Chalkbeat

As Chicago’s shelter rule for migrant families takes effect, here are three student rights to know

2023-11-27T12:00:00+00:00

Chicago educators and advocates are concerned about how Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new 60-day limit for shelter stays for migrant families will impact attendance and stability for migrant students.

The new rule comes as the city has struggled to house migrants. More than 22,000 have arrived from the Southern border since August 2022, many fleeing economic and political upheaval in Central and South American countries. City and state officials have promised to boost efforts to help families get resettled and find more permanent housing, a commitment that comes just as a state-operated rental assistance program will no longer apply to newly arrived immigrants who are entering shelters, Block Club Chicago reported.

About 50 families have already received the notices, and another 3,000 will get them on Dec. 4.

Advocates said losing shelter could mean more absences among migrant students who are homeless — formally known as students living in temporary living situations. That designation includes children in shelter, living doubled up with another family, or living in a public place. As of Oct. 31, average attendance rates this school year for homeless students are 5 percentage points lower than their peers with permanent housing, according to Chicago Public Schools data shared with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

School stability is related to academic success. A 2015 study that examined New York City students found that children who transferred schools were more likely to be chronically absent or miss at least 10% of their school days. Chronically absent students who were also homeless were three times more likely to repeat the same grade than homeless students who missed fewer than five days of school, the report found.

“We’re talking about kids who have been around for two months, who have gotten into a routine, maybe made some friends, have some sense of control finally, where they can get two hot meals a day — we’re talking about sending those families back to the bus landing spot,” said Gabriel Paez, a bilingual teacher on the West Side, of the mayor’s new rule.

Sixty days is a “very short time” to find housing, especially for newcomers with language barriers who are dealing with asylum cases or have not been authorized to work yet, said Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

If families don’t have permanent housing lined up, they can return to the “landing zone” — the downtown area where most buses first drop off newcomers — and can request a new shelter placement. Families can stay in their shelter under “extenuating circumstances,” such as a medical issue, if there is extreme cold, or if they’ve obtained a lease with a move-in date that starts later than when they must leave shelter, the mayor’s office said.

A spokesperson for the mayor declined to comment. In a statement, a district spokesperson said it is working with the city and schools to “ensure new arrival students, who are nearly all considered Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS), can get access to a Pre-K-12 education within our system that offers the appropriate services, including English Learner services.”

Homeless children have certain rights enshrined in federal law aimed at maintaining stability for them at school, including the ability to stay at the school where they’ve been attending.

Here are three education rights that families living in temporary housing should know about as the city’s new shelter rule takes effect:

Homeless students have the right to stay in the same school

Students living in temporary shelters who have enrolled in the local school or a nearby one are entitled to stay at the same school even if they’re forced to leave the shelter after 60 days.

This is true for any student who becomes homeless. Federal law protects their right to remain in their so-called “origin school.”

Just as any other Chicago Public Schools student, homeless students can enroll in the local neighborhood school in their new community by simply walking in. Also like any other student, they can apply to selective or magnet schools, but the deadline to apply for these schools for next academic year has passed.

Migrant students may also be referred by other city agencies, such as the Department of Family and Support Services, to receive enrollment help from the district’s central office, including at the city’s Pilot Welcome Center at Clemente High School on the West Side.

In that case, the district will enroll students based on where they live, the students’ needs — such as English language services — and “existing capacity and resources at the school.” If there are space issues at a school, the district “can assist with an alternate school assignment,” a spokesperson said.

Once 20 or more students with the same native language enroll at a school, state law requires they launch a Transitional Bilingual Education program. Such programs require instruction in both English and the native language, such as Spanish.

The district has budgeted $15 million to hire more bilingual teachers, dual-language program coordinators, and “other resources to support English learners,” a spokesperson said.

Homeless students have the right to transportation

Homeless students also have the right to receive transportation to school even if they move. And, according to CPS guidelines, their school must inform the student and a parent about transportation services. If a student finds permanent housing, they are still entitled to transportation until the end of the school year.

According to CPS guidelines, homeless students in need of transportation must receive a CTA card within three days of requesting one. Children in preschool through sixth grade can receive an additional card so that a parent can accompany them on public transit.

Students in those grades can also apply for school bus service if a caregiver can’t accompany them to school because the parent has work or education conflicts, a mental or physical disability, or the shelter won’t allow parents to leave during the hours of dropoff and pickup.

Citing a driver shortage, the district this year has limited school bus service to students with disabilities and those who are homeless. As of October, 113 homeless students qualified for busing, but it’s unclear how many of them opted instead for a financial reimbursement.

Homeless students don’t need paperwork to enroll

Schools must enroll students who are homeless even if they don’t have records normally needed to enroll, such as immunization or previous school records, proof of guardianship, or proof of residence, according to the district.

Families fleeing domestic violence or political turmoil may not have grabbed important documents, Nix-Hodes said.

It’s up to the school to “sensitively” identify that a family seeking enrollment is homeless without violating their privacy, Nix-Hodes added.

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

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’s going on with Chicago’s Near South Side High School plan?

2024-05-20T17:35:24+00:00

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

A controversial plan for a new Near South Side high school appears to have stalled.

Families on the Near South Side and Chinatown have been asking for a dedicated community high school for years, as many families say students are forced to travel across the city to attend selective-enrollment schools that offer classes and extracurriculars nearby high schools lack.

In 2018, plans to convert National Teacher’s Academy, 55 W. Cermak Road, into a high school were scrapped after outcry from families and NTA staff. Instead, a $150 million school was proposed for the former Harold Ickes Homes site near 24th and State streets on the Near South Side.

That plan was met with criticism from Bronzeville and Chinatown neighbors who opposed building the school on public housing land. It has also drawn accusations of backroom deals and prompted backlash toward Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Housing Authority, and City Hall leaders.

Now, officials are being quiet about the status of the school, and a website that served as an information hub for the proposed high school has been taken down.

“We’ve been given no update yet, but as far as I know, everything is pretty much still status quo. I’m still committed to making this happen,” Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) told Block Club.

A Board of Education vote to approve a capital budget for the project was originally set for June 2023 but was pulled pending further review, sources said at the time. It’s unclear what the next steps are.

In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said the website was “currently paused,” but more information would eventually be shared.

“The Near South High School proposal is still under review as the District develops long-term strategies and objectives through work on the CPS Educational Facilities Master Plan and Five-Year Strategic Plan,” district officials said in a statement.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not respond to requests for comment. During his campaign, Johnson pledged to enforce a moratorium on building anything on public housing land, but it is unclear whether he supports the school proposal.

A month after the stalled school board vote, Johnson replaced all but one board member and named Jianan Shi school board president. Shi, previously with parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand, was part of a coalition of residents calling for the high school to be built elsewhere.

The proposed site for a new CPS high school is a vacant lot at 24th and State Streets, where the former Harold L. Ickes Homes sat.

The story so far

Near South Side neighbors and elected officials have long fought for a community high school in the area, saying the lack of options for the growing population has forced students to travel up to two hours to other neighborhoods.

But many of those proponents have pushed CPS to consider other sites for the school. They suggested The 78 megadevelopment, or a plot between 17th and 18th and Canal and Stewart Avenues. They also suggested repurposing Jones College Prep into a neighborhood school.

The Illinois Answers Project reported last year that CHA, CPS, and city officials had homed in on the Harold Ickes Homes site by July 2021, maintaining to the public there were no other viable locations for the school.

School board members narrowly voted in September 2022 to buy the land at 23rd Street and Wabash Avenue for $10.3 million for the school. They also approved a land swap deal with the CHA: The district would lease land at 24th and State for the high school, and the housing agency would get the deed for the Wabash land to complete the Southbridge residential development, allowing some of the families displaced by the demolition of the Ickes Homes to return.

The school would accommodate 1,200 students from the community, 30% of them Black. It would be a feeder school for nine surrounding elementary schools: Armour, National Teachers Academy, Drake, Healy, Ward J, Holden, Smyth, Haines, and South Loop.

An ad hoc committee consisting of parents, community leaders, and district staff was formed in November 2022 to guide CPS families through the process. The following month, the City Council approved $8 million in tax-increment financing dollars to buy some of the land involved in the swap. The ad hoc committee launched a series of virtual meetings in January 2023 to get community input and was to meet twice a month ahead of the scheduled board vote.

People Matter co-founder Angela Lin talks ahead of a 2022 protest opposing the controversial proposal to build a new $150 million high school on Chicago's Near South Side.

Following the land swap, Rep. Theresa Mah vowed to withdraw the $50 million in state funding she helped secure because of the city’s refusal to compromise with neighbors who wanted to explore alternate sites.

Mah told Block Club earlier this month she hasn’t had a chance to speak with Johnson’s administration on the issue, but she remains firm on finding a compromise that doesn’t involve using public housing land.

“I want to revisit it, and I still believe we should consider another site because it doesn’t make sense to stick with a site so many are opposed to,” Mah said. The funding for the school will be reappropriated in the meantime, she said.

Other opponents were concerned about the siphoning of resources from other nearby high schools, including Wendell Phillips and Dunbar Vocational Academy — two predominantly Black schools that have suffered budget cuts in recent years.

Organizers from the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, Lugenia Burns Hope Center, People Matter, and the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community held a series of City Hall protests and town halls after the land swap agreement, some of them calling on former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to do away with the plan altogether.

“We have not heard any news,” said Grace Chan McKibben, executive director of Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. “We are in the process of trying to figure out who in CPS we should talk to about this. It is unclear who is leading the planning of the Near South high school, or if anyone is.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson pushes education agenda with ‘urgency’ during first year in office

2024-05-14T11:00:00+00:00

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On a recent Tuesday morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson visited classrooms at Kelvyn Park High School in Hermosa to present certificates of recognition to teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Flanked by an alderman and the chief of finance for the teachers union, Johnson posed for photos and created a scene rare to find before last year: The mayor standing side-by-side with teachers, some wearing bright red Chicago Teachers Union shirts.

The scene was an indicator of the pivotal role education has played in Johnson’s agenda in office.

When Johnson, a former middle school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, was elected last year, it was no surprise education would be a central priority.

The union catapulted Johnson into office, and his win was the result of a decade of CTU organizing against how previous mayors approached public education. Instead of a system in which schools compete for students and parents choose the best option no matter how far they may have to travel, Johnson promised to focus on bolstering neighborhood schools, many which have seen declining enrollment and fewer resources.

As Johnson hits the one-year mark in office, his appointed school board has overseen a change in the district’s funding formula and directed district leaders to come up with a new five-year strategic plan, to be voted on this summer, that would rethink the city’s school choice system, which includes charter, selective enrollment, and magnet schools that require applications for admission.

“We have to fund our schools based upon the need,” Johnson said in a February 2023 video interview with Block Club Chicago. “Every single school should have a social worker, counselor and nurse as the bare minimum.”

But Johnson faces a big challenge in carrying out his education agenda: Chicago Public Schools is facing a projected $391 million budget deficit next fiscal year and has provided little detail on how it will close the gap. Federal COVID money is running out and he must bargain a new contract with the teachers union.

Johnson’s agenda also called for free public transit for students, housing for the district’s 20,000 homeless students, and creating up to 200 more Sustainable Community Schools – a partnership with the CTU that provides wraparound services at needy schools. None of these promises have seen any progress.

Still, education may be the one area where Johnson has made progress during his first year in office, said Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of politics at University of Illinois at Chicago and a former alderman.

“In comparison to, say, his other problems — solving crime, for instance — he is much further along on the school agenda,” Simpson said.

The speed with which Johnson can deliver on his education promises is important because he will soon lose exclusive control over the Chicago Board of Education, as the school board begins to transition to a partially elected body this November.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Johnson said his focus on education “has more to do with the urgency that families are calling for.”

“We’re talking about decades upon decades of school closures, the defunding of our schools, the attack on veteran educators, particularly Black educators,” Johnson said. “So our urgency is really centered around the needs of our young people and the needs that our families have.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson visits the classroom of English teacher Noe Castro at Kelvyn Park High School with Principal Keith Adams and Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

Bolstering neighborhood schools, but not without backlash

Johnson’s plans to bolster neighborhood schools kicked into gear last December.

Just before winter break, the board of education passed a resolution aimed at boosting neighborhood schools and rethinking Chicago’s school choice system, which encourages kids to enroll in public schools outside their attendance zones. Half of all elementary students go to schools that are not their zoned neighborhood schools and more than 70% of high schoolers do.

Johnson has described the choice system as a “Hunger Games scenario” that forces schools to compete for students and resources and results in less investment in neighborhood schools. The resolution said the choice system “reinforces, rather than disrupts, cycles of inequity” and must be replaced with “anti-racist processes and initiatives that eliminate all forms of racial oppression.”

Though many selective enrollment and magnet schools were created under court-ordered desegregation, many still lack the diversity of the city and are largely segregated by race and class. A couple dozen are integrated, but serve more white and Asian American students than the rest of the school district.

The board’s resolution did not change any current policies or suggest the closure of any schools. Board members emphasized that public feedback would drive any changes, such as to admissions policies. Board members have, however, said they plan to scrutinize charter schools more.

The resolution was praised by advocates who have long pushed for more investment in neighborhood schools and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Johnson “ran on equity,” said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. “He said that our school district had to be more equitable, and the resolution that came from the Board of Education is speaking to the inequity and their efforts to ameliorate inequity that are often disproportionately experienced by neighborhood schools.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson meets students as he tours Kelvyn Park High School in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

But the resolution also sparked backlash from families whose children attend schools of choice, including those already frustrated that CPS was not providing bus service to general education students, largely those attending selective and magnet schools.

Those concerns pushed state lawmakers to file a bill that is up for a final vote this week, which would prevent the district from changing admissions policies for selective enrollment schools – something the current board signaled it may do. The bill would also prevent CPS from cutting funding for selective enrollment schools or closing any school until 2027, when the school board will be fully elected. The bill is supported by powerful state lawmakers and Gov. J. B. Pritzker.

Johnson said the bill would prevent the board from taking actions to help create “real equity” and would prevent the district from balancing its budget. He began rattling off the relatively small percentages of Black students at some of the city’s most sought after selective enrollment high schools and noted how those figures were higher about two decades ago.

“What I’m troubled by is that you have a school district that is hypersegregated and that stratification has continued to grow because you haven’t had leadership like mine directing the school board and the Chicago Public Schools to commit to real equity,” Johnson said. “So is Springfield intervening to protect segregation?”

Simpson noted that Johnson has “a more strained” relationship with the legislature and Pritzker, meaning he doesn’t have a lot of clout to fight for what he wants.

Mayor Brandon Johnson pats the head of kindergartner Triston during a back-to-school event at Jackie Robinson Elementary School in Bronzeville on Aug. 21, 2023.

CPS changes funding formula

In March, CPS announced it would change how it distributes money to schools, delivering on another major promise Johnson made on the campaign trail to end student-based budgeting, which provides schools a set dollar amount for every child enrolled.

The new funding formula will now give every school a base level of staff and discretionary money based on need, which principals can use flexibly. This “needs-based” formula is meant to break a cycle in which underenrolled schools in underinvested neighborhoods lose money because they’re losing students.

That change, too, has drawn a fresh batch of concerns.

Parent leaders at selective enrollment and magnet schools said their budgets provide for fewer staffers next year under the new formula. Some Local School Councils are voting against their budgets for next year.

CPS officials have said that overall funding to schools remains the same as last year but individual schools could see changes. The district is looking for cuts at the central office to address the $391 million deficit, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has said. CPS has not yet released school budgets for next year to the public.

The union also raised concerns about the formula, saying it lacks guaranteed positions, such as teacher assistants, and said some neighborhood schools have also seen cuts. Davis Gates blamed Martinez – not the mayor – for those flaws, because she said he is not explaining the changes well to the public or lobbying the state legislature hard enough for more money to prevent staffing cuts to some schools.

Mayor Brandon Johnson hugs art teacher Meredith Kachel at Kelvyn Park High School as he surprised her for Teacher Appreciation Week. Johnson visited the school with Principal Keith Adams and Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools, said “multiple staff members” have visited Springfield throughout the session to advocate for more funding, and Martinez has pushed for more funding “for well over two years in Springfield, at our Board of Education meetings and beyond.”

CPS officials have said that no type of school is being disproportionately impacted. But Martinez has acknowledged that they are working to fix concerns at individual schools.

Mayor inconsistent on police out of schools

Some education-focused organizations have criticized the mayor’s administration for pushing big changes through or flip-flopping on commitments without properly engaging the public.

Hal Woods, director of policy and advocacy for Kids First Chicago, shared some examples. For one, the board publicly posted its resolution stating its intent to rethink school choice two days before the board voted, leaving little time for the public to digest it, Woods said. The district is currently holding hearings to collect feedback for the next strategic plan.

Parents and schools have also demanded more information about why the district is changing its funding formula, Woods said. He added that the former formula wasn’t working for many schools, but the district hasn’t shared enough about the new formula or its impact on schools.

Woods also said the mayor could be more clear with communities on his position to remove police from schools. Johnson supported getting rid of campus police on the campaign trail but later said local schools should have the power to choose whether to have school resource officers. Then in February, the mayor backed the school board when it voted to unilaterally remove officers from all campuses by next school year.

School police officers in the hallways of Lane Tech High School in Chicago.

“There’s plenty of data that shows how police in schools impact youth mental health, right, and the disproportionate impact on Black students and Latino students, but … they’re kind of making a decision based on their values without kind of educating the public on why they’re making that decision,” Woods said.

Johnson said “he will talk to anyone” and rejected the idea that his administration isn’t transparent enough. He pointed to the handful of board of education meetings that have been held at high schools in the evening instead of downtown during the day. He believes some of that criticism comes from people who “have had unfettered access” to previous mayors, and there are “people who now have access who were shut out before.”

“I’ve said all along,” Johnson said, “there’s plenty of room at the table for everyone.”

Fulfilling other promises before school board shifts

There are several promises Johnson hasn’t made progress on, including expanding Sustainable Community Schools, a CPS partnership with the teachers union that pairs needy schools with community organizations that provide wraparound services to families. Each program costs about $500,000.

While Johnson has shifted focus toward neighborhood schools, his administration is struggling to support the 8,900 migrant students and families who have arrived in Chicago from the southern border since at least August 2022.

As a candidate, Johnson promised to invest more money in bilingual education. Between August 2022 and last August – five months after he was elected – the number of bilingual-certified educators grew by 90, according to CPS. Between last August and the end of April, that figure grew by another 106 teachers.

CPS and the city also opened a welcome center to help migrant students enroll in school and access other resources. CPS said it helps direct families to schools with the proper resources when they are struggling with enrollment.

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at a press conference at Roberto Clemente Community Academy before the opening of a pilot CPS welcome center for newly arriving families on July 17, 2023.

Still, the union, lawmakers, and families have reported that many schools are struggling to meet the needs of migrant children, most of whom are learning English as a new language and are homeless. Those challenges include lacking enough staff to help children with specialized English instructions.

Johnson again blamed state lawmakers for their efforts to protect selective enrollment schools, saying it would “prevent us from having the type of budget, autonomy, and flexibility to invest in those schools” that lack resources to help English learners.

Johnson also hasn’t gained ground on providing the district’s 20,000 homeless students with housing — a bold promise tied to a signature campaign promise to pass the Bring Chicago Home referendum. That ballot measure, which would have used a tax on property sales over $1 million to help fund housing for homeless families, failed in March.

Ultimately, Johnson’s education legacy and the fate of his preferred policies will depend on what the future elected school board does, Simpson said.

“I do think the new school board, as it begins to take shape, will revisit these issues and either move forward with the general direction of Johnson and the current school board, or will roll them back to an extent,” he said.

It could also depend on the ongoing financial challenges for Chicago Public Schools. Asked how he will achieve his goals in the absence of more money from Springfield, Johnson said he’s exploring other “measures and steps that we can take as a city.” When pressed for details, Johnson’s office declined to elaborate.

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

Election results show Chicago voters reject ballot measure aimed at helping homeless

2024-03-22T15:15:21+00:00

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A city ballot measure aimed at reducing homelessness and increasing affordable housing failed Tuesday, a setback for efforts to serve the growing number of Chicago Public Schools students facing housing instability.

The “Bring Chicago Home” initiative was voted down 54 percent to 46 percent, according to unofficial results released Thursday.

The measure backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former school teacher and union organizer, would have raised a one-time tax on real estate transfers for purchases over $1 million.

Chalkbeat reported last week that 21,855 students currently enrolled at CPS were considered Students in Temporary Living Situations, or STLS. That’s up from 14,317 such students last February. The district’s homeless student population has been around 5% for the past decade, which is twice the national average.

While the vast majority of those students are classified as “doubled up,” living with another family temporarily, the number of students living in shelters or out of a car, park, or other public place more than tripled in the last year — from about 2,000 last February to nearly 8,000 this February.

Backers of the ballot initiative estimated the increase could have generated roughly $100 million annually for the city to fight homelessness.

Chicago Public Schools would not have directly received any of the increased revenue, but advocates and the mayor said the money could fund homelessness prevention, affordable housing, and other city-run housing assistance programs that would benefit students and their families.

Supporters of the initiative called the results disappointing and vowed to “keep fighting for housing justice.” Opponents said they also want to make Chicago a better place to live and support solutions that boost the “supply of naturally occurring affordable housing.”

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

Chicago student homelessness is rising. Could a tax change backed by the mayor help fix that?

2024-03-14T19:55:36+00:00

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Derrianna Ford lived with her grandmother on Chicago’s north side growing up, but when the older woman lost her home, Ford and her siblings had to relocate to the south side for about a year.

They moved from the city’s West Ridge neighborhood to the South Side during her freshman year at Mather High School. Ford said she had to wake up at 4 a.m., take a bus to the southernmost stop on Chicago’s Red Line, ride almost the entire 26-mile route north, and then get on another bus in order to get to school by 8 a.m.

During the week, she would occasionally stay with a friend closer to school to avoid the long commute.

“This is so normal to us,” Ford said. “You don’t see yourself as struggling because you’re used to it. You don’t see it as homelessness.”

These days, Ford, now 20, is searching for a place of her own. But she has another goal. She’s knocking on doors to help pass a ballot referendum in Chicago on March 19 that advocates say could put a real dent in reducing homelessness.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer and middle school teacher, promised in his education platform and transition plan to house the city’s homeless, with a focus on more than 20,000 students in Chicago Public Schools currently facing housing instability. In the last year, the number of CPS students in unstable housing situations — which can disrupt or derail students’ academic progress — has risen by roughly 50%.

To address that, Johnson and his allies are pushing to increase a real estate transfer tax on sales of property sales worth more than $1 million to generate an estimated $100 million annually to fund services for the homeless and affordable housing.

Some progressive groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union which helped propel Johnson to office, have been advocating to increase the city’s real estate transfer tax to help the homeless since Rahm Emanuel was mayor. The effort — dubbed Bring Chicago Home — is something Johnson emphasized often on the campaign trail last year.

“The people of Chicago voted for me because I said that I’m going to address homelessness,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Bring Chicago Home is an opportunity to address homelessness.”

A document obtained by Chalkbeat outlining Johnson’s first-term goals suggested his administration hopes to help house 10,000 students and their families.

But opponents of the initiative challenged the ballot question’s legality in the courts, even asking the Illinois Supreme Court to block the measure, which the court declined to do Wednesday. Still, some groups, including the nonpartisan budget watchdog Civic Federation, are concerned the mayor and City Council have not been specific enough about how the money would be used.

“This is the mayor’s signature item,” said Ald. Brendan Reilly, who represents much of downtown and opposes the referendum because it lacks specifics and could have unintended consequences on rental property and commercial real estate. “He’s put a lot of political capital into it and right now the Chicago electorate gets to give him a report card. I think this is as much about the policy as it is about a commentary on his agenda.”

Chicago Public Schools would not directly get any of the estimated $100 million in revenue that a change to the real estate transfer tax would generate. CPS officials did not comment on the ballot initiative, but said the district will continue to support homeless students and protect their rights under federal law.

More Chicago Public Schools students identified as homeless

The number of students in temporary living situations enrolled at Chicago Public Schools has hovered around 5% for at least the last decade — twice the national average. Recent data indicates the problem is getting more acute as the numbers climb.

District data shared with Chalkbeat from the end of February indicated 21,855 students currently enrolled at CPS were considered Students in Temporary Living Situations, or STLS. That’s up from more than 14,317 such students last February. CPS data includes any student categorized this way at any time during the school year, and once a student is marked as such, they keep that status for the remainder of the year.

The vast majority — around 16,000 students — are classified as “doubled up,” meaning they are living with another family temporarily, like Ford was while a freshman in high school.

But the number of CPS students listed as living in a shelter, hotel or motel, or living out of a car, park, or other public place more than tripled in the last year — from about 2,000 last February to nearly 8,000 as of Feb. 29. The jump has coincided with the ongoing influx of migrants arriving from the southern border.

Chicago grappled with students facing homelessness or housing instability long before the COVID pandemic and recent wave of migrants. A 2021 study from the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab analyzed nine years of district data between 2009 and 2018 and found that, over the course of their K-12 experience, about 13% of CPS students experienced housing instability.

The report noted that research shows homeless students come to school less often, have lower academic achievement, and are more likely to drop out. At the same time, school districts like CPS “have limited capacity to connect students to housing supports.”

Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps, the daughter of a longtime housing activist, saw this “heartbreaking” reality up close during the more than two decades she spent as a classroom teacher, including working alongside Johnson at a school serving the Cabrini Green public housing complex.

One time, she said, a single mom of one of her students had no place to stay, so Stamps and the school’s security guard “called and called and called around” to help them find housing.

Stamps, who now also works for the Chicago Teachers Union, said past administrations have emphasized academic achievement and improving test scores without prioritizing the conditions students faced that affected those scores: “There is no [academic] progress … if a baby doesn’t know where they’re going to sleep at night, if they don’t know where they’re going to eat.”.

Federal law requires school districts to support students facing housing insecurity. Some districts also get money through competitive grants to support homeless students. Students identified as such are entitled to transportation, the right to enroll without a permanent address, and the right to continue attending the same school through the end of the academic year even if they move.

But few districts have been directly involved in finding families housing.

With the help of federal COVID money, some schools across the country have added staff to help families with housing, others have provided emergency hotel stays and even propped up shelters inside schools.

Alyssa Phillips, an education attorney with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, which has been advocating for Bring Chicago Home for several years, said the city needs a consistent revenue stream to tackle homelessness, along with input about what works from people experiencing homelessness and service providers.

“I think the most important thing is having that continuous funding,” Phillips said.

Federal COVID money for homeless set to expire

During the COVID pandemic, housing instability rose across the country. Homeless students were disconnected from schools and districts struggled to identify how many students were entitled to additional support and resources.

Chicago Public Schools received about $10.1 million in federal pandemic aid to serve homeless students, as part of roughly $800 million distributed nationally to states and school districts.

The city and school district created a program to give $500 stipends to families in Students in Temporary Living Situations, using money from the initial 2020 wave of federal COVID relief dollars. It’s not clear how many families received the money, and district officials deferred to the city, which administered the program.

Ald. Maria Hadden, who represents Chicago’s north lakefront and is a supporter of the Bring Chicago Home initiative, said the city also used some of its share of federal COVID dollars to provide rental assistance to thousands of people. She recounted helping one family in her ward with a CPS student with epilepsy avoid an eviction because they were able to get six months of rental assistance.

But soon, federal COVID money is drying up. Expenditure data obtained by Chalkbeat shows most of the school district’s share of federal COVID money has been spent, primarily for school staff.

If the ballot initiative to raise the real estate transfer tax on property over a $1 million is approved, Hadden said, the city could revive, continue, or expand pandemic-era programs, like rental and mortgage assistance and rapid rehousing efforts for people living in tent encampments.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is greeted by supporters after he spoke while dozens rally for the Bring Chicago Home resolution outside the Thompson Center before a City Council meeting on Nov. 7, 2023.

Political ‘slush fund’ or nimble revenue stream?

Ford and others continue to knock on doors to garner support from voters who will ultimately decide whether Chicago should have a graduated real estate transfer tax.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is gearing up for another round of contract negotiations with a mayor more amenable to their views than his two predecessors. During contract negotiations in 2019, the union pushed to include provisions around affordable housing. But then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the union contract was “not the appropriate place for the City to legislate its affordable housing policy.”

Leaked contract proposals for upcoming contract talks include two focused on affordable housing: mortgage and rental assistance for teachers, and a vocational program that would have students build affordable housing.

Whatever happens with the teachers union contract, Johnson is forging ahead with a plan to borrow $1.25 billion dollars to fund affordable housing and other development. On Wednesday, the mayor said he’ll soon name a new chief homelessness officer. And he directed the city’s Department of Family Support Services to work with CPS to match the district’s most vulnerable students with housing. The two agencies meet weekly, a spokesperson confirmed.

If voters approve the ballot initiative, the City Council would still need to pass an ordinance spelling out how to appropriate the revenue.

Reilly, the downtown alderman, said that “anyone who has a soul” cares about the homeless and wants to find solutions. But he worries that if the tax is approved, the revenue could quickly turn into a “slush fund” for political allies of whomever is mayor.

“There’s no guarantee that any of this money lands with helping the homeless people,” Reilly said. “It’s just going to be a big stack of money that a whole lot of people are gonna wanna fight over.”

Emma Tai, campaign director for the Bring Chicago Home Ballot Initiative, said the revenue would be legally dedicated to fund affordable housing and services for the homeless. A draft ordinance for implementing the change to the transfer tax would create a 15-member panel appointed by the mayor and approved by City Council to make recommendations annually based on the “most pressing needs.”

“The idea is for the funds to be nimble,” Tai said, noting that during the height of the pandemic, there was a critical need to provide housing to domestic violence victims, whereas now that pandemic-era eviction moratoriums have ended, there’s a need for emergency rental assistance. The idea is that the panel’s recommendations would take such shifts into account.

For young people like Derrianna Ford, who experienced housing insecurity as a student and is searching for an affordable apartment now, the issue boils down to one thing: “stability.”

This story has been updated to more accurately characterize Tai’s comments about how housing needs have shifted in Chicago.

Chalkbeat reporter Reema Amin contributed reporting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A City Hall spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Past tensions between CTU and City Hall prompted strikes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Union again pushing ‘common good’ demands

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CPS’s budget deficit could complicate negotiations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I hope he does,” she said.

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

These Chicago middle schoolers have big ideas for improving their neighborhood

2024-02-01T21:35:08+00:00

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Standing next to a 3D model of the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood spread across a conference room table, eighth grader Rondell Sims gave a call to action to a room of city officials and classmates.

“As development comes to our community, you all will be advocates alongside in creation of a plan that is for us, by us,” Rondell said during a presentation on Wednesday inside the Altgeld Gardens Chicago Public Library Branch.

Rondell and his fellow middle schoolers at Aldridge Elementary were laying out a vision for the future of Altgeld Gardens that would include a grocery store, a new recreation center, public art by a planned new public transit stop, and a museum to honor Hazel Johnson, the “mother of the environmental justice movement” who lived in the neighborhood and fought against air pollution and toxic conditions in the community.

“You can’t really speak on something that you don’t live,” Rondell said after the formal presentation ended. “I feel like by us adding these things to the community and making more things that will be better for the people that’s in the community is just amazing. It will give a better name for our community.”

The project — that allowed middle schoolers to play the role of city planner and propose changes to their community — is the culmination of more than two years of collaboration between Aldridge teachers and the Field Museum.

“The work that we do in schools can’t just be isolated to grades,” said Principal Afua Agyeman-Badu. ”I wanted them to see the power that exists within them to make decisions and create a plan about what it is that they want for this place.”

Built in 1945 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to house Black veterans returning from World War II, Altgeld Gardens is a planned community made up of mostly three-story townhomes operated by the Chicago Housing Authority.

The neighborhood — near the site of the old steel mills and the Pullman factory — sits 19 miles from Chicago’s Loop at 130th Street and has no access to the city’s public transit system, which ends at 95th Street. City officials have been talking about extending the Red Line for decades, but the project now appears on the cusp of becoming a reality.

Agyeman-Badu said the Red Line extension project is a learning opportunity for Aldridge students.

“I want them to be able to one day see when the ribbon is cut for them to see their ideas as a part of that plan for the Red Line extension,” Agyeman-Badu said.

Raven Mayo, Aldridge’s middle school science teacher, said the students have been working on this project since sixth grade and it’s evolved over time. The news of the Red Line extension prompted engaging discussions in class when students questioned why the community doesn’t have access to public transit and is isolated from the rest of Chicago.

“This created an opportunity for them to share their gripes in a productive way,” Mayo said. “Like this is what we deserve, just like the rest of the city.”

“The kids are speaking, they have a voice, their voice matters, their desires matter, they’re the future.” Mayo said. “In the next five years, they’ll be working adults, and they need to have access to get it downtown and to be a part of the workforce in Chicago.”

Bill Mooney, chief infrastructure officer for the Chicago Transit Authority, and other city officials attended the presentation on Wednesday to give feedback and take notes.

“This is one of the coolest things I’ve been able to participate in my 26 years at CTA.” Mooney said. “We are in a unique moment. Not often does what’s right, and what’s possible align.”

He urged the students to keep fighting to bring their ideas to fruition. The Red Line extension project cleared a hurdle last fall in the process to secure nearly $2 billion in federal funding, but the final award won’t be determined until late 2024. It’s not expected to be completed until 2029.

Jasmine Gunn, a city planner for the Far South Region with Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, said often community meetings draw an older demographic, so it was refreshing to see the youth perspective.

“They’re gonna be living in this community longer than any of us,” Gunn said. “To start any development, we need the vision and seeing their vision is really great. I’m actually trying to set up a field trip for our staff to come look at the presentation.”

Eleanor Sweeney, an educator with The Field Museum who works with the Aldridge students, said students are more likely to be engaged with learning when there’s a connection to their own lives. They also have so many good ideas.

“If anyone is making decisions about the future of their neighborhood, consult your local middle schoolers,” Sweeney said with a smile.

Terrence Perry, an eighth grader who worked on the public art piece of the project, said he’s hopeful that city officials will pick up some of their ideas.

“Once everybody sees it? They’re gonna be like, “Oh, I get what they’re trying to do,’” Terrence said. “A lot of people are gonna want to move out here.”

He stood near the 3D model on the conference room table and pointed to a tiny display near his home. It read: “Power and peace starts within me.”

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

Chicago charter school advocates urge Mayor Brandon Johnson to back school choice

2024-01-18T04:31:09+00:00

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Charter school advocates delivered 2,000 letters to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office on Wednesday, urging the mayor to keep school choice alive, after his hand-picked school board signaled they may try to shift more resources toward neighborhood public schools.

Charter proponents are concerned about the future of their schools under a new mayor who campaigned on a pledge to boost neighborhood public schools — just as dozens of charters are up for renewal and a city moratorium on closing schools ends next year.

For roughly two decades, Chicago Public Schools has operated a system in which families can apply to myriad charter, magnet, test-in, or other district-run schools.

Having options for school was critical, said Myisha Shields, a parent of three former charter school students, during a news conference Wednesday at City Hall.

“My five babies, my Black babies — they’re gonna go where I choose for them to go, because that’s the choice that I was given,” she said. “I really don’t need Mayor Johnson’s help in choosing anything for my children.”

Shields, who lives near Marquette Park on Chicago’s South Side, said she has three children who attended charter schools and are now all pursuing nursing degrees.

She credits Noble Schools for the success of her eldest, who pushed through “severe learning disabilities” to get straight A’s at Alabama A&M University, where she’s a senior. Shields said her other two daughters are in their freshman and sophomore years at the University of Illinois Chicago. Shields said her kids wouldn’t have had the success they’ve enjoyed if they’d gone to traditional public schools.

“Her self esteem at one point was so low, but now it’s as big as City Hall,” she said of her eldest.

Myisha Shields, far right, delivers thousands of letters to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's office from parents, administrators, and alumni in support of school choice programs on Wednesday.

Noble Schools is one of 47 charters up for renewal during the 2023-24 school year. More than half of Chicago’s roughly 51,000 charter school students are enrolled at one of Noble’s 17 campuses across the city.

“We are calling for Mayor Brandon Johnson and his CPS board to demand a fair charter renewal term that protects school choice,” Shields said “If charters are not treated fairly, please believe: We will be at your door every day. This is not the last time you’ll see this face.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor said: “The Johnson administration believes in investing in neighborhood schools so that all of Chicago’s families have the choice to send their children to fully-funded, well-resourced, and celebrated schools in their community. As a former public school teacher, Mayor Johnson knows first-hand the harm that sustained disinvestment has on Chicago’s communities and youth. Furthermore, as the father of three CPS students, the Mayor is personally invested in ensuring the success of Chicago’s public school system.”

During the renewal process, district officials scrutinize charter schools’ academic performance, financial practices, and compliance with other standards. Chicago Board of Education members vote on the final renewal terms.

CPS spokeswoman Sylvia Barragan said in a statement that district leadership and the Chicago Board of Education “do not make charter renewal or revocation decisions lightly.”

The board voted last month on a resolution to move away from school choice and ensure “fully-resourced neighborhood schools, prioritizing schools and communities most harmed by structural racism, past inequitable policies and disinvestment,” according to the resolution.

It was the first time the board formally stated it wants to move away from its embrace of selective admissions and enrollment policies, because it “reinforces, rather than disrupts, cycles of inequity,” according to the resolution.

In response to worried charter and school choice advocates, Chicago Board of Education President Jianan Shi said during an Agenda Review Committee meeting on Wednesday that the resolution “is, again, about prioritizing neighborhood schools, creating pathways from K-12 and (helping) schools and neighborhoods farthest from opportunity, so that we are not sorting our children and favoring those with more means.”

He added that it’s “not directing us to close selective enrollment schools.”

Even before Johnson took office, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration started a trend of shorter charter renewal periods. Johnson, a former educator and organizer for the teachers union, historically opposed charter expansion and said during the mayoral election runoff campaign that charter school expansion “forces competition for resources and ultimately harms all schools.” But he also has said he does not oppose charter schools.

This story was updated after publication to include a comment from the Chicago mayor’s office.

A medida que entra en vigor la regla de refugio de Chicago para familias migrantes, aquí hay tres derechos de los estudiantes que deben conocer

2023-11-29T19:50:01+00:00

Esta historia fue traducida por Claudia Hernández de la Revista Borderless. Suscríbase al boletín de Borderless aquí.

Los educadores y defensores de Chicago están preocupados por cómo el nuevo límite de 60 días del alcalde Brandon Johnson de las estadías en refugios para familias migrantes afectará la asistencia y la estabilidad de los estudiantes migrantes.

La nueva regla llega en un momento en que la ciudad ha tenido problemas para albergar a los migrantes. Más de 22,000 personas han llegado desde la frontera sur desde agosto del 2022, muchas de ellas huyendo de la agitación económica y política en los países de Centroamérica y Sudamérica. Los funcionarios de la ciudad y el estado han prometido aumentar los esfuerzos para ayudar a las familias a reasentarse y encontrar una vivienda más permanente, un compromiso que se da justo cuando un programa de asistencia para el alquiler operado por el estado ya no se aplicará a los inmigrantes recién llegados que ingresan a los refugios, Block Club Chicago informó.

Unas 50 familias ya han recibido los avisos, y otras 3,000 los recibirán el 4 de diciembre.

Los defensores dijeron que perder el refugio podría significar más ausencias entre los estudiantes migrantes que no tienen hogar, formalmente conocidos como estudiantes que viven en situaciones de vivienda temporal. Esa designación incluye a los niños en refugios, que viven con otra familia o que viven en un lugar público. A partir del 31 de octubre, las tasas de asistencia promedio este año escolar para los estudiantes sin hogar son 5 puntos porcentuales más bajas que sus compañeros con vivienda permanente, según datos de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago compartidos con la Coalición de Chicago para las Personas sin Hogar.

La estabilidad escolar está relacionada con el éxito académico. Un estudio del 2015 que examinó a estudiantes de la ciudad de Nueva York encontró que los niños que se cambiaron de escuela tenían más probabilidades de ausentarse crónicamente o perder al menos el 10% de sus días escolares. Los estudiantes crónicamente ausentes que también se encontraban sin hogar tenían tres veces más probabilidades de repetir el mismo grado que los estudiantes sin hogar que faltaron menos de cinco días a la escuela, encontró el informe.

“Estamos hablando de niños que han estado aquí durante dos meses, que han entrado en una rutina, tal vez han hecho algunos amigos, tienen una sensación de control finalmente, donde pueden obtener dos comidas calientes al día, estamos hablando de enviar a esas familias de regreso al lugar de su llegada en autobús”, dijo Gabriel Páez, un maestro bilingüe en el West Side, sobre la nueva regla del alcalde.

Sesenta días es un “tiempo muy corto” para encontrar vivienda, especialmente para los recién llegados con barreras lingüísticas que están lidiando con casos de asilo o que aún no han sido autorizados a trabajar, dijo Patricia Nix-Hodes, directora del Proyecto de Ley de la Coalición de Chicago para las Personas sin Hogar.

Si las familias no tienen una vivienda permanente en puerta, pueden regresar a la “zona de aterrizaje”, el área del centro de la ciudad donde la mayoría de los autobuses dejan por primera vez a los recién llegados, y pueden solicitar una nueva ubicación en un refugio. Las familias pueden permanecer en su refugio bajo “circunstancias atenuantes”, como un problema médico, si hay frío extremo o si han obtenido un contrato de arrendamiento con una fecha de mudanza que comienza más tarde de cuando deben abandonar el refugio, dijo la oficina del alcalde.

Un portavoz del alcalde declinó hacer comentarios. En un comunicado, un portavoz del distrito dijo que está trabajando con la ciudad y las escuelas para “garantizar que los estudiantes recién llegados, la mayoría considerados estudiantes en situaciones de vivienda temporal (STLS), puedan tener acceso a una educación de Pre-K-12 dentro de nuestro sistema que ofrece los servicios adecuados, incluidos los servicios para aprender inglés”.

Los niños sin hogar tienen ciertos derechos consagrados en la ley federal destinados a mantener su estabilidad en la escuela, incluida la capacidad de permanecer en la escuela a la que han estado asistiendo.

Aquí hay tres derechos educativos que las familias que viven en viviendas temporales deben conocer a medida que entra en vigencia la nueva regla de refugio de la ciudad:

Los estudiantes sin hogar tienen derecho a permanecer en la misma escuela

Los estudiantes que viven en refugios temporales y que se han inscrito en la escuela local o en una escuela cercana tienen derecho a permanecer en la misma escuela, incluso si se ven obligados a abandonar el refugio después de 60 días.

Esto es cierto para cualquier estudiante que se quede sin hogar. La ley federal protege su derecho a permanecer en su llamada “escuela de origen”.

Al igual que cualquier otro estudiante de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, los estudiantes sin hogar pueden inscribirse en la escuela local del vecindario en su nueva comunidad simplemente entrando. Además, como cualquier otro estudiante, pueden aplicar a escuelas selectivas o magneto, pero la fecha límite para aplicar a estas escuelas para el próximo año académico ha pasado.

Los estudiantes migrantes también pueden ser referidos por otras agencias de la ciudad, como el Departamento de Servicios Familiares y de Apoyo, para recibir ayuda para la inscripción de la oficina central del distrito, incluso en el Centro de Bienvenida Piloto de la ciudad en Clemente High School en el West Side.

En ese caso, el distrito inscribirá a los estudiantes en función del lugar donde viven, las necesidades de los estudiantes, como los servicios del idioma inglés, y “la capacidad y los recursos existentes en la escuela”. Si hay problemas de espacio en una escuela, el distrito “puede ayudar con una asignación escolar alternativa”, dijo un portavoz.

Una vez que 20 o más estudiantes con el mismo idioma nativo se inscriben en una escuela, la ley estatal requiere que inicien un programa de Educación Bilingüe de Transición. Dichos programas requieren instrucción tanto en inglés como en el idioma nativo, como el español.

El distrito ha presupuestado $15 millones para contratar más maestros bilingües, coordinadores de programas bilingües y “otros recursos para apoyar a los estudiantes de inglés”, dijo un portavoz.

Los estudiantes sin hogar tienen derecho a transporte

Los estudiantes sin hogar también tienen derecho a recibir transporte a la escuela, incluso si se mudan. Y, de acuerdo con las pautas de CPS, su escuela debe informar al estudiante y a los padres sobre los servicios de transporte. Si un estudiante encuentra una vivienda permanente, todavía tiene derecho a transporte hasta el final del año escolar.

De acuerdo con las pautas de CPS, los estudiantes sin hogar que necesitan transporte deben recibir una tarjeta CTA dentro de los tres días posteriores a la solicitud. Los niños de preescolar a sexto grado pueden recibir una tarjeta adicional para que uno de sus padres pueda acompañarlos en el transporte público.

Los estudiantes sin hogar no necesitan papeleo para inscribirse

Las escuelas deben inscribir a los estudiantes que no tienen hogar, incluso si no tienen los registros que normalmente se necesitan para inscribirse, como la vacunación o los registros escolares anteriores, prueba de tutela o prueba de residencia, según el distrito.

Es posible que las familias que huyen de la violencia doméstica o la agitación política no hayan traído documentos importantes, dijo Nix-Hodes.

Depende de la escuela identificar “sensiblemente” que una familia que busca inscribirse no tiene hogar sin violar su privacidad, agregó Nix-Hodes.

Reema Amin es una reportera que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para Chalkbeat Chicago. Ponte en contacto con Reema en 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.

Chicago closed 50 schools 10 years ago. What’s happened since then?

2023-07-25T10:00:00+00:00

Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and statewide education policy.

Demetrius Hobson’s voice piped through the loudspeaker into every classroom at Matthew Henson Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side.

It was just before 3:45 p.m. on June 19, 2013. In a few minutes, the bell would ring to dismiss classes on the last day of the school year at Chicago Public Schools.

Hobson had arrived the previous year, fresh out of Harvard’s principal leadership program, with endless energy and new ideas. He had been ready to transform the 250-student school that served mostly Black students from low income families in North Lawndale and was “gearing up for the long run.”

Now, he had to do something no principal wants to do.

“Good afternoon, Matthew Henson Elementary School, and congratulations,” Hobson intoned. “This is our final few minutes as a school.”

That day would mark the largest mass closure of public schools in the nation’s history, as Henson and 49 other Chicago schools shut their doors for good. Some 17,000 students and 1,500 staff would scatter to schools across the city. Many others would leave the district altogether.

The promise made at the time by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel was that the students would go to better schools, and the district would save money by offloading expensive-to-maintain aging buildings.

“I know this is incredibly difficult, but I firmly believe the most important thing we can do as a city is provide the next generation with a brighter future,” he said in a statement after the school board voted on the closures. “I am confident that … our children will succeed.”

The moment capped months of raucous public hearings, days-long marches, downtown protests, and even arrests of activists who demanded Emanuel and his hand-picked school board reverse course.

On that June day, as Hobson and others said good-bye to their schools, questions hung in the air: What would happen to neighborhoods being disrupted? Would buildings get new life or fall into disrepair? Would Emanuel’s promise of better futures for students come to fruition?

Henson security guard Kelvyn Cockrell was not as confident as the mayor.

“I just hope and pray that somehow this works,” he said, standing outside the school’s main office on the last day of school.

Nearby, Mia Bonds, then a soft-spoken eighth grader and the valedictorian of her class, helped a teacher pack up a box.

Boxes are stacked inside of a classroom on June 19, 2013, the last day of school at Matthew Henson Elementary in North Lawndale. It was one of 50 schools shuttered under what would become the largest mass closure of public schools in U.S. history.

She would be moving on from Henson anyway, heading to Whitney Young High School, one of the district’s top test-in high schools. But for her brother, then a second grader, the closure would mean being reassigned to Hughes Elementary a few blocks west.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Bonds said at the time. “I want people to remember that Henson was not just a school — it was like a family.”

Before the bell rang at Henson for the last time, Hobson searched for words of comfort as he spoke to the students over the intercom:

“I want you to remember that education is the key to unlock the golden door to freedom,” he told them. “And I want you to know that every day at Matthew Henson Elementary School, education is liberation.”

A principal and his students ‘find community somewhere else’

About a week after the last day of classes, Hobson says he got a phone call from a district official telling him the school was about to be officially mothballed.

“Get to the school, get your things,” Hobson recalled the official saying. “We need to lock the doors and turn in your keys.”

Henson was one of 46 buildings that would be emptied out. Desks, chairs, books, bulletin boards, and everything else would be moved out — taken to other schools, warehoused, sold, or simply thrown away.

Chicago Public Schools would pay an Ohio-based logistics company to manage all the stuff from the shuttered buildings — a contract that would eventually double from $8.9 million to $18.9 million. Years later, metal desks, solid wood chairs, and other relics from the school closings would end up for sale on Craigslist.

The three-story, mint green and tan brick building once called Henson would be put up for sale the following year.

After his school closed, Hobson needed a break. At the time, he didn’t want to walk into another school building and start over again. He told his wife, ‘If I go back into another school, it’s going to be a school I start.’”

But near the end of that summer, Hobson said, Chicago Public Schools called again: Would he mind stepping in as interim principal at another school?

He was still on district payroll, so he took the job in Woodlawn. But midyear, Hobson was asked to go to Earle Elementary in Englewood, a school that had been designated as a welcoming school for Goodlow Elementary, another closed school.

In some of the buildings that welcomed displaced students in the fall of 2013, the transition was tough and sometimes even chaotic.

“They took two low-performing schools and put them together,” said Darlene O’Banner, a grandmother of four children at Goodlow and later Earle. “They were setting us up for failure.”

The shuffling of students was a monumental task for the district. Officials spent millions of dollars on additional staff, new iPads, and building repairs at roughly 50 schools designated to welcoming students from closed buildings. But instead, some of the students scattered. Just over three-quarters of students attended the welcoming schools that were designated to take them in. The rest fanned out to 200 other schools across the city, WBEZ reported at the time.

Hobson’s time at Earle turned out to be brief: He had gotten a job offer to open a new school. In San Francisco.

