-03-18T23:01:39+00:00

Even as districts around the state rush to figure out distance learning plans for students in the wake of the coronavirus school shutdowns, the state school board voted Wednesday to close Chicago’s only virtual charter school for failure to improve its academics.

It was the first use of the Illinois Board of Education’s newly restored, but controversial, authority to decide whether or not to save charter schools that districts want to close.

At its monthly board meeting, the state board voted not to overturn Chicago Public Schools’ decisions to close both Chicago Virtual Charter School, the city’s only virtual charter, and Frazier Preparatory Academy, a K-8 school in North Lawndale.

But the votes, while unanimous, were not easy ones. Some board members questioned whether it was appropriate for the state board to make a decision on closing schools if the board didn’t play a role in opening or supporting them.

“I’m just in general questioning the whole concept of continuing to open new schools and expecting them to perform at a certain level… and when they don’t the families and educators have their lives disrupted,” board member Cristina Pacione–Zayas said, via a remote cal into the meeting. “I really have fundamental issues on the outset of how all this is done.”

Until recently, charter schools that were at risk of closure could appeal to the Illinois State Charter School Commission, which for eight years had the last word on the fate of charter schools.

But last summer, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill to abolish the commission and to transfer charter school appeals to the state board.

The state board’s new power reshapes the education landscape to a less friendly environment for charters rejected by their home district. Unlike the charter commission, whose members were mostly appointed by previous governor Bruce Rauner, the state board is appointed by the current governor, a critic of charter schools.

Administrators and parents from Chicago Virtual Charter pushed hard for their school when calling into public comment on Wednesday’s meeting, particularly in light of the need for virtual schooling since the coronavirus spread.

But a representative from Chicago Public Schools, also calling into the meeting, said that both Chicago Virtual and Frazier had failed to improve their academic standards over three years, and the district itself offered strong alternative school options.

The board accepted the ruling of its hearing officer, who had held public hearings in Chicago and then recommended closing both schools.

“I have to defer to the combination of Chicago Public Schools and the hearing officer, so that is where I am,” board President Darren Reisberg said.

But Pacione-Zayas expressed reservations. She noted that after the 2013 mass closures of public schools in Chicago, most students didn’t end up in schools that were substantially better performing than those that closed. “If I’m looking at what the evidence bears out, I think it’s a lot more complicated than what we sometimes think it is going into it,” she said.

Frazier and Chicago Virtual — both with physically shuttered buildings as part of the statewide school shutdown — permanently will shut their doors at the end of this school year, and Chicago Public Schools will be obligated to help their students find placements in new schools.

Board members voiced concern about virtual school students finding flexible schooling alternatives. Jennifer Saba, who heads a department that would oversee any charters taken over by the state board, said Chicago Public Schools would work with families on finding hybrid options.

Wednesday’s meeting was only the first step in the board’s move to take over the commission’s work. On July 1, it will also take over as the charter holder for 11 schools currently overseen by the state charter commission.

Samantha Smylie contributed reporting.

The hard choice of what to cut: Illinois school districts weigh competing needs after governor suggests freeze

2020-02-24T23:19:18+00:00

Some school districts will cut back on student programs. Some may delay purchasing supplies. Others will put off hiring staff their schools desperately need.

Illinois school districts are rethinking next school year’s budget, after Gov. J.B. Pritzker surprised them in announcing last week that the state will increase education spending but hold back some of the funds they expected pending the outcome of a November tax vote.

If the legislature approves Pritzker’s $350 million school spending increase, the governor would place in reserve $150 million for schools, and deliver it only if voters pass his progressive income tax plan in November. Pritzker has argued that would bring in additional revenues in future years to shore up schools and other critical areas.

In the interim, districts are paring back their expectations and budgets for next year.

“You can’t do a mid-course correction and hire more staff, that’s just not possible,” said Tony Sanders, superintendent of school district U-46 in Chicago’s northwest suburbs, the second largest district in the state.

He said the freeze, as Pritzker calls it, will affect district hiring.

The district will have to put off adding staff. “If we know what we’re going to get” — later on — “we can invest in lowering class sizes, provide additional support to at-risk students. That requires people.”

How much each school district would receive would vary, since the funding formula sends money first to districts that have the largest gaps between local revenue and state spending targets.

While the $200 million increase that Pritzker has so far guaranteed is still a boost over the current year, the freeze matters because three years ago a bipartisan coalition of state leaders pledged to gradually increase K-12 funding to correct years of underfunding. They set spending targets for each year, and education leaders throughout the state have counted on annual increases. Pritzker’s proposal to the legislature would mark the first time since 2017 that state funding would fall short of a $300-million-extra-per-year pledge.

“We started to move forward with planning for our future after filling our budget hole” after years of insufficient state revenue, said Jennifer Garrison, superintendent of the Vandalia School District 203, in southern Illinois. “Just as we are getting started implementing our plan, we once again take a step back and face uncertainty.”

Vandalia is among the 42% of school districts still considered well below “adequate” in terms of spending on education.. The 2017 budget revamp set a target for the state to provide schools an additional $300 million annually, but education advocacy groups and the state school board think even that falls short.

For next school year, for example, the Illinois State Board of Education recommended an increase of $510 million.

What’s needed, Garrison said, is closer to $650 million. “It is important for the public to understand that the $350 million is a compromise of what is really needed to begin with.”

The Illinois Board of Education estimates the state is $7 billion short of adequately funding its schools.

Garrison’s district had planned to hire a curriculum coach with the state funds it expected for next year. In reality, he said, the district needs three coaches.

“While this example might seem minor to some, it is major to us,” Garrison said. Without a cut in state funding, “I am now in a position once again to do more with less.”

Jeff Craig, superintendent of West Aurora School District 129, said his district is around 53% adequately funded. He faces scaling back programs, putting projects and purchases on hold, and reducing hires to essential staff only.

His district already went through budget cuts a few years ago that resulted in a salary freeze for administrators and delay of building maintenance, he said.

Craig said his district will likely take a more conservative approach to the budget for the next school year, but any cuts will be made “as far away from the classroom as possible.”

“Our kids should never know that we have fiscal challenges,” Craig said. “If there’s going to be reductions or a more conservative approach it’s going to be felt by adults and not the students.”

Although times are better than before 2017, Craig said that dwindling funding exacerbates the teacher shortage. Schools struggle to find staff.

“We know as a state we’re pretty financially fragile and everyone needs to find revenue but there’s only so much to go around,” Craig said.

The Elgin U-46 district, which last year received only 56% of what the state calculates as adequate funding, can look to past experience for handling fiscal uncertainty.

Funds that appear midyear often goes toward “buying stuff,” rather than hiring more staff, Superintendent Sanders said.

When the state put its new school funding model in place, it gave the district $22 million mid-school year, he said. The district purchased Chromebook laptops for high schoolers, to prepare for the following school year.

As for now, he said, “when we know our budget and we can staff appropriately, we can do better things for kids.”

Elected school board bill to get a renewed push in the Illinois legislature

2020-02-18T22:16:24+00:00

Backers of a bill that would establish a 21-member Chicago school board say they are building momentum again, this time in the Illinois Senate.

If the bill passes the legislature, Chicago could hold school board elections starting in 2023.

The bill has supporters, including Illinois Sen. Robert Martwick, a Democrat who represents Chicago’s Northwest Side and some adjacent suburbs. But it has had its share of detractors, too, who say that a 21-person board would dwarf that of any other major urban school district’s governing body and would be too large to govern effectively.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who currently appoints the school board, opposed the bill last year. Speaking with reporters Tuesday in Springfield, she said she briefly discussed the bill with Martwick during her visit to the Capitol and agreed to meet “at another time” to discuss it further.

The Senate’s new president, Don Harmon, a Democrat whose district stretches west from Chicago’s Austin neighborhood to suburban Addison, has supported elected school board bills in the past, according to his spokesperson, John Patterson, but has not yet taken a stand on this particular bill.

“He looks forward to having a discussion with Senator Martwick and the rest of the [senate] caucus to move it forward,” Patterson said.

Martwick introduced the bill as a member of the House of Representatives last spring. Now as a senator he is the lead sponsor of the bill, which has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Among the country’s largest school districts, school boards tend to range from seven to nine members.

In Los Angeles Unified and the Las Vegas-area Clark County, Nevada, voters elect seven school board members each representing a geographical district. A nine-person elected board oversees Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In New York City, the nation’s largest district, the mayor controls the public schools and appoints the majority of a 13-member board that oversees contracts, school closures, and other policy changes.

In Boston and Philadelphia, the mayors also appoint a board from a list of recommendations from a citizens nominating panel. Boston has seven members, plus a student representative. Philadelphia has nine.

Elected school boards exist in 90% of school districts across the country, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study. That includes the other 852 districts in Illinois.

Martwick’s bill would divide Chicago into 20 districts, each with an elected representative, with a citywide elected president. The first election would be held in 2023, following the cycle of municipal elections.

Although advocates have pushed for decades for an elected school board, they have gained legislative traction recently. In 2017 the House and Senate passed a bill to create an elected Chicago board, but then-governor Bruce Rauner vetoed it. Martwick’s bill, introduced last spring passed with 110 votes in the House before it stalled in the Senate.

The issue cropped up in Chicago’s last mayoral race, with the two candidates who entered the runoff, Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, each pledging support for an elected board.

Supporters of the movement, like Martwick and the Chicago Teachers Union, say that an elected board would be more accountable to residents and would give voters more say in what happens in their schools.

“This is something that we’re all promised in democracy,” Martwick said, “that you get a say when there is a government entity that has a huge impact on your life and whether you have kids in that school or not, the performance of your schools affects every aspect of your life.”

He added that he’s open to debating the size of the board.

Critics of creating an elected school board have said it diffuses accountability and it wouldn’t accurately represent Chicago’s diverse population. There are also concerns it would be influenced by outside money from powerful education groups such as the teachers union and charter proponents.

“It’s not a silver bullet,” schools chief Janice Jackson warned during a panel appearance last year at the University of Chicago. “It has to be done in a thoughtful way, and we have to get at what the ultimate goal is, which is more transparency and involvement from the community,” she said. The risk, she added, is “expensive elections that don’t benefit students” and a board controlled by private interests that creates more bureaucracy.

Dick Simpson, a former alderman who backed Lightfoot in the mayoral election, said he thinks the legislature needs to hold a vigorous debate.

“The general idea of an elected school board is a good idea but whether this is the ideal form and structure is up to the legislature,” Simpson said. “A lot of the issues are in the details. How would it be put together?”

Simpson noted that the average school board has much fewer than 21 members, but said that elections for larger districts could become expensive and run the risk of candidates becoming bankrolled by political parties or the teachers union.

“The board would work better with nine,” Simpson said. “The city council should be larger but for the school board I think there’s enough experiences around the country that we should stay with the best practice we can find.”

Illinois state Representative Will Guzzardi, a Northwest Side Chicago Democrat, who advocated for the bill in the House, said the ball now lies in the Senate’s court. He said he believes there is enough momentum in the Senate and the general public for it to pass.

“From my perspective, we’ve done our job in the house,” Guzzardi said. “We passed a good, solid bill and we’ll leave it to the Senate to see what they can come up with and if they can get it passed.”

Representative Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat whose district encompasses parts of downtown and the Southeast Side, filed a different bill last month in the House to meet the deadline for new legislation, his spokeswoman Dulana Reese said. He submitted the bill, which outlines a similar 21-person board, in case Martwick’s bill fails to pass the Senate.

Hannah Meisel of The Daily Line contributed reporting.

Frustrated Lincoln Park High School council calls for meeting with mayor, more transparency from Chicago Public Schools

2020-02-07T21:35:00+00:00

Members of Lincoln Park High School’s governing body say they want to meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson in an effort to reinstate their campus administration. This comes nearly a week after the removal, and subsequent termination, of the school’s interim principal and assistant principal and the transfer of a dean.

The administrative changes, which Local School Council members said happened abruptly and without enough transparency from the district, happened during a multi-part investigation into sexual misconduct at the school.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesman said a meeting between council members and district leadership is set for Tuesday.

Speaking Friday afternoon to reporters, the mayor called the Lincoln Park cases “horrifying” and said that it was “absolutely necessary that (the district) act and act definitively.” She said she’s also willing to meet with council members.

“There’s a lot of things that were going on that involve student-on-student, that involve adult-on-student, and there’s serious questions about whether or not the administration that was there acted in a responsible way,” said Lightfoot. “Obviously we’ve got to have some sensitivities around the privacy interests of the students, and their parents have expressed that quite clearly. There are also ongoing investigations and I want to make sure that those are independent and done the right way, but I’m happy to sit down with them.”

Standing outside the school Friday morning, council members said they previously spoke with the district’s Office of Safety and Security, but were dissatisfied.

“We need to go to a higher level and understand why the decisions have been made to get us to this point,” said Eli Grant, a community representative on the 12-person council, which also includes parents, teachers, and a student.

Chicago Public Schools has said it had sufficient evidence to back the decisions to first suspend then terminate the administrators. But it can’t detail what it has learned without running afoul of student privacy laws and exposing teenage victims. “The actions we have taken are warranted and necessary based on the information we have at this time,” a spokesperson told Chalkbeat Thursday.

School councils, a fixture in Chicago school oversight for two decades, have the power to evaluate principals and a role in principal selection. They also review budgets. But their authority varies widely school-to-school, with some campuses plagued by chronic vacancies, and their legal and contract limitations mean they do not hire, fire, or evaluate teachers.

Recently, parents’ groups have called for further empowering the councils, and two Chicago-area legislators say they plan to propose legislation this year that would expand the role of the councils in school decision-making.

Grant said that the council was left out of the personnel decisions and that members are frustrated by the lack of transparency about the reasoning behind the decision, including what the fired administrators did or did not do, Grant said.

“At no point did CPS consult the (Local School Council) to remedy the misconduct,” Grant said. He said the council wants the district to reinstate Interim Principal John Thuet and assistant principal Michelle Brumfield, who’ve been terminated, and dean John Johnson, who has been transferred.

“These were individuals making a positive impact on the school community by listening and caring and doing things that resonated with students from all over Chicago,” he said. “Everyone felt welcomed for the first time in a while.”

Leaving school on Thursday, sophomore Ciara Carroll said the chaos reminded her of last year.

“No one cares, no one’s happy,” Carroll said.

Another sophomore, Isabella Scott, said that under Thuet and Brumfield’s leadership, this year the school has offered more activities and clubs, the dances are enjoyable, and members of the administration greeted students by name.

It has been a tumultuous week at Lincoln Park. On Wednesday, the district removed its stand-in administrator, Judith Gibbs, after a video of her appearing to squeeze a student’s face went viral.

Since Monday, students said they’ve seen a greater police presence at the school and fights.

“The last little piece of positivity we had, they’re gone,” Scott said. “[Brumfield] would go out of her way to make sure we felt positive, we felt good about going to school.”

In the midst of the uproar, Scott said the school has demonstrated unity.

“We’re so much better than this,” she said. “Once this is all over, our school’s true colors will shine. We really are a good school, and the people there are really good people, and so is the staff.”

Chicago Public Schools leaders said in a letter to parents Thursday that a pair of new administrators in charge, former principal trainer Jerryelyn Jones and former administrator Calvin Davis, are visiting every classroom to hear student concerns.

The district was sending additional people Friday to train staff in leading “talking circles” with students, and had set up a hotline and email for reaching the security office, the letter from Chief Schools Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova and Chief Security Officer Jadine Chou said. “We are committed to providing students with safe and healthy tools to express themselves during this difficult time.”

Justin Laurence and Maxwell Evans of Block Club Chicago contributed to this report.

Lincoln Park High allegations test Chicago’s new protocol for investigating sexual misconduct complaints

2020-02-06T22:56:13+00:00

Investigations spanning multiple school agencies. Accusations of sexual misconduct on an overnight boys basketball trip, and an alleged cover-up. The dismissal of a school’s top administrators and coaches. The abrupt suspension of a team’s basketball season ahead of a big game. Student walkouts.

And, in the middle of the investigations, the resignation of the city’s independent inspector general, Nicholas Schuler, amid rancor in his own office.

The recent revelations at Lincoln Park High School, a well-regarded International Baccalaureate school, have become a public test of Chicago Public Schools’ new protocol for investigating sexual misconduct complaints. The district’s response has set off a wave of parent and student protests and second-guessing.

“The mood is somber, the school is in chaos,” Mary Shaughnessy, whose son is a junior, said Thursday.

Amid the uproar, Chicago Public Schools says it had sufficient evidence to back the decisions to first suspend then terminate the school’s interim principal and one of its assistant principals. But it can’t detail what it has learned without running afoul of student privacy laws and exposing teenage victims.

“As we have told the school community, we are investigating multiple allegations of serious adult and student misconduct,” school district spokesman Michael Passman said. “Our top priority is ensuring all students have access to a safe and supportive learning environment, and the actions we have taken are warranted and necessary based on the information we have at this time.”

The allegations come at a critical moment for a campus that has experienced recent leadership changes and was seeking stability. They also test the Office of Student Protections, formed after a 2018 Chicago Tribune investigation revealed two decades of failure to protect students from sexual abuse.

The sudden resignation of the school board’s inspector general at the mayor’s request raises questions about who leads investigations, the independence of the public schools’ investigative office, and how effectively Chicago Public Schools can police itself.

Whether you’re just catching up or you’re curious about big-picture implications, here are six questions to consider as the investigation unfolds:

1. Why are parents and students so angry, and how will that impact the outcome?

The allegations at Lincoln Park High School surfaced in early January, not long after the boys basketball team returned from an unsanctioned overnight trip. The district’s Office of Student Protections received complaints that students engaged in sexual conduct on that trip, some of it possibly captured on social media, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The district then removed the team’s popular coach.

More allegations followed, prompting the district to open additional investigations into behavior of students and adults. The district then terminated the interim principal, John Thuet, and an assistant principal, Michelle Brumfield, and removed two more coaches.

The list of issues under investigation now includes failure to properly report complaints, retaliation against witnesses, interference with the investigation by school leadership, and financial misconduct related to athletic program accounts.

The district opened another investigation this week into the conduct of a retired principal who was brought in to stabilize the school, after a video surfaced that appeared to show her grabbing a student in the hallway. The district has replaced that temporary principal.

Many parents and students demanding evidence have rallied to the defense of the ousted administrators and coaches. Students have protested this week, staging walkouts and sit-ins.

About 50 students stood outside the school’s front gates Thursday morning holding signs and chanting.

“All [CPS is] delivering to us is accusations, not evidence,” said Ben Shacter, a Lincoln Park sophomore. “If you’re willing to fire our two most beloved staff in the entire school, at least give us some evidence for why you did that.”

Shacter said students are unclear on what exactly Thuet and Brumfield are being accused of, and said that the pair had made a noticeable difference in the community.

“Brumfield every day would stand outside the door and hold the door and greet us: ‘Hey, queen. Hi, king. You look beautiful today,’” Shacter said. “It was really nice for the community. It helped build a really good chemistry that we didn’t really have with the previous administration.”

2. Who is in charge at the school?

On Wednesday, the school district appointed two administrators, former principal supervisor Jerryelyn Jones and a former principal, teacher, and central office executive, Calvin Davis, to temporarily run the 2,200-student school. Two assistant principals remain in place.

David Marren, a parent member of the Lincoln Park High School Local School Council, said that the council was “completely shut out” of the personnel decisions. On Monday, the council was interviewing candidates for permanent principal, he said, and was completely blindsided by the firings.

The council has noticed a “palpable difference” in the school since Thuet and Brumfield took over, he said, noting the effort they made to address security problems. “They were taking on issues that had been languishing untouched for years at the school,” Marren said. Since the removal, there have been reports of fighting at the school, he added.

3. Who is investigating what? And how will the inspector general’s resignation impact the investigation?

Two district offices, the Office of Student Protections and the Office of the Inspector General, are conducting five separate investigations involving the school.

A district spokesman said the inspector general generally investigates allegations of misconduct by district-affiliated adults, while the student protections office looks into allegations of student-on-student harm.

But some people — including Schuler — wonder whether the inspector general can truly be independent when the mayor appoints its chief.

In a letter released Wednesday about his resignation, which is effective at the end of the month, Schuler said, “the statute that gives life to the [Chicago Public Schools inspector general] is silent on the critical issue of how the [chief investigator] can be removed and for what grounds. This inadequacy in the governing legislation can be exploited by those who wish to corral an independent IG.”

He continued, “I know from long dealings with CPS that many people there have been displeased by the tenacity of my efforts and my willingness to speak frankly and publicly about our work. I am confident that Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot is firmly dedicated to independent IGs.”

4. Ultimately, who is calling the shots?

According to Passman, the Chicago Public Schools spokesperson, each investigative body will recommend a course of action, but it is up to schools chief Janice Jackson’s team to rule on any permanent personnel decisions.

Lightfoot will appoint a new inspector general to oversee the independent investigative office, which is tasked with rooting out fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the school district.

5. How much can the district do at this point and what can it say?

The allegations were first reported to the district on Jan. 2. According to a Chicago Public Schools timeline shared in a parent meeting Monday night at the school, by Jan. 7 investigators were following up and the district removed some adults from their positions. The district notified parents and families in a Jan. 9. Later that month the district received separate allegations involving the girls basketball team.

Protocols call for the district to remove adults immediately when it receives allegations of physical harm, but in this case, it did not remove administrators until the last week of January, per the timeline.

Investigators so far have presented information that shows adults engaged in “egregious and systemic policy violations,” including failure to follow mandatory sexual misconduct reporting procedures, according to the district, but it has not offered more details, citing an ongoing investigation and privacy concerns about the students involved.

Because the administrators at the school have interim status and serve on at-will contracts, the district could terminate them immediately. Interim principals don’t get the same protections that their permanent colleagues do. The district must hold hearings for the coaches, for whom there is a more formal course of action.

The district has refused to specify the nature and extent of the policy violations. But administrators have said that the new rules are hard to follow and even contradictory, according to Troy LaRaviere, a former principal who runs the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

“They [the district] have failed miserably on communicating a clear and coherent set of policies, procedures and protocols to principals,” LaRaviere said.

6. How might the case affect the school district’s efforts to rebuild public trust?
The Lincoln Park cases surface as Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson attempts to mend the district’s fractured relationship with parents and families. These efforts come in the wake of not just the student sexual abuse crisis but also widespread lapses in its special education program and lingering anger over mass school closings in 2013.

Led by its new school board, the district recently has organized public hearings on key issues like school ratings, teacher diversity, and school funding.

Jackson and school board members have said they will listen to the community in setting policy on those critical issues. But it’s unclear how the district will take parent and student reaction into account in responding to the crisis at Lincoln Park.

On Monday, district officials emphasized that they are following a protocol designed to keep students safe and that leaders could only share so much without jeopardizing the well-being of the teenage victims in the case. Officials spelled out in a PowerPoint presentation their goal — to “move forward as a safe and supportive community.”

Yana Kunichoff and Marie Fazio contributed reporting.

As principal, I often brought my desk into the hallway. It fostered bonds that made my school safer.

2020-02-05T23:44:59+00:00

Every student has a story. As principal of Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts in Chicago, I came to understand the need to know each of my students’ stories.

For me, student support went beyond academics. It was also our job to support our students’ sense of safety and security. To do that, we tried to learn about our students’ family lives, support networks, homes, and neighborhoods.

