Chalkbeat

Many of Chicago’s migrant students may be entitled to bus service. But are schools telling them?

2024-01-19T19:06:28+00:00

After six months in a downtown shelter, Daniela and her 11-year-old son, Luis, faced a dilemma: The city had given them until Feb. 1 to find another place to live, which would mean moving farther away from the school the fifth grader was attending.

The family, which migrated to Chicago from Venezuela, secured an apartment in South Shore with the help of Catholic Charities. Chalkbeat is using pseudonyms in this story out of privacy concerns for the interviewed families.

But their new apartment is more than 13 miles south of Luis’ school, Ogden International School of Chicago’s Jenner campus — which could mean an hour-plus commute by public transit for Luis and his mother, who had planned to look for a job.

Daniela’s predicament is one many parents could face as Chicago enforces a new rule requiring migrant families to leave shelters after 60 days. She is one of about 3,000 migrants who arrived between January and July 31 of last year and began receiving 60-day eviction notices in early December 2023, according to a press release from City Hall. If families haven’t secured permanent housing, they must get back in line for a spot at a city shelter.

But many migrant families in shelters might not know the rights their children have to district-provided transportation — or even that they can remain in the same school despite moving — if schools are not informing them, or there’s no one to help translate conversations between school staff and families.

Every school has a liaison for homeless students who is supposed to inform homeless families of their rights, a district spokesperson said. Those liaisons, along with principals and staff with the district’s Office of Cultural and Language Education, tell newcomer families how to apply for transportation services, the district said. Each school also posts a list of homeless students’ rights in English and Spanish near the main office, the district said.

Until Daniela spoke with a Chalkbeat reporter, she didn’t know that the federal McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act allows homeless students to stay in the same school even if they move, such as to another shelter, and requires school districts to provide transportation. It also allows students such as Luis, who have found permanent housing, to stay at the same school until the end of the school year. No one at the school had told her, she said.

In fact, federal law says that districts “shall presume” that keeping homeless students in their original school is in their best interest unless that’s against their parents’ or guardians’ wishes.

After publication of this story, CPS provided Chalkbeat additional details about how schools are informing families of their rights under the law. They said every newly arrived family gets an enrollment packet, both in English and Spanish, that includes information about the rights of homeless students, according to the district.

Staff at the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education also help these families fill out an application for homeless students, which “provides families with the first opportunity to review the process and ask questions,” the district said. Schools have a 24/7 translation line that staff can use to communicate with families who don’t speak English. CPS said it fulfills its legal obligation to provide transportation to homeless students by providing them with CTA cards.

The goal of the federal law is to provide stability for homeless students. One 2015 study found that New York City students who transferred schools were more likely to be chronically absent, and of those students, those who were also homeless were more likely to repeat the same grade.

Daniela also didn’t know Chicago Public Schools allows parents of younger homeless students like Luis to apply for yellow bus service if they can’t accompany their child on the commute. Or that CPS policy requires schools to inform families who are homeless of their transportation rights and options.

“We’re not, as a district, transporting any newcomers,” said Kimberly Jones, CPS’s director of transportation, in late November during an interview with WGN. On Tuesday, a district spokesperson said the transportation department does not see students’ immigration status, but still called Jones’ statement accurate, in that she’s unable to identify any students on bus routes based on their immigration status.

But district officials have indicated they are tracking immigration status internally. At a City Council Education Committee meeting in late November, a district official testified that CPS had enrolled at least 4,000 migrant students.

This year the district is exclusively busing students with disabilities and homeless students due to a driver shortage and as it’s under state watch to shorten commutes for students with disabilities. District officials have said migrant students are largely homeless, meaning they’re living in shelter, doubled up with others, or in public places.

Of the roughly 8,700 students the district is currently busing, just 128 are homeless, the district said. Another nearly 4,000 students who would typically qualify for transportation this year are receiving stipends, with just 18 of them homeless.

The school did give Daniela and her son free CTA cards for the school commute to and from their shelter, a service it is providing as part of its legal obligation to provide homeless students with transportation. But, “they did not provide the option for yellow bus service,” she said.

Ogden-Jenner did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment. The district also declined to comment specifically on Daniela’s experience.

Schools must inform families of their rights, advocates say

CPS policy also allows families of young children who are homeless to apply for “hardship” transportation, which provides yellow bus service for children who are in kindergarten through sixth grade. Caregivers must fill out paperwork to prove they have a conflict that does not allow them to assist their child in getting to school. Examples of “hardship” include work, job training, schooling of their own, a conflict with shelter rules, court orders, or another “good cause,” according to CPS’ website.

The 60-day shelter rule is “going to require families to move more often, and it makes it more challenging to get to the school of origin and stay stable in their school of origin,” said Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “If they are eligible for hardship transportation, they should be getting it.”

“The onus isn’t on the family who is newly arrived to Chicago to figure out what services might be available for transportation,” Nix-Hodes said.

School liaisons for homeless students often have other duties in schools, which may make it difficult for them to keep homeless families adequately informed, Nix-Hodes said.

In addition to informing families of their rights, the liaisons should also help families figure out if they’re eligible for bus service and with filling out any required paperwork, Nix-Hodes said.

Other families are in the dark about transportation rights

Edgar, a friend of Daniela’s who is also getting ready to move from shelter, also did not know he could apply for bus service so that his 8-year-old daughter could travel without him from their new home to her current school, Ogden Elementary.

Edgar is moving from the same shelter as Daniela to the same South Shore apartment building with his family. When he informed Ogden about their upcoming move, staff offered to find a school close to his new home — but they didn’t mention that he could apply for bus service to help get her to Ogden, he said.

Daniela's son, Luis, left, poses with Edgar's daughter, right, on Wed., Jan. 3, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

After learning the information from a Chalkbeat reporter, he went back to Ogden to ask about bus service. The school confirmed that service was available but “these are things that take time to approve,” Edgar explained in Spanish.

Instead, with Ogden’s help, he plans to enroll his daughter at a school that’s a 12-minute walk from their new home. While his daughter is OK with leaving Ogden, she’s sad about leaving her English class, he said. Ogden did not return a request for comment, and CPS didn’t respond to questions about Edgar’s experience.

Schools shouldn’t encourage homeless families to “move schools when their living situation changes,” Nix-Hodes said.

The law allows homeless students to stay in their same school because school stability is good for children’s academic performance and social-emotional health, especially when they’re coming to the United States from another country, Nix-Hodes said.

Gwen McElhattan, a social worker with nonprofit Chicago Help Initiative, which provides meals, clothing, and other services to homeless families, has received questions from many migrant parents on how to enroll their child in school. The city has created a “welcome center” for migrants at Roberto Clemente High School, which is supposed to help families with school enrollment and other resources. But McElhattan said that many people don’t know it exists — and doesn’t sense that many designated people are informing families of how to navigate school enrollment.

“They don’t know about it because they’re migrants — they don’t always know everything that’s happening,” said McElhattan, adding that their primary concerns are food and shelter. “They’re just trying to survive. They have children – they’re just trying to keep going.”

Luis, Daniela’s son, said he likes his teachers at Ogden-Jenner and he’s made some friends. But he’s had a tough time understanding lessons because there’s often no one who can help translate, he said. Because of the language barrier, there are days that he doesn’t want to go to school, his mother said.

Still, Daniela would prefer to keep her son enrolled at Ogden-Jenner if she can get busing because she senses it’s a good school. By state standards, it is: The school earned the Illinois State Board of Education’s second-highest rating for academic performance.

Daniela has not yet talked with the school about what happens next or what her options are.

It’s difficult to communicate with staff, she said. “En la escuela allí no hablan español” — At the school, they don’t speak Spanish.

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

What does it take to be a school board member? New Chicago leadership program offers a guide.

2024-05-03T15:21:29+00:00

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In a classroom normally filled with teenagers, 16 adults sat at desks arranged in a U-shape on a recent Saturday afternoon at Roosevelt High School on Chicago’s North Side.

Behind the group, there was a small table with a box of red, green, and yellow wristbands. Green meant you were fine with hugs; yellow OK’ed high fives and fist bumps; and red meant “no touching, send vibes!” according to a sign taped to the table. Next to the wristbands were a stack of packets that said “Effective School Boards Framework.”

At the front of the class, a projected slide said in big letters, “Student outcomes don’t change until adult behaviors change.”

It was time for lessons on how to be on a school board.

AJ Crabill, an author presenting to the group that day, asked the class: Who is at the top of the organizational chart of a school system?

It’s not the school board, he said.

The superintendent, someone wondered.

“It is 1,000% not the superintendent,” Crabill said.

The mayor?

“It’s definitely not the mayor.”

Students?

That would be “beautiful,” Crabill said, but that’s not how it works typically.

The correct answer: The community.

Crabill, director of governance for the Council of the Great City Schools, was explaining to the class of education advocates, parent leaders, and prospective school board members that any school system exists to serve the public — but sometimes policymakers forget that.

“The moment you realize the community is at the top of the org chart, and then you realize, ‘That seems completely incongruent with my lived experience,’” Crabill said, drawing some laughs.

AJ Crabill, Director of Governance for the Council of Great City Schools, speaks to the inaugural class of Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago fellows during School Board School held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

The students are the inaugural class of a new, eight-month fellowship launched by National Louis University to prepare people for Chicago’s first elected school board, said Bridget Lee, the fellowship’s executive director. The fellowship is funded by Crown Family Philanthropies, The Joyce Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and Vivo Foundation (Crown, Joyce, and Vivo also support Chalkbeat. Learn more about our funding here.)

Known as the Academy for Local Leadership, or ALL Chicago, the fellowship is happening at a critical time. Chicago voters will begin electing people to the city’s school board this November, and candidates are building campaigns. But Lee said the program is for advocates as well as potential candidates.

Fellows had to apply to join the program, which began in March and will last through November and are hosted across the city, said Lee, who added that they are still figuring out the timing for the second cohort of fellows. Fellows are given a $400 stipend to help cover transportation costs — an amount Lee hopes will increase in the future, she said.

Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago fellow Mary Nikoo takes notes during a session held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

Over about two sessions a month, the group will learn the basics of Chicago’s school system, the district’s finances, and how to make an “action plan” for creating change in school communities.

Towards the end of the program, fellows will flesh out their actual action plan and present their vision for change during their graduation ceremony. By then, some of the fellows who are running for school board may have won their elections.

The first group of fellows includes a handful of people running for office and many with close ties to the district. It includes Sendhil Revuluri, a former board member; Danielle Wallace, a school board candidate running in District 6 on the South Side; and Mykela Collins, a mother with two children in Chicago Public Schools who serves on a Local School Council.

Wallace, a former teacher and nonprofit leader in Englewood, was on the fence about running for school board until she started the fellowship.

“One of the most valuable things for me is becoming really clear on what my thoughts and values and positions are on different topics,” Wallace said. “That just gives me a lot of confidence on making the right decisions from that seat.”

Fellows Jesus Ayala Jr. and Carlos Rivas have also filed campaign finance paperwork to run for school board seats in District 7 on the South West side and District 3 on the North West side, respectively.

Collins said she applied for the fellowship because she wanted to know how to be a better advocate.

“I wanted to know who is important for me to go to, the type of questions I can ask and needed to ask and how I can go about getting those answers,” Collins said.

Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago fellows Mykela Collins, right, and Christina Jensen, left, laugh during a session held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

Lee’s idea for the fellowship formed three years ago, when Illinois lawmakers first passed a law creating the elected school board. As a former teacher and CPS employee who worked in the central office, Lee wondered how the public would learn about the complicated new governance system. Lee then visited a program in Cincinnati called School Board School, which educates school board candidates and advocates, and decided to bring the model to Chicago, she said.

Lee said “plenty” of organizations help political candidates navigate politics. ALL Chicago focuses instead on learning about the school system and how to work with people who may not agree with you — just like a school board.

For example, this first batch of fellows sees eye-to-eye on about 80% of things: They care about children, and they want all students to succeed regardless of their backgrounds, Lee said. She wants the fellowship to be the place where people can have “productive civil discourse” about the 20% of things they don’t agree on.

“I think that fellows are sort of learning from each other, like how their own stories and their own experiences have shaped their viewpoint and how the system should run and are learning how to talk about that in a way that moves things forward,” Lee said.

Since the program began in March, the group has already heard from some experienced policymakers, including former Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson, Lee said. They’ve also started to create their plans for how they want to impact the school system.

On the Saturday afternoon when Crabill was there, however, the fellows went back to the basics.

He asked the group to ponder some big questions, such as, “Why do school systems exist?” Answers varied. One person said the goal was to prepare children for the workforce. Another said school systems also help students socialize.

Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago fellow Cory Cain asks a question to speaker AJ Crabill, Director of Governance for the Council of Great City Schools, during a session held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

After learning that the community is at the top of the organizational chart, Crabill, who wrote the book, “Great On Their Behalf: Why School Boards Fail, How Yours Can Become Effective,” emphasized another basic fact of being an elected official: Your job is never over.

“You gonna be sittin’ up in the grocery store trying to find a non-squishy avocado, and somebody gonna come up to you and complain about, how come their kid didn’t get a part in the play?” Crabill said, igniting laughter across the room.

But, seriously, he said: “This becomes your life. People will roll up on you at any moment when you have put yourself in the position to be their representative — and I think it’s perfectly appropriate for them to do so.”

The fellows’ knowledge of Chicago Public Schools varied. One person talked about the district’s school bus crisis. At one point, one fellow informed another that Chicago Public Schools had scrapped its old school rating policy last year. The second fellow replied, “Thank God.”

Materials used by Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago fellows are seen on the desks during a session held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

Other times, fellows had some universal experiences with CPS. For instance, during a discussion about public feedback, the class started talking — and commiserating — all at once about the process of signing up for public comment during monthly Chicago Board of Education meetings.

“You gotta sign up two days in advance and it finishes in two minutes,” one fellow said.

“Yes!” another replied.

School board members should never only consider public feedback during a meeting, Crabill said, given that most people in the community won’t be represented there.

Crabill also covered the murky line of when board members should step in to solve a problem or delegate to someone else.

He asked the group to imagine a class of 26 students where six of the children have higher needs and get more attention from the teacher. Now imagine that a father of one of the other 20 children calls a school board member he knows, asking for more attention for his child. The board member then calls the teacher to fix the problem. What is the teacher going to do?

One fellow’s answer stood out: “Spend more time with that one kid,” she said.

That’s probably what would play out – but Crabill warned the group to never let that happen. School board members should be pointing the parent to the proper channels for expressing their concern instead of giving them inequitable access to power and frustrating their employees in the process.

Fellows in the inaugural class of Academy for Local Leadership (ALL) Chicago listen to speaker AJ Crabill, Director of Governance for the Council of Great City Schools, during a session held at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Chicago, Illinois on April 19, 2024.

“We’ve created a hostile work environment for our staff that pressures them to no longer do what in their judgment is the best interest of children but instead do what is in the best interest of the power that be that showed up,” Crabill said.

This lesson was enlightening for Collins, the mother and LSC member.

“Learning that the roles and the responsibilities and accountability of the board is so much different from what I ever thought,” Collins said. “I thought that the board is supposed to do everything…anything goes wrong in the school, it’s the board’s issue, but learning that’s not how it is and they delegate different folks throughout the district to make those changes.”

During the session, fellows had a meta moment. They realized that so much of what they’re learning about the school system isn’t common knowledge to the general public. Was there a way that the system or a future board could spread what they’re learning?

Crabill challenged them.

“This is a new scenario for Chicago,” Crabill said, “so write a new script.”

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

Chicago Public Schools kicks off community forums on upcoming strategic plan

2024-04-16T03:57:48+00:00

Chicago Public Schools is mapping out its goals for the next five years and wants feedback from the public.

The plan — which will be finalized this summer — will focus on three priorities: how to improve students’ daily experiences in the classroom, staffing and funding, and collaborating more closely with school communities, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez told a crowd of about 40 people at Crane High School on Monday night for the first of seven community forums. Many of the attendees were district staff. Others were parents, community advocates, and representatives from outside organizations.

The plan gained some attention in the winter when the Chicago Board of Education announced it would move away from the school choice system. The board said it would outline a new approach in the strategic plan, and specific changes would depend on community feedback.

But school choice didn’t come up at Monday’s session. Martinez told Chalkbeat the district will ask families their opinions on school choice and capital planning in May, because those are “big topics.” The next three meetings this month will focus more on the daily school experience and funding, though parents also can share their thoughts about school choice, he said. Martinez said he’s already heard from Spanish-speaking parents who have struggled to navigate the GoCPS system.

As Martinez went over the district’s priorities, he highlighted some successes, including a recent growth in reading and math.

“We are building a five-year plan so this continues, and we continue to accelerate,” Martinez told the crowd.

Martinez, who was hired in 2021, established a three-year blueprint in the fall of 2022. The district is developing the next five-year strategic plan at a moment of big change.

Chicago is holding its first school board elections this fall and candidates are starting to emerge. In January 2025, a hybrid board with 10 elected members and 11 members appointed by the mayor will be sworn into office.

Since taking office a year ago, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointed school board has voted to remove police officers from schools in addition to passing the resolution to shift away from school choice. Both moves prompted a response from state lawmakers who are debating bills that could prevent those changes.

District officials have also rolled out a new budgeting formula that provides set staffing levels to all schools and additional discretionary spending based on need. They’ve also cut bus service for general education students and struggled to comply with providing transportation to students with disabilities who are legally entitled to it.

Martinez and other district officials spent the first hour of Monday’s meeting talking about the vision for the district over the past few years, as well as the feedback officials have collected so far through other community meetings and focus groups, such as on how to ensure the success of Black students. So far, that feedback has run the gamut, Martinez said, including asking the district to better prepare students for life after high school, focus more on supporting students’ mental health, provide more funding for building repairs and transportation, and include families in decision making.

In the second hour, attendees rotated between three tables. At each, CPS staff talked about their work — such as changing the funding formula for school budgets or their desire to expand dual language programming — and then took questions from members of the community.

At one table, which focused in part on funding, most of the roughly 15 people seated were CPS staff. One of the few community members was Catherine Jones, a longtime education advocate on the West Side who asked if the district was still considering enrollment under its new funding formula. Budget Director Mike Sitkowski told Jones that the new formula would “guarantee that even the smallest school has a baseline” of staff.

“Which is good,” Jones responded.

At another table, parent Alexandra Beltrand, a mother of three CPS kids, asked if the district could expand dual language programs.

By 8 p.m. — the scheduled end of the meeting — attendees had only rotated tables twice, and attendees at at least two of the tables had just a few minutes to ask questions after hearing from CPS staff. Attendees were encouraged to write down their questions and feedback so that staff could review and record it later.

“We’re going to see what worked today, what didn’t — so for example, we didn’t have as much time to have more rotations,” Martinez said. “We’re even wondering, do we start having even more groupings instead of three?”

Still, Beltrand said the meeting was helpful. After the meeting ended, she chatted one-on-one with staff from the district’s Office of Cultural and Language Education.

“I felt heard,” Beltrand said.

People interested in attending the meetings can register online here.

Becky Vevea contributed.

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

Chicago Public Schools wants ideas for how to improve outcomes for Black students

2024-03-12T21:27:04+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will host a series of meetings over the next two weeks to hear about how it can improve the school experience for Black students.

The first of eight meetings is taking place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Uplift Community High School in Uptown.

The public meetings are part of the district’s new Black Student Success Working Group, which CPS created in the fall to provide district leaders with recommendations for its upcoming “Black Student Success Plan.” That blueprint will then be folded into the district’s overall five-year strategic plan, which is expected to be finalized this summer.

CPS, like other districts across the nation, has long reported academic disparities between Black students and their peers, who make up 35% of the school system. In Chicago, 79.7% of Black students graduated on time last year, a rate that has gradually improved but is still behind the graduation rate for all other racial groups, according to district data. And 12.6% of Black students dropped out last year, the highest percentage for any racial group.

“We’re meeting as a working group because historically and today, Black students are situated furthest from opportunity,” said Fatima Cooke, CPS’s chief of equity, engagement and strategy.

“There is so much more work that still needs to be done to create those holistic systems that foster environments where Black students are empowered, that they feel seen, and that they have a sense of belonging.

The working group is made up of more than 60 members, including parents, students, educators, district employees and other community members, according to a CPS press release. The group has been meeting since December and has also convened focus groups of students, families, and staff, Cooke said.

While the working group has already drafted some recommendations that that focus on academics, the members don’t want to present those ideas to the community yet because they want “authentic” input, said Ayanna Clark, a CPS parent who is a member of the working group and also serves as assistant chief of staff to the City Council’s education committee under Ald. Jeanette Taylor.

“We don’t want to go into a space where we’re once again telling people what to think and giving them a set of options and telling them to choose from the set of options,” Clark said.

State legislation that paves the way for Chicago’s first elected school board creates a “Black Student Achievement Committee in response to advocacy from longtime community advocates. Cooke said this work “is parallel to that” and won’t “impede” a committee.

The district working group is focused on three priorities. These are Black students’ daily school experience; “adult capacity and continuous learning,” which focuses on workforce diversity and professional development to ensure teachers are meeting student needs; and how community organizations can support Black students’ needs that “can’t be met by the school-based budget,” said Christopher Shelton, a former science teacher who now works for the district’s central office and is helping to facilitate the group.

The group has also discussed ideas to better support Black students, including providing teachers with more professional development; focusing on conflict resolution practices; diversifying the teacher workforce; and to “leverage corporate, government, and community partnerships to bridge resource gap,” according to a presentation posted on the district’s website.

‘Focusing on what the students need’

The group’s first meeting in December included a history of how city policies have impacted Black families and students. Some of the topics that members highlighted during that meeting were the Great Migration, the practice of redlining that drove racial segregation, and the closing of 50 schools — most of which were majority Black schools — under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The group also reviewed data on academic disparities. At the beginning of this school year, 62% of Black students in grades kindergarten to second grade were behind one grade level in reading, while 66% were behind in math, according to iReady data presented to the group at the December meeting. That’s higher than most other racial groups except for Hispanic students, who are behind in both subjects at the same rates, and the 76% of Haiwaiian or Pacific Islander students who were behind in math.

Chicago’s Black students are the least likely to earn early college credit, which can help offset college costs. And outside of academics, the group looked at data showing that Black girls received more than 7 out of every 100 out-of-school suspensions last school year, while Black boys received more than 10 — the highest rates for any racial group, which grew from 2022.

One bright spot that the group has heard about: Over the past six years, more Black eighth graders have enrolled at schools that offer algebra.

Then there are factors that can place an additional burden on Black students outside school buildings. For example, roughly 20% of Black students travel six or more miles to school compared with 11% of all students.

District officials have previously highlighted how students should not have to leave their neighborhoods to attend a school that fits their needs. In December, the Board of Education made waves when it announced that, as part of the creation of that strategic blueprint, it was planning to rethink the district’s school choice system and invest more in neighborhood schools. That system includes schools that require an application, including charters, magnets, selective enrollment schools, and gifted programs.

Jahnae Roberts, a junior at Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts and a member of the working group, said she hears the need for more support around mental health and social emotional learning for Black students. Her peers have also shared with her that they don’t feel some teachers know how to work with or teach them.

The working group is “focusing on what the students need, not just education-wise, but what are they receiving at school that they might not receive at home to make it a better place for them?” Jahnae said.

The working group and the ensuing community meetings are one component of the district’s development of a new five-year strategic plan. The district hosted meetings over improving school facilities, and it will have more community meetings around the broader strategic plan.

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

Chicago Public Schools plans to end Aramark cleaning contract

2024-02-13T01:41:10+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools said Monday it is not planning to renew a multi-million dollar deal with Aramark for the management of school janitors and cleaning services after a decade.

The move comes after years of concerns and complaints over school cleanliness from staff, parents, and students.

The school board’s latest agreement with the Philadelphia-based company is set to end June 30, 2024. According to a school board committee agenda posted Monday, the district is asking board members to increase the current contract, which started Aug. 2021, from $369 million to $391 million “due to unforeseen expenditures associated with overtime, custodial supplies and custodial equipment.”

A district spokesperson confirmed Monday the district is not renewing the contract with Aramark and the school board will vote on seven new contracts at its Feb. 22 meeting.

Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer at CPS, said the district is looking forward to more direct oversight of janitorial services and supplies and allowing principals to have more say on school cleaniness. Mayfield said the district will contract with seven vendors for custodial services. He said he doesn’t anticipate any job losses with this change.

CPS employs more than 1,000 custodians, according to staffing records updated at the end of December.

“We had an opportunity to renew at Aramark and we opted not to,” said Mayfield. “There were some challenges there, but they’ve also been great partners over a number of years. Sometimes change happens.”

A spokesperson for Aramark wrote in a statement that the company was disappointed to not be selected to continue providing facility services for CPS.

“We are proud of the efforts of our dedicated employees and are committed to ensuring a smooth transition to the school district’s new provider,” said Chris Collom, Aramark’s vice president of corporate communications.

Chicago Public Schools first contracted with Aramark in 2014. Budget officials at the time promised that outsourcing the management of school cleaning would save money and ease the burden on school principals.

But the deal backfired in the first school year when staff returned from summer break to dirty classrooms and, in some buildings, fewer custodians. Then-CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett admitted the shift to privatized management of custodians was not going smoothly and the board reversed nearly 500 planned layoffs. By the spring of 2015, the contract with Aramark had gone millions of dollars over budget, WBEZ reported.

The union representing school janitors called the move a victory for its members. SEIU Local 73 — the union that also represents school employees such as special education classroom assistants, bus aides, and crossing guards — has been meeting with the district’s facilities department for almost three years to raise concerns about Aramark’s management of equipment and supplies for custodial staff.

Stacia Scott Kennedy, executive vice president of SEIU, said she is thrilled the contract is over.

“I feel hopeful that this change in management will improve the outcomes of cleanliness,” said Scott Kennedy. “I also feel hopeful that it’ll improve the working conditions of our members who have suffered under private contract with management for the last 10 years.”

SEIU Local 73 has been in contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools since its contract ended June 30, 2023. One of the union’s economic proposals was to ask the district to get rid of the contract with Aramark. Scott Kennedy said they will keep the proposal as negotiations continue.

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.

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 proposes later start date for 2024-25 school year due to Democratic National Convention

2024-02-01T19:58:07+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools has proposed calendars for the next two academic years, pushing next year’s start date back by a week to avoid overlapping with the Democratic National Convention.

The Board of Education is slated to vote on the proposed calendars for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years at its Feb. 22 meeting.

The first day of school for the 2024-25 academic year would be on Aug. 26, about a week later than recent years. The move avoids starting school the same day Chicago is set to begin hosting the Democratic National Convention from Aug. 19-22. The convention is expected to bring in about 75,000 visitors, according to a news release from CPS.

“This shift not only accommodates the city’s logistical needs as they relate to the influx of Conventiongoers, but it also allows time for students to attend, volunteer, and participate in the civic process of hosting the Convention,” district officials said in a press release.

Because of the later start, the first semester next year would also end after a two-week winter break on Jan. 17, 2025. School would end on June 12, 2025, about a week later than this year.

For the 2025-26 school year, the first day would return to the third week of August – on Aug. 18, 2025 – and classes would end June 4, 2026.

Both proposed calendars would continue the recent practice of taking a full week off at Thanksgiving.

The district is asking parents, staff, and students for their feedback. A survey for parents, staff, and other community members will close at 5 p.m. Feb. 7. while a survey that CPS distributed Tuesday to students in grades 6-12 ends at 5 p.m. Feb. 2.

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.

Inspector General urges overhaul of Chicago Public Schools’ ‘flawed’ tracking system for tech devices

2024-01-09T06:01:00+00:00

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The Chicago Public Schools inspector general is raising red flags about potential waste and fraud — particularly in areas where the district has spent more than $2 billion in federal COVID recovery money.

In his annual report out Tuesday, CPS Inspector General Will Fletcher also outlined eight cases of substantiated sexual abuse of staff on students, and recommended more consistent training on sexual misconduct for vendors who provide services to schools.

The report — which details the inspector general’s work from the previous fiscal year, or July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 — highlighted the office’s investigation into lost or stolen laptops and other technology valued at at least $23 million and, for the second year in a row, detailed cases of fraud and potential mismanagement of extra pay for staff.

The OIG found that CPS marked at least 77,000 devices as lost or stolen during the 2021-22 school year, often with little or no effort to find those devices, according to the report.

The OIG’s review comes after Chalkbeat and WBEZ found the district spent tens of millions of federal COVID relief dollars on technology without a reliable system for tracking those devices.

“CPS spends a couple of million dollars on software and other assets that try to monitor and keep track of their assets, and we found out that that system is just very flawed,” said Fletcher, in an interview Monday with Chalkbeat.

District officials are “concerned about the loss of any public asset,” and are working to improve their tracking systems and hold staff accountable to district policies in how to manage devices, a CPS spokesperson said.

At three dozen schools, all of the devices assigned to students were listed as lost or stolen, according to the OIG’s review of audits schools submitted of their technology inventory during the 2021-22 school year.

“When we followed up with the schools, we would talk to people who had an asset or a laptop or a Chromebook that was issued to them that was marked as lost or stolen — that in fact wasn’t,” Fletcher said. “There were a few interviews with people who reached into their desk and said, ‘Hey, I got this laptop, no one ever asked me for it.’”

Incorrectly labeling devices can lead the district to purchase replacement devices “at taxpayer’s expense,” the OIG noted.

During the time period the OIG investigated, the district spent $2.6 million on services meant to keep track of and recover the technology, the report said. Fletcher described the district’s tracking system as “very flawed,” mainly because there isn’t enough of an effort to find devices. In July, the district sent messages to 50,000 reportedly lost or stolen devices in order to recover them. As of Monday, the district has recovered more than 12,000 devices, a district spokesperson said.

Almost all of them were “in schools and were simply missed in the previous inventory cycle,” the spokesperson said.

There isn’t enough training for how schools should track their devices, leaving the district with flawed or incomplete data that’s not credible or enough to use to determine if criminal activity, such as theft, might have taken place, Fletcher said.

Between March 2020 and August 2023, Chalkbeat and WBEZ previously reported, the district spent more than $308 million on computers and other technology from its three main vendors — Apple, CDW, and Virtucom. The amount was roughly as much as these companies got paid during the previous two decades combined.

District officials said they bought nearly 311,000 laptops and tablets during that time, but more than 41,000 of the devices were sitting in a warehouse or yet to be shipped by a manufacturer. They also cited a lack of dedicated staff at schools to do inventory as an issue. According to district data, roughly 35% of schools had a technology coordinator.

The OIG’s office has recommended 16 changes to the district’s technology tracking system, including making principals accountable for their inventory audit results, making students and staff accountable for their devices, and requiring students and staff to be notified that they’re supposed to be in possession of an item that’s gone missing.

The district is now working to automate the process in which devices are recovered, a spokesperson said. Schools will be able to send messages to devices that are marked as lost or stolen, “urging people to return them.”

Devices that are not returned “promptly” will be disabled, the spokesperson said.

The district ultimately wants to create sensors in schools that would track mobile devices “and other high-value assets,” the spokesperson said.

‘Systemic problems’ tracking extra pay for staff

In addition to new technology, Chicago has spent millions in federal COVID recovery money on support for students beyond the normal school day — such as after-school programs, summer school, and tutoring — that existing school staff often help run.

As he did last year, Fletcher’s office raised concerns about how the district is tracking the recent spike in extra pay, which employees receive for working outside normal hours, such as to run an after-school activity.

According to the report, 67 employees each made more than $15,000 in extra pay in the 2021-22 school year, an amount that district officials consider excessive. The report says district officials plan to ask principals in late January to verify amounts for all employees whose extra pay was 50 percent or more of their normal work hours.

The OIG’s office noted a 74% increase in extra pay from 2017 to 2021. The district has since received $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief funding. The report notes that last school year, about $100 million of that funding was allocated to summer school, after-school programs, and professional development.

The OIG has pressed the district to monitor those payments more closely after detecting seemingly unchecked approvals of extra pay, such as pay granted without timesheets or without “supporting swipes” in the timekeeping system.

The district plans to create “new processes to ensure that payment reports are accurate and validated,” a spokesperson said, but did not provide more details.

Fletcher’s office highlighted two cases of fraud connected to programs operating outside the school day. Though both schemes allegedly began prior to the pandemic, Fletcher notes that they illustrate the “systemic problems” with how extra pay is tracked.

In one case, an elementary school assistant principal allegedly stole $195,000 over two years by diverting fees paid by parents for after-school programs into her personal bank account. Fletcher’s office first reported the alleged fraud, which dated back to 2011, in 2021 and referred the case to local authorities. In July 2023, a 17-count indictment came down against the former assistant principal, alleging she stole a total of $273,364.

“I mean, $200,000 is a lot more than a rounding error for an after-school program,” Fletcher said. “For that to go missing without any curtailment of the programming or anything like that raises concerns about what the parents are getting charged.”

In another case highlighted in the report, Fletcher’s office found a school clerk approved close to $70,000 in extra pay for hours she didn’t work. The alleged fraud took place at two separate schools dating back to 2017. She was able to log the payments for herself and an additional $15,000 for another clerk because “supervisors did not check to see whether they earned the extra pay they were claiming,” the report said.

CPS timesheets now have new language that says employees must swipe in and out of the timesheet system to receive extra pay for extended day and summer school programs. Because of pressure from the OIG’s office, timesheets detailing extra pay now also require employees to sign an attestation saying that they can be disciplined or fired for submitting false timesheets, the report said.

Sexual Assault Unit tackles 20% of all complaints

The OIG’s Sexual Assault Unit was created in the wake of a 2018 Chicago Tribune investigation that found schools failed to protect students from sexual abuse. It has opened more than 2,188 cases since its creation and fielded more than 400 complaints in the past year.

The annual report includes details of eight cases of substantiated sexual abuse of staff on students and dozens of other sexual misconduct cases that led to discipline, all of which the unit closed in fiscal year 2023.

One case led to criminal charges for a now-former security guard who the OIG found had sexually abused a 16-year-old student for five months, often inside the school building during school hours. The guard was charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Cook County Criminal Court, the OIG’s office said.

While sexual misconduct-related complaints made up one-fifth of more than 2,000 complaints filed with the OIG last fiscal year, most of those complaints — about two-thirds — are about allegations that don’t rise to sexual abuse or harassment. These “other concerning” allegations could represent grooming of students and involve allegations of staffers texting students or “liking” their students’ photos on social media, for example.

Separately, the OIG’s report raised concerns about inconsistent training on sexual misconduct and professional boundaries for outside employees who work with schools, such as vendors contracted to work with the district. The office found that some vendors and volunteers said they were trained on CPS policies while others weren’t. Of the 157 complaints reported to the Sexual Assault Unit about vendors or volunteers, about one-third were substantiated, according to the OIG.

The district has started training at least one subset of volunteers, the OIG reported.

Becky Vevea contributed.

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.

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.

New data shows hundreds of Chicago Public Schools bus routes with fewer than 10 students

2023-12-07T20:36:30+00:00

Data analysis by Thomas Wilburn.

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Four months after Chicago Public Schools significantly cut back bus service to meet the needs of children with disabilities, new data indicates hundreds of routes are carrying fewer than 10 students.

New data obtained by Chalkbeat Chicago details more than 1,000 bus routes for 7,350 students with disabilities whose Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, require transportation services. It offers a glimpse into how the district is attempting to shorten bus travel times for these students, as required by the state under a corrective action plan issued last year.

The bus routes included in the data are carrying students to 540 different schools.

The data was captured on Oct. 23 and filed by CPS with the state just before Thanksgiving, as part of the corrective action plan. It outlines the number of students with IEPs per route, their schools, pick-up times, and the third-party company that operates each route.

However, the data does not include students who have 504 plans — another type of legal document for students with disabilities — or homeless students, who are also entitled to transportation. District officials said the routes may include those students. One week before the data was captured, the district said it had routed a total of 8,105 students.

Chalkbeat’s analysis of the route data for 7,350 students with IEPs found:

There are an average 6.9 students with IEPs per route
785 of the more than 1,000 routes have 10 or fewer children with IEPs
59 routes — or 5.4% — transport one child with an IEP
The maximum number of students with an IEP per route is 26

The data does not clarify what sized buses travel on each route, how many routes include adult paraprofessionals who are assigned to assist students who have IEPs, how many other children who do not have IEPs might ride on the route, or how many empty seats there are on each bus route.

The new information raises questions about how students with IEPs are assigned to schools — often far from where they live — rather than provided services at schools in their communities. It also comes as parents of students whose bus service was cut earlier this year continue to put pressure on the district to provide transportation to their students, most of whom attend magnet and selective enrollment schools.

District officials continue to cite a national bus driver shortage as the core reason for its transportation troubles. CPS currently has 715 of the roughly 1,300 drivers it needs, officials said.

“This is an evolving non-stagnant situation with new requests and availability,” a district spokesperson said in an email.

Advocates for students with disabilities cautioned that the data does not necessarily mean there’s room on school buses for more students. Students with disabilities are legally owed transportation under federal law, and adding general education students to their existing routes “muddies the waters” of those legal rights, said Miriam Bhimani, a CPS parent and advocate whose complaint placed the district under state watch regarding transportation rights for students with IEPs.

CPS has struggled to provide bus transportation

The scope of busing provided by CPS has contracted significantly in recent years. As recently as 2019, the district budgeted $120 million to bus nearly 20,000 students, according to budget documents. This fiscal year, the district planned to budget $146 million as it pared down the number of students it was serving.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, CPS has been struggling to provide reliable bus transportation. Last year, about 3,000 CPS students with disabilities were on routes longer than an hour. The state put the district under corrective action last year to reduce ride times to less than an hour, which Illinois requires districts to “make every effort” to do.

In July, officials announced CPS would only bus students with disabilities and those who are homeless — groups legally entitled to transportation — and offered CTA passes to about 5,500 general education students and their parents. They also offered families of students with disabilities and those in temporary housing up to $500 in monthly stipends to cover their own transportation costs.

In October, district officials said about 8,100 students, most of whom have IEPs, were routed for busing to and from school. Another 3,948 families of students with disabilities opted to take the monthly reimbursements, CPS officials told the state in a letter dated Nov. 17.

Chicago is not alone in struggling with a shortage of bus drivers. U-46, Illinois’s second largest school district, has also experienced a driver shortage affecting students with disabilities, the Courier-News reported last month, but a U-46 spokesperson said it is currently providing busing to about 22,000 students.

After reiterating its bus driver shortage, CPS officials wrote in the Nov. 17 letter that it “paused providing transportation to families of general education students in magnet or selective enrollment programs” this year “in an effort to ensure” all students whose IEPs require transportation “are routed in a timely manner, and every effort is made to prevent students from riding longer than sixty minutes.”

After bus service was cut for general education students, district officials reported in late September a vast improvement in commute times for students with disabilities, with 47 children on rides longer than an hour. But those travel times have since worsened: As of last week, 116 students with disabilities were on routes longer than an hour, according to a CPS presentation to City Council members.

As recently as last week, district officials cast doubt on whether they would offer transportation to general education students.

But families of general education students in magnet and selective enrollment programs continue to show up at Chicago school board meetings to advocate for busing.

At a Wednesday meeting, a student from Kenwood Academic Academic Center said he and his brother used to take the bus to school together. This year, however, his brother takes a paratransit vehicle that doesn’t have other students on it and “wishes he wasn’t alone in the car.”

That student directed a question to transportation officials and board members at the meeting: “Why are they not routing as many students as possible into empty seats?”

But it’s not that simple, according to some advocates for students with disabilities. Adding many more students to existing routes could again worsen travel times for some students with disabilities, who have a federally protected right to transportation.

Adding students to routes isn’t simple

Advocates for students with disabilities said the data from October raises questions about how students with disabilities are assigned to schools — sometimes far outside their communities. Some of these children, advocates noted, are traveling far distances to therapeutic day schools, which provide more specialized instruction.

An example is Soaring Eagle Academy in suburban Lombard, located roughly 21 miles west of the downtown, where eight CPS students arrive each morning using three different bus routes, the data shows.

