Chalkbeat

Chicago’s pre-K expansion fueled by federal COVID recovery money

2024-01-29T23:23:50+00:00

Public preschool has been a lifeline for Kristen Larson.

Larson and her husband couldn’t afford private day care for both their daughters, who are 4 and 1. So last fall, when Larson was able to get a preschool seat just four blocks from their Bridgeport home for her 4-year-old, she was relieved.

Without that, she said, “I probably would have had to quit my job.”

Thousands of Chicago parents like Larson depend on the district’s free public preschool program, which has been expanding over the past five years. This year, the district has 16,062 full-day seats for 4-year-olds and another 7,300 half-day seats for both 3- and 4-year-olds, a spokesperson said. That expansion was possible in part because of tens of millions of dollars in temporary federal COVID relief money, according to data obtained by Chalkbeat through a Freedom of Information Act request.

But the federal relief funds will run out next school year, raising a critical question: How will the district continue funding universal preschool?

Since July 1, 2020, Chicago Public Schools had spent close to $700 million on pre-K programs through the end of last school year, including new summer initiatives and programs for children under the age of 3, according to district budget records. It has budgeted another $262.7 million for this fiscal year, which covers the current school year. Of all of that funding, COVID relief dollars have so far covered about 14% of those costs, or $137 million, most of which went toward employee salaries, according to expense data obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request.

Chicago is slated to receive a total $2.8 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, dollars which districts could use broadly to help students and schools recover from the pandemic, and had spent $2.4 billion as of mid-November. The district has used the bulk of the money to fund existing costs, such as employee salaries. It has also launched new programs, such as TutorCorps, expanded summer school, and purchased new technology.

CPS officials said it used federal dollars to help expand pre-K — and sustain it — because it didn’t have enough state funding to do so, and creating more seats was a district priority.

Studies have found that kids who attended preschool are more likely to have higher test scores, were less likely to be disciplined, have better employment outcomes, and are less likely to be involved with crime.

CPS has steadily reduced its reliance on COVID relief dollars for pre-K over the past four years, increasing spending of district dollars on early childhood programs by $6 million this year, officials said. And observers are expecting the state to increase funding for early childhood education. Last week the Illinois State Board of Education proposed a budget that would increase the state’s Early Childhood Block Grant – which helps cover the district’s pre-K program – by $75 million.

But as federal funds dry up, the district is grappling with how to avoid cuts while also plugging a projected $391 million budget deficit next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That includes figuring out how to cover the cost of pre-K with local or more state dollars.

Asked if the district is considering cutting pre-K seats or laying off teachers in order to save money, district officials said they were not ready to comment on that. But neither is their first choice; the district is pushing the state for more money.

“Chicago Public Schools is committed to ensuring that every 4-year-old in Chicago has the opportunity to attend free preschool to develop valuable academic and social-emotional skills and experiences,” said Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for the district, in a statement.

Preschool expansion plan predates pandemic

In 2018, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel pledged to open a pre-K seat for every 4-year-old in Chicago before announcing he would not seek a third term. It would mean big shifts for the city’s preschool system, which included a mix of half- and full-day programs at public schools and in community-based programs that served 3- and 4-year-olds.

Emanuel’s promise was picked up by his successor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who set a goal to make pre-K for 4-year-olds universal by this year.

Since 2019, CPS has added 1,950 new preschool spots, district officials said.

But even as the district has expanded pre-K, enrollment has been fluctuating amid the COVID pandemic and as Chicago continues to see birth rates decline.

Enrollment initially grew – from 12,900 4-year-olds in the 2018-19 school year to 14,300 the fall before the pandemic – and then plummeted by 34%, to about 9,500 students in the 2020-21 school year.

This school year, just over 13,000 4-year-olds were in pre-K at CPS schools.

The district has reached universal demand in nearly all Chicago communities, said Leslie McKinily, the district’s chief of early childhood education.

As of September, when the district officially counted enrollment, 75% of all pre-K seats were filled, according to the district. That has grown to 81% as of last week, McKinily said. The district’s goal is 85% because officials want to have spots available for new families throughout the year, McKinily said.

CPS does not have plans to open more pre-K spots, but McKinily’s team is looking to see where they need to “right-size.” For example, she said, the city has not met the demand for pre-K seats in the North Side neighborhood of West Ridge. But there are other parts of the city where pre-K seats are going unfilled.

“We’re really thinking about right now, do we have our programs in the right spaces? And how do we ensure that the programming meets the needs of the community?” McKinily said.

Chicago shrinks reliance on federal COVID dollars for pre-K

Over the past four years, pre-K instruction accounted for the third largest use of the district’s COVID relief dollars, behind reducing class sizes for grades K-3 and spending on administrative costs related to federal relief funding, according to the data obtained by Chalkbeat.

Nearly all of the spending of COVID relief dollars on pre-K – about $130 million – went towards employee salaries, pensions, and benefits, according to the data. When looking at all expenses related to pre-K, including separate line items for pre-K students with disabilities, the district spent a total $137 million in the relief funds.

Pre-K programs in Chicago are mostly funded through state dollars as part of Illinois’ Early Childhood Block Grant. The program is also funded by some local taxpayer dollars and other federal money unrelated to COVID relief funding.

District officials said a portion of the federal COVID recovery money went toward early childhood programs outside of the regular school day, including a new summer program called Preview to Pre-K.

A spokesperson provided an additional breakdown of budget figures to show how much was being spent directly on daily preschool instruction during the school year. It showed the district spent nearly $590 million from the fall of 2020 through the 2022-23 school year and about 13% came from ESSER dollars, according to CPS. In that time period, state funding grew by just $3 million.

The data show the district has cut down on its use of ESSER funding in that time period while boosting local dollars.

Theresa Hawley, executive director of the Center for Early Learning Funding Equity at Northern Illinois University who previously worked on early childhood education initiatives in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration, said Chicago officials assumed “with decent enough reason” before the pandemic that the state would pump more money into the block grant and allow them to continue opening more pre-K seats.

Pritzker is a longtime champion of early childhood education and has promised to make universal preschool more accessible across Illinois.

But in 2020, the pandemic put “a wrench in that plan” when Pritzker decided not to increase block grant funding, Hawley said. Illinois, as well as state governments across the country, worried about how the public health crisis would impact local resources as the economy slowed down.

When the federal government sent billions of COVID relief dollars to school districts, CPS decided to spend a chunk of its share to expand pre-K in absence of more state dollars, district officials said. Officials continued to invest in expansion efforts even after enrollment dropped in 2020.

“We did monitor and adjust our enrollment expansion throughout the pandemic,” McKinily said.

Still, district officials said that pre-K expansion was one of several priorities that “couldn’t wait.” The federal dollars have also helped CPS pay for existing pre-K costs, staving off budget deficits.

As the district used federal funds on pre-K in recent years, one Logan Square mother enrolled both of her sons in preschool at their neighborhood school. The program saved the family from shelling out tens of thousands of dollars in day care costs, said the mother, whose name Chalkbeat is withholding because of concerns over immigration status.

She’s currently seeing pre-K’s impact on her younger son, who is 4. For example, he used to try to snatch toys from his older brother because he couldn’t wait to play with them. But after learning how to take turns in pre-K, her son now says to his brother, “When you’re done, can I play with it?”

The mother was surprised to learn that the district used emergency funding toward pre-K. But she thinks it was the right decision.

“They have to allocate money to keep the program going,” she said, saying she is concerned about what will happen if the district can’t find extra money.

“Day care is very expensive in Chicago, and I see how important it is to have early childhood education,” she said. “And if it’s only available to people who can afford to send your child to fee-based preschool, then it’s not equitable to children.”

What lies ahead for pre-K?

Fiscal watchdogs have warned districts against using temporary federal dollars for a program they want to keep permanently, such as pre-K. Doing so can result in painful cuts that can affect children and families, so such spending decisions should come alongside lots of planning for the future, said Joe Ferguson, Chicago’s former inspector general who is now the executive director of Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government watchdog group.

“Obviously, no one’s going to say pre-K education [or] early childhood support is not an important priority,” Ferguson said. “But if it’s an important priority, then the work should have been done already – certainly needs to be done now – to identify where the revenue stream is going to come [from] to maintain it.”

Chicago isn’t alone. In New York City, former Mayor Bill de Blasio used COVID relief funds to expand his signature universal pre-K program for 3-year-olds without a plan for how to pay for those seats once the federal funds ran out. His successor, Mayor Eric Adams, halted the program’s expansion and recently proposed slashing $170 million in early childhood programming, which includes preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has signaled an opposite approach, saying on the campaign trail that he wanted “child care for all” and would lobby Pritzker to increase early childhood education funding.

Last year, Pritzker proposed a four-year plan that aims to expand early childhood.

The state increased the Early Childhood Block Grant this year by $75 million, of which nearly $28 million went straight to Chicago Public Schools, as required by state law. Pritzker has not yet proposed a budget for next fiscal year, but the Illinois State Board of Education is proposing another $75 million increase.

District officials have said that more state funding for K-12 would also help. CPS, like other districts, is on a ramp toward “adequate” state funding and is $1.4 billion short of that goal, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

Elliot Regenstein, partner at law firm Foresight Law and Policy and an advocate for early childhood education who helped launch the state’s Preschool for All program under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said maintaining pre-K funding in the future depends on leadership.

“To some degree, all of those sustainability plans are just a hope and a guess that when the one-time funding runs out, that whoever is in charge at that moment will make decisions that carry on the momentum of those one-time funds,” Regenstein said.

He said Chicago’s decision to invest in pre-K, even with temporary dollars, is backed by research that shows it’s beneficial for children.

“The pandemic has had an impact on all children,” Regenstein said. “I think it’s great that CPS looked at its data and said ….we can’t ignore the kids who haven’t even entered kindergarten yet and we believe that if we invest in those kids it will help set them on a positive trajectory.”

Larson, the mother from Bridgeport, agreed. She said much of her daughter’s first years were during the pandemic and in social isolation. Pre-K has helped her make new friends, on top of learning about letters and numbers.

“Sometimes you need to be investing in a program to make it a program that you want people to send their children to,” she said.

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

Mayor Lightfoot appoints a juvenile-justice official and former charter leader to Chicago school board

2023-03-03T20:36:34+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot appointed a probation official and former charter network chairman to the Chicago Board of Education, her last appointment before her term comes to an end after she lost her bid for reelection.

Miquel A. Lewis, a current acting director of Probation Services at the Cook County Juvenile Probation and Court Services Department, is replacing Sendhil Revuluri, who stepped down in December, according to a press release from the mayor’s office.

Lewis trains graduate students and professionals pursuing education certifications, and serves on the state Supreme Court Committee on Juvenile Courts, according to the press release.

He formerly served as a chairman of the Noble Network of Charter Schools.

It’s unclear how long Lewis will serve on the board before new appointments are made by the next mayor.

“As a trained Behavioral Health Practitioner, I look forward to sharing my expertise and experiences as a resource to center our work on the emotional wellbeing and academic success of our students,” Lewis said in a prepared statement.

Lewis received his doctorate in clinical psychology and his master’s in counseling psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. He has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Southern Illinois University

Lightfoot said in a statement that Lewis’ “years of experience serving young people who are impacted by other institutions will be a great asset to our board and will benefit our students and teachers.”

Revuluri was appointed to the board in 2019.

In announcing his departure in December, Revuluri lauded fellow board members for their work navigating the pandemic and the road to recovery, while also sounding alarms about the financial solvency of the district and its future as it begins transitioning to an elected school board in 2025.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@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.

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.

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.

Chicago Mayor Lightfoot’s campaign faces another watchdog investigation into emails recruiting students

2023-01-24T21:22:58+00:00

Chicago’s Board of Ethics is calling for a deeper investigation into emails sent by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection campaign to public school teachers and city college staffers soliciting student volunteers in exchange for class credit.

Board of Ethics members voted unanimously Monday to refer the complaint against the mayor’s campaign to the city’s Inspector General and Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General. The district’s watchdog has already opened an investigation.

The dual inquiries come after Lightfoot’s deputy campaign manager emailed Chicago Public Schools teachers on their work email accounts seeking student volunteers for her re-election campaign in exchange for school credit. The campaign also sent similar emails in the fall to staff at City Colleges, prompting a warning for the community college system’s ethics department.

The emails came to light in a WTTW story and quickly drew condemnation from elected officials, teachers, and challengers in the city’s Feb. 28 mayoral election . Lightfoot is seeking a second term as mayor.

The vote to refer the complaint to the city’s Inspector General and Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General happened after a closed-door executive session. Now, each inspector general will decide whether the mayor’s campaign emails violated city or school district ethic codes.

The board received a complaint on Jan. 12, which alleged a candidate’s campaign “violated the Ordinance’s gift and prohibited political activity provisions by sending emails asking to governmental employees at their official governmental email addresses,” according to a summary posted Tuesday.

Prior to Monday’s meeting, the board’s monthly agenda did not include the specifics of the case or the subject of the investigation. Following the vote, Chair William Conlon said with most complaints, the board doesn’t yet know if it’s factual or not and therefore, can’t rule on whether there was actually an ethics violation.

“Factual investigations are conducted by the inspector general,” Conlon said. “Those investigations then form the factual basis for this board’s determination and action.”

In a series of three statements on Jan 11, the Lightfoot campaign initially said the request for student volunteers was “common practice,” then said it would alert staff that “a solid wall must exist between campaign and official activities.” The next day, Lightfoot said the staffer made a “mistake” but would not be fired, instead calling it a “teachable moment” for the young staffer.

In an email statement to Chalkbeat Tuesday afternoon, the mayor’s campaign again said the emails to city employees were a mistake.

“While our campaign legal team has asserted that these organizing efforts were legal and did not violate any ethics ordinance, we have halted any such recruitment efforts,” a campaign spokesperson said in the statement.

The city’s Office of the Inspector General and Chicago Public Schools’ investigative arm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Office of Inspector General Deborah Witzburg told the Sun-Times the investigations were confidential and they were limited in making public statements regarding their work. Still, she noted that in her view, “the abuse of an official position for political gain has no place in Chicago.”

Without addressing the specific complaint, the Board of Ethics has advised public officials, candidates for public office, and their entities to scrub their email lists of any government email addresses, Conlon said during Monday’s meeting.

“We have in the past sent notices to public officials throughout the city and given them advice on matters that we consider important in understanding and complying with the ethics ordinance,” Conlon said.

The board also advises candidates and anyone affiliated with those candidates “that emails and other forms of solicitation may be considered coercive if directed to city employees and or those employed by sister city agencies,” Conlon added.

Lightfoot’s previously said her campaign would cooperate with any investigation.

“There was zero, zero, zero coordination, coercion, or anything else between the campaign and CPS on this issue,” Lightfoot said earlier this month.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Mayor disputes union claims that she interfered with parental leave policy for Chicago schools

2023-01-18T23:26:03+00:00

Facing mounting criticism from the Chicago Teachers Union, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday that allegations she halted a policy to expand paid parental leave benefits to staff at Chicago Public Schools were “baseless and untrue.”

The mayor and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez sent separate letters on Tuesday to union President Stacy Davis Gates asking the union to meet and negotiate over the policy.

The dispute over parental leave is the latest between the union and the mayor, who have had a fraught relationship since before Lightfoot was elected in 2019. Labor tensions have prompted an 11-day strike, and two actions during the height of the COVID pandemic. Speaking at City Hall on Wednesday, union vice president Jackson Potter said their disputes have become a pattern.

“With this mayor, something that should become a cakewalk is always a dogfight,” Potter said.

The new city policy, approved in September, extends parental leave for about 32,000 city employees to 12 weeks, up from the previous policy of up to six weeks. The policy took effect on Jan. 1.

But the extension does not apply to Chicago Public Schools employees. Sister agencies, including Chicago Public Schools, the Park District, and the Chicago Housing Authority, have been encouraged to adopt the same policy, but Lightfoot’s letter said that for those agencies, the policy change needs to be negotiated separately. The teachers union disagrees.

“I’ll make the proposal right now,” Potter said. “Give us what you gave city workers.”

Chicago Teachers Union members said that the union had been working with the district to roll out its own changes to the existing family leave policy. But they claimed that Lightfoot was the one who stood in the way.

The union posted an update to members on its website in November that said the changes were set for a school board vote in January. But Potter said the union was notified before winter break that the vote would not happen. Union members accused the mayor’s labor relations team of backpedaling in December and placing the policy change on hold indefinitely.

On Wednesday, educators and union organizers delivered 4,000 signatures to the mayor’s office on a petition demanding that Lightfoot extend the policy to school staff.

“Why are you leaving out a division of city workers that is comprised of 80% women?” teacher Alli Soldner asked. “Do our babies not deserve that same bond? Do I not deserve that same time to heal? It doesn’t make sense.”

Several aldermen and aldermanic candidates — including Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez (34th), Matt Martin (47th), Jeannette Taylor (20th) — also called on the mayor and Chicago Public Schools to extend the policies to Chicago schoolteachers.

During a separate press conference Tuesday afternoon at Prosser Career Academy, teacher Kassandra Tsitsopoulos, a new mom, described the existing parental leave policy “abysmal” and “medieval,” and added that she had to use all her sick days for leave.

Now, she worries that if she or her child gets sick, she won’t be able to take time off.

“If you want to attract people to the teaching profession, you can’t shortchange people on parental leave,” Tsitsopoulos said.

Teacher Erin Jimenez, a mother of three, said all of her pregnancies were high risk and required bed rest. She called it an emotional and financial burden worrying whether she had enough banked sick days before and after giving birth.

The physical and emotional stress created by the policy is “inhumane,” she added.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said Tuesday that inadequate parental leave policies were an issue facing teachers across the country, not just in Chicago. She criticized the mayor for not including Chicago Public Schools teachers under the policy.

“What we’ve had to do is use collective bargaining and other ways of pushing and prodding employers, because in our field, which is disproportionately female, we have a need for parental leave.” Weingarten said.

Chicago Public Schools said in a statement that it remained committed to exploring an updated parental leave policy, noting that the work was ongoing.

“CPS is taking the necessary time to review our policies and engage the union leadership to bargain over how to best support our team members who are new parents,” a spokesperson said.

The district said it looked forward to working with the union through collective bargaining to develop a revised parental leave policy.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

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.

Nine people are running for Chicago mayor. Here’s a look at their education records.

2023-01-11T22:15:09+00:00

Get the latest news on education and Chicago Public Schools in our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox every weekday.

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.

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.

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.

5 takeaways from the Chicago Teachers Union’s latest policy paper

2022-09-28T14:37:01+00:00

Mandate COVID vaccines. Hire more parents. Electrify all school buses. These are just a few of the proposals the Chicago Teachers Union is putting forward in a sweeping policy paper released today.

The document – “From Pandemic to a Real Path Forward” – is the third version of a policy brief first issued by the union in 2012. That paper – “The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve” – was a first-of-its-kind move from a then-newly elected union leadership team led by the late Karen Lewis and became a roadmap for the union to move beyond bargaining over pay and benefits to advocating for broader political issues, such as affordable housing and violence prevention.

Now, as Chicago Public Schools continues its recovery from the pandemic that upended education and exacerbated pre-existing disparities for Black and Latino students, the union is calling on the district to make long-term investments by fully staffing schools, offering robust art programs, eliminating student-based budgeting, and more. Read the full report here.

“Short-term fixes for ‘recovery’ are not enough to mitigate both the harm of the pandemic and the harm of decades of segregation and disinvestment,” union leaders and some members wrote in the report. “Instead, the path forward requires a long-term commitment to students’ real needs, done in a way that recognizes the fundamental humanity of all students, not just those who happen to live in a select few zip codes.”

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

Require COVID vaccine mandate, other mitigation

In the face of emerging COVID variants, the union is recommending students, staff, families, and visitors entering any school building be vaccinated and boosted, if eligible. The union cited vaccination requirements for other deadly diseases as a reason to implement the requirement for the COVID-19 vaccine. The union also called for masking indoors and randomized testing unless students opt out.

The district has struggled to get students vaccinated. Across all district-run schools, the average school vaccination rate is 39.6%, a drop from May when the average school rate was 44.7%.

Majority Black elementary and high schools had an average vaccination rate of 23%, compared to majority Latino elementary and high schools, which averaged about 48.5%, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

Address student mental health

School districts across the country are grappling with how to deal with the mental health fallout from the pandemic. The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention released a survey in the spring that found 1 in 3 high school students experienced poor mental health during the pandemic. About 44% of students nationwide also reported feeling “persistently sad or hopeless,” according to the survey.

Chicago students have also had to contend with the impact of gun violence. Last year, more than 50 school-aged children were shot and killed and hundreds more were wounded, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Since January, 42 people 17 and younger have been shot and killed this year.

Chicago Public Schools must create school-based mental health clinics staffed by clinicians to address the multiple traumas, the report recommends. School disciplinary policies should be “trauma-informed and supportive,” the union writes.

The union’s recommendations also include: staffing each school with enough social workers and counselors to meet professional standards, training these clinicians in trauma-informed care, and staffing schools with restorative justice coordinators.

The district should also partner with community-based groups already providing mental health services, according to the union.

Put electric school buses and solar panels at every school

Chicago Public Schools has over $3 billion in deferred maintenance of buildings, some of which are nearly 150 years old. In the report, the union calls for long-range planning to prioritize capital improvements to campuses and building maintenance.

The union calls on the district to incorporate green building initiatives such as expanding solar panels to all school buildings and to train students in solar technology as part of an expansion of a solar manufacturing career technical education program. The CTE program could help train students to build and install solar panels at every school, according to the union’s vision.

Beyond the classroom, the union is also calling on the district to use clean energy by adopting a fleet of electric school buses. Funding for electric school buses could come from the recently passed bipartisan federal infrastructure bill and Illinois’s new climate and equitable jobs act.

The electric fleet, the union says, would help reduce carbon emission and reduce health consequences associated with diesel pollution.

Guarantee every school a librarian, nurse, counselor, and technology coordinator

The union’s initial policy paper in 2012 demanded CPS increase the number of counselors, nurses, social workers, and psychologists. This was a key issue – and win – during the latest round of bargaining in 2019. Building off the district’s agreement to ensure every school has one social worker and one nurse, the union is adding positions it deems essential: librarians and technology coordinators.

The goal, the union says, is to provide more individualized support to every student.

Key to guaranteeing every school has these positions, the union says, is funding them centrally, not from school budgets and regardless of enrollment. This is how district officials currently fund principals, for example.

Convert vacant schools to mental health clinics and affordable housing

There are dozens of vacant, boarded-up former schools across Chicago, most of them shuttered in 2013. The district put several up for sale and some were purchased by nonprofits, private schools, or developers, who converted them to luxury apartments.

But the majority remain vacant.

The union puts forward two ideas for reuse: Reopen mental health clinics shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel or turn them into affordable housing. At least one of the vacant school buildings – the former Von Humboldt school – was sold with the understanding it would become affordable housing for teachers. The project has stalled several times, but appears to be moving forward again.

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

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

On Chicago’s first day of school, a mix of enthusiasm and jitters

2022-08-22T23:44:02+00:00

Outside Falconer Elementary school on Chicago’s Northwest side shortly after 7:30 a.m., fourth grader Sebastian Benitez beamed with pride as he shook hands with Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Surrounded by his mom and younger siblings, the politics lover dressed in a blue polo and sweater said he hoped to get straight As, after bringing home one B last year.

“I’m going to try to boost that up,” he said. “I’m going to try to do better.”

Like Benitez, Lightfoot and her hand-picked schools CEO Pedro Martinez are hoping for a better year, after two tumultuous ones navigating the pandemic’s massive disruption to learning.

“I expect this to be one of the CPS strongest years ever,” Martinez said during a mid-morning press conference at Excel Academy of South Shore, an alternative school on the South Side.

The district is pledging to redouble efforts to have the recovery year officials hoped for last year, before COVID surges, staffing challenges, and other issues emerged.

Martinez will soon outline a three-year blueprint for the district that aims to strengthen neighborhood schools, career and technical education, services for students with disabilities, and more.

Despite notable challenges, Martinez said he and his team were working to ensure student safety, up-to-date COVID-19 protocols, and providing students with high quality teachers and staff.

Staffing challenges still linger

According to publicly available data, there are roughly 3,000 additional positions district wide compared to pre-pandemic and more dollars for professional development.

However, not all additional positions are filled. As of Monday, Martinez said the district had 900 vacant teacher positions districtwide, an uptick from last year when it had 600.

“We’re in a much better place than last year,” Martinez said, while acknowledging that hiring is ongoing. “We’re still hiring bus drivers. We’re still hiring custodial staff. We’re still hiring crossing guards.”

The district is planning to deploy long-term substitutes, Martinez added.

The tenor of the first day of classes also signaled a more cordial tone between district leadership and the teachers union.

Outside Back of the Yards College Preparatory High School, Chicago Teachers Union leaders and members suggested a new era of more cooperation with the district is within reach.

“There’s a great opportunity for setting a fresh start,” said Rebecca Martinez, the union’s director of organizing. “I think that’s what’s wonderful about the beginning of a school year.”

Others spoke about the difficulties of filling some vacant positions, particularly for educators and support staff who work with students with disabilities and English language learners.

Maggie Slavin, a teacher starting her second year at Back of the Yards, said the high school is entering the new school year fully staffed with special education educators and paraprofessionals. But she worries that’s not the case at all CPS schools. She urged district officials to streamline and speed up the process for hiring and onboarding new staff.

Music teacher Felix Ponce called on the district to deliver on promises to invest in more equitable access to arts education — an issue he said the district and union leaders should tackle together.

Recent Back of the Yards graduate Britney Quiroz, now a student at New York University, urged leaders to stay tuned in to what students are telling them they need — and encouraged fellow students to get involved.

“Student voice is crucial to the growth of our community,” said Quiroz. “The youth are gifted with the ability to reimagine.”

Some students face bus rides longer than an hour

Over the summer, district officials took steps to avoid busing issues that last year left students waiting for rides that sometimes never came. Martinez admitted Monday that hundreds of students are still facing bus rides that are more than an hour each way.

Union president Stacy Davis Gates alluded to those challenges during a speech at the City Club, noting that some children with disabilities will need to ride the school bus “for hours,” she said.

Despite a national shortage of bus drivers, the district has managed to route over 15,600 students across CPS. It continues to work to hire more drivers by increasing hourly wages, offering alternative modes of transportations such as taxis, and monthly stipends for parents.

Families who made transportation requests after July will need to wait a few weeks. About 80% of routes were under an hour, but Martinez noted that he was looking at a percentage of routes that are longer and would be looking at opportunities for improvements to those longer commutes.

“I ask families to be patient with us,” Martinez said. “Give us a couple of weeks. There’s going to be opportunities for us to get more efficient on the routes.”

Safety concerns heightened after mass shootings, city violence

Davis Gates offered a starkly different take on the state of Chicago Public Schools than Martinez in his own City Club address last week, when the CPS chief said the pandemic had disrupted but not broken a district on the rise — with record graduation rates and rapid academic growth.

Davis Gates said a decade of school closures and experiments in education reform and school turnarounds had failed students.

“We should all be disappointed in ourselves,” she said. “That’s an F.”

Offering up an alternative to Martinez’s yet-to-be-released blueprint, Davis Gates said the union would advocate for beefing up arts and athletic programs, and expanding the sustainable community schools model, in which campuses partner with community organizations to offer students added support.

Martinez and Lightfoot touted the steps the district plans to take this year to support students’ mental health and get them re-engaged in school.

While the festive mood filled schools, some parents said school safety weighed heavily in their minds following the mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas and Highland Park earlier this year.

Jonathan Martinez and Natasha Alcedo, parents of a fifth grade Falconer student, were nervous about the “unfortunate” shootings, but hopeful for a safe and blessed school year.

“As parents, we always get nervous when children go back to school,” Alcedo said. “We hope that they’re learning well and that the teacher and kids are nice to them — along with any other safety precautions that we’re always worried about on a day to day basis.”

Jadine Chou, CPS’ chief of safety and security, said the district and multiple city agencies, including the Chicago Police Department and the city’s Office of Emergency Management, conducted a drill last week in preparation, Chou said. The district conducts over 3,800 drills every year, she noted.

The district has also implemented a new visitor management system, new safety video training, and expanding programs that go beyond physical safety to offer social, emotional, and mental health support, Chou said.

“We take safety and security in CPS very seriously,” Lightfoot said.

Chicago Public School CEO Pedro Martinez, center left, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, center right, greet students on the first day of classes after summer break at Falconer Elementary School in city’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.

As Lightfoot and Martinez greeted families at Falconer, they peppered students with questions about their first-day hopes and offered compliments on haircuts and lunch boxes.

Hundreds of students and parents awaited the opening bell — a signal of the official end of summer for students — including Ethan Duran, his mother, and two siblings. The third grader has been eager to return to the classroom, in part, to play on the newly installed playground.

His mother, Soledad Galvan, was cautious about the return to school. She said unknown questions around the monkeypox virus and making sure schools were secure “no matter what” were top of mind for her.

Despite those concerns, she is hopeful for a good year for her three children.

So is her son, who eyed the playground and said: “I’m excited!”

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

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

Mayor Lori Lightfoot fills 10-month vacancy on Chicago Board of Education

2022-06-01T16:37:19+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has appointed South Side community leader Joyce Chapman to the Chicago Board of Education, ending a 10-month-long vacancy on the seven- member board.

Chapman’s term will go from June 1 through June 30, 2023, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. She is a graduate of Chicago Public Schools and has also been involved with Pullman schools for more than two decades.

“Joining the Chicago Board of Education is an immense honor that will allow me to serve Chicago families across the city,” Chapman said in a prepared statement. “As a board member, I will continue to use my experiences for the schools to have access to the resources needed for academic success.”

Chapman will fill Amy Rome’s seat on the board. Rome’s last day as a board member was August 10, 2021.

The protracted vacancy on the board had recently drawn criticism, coming amid a challenging school year of elusive pandemic recovery and a leadership transition at the helm of the district.

Chapman joins the board as the district begins gearing up for a high-stakes transition to an elected school board, a break from having a governing body appointed by politicians throughout the district’s history.

Under a bill signed last year, Chicago will begin to phase in elections for a 21-person school board starting in 2024, with some members elected and some appointed by the mayor. Lightfoot fought against the passage of the bill. The board would be fully elected by 2027.

The newly appointed board member was the founder and president of the Pullman Community Development Corporation. She has also served as chairwoman for the Far South Community Advisory Council and president of the Gately Park Advisory Council. From 1999 to 2009, Chapman also served as the CAPS Beat Facilitator for the Chicago Police Department’s 5th District.

“With Joyce Chapman as a member of our Board of Education, I am confident that our students will continue to have a quality education regardless of where they live in our city,” Lightfoot said in a statement.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago could reroute buses from more schools to help its most vulnerable students

2022-01-27T02:05:19+00:00

For months, Chicago Public Schools has struggled to provide transportation for students with disabilities and those in temporary housing. Now, the district could end up tackling the problem by shifting bus service away from selective enrollment schools and magnet schools that draw students from all over the city.

Under a resolution adopted Wednesday by the Board of Education, the district would “reroute some or all students as necessary” at magnet, selective enrollment, and other option schools and use those buses for students with Individualized Education Programs, medically fragile students, and students in temporary housing who haven’t yet received reliable transportation.

The resolution would go into effect at the end of February if the issue remains unresolved. The district would need to provide services to students with disabilities no later than March 7, with services continuing through the end of the 2021-2022 school year.

Board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said the resolution set a timeline to ensure transportation for students with the highest needs.

A similar resolution proposed in September would have prioritized special education and children experiencing homelessness over magnet students, but it was not made public after a meeting with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, Todd-Breland said.

“We continue to put off this difficult decision, and that’s where we find ourselves today,” she said. “I want to be clear, no one is taking this lightly or cavalierly.”

In responding to Todd-Breland, a spokesperson for the mayor said Lightfood had repeatedly said that “providing transportation for all CPS students is an urgent priority.”

“The Interim CEO of CPS at that time had shared possible solutions for busing students, however the Mayor’s Office was never presented with a formal resolution,” the spokesperson said in an email statement.

Chicago Public Schools annually provides transportation to about 12,754 students of which 56% are students with disabilities. Students with disabilities have transportation written into their Individualized Education Programs, a legally binding document that outlines services they receive. The requirement is backed by federal law.

Since the start of the school year, Chicago, along with districts nationwide, has been plagued by school bus driver shortages, leaving thousands of students without a dependable ride to school.

The district made headway chipping away at the number of students without reliable rides to school since the start of the school year. Still, 631 students with disabilities, or medically fragile students are still without reliable transportation — compared to about 2,335 in October.

An additional 300 transportation requests for students with disabilities have come in since September, officials said.

The national driver shortage has strained the district’s transportation services. The district started the school year with 500 bus drivers instead of the 1,200 required to meet student transportation needs.

District officials said they are working to continue hiring bus drivers and finding other modes of transportation to fill the needs, and avoid disrupting service to general education students.

Kimberly Jones, the district’s transportation chief, said CPS is in the process of hiring more bus drivers and expected to be able to provide transportation to all the students before the Feb. 28 deadline.

The district has names of more than 200 applicants, with more than 100 going through background checks, Jones said. Twenty-three drivers have been cleared and have started transporting students, she added.

But board vice president Sendhil Revuluri questioned whether the district could reach its staffing targets by February, given that it hadn’t been able to solve the problem across the past five months.

Both Jones and CEO Pedro Martinez said they were confident they would meet the deadline, and would discuss at the next meeting if it isn’t looking like progress is being made.

In the meantime, Martinez said the district is already looking ahead into the next school year to start planning how to leverage different modes of transportation to meet the needs of its students with disabilities and other vulnerable students.

As part of the resolution, the district will also provide financial assistance to parents of all general education students affected by the suspension of bus routes, with $1,000 upfront and $500 a month beginning in March 2022 through the end of the school year.

The resolution would also require the district to update board members every month starting Feb. 23 of compensatory education meetings held for students with IEPs who receive transportation but did not have a route as of the first day of the 2021-2022 school year.

Since the fall, the district’s transportation department has been teaming up with taxi firms and a company called RideAlong, which specializes in providing rides to children, in order to make up for the bus driver shortages. The district has also offered to reimburse families who have opted to find alternative transportation for their child.

Still, in its resolution, the Chicago Board of Education acknowledged it was not meeting transportation needs.

Todd-Breland said the district needed to act now to address the transportation problem, rather than continuing to kick the problem down the road.

We need to make a decision “to do right by our most vulnerable students,” she said.

Board member Luisiana Meléndez said she fully supported the resolution but hoped it wouldn’t need to be implemented because the issue will be solved before the deadline.

“This is not an easy choice,” Meléndez said, but she acknowledged the board had an ethical, moral, and legal obligation to prioritize vulnerable students.

In October, parents told Chalkbeat Chicago the district had canceled bus routes for their children with little notice, leaving them with few alternatives to get their child to school.

The bus problems have been an ongoing issue for some families, who have been “significantly impacted by a lack of transportation,” said Barb Cohen, policy analyst for Legal Council for Health Justice.

While many families have found resolution after filing complaints with the Illinois State Board of Education against the district for violating state law, there are still a considerable number of parents without reliable transportation, Cohen said.

“We have a number of families where the students missed months of school,” Cohen said. In that time, students with IEPs have missed critical services such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, and social work services, she said.

“They’re particularly hurt by the inability to get through the school door,” Cohen said.

Cohen endorsed the shift of the district’s transportation policy, stating the priority needed to be “students who have a legal right to transportation.”

Still, Cohen questioned why the district was waiting over a month before the policy would take effect.

Rachel Shapiro, managing attorney for Equip for Equality, echoed Cohen’s concerns over waiting another month to shift the policy to provide transportation to which these students are legally entitled.

“What will change between now and Feb. 28 to make the situation any different?” Shapiro said.

In reviewing the resolution, Shapiro said it was concerning why the district had not been prioritizing these students to begin with.

“Certainly students who are homeless and students with disabilities have a legal entitlement,” Shapiro said. “They should be at the front of the line.”

Chicago faces fourth day of canceled classes. What do both sides want?

2022-01-10T02:38:19+00:00

This is a developing story.

7:40 p.m. Classes officially canceled Monday

Chicago Public Schools has officially canceled classes for a fourth day after negotiations failed to yield a compromise between the district and the teachers union over the weekend.

The school district notified parents Sunday night that classes would be canceled on Monday and asked them not to send children to school unless their school principal notifies families about in-person activities.

In a joint statement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and district CEO Pedro Martinez announced the cancellation of classes “out of fairness and consideration for parents.”

“Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow,” Lightfoot and Martinez said.

The district and union planned to continue negotiations “through the night” and city and CPS officials would provide an update if there is “substantial progress,” the statement reads.

Last Tuesday, union leaders voted not to teach in person until an agreement was reached on COVID safety protocols or the current surge subsides.

Chicago Public Schools and the teachers have been locked in a stalemate on how to reopen campuses for in-person instruction for days.

In an email statement Sunday afternoon, union leaders said they wanted to reassure parents and guardians of Chicago students that they would remain at the bargaining table until an agreement was reached to return to in-person “safely and equitably.”

On Sunday night, a group of parents hosted a Facebook Live conversation with Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s health commissioner, to ask questions about COVID in schools. The parents asked about the unique risks of the omicron variant, safety mitigations on campuses, student vaccination rates versus the general population, and why Arwady does not recommend remote learning.

While school cases go up when community cases do, Arwady said school itself had not been shown to be a major driver for COVID spread. Even though quarantine numbers had surged in December, she said fewer than 5% of children who had been quarantined had tested positive for COVID. She said the health department next week will distribute 1 million additional KN95 masks to the community next week and is in talks with the SHIELD testing program, developed by the University of Illinois, to boost testing capacity at community sites.

After the call with Arwady, several parents said their school communities are divided over the issue, and some are afraid to speak out because they don’t want to be viewed as criticizing their child’s teacher. They expressed frustration that, in three years, three disputes between Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union have interrupted the school year.

“It feels like we are caught in the middle of a custody war,” said parent Vanessa Chavez.

3 p.m. Negotiations continue

As negotiations between Chicago Public Schools and the teachers union continued Sunday, parents and students in the nation’s third largest school district faced the likely reality of starting the week without school.

Classes in the 330,000-student district have been canceled since Wednesday, after union members voted not to teach in person because of concerns over COVID protocols. Many schools have preemptively canceled classes Monday.

What exactly are the points of contention bringing learning to a halt?

The teachers union Saturday detailed its latest proposal calling for remote learning to start Wednesday and a return to in-person learning on Jan. 18. The union reiterated demands for opt-out COVID testing districtwide, and a metric to flip the district to remote learning.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS chief Pedro Martinez, in a joint statement Saturday afternoon, rejected the proposal, stating that students needed to be in school as soon as possible.

“That’s what parents want. That’s what the science supports. We will not relent,” the Saturday statement said.

Union members voted last Tuesday to stop reporting to work in person until the district reaches an agreement with the CTU or the omicron surge subsides.

The mayor and district leaders have criticized the union, calling the action an “illegal work stoppage” that is harming vulnerable students. The union has accused the mayor, and the district, of not doing enough to ensure students and staff safety.

During a Sunday appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Lightfoot said she was doing everything she could to get students back in classes this week. “We can get a deal done if there is good will on both sides,” Lightfoot said.

In the same interview, Lightfoot slammed the teachers union’s action as an “illegal walkout” and said they “abandoned their post and they abandoned their kids and their families.”

Despite dueling press conferences and statements, the union and district have made progress on various safety standards.

As of Sunday afternoon, the district and the union had reached agreement on:

KN95 masks for all students and staff
The reinstatement of health screeners decided on a school-by-school basis
Incentives for substitute teachers
Unpaid leave of absence accommodations for teachers and staff; and school-based contact tracing teams

The district also said Saturday that the governor will sell 350,000 COVID tests to Chicago to boost campus-based testing, something the union has called for.

Amid a new round of negotiations, the union and district have been unable to compromise on the following:

In person learning:

The CTU has proposed that teachers return to schools starting Monday to help distribute electronic devices, and for remote learning to begin Wednesday, Jan. 12. In-person learning would resume on Tuesday, Jan. 18. The district has rejected the proposal and called for in-person learning to start as soon as possible.

District-wide remote learning:

The district has rejected union calls for the entire district to flip to remote learning if the city’s COVID-19 positivity rate increases for seven consecutive days.

School-by-school remote learning:

The district has agreed to set a school-by-school metric for when schools would flip to full remote learning, but the two sides can’t agree on the numbers. The teachers union is calling for specific schools to transition if 25% of employees are absent for two consecutive days with COVID-19 or if 30% of students in an elementary school homeroom are isolated or quarantined. Middle schools and high schools would flip if 25% of students are isolated or quarantined. The district’s earlier proposals called for schools to flip if half of campus enrollment is isolated or quarantined, or if 40% of teachers are out sick.

Testing:

The union has called on the district to switch to opt-out COVID testing that would test 10% of students and staff, while also providing at-home tests to all students exhibiting symptoms. The district agreed to test 10% percent of students, but has rejected opt-out testing saying parental consent is needed for COVID testing. The district has expressed concern about securing tests, which are currently in short supply nationwide.

Make-up days:

The union proposed for instructional days to be made up, with no punishment or loss of pay against members who participated in the work action. The district does not want to pay teachers who have not been reporting to work. Whether or not to provide “back pay” during union actions loomed large in the end of a 2019 strike that suspended school operations in the city, with Chicago ultimately giving in to the demand.

Expedited arbitration:

The union proposal to select an arbitrator within seven days to resolve certain disputes has been rejected by CPS.

Chicago teachers union issues new proposal, but mayor says no deal

2022-01-08T20:25:53+00:00

The Chicago Teachers Union is now calling for remote learning starting Wednesday, a return to in-person classes the following week, an opt-out testing program that would randomly test students and staff, and a metric for flipping the entire district to remote learning in its latest proposal to the district.

The union released its offer publicly Saturday in a bid to put pressure on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and district leaders after three days of no classes in the city. But a metric for districtwide remote learning and a testing program that would require families to explicitly opt out are both conditions that Lightfoot has said she cannot accept.

Indeed, the mayor and district CEO Pedro Martinez promptly released a statement suggesting the latest proposal does not cut it.

“Students need to be back in person as soon as possible,” the statement said. “That’s what parents want. That’s what the science supports. We will not relent.”

Union members voted Tuesday to stop reporting to work in person until the district reaches an agreement with the CTU or the omicron surge subsides.

The union is backing off a demand that all students get tested before returning to school buildings, acknowledging the inherent logistical challenges. But it wants employees to get tested next week — and it’s calling for randomly testing 10% of all students and staff weekly after that, what union president Jesse Sharkey described as “a significant compromise” on testing.

The latest proposal preserves a demand that the district as a whole transition to remote learning if conditions laid out in a spring 2021 agreement with the district are met; those include steep increases in the positivity rate over the course of a week and a rate of more than 10% at the end of that week. (Chicago’s positivity rate was 21% on Friday, but Sharkey said it is unlikely the city would see the continued steep growth required to shutter school buildings in the coming weeks.)

The proposal also includes staff and student absence metrics that could trigger a campus closure and transition to remote learning.

“This impasse is hurting students,” Sharkey said at a press conference Saturday afternoon with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. “We are suggesting a way out of the impasse, and we hope (the mayor) takes it up on it.”

Sharkey criticized plans to reopen school buildings for enrichment activities next week, which he described as providing glorified “babysitting.”

Union leaders said under their proposal, members would return next week to hand out computers for remote learning and help get students signed up for testing and vaccinations. Union members would also join new contact tracing teams at each school to address delays in notifying staff and families about positive cases.

Jackson said he aims to help broker an agreement, saying Lightfoot’s stance that in-person learning must be prioritized is “solid,” but teachers’ demands for safer learning conditions are important as well.

Teachers at some schools began releasing letters directly to families over the weekend.

At Lane Tech, the city’s largest high school, teachers reiterated the union’s proposal in a letter: “We realize the actions of CPS have greatly disrupted learning this week and we assure you that all of our efforts right now are aimed at continuing teaching and learning together in a safe manner.”

COVID vaccination rates low for Black and Latino children in Illinois

2021-11-11T00:45:29+00:00

The scramble for parents to get COVID vaccine appointments for young students has obscured a problem officials chose to spotlight Wednesday: low vaccination rates among Black and Latino children in Illinois.

In Chicago and Cook County, vaccine hesitancy among Black parents is nearly three times higher than among white parents, even though Black Chicagoans comprise a disproportionately greater number of coronavirus deaths compared to other racial groups, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the Illinois Department of Health, testified Wednesday before a hearing by the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

As of Nov. 7, Illinois has given 15,470 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to 5- to 11-year-olds. Out of the children who received doses, 67% are white, while only 12% are Latino and 3% are Black, Ezike said at the hearing held in Chicago.

The low vaccination rates could be due to the lack of access to health care providers in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods and misinformation about the vaccine.

At the hearing, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot noted that getting the vaccine to students requires getting “the parents on board. That’s really what it’s about.”

The numbers reported by the state come shortly after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children ages 5-11. The Biden administration has urged governments to make schools the centerpiece of their outreach strategy.

In an interview with Chalkbeat in September, Ezike said the state would be working with pediatricians and pediatric groups, family physicians, and different providers to reach younger children. In addition, she said Wednesday, the state will continue to work with schools to establish vaccination clinics.

Ezike and Lightfoot testified about the city’s and state’s efforts to vaccinate residents and how they have tried to combat hesitancy, especially among people of color.

Statewide, among residents who are fully vaccinated, 60.4% are white, 14.6% are Hispanic, 10.6% are Black, and 6.6% are Asian American.

Misinformation and the lack of retail pharmacies in Black and Latino neighborhoods have contributed to hesitancy among Illinoisans of color, Ezike told the subcommittee. Recent research found that, from 2007 to 2015, there were fewer pharmacies in Black and Latino neighbors than in white communities, said Ezike.

According to early data from the state, people living in communities with more Black residents were more likely to have to drive long distances to the closest COVID-19 vaccination site.