By getting to know more about each of my students, I was able to ensure our school provided them with the social and emotional support that they needed to succeed academically while also fostering a safe school climate. In an effort to interact with students as much as possible, I often took the unorthodox approach of dragging my desk into the hallway and turning the hallway into my office.

While there are so many things that, justifiably, could have kept me shut in my office — like paperwork, private meetings, and phone calls — having my desk in the hallway gave me the chance to have one-on-one time with students as they made their way to and from class. By stepping out of my office and into students’ lives, I was able to hear their stories and build much-needed trust that would pay off in times of crisis.

A couple of summers ago during the school’s summer programming, I learned that two students were headed for a violent collision. I found this out because I made it easy for a student to find me in the hallway. The conflict had the potential to ensnare even more students in the neighborhood, so I arranged a home visit to offer alternatives to fighting. I never will forget the stunned look on the students’ faces when I arrived at their homes. I was the last person they expected to see during summer vacation.

I told them: I know it’s summertime, but I’m your principal 365 days of the year. Just because you’re not in school doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped caring. I’m still responsible for you.

Once they overcame their initial shock, we worked together to de-escalate the situation and prevent an altercation.

In an era where so many of our students’ interactions happen online and through social networks that educators can’t access, having a relationship built on trust helps us break through and ensure our students are communicating with us at tense or challenging moments. I wasn’t able to stop every act of violence. But I have countless stories like this one, where students knowing how and where to reach me helped prevent or curb an altercation.

I taught students that our school was a part of the community. At Dyett, the administration worked with the Bronzeville Community Action Council and the University of Chicago to survey students, thanks to funding from the Bright Star Community Outreach Center and the University of Chicago School of Social Work. Everyone at the school — from the dean’s office to counselors to teachers — got behind this partnership and committed to using the information we gathered. With data about students’ neighborhoods, family members, and exposure to gun violence, we were able to assign a case manager to provide the necessary counseling.

And we were able to make informed choices about the services that would support students’ mental health needs and help them reach their full academic potential. We were also better equipped to make decisions about what not to implement, like an arts program that mimicked our existing offerings and risked over-programming students.

Now as an executive director with the nonprofit principal training organization New Leaders, I have the privilege of working with principals across the country. I see how so many of us are going the extra mile to know and understand the students at our schools and how critical that is to develop a safe, supportive academic culture – one that transcends the school walls and helps make the neighborhood safer and more supportive of our students, too.

Reflecting on this challenging work, one thing is clear: We have to be proactive, not reactive, in order to develop open, inclusive and nonviolent school environments. Over time – not overnight – we can disrupt systemic forces that have made violence a reality for too many of our students. Embracing new and unconventional approaches, adopting policies with a student-first mindset, and leaning on committed partners are all important steps on this path. It is up to us as district leaders, principals, and teachers to prioritize getting to know our students and to demand the tools we need to create safe, academically rigorous schools.

When we get it wrong, the consequences can be tragic. But when we get it right, our students and communities can thrive.

Beulah McLoyd is an executive director of program implementation at New Leaders and is a graduate of Aspiring Principals, New Leaders’ highly selective principal training program. She has nearly 20 years of experience as an educator, having previously served as a teacher and a principal with Chicago Public Schools.

New Leaders is a national nonprofit organization whose programs, research, and policy efforts support education leaders to advance student success in the classroom and beyond.

About our First Person series:

First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others trying to improve public education. Read our submission guidelines here.

In Illinois state board’s $9.64 billion budget ask: more money for teacher recruitment, testing

2020-01-17T17:41:14+00:00

In a year when the governor has called on every department to pare down spending, the Illinois State Board of Education wants to bump up the education budget by 8.6%, including infusions into state testing, early childhood education, and teacher training and hiring.

The board accepted state schools Superintendent Carmen Ayala’s ask for a $760 million boost. The budget request requires approval by the governor and legislature. It is not certain how the state would fund an increase.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has requested all agencies, including the state board, to cut their budgets by 6.5% to help cover more than $6 billion in unpaid bills, some left from previous years.

The vast majority of the state board’s $9.64 billion request would go to school districts — $7.7 billion, or a 7% increase. The board also wants to boost the early childhood education block grant by $100 million, less than what advocates have sought.

The board proposes $1.1 million for a new department that would help schools end practices of restraint and seclusion, which were detailed in a ProPublica investigation. The board also wants $10 million more for state assessments, to total $57 million, including a revamp of the annual Illinois Assessment for Readiness.

To address a dire teacher shortage, the board seeks $44 million for recruiting bilingual educators, mentoring new teachers and principals, offering a path for career and technical education teachers, and other investments into teachers. Illinois has 1,800 teacher vacancies this school year.

During Wednesday’s board meeting, Ayala said the investment in both long- and short-term strategies addressed the board’s interest in elevating the education profession and alleviating shortages. “This is not something we are going to eliminate within one or two years,” she said.

Each year the board makes a request that significantly exceeds the actual education budget that the legislature eventually passes. The Illinois General Assembly and governor will consider the board’s proposals in coming weeks.

Here’s what teacher-focused programs and investment areas the board wants to boost this coming fiscal year:

$15 million more for Golden Apple

One education non-profit that could emerge a winner would be Golden Apple, a company that recruits and provides classroom training and mentorships for teacher hopefuls.

The board wants to add $15 million to support a college scholarship and summer training program for would-be teachers. Participants in what’s known as the Golden Apple Scholars of Illinois would have to commit to teaching for five years in a high-poverty or academically low-ranking school.

The board wants to support a 15-month residency program for people switching careers to teaching. Participants would be paid $30,000 and must then teach in southern, central or western Illinois for four years.

$5 million to find more teachers endorsed for career and technical education

Of $50 million dedicated to vocational education, the state board would spend 20% in grants to districts to build a pipeline for teachers in career and technical education.

$9 million to retain teachers and principals through mentoring programs

Of a proposed $9 million, $8 million will go toward teacher mentorship, and $1 million for principals. That money would be allocated through competitive grants to districts for mentoring programs. The program aims to mentor 6,600 first-year teachers.

$5 million in new funds for teachers of color

The state board wants $5 million to help diversify the teaching corps, primarily by recruiting bilingual teachers.

Double the funding for Teach for America to $2 million

The board wants to double the funding Teach for America, an alternative teacher training program that assigns graduates of top-tier colleges to classrooms in low-income communities..

The group has focused its Illinois work in Chicago, but is now moving into North Chicago, a suburb near Waukegan. This board seeks to add 80 to 100 new educators in Illinois schools.

$1 million to convince high school students to become teachers

The board would create 10 regional programs for high school students to shadow teachers and practice lesson planning. Districts with the highest teacher vacancy rates would get priority in the program, which is supported by two teacher unions and a professional organization.

Three reasons why Chicago’s veteran pay dispute is something to watch

2020-01-08T00:20:06+00:00

More than two months after ending a bitter strike, Chicago’s school district and teachers union still haven’t agreed on how to parcel out $25 million promised in raises for veteran educators, even after the union filed a complaint with a state labor relations board.

The agreement that ended last year’s record-long teachers strike awarded $5 million annually in pay raises for teachers who have worked in the district 14 years or more, to total $25 million over the five-year contract.

But that document did not spell out how those raises would be distributed, and the district and union haven’t agreed on whether the additional raises will be one-off bonuses or long-term base pay raises.

The unfair labor practice complaint, filed by the union on Dec. 20 with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board, alleges the Chicago Board of Education is “refusing to honor an agreement reached on wages” and discriminating against unionized veteran teachers.

The day before, on Dec. 19, the union and board representatives had their last face-to-face session to negotiate the details about the veteran pay contract but couldn’t come to an agreement.

The issue affects nearly 10,000 veteran educators, and is playing out amid an ongoing teacher shortage and an uphill effort to recruit and retain teachers of color.

Often in labor disputes, unresolved issues linger even after an agreement is ratified, but they’re not usually of any substance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Professor Bob Bruno said.

That makes this dispute something of an outlier in how contract negotiations usually proceed. It’s also revived rancor between the union and district, hearkening back to the teachers’ bitter 11-day strike.

Here’s what you need to know about veteran pay:

Chicago’s pay schedule for veteran teachers is pretty similar to that in other cities

On the picket line, teachers lamented that after yearly scheduled pay increases in their first 14 years of teaching, the size of pay increases diminished.

Right now, teachers get automatic raises for the first 14 years of their career, in addition to any cost-of-living increases that a contract may award. After that, longevity increases shrink or stop, with annual bumps mostly in fractions of a percentage point. Those don’t include negotiated cost-of-living increases in contracts.

That’s standard among districts, according to an analysis of the 100 largest school districts in the country, and of the largest in each state, by the National Council on Teacher Quality research group.

“On average, it takes a teacher in a large districts 25 years to reach the maximum scheduled salary,” said Kency Nittler, director of the council’s work on teacher policy. That’s exactly what happens in Chicago, she said, where teachers max out at 26 years.

Veteran teachers in other districts do, however, see smaller pay raises more often than do veteran teachers in Chicago. That’s because they have more standard step increases, Nittler said, while about one-third of districts also offer some kind of longevity pay.

On the current salary schedule, teachers with master’s degrees and 14 years of experience will see their salary, including annual cost of living increases, go from $91,196 this school year to $103,641 – a 13.6% increase — over the five years of the contract. In the same period, a teacher with a master’s degree and five years of experience would see their salary go from $63,730 to $83,091, a 30.3% increase.

Other districts likely will be watching any changes Chicago makes — its union has been a pacesetter for contract demands in its last few negotiations, and could spur similar talks in other cities.

Chicago needs its veteran teachers – and pay is one way to keep them

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson each have pledged to boost diversity among Chicago’s teaching ranks.

Exactly how they plan to do that remains to be seen, and is the topic of a new special school board-led committee.

The group’s first meeting zeroed in on how the district can retain more experienced educators, a critical issue as analysis of data of new teachers shows a younger, whiter workforce.

Veteran teachers in Chicago are more likely to be educators of color, and they’re also leaving the district at high rates, spurred in part by layoffs due to declining enrollment and school closures concentrated in schools that serve African-American students.

Since 2011, black teachers in particular have left the district at higher rates than have teachers of other races. As a result, the city has lost a quarter of its black teaching force over a six-year period, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

New teachers, meanwhile, are more likely to skew white, even as the majority of the district’s students — now 89% — are non-white.

That means efforts to diversify the teacher workforce should also consider how to best retain veteran teachers.

That’s where veteran pay raises come in. Teachers on picket lines during the strike told Chalkbeat it was a galvanizing factor among the more experienced — and respected — of their colleagues.

“Your pay is frozen for a lot of that time,” said Meia Freidheim, a middle school science and math teacher at Orozco Elementary in Pilsen and a 23-year veteran of Chicago schools, on the second day of picketing. “In most professions as you get more experienced, you get more money. In teaching, that is only happening early in your career.”

The contract was ratified in November, but many critical details are unresolved

The failure to nail down the veteran pay details shows how, in the rush to end the 11-day strike, some important conversations were shelved. One thing is clear: Chicago is going to be unspooling these details and figuring out their impact for years to come.

The district has said that one of the holdups on veteran pay is how to account for compounding raises that grow year-over-year, which is why officials have been pushing for bonuses that don’t compound. The teachers union has argued that they were promised the $25 million would come in through raises in base pay.

The argument underscores a larger issue: How Chicago Public Schools, which remains underfunded by the state’s own school budgeting formula, will pay for other growing costs included in the contract, chiefly additional social workers, nurses, and counselors. The district is covering the first year of new costs with surplus tax dollars and savings from salaries not paid for six of the 11 days that teachers were striking. (Teachers are making up the five other strike days.)

But after this it is not clear how the school district will find additional revenue, unless the state agrees to direct more money toward Chicago.

Chicago is attracting more substitute teachers — but here’s why many classrooms still go wanting

2019-12-11T22:35:12+00:00

Chicago has struggled to recruit substitute teachers, particularly in the era of the gig economy, where residents looking for part-time work can turn to Uber or Lyft.

An investigation earlier this year found that one in three teacher absences at majority black and Latino schools went unfilled.

District leaders say some new efforts, from promised pay bumps for substituting at hard-to-fill schools to relaxing restrictions on retirees, are starting to pay off. The teachers’ union, too, has also advocated and won cost-of-living raises for substitutes across its new five-year contract.

“We’re really excited about the moves we’ve made,” said Matt Lyons, the district’s chief talent officer. “We really evened out the inequities in a lot of ways.”

But a bureaucratic hiring process and inaccessibility for less mobile substitutes still pose a barrier while the district searches for ways to improve the sub experience.

The new agreement between the teachers’ union and Chicago Public Schools awards substitutes annual cost-of-living raises of 3% to 3.5% over five years. That will boosts daily rates that currently start at $122 for day-to-day substitutes without teaching degrees to $226 for displaced teachers who have been waiting over a year to be rehired.

The district also now guarantees work-free lunches and professional development for substitutes. For the heart of the substitute corps — so-called cadre teachers who are on the payroll to accept most any assignment — the district lowered to three the average number of days per week they must accept jobs that come their way. Retired teachers can also work 120 days, up from 100, without losing their pension — a move in line with a new state law.

Making it easier to be a cadre substitute was a key result of the district’s efforts to lessen its shortage of subs, Lyons said.

“We’ve had more and more day-to-day subs actually decline offers to become cadre subs,” he said. “Either they don’t want the commitment to work every day, or they’re not comfortable going to any school we assign. In most cases, they say if they live in Rogers Park, how can they get down to a school in Pullman?”

The district hopes easing regulations on cadre substitutes and creating geographic boundaries for them to work within will help convert more day-to-day substitutes into the more consistent, reliable cadre substitutes, who also receive health care and other benefits, Lyons said. Recruitment efforts have also gotten a boost, with weekly interview days and a job fair this month.

The move is sorely needed in a district where one in three substitute requests went unfilled last year at schools that have a majority of black or Latino students. At 62 schools, there was no substitute for half of teacher absences, according to an August investigation by WBEZ.

The issue is compounded by the fact that almost a third of the 520 district-run schools had at least one regular education or special education position vacant for the entire year, reporters found. The gaps were worse at schools serving a majority of black and low-income students, which were twice as likely to have yearlong vacancies.

To better the distribution of subs across the city, the district began offering higher pay for subbing at high-needs schools. This year, substitutes who fill requests at those 125 schools — nearly all of which are on the South or West sides — receive an extra $45 per day.

The results are promising, Lyons said. The 25 schools that had the hardest time filling sub requests went from filling just under half their requests last year to almost 66% this year. “That really evened out the inequities in a lot of ways,” Lyons said.

But some say the lengthy application process is choking the pipeline for substitutes, worsening the shortage.

The district tells substitute teaching applicants that it can take two months to hear back after their initial interview. Once they do, applicants have three days to get tested for drugs and tuberculosis and submit a background check.

One former CPS teacher, who required anonymity to speak candidly because she did not want her ability to sub negatively impacted, said she first applied in mid-September. Three months later, she is working on getting her college transcript to the district, with the hope she’ll be able to start teaching in January.

“I have another job, so this would really be part-time, but I don’t think a lot of other people have that flexibility,” she said. “How many people who are waiting around are actually becoming substitutes?”

Between the tests and background checks, voluntarily reinstating her teaching license to get a higher pay rate, and paying for an official college transcript, she has spent about $600 so far.

The district confirmed that applicants must pay around $80 to $90 for their tests and background checks, although renewing a teaching license is not a requirement for substitute teachers.

Chicago is far from the only district facing a substitute shortage. Two-thirds of superintendents in Illinois called it a “serious problem” in a 2018 survey. The issue is compounded by the increasing availability of part-time work for companies like Lyft and Uber, Lyons said.

“We’re competing in a different marketplace than 10 years ago,” he said. “The labor market is really strong for job seekers, especially those with college degrees.”

Substitute teachers and principals say the district can do more to to quickly get subs in classrooms. Providing parking spaces for subs would make it easier, especially for retired teachers, to work during winter months when icy streets and sidewalks can be a hazard.

And while allowing retired teachers to work more days without losing their pension encouraged more to become substitutes, some suburban districts have no limits, making them more attractive places to substitute teach. Those districts also wait a full year before removing a non-active sub from the roster, whereas in Chicago, they only get 90 days.

“If subs are retired, they might go to Florida for three months, and the 90 days is gone,” said substitute teacher Kathleen Cleary. “That’s a big factor.”

I thought Local School Councils were a way to make a difference. Here’s why I resigned.

2019-12-06T22:29:03+00:00

I went to elementary school before Local School Councils existed. I was a CPS student. My mother was a CPS clerk who retired during the Arne Duncan years. My grandmother, a secretary at the CPS District 3 office, started as a Greeley Elementary volunteer in 1971.

Chicago Public Schools, and how it has changed over my lifetime, is not a mystery to me.

When my own two children entered their neighborhood school, I was determined that, in spite of my full-time job, ongoing health issues, and my youngest’s special needs, that I would be an involved parent. A parent who cared about not just her own kids, but the kids of the entire school. A parent who would play an active and engaged role in her kids’ education and the school system that raised her. The kind of parent CPS is always encouraging to run for its school councils.

Local School Councils, for the unfamiliar, are governing bodies at each school made up of parents, teachers, and community representatives. At some schools, they deliver critical input on budgeting and principal selection. At others, they are merely a rubber stamp for the principal. At still others, there are persistent vacancies.

My background and knowledge of schools, combined with having worked at an educational publisher and my experience in finance and HR, led me to pursue a role on the Local School Council. I am in a well-resourced neighborhood school, and our LSC doesn’t have a lot of vacancies. But I ran as a parent representative and got a spot with 28 votes (the second time, I was the highest-vote getter for parent reps with 51.) LSC elections are held on report card pickup day every two years. At our school, which has 570 students and where 90% of parents attend report card day, the highest vote count for any candidate was in the 50s.

Once I was on the school LSC, I set time aside to read up on things that would be on the agenda so I could be informed on the decisions I would cast a vote on. I came prepared to each meeting. I asked questions. I treated it with the attention I felt it deserved. It astounded me that some members of the LSC did not feel the same way – finding it dry, ineffective, and boring.

I started asking questions about the LSC Advisory Board that was billed as a link between parents and community members like me and senior district staff and school board members. Every LSC member in Chicago is invited to vote on advisory board membership every two years with no explanation of what the board does, or why – just a couple of lines in the Illinois School Code and a rarely updated website. Six of its members are elected and nine are appointed, though it was not entirely clear by whom or via what process.

I had questions about this body, and I decided to run in order to get the answers. I won a spot in April representing the “Northwest Region” on my second try.

It was not the Golden Ticket to Wonka’s factory, but instead a dry, monthly meeting “facilitated” by the school district office charged with overseeing Local School Councils. It was in a gym at a regional office on West Washington Street. At my first meeting, a representative from the central office was quick to let LSC members know they only had to do the minimum that the law requires.

But … why didn’t they WANT to do more, the way the parent LSC reps want to do more? Why did they WANT to continue to appoint the same chair for 20 years instead of hearing fresh voices? What positive changes could this group really make? I had more questions.

They weren’t answered through the channels of well, asking – again, and again, in person, and via email. I decided to take a risk on the newly appointed Board of Education and ask them.

I took the day off work in November to address the Board. I brought handouts containing my questions (later published online here). The board didn’t have answers, either.

When the board meeting paused for a recess and attendees poured into the hallway, the director of the Office of LSC Relations was waiting for me, clearly offended that I had brought my questions to the Board.

In that moment what resonated with me most was that he was being paid to be there, and I was not. I left that conversation feeling punished for speaking up, for trying to do better, for shining a light on an opportunity that is being wasted. Board members asked me if I was OK after witnessing the treatment I received in that hallway.

I still have not received any follow up communication or answers to my questions from the office that handles Local School Councils, or the school board, or CPS administrators. But this week leaders touted the 30th anniversary of Chicago’s Local School Councils with a kickoff event encouraging parents to run in the next round of elections.

I thought hard about the emails from Dr. Janice Jackson about celebrating the LSC election kickoff. I thought about riding out the year but not running for re-election. Then I calculated the value of my time. My evenings, my reading time, my commitment.

I resigned from both councils. I checked the advisory board’s website this week and it has finally been updated from 2017, and is displaying a blank line for the Northwest Region where my name would have been.

I’m happy to not run for re-election, or worry about getting to inconveniently located meetings. I’m happy to be free of my self-imposed stress of trying to make things better. I’m happy to be free.

But I’m not happy that I didn’t make a difference, and that LSC members across the city are trying to be heard but instead being ignored. I’m not happy that something that seems so easy has been made so difficult by the school district. And I’m not happy that I can’t in good faith encourage others to run for their Local School Council.

Maggie Baran is a Chicago Public Schools parent. Until she stepped down in December, she was a representative of a Local School Council and a districtwide Local School Council advisory board.

About our First Person series:

First Person is where Chalkbeat features personal essays by educators, students, parents, and others trying to improve public education. Read our submission guidelines here.

With zero students, another Englewood high school slated to close

2019-11-27T19:41:10+00:00

The only district-run school that Chicago intends to shutter this school year is one with not a single student.

That’s according to the city’s proposal to close Hope High School, one of four schools that Chicago Public Schools decided in 2018 to phase out in Englewood, where declining enrollment meant that local high schools drew so little funding that they struggled to serve their students. Instead, the district said it would open a new high school to serve the whole area.

The school stopped admitting new students in 2018, and every student who was enrolled then has either graduated or moved on.

With no students left, the city is seeking to formally close Hope’s doors in June 2020.

The district is inviting feedback from community members at public meetings next month, a requirement of all school closures. Already, the city teachers union has issued a fiery response.

“So this is how a school—one with more than 40 years of history that includes a state champion girls basketball team, multiple city champion debate teams, a featured role in the video for a single on a Grammy-nominated album and myriad positive impacts on thousands of students and families’ lives—officially ends?” the union’s statement says. “With a procedural press release?”

The union opposes all school closures, which have been an abiding and wrenching feature of the city’s schools for nearly two decades.

Since 2001, at least 16 public schools have closed in Englewood while charters continue to open, some only blocks away from schools struggling with depopulation. Six neighborhood schools closed in 2013, when the city shuttered 50 schools in one swoop.

Of the four Englewood high schools that the city decided to phase out, two — Robeson High School and TEAM Englewood — have already shuttered. Harper High School is still in the phaseout process.

This fall, the city also opened a new open-enrollment high school, STEM Englewood High School, in an $85 million new building feature freshly painted with murals featuring Afrocentric designs and young people of color dressed as doctors and scientists. A demand from community activists distressed by what was happening to high schools in the neighborhood, the school took in more than 400 freshman its first year.

But even as the new school is lauded for its competitive academic programs and impressive new building, parents and students at Harper High School said they think one open-enrollment high school in the area is not enough.

“There are more than enough people in Englewood … for more than one high school,” Jitu Brown, national director of Journey for Justice Alliance, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The district gave high schools taking in students from Hope $6,100 per student in supplemental funding for the next two years, a nod to criticism that students moving because of school closures in the past didn’t receive enough district support.

The city says Hope is the only district-run school it intends to close next year. Three charter schools are being considered for closure: Chicago Virtual Charter School, Chicago Collegiate and Frazier Charter School.