Terri Smith-Roback, a CPS parent who co-filed complaints with the state regarding transportation rights for students with disabilities, said she’s worried about long and “inefficient” rides for students traveling to therapeutic day schools. She’s heard from parents of these children who are riding the bus more than two hours each way and knows of one instance where a large yellow bus was transporting six kids to one of the schools.

District officials said some routes have fewer students “due to distance, medical equipment, and/or required bus aides that will require less students in the vehicle.” They also said that many routes use smaller vehicles, which have less space than a traditional yellow school bus.

About one-third of the more than 1000 routes detailed in the data are paratransit, which are usually smaller vehicles that provide individualized routes for students with disabilities, district officials told the state in a letter obtained by Chalkbeat.

Bhimani said the data highlights a larger problem with how the district assigns students with disabilities to schools. All students have the right to attend their assigned neighborhood school. But students with disabilities are often assigned to schools outside of their communities that the district believes can better serve their needs, as laid out in their IEPs, Bhimani said.

“The student assignment decision we’re making in the district is to say students with disabilities are actually not owed services at their zoned school, and we will place them wherever we think those services should be offered inside the district,” Bhimani said.

Instead, Bhimani said, the district should create more services for students in schools closer to where they live so that they don’t have to travel far.

Becky Vevea contributed reporting.

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

What do you think of Chicago’s school choice system? Chalkbeat wants to hear from you.

2023-11-20T20:13:53+00:00

Chicago’s system that allows families to apply for magnet and selective enrollment schools — often outside their neighborhoods — traces back decades. It was initially seen as a tool for desegregation.

But, in recent years, many of those schools have since been criticized for enrolling a larger share of white and Asian American students, even though those students make up a minority of the district, compared to their Black and Hispanic peers.

In addition, the emergence of charter schools in the late 1990s presented families with options outside of their local district-run school.

More recently, officials have seen Chicago’s school choice system as a way to offer families more choices, allowing them to enroll their children in a school they like, instead of being tied to a neighborhood school that may not have the resources they’re seeking.

Still, the admissions process, accessed through an application called GoCPS, has built a reputation for being confusing, cumbersome, and stressful.

Since his election earlier this year, Mayor Brandon Johnson has expressed a desire to boost investments into neighborhood schools, so families don’t feel like they need to leave their communities to get a good education for their children.

We want to know from Chicago Public Schools families: What has been your experience with the city’s school choice system? Tell us here or in the short survey below. (We will not use your answers or 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.

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.

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.

A dozen Chicago Public Schools employees ousted over federal PPP loan fraud

2023-09-06T18:05:00+00:00

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A dozen Chicago Public Schools employees have resigned or been fired after the district’s inspector general found they fraudulently obtained federal Paycheck Protection Program loans.

The loans — most of which did not need to be repaid — were available to businesses during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to help them stay afloat. Federal officials have since said the PPP loan program lacked controls and was “susceptible to fraud.”

All but one of the ousted CPS employees earned six-figure salaries and worked year-round positions.

“We’re talking about people who have full-time, year-round jobs with CPS,” Inspector General Will Fletcher told Chalkbeat Wednesday. “How they were able to have fully fledged side businesses was obviously going to be a question.”

The inspector general’s report does not name the employees. According to the report, one of them was a central office administrator who inflated how much they made on a side business in 2020 in order to get a PPP loan and also did not report that secondary employment to CPS.

Other cases include:

A district regional administrator making $165,000 a year created a fake business in order to get a $20,000 PPP loan. The money was deposited in their personal checking account and spent within two months on “expensive luxury items” and a trip to Las Vegas, bank records obtained by the inspector general showed.
A school administrator with a side business selling clothing admitted to inflating its income in 2019 in order to get two PPP loans totaling $40,000. The clothing business earned “at most $7,500,” but they claimed it earned $100,000.
An administrator making more than $120,000 a year got a $20,000 PPP loan by paying someone to fill out the application and report they made $100,000 as an independent contractor in 2019.

The inspector general’s report cites two additional employees whose dismissal cases are pending. The district said it has filed dismissal charges against them, but both cases are being litigated.

In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said the district is reviewing a recommendation by Fletcher that future employees be required to report any PPP loan they’ve received as part of the onboarding process.

“We take seriously our responsibility to serve students and families with integrity and we will hold accountable individuals who breach CPS policies and the public’s trust,” the spokesperson wrote.

Fletcher said his office opened a broad investigation into PPP fraud in 2022 and started by searching a public database that lists all PPP loan recipients. In all, 780 district employees showed up in the data as having obtained PPP loans, the OIG report said.

“We’re not presuming that all 780 loans were fraudulent,” Fletcher said, noting some CPS employees do have legitimate side jobs outside of school and during the summer. There may also be cases of identity theft. While the investigations are continuing, the report released Wednesday focused on cases involving higher-level employees and those who worked year-round positions.

“We’re looking at employees who have some level of supervisory authority or who are in positions where they have some kind of control over sensitive information, financial information, dealings with the contractors and vendors,” Fletcher said. “People who are in positions of trust in the district.”

Other investigations have also turned up evidence of misused funds related to the pandemic. The inspector general found most bus companies that were given “good faith” payments to keep paying drivers during the switch to virtual learning in March 2020 laid off their workers despite taking the money.

“PPP fraud is just one facet of what has concerned us related to pandemic fraud,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher said his office has the capacity to continue investigating these and other pandemic-related fraud and waste allegations, but noted there is a “lack of information” around much of the COVID relief money distributed by the federal government in the past few years.

Chicago Public Schools has received more than $2.8 billion in COVID recovery money from the federal government under three Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief packages passed by Congress.

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

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 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 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.

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.

Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog flags unchecked overtime pay, lost students, sexual misconduct

2023-01-05T06:05:00+00:00

Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog is raising red flags about sharply increasing extra pay for school staff in recent years, rising sexual misconduct complaints, and a troubling practice of schools mislabeling students as transfers when they’re missing school.

The district’s Office of Inspector General detailed these and dozens of other instances of fraud, misconduct, and wrongdoing in a sweeping 120-page annual report released Thursday.

Inspector General Will Fletcher said his office received 1,825 complaints and opened investigations into 725 — or about 40% — of them. Hundreds were allegations of sexual misconduct taken up by a special unit of investigators created in 2018, which also is investigating complaints received in previous years.

In response to the annual report, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Mary Fergus said in an email that the district supports the inspector general’s work.

“As a District, we take seriously our responsibility to serve our families with integrity and to address individuals who breach CPS policies and the public’s trust — and hold them accountable,” Fergus wrote. “CPS will continue to ensure our District policies and procedures support the highest ethical standards to ensure our valued team members act in the best interest of our students.”

Here are five highlights from the inspector general’s 2022 report.

Truant students have been mislabeled as transfers

Chicago Public Schools has a “chronic problem” of mislabeling students who are not showing up to school, according to the inspector general’s latest report. Since 2014, there have been five other investigations into the issue. This year, the inspector general found “extensive evidence” schools across the district are mislabeling students as transfers when they are truant, lost, or have dropped out.

Fletcher said the district’s own Office of Internal Audit and Advisory Service audited dozens of schools in 2019 and 2020. His office’s review of those audits found a “districtwide problem of schools failing to document transfers and lost children as required by law and CPS policy.”

More troubling, Fletcher said, is the district’s lack of follow-up to correct these problems.

“We have not been able to confirm or see any evidence that CPS is taking adequate corrective actions even when these audits bear out that schools are not in compliance with what they’re supposed to be doing to verify transfers or missing students,” Fletcher said. “When you have the information, by way of an audit, then you need to correct the problem.”

When students are mislabeled as transfers, they are removed from data used to measure how well schools are doing — including their attendance and graduation rates. Besides compromising data quality, this miscoding also means students may not receive support to get back into class and on track with learning.

The inspector general’s report outlined one case at an elementary school, where 20 students were incorrectly labeled as having transferred without evidence that these students requested transfers. In emails, school staff discussed “dropping” a student who didn’t return after winter break. The report said the school’s principal retired and one of two clerks resigned during the investigation. The other school clerk received extra training and the school culture coordinator -– who the report said was “most responsible” for the issue — was suspended for one day and got extra training.

The audits reviewed by Fletcher’s office were from before the pandemic, and data shows students have been missing more school in the two years since then. The inspector general recommends that the district spot-check transfer verification data and create a process to hold schools accountable for reporting false data to the district.

A district spokesperson said they are creating a new team within the Office of Student Support and Engagement to “address the improper use of leave codes and the documentation of transfers and dropouts.”

Surge in overtime pay, stipends raises red flags

The Inspector General is calling on the district to increase transparency and overhaul how it tracks the way staff earn extra pay beyond their salaries.

The watchdog found a dramatic surge in overtime, stipends and other extra pay that staff earn for taking on extra work, including coaching and after-school supervision. According to the report, Chicago Public Schools paid $73.9 million in extra pay, overtime, and stipends in 2021 — a 74% increase over the previous five years.

Amid this increase, the inspector general’s office cited “recurring problems and a lack of internal controls” with how extra work is tracked. Investigators found payments with no supporting documentation like digital or paper time sheets. The report noted the problem is not being properly audited because the district lacks rules to limit overpayment and staffing to correct issues.

“There’s no one set of rules or directions for how some of these extra pay categories are earned,” Fletcher said. “And then after they’ve been paid out, there doesn’t seem to be any kind of central monitoring or oversight on you know, to deter fraud for certain but then also just to make certain that the district is getting the bang for its buck.”

Since 2019, investigators found staff engaged in so-called “buddy punching” where they would clock in or out for other employees. The report highlights several egregious cases of fraud, including an employee who collected $150,000 in extra pay over four years with video evidence showing they were at a casino or elsewhere.

The watchdog called on the district to implement “clear, concise, organized guidelines” that include written penalties and corrective actions for violating rules. Other recommendations include: mandatory online training sessions for staff; warning and consequences for failing to clock in and out; restrictions on stipend payments; and considering video surveillance of schools’ digital time sheet machines, biometric swipes, or other timekeeping upgrades.

A spokesperson said the district will begin training on the “Timekeeper and Supplemental Payment System” Jan. 31 and will require all school clerks to complete it by Feb. 24. The payroll department is also beginning quarterly audits of extended day pay, overtime pay, and stipends, the spokesperson said.

No preferential treatment for Lightfoot donor in emergency computer purchase

The district watchdog is closely tracking the district’s spending of $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief dollars, the bulk of which is going toward salaries and benefits for current and some new staff. The district recently has begun to spell out more clearly how it’s using these dollars — and a state dashboard allows the public to look up district spending — but the inspector general seeks more transparency.

One of the office’s investigations into spending federal COVID relief money stemmed from a 2020 report by Chalkbeat Chicago and the Better Government Association about the $1.6 million purchase of roughly 5,000 computers for remote learning from Meeting Tomorrow, a local company owned by a campaign contributor to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Chalkbeat and the BGA found that Lightfoot personally reached out to Janice Jackson, the district CEO at the time, about the company’s interest in providing computers, calling its president and CEO, Mark Aistrope, “truly genuine and very generous.”

The inspector general’s office found that the email from Lightfoot, referred to as Elected Official A in the IG report, did not improperly influence district officials or result in preferential treatment for the company. The office found that the district was facing “an extraordinary demand for computers” amid the abrupt shift to virtual learning and its established technology vendors, CDW and Apple, grappled with delays in delivering tens of thousands of devices the district ordered that spring.

Based on Chalkbeat and BGA’s reporting, most of the used laptops and tablets the district bought from the company did not meet district purchasing standards. Officials said that the purchase was largely meant to help out charter schools, and district technology purchasing specifications do not apply to them.

The report found Meeting Tomorrow sold the used devices at reasonable prices: at a discount or “only slightly higher” than the new computers bought in bulk from established vendors; it helped set them up and delivered quickly. And although a fraction were missing cameras — an issue that district officials at the time said they discovered after Chalkbeat and the BGA’s inquiry — or had other issues, the company replaced them at no cost to the district.

According to the inspector general, the company initially cooperated with its inquiry, but its CEO Mark Aistrope ultimately declined to be interviewed, in violation of district purchasing requirements that vendors cooperate with its watchdog’s investigations. As a result, the inspector general recommended that the district bar the company from future contracts, a step the district has not initiated.

Automatic assignment to military programs ends

After a 2021 Chalkbeat Chicago investigation revealed a dozen high schools were automatically assigning students to the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, the inspector general opened an investigation into the practice.

The district signaled in May it would end the practice of automatic enrollment in JROTC programs, which disproportionately impacted Black and Latino students on the south and west sides.

The inspector general’s report confirms there’s been a sharp drop in enrollment at neighborhood schools where more than 90% of freshmen were enrolled in the military education program without parent consent or notification. The investigation found that a key factor for automatic enrollment into JROTC was the school’s lack of a regular physical education program. In Illinois, enrollment in JROTC satisfies the physical education credit required for graduation.

“I didn’t like being forced to have the class,” one student is quoted as saying in the OIG report. “JROTC is not for everyone. It should not be forced on people.”

The district said it is committed to making sure every school offers standard physical education and gives students a choice between the two. The report said the changes appear to have had an impact.

The report singles out one South Side neighborhood high school where JROTC enrollment dropped from 100% of freshmen to just 9% this fall. The report quotes the principal as saying he hired a physical education teacher and now “students are requesting physical education.”

A district spokesperson confirmed that all 37 of the high schools that have JROTC programs also have physical education teachers on staff. Across all schools, there are 911 physical education positions and 32 are vacant, the spokesperson said.

Progress investigating flood of sexual misconduct allegations

The most complaints fielded by the inspector general’s office this year alleged sexual abuse and misconduct against students. These complaints go directly to a 30-person team of investigators in the watchdog’s Sexual Allegations Unit, which was created in 2018 after a 2018 Chicago Tribune investigation that found Chicago Public Schools had failed to protect students against sexual misconduct and abuse from adults in the system.

Fletcher said the special unit in his office was “flooded with complaints” since it was created and has been staffing up and improving how it handles allegations.

Since 2018, the special investigative unit has confirmed policy violations in 302 instances and its investigations have led to at least 16 criminal charges for sex-related crimes against Chicago Public Schools students.

This year alone, more than 600 of these cases were closed — double what was closed last year.

One involved the head of Urban Prep Charter Academy, who resigned abruptly this summer amid sexual misconduct allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a student while he attended one of the school’s campuses and after he graduated. Chicago Public Schools and the Illinois State Board of Education have since revoked Urban Prep’s charter agreements.

The report also highlighted an investigation at Marine Leadership Academy, which substantiated allegations against 12 employees and a volunteer for sexual abuse, failing to safeguard students, or helping cover up misconduct.

The watchdog opened an investigation in 2019 following an anonymous tip and issued two reports in 2021. During the investigation, investigators warned district officials and child protective services of pervasive sexual abuse at a West Side school since the start of a 2019 investigation into allegations of misconduct, according to the reports.

The report describes a school employee having a sexual relationship with a student after that student turned 18. Another staffer groomed a student and began a sexual relationship after that student graduated. Another employee sexually harassed and retaliated against a student after the student filed a report. A separate employee groomed a student and crossed boundaries with others.

Seven other staffers failed to report and actively hid suspected violations including the principal, the assistant principal, head of security, a counselor, and a teacher’s assistant. They were alleged to have known about the abuses but failed to report, according to the OIG.

The OIG recommended termination, disciplinary actions for staff and administrators, and permanently blocking a volunteer. Most staff resigned and were placed on the Chicago Board of Education’s do not hire list, according to the report. Chalkbeat Chicago and WBEZ reported in October that the district’s top military officer quietly resigned over the summer in the wake of the investigation and another involving a teacher and student at Roosevelt High School.

Other recommendations include an active role by the district to correct culture, training related to mandatory reporting, and evaluate the training for JROTC staff and military instructors.

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. Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@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.

North Chicago will start transition to an elected school board in 2025, with a fully elected board in 2027

2022-09-21T19:09:21+00:00

The Illinois State Board of Education has agreed to transition North Chicago School District 187 back to having an elected school board after a decade under state control. Elections will begin in 2025 with three out of seven seats up for election; by 2027, the board will be fully elected.

The state board voted unanimously on Wednesday to return the suburban school district to an elected school board after North Chicago made academic and financial gains over the past 10 years. The district serves 3,000 students across eight schools. The student population is predominantly Latino and 81% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, according to the 2021 state report card.

State Superintendent Carmen Ayala recommended a slow transition because the coronavirus pandemic set the district’s academic growth back a few years and the district is in the middle of spending over $17 million in federal emergency funds.

“A transition of this magnitude is not to be taken lightly,” said Ayala on Wednesday. “The last thing we want to do is jeopardize student’s academic and social-emotional recovery, especially during this critical time as they recover from the pandemic.”

Starting in 2025, the state board plans to expand the current Independent Authority board — which was created during the state’s oversight of the district — to seven members, with three members elected by the North Chicago residents. The state superintendent will continue to appoint the chairperson and remaining members of the Independent Authority board.

By 2027, the state board will disband the Independent Authority and residents will be able to vote for all seven seats.

The state board of education plans to create a community advisory group made up of residents in North Chicago, the Independent Authority board, the Financial Oversight Panel, elected officials, district parents, and students to create a plan to ensure that the transition to an elected school board is successful. The state board will release a plan by Jan. 15, 2023.

The state board stepped in to take over the North Chicago school district in 2012, citing financial troubles, quick turnover of superintendents, and low test scores that showed students barely meeting or exceeding the state’s standards. The district was on the state’s academic watch list for years.

While the state has changed how it measures student academic performance twice since taking over North Chicago’s schools, state data shows the district made significant improvements in English and math. In 2015, just 12% of students were proficient in English, compared to 16% in 2019. In 2015, 9% of students met the bar in math, compared to 12% in 2019.

State officials also said the North Chicago school district’s financial score went from 3.25 out of 4 in 2012 to an estimated 3.7 in 2021.

With the progress made by the district, local elected officials and community members agree with the state board of education’s plan to transition slowly to an elected school board. Some, however, disagreed if the transition should take place in 2023 or in 2025.

The state board conducted five community meetings from May to September at schools throughout the North Chicago district to hear what residents think about transitioning back to an elected school board.

According to the feedback the state board received, a large majority of residents wanted an elected school board even though there was some disagreement about when it should take place. Twenty-four comments, or 48%, were in favor of an elected school board to transition in 2025 or with no specified timeline. Twenty comments, or 40%, were in favor of an elected school board by 2023. Only three comments, or 6%, were against an elected school board.

Elected officials and residents of North Chicago who attended the state board meeting on Wednesday morning and spoke in favor of a slow transition.

Leon Rockingham, mayor of the city of North Chicago, said that he was wary of transitioning to an elected school board too quickly.

“I fear that if we move too quickly to local elections for the school board before candidates have the time to solidify support from the community, obtain signatures for petitions and have the proper time to campaign,” said Rockingham. “This would cause an adverse effect on all the positives.”

Cynthia Jackson, a resident of North Chicago who was involved in the district’s strategic plan, said the district has yet to meet all of its goals for its strategic plan.

“A change in leadership could jeopardize the success track of our students. A shift to an elected school board at this time would be detrimental to the academic success of district 187 students,” said Jackson. “The needs of our students should be our top priority.”

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.

Watchdog contacted child protective services 22 times about sexual misconduct allegations at Chicago school

2021-11-20T01:19:54+00:00

Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog repeatedly warned district officials and child protective services of pervasive sexual abuse at a West Side school since the start of a 2019 investigation into allegations of misconduct.

The office of William Fletcher, the Chicago Public Schools inspector general, on Friday released a summary report describing instances of sexual misconduct, inappropriate relationships between staff and students, and a failure by the school principal and other staff members at Marine Leadership Academy to report the allegations that date back to 2016.

Read the full summary report below.

Since the outset of the investigation, the school district’s investigative arm communicated with the school district and the city’s police department regarding student safety. The report says the watchdog agency contacted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services at least 22 times since 2019 about allegations at Marine Leadership Academy.

The watchdog substantiated allegations against 10 employees — a mix of teachers, administrators, and support staff — and one volunteer following an anonymous tip in 2019.

The timing is notable, since that same spring, Chicago Public Schools launched an Office of Student Protections and an anonymous tip line in response to a Chicago Tribune investigation that revealed major lapses in how schools handle student complaints of sexual misconduct by adults.

Six other staffers failed to report and actively hid suspected violations including the principal, the assistant principal, head of security, a counselor, and a teacher’s assistant. They were alleged to have known about the abuses but failed to report, according to the OIG.

Two employees were removed in 2019. In total, 10 staffers have been removed or are in the process of being removed, district officials said.

No individuals currently face criminal charges, according to the OIG.

The OIG will release another report in the coming weeks detailing allegations against other staff and a final report analyzing the “systemic and school-culture issues uncovered” during the investigation.

The Chicago public school at 1920 N. Hamlin Ave. is affiliated with the Marine Corps JROTC program and is one of a handful of schools connected to branches of the U.S. military. In 2013, a plan by district officials to convert the neighborhood school into a military academy faced significant community pushback.

Ahead of the release of the report, district CEO Pedro Martinez discussed the allegations during a Friday morning press conference, calling it a “colossal failure.”

“Failure to report misconduct is egregious and is a violation of district policies,” Martinez said.

The district is calling for staffers involved to be stripped of their teaching licenses.

Asked about the number of victims, Martinez said there were no more than a dozen but did not provide an exact count.

The release of the watchdog’s report calls into question who knew about the misconduct allegations and when. Martinez, who started in his role as CEO in late September, said Friday morning that the inspector general did not make officials aware of the “nature of the allegations” until Oct. 20. He said a backlog of cases at the Inspector General’s office and staffing issues were among the reasons the investigation took so long.

But in the report summary, the school district’s top investigator says the office alerted CPS about the investigation and impacts to student safety beginning in 2019.

In a letter sent to Marine Leadership Academy families on Friday, CPS notified parents of the investigation and the removal of 12 employees and one volunteer. District officials said they are committed to providing students with a “safe, supported and valued” learning environment and vowed to hold staffers accountable.

“The culture that has been uncovered at MLA is unacceptable, inconsistent with the values of CPS, and will not be tolerated at any of our schools,” the district said.

A similar letter was sent to parents districtwide later Friday.

District officials said they were working to “strengthen state laws to better protect students and apply stronger consequences to adults who behave inappropriately and threaten our students” and planned to launch a pilot program in the Office of Student Protections to help staff, students, and parents recognize and prevent future instances of inappropriate behavior.

The report comes more than three years after a 2018 investigation by the Chicago Tribune revealed systemic failure in the district’s handling of cases of sexual misconduct. The district responded to that investigation by transferring some investigative authority to the Office of the Inspector General, creating a 20-person Office of Student Protections tasked with protecting students from sexual violence and discrimination, establishing a reporting hotline for suggested abuse, and strengthening its background check policy for staff, vendors, and volunteers. At the time, Chicago also removed two principals.

In the wake of the OIG’s report and the most recent allegations, the union called the lack of action concerning and called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to make her “district responsible for all facets of student safety.”

“We cannot continue to have such an alarming lack of attention, and lack of action, in protecting children,” the union said Friday. “We must also continue to push back against cultures of fear and intimidation from administrators in our schools.”

Chicago’s special education department will be monitored for another year

2021-06-17T20:29:33+00:00

The Illinois State Board of Education this week approved another year of state oversight of Chicago Public Schools’ special education program.

A state monitor has overseen Chicago’s special education department since 2018, after a report found that Chicago Public Schools systematically delayed and denied services to students with disabilities, in violation of federal and state laws. The district identified more than 10,000 students who could receive funding in compensation for services lost, and over 1,000 students who will receive services.

For months, special education advocates have petitioned the state to extend oversight for another year. They’ve also lobbied to extend the deadline for when parents can file complaints for services denied or delayed during 2016 to 2018.

A bill to extend the deadline until fall 2022 for parents to file complaints for missed special education services passed both houses of the legislature and is heading to the governor’s office.

William Hrabe, an advocate who has regularly commented at board of education meetings, thanked the board Wednesday for voting for the extension.

Hrabe said the system that Chicago created to repair the harm done to students is broken and needs to prioritize delivery of special education services to students who were harmed from 2016-2018.

“It is our goal to continue working with the monitor and ISBE to identify the changes that are necessary,” said Hrabe, an attorney at Equip for Equality, an advocacy organization.

The state monitor’s extended oversight will cover Chicago’s Individualized Education Program system, provide remedies for students who missed services from 2016 to 2018, and engage families. The monitor will add another priority, focusing on special education teacher vacancies, especially at schools with vacancies exceeding six months.

The state originally intended to monitor the district for three years — a period ending this fall.

But in that time frame, the monitor could not deal with all the new disruptions during the 2019-20 school year.

The monitor’s 2020 annual report concluded that the 11-day teachers strike and the shutdown of schools in response to the coronavirus pandemic have hampered the district’s ability to complete work needed to remedy shortcomings in its special education services.

Amid stalemate with teachers union, Chicago mayor vows to press ahead with reopening schools

2021-01-30T03:57:52+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday that Chicago plans to forge ahead with reopening prekindergarten through eighth grade classrooms Monday, even as the city failed to reach an agreement with its teachers union.

If the two sides don't come to a deal over the weekend, the district will expect teachers to report to work in person next week — likely setting the stage for a teacher strike.

District and union leaders said they have made substantial headway toward reaching an agreement this week, but it wasn’t enough to get a deal. The dispute has thrown Chicago’s second wave of reopening schools into disarray, thrusting families into uncertainty about what school will look like next week. Elementary school teachers, who were to set up their classrooms this week, instead continued to work remotely.

“Another day has passed, and the [Chicago Teachers Union] has not agreed to anything,” a visibly frustrated Lightfoot said Friday night. “We can get it done tonight, tomorrow, Sunday — but we need to get it done.”

Lightfoot said the district asked the union to put in writing issues on which the two sides have agreed in principle by 9 p.m. Friday, but it did not receive such a document. But the teachers union shot back on social media and in a statement, saying that it was the mayor who had “wrecked” a fledgling agreement Friday night.

“The educators in the room were close to reaching an agreement,” the union’s statement said. “The boss stepped in at the 11th hour and blew it to pieces.”

But the union also said it will stay at the bargaining table, noting it has a “willing partner” in the district’s negotiations team.

Last weekend, 61% of the union’s members voted against returning to campus in person — and to go on strike if the district moves to lock them out of their virtual classrooms. The district has said such a walkout, which would come 15 months after the union went on strike during the most recent contract talks, would be illegal. With no agreement within reach Tuesday night, the district suspended in-person learning for about 3,200 preschool and special education students who had returned to their classrooms Jan. 11.

Lightfoot said the district will take “further action” if educators do not report to work on Monday, but she declined to offer specifics or confirm the district intends to lock out educators and dock their pay.

“I will not speculate on what might happen when I am focused very intensely on getting a deal done,” she said.

Lightfoot acknowledged she and district CEO Janice Jackson have not attended the negotiations, saying they have to see progress to join the talks. Jackson said “thousands” of teachers have been coming into schools this week to set up their classrooms.

Back in December, about 70,000 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, or about a third of students in those grades, indicated they wanted to return to school buildings for a blend of in-person and virtual instruction. Based on student turnout during the first wave of reopening — only about 60% of students expected to return actually showed up — that number likely will be smaller.

District leaders said earlier this week that they presented to the union a comprehensive new proposal that could serve as the cornerstone of a deal. That includes doubling the frequency of COVID-19 testing for school-based staff to twice a month, offering surveillance testing for students learning in person, prioritizing vaccinations for educators and support staff in neighborhoods with the highest rates of the coronavirus, and suspending in-person learning should the positivity rate of school-based tests reach 3%.

The union has said gaps remain on some key issues, such as exactly which employees should receive work-from-home accommodations because they or a family member is at elevated risk for serious coronavirus complications. The district has said it will grant some accommodations to educators and support staff who are caregivers of people at a higher risk of becoming seriously ill. But the union is pushing to expand the number of work-from-home permissions, including for staff members who live with immunocompromised family members.

The two sides are also at odds about what testing positivity rate should be used to revert the entire district to remote learning: The union wants school closed if the city hits a 3% coronavirus positivity rate, while the district wants to use the test positivity rate of its own surveillance testing.

The city’s COVID-19 positivity rate, which has dipped in recent weeks, remains at 6.4%.

Lightfoot again cited a decline in district enrollment and an increase in failing grades and absenteeism this school year as arguments for moving swiftly to reopen schools. She argued again that the district has taken extensive safety measures to rein in coronavirus transmission on its campuses.

“We will not abandon negotiations,” she said. “We will stay at the table as long as it takes.”

Chicago Public Schools now counts 85 COVID-19 cases among employees, vendors

2020-05-05T18:00:05+00:00

Eighty-five Chicago Public Schools staff members, service vendors, or charter school staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Monday, according to the district. Two have died.

The district did not release the names of the employees who had died, but said none were actively working at school buildings when they tested positive.

Chicago reached a somber milestone on Sunday with its death toll reaching 1,000. COVID-19 has disproportionately hit communities of color in Chicago, with 70% of deaths African-American, who make up only 23% of Chicago’s population.

Of the positive cases, 38 employees had worked at a school providing free meals or loaner devices to the public. Those cases were considered “actionable,” meaning that the positive result required the district to pause operations at those campuses.

One of those campuses is Parker Community Academy in Englewood, according to CBS2. Last week, the district shut down food distribution at the school after a worker tested positive for the virus.

The majority of cases occurred in staff who are working remotely and had not been to school buildings recently. The actual case count is likely higher, because these numbers include only self-reported cases.

“With widespread community transmission in Chicago, the district’s No. 1 priority has been keeping staff safe and healthy and our thoughts are with all members of the CPS community who have been impacted by this virus,” district spokesperson Emily Bolton said in a statement.

Chicago school campuses closed on March 17 as part of a statewide school order issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Illinois school buildings are closed for the rest of the school year, and the governor has raised the possibility that schools may not reopen for in-person learning in the fall, depending on the state of the pandemic.

Chicago Public Schools employs 38,000 people and also hires contract workers for cleaning and food operations. Despite the closures, the district has kept open hundreds of schools for meal distribution, and employees and others have been handing out loaner tech devices to families since mid-April. As of Friday, Chicago had distributed 102,000 devices, according to officials.

From March 31, Chicago Public Schools stopped notifying school communities if a staff member or student tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. The district has posted signs on doors of food distribution sites if it closes them.

Front-line workers at Chicago school buildings who assist in dispensing food aid or computer devices have complained about a lack of protective equipment and signage to enforce social distancing. Exempt from stay-at-home orders, those workers meet the public daily.

Principals and administrators who are working at schools have also said they have not received sufficient protective gear.

Last week, City Hall reported 700 COVID-19 cases among city workers, with the highest percentage of cases reported among front-line police and fire personnel. School employees were not included in that count and have not been as closely scrutinized as in other cities; New York has reported 72 educators have died of the disease.

Illinois schools narrow public input: Despite more questions, less access for students, parents and employees

2020-04-20T22:33:28+00:00

School boards in Chicago and Illinois have cut short time to hear public comment — just as public concern and questions about education have grown.

The boards, both appointed, have done this by cancelling meetings and limiting the number of speakers or the time allotted to them at meetings held online.

The Illinois State Board of Education, the body charged with drafting the new rules on school days and remote learning, cancelled its monthly board meeting in April. Its next meeting is May 20.

The Chicago board, which usually kicked off its monthly meetings with hours of public testimony from up to 60 parents, students, educators, and community groups, now permits only 15 speakers for a total of 30 minutes.

In a statement, Chicago Public Schools said it set the call-in limit to only have 15 speakers because the call-in system used by the district required public commentors to spend hours waiting on the phone before being patched in, a timeline that was unsustainable for 60 speakers. It would also significantly lengthen the meeting, a representative said.

“The Board of Education has always prioritized and will continue to prioritize public participation under the emergency circumstances, which necessitate a different approach to public participation,” a statement from the district said.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s March 16 executive order closing bars and businesses also suspended the portion of the Open Meetings Act requiring in-person attendance for public bodies. That gave them the flexibility to make their meetings virtual and broadcast any changes to public comment rules.

According to a statement posted in the Chicago board agenda, the order also allowed public boards to make sure that meetings were “expeditious“ in order to “maximize time spent directly addressing the needs of the students and families during the public health emergency.”

But some critics worry about the restrictions limiting public comment. After the March meeting of the Chicago board of education, some community groups said they were not able to get on the list to speak, while more than half of the list was from one school community, Lincoln Park High School.

Those concerns have cropped up around the country as school boards and other governing bodies operate under looser rules made possible by hastily crafted executive orders and board motions.

In Memphis, Tennessee, the school board conducted a secret, closed meeting by videoconference. In Newark, New Jersey, the board granted the superintendent sweeping authority.

So-called “sunshine laws” vary by state, but they generally require public agencies to publicize board meetings in advance and make them accessible to the public.

The Illinois State Board of Education, which videocast its March meeting and had some board members meeting in the same room, postponed its April meeting. It gave as its reason “to protect public health and safety“ and because agenda items did not require immediate action. The board accepts public comment in writing, but has not yet confirmed a public participation schedule for its next meeting.

The Chicago school board rules on public meetings say participants may submit written comments, or sign up for a 15-minute office hours meeting with a board member. It also says the board president can amend the board meeting guidelines.

Jianan Shi, whose group Raise Your Hand usually has at least one speaker at a regular public comment session, said he appreciates that Chicago Public Schools has follow the guidelines of the Attorney General’s office regarding responses to the Freedom of Information Act, but he wants to know why the board has limited public participation to only 15 speakers per meeting.

“If there is no issue with having 60 slots, we should have 60 slots,” he said.

Union secures promise of no layoffs, this year, for teachers, say leadership: Find daily updates on Chicago education in an epidemic

2020-04-02T16:40:00+00:00

With the number of Illinois COVID-19 cases still rising, it’s starting to sink in: Children are going to be out of school for several more weeks due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

How will that impact learning?

We’ll be updating this blog regularly with news, insights, and information. Have tips or questions or suggestions of what we should cover? Email us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.

For our previous blog chronicling the first 12 days of the crisis, click here.

Need help with homeschooling? We’re holding a virtual event with five Illinois educators on April 2. Learn more here.

🔗April 2

🔗Union secures promise of no layoffs, this year, for teachers, say leadership

As the landscape of teaching has shifted in a way that was almost unimaginable just weeks ago, union leadership assured Chicago teachers that there would be no layoffs or pay cuts, at least for this school year.

Speaking to teachers on a tele-town hall, Chicago Teachers Union leaders said they had secured an agreement on key personnel issues that included pay and benefit protections, as well as flexibility on grievance filing timelines, and a promise that teachers wouldn’t be placed on remediation plans during the coronavirus-related school closures.

“We have it in writing from CPS that we will continue to be paid. No teachers will be laid off for this school year,” union President Jesse Sharkey said on the call Wednesday night.

As teachers transition to remote learning that the district is mapping out in coming weeks, teachers on the call asked about workload, tenure, and the role of paraprofessionals.

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.

Sharkey said that, according to the union’s conversations with the district, school leadership had been instructed to approach remote learning with a “degree of understanding.” He also promised that the union would support teachers during this time.

“If employers are asking outrageous things of us, we want to push back,” he said, responding to a teacher who said his principal expected him to work during spring break.

The Chicago Teachers Union has been seen as a national model for “common good” union organizing, where unions fight for issues beyond the traditional bounds of wages and labor conditions, since current leaders came to power a decade ago. s unemployment and other social and economic fallout from the coronavirus response grow, Vice President Stacey Davis Gates, I will be up to the union to organize for more support for members and families.

“This is actually the calm before the storm,” Gates said, encouraging members to talk to families and keep a list of needs and concerns. “That is the kind of information that is going to help us make an ask.”

🔗How Chicago should spend $205 million in COVID-19 relief funds

We offered a first look on Wednesday about how much money Illinois school districts can expect to get from the federal government for coronavirus emergency measures, including ramping up spending on digital devices and remote learning. Find a lookup tool where you can search for your district here.

On Thursday, the Chicago Teachers Union zeroed in on the $205 million coming to Chicago Public Schools. In a statement, union President Jesse Sharkey called on the district to use the extra funds to spend on digital learning, as it has said it will do, but to also speed up hiring of nurses, social workers, and other staffers that were part of the most recent contract agreement.

“Needs include the hiring up of clinician staff to be able to deal one-on-one with student needs, family counseling and health needs,” he said. “Funds must go to set up school service infrastructure for full scale community schools—including trauma supports, housing and health services, small class sizes—services that must be deployed now and be fully up and running for students’ return to school.”

The union said it is calling on the district to staff up now, instead of spreading out hiring across five years as it has pledged to do.

Chicago Public Schools has estimated that the cost of fully implementing the latest contract with the teachers’ union and the union that represents some support staff will add $1.5 billion to its budget across five years. That was before COVID-19.

🔗April 1

🔗Chicago to cut number of food pickup sites by half starting next week

Chicago Public Schools, which has provided a staggering 2.8 million meals to families since school closures went into effect earlier this month, will consolidate its food distribution efforts starting Monday.

During spring break, which is scheduled to run April 6-10, the district will provide meals at 136 schools, down from 500-plus when the effort started. Then, starting April 13, Chicago will offer food at 276 locations.

The district said Wednesday it dropped sites where there was lowest demand, and that fewer sites will allow it to rotate front-line workers and administrators, freeing up some principals to help steer remote learning plans that are also rolling out April 13.

Here is the full list of sites for spring break week.

🔗Now we have an estimate of federal money for school emergency response

Illinois is expected to receive $569.5 million in emergency school funds from the federal government to spend on its coronavirus response, the state’s top educator has told district leaders. Of that, Chicago is slated to receive $205 million. Read more here.

🔗Two brothers. Little classwork. A lot of worries.

“I was overwhelmed before,” says 16-year-old Sarah Alli-Brown, a Chicago charter school student who is caring for her two young brothers while her mother is at work. “But now I’m overwhelmed even more.”

For so many students struggling to manage the many stresses in their lives — whether due to poverty, community violence, or caregiving responsibilities — school is the glue helping to hold it all together. What happens when school ceases to be? Chalkbeat national reporter Kalyn Belsha takes a look.

🔗March 31

🔗Illinois extends school closures

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that the statewide school closure mandate will extend to at least April 30, and that the order will include Chicago Public Schools.

The governor addressed the impact on students directly in his speech. Read more here.

🔗New rules for remote learning

With longer school closures looking like a reality, the state board of education issued new guidance for districts around remote learning. Here are five things to know.

🔗March 30

🔗Illinois tells schools they must draft a learning plan during closures

Illinois school districts, including Chicago, this week are releasing to parents more detailed guidelines for remote learning, now that guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education is in.

Late Friday evening, the state school board released a nearly 60-page document with recommendations from a 63-member remote learning advisory group. It spans such topics as attendance, grading, and instructional planning..

Schools must implement remote learning or e-learning to give students access to educators, the state said. The state will count any days missed from March 17-30 because of school closures as student attendance days that won’t be required to be made up. The state also recommends that schools adopt a pass/incomplete grading model so that students will not be penalized.

Chicago plans to release details of its plan Monday afternoon in a press conference with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who has said that digital device distribution is a key priority of her administration. According to a 2018 survey, 145 of Chicago’s 500-plus schools provide devices for every student. Here’s what we know so far. We will report back with more later today.

🔗March 27

🔗More than 600 providers apply for emergency child care licenses statewide

More than 600 Illinois child care providers have applied for licenses to help care for children of first responders and health care professionals on the front lines of the coronavirus epidemic, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday.

Pritzker said that child care providers may apply for a one time grant starting Monday to help address any additional costs. Licensed homes may receive $750, centers with one or two classrooms may receive $2,000 and centers with three or more classrooms may receive $3,000.

Illinois earlier this week ordered child care centers for children under 5 to close, but allowed them to apply for an emergency license to stay open. The state has said that centers that close will not lose their public funding to care for low-income children. However, many centers also accept some private tuition, and owners have said they hope to benefit later from government aid for small businesses.