During the panel, Ezike asked federal officials to provide resources to combat and track misinformation because local health departments do not have the capacity to do so, but it is harming their efforts to vaccinate more residents.

“The ‘infodemic,’ if you will, is a very powerful tool that’s working against the COVID response efforts,” Ezike said.

Chicago Public Schools are closing this Friday for Vaccination Awareness Day, an effort to get younger students vaccinated. As of Nov. 9, Chicago Public Health Department reported that 69.5% of residents between 12 and up have received both doses of the vaccine.

Dr. Ian Jasenof, chief medical officer of the Miles Square Health Center in Chicago, said that in addition to getting buy-in from parents, his clinic has to consider supply chain challenges, education for staff, and storage.

6 things to know about Pedro Martinez, Chicago’s next schools chief

2021-09-15T18:18:42+00:00

Who is Pedro Martinez, the San Antonio superintendent tapped to be Chicago’s next schools chief?

The graduate of Chicago Public Schools and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has become a national name in education circles over the past decade (he was previously a finalist for two of the country’s most high profile schools chief jobs: Boston and Philadelphia). He became superintendent of the San Antonio Independent School District in 2015.

He will step into the Chicago job by the last week of September as the district closes in on its first month of fully reopened schools. While student COVID infection rates have remained relatively low compared to some other districts, the reopening has brought a flurry of controversy around delayed COVID-19 testing, lags in contact tracing and notifications, and bus driver shortages that have left students stranded.

The new CEO will also have to put together a team of district leaders and fill vacancies in key positions. “Maybe there is a word to express how this goes beyond multitasking,” said Miguel del Valle, the president of Chicago’s school board, after Wednesday’s announcement.

Here are six things to know about the incoming schools chief, who is a parent to two school-aged children:

He was the first in his family to graduate from high school and college and often talks about the power of public education in his own life.

Introducing himself Wednesday outside Benito Juarez High School, his alma mater, Martinez acknowledged several of his family members in the crowd. “Chicago embraced us as immigrants,” he said of his family’s history with the city and his decision to return for his “dream job.”

Martinez’s family moved to the United States when he was 5 from Aguascalientes, Mexico, and he is the oldest of 10 surviving children.

He’s written about how the experience of growing up poor in Chicago — his father never made more than $7 an hour — and his decision to complete high school at Juarez in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood and go to college influenced several of his siblings to take a similar path.

“I know firsthand the power that education has in changing the trajectory of someone’s life,” he wrote in 2015 when he moved to San Antonio to take the schools chief job there.

Three of his sisters now teach in Chicago Public Schools, and more nieces and nephews than relatives can count are current students across Chicago, said sister Maria Martinez.

The family, she said, was surprised when he shared he was applying for the Chicago job. “We said: What are you doing? You are already in a great place.”

Martinez told his family he felt strongly about returning to the district where he graduated and served in his first education leadership role, his sister said Wednesday. “He really wanted it.”

In announcing Martinez’s appointment on Wednesday, Lori Lightfoot said she was pleased to appoint someone from the Chicago diaspora. To students, “It says quite clearly, you can be what you see,” the mayor said.

He came up through finance and does not have experience as a classroom educator.

Lightfoot faced questions Wednesday about why she decided to appoint a non-educator to the role when parents groups had been lobbying for someone with education experience. The Chicago Teachers Union highlighted his lack of classroom and in-school experience in a press release about his appointment.

Martinez’s path to school administration came through accounting roles in the private sector and the Archdiocese of Chicago. In the mid-2000s, Martinez worked as a chief financial officer in CPS under then-CEO Arne Duncan. That job, he told Chalkbeat earlier this year, “really launched my pathway to becoming a superintendent.”

Lightfoot said in announcing Martinez as CEO that his track record and history advocating for children living in poverty made him the right fit — and pointed to San Antonio’s academic improvement and “100% increase” in students gaining college acceptances during his tenure. Under his watch, the district went from earning a “C” on the state’s accountability ranking system in the 2017-2018 school year to a “B” the following year, and its graduation rate inched up, though the percentage of students graduating from high school and meeting or exceeding proficiency on state reading and math exams remained below state averages.

“He proved to everyone that, in a district where 93% of students live in poverty, he and they working together can deliver rising education outcomes,” Lightfoot said.

In San Antonio, he pushed a districtwide integration program that centered on the expansion of schools with popular programs — but it drew controversy.

Martinez faced two problems in San Antonio that are similar to ones he will confront in Chicago: economic disparities in neighborhoods and schools and a pattern of sharply declining enrollment that threatens to trigger drops in state aid.

He also had an additional challenge in 2015 when he began the San Antonio job — a new Texas law that put pressure on districts to turn around low-performing schools or be taken over by the state. Partnering with charters was a way to avoid that fate. “It left my board and I with really limited options,” he said Wednesday in response to a question about sharp criticism that the expansion of charters on his watch had drawn from the San Antonio teachers union.

His approach to winning students back and integrating the district, which serves mostly Latino students from low-income families, centered on partnering with charters, reworking school admissions rules, and expanding attractive programs, from STEM to dual language to Montessori, at campuses throughout the city. Dual language programs alone, he noted Wednesday, grew from two to more than 60 on his watch.

Among the most high-profile of those efforts was a district partnership with a charter network of high schools called the Centers for Applied Science and Technology, or CAST. The schools, which have an impressive list of university partners, tout internships and dual credit opportunities for students to simultaneously earn credits in high school and college in medical, science, and technology courses. They quickly became a draw.

But some of the new CAST campuses were criticized since the schools were allowed to pull a substantial fraction of their enrollment from wealthier areas outside city limits. That practice boosted enrollment and economic diversity but meant some local city students had to compete for seats. Criticism of such efforts sparked the hashtag #byePedro.

“We could fill all the seats with out-of-district families, which politically would not be good for me, but we could actually do that for the first time,” Martinez told state education leaders in 2018. “What families are saying to us is, this is the first time they’ve ever seen San Antonio as a district with great choices that they would want to go to.”

Martinez said Wednesday he learned several lessons from that period and that he now believes districts — not charters — are in the best position to steer turnarounds. “Charter operators can bring some interesting lessons and some good strategies, but there is no magic bullet. It really is down to the basics: ensuring that every classroom has a great teacher, every school has a great principal, and that we engage families.”

He made national news this summer for defying Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order.

Martinez made news in August when he issued a mask mandate and a staff vaccination mandate, defying Abbott’s executive order banning public entities from requiring masks or COVID shots. In response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking the district to court.

In a letter to parents, Martinez said the mask mandate was issued “to enforce stability in our classrooms, minimize disruption to your child’s academics, and lessen hardship on families whose children are affected by quarantines for up to 14 days, or worse, illness. Absences due to COVID-19 can lead to a significant loss in days of instruction, and face coverings eliminate the need for quarantine after close contact exposure.”

“The time is now to rise to the occasion again as leaders. As a result, San Antonio ISD is issuing a mask mandate, effective immediately,” the Aug. 16 letter said.

Lightfoot said Wednesday that she was impressed by what she thought was a bold step in the interest of students and families.

His approach to pandemic recovery in San Antonio centered on boosting mental health staff and adding school days.

An unprecedented flow of federal emergency dollars for pandemic recovery has put some superintendents in a bind. They’re reluctant to invest in permanent positions because the funding tap will dry up and they’ll be on the hook for salaries — a position that Chicago Public Schools has embraced firmly even as its teachers union has called for hiring more teachers and support staff with the money.

But Martinez has been vocal about school districts seizing the unique boost in federal dollars to make much-needed investments in staff.

Consultations with parents this past year spurred the hiring of additional mental health specialists, he recently told the New York Times Magazine. “When we asked parents about how we should use our federal funds, the No. 1 need they described was mental health,” he said. “I was going to focus a lot more on academics, but I had to listen to that. We put mental-health specialists in every one of our schools.”

He also added 30 instructional days to this school calendar year — a decision he said was supported by 90% of parents and educators.

“It’s not enough to go back to normal,” he said in an interview earlier this year. “We have to be better with a capital B.”

After San Antonio ISD saw a 5% enrollment drop last school year, Martinez also led an effort to re-engage with students. Martinez had staff reach out to every student who left the district and families that didn’t enroll their children in preschool or kindergarten. That included making home visits and tapping bus drivers to make calls between routes.

Martinez has spoken strongly about the need to keep schools open — but has argued that parents need options.

Martinez says often that he’s “data driven” and has spoken nationally about the dramatic declines in student performance due to remote learning in San Antonio’s Independent School District.

“We saw sharp differences in academic achievement in our district between our children who had remote school and our children who were there in person — in some grades in math, remote school led to a 30-point drop in proficiency rates on the state assessment tests from 2019 to 2021,” he said earlier this month.

Martinez acknowledged Wednesday that his staunch stance about reopening put him at odds with the teachers union in San Antonio, but that he maintains that reopening schools is best for children. “In-person instruction is what the majority of our children — especially children of poverty — need,” he said, adding that, by the end of last school year, 70% of San Antonio’s elementary school students had returned to in-person learning.

Still, Martinez’s district was early to announce that it would still offer a fully virtual option this fall, though it’s been limited to students with certain medical conditions and their siblings, and students who’ve experienced pandemic-related trauma. (Texas won’t cover the cost of many students who are learning virtually this year.)

“The state, right now they don’t allow me to provide a virtual option, but we still did it because it’s the right thing to do,” Martinez told Chalkbeat last month. “My board and I were very clear: we’re not going to have families compromise their children with medical conditions or if they have household members with medical conditions.”

For other families, though, Martinez said the district was considering virtual schooling requests on a case-by-case basis. And he’s clear that he thinks most students learn best in person. “My children live in poverty — learning was just very difficult last year,” he said.

So far, Chicago has enrolled fewer than 1,000 children with medical conditions in a “Virtual Academy,” but parents’ groups and the city’s teachers union have called for a broader remote option. That continues to be a point of contention between the city’s teachers union and the district, and three weeks into school, the two sides have yet to reach a reopening agreement.

Matt Barnum and Kalyn Belsha contributed reporting.

Updated: This story was updated to reflect that Pedro Martinez is the father of two children.

San Antonio Superintendent Pedro Martinez will be next CEO of Chicago Public Schools

2021-09-15T15:09:01+00:00

Pedro Martinez, a Chicago Public Schools graduate who now leads the San Antonio Independent School District, is Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s pick to be the next Chicago schools chief.

Lightfoot made the announcement Wednesday morning at Benito Juarez High School, Martinez’s alma mater. Martinez is the first Latino to be permanently appointed as the city’s schools chief.

Martinez said Wednesday that he planned to start the last week of September, but the mayor said it was too early to disclose terms of his contract, including his compensation. “We haven’t inked the deal but we’ve agreed on the broad strokes of the terms,” Lightfoot said in response to questions.

Recognizing multiple family members in the crowd, Martinez said Chicago welcomed his immigrant family when he was child and that he was returning to his “dream job.” As a youngster coming from Mexico at the age of 5, “Chicago embraced us as immigrants. It was the churches here in Pilsen that embraced my family.”

Martinez, whose name began circulating as a finalist in August, recently made news when he issued a mask mandate and a staff vaccination mandate, defying Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order banning public entities from requiring masks or COVID shots. In response, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking the district to court.

Before taking on superintendent roles in Texas and one of Nevada’s largest school districts, Martinez served as chief financial officer for Chicago Public Schools between 2003 and 2009, under then-CEO Arne Duncan. In his tenure as San Antonio superintendent, Martinez drew national attention for his push to better integrate the school district, which serves about 50,000 students.

Martinez will be Chicago’s seventh schools CEO in the last 10 years, a volatile decade that has brought two teacher strikes, a pandemic, a budget crisis, and declining enrollment — but also marked academic improvements, including climbing graduation rates and growth on nationally normed tests that outpaced most other big cities. His predecessor, Janice Jackson, who got a raise in the final months of her three-and-a-half year tenure to earn $300,000, was credited with helping the district reach some stability.

Jackson’s departure spurred other vacancies in Chicago Public Schools leadership. Martinez is expected to appoint two key roles early in his tenure: the district’s chief operating officer and chief education officer. Both positions currently are held by interim administrators.

Non-educator plans to fight COVID, poverty

The new CEO and his leadership team will helm the country’s third largest district as it reopens for full-time in-person learning after 15 months of virtual learning for most students and tackles the academic and mental health fallout from the pandemic. Martinez will face the task of striking a more collaborative relationship with the city’s outspoken teachers union leadership after a year of intense strife over school reopening.

“It is clear that Mr. Martinez has a tall task ahead of him from day one,” the Chicago Teachers Union said in a statement after the appointment was announced. “Despite having no classroom or in-school experience, Mr. Martinez will have to be an independent thinker, a far better partner and collaborator than Mayor Lightfoot, and work with stakeholders to keep them safe, earn their trust and meet high expectations.”

Martinez’s own path to school administration was forged through accounting and finance. Asked Wednesday about hiring someone with an MBA and not a background in classroom management, Lightfoot said his track record and history advocating for children living in poverty made him the right fit — and that she was particularly impressed by his decision to defy the Texas order banning mask mandates.

”To stand up and say no, I stand with my kids, I think he’s going to be a great leader for CPS,” said Lightfoot.

Martinez said Wednesday that his goal is to unite a fractured school district. “The enemy is COVID. The enemy is poverty. We are on the same side.”

In taking the job, Martinez will also have to confront challenges that preceded the pandemic: stubborn racial and socioeconomic disparities, deep mistrust of the district in some communities, and declining enrollment that has strained some campuses’ ability to offer a full array of services and support to students.

Still, in an interview with Chalkbeat earlier this summer, Martinez said he could not pass up on the Chicago opportunity.

“It’s where I grew up; it’s where I went to school,” he said. “It was my first role in K-12. It really launched my pathway to becoming a superintendent.”

“It’s very personal to me,” Martinez added. “Because it is my hometown, it was something I needed to explore.”

He’ll also confront a new political reality: uncertainty brought by a newly signed law that establishes school board elections starting in 2024, a blow to the influence and reach of the mayor and her hand-picked CEOs when it comes to education policy.

Coming back to Chicago

A native of Mexico, Martinez earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and DePaul University after graduation from Juarez. Like interim CEO José Torres, who has been running the district since June, Martinez is a graduate of the Broad Superintendents Academy, a reform-era training program that has drawn some criticism for taking a business model approach to public education.

In San Antonio, he helped launch the district’s first network of Centers for Applied Science and Technology — a network of high schools with technology-centered curriculums — and started a slew of dual language programs. He earns about $315,000 a year under a contract set to expire in 2025.

Chicago launched a national search for a new schools chief last spring after Jackson — citing the intense pressures of steering the district through the pandemic and an acrimonious reopening standoff — announced she would step down at the end of June. Since then, Torres, a former Elgin superintendent, has served in the interim role.

The city contracted Illinois-based search firm BWP and Associates to lead the search, setting an aggressive deadline of late July.

The opening drew 25 applications by June. BWP vetted the candidates and forwarded a list of frontrunners to a district search committee made up of school board members, employees, and residents, which selected two finalists, including Martinez, to be interviewed by Lightfoot and board President Miguel del Valle.

The mayor promised an unprecedented level of public engagement and transparency in selecting the schools chief — a process that has taken place behind closed doors in recent years and, under previous mayors, often produced leaders without a deep education background.

But Chicago Public Schools did not respond to repeated requests to share the names of committee members. The district also did not make finalist identities public, citing the need to protect applicants’ confidentiality. And although the district and its search firm promised biweekly updates on the search would be regularly posted online, the summer brought stretches of almost two months without any such updates.

Martinez said in a recent interview about reopening that the past few months he has been intensely focused on drafting backup plans to keep schools open should there be a resurgence of COVID rates. And he’s been consulting with parents and educators about how to use federal emergency funding.

Among his priorities are increasing mental health staffing in schools, reducing class sizes, and adding 30 instructional days to the school year to make up for missed learning.

“When we asked parents about how we should use our federal funds, the No. 1 need they described was mental health,” he said. “I was going to focus a lot more on academics, but I had to listen to that. We put mental-health specialists in every one of our schools.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Chicago Head Start funding cutoff is ‘irresponsible’

2021-09-01T21:05:13+00:00

Arguing that a Sept. 30 cutoff date is “irresponsible” and “inequitable,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has petitioned the federal government to extend the city’s Head Start funding in full until June 2022.

In a blow to City Hall, the federal government confirmed this summer that it is breaking up Chicago’s early learning monopoly and redistributing $95 million of a $145 million annual grant to five community program operators. In that process, nine agencies were defunded entirely.

Without intervention, nearly 1,000 low-income children under 5 could be forced to transfer mid-school year to other preschool programs and child care centers, city officials have said.

According to City Hall sources, the mayor has already directed that $5.6 million of bridge funding would go to prop up the defunded Head Start programs at community agencies through December. The money comes from a pot of federal emergency dollars directed toward cities for coronavirus response.

In an August letter to Xavier Becerra, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Lightfoot said she respected the bidding process the city underwent earlier in the year and the resulting decision, but a city in the grips of a pandemic needed a longer transition time.

“The shift will undoubtedly have a monumental impact for children and families across Chicago,” Lightfoot wrote. “Given the (Biden) Administration’s appropriate emphasis on the importance of early learning, this dramatic funding shift seems contradictory and decidedly ill-timed.”

A similar letter written by U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth and signed by the Illinois delegation asks the Office of Head Start to find additional funding to secure additional slots, expand programs in four neighborhoods that didn’t receive any Head Start seats in the reshuffling, and conduct a full review of the grant process — including regular updates on how many children are transitioned between programs.

In the shift, City Hall will continue to oversee some early learning programs, but its share of the grant is now much smaller, at $51.8 million. Originally, the grant reduction was set to go into effect July 31, but the federal government extended that to September.

Some insiders say that Chicago will benefit from more community agencies contracting directly with the federal government and that expanded roles and more funding will mean more flexibility to raise salaries for workers, expand capacity for infants and toddlers, and respond more nimbly to demographic changes on the ground.

According to outside analysis, the new grant increased federal early learning funding to Chicago by about 7% and reduced the number of Head Start seats slightly, by 661 spots, to just under 8,000 compared with one year ago. Agencies were awarded more money for each seat — and incentivized to boost the number of openings for infants and toddlers with extra funding. Infants and toddlers cost more to educate and there is considerably less supply in the city for children 2 and under compared to 3- and 4-year-olds.

In trying to argue its case for the funding extension, the city provided data that shows the new grant arrangement will fund considerably fewer seats than prior to the pandemic. In February 2020, about 8,200 children were enrolled in Head Start and Early Head Start programs citywide. The year prior, it was more than 12,000.

The massive reshuffling of Head Start funding is the second significant overhaul of Chicago’s early learning system in three years. In 2019, Chicago held a grant competition that spurred big shifts in which agencies receive public funding to provide child care for low-income children under 5. Then the federal government stepped in — and broke up City Hall’s monopoly, a trend that has happened in other major cities, from New York to Los Angeles, as the feds prioritize sending more money directly to communities and sidestep some of the bureaucracy of city government oversight.

Chicago’s monopoly of Head Start funding gave the city an advantage in kicking off a universal prekindergarten program, which started under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and continues under Lightfoot. The universal prekindergarten expansion will not be impacted by the grant shift.

A spokesperson for the Office of Head Start did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In the meantime, at least one agency has already closed its doors, while another has decided to divert a major philanthropic gift toward extending its Head Start program through the end of the school year. The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago said it will continue to operate classrooms across nine sites for about 300 children through June, courtesy of a private donor.

“Our families have been through a lot,” said Man-Yee Lee, the director of communications for the YMCA. “We didn’t want to leave them scrambling to find child care at such a short notice.”

Hybrid or elected school board? Lightfoot proposal stirs debate in Springfield

2021-04-15T00:58:24+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot found a carrier for her bill to create a partially-elected Chicago school board — a state senator who on Wednesday voted for a rival effort to mandate a fully elected board.

Sen. Kimberly Lightford said she will sponsor the mayor’s bill for a partly elected and partly appointed “hybrid” board.

On Wednesday, Lightford criticized a bill in the legislature to create a 21-person fully elected board, then promptly voted for the legislation.

She backed a bill by Sen. Robert Martwick, SB 2497, in the works for more than six years. It drew 1,102 comments in support and 242 opponents.

Even while criticizing Martwick’s bill, Lightford voted to send the bill out of committee and to the Senate floor, where there will be another opportunity for the bill to undergo more debate.

“I’ve never opposed the bill that Senator Martwick is carrying and in fact, I’ll vote for it today,” she said.

Lightford has not yet introduced the hybrid-board bill.

A supporter of the elected board, Jitu Brown, board president of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization on the city’s South Side, spoke about the decades-long fight to get an elected school board after the city closed scores of schools.

“I have been a witness to literally dozens of mass mobilizations of parents frustrated because they did not have a voice. The inequity that was rooted in the struggling of their school was never addressed,” Brown said.

He said that the city’s parents and community members organized behind an elected school board because there is not an instrument to hold the current appointed school board accountable to families.

Sybil Madison, Chicago’s deputy mayor for education and human services, testified against the elected school board bill, citing progress that public schools have made since 1995, when the state gave the mayor control over the board.

“In 2020, CPS had a record-high graduation rate at 83%. The University of Chicago research shows that CPS’ English language learners have equivalent gains and achievement from K through eighth grade as their peers who never classified as English language learners,” Madison said.

She mentioned that any version of the board should include parents’ voices because they have often felt left out of board decisions.

After public testimony during the committee hearing, Lightford said that while she supported the idea of an elected school board, the Senate proposal for 21 members would be hard to implement. She raised concerns about the number of members, the cost of the board, finances for each race, and how to draw voting districts to ensure that all sides of the city are represented.

“I would like to make sure that moving forward on something as significant as the impact of 350,000 students and their families that we do all we can to make sure that we have the best outcome as legislators and that we present a law that can be implemented,” said Lightford.

Lightford has been instrumental in passing ambitious legislation. During the lame-duck session in fall, she pushed through a bill that created new graduation requirements for all Illinois students and more access to advanced courses.

As news reports began to surface about the mayor’s counterproposal Wednesday morning, leaders of the city’s teachers union — which has helped push Martwick’s school board bill and contributed to legislators sponsoring Senate and House proposals — made it clear they would not sign on to a compromise plan that involved mayoral appointees.

“We’re against a hybrid board. We want an elected school board,” said Union President Jesse Sharkey, speaking at a morning press conference about high school reopening and the union’s decision to call a work stoppage to protest the lack of a deal.

“Our cards have been on the table for a long time. We think democracy works in every school district in the state. It should work here.”

Lightfoot warns of second COVID-19 surge in Chicago, but says ‘phased-in’ school reopening a go for now

2020-10-19T16:20:38+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday the city will stay the course in weighing a phased-in reopening of schools — despite a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases that officials defined as a second surge.

Lightfoot held a press conference with public health officials to sound alarms about a “dramatic uptick” of cases in the city across ages and demographic groups. But the mayor said that data from Catholic and other private schools, which reopened in August, do not suggest that schools have been significant sites of coronavirus transmission. And she spoke again about a belief that she and district leaders have highlighted: that remote learning is failing the district’s youngest and most vulnerable learners despite Chicago’s efforts to improve it.

The district announced last Friday that it is gearing up to bring pre-kindergartners and some students receiving intensive special education services back into school buildings five days a week at some point after the school year’s second quarter starts Nov. 9. All other students will continue with all-virtual learning at least until January.

“Remote learning works for some,” Lightfoot said. “It works quite well. But for some it doesn’t work.”

Lightfoot stressed the district has not made any final reopening decisions and will let public health data guide it in the coming weeks. It is slated to survey families with children in pre-kindergarten and special education “cluster” programs Wednesday about their interest in switching to in-person learning.

The district’s teachers union has strongly opposed the district’s plans, and its leaders took to social media Monday to hold up the new surge data from the city as evidence that reopening schools would be premature and risky.

The union held a virtual town hall for its members Sunday night, during which union officials heard from teachers anxious about a possible return to schools, and promised to make their concerns known to city leadership.

“Every single resource in our union is being directed towards this,” union vice president Stacy Davis Gates said Sunday night.

Still, with complaints from the union that they weren’t consulted before Chicago Public Schools announced its fall reopening plan, Thad Goodchild, the union’s legal counsel, said on Sunday’s call that the union was exploring legal avenues to address their concern. That could include a request for the union to hire their own buildings safety inspector. “CPS only reaches agreements with us when they are forced to do so,” Goodchild said.

Also on Sunday, a coalition of progressive elected officials from Chicago’s city council, and county and state government, many of whom have worked closely with the union or whose campaigns were supported by union-affiliated organizations, have signed a letter asking for clearer information on a testing and contact tracing plan for any return to school.

Asked about the letter, Lightfoot said she invites the elected officials to engage with her directly about their concerns.

The city’s seven-day positivity rate has jumped above 5% for the first time in months, with rates approaching 20% in some city zip codes. The mayor and public health commissioner Allison Arwady urged residents to redouble efforts to limit the spread, suggesting they might have to reimpose stricter restrictions on businesses and public gathering in coming weeks if the numbers continue to go up.

But Lightfoot reiterated that the city has studied closely the experience of parochial and private schools that reopened: “We are not seeing the schools as a source of spread.”

After pandemic slowed progress, Mayor Lightfoot creates group to improve Chicago’s early education system

2020-10-08T22:36:11+00:00

Eighteen months after taking office, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is making a move to unify the city’s fragmented early childhood system, which has been pummeled by funding changes, leadership departures, and the pandemic.

On Thursday, the mayor’s office said it is taking the first steps toward developing a broader plan that could be a hallmark of her administration. The plan could lead to improved access to child care and public health resources for Chicago’s 160,000 infants, toddlers, and children under age 5, something Lightfoot had pledged to do during her campaign.

Early education advocates have been wondering since Lightfoot took office how and when she would deliver on that pledge. A plan was expected earlier this year but delayed because of COVID-19.

“What we have heard through our engagement with stakeholders over this past year is that people want to know: What is the vision?” said Sybil Madison, Chicago’s deputy mayor of education. “Our hope is to build a very coordinated system that will help support the health and development of children from prenatal and birth across and into formal education.”

The mayor’s office announced a new working group and charged it with drafting a plan by spring. The goal is to broaden access to programs and improve outcomes in a city where just 28% of children — and only 1 in 5 Latino children — show up to kindergarten with the reading, math, and social skills to start school.

Calling the effort “Every Child Ready Chicago,” the city promised more equity and accountability, a nod to concerns that too much decision-making has been made secretly at City Hall.

“Our hope is that this process is going to build trust. We also plan for this to be a transparent process,” said Madison.

City Hall is working with Start Early, the early childhood advocacy organization formerly known as Ounce of Prevention. Former Illinois First Lady Diana Rauner, who runs the organization, said in a statement Thursday that the goal is a more “unified, equitable, and accountable early childhood system.”

Rauner will serve on the group’s eight-person steering committee, along with Madison; Lightfoot’s early education director, Jennifer Alexander; and the second-in-command at Chicago Public Schools, LaTanya McDade, among others. The 33-person working group includes educators, parents, and early childhood advocates.

Asked by Chalkbeat whether the working group will meet publicly, a spokeswoman for Start Early and a spokeswoman for the mayor both said a decision hasn’t been made.

Unlike the public school system, which has a school board appointed by the mayor that meets publicly, there is not one governing body that oversees early education and few venues for public accountability.

Under the city’s previous mayor, Rahm Emanuel, Chicago embarked on a four-year universal prekindergarten rollout that was supposed to serve as a North star for strengthening early childhood programs. But the architects of the plan left City Hall after Lightfoot was elected, while Chicago pressed ahead with the overhaul of a $200 million grant program that funds the bulk of programs for young children. In the end, several longtime providers lost grant money, sowing distrust among community providers.

After a string of safety problems at centers, the federal government is now reconsidering how much money it gives Chicago to operate Head Start programs, a key funding source.

“We have had a history in Chicago of leaders making this a priority in the city and in the philanthropic sector, but we still suffer from this disconnection,” said Kristin Bernhard, senior vice president for policy and advocacy at Start Early and a task force steering committee member. “We recognize that our resources are not being used to the greatest benefit, and that too many children don’t have access to early childhood programs. It’s a good time for all of us to come together.”

Lightfoot campaigned on creating birth-to-five “zones” that would link programming for infants and toddlers to those for preschool-age children, and she said she’d stay the course on her predecessor’s universal pre-k goals despite some criticism during her campaign. In her tenure, Chicago schools have opened more preschool classrooms, albeit at a slower pace due to the pandemic, and convened a citywide early education hearing.

It’s not yet clear how COVID-19 will affect the city’s early childhood system, as the pandemic has squeezed centers around the state and the country. It’s also unclear how many children under 5 are enrolled in child care across private centers, community organizations, and schools, and how many families are struggling with access. One of the working group goals is to spur better data collection.

Lightfoot on reopening CPS: We’re ‘following very closely’ the experience of Catholic schools

2020-09-30T00:54:23+00:00

Among the factors Chicago Public Schools is weighing when deciding whether to reopen school buildings: the experience of the Archdiocese of Chicago’s 150-plus campuses, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday.

The mayor, who oversees public schools in Chicago and appoints the schools chief and board, is expected to make the final call about reopening campuses along with city health officials. Chicago started the school year virtually three weeks ago after initially planning to begin the year with a hybrid schedule.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Chicago, which is the state’s largest private school operator with 70,000 students last spring, reopened its campuses in late August. Schools are offering full-day instruction — some larger campuses have hybrid schedules where students go a few days a week — and families have the option of choosing all-virtual instruction.

“We haven’t made a decision yet on whether (reopening) is going to be possible,” Lightfoot said. “We’re following very closely the experience of Archdiocese schools, many of which have been in-person learning five days a week or in a hybrid model that includes in-person learning. There’s a lot we can learn from their experience. They are in many of the same neighborhoods where CPS schools are.”

The mayor, who stressed a decision about schools was coming “relatively soon,” spoke Tuesday night at a Lens on Lightfoot virtual town hall organized by the Triibe and six other independent newsrooms, including Chalkbeat Chicago.

In one week this month, the Archdiocese reported 16 positive COVID-19 cases among its students and staff, which is considerably less than 1% of its system, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The archdiocese declined requests to provide a full accounting for cases since the start of school, the paper said.

At least one campus, St. Rita of Cascia High School on the city’s Southwest Side, temporarily shifted to virtual learning after two students tested positive in late August. The campus has since reopened.

Students are divided into cohorts and stay in those same small groups each day. The reopening plan also requires students and educators to wear masks and undergo temperature checks each morning before entering buildings.

The Archdiocese also published an infection protocol guide that details what happens if students or educators test positive. The plan includes contact tracing.

“There are things we can learn from them. They seem to have done a really good job keeping their school community safe,” Lightfoot said.

As virtual learning progresses, Chicago parents have begun pressuring the mayor and school district to make a decision about whether students will return to campuses in November, at the start of the second quarter. The school district has floated a plan to bring some special education students back earlier.

The mayor also said the city had made progress in closing the digital divide that has complicated the shift to virtual learning. This summer, Chicago announced a plan to provide free internet for up to four years for 60,000 households representing 100,000 students. As of Tuesday, the city had signed up 38,000 students, slightly more than a third of the goal, Lightfoot said.

She acknowledged the challenges of reaching some families, citing some households’ outstanding debt as one obstacle slowing sign-ups. “We’re working through those issues,” she said. “We’ve made significant progress in a short amount of time.”

“Part of the difficulty is that, even though it is free, it’s about making sure families feel safe signing up,” she added. “We’re really leaning into building up principals where we are seeing low connectivity among students, making sure parents know this option is available, and providing the technical assistance they may need so they can get registered and we can get them connected.”

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.

Chicago schools agreed to pay school police officers full salary and pensions. That’s now under review.

2020-07-31T11:00:00+00:00

This story is a reporting partnership between WBEZ Chicago public radio and Chalkbeat Chicago.

In the midst of a heated debate last year about whether police officers should work in Chicago’s public schools, district leaders agreed to pay up to the full salary and benefits of staff assigned to the $33 million program, even though they are police department employees.

Chalkbeat Chicago and WBEZ have learned that the school district agreed to pay $152,000 per police officer and $172,000 per sergeant on a 12-month contract. School is in session for 10 months, and officers have other police department duties during the summer months and other times they are not in schools.

On Wednesday, in response to months of reporters’ questions and multiple Freedom of Information Act requests, Chicago Public Schools said that it will only pay for the time the police officers and sergeants worked on the school program and it won’t be charged for the months when school was closed due to COVID-19.

The district said it is conducting a “reconciliation” of costs for the 2019-20 school year, and that it hasn’t paid the Chicago Police Department yet. The school district was supposed to pay in two installments, in December 2019 and June 2020, according to the contract.

The new details raise questions, however, about a new school police contract, which the school board is expected to vote on in late August.

Protesters have taken to the streets repeatedly since June after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis — part of a national outcry — and called for the removal of police officers from school campuses. They’ve also pressured the district to spend the money to support students with more social workers and counselors. Earlier this summer, the Chicago Board of Education voted down a measure to terminate the contract by a narrow majority.

Activists, who have been pushing to remove police officers, have pressed the school district to use the $33 million spent on school police for other support staff in schools. The budget sets aside money to pay for 192 officers and 22 sergeants. It could, for instance, pay for the salaries and benefits of at least 311 counselors or social workers. Their average pay and benefits is about $107,000 each, according to a WBEZ analysis.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson have said they prefer to leave the decision to keep or remove police officers to individual schools, with local school councils voting on the issue. So far, three have decided to remove them while at least 18 have voted to keep them, according to a tally being kept by Chalkbeat.

The district has said, however, that the schools who vote to remove police officers will not get the money back for their budgets.

All but one of the school board members either declined to comment or did not reply to a request for comment on the SRO budget. Several of them asked for a breakdown of the costs at their June meeting and said they have yet to receive one.

But School Board President Miguel del Valle said next year’s contract will look different than this year’s.

“Stay tuned — this is still being worked on,” del Valle said in a recent interview.

The district’s chief of safety and security Jadine Chou also told aldermen at a hearing earlier this month that last year’s budget is being “audited” and this year’s will be “right-sized.”

Youth activists who are leading the charge to remove police from schools have long criticized the lack of transparency surrounding the program. Meyiya Coleman, a youth organizer with Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE), said her group has been asking the school district for a breakdown of the school police budget for years.

“It is important for us to know how the money is spent because taxpayers are funding the police and our taxpayers are the ones who are also sending their children to school,” said Coleman, a CPS graduate.

Breaking down the $33 million contract

In response to multiple requests from WBEZ and Chalkbeat, the district released a “cost breakdown” spreadsheet that details police officer personnel costs, including salaries, benefits and pension obligations, that amount to $33 million. That’s the maximum amount CPS is authorized to spend on the year-long school police contract.

The Chicago Police Department and the city Department of Finance said they didn’t keep a detailed breakdown of the school police budget.

The spreadsheet released this week shows CPS budgeted the annual average salary for each of 192 officers stationed in schools or in roving cars of $87,000 a year, plus $65,000 in benefits.

The benefits per officer include $40,000 in contributions for pensions, $13,000 for healthcare and $1,800 for a uniform allowance, among other miscellaneous costs. For the 22 school sergeants, the district pays a base salary of $101,000 plus $71,000 in annual benefits, for a total cost of $173,000 per sergeant, including pension and medicare costs.

By comparison, the average cost of benefits for counselors is half of what CPS is contributing for police officers. About 13 schools have conflict resolution specialists whose total salary and benefit package is about $80,000. Most schools in the school resource officer program are assigned two officers, for a total cost of up to $304,000.

Ald. Chris Taliaferro, 29th ward, who heads the public safety committee, said the school district should not be paying for the benefits of police officers.

“They are still Chicago police officers, employed by the Chicago Police Department,” Taliaferro said. Instead, that additional funding could go to school counselors or restorative justice supports, he said.

When officers are not serving in schools during the summer, they return to their district of assignment, police officials said.

The Chicago Police Department said it also picked up the costs to implement some of the recent school police changes required by the federal consent decree this year, including new school-specific training and reviewing the disciplinary histories of officers already working in schools. The department declined to say how much that training cost.

A complicated budget history

How much CPS is paying and should be paying the Chicago Police Department for the SRO program has long been controversial and political. Under Mayor Richard M. Daley, who started the SRO program in the early 1990s, the city mostly picked up the costs, though it went back and forth.

Then, in 2012, with the city facing a budget shortfall, the new mayor, Rahm Emanuel, insisted CPS pay $58 million for unspecified security services provided for an unspecified amount of time before Emanuel was mayor. Part of his reasoning was that CPS was not paying the full cost of police stationed in schools.

The amount the school district has agreed to pay to the police department has fluctuated over time — $33 million is one of the highest amounts — despite decreasing numbers of police officers assigned to schools. Also, it is unclear what CPS has been agreeing to pay for and whether that has ever included complete benefits for each officer and sergeant.

The intergovernmental agreement of 2013 called for CPS to pay the police department up to $13 million for one year and required that the police department invoice CPS, citing the number of hours each officer worked, in order to be paid.

Later in Emanuel’s tenure, with CPS facing a budget shortfall, the mayor decided the city would pick up security costs, including its payment to the police department.

The SRO program’s budget “has been historically a moving target,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, a budget watchdog group. “Now you have Mayor Lightfoot and the City Council attempting to both rationalize and account for this cost.”

Experts note that the public school system paying the police department for services is not like a government agency paying a contractor after it submits an invoice. Funds are likely transferred between departments at the city level because both the public schools and the police are funded through property taxes.

Msall also said a cost breakdown of the budget does not tell the public whether the school district is being charged proportionally to the services it is receiving.

There’s no best practice for how police officers who are assigned to schools should be paid.

Mo Canady, executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers,

said there are as many approaches to school police budgets as there are school police units. Many share costs, but Canady, who trained Chicago police officers in school-specific work last summer, said there is no strong agreement that one approach is better than the other.

Pressure for change

The Chicago Board of Education will vote on the school police contract as it looks to an uncertain budgetary future. Chicago Public Schools has spent about $55 million responding to the coronavirus crisis so far, with about $25 million on technology, a portion of which came from federal emergency funds released to respond to COVID-19 needs.

State funding will hold steady this year, but the district won’t get the increase it expected and increases could be threatened in coming years. Meanwhile, its costs continue to rise. The federal government also has threatened to tie funds for reopening school campuses to in-person learning.

In fact, CPS CEO Janice Jackson said if the board of education had voted to cancel the contract with the police, she could have used the money to help balance the school district’s budget.

When considering where to cut, some observers say the school police budget could be an option, especially if fewer students are in school next year because of the pandemic.

Msall agrees. “I think the real question is: ‘Is the only way to maintain security in schools for the Chicago Police Department with sworn officers with the right to have a gun in the school?’” he asked. “Certainly, we’ve seen that there is an enormous need for more social workers, more counselors, more services, mental health services for the students.”

As pressure continues from movements to defund police, F. Chris Curran, an associate professor at the University of Florida who has studied school discipline and safety, said he expects to see school districts try to balance their budgets in part through responding to calls to change police funding.

If the school district responds to the pressure to change its police program, Curran said, he expects it “will perhaps alter the way in which school police are operating, or scale them back a little bit, without doing away with them entirely.”

Other cities have taken different approaches in response to calls to end school policing that have intensified in the wake of the Floyd killing.

In Los Angeles, the school board voted in June to cut the $70 million school police budget by $25 million, resulting in the layoffs of 65 officers and the elimination of overtime pay. That money will instead be reinvested into social workers and counselors, a key demand of the movement agitating for the change. In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio has planned to give school police more money.

Chicago’s teachers union calls for an all-remote start to fall

2020-07-16T01:45:41+00:00

Chicago’s teachers union called Wednesday for an all-remote start to the school year, saying the district’s Black and Latino students — who make up the majority of enrollment — are most likely to be impacted if the coronavirus pandemic worsens.

The union’s announcement Wednesday night preempts the mayor’s office, which is expected to release a tentative reopening plan in tandem with the school district later in the week.

Both Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson have said they support a return to in-person learning if health officials give them the green light, and the district has surveyed parents on multiple scenarios that blend in-person and remote learning.

But the union questioned Wednesday whether safe and effective in-person learning can happen under strict social distancing guidelines, which would prevent small group instruction or situations where a teacher comforted a child.

“There is simply no way to guarantee safety for in-school learning during an out-of-control pandemic—and that means we must revert to remote learning until the spread of this virus is contained,” said President Jesse Sharkey in a statement.

COVID-19 cases, he said, were “soaring instead of dissipating.” Earlier in the day, health officials announced 1,187 new cases of COVID-19 across the state, and the mayor said she might consider rolling back parts of her reopening plan if the number of Chicago cases continues to rise.

Michael Passman, a spokesman for Chicago Public Schools, said Wednesday night that the city planned to introduce a “preliminary framework” this week in an effort to get feedback from parents, students, and educators. The final decision about whether students would return to in-person learning won’t happen until closer to the start of school when there’s a clearer assessment of the public health situation.

The first day of school in Chicago is scheduled for Sept. 8.

“The health and safety of our students and staff is paramount, and our planning for the fall will be guided by the best available data and guidance from state and local health officials,” he said in a statement. “We know that families and staff are eager to learn more about the coming school year, and we appreciate that there are a range of needs and views that are valid and must be considered.”

Union leaders had said earlier that they supported a return to in-person learning under certain conditions, a list that included adequate personal protective equipment, safe social distancing strategies, school cleaning protocols, regular rapid testing for COVID-19, access to health professionals onsite, and job protections for workers who may become ill.

How far the union will be willing to go and whether it could start rallying members for another strike over the issue will be something to watch. In a town hall with members Tuesday night, union leaders said the district had not been “forthcoming” about its tentative plans.

Several educators expressed concerns about underlying health conditions such as asthma that put them at greater risk of complications due to COVID-19.

Asked if another strike would be an option less than a year after an 11-day walkout that interrupted learning last fall and ended bitterly, Sharkey told members it is something that leadership would consider but it’s “not the first thing we’d talk about.”

“There is going to be real pressure from parents and from a lot of people for us to do school,” he said. “Going straight to a line of, ‘We have our demands and we’ll strike if we don’t get them,’ is probably going to be hard for people to hear.”

Along with its statement, the union released a report Wednesday calling for nearly 50 safety protocols that spanned school-based measures as well as broader public health initiatives that would be out of reach for the school district to enact alone. The measures ranged from school-based smaller class “pods,” staggered start times, and new transportation protocols for students to paid parental leave, additional federal and state funding, and widespread, free community contact tracing.

In the report, the union acknowledged that remote learning is a poor substitute for in-person learning.

According to the report, a large percentage of unionized educators are at increased risk of serious illness or death from COVID-19 due to their age or underlying health conditions. Half of CTU’s membership, it said, live in the Chicago zip codes with the highest rates of COVID-19.

Kalyn Belsha contributed reporting.

Chicago says it will reform school budgeting. Can efforts survive a pandemic?

2020-06-19T11:00:00+00:00

This story is part of the Lens on Lightfoot series, a collaboration of seven Chicago newsrooms examining the first year of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. Partners are Chalkbeat Chicago, the Better Government Association, Block Club Chicago, The Chicago Reporter, The Daily Line, La Raza and The TRiiBE. It is managed by the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office pledging to reexamine the way Chicago pays for schools. She held a series of public meetings, convened a working group of experts, and invited the public to weigh in on the much-reviled and impossibly complicated school budget system.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, state and city revenues dried up, and students were scattered to the winds to learn in their homes, an event that deepened existing learning gaps among students.

Advocates insist that budget reform efforts could still lead to important changes, and that the need for equitable funding is all the more urgent. But, in a moment of historical financial uncertainty, how that will be done — and what cuts it could mean in other places — only underscores how difficult it is to revisit school funding in a city that has faced chronic school budget deficits.

“Taking money from an underfunded school to give money to another underfunded school — that is not equity,” Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and an architect of the state’s education formula, said.

Students and families have long said there are have and have-not campuses. The reasons for the disparities are complicated: Many schools say they don’t have enough money to pay for the necessary staff positions to help high-need students, while some schools have parent groups who can raise large sums to supplement existing staff and supplies.

At the school level, the budget picture gets even more complex. The district spends the most per pupil to maintain its most severely under-enrolled schools, such as Tilden High School on the city’s South Side and Manley Career Academy High School on the Far West Side. Some, such as the city’s teachers union, have argued that those schools have the greatest needs — and should get more. While others have wondered if the city should reckon with its shrinking enrollment by redistributing money across fewer campuses, which could mean merging or closing schools, a controversial option in Chicago.

These are the kinds of tough questions facing budget reform efforts, and members of the working group said their efforts are just getting started.

For the last six years, the basis of Chicago’s funding formula has been to give the same per-pupil amount to individual schools, with small variations to address students’ needs and backgrounds. Last year the district made a few changes, protecting schools from a one-year drop in enrollment, targeting resources to high-need schools through “equity grants,” and creating a “poverty metric” to focus investment in schools with large numbers of low-income students.

Some schools, like Roosevelt High School in Albany Park, credited the boosts with helping spur its first enrollment increase in a decade. Others, passed over for the investments despite taking part in the competitive application process for new programs, said the process was unfair.

The changes highlighted a question that has dogged Chicago budget reform for years: In a school district where money is often tight, does more money for one school equal less for another?

On the campaign trail in 2019, then-mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot promised to revisit school funding, and to do so in a way that engaged a broad array of community voices.

Once in office, Lightfoot moved quickly to form the budget committee, bringing in some heavy-hitter school policy experts. The 19-member committee spent the first months of this year learning about how Chicago’s schools are funded, hearing community input at six public meetings held in January and February, and then drawing up a series of recommendations. Members held their last meeting in February, just weeks before the coronavirus pandemic closed schools. About 500 people participated in the public meetings.

The group, which released its recommendations in April, proposed determining an “ideal” level of funding for individual schools and encouraging district officials to lobby for more state and local funding.