Four other charter schools are on the district warning list, meaning that they could face closure next year. They include Urban Prep in Englewood, CICS Ellison and Longwood and Learn-7.

Parents, students and community members will have the chance to comment on the city’s proposal to close Hope at three community meetings: 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Jan. 14 and Jan. 23 at Kershaw Elementary; and 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29 at CPS headquarters at 42 W. Madison.

With Chicago teachers contract finalized, enforcement falls to teachers themselves

2019-11-21T23:20:13+00:00

Chicago teachers won key demands in their bitter 11-day strike, but whether the new contract transforms their working conditions depends, in large part, on the teachers themselves.

As the people most affected by the contract, they also have the power to enforce its changes, like providing confidential work spaces for clinicians and limiting paperwork for special education teachers.

That’s no easy task in Chicago’s 500 district-run schools. The stakes are high.

If educators feel that terms the union won in the new contract have improved their jobs, that could set the city up for labor peace now and in 2024 when the contract expires. But if they’re thinking more about the week of pay they lost and the dozens of demands — including lower class sizes and more prep time — that the union didn’t secure, that could plant seeds of more discord.

The Chicago Teachers Union has touted the contract even as it admitted not winning all of their wide-ranging demands. Just before the school board ratified the contract Wednesday, union President Jesse Sharkey hailed its “transformative changes” and also lamented that the contract failed to limit school closings.

Despite teachers’ mixed feelings, 80.7% of those voting last week favored ratifying the contract.

The union faces the challenge of getting teachers to recognize the contract’s gains. That will come down to individual schools, said Debby Pope, the union’s grievance correspondent.

“These changes only feel like wins if we are able to make them feel like wins at a building level,” she said.

To enforce the contract terms, teachers and administrators often bring concerns to a school-level professional problems committee, which includes the principal.

That committee is empowered to resolve issues, and is obligated to meet monthly. If it doesn’t come to an agreement, educators may file a grievance. In some cases, the principal may support teachers in that move.

That’s what happened at Simeon Career Academy, in Chatham, when educators took concerns about rodent infestations, dirty bathrooms, and overflowing garbage cans to the professional problems committee. As at most Chicago schools, the private company Aramark handled janitorial services. With the principal’s support, teachers then filed a grievance, technically against the principal, to ensure the school would get cleaned, social studies teacher Rivanna Jihan said.

But that principal left, and another took over, then another, in just two years, Jihan, her school’s union delegate, said. They made it more challenging to address contract enforcement.

“I am concerned,” she said.

The professional problems committee, when it acts, can produce the quickest solution. Grievances can stretch out, Lindblom Academy teacher Alison Eichhorn, a union bargaining team member, said. She sat on her school’s committee hearing a complaint from a teacher who said the district had placed him on a lower salary schedule than he deserved. It took two years to resolve. During that time, Eichhorn said, the teacher lost thousands of dollars in wages before the finding turned in his favor.

In other cases, Eichhorn said just filing a grievance can spur action. In another Lindblom case, teachers complained that the principal had asked them to log in to a computer each time they intervened with a struggling student. Claiming that it was extra paperwork and burdensome, they filed a grievance. The principal ended up dropping the request.

Union staff who support teachers on contract enforcement said that situations at schools vary.

“The environment in individual schools is very much the deciding factor” in how much of the new contract language actually makes its way into classrooms, Pope of the teachers union said.

Even with tools at their disposal, Eichhorn said teachers must feel secure enough to raise concerns without fearing retaliation. At her school, a selective enrollment school in Englewood, she said many teachers feel secure in their jobs and thus able to be more active in contract enforcement.

She also agreed that how the contract is enforced in the next five years could set the stage for labor peace, if teachers are happy about the changes they’ve won, or for another strike.

“We can only have real wins when we have enforced this contract,” Eichhorn said.

Controversial plan to turn closed Humboldt school into teacher-focused apartments stalls again

2019-11-21T18:51:54+00:00

Chicago Alderman Daniel La Spata said Wednesday he will ask members of the Chicago Plan Commission to delay a vote on a proposal to turn the vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into a 107-unit apartment complex and five townhomes geared toward teachers.

The developer, Newark, N.J.-based RBH Group, has been trying since 2016 to transform the shuttered Humboldt Park elementary school, which has been vacant since it was one of 49 schools closed in 2013 as part of the largest mass school closure in the country’s modern history.

This is the second time La Spata has asked the Plan Commission not to consider the proposal. In June, the rookie alderman blocked the Plan Commission from considering the proposal.

“There is still a lot of tension with the community,” La Spata said. “I think we can get it there, but we are not there yet.”

Plans detailed by the developer at community meetings would reserve 24% of the apartments for Chicagoans making no more than 60% of the area’s median income, with another 35% for “middle-income” teachers, according to Block Club Chicago.

La Spata said he was not convinced that plan for affordable housing was enough to win his support.

“There is a lot of concern about whether it would help people being priced out of the community,” La Spata said, adding that some area residents want the developer to sign a community benefits agreement. “I would be disappointed if it moves forward.”

The plan also calls for 53 parking spaces and “classroom, community, commercial and office uses,” according to documents submitted to the Chicago Planning Department.

In response to questions about whether the item will be considered, a spokesperson for the Department of Planning and Development referred a reporter from The Daily Line to the city’s code, which requires the Plan Commission to hold and conclude a public hearing within 30 days of commencement,” unless the applicant asks for an extension.

Under the city’s unwritten rule of aldermanic prerogative that gives each alderman the ultimate say over what happens in their own ward, La Spata could block the Plan Commission from considering the project indefinitely. However, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot works to roll back aldermen’s veto power, it was unclear whether the proposal would move forward without La Spata’s support.

The issue of affordable housing surfaced several times in public discourse during the 11-day Chicago teachers strike, with the union asking for housing assistance for teachers and families as well as a broader plan on the issue. The conversation was ultimately shelved when the mayor announced she would put together an affordable housing task force to review the city’s affordable housing requirements.

This story was reported and produced by The Daily Line.

Chicago schools to compete again for special program funding, with revised rules for 2020

2019-11-19T04:59:43+00:00

A year after doling out $32 million in funds for new programs at local schools, Chicago Public Schools is about to open the application process for round two.

This time, officials say, they’ll make it easier for principals to apply for the funds, meant to make neighborhood schools more attractive and program offerings more equitable across the city. They’ll also evaluate applications more on their own merit and less in the context of other nearby schools. And they’ll tell schools that don’t win new programs why.

“We are taking a much more nuanced approach this year,” Sam Mathias, who works in the district’s Office of Innovation and Incubation, said at an informational meeting Monday evening for educators and school community members interested in funding for 2020.

The city introduced the competitive program funding process last year in an effort to stem the tide of declining enrollment citywide. Then, 108 schools sent letters of intent to apply, and 58 were invited to submit full proposals. Ultimately, 32 schools were awarded funding to be used over a six-year period for new language, gifted, International Baccalaureate, personalized learning, STEM, and arts programs.

But critics questioned how the applicants were whittled down, and on Monday, some said the district’s method of judging schools left deserving schools without. The district evaluated applications using the Annual Regional Analysis, a report it commissioned that split the district into 16 regions to compare access to top-rated schools and sought-after programs.

The district then heavily weighed those geographical boundaries when deciding where to award the program funding.

In Rogers Park, where Monday’s meeting took place, none of the six neighborhood elementary schools have the sought-after programs, noted Betsy Vandercrook, who sits on the Local School Council of Kilmer Elementary.

“But if you combine us with Edgewater and other neighborhoods in the region, it seems like our region looks really good,” Vandercrook said.

Sullivan High School, the school that hosted Monday, applied for the funds last year but was turned down. Nearby in Edgewater, Senn High School was among the 32 awardees, providing the means to expand its IB programming.

“It’s not fair to our kids,” said Esther Mosak, a Sullivan LSC community representative. “What this model has done is given schools that already had programming more programming, and schools that didn’t have any got nothing.”

Mathias said this year’s decision making would be more focused on neighborhoods than on broader regions of the city. He also said decisions would be more “holistic,” taking into account not just the regional analysis but also socioeconomic data, staffing, and what programs schools already have.

It has also streamlined the application process, narrowing it down to three questions, a letter of support from the school council, and a form of approval from the network chief.

The district will host three workshops to help principals complete what used to be an “onerous” and lengthy process, in the hopes of making it easier for overworked principals to apply, Mathias said. Also new this year, schools can only apply for one program.

Even for schools who don’t receive program funding, the district’s central office will provide a clear explanation for why they didn’t make the cut, along with suggested areas of improvement and support for professional development so they can “start to tailor their school to be more in line with what the program intended,” Mathias said.

Letters of intent are due Dec. 3, giving the district time to advance the process before winter break. Final applications are due Feb. 7, with site visits and evaluations to take place before the funds are awarded in April. More information can be found on the district website.

No matter how the process changes, some school communities are likely to feel left out when the winning applications are announced next spring. Mathias took a question from one audience member who pressed him on whether the district would award funds to a school for an International Baccalaureate program if a nearby school got an IB program through last year’s competition.

“We do look at this more globally than I think a school does, to be frank,” Mathias said. “If there’s an IB school next to yours and another area of the city without an IB, that school is more likely to get it than you.”

Chicago Public Schools will host four more public meetings on the topic. Meetings are Tuesday at Benito Juarez Community Academy, Wednesday at Westinghouse Career Prep Academy, Thursday at South Shore College Prep, and Nov. 25 at Gage Park High School. Meetings run 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Budgets, school ratings, charter schools: Side agreements to Chicago teachers contract reach for big changes

2019-11-19T01:19:33+00:00

It’s not just pay and more staffing: If Chicago’s Board of Education votes Wednesday to approve a contract for its 25,000 teachers, it will also agree to wrestle with some big policy questions, including the way the district funds schools.

The tentative agreement includes “side agreements” that cap the number of new charter schools, commit leaders to revisiting the school funding formula, and aim to inject equity into the ratings policy used to rank schools.

It shows how the Chicago Teachers Union wields its contract negotiations to shape district policy, particularly in controversial areas like charter school growth. Union officials say that by attaching language to their contract, the union has effected a districtwide slowdown in the growth of the privately run, publicly funded charter schools.

Two of the side agreements in the new contract, on school funding and ratings, are included for the first time. The agreement on charter school mirrors a side letter included in the last contract.

While some of these are broad, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign labor expert Bob Bruno said they aren’t simply symbolic. Side letters are agreements in union contracts that don’t directly address working conditions, but are areas that both sides consider important to come to agreement on in a contract. Unless stated otherwise, side letters are enforceable under the same grievance procedures that guide the rest of the contract.

“Both sides can use side letters to be really creative and build a kind of common purpose,” Bruno said. “If they agree, they fully intend to live up to the side agreements.”

But one limitation of side letters is that they generally don’t come with a deadline. That means some conversations could be kicked years down the road.

Chicago teachers voted overwhelmingly to ratify the five-year agreement last week. Now the Chicago Board of Education must approve the deal. The next board meeting is 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Chicago Public Schools headquarters.

Here are four of the issues that the board, if it passes the contract, will also agree to take on:

Revisiting the way it budgets for individual schools

The district currently bases school-level funding on enrollment, with extra funding for students with disabilities, for those living in low-income households, and for campuses with concentrations of English-language learners. It also provides grants for schools with the lowest enrollment.

The union, joined at times by unlikely education reform allies, has long called for the district to adopt a more nuanced funding formula accounting for student needs by school and community — for example, by making grants for students who are homeless or who are refugees.

The side letter on budgeting “confirms that CPS will continue to engage in a process to review school funding and modify as needed, in order to increase equity.”

It’s not certain how that will happen. Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised to reconsider this school year how Chicago funds schools and to explore ways to spend more on students with the most need. So far, the mayor’s office hasn’t changed its student-based budgeting. However, the district did announce a new round of investments in academic programs.

Reconsidering Chicago’s School Quality Rating Policy

The agreement on Chicago’s school ratings system “confirms” that the district will continue to change the ratings system to be more equitable.

The union has said the ratings system ranks schools in ways that disproportionately hurt black and Latino students. Last spring, it passed an internal resolution that promised to call for an end to the ratings system altogether as part of its contract demands.

The recently appointed Board of Education has tweaked the ratings formula and from next school year will factor in a new “on track” metric for elementary schools and grade high schools’ efforts to help students complete post-graduation plans. Those changes will dilute the effect on ratings of student attendance — a controversial metric since schools have little control over family circumstances that can prevent children from coming to school. The board, however, has stopped short of more sweeping changes. As Chicago’s test scores have flattened, fewer schools are earning the city’s top rating, according to data released the week after the strike ended.

Extending the moratorium on charter schools

The charter moratorium promises no new charter schools and limits charter enrollment over the course of the five-year contract. It essentially continues a moratorium from the Chicago Teachers Union contract of 2016, which broke new ground in Chicago.

The tentative agreement says charter student enrollment by the end of the contract will not exceed 101% of charters’ enrollment capacity as of last school year. Furthermore, there will be “net zero increase” in the number of charter schools.

While they’re unhappy with the continued limit, charter advocates say that it’s unlikely to make a material difference when many of Chicago’s charter schools, like district schools, are focused on retaining students as overall district enrollment shrinks

Union officials, however, say the charter freeze highlights how their activism and contract demands have shifted broader policy.

Supporting a new tax structure in Springfield

A significant amount of Chicago’s school funding comes from the state, which doles out money based on a funding formula that directs more money to districts with the neediest students.

One of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s major policy proposals, to revise income taxes to tax wealthier people at a higher rate, could mean more money for Chicago schools, and could pay for the teachers and support staff contracts, which together are estimated to add $137 million to district expenses.

The agreement says the board and union will “support mutually agreeable legislation that calls for a sustainable state tax that is levied on a progressive basis.”

Illinois residents will have the chance to vote next fall on changing the state constitution to allow for a progressive income tax instead of the current flat tax rate.

Under the radar: Chicago teachers contract rolls forward limits on charter schools

2019-11-06T21:13:00+00:00

Among the many demands on class size, staffing and prep time, one line item in the Chicago teachers proposed contract has escaped much public discussion: a continuation of a moratorium on charter schools.

Passed as a side letter in the tentative agreement during the early days of the strike, the charter moratorium promises no new charter schools and limits charter enrollment over the course of the five-year contract. It essentially continues a moratorium from the Chicago Teachers Union contract of 2016, which broke new ground in Chicago.

While it comes at a time when charter schools are already seeing a freeze from both the state and the city, it shows how the Chicago Teachers Union continues to wield its contract negotiations to impact district policy, particularly on controversial areas like charter school growth.

“It has been important for us to say we need high-quality neighborhood schools, and creating more charters has not helped,” union President Jesse Sharkey said.

The charter moratorium in the tentative agreement says charter student enrollment by the end of the contract will not exceed 101% of charters’ enrollment capacity as of last school year. Furthermore, there will be “net zero increase” in the number of charter schools.

But while they’re unhappy with the continued limit, charter advocates say that it’s unlikely to make a material difference when many of Chicago’s charter schools, like district schools, are focused on retaining students as overall district enrollment shrinks.

Most charter schools are not near their enrollment maximum, and even the most resilient Chicago charters say they are focused on sustaining enrollment. Charters grew in the past decade, although recently at a slower pace. They now serve 15% of Chicago students, up from 9% a decade ago.

The gap between actual charter enrollment and the cap is still large, said Andrew Broy of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

“There are about 59,000 charter students enrolled today, but the capacity is 14,000 or 15,000 more than that,” Broy said.

Even with the number of new charter schools capped, Broy said the district must receive charter applications, even if it doesn’t move forward with them. If a charter school closes, another could open in its stead according to the agreement, he said.

But union officials say the charter freeze highlights how their activism and contract demands have shifted broader policy.

In recent months, new charters and those fighting closure have found their paths blocked. Illinois abolished its state charter school commission last spring, closing the door on a route of appeal for charter applicants denied by their school districts. Last school year, the Chicago school board denied three new charter applications, and announced plans to shutter two then-operating charter schools, one of which closed and another that was resuscitated as one of the charter commission’s last actions.

“We believe that CPS commitment to cap charters has been an important part of the reason why charters haven’t been expanding,” Sharkey said.

Limiting charter school growth has been a cornerstone of the union’s policy since the Caucus of Rank and File Educators took leadership of the union in 2010, and has continued even as the union has expanded to unionizing charter school teachers.

As the district closed a record number of schools in 2013, the union pushed a moratorium on new charter schools, which it argued were pulling away students from district-run neighborhood schools, cutting into district finances, and undermining parent voice in schools. (While district-run schools have Local School Councils that give parents decision-making voice in leadership and budget choices, charters do not.)

The 2016-19 union contract placed a moratorium on charter growth, nearly identical to the new agreement.

Charter advocates say they oppose the new side agreement.

“We are extremely disappointed,” Broy said in a statement.

“Despite the many unique school types in the city, including magnet, selective enrollment, and military schools,” he wrote, “charter public schools are the only school type being singled out for this disadvantageous treatment.”

Three steps to finalization: What happens next with the Chicago teacher’s contract

2019-11-05T22:50:37+00:00

The decision about which days will be made up after Chicago’s teachers strike is one important step toward turning their contract deal into reality.

But three other big things need to happen before the contract is set in stone.

Signoff by attorneys

There were lawyers in the room when city and union negotiators reached their agreement. But some of the language was finalized during tense bargaining sessions. Now, before the deal goes up for final approval, attorneys from both sides will review the contract language.

Their signoff will communicate that the new terms comport with the law — a significant question when it comes to special education, where the school district is under state oversight because of previous illegal practices — and are seen as technically in line with the goals of the people who negotiated them.

A secret-ballot ratification vote

The trickiest step in the deal’s path to finalization is the union’s ratification vote. That will take place Nov. 14 and 15, when the union’s 25,000 teacher, clinician, and paraprofessional members will vote in secret ballots at their schools or at the union’s headquarters on whether to approve the contract.

According to the union’s constitution, members have to vote within 10 school days of the strike being suspended. A simple majority of union members — 51% — must approve the contract.

If they accept the deal, the strike is officially over. Currently, it is only suspended. If they don’t, the union has five days to reconvene a House of Delegates meeting to vote on whether to continue the strike.

Approval is not a foregone conclusion. The House of Delegates voted in favor of the tentative agreement — but at an unusually narrow margin of 364 to 242 in favor.

In 2012, the last lengthy teachers strike, about 98% of delegates voted in favor of the tentative agreement and ending the strike, while 79.1% of teachers eventually voted in favor of ratifying the contract.

A thumbs up from the Chicago Board of Education

Once the union’s representative body has ratified the contract, the Chicago Board of Education must approve the deal.

The next board meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 20, at Chicago Public Schools headquarters at 10:30 a.m.

The city is also asking the board to approve a revised budget for the year, and approve additional school days to make up for those missed during the strike.

Lightfoot controls the board, whose members she appointed in one of her first education acts after taking office. Her appointees include education researchers and parent activists who have been more vocal than previous boards — and in the case of board president Miguel del Valle, showed support for some of the union’s demands during the strike — but have not voted down any major proposals that came across their desks. That means their signoff should be expected.

But it might not come without another public discussion of the contract deal. Speakers can register to speak at the board meeting beginning on Nov. 18.

Here are the 5 days that Chicago will hold school to make up for time lost during the teachers strike

2019-11-05T19:59:25+00:00

Chicago will make up school days missed during the teachers strike by taking days from Thanksgiving and winter break, as well as swapping two teacher institute days in the summer.

That’s according to a revised calendar for the school year that the Chicago Public Schools board is being asked to approve this month.

The question of make-up days kept educators on picket lines for an extra day, bringing the Chicago Teachers Union strike to 11 days. While Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially said she would not permit make-up days, pressure from the union coupled with state requirements about makeup days resulted in a compromise.

The two sides agreed on five make-up days for the 2019-2020 school year. Here are the dates:

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019 – the day before Thanksgiving
Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 – the second-to-last day of winter break
Friday, Jan. 3, 2020 – the last day of winter break
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 – previously a staff training day
Thursday, June 18, 2020 – previously a staff training day

The city is also asking the board to approve a revised budget for the year. One of the changes: “$68 million in reduced spending attributable to the six school days cancelled due to the strike that will not be made up.”

Chicagoans can comment on the proposed dates at the board meeting Nov. 20. The district will also hold public hearings on Nov. 12, 2019, from 4-6 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m. to collect feedback.

The revised calendar leaves no margin for other missed school days. In the case of adverse weather or other unforeseen events, additional days may need to be added to the school year. Last year, school was cancelled for several days due to huge snowfalls and subzero temperatures, and students made up the instructional time during the summer.

Chicago’s teachers union and city reach a deal, ending 11-day strike

2019-10-31T19:53:00+00:00

The Chicago teachers strike has ended, on its 11th day.

Schools will reopen Friday.

In a nearly two-hour session Thursday, union leaders and Mayor Lori Lightfoot hammered out a deal for teachers to earn back about half of the pay that they’ve forfeited while on strike. Lightfoot, who described a “hard-fought discussion,” in the end offered to add five workdays to this school year, despite previous pledges to deny compensation.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders reluctantly agreed.

“We were pushed up against the wall. Our members want to return to work, make sure their students get their instruction days,” union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said.

The deal came a day before striking union members would have lost district-paid health care.

The agreement still requires ratification by the union’s full membership, according to the group’s constitution. That vote must happen within 10 days. The union’s 700-member House of Delegates voted 60% to 40% Wednesday night to accept the tentative agreement that union leadership had recommended, but made its agreement contingent on Lightfoot agreeing to make up missed school days.

The logistics for when the five days will be made up are still being finalized, the mayor said.

Lightfoot said she changed her mind on offering makeup days Thursday morning. “We need to keep the focus on the kids. That’s what was on my mind when I woke up this morning.”

Leaders of the city and the teachers union did not announce the deal together. After the mayor finished speaking outside of her office, President Jesse Sharkey and Davis Gates spoke briefly with reporters five floors down in the lobby of City Hall.

“It’s not a day for photo ops or victory laps,” Sharkey said.

After accepting the deal, Davis Gates had strong words for the mayor. “Today should come as no surprise that she has taken out her anger on our members and only provided five days back,” she told reporters.

“It took our members 10 days to bring these promises home. And now, because of a grudge match, it seems like she’s punishing them.

“But I want to tell my members: They have changed Chicago.”

Earlier, Lightfoot said the negotiations had been much tougher than she expected.

“I’m grateful it’s over,” said the mayor, who was flanked by schools chief Janice Jackson and two key members of the city’s negotiating team, Deputy Mayor Sybil Madison and district’s No. 2 LaTanya McDade. “I think I need a moment to reflect. It’s time to move on and focus on our kids.”

She said she didn’t view it as a win. “I don’t think this is a win for me personally,” she said. “This has been a hardship for way too many people across our city.”

Jackson, the schools chief, said her focus now was on thinking about how to unify a district divided.

After its leaders forecasted a “short-term” strike earlier in October, the union led a walkout that lasted 11 school days, eventually winning $1.5 billion worth of concessions from the city across a five-year contract. Those include raises for educators and support staff alike, hundreds of new staff positions, and $35 million annually to help reduce overcrowding in some schools.

In marathon bargaining sessions that sometimes lasted until the wee hours of the morning, the union won other concessions that had not been part of the public discussion until the strike began, such as stipends for athletic coaches and naps for preschoolers.