So Hobson and his wife packed up and moved West, where he would become the founding principal of a new public middle school named after that city’s first Black mayor, Willie L. Brown.

Many of those impacted by the closures also moved away. Data obtained by Chalkbeat showed that roughly a third of the students who attended closed schools transferred out of CPS. Some families and advocates said the loss of an anchor institution, like a school, would lead to more displacement and disinvestment in the segregated Black neighborhoods, not less.

Bonds started freshman year at Whitney Young, one of the city’s top high schools that accept students based on their test scores and where they live. It was far more diverse and less segregated than Henson, which served mostly Black children from low-income families. The year Bonds enrolled, the student body at Whitney Young was 30% white, 24% Black, 27% Latino, and 15% Asian American.

“I feel like I needed to be in a more diverse type of schooling,” she said. “I saw Whitney as an escape. So I was there early, leaving late.”

Her brother enrolled in third grade at Hughes, the school where Henson students were assigned. It was closer to their apartment, Bonds said, but they “just liked Henson better.”

“Once you close schools down like that, people have to find that community somewhere else and adapt,” she added. “In this situation we were forced to, it wasn’t like a choice.”

Vacant school buildings and new starts in and outside Chicago

By 2017, Henson’s building still sat vacant. The windows were boarded up. Litter blew across the cracked blacktop. The marquee outside the front door was blank, no longer emblazoned with the school’s name.

The marquee outside of Henson Elementary in North Lawndale is now blank. The school has sat vacant and boarded up since 2013, despite interest from a nonprofit housing developer.

The district had managed to sell only a handful of the shuttered schools — most on the north side — to luxury housing developers or private schools. They repurposed a few as district offices or transferred them to other city agencies and put the remaining 30 out to bid for a second time.

In May 2018, the Board of Education had an interested buyer for Henson’s property, which sits across six parcels. The Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation offered $55,000 and put forward a plan to convert the school into 80 mini-studio apartments for low-income people, including veterans, single mothers, and people with disabilities.

There were a lot of similar proposals — and dreams — for the vacant buildings left behind in the wake of the historic closings. A “teacher’s village” with a mix of housing and retail. A women’s center and artist incubator. A community center for formerly incarcerated people. Affordable housing for seniors.

Calhoun Elementary, one of 50 schools that Chicago Public Schools closed in 2013, is still vacant.

The old Genevieve Melody Elementary building at 412 S Keeler Ave. sits vacant. Windows are broken and inside classrooms, there is graffiti on the walls. The building was mothballed in 2013 when Melody relocated to Delano Elementary, 3937 W Wilcox St., which was closed.

The old Delano Elementary in West Garfield Park became the new Melody Elementary in 2013. It was one of about a dozen closures in which Chicago Public Schools relocated students from the school staying open to the building of a school being shut down.

The old Charles Earle Elementary building, 6121 S. Hermitage, closed in 2013. A Wisconsin-based developer purchased the building in 2017 for $200,000 with plans to convert it into affordable housing for seniors. It remains vacant.

The front entrance of the old Charles Earle Elementary building, 6121 S. Hermitage. In 2021, the new owner announced plans to convert the building into affordable housing for seniors.

The playground at the former Arna Bontemps Elementary, 1241 W 58th St., which closed in 2013, is overgrown and scribbled with graffiti.

A message is spraypainted on the side of the former Arna Bontemps Elementary school, 1241 W 58th St., which closed in 2013.

The old Laura S. Ward Elementary building at 410 N. Monticello Ave. in Garfield Park was closed in 2013. The school relocated to 646 N Lawndale Ave. in Humboldt Park and took over the old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary building.

Students play on the playground of the old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary, 646 N Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park closed in 2013. It is now home to Laura S. Ward Elementary.

The old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary, 646 N Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park closed in 2013 and is now Laura S. Ward Elementary.

The playground is locked and overgrown at the old Genevieve Melody Elementary building at 412 S Keeler Ave. The building was mothballed in 2013 when Melody relocated to the old Delano Elementary, 3937 W Wilcox St.

Faraday Elementary School, 3250 W Monroe St., used to be Garfield Park Elementary. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools shut down Garfield Park and relocated Faraday to this building, merging the students from both into one school.

The basketball court next to Henson Elementary, 1326 S. Avers Ave., in North Lawndale is empty on a hot June day 10 years since the school closed in 2013.

The marquee at Nathan Goldblatt Elementary School, 4257 W. Adams St., in West Garfield Park still has notes on it from the last time it served students in 2013.

The gate around Nathan Goldblatt Elementary, 4257 W Adams St., in West Garfield Park is locked. The school has gotten little to no interest from buyers when Chicago Public Schools has put it up for sale.

The site of the former William King Elementary, 740 S. Campbell Ave., is now home to 30 single-family, new construction homes built in 2020. The property was sold to a developer in 2017 for $1.5 million at a time when the Chicago Board of Education was approving multiple bids on vacant closed schools.

The former Dett Elementary building, 2306 W. Maypole Ave., sits vacant on Chicago’s West Side. Dett’s building closed and the school relocated to Herbert Elementary, 2131 W Monroe St., in 2013 when the Chicago Board of Education shuttered 50 schools. Despite plans to convert it into a women’s center, the property still sits vacant.

Hobson, in the meantime, was trying to bring a new school to life nearly 2,000 miles away.

He was “working day and night” to recruit students for a new STEM middle school in San Francisco, hiring staff, applying for grants, and designing curriculum with the district leadership.

But in late 2018, Hobson returned home to Chicago once the school opened. He remembers thinking: “‘Maybe I should just start over? Go back to the classroom. See what that feels like.”

Bonds, who had graduated from Whitney Young in 2017, became the first in her immediate family to go to college.

“A lot of people urged me to go. They said I needed to leave the west side of Chicago,” she said. “Every college I applied to I got accepted.”

She chose Northern Illinois University. “Nearby, but far enough away.”

Her brother finished elementary school at Hughes and enrolled at a Noble charter high school.

Data obtained by Chalkbeat show 59 percent of second graders from closed schools, like Bonds’ brother, are still enrolled across the district. It’s one of the cohorts of closed school kids who remained enrolled at slightly higher rates than comparison schools that were also on a list of 129 schools being considered for closure in 2012-13, but were ultimately spared.

But the closures had thrown other students off course.

A 2018 study by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research found that students impacted by the closures had academic outcomes that were “neutral at best, and negative in some instances.” For example, students from closed schools initially had lower reading and math scores. Reading scores recovered, but the gap in math scores persisted.

The school district had promised a five-year moratorium on school closings after 2013. When it ended in 2018, CPS closed four high schools in Englewood. But in exchange, it built a new state-of-the-art STEM high school.

Still, Chicagoans questioned if the district would return to an annual cycle of closing a handful of schools every year, as it did prior to the 50 closures.

How school closings were decided remains ‘hurtful’

On a hot June day this year, exactly 10 years and three days since the last day of school in 2013, the entrance to Henson was still blocked by boards on which someone had painted a mural.

It read: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

The front entrance of Henson Elementary in North Lawndale is boarded up, but painted with a colorful mural.

A City of Chicago Empowerment Zone sign, with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s name on it, hung above the mural. A weathered and crumpled piece of yellow paper from the Department of Water Management was stapled to the side, asking the owner to contact them within 10 days so workers could access the water meter and avoid a shutoff.

Chicago Public Schools still owns the building. There have been no micro-studios for veterans, single mothers, or disabled people.

The sale approved by the school board to the Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation never went through. Former alderman Michael Scott Jr. held it in the City Council’s Committee on Housing five years ago.

The blacktop where an inflatable bounce house stood on the last day of school was cracked and faded. Near a side entrance, a few men in their thirties were sitting on buckets, smoking. One swept broken glass off the ground and into a garbage can.

The blacktop behind Henson Elementary in North Lawndale where students used to play. A last day of school celebration was held here on June 19, 2013, before it was shut down by the school district.

Hobson has driven by Henson’s building a few times. One time before the pandemic, he remembers turning the corner to see Henson’s green and tan building.

“I was surprised to see how disheveled the building, the environment was,” Hobson said. “You could see vestiges of night parties, you know, bottles, and food bags, and everything just kind of collected on the stairs.”

The story is the same for many vacant schools. Approvals have stalled and some projects have languished as they wait for financing.

Hobson is back in the classroom now, teaching middle school social studies at an elementary school on the West Side closer to downtown than Henson was. It’s also named William Brown STEM Elementary, but after a different William Brown than the school he started in San Francisco.

It’s harder to know where the 252 students who were at Henson are today. One Henson student featured in a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times series said after fourth grade when the closure happened, he went to three different elementary schools and three different high schools in Chicago and the suburbs before getting his high school diploma at an alternative school.

Data provided by the district did not break down outcomes by school.

But data obtained separately by Chalkbeat Chicago shows that about 60 percent of Henson’s kindergarten through second grade students — those still likely to be enrolled — were at district schools during the 2022-23 school year.

Of all the students who attended schools that closed in 2013, fewer graduated and more dropped out when compared to the rest of the district. But these outcomes were similar to schools that were also on the chopping block in 2013, raising questions about whether the closures resulted in a better education for students.

Hobson said he still occasionally thinks about what it would’ve been like to “be a fly on the wall” in the rooms where the school closings decisions were made.

“Now that we can see on the other side, based on the data, there was no real transformation for the children,” Hobson said.

“What we were told and what actually happened are two different realities.”

As for Bonds, she moved back home to North Lawndale this summer after finishing her master’s degree at NIU. Her family is still in the same apartment about six blocks from Henson. She’s working for After School Matters this summer, as she has for the past several years. And next year, she’s doing City Year, an Americorps program that stations full-time mentors in high-need schools.

Looking back now, Bonds said the historic mass school closings weren’t “the end of the world.” People adapted. But it still felt like “a numbers game” that made communities like hers feel “powerless to a system.”

“It wasn’t like it was super detrimental,” Bonds said. “It was just hurtful.”

Her little brother is now entering his senior year at the same Noble campus he started at and is on track to graduate, she said.

Most Chicago students enrolled today have not experienced their public schools closing down for good. The kindergarten students of 2013 are set to graduate in 2025 — the same year state legislators have given the city’s school board permission to close schools again.

Mila Koumpilova and Samantha Smylie contributed reporting.

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

ABOUT THIS STORY

I first met Demetrius Hobson and Mia Bonds at Henson Elementary on June 19, 2013, when I spent the day at the campus as a reporter for WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station.

I was the age Mia is now. Just starting out in my career. Like many others, Chicago’s 50 school closings impacted my life in ways I’m not sure I realized until many years later. It shaped how I think about my work as a journalist and the responsibility I have to those who share their stories with me. It changed how I think about systems and structures.

In the years that followed, I stopped covering education and became a city politics reporter. I got married. I had two kids. Yet every time the name of someone I met or interviewed or the name of one of the closed schools came across my radar, my eyes and ears would perk up. Although I no longer covered education, I kept track of what was happening to the shuttered schools. I often updated a spreadsheet not thinking it would ever lead to anything. (Spoiler: It did.)

In thinking about how to mark the 10-year anniversary of this moment, in my current role as Chalkbeat’s Chicago bureau chief, I went back to my old files and re-listened to much of what flowed in and out of my tape recorder that year. I thought a lot about where all the students, parents, teachers, and activists were now. (One got elected mayor.) I reconnected with some. I talked to new people. I revisited past research. I filed multiple information requests.

I went back to Henson on a hot day in June, exactly 10 years and 3 days since that last day. I cried. And then, I wrote.

This story does not have all the answers. No story does. It seeks — once again — to add information to the public conversation around an important policy issue and to elevate the stories of those most impacted. As Mia said to me in our recent conversation: “The story is the people.”

Meet the teens advising Chicago’s mayor on education

2023-08-28T11:00:00+00:00

In many places, young people are shut out of governmental decision-making. But in Chicago, a group of teenagers have a seat at the table, advising the mayor on issues ranging from public safety to neighborhood development.

The 32-member Mayor’s Youth Commission was started by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the fall of 2019 and became a formal advisory body before she ended her term. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team recommended creating a youth department in the long-term.

Commission members, who range in ages from 14 to 19, can serve up to two years and meet at least once a month to discuss policy with city leaders and community groups. They receive a yearly stipend of up to $500.

This year, the commission released a New Ideas report, detailing project proposals from each working group — education, neighborhood development, public health, and public safety. The education working group recommended creating a database of postsecondary and employment resources. The group plans to implement this database into the city of Chicago’s My CHI My Future app.

Some members of the mayor’s youth commission ended their terms this August. With a new mayor in office and a new round of members joining the commission, Chalkbeat talked with the previous chair and vice chair of the working group centered on education.

These interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Debbie Mojekwu

Debbie Mojekwu, the education working group’s chair for 2022-23, ended her second term with the commission this month. She hails from the Beverly neighborhood, graduated from Jones College Prep earlier this year, and will be attending Yale University this fall.

What are some issues in the education system you feel motivated to change?

I’ve come across a lot of students who don’t have as much academic confidence as they should, and I feel like that’s mostly in minorities. It has to do with schools not having enough funding and just not as many resources.

I genuinely feel like if someone took these children and truly believed in them and showed that they believed in them through having adequate resources, having teachers, having counselors and more spaces for them to talk — if we had all these things across schools in Chicago, academic confidence wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

It’s never just the child, it’s also on the system.

What specifically made you want to choose the education working group?

I also had a lack of academic confidence throughout elementary school. I truly believed that my intelligence was tied to my skin color.

There was a time where I wouldn’t do any of my work, I just genuinely wouldn’t try at school because I didn’t see value in it. And I think also I had this sort of fear that if I tried and failed, then it would have confirmed my beliefs at the time.

Later on finally finding that academic confidence, I realized how powerful that could be. And I found that in representation, in my family and other Black leaders that I’ve seen in social media. I would say that that happened sophomore year of high school. So I feel like it took a long time to find that.

I began tutoring students with this program called Chicago Teen Mentors … I came across a lot of students that – you can hear it in just the language they use, that there’s some insecurity there, and hesitance, and fear of being wrong.

Being in that space, it kind of made me want to do more within education. These students primarily came from underfunded schools, and they were predominantly Hispanic and Black. And a part of me just felt, like, I wanted to change that.

What has your experience being chair of the education working group been like?

It’s genuinely been such a transformative experience. We’ve gotten to meet with so many community leaders, the mayor being one of them.

At the end of the day, I learned they’re just normal people. They have the same fears and anxieties that we all share. And they all have some common goal in bettering Chicago.

And working alongside the mayor’s youth commission — I see this group being some of Chicago’s greatest leaders. I’ve never met more educated people in my life than in the Mayor’s Youth Commission. And they made me want to learn more about the problems we have in our city and ways to change.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to Yale. I haven’t planned out all my extracurriculars, but I think I’m going to continue with hosting workshops for kids. I’m part of this program called Innoverge, we host STEM workshops. I am a molecular biology major, so I think a lot of my work will be with STEM.

I’ll probably find out more about New Haven, Connecticut and see what I want to help with there. One of the extracurriculars that interests me at Yale is you can work in a prison, and basically teach courses to prisoners who want to learn.

What is your advice for the next group of people on the education working group or on the Youth Commission in general?

I would say, just don’t be afraid to speak up. I feel like a large part of my first term, I never really spoke during our meetings and I didn’t speak during our roundtable discussion because I still had fears about public speaking. But when you’re in that space, no one judges you. Everyone values every single opinion, no matter how insignificant you think it may seem.

Also I would say, even though the meetings are once a month, you definitely should make this program a priority for you. I think when commissioners don’t really show up to meetings and they don’t really contribute to the work we’re doing, you’re also missing an opportunity. So I would say use this opportunity as best as you can, and stay on top of things.

Norah Al-Hallaj

Norah Al-Hallaj served as the vice chair of the education working group for the 2022-23 term. She will spend another year advising the mayor in her second term, though she does not yet know her title. Norah is from Bridgeport and is a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep.

What made you want to join the education working group?

Education has always been a big part of my life. I love to learn. And I’ve been pretty blessed – I attend private school and I have for all of my life. I know that the CPS system is not the greatest and there’s a lot of areas in Chicago where education is not as full as other places.

I wanted to be able to address that and look for solutions and work towards allowing people to have the same resources that I had. So it was more about extending the privileges I’ve had.

What work on the commission are you most proud of so far?

This was the first year we published the New Ideas booklet, and we recently were able to get a physical copy of it, and I felt such pride.

It’s one thing to talk in these meeting rooms about plans and hear everyone else’s ideas, but to see the whole commission come together and publish this was just a really cool process.

I read the New Ideas report and I saw the education working group released a push for more postsecondary resources. Can you tell me what brought you to want to focus on that?

We all kind of realized that a lot of resources exist, especially in a big city like Chicago. And what I mean by resources is internship programs, scholarship opportunities, testing for ACT/ SAT, Common App help, financial aid, that kind of thing.

And they exist, but the problem was they were so scattered – especially on the Internet – that students and parents who weren’t familiar with the process had a lot of trouble finding and accessing this plethora of resources. So we wanted to find a way to consolidate and create a detailed but very accessible platform for these resources.

What are your priorities for the next year?

My priority is definitely getting this platform for the resources up and running. I want to see that in the next couple months. And I also want to focus more on having town halls for youth voices.

I would love to see (a town hall) for the college application process. A lot of CPS students really freak out, because there’s so many kids in a lot of these schools – you become lost when it comes to getting help and getting your questions answered. So I would love to see town halls or panels and actual events where people can go and feel a lot more confident in themselves walking out.

What is the importance of having youth voices connected to the city government?

I’m 17, so I can’t vote. And I know plenty of people have very intelligent opinions and perspectives and ideas for city government, and how to make it more effective and better serving for underage individuals.

And the problem with that, is that we can’t vote. We can’t attend most city hall meetings that are held during the school day. And that is where I see the mayor’s youth commission come in, where we can go into our communities and round up these opinions and bring them to central government.

Max Lubbers is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Max at mlubbers@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago opens school enrollment center for migrant children and families

2023-07-17T20:28:56+00:00

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Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public Schools and the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and city and district officials unveiled the new center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a high school in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, on Monday. Officials said the center is a pilot effort — possibly the first of several such facilities across the city.

They also called it a centerpiece of a broader plan they have promised for better serving migrant families across the city, though the center will only help smooth the transition into the district for those living in the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods.

The center, which will work with families by appointment only starting later this week, is estimated to cost roughly $750,000, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who described it as a “very small investment” from the district’s operating budget.

More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August, many sent on buses from Texas by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Roughly half are staying in temporary shelters, including police stations. Hundreds of school-aged children are among the new arrivals, though the school district has not shared exact numbers. Helping these families find permanent housing and easing children into local public schools are key challenges facing the Johnson administration.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson — a former union organizer — to victory in April, had criticized district officials for not doing more to support newly arrived migrant students. Union leaders said some schools were overwhelmed by an influx of such students and scrambled to provide translation and other basic services.

District leaders have said they were working on a detailed, comprehensive plan for helping migrant students, to be released before the first day of school on Aug. 21. That bigger plan is still to come, Martinez said Monday.

Johnson said the area around Clemente was one of the city’s most densely populated with newcomer immigrants.

“We’re going to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and we’re going to bring people closer together to make sure that the families who have been here have the full force of government and families who wish to call Chicago their home also have the full force of government,” Johnson said at the Monday press conference.

Martinez balked at saying exactly how many migrant students enrolled in the district this past school year — it’s in the thousands, he said — or how many the district expects to serve in the fall. That latter number is too fluid, he said, but he promised to have an update at the start of the school year.

Johnson said his office will track “outcomes with this center” in order to improve how it operates and also use it as a model to potentially expand to other neighborhoods.

At the new “welcoming center” on the high school’s second floor, families will make their way through several classrooms to get a string of services, officials said. Children will get an English language screening, receive free supplies, and get assigned to a school.

Martinez said the high school students will be assigned to Clemente while younger children will be enrolled at one of eight nearby elementary schools — Chopin, De Diego LaSalle II, Mitchell, Moos, Pritzker, Sabin, and Talcott.

“These are migrant families who come here to seek their dream, and we’ll be part of that dream,” said Martha Valerio, the community coordinator at Clemente, standing in front of a table piled with coats, running shoes, and backpacks. “We are all going to receive them with a warm smile.”

Families will meet with a social worker and get help signing up for medical, dental appointments, and public benefits, such as food assistance and Medicaid.

“These are the types of services we have to provide across the entire city,” Johnson told journalists in front of the center.

According to WBEZ, some migrants are now living in tents, rather than police stations or crowded shelters, as they wait for permanent housing. School-aged migrant children are eligible to be classified as Students in Temporary Living Situations – a status that protects children without permanent housing.

Meanwhile, some teachers have been volunteering their time this summer to get students ready for school.

Earlier this month, the police department opened an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against officers, including one accused of impregnating a recently-arrived teen, at a west side police station. The investigation prompted city officials to move migrants out of police stations.

Johnson said at the Monday event that the investigation is ongoing, with an update slated for Tuesday.

Reema Amin contributed.

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

Calling all youth: Chicago’s Mayor Johnson wants your ideas for his first city budget

2023-07-14T19:22:46+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to the next generation for help on his first city budget proposal.

The former middle school teacher and union organizer is holding a budget roundtable discussion exclusively for Chicagoans ages 13 to 24. The July 25 event on the ninth floor of Harold Washington Library is an addition to the usual round of July budget engagement meetings.

The city is offering a perk: Five young people who participate, who are at least 16 years old, will be randomly chosen to win two four-day Lollapalooza passes.

In a statement, Johnson said the roundtable “allows our young people the opportunity to chart their own path in fulfilling that vision for hope, and become stewards for their own futures and eventual leadership of our city.”

The invitation comes as Johnson is stepping up efforts to get young people more involved in government decision making. His transition team recently recommended the creation of a paid youth council — which would resemble an existing youth commission created by his predecessor Lori Lightfoot.

City officials are inviting youth to share ideas directly with the mayor on various elements of the city’s budget, including affordable housing, homelessness, community development, arts and culture, mental health, safety, and infrastructure. But schools are not included on that list.

The Chicago Public Schools budget, which must be approved by July 1, already has been passed for the upcoming school year. The school board last month approved a flat $9.4 billion, with roughly half going directly to schools.

But financial challenges loom, with school district officials expecting a budget shortfall of $628 million by the 2025-26 school year with the depletion of federal pandemic relief funds. As Chicago shifts to an elected school board, the district may also have to pick up more costs currently paid by the city.

The next city budget will cover the 2024 calendar year. The City Council is required to pass a budget by Dec. 31 — but historically does so before Thanksgiving, and planning starts in summer. From June to September, the city’s budget office reviews departmental expenses and solicits public feedback. Mayors submit their budget proposals to the City Council by Oct. 15, which also includes a public hearing.

Typically, the mayor’s office releases a budget forecast in August. But in a rare move before leaving office, Lightfoot and her financial team released a midyear budget forecast that projected a relatively small shortfall of $85 million.

Doors to the youth budget discussion will open around 4:45 p.m., and the event will start at 5:30 p.m. City officials said there will be limited seating for adult chaperones, who cannot participate in the discussion. Youth can register here.

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

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team releases its recommendations for schools

2023-07-07T15:38:52+00:00

Create a paid youth council to guide school decisions.

Help about 20,000 homeless students find housing.

Grant full college scholarships to Chicago students looking to become teachers, as a way to cultivate more Black and Latino educators.

These are just a few of the recommendations made by a transition committee convened by Mayor Brandon Johnson to help set his administration’s priorities. The 223-page document released Thursday includes an ambitious progressive education agenda for the former middle school teacher and union organizer who took office in May.

Two of the mayor’s new appointees to the Chicago Board of Education — its new president, Jianan Shi, and member Michelle Morales — served on a subcommittee that set goals for improving the city’s public schools and other services for children and youth.

Many of the committee’s recommendations, such as providing affordable housing for student families, echo bargaining table demands and other goals of the Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson to victory in this past spring’s mayoral race. The recommendations also include ending district budgeting based partly on campus enrollments, staffing all district schools with librarians and clinicians, and reviewing whether custodial services, which the district outsources to Aramark, should be brought in house.

Some recommendations reflect more recent goals that educators and in some cases district leaders have laid out. Amid a shift away from a “four-year college for all” mindset in Chicago and elsewhere, the transition report argues that all schools, including International Baccalaureate high schools and middle schools, should offer some trade and vocational programs.

A few of the recommendations are ones that the district is already pursuing, such as regularly surveying students and staffing counselors in all buildings.

Although the report does not attempt to estimate the cost of the school district transformation it envisions, the recommendations almost certainly involve major new spending. At a time when the district is bracing for more financial uncertainty, the report urges the Johnson administration to aggressively explore new funding sources to pay for a costly agenda that calls for significantly expanding the academic, social-emotional, and other services that schools provide to students.

“This new and holistic approach is more important than ever in a district that continues to see BIPOC students disproportionately impacted by violence, the school to prison pipeline, economic disparities, and dropping enrollment,” the report said.

Here are five messages the transition committee conveyed in its report:

1. Give students more of a voice in their education — and pay them to weigh in

The report calls for creating a permanent youth council, with paid members, to offer input on district decisions. Such a council would resemble an existing advisory body that former Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched, made up of teens who receive a stipend for their service to the mayor’s office. The city should also host regular youth summits and survey students to get feedback on their educational experience, the report argued.

“I am a huge proponent of youth voice,” Morales told reporters this week. “We know that youth who are civically engaged, feel their voices are heard, and feel part of the decision-making at school then feel ownership over their schools.”

The report also suggests paying school board members. That recommendation comes ahead of the city’s transition to an elected school board, and would require a change to state law. The report also suggests changing state law so undocumented residents can serve on Chicago’s elected board.

2. Rapidly increase the number of full-service community schools to 200

On the campaign trail and since his election, Johnson has vowed to dramatically expand the district’s Sustainable Community Schools program, a partnership with the teachers union in which community-based organizations provide after-school and other wraparound services at 20 schools. The transition committee report echoes that goal — and puts some numbers to it.

It says the city should aim to expand the program to 50 of the district’s roughly 500 campuses in the near term — and to 200 in the long term, with an eye to eventually having all district schools function as community hubs through partnerships with local nonprofits and other organizations. And, the report says, the district should create a department to oversee that rapid expansion.

3. Provide free Wi-Fi, laptops, and public transit to students

Following widespread complaints about busing amid a national driver shortage, the report says the district must take a close look at how it provides transportation to its students, including bus driver pay and best practices in other districts. The goal is that no child should have to commute longer than 30 minutes. This past school year, some students experienced commutes of more than 90 minutes one way.

In the long term, the report says, public transit should be free to all students, and all should receive free computers and access to the internet.

4. Replace federal COVID relief dollars that are running out

The mayor’s education agenda and the recommendations of the transition committee will require major new investments — at a time when the district faces rising employee pension costs, declining enrollment, and a looming deadline to spend its federal pandemic recovery aid.

The city must figure out how to keep its finances stable as that federal money goes away, the report stresses. Some possibilities: a cannabis tax, donations from major corporations and other businesses, and tax changes to ensure “the wealthy pay their fair share.” And, the report says, the city should reverse a move by Lightfoot to make the district pay millions of dollars in staff pension costs that the city used to cover.

In media interviews this week, Shi and Morales said the new board will do a deep dive into district spending, with an eye on finding possible savings in administrative costs and other expenses.

“We want to dismantle a learning system built on scarcity,” Shi said.

5. Provide more help for homeless and migrant students

The report charges the mayor’s office with making a plan to find housing for some 20,000 students who don’t have a stable place to live. That’s a goal that the Chicago Teachers Union tried to enshrine in its contract with the district during tense negotiations in 2019 — one that Lightfoot criticized as being outside the district’s scope.

The transition committee, by contrast, said the task should be a top priority for the new mayor. It suggests looking at strategies used in other cities, such as Boston, which the report said has gotten involved in the push to secure affordable housing for families. Roughly 1 in 4 Black students experience homelessness while attending school in the district, the report said.

The district also needs a specific plan with measurable goals for better serving newly arrived migrant students, the report said. Johnson administration officials have said they are planning to open a “welcome center” for newly arrived migrant students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School.

The report also suggests granting students and district employees excused absences to attend immigration appointments and formally factoring the language and other needs of migrant students into the city or district budget.

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

Jen Johnson, Chicago’s new deputy mayor for education, has a long to-do list. First up: Youth jobs, migrant families.

2023-06-22T19:51:17+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy for education, youth, and human services Jennifer “Jen” Johnson has a packed agenda for the coming months.

Her first two orders of business since stepping into her new role in May: Boost the number of teens landing jobs through the city’s summer youth employment program. Help spearhead a more collaborative city response to the arrivals of migrant families, connecting some children to summer school and other programs.

But Jen Johnson, the former chief of staff for the Chicago Teachers Union (no relation to the mayor), says she is also eager to dramatically expand the district’s Sustainable Community Schools program, a partnership with the teachers union in which high-poverty schools team up with community-based organizations to beef up services for students and transform campuses into neighborhood hubs.

Expanding these types of schools was a campaign promise of Mayor Johnson’s, himself a former teachers union leader.

And as the district and union tackle negotiations over a new labor contract, Jen Johnson will find herself on the opposite side of the table from where she sat during highly contentious contract talks in 2019 and later over reopening school buildings during the pandemic.

In an exclusive interview with Chalkbeat, Jen Johnson, a former high school history teacher, spoke about the promise and pressure of attacking that high-stakes to-do list.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What excites you about your new role in the mayor’s office?

I am incredibly honored to have been asked to take this on. My passion comes from working with young people. I’m most excited about those additional levers that I get to push — and the additional collaborators across departments and agencies — to impact the lives of young people. I’m a classroom educator at heart. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher from when I was very young. I come from a family of educators. And I have a deep belief that young people are incredible. Their leadership is something that I’m excited to continue to cultivate.

What keeps you up at night?

It’s just the anxiety of all of the challenges and problems that the city is facing. My portfolio is very wide. I work with eight departments or agencies. The problems that we’re trying to address are systemic. Every day, I’m trying to move the chess pieces in the right direction because the challenges are so deeply impacting families. We need an investment in our schools and in our communities. I am trying to approach the work with a lens of accessibility. The mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities also falls within my office. Every community is touched by the agencies that I’m working with, and every single one has critical work to do. So the anxiety is, “Can we get it done? How quickly? What resources do we need to identify to do so?”

During the election campaign, Mayor Johnson talked about his interest in expanding Chicago’s Sustainable Community Schools model as a way to bring more resources and support to students in high-need schools. How many such schools do you envision, and how can the city scale up this model?

I think the vision and the dream is to work toward a Sustainable Community Schools district. That obviously will take enormous resources. So we are going to have to be sober and honest with our finances. We are going to have to work closely with Chicago Public Schools and ensure Chicago Public Schools is working closely with the Chicago Teachers Union. I’m hopeful that we can get to a phased approach where we are ramping up, but it’s too soon for me to predict an exact number. But the vision is to continue to grow that model where parents, students, community members, staff, and administration are working in partnership to make decisions in a just way that brings resources to students and families and makes schools a community hub. We think that that strategy builds confidence, it builds trust, and it will help school communities with enrollment ultimately.

Speaking of Sustainable Community Schools, Miguel del Valle, who is stepping down as school board president, recently called for evaluating and holding more accountable the district’s community partners in the Sustainable Community Schools program. Do you see a need for that as well?

Look, we live in a world where people expect and deserve data. They expect and deserve transparency in what is happening in their school communities. So I’m fully in favor of ensuring that students, families, educators, and the community understand what resources, programs, and supports are being put into schools, including the Sustainable Community Schools. I don’t think it’s fair to single out just Sustainable Community Schools. We have to be more transparent with how we’re talking about what investments are going into schools wholesale because that will help us tell the story of where more investment is needed. What I’m not in favor of is continuing to have to justify providing programs, resources, staffing, and services that all of our students deserve. Our young people deserve a librarian. Our young people deserve an after-school program. Our young people deserve a health clinic in their school. I’m not interested in revisiting the 25-year history of research on whether community schools work, but research is very clear that this model is the way we should do school.

Why were youth jobs one of the first orders of business when Mayor Johnson took office last month? How will this administration achieve his goal of doubling them?

The mayor is a parent. He has three active children, and he and his family ensure that they are engaged in high-quality programs that keep them busy and happy. The mayor understands that not all young people have access to programs and jobs that do the same for them. He knows that young people who have opportunities to have paid work will be occupied and have fun; they will learn skills that will transfer back into the school and hopefully will transfer into interest that drives them forward with their future plans. He understands that it’s an important lever on curbing young people from engaging in behavior that is destructive.

We have been working very quickly and closely with the Department of Family & Support Services, with our budget department, with our sister agencies and departments. One Summer Chicago is a critical program. We think that it can do more. So all of those partners are working together right now to increase the number of students who are placed in slots. We also have corporate partners working with our departments to identify opportunities for young people to work. So this is really an all-hands-on-deck moment. We do expect to see a bump this summer, and then we’re going to be working really hard to maintain and continue that increase.

Chicago Public Schools is going into contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union. How will the Johnson administration ensure the two sides arrive at a contract that meets the needs of educators, students — and taxpayers?

The mayor has been clear that he is an educator, so he knows how critical investing in our Chicago Public Schools is. He is also a parent, and he is the mayor for the entire city. So we’re going to balance all of the priorities we have to balance, in terms of investment and fiscal responsibility, but we’re going to do it in a collaborative manner. We will be able to have more honest, upfront conversations with the union and with the district about the needs and about the barriers. And with Mayor Johnson in office, he has excellent relations across all levels of government. So I am hopeful that the process will be less painful, more inclusive, and driven by a shared set of goals.

How will the school district and the city step up services for newly arrived migrant students?

The issue of supporting our asylum-seekers is one that cuts across many departments in this city. I have continued to support making sure that young people who are part of our migrant families are connected to their school communities as soon as possible. There are young people who have been connected with summer programming this summer. But the solutions don’t just live in one department. There is increased, deeper collaboration across the schools, the Department of Family & Support Services, the mayor’s office, and myriad others. There’s a lot of evaluation going on of what’s working right now. I also expect we are going to bring on a new deputy mayor who will be fully focused on this issue.

Typically, newly elected mayors have replaced appointed members of the Chicago Board of Education. Four of seven members’ terms are expiring this month. Do you have any updates about Mayor Johnson’s school board appointments?

We’re working on it, and you’ll know as soon as we’re ready to share.

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

Applications for the Chicago Mayor’s Youth Commission are open

2023-06-14T20:13:40+00:00

Chicago teens looking to give advice to Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration can apply to serve on an advisory group that provides input on key issues affecting the city’s young people.

Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, launched the Mayor’s Youth Commission in the fall of 2019. She made it a formal advisory body as part of a flurry of executive orders in the days before she left office in May.

In its upcoming term, city officials say, the 32-member commission will focus on four areas: education, public health, public safety, and neighborhood development.

Members will meet monthly to weigh in on city initiatives, plan youth outreach campaigns, and more — adding up to a commitment of five to 10 hours a month. In exchange, they’ll get public transit passes and a stipend, though the amount was not immediately clear.

The application deadline is July 1. Any Chicago resident ages 14 through 19 can apply on the city’s website.

The application site says the mayor’s office is seeking teens who have “a strong connection to their community, a passion about issues that impact youth, and interest in collaborating with City leaders to impact Chicago’s future.”

The current advisory group, whose term will end in August, recently released its annual New Ideas report.

Youth commissioners serve up to two years. Interested teens can email mayorsyouthcommission@cityofchicago.org with questions.

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

Chicago Public Schools staff to get 12 weeks paid parental leave

2023-06-08T21:42:42+00:00

Chicago Public Schools employees will soon have 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave — putting the district in line with city policy and well ahead of most other school systems across the country.

Parental leave became a campaign issue in January during the mayoral election, when the Chicago Teachers Union accused former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of reneging on plans to extend the city policy to teachers. A CPS spokesperson at the time said the union and district were “actively working” to update the policy.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer and teacher, announced the new leave policy on Thursday standing alongside CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

“It will ensure that once they return from leave, they come back refreshed, energized and ready to lead the next generation of young Chicagoans into success,” Johnson said.

Martinez said the exact details are still being worked out, but the plan is to roll out the new policy before the start of the 2023-24 school year. A working group has begun meeting, according to the mayor’s office. Once finalized, the policy will go before the Chicago Board of Education for a vote. All new and revised policies must be posted online for public comment for 30 days.

Currently, teachers have two weeks of leave with the ability to use short-term disability if they are the birthing parent. Davis Gates told Chalkbeat in January that teachers usually cobble together leaves using those benefits, sick and personal days, and unpaid time off allowed under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. They also try to time pregnancies so they give birth when school is not in session.

“There are a lot of summer birthdays if you have teacher friends and that’s for a reason,” Davis Gates said Thursday.

Chicago will become an outlier nationally in providing teachers paid leave. According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, less than a quarter of nearly 150 school districts they reviewed, including the 100 largest, offer paid parental leave, but most offer fewer than 30 days.

While the details of the policy are still being worked out, Martinez estimated it could cost an additional $10 million annually. The district’s most recent budget was $9.5 billion.

“I think it’s a worthwhile investment,” Martinez said. “Because the reality is we lose teachers when they start having children, and that creates other challenges for us.”

Tiffany Childress Price, a teacher and mom of two, said the new policy is critical for retaining and recruiting high-quality educators.

“Becoming a parent was the best thing to happen to my teaching practice,” Childress Price said. “The way that I have seen other people’s children has transformed my empathy for struggling children and struggling families.”

Parental leave has historically been negotiated during contract talks in Chicago and elsewhere. Today’s announcement signals the policy will no longer be used as a bargaining chip. But Johnson bristled when asked what this says about how he might negotiate with his friends and former colleagues.

“This is not a gift to the CTU, this is a policy for the people of the city of Chicago,” Johnson said.

The union’s current contract is set to expire on June 30, 2024. Davis Gates and Martinez both said paid parental leave is no longer something that should be negotiated.

“It really is more of a policy for how we treat all of our employees,” Martinez said.

“When it is at the negotiating table, it gets crowded out by other things,” Davis Gates added. “We shouldn’t be trading parental leave for class size or class size for parental leave.”

All three touted today’s announcement as evidence of a more collaborative relationship between the mayor, the school district, and the teachers union. The energy is a stark contrast to the fraught labor relations under Chicago’s previous two mayors. Tensions between CTU and Lightfoot prompted an 11-day strike in 2019 and two actions during the height of the COVID pandemic.

The union also went on strike in 2012 for seven days after then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel rescinded a contractually-promised raise and pushed to unilaterally lengthen the school day and year.

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

From middle school teacher to Chicago mayor: Brandon Johnson sworn in to city’s top office

2023-05-15T20:30:33+00:00

Brandon Johnson, a public school parent, teachers union organizer, and former middle school teacher, has been officially sworn in as Chicago’s 57th mayor.

Johnson defeated former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a runoff election on April 4 after both candidates surpassed incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot during a Feb. 28 general election, dashing her hopes of a second term.

“We get to write the story of our children’s and our grandchildren’s future,” Johnson said during his inaugural address Monday at the Credit Union 1 Arena at University of Illinois at Chicago on the city’s Near West Side. “What will that story say?”

As the last mayor with control of Chicago Public Schools, Johnson will oversee the city’s transition to an elected school board, which he lobbied for as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union. In his speech Monday, he once again promised to double the number of youth jobs, provide “child care for all,” and partner with school district leadership to “provide every single child with a world class education that meets their needs.”

“Let’s create a public education system that resources children based on need and not just on numbers,” Johnson said.

“Let’s have a system that respects its parents, educators and school employees,” he said. “Where the president of the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Local 73 and the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools can work together to advocate for more resources for all of our children.”

Roughly three hours after taking the oath of office, Johnson signed four executive orders — one which directs the budget office to find available money to pay for youth employment this summer and year-round. It also tasks his new Deputy Mayor of Education Jen Johnson to identify entry-level jobs “suitable for young people” within city departments and agencies. Chicago’s youth unemployment rates increased during the pandemic, hitting Black young women particularly hard, according to a new report released last week.

Johnson’s own story from middle school teacher to mayor began more than a decade ago. He left the classroom in 2012 to join a grassroots effort by the Chicago Teachers Union to build political power in order to improve the conditions beyond the classroom walls that impact students and their families, such as housing affordability, poverty, crime, and environmental racism.

“I’m struck by how much work it took to bring us to this moment,” Johnson said, with CTU president, Stacy Davis Gates, and vice president, Jackson Potter, seated behind him on the stage.

While running for mayor, Johnson promised free public transit for students, an expansion of child care programs and health clinics in schools with available space, and an increase in support staff, such as social workers and counselors.

Johnson’s election signals a national shift on education within Democratic politics away from an emphasis on high-stakes accountability and market-based school choice. That view of reform, at times, also vilified teachers and their unions and came with legislation that stripped teachers of their bargaining rights and tried to tie job security to student test scores.

The Chicago Teachers Union began to push back on that thinking in 2010 with the election of the late Karen Lewis as CTU president. Their movement gained momentum and national attention going on strike in 2012, protesting mass school closures in 2013, and electing the first teacher to City Council in 2015. The CTU’s activism galvanized unions in other cities.

In a narrow election in 2018, Johnson upset an incumbent to win a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, a position he officially resigned on Friday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson shakes hands outside Michele Clark Magnet High School in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood hours before taking the oath of office.

Prior to taking the oath of office on Monday, Johnson stopped at several schools on Chicago’s West Side, including DePriest Elementary, Michele Clark Magnet High School, and Leland Elementary. A drumline and crowd of students, teachers, and elected officials greeted him outside Michele Clark.

Torrence Bell, 15, held up a poster congratulating the new mayor and stood along a fence outside the front entrance, where dozens of elected officials gathered, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, City Clerk Anna Valencia, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

“He’s a Black male, you know, I’m a Black male, so it’s really very inspiring for me,” Bell said.

Up the street, outside Leland Elementary students cheered and chanted for the new mayor, shaking his hand as he walked through the playground before getting in a black SUV to head to the inauguration ceremony.

“He’s one of our own,” said Alesia Franklin-Allen, acting principal at Leland. “That’s a great asset to have in a leader. He knows the needs of the schools.”

Speaking outside Michele Clark Magnet High School, current union president Davis Gates said she felt like the “personification of joy.”

“We deserve a mayor who’s going to invest in our children, who is going to practice justice and equity, not just as a value, but as a policy imperative,” Davis Gates said. “I am so very happy for us right now.”

Students from Leland Elementary on Chicago’s West Side wait to meet Mayor Brandon Johnson Monday morning before he took the oath of office.

Ten years ago this month, Davis Gates said, she and Johnson were in Springfield lobbying lawmakers to stop then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his appointed Chicago Board of Education from closing 50 schools. Ultimately, the board voted to close those schools, which became a galvanizing moment for the CTU. After the May 22, 2013 vote, then-CTU president Karen Lewis said the union would start training people to run for office.

“Clearly, we have to change the political landscape in this city,” Lewis said at the time.

Davis Gates choked back tears Monday morning as she recalled that moment.

“I’m so happy that teachers and clinicians and paraprofessionals believed their union who said that we could bargain for the common good, that we could be in coalition with the community, that we could transform Chicago,” Davis Gates said standing outside Michele Clark High School before heading downtown for the inauguration. “This is so amazing. And my only regret is that Karen is not here.”

A few hours later in his inaugural address, Johnson nodded to Lewis, calling her his “mentor and dear sister.”

“We all are here because of the work of giants who came before us and without whom this day would not be possible,” he said.

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

Chicago mayor looks to turn old South Shore High School into migrant shelter as more buses arrive

2023-05-02T18:37:22+00:00

City officials want to shelter migrants at the old South Shore High School building amid a “humanitarian crisis” that’s pushed Chicago’s shelter system to its limits.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office will host a meeting 6 p.m. Thursday at the former high school, 7627 S. Constance Ave., to discuss housing asylum seekers at the property. To register to attend the meeting, click here.

The meeting is scheduled just days after Lightfoot wrote Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and criticized Abbott’s plan to resume bussing migrants to Chicago this week.

Lightfoot spokesperson Cesar Rodriguez and Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) declined to comment Monday on plans for the old South Shore High School.

Rodriguez did not answer when asked whether the city is committed to opening a shelter at the former high school, nor how feedback from this week’s meeting would inform the city’s plans.

Rodriguez instead texted Block Club a statement late Monday which broadly praised the city’s work to “connect new arrivals with assistance and support.”

“We don’t have any details to share at this time,” Rodriguez said three days before the scheduled meeting.

“We will continue collaborating with community-based organizations and local and community leaders to support those in need while also addressing the concerns of the local communities.”

Harris instructed her staff to refer questions about the shelter plans to the Mayor’s Office, as it’s “their meeting” and not the alderperson’s, a staffer told Block Club Monday afternoon.

Migrants were temporarily stationed in the hallway near the O’Hare CTA Blue Line station before being taken to shelters on a bus on April 26, 2023.

The Police Department signed a lease to operate a temporary police professional development center at the former high school for at least two years, officials announced in 2020.

The school building was vacant from 2014 — when students moved into South Shore International College Preparatory High School — until the police training center opened.

Rodriguez did not answer questions about whether the training center is still in operation, why the former school is suitable for a shelter, or what other South Shore properties have been identified as potential shelter locations, if any.

The Lightfoot administration’s short-notice rollout of a migrant shelter in neighboring Woodlawn sparked months of outrage, as well as community organizing to ensure asylum-seekers had the resources they need as they moved into the neighborhood.

City officials last fall denied their intent to open a shelter at the old Wadsworth elementary school, then “blindsided” neighbors by confirming shelter plans in December.

Woodlawn residents criticized city leaders for sharing details only once the Wadsworth shelter was a “done deal.” Lightfoot’s family and support services commissioner apologized to neighbors for the shelter rollout, saying it “caused a lot of confusion,” though the mayor denied there was “any lack of transparency.”

A CTA bus carrying migrants arrives to the shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn on Feb. 2, 2023.

Abbott, a Republican, began busing asylum seekers and other migrants to Democrat-led cities on Aug. 31 to protest federal immigration policies. Since then, officials in Texas and other states — including Colorado, which has a Democratic governor — have sent more than 8,000 migrants to Chicago.

Texas will resume busing migrants to Chicago this week, Lightfoot said. The mayor blasted Abbott’s actions as “inhumane and dangerous,” as Chicago is unable to help the new arrivals, she said.

“We simply have no more shelters, spaces or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level, with little coordination or care, that does not pose a risk to them or others,” Lightfoot wrote to Abbott. “To tell them to go to Chicago or to inhumanely bus them here is an inviable and misleading choice.”

Many migrants have come to the United States from Venezuela, which has struggled with political and economic upheaval. Some migrants have been isolated from basic resources like housing, food, and jobs during their rapid relocation to Chicago upon arriving to the U.S.

Some migrants have stayed at Chicago police stations in recent weeks, while others slept last week at O’Hare Airport after a San Antonio shelter gave them one-way plane tickets.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago police will enforce Millennium Park teen curfew after youth gatherings turned violent

2023-04-18T18:47:56+00:00

A curfew for minors at Millennium Park is back, and bag checks at beaches will be enforced after youth gatherings this weekend downtown turned violent, police said Monday night.

The announcement comes after two teens were wounded in shootings downtown and a third on the Near South Side as large groups gathered.

The meetups came as Chicago saw 70- and 80-degree temperatures and many people gathered outside to enjoy the weather. Videos on social media showed hundreds of young people gathered Friday night near 31st Street Beach, and other videos showed more large groups of people Saturday night downtown.

The videos showed people fighting, jumping on cars, and running in and out of the street.

Nine adults and six juveniles were arrested at the gathering Saturday, officials said. Most of the people arrested faced a reckless conduct charge, but two people were charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.

A 16-year-old was also charged with unlawful of a weapon, police said.

“We encourage our young people to be safe and responsible as they enjoy their weekends, but anyone engaged in criminal activity will be arrested and held accountable,” police department officials said in a statement.

As a result of the incidents, police said they will implement additional security measures downtown, including bag checks, enforcing a controversial Millennium Park curfew, and “working closely with youth and outreach workers for when these gatherings occur.”

“Resources include an increased police and command staff presence at these gatherings citywide. Our Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) will also be monitoring all activity and police cameras to assist in the proactive reallocation of resources when necessary,” police officials said.

A Mayor’s Office spokesperson confirmed Monday the curfew at Millennium Park is being enforced.

That park’s curfew, rolled out last summer after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed at The Bean, bans people younger than 18 from being in the park without an adult after 6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Those younger than 18 trying to enter the park after 6 p.m. must be accompanied by someone 21 or older. Each adult can accompany no more than four minors at a time, according to the park’s rules.

Those entering the park will also be subjected to bag checks by park security, who regularly check IDs.

Separately, a 10 p.m. citywide curfew is in effect daily for people 17 and younger. The citywide curfew was moved up last year as the city struggled with shootings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and City Council faced heavy criticism for the changes — and data shows the curfew had little effect on crime — but officials argued the changes were necessary.

“We strongly encourage parents to accompany their teens or have them remain under the supervision of a responsible adult,” police said.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s win reflects local and national shifts on education

2023-04-12T20:35:00+00:00

The direction of public education in Chicago changed last week when voters elected a teachers union organizer and former middle school teacher to be the city’s next mayor over a former schools chief and education consultant.

Brandon Johnson, 47, clinched victory with 52% of the vote over Paul Vallas, 69, and will be sworn in as mayor on May 15.

He comes to the job with more experience in public education than most, if not all, previous mayors. Johnson will also be the first mayor in recent memory to hold the title of a public school parent. And he’ll be the last with the power to appoint the school board.

But most significantly, Johnson brings a teachers union-friendly perspective that rejects many of the education ideas that once dominated Democratic politics and defined Vallas’ career: a focus on accountability for schools, teachers, and students, market-based school choice, and top-down decision-making from the mayor. Support from Democrats for those ideas began to erode years ago, making Johnson’s rise part of a bigger national shift.