The approach was broadly modeled on the so-called “evidence-based” formula used by the state to fund school districts. State leaders adopted the method in 2017, with the goal of determining the amount of money it would take to provide a quality education for students, including those with greater needs, such as English Language learners and special education students.

The plan also had a key political component: It was a tacit acknowledgement that the state wasn’t giving enough money to school districts to meet student needs. With the new approach, school districts learned how much state funding they will get each year, with the highest-need districts, such as Chicago, set to receive boosts in future years.

Marguerite Roza, a school finance expert and the director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, said the changes created a more equitable system because the new formula took into account how much school districts were getting in local property taxes and then tried to cover the gap between that amount and what they actually need.

“What changes was the relationship between state and local money,” Roza, who noted that the trend for many districts nationwide was to move toward student-based budgeting, said.

But advocates say the conversation about how much money Chicago schools receive —and where the district and city could find more — is as much a political calculation as it is about the nitty-gritty of recalculating the funding formula.

Martire, a member of the budget committee, echoed a call raised by parents in some of the public meetings: a new funding formula can only be fully effective if there’s more money to spend.

For years, district officials have blamed the state for not giving Chicago Public Schools enough money. The district also has continued to pay for the upkeep of schools closed during the mass closures in 2013, including outside cleaning services for now empty buildings. The Chicago Teachers Union used its strike in the fall, in part, to push the city to dip into non-school funds for the education budget. The district recently signed a new teachers union contract that promised $1.5 billion in new spending over the next five years.

Now, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown school districts across the country into an uncertain budgetary future, with many warning the federal government that they’re facing dire cuts. With uncertainty over what school will look like in the fall, the costs of running a socially distanced school system are still up in the air.

The district’s total operating budget for this year was $6.18 billion. More than half of the money comes from local revenue, with the remaining 32% coming from state money and 11% from federal dollars.

The city budget has a $700 million hole caused by dropping tax revenues after the coronavirus shut downs. The state has managed to hold school funding steady this year. And while the federal government has given districts some relief funding, education associations say they need still more to head off dire layoffs and cuts.

Martire says Chicago Public Schools should be able to get a steady stream of funding from city property tax revenues - even if some mortgage holders default, banks will still shore up those taxes, he said. He also hopes a referendum on a progressive tax revenue system in Illinois will pass this fall, which could bring in billions in new revenue.

That will solve some of the concerns about trying to do more with the same amount of money or even less, says Martire.

Some members of the committee, chief among them the Chicago Teachers Union, say they want the district to look for other sources of revenue.

The bigger question might be how much of an appetite the district will have to revamp its funding formula amidst an uncertain budget year. At a board meeting earlier this year, schools chief Janice Jackson said it’s unlikely the district will move away from a student-based budgeting formula for the fall.

District officials said they already use an approach that helps the poorest schools. This year, they will provide $100,000 in equity grants at more than 100 of the city’s highest-need schools, which were pinpointed using the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Economic Hardship Index. The index uses factors like housing density and poverty level to decide which city areas most need support. The district also tweaked the special education formula to give more money to schools with larger numbers of students with special needs.

Pavlyn Jankov, a researcher with the Chicago Teachers Union, said the union wants a promise from the district not to cut school budgets because of enrollment numbers. “We want student-based budgeting to be tossed out,” said Jankov. “We think, in light of the pandemic, it’s crazy to expect schools to cut staff.”

The budget review process will cover multiple budget cycles, according to the district, and the working group will be reconvened later this year.

Martire applauded the district’s efforts so far. The group “has really done a nice job of having very frank conversations about the different challenges” of reforming the budget formula.

Andrew Askuvich, whose two children attend Jamieson Elementary School in North Park, said at one of the public meetings earlier this year that he knows there are schools with greater needs. Jamieson’s parent group raises money each year to provide each teacher with $300 for school supplies. If the district gets more money, he said it should go first to schools with the highest needs.

“In the end, there’s the understanding that there is just not enough right now,” he said. “For a lot of people [here] it was really about equity, about making sure the schools that have been neglected for decades, that more is done for these schools.”

Advocates and lawsuit warn of ‘devastating’ impact on child care if Chicago doesn’t act

2020-06-08T21:39:56+00:00

A group of child care advocates are warning of “devastating” impacts on nonprofit and community-based centers and say some organizations could be on the verge of closing.

Fifteen centers that care for low-income children are set to lose all of their city-granted public funding and at least another 10 will see substantial funding reductions on June 30. The city set that date after reshuffling funds for early learning as it moved toward universal prekindergarten.

Now one of those organizations, the West Austin Development Center, has filed suit against the city in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging flaws in the grant process Chicago used to reshape early learning. The suit, expected to go before a judge mid-month, demands that the city redo the award, which affects nearly every publicly funded early education center in Chicago and is worth about $1 billion across five years.

Separately, the heads of 135 organizations in Chicago have written increasingly urgent letters to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her top early education deputies demanding funding to be restored to the centers and warning of potential closures if it isn’t.

A public affairs spokeswoman from the city’s law department said City Hall would not comment on pending litigation.

West Austin serves 200 children up to age 5 on the city’s West Side. Owner Tamera Fair, who owns several other centers, said she filed suit after the city refused to provide her the scoring sheet or the actual scores from the grant competition.

Her suit, which names the commissioner in charge of the city’s department of family services, Lisa Morrison Butler, in addition to the city of Chicago, describes a litany of errors, including chronic delays in the grant, poor communication, and software glitches in the application portal— resulting in Fair’s application getting improperly routed to a grant pool with less money available, according to the suit.

The complaint appends eight error messages on the day that applications were accepted.

At least one other Chicago provider told Chalkbeat they experienced the same thing last fall and also were moved to a second funding round, then told less money was available.

“We saw how flawed the (grant) process was and it was so hard to get the scoring rubric, or find out how we were scored,” said Fair. “Why can’t we get this information? Isn’t this a public entity?”

Chalkbeat also filed a public information request for the grant scores last fall. The city denied the request.

Fair’s suit also claims the city has a conflict of interest in overseeing the early learning grant-making as it is expanding universal pre-K in its schools. Expanding preschool draws students and staff from child care centers, providers have said.

Any early learning organization seeking funding from four of the largest state and federal funding streams for young children must submit an application through Chicago, which administers those grants — an increasingly unusual situation among large urban centers.

“The city writes the rules, runs the process, makes the awards, but at the same time competes with those it administers,” the suit reads. “And to make matters worse, the city mandates that [community-run organizations, such as Fair’s] must participate in this system without any alternative or means for appeal. It’s a conflict of interest.”

Fair’s lawyer, James Taylor, said court delays due to COVID-19 have impacted the case, but he is hoping to get his request for a temporary restraining order heard before the June 30 deadline. The way the case is structured, the restraining order would apply to any center in a similar position as Fair’s.

Fair said the argument for extending investments in child care centers cannot be decoupled from the protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and calls for more investment in Chicago neighborhoods in the wake of data that shows the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black and brown residents.

“Education is the best avenue to climb out of poverty,” said Fair. “At a time when economic and cultural disparities are at their highest peak, we definitely don’t need to be retracting those dollars (from our early education centers).”

Chicago’s family services department and the mayor are also the targets of a letter-writing campaign, signed by 135 organizations under the umbrella of Child Care Advocates United, a Chicago association.

In the latest letter, advocates say they have reached out to the city three times without response in recent weeks. “While we can appreciate that there is a litany of pressing agenda items to attend, this is very atypical of your office to be non-responsive,” said the latest letter, sent Wednesday.

The stakes are high, said Beata Skorusa, the owner of Montessori Foundations of Chicago, a center on the city’s South Side, who helped draft the letter.

“There are a few programs that will literally close doors,” she said. The pressure is higher because COVID-19 closed the vast majority of child care centers, and state guidelines for reopening set strict caps on capacity — meaning centers must re-enroll fewer children.

Nationally, child care advocates have warned of a looming crisis in child care, since only a small percentage stayed open during the pandemic to care for emergency workers and new reopening guidelines have proven costly. Estimates from a national child care advocacy group warned that roughly one-third of Illinois’ child care centers were at the risk of closing before the state stepped in with some short-term relief.

Skorusa will stay open but she said the impact of losing city funding could be higher co-pays for her families, including low-income ones. “Some families will be priced out.”

Chicago sets a date and recruits more stars for its citywide virtual graduation

2020-05-27T18:34:00+00:00

Graduating seniors throughout Chicago will be honored by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first virtual graduation ceremony on June 14 at 1 p.m.

“The times we are living in are truly unprecedented and now, more than ever, our future rests on the talent, ideas, and ambition of our next generation of leaders,” Lightfoot said in a release on Wednesday afternoon. “While Chicago’s 2020 graduating class cannot walk across their school’s stage to get their diplomas, we are asking them to don their caps and gowns on June 14 as the entire city celebrates this unforgettable milestone together.”

Oprah Winfrey, media executive and former talk show host, will give the commencement address. Miguel Cervantes, an actor from the musical “Hamilton,” will emcee the event. Katie Kadan, a winner of the musical competition “The Voice,” will perform the national anthem.

The ceremony will feature a comedy skit from Second City, an improvisational theater troupe based in Chicago, and surprise graduate shout-outs from the city’s celebrities and sports figures.

“Our graduating seniors have displayed incredible persistence over the past few months and deserve this one-of-a-kind celebration to honor their accomplishments,” wrote Janice Jackson, Chicago Public Schools chief. “Though many of them have postsecondary plans that will take them all over the country and the world, this virtual graduation truly exemplifies how special it is to grow up in Chicago and graduate from Chicago Public Schools.”

Students also will perform. Representatives from various parts of the city will write and deliver a joint valedictorian speech. The ceremony also will feature the Dunbar Vocational Career Academy’s drumline, a Class of 2020 poem from ChiArts students, and a spoken word performance by Kenwood High School students.

The mayor’s office is encouraging seniors to submit a video of their own graduation walk for a chance to appear in the virtual celebration. Seniors may submit their graduation walk videos at: www.chicagograd2020.com.

Drumroll, please: Chicago announces a virtual graduation ceremony, and it will star Oprah

2020-04-30T20:04:18+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot will host a virtual graduation ceremony for high school seniors in mid-June featuring Oprah Winfrey as the commencement speaker.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the news in a TikTok video while wearing a cap and gown and dancing in “Madame Mayor” sneakers.

“The times we are living in are historic and stunning, forcing us all to take a deep look at who we are as a people and our place in the world,” she said in a release. “No one knows this better than Oprah.”

A City Hall news release said the date and details would be forthcoming, but that the first ever citywide celebration of graduating high school seniors would feature student performances. Chicago Public Schools seniors and students from area Catholic and private schools will be invited to attend remotely.

Media executive and former talk show host Winfrey is one of the city’s most famous and widely admired former residents.

With more than two dozen states announcing that students will not return to in-person schooling this spring due to the coronavirus pandemic, education leaders have weighed what to do about graduation. Some have postponed ceremonies in hopes of hosting them later in person, while others have announced plans for drive-by graduations and virtual graduation ceremonies.

“The meaning of graduation is more profound than a physical stage and nothing can detract from the beaming pride of a Chicago Public Schools parent when their student earns a diploma,” Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson said in the news release. “We know we can’t fully replace the special milestones lost during this unprecedented crisis, but our seniors deserve to be celebrated for their hard work and we look forward to coming together to honor our seniors during this special occasion.”

City Hall said Thursday that a committee of educators from area high schools would sort out graduation details.

Chicago serves as a special backdrop for Winfrey’s career. The Baltimore native was relatively unknown when she began a half-hour talk show called “A.M. Chicago” here in 1984. Two years later, she debuted “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” becoming the first black woman in America to host nationally syndicated talk show.

I've always said that if I were to get on @tiktok_us it had to be for something REALLY special. Today is the day. Get ready. https://t.co/YVCt5h1dLx pic.twitter.com/2h9DtvdMRE
— Mayor Lightfoot #StayHomeSaveLives (@chicagosmayor) April 30, 2020

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

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

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

How will that impact learning?

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

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

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

🔗April 2

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

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

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

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

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

A teacher named Samantha asked about the number of hours she was expected to be online, and how that time would be divided between planning and direct contact with students. “Our principal is very adamant that we sign up for 4-hour blocks,” Samantha said.

Another educator, Natalie, said she felt the hourlong teaching blocks were just too long for her fifth grade students. “It would be great to get some clarity as it pertains to age group and what is appropriate instructional time,” she said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗April 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 31

🔗Illinois extends school closures

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

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

🔗New rules for remote learning

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

🔗March 30

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 27

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

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

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

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

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

🔗How long could closures last in Illinois?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗House passes federal stimulus bill that includes money for schools

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

🔗March 26

🔗Questions about emergency child care weigh on Chicago

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗“Something miraculous has happened in Washington.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 25

🔗CPS’ $75 million emergency fund

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

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

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

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

🔗College goers face unprecedented uncertainty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 22

🔗Infant case announced in Illinois

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Where were the tests when we needed them?

Where's the PPE?

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

🔗March 21

Pritzker announces expanded childcare support for emergency workers

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 20

🔗Statewide school closures extend to April 8

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

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

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

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

“This is the new normal for now.”

🔗Advanced Placement tests to continue but look different

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

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

🔗Testing canceled

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

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

🔗March 19

🔗Mayor Lori Lightfoot extends school closures

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

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

🔗Virtual school loses bid to stay open

Even as districts around the state rush to figure out distance learning plans for students in the wake of the coronavirus school shutdowns, the state school board voted Wednesday to close Chicago’s only virtual charter school for failure to improve its academics. The vote happened as Illinois is shutting down its charter commission and transferring authority back to the state school board. Read more here.

🔗March 18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗Big jump in COVID-19 cases

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

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

🔗Day cares open but struggling

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗State board holds first meeting in time of coronavirus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗A day without school

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

🔗March 17

🔗A strange new reality sets in

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

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

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

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

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

🔗State school board issues clears up pay question

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

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

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

🔗Union calls on state to suspend spring testing

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

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

🔗Avoiding playdates

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

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

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

🔗Clarity about grading policies in Chicago

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

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

Chicago Public Schools reiterated this today on social media.

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

🔗March 16

🔗Seven questions asked and answered

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 15

🔗Another case surfaces connected to Chicago Public Schools

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Noble operates independently of Chicago Public Schools.

🔗

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 14

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗March 13

🔗Chicago makes plans for families

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

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

🔗Governor announces statewide closure

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

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

🔗Here’s a running list of Illinois district closures

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

🔗Chicago’s rationale so far for not closing schools

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

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

🔗New guidance from the CDC on closures

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

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

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

🔗Chicago Teachers Union takes a stronger stance

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗Closures so far in Illinois

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

🔗Archdiocese closing schools

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

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

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

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

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

🔗Flexibility on food delivery weighs on states

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

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

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

🔗March 12

🔗Evanston Skokie District 65 to close schools starting Monday

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

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

🔗No statewide school closure in Illinois

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

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

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

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

He advised schools to cancel assemblies.

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

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

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

Read the latest here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗Conversations in the classroom

Students have questions. Many questions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

🔗More closures nationally

Treadwell Elementary off of Given Avenue in Memphis.

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

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

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

🔗March 11

🔗Chicago teachers take aim at spring break travel company

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

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

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

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

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

By Mila Koumpilova

🔗Seattle closes schools as Washington cases top 300

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

March 11: Number of Illinois cases rises again

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

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

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

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

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

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

by Mila Koumpilova

🔗Teachers union calls for remote learning plans, cleaning supplies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Mila Koumpilova

🔗Illinois needs more tests

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

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

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

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

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

By Samantha Smylie

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

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

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

🔗March 10

🔗What we know so far

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

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

Seven things parents should know about Chicago school closures and coronavirus

2020-03-16T22:46:37+00:00

A grim-faced Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and school chief Janice Jackson strode Monday through a windowless room in the basement of Chicago Public Schools’ downtown headquarters — the district’s command center for fielding families’ coronavirus concerns.

At desks set up at a social distance from each other — an all-caps message on a whiteboard instructed everyone not to move them — staffers took calls and answered emails.

Since the command center kicked into gear last week, staffers have logged more than 800 calls. Parents have wanted to know everything from how concerned they should be about their children’s possible coronavirus exposure to where they can take kids as a statewide closure begins Tuesday.

“We are really pushing that home is the best place to be,” Sergio Obregon of the district’s health and wellness department told the mayor.

Here are answers to seven of parents’ most pressing questions.

Can I drop off my children at school Tuesday?

No. District officials stressed Monday that the coronavirus-related closures are different from the 11-day Chicago teachers’ strike, when schools were open but minimally staffed. Schools will serve solely as curbside food distribution sites.

“It’s important to know this scenario is unprecedented,” Jackson said. “We are imploring families not to send their children to school.”

The Chicago Park District is offering expanded programming at 18 city parks for families in need of emergency child care, but participation at each site is limited to 50. Here’s the list.

How do I pick up school breakfast and lunch during the closure?

Any time between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on weekdays starting March 17, families can grab a three-day supply of breakfast and lunch at any Chicago school, regardless of whether their child attends that school and whether they qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.

The district is creating pickup spots in front of schools for grab-and-go meals and encouraging families to pick up food once every three days.

“We are limiting social interaction as much as possible,” Jackson said.

Asked about some educators’ concerns that food delivery might help spread the virus, Lightfoot stressed Monday that coronavirus transmission appears to involve close contact with people displaying symptoms, not the casual interaction of picking up packaged food.

About 25 charter campuses also will operate food pickup sites. Here is the full list.

How will the district help students learn while schools are shuttered?

Chicago Public Schools educators have created take-home packets with learning resources for students, in both hard copy and digital formats. The district’s Office of Teaching and Learning also prepared activity packets for each grade that parents can download at cps.edu/enrichmentresources.

While some wealthier suburban districts are offering e-learning options for families, Chicago isn’t set up to offer that districtwide, Jackson has said. Not all students in the district have access to laptops and other devices.

Instead, the focus will be on enrichment and on encouraging families to do what they can at home.

Will my child’s work be graded?

No. The district is following state guidance not to grade assignments given during the closures, but district leaders encouraged parents to keep up with learning at home.

Could schools remain closed past March 31?

Lightfoot said city officials are closely monitoring guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency is discouraging gatherings of 50 or more people through April, though it listed schools as a possible exception. Still, Lightfoot said Monday she could not rule out closures that extend beyond the March 31 date Gov. J.B. Pritzker has set.

“This is an incredibly fluid situation, which is an understatement,” Lightfoot said. “It’s hard for us to predict what will happen two days in advance.”

Some other cities have issued extended closures. New York City schools are closed until at least April 20. Boston schools are closed until April 27.

How do I talk to my children about the closures and coronavirus?

Teachers have navigated the sometimes difficult conversations about coronavirus in their classrooms during the past few weeks. What they have learned may prove instructive for housebound families. Read more here.

How do I get the district to answer my questions?

That’s where the district’s coronavirus command center comes in. You can call 773-553-KIDS from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays or email familyservices@cps.edu. The district’s goal is to return calls and answer emails the day they are received.

Why Chicago resisted closing schools in the coronavirus outbreak

2020-03-13T20:12:25+00:00

The nation’s second largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, said Friday it will close schools as coronavirus cases climb in California and the United States. Entire states — Ohio, Maryland, Michigan and New Mexico — have closed schools.

But until the state stepped in Friday afternoon, Chicago, the third-largest school district in the country, was going to stay open. Why?

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has had to defend her decision to keep Chicago schools open at every public turn. A former federal prosecutor who is used to fielding tough questions, she’s been stoic in her response: She’s assessing and reassessing multiple times a day, she said, but closing schools has “cascading consequences,” as the city saw during an 11-day campus shutdown during last fall’s teachers strike.

Lightfoot told reporters Friday morning her team has been calibrating and balancing data. “If we get to a point where it is prudent to close schools, we’re going to do that in a way that mitigates and minimizes the burden that we will invariably be placing on households.”

Until Friday afternoon, Gov. J.B. Pritzker also stopped short of issuing an edict for statewide closures. In Illinois as of Thursday, there were 32 confirmed cases. Lightfoot said the two are in contact multiple times a day on the issue.

“The governor has concerns about schools across the state. We’re having multiple conversations every single day about what we’re doing, why we’re doing what we’re doing, and using data to drive the decision. In the event we need to take action, we will do that in partnership with the state.”

Pressure has been increasing. On Friday, the Chicago Teachers Union called for immediate closures, a day after it had taken a less drastic position and asked the district to close schools temporarily on Election Day, March 17, since many campuses serve as polling places. A closure, it argued, could double as a cleaning day.

By Friday, the union’s position had changed from calling for a one-day closure on Election Day to reduce student exposure risk to an immediate closure effective Friday, citing concern for frontline workers, from teachers to support staff. “This is the time to be proactive and cautious,” the union’s chief of staff, Jennifer Johnson, said in an interview with Chalkbeat.

But there are also new questions about the effectiveness of school closures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in new guidance Friday that short-term closures may not slow the growth curve of the virus.

Here’s how the mayor and the city’s top health official, Allison Arwady, explained their position on Friday.

They believe children to be at low risk of transmitting infection or becoming sick.

Arwady, who is a pediatrician and still sees patients, said Friday that she knew parents had serious concerns about protecting their children. But she reiterated that the risk to children is low.

“This (virus spread) does not seem to be primarily driven by children,” she said.

At Vaughn Occupational High School, which the district closed this week after an aide tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the city has tested 42 people who reported symptoms and none of the tests has been confirmed positive, she said.

“It’s possible we could still determine a case of transmission at that school, but I think that’s unlikely at this point. What we know about coronavirus nationally, and internationally … 2.4% of the cases in Chicago have been in children 18 and younger; 98% have been in adults. When children have gotten sick, by and large, they’ve gotten mildly ill.”

She said the data out of China also don’t show large “transmission chains” of children spreading the disease to adults.

Closing schools is a decision that has serious consequences for working families.

Around 355,100 children attend Chicago public schools, and 78% are considered low-income. “When we close schools that means in a lot of instances that parents have to stay home,” Lightfoot said Friday morning. “In some instances that may mean we’re taking nurses out of hospitals, doctors out of hospitals. We also know that many of our parents are hourly workers and they would have to stay home because of the cost, and or the availability, of childcare. For that population, which is dependent upon paycheck to paycheck to meet the needs of their families, closing schools has cascading consequences.”

Schools provide meals for hungry children and regular shelter for the housing insecure.

“Many students rely on schools to eat,” the mayor said, echoing a similar reluctance to close schools voiced this week by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Patricia Nix-Hodes, the director of the law project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, said about 5% of the city’s schoolchildren are homeless or doubling or tripling up with other families. She worries about how closings would affect children. “If schools close, there has to be a plan for addressing food insecurity for homeless students and families and other low-income students who may not be in homeless situations but may also rely on school meals for food.”

The city has concerns about where children will go, and whether grandparents would be put at risk by becoming primary caregivers.

Arwady reiterated Friday that her team is most concerned about the city’s aging population. “There are lots of conversations about schools. We’re not done with those conversations. When we do think about closing schools, when we think about that here, we think about where kids would go. Often they go to grandma. When I’m worried about who’s at risk and who’s moving around, I’m not that sure that is something that makes sense.”

Closing schools early has not proven to slow the curve of the virus, the CDC said Friday.

In revised guidance issued March 13, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested that early, short- to medium- term closures don’t appear to slow the progression of COVID-19 in a community. Longer closures — eight to 20 weeks — might retard the virus’ community spread, it said. But modeling shows that other recommended measures like handwashing and isolating patients at home could have a greater effect, the federal agency advised.

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

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

So far, the word from parent advocacy groups on whether to close schools has been mixed. Cassandra Creswell, with the parent advocacy group IL Families for Public Schools, said the governor should close schools statewide, and find workarounds for meal distribution and child care.

But Jianan Shi, executive director with parent group Raise Your Hand, has a different take. He said that his group was so far on board with the decision to keep schools open as long as it was the recommendation of public health officials. “A lot of students do depend on school for many services,” Shi said. “We want to trust our professionals.”

Yana Kunichoff and Samantha Smylie contributed reporting.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that about 5% of Chicago’s overall public school enrollment is identified as living in a homeless situation, not 11%. Chalkbeat regrets the error.

Chicago student protesters demand Lightfoot live up to campaign promises on environmental protection

2020-02-29T00:38:08+00:00

More than two dozen Chicago young activists Friday called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to reinstate a city department of environment to combat heavy pollution in black and Latino neighborhoods and increase efforts to fight climate change.

About 30 people, mostly students, rallied outside the mayor’s office on City Hall’s fifth floor. They urged Lightfoot to follow through on her campaign promise to reopen the environment department, which former Mayor Rahm Emanuel eliminated in 2012.

“Sometimes it’s hard for me to breathe,” Alexandra Shelby told the crowd, explaining she was born with asthma. “Tell me, Ms. Lightfoot. Do you really want to live off this reputation of robbing healthy lives from those in the black and brown communities?”

A high school senior at the Progressive Leadership Academy charter school on the South Side, Shelby joined other members of a school student group focused on environmental issues at the protest. Demonstrators circled in the lobby in front of Lightfoot’s office and chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho. Environmental racism has got to go,” and “Clean air is what we need. Lori Lightfoot, I can’t breathe.”

Members of several activist groups at the rally criticized the mayor for not moving quickly on her vows to better city environmental enforcement and develop plans for climate change — two issues the protesters said inordinately damage minority communities.

“It’s important that black and brown people are up here at the front line of this conversation of environmental injustice because we know that we live in communities that are directly impacted by the climate change crisis,” said Alycia Moaton, a leader of the group GoodKids MadCity. “It shows where Lori’s priorities are at with her not wanting to invest in reopening this environmental department. She criticized Rahm Emanuel for not giving attention to it and yet she has done nothing herself.”

The protest comes as pressure has mounted on Lightfoot to “bring back the city’s department of environment,” a key promise she made while running for mayor. Lightfoot vowed the department under her administration would protect residents from polluters, lead in water and poor air quality.

In December, eight months after Lightfoot took office, the Better Government Association reported the mayor was backing away from the initial campaign promise, saying the city didn’t have the money to immediately fund it. But she was promising to hire a chief sustainability officer as a first step toward providing more environmental oversight.

Lightfoot still hasn’t hired anyone for the post.

“In order to meet an ambitious climate agenda, the administration is currently in the process of hiring a Chief Sustainability Officer who will ensure a dedicated focus on current climate and environmental issues from the Mayor’s Office,” according to a statement released by Lightfoot’s office. “The CSO will work with subject matter experts and community stakeholders to develop forward-looking policy solutions that center racial equity and growing quality jobs, and protecting communities from pollution.”

In January, Elise Zelechowski, city deputy director of policy, was named acting chief sustainability officer. Zelechowski was a former city environment department employee under former Mayor Richard Daley.

“I honestly don’t know what the hold up is,” said Peggy Salazar, director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force. Overall, Salazar said she’s been disappointed at the lack of any movement on environmental protection under Lightfoot. “When it comes to the environment, she falls real short.”

The calls for action follow eight years of Emanuel’s administration in which city environmental inspections and enforcement plunged, the BGA reported last year. A few months ago, the city’s inspector general mirrored some of the BGA’s findings, warning that residents across Chicago are potentially exposed to risks from hundreds of sources of toxic air emissions that went unchecked for a three-year period.

Ahead of Friday’s demonstration, the students said in a statement announcing the protest they are concerned about the “environmental racism and the disproportionate pollution experienced by black and brown youth on the South and West sides of Chicago.”

They also want to hold the mayor to city goals converting buildings to renewable energy. Lightfoot has set those goals of city-owned properties by 2025 and converting the entire city to renewables by 2035.

Earlier in the week, activists from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization called on Lightfoot to reassess the city’s planning practices that they say have increased pollution in communities near industrial areas, such as the West and Southeast sides.

For Moaton and others, they would like to see the mayor follow up her rhetoric with action.

“She has run a campaign on progressive tactics but has not followed up on anything she has said she’s going to do,” Moaton said.

This story was produced by the Better Government Association, a nonprofit news organization based in Chicago as part of the “Lens On Lightfoot” project, a collaboration of seven Chicago newsrooms examining the first year of 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. It is managed by the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Elected school board bill to get a renewed push in the Illinois legislature

2020-02-18T22:16:24+00:00

Backers of a bill that would establish a 21-member Chicago school board say they are building momentum again, this time in the Illinois Senate.

If the bill passes the legislature, Chicago could hold school board elections starting in 2023.

The bill has supporters, including Illinois Sen. Robert Martwick, a Democrat who represents Chicago’s Northwest Side and some adjacent suburbs. But it has had its share of detractors, too, who say that a 21-person board would dwarf that of any other major urban school district’s governing body and would be too large to govern effectively.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who currently appoints the school board, opposed the bill last year. Speaking with reporters Tuesday in Springfield, she said she briefly discussed the bill with Martwick during her visit to the Capitol and agreed to meet “at another time” to discuss it further.

The Senate’s new president, Don Harmon, a Democrat whose district stretches west from Chicago’s Austin neighborhood to suburban Addison, has supported elected school board bills in the past, according to his spokesperson, John Patterson, but has not yet taken a stand on this particular bill.

“He looks forward to having a discussion with Senator Martwick and the rest of the [senate] caucus to move it forward,” Patterson said.

Martwick introduced the bill as a member of the House of Representatives last spring. Now as a senator he is the lead sponsor of the bill, which has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Among the country’s largest school districts, school boards tend to range from seven to nine members.

In Los Angeles Unified and the Las Vegas-area Clark County, Nevada, voters elect seven school board members each representing a geographical district. A nine-person elected board oversees Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In New York City, the nation’s largest district, the mayor controls the public schools and appoints the majority of a 13-member board that oversees contracts, school closures, and other policy changes.

In Boston and Philadelphia, the mayors also appoint a board from a list of recommendations from a citizens nominating panel. Boston has seven members, plus a student representative. Philadelphia has nine.

Elected school boards exist in 90% of school districts across the country, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts study. That includes the other 852 districts in Illinois.

Martwick’s bill would divide Chicago into 20 districts, each with an elected representative, with a citywide elected president. The first election would be held in 2023, following the cycle of municipal elections.

Although advocates have pushed for decades for an elected school board, they have gained legislative traction recently. In 2017 the House and Senate passed a bill to create an elected Chicago board, but then-governor Bruce Rauner vetoed it. Martwick’s bill, introduced last spring passed with 110 votes in the House before it stalled in the Senate.

The issue cropped up in Chicago’s last mayoral race, with the two candidates who entered the runoff, Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, each pledging support for an elected board.

Supporters of the movement, like Martwick and the Chicago Teachers Union, say that an elected board would be more accountable to residents and would give voters more say in what happens in their schools.

“This is something that we’re all promised in democracy,” Martwick said, “that you get a say when there is a government entity that has a huge impact on your life and whether you have kids in that school or not, the performance of your schools affects every aspect of your life.”

He added that he’s open to debating the size of the board.

Critics of creating an elected school board have said it diffuses accountability and it wouldn’t accurately represent Chicago’s diverse population. There are also concerns it would be influenced by outside money from powerful education groups such as the teachers union and charter proponents.

“It’s not a silver bullet,” schools chief Janice Jackson warned during a panel appearance last year at the University of Chicago. “It has to be done in a thoughtful way, and we have to get at what the ultimate goal is, which is more transparency and involvement from the community,” she said. The risk, she added, is “expensive elections that don’t benefit students” and a board controlled by private interests that creates more bureaucracy.

Dick Simpson, a former alderman who backed Lightfoot in the mayoral election, said he thinks the legislature needs to hold a vigorous debate.

“The general idea of an elected school board is a good idea but whether this is the ideal form and structure is up to the legislature,” Simpson said. “A lot of the issues are in the details. How would it be put together?”

Simpson noted that the average school board has much fewer than 21 members, but said that elections for larger districts could become expensive and run the risk of candidates becoming bankrolled by political parties or the teachers union.

“The board would work better with nine,” Simpson said. “The city council should be larger but for the school board I think there’s enough experiences around the country that we should stay with the best practice we can find.”

Illinois state Representative Will Guzzardi, a Northwest Side Chicago Democrat, who advocated for the bill in the House, said the ball now lies in the Senate’s court. He said he believes there is enough momentum in the Senate and the general public for it to pass.

“From my perspective, we’ve done our job in the house,” Guzzardi said. “We passed a good, solid bill and we’ll leave it to the Senate to see what they can come up with and if they can get it passed.”

Representative Kam Buckner, a Chicago Democrat whose district encompasses parts of downtown and the Southeast Side, filed a different bill last month in the House to meet the deadline for new legislation, his spokeswoman Dulana Reese said. He submitted the bill, which outlines a similar 21-person board, in case Martwick’s bill fails to pass the Senate.

Hannah Meisel of The Daily Line contributed reporting.

Frustrated Lincoln Park High School council calls for meeting with mayor, more transparency from Chicago Public Schools

2020-02-07T21:35:00+00:00

Members of Lincoln Park High School’s governing body say they want to meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson in an effort to reinstate their campus administration. This comes nearly a week after the removal, and subsequent termination, of the school’s interim principal and assistant principal and the transfer of a dean.

The administrative changes, which Local School Council members said happened abruptly and without enough transparency from the district, happened during a multi-part investigation into sexual misconduct at the school.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesman said a meeting between council members and district leadership is set for Tuesday.

Speaking Friday afternoon to reporters, the mayor called the Lincoln Park cases “horrifying” and said that it was “absolutely necessary that (the district) act and act definitively.” She said she’s also willing to meet with council members.

“There’s a lot of things that were going on that involve student-on-student, that involve adult-on-student, and there’s serious questions about whether or not the administration that was there acted in a responsible way,” said Lightfoot. “Obviously we’ve got to have some sensitivities around the privacy interests of the students, and their parents have expressed that quite clearly. There are also ongoing investigations and I want to make sure that those are independent and done the right way, but I’m happy to sit down with them.”

Standing outside the school Friday morning, council members said they previously spoke with the district’s Office of Safety and Security, but were dissatisfied.

“We need to go to a higher level and understand why the decisions have been made to get us to this point,” said Eli Grant, a community representative on the 12-person council, which also includes parents, teachers, and a student.

Chicago Public Schools has said it had sufficient evidence to back the decisions to first suspend then terminate the administrators. But it can’t detail what it has learned without running afoul of student privacy laws and exposing teenage victims. “The actions we have taken are warranted and necessary based on the information we have at this time,” a spokesperson told Chalkbeat Thursday.

School councils, a fixture in Chicago school oversight for two decades, have the power to evaluate principals and a role in principal selection. They also review budgets. But their authority varies widely school-to-school, with some campuses plagued by chronic vacancies, and their legal and contract limitations mean they do not hire, fire, or evaluate teachers.

Recently, parents’ groups have called for further empowering the councils, and two Chicago-area legislators say they plan to propose legislation this year that would expand the role of the councils in school decision-making.

Grant said that the council was left out of the personnel decisions and that members are frustrated by the lack of transparency about the reasoning behind the decision, including what the fired administrators did or did not do, Grant said.

“At no point did CPS consult the (Local School Council) to remedy the misconduct,” Grant said. He said the council wants the district to reinstate Interim Principal John Thuet and assistant principal Michelle Brumfield, who’ve been terminated, and dean John Johnson, who has been transferred.

“These were individuals making a positive impact on the school community by listening and caring and doing things that resonated with students from all over Chicago,” he said. “Everyone felt welcomed for the first time in a while.”

Leaving school on Thursday, sophomore Ciara Carroll said the chaos reminded her of last year.

“No one cares, no one’s happy,” Carroll said.

Another sophomore, Isabella Scott, said that under Thuet and Brumfield’s leadership, this year the school has offered more activities and clubs, the dances are enjoyable, and members of the administration greeted students by name.

It has been a tumultuous week at Lincoln Park. On Wednesday, the district removed its stand-in administrator, Judith Gibbs, after a video of her appearing to squeeze a student’s face went viral.

Since Monday, students said they’ve seen a greater police presence at the school and fights.

“The last little piece of positivity we had, they’re gone,” Scott said. “[Brumfield] would go out of her way to make sure we felt positive, we felt good about going to school.”

In the midst of the uproar, Scott said the school has demonstrated unity.

“We’re so much better than this,” she said. “Once this is all over, our school’s true colors will shine. We really are a good school, and the people there are really good people, and so is the staff.”

Chicago Public Schools leaders said in a letter to parents Thursday that a pair of new administrators in charge, former principal trainer Jerryelyn Jones and former administrator Calvin Davis, are visiting every classroom to hear student concerns.

The district was sending additional people Friday to train staff in leading “talking circles” with students, and had set up a hotline and email for reaching the security office, the letter from Chief Schools Officer Bogdana Chkoumbova and Chief Security Officer Jadine Chou said. “We are committed to providing students with safe and healthy tools to express themselves during this difficult time.”

Justin Laurence and Maxwell Evans of Block Club Chicago contributed to this report.

Lincoln Park High allegations test Chicago’s new protocol for investigating sexual misconduct complaints

2020-02-06T22:56:13+00:00

Investigations spanning multiple school agencies. Accusations of sexual misconduct on an overnight boys basketball trip, and an alleged cover-up. The dismissal of a school’s top administrators and coaches. The abrupt suspension of a team’s basketball season ahead of a big game. Student walkouts.

And, in the middle of the investigations, the resignation of the city’s independent inspector general, Nicholas Schuler, amid rancor in his own office.

The recent revelations at Lincoln Park High School, a well-regarded International Baccalaureate school, have become a public test of Chicago Public Schools’ new protocol for investigating sexual misconduct complaints. The district’s response has set off a wave of parent and student protests and second-guessing.

“The mood is somber, the school is in chaos,” Mary Shaughnessy, whose son is a junior, said Thursday.

Amid the uproar, Chicago Public Schools says it had sufficient evidence to back the decisions to first suspend then terminate the school’s interim principal and one of its assistant principals. But it can’t detail what it has learned without running afoul of student privacy laws and exposing teenage victims.

“As we have told the school community, we are investigating multiple allegations of serious adult and student misconduct,” school district spokesman Michael Passman said. “Our top priority is ensuring all students have access to a safe and supportive learning environment, and the actions we have taken are warranted and necessary based on the information we have at this time.”

The allegations come at a critical moment for a campus that has experienced recent leadership changes and was seeking stability. They also test the Office of Student Protections, formed after a 2018 Chicago Tribune investigation revealed two decades of failure to protect students from sexual abuse.

The sudden resignation of the school board’s inspector general at the mayor’s request raises questions about who leads investigations, the independence of the public schools’ investigative office, and how effectively Chicago Public Schools can police itself.

Whether you’re just catching up or you’re curious about big-picture implications, here are six questions to consider as the investigation unfolds:

1. Why are parents and students so angry, and how will that impact the outcome?

The allegations at Lincoln Park High School surfaced in early January, not long after the boys basketball team returned from an unsanctioned overnight trip. The district’s Office of Student Protections received complaints that students engaged in sexual conduct on that trip, some of it possibly captured on social media, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The district then removed the team’s popular coach.

More allegations followed, prompting the district to open additional investigations into behavior of students and adults. The district then terminated the interim principal, John Thuet, and an assistant principal, Michelle Brumfield, and removed two more coaches.

The list of issues under investigation now includes failure to properly report complaints, retaliation against witnesses, interference with the investigation by school leadership, and financial misconduct related to athletic program accounts.

The district opened another investigation this week into the conduct of a retired principal who was brought in to stabilize the school, after a video surfaced that appeared to show her grabbing a student in the hallway. The district has replaced that temporary principal.

Many parents and students demanding evidence have rallied to the defense of the ousted administrators and coaches. Students have protested this week, staging walkouts and sit-ins.

About 50 students stood outside the school’s front gates Thursday morning holding signs and chanting.

“All [CPS is] delivering to us is accusations, not evidence,” said Ben Shacter, a Lincoln Park sophomore. “If you’re willing to fire our two most beloved staff in the entire school, at least give us some evidence for why you did that.”

Shacter said students are unclear on what exactly Thuet and Brumfield are being accused of, and said that the pair had made a noticeable difference in the community.

“Brumfield every day would stand outside the door and hold the door and greet us: ‘Hey, queen. Hi, king. You look beautiful today,’” Shacter said. “It was really nice for the community. It helped build a really good chemistry that we didn’t really have with the previous administration.”

2. Who is in charge at the school?

On Wednesday, the school district appointed two administrators, former principal supervisor Jerryelyn Jones and a former principal, teacher, and central office executive, Calvin Davis, to temporarily run the 2,200-student school. Two assistant principals remain in place.

David Marren, a parent member of the Lincoln Park High School Local School Council, said that the council was “completely shut out” of the personnel decisions. On Monday, the council was interviewing candidates for permanent principal, he said, and was completely blindsided by the firings.

The council has noticed a “palpable difference” in the school since Thuet and Brumfield took over, he said, noting the effort they made to address security problems. “They were taking on issues that had been languishing untouched for years at the school,” Marren said. Since the removal, there have been reports of fighting at the school, he added.

3. Who is investigating what? And how will the inspector general’s resignation impact the investigation?

Two district offices, the Office of Student Protections and the Office of the Inspector General, are conducting five separate investigations involving the school.

A district spokesman said the inspector general generally investigates allegations of misconduct by district-affiliated adults, while the student protections office looks into allegations of student-on-student harm.

But some people — including Schuler — wonder whether the inspector general can truly be independent when the mayor appoints its chief.

In a letter released Wednesday about his resignation, which is effective at the end of the month, Schuler said, “the statute that gives life to the [Chicago Public Schools inspector general] is silent on the critical issue of how the [chief investigator] can be removed and for what grounds. This inadequacy in the governing legislation can be exploited by those who wish to corral an independent IG.”

He continued, “I know from long dealings with CPS that many people there have been displeased by the tenacity of my efforts and my willingness to speak frankly and publicly about our work. I am confident that Mayor [Lori] Lightfoot is firmly dedicated to independent IGs.”

4. Ultimately, who is calling the shots?

According to Passman, the Chicago Public Schools spokesperson, each investigative body will recommend a course of action, but it is up to schools chief Janice Jackson’s team to rule on any permanent personnel decisions.

Lightfoot will appoint a new inspector general to oversee the independent investigative office, which is tasked with rooting out fraud, waste, and mismanagement in the school district.

5. How much can the district do at this point and what can it say?

The allegations were first reported to the district on Jan. 2. According to a Chicago Public Schools timeline shared in a parent meeting Monday night at the school, by Jan. 7 investigators were following up and the district removed some adults from their positions. The district notified parents and families in a Jan. 9. Later that month the district received separate allegations involving the girls basketball team.

Protocols call for the district to remove adults immediately when it receives allegations of physical harm, but in this case, it did not remove administrators until the last week of January, per the timeline.

Investigators so far have presented information that shows adults engaged in “egregious and systemic policy violations,” including failure to follow mandatory sexual misconduct reporting procedures, according to the district, but it has not offered more details, citing an ongoing investigation and privacy concerns about the students involved.

Because the administrators at the school have interim status and serve on at-will contracts, the district could terminate them immediately. Interim principals don’t get the same protections that their permanent colleagues do. The district must hold hearings for the coaches, for whom there is a more formal course of action.

The district has refused to specify the nature and extent of the policy violations. But administrators have said that the new rules are hard to follow and even contradictory, according to Troy LaRaviere, a former principal who runs the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

“They [the district] have failed miserably on communicating a clear and coherent set of policies, procedures and protocols to principals,” LaRaviere said.

6. How might the case affect the school district’s efforts to rebuild public trust?
The Lincoln Park cases surface as Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson attempts to mend the district’s fractured relationship with parents and families. These efforts come in the wake of not just the student sexual abuse crisis but also widespread lapses in its special education program and lingering anger over mass school closings in 2013.

Led by its new school board, the district recently has organized public hearings on key issues like school ratings, teacher diversity, and school funding.

Jackson and school board members have said they will listen to the community in setting policy on those critical issues. But it’s unclear how the district will take parent and student reaction into account in responding to the crisis at Lincoln Park.

On Monday, district officials emphasized that they are following a protocol designed to keep students safe and that leaders could only share so much without jeopardizing the well-being of the teenage victims in the case. Officials spelled out in a PowerPoint presentation their goal — to “move forward as a safe and supportive community.”

Yana Kunichoff and Marie Fazio contributed reporting.

The real enrollment challenge in Chicago: what to do with all those empty school seats

2020-01-08T21:50:48+00:00

In Austin on Chicago’s West Side, a high school built for 1,000 students now houses just 58. Three-quarters of a mile away, another high school has just over 200 students in a campus for 2,000.

The problem isn’t just high schools, nor just in Austin. In Chicago, which is experiencing a slow population leak, the district has lost 54,100 public school children in the past decade. That has left 145 district-run schools less than half-full, according to new capacity data.

So far, leaders appear reluctant to spell out a plan for this large swath of schools that are severely underenrolled, even if campuses will soon cost the district even more to operate. A new five-year union contract introduces $1.5 billion in new costs, including the addition of a social worker and nurse at every school, and no clear plan for how to pay for them beyond Year One.

Running fewer schools would ease the financial pressure of that mandate, as a credit ratings agency signaled in a November report on the union deal. In the math of unevenly distributed enrollment, the contract’s new financial penalties for overcrowded classes have prompted administrators to take a closer look at the small number of schools that are bursting at the seams.

But neither Mayor Lori Lightfoot nor district leaders seems ready to take on the tough topic of underenrollment, even though propping up struggling schools drains others and deprives some students of rich course offerings and opportunities.

“It’s tricky politically, for sure,” said Marguerite Roza, a school finance expert and the director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “Every city has trouble with it. But it’s also true that cities that have too many under-enrolled schools are finding themselves in financial stress.”

Illinois law requires districts to have a plan for shrinking schools. Chicago’s plan lays out several interventions district leaders might use, from consolidations to redrafting attendance boundaries to leasing out excess classroom space to community groups, but it does not explain what is planned for individual schools. And a Dec. 1 deadline to propose closures for next year passed with the city picking just a single school to shutter, one that has no students enrolled at all.