But energy, and public support in some quarters of the city, started to dampen.

While the union turned out thousands of protesters for a downtown march Thursday morning, the crowd was considerably smaller than in previous demonstrations, and members’ enthusiasm for continuing the strike had markedly waned. The rainy, near-freezing temperatures clearly discouraged many from venturing out, but privately more and more teachers were acknowledging the strike’s toll.

Some worried about losing any more pay. Some were pressed by the need to get their children back in school. And some figured that they had gotten the most they could wring out of a city facing a $838 million budget hole.

“It’s really difficult, especially with a mayor that, from the get-go, didn’t want to budge an inch,” said Juan Padilla, a math teacher and delegate for Curie Metropolitan High School. “But this gets us to a better plateau. We can get some financial stability we needed so we can think about the future.

“This is not over,” Padilla added. “This is just one battle. The war continues.”

Padilla said he was a little surprised by the Wednesday delegate vote that approved the contract offer, but understood that many teachers were weary from long days on the picket line.

“Especially with the weather turning on us, they were really battered down,” Padilla said. As for the rank-and-file vote to come, “whatever they decide, we’ll support it,” he said of the delegates.

Another delegate, Ed Hershey from Lindblom Math and Science Academy, said the strike didn’t win everything he hoped for, and he would have held out longer for more. “We didn’t win the schools Chicago students deserve, we didn’t win everything we asked for.”

But, Hershey admitted, the contract still included some provisions that would help classrooms. “We won some things we would not have gotten without going on strike.”

On a day when their children were bemoaning missing out on classroom Halloween parties, parents breathed a huge sigh of relief. The days of patching together emergency child care, play dates, camps and transportation would be over.

“I do hope that it was worth it,” parent Julie Garner said of the strike, expressing some concern about how students would readjust to being back in the classroom Friday. “It just feels like it’s been a really long time. It’ll be fine, but it’s going to be a good couple of weeks before [the students] are fully settled back in.”

Garner, a single mom whose 11-year-old son Deniro attends Ogden-Jenner, said she doesn’t expect to see big changes in how the district operates for a couple of years — but that’s OK with her.

“I know people are kind of annoyed, but I do think [the strike] was needed,” Garner said. “I didn’t think they were going to get it done without doing it this way. It had to be this dramatic strike.”

The city-union deal means a 16% increase in pay over five years, plus immediate boosts of 9% for low-wage paraprofessionals.

Other support staff represented by SEIU, who also went on strike and have settled their contract, will receive raises.

Of the five makeup days, three are mandated by the state, which requires districts to offer 176 days of instruction in the school year. Without the make-up days, Chicago Public Schools would total only 173 days in 2019-20.

Labor expert Bob Bruno said that both sides could count this strike as a victory. The union was able to win changes to class size and staffing, while the mayor eventually put forth a contract that hewed closely to her promises on the campaign trail. “When she said it was a historic agreement, that’s right, and both parties are now really partners to it,” Bruno said.

You can read the contract terms that the union’s 700-member House of Delegates approved in a divided vote here.

As city and union tussle over strike makeup days, Chicagoans offer scheduling suggestions

2019-10-31T14:32:51+00:00

As Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey squabble over whether school days lost to the teacher strike are made up, Chicagoans are offering up advice.

The issue of makeup days is the only thing separating the union’s 30,000 members from returning to their jobs, and the city school district’s 300,000 students from returning to their classes.

The union wants the time made up. Lightfoot dug in on Wednesday night saying, “I’m not compensating them for days they were on strike,” but may have softened Thursday, a key ally told the Chicago Sun-Times.

It would be an unusual issue to hold the line on. Makeup time is generally part of strike resolutions, and an Illinois union official said almost all strike days in state history have been made up. Plus, state law requires at least some of the days to be made up if the district wants to maintain its state funding, virtually handing a compromise to the city and union.

But whatever is happening behind closed doors, the conversation out in the open Wednesday night and this morning suggests that any outcome could easily find public support — and, in fact, that the public has ideas for what days to add back to the calendar.

Here are some of the many conversations we’ve seen on social media about the prospect of makeup days.

Fair enough, but in the email that went around our school there was not one family that expressed an interest in make up days. It was a unanimous “no thanks”.
— Gracie Smith (@Gracie4Smith) October 31, 2019

Let them make up 2 days and enjoy summer we trying to Vacation after a stressful school year. Teachers going to have to take a lost like parents did. Great parents home schooled during strike days. #cpsstrike #CTU
— Jeriah Tolbert (@Riahka) October 31, 2019

Not all instructional time is created equal. Layering on 10 days in late June and Even July is of far less value than the time that’s been lost. Let’s work MLK and Pres Day, Nov report card pickup day and add on 2 days max.
— Neil (@DPUNeil) October 31, 2019

Please allow teachers and students to make up the days! But not at the end of the year! Students do not need more instruction in the summer, they need that instruction before the SAT & AP tests. https://t.co/fiu8ZdWTdg
— Cesar Balcazar (@cabalcazar) October 30, 2019

Or just do some days during the year on pd days, report card pickup etc. This is not worth prolonging this mess over...See 2012 calendar for ideas
— Michael (@mdkolody) October 31, 2019

I'm not a fan of the day b4 TG tbh. But i bet reasonable parents on twitter could come uo with a compromise schedule within hours. Wonder how long it will take Sharkey Davis Gates & Lightfoot.
— CPS Parent (@ParentCps) October 31, 2019

The union does not need to hold another vote to approve a deal on makeup days, so an agreement struck in negotiations today would clear the way for schools to reopen as soon as Friday — when city officials have said teachers would lose their health insurance coverage if they are not back at work.

Live updates from Day 11 of the Chicago teachers strike: One final back-and-forth

2019-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Remember when union leaders predicted a “short-term” strike?

Some 300,000 Chicago students remained out of school, and their families continued to scramble, as Chicago’s teachers strike entered Day 11 Thursday. The territory was new: The union and city had arrived a deal, but the strike continued over a conflict about how teachers could make up missed days and recoup lost pay.

But things changed midday. Around 1:30 p.m., the city and teachers union announced a deal to end the strike. Classes will resume Friday and teachers and students will make up five of the missed days.

5 p.m. That’s a wrap

We’ll let American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten have the last word, but only because the national union just sent out a statement from her. “We have helped make Chicago’s public schools safe, welcoming sanctuaries of learning, and we have shown an entire nation that when we fight together, we win,” said Weingarten, who visited teachers in Chicago on the picket line multiple times.

4:40 p.m. Flying the W (and L)

Was the Chicago Teachers Union’s strike a success? It’s not that simple, but we ran down what happened to the five issues the union said had been the biggest sticking points. There are wins and losses to go around.

3 p.m. Happy Halloween

A one-day week after two weeks off and a late night filled with candy — should be a smooth landing in schools Friday.

The strike is OVER! And we have a massive snow storm for Halloween 🎃! Extremely proud of all the #CTUSEIUstrike Teachers/ staff/ parents/ allies! Kids are going to be all sugared tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/N2qX1zJo5B
— Naomi S. #Biden2020 #KhiveforBiden (@NomiBlockS) October 31, 2019

2:21 p.m. A teacher’s tweet

Room 102, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!! 🤩
— Lauren Peretz (@MsPeretz) October 31, 2019

1:36 p.m. Must’ve felt good to hit “send”

Chicago Public Schools has been tweeting and sending a daily “Update on classes” message to families since the strike began. Here’s today’s:

Welcome back, everyone! pic.twitter.com/6BHr6j5BsC
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 31, 2019

1:30 p.m. IT’S OVER

Classes will resume Friday after city and union officials announced — separately — that they had reached a compromise about makeup days. Five school days will be made up, with the specifics yet to be determined. Our developing story is here.

11:45 a.m. Taking teachers’ temperature (they’re cold)

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied outside City Hall on the 11th day of their strike, the morning after the union endorsed a conditional agreement.

The crowds were smaller than they were earlier in the week, but a thrumming drumbeat and renewed indignation over the mayor’s stance on makeup days kept teachers marching around City Hall in bitter, windy, snowy conditions Thursday morning.

“I think we’re all really mad, because we’re still here,” said Bill Chlumsky, a special education teacher at Talman Elementary School in Gage Park. “We’ve agreed to end this strike, and all we want is for the mayor to give our kids back the days they’ve missed.”

With their health insurance expected to be suspended on Friday and an increasing weariness from the demands of being on strike, teachers said they are ready to head back to the classroom but remain determined to hold out on a deal until Mayor Lori Lightfoot agrees to add the missed school days — 11 and counting — back into the school year.

“It’s tough, it’s demoralizing, and it’s harder to come out every day,” Chlumsky said. “But if this is what we have to do to get our kids what they deserve, then that’s what we have to do.”

Chlumsky and fellow Talman teachers looked over the city’s offer while on the picket line Wednesday, and while Chlumsky said he still isn’t sure how he will vote when the contract goes out to the full membership, he said he thinks it will “probably” be accepted.

But, he said, “I think it’s really close down the middle.”

Art teacher Vanessa Viruet wore the Halloween costume she had planned to share with students to the Chicago Teachers Union rally on the 11th day of Chicago’s teacher strike.

Art teacher Vanessa Viruet showed up to the rally dressed in the Halloween costume she had planned to share with her students at Spry Elementary Community School in Little Village. Her lime-green wig, polka-dot skirt, and bedazzled clown makeup were a bright spot among a sea of winter coats and umbrellas meant to guard against the falling snow.

“We’re tired and we’re cold, and we want to be back inside with our students first and foremost,” Viruet said. “We wouldn’t be out here if we didn’t love our children.”

Viruet had planned to go to the doctor this morning to squeeze in an important appointment the day before she is set to lose her health insurance, but that was before news broke late Wednesday night that teachers would return to the picket lines on Halloween.

“I hope we all don’t get sick out here, because that would be something else,” she noted wryly.

If Lightfoot concedes on the makeup day issue, Viruet said she and her fellow teachers are ready to get back to the classroom, even if the contract on the table doesn’t include everything they were hoping for.

“It’s the makeup days [we’re waiting for],” she said. “Everything else, I think we’re willing to give her the benefit of the doubt she’ll hold up her end of the deal.”

11:25 a.m. CTU at City Hall

Union President Jesse Sharkey has entered the mayor’s office at City Hall. Chicago Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Arne Rivera is also there, according to WBEZ’s Sarah Karp. Rivera has been a core member of the district’s negotiating team.

11 a.m. More makeup context

How to handle makeup days is usually negotiated as part of strike settlement deals, a National Council on Teacher Quality analyst told us this week. But that doesn’t mean the agreements always include makeup time.

The Chicago Teachers Union just shared its analysis of the last 35 years of teachers strikes in Illinois. Of 915 days lost to 107 strikes, it found, 75% were made up. That’s according to Chris Geovanis, a union spokesperson, who added, “We are truly in uncharted legal territory.”

In the two big-city strikes last school year, no makeup days were scheduled and no back pay was offered. Los Angeles students and teachers lost six days to the strike, while Denver’s strike lasted for thee days. Denver did offer teachers the opportunity to earn a day’s pay by attending a rescheduled weekend training session.

10 a.m. The Internet has ideas

The public has ideas for makeup days. Here are some of the many conversations we’ve seen on social media about the prospect.

9:30 a.m. Open to talking, but who’s calling whom?

In an update to press on Thursday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she’s willing to negotiate on the issue of makeup days for teachers that were missed during the strike — but she’s “not willing to do a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ unilateral demand.”

Options on the table include extending the school year, cutting short winter or spring break, or using other professional development days. Asked what she might consider, Lightfoot hedges: “We’re not going to negotiate in the media.”

Schools chief Janice Jackson steps up and says the district is reluctant to cut short breaks and disrupt family plans.

As for next steps, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday night he was waiting on a call from the mayor. But Lightfoot says the “the ball is in [the union’s] court.”

“I’m here all day. If they’d like to have a conversation, they know where to find me.”

9:15 a.m. Frustrated families

Parents who are facing an 11th day with children out of school are expressing a mix of emotions, from confusion, to consternation, to downright anger. “I deeply appreciate the teachers,” says Alicia Blais, a South Side parent of a second grader and a preschooler. “But I don’t want CTU to drag out contract negotiations.” She said she’s also worried that her children, who have many years of schooling to go, will have to endure future strikes if peace isn’t reached.

Other reactions we’re seeing on social media in response to our question this morning: How are you feeling?

From the parent view, I'm pretty annoyed with both sides (& CTU had to work to get on par with the Mayor and CPS in earning my ire; I was with them through most of this, as I was in 2016 and 2012).
— Scott Walter (@slwalter123) October 31, 2019

Drained and tired of watching my special needs child come unravelled from lack of school structure. Frustrated with how the mayor has handled this.
— Blanche (@WestofPulaski) October 31, 2019

What happened Wednesday

It was an anxiety-producing 24 hours as teachers and Chicago Public Schools leadership worked toward a deal.

Here’s what happened last night.
Here’s why makeup days are an issue.
Here’s the tentative agreement teachers voted for. Even once the strike ends, the union’s constitution will require the broader membership to vote on the document.d
Here’s a detailed accounting of the topsy-turvy last 24 hours.

Also Wednesday: The 7,500 bus aides, special education assistants, and other school support staff who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 73 voted in favor of a deal with the city. Members remain on strike out of solidarity to teachers, but leadership has said they will not be considered “scabs” if they return to work.

What happens next? Teachers are planning at 10 a.m. rally at City Hall. There’s nothing yet on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s official schedule. We’ll track developments here.

Parents, students, teachers: How are you feeling about the latest developments? Write us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.

Chicago and union reach tentative pact — but teachers say an end to strike hinges on making up days

2019-10-31T03:30:00+00:00

After a tense 24-hour stalemate that saw hopes raised and dashed of a possible deal, delegates for the Chicago Teachers Union voted 364 to 242 to approve a tentative contract Wednesday night. But that vote comes with a caveat: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot must agree to let the members make up their missed days and earn their pay, teachers say.

In the meantime, the teachers say their strike will continue, entering an 11th day Thursday. Chicago Public Schools has canceled classes for its 300,000 students in district-run schools.

Speaking at City Hall Wednesday after the union’s House of Delegates vote, Lightfoot said she was “gravely disappointed” in the turn of events and said she did not plan to compensate teachers for days they were on strike.

“At some point, the negotiations have to end,” Lightfoot said. “(Union President) Jesse Sharkey came into my office, laid out six issues, and told me in response to my skepticism that they would not move the goalposts. He gave me his word.”

“At some point,” she said, “the negotiations have to end.”

Bargaining has waxed and waned for two weeks, and leaders of both sides have alternately appeared cautiously optimistic, non-committal and patently frustrated at what they see as political posturing at the bargaining table and in public.

Tuesday night, talks appeared stuck on teacher prep time and a host of ancillary issues that had received little attention, like teacher evaluations and banking sick time.

A Tuesday night House of Delegates meeting to “take the temperature” of teachers, according to leaders, raised hopes that a deal was near, but ended with teachers saying they’d be on picket lines on Wednesday.

But in 24 hours, the mood changed again. The governing body was called to convene again Wednesday night. The 41-page tentative agreement members weighed lays out how the city would invest money in a committee to help reduce overcrowded classes and in hundreds of new social workers, nurses, and special education managers — some $70 million in additional staffing, all told. It also better guards counselors, special education classroom assistants, and teachers assistants from being called on to serve as de-facto substitutes, a chronic complaint on the picket lines.

But the document, which also has provisions containing minutia about diapering and makeup of committees, lacked some of the union’s top priorities such as additional prep time for most elementary teachers.

Still, the majority of delates voted in favor of the agreement.

Stephanie Bradley, a social studies teacher at Kelley High School on Chicago’s South Side, said she cast one of the “yes” votes to end the strike. “We got a lot of wins,” she said, standing outside union headquarters after the vote. “It’s not perfect — but, overall, I think it’s something we can take back to our members that is solid. There’s never been anything guaranteed about class size, for example, and now there is some mechanism to enforce class size. Would I like to be better? Absolutely. But it’s a great start.”

Sharkey called the tentative agreement “a contract we can believe in” and listed several gains.

But he said one issue was preventing a return to work: making up lost days.

“We don’t understand why the mayor can’t simply call and say, We’ll give you an agreement to make up instructional time,” said Sharkey, who was flanked by union leaders and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. “If the mayor calls and says we have an agreement on that, we’ll be back at work tomorrow. If she does not call, we’re continuing to be on strike.”

Minutes later, Chicago Public Schools posted a notice on social media that it was canceling classes for an 11th day.

Teachers are planning a 10 a.m. rally on Thursday at City Hall. Lightfoot said her team would be ready to return to the bargaining table.

Cassie Walker Burke contributed to this report.

Live updates from Day 9 of the Chicago teachers strike: After a tense day, a House of Delegates meeting but no deal (or school)

2019-10-30T01:40:00+00:00

Most of Chicago was sleeping overnight when weary negotiators from Chicago Public Schools and the city’s teachers union emerged around 2 a.m. and reported progress — but not enough to get a deal over the finish line.

Could Tuesday be the day?

Our team will be watching. Follow Yana Kunichoff (@yanazure), Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago), and Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) for the latest in negotiations, rallies, and more.

8:40 p.m. It’s official: No school

Teachers came out of the House of Delegates meeting reporting that there would not be school Wednesday, and Chicago Public Schools confirmed the news in a tweet moments later. Wednesday will be the 10th day of the teacher strike.

Here’s how one local elementary school’s Twitter account responded to the news:

pic.twitter.com/8wvPMQBlI6
— Courtenay Elementary🐾 (@CourtenayTigers) October 30, 2019

7:23 p.m. Betsy DeVos weighs in

The nation’s top education official, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has just commented on Chicago’s teacher strike for the first time, posting a column by a Chicago Tribune editorial board member that disparages teacher protests as “team-building exercises for teacher unions that are trying to stay relevant.”

MUST READ: After 12 days of a @CTULocal1 strike... “why are they still striking? It’s rhetorical. You know why. The union was never not going to strike.” - @McQuearyKristen https://t.co/Pp1s77PaPe
— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) October 30, 2019

6:30 p.m. A closer look at the numbers

Just as the House of Delegates meeting is getting going, Chicago Public Schools posts its latest offer to teachers on its website, offering some of the most insight so far into its side of recent proposals. All in all, the city’s offer totals more than $1.5 billion more across five years than the union’s current contract. Here are the highlights:

Teacher pay

Increases to pay for paraprofessionals, with immediate jumps of 5% or 9%, depending on their certification level.
An additional $5 million toward pay for veteran teachers.
Context: The district’s offer of 16% cost-of-living raises for teachers across five years actually consumes the bulk of the proposals. Nearly two-thirds of the city’s proposed spending would go toward individual teachers’ compensation. Besides pay, that includes the district’s offer to pick up most of the increasing costs of health care premiums.

Class size

The city ups its offer from $25 million to $35 million to be used to reduce oversized K-12 classrooms across the district. Priority would go to schools serving the most vulnerable students. A joint CTU/CPS council would have enforcement authority on how the money is spent.

Sports

In recent days, the city has added to its proposal a sports committee that would have an annual $5 million budget to spend on increases to coaching stipends and new equipment. The union surfaced inequity in athletic facilities and equipment as one of its issues, outside of its five core demands of reducing class size, increasing support staffing, pay for paraprofessionals and veteran teachers, prep time, and the length of the contract.

Staffing

By 2023, the city’s latest offer would fund 209 more social worker positions, 250 additional nurses, and 180 additional case manager positions for children with disabilities. The social workers and nurses would be enough to staff every school, it says.
Schools with the highest needs could choose from additional counselors, restorative justice coordinators, or librarians — up to a total of 120 positions across schools — by 2022-23.
The offer also puts money toward growing the pipeline of qualified nurses, social workers, bilingual teachers, and special education teachers with money for recruitment, training, and licensure programs, and, in some cases, partial tuition reimbursements.

5:30 p.m. Heated rhetoric as delegates meeting nears

If there’s a deal to end the strike, neither the union nor Mayor Lori Lightfoot is saying so. Speaking late this afternoon, Lightfoot said she and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson met for hours today with union leaders.

“We moved our position even further to where CTU said it was most critical to getting a deal done,” Lightfoot said. “And what we heard is it’s still not good enough.”

The city increased its offer for class size reduction efforts from $25 million to $35 million a year, Lightfoot said, and also promised to spend an additional $5 million a year on pay increases for veteran teachers.

Just minutes earlier, the union had sent out a press release with the title “Shame on the mayor and CPS for their disinformation campaign.” The message said the city had mischaracterized tonight’s House of Delegates meeting in its communication to families by saying that the union could be voting to accept a deal.

“In fact,” the release said, “the more than 700 elected leaders of the union are meeting to review the current status of bargaining – what’s been landed and what continues to remain unsettled at the table – and to discuss next steps to push Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CPS bargaining team to reach a just settlement of this strike.”

4:30 p.m. No, it’s really not clear what’s going to happen tonight

Here’s another update from the Chicago Teachers Union second-in-command, which suggests that if union’ delegates review an offer tonight, it will be the last one that city officials laid out.

60 minute meeting with Mayor Lightfoot. She reiterated the same things...this deal is already done and there’s nothing left to get except what’s left to get. @CTULocal1 see you at HoD. Time to unpack.
— #CTUINC (@stacydavisgates) October 29, 2019

Davis Gates’s previous message laying out the meeting’s possible agendas has drawn divided reaction on Twitter. “#Takethedeal or Suspend strike.. We are done!” one person replied. “I choose number 2!” answered another.

One fact that could get lost in the noise tonight: The union did win concessions from the city since beginning the strike, though little has changed in days. One person who responded to Davis Gates made that point, and it’s one you can expect to hear again if the union’s delegates choose to end the strike.

I'm really proud of the gains we've made. I think it's time to claim our victory for a contract ***far better*** than what was on the table before the strike. Thank you to @SharkeyCTU1 , @stacydavisgates, and the Big Bargaining Team for your fantastic work. Much love and respect.
— Andrew Johnson (@GburgAddress) October 29, 2019

4 p.m. An uncertain agenda

The agenda for tonight’s House of Delegates meeting isn’t set, according to Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, who just tweeted that two things are possible.

@CTULocal1 HoD Meeting hinges on Mayor Lightfoot. @CTULocal1 is holding an HoD to do one of two things: 1. Discuss a Tentative Agreement and decide to suspend strike OR 2. Fortify ourselves and press on. #PutItInWriting #10Months
— #CTUINC (@stacydavisgates) October 29, 2019

It’s hard to imagine that there could be school on Wednesday. The meeting begins at 6 p.m., so even in the most optimistic scenario, a decision couldn’t be made about whether to hold school until several hours after the city has made its decision each day during the strike. And in 2012, teachers got a day to review a contract deal before it was approved and the strike ended.

But at the same time, families, educators, and city officials alike say they are eager to resume their regular lives, as soon as it makes sense to do so.

3:32 p.m. A different kind of message to families

For the first time in weeks, families have gotten a message from Chicago Public Schools that doesn’t say classes are canceled. Here’s what it says instead:

2 p.m. Protesters arrested at Sterling Bay

A protester wearing a Chicago Teachers Union shirt was led away by police during an afternoon protest on the teachers strike’s ninth day.