State public health officials on Friday announced 488 new cases of COVID-19 and eight additional deaths. That brings Illinois’ total count to 3,026 cases and 34 deaths as of Friday afternoon.

🔗How long could closures last in Illinois?

By the end of this week, four states had said they planned to extend school closures through the end of the school year.

Illinois isn’t there yet. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office said Friday that he will “continue monitoring the data that evolves daily and base his decisions off the science and recommendations from experts.”

In a call with reporters Friday afternoon, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said her team, including schools chief Janice Jackson and CPS leaders, is looking to the state for guidance and also consulting with leaders of other large districts.

Chicago Public Schools has said its campuses are closed at least through April 20, while a statewide school closure mandate extends through April 8.

Lightfoot said she is concerned about Chicago’s limitations when it comes to e-learning.

“It’s no secret we have a one-room schoolhouse when it comes to access to broadband, digital equipment that would help facilitate e-learning,” she said. “That’s something I’m very focused on and in active conversations with CPS about. It’s a challenge for us, but it’s a challenge I’m determined I’m going to meet. We owe it to our kids. We just do.”

Earlier in the week, the city’s school board granted district leaders the authority to spend $75 million on coronavirus response, including technology. The district said a remote learning plan was coming this week, and it was also weighing how it could purchase devices and distribute them in a way that would prioritize highest-need households first. But it did not offer specific plans. (More here on that.)

The mayor also said Friday that Chicago Public Schools had so far served more than 2 million meals.

But the demand isn’t equal across all school sites, and whether the school district could consolidate distribution sites is “actively under discussion,” Lightfoot said in response to a question from Chalkbeat.

Coronavirus cases among frontline school workers have impacted food distribution in other American cities.

“There are a number of different variables that we are looking at to make sure we are focusing our resources at areas of the city where we need it most,” the mayor said. “My hat is off to folks at CPS and to the frontline workers who’ve been doing a tremendous job to make sure their students and families are fed.”

🔗House passes federal stimulus bill that includes money for schools

The bill, which the Senate passed Thursday, includes $13.5 billion for schools for remote learning technology, costs associated with sanitizing school buildings, and paying for summer learning programs, among other coronavirus-related expenditures. Now it goes to President Donald Trump. Read more here.

🔗March 26

🔗Questions about emergency child care weigh on Chicago

One recurring question facing Chicago, and every other city in the country, is what to do about child care for health care workers, first responders, and other essential employees.

Chicago kept day cares and child care centers open longer than schools, but it ultimately shut them. The state has started issuing emergency licenses for some centers to keep operating and care for small groups of children. The state did not have an immediate answer to how many operators have applied for those licenses.

Chicago is offering free in-home child care through Sittercity. Some centers are also staying open through the emergency license program, but the city did not have a readily available number, either.

Responding to a public letter from the city’s teachers union that said the city was considering reopening schools near hospitals to care for children, Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledged that such a plan was under consideration. In response to union concerns about the safety of teachers who might be put at risk by working, the mayor emphasized that staff would be “volunteer.”

In response to questions from Chalkbeat later Thursday, the mayor’s office said that the plan to open emergency child care centers in schools is one of several contingency plans on the table.

“The mayor’s office is developing multiple contingency plans for providing emergency child care to health care and other essential workers in the event that such care is needed to ensure that our critical systems can continue to operate. The proposal in question is not being implemented at this time.”

“As announced on Monday, first responders are encouraged to take advantage of the city’s partnership with Sittercity, which has created a mechanism by which in-home care can be provided.”

🔗“Something miraculous has happened in Washington.”

Speaking Thursday about the bipartisan effort in the Senate to pass a federal bill that would provide relief for coronavirus, Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin said Thursday that “something miraculous had happened in Washington.”

“We’ve done something on a timely basis,” he quipped.

Durbin spoke as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s daily press briefing on coronavirus and its impact. As of midday Thursday, Illinois has reported 2,538 cases and 26 deaths.

The stimulus bill, which must now go to the House, includes significant sums for schools. The biggest chunk: $13.5 billion to be distributed among states, which would have to pass most of that on to school districts and charter schools for buying technology for remote learning, sanitizing school buildings, and paying for summer learning programs. (Click here to read Chalkbeat coverage of the bill.)

Durbin praised provisions to help hospitals “hanging by a thread” to meet patients’ needs, small businesses, the airline industry, and households through cash payments.

“To some people that’s money they desperately need,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pritzker announced a new Illinois Covid Response Fund, which has already raised almost $23 million from philanthropic organizations, businesses and individuals, including $2 million from Pritzker and his wife. The fund, led by the governor’s sister, former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, will distribute the dollars to local nonprofits and other organizations on the front lines of the state’s response to the pandemic.

🔗 It’s official: Illinois can waive standardized tests this spring

The federal government granted the Illinois State Board of Education permission to waive all federally required assessments and accountability measures for the current school year.

The federal Department of Education quickly approved the state board’s waiver application. This means that all schools across the state will maintain their current state ratings for next school year. Schools that receive extra state funds to improve achievement will continue to get those amounts next year.

We have good news! @USedGov let us know that our request to waive assessments, summative designations, and reporting on accountability metrics for the 2019-20 school year appears to meet all statutory requirements and that we can begin implementing these waivers.
— Illinois State Board of Education (@ISBEnews) March 25, 2020

🔗March 25

🔗CPS’ $75 million emergency fund

In a virtual meeting punctuated by the occasional technology glitch and appearance from a child, Chicago’s Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved $75 million for the coronavirus response, allowing leaders to sign contracts and make purchases without prior board approval through June.

District officials said they need the flexibility to spend on cleaning schools, providing school meals, paying frontline staff — and filling gaps in student access to computers and the internet.

Until now, Chicago Public Schools has been largely mum about the district’s plans to ramp up remote learning — though officials promised more details later this week.

Read more here about the district’s plans to double down on devices. And click here to read more details about the $75 million spend, which the union called a “blank check.”

🔗College goers face unprecedented uncertainty

Chicago junior Luz Mayancela posed in 2019 with J.B. Pritzker, now Illinois governor, at Chicago’s Soldier Field, where she took part in an ROTC color guard.

Chicago has seen an increase in students entering college, a source of pride for the district over the past few years. But there’s widespread concern among students, high school counselors, and educators that coronavirus could seriously interrupt that progress this year. Here’s how some students are coping with the disruption.

Want to read more about the impact of coronavirus and public schools in Illinois? Find our previous coverage here.

Willing to share your story about the impact on your classroom or on your family? Write us as chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago will no longer notify schools families of positive COVID-19 diagnoses from district beginning March 31

2020-03-24T22:45:53+00:00

Beginning March 31, Chicago Public Schools will no longer send out notifications to a school community if a staff member or student tests positive for COVID-19.

That’s because schools will have been closed for two weeks, the period in which someone exposed to the novel coronavirus might show symptoms of the disease, and therefore any new cases after then are unlikely to have been a result of exposure in a school building, according to a district communication to staff and parents.

The exception to this new procedure will be emergency personnel like janitors, kitchen staff, and security guards, who will be distributing food from school buildings until April 20, when Chicago schools are slated to reopen.

“Schoolwide notifications are no longer necessary following the 14-day window because there is no longer a risk that transmission occurred while school was in session,” the notice, signed by Kenneth Fox, the chief health officer of Chicago Public Schools and Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, explains.

The decision raises questions about the responsibility of school districts to notify school communities in case of COVID-19 cases. In New York City, where a Brooklyn principal became the first known public school employee to die from the virus, the school district stopped publicly confirming cases last week.

Chicago has had several publicly confirmed cases of coronavirus associated with schools — Vaughn Occupational High School in Portage Park, Sheridan Math and Science Academy in Bridgeport, Jones College Prep downtown, and the Noble charter network’s Mansueto High School in Brighton Park.

The city of Chicago’s coronavirus media email said that contact tracing, when anyone known to have contact with an infected individual is asked to take precautionary measures, would continue, even as schools-based outreach would not.

“Whenever there is such a case, CDPH works to identify close contacts of the individual and provides guidance on taking appropriate steps to protect themselves and others,” the email said. “When school resumes, CPS will make notifications based on the guidance of CDPH.”

In emails to staff and families, the district noted that it is important to manage the privacy of individuals’ health information, even in a public health emergency: “Despite our fears, we cannot abandon our commitment to treating others with respect and dignity, nor can we violate others’ privacy or protected health information.”

It also warned that sharing unconfirmed reports of positive tests for COVID-19 could isolate and stigmatize community members. And if someone does test positive, people are encouraged to share minimal details about the person, and use their pronouns instead of referring to them by name.

The district also “encouraged” any Chicago schools employees who tested positive for COVID-19 to report to the district, and noted it was mandatory to disclose their infection status to the Chicago Department of Public Health.

Shifting in tone, the district’s parting words in its message spoke to the bigger questions that have been raised by the need to rapidly respond to COVID-19: “We want to acknowledge that our world seems to change in the blink of an eye. Uncertainties raise so many questions. We ask that you take care of yourselves and each other.”

Chicago Public Schools put its school ratings on hold. But will the coronavirus disruption propel a push to overhaul them?

2020-03-23T22:11:47+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision last week to extend Chicago’s school closures put on hold the high-stakes process of rating Chicago Public Schools’ campuses: Faced with a month of lost instruction on the heels of disruption from last fall’s teachers strike, the district said it would table the annual exercise of evaluating schools within minutes of the mayor’s announcement.

Now some educators and parents wonder whether this unprecedented uncertainty might lend momentum to a push to overhaul the controversial ratings process.

Critics have charged that test scores and attendance weigh too heavily in sizing up schools, penalizing those that serve students with high needs. The district says the rating system is a key tool to ensure accountability and help families make informed choices.

With the Trump administration announcing Friday it will give schools a pass on administering standardized tests this spring, Chicago won’t be the only district scaling back school evaluations this spring. But in an era when assessments and accountability loom large, could the immediate fixes inform longer-term changes?

In recent weeks, the Chicago’s teachers union has taken aim at attendance as a factor in the ratings: The outbreak’s upheaval underscores how tough-to-control factors can undermine schools’ efforts to boost attendance, leaders have argued.

“Attendance is absolutely something we want to be strong,” said Jennifer Johnson, the teachers union’s chief of staff. “But the policy puts this wrongheaded pressure on being there even when it’s not best for students to be there.”

In any case, the debate about evaluating schools fairly and meaningfully will continue.

“There is never going to be a perfect metric for how schools are doing,” said Elaine Allensworth, director of the Consortium of Chicago School Research. “It’s a matter of striking a balance.”

Chicago rolled out its current five-tier ratings system, in which the highest-ranked schools receive a grade of 1-plus, in 2004. The system takes into account performance and growth on standardized tests, efforts to close gaps in test outcomes for students of color and other students, attendance, graduation rates and other measures. The district has said the ratings are needed to keep parents in the loop and to focus on best practices and on schools that require intervention.

The district earlier this year committed to revisiting its ratings system, known as School Quality Rating Policy, or SQRP. The first public conversation on the topic, held in the cafeteria of STEM Englewood High School in January, drew 60 principals, parents and community leaders. Some principals argued it’s unfair their schools are held to the same standard as schools with lower-needs populations, who have higher daily attendance.

School ratings are required by both the state and the federal government though districts have considerable leeway in designing them. New York City under Mayor Bill de Blasio, for instance, did away with a letter-grade rating process that leaned heavily on test scores and attendance in favor of a system that looks at a variety of indicators under headings such as “supportive environment” and “strong family-community ties.”

Last summer, the Chicago district’s governing board adopted some changes to its ratings policy, including reducing the weight of attendance from 20% to 10% of the overall rating. More recently, the district, which is conducting a survey on the topic, has suggested it’s willing to listen and consider further tweaks.

The district’s teachers union has been a blistering critic, arguing that the ratings should be scrapped altogether. Leaders say the overall ratings policy does not fully capture school climate and the heavy lifting that goes into meeting the needs of the district’s most vulnerable students. It distills a school’s efforts into a single number with major consequences for its ability to draw families and thus additional per-pupil dollars.

“This policy creates a false narrative about which schools are great and which are not,” Johnson said.

On Thursday, leaders announced they would appeal to the state to let the district use last year’s ratings for a second year and scrap high-stakes tests.

When the outbreak is contained and students return to school, be it this spring or later in the year, some in the district hope the coronavirus crisis will refuel the ongoing conversation about how the district sizes up its schools’ performance and relays the results to the public. Luke Shepard, a member of the parent group Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education, said Chicago should further limit the role of attendance by reducing its percentage of the overall score or focusing more narrowly on chronic absenteeism as Illinois does — or eliminate it altogether.

“I think this crisis really showcases the underlying problems that we have with attendance that have always been present,” said Shepard, who along with other parents had organized a now postponed forum on the policy this spring.

He said it troubles him that in a bid to boost attendance, his child’s elementary school penalizes truant students by denying them field trips and assemblies — though students don’t have control over family and medical issues that can keep them away from school.

Allensworth said giving schools a pass on high-stakes ratings this year makes perfect sense.

“Any information about this school year would be tough to interpret,” she said.

Longer term, she said attendance remains a crucial element in tracking school performance and holding them accountable. She noted research has shown a strong connection between attendance and students’ economic background. Schools serving low-income students deserve credit for the harder work that goes into ensuring high attendance — work that can be invisible to better-off families looking at ratings to choose a school.

At the same time, research has shown schools can do a lot to powerfully influence attendance, she said, from stationing adults in front of buildings before and after school to nurturing ties with parents to alerting families promptly about absences and troubleshooting issues that might hinder attendance.

“Teachers and administrators will sometimes say we have no control over attendance,” said Phyllis Jordan of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. “That’s just not true.”

Chicago extends school closures through April 20 amid coronavirus pandemic

2020-03-19T22:44:05+00:00

Chicago schools will stay closed through April 20 in an effort to stem the exponential growth of the new coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a Thursday evening address.

The school district said moments after the mayor’s announcement that it will seek a one-year waiver from the state to suspend school ratings and spring standardized testing. Under the proposal, ratings from the current year would be carried forward.

“As a result of the significant loss of instruction days this school year, it is necessary for the district to ensure schools and students are assessed fairly based on the academic opportunities that could be provided this year,” said LaTanya D. McDade, the district’s chief education officer. “We will continue to keep educators and families updated on any other potential changes that are warranted given the unexpected challenges we are facing.”

The school closure extension is part of a larger package of emergency measures, including the closure of most of the city’s libraries, and the suspension of evictions, fines, and fees in the wake of the virus’s spread. The school closure extension will impact more than 350,000 students and their families across Chicago.

The mayor also announced a $100 million economic relief package to support Chicago’s small businesses on Thursday. She stopped short of a shelter-in-place edict but ordered anyone exhibiting symptoms of illness to stay home.

“Given what we anticipate as the continued upward trajectory of the virus spread, I am announcing now that Chicago Public Schools will be closed through April 20,” Lightfoot said Friday. “We need to give parents and guardians plenty of advance notice about this reality and the ability to plan.”

She promised that the district would continue to support families through the closures. Chicago Public Schools, though shut for students, have functioned as food distribution sites since March 17. On the first day of closures, frontline cafeteria workers, security personnel, and school administrators handed out 28,000 food packets.

Chicago first closed schools for two weeks by order of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and the two-week closure was one of the shortest time spans among large cities. New York City schools, the nation’s largest school system, are closed through April 20. Boston closed schools until April 27.

Some states and municipalities are starting to announce more drastic measures. So far, only Kansas and one southern Indiana district have made the call to shutter schools for the rest of the school year. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said Wednesday that it is “increasingly unlikely” that the state’s schools will return to session this year. California’s governor said something similar Tuesday. And New York City’s mayor earlier this week that it’s possible the closure will “take us through the school year.”

As districts ponder longer-term closures, they are confronting questions about how to continue learning. Chicago, like many urban districts, is not set up to do districtwide e-learning.

Statewide, two-thirds of Illinois school district leaders say they are not positioned to do online learning. A spokeswoman from the state school board has said leaders are petitioning the philanthropic community to help.

Earlier Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a spike in confirmed Illinois COVID-19 cases to 422 from 288 the day before. The state has reported three deaths so far connected to the virus.

Tobias Straus, a senior at Lane Tech Senior High School, said he and his fellow students have been speculating about the prospect of a cancelled prom and graduation ceremony, which now seems more likely.

“I have friends who would be incredibly upset,” he said. “Their grandparents have been looking forward to seeing them walk across the graduation stage for years.”

He said teens have been connecting on social media in an effort to stay upbeat through the closures and the uncertainty the outbreak has brought.

“I’m ready for this to be over,” he said.

Closed for coronavirus starting Tuesday, Chicago schools will coordinate food distribution

2020-03-14T01:11:33+00:00

While its schools will be suddenly closed for two weeks to guard against the coronavirus, Chicago will coordinate food distribution centers, run drop-off child care programs at 18 parks, and on Monday send home packets of schoolwork with students.

But Chicago Public Schools won’t be rolling out a robust remote-learning plan, like some suburban school districts have promised to do. While schools will be encouraged to share passwords for Google classroom sites to enable some online learning, students are mostly encouraged to attend school Monday and pick up “enrichment activities,” schools chief Janice Jackson said.

“We’re not set up where we can replicate an entire student day through an online system,” Jackson said, referencing a concern of schools across the country that don’t have enough devices for students, infrastructure for e-learning, or staff trained to teach virtually.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statewide edict to close schools late Friday, just hours after Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot, said she planned to keep schools open. The order affects 2 million students and extends through Monday, March 30. It starts Tuesday so that teachers have the weekend and an extra day to plan.

That means Chicago students will return to school for four days, then go on spring break April 6-10. Although the state asked districts to change schedules so that the break coincides with the school closures, Chicago has not decided what it will do.

“The district is focused on making sure to implement the order as directed today,” Jackson said. “If there’s a need to be flexible and change, we will.”

The mayor skirted questions about whether she disputed the governor’s decision.

“The governor has an entire state to consider,” she said. “I am focused on what is in the best interest of Chicago. Our circumstances are different.”

The mayor said she and Pritzker are in “locked arms about how to support families” and focused on coordinating what happens next. “We’re not focused on the why, but the how.”

Chicago, where 78% of the city’s public school children are low-income, faces big logistical challenges including feeding the majority of children who normally receive subsidized meals at school, and providing fill-in child care. The city laid out some preliminary plans.

Jackson said there was a plan to distribute three days worth of food at a time through distribution centers for families who need meals. The district will stock several centers, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., starting Tuesday when schools close, Jackson said. Families may call 773-553-KIDS for emergency delivery.

Even though the overall message from the mayor was “stay home,” Lightfoot said she recognized that’s not an option for some workers and for health care workers in particular.

The Chicago Park District, which is not covered by the mandate, will run 18 sites where parents may drop off children for emergency child care, parks CEO Michael Kelley said.

City libraries will also be open.

So far, the state-mandated closure also does not extend to the city’s community-run preschools and early learning centers, the mayor said. But the commissioner in charge of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services said her office was still waiting on guidance from the governor’s office on that.

Teachers will be paid for the two weeks of closure, Lightfoot said. She said the city will give all of its employees additional paid time off and will allow personnel to work from home where possible.

Live updates on coronavirus and Chicago schools: Illinois infant tests positive for coronavirus

2020-03-22T23:04:00+00:00

As the number of the new coronavirus cases worldwide continues to rise, we are monitoring the impact on Chicago schools and their families and will post updates here.

Have questions or want to tell us about the impact on your family? Email us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.

🔗March 22

🔗Infant case announced in Illinois

Illinois announced 296 additional confirmed cases of coronavirus Sunday afternoon, a 39% daily increase that brings the total cases statewide to 1,049. The new cases include an infant. A week ago, Illinois reported 93 confirmed cases.

Officials said the infant did not contract coronavirus from the mother, and there is no evidence that the virus is transmitted through breast milk or amniotic fluid.

Health officials said three more Illinoisans had died because of COVID-19.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a new website, Serve.Illinois.gov, intended to help connect volunteers and volunteer organizations with people and places in need.

The governor also responded to a Sunday morning tweet from President Donald Trump that chastised Pritzker and “a very small group of certain other governors” for criticizing the federal government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Pritzker has criticized the federal government for failing to provide states with tests or emergency response equipment, such as masks.

Addressing the call-out briefly on Sunday afternoon, Pritzker described himself as “a pretty even-keeled guy” but that he was finding it hard to “contain his anger” regarding Trump’s response to the crisis. “I said the other day that this is a time for serious people, not the carnival barkers in the cheap seats. All I can say is: Get to work or get out of the way.”

In Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised Pritzker’s leadership in a pointed tweet aimed at the president. She announced that the city will partner with Sittercity, a firm that uses an online platform to connect caregivers with families with children or older adults in need of care.

Lightfoot said a new website, sittercity.com/chicagoresponds, will help first responders and health care workers in particular. On Friday, the governor mandated the state’s day care centers to close, though centers may use an emergency licensing process if they care for children of first responders and want to stay open.

Officials have also confirmed cases of coronavirus connected to Chicago’s Jones College Prep High School and Loyola University. Chicago Public Schools are closed through April 20.

You wasted precious months when you could've taken action to protect Americans & Illinoisans.

You should be leading a national response instead of throwing tantrums from the back seat.

Where were the tests when we needed them?

Where's the PPE?

Get off Twitter & do your job. https://t.co/WESJITCAwg
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 22, 2020

🔗March 21

Pritzker announces expanded childcare support for emergency workers

Healthcare employees working during the new coronavirus pandemic will get a boost thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s plan to give grants to child care centers that will care for the children of nurses, doctors, and other emergency personnel.

The governor also issued a “call to action” for retired healthcare workers to return to work.

More than 150 centers have already applied for the new grant, Pritzker said on Saturday at his daily press briefing.

“I want to take a moment to thank our childcare workers from the bottom of my heart,” Pritzker said. “We could not keep our essential workers without our childcare workers.”

Illinois announced 168 new cases on Sunday, bringing the statewide total of confirmed COVID-19 infections to 753. On Friday, Pritzker issued a “shelter in place” order, limiting residents from going out for any but essential services such as groceries or medicine, until April 7.

🔗March 20

🔗Statewide school closures extend to April 8

As the number of nationwide cases topped 16,000, Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a “stay-at-home” order Friday and said school closures statewide would be extended to April 8.

The state’s original closure mandate went through March. 30.

On Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot extended Chicago’s public school closure mandate through April 20.

“I want to be clear. This is not a lockdown. This is not marshal law,” said Lightfoot, who said the city is closing all parks and libraries but that residents may still go to grocery stores, doctors’ offices, and out to exercise. The city will continue to operate essential services, such as public transit and garbage pick-up.

“This is the new normal for now.”

🔗Advanced Placement tests to continue but look different

Students in Advanced Placement classes will be able to take the end-of-course exams, the College Board announced Friday — but the tests will look very different than usual.

There will be no in-person exams. Read more here.

🔗Testing canceled

Schools will not have to administer federally required tests this year, President Trump and the U.S. Department of Education announced Friday — an unprecedented but unsurprising move in the wake of widespread school closures due to the new coronavirus.

The announcement comes a day after Chicago Public Schools extended closures through April 20 and said it was applying to the state for waivers to suspend its school rating system and spring testing.

🔗March 19

🔗Mayor Lori Lightfoot extends school closures

Chicago schools will stay closed through April 20 in an effort to stem the exponential growth of the new coronavirus, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a Thursday evening address.

🔗Virtual school loses bid to stay open

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. The vote happened as Illinois is shutting down its charter commission and transferring authority back to the state school board. Read more here.

🔗March 18

🔗‘Very real possibility’ that closures could extend past March 30, state board says

On the day that Illinois’ count of COVID-19 cases jumped 75% to 288 confirmed cases, the Illinois State Board of Education acknowledged that school closures could stretch longer than announced.

“We understand that these are very uncertain times and there is a very real possibility that school closures could extend beyond March 30,” Board Chairman Darren Reisberg said.

However, the board didn’t specify a timeframe, nor the likelihood of an extension. Already one state, Kansas, has closed schools for the rest of the school year, and governors of Colorado and California have suggested their states might do likewise.

Reisberg said that district staff will continue to be paid and that educators are required to provide learning opportunities for students. But students’ work will not be graded because the closure does not count toward instructional days.

Schools also must provide youths up to age 18 with free meals.

The board did not discuss whether it would waive state testing requirements.

🔗Big jump in COVID-19 cases

In his daily briefing, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announces largest single day jump in COVID-19 cases in the state. Illinois has 288 confirmed cases, up from 160 the day before. Health officials specifically address playdates and discourage families from organizing them (which we blogged about yesterday).

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Illinois Department of Public Health director, to school children: DON'T undermine the school closures by now creating playdates with a bunch of your friends with whom you would have been at school.
— Mila Koumpilova (@MilaKoumpilova) March 18, 2020

🔗Day cares open but struggling

As in several states, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s mandate to close schools did not include freestanding pre-kindergarten and day care centers. At Little Inspirations on the Southeast Side of Chicago, founder and Executive Director Peg Dunne Pavelec has seen a significant drop in attendance. She operates two centers that together can care for over 100 children from 6-week-old infants to 6-year-olds.

But Tuesday, only 16 of the 85 children enrolled showed up — a 19% attendance rate. She expects to see even fewer tomorrow.

Parents need to go to work, Pavelec said. She has instructed her teachers to sanitize toys, send children home if they are sick, and wash hands frequently. To limit visitors, she has cancelled tours of their facilities.

While trying to maintain some sense of normalcy, Pavelec is concerned about what happens next. “It’s hard for center directors to make the right choice about staying open or close; it’s not like the schools where it’s just mandated, but we are an essential service,” she said. She has so many questions. “If we continue through this week, what’s going to happen on the government level? What’s going to happen in terms of the national and community response?”

Pavelec is concerned about the long-term financial strain of operating with so few students. She doesn’t get reimbursed when families don’t send their children to her.

“Will it make sense for us to stay open? Or will there come a time where we close? I don’t know how to ask for tuition next month if this is still happening,” Pavelec said.

🔗State board holds first meeting in time of coronavirus

As the spread of the coronavirus has closed schools across Illinois, the changes wrought by the virus herald a new slate of responsibilities for the state school board, which may soon be called to make decisions about standardized tests, the length of the school year, and more.

Wednesday is the first Illinois State Board of Education meeting since the spread of COVID-19, and we are monitoring it today. The meeting is audiocast to the public at isbe.net; the board said it would post a video recording at a later date.

The board is expected to vote on whether to take on oversight of two charter schools the Chicago district is trying to close and approve a request for proposals on e-learning.

We also expect COVID-19 to be a big part of the discussion.

While some of the board members met in person in Springfield, a handful of others called in by phone.

School board president Darren Reisberg opened the meeting by applauding the leadership of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who recently closed all schools in Illinois and promised that districts would not be penalized for swift changes they had to make to schooling.

“None of us were taught to handle such a wide ranging crisis, but here we are,” Resiberg said. “Thank you for adjusting your routines, priorities and entire lives during this unprecedented worldwide emergency.”

🔗A day without school

One Indiana teacher has video-chatted with her blind students, who are trying to learn fractions at home. A Chicago teacher is trying to teach “Romeo and Juliet” through online hours. Here’s what a day without school looked like for teachers, parents, and students across the country.

🔗March 17

🔗A strange new reality sets in

“Home school” is the new reality for Illinois families. Teachers: Help make it better. We’ve put up a brief survey and we plan to share the answers with parents.

🔗One death due to COVID-19; statewide meal delivery for children

Illinois on Tuesday confirmed 160 cases of coronavirus in 15 counties in Illinois with cases ranging from 9 to 91. That’s an increase from 105 the day before.

In his daily press conference, Gov. J.B. Pritzker reported the state’s first death due to COVID-19: a Chicago woman in her 60s with an underlying medical condition who tested positive earlier this month after interacting with a known case. He said 22 new cases have been reported at DuPage County nursing home, with 18 residents infected and four staff.

The governor restated that all K-12 schools around the state will continue to distribute meals to children who are eligible for free and reduced lunch through delivery and parent-pickup. The governor asked that schools expand their programs to include all school children and any children enrolled in an Illinois school regardless of age.

🔗State school board issues clears up pay question

During the two-week closure mandated by the governor, educators across the state will receive their normal pay which includes salary, hourly and stipend pay, and benefits. Educators and school leaders are required to continue education of students, ensure meals, and other support for students.

This announcement was made on Tuesday in a joint statement between the governor’s office and the Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Association of School Administrators, Illinois Principals Association and the Illinois State Board of Education.

“These are unprecedented times, but we are all together with the goal of caring for students. Our organizations are truly inspired by the phenomenal cooperation shown across the state and encourage all of our members to be reasonable, creative, and generous while determining what’s best for our students in Illinois,” read the statement.

🔗Union calls on state to suspend spring testing

There’s a call today from the Chicago Teachers Union for the state school board to suspend standardized testing. The union is also calling on Illinois to adjust grad requirements “so no student is held back a grade level or prevented from graduating because of the disruption to the academic year.”

A spokeswoman from the state school board said the U.S. Department of Education has indicated that it will make waivers available that could give states flexibility to not offer tests this year. But, she said, the board of education “will not know and be able to determine exactly what waivers it is going to be able to pursue until we understand the full scope of the closure.”

🔗Avoiding playdates

As families grapple with the reality of being homebound, the question of playdates has come up frequently in neighborhood social media groups. What’s the guidance on that?

A spokesperson from the state department of public health told Chalkbeat that new guidance is forthcoming, but that group playdates should be avoided.

“Residents should continue to practice social distancing measures, such as working from home when possible, limiting the amount of time spent in the community. These measures will help reduce the number of people who become sick at any given time and the possibility of exhausting our health care resources.”

🔗Clarity about grading policies in Chicago

Are schools going to grade the take home “enrichment packets” that schools sent home with Chicago students? (See our 7 questions from parents, asked and answered. This is one of them.)

The answer is no, and that’s in line with guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education, which has also recommended that districts not grade during closure periods.

Chicago Public Schools reiterated this today on social media.

We’ve received questions about graded assignments during CPS closure: district-provided enrichment activities should not be graded, and no teacher-directed work sent home with students during this period should be graded.
— Chicago Public Schools (@ChiPubSchools) March 17, 2020

🔗March 16

🔗Seven questions asked and answered

Here are answers to seven of Chicago parents’ most pressing questions, from whether school will really be back in session on Mar. 31 to whether “enrichment packets” will be graded.

🔗In union town hall ahead of school closures, teachers question e-learning, salaries

In a tele-town hall on Sunday night, attended by 4,000 people via the internet, educators peppered the Chicago Teachers Union with questions about e-learning, pay schedules, and plans were for students needing special learning accommodations.

The barrage of questions represent the uncertainty and confusion students and teachers feel about Chicago’s unprecedented school closures, set to begin Tuesday and extend through until March 30.

Schools were in session today on Monday, March 16. Pritzker announced the school closures Friday evening, giving teachers little time to prepare enrichment activities and contact plans for students.

‘We have one copy machine at my school, and I am worried that it is going to break down,’ said Shayna, one of the teachers on the call, who did not say her full name or at which school she teaches.

Union leaders on the call stressed the unusual circumstances, and demanded accommodations and supports for educators.

“Teachers are going to do what they can — it’s enrichment during a school shut down and international pandemic,” union President Jesse Sharkey said.

Educators also asked about paychecks and health insurance — both expected to be interrupted — and whether they would be taking attendance during virtual learning. Union leaders encouraged staff to submit receipts for cleaning supplies they purchased in the initial rush to keep schools clean as news of the pandemic spread, and to check amended guidance on how to handle any requests for leave.

Some teachers were concerned about being exposed to the virus when they went to school on Monday. Sharkey suggested they exercise judgment about their own health, and consider using a sick day, stressing that “the overriding concern is your health.”

Stacey Davis Gates, vice president of the union, acknowledged that the weeks of social distancing, and time away from students, would be difficult. The union was working with the district to organize well-being checks on particularly vulnerable students.

The union was also planning to start a blog for members to “experience this together.”

🔗State weighs in on a critical question for child care centers: Funding during the crisis

Illinois is out with more information for day cares and preschools. We wrote Sunday about how those who run preschools and child care centers are in a tough spot. Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday ordered K-12 schools to close but left out day cares to provide for children of first responders, hospital workers, and other emergency personnel. Read that story here.

The state said Monday it won’t force freestanding child care centers and day cares to close. But it will extend funding and relax strict requirements that dock funding when attendance drops. About 150 child care center owners over the weekend signed a letter to the governor asking for more funding flexibility and for assistance with emergency funding for hourly workers if they did need to close.

Monday the state said that programs funded through the Illinois State Board of Education, federal Head Start programs, and the city of Chicago will not lose government funding because of the coronavirus crisis. The directive said that centers that do close must pay workers — many centers accept a mix of public funding and private tuition and the directive did not spell out how centers will make up for lost tuition.

“For programs funded by any or all of these funding streams, programs are expected to continue to pay all staff per their regular work schedule during any closures due to the public health emergency,” the notice reads.

Congress is considering a federal package that would help small businesses meet payroll; that would include day cares, the notice reads.

🔗Preparing, or not, for e-learning as schools close

We heard from teachers over the weekend who were hustling to put together learning packets and assemble online passwords for students who have access to Internet. We want to hear from educators: What are you planning for your students during the closures? Tell us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org

Educators in #Chicago: How are you preparing for a shift to remote learning or enrichment planning for your students during the quarantine? How much guidance have you received from your school's administration? DM us or get us at https://t.co/KweQkffDqP at https://t.co/LWCrgRMLV5
— Chalkbeat Chicago (@chalkbeatCHI) March 16, 2020

🔗March 15

🔗Another case surfaces connected to Chicago Public Schools

In an email sent out to parents and staff Sunday night, Chicago Public Schools confirmed that someone at Sheridan Math and Science Academy in Bridgeport tested positive and the school would be closed Monday. The district referred only to a “member” of the academy and did not specify if the person was a teacher, other staffer, or student there. Read more here.

This is the third known case connected to a Chicago public school. Earlier today, administrators at the Noble Network announced a case connected to a Mansueto High School staffer. A week ago, a special education aide at Vaughn Occupational High School was the first case connected to a Chicago school.

Chicago schools will close Tuesday as part of a statewide K-12 school shutdown ordered by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

🔗Noble Network closes schools after staff member tests positive for novel coronavirus

The Noble charter network, which educates over 12,000 children in Chicago, will close Monday after a staff member tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

The network did not release information about the Mansueto school staffer nor when the test was result was released. Schools will be closed for everything except for food services at some campuses.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has ordered all K-12 schools to close from Tuesday, as a means to help control the spread of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease. Noble will close one day early.

Citing logistical challenges, the network will provide food service at only seven of its campuses on Tuesday: Pritzker, Noble Street, Hansberry, DRW, Comer Middle, Baker, and Butler for children at all 18 of its schools.

Noble operates independently of Chicago Public Schools.

🔗

🔗Pritzker orders restaurants and bars closed statewide, promises students access to school meals

Children in Illinois will continue to have access to school breakfast and lunch even amid the statewide school closure, Gov. J.B. Pritzker vowed Sunday. He also announced he is ordering all bars and restaurants statewide to close from Monday evening as part of Illinois’ coronavirus response, though deliveries, drive-throughs and curbside pickups will be allowed.

Pritzker said the state Board of Education has obtained a federal waiver to continue providing meals during the closures. In Chicago, he said, schoolchildren can pick up free breakfast and lunch at any school — even if that’s not the school they attend and regardless of whether they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Illinois now has 93 confirmed coronavirus cases, health officials said.

The governor also said he approached numerous food manufacturers to donate meals to food banks to provide free dinner to schoolchildren as well. Pritzker said the response was overwhelmingly positive.

Separately, Pritzker said he had extracted a commitment from Vice President Mike Pence to double the number of screeners at O’Hare International Airport, where heightened screening of travelers from Europe led to long waits Saturday. Pritzker called the backlogs an “unacceptable and frankly dangerous situation,” pinning responsibility on the federal government.

About his decision to shutter restaurants and bars through March 30, he said it was a tough but prudent step. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot warned businesses that the city will strictly enforce the governor’s directive.

Pritzker said he has been heartened by the state’s response to the outbreak so far, from both officials and the public.

“I believe in you,” he said. “I am going to fight like hell in the weeks ahead.”

🔗March 14

🔗First cases of COVID-19 in Central and Southern Illinois

During a press conference with Illinois public health officials Saturday afternoon, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced 18 additional cases of novel coronavirus in Central and Southern Illinois.

The total number of cases throughout the state is now 64.

While most have been concentrated in Cook County, current cases have been found in Cumberland, DuPage, St. Clair and Woodford. There are seven new cases in Chicago, four in suburban Cook, one in Kane, and one in Lake.

The recent case in DuPage is a woman in her 60s residing in a long-term care facility, and the Illinois Department of Health is currently working on the ground to identify her current contacts.

Pritzker repeated the need for social distancing, “If you’re young and healthy, we need you to follow social distancing guidelines too. You may only have mild symptoms for a few days and think that you’re just fine but you can have the unintended, tragic effect of spreading COVID-19 to others who may be more vulnerable.”

While K-12 schools are closed and, along with them, pre-K classrooms connected to those campuses, independent pre-k and daycare facilities do not fall under the closed schools mandate, the governor said, since most of those are smaller.

🔗March 13

🔗Chicago makes plans for families

But Chicago Public Schools won’t be rolling out a robust remote-learning plan, and whether it will reschedule spring break is still up in air. Read more here.

🔗Governor announces statewide closure

Illinois will become the eighth state to close schools due to the coronavirus outbreak. The closures go into effect Tuesday to give teachers time to prepare.

“I understand what this means for the families and caretakers of the 2 million students,” Pritzker said, “and none of the choices we have had to make over the last week have been easy or simple. All these choices have cascading effects for citizens and vulnerable populations.” This is a developing story.

🔗Here’s a running list of Illinois district closures

The number of Illinois districts announcing school closures now tops 60, affecting nearly 300,0000 students. Here’s the running list.

🔗Chicago’s rationale so far for not closing schools

The mayor says she’s assessing and reassessing the situation multiple times a day. Read what she told reporters this morning here.

Meanwhile, Miami-Dade, the nation’s fourth largest school district, announced it was closing schools.

🔗New guidance from the CDC on closures

In revised guidance issued Friday, the CDC suggested that early, short- to medium- term closures don’t slow the progression of COVID-19 in a community. Longer closures — eight to 20 weeks — might retard the virus’ community spread, it said. But modeling shows that other recommended measures like handwashing and isolating patients at home could have a greater effect, the federal agency advised.

Places like Hong Kong that closed schools haven’t had more success in reducing the novel coronavirus spread than have areas like Singapore that kept campuses open, the CDC observed.

On the other hand, observers of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy have emphatically advised early social isolation, including closing schools, to slow down the virus’s progress through communities.

🔗Chicago Teachers Union takes a stronger stance

The Chicago Teachers Union is calling for the immediate closure of all schools in the district, the country’s third largest. The union said the step is necessary to hamper the spread of coronavirus.

It’s a pivot for a union that, on Thursday, had called on Chicago to proactively close schools for a single day — Election Day — since hundreds double as polling places and many community members would be in and out to vote, potentially putting children at risk.

Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff, pointed to the announcement this morning that schools in Los Angeles, the second largest district in the nation, are slated to close.

“This is the time to be proactive and cautious,” she said in an interview with Chalkbeat. “CPS, too, needs to get ahead of this.”

District and city officials have said the current risk the virus outbreak poses does not justify the disruption that a mass district closure would cause — though they stress they continue to evaluate the situation as it unfolds. They have noted that children appear to be at a lower risk for contracting the virus and becoming seriously ill, and they said closing all schools will mean significant hardship for many students and families.

CTU noted in a Friday statement that most district schools meet the criteria Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker outlined Thursday about community gatherings: discouraging events of 250 people or more and banning those that bring together more than 1,000 residents.