District officials acknowledge the challenge but appear to be taking a scattershot approach to addressing it, brokering local conversations about underenrollment while also propping up hundreds of shrinking schools with stopgap funding.

“It’s no secret, I’ve talked about my concerns with the smaller schools in the district,” Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson told Chalkbeat in October. “When you don’t have enough students, you cannot create a robust program, or academic program, for the students in that school.”

All together, the dynamics suggest that the city isn’t confronting its most pressing education problem: keeping many lightly enrolled schools open is consuming scarce resources that might be more efficiently deployed in other ways.

“While I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, we are committed to looking at how we solve these problems holistically with the support of our parents and community partners,” the district’s second-in-command, LaTanya McDade, told Chalkbeat in November.

The argument for not managing the issue centrally

In the face of declining birth rates, a clampdown on immigration, and some population drain from urban centers, several districts around the country have rolled out systemic strategies for managing enrollment losses.

But even though Chicago is managed centrally, various reasons prompt the district to remain hands-off.

At the top of the list: residual anger and emotional scars from the 2013 mass closure that shuttered 50 schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, displaced thousands of students, and left some communities feeling shortchanged.

“Many families and teachers understood that maybe their schools needed to close, but they took major issue with the process by which it was done, which they found demeaning, disrespectful and dishonest,” said Chicago sociologist Eve L. Ewing, who studied the closures for her 2018 book “Ghosts in the Schoolyard.”

Since then, district officials have narrowed in on equity and how to direct more money to schools that get caught in a cycle of losing students and losing funding that goes with them, then being forced to make critical cuts to staff and programs that need to be in place to recruit more students.

But Chicago’s decision to direct $31 million to 219 schools with sagging enrollment last spring meant that, when budget numbers came in and two-thirds of schools saw boosts, some other schools with healthy enrollments saw declines. Nearly half of the schools — 49% — that lost money in the last budget cycle had stable or even increasing enrollment. The money, in essence, went from some healthy schools to those losing students.

This has happened in other cities, too, Roza said. “The choices become to take money away from schools that have more kids or leave the (dwindling) schools to kind of flounder.”

But those conversations are perhaps easier to manage than threatening closures, which tend to put community groups and parents on high alert. In Chicago, where the school board and schools CEO are appointed by the mayor, the buck ultimately stops with her — and she knows that the 2013 closures are being blamed for contributing to the ongoing exodus of working-class families from Chicago.

“It’s a very, very difficult story politically,” said Robin Lake, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. “Chicago has had many rounds of closures and rarely has performance been at the center of the rationale of the closures, and I think that’s problematic. Other cities have said that, if we have to close schools, it will be because of performance — and not because of a certain percentage of seats aren’t filled. If there is a high-performing school operating under capacity, let’s figure out how it stays open.”

Financial pressure to manage enrollment is growing. Construction, maintenance, and new school construction have contributed to the second-highest school capital debt in the country. Plus, the new Chicago Teachers Union contract will add hundreds of thousands of dollars more annually to staffing costs per campus in nurses, social workers, and such extras as restorative justice counselors. Reducing the number of schools could pare down those costs.

Unbalanced enrollment exacts other costs. The teachers contract now forces the district to hire aides or add classes at overcrowded schools, which will affect some majority white schools on the North Side. The contract, however, offers no instructions on the many schools in predominantly black neighborhoods, such as Austin or South Shore, that sit half-empty.

Instead, city officials say they plan to let local communities engineer their own solutions.

“While enrollment continues to be a concern for schools and the district, we do not believe that nuanced enrollment concerns can be addressed with a blanket strategy, especially when demographic changes are rapidly shifting the enrollment landscape,” said Emily Bolton, a district spokeswoman. “Every neighborhood has different needs and the best way to support them is through an individualized approach, which is what the district is pursuing.”

Some communities are already making their own plans, pointing to local leaders’ expertise about local needs.

Groups in Austin are pushing a “quality-of-life” plan that designates one area high school as an International Baccalaureate center and proposes another vacant school be turned into a business incubator and workforce training center.

On the West Side, hospitals working under an economic development banner known as West Side United are seeking a grant for underenrolled elementary schools interested in housing a pilot community health clinic. The group is eyeing Austin, Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Pilsen, and Belmont-Cragin.

“The school we choose will be in a sweet spot: They’ll showcase the need for clinical services, such as mental health counseling, but they’ll also be in a position where they next step would be that they become a community hub for the neighborhood,” said Karen Aguirre, education program manager for West Side United.

But is that enough?

But school-by-school and community-driven changes are running into road bumps.

School consolidation, for example, faces an uphill path as the city teachers union criticizes a high-profile effort in Englewood, and educators struggle to find stability at another, on the city’s Near North Side.

In Englewood, a $85 million new STEM high school helped sell the consolidation idea to the community. But replicating this approach elsewhere would be a big ask of taxpayers in a district saddled with more than $8 billion of debt and a few campuses still left vacant from the 2013 closures.

Another strategy to closings or consolidation is leasing vacant space within schools to community groups or cross-purposing city programs, such as relocating a neighborhood gardening program to a vacant school greenhouse. That takes an infusion of new resources and incentives, said Daniel Anello, the CEO of Kids First Chicago, which drafts the district’s annual school inventory report, called the Annual Regional Analysis.

“There’s a lot of creative thinking that could really change the way we look at this challenge” Anello said. “But it’s only going to work if there is quarterbacking from City Hall. We can’t close our way out of this. It’s gone on so long.”

Strategic conversations about enrollment should include how to win students and families back who’ve decamped for the suburbs or private schools, said Lake, from the Center on Reinventing Public Education. “Oftentimes cities will be losing enrollment to surrounding districts, so a competitive strategy to win students back is something some places should consider and too few do.”

Chicago could even try a practice known as participatory budgeting, already used by some aldermen to give ward residents latitude to determine how funds are spent, said Ewing, the sociologist. “It would be possible to do something that felt like an extension of that — where the people most affected by school closures are really brought to the table to share ideas and feel like they have an opportunity to understand up front the logic of whatever decision is made.

“Unfortunately, there is so much pain around this issue, and a justified deficit of trust. So that makes a conversation like that much harder.”

Lessons for the city

One thing is clear: School closures and consolidations are tough conversations everywhere. In Oakland, California, school district leaders drew up a three-year blueprint for closings and consolidations, but community protests have escalated over the plan. In Austin, Texas, administrators keep revising a multiyear strategy of school closings and mergers — in part because the district’s new equity officer has said the planning won’t increase equity in the city.

Leaders in both cities have been consistent about the need to make tough choices. Faced with the specter of rising debt and empty seats, Austin Superintendent Paul Cruz put it bluntly in a letter earlier this fall: “No change at all is not an option.”

Researchers from the Pew Center studied the phenomena of school closings in shrinking cities in America, and found that some districts made the decisions less politically fraught: Having a plan for what to do with buildings helped. Hiring outside experts to guide the process tended to make it easier as long as those people were perceived as fair. So did establishing clear criteria for which campuses to close.

“Communicating that no neighborhood is being singled out or targeted is important, and that closings are part of an overall plan for the district’s future,” said Larry Eichtel, who studied the school closings as part of the Philadelphia Research Initiative at The Pew Charitable Trusts.

Eichtel said another critical takeaway was the importance of persuading the public early that downsizing is needed. That way, when you get to actual naming of schools, “it’s not such a shock.”

Following these prescriptions might have yielded a better outcome for Chicago’s most recent closures.

A 2018 study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research revealed that four years after the mass school closures, affected Chicago students posted lower math scores. (There were no clear effects on suspension or on attendance rates.)

Elaine Allensworth, the consortium’s director, says that the sheer volume and speed of the 2013 closings might help explain some of Chicago’s negative outcomes, where other cities have seen different results.

“If there had been more intentionality about the merging of school communities, and if school decisions had more community input so that people felt like they had more self-determination and input about the strengths and problems and limitations of their underenrolled schools, I wonder how things might have been different?” she said.

Complicating the argument is that research points to little in the way of substantial cost savings when districts close schools, at least in the short term. Across cities, “the money saved, at least in the short run, has been small,” said Eichtel of the Pew Charitable Trusts. “You tend to see more savings when closings are combined with large-scale layoffs.”

In Chicago, the district has yet to show cost savings from the 2013 closings, even though finances were among the justifications used by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But with new numbers showing more schools dramatically hollowing out, ongoing financial pressures, and some schools at the bottom of capacity scale registering below-average graduation rates and achievement levels, there’s a growing recognition that something must be done.

“The fact that we have high schools with 10% enrollment is a reality. How we got there — we can argue about that,” said Sarah Rothschild, a teachers union official. “But how we move forward — we can do that together. I don’t think we’re in an unsolvable situation.”

Philissa Cramer contributed reporting.

Here’s who will be leading Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s charge to reexamine Chicago school budgeting

2019-12-12T19:00:54+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is making moves to reexamine the way Chicago budgets its billions for schools, starting with a new working group tasked with leading the charge.

The working group, which will gather information from the community engagement sessions and then propose recommendations, includes several formidable players in Chicago education policy, though in some cases the members are rarely on the same side of the table.

Members of the city’s appointed school board and its teachers union are on the committee. Find the full membership below.

The plan, announced by Chicago Public Schools on Thursday, builds on a key promise from candidate Lori Lightfoot to revisit school funding and consult the public about how to do that.

Chicago’s weighted school funding formula has come under fire for unequally distributing resources between schools that advocates argue need more resources, as well as pushing schools who are losing students into a funding loss spiral that makes it difficult to recover.

Any proposed changes yielded from the working group proposals and community engagement process wouldn’t come in all at once, the district said. Potential changes would be implemented over a multi-part timeline.

In a shift in recent practice, the school board is also leading committees around critical issues of diversifying the teacher pipeline and early childhood education. The first meeting about workforce diversity is next week.

Along with district network chiefs, board members and members of mayoral committees, the group includes leadership of local charter networks and teachers union researchers.

Here is who’s on the list:

Sendhil Revuluri, vice president, Chicago Board of Education
Elizabeth Todd-Breland, member, Chicago Board of Education
Carlos Azcoitia, former CPS principal and board member, and professor emeritus National Lewis University
Krystal Burns, parent representative and member of the Harold Washington Elementary School Local School Council
Bogdana Chkoumbova, chief schools officer, Chicago Public Schools
Maureen Delgado, principal, Clinton Elementary School
Vanessa Espinoza, parent representative and member of the Gunsaulus Elementary School LSC
Rachel Garza Resnick, retired CPS administrator
Kurt Hilgendorf, Chicago Teachers Union
Pavlyn Jankov, Chicago Teachers Union
Josh Long, principal, Southside Occupational High School
Sybil Madison, deputy mayor for education, City of Chicago
Matt McCabe, chief of staff and public affairs, Noble Network of Charter Schools
Cameron Mock, chief of staff and senior fiscal adviser to the deputy governor
Candace Moore, chief equity officer, City of Chicago
Robin Steans, president, Advance Illinois
Maurice Swinney, chief equity officer, Chicago Public Schools
Ricardo Trujillo, deputy chief of Network 5, Chicago Public Schools
Two students from the CPS Student Voice and Activism Council
One teacher representative from the Teacher Advisory Council

The district plans to get feedback from the public through a series of meetings starting in late January. Here’s the full list of community meetings, which kick off Jan. 29, 2020:

Wednesday, Jan. 29, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Amundsen High School, 5110 N. Damen Ave.
Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Michele Clark High School, 5101 W. Harrison St.
Saturday, Feb. 1, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Corliss High School, 821 E. 103rd St.
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Hammond Elementary, 2819 W. 21st Pl.
Thursday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at Dyett High School, 555 E. 51st St.
Saturday, Feb. 8, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. at Roberto Clemente High School, 1147 N. Western Ave.

Chicago teachers vote to ratify new contract by wide margin

2019-11-16T04:21:06+00:00

Chicago teachers have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new five-year agreement, the union said Friday, staving off fears that dissatisfaction with the compromise deal might prompt teachers to walk off the job again.

The final margin was 81% to 19%, with 80% of schools reporting late Friday. Teachers mostly voted in their schools by secret ballot Thursday, with some casting ballots Friday morning. Delegates collected paper votes at schools and delivered them downtown to union headquarters.

The contract agreement, reached at the end of an 11-day strike and approved by the union’s 700-member House of Delegates by a 60-to-40% margin, requires one final signoff: Chicago’s Board of Education will take up the measure Wednesday morning. The board is expected to pass the contract, which will cost the district about $115 million additional this school year.

Combined with a new agreement with Service Employees International Union Local 73 — which represents custodians, bus aides, and special education classroom assistants — the district’s annual $2.6 billion in union labor costs will swell by $137 million this school year.

The school board met this past week to hear about the financial implications of the agreements, and some members raised questions about how the district would pay for years two through five.

On Friday night on the fifth floor of union headquarters, two dozen volunteers and union staff counted green paper votes where teachers had anonymously checked a box for “yes” or “no.” School tallies were registered on large sheets on the wall.

Union President Jesse Sharkey, watching the vote being tallied Friday evening, said he thought contract passage was likely, even though there was dissent among the ranks.

“Do I feel like we got everything we deserved for the schools? No,” he said. “And I hope our members aren’t satisfied. I’m not happy that we gave up six days pay in order to get a nurse in every school. But I do feel proud of our union and what it accomplished, and I think our members feel proud that we really moved the needle on conditions in our schools.”

Since the strike ended, teachers have reported mixed feelings about the contract, which put the city’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, in an uncomfortable national spotlight just months into her term. The union said all along it wanted more than pay increases for its members and demanded that the school district, which is overseen by a board and school chief who are appointed by the mayor, invest millions more into additional staffing at schools, class size reductions, and pay raises for aides and clerks who also play critical roles in buildings and are generally low paid.

The union also attempted to use negotiations to pressure the mayor to support its legislative agenda, win more preparation time for elementary teachers, and enact a moratorium on school closings in a district with falling enrollment. But the district fought those initiatives back.

In the end, teachers succeeded in seeing hundreds more staff positions, from nurses to social workers to additional teachers for English learners, written into the contract. They also won substantial pay increases for aides and other support staff, with some immediate bumps of 9% a year. They also won a substantial pot of money, some $35 million a year, to be used for a committee that has jurisdiction over reducing overcrowding, most likely by supplying teachers’ aides.

Teachers themselves also earned a cost-of-living raise on top of the raises they already receive for experience and additional credentialing — 16% across five years. But that was the pay deal on the table before the walkout, and, after the 11-day strike ended with the city only agreeing to make up five days of instruction, teachers said they effectively lost the value of their raises by taking pay cuts for the days not paid.

Experienced teachers also reported dissatisfaction with fuzzy details over veteran pay and how raises for teachers with 14 years of experience or more will be parceled out. The union and district still have not reached agreement on whether the raises will be built into the salary schedule or issued as bonuses, Sharkey said Friday evening.

“I would have loved to have that worked out by now,” he said. “At the very worst, people are going to get some extra pay. At the best, we can do that in a way that actually increases the base (salary). We’re going to have to keep fighting with the board about that.”

On Wednesday, the school board will also vote on a revised 2019-20 school calendar that includes five make-up days from the strike. The district plans to reinstate days from part of Thanksgiving and winter break.

Should Illinois rewrite the way it funds early learning? The case starts to build.

2019-11-12T19:20:04+00:00

Chicago’s Catholic Charities is shuttering three longtime early childhood centers at the end of this month, leaving 450 Southwest Side children and their families searching for care. Nearly 100 staffers soon will be out of jobs.

The closures in neighborhoods rich with immigrants and their families are another disruption to the city’s fragile network of early education centers. And they spotlight how difficult it can be for organizations — even experienced ones — to cobble together enough funding to sustain full-day care for young children from various private and government pipelines.

A spokeswoman from Catholic Charities said the organization typically made up for funding shortfalls with private dollars — but this year, a structural deficit meant it couldn’t make ends meet, prompting a difficult decision.

“This is so very hard on our families,” said Brigid Murphy, a spokeswoman for Catholic Charities, who said the centers relied on federal Head Start funding, state preschool funding, and a state program that supplements the cost of child care for low-income working families.

But the three streams didn’t cover all of the complex costs of caring for children, a familiar scenario in both the for-profit and non-profit world of early education. How Illinois can fortify its system, which is recognized nationally for its high quality but only reimburses centers between $24 and $32 a day to care for preschoolers, is one of the questions facing the administration of Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Pritzker, a longtime early education philanthropist before running for office, has said he would like to roll out a statewide universal pre-K system during his first term. Creating a new funding formula for early childhood education would be an important first step — and one that has the support of a growing number of policy makers.

To that end, the governor is expected to name a finance commission to study the issue by the end of the year. The group will comprise about 20 people, likely to include early education experts as well as legislators, Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz told the executive committee of the state’s Early Learning Council last month. The commission would be tasked with making recommendations for action by the state legislature.

And it would have a loose blueprint to follow, policy makers say: a successful effort two years ago that led to an overhaul of Illinois’ system for funding K-12 schools. Even though many school districts, including Chicago, remain underfunded, the formula helped galvanize a movement to bridge the revenue gap between property tax-rich districts, such as on Chicago’s North Shore, and tax-starved districts.

Early educators have started laying the groundwork for a similar push. Their case is bolstered by a new report from Advance Illinois, which found that the state has backslid in the past decade in providing early education and higher education. Only one in four children under 4 is in any sort of publicly subsidized early childhood program, the Advance report showed.

“The theme from the report is that even when we’re seeing progress, that progress is not happening evenly. We are leaving behind too many kids who are low income or of color, and we’re seeing those gaps show up very early,” said Robin Steans, the executive director of Advance Illinois, which helped build a bipartisan case to revamp the K-12 funding formula in 2017.

“If we could solve the K-12 funding problem, we could solve anything,” Steans said. “Getting the funding and programming right in early childhood is a critical hurdle.”

Currently only one in four Illinois children shows up to kindergarten prepared, according to results of a state kindergarten readiness assessment. One reason: While the state has invested in quality programs, they reach too few children. A September analysis by the group Illinois Action for Children illustrated vast inequities in how preschool seats are distributed. Some communities have no seats for children from low-income families, while others have an overabundance. In a third of the communities studied, a child from a low-income household had less than a 50-50 chance of attending a publicly funded preschool.

A trove of research supports the value of increasing access to preschool programs. Findings released earlier this year from a seminal study showed that benefits from high-quality preschool extended not just to the students themselves, but correspond to higher earnings and stronger long-term achievement among their offspring — making a case that early childhood investments can pay multi-generational dividends.

But how to pay for quality programs, and expand them, is a question weighing on many states and municipalities, according to Harriet Dichter, a former secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, who co-authored a new report on early childhood funding for the Build Initiative, a public-private partnership that guides states in policy creation, and several other groups.

She cites examples such as a sugary beverage tax in Philadelphia and a corporate activity tax in Oregon. In each place that successfully tapped into new tax-based revenue streams for early education, researchers observed that the “early learning agenda was sufficiently prioritized” and included a dedicated effort to make the case to voters.

Early education funding is complicated. In Illinois, money comes from the federal government and multiple state departments and funds a range of programs, obscuring a full picture.

Rough estimates put spending on early childhood care and education at around $1.5 billion statewide. Of that, Illinois spends $1.1 billion through a combination of the state education department, which funds preschool, and its human services department, which oversees a child care program that funds infant and toddler care for low-income working parents. The federal government spends $360 million on Head Start programs across the state.

Illinois is home to nearly 934,000 children under age 5, according to U.S. Census estimates.

In contrast, the state spends about five times that — some $7.2 billion — to educate the 2 million children in its public elementary and high schools.

The state funding conversation is starting to unfold as advocates in Chicago scrutinize the results of an August grant redistribution that has caused seismic shifts in the city’s own early learning system. Catholic Charities said the three Southwest Side closures were not impacted by the city’s grant reallocations. But many longtime Chicago providers with state quality ratings said they lost funding and are consolidating classrooms as a result, while newer for-profit providers that are licensed but do not have quality ratings picked up seats.

Even after tentative agreement, union contract hits snag on details over veteran teachers pay

2019-11-07T22:58:56+00:00

One week after Chicago’s teachers union agreed on a tentative contract and suspended an 11-day strike, a threat to finalizing that agreement has cropped up: disagreement over how to parcel out raises for veteran teachers.

A key union demand, the raises surfaced in the last few days of negotiations between the union and Chicago Public Schools. The sides eventually settled on tacking on $5 million annually for pay raises for veteran teachers with 14 years or more experience, to total $25 million over the five-year contract.

But the tentative agreement does not spell out how those raises would be distributed, and there’s no resolution yet.

“The full pay schedule will be completed and communicated prior to the ratification of the contract,” reads the tentative agreement approved by the union’s House of Delegates last week.

The union wants the school district to divvy up the raises according to years of experience and put the contract’s salary schedule as “steps,” or set stages when the pay raises would kick in.

A spokeswoman for Chicago Public Schools declined to comment.

“We have every expectation that Chicago Public Schools will uphold their agreement to add the $25 million of veteran teachers’ pay through years of experience,” union President Jesse Sharkey said in a statement Thursday that was squarely aimed at Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

“This is an agreement that was made with Mayor Lightfoot in her office in the waning days of the strike in an effort to settle the strike. I think it’s impossible to believe that she’d be willing to look like a perjurer, blow up this agreement, and risk forcing our members to reject the contract or even return to striking over something that costs less than a fraction of one percent of the entire agreement.”

Last Thursday, the union’s 700-member House of Delegates voted 60% in favor of the tentative agreement, effectively ending the strike. Members will vote on ratifying the contract on Nov. 14 and 15.The union’s 25,000 teacher, clinician, and paraprofessional members will cast secret ballots at their schools or at the union’s headquarters.

A Chalkbeat Chicago survey that asked teachers to weigh in drew mixed responses. Veteran pay was among the issues that survey respondents questioned.

Even though the issue of veteran pay did not factor as prominently in the union’s daily strike updates, teachers on picket lines said it was a galvanizing factor among the more experienced — and respected — of their colleagues.

The previous contract’s pay schedule provided regular pay bumps for the first 12 years of experience, but increases are sporadic until teachers reach major benchmarks every five years or so. For example, a teacher with 15 years experience sees less than $200 added onto her base salary the following year before cost-of-living raises, according to analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality.

“Your pay is frozen for a lot of that time,” said Meia Freidheim, a middle school science and math teacher at Orozco Elementary in Pilsen and a 23-year veteran of Chicago schools, on the second day of picketing. “In most professions as you get more experienced, you get more money. In teaching, that is only happening early in your career.”

Even with less frequent raises, several veteran teachers reported another problem: their higher pay limited their options to change campuses because schools regard them as more expensive hires.

“If a veteran wants to move schools, they have to move to a school that’s further south or has a higher poverty level,” since those schools tend to get more money and thus can hire teachers higher on the pay scale, said Brian Grauer, a first-grade teacher at Carnegie Elementary in the city’s Woodlawn neighborhood.

Are you a Chicago teacher who wants to weigh in on the tentative agreement? Take a brief survey here. Your comments could be included in a story.

Here are the 5 days that Chicago will hold school to make up for time lost during the teachers strike

2019-11-05T19:59:25+00:00

Chicago will make up school days missed during the teachers strike by taking days from Thanksgiving and winter break, as well as swapping two teacher institute days in the summer.

That’s according to a revised calendar for the school year that the Chicago Public Schools board is being asked to approve this month.

The question of make-up days kept educators on picket lines for an extra day, bringing the Chicago Teachers Union strike to 11 days. While Mayor Lori Lightfoot initially said she would not permit make-up days, pressure from the union coupled with state requirements about makeup days resulted in a compromise.

The two sides agreed on five make-up days for the 2019-2020 school year. Here are the dates:

Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2019 – the day before Thanksgiving
Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020 – the second-to-last day of winter break
Friday, Jan. 3, 2020 – the last day of winter break
Wednesday, June 17, 2020 – previously a staff training day
Thursday, June 18, 2020 – previously a staff training day

The city is also asking the board to approve a revised budget for the year. One of the changes: “$68 million in reduced spending attributable to the six school days cancelled due to the strike that will not be made up.”

Chicagoans can comment on the proposed dates at the board meeting Nov. 20. The district will also hold public hearings on Nov. 12, 2019, from 4-6 p.m. and 6:30-8:30 p.m. to collect feedback.

The revised calendar leaves no margin for other missed school days. In the case of adverse weather or other unforeseen events, additional days may need to be added to the school year. Last year, school was cancelled for several days due to huge snowfalls and subzero temperatures, and students made up the instructional time during the summer.

Live updates from Day 11 of the Chicago teachers strike: One final back-and-forth

2019-10-31T22:00:00+00:00

Remember when union leaders predicted a “short-term” strike?

Some 300,000 Chicago students remained out of school, and their families continued to scramble, as Chicago’s teachers strike entered Day 11 Thursday. The territory was new: The union and city had arrived a deal, but the strike continued over a conflict about how teachers could make up missed days and recoup lost pay.

But things changed midday. Around 1:30 p.m., the city and teachers union announced a deal to end the strike. Classes will resume Friday and teachers and students will make up five of the missed days.

5 p.m. That’s a wrap

We’ll let American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten have the last word, but only because the national union just sent out a statement from her. “We have helped make Chicago’s public schools safe, welcoming sanctuaries of learning, and we have shown an entire nation that when we fight together, we win,” said Weingarten, who visited teachers in Chicago on the picket line multiple times.

4:40 p.m. Flying the W (and L)

Was the Chicago Teachers Union’s strike a success? It’s not that simple, but we ran down what happened to the five issues the union said had been the biggest sticking points. There are wins and losses to go around.

3 p.m. Happy Halloween

A one-day week after two weeks off and a late night filled with candy — should be a smooth landing in schools Friday.

The strike is OVER! And we have a massive snow storm for Halloween 🎃! Extremely proud of all the #CTUSEIUstrike Teachers/ staff/ parents/ allies! Kids are going to be all sugared tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/N2qX1zJo5B
— Naomi S. #Biden2020 #KhiveforBiden (@NomiBlockS) October 31, 2019

2:21 p.m. A teacher’s tweet

Room 102, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow!! 🤩
— Lauren Peretz (@MsPeretz) October 31, 2019

1:36 p.m. Must’ve felt good to hit “send”

Chicago Public Schools has been tweeting and sending a daily “Update on classes” message to families since the strike began. Here’s today’s:

Welcome back, everyone! pic.twitter.com/6BHr6j5BsC
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 31, 2019

1:30 p.m. IT’S OVER

Classes will resume Friday after city and union officials announced — separately — that they had reached a compromise about makeup days. Five school days will be made up, with the specifics yet to be determined. Our developing story is here.

11:45 a.m. Taking teachers’ temperature (they’re cold)

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied outside City Hall on the 11th day of their strike, the morning after the union endorsed a conditional agreement.

The crowds were smaller than they were earlier in the week, but a thrumming drumbeat and renewed indignation over the mayor’s stance on makeup days kept teachers marching around City Hall in bitter, windy, snowy conditions Thursday morning.

“I think we’re all really mad, because we’re still here,” said Bill Chlumsky, a special education teacher at Talman Elementary School in Gage Park. “We’ve agreed to end this strike, and all we want is for the mayor to give our kids back the days they’ve missed.”

With their health insurance expected to be suspended on Friday and an increasing weariness from the demands of being on strike, teachers said they are ready to head back to the classroom but remain determined to hold out on a deal until Mayor Lori Lightfoot agrees to add the missed school days — 11 and counting — back into the school year.

“It’s tough, it’s demoralizing, and it’s harder to come out every day,” Chlumsky said. “But if this is what we have to do to get our kids what they deserve, then that’s what we have to do.”

Chlumsky and fellow Talman teachers looked over the city’s offer while on the picket line Wednesday, and while Chlumsky said he still isn’t sure how he will vote when the contract goes out to the full membership, he said he thinks it will “probably” be accepted.

But, he said, “I think it’s really close down the middle.”

Art teacher Vanessa Viruet wore the Halloween costume she had planned to share with students to the Chicago Teachers Union rally on the 11th day of Chicago’s teacher strike.

Art teacher Vanessa Viruet showed up to the rally dressed in the Halloween costume she had planned to share with her students at Spry Elementary Community School in Little Village. Her lime-green wig, polka-dot skirt, and bedazzled clown makeup were a bright spot among a sea of winter coats and umbrellas meant to guard against the falling snow.

“We’re tired and we’re cold, and we want to be back inside with our students first and foremost,” Viruet said. “We wouldn’t be out here if we didn’t love our children.”

Viruet had planned to go to the doctor this morning to squeeze in an important appointment the day before she is set to lose her health insurance, but that was before news broke late Wednesday night that teachers would return to the picket lines on Halloween.

“I hope we all don’t get sick out here, because that would be something else,” she noted wryly.

If Lightfoot concedes on the makeup day issue, Viruet said she and her fellow teachers are ready to get back to the classroom, even if the contract on the table doesn’t include everything they were hoping for.

“It’s the makeup days [we’re waiting for],” she said. “Everything else, I think we’re willing to give her the benefit of the doubt she’ll hold up her end of the deal.”

11:25 a.m. CTU at City Hall

Union President Jesse Sharkey has entered the mayor’s office at City Hall. Chicago Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Arne Rivera is also there, according to WBEZ’s Sarah Karp. Rivera has been a core member of the district’s negotiating team.

11 a.m. More makeup context

How to handle makeup days is usually negotiated as part of strike settlement deals, a National Council on Teacher Quality analyst told us this week. But that doesn’t mean the agreements always include makeup time.

The Chicago Teachers Union just shared its analysis of the last 35 years of teachers strikes in Illinois. Of 915 days lost to 107 strikes, it found, 75% were made up. That’s according to Chris Geovanis, a union spokesperson, who added, “We are truly in uncharted legal territory.”

In the two big-city strikes last school year, no makeup days were scheduled and no back pay was offered. Los Angeles students and teachers lost six days to the strike, while Denver’s strike lasted for thee days. Denver did offer teachers the opportunity to earn a day’s pay by attending a rescheduled weekend training session.

10 a.m. The Internet has ideas

The public has ideas for makeup days. Here are some of the many conversations we’ve seen on social media about the prospect.

9:30 a.m. Open to talking, but who’s calling whom?

In an update to press on Thursday morning, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says she’s willing to negotiate on the issue of makeup days for teachers that were missed during the strike — but she’s “not willing to do a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ unilateral demand.”

Options on the table include extending the school year, cutting short winter or spring break, or using other professional development days. Asked what she might consider, Lightfoot hedges: “We’re not going to negotiate in the media.”

Schools chief Janice Jackson steps up and says the district is reluctant to cut short breaks and disrupt family plans.

As for next steps, CTU President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday night he was waiting on a call from the mayor. But Lightfoot says the “the ball is in [the union’s] court.”

“I’m here all day. If they’d like to have a conversation, they know where to find me.”

9:15 a.m. Frustrated families

Parents who are facing an 11th day with children out of school are expressing a mix of emotions, from confusion, to consternation, to downright anger. “I deeply appreciate the teachers,” says Alicia Blais, a South Side parent of a second grader and a preschooler. “But I don’t want CTU to drag out contract negotiations.” She said she’s also worried that her children, who have many years of schooling to go, will have to endure future strikes if peace isn’t reached.

Other reactions we’re seeing on social media in response to our question this morning: How are you feeling?

From the parent view, I'm pretty annoyed with both sides (& CTU had to work to get on par with the Mayor and CPS in earning my ire; I was with them through most of this, as I was in 2016 and 2012).
— Scott Walter (@slwalter123) October 31, 2019

Drained and tired of watching my special needs child come unravelled from lack of school structure. Frustrated with how the mayor has handled this.
— Blanche (@WestofPulaski) October 31, 2019

What happened Wednesday

It was an anxiety-producing 24 hours as teachers and Chicago Public Schools leadership worked toward a deal.

Here’s what happened last night.
Here’s why makeup days are an issue.
Here’s the tentative agreement teachers voted for. Even once the strike ends, the union’s constitution will require the broader membership to vote on the document.d
Here’s a detailed accounting of the topsy-turvy last 24 hours.

Also Wednesday: The 7,500 bus aides, special education assistants, and other school support staff who are members of Service Employees International Union Local 73 voted in favor of a deal with the city. Members remain on strike out of solidarity to teachers, but leadership has said they will not be considered “scabs” if they return to work.

What happens next? Teachers are planning at 10 a.m. rally at City Hall. There’s nothing yet on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s official schedule. We’ll track developments here.

Parents, students, teachers: How are you feeling about the latest developments? Write us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org or send us a message on Twitter or Facebook.

Chicago and union reach tentative pact — but teachers say an end to strike hinges on making up days

2019-10-31T03:30:00+00:00

After a tense 24-hour stalemate that saw hopes raised and dashed of a possible deal, delegates for the Chicago Teachers Union voted 364 to 242 to approve a tentative contract Wednesday night. But that vote comes with a caveat: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot must agree to let the members make up their missed days and earn their pay, teachers say.

In the meantime, the teachers say their strike will continue, entering an 11th day Thursday. Chicago Public Schools has canceled classes for its 300,000 students in district-run schools.

Speaking at City Hall Wednesday after the union’s House of Delegates vote, Lightfoot said she was “gravely disappointed” in the turn of events and said she did not plan to compensate teachers for days they were on strike.

“At some point, the negotiations have to end,” Lightfoot said. “(Union President) Jesse Sharkey came into my office, laid out six issues, and told me in response to my skepticism that they would not move the goalposts. He gave me his word.”

“At some point,” she said, “the negotiations have to end.”

Bargaining has waxed and waned for two weeks, and leaders of both sides have alternately appeared cautiously optimistic, non-committal and patently frustrated at what they see as political posturing at the bargaining table and in public.

Tuesday night, talks appeared stuck on teacher prep time and a host of ancillary issues that had received little attention, like teacher evaluations and banking sick time.

A Tuesday night House of Delegates meeting to “take the temperature” of teachers, according to leaders, raised hopes that a deal was near, but ended with teachers saying they’d be on picket lines on Wednesday.

But in 24 hours, the mood changed again. The governing body was called to convene again Wednesday night. The 41-page tentative agreement members weighed lays out how the city would invest money in a committee to help reduce overcrowded classes and in hundreds of new social workers, nurses, and special education managers — some $70 million in additional staffing, all told. It also better guards counselors, special education classroom assistants, and teachers assistants from being called on to serve as de-facto substitutes, a chronic complaint on the picket lines.

But the document, which also has provisions containing minutia about diapering and makeup of committees, lacked some of the union’s top priorities such as additional prep time for most elementary teachers.

Still, the majority of delates voted in favor of the agreement.

Stephanie Bradley, a social studies teacher at Kelley High School on Chicago’s South Side, said she cast one of the “yes” votes to end the strike. “We got a lot of wins,” she said, standing outside union headquarters after the vote. “It’s not perfect — but, overall, I think it’s something we can take back to our members that is solid. There’s never been anything guaranteed about class size, for example, and now there is some mechanism to enforce class size. Would I like to be better? Absolutely. But it’s a great start.”

Sharkey called the tentative agreement “a contract we can believe in” and listed several gains.

But he said one issue was preventing a return to work: making up lost days.

“We don’t understand why the mayor can’t simply call and say, We’ll give you an agreement to make up instructional time,” said Sharkey, who was flanked by union leaders and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. “If the mayor calls and says we have an agreement on that, we’ll be back at work tomorrow. If she does not call, we’re continuing to be on strike.”

Minutes later, Chicago Public Schools posted a notice on social media that it was canceling classes for an 11th day.

Teachers are planning a 10 a.m. rally on Thursday at City Hall. Lightfoot said her team would be ready to return to the bargaining table.

Cassie Walker Burke contributed to this report.

Prep time, fresh issues stymie a deal to end Chicago teacher strike

2019-10-30T05:15:20+00:00

The Chicago teachers strike will enter its tenth day Wednesday, with negotiations still tripping over the big issue of teacher prep time, plus newly surfaced issues — and no tentative agreement.

School could reopen Thursday only if bargaining suddenly accelerates toward agreement, so that the union can convene its 700-member House of Delegates Wednesday evening to approve a draft deal.

So far, that appears unlikely, given the union’s sharp criticism of city offers and its tendency to downplay gains it has won on class size reductions, staffing increases, and pay raises.

Attendees described Tuesday’s meeting of the House of Delegates, called to review the union’s analysis of the offers on the table, as positive despite the palpable exhaustion in the room after nine days on strike, Chicago’s longest in the last three decades.

“It was kind of like a strike rally,” said Ed Hershey, a science teacher at Lindblom Math and Science Academy. However, the mood turned serious when delegates began paging through the union’s analysis of the city’s latest offer.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot remained adamant that the city already has presented the union a generous offer and is unlikely to enhance it. “This is a message to the CTU leadership: You can end the strike,” Lightfoot said Tuesday evening after meeting 3½ hours with union leaders Jesse Sharkey and Stacy Davis Gates and failing to close a deal.

Lightfoot said the city had offered an additional $10 million to further reduce class size and $5 million more to boost pay for veteran educators — but she said the city would hold the line on starting the school day later or allowing more instructional days off so that teachers can have more prep time.

Still, the union’s ask for 30 additional minutes of prep time daily for elementary teachers remains popular among members. The initial ask has been whittled down to options such as using teacher-training days for prep time instead of cutting into instruction time. But union bargaining team members say they still have seen no interest from the city.

In the meeting with delegates, the union described a longer list of unresolved issues, including teacher evaluations and the option to bank sick days.

It is not clear how much of the back-and-forth is posturing in the final hours and how much are union must-haves that could prolong the walkout.

Union leaders said Tuesday that they felt they were close on some issues, but are still waiting to see detailed proposals on the city’s latest offer on class size.

Teachers could lose their health insurance on Friday if a deal is not reached.

Lightfoot said on Tuesday that the union kept “moving the goalposts” by bringing up new issues “in the 11th hour,” including insisting she support two legislative priorities — a specific bill setting up a large elected school board and another broadening the list of issues over which the union could strike.

Responding to that statement, Davis Gates said, “when you are bogged down by negotiating clean bathrooms, when you are bogged down by negotiating a 10-to-1 pre-K student-to-adult ratio, those are things that get in the way a lot. They said no a lot. No, no, no.”

She said members were committed to securing a contract that promised real change. “You don’t go on strike for this many days to say, ‘I wish I would have.’”

But now that 300,000 students are entering a 10th day of no school, and as the accounts of missed state tournaments, delayed college applications, and stymied opportunities for learning proliferate, many ask whether holding out will secure more gains or diminishing returns.

“Something that is always interesting to look at after a deal is reached is how much did things change,” said Kency Nittler, the director of teacher policy for the National Council on Teacher Quality. “Sometimes you look at it and what they won going on strike was so little you wonder whether it was worthwhile given the cost to students.”

Live updates from Day 9 of the Chicago teachers strike: After a tense day, a House of Delegates meeting but no deal (or school)

2019-10-30T01:40:00+00:00

Most of Chicago was sleeping overnight when weary negotiators from Chicago Public Schools and the city’s teachers union emerged around 2 a.m. and reported progress — but not enough to get a deal over the finish line.

Could Tuesday be the day?

Our team will be watching. Follow Yana Kunichoff (@yanazure), Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago), and Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) for the latest in negotiations, rallies, and more.

8:40 p.m. It’s official: No school

Teachers came out of the House of Delegates meeting reporting that there would not be school Wednesday, and Chicago Public Schools confirmed the news in a tweet moments later. Wednesday will be the 10th day of the teacher strike.

Here’s how one local elementary school’s Twitter account responded to the news:

pic.twitter.com/8wvPMQBlI6
— Courtenay Elementary🐾 (@CourtenayTigers) October 30, 2019

7:23 p.m. Betsy DeVos weighs in

The nation’s top education official, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has just commented on Chicago’s teacher strike for the first time, posting a column by a Chicago Tribune editorial board member that disparages teacher protests as “team-building exercises for teacher unions that are trying to stay relevant.”

MUST READ: After 12 days of a @CTULocal1 strike... “why are they still striking? It’s rhetorical. You know why. The union was never not going to strike.” - @McQuearyKristen https://t.co/Pp1s77PaPe
— Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) October 30, 2019

6:30 p.m. A closer look at the numbers

Just as the House of Delegates meeting is getting going, Chicago Public Schools posts its latest offer to teachers on its website, offering some of the most insight so far into its side of recent proposals. All in all, the city’s offer totals more than $1.5 billion more across five years than the union’s current contract. Here are the highlights:

Teacher pay

Increases to pay for paraprofessionals, with immediate jumps of 5% or 9%, depending on their certification level.
An additional $5 million toward pay for veteran teachers.
Context: The district’s offer of 16% cost-of-living raises for teachers across five years actually consumes the bulk of the proposals. Nearly two-thirds of the city’s proposed spending would go toward individual teachers’ compensation. Besides pay, that includes the district’s offer to pick up most of the increasing costs of health care premiums.

Class size

The city ups its offer from $25 million to $35 million to be used to reduce oversized K-12 classrooms across the district. Priority would go to schools serving the most vulnerable students. A joint CTU/CPS council would have enforcement authority on how the money is spent.

Sports

In recent days, the city has added to its proposal a sports committee that would have an annual $5 million budget to spend on increases to coaching stipends and new equipment. The union surfaced inequity in athletic facilities and equipment as one of its issues, outside of its five core demands of reducing class size, increasing support staffing, pay for paraprofessionals and veteran teachers, prep time, and the length of the contract.

Staffing

By 2023, the city’s latest offer would fund 209 more social worker positions, 250 additional nurses, and 180 additional case manager positions for children with disabilities. The social workers and nurses would be enough to staff every school, it says.
Schools with the highest needs could choose from additional counselors, restorative justice coordinators, or librarians — up to a total of 120 positions across schools — by 2022-23.
The offer also puts money toward growing the pipeline of qualified nurses, social workers, bilingual teachers, and special education teachers with money for recruitment, training, and licensure programs, and, in some cases, partial tuition reimbursements.

5:30 p.m. Heated rhetoric as delegates meeting nears

If there’s a deal to end the strike, neither the union nor Mayor Lori Lightfoot is saying so. Speaking late this afternoon, Lightfoot said she and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson met for hours today with union leaders.

“We moved our position even further to where CTU said it was most critical to getting a deal done,” Lightfoot said. “And what we heard is it’s still not good enough.”

The city increased its offer for class size reduction efforts from $25 million to $35 million a year, Lightfoot said, and also promised to spend an additional $5 million a year on pay increases for veteran teachers.

Just minutes earlier, the union had sent out a press release with the title “Shame on the mayor and CPS for their disinformation campaign.” The message said the city had mischaracterized tonight’s House of Delegates meeting in its communication to families by saying that the union could be voting to accept a deal.

“In fact,” the release said, “the more than 700 elected leaders of the union are meeting to review the current status of bargaining – what’s been landed and what continues to remain unsettled at the table – and to discuss next steps to push Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the CPS bargaining team to reach a just settlement of this strike.”

4:30 p.m. No, it’s really not clear what’s going to happen tonight

Here’s another update from the Chicago Teachers Union second-in-command, which suggests that if union’ delegates review an offer tonight, it will be the last one that city officials laid out.

60 minute meeting with Mayor Lightfoot. She reiterated the same things...this deal is already done and there’s nothing left to get except what’s left to get. @CTULocal1 see you at HoD. Time to unpack.
— #CTUINC (@stacydavisgates) October 29, 2019

Davis Gates’s previous message laying out the meeting’s possible agendas has drawn divided reaction on Twitter. “#Takethedeal or Suspend strike.. We are done!” one person replied. “I choose number 2!” answered another.

One fact that could get lost in the noise tonight: The union did win concessions from the city since beginning the strike, though little has changed in days. One person who responded to Davis Gates made that point, and it’s one you can expect to hear again if the union’s delegates choose to end the strike.

I'm really proud of the gains we've made. I think it's time to claim our victory for a contract ***far better*** than what was on the table before the strike. Thank you to @SharkeyCTU1 , @stacydavisgates, and the Big Bargaining Team for your fantastic work. Much love and respect.
— Andrew Johnson (@GburgAddress) October 29, 2019

4 p.m. An uncertain agenda

The agenda for tonight’s House of Delegates meeting isn’t set, according to Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates, who just tweeted that two things are possible.

@CTULocal1 HoD Meeting hinges on Mayor Lightfoot. @CTULocal1 is holding an HoD to do one of two things: 1. Discuss a Tentative Agreement and decide to suspend strike OR 2. Fortify ourselves and press on. #PutItInWriting #10Months
— #CTUINC (@stacydavisgates) October 29, 2019

It’s hard to imagine that there could be school on Wednesday. The meeting begins at 6 p.m., so even in the most optimistic scenario, a decision couldn’t be made about whether to hold school until several hours after the city has made its decision each day during the strike. And in 2012, teachers got a day to review a contract deal before it was approved and the strike ended.

But at the same time, families, educators, and city officials alike say they are eager to resume their regular lives, as soon as it makes sense to do so.

3:32 p.m. A different kind of message to families

For the first time in weeks, families have gotten a message from Chicago Public Schools that doesn’t say classes are canceled. Here’s what it says instead:

2 p.m. Protesters arrested at Sterling Bay

A protester wearing a Chicago Teachers Union shirt was led away by police during an afternoon protest on the teachers strike’s ninth day.

Several protesters inside the Sterling Bay headquarters were removed by Chicago police just before 2 p.m., about an hour after the red-clad educators arrived to deliver a letter to the developer. Police handcuffed those participating in the sit-in and detained them in squad cars, as their fellow Chicago Teachers Unon members who were outside chanted, “Shame, shame, shame.”

1:15 p.m. Taking the fight to Fulton Market

Ariel reports that a few dozen teachers have gathered at the Fulton Market headquarters of Sterling Bay, the real estate developer behind Lincoln Yards, to call attention to city tax subsidies that spur development. The union has tried to make the case that some of those dollars should go to schools, even as municipal finance experts and budget watchdogs have questioned that logic.