Several protesters inside the Sterling Bay headquarters were removed by Chicago police just before 2 p.m., about an hour after the red-clad educators arrived to deliver a letter to the developer. Police handcuffed those participating in the sit-in and detained them in squad cars, as their fellow Chicago Teachers Unon members who were outside chanted, “Shame, shame, shame.”

1:15 p.m. Taking the fight to Fulton Market

Ariel reports that a few dozen teachers have gathered at the Fulton Market headquarters of Sterling Bay, the real estate developer behind Lincoln Yards, to call attention to city tax subsidies that spur development. The union has tried to make the case that some of those dollars should go to schools, even as municipal finance experts and budget watchdogs have questioned that logic.

CTU members are parked outside Sterling Bay HQ and inside to deliver a letter asking the company to invest in students. #ctustrike #cpsstrike @chalkbeatCHI pic.twitter.com/NAoC9yJYrK
— Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) October 29, 2019

12:34 p.m. House of Delegates meeting scheduled, but …

The union must have its 700-member House of Delegates vote on a contract deal before teachers can return to work. That has made meeting-watch an important indicator of how talks are going.

A member of the union’s bargaining team just tweeted that one is scheduled for tonight — and a union representative confirms the meeting for us — but that doesn’t indicate a deal.

Having a meeting on the calendar means that if the union and city are able to reach an agreement by later this afternoon — something that has seemed to grow less likely over the course of the morning — union delegates would be in place to act quickly on it.

If there’s no deal, the conversation would turn to the current state of negotiations.

11:30 a.m. About those new issues

Now we know more about those “new issues” that Chicago Public Schools’ No. 2 LaTanya McDade referred to earlier.

In a press briefing at City Hall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was joined by CPS CEO Janice Jackson, said the teachers union is “moving the goalposts” and asking the mayor to now support a specific elected school board bill as well as a state bill that would broaden the list of grievances that the union can legally strike over.

Currently, the union can only strike over economic issues of pay and benefits. It has held off on a pay agreement while it raises what it calls “common good” issues, such as class sizes and staffing.

Lightfoot, who started the briefing by saying her team has made “significant compromises” in the deal, says such “11th hour” political requests have no place in a contract agreement.

“Are we really keeping our kids out of class unless I agree to support the CTU’s full political agenda, wholesale?” she asked.

Toward the end of the briefing, Jackson brought up another core issue that remains outstanding: the union’s demand for an additional 30 minutes of prep time a day for elementary school teachers. To accommodate the request, schools would have to potentially start later. “What’s holding this up now is a set of political issues, and an effort to try and cut instructional time, which we cannot agree to,” Jackson said.

10:40 a.m. No change yet

Chicago Public Schools officials briefed reporters about negotiations during on the ninth day of the teacher strike.

Despite a vow to get a deal Monday and 16 hours of negotiating that creeped into early morning hours Tuesday, a deal remains out of reach, CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said this morning.

In addition to the sticking point of prep time for teachers, “we also have some new issues that have been put forward by the union as of late that are concerns for us,” McDade said. The new issues, which McDade would not identify, were brought up during Monday’s negotiations, she said.

The district has agreed to meet the staffing levels and class size demands, with a written promise to have a nurse and social worker in every school, a $25 million investment in lowering class size, and a $75 million investment in staffing, McDade said.

“We put it in writing and we put it in the contract,” she said as she prepared to head back into negotiations. “And yet our students are not in schools for the ninth day.”

10:17 a.m. Scene on the streets

We're here picketting at Lincoln Yards! #faircontractnow #putitinwriting #CTUSEIUstrike #NoRest4BilingualEd @CTULocal1 @CTSCampaign @TeachForJustice @CTULatinx @SEIU73 pic.twitter.com/UPhAF1Mhmi
— Profe Ervin 🐜 (@SolidarityErvin) October 29, 2019

9:54 a.m. Coming soon

We just got an announcement about a Chicago Public Schools press availability outside Malcolm X College, where negotiations are taking place, in about 20 minutes. Unlike most of the advisories we’ve gotten, the announcement came from the mayor’s office, not the school district.

9:30 a.m. Field trips

The Field Museum is opening its doors for free today to Chicago Public Schools students and their families.

Indeed, for families able to make use of the opportunities, the strike has offered some benefits. On Monday, the Museum of Science and Industry offered a free day to families affected by the strike. And pop-up strike camps have kept students occupied and engaged, for a cost.

Here’s a tweet from one parent who says she thinks her children have kept learning during the strike:

I also would love for my kids to re-take their MAP test. I’m not an unschooling fan, but they have had a good two weeks. Board games, science projects, transit trips. Foreign language and instrument practice done before 3. They done well. https://t.co/ATtWsy6Lnu — Boo-lou (@CarmintheB) October 29, 2019

Noting that her family was lucky to have no-cost child care from grandparents, she immediately added, “But it’s time to go back.”

8:30 a.m. Change in plans

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has canceled her visit to the South Side YMCA. City Hall didn’t announce what she’s doing instead. But last week she said she would step in at the negotiating table with the Chicago Teachers Union when she could “add value.”

8 a.m. Principals ‘like Switzerland’

Attending work everyday to watch children while their teachers picket outside, Chicago’s school principals are “like Switzerland,” two school leaders tell WTTW-Channel 11, caught between the needs of their teachers and their responsibility to students and district leadership.

The principals, Anna Pavichevich of Amundsen High School and David Belanger of Hanson Park Elementary School, said students are coming to their North Side schools each day and largely have recreation time, doing arts and crafts, and, at Amundsen, meeting with the Becoming A Man program.

But as far as math and reading instruction, “No, we’re not doing that at this time,” Belanger said.

How do they feel about teachers’ demands for prep time, one of the issues that appear to be holding up a deal? “It’s important that teachers are well-prepared for instruction,” said Belanger. “At the elementary level, when teachers lost morning preparation time (a few contracts ago), it did impact learning and instruction. As a former teacher, I was in a classroom for 29 years, I would like time in the morning to prepare.” Find the full clip below.

6:30 a.m. The day’s itinerary

Teachers will not march on picket lines Tuesday morning; instead, the union has asked them to gather at one of several meeting points at 8 a.m. and march to the site of the Lincoln Yards development on the city’s Near North Side. The $5 billion, 50-acre riverfront redevelopment plan has been controversial, and teachers want to call attention to the city’s use of tax incentives to spur large real-estate developments.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot plans to tour a South Side YMCA where children displaced by the strike are spending the day. The YMCA has reported steady increases in the number of children attending its strike camps as the strike drags on.

Negotiators will return to Malcolm X and pick up where they left off. Yana reports from a late night of negotiations that the two sides are near agreement on class size and staffing — two of the union’s core issues — but talks foundered over the issue of increasing teacher prep time, according to city officials. Here’s the issue, explained.

Teacher strike continues to ninth day after marathon talks fail to reach accord

2019-10-29T08:29:30+00:00

Despite marathon bargaining that stretched into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the Chicago Teachers Union and the city failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.

That means the Chicago teachers strike now enters its ninth day, with no school or after-school activities for more than 300,000 students.

The sides are near agreement on class size and staffing, but talks foundered over the contentious issue of increasing teacher prep time, according to city officials.

Speaking to press after 2 a.m., weary city negotiators said they were frustrated to end a long day of bargaining without a deal but planned to head back to the table a few hours later in the morning.

“We really had some strong substantive conversations at the table,” said LaTanya McDade, the second-in-command of Chicago Public Schools. “On… issues like class size and staffing we have gotten the closest we have ever been.”

The teachers union’s general counsel, Robert Bloch, said the union had laid out a proposed agreement that met many of their demands for equity, and hoped the city would respond affirmatively Tuesday morning. “We hope the city can find the resources to complete an agreement,” Bloch said.

Bloch declined to give additional details on what the agreement contained, but said it offered creative solutions to address sticking points.

Unlike previous daily press conferences during the negotiations, neither union leadership nor rank-and-file bargaining members spoke at the update.

In separate talks, the union representing bus aides, custodians and other support staff reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools late Sunday. That deal awaits ratification by SEIU Local 73 members and the school board. But SEIU leaders said their members will remain on the picket line with teachers until the teachers strike concludes.

On Tuesday, the teachers union is expected to hold a rally at the site of the controversial Lincoln Yards development project, which will be funded in part by a special city fund intended to spur development in blighted areas and that the union argues should be redirected to schools.

Saturday talks between Chicago and its teachers union end with no deal — and a $38 million divide

2019-10-27T05:05:00+00:00

As Chance the Rapper was wearing a red Chicago Teachers Union sweatshirt on “Saturday Night Live,” union officials were still hunkered down with city negotiators.

When both sides emerged later, city and union officials said they had made progress but still remained far from reaching a deal to end the city’s seven-day teacher strike.

“We’re not close to where we need to be on the big issues,” said Deputy Mayor Sybil Madison. “We will return tomorrow and work diligently to close the divide.”

Another late night with no deal dims the prospect of classes resuming on Monday. If teachers do not return to work then, the current strike will become the longest in more than three decades.

There is still a $38 million gap between what the city has committed to spending and what the union is demanding, union President Jesse Sharkey said early Sunday morning.

“We have made what we believe is a reasonable proposal that would bridge the final gap and get a contract done,” Sharkey said. He added that the spending would account for three of the union’s core issues: class size relief, support staffing, and pay raises for paraprofessionals as well as veteran teachers. “We’re still waiting for a response from them.”

Sharkey said a fourth major issue, teacher prep time, remains a sticking point. He also suggested that the union could give in on teachers’ demand for a three-year contract if the city meets its other demands. The city has said it is committed to a five-year contract length.

There were multiple indications Saturday that the city and union are not necessarily planning on an immediate resolution. Union leaders said there were no changes in the bargaining team sent by the school district, meaning that neither CEO Janice Jackson nor Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended Saturday’s talks. Lightfoot has said she will participate in bargaining when she can “add value.”

And the union had not scheduled a meeting of its 800-member House of Delegates, which must vote to end the strike and sending teachers back to their classrooms. It would be difficult — but in theory possible — for a meeting to be held Sunday if a deal is reached early in the day.

Going into the weekend, both sides described Saturday as a pivotal day for negotiations.

In updates Friday, city and union officials said negotiators had settled many technical items, leaving weekend talks to focus on five core issues of class size, staffing, teacher prep time, contract length, and pay.

But substantial differences remained at the start of the day. A bargaining table document obtained by the Sun-Times on Friday pointed to a $71 million gap between what the city so far had agreed to spend and what the teachers union wants. Talks Saturday closed more than half of that distance but still left a substantial divide.

Plus, Sharkey detailed several unresolved issues beyond those five concerns in a conversation with union members late Friday night. Those included whether teachers who retire should receive payments for unused sick days, and when teacher evaluations should take place.

Teachers continued to make their case publicly on Saturday. Parents and teachers of students with disabilities met with Board of Education President Miguel del Valle and asked him to sign a statement pledging his support. The statement, which he signed, called for dedicated case managers and reasonable workloads for teachers and case managers.

The meeting came a day after parents and educators reported continuing concerns with special education at a state legislative committee hearing about state and local efforts to address longstanding problems.

“We can’t deny we’ve been deficient as a system about it. We have to do something about it, and we have to do it now,” del Valle told the group Saturday.

And striking teachers got a boost from Chance the Rapper during his late-night appearance hosting “Saturday Night Live.” During his last appearance on the late-night show, he donated $1 million to Chicago schools. On Saturday, he quipped, “It completely fixed everything,” before growing more serious.

“To the teachers in Chicago, I know you guys are on strike right now, I fully support you,” he said. “I just wish that when I was in school, my teachers had gone on a strike.”

The contract talks continue as teachers at one Chicago charter school ended their strike. Late Friday, educators at Passages Charter School in Edgewater announced they’d reached a contract deal with their manager, ending a four-day strike. Under the agreement, Passages’ 50 teachers will see their salaries brought in line with district teachers within three years. Teachers said they also gained increased paraprofessional pay and protections for the school’s largely immigrant school population. The school’s roughly 420 students will return to school Monday.

On Sunday, the union plans a 3 p.m. solidarity rally on the city’s West Side featuring civil rights activist Rev. William Barber. If school isn’t in session Monday, several student groups say they plan to stage a rally in the Loop.

Negotiators for Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents 7,500 bus aides, custodians, and special education aides who are also on strike, also said they returned to the bargaining table Saturday. In a late-night update, SEIU leaders said they were still waiting on a counterproposal from the city.

Live updates from Day 7 of the Chicago teachers strike: No deal but a get-down-to-business tone for weekend talks

2019-10-26T01:30:00+00:00

Chicago teachers have been back on the picket line for the seventh straight day — but with renewed hope that they and their students could be headed back to class soon.

The current strike now matches the Chicago Teachers Union’s 2012 strike in the number of school days lost.

The union is still planning a massive rally for Saturday morning, and some teachers got civil disobedience training on Thursday, so things could still change.

As we have since the strike began, we’ll be offering updates throughout the day today here. As we prepare for an eventual deal, we want to know: What will you want to know about the teachers contract agreement?

8:30 pm. Hopes turn to the weekend for progress

Down to the most challenging and important issues to the Chicago Teachers Union, negotiators from both sides Friday somberly offered bargaining updates that didn’t note major progress. One thing was noticeably absent: the antagonistic rhetoric that characterized previous statements.

It’s not certain whether schools will reopen on Monday.

While neither the union nor school district negotiators named specifics, the biggest sticking points so far have been class size and staffing. The union is also still hoping to win additional prep time, a demand the district has rejected.

At back-to-back press conferences on Friday night, negotiators spoke with cautious optimism, but acknowledged they have a long way to go. Their tone was more subdued than it had been on Thursday.

The school district said Friday’s talks were stop-and-go as they struggled over the biggest issues. “We are really focused on how do we get to a place where there is some compromise on those big issues,” Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said.

Likewise, union President Jesse Sharkey said, “when you start getting to the stuff that matters the most but is the hardest, bargaining at that point can be an exercise in how to manage your emotions, stay cool and work hard.”

It is possible to close the gap on remaining issues in Saturday’s all-day bargaining session, McDade told reporters outside of Malcolm X College. “We are working through those issues with the hopes of getting our students in the classroom as soon as possible.”

The union and City Hall negotiators both said a federal mediator overseeing negotiations for months has been playing a role, but declined to provide details.

In a Friday night town hall call-in with members, Sharkey said prep time is likely to be a serious sticking point to making a deal. The union wants an extra 30 minutes of morning prep time for elementary teachers, which it lost when Chicago lengthened its school day in 2016.

“It’s a tough issue,” Sharkey told members. “It’s a reasonable demand and we are very serious about it.”

He also reportedly said that a demand to bank sick days is still unresolved.

6:30 p.m. Is teacher morale up or down?

Walking out on a job — and your students — is not easy. Sustaining energy during a strike is hard. How are Chicago teachers feeling?

We talked to many this week, who said the possibility of winning more resources for their classrooms and more manageable working conditions is buoying their spirits. And they’re relying on one another.

They also think about what they need:

Social worker Alyssa Rodriguez said she was spurred to strike because her caseload, split between two schools, at times felt impossible. “Listen, I am good, but I am not God,” she joked. “Plan your crisis accordingly, because I am only in the building on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.”

6 p.m. Legislators grill Chicago over special ed

Among the union’s top demands has been better staffing for special education. Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised to provide a special education case worker for every school with a concentration of students with disabilities — by 2024. But student needs now are going unmet.

Just how are district efforts to improve going?

Well, in a five-hour hearing Friday, a state legislative committee looked into it. They heard from parents like Christine Palmieri, who said that even after she spent years advocating for her autistic son, the district still denies him the support he needs.

“It has caused significant, long-term regression,” she said.

“Why is it OK for CPS not to follow the law, and why do I feel like I have to be apologetic for my demands that my son deserves better?” she said. “I am exhausted.”

3:30 p.m. Rally disrupts Friday rush hour

A Chicago Teachers Union rally shut down the northbound lanes of Michigan Avenue on the seventh day of the union’s strike.

Negotiations might be moving in the right direction, but protest action is only growing more aggressive this afternoon as Chicago Teachers Union members and their supporters rally downtown at the start of rush hour.

Helen Chang, a special education teacher at Pulaski International School, said she was tired at the end of the strike’s second week but kept thinking about the students with disabilities at her school. “We are missing teachers and kids are not getting their minutes,” she said, referring to the amount of time students are legally required to spend receiving special services. “An IEP is supposed to be based on what kids need, but it’s currently based on what we can provide.”

Teachers said they had planned to shut down Lake Shore Drive and had formed a front line of those who were willing to get arrested but encountered a line of police holding zip ties. You can see a testy exchange, and a dire warning from the police, in the video below.

Striking Chicago teachers and support staff are going off-route and trying to shut down an active Lake Shore Drive and they're told: "You all saw Charlottesville. If someone hurts you, that's on you, I cannot protect you."

YIKES! https://t.co/TayeRgjgBy
— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) October 25, 2019

1:45 p.m. The case of student athletes

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Illinois High School Athletic Association will waive a minimum-game rule for Chicago high school football teams affected by the strike, reopening the door for teams to potentially enter state championships if schools re-open by Wednesday.

Disqualified from meets and tournaments due to rules that bar students from sports activities when schools are striking, the athletes have become visible symbols of the collateral damage of the walkouts. Parents representing a cross country team at Jones College Prep attended a hearing in court on Friday in hopes of last-minute intervention before a tournament Saturday. Meanwhile, several athletes take their concerns to City Hall in hopes of sharing them the mayor. She departs City Hall before the students arrive.

1:42 p.m. Tagging the movement

Now there’s graffiti with the slogan #PutItInWriting, which has become a union refrain. It refers to a demand that the mayor commit to specific numbers of support staff in the contract, an issue we explain more thoroughly here.

#PutItInWriting @CTULocal1 @SEIU @chicagosmayor pic.twitter.com/wervOvfZz7
— Kane One (@kane_one_) October 25, 2019

10:15 a.m. Where negotiations stand

After no update since Oct. 18, a website with the city’s latest proposals to the union got an update late Thursday. We put together what we saw there and what we’ve heard from union bargaining team members and see that there’s still some distance on three core issues:

The city’s current proposal on staffing offers a full-time nurse and social worker for every school (over five years), increased staffing for bilingual and special education students, and additional staff member that would go to high-need schools, who could choose from a librarian, restorative justice coordinator or other position. The union is still asking for an enforcement mechanism to make sure that, if staff targets aren’t met, members could file a grievance.
On class size, the district’s current offer gives more resources to address class size through a committee and the hiring of additional teaching assistants. The union wants more funding to go towards staffing that would address class size.
On prep time, the union is still asking for an additional 30 minutes of morning prep time for elementary teachers, which would likely mean either students losing time with teachers, or teachers starting earlier. The district wants to maintain the current amount of prep time.

Here’s where the union’s top priorities — these three and two others — stood earlier this week.

9:37 a.m. Make-or-break talks

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is way out at O’Hare giving an update on the process to modernize the aging airport. Here’s her morning comment about where the strike stands — and it’s guarded.

Lightfoot: "Today is a very important day" in negotiations with @CTULocal1. If there is not significant progress, it will be "difficult" to reach an agreement and get students back in school quickly.
— Heather Cherone (@HeatherCherone) October 25, 2019

9:04 a.m. Janice Jackson’s values

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson is reaching out to teachers through a Twitter thread where she says she’s on their side — but also has responsibility to the city’s bottom line. She compares the district’s spending to “a family putting gas and groceries on the credit card” and says fixes will come in time.

“The truth is, I want what all teachers want,” she writes. Later, she adds, “You have a partner in me. Let’s work together so we can all get back to doing what we love.”

Thread alert. Stick with me here.

As we approach our seventh day of teachers out of their classrooms, away from their students, and not doing what they love, I want to lay out my values so every one can see where I’m coming from.
— Janice K. Jackson, EdD (@janicejackson) October 25, 2019

7:30 a.m. AP news bulletin

Believe it or not, we’re still working on stories that aren’t about the strike. We just published one in partnership with Crain’s Chicago Business that examines the state of Advanced Placement access and enrollment.

We analyzed enrollment in the advanced courses over the last five years and found that Chicago’s award-winning AP enrollment boost has disproportionately benefited white and Asian students, while the number of black students taking the classes fell at a faster rate than the district’s overall black population.

The city is working with a Seattle-based nonprofit to reduce enrollment inequity in advanced courses, and we visited one school — Mather — where those efforts appear to be paying off. “We have had to change the mindset of teachers about why potential students are getting missed, and change the traditional narrative about what AP students are,” Principal Peter Auffant said.

7 a.m. On tap for today

Teachers returned to picket lines at their schools at 6:30 a.m. Later this morning, students at Lane Tech, one of the city’s most selective high schools, will rally to support their teachers, according to a union press release, which notes that the school’s homecoming was canceled due to the strike. And parents who say they support the union’s demands plan to outline their concerns with their children’s schools at an event in Pilsen.

There’s also one piece of business on the agenda that’s not strike-related. State lawmakers are holding a hearing about Chicago Public Schools’ special education policy at the Bilandic Building downtown. Teachers union members plan to testify about their experiences, according to the union advisory.

Chicago teachers strike: Union now hoping school might resume Monday

2019-10-25T04:16:50+00:00

Marking a turnaround in tone and substance, Chicago Public Schools and its teachers union reported Thursday night that negotiators made progress toward resolving a bitter strike now heading into its seventh day.

In back-to-back press conferences, both sides reported movement, without offering specifics, in daylong negotiations.

The union hinted at a deal that could lead to school resuming Monday. “That is absolutely our hope,” said Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff. “The details are moving, there’s been a good back and forth today,”

The city’s negotiators, in only their second press conference since the strike began, echoed the sentiment. “We are encouraged about the productivity from today, having some really strong discussions about proposals already on the table,” Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said. “The tone is respectful… There is definitely more progress at the table.”

School has been canceled Friday for a seventh day, equaling the length of the teachers walkout in 2012. The fact that it’s not a Chicago record offers little solace to parents: Teachers walked out six months into Mayor Harold Washington’s term, in 1987, for 19 work days.

Thursday’s talks reflected a positive tone that hasn’t been heard since the weekend.

Still, negotiators have not reached any tentative agreements on staffing, class size or teacher prep time, and the union has not scheduled a meeting of its House of Delegates, the representative body whose vote is needed to approve a contract agreement and call off the strike.

So far, the city and the union have made tentative agreements on protecting counselor time, funding programs to help paraprofessionals become teachers, and teacher evaluations. In an appearance on ABC7, schools chief Janice Jackson described most of the agreements as being compromises by Chicago Public Schools. “The compromise has been on our side,” Jackson said.

But bargaining team members say that’s because issues like evaluations or counselor time are not demands that require significant funding.

The strike will come down to what both sides can agree on around resources, and union bargaining team members told Chalkbeat they spent Thursday discussing what they could and couldn’t move forward with to end the strike.

On the city’s side, negotiators wouldn’t specify how much flexibility there was in funding, or how Wednesday’s contentious back-and-forth about how much money will go toward the contract has impacted negotiations.

“We have all been very clear about the investments being made in this contract, and we are focusing on continuing to have productive conversations,” said deputy mayor for education and human services Sybil Madison.

Even as teachers negotiations show positive movement, negotiations for the other union on strike, SEIU Local 73, appear to be stalled.