Union officials also want the city and district to work together on a remote learning strategy and a meal delivery plan to ensure students who rely on school meals still have access to them. The union once again called for the suspension of the district’s school ratings policy, which factors in school attendance. The union is also demanding that the city of Chicago declare a state of emergency and place a moratorium on evictions and utility bills.

🔗Closures so far in Illinois

The Illinois State Board of Education has started tracking school- and district-wide closures across the state. So far here’s what we know as of Friday morning: As of now, there have been more than 30 districts closed and over 100,000 students out of class. That’s about 5% of students statewide. In all, there are 3,872 schools, 852 districts and 2 million students across the state.

🔗Archdiocese closing schools

The Archdiocese of Chicago tells parents it will close schools beginning Monday in Cook and Lake counties.

In a press conference Friday morning at City Hall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot tells reporters that she spoke with Cardinal Blase Cupich about the Archdiocese decision. But closing public schools in Chicago has cascading consequences. She said she’s constantly assessing the situation.

Factoring into the decision to keep schools open, said Lightfoot, is the case of the special education teacher’s aide at Vaughn Occupational High School. As far as officials know to this point, no one else at the school has tested positive for coronavirus (two relatives of the woman who had no contact with the school have confirmed cases), the mayor said.

She said she’s frequently in contact with the governor’s office throughout the day on the issue of school openings and closings. “The governor has concerns about schools across state. We’re having multiple conversations every single day about what we’re doing, why we’re doing what we’re doing, and using data to drive the decision. In the event we need to take action, we will do that in partnership with the state.”

If schools have to close, it will be done to mitigate burden on families, Lightfoot says. She spoke with @CardinalBCupich about decision to close @archchicago schools.
— Heather Cherone (@HeatherCherone) March 13, 2020

🔗Flexibility on food delivery weighs on states

Children living in poverty in the United States rely on school for meals, and that reality has factored prominently into some districts’ decisions to keep schools open.

Illinois officials confirmed Thursday that they have applied for a waiver for a federally funded school lunch/meal program that requires students to eat in a group setting — getting the waiver would give districts flexibility in how to design meal delivery programs should the need arise.

Politico has reported that the USDA said that it will waive the requirement on a state-by-state basis, but the waiver only covers districts where more than 50% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. (In Illinois, 48.8% of students are eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunches, but many districts, including Chicago, have numbers that are considerably higher.) The USDA has done this in the past with school districts during natural disasters but the coronavirus will present new issues.

🔗March 12

🔗Evanston Skokie District 65 to close schools starting Monday

Officials say that the district will implement an e-learning plan. Other suburban districts on Chicago’s North Shore also announced closures, including New Trier and several of its elementary school feeder districts and all Northfield Township districts.

In Oak Park, in the city’s western suburbs, officials at the elementary district and high school initiated an e-learning week, starting Friday and running through next week, with Spring Break to follow. “Students will not physically come to school, but these will be attendance days where they will have coursework and assignments,” the high school said.

🔗No statewide school closure in Illinois

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker talks Thursday about measures to counter the spread of the novel coronavirus. He is flanked on the left by an interpreter and on the right by Illinois public health Director Ngozi Ezike and Chicago public health Commissioner Allison Arwady.

As the number of confirmed Illinois cases of coronavirus rises to 32, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a stark message to state residents Thursday evening about shutting down sporting events and large gatherings, but he stopped short of an edict for school closure.

School closures will still be community decisions, he said at a Thursday evening press conference, stressing that many children in the state “receive essential services from the schools they attend.”

“We are not closing our schools, but we are monitoring the situation on a day to day basis.”

He advised schools to cancel assemblies.

On Thursday, governors of Ohio and Maryland both issued statewide edicts to close schools.

Chicago schools will remain open at this time, said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “We are a city that is well prepared to address this crisis.”

Of the state’s seven new cases, one is a Chicago child who is at home in good condition, health officials said.

Read the latest here.

🔗Complaints resurface about dirty schools. Surface wipes are on back order.

As the coronavirus has spread, so have concerns about cleanliness in schools. Some districts in communities where cases have been confirmed, including Lombard in the western suburbs and in Washington and Virginia, have planned closures for a single, deep cleaning day out of concern.

Chicago so far has promised daily disinfections of “high-touch” areas such as doorknobs and handrails. The district said last week it was delivering more cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to schools and asking janitorial staff to check bathrooms daily for soap. Over the weekend, it said supplies were on “pre-order,” but did not clarify when they might arrive.

Apparently, some schools are still waiting, and teachers have started complaining on social media and in private messages to Chalkbeat that efforts to deep clean are falling short. Sanitation concerns are a familiar issue in Chicago, stemming from the district’s decision, during a budget crunch in 2014, to privatize janitorial services to two contract companies, Aramark and Sodexo, and failures of some schools to subsequently pass inspections.

One teacher, at James Hedges Fine and Performing Arts School, told Chalkbeat on Wednesday the janitor had been out for a week. Another said her school custodian had only been approved to work an extra hour.

Another teacher said he was making his own hand sanitizer from rubbing alcohol and aloe vera.

The district said Thursday that operations managers are visiting schools daily to check on custodial staff and that it was implementing additional cleanliness audits in wake of coronavirus concerns. It also said it had authorized additional custodial overtime during evening and weekend hours.

As for supplies, some, like surface wipes, are caught on back order, a Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman wrote in an email. “Wipes are among the most in-demand items in the country and we are scheduled to receive a shipment soon and will distribute as soon as possible.”

But she said there is no shortage of cleaning supplies. “Every school has a minimum of two cases of soap supplies and up to 60 additional cases of hand soap supplies (depending on the size of the school and student body/utilization) readily available,” she said. Warehouses also had ample supplies, she wrote, adding that custodians are supposed to more frequently restock schools as campus supplies dwindle.

Coronavirus is thought to spread mainly between people who are in close contact with one another. It also can spread by people touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their mouth or nose.

Teaching in a dirty classroom (again). The CPS response has been slow and insufficient. Our morning custodian has only been approved for 1 extra HOUR to sanitize doors and surfaces AND told me she’s been buying her own cleaning supplies. School serves 950 S + staff.
— MsGRoxs (@MsGRoxs) March 11, 2020

😂 this was brought up in our LSC meeting yesterday by parents. I let them know many teachers were brining in their own supplies. We don’t have time to wait.
— Julia Ciciora (@JuliaCiciora) March 12, 2020

they are here, but there aren't enough. And, the custodial staff that cleans my room hasn't done any extra cleaning. Desk tops aren't cleaned if I don't do it. Floors are filthy and haven't been mopped in weeks. Schools are hotbeds for spreading, I would think.
— Alison Eichhorn (@alison_eichhorn) March 12, 2020

🔗Conversations in the classroom

Students have questions. Many questions.

How are educators handling them and is there an approach that seems particularly effective? We want to hear from you.

Chicago educators: How are you handling the conversation about #COVID19 in your classroom? We're eager to hear from PK-8 AND high school teachers/social workers/counselors. DM us or email us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org @TeachPlusIL @Ed4Excellence @TFA_ChicagoNWI @ctulocal1
— Chalkbeat Chicago (@chalkbeatCHI) March 12, 2020

🔗‘It’s time to talk about bias and bullying.’

Angie Hong, a parent, writes: “As news of the new coronavirus made its way around the world, I asked my nine-year-old, American-born, Korean son if anyone at school was making comments to him about the coronavirus.

“Yeah,” he said. “They yelled across the room, ‘You’re Chinese, you have coronavirus!’”

Hong lives in North Carolina, but her first-person account of how she addressed bias and bullying with her child — and took the matter to administrators at her son’s school — may prove a helpful read for any parent or educator faced with similar conversations.

🔗More closures nationally

Treadwell Elementary off of Given Avenue in Memphis.

Cancellations keep rolling in nationally. In New York, two South Bronx schools closed after a student tested positive for coronavirus, and in Memphis, schools will be closed from Friday until March 30, the district said Thursday morning. Earlier this week, delayed communication to Spanish-speaking parents about a school staffer’s quarantine had educators in that city concerned.

Hinsdale High School 86 has cancelled classes after a student at Hinsdale South was exposed to COVID-19. According to the school’s statement, they would have instituted an remote learning day but decided to use an emergency day since they received late notice. If school should remain closed longer, the district will use remote learning.

Chicago Public Schools said earlier in the week that it did not plan to close additional schools. One of Chicago’s most high-profile private schools, Chicago Lab, announced Thursday that it would start remote learning on March 30. “The Director of the Laboratory Schools will be in contact soon with more information, including about the duration of the remote learning period,” a release said. Organizers also have canceled a large suburban college information fair in Rosemont planned for the weekend.

🔗March 11

🔗Chicago teachers take aim at spring break travel company

Chicago educators took to social media Wednesday to lash out at a student tour operator for not refunding a Simeon High School spring break trip to Greece. The school district suspended the trip because of coronavirus concerns, and the tour company, EF Educational Tours, offered to postpone the trip but not repay fees for the 13 students, according to the Chicago Teachers Union.

On Twitter, the union called the stance an example of “callousness.” An overwhelming majority of students at Simeon High are low-income, and one teacher tweeted they worked hard to fundraise for the trip.

A spokeswoman for EF Educational Tours said it cannot comment about specific tours and groups. But she noted EF Tours decided to extend its Peace of Mind program, usually reserved for cancellations 45 days in advance, to all tour groups in light of the outbreak. That would allow them to postpone their trips or join other trips scheduled for later in the year. The company’s web site says it doesn’t refund cancelled trips because it books airfare and hotels months, sometimes even years, in advance to offer students lower prices.

“We’re working on a solution with vendors,” a tweet from the official Chicago Public Schools account said. “No matter what, we’re going to make these students whole.”

As for field trips, the district told parents on Facebook that it would provide updates soon.

By Mila Koumpilova

🔗Seattle closes schools as Washington cases top 300

(1/3) Starting Thursday, March 12, @SeaPubSchools and the Seattle School Board will close Seattle Public Schools for a minimum of 14 days as the CDC currently guides. This necessary action is an effective way to disrupt widespread infection.
— Seattle Public Schools (@SeaPubSchools) March 11, 2020

March 11: Number of Illinois cases rises again

State leaders said Wednesday that six additional coronavirus cases were diagnosed in Illinois in the past 24 hours, bringing the statewide total to 25.

All but one of the new cases are in Cook County. Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that the start of the state legislative session will be postponed until March 24; he also encouraged state residents to request vote-by-mail ballots for the March 17 Illinois primary by the 5 p.m. Thursday deadline.

“It’s on all of us to minimize the spread and keep Illinoisans healthy,” said Pritzker, who again voiced frustration with the limited number of tests provided by the federal government.

Alicia Tate-Nadeau, who leads the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said schools and campuses across the state should be working on their plans for remote learning and canceling or postponing study abroad and other overseas travel.

Some Chicago parents are taking to Twitter to ask state elections officials to reconsider using schools as polling places for next week’s primary.

Parents have concerns about schools being used as polling places increasing #Covid19 exposure to kids. So many people enter schools to vote. Any thoughts of canceling classes 3/17 to lessen potential exposure?@ChiPubSchools @ChiPublicHealth @CDCgov @janicejackson @ILRaiseYourHand
— Mary Fahey Hughes (@FaheyHughes) March 11, 2020

by Mila Koumpilova

🔗Teachers union calls for remote learning plans, cleaning supplies

Jennifer Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union’s chief of staff, spoke at a press event Mar. 11 with other labor leaders calling for a “common good platform” in responding to coronavirus.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders joined other labor groups at Chicago City Hall Wednesday morning to rally around what they dubbed “a common good platform” to protect workers and families during a coronavirus outbreak. Labor leaders called for the passage of statewide paid sick leave legislation.

The union called on Chicago Public Schools to suspend a school ratings policy that factors in student attendance, which leaders said discourages schools from sending sick students home promptly. The union also urged the district and others to advocate for state legislation on remote learning, one that would ensure student access to the internet and devices.

“In-person school is always best, but we have to have a backup plan to ensure students don’t fall behind,” said CTU Chief of Staff Jennifer Johnson.

Johnson and others also urged the district to step up efforts to ensure schools have adequate cleaning supplies. She said the coronavirus outbreak validates the union’s push to assign a nurse to every school, a staffing concession the group won in the last round of contract negotiations. And she reiterated demands to improve school cleanliness..

But Johnson also suggested this moment offers an opportunity for renewed collaboration with the district on a coronavirus response.

The union is canceling its upcoming delegate training “out of an abundance of caution,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Lalasz, a registered nurse with the National Nurses United union, criticized the decision to call for self-quarantine only for students and employees of Vaughn Occupational School, where a classroom aide was diagnosed with the new coronavirus last week. She said the district, which heeded guidance from city health officials, should have asked siblings and parents to stay home as well.

“The entire family needs to be isolated to protect the community,” she said.

City health officials have said they believe the case at Vaughn is an “isolated incident” and that they are testing any students and staff with symptoms of illness.

Still, Lalasz acknowledged self-quarantine would have imposed hardship on some Vaughn families: “Without support, we can’t reasonably expect them to isolate themselves.”

By Mila Koumpilova

🔗Illinois needs more tests

Concerned about the coronavirus spread in Illinois, where confirmed cases numbered 19 as of midday Tuesday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, in a joint appearance with Gov. J.B. Pritzker at the city’s Office of Emergency Management, announced that major St. Patrick’s Day parades for the weekend will be canceled.

Pritzker called on federal health officials to speed up their response.

“We need the federal government to rise to this occasion. As long as we are seeing an increase in cases and not enough tests, I will be, personally, on the phone with senior federal officials at the White House and elsewhere in the executive branch to continue to demand that we see a matching increase in tests,” he said.

Officials said they are paying close attention to veteran and senior living homes.

Meanwhile, a handful of other public school closures were announced. In DuPage County, Lombard School District 44 cancelled classes on Wednesday after a visitor to a volleyball game at Glenn Westlake Middle School on March 4 tested positive for COVID-19. The district said it will use an emergency day to clean and disinfect eight schools.

By Samantha Smylie

🔗Why planning for e-learning may be problematic in some districts

The conversation starts heating up about remote learning plans. By the start of this week, with case numbers climbing and a handful of school closing, the state school board prods districts to develop an e-learning plan “in preparation for the possibility of a school closure.”

And while some Illinois districts already have a head start because of cold weather closures, most are unprepared. Read more here.

🔗March 10

🔗What we know so far

Chicago has closed one school after a teacher’s aide there tested positive. More here.
Closing a school is a complex decision. Read more here about the impact on families at Vaughn Occupational.
Still, research shows school closures can slow the spread of illness. Read our research roundup here.
Coronavirus conversations are happening in the classroom. Here, one Indiana teacher explains how she’s addressing student fears.
School cleanliness is in the spotlight. Read here about how Chicago plans to deliver more cleaning supplies.
Parents have questions about who is susceptible. Here are 6 common questions and answers about Chicago’s response.
Federal officials have suggested districts should plan for remote learning. Here Chalkbeat explains why that’s a remote possibility for many urban districts.
There’s a renewed spotlight nationally on the role of school nurses. Read more here.
Other cities are grappling with tough questions, too, about when to close schools. Read the latest from our New York bureau here.

https://chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2020/03/17/home-school-is-the-new-reality-for-illinois-families-teachers-help-make-it-better/A new reality sets in.

Chicago releases 2020-21 school calendar, says first day of school will be Sept. 8

2020-02-24T16:16:14+00:00

Chicago Public School students will return to school next fall on Sept. 8, and the last day for students will be June 22, 2021, according to a proposed calendar for the next school year.

Chicago’s Board of Education will consider the calendar Wednesday.

Winter break would be Dec. 21 to Jan. 1, and spring break would be from March 29 to April 2.

The start of school lines up with the Chicago tradition of starting after Labor Day. Labor Day falls late in the calendar this year on Sept. 7.

This year, students will start their summer break two days later than originally scheduled, to make up days lost during an 11-day teachers strike last fall. The district agreed to five makeup days; two of those are in June. The last day of school for students this school year is June 18.

The Chicago Park District recently released summer camp dates. Six-week day camps will go through July 31, with summer extension camps running through Aug. 14. But working parents still will have to search for options for activities and child care to fill in other days and times until school starts in September, a perennial issue for many families.

Find the full calendar below.

Chicago changed school policing, but can teachers and students tell the difference?

2020-02-20T21:46:00+00:00

For years, the role of police in Chicago schools was murky.

If principals had an issue with an officer, they didn’t know whether to take it up with the district or the police department. It was impossible to know whether officers were qualified to serve in schools. Police at times disciplined students in cases that didn’t involve suspected criminal behavior, leading to confusion over roles and responsibilities.

All of that was supposed to change by last September. Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department made a slew of reforms intended to bring clarity, accountability, and safety to school policing.

While some campuses noticed immediate changes, a Chalkbeat examination shows that the police-school agreement spelling out reforms remains a work in progress, with uncertainty over some key questions six months past a deadline. We charted progress on the main issues (see sidebar below).

Despite a requirement to screen officers, nearly half have had misconduct allegations sustained against them. Schools still lack a system to register complaints about officers. Some principals remain confused about which situations police can and can’t get involved with. And some students, teachers and Local School Council members said they know little to nothing about the overhaul in school policing.

Still, some school leaders feel grateful to have a clearer road map for how police and schools are supposed to work together.

“There is no more gray area. It is black and white,” said Jammie Poole, principal of Marshall HIgh School, where a video last year captured two officers dragging a 16-year-old student down the stairs and prompted a citywide outcry. “I feel good about the process.”

Chicago Public Schools says it’s committed to engaging with school communities, and that rolling out the changes are part of a multi-step process. The district, for example, has asked principals to communicate details about the school police program at Local School Council meetings, and said it will launch a survey in the spring to solicit feedback.

“The safety and security of all students is the district’s top priority and we remain committed to working with principals, LSCs, educators, and families, to ensure every school community plays an active role in school safety, including new changes to SRO training and selection,” district spokeswoman Emily Bolton said in a statement.

A difference at Marshall

At Marshall High, the change is palpable.

For principal Poole, school police officers used to be an extra pair of adult hands to have around the building when a student needed to be escorted out of the room, or teachers thought it was helpful to have in the cafeteria in case a fight broke out. “We used to be like, you know, if we were down a security guard, we would use our police,” said Poole, who heads a high school of 250 students on the city’s West Side.

That casual approach is gone this year, at Marshall and the other schools with stationed officers.

A different set of officers from last year patrols the hallways. They received training specific to working with young people. The principal himself introduced them to the school community.

Poole said he updated his leadership staff on the new directives for school police, but chose not to do so for teachers or students because he didn’t expect them to have any interaction with officers most of the time.

Despite the tasing incident, Poole said he and the Local School Council chose to keep police officers on campus this year because they have advocated for students who have issues with police outside of school. Marshall students live in a heavily policed neighborhood and may be more likely than students elsewhere to have had negative interactions with officers outside of school.

He had no say in selecting the new officers.

But, he said, “I had the opportunity to speak with them and kind of go through our school and do a walk-through. So I was much more comfortable.”

Now at Marshall, involving a police officer in an incident requires conversations with the principal and several administrators.

“Before anything happens, we crowd into a room and discuss what’s going to happen, but also if it should happen,” Poole said. “First and foremost, can we prevent any type of police escort?”

Sea change

That deliberative process marks a sea change in campus policing.

Chicago embarked on the biggest overhaul of its school policing program in a decade as part of broader police reforms. The cover-up of the fatal shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014 provoked widespread outrage and protests culminated in a civil rights lawsuit that the city settled last year and that resulted in a federal consent decree.

Among other things, the agreement seeks to turn around a department struggling with low trust in Chicago’s black and brown communities and to bring the cornerstones of community policing best practice onto campuses.

The incident at Marshall High School last year stood out because it was caught on video, but a lack of data and transparency makes it difficult to know how frequently students have negative encounters with police on school grounds.

Most Chicago schools have security officers employed and trained by the district, but only about 70 schools have stationed police officers, also known as school resource officers, trained and employed by the Chicago Police Department. While about 70 schools have officers stationed inside the school, others have police assigned in roving cars.

The new school policing agreement screens officers, lays out who they report to, requires training on dealing with youth, and prohibits officers from engaging in school discipline unless an incident involves criminal conduct.

The Chicago Police Department reviewed the qualifications and records of all officers serving in schools this year to ensure they have an “appropriate” background, spokesman Luis Agostini said. That included a review of disciplinary history to ensure each applicant was fit to serve students and keep them safe, he said.

But a Chalkbeat review of current school-based officers, obtained in the fall, shows that 96% have faced allegations of misconduct, according to the Citizens Police Data Project, a database of police disciplinary records obtained by the Chicago-based non-profit journalism project Invisible Institute.

Those allegations range from excessive force, searches without a warrant, and physical domestic altercations to more minor accusations like unexcused permission and traffic violations. The alleged violations were sustained — found to be true — for 41% of officers serving in schools this year.

For those officers who had allegations against them sustained, Agostini said the police department issued “appropriate discipline and corrective measures commensurate with the violation.”

The department required school officers to reapply for their positions, and veterans and newcomers alike underwent 40 hours of training on de-escalating conflicts, building relationships with young people, understanding disabilities and special education, intervening in youth crises and recognizing implicit racial bias.

What’s happened in Chicago school police reform so far

Complete: Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department will sign a formal written contract that spells out the role of officers in schools.

The memorandum went into effect Sept. 1, but was posted online in December. It covers police officers’ access to student data, training guidelines, and the chain of command for oversight of school officers.

Incomplete: The city will review the disciplinary history of existing and new officers.

The city undertook a review but did not make clear what kind of record is acceptable.

Complete: The city will develop a set of criteria, including a formal application process, for school-level officers.

Officers must submit a resume to apply to work in a schools. Officers must have at least three years of policing experience, knowledge of juvenile laws and the student code of conduct, previous experience working with youth in a learning environment, the ability to problem-solve in a team environment, quality report writing skills, and enthusiasm for the position.

Incomplete: Officers will have a clear job description that spells out when they intervene in school situations.

The district said that officers will not interfere in discipline matters. However, some principals said they have not received written guidelines for when officers intervene and when they don’t, and a district survey found that 18% of principals somewhat disagree and 4% strongly disagree that they understood SRO responsibilities.

Incomplete: Principals will play a role in selecting school officers.

The agreement stipulates that district commanders coordinate with principals in officer selection. Some principals say they were offered resumes of officers to review, but others say they were not consulted.

Complete: Officers will undergo an annual 40-hour basic training specific to schools.

The district reported that all school officers attended a 40-hour basic training over the summer, led by the National Association of School Resource Officers.

Incomplete: The police department and school district will codify a formal complaint process for the public to file concerns related to school resource officers.

A district spokesperson said CPS and CPD are collaborating to codify the complaint process. A district presentation, however, did not give a school-specific complaint system, and instructed principals to route complaints through the Civilian Office of Police Accountability or the police Bureau of Internal Affairs.

Ambiguous job descriptions

Not all schools have noticed — nor would argue they needed — the change.

In the Norwood Park neighborhood, where many police officers live, Taft High School has minimal tension between officers and students.

Principal Mark Grishaber said the role of officers in a school is only “1% to police a school, but 99% police PR.” That means positive interactions in a school that will pay dividends in the long run, he said.

He didn’t see any changes from last year to this year among the officers who serve at his two buildings. But he said he appreciates having a more clearly defined role for police.

“We have two great officers here at Taft, and I know they are doing a good job because I see kids talking to them all the time,” Grishaber said.

At Sullivan High School in the Rogers Park neighborhood, Principal Chad Adams said at the start of the year he still didn’t know how officers at schools were expected to perform differently this school year. “I don’t think I’ve ever really received any guidance on the officers from the district level,” he said.

In fact, some principals didn’t get clear directives until a webinar that took place this month, five months after the deadline to institute change.

Marshall High’s Poole would like a clear list of what school resource officers do and don’t do, and how a school uses them, so he can post them for his teachers and students.

Mo Canady, executive director of the Alabama-based National Association of School Resource Officers, a leading group training school police, said communication between schools and the police department is key — and so is communication with parents. He cites an example in another district where officers attended family nights and handed out pamphlets describing their role.

“The number one goal of a school resource officer is to bridge the gap between law enforcement and youth,” Canady said. That means letting students know why officers are in the halls.

But even if the district were to publicly share detailed job descriptions, school officials say such guidelines may not apply to the ambiguity of many school situations.

Earlier this month, during a district training on school resource officers for some principals, Benjamin McKay, manager of student discipline support at Chicago Public Schools, acknowledged just that.

”A lot of situations will feel like they are in a gray area,” McKay said, according to an audio recording obtained by Chalkbeat. He noted that a December survey of 59 principals found that half were not entirely clear on the roles and responsibilities of officers in their building. McKay suggested that schools get to know their officers, and tread carefully in involving them in any school-related matters.

The open question

Advice like that has made some school police critics question, again, whether schools need officers, and point to a host of other needs they say could be met with the $33 million the district will spend this year on police in schools.

“That makes me so aggravated and frustrated,” said Anna Lane, a history teacher at Kelly High School on the Southwest Side. ”We could use that money to fund people who could help with the mental health of a student.”

Lane said she has little interaction with officers at her school and has never seen a school police officer at Kelly engage violently with a student. She did once see a young person being led out of the school in handcuffs, and said it was disturbing.

“These are children, I don’t care how old they look,” said Lane. “They should be afforded that sense that these are still babies, we should respect them, their minds are still growing.”

Some students say that school is already a place where they feel hemmed in by the rules they have to follow, a feeling that having police officers only exacerbates.

“We have to follow the teacher’s rules, the school’s rules, and the dean’s rules,” said Derianna Ford, a student at Mather High School. Add in the police, Ford said, and “I have no freedom.”

Ford, who spoke at a press conference against the school police contract ahead of the Board of Education vote in August, also wants educators to consider the deeper reasons students may be acting out.

“A student always has reason why they’re acting out. It may be a problem at home, maybe they have a problem at school,” she said. “We need someone that’s trained to come in and help us sort out the emotions we’re going through.”

She said she has been trying to get a meeting with a school counselor since the start of the school year. “I know there are days where I’m like, ‘I’m so upset, I don’t know what to do,’ and I can’t go to my counselor,” she said. “She’s too busy.”

Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee contributed reporting.

Chicago schools’ top labor negotiator on the veteran pay dispute and what he’s learned from all those union contracts

2020-01-27T21:03:45+00:00

Chicago’s biggest education story of this school year was the bitter 11-day teachers strike and the contract that emerged from it.

The news made headlines around the country, but most stories never mentioned the name of one central figure behind the conflict and its resolution.

That’s Jim Franczek, the labor lawyer who negotiated the Chicago teachers contract and seven others in the course of his 25-year career as the city’s chief labor negotiator.

He’s worked with some of the biggest names in Chicago politics, including former mayors Harold Washington, Richard M. Daley, and Rahm Emanuel, as well as with Illinois house chief Michael Madigan. He also helped draft two key pieces of legislation that changed power and collective bargaining in Chicago: the 1995 law that instituted mayoral control of Chicago Public Schools and another law that limited what unions could bargain over, and raised the vote threshold required to authorize a strike.

“I’ve been involved, in one way or the other, in virtually every piece of labor legislation that’s come out of the General Assembly,” Franczek said.

In an interview in his West Loop office, he chuckled at a photo of a protester holding a sign with Franczek’s photo, labeled “CPS’s ZOMBIE NEGOTIATOR,” and a gravestone bearing his name.

Franczek said he has tried to stay out of the spotlight. But nonetheless he has earned the ire of some Chicagoans fighting the city’s education reform movement.

Chalkbeat sat down with Franczek to discuss veteran teacher pay, what the media misses, and the real relationships at the bargaining table.

Here are five key topics from that conversation. Franczek’s answers have been edited for length and clarity.

On working with Mayor Lori Lightfoot

I’ve negotiated the CPS contract eight times now. And this was, without question, the best CPS team I ever had. It was intelligent people who cared. It was people who were invested in the process.

Mayor Lightfoot is extremely bright. She’s extremely committed. She’s a very strong personality. And I think she emphasized enormously good leadership during this entire process.

On his tips for successful negotiating

There are three Ps: prep, process and people. By far the most important part of it is preparation, dealing with clients, coming up with ways to navigate through the process. I put a not-insignificant amount of premium on relationships with my client and the union.

These things are tension-filled enough without creating personal animosities, so I go out of my way to do the small but important things that enhance human relationships. You [have to be] courteous and respectful, and don’t swear unless you are doing it for a reason. I recognize other people’s needs and wants and try to be responsive to that. Little things over the course of time make a significant difference in the process.

On the veteran pay standoff

It was one of the last, if not the last, issue settled, and it was agreed that we, being CPS, would provide $5 million for teachers on step 14 [for those who have taught 14 years] or higher, and $25 million over the course of five years. We said to the union that those were our absolute amounts, and did not want those amounts to compound.

The agreement was $5 million a year, and that we’ll figure out.

Frankly this is not all that unusual, though the numbers are fairly significant. We will work it out.

On his involvement in the passage of the 1995 bill that shifted Chicago schools to mayoral control

My advice [to then-Mayor Daley] was that the labor law did not make any sense anymore. It needed to be changed to accommodate the complexity of the Chicago Public School system. Now 25 years later, it’s time to look at it again. But during those 25 years, I think in a lot of ways, and maybe friends over on the union side — and I do have friends over there, believe it or not — will disagree. But we’ve done a lot of good things. You have a longer day and have a longer year. That’s because of 1995.

You don’t have these teachers sitting off in a room on layoff and reserve teacher pools like we had prior to ’95. That used to cost us hundreds of millions of dollars. That doesn’t happen anymore.

So I’m not all that defensive about it. In retrospect, maybe I could have done some things better. But big-picture-wise, I don’t feel badly about my advice at all.

On what the media misses

When the press reports upon this [negotiations], they’re literally [reporting] the tip of the tip of the tip of the iceberg. In a world where there’s instant communication, you don’t have either the time or the willingness or the incentive to do a thought piece on what happens. But that’s just the nature of the beast.

This is an extremely complex process. We met 91 times with Chicago Teachers Union between January and Oct. 31. We met 28 days in October. We spent god knows how many hours, we exchanged god knows how many proposals, we had all sorts of meetings and all sorts of different topics. The complexity of all of that cannot be measured or captured in newspaper articles. It just can’t.

Unfair labor practice complaint in veteran pay dispute moving forward, says union

2020-01-23T00:00:51+00:00

The dispute between Chicago’s school district and teachers union over pay for veteran teachers has advanced beyond the two partners, with an investigation by a state labor relations board now underway, according to union officials.

In the one major unresolved issue from the strike, the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools still haven’t agreed on whether to parcel out $25 million in promised raises for veteran educators primarily as bonuses, or to add the money to teachers’ base pay.

The union filed an unfair labor practice complaint on the issue with the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board in December.

Now, an investigator has been assigned to gather evidence from both sides. The investigator will issue a ruling and help facilitate a settlement. If either side disagrees with the ruling, it can appeal the decision and force a hearing.

The labor board’s ruling is legally binding in that it is supported by a court order, but don’t expect it to immediately clear up the issue, labor experts said.

“The ruling will be important in providing leverage to the parties to work it out,” said Bob Bruno, professor of labor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Steven Ashby, a labor professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who wrote a book with Bruno on the Chicago Teachers Union, said he would be “shocked if both sides don’t accept the labor board’s decision.”

Yet, even if the labor board backs one side over the other after months of deliberation, the district and union will still have to work together to negotiate a solution.

The union brought the issue up most recently at Wednesday’s Chicago school board meeting, where union Financial Secretary Maria Moreno asked board members to work with the district and resolve the dispute.

“Let’s not get bogged down so soon after the ink has barely dried on our new collective bargaining agreement,” she said. “As soon as CTU members voted to ratify the agreement, the district broke our deal and demanded that most of the $25 million be paid in a one-time lump sum.”

Days earlier, a court dismissed a union lawsuit alleging the district discriminated against black teachers during a series of layoffs in 2011.

Now, the union is gathering material for the investigator, attorney Josiah Groff said.

The district, meanwhile, said that by Tuesday night they had not yet been contacted by any state labor board investigators.

They are willing to pay out the funds, district spokesman Michael Passman said, but not primarily as additions to base pay. “As part of the district’s historic agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union, CPS committed to providing $25 million in additional pay over the next five years,” he said. “CPS stands by this commitment and is ready to begin paying out these funds as soon as an agreement is reached.”

The Illinois labor relations board did not respond to an inquiry about the status of the case.

Here’s a first look at the $33 million deal between Chicago schools and the city’s police department

2020-01-15T19:29:56+00:00

Police assigned to Chicago schools will have access to some student data, but they will not be allowed to intervene in school discipline, according to a long-awaited agreement outlining school policing.

Details are publicly available for the first time in a new $33 million contract laying out the most sweeping changes to the school police program in over a decade.

The agreement, known as a memorandum of understanding, offers guidelines on how Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department will run the controversial school police program, which was criticized for having no clear guidelines on how officers were chosen or should act in schools.

It covers police officers’ access to student data, training guidelines, and the chain of command for oversight of school officers. Although Chicago has assigned police to certain campuses for years, the city and school district had no written agreement outlining their roles and supervision.

The agreement springs from a one-year reform process, spurred by federal oversight of the city’s police department that followed an alleged cover-up of the fatal shooting of Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.

Chicago’s school police program underwent intense scrutiny by the federal government and Chicago schools’ inspector general for its failure to adequately vet or train officers working in schools, or to properly define their roles. School policing is covered under a broader federal decree ordering Chicago to reform its long-troubled police department.

The one-year contract, which began Sept. 1, provides for about 100 officers who are stationed in schools or patrol school grounds in cars. The school district and police department have the option to renew the contract twice, each time for a year.

Even as the city has moved forward on school police reforms, students have vocally opposed keeping Chicago Police Department officers in schools.

Last summer, students from Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a group that successfully advocated for legislation to limit school suspensions, said having officers in schools made them feel less safe. Members called for diverting money for police in schools to be spent instead on more support staff.

The agreement offers the first glimpse into police reforms covering several issues.

School officers will have some access to student data.

According to the agreement, school administrators “shall allow school police to inspect and copy any public education records maintained by the school.” But according to the district, school officers won’t have direct access to the student information system, and school administrators would review any requests for information.

The agreement calls for schools to release confidential information about students only if legally permitted, in the case of emergency, or depending on how the release would affect the health or safety of a student.

Federal guidance on how school resource officers should access student data that is protected by a federal privacy law known as FERPA suggest schools decide on a case-by-case basis.

Questions remain about long-term record keeping around school police work.

Police will compile their school activity, including arrests, in a monthly report sent to Jadine Chou, the chief officer of safety and security for Chicago schools.

In a separate section about record keeping, the agreement says the police department will keep records on “time expended in performing services, costs incurred and actual services performed.” The agreement also says those records shall be maintained for two years after the services are completed but does not mention longer-term record keeping.

Officers will have an office and police-network-connected computer terminal in schools.

Schools will provide officers stationed in schools a dedicated office space and they will have access to police computer networks in those offices.

School officers will make “reasonable attempts” to reach a student’s parents before taking any actions related to that student on school grounds.

Police authorities are primarily in charge of oversight of school officers’ performance.

The superintendent of police and a police department central coordinator for school officers will supervise daily police work in schools. An officer from specific police districts also will oversee officers.

Chou, of the school district, will also monitor the performance of school police.

Last summer, school officials promised that principals would be able to help select police officers for their campuses. A police spokesperson said that provision is in place. But the document does not make clear principal involvement in officer assignments.

Officers will stop intervening in school discipline.

The primary role of a school police officer, according to the agreement, is to “ensure safety and deter crimes” at certain Chicago schools. Those officers will wear uniforms and carry “standard equipment,” it says.

The agreement bans police from involvement in school disciplinary actions, an effort to address concerns about pushing students into the criminal justice system. Officers are instructed to tell a police supervisor if school administrators improperly ask them to intervene in any school discipline.

Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Student Protections and Title IX will have the authority, in some cases, to decide whether a criminal case moves forward in cases of sexual abuse or harassment.

The agreement lays out a plan for choosing and training school officers.

Chicago police and school district officials together developed screening criteria for school officers that include: at least three years of policing experience, knowledge of juvenile laws and the student code of conduct, previous experience working with youth in a learning environment, the ability to problem-solve in a team environment, quality report writing skills, and enthusiasm for the position.

Police will consider an officer’s prior disciplinary history, the report says. (The district came under fire in the past for hiring officers with troubling records that included violence against young people.)

Officers will receive annual training by Chicago Public Schools that includes information about de-escalating conflicts, building relationships with young people, disability and special education, youth crisis intervention, and implicit racial bias.

Read the full agreement here.

CLARIFICATION: Officers stationed in Chicago Public Schools will not have access to student data systems, according to the school district.

The real enrollment challenge in Chicago: what to do with all those empty school seats

2020-01-08T21:50:48+00:00

In Austin on Chicago’s West Side, a high school built for 1,000 students now houses just 58. Three-quarters of a mile away, another high school has just over 200 students in a campus for 2,000.

The problem isn’t just high schools, nor just in Austin. In Chicago, which is experiencing a slow population leak, the district has lost 54,100 public school children in the past decade. That has left 145 district-run schools less than half-full, according to new capacity data.

So far, leaders appear reluctant to spell out a plan for this large swath of schools that are severely underenrolled, even if campuses will soon cost the district even more to operate. A new five-year union contract introduces $1.5 billion in new costs, including the addition of a social worker and nurse at every school, and no clear plan for how to pay for them beyond Year One.

Running fewer schools would ease the financial pressure of that mandate, as a credit ratings agency signaled in a November report on the union deal. In the math of unevenly distributed enrollment, the contract’s new financial penalties for overcrowded classes have prompted administrators to take a closer look at the small number of schools that are bursting at the seams.

But neither Mayor Lori Lightfoot nor district leaders seems ready to take on the tough topic of underenrollment, even though propping up struggling schools drains others and deprives some students of rich course offerings and opportunities.

“It’s tricky politically, for sure,” said Marguerite Roza, a school finance expert and the director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “Every city has trouble with it. But it’s also true that cities that have too many under-enrolled schools are finding themselves in financial stress.”

Illinois law requires districts to have a plan for shrinking schools. Chicago’s plan lays out several interventions district leaders might use, from consolidations to redrafting attendance boundaries to leasing out excess classroom space to community groups, but it does not explain what is planned for individual schools. And a Dec. 1 deadline to propose closures for next year passed with the city picking just a single school to shutter, one that has no students enrolled at all.

District officials acknowledge the challenge but appear to be taking a scattershot approach to addressing it, brokering local conversations about underenrollment while also propping up hundreds of shrinking schools with stopgap funding.

“It’s no secret, I’ve talked about my concerns with the smaller schools in the district,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson told Chalkbeat in October. “When you don’t have enough students, you cannot create a robust program, or academic program, for the students in that school.”

All together, the dynamics suggest that the city isn’t confronting its most pressing education problem: keeping many lightly enrolled schools open is consuming scarce resources that might be more efficiently deployed in other ways.

“While I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, we are committed to looking at how we solve these problems holistically with the support of our parents and community partners,” the district’s second-in-command, LaTanya McDade, told Chalkbeat in November.

The argument for not managing the issue centrally

In the face of declining birth rates, a clampdown on immigration, and some population drain from urban centers, several districts around the country have rolled out systemic strategies for managing enrollment losses.

But even though Chicago is managed centrally, various reasons prompt the district to remain hands-off.

At the top of the list: residual anger and emotional scars from the 2013 mass closure that shuttered 50 schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, displaced thousands of students, and left some communities feeling shortchanged.

“Many families and teachers understood that maybe their schools needed to close, but they took major issue with the process by which it was done, which they found demeaning, disrespectful and dishonest,” said Chicago sociologist Eve L. Ewing, who studied the closures for her 2018 book “Ghosts in the Schoolyard.”

Since then, district officials have narrowed in on equity and how to direct more money to schools that get caught in a cycle of losing students and losing funding that goes with them, then being forced to make critical cuts to staff and programs that need to be in place to recruit more students.