“The former bipartisan ground that the Paul Vallas-esque reformers used to occupy, where do they stand anymore?” said Sarah Reckhow, a political scientist at Michigan State University who studies education policy. “The ground has shifted beneath them.”

Brandon Johnson announced his bid for Chicago mayor on Oct. 27, 2022. His win over Paul Vallas on April 4, 2023 marked the culmination of a years-long effort by the Chicago Teachers Union to influence public policy beyond the classroom.

Johnson’s win is also a win for local progressives, who see it as the culmination of years of effort. His education agenda — which closely mirrors policy papers put out by the Chicago Teachers Union over the past several years — calls for more funding for traditional public schools, higher pay for teachers, and additional social services for students.

Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, which endorsed Johnson and helped turn out the vote with an army of field organizers, said Johnson’s victory comes after a “years-long journey” of “sustained, aspirational” organizing.

“Both (Donald) Trump’s secretary of education and (Barack) Obama’s secretary of education endorsed Paul Vallas and he lost,” said Tai. “A working-class majority defeated a bipartisan, wealthy donor consensus on public education. And I think that any Democrats with national aspirations or presidential aspirations need to pay pretty close attention to that.”

Johnson’s victory follows a decade of growing union strength

The start of Johnson’s political career can be traced to the summer of 2011, when he left the classroom to become an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union.

For more than a decade prior, Chicago had been a testing ground for a vision of school improvement that relied on accountability and pushed publicly-funded, privately-run charter schools as engines of improvement.

In this worldview, held by Democrats and Republicans alike, teachers unions were seen as stubborn barriers to progress, intent on preserving an adult-centered status quo.

When Johnson became an organizer, Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff, had just been elected mayor and Illinois lawmakers had passed a new law reforming teacher tenure and limiting the Chicago Teachers Union’s ability to strike. It was one of dozens of laws passed across the country — in red and blue states alike — aimed at weakening the collective bargaining rights of teachers.

That did not sit well with classroom teachers.

A year earlier, a high school chemistry teacher named Karen Lewis had been elected as the new president of the Chicago Teachers Union on a platform promising to oppose charter school expansion, stop neighborhood school closures, and take on high-stakes testing and accountability.

The headquarters of Chicago Teachers Union sit on Chicago’s Near West Side.

Lewis and Emanuel became foils on the future of public education in Chicago — and nationally. They battled over seemingly everything — how long the school day and year should be; how teachers should be evaluated and compensated; and eventually, whether or not 50 public schools should be shuttered.

Though Emanuel succeeded in shuttering 50 schools, Lewis said the “fight for education justice” would “eventually move to the ballot box.”

“Clearly, we have to change the political landscape in this city,” Lewis said on the day the school board voted on the school closures in 2013.

That moment galvanized more than just the teachers union. Tai, now the head of United Working Families, said those closures prompted her to get into politics.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want them to be able to do this anymore,’” Tai said. “What’s it going to take so that I never have to be at a Board of Education meeting again, watching as Black parents are dragged out by white jacketed security guards while they’re crying? I never want to have to see that again.”

Johnson was one of the boots on the ground for the teachers union during this time, convening groups of teachers from schools on the South and West Sides and building coalitions with community organizations.

He helped elect City Council members in 2015 and supported Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s bid for mayor when Lewis was sidelined by a brain tumor. In 2018, Johnson ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and won — a victory Lewis applauded in a letter to teachers when she resigned as CTU president.

But in 2019, the union’s endorsed candidate for mayor, Toni Preckwinkle, lost to outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a landslide. That fall, teachers went on strike for 11 days and although the union secured some significant wins, the protracted fight left some teachers and parents frustrated. Still, this spring, the union’s existing leadership won re-election.

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied outside City Hall on the 11th day of their strike in 2019.

Johnson’s ascension to mayor is now an ironic — and perhaps fitting — end to three decades of mayoral control over Chicago Public Schools, a major priority of the union’s. In an interview last week, Johnson told Chalkbeat that he still supports eventually relinquishing control to an elected school board now that he’s been elected.

“Anyone else would say, ‘Well, now that we have it, we’re good because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control,’” he said. “That would miss the moment … We still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system.”

Mayoral campaign becomes an indictment of education reform

The union had tried and failed twice in the last decade to put an ally in the mayor’s office. But Vallas was a different kind of opponent, and the union capitalized on growing skepticism among Democrats about his education record.

He rose to prominence in 1995 as the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools after the state legislature handed control of the system to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. He became a leading advocate for and adopter of the education-reform playbook touted by both Democrats and Republicans throughout the early 2000s.

Defenders of Vallas say he fixed entrenched problems and improved outcomes for students. But others, including the CTU, say he left a “trail of destruction” in the places where he worked — which Johnson supporters highlighted during an event on the city’s South Side just weeks before the election. Vallas supporters disrupted that event and called their claims “completely untrue.”

Still, Johnson’s campaign continued to focus on Vallas’ complicated schools legacy, even releasing a two-minute ad with parents from New Orleans and Philadelphia talking about teachers being fired during Vallas’ time leading those districts.

Paul Vallas represented a different kind of opponent for the Chicago Teachers Union, which had tried twice to put an ally in the mayor’s office.

Peter Cunningham, founder and board chair of Education Post and former assistant secretary at the U. S. Department of Education, said Vallas — and his record on education running school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Chicago — were mischaracterized and unfairly maligned. Vallas advocated for more than just school choice and high-stakes accountability, he said. For example, he started a program that still exists to provide Chicago Public Schools students with free eye exams and eyeglasses and developed a school-based teen pregnancy program. He built more than 70 new school buildings — including the one where Johnson eventually taught middle school.

“I would not say the reform movement was a failure in any sense,” Cunningham said. “I would say that it had considerable successes.”

And even though Johnson’s campaign criticized Chicago’s system of school choice that Vallas helped to build, he has taken advantage of it for his three children, two of whom attend a magnet elementary school and one who attends a neighborhood high school that is not his zoned school. That’s a reflection of the way Chicago Public Schools has been reshaped by the changes of the last two decades in ways that are likely to outlast any mayor.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement in Chicago over the last 15 years,” said Elaine Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring director of the UChicago Consortium on School Research, which has studied Chicago Public Schools since 1990.

More students are graduating high school, going to, and finishing college. Student learning accelerated between 2009 to 2014 — with students gaining six years worth of education in five — according to research out of Stanford University. Out-of-school suspensions have decreased.

“No matter what you think about the reforms of the last 30 years, that’s not the question,” Cunningham said.

“The question is: What do you want to do in the next 10?”

The work beyond the classroom walls begins

The vision laid out by the teachers union more than a decade ago will come to fruition on May 15 when Johnson is sworn in as mayor.

Now, he will have the chance to tackle the issues beyond the classroom, beyond the school building, beyond the district administration. As he moves from an outsider advocating for a certain ideology to decision maker, Johnson will face the realities of governing a city known for its provincial politics, despite being dominated by Democrats.

Johnson will be responsible for a police department grappling with reforms mandated by the federal government and a public health department still dealing with a global pandemic. He’ll oversee multiple city agencies that determine when libraries are open, whether trains run on time, how businesses are licensed, and how to manage garbage pickup and alley rats.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson spoke at a City Club of Chicago luncheon during his campaign for mayor.

Allensworth said educators have an “innate sense” of how those different sectors — such as transportation, public health, and safety — all impact public schools.

“I do hope that having that knowledge will help him be a good strong coordinator of all those different services in the service of young people in Chicago,” she said.

And although Chicago Public Schools has seen a lot of improvement, the pandemic stymied some of its progress. Chicago’s scores on the nation’s report card last year dropped in math and flat-lined in reading. Long-standing gaps between students of color and their white peers remain. The district’s handling of students with disabilities is being monitored by the state, after a 2018 report found it delayed and denied services to those children.

“There’s so much more work to do,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who led Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008 and now heads a nonprofit focused on violence prevention.

Duncan endorsed Vallas and in doing so, didn’t mention education or schools. In an interview with Chalkbeat, he said the mayoral election was as much about education as it was about public safety, noting that when students drop out of high school, they’re more likely to be shot and killed.

“The consequences here in Chicago for educational failure are pretty staggering,” Duncan said. “This is absolutely about education. It’s absolutely about breaking cycles of poverty and helping people have upward mobility and enter the middle class.”

Now, he said the city needs to rally around Johnson. And he applauded the former teachers union organizer for promising to double the number of youth summer jobs from 30,000 to 60,000 and make that employment program year round.

Johnson has also promised to fund the city’s public schools based on need, not enrollment, which has been declining for the past decade. With schools slated to get their budgets this month, it’s not clear if the formula for doling out money will change in time for next school year. He’s vowed to continue investing in support staff — such as social workers, school nurses, and librarians — which Chicago Public Schools has already started doing using federal COVID recovery money.

He’ll have to negotiate a new contract with his former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union, and decide whether to keep current district leadership, including CEO Pedro Martinez, in place.

Tai, with United Working Families, said Johnson’s win does not mean their work is finished.

“I don’t think it’s ever really over,” she said. “But it’s a game changer, a conversation changer, and once again, Chicago’s in the center of it.”

Patrick Wall contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to correct Peter Cunningham’s title.

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

Q&A: Chicago’s Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson on how being a public school parent will guide him

2023-04-06T18:30:05+00:00

Brandon Johnson took an unconventional path to becoming Chicago’s next mayor.

A decade ago, Johnson, 47, was teaching middle school at Jenner Academy of the Arts, which served mostly low-income Black students from the Cabrini-Green public housing complex. In 2012, he became an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, and in 2018, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Now he will be the first mayor in recent memory with children in Chicago Public Schools and the last to have control of the school system before it transitions to an elected school board.

Chalkbeat Chicago sat down with Johnson for a brief interview Thursday. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you talk to your own children about becoming Chicago’s mayor?

I spoke with my children about them being children. Not about me running for mayor. Our conversations were more about, “What are the things that are important to them? What are the areas of support they need from me and their mother?” We had a thoughtful conversation about their own personal desires. And that conversation led into: “Daddy’s running for mayor. You all are an important part of Daddy’s story. But you’re not running for mayor. Daddy’s running for mayor.”

It was important for me to sort of lay some of the foundation around making sure that my children know that whatever adventure that I take on, it’s attached to my purpose, and that they too will have to find their purpose. I spoke to it and in the biblical sense. As Jesus said, “We don’t bury our talents. We double, we multiply them.”

It got them thinking more about their purpose, their talents, their gifts, and how they will make a contribution to society by utilizing their gifts. The transition from running for mayor and the conversation about being mayor was pretty similar. Obviously, there’s more details around security, but my children are chill.

You will be the first mayor in recent memory that has children attending the Chicago Public Schools, and I wonder what you think of that?

I think about that (in the context of) the question about my ability to negotiate contracts particularly for the Chicago Public Schools, because I am now responsible and tasked with negotiating from the perspective of the public schools, right?

The question came up repeatedly about my ability to do that. I’m going to be negotiating that not just as a mayor, but as a parent. I want parents and students to win a good school system, not a contract. That negotiation is actually far greater now as mayor of the city of Chicago having children in the public schools.

I’m not calling for a system to be better so that other people can experience it. I’m calling for a system to be better that works through the lens of someone who trusts the system to provide the education that will ultimately prepare (my children) to fulfill their purpose. I’m going to take the lived experience of not just as a teacher, as an organizer, but as a parent.

What were the things that were frustrating for me and my wife? I’m confident that whatever we were frustrated about, there are countless other parents who have that same frustration. That will be the impetus behind whatever decision is being made or whatever dynamics are being negotiated.

How do we not only help children fulfill their purpose? How do we make sure that parents that rely on this system for their children have an experience that is not just pleasant, but that motivates parents to continue to trust and believe in this system?

What do you think the election result and your win say about how Chicagoans feel about the approach to public education policy in this city under previous mayors?

I believe that my election sets us up to fulfill a promise of what public education should be about. There’s more of an acceptance and agreement around a system that is not just equitable and just, but a system that works for every single family in the city of Chicago.

That’s the message that they accepted — that you do not necessarily have to subscribe to a stratified system, where there are winners and losers, (but that) every parent who gets what they want out of the Chicago Public Schools.

If you talk to most parents, it’s a relief. Why? Why is it a relief? Why do parents make sort of the internal motion of: “Whew! I don’t have to worry about my child’s education!”? If that’s the response of parents where they have like this relief, generally speaking, then what’s the opposite response? When you don’t get what you want or need for your children?

This election is about really eliminating these pressure points. Where you can still be curious and searching juxtaposed to “Oh, my gosh, thank God we don’t gotta worry about that.” Do you understand what I’m trying to say? I hope so.

I think so. You’re saying that because we have a system where you “win” admission to a school, then you’re happy and relieved, but if you don’t, you are just in the struggle?

We want to eliminate the struggle and the pressure of: “How do I get to a release point where I can take a deep breath?” Because that in of itself is very hostile and traumatizing, as well. There’s this dynamic of you got to be grateful because you could be at this other place.

What are we saying? We literally have places in the city of Chicago that people dread going or they’re in fear of having to attend or somehow they’re going to lose the quality of instruction or won’t be offered the fulfillment of what education should be about.

I believe people have accepted that Brandon Johnson believes that public education is far more dynamic than a bubble sheet. It’s about the fulfillment of purpose, and what is available within our public school system that sets up all of our children to be able to find their purpose, discover their purpose, and be good to live it out.

You’ve been part of a movement, built by (the late CTU President) Karen Lewis, to kind of turn the tide in Chicago when it comes to public education and mayoral control of Chicago Public Schools. What do you think about being the last mayor with control of the city’s public schools?

Karen really loved the opera. As I understand opera — and I’m going down a rabbit hole here — there’s always tragedy and triumphs, right? That’s my general frame. And I know that’s a real simplistic way to look at an incredible art, so please be gentle, I do not want to piss off opera lovers. But there’s this tragedy. There is this tension. And then you start to get to a point where there’s going to be a very dramatic end to something that would have otherwise been a constant state of tragedy.

That’s how we look at mayoral control. And to know that our movement has culminated at the very time (mayoral control ends) and we are actually really true to our word. Because anyone else would say, “Well, now that we have it, we’re good. Because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control.”

And that would be a flat note, as Karen would say. That would miss the moment. I think it’s actually quite the crescendo of the movement that pushed the political dynamics around public education, and particularly the harm of mayoral control.

Even with us being in a position where we could impose our ideology onto an entire system, we are still saying that even with us having the ability to direct traffic, we still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system. So I think it’s an incredible crescendo to our movement.

You will have some chances to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education. Do you have any shortlist of names? Do you plan to keep any current school board members?

Well, I don’t have a shortlist of names. What I do have, though, is a commitment to a process that is committed to equity in the distribution of the seats that I have the ability to assign. We will provide a process that allows for real community input. An equitable education really requires a dynamic, diverse makeup of experiences that I believe will be necessary to have the type of democratic structure that the city of Chicago has already united around.

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

Chicago 2023 mayoral election: Brandon Johnson defeats Paul Vallas

2023-04-05T04:26:20+00:00

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Brandon Johnson, a teachers union organizer, county commissioner, and former middle school teacher, will become Chicago’s next mayor after winning 51.4% of the vote to defeat former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a runoff election.

Johnson’s win marks a stunning achievement in the grassroots movement started by Chicago Teachers Union leadership roughly a decade ago to focus on issues beyond the classroom, such as affordable housing, public health, environmental justice, and police reform.

“We have ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city,” Johnson said. “Whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses, or teach middle school, or wear a badge to protect our streets, or nurse patients in need, or provide child care services, you have always worked for this city. And now Chicago will begin to work for its people.”

Brandon Johnson’s supporters celebrate during the winning mayoral candidate’s watch party.

Bankrolled by the teachers union and other labor groups, Johnson broke through a field of nine candidates, securing about 21% of the vote, finishing second to Vallas, who captured 33% of the vote in the first round of voting on Feb. 28. Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot finished third with 17% of the vote — dashing her hopes for a second term.

With 99% of precincts reporting, preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections had Johnson with 51.4% to Vallas’ 48.6%.

The two have spent the last five weeks knocking on doors, holding events, debating one another, visiting churches, and collecting endorsements in an effort to sway voters who may have picked another candidate or didn’t vote on Feb. 28. The narrow results illustrate how contentious and divisive the campaign had become and was a stark contrast to the Lightfoot’s runoff landslide in 2019.

“It’s clear based on the results tonight that the city is deeply divided,” Vallas said in a concession speech Tuesday night. “Even though, of course, we believe every vote should be counted, I called Brandon Johnson and told him that I absolutely expect him to be the next mayor of Chicago.”

Former principal of Whitney Young Magnet School Joyce D. Kenner, a Paul Vallas supporter, was holding out hope for a Vallas victory.

Johnson offered an olive branch to those who didn’t vote for him.

“To the Chicagoans who did not vote for me, here’s what I want you to know: that I care about you, I value you, and I want to hear from you. I want to work with you, and I’ll be the mayor for you too,” he said.

Both candidates’ deep ties to education propelled them into politics — though the two have been on opposite sides of the debates over public education policy in the past two decades and presented contrasting visions for the future of Chicago Public Schools.

Vallas, a torch bearer for school choice and charter schools who has supported voucher expansion, faced criticism and applause for his complicated schools’ legacy. Johnson taught at Jenner Academy of the Arts and Westinghouse College Prep before becoming a union organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union. His education platform, which aligns closely with the teachers union, promises more staff, free transit for students, and green schools.

Now, Johnson will be the last mayor to have control of the city’s public schools, a perhaps fitting irony for someone who advocated for an elected school board. He will oversee a number of challenges facing the nation’s fourth largest district including declining enrollment, closing pandemic-related academic declines, and the transition to an elected school board.

“On education, the contrast was clear,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the parent union of the CTU. “Brandon wants to ensure parents have a say, teachers can teach, and students can learn without the intrusion of those who measure their success by closing schools rather than strengthening them.”

Former Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said Johnson’s victory is a vindication of the union’s massive organizing push over the past decade. He said members threw themselves into campaigning for Johnson in a big way, from knocking on doors to making art for his campaign materials.

“There was an outpouring of creativity and organizing in this election,” he said. “It turned out it was just enough.”

Throughout the campaign, Johnson has faced questions over whether he would be impartial in negotiations with his own union, to which he responded: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?”

“Brandon is going to have to govern,” Sharkey said. “I don’t think the CTU gets to decide what it wants. Brandon is a remarkable person who has a lot of principles and deeply believes in governance.”

As Johnson took the lead, the crowd at his election night watch party at the Marriott Marquis downtown pumped their fists and cheered. The volume of the dance music went way up, and supporters danced, snapped selfies, and hugged.

Nina Hike, a science teacher at Westinghouse College Prep and a teachers union leader, said the ground game that the union built was crucial. Teachers turned out to volunteer and campaign for Johnson in full force, she said.

Hike estimated she spent hundreds of hours phone banking, knocking on more than 500 doors, recording a podcast attacking Vallas’ education record, and talking with news reporters.

Wallace Wilbourn Jr., a middle school social studies teacher at DePriest Elementary in Austin on Chicago’s West Side, knocked on doors for Johnson and hosted a canvassing event in his East Garfield Park living room. Early on election night, he was taking deep breaths as the two candidates remained neck-and-neck with razor-thin margins.

“The whole city has been working toward this one progressive goal,” Wilbourn said.

Brandon Johnson was a middle school teacher before rising in the ranks at the Chicago Teachers Union. He was elected to Cook County Commission in 2018.

The CTU called Johnson a “protege” of the late former union president Karen Lewis, who almost ran for mayor herself in 2015 before being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“You don’t have a Brandon Johnson without a Karen Lewis,” said CTU president Stacy Davis Gates said. “She transformed the political debate in our city. She showed Chicagoans how to stand up and demand what their schools and their city need and deserve. Tonight affirms Karen’s dream of a city that works for us all, not just a privileged few.”

At the Vallas election night party at the Hyatt Regency, his supporters held on to hope even as the results showed Johnson taking the lead. Joyce D. Kenner, former principal of Whitney Young Magnet High School who endorsed Vallas, said she did not expect the race to be so close.

Paul Vallas, alongside his family, speaks to his supporters after conceding the race to Brandon Johnson.

Beverly Miles, a former aldermanic candidate and Vallas supporter, said she was “expecting a landslide for Vallas.”

Miles said she thought Johnson was “a nice guy but I don’t think he’s the right guy.” Despite being a county commissioner, she felt he hadn’t done enough for the West Side.

“We knew it was going to be a nail-biter,” Ald. Tom Tunney said earlier in the night when only about 1,000 votes separated the two.

Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson Max Bever said earlier in the day there were still thousands of vote-by-mail ballots outstanding. The Chicago Board of Elections has until April 18 to count all ballots and certify the results.

The early voting and vote-by-mail numbers are double what they were in 2015 and 2019 and Monday’s early voting turnout set a municipal record, according to the Board. Turnout in the first round of voting on Feb. 28 was around 35%, with 566,973 people casting ballots out of roughly 1.6 million registered voters.

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

Like the candidates themselves, donors in Chicago’s mayoral race have deep education ties

2023-03-31T23:36:51+00:00

Like the candidates themselves, the people and organizations giving big money in Chicago’s mayoral election have strong ties to public education — and the debates around it for the past two decades.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas’ campaign has been propelled by wealthy business executives, while county commissioner and union organizer Brandon Johnson has been fueled by labor unions.

The Chicago Teachers Union is Johnson’s biggest donor, while Vallas has received six-figure donations from wealthy individuals with ties to school choice and education reform, including some who have charter schools named after them. Vallas, a torch bearer for school choice and charter schools, has supported voucher expansion. Meanwhile, Johnson’s progressive platform aligns closely with the teachers union’s vision for the district.

While a full accounting of campaign donations and spending won’t be available until after the election, a Chalkbeat Chicago analysis of Illinois State Board of Elections records shows Vallas has received at least $15 million since October and Johnson has collected more than $10 million since October 1, 2022.

Johnson’s campaign fueled by labor unions and educators

Johnson received the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union, his largest donor, before officially launching his campaign last fall. Since then, the union’s Political Action Committee has donated almost $2.2 million to his campaign, according to state board of elections records.

The union has poured millions into aldermanic and mayoral campaigns in recent years as a way to influence broader policies that affect public schools. Some rank-and-file CTU members have filed a complaint against union leadership, alleging members’ dues were being funneled to the union’s political action committee, according to WTTW’s Paris Schutz.

A handful of other labor unions are among Johnson’s other top donors. The parent unions of the CTU — Illinois Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers — each gave $940,000 and $2.1 million respectively. The country’s other largest teachers union, the National Education Association, donated $50,000, and its Illinois counterpart gave $75,000. Several political committees connected to the unions that represent special education aides, classroom assistants, school bus aides, child care workers, and nurses, have collectively donated more than $2 million, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

United Working Families, a progressive group and CTU ally, has also donated almost $47,000 in in-kind contributions, usually in the form of staff help, to Johnson’s campaign and the national Working Families Party donated $70,000.

Aside from labor unions, Johnson’s campaign coffers have mostly been filled by smaller individual donations — many from teachers and educators. For example, he received $20,000 — one of his largest individual gifts — from Elizabeth Simons, a former bilingual education teacher, who now chairs the board of the Heising-Simons Foundation. The foundation provides grants to organizations aimed at strengthening early childhood education for low-income families.

Attorneys who have represented the Chicago Teachers Union at the bargaining table donated to Johnson. Robin Potter, mother of union Vice President Jackson Potter, gave $6,000 and Robert Bloch’s law firm donated $5,000.

Others who have advocated for more funding for public schools gave to Johnson, as well. Cassie Creswell of Illinois Families for Public Schools gave $5,000, and National Education Association President Rebecca Pringle donated $2,000. Kenneth Williams-Bennett, father of CPS graduate Chance the Rapper, also donated $8,000 to Johnson. Williams-Bennett was previously an aide to late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Chance donated $2.2 million to Chicago Public Schools in 2017, as the school district was fighting for more state funding.

Vallas backed by wealthy donors with ties to education reform

Vallas’ campaign war chest is bigger than Johnson’s and has been throughout the campaign. The former district CEO has seen an infusion of cash from corporate business executives, many of whom have ties to charter schools and other education organizations.

One of his largest individual donors is Paul J. Finnegan, co-founder and co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners, a private investment equity firm in Chicago. Finnegan has donated $400,000 since October. He is a past chairman and current local advisory board member of Teach for America. Finnegan also sits on the board of CDW Corporation, a technology and services provider for businesses, governments, and school districts, including Chicago Public Schools, which has ramped up purchasing in recent years using COVID-19 recovery dollars.

According to tax filings from 2019, the Finnegan Family Foundation supports dozens of education nonprofits, including Teach for America and the Academy for Urban School Leadership, and charter schools networks, including Noble, LEARN, KIPP, and Intrinsic.

Golf resort owner Michael Keiser, who also sits on the local advisory board of Teach for America, and his wife, Rosalind, have donated $400,000 to Vallas’ campaign since October. He also made a $500,000 donation last summer, shortly after Vallas announced his bid. Finnegan and Keiser are also supporters of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute.

Other six-figure donations include Craig Duchossois, executive chairman of the Duchossois Group, has donated $760,000. The Duchossois Family Foundation has given grants to After School Matters, according to the foundation’s website.

Citadel executive Gerald Beeson has donated $300,000 since October. Beeson and his wife have an ongoing scholarship for students at Big Shoulders Fund, which provides support to Catholic elementary and high schools in low-income communities.

Two of Vallas’ top donors helped open charter schools in Chicago that now bear their names. Donald Wilson, CEO of DRW Holdings, supported the opening of the Noble Network of Charter Schools 12th campus — DRW College Prep —on the West Side in 2012. He has donated a combined $350,000 to Vallas’ campaign since January.

Joseph Mansueto, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Chicago Fire soccer team, donated $250,000 to Vallas’ campaign. In 2017, he donated $18 million that largely funded the construction of Noble’s 17th campus in Brighton Park, now named Mansueto High School.

Deborah Quazzo, a controversial ex-Chicago school board member, and her husband donated $7,500 and $10,000, respectively, to Vallas’ campaign, as first reported by WBEZ. Quazzo left her seat after the Sun-Times reported on her business dealings with the district. The district Office of Inspector General said Quazzo violated Chicago Public Schools’ ethics code, according to the Sun-Times.

Even though they have not given direct donations to Vallas’ campaign, two political action committees focused on school choice and education reform are backing his candidacy by running ads for his platform and against Johnson.

On March 23, the American Federation for Children, a group founded by former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, donated $65,000 to the Illinois Federation for Children PAC. On the same day, the group gave $59,385 to a political strategic media firm Go Big Media, for digital media supporting Vallas, records show.

INCS Action Independent Committee, which supports candidates who are supportive of charter schools, spent $258,000 on television ads and $359,000 on digital media opposing Johnson, as first reported by WTTW.

INCS Action has received most of its funding since October from James S. Frank, who gave the committee a collective $1.5 million. Frank is on the boards of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Chicago Public Education Fund, in addition to Teach for America’s local advisory board. He has donated $225,000 directly to Vallas since January.

Campaigns have until April 17 to file a full accounting of their fundraising and spending activities through March 31.

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 schools are at a crossroads. The new mayor will determine the district’s next steps.

2023-03-28T23:01:03+00:00

Public education in Chicago is about to enter a new era, defined by the person elected mayor on April 4.

Voters will choose between Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher turned county commissioner who is also an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, or Paul Vallas, a former city budget director and Chicago Public Schools CEO turned education consultant.

Either candidate would bring more knowledge and experience in Chicago Public Schools to the job than most, if not all, previous mayors. It’s nearly impossible to untangle their identities from the debates over public education policy during the past two decades that have left Vallas and Johnson with different perspectives on critical education issues.

“You have two people who really come to this position largely as a result of their work in education,” said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment at University of Illinois.

Johnson has roots as a labor organizer and progressive politician focused on improving the lives of working class and low-income people. Vallas is a technocrat and policy wonk who built a career as a “fixer” and “turnaround specialist” for large, complex school systems.

Those experiences will shape their responses to the once-in-a-generation challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s fourth largest school district. The next mayor will write the final chapter in Chicago’s story with mayoral control, appointing school board members as the district shifts toward an elected school board. He will grapple with declining enrollment as federal COVID recovery money runs out and will negotiate the next Chicago Teachers Union contract.

Perhaps most importantly, the next mayor will shape how more than 300,000 students are educated — after three years of pandemic disruption and decades of inequity.

Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson faces former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in an April 4 runoff for Chicago mayor.

The challenge ahead: Moving to an elected school board

Chicago’s era of mayoral control will end in 2027, when the next mayor is up for re-election. Vallas or Johnson’s first term will be a period of transition in which he will oversee the school system and still appoint more than a dozen school board members, ahead of and during the transition to an elected school board.

If voters pick Johnson, his election would be the crowning achievement in a decade-long grassroots battle waged by the Chicago Teachers Union against mayoral control and many of the controversial policies that came with it, like school closures and charter expansion. Johnson opposes adding charter schools and closing small district schools, of which Chicago has a growing number.

Vallas would bring a long history of expanding school choice and remaking big-city school districts. He’s signaled his approach wouldn’t precisely mirror the past, though, and recently said Chicago had enough charter schools.

They have also expressed different priorities for future board member appointments. Vallas has said he would endorse candidates for school board who align with his vision for the district. He also told Chalkbeat that he would work with the school board “as an equally elected official that is representing the needs of the community that elected them.”

Johnson, who advocated for the legislation creating the school board, has said he wants it to represent Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods “who are deeply invested and knowledgeable” about the communities they serve.

“We cannot have uber rich, arch-conservatives usurping the power that working people in Chicago fought so hard to win,” he told Chalkbeat in a questionnaire published earlier this year.

Reversing enrollment declines in a changing city

Chicago has lost more than 100,000 students since Vallas was schools chief.

When he left the job in 2001, there were roughly 435,000 students. Now, there are just over 322,000. Because schools are largely funded based on enrollment, this trend puts pressure on the district’s budget, even as Illinois has overhauled and increased funding for public education.

Creg Williams, a Vallas supporter who worked with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, said the mayoral hopeful has experience re-enrolling students. After Hurricane Katrina hit, public school enrollment dropped from 65,000 students to 25,000, according to Louisiana state records.

“When we got to New Orleans, there were no student records, there were no teachers, there were no students,” Williams said. “We drove up and down streets, recruiting children who were walking up and down the streets with no place to stay, no schools to go in.” (Enrollment did increase under Vallas’ tenure in New Orleans, but it did not return to pre-Katrina levels.)

Chicago’s declining enrollment, like many cities across America, is driven not by a natural disaster but rather by declining birth rates and a confluence of factors pushing people to leave the city, including the loss of public housing, gentrification, crime, and past school closures.

These are problems the school system cannot fix by itself. City Hall, which has control over zoning, tax policy, and economic development, will play a key part.

Both candidates have talked a lot about making the city a place families want to live, but offer different paths for getting there. Vallas says neighborhoods need to be safe above all else and is proposing a crime-fighting strategy that staffs up the police department and keeps school buildings open on nights and weekends. Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes and wants to grow jobs for both the parents of public school students, and for teens and young adults.

Working with fewer federal dollars and a looming fiscal cliff

Those promises will cost money, and the next mayor will need to find it.

Last week, district officials warned that Chicago Public Schools is facing $600 million-plus budget deficits beginning in 2026, when a $2.8 billion windfall of COVID recovery money ends.

“These issues have been papered over by federal support, but we need to confront them head on,” district CEO Pedro Martinez said recently.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez recently warned school board members that the district is projecting annual deficits starting in 2026.

Johnson has said he will not raise property taxes, a primary source of funding for local schools. Vallas has not ruled out property tax increases, but has talked about pushing more money down to individual schools and cutting costs at the central office.

The mayor has other options.

Johnson has talked about getting state lawmakers to ramp up funding increases to the state’s funding formula so Chicago and all districts get to so-called “adequate funding” more quickly.

He – and district officials – have also suggested pushing the state to kick in more for Chicago teachers pensions, which have been underfunded since the mid- to late-2000s. Chicago Public Schools began skipping annual payments to the pension fund in 1995 under Vallas, and did so until 2004. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, state lawmakers again allowed the district to skip pension payments. Today, the fund is less than 50% funded and requires much larger annual payments, which also puts pressure on the district’s budget.

The next mayor could also undo decisions made by current Mayor Lori Lightfoot to shift costs for police in schools, crossing guards, and non-teaching staff pensions from the city’s budget to Chicago Public Schools. Neither candidate has signaled they would reverse those cost shifts.

Bargaining a high-stakes contract

The Chicago Teachers Union’s current contract expires in 2024. If history is any guide, negotiations will begin this winter under the leadership of the new mayor. Two of the last three contracts were settled only after teachers went on strike, and the next mayor will be under considerable pressure to avoid another one.

It’s clear from Johnson’s education platform that he would approach the demands of the teachers union as an ally.

“Now more than ever, we need a partner in City Hall willing to work with school communities to ensure smaller classes, adequate staffing for special and bilingual education and a school nurse in every school,” the union said in a recent press release. “Brandon Johnson is that candidate.”

Throughout the campaign, Johnson has faced questions over whether he would be impartial in negotiations with his own union, to which he recently responded: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?”

Vallas has said he would be at the bargaining table with the teachers union if elected. He’s touted his experience negotiating contracts across multiple school districts, including two four-year deals in Chicago in the late 1990s. The city’s chief labor negotiator, Jim Franczek, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times those contracts provided “stability, flexibility, and predictability” to the school system, which had seen multiple work stoppages in the 1980s and early ‘90s.

“It wasn’t as if the Chicago Teachers Union were a bunch of pansies back then,” Franczek said. But even he acknowledged that the current teachers union is a different kind of bargaining partner now.

Since 2010 – under the leadership of the late former CTU president Karen Lewis — the CTU has pushed to negotiate more than just “bread and butter” issues like pay and benefits, to include broader social justice issues like affordable housing, homelessness, and environmental justice.

That broader approach to bargaining contributed to labor strife with newly-elected Lightfoot in 2019, when teachers went on strike for 11 days. Ultimately, the union secured significant wins to increase support staff, pay, and benefits.

Protesters with the Chicago Teachers Union march in downtown Chicago on Oct. 31, 2019.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan alluded to that strike in his recent endorsement of Vallas — arguing that the CTU went to war with Lightfoot after she defeated the union’s preferred candidate for mayor in 2019. The teachers union has been clear in their dislike for Vallas, highlighting what they say is a “record of failure” and a “path of destruction” he’s left behind in the public school systems he led.

Vallas has not been shy about his disagreements with the teachers union. But he said the 2019 strike and the COVID-related work stoppages could have been avoided and has vowed to bargain in “good faith.”

Deciding how to measure school and student performance

Early in the pandemic, district officials halted the annual school ratings based on test scores, attendance, and other metrics. And last spring, district leaders announced the old system, known as the School Quality Rating Policy, would no longer exist.

The decisions have prompted a broader conversation about how schools should be measured — or if they should at all — that will continue under the next mayor.

For some, the pause on high-stakes accountability has been a welcome reprieve. The teachers union and others have argued it put too much emphasis on test scores and penalized schools serving high-need populations. A low rating could turn off prospective new families, contributing to a cycle of declining enrollment and continued disinvestment.

But for others, the lack of a system for measuring quality can leave parents and the public wondering: How are students and schools doing?

For two years, the district, the union, and several stakeholders, including Kids First Chicago, have been working together to develop a new, more “holistic” accountability policy. Hal Woods, the chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, said the school board is expected to vote on it next month.

“A new mayor might come in and say, pump the brakes,” Woods said. “Obviously, we hope not.”

It’s not likely Vallas would do that. He created Chicago Public Schools’ first accountability system — putting more than 100 schools on probation for poor academic performance before the federal No Child Left Behind law required districts to do so.

Johnson is likely to be more skeptical. He has said the district does not need its own rating system since the state already has one, and has said schools need more support and resources, not accountability.

The new policy, Woods said, aims to do just that.

“It should be a tool to diagnose where extra support is needed and what that support looks like,” Woods said. “That could be financial, it could be other forms of support.”

Chicago students and schools are facing a pivotal moment. Test scores have fallen. Mental health concerns are rising, particularly among young girls. Additional social workers, counselors, and school staff worry the extra resources still won’t be enough.

The city’s next mayor will have to face these challenges — and decide how to respond.

Mauricio Peña contributed reporting.

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

Looking for a summer job? Applications for One Summer Chicago are open until Friday.

2023-06-05T21:15:00+00:00

Update: City officials extended the deadline to apply to Friday, June 9. This story has been updated to reflect the change.

Chicago teens looking for a summer job can now apply online through One Summer Chicago — the city’s youth employment program, which has seen a decline in participation in recent years.

Applications opened Feb. 28 and are due June 9. The program will run for six weeks, from June 26 to Aug. 4, and any Chicago resident ages 14 to 24 is eligible to apply.

Last summer, 20,544 youth participated in the program, which offers jobs, internships, service learning, and career exploration programs, according to a new report released by the Department of Children and Family Support Services. Just over 16,000 teens worked jobs and internships, while others enrolled in programs aimed at career exploration and service learning.

Those numbers have yet to recover from a steep drop in participation in 2020 — when summer programs were virtual or hybrid. Roughly 20,000 youth got jobs through One Summer Chicago during the first summer of the COVID pandemic, compared to more than 30,000 in 2019.

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had hoped last summer would see a rebound, calling for a “summer of joy” when the application opened.

Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to double the number of youth employed during his first 100 days in office. Summer jobs and youth employment more broadly were key issues in the mayoral runoff election between Johnson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.

Summer teen employment dropped across the country in 2020, but rebounded in 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, the number of teens with summer jobs has been declining in recent decades. Prior to 2000, more than half of American teens worked summer gigs. Now, it’s around a third, the report found.

In addition to One Summer Chicago, Chicago Public Schools offers a wide range of summer programs — including academic catch-up required for students who failed certain grades — that got a big boost with federal COVID recovery money.

For more information about One Summer Chicago, the city has a list of frequently asked questions online.

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

Comparing Chicago’s 2023 mayoral candidates on 5 key education issues

2023-03-21T17:10:53+00:00

Chicago voters are facing a choice between two mayoral candidates with vastly different backgrounds and views on education.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas has a long record managing urban school districts as an appointed bureaucrat. His opponent, Brandon Johnson, is a former middle school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer.

The next mayor will be the last to have control of the school district before it transitions to being governed by an elected school board. The city’s runoff election will be held on April 4.

Here is a side-by-side breakdown on where Vallas and Johnson stand on five key education issues:

Mila Koumpilova contributed to this report.

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.

Vallas supporters disrupt Johnson event focused on Vallas’ schools leadership

2023-03-17T00:19:35+00:00

A press conference denouncing Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ record running public schools devolved into a shouting match as his supporters interrupted an event for his opponent at Rainbow PUSH Coalition Thursday morning in Kenwood.

Supporters of Chicago Teachers Union organizer and county commissioner Brandon Johnson gathered ahead of the city’s April 4 runoff election to warn voters of what they called a “trail of destruction” Vallas left in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans — a narrative Vallas’ supporters said was “totally untrue.”

The dust-up underscored the stark differences between Vallas and Johnson — and highlighted a divided electorate. Both candidates are working to shore up support in majority-Black communities on the city’s South and West sides, where current Mayor Lori Lightfoot performed well in the Feb. 28 election.

Parent and activist Melissa Francis traveled to Chicago from New Orleans to share her experience navigating her hometown’s post-Katrina school system, which Vallas led from 2007 to 2011.

“Paul Vallas has never had families in his best interest,” Francis told the crowd of Johnson supporters. “Many citizens of New Orleans recognize Paul Vallas as a scammer.”

Others called Vallas “a thief and a liar” who left “a trail of destruction” in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“He comes into our communities and pillages them and leaves,” said Gema Gaete, an activist who was part of a 19-day hunger strike in Little Village when Vallas ran Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001. “We’re here to remind everybody that we don’t forget and he will be held accountable.”

As they began chanting “Vallas, Vallas, Vallas,” Johnson supporters bellowed, “We want Brandon,” in repetition.

Some Johnson supporters called Vallas backers “sellouts” and a few people got into one another’s faces. But the clash quickly ended and the Vallas supporters left the building.

On the sidewalk across the street, Vallas supporters held their own press conference to defend his education record and countered with their own experiences working with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“Folks who are trying to paint him as a GOP, trying to paint him as a racist, it’s just totally untrue,” said Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin.

“We weren’t being antagonists or anything like that,” said Caliph Muab-El, an organizer with the Midwest Coalition for Stopping Violence, the group that held the counter press conference in support of Vallas. “We just want to get the message across that there is a different side to this whole story that they’re painting.”

Vallas’ legacy in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans has been the longtime subject of scrutiny. Johnson and other candidates have criticized his record in Chicago for putting schools on academic probation and not paying into the teachers’ pension fund. State law at the time allowed Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration to use money earmarked for pensions to cover operating costs, as long as the fund remained healthy.

When Vallas left Chicago, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission hired him to run schools there after the state took over the public school system. He made dramatic changes, but left the system with a deficit.

Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks said school closures and destabilization of that city’s schools pushed her into politics.

“It was triggered by having someone as CEO come into our city, sell off properties, sell off buildings, steal money that is still unaccounted for, and walk away,” Brooks said.

Creg Williams, a former Chicago principal who was Chief of High Schools in Philadelphia under Vallas and also worked with Vallas in New Orleans, countered Brooks’ take on what happened in both cities.

“Paul did not devastate the community. The community was devastated when we arrived,” Williams said. He noted that in both Philadelphia and New Orleans, state lawmakers dictated some of the policies Vallas and other district officials put in place.

“There are stipulations in the law that you have to follow,” Williams said. “No matter what the people say, or no matter what you feel, or what you may want to do, you still have to follow those stipulations.”

In New Orleans, Vallas faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. Ultimately, student test scores improved at schools converted into charter schools, but at district-run schools, progress was uneven, according to New Orleans magazine.

If elected mayor, Vallas said he wants to keep school buildings open on nights and weekends, push more funding down to individual schools, and support a system of choice for families. Johnson’s platform emphasizes staffing all schools with enough teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses, and librarians and bolstering youth jobs programs.

Mauricio Peña contributed to this story.

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

How former teacher Brandon Johnson organized his way to the doorstep of Chicago City Hall

2023-03-14T23:41:10+00:00

Brandon Johnson has knocked on a lot of doors in the last decade.

A former rank-and-file teacher turned Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson has met with thousands of teachers, pounded the pavement on behalf of dozens of candidates, and lobbied state lawmakers.

Still, he had little to no name recognition as he launched his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor.

“A few months ago, they said they didn’t know who I was,” Johnson told a crowd of supporters when he made it to the mayoral runoff election on Feb. 28. “Well, if you didn’t know, now you know.”

Although Johnson may not have been famous in Chicago politics before he ran, he didn’t come out of nowhere. Johnson is the product of a grassroots movement led by the CTU over the last decade that has focused on issues beyond the classroom, like affordable housing, public health, environmental justice, and police reform. The outcome of Johnson’s race will be an important signal about the strength of that movement.

His progressive message broke through in a field of nine candidates, and he got about 21% of the vote — enough to secure a spot in next month’s runoff election.

Now, Johnson will go head-to-head in the April 4 election with former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who got about 33% of the vote in February. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of the city’s school system. The district faces challenges disentangling its finances from the city as it transitions into an elected school board, declining enrollment, and academic disparities that widened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Vallas has garnered support by touting his reputation as a “fixer” who can lead in difficult times. But he has faced scrutiny on the campaign trail over his complicated history with public schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois and longtime observer of the Chicago Teachers Union, said to some degree, Johnson’s journey from classroom teacher to political candidate came as a reaction to policies put in place by Vallas and like-minded officials.

“I think maybe Paul Vallas helped to create the conditions that made Brandon Johnson inevitable,” Bruno said.

Those conditions have prompted the CTU — and all of its organizing power — to try to put an ally into the mayor’s office before. In 2015, the union helped U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia push then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff, only to have him fall short with 44% of the vote. And in 2019, the CTU backed Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who made it to the mayoral runoff, but lost in a landslide to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In order to win on April 4, Johnson will likely have to more than double the number of votes he got on Feb. 28. That will be difficult, but not impossible, Bruno said.

“If he’s doing the work as an organizer, then he has to be contributing to the mobilization and the high engagement that you see, “ Bruno said. “And that might be his secret weapon.”

A middle school teacher joins a labor movement

Last fall, Johnson announced his candidacy for mayor, steps from where he taught middle school social studies. Decades earlier, Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts served students from the nearby Cabrini-Green public housing complex. Now, it is a campus of the Ogden International School after a 2018 merger.

Tara Stamps, a former teacher who now works for the union coaching new teachers, recalled Johnson’s days at Jenner.

“He was very patient,” Stamps said. “He has a very calm demeanor. Brandon is not easily riled and you kind of need that when you’re going to be working with middle school kids.”

These qualities are important for a leader at a critical time for the city, Stamps said.

Stamps was Johnson’s mentor at Jenner and remembered advocating for him during the hiring process. He proved to be committed and connected to his students, and a necessary role model at the mostly Black school, Stamps added.

On the campaign trail, Johnson has shared his own memories of Jenner, such as the time students were displaced when the city leveled Cabrini-Green.

He’s also shared the time one of his students at Jenner told him: “You should be teaching at a good school.”

The comment caught Johnson off-guard. It also served as a call to action for him to address the lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, and gun violence — traumas that students carry into the classroom.

Along the campaign trail, Johnson has called for fully funded schools for all students and families regardless of ZIP code. “Every single child in the city” should get to have their needs met, Johnson said late last month.

After Jenner, Johnson spent about a year teaching at Westinghouse College Prep in East Garfield Park, a test-in selective enrollment high school in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But then Johnson decided to start solving those problems students faced outside of schools. So in the summer of 2011, Johnson, current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and other educators joined an organizing initiative at the union.

They helped to get buy-in from rank-and-file members at school buildings, create partnerships with like-minded unions and community organizations, and worked to bring parents into their movement.

“Many of us became teachers to change the world,” Davis Gates said. “We wanted young people to have a good opportunity at dreaming and reimagining and transforming. And all of us have been committed to that dream as educators.”

Davis Gates said Johnson helped usher in a type of “common good” unionism that their work is about more than wages and benefits for school staff. Led by then-CTU President Karen Lewis, the union pushed a progressive agenda that focused on the broader socioeconomic challenges that affect students and families.

In announcing his campaign for mayor, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson recalled his time as a middle school social studies teacher and the displacement his students faced as the city demolished Cabrini-Green.

Johnson hit the ground running as an organizer just as the union began strengthening its political identity, Stamps said. “He was very active” organizing members in school buildings, she added.

“We were breaking ground on this new kind of unionism,” Stamps said. “[It] not only just involved its members, but brought the community in as partners in this fight for a city and a school system that Chicagoans deserved.”

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union carried out its first strike in 25 years. The strike, which CTU used to highlight policies members said were hurting public education, attracted international attention. It also “reshaped the educational landscape in Chicago and across the country,” Johnson said in a statement emailed to Chalkbeat Chicago.

“Karen Lewis herself said it was a battle for the soul of public education, and about protecting the most democratic institution in America,” he said.

Bruno, the University of Illinois professor, said the strike is seen as a success by labor groups, in part because of the coalition-building done by organizers like Johnson.

From being educators to knowledgeable union stewards to informed about city and state laws, organizers have a diverse set of skills, Bruno said. “They’ve got to be really good coalition builders” because they’re trying to get people to take action, he added.

Since being hired by the union, Johnson has organized CTU members at schools primarily on the South and West sides. He’s also worked with community organizations and families who reside in those neighborhoods. It’s a job he still holds today, though the union said he’s been on leave since last November.

According to the union, while on leave, Johnson earns no salary, but like other CTU staff members on leave, Johnson “is allowed to utilize his unused accrued paid time off.”

That work, which is central to Johnson’s career trajectory, has also attracted skepticism. Some observers have said Johnson would be beholden to the CTU in a way that would not be good for taxpayers. Even fellow progressives who have been supported by the CTU, like Garcia, have raised questions about those ties.

“Will Brandon, if he’s elected mayor, be able to say that he is impartial?” Garcia, who ran for mayor but failed to reach the April 4 runoff, said in an interview with the Sun-Times ahead of the Feb. 28 election.

Garcia — who as of publication has yet to throw his support behind Johnson in the runoff — went on to question whether he would make the best decision for children and taxpayers.

Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes, but has proposed a slew of new taxes, mostly targeting corporations and wealthy individuals. He has also pushed back against the criticism, saying that he is grateful for the support from working class families, and that he would be a mayor for all of Chicago.

Electoral politics become crucial to the union’s mission

To the CTU, the policies put in place by Vallas and subsequent district leaders destabilized the public school system. That perspective prompted a new frontier for the union: electoral politics.

After 50 schools closed under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lewis took those grievances to voters and made the education system’s needs clear, Davis Gates recalled.

Johnson was a key part in those political campaigns. He helped organize members and allies’ campaigns for city council in 2015 and the state legislature in 2020.

Those efforts bore fruit. In 2015, Susan Sadlowski Garza, a school counselor, became the first CTU member elected to City Council. Union ally Carlos Ramirez-Rosa also won his aldermanic race. In 2019, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez and other CTU allies were elected to city council seats.

And in the intervening period, Johnson decided to test his own appeal to voters. In 2018, Johnson won a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, representing Chicago’s West Side and near western suburbs.

Not everyone in the union supports its focus on electoral politics. Some, for example, have said the union donated too much to candidates without a full accounting. Still, last spring, CTU’s leaders were reelected to their posts.

Johnson is the first rank-and-file member to ascend from organizer to CTU political director to mayoral runoff candidate since the union set out to get its members into elected office more than a decade ago. His rise matches Lewis’ vision of the union having political agency in every level of governance, as well as her policy priorities.

“We followed Karen’s lead and here we are today,” Davis Gates said. “We have an elected school board. We have our bargaining rights back. Our pensions are being funded.”

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will face off against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff election for Chicago mayor.