The union representing 7,500 special education classroom assistants, bus aides and custodians said the district is refusing to negotiate with them.

Larry Alcoff, the union’s lead negotiator, said in a press conference there had only been two bargaining sessions with the city since the strike began: one that lasted for an hour and a second that lasted just 12 minutes. City officials could not offer more, he said.

“This is not a publicity stunt,” Alcoff said. “It’s a sincere request that school district negotiators work with us.”

The city denied that it cut off talks, and said it was the union that shortened the second session. Speaking on WBEZ Thursday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city had put together a “fulsome” offer that includes an immediate 9% wage hike for the district’s lowest-paid workers.

The next two days could see more dramatic action if resolutions in the two strikes aren’t reached. The teachers union conducted civil disobedience training Thursday.

On Friday union members will rally at downtown’s Buckingham Fountain, and on Saturday morning, they plan a larger gathering with labor allies.

Negotiations are planned for Friday and through the weekend.

Live updates from Day 3 of the Chicago teachers strike: A quick settlement ‘not likely,’ union says

2019-10-22T02:09:00+00:00

Monday dawned with no deal, no school, and rain in the forecast. Striking Chicago teachers planned picket lines at schools in the morning — including a South Side picket line they said would stretch for seven miles. An afternoon rally was set to start at 2 p.m. at Union Park and include support staff from Service Employees International Union 73.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s schedule for Monday put her on the West Side announcing a “groundbreaking initiative” with a bank CEO, not in teachers union talks.

We’ll be providing updates throughout the day from picket lines, negotiations, and public appearances by the mayor and union officials. Stay tuned!

7:35 p.m. Talks sour

After another day of bargaining, a large team of union members emerge from Malcolm X and say that any hopes of a quick settlement are “dashed.”

“Unless there’s a change at the top of the city in regards to their willingness to make meaningful changes, we’re not likely seeing a quick settlement to the current strike,” says union President Jesse Sharkey. We will post a full update soon.

The mayor today has dashed our hopes for a quick settlement, says @SharkeyCTU1 pic.twitter.com/qP1Q9DBdsh
— Yana Kunichoff (@Yanazure) October 22, 2019

6:30 p.m. Worries about fallout

Even as parents scrambled to arrange child care and older students rallied to support their teachers, both adults and teens alike expressed concern about the lasting impact of losing several days of school.

“It takes a month to get kids acclimated after summer break, and now we have to start all over,” parent Julie Garner told Ariel. “And teachers are already cramming everything in as it is. Tomorrow is Day Four — that’s a lot of time when it comes to school.”

Ariel reports from Marwen youth center near Cabrini-Green, a Voices of Youth in Chicago Education rally, and a Raise Chicago Coalition gathering at City Hall to demand a $15 minimum wage for youth labor.

4 p.m. It’s official: No school Tuesday

As of 4 p.m., CTU has not scheduled a House of Delegates vote, which would be necessary to end their strike. As a result, it will not be possible to hold classes tomorrow, 10/22. After school programming will not be available at CPS schools. pic.twitter.com/flX6cyCDzM
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 21, 2019

3:40 p.m. A special education view

It’s clear that some of the teachers union’s demands would help students with disabilities — such as the call for more nurses. We just published a new First Person piece from the mother of a 12th-grader with special needs who says that many other contract demands would also make a difference for her son, from the call for more librarians to the push for enforceable class size limits.

“When my son was in first grade, the school was overcrowded so they decided to convert the Resource Room into a regular classroom,” writes Catherine Henchek. “As a result, students with disabilities like my son had to do their lessons in the supply closet.”

3:10 p.m. A Springfield target

Monday is still trucking along but we just got a press release about a protest scheduled for Tuesday, at the Chicago office of Illinois Sen. John Cullerton. As the state senate president, Cullerton calls the shots on which bills advance, and the union says he has stopped legislation that would have helped Chicago teachers and students.

“Senate President Cullerton has prevented numerous bills for educational equity from being passed,” the release says “He needs to take accountability for his role in the current CPS strike.”

The release notes two bills specifically: one that would have created an elected school board in Chicago, and another that would have given teachers the legal right to bargain on non-compensation issues. While there are dozens of issues at play in the current negotiations, only the impasses on pay and benefits are legally allowed to hold up a final resolution.

2:40 p.m. Paul Vallas pipes up

One of the many people who lost out to Lori Lightfoot in this year’s race for Chicago mayor has weighed in on the strike — in a way that’s entirely consistent with his approach as fiscally conservative mayoral candidate.

Paul Vallas, a former schools CEO, argues in Crain’s Chicago Business that the new revenue from the state that union leaders say can fund their demands is uncertain.

What happens if the state’s budget—which is dependent on continued robust economic growth, unreliable new casino revenues, unproven new revenue sources like sports betting and cannabis sales and voter approval of a constitutional amendment allowing for a progressive income tax increase—does not realize the revenue needed to sustain a dramatic increase in program spending and fully fund the new school aid formula? This doesn’t even factor in the continued growth in the state’s long-term pension obligations that the state has yet to address. If the state is forced to freeze or even cut spending, will teachers agree to postpone their pay and automatic step increases to avoid layoffs and further school closings?

2:10 p.m. A mounting price tag

The city has put some of the union’s key demands in writing but cannot afford its full requests, an exasperated Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a press conference this afternoon.

With negotiations still ongoing, the city said it has promised to place one nurse and one social worker in every Chicago school within the next five years, with highest-need schools prioritized, to meet one of the union’s key demands, an increase in school support staff. But that contract provision would push up the total cost of the city’s proposal by hundreds of millions of dollars, Lightfoot said Monday.

How that will be funded remains unclear. The mayor said she won’t be taking any money from the controversial Lincoln Yards development project, and that the city will only sign a deal that it can pay for.

“What we have announced is something CPS can afford and achieve,” Lightfoot said at a Boys and Girls Club where some students out of school during the strike were spending the day.

Earlier on Monday, the mayor announced a new initiative, Invest South West, that would pump $175 million in city funds over three years into a handful of neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West side.

1 p.m. Class size, support staff, teacher pay … school sports?

Dozens of issues have surfaced in contract talks beyond the five that union officials have said will make or break an eventual deal (class size, support staffing, teacher prep time, pay and benefits, and contract length, if you’re keeping track).

Today a new one took central stage at a midday union press conference: school sports. The union said Monday that it had put forth a proposal for stipends for coaches, more money for facilities and equipment, and transportation to and from practices and games for players. It sent several teachers who also work as coaches to update reporters before their availability was cut short by an angry heckler.

Brad Dowling, a boys basketball coach at Steinmetz High School on the city’s Northwest Side, said his coaching staff turned over every year because of the demands of the job combined with low pay. “A freshman high school coach, after taxes, makes $1,000 a year, and they are spending four months of their lives, including weekends, at practices and games,” he said. “People with families have limits.”

Ken Clark, who coaches golf at Lindblom High School, said that without district-provided transportation, participation is effectively limited to students whose families can get them to tournaments outside the city. And other coaches described old and worn-down equipment, athletic fields that are in disrepair or filled with trash or unlit at night, and a revolving door of volunteers. “School athletic programs have the potential to change kids’ lives if they had the facilities to do so,” said a coach from Taft High School.

High school soccer and tennis players were shut out of a state tournament this weekend because of the teacher strike.

12:40 p.m. A hard no from the union

The Chicago Teachers Union may have mocked the city’s request for teachers to go back to work while bargaining continued, but we wanted to make sure that was the same as saying no.

Alison Eichorn, a teacher and coach at Lindblom High School who’s on the union’s negotiating team, offered a response during this afternoon’s union briefing. It was clear as day.

“That’s not going to happen,” Eichorn said. “I don’t know if the mayor is familiar with what unions do, but we’ve gotten more tentative agreements in two days than we’ve gotten in 10 months.”

11:53 a.m. City asks union to end strike without a deal

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson have asked the Chicago Teachers Union to call off the strike — without a deal.

“The students and families of Chicago cannot afford to be out of school for any longer,” Lightfoot and Jackson wrote in a letter to union officials Monday. “We are asking you to end the strike and encourage your members to return to work while bargaining continues.”

The letter emphasizes that families are feeling the strain of finding child care, seniors applying to college are worrying about their applications, and student athletes are forfeiting championship matches. Most importantly, the letter says, “our students’ safety and access to healthy food are far more at risk without the structure of a full school day.”

The union published the letter on Twitter with a dismissive note: “Can someone let @ChicagosMayor know when said ‘put it in writing,’ this isn’t what we meant.”

11:03 a.m. Calling Jesse Jackson

The Chicago Teachers Union says it has asked the Rev. Jesse Jackson to help negotiate with City Hall — and that the city resident and frequent bridge-builder has agreed.

“Every student in the city of Chicago should have access to great local public schools, and places that are safe, welcoming and meet their social and emotional needs. For that dream to become a reality, it will require that all parties come to the table with fairness, justice and equity in mind,” Jackson said in a union press release. “While understanding the budget concerns being made by the mayor, I’m also very sensitive to the voices of educators, who are often the ones on the day to day front lines with the students.

“I pray that my voice at the table will be the catalyst necessary for a fair and equitable deal to be reached.”

Jackson attended one bargaining session last week. He also played a key role in resolve Chicago teachers’ 1987 strike, which lasted for 19 days.

10:45 a.m. A casualty: Wednesday’s school board meeting

Chicago Public Schools has announced that this month’s school board meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.

The obvious question, and a reassuring answer, came almost immediately:

No. The board has to post the agenda by Monday morning in order to hold a Wednesday meeting. That's why the announcement went out today.
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 21, 2019

10:40 a.m. A 7-mile picket

Daniela Hernandez, Oscar Guillen and Tania Miranda, teachers at Edwards Elementary School, found refuge below an overpass during a seven-mile-long picket line, Oct. 21, 2019.

The rain did little to dampen the spirits of teachers who participated in a seven-mile-long picket line along Pulaski Road, stretching from Curie Metropolitan High School on Archer Avenue to 111th Street.

Teachers wrapped signs in plastic and brought umbrellas, ponchos, and canopies to shield them from the rain during the hourlong picket, during which their cheers were drowned out by a cacophony of horns from passing vehicles.

“We’ll be here as long as it takes,” said Tania Miranda, a third-grade teacher at Edwards Elementary School in Archer Heights. “It’s tiring, but it’s empowering, and it’s worth it.”

For negotiators, Miranda had a simple message from the picket line: “Keep fighting for us,” she said. “We got your back, as long as it takes.”

A high school teacher had the idea of lining the South Side thoroughfare with educators, said Juan Padilla, a math teacher at Curie. “It gives us more visibility, and you see this huge line and realize it’s not just a few teachers,” Padilla said. “That strength in numbers is huge.”

But even as teachers said they remained confident that union negotiators were advocating effectively for them and their students, some said they were beginning to grow concerned about their students. Sixth-grade language arts teacher Oscar Guillen said he had given students reading assignments to complete while their teachers were on strike.

“But I stopped at three [days],” Guillen said, “because I didn’t think we were going to go that far.”

9:30 am. Student athletes barred from competition

Student athletes who have been barred from participating in state competitions because of the strike report said over the weekend that they are appealing to the state athletic association. WBEZ reports Monday morning that Chicago Public Schools will not allow the students to participate because it does not want to put coaches in a position where they have to potentially cross a picket line. The state athletic association says it is unlikely to hear the students’ appeals.

9:15 a.m. SEIU to go back to the table

A spokesperson for SEIU73 tells Chalkbeat that negotiators for the union and City Hall are set to return to the table at 3 p.m. on Monday. The last session was Wednesday, and, over the weekend, reports surface that the next bargaining date has not yet been set.

Some 7,500 school support staff, from bus aides and special education classroom assistants to custodians and school security officers, have joined picket lines with striking teachers.

Because of the varied jobs covered by the union, the demands range widely — custodians want the district to get rid of its cleaning contracts with Aramark and Sodexo, security officers want more staff, and bus aides are particularly focused on pushing for a raise because the hours of their jobs make it difficult to work a second position.

9 a.m. Rain starts, and so do negotiations

Rain starts coming down in parts of the city, and more tarps go up on picket lines. Negotiations are set to start at 9:30 a.m., again at Malcolm X, with a midday update planned.

Teachers incorporate the weather into signs (click here for some of our favorite signs from Day One of the strike). One spotted at Suder Montessori reads “Soaking but not joking.” Another: “It’s raining — but I’m out here holding this sign.”

Some teachers report that passersby have dropped off ponchos for them to use.

At National Teachers Academy on the South Side, teachers bring out speakers and blast Missy Elliott to keep spirits up.

We stand with @MissyElliott out here in the rain for a #faircontractnow #CTUSEIUstrike pic.twitter.com/2GuqwZXfXA
— Autumn Laidler (@MsLaidler) October 21, 2019

@CTULocal1 #CTUSEIUstrike #PutItInWriting #faircontractnow

Glad to have the support of our @GWHS_Patriots Ss like Anely!

Making the most of the rain today 😊🌧🌦☂️☔@ms_rivera91 pic.twitter.com/LZtirXVm7Q
— Donald Davis (@ddteachpaz) October 21, 2019

7 a.m. Always be prepared

Teachers arriving at schools early to start 6:30 a.m. picket lines report an eye-popping pink sunrise. They start putting up tarps at some campuses anyway: There’s rain in the forecast set to start at 9 a.m. (You know what sailors say about red skies in the morning …)

Beautiful sunrise in Back of the Yards for Day 3 of #CTUSEIUstrike. Yeah, it's gonna rain, but we're still out here fighting for a #faircontractnow pic.twitter.com/rhEq5WJHiz
— Gregory Michie (@GregoryMichie) October 21, 2019

6:30 a.m. Where things stand

Over the weekend, Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson lamented the pace of negotiations and said the teachers union had not responded quickly enough to counterproposals on two key issues: class size and support staffing.

The union said one holdup was how new agreements on those issues would be enforced. The current contract contains class size guidelines, for example, but a committee established to oversee the issue has had little authority.

As of Sunday night, there was no final consensus yet on three other sticking points: pay and benefits for veteran teachers, the length of the contract, and teacher prep time.

Tentative agreements had been reached, union leaders said, on funding for dedicated staff who would support homeless students and protections to keep counselors from being pulled away for non-counseling duties. They also agreed on 10:1 student-to-staff ratios in early childhood classrooms and language that could make it easier for teachers there to set nap times, the union said.

No deal yet: Classes canceled Monday as Chicago teachers strike heads into second school week

2019-10-21T00:44:43+00:00

Classes in Chicago schools have been canceled for a third day Monday after weekend negotiations failed to result in a deal between the city and teachers union.

School buildings will be open and students will be served breakfast and lunch at schools, and then be offered dinner to take home, Chicago Public Schools said in a tweet Sunday evening.

Going into the strike’s second school week, major differences remain. There has not been agreement on several issues: pay and benefits, enforcement mechanisms for class size and staffing, teacher prep time, and the length of the contract.

On the negotiations front, the union said in a Sunday night media update that tentative agreements had been reached on funding for dedicated staff who would support homeless students and protections to keep counselors from being pulled away for non-counseling duties. They also agreed on 10:1 student-to-staff ratios in early childhood classrooms and language that could make it easier for teachers there to set nap times, the union said.

On class size, the union is still seeking an enforceable cap on class sizes and is open to phasing in support for schools that need it most, said Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff, during the Sunday night press conference at Malcolm X College.

Pay for paraprofessionals, who sometimes earn so little that their children qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches, also remains a sticking point, Johnson said Sunday. The union wants a 21% increase in base pay for paraprofessionals who work in the lowest grades, as well as larger raises when they accrue educational experience and spend more years on the job.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a tweet that the city had not received full, written counteroffers from the union to its proposals on class size or staffing, two key issues. “These negotiations must move more swiftly so that we can get students back into school as fast as possible,” the statement said.

Members of the union’s bargaining team contested that charge, saying Sunday night that they had a productive bargaining weekend and had come to several tentative agreements. In an email to supporters, the union said it had tentatively come to terms with the city on eight issues, including on a charter moratorium and a pipeline for hiring more teachers of color.

Meanwhile, contract negotiations appear stalled between the city and Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents special education aides and bus aides and is also on strike. A Local 73 spokesperson said that the union and city haven’t held a bargaining meeting since Wednesday, and that another meeting hasn’t been scheduled.

Without a resolution in their contract dispute, Chicago Teachers Union members will return to the picket line Monday morning. Rain is predicted. “Any chance someone has a red rain poncho?” read one post on a neighborhood Facebook group on Sunday. “#theraindoesntpausethecause.”

Inspired by bananas, Tinder, Taylor Swift: See 12 creative signs from Chicago’s picket lines

2019-10-18T02:09:27+00:00

There were references to Taylor Swift songs and OutKast lyrics, to dating apps and to Dr. Seuss.

On Day One of the Chicago teachers strike, as tens of thousands took to the streets to make their case for better pay, smaller class sizes, and more school nurses and counselors, teachers got creative with their handmade signs.

Some picketing with the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU73 wore costumes. Others enlisted their pets in the fight.

Here are some signs that stood out in the crowds.

Some striking teachers took a page from Dr. Seuss…

And some channeled Star Wars.

There were signs that targeted Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Some of them compared her to her predecessor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose relationship with the Chicago Teachers Union was long strained.

Other signs took aim at Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson, with a reference to the hip-hop duo OutKast’s famous anthem “Ms. Jackson.”

Meanwhile, some found inspiration in another musical icon: Taylor Swift.

pic.twitter.com/Ho6wgLqGGV
— Mina Bloom (@mina_bloom_) October 17, 2019

There were colorful signs with earnest messages that spoke to the challenges of teaching nearly 40 kindergartners and to the dedication with which educators approach their jobs.

This sign was creative in its avowed lack of creativity.

There were also costumes…

And churros for sustenance…

And furry friends, of course.

Even a class pet took part in the protest.

You just have to love Chicago educators ❤️ pic.twitter.com/XSwi1mLN8i
— Ella Em (@ella_em_) October 17, 2019

What creative picket signs caught your eye? Let us know here.

Photos on this page courtesy of Chalkbeat’s Ariel Cheung, Yana Kunichoff, and Cassie Walker Burke, unless otherwise noted.

News from Day 1 of Chicago’s teachers strike: Picket lines, bargaining updates, donut shortages, and more

2019-10-18T00:32:00+00:00

Good evening, Chicago! It’s Day One of the teachers strike, and we’re fanning out across the city to bring you everything you need to know.

The basics: Classes and after-school activities are cancelled for roughly 300,000 students, but schools are open. Students may attend any age-appropriate school in their area, and administrators, non-union staff, and central office staff will be in charge.

Here’s a list of what we’ll be watching and here’s where we’ve been tracking every twist and turn of the negotiations.

We also need your help! Email us with photos from the picket line or from your child’s contingency camp, or insights about how the strike is affecting your school or family. You can also tag @ChalkbeatCHI on Twitter.

Follow our strike reporting team — Cassie Walker Burke, Yana Kunichoff, Kalyn Belsha, and Ariel Cheung — on Twitter and check back here frequently for updates.

6:55 p.m. No deal yet

Yana is camped out at Malcolm X to get the end-of-day update from the union’s bargaining team. When CTU members emerge, they say negotiations are done for the day, and there’s progress; however, a deal remains elusive. Confirming something reporters had heard throughout the day, union attorney Robert Bloch said there is now a written proposal from the city on class size, a central union demand. But the union said the proposal falls short.

Union negotiators also bring up a topic we haven’t heard before: a liaison for homeless students. The union has been agitating around housing issues, and it looks like one way district could appease this demand is some sort of case manager. But only for a handful of schools. We will write a full story with more from the update.

Attorney Robert Bloch says union got a written proposal on class size but doesn't go far enough to stop overcrowding. Board won't agree to smaller caps on class sizes. but wants to put forward $9 million to address class sizes, Bloch says not enough
— Yana Kunichoff (@Yanazure) October 17, 2019

6:05 p.m. Robocalls begin

Parents start to receive robocall messages and e-mails from Chicago Public Schools that classes will be canceled again Friday — a sign that bargaining has ended for the day without a deal. The district also cancels also team practices and competitions for the weekend ahead.

Teachers, meanwhile, hear from union reps that they will be asked to report to their school picket line in the morning.

Chicago Public Schools reports that 462 schools reported 7,533 students in attendance. Schools will again be open and minimally staffed Friday, and families are again encouraged to register if they plan to send children.

3 p.m. Into the classroom

One notable dimension of the strike and its lead-up has been the window it has offered into teachers’ classrooms because of its focus on class size, teacher prep time, and other issues that are intimately entwined with what happens inside schools. That’s a contrast with recent strikes in other places that have focused more on teacher pay, which have illuminated teachers’ lives but had less to do with their ability to serve students.

We just published a First Person piece from a former Chicago teacher who said she left the classroom because she felt like she could not effectively help her students.

“Almost half of my students had special needs, and none of the students could read at grade level. I did not have a special education teacher that day, and I had to decide which of my students I would be able to help during that particular class, with the full knowledge that I wouldn’t be able to give extra attention to all of them,” writes Julie Kallas. “I couldn’t even considering paying special attention to any of my students who did not have special needs.”

Other teachers have shared their experiences on social media. This thread by Jeff Solin, a current teacher and parent, has been shared hundreds of times.

Hi, I’m Jeff, a @CTULocal1 CPS teacher and CPS parent of two on the eve of a strike. Here are some of my thoughts...
— Jeff Solin ✶✶✶✶ (@JeffSolin) October 17, 2019

2:30 p.m. Citywide rally hits its stride — with signs

Ariel and Yana are downtown where thousands of Chicago Teachers Union members are coming together for a massive rally. Here’s one snapshot — and be on the lookout later for others that highlight the inventive signs that creative teachers cooked up.

CTU members rallied in downtown Chicago on the first afternoon of their October 2019 strike.

1:40 p.m. A bargaining lunch break

Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall officials have just stepped away from the bargaining table — to get something to eat, and for union leaders to head over to the citywide rally. Spirits are high and progress is being made, although a deal today is “very unlikely,” according to a Sun-Times reporter who’s on the scene:

After negotiations breaked for lunch, @SharkeyCTU1 says talks are positive, and @ChiPubSchools has made a written proposal on class size that comes close to the framework the union discussed over the weekend. But Sharkey says it's "very unlikely" they agree on all issues tonight. pic.twitter.com/os3o4cEcgg
— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) October 17, 2019

1:32 p.m. Teachers in transit

Teachers who spent the morning picketing are now convening on downtown for a rally at Chicago Teachers Union’s headquarters. Yana captured a video of an L station transformed by union members — take a look (and listen).

Chanting teachers fill a downtown train station on the way to the downtown march. pic.twitter.com/nc0yyLK49P
— Yana Kunichoff (@Yanazure) October 17, 2019

12:45 p.m. “Spirits are a lot higher than in 2012”

At Benito Juarez Community Academy, Ariel met a teacher who offered an interesting reflection on how this strike compares to the one in 2012 that kept teachers and students out of school for seven days. Here’s her report:

Union reps at the high school said it had almost all its teaching staff striking Thursday morning, with 123 CTU members and 20 support staffers with SEIU waving signs at Ashland Avenue and Cermak Road. Members of Pilsen Alliance, a social justice organization, current and former students, and teachers from nearby schools also turned out. “It’s invigorating, and spirits are a lot higher than in 2012,” said teacher Alfredo Peralta. “That time, it felt like there was a lot more negative animosity, and this year I think people realize it’s not just about teacher compensation — it’s about the future of the city and the students of this city.” Even when considering Juarez as a “well-resourced school,” class sizes topped 40 students at the start of the year, says teacher Katie Kampton. Special education teacher Paul Johnson said his first class of the day has 38 students, 16 of which have special needs. “There’s one general education teacher and me,” he said. When so many of his students need individual attention, he added, “I can’t help 16 people at a time.”