But Chicago’s decision to direct $31 million to 219 schools with sagging enrollment last spring meant that, when budget numbers came in and two-thirds of schools saw boosts, some other schools with healthy enrollments saw declines. Nearly half of the schools — 49% — that lost money in the last budget cycle had stable or even increasing enrollment. The money, in essence, went from some healthy schools to those losing students.

This has happened in other cities, too, Roza said. “The choices become to take money away from schools that have more kids or leave the (dwindling) schools to kind of flounder.”

But those conversations are perhaps easier to manage than threatening closures, which tend to put community groups and parents on high alert. In Chicago, where the school board and schools CEO are appointed by the mayor, the buck ultimately stops with her — and she knows that the 2013 closures are being blamed for contributing to the ongoing exodus of working-class families from Chicago.

“It’s a very, very difficult story politically,” said Robin Lake, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. “Chicago has had many rounds of closures and rarely has performance been at the center of the rationale of the closures, and I think that’s problematic. Other cities have said that, if we have to close schools, it will be because of performance — and not because of a certain percentage of seats aren’t filled. If there is a high-performing school operating under capacity, let’s figure out how it stays open.”

Financial pressure to manage enrollment is growing. Construction, maintenance, and new school construction have contributed to the second-highest school capital debt in the country. Plus, the new Chicago Teachers Union contract will add hundreds of thousands of dollars more annually to staffing costs per campus in nurses, social workers, and such extras as restorative justice counselors. Reducing the number of schools could pare down those costs.

Unbalanced enrollment exacts other costs. The teachers contract now forces the district to hire aides or add classes at overcrowded schools, which will affect some majority white schools on the North Side. The contract, however, offers no instructions on the many schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, such as Austin or South Shore, that sit half-empty.

Instead, city officials say they plan to let local communities engineer their own solutions.

“While enrollment continues to be a concern for schools and the district, we do not believe that nuanced enrollment concerns can be addressed with a blanket strategy, especially when demographic changes are rapidly shifting the enrollment landscape,” said Emily Bolton, a district spokeswoman. “Every neighborhood has different needs and the best way to support them is through an individualized approach, which is what the district is pursuing.”

Some communities are already making their own plans, pointing to local leaders’ expertise about local needs.

Groups in Austin are pushing a “quality-of-life” plan that designates one area high school as an International Baccalaureate center and proposes another vacant school be turned into a business incubator and workforce training center.

On the West Side, hospitals working under an economic development banner known as West Side United are seeking a grant for underenrolled elementary schools interested in housing a pilot community health clinic. The group is eyeing Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Pilsen, and Belmont-Cragin.

“The school we choose will be in a sweet spot: They’ll showcase the need for clinical services, such as mental health counseling, but they’ll also be in a position where they next step would be that they become a community hub for the neighborhood,” said Karen Aguirre, education program manager for West Side United.

But is that enough?

But school-by-school and community-driven changes are running into road bumps.

School consolidation, for example, faces an uphill path as the city teachers union criticizes a high-profile effort in Englewood, and educators struggle to find stability at another, on the city’s Near North Side.

In Englewood, a $85 million new STEM high school helped sell the consolidation idea to the community. But replicating this approach elsewhere would be a big ask of taxpayers in a district saddled with more than $8 billion of debt and a few campuses still left vacant from the 2013 closures.

Another strategy to closings or consolidation is leasing vacant space within schools to community groups or cross-purposing city programs, such as relocating a neighborhood gardening program to a vacant school greenhouse. That takes an infusion of new resources and incentives, said Daniel Anello, the CEO of Kids First Chicago, which drafts the district’s annual school inventory report, called the Annual Regional Analysis.

“There’s a lot of creative thinking that could really change the way we look at this challenge” Anello said. “But it’s only going to work if there is quarterbacking from City Hall. We can’t close our way out of this. It’s gone on so long.”

Strategic conversations about enrollment should include how to win students and families back who’ve decamped for the suburbs or private schools, said Lake, from the Center on Reinventing Public Education. “Oftentimes cities will be losing enrollment to surrounding districts, so a competitive strategy to win students back is something some places should consider and too few do.”

Chicago could even try a practice known as participatory budgeting, already used by some aldermen to give ward residents latitude to determine how funds are spent, said Ewing, the sociologist. “It would be possible to do something that felt like an extension of that — where the people most affected by school closures are really brought to the table to share ideas and feel like they have an opportunity to understand up front the logic of whatever decision is made.

“Unfortunately, there is so much pain around this issue, and a justified deficit of trust. So that makes a conversation like that much harder.”

Lessons for the city

One thing is clear: School closures and consolidations are tough conversations everywhere. In Oakland, California, school district leaders drew up a three-year blueprint for closings and consolidations, but community protests have escalated over the plan. In Austin, Texas, administrators keep revising a multiyear strategy of school closings and mergers — in part because the district’s new equity officer has said the planning won’t increase equity in the city.

Leaders in both cities have been consistent about the need to make tough choices. Faced with the specter of rising debt and empty seats, Austin Superintendent Paul Cruz put it bluntly in a letter earlier this fall: “No change at all is not an option.”

Researchers from the Pew Center studied the phenomena of school closings in shrinking cities in America, and found that some districts made the decisions less politically fraught: Having a plan for what to do with buildings helped. Hiring outside experts to guide the process tended to make it easier as long as those people were perceived as fair. So did establishing clear criteria for which campuses to close.

“Communicating that no neighborhood is being singled out or targeted is important, and that closings are part of an overall plan for the district’s future,” said Larry Eichtel, who studied the school closings as part of the Philadelphia Research Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Eichtel said another critical takeaway was the importance of persuading the public early that downsizing is needed. That way, when you get to actual naming of schools, “it’s not such a shock.”

Following these prescriptions might have yielded a better outcome for Chicago’s most recent closures.

A 2018 study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research revealed that four years after the mass school closures, affected Chicago students posted lower math scores. (There were no clear effects on suspension or on attendance rates.)

Elaine Allensworth, the consortium’s director, says that the sheer volume and speed of the 2013 closings might help explain some of Chicago’s negative outcomes, where other cities have seen different results.

“If there had been more intentionality about the merging of school communities, and if school decisions had more community input so that people felt like they had more self-determination and input about the strengths and problems and limitations of their underenrolled schools, I wonder how things might have been different?” she said.

Complicating the argument is that research points to little in the way of substantial cost savings when districts close schools, at least in the short term. Across cities, “the money saved, at least in the short run, has been small,” said Eichtel of the Pew Charitable Trusts. “You tend to see more savings when closings are combined with large-scale layoffs.”

In Chicago, the district has yet to show cost savings from the 2013 closings, even though finances were among the justifications used by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But with new numbers showing more schools dramatically hollowing out, ongoing financial pressures, and some schools at the bottom of capacity scale registering below-average graduation rates and achievement levels, there’s a growing recognition that something must be done.

“The fact that we have high schools with 10% enrollment is a reality. How we got there — we can argue about that,” said Sarah Rothschild, a teachers union official. “But how we move forward — we can do that together. I don’t think we’re in an unsolvable situation.”

Philissa Cramer contributed reporting.

Fraud, waste, misconduct: Inspector General’s report details year of cases in Chicago schools

2020-01-06T06:05:54+00:00

Chicago schools’ investigative office discovered a swim coach who pocketed nearly $30,000 in pool-rental fees, the district’s failure to collect nearly $2 million in pre-kindergarten payments, and school employees underreporting their income to obtain free preschool. And the office opened nearly 500 investigations into alleged sexual abuse.

The board of education’s Office of the Inspector General details those and other findings of waste and misdeeds in a 72-page report released Monday summing up last school year’s cases in Chicago Public Schools.

By far the largest portion of complaints, more than one-fifth, that the independent office received dealt with alleged sexual abuse. That may be because of heightened public awareness from stories in the Chicago Tribune detailing school-related sexual assaults, and the inspector general forming a specialized unit to deal with them.

The report from the office of Nicholas Schuler details the district’s response to the findings, which included termination and debarment in some cases.

“We take seriously our duty to hold accountable any individual who commits serious breaches of district policy or seeks to cause harm,” said a school district spokeswoman, Emily Bolton, in a statement. “The district appreciates the Office of the Inspector General’s continued efforts to investigate wrongdoing as we work to ensure all employees and operations are held to the highest standards of integrity.”

Among the findings and numbers in the report:

The Inspector General received 2,175 complaints from July 1, 2018, through June 30, alleging misconduct, waste, fraud and financial mismanagement. It investigated 37.6% of those allegations. The report noted that constraints on staff, time, and budget limited its capacity to investigate.
Of 42 categories of complaints, the largest — 21% — dealt with sexual allegations that ranged from sexual electronic communication to sexual acts. Other categories included mismanagement, residency, discourtesy, ethics, bullying, retaliation, fraud, and corporal punishment.
While the school district charges up to $4,400 annually for a half-day seat in preschool, and more than $14,600 for a full-day seat, hundreds of families including nearly 140 employees skirted paying fees. Investigators blamed application fraud, lax debt collection, mismanagement, and poor oversight of the private company that collects fees. The board is trying to collect on those debts. Employees face no discipline for failing to pay preschool fees.
A swim coach reaped nearly $30,000 in payments from three outside groups for the off-the-books rental of a school pool over three years. The principal and assistant principal knew, or should have known, about the arrangement, investigators believe. The coach previously had been disciplined for renting the pool at a discount.
At one unnamed school, investigators documented 257 instances in three years of an administrator classifying truant students under a “lost child” code in attendance rolls and artificially inflating the school’s attendance rates. Attendance is a closely watched metric at schools because it factors into campus ratings.
One unnamed charter network improperly obtained 113,935 lines of student data from a district employee, including mailing addresses, and used it for three years to try to recruit students. Illustrating the gaps in how the district and charter schools handle wrongdoing, the district employee was terminated and a “do not hire” flag was placed in the employee’s file, while seven charter employees who were involved were issued written reprimands. Two of the charter employees were later promoted.
A central office staffer who was evaluating a $30 million bid for a nursing services contract accepted a stay in a vacation home owned by a local franchise president who was competing for the contract. The vendor did not win the bid — but ultimately received a different school district contract, the report said. The staffer has since resigned from Chicago Public Schools, while the franchise is still operating in the district. The school board is weighing whether to debar the franchise president and amend its ethics code to explicitly state that vendors are prohibited from giving gifts or payments to board members and employees.
Investigators reviewed 140 allegations of teachers fraudulently claiming to live in Chicago. City residency is a requirement for district employment (with some exceptions for hard-to-staff positions). Some teachers were terminated and others are awaiting disciplinary action from the board.

Chicago school board greenlights strike makeup days, but principals raise concerns

2019-11-21T03:25:00+00:00

Chicago’s Board of Education voted Wednesday to add five days to the school calendar to partly make up for time lost during the 11-day teachers strike. The days include the day before Thanksgiving and two days each at the end of winter break and the end of the school year.

But there’s no decision yet on whether schools will be penalized if students don’t show up, which has some principals worried.

The makeup days, which allow teachers to recoup nearly half of their pay lost during the strike and allow students to gain lost classroom time, are Nov. 27, Jan. 2 and 3, and June 17 and 18.

In a survey released Wednesday, three-quarters of principals queried by the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association from Nov. 15 to Nov. 18 said their schools could be dinged in their attendance, which could drop their school’s quality rating by one level.

Average daily attendance counts for 20% of an elementary school’s quality rating and 10% of a high school’s rating, under the school district’s formula. The district wants to change the formula next school year.

Principals of schools with 75% low-income students or more were more likely to believe their individual school rating would fall than principals with a third or fewer low-income students. But 86% of principals believed that ratings would be impacted systemwide. Slightly more than 400 principals responded to the survey, according to the association.

Troy LaRaviere, an outspoken former principal who runs the association, told the school board Wednesday that some principals also expressed concern that they weren’t consulted before the district announced makeup days on social media.

“Principals felt taken for granted because of the district’s failure to consult principals in this decision,” he said.

He said several principals suggested that makeup days be placed at the end of the school year and be made non-attendance days for students, so that educators could focus on professional development and make plans for the start of the next school year.

Schools chief Janice Jackson responded that wasn’t an option, because in the return-to-work agreement with the union, CTU leaders specified that the missed days should be instructional days. “That was not an option that was presented to us.”

Earlier in the meeting, the system’s No. 2 administrator, LaTanya McDade, said that the district labored over deciding which five days to choose out of 13 that were presented as options: “There was no ideal solution and nothing that would work for everyone,” she said.

One scenario, extending the school year later in June for students, was unpopular with parents and would give the district little wiggle room to make up any days for inclement weather, she said. Chicago had to tack on days this past school year after a polar vortex plunged temperatures into negative digits.

“We heard overwhelmingly from parents that extending school year into late June was a ‘poor option,’” McDade said.

Principals also said in the survey that they had concerns about staffing makeup days.

McDade told the board it is premature to make decisions about attendance and how it would impact ratings. “We are committed to monitoring the situation closely and listening to feedback,” she said, adding that inclement weather days, which are impossible to predict, will also factor in.

Attendance is a controversial measure in the district’s school ratings policy, since it’s something that schools have little control over. The district is weighing changes that would lessen the impact of attendance on a rating. Those proposals are open for public review here.

To read more about ratings, click here.

State statute requires a school district to have 180 days, a total that includes teacher institute days and parent-teacher conferences, according to a spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education. Before the strike, Chicago had eight days above that total; however, the work stoppage reduced CPS’ calendar by 11 days. So Chicago must make up a difference of at least three days to be in compliance.

The state does not dictate when those days should be. The only exceptions are state-mandated holidays.

Aspen portal glitch puts teachers and parents on edge as report cards released

2019-11-19T18:32:57+00:00

With grades due last week, Chicago teachers scrambled to finalize report cards through the district’s new Aspen portal, but a coding glitch severely clogged the system, forcing the district to postpone the deadline to allow flustered teachers more time to get grades ready.

The issues, shared with wry despair on social media, capped off the $7.9 million program’s second quarter in use. The system replaced the Parent Portal in April as the result of a 2015 deal with Follett School Solutions meant to save Chicago Public Schools $2.4 million and merge multiple districtwide software systems.

Teachers said it took many more hours than usual to input grades into the system, in part because they’re no longer able to import the data via Google Sheets. Others recorded screenshots of lags as long as 30 seconds for Aspen to save a single grade entry.

“It might seem like a minor thing, but in many ways, a lot of what we do is off the clock, and the time we put in is not visible,” said John Brown, a teacher at Lake View High School. “So it touches a nerve when it comes to the bigger conversation of how much time we put in at our kitchen tables.”

That nerve is raw just weeks after a Chicago teachers strike that underscored how many educators feel overtaxed and undervalued. Concerns about a lack of prep time — and, consequently, how much Chicago teachers work off the clock to keep up with accountability systems and communicate with parents — was among the issues that took center stage during the 11-day walkouts.

The district’s chief information officer, Phil DiBartolo, said the district had surveyed parents about the new Aspen rollout in the spring, and it incorporated many of their suggestions — mobile friendly design, a simpler interface, and more opportunities to provide feedback — into a recent update.

The district pushed through that update on Nov. 11, just as teachers were gearing for report card pickup. The update also came just days after DiBartolo said a system glitch caused by poorly written code was “exponentially compounded” by multiple people running it — although the rush of teachers inputting grades did not contribute to the slow system, he added.

And while parents were surveyed early on, teachers have not been asked to provide input, DiBartolo said. Instead, he has looked to network chiefs and principals to supply feedback on behalf of educators.

In the coming months, DiBartolo said the district will provide instructor-led training opportunities with the hopes of clearing up issues for users. He also encouraged those using the system to call the district’s IT Help Desk for assistance.

“Teachers shouldn’t have to focus on tech,” he said. “The last thing I want is for anybody to suffer in silence. Then we don’t know there’s a problem.”

The Aspen delays spurred some panicked moments among teachers who feared they would suffer repercussions if they missed the grading deadline, said Jeff Solin, a computer science teacher at Lane Tech High School.

And the report card issues are part of a larger problem, Solin said.

Work that once took a few minutes — like finalizing grades for report cards or marking a student tardy instead of absent — has become a cumbersome process, particularly when the server appeared to be overloaded ahead of report card days, causing further delays, Solin said.

“I’m shocked, especially at this price point, that a system could be rolled out like that and skip all modern design standards,” Solin said. He pointed to examples like a malfunctioning student search feature, which, when he searches for Vanessa, displays a student named Omar instead.

“That shouldn’t happen for $8, let alone for $8 million,” Solin said. “I’m flabbergasted that so much money was spent on something that has such a terrible user experience.”

A Follett spokesman was not immediately able to respond to a request for comment.

Meanwhile, parents also have expressed frustration with Aspen, and many schools set up help tables at report card pickup days to try and help families work through kinks in the system.

Deni Mayer, whose daughter is in fifth grade at Oscar Mayer Magnet School in Lincoln Park, said he’s been unable to sign up for a parent account and uses his daughter’s login to monitor her grades.

When he pulls up her class schedule, it shows she has a B in math, but on Aspen’s main page, the 90.62% he sees would make her grade an A.

“I don’t know if she got screwed out of an A, or if she got a high B,” he said. While he’s not sweating the difference too much, such a discrepancy could be critical for seventh-grade students whose grades will determine which high schools they can attend, he said.

“Now, I can’t even trust that it’s giving me the right info,” he said. “And we don’t know where to go to get the problem addressed.”

Live updates from Day 8 of the Chicago teachers strike: Both sides stuck as classes are canceled for ninth day

2019-10-29T01:15:00+00:00

Chicago entered the eighth day of a teachers strike in a precarious stalemate between the two sides, as parents continued to fork out money for strike camps and weigh sending children to minimally staffed schools.

Things could get hectic downtown, but not directly because of teachers. Students planned a strike-related march to start at 9:30 a.m. on South State Street and head north to City Hall. President Donald Trump also is in town on unrelated business, speaking to the International Association of Chiefs of Police at McCormick Place and then hosting a roundtable at his Michigan Avenue hotel. Several activist groups are planning Trump-related rallies.

The union told teachers that joining in would qualify as “productive,” even though the action is not on the list of official events for the group Monday.

Our team will be covering the latest today in negotiations, rallies, and more. Follow Yana Kunichoff (@yanazure) and Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago) for the latest.

7:15 p.m. Big news?

The union is bringing its rank-and-file bargaining team into negotiations, saying it believes there is an additional $100 million in the city’s budget that could be used to meet its contract demands.

The full team’s arrival “signals that we intend to be here until we get [a tentative agreement],” said the union’s second in command, Stacy Davis Gates.

Earlier in the day, the Chicago Sun-Times published a story saying the mayor is taking $60 million from the school district. That’s reportedly to cover some of the city’s pension obligations for teaching assistants, clerks and other support staff. That money, Davis Gates said, could be used to close a contract deal.

The school district’s top lawyer has also joined the bargaining team for the first time, according to union officials.

7:06 p.m. An intense message

School district officials have been pretty even-handed in their daily updates to families — until now. Instead of just telling parents where they can send their children and what services schools will offer, tonight’s email comes directly from CEO Janice Jackson and makes the case that the teachers union is refusing to accept a compelling offer, at the expense of students.

“Today is the ninth time you have received a message from me that classes and after school programming are, again, not in session tomorrow,” Jackson writes. “This is the third week that students are not in school, and it’s unacceptable.”

6:44 p.m. The pressure’s on

Extended strikes introduce some complicated dynamics. When people at the bargaining table make concessions early on in contract talks, or even during strikes, it can be easy to paint that decision as peace-making. When the concessions come after days of apparent stalemate, they can look a lot like caving.

That means the pressure is on for the Chicago Teachers Union, which by all accounts has gotten lots of what it came to the table asking for — though absolutely not all of it.

Here’s one thread we just saw making this point:

The strike has already cost a lot. Lost days in school, lost opportunities for student athletes, lost productivity for parents, lost time for seniors applying to colleges. @CTULocal1 will have to prove that it was worth it. @SSKedreporter @HannahMLeone @NaderDIssa
— Sujatha Shenoy (@sujatha_shenoy) October 28, 2019

6 p.m. Update from the bargaining table

As the eighth day of the Chicago teachers strike wound down, city officials said negotiations remain stalled over prep time and the cost of the contract.

“We have a proposal on the table, of nearly half a million dollars, that addresses all of the key issues,” the district’s Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said. That includes $70 million in staffing and $25 million to reduce class sizes.

“We put that in the contract in writing,” McDade said, nodding to the union’s demand that staffing and class size be included in the contract, which the city initially rebuffed before conceding.

The city estimates that its offer to the teachers union would cost nearly $500 million more by the end of a proposed five-year contract than it is currently spending. It says the union’s remaining demands would cost another $100 million a year — and the city can’t afford that.

“We are a district that is still borrowing $1 billion dollars just to keep the lights on,” McDade said, addressing reporters Monday outside of Malcolm X College, where negotiations are expected to continue into the evening.

Prep time remains a sticking point. The union wants elementary teachers to get an extra 30 minutes of prep time, which they lost when the city lengthened the school day. But the city says there is no way to increase that without students losing instructional time. One option, suggested by the union, could be for teachers to arrive to school 30 minutes early, but that would add costs to contract demands the city says are already too high.

Still, even as negotiations remain stuck over the last few days, McDade said the city is committed to getting students back in school as soon as possible. “We are working really hard to get our students back into the classroom,” she said.

4:30 p.m. Yeah, about tomorrow

Classes are canceled again Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools just announced on its website. That makes nine straight school days without classes for more than 300,000 Chicago students.

Earlier this afternoon, the Chicago Teachers Union also announced plans for Tuesday.

TUESDAY: If we are on strike tomorrow, here is the plan. We have 3 marches going at 8am. No school pickets tomorrow. Here are our 3 marching mtg spots by school location. The marches will be merging together to march to on one location. #CTUSEIUstrike pic.twitter.com/z10kPKrZ1u
— Sarah4Justice (@Sarah4Justice) October 28, 2019

3 p.m. More about the SEIU 73 deal

The union representing school support staff like bus aides and custodians has reached a tentative agreement with the city, but said Monday that its members would stay on picket lines until the teachers union has a deal.

In a press conference on Monday, SEIU Local 73 president Dian Palmer said the contract will make real changes for members, but declined to give additional details. The union’s 7,500 members are voting on the agreement, which would run through 2023, on Monday and Tuesday. (The union’s last contract expired a year ago, and the new contract runs for five years.)

The agreement includes a minimum 16% raise over five years for all employees, and no changes to the health insurance plan for the length of the contract.

According to a rank-and-file member, special education classroom aides have also won job protections that would keep them from being pulled to work as substitutes or other school duties. Read more here.

In a statement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot applauded the deal. “I am very pleased we were able to work together to agree on a strong, fair deal that will provide substantial raises and real improvements to working environments, and I commend negotiators on both sides for their tireless effort,” she said.

2:45 p.m. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes”

Or maybe there’s a new union message? After Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson spoke with members of the City Council’s Black Caucus about the city budget today, she rejected a union claim that she had walked away from contract talks, according to a Chicago Tribune reporter. In response, according to the reporter, the union’s second-in-command made a bold proclamation about the stakes of today’s negotiations.

.@CTULocal1 VP @stacydavisgates declined to respond to Jackson's "that's a lie!" remark.

“Look, it’s difficult right now in negotiations. Emotions are high. There’s a lot of compressed intensity. We need a deal tonight. We’re willing to do whatever it takes.” https://t.co/35E7flhT2S
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) October 28, 2019

2:34 p.m. A new union refrain

For the first week of the strike, the Chicago Teachers Union’s main message was that Mayor Lori Lightfoot needed to put her promises in writing. Now that she has done that, in the city’s formal contract offer, the union has shifted to emphasizing the spending gap that it says separates its vision for the school system and what Lightfoot is prepared to spend. (The city says the gap is larger.)

We first heard the message overnight on Saturday and since then we’ve gotten several press releases and seen dozens of social posts sounding the same note. And after city officials said today that the gap is larger, union chief Jesse Sharkey just sent out a statement recapping the idea. Here it is, in its totality: “Thirty eight million dollars — one half of one percent of CPS’ annual budget — is what is preventing the CTU and CPS from landing a tentative agreement. $38 million.”

1:45 p.m. Pension tensions

City Hall reporter Fran Spielman has some important new details about Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget — including that she is asking Chicago Public Schools to spending $60 million on pensions for retired teachers, a cost that has the city has always borne from its budget in the past. This development would seem to take the school district further from being able to meet the teachers union’s demands at a moment when every dollar on the table appears to count. The city is disputing Spielman’s account but did not offer specifics.

1 p.m. Seniors in a crunch

Chicago Public Schools seniors facing early decision deadlines this week are feeling the crunch of going without counselors, teachers, and clerks who can help with transcripts and recommendations — and colleges are responding.

A spokesperson for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said that, while not moving its early decision application deadline of Friday, it is offering Chicago students flexibility with one part — application fee waivers, the only portion of the admissions application that needs to be completed with a school staffer’s help. The university posted an entire FAQ for anxious Chicago students titled “Applying to Illinois during the CPS strike? Here’s what you need to know.”

Northwestern University is encouraging students who want to apply early to submit their online application by the Nov. 1 deadline, then work with teachers and school staffers to send additional materials once schools have reopened, a spokesperson said.

And a spokesperson from the University of Illinois at Chicago said its campus has not made deadline adjustments yet, but is “monitoring the situation.”

11:30 a.m. Tell us what you’re thinking

Cassie just posted a thread about her family’s experience with the strike at this point and asked for reactions.

THREAD / I'm a @ChiPubSchools parent. My big kid is 8. (Others are younger/not in CPS). I've relied on an ad-hoc arrangement of grandparents, neighbors, taking him to work with me, sending him to work w/ my husband, watching way too much TV while I cover #CTUstrike

I'm lucky
— Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago) October 28, 2019

Here’s one parent response that she’s already gotten. Respond on Twitter or email us with your own take.

Please write more about the spillover effects from the strike. I spoke to at least 10 CPS parents yesterday who no longer support the strike. The strike now into Day 8 is unconscionable. My husband leaves work 2 hours early, I get in 1 hr late bc of the strike. @CTULocal1
— AndricT (@TAndric81) October 28, 2019

11 a.m. “It’s gone on too long”

The governor has weighed in. Speaking on WBEZ this morning, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said something that many are beginning to think: “It’s gone on too long.”

10 a.m. Signs of frustration

There was lots of sniping about the strike last week on social media, but mostly between city and union allies who were extending the rhetoric unspooled in public statements and press briefings. Increasingly, though, parents are weighing in — often anonymously — to argue for a compromise that lets schools reopen. Here’s one representative tweet from a new account, @StopCPSStrike, that launched late last week:

To mayor & CTU: The taking umbrage is getting old. Someone made a snarky comment? Ignore it & keep negotiating. “Water off a duck’s back,” people, stay focused. #StopTheCPSStrike @FuscoChris @EricZorn @MarkBrownCST @ad_quig @AmandaVinicky #CPS https://t.co/MzP5pH5P5t
— CPS Parent Voice (@CPSParentVoice) October 27, 2019

6:30 a.m. Same drill

Monday dawned with teachers walking picket lines at 6:30 a.m. Lengthy telephone town halls over the weekend aimed to keep them focused on the mission, even as teachers expressed concern over missing pay and possibly losing out on health insurance if the strike extends to Nov. 1.

While members of SEIU73 landed a tentative deal late Sunday, the union said it planned to continue standing on picket lines in solidarity with teachers, which mean schools will go on being minimally staffed.

Over the weekend

Marathon weekend bargaining sessions produced tense rhetoric but no resolution. Here’s what you need to know:

Schools chief Janice Jackson visited bargaining on Sunday.
The teachers union, which had signaled earlier that it would be willing to compromise on some of its core issues if it got relief in class sizes and commitments to new staffing, stuck a more obstinate tone late Sunday, hinting that it may be holding out on a broader list of issues, such as prep time and contract length.
In weekend calls with members, union leaders underscored the demand for an additional 30 minutes of prep time daily in elementary schools. The school district contends that it would have to potentially start schools earlier to accommodate that demand, cutting in on instructional time.
Chance the Rapper gave the teachers’ effort national airtime on Saturday Night Live.
One bright spot in the weekend: Service Employees International Union Local 73 struck a tentative deal Sunday night. Read more here.
The teachers union and Chicago Public Schools each offered different estimates of how much their proposals would cost the city. Late Sunday, Chicago Public Schools offered this breakdown of its offer.

Earlier tonight, CTU rejected a nearly half-billion dollar offer. In addition to double-digit raises for all staff, our offer included another 110M to provide a nurse and social worker for every school, and prioritized support for high-need schools. #PutItInWriting pic.twitter.com/aIhWhqTPGq
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 28, 2019

Negotiations deadlocked as Chicago looks toward its fifth day without school

2019-10-23T03:35:42+00:00

After pulling back most of its negotiators for a day in protest, the Chicago Teachers Union said it spent Tuesday “rebuilding” and will return to the bargaining table in full force to pursue a contract.

The union’s diminished bargaining team produced no major agreements on the key issues of class size, staffing or prep time, officials said after bargaining wrapped up about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

For now, the strike of 25,000 educators will continue at least through Wednesday, with no regular classes in session. Hints of member preparations indicate the walkout will last through the week’s end.

Teachers plan to join a large rally downtown Wednesday, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to give her first city budget address.

Lightfoot surprised and angered the union when she proposed this week that it return to classrooms before settling on a contract and also insisted the city had no more money — other than what it had already conceded — to offer.

“We had momentum Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the oxygen left the room yesterday [with a letter sent by the mayor asking the union to end the strike yet continue negotiations],” union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said. We rebuilt some of that energy today. We hope to have some more going in to tomorrow. We want a settlement, but they have to put in real resources for it.”

Earlier Tuesday, the mayor told reporters that the union’s warning that the strike would not end quickly was “overstating things dramatically.” She also warned that what the city has already agreed to in the contract could come at a high cost — $500 million more across five years than the previous teachers contract costs.

“We have to live within our means,” said Lightfoot, mentioning the letter that she and schools chief Janice Jackson sent Monday.

Tuesday featured more picket lines — drawing attention and support beyond Chicago as videos of dancing teacher-protesters spread online — and boisterous rallies. The largest featured Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic nominee for president.

In negotiations, coaches spoke to the City Hall bargaining team about the district’s lack of athletic resources, an issue that surfaced earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Lightfoot, her wife Amy Eshleman, and CPS’ Jackson made a morning stop at Marwen, a nonprofit arts center in the Gold Coast that is caring for and feeding students. Lightfoot said the strike was inflicting hardship on families.

Chicagoans will closely watch Lightfoot’s first budget address on Wednesday for how she proposes to fill a projected $838 million budget hole — whether she’ll tap new revenue, downsize programs, propose new taxes, or hint at spending more on schools.

While the budgets for Chicago Public Schools and the city are separate, the union has argued that the city should divert some tax surplus funds to schools from an account — known as tax increment financing, or TIF — it uses to spur development in blighted areas.

“There is money for downtown development, but not money for our schools,” union Chief of Staff Jennifer Johnson said Tuesday evening. “TIF surplus is one of the ways the mayor can find money for our schools.”

But City Hall insists that the union’s demands exceed fiscal sustainability. Lightfoot has said there is “no more money” to meet additional union demands.

“We want to make sure there is a full appreciation of CPS’ financial position,” Jackson told reporters. “This idea that we are flush with cash and just sitting on it and not spending it is just not true.”

The city and union are negotiating a class size committee that would help alleviate overcrowding and on hiring additional social workers and nurses for schools. Negotiators have not forged a solution to the union’s demand for more teacher prep time.

Live updates from Day 4 of the Chicago teachers strike: Elizabeth Warren stops by, a $500M price tag, and a Thursday protest plan

2019-10-23T00:10:00+00:00

Chicago teachers are getting a special visitor on the fourth day of their strike: Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a top Democratic presidential candidate, who revved up strikers on the picket line at a West Side school.

The big question today is whether negotiations will move forward. Talks ended Monday on a sour note, with Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey warning that a quick settlement was now “not likely” and that fewer members of its big bargaining team would attend negotiations on Tuesday. But Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered a more optimistic take. Either way, Meanwhile, families are now grappling with the possibility of a drawn-out strike. Find the full update from bargaining Monday here.

Read on and follow all Day 4 developments here.

7:15 p.m. A ‘rebuilding’ day

In an end-of-day bargaining update Tuesday, union leaders describe an “emotional” conversation about the district’s lack of athletic resources — but little progress at the table on central issues.

They describe the day spent bargaining as a “rebuilding” day between negotiators for City Hall (a contingent that now includes Sybil Madison, deputy mayor for education) and the Chicago Teachers Union. “We had momentum Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday,” says Stacy Davis Gates, the union’s vice president, “and the oxygen left the room yesterday [with a letter sent by the mayor asking the union to end the strike and continue negotiations]. We’re rebuilding. We rebuilt some of that energy today. We hope to have some more going in to tomorrow. We want a settlement, but they have to put in real resources for it.”

By resources, the union leadership says it will be listening tomorrow to Lightfoot’s budget address and whether she will pledge any additional money for schools. We’ll have a full update soon.

4 p.m. No school Wednesday

Once again, the city has made it official: Classes are canceled for Wednesday, the fifth school day off for 300,000 Chicago students. The city announced the decision in a replica of the tweet it used on Monday.

Why make the call before city-union talks end for the day? Schools CEO Janice Jackson answered on Twitter on Monday: “Families asked us to notify them earlier so they could plan childcare,” she wrote. “So, instead of waiting for negotiations to end, we’re going to update families at 4 p.m. if the union has not scheduled their House of Delegates to take a vote to end the strike. I hope this change is helpful.”

3 p.m. What the union bargaining team did today

For the first three days of the teacher strike, teachers on the Chicago Teachers Union’s 40-member bargaining team joined union officials at negotiations. Today, they dispersed to local schools to answer their colleagues’ questions about the strike, while top union officials sat down again with City Hall negotiators.

The role of the bargaining team has emerged as a point of tension in the city-union dispute. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said the union’s decision to bring dozens of teachers has slowed down talks. (The union says it’s better to have teachers with specific expertise in special education, for example, review proposals related to special education.) But City Hall also criticized the union after it announced late Monday that it would not bring the entire negotiating team to the table today.

2:30 p.m. Lightfoot’s other big agenda item

The teacher strike isn’t Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s only priority this week. On Wednesday morning, she’s also set to deliver her annual budget address laying out spending priorities for the city. How she handles education should be interesting, since so much spending is still under fierce debate — and because the main thrust of the address will surely be the city’s $838 million budget gap.

Teachers are likely to rally outside the address, held in City Council chambers at City Hall. Asked this morning what she would do if teacher protests disrupted her speech, Lightfoot said she would press on.

“We have work that needs to be done in the city, and we’re going to do that,” the mayor said. “Yes, there is a teacher strike but the business of the city must, and will, and does go on.”

1:52 p.m. Plans for Thursday

The Chicago Teachers Union just announced a protest strategy for Thursday, adding to its public stance that the strike is not headed for a speedy resolution. (It’s only Tuesday now, in case you’re keeping track. If you’re having trouble, we feel you.)

On Thursday, October 24, educators and supporters of public education across the country should wear to show their support for the #CTUSEIUstrike in Chicago. Please take solidarity photos of yourself and your co-workers and post to social media with #PutItInWriting. Solidarity! pic.twitter.com/9UwNJuiaAJ
— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) October 22, 2019

1:30 p.m. Talent show

Without classes to pour their talents into this week, teachers have been bringing their sideshow skills to the picket line. See teachers from Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy in Brighton Park:

Strike Day 3! Keeping morale up at Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy!
Posted by Liz's Journey on Tuesday, October 22, 2019

And here’s Rachel Brown singing her riff on Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts.” The song, which has 90,000 views, includes the lyrics, “Why mayors great ’til they gotta be great? I just took a DNA test — turns out I’m 100% on strike.”

#CTUStrike2019 Rachel Johnson
Posted by Joe Walters on Thursday, October 17, 2019

12:40 p.m. A teacher’s view

What is the real, day-to-day, student-by-student toll of having overtaxed school counselors? We just published a First Person piece from a teacher who says her students would benefit from the kinds of resources that her own middle school helped her through grief. Writes Kelsey Arsenault:

Shawn’s dad was dead, but there wouldn’t be counseling sessions, “Grief Group,” hall passes, or youth work placements for him. Instead, Shawn returned to school without a single measure of additional support or service to help him through an unimaginable tragedy beyond the kind words that my colleagues and I offered. Our school social worker was only part-time and had an overflowing workload. Our school counselor was similarly burdened and constantly pulled to do other administrative tasks, rarely having the opportunity to actually help students.

12 p.m. Remember the elected school board

Chicago Teachers Union protesters gathered in front of Illinois State Senate President John Cullerton’s office. They sought to spotlight the derailment of a bill to create an elected Chicago school board of 21 members and to broaden the list of topics that the union can strike over. (Currently the union legally can strike only over core teaching conditions like pay and benefits.)

We’re protesting Senator John Cullerton’s office. He’s put a hold on the Elected School Board Bill at the request of @chicagosmayor @LightfootForChi. That could’ve help avert this strike. @CTULocal1 @coreteachers @AFTunion @iftaft #putitinwriting #faircontractnow pic.twitter.com/GumQjv8MXP — Lori Lightfoot is a Republican (@KenzoShibata) October 22, 2019

Lightfoot, who campaigned in support of an elected school board, said she opposed the bill because it would have created an unwieldy governance structure.

11 a.m. What Warren said

Sen. Elizabeth Warren rallied strikers at DePriest elementary school on the city’s West Side, becoming the latest in a string of Democratic presidential candidate to embrace the walkout.

“I’m here to stand with every one of the people who stand for our children every day,” she told the cheering crowd. She added,” “Unions are how we have power.” Her visit came the day after she released a comprehensive education plan that includes universal child care, universal pre-kindergarten, and $100 billion for every public school to spend as it likes.

“Part of what I want to do is I want to give cities like Chicago a good, federal partner,” Warren said.

Warren isn’t the first presidential candidate to visit with Chicago teachers. Bernie Sanders and Cory Booker have also stopped by, and Joe Biden, Julian Castro, and others have offered support on social media.

10 a.m. A $500 million price tag

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, center, and schools chief Janice Jackson visit Marwen youth arts center, which is providing care and meals for schoolchildren during the teachers strike, on Oct. 22, 2019.

Speaking at the nonprofit Marwen youth center, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson emphasized that the city cannot afford additional concessions. City Hall has estimated that what negotiators already have agreed to grant the union will cost $500 million more than the previous teachers contract costs.

“We have to live within our means,” said Lightfoot, who said she and Jackson sent a letter to union leaders Monday outlining the need to hold the line on additional costs.

The union has argued that the district’s improved financial position — and the additional money it is getting from the state through a funding formula revamped in 2017 — puts it in a position to afford costly demands, such as additional support staff, lower class size caps, and raises for teachers and paraprofessionals.

But independent analysis of the district’s budget has shown that the district is only getting about $60 million more each year for schools and instruction than under the previous funding formula. Another $200 million or so is earmarked for teachers’ pensions. (The district is also the second-most indebted in the country, behind Los Angeles.)

During her press conference at Marwen, which is providing care and meals for out-of-school children, Lightfoot again exhorted the union to hasten the strike’s end. “We have been making progress,” she said. “It’s unfortunate that the [union’s] larger bargaining team decided to take the day off. There should be a sense of urgency all around.”

About Tuesday’s visit to Chicago by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Lightfoot said she wasn’t fazed.

“People are going to come in, catch a moment, and they are going to leave,” she said. “What matters is what people of Chicago know and understand.”

9:45 a.m. Who’s going to school?

The school district said its 507 campuses collectively reported that 6,289 students showed up Monday — about 2% of enrollment. Schools remain open, but are minimally staffed. They are serving three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and a take-home dinner.