CTU members are parked outside Sterling Bay HQ and inside to deliver a letter asking the company to invest in students. #ctustrike #cpsstrike @chalkbeatCHI pic.twitter.com/NAoC9yJYrK
— Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) October 29, 2019

12:34 p.m. House of Delegates meeting scheduled, but …

The union must have its 700-member House of Delegates vote on a contract deal before teachers can return to work. That has made meeting-watch an important indicator of how talks are going.

A member of the union’s bargaining team just tweeted that one is scheduled for tonight — and a union representative confirms the meeting for us — but that doesn’t indicate a deal.

Having a meeting on the calendar means that if the union and city are able to reach an agreement by later this afternoon — something that has seemed to grow less likely over the course of the morning — union delegates would be in place to act quickly on it.

If there’s no deal, the conversation would turn to the current state of negotiations.

11:30 a.m. About those new issues

Now we know more about those “new issues” that Chicago Public Schools’ No. 2 LaTanya McDade referred to earlier.

In a press briefing at City Hall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was joined by CPS CEO Janice Jackson, said the teachers union is “moving the goalposts” and asking the mayor to now support a specific elected school board bill as well as a state bill that would broaden the list of grievances that the union can legally strike over.

Currently, the union can only strike over economic issues of pay and benefits. It has held off on a pay agreement while it raises what it calls “common good” issues, such as class sizes and staffing.

Lightfoot, who started the briefing by saying her team has made “significant compromises” in the deal, says such “11th hour” political requests have no place in a contract agreement.

“Are we really keeping our kids out of class unless I agree to support the CTU’s full political agenda, wholesale?” she asked.

Toward the end of the briefing, Jackson brought up another core issue that remains outstanding: the union’s demand for an additional 30 minutes of prep time a day for elementary school teachers. To accommodate the request, schools would have to potentially start later. “What’s holding this up now is a set of political issues, and an effort to try and cut instructional time, which we cannot agree to,” Jackson said.

10:40 a.m. No change yet

Chicago Public Schools officials briefed reporters about negotiations during on the ninth day of the teacher strike.

Despite a vow to get a deal Monday and 16 hours of negotiating that creeped into early morning hours Tuesday, a deal remains out of reach, CPS Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said this morning.

In addition to the sticking point of prep time for teachers, “we also have some new issues that have been put forward by the union as of late that are concerns for us,” McDade said. The new issues, which McDade would not identify, were brought up during Monday’s negotiations, she said.

The district has agreed to meet the staffing levels and class size demands, with a written promise to have a nurse and social worker in every school, a $25 million investment in lowering class size, and a $75 million investment in staffing, McDade said.

“We put it in writing and we put it in the contract,” she said as she prepared to head back into negotiations. “And yet our students are not in schools for the ninth day.”

10:17 a.m. Scene on the streets

We're here picketting at Lincoln Yards! #faircontractnow #putitinwriting #CTUSEIUstrike #NoRest4BilingualEd @CTULocal1 @CTSCampaign @TeachForJustice @CTULatinx @SEIU73 pic.twitter.com/UPhAF1Mhmi
— Profe Ervin 🐜 (@SolidarityErvin) October 29, 2019

9:54 a.m. Coming soon

We just got an announcement about a Chicago Public Schools press availability outside Malcolm X College, where negotiations are taking place, in about 20 minutes. Unlike most of the advisories we’ve gotten, the announcement came from the mayor’s office, not the school district.

9:30 a.m. Field trips

The Field Museum is opening its doors for free today to Chicago Public Schools students and their families.

Indeed, for families able to make use of the opportunities, the strike has offered some benefits. On Monday, the Museum of Science and Industry offered a free day to families affected by the strike. And pop-up strike camps have kept students occupied and engaged, for a cost.

Here’s a tweet from one parent who says she thinks her children have kept learning during the strike:

I also would love for my kids to re-take their MAP test. I’m not an unschooling fan, but they have had a good two weeks. Board games, science projects, transit trips. Foreign language and instrument practice done before 3. They done well. https://t.co/ATtWsy6Lnu — Boo-lou (@CarmintheB) October 29, 2019

Noting that her family was lucky to have no-cost child care from grandparents, she immediately added, “But it’s time to go back.”

8:30 a.m. Change in plans

Mayor Lori Lightfoot has canceled her visit to the South Side YMCA. City Hall didn’t announce what she’s doing instead. But last week she said she would step in at the negotiating table with the Chicago Teachers Union when she could “add value.”

8 a.m. Principals ‘like Switzerland’

Attending work everyday to watch children while their teachers picket outside, Chicago’s school principals are “like Switzerland,” two school leaders tell WTTW-Channel 11, caught between the needs of their teachers and their responsibility to students and district leadership.

The principals, Anna Pavichevich of Amundsen High School and David Belanger of Hanson Park Elementary School, said students are coming to their North Side schools each day and largely have recreation time, doing arts and crafts, and, at Amundsen, meeting with the Becoming A Man program.

But as far as math and reading instruction, “No, we’re not doing that at this time,” Belanger said.

How do they feel about teachers’ demands for prep time, one of the issues that appear to be holding up a deal? “It’s important that teachers are well-prepared for instruction,” said Belanger. “At the elementary level, when teachers lost morning preparation time (a few contracts ago), it did impact learning and instruction. As a former teacher, I was in a classroom for 29 years, I would like time in the morning to prepare.” Find the full clip below.

6:30 a.m. The day’s itinerary

Teachers will not march on picket lines Tuesday morning; instead, the union has asked them to gather at one of several meeting points at 8 a.m. and march to the site of the Lincoln Yards development on the city’s Near North Side. The $5 billion, 50-acre riverfront redevelopment plan has been controversial, and teachers want to call attention to the city’s use of tax incentives to spur large real-estate developments.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot plans to tour a South Side YMCA where children displaced by the strike are spending the day. The YMCA has reported steady increases in the number of children attending its strike camps as the strike drags on.

Negotiators will return to Malcolm X and pick up where they left off. Yana reports from a late night of negotiations that the two sides are near agreement on class size and staffing — two of the union’s core issues — but talks foundered over the issue of increasing teacher prep time, according to city officials. Here’s the issue, explained.

Teacher strike continues to ninth day after marathon talks fail to reach accord

2019-10-29T08:29:30+00:00

Despite marathon bargaining that stretched into the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the Chicago Teachers Union and the city failed to reach an agreement on a new contract.

That means the Chicago teachers strike now enters its ninth day, with no school or after-school activities for more than 300,000 students.

The sides are near agreement on class size and staffing, but talks foundered over the contentious issue of increasing teacher prep time, according to city officials.

Speaking to press after 2 a.m., weary city negotiators said they were frustrated to end a long day of bargaining without a deal but planned to head back to the table a few hours later in the morning.

“We really had some strong substantive conversations at the table,” said LaTanya McDade, the second-in-command of Chicago Public Schools. “On… issues like class size and staffing we have gotten the closest we have ever been.”

The teachers union’s general counsel, Robert Bloch, said the union had laid out a proposed agreement that met many of their demands for equity, and hoped the city would respond affirmatively Tuesday morning. “We hope the city can find the resources to complete an agreement,” Bloch said.

Bloch declined to give additional details on what the agreement contained, but said it offered creative solutions to address sticking points.

Unlike previous daily press conferences during the negotiations, neither union leadership nor rank-and-file bargaining members spoke at the update.

In separate talks, the union representing bus aides, custodians and other support staff reached a tentative agreement with Chicago Public Schools late Sunday. That deal awaits ratification by SEIU Local 73 members and the school board. But SEIU leaders said their members will remain on the picket line with teachers until the teachers strike concludes.

On Tuesday, the teachers union is expected to hold a rally at the site of the controversial Lincoln Yards development project, which will be funded in part by a special city fund intended to spur development in blighted areas and that the union argues should be redirected to schools.

Live updates from Day 8 of the Chicago teachers strike: Both sides stuck as classes are canceled for ninth day

2019-10-29T01:15:00+00:00

Chicago entered the eighth day of a teachers strike in a precarious stalemate between the two sides, as parents continued to fork out money for strike camps and weigh sending children to minimally staffed schools.

Things could get hectic downtown, but not directly because of teachers. Students planned a strike-related march to start at 9:30 a.m. on South State Street and head north to City Hall. President Donald Trump also is in town on unrelated business, speaking to the International Association of Chiefs of Police at McCormick Place and then hosting a roundtable at his Michigan Avenue hotel. Several activist groups are planning Trump-related rallies.

The union told teachers that joining in would qualify as “productive,” even though the action is not on the list of official events for the group Monday.

Our team will be covering the latest today in negotiations, rallies, and more. Follow Yana Kunichoff (@yanazure) and Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago) for the latest.

7:15 p.m. Big news?

The union is bringing its rank-and-file bargaining team into negotiations, saying it believes there is an additional $100 million in the city’s budget that could be used to meet its contract demands.

The full team’s arrival “signals that we intend to be here until we get [a tentative agreement],” said the union’s second in command, Stacy Davis Gates.

Earlier in the day, the Chicago Sun-Times published a story saying the mayor is taking $60 million from the school district. That’s reportedly to cover some of the city’s pension obligations for teaching assistants, clerks and other support staff. That money, Davis Gates said, could be used to close a contract deal.

The school district’s top lawyer has also joined the bargaining team for the first time, according to union officials.

7:06 p.m. An intense message

School district officials have been pretty even-handed in their daily updates to families — until now. Instead of just telling parents where they can send their children and what services schools will offer, tonight’s email comes directly from CEO Janice Jackson and makes the case that the teachers union is refusing to accept a compelling offer, at the expense of students.

“Today is the ninth time you have received a message from me that classes and after school programming are, again, not in session tomorrow,” Jackson writes. “This is the third week that students are not in school, and it’s unacceptable.”

6:44 p.m. The pressure’s on

Extended strikes introduce some complicated dynamics. When people at the bargaining table make concessions early on in contract talks, or even during strikes, it can be easy to paint that decision as peace-making. When the concessions come after days of apparent stalemate, they can look a lot like caving.

That means the pressure is on for the Chicago Teachers Union, which by all accounts has gotten lots of what it came to the table asking for — though absolutely not all of it.

Here’s one thread we just saw making this point:

The strike has already cost a lot. Lost days in school, lost opportunities for student athletes, lost productivity for parents, lost time for seniors applying to colleges. @CTULocal1 will have to prove that it was worth it. @SSKedreporter @HannahMLeone @NaderDIssa
— Sujatha Shenoy (@sujatha_shenoy) October 28, 2019

6 p.m. Update from the bargaining table

As the eighth day of the Chicago teachers strike wound down, city officials said negotiations remain stalled over prep time and the cost of the contract.

“We have a proposal on the table, of nearly half a million dollars, that addresses all of the key issues,” the district’s Chief Education Officer LaTanya McDade said. That includes $70 million in staffing and $25 million to reduce class sizes.

“We put that in the contract in writing,” McDade said, nodding to the union’s demand that staffing and class size be included in the contract, which the city initially rebuffed before conceding.

The city estimates that its offer to the teachers union would cost nearly $500 million more by the end of a proposed five-year contract than it is currently spending. It says the union’s remaining demands would cost another $100 million a year — and the city can’t afford that.

“We are a district that is still borrowing $1 billion dollars just to keep the lights on,” McDade said, addressing reporters Monday outside of Malcolm X College, where negotiations are expected to continue into the evening.

Prep time remains a sticking point. The union wants elementary teachers to get an extra 30 minutes of prep time, which they lost when the city lengthened the school day. But the city says there is no way to increase that without students losing instructional time. One option, suggested by the union, could be for teachers to arrive to school 30 minutes early, but that would add costs to contract demands the city says are already too high.

Still, even as negotiations remain stuck over the last few days, McDade said the city is committed to getting students back in school as soon as possible. “We are working really hard to get our students back into the classroom,” she said.

4:30 p.m. Yeah, about tomorrow

Classes are canceled again Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools just announced on its website. That makes nine straight school days without classes for more than 300,000 Chicago students.

Earlier this afternoon, the Chicago Teachers Union also announced plans for Tuesday.

TUESDAY: If we are on strike tomorrow, here is the plan. We have 3 marches going at 8am. No school pickets tomorrow. Here are our 3 marching mtg spots by school location. The marches will be merging together to march to on one location. #CTUSEIUstrike pic.twitter.com/z10kPKrZ1u
— Sarah4Justice (@Sarah4Justice) October 28, 2019

3 p.m. More about the SEIU 73 deal

The union representing school support staff like bus aides and custodians has reached a tentative agreement with the city, but said Monday that its members would stay on picket lines until the teachers union has a deal.

In a press conference on Monday, SEIU Local 73 president Dian Palmer said the contract will make real changes for members, but declined to give additional details. The union’s 7,500 members are voting on the agreement, which would run through 2023, on Monday and Tuesday. (The union’s last contract expired a year ago, and the new contract runs for five years.)

The agreement includes a minimum 16% raise over five years for all employees, and no changes to the health insurance plan for the length of the contract.

According to a rank-and-file member, special education classroom aides have also won job protections that would keep them from being pulled to work as substitutes or other school duties. Read more here.

In a statement, Mayor Lori Lightfoot applauded the deal. “I am very pleased we were able to work together to agree on a strong, fair deal that will provide substantial raises and real improvements to working environments, and I commend negotiators on both sides for their tireless effort,” she said.

2:45 p.m. “We’re willing to do whatever it takes”

Or maybe there’s a new union message? After Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson spoke with members of the City Council’s Black Caucus about the city budget today, she rejected a union claim that she had walked away from contract talks, according to a Chicago Tribune reporter. In response, according to the reporter, the union’s second-in-command made a bold proclamation about the stakes of today’s negotiations.

.@CTULocal1 VP @stacydavisgates declined to respond to Jackson's "that's a lie!" remark.

“Look, it’s difficult right now in negotiations. Emotions are high. There’s a lot of compressed intensity. We need a deal tonight. We’re willing to do whatever it takes.” https://t.co/35E7flhT2S
— Gregory Pratt (@royalpratt) October 28, 2019

2:34 p.m. A new union refrain

For the first week of the strike, the Chicago Teachers Union’s main message was that Mayor Lori Lightfoot needed to put her promises in writing. Now that she has done that, in the city’s formal contract offer, the union has shifted to emphasizing the spending gap that it says separates its vision for the school system and what Lightfoot is prepared to spend. (The city says the gap is larger.)

We first heard the message overnight on Saturday and since then we’ve gotten several press releases and seen dozens of social posts sounding the same note. And after city officials said today that the gap is larger, union chief Jesse Sharkey just sent out a statement recapping the idea. Here it is, in its totality: “Thirty eight million dollars — one half of one percent of CPS’ annual budget — is what is preventing the CTU and CPS from landing a tentative agreement. $38 million.”

1:45 p.m. Pension tensions

City Hall reporter Fran Spielman has some important new details about Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget — including that she is asking Chicago Public Schools to spending $60 million on pensions for retired teachers, a cost that has the city has always borne from its budget in the past. This development would seem to take the school district further from being able to meet the teachers union’s demands at a moment when every dollar on the table appears to count. The city is disputing Spielman’s account but did not offer specifics.

1 p.m. Seniors in a crunch

Chicago Public Schools seniors facing early decision deadlines this week are feeling the crunch of going without counselors, teachers, and clerks who can help with transcripts and recommendations — and colleges are responding.

A spokesperson for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said that, while not moving its early decision application deadline of Friday, it is offering Chicago students flexibility with one part — application fee waivers, the only portion of the admissions application that needs to be completed with a school staffer’s help. The university posted an entire FAQ for anxious Chicago students titled “Applying to Illinois during the CPS strike? Here’s what you need to know.”

Northwestern University is encouraging students who want to apply early to submit their online application by the Nov. 1 deadline, then work with teachers and school staffers to send additional materials once schools have reopened, a spokesperson said.

And a spokesperson from the University of Illinois at Chicago said its campus has not made deadline adjustments yet, but is “monitoring the situation.”

11:30 a.m. Tell us what you’re thinking

Cassie just posted a thread about her family’s experience with the strike at this point and asked for reactions.

THREAD / I'm a @ChiPubSchools parent. My big kid is 8. (Others are younger/not in CPS). I've relied on an ad-hoc arrangement of grandparents, neighbors, taking him to work with me, sending him to work w/ my husband, watching way too much TV while I cover #CTUstrike

I'm lucky
— Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago) October 28, 2019

Here’s one parent response that she’s already gotten. Respond on Twitter or email us with your own take.

Please write more about the spillover effects from the strike. I spoke to at least 10 CPS parents yesterday who no longer support the strike. The strike now into Day 8 is unconscionable. My husband leaves work 2 hours early, I get in 1 hr late bc of the strike. @CTULocal1
— AndricT (@TAndric81) October 28, 2019

11 a.m. “It’s gone on too long”

The governor has weighed in. Speaking on WBEZ this morning, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said something that many are beginning to think: “It’s gone on too long.”

10 a.m. Signs of frustration

There was lots of sniping about the strike last week on social media, but mostly between city and union allies who were extending the rhetoric unspooled in public statements and press briefings. Increasingly, though, parents are weighing in — often anonymously — to argue for a compromise that lets schools reopen. Here’s one representative tweet from a new account, @StopCPSStrike, that launched late last week:

To mayor & CTU: The taking umbrage is getting old. Someone made a snarky comment? Ignore it & keep negotiating. “Water off a duck’s back,” people, stay focused. #StopTheCPSStrike @FuscoChris @EricZorn @MarkBrownCST @ad_quig @AmandaVinicky #CPS https://t.co/MzP5pH5P5t
— CPS Parent Voice (@CPSParentVoice) October 27, 2019

6:30 a.m. Same drill

Monday dawned with teachers walking picket lines at 6:30 a.m. Lengthy telephone town halls over the weekend aimed to keep them focused on the mission, even as teachers expressed concern over missing pay and possibly losing out on health insurance if the strike extends to Nov. 1.

While members of SEIU73 landed a tentative deal late Sunday, the union said it planned to continue standing on picket lines in solidarity with teachers, which mean schools will go on being minimally staffed.

Over the weekend

Marathon weekend bargaining sessions produced tense rhetoric but no resolution. Here’s what you need to know:

Schools chief Janice Jackson visited bargaining on Sunday.
The teachers union, which had signaled earlier that it would be willing to compromise on some of its core issues if it got relief in class sizes and commitments to new staffing, stuck a more obstinate tone late Sunday, hinting that it may be holding out on a broader list of issues, such as prep time and contract length.
In weekend calls with members, union leaders underscored the demand for an additional 30 minutes of prep time daily in elementary schools. The school district contends that it would have to potentially start schools earlier to accommodate that demand, cutting in on instructional time.
Chance the Rapper gave the teachers’ effort national airtime on Saturday Night Live.
One bright spot in the weekend: Service Employees International Union Local 73 struck a tentative deal Sunday night. Read more here.
The teachers union and Chicago Public Schools each offered different estimates of how much their proposals would cost the city. Late Sunday, Chicago Public Schools offered this breakdown of its offer.

Earlier tonight, CTU rejected a nearly half-billion dollar offer. In addition to double-digit raises for all staff, our offer included another 110M to provide a nurse and social worker for every school, and prioritized support for high-need schools. #PutItInWriting pic.twitter.com/aIhWhqTPGq
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 28, 2019

Saturday talks between Chicago and its teachers union end with no deal — and a $38 million divide

2019-10-27T05:05:00+00:00

As Chance the Rapper was wearing a red Chicago Teachers Union sweatshirt on “Saturday Night Live,” union officials were still hunkered down with city negotiators.

When both sides emerged later, city and union officials said they had made progress but still remained far from reaching a deal to end the city’s seven-day teacher strike.

“We’re not close to where we need to be on the big issues,” said Deputy Mayor Sybil Madison. “We will return tomorrow and work diligently to close the divide.”

Another late night with no deal dims the prospect of classes resuming on Monday. If teachers do not return to work then, the current strike will become the longest in more than three decades.

There is still a $38 million gap between what the city has committed to spending and what the union is demanding, union President Jesse Sharkey said early Sunday morning.

“We have made what we believe is a reasonable proposal that would bridge the final gap and get a contract done,” Sharkey said. He added that the spending would account for three of the union’s core issues: class size relief, support staffing, and pay raises for paraprofessionals as well as veteran teachers. “We’re still waiting for a response from them.”

Sharkey said a fourth major issue, teacher prep time, remains a sticking point. He also suggested that the union could give in on teachers’ demand for a three-year contract if the city meets its other demands. The city has said it is committed to a five-year contract length.

There were multiple indications Saturday that the city and union are not necessarily planning on an immediate resolution. Union leaders said there were no changes in the bargaining team sent by the school district, meaning that neither CEO Janice Jackson nor Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended Saturday’s talks. Lightfoot has said she will participate in bargaining when she can “add value.”

And the union had not scheduled a meeting of its 800-member House of Delegates, which must vote to end the strike and sending teachers back to their classrooms. It would be difficult — but in theory possible — for a meeting to be held Sunday if a deal is reached early in the day.

Going into the weekend, both sides described Saturday as a pivotal day for negotiations.

In updates Friday, city and union officials said negotiators had settled many technical items, leaving weekend talks to focus on five core issues of class size, staffing, teacher prep time, contract length, and pay.

But substantial differences remained at the start of the day. A bargaining table document obtained by the Sun-Times on Friday pointed to a $71 million gap between what the city so far had agreed to spend and what the teachers union wants. Talks Saturday closed more than half of that distance but still left a substantial divide.

Plus, Sharkey detailed several unresolved issues beyond those five concerns in a conversation with union members late Friday night. Those included whether teachers who retire should receive payments for unused sick days, and when teacher evaluations should take place.

Teachers continued to make their case publicly on Saturday. Parents and teachers of students with disabilities met with Board of Education President Miguel del Valle and asked him to sign a statement pledging his support. The statement, which he signed, called for dedicated case managers and reasonable workloads for teachers and case managers.

The meeting came a day after parents and educators reported continuing concerns with special education at a state legislative committee hearing about state and local efforts to address longstanding problems.

“We can’t deny we’ve been deficient as a system about it. We have to do something about it, and we have to do it now,” del Valle told the group Saturday.

And striking teachers got a boost from Chance the Rapper during his late-night appearance hosting “Saturday Night Live.” During his last appearance on the late-night show, he donated $1 million to Chicago schools. On Saturday, he quipped, “It completely fixed everything,” before growing more serious.

“To the teachers in Chicago, I know you guys are on strike right now, I fully support you,” he said. “I just wish that when I was in school, my teachers had gone on a strike.”

The contract talks continue as teachers at one Chicago charter school ended their strike. Late Friday, educators at Passages Charter School in Edgewater announced they’d reached a contract deal with their manager, ending a four-day strike. Under the agreement, Passages’ 50 teachers will see their salaries brought in line with district teachers within three years. Teachers said they also gained increased paraprofessional pay and protections for the school’s largely immigrant school population. The school’s roughly 420 students will return to school Monday.

On Sunday, the union plans a 3 p.m. solidarity rally on the city’s West Side featuring civil rights activist Rev. William Barber. If school isn’t in session Monday, several student groups say they plan to stage a rally in the Loop.

Negotiators for Service Employees International Union Local 73, which represents 7,500 bus aides, custodians, and special education aides who are also on strike, also said they returned to the bargaining table Saturday. In a late-night update, SEIU leaders said they were still waiting on a counterproposal from the city.

Chicago teachers tired but resolute as strike winds down second week

2019-10-25T23:30:06+00:00

Their feet hurt from days on the picket line, they worry about how their students are faring, and they’re apprehensive about a possibly prolonged dispute with Chicago Public Schools. But striking teachers say they back their union’s decision to hold out on core issues of class sizes and more staffing.

On Friday, the seventh day of the strike, picketing teachers took to the streets again in protest, and blocked traffic to demonstrate their insistence on winning contract demands.

“Civil disobedience is something that some are willing to do make sure we continue that fight to get a fair and just contract,” said Alyssa Rodriguez, a school social worker, who attended the march.

Rodriguez remained in the background Friday. A vanguard of Chicago Teachers Union volunteers risked arrest as they sought to shut down Lake Shore Drive.

Until Friday’s protest, the tempo of teacher picketing had slowed somewhat from before.

“It’s definitely a slower walking pace, but morale seems to still be hanging in there,” said Rodriguez, who works at Rodolfo Lozano Bilingual & International Center Elementary and Wilma Rudolph Learning Center. “People are still really just staying focused and grounded in everyone’s initial reasons and intentions to strike.”

Enthusiasm for the strike started off high last week, propelled by anger at the district and disgust with difficult teaching conditions.

When the strike began a week ago Thursday, Rodriguez said she was “super excited” to picket. That energy lasted through the weekend, as negotiators reported progress.

Rodriguez said she was spurred to strike because her caseload, split between two schools, at times felt impossible. “Listen, I am good, but I am not God,” she joked. “Plan your crisis accordingly, because I am only in the building on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.”

Then on Monday, negotiations stalled after the mayor said the city could not commit any more funds and bluntly suggested teachers return to their classrooms while negotiations continued. For some strikers, it felt like a slap in the face.

“Lightfoot has basically gotten to a point where she has told us there is no more money, stop negotiating, just go back to work. That to me is really disrespectful and really demeaning,” said Lorena Jimenez, a special education teacher at Piccolo School of Excellence, an elementary in Humboldt Park.

That’s kept her coming back to protests. “My morale is pretty low. I feel a bit defeated, but I am still going to keep coming back each day,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez wants to see better support for parents, like translation services during special education meetings when parents are expected to understand complicated legal documents related to their child’s education services, and lower class sizes so teachers can better assess and help students.

Still, she has concerns about the strike. “It’s so many days outside of the classroom. I’m worried about the kids, I’m worried about myself, I’m worried about budgeting,” Jimenez said. She hopes the strike will change working conditions. “Once we are back in the classroom I’ll have all the energy I need.”

But energy doesn’t replace a paycheck. Teachers will miss more than a week’s pay, and if the strike lasts another week, Chicago Public Schools could stop paying teachers’ health insurance premiums on Nov. 1.

Teachers say public support has been important to keeping their spirits up. Students have held rallies to back the strikers, educators around the country have worn red to show their support, and a slew of presidential candidates have expressed their support for strikers, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who rallied with teachers earlier this week.

But most of all, teachers have helped keep each other’s spirits up on the picket line.

Mel Ferrand, a first grade teacher at Ellington Elementary on the West Side, used to be the school librarian but lost the position during budget cuts. Now, thousands of books she used to help children check out are behind a locked door.

During the strike, Ferrand has been double-checking her supply of wool socks to stay warm and dry. She’s also appreciated the gestures of support, like an unfamiliar teacher helping her put her hood on when she struggled with it one day. “It may sound small, but it really helps show how we do care for each other,” Ferrand said. “It’s just how teachers and support staff are. We care for each other.”

Live updates from Day 5 of the Chicago teachers strike: Mayor says unwieldy union bargaining team slows talks

2019-10-24T01:07:00+00:00

Good evening from Day 5 of the Chicago teachers strike. With little progress in negotiations again Tuesday, the Chicago Teachers Union switched up its playbook today. Instead of dispatching teachers to their schools to picket, it sent most of them downtown for a big rally that shut down much of the Loop.

The rally was timed for Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s first budget address, which she gave this morning in City Council chambers at City Hall. The teachers union wasn’t the only group present: Several activist groups with agendas beyond education turned out as well.

Our caffeine-fueled team — Cassie Walker Burke (@cassiechicago), Yana Kunichoff (@yanazure), and Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) — has been keeping the live updates going as the strike finishes its first week. Follow along here.

File photo of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaking at Chicago’s City Club on May 28, 2019.

7:51 p.m. Mayor: Unwieldy union team slows bargaining

Mayor Lori Lightfoot told the editorial board of Crain’s Chicago Business Wednesday that the Chicago Teachers Union bargaining team was too big and too slow.

“There is some progress being made but not enough — and not fast enough,” she said in a wide-ranging interview with the newspaper’s editorial board.

Lightfoot noted that more than 40 people sit on the union’s team and insisted the size is an impediment to negotiating efficiently. She said that the union takes “days not hours” to respond to the school district’s proposals, and that “the two core issues that the union identified for us, class size and staffing, we have given them written proposals and we are waiting for an answer.”

She said that the two sides are negotiating more now than when the strike began. But even when they are in the same building, the teams spend only a small portion of their time across the table from one another. Sometimes the union’s bargaining team arrives late, she said; often they go into caucuses that can last hours.

Still, this isn’t toughest negotiation she’s been through in her three decades as a lawyer, she told a Crain’s journalist.

(The union shot back on Twitter: “Of course this isn’t the toughest negotiation she’s been a part of. Because she hasn’t been a part of it.”)

“I have no idea when it’s going to end,” Lightfoot said, explaining that the two sides have reached agreements on minor issues, but “on the bigger issues that are going to make the difference between when the dispute is resolved and when it isn’t, we’re not there yet.”

As the strike moves into its sixth day, a member of the Crain’s editorial board asked the mayor if the school year should be extended to make up for the school days missed during the strike. “No, I do not, and we will not” by even one day, Lightfoot said. She cited logistical issues, such as high school seniors needing final transcripts to enroll in or finance their post-secondary education.

Which makes an expedited resolution all the more imperative, she said.

“When I say there’s got to be a quickened pace and a sense of urgency and a way to get to resolution and check off issues so we can move on to the next one,” the mayor said, “I mean it.”

4:20 p.m. No classes Thursday

The last two days, Chicago Public Schools has announced on Twitter at the stroke of 4 p.m. that classes would be canceled the following day. That didn’t happen today, but district officials have just informed families what had become a forgone conclusion: There won’t be classes on Thursday — the sixth school day missed due to the teacher strike.

3:50 p.m. How the other strike fares

Just one more reminder that SEIU73, the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, is also on strike right now in Chicago. We’ve just posted a story about how the union’s school workers — many of the lowest-paid in the city — are faring after five days without pay.

2:46 p.m. Seeing red on social media

Thursday’s solidarity social posts are likely to come from far beyond the city, now that American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten has amplified Chicago union chief Jesse Sharkey’s request for strike supporters to share pictures of themselves wearing red with the union’s #PutitinWriting hashtag. Weingarten sent an email to AFT members and allies across the country directing them to Sharkey’s video, which he released on Tuesday.

1 p.m. Taking teachers’ temperature

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied in downtown Chicago on the fifth day of their strike, Oct. 23, 2019.

Teachers who attended the union’s morning rally ahead of the mayor’s budget address said they are tired but resolute.

What’s keeping Kadisha Harris, a social studies teacher at Amelia Earhart Elementary School, going is thinking about her students who had to teach her how to give them their asthma medication because the school doesn’t have a full time nurse.

“Financially, it might be a little struggle, but it’s a short-term struggle for a long-term relief,” Harris said, referring to the fact that teachers are not paid during a strike. “I miss my students, and I miss teaching,” said Harris, who took part in the 2012 teachers strike.

Lorena Jimenez, a special education at Piccolo Elementary School in Humboldt Park, said she’s committed to the strike but felt demoralized after the letter from the mayor telling teachers to go back to work.

“That to me is really disrespectful and really demeaning,” she said. “It’s so many days outside of the classroom. I’m worried about the kids, I’m worried about myself, I’m worried about budgeting.”

12:30 p.m. A contrasting special education view

Earlier this week, we published a First Person piece from a mother who said her son’s experience in Chicago as a student with disabilities made her support the strike. On Tuesday, Cassie met a mother with the opposite takeaway.

“One of my kids, who has a disability and needs to be in a routine, she is going around the house in circles and she’s just cleaning,” said the mother, who asked to be identified as Mary, her first name, to avoid repercussions for her children. “Only parents in the disability world will understand — all she’s doing is packing things in boxes because she doesn’t know what to do. I’m so over it.”

Mary said her reservations about the strike were rooted in her child’s school experience, not just the disruption this week, and her desire for change. “All of the learning and instruction that is supposed to be taking place isn’t happening,” she said.

“I’m not on [the mayor’s] side. I’m not on the side of CTU, either. I’m not on anyone’s side,” Mary added. “I’m on my children’s side.”

11:30 a.m. Homeless families get a budget boost

With a teachers contract still up in the air, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s address was short on education details. But her budget does deliver on a pledge to the Chicago Teachers Union to address some of its concerns about affordable housing in the city. The budget puts $5 million into a “flexible housing pool” to connect frequent users of emergency rooms and shelters to supportive housing and increases by another $5 million a fund for construction of affordable housing units.

“These investments are particularly focused on Chicago’s young people experiencing homelessness,” Lightfoot said. More than 16,000 Chicago Public Schools are estimated to be homeless, according to a September report from the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

11 a.m. Yes to TIF funds; no to “meaningful” property tax increases

We’ll have more soon about what Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during her budget address, but two tidbits about the budget are already making the rounds.

One is that Lightfoot is doing some of what the Chicago Teachers Union has urged her to do and use special funds called TIFs to generate new revenue for Chicago Public Schools.

Of a $300 million TIF surplus that she declared Wednesday, $163 million will go to schools — $66 million above what the district had already budgeted, the Sun-Times is reporting. But those funds cover only a portion of the city’s current offer to the union, not any of the additional concessions the union wants. Lightfoot also vowed in her speech to reform how the city deploys TIF funds, which are intended for community improvement projects: “The days of the TIF slush fund are over,” she said.

Second, Lightfoot emphasized that she was able to go from a $838 million budget hole to a balanced budget — one that includes some improvements, such as Sunday library hours in some neighborhoods — without “meaningful” property tax increases.

That’s likely to calm the fears of some in the city who have viewed the teachers union contract talks, and their mounting costs, with trepidation.

“I’m very saddened that I can’t be there to tutor my kids right now. And I was a teacher at one time. I know class size is important,” said Janet Rhines, who volunteers with Open Books’ Reading Buddies program and who visited the Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday. “But I’m also a taxpayer, and I’ve seen the taxes in my neighborhood go up drastically to the point where we’ve considered moving and maybe even leaving the state. I’m torn between the sides.”

10:30 a.m. Freedom schools and volunteering

As the strike wears on, community groups are launching new initiatives every day for students whose teachers are on strike. Two that crossed our desk this morning: a “freedom school” starting Thursday in Kenwood that will focus on equity issues and a volunteering opportunity organized by the Jewish United Fund of Chicago.

Thread: Chicago parents/students
Starting this Thurs & every weekday during #CTUSEIUstrike please have your 7-12th graders come to the Freedom School outside Kenwood from 9-1030am. The School will focus on Social Justice in Ed. & Black Empowerment #PutItInWriting #FairContractNow pic.twitter.com/Gduai3EjZj
— KA Freedom School (@KAFreedomSchoo1) October 23, 2019

Hey CPS students! Need something to do while your school remains closed? Join TOV Teens-Volunteering for an afternoon pop up. Register: https://www.juf.org/teens/teenvolunteerpopup.aspx Posted by Jewish United Fund of Chicago – JUF on Tuesday, October 22, 2019

10:15 a.m. View from the school bus

Ariel joined bus aides, who are members of another union on strike, as they headed to this morning’s citywide rally. Here’s her report:

Althea McCaskill, a Chicago school bus aide, rode a bus to a citywide rally Oct. 23, 2019.

Bus aide Althea McCaskill was stunned as she and other SEIU Local 73 union members drove past The 78 megadevelopment on a bus heading to the downtown strike this morning. As union President Dian Palmer pointed out that The 78 will receive $700 million in tax-increment financing subsidies, McCaskill stared out the window in disbelief. “I did not know that,” she said quietly. “I can’t afford that. And to see the things they’re doing, it’s like [saying], ‘We don’t care about you.’ ” McCaskill has been a bus aide for 10 years and makes about $16,000 a year. No matter how long she works during her 22-mile commutes from the first student pick-up at 108th Street to Disney Magnet Elementary School, she is paid for four hours. She rises at 4 a.m. to make it to her bus by 5:30 a.m. Her work day pauses during school hours, but the break from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. isn’t enough time for other part-time work, and she’s gone two years without a raise, she said. “I do this every day, faithfully, for 10 years. Why can’t I get paid what I’m worth?” McCaskill said. The single mom of a teenager and an adult with special needs lived in a shelter for months before she was selected in a lottery for low-income housing. Even so, she is often charged a late fee when she can’t pay her rent on time.

10 a.m. Budget time

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is minutes away from starting her first budget address since taking office. She’s planning to outline her spending priorities — and what she’ll do to deal with the city’s predicted $838 million budget shortfall.

That gap is one reason why Lightfoot emphasized on Tuesday that she cannot responsibly make further concessions to the teachers union. Already, she said, the city has agreed to $500 million in new spending over five years.

9 a.m. That’s commitment

A pregnant Chicago Teachers Union member, Margot Taylor, joined a citywide rally Oct. 23, 2019.

Spotted in the throng downtown: A Chicago Teachers Union member who is 37 weeks pregnant wearing a sign that says, “Having strong CONTRACTions, but in need of a strong CONTRACT.” Margot Taylor said she’s planning to stand at the edge of the rally in case she has to go to the hospital.

(Teachers in Chicago get 10 paid days of parental leave to care for newborns, then can use sick time to extend their paid time off. That’s less paid time off than many workers get, but more than is required by law. New York City’s union recently won 12 to 14 weeks of parental leave for its members, who previously received no paid time off.)

8:40 a.m. Where the issues stand

Having trouble figuring out what’s really happening behind the scenes in negotiations? You’re not alone. We stepped back to look at what has happened so far — and what could come next — for five big issues that union leaders have said are the most important when it comes to reaching a deal. Those issues are support staffing, class size, teacher prep time, contract length, and pay.

A lot is still in flux but at least one thing is unlikely to change. From our article: “Legally, the union can’t strike over anything other than compensation issues. Reaching an agreement on pay would make it impossible for the union to keep pressing on class size, support staffing, and other issues, so expect teacher pay to be the last issue to be settled.”

8:10 a.m. On the bus

According to a recently posted job description, school bus aides in Chicago help students get on and off their buses; keep order while the bus is moving; and refer students who have misbehaved to their schools for discipline. They also lift students with disabilities, many of whom take schools buses.

Today, many of the aides, who are represented by another union on strike, are joining the citywide rally. Ariel is riding along.

Spending the morning with bus aides on strike with @SEIU73 as we head downtown to today’s rally. Keep tabs on #CTUSEIUstrike today with @chalkbeatCHI here: https://t.co/VpthbZ8OLW #ctustrike #CPSStrike pic.twitter.com/dbvnxmNBsp
— Ariel Cheung (@arielfab) October 23, 2019

8 a.m. All eyes on Chicago

One result of the strike’s extended duration is that national news organizations have now had a chance to cover what’s happening here. In the last couple of days, we’ve spotted an NBC News piece that focuses on teacher pay; a Jezebel ridealong with striking teachers; and a Teen Vogue story that emphasizes what students have to say, among others.

7:30 a.m. Charter strike day 2

About 40 teachers at Passages Charter School on the city’s North Side strike for a second day in the Andersonville neighborhood. About 420 students attend the school, which offers pre-K through eighth grade instruction to a mostly immigrant and refugee student body. Nearly 70% are from low-income families, and 38% are English language learners.

Cassie met Tessa Simonds, a middle school language arts teacher there, on the first day of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, when Passages teachers joined district teachers on picket lines. Simonds, a member of the bargaining team, said the issues at the table were teacher salaries, special education services, and the school day and school calendar. “Wages are still far below those of Chicago Public Schools,” Simonds said.

Last school year, Chicago saw three charter teachers strikes at various networks. In most of them, teachers won changes after walking out. At Acero schools, which last winter saw the first-ever charter teacher strike in the country, teachers won pay raises, a class size cap, a shorter school year, and language in the contract declaring schools off-limits to immigration officers.

6:30 a.m. Loop logistics

The traffic and weather reporters have started early with maps showing potential street closures downtown due to the rally. Police are warning commuters of traffic delays and suggest taking public transit. Extra officers will be stationed downtown.

Here’s the plan for the morning. Teachers union members have been told to gather at four locations at 8 a.m. and march to City Hall.

<li”>311 S Wacker Park (Jackson/Wacker)Swisshotel (near Wacker/Columbus)
D’Angelo Park (Harrison/Franklin)
Millennium Park (Randolph/Michigan)

Multiple activist groups plan to meet teachers outside of City Hall around 9 a.m. Mayor Lori Lightfoot is expected to give her budget address starting at 10 a.m. A rally will follow at 11 a.m. outside the Thompson Center.

“We expect traffic to be impacted until early afternoon,” the police department tweeted.

Here are the 5 big issues in Chicago’s teachers contract dispute — and where negotiations stand

2019-10-23T13:46:08+00:00

At times it may seem that Chicago and its teachers union are litigating every single facet of teaching and learning in local schools during the dispute that resulted in the current teacher strike. But in fact, union officials have said five issues make up their core demands.

As the city enters a fifth day of canceled classes and rallies (follow our live coverage here), we’re summarizing where each of those issues stands — and what could happen with them as negotiations continue.

SUPPORT STAFFING

Where things stand and what’s at stake: The union wants the city to hire thousands more teachers, social workers, and nurses and to put the hiring plan into the contract. A win here would make a difference for students, if the new positions can be filled (there are shortages in several critical categories that complicate hiring). Guarantees of new workers would also position the union to grow its ranks even though the school district is shrinking.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot pledged this summer to hire hundreds more support staff and phase them in over five years, but only this week did she agree to write some staffing targets into the contract. She also promised to have a nurse and a social worker at every school by 2024, and provide a special education case worker for every school with a concentration of students with disabilities.

What we’re hearing: Stepping back from their initial request, the union has agreed to a phase-in plan that would focus on high-need schools first. But the sides are battling over how to measure staff and enforce the plan. The union wants language that would allow it to file grievances if those goals are not met.

CLASS SIZE

Where things stand and what’s at stake: The union’s expired contract caps class sizes, but schools often exceed them with no penalty. Relief, offered through a class size committee with no budget or enforcement power, can be a long time coming, if at all.

The union wants the district to lower class size caps and, for the first time, to compensate teachers whose classes exceed those counts — not an uncommon provision in union contracts elsewhere.

What we’re hearing:The city’s latest public proposal did not budge on the current caps — 28 in kindergarten through fifth grade; and 31 in middle and high schools — but it did establish a pot of money to hire more teacher assistants in overcrowded classrooms through high school. The union said this was a good step, but that the funding offered wasn’t sufficient to lower class sizes

The issue remains unresolved.

TEACHER PREP TIME

Where things stand and what’s at stake: The city and union have gone back and forth on issues around how much time during the school day teachers get to spend on work that doesn’t involve working directly with students, and about who controls that time. Currently, the union is asking for teachers to get 30 more minutes per day for prep for elementary teachers. To accommodate that request, schools would either have to start later or the district would pay teachers an additional sum to arrive earlier. The city’s current offer is for no change from how things are now — a significant concession from its earlier demands that principals be able to direct a much larger portion of the time.

What we’re hearing: Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson have signaled that they would hold the line against shortening the instructional day. Teachers on picket lines have said prep time is a big issue in schools where educators already feel stretched thin, and unions officials say the issue could be decisive in making a deal.

CONTRACT LENGTH

Where things stand and what’s at stake: City Hall says it will only agree to a five-year contract. The union wants a three-year term. This matters because how long a contract lasts determines the timing of the next negotiations. A three-year horizon would put pressure on the current mayor to make another deal with the union right before she’s up for reelection. A five-year horizon would give her some breathing room — and more time to fund and ramp up staffing to fulfill the same agreements.

What we’re hearing: The city says it needs a five-year contract to pull off all of the changes the union is demanding. But the union says it will agree to a five-year contract only if it wins some key demands. Its request for a shorter contract is in line with labor trends: The most common length of a teachers union contract is three years, the National Center on Teaching Quality found in 2015. So far, neither side has publicly offered a compromise (and there’s an obvious one here, mathematically, though it would fall right in the middle of the next mayoral election).

TEACHER PAY

Where things stand and what’s at stake: The city has offered significant pay increases to teachers at all levels, although the city and union have different takes on just how significant. The union is still pushing for higher pay for veteran teachers and for paraprofessionals, who include teachers aides. Chicago is a district that struggles to fill all of its teaching positions. Earlier this year, the union won pay increases for paras in the contracts it negotiated for teachers at a handful of charter schools — suggesting that the issue could be a top priority for union negotiators.

What we’re hearing: The district is offering to raise salaries on average by more than 8% for paraprofessionals and school-related personnel, with an immediate 14% pay hike for hard-to-staff nurse positions. The union says there hasn’t yet been an agreement on paraprofessionals pay. It also wants higher automatic pay bumps as teachers accrue seniority.

However, pay issues haven’t been a focus at the bargaining table in “weeks,” Lightfoot said over the weekend. But that may be by design. Legally, the union can’t strike over anything other than compensation issues. Reaching an agreement on pay would make it impossible for the union to keep pressing on class size, support staffing, and other issues, so expect teacher pay to be the last issue to be settled.

Negotiations deadlocked as Chicago looks toward its fifth day without school

2019-10-23T03:35:42+00:00

After pulling back most of its negotiators for a day in protest, the Chicago Teachers Union said it spent Tuesday “rebuilding” and will return to the bargaining table in full force to pursue a contract.

The union’s diminished bargaining team produced no major agreements on the key issues of class size, staffing or prep time, officials said after bargaining wrapped up about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

For now, the strike of 25,000 educators will continue at least through Wednesday, with no regular classes in session. Hints of member preparations indicate the walkout will last through the week’s end.

Teachers plan to join a large rally downtown Wednesday, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to give her first city budget address.

Lightfoot surprised and angered the union when she proposed this week that it return to classrooms before settling on a contract and also insisted the city had no more money — other than what it had already conceded — to offer.

“We had momentum Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and the oxygen left the room yesterday [with a letter sent by the mayor asking the union to end the strike yet continue negotiations],” union Vice President Stacy Davis Gates said. We rebuilt some of that energy today. We hope to have some more going in to tomorrow. We want a settlement, but they have to put in real resources for it.”

Earlier Tuesday, the mayor told reporters that the union’s warning that the strike would not end quickly was “overstating things dramatically.” She also warned that what the city has already agreed to in the contract could come at a high cost — $500 million more across five years than the previous teachers contract costs.