12:25 p.m. A family picket

Miriam Bhamini took her her daughter to visit four picket lines on the first day of Chicago’s teachers strike, Oct. 17, 2019.

Reader Miriam Bhimani sent over pictures from her daughter’s visit to three picket lines this morning. Bhimani and her daughter hit four schools with special connections to the family.

Carnegie Elementary School in Woodlawn; Alcott Elementary in Lincoln Park; and Peck and Richardson elementary schools on the Southwest side. Bhimani’s daughter attends Alcott; a teacher who helped a student Bhimani supported works at Carnegie; and she taught a decade ago at Peck before Richardson opened nearby to relieve overcrowding.

“I still am friends with many teachers at both schools,” Bhimani wrote. “So we went down to show our support. In fact, my daughter is named after one of the students I taught at Peck!”

12:15 p.m. Hypothetical situations

Chicago Teachers Union members who cross the picket lines and go to work during the strike can face consequences from their union. Hannah Leone at the Tribune just posted a story outlining exactly what those consequences can look like — but notes that union officials aren’t too concerned about scabs.

Union members may also be unable to work, even if they wanted to. Teachers told Cassie this morning that their official Chicago Public Schools email accounts are disabled during the strike, so they can’t access Google Docs or Aspen, the school district’s student information system. One consequence, they said, is that they can’t communicate with parents who may be concerned about what the strike means for their children.

11:30 a.m. Hitting the airwaves

The Chicago Teachers Union is spending $100,000 on three radio ads aimed at pressing the city to accede to its contract demands. The ads — titled “Pace Setter,” “Track,” and “Promesas” — will start airing Friday on the city’s most-listened-to English and Spanish radio stations, the union just announced in a press release this morning.

11 a.m. “We could get a deal done today”

It’s crazy out there, guys. Kalyn just got a chance to share notes from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s press conference this morning after she read to students at the Breakthrough FamilyPlex in East Garfield Park, as city officials were heading back into negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot reads to students on the first morning of Chicago’s teachers strike.

The students would have been in school today, but instead they got to hear Lightfoot read “A Bad Case of Stripes,” a picture book about a girl with a complicated relationship to lima beans.

Then the mayor answered questions about the state of negotiations, spelling out what it would take, in her view, to bring teachers back to work.

“What we need is for the union to come back to the table, to bargain in good faith, and spend the time actually getting a deal done, face-to-face with us, and not off to the side in a caucus,” Lightfoot said. “We need them to focus in the bargaining sessions on actually hammering out a deal and getting it done.”

Union officials have said that major sticking points remain. But Lightfoot sounded more optimistic. “I feel very good about where we are,” she said. She added, “We could get a deal done today.”

10:37 a.m. Going national

Randi Weingarten, president of the national American Federation of Teachers, is in Chicago today. This morning she picketed with teachers at three high schools – Taft, Lane Tech, and Whitney Young — and she just sent an email to AFT supporters nationwide. The email asks recipients to tweet their support for Chicago teachers and explains why the union is pressuring the city’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot.

“She needs to know that the entire country is watching,” Weingarten wrote. “Just like we stood with teachers and school staff who walked out in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Los Angeles, we need to show that we have CTU’s back.”

“I am so proud of you. Not because you’re seeking. But I’m proud of all of you because you are proving to the city and the nation who we are as educators.” @rweingarten @ChiTreasurer @CTULocal1 @seiu73 #CTUSEIUstrike #FairContractNow #PutItInWriting pic.twitter.com/K7iD3pk3gi
— AFT (@AFTunion) October 17, 2019

10:30 a.m. Snapshots from the morning

Pickets at each school were scheduled to end now so teachers can prepare to head downtown for a massive rally this afternoon. That makes this moment the right one to share a few of the many snapshots from the morning’s rallies that teachers and others posted on social media. You can see others tagged with the union’s chosen hashtag, #Putitinwriting, a reference to what it says is Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reluctance to commit formally to changes she says she supports.

From Taft High School on the Northwest side:

@CTULocal1 @LesPlewa Day 1: Taft teachers stand proud! #faircontractnow #putitinwriting pic.twitter.com/BqNFlIf9f2
— Bryan Wilson (@chibrywilson) October 17, 2019

Bond Elementary School in Englewood:

Spirits are high here at Bond Elementary in Englewood! #Solidarity @chicagolabor @CTULocal1 @SEIU73 pic.twitter.com/IXkgw30YX0
— CFL CommunityService (@CFLCommunitySvc) October 17, 2019

Sheridan Elementary School in Bridgeport:

Sheridan Elementary in Bridgeport! #FairContractNow #PutItInWriting @CTULocal1 @SEIU73 @chicagosmayor @janicejackson pic.twitter.com/hr1DEWMHxT
— Sarah Rothschild (@shainds75) October 17, 2019

Ray Elementary School in Hyde Park:

Just stopped by my alma mater, Ray Elementary. Our schools and our communities are tied together. It’s here where I had @CTULocal1 teachers and @SEIU73 special education support. It’s here where I found my community.

Let’s #PutItInWriting! pic.twitter.com/Dtx4vj5hT7
— Robert Peters (@RobertJPeters) October 17, 2019

10 a.m. “Going to try to take it day by day”

Jamiece Jamison cared for her niece and nephew on the first day of the Chicago teachers strike, Oct. 17, 2019.

Kalyn just met a woman who changed her day because of the strike. Here’s her latest dispatch:

Jamiece Jamison exited the Breakthrough FamilyPlex in East Garfield Park just minutes before Mayor Lori Lightfoot was scheduled to give a press conference, as union members raised signs and chanted on the sidewalk. She was caring for her 6-year-old niece, who’s in first grade at Hawthorne Elementary, and her 4-year old nephew, who’s in pre-kindergarten at Greeley Elementary, while their mother was at work. She planned to take the kids to the library, then to feed them lunch. “Everything is kind of last minute,” Jamison said. “We’re just going to try to take it day by day.” Jamison lives in Oak Park, a neighboring suburb of Chicago, but she’d been following the strike coverage a little bit. She supported giving the teachers a raise. “I feel like they should be paid what they want,” she said. “Every day, teachers dealing with large classrooms, it’s a lot. I’ve always felt like teachers are under-appreciated. I don’t feel like they get their just due when it comes to salary.”

9:45 a.m. The (Work)Force Awakens

Ariel stopped by Benito Juarez Community Academy, a high school in Pilsen, where teachers are still smiling after hours on the picket line. One had an especially attention-grabbing handmade sign.

A teacher at Benito Juarez Community Academy, a high school in Pilsen, on the picket line Oct. 17, 2019.

9:15 a.m. On class size

Cassie just filed this report from Ravenswood Elementary School, which the union says has the largest average kindergarten class size in the city.

Molly Mehl teaches kindergarten at Ravenswood. Last year she had 34 students in her classroom and the school filed a grievance with the union to get her an aide. It took two months. This year she faces a similar class size — and a similar situation. Her principal has tried to help by sending in special education aides, but Mehl said, “Another adult sounds great on paper but other adults coming in randomly means you are managing adults. We have very little time to sit down and work with children, to connect with children. I used to have four small groups for reading and math. Now I have seven. Its hard to even get to them all once a week.”

9 a.m. The Lightfoot report

As Mayor Lori Lightfoot and other city officials head back to the bargaining table right now, we can share two views of Lightfoot’s world, from Wednesday night and this morning.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot spoke with Nury Ortega and her son Alexander Perea-Ortega after a press conference on the eve of Chicago’s teachers strike, Oct. 16, 2019.

On Wednesday night after her press conference in Pilsen, Nury Ortega and her son Alexander Perea-Ortega made a point to get a word with the mayor. “I know it’s hard to find the money,” Ortega said. “But for us, it’s really important. We need teacher and support staff.”

Her son’s school, John Spry Community School in Little Village, only has a nurse in the building two days a week, and counselors are in short supply too, the fifth-grader said. “So when we get hurt and it’s not one of those days, we’re just supposed to go to the office,” Alexander said.

Protesters were outside Lightfoot’s Logan Square house on Thursday morning. Our reader Bree McKenna sent this picture from the scene:

8:45 a.m. What kids are up to

The Rauner YMCA is one of dozens of sites open to serve children whose teachers are on strike.

Ariel is out talking to families whose daily routines have been disrupted by the strike. Here’s what she heard from one of them:

Claudia Hernandez dropped her children off at the Rauner YMCA Thursday morning. While the students normally attend Franklin Fine Arts Center, they go to Rauner for summer camp, so Hernandez knew it would be a good place for them to spend their day. “I support our teachers,” she said. At the same time, she added, “We hope it’ll be over today.”

While Ariel was at Rauner, she saw someone from the Greater Chicago Food Depository drop off a supply of Goldfish crackers. The food bank is supplying snacks, fruit, and in some cases cold meals to locations across the city where students who might otherwise rely on school lunches are likely to be. Find a distribution site here.

We’re also getting notes from museums and other institutions who know that families might looking for a way to fill time. For example, the Museum of Science and Industry sent an email this morning — that didn’t actually mention the strike — pointing parents to online resources “for kids to continue learning at home.”

8:30 a.m. Meet the union leader

According to the schedule that the teachers union distributed last night, now’s the time that Vice President Stacy Davis Gates is set to appear with striking teachers at National Teachers Academy. The school fended off closure with a lawsuit last year.

If you haven’t read the Sun-Times’ fascinating profile of Davis Gates, who began teaching in Englewood in 2004, now is a good time. In the profile, which ran over the weekend, she offers another explanation for why the union is making demands that go beyond compensation — and why it’s doing so now.

“We get to give voice on these things because the convergence of all of society’s ills comes into our classrooms on a daily basis,” Davis Gates told the newspaper. “It is a shock to me that this is a shock to everyone else. We are chief players in promoting and educating the common good.

“There’s historical, generational unfairness baked into the system. So this contract fight is about all of those chickens coming home to roost at the same time.”

8:10 a.m. Notes from a nurse

School nurses and their supporters picketed in downtown Chicago on the first day of the teachers strike, Oct. 17, 2019.

Kalyn has filed a longer dispatch from the downtown picket by citywide clinicians — which include social workers, nurses, school psychologists and others — aimed at drawing attention to Chicago Teachers Union’s demands for higher levels of support staff in schools. Here’s what she learned from one nurse on the picket line:

Carol Reilly was one of the certified school nurses picketing downtown. Reilly said she’s split between five elementary schools on the North Side of the city. Her duties involve everything from developing Individual Education Programs for students with special needs to helping students use inhalers, read food labels, and cope with seizures and asthma attacks. “It’s hard because you’re not seeing the children every day, so you’re not seeing if there is a health decline or you’re not seeing if they’re not coming and using their inhaler daily or you’re not able to make sure that they’re making the right choices regarding food if they have a food allergy,” Reilly said. Nurses have been a crucial bargaining point not just in Chicago, but also in Los Angeles and Boston, where teachers won higher staffing levels of these staff in their contract negotiations earlier this year. Reilly said if the Chicago teachers and other school staff were able to get more nurses guaranteed in their contract, it would make a big difference in her job because she’d be able to see students more often, address their health needs on a daily basis, and follow up more quickly with other staff and parents. “Nurses are spread so thin and nurses’ responsibilities, unfortunately, have been put on clerks and other staff,” Reilly said, adding that other staff have been tasked with things like giving out daily medication for students. “It’s obviously something that needs medical training to do. And I think it’s getting difficult for other people to confidently do these tasks.”

8:15 a.m. A 25-year veteran’s view

Before heading off to another school, Cassie got a chance to talk to a teacher who has worked at Peirce Elementary for more than 25 years. Here’s what she heard:

Ted Wanberg, 57, is a longtime kindergarten teacher at the school. He has taught here since 1993, before it swelled and became a destination neighborhood school. He remembers class sizes of 22 or 23, but a decade ago they starting swelling. Now he regularly has 30 kindergarteners. He gets some help from a recess aide but not all day. “What I value in a smaller class is being able to sit with each child, look them in the eyes,” Wanberg said. “It’s important with young children — and it’s hard to do with 30-plus in a classroom.” The city’s approach to class size issues of having more aides isn’t the answer, he said. “That’s just more bodies in the class. We need fewer.”

8 a.m. T-minus 90 minutes to bargaining

We’ve just gotten an update that bargaining between CTU and the city will resume at 9:30 a.m. after being called off Wednesday afternoon to allow for strike preparations. The talks will take place at a neutral location, Malcolm X College.

Cassie just spoke to union chief Jesse Sharkey who said the union still had not seen a written proposal from the city about staffing numbers for support workers. Earlier this week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would make an offer, which represented a change in her position, but the union said it could not make a decision about accepting it without seeing it in writing. That apparently still has not happened.

Sharkey also said the union is prepared to make concessions. “Of course, it’s negotiations,” he said. “We don’t expect to fall asleep in Edgewater tonight and wake up in Winnetka. We are doing this because children deserve basic supports in their neighborhood schools.”

7:48 a.m. Donut report

Last year I ran into trouble when I tried to have coffee delivered to our Chalkbeat reporters in Denver who were covering a teacher strike there: Cardboard coffee dispensers were sold out citywide because local residents had sent them to picket lines. Now, the first reports of solidarity-snack shortages are emerging in Chicago:

can’t think of a more heartwarming Bridgeport specific phenomenon than all of the Dunkin’ Donuts being sold out of munchkins for CTU picket lines
— cancelvanian hunger (@stonehengelover) October 17, 2019

7:25 a.m. Solidarity forever

Messages of solidarity have poured in for the Chicago Teachers Union in the days leading up to the strike — from unions and their members in other places and public figures, including Democratic presidential candidates, who are sympathetic to workers’ issues.

Last night, Bernie Sanders tweeted a message of support emphasizing that Chicago teachers are fighting “for the common good.” That’s a reference to the union’s approach to bargaining over issues that are broader than just members’ pay and benefits. Check out Kalyn’s primer on “bargaining for the common good” for more. For now, here’s a message from a Los Angeles teacher who met a Chicago colleague on the picket line when her union struck last year:

Solidarity with Chicago Teachers going on strike tomorrow. Here's a pic of a Chicago teacher who showed up to our @UTLAnow strike. pic.twitter.com/lKMUS2SXzN
— magoo (@magoo_tweets_2u) October 17, 2019

7 a.m. Citywide workers convene downtown

While school-based union members picket at their schools, their colleagues whose work is citywide have gathered outside the union’s downtown headquarters. Among them: some of the nurses and social workers whose numbers have emerged as one of the stickiest issues at the bargaining table. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she supports the union’s call for more support workers in schools but cannot responsibly write the union’s preferred staffing levels into its contract.

The staff at union headquarters are chanting that every school needs a nurse, Kalyn reports.

6:55 a.m. About the timeline

CTU chief Jesse Sharkey is emphasizing the timeline he sketched out earlier this week, when he told Chicagoans to gird themselves for a “short-term strike that is going to cause some difficulty and pain.” Speaking at Peirce Elementary, he says, “It’s time for the mayor to get a fast contract settlement.” Later, he adds, “It doesn’t have to be a long strike but we need real solutions.”

6:30 a.m. On the picket line

Teachers at Chicago’s Peirce Elementary School picketed early Thursday on the first day of a strike by the Chicago Teachers Union.

It’s still dark out, but picket lines have formed at schools across the city. Teachers at Helen C. Peirce Elementary School in Rogers Park are preparing for a guest: CTU President Jesse Sharkey. He’s one of several union officials planning to make appearances at local schools before heading back to the bargaining table later today.

As teachers wait for him to begin speaking, they shout “Whose schools? Our schools!” Cassie reports. Peirce is a thriving neighborhood school but Jeffrey Rossiter, a Peirce teacher, says “years of austerity” have galvanized teachers there.

The Peirce teachers are also joined by teachers from nearby Passages Charter School, one of several privately managed schools whose teachers have opted to be represented by the Chicago union. They’re not officially part of the strike because they have a different contract, so Passages will open as usual later this morning — but for now, they are offering solidarity.

10 things to watch as a teachers strike begins in Chicago

2019-10-16T21:28:14+00:00

For weeks, Chicago has been riveted by jousting between the Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall.

But now that a strike is all but assured, attention is turning to the 300,000-some students whose teachers and support staff will be walking out of schools. In the 48 hours leading up to the strike, there have been robocalls and e-mails to parents about contingency plans for child care, and nonprofit groups have scrambled to help children across the city who rely on schools for safety, food, and warmth.

Here’s what we’ll be watching as the strike begins. (And keep updated with our Chicago contract tracker.)

1. What will happen next with negotiations?

The strike will launch the monthslong negotiations into a new phase. The union has yet to agree to the city’s latest pay deal because it is holding out on broader school quality issues, such as staffing and class size.

One of the sticking points between City Hall and the teachers union is whether to put specific numbers of support staff — think nurses, social workers, special education case workers — in the contract. Lightfoot, who has verbally committed to adding hundreds of new positions across the next five years, said on Tuesday that she’s willing to put some commitments in writing. And the union has eased up on its demand, by agreeing to staff the neediest schools first. But they’ve yet to agree on the numbers or whether those positions will be funded by the central office or individual schools.

Lightfoot has similarly said that she’s willing to commit to certain class size numbers in the contract, but the union charged on Wednesday that the mayor was not willing to lower class size caps nor compensate teachers whose classes exceed the caps.

Budging on either of these points could be costly. Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, paid for concessions he made in the 2016 teachers contract win in part by raiding an $88 million city account intended to help spur the redevelopment of blighted areas.

The union has urged Lightfoot to make a similar move — even though Chicago Public Schools is on firmer financial footing now than it was three years ago. The mayor has at her disposal some of the additional $181 million in tax-increment financing accounts (dollars generated from taxing neighborhood development to fund future improvements) last year. But at the same time, the city faces a budget hole north of $800 million.

2. Will parents and the public stick with the union?

In a recent poll conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7, nearly half of respondents said they supported a possible teachers strike, and about two-thirds said public school children would be most hurt by a strike.

Even so, public support could start to wane if the strike wears on for several days.

Some 38% opposed a strike. About a quarter of survey respondents were public school parents.

Elsewhere and in previous strikes, teachers have enjoyed wider support. In Denver last year, a poll found that 82% of voters supported a strike in the days before one began.

3. What will happen inside school buildings?

City officials have said all schools will remain open during their normal hours and any students who show up will be served breakfast and lunch. But there won’t be any academics or after-school activities, and there will be minimal staffing, especially since support staff are also slated to go on strike.

Two days into the strike in 2012, less than 7% of district students showed up at the half-day sites the district opened for students — a small fraction of the some 403,000 students who were enrolled at the time. (The district later extended those hours.) Some parents also expressed concern about the supervision that was offered. And as the strike dragged on that year, the district eventually turned to online coursework to help students keep on top of their studies. By the end of the seven-day strike, the district said about 8% of students had gone to a contingency site or one of the nonprofit, park or library sites that were set up to accommodate families.

4. How will students who rely on subsidized school meals eat?

So many Chicago students come from low-income families that the city makes lunch available for free to all students. That means even one day where students stay home from school puts many children at risk of going hungry.

The Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, has announced that it will supply “light snacks and fruit” at libraries, YMCAs, and Park District locations across the city. Some neighborhoods with many low-income families will also get a cold meal option. (Find the location nearest you here.)

That plan is in place for Thursday and Friday. “If the strike continues beyond that point, the Food Depository will monitor and respond accordingly in similar fashion,” it announced in a press release Wednesday.

Meanwhile, schools chief Janice Jackson said in a robocall to parents that schools, while minimally staffed, would provide three meals to students who showed up.

5. What happens to students who receive special education services at school?

Since classroom teachers and other support staff won’t be at a school during a strike, the district said students with individualized education programs — legally binding plans for students with disabilities — will not be able to receive specific support.

But the district is still legally obligated to provide services for students with disabilities, even if teachers walk out, said Chris Yun, a policy analyst at Access Living, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

“Depending on how long the strike goes, it may trigger compensatory services for those students,” Yun said. She suggests parents check their child’s service schedule in advance and document any missing services during the strike so they can be made up once the strike is over.

On Wednesday, schools chief Janice Jackson said the district was working to contract with some nurses to provide care at some schools.

6. What about early childhood education?

Chicago’s preschool system is split between public schools, which will be on strike, and community-based programs run by nonprofits and small business owners, which will be open.

Pre-K teachers employed by the district are unionized, and their classrooms will be dark. The same goes for the district-run early learning centers, such as the Barbara Vick Early Childhood Center on the city’s South Side.

The city’s community-based preschools and child care centers will remain open, since their providers are not CTU members. Some community-based providers are unionized through Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare division. Those providers will be working because their union is a different local from SEIU73, whose support staff members plan to strike.

7. How long will the strike last?

Probably not long, according to the advice that union leaders offered to parents on Tuesday night. Union chief Jesse Sharkey urged Chicagoans to gird themselves for “a short-term strike that is going to cause some difficulty and pain.”

Last year’s strike in Denver lasted for three days, while Los Angeles teachers stayed off the job for six school days in January.

Then there’s a practical consideration: Teachers who strike don’t get paid. The union’s FAQ for teachers emphasizes that a paycheck expected on Oct. 25 will be based on pre-strike work and thus will be its regular amount, but the subsequent check — which will hit bank accounts as the holiday season approaches — will be thinner.

8. What will happen at charter schools?

The 2012 strike was the first time that a major city had a large swath of charter schools, which typically are not unionized, remain open during a teachers union strike. Now, 6% of Chicago students attend charter schools, potentially heightening this divide.

In recent years, the Chicago Teachers Union has worked to organize teachers at the privately managed, publicly funded schools, and teachers at 12 schools are now represented by the union. But because they are working under different contracts, their schools will remain open.

9. What will teachers do while they’re on strike?

A strike can amount to a bit of a vacation for students, but teachers are not supposed to stay home. Each morning, the union expects its teachers to picket at their own schools from 6:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., according to guidelines the union distributed to strike leaders. In the afternoon, the union will hold rallies “at various locations downtown” but hasn’t yet released sites or times. In 2012, the union brought members together in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters as well as in a series of downtown rallies.

10. Will the weather cooperate?

The union’s instructions to strike leaders included an essential piece of advice: “Dress appropriately for the weather.” Right now, the forecast is for comfortable temperatures and clear skies for Thursday and Friday, ideal conditions for extended picketing by teachers and their union. Next week looks a lot wetter — offering one more incentive for the city and union to reach an agreement before Monday.

Union president tells Chicago parents to prepare for ‘short-term’ strike

2019-10-16T01:49:21+00:00

Chicago parents should start preparing for a “short-term” teachers strike that will begin Thursday, union President Jesse Sharkey said.