In his statement, Johnson said he views union organizing as key to developing a “coalition of people with interest and commission vision to bring that vision to life.”

“We have real issues in our city — the need to invest in people, the need for a public safety plan that works, the need to ensure schools are stable and predictable, and the need to grow our economy,” Johnson said.

His organizing experience, he argues, will help Chicago meet these goals.

The prospect of an organizer leading Chicago is promising to union members like Lori Torres Whitt, a 36th ward aldermanic candidate.

“I want a mayor who’s going to work with me, and make decisions for us with us,” Whitt said. “And that’s what you get with an organizer.”

Chicago High School for the Arts teacher Megan Pietz feels as though an organizer will leave the door open when it comes to making decisions.

“I feel like Paul Vallas is someone who closes that door,” Pietz said. “Being an organizer also means being willing to listen to and engage in a conversation, to engage in a discussion.”

Johnson performed well on Chicago’s Northwest and North sides, as well as some portions of the south lakefront, according to election results. But now he will have to persuade a divided electorate on the South and West sides of the city that voted for Lightfoot and Garcia.

Stamps said if anyone can do it, Johnson can.

“We earn the votes,” Stamps said. “We do the work. We out-organize and we out-work people. We knock on doors. We do the phone banks. We do the pop-ups. We do whatever is necessary to carry our message to the people. Because, ultimately, you want a people-powered campaign.”

Becky Vevea contributed to this story.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago mayoral election 2023: How Johnson, Vallas answered 10 important education questions

2023-03-01T18:23:38+00:00

Chicago voters will head to the polls once again on April 4 to vote for a new mayor, choosing between two candidates who are vastly different when it comes to public education.

Brandon Johnson is an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union and Paul Vallas is the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Both are Democrats, but their views vary widely on everything from school choice to measuring academic performance to how campuses are funded.

Whoever wins will take office in late May and will get to appoint a school district CEO and seven school board members to oversee the nation’s fourth largest school district, its $9.5 billion budget, 635 schools, and the education of 322,000 children. They will also be the last mayor to have control of Chicago Public Schools before the district transitions to being governed by an elected school board.

Chalkbeat Chicago asked candidates 10 important questions about the city’s public schools in January — some of which came directly from our readers. Explore Johnson and Vallas’ answers below.

Chicago Public Schools is no longer the nation’s third largest school district after a decade of enrollment decline. The loss of students has had significant impacts on neighborhood high schools in particular. How will you address declining enrollment?
What are your plans to address learning loss and social emotional gaps that have emerged during the past three years of the COVID pandemic?
The Chicago Board of Education will expand from 7 appointed members to 21 elected officials over the next four years. How will you ensure parents, students, and teachers are fairly represented on the new school board? And how will you work with the elected board?
The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract ends next year. There was an 11-day strike in 2019, a rocky return to in-person learning in 2021, and five days of canceled classes in January 2022. How do you plan to avoid a strike in the next contract negotiation with CTU?
Chicago Public Schools stopped rating schools and holding students back during the pandemic. Both accountability policies are under review. How do you think schools should be measured, judged, or rated?
What are your thoughts about Chicago Public Schools’ student-based budgeting model, which ties a school’s funding to how many students are enrolled?
The Illinois legislature created a tax-credit scholarship program in 2017 to expand school choice. After a one-year extension, the program is scheduled to sunset in 2025. Do you support continuing the state’s tax-credit scholarship program? Why or why not?
During the early days of the pandemic, students with disabilities had limited or no access to academic accommodations written in their Individualized Education Program. Many students were unable to receive or renew IEPs to meet their needs. What will you do to ensure that students with disabilities are being identified without delay and getting the resources they need to catch up in school?
Are you for or against trade/vocational education? How would you reactivate trade school curriculum and would it be available in all schools?
Describe a high quality school. (How many staff work there? What are students taught? What programs or extracurriculars are offered? What support services are available? What does the facility look like? What is the schedule?) How many CPS schools meet your definition of a high quality school?

Chicago voters will now pick between former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas (left) and Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson (right) in the mayoral runoff election on April 4.

Chicago Public Schools is no longer the nation’s third largest school district after a decade of enrollment decline. The loss of students has had significant impacts on neighborhood high schools in particular. How will you address declining enrollment?

JOHNSON: If you recall, that decade began in 2013 with the greatest closure of Black and Latinx schools in Chicago’s history. If we can build sustainable community schools alongside quality affordable housing, we will reverse the trend. We must also tackle the violence epidemic with more holistic measures that provide resources and trauma intervention for students and families.

Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot have both presided over precipitous declines in pre-kindergarten enrollment. This is not simply a result of demographic change, but the district moving to an online, centralized application process for preschool that is elitist and prejudiced against families with little access to technology. Enrollment also decreases due to poor program design. This is also evident in a number of special education crises – from State monitor to transportation – over the last 10 years.

Schools communities need direct investment, guarantees of staffing and program offerings. Every school should have a library and librarian, adequate clinicians and counselors, thriving arts offerings and sports programs and teams. And the mayor of Chicago has an obligation to be actively fighting in partnership for the revenue required to fulfill those basic needs for every school in the city, not just some.

VALLAS: Making the schools more attractive to parents by allowing for schools to take on specialties as well as bring back the work study program for high school students. We must also make our schools safe, so students feel comfortable in their learning environment. We must also have the dollars make it down to the school level, right now only 60% of the budget makes it to the schools. In my career I have worked to make education meaningful to students allowing a greater trust in the system by not only the students but also their parents. I would also expand the alternative schools network to provide for the educational needs for high school students too old for the traditional high school program.

Reader question. What are your plans to address learning loss and social emotional gaps that have emerged during the past three years of the COVID pandemic?

JOHNSON: Let’s remember that students and families are still struggling with the pandemic, and there is much trauma and recovery that must occur – especially among Black and Brown students and families who make up the majority of CPS students (like my own).

First, we must address the trauma that existed pre-pandemic, and acknowledge that COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated conditions around cleanliness, bilingual education, access to technology, special education services and more, that city leaders left unaddressed for decades. Asking a student to catch up on math when they are still recovering from the death of a loved one, or a classmate, is inhumane.

Students and families must have trauma support, such as weekly cognitive behavioral therapy, and students need summer jobs and engaging programming. Support student and staff mental health by infusing schools with mental health professionals like counselors and clinicians so that unaddressed trauma is acknowledged, and treated, and learning is more of the focus from day to day. Teachers and staff need adequate time and professional development to help address student needs. And educators need to be empowered with planning time to reinvigorate curriculum and work with students to ensure instructional practices and pedagogy meet students’ needs and interests.

VALLAS: The loss of learning due to the COVID pandemic has been unprecedented. We must work to ensure that our children catch up and can be competitive in their future. In order to meet the gap our children are facing I will open all school buildings through the dinner hour, weekends and summers. We need to invite community organizations to provide enrichment to students in the CPS during these off hours as well as invite retired CPS Teachers to provide tutoring and academic support to the students.

The Chicago Board of Education will expand from seven appointed members to 21 elected officials over the next four years. How will you ensure parents, students, and teachers are fairly represented on the new school board? And how will you work with the elected board?

JOHNSON: I support a map that ensures all communities in this tremendously diverse city have the opportunity to have their voices heard. This is why I worked so closely with Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and community organizations on the legislation to create this vibrant model of democracy for the first time ever in the history of Chicago Public Schools.

We need campaign finance rules to prevent those with no stake in our public schools, or our communities, from controlling our democracy. We cannot have uber rich, arch-conservatives usurping the power that working people in Chicago fought so hard to win. We need candidates who are deeply invested and knowledgeable from the communities served to have a fair chance to win races to influence the education of their children.

Democratic governance requires partnership. The city doesn’t absolve itself of any responsibility to schools just because there are democratically elected school community leaders sitting at the Board of Education. As mayor, I will continue to fight for resources in our schools, and maintain and build upon the coordinated support and services that the city has to offer children and families.

VALLAS: Like I have done all my career I will work with the elected board of education with the respect that is due to them as an equally elected official that is representing the needs of the community that elected them. In all CPS work I will put the needs of the students first and advocated with the board for any necessary resources. Before this board takes office it is important that they do not inherit a broken system, I will push the dollars to the school level and ensure that schools have the resources they need.

Reader question. The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract ends next year. There was an 11-day strike in 2019, a rocky return to in-person learning in 2021, and five days of canceled classes in January 2022. How do you plan to avoid a strike in the next contract negotiation with CTU?

JOHNSON: We need a mayor who can reasonably work with labor. We cannot have the type of leader who will promise something like, say, an elected representative school board and then fight tooth and nail to stop it from being enacted. We cannot have a mayor who, on the campaign trail, calls for a nurse and social worker in every school, then puts teachers on strike for two weeks when they ask for exactly that in writing. We cannot have a mayor who grants expanded parental leave to city workers, but blocks educators from receiving the same.

Just a shift in consistency and keeping one’s word will more than allow for a much more rational and collaborative process.

As mayor, I will be a partner in working with Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union to remove obstacles in the way of achieving excellent schools, rather than contributing to constant friction. The stakes are too high for our students and families for labor and leadership not to have a positive working relationship. And I will openly advocate and build coalitions to identify revenue sources and structures that, over time, will deliver the fully funded schools that families and communities deserve.

VALLAS: The previous CTU strike could have been avoided and we see the cost of that strike in the already exacerbated loss of learning from the pandemic. Over the course of my career I have negotiated 6 teacher contracts with teachers unions in the largest district in 4 different states that led to no strikes and members getting a pay raise. If all parties work in good faith there should be no need for a teacher strike this year which only leads to a greater negative impact of the education on Chicago’s children who are already struggling to regain confidence in the classroom.

Chicago Public Schools stopped rating schools and holding students back during the pandemic. Both accountability policies are under review. How do you think schools should be measured, judged, or rated?

JOHNSON: We cannot continue to punish schools that have suffered from decades of divestment, violence and destabilization. When a school struggles, we often give them more accountability, yet fewer resources. So any school rating formula must bring greater equity, and greater support, to ensure greater success.

Chicago Public Schools does not need its own rating structure, as the state still has and requires one. CPS’ time is better spent identifying sources of revenue to fill the gaps identified in programs, staffing, and services that we know hold schools back from meeting student needs and increasing enrollment. I live in Austin. My wife and I drive two children to Portage Park and another to Hyde Park every day because there are few schools in our community to meet their extracurricular needs. Families should not have to leave their community to find a school with a music program, a sports program, a nurse in every school, or a library with a librarian. We have to use what we already know about the strengths, weaknesses, and assets in our schools to ensure that we are directing resources to where they are needed to make every school excellent.

VALLAS: We should aspire for high standards, we cannot embrace the bigotry of soft expectations. We must set high standards, we have to measure school’s base on their improvement as a school. We must take every school uniquely and see their growth from where they were to where they are.

Reader question. What are your thoughts about Chicago Public Schools’ student-based budgeting model, which ties a school’s funding to how many students are enrolled?

JOHNSON: Student-based budgeting (SBB) and the former SQRP rating policy have had a devastating impact on our schools. SBB, in particular, has contributed to principals whose budgets are strapped to choose between keeping a veteran teacher or having a librarian and a functioning library. Schools struggling with enrollment need to have a process by which root causes are identified and resources are deployed to ensure students still have the richest possible education, and the school has an opportunity to grow its enrollment.

The state, in its evidence-based funding model, has recognized that student and community needs must drive school funding, and that all districts must be brought up to a certain level of resources to meet those needs. Yet CPS has not adopted that approach among its schools. We cannot keep supporting a system that favors choice, but does not provide schools with the same baseline resources and offerings – then punishes students who attend the less frequently chosen school.

VALLAS: The first priority is to push the funding down to the schools. We have to have the majority of the funding flow down to the local schools as of right now only 60% of the funds makes it to the local schools. My second priority is to make sure that the money that is allocated to the students encompasses the needs of the student, we need to make sure the school district is allocating Title I money directly to the school it is assigned too. This money needs to flow directly to the school with only minimal diversions because unfortunately funding due to poverty has been used as discretionary funds by the administration.

Reader question. The Illinois legislature created a tax-credit scholarship program in 2017 to expand school choice. After a one-year extension, the program is scheduled to sunset in 2025. Do you support continuing the state’s tax-credit scholarship program? Why or why not?

JOHNSON: I do not, because this is the kind of thinking that continues to reinforce unequal educational opportunities. Until every Chicago public school and big-city public school has the baseline of resources provided in suburban districts with high property tax bases, the idea of “choice” is a fallacy.

Parents with resources are able to navigate the system for their students, which I don’t begrudge. What is concerning is that families without the means, time, resources, and access to navigating these same systems have no choice at all.

I am not interested in continuing to shift unequal resources around. I am interested in leveling the playing field for all families.

VALLAS: The tax credit scholarship program is beneficial in empowering parents to pick the school that best suits their child’s needs. Whether the students attend private, parochial, public or public charter schools they are students of the City and we need to ensure quality education regardless of their zip code.

During the early days of the pandemic, students with disabilities had limited or no access to academic accommodations written in their Individualized Education Program. Many students were unable to receive or renew IEPs to meet their needs. What will you do to ensure that students with disabilities are being identified without delay and getting the resources they need to catch up in school?

JOHNSON: Teachers in Seattle last fall ratified a contract with a three adult (two teachers, one instructional assistant) to 10 student ratio to help address the needs of their special education population. Chicago must work toward something similar to address compensatory services and the particular needs of this incredibly vulnerable student population. We also need greater clinical support to properly diagnose and service the individualized education programs of these students. This includes the need to ramp up pipelines with state and local funding to hire many more teachers, special education classroom assistants, and teacher assistants to address the accumulated needs of students living with disabilities.

VALLAS: Students with disabilities are a priority even much more so after the loss of learning experienced due to the pandemic. The key to supporting these students is the availability of resources at the local school level. My administration will reallocate dollars in a way that the schools see the most benefit and allow principals to support all the students in their neighborhood schools.

Reader question. Are you for or against trade/vocational education? How would you reactivate trade school curriculum and would it be available in all schools?

JOHNSON: We need to do much better to train Chicagoans to fill the jobs that exist today. Businesses are hiring and manufacturers are hiring. There may be somewhere around 30,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs across the state, and a good number of them are here in Chicago. But we’ve abandoned vocational training in our schools. Modern manufacturing jobs require tech skills, and it is our job to give our students the skills necessary to succeed. So I am all for trade and vocational education, commonly known as Career and Technical Education (CTE), in Chicago Public Schools. CTE is essential to closing the gap between our district, and skilled trade industries and employers.

There is potential in some of the plans the district and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez have around this. With an aviator simulator in Dunbar, and making Tilden, Phillips, Chicago Vocational, and Fenger sustainable community schools with specialized and relevant trades training, we will have education and apprenticeship pipelines to create the skills and engagement necessary for a CTE corridor that will empower our Black and Latinx students to become the next generation of unionized trade workers.

VALLAS: Yes I support trade and vocational education. However I believe on a broader scale that we need to integrate a work study program into all of our high schools and make elective programs more meaningful. We need to reestablish our VocEd and occupational training programs that were in our high schools during my time at the CPS. My administration will do this by partnering with local trade unions and businesses in our city. We have to leverage these connections in ways that attract our students to take interest in these programs that offer amazing opportunities for success after high school.

Describe a high-quality school. (How many staff work there? What are students taught? What programs or extracurriculars are offered? What support services are available? What does the facility look like? What is the schedule?) How many CPS schools meet your definition of a high-quality school?

JOHNSON: We have a model that works – the Sustainable Community School (SCS) model, which calls for collaborative and effective strategy for increasing educational equity. SCS builds on the traditional community school model to prioritize specific pillars and principles to make schools the anchors of their communities, and to share leadership around meeting student, family, educator, staff, and community needs.

We also have schools that have parent mentors, community programming, and partnerships to provide additional support for mental and physical health across the district. Neighborhood schools like Kelly High, National Teachers Academy, Hanson Park Elementary (despite a horrendous facility situation), Chavez Elementary, Beidler Elementary are all vibrant school communities using culturally relevant curriculum and community partnerships to advance the academic and social/emotional needs of countless children. However, we need to do more and better. That will require greater investments in addressing the needs of homeless children, students with disabilities and all the newcomers who do not speak English as their primary language. It also cannot continue to be the case that selective enrollment schools, which provide students with the most extensive course offerings, extracurriculars and sports opportunities, serve only the wealthiest students in the system.

VALLAS: A high quality is a medium sized neighborhood school that embraces high standards and offers the students a high quality curriculum that ensures students achieve a high level of proficiency in all core areas. The ideal quality school offers key enrichment opportunities in the academic year as well as continuing into the non-traditional school hours (weekends, evenings, summers and holidays) to support students in their growth. My ideal quality school offers key wrap-around services for students to ensure they are holistically growing. This school also needs a well trained and supported local school council that broadly represents the community and can provide a vehicle for community input in school governance and supplemental activities.

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

Chicago 2023 mayoral election: Former schools chief, teachers union organizer headed to runoff

2023-03-01T04:20:55+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Subscribe to our free Chicago newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and state education policy.

Chicago’s next mayor will either be former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas or Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson. In a stunning upset, the two defeated incumbent Lori Lightfoot and are headed for a runoff on April 4 because neither secured more than 50% of the vote.

Lightfoot called both Vallas and Johnson to congratulate them, she said in a concession speech just before 9 p.m.

“I will be rooting and praying for our next mayor to deliver for the people of the city for years to come,” said Lightfoot.

Vallas led the field of nine candidates with 34% of the vote, according to unofficial preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections Tuesday night. Johnson secured the second spot with just over 20% of the vote while Lightfoot trailed at 17% as results rolled in.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Vallas gave an impassioned speech in which he congratulated Lightfoot and thanked his supporters, saying it was because of them that he secured a spot in the April run off.

“I want to thank the voters of Chicago for making this campaign about the issues and nothing but the issues,” Vallas said.

In a speech at 9:30 p.m., Johnson said people didn’t know who he was a few months ago. “If you didn’t know, now you know,” he said, before thanking his wife and the “workers of this city.”

Lightfoot made history in 2019 when she became the first Black woman and first openly gay person to be elected Chicago mayor.

“Four years ago, I looked into the camera and spoke directly to young people of color who looked like me and to every kid who felt like I did when I grew up,” Lightfoot said. “I’m going to do that again tonight. I told you back then that anything is possible with hard work. And I want you to know that no matter what happens along the way you should always believe that because it’s true.”

With 98% of precincts reporting as of 10 p.m., U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García had just under 14% of the vote, businessman Willie Wilson had received 9%, and the remaining candidates each had less than 3% of the vote, according to unofficial results.

Though crime and safety eclipsed education as a top priority for voters this cycle, the candidates’ ties to education run deep. The winner of this election will also be the last Chicago mayor to have control of the city’s public schools — as the shift to an elected school board begins with 10 of 21 members elected in 2024.

As an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson advocated for an elected school board. In 2018, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Johnson taught at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep before moving into a union organizing role. His education platform promises more staff and free transit for students.

Vallas led Chicago Public Schools from 1995 until 2001 as the district’s first CEO under mayoral control. He later managed the public schools in Philadelphia, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, experience he touted Tuesday night.

“I’ve had success because I’ve always had the good sense to listen to the community, to empower the community and draw my leadership from the community,” Vallas said.

During his speech, Vallas also said schools needed to be part of addressing public safety, noting his platform promises to open school buildings on nights and weekends.

His complicated legacy has served as fodder for opponents who argue Vallas would be a “disaster” as mayor. But supporters have said Vallas’ reputation as a reformer is what Chicago needs. His education plan promises to expand school choice and open school buildings on nights and weekends.

In his speech, Johnson thanked his supporters and his wife, saying he “was so freakin’ proud.” Surrounded by supporters including Ald. Pat Dowell and Ald. Matt Martin, Johnson also thanked his union backers in the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU, and United Working Families.

“We get to turn the page of the politics of old,” Johnson said.

He said people deserved fully resourced public schools. “Every single child in the city gets to have their needs met,” Johnson said.

During his speech, Johnson attacked Vallas’ education record, saying “he has literally failed everywhere he has gone.”

The unofficial early results include more than 240,000 ballots cast during early voting and those returned by mail as of Monday night. When the polls closed, 507,852 total ballots had been cast, which is roughly 32% of all registered voters, according to Max Bever, spokesperson for the city’s Board of Elections.

Earlier Tuesday, election officials said more than 100,000 mail-in ballots had yet to arrive at the Chicago Board of Elections to be counted. Bever said election officials have until March 14 to “collect and count all stragglers.”

Early and mail-in voting rates surpassed previous years, while overall turnout lagged on election day.

In recent weeks, polls had indicated a four-way toss-up between Lightfoot, García, Johnson, and Vallas. Other candidates include State Rep. Kam Buckner, activist Ja’Mal Green, Ald. Sophia King, Ald. Roderick Sawyer, and Wilson.

In a concession speech shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday night, Buckner said the city couldn’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. “We need to invest in students and not undermine our neighborhood schools,” Buckner said.

Buckner was the first candidate to release an education platform, which called for funding schools based on need not enrollment. As a state legislator, Buckner co-sponsored the bill creating an elected school board. He is also a graduate of Morgan Park High School on the far South Side.

Lightfoot did not make education a central part of her 2019 campaign, but much of her time in office has been characterized by conflict with the Chicago Teachers Union and pandemic school closures that have impacted learning and student mental health.

Tuesday night, she said she was proud of her administration’s work making “record investments in our public schools, adding school social workers, nurses, and special education case managers” and their efforts to “connect youth to mental health services, housing, education, job training, and legal services.”

Though he appeared to finish fourth on Tuesday, García famously took former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff in 2015, with the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union. But this time around, he relied on other unions for support as the teachers union backed Johnson’s bid for mayor. In announcing his late entry to the race last November, Garcia, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th congressional district, said it was time for the city to “double down” on education. “Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” he said.

Green called for universal preschool for 3-year-olds as part of his sweeping $5 billion public safety plan on the campaign trail. His plan also called for creating 10,000 apprenticeships for Chicagoans ages 13 to 25. “I’m a father who loves Chicago and I want a better future for my kids and yours,” Green said earlier this year.

King, who represents the 4th Ward which spans the South Side, serves as the vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development. She recently tried to push Chicago Public Schools officials to appear quarterly before aldermen or risk losing city money that supports school construction projects, but the measure failed. King helped found Ariel Community Academy, a public school created in 1996 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in partnership with Ariel Investments.

Sawyer, who has served as an alderman on the South Side for over a decade, sponsored a proposal in 2020 to remove Chicago police from public schools, but it was thwarted by one of Lightfoot’s allies and did not pass. His father became mayor in 1987 after the death of the city’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. Sawyer served on the local school council at McDade Classical School, a public selective enrollment school.

Wilson, a high-profile businessman, has focused on rebuilding from the pandemic through “educational grants, trade and business recovery.” He promised to bolster vocational programs in high schools — a move already being undertaken by the district.

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.

Mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas brings complicated Chicago Public Schools legacy

2023-02-27T15:44:37+00:00

What grade would Paul Vallas get for his tenure leading Chicago Public Schools? Depends who you ask.

Supporters describe the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools — and a current mayoral hopeful — as a reformer with a gift for turning around struggling school districts. But critics raise concerns about financial mismanagement, lackluster academic growth, and harsh punishments for low-performing schools.

Vallas has built his mayoral campaign around reducing crime and improving public safety. He’s also touted his record as a fixer who led public school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

His message resonated with voters. Vallas led a crowded field of nine candidates in the Feb. 28 election, garnering 34% of the vote, according to unofficial preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections Tuesday night. Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson secured the second spot with just over 20% of the vote, denying incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term.

Vallas and Johnson will face off in a runoff election on April 4.

Before Vallas became CEO, Chicago Public Schools had been labeled the “worst in the nation’’ by then-U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett. Now, the city’s schools find themselves in another tumultuous time, coming off three years marked by pandemic disruptions, labor strife, and a drop in test scores.

The years ahead will be critical for the district, which faces declining enrollment, challenges disentangling its finances from the city as it transitions into an elected school board, an increase in student mental health issues, and achievement gaps that widened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Vallas unveiled an education platform in early February that includes keeping schools open nights and weekends, putting alternative schools in empty or underenrolled schools, expanding voucher programs, and creating more charter schools — recycling some policies that have fallen out of favor in recent years.

On his campaign website, Vallas touts his life’s work as restoring “broken education systems” in Chicago, Philadelphia, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.

But other candidates have taken aim at Vallas’ education record, arguing he helped create Chicago schools’ current financial problems and laid the groundwork that ultimately led to the closing of Black and Latino schools under other district CEOs.

He’s faced similar criticisms in Philadelphia and New Orleans. Vallas was hired in Philadelphia after the state took over the public school system and made dramatic changes, but left the district with a deficit. In New Orleans, Vallas closed neighborhood schools and opened charter schools. He faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. But former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, his successor as CEO at Chicago Public Schools, lauded his efforts in New Orleans as a model for reform.

Vallas’ campaign did not respond to questions and multiple interview requests. But he has defended his record, calling criticisms “not grounded in facts” and “a sign of desperation.”

When unveiling his education platform, Vallas said test scores improved during his tenure as Chicago’s schools CEO, his administration opened 78 new schools, and secured two collective bargaining agreements with 21% pay raises for teachers. His work was praised by President Bill Clinton, Vallas added.

The most controversial part of Vallas’ record may be his decision to forgo pension payments and the most debated may be whether reforms led to enough academic growth.

Teacher pension payments paused when Vallas ran CPS

In recent weeks, opponents have criticized Vallas, arguing his decisions contributed to the city’s financial problems. Johnson, who will now face Vallas in the runoff, said he would be a “disaster” for the city.

During a speech earlier this month at City Club Chicago, Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson took aim at Paul Vallas, saying the former CEO would be a “disaster” for the city.

“It was his budgetary practices that led us into the economic despair that we have now,” Johnson said. “And now he wants to be trusted with the same budget that he couldn’t get right when he was here? That’s a real threat.”

After serving as the city’s director of budget and finance, Vallas was chosen in 1995 by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to serve as the school district’s inaugural CEO.

Vallas was tasked with balancing the budget and improving test scores in the school district that less than a decade earlier had been named among the worst by the U.S. Department of Education.

Under Vallas, Chicago Public Schools stopped making regular payments into the teachers’ pension. With the district facing an anticipated $1.4 billion deficit, Vallas trimmed the budget by cutting central office staff and eliminated “wasteful spending” from special education and other departments, according to Chicago Magazine.

The same state law that gave Daley control of the schools also changed the tax levy that directly funded the pension system, allowing Daley and Vallas to use money once earmarked for pensions to help cover operating costs, said Chuck Burbridge, the former executive director of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund from 2015-2020.

The legislation only required district leaders to make pension contributions if the fund fell below 90% of being fully funded, Burbridge said.

The district did begin making payments again in the early 2000s, Burbridge said, but a “pension holiday” approved amid the great recession further contributed to the Fund’s current condition.

Chicago Public Schools’ teachers’ pensions are currently under 50% funded, according to a report presented to the Board of Education last fall.

Gery Chico, who served as school board president during Vallas’ tenure, defended the decision to direct pension funds toward the operating budget. The pension fund has to be assessed annually and at the time the fund was 90 or 100% funded, Chico said.

“There was no reason to overfund the pension when you had tremendous needs in the classroom,” Chico said.

Under Vallas, Chicago’s student test scores saw marginal improvements

During Vallas’ tenure as Chicago schools chief, he implemented a series of reforms including the end of “social promotion,” summer and after-school programs for failing students, and so-called “academic probation” for low-performing schools.

Vallas faced criticism then and now for these policies being too punitive and paving the way for dramatic — and often destabilizing — changes to school communities in the name of performance. For instance, schools on probation were “reconstituted” or turned around, resulting in dozens of principals and 200 teachers being fired. After Vallas left, the probation policy he put in place was used to close low-performing schools over the course of the following decade..

Despite the drastic steps taken districtwide, test scores showed marginal improvement, according to a Northwestern study commissioned by the Chicago Board of Education. Researchers suggested improvements in high school test scores were largely due to improvements in elementary instruction. At the high school level, instruction was shallow and some high school teachers were only reaching as little as five students in their classes, according to the same study.

At the time, Vallas argued that the district as a whole had higher overall test scores and blamed teachers who resisted reform for the shortcomings, according to the Tribune.

“Test scores are always tricky,” said former Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch-Walsh, noting the high percentage of CPS students living in poverty. Lynch-Walsh, who is now supporting Vallas’ bid for mayor, said the additional after-school programs and expansion of magnet schools Vallas implemented were notable efforts at improving student achievement.

Nonetheless, Vallas resigned in 2001.

“I would like to think the school system is better off today than it was in 1995,” he said at the time, according to the Chicago Tribune. Earlier that year, Daley had expressed concern over stagnating reading scores, but applauded Vallas’ work and called him “quite simply the best” schools CEO.

Today, critics and opponents, including Johnson and State Rep. Kam Buckner, argue that mayoral control of schools under Vallas would bring back harmful policies to Chicago Public Schools.

In a debate earlier this month, Buckner derided Vallas’ title as a “turnaround specialist” calling his policies harmful. He said Vallas’ formula is one of replacing neighborhood schools in New Orleans with charter schools, not paying into the pension fund, then leaving for the next opportunity.

State Rep. Kam Buckner has said Paul Vallas would bring back harmful policies to Chicago Public Schools.

“Paul Vallas did in New Orleans what Mayor Emanuel did in Chicago: closed huge numbers of neighborhood schools in one fell swoop,” Buckner said. “It was a mistake in Chicago, it was a mistake in New Orleans, and if Vallas gets the keys to the city back, rest assured he’ll keep the closures coming until neighborhood schools like my school, Morgan Park High School, are a thing of the past.”

Before Vallas resigned as CEO, Lynch-Walsh had also been a critic of his, saying he had “left teachers out of the reform process and acted as if students’ performance would improve if only the schools got rid of bad teachers,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Lynch-Walsh, who was elected CTU president just before Vallas resigned, wrote a letter to him at the time advocating for smaller schools and criticizing the reconstitution policy, according to Catalyst Chicago.

Now, two decades later, Lynch-Walsh says his current plan offers an “amalgam of lessons learned” from his time leading public school systems in Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Connecticut.

Lynch-Walsh, who worked with Vallas during his brief stint as chief administrator officer at Chicago State University, believes he has the experience to meet the current challenges the school district faces in the coming years.

“He’s got a plan for those challenges and problems,” Lynch-Walsh said.

And there will certainly be challenges ahead for the next mayor when it comes to Chicago Public Schools. No matter who wins.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Lori Lightfoot could be the last mayor to control Chicago Public Schools. How has she done?

2023-02-16T20:55:50+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stood on a freshly-installed rubber wood floor in the gymnasium of the new Belmont-Cragin Elementary and delivered a long list of “thank-you’s” from behind a podium emblazoned with the seal of the City of Chicago.

“I can still smell the freshness and newness of this building,” Lightfoot said before using oversized scissors to cut a blue fabric ribbon at the Jan. 17 opening of the new $44 million school, a project set in motion by her predecessor Rahm Emanuel.

It is one of dozens of ribbon cuttings the incumbent mayor is doing in the weeks before the Feb. 28 election in which voters decide if she gets a second term. Lightfoot is facing eight challengers, some with strong ties to the city’s public schools, including former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and former teacher and current teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson.

“Our job is to come, like the calvary, to the rescue with those resources so we can help you fulfill your dreams and aspirations,” Lightfoot said at the Belmont-Cragin ribbon-cutting, where she was flanked by students, teachers, and other politicians. “This new building is absolutely what that is about.”

Since 1995, Chicago’s mayor has had control over the city’s public schools — deciding where and when to construct or repair school facilities, appointing school board members and a CEO, and negotiating contracts with the teachers union.

Lightfoot could be the last mayor — or one of the last — to wield this kind of power over education in Chicago as the city begins to transition to an elected school board in 2024.

“This is a pivotal or critical time for schools,” said Dick Simpson, a longtime observer and fixture in Chicago politics and retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago. “It’s also a critical time overall in Chicago’s history.”

Unlike her predecessors, Lightfoot did not come into office four years ago promising big changes at Chicago Public Schools. She kept existing leadership in place and continued implementing outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for universal pre-K for 4-year-olds. The one promise Lightfoot did make – to support an elected school board – shifted once she was in office.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, an ally of the mayor, said Lightfoot deserves credit for leading the school system through a once in a generation pandemic.

“Navigating that was something that was done partially on the fly, but also had a good set of directives that we had to stick to to make sure that the institutions survived, including CPS,” Waguespack said.

But what has Lightfoot done so far when it comes to education and what will she do with another four years?

Lightfoot prioritizes city money for school facilities

Deciding when and where to build new or repair old schools has been a core role of Chicago mayors, past and present.

Richard M. Daley’s Modern Schools Across Chicago program spent $1 billion to build 17 new facilities and renovate two others, mostly on the South and West Sides. Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, built new annexes in overcrowded areas where students tended to be more affluent and more white than CPS as a whole. He also closed 50 schools and mothballed or sold off the facilities in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods, before implementing a property tax levy in 2017 to bankroll new school construction.

The newly-constructed $44 million Belmont-Cragin Elementary at 6112 W. Fullerton Ave. sits next door to the Riis Park Fieldhouse on Chicago’s Northwest side. The project was set in motion by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and completed under Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Lightfoot harnessed city funding for school projects, but focused spending on fixing up existing facilities, repairing aging roofs, and boilers.

“We’re picking off these projects that are long overdue all over the city,” Lightfoot said. “Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez is very committed to making sure that we really invest in the infrastructure, not just band aids and trying to patch things up.”

Waguespack, who is also chairman of the City Council’s powerful Committee on Finance, said the mayor wanted to focus more money from special taxing districts known as tax-increment-financing — or TIF — districts on public schools and public parks.

A Chalkbeat analysis of finance committee records shows roughly $215.8 million in TIF money was allocated to school construction projects between when Lightfoot took office in May 2019 and today. Roughly $128.5 million was allocated between May 2015 and May 2019. Many of the projects tackled in the past four years were for long-deferred maintenance, not new construction.

In response to a Chalkbeat Chicago candidate questionnaire, Lightfoot also touted “$600 million in investments for facility improvements at neighborhood schools” in Chicago Public Schools’ 2023 budget.

A review of Chicago Public Schools’ capital plan does show larger portions of the district’s construction budget coming from “outside funding sources,” which is primarily city TIF money and state grants. However, the capital budget has declined in the last four years.

Years ago, community advocates fought to have more say over school construction decisions in Chicago, even passing a state law that created a now-dormant task force to oversee and guide school facilities planning. The city is currently under moratorium on closing schools, which will lift in 2025.

Disagreements over school construction projects have heated up recently around a plan supported by Lightfoot to build a $150 million new high school on the Near South Side, even as the district continues to lose enrollment and grapple with severely underenrolled high schools, including those that currently serve students in the area and sit just south of the site where the new school is to be built.

In an interview with Chalkbeat Chicago, Lightfoot said she sees investments in school facilities as investments in the city as a whole.

“They’ve got to be done in coordination,” Lightfoot said of the city and the school district. “They’ve got to work hand in glove and that’s really what we’ve been trying to do.”

Clashes with the Chicago Teachers Union disrupt learning

By now, it’s no secret: the mayor and the Chicago Teachers Union are anything but allies. From an 11-day teachers strike in 2019 and a delayed return to schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 to five days of canceled classes at the height of the omicron surge in 2022, the relationship has been on a tightrope made worse with every labor strife and a war of words.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois, described Lightfoot and CTU’s relationship as “very, very hostile,” and “difficult and strained.”

The deep level of distrust between the mayor and the teachers union is not without consequences.

The fraught relationship between Lightfoot and the union may even have complicated the district’s response to COVID and the return to in-person learning.

Chicago students stayed with remote learning longer than many other cities and states. Data released last fall showed the city’s math and reading scores on the “Nation’s Report Card” fell to what they were about a decade ago.

At the time, Lightfoot argued that a return to in-person learning would curb the adverse impact of remote learning, but the union said remote learning would protect students, their families, and teachers from severe illness and death. The push to return, the union argued, was tied to pressure from the business community.

Bruno said the mayor views the teachers union as a political body with the goal of undermining her leadership, and the union believes she’s “too beholden to corporate interest and not someone who has the best interest” of the school district’s large low-income working class and multi-ethnic population.

But the mayor’s difficult relationship with the teachers union pre-dates the pandemic. The CTU supported Lightfoot’s opponent in 2019 and when she stepped into office in May 2019, the political newcomer fresh off a landslide victory found herself in contract negotiations that dramatically fizzled out, leading to an 11-day strike in October.

Despite the acrimony, the teachers union secured $1.5 billion worth of concessions from the Lightfoot administration in a five-year contract that included raises for educators and support staff, hundreds of new staff positions, and $35 million annually to help reduce overcrowding in some schools.

Five months later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools once again. Students didn’t return in-person until a year later — after an impasse over safety protocols, a threat to lock out teachers from remote platforms, and finally an agreement that made way for a hybrid model with staggered reopening starting in March 2021. But the following school year was again disrupted after holiday break, leaving parents frustrated and teachers feeling deflated.

These four years are going to be remembered as “dysfunctional,” Bruno said. “She obviously has to take some responsibility for that.”

Chicago teachers picket downtown in May 2022. Lightfoot’s conflicts with the Chicago Teachers Union characterized much of her first term.

Moving forward the person who wins the mayoral election will need “to pick up the pieces of that relationship” with the union, Bruno said.

Turning things around would not be unprecedented. Rahm Emanuel famously clashed with the teachers union early in his first term, prompting the first strike in 25 years. He reportedly used an expletive in a meeting with former CTU President Karen Lewis. But years later, she admitted their tensions had softened. After Lewis died, Emanuel told the Sun-Times that the two had even attended the ballet together.

Responding to the Chalkbeat candidate questionnaire regarding the acrimonious relationship and upcoming contract negotiations, Lightfoot wrote that regardless of their “previous differences,” her team was committed to ensuring Chicago teachers were among the “best compensated in the nation and have the resources and support they need to educate the next generation of Chicagoans.”

“Our children deserve no less,” she wrote.

Lightfoot changes tune on elected school board

While campaigning for mayor in 2019, Lightfoot supported a fully elected school board, saying parents deserved a seat at the table. Elected members should be parents with “skin in the game,” she told WBEZ at the time, and suggested requirements such as first serving on local school councils.

Lightfoot’s first appointees included a group with deep experience in education, including parents who previously served on local school councils, teachers, principals, and community advocates — a departure from her predecessors whose selections were often described as a “rubber stamp” by critics.

Lightfoot told WBEZ in 2019 there would need to be thoughtful discussions on the number of board members, criteria, and how elections for these seats were financed.

But Lightfoot’s support for a fully elected school board dwindled and she instead called for a hybrid model. As legislation moved through Springfield, the mayor criticized the bill, arguing that special interests would pour millions of dollars into the races as had happened in Los Angeles.

She also criticized the 21-seat board as a “recipe for disaster.” Nevertheless, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the approved bill in June 2021, setting the stage for a phased-in elected school board starting in 2025. Next year, the mayor will appoint 11 seats and 10 will be elected. Another election, in 2026, would elect the 11 appointed seats, resulting in a fully elected board by 2027.

Responding to a Chalkbeat election questionnaire, Lightfoot vowed to work with Pritzker to improve the existing law to “establish clarity and ensure that our schools, teachers, and students receive the representation and resources they deserve.” She added that non-citizens, in particular, should be allowed to serve on the school board.

“Non-citizens are a significant part of CPS communities as parents, Local School Council members, and elsewhere,” Lightfoot said. “In a welcoming city, it is unconscionable that Springfield banned non-citizens from serving on the elected school board.”

Her office has created a team focused on education and human services that will work in partnership with the new school board on shared priorities, she said.

The mayor’s record on education will be an important marker in this election, Bruno said.

“As long as mayors have control over the city schools,” he said, “then it’s going to be a big determinant, I think, of how people judge their record while in office.”

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

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

Chicago mayoral candidates promise to raise wages for early childhood educators, but differ on how to do it.

2023-02-09T23:03:53+00:00

Chicago’s mayoral candidates say the city needs to increase wages for early childhood educators, make child care affordable for families, collaborate with local providers and state agencies to make funding easier, and even allow child care providers to move into public schools that are underenrolled.

The candidates detailed how they would reform child care and early childhood education at a forum organized by Child Care Advocates United — a professional organization in Illinois that supports early childhood educators and providers — on Wednesday night. All of the mayoral candidates except incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended the session.

Art Norman, a newscaster at NBC5 Chicago, and Tia Ewing, from FOX 32 Chicago, moderated the panel.

The mayor and City Council play a critical role in licensing and funding child care providers. Many candidates have promised to make child care more affordable, with few promising universal preschool for 3-years-olds.

Lightfoot continued rolling out universal preschool to families with 4-year olds in the city, expanding the plan promised by her predecessor Mayor Rahm Emannuel. However, the initiative hit bumps when the city’s early learning chief stepped down in the second year of the rollout and the early days of COVID-19 slowed down the city’s efforts.

Across Illinois, childcare providers are struggling to attract and retain workers, who are often paid less than their elementary schools peers. Parents of young children also struggle to find affordable child care, often comparing the cost to college tuition. The state has increased funding for early childhood education, but advocates say that more can be done.

At the Wednesday forum, candidates offered plans for early childhood education that included increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for child care providers, taxing cannabis sales and gambling for additional revenue, and working with state agencies to make it easier for all child care providers to receive funding.

All eight candidates in attendance agreed that child care providers need to be paid more.

Ald. Sophia King, who represents Chicago’s south lakefront neighborhood, proposed increasing pay for child care providers and offering incentives such as zero-interest loans for mortgages and dollar lots to prevent educators and child care providers from leaving the city.

King was a part of the push to get the city to increase minimum wage for workers to $15 an hour. Child care providers with more than three employees already have to comply with the city’s rules.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, who represents the city’s South Side in Springfield, said he doesn’t believe there is just a workforce shortage in early childhood education and child care, but an issue of where the city is putting resources. In addition to raising wages, he said the city needs to collaborate with Chicago Public Schools and the city’s community colleges to streamline a pipeline to get more workers into child care centers.

Forum moderators asked the candidates how they would work with state agencies to make accessing funding easier for child care providers and prioritize additional money for community-based organizations. Currently, child care providers in Chicago and across the state get funding from the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Child and Family Services.

U.S. Rep. Jesús Chuy García, whose district includes the city’s south west sides and surrounding suburbs, proposed creating a new city agency to look into early childhood education.

“There isn’t an overarching structure monitoring the status and effectiveness of those services,” García said at the forum. “That is how you wound up last year with the Department of Family Services cutting 4,000 slots that community providers had.”

Neighborhood advocate Ja’mal Green said there is a disconnect between city hall and providers. To fix this, he said he would hire more people from local communities, put mobile city halls throughout neighborhoods, and create resource centers in communities across the city so child care providers could be directed to available resources.

The candidates agreed that the city needs to collaborate with different organizations to ensure families know what options are available for child care.

“It’s about streamlining processes and creating collaboration. We’ve said this a few times tonight, but way too often we’ve created spaces for competition and we need to be creating spaces for collaboration,” said Buckner. “ I think the city has to lead that process and has to lead the conversation.”

Most candidates also said they would use cannabis and casino tax revenue for additional funding to support early childhood education and child care providers who are dependent on state and federal funding to survive.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who released his education plans earlier in the day, said he supports using revenue from cannabis and casino tax revenue and finding ways to tax the wealthy Chicagoans.

“From a corporate head tax to a real estate transfer tax to a financial transfer tax, the ultra rich get to put skin in the game,” said Johnson. “Over 70% of Chicagoans said that the wealthy have to pay their fair share. My budget plan articulates that.”

King and Ald. Roderick Sawyer, whose district covers the city’s south side, agreed that cannabis and casino tax revenue should be used toward education, but noted that the revenue has been marked for other funding.

The city’s gambling and entertainment tax revenue will go to the city’s pension fund for city workers, while the state’s cannabis tax revenue will go to state agencies and community-based organizations to address substance abuse, mental health, legal aid, and housing. Any remaining funds go to the state’s general fund. Sawyer said that if he becomes mayor he would look into changing where the revenue goes.

In the last two questions of the night, the moderators asked mayoral candidates how they would work with the state to address accessibility for families and ensure that they understand their choices for child care and early childhood education.

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas proposed using underenrolled CPS schools as community centers in addition to tax revenues and tax incentives for private child care centers to make child care more affordable for families.

“Give community organizations access to schools,” Vallas said. “You see stories about schools at 20%, 30%, 40%, or less than 50% capacity, and we don’t have room to provide early childhood centers?”

Correction: Feb. 10, 2023: The story has been updated to reflect State Rep. Kam Buckner’s comments.

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.

Mayoral hopeful Brandon Johnson promises students free transit, more staff

2023-02-08T23:19:30+00:00

Chicago Teachers Union organizer and former teacher Brandon Johnson released his formal education platform today — one of a few candidates for Chicago mayor to do so with only a few weeks left before the municipal election.

Johnson, a current Cook County commissioner, unveiled his vision for Chicago Public Schools Wednesday afternoon at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. His plan includes free bus and train rides for students on the Chicago Transit Authority, expanding opportunities for students through partnerships with City Colleges and trade schools, and having under-enrolled schools share space with child care and health clinics.

Johnson’s vision draws on the union’s decade-long push to tackle broader issues such as affordable housing and gun violence.

“Educating the whole child means dealing with the root causes,” Johnson said. “And all of the root causes are directly tied to the failures of political insiders and politicians who refuse to actually see people and recognize that poverty is one of the most isolating, awful, excruciating experiences that one could ever live through.”

His platform also calls for the overhaul of the district’s funding model, investments in bilingual educators and clinicians to better serve migrant and vulnerable students, and making school buildings greener and ADA accessible.

Mayoral opponent Kam Buckner, whose platform was released last fall, also called for an overhaul of the district’s funding model. He emphasized the need to fund schools based on need, not enrollment. Former district CEO Paul Vallas released his mayoral education vision last week. Vallas’ plan calls for school buildings to stay open on nights and weekends. He is also pushing for more school choice and wants to add more high school work study programs. Chicago Public Schools currently offers work study programs known as cooperative education.

In an email statement, Buckner said it was “good to see the field of candidates finally” presenting education plans in the last three weeks of the race.

“Chicago needs a new vision, which is why I’ve been having these serious conversations across the city for months,” Buckner said.

Johnson’s platform calls for many of the same things outlined in the union’s latest policy paper released last fall. That document was the third version of a document titled “The Schools Chicago Students Deserve” released by the union in 2012.

Johnson got into the race in late October with CTU’s backing. The union’s governing body voted a month prior to endorse him, even though he hadn’t made an announcement. The Chicago Teachers Union has donated over $764,000 to his campaign, according to Illinois’ Sunshine database.

Johnson took a moment during his speech to honor former CTU president Karen Lewis, who died three years ago yesterday after a years-long struggle with brain cancer. Lewis’s late 2014 diagnosis came as she was mulling a run for mayor against incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Sidelined by her illness, Lewis convinced Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, then a Cook County Commissioner, to challenge Emanuel instead. Garcia took Emanuel into a runoff, but lost with 44% of the vote.

Garcia, now a congressman, is also running for mayor this year. A recent WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times poll puts Garcia in a dead heat with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas. Johnson trails in fifth place.

Lightfoot has not released a specific education plan, but much of her first term has been characterized by conflict with the CTU. Shortly after taking office in 2019, teachers went on an 11-day strike that garnered national attention.

Then the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schools, and concerns over in-school safety mitigation led to persistent clashes between Lightfoot and the union. Like Lightfoot, Johnson held elected office for a short time. He became a Cook County commissioner serving the city’s West Side in 2018. He has been an organizer for the CTU since 2011 and helped organize the 2012 strike, according to his campaign website.

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.

If elected Chicago mayor, Paul Vallas promises to open schools on nights and weekends, expand choice

2023-02-03T13:35:00+00:00

Paul Vallas is reaching back to his tenure as Chicago Public Schools CEO in his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor.

The former district leader put out an education platform Thursday that promises to keep school buildings open on nights and weekends, put alternative high schools into empty or underenrolled buildings, and create more charter and magnet schools. He also said he would work to elect school board members in line with his agenda.

Until now, Vallas has largely focused on crime and safety on the campaign trail, not education. Even as he unveiled his plan for the city’s schools, he began by talking about homicide rates.

“Our schools can become sanctuaries for our kids – a place for them to go where they can be safe and secure and where they and their families can access the additional resources they need,” Vallas said, noting that outside community groups and the park district could run programs during non-school hours.

If elected, Vallas would be the last mayor with control of the city’s public school system — bookending an era he ushered in as the first CPS CEO, a role he held from 1995 to 2001.

Chicago begins its transition to an elected school board next year, with 10 elected in fall 2024 and 11 appointed by the mayor. By 2027, the mayor will no longer appoint any of the 21 school board members. Vallas vowed to “aggressively” support candidates who agree with his vision for the public schools.

“You can either complain that the school board is elected or you can get into the game and you can work to run candidates for the school board that you think are going to support your agenda,” he said.

That agenda harkens back to policies Vallas implemented in the past that have fallen out of favor in recent years — like expanding charter schools, funding schools based on enrollment, and holding students back if they don’t meet academic standards.

As schools chief, Vallas implemented an accountability system that placed schools with low test scores on probation — a label that in some cases eventually led to the schools’ closure or the entire staff being fired. He also ended the practice of “social promotion,” which allows kids of a certain age to move to the next grade regardless of whether they passed their classes or met standards.

“Promoting kids (to) high school, when they’re reading at the seventh or eighth grade reading level is just catastrophic, and it’s going to have catastrophic consequences,” Vallas said.

Last month, the Chicago Board of Education overhauled the district’s longstanding promotion policy, eliminating the use of test scores as a factor in holding students back and once again, allowing students to move to the next grade even if they fall short of meeting academic requirements.