“We have to live within our means,” said Lightfoot, mentioning the letter that she and schools chief Janice Jackson sent Monday.

Tuesday featured more picket lines — drawing attention and support beyond Chicago as videos of dancing teacher-protesters spread online — and boisterous rallies. The largest featured Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic nominee for president.

In negotiations, coaches spoke to the City Hall bargaining team about the district’s lack of athletic resources, an issue that surfaced earlier in the week.

Meanwhile, Lightfoot, her wife Amy Eshleman, and CPS’ Jackson made a morning stop at Marwen, a nonprofit arts center in the Gold Coast that is caring for and feeding students. Lightfoot said the strike was inflicting hardship on families.

Chicagoans will closely watch Lightfoot’s first budget address on Wednesday for how she proposes to fill a projected $838 million budget hole — whether she’ll tap new revenue, downsize programs, propose new taxes, or hint at spending more on schools.

While the budgets for Chicago Public Schools and the city are separate, the union has argued that the city should divert some tax surplus funds to schools from an account — known as tax increment financing, or TIF — it uses to spur development in blighted areas.

“There is money for downtown development, but not money for our schools,” union Chief of Staff Jennifer Johnson said Tuesday evening. “TIF surplus is one of the ways the mayor can find money for our schools.”

But City Hall insists that the union’s demands exceed fiscal sustainability. Lightfoot has said there is “no more money” to meet additional union demands.

“We want to make sure there is a full appreciation of CPS’ financial position,” Jackson told reporters. “This idea that we are flush with cash and just sitting on it and not spending it is just not true.”

The city and union are negotiating a class size committee that would help alleviate overcrowding and on hiring additional social workers and nurses for schools. Negotiators have not forged a solution to the union’s demand for more teacher prep time.

Live updates from Day 3 of the Chicago teachers strike: A quick settlement ‘not likely,’ union says

2019-10-22T02:09:00+00:00

Monday dawned with no deal, no school, and rain in the forecast. Striking Chicago teachers planned picket lines at schools in the morning — including a South Side picket line they said would stretch for seven miles. An afternoon rally was set to start at 2 p.m. at Union Park and include support staff from Service Employees International Union 73.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s schedule for Monday put her on the West Side announcing a “groundbreaking initiative” with a bank CEO, not in teachers union talks.

We’ll be providing updates throughout the day from picket lines, negotiations, and public appearances by the mayor and union officials. Stay tuned!

7:35 p.m. Talks sour

After another day of bargaining, a large team of union members emerge from Malcolm X and say that any hopes of a quick settlement are “dashed.”

“Unless there’s a change at the top of the city in regards to their willingness to make meaningful changes, we’re not likely seeing a quick settlement to the current strike,” says union President Jesse Sharkey. We will post a full update soon.

The mayor today has dashed our hopes for a quick settlement, says @SharkeyCTU1 pic.twitter.com/qP1Q9DBdsh
— Yana Kunichoff (@Yanazure) October 22, 2019

6:30 p.m. Worries about fallout

Even as parents scrambled to arrange child care and older students rallied to support their teachers, both adults and teens alike expressed concern about the lasting impact of losing several days of school.

“It takes a month to get kids acclimated after summer break, and now we have to start all over,” parent Julie Garner told Ariel. “And teachers are already cramming everything in as it is. Tomorrow is Day Four — that’s a lot of time when it comes to school.”

Ariel reports from Marwen youth center near Cabrini-Green, a Voices of Youth in Chicago Education rally, and a Raise Chicago Coalition gathering at City Hall to demand a $15 minimum wage for youth labor.

4 p.m. It’s official: No school Tuesday

As of 4 p.m., CTU has not scheduled a House of Delegates vote, which would be necessary to end their strike. As a result, it will not be possible to hold classes tomorrow, 10/22. After school programming will not be available at CPS schools. pic.twitter.com/flX6cyCDzM
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 21, 2019

3:40 p.m. A special education view

It’s clear that some of the teachers union’s demands would help students with disabilities — such as the call for more nurses. We just published a new First Person piece from the mother of a 12th-grader with special needs who says that many other contract demands would also make a difference for her son, from the call for more librarians to the push for enforceable class size limits.

“When my son was in first grade, the school was overcrowded so they decided to convert the Resource Room into a regular classroom,” writes Catherine Henchek. “As a result, students with disabilities like my son had to do their lessons in the supply closet.”

3:10 p.m. A Springfield target

Monday is still trucking along but we just got a press release about a protest scheduled for Tuesday, at the Chicago office of Illinois Sen. John Cullerton. As the state senate president, Cullerton calls the shots on which bills advance, and the union says he has stopped legislation that would have helped Chicago teachers and students.

“Senate President Cullerton has prevented numerous bills for educational equity from being passed,” the release says “He needs to take accountability for his role in the current CPS strike.”

The release notes two bills specifically: one that would have created an elected school board in Chicago, and another that would have given teachers the legal right to bargain on non-compensation issues. While there are dozens of issues at play in the current negotiations, only the impasses on pay and benefits are legally allowed to hold up a final resolution.

2:40 p.m. Paul Vallas pipes up

One of the many people who lost out to Lori Lightfoot in this year’s race for Chicago mayor has weighed in on the strike — in a way that’s entirely consistent with his approach as fiscally conservative mayoral candidate.

Paul Vallas, a former schools CEO, argues in Crain’s Chicago Business that the new revenue from the state that union leaders say can fund their demands is uncertain.

What happens if the state’s budget—which is dependent on continued robust economic growth, unreliable new casino revenues, unproven new revenue sources like sports betting and cannabis sales and voter approval of a constitutional amendment allowing for a progressive income tax increase—does not realize the revenue needed to sustain a dramatic increase in program spending and fully fund the new school aid formula? This doesn’t even factor in the continued growth in the state’s long-term pension obligations that the state has yet to address. If the state is forced to freeze or even cut spending, will teachers agree to postpone their pay and automatic step increases to avoid layoffs and further school closings?

2:10 p.m. A mounting price tag

The city has put some of the union’s key demands in writing but cannot afford its full requests, an exasperated Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a press conference this afternoon.

With negotiations still ongoing, the city said it has promised to place one nurse and one social worker in every Chicago school within the next five years, with highest-need schools prioritized, to meet one of the union’s key demands, an increase in school support staff. But that contract provision would push up the total cost of the city’s proposal by hundreds of millions of dollars, Lightfoot said Monday.

How that will be funded remains unclear. The mayor said she won’t be taking any money from the controversial Lincoln Yards development project, and that the city will only sign a deal that it can pay for.

“What we have announced is something CPS can afford and achieve,” Lightfoot said at a Boys and Girls Club where some students out of school during the strike were spending the day.

Earlier on Monday, the mayor announced a new initiative, Invest South West, that would pump $175 million in city funds over three years into a handful of neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West side.

1 p.m. Class size, support staff, teacher pay … school sports?

Dozens of issues have surfaced in contract talks beyond the five that union officials have said will make or break an eventual deal (class size, support staffing, teacher prep time, pay and benefits, and contract length, if you’re keeping track).

Today a new one took central stage at a midday union press conference: school sports. The union said Monday that it had put forth a proposal for stipends for coaches, more money for facilities and equipment, and transportation to and from practices and games for players. It sent several teachers who also work as coaches to update reporters before their availability was cut short by an angry heckler.

Brad Dowling, a boys basketball coach at Steinmetz High School on the city’s Northwest Side, said his coaching staff turned over every year because of the demands of the job combined with low pay. “A freshman high school coach, after taxes, makes $1,000 a year, and they are spending four months of their lives, including weekends, at practices and games,” he said. “People with families have limits.”

Ken Clark, who coaches golf at Lindblom High School, said that without district-provided transportation, participation is effectively limited to students whose families can get them to tournaments outside the city. And other coaches described old and worn-down equipment, athletic fields that are in disrepair or filled with trash or unlit at night, and a revolving door of volunteers. “School athletic programs have the potential to change kids’ lives if they had the facilities to do so,” said a coach from Taft High School.

High school soccer and tennis players were shut out of a state tournament this weekend because of the teacher strike.

12:40 p.m. A hard no from the union

The Chicago Teachers Union may have mocked the city’s request for teachers to go back to work while bargaining continued, but we wanted to make sure that was the same as saying no.

Alison Eichorn, a teacher and coach at Lindblom High School who’s on the union’s negotiating team, offered a response during this afternoon’s union briefing. It was clear as day.

“That’s not going to happen,” Eichorn said. “I don’t know if the mayor is familiar with what unions do, but we’ve gotten more tentative agreements in two days than we’ve gotten in 10 months.”

11:53 a.m. City asks union to end strike without a deal

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson have asked the Chicago Teachers Union to call off the strike — without a deal.

“The students and families of Chicago cannot afford to be out of school for any longer,” Lightfoot and Jackson wrote in a letter to union officials Monday. “We are asking you to end the strike and encourage your members to return to work while bargaining continues.”

The letter emphasizes that families are feeling the strain of finding child care, seniors applying to college are worrying about their applications, and student athletes are forfeiting championship matches. Most importantly, the letter says, “our students’ safety and access to healthy food are far more at risk without the structure of a full school day.”

The union published the letter on Twitter with a dismissive note: “Can someone let @ChicagosMayor know when said ‘put it in writing,’ this isn’t what we meant.”

11:03 a.m. Calling Jesse Jackson

The Chicago Teachers Union says it has asked the Rev. Jesse Jackson to help negotiate with City Hall — and that the city resident and frequent bridge-builder has agreed.

“Every student in the city of Chicago should have access to great local public schools, and places that are safe, welcoming and meet their social and emotional needs. For that dream to become a reality, it will require that all parties come to the table with fairness, justice and equity in mind,” Jackson said in a union press release. “While understanding the budget concerns being made by the mayor, I’m also very sensitive to the voices of educators, who are often the ones on the day to day front lines with the students.

“I pray that my voice at the table will be the catalyst necessary for a fair and equitable deal to be reached.”

Jackson attended one bargaining session last week. He also played a key role in resolve Chicago teachers’ 1987 strike, which lasted for 19 days.

10:45 a.m. A casualty: Wednesday’s school board meeting

Chicago Public Schools has announced that this month’s school board meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed.

The obvious question, and a reassuring answer, came almost immediately:

No. The board has to post the agenda by Monday morning in order to hold a Wednesday meeting. That's why the announcement went out today.
— ChicagoPublicSchools (@ChiPubSchools) October 21, 2019

10:40 a.m. A 7-mile picket

Daniela Hernandez, Oscar Guillen and Tania Miranda, teachers at Edwards Elementary School, found refuge below an overpass during a seven-mile-long picket line, Oct. 21, 2019.

The rain did little to dampen the spirits of teachers who participated in a seven-mile-long picket line along Pulaski Road, stretching from Curie Metropolitan High School on Archer Avenue to 111th Street.

Teachers wrapped signs in plastic and brought umbrellas, ponchos, and canopies to shield them from the rain during the hourlong picket, during which their cheers were drowned out by a cacophony of horns from passing vehicles.

“We’ll be here as long as it takes,” said Tania Miranda, a third-grade teacher at Edwards Elementary School in Archer Heights. “It’s tiring, but it’s empowering, and it’s worth it.”

For negotiators, Miranda had a simple message from the picket line: “Keep fighting for us,” she said. “We got your back, as long as it takes.”

A high school teacher had the idea of lining the South Side thoroughfare with educators, said Juan Padilla, a math teacher at Curie. “It gives us more visibility, and you see this huge line and realize it’s not just a few teachers,” Padilla said. “That strength in numbers is huge.”

But even as teachers said they remained confident that union negotiators were advocating effectively for them and their students, some said they were beginning to grow concerned about their students. Sixth-grade language arts teacher Oscar Guillen said he had given students reading assignments to complete while their teachers were on strike.

“But I stopped at three [days],” Guillen said, “because I didn’t think we were going to go that far.”

9:30 am. Student athletes barred from competition

Student athletes who have been barred from participating in state competitions because of the strike report said over the weekend that they are appealing to the state athletic association. WBEZ reports Monday morning that Chicago Public Schools will not allow the students to participate because it does not want to put coaches in a position where they have to potentially cross a picket line. The state athletic association says it is unlikely to hear the students’ appeals.

9:15 a.m. SEIU to go back to the table

A spokesperson for SEIU73 tells Chalkbeat that negotiators for the union and City Hall are set to return to the table at 3 p.m. on Monday. The last session was Wednesday, and, over the weekend, reports surface that the next bargaining date has not yet been set.

Some 7,500 school support staff, from bus aides and special education classroom assistants to custodians and school security officers, have joined picket lines with striking teachers.

Because of the varied jobs covered by the union, the demands range widely — custodians want the district to get rid of its cleaning contracts with Aramark and Sodexo, security officers want more staff, and bus aides are particularly focused on pushing for a raise because the hours of their jobs make it difficult to work a second position.

9 a.m. Rain starts, and so do negotiations

Rain starts coming down in parts of the city, and more tarps go up on picket lines. Negotiations are set to start at 9:30 a.m., again at Malcolm X, with a midday update planned.

Teachers incorporate the weather into signs (click here for some of our favorite signs from Day One of the strike). One spotted at Suder Montessori reads “Soaking but not joking.” Another: “It’s raining — but I’m out here holding this sign.”

Some teachers report that passersby have dropped off ponchos for them to use.

At National Teachers Academy on the South Side, teachers bring out speakers and blast Missy Elliott to keep spirits up.

We stand with @MissyElliott out here in the rain for a #faircontractnow #CTUSEIUstrike pic.twitter.com/2GuqwZXfXA
— Autumn Laidler (@MsLaidler) October 21, 2019

@CTULocal1 #CTUSEIUstrike #PutItInWriting #faircontractnow

Glad to have the support of our @GWHS_Patriots Ss like Anely!

Making the most of the rain today 😊🌧🌦☂️☔@ms_rivera91 pic.twitter.com/LZtirXVm7Q
— Donald Davis (@ddteachpaz) October 21, 2019

7 a.m. Always be prepared

Teachers arriving at schools early to start 6:30 a.m. picket lines report an eye-popping pink sunrise. They start putting up tarps at some campuses anyway: There’s rain in the forecast set to start at 9 a.m. (You know what sailors say about red skies in the morning …)

Beautiful sunrise in Back of the Yards for Day 3 of #CTUSEIUstrike. Yeah, it's gonna rain, but we're still out here fighting for a #faircontractnow pic.twitter.com/rhEq5WJHiz
— Gregory Michie (@GregoryMichie) October 21, 2019

6:30 a.m. Where things stand

Over the weekend, Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson lamented the pace of negotiations and said the teachers union had not responded quickly enough to counterproposals on two key issues: class size and support staffing.

The union said one holdup was how new agreements on those issues would be enforced. The current contract contains class size guidelines, for example, but a committee established to oversee the issue has had little authority.

As of Sunday night, there was no final consensus yet on three other sticking points: pay and benefits for veteran teachers, the length of the contract, and teacher prep time.

Tentative agreements had been reached, union leaders said, on funding for dedicated staff who would support homeless students and protections to keep counselors from being pulled away for non-counseling duties. They also agreed on 10:1 student-to-staff ratios in early childhood classrooms and language that could make it easier for teachers there to set nap times, the union said.

Union reports progress at Saturday talks, but mayor says school will likely be canceled Monday

2019-10-20T03:00:00+00:00

Another day of bargaining between City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union ended Saturday night with reports of continued progress on two key issues — class size caps and support staff — but a stall in three other critical areas.

Union officials reported little progress on the length of the contract, pay and benefits for veteran teachers and paraprofessionals, and teacher prep time.

Earlier in the day, Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters that she would be “very surprised” if classes resumed on Monday. Later Saturday night, in a joint statement with schools chief Janice Jackson, she said families would be updated Sunday about the potential for school at the start of the week.

“We will continue to work hard at the bargaining table, but given that critical issues have yet to be resolved, we do not at this time anticipate classes will resume on Monday,” she said.

In the statement, Lightfoot and Jackson lamented the pace of negotiations, and said the city was waiting on “full, written counteroffers” to its latest proposals on class size and support staffing. “Our team has been turning around thoughtful counteroffers at a rapid pace. We are hopeful that CTU will meet that pace tomorrow so we can bring this process to a fair and responsible end.”

Speaking to the press outside of Malcolm X College on Saturday night after bargaining ended for the day, the union’s vice president, Stacy Davis Gates, characterized talks with optimism, while also acknowledging many details were left unsettled.

“Everything is moving, we’re having substantive discussions,” she said.

Union officials were hesitant to say a deal couldn’t be reached before the end of the weekend, and left the possibility open that there could be school on Monday.

The two sides negotiated from about 1 p.m. to 7:30 pm. Talks started late because several members of the bargaining team attended a morning ceremony to honor former union president Karen Lewis. Negotiations are set to resume Sunday.

As for other progress reported Saturday, union officials said they’d reached a tentative agreement with the city on pipeline development for teachers of color and a continued moratorium on charter school growth. Chalkbeat reported earlier this week that the two sides had agreed to limit the number of charter schools and charter student enrollment for the duration of the contract.

The city said it had put forth full proposals on class size and support staffing and had received a partial counteroffer on class size and nothing yet on support staff. Union officials reported Friday winning more social workers, nurses, special education case managers, and bilingual program coordinators, as well as language about how they’d be phased in over time.

Union officials said Saturday night there was still a rift between the two sides on how to enforce those two issues. Before the strike, for example, the district had guidelines for class size, but a committee established to keep watch over the issue had little authority.

“That’s going to take a lot of time to dot ‘I’s and cross ‘T’s,” Davis Gates said. “These are things that the Chicago Public Schools have never done before. These are all very brand-new.”

The mayor’s floor leader, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, attended contract negotiations for about 90 minutes Saturday and also sounded a positive note about the talks. He told WBEZ there were “a couple things outstanding that are not that big in my opinion.” Villegas will return to the bargaining table Sunday.

The union’s general counsel, Robert Bloch, described progress at the table earlier Saturday, but said many sticking points remained, including the length of the contract. The city wants a five-year deal, while the union wants a three-year contract. Bloch said the last time the union agreed to a five-year contract, which lasted from 2007 to 2012, the district rescinded its final year of promised raises, which has made union officials wary about entering into a longer agreement.

Union officials have said previously that, in addition to the length of the contract, there is still an impasse over pay for paraprofessionals, such as teaching assistants and school clerks, and raises for veteran teachers.

The two sides have also yet to reach an agreement on teacher evaluations and whether veteran teachers with distinguished ratings can skip parts of the evaluation process.

The district continued to highlight parts of its offer on social media this afternoon, drawing attention to average cost of raises for teachers and its pledge to provide a nurse for every school by 2024.

Meanwhile, the teachers union and the union that represents support staff held a morning rally in the Douglas Park neighborhood, as well as other events throughout the day.

Michelle Gunderson, a member of the union’s bargaining team, posted several updates on Twitter Saturday that illuminated strategy behind-the-scenes.

She said the union’s counter-proposal on class sizes, which was sent to the city today and described as a partial response, called for “over-sized classes to be automatically triggered for review.”

She also said bargaining team members had been working on at least two “letters of understanding” about how the district funds schools and how it rates them.

Letters of understanding are considered part of the contract and binding, according to the union, and they generally are intended to put pressure on the district to address larger issues.

On funding, Lightfoot has said she wants to spend the year studying how the district funds schools. Under the current approach, known as “student-based budgeting,” schools receive the bulk of their budget money on a per-pupil basis. Schools with shrinking enrollments tend to get less budget money.

“We are asking for a funding formula that is based on equity rather than students in ‘seats,’” Gunderson wrote.

The union also wants the school district to stop factoring student test scores into a school’s rating, according to an internal union document that was distributed earlier this week.

10 things to watch as a teachers strike begins in Chicago

2019-10-16T21:28:14+00:00

For weeks, Chicago has been riveted by jousting between the Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall.

But now that a strike is all but assured, attention is turning to the 300,000-some students whose teachers and support staff will be walking out of schools. In the 48 hours leading up to the strike, there have been robocalls and e-mails to parents about contingency plans for child care, and nonprofit groups have scrambled to help children across the city who rely on schools for safety, food, and warmth.

Here’s what we’ll be watching as the strike begins. (And keep updated with our Chicago contract tracker.)

1. What will happen next with negotiations?

The strike will launch the monthslong negotiations into a new phase. The union has yet to agree to the city’s latest pay deal because it is holding out on broader school quality issues, such as staffing and class size.

One of the sticking points between City Hall and the teachers union is whether to put specific numbers of support staff — think nurses, social workers, special education case workers — in the contract. Lightfoot, who has verbally committed to adding hundreds of new positions across the next five years, said on Tuesday that she’s willing to put some commitments in writing. And the union has eased up on its demand, by agreeing to staff the neediest schools first. But they’ve yet to agree on the numbers or whether those positions will be funded by the central office or individual schools.

Lightfoot has similarly said that she’s willing to commit to certain class size numbers in the contract, but the union charged on Wednesday that the mayor was not willing to lower class size caps nor compensate teachers whose classes exceed the caps.

Budging on either of these points could be costly. Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, paid for concessions he made in the 2016 teachers contract win in part by raiding an $88 million city account intended to help spur the redevelopment of blighted areas.

The union has urged Lightfoot to make a similar move — even though Chicago Public Schools is on firmer financial footing now than it was three years ago. The mayor has at her disposal some of the additional $181 million in tax-increment financing accounts (dollars generated from taxing neighborhood development to fund future improvements) last year. But at the same time, the city faces a budget hole north of $800 million.

2. Will parents and the public stick with the union?

In a recent poll conducted by the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7, nearly half of respondents said they supported a possible teachers strike, and about two-thirds said public school children would be most hurt by a strike.

Even so, public support could start to wane if the strike wears on for several days.

Some 38% opposed a strike. About a quarter of survey respondents were public school parents.

Elsewhere and in previous strikes, teachers have enjoyed wider support. In Denver last year, a poll found that 82% of voters supported a strike in the days before one began.

3. What will happen inside school buildings?

City officials have said all schools will remain open during their normal hours and any students who show up will be served breakfast and lunch. But there won’t be any academics or after-school activities, and there will be minimal staffing, especially since support staff are also slated to go on strike.

Two days into the strike in 2012, less than 7% of district students showed up at the half-day sites the district opened for students — a small fraction of the some 403,000 students who were enrolled at the time. (The district later extended those hours.) Some parents also expressed concern about the supervision that was offered. And as the strike dragged on that year, the district eventually turned to online coursework to help students keep on top of their studies. By the end of the seven-day strike, the district said about 8% of students had gone to a contingency site or one of the nonprofit, park or library sites that were set up to accommodate families.

4. How will students who rely on subsidized school meals eat?

So many Chicago students come from low-income families that the city makes lunch available for free to all students. That means even one day where students stay home from school puts many children at risk of going hungry.

The Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, has announced that it will supply “light snacks and fruit” at libraries, YMCAs, and Park District locations across the city. Some neighborhoods with many low-income families will also get a cold meal option. (Find the location nearest you here.)

That plan is in place for Thursday and Friday. “If the strike continues beyond that point, the Food Depository will monitor and respond accordingly in similar fashion,” it announced in a press release Wednesday.

Meanwhile, schools chief Janice Jackson said in a robocall to parents that schools, while minimally staffed, would provide three meals to students who showed up.

5. What happens to students who receive special education services at school?

Since classroom teachers and other support staff won’t be at a school during a strike, the district said students with individualized education programs — legally binding plans for students with disabilities — will not be able to receive specific support.

But the district is still legally obligated to provide services for students with disabilities, even if teachers walk out, said Chris Yun, a policy analyst at Access Living, an advocacy group for people with disabilities.

“Depending on how long the strike goes, it may trigger compensatory services for those students,” Yun said. She suggests parents check their child’s service schedule in advance and document any missing services during the strike so they can be made up once the strike is over.

On Wednesday, schools chief Janice Jackson said the district was working to contract with some nurses to provide care at some schools.

6. What about early childhood education?

Chicago’s preschool system is split between public schools, which will be on strike, and community-based programs run by nonprofits and small business owners, which will be open.

Pre-K teachers employed by the district are unionized, and their classrooms will be dark. The same goes for the district-run early learning centers, such as the Barbara Vick Early Childhood Center on the city’s South Side.

The city’s community-based preschools and child care centers will remain open, since their providers are not CTU members. Some community-based providers are unionized through Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare division. Those providers will be working because their union is a different local from SEIU73, whose support staff members plan to strike.

7. How long will the strike last?

Probably not long, according to the advice that union leaders offered to parents on Tuesday night. Union chief Jesse Sharkey urged Chicagoans to gird themselves for “a short-term strike that is going to cause some difficulty and pain.”

Last year’s strike in Denver lasted for three days, while Los Angeles teachers stayed off the job for six school days in January.

Then there’s a practical consideration: Teachers who strike don’t get paid. The union’s FAQ for teachers emphasizes that a paycheck expected on Oct. 25 will be based on pre-strike work and thus will be its regular amount, but the subsequent check — which will hit bank accounts as the holiday season approaches — will be thinner.

8. What will happen at charter schools?

The 2012 strike was the first time that a major city had a large swath of charter schools, which typically are not unionized, remain open during a teachers union strike. Now, 6% of Chicago students attend charter schools, potentially heightening this divide.

In recent years, the Chicago Teachers Union has worked to organize teachers at the privately managed, publicly funded schools, and teachers at 12 schools are now represented by the union. But because they are working under different contracts, their schools will remain open.

9. What will teachers do while they’re on strike?

A strike can amount to a bit of a vacation for students, but teachers are not supposed to stay home. Each morning, the union expects its teachers to picket at their own schools from 6:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m., according to guidelines the union distributed to strike leaders. In the afternoon, the union will hold rallies “at various locations downtown” but hasn’t yet released sites or times. In 2012, the union brought members together in front of Chicago Public Schools headquarters as well as in a series of downtown rallies.

10. Will the weather cooperate?

The union’s instructions to strike leaders included an essential piece of advice: “Dress appropriately for the weather.” Right now, the forecast is for comfortable temperatures and clear skies for Thursday and Friday, ideal conditions for extended picketing by teachers and their union. Next week looks a lot wetter — offering one more incentive for the city and union to reach an agreement before Monday.

Chicago cancels classes Thursday, as threatened teachers strike pressures Mayor Lori Lightfoot

2019-10-16T16:47:27+00:00

As city officials confirmed that classes will be cancelled for some 300,000 Chicago public school students when teachers are expected to strike on Thursday morning, Chicago’s mayor Lori Lightfoot said that she was focused on getting a fiscally responsible deal done and making sure students out of school had a safe and warm place to go during the strike.

In her first public appearance since a Tuesday night union conference where leaders said a strike was all but inevitable, Lightfoot still stuck by her negotiators and said her team has done its best to avert a strike.

“We have worked hard at the table to listen to the union’s concerns,” said Lightfoot, who lauded the city’s pay offers. “We have tried to provide the best deal that is fiscally responsible.”

The Chicago Teachers Union has pushed beyond pay at the bargaining table and used contract negotiations to advocate for a broader agenda that includes widened support services and better resources.

After agreeing in recent days to a union demand to write staffing and class size promises into the union contract, Lightfoot said city negotiators had bent over backward to offer pay raises and meet union demands on control over teacher prep time.

On the heels of the mayor’s press conference, the union claimed Wednesday morning that Lightfoot would not actually lower class sizes nor make size caps enforceable. The union also said it has failed to win agreement on staffing ratios for counselors, social workers and other staff.

When teachers walk out on Thursday, as their leaders say will happen, they will stage the third citywide teachers strike in less than a decade.

The mayor said she was sympathetic to striking workers, but said the union has not been bargaining with enough urgency to avoid a strike. “I’m the daughter of a union steelworker. I am a strong believer in the power of collective bargaining, and when it comes down to it, the right to strike,” Lightfoot said.

In response to a reporter’s question about whether she would consider filing an injunction with the labor relations board, which could stall a teachers strike, Lightfoot said she was focusing on negotiations today.

The mayor was joined on Wednesday by board president and longtime progressive Latino leader Miguel del Valle, who said he was disappointed that the strike was moving forward.

The school district also faces a threatened strike Thursday by support staff and park district workers, two groups who had in the past cared for students during teachers strikes.

Schools chief Janice Jackson said classes would be cancelled but students could attend any age-appropriate school in their area, where they would be supervised by administrators, non-union staff and central office staff. District leaders were encouraging families to register on the school system’s website if they planned to attend schools, so that buildings could be staffed appropriately.

Union president tells Chicago parents to prepare for ‘short-term’ strike

2019-10-16T01:49:21+00:00

Chicago parents should start preparing for a “short-term” teachers strike that will begin Thursday, union President Jesse Sharkey said.

Flanked by members of the union’s bargaining team who at times gave emotional testimony about the needs in their schools, Sharkey said Tuesday evening that the little time remaining in bargaining and the significant “gaps” remaining on issues, from class size to counselor case loads, make a walkout of the city’s 25,000 teachers all but inevitable.

Making “important long-term changes in the schools,” Sharkey said, would require “a short-term strike that is going to cause some difficulty and pain.”

The union’s Tuesday night announcement came just hours after Mayor Lori Lightfoot told reporters that she was ready to write staffing and class size promises into the union contract.

“We have expressed a willingness to find solutions on these two core issues that would be written into the contract,” Lightfoot said.

The union’s bargaining team of 40-some rank-and-file teachers and organizers will recommend that the union’s 700-member House of Delegates vote against the proposed contract agreement. Leadership has called a House of Delegates meeting for Wednesday evening, when members will vote yes or no on the city’s latest offer.

Sharkey also said that city proposals fall short on pay for paraprofessionals and for veteran teachers. Negotiators have not agreed on adding more support staff like librarians and counselors. Current proposals would force some schools to choose between one or the other, Sharkey said.

He said that the length of the contract also is still unresolved. The mayor wants a five-year contract, but Sharkey said the union, which wants a shorter deal, will only agree if they believe it will really create change in schools.

Sharkey said Tuesday that the city and a separate union, Service Employees International Union Local 73, representing school support staff and park district workers, had not yet reached a deal. That means an additional 10,000 workers could be on picket lines Thursday, complicating efforts to keep any parks open as contingency options for families.

“Three bargaining units, two unions, one mayor, and no deals,” Sharkey said. “Something has got to shift there.”

Meanwhile, parents all over the city received robo calls from the district updating them about strike plans for students. Schools will remain open but minimally staffed and no instruction will take place.

In the robo calls, schools chief Janice Jackson asked parents to register their children on the Chicago Public Schools contingency plan site if they plan to take them to school. She said that three meals will be served. City libraries also will be open.

For more information about the issues on the table, read our guide.

Want to learn more about the union’s strategy? Here’s a closer look at “common good” bargaining and how it factored in a win for Los Angeles teachers.

With less than a week before strike, Chicago sweetens offer to teachers; union calls it ‘insulting’

2019-10-11T23:57:30+00:00

Seeking to avoid a strike less than six months into her term, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Friday she had sweetened the city’s offer to teachers, pledging an additional $2 million to grow the pipeline of critical support staff and another $1 million to reduce class sizes.

In a 72-page offer made public Friday, she and schools chief Janice Jackson also committed to reducing health co-pays in the teachers’ medical plan and said they were dropping a controversial proposal that would give principals more control over how teachers spend their prep time.

The offer does not include additional money for teachers’ salaries. Lightfoot’s most recent pay offer has been a 16% cost-of-living increase across five years. The city’s latest proposal and a summary document are embedded below.

“All in all, our offer includes over 80 changes to the collective bargaining agreement on issues requested by the union,” Lightfoot and Jackson said in a joint statement. “We have bent over backwards to meet CTU’s concerns.”

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.

“If you agree that we need smaller class sizes, if you agree that we need a nurse in every school, a social worker in every school, then why won’t you put it in writing?” asked union political director Stacy Davis Gates, calling again for the mayor to place staffing demands in the contract. “Flexibility for the 90% students of color in Chicago has always meant: less, unequal and inequitable.”

In her press release Friday, Lightfoot accused the union of not bargaining in good faith and heading for a strike at all costs.

On the staffing offer, one of the more contentious areas of negotiations, the city offered an additional $2 million over five years to build a pipeline to provide more nurses, social workers and case managers for special education students — all hard-to-fill jobs.

City Hall and the Chicago Teachers Union have disagreed over committing in the contract to adding thousands of support staff positions the union has demanded. The city has pledged to add a smaller number, in the hundreds, across five years, in part because district hiring managers have documented a scarcity of candidates that they say thwarts more substantial staffing increases.

The union has argued the district must write the staff increases into the contract to ensure that new hires are fully licensed and their work is not contracted out to private companies.

In another concession, the district put in language that better protects counselors’ time so they can support students and not be tapped for other duties, such as filling in for absent teachers or supervising lunch or recess.

The union, however, lashed out at the district for ignoring a union request to hire case managers for every school to assist special education teachers in managing paperwork and services for students.

Read the full offer below.

Chicago begins contingency planning in event of teacher strike

2019-10-03T20:31:22+00:00

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.

On Wednesday night, after the teachers union announced a strike date of Oct. 17, Chicago Public Schools published a contingency plan webpage.

“The safety of our students remains our highest priority,” Jackson said on a video atop the page.

After-school programs, games, and sports and arts practices would be closed.

Chicago Public Schools has also posted an address lookup tool that will let families see child care options as the strike date nears. Some libraries might run daytime programs, the city has said.

Meanwhile, community organizations are stepping up. The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, which offered day camps during charter school strikes last school year, will offer a first-come, first-serve Schools Day Out program, which lets families drop off children from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 10 locations citywide. (Costs depend on location and hours served.) “Our program staff doesn’t just provide child care,” a spokeswoman for the YMCA said. “They implement an enriching, research-based curriculum.”

The Jewish Community Center of Chicago is planning strike-day camps that include an International Day and a Star Wars-themed day. The costs are $80 for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. camps, and $20 for aftercare.

Albany Park Community Center, which operates a center on the city’s Northwest Side and recently opened a second Bronzeville outpost, can care for around 100 children, up to age 12, at its site. The cost for families would be $25 a day.

The parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand has begun compiling other options, such as the Beverly Arts Center’s “If CPS Strikes, We Have Your BAC-k Camp,” which would run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at a cost of $38 for members and $42 for non-members (scholarships will be available).

Raise Your Hand will update the list of options on this site.

Chalkbeat is surveying parents about their strike-related questions. You can submit a question in English or in Spanish, and we will do our best to get them answered.

With no deal yet, Chicago teachers set strike for Oct. 17

2019-10-03T03:06:00+00:00

If negotiations between Chicago and its teachers union fail to result in a deal, teachers will walk out and potentially shut down 500-some public schools on Oct. 17. That’s the same day that a separate union representing school aides has threatened to strike.

Simultaneous strikes by educators and school support staff could complicate the district’s efforts to keep schools open and minimally staffed while teachers are on the picket lines.

“This is also frankly a unified strike date,” said Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson pledged in a statement that they would keep up “aggressive” bargaining, but if teachers strike, “all CPS school buildings will remain open during their normal school hours to ensure students have a safe and welcoming place to spend the day and warm meals to eat.”

Announcing the strike date Wednesday night after a House of Delegates vote inside headquarters, Sharkey stood flanked by members of Service Employees International Union 73, which represents staff such as bus monitors, special education assistants, and lunchroom workers.

“The reason we have set a deadline two weeks from now is because we intend to continue bargaining in good faith,” Sharkey said. “But I don’t want anyone in the city of Chicago to doubt our resolve. We mean to improve the conditions in our schools. We mean to win a fair contract.”

The delegate meeting and vote energized special education teacher Deborah Yaker. The union has demanded improved staffing, more integrity in the Individualized Education Program process, and dedicated substitutes, among other conditions for special education. All of them are essential, said Yaker, who teaches at Hanson Park Elementary in Belmont Cragin. “It’s only to better our kids.”

Ramona T. Bonilla-Anaiel, a special education classroom aide at Lakeview High School, said she finally felt heard when members decided to strike. “We need more people, we need more staff,” said Bonilla-Anaiel, who described students missing out on their legally prescribed assistance because aides were pulled to watch other students or help with administrative tasks.

Negotiations could continue up to the strike date. In 2016, the city’s contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union also were contentious, and observers saw a strike as nearly inevitable. But district officials made several concessions at the last minute, averting a walkout.

Not even five months in office, Lightfoot is facing a potential threat of triple strikes. Besides the teachers and school support staff, Chicago Park District employees, who during the 2012 strike cared for students displaced by closed schools, also took a strike authorization vote last week. They are represented by the same union as the school support staff.

Wednesday’s vote polled members of the Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates, which represents various groups of teachers — some at schools and some, like clinicians and social workers, who work citywide. The union represents more than 25,000 teachers and support staff, including paraprofessionals and school social workers.

Last week, 94% of union members voted to authorize a strike.

Setting a strike date increases pressure on Lightfoot and the city to come to an agreement with the union, or face a walkout.

“Our members are hard workers, they serve the youth of Chicago, and they deserve a better contract,” said SEIU73 President Dian Palmer, speaking Wednesday after the strike date was announced. “Chicago can do better. I’ve seen the amounts of money that people make, but our members don’t.”

SEIU has argued that its members’ starting salary of just above $31,000 is unacceptably low.

Laying out the city’s side of the negotiations to the public earlier this week, Lightfoot and Jackson published a 420-word blog Monday explaining details of the city’s contract offer to teachers and offering an 8% pay hike for paraprofessionals.

The city’s latest public offer to SEIU resembles the pay offer to teachers: a 16% raise across five years. As it has offered teachers, the city would absorb the rising cost of health premiums for the first three years of the deal.

Lightfoot has said that her latest offer to the city’s teachers will make them among the highest-paid educators in the country.

The union has disregarded her offer, insisting the city lower class sizes, add support staff and put those guarantees in writing.

The teachers union contract with the district expired June 30.

The city’s last full-fledged teacher strike was in 2012. That year, teachers walked off the job for the first time in 25 years. After seven days, they returned with gains significant enough to portray the strike as successful.

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.

7 questions for the Chicago commissioner in charge of a game-changing early learning expansion

2019-09-06T21:38:10+00:00

Lisa Morrison Butler presides over half of the city’s early learning expansion — the half that doesn’t involve schools. As commissioner in charge of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, she just oversaw the distribution of $200 million in awards for community-run preschools and child care centers, a process that is raising questions among advocates and some providers.

Chalkbeat sat down with Butler in her West Town office to ask about the grant renewal, impact from universal pre-K rollout in the schools, and her larger vision.

This transcript was lightly edited for clarity and length.

Several experienced nonprofits charge that they lost seats in a large-scale grant recompetition. What happened?

There had been so much discussion about 4-year-olds being welcomed inside Chicago Public Schools, so we were trying to get people to begin to think about how to evolve their model for more children under 3.

So I think people thought, there’s going to be a huge explosion in birth-to-3 slots, and also that the state of Illinois is going to throw in the full $100 million that we asked for.

Not all the state money came through. And there are more birth-to-3 slots — but not thousands more. Another thing that ate up the money was the increase in the per slot rate.

So rates for children in the Early Head Start programs, for example, went from about $8,700 per slot to $13,500 per slot. So there were significant increases in the per slot rate, as well as an increase in the number of slots.

Lisa Morrison Butler

Can you explain why some organizations or businesses rose to the top and and what role quality ratings played in scoring applicants?

We really tried to get at the quality piece. We talked about wanting to understand, for instance, how you would engage families. That’s very important in the early learning community. There were places where we talked about the credentialing with your teaching, and the rest of your staff. There were places in there where we talked about the curriculum, and one of the very different things this time … was we linked it to kindergarten readiness very clearly.

But did you adjust for center directors of smaller agencies who may be very good early childhood educators but who aren’t great grant writers?

We did a couple of things. For instance, we recruited external readers, many of whom came from local universities or colleges that had early learning programs. So we were looking for some expertise. And one of the things that we talked to the readers about was look for substance and not style. Don’t hold it against somebody if you didn’t like the way they wrote. Look for what they’re saying.

What we did was then try to look through many lenses we thought mattered. Community areas. Program models. Where people embraced the policy goals. Did they blend funding?

Is there any sort of appeals process?

Our decisions are final, there is not an appeals process for us.

There’s this perception that CPS is stealing all of the 4-year-olds. How do you respond to that?

It’s not an us-versus-CPS thing. We are really partnering with them closely.

We believe that Head Start and Early Head Start and our community-based programs offer something unique that CPS cannot offer. The supports for families are a thing that CPS cannot match us on. These are things that children need in order to thrive and grow. So we feel that we can make a point in the minds of parents that we should be their first choice. Having said that, parents still ultimately need to be able to determine where their kids go. If you are an upper-middle-class parent or a wealthier parent, that is a decision that you take for granted. We are bringing now that same ability to make that choice to working class parents and to people who may be living below the poverty line. And we think that’s a good thing.

Do you see enough parents taking advantage of those options? Mayor Lori Lightfoot said a few weeks ago that, between schools and community agencies, there were thousands of preschool vacancies.

Our families enroll late. So it’s always it’s always slow going for us until late August to September. We always worry about it. We do think that there are some parents that are waiting to see whether or not their kids can get into Chicago Public Schools.

Will you make adjustments after school enrollment data comes in?

We absolutely will have to look at that information and make some adjustments. I just don’t know yet what they are.

‘Something has gone wrong’: Providers sound alarm over Chicago’s $200 million award for early learning

2019-09-05T20:32:43+00:00

After months of speculation about how Chicago would redistribute nearly $200 million it spends on educating low-income children under age 5, the city has released the list of winners and losers.

But in redistributing its early learning funds, the city will impose dramatic cuts that will threaten the reach of several high-quality programs run by established non-profits. Some community organizations may cut back classrooms, close sites, and lay off staff. Meanwhile, newer for-profit centers have picked up slots and funding.

Advocates and center directors are raising questions about the grant process and about how the city determined winners and losers. They also worry that by scaling back its promise to fund more seats for the youngest children, the city could deprive hundreds of children and some neighborhoods of quality child care options.

The long-awaited grant awards represent a key part of the city’s effort to expand early learning.

Another part has been opening pre-kindergarten classes for all 4-year-olds — essentially adding whole new grade level to public schools.

Last spring it announced a two-tier system: At the end of a four-year rollout, schools likely would educate the bulk of the city’s 4-year-olds, and community-run programs would expand to care for more substantial numbers of younger children. The city pledged to send millions more to help community-run preschool and early childhood programs offset the financial loss of that shift, since younger children cost more to educate.

“They kept telling us that we should focus on building our infrastructure and workforce and buildings to mostly serve children aged zero to 3. So reluctantly we all had to think about that, and what was going to be our future,” said Maricela Garcia, the CEO of the nonprofit Gads Hill, which operates two centers in Chicago and is opening a third. It applied to serve more kids in that age group, she said, but instead the city cut back its grants to Gads Hill centers for the youngest children.

“In general, we now have a $700,000 hole in this year’s budget that we have to work around,” said Mario Perez, the executive director of El Hogar Del Nino, a center in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood that serves 410 children through site-based care, home visits, and group homes. His organization’s child care center, which opened two new infant classrooms this week and is running a waitlist of families for those spots, also lost funding for programs for infants and toddlers.

“The idea of more preschool for more kids is noble, and it’s the right thing, but somewhere between the concept and the rollout, something has gone wrong,” he said.

The city has hired a transition agency to help centers that have to close classrooms find alternative arrangements for families. The new contracts start Dec. 1.

In all, 150 agencies applied to run 250 programs, the administrator in charge of the grant said. Her department is sticking with its 101 winners, while acknowledging that the process was imperfect.

“We are right now very aware that lots of folks are unhappy,” said Lisa Morrison Butler, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, one of two agencies stewarding Chicago’s universal pre-K rollout (the other is Chicago Public Schools).

In short, she said, that’s because the city didn’t get as much money as it had anticipated from the state, and as a result it could not fully fund many proposals.

“Everyone asked for significant increases,” Butler said. “We would have needed $48 million more than we had to give everyone 100% of what they wanted. And we didn’t have that. And so in almost every case, we pulled back a little bit from the ultimate proposal.”

Butler said many applicants submitted ambitious plans, as the city had encouraged them to do. And she stressed that a wider disbursement of seats among more agencies — including some for-profit businesses led by a diverse group of operators — offers parents more choice.

“We think choice is a good thing. But at the same time, we recognize that we need to try to help transition folks and we know that that is going to be challenging,” she added.

Using a scoring system it has yet to make public, the city divided the money — a mix of federal, state, and local dollars intended for low-income families — among the 101 winning agencies.

Chicago Public Schools manages its preschool programs out of its own $7.7 billion budget, but because of the way early education money is distributed, some federal dollars are granted to the school district and then reallocated to the city’s family support services department, which oversees preschool programs and child care centers that operate outside of schools. Asked if the money intended for Chicago’s community programs didn’t get rerouted from Chicago Public Schools, Butler emphatically said no.

“We’ve heard that folks wonder whether or not CPS held back (money) and they did not,” she said.

Of the roughly 21,300 slot allocations, 37% went for children 3 and under.

Broken down by neighborhood, the most center-based preschool slots were granted to providers in Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Austin, and Greater Grand Crossing, according to a Chalkbeat preliminary analysis. All four neighborhoods are also getting new preschool classrooms in public schools this year, according to a list released in the spring.

Fewest seats went to the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods, as intended, since the median household income there would render most families ineligible for publicly funded programs in community centers.

Advocates said they would like the city to be more transparent about how it determined which sites would receive funding and why some cuts were made to high-quality organizations that are among the state’s highest rated.

“We are all working on assumptions,” said Jose Marco-Paredes of the Latino Policy Forum, which convened a working group on early childhood issues after the city announced last year that it would offer pre-kindergarten to all 4-year-olds in the city. “We don’t know where the slots did go, how the decisions were made, or how quality played a role in them.”

Garcia, of Gads Hill, said she was surprised to learn her organization lost slots intended for older children in a new facility it is building in Brighton Park — an area of the city that has seen growth in Latino residents and new immigrants.

She was disappointed to learn of cuts, too, in a program that funds a weekly home visit by a teacher and a social worker to 290 at-risk families with young children. The visits help build parenting skills and connect families with doctors, schools, and other programs. This year, about 50 fewer families will receive visits as a result.

“You cannot just decide to cut those slots for those families when that is the only program they feel they can be safe and have kids still learning,” Garcia said.

Like Garcia, Perez of El Hogar also saw cuts in his home visiting program.

One Englewood center, Little Angels, hosted one of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s early press conferences trumpeting his universal pre-K initiative. The founder, Nashone Greer-Adams, had been told the city would pick up the tab for a new $3.4 million child care center and community hub.

Illustrating the complicated way that funding for programs and buildings gets distributed, the Chicago Board of Education signed off on the building contract — then, several weeks later, the city cut back Greer-Adams’ early learning grant.

As of Thursday, a petition she started on the website Change.org titled “Save our school!” had garnered 160 signatures.

Five things to know about Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s teachers contract offer

2019-08-29T14:55:31+00:00

On Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot celebrated her first 100 days in office by ticking off her accomplishments since taking office. When it comes to schools, those include a new school board that has made an effort to make dealings more transparent and an “equity-focused” budget for schools.

But one pressing item on her to-do list that remains unresolved is a contract with the Chicago Teachers Union. Her latest offer, unveiled earlier this week, would give teachers a 16% raise across five years — but the union is rejecting it.

Here are five things to know about Lightfoot’s offer and the future of the contract talks.

The city sweetened its offer this week — and notes that some teachers would get major raises.

Lightfoot’s latest offer is an increase over her previous public deal, which was 14% across five years. That represented the city’s acceptance of the recommendations from a third-party fact-finder, Steven Beirig, who urged a 16% pay hike.

Lightfoot’s team noted that, under her deal, the average teacher would see a salary increase of 24%, including the scheduled salary increases that teachers already receive based on years of service.

A second-year teacher, for example, would see her salary rise from $53,000 in 2019 to over $72,000 in the fifth year of the agreement, which is equivalent to a 35% pay raise, according to City Hall.

There are dark clouds on the city’s financial horizon.

Pointing to the city’s relatively rosy financial picture, the union argues that the city could offer higher pay, better benefits and more new staff than it has offered if it prioritized schools over other investments.

But while the city is in better shape than it has been, its finances are far from unshakable. The city faces a looming budget deficit of more than $700 million.

Lightfoot announced a city government hiring freeze last week in response to the deficit.

That freeze does not apply to the city’s sister agencies, such as Chicago Public Schools, her administration said in a statement, heading off concerns from teachers and others about whether the city will be able to add the new school staff it has promised.

Still, options to pay for a new contract are on the table.

The union wants the district to make a contractual promise to hire nearly 5,000 additional teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years. The union has argued that the city could afford its demands by dipping into “tax-increment financing” revenue, or TIF funds. Those are dollars generated by using taxes from specific neighborhoods where development is taking place to fund future improvements in those areas.

Lightfoot’s team told Chalkbeat in a statement that the city is still working out how it could pay for raises — but indicated that the union’s suggestion could be a possibility.

“The City is still evaluating how much is available in TIF surplus funds, and how these funds could be applied to balance several key priorities for the city,” city officials said in a statement. Those priorities include “the continued growth of our schools and neighborhoods.”

A city budget now doesn’t foreclose on improvements for teachers later — but the union is skeptical.

When Lightfoot announced her proposed budget, the city teachers union protested because only 2.5% raises for teachers were included. But Lightfoot says the city’s budget can be amended to reflect the terms of whatever contract deal is ultimately made.

In the past, the district has put out a supplemental budget on top of the general operating or capital budgets.

But the union isn’t taking the mayor on her word — they’ve doubled down on pushing Lightfoot to place staffing promises, in particular, into the union contract.

A strike remains possible, but city officials are striking a confident tone.

If the union and City Hall cannot reach a deal, the union has threatened to strike. The union’s rejection of the fact-finder’s report on Monday set a 30-day countdown for a potential strike.

But schools chief Janice Jackson has said she is confident that the district can avert a strike.

The pay offer from the district is “one of the largest increases in CTU history,” said Jackson. And while she was sympathetic to the pay freezes and furloughs teachers had faced in the past decade, Jackson said it was unfair to expect Lightfoot to make good on years of disinvestment in one contract.

“If we had all the money in the world we’d pay them the money professional athletes get,” said Jackson. “This is a fair contract given the financial constraints we have. We are moving in the right direction.”

Chicago teachers union rejects neutral fact-finder’s report, setting countdown to strike

2019-08-26T16:45:00+00:00

The Chicago Teachers Union early Monday formally rejected a neutral fact-finder’s report calling for wage and health benefits primarily on the city’s terms and thus started a countdown toward a Sept. 26 teachers strike, the earliest possible date teachers could legally walk out.

The union’s next step will be for its House of Delegates representative body to set a date for a strike authorization vote. Its next meeting is Sept. 4.

The fact-finder, Steven Bierig, officially released his report to the public on Monday, although a summary of his conclusions was leaked to WTTW-Channel 11 earlier this month. The report recommends a 16% cost-of-living raise for teachers over five years, and proposed the district not increase health care contributions for teachers for the next two years, but then raise them a quarter of a percent each in years three and four, and half a percent in year five.

At back-to-back press conferences Monday — one week before Chicago students return to school — the district and the union each laid out their own arguments on what it would take to close the deal.

The city accepted Beirig’s recommendations at its press conference at Webster Elementary School on the city’s West Side, and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she would up her offer to the 16% advised in the report at a total cost of $351 million across five years.

“That’s real money on the table, folks,” the mayor said.

Until now, she had been offering a 14% raise over five years.

The proposed bump means that the average teacher would see a salary increase of 24%, including the scheduled salary increases that teachers receive based on years of service, Lightfoot’s team said.

But the union, rejecting the fact-finder’s proposals at an event at outside Suder Montessori School on the Near West Side, said that while Lightfoot’s pay proposals were couched as generous, teachers have faced a decade of wage stagnation that included furloughs and pay freezes.

“In Chicago, educators in our classroom have been disrespected, where conditions in our classrooms have deteriorated, where we feel like there have been cuts after cuts,” union President Jesse Sharkey said.

Sharkey added that the union would not strike a deal without contractual promises on increased staff positions in special education, more aides, and smaller class sizes.

The two narratives reveal a key area of disagreement over how investments should be made in Chicago schools. The city said it has promised staffing boosts and investments in neighborhood schools — and those investments are reflected in the 2019-20 budget plan it made public in August. The school board will vote on the plan Wednesday.

The mayor has said she will fund hundreds of new social workers, special education case managers and nurses at district schools over the next five years, and claimed that a majority of these positions are reflected in the district’s 2019-20 budget proposal.

The union has criticized that proposal for falling short in filling in gaps in support staff. It wants the district to hire nearly 5,000 additional teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years.

“What we have seen in the budget is a pitiful shadow of what the promises sound like,” Sharkey said. “It’s not adequate.”

Bierig said in his report that staffing is outside of the fact-finder’s scope.

The union is legally limited to bargaining only on issues that address core teaching conditions, such as pay and benefits. That means the union can’t legally walk out over staffing issues.

But at Monday’s press conference, Sharkey argued that the mayor had made a political commitment to better invest in equity in schools, and the union wants them in writing.

“We see all these issues as being connected … as part of the overall package our union will accept,” he said. “It’s a lot harder to work in a school where, if two or three teachers call out sick, special education teachers are being pulled from their work to cover classes.”

Lightfoot also has proposed adding $73 million to schools sites next year, several initiatives to boost neighborhood schools, a$12 million boost for bilingual education, and equity grants to help small schools.

After the union sets a date for a strike authorization vote, its 25,000-plus members will have a chance to vote for or against a strike. In order for teachers to walk out, a state law passed during former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s tenure requires that at least 75% of union membership must vote in favor of a strike.

Lightfoot, who has said in recent weeks that the city faces a bigger-than-expected financial hole, plans to give her first budget address as mayor on Thursday. Last week, City Hall announced a hiring freeze. But while financials look tight, Lightfoot said Monday she had no concerns about paying for her contract proposals.

“We are not going to agree to a contract for which we don’t have the resources,” she said.

Meanwhile, negotiators are bargaining several times a week, with a session set for Monday.

Lightfoot has said she hopes the two sides will resolve differences before school starts next week.

The union, meanwhile, has said that until it sees its key demands in a contract, its teachers will continue preparing for a strike.

Find the full text of the fact-finder’s report and the responses from the union and City Hall below.

Here is City Hall’s response.

Here is the Chicago Teachers Union response.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has trusted this deputy to oversee schools. What’s her plan?

2019-08-20T16:23:21+00:00

When Mayor Lori Lightfoot unveiled a new school board she also named Sybil Madison deputy mayor for education and human services. But while Chicagoans have seen the board in action at lively monthly meetings, most of Madison’s role so far has played out behind the scenes.

Since her first official day at work in early July, Madison said she’s been busy getting to know the leaders, assets and challenges at the eight departments under her purview, especially Chicago Public Schools.

“My role isn’t to run the schools; that’s taken care of, because you know [schools CEO] Janice Jackson has that down, and her team is doing a great job,” Madison said. “My role is to forward the mayor’s vision, to work closely with that team to achieve that vision, and to understand where the mayor’s office, me and my team can add value to that work.”

Madison, who co-chaired Lightfoot’s education transition team, will oversee education and youth-related policies as deputy mayor of education and human services. While Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, at times had a chief of staff who led City Hall’s education agenda, the new deputy mayor position elevates the role to the second-highest level in city government. Madison, a clinical and community psychologist by training, brings to the post 20 years experience in the education world as a school improvement coach, researcher and leader.

Madison is the former director of the Chicago City of Learning, a coalition of youth-serving organizations focused on connecting students to out-of-school learning opportunities, particularly in the sciences. She’s also a former research associate with Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnership, and former director of education and leadership for Chicago Quest Schools, one of the charter operators under the umbrella of Chicago International Charter School.

Chalkbeat caught up with Madison for a phone interview to ask her about what she’s been up to and how she’ll work with schools from the mayor’s office.

Chicago’s new deputy mayor for education and human services, Sybil Madison (third from left) stands with schools CEO Janice Jackson (center) and chief academic officer LaTanya McDade at a press conference announcing her appointment June 3, 2019.

What is your job?

I’m the deputy mayor for education and human services, and there are about eight departments and agencies that I connect with, including Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago, but also family support services, the department of public health, parks, library, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and the Cook County Workforce Partnership.

What is your mandate from the mayor as your work pertains to CPS, and how will you work with the school district?

My mandate is to work very closely with the school district and city colleges to achieve her goals for education. She has a focus on strengthening our neighborhood schools. She wants to ensure that every young person in Chicago, particularly every young person in CPS, has a pathway beyond high school to a viable and sustainable future, whether that’s through college or that through a career path. She wants to make sure that our youngest children are in supportive and nurturing environments where they can learn and grow.

My role is to work very closely with CPS leadership, and leadership at city colleges and across all of those departments to make sure that we’re creating an ecosystem that is gonna support young people learning and growing. The opportunity here with this office is to think about how all of those departments play a role in the health and well-being of children and youth.

Does Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson report to you?

Janice is accountable to the board of education, and she certainly does not report directly to me. We work together collaboratively and we’re all working toward the mayor’s vision.

How does the mayor envision your office working with CPS?

My role sometimes might be to remove barriers to help problem-solve. There are some ways in which the mayor will push us all to be bolder and to do more for the students in the city. For example, when she made the announcement about increasing the number of youth who have workforce-based learning experiences in a career tech program. So there’ll be times when the mayor is kind of charging us to figure out how to get someplace maybe faster than we were going to get there. And we’ll work together to do that.

What issues at the school district are your biggest priorities this coming school year?

We’re thinking about things like, “what does it take to strengthen neighborhood schools?”

I’m really excited that Dr. Jackson is planning to engage the community this school year around understanding what equity looks like at a local funding level.

I’m bringing with me an interest in out-of-school-time learning, and understanding how we can complement what happens during the school day by better organizing, coordinating, connecting opportunities that happen outside of the school day.

But I’ll have more to say about priorities when I’ve been here a little longer.

What is the added value of having someone like you helping to address an issue like declining enrollment that has a lot to do with Chicago neighborhoods, community development and broader?

That’s why this office was structured around education and human services, to think about the intersecting systems that impact young people and families and individuals in Chicago. We also have a deputy mayor of public safety, and a deputy mayor for business and economic and neighborhood development, because these issues are bigger than simply education.

It’s going to take all of us developing strategies across our offices and across the departments to really tackle those kinds of issues, to move toward a city where everyone feels safe, to support the prosperity of our young adults and create situations that make folks want to stay in the city. That’s not just about education. A big part of what our work is will be collaborating across departments so that we can actually strengthen the city by strengthening neighborhoods.

‘Will we rise to the occasion?’ Mayor Lori Lightfoot issues a challenge to Chicago school administrators two weeks from start of school.

2019-08-16T23:11:28+00:00

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said that one of the toughest questions she faced on the campaign trail came from a graduating senior at Whitney Young High School, who asked at a student-led candidates forum: “What are you going to do in the next four years to convince me I should come back to Chicago, and make Chicago my home?”

Lightfoot, reflecting on the question Friday during a speech at the school district’s fifth annual administrators summit about three weeks after her inauguration, asked the same of the hundreds of principals, assistant principals, and teacher leaders sitting before her.

“Of course it was an intentionally provocative question,” she said, to laughs. “But it’s the right question, it’s what we should all be focused on. What are we doing every single day, each of us, in our own way, to make our city better, stronger, fairer for young people to be able to thrive?”

The mayor holds vast power over Chicago schools, from control of the district’s budget and strategic priorities to decisions about district leadership and school board appointments. Friday’s event put her on stage in front of the school leaders charged with administering Chicago’s more than 600 schools.

Chicago Public Schools held the event at the city’s Symphony Center for school leaders to rally and plan ahead of the new school year around the vision of an equitable school district.

Also in attendance were decision makers who help steer the district, including schools CEO Janice Jackson, Chief Academic Officer Latanya McDade and school board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland, whom Lightfoot appointed earlier this summer after completely overhauling the previous mayor’s board.

For weeks, most of the focus on Lightfoot in the education sphere has been whether she would be able to resolve contentious contract talks with the Chicago Teachers Union. She’s also pledged to reconsider how much money Chicago spends for students and campuses with the most need, promised to bring hundreds of additional school support staff to the district and, with Jackson, announced a $7.7 billion budget, a 1.5% increase over last year.

Chalkbeat and other media members attended the start of the administrators event before being ousted by the mayor and the district’s communication teams.

Lightfoot said convincing graduates to build lives and raise families in Chicago hinges on how well the district prepares students for well-paying jobs and the opportunity for social mobility. She said she and Jackson are committed to bringing resource equity to the district to ensure that schools have the support they need, characterizing the district as “the most important institution in our children’s lives.”

“What can we do to strengthen the lives of our children so that they grow up with hope and inspiration in their heart — not fear, not trauma, but hope and inspiration?” she said. “Our children’s eyes are on us…will we rise to the occasion?”

Lightfoot emphasized the importance of schools and city officials collaborating, and offered advice to help educators weather the stresses of their job.

“Think about the necessity of self-care, and how you can embrace that need, to make sure that you’re doing everything that you can to be strong and supportive of our kids, our families, our teachers and all the support personnel that go into making the classroom environment as productive as possible and as nurturing as possible for our children,” she said.

The mayor also praised Brooks College Prep seventh-grader Alannah Stanley, who delivered a powerful performance of the national anthem to rave reviews Friday morning.

“There are so many amazing children in the city who are doing incredible things every single day,” she said to the administrators, using Stanley as an example. “You know this because you see it in the classroom. But we need to make sure we tell the stories of those children every single day.”

Chicago to spend $820 million on fixing up schools. Is yours on the list?

2019-08-08T22:12:27+00:00

Chicago plans to spend $820 million next year fixing up 300 of its schools and building more pre-K classrooms, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson said Thursday, standing in a vintage classroom inside the century-old Morgan Park High School on the city’s Southwest Side.

About $1 in every $7 spent will go toward a universal pre-K expansion.

The rest will go for new roofs, playgrounds, and athletic fields for schools like Morgan Park — which stands to get $23 million for a new roof and new sports fields. The athletic powerhouse, which has 1,230 students but increasingly must compete with in-demand selective enrollment programs nearby, was left out of last year’s $1 billion capital plan announced by Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel. It was Chicago’s biggest campus investment in decades.

Lightfoot said about half of the district’s schools — some 300 — will receive upgrades in the coming school year. The list is heavy on neighborhood schools, she emphasized.

That fact wasn’t lost on Morgan Park’s Local School Council chairwoman, Carisa Parker, and another longtime council member, Peggy Goddard, who were buzzing at Thursday’s news, part of a larger reveal of the first schools budget of Lightfoot’s tenure.

“We’ve been advocating for this as long as I can remember,” said Parker, a mother of four, who has served eight years on the school council.

The capital plan, which also includes $30 million in new science labs and an $85 million expansion of high-speed internet and other tech upgrades, was “created with a focus on equity, prioritizing the schools and neighborhoods that need investments most,” Lightfoot said. The city’s new mayor recently said she plans to spend the year revisiting the formula that determines how much money individual schools receive.

Find the full list of schools expected to receive upgrades under the proposed plan below.

Outside of the capital plan, the district will spend $6.18 billion in 2019-20, a slight increase from last fiscal year. The new line items announced Thursday include $12 million for teachers and curriculum materials for English language learners and $10 million to boost accessibility for disabled students.

The district also put a price tag — $10 million — on a promise announced last week to add nurses, case workers, and social workers to schools, as well as to invest in recruiting qualified workers.

“It was really important today, as we roll out this budget … to ensure that we’re providing our students, our most vulnerable students, with the resources that they need,” Jackson said.

Including the capital expenses, nearly half of the district’s budget, or about $3.8 billion, will go to staff, materials and other equipment for schools. The district released a school-by-school breakdown in the spring.

The rest goes to pay for teacher pensions, central office positions and network staff, transportation, and other items.

Of the 300 schools that will benefit from Lightfoot’s capital plan, about half of the schools in the district, 105 will receive funds to accommodate pre-K classes or to otherwise serve young learners.

“Particularly for our youngest children, we need to make sure that they feel this blanket of love and support all around them at the earliest age,” Lightfoot said. “We have a commitment and an obligation to our young people and we intend to make that commitment in everything we do.”

Lightfoot, who has been meeting with community preschool providers who have felt slighted by the city’s expansion of pre-K, said she planned to make more announcements in the coming weeks about what direction she plans to take universal pre-K, a plan set in motion by her predecessor. She made it clear the district will continue to offer more seats for 4-year-olds.

Community providers have complained that the district’s expansion of pre-K is causing them to lose students and teachers, making it hard for them to run their businesses.

Jackson said Thursday the district will take out another series of bonds to pay for the bulk of the capital upgrades. The specifics will be made public by the Aug. 28 board of education meeting, she said. The state is expected to provide not quite one-quarter, or $191 million of the total — an amount that was approved last spring as part of a six-year, $45 billion state capital bill. But it’s not clear when that money will be made available.

As of July, Chicago Public Schools had accumulated $8.4 billion in long-term debt, and it was still borrowing to pay for day-to-day operations. According to a financial presentation to the new school board then, it plans to take out $1.25 billion more in short-term loans starting this month. The district takes out short-term loans in anticipation of tax revenues because it has limited reserves.

Chicago is the third largest school district in the country, and the second most indebted, according to research from Chicago-based Merritt Research Services, which analyzes municipal bonds.

Lightfoot promises hundreds of new school support jobs, but few specifics on how to fund them

2019-07-30T21:41:46+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered the most detailed look yet at her education agenda on Tuesday, outlining plans to invest in special education support staff and nurses, improve the quality of vocational programs, and potentially revamp the way Chicago funds schools.

She did not offer specifics on how she planned to fund the hundreds of new staff positions across five years, but pointed to the district’s brighter financial outlook.

“The fortunes of CPS absolutely have improved,” Lightfoot said. “We feel comfortable this will fall within the resources we have.”

In a July financial report for the school board, district leaders said Chicago schools are on firmer financial footing than before thanks to increased state funding. But the district’s long-term debt now totals $8.4 billion, and it is still borrowing to pay for day-to-day operations.

During the campaign, Lightfoot pledged to wrestle with the issues of resource inequities across the district and to invest in neighborhood schools.

“Each one demonstrates our commitment to expanding educational equity for all our students and our families,” Lightfoot said at a press conference, at Michele Clark Academic Prep Magnet High School on the West Side, devoted to teacher recruitment. “While every student learns differently, every child should have the support they need to be a lifelong learner.”

Speaking after the mayor, schools chief Janice Jackson said she was excited to “work alongside” the mayor on her plans. “Listening to this presentation today, I just have one word to say: Wow. I’m pretty sure principals, teachers, and parents across the city will have the same reaction.”

By the 2021-22 school year, Lightfoot promised two full-time special education case managers to schools with 240 or more special education students, or those who have Individualized Education Programs, and one full-time case manager to schools with more than 120 special education students.

The mayor proposed adding 200 social workers to Chicago schools over the next five years, along with 250 full-time nurse positions.

Staffing has been a key ask in contract negotiations between Lightfoot and the district. Besides raises, the union is asking the district to hire nearly 5,000 teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years.

But Lightfoot’s initial offer to the union of $300 million over five years didn’t include any line items for staff.

In a statement, the union demanded again that staffing promises be enshrined in the contract, that hired staff be fully licensed, and that the work would be kept in house and not contracted out.

“The staffing commitment the mayor made today still falls far short of the sweeping need in our schools,” union President Jesse Sharkey wrote in a statement. “And they must be supported not by a press release or a public pledge but by a real commitment in revenue and a legally binding agreement with the CTU on behalf of the students for whom we advocate.”

Lightfoot, who must also deal with larger-than-expected shortfalls in the city’s budget, said the investments will help schools deal with trauma and other tolls on students in Chicago neighborhoods beset by violence.

“The trauma that our children experience on a daily basis outside the classroom impacts their work inside the classroom, and we know that,” Lightfoot said. “We need to provide the supports so they have the opportunity to address what is going on in their life outside of school, and to support our teachers in recognizing those signs and systems.”

“For far too many of our children, their school is their safe haven,” she said. “They need their support and they are going to get it.”

In recent weeks, Lightfoot has discussed school needs with principals, teachers and parents, who identified staffing, vocational education and funding as their top priorities for district investment.

Lightfoot also promised to reconsider how schools in Chicago are funded during the next school year. That sets a timeline for the mayor. Chicago is one of several large school districts in the nation using weighted student funding, which tries to allocate funding based on individual student needs and the number of students.

An unlikely group of allies, from the Chicago Teachers Union to a school choice group with charter ties, have lobbied for the district to consider a wider array of student needs when allocating funds.

Chicago teachers to receive classroom guide to 1919 race riots by fall

2019-07-29T20:27:41+00:00

Chicago schools chief Janice Jackson has spoken often about the need to create more culturally relevant lessons and tailor them to Chicago students. On Monday, she said that the district will offer a teaching guide about the 1919 race riots, a landmark event in city history.

Jackson said that the guide will be available online by September, though teachers are not required to implement it. The program will provide lessons for students across grade levels, describing bloody riots that broke out for seven days across Chicago.

“Given the 100th anniversary, I’m sure teachers will be excited about [the guide],” Jackson said after a commemorative event. “But we will be able to check and see where it’s implemented.”

Earlier this month, the district announced a $135 million curriculum initiative to put high-quality materials in the hands of Chicago’s teachers. Though the teaching guide is separate from that two-year initiative, it takes a small step toward realizing the vision of a more culturally relevant curriculum.

In recent years, public schools have adopted a curriculum that teaches students about police violence under Jon Burge, an Englewood commander and detective who jailed and tortured hundreds of black and brown men in the 1970s and ’80s. The district has also developed a new civics curriculum with the goal of empowering students to get more involved with their communities.

The 1919 race riots were one of the darkest chapters of Chicago’s history. As black and white soldiers returned from World War I and African Americans migrated from the South to northern cities, racial tensions bubbled up in Chicago in 1919.

On July 27, when 17-year-old Eugene Williams and his friends drifted across the divide between the white beach and the black beach at 29th Street, a white man threw a stone at their boat, which hit Williams on the head. The boy drowned, but a white police officer refused to arrest the stone-thrower.

Over the next week, riots broke out across the city, and more than 500 people were injured and 38 killed. Though violence targeted more black people than white people, only three men were convicted of riot-related charges, all of them black.

At a commemoration ceremony Monday at Dunbar Vocational Career Academy High School, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the new teaching guide, emphasizing the importance of educating Chicago’s students about the city’s “painful history with racism.” Practices like redlining, police violence, and systematic disinvestment in black and brown neighborhoods stem directly from the violence of 1919, Lightfoot said.

“Learning from our history is possible only by knowing our history, not just as a footnote, not just as a passing mention in somebody else’s story, but knowing it for what it is, as a living breathing part of our daily experience,” Lightfoot said. “If we are ever going to move forward from the events of 1919 and the forces behind it, we have to keep these events alive, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here in Chicago.”

Union puts forward contract proposal for thousands of new teaching and support staff, at a cost of $880 million

2019-07-12T20:50:38+00:00

Besides raises, the Chicago Teachers Union is asking the district to hire nearly 5,000 additional teachers, professionals and aides, at a cost of $880 million over three years, documents filed with a fact-finder show.

Specifically, the union’s contract proposal includes adding 2,000 teachers to lower class sizes, 900 social workers, 900 nurses, 500 counselors and 340 special-education aides. The proposal was filed Thursday with a fact-finder assigned to negotiations.

The mayor’s team, meanwhile, filed a proposal on July 2 to the fact-finder that would offer a 14% cumulative raise but made no proposals on staff increases, for a total of $300 million over a five-year contract.

The two sides have been at odds in talks over a contract for the city’s 20,000 teachers and clinicians. Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposes changes to grievance procedures and prep time, but would not add teachers or social workers.

The union has focused on boosting staff, suggesting that could be funded by increasing taxes on the wealthiest Chicagoans and minimizing funding for development projects like the controversial Lincoln Yard development.

Several teachers interviewed by Chalkbeat stressed their schools need more case managers, social workers and special ed staff.

The two reports are competing narratives offered to fact-finder and attorney Steven Bierig, who was also a fact-finder in the union’s last negotiations with the city and who will write a report on the viability of each side’s proposals. In 2016, Bierig agreed in part with both the district and the union.

Both sides will argue that their proposals are the most affordable, says University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign labor Professor Bob Bruno.

“Both sides have a strong incentive to attempt to persuade a fact-finder that their position is affordable and appropriate given the resources that are available,” said Bruno, who testified in the 2016 contract negotiations at the request of the union.

With the start of the school year barely seven weeks away, the Chicago Teachers Union on Thursday gave the city a month to make a deal and released a minute-long video of rank-and-file educators explaining why they’re pushing so hard on contract negotiations.

Union officials said now they plan to bring the city’s contract proposals for a vote by their membership. And if significant progress in negotiations isn’t made, union officials said they plan to move toward a strike authorization vote.

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.

Biden defends record on busing at Chicago’s Rainbow PUSH convention

2019-06-28T23:59:46+00:00

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Friday defended his position on using busing to desegregate schools, saying at a labor luncheon in Chicago that he “never ever opposed voluntary busing” — but didn’t mention his opposition to court-ordered busing.

Biden spoke about his record supporting civil rights and his ideas for education after a heated exchange at Thursday’s debate among 10 Democratic presidential candidates. Fellow candidate Kamala Harris, who previously had criticized him for touting his ability to work with pro-segregation senators earlier in his career, accused him of opposing school busing, a program that had benefited Harris.

Biden indignantly denied that. He followed Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and longtime civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson on the stage during Rainbow PUSH’s annual convention, which kicked off Friday at the Chicago Teachers Union headquarters.

The former vice president advocated tripling federal funds awarded schools serving poor children, raising teacher salaries and making pre-kindergarten mandatory.

“Every single child in America has enormous potential but it means you have to have good schools in every neighborhood,” said Biden, whose wife Jill used to be a school teacher.

In contrast, Lightfoot all but ignored education in her talk — even as the current contract with the Chicago Teachers Union expires at midnight Sunday and negotiations over the next contract remain in limbo.

As she stepped to the podium, Lightfoot said, “I am honored to be here in the house that Karen built,” referring to the expansive headquarters built under the leadership of former union chief Karen Lewis, who retired last year amid a battle with cancer.

Instead, Lightfoot focused on the need for increased investment in the South and West sides.

“It’s been 400 years since the first African reached our nation’s shores in chains,” she said, noting the theme of the convention, which was the “repairing the damage” of the hundreds of years of African-American history in the U.S.

The answer, Lightfoot told the crowd, which included members of some of the city’s biggest public unions, is a plan for a comprehensive urban investment program.
“We cannot look away from the needs of people in our neighborhoods,” she said. “If we want to be a truly global city we need to look south of Roosevelt and West of Ashland. This is not a challenge, but an opportunity.”

The teachers union long has demanded more resources for South and West side schools, affordable housing and wage hikes.

Since Lightfoot took office in May, negotiations with the teachers union have moved slowly. Lightfoot’s team has said it is still weeks away from sharing a full contract proposal.

The union, meanwhile, has argued that Lightfoot and the district are not negotiating in good faith. “We are still negotiating with Rahm’s bargaining team and proposals,” Ronnie Reese, the union’s communications manager, said, referring to previous Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The two sides are expected to continue bargaining, and teachers could return to school in the fall without a contract.

Lessons from a Chicago school merger: Race, resilience, and an end-of-the-year resignation

2019-06-21T20:45:42+00:00

As the adults around her worried about what and how they would teach, Kiara Caref had a simple concern: Would she connect with the new kids?

At Ogden International School, which last fall merged with nearby elementary school Jenner Academy for the Arts, Kiara’s friends were mostly white and middle-class like her. Jenner students were mostly black and from low-income families.

But the seventh-grader found herself building new bonds this school year. “I’m open to any type of friend,” she said. “I’m not going to grow up only being friends with people who grew up like me.”

Seventh-grader Ka’Mayra Boyd had different concerns. She was worried that the sense of community she had enjoyed at Jenner would not survive the merger.

A year later, she says she missed Jenner’s Black History Month celebration, which did not take place at the merged school. “But it’s getting better,” she said about the new school, especially social science classes that have taught her more about civil rights, local community issues and qualitative research methods.

Kiara and Ka’Mayra were two of 1,340 students on Chicago’s Near North Side who lived through an unusual and high-stakes initiative this year: a community-driven effort to meld two schools — racially, economically, and culturally distinct — into one.

A successful merger would offer a new model for how communities can help Chicago tackle its thorniest education challenges, including declining school enrollment and deep racial and socioeconomic segregation.

After stumbles and strides, Ogden students and teachers said that they felt like the merger was headed in the right direction and described moments where the school community had banded together to solve problems that had surfaced throughout the year. Then, on the last day of school this week, came shocking news: Acting Principal Rebecca Bancroft would be leaving the school at the end of the month.

Bancroft’s departure means that Ogden is heading into summer break with just as much uncertainty as it started the year — a daunting reality for the students, teachers, and families who have spent the year on a roller coaster ride, and for the city that could learn from their efforts.

“Ending the year in this way is a blow,” said Jezail Jackson, a first-grade teacher who also sits on the council that helps govern the school. “It feels like two steps forward and one step back for the school community.”

A “community-driven merger”

The merger talks began in 2015. Ogden, with an international focus and a diverse but largely affluent student population, was bursting at the seams. Jenner, 98 percent black and predominantly low-income, wanted to stanch an enrollment decline that nearly got it closed in 2013.

Those dynamics emerged in part from the schools’ adjacent but very different attendance zones. Ogden’s zone spanned much of the Near North Side and included a diverse swath of mostly affluent families. Jenner’s much smaller zone was confined to the area around the former Cabrini-Green projects, where many low-income black families continued to live in row homes. However, the demolition of the Cabrini high-rises — which was spurred in part by the tragic shooting of one Jenner student, Dantrell Davis, and the brutal rape of another known as “Girl X” — meant that there were far fewer children in the zone to enroll at Jenner.

The complicated geography created a unique opportunity that parents, community leaders, teachers, and administrators seized upon as they hatched a plan to bring their schools together. They would use all three buildings — the two that Ogden already used, and Jenner’s — to serve both sets of students, relieving crowding pressure at Ogden and connecting Jenner students with the resources of a larger school. They formed a Jenner-Ogden Steering Committee and hired a consultant to help craft a merger proposal.

That proposal reflected something new for Chicago, which had closed or merged more than 170 schools, often abruptly and despite fierce community opposition, over the previous 20 years, in efforts to manage declining enrollment and chronic underperformance. Instead of having a bureaucratic solution imposed on them, the Ogden and Jenner communities remained in the driver’s seat — and got to spend several years working through potential challenges.

“This was more of a community-driven merger than [Chicago Public Schools] saying we’re closing this school and moving it into that school,” said first-grade teacher Deborah Sheriff, who has been through three campus mergers during her career in the district. “And this is the first merger that CPS has really been involved in two or three years before the merger happened.”

The process wasn’t easy, and opposition to the merger sprouted in both school communities.

Some Ogden parents complained that the Jenner campus was unsafe, too close to crime havens and Cabrini Green, according to meeting transcripts. Other Ogden parents worried that their school’s strong academic record and reputation would suffer if Jenner’s lower-scoring students were enrolled. An online petition against the merger garnered about 200 signatures — not a huge number, but a significant one.

Meanwhile, some Jenner families feared that their community would lose its identity and agency in a merged school. Some worried that Ogden was simply trying to grab their school’s building, without regard to the needs of Jenner students.

But others at Jenner were eager to escape the perpetual fear of closure and sought access to Ogden’s resources and curriculum. At Ogden, some families pushed back against resistance to the plan, accusing parents who raised concerns of harboring racist attitudes about Jenner students.

Ultimately, in February 2018, the city’s school board signed off on a merger plan. Students in both zones would go to one building together until fourth grade, then another for middle school. And students in both zones would be able to go on to Ogden’s well regarded high school.

The result: The school that opened in September is among the 10 percent of Chicago public schools with no racial majority. In a city where the majority of schools are racially segregated, 37% of Ogden students are black, 30% white, 16% Asian, and 15% Latino. And its families span the economic spectrum, from affluent Gold Coast families to public housing residents.

Students say the merger brought together young people who were relatively close geographically but rarely had opportunities to connect face-to-face and see through stereotypes.

Ogden International students (from left) Dajae Allen, Jacari Brown, and Kiara Caref

When 12-year-old area resident Jacari Brown arrived at his new school in September, he found “nice new teachers, wonderful kids,” he said. “I even made some new friends right off the bat,” he said. And the classes? “Compared to last year, I’m not even going to lie — they are way better.”

The first day of school capped years of deliberate efforts to bring the two communities together.

To get students comfortable with the change, parents and students attended each other’s school open houses and report card pickups the previous year. The communities shared events, planned joint field trips, and set up pen pals for families to get to know one another. Parents formed a diversity committee, and attended workshops to address their own biases.

Teachers at the two schools also worked together. Anticipating a wide range in students’ skills, teachers learned how to flexibly group students, and to lean on each other for advice and support.

Ogden had already been using the International Baccalaureate program, a rigorous curriculum that is popular with families and increasingly common across Chicago. Observing that the IB program’s inquiry-based approach seemed well-suited for the merged school because it pushes students to think about themselves in global contexts and become more culturally aware, Jenner teachers learned how to teach the approach as well.

And the district pitched in, dedicating $1.8 million for a social worker, youth advocates, parent support, diversity training, and more. That support helped Ogden teachers to get training about how to work with children who have experienced trauma and how to manage different kinds of student behavior.

The merged school drew families and educators eager to be part of a uniquely diverse school community.

Ngozi Okorafor chose the school so that her son would be surrounded by students from different backgrounds. On her son’s first day of kindergarten, the Nigerian-American lawyer was pleased to see that he had Indian, Chinese, Nigerian, African-American, Latino, and white classmates.

“They will appreciate diversity if it is celebrated,” she said.

And teacher Maria Arellano, a native of Honduras, left Namaste Charter School to be part of a movement to foster racial and economic integration.

Her third-grade class includes students reading at the kindergarten level and others reading like sixth-graders. She said the training that she and her colleagues had received had paid dividends.

One of her students with would lash out and occasionally run out of the classroom on the spur of the moment. But through daily check-ins with him, Arellano learned he was dealing with the loss of a family member to gun violence.

She built a relationship with his mother. One day after he walked out on the classroom, Arellano said she called the mother, who told her simply, “’Put me on speaker.’” And then Mom said sweetly, “‘Honey, you need to listen to your teacher.’” The boy returned to class.

“After three months in the classroom he stopped yelling, hitting, and leaving the classroom,” Arellano said. “He’s a joy. People love him. I just saw him transform, and I think it’s not just a coincidence. … I think it’s the work we did to learn who our kids are.”

A ‘fractured’ community

But a series of challenges and missteps would undermine that work. The problems began when Jenner Principal Robert Croston, who had helped engineer the merger, died of illness at age 34 in March 2018, just after the plan was approved. That fall, shortly after the school year began, the district suspended Ogden Principal Michael Beyer for allegedly falsifying attendance records.

In December, the school’s acting principal, Rebecca Bancroft, said in her monthly leadership report that Ogden was a “fractured” community. It didn’t help that the Jenner name had been dropped from the merged school, and with every turn, concerns surfaced that Jenner’s identity was being sidelined.

While the planning committee had worked to treat the two schools’ concerns equally, sheer numbers gave Ogden more influence. That school had four times as many students as Jenner in elementary school, and many more teachers as well.

That meant that the majority of teachers in the merged school were from Ogden. Most of them were white, in contrast with Jenner’s mostly black staff. And one popular black teacher at Jenner, Tara Stamps, whose family has a long tradition of activism and organizing in Cabrini Green, had not made the move. She had applied to be an assistant principal but didn’t get the job, distressing Jenner families familiar with her leadership.

Ogden voices were front and center on the new school’s Local School Council, too. The one representative from Jenner, Kizzy McCray, quickly began having doubts about participating in the leadership group. Accustomed to Jenner meetings where attendees would more freely talk and seek solutions, she said she wasn’t used to the tightly run Ogden LSC meetings with strict time limits on speakers, where she said members could have been more responsive to parent concerns.

“I got tired and overwhelmed,” said McCray, who is Ka’Mayra Boyd’s mother. She stopped attending meetings — leaving the former Jenner community without an official voice until she was voted off the council for excessive absences and the council chose a different Jenner parent to take her place.

Inside the school, despite the training on classroom management and social-emotional learning that teachers had received, a disturbing dynamic was emerging. Black students were being disciplined far more often than their classmates — something that research shows is a serious and pervasive problem across the country.

In the first semester after the merger, the school issued 41 suspensions, with nearly half taking the form of harsher out-of-school exclusions. Thirty-five of those suspensions were for black students, meaning that black students were being suspended at more than twice the rate expected given their share of the student population.

City data does not show whether students who were suspended came from Ogden originally, or from Jenner. But the year before the merger, Ogden had suspended just seven students all year long. (Four of them were black.)

Parent complaints fell along racial lines, according to Sheriff, the first-grade teacher who came from Jenner.

She said she fielded a call near the start of school from a parent who said, “My son is in a class with all Jenner kids, and that is not right.” There were only three students from Jenner in the class, she said — but several others were also black. More recently, she said she’s also gotten calls from parents saying their children were being bullied by “Jenner kids.”

“There’s a bias,” Sheriff said. “There’s plenty of kids who are in the school who are black who are not from Jenner.”

The divide fell into sharp relief — at least for the former Jenner students and their families — in February.

That’s when Jenner had always organized an extravagant Black History Month assembly featuring student performances of songs, African dance, and plays about black historical figures. Another highlight was a black history fair with student presentations about African-American leaders, inventors, and famous former residents from the Cabrini Green public housing projects.

This year, the fair didn’t happen, leaving students such as Boyd feeling left out. “It was more important for me to know about successful Cabrini Green people I didn’t know about,” she said.

McCray said the loss of Jenner traditions grew to feel overwhelming. “It feels like Jenner was taken over rather than actually merged,” she said.

‘Something that was lost in this process’

City education officials said they hope McCray’s sentiment can be avoided in future school mergers.

“To me it matters more that you’re telling me that a parent felt like it was a closure or a takeover,” said LaTanya McDade, the school district’s chief academic officer. “And if they felt that way, then that means there was something that was lost in this process that we have to recapture.”

Already, efforts are underway to change the tenor within the school. Late Principal Robert Croston’s widow joined the staff as a middle school counselor in March. Sheena Croston had been a fixture as a volunteer in the Jenner community and has lent a sense of continuity to the campus.

Her charge is to help students deal with emotional challenges, and coach teachers to respond compassionately, rather than just punitively, when students misbehave. But she said she also sees her role as “a pillar of strength” at the Jenner campus who can tap into her own loss to connect with students going through hard time.

“I have a smile on my face and I’m here to hold your hand, to talk to you, to support you, to be a part of every thing that everybody is feeling and doing to make this merger successful,” she said.

The district is working to improve relations at Ogden in other ways. McDade said a forthcoming parent engagement plan will ensure that former Jenner parents — who have felt excluded — have ample opportunities to volunteer and to participate in school events.

Getting it right will be important for the city. Chicago has more than 200 schools with enrollment so low that the district has begun giving out “equity grants” to help boost programs that attract families. But the district is predicted to keep shrinking, which means fewer families to draw from and tough decisions ahead. New Mayor Lori Lightfoot has said she wants to pursue alternatives to closure — something that a state law says districts must try before deciding to shutter a school.

That means more mergers are likely coming to communities across Chicago, although the timeline and frequency are not yet clear. Lightfoot has said, though, that if schools do have to close or merge, the decision to do so should be community-driven, as happened at Ogden.

For now, any lessons emerging from Ogden’s first year are tempered by Bancroft’s abrupt resignation, announced Thursday in a letter to families. The city declined to offer details about her move and she did not respond to requests for comment.

With Bancroft’s resignation effective June 30, the Local School Council must scramble to choose someone else to steer the merged school into its second year. Whoever takes over the job of managing Ogden’s three campuses will face a long to-do list.

Bancroft’s last leadership report, delivered at a school council meeting in early June, outlines plans that her successor will have to oversee, including a series of student leadership retreats this summer and plan to train teachers in the coming year in IB teaching techniques, restorative justice, and other strategies for teaching students with wide-ranging needs and skills. The school also has 18 vacancies to fill this summer, including several positions added to support the merger such as an instructional coach, business manager, and a family and community communications liaison.

District officials say they are on standby to help.

“It is very important to the district and me that Ogden’s next principal continues the progress your community has made over the past two years,” McDade wrote in a letter to Ogden families. “The district will collaborate with your elected Local School Council over the summer to identify an acting principal who reflects your values and priorities, and is ready to support the continued growth of your school community when class begins in the fall.”

Also standing by: the school’s students, who came together this year in remarkable ways, and won accolades from the city for doing so.

This month, Chicago honored the Ogden-Jenner Student Voice Committee for its work promoting a positive campus culture. The committee designed and built a room where students feeling stress — about the merger or anything else — can get a break and some support.

Eighth-grader Dajae Allen recently told a crowd gathered at the Harold Washington Library for a civic honors ceremony that, at the beginning of the year, there was “an unsaid wall between the two school communities.”

But bit by bit, she said, students took it upon themselves to break down that barrier.

“We were experts on what it means to be students at our school,” Allen said, “so we needed to lead the way to advance the health of our new school community.”

Those efforts, and those of her colleagues, also leave Jackson, the first-grade teacher, optimistic about Ogden’s future.

“I know that we are all very very hard workers, and our hearts are in it,” Jackson said. “We have to work harder to ensure this success. These obstacles that keep coming, they cannot be the end all be all for us. They just can’t be, because we all just deserve more.”

Lightfoot: New Chicago school board will stop making so many decisions behind closed doors

2019-06-03T19:44:02+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot promised Monday to change how the Board of Education does business — starting with the board’s tendency to end monthly meetings with lengthy closed-door deliberations before voting on major decisions.

“The majority of the work that the school board does is going to have to be in the public,” Lightfoot said. “The days where everything was done in executive session, and then they come out and take a vote, that’s over.”

Lightfoot’s declaration came Monday morning during a press conference at Hampton Fine and Performing Arts School in the Ashburn neighborhood on the far Southwest Side, where she unveiled her new appointed school board.

“I think every single one of the members here that we are proposing understand that transparency is the cornerstone of legitimacy,” Lightfoot added. “You can’t have legitimacy when you do everything in secret, and we’re not going to operate that way.”

Lightfoot announced a new seven-person school board on Monday that includes people with deep experience in Chicago schools, including former graduates, a principal, and parent and community advocates. Lightfoot said she targeted candidates with academic backgrounds and a broad array of experiences learning about, understanding, and challenging the school district.

New School Board President Miguel del Valle said Lightfoot “wants a board that is going to challenge a system that has a lot of great things happening, but can always do better,” and promised a shift of tone in the board’s stewardship of schools.

“I want vocal, active board members who will use their expertise to challenge the system,” Del Valle said. “It’s not going to be a rubber stamp, it’s not going to be [a board] that will wait for orders before casting a vote.”

School board Vice President Sendhil Revuluri said that the mayor, schools chief Janice Jackson, and del Valle would take the lead hashing out how to improve transparency at the board.

While decisions related to contract negotiations, personnel, and other sensitive issues will likely stay behind closed doors, Revuluri said the new board would have to figure a balance between transparency and ensuring that the board can efficiently provide governance and oversight of the district.

“It’s extremely important that we have transparency, that we can evaluate decisions that the district has to make, but that we do that in a way that promotes trust,” he said.