Flanked by members of the union’s bargaining team who at times gave emotional testimony about the needs in their schools, Sharkey said Tuesday evening that the little time remaining in bargaining and the significant “gaps” remaining on issues, from class size to counselor case loads, make a walkout of the city’s 25,000 teachers all but inevitable.

Making “important long-term changes in the schools,” Sharkey said, would require “a short-term strike that is going to cause some difficulty and pain.”

The union’s Tuesday night announcement came just hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters that she was ready to write staffing and class size promises into the union contract.

“We have expressed a willingness to find solutions on these two core issues that would be written into the contract,” Lightfoot said.

The union’s bargaining team of 40-some rank-and-file teachers and organizers will recommend that the union’s 700-member House of Delegates vote against the proposed contract agreement. Leadership has called a House of Delegates meeting for Wednesday evening, when members will vote yes or no on the city’s latest offer.

Sharkey also said that city proposals fall short on pay for paraprofessionals and for veteran teachers. Negotiators have not agreed on adding more support staff like librarians and counselors. Current proposals would force some schools to choose between one or the other, Sharkey said.

He said that the length of the contract also is still unresolved. The mayor wants a five-year contract, but Sharkey said the union, which wants a shorter deal, will only agree if they believe it will really create change in schools.

Sharkey said Tuesday that the city and a separate union, Service Employees International Union Local 73, representing school support staff and park district workers, had not yet reached a deal. That means an additional 10,000 workers could be on picket lines Thursday, complicating efforts to keep any parks open as contingency options for families.

“Three bargaining units, two unions, one mayor, and no deals,” Sharkey said. “Something has got to shift there.”

Meanwhile, parents all over the city received robo calls from the district updating them about strike plans for students. Schools will remain open but minimally staffed and no instruction will take place.

In the robo calls, schools chief Janice Jackson asked parents to register their children on the Chicago Public Schools contingency plan site if they plan to take them to school. She said that three meals will be served. City libraries also will be open.

For more information about the issues on the table, read our guide.

Want to learn more about the union’s strategy? Here’s a closer look at “common good” bargaining and how it factored in a win for Los Angeles teachers.

Why Chicago schoolteachers want to battle over class size, again

2019-10-09T21:50:13+00:00

Nearly every month, parents, teachers and sometimes aldermen address the Board of Education to sound the alarm about overcrowded classes in Chicago schools. They describe kindergartens with more than 40 students, or children whose asthma attacks have gone unnoticed in packed classrooms.

Now class size limits have become a key issue in contentious contract bargaining. If negotiators do not agree by Monday, more than 25,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union will strike, possibly joined by school support staff and park district workers.

The union wants to lower the cap on class sizes to 20 in kindergarten, 24 in first through fifth grade, and 28 for middle and high school. The union also wants to introduce a financial penalty to enforce those limits, in which teachers who teach overcrowded classes would receive $5 a day per student exceeding the class size limit.

The union estimates more than 41,000 elementary students are learning in overcrowded classrooms — nearly 23% of district students.

Teachers say the penalty is key — the district already has guidelines for elementary class sizes, but routinely exceeds them. They hope to win what some striking charter teachers won in Chicago last school year, a cap on class size and compensation, to go to teachers teaching overfull classes.

Chicago’s class size cap is 28 students in kindergarten through fifth grades, and 31 students in middle and high school. If a K-2 class has 32 or more students, the district must provide an additional teacher assistant, a demand won in the last contract. A joint district-union panel reviews classes exceeding the caps and seeks ways to mitigate the crowding.

The district is offering to extend to third grade the commitment to add another aide in overcrowded classrooms, according to a Sep. 27 bargaining document released on the Chicago Public Schools website.

The school district also is planning a larger investment in teacher support staff this school year.

“The district has made significant progress to minimize classroom overcrowding in the vast majority of schools across the city,’’ said Emily Bolton, press officer for Chicago Public Schools. “Our offer makes a $10 million investment to provide 200 staff members to support classrooms experiencing overcrowding.”

In December, the group Parents 4 Teachers analyzed class size data for the 2018-19 school year, comparing every district class to the guidelines in the union contract. They found that 1,007 Chicago classrooms in grades K-8 exceeded the guidelines. Of those, 13 had 40 or more students, including one kindergarten class with 44 children, the report found.

Illinois does not limit class sizes, except for in special education. It is one of just 14 states that don’t regulate class sizes.

The class size demand overlaps with the issue of staffing, another contentious area in the negotiations. At a board meeting last winter, Norine Gutekanst, organizing coordinator with the Chicago Teachers Union, said that some elementary classes with 39 students at Daniel S. Wentworth Elementary in Englewood had no classroom assistants and others had to wait months for an aide. In response, the district’s Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said the district was seeking a second kindergarten teacher for Wentworth.

The union wants the mayor to write promises to add more teachers, nurses and social workers into the contract, to ensure that the hired staff is fully licensed, and to keep the work in house and not contracted out. The mayor and district leadership, in response, have pointed to their promise to hire for hundreds of new school staff in the recent budget.

Parents who have children in overcrowded classrooms, meanwhile, say relief can’t come soon enough.

Valentin Quintero, who spoke at a winter school board meeting, said his 6-year-old kindergartener at Grissom Elementary in South Chicago spent hours every evening trying to learn information that his teacher couldn’t cover during class while overseeing more than 40 students.

Both Quintero and his son put in time trying to master lessons to compensate for overcrowding.

“I can assure you that if all the parents around the neighborhood had time to come here and speak, you’d have 400 parents speaking out,” he said at the time. “This is a safety issue and a health issue.”

Parents asked and we answered: A brief history of strike lengths

2019-10-10T17:00:00+00:00

With a teachers strike that could start Oct. 17 and affect more than 300,000 students, Chalkbeat Chicago asked parents what they wanted to know. Below find answers to some questions about contingency plans and union politics. We will continue updating this document as more information becomes available.

How long could a teachers strike last?

While each strike is different – the length of a walkout depends on a mix of politics, preparation and community support — teacher activism has resulted in several major strikes and work stoppages across the U.S. in the past two years, all of which have resolved within two weeks, and most of them within about one.

When Chicago teachers walked out on another black, progressive mayor, then Harold Washington in 1987, they struck for 19 work days. Chicago’s 2012 teacher strike lasted seven school days, while in 2016 teachers walked out for a day.

Teachers in Los Angeles, who walked out in January over demands similar to those in Chicago, were on strike for six days, while teachers in Denver walked out for three days. The statewide West Virginia wildcat teachers strike in 2018 was on the longer end of recent teacher labor actions and lasted nine days. Educators went back to the classroom with a raise and a freeze on health care costs. Teachers in Oklahoma also struck for nine days, and in Arizona for five.

If teachers go on strike, do children have to recover those lost days at the end of the school year?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that schools would not make up any days missed during the strike. “We have zero plans to do that,” she said in a press conference last week. In other cases, such as adverse weather, the district lengthens the school day to accommodate missed classroom time.

Can students go to school buildings during the strike?

Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson have said the 514 district-run schools impacted by the strike would remain open and minimally staffed by principals and non-unionized support personnel. Students can go to their own school, or any other age-appropriate school they choose during this time.

Schools will operate on their normal bell schedules, the district said, but students won’t have regular classroom instruction. Instead, they’ll take part in activities led such as online learning, arts and crafts, or independent reading and writing.
Can students still get their meals?

According to the district, schools will still serve breakfast and lunch to students. The district is asking families to register their children so the district can have an estimate of the number that may need meals during the strike.

What happens to services for kids with IEPs?

Since classroom teachers and other support staff wouldn’t be at a school during a strike, the district said students with individualized education programs — for special needs students — will not be able to receive specific support.

However, said special education advocate Chris Yun with Access Living, the district is still legally obligated to provide services for students with disabilities. “Depending on how long the strike goes, it may trigger compensatory services for those students,” Yun said. She suggests parents check their child’s service schedule in advance and document any missing services during the strike so they can be made up once the strike is over.

My student attends a charter school. She receives transportation from CPS as part of her individualized education plan (IEP). Will my student still receive transportation during a strike?

The district won’t provide bus services to district-run schools, but charter and contract school buses will operate on their usual schedule. However, if the school service workers union goes on strike with teachers, students are unlikely to have a district-employed bus aide available, said Yun, with Access Living. However, some bus aides are not unionized under Local 73 and therefore would not be on strike Oct. 17.

Yun suggests that parents contact their school principal to confirm whether bus aide service would be provided to a charter students.

What can teachers strike over? Can the union legally strike on the demands around staffing?
Salary and benefits are among the few issues that a 1995 law permits the Chicago Teachers Union to strike over, so Chicago teachers can’t walk out over class sizes or nursing shortages alone, but they can use those concerns to argue that current wage offers are not good enough, labor experts said.

You can find the district’s contingency plan website here, and email yanakunichoff@gmail.com with any additional questions.

With one week before strike, Chicago mayor says union not acting ‘urgently’ on proposals

2019-10-07T19:17:24+00:00

A week before Chicago teachers could walk out, Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Monday morning accused the teachers union of not responding substantively to the city’s latest offer on pay and benefits.
“I am concerned that CTU leadership is not exhibiting the urgency needed to move these negotiations forward,” Lightfoot said as she held up a copy of a 50-page contract proposal the city submitted on Sep. 27. At a City Hall press conference, she contrasted it with the union’s slimmer offer.

Separately, union officials said they had rejected some of the city’s proposals, and maintained their criticism of the city for bargaining on only pay and health benefits — as is limited by law — while ignoring the union’s demands for contractual commitments to increase staffing and lower class sizes.

“Fifty pages of counterproposals from the board means they’re watering down what we’re trying to win for our students,” bargaining team member Robin Blake Boose said.

Lightfoot stood alongside schools chief Janice Jackson and chief education officer LaTanya McDade. School board President Miguel del Valle and alderman Michael Scott Jr., who heads the city’s education committee, also spoke at the Monday press conference in favor of the city’s proposals.

Jackson said the district and union agree on what Chicago’s students need, but can’t agree on how to get there.

“We know that CTU is looking for more than just a raise,” Jackson said. “The truth is we agree on many of the things that they have presented to strengthen our schools, which is why they have outlined that in our plan.”

Over the weekend, both sides reached out to their bases to build support.
The school district tweeted updates from the mayor about negotiations and videos of her press statements. Parents have also received messages from the school district about negotiations explaining the district’s position.

The union held a weekend art build that pulled in local artists and community members who painted banners and signs reading “fighting for the schools Chicago’s students deserve” and “safe sanctuary schools for all.”

Could Chicago actually shorten its school day? The latest twist in the city’s labor battle, explained

2019-10-03T20:27:53+00:00

Could Chicago return to a shorter school day?

That question is at the core of the latest back-and-forth between City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union, which has said its 25,000 members will strike on Oct. 17 if negotiators do not settle on a new contract by then.

The latest twist: The union wants teachers to have an extra 30 minutes of morning prep time for elementary teachers, returning the time teachers had to collaborate before then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel lengthened the school day in 2012.
Where the extra prep time will come from remains unclear. Some parents are concerned it would end up pushing back the start time of elementary school academics, so students would essentially start school a half-hour later.

When Emanuel succeeded in lengthening Chicago’s school day and school year, the district struggled to hire enough teachers and recess supervisors. As part of the longer school day compromise, the district allowed teachers in elementary schools to start their day when students did, instead of 30 minutes earlier.

What the city is saying:

Depending on the campus, schools in Chicago start anywhere from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. The school day runs seven hours for elementary schools and 7.5 hours for high schools.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is holding firm on the current seven-hour school day negotiated by her predecessor. “We are never cheating our kids on the day of instruction,” Lightfoot said at a Thursday morning press conference, calling the initial agreement to lengthen the school day a hard-won victory.

The mayor also said that schools would not make up any days missed during the strike. “We have zero plan to do that,” Lightfoot said. That places additional pressure on the union, whose members will not have a chance to make up any wages for missed days without an extension of the school year.

“We want to make sure we get a deal done.”

What the union is saying:

The union said it was committed to getting additional prep time in the school day to minimize the amount of work teachers had to do at home, a long-running complaint of educators who say they are overwhelmed with paperwork, required trainings, and communications with parents.

The union has said that its prep time proposal would not necessarily mean a shorter day. Leaders have suggested starting school with art or music classes while classroom teachers get their prep time — but that creates another problem: How the district would secure funding for additional such programs at schools.

“It also affords our students the opportunity to have an art class, a music class, a world language class,” said union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, who said the increased staff the union wants could help supervise children during an additional prep period. “Those things are not the norm in every school in our city. Providing some uniformity to prep time allows for those things across the board.”

What do parents say:

In comments on Chalkbeat Chicago’s Facebook page, some parents of elementary school children said they were not opposed to less instructional time in the school day. Rather than starting the day later they proposed longer lunch periods or more unstructured play time. “Even with only one extracurricular activity a week, I feel like my kindergartener does not have enough time in the day to be a kid,” Rebecca Shire said.

One commenter, Leah Cunningham Pouw, said she wanted to keep the school day at the same length. “A longer day gives more time for learning opportunities (and recess) beyond math and ELA,” Pouw said.

Others, like Maggie Baran, recognized that the change could come at a cost to parents, but said they support it regardless. “My kid’s school days begins and ends when my employer dictates,” Baran said. “It may increase child care costs for families but I can understand the need for time.”

Jennie Biggs, a Chicago parent and outreach director of the parent group Raise Your Hand, said she supported the additional prep time if it was used to improve instruction — “I just feel like as a mom there is only so much time kids can sit in a school and do learning,” she said — but acknowledged there was no easy solution for how to ensure that teachers taking prep time didn’t mean support staff lost precious flexible time.

What else is on the table regarding prep time:

Teacher prep time has emerged as one of the more contentious contract issues. The district rolled back its initial proposal that would have awarded principals more control over how teachers spend their prep time. The city says its latest offer preserves the status quo for high school teachers. For elementary teachers, it still proposes increasing principal-directed prep time by one period per week.

The union, in turn, has proposed that all elementary and high school prep times be teacher-directed, and that elementary teachers get an additional 30 minutes of morning prep time. It also has proposed additional prep periods for bilingual and special education teachers.

Padres: ¿Qué quieren saber sobre la posibilidad de una huelga de maestros?

2019-09-30T15:35:17+00:00

Después de una votación autorizando una huelga de maestros, algunos padres quizás están preguntando: “¿Y ahora qué?”

Sin un acuerdo en el último momento existe la posibilidad de que sus hijos puedan estar fuera de la escuela por un período de tiempo incierto. Muchos padres tendrán que buscar cuidado infantil, desayuno, almuerzo y posiblemente atención médica y transporte.

Ciertamente, algunos padres han estado preparando para la posibilidad de una huelga, y algunos padres con quienes habló Chalkbeat dijeron que apoyan a sus maestros.

Ahora con la posibilidad de una huelga en una semana, queremos escucharlos a ustedes.

Estamos trabajando con Block Club Chicago para preguntar a los padres y estudiantes de CPS sobre la situación.

¿Qué podría significar una huelga de maestros en Chicago para usted? ¿Qué le gustaría saber y qué preguntas tiene?

Por favor complete esta encuesta y publicaremos una selección de sus comentarios, junto con nuestras respuestas. Para completar la encuesta en inglés, por favor visita esta página.

Parents: What do you want to know about Chicago’s looming teachers strike?

2019-09-27T21:58:56+00:00

On the heels of an overwhelming vote to authorize a teachers strike, parents of schoolchildren may be asking, “Now what?”

With the possibility that without a last-minute settlement, their children may be out of school for an uncertain length of time, many parents will have to find child care, breakfast, lunch and possibly health care and transportation.

Certainly some parents have been preparing for the possibility of a strike.

Now with that reality looming in about a week, we want to hear from you.

What could a Chicago teachers strike mean for you? What would you like to know, and what questions do you have?

Please fill out this survey, and we’ll publish a selection of your comments, along with our answers.

You can also fill out the survey in Spanish here.

A tale of two strikes: Can Chicago learn anything from its past teacher walkouts?

2019-09-24T21:30:54+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office vowing to chart a different course from that of her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel.

But in two key ways, Lightfoot’s first months are replaying Emanuel’s: The mayor faces a huge budget gap and a Chicago Teachers Union on the verge of calling a strike, closing Chicago schools, and imperiling her political agenda.

Rank-and-file members began voting Tuesday on whether to authorize a walkout. Their efforts are getting a jolt of national celebrity, with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders traveling to the city to rally alongside them and supportive tweets from Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

The results of the vote could be announced as early as Thursday, and teachers could walk out as soon as Oct. 7.

Lightfoot, meanwhile, stressed on Tuesday that her message to teachers is, “We value you.” She added that her latest offer, if accepted, would be the most lucrative package in the union’s history. “We have heard the response and concerns of teachers about additional supports in classrooms. We have baked those into the budget for this year.”

Chicago has been here before, with a seven-day strike in 2012.

Four years later, a last-minute settlement averted another full-fledged walkout.

In some ways, 2019 has echoes of 2012 and 2016. But in other ways, events could play out differently. How can Lightfoot avoid previous pitfalls? We take a look.

The similarities

CTU’s aggressive maneuvering: Political neophyte Lightfoot has encountered a union on the move. Teachers at five charter networks represented by CTU’s charter arm went on strike last spring, winning raises and improved benefits and working conditions. And all summer, the Chicago Teachers Union has ramped up its visibility and rhetoric demanding concessions.

It all echoes the year after Emanuel first took office in May 2011.

Led by the outspoken CTU President Karen Lewis, the union honed a playbook that became a roadmap for unions across the country. By focusing on issues beyond pay and benefits, and tying them to racism, poverty and criminal justice reform, leaders crafted a broader social issue platform.

Teachers walked off the job for the first time in 25 years, even surmounting a new state threshold that required a minimum of 75% of union members to approve a strike. The strike in September 2012 was all but certain, particularly after Emanuel told Lewis “f— you, Lewis.”

This year, the union has demanded adding case managers, nurses, mental health workers, special education services, other workers, and additional teachers — driving home the argument that it is seeking gains not just for teachers, but also improvements to benefit students.

By sharing the spotlight with the union’s No. 2, Stacy Davis Gates, the current union president, Jesse Sharkey, has kept a lower profile than Lewis, who proved so popular she launched a run for mayor before falling ill to brain cancer. But the group has still pumped up its national profile with its victories in charter strikes and a hard line in bargaining.

Reflecting last year in a radio interview for WBEZ, Emanuel said Chicago Public Schools, under his direction, “should have sat down with [teachers] and said, ‘You’ve gotta be part of the solution.’ I kind of said that they would never really want to do that, and we did it the wrong way.”

Issues beyond pay: Lightfoot’s victory party was still thumping last spring when teachers union leaders warned that she had “her work cut out for her on day one” and issued a call for more support staffing in schools, from nurses and librarians at every campus, to counselors and social workers at recommended ratios.

Lightfoot, who had promised to boost investments in neighborhood schools, pledged to add hundreds of social workers, special education case managers, and nurses at schools over five years. But she stopped short of putting them in a contract offer, saying her schools budget demonstrates her commitment.

The union fired back that putting new positions in the contract would ensure that hired staff would be fully licensed, and that the work would be kept in house and not contracted out.

In 2012, a different non-wage issue derailed contract talks. Emanuel wanted to tie teacher pay to test-based performance ratings. Union leaders vehemently objected, countering that test scores didn’t accurately reflect teacher ability or effort. That was one of a host of education reform measures teachers saw themselves confronting under Emanuel’s leadership of Chicago schools.

Teachers walked out, and Emanuel went to court and argued the strike was illegal, because state law prohibits unions from striking over non-economic issues. He lost, the strike lasted seven days, and the teachers claimed victory.

They won a 17.6% raise over four years and a diminished emphasis on test scores in their evaluations.

In contrast, in 2016, when observers saw a strike as all but inevitable, district officials made several concessions, including hiring more teachers assistants for kindergarten through second grade classes with more than 32 students. Union leaders hailed the move as the first enforceable limits on class sizes in 20 years.

Fact-finders siding with the city: In August a neutral fact-finder largely sided with City Hall, much as mediators did during Emanuel’s tenure. But regardless of how much an independent agent has tried to focus the conversation on pay and benefits, the union has brushed it off and instead pushed a broad-based progressive agenda that reached far beyond schools’ front doors.

The differences

A progressive mayor: Where Emanuel took office ready to wage battle to create a longer school day and extended school year during his first term, Lightfoot won a sweeping victory after campaigning on a progressive agenda that, when it came to schools, largely echoed the union’s own platform. She championed an elected school board and pledged more resources to neighborhood schools.

While Emanuel dealt aggressively with the union in public, Lightfoot said she would sit down with union chief Sharkey and try to work out a deal.

“If my presence at the bargaining table to push forward and forge a deal is productive, I’m ready to do it. I will clear the decks on my schedule and make it happen,” Lightfoot told reporters at a news conference last week.

In response, Sharkey said that day he felt it was premature for the mayor to come in while, he claimed, the city’s bargaining team hadn’t substantively responded to teacher contract proposals.

Credibility in CPS leadership: Lightfoot also has another asset that Emanuel didn’t have: Schools chief Janice Jackson is popular with rank-and-file educators and has navigated sticky labor conflicts before.

In 2016, with the district in budget crisis mode and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner pressuring Chicago Public Schools to declare bankruptcy, Jackson and the union’s Lewis negotiated a last-minute deal that averted a strike. Jackson was then the district’s No. 2, under career bureaucrat Forrest Claypool. The deal awarded only small raises for teachers, but it did parcel out the payments for pension costs among new hires and veterans.

Jackson now has the top job at Chicago Public Schools, and in recent weeks she and Lightfoot have appeared publicly side-by-side to tout upgrades to neighborhood schools, expansions to arts programs, and sustained gains in its graduation rate and other academic metrics.

Financial stability: In 2012, Illinois’ budget was in the red, and by 2016, the state was in a full-blown crisis. It still has an outstanding backlog of bills, but a new education funding formula has awarded additional funds to Chicago schools, putting it on more solid financial footing.

The union has argued that the funds should go toward raises and additional staff, to the tune of nearly 5,000 teachers, professionals and aides the union asked for in its contract proposals.

Lightfoot has acknowledged the needs of schools and educators, while laying bare the budget realities facing the city and its schools.

Her latest public offer — a 16% cost-of-living raise across five years — reflects the critical role teachers play in classrooms, she has said, while also acknowledging that even added resources have limits. “The fortunes of CPS absolutely have improved,” said Lightfoot. “We feel comfortable this will fall within the resources we have.”

That begs the question: Will Lightfoot take a page from her predecessor’s playbook and raid a surplus of city funds? One of the ways Emanuel paid for the concessions he made in 2016 was to raid a city account intended to help spur the redevelopment of blighted areas. The extra $88 million helped seal the deal.

Lightfoot has a similar tool at her disposal. The mayor could sweeten the city’s offer to the union by using some of the additional $181 million that flowed into the city tax-increment financing accounts last year, a 27.4% jump as compared with 2017, according to a report from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough. However, Lightfoot has so far declined to say how she will spend those funds.

Publicly, the mayor is staying confident. She said again Tuesday there was no reason for a deal not to be reached to avert a strike. “We owe that to our children to get a deal done and quickly.”

If the past two contract negotiations serve as prologue for this round of talks, don’t expect a decision — if one is reached — to come long before teachers are set to walk off the job.

This story was produced in collaboration and co-published with The Daily Line.