Other candidates have criticized Vallas for helping create financial problems for the school district.

It was during Vallas’ tenure that Chicago Public Schools stopped making regular payments into the teachers’ pension fund. According to Politifact, the same state law that gave Mayor Richard M. Daley control of the schools also changed the tax levy that directly funded the pension system, allowing Daley and Vallas to use money once earmarked for pensions to help cover operating costs.

All of the pension funds for government workers in Chicago — teachers, policemen, and firefighters — are underfunded and require hundreds of millions of dollars in payments annually in order to meet their obligations to retirees.

When Vallas was CEO, Chicago Public Schools also enrolled over 430,000 students. That’s at least 100,000 more than it does now. The city’s school-age population has dropped at roughly the same rate. Declining enrollment is felt most acutely at some of the city’s shrinking neighborhood high schools, many of which get additional funding so they can offer a full course load.

The school board is not allowed to close schools until 2025 and most candidates have said they won’t close schools or would only do so as a last resort.

Vallas said he wants to expand work study programs for high schoolers and open “Adult High Schools” inside underenrolled or empty schools to serve people over 18 without a high school diploma. During his time as CEO, Vallas expanded alternative schools through the Youth Connection Charter School network.

After leaving Chicago, Vallas led school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Conn.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission hired him in Philadelphia after the state took over the public school system. He made dramatic changes, but left the system with a deficit.

In New Orleans, Vallas closed neighborhood schools while charter schools reopened in their place. He faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. But former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other experts lauded his efforts as a model for school reform. Under Vallas, student test scores improved at schools converted into charter schools, but at district-run schools, progress was uneven, according to New Orleans magazine.

In Bridgeport, he was “both hailed as savior and demonized as an arrogant, inflexible dictator,” according to the Connecticut Post. Vallas left that position to run for Lt. Governor in Illinois and amid a controversy over whether he had the credentials required to run a school system in that state.

Vallas also built a career as an education consultant — moving between the public and private sectors. While still superintendent in New Orleans, his consulting group worked on contract in hurricane-ravaged Haiti and turned around schools in Chile after a 2010 earthquake.

The Vallas Group got a $1 million contract in 2012 from the Illinois State Board of Education to help with school turnaround efforts in the suburb of North Chicago and East St. Louis.

Mayoral candidate and state Rep. Kam Buckner called Vallas an “opportunist collecting titles.” Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson, who is also running for mayor, criticized Vallas for “firing hundreds of Black teachers and school staff.”

“As mayor, Vallas would be laughable at best, and unmitigated disaster at worst – especially for Black and Brown educators and families,” Johnson said in a statement.

In a statement, mayoral candidate and U.S. Congressman Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia blasted Vallas’ record on education.

“His entire career he has gone from city to city ruining the school systems that children and families depend on, while he made hundreds of thousands of dollars and gave questionable contracts to politically connected firms,” Garcia said.

Vallas defended his record saying it “speaks for itself” and called criticism from other candidates “a sign of desperation.”

This story has been updated to clarify why Vallas left his position as Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

Mauricio Peña contributed reporting.

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

The proposed Near South High School has divided neighbors. Here’s your chance to weigh in.

2023-01-17T21:15:21+00:00

Residents who want to learn more about the proposed Near South Side high school will have several chances to weigh in at a series of six virtual meetings hosted by Chicago Public Schools beginning this week.

The first meeting runs from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 19 and will offer Spanish, Chinese, and American Sign Language interpretation. Subsequent meetings will take place Feb. 16 and March 16. Residents can register to attend virtually here.

Controversy has surrounded the plan since it was reintroduced by CPS last year. Early proponents like State. Rep. Theresa Mah withdrew support after accusing school officials and city leaders of not engaging the community in good faith. That led to a war of words between Mah and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who accused the state representative of nixing the proposal because it isn’t in her district.

A coalition of residents and activists led by Lugenia Burns Hope Center and People Matter have held several community meetings — and protests outside City Hall — calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to come up with alternative plan. They believe the move will only further the racial divide by pulling students out of existing schools nearby and possibly result in additional school closures with the moratorium imposed by the state ending in 2025.

But advocates like freshman Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) say a new open-enrollment high school for the area is long overdue as families have been dealing with a “high school desert” for decades.

Of the three public high schools between Bronzeville and the South Loop — Jones College Prep (a selective enrollment school), Dunbar Vocational, and Wendell Phillips Academy — the latter two serve a high percentage of low-income students and rank in the bottom half of schools statewide based on standardized testing and graduation rates.

A map of where the proposed Near South Side high school would be built, which is adjacent to the Southbridge mixed-use development where 244 units would be set aside for public housing residents.

The $150 million school would be built on the former site of Chicago Housing Authority’s Harold Ickes Homes and serve 1,200 students living in parts of Chinatown, Amour Square, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, and the South Loop. Thirty percent of enrollees would be Black, the bulk of which would come from families residing in the Southbridge mixed-income development where 244 affordable units are in the process of being built.

The city council approved the use of $8 million in tax increment financing in December, several months after CPS entered a land lease agreement with CHA in July 2022. Under the agreement, the housing agency will lease 1.7 acres of the former public housing site near 24th and State Streets to the district for 99 years, reverting to CHA’s control in the event the school isn’t built.

Lugenia Burns Hope Center Executive Director Roderick Wilson told Block Club in a recent interview that the coalition will keep fighting. They’d rather see the money reinvested in existing schools.

“Neither CPS or CHA did any real community engagement to find out what the community wanted. If they were actually listening, they wouldn’t be pushing this,” said Wilson.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago officials to move 250 migrants into vacant Wadsworth school in Woodlawn this month

2023-01-13T20:06:06+00:00

After months of back-and-forth, city officials now say they will move 250 migrants into a former Woodlawn school building at the end of January, with more expected over the next two years.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration has for months planned to house migrants — mostly asylum seekers, according to city officials — at the vacant former home of Wadsworth Elementary School.

Several hundred neighbors were presented Thursday with the city’s latest plan for Wadsworth during a public meeting at Apostolic Church of God.

The city now intends use Wadsworth as a shelter for up to two years. Up to 250 single men and women will move in starting the week of Jan. 23, with more migrants housed at the campus in the coming months. Officials have not yet determined the maximum number of people to be sheltered there.

The city must use Wadsworth to house migrants as the shelter system struggles to keep up with new arrivals every day, said Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services.

About 5,150 migrants have arrived in Chicago since Aug. 31, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, began busing them to Democrat-led cities to protest federal immigration policies.

Texas and Colorado — the latter of which is led by a Democratic governor — have since sent more than 100 buses to Chicago, along with 1,500 migrants who arrived in the city separately, Knazze said.

News of the Wadsworth shelter plans was first reported in the fall. The details have changed numerous times since Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) said in October she was briefed on housing hundreds of migrants at the former school.

Even as the city spent about $1.6 million and at least 400 work hours preparing the building for use as a shelter, Lightfoot spokesperson Ryan Johnson denied at the time Wadsworth would become a shelter.

Officials changed their tune at a late December community meeting and announced they would move 150 migrants into Wadsworth starting Jan. 6. The about-face “blindsided” Taylor, she said. She also criticized the city’s move to hold the meeting when many people were out for the holidays.

City leaders delayed the move-in date last week to convene community meetings and develop a safety plan for the Wadsworth campus after pushback from neighbors.

As city staffers discussed timeframes, public safety, site security, and other issues this week, Woodlawn residents overwhelmingly blasted the city for sharing details only once it was a “done deal” that Wadsworth would become a shelter.

The east side of the former Wadsworth Elementary School building.

About 50 neighbors variously described Thursday’s public input session following an outline of the city’s latest plans as a “slap in the face,” “ingenuine,” “condescending,” and “last-minute.”

A 26-day turnaround from initial notice to a move-in date is “extremely short,” considering the shelter could be active for two years, resident Stephanie Crockett-McLean said.

Crockett-McLean and other residents also took issue with the city’s renovations for its shelter plans after letting the property sit idle for years. The building on Oct. 14 underwent its first city inspection since 2017, the year the University of Chicago’s charter school moved out.

Officials shared more details about the Wadsworth plan at Thursday’s meeting than they had previously, which was positive, Apostolic Church pastor Byron Brazier said.

But overall, “the city has not listened to us as [it] should,” and Woodlawn residents must be the ones leading policy decisions in the neighborhood, Brazier said.

The Wadsworth shelter “is temporary, and we need to make sure it’s temporary,” Brazier said. “… We as a community will be planning for our community.”

Knazze apologized to attendees for the city’s handling of the shelter rollout.

“I know we didn’t get the ask right the first time we came before you, and for that, I am truly sorry and I apologize,” she said. “That oversight was a huge mistake, and it caused a lot of confusion, and I’m sorry.”

Moving forward, city officials will provide updates on the Wadsworth shelter to Taylor’s office every two weeks; hold monthly community meetings for the next three months, then hold meetings every other month; and invite two Woodlawn residents to sit on a citywide advisory council around the migrants’ arrival, Knazze said.

Representatives from Taylor’s office, police and state officials met privately Monday to discuss a safety strategy for the shelter, which was also announced Thursday.

The site will receive “special attention” from police, 3rd District Cmdr. Roderick Watson said Thursday. Officers will visit the site on each watch and employ community policing strategies to address any ongoing issues and trends, Watson said.

Security contractors will also be onsite around the clock, with officers stationed at every door, Knazze said.

The migrants, who are checked against national security and criminal databases upon arriving at the border, will have an 11 p.m. curfew and will be required to sign in and out of the building, officials said.

Parks and walking paths on the campus will remain open to the public, and police surveillance cameras will be installed near the school, Knazze said. The safety plan is “fluid” and can be adjusted as needed, Watson said.

A CTA bus shuttle reads “Chicago Is My Kind of Town” as migrants disembark a bus at Union Station after a 25-hour-long ride from Texas on Sept. 9, 2022.

Amid the chaos caused by the governors’ decisions to bus migrants to Chicago, residents have expressed pushback — and sometimes, explicit xenophobia — around housing the overwhelmingly Latino migrants in their communities.

At a protest in Woodlawn, one resident said, “there’s plenty of room in Little Village for their people,” according to the Tribune.

Taylor bashed city officials for throwing “a grenade into our community” with the Wadsworth shelter plans, but she urged Woodlawn residents not to view the migrants as their opponents.

“This is not about [migrants] versus us. It is not, because at the end of the day, the system has mistreated all of us,” Taylor said. “This is about making sure that this situation that was pushed upon us is safe for everybody.”

The city is not taking away funds from services for people experiencing homelessness to pay for its effort to shelter migrants, officials said.

Woodlawn residents have called for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to attend community meetings about the Wadsworth shelter. The mayor did not attend Thursday.

At a news conference earlier that day — hours before her family and support services commissioner apologized — Lightfoot defended her administration’s community outreach around the Wadsworth plans.

“We are engaged. I personally have talked multiple times with the alderman, I’ve talked with Dr. Brazier,” Lightfoot said. “Our team has been engaging with other stakeholders there for a couple of weeks now, since we made the decision that was necessary for us to open up Wadsworth school.”

“I would not say that there’s any lack of transparency — quite the opposite,” she said.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools watchdog to investigate Lightfoot campaign’s bid for student volunteers

2023-01-13T15:55:30+00:00

One day after defending the practice, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday it was a “mistake” for her campaign to email educators at Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago looking for student volunteers to help in her reelection bid.

The school district’s inspector general has opened an investigation, and the city’s Board of Ethics will look into whether the outreach violated the city’s ethics policy. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Illinois chapter called the emails “inappropriately coercive.”

The Jan. 10 email from a deputy campaign manager to Chicago Public Schools educators implied that students who volunteered for Lightfoot’s reelection effort would get school credit. After the outreach was first reported by WTTW, Lightfoot drew criticism from her challengers in next month’s election and from others.

After initially saying Wednesday that the request for student volunteers was “common practice,” the Lightfoot campaign said it would alert staff that “a solid wall must exist between campaign and official activities.”

“There was zero, zero, zero coordination, coercion, or anything else between the campaign and CPS on this issue,” Lightfoot said at a press conference Thursday.

Lightfoot, who was elected in 2019 promising transparency and a more accountable government, said a staffer made an “honest mistake” in sending the emails.

But City Colleges of Chicago said it raised the ethics concerns with the Lightfoot campaign after receiving similar emails in August and consulting its ethics department.

“Following the Department’s guidance, City Colleges notified the campaign of CCC’s ethics policy and purged the emails from CCC accounts,” according to City Colleges.

City Colleges said it was not aware of any subsequent campaign emails, but was looking into the matter.

During Thursday’s press conference, the mayor said she met with the staffer and explained the severity of the situation but declined to fire the staffer, calling the incident a teachable moment.

“There was absolutely no nefarious intent on the part of the staff person,” Lightfoot said.

The mayor said she apologized to Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Chicago Board of Education President Miguel Del Valle.

A copy of the Jan. 10 email to Chicago Public Schools employees was shared with Chalkbeat by the Chicago Teachers Union.

It’s unclear how many emails to Chicago Public Schools teachers and City Colleges of Chicago were sent out, but Lightfoot said her campaign was taking an accounting and would cooperate with investigations.

The district’s Office of the Inspector General said in a statement that it has opened an investigation into the emails “to determine which, if any, policies have been violated.”

The district’s ethical guidelines for political activity state that political campaigns should not use the Chicago Public Schools’ email system to solicit donations or volunteers.

Meanwhile, Steven Berlin, the executive director of the city’s Board of Ethics, said the matter will be on the agenda for the board’s next meeting on Jan. 23, which will be live-streamed via Zoom.

The city’s Office of Inspector General also said it’s tracking the issue, in consultation with the district.

Nora Flanagan, an English teacher at Northside College Prep, said she found out about the email from colleagues. So far she’s heard from about eight or nine teachers or staff in the building who received the email.

“In 25 years, I have never seen anything like this,” Flanagan said. “I’ve never seen this happen from any elected official, at any level.”

Teachers who received the email are scared to talk to the press for fear of retaliation, she said. Her colleagues called the emails “wildly unethical, probably illegal,” she said.

District employee email addresses are public information, and often listed on school websites, the district noted. Email addresses can also be obtained through a public records request, though there is no record of such a request from any political campaigns, the district said.

The Chicago Election Board had not received any complaints as of late Thursday morning, said spokesperson Max Bever. The election board isn’t authorized to investigate or penalize candidates over city ethics rules, Bever said.

Colleen K. Connell of the ACLU of Illinois said in a statement that the Lightfoot campaign’s email outreach to teachers was “inappropriately coercive and raises First Amendment concerns.” She noted the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that elected officials cannot use their office to pressure public employees to participate in political campaigns.

“Because the Mayor has the ultimate authority over the Chicago schools, teachers may feel coercion in this ask from the Mayor’s campaign or fear negative consequences for lack of participation,” Connell said.

She urged the mayor to make clear that no one in the city should feel compelled to participate in her campaign.

The student advocacy group Good Kids Mad City, a frequent critic of the mayor, also bashed her campaign’s move. Arseny Acosta, one of the group’s leaders, said it’s “morally wrong” to solicit students to volunteer by dangling a chance to earn credits.

“At the end of the day, this free labor would only benefit Lightfoot,” she said.

In New York City in 2021, then-mayoral candidate Eric Adams drew criticism from parents and others after his campaign reached out to educators with its own request to offer students who volunteered on the campaign school credit, according to reporting in the New York Post.

This story was updated to include a comment from Good Kids Mad City.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org. Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Lightfoot campaign facing scrutiny for emailing teachers to recruit student volunteers

2023-01-12T15:05:03+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign asked public school teachers to recruit student volunteers to “help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring,” a possible violation of the district’s code of ethics.

According to the Chicago Teachers Union, a Lightfoot campaign staffer sent an email to teachers on their work emails ending in cps.edu asking them tell students the campaign is “looking for enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people” to volunteer 12 hours per week and said students would be “eligible to earn class credit.”

It’s not clear how many teachers received the email.

Guidance on political activity issued by the school district last April said campaigns “should not be using the CPS email system to solicit volunteers and donations” and asked staff to report that behavior to the school board’s ethics adviser.

In a statement, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the district “does not coordinate with any political candidates or campaigns. It has not done so to date and will not be doing so.”

A Lightfoot campaign spokesperson initially issued a statement characterizing its efforts to involve young people as a “common practice that has been utilized in city, state, and federal level campaigns for decades.”

Later, the campaign issued another statement saying its staff has been alerted that a “solid wall must exist between campaign and official activities.” The statement said contacting “city of Chicago, or other sister agency employees, including CPS employees, even through publicly available sources is off limits. Period.”

Lightfoot’s challengers swiftly condemned the move shortly after Chicago’s local public television station WTTW first reported the news.

Alderman Sophia King, who represents the 4th Ward on the South side, called it “pay to play except with unsuspecting and vulnerable victims.”

“As a teacher, I’d give her an F,” King, who previously taught at Latin School of Chicago, wrote on Twitter. “Actually she’d be expelled.”

State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas demanded investigations by the City’s Inspector General, the Board of Elections, and Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General.

“The manipulation of teachers and children is unspeakable,” Vallas wrote in an email. “Mayor Lightfoot should be ashamed of herself for allowing her campaign to violate her own ethics policy by contacting city government employees on their official email accounts for political purposes.”

Alderman Roderick Sawyer, of the 6th Ward on the South side, said it was a “hypocritical contradiction” to her campaign promise of better government.

“I don’t know what kind of lesson Lightfoot believes she is teaching, but the extra credit must be in government corruption,” he said in a statement.

Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson both said on Twitter the mayor should be more focused on fully funding schools, not recruiting from them.

Ja’Mal Green, the youngest candidate in the race, tweeted: “Young people aren’t going to vote for you with class credits, gas cards, or anything else.”

Some non-profit organizations in Chicago, including Mikva Challenge, encourage students to get involved in politics and work closely with high school teachers. In Chicago, high school students work the polls on election day, as well. But there are rules for elected officials to keep their political activities and government duties separate.

Over the summer, the Chicago Board of Education voted against a district recommendation to fire two teachers at Washington High School on the city’s Southeast side for offering students incentives to protest General Iron’s plan to move its metal scrapping operations to their neighborhood.

The current head of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, Troy LaRaviere, also came under scrutiny in 2016 for possibly violating district policy on political activity in 2016 when he appeared in a campaign ad for Sen. Bernie Sanders during his presidential bid.

In 2015, a high school teacher running for 33rd Ward alderman was also reprimanded for offering students credit for volunteering on his campaign or others.

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

Nine people are running for Chicago mayor. Here’s a look at their education records.

2023-01-11T22:15:09+00:00

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A drop in test scores. Declining enrollment. The COVID pandemic’s impact on student mental health. The transition to a 21-member elected school board.

These are just a handful of the challenges facing Chicago’s next mayor.

Nine people, including incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, are running to lead the city for the next four years. All have some tie to Chicago Public Schools. Chalkbeat Chicago took a look at each mayoral hopeful’s track record on education.

We also surveyed readers and created a list of 10 important education questions for the Chicago mayoral candidates. Read through their answers and remember to cast your ballot on or before Feb. 28.

Here’s more information about each candidate and their records on education:

Kam Buckner

Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) represents a district that extends from Chicago’s Gold Coast to the South Shore. He cosponsored legislation to set a minimum salary for teachers, limit police in arresting or questioning students at school, and create an elected school board in Chicago.

Buckner jumped into the mayor’s race last May and unveiled a sweeping education platform last fall outside a vacant elementary school in Garfield Park.

Standing alongside former school board member Dwayne Truss, Buckner promised to expand universal preschool to 3-year-olds; hire at least one nurse, one librarian, and one social worker per school, and do an external audit of CPS special education practices to improve services.

Buckner, the son of a school teacher and a police officer, also said he would recruit teachers from Chicago neighborhoods.

Before being elected to the Illinois legislature, Buckner sat on the board of trustees for Chicago State University and led World Sport Chicago, a nonprofit aimed at bringing Olympic sports to underserved youth in Chicago. According to WBEZ, he later oversaw the dissolution of the program in 2018.

Jesús “Chuy” García

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th congressional district, is well known in Chicago politics and education. He’s served as alderman, Cook County commissioner, and Illinois state senator.

In announcing his bid for mayor last November, Garcia said it was time for the city to “double down” on education.

“Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” he said.

Garcia also promised to support teachers, saying, “It’s time that we treat them with dignity and respect — and the value they have earned and deserve.”

Garcia forced former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election in 2015 after being nudged into the race by the late Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. This time, the teachers union has endorsed one of their own members, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, instead.

But Garcia has a long history advocating for public schools. As a community organizer in Little Village, Garcia helped lead a 19-day hunger strike in 2001 to get a new high school built. Fellow mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas was the school district’s CEO at the time. The campus, Little Village Lawndale High School, opened in 2005 and has four schools: Infinity STEM, World Language, Social Justice, and Multicultural Arts.

Ja’Mal Green

After dropping out of the mayoral race in 2019, activist Ja’Mal Green will be listed at the top of the ballot in 2023. He also is the youngest candidate at age 27.

In a campaign video, Green champions universal preschool for 3-year-olds — a promise also outlined in a sweeping $5 billion public safety plan he released last week. That plan also calls for creating 10,000 apprenticeships for Chicagoans ages 13 to 25.

“I’m a father who loves Chicago and I want a better future for my kids and yours,” Green says in the video. He also opens up about being kicked out of nine schools that he said didn’t have the resources to meet his needs while growing up on the city’s South and West sides.

Green rose to prominence as an activist with the Black Lives Matter movement, protesting throughout Chicago after a video recording showed police officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. In 2016, Green faced felony charges after being accused of hitting a police officer during a protest at Taste of Chicago.

Brandon Johnson

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson entered the mayoral race last fall with endorsements from the Chicago Teachers Union and other independent political organizations.

During a kickoff rally, Johnson recalled his time as a teacher at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep, detailing conversations with students displaced by the demolition of Cabrini Green high-rises.

“I experienced the painful impact of disinvestment on my students and their families,” Johnson said. “And this personal experience seeing children endure inequity fuels my commitment to building a stronger, safer, and more equitable Chicago.”

Johnson said in October the pathway to revitalizing the city is fully funding neighborhood schools, providing students health care services, and ensuring they have affordable housing.

He promises to expand “Sustainable Community Schools” from prekindergarten to city colleges, while also providing academic, health and social support beyond the school day, according to his campaign website.

Sophia King

Ald. Sophia King, 4th Ward, represents many of the same south lakefront neighborhoods as Buckner does on Chicago’s City Council. King was appointed to the seat in 2016 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and went on to win reelection in 2019.

As vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development, she recently pushed to have Chicago Public Schools officials appear before aldermen on a quarterly basis or risk losing city money that supports school construction projects. The measure failed on a split vote and came after Lightfoot declined to promote her to chair of the committee.

Before entering politics, King helped found Ariel Community Academy, a public school created in 1996 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in partnership with Ariel Investments. According to her campaign, she taught at Latin School of Chicago in Lincoln Park. King has a master’s degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University.

King has not yet released an education plan, but has outlined a public safety strategy on her campaign website that promises to invest more in schools in communities experiencing the most gun violence and vows to “enlist both public and private sector employers to hire more high school students, disconnected youth, young adults, and formerly incarcerated citizens.”

Lori Lightfoot

Current Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019 unveiled a 15-point education plan to transform Chicago Public Schools. It outlined her support for an elected school board; a nurse, social worker, and librarian at every school; and early childhood education zones to promote equity at public schools.

But in October 2019, just months into her tenure, union contract negotiations stalled and the Chicago Teachers Union led an 11-day strike. The two sides got stuck on teacher prep time and sick days, and also on the union’s push to discuss broader topics like affordable housing and an elected school board versus Lightfoot’s desire to focus on pay and benefits.

After backing an elected school board on the campaign trail, Lightfoot pushed for a hybrid board, allowing for the mayor to continue to appoint some seats. Ultimately, the state legislature passed a bill allowing for a 21-member, fully elected school board. The mayor had raised concerns about the size of the board, representation for undocumented families, and campaign financing.

Lightfoot finished the rollout of universal 4-year-old preschool promised by her predecessor and on her campaign website touts a continued rise in graduation rates during her first term.

Last summer, Lightfoot unveiled a comprehensive blueprint for Chicago that included hubs for Lifelong Learning. It proposed an Office of Learning, which would transform shuttered school buildings into learning hubs in every neighborhood.

The plan aims to increase education resources and coordinate existing programs across Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Library, and other education-focused agencies and organizations.

Roderick Sawyer

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, has served for over a decade, after being elected in 2011 to represent South Side neighborhoods, including Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing, and Auburn Gresham.

His campaign website does not outline a plan for the city’s public school system. On the City Council, Sawyer sponsored a proposal in 2020 to remove Chicago police from public schools, but it was thwarted by one of Mayor Lightfoot’s allies and did not pass.

Sawyer’s father, Eugene, became mayor in 1987 after the sudden death of the city’s first Black mayor Harold Washington. Growing up, Sawyer attended private school, first at Howalton Day School, a now-shuttered unique school founded during the Black Renaissance. He graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep and DePaul University and is a licensed attorney.

According to his aldermanic website, Sawyer served on the local school council at McDade Classical School, a public selective enrollment school. He also co-chairs a fundraiser to provide “financial assistance for disadvantaged African-Americans who attend his high school alma mater.”

Paul Vallas

Paul Vallas is a familiar name to Chicagoans — particularly those in education. Vallas ran Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001, taking the helm after the state legislature gave control of the school system to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. Vallas oversaw the system during an era characterized by more stringent academic accountability for students and schools and more stability with the teachers union, which had gone on strike repeatedly in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Though he finished ninth in the crowded 2019 mayoral race, Vallas is running once again with a promise to make Chicago safer and expand school choice. As CPS CEO, he oversaw the early growth of charter schools and advocated for turning around so-called failing schools.

Vallas’ political ambitions led to him stepping down from Chicago Public Schools to run for Illinois governor in 2002. After an unsuccessful bid, he was appointed as CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, where he implemented a standardized curriculum, created small high schools, sold district headquarters and updated aging buildings. After four years, he headed to New Orleans to lead the city’s new Recovery School District in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His last job as a schools chief in Bridgeport, Connecticut ended in controversy amid a court battle over whether he had the credentials needed to serve as a superintendent in Connecticut.

He returned to Illinois and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor alongside Pat Quinn in 2014. In 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed Vallas to turn around Chicago State University, but the institution cut its contract with Vallas after he confirmed plans to run for mayor in 2019.

Willie Wilson

Willie Wilson, a high-profile businessman, launched his campaign for mayor last spring. His campaign focuses on rebuilding from the pandemic through “educational grants, trade and business recovery,” according to his campaign website.

Wilson told the Chicago Crusader last fall that, if elected mayor, he wants to work with state legislators to bring back vocational education to high schools, churches, and Illinois prisons. He also wants to “establish a trade school at CTA bus terminals,” according to the publication. Current Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez has talked about revamping the district’s career and technical education programs in coming years.

When running for mayor in 2019, Wilson promised to reopen all 50 Chicago Public Schools closed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, he called the mass closings a “racist move.”

“If I had closed 50 schools in the white community, they would have hung me on State and Madison upside down,” Wilson said at the time. He also ran unsuccessfully for Chicago mayor in 2015, for the presidency in 2016, and U.S. Senate in 2020.

This story has been updated to clarify why Vallas left his position as Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

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.

New high school gets more money from Chicago City Council as cost estimate climbs

2022-12-14T23:02:01+00:00

A controversial new high school is another step closer to reality after Chicago’s City Council approved $8 million in city funds for the $150 million project.

Five progressive aldermen voted against the measure on Wednesday.

The new high school on the Near South Side has faced opposition from school board members, elected officials, nearby residents, and community members who question the need for another high school as the district continues to hemorrhage students year over year.

Some have argued a new campus would exacerbate under-enrollment at nearby schools. Others have criticized the district’s community engagement efforts and the location of the site — which has long been intended for public housing.

The latest vote allocates $8 million in tax-increment finance — or TIF — money to Chicago Public Schools for the purchase of a cluster of properties near 2450 S. State St., a site previously set aside for affordable housing. The estimated cost has also climbed to $150 million, up from $120 million when the proposal was initially unveiled in spring.

City Council often dedicates tax-increment finance funds to public schools and public parks to supplement the school district’s tight capital budget. So far this year, aldermen have approved $175 million in TIF money for Chicago Public Schools.

During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Ald. Pat Dowell, who represents the area that would include the high school, said the school would serve students who live in the South Loop, Chinatown, Douglas, and Bridgeport and would offer a diverse learning experience for those students. Those neighborhoods are a mix of Black, Asian, Latino, and white, census data show.

“I think that all children should be educated in that kind of environment where they can learn about different cultures, understand different perspectives and history,” Dowell said. “It bodes well for how you grow up and become an adult.”

Dowell acknowledged the concerns from some aldermen that the new high school would exacerbate low enrollment at existing nearby high schools, but said building a new school is “the right thing to do.”

“Come hell or high water, we’re going to see it to the end,” she said.

During a press conference after Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Lori Lightfoot argued that the school was supported by residents of Chinatown, South Loop, and Near South Side. Lightfoot cited the growing South Loop population and 90-minute commutes for Chinatown children.

Asked about the increase in cost, she acknowledged construction cost had gone up but said she was committed to getting a new high school to the finish line, citing the growth in elementary-age students in the South Loop.

“I’m confident that the resources will be there to make this high school a reality,” Lightfoot said.

Alds. Matt Martin, Rossana Rodriguez, Jeanette Taylor, Andrew Vasquez, and Byron Sigcho Lopez voted against the approval.

The district unveiled the proposed high school as part of the broader capital budget last spring. Officials budgeted $70 million for the project and said the state would kick in $50 million for the new campus.

The Chicago Board of Education in September narrowly approved the purchase of nearly two acres as part of a land swap agreement with the Chicago Housing Authority for the proposed site. It also approved a separate measure to spend an additional $5 million to plan the new high school.

The Board of Education will still need to approve funding for the construction of the high school. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will also need to approve the land swap agreement.

Board members who voted no this fall said the new high school would disrupt enrollment at nearby schools and further constrain funding to operate another school.

The plan to build the high school on the former Harold Ickes Homes angered some residents and housing advocates. The CHA promised housing for residents displaced after the public housing high-rise was torn down more than a decade ago.

During the September school board meeting, state Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago), who secured state funding for a new high school, promised to withhold state funds until she was assured the district was having authentic community engagement and considering other sites.

Earlier this week, Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to CPS’ chief executive officer, told the City Council’s Committee on Finance that the district would be aggressive in its efforts to secure the state grants for the high school.

Ald. David Moore, who voted against the proposal during Monday’s Committee on Finance meeting but in favor of it on Wednesday, reiterated concerns about under enrollment at nearby high schools. He also questioned CHA’s commitment to bring affordable housing back to the area. Since Monday’s meeting, he said he had received letters of support from two groups of residents in the area that swayed him to change his mind.

The residents support the new Near South high school, “so long as the remaining CHA Public Housing Units are built on the footprints of Harold Ickes Southbridge on site — not up the street, down the street, or around the corner,” Moore said during Wednesday’s City Council hearing.

Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents Chinatown, offered her support ahead of the vote, saying it was “a long time coming” for students in the area, many of whom leave the neighborhood for high school.

“Students today who are in the area by this neighborhood open enrollment high school, travel sometimes up to 90 minutes in each direction, costing them really valuable time to be involved with extracurricular activities to do homework,” Lee said at Wednesday’s meeting.

Ald. Walter Burnett offered his support during the city council meeting Wednesday for the high school, saying it would help bring revitalization to the area. “A new school is an economic development engine in a community,” Burnett said.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago aldermen give OK to $8 million in TIF funding to buy land for a Near South high school

2022-12-12T22:54:33+00:00

The cost of building a controversial new high school continues to climb – as a committee of aldermen voted to allocate $8 million in city funds Monday.

Members of the City Council’s Committee on Finance approved a proposal to dedicate tax-increment finance – or TIF – money to allow Chicago Public Schools’ purchase of a cluster of properties near 2450 S. State St. The site was previously set aside for affordable housing and will now be used to build a $150 million high school. Previous estimates listed the project’s total cost around $130 million.

The decision is the latest in an ongoing process to build the controversial high school at a time when Chicago Public Schools is grappling with declining enrollment. The project has prompted concerns about whether a new school is needed, with some arguing a new campus would exacerbate under-enrollment. Others have criticized the district’s community engagement efforts, and the location of the site — which has long been intended for public housing.

During the committee hearing, Ald. Pat Dowell, who represents the area that would include the high school, said the school has been in the works since 2007. The high school is an “opportunity to create a diverse high school — a model for the city of Chicago,” she said.

“What we have seen is a growing population, not just in the South Loop, but in Chinatown and Douglas,” Dowell said.

Ald. David Moore was the lone vote against the proposal. He raised concerns about how a new high school might impact nearby high schools, such as Dunbar Vocational Career Academy and Phillips Academy High School, which are under-enrolled.

“I’m very, very concerned about that,” Moore said. ”I think we have an opportunity here to elevate places like Dunbar and Phillips.”

The district unveiled the proposed high school as part of the broader capital budget last spring. Officials budgeted $70 million for the project, and noted the state would kick in $50 million for the new campus.

The board will still need to approve funding for the construction of the high school. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will also need to approve the land swap agreement.

Board members who voted no this fall said the new high school would disrupt enrollment at nearby schools and further constrain funding to operate another school.

The plan to build on the former Harold Ickes Homes angered some residents and housing advocates. The CHA promised housing for residents displaced after the public housing high-rise was torn down more than a decade ago.

During the September board meeting, state Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago), who secured state funding for a new high school, promised to withhold state funds until she was assured the district was having authentic community engagement and considering other sites.

Asked whether they would be getting state funding, Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to CPS’ chief executive officer, said they would be aggressive in their efforts to secure the grants. Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, and others have lobbied to garner Mah’s support, but Swirksy acknowledged that Mah was opposed to the proposed location.

Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents Chinatown, offered her support for the high school, saying it was an ideal location for her constituents and would bring much needed revitalization to the area.

On Monday, Ivan Hansen, chief facilities officer at Chicago Public Schools, said the new high school would solve a “critical need to provide the growing region of the city with a viable new neighborhood option.” He said the district has had over “30 engagement sessions” and had heard from more than 750 parents, community members, and school leaders.

In trying to allay some concerns, Swirksy said, in addition to the new high school, the district pledged to make investments to Dunbar, Phillips and Thomas Kelly High School, a school on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

No additional details on what the investments might look like were provided to aldermen before the vote.

Ald. Dowell said she would not rest until she got the new school across the finish line.

“We’re gonna figure out how to make this work with or without Theresa Mah,” Dowell added.

The tax-increment finance measure will move before the full City Council on Wednesday.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

U.S. Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia announces second run for Chicago mayor

2022-11-10T15:48:10+00:00

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is officially joining the crowded race to unseat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Garcia, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th district, is a well-known name in Chicago politics and won reelection to a third term in Congress on Tuesday.

Before heading to Congress in 2019, he forced former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election in 2015 with the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union.

This time Garcia will not have the support of the Chicago Teachers Union, which has already endorsed Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson.

In a video posted on YouTube, Garcia formally announced his second bid for mayor after months of speculation, saying he wanted to lead the city during a critical juncture and unite all Chicagoans.

“Now is the time to revitalize our communities, strengthen our schools, and bring safety back to our streets,” Garcia said in the video.

Garcia joins nearly a dozen candidates challenging Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. He previously endorsed Lightfoot in 2019. Three aldermen and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas are also among the candidates.

If he succeeds in the mayoral race, a special election would be held to elect a replacement for his congressional seat.

Flanked by supporters at Offshore Rooftop at Navy Pier on Thursday, Garcia said it was time for the city to “double down” on education. “Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” Garcia said.

Garcia also promised to support teachers, saying “It’s time that we treat them with dignity and respect—and the value they have earned and deserve.”

In Congress, Garcia serves on the House Financial Services Committee, House Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure, and House Committee of Natural Resources.

Garcia and his family immigrated in 1965 from Mexico to Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side. As a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Garcia advocated for workers rights, according to his congressional website.

He was one of the first two Latinos elected to City Council in 1986 during a special election following a court-ordered redistricting to reflect the city’s increasing Latino population. Garcia was an ally of then-Mayor Harold Washington and his election came amid the so-called “Council Wars” — when 29 white aldermen frequently stymied Washington, the city’s first Black mayor.

Garcia served as 22nd Ward Alderman for seven years.

As a community organizer in Little Village, he helped lead a 19-day hunger strike in 2001 to get a new high school built in the community. Vallas was CPS CEO at the time. The campus — Little Village Lawndale High School — opened in 2005 and has four schools: Infinity STEM, World Language, Social Justice, and Multicultural Arts.

Garcia has also served as a Cook County commissioner and an Illinois state senator.

As of mid-October, Garcia had $180,000 in his congressional campaign fund. His mayoral campaign fund is currently empty.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Push to get Chicago Public Schools officials to appear regularly at City Council fails

2022-11-09T19:10:00+00:00

Some Chicago aldermen want school district officials to meet with City Council quarterly, but a proposal to make that happen failed to pass Wednesday.

Under the ordinance, the measure would have temporarily withheld city money for certain school projects if Chicago Public Schools officials didn’t show up. That turned out to be a deal breaker for many aldermen on the committee, which held a virtual meeting Wednesday.

The vote was tied — and therefore, failed — with seven voting in favor and seven voting against.

“I currently have three projects in the hopper and I don’t want to get in the way of my own best interest,” said Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, a former school counselor and Chicago Teachers Union member. She said quarterly meetings are “not a huge ask.”

Ald. Sophia King, who is running for mayor, put forward the ordinance during a committee meeting after being frustrated with the district’s lack of response to her budget questions.

“The threats of resources being withheld could very easily be waylaid, if CPS would just show up,” King said, noting that she reached out to district chief Pedro Martinez “quietly and subtly” to try to get questions answered about the school district’s budget “to no avail.”

Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to Martinez, called it a “harmful ordinance” that would jeopardize school construction and infrastructure projects.

“You have our numbers, and we answer each time you call and I mean no matter what time of day it is,” Swirsky said. “We wholeheartedly value the genuine relationships and partnerships that we have fostered with City Council members.”

But Chicago Public Schools officials rarely appear before aldermen in public meetings. The Committee on Education and Child Development also rarely meets, despite attempts by council members to call meetings.

It was the first time King led a meeting as the vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development, which has been without a leader since June when Ald. Michael Scott Jr. resigned to take a job in the private sector. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has since appointed Scott to the school board and attempted to appoint an ally and bypass King.

The discussion comes after a report, prepared by the district with help from a consulting firm, released last week outlined the costs the city could shift to the school district once it transitions to an elected school board. It outlines hypothetical cost shifts on everything from school construction funding to water bills to summer programs.

The city already started shifting costs to Chicago Public Schools in 2020 when it started requiring the school district to pay into a city pension fund that covers some school employees.

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

Chicago Public Schools may take on more costs as it breaks away from mayoral control, report says

2022-11-04T18:06:13+00:00

Chicagoans will get to elect their school board members starting in 2024. But a report out this week suggests that may come with a cost.

The report, prepared by the district with help from a consulting firm, lists expenses currently picked up by other city agencies that Chicago Public Schools might have to take on as it transitions to an elected school board for the first time in the city’s history. These include water bills, rent, summer programs, and increased pension contributions, among other costs — possibly adding up to tens of millions of dollars a year.

That financial fallout might be relatively modest for a district with a $9.5 billion budget. But, the report says, it could add uncertainty to an already “fragile” financial outlook for the district.

The city does not have to cut off the school district as it shifts away from mayoral control. Some current school board members and the Chicago Teachers Union have criticized the city for already passing on some costs it has traditionally shouldered.

For example, in the past few years, CPS started paying for police officers stationed in schools, crossing guards, and a larger share of contribution toward a city-run pension fund that covers some district employees — all costs previously footed by the city. This year, the total price tag of these new expenses for the district add up to about $200 million.

The school district has had stable budgets in recent years, but after a major influx of federal COVID relief dollars runs out, the report estimates, the district could be $628 million in the red by 2026.

“CPS could find itself in a similar position by the end of this decade as it did in the middle of the last decade: having to rely upon one-time budget gimmicks and draws on fund balance to avoid significant cuts in educational services,” the report cautions.

The upcoming shift away from mayoral control would bring Chicago Public Schools more in line with other school districts, where district and city finances are completely separate.

In July 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that will phase in an elected school board with 21 members for Chicago Public Schools by 2027. In November 2024, Chicago residents will elect 10 members while the mayor will continue to appoint 11 members. In 2026, Chicagoans will be able to elect the remaining 10 seats and the president of the board.

Pritzker signed another piece of legislation in December 2021 that required the Chicago Board of Education to commission an independent financial review report assessing the district’s funding and detailing the financial agreements between the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. That law specified that the report had to be sent to the Governor’s office, the Illinois board of education, Chicago board of education, the General Assembly, and the mayor’s office no later than Oct. 31, 2022.

Report tallies some hypothetical costs

The district’s ties with the city run deep after more than 30 years of mayoral control. The new report acknowledges that it likely doesn’t offer a complete list of the two entities’ financial ties.

One possible cost shift noted in the report is the city charging the school district to use water. It outlines that the city could technically start charging the school district roughly $12 million in annual water, sewer, and permit fees. Currently, these fees are waived for the city’s schools and other public and nonprofit entities, such as its community college system.

The city has also helped the district cover costs for some of its long-term debt, incurred to foot the bill for school construction and building projects. Those payments, bringing in about $142 million a year through a city tax levy, are slated to continue until 2029.

The district is already taking on some expenses the city has chipped in for historically. Chicago Public Schools has been paying a growing amount toward the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund, a city-run pension program that covers district support staff and other employees. The city was handling those costs until recent years, though it did not fully cover them as it went along. This year, the district increased its contribution to $175 million, over objections from some school board members and the teachers union.

Last year, the district also took over from the city the cost of school resource officers and its crossing guard program, for which CPS budgeted $16.6 million this year.

The report notes that some of the uncertainty around these entanglements complicates the district’s broader financial outlook.

The district — serving significantly higher than average portions of students who have disabilities, are homeless, or learning English — now receives about $1 billion less from the state than what is deemed “adequate” funding based on Illinois’ own math. It also diverts hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding to cover debt payments for past school construction and other borrowing.

The largest source of the district’s funding is local property tax revenue, but it’s somewhat limited in hiking those taxes.

Advocates call cost-shifting retaliation

In a statement about the report, the district said it will continue to advocate with state legislators and officials to fully fund the district and address the fiscal challenges that come with the district’s unique position: It is the only district in the state that covers its own teacher pension costs.

“We will work with the State to develop a thoughtful process of disentangling CPS from its historical relationships with the City and other public agencies in Chicago, as well as a process to wind down the extraordinary pandemic-era federal support to avoid a threat to structural budgetary balance,” the statement said.

Chicago Public Schools officials have sounded alarms about the district’s long-term financial picture in recent months, saying they don’t want an elected school board to inherit money troubles. CEO Pedro Martinez has lamented that, unlike other Illinois districts, Chicago Public Schools is limited in asking residents to raise their own taxes to fund the district’s operations and building costs.

Sendhil Revuluri, the Vice President of the board, said the report helps the board and the public better understand the district’s fiscal outlook, which includes projected budget deficits.

“As both a CPS parent and a board member, it’s important to me that we keep these facts in mind as we make decisions — sometimes tough ones — to ensure all our students have excellent educational experiences and we keep improving their learning outcomes,” he said in an emailed statement.

Chicago advocates pushed for an elected school board after years of being dissatisfied with a mayor-controlled school board. That advocacy intensified after former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration closed more than 50 schools across the city’s South and West sides, largely affecting families of color.

As a candidate, Mayor Lori Lightfoot supported an elected school board. But after taking office, Lightfoot came to strongly oppose that shift, arguing that special interests would dominate races for board seats.

During the 2021 spring legislative session, she teamed up with Sen. Kim Lightford, D-Maywood, to propose a hybrid school board bill. The bill didn’t move far, but the mayor made it clear she strongly opposed the 21-person elected school board. Now, some advocates who pushed for the bill are concerned that the city will try to undermine the school board.

Pavlyn Jankov, a researcher for the Chicago Teachers Union, said the city is retaliating against the district for transitioning into an elected school board by shoving these costs onto CPS.

School districts and cities “are supposed to be funding their schools and working together through governmental agreements to raise revenue for their constituents,” said Jankov. “Schools in Chicago Public Schools serve the same residents and have the same borders as the city.”

The report was prepared by the district with help from Columbia Capital Management, a financial consulting firm that works with the city, district, and other government agencies in Illinois.

The state board of education is required to review the report and provide recommendations to the General Assembly by July 1, 2023 on the district’s ability to operate with its own budget.

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, who sponsored the elected school board bill that passed, said the House is waiting to review and discuss the report by CPS.

“The goal here remains to ensure that every student has access to high quality public education, and our review over the coming months will be focused on that,” said Ramirez.

Correction: Nov. 4, 2022: This article has been updated to reflect that Chicagoans will vote for 10 members of the elected school board and the board president in November 2026, not all 21 seats.

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.

Cook County commissioner, teachers union organizer announces bid for Chicago mayor

2022-10-27T11:00:00+00:00

Cook County commissioner and union organizer Brandon Johnson announced early Thursday he is running for Chicago mayor, entering the race with backing from the teachers union and independent political organizations.

Johnson, a former teacher at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep, is one of at least eight people challenging Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. Three aldermen and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas are among the candidates. The union endorsement and Johnson’s union organizing background almost assures education issues will take center stage in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election.

“As a teacher, I experienced the painful impact of disinvestment on my students and their families,” Johnson said in a press release. “And this personal experience seeing children endure inequity fuels my commitment to building a stronger, safer, and more equitable Chicago.”

Before announcing his run, Johnson’s campaign saw an influx of donations.

Last week, the American Federation of Teachers announced a $1 million donation to Johnson’s campaign.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE donated $150,000 and the Chicago Teachers Union’s political action committee donated $60,000. At the end of September, Johnson’s campaign reported having just over $70,000 in the bank.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body last month voted to endorse Johnson for the municipal election.

The union, which also endorsed rank-and-file educators Mueze Bawany and Leonor “Lori” Torres in their respective aldermanic races in the 50th and 36th wards, said the educators were “uniquely attuned to the needs of students and families.”

Johnson recently received endorsements from the 30th, 33rd, 35th, and 39th ward independent political groups.

“I continue to be humbled, and honored, by the outpouring of support I have received in coming to this decision,” he said.

The union is pushing to unseat Lightfoot, with whom it has clashed several times, including during an 11-day teacher strike in 2019 and in two actions amid COVID safety concerns in 2021 and 2022.

“Each of them believes strongly in partnership, and coalition, and is committed to representing educator values of nurture and care for children and community,” the union said of Johnson, Bawany, and Torres in a series of tweets last month.

Johnson has been a Cook County commissioner serving the city’s West Side since 2018. After teaching at Jenner and Westinghouse, he became an organizer for the CTU in 2011 and helped organize the 2012 strike, according to his campaign website.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Plan to turn vacant Chicago school into housing gets $18 million from city

2022-10-05T19:15:00+00:00

HUMBOLDT PARK — Protracted plans to redevelop long-vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into an 107-unit apartment complex for teachers got a boost in city funding to help move plans forward.

Newark, New Jersey-based RBH Group was awarded $18 million in tax-exempt bonds last month to bring “Teachers Village” to the shuttered Humboldt Park elementary school, 2620 W. Hirsch St., setting the stage for redevelopment.

Now, the developer is working with the city’s Department of Housing to secure more public financing to bring its ambitious project to life. The development is expected to cost $50.6 million.

“We are on track to close public financing by the end of the year and anticipate commencing construction immediately thereafter,” RBH Group’s CEO Ron Beit said in an emailed statement.

The “Teachers Village” project includes 102 apartments and five townhomes.

RBH Group received City Council approval in 2020 for its “Teachers Village” project, which is modeled after a similar development in New Jersey.

The Humboldt Park development proposal includes 102 apartments marketed toward educators and five market-rate townhomes. There will also be commercial and retail space, a “community as campus” learning center, a public plaza, and 53 parking spaces.

RBH Group agreed to reserve 52 of the apartments as affordable units, including 27 funded through Chicago Housing Authority vouchers, in response to concerns from Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st).

La Spata previously said he pushed the developer to include units for low- and moderate-income residents being priced out of gentrifying Humboldt Park and Logan Square.

Nearly three years later, RBH Group is pressing ahead with the city-approved plans, company spokesperson Lonnie Soury said. The developer made “minor modifications” to the interior layout, but those changes have been approved by the city, Soury said.

Developer RBH Group plans to convert the shuttered school into an apartment complex for teachers.

Like many other real estate developments in the city, the “Teachers Village” project has been delayed by pandemic challenges like the shaky economy and the supply shortage, said La Spata’s chief of staff, Nicholas Zettel.

“Every developer would say, to some degree, that the pandemic impacted their operations. In this case, I really think it’s true that the pandemic took a bite out of this one,” Zettel said.

Zettel and Soury stressed the project is complex and was always expected to take several years to come to fruition. The proposal was first introduced to the community in 2016.

“When you have a project like this, which involves public financing, private financing, bonds and city approval … they take a lot of work and a lot of time and the process is slower than we would all like, but certainly one that is moving along,” Soury said.

Von Humboldt was one of nearly 50 “underutilized” public schools closed by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013, a move that sent shockwaves through Chicago and across the country.

Von Humboldt school, 2620 W. Hirsch St., has sat vacant since 2013 when the district closed a record 50 schools.

Redevelopment of Von Humboldt is a sensitive topic among former students and parents and neighbors, who were devastated when the school was shut down.

The elementary school has a long history in Humboldt Park. The original school building was constructed in the 1880s and designed by John J. Flanders, the district’s official architect at the time, according to local historians. W. August Fiedler designed the school’s second building, which was built in 1895 and meant to address overcrowding. A third addition, designed by Arthur Hussander, went up in 1921.