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to support a switch from a school board appointed by the mayor to one chosen by the public. She said Monday that her appointments would serve as an interim step to an elected board, which requires a change to state law. She retains the power to appoint and remove school board members at will until then.

Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey issued a statement Monday that decried recent layoffs and demanded that Lightfoot keep her promise of support for an elected board.

The union president said Lightfoot had a chance to pass a bill in the state legislature that would have created an elected board. “Yet she refused,” his statement said, “instead doing what [Mayor] Rahm Emanuel did for eight years: pushing Senate President Cullerton to derail that legislation while refusing to engage with the very grassroots forces that have been fighting for this most basic democratic right.”

Sharkey also called on Lightfoot’s newly appointed board to quickly tackle critical needs at Chicago schools, including more resources for bilingual education, more nurses, social workers and clinicians in every school, supports for students affected by trauma and poverty, and relief for overcrowded schools.

Lightfoot, who has called the legislation Sharkey references “unwieldy” for its large number of voting districts and board members, said she’s hearing from various stakeholders about ideas for structuring a new elected school board. She said she intends that process to yield a legislative proposal that “gives a real pathway for those parents who are on the [Local School Council], those parents of CPS students, to really have their seat at the table.” But in the interim, she said, “the [board’s] work needs to continue.”

Lightfoot said she wants the board to apply a lens of equity and inclusion as it governs schools, with a focus on improving the quality of classroom experience for students across the city and ensuring that neighborhood schools get enough resources to create better opportunities for young people.

When asked about his priorities on the board, Del Valle said one of his biggest concerns is “taking steps to strengthen neighborhood schools while continuing to support the work of our selective enrollment schools, and existing charter schools.” He said more state funding would go a long way toward that goal, and acknowledged that Chicago’s per-pupil approach to funding district schools creates a resource challenge for schools losing enrollment.

He also said he’d like for the city to expand early childhood education programs, improve special education, and lower the chronic truancy rate by better engaging parents and providing students with more wraparound services to address issues outside school that might pose barriers to good attendance.

As schools chief Janice Jackson said in her remarks Monday, the new board has a lot of work to do.

“Chicago Public Schools is a district on the rise, it’s no secret that CPS stands out as a positive model throughout the country, but we will not be satisfied until every single child at Chicago Public Schools has an equal opportunity and an equal shot,” she said. “And we’re not there yet.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot appoints parents, former grads, educators for new Chicago school board

2019-06-03T14:33:22+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new seven-person school board on Monday that, as she forecasted during the first week of office, includes people with deep experience in Chicago schools, from former graduates to a principal to parent and community advocates.

Lightfoot campaigned on a promise to support a switch from a school board appointed by the mayor to one selected 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. Until then, she retains complete power to appoint and remove school board members at will.

She also announced the appointment of a deputy mayor for education and human services, Sybil Madison. Madison was one of four co-chairs overseeing Lightfoot’s education transition team, which compiled a report with recommendations for improving the city’s schools.

The city’s new mayor said on her second day in office that she planned to retain the homegrown schools chief, CEO Janice Jackson.

Here’s a full list of Lightfoot’s appointments:

Miguel del Valle, who will be the board’s president, is the first Latinx Illinois senator, a one-time mayoral candidate, and a respected leader in the city’s Latinx community. As a trailblazing Latinx elected official who helped found several Latinx advocacy groups, del Valle has the relationships and voice to advocate for Lightfoot’s education policies in Latinx communities — and to represent their concerns to her. Read more about del Valle in our recent primer.

Sendhil Revuluri, the board vice president, is a Chicago native, University of Chicago alum, and Chicago Public Schools parent. He started his career as a math educator in the Bronx, working in administration at CPS and suburban Cook County before entering the world of private finance. As managing director of strategic investment at PEAK6 Capital Management, a Chicago options trading firm with an investment arm, he’s tapped into both Chicago’s finance backbone and its growing community of tech entrepreneurs.

Dwayne Truss is a state tax auditor who has long been active in education and community groups on the city’s West Side, serving on several Local School Councils and a neighborhood parent advisory committee. During his recent unsuccessful bid for 29th Ward alderman, Truss criticized charter schools and said he supports having an elected school board. He’s also a former board member of Raise Your Hand, a parent group that has lobbied the city school board on issues such as special education and the lack of school nurses.

Elizabeth Todd-Breland is a history professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a Chicago Public Schools parent and a member of the Local School Council of a neighborhood school in Kenwood. Her recent book looks at the racial politics of education policy change in Chicago, in particular the role of student boycotts and teachers strikes. She is often quoted as an expert on teacher diversity, community control of schools, and school segregation.

Lucino Sotelo is a Chicago Public Schools graduate whose first experience with public education was as a new immigrant from Mexico attending middle school. He’s now a parent of two CPS students and has served in several high-level marketing positions, including with BMO Harris Bank and most recently KemperSports, a golf course management company in Northbrook. Sotelo has sat on the Chicago Plan Commission and on the board of City Year Chicago, which brings young teachers into local schools.

Luisiana Melendez will bring early childhood education expertise to the school board amid a bumpy expansion of universal pre-K put into motion by Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel. She’s a professor at the Erikson Institute, an influential early childhood teacher training center that recently released the state’s most comprehensive report to date identifying gaps in early education, and a director of the institute’s Bilingual/ESL certificate program. A native of the Dominican Republic, Melendez worked as an early ed teacher for two decades in her home country and in the United States before entering higher education.
Amy Rome, a former teacher and principal, is currently president of the Leading Educators’ teacher development program. She’s the former principal of the National Teachers Academy, a popular elementary school that narrowly avoided closure, and she’s the former director for principals at the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL), a politically connected turnaround operator that oversees 31 schools.

Lightfoot said the new board would be put in place before the June 26 monthly meeting.

Lightfoot said that the school board would conduct more of its business in public session compared to the last board, which she had criticized during her campaign for deliberating too much behind closed doors in executive session.

Four things to know about Miguel del Valle, the man who could lead Lori Lightfoot’s school board

2019-05-29T18:45:00+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot intends to name former city clerk Miguel del Valle to preside over the city’s new school board, the Sun-Times reported Tuesday.

Team Lightfoot’s response, to the Sun-Times and to Chalkbeat: “We can’t confirm. ”

At a civic event Tuesday, the city’s new mayor said the school district was in the process of vetting her school board selections. Their names would be made public soon, Lightfoot said, but offered no specifics or timeline.

Del Valle — the first Latinx Illinois senator, a one-time mayoral candidate, and a respected leader in the city’s Latinx community — directed Chalkbeat to the mayor’s office when we reached him through a spokesperson Wednesday.

He declined to confirm his appointment when he spoke to the Sun-Times. But he told the newspaper he is prepared for a short-term appointment, while Lightfoot works to fulfill her campaign pledge to shift the board from one appointed by the mayor to one elected by Chicago residents.

“I would feel just fine because I’m a proponent of an elected school board,” he told the newspaper. “It could be two years. It could be three years. It could be four years. But we’re going to get an elected school board. It’s going to happen.”

Del Valle is in some ways uniquely positioned to help Lightfoot make that change. Here are four things about del Valle that could help him — and Lightfoot — if he leads the school board.

He knows how the state legislature works.

Del Valle’s nearly two decades as a state senator would make him a useful ally as Lightfoot learns to navigate Springfield’s complex relationships and rules of operation. She has never held elected office in Chicago, much less in Illinois, and will need lawmakers’ help to accomplish much of what she is setting out to do, from landing additional funding, including relief from the city’s mounting teachers’ pension bills, to fulfilling her school board pledge. (She has called a proposal currently before the legislature a “recipe for disaster and chaos” because it would grow the school board from seven members to 21.).

“Lightfoot doesn’t have any experience down there, and she recognizes the importance of Springfield,” said Christopher Mooney, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago who studies Illinois state politics. “She knows she has to deal with Springfield, not only for money, but also for changes that might be needed in procedures and processes.”

While much of the legislature has turned over since del Valle served, the leadership on both party sides has mostly remained intact, Mooney noted. The most powerful figure downstate, the Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan, is the longest-serving state House speaker in U.S. history, holding that position for almost all of del Valle’s time in the legislature.

Del Valle is a respected leader in the city’s Latinx community.

Nearly a third of Chicago’s population is Latinx, but Latinx students now make up nearly half of all public school students. After it became clear that the city’s new mayor would be a black woman, the City Council’s influential Latino Caucus focused on lobbying for Latinx hiring in the winner’s administration. A Latinx school board president would be a powerful early appointment for Lightfoot to make, especially given that she has decided to keep on Janice Jackson, also a black woman, as schools chief. As a trailblazing Latinx elected official who helped found several Latinx advocacy groups, del Valle has the relationships and voice to advocate for Lightfoot’s education policies in Latinx communities — and to represent their concerns to her.<

As Lightfoot promised, Del Valle “won’t need much introduction” to people in Chicago.

In fact, tens of thousands of Chicagoans have already voted for him, in multiple elections where he was a candidate. Del Valle represented Chicagoans in elected office starting in the late 1980s as the first Latinx state senator. He was appointed city clerk in 2006, but the following year he handily beat his opponents in an election, winning more than 244,000 votes. In the 2011 municipal primary for Chicago mayor, he received more than 54,000 votes to come in third place.

He has a range of experiences with the city’s schools and its students.

Del Valle grew up in the city and met his wife at what was then Tuley High School, he told Chicago Magazine in 2011. His four children attended a mix of public, parochial, and private schools — including the Catholic high school that became DePaul College Prep; Lane Tech, a selective public school; and the private Chicago Latin School. He has also served on the board of a state commission that oversees a college grant program for students living in poverty.

As a lawmaker, del Valle sponsored legislation to boost early childhood education and to provide funding for more high schools to offer advanced courses.In an interview after leaving elected office, del Valle said fears he had expressed during his mayoral campaign about the city’s schools had come true, painting a picture very much like the one Lightfoot has promised to change.

“Back then, I talked about how we were developing a dual system of public education,” del Valle told the Chicago Reporter in 2014. “And that’s exactly what’s happening with the dramatic increase in charter schools and the reduction in resources to neighborhood schools.”

He added: “While this administration says we’re developing more International Baccalaureate programs and magnet schools, the fact of the matter is that some of that is being done to accommodate the newer population. I’m not saying that it shouldn’t happen. What I’m saying is there has to be a balance.”

Lori Lightfoot gave her first City Council address to Chicago high school students. Here’s what she said.

2019-05-24T01:17:06+00:00

On Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stepped up to the Chicago City Council podium for the first time. Her audience wasn’t the city’s aldermen, but rather 50 Chicago Public Schools students representing some of the very schools she pledged during her campaign to revitalize.

The students, who were participating in a mock government day, represented 10 neighborhood high schools that sometimes struggle to attract students drawn by the city’s rigorous selective-enrollment schools. Students spent the day writing and debating ordinances covering such of-the-moment topics as culturally-relevant curriculum and better training for the police who staff their schools.

Midway through the votes, Lightfoot arrived, surprising the students, many of whom quickly whipped out their mobile phones to snap close-ups of the first black woman to lead Chicago.

“You probably conducted more business efficiently than maybe we have in a long time in City Council,” she said, squeezing in a humorous jab at the often contentious elected body. “So we’ll follow your lead, to make sure we’re actually getting things done for the people.”

“In all seriousness,” she continued, “It’s really important for you all to understand how government functions, how it doesn’t, what the complications are, but most importantly — that you learn and that you’re civically engaged. There are a lot of great and interesting things happening all over the city. But the area we want to focus on is that the work we’re doing benefits you — the next generation of leaders in the city.”

Lightfoot said in her inaugural speech Monday that education is one of four pillars she wants to focus on, along with public safety, fiscal stability, and rebuilding trust in government.

One of the students listening to her remarks in the council chambers Thursday was Samuel McClendon, 15, a freshman at South Shore International College Prep.

McClendon dreams of becoming a fashion designer, not a politico, but he said he felt inspired by Lightfoot, appreciated the opportunity to see her in action, and wanted to extend an invitation for her to visit his school on the city’s Far South Side.

Asked what he would he tell her, he had a ready answer: He doesn’t want the a vacant high school campus nearby to be converted into a police and fire training facility, a potential deal that surfaced this spring under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and quickly met controversy.

“It would be really helpful if she could help change that,” McClendon said, “so we could use our old building for after-school programs, for sports. We don’t want it to be used for a police academy. We want it to be used for us.”

During her campaign for mayor, Lightfoot suggested placing police training centers in vacant schools — an idea that was widely panned on social media. It was a low point in an otherwise ebullient campaign.

The mock government event, now in its second year, is part of a broader district and statewide push for stronger civics education. Chicago has rolled out its own civics curriculum, dubbed Participate, and City Clerk Anna Valencia said she is working closely with schools to develop a real-world experience that connects what students are learning in classrooms to what happens in government. Besides the mock City Council day, she visits several high schools and speaks to classes.

“I tell students all the time, it’s great to protest. We need that. But if you can get inside government, you can really change things.”

‘It’s our last meeting’: New mayor Lori Lightfoot moves to disband Chicago’s school board, setting up major shift

2019-05-22T20:35:44+00:00

Chicago’s new mayor, Lori Lightfoot, said Wednesday she is disbanding the city’s seven-member school board, moving quickly to set up what is likely to be a dramatic transformation of how the 361,000-student school district is governed.

Lightfoot, who was sworn in Monday, campaigned on a promise to support a switch from a school board appointed by the mayor to one selected by the public.

Speaking to reporters at City Hall Wednesday afternoon, she said none of the current board members would remain in place. But since the move to an elected body requires legislative approval, Lightfoot said she would appoint an interim board and would announce the names of those selected soon.

During this period, she said, “we want to make sure we are doing what we could to bring diversity into the process.”

As for selecting interim replacement, Lightfoot said, “My first priority is placing an emphasis on people who have children in the system or have themselves been a part of the CPS system, whether as administrators, teachers or principals.”

News that the school board would be disbanded came just prior, at the end of a four-hour and otherwise pro-forma school board meeting, when the board’s president, Frank Clark, announced: “It’s our last meeting. Really truly thank you, it’s been an honor.”

The seven board members, all appointed at some point over the past eight years by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, oversaw and, in many cases, supported some of the most landmark changes in Emanuel’s tenure, including a 20-percentage point climb in graduation rates and the nation’s largest single round of school closings.

Schools chief Janice Jackson thanked Clark for his service, and said working alongside the board had made her a better leader. “I have felt both challenged and supported in this role. You all have served with integrity, and pushed us to be better,” she said.

As Clark made his announcement, district staff filed into the room and, at one point, gave a standing ovation to the outgoing board members.

Board member Mahalia Hines, who was chosen by Emanuel in May 2011, thanked Clark for his work, and thanked the former mayor for appointing her to the role. Hines also had a special message for the parents who use the public comment section at each board of education meeting to press the board for more resources and, sometimes, to make the outright case that their children’s schools should stay open.

“I want to say thank you to all of the parents who come and take their time to be here. You have helped me to grow,” said Hines. She also commended Jackson, who will continue in her role as schools chief under Lightfoot. “You’re not just saying you are putting children first, you live it.”

During her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, spoke often about how her mother served on the elected school board in her Ohio hometown, and said she supported a move to an elected board in Chicago.

In advance of Wednesday’s meeting, vocal members of a parents’ group that supports a state bill that would establish a 21-person elected school board began posting on Twitter that they were disappointed that Lightfoot had not overhauled the existing board during her first few days in office.

Lightfoot was sworn in Monday. In her inauguration speech, she spoke about education as one of four priority pillars for her incoming administration. On Tuesday, she said she officially planned to retain schools chief Janice Jackson.

Meanwhile, a bill that would establish a 21-member elected school board has stalled in the Illinois Senate after passing the House. A coalition of legislators, teachers’ union representatives, and parents groups support the measure. But Lightfoot has described the proposal as a “recipe for chaos and disaster” because of its size and has asked for time to study the issue more.

Heather Cherone of the Daily Line contributed to this report.

Chicagoans welcome Mayor Lori Lightfoot to City Hall — with big questions about schools

2019-05-21T00:47:08+00:00

When hundreds of Chicagoans lined up Monday to shake hands with newly installed Mayor Lori Lightfoot, many of them had Chicago Public Schools on their minds — specifically the district’s infrastructure, the safety of its students, and how well it prepares its graduates for college.

Security guards at City Hall let in 10 visitors at a time for a brief meet-and-greet with Lightfoot, who earlier in the day delivered an inauguration speech, promising to “put equity first in education.”

That’s a course Nicholas Foley, a junior at Lane Tech College Prep, can get behind. He said equity in education should be Lightfoot’s top priority. Schools on the city’s South and West sides need more funding, he said, but noted that he has also seen inequities closer to home, like at Schurz High School, where parents have complained about shoddy facilities.

“They had to fight in the community for years to get a tiny track adjacent to their school building,” he said. “But you go to Lane — we’ve got a boat house, we’ve got a stadium, we’ve got soccer fields — that right there is an example of how our school system is just not equitable enough.”

Foley, who comes from a family of educators, is also concerned with how the city and state meets its pension obligations to teachers.

Karen Clark, a city worker who lives in Beverly and has children at district high schools, is worried about “basic equity and resources, quality teachers and curriculum — and safety,” she said, “In some schools, students don’t feel safe.”

“The kids, I think they need to feel welcome, they need more activities and outlets inside of school that will make them want to stay there,” she said as she waited in line. “Pay more attention to schools that obviously need the help.”

Logan Square resident Oliver Camacho, co-host of the OperaNow! Podcast, said, “I would like to see the importance of arts education re-installed in public schools.” He suggested making after-school arts programming more robust and accessible city-wide.

Meanwhile, Tammy Thurman, a Louis University professor who lives in Morgan Park on the Far Southwest Side, said she is most concerned with how Chicago Public Schools get students ready “for that next step to college.” She said she sees students who are well-prepared and others who struggle. “[Lightfoot] talked a lot in her address about making sure the schools are properly resourced, and I hope that happens, however it’s manifested, so that by the time students get to me that they have had some of the same resources as their peers in better-funded elementary schools and high schools.”

Just ahead of Thurman in line was Toni Karrigan, a business owner who lives in Rogers Park.

She said there’s fertile ground for Lightfoot to ensure that parents and students feel that their voices matter because Chicago Public Schools “hasn’t always been a place where people have felt seen.”

“There are people who are always tapped, who are in the circle,” she said. “But if you were to extend the circle a little further out, there are a lot more people who would come up with some substantive ideas to look at revenue, to look at equity.”

‘We must meet our educational challenges together’: What Lori Lightfoot said about schools on her first day as Chicago’s mayor

2019-05-20T17:25:49+00:00

Speaking Monday before a jubilant crowd at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena just south of the city’s booming downtown, a steely and sometimes emotional Lori Lightfoot stressed that she will work to “put equity first in education” and to support educators, nurses, and other adults working to create a “safe and nurturing environment” so children can learn.

She also pledged to broaden opportunities for the city’s youngest learners as well as vocational options for teens for whom college may not be the right path.

The first black woman to be mayor of Chicago, Lightfoot gave a poignant inaugural speech that evoked the image of the city’s flag and her hope of “building and rebuilding” a city that has been divided by race, economic inequality, and violence.

She spoke about reinterpreting the four stars on the city flag as four pillars that will be the priority of her government: public safety, specifically an anti-violence strategy; education; fiscal stability; and integrity, starting with rebuilding trust between government and residents and ending aldermanic privilege — a section of the speech that drew rousing applause and shouts from the audience.

Below are her full remarks about education.

The second guiding star is education. We cannot attract families to Chicago, and keep families here, without providing a quality public education — for every child — and that means every single child. As a city, we make promises to our children. Most of all, we promise them an education – a safe, relevant, and challenging education that prepares them for meaningful work, civic engagement and lifelong learning. But whether we deliver on that promise often depends on where you happen to live. It’s time to give every child and young person a good education, to prove through our schools that we believe in them, that we support them — no matter who they are or where they live. That every child gets a quality education — that’s our business, no matter what. Someone said to me recently that children are a product of the adult ecosystem around them. And she was 100 percent right. Our words, our values, how we meet our commitments and rise to the occasion — it all matters. We’re shaping the future leaders of our city, and when we put equity first in our education system, when we make good on a promise that every kid matters, it will instill within our children the values we seek to foster in our city as a whole. That promise must begin early—that’s why we will work to expand early childhood education, and extend the promise of a good education through high school and college, and to every kid, no matter their path forward. Every student should have the option to pursue vocational and technical training. We will work with businesses and unions to set up apprenticeships for those who want to learn a trade. We will then connect Chicago’s employers with our job-ready students while they’re in school, so they can get to work the day they graduate. And we will support our great teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses and other support personnel who are essential to creating the safe and nurturing environment necessary for our children to grow, learn and thrive. Let me also say that I’m thrilled to see so many young people in the audience—my next few words are for you and all of your peers across the city: You have the most at stake in the city’s future, just as the city’s future most depends on you. We need your energy, creativity, intelligence, and dedication. There’s hard work ahead of us. But we will do that work, because we believe in you and in the vast, still- untapped potential of this great city. Our goal is simple: starting in our schools, we will create a citywide workforce as the pipeline for the jobs of today and tomorrow that will be the envy of the world. We are each other’s business. And we must meet our educational challenges together.

Her speech on Monday follows on the heels of her transition committee’s report, which was given Friday at Malcolm X on the city’s West Side. Here are the education priorities they recommended, and a copy of the full report.

And here’s what more than 300 Chalkbeat readers told us they hoped Lightfoot would consider about their schools as she takes office.

In her first term as mayor, Lightfoot’s schools agenda to include overhaul of budgets, campus policing

2019-05-17T18:00:39+00:00

In her first term as mayor, Lori Lightfoot will likely overhaul the way the district gives money to schools, moving away from per-pupil allocation that penalizes shrinking schools, with the goal of tackling racial and economic inequity at a school district steeped in “Chicago’s legacy of structural racism and intentional exclusion.”

That characterization of Chicago Public Schools and the recommended funding shift are included in the mayor-elect’s transition report, released Friday.

More than 400 people attended a breakfast meeting Friday at Malcolm X College on the Near West Side where Lightfoot’s transition committees presented recommendations for the mayor-elect’s agenda.

Lightfoot’s education committee summarized suggestions for how Lightfoot should run the nation’s third-largest school district.

The committee’s vision includes distributing resources based on need, where schools serving high-poverty areas, students in special education, English language learners and students enduring trauma would be first in line.

Committee meetings, Lightfoot’s values, and surveys of community members informed the recommendations.

“These Chicagoans express gratitude for the skills and heart of the educators who serve our young people,” said Sylvia Puente, executive director of the Latino Policy Forum, and one of four women of color leading the education transition committee. “But those same Chicagoans said that too many of our young people bare the burden of our city’s legacy of disinvestment, inequality, racism, and exclusion.”

The committee report recommends engaging the community to define adequate funding for high-poverty schools and to develop an equity-based formula. The committee also suggests improving training and support for Local School Councils and other school decision-makers about budgets, and pressing the state for fair and adequate education funding.

Puente said that Lightfoot’s administration must “demand and adequately distribute funding for our young people.”

“CPS receives 64 percent of every dollar we need in our schools,” she said. “The full dollar is needed.”

That statement spurred applause, as did a call to “replace police presence with restorative justice” in schools.

Lightfoot, who said she was particularly involved in the education committee discussions, told Puente afterward, “the priorities you outlined are in line with my vision of things we need to do regarding education.”

She also cited an altercation earlier this year at Marshall High School where police were filmed dragging a girl down a flight of stairs and tasing the student, who police said fought them, while trying to remove her from the building for alleged misbehavior.

“It brought home to me [the question of] whether it made sense for us to have police officers as, effectively, first responders in our schools,” Lightfoot said.

The school district and police department, under a federal police reform agreement, are crafting a policy on the role of police in schools.

Lightfoot said that “some schools are dangerous” and need a security presence, but challenged schools chief Janice Jackson and police chief Eddie Johnson to look at other jurisdictions “to see whether or not we can have other responders who are truly trained to address issues that come up in schools with some different tools other than arrest.”

The education committee report covers a host of issues, listed at the end of this article. Puente went over some of the priorities outlined. She emphasized the need to engage community members.

“Those most harmed by history must help shape the path forward,” she said.

She also stressed that the district needs to “build the teacher pipeline so that our students see themselves in their educators,” adding that “3,000 more black educators, and 5,000 more Latino educators are needed to have equitable representation.”

Chicago Public Schools data shows that the teaching population is much white than the student body, which is only 10 percent white.

The committee also stressed addressing college affordability, removing barriers to postsecondary success, implementing approaches to instruction and discipline that account for students’ trauma, providing universal pre-kindergarten, and expanding an initiative that links schools with community partners to help transform campuses, and provides funds to support their efforts.

In curriculum, the report also suggests expanding options like International Baccalaureate and career-technical programs, and alternative credit programs for students who drop out of high school and college.

Here’s a copy of the report:

Pressure mounts on Lori Lightfoot to support elected school board bill

2019-05-13T22:41:19+00:00

Chicago Mayor-Elect Lori Lightfoot is still a week from inauguration day, but with Illinois’ spring legislative session winding down, lawmakers are already pressing her to support a state bill that would create an elected school board in Chicago.

Lightfoot pledged during her campaign to support an elected school board. But she has described the current proposal, which calls for a school board consisting of 20 board members representing as many districts, plus a president, as a “recipe for disaster and chaos” because of its size.

The measure passed the Illinois House in April but has yet to make its way through the state Senate amid Lightfoot’s reticence, according to the office of State Senate President John Cullerton.

“The mayor-elect did ask the Senate president to hold onto the bill so she can look into the issue more, so that’s the current status of the bill,” Cullerton’s spokesman, John Patterson, said Monday evening.

Earlier in the day, supporters of an elected school board gathered downtown to call on Lightfoot to back the bill. Among those at the rally were parent and community groups, representatives from the Chicago Teachers Union, local lawmakers and newly elected Chicago aldermen who promised to take on a bigger role overseeing the city’s public schools. Those in attendance emphasized that Chicago voters in 2015 overwhelmingly supported an elected school board in a non-binding referendum.

“The people have spoken, and it’s time for us to have the representation we need,” said Jeanette Taylor, alderman-elect in the 20th Ward. “We need everyday folks on the board who come from our communities, who can advocate and who will go back.”

At the rally Taylor and others blasted the proliferation of charter schools and the closing of neighborhood schools under the current seven-person board, whose members were appointed by outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel. She also cited a litany of district scandals in recent years, from risky bond deals and kickback schemes, to allegedly mishandled cases of student sexual abuse and systemic special education neglect.

The current proposal for a 21-person board that would go into effect in 2023 passed the state House in April, but faces an uphill climb in the Senate. The state legislative session ends on May 31.

Some defenders of the status quo, including former Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan, have aired concerns that special interests and dark money could come to dominate school board elections. (Duncan went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of Education under President Obama.) Current schools chief Janice Jackson said at a panel last month that if a single mom from Englewood can win an election, “sign me up.” But, she warned, “you could end up with expensive elections that don’t benefit students” and a board controlled by private interests that creates more bureaucracy.

State Rep. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago), who introduced the bill, said the sheer size of his proposed board would help address them in lieu of campaign finance reform.

“The way to limit the influence of outside money is to make more districts and have them be smaller so that grassroots organizing and involvement in the community is more important than money,” Martwick said.

A 21-person elected school board would dwarf those of other large urban districts. Among the top five school districts, two urban centers — Los Angeles Unified and the Las Vegas-area Clark County, Nevada — each have seven-person elected school boards that represent seven geographical districts. A nine-person elected board oversees Miami-Dade County Public Schools. In New York City, the nation’s largest district, the mayor controls the public schools and appoints the majority of a 13-person board that oversees contracts, school closures, and other policy changes.

Another supporter of the proposal, Alderman-Elect Andre Vasquez of the 40th Ward, spoke in favor of the bill Tuesday. But expressed concerns that an elected school board might exclude immigrants and undocumented residents who can’t vote. The city, he said, should also consider ways to ensure their voices are heard.

“We need the voices of immigrant families and undocumented folk at the table,” he said.

As for the timing, Taylor acknowledged that Lightfoot might need some time to weigh all these issues and others. However, dragging her feet could hold consequences for the mayor-elect, Taylor warned.

“She has four years in her term like everybody else,” Taylor said. “Chicago will make her answer.”

Dedicated teachers, overflowing bathrooms: What Chicagoans want Lori Lightfoot to know about their schools

2019-04-19T11:30:11+00:00

If you could tell Chicago mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot something about your school, what would it be? When we asked, more than 330 educators, parents, and students weighed in.

Many parents praised their teachers, but said they are dissatisfied with special-education services, untended facilities, and unheeded complaints. They also didn’t understand why some schools get money for staff and repairs when others don’t, and wanted a clearer window into budgeting.

Teachers said that their principals can help or hinder their teaching and that campuses needed more counselors, social workers, psychologists and arts educators. Many educators also worried that students reach secondary school with subpar math and reading skills.

Below we’ve posted answers covering a range of topics. The survey did not ask respondents’ full names. Responses were edited and condensed for clarity and brevity.

We heard from educators:

Educators want a voice at their school and freedom to initiate programs.

Our students are faced with many hardships and difficulties but come to school each day engaged and ready to learn. We have a new drama program which highlights students boldness, bravery and risk-taking ability so each student becomes more confident as the year progresses. It is where I look forward to teaching for the rest of my career despite being about an hour from my home.— Southwest Side elementary school teacher

They worry about enrollment declines, especially at neighborhood schools.

(We need) a plan for neighborhood schools to give them some clarity in how they can provide a learning opportunity to students who may not live within their boundary. GoCPS allows parents and students to make choices, but also has taken so much of this choice out of the hands of schools. — Southwest Side high school teacher

Our building is almost empty. The principal and her team are great and are trying to keep things afloat. Most of our teachers care about this place but CPS seems to care little about (our school). We were successful once. — West Side elementary school teacher

They worry that too many children are falling behind in math and reading.

I teach seventh grade and most of my kids are far below grade level. They do not have the basic skills needed to be critical thinkers and contributors. — Teacher on the West Side

I teach 10th grade literature/composition. In my seven years working for CPS (including charters), I have one major takeaway: Almost none of the students I’ve met upon their arrival in my middle and high school classrooms read at grade level. I have noticed that reading skills seem to stall around third grade. — High school teacher on the South Side

Teachers need more help.

Our students deserve a full-time social worker, counselor, and nurse to address community issues our students face that are out of our control right now. — Uptown elementary school teacher

I am a school psychologist who is scheduled at (a neighborhood Chicago high school) twice a week but I used to be there full-time. The need is tremendous especially at high schools. — Near West Side school psychologist

We have one official social worker for 3,300 students; 95 percent of the social worker’s time is spent working with the students who have (special education plans). That leaves 2,700 students with no CPS supports to deal with issues related to mental health, trauma, substance abuse, violence in the home and community, etc. — and the impact they have on academics. — Northwest Side educator

Materials and technology are outdated, and buildings need critical repairs.

During rainfall, our bathrooms overflow and there might be students learning in the lunchroom and halls due to the lack of space. — Southeast Side elementary teacher

Our building is very old and our auditorium is crumbling and in desperate need of renovation. — Far North Side teacher

We are a 21st century school without access to adequate 21st century technology. Additionally, we do not have access to up-to-date textbooks. Teachers must supply their own copy paper. What job requires its employees to purchase their own work supplies? — North Side elementary school teacher

Some said that despite state monitoring, special education services are still thin.

My class currently is 35 percent individualized education program [a plan for special education] and we do not have a special ed teacher. My kids deserve someone who can give them the differentiated support they need. — Far North Side teacher

We are completely out of compliance regarding special education. (Special education plans are not being followed and minutes are not being met. The general ed teachers are trying to balance inclusion with little to no help. — Northwest Side elementary school teacher

Charter teachers worry about anti-charter rhetoric.

I want our new mayor to know that we, as a charter, are not a threat to her or the city. We are a resource. I’m scared of the rhetoric and do not want to get branded the enemy when so many of us are working so hard. — Southwest Side teacher

We heard from parents and students:

They by and large think their teachers are doing a good job.

I love my school! It is a family-oriented school with no fancy signs, bells or whistles but with dedicated teachers and parents working together to build a strong community of lifelong learners. — Parent at a Northwest Side elementary school

My school is an incredible place filled with opportunities and forward thinkers. — Fifth grader at a North Side elementary school

Like teachers, they also worry about facilities.

My daughter classroom is in the library! (The school) is overpopulated and in poor condition. There is also mold. —Parent at a South Side elementary school

We want to be able to attract neighborhood families back to our great school. We are working hard to tell our story — to share the wonderful things happening. Currently our track is almost unusable. Our facility is old. It is disheartening to see schools get monetary investments in their sports facilities and the school with some of the most success in the city is seemingly forgotten. We know a nice face-lift could help! — Parent at a South Side high school

Our school has the very best leadership, dedicated teachers and parents, but not much money and no political clout. We have been waiting decades for a new annex building (30 years). Our school is now facing a $359,000 budget deficit and our outdoor field is a mud pit. How can the school attract new families when there’s such a need for major capital improvements? — Parent at a Northwest Side elementary school

Parents think the district needs to establish a formal complaint process.

CPS needs to develop a comprehensive plan for parental disputes. — Near North Side parent

Many mothers are so sick and tired of nothing getting done and when we advocate — we get harassed and bad things start happening. It seems like everyone just throws complaints under the rug. — Parent at a Southwest Side elementary

Parents want to see more investments in neighborhood schools.

Most upper-middle class white parents in our neighborhood don’t even believe [our neighborhood elementary] is an option. I think choice ruins what could be vibrant community. When wealthier parents choose to dismiss a perfectly viable neighborhood school, they never actually get to know their neighbors, or the real struggles of lower income families. — Far North Side parent

The city’s past focus on “school choice,” selective enrollment, and charter schools has contributed to more than half of students in our attendance boundary opting out of [our school]. We ask you to re-prioritize neighborhood schools like ours, that serve communities with high needs. Take a close look at the data and needs at the school level, not just aggregated data at the network or regional level, which will mask the realities of individual schools. — Parent at a Southwest Side elementary school

Before- and after-school care is spotty.

I would like my children to continue in CPS; however, the lack of before- and after-[school] care means a working parent can’t make it happen.— Parent at a Northwest Side elementary school

This year they closed the morning drop-off program. I didn’t mind paying! — Parent at a North Side elementary school

Parents say their children with special needs and health issues are underserved.

Both my kids have IEPs and, although the school is the best they’ve attended in CPS, they’re still lacking funding, help and resources to accommodate their needs. — Parent at a North Side elementary school

I am a parent of a child that has Type 1 diabetes. We have since the first day of her kindergarten year changed our (work) schedules to accommodate the care of daughter because there has never been anyone to trust her care to in the Chicago public school system system. She is now going into seventh grade and nothing has changed. — Parent at a Northwest Side elementary school

Parents want smaller class sizes, librarians, and more support services.

The library is only open two days after school and run by an aide. It saddens me to know what our students are missing out on. — Parent at a North Side elementary school

Over the last decade, schools lost so much money that we all seemed to think it is normal that schools no longer have adults to support the social and emotional learning needs of our students. Our classroom teachers are expected to be academic teachers, counselors, nurses and more. — Parent at a West Side school

The social worker, psychologist, and nurse are shared among many schools. Recess and lunchroom monitors are paid for by parent fundraising. There are just not enough adults in the building at any given time. — Parent at a South Side school

Parents have concerns about fundraising and lack of monitoring of it.

Our parent fundraising group raises $400K/year to fund extras like teacher aides and new technology. Multiple schools in the area are just as well-resourced. This exacerbates the existing inequities in CPS schools. I would like to see limits placed on parent fundraising and consideration of a policy that requires all schools that raise more than $100K/year to donate a percentage to under-resourced schools in the city. Honestly, I’d like to see parent fundraising groups eliminated altogether — that would be true equity. — Parent at a North Side school

Lori Lightfoot names four women of color to head education transition team

2019-04-10T17:51:26+00:00

Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot named the leaders of her education transition team Wednesday — four women of color who have influenced the conversation around Chicago schools from very different vantage points.

The co-chairs include two non-profit directors with strong community ties: Sylvia Puente of the Latino Policy Forum and Niketa Brar of Chicago United for Equity.

The other two co-chairs have worked closely with the school district and within academia: Aarti Dhupelia, a vice-president and dean at National Louis University and a former school district official; and Sybil Madison, a school improvement coach and researcher who leads a coalition of youth-serving organizations.

Lightfoot — Chicago’s first black woman mayor and the city’s first openly gay mayor — also listed co-chairs for nine of 10 committees that by May 20 will craft a policy report that will serve as the North Star for her first 100 days in office. The committees will examine issues including public safety, transportation, arts and culture, and the environment to help set the new mayor’s agenda when she’s inaugurated next month.

Lightfoot plans to add more people to the education and youth committee to serve under its co-chairs in coming days, but hasn’t settled on how many and doesn’t have an exact date for the announcement yet, according to Lightfoot spokeswoman Nadia Perl. Perl said that Lightfoot’s 15-point education plan would help guide the committee’s work.

Here’s more background on the four co-chairs:

Brar is the executive director of Chicago United for Equity, which promotes equity and inclusion and aided the successful fight to stop the district’s closure of National Teachers Academy, a top-rated, predominately black school on the Near South Side.
Puente is executive director of the Latino Policy Forum and a member of Gov. J.B.Pritzker’s education transition team. She also sits on the Early Learning Council, a public-private state advisory board that is a central voice in early education.
Madison directs the Chicago City of Learning, a coalition of youth-serving organizations focused on connecting students to learning opportunities particularly in the sciences. She’s also a research associate with Northwestern University’s Office of Community Education Partnership, and former director of education and leadership for Chicago Quest Schools, one of the charter operators under the umbrella of Chicago International Charter School.
Dhupelia is the dean of the undergraduate college at National Louis University, which specializes in educating and training teachers. A former Broad Resident, Dhupelia previously held top positions in Chicago Public Schools’ Office of College and Career Success, Office of School Improvement, and Department of Career and Technical Education.

In addition to naming leaders of specific committees, like the education task force, Lightfoot also announced co-chairs who would help lead the broader transition effort. In a statement, Lightfoot characterized them as a diverse mix of seasoned professionals and “new voices bringing fresh perspectives” to the city’s most important issues.

They include businessman and former mayoral candidate Willie Wilson; Robert G. Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor; and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, a billionaire businesswoman and civic leader whose brother was sworn in as Illinois governor earlier this year.

Among the many academics on the advisory team are DePaul University’s Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Bethke, as the head of a task force focused on getting the city’s fiscal house in order.

Lightfoot also announced Wednesday that she would establish an advisory committee of youth from various organizations, to press her other committees to consider how policies could affect or be shaped by young people. She did not name youth committee members.

The mayor-elect launched a transition website where she invited Chicagoans to submit resumes to join her administration and ideas about what she should tackle as mayor.

Teachers union warns that bargaining will stall until Lori Lightfoot resolves leadership question

2019-04-04T23:40:41+00:00

The Chicago Teachers Union, eager to push ahead with bargaining now that Lori Lightfoot will be Chicago’s next mayor, already has hinted at a strike early next school year — but negotiations can’t gain momentum until Lightfoot decides whether she’ll keep Janice Jackson or name a new schools chief.

Lightfoot, who trounced union-backed candidate Toni Preckwinkle 3-to-1 in a runoff election Tuesday, faces a plethora of choices over the next four weeks before she’s sworn in, from building her transition team to deciding who she wants leading city departments and agencies, including Chicago Public Schools, which serves 361,000 students.

Lightfoot has remained non-committal about Jackson, but the June 30 expiration of the teachers’ contract puts additional pressure on the mayor-elect to make a decision about who Lightfoot wants leading schools.

“You don’t want to wait too long [on a decision], because the school year is almost over, and you want to have something in place well before September,” said Andrea Kayne, a professor of educational leadership with DePaul University College of Education. “Lightfoot will need to educate herself — but act quickly — because if she does replace Janice, then she has to pick a new person, and they have to get their team in place.”

The union delivered 75 contract demands to the city in January after a rally outside the office of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The list included increasing pay and benefits, decreasing class sizes, and adding more black and brown teachers, more social workers and librarians, and affordable housing for families and employees.

The union is seeking a 5 percent raise — but school-by-school budgets released last week factored in half that for next school year.

That will be a sticking point, union President Jesse Sharkey said.

School district spokesman Michael Passman wouldn’t comment on the district’s bargaining agenda or response so far to union demands. Instead, he emailed Chalkbeat a statement stressing that Jackson and her No. 2, LaTanya McDade, “are two lifelong Chicago educators who understand the supports our teachers need to be successful.”

“The district is committed to working toward a contract that rewards educators for their service, supports the best interests of families, and enables CPS to build on its record-setting academic progress,” the statement said.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson.

The union would like to set the table for more formal talks in May, negotiate through the summer and pledges to strike in the early fall if necessary.

There are reasons Lightfoot would want to stick to a fast timeline. Bargaining can be an expensive process if it’s drawn out. In 2015-16, the city paid nearly $1 million to the Franczek P.C. law firm to help handle contract negotiations that nearly devolved into a strike.

Union leadership might also want to make some progress at the bargaining table sooner to better position itself to its own membership.

The union faces its own deadline of sorts: Its leadership elections are happening the same week as the inauguration. Members First, a caucus of challengers running to replace the current union leadership, has complained about the time and resources the union spends on what critics view as non-school issues and political causes, and is vying to focus the union solely on protecting members and bargaining for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Sharkey brushed off questions about the challenge. But he insisted that the union would present a unified front and push for a better contract regardless of the outcome of its elections.

Negotiations with the city aren’t the union’s only focus. It is also pushing a state bill to strengthen bargaining rights over issues like class size and staffing, and is negotiating with 13 charter and contract schools, several of whose labor units have threatened strikes as well. The union has led strikes against schools in two charter networks this school year, including the first charter strike in the nation’s history.

“She’s our boss”

When she was a candidate, Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot unveiled her 15-point education plan in January at the Union League Club of Chicago.

Despite the strike threat, the union already has softened its message toward Lightfoot. It has issued a statement striking a more conciliatory tone, after criticizing her as a corporate lawyer backed by wealthy interests, now saying that Chicagoans voted for her “out of a desire for bold and progressive ideas.”

Still, the union has pledged to fight aggressively for a contract and costly improvements at the district.

“She’s our boss, and we’re a labor union — it’s that simple,” union President Jesse Sharkey told Chalkbeat this week.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey speaks to reporters outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters on Feb. 27.

Martin Malin, who mediated the last round of negotiations during 2015-16, expects contract talks to pick up steam in the summer.

At this stage, he said there might be “little issues” that the union’s and district’s negotiating teams can discuss “that will be there regardless of whatever policy direction the new mayor goes in,” but that it’s unlikely the two sides would begin wrestling with what he called “strike issues.”

“The parties are really not in a position to think about meaningful negotiations until the new mayor takes office, until she gets her leadership team in place, until policy decisions are made by the new mayor and her leadership team,” said Malin, a law professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law and director of the Institute for Law and the Workplace. “There’s no reason for them to be talking about anything of ultimate significance right now.”

Experts, like the union, seem hopeful that contract talks won’t descend into the vitriol that characterized the 2012 teacher strike, widely seen as a misstep by Emanuel in his first term. The mayor lobbied successfully in Springfield ahead of negotiations for a law that made it harder for teachers to authorize a strike, and had tough words for the union in the media and behind closed doors during the conflict. But the union ultimately won key concessions — and enjoyed overwhelming public support.

Observers say Lightfoot could learn from the difference between how Emanuel handled the two sets of negotiations.

“If you contrast the public approach of the mayor in 2012, and his approach in the 2016 negotiations, you’ll see he was a lot calmer,” Malin said.

Kayne said a more cordial tone in negotiations is in the best interest of Chicago students, that “it’s not about giving in to the union.”

“It’s about having a good, working, constructive relationship,” she said.

The union is also backing legislation that could change in its relationship with the mayor’s office.

The Illinois House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill to take away the mayor’s power to choose Chicago school board members and instead establish an elected school board, a change supported by Lightfoot during her campaign. The bill still has to pass the Illinois Senate and be signed into law by the governor.

Letters to Lori Lightfoot: Tell Chicago’s mayor-elect about your school

2019-04-03T20:13:32+00:00

Lori Lightfoot spoke frequently about schools on the campaign trail, pledging a wave of top-down changes that would start with upending the process of school board selection. But for many Chicago educators, families, and students, governance is not the only issue with potential for revisiting and rethinking. Chalkbeat wants to know: What would you tell the next mayor of Chicago about education in the city? Tell us in a quick survey below. Looking beyond districtwide opportunities and issues, what should the city’s next mayor know about your school? Is there something exciting happening there that should be spread to more schools in the district? Is there a pressing problem that’s not getting the attention it deserves? Or, is there a student you want her to keep in mind when she’s making broader decisions about schools? We’ll publish a selection of your answers next week.

Lori Lightfoot is Chicago’s next mayor — which means big changes are coming to schools

2019-04-03T01:01:23+00:00

Changes are sure to come to Chicago’s schools with the Tuesday night election of Lori Lightfoot, 56, the former federal prosecutor who achieved the improbable: going from a relative unknown to a landslide victory in the race to be Chicago’s next mayor.

With Lightfoot’s three-to-one victory over Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, she becomes the first black woman to take the fifth-floor office in City Hall and Chicago’s first openly gay mayor.

Lightfoot, who was previously appointed to lead several city police oversight agencies but has never held elected office, pledged throughout her campaign to bolster the city’s struggling neighborhoods, starting with strengthening public schools. She inherits governance of a school district that a decade ago topped 400,000 students but has since dropped nearly 12 percent to 361,000.

One of the first to declare her intention to run for mayor, Lightfoot out-campaigned the largest field of candidates in recent history — a group that once numbered 21 and included the brother of a former mayor, a former state school board president, and the state’s comptroller.

One of the few candidates to show up to nearly every forum, no matter the topic, Lightfoot said