9:30 a.m. Logan Square rally

Parents and teachers fill a park in Logan Square for a rally supporting striking teachers on Oct. 22, 2019.

The park in the center of Logan Square, which sits just a few blocks from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s house, filled with parents and teachers for a morning rally. One of the guests of honor was Rachel Brown, a Chicago teacher whose picket-line, ukulele version of the popular Lizzo song “Truth Hurts” went viral among teachers this week.

Observers reported that some in crowd started marching toward Lightfoot’s home, where multiple police cars are stationed.

8:30 a.m. A second walkout

Chicago Public Schools teachers joined Passages charter school teachers as they began their own strike Oct. 22, 2019.

Teachers at Passages Elementary School, an Edgewater charter school with about 420 students, have joined Chicago Public Schools teachers on strike today. The roughly 40 teachers at the privately managed, publicly funded school voted last month to authorize a strike over wages, class size, and other issues. The charter school is one of several that have unionized amid organizing efforts by the Chicago Teachers Union.

7 a.m. In other negotiations

The Chicago Teachers Union isn’t the only city union on strike. Members of Service Employees International Union 73 also reported no deal Monday, saying their bargaining session ended in a record 12 minutes.

6:30 a.m. Also planned today

Teachers tell Chalkbeat they will be staging more visible actions today, heading from neighborhood schools to major streets, such as Western Avenue, with their signs and chants. Besides Logan Square a rally also was planned at Dyett High School, the site of a 2015 hunger strike to protest school closings.

Union reports progress at Saturday talks, but mayor says school will likely be canceled Monday

2019-10-20T03:00:00+00:00

Another day of bargaining between City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union ended Saturday night with reports of continued progress on two key issues — class size caps and support staff — but a stall in three other critical areas.

Union officials reported little progress on the length of the contract, pay and benefits for veteran teachers and paraprofessionals, and teacher prep time.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters that she would be “very surprised” if classes resumed on Monday. Later Saturday night, in a joint statement with schools chief Janice Jackson, she said families would be updated Sunday about the potential for school at the start of the week.

“We will continue to work hard at the bargaining table, but given that critical issues have yet to be resolved, we do not at this time anticipate classes will resume on Monday,” she said.

In the statement, Lightfoot and Jackson lamented the pace of negotiations, and said the city was waiting on “full, written counteroffers” to its latest proposals on class size and support staffing. “Our team has been turning around thoughtful counteroffers at a rapid pace. We are hopeful that CTU will meet that pace tomorrow so we can bring this process to a fair and responsible end.”

Speaking to the press outside of Malcolm X College on Saturday night after bargaining ended for the day, the union’s vice president, Stacy Davis Gates, characterized talks with optimism, while also acknowledging many details were left unsettled.

“Everything is moving, we’re having substantive discussions,” she said.

Union officials were hesitant to say a deal couldn’t be reached before the end of the weekend, and left the possibility open that there could be school on Monday.

The two sides negotiated from about 1 p.m. to 7:30 pm. Talks started late because several members of the bargaining team attended a morning ceremony to honor former union president Karen Lewis. Negotiations are set to resume Sunday.

As for other progress reported Saturday, union officials said they’d reached a tentative agreement with the city on pipeline development for teachers of color and a continued moratorium on charter school growth. Chalkbeat reported earlier this week that the two sides had agreed to limit the number of charter schools and charter student enrollment for the duration of the contract.

The city said it had put forth full proposals on class size and support staffing and had received a partial counteroffer on class size and nothing yet on support staff. Union officials reported Friday winning more social workers, nurses, special education case managers, and bilingual program coordinators, as well as language about how they’d be phased in over time.

Union officials said Saturday night there was still a rift between the two sides on how to enforce those two issues. Before the strike, for example, the district had guidelines for class size, but a committee established to keep watch over the issue had little authority.

“That’s going to take a lot of time to dot ‘I’s and cross ‘T’s,” Davis Gates said. “These are things that the Chicago Public Schools have never done before. These are all very brand-new.”

The mayor’s floor leader, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, attended contract negotiations for about 90 minutes Saturday and also sounded a positive note about the talks. He told WBEZ there were “a couple things outstanding that are not that big in my opinion.” Villegas will return to the bargaining table Sunday.

The union’s general counsel, Robert Bloch, described progress at the table earlier Saturday, but said many sticking points remained, including the length of the contract. The city wants a five-year deal, while the union wants a three-year contract. Bloch said the last time the union agreed to a five-year contract, which lasted from 2007 to 2012, the district rescinded its final year of promised raises, which has made union officials wary about entering into a longer agreement.

Union officials have said previously that, in addition to the length of the contract, there is still an impasse over pay for paraprofessionals, such as teaching assistants and school clerks, and raises for veteran teachers.

The two sides have also yet to reach an agreement on teacher evaluations and whether veteran teachers with distinguished ratings can skip parts of the evaluation process.

The district continued to highlight parts of its offer on social media this afternoon, drawing attention to average cost of raises for teachers and its pledge to provide a nurse for every school by 2024.

Meanwhile, the teachers union and the union that represents support staff held a morning rally in the Douglas Park neighborhood, as well as other events throughout the day.

Michelle Gunderson, a member of the union’s bargaining team, posted several updates on Twitter Saturday that illuminated strategy behind-the-scenes.

She said the union’s counter-proposal on class sizes, which was sent to the city today and described as a partial response, called for “over-sized classes to be automatically triggered for review.”

She also said bargaining team members had been working on at least two “letters of understanding” about how the district funds schools and how it rates them.

Letters of understanding are considered part of the contract and binding, according to the union, and they generally are intended to put pressure on the district to address larger issues.

On funding, Lightfoot has said she wants to spend the year studying how the district funds schools. Under the current approach, known as “student-based budgeting,” schools receive the bulk of their budget money on a per-pupil basis. Schools with shrinking enrollments tend to get less budget money.

“We are asking for a funding formula that is based on equity rather than students in ‘seats,’” Gunderson wrote.

The union also wants the school district to stop factoring student test scores into a school’s rating, according to an internal union document that was distributed earlier this week.

Both sides report ‘movement’ in Chicago teacher talks, negotiations to resume this weekend

2019-10-19T01:45:00+00:00

Negotiations between the Chicago teachers union and city officials will continue into the weekend after Day 2 of a strike ended with both sides pointing to progress but significant differences still separating them.

“The theme for today is that we’ve seen some movement, but it’s not enough,” Jennifer Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union’s chief of staff, said after talks ended at about 5:30 p.m. Friday at Malcolm X College.

A joint statement Friday evening from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson sounded a more positive note, describing the day’s negotiations as productive and yielding “real movement” on key issues.

“A strong sense of urgency and willingness to compromise on both sides will be essential to reaching a deal, and we are committed to bargaining in good faith so that we can create the fair agreement our students, families and teachers deserve,” the statement said.

The city and union bargaining teams are scheduled to meet again Saturday and Sunday, union President Jesse Sharkey said.

More than 300,000 Chicago students have been out of class the past two days in the latest in a series of teachers strikes that have swept the country. Roughly 25,000 educators walked off the job in a dispute that stretches well beyond traditional bargaining issues of pay and benefits to include issues ranging from class size to calls for additional support staff like nurses, counselors, and librarians.

Union officials on Friday reported winning more social workers, nurses, special education case management and bilingual program coordinators, with targets and phase-in language. They said the district also agreed to provide one additional full-time position for the 20% of schools with the highest need.

Schools could choose what type of specialist they would hire, “which creates a bit more of a ‘Hunger Games’ situation where schools would have to pick between a library, counselor or another position,” Johnson said.

The statement from city officials also cited progress on staffing for clinical groups, special education, and help for homeless students. Prior to the joint statement with Jackson, Lightfoot tweeted Friday that educators deserve a raise, and that the district’s offer would boost average teacher pay to about $100,000 annually. She highlighted the district’s Oct. 11 offer, including a 16% raise and maintaining health benefit costs.

The union reported receiving a written counterproposal for staffing, and said negotiators were closing in on resolving one contentious issue, more strictly defining counselor duties.

Union officials also signaled a new openness on the duration of the contract. But, Johnson added, “our members are not going to be locked into a five-year contract that doesn’t provide the students what they need during the contract’s duration.” The union has been pressing for a three-year contract, while the city has been steadfast in sticking with a five-year deal.

The ratio of counselors to students — which the union said can reach one counselor for 1,500 students — remains unresolved, as do pay increases for veteran educators and paraprofessionals, including members of SEIU Local 73, who are also on strike.

Earlier in the day, negotiators clashed over prep time for elementary school teachers. Union officials insisted they do not want to reduce instructional time, but want teachers to start work earlier and be paid for that time.

What issues remain open in Chicago’s teachers contract talks? An internal union document offers clues

2019-10-18T13:11:17+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s summary of contract talks with the Chicago Teachers Union after the first day of the teachers strike suggested that negotiators have a lot of ground yet to cover.

“We made some progress on two issues,” Lightfoot said on the public TV station WTTW late Thursday. But she said it had been weeks since the two sides had discussed some of the topics that had brought them to an impasse.

“There’s a lot of other open issues,” Lightfoot said.

What’s still on the table? A bargaining document made available on an online portal for rank-and-file union members on Tuesday offers a comprehensive outline of the union’s demands, only some of which have drawn significant attention beyond the closed doors of contract negotiations. Labeled “Internal document for CTU members only,” it offers a snapshot of the many and varied demands that have frustrated Lightfoot, and where the two sides stand in the union’s estimation.

The document identifies 14 proposals as “priority issues.” (Another 21 are explained but not identified as priorities, including a new sanctuary schools policy to protect immigrant students that both sides have hailed as an accomplishment.) Here they are, broken down by how much progress the union says has been made.

Only one priority issue earns an unqualified “Movement” from the union.

Charter school growth: Both sides say an agreement has been reached on a continued cap on charter school growth — something that they haven’t discussed much publicly. The district’s Oct. 11 offer says “there will be a net zero increase” in the number of charter schools, and the total number of charter school students by the end of the 2023-24 school year can only exceed the current capacity of these schools by 1%. The word “capacity” here is important — some charter schools aren’t full yet, so overall enrollment can still grow. (This language mirrors what’s in the most recent union contract.)

On many priority issues where the union describes movement, there’s a big “but.”

Support staffing: The teachers union has been asking for more social workers, special education case managers, nurses, counselors, and librarians — as well as language in the contract to guarantee that the new positions are filled and preserved.

The city has said it endorses the idea of having more support staff, especially in higher-need schools, but has been hesitant to make any guarantees.

The union document suggests that the union is satisfied with a lot of what’s in the city’s Oct. 11 offer, which included a promise to phase out contract nurses; to spend $2 million on tuition assistance for aspiring nurses; and to spend $400,000 a year on support staff recruitment.

But two central demands hadn’t yet been met, the document emphasizes: for the city to commit, in writing, to its promise to hire 200 more social workers and 250 more nurses over five years, and for positions like these to be funded centrally, instead of at the school level. The staffing demand was a major talking point on the picket line Thursday, and in the document, the key phrase is in all-caps: The union wants the promise “IN WRITING IN THE CONTRACT.”

Class sizes: The union wants smaller class sizes and ways to enforce those limits, especially in pre-kindergarten. According to the internal union document and the district’s Oct. 11 offer, the district has offered to spend $1 million to reduce class sizes in grades 4-12, as well as spend an unspecified amount to provide more teachers’ assistants.

The internal union document suggests that the city has promised to take other steps to reduce class sizes. And at a Thursday bargaining update, union officials said the district had offered to give $9 million to a committee that could enforce and fund measures to lower class sizes. But the union still wants lower class size caps — and a clearer way to enforce them.

Union chief Jesse Sharkey said Thursday that the city had presented a new, but similar class size offer. In an appearance on WTTW, he said the city’s proposal “tries to provide relief to oversized classes, but it doesn’t get there in terms of adequacy… Probably 70% or 80% of the oversized classes would not see relief.”

Pay for paraprofessionals: Earlier this week, the union was calling for 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. As of Tuesday, the document said, the city had yet to respond to the request.

According to the union, the district offered to increase the base pay of paraprofessionals by 1.5% in the first year of the contract for the lowest grades, and that it would eventually give raises to these workers when they obtain associate or bachelor’s degrees. The district also agreed to raises for years of experience.

The union said the district’s offer to increase pay for experience and time on the job was “important” but the 1.5% base pay raise was “not enough for our lowest paid members.”

Teacher prep time: The city has dropped a proposal to let principals direct more of teachers’ preparation time. The union document says this is progress but notes that it had originally sought more planning time for teachers. “We’re only back to the current contract status quo,” it reads. “CPS seems to have strategically rolled back of their original proposal to make us accept not getting additional prep time.”

Special education: The union wants new policies to help special education teachers, particularly when it comes to managing the burdensome task of writing legally required Individualized Education Programs for students with special needs. The district has proposed awarding stipends to special education teachers who take on extra work. The union document reports progress but says the union “is still fighting” for further protections.

How teachers are evaluated: The union says it wants tenured teachers who receive one of the two highest ratings — “proficient” or “excellent” — to be able to skip a rating cycle. The union said this “would provide workload and stress relief for educators and principals.”

The union also wants to eliminate the use of growth on student test scores (what’s known as a “value-added” score) for elementary school teachers. Right now, student test scores make up 20% of the rating for educators in third to eighth grades who teach core subjects like English, reading, and math. The union document says the city had yet to respond to these two demands.

And the union said talks were at a total standstill on six priority issues.

School closures: The union says it wants another moratorium on school closures that would last the life of the contract. The district previously imposed a five-year ban on closures, starting in 2013, after the city had closed 49 schools. That moratorium expired last year, after which the district closed several high schools in Englewood on the city’s South Side to make way for a new high school.

How schools are rated: The union also wants test scores not to factor into school ratings, too. Its bargaining overview says the city has said only that it would study the current evaluation system and “might be willing to explore changes.”

Contract length: The union wants a three-year deal, while the district is pushing for a five-year agreement. The internal union document notes that if the union agrees to a longer deal, it will be “locked into terms until after the mayor is up for reelection.”

Raises for veteran teachers: The district has offered a 3% cost-of-living increase to teachers for three years, and a 3.5% cost-of-living increase for the last two years of a five-year contract. The union wants a 5% cost-of-living increase for each year of a three-year deal, plus higher raises for veteran teacher when they accrue more years of experience.

Student-based budgeting: The union says it wants the district to fund special education positions centrally — instead of at the school-level — and to protect veteran teachers from losing their jobs because they make more money, which can make it harder for schools with lower enrollment and smaller budgets to afford them. It’s unclear how central of an issue this has been in bargaining talks, and the union said it had not received a proposal from the city. But Lightfoot has promised to reconsider how schools are funded.

Time-off policies: The union document reveals a tentative agreement on allowing union members to spread bereavement leave across non-consecutive days. But the union says the city hasn’t responded to most of its other requests, including to increase the number of paid days off teachers can take.

On all of these issues, the union document offers a clear and concise status update: “No movement.”

Yana Kunichoff contributed reporting.

More talks over the weekend: Live updates from Day 2 of Chicago’s teacher strike

2019-10-18T23:40:00+00:00

With signs of progress on Day 1, but no deal, teachers are returning to picket lines again on Day Two of Chicago’s teachers union strike.

We’ll be spending the day watching negotiations closely, to see if the Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall can work out policy issues beyond class size. Fueled by coffee and a stack of Chalkbeat reporter notepads, our team will also catch a morning visit with the mayor, visit picket lines, and bring you other important news about the strike.

We’ll post updates here throughout the day. You can catch up on what happened on Day One here, or just skip ahead to Thursday’s end-of-day stories about the state of negotiations, how families are experiencing the strike, and 12 great signs from picket lines (plus one really cute dog).

7:40 p.m. Talks head into weekend

Negotiations between the Chicago teachers union and city officials will continue into the weekend after Day 2 of a strike ended with the union reporting progress but much work to do.

“The theme for today is that we’ve seen some movement, but it’s not enough,” said Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff. Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said bargaining will continue Saturday and Sunday.

Ariel did a roundup after talks ended around 5:30 p.m. Friday at Malcolm X College: Union officials reported winning more social workers, nurses, special education case management and bilingual program coordinators, with targets and phase-in language. They said the district also agreed to provide one additional full-time position for the 20% of schools with the highest need.

4:40 p.m. Solving class size — or not

Negotiators have gained some headway on the issue of class size. But talks with teachers on the lines illustrate just how huge the challenge they face is.

Ariel spoke Thursday at Grissom Elementary to Melissa Ramirez, who struggles with 45 sixth grade students in her science classroom. Students can’t hear well, chairs crash into each other, and Ramirez is diverted while some students need translation.

In Chicago schools, crowded classes are so common that teachers know that the likely contract solution — hiring more classroom aides — won’t resolve the problem. They fear that they won’t benefit from lowering class size unless penalties hit the district for exceeding caps.

To hear from more teachers, check out Cassie and Ariel’s story here.

3:25 p.m. Pipeline problems?

One of City Hall’s hesitations about writing higher nurse and social worker staffing levels into the contract has been whether there are enough of those people to fill new positions.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot raised the question again this morning — and quickly drew pushback from people with expertise in the city’s social work ecosystem.

One reason that so many grads don't go to CPS is the way they hire them (mostly hiring at the central office level first rather than at school level), as well as the crushing workloads that await them. Most of my SSW would work in CPS if working conditions were better.
— SchoolSocialWork.net (@SchoolSocWork) October 18, 2019

2:40 p.m. On the scene in Daley Plaza

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied in downtown Chicago, Oct. 18, 2019.

Union members shut down the streets downtown again today as they convened for a citywide rally. As they marched down LaSalle they chanted, “Get up, get down, Chicago is a union town,” Kalyn reports. She also said she could hear teachers practicing upcoming chants using a handout the union distributed.

“I feel like the moves that have been made yesterday, they were a step in the right direction,” Phebe Myers, a second-year middle school humanities teacher at Pilsen Community Academy, told Kalyn. “But I don’t feel that they’re far enough, especially when it comes to pay for [special education aides], when it comes to having a nurse full-time in every school, a social worker full-time in every school. I would not be surprised if we were still on strike on Monday.”

Mary Kay Nielsen, a veteran teacher who works at Durkin Park Elementary on the city’s Southwest Side, said she also thought the strike would continue into next week.

“I was praying that it would be over by Monday. I figured like they’ll come to a deal by the weekend, we’ll take Monday to look it over, decide, start school on Tuesday,” she told Kalyn. “But just because I don’t think we’re hearing any movement, I’m thinking like, oh my god, this could be a little bit longer. We will stick it out until we get what we want.”

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied in downtown Chicago, Oct. 18, 2019.

1:30 p.m. Afternoon bargaining update

The latest from Yana:

City negotiators have offered proposals on some issues in writing today, union officials said in a Friday afternoon bargaining update. But the offers aren’t yet enough to come to an agreement, the officials said. The teams talked about special education in the morning, and in the afternoon will discuss staffing. The press conference also offered a glimpse into the conversation on a particularly contentious demand: an extra 30 minutes of prep time for elementary school teachers. Union officials clarified that they are not pressing for students to have less instructional time but for teachers to start work earlier and be paid for that time. Union chief Jesse Sharkey and Vice President Stacy Davis Gates acknowledged the pain and inconvenience of the strike, but stood by their promise that it would lead to improvements for students and teachers alike. “We don’t think about inconvenience when we have school clerks giving insulin shots,” Gates said, referring to the nurse shortage the union hopes to address with its new contract. Without the pressure of the strike, she said, the union wouldn’t have seen some of the district’s recent positive proposals. As the press conference finished up, Sharkey headed to the downtown rally, which today will begin at City Hall, and Gates walked briskly back into bargaining.

12:36 p.m. Lunch break

I guess we know what they’re eating at Jones College Prep as this morning’s pickets wind down …

Dispatch: A report of teachers illegally grilling meat outside Jones College Prep. #Chicago #ChicagoScanner
— CWBChicago (@CWBChicago) October 18, 2019

12:06 p.m. “No rally. No sleep.”

This morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her top negotiator asked top teachers union officials to stay at the bargaining table all day, rather than head downtown for a second citywide rally. At first, it wasn’t clear whether the union officials would agree. But now, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates says she’ll be there. Here’s how she revealed her plans on Twitter:

#StacyDavisGates And, while we at it #CPS #JaniceJackson #ChicagoMayor I’m here until midnight—w/ my squad @CTULocal1 No rally. No sleep. Let’s land it. #PutItInWriting https://t.co/J3KjXTlLl6
— #CTUINC (@stacydavisgates) October 18, 2019

10:30 a.m. Renewed focus on homeless students

Teachers at McCutcheon Elementary School in Uptown on the second day of the Chicago teacher strike, Oct. 18, 2019. Many McCutcheon students are homeless.

With negotiations veering Thursday toward support of homeless students, Cassie stopped by McCutcheon Elementary School in Uptown, which draws students from several homeless shelters in the area. Here’s her report:

State report card data shows a homeless population of 16%, but the counselor there, Katie Malcolm, said that the number of students in “temporary living situations” is 20 to 30% at any given point. Malcolm is trained to help those students — in addition to her other counseling duties — and she said several area non-profits and small businesses step up with coat drives, boot drives, and other useful assistance. But she said she lacks background in affordable housing issues and that schools like hers need to have the “ability to help families find and navigate housing and to know their rights at a shelter.” On Thursday, the union publicly surfaced a new demand: adding staff to finding housing and mental health support for homeless students. The city is offering to fund a homeless liaison position for every school with more than 90 homeless students, about 12 schools currently, but the union wants more people dedicated to the issue. Large classes, which have become a central issue in negotiations, are not an issue at McCutcheon, said two teachers there. Kindergarten teacher Tiina Villareal has 21 students in her class, while Kylie Brokenrope, a special education teacher, is one of three teachers working with 20 students in a pre-kindergarten class that has students with and without special needs. They said they were galvanized to join the picket line on the issue of more school nurses. “We have children with allergies, and asthma, who take medicines, who get cuts and scrapes on the playground — we need a nurse more than one day a week,” said Villareal. “When you are working with younger children, their needs are amplified.”

10:20 a.m. Weekend plans and ‘mission moments’

The city and union are both gearing up for a weekend without a contract resolution. Late Thursday, Chicago Public Schools announced that athletic competitions and practices are canceled for this weekend, as well as the “Highly Selective College Fair” scheduled at Whitney Young High School.

And in a newsletter Friday morning, the Chicago Teachers Union notes that while there won’t be picket lines over the weekend, there will be other events across the city about labor issues in Chicago. “It’s important that CTU members attend there and continue to build support for our fight in our neighborhoods,” the newsletter says.

The union newsletter also offers a suggestion: “Headed to a place of worship this weekend? Contact your faith [sic] own pastor or rabbi in advance to ask for a two-minute mission moment on Sunday to speak about the strike.” (A sample speech is available.)

Do the weekend plans indicate a strike that will continue into next week? That’s not clear, but this morning, Cassie heard a union delegate tell her colleagues on the picket line to plan to return on Monday morning at 6:30 a.m., signs in hand.

10 a.m. A dispatch from bargaining

Yana’s spending the day at Malcolm X College, where city-union talks have resumed after breaking Thursday evening with no deal but a step forward on class size. Here’s her first dispatch from the scene:

Only a handful of news trucks were parked outside the community college’s main entrance. At one point, shortly after 9:30 a.m., Chicago Public Schools chief operating officer Arne Rivera walked briskly into the building, saying over his shoulder that he hoped for a productive day. Friday’s issue of contention, even before bargaining begins on specific contract points, is the negotiation schedule. At a press conference on Friday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants bargaining 10 hours a day, seven days a week, with union leaders Jesse Sharkey and Stacy Davis Gates at the table — the same request that the city’s top negotiator, Jim Franczek, made earlier in a note that the union shared on Twitter. But teachers on the bargaining team say the two officers don’t have the subject area expertise on every contract element so have delegated the authority to shape demands to other members of the bargaining team. That means Sharkey and Davis Gates aren’t always needed at the table, the teachers said. Still, it’s unclear whether Sharkey and Gates will attend this afternoon’s downtown rally. There’s also been talk of food: a Panera delivery person brought in bags with breakfast for negotiators, and the union’s team is expecting a delivery of pizza donated by supportive charter school teachers.

9:20 a.m. Pickets going strong

Our visits to schools across the city should dispel any concerns that striking union members might not be able to keep up the energy they displayed on Thursday. Here’s a snapshot from the scene at Suder Montessori Elementary School:

Teachers at Suder Montessori Elementary Magnet School on the second day of the Chicago teacher strike, Oct. 18, 2019.

9 a.m. First strike

Outside Boone Elementary School in West Ridge, Cassie met a fifth-grade teacher who is on strike for the first time.

“Yesterday’s rally downtown — it was overwhelming,” said Bridget Dougherty, who has been in the classroom for three years, first at a school with many homeless students and now at Boone. “The number of people driving by honking and cheering far outweighs the number of people who yell, “Get back to work.’”

8:40 a.m. On the breakfast line

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her wife, Amy Eshleman, served breakfast to children on the second day of Chicago’s teachers strike, Oct. 18, 2019.

Community centers and YMCAs across the city are continuing to serve children whose classes are canceled because of the strike. Mayor Lori Lightfoot visited one of them Friday morning, Gads Hill Center in Pilsen, where she doled out Cheerios, yogurt, and bananas alongside her wife, Amy Eshleman.

Shouldn’t Lightfoot be in negotiations? “I’ll go to the table when we are close and it’s helpful to get a deal done,” she told reporters. For now, she said, “My primary concern is making sure children are safe.”

8:28 a.m. “Wasn’t how I saw this school year going”

Parents across the city are having to decide how talk to their children about the strike. This can be complicated. Here’s a reflection from one mom:

It’s day 2 of the #ChicagoTeachersStrike. Today my kindergartener asked me when his teachers will be back, and I had to tell him that I don’t know. This wasn’t how I saw this school year going.
— Danielle (@DSouthernwrites) October 18, 2019

8:15 a.m. About those issues

So what are those issues that Mayor Lori Lightfoot lamented Thursday night hadn’t been discussed in “weeks”? We obtained an internal Chicago Teachers Union document that outlines 14 “priority issues” and 21 more that aren’t union priorities — plus where each stood on the eve of the strike. Kalyn has the breakdown.

8 a.m. Morning music

For the second day, a small group of protesting teachers set up outside of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s home in Logan Square. On Friday, the teachers added a saxophone to the line, playing songs like “Careless Whisper” to entertain commuters walking by on their way to the Blue Line.

7:55 a.m. Extended negotiations?

City Hall is asking top teachers union officials to commit to at least 10 hours of talks each day until an agreement is reached and the strike ends. The union posted a note on Twitter that it said came from Jim Franczek, the city’s top negotiator, which also asked union chief Jesse Sharkey and vice president Stacy Davis Gates not to pause talks during this afternoon’s union rally.

“We cannot afford to have another three to four hour recess in negotiations while both of you are gone,” says the note, in which Davis Gates’s first name is misspelled. “It is vital to the success of these negotiations that one of you be present at all times.”

“C’mon son,” the union responded in a thread making the case that it has been working toward a new contract more assiduously than the city — including by delivering its first proposal months before Mayor Lori Lightfoot was even elected.

6:50 a.m. Benefits for striking teachers

It’s no regular paycheck, but striking teachers can take home a free popsicle from one of the city’s hippest ice cream shops. That’s one restaurant offering discounts and giveaways in solidarity with the strike. Eater has a roundup.

As Chicago strike heads to a second day, here’s where negotiations stand

2019-10-18T03:01:20+00:00

Chicago’s teachers strike will move into a second day on Friday after City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union failed to strike a deal but reported progress on a key issue: class size.

The district notified parents via robocall about 6 p.m. Thursday that it would cancel classes for a second day in the nation’s third largest school district. District officials said that about 7,500 students came to school Thursday — about 2.5% of enrollment — and that schools would remain open and minimally staffed Friday.

Union negotiators, appearing on Thursday at Malcolm X College after bargaining wrapped up for the day, reported little movement on two other top union priorities — increased staffing and support for special education students.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, in a Thursday evening appearance on public TV station WTTW, said she was concerned that the union hadn’t shown “a sense of urgency to get a deal done.” Lightfoot said negotiators reached some minor agreements but for weeks haven’t discussed core issues like compensation, insurance, and benefits.

Lightfoot also called on the union to respond to the city’s contract proposals all at once, instead of bargaining in “piecemeal.”

“We made some progress on two issues: class sizes, I’m not sure where we are on staffing, but those have been the two issues that have been the topic of conversation when we actually have had bargaining,” the mayor said. “But there’s a lot of other open issues.”

The most progress did appear to come on class size. The union wants the district to agree to lower the cap on class sizes. The district has offered to give a committee that could enforce and fund measures to lower class size $9 million in discretionary funds. But the union said that isn’t enough to hire enough staff or find other solutions covering the proposed five-year contract for the 23% of district classrooms that it says are overcrowded.

Negotiators remain deadlocked over adding support positions such as nurses and social workers. The union wants the district to set minimum staffing targets, enforce those targets, and develop a plan to progress toward the union’s requested staffing levels. The union is still waiting for a counterproposal, its Chief of Staff Jen Johnson said Thursday night.

On special education, the union wants a written allocation of case managers for students with Individualized Education Programs, which lays out specialized services. The district has offered an allocation, and the union wants a larger one.

The union also is seeking additional prep time for elementary special education teachers who say they are burdened by complicated paperwork required for serving students. Instead, the district has suggested awarding stipends for special education teachers who take on extra work.

On Thursday, the union publicly surfaced a new demand: adding staff to finding housing and mental health support for homeless students. The city is offering to fund a homeless liaison position for every school with more than 90 homeless students, about 12 schools currently, but the union wants more staffing.

Besides teachers, on Thursday special education aides, bus aides and custodians represented by the SEIU also walked out over stalled negotiations with the district.

Teacher talks began on Thursday morning, broke for union leaders to speak at a midday downtown rally, and concluded around 6 p.m.

At schools around the city, teachers brought signs and wore red, as passersby honked car horns in support and parents brought doughnuts and urns of coffee. Some students even joined picketing and marches.

Catch up on what you missed during the day on our live blog here.

Playdates and pickets: how Chicago families spent Day One of the teachers strike

2019-10-18T00:02:53+00:00

Joining teachers picketing in front of schools during the first day of the Chicago Teachers Union strike Thursday, a number of students and parents picked up signs or brought their own and joined the marches.

With classes canceled, parents weighed their options carefully. Some sent students to the still-open schools, where the district pledged that administrators and central office employees would be on hand to give their charges a safe place to spend the day. Park districts, YMCAs, and libraries also welcomed students, while the CTA offered them free morning rides.

Some older students, like North Side freshmen Ginger and Ella, attended the afternoon rally downtown, marching alongside educators and support staff with SEIU Local 27. Band students from Kelly High School marched too, blasting tunes like “The Hey Song” to help keep spirits high.

“I’m here to support my teachers, because they’re fighting for class sizes and nurses and counselors, and I think that’s important,” said Ginger, who attends North Side College Prep.

Ella, a freshman at Lane Tech, said her class has discussed concerns with teachers regarding how the strike would impact their testing dates and education overall.

Both girls also recalled marching as second-graders in the 2012 strike, which, as Ginger recalled, “lasted a long time.”

Still, many parents opted to keep their children home or arranged other care, with the hopes that the strike would be short, and their normal routines could resume soon.

“Everything is kind of last minute,” said Jamiece Jamison, who was caring for her 6-year-old niece and 4-year-old nephew while their mother was at work Thursday. “We’re just going to try to take it day by day.” For Jamison, that meant trips to East Garfield Park’s Breakthrough FamilyPlex — where Mayor Lori Lightfoot gave a press conference Thursday morning — and to the library.

District parent John Hieronymus understands all too well what his daughters’ teachers are going through, as he recently joined the University of Chicago Medical Center strike as a registered nurse. His daughters stayed home with their mother Thursday, but started the day picketing with their teachers at Bret Harte Elementary in Hyde Park.

Harte Elementary’s student body is 86% black, and 76% of its students come from low-income households.

“Every day I go pick up my kids, you see teachers trying to take care of kids who have injuries, and the school has a nurse in once a week,” Hieronymus said. “They call you at work if something is wrong, and they ask if you want to come in to check on [our children], but unless it’s a real emergency, that’s really rough.”

Hieronymus said the Hyde Park community has banded together during the walkout.

“It sucks, but it’s short term, and then we hope we’ll all come out ahead in the end,” he said. “We’ve been really inspired by teachers around the country who have gone on strike, because we know that as people who work for a living, we’re all helping each other out, and that means we all do better.”

Kevin Robinson took two of his four children to join the picket line at Holden Elementary in Bridgeport. His children are staying at home for the duration of the strike, doing reading, writing and art to keep themselves occupied.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do if this drags on, but I think it’s going to,” Robinson said. “I think Lightfoot needs to get it together. I think she’s using [former mayor] Rahm Emanuel’s plan from 2012, which is to make it hurt and figure the parents are going to turn on the teachers, but I think the parents are just supporting the teachers more and more.”

On the North Side, Michele McAtee, mother to Peirce Elementary fifth-grader Maddie, also had criticism for Lightfoot. She said she voted for the mayor in the spring municipal election, but her support has started to waver during the negotiations. “Like the union has said, she needs to put her promises in writing,” McAtee said. “She’s a corporate lawyer. She knows how to do that.”

Parents at Boone Elementary in the Rogers Park neighborhood leapt into action Wednesday night, when news of the strike broke as they were hosting a Friends of Boone meeting. Cassandra Kaczocha, a parent of two Boone students in the seventh and third grades, said she and other parents who work from home offered to arrange play dates with any students in need of a place to go, while others near the school opened their homes up for bathroom pit stops as needed. On Thursday, two classmates joined her children for a play date.

“People have been able to put things in place for Thursday and Friday,” Kaczocha said. “But it sounds like if the strikes starts to bleed into next week, that’s when a lot of families are going to be struggling to find something to do.”

Closed-door or open negotiations: Should Chicago take teacher contract bargaining public?

2019-10-17T21:35:42+00:00

When Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall negotiators resumed bargaining Thursday, they did so behind closed doors. If the union gets its way, that could change.

The unusual request to open contract bargaining sessions to the public hasn’t drawn much attention amid a focus on teacher pay, class size, and staffing in Chicago schools, and it appears unlikely to be the union’s deciding factor about whether to call off its strike.

But a look at another recent teacher strike, in Denver, reveals why open bargaining makes sense as a union demand, and how it might change the course of negotiations going forward.

In most places, contentious contract talks unfold the way they currently do in Chicago. As tension escalates, strike dates are set, and teachers walk out, union leaders and city officials release dueling reports from closed-door bargaining sessions, leaving observers — including teachers whose compensation is being decided — to make sense of developments through union and district spin and reporters’ analysis.

But in Colorado, voters approved a ballot initiative in 2014 that broke open those doors and made bargaining sessions public. Teachers unions opposed the ballot initiative, arguing that decisions about whether to open up bargaining should be made locally.

Union officials also knew that the initiative had been advanced by the conservative Independence Institute. “Transparency is good for everyone,” Jon Caldara, the libertarian think tank’s president, told Chalkbeat in 2014. “If this is such an advantage for the unions, why are they against it?”

But after the initiative passed — with 70% of the vote — unions have been the prime beneficiaries. They have been able to use their broad membership to turn once-buttoned-up negotiations into freewheeling rallies that galvanize public opinion in favor of workers.

Before and during last year’s Denver teachers strike, union members packed the rooms where talks were taking place, responding audibly to the conversation as it unfolded. They booed if they heard something they didn’t like, snapped if they heard something they did, and shouted out their opinions throughout.

When the union bargaining team entered the negotiating room, the crowd would go wild, giving negotiators a standing ovation and launching into a familiar cheers: “If they won’t pay us, shut it down!”

Colorado union officials say the open-door talks were key to sustaining public support in strikes throughout the state.

“In the last couple of years we have seen more and more people paying attention and coming and engaging” around union negotiations, said Amie Baca-Oehlert, vice president of the Colorado Education Association. “We want to be open and transparent with the community and public, having that open bargaining allows for those conversations to take place.”

The starting point in Chicago is complex. The union agreed to closed-door bargaining in August when it signed onto rules governing the current contract negotiations. And it has not released its bargaining documents publicly, while Lightfoot, who campaigned on a pledge to bring transparency to city government, has published two contract offers in full. (Under her leadership, the city has begun livestreaming school board meetings that previously had been accessible only to limited numbers of people who signed up in advance.)

Neither the union nor City Hall would provide additional comment for this story.

What would happen if Lightfoot agreed to the union’s request, besides thrusting the city into mostly uncharted territory?

“It’s hard to know how open bargaining would affect negotiations,” said Bradley Marianno, who teaches education policy and leadership at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, “because it’s not commonly done.”

Melanie Asmar contributed reporting.

With strike vote formalized, teachers rev up for picket lines Thursday

2019-10-17T01:36:40+00:00

Propelled by weeks of sharp rhetoric and angry that many demands remain unmet, Chicago Teachers Union representatives voted unanimously to strike Thursday, hoping that they will win full-time nurses and smaller class sizes.

The vote means that more than 25,000 Chicago teachers, clinicians and paraprofessionals represented by the union will strike. In anticipation, the city cancelled classes for its 300,000 students who attend district-run schools. Delegates Thursday reported an upbeat meeting that sent members energetically marching out bearing picket signs and posters.

Support workers including special education aides and bus drivers, whose union is separately still negotiating a contract, also plan to walk out Thursday.

“Schools on the south and the west side, they don’t have what they need. I look at my black and brown students and I said, I can’t take this, I’m tired,” said Roselean Parker, a 25-year veteran, at a press conference after the union’s House of Delegates passed its resolution rejecting the city’s latest offer. Standing on bleachers and surrounded by union delegates in red T-shirts, she said she wanted social workers for her traumatized students and new science books for her classes.

Across town, appearing at an early learning center in Pilsen, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she was disappointed that the union plans to walk out despite the city offering what she called a “historic package.”

There was little progress made at the bargaining table Wednesday, Lightfoot noted, as talks focused instead on the next steps in the bargaining process for both CTU and SEIU Local 73. Lightfoot said she hopes talks will resume Thursday.

“I feel like we rolled up our sleeves and negotiated in good faith over a long period of time,” Lightfoot said. “We offered a historic package on CTU’s core issues.”

The resolution, which technically confirmed a walkout that union members already have authorized, capped months of stop-and-start bargaining between the union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s team.

The strike will continue until the sides negotiate an agreement that wins approval by the House of Delegates, according to the resolution.

Walking out of the House of Delegates meeting on Wednesday evening, delegates were firm in their decision to strike.

“It’s been so many years over and over again, we have been understaffed, class sizes have been busting at the seams. I’ve had 37, 38 second graders in a classroom,” said Deborah Davis, a teacher at Hitch Elementary School in Jefferson Park. She said she hopes the strike would produce some lasting change.

Union President Jesse Sharkey said he hoped the dispute would resolve quickly. “We want to make this a short strike. We want to make this a strike that wins improvements for our schools,” hey said.

Negotiations will resume on Thursday.

To read about 10 things we’ll be watching as the strike begins, click here.

Chicago cancels classes Thursday, as threatened teachers strike pressures Mayor Lori Lightfoot

2019-10-16T16:47:27+00:00

As city officials confirmed that classes will be cancelled for some 300,000 Chicago public school students when teachers are expected to strike on Thursday morning, Chicago’s mayor Lori Lightfoot said that she was focused on getting a fiscally responsible deal done and making sure students out of school had a safe and warm place to go during the strike.

In her first public appearance since a Tuesday night union conference where leaders said a strike was all but inevitable, Lightfoot still stuck by her negotiators and said her team has done its best to avert a strike.

“We have worked hard at the table to listen to the union’s concerns,” said Lightfoot, who lauded the city’s pay offers. “We have tried to provide the best deal that is fiscally responsible.”

The Chicago Teachers Union has pushed beyond pay at the bargaining table and used contract negotiations to advocate for a broader agenda that includes widened support services and better resources.

After agreeing in recent days to a union demand to write staffing and class size promises into the union contract, Lightfoot said city negotiators had bent over backward to offer pay raises and meet union demands on control over teacher prep time.

On the heels of the mayor’s press conference, the union claimed Wednesday morning that Lightfoot would not actually lower class sizes nor make size caps enforceable. The union also said it has failed to win agreement on staffing ratios for counselors, social workers and other staff.

When teachers walk out on Thursday, as their leaders say will happen, they will stage the third citywide teachers strike in less than a decade.

The mayor said she was sympathetic to striking workers, but said the union has not been bargaining with enough urgency to avoid a strike. “I’m the daughter of a union steelworker. I am a strong believer in the power of collective bargaining, and when it comes down to it, the right to strike,” Lightfoot said.

In response to a reporter’s question about whether she would consider filing an injunction with the labor relations board, which could stall a teachers strike, Lightfoot said she was focusing on negotiations today.

The mayor was joined on Wednesday by board president and longtime progressive Latino leader Miguel del Valle, who said he was disappointed that the strike was moving forward.

The school district also faces a threatened strike Thursday by support staff and park district workers, two groups who had in the past cared for students during teachers strikes.

Schools chief Janice Jackson said classes would be cancelled but students could attend any age-appropriate school in their area, where they would be supervised by administrators, non-union staff and central office staff. District leaders were encouraging families to register on the school system’s website if they planned to attend schools, so that buildings could be staffed appropriately.

48 hours to Chicago teachers strike: Both sides describe progress — but still no deal

2019-10-15T03:51:33+00:00

Bargaining between City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union will resume Tuesday, but with only 48 hours for Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the union to reach a deal or have the city’s 25,000 teachers and clinicians walk off the job, union officials said “time was ticking.”

Speaking to the press Monday night, union President Jesse Sharkey said there had been “some progress” on class size and staffing — two major points of contention in the back-and-forth — but conversations had stopped short of finding agreement on language for the contract.

Shortly after Sharkey’s remarks, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school chief Janice Jackson said in a statement that the city’s negotiating team had “expressed a willingness to find solutions” on staffing and class sizes “that would be written directly into the contract” but that meaningful progress had not been made on other issues. “We remain committed to getting a deal done, as our teachers, students and families deserve no less,” the statement said.

Both sides sounded more positive than they had at the end of last week. The union suggested a compromise on its demands that Chicago hire more nurses, social workers, and special education case managers, by agreeing to staff the most in-demand schools first.

The deadline for a deal is fast approaching. The union’s representative 700-member House of Delegates must first vote on any proposed contract agreement before a strike is averted. Leadership has called a House of Delegates meeting for Wednesday evening, and will give members a summary of the district’s latest offer to consider on Tuesday.

On Monday, a day that schools were closed due to Columbus Day / Indigenous People’s Day, thousands of unionized educators and supporters flooded downtown for a solidarity rally with national and statewide union leaders. They were also joined by members of Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents special education and bus aides who are also threatening to strike Thursday.

In a video posted shortly before the rally began, Lightfoot told teachers that her office was “taking every step” to make sure they felt safe and supported at the rally. “Everything we put on the table is grounded in our fundamental respect for the dignity of teachers and school staff,” she said. “To all taking part in today’s rally, I want you to know that we hear you. I respect what you stand for.”

A survey conducted by ABC7 and the Chicago Sun-Times of 600-some Chicagoans found that nearly half would support a teachers strike, with 38% opposed.

There has also been some movement, albeit outside of the contract, on one of the broader social justice demands of the union: more affordable housing for teachers as well as homeless Chicago families. Crain’s Chicago Business reported Monday the mayor will put together an affordable housing task force to review the city’s affordable housing requirements.

Chicago Public Schools has been updating its contingency plans on its website. Schools will be open and minimally staffed by principals and non-unionized staff. The district also rescheduled the PSAT/SAT college entrance exam for high schoolers to Oct. 30. Testing had originally been scheduled for this week.

With no deal yet, Chicago teachers set strike for Oct. 17

2019-10-03T03:06:00+00:00

If negotiations between Chicago and its teachers union fail to result in a deal, teachers will walk out and potentially shut down 500-some public schools on Oct. 17. That’s the same day that a separate union representing school aides has threatened to strike.

Simultaneous strikes by educators and school support staff could complicate the district’s efforts to keep schools open and minimally staffed while teachers are on the picket lines.

“This is also frankly a unified strike date,” said Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson pledged in a statement that they would keep up “aggressive” bargaining, but if teachers strike, “all CPS school buildings will remain open during their normal school hours to ensure students have a safe and welcoming place to spend the day and warm meals to eat.”

Announcing the strike date Wednesday night after a House of Delegates vote inside headquarters, Sharkey stood flanked by members of Service Employees International Union 73, which represents staff such as bus monitors, special education assistants, and lunchroom workers.

“The reason we have set a deadline two weeks from now is because we intend to continue bargaining in good faith,” Sharkey said. “But I don’t want anyone in the city of Chicago to doubt our resolve. We mean to improve the conditions in our schools. We mean to win a fair contract.”

The delegate meeting and vote energized special education teacher Deborah Yaker. The union has demanded improved staffing, more integrity in the Individualized Education Program process, and dedicated substitutes, among other conditions for special education. All of them are essential, said Yaker, who teaches at Hanson Park Elementary in Belmont Cragin. “It’s only to better our kids.”

Ramona T. Bonilla-Anaiel, a special education classroom aide at Lakeview High School, said she finally felt heard when members decided to strike. “We need more people, we need more staff,” said Bonilla-Anaiel, who described students missing out on their legally prescribed assistance because aides were pulled to watch other students or help with administrative tasks.

Negotiations could continue up to the strike date. In 2016, the city’s contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union also were contentious, and observers saw a strike as nearly inevitable. But district officials made several concessions at the last minute, averting a walkout.

Not even five months in office, Lightfoot is facing a potential threat of triple strikes. Besides the teachers and school support staff, Chicago Park District employees, who during the 2012 strike cared for students displaced by closed schools, also took a strike authorization vote last week. They are represented by the same union as the school support staff.

Wednesday’s vote polled members of the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates, which represents various groups of teachers — some at schools and some, like clinicians and social workers, who work citywide. The union represents more than 25,000 teachers and support staff, including paraprofessionals and school social workers.

Last week, 94% of union members voted to authorize a strike.

Setting a strike date increases pressure on Lightfoot and the city to come to an agreement with the union, or face a walkout.

“Our members are hard workers, they serve the youth of Chicago, and they deserve a better contract,” said SEIU73 President Dian Palmer, speaking Wednesday after the strike date was announced. “Chicago can do better. I’ve seen the amounts of money that people make, but our members don’t.”

SEIU has argued that its members’ starting salary of just above $31,000 is unacceptably low.

Laying out the city’s side of the negotiations to the public earlier this week, Lightfoot and Jackson published a 420-word blog Monday explaining details of the city’s contract offer to teachers and offering an 8% pay hike for paraprofessionals.

The city’s latest public offer to SEIU resembles the pay offer to teachers: a 16% raise across five years. As it has offered teachers, the city would absorb the rising cost of health premiums for the first three years of the deal.

Lightfoot has said that her latest offer to the city’s teachers will make them among the highest-paid educators in the country.

The union has disregarded her offer, insisting the city lower class sizes, add support staff and put those guarantees in writing.

The teachers union contract with the district expired June 30.

The city’s last full-fledged teacher strike was in 2012. That year, teachers walked off the job for the first time in 25 years. After seven days, they returned with gains significant enough to portray the strike as successful.

Feds to supervise Chicago’s efforts to protect students from sexual abuse

2019-09-12T19:19:57+00:00

Charging that Chicago Public Schools failed to safeguard students from sexual harassment and assault, the federal government will require the district to take additional safety measures, including strengthening its complaint system.

In a formal agreement announced Thursday by the federal Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, the school district pledged to strengthen its process and better communicate with students around its efforts to investigate sexual misconduct complaints. The district must file comprehensive reports of all complaints to the federal government for the next three years. If the district doesn’t comply, it risks losing its substantial federal education funding.

The federal government had already launched its inquiry — the largest into sexual abuse in a public school system it’s ever undertaken — before a Chicago Tribune investigation published last summer. It revealed how the school district under a succession of school chiefs mishandled investigations into hundreds of student sexual abuse allegations.

“The Chicago Public Schools have inexcusably failed, for quite some time, to provide their students with the basic protections required by law,” said Kenneth L. Marcus, the federal Education Department’s assistant secretary for civil rights.

The school district maintained that it already has put in place many of the reforms being required.

Marcus acknowledged the district’s recent efforts to conduct background checks and train school staff, hire a Title IX coordinator, and revamp the process for investigating student complaints. But he said they were not enough.

“It is clear there is a great deal more they need to do and this resolution agreement represents that,” Marcus said.

In an email to parents Thursday morning, Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson, who had been on the job for six months when the Tribune series published, promised the district would continue to strengthen ways for students to report sexual misconduct in schools and its handling of those complaints.

“While we have made significant progress, we will not be satisfied until I and every CPS parent believes we have created a safe and supportive district culture,” she wrote.

During President Barack Obama’s term, the federal government expanded its investigative role into complaints under Title IX, the federal code intended to guard against discrimination and ensure equal rights. But under current U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, the Education Department has refocused its guidance and pulled back its reach.

Critics have worried about the effect on schools.

In any case, the comprehensive agreement between Chicago Public Schools and the federal civil rights office includes extensive findings and broad-reaching requirements for district action.

Advocates for students, including the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, which has partnered with the district on retraining teachers and principals since last year, agreed that the district was moving in the right direction but warned that it needed outside organizations for accountability.

“CPS has taken significant steps in the past year to improve their response to allegations of sexual abuse involving students,” said Char Rivette, director of the center. “I encourage CPS to continue to utilize community partners with expertise in sexual harm to address this pervasive societal problem.”

Here is what the agreement with the federal government requires Chicago to do, and what the district said it has done so far:

A second chance for student complaints

Students who believe the district mishandled their cases must be offered a second, independent review of their complaints. Chicago must also advertise its investigation protocol and make accommodations for any student who has a complaint that has gone unreported since 2016.

Chicago Public Schools said that it has launched an awareness campaign to educate students about their rights and possible responses to abuse, as well as creating the district’s first-ever student bill of rights.

Review employee misconduct

Chicago must review the actions of current and former employees who failed to respond to reports of sexual misconduct. If warranted, the district must take disciplinary action.

In response, Chicago Schools said it has run background checks on all staff, vendors, volunteers and coaches who work in schools and has centralized that process. The lack of a central process was considered key to allowing district employees with a history of abusing children to remain working in schools.

The district also said it has required its staff to take annual mandatory training on Title IX issues.

Expand the authority of Title IX coordinator

After nearly two decades without a Title IX coordinator, Chicago Public Schools hired Camie Pratt, previously the Title IX coordinator at the University of Phoenix. She oversees a 38-person team.

The Office for Civil Rights said Chicago must “revise its Title IX structure to ensure that the Title IX coordinator reports directly to the schools chief.”
In response, the district said its Title IX officer reports directly to schools chief Jackson and has complete authority over Title IX matters.

Develop a new complaint process

Chicago must “develop a comprehensive process for responding to all complaints of sex discrimination and fully document responsive actions taken,” the federal government wrote. That includes establishing a time frame for investigations; providing the accuser and the accused equal opportunity to present witnesses and other evidence and a written summary of findings; and setting up an appeals process.

Avoid conflicts of interest during investigations

Chicago must make sure that its investigations into sexual misconduct are impartial, and must not allow attorneys involved in Title IX investigations to also represent the district in subsequent litigation.

The district responded that it has transferred cases dealing with allegations against teachers, coaches, and other adults to the district inspector general.

The district also pledged that during investigations, it will immediately remove any accused adults from schools.

Read the full text of the resolution agreement below:

As union sets strike vote date, Lightfoot strikes confident tone

2019-09-05T19:45:42+00:00

In her first public remarks since the teachers union announced a strike vote date, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters at a Thursday morning press conference that she remained confident of avoiding a looming teachers strike.

“We put a very generous offer on the table,” Lightfoot said. “Let’s get a deal done.”

The representative body of the Chicago Teachers Union voted unanimously Wednesday night to hold a strike authorization vote on Sept. 26. If three-quarters of the union’s members agrees to authorize a strike, teachers could walk out by Oct. 7.

Staffing remains a key sticking point. In its latest offer, the city proposed to hire in-house nurses and some other support staff.

Lightfoot noted that even if the district adds nursing positions, the jobs are difficult to fill.

“We need you to partner with us to be able to fill open positions,” Lightfoot said, addressing the union.

The union has said it is unlikely to accept the offer, and reiterated demands to include any new jobs for social workers, special education case managers and nurses included in the contract.

From Englewood to Old Town, Chicago mayor’s first-day tour of schools spotlights her priorities

2019-09-04T01:43:43+00:00

On the first day of school, Zulayka Montarez was picking up her children from a district-run school that has won her loyalty by offering her children an exciting opportunity: the chance to learn Spanish, her native language. Salazar Elementary Bilingual Center, an open-enrollment school in the Old Town neighborhood, offered bilingual services and hard-working staff that loved her kids, said Montarez, a native Spanish speaker.

“I want to keep it going — I want my kids to know both languages,” said Montarez, who lives a mile away from the school. “It’s very important.”

Salazar was the second of three stops on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s mostly laudatory back-to-school tour, with the press in tow. In the morning, Lightfoot attended a ribbon cutting at the new Englewood STEM High School, and after Salazar, she went to a rally for district workers who stand along school commute routes to help ensure students’ safety.

Together, the three stops highlighted the mayor’s education priorities. Englewood STEM, the only new high school Chicago opened this year, reflects her promise to invest in neighborhood schools that serve low-income communities. Salazar received a portion of the district’s $820 million in capital funds. And public safety has been a key Lightfoot priority.

“Are you the full mayor of Chicago?” one third grader asked Lightfoot as she entered his classroom at Salazar on Tuesday trailed by a clatter of TV news cameras and press aides, along with schools chief Janice Jackson and Deputy Mayor For Education Sybil Madison.

Lightfoot’s first-day-of-school tour conveyed part of her message to Chicago families. In an e-mail sent to Chicago parents on Tuesday, the mayor touted her promise to add hundreds of social workers and aides in the next five years, and claimed the district was on a positive course.

“Much work remains to be done, but I know that CPS is on a trajectory of success, and I invite you to be a part of it,” Lightfoot wrote in her letter.

At Salazar, parents said they appreciated the district’s investment in their school.

Sharese Scott, a parent of two Salazar students, said she she was excited that her children would learn Spanish.

“I don’t have any concerns about the school, I actually love it,” Scott said.

Scott said she particularly appreciates Salazar’s teachers. In fact, as educators started the first day of school without a contract, most parents Chalkbeat spoke with on Tuesday expressed support for teachers.

“The teachers, they talk to you, they are real concerned with the students,” Scott said. As she talked during after-school pick-up on Tuesday, several teachers, supervising students as they left the building, came by to check in on her children and how they had fared on their first day.

“They are the parent away from home, so I believe that they should be paid more because they have to do a lot,” she said.

Montarez agreed. Teachers “should keep going and keep trying their best — I support them all the way,” she said. “It is a lot of work educating our children every day.”

She hopes teachers can help her sixth grader keep her grades up. Montarez’s daughter had always gotten mostly straight A’s but with a B sprinkled in. This year, Montarez is hoping for a row of straight A’s.

Chicago continues to increase the number of graduates, but the city is still behind the state

2019-08-29T16:34:43+00:00

More of Chicago’s students continue to graduate after five years, with this year’s numbers showing a small uptick, but the rapid pace of increase has slowed.

Almost 79% of Chicago’s seniors graduated in five years this spring, compared with closer to 78% the year prior, the district said Thursday. (To find school-by-school results, click here.)

Chicago’s graduation rate is still behind Illinois. The state has not yet released its 2019 numbers, but last year, the four-year graduation rate was 85.4%.

In a statement, school district leaders described the 2019 rates as “a new record high” and said better access to rigorous academic programs, vocational education, and more social and emotional support for students helped improve scores.

Fifteen years ago, in 2004, Chicago’s graduation rate hovered at 50%. As recently as 2011, it was only 56%, increasing to 66.3% by 2014. It began topping 70% in 2016, when the rate jumped to 73.5%.

But district schools chief Janice Jackson also said that not all students are graduating at 78.9%. Last year’s five-year rate was 78.2%.

“While we celebrate the hard work of our educators, students and communities, moving forward, we will continue to focus on closing the opportunity gap by ensuring low income students of color have the support and opportunities they need to graduate and succeed after high school,” she said in a statement.

Black students graduated at the lowest rate of the student groups, at 73.3%, compared with 81.2% for Latino students. White students graduated at a rate of 87.6%.

District data show that girls are more likely to finish high school in Chicago. The graduation rate for girls is 84.6%, compared with 73.3% for boys.

The 10 schools that reported the highest graduation rates were primarily selective enrollments, or test-in schools: Whitney Young, Northside College Prep, Back of the Yards, King College Prep, Lane Tech, Payton, Jones, Carver Military, Phoenix Military, and Lindblom.

Excluding high schools for special education students, which have their own requirements, the 10 schools that reported the lowest graduation rates include several schools that have gone through consolidations or closings, as well as several that have struggled with dwindling enrollment: Orr, Amandla, Manley, Robeson, Bowen, Hirsch, Kelvyn Park High School, Collins, Hope, and Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy and Austin Polytechnical.

Chicago’s method for calculating graduation rates came under scrutiny a few years ago for being inflated. Jackson, the schools chief, said last fall that the district’s data was substantiated by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the state of Illinois.

Want to see results by school and compare to last year? Click here to find our searchable database.

Five things to know about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s teachers contract offer

2019-08-29T14:55:31+00:00

On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated her first 100 days in office by ticking off her accomplishments since taking office. When it comes to schools, those include a new school board that has made an effort to make dealings more transparent and an “equity-focused” budget for schools.

But one pressing item on her to-do list that remains unresolved is a contract with the Chicago Teachers Union. Her latest offer, unveiled earlier this week, would give teachers a 16% raise across five years — but the union is rejecting it.

Here are five things to know about Lightfoot’s offer and the future of the contract talks.

The city sweetened its offer this week — and notes that some teachers would get major raises.

Lightfoot’s latest offer is an increase over her previous public deal, which was 14% across five years. That represented the city’s acceptance of the recommendations from a third-party fact-finder, Steven Beirig, who urged a 16% pay hike.

Lightfoot’s team noted that, under her deal, the average teacher would see a salary increase of 24%, including the scheduled salary increases that teachers already receive based on years of service.

A second-year teacher, for example, would see her salary rise from $53,000 in 2019 to over $72,000 in the fifth year of the agreement, which is equivalent to a 35% pay raise, according to City Hall.

There are dark clouds on the city’s financial horizon.

Pointing to the city’s relatively rosy financial picture, the union argues that the city could offer higher pay, better benefits and more new staff than it has offered if it prioritized schools over other investments.

But while the city is in better shape than it has been, its finances are far from unshakable. The city faces a looming budget deficit of more than $700 million.

Lightfoot announced a city government hiring freeze last week in response to the deficit.

That freeze does not apply to the city’s sister agencies, such as Chicago Public Schools, her administration said in a statement, heading off concerns from teachers and others about whether the city will be able to add the new school staff it has promised.

Still, options to pay for a new contract are on the table.

The union wants the district to make a contractual promise to hire nearly 5,000 additional teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years. The union has argued that the city could afford its demands by dipping into “tax-increment financing” revenue, or TIF funds. Those are dollars generated by using taxes from specific neighborhoods where development is taking place to fund future improvements in those areas.

Lightfoot’s team told Chalkbeat in a statement that the city is still working out how it could pay for raises — but indicated that the union’s suggestion could be a possibility.

“The City is still evaluating how much is available in TIF surplus funds, and how these funds could be applied to balance several key priorities for the city,” city officials said in a statement. Those priorities include “the continued growth of our schools and neighborhoods.”

A city budget now doesn’t foreclose on improvements for teachers later — but the union is skeptical.

When Lightfoot announced her proposed budget, the city teachers union protested because only 2.5% raises for teachers were included. But Lightfoot says the city’s budget can be amended to reflect the terms of whatever contract deal is ultimately made.

In the past, the district has put out a supplemental budget on top of the general operating or capital budgets.

But the union isn’t taking the mayor on her word — they’ve doubled down on pushing Lightfoot to place staffing promises, in particular, into the union contract.

A strike remains possible, but city officials are striking a confident tone.

If the union and City Hall cannot reach a deal, the union has threatened to strike. The union’s rejection of the fact-finder’s report on Monday set a 30-day countdown for a potential strike.

But schools chief Janice Jackson has said she is confident that the district can avert a strike.

The pay offer from the district is “one of the largest increases in CTU history,” said Jackson. And while she was sympathetic to the pay freezes and furloughs teachers had faced in the past decade, Jackson said it was unfair to expect Lightfoot to make good on years of disinvestment in one contract.

“If we had all the money in the world we’d pay them the money professional athletes get,” said Jackson. “This is a fair contract given the financial constraints we have. We are moving in the right direction.”

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has trusted this deputy to oversee schools. What’s her plan?

2019-08-20T16:23:21+00:00

When Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a new school board she also named Sybil Madison deputy mayor for education and human services. But while Chicagoans have seen the board in action at lively monthly meetings, most of Madison’s role so far has played out behind the scenes.

Since her first official day at work in early July, Madison said she’s been busy getting to know the leaders, assets and challenges at the eight departments under her purview, especially Chicago Public Schools.

“My role isn’t to run the schools; that’s taken care of, because you know [schools CEO] Janice Jackson has that down, and her team is doing a great job,” Madison said. “My role is to forward the mayor’s vision, to work closely with that team to achieve that vision, and to understand where the mayor’s office, me and my team can add value to that work.”

Madison, who co-chaired Lightfoot’s education transition team, will oversee education and youth-related policies as deputy mayor of education and human services. While Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, at times had a chief of staff who led City Hall’s education agenda, the new deputy mayor position elevates the role to the second-highest level in city government. Madison, a clinical and community psychologist by training, brings to the post 20 years experience in the education world as a school improvement coach, researcher and leader.

Madison is the former director of the Chicago City of Learning, a coalition of youth-serving organizations focused on connecting students to out-of-school learning opportunities, particularly in the sciences. She’s also a former research associate with Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnership, and former director of education and leadership for Chicago Quest Schools, one of the charter operators under the umbrella of Chicago International Charter School.

Chalkbeat caught up with Madison for a phone interview to ask her about what she’s been up to and how she’ll work with schools from the mayor’s office.

Chicago’s new deputy mayor for education and human services, Sybil Madison (third from left) stands with schools CEO Janice Jackson (center) and chief academic officer LaTanya McDade at a press conference announcing her appointment June 3, 2019.

What is your job?

I’m the deputy mayor for education and human services, and there are about eight departments and agencies that I connect with, including Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago, but also family support services, the department of public health, parks, library, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and the Cook County Workforce Partnership.

What is your mandate from the mayor as your work pertains to CPS, and how will you work with the school district?

My mandate is to work very closely with the school district and city colleges to achieve her goals for education. She has a focus on strengthening our neighborhood schools. She wants to ensure that every young person in Chicago, particularly every young person in CPS, has a pathway beyond high school to a viable and sustainable future, whether that’s through college or that through a career path. She wants to make sure that our youngest children are in supportive and nurturing environments where they can learn and grow.

My role is to work very closely with CPS leadership, and leadership at city colleges and across all of those departments to make sure that we’re creating an ecosystem that is gonna support young people learning and growing. The opportunity here with this office is to think about how all of those departments play a role in the health and well-being of children and youth.

Does Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson report to you?

Janice is accountable to the board of education, and she certainly does not report directly to me. We work together collaboratively and we’re all working toward the mayor’s vision.

How does the mayor envision your office working with CPS?

My role sometimes might be to remove barriers to help problem-solve. There are some ways in which the mayor will push us all to be bolder and to do more for the students in the city. For example, when she made the announcement about increasing the number of youth who have workforce-based learning experiences in a career tech program. So there’ll be times when the mayor is kind of charging us to figure out how to get someplace maybe faster than we were going to get there. And we’ll work together to do that.

What issues at the school district are your biggest priorities this coming school year?

We’re thinking about things like, “what does it take to strengthen neighborhood schools?”

I’m really excited that Dr. Jackson is planning to engage the community this school year around understanding what equity looks like at a local funding level.

I’m bringing with me an interest in out-of-school-time learning, and understanding how we can complement what happens during the school day by better organizing, coordinating, connecting opportunities that happen outside of the school day.

But I’ll have more to say about priorities when I’ve been here a little longer.

What is the added value of having someone like you helping to address an issue like declining enrollment that has a lot to do with Chicago neighborhoods, community development and broader?

That’s why this office was structured around education and human services, to think about the intersecting systems that impact young people and families and individuals in Chicago. We also have a deputy mayor of public safety, and a deputy mayor for business and economic and neighborhood development, because these issues are bigger than simply education.

It’s going to take all of us developing strategies across our offices and across the departments to really tackle those kinds of issues, to move toward a city where everyone feels safe, to support the prosperity of our young adults and create situations that make folks want to stay in the city. That’s not just about education. A big part of what our work is will be collaborating across departments so that we can actually strengthen the city by strengthening neighborhoods.

‘Will we rise to the occasion?’ Mayor Lori Lightfoot issues a challenge to Chicago school administrators two weeks from start of school.

2019-08-16T23:11:28+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that one of the toughest questions she faced on the campaign trail came from a graduating senior at Whitney Young High School, who asked at a student-led candidates forum: “What are you going to do in the next four years to convince me I should come back to Chicago, and make Chicago my home?”

Lightfoot, reflecting on the question Friday during a speech at the school district’s fifth annual administrators summit about three weeks after her inauguration, asked the same of the hundreds of principals, assistant principals, and teacher leaders sitting before her.

“Of course it was an intentionally provocative question,” she said, to laughs. “But it’s the right question, it’s what we should all be focused on. What are we doing every single day, each of us, in our own way, to make our city better, stronger, fairer for young people to be able to thrive?”

The mayor holds vast power over Chicago schools, from control of the district’s budget and strategic priorities to decisions about district leadership and school board appointments. Friday’s event put her on stage in front of the school leaders charged with administering Chicago’s more than 600 schools.

Chicago Public Schools held the event at the city’s Symphony Center for school leaders to rally and plan ahead of the new school year around the vision of an equitable school district.

Also in attendance were decision makers who help steer the district, including schools CEO Janice Jackson, Chief Academic Officer Latanya McDade and school board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland, whom Lightfoot appointed earlier this summer after completely overhauling the previous mayor’s board.

For weeks, most of the focus on Lightfoot in the education sphere has been whether she would be able to resolve contentious contract talks with the Chicago Teachers Union. She’s also pledged to reconsider how much money Chicago spends for students and campuses with the most need, promised to bring hundreds of additional school support staff to the district and, with Jackson, announced a $7.7 billion budget, a 1.5% increase over last year.

Chalkbeat and other media members attended the start of the administrators event before being ousted by the mayor and the district’s communication teams.

Lightfoot said convincing graduates to build lives and raise families in Chicago hinges on how well the district prepares students for well-paying jobs and the opportunity for social mobility. She said she and Jackson are committed to bringing resource equity to the district to ensure that schools have the support they need, characterizing the district as “the most important institution in our children’s lives.”

“What can we do to strengthen the lives of our children so that they grow up with hope and inspiration in their heart — not fear, not trauma, but hope and inspiration?” she said. “Our children’s eyes are on us…will we rise to the occasion?”

Lightfoot emphasized the importance of schools and city officials collaborating, and offered advice to help educators weather the stresses of their job.

“Think about the necessity of self-care, and how you can embrace that need, to make sure that you’re doing everything that you can to be strong and supportive of our kids, our families, our teachers and all the support personnel that go into making the classroom environment as productive as possible and as nurturing as possible for our children,” she said.

The mayor also praised Brooks College Prep seventh-grader Alannah Stanley, who delivered a powerful performance of the national anthem to rave reviews Friday morning.

“There are so many amazing children in the city who are doing incredible things every single day,” she said to the administrators, using Stanley as an example. “You know this because you see it in the classroom. But we need to make sure we tell the stories of those children every single day.”

Lightfoot promises hundreds of new school support jobs, but few specifics on how to fund them

2019-07-30T21:41:46+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered the most detailed look yet at her education agenda on Tuesday, outlining plans to invest in special education support staff and nurses, improve the quality of vocational programs, and potentially revamp the way Chicago funds schools.

She did not offer specifics on how she planned to fund the hundreds of new staff positions across five years, but pointed to the district’s brighter financial outlook.

“The fortunes of CPS absolutely have improved,” Lightfoot said. “We feel comfortable this will fall within the resources we have.”

In a July financial report for the school board, district leaders said Chicago schools are on firmer financial footing than before thanks to increased state funding. But the district’s long-term debt now totals $8.4 billion, and it is still borrowing to pay for day-to-day operations.

During the campaign, Lightfoot pledged to wrestle with the issues of resource inequities across the district and to invest in neighborhood schools.

“Each one demonstrates our commitment to expanding educational equity for all our students and our families,” Lightfoot said at a press conference, at Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School on the West Side, devoted to teacher recruitment. “While every student learns differently, every child should have the support they need to be a lifelong learner.”

Speaking after the mayor, schools chief Janice Jackson said she was excited to “work alongside” the mayor on her plans. “Listening to this presentation today, I just have one word to say: Wow. I’m pretty sure principals, teachers, and parents across the city will have the same reaction.”

By the 2021-22 school year, Lightfoot promised two full-time special education case managers to schools with 240 or more special education students, or those who have Individualized Education Programs, and one full-time case manager to schools with more than 120 special education students.

The mayor proposed adding 200 social workers to Chicago schools over the next five years, along with 250 full-time nurse positions.

Staffing has been a key ask in contract negotiations between Lightfoot and the district. Besides raises, the union is asking the district to hire nearly 5,000 teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years.

But Lightfoot’s initial offer to the union of $300 million over five years didn’t include any line items for staff.

In a statement, the union demanded again that staffing promises be enshrined in the contract, that hired staff be fully licensed, and that the work would be kept in house and not contracted out.

“The staffing commitment the mayor made today still falls far short of the sweeping need in our schools,” union President Jesse Sharkey wrote in a statement. “And they must be supported not by a press release or a public pledge but by a real commitment in revenue and a legally binding agreement with the CTU on behalf of the students for whom we advocate.”

Lightfoot, who must also deal with larger-than-expected shortfalls in the city’s budget, said the investments will help schools deal with trauma and other tolls on students in Chicago neighborhoods beset by violence.

“The trauma that our children experience on a daily basis outside the classroom impacts their work inside the classroom, and we know that,” Lightfoot said. “We need to provide the supports so they have the opportunity to address what is going on in their life outside of school, and to support our teachers in recognizing those signs and systems.”

“For far too many of our children, their school is their safe haven,” she said. “They need their support and they are going to get it.”

In recent weeks, Lightfoot has discussed school needs with principals, teachers and parents, who identified staffing, vocational education and funding as their top priorities for district investment.

Lightfoot also promised to reconsider how schools in Chicago are funded during the next school year. That sets a timeline for the mayor. Chicago is one of several large school districts in the nation using weighted student funding, which tries to allocate funding based on individual student needs and the number of students.

An unlikely group of allies, from the Chicago Teachers Union to a school choice group with charter ties, have lobbied for the district to consider a wider array of student needs when allocating funds.

Five questions for the man training Chicago’s school police

2019-07-10T19:32:05+00:00

Facing a deadline to overhaul its school policing system by the start of the new school year, Chicago is moving forward in one key area: training officers.

For the first time since 2006, when police disbanded the school officers unit, all the 200-some Chicago police who serve in schools or supervise officers will receive training developed specifically for school officers on how to respond to disciplinary incidents and mental health crises in schools.

The training responds to requirements of a federal consent decree governing Chicago police. The city has launched reforms to policing, after officer shootings of young men of color that sparked protests around the country.

Mo Canady is conducting Chicago’s training. He is the executive director of the Alabama-based National Association of School Resource Officers, a leading group training police who serve in schools. Canady, a former police officer, has trained school police in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Pittsburgh.

Along with the training, the federal consent decree overseen by independent monitor Maggie Hickey instructs the Chicago school district and police department to develop clear guidelines for hiring, overseeing and evaluating school police officers by next school year.

The consent decree requires public engagement, although the school district’s Office of the Inspector General and community groups have complained of a lack of outreach.

The school district and police have scheduled three upcoming public meetings on school policing — see below for a schedule.

Chalkbeat Chicago caught up with Canady in Chicago to ask a few questions:

What brought you into this work?

I was a police officer [in Hoover, Alabama] for 25 years, and halfway through my career I got promoted and was moved into the school services division to supervise the SRO [school resource officer] program. I loved working with youth. During that portion of my career, I became a board member with NASRO [the National Association of School Resource Officers] and after I retired as a police officer I was hired to be the executive director. Our speciality is training law enforcement officers on how to work effectively in a school environment.

What makes the position of school police officer unique?

For the ideal security officer, the No. 1 goal should be to bridge the gap between law enforcement and youth. The ideal officer is carefully selected and then specifically trained in the SRO [school resource officer] triad concept — the role of law enforcement, the role of an informal counselor and the role of being engaged in the educational process.

You’ve only had a few days of training, but what have you covered so far?

We have covered the foundations of school-based policing, so we have also been teaching them how to function in a classroom environment, how to be involved in the educational process and the learning process. We have also been talking about special education and special-needs students.

For the first time, Chicago is putting together a written agreement between police and the school district on how officers behave in schools. What are your recommendations?

That is where a partnership between the school district and the law enforcement agency is so critical. Right now, the issue of who supervises the SRO is a critical one. It is sometimes difficult for the principal of a school building to understand their SRO may very well not be someone that they supervise.

While they are answerable [to a district commander], the SRO is there to work alongside the principal and to support that principal and help to maintain a safe school environment. At times a principal has been frustrated… that has created issues certainly.

The police department is under a federal consent decree for a pattern of abuse. Many of the changes outlined in the report relate to school police. How does that impact your work?

That really has no bearing on what we are doing. At the end of the day we really want to help officers be more effective.

Upcoming public meetings on school police:

July 17, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Eckhart Park in Noble Square

July 20, 10 a.m. to noon at Hamilton Park in Greater Grand Crossing

July 22, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Piotrowski Park in Little Village

Not just salaries: Five sticking points between Team Lightfoot and Chicago’s teachers union

2019-07-08T22:10:01+00:00

After weeks of union strike threats and angry press conferences, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s team came out with its first public contract proposals last week, featuring a 14% raise over five years.

The union immediately responded that the proposed wage hikes were not enough to cover the escalating cost of living in Chicago. It also repeated demands for more clinicians and social workers and an investment in support services such as trauma care. (Asked to describe their own demands, several rank-and-file educators told Chalkbeat they’d like less paperwork and more respect. Read what they had to say here.)

Lightfoot also offered changes prep time for teachers, grievance rules and grading frameworks — all areas of contention.

Beyond pay, here are some of the city’s proposed contract changes:

Enable principals to override elementary teacher prep times

Facing chronic understaffing and a shortage of regular substitutes, schools sometimes call in other teachers and even classroom aides to work as de facto substitutes. The board’s proposal suggests that principals have the authority to reschedule prep time for elementary teachers if they are needed to watch students.

In calculating time limits for filing a grievance, include professional development days

Union members have 45 school days from an event to file a grievance. The board wants to clarify that those days include professional development days, as well as days spent in the classroom.

Restrict appeals by teachers who receive the second-lowest rating

How principals and other administrators evaluate teachers has long been an area of controversy. Under the four ratings for teachers — excellent, proficient, developing and unsatisfactory — educators who are rated the two lowest, developing or unsatisfactory, can appeal their grade. The board’s proposal would no longer allow teachers rated developing to appeal their rating, arguing that the consequences of getting the second-lowest rating are not as dire as for teachers who face losing their job if they get the lowest rating.

Make principals responsible for developing a grading framework

The previous union contract suggested the district and union create a joint task force to redefine grading standards. Instead, the board suggests that each principal would put together a grading framework for their campus.

The system would mirror the how principals have wide autonomy to set their own school’s curriculum. However, educators have criticized that practice for putting too much pressure on school leadership and creating inconsistency in the district.

A longer union contract

The last contract between the union and the board ran for four years (it expired last week). This time, the city proposes the union sign a five-year contract to give the mayor more time between contract negotiations and also allow the board more time to incrementally raise salaries and put less budget pressure on the district.

The proposal also gives a nod to the union’s push for an elected school board, noting that if Springfield passes legislation to elect members of the board, it would make “abundant sense” to have union contract negotiations after, not before or during, the election of a new school board.

Biden defends record on busing at Chicago’s Rainbow PUSH convention

2019-06-28T23:59:46+00:00

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Friday defended his position on using busing to desegregate schools, saying at a labor luncheon in Chicago that he “never ever opposed voluntary busing” — but didn’t mention his opposition to court-ordered busing.

Biden spoke about his record supporting civil rights and his ideas for education after a heated exchange at Thursday’s debate among 10 Democratic presidential candidates. Fellow candidate Kamala Harris, who previously had criticized him for touting his ability to work with pro-segregation senators earlier in his career, accused him of opposing school busing, a program that had benefited Harris.

Biden indignantly denied that. He followed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and longtime civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson on the stage during Rainbow PUSH’s annual convention, which kicked off Friday at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters.

The former vice president advocated tripling federal funds awarded schools serving poor children, raising teacher salaries and making pre-kindergarten mandatory.

“Every single child in America has enormous potential but it means you have to have good schools in every neighborhood,” said Biden, whose wife Jill used to be a school teacher.

In contrast, Lightfoot all but ignored education in her talk — even as the current contract with the Chicago Teachers Union expires at midnight Sunday and negotiations over the next contract remain in limbo.

As she stepped to the podium, Lightfoot said, “I am honored to be here in the house that Karen built,” referring to the expansive headquarters built under the leadership of former union chief Karen Lewis, who retired last year amid a battle with cancer.

Instead, Lightfoot focused on the need for increased investment in the South and West sides.

“It’s been 400 years since the first African reached our nation’s shores in chains,” she said, noting the theme of the convention, which was the “repairing the damage” of the hundreds of years of African-American history in the U.S.

The answer, Lightfoot told the crowd, which included members of some of the city’s biggest public unions, is a plan for a comprehensive urban investment program.
“We cannot look away from the needs of people in our neighborhoods,” she said. “If we want to be a truly global city we need to look south of Roosevelt and West of Ashland. This is not a challenge, but an opportunity.”

The teachers union long has demanded more resources for South and West side schools, affordable housing and wage hikes.

Since Lightfoot took office in May, negotiations with the teachers union have moved slowly. Lightfoot’s team has said it is still weeks away from sharing a full contract proposal.

The union, meanwhile, has argued that Lightfoot and the district are not negotiating in good faith. “We are still negotiating with Rahm’s bargaining team and proposals,” Ronnie Reese, the union’s communications manager, said, referring to previous Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The two sides are expected to continue bargaining, and teachers could return to school in the fall without a contract.

Lessons from a Chicago school merger: Race, resilience, and an end-of-the-year resignation

2019-06-21T20:45:42+00:00

As the adults around her worried about what and how they would teach, Kiara Caref had a simple concern: Would she connect with the new kids?

At Ogden International School, which last fall merged with nearby elementary school Jenner Academy for the Arts, Kiara’s friends were mostly white and middle-class like her. Jenner students were mostly black and from low-income families.

But the seventh-grader found herself building new bonds this school year. “I’m open to any type of friend,” she said. “I’m not going to grow up only being friends with people who grew up like me.”

Seventh-grader Ka’Mayra Boyd had different concerns. She was worried that the sense of community she had enjoyed at Jenner would not survive the merger.

A year later, she says she missed Jenner’s Black History Month celebration, which did not take place at the merged school. “But it’s getting better,” she said about the new school, especially social science classes that have taught her more about civil rights, local community issues and qualitative research methods.

Kiara and Ka’Mayra were two of 1,340 students on Chicago’s Near North Side who lived through an unusual and high-stakes initiative this year: a community-driven effort to meld two schools — racially, economically, and culturally distinct — into one.

A successful merger would offer a new model for how communities can help Chicago tackle its thorniest education challenges, including declining school enrollment and deep racial and socioeconomic segregation.

After stumbles and strides, Ogden students and teachers said that they felt like the merger was headed in the right direction and described moments where the school community had banded together to solve problems that had surfaced throughout the year. Then, on the last day of school this week, came shocking news: Acting Principal Rebecca Bancroft would be leaving the school at the end of the month.

Bancroft’s departure means that Ogden is heading into summer break with just as much uncertainty as it started the year — a daunting reality for the students, teachers, and families who have spent the year on a roller coaster ride, and for the city that could learn from their efforts.

“Ending the year in this way is a blow,” said Jezail Jackson, a first-grade teacher who also sits on the council that helps govern the school. “It feels like two steps forward and one step back for the school community.”

A “community-driven merger”

The merger talks began in 2015. Ogden, with an international focus and a diverse but largely affluent student population, was bursting at the seams. Jenner, 98 percent black and predominantly low-income, wanted to stanch an enrollment decline that nearly got it closed in 2013.

Those dynamics emerged in part from the schools’ adjacent but very different attendance zones. Ogden’s zone spanned much of the Near North Side and included a diverse swath of mostly affluent families. Jenner’s much smaller zone was confined to the area around the former Cabrini-Green projects, where many low-income black families continued to live in row homes. However, the demolition of the Cabrini high-rises — which was spurred in part by the tragic shooting of one Jenner student, Dantrell Davis, and the brutal rape of another known as “Girl X” — meant that there were far fewer children in the zone to enroll at Jenner.

The complicated geography created a unique opportunity that parents, community leaders, teachers, and administrators seized upon as they hatched a plan to bring their schools together. They would use all three buildings — the two that Ogden already used, and Jenner’s — to serve both sets of students, relieving crowding pressure at Ogden and connecting Jenner students with the resources of a larger school. They formed a Jenner-Ogden Steering Committee and hired a consultant to help craft a merger proposal.

That proposal reflected something new for Chicago, which had closed or merged more than 170 schools, often abruptly and despite fierce community opposition, over the previous 20 years, in efforts to manage declining enrollment and chronic underperformance. Instead of having a bureaucratic solution imposed on them, the Ogden and Jenner communities remained in the driver’s seat — and got to spend several years working through potential challenges.

“This was more of a community-driven merger than [Chicago Public Schools] saying we’re closing this school and moving it into that school,” said first-grade teacher Deborah Sheriff, who has been through three campus mergers during her career in the district. “And this is the first merger that CPS has really been involved in two or three years before the merger happened.”

The process wasn’t easy, and opposition to the merger sprouted in both school communities.

Some Ogden parents complained that the Jenner campus was unsafe, too close to crime havens and Cabrini Green, according to meeting transcripts. Other Ogden parents worried that their school’s strong academic record and reputation would suffer if Jenner’s lower-scoring students were enrolled. An online petition against the merger garnered about 200 signatures — not a huge number, but a significant one.

Meanwhile, some Jenner families feared that their community would lose its identity and agency in a merged school. Some worried that Ogden was simply trying to grab their school’s building, without regard to the needs of Jenner students.

But others at Jenner were eager to escape the perpetual fear of closure and sought access to Ogden’s resources and curriculum. At Ogden, some families pushed back against resistance to the plan, accusing parents who raised concerns of harboring racist attitudes about Jenner students.

Ultimately, in February 2018, the city’s school board signed off on a merger plan. Students in both zones would go to one building together until fourth grade, then another for middle school. And students in both zones would be able to go on to Ogden’s well regarded high school.

The result: The school that opened in September is among the 10 percent of Chicago public schools with no racial majority. In a city where the majority of schools are racially segregated, 37% of Ogden students are black, 30% white, 16% Asian, and 15% Latino. And its families span the economic spectrum, from affluent Gold Coast families to public housing residents.

Students say the merger brought together young people who were relatively close geographically but rarely had opportunities to connect face-to-face and see through stereotypes.

Ogden International students (from left) Dajae Allen, Jacari Brown, and Kiara Caref

When 12-year-old area resident Jacari Brown arrived at his new school in September, he found “nice new teachers, wonderful kids,” he said. “I even made some new friends right off the bat,” he said. And the classes? “Compared to last year, I’m not even going to lie — they are way better.”

The first day of school capped years of deliberate efforts to bring the two communities together.

To get students comfortable with the change, parents and students attended each other’s school open houses and report card pickups the previous year. The communities shared events, planned joint field trips, and set up pen pals for families to get to know one another. Parents formed a diversity committee, and attended workshops to address their own biases.

Teachers at the two schools also worked together. Anticipating a wide range in students’ skills, teachers learned how to flexibly group students, and to lean on each other for advice and support.

Ogden had already been using the International Baccalaureate program, a rigorous curriculum that is popular with families and increasingly common across Chicago. Observing that the IB program’s inquiry-based approach seemed well-suited for the merged school because it pushes students to think about themselves in global contexts and become more culturally aware, Jenner teachers learned how to teach the approach as well.

And the district pitched in, dedicating $1.8 million for a social worker, youth advocates, parent support, diversity training, and more. That support helped Ogden teachers to get training about how to work with children who have experienced trauma and how to manage different kinds of student behavior.

The merged school drew families and educators eager to be part of a uniquely diverse school community.

Ngozi Okorafor chose the school so that her son would be surrounded by students from different backgrounds. On her son’s first day of kindergarten, the Nigerian-American lawyer was pleased to see that he had Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, African-American, Latino, and white classmates.

“They will appreciate diversity if it is celebrated,” she said.

And teacher Maria Arellano, a native of Honduras, left Namaste Charter School to be part of a movement to foster racial and economic integration.

Her third-grade class includes students reading at the kindergarten level and others reading like sixth-graders. She said the training that she and her colleagues had received had paid dividends.

One of her students with would lash out and occasionally run out of the classroom on the spur of the moment. But through daily check-ins with him, Arellano learned he was dealing with the loss of a family member to gun violence.

She built a relationship with his mother. One day after he walked out on the classroom, Arellano said she called the mother, who told her simply, “’Put me on speaker.’” And then Mom said sweetly, “‘Honey, you need to listen to your teacher.’” The boy returned to class.

“After three months in the classroom he stopped yelling, hitting, and leaving the classroom,” Arellano said. “He’s a joy. People love him. I just saw him transform, and I think it’s not just a coincidence. … I think it’s the work we did to learn who our kids are.”

A ‘fractured’ community

But a series of challenges and missteps would undermine that work. The problems began when Jenner Principal Robert Croston, who had helped engineer the merger, died of illness at age 34 in March 2018, just after the plan was approved. That fall, shortly after the school year began, the district suspended Ogden Principal Michael Beyer for allegedly falsifying attendance records.

In December, the school’s acting principal, Rebecca Bancroft, said in her monthly leadership report that Ogden was a “fractured” community. It didn’t help that the Jenner name had been dropped from the merged school, and with every turn, concerns surfaced that Jenner’s identity was being sidelined.

While the planning committee had worked to treat the two schools’ concerns equally, sheer numbers gave Ogden more influence. That school had four times as many students as Jenner in elementary school, and many more teachers as well.

That meant that the majority of teachers in the merged school were from Ogden. Most of them were white, in contrast with Jenner’s mostly black staff. And one popular black teacher at Jenner, Tara Stamps, whose family has a long tradition of activism and organizing in Cabrini Green, had not made the move. She had applied to be an assistant principal but didn’t get the job, distressing Jenner families familiar with her leadership.

Ogden voices were front and center on the new school’s Local School Council, too. The one representative from Jenner, Kizzy McCray, quickly began having doubts about participating in the leadership group. Accustomed to Jenner meetings where attendees would more freely talk and seek solutions, she said she wasn’t used to the tightly run Ogden LSC meetings with strict time limits on speakers, where she said members could have been more responsive to parent concerns.

“I got tired and overwhelmed,” said McCray, who is Ka’Mayra Boyd’s mother. She stopped attending meetings — leaving the former Jenner community without an official voice until she was voted off the council for excessive absences and the council chose a different Jenner parent to take her place.

Inside the school, despite the training on classroom management and social-emotional learning that teachers had received, a disturbing dynamic was emerging. Black students were being disciplined far more often than their classmates — something that research shows is a serious and pervasive problem across the country.

In the first semester after the merger, the school issued 41 suspensions, with nearly half taking the form of harsher out-of-school exclusions. Thirty-five of those suspensions were for black students, meaning that black students were being suspended at more than twice the rate expected given their share of the student population.

City data does not show whether students who were suspended came from Ogden originally, or from Jenner. But the year before the merger, Ogden had suspended just seven students all year long. (Four of them were black.)

Parent complaints fell along racial lines, according to Sheriff, the first-grade teacher who came from Jenner.

She said she fielded a call near the start of school from a parent who said, “My son is in a class with all Jenner kids, and that is not right.” There were only three students from Jenner in the class, she said — but several others were also black. More recently, she said she’s also gotten calls from parents saying their children were being bullied by “Jenner kids.”

“There’s a bias,” Sheriff said. “There’s plenty of kids who are in the school who are black who are not from Jenner.”

The divide fell into sharp relief — at least for the former Jenner students and their families — in February.

That’s when Jenner had always organized an extravagant Black History Month assembly featuring student performances of songs, African dance, and plays about black historical figures. Another highlight was a black history fair with student presentations about African-American leaders, inventors, and famous former residents from the Cabrini Green public housing projects.

This year, the fair didn’t happen, leaving students such as Boyd feeling left out. “It was more important for me to know about successful Cabrini Green people I didn’t know about,” she said.

McCray said the loss of Jenner traditions grew to feel overwhelming. “It feels like Jenner was taken over rather than actually merged,” she said.

‘Something that was lost in this process’

City education officials said they hope McCray’s sentiment can be avoided in future school mergers.

“To me it matters more that you’re telling me that a parent felt like it was a closure or a takeover,” said LaTanya McDade, the school district’s chief academic officer. “And if they felt that way, then that means there was something that was lost in this process that we have to recapture.”

Already, efforts are underway to change the tenor within the school. Late Principal Robert Croston’s widow joined the staff as a middle school counselor in March. Sheena Croston had been a fixture as a volunteer in the Jenner community and has lent a sense of continuity to the campus.

Her charge is to help students deal with emotional challenges, and coach teachers to respond compassionately, rather than just punitively, when students misbehave. But she said she also sees her role as “a pillar of strength” at the Jenner campus who can tap into her own loss to connect with students going through hard time.

“I have a smile on my face and I’m here to hold your hand, to talk to you, to support you, to be a part of every thing that everybody is feeling and doing to make this merger successful,” she said.

The district is working to improve relations at Ogden in other ways. McDade said a forthcoming parent engagement plan will ensure that former Jenner parents — who have felt excluded — have ample opportunities to volunteer and to participate in school events.

Getting it right will be important for the city. Chicago has more than 200 schools with enrollment so low that the district has begun giving out “equity grants” to help boost programs that attract families. But the district is predicted to keep shrinking, which means fewer families to draw from and tough decisions ahead. New Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she wants to pursue alternatives to closure — something that a state law says districts must try before deciding to shutter a school.

That means more mergers are likely coming to communities across Chicago, although the timeline and frequency are not yet clear. Lightfoot has said, though, that if schools do have to close or merge, the decision to do so should be community-driven, as happened at Ogden.

For now, any lessons emerging from Ogden’s first year are tempered by Bancroft’s abrupt resignation, announced Thursday in a letter to families. The city declined to offer details about her move and she did not respond to requests for comment.

With Bancroft’s resignation effective June 30, the Local School Council must scramble to choose someone else to steer the merged school into its second year. Whoever takes over the job of managing Ogden’s three campuses will face a long to-do list.

Bancroft’s last leadership report, delivered at a school council meeting in early June, outlines plans that her successor will have to oversee, including a series of student leadership retreats this summer and plan to train teachers in the coming year in IB teaching techniques, restorative justice, and other strategies for teaching students with wide-ranging needs and skills. The school also has 18 vacancies to fill this summer, including several positions added to support the merger such as an instructional coach, business manager, and a family and community communications liaison.

District officials say they are on standby to help.

“It is very important to the district and me that Ogden’s next principal continues the progress your community has made over the past two years,” McDade wrote in a letter to Ogden families. “The district will collaborate with your elected Local School Council over the summer to identify an acting principal who reflects your values and priorities, and is ready to support the continued growth of your school community when class begins in the fall.”

Also standing by: the school’s students, who came together this year in remarkable ways, and won accolades from the city for doing so.

This month, Chicago honored the Ogden-Jenner Student Voice Committee for its work promoting a positive campus culture. The committee designed and built a room where students feeling stress — about the merger or anything else — can get a break and some support.

Eighth-grader Dajae Allen recently told a crowd gathered at the Harold Washington Library for a civic honors ceremony that, at the beginning of the year, there was “an unsaid wall between the two school communities.”

But bit by bit, she said, students took it upon themselves to break down that barrier.

“We were experts on what it means to be students at our school,” Allen said, “so we needed to lead the way to advance the health of our new school community.”

Those efforts, and those of her colleagues, also leave Jackson, the first-grade teacher, optimistic about Ogden’s future.

“I know that we are all very very hard workers, and our hearts are in it,” Jackson said. “We have to work harder to ensure this success. These obstacles that keep coming, they cannot be the end all be all for us. They just can’t be, because we all just deserve more.”

Lightfoot: New Chicago school board will stop making so many decisions behind closed doors

2019-06-03T19:44:02+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised Monday to change how the Board of Education does business — starting with the board’s tendency to end monthly meetings with lengthy closed-door deliberations before voting on major decisions.

“The majority of the work that the school board does is going to have to be in the public,” Lightfoot said. “The days where everything was done in executive session, and then they come out and take a vote, that’s over.”

Lightfoot’s declaration came Monday morning during a press conference at Hampton Fine and Performing Arts School in the Ashburn neighborhood on the far Southwest Side, where she unveiled her new appointed school board.

“I think every single one of the members here that we are proposing understand that transparency is the cornerstone of legitimacy,” Lightfoot added. “You can’t have legitimacy when you do everything in secret, and we’re not going to operate that way.”

Lightfoot announced a new seven-person school board on Monday that includes people with deep experience in Chicago schools, including former graduates, a principal, and parent and community advocates. Lightfoot said she targeted candidates with academic backgrounds and a broad array of experiences learning about, understanding, and challenging the school district.

New School Board President Miguel del Valle said Lightfoot “wants a board that is going to challenge a system that has a lot of great things happening, but can always do better,” and promised a shift of tone in the board’s stewardship of schools.

“I want vocal, active board members who will use their expertise to challenge the system,” Del Valle said. “It’s not going to be a rubber stamp, it’s not going to be [a board] that will wait for orders before casting a vote.”

School board Vice President Sendhil Revuluri said that the mayor, schools chief Janice Jackson, and del Valle would take the lead hashing out how to improve transparency at the board.

While decisions related to contract negotiations, personnel, and other sensitive issues will likely stay behind closed doors, Revuluri said the new board would have to figure a balance between transparency and ensuring that the board can efficiently provide governance and oversight of the district.

“It’s extremely important that we have transparency, that we can evaluate decisions that the district has to make, but that we do that in a way that promotes trust,” he said.

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to support a switch from a school board appointed by the mayor to one chosen by the public. She said Monday that her appointments would serve as an interim step to an elected board, which requires a change to state law. She retains the power to appoint and remove school board members at will until then.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey issued a statement Monday that decried recent layoffs and demanded that Lightfoot keep her promise of support for an elected board.

The union president said Lightfoot had a chance to pass a bill in the state legislature that would have created an elected board. “Yet she refused,” his statement said, “instead doing what [Mayor] Rahm Emanuel did for eight years: pushing Senate President Cullerton to derail that legislation while refusing to engage with the very grassroots forces that have been fighting for this most basic democratic right.”

Sharkey also called on Lightfoot’s newly appointed board to quickly tackle critical needs at Chicago schools, including more resources for bilingual education, more nurses, social workers and clinicians in every school, supports for students affected by trauma and poverty, and relief for overcrowded schools.

Lightfoot, who has called the legislation Sharkey references “unwieldy” for its large number of voting districts and board members, said she’s hearing from various stakeholders about ideas for structuring a new elected school board. She said she intends that process to yield a legislative proposal that “gives a real pathway for those parents who are on the [Local School Council], those parents of CPS students, to really have their seat at the table.” But in the interim, she said, “the [board’s] work needs to continue.”

Lightfoot said she wants the board to apply a lens of equity and inclusion as it governs schools, with a focus on improving the quality of classroom experience for students across the city and ensuring that neighborhood schools get enough resources to create better opportunities for young people.

When asked about his priorities on the board, Del Valle said one of his biggest concerns is “taking steps to strengthen neighborhood schools while continuing to support the work of our selective enrollment schools, and existing charter schools.” He said more state funding would go a long way toward that goal, and acknowledged that Chicago’s per-pupil approach to funding district schools creates a resource challenge for schools losing enrollment.

He also said he’d like for the city to expand early childhood education programs, improve special education, and lower the chronic truancy rate by better engaging parents and providing students with more wraparound services to address issues outside school that might pose barriers to good attendance.

As schools chief Janice Jackson said in her remarks Monday, the new board has a lot of work to do.

“Chicago Public Schools is a district on the rise, it’s no secret that CPS stands out as a positive model throughout the country, but we will not be satisfied until every single child at Chicago Public Schools has an equal opportunity and an equal shot,” she said. “And we’re not there yet.”

Meet Sybil Madison, Chicago’s new deputy mayor for education

2019-06-03T15:34:36+00:00

Education is getting new prominence in Chicago’s City Hall, as new mayor Lori Lightfoot names a deputy mayor focused on the city’s schools.

Sybil Madison, one of four chairs of Lightfoot’s education transition team, will be the city’s first deputy mayor of education and human services, Lightfoot announced Monday.

Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, at times had a chief of staff tasked with leading City Hall’s education agenda, but the new position elevates the role to the second-highest level in city government.

Madison will be the City Hall counterpart to the school district’s Janice Jackson, whom Lightfoot reappointed as schools CEO in one of her first acts after being sworn in. Close coordination between City Hall and the district will be key if Lightfoot executes on her promise to transition the appointed school board to one elected by city residents, a move that could effectively end mayoral control of the city’s schools.

Madison directs the Chicago City of Learning, a coalition of youth organizations focused on connecting students to learning opportunities. She is also a research associate with Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnership and a former official at Chicago Quest Schools, a charter operator running part of Chicago International Charter School. She also served with Lightfoot on the city’s Police Accountability Task Force.

Lightfoot introduced her new deputy Monday at a press conference at which the mayor unveiled her seven-person Chicago school board. She said she’s known Madison for some years through Amy Eshleman, Lightfoot’s wife and a former Chicago Public Library assistant commissioner. Together, Eshleman and Madison worked on projects “focused on thinking about learning beyond the classroom setting and really making sure that we are meeting the learning needs of our young people 24 hours a day, not just during the school day,” Lightfoot said.

“She’s a mom, with two kids, and she is going to be a great leader for our education and human services activities here in Chicago,” Lightfoot added.

Madison shared what she learned running Chicago City of Learning on a blog she maintained from 2013 to 2015. Her insights could offer a window into the thinking she will bring to the deputy mayor position and suggest that her organization could offer one model for tackling the equity gaps as Lightfoot had promised during her campaign to address.

Chicago City of Learning was inspired by issues raised during the 2012 teachers strike, Madison said in a 2016 interview, and quickly identified “learning deserts” where children had few opportunities to learn coding. Then the group solicited funding to bring coding courses to those communities.

That effort represented only the beginning of what Chicago needed to ensure that children in low-income neighborhoods have access to the same resources as students in more affluent areas, Madison said.

“We know as we continue to get better at populating the learning ecosystem, we will continue to identify concerning trends, and we look forward to supporting community stakeholders in developing innovative approaches to addressing those concerns.”

At the same time, Madison wrote on her blog in 2015, the organization found that its potential impact was limited.

“We all know that ‘if you build it,’ they won’t necessarily come!” she wrote. “We also know that if what you build is situated in a societal context that has not changed structurally, then those who are less resourced are least likely to find ‘it’ and reap its benefits. In order to achieve equity within a robust learning ecosystem, one must do so ‘by design.’”

By next school year, federal police monitor expects Chicago to revamp school police program

2019-05-31T21:50:41+00:00

The Chicago school district and police department must develop clear guidelines for hiring, overseeing and evaluating school police officers by next school year, according to a one-year plan released this week by independent monitor Maggie Hickey as part of a federal consent decree overseeing the city’s troubled police department.

The series of deadlines for crafting a policy on police in schools lays out a tall order and a relatively fast timeline for sweeping changes. For the first time in more than a decade, the 100-plus officers who patrol Chicago’s schools will have regular training and written guidelines.

New Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who also oversaw police discipline cases as president of the Chicago Police Board, has been critical of the role that police have played in schools but has yet to promise any concrete changes.

Citing an altercation earlier this year at Marshall High School where police were filmed dragging a girl down a flight of stairs and tasing the student, Lightfoot questioned whether police should be “effectively, first responders in our schools.” But she has also said some schools were dangerous and need security presence.

Below are the deadlines that the court monitor ordered the school district and police to meet:

Before next school year: develop criteria to decide which officers serve in schools

By the start of school the police department, which places officers in schools, must develop criteria for screening school officers to ensure they’re qualified and able to work safely and effectively with students, parents and school employees.

To measure effectiveness, the monitor will follow whether officers are judged by the criteria and the extent to which the department engages with community members in placing officers in schools.

Before next school year: clearly define the role of officers within schools

Without a separate unit for officers who serve in schools, or a dedicated school resource officer program, police in schools have few clear guidelines about their role in schools or how they are expected to be involved in discipline with students. That means principals or deans have to develop practices with the officers working in their schools.

And because officers report to their police commanders, there isn’t a clear way for school leadership or teachers to keep officers accountable. “I’ve never had any formal communication from CPS about the role of police officers in schools,” Chad Adams, principal at Sullivan High School in the Rogers Park neighborhood, told the Chicago Reader in 2017.

Before next school year, the monitor said police must “develop a policy that clearly defines the role of officers assigned to work in CPS schools,” including prohibiting officers from administering school discipline and deciding how to use data of police activities in schools.

By the end of this year: create annual training for officers in schools

Improving police training was a recommendation from both the U.S. Department of Justice and a police reform task force Lightfoot served on several years ago.

Currently, officers don’t receive youth-specific training or guidelines. Without them, advocates argue that officers treat students as they might a suspect on the street.

The consent decree suggests that by the end of the year, the district will create training for officers going into schools that will be taken yearly and include teaching about cultural competence, de-escalation techniques and youth development.

Meanwhile, a committee is creating a training for school resource officers that was mandated by a bill drafted by police reform advocates and signed into law by former governor Bruce Rauner last August. The law requires school resource officers in Illinois to take at least 40 hours of training every four years that includes crisis intervention training and trauma-informed care for youth.

Before next school year: sign a memorandum of understanding between the police and Chicago Public Schools

Last fall, Chicago’s inspector general released a report on Chicago’s police in schools and noted “extreme concerns,” and recommended the police department and the school district create a memorandum of understanding about the roles and responsibilities of school-based police.

The monitor instructs both bodies to “undertake best efforts” to enter into an agreement that would clearly lay out procedures for how officers would interact with students on school grounds.

In a statement, the district said they are “fully committed” to partnering with the police department, and that “the MOU process is moving forward.”

Lori Lightfoot gave her first City Council address to Chicago high school students. Here’s what she said.

2019-05-24T01:17:06+00:00

On Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stepped up to the Chicago City Council podium for the first time. Her audience wasn’t the city’s aldermen, but rather 50 Chicago Public Schools students representing some of the very schools she pledged during her campaign to revitalize.

The students, who were participating in a mock government day, represented 10 neighborhood high schools that sometimes struggle to attract students drawn by the city’s rigorous selective-enrollment schools. Students spent the day writing and debating ordinances covering such of-the-moment topics as culturally-relevant curriculum and better training for the police who staff their schools.

Midway through the votes, Lightfoot arrived, surprising the students, many of whom quickly whipped out their mobile phones to snap close-ups of the first black woman to lead Chicago.

“You probably conducted more business efficiently than maybe we have in a long time in City Council,” she said, squeezing in a humorous jab at the often contentious elected body. “So we’ll follow your lead, to make sure we’re actually getting things done for the people.”

“In all seriousness,” she continued, “It’s really important for you all to understand how government functions, how it doesn’t, what the complications are, but most importantly — that you learn and that you’re civically engaged. There are a lot of great and interesting things happening all over the city. But the area we want to focus on is that the work we’re doing benefits you — the next generation of leaders in the city.”

Lightfoot said in her inaugural speech Monday that education is one of four pillars she wants to focus on, along with public safety, fiscal stability, and rebuilding trust in government.

One of the students listening to her remarks in the council chambers Thursday was Samuel McClendon, 15, a freshman at South Shore International College Prep.

McClendon dreams of becoming a fashion designer, not a politico, but he said he felt inspired by Lightfoot, appreciated the opportunity to see her in action, and wanted to extend an invitation for her to visit his school on the city’s Far South Side.

Asked what he would he tell her, he had a ready answer: He doesn’t want the a vacant high school campus nearby to be converted into a police and fire training facility, a potential deal that surfaced this spring under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and quickly met controversy.

“It would be really helpful if she could help change that,” McClendon said, “so we could use our old building for after-school programs, for sports. We don’t want it to be used for a police academy. We want it to be used for us.”

During her campaign for mayor, Lightfoot suggested placing police training centers in vacant schools — an idea that was widely panned on social media. It was a low point in an otherwise ebullient campaign.

The mock government event, now in its second year, is part of a broader district and statewide push for stronger civics education. Chicago has rolled out its own civics curriculum, dubbed Participate, and City Clerk Anna Valencia said she is working closely with schools to develop a real-world experience that connects what students are learning in classrooms to what happens in government. Besides the mock City Council day, she visits several high schools and speaks to classes.

“I tell students all the time, it’s great to protest. We need that. But if you can get inside government, you can really change things.”

‘It’s our last meeting’: New mayor Lori Lightfoot moves to disband Chicago’s school board, setting up major shift

2019-05-22T20:35:44+00:00

Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, said Wednesday she is disbanding the city’s seven-member school board, moving quickly to set up what is likely to be a dramatic transformation of how the 361,000-student school district is governed.

Lightfoot, who was sworn in Monday, campaigned on a promise to support a switch from a school board appointed by the mayor to one selected by the public.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall Wednesday afternoon, she said none of the current board members would remain in place. But since the move to an elected body requires legislative approval, Lightfoot said she would appoint an interim board and would announce the names of those selected soon.

During this period, she said, “we want to make sure we are doing what we could to bring diversity into the process.”

As for selecting interim replacement, Lightfoot said, “My first priority is placing an emphasis on people who have children in the system or have themselves been a part of the CPS system, whether as administrators, teachers or principals.”

News that the school board would be disbanded came just prior, at the end of a four-hour and otherwise pro-forma school board meeting, when the board’s president, Frank Clark, announced: “It’s our last meeting. Really truly thank you, it’s been an honor.”

The seven board members, all appointed at some point over the past eight years by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, oversaw and, in many cases, supported some of the most landmark changes in Emanuel’s tenure, including a 20-percentage point climb in graduation rates and the nation’s largest single round of school closings.

Schools chief Janice Jackson thanked Clark for his service, and said working alongside the board had made her a better leader. “I have felt both challenged and supported in this role. You all have served with integrity, and pushed us to be better,” she said.

As Clark made his announcement, district staff filed into the room and, at one point, gave a standing ovation to the outgoing board members.

Board member Mahalia Hines, who was chosen by Emanuel in May 2011, thanked Clark for his work, and thanked the former mayor for appointing her to the role. Hines also had a special message for the parents who use the public comment section at each board of education meeting to press the board for more resources and, sometimes, to make the outright case that their children’s schools should stay open.

“I want to say thank you to all of the parents who come and take their time to be here. You have helped me to grow,” said Hines. She also commended Jackson, who will continue in her role as schools chief under Lightfoot. “You’re not just saying you are putting children first, you live it.”

During her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, spoke often about how her mother served on the elected school board in her Ohio hometown, and said she supported a move to an elected board in Chicago.

In advance of Wednesday’s meeting, vocal members of a parents’ group that supports a state bill that would establish a 21-person elected school board began posting on Twitter that they were disappointed that Lightfoot had not overhauled the existing board during her first few days in office.

Lightfoot was sworn in Monday. In her inauguration speech, she spoke about education as one of four priority pillars for her incoming administration. On Tuesday, she said she officially planned to retain schools chief Janice Jackson.

Meanwhile, a bill that would establish a 21-member elected school board has stalled in the Illinois Senate after passing the House. A coalition of legislators, teachers’ union representatives, and parents groups support the measure. But Lightfoot has described the proposal as a “recipe for chaos and disaster” because of its size and has asked for time to study the issue more.

Heather Cherone of the Daily Line contributed to this report.

Lori Lightfoot makes it official: She’s keeping Janice Jackson as Chicago schools chief

2019-05-21T23:12:28+00:00

Following weeks of speculation about how she’d fill senior leadership roles, Chicago’s new mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday that she’ll retain homegrown schools chief Janice Jackson in the top job at Chicago Public Schools.

That decision was largely expected. Lightfoot said during the campaign that she recognized the need for stability atop schools. Until previous Mayor Rahm Emanuel named Jackson schools interim chief in December 2017 — she became permanent a month later — Chicago schools had been overseen by a seven schools chiefs in a span of five years. One left under a cloud of an ethics scandal; another ended up in prison.

Five days after the election, Lightfoot told the Chicago Sun-Times that she “came away very impressed” in an early meeting with Jackson.

“She gets tremendous praise from people all over. I was at an event and a principal came up to me … as if on cue, she started talking about Janice Jackson. How great she was. Janice was walking toward us. I said, ‘Turn around and tell her yourself.’ That’s the kind of praise she gets at every level in the school system.”

Since the Feb. 26 general election put Lightfoot in a runoff, Jackson’s supporters have appeared at board of education meetings to stump for her in public.

“We’re going to keep our CEO,” said Darlene Obanner-Suttle, a Local School Council member at Earle Stem Elementary School in West Englewood, at a meeting the day after the runoff. “We don’t care about the elected school board.”

In Jackson’s first year as CEO, she’s wrestled with continued enrollment declines and revelations of a student sex abuse crisis and troubles in a special education program that violated students rights. She has also presided over another round of school closings, this time four high schools being phased out to make way for a new school in Englewood.

But she’s also won praise from educators and parents for bringing more stability to the system. She has delivered school budgets earlier, steered more money and programs to schools that sorely need them to attract new students, and released a five-year vision that articulates a central path toward improvement. One part of that is a massive curriculum initiative that will go before the school board on Wednesday.

‘We must meet our educational challenges together’: What Lori Lightfoot said about schools on her first day as Chicago’s mayor

2019-05-20T17:25:49+00:00

Speaking Monday before a jubilant crowd at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena just south of the city’s booming downtown, a steely and sometimes emotional Lori Lightfoot stressed that she will work to “put equity first in education” and to support educators, nurses, and other adults working to create a “safe and nurturing environment” so children can learn.

She also pledged to broaden opportunities for the city’s youngest learners as well as vocational options for teens for whom college may not be the right path.

The first black woman to be mayor of Chicago, Lightfoot gave a poignant inaugural speech that evoked the image of the city’s flag and her hope of “building and rebuilding” a city that has been divided by race, economic inequality, and violence.

She spoke about reinterpreting the four stars on the city flag as four pillars that will be the priority of her government: public safety, specifically an anti-violence strategy; education; fiscal stability; and integrity, starting with rebuilding trust between government and residents and ending aldermanic privilege — a section of the speech that drew rousing applause and shouts from the audience.

Below are her full remarks about education.

The second guiding star is education. We cannot attract families to Chicago, and keep families here, without providing a quality public education — for every child — and that means every single child. As a city, we make promises to our children. Most of all, we promise them an education – a safe, relevant, and challenging education that prepares them for meaningful work, civic engagement and lifelong learning. But whether we deliver on that promise often depends on where you happen to live. It’s time to give every child and young person a good education, to prove through our schools that we believe in them, that we support them — no matter who they are or where they live. That every child gets a quality education — that’s our business, no matter what. Someone said to me recently that children are a product of the adult ecosystem around them. And she was 100 percent right. Our words, our values, how we meet our commitments and rise to the occasion — it all matters. We’re shaping the future leaders of our city, and when we put equity first in our education system, when we make good on a promise that every kid matters, it will instill within our children the values we seek to foster in our city as a whole. That promise must begin early—that’s why we will work to expand early childhood education, and extend the promise of a good education through high school and college, and to every kid, no matter their path forward. Every student should have the option to pursue vocational and technical training. We will work with businesses and unions to set up apprenticeships for those who want to learn a trade. We will then connect Chicago’s employers with our job-ready students while they’re in school, so they can get to work the day they graduate. And we will support our great teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and other support personnel who are essential to creating the safe and nurturing environment necessary for our children to grow, learn and thrive. Let me also say that I’m thrilled to see so many young people in the audience—my next few words are for you and all of your peers across the city: You have the most at stake in the city’s future, just as the city’s future most depends on you. We need your energy, creativity, intelligence, and dedication. There’s hard work ahead of us. But we will do that work, because we believe in you and in the vast, still- untapped potential of this great city. Our goal is simple: starting in our schools, we will create a citywide workforce as the pipeline for the jobs of today and tomorrow that will be the envy of the world. We are each other’s business. And we must meet our educational challenges together.

Her speech on Monday follows on the heels of her transition committee’s report, which was given Friday at Malcolm X on the city’s West Side. Here are the education priorities they recommended, and a copy of the full report.

And here’s what more than 300 Chalkbeat readers told us they hoped Lightfoot would consider about their schools as she takes office.

With new mayor on horizon, Chinatown parents resume push for Near South Side high school

2019-04-22T19:44:39+00:00

Chicago families are deep into admissions season, with some students already set on a high school and others still searching for the right fit.

But in Chinatown, the process reminds parents of an option their eighth-graders lack access to: a high-performing neighborhood high school that they don’t have to compete for.

With plans for a neighborhood high school still up in the air, Chalkbeat Chicago recently visited the neighborhood and sat down with parents, Local School Council members, and community residents to talk about schools. The visit was the first of our “office hours” series, where we meet with community residents in community spaces and listen to what they have to say about public education where they live.

“The fight now is still for a high school,” Chinatown resident David Wu said, “for the kids who couldn’t get into selective enrollment schools.”

Wu said getting into one of the city’s 11 selective enrollment high schools is “everyone’s dream whether you’re an immigrant or been here for a long time,” but the competitive slots are limited so Chinatown students are scattered across the city. “We don’t have one high school that community agencies can work together to invest and pour into.”

Chinatown’s longstanding call for a new high school is one of the many community education issues that Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot will have to wrestle with. Earlier this month, Lightfoot signaled that she’ll be looking for solutions to help Chinatown residents. She pledged to back their push for a neighborhood high school.

That message was welcome news to a Chinatown community education committee called the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, which organized to push for a high school and hopes to reboot its efforts once Lightfoot takes office.

“We have great community engagement,” said Raquel Don, a Local School Council member at Ward Elementary School and a member of the committee. “But the decision-makers have to commit to putting a high school here, so we can hold them to that.”

In the conversation with Chalkbeat reporters, Chinatown advocates praised the neighborhood’s high-quality elementary school options, and the community groups, LSCs, parents and dedicated teachers who support them.

But residents criticized the district for being slow to respond to the unique language and cultural needs of Chinatown’s growing immigrant population. They said they’d like to see school communications for parents prepared in Chinese, Chinese-English curriculum, and more Chinese-American teachers. Five percent of the district’s student population is Asian.

And, of course, we heard a lot about the ongoing need for a new high school.

Last year, the neighborhood appeared to have finally secured a new high school nearby. Chicago Public Schools announced a plan to close National Teachers’ Academy, a high-performing elementary school prized by the black community, and remake it into a high school. A judge granted an injunction halting the closure, signaling that a civil rights lawsuit filed by four black parents had merit. The district scuttled the high school plan.

Chinatown advocates learned a lesson from the debacle, which pitted their interests against those of the predominantly black NTA community, whose school was top-rated and a pillar of pride for families. Parents from one marginalized community felt like they were forced to compete against another marginalized community also fighting for the best interests of its children. Chinatown parents said they won’t make that mistake again.

“It was tough seeing parents and teachers pour their hearts out,” said Anita Jones, a black Chinatown parent and a bus monitor at Haines who serves on Chinatown’s education committee. “I felt their pain and our pain.”

Chinatown advocates emphasized the need to build more bridges across both racial and class divisions with their Near South Side neighbors. In the future, they would like to see more collective deliberations about what families on the Near South Side need, before neighbors approach the district with demands or the district comes up with a plan that affects them.

“You need the politicians and the capital funding to come together,” said Warren Chin, an LSC member and parent at Healey Elementary School. “And somehow all the communities have to unite as one and say this is what we want.”

One aim with the push for a new Chinatown-serving high school, as several parents pointed out, is to provide a desirable option other than selective enrollment high schools, which accept a limited number of applicants through a competition that some critics call stressful and inequitable.

Parents want a new high school to offer high-demand programs like vocational education, to advanced placement, and a science, technology, engineering and math focus.

Chinatown residents and organizers said they intend to keep pressure on decision-makers. Don said that the school district should consider the nearby Bridgeport community for a new high school.

The Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community, whose education committee many of the parents sit on, also sees an opportunity in a high-profile real estate development planned for a 62-acre swath between Chinatown and the South Loop. The City Council recently approved a $700 million tax subsidy for the massive project, dubbed “The 78th,” because the developers behind it, Related Midwest, have billed it as Chicago’s 78th community area.

The project is moving forward at a time when community groups, activists and some city lawmakers are increasingly pressing developers to include community benefits like affordable housing in development agreements that include public tax subsidies and other incentives. The Coalition For a Better Chinese American Community hopes to insert schools into the conversation.

Relate: The tension between Chicago enrollment declines and new schools

Chinatown, a growing community, also continues its push for a new high school campus amid broader population declines at a district whose enrollment drops by thousands every year, a loss fueled by an exodus of black families from the city, stagnate Latino immigration into the city, and declining birth rates. The district has had to wrestle with the tension between calls for new schools in growing neighborhoods and calls for support at neighborhood schools losing population and in fear of closure.

Until the new high school is a reality, Chinatown parents stressed the need for investment in their current options such as Kelly High School, which has more Asian students than most other district schools and offers language services for Chinese students.

But Kelly is also overcrowded, several miles southwest of Chinatown and rated Level 2, the district’s second-lowest rating for schools. There isn’t a top-rated neighborhood high school within three miles of Chinatown — although Chinatown is moving increasingly southwest, closer to Kelly.

Chinatown advocates highlighted one major challenge to pressing the city for neighborhood improvements: The community is split among several different wards, diluting its political leverage against any one alderman.

Yet the community does has a history of organizing for social infrastructure like parks and libraries, but many of those victories were a long time coming.

David Wu remembers when he used to attend community meetings related to Chinatown leaders’ push during the ’90s for Tom Ping Park, one of the only large green spaces in the neighborhood. The park was established in 1999, but not finished; it took more than a decade for the city to build a fieldhouse there and other final touches.

By that time, Wu’s own children were older, and not much into playing in the park. Wu and other Chinatown residents said their push for a new high school can’t wait a generation to come to fruition.

“Hopefully our campaign is not for their grandkids,” he said.