RBH Group plans to preserve the school’s original exterior as part of its redevelopment.

The “Teachers Village” project is Chicago’s latest school conversion.

The former Stewart Elementary School in Uptown was redeveloped into the Stewart School Lofts in 2018, a project considered a symbol of gentrification for its high rent prices. Peabody Elementary School in Noble Square was also recently converted into luxury apartments.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Mayoral candidate wants to fund Chicago Public Schools based on need, not enrollment

2022-09-22T20:27:40+00:00

Mayoral hopeful Kambium “Kam” Buckner is promising to transform Chicago Public Schools by funding schools based on need, not enrollment; staffing every school with a nurse, librarian, and social worker; and expanding universal preschool to all 3-year-olds.

Buckner is the first 2023 mayoral candidate to hold an event releasing his education platform. He detailed the plan outside the shuttered Laura S. Ward Elementary School in Garfield Park on the West Side, one of the 50 schools closed in 2013 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Buckner is one of seven people planning to challenge Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. Three aldermen and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas are among the candidates.

The Chicago Teachers Union has yet to throw their support behind a candidate. Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a former teacher and union organizer, last month said he was exploring a possible run for mayor.

If elected mayor, Buckner said he plans to change how schools within the district are funded.

“As mayor, I will continue to work with Springfield to hold CPS accountable for directing state funds to schools based on need, and not on any other criteria,” Buckner said, adding that funding should not be strictly based on enrollment.

Currently, schools get a set amount of money per student, plus a few centrally-funded positions, such as principal and school clerk. This system – implemented in the wake of the 2013 closings – has been criticized by the Chicago Teachers Union because it penalizes schools with fewer students and sets them on a downward spiral of declining enrollment and disinvestment. Others – including former CPS CEO Janice Jackson – have said the method is more equitable because money follows students.

Chicago’s schools have seen a significant decline in enrollment over the past two decades. Though this year’s official enrollment numbers have yet to be released, preliminary data posted to the city’s data portal and first reported by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times indicates there are roughly 320,000 students in CPS. Twenty years ago, there were more than 438,000.

“We have to have a plan forward on how we maintain the number,” Buckner said. “But to bring more young people into our school system, we have to provide better options, better choices in our neighborhood schools.”

The proposed switch in how schools are funded also comes with a promise to staff every school with at least one nurse, one librarian, and one social worker. Currently, many social workers and nurses split time across two or more schools and librarians are becoming something of an endangered species in CPS, with about 90 librarians across more than 650 schools.

Chicago Public Schools has added about 90 school social workers since 2020, going from around 500 positions to roughly 590 this summer, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of staffing files posted on the district’s website. The number of nurses on staff is more difficult to track because the district hires different types of school nurses and relies on outside agencies to provide school nurses.

Buckner’s promise to expand universal preschool to 3-year-olds comes as the school district continues to recruit families to enroll their 4-year-olds. This is the first year Chicago has offered universal access to preschool, regardless of income, a push set in motion in 2018 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also expanded public preschool to 3-year-olds, using a windfall of federal stimulus money.

The plan outlined on Thursday also calls for an external audit of CPS special education practices to improve services, a leadership academy for principals to address morale, and targeted recruitment for teachers from Chicago communities.

Dwayne Truss, a former member of the Chicago Board of Education, introduced Buckner, who stood in a vacant lot across from the abandoned elementary school, and endorsed Buckner’s education plan. Truss previously told Chalkbeat he was asked to continue on the board after his term expired, but was replaced by Lightfoot. Truss was critical of a plan for a new high school on land intended for public housing.

Buckner declined to comment specifically about Truss’ ouster but said the school board should be composed of representative voices that reflect the community, are passionate about education, and who aren’t afraid to push back.

“Dawyne Truss is a lifelong Chicagoan,” Buckner said. “He understands the South Side and the West Side. He has worked to better education around the city for a very long time. Not listening to somebody like him is a huge detriment to all of us in the city.”

Buckner currently serves as Illinois House of Representative for the 26th District, which includes Bronzeville, Douglas, the Gold Coast, Near South Side, South Chicago, and South Shore. He has been in office since 2019.

The state representative was raised in Roseland and Washington Heights. His mother was a public school teacher for more than 30 years. She worked at Scott Joplin Elementary School in Auburn Gresham and Alcott Elementary in Lincoln Park before retiring about five years ago, he said.

Buckner previously worked as an aide for Sen. Dick Durbin and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He also worked as a manager of neighborhood and government relations for the Chicago Cubs, and executive director of a youth development nonprofit World Sport Chicago.

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.

Former alderman Michael Scott Jr. appointed to the Chicago school board

2022-07-15T23:16:56+00:00

In a surprise move, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot replaced a school board member with a longtime City Hall ally.

Lightfoot announced Friday that former North Lawndale alderman Michael Scott Jr. would replace Dwayne Truss, whose term ended last month.

Truss said he had initially been asked to continue to serve on the board, then was notified last Thursday that he would not be reappointed. He questioned the timing of the move, noting that it comes after he called for more transparency around the construction of a new high school.

“I’m disappointed,” Truss said. “Students and families that we serve deserve real engagement and transparency.”

Lightfoot also appointed two other new members Friday to replace Luisiana Meléndez and Lucino Sotelo, who announced last month they would be stepping away from the board. The newly appointed members are Sulema Medrano Novak, a trial lawyer, and Paige Ponder, a former CPS employee and former CEO of One Million Degrees, an education organization.

Truss said the opposition to the high school and the mayor’s decision not to reappoint him to the board seem connected.

Along with other board members, Truss expressed concerns during budget hearings and last month’s board meeting about a lack of community engagement and transparency for a proposed $120 million high school on the Near South Side, which was supported by the mayor. The opposition led district CEO Pedro Martinez to pull the plan ahead of a vote during June’s board meeting.

Truss said the district was “gaslighting” board members and trying to “shoehorn engagement” around the proposed high school into a short time frame before a potential vote.

Instead of organizing true community engagement, Truss said, CPS was “organizing supporters to support the school. CPS shouldn’t be doing that.”

Asked about the timing of the replacement, a spokesperson for the mayor in an email said Truss’s term had expired “and we wish him well.”

The appointments come after Lightfoot dragged her feet for 10 months on a previous school board vacancy, appointing South Side community leader Joyce Chapman. It also marks what could be the mayor’s last round of appointments under a fully-appointed school board.

In 2024, Chicago will begin a shift toward an elected school board, which will have 10 elected members and 11 appointed by the mayor. The board will transition to a fully elected school board by 2027, with elections held in 2026.

Other board members said they were shocked by the news that Truss would not be returning to the board.

In a brief phone call, Scott Jr. told Chalkbeat he was unavailable to speak Friday afternoon.

Scott Jr.’s father, Michael Scott Sr., was president of the Chicago Board of Education under Mayor Richard M. Daley from 2001 until his death in 2009. During Scott Sr.’s time on the board, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan served as CEO.

Scott Jr. resigned as alderman in May to take a position with the film studio, Cinespace. Lightfoot appointed Scott Jr.’s sister, Monique, to succeed him in representing the North Lawndale community on the West Side. Lightfoot defended the move citing Monique Scott’s roots in the North Lawndale community and said it’s “lazy” of critics to call the appointment nepotism.

In a prepared statement, Scott Jr. said he was “honored and humbled to take on this new role with the Board of Education and serve students, families and staff of Chicago Public Schools.”

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to build on my father’s legacy with CPS and the continued drive to improve and expand student opportunities, experiences and outcomes,” Scott said.

Ponder previously served as an Officer of Student and Support and Engagement at CPS. During her tenure at CPS, she led initiatives to drive up the number of freshman students on track to graduate. Ponder serves on the Illinois Community College Board. Her term expires in June 2023.

“Becoming a member of such a historic board is not just an honor but a privilege,” Ponder said. “For years, I have had the pleasure of working with institutions that have prepared me for this role and I’m excited to support and find new strategies to represent our school communities.”

Novak, a trial lawyer with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, will step down from the City’s Human Resource Board to serve on the school board.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago officials release city plan with blueprint for ‘Lifelong Learning’

2022-07-14T22:56:09+00:00

A sweeping plan that would guide Chicago’s policy decisions for the next 10 years includes a number of strategies to expand educational opportunities in the city.

The ideas proposed in “We Will Chicago” include creating an Office of Learning, setting up learning hubs in every neighborhood, and repurposing empty school buildings.

The planning document also proposes ways to improve housing, environmental issues, public safety, and economic development.

The draft, which culminates two years of research, meetings, and feedback from Chicago residents, is the first comprehensive planning document since 1966. The plan is a priority for Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Among the policy recommendations in a section dubbed “Lifelong Learning” is a new Department or Office of Learning aimed at increasing education resources and coordinating existing programs across Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Library, and other education-focused organizations.

The section was crafted through the engagement process with a group made up of everyday Chicagoans who volunteered and public officials such as Kathy Dickhut, deputy commissioner at the Department of Planning and Development.

“It’s purposely not about CPS,” Dickhut said. “The idea was to help make connections between all kinds of agencies, departments, whatever people are doing in education.”

“There was a real desire to kind of harness all the activity and get it a little bit more organized through an office,” Dickhut noted about the proposed new Department or Office of Learning.

The plan also calls for a city-funded partnership coordinator to facilitate collaborations between companies and educational institutions such as Chicago Public Schools, Chicago City Colleges, and other universities.

The draft plan notes one of the city’s looming challenges: a declining school-age population.

“We didn’t really grapple with that,” Dickhut said. “We’re acknowledging the situation and the data that exists right now. But that will be part of moving forward in the discussions.”

The citywide plan outlines the controversial decision made by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013 to close 49 public schools on the South and West Sides amid declining enrollment. Since then, the district has lost another nearly 75,000 students. Nearly 25,000 of those students left since the start of the pandemic.

The citywide plan calls for an evaluation of existing facilities including shuttered schools, Park Districts, and other city properties to create community learning hubs in all neighborhoods, especially in Black, immigrant, Indigenous, and Latino communities. City officials would also explore the feasibility of constructing new facilities to make way for these learning hubs.

Other highlights include:

Launching an awareness campaign around lifelong learning opportunities
Creating paid internships and apprenticeships in city departments
Partnering with CPS to recruit and retain more teachers of color
Expanding funding and partnerships to support on-site or subsidized child care at workplaces
Provide on-site care at Chicago City Colleges, the Park District, and public libraries

“Most of the objectives in here focus less on specific tactics to shore up enrollment,” said Skyler Larrimore, deputy director of policy at the mayor’s office, “but more thinking about stepping back and that 50,000-foot view for each community making sure that there is robust access to resources and networks.”

The objectives and the overall draft plan, Larrimore said, were created in coordination with community members.

“The plan wasn’t just the city sort of defining the outcomes alone in isolation, but really bringing in community members from the very beginning to co-define what these goals and objectives should look like,” Larrimore said.

City officials will host public meetings in the coming weeks and months to gather feedback. Residents can also weigh in online through a survey. The plan will be presented to the city’s Plan Commission and City Council for approval in 2023.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago leaders announce 15,000 summer jobs for teens and young adults

2022-04-11T22:04:23+00:00

With summer fast approaching, Chicago leaders rolled out plans to hire about 15,000 young people for summer jobs and detailed youth opportunities citywide in an effort to engage teens and young adults in person after the pandemic sidelined programs for two years.

On Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and department commissioners detailed out-of-school summer programs for youth, including jobs, volunteer opportunities, and arts programs at Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Libraries, and other city agencies.

Since the start of the pandemic, the experiences for children and young people both in school and out of school have been “fragmented, reduced substantially, or canceled outright,” Lightfoot said.

“We are striving to return to normal this summer,” Lightfoot said. “It’s got to be a summer of joy for our youth where they are reminded that we care about them. We care about their future, and that as a city, we got their back.”

Last summer, youth programs remained virtual or hybrid, but this year’s programs will return to in-person without capacity limits. The programs, which include My Chi, My Future, One Summer Chicago, and Chicagobility are designed for young people to explore their passions and “connect with peers and caring adults,” Lightfoot added.

One Summer Chicago, the city’s signature youth summer program, will connect teens and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24 with hands-on job experience and a career coach in a variety of fields including healthcare, media, and finance. The program, which is accepting applications until June 10, runs from July 5 to Aug. 12. One Summer Chicago will pay teens and youth the city’s minimum wage of $15 per hour, Lightfoot said.

The city will prioritize youth who have traditionally faced barriers such as the digital divide in accessing the city’s summer jobs programs. The city will work with Chicago Public Schools and community partners to “meet less connected young people, and their families, where they are,” Lightfoot added.

City officials also announced the expansion of Chicago’s Youth Service Corp, a program created last summer where young people responded to specific pandemic-related needs in their community. The summer program will offer paid year-round opportunities that support city projects for 16- to 24-year-olds, officials said.

Chicagobility, a six-week career exploration program for 14- to 15-year-olds, will return this summer and engage young people with career professionals through field trips, training, and projects, said Brandie Knazze, Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner.

They will be paid a $450 weekly stipend, Knazze said.

During the summer, Chicago Public Schools will also partner with local community-based organizations to expand summer school programming. The Chicago Department of Public Health will bring back play street, a program that encourages families to stay active and healthy. Chicago Public Libraries will also offer cultural and arts programs at neighborhood libraries.

“We encourage our CPS students to take advantage of the many opportunities made possible through One Summer Chicago and gain important job experience within their own city,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in a press release. “These types of hands-on experiences can serve as catalysts for future academic and career success – and in the meantime, they offer immediate financial benefits for each participant.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, Chicago Public Schools said it plans to provide “robust summer programming, free meals and other services to students during summer programs.”

The offerings include a mix of centrally-managed, local opt-in, and school-designed programs that will provide academic recovery and programs for English language learners and students with disabilities. The district will spend up to $50 million to cover the costs of summer programming.

“The goal is to ensure that all schools are able to offer the programming that is most appropriate for their local school community’s needs,” said Mary Fergus, a CPS spokeswoman.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Everything Chicago parents need to know about Vaccination Awareness Day

2021-11-09T23:12:03+00:00

So your children are off school Friday, and you’re scrambling to figure out the meaning of Chicago’s inaugural “Vaccination Awareness Day.” Here are eight things to know.

What is Vaccination Awareness Day? And is it just a Chicago thing?

Last week, with the arrival of the pediatric COVID vaccine under federal emergency use authorization, Chicago Public Schools suddenly announced that it would cancel school on Nov. 12, for a “Vaccination Awareness Day.” In an e-mail to parents, district CEO Pedro Martinez encouraged families to seek out vaccinations for children — and bring along teens and older adults who have not yet received a shot.

The day appears to be a Chicago invention, promoted to boost vaccination rates among school-age children. But the last-minute cancellation of Friday classes has irked parents who are scrambling for child care.

The day is among seven no-school days in Chicago Public Schools during November, including a school improvement day and a parent-teacher conference day.

What age is eligible?

The federal government last week issued emergency authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to children age 5 and older.

The doses for children are one-third of an adult dosage and use smaller needles; not all sites offering vaccines in Chicago have received their doses for children ages 5-11. So look for a site that specifically offers pediatric vaccines.

Where can I go to get my child vaccinated on Vaccination Awareness Day?

Officials said on Tuesday that about 200 sites will offer the pediatric vaccine on Friday, including pediatricians’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics organized by the health department, and schools.

Chicago Public Schools will offer vaccinations at four regional hubs: Michele Clark Magnet High School on the city’s West Side; Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side; and Roosevelt High School on the city’s Northwest Side. Chicago Public Schools said it also will deploy a mobile vaccination van to multiple school sites.

Officials have encouraged parents to make appointments in advance. As of Tuesday afternoon, Friday appointments were available at three of the four regional school clinic sites and at two mobile clinic sites (Chavez Elementary, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, and Nixon Elementary in Hermosa). Only Roosevelt High School on the city’s North Side was fully booked for pediatric vaccination appointments. (To book an appointment at a regional site, click here. To book an appointment for the mobile van or see the schedule, click here.)

The city’s teachers union will offer pediatric vaccinations from noon to 3 p.m. Friday at its headquarters on the Near West Side (1901 W. Carroll Ave.) in cooperation with Broadway Medical Center. Advance registration is requested. Click here to register.

Several community organizations also are offering single day events on Friday:

Family vaccine clinic, Arturo Velasquez Institute: 9 a.m. - noon. Register online or by phone at 773-254-1400
Little Black Pearl Pop-Up: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Register online or walk in at 1060 E. 47th St.
Family vaccine clinic, Harmony Community Church: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Register online.

Local pharmacies are running their own registration, but appointments were mostly full at the major pharmacies for Friday.

Walgreens still had some appointments at a handful of locations: Register online, or call your local Walgreens or 1-800-925-4733.
CVS: Register online, or call your local CVS or 1-800-679-9691.
Mariano’s: Register online.
Walmart: Call 1-833-886-0023, option 1.
Chicago Costco pharmacies: Register online for an appointment or call a pharmacy directly.

It’s not Friday but the Chicago Department of Public Health will host family vaccination clinics at City Colleges of Chicago on Saturday at Richard J. Daley College (7500 S. Pulaski Road) and on Sunday at Wilbur Wright College (4300 N. Narragansett Ave.). Advance registration is required. Both clinics will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Standing CDPH immunization clinics will also offer pediatric COVID-19 vaccines by appointment only. This includes Uptown WIC 845 W. Wilson Ave., second level (call 312-742-3227 for an appointment) and the Greater Lawn WIC, 4150 W. 55th St. (call 312-745-1477 for an appointment).

What if I prefer to get vaccinated at home?

Chicago is offering a home-based vaccination program, but it will not launch until next week, officials said. Make an at-home appointment at Chicago.gov/AtHome or by calling 312-746-4835.

What is the evidence that the pediatric vaccine is effective?

In clinical trials, the Pfizer shot was found to be 91% effective at preventing COVID in children — similar to effectiveness in adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials said the side effects among children were “mild” and similar to that of other vaccines that children receive. The most common side effect was a sore arm, the CDC said in a statement.

Children are supposed to receive two shots, administered three weeks apart.

What are the options for child care on Friday for working parents?

The Chicago Park District said it will offer programs at 54 parks at no cost to parents. (Click here for the list of sites and to register. Advance registration was encouraged, and some park sites had already filled as of Tuesday afternoon.)

Meanwhile, the YMCA planned to offer “full-day education and child care” to families struggling to find support on Vaccination Awareness Day.

The YMCA program, which runs 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, is offered for 5- to 12-year-olds. Rates start at $40 a day for members but vary by location. The program will be first come, first served. Parents and guardians are encouraged to register in advance.

Participating locations are: Irving Park, 4251 W. Irving Park Road; Kelly Hall, 824 N. Hamlin Ave.; Lakeview, 3333 N. Marshfield Ave.; McCormick, 1834 N. Lawndale Ave.; Rauner Family, 2700 S. Western Ave.; South Side, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave.

Are there any incentives for families to get vaccinated?

Yes. Families who take children to school-based sites or clinics organized by the public health department are eligible to receive a $50 gift card per dose, up to $100.

Are there any other perks to Vaccination Awareness Day?

City officials said some museums will offer free admission to Chicago Public Schools students. Notable on the list are the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science of Industry.

Still have questions? Email us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s future school board members will not be paid, raising questions about representation

2021-11-05T16:45:40+00:00

Chicago’s future elected school board members will not be compensated for serving, raising questions about whether that will create a barrier for representatives from marginalized communities.

Under a compromise bill passed by the Illinois legislature and signed by Gov. J.B Pritzker in June, Chicago will have a 21-member school board starting with 11 seats appointed by the mayor and 10 elected in 2024. The board will transition to a fully elected school board by 2027, with a second election held in 2026.

While this structure remains intact, a new trailer bill passed during the October veto session specifies that board members will not be paid. The trailer bill also moved up the school closure moratorium, changed how the mayor appoints members, and moved the first election to Nov. 5, 2024, the date of that year’s general election.

A number of key issues remain, including carving out electoral districts and determining whether undocumented citizens can vote for board members and serve on the board.

But the issue of compensation spotlights an ongoing concern for local advocates of the elected school board movement: whether the board will represent working-class families. One of the goals in creating a large, elected school board in Chicago was to give more communities a say in public education matters.

Sen. Robert Martwick, the architect of the Chicago elected school board bill, said he has supported compensation for school board members since he first filed the bill several years ago.

“My bill had a provision to compensate board members as a way of acknowledging that if we truly desire adequate and diverse representation, then we have to get people from marginalized communities,” he said. “We have to remove the roadblocks that prevent them from serving.”

According to Martwick, taking compensation out of previous versions of the bill made it more palatable to some suburban and rural legislators, who argued they had been prevented in the past from paying their school board members because of state law.

More recently, compensation was also a point of conflict between legislators and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who opposed the bill for many reasons — and even created her own version. Lightfoot’s office said in a statement that the mayor advocated for board member compensation, but opposed “a provision that would have allowed elected board members to set their own salaries.”

Chicago city council members receive automatic raises set in 2006 and, each year, can vote for or against the pay increase — few often vote against it. State legislators’ salaries are adjusted for inflation each year and members of the general assembly can reject pay increases.

After months of negotiations, in an effort to get the latest bill passed after years of fighting for an elected school board, key sponsors agreed to drop compensation. Martwick said he’ll continue to fight for compensation for board members while he is still in the legislature.

Sean Schindl of Kids First Chicago, a non-profit education advocacy organization, works closely with parents throughout the city and said parents were unsure how much school board members should be paid, but they believed that they should be compensated. A majority of parents with whom Kids First works voted in favor of paying board members from $25,000 to $50,000 a year, said Schindl.

“I think that’s because it is something that would make it more accessible for working-class parents,” said Schindl.

Claiborne Wade, a CPS parent of four from the west side of Chicago and part of the Parents Advisory Board at Kids First Chicago, has been watching the elected school board bill for a while. When asked about the lack of compensation in the trailer bill, he called it “terrible.”

“If a parent wants to be elected to the school board they have to think about the time and effort they are going to put into it,” said Wade. “But it can also take away from putting food on the table.”

He believes that if parents had the chance to sit on the school board, they would do it for free but many working families just can’t afford to do that.

Students of color now make up the majority of the nation’s public school enrollment, but research consistently has shown that school boards remain stubbornly white. Supporters of efforts to pay school board members in other cities and states have argued that some form of compensation will make serving accessible to a more diverse group of candidates, since the role can require many hours of meetings and there are often provisions prohibiting current district employees from participation.

As a result, other states have also debated the issue.

Colorado this year enabled districts to pay school board members if a board majority passed a resolution to do so. Sheridan, just south of Denver, became one of the first districts in that state to allow board members to receive up to $150 for a day of board work. In California, which also allows school districts to compensate board members, LA Unified board members can receive $125,000 a year. In Indiana, school board members can make up to $2,000 per year and can also receive stipends for each meeting they attend.

Children can get COVID vaccines at Chicago schools next week — and $100 for signing up

2021-11-04T19:20:53+00:00

Chicago Public Schools will begin offering the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine next Wednesday at four regional school-based hubs and via its mobile van.

The district says families can receive a $100 gift card if a student receives an initial vaccination at a Chicago Public Schools event.

The four Chicago Public Schools hubs that will offer free pediatric vaccines on alternating days are Michele Clark Magnet High School, on the city’s West Side; Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side; and Roosevelt High School on the city’s Northwest Side. The clinics will offer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-old students, vaccinations for older students and adults, and booster shots.

Families can sign up here for appointments, which are free and do not require government-issued ID or insurance. The mobile vaccination van will offer shots for students ages 5 to 11 starting next Wednesday. That day it will visit four sites: Simeon, Portage Park, Mozart, and Bradwell.

Parents must be present or consent for children to be vaccinated.

The Biden administration has said that schools should be a centerpiece of the rollout strategy for the pediatric COVID vaccine, along with pediatricians and pharmacies. Area Walgreens and CVS pharmacies were already offering appointments as of Thursday — and appointments were filling up. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago said it will offer a clinic on Friday with an initial round of 3,000 doses, but it was booked as of midday Thursday.

Chicago has said it will set up additional clinics to make it easier for families. It will launch clinics at City Colleges sites starting Nov. 13 and those will run every weekend through January at alternating locations. Find a full list below.

Families who get vaccinations at sites organized by the public health department also can qualify for a $100 gift card.

The plan to administer the shots at elementary schools follows a highly anticipated emergency clearance for the Pfizer vaccine earlier this week from federal health officials.

Chicago Public Schools will largely keep to a similar strategy as before, deploying the vaccine through regional hubs, a mobile van that travels to schools, and some appointment-based school sites.

But some have questioned that strategy since the rate of vaccination uptake among students age 12 and up has been worrisome to district officials.

As of late October, only 46.7% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students 12 and up had received the vaccine compared to nearly 76% of eligible residents over 18 who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Chicago Public Schools has said it is launching a large marketing campaign to try to combat vaccine reluctance. In a large national survey of 21,000 parents conducted by Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard, and Rutgers universities in August and September, a third of parents said they were hesitant due to long-term concerns about the effects of the vaccine.

The city’s teachers union has said the district needs to act quickly to expand the number of school-based sites and do a better job of engaging educators to reach families.

“The district should set up a vaccination clinic at every school, organize after-school events and provide significant incentives for families,” President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday in a statement.

In clinical trials, the Pfizer shot was found to be 91% effective at preventing COVID in children — similar to effectiveness in adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials said the side effects among children were “mild” and similar to other vaccines that children receive. The most common side effect was a sore arm, the CDC said in a statement.

The dose for younger children contains one-third the amount given to adults and older children. Children are supposed to receive two shots, administered three weeks apart.

Here’s are options for families and links where to sign up.

CPS sites: CPS’ regional vaccination clinics and mobile school-based events will begin offering the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5 to 11 starting Nov. 10.

Use this link to view the schedule for the clinics.
Use this link to view the schedule for mobile events.
Visit cps.edu/vaccinations for more information.

Local pharmacies are running their own registration.

Walgreens: Register online, call your local Walgreens or 1-800-925-4733.
CVS: Register online, call your local CVS or 1-800-679-9691.
Mariano’s: Register online.
Walmart: Call 1-833-886-0023, Option 1.
Chicago Costco Pharmacies: Register online for an appointment or call a pharmacy directly.

CDPH will host family vaccination clinics at City Colleges of Chicago starting Nov. 13. Registration opens Friday for appointments at the clinics, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will offer pediatric COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines, as well as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and booster doses to all Chicagoans.

Saturday, Nov. 13 – Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S Pulaski Rd.
Sunday, Nov. 14 – Wilbur Wright College, 4300 N Narragansett Ave.
Saturday, Nov. 20 – Kennedy-King College, 6301 S Halsted St.
Sunday, Nov. 21 – Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S Woodlawn Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 4 – Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S Pulaski Rd.
Sunday, Dec. 5 – Wilbur Wright College, 4300 N Narragansett Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 11 – Kennedy-King College, 6301 S Halsted St.
Sunday, Dec. 12 – Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S Woodlawn Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 18 – Truman College, 1145 W Wilson Ave.
Sunday, Dec. 19 – Malcolm X College, 1900 W Jackson Blvd.
Saturday, Jan. 8 – Truman College, 1145 W Wilson Ave.
Sunday, Jan. 9 – Malcolm X College, 1900 W Jackson Blvd.

Starting Nov. 15, CDPH’s in-home vaccination program, Protect Chicago At Home, will also offer pediatric vaccination for all children ages 5 to 11. Make an at-home appointment at Chicago.gov/AtHome or by calling 312-746-4835.

Standing CDPH immunization clinics will also offer pediatric COVID-19 vaccines by appointment only. This includes Uptown WIC 845 W. Wilson Ave., 2nd Level (call 312-742-3227 for an appointment) and the Greater Lawn WIC 4150 W. 55th St. (call 312-745-1477 for an appointment).

Updated: This story was updated to reflect that Chicago Public Schools will offer gift cards to families who receive first doses at district-run vaccination sites.

The pediatric COVID vaccine and Chicago schools: 4 things to know

2021-10-28T16:54:28+00:00

Chicago could receive 100,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine for COVID as soon as next week, and schools will play a key role in the “long-term” strategy for deploying it, district officials said Wednesday.

But the first place for parents to likely look for doses will be pediatricians’ offices, big pharmacy chains, and large city events sponsored by children’s hospitals, city health officials said this week. Three events are already being organized in the coming weeks by Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, and City Colleges — which could hold an event for families as soon as the first weekend of November.

The vaccine cleared a key federal panel and now heads for final sign-off from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so Chicago health department and school district officials have begun previewing their plans. Here’s what we know so far.

Chicago will get plenty of doses. The challenge will be getting families to consent.

Chicago should get 100,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine in the first week — a healthy-sized first round for a city with an estimated 210,500 children ages 5-11, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s health commissioner.

Despite evidence that shows significant decreases among hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated adults, a significant challenge will be getting families to sign up after an initial round of enthusiasts. So far, only 46.7% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students 12 and up have received the vaccine in a city where nearly 76% of eligible adults over 18 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. And in a large national survey of 21,000 parents conducted by Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard, and Rutgers universities in August and September, a third of parents said they were reluctant due to long-term concerns about the effects of the vaccine.

CEO Pedro Martinez told the Chicago Board of Education at its monthly meeting on Wednesday that the school district will launch an aggressive marketing campaign for students and their families in English and Spanish. He previewed a video — soon to be made public citywide — showing teens across the city testifying about why they decided to get a vaccine and urging others to follow suit.

The city’s health department also said this week there could be some incentives for families, such as a $100 gift card for those who are vaccinated at sites run by the health department or school district.

Arwady has said the city will not consider making a COVID-19 vaccine a requirement for children to attend school until the pediatric vaccine receives full federal approval.

Chicago Public Schools is using basically the same playbook as before.

The district will deploy vaccine doses to four regional health care hubs at schools throughout the city — Michele Clark on the West Side, Roosevelt High School on the Northwest Side, and Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side.

Another 16 schools with existing health clinics will offer appointment-only doses and a mobile van will have the capacity to administer up to 100 shots a day. It will be routed so it returns to the same school site three weeks later for secondary dose.

The district’s interim chief education officer, Maurice Swinney, told the school board Wednesday that “first dibs” for the van’s schedule will be schools in areas with fewer vaccinated residents. A big part of the strategy, he said, will be focusing on areas “where we know there is less access to health care and doctors and clinics.”

But there are several unanswered questions, including how to counter vaccine hesitancy in some communities and how to persuade parents to give consent so that children can be vaccinated at school.

There’s also the question of whether the district should shift its strategy, since uptake at school sites has been low. This summer, officials described poor turnout at its sites, and data shared Wednesday showed only about 3,400 of 155,000 eligible students had been vaccinated through a combination of the regional sites and mobile vans.

On Wednesday, board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland asked what more the district could do, suggesting that the district leverage its existing clinics that provide free eye care and dentistry at some schools. “That’s something families know — when it’s eye care day or there’s a mobile vaccination truck or van. Is there a way that could be leveraged more?”

The head of the city’s teachers union, Jesse Sharkey, urged the board Wednesday to expand the number of school-based vaccination clinics — something the union has urged the district to do since the summer.

The arrival of the pediatric vaccine could mean a tapering-down of school quarantines.

Currently, Chicago students who are unvaccinated must quarantine 10 days if they are in “close contact” with a confirmed case. In elementary schools that has generally meant classroom “flipping” so that an entire classroom is quarantined at once when there is an exposure.

Case rates remain low among Chicago public schoolchildren, and the average daily case rate is 13 out of 100,000 children 17 and under in the city.

Still, between confirmed cases and self-reports, thousands of students are still in quarantine on any given day. For thethe week ending Oct. 22, the last week that data was available, 192 student cases were confirmed yet 3,801 students were quarantined — a number that Martinez said this week was too high.

He said officials will revisit quarantine rules once the pediatric vaccine is on the ground; vaccinated students will not be required to quarantine.

Martinez said Wednesday that his family just received a quarantine notice for his son, who is in elementary school and not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

Students are getting mixed messages from their peers and social media.

Despite evidence of the vaccines’ efficacy, Isabel Marroquin, a student representative on the school board from Lincoln Park High School, told board members Wednesday that the concept remains “very controversial” among her peers.

She said students don’t feel safe because they are still in large classes and don’t see social distancing practiced in hallways or other common spaces. “It makes us a little anxious,” she said.

In response, Martinez said he thought the district needed a stronger, more consistent message about how it is keeping students safe, by requiring masks, bolstering weekly testing, and having an 89% vaccination rate among adults in buildings.

“We are going to leverage every medium we have to do outreach to our families,” he said.

Citing student trauma from violence and pandemic, Chicago educators call for school budget redo

2021-07-27T11:00:00+00:00

Mike Smith’s classroom was nearly empty when he returned to in-person teaching last spring at Englewood STEM High School. Of the 200 or so students who opted to learn inside the building, only about 25 were showing up each week.

Among them was a young man who was there one day, then gone the next — the victim of six gunshot wounds. The young man survived and came back to campus by the end of the year on crutches.

Smith said that student was on his mind last week when he testified at a series of school board hearings for a $9.3 billion budget for schools. The school board will vote on the budget Wednesday, but Smith and some other educators aren’t satisfied with the proposed amount. After subtracting the costs of long-term debt payments, teachers’ pensions, building maintenance and repairs, centrally managed staff and programs, and districtwide COVID response, schools will see $4.4 billion of this amount next year — which amounts to about $1,370 more per student compared with the previous year.

In public hearings last week, educators argued that the district should spend more on student support personnel, such as counselors. They’d like to see the board delay a vote and revise the budget to route more money to staff and to provide schools with more building-level support for students dealing with trauma.

Smith lost four students to gun violence in 2020 alone. According to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis, children in Chicago are dying from gun violence at a rate three times higher this year than last year. The twin traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s escalating gun violence make learning an uphill battle for students at Smith’s school.

The student who was shot is recovering and taking summer classes to make up for lost learning time. But some days, he still finds it hard to engage. He’s not alone — Smith said when teachers ask students how they’re doing, they’ll often respond, “Not today. I’m not in the mood.”

“How can a kid like this learn when there are so many outside things going on?” Smith said.

To make schools safer, Smith and other educators say they don’t want funding for police in schools. Instead, they want more nurses, counselors, librarians, books, housing support, teacher assistants, restorative justice coordinators, and other staff and programs that support student health in a holistic way.

“If we don’t address those needs that go beyond the classroom, classrooms are going to remain empty,” Smith said. “[Bringing students back to school] goes beyond hand sanitizer.”

School board members have said that pandemic recovery will span more than one year — the district’s Moving Forward Together plan is projected to cost more than $525 million across this school year and the next — and that some emergency spending will spill into the 2022-23 school year. What’s more, the district is limited in how much it can spend on long-term personnel and their benefits. So Chicago Public Schools can’t easily use it for long-term solutions, such as hiring staff, board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said at the hearings.

“I hope that this can also be a moment where we come together as a community to galvanize and push for those structural solutions that are really going to be long-term,” Todd-Breland said. Among the solutions she listed was more sustained state funding through the evidence-based funding formula; currently, Chicago is only funded at 66% of the target amount set by the formula.

Meanwhile, the school board is slated to vote Wednesday to once again give district leaders the authority to take pandemic-related actions and spend up to $150 million without board preapproval. The board first took a similar step as the pandemic hit in March 2020, allowing the district to spend up to $75 million without prior board vetting. Officials had argued that amid the crisis, they needed the flexibility to act fast to buy anything from protective equipment to computers and other technology for remote learning.

Across three federal emergency spending packages, Chicago Public Schools will receive about $2.6 billion. It has accounted for $1.8 billion of that, with $800 million spent on remote learning and reopening schools last school year, and another $1 billion factored into this upcoming school year’s budget. That money will go to address:

Learning loss, social emotional supports, and flexible funds for schools to use for academy recovery ($267 million)
The costs of reopening, including personal protective equipment and vaccination efforts for students and teachers ($132 million)
Air quality improvements ($100 million)
Investments in expanded programs, including grants to prop up shrinking schools ($288 million)
Additional counselors and other salaried positions ($178 million)
Money for charters and contract schools ($95 million)

In public testimony last week, educators and some parents argued for more spending on facilities improvements, from air quality upgrades to accessibility measures. They also pressed the district for more details. According to the union, 300 schools need air quality upgrades; district officials say that while work to improve air quality will touch every campus, only 17 schools are specifically scheduled to receive major upgrades this year.

“In some schools, the windows still don’t open,” Chicago Teachers’ Union member Dulce Arroyo said. “[Board members] had the nerve to make it sound like, ‘Well, you know, only 17 schools that are receiving air quality repairs because those are really expensive repairs.’ It’s like, well yeah, they’re expensive because you continue to sweep it under the rug.”

Some parents have taken the opportunity to lobby for improvements to their own campuses or to revive the long-running question about how the district decides how much money to send to each school. That process, known as student-based budgeting, has long been criticized as inequitable, and while the district has moved away from strictly adhering to that process in recent years with such programs as its “equity grants” for shrinking schools, enrollment still largely determines funding.

That bothers Chicago parent Angel Alvarez, who works as a researcher at Northwestern University and has conducted his own analysis of how the district makes budget decisions.

Giving schools a set amount of money per student, he argues, is ineffective: “That’s like saying, ‘I’m going to solve hunger in Chicago by giving everyone a sandwich.’ It’s a stupid idea. Not everyone needs a sandwich … and those who need it should get more than one.”

Alvarez says, as the district seeks to reduce its achievement gap, it should institute a system that more effectively rewards schools that demonstrate academic gains and establishes more productive accountability measures for schools that don’t — measures that help students and aren’t bound up in central administration.

“Making the principal and the teachers do more paperwork might be okay,” Alvarez said. “But that’s not really accountability, if a child still isn’t getting the resources they need.”

Students would be better served with investments in libraries, counselors, and teachers, Alvarez said. They need more direct support.

Cassie Walker Burke contributed to this report.

Chicago Public Schools watchdog to investigate emergency computer deal with Lightfoot donor

2020-12-17T20:30:36+00:00

The Chicago Public Schools’ in-house watchdog is reviewing a $1.6 million deal to buy used computers from a campaign donor to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who personally vouched for the company’s CEO as he sought to provide devices to the district last spring.

The district’s Office of Inspector General opened the investigation after a report by Chalkbeat Chicago and the Better Government Association this week raised questions about the purchase.

The district bought laptops and older-model tablets from Meeting Tomorrow last spring as part of a larger push to quickly get devices into the hands of students who needed them for remote learning amid national computer shortages. The company’s CEO, who had contributed $30,000 to Lightfoot’s 2019 election bid, reached out to her office, which forwarded his email to the district. Lightfoot also wrote schools chief Janice Jackson to put in a good word.

Some of the computers did not meet the district’s technical standards, and a small number were not equipped for virtual learning. About a third have remained in a district warehouse even as the district has since bought more devices from its established vendors.

District officials said Meeting Tomorrow was the only local vendor with readily available computers at a time when the district faced an urgent need to help low-income students access remote learning. They said the vast majority of devices were well equipped for that purpose.

The inspector general’s office will look into how the sale came about and whether the district got a reasonable deal during a challenging time to secure computers for students, Inspector General Will Fletcher said.

“We want to determine whether the prices were fair and whether CPS appropriately evaluated its need for devices and the opportunity to purchase them from Meeting Tomorrow,” Fletcher said.

He said the investigation might take several months.

Earlier this week, Lightfoot said she forwarded the note from Meeting Tomorrow President Mark Aistrope at a time when “everybody and their brother” were approaching her office with offers to help with the city’s coronavirus response. She said she had simply wanted to steer the offer to the right people.

“He reached out and said ‘Hey, I know that CPS is struggling to find devices; can I be helpful?’ So I passed on that email,” she said when asked about the Chalkbeat/BGA report after an event to administer the city’s first coronavirus vaccines to healthcare workers.

“I have no regrets about forwarding that information on,” she added.

Lightfoot said she assumes the district properly vetted the purchase.

Kiannah Sepeda-Miller of the Better Government Association contributed to this report.

City Hall to shift $55 million in costs onto Chicago Public Schools

2020-10-23T15:31:58+00:00

In Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s efforts to close a $1.2 billion gap in the city budget, City Hall will shift more costs onto Chicago Public Schools.

In a 2021 city budget plan detailed Wednesday, which includes a property tax hike and job cuts, the mayor proposed shifting about $55 million in costs onto schools. But she offered a sweetener: additional funds from a tax surplus account, which would ostensibly cover the costs for this year and then some.

Under Lightfoot’s proposed $12.8 billion budget, Chicago Public Schools would receive $167 million from a $304 million tax-increment financing surplus, or TIFs. Those dollars are surplus property tax funds the city uses to spur development and pay for public works projects in high-need neighborhoods. The amount the school district receives varies each year. For this school year, the district budgeted $97 million.

In exchange, City Hall is asking its public school district to pick up $40 million in pension contributions to the city’s municipal employees fund for some teaching assistants and other support staff. It is also shifting to the schools the $14 million cost and oversight of 898 school crossing guards, previously on the city’s emergency management budget.

According to the city, 110 of the guards are currently working near private schools that have reopened campuses. The others are not working since Chicago Public Schools is not conducting in-person learning, a budget department spokeswoman said.

One of the ways the mayor has proposed to plug holes in the citywide budget is by eliminating 1,921 positions, many of which are vacant. The shift in crossing guards off of the city’s budget would account for about 47% of that staffing decrease.

Lightfoot’s budget proposal, which must be passed by the City Council and would go into effect Jan. 1., is separate from the public school budget. Because the city’s budget year and the school district’s budget year don’t line up exactly, some tax surplus funds from the city’s 2021 budget will spill over into school budget for next year.

That complicates the accounting. Chicago Public Schools, for example, will incur only half of the crossing guard costs this school year, due to the timing of the shift, and none of the additional pension costs will hit until the 2021-22 school budget, the district said.

After subtracting the added costs, the district projects it will receive $23 million more this school year than it had budgeted. A spokesman said the added funds will go to support any additional expenses or revenue needs “incurred throughout this highly unusual school year.”

Historically, some expenses, such as the cost of school police, have been transferred back and forth.

Last summer, the city pushed to schools the $33 million cost of staffing and overseeing the police program on more than 70 campuses. Reporting from Chalkbeat Chicago and WBEZ helped pressure the school district to release a public accounting of that program, showing that the school district had agreed to pay for officer pensions and healthcare costs for 12 months of paychecks, even though officers only serve in schools for ten.

The district cost of that program has since been revised down, to $12 million.

Lightfoot said Wednesday in her address that, like many other municipalities, the city was under incredible financial pressure brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. “As this new year dawned, I certainly did not think that my year would be marked by multiple tragedies and crises, back to back to back.”

Several civic group leaders said Wednesday that they supported the plan, saying it was a fiscally sound response to a crisis. But later in the day, the city’s powerful teachers union urged the council to reject the proposal, saying additional fines and fees would disproportionately impact the city’s working poor. “Workers and working families would be better served by the City Council rejecting this budget and forcing the mayor back to the drawing board,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the union’s vice president, in a statement.

Gates questioned exactly how the district will use the additional millions it should receive. “Will (CPS leadership and the school board) use them to address dire ventilation and capital upgrades needed to secure the health and wellbeing of students and workers who Lightfoot is forcing back into buildings ruled unsafe by an independent arbitrator? Or continue to shovel public dollars into consulting contracts and bloated central office and network staff?”

Like school districts across the country, Chicago Public Schools is trying to assess the impact of the pandemic on its finances. Recently, the district had entered a period of greater financial stability and seen some improvement in its ratings from investment agencies, though it carries more than $8 billion in debt. District leaders have credited a revamped state funding formula, which passed in 2017 and directed more money to high-need districts, with starting it on a stable path.

The extent to which that progress could be disrupted is not yet clear. The pandemic has hollowed out state revenues — the largest single source of funding for Chicago’s public schools — and statewide, school funding this year remains flat.

Chicago also just reported 14,500 fewer students than the year prior, a 4% drop that leaders said was driven in part by declines in pre-kindergarten students. How that will factor into state funding isn’t yet evident. Overall enrollment and the number of low-income students both determine state funding. Chicago has not yet reported how the pandemic and a rising unemployment rate may have affected its percentage of low-income students.

Another pressing factor in the public school district’s financial health is whether a second stimulus effort comes through for schools. Chicago Public Schools’ budget for 2020-2021 factors in $343 million in additional federal relief money, a gamble that leaders defended in late summer. Talks are underway in Washington, but the federal government so far has yet to deliver.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesman said that in the “unlikely” event that a second round of school stimulus is stymied, “we will have to take additional measures to maintain a balanced budget.”

Editor’s note: This story has been clarified to explain how different budget cycles for the City of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools impact TIF distribution and that some costs will not be incurred until the 2021-2022 school year.

After string of safety problems at Chicago early childhood centers, feds take notice

2020-08-20T17:25:44+00:00

Left alone on a bus somewhere on Chicago’s South Side last January, a 4 year old contracted frostbite on a foot. The weather was “very cold,” a report would later read, and the child was “unattended on the bus for an undetermined period of time.”

At a different child care center on the West Side, a master teacher slapped a child, leaving a red mark. Elsewhere in the city, a preschool teacher hit a toddler and pulled the child’s hair.

The federal government says Chicago has not done enough to correct health and safety problems in the child care programs it oversees for some 11,000 children. That has sparked a chain of events that could curtail Chicago’s early learning powers and threaten its universal prekindergarten expansion, Chalkbeat has learned.

After parents and teachers reported seven serious incidents across the past 16 months in Chicago’s child care facilities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified the city that it will rebid $176 million in grants that previously went straight to City Hall. The grant posting says the government will open up competition in September.

At stake is the city’s largest chunk of early childhood dollars — money that currently funds programs for low-income children, mostly on the South and West sides. The amount could end up getting divided among up to 29 grantees, the agency says.

“These are pretty serious issues,” said Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, the executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, a membership organization of providers statewide. “The city based its new structure on Head Start funding and now they are going to lose some of those dollars and some of those children. It now throws a wrench in their planning.”

The federal government’s move could potentially carve up Chicago’s largest early education funding source. If that happens, it would be just the latest disruption to the city’s early childhood system, which has been poised for broad expansion under an ambitious universal prekindergarten plan. Under the original plan, developed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, the city intended to create a program that would provide every 4-year-old in the city a free, full-day spot in a prekindergarten classroom by 2021.

Community providers were a core part of the strategy. Predicting many would lose 4-year-olds to schools, the city said it would help fund more seats in community day cares for children 3 and under, effectively creating a high-quality education pipeline for thousands more families.

That didn’t exactly happen. The architects of the original plan departed City Hall after Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, a funding shake up sowed distrust between providers and the new administration, schools and community providers did not coalesce around a single path forward, and now two lawsuits take aim at how the city decided whom to fund and for how much.

A spokeswoman for the city Department of Family and Support Services, which oversees community-based early programs, said that Chicago “takes very seriously its role in supporting community-based organizations to provide high-quality services and care.”

It is primed to respond and implement corrective action, if needed, she said.

“Upon learning of any infractions, (the agency) immediately responds and partners with (the federal Head Start administration) to implement the best possible corrective action,” she wrote, adding that Chicago provides supplemental training and technical assistance for the organization when incidents occur.

Chicago says it will rebid for the grant. It’s possible it could edge out potential competitors and receive the full amount.

The power flickers

Cities like New York and Los Angeles used to have more control over early learning, but in recent years, the federal government similarly carved up Head Start funds, spreading the grants among multiple agencies.

Head Start programs are among the most respected in the child care world. They are regularly monitored for quality, require teachers to have certain classroom credentials, and must involve parents in the program.

By cutting out cities as the sole middlemen, some argued, more dollars went directly to agencies that operate programs for children and families, instead of bureaucracies. But there were downsides: By losing a monopoly over early learning money, cities also lost valuable leverage that they used to set high-quality benchmarks and to steer ambitious initiatives such as universal pre-kindergarten, which can require buy-in from both community providers and school districts.

In New York, the carve-up affected “what level of planning the city can do,” said Gregory Brender, the director of children and youth services at United Neighborhood Houses in New York City. “Because there’s no guarantee that any neighborhood that has high need has a high quality provider. There are organizations that have developed excellent programs but there’s not a system behind it that ensures that every low income neighborhood would have it.”

While each city is still responsible for the care of thousands of children, more agencies now share that role, which means they can determine how many seats they offer — and where — by deciding which centers receive funding and how much.

The impact of the grant shakeup on Chicago’s universal pre-kindergarten rollout remains to be seen. If agencies are able to contract directly with the federal government to provide services, they may have less incentive to serve younger children, as the plan originally intended, and continue to compete with schools.

Last school year, Chicago had about 1,800 preschool openings in school-based programs but more than 6,000 children on waitlists, a mismatch that can partly be explained by geographic demand in some neighborhoods exceeding that of others and by a high demand for seats for 3-year-olds who technically only qualify for limited seats.

In all, about 23,000 children were enrolled in programs across community centers and school prekindergarten classrooms — but experts have said that’s only a fraction of those who qualify. And if the system faced challenges before the pandemic, coronavirus has made it doubly hard by threatening the livelihoods of child care centers and school district budgets. The CEOs of 14 Chicago child care organization recently wrote a letter to the mayor asking for a financial injection as they battled rising costs and declining enrollment.

The school district, meanwhile, is moving ahead with a scaled-back preschool expansion. Chicago’s $8.4 billion school budget proposal, which will go before the Board of Education for a vote Aug. 26, says the district will invest $100 million in opening new classrooms and that 43 additional rooms are on the docket for the coming year.

Lightfoot has so far said she’s still moving ahead with universal pre-kindergarten. As for concerns that the city’s reshuffling of early money has been characterized by delays, technical glitches, poor communication, and a lack of transparency, City Hall earlier this summer released the results of an audit by a prominent law firm that concluded the city’s last funding process was “appropriate, fair, and unbiased.”

Parents at some centers that lost money in the shake-up, meanwhile, have had to face classroom closures and educator layoffs. In June, a few hundred parents gathered at City Hall to protest the city’s decision making.

Asucena Gaona marched with her three children, ages 10, 3, and 1, and said she was worried about finding an alternative day care center as hers faced closure. “Without them, how do I find education for my kids?”

Fallout from ‘deficiencies’

The federal government, however, appears to be using a different lens to re-evaluate Chicago’s ability to steer early childhood funding. The question, simply, is whether Chicago can sufficiently oversee a program that spans many sites and thousands of children.

“The City of Chicago is currently forecasted to need to compete for continued funding, because of the deficiencies identified,” according to a federal administration spokesman.

According to federal Head Start records, the program flagged at least 7 major infractions at city-funded agencies dating back to January 2019. The most egregious — accounting for 5 of the cases — were leveled at an All About Kids center in Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the city’s South Side. A child there was left on a bus “in very cold weather” in January 2019, according to reports, and a pediatrician subsequently diagnosed frostbite.

A few months later, the same child was injured in a bus accident, and center staff did not immediately administer medical treatment or notify the mother.

The reports say no one followed proper protocols for reporting the incidents to the authorities — not the center, nor a delegate organization overseeing the center, nor the city itself, which was supposed to alert the federal Head Start agency.

“The grantee did not report, as appropriate, to the responsible Health and Human Services official immediately or as soon as practicable, any significant incidents affecting the health and safety of program participants,” the report reads. “Therefore, it was not in compliance with the regulation.”

If Chicago loses any part of its federal grant, it would change the landscape of early learning in the city, said Morrison-Frichtl, of the Illinois Head Start Association.

“Things have been turned upside down,” she said.

What happens next remains to be seen. Dana Garner, a Chicago child care advocate, said that whatever happens next, children need to be at the center of the conversation.

“At this moment, our children deserve everything we can give,” said Garner. “These children have been traumatized enough in the City of Chicago. We need a stable early childhood system that our families can trust and where our children can grow.”

This story was published as part of a collaboration of seven Chicago newsrooms examining Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. Partners are the BGA, Block Club Chicago, Chalkbeat Chicago, The Chicago Reporter, The Daily Line, La Raza and The TRiiBE.

Under pressure, Chicago unveils more reforms to school police program

2020-08-19T18:08:20+00:00

With Chicago’s school police program under the microscope during a tense summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the city now will put more strict protocols on which police officers serve on campuses and pull out school-based computer terminals that previously connected officers with centralized criminal databases.

Those changes are part of a slate of proposed new reforms announced Wednesday, nearly a year after Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department began complying with a federal mandate to address long-standing problems in the program. Officers last school year served on more than 70 campuses, with more mobile officers in cars assigned to schools.

A Chalkbeat Chicago investigation in February showed that six months after school police reforms were initially supposed to be implemented, they were still a work in progress, with many items on the list incomplete. Concerns over the program, and a perceived lack of oversight, helped fuel heated school council meetings this summer over whether or not to keep police on campus. In all, 55 councils voted to keep police and 17 voted to remove them.

Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson now say they are working with the city’s police department to address unresolved issues. Principals will now have the explicit power to hire or reject candidates for the jobs on their campuses — an authority that had been promised earlier but not uniformly delivered — and the city will partner with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the student-focused organization Mikva Challenge to better train officers in how to work with youth.

Chicago will also set up a more formal complaint process that parents, students, and educators can follow in case of concerns about officer wrongdoing.

At several youth-led protests throughout the summer, several students described often fraught relationships with campus officers and how the presence of police made them feel targeted and brutalized in buildings where they were supposed to be learning.

“We have heard our students loud and clear. The reforms today are a direct result of their tenacious spirit,” said Jackson.

But one prominent organization of student activists said the reforms announced Wednesday fell short.

“What students need most is support not criminalization,” said Derrianna Ford, a rising senior and youth leader in the group VOYCE. “In order to truly create a safe environment in all of our schools, we need trauma-informed approaches that support students’ mental health such as social workers, counselors, restorative practices. We cannot expect the same police officers who brutalize us on the streets to be our mental health workers inside our schools.”

The new slate of reforms comes on the same day that Chicago publicly released student arrest data. While the data show an 80% decline in the number of arrests on school campuses from 2012 to 2019, the numbers show that Black students are still disproportionately detained on campuses. Last school year, of the 651 students that the district reported as arrested on campus, 526 of them — or 80%— were identified as Black, 107 were Latino, and 16 were white.

Community leaders and parents have long voiced concerns about the “school-to-prison pipeline,” an issue Jackson addressed directly on Wednesday.

“Rates of arrests among Black students remain unacceptably high, and we must remain focused on addressing this as a school district,” she said. “We will do that.”

Perhaps the most sweeping change: The city will more closely examine misconduct allegations for officers who serve on campuses and raise the bar on the disciplinary record on who can serve. No officers with sustained allegations of excessive force in the past five years will be allowed to serve on campuses, nor will officers who’ve had sustained complaints about verbal or physical alterations with youth.

A Chalkbeat review of school-based officers who served last year showed that 96% faced allegations of misconduct, according to the Citizens Police Data Project, a database of police disciplinary records.

Those allegations range from excessive force, searches without a warrant, and physical domestic altercations to more minor accusations like traffic violations. The alleged violations were sustained — found to be true — for 41% of officers serving in schools this year.

“A lot of feedback we received during (the reform) process was that we need to strengthen our selection criteria. This year we are moving to excellent disciplinary history — we are tightening those parameters,” said Jadine Chou, chief of safety and security for Chicago Public Schools.

As for whether Chicago can implement the latest round of reforms in the next three weeks before school starts, Chou said the all-virtual start to school gives the school district and police department more time for additional training.

Leaders also said they plan to put authority over school police officers under the third in command at the police department. Previously, the system was decentralized, with district commanders largely making decisions about who serves on campuses, oftentimes with little input from schools.

Chicago last year began embarking on the biggest overhaul of its school policing program in a decade as part of broader police reforms. In 2014, the cover up of the fatal shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald provoked widespread outrage and protests, which culminated in a civil rights lawsuit that the city ultimately settled. Schools were included in a resulting federal consent decree.

However, many of the promised reforms had not materialized by the time school campuses shut down in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officers did undergo a 40-hour training program, and a formal $33 million contract was signed between the school district and the city’s police department — a contract that will now likely be cut in half, once the school board votes on a new budget proposal next week.

But despite a formal requirement to screen officers, nearly half had misconduct allegations sustained against them. Schools still lacked a system to register complaints. Some principals remained confused about which situations in which police can and can’t get involved. And some students, teachers, and Local School Council members said they knew little to nothing about any overhaul in school policing.

Exactly who had responsibility and oversight over the program and vague details about the officers’ backgrounds and responsibilities still left parents, students, and educators worried.

Then summer brought a significant sea change, with a wave of youth-led activism following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer. Scrutiny of school police became a central theme in Chicago. And as the mayor and schools chief pushed the decision-making down to school councils, the local groups took votes. In the end, the majority voted to keep officers, though many community members said the process was flawed and too many councils lacked enough membership to take a formal vote. About 1 in 4 schools voted them out.

Asked about transparency problems and reported violations of the Open Meetings Act that were documented during the votes — a review of multiple meetings by Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat showed some councils didn’t follow the rules governing public access and participation — Jackson said Wednesday that the district had begun tracking the meetings and votes centrally and was helping ensure councils be more publicly accountable.

Some community organizers say the district’s efforts to build more transparency within councils have not gone far enough and that too much responsibility suddenly was thrust upon the public bodies made up of parents, educators, and community members.

In addition to cutting back the budget for the police program, the city’s school board will vote next week on the proposed reforms, part of a broader revised agreement between the district and the police department.

More Chicago school councils add police to the agenda

2020-07-13T19:27:59+00:00

Local school councils across Chicago have less than a month to case a vote on whether to keep or remove school police officers.

So far, two local school councils, representative bodies made up of parents, teachers and community members, have voted to remove school resource officers. (Follow our tracker here.)

Northside College Prep’s Local School Council in North Park voted 8-0 to remove its officers on campus this fall.

Members of Roberto Clemente Community Academy’s Local School Council are leaning toward removing school officers — but before they make a final decision, they want to hear from the community. The group voted 8-3 in favor of eliminating school officers in a nonbinding “advisory” vote.

Recent months have seen a growing youth-led movement in Chicago calling for an end to school police programs, buoyed by similar decisions in other cities spurred by nationwide protests against police violence against Black people.

Chicago’s board of education declined last month to remove police officers from all public schools after hours of emotional debate and public comment. The school board is expected to vote on whether to renew the $33 million school police contract later this summer.

More than 70 schools will vote on the issue by August 14, per a mandate from the district. Chicago has 144 resource officers at schools, 48 mobile school officers, and 22 staff sergeants.

Here are the local school councils scheduled to meet this week:

TUESDAY, JULY 21

Taft High School, Norwood Park - 6 p.m. Tuesday Watch it live here. Call-in here: 312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 890 5707 5062 PIN: 777562

Ogden International School of Chicago (All 3 campuses) - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday Watch it live here. Meeting ID: 874 5716 9457 Passcode: 5yfJ33

THURSDAY, JULY 23

Manley Career Academy High School, East Garfield Park - 3 p.m. Thursday (Meeting link TBD)

Do you know of a Local School Council meeting this week that isn’t on our list? Email stephanie@blockclubchi.org and ykunichoff@chalkbeat.org and we’ll add it to our list.

Chicago school board will vote on removing school police Wednesday, even as district chief says decision must remain with individual schools

2020-06-22T18:42:03+00:00

Chicago’s school board will consider Wednesday whether to terminate its contract with the Chicago Police Department — even as the schools chief defended the school police program at a press conference Monday.

If the motion passes, it would make Chicago the largest city in the country to remove school police from its public schools.

School boards across the country have terminated school police programs in recent weeks, including Minneapolis, Denver, and Milwaukee. In Los Angeles, a task force appointed by the superintendent said it will review the role and budget for school police.

The vote also could set up a stand-off between Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chief Executive Officer Janice Jackson, and the appointed board of education. Both the mayor and schools chief have opposed the wholesale removal of police from schools.

During Monday’s press conference, Jackson said the decision to keep or remove school police should remain with individual school councils, which were given the authority last fall as part of sweeping changes mandated by a federal consent decree.

“We think we have a strong process in place that prioritizes the democratic process,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day the decision is a critical one, and that decision should rest at the school level.”

The board’s motion, detailed in its agenda for the Wednesday school board meeting, would terminate the $33 million police contract signed almost a year ago and block any options to renew. A second motion instructs district leadership to consult with the community to develop new safety measures, using some or all of the money now earmarked for school police.

Unlike many other big districts, Chicago’s school board is appointed by the mayor. But current board members, who began their term last summer, include a vocal community activist and an education professor who specializes, in part, in the history of student activism in Chicago. When the board approved the school police contract last summer only one member voted against, while several others were critical.

As the process stands now, school councils with police officers would be instructed to vote again to keep them, said Jackson. This time they would be offered an informational packet to help them make the decision.

Critics of giving school councils the ability to remove school police say many don’t have enough members to hold a vote. Schools that remove police officers also won’t get the benefit of the cost savings. Jackson said that because the positions are funded centrally, money won’t return to schools who reject officers.

She also said the district would examine the background of police officers who serve in schools, and “make sure records hold up under scrutiny.” A Chalkbeat analysis of police officers serving in Chicago schools during the 2019-2020 school year found that 96% of them had allegations against them, which ranged from paperwork errors to use of force; half had those allegations upheld after an investigation.

Several principals, who are in favor of keeping police officers in their schools, spoke at the press conference Monday. “I believe removal of SROs from Amundsen High School could result in a significant degradation of my ability to keep my students safe,” said Principal Anna Pavichevich, whose school is in the Ravenswood neighborhood.

Activists have said they will keep up the pressure to remove police from Chicago’s public schools, focusing on the Chicago Board of Education and the city council.

Meyiya Coleman, a youth organizer with the youth group VOYCE, said earlier this month that the decision in Minneapolis created the perfect moment for organizers to push for their demands. She hopes the school district will end its police contract. “Now is the time,” Coleman said.

While other school districts cut ties with police, Chicago has seen few concrete changes. Here’s what organizers say is next.

2020-06-19T23:06:04+00:00

For the first time in years, it looked like the movement to remove police officers from Chicago’s public schools was gaining momentum.

Following the lead of Minneapolis Public Schools, school districts across the country started calling hearings about school police, or school boards voted to remove officers altogether. National groups, like the Center for Popular Democracy, began working with local organizers to increase the national reach of their demands. And, in Chicago, city council members introduced an ordinance to end the $33 million contract between the school district and the police department.

But by Friday, the ordinance had stalled, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot had again said she would not end the school police program, instead leaving it to school councils to make the decision on a school-by-school basis.

“I don’t think it’s for me to usurp the authority of a local school council,” Lightfoot said during a press call Wednesday.

Organizers say they are not deterred. Maria Degillo, coordinator of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a group that has led some of the efforts, is no stranger to the long-haul challenges of making change in Chicago. VOYCE has won several victories in recent years - the organization played a critical role in the passage of two state laws that shifted school discipline: One in 2014 that requires all schools to provide data about suspensions and expulsions, and another in 2015 that limited school suspensions.

“We pride ourselves on being a learning organization - some things we are doing now might not necessarily work in the future or we might need to change,” Degillo, who began her organizing work as a high school student with VOYCE, said. “That’s just the way the world works.”

Even as school districts across the country have changed their relationships with police departments — from the Denver school board voting to phase out police last week to the superintendent in Oakland recommending an end to the school police program — there have been few concrete gains in Chicago.

VOYCE, with a coalition of others, has a two-pronged strategy to remove police officers from schools in Chicago. The first is to pass an ordinance through the city council. The second is to convince the Chicago Board of Education not to renew the one-year contract governing the school police program.

Efforts to pass an ordinance took a hit Wednesday when the chairman of the public safety committee sent the ordinance to the rules committee, where legislation tends to languish. Alderman Chris Taliaferro said he thinks some schools need police. “There is a specific need for police in some Chicago public schools,” he said.

Sponsors of the ordinance, working with Taliaferro, hope to call a hearing about the issue in July. “We are going to continue to push,” Carlos Rosa, sponsor of the ordinance whose ward includes part of Logan Square, said.

As part of their efforts, VOYCE will ask the school board Wednesday to end the contract between Chicago Public Schools and the police department. They also will recommend that principals be allowed to choose between having police officers or using the funding for social workers or restorative justice coordinators. Chicago board members either did not reply or declined to comment Friday.

The school board approved the most recent contract with the police department nearly a year ago.

“We don’t want the takeaway to be: Hire more social workers and call it a day,” Degillo said, noting VOYCE regularly holds youth-led meetings to build priorities around the needs of their student members.

Neither Degillo, nor other school police opponents, place much hope in change coming through the Local School Council system, which was given authority last summer to vote on having police officers in schools on a case-by-case basis.

Karen Zaccor, a teacher at Uplift Community High School in Uptown and an opponent of having police officers in schools, said she raised the issue with her council in recent weeks, and she expects they’ll discuss it this summer. Still, she said that with only one student seat on councils, students voices aren’t represented enough. “This issue impacts students and I think their voice should be loudest,” she said.

Other school communities, like Taft High School, in the Norwood Park neighborhood where many police officers live, are unlikely to see a push to remove officers.

Principal Mark Grishaber, interviewed earlier this year, 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.

“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, who appreciated that police were given a more clearly defined role this school year, said.

Looking ahead, Degillo said part of their challenge is that they want to not only change a policy but also shift the entire conversation around safety in schools.

“We are challenging the social norm of what it means to be safe,” she said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot names new watchdog for Chicago Public Schools

2020-06-08T23:08:39+00:00

Mayor Lightfoot has named William Fletcher, a former deputy investigator, to a new role as chief watchdog for Chicago Public Schools.

Fletcher is a former park district investigator who will serve as the new inspector general. He will lead the charge into student complaints of sexual misconduct by educators and staffers, as well as investigating possible district wrongdoing more broadly.

“Through challenging times, our office will remain committed to the priority of making CPS a safe environment for children to learn. I also look forward to strengthening the working relationships with the Board of Education and (Chicago Public Schools) management,” Fletcher said in a statement provided by the mayor’s office.

In Chicago, where the mayor appoints the school board, she also appoints an independent investigator to serve a four-year term. Fletcher will finish out the term of his predecessor, Nicholas Schuler, who stepped down in February following reports that he had created a “toxic workplace” for staff. Schuler’s term was set to expire in 2022.

Under Schuler’s tenure, the inspector general’s office took on a larger role, as Chicago Public Schools responded to the fallout from a Chicago Tribune investigation into school-related sexual assaults. His office formed a specialized unit to deal with complaints.

In his last board meeting before leaving his post, Schuler formally presented a report showing irregularities in the administration and scores of a high-stakes test for third through eighth grades. District leaders disputed some of his findings, but acknowledged the need for more clear and consistent oversight over the test, known as the NWEA. The score factors into school ratings and student applications for placement in selective enrollment high schools.

Fletcher is a graduate of Whitney M. Young Magnet School and recently served as the president of the statewide association of inspector generals.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot says schools could reopen in the fall; teachers union disagrees

2020-05-08T21:07:32+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday that schools could reopen in the fall, but advised people to prepare for them to look different.

“Schools are more than just a place of learning,” she said at a press conference. “They’re a place of comfort and safety, where children are fed, and they are nurtured. We need that school structure, it is important to the health and well being of our children.”

The mayor had told the Chicago Sun-Times earlier on Friday that her goal was a fall reopening. Asked later about her comments, she told reporters that students need structure, but that she will continue to listen to the science before making a decision.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said that districts should prepare for the possibility that remote learning could extend into the fall, depending on COVID-19 caseloads and the rate of decline.

“We all want very badly for schools to open,” he said at his daily news briefing Friday, “and you’ve got to do planning for reopening in the fall.” But, he added, “none of us knows what the future holds.”

Lightfoot said Friday that there are “different options” on the table. “Having alternate days. Kind of a platoon circumstance. Really limiting the number of kids that are in a classroom at any given time. We’re looking at a range of different options,” she told the newspaper.

The mayor said that student and staff safety was top of mind, but that students “needed” their teachers.

In an email to parents, schools chief Janice Jackson said that the district was setting up contingency plans for the fall, although the hope was that schools “open on time and at full capacity.” One scenario that had been floated by the state, she wrote, was having students attend schools on alternate days, presumably to have fewer children in a building at one time. Summer school, she announced, will be held virtually.

“We are working to ensure we are prepared for whatever course of action our local and state leaders and health officials determine is safe and responsive to the needs of our students, staff, and families,” she wrote.

In a press call Friday, the Chicago Teachers Union raised concerns about Lightfoot’s comments and said neither she nor the district had discussed plans for a fall return to schools with the union.

“Kids do need their teachers, kids also need to be healthy and safe,” union President Jesse Sharkey said. The mayor may be making promises to sound reassuring, he said, but without a promise of changes like hand-washing stations and increased cleaning staff, conversations about returning to school were premature.

In response to the union, Lightfoot said that she was just articulating a goal. “Of course, it’s going to be guided by science; it’s going to be based upon feedback from the entire school community, which of course includes the teachers.”

During her daily press conference, the mayor unveiled a five-phase plan for reopening the city’s economy, similar to a plan detailed earlier in the week by the governor.

According to Lightfoot’s plan, the city has already transitioned from phase one, a strict stay-at-home order, to a second phase where essential workers go to work and residents are allowed to go outside wearing masks. The third phase involves a cautious reopening where non-essential businesses and workers can go back to work. To enter that phase, Chicago must have more than 14 days of decline in coronavirus cases.

Earlier in the week, the state’s schools superintendent, Carmen Ayala, said districts might reopen schools in the fall then have to close them again, and suggested districts prepare for intermittent closures until a COVID-19 vaccine is discovered.

One in five Chicago students lacks broadband. Here’s where they live

2020-04-23T22:28:29+00:00

One in five Chicago students lacks broadband access, and the neighborhoods plagued most by access issues are predominantly black neighborhoods on the Southwest Side, according to a new research brief out Thursday.

Nearly half of school-age children in West Englewood lack broadband access, the highest percentage of the city’s 77 neighborhoods. That was followed by Englewood (38%), Auburn Gresham (38%), and North Lawndale (37%).

Meanwhile, the city’s predominantly white neighborhoods show connectivity rates greater than 90%, according to the research brief issued by the school choice group Kids First Chicago and the Metropolitan Planning Council and based on U.S. Census data.

Chicago’s access issues have been a roadblock to its remote learning rollout, and unlike cities like Austin and San Francisco, the city has not yet announced a comprehensive plan for tackling the problem. Chicago’s school district is halfway through a device distribution program that ultimately promises to lend 115,000 Chromebooks, laptops, and iPads, but the district has so far limited hotspot lending to its homeless students because of the cost and massive backlog of orders for these devices.

With Illinois’ decision to close in-person schooling for the remainder of the school year, the need is dire for a more comprehensive approach to addressing the city’s digital divide, the authors said.

“We commend (Chicago Public Schools) for developing and implementing a Wi-Fi hotspot distribution program to ensure students could gain immediate access to digital learning resources,” said Daniel Anello, the CEO of Kids First. “However, given the extent of the connectivity gap, CPS cannot be expected to address this challenge alone. Ultimately, a universal broadband access program is the only long-term, equitable solution to sustainably connect all students and families.”

The authors called on Internet providers such as Comcast and AT&T to expand eligibility for low-cost internet programs for low-income residents. At a meeting Wednesday, school board members asked district administrators and city officials to put more pressure on internet providers to expand access.

The organizations behind the report issued a series of recommendations, including a subsidy program that would help cover costs for providers of expanding broadband services; the construction of “super spots” in certain communities that would provide access for up to 120 students with wide-reaching routers or Wi-Fi-equipped school buses; and the expansion of hotspot lending programs maintained by Chicago Public Schools and some community organizations.

Chicago Public Schools announced a hotspot lending program last week but it is limited to 12,000 homeless students and students in temporary living situations.

The 15 areas with the highest percentage of disconnected children under 18, according to the report, are:

1. West Englewood (Southwest Side) 46%

2. Englewood (Southwest Side) 38%

3. Auburn Gresham (Far Southwest Side) 38%

4. North Lawndale (West Side) 37%

5. Greater Grand Crossing (South Side) 34%

6. Austin (West Side) 34%

7. South Shore (South Side) 33%

8. Humboldt Park (West Side) 32%

9. South Lawndale (West Side) 31%

10. Riverdale (Far South Side) 31%

11. West Garfield Park (West Side) 31%

12. East Garfield Park (West Side) 30%

13. Chatham (Far South Side) 29%

14. New City (Southwest Side) 27%

15. Washington Park (South Side) 26%

This map shows the percentage of children under age 18 who are living without broadband access in Chicago neighborhoods.

2 2020 Internet+Connectivity FINAL (PDF)2 2020 Internet+Connectivity FINAL (Text)

Chicago to delay preschool applications, kindergarten admissions

2020-04-22T18:19:23+00:00

Chicago will delay the start of its preschool application process, which was supposed to launch online Tuesday for families seeking seats in the fall for 3- and 4-year-olds in many public school programs and community-run early learning sites.

A spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, which oversees the application portal chicagoearlylearning.org, said the city was working to set a new date to kick off the application process. The city said earlier that delays could happen as officials focus on the response to the coronavirus.

Guardians of 3- and 4-year-olds may register on the site to receive an email when the portal opens. Most of the public school seats will go this year to 4-year-olds, the school district said earlier this year. Families can search for options at school campuses, community sites, or both.

Currently, a message on the site says registration is “coming soon” and offers links for essential workers to find emergency care if they need it during the state’s stay-at-home order, which has closed all school buildings to students and most, but not all, of the city’s child care centers.

Even before coronavirus shut down normal operations for businesses and governments and disrupted education, parents complained that navigating the preschool application process in Chicago is confusing. Unlike in K-12, Chicago does not guarantee preschool admission at neighborhood schools, so families must apply for a seat.

There are also multiple application routes parents can take, depending on the school. A handful of high-demand public school programs still draw students through a separate lottery. A few places offer tuition-based programs, though those options are dwindling as Chicago works toward offering free universal pre-K program to every child in the city.

Before coronavirus disrupted the school year, Chicago had enrolled more than 12,000 4-year-olds in preschools at its public school campuses, and publicly funded community providers enrolled another 3,900 — together, that’s about 70% of what the city’s 2019 preschool plan predicted should be reached at this point in the rollout.

The expanded options are popular with parents, but community providers have charged that the city has not been transparent about the rollout of universal pre-K and that expanding options in schools could hurt community centers, which also care for infants and toddlers.

Chicago Public Schools last week notified families that it will delay notifications for lottery-based kindergarten programs and selective enrollment for the city’s gifted and classical elementary programs.

Parents who applied for kindergarten seats outside their attendance zone were supposed to find out by Friday whether their child secured a seat; the district has said the new notification date will be May 8 and that parents will have until May 22 to accept offers.

“We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding during these unprecedented times,” the e-mail to parents said.

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.

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.

Proposed Von Humboldt apartment complex for Chicago teachers clears key City Hall hurdle

2019-12-19T21:50:39+00:00

A plan to turn the vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into an 107-unit apartment complex and five townhomes geared toward educators won the endorsement of a key city panel Thursday after the developer promised to set aside half of the units for low- and moderate-income residents.

Alderman Daniel La Spata asked the Plan Commission to endorse the three-year-old proposal from Newark, New Jersey-based developer RBH Group that would transform the shuttered Logan Square elementary school, which has been vacant since it was one of nearly 50 schools closed in 2013 as part of the largest mass school closure in the United States’ modern history.

If approved by the City Council’s Zoning Committee and the full City Council, the $21 million project would mark the second time one of the closed schools would be transformed into apartments. In Uptown, the former Stewart Elementary School is now the Stewart School Lofts, with rent starting at $1,700 per month for studios and nearly $4,000 for three-bedroom units, according to online listings.

La Spata said he pressed the developer to ensure that the former school could be turned into homes for those being priced out of Logan Square so they can stay in the community and that the apartments would be affordable for the long term.

“We can create diverse, affordable communities that thrive,” La Spata told the commission.

Under the city’s Affordable Housing Requirements ordinance, a minimum of 15 percent of the units — or 16 units — would have to be set aside for Chicagoans earning 60 percent of the area’s median income, which is approximately $54,000 for a family of four.

Housing Department Commissioner Marisa Novara praised the developer for agreeing to go beyond the minimum requirements.

Two of the 52 affordable units would be earmarked for those earning 30 percent of the area’s median income, and 23 units would be set aside for those earning 50 percent of the area’s median income. The remaining 27 units are set to be rented to tenants earning the area’s median income, but Novara said she had a commitment from the developer to make 25 of those units more affordable using resources from the Chicago Housing Authority and the city’s Low Income Housing Trust Fund.

RBH Group’s Ron Beit said the firm worked hard to win the approval.

“We are excited to bring the former Von Humboldt school back to life with teachers,” Beit wrote in a statement. “We will create affordable, workforce, and market-rate housing marketed to educators in the community, as well as a fresh food market, community space, and a lifelong learning center.”

The plan also calls for 53 parking spaces and classroom, community, commercial and office uses, according to documents submitted to the Chicago Planning Department.

The City Council’s Zoning Committee could consider the project at its next meeting, set for Jan. 14.

Affordable housing for teachers and families at risk of homelessness surfaced as one of the broader social justice demands in the tense contract negotiations earlier this year between the Chicago’s Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools. Mayor Lori Lightfoot took it off the table during an 11-day strike by pledging to create an affordable housing taskforce. She named members of the 20-person task force in November.

This story was reported by The Daily Line.

Wins, losses, and painful compromises: How 5 major issues in Chicago’s teacher strike were resolved

2019-10-31T22:16:02+00:00

Chicago’s teachers union contract still needs to be ratified, but now that an agreement exists, it’s fair to start assessing what teachers gained during their 11-day strike.

Chicago Teachers Union officials were somber Thursday as they announced an agreement for teachers to return to work. President Jesse Sharkey acknowledged that teachers didn’t get everything they had hoped for, even as he called the tentative agreement “a contract we can believe in.”

It’s clear that Chicago teachers are walking away with more than they had before the strike. But the city also ended the impasse having met its goal of limiting new spending to $500 million or less each year. Here’s what happened to the five big issues that the union said were the biggest sticking points in negotiations.

Support staffing: Union win

The city and union always agreed in principle that the city’s schools should have more nurses and social workers — but differed about how many details should be written into the contract. (That’s why the union’s hashtag the first week of the strike was #PutItInWriting.)

The tentative agreement spells out explicitly how many new support staffers will be hired each year and includes a city commitment to have one full-time nurse and social worker in each school by 2023. It’s unlikely that those commitments would have ended up in the contract without the strike.

The union scored additional staffing concessions after teachers walked out: agreements to at least try to hire staff members to support homeless students, restorative justice coordinators, and other specialists at the highest-need schools. That’s on top of other staffing wins that came well before the strike, including a promise from the city to employ school nurses directly, rather than hire them through contracts.

Class size: Compromise

One important union ask is in the contract: for the city to put resources behind reducing class size. The contract deal hands a significant pot of money to a joint union-district class size committee that has existed to review oversized classes and suggest remedies — from adding teachers aides to splitting classrooms where there is space. Now for the first time, the committee will be able to dole out city funds to make those changes happen: $35 million a year — $25 million more than the city had offered up before the strike.

What’s not in the deal: Lower class sizes. The union had pushed for lower class size caps, but it didn’t get them.

Prep time: Stalemate at best

The city and union started out far apart on the issue of teacher prep time, with the union proposing more time for elementary school educators to prepare each day and the city saying it actually wanted to reduce the amount of time those teachers had full autonomy to fill. The city dropped its request early on, but the union said this week that its prep time demand was one reason teachers were continuing their strike.

In the end, the only new prep time in the tentative agreement is for kindergarten teachers who have to administer a specific kind of assessment — and they are getting just two additional hours in the quarter when they have to give that test.

Some teachers aren’t happy that the union backed down, saying that the issue is core to communicating to teachers that their work is respected. “So many high school teachers are willing to stay out for elementary school prep time,” one member of the union’s bargaining team tweeted Wednesday night.

Contract length: City win

There’s no question here: The city got what it wanted. The union had been pressing for a three-year contract term, which is in line with the average contract length nationally. But the deal is for a five-year contract, which will give the city more time to fulfill its promises and, crucially, prevent another clash with the teachers union before Lightfoot is up for reelection.

Pay and benefits: Union win

The city had already put a lot on the table before the walkout — including a 16% raise over five years for teachers — and the union didn’t make pay and benefits a centerpiece of its public demands during it, either. But union negotiators extracted some further sweeteners while teachers were on strike, including an additional $5 million a year in pay for veteran teachers.

Many teachers wanted more for veterans, but there’s no question that the new contract includes across-the-board compensation boosts. (The city also agreed to bear most of rising health insurance costs and to increase sixfold the number of sick days that members can bank and use to extend leaves.)

It’s important to note that unions benefit from strikes in ways that go beyond the written pages of their contracts. Strikes allow them to galvanize members, draw public attention to their agenda, and demonstrate the power of organized labor.

That certainly happened this month in Chicago, where the families of 300,000 children were disrupted by the strike and rallies blocked traffic downtown on multiple occasions.

But there could also be downsides that aren’t captured in the agreement itself. Katharine Strunk, a Michigan State University professor who studies unions, pointed to what happened in Los Angeles after the teacher strike there early this year. A planned ballot measure to increase school funding was polling well before the strike, but when the vote took place in May, just 45% of voters supported it, not the two-thirds needed to force changes to local taxes.

Many factors likely contributed to the ballot measure’s failure, but Strunk said she suspects an important one is that voters heard striking teachers’ message loud and clear: The city did have enough money but had just allocated it to the wrong things.

Chicago’s strike could backfire in the same way, Strunk said. “I think there’s a real risk — not just for the short-term public sentiment for support of the union or city today, but for the long-term ability to raise public funding for a system that people believe is broken.”

Chicago’s teachers union and city reach a deal, ending 11-day strike

2019-10-31T19:53:00+00:00

The Chicago teachers strike has ended, on its 11th day.

Schools will reopen Friday.

In a nearly two-hour session Thursday, union leaders and Mayor Lori Lightfoot hammered out a deal for teachers to earn back about half of the pay that they’ve forfeited while on strike. Lightfoot, who described a “hard-fought discussion,” in the end offered to add five workdays to this school year, despite previous pledges to deny compensation.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders reluctantly agreed.

“We were pushed up against the wall. Our members want to return to work, make sure their students get their instruction days,” union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said.

The deal came a day before striking union members would have lost district-paid health care.

The agreement still requires ratification by the union’s full membership, according to the group’s constitution. That vote must happen within 10 days. The union’s 700-member House of Delegates voted 60% to 40% Wednesday night to accept the tentative agreement that union leadership had recommended, but made its agreement contingent on Lightfoot agreeing to make up missed school days.

The logistics for when the five days will be made up are still being finalized, the mayor said.

Lightfoot said she changed her mind on offering makeup days Thursday morning. “We need to keep the focus on the kids. That’s what was on my mind when I woke up this morning.”

Leaders of the city and the teachers union did not announce the deal together. After the mayor finished speaking outside of her office, President Jesse Sharkey and Davis Gates spoke briefly with reporters five floors down in the lobby of City Hall.

“It’s not a day for photo ops or victory laps,” Sharkey said.

After accepting the deal, Davis Gates had strong words for the mayor. “Today should come as no surprise that she has taken out her anger on our members and only provided five days back,” she told reporters.

“It took our members 10 days to bring these promises home. And now, because of a grudge match, it seems like she’s punishing them.

“But I want to tell my members: They have changed Chicago.”

Earlier, Lightfoot said the negotiations had been much tougher than she expected.

“I’m grateful it’s over,” said the mayor, who was flanked by schools chief Janice Jackson and two key members of the city’s negotiating team, Deputy Mayor Sybil Madison and district’s No. 2 LaTanya McDade. “I think I need a moment to reflect. It’s time to move on and focus on our kids.”

She said she didn’t view it as a win. “I don’t think this is a win for me personally,” she said. “This has been a hardship for way too many people across our city.”

Jackson, the schools chief, said her focus now was on thinking about how to unify a district divided.

After its leaders forecasted a “short-term” strike earlier in October, the union led a walkout that lasted 11 school days, eventually winning $1.5 billion worth of concessions from the city across a five-year contract. Those include raises for educators and support staff alike, hundreds of new staff positions, and $35 million annually to help reduce overcrowding in some schools.

In marathon bargaining sessions that sometimes lasted until the wee hours of the morning, the union won other concessions that had not been part of the public discussion until the strike began, such as stipends for athletic coaches and naps for preschoolers.

But energy, and public support in some quarters of the city, started to dampen.

While the union turned out thousands of protesters for a downtown march Thursday morning, the crowd was considerably smaller than in previous demonstrations, and members’ enthusiasm for continuing the strike had markedly waned. The rainy, near-freezing temperatures clearly discouraged many from venturing out, but privately more and more teachers were acknowledging the strike’s toll.

Some worried about losing any more pay. Some were pressed by the need to get their children back in school. And some figured that they had gotten the most they could wring out of a city facing a $838 million budget hole.

“It’s really difficult, especially with a mayor that, from the get-go, didn’t want to budge an inch,” said Juan Padilla, a math teacher and delegate for Curie Metropolitan High School. “But this gets us to a better plateau. We can get some financial stability we needed so we can think about the future.

“This is not over,” Padilla added. “This is just one battle. The war continues.”

Padilla said he was a little surprised by the Wednesday delegate vote that approved the contract offer, but understood that many teachers were weary from long days on the picket line.

“Especially with the weather turning on us, they were really battered down,” Padilla said. As for the rank-and-file vote to come, “whatever they decide, we’ll support it,” he said of the delegates.

Another delegate, Ed Hershey from Lindblom Math and Science Academy, said the strike didn’t win everything he hoped for, and he would have held out longer for more. “We didn’t win the schools Chicago students deserve, we didn’t win everything we asked for.”

But, Hershey admitted, the contract still included some provisions that would help classrooms. “We won some things we would not have gotten without going on strike.”

On a day when their children were bemoaning missing out on classroom Halloween parties, parents breathed a huge sigh of relief. The days of patching together emergency child care, play dates, camps and transportation would be over.

“I do hope that it was worth it,” parent Julie Garner said of the strike, expressing some concern about how students would readjust to being back in the classroom Friday. “It just feels like it’s been a really long time. It’ll be fine, but it’s going to be a good couple of weeks before [the students] are fully settled back in.”

Garner, a single mom whose 11-year-old son Deniro attends Ogden-Jenner, said she doesn’t expect to see big changes in how the district operates for a couple of years — but that’s OK with her.

“I know people are kind of annoyed, but I do think [the strike] was needed,” Garner said. “I didn’t think they were going to get it done without doing it this way. It had to be this dramatic strike.”

The city-union deal means a 16% increase in pay over five years, plus immediate boosts of 9% for low-wage paraprofessionals.

Other support staff represented by SEIU, who also went on strike and have settled their contract, will receive raises.

Of the five makeup days, three are mandated by the state, which requires districts to offer 176 days of instruction in the school year. Without the make-up days, Chicago Public Schools would total only 173 days in 2019-20.

Labor expert Bob Bruno said that both sides could count this strike as a victory. The union was able to win changes to class size and staffing, while the mayor eventually put forth a contract that hewed closely to her promises on the campaign trail. “When she said it was a historic agreement, that’s right, and both parties are now really partners to it,” Bruno said.

You can read the contract terms that the union’s 700-member House of Delegates approved in a divided vote here.

Here’s the full tentative agreement that Chicago’s teachers union delegates have approved

2019-10-31T02:30:00+00:00

After a 10-day strike and months of negotiations with the city, the Chicago Teachers Union brought a tentative contract agreement to its 700-member House of Delegates for consideration tonight. After a heated debate, the delegates voted 364 to 242 to accept the deal, as long as the city allows members to make up their missed work days.

You can see the tentative agreement, obtained by Chalkbeat, in full here.

The 41-page document was uploaded to a portal available only to union members late Wednesday afternoon. Each page is watermarked “For CTU members only.”

The document contains only elements of the contract that would change under the deal. It includes dozens of changes in addition to the ones that have been the public focus during the strike. On those issues, it provides more details than have been publicly available, such as exactly how many nurses and social workers the district has committed to hiring each year, toward a goal of staffing each school fully by 2023.

A few highlights:

The tentative agreement is for a five-year contract. That’s longer than average and what Mayor Lori Lightfoot had wanted.
The language gives two additional hours of prep time per quarter to kindergarten teachers who are required to give specific tests. It does not include any changes to prep time for elementary school educators, which had been a central union demand.
As expected, the deal allocates $35 million a year to a committee that could dole out the funds to remediate oversize classes. The class size caps in the deal would remain the same as they have been.
Also as expected, the deal also guarantees extensive hiring of new support staff. The deal spells out that the district will add 43 or 44 social workers a year for the next four school years, until there is one full-time social worker in every school. The district will move more aggressively to hire school nurses, adding 55 new ones each year during the contract.
The agreement includes new provisions about substitute teachers, including extra pay to incentivize substitutes to take placements at-high need schools and duty-free lunch periods and professional training for substitutes.
The deal also includes several new provisions aimed at making it easier for special education teachers to serve students with disabilities, including a guarantee that they can access those students’ records and that they would cover other classes only as a last resort.
The deal provides for nap time for children in pre-kindergarten classes.
The agreement allows for unpaid leaves for union members who are elected to public office. Previously, the language had applied only to members who became union officials.
The deal increases the number of sick days that employees can bank sixfold, from 40 to 244. Those days would not be paid out when a teacher leaves the system permanently but could be used to extend leaves.

No deal yet: Classes canceled Monday as Chicago teachers strike heads into second school week

2019-10-21T00:44:43+00:00

Classes in Chicago schools have been canceled for a third day Monday after weekend negotiations failed to result in a deal between the city and teachers union.

School buildings will be open and students will be served breakfast and lunch at schools, and then be offered dinner to take home, Chicago Public Schools said in a tweet Sunday evening.

Going into the strike’s second school week, major differences remain. There has not been agreement on several issues: pay and benefits, enforcement mechanisms for class size and staffing, teacher prep time, and the length of the contract.

On the negotiations front, the union said in a Sunday night media update that tentative agreements had been reached on funding for dedicated staff who would support homeless students and protections to keep counselors from being pulled away for non-counseling duties. They also agreed on 10:1 student-to-staff ratios in early childhood classrooms and language that could make it easier for teachers there to set nap times, the union said.

On class size, the union is still seeking an enforceable cap on class sizes and is open to phasing in support for schools that need it most, said Jennifer Johnson, the union’s chief of staff, during the Sunday night press conference at Malcolm X College.

Pay for paraprofessionals, who sometimes earn so little that their children qualify for free and reduced-priced lunches, also remains a sticking point, Johnson said Sunday. The union wants a 21% increase in base pay for paraprofessionals who work in the lowest grades, as well as larger raises when they accrue educational experience and spend more years on the job.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a tweet that the city had not received full, written counteroffers from the union to its proposals on class size or staffing, two key issues. “These negotiations must move more swiftly so that we can get students back into school as fast as possible,” the statement said.

Members of the union’s bargaining team contested that charge, saying Sunday night that they had a productive bargaining weekend and had come to several tentative agreements. In an email to supporters, the union said it had tentatively come to terms with the city on eight issues, including on a charter moratorium and a pipeline for hiring more teachers of color.

Meanwhile, contract negotiations appear stalled between the city and Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents special education aides and bus aides and is also on strike. A Local 73 spokesperson said that the union and city haven’t held a bargaining meeting since Wednesday, and that another meeting hasn’t been scheduled.

Without a resolution in their contract dispute, Chicago Teachers Union members will return to the picket line Monday morning. Rain is predicted. “Any chance someone has a red rain poncho?” read one post on a neighborhood Facebook group on Sunday. “#theraindoesntpausethecause.”

Padres: ¿Qué quieren saber sobre la posibilidad de una huelga de maestros?

2019-09-30T15:35:17+00:00

Después de una votación autorizando una huelga de maestros, algunos padres quizás están preguntando: “¿Y ahora qué?”

Sin un acuerdo en el último momento existe la posibilidad de que sus hijos puedan estar fuera de la escuela por un período de tiempo incierto. Muchos padres tendrán que buscar cuidado infantil, desayuno, almuerzo y posiblemente atención médica y transporte.

Ciertamente, algunos padres han estado preparando para la posibilidad de una huelga, y algunos padres con quienes habló Chalkbeat dijeron que apoyan a sus maestros.

Ahora con la posibilidad de una huelga en una semana, queremos escucharlos a ustedes.

Estamos trabajando con Block Club Chicago para preguntar a los padres y estudiantes de CPS sobre la situación.

¿Qué podría significar una huelga de maestros en Chicago para usted? ¿Qué le gustaría saber y qué preguntas tiene?

Por favor complete esta encuesta y publicaremos una selección de sus comentarios, junto con nuestras respuestas. Para completar la encuesta en inglés, por favor visita esta página.

Parents: What do you want to know about Chicago’s looming teachers strike?

2019-09-27T21:58:56+00:00

On the heels of an overwhelming vote to authorize a teachers strike, parents of schoolchildren may be asking, “Now what?”

With the possibility that without a last-minute settlement, their children may be out of school for an uncertain length of time, many parents will have to find child care, breakfast, lunch and possibly health care and transportation.

Certainly some parents have been preparing for the possibility of a strike.

Now with that reality looming in about a week, we want to hear from you.

What could a Chicago teachers strike mean for you? What would you like to know, and what questions do you have?

Please fill out this survey, and we’ll publish a selection of your comments, along with our answers.

You can also fill out the survey in Spanish here.

Chicago teachers vote by wide margin to move toward strike

2019-09-27T03:30:00+00:00

Chicago teachers, clinicians and paraprofessional union members voted by a wide margin to authorize a strike, setting the stage for a walkout less than six months into Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s term. Educators could walk out as early as Oct. 7.

The union said 94% of its members voted in favor of a walkout.

With ballots in from 90% of schools late Thursday night, the vote meets the 75% threshold of support from all active union members required by state law.

“This is a clear signal from the members of the Chicago Teachers Union that we need the mayor and the Board of Education to address critical needs across our schools,” said union President Jesse Sharkey.

In a joint statement, Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson said they had been bargaining for months “in a good faith effort to create an inclusive process” that took into consideration teachers’ concerns and ideas for improving schools. “We are committed to doing everything we can to finalize a deal that is sustainable for all Chicagoans and for our city’s future, that respects our teachers, and continues our students’ record-breaking success.”

The vote does not guarantee that teachers will strike, but the union can now announce a walkout date with 10 days’ notice. The union’s 700-member House of Delegates could vote on a proposed strike day at its next meeting on Oct. 2.

Meanwhile, negotiations will continue between the city and union. Sharkey said bargaining would resume on Friday.

The teachers’ contract with the district expired June 30.

Talks have stalled primarily over whether to write additional staff that the union is demanding into the contract or not. The two sides also haven’t agreed yet on class sizes, prep time, pay, health care, or the length of the contract.

The district said it is has put a generous pay raise on the table — a 16% raise over five years for teachers. Both of the city’s major newspapers have editorialized in favor of the district’s offer.

In the joint statement from City Hall and Chicago Public Schools, the mayor and schools chief said that they had put forth a pay deal that would make Chicago teachers “among the highest compensated in the nation” and had committed to increasing support staff.

“As the product of public school systems ourselves, we know firsthand how hard our teachers work, and we celebrate their engagement and tenacity during the bargaining process over these past months,” Lightfoot and Jackson said.

When announcing the results Thursday, Sharkey said that the vote was not just about pay and benefits. “Pay and benefits alone are not enough, we care deeply about the learning and working conditions in our schools,” he said. Sharkey reiterated the union’s demands for class size limits and for the city to lock in firm numbers of nurses, social workers, and special education positions in the contract.

Earlier in the week, Sen. Bernie Sanders attended a boisterous union rally in Chicago, helping bring national attention to the effort. The Illinois Federation of Teachers union issued a statement in support of the strike authorization vote on Thursday night.

During past teacher walkouts, the school district, park district, and YMCA have offered child care and free lunch for students affected by walkouts.

Chicago could see at least three school-related strikes in October. Besides district teachers, educators at Passages charter school also voted earlier this month to authorize a strike.

And Service Employees International Union Local 73, the union representing nearly 8,000 Chicago Public Schools support staff — whose work ranges from working with special education students to staffing metal detectors at school entrances — won a strike authorization vote last month. Those employees could also walk out in October, causing further disruptions at schools.

During the city’s last contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union, in 2016, observers saw a strike as all but inevitable. But district officials made several concessions at the last minute, averting a full-fledged strike.

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.

A tale of two strikes: Can Chicago learn anything from its past teacher walkouts?

2019-09-24T21:30:54+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office vowing to chart a different course from that of her predecessor, Rahm Emanuel.

But in two key ways, Lightfoot’s first months are replaying Emanuel’s: The mayor faces a huge budget gap and a Chicago Teachers Union on the verge of calling a strike, closing Chicago schools, and imperiling her political agenda.

Rank-and-file members began voting Tuesday on whether to authorize a walkout. Their efforts are getting a jolt of national celebrity, with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders traveling to the city to rally alongside them and supportive tweets from Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.

The results of the vote could be announced as early as Thursday, and teachers could walk out as soon as Oct. 7.

Lightfoot, meanwhile, stressed on Tuesday that her message to teachers is, “We value you.” She added that her latest offer, if accepted, would be the most lucrative package in the union’s history. “We have heard the response and concerns of teachers about additional supports in classrooms. We have baked those into the budget for this year.”

Chicago has been here before, with a seven-day strike in 2012.

Four years later, a last-minute settlement averted another full-fledged walkout.

In some ways, 2019 has echoes of 2012 and 2016. But in other ways, events could play out differently. How can Lightfoot avoid previous pitfalls? We take a look.

The similarities

CTU’s aggressive maneuvering: Political neophyte Lightfoot has encountered a union on the move. Teachers at five charter networks represented by CTU’s charter arm went on strike last spring, winning raises and improved benefits and working conditions. And all summer, the Chicago Teachers Union has ramped up its visibility and rhetoric demanding concessions.

It all echoes the year after Emanuel first took office in May 2011.

Led by the outspoken CTU President Karen Lewis, the union honed a playbook that became a roadmap for unions across the country. By focusing on issues beyond pay and benefits, and tying them to racism, poverty and criminal justice reform, leaders crafted a broader social issue platform.

Teachers walked off the job for the first time in 25 years, even surmounting a new state threshold that required a minimum of 75% of union members to approve a strike. The strike in September 2012 was all but certain, particularly after Emanuel told Lewis “f— you, Lewis.”

This year, the union has demanded adding case managers, nurses, mental health workers, special education services, other workers, and additional teachers — driving home the argument that it is seeking gains not just for teachers, but also improvements to benefit students.

By sharing the spotlight with the union’s No. 2, Stacy Davis Gates, the current union president, Jesse Sharkey, has kept a lower profile than Lewis, who proved so popular she launched a run for mayor before falling ill to brain cancer. But the group has still pumped up its national profile with its victories in charter strikes and a hard line in bargaining.

Reflecting last year in a radio interview for WBEZ, Emanuel said Chicago Public Schools, under his direction, “should have sat down with [teachers] and said, ‘You’ve gotta be part of the solution.’ I kind of said that they would never really want to do that, and we did it the wrong way.”

Issues beyond pay: Lightfoot’s victory party was still thumping last spring when teachers union leaders warned that she had “her work cut out for her on day one” and issued a call for more support staffing in schools, from nurses and librarians at every campus, to counselors and social workers at recommended ratios.

Lightfoot, who had promised to boost investments in neighborhood schools, pledged to add hundreds of social workers, special education case managers, and nurses at schools over five years. But she stopped short of putting them in a contract offer, saying her schools budget demonstrates her commitment.

The union fired back that putting new positions in the contract would ensure that hired staff would be fully licensed, and that the work would be kept in house and not contracted out.

In 2012, a different non-wage issue derailed contract talks. Emanuel wanted to tie teacher pay to test-based performance ratings. Union leaders vehemently objected, countering that test scores didn’t accurately reflect teacher ability or effort. That was one of a host of education reform measures teachers saw themselves confronting under Emanuel’s leadership of Chicago schools.

Teachers walked out, and Emanuel went to court and argued the strike was illegal, because state law prohibits unions from striking over non-economic issues. He lost, the strike lasted seven days, and the teachers claimed victory.

They won a 17.6% raise over four years and a diminished emphasis on test scores in their evaluations.

In contrast, in 2016, when observers saw a strike as all but inevitable, district officials made several concessions, including hiring more teachers assistants for kindergarten through second grade classes with more than 32 students. Union leaders hailed the move as the first enforceable limits on class sizes in 20 years.

Fact-finders siding with the city: In August a neutral fact-finder largely sided with City Hall, much as mediators did during Emanuel’s tenure. But regardless of how much an independent agent has tried to focus the conversation on pay and benefits, the union has brushed it off and instead pushed a broad-based progressive agenda that reached far beyond schools’ front doors.

The differences

A progressive mayor: Where Emanuel took office ready to wage battle to create a longer school day and extended school year during his first term, Lightfoot won a sweeping victory after campaigning on a progressive agenda that, when it came to schools, largely echoed the union’s own platform. She championed an elected school board and pledged more resources to neighborhood schools.

While Emanuel dealt aggressively with the union in public, Lightfoot said she would sit down with union chief Sharkey and try to work out a deal.

“If my presence at the bargaining table to push forward and forge a deal is productive, I’m ready to do it. I will clear the decks on my schedule and make it happen,” Lightfoot told reporters at a news conference last week.

In response, Sharkey said that day he felt it was premature for the mayor to come in while, he claimed, the city’s bargaining team hadn’t substantively responded to teacher contract proposals.

Credibility in CPS leadership: Lightfoot also has another asset that Emanuel didn’t have: Schools chief Janice Jackson is popular with rank-and-file educators and has navigated sticky labor conflicts before.

In 2016, with the district in budget crisis mode and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner pressuring Chicago Public Schools to declare bankruptcy, Jackson and the union’s Lewis negotiated a last-minute deal that averted a strike. Jackson was then the district’s No. 2, under career bureaucrat Forrest Claypool. The deal awarded only small raises for teachers, but it did parcel out the payments for pension costs among new hires and veterans.

Jackson now has the top job at Chicago Public Schools, and in recent weeks she and Lightfoot have appeared publicly side-by-side to tout upgrades to neighborhood schools, expansions to arts programs, and sustained gains in its graduation rate and other academic metrics.

Financial stability: In 2012, Illinois’ budget was in the red, and by 2016, the state was in a full-blown crisis. It still has an outstanding backlog of bills, but a new education funding formula has awarded additional funds to Chicago schools, putting it on more solid financial footing.

The union has argued that the funds should go toward raises and additional staff, to the tune of nearly 5,000 teachers, professionals and aides the union asked for in its contract proposals.

Lightfoot has acknowledged the needs of schools and educators, while laying bare the budget realities facing the city and its schools.

Her latest public offer — a 16% cost-of-living raise across five years — reflects the critical role teachers play in classrooms, she has said, while also acknowledging that even added resources have limits. “The fortunes of CPS absolutely have improved,” said Lightfoot. “We feel comfortable this will fall within the resources we have.”

That begs the question: Will Lightfoot take a page from her predecessor’s playbook and raid a surplus of city funds? One of the ways Emanuel paid for the concessions he made in 2016 was to raid a city account intended to help spur the redevelopment of blighted areas. The extra $88 million helped seal the deal.

Lightfoot has a similar tool at her disposal. The mayor could sweeten the city’s offer to the union by using some of the additional $181 million that flowed into the city tax-increment financing accounts last year, a 27.4% jump as compared with 2017, according to a report from Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough. However, Lightfoot has so far declined to say how she will spend those funds.

Publicly, the mayor is staying confident. She said again Tuesday there was no reason for a deal not to be reached to avert a strike. “We owe that to our children to get a deal done and quickly.”

If the past two contract negotiations serve as prologue for this round of talks, don’t expect a decision — if one is reached — to come long before teachers are set to walk off the job.

This story was produced in collaboration and co-published with The Daily Line.

Three things to know about this week’s teacher strike vote in Chicago

2019-09-24T17:53:03+00:00

Starting Tuesday, thousands of Chicago teachers will be asked to vote on whether to authorize a walk out in response to stalled contract negotiations.

The three-day voting period is a major marker in the lead-up to a teachers strike. The union says that after months of negotiations, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her team have failed to respond substantively to their calls for smaller class sizes and more case managers, or to enshrine promises for school support staff in the contract or class sizes.

The mayor, meanwhile, said that she has offered a significant raise to teachers — 16% pay raise over five years — and that there is no reason a deal can’t be made.

If more than 75% of union members vote yes this week, teachers could walk out as early as Oct. 7.

In the last big walkout, in 2012, teachers left their classroom for seven days.

That strike launched the union, and its recently elected leadership, into the national spotlight as a model for how to build teacher and community engagement.

It remains to be seen whether they’ll do it again. Here’s what you need to know about this week’s strike authorization vote:

What is a strike authorization vote, anyway?

A strike authorization takes the temperature of how many union members are willing to authorize a walk-out. It is non-binding, and does not guarantee a strike. But it does serve as an official timestamp, after which the union can give a 10-day strike warning.

In the weeks leading up to the vote, the union has held public meetings for teachers to discuss demands and to pass out posters and fliers.
The union has also sent members to speak to teachers outside of schools and encouraged its members to wear red, the Chicago Teachers Union’s color, on Fridays.

How is the vote taken?

More than 25,000 teachers, clinicians, and paraprofessionals will vote on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday by secret ballot at their schools.

Then those ballots will be counted by the union’s Rules and Elections Committee, with the count overseen by a group of ministers from Arise Chicago, a faith-based labor group.

What’s next?

The strike authorization vote doesn’t mean that the strike is a sure thing, but in past strike authorization votes, in 2012 and 2016, enough members supported the measure to bring the vote above the legally mandated 75% mark.

Next, the 700 members of the union’s House of Delegates will vote to set a strike date. That would likely happen at the group’s next meeting on Oct. 2. Negotiations can still continue after that date, and a deal could still be reached in time to avoid a walkout.

Room at the top: Chicago schools chief looks to fill leadership vacancies

2019-07-30T15:42:43+00:00

Chicago Public Schools seeks two critical additions to its senior leadership team — one to oversee the district’s $135 million curriculum overhaul — and the other to lead its troubled special education program amid state-mandated reforms.

The search to fill those vacancies and other cabinet-level positions follows the recent departure of several top officials, some of whom left for bigger titles at smaller districts.

That leaves schools chief Janice Jackson looking to firm up her inner circle amid shifting power dynamics at City Hall under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and with a new school board more willing to challenge Jackson publicly about policies, as last month’s contentious vote on a new school rating policy showed.

Mike Magee, director of the D.C.-based education policy group Chiefs for Change, said it’s a good sign that other school districts are poaching administrators from Jackson’s cabinet to elevate as superintendents.

The nation’s third-largest school district shouldn’t face any shortage of applicants vying to replace them, he said, calling Chicago an attractive location for upstart school leaders given its scale, buzz around improvements, and Jackson’s rising star.

“Jackson has a reputation as being both a highly effective and innovative leader and someone who cares very deeply about developing her own people,” Magee said. “That makes CPS very attractive to talented emerging education leaders across the country as a place they want to work.”

Those who join Jackson’s team will have their work cut out for them, especially the next special education chief, who will be charged with helping chart a more equitable direction for the district’s office serving students with disabilities — under the watchful eye of the state, advocates and parents.

A state investigation found the district routinely delayed and denied services to students with disabilities, in violation of federal law. The district serves about 52,000 special education students, about 14% of its enrollment, according to the job description.

Former special education chief Elizabeth Keenan left in April to run the Special School District of St. Louis County, Missouri, which serves more than 24,000 students with disabilities and also operates two technical high schools serving about 1,800 high school students. A veteran administrator who used to run Chicago special education, Dick Smith, now serves as its acting director while the district seeks Keenan’s replacement.

In June, Anna Alvarado, the district’s chief of teaching and learning, left to run the Freeport School District, which educates 4,100 students in northwest Illinois. The district is looking for her successor, who will “oversee the creation and implementation of a preK-12 curriculum system,” among other duties, according to the job posting.

The district is also several months into an initiative to bring local teachers and national education companies together to create culturally responsive instructional materials for all subjects and all grades.

This will be the first time the district offers a central repository for curriculum of all levels, which previously was left up to teachers and principals at schools to develop. Teachers won’t be required to use the new curriculum, but education officials say they expect wide adoption nonetheless.

The district has other vacancies — for chief internal auditor and controller, both positions with interim stand-ins. There’s also an opening for Network 15 chief.

And the district is searching for a chief portfolio officer, a new position tasked with supporting the district’s school choice model, managing enrollment for selective and specialized schools and programs like magnet, selective enrollment and vocational schools, and overseeing the expansion of the online school application platform GoCPS.

Another vacancy is chief administrative officer, but the district hasn’t begun the search to fill it.

School planning and strategy chief Elizabeth Kirby left in March after 23 years with the district to take a superintendent job with the Cleveland Heights-University Heights City School District, which serves about 6,500 students in Northeast Ohio. She was replaced by Bogdana Chkoumbova.

Former Chief Officer of Language & Cultural Education Ernesto Matias, who also previously served as principal of Wells High School Wells Community Academy High School on the Northwest Side, left earlier this year for a job at the state board of education, and was replaced by Jorge Macias in May.

In July, the district approved hiring Wally Stock as treasurer and Alfonso Carmona as Network 10 chief. Carmona is a former principal at Healy Elementary School, and most recently worked as superintendent of St. Augustine Preparatory Academy, a Christian school serving 900 students in Milwaukee from pre-K to 12th grade.

Your Chicago teacher negotiations tracker: Classes cancelled; teachers ready with picket signs

2019-10-21T17:25:00+00:00

This tracker chronicles negotiations between the teachers union and Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the months leading up to a strike. For the latest updates, check out our coverage of the Chicago teachers strike, including live blogs from the picket lines and the bargaining table.

Oct. 17 : Classes and after-school activities are cancelled for the roughly 300,000 students who attend schools staffed by union teachers, but schools are open. District officials have promised that school buildings will be warm, safe, and serving meals today, but parents shouldn’t expect much in the way of academics. Students are allowed to attend any age-appropriate school in their area, and administrators, non-union staff, and central office staff will be in charge.

The morning will be all about picketing. The Chicago Teachers Union asked teachers to be at their school buildings from 6:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., while school nurses, social workers, and other clinicians will be picketing outside the district’s downtown headquarters. There’s also a union rally planned for 1:30 p.m.

Union and city negotiators return to the bargaining table this morning after a short day of talks Wednesday. There appears to be some movement on key issues like staffing levels for support staff and class sizes, but the two sides are still at odds on provisions such as the length of the contract and raises for veteran teachers.

Oct. 16: 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.

Mayor Lori 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.” She said she was focused on making sure students had a safe and warm place to go during the strike.

Walking out of the House of Delegates meeting on Wednesday evening, delegates were firm in their decision to strike.

Oct. 15: With public opinion polls favoring teachers, Mayor Lori Lightfoot made a significant shift in her bargaining position, saying the city is ready to write staffing and class size promises into the union contract.

“We have expressed a willingness to find solutions on these two core issues that would be written into the contract,” Lightfoot said during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon.

But just a few hours later, Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said that significant “gaps” remained between City Hall and union negotiators on several issues, including class size, that make a walkout all but unavoidable.

Oct. 14: On 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. In bargaining updates later that night, union officials described some progress but said “time was ticking” as teachers were set to walk off the job 48 hours later.

The mayor issued a statement that said the city’s negotiating team had “expressed a willingness to find solutions” on staffing and class sizes; however, meaningful progress had not been made on other issues.

Oct. 12: In a 72-page offer made public Friday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson said they were dropping a controversial proposal that would give principals more control over how teachers spend their prep time.

The union quickly rejected the offer, saying it didn’t adequately address the dire needs for support staffing and smaller class sizes in schools. Those issues have been central sticking points in months of negotiations. Bargaining was set to continue over the weekend.

Oct. 11: Board President Miguel del Valle attended negotiations on Thursday, the first time the senator and longtime progressive community leader has come to the table, as both sides reported another day without a deal.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said negotiators were nearing an agreement on class size, one of the key sticking points, but did not say whether she would put a new proposal on the table, according to WBEZ reporter Sarah Karp.

The union had a less positive take on the latest negotiations, although it welcomed del Valle’s involvement.

In a contract negotiations update on Thursday night, Paula Barajas, a special education teacher and negotiating team member, said del Valle agreed with teacher demands but didn’t agree on the need to place staffing demands in the contract.

“I hope Senator del Valle talks with Mayor Lightfoot about putting forth some more proposals that we can move forward with,” Barajas said.

Earlier this week, del Valle joined Lightfoot at a press conference and spoke sympathetically to teachers but urged them to settle a contract to avert a strike.

Without a deal, teachers could walk out on Thursday.

Oct. 10: One week until teachers are slated to strike, negotiations haven’t made significant progress, according to both sides. This week, Mayor Lightfoot accused the teachers union of not responding substantively to the city’s latest offer on pay and benefits and said the union was trying to bargain over issues like housing that are outside the scope of its contract.

The union, following a national model called “bargaining for the common good,” said that pushing beyond the usual contract demands of salary and benefits is its goal.

Beyond the press conference barbs, one of the key issues in negotiations is class size. The big ask from the union, adding extra compensation for teachers who oversee crowded classrooms, is modeled on a win by striking Chicago charters teachers last year.

We’ve also answered parent questions about everything from contingency plans for students to union politics.

Oct. 4: Parents and community members from a new group called the Black Community Collaborative came together in Englewood on Friday afternoon to warn of the negative impacts of a strike on black students.

“Our children deserve stable schools that are prepared to address their needs. Black students matter,” said Natasha Dunn, community engagement coordinator at VOCEL, an early education center in Austin, speaking at a press conference outside of Harper High School.

The group is concerned that any slowdown in academics may set back students applying to colleges or taking Advanced Placement tests. It also worries that students that a strike forces out of school then may be exposed to violence or other harm.

“They rely on teachers and school counselors to assist with completing essays, applications and deadlines for college,” Dunn said. “A strike would limit our children’s access to these opportunities.”

With violence an issue in neighborhoods like Englewood, collaborative members said that out of school, students are more likely to have to cross gang lines or be injured.

“For parents on the South and West sides … where we send our kids to school is a life-or-death decision,” said Willie Preston, the father of a student at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and one of about eight people attending the gathering Friday.

Parents also expressed worry that black students already are struggling from school closures — Harper is in the last stage of being phased out — and a lack of resources at schools with declining enrollment.

The parents are asking for a seat at the table.

“We are requesting that we be a part of the negotiations process, and that we have a permanent seat at the table, so we have the opportunity to speak on behalf of our students, who are lacking the resources to be academically successful in school,” said Tanesha Peeples, deputy director of outreach for the education website EdPost.

With the strike deadline approaching, Chalkbeat is fielding parent questions. Click here to tell us yours.

Oct. 3: Chicago has started planning for how its worst-case scenario — a joint walkout of its 25,000 teachers and 8,000 support staff, bus aides, and lunchroom workers — could impact local families.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson have said the 514 district-run schools impacted by the strike would remain open and minimally staffed by principals and non-unionized support personnel. During the city’s 2012 strike, central office staff members were deployed to schools to help manage students whose families did not have other alternatives.

The city’s 119 charter schools will remain in session during any district teacher walkout.

During the last citywide teacher strike in 2012, about 5,000 students attended programs run by the city’s park district. This year, the union that represents the majority of park workers is threatening a strike on the same day as teachers, which could narrow options for parents.

Amid tense contract negotiations, Chicago board extends union-backed community schools for a year

2019-07-25T15:04:30+00:00

One year into a community schools pilot program and amid tense contract negotiations, Chicago’s school board on Wednesday approved a $10 million extension of the union-backed program for an additional year, despite acknowledging that the district hadn’t tracked how well it had worked.

The teachers union fought hard to establish the program, which connects 20 schools with 17 community groups to provide additional mental health and community services, in its last contract. The district still provides administrators, teachers, and other staff for the schools, which follow district curriculum.

The union said the extension of the program was positive, but that is was committed to fighting to add more schools.

“It’s good that they are actually putting in writing the verbal promise they made for us,” said Chris Geovanis, a spokesperson for the Chicago Teachers Union. In its contract proposal, the union wants the district to expand the program to 75 schools and invest in it for several years.

The union’s 2016 contract with the district established the program, praised for its innovative approach to harnessing community connections.

But the program wasn’t implemented until last summer, the final stretch of the union’s contract, when the district invested $10 million for 20 schools to partner with some of Chicago’s most well-known community groups, including the Brighton Park Neighborhood Association and the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.

Michael Deuser, the district’s chief of college and career success, argued that overall community schools have shown positive results — but didn’t provide any figures.

“We’ve seen some impressive results in terms of increased student engagement and the academic gains,” he said at Wednesday’s meeting of the district’s broad efforts to engage community organizations in schools.

The programs offer the kind of mental health and academic support that wealthier parents can provide their children but that are often unavailable to children struggling with high poverty, Deuser said.

So far, Deuser said, the district hadn’t tracked the program’s efficacy, but it planned to hire an independent evaluator to do so.

Some board members expressed concern.

“I understand that this work takes time,” board Vice President Sendhil Revuluri said. But, “we’re being asked to approve a continuation with the same 20 schools even though we don’t have much by way of evaluation data.”

Geovanis, with the union, argued that a one-year pilot simply wasn’t long enough to judge the full impact.

Community organizations that run the programs praised them.

Blocks Together, based in Humboldt Park, funded at $50,000 to work with two schools, hired restorative justice coordinators and a parent-engagement coordinator.

Carolina Gaete, director of the group, said she has seen a decrease in disciplinary incidents. A community organizer for 15 years, she said she has long advocated for that type of investment.

“We really began to see a transformation,” Gaete said.

Unlikely education allies press Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reform Chicago school funding

2019-07-24T16:44:48+00:00

One of the many open questions facing Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is whether to rethink the way Chicago funds its schools.

An unlikely group of allies, from a rebranded school choice group instrumental in charter school expansion to the Chicago Teachers Union, is ramping up lobbying efforts around the issue. Many of the groups submitted memos to Lightfoot’s education transition committee calling for a more equitable funding approach based on student needs.

Lightfoot’s team told Chalkbeat in a statement this week that the mayor is “firmly committed” to equitable funding and to ensuring that “schools and educators have the resources needed to support and address the needs of schools and families.”

Lightfoot has spent the last few weeks meeting with teachers, principals, parents and community members about education issues, “including school funding,” her spokeswoman said. But it was not clear whether Lightfoot will ask the district to revise the formula or whether she’s still in the exploratory phase.

“I think what we would like to see is a bit more of a sense of urgency around it,” said Gerald Liu, the policy director for one of the groups lobbying district leaders, Kids First Chicago, and who worked 11 years as a program manager and analyst at the district’s budget office. “You can’t talk about equity without talking about resource equity.”

Chicago is one of at least 30 large school districts using weighted student funding, which tries to allocate funding based on individual student needs. The district allocates funds to schools based on the number of students, with high schools getting the most per-pupil, followed by grades K-3 and grades 4-8.

The district then provides some supplemental aid for students with disabilities, for those living in low-income households, and for schools with the highest concentrations of English language learners. The district also subsidizes schools with low or declining enrollment.

But some of the groups lobbying the mayor contend that the district doesn’t allot enough money to certain populations that need more support, such as homeless students, refugees and students with other life circumstances that might affect their learning.

Other urban districts, such as Boston and Houston, take that approach, said Marguerite Roza, an education finance researcher studying whether such weighted student funding models close gaps in student achievement.

Lightfoot and other leaders stress the need for more state money to adequately support schools and pay for equity. But Roza said the district has discretion to more equitably distribute the money it does have.

“Districts are adding more student types,” she said. “Do you need an extra social worker if you have a lot of kids involved in the criminal justice system, or if you’re in a community with a lot of crime or trauma?”

Kids First is pushing for the district’s budget office to adopt its “equity index” budgeting tool, which considers factors like the incidence of trauma and violence in a neighborhood, or the concentration of single-parent households in a community. The organization detailed its proposal in a memo to Lightfoot.

Kids First Chicago has partnered with the district to help shape school choice in Chicago since the early 2000s — from funding charter school expansion, when the group was known as the Renaissance Fund and New Schools Chicago. More recently, the group has focused its efforts on parent advocacy, and helped compile a schools inventory report known as the Annual Regional Analysis. The district uses the report to help allocate resources and equip communities with the information to lobby for investments.

Constance Jones, CEO of the Noble Network of Charter Schools, suggested in a memo to Lightfoot that “schools with higher levels of poverty, English language learners, special education students, or nearby violence or crime should receive more resources to best meet the needs of their students.”

Katya Nuques, executive director of Enlace, called in her memo for the “creation of an education equity fund to close the achievement gap created by race, poverty, and overall lack of opportunity,” funded by fees levied on real estate development in the Loop.

Parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand’s memo called for Chicago’s district to “allocate operating funds via a need- and evidence-based formula” that considers the specific needs of students there.

And as it negotiates for a new contract, the Chicago Teachers Union has repeatedly called for the district to adopt a more nuanced funding formula that accounts for students needs by school and community.

Even before the contract fight ramped up, the union was one of the most consistent voices railing against the district’s current student-based funding model, which they say makes it hard for schools with low enrollment to hire experienced teachers, especially black veteran educators whose salaries are more expensive. Union leaders say it contradicts the spirit of a 2017 Illinois law that updated the state’s funding formula and directed more money to districts most in need.

“This is a huge deal for us,” union spokeswoman Christine Geovanis said. “We want CPS to deploy resources on a school by school and neighborhood by neighborhood basis.”

In its five-year vision plan, Chicago Public Schools committed to reviewing funding models and exploring ways to support equity by investing more resources in underserved populations.

Since the plan was released in May, the district hasn’t provided any updates. But it appears Chicago’s school funding plan may shift, even if it falls short of the union’s demands.

Most Chicago schools will get a budget boost this fall as the city adds new programs and props up spending at schools with low enrollment. The district also spread $6 million among 100 or so schools with the highest concentrations of English language learners.

Overall, Chicago Public Schools will send schools $60 million more next school year than it did last year, according to the district. That growth reflects nearly $90 million in new programs and a $30 million decrease because of declining enrollment.

Two-thirds of city schools will see their budgets go up, according to numbers provided in the spring. A third of city-run schools will see their budgets decline.

Chicago school board considers allowing a month of public review and comment before it votes

2019-07-22T19:43:59+00:00

The Chicago Board of Education plans to vote Wednesday on new rules making good on its promise to operate with more transparency and engage the public before making important decisions.

The rules, which would go into effect Sept. 26, allow time for the public to review and comment on proposed changes to school district policies. The proposal stipulates that the board may adopt, amend, repeal or suspend a policy only after taking three steps:

The proposed amendment or rule has been posted on the district’s website for 30 days with an invite for public comment.
All public comments have been posted in full on the district’s website, with omissions or redactions only for vulgar, defamatory or threatening language.
Board members have had at least 10 days to consider public comment.

The board also will vote on new rules that allow it to adopt or change policies on an interim basis without fulfilling the three conditions, only when the district must meet legal requirements “or other exigent circumstances.” Interim policies would expire in 90 days after adoption unless replaced by a final rule or policy.

Wednesday marks the second time Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s appointed school board has met since it replaced the board named by her predecessor.

Both Lightfoot and Board President Miguel del Valle have promised that the board would do its business differently, starting with cutting back on the long closed-door deliberations that preceded votes on major decisions at the end of meetings. Last month, departing from tradition, the board openly debated all public agenda items and voted in public.

Union representing special education aides, bus aides and custodians wins strike authorization

2019-07-13T22:56:52+00:00

After more than a year without a contract, the union representing nearly 8,000 Chicago Public Schools support staff whose work ranges from working with special education students to staffing metal detectors at school entrances has voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if contract negotiations don’t move forward.

Special education aides, bus aides, custodians and security workers are all part of Service Employees International Union Local 73, which announced that 97% of members voting Saturday chose to authorize a strike.

“When CPS needed their help they have done their part, and now they are fed up,” said Science Meles, the executive vice president of the local. “If they do not give us a contract, we will walk out.”

Michae Washington, a special education classroom aide (SECA) at Luther Burbank Elementary in the Austin neighborhood, seeks both financial and job-quality improvements.

Washington spends most of her day working one-on-one with students who have Down Syndrome or autism. She earns around $32,000 a year.

“It would be nice to have some type of a raise,” she said, but she is particularly concerned about the difficulty of taking a sick day.

“It is really hard for me as a SECA to get a sub to cover my position when I have to take a day off,” said Washington, who has worked as a special education classroom aide for the past decade. “There are days when I feel guilty because I know no one is there to cover for me with my one-on-one’s,” she said, about the individual attention she gives to students.

Some teachers aides who help supervise classes and assist students with their schoolwork belong to the Chicago Teachers Union.

Special education classroom assistants like Washington belong to SEIU. Their work is defined specifically in a student’s individualized education program that details the educational support the school must provide.

In a statement, district spokesperson Michael Passman said Chicago Public Schools is committed to reaching an agreement with the union. “”SEIU Local 73 members play an integral role in the success of our schools,” Passman said.

SEIU is seeking a bigger role for special education classroom aides in student instructional teams. The union also doesn’t want aides pulled from their work with a student to oversee lunchroom duties or to cover a class when a school is short-staffed. “They want to focus their time and energy with the student,” Meles said.

Because of the varied jobs covered by the union, the proposed contract has a range of different demands — custodians want the district to get rid of its cleaning contracts with Aramark and Sodexo, security officers want more staff, and bus aides are particularly focused on pushing for a raise because the hours of their jobs make it difficult to work a second position.

The union and the district began a formal fact-finding process this month.

Workers could go on strike as soon as October, Meles said.

But despite the wide range of demands, Washington said she’s confident members will band together if a strike is called.
“I am just hoping that our new mayor [Lori Lightfoot] is going to stick to what she said when she was campaigning,” Washington said. “It’s a new Chicago, and I hope we can come to a happy agreement for both parties.”

With new video and deadline, the Chicago Teachers Union expresses urgency for a deal

2019-07-12T17:18:00+00:00

Chicago’s teachers union is upping the pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot, issuing a new deal-making deadline and a minute-long video of several educators explaining why they’re pushing so hard on contract negotiations.

In a statement accompanying the video, union President Jesse Sharkey said the mayor has a month to make a deal.

“Candidate Lightfoot vowed there will be no teacher strike on her watch,” Sharkey wrote. “Mayor Lightfoot has a month to make good on that and her campaign promises.”

In the second week since the contract between the union and the district expired, the union has increased the urgency of its demands to the new mayor. Last week, Lightfoot’s team made its offer on pay public and offered its first round of detailed proposals on topics such as grievances and prep time.

The deal includes a 14% raise over five years, but the union balked at the pay increase, saying it was closer to 11% once employee health insurance costs were factored in.

The union warned of a strike when school begins this fall if the city does not meet its demands. In 2012, when the last contract was negotiated, members had authorized a start-of-school strike by July.

Lightfoot, who took office in May and inherited more dire budget problems than anticipated, has described her team’s first offer as “robust” and “fair.” She has warned about potential budget shortfalls due to mounting tabs on pensions, labor contracts, and debt payments coming due.

“Since day one of this administration, we have been diligently working for a deal that further supports educators, with our primary focus on enhancing the educational experience of students across the city,” the mayor’s office said in a statement on Friday morning. “As mandated by statute, both parties have agreed to a set timeline for those negotiations, and CPS has continued to adhere to this prescribed process throughout negotiations and throughout two dozen meetings.”

The statement said Lightfoot plans to resolve all issues before the start of the new school year.

In the video, featured educators argue for more social workers and smaller class sizes.

“As a history teacher, there’s a long history of systemic issues in Chicago Public Schools,” said Alison Eichhorn, a teacher at Lindblom Math and Science Academy. The district needs to fix its mistakes, she said.

“And the only way you do that is if you fund public education,” added Leslie Plewa, a teacher at Taft High School.

Watch the video below.

Updated: This story was updated to reflect a statement from the mayor’s office on Friday.

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.

Overwhelmed by paperwork, sick of clocking out: As contract talks pick up, Chicago teachers underscore need for respect

2019-07-08T14:48:17+00:00

As a special education teacher whose daily work can range from teaching non-verbal students, or those with high-functioning autism, Kylene Young feels keenly the need for more school social work and special education supports.

But one of the most frustrating aspects of her job is actually a persistent bureaucratic inconvenience: having to clock in and out every day, despite all the extra hours she spends at home writing individual education plans or prepping assignments.

“It’s the No. 1 gripe teachers have, that we as professionals with salaries have to clock in and out every day,” said Young, who teaches at Westinghouse College Prep, a selective enrollment school in Garfield Park.

The first contract negotiations between the teachers union credited with helping spark the nationwide resurgence in teacher organizing and Chicago’s celebrated new mayor are being closely watched — perhaps by none more closely than their 20,000 teacher and clinician members.

Last week the Chicago Teachers Union rejected Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first offer on pay for teachers — a 14 percent pay raise over five years — and said it wasn’t enough. They also called again for more clinicians and social workers and an investment in support services such as trauma care. (Read more about Lightfoot’s first proposal here.)

But teachers, entering their second week without a contract, aren’t only watching for the bottom line. For them, the gains and losses of the next contract signed between the union and district officials could be the difference between burning out and staying on another year, between feeling respected and feeling like they are just low-wage workers, and clocking in and clocking out.

Several educators interviewed by Chalkbeat said they support the most well-publicized demands of the Chicago Teachers Union, which has a history of aggressive bargaining that helped set the tone for the wave of wildcat strikes that swept the nation in recent years.

Those demands were developed through a series of member surveys last summer, and include having a dedicated special education case manager in every school and hiring more nurses and social workers. But they also want changes that would help them feel less overworked: better mental health supports for educators themselves, additional prep time,, and less paperwork bureaucracy.

Young compared the paperwork necessary to get a student special education services, to earning a Ph.D. “We shouldn’t be forced to jump through hoops to get essential services for kids,” she said.

Special education services were severely cut under the auspices of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool and are now only slowly trickling back as the district’s special education program sits under state supervision.

“I shouldn’t have to write a doctoral thesis on an IEP to get a kid services,” she said, referring to an individualized education program that details the educational goals of a student with disabilities, and the accommodations and services they are entitled to.
Patti Freckleton, a preschool special education teacher at Bateman Elementary, said paperwork was one of the most taxing issues for her, noting, “It can be really daunting and stressful, you are writing IEPs at home late at night.”

For some teachers, the lack of funding in their classroom feels only more acute when compared to the money spent on, for example, contracting Armark for janitorial services despite a record of poor performance.

At McKay Elementary in Chicago Lawn, where Valerie Morris teaches special education, she has to ignore rats and mice that scurry across her classroom floor for fear of scaring the children in her class. “Give us the tools that we can use in order to do the job, and for our children to feel like they are human,” said Morris, who has been at McKay for nearly two decades. “Who wants to see rodents in their school? You wouldn’t want that.”

Other issues bubbled up, too. Several teachers who spoke to Chalkbeat were unhappy with a recent rise in health insurance costs.

Teachers said they also want contract changes that give them more time for collaborating with other educators through dedicated professional development days, or extra prep time.

“We have only three or four days built into the school year,” said Leah Stephens, who teaches music at Sor Juana Elementary School. “I think that is something worth fighting for.”

A school’s union’s delegate is tasked with keeping other teachers at their schools apprised of contract negotiations. Major decisions, like whether or not to authorize a strike or approve individual contract provisions, are decided by the union’s House of Delegates, which is made up of representatives of schools and groups of specialized workers, such as social workers.

Most teachers interviewed said they get their contract updates primarily from union emails, but Lisa Love, a third and fifth grade special education teacher at Hawthorne Scholastic Academy notes that she’d like to hear more from the district, too.

As a member of a teacher advisory council to Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson, Caputo Love said she’s happy that the district has worked to highlight the perspectives of teachers through formal advisory groups. “I have been extremely pleased with some of the big steps CPS has done lately to involve teacher voice,” she said.

For this contract, the union is bargaining in a different political context than it did for its last two contracts, when they were negotiating opposite Rahm Emanuel. The former mayor’s longtime business ties and general disdain for the union (once swearing at its former president during negotiations) made him a formidable but easily caricatured enemy.

Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, ran on a more progressive platform. Several of the teachers Chalkbeat interviewed had voted for her, even though the union had endorsed her opponent, Toni Preckwinkle. Many teachers also have more trust in Janice Jackson than in previous district leaders. That makes the relationship between teachers and leadership less antagonistic than it was in the last two rounds of bargaining.

It has also made some teachers hopeful that they will get their contract demands without a strike, though most of them say they are ready to walk out.

“I think Mayor Lightfoot is going to give us some really key demands to make it really difficult for us to go out on strike. I don’t think it’s going to be enough,” said Emily Penn, a school social worker and union delegate. “If we don’t get the things we need to make our working conditions better, this job is not sustainable.”

On first day without a contract, Chicago Teachers Union turns up volume

2019-07-01T22:22:45+00:00

In their first day without a contract, teachers union officials have gotten louder and more aggressive in threatening a strike in the fall unless negotiations move forward, their latest effort to elicit a public response from Chicago’s new mayor who has remained mostly mum on negotiations.

“We started these negotiations more than six months ago. We’re stuck in neutral,” said Jesse Sharkey, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, at a press conference held at union headquarters on Monday morning. “Mayor Lightfoot’s team has been talking and not acting.”

The contract between the union and the school district expired at midnight Sunday. The most recent bargaining session was held last week.

The union is demanding a 5% pay raise that it argues could be funded by raising taxes on the wealthy; increased benefits; a full-time nurse in every school; trained staff to help students dealing with trauma; and an expansion of existing “community schools” that partner with local groups.

In a written statement, Lightfoot’s team said that it has been bargaining in good faith. “Mayor Lightfoot has been clear from day one about her promise to deliver bold reforms to our public school system that will put equity first,” said Jordan Troy, a representative of the mayor’s office.

The rhetoric from the union echoes the language the group has used in its high-stakes labor disputes throughout the tenure of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. But Lightfoot has differed from her predecessor in calling for some of the things the union has advocated for, such as more resources for South and West side communities and investing in a small but comprehensive youth-based violence prevention program.

But the union leadership has not softened its tone since the changing of the guard.

“This contract represents the promises that the city of Chicago and administration make to the people who run those schools, and right now we are not seeing any commitment in writing,” Sharkey said Monday.

Under state law the union can strike only on pay and working conditions, even while asking for changes to class sizes and evaluation methods.

Sharkey said that since the union negotiated its last contract, under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in the fall of 2016, the group’s 20,000 members have seen spending freezes in their classrooms and furloughs following the statewide budget stalemate in February 2017, and a hike in health insurance costs.

To compensate for those cuts, he wants to fund teacher raises by taxing wealthy Chicagoans. “I am not going to apologize for asking for a good raise,” he said.

A mediator and a fact-finder both are already involved in the negotiations. The next step to pressure the mayor could be a strike authorization vote, which the union’s House of Delegates would authorize.

Despite the union’s heated rhetoric, it is not pushing for a showdown as quickly as it did in 2012. Then, by June 11, 90% of teachers voting had authorized a strike. On Sept. 10 that year they walked out.

The union said Monday that it expects negotiations to continue this week.

Here are 7 big ways that Chicago school board meetings are changing

2019-06-26T17:06:03+00:00

At its first monthly meeting Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s newly appointed school board promised to change how the board does its business.

In opening remarks, board President Miguel Del Valle thanked Lightfoot, praised fellow board members, and urged them to not be a rubber-stamp board, and to debate and challenge each other.

To that point, he announced several changes to how board meetings are run, which he said would make meetings longer. Here are seven ways school board meetings could change.

Meetings will include a period for board members to discuss public agenda items before they cast votes in closed session.
Board members will vote earlier than before, after the public comment period and before they meet in executive session.
New rules and policies scheduled for a board vote would have to be posted a month prior for public review and comment. This change will go for a board vote in July.
Translation will be provided at every board meeting.
The board will begin live streaming meetings starting next month.
New board committees chaired by members will be established to focus on specific educational policy issues.
The board will begin holding periodic board meetings in the community, outside the Loop, later in the day to engage more community members.

“We will attempt to strike a balance between deeper engagement and efficiency with the goal of increasing our transparency,” Del Valle said.

When Lightfoot announced the new board in early June, she pledged that it would cease doing much of its business behind doors, referring to the board’s practice of long holding closed-door deliberations before voting on major decisions.

“The days where everything was done in executive session, and then they come out and take a vote, that’s over,” she said.

Del Valle said that the board won’t discuss public agenda items in closed session, but will still discuss privately issues related to attorney selection, real estate, discipline and personnel.

Chicago school board weighs changes to controversial school rating policy

2019-06-24T21:54:50+00:00

Chicago Public Schools has proposed tweaking its school rating policy to reflect how well elementary schools prepare students for high school and how well high schools help students plan life after graduation — and the district also will finally grade dozens of specialty high schools that had lacked rating systems.

The district determines schools’ ratings according to its School Quality Rating Policy, a formula based on academic achievement, growth and other factors like attendance and school climate surveys.

The newly reconstituted Chicago Board of Education is scheduled to consider the updated policy at its first monthly meeting, on Wednesday. Mayor Lori Lightfoot dismissed the previous board and in early June appointed new members, led by former city clerk and former state senator Miguel Del Valle as president.

The district published a draft of the proposal Monday along with the board meeting agenda.

The updated rating formula, forged under the old board appointed by Lightfoot’s predecessor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, introduces a new metric to elementary school ratings known as “3-8 On-Track” that factors in attendance and grades in core subjects for students in grades 3 through 8. The indicator, meant to assess whether students are “on track” to succeed in high school, would account for 10% of a schools’ rating.

The proposed rating formula would also add a new metric to high school ratings — the percent of students who with their school’s help have completed a postsecondary plan. Chicago’s 2-year-old “Learn. Plan. Succeed.” program requires high school students to map out their post-graduation lives, with support from school counselors, whether they’re moving on to college, work, the military, or an apprenticeship. The portion of students filling out those plans would account for 2.5% of a school’s rating.

Additionally, the district for the first time has developed a formal rating system for non-traditional high schools, including schools located inside correctional facilities, occupational academies and other specialty schools that exclusively serve youth with disabilities and students in special education. The district also updated its rating system for alternative or “Options” high schools.

Chicago rates schools according to a five-tier system: Level 1-plus and Level 1 designate the highest-performing schools; Level 2-plus schools are considered in average or “good standing,” while Level 2 describes below-average-performing schools in need of more support; and Level 3, the lowest performance rating, denotes schools placed on probation.

The ratings, which are heavily reliant on test scores, factor strongly into families’ enrollment choices, and the district uses them to determine which schools need more support. Critics argue that the ratings correlate more with socioeconomic status and race than they do school quality, and say little about what’s happening in classrooms and how kids are learning. The ratings also provoke angst in the district — because they have also been used to justify ousting school leaders, shuttering schools, and opening replacement schools intended to provide students better options.

Here’s the new school rating policy proposal

As citizenship question swirls, Illinois early childhood advocates gear up for another census challenge

2019-06-18T21:53:00+00:00

The U.S. Supreme Court is actively weighing a proposed change to the U.S. census that would likely result in immigrants going uncounted. In Illinois, early childhood advocates are also fretting over a different group that has long been undercounted: babies and toddlers.

If young children are not accurately counted, the state could end up with too little money to spend on nutrition, early education, health insurance, and Head Start programs for children. Plus, because census data is used to plan where schools and other facilities are built, undercounting children could lead to school capacity that does not match community needs.

The citizenship question that the Trump administration is trying to add to the census would likely deter immigrant families from completing the census. It’s less clear why young children — ages 0 to 4 — have long been the most undercounted group in the U.S.

At a meeting Monday of the state’s Early Learning Council, a group of early education leaders from across Illinois, advocates called on nonprofits, organizers, government, and early childhood educators to play an active role in getting families to complete the 2020 census.

Doing so would give the state its best shot at having an accurate tally of young children, the advocates said — and could prevent Illinois from losing yet another Congressional seat because of declining population.

Tracy Occomy Crowder, senior organizer at Community Organizing and Family Issues, a Chicago nonprofit working with low-income families, was at the meeting and said she came away wanting to use her organization’s resources and connections with families to prepare for the 2020 Census. But she said her team doesn’t yet know how to solve the census problem.

“Our first order of business is to understand why is this happening,” Crowder said. “What are we really dealing with here in terms of why the little ones are being undercounted? And then we can craft our strategy.”

In 2010, the census missed an estimated 10 percent of children ages 0 to 4, according to research from Count All Kids and Partnership for America’s Children, two groups working to improve census accuracy. Children are most likely to go uncounted when their primary caregiver isn’t a biological or adopted parent — a reality for many children in Illinois.

“Children are the most undercounted in the state which is why it’s important for ELC to pay attention,” Phyllis Glink, co-chair of the Early Learning Council, said at the meeting. “This is an issue that will affect us in dramatic ways. Think about how your networks and your avenues can get engaged.”

City Council education chair promises more public meetings, increased involvement in Chicago schools

2019-06-13T15:56:26+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is intent on shaking up key leadership in Chicago’s City Council — appointing an education committee chair who promises to be more hands-on than his predecessor.

Under the previous mayor, the committee weighed in on the city’s school system only infrequently. But the new chair, Michael Scott Jr., a West Side alderman, told Chalkbeat he wants to take a more active role in district oversight. Among the ways he plans to deliver on that promise: more frequent committee meetings — and more pressure on district leadership to be there to answer questions from city officials and the public.

“It will be almost like a board meeting,” he said, “but more informational.”

Scott, whose 24th Ward includes parts of the North Lawndale, Austin, and West Garfield Park communities, said he’s met with Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson and her counterpart in the city’s community college system. They discussed his vision for the education committee and how he can bring more attention to the successes — and shortcomings — of public education in Chicago, according to Scott.
Related: Chicago schools equity chief promises new decision-making tool this summer

Scott, first elected in 2015, replaces Alderman Howard Brookins as education committee chair. He is a district graduate and has three children at Chicago Public Schools. Scott’s father, Michael Scott Sr., did three stints on Chicago Board of Education from 1980 to 2009, serving twice as the body’s president, a title he held when he died a decade ago.

“I hope when everything is said and done that I’m able to affect change like he did,” Scott said.

Scott recently spoke with Chalkbeat about his new role and how City Hall, even without control over hiring, firing, budgets and decision-making at Chicago Public Schools, can take a more hands-on approach at the school district.

City Council doesn’t have legal power to make the school district do much, right?

We don’t. They have their own board. The board is appointed by the mayor. There’s not very much we can do. But people want to know what’s going on with their educational system, what issues are arising there, and if we bring them before council I’m sure we’ll get answers.

It is then up to us as a body, if their answers aren’t sufficient, to bring them back [to the committee]. Or the mayor that appoints the CEO and board, as of now, making sure that she gets those answers for us. (Editor’s note: Mayor Lightfoot has said she supports an elected school board.)

Why is the education committee taking a more active role now? In November, there was a committee meeting about the district’s sexual abuse scandal — six months after news of it broke — and schools chief Janice Jackson didn’t show up.

If the mayor is calling for more transparency and the mayor is the one who appoints the CEO, then I would suspect that the CEO would want to live up to the expectations put forth by the mayor.

How do you see the education committee’s role changing under your leadership?

In the short time that I’ve been in City Council, the education committee hasn’t met that often. I hope my role can be to advocate for issues that folks in the community are passionate about or want to get more information about, and be able to be that platform for Chicago Public Schools or City Colleges to get out that information.

You recently met with schools chief Janice Jackson. What issues did you tell her the education committee might want to bring more attention to?

Early education. Special education. Things around security in and around the schools, and school resource officers. Budgets, so folks know what money is being spent on what resources, and how effective CPS is [managing] those things. CPS partnerships with the city colleges and how to get more people into more four-year universities, and if not, into these two-year colleges and making sure once they do that they graduate.

What’s one issue you’d personally like to see addressed?

For me, the issue of where school resource officers are, and making sure that schools that really need them have them. There’s a big list of where they should be and they aren’t always there. In my ward, I have an area that is besieged by crime, and oftentimes we want to make sure that crime doesn’t filter over into the schools. I’m not saying it does all the time, but just in case.

We want to know where those school resource officers are, where they should be, what budget are they coming out of, and are they doing the job that’s best for the school they are assigned to.

What about special education? The state has stepped in to deal with some problems with the district’s Diverse Learners program.

My baby has autism; he’s on the spectrum, so I’m really passionate about CPS’ Diverse Learners program. That is something you will hear me talk about.

Have you ever had any personal issues with getting services?

Not personally, because he’s at a therapeutic day school. So not at the moment, but I hear about issues people have had about getting their child in a program, and it hasn’t always been a pretty picture. If I can help in that area — for selfish reasons as well as making sure folks don’t go through that — I’d like to.

For one undocumented student in Chicago, graduation marks both hard work and years of uncertainty

2019-06-11T15:43:28+00:00

Itzayanna didn’t even glance at the models of human intestinal systems stacked on bookshelves or the open-mouthed medical dummies on stretchers as she delivered a presentation about Down Syndrome, a final project in her health care class.

The presentation was one of the last hurdles separating Itzayanna and graduating from high school, enrolling in college, and, she hoped, one day becoming a pediatric nurse. But being able to focus had not only kept her from becoming distracted by the medical models — it had also propelled her to the top of her class as her ambitions were buffeted by political winds.

Like thousands of students finishing high school this year across the country, Itzayanna is undocumented, and she is graduating into one of the most supportive, and yet one of the most uncertain, times to be an immigrant student.

“At this point, the sky is the limit,” said Itzayanna. “I have a big heart, and no one can say or do anything to take that away from me.” (To protect her identity, Itzayanna asked Chalkbeat not to use her last name.)

When Itzayanna began ninth grade at North-Grand High School, President Barack Obama had recently created DACA, a program that allows some young undocumented immigrants to apply for work permits. She applied for and received DACA status, giving her the right to work legally on top of being able to receive state funds for college, a privilege Illinois lawmakers had extended to undocumented immigrants in 2011.

But over her four years in high school, she watched optimism fade after Donald Trump became president and began carrying out his campaign promises to ratchet up immigration enforcement. That effort has included trying multiple times to phase out the DACA program, though multiple courts have stalled the move. Efforts to create a federal DREAM Act that would give undocumented students access to federal financial aid, also a longtime aim for activists under the Obama administration, continued to hit a brick wall.

“There is a big sense of the fear, of the unknown,” said Arturo Fuentes, who was a counselor at Itzayanna’s school last year and now works at a high school in a heavily immigrant suburb northwest of Chicago. “A lot of our students go their whole lives not knowing they are undocumented. Then they realize ‘I’m about to graduate high school. … I need to get out of the shadows.’”

For Itzayanna, the journey out of the shadows came through her school’s Dreamers club. Named after the national movement to draw attention to undocumented students’ exclusion from work and federal financial aid after college, students in the club meet regularly to talk about current events, support each other, and even help sponsor a scholarship named after a mentor teacher’s deceased daughter.

The rise of the Dreamer movement, which took off in Chicago in 2008, normalized the reality of being openly undocumented. But as part of the Dreamer club, she still found herself explaining her status to the outside world.

“A lot of classmates ask me — do you have a work permit? How did you come here?” Itzayanna said. And when Trump became president, she said she told her friends: “If I get deported, it’s going to be OK. I don’t want you to cry for me. If it ever happened, I have to be ready and you have to be ready.”

Chicago Public Schools doesn’t track the immigration status of students, but many students come from immigrant families and among those many are undocumented. The district pays for English instruction for students who need it, but counselors — who are in short supply across the city — carry responsibility for helping undocumented students navigate their complex situations.

“There is a lot of support with the financial burden of paying for school,” Fuentes said. “But the social-emotional piece is lacking.”

At North-Grand, Principal Emily Feltes said she wants undocumented students to feel backed by a strong community. “I want to build a network of people they feel supported by,” she said.

For Itzayanna, those people have included Fuentes and teachers like Nana Bonsu, who has taught her in health care courses since ninth grade.

“I have seen her grow from a student that needs the attention and approval of an adult to a place of more independent thought,” Bonsu said, “She has a lot of respect for her classmates, and is highly opinionated, in the right manner.”

Itzayanna’s time in high school has also been marked by working hard, really hard, to excel in her courses. She interviewed for and landed a place in the career technical education medical track while taking a series of Advanced Placement classes and competing in contests for high school students who aspire to work in medicine.

“There was a day when I was going to school seven days a week: five days a week here [the high school], and on the weekends at my CNA [certified nursing assistant] school,” she said. “Getting up early, long hours.”

She is hoping that even as the status of immigrants like her under the Trump administration is precarious, her path will depart from her older sister’s. Her sister received DACA too close to her own graduation and wasn’t able to apply for financial aid, and their parents, a mechanic and a laundry worker, couldn’t pay for college. She dropped out.

Itzayanna will graduate this month knowing that she can afford at least the first two years of college. She secured her a scholarship to Arrupe, a two-year program at Loyola University that aims to graduate minority, low-income, and undocumented students without any debt. From there, she plans to become a pediatric nurse.

Through it all, Itzayanna plans to wear a bracelet with a monarch butterfly, long a symbol for migration despite all odds, that Fuentes gave her. “It was to remind her that I needed her to fly, and I felt that she was more than prepared to fly,” he said.

“The school really has prepared me to be ready to go,” Itzayanna said. “They gave me my wings, and I’m ready to fly.”

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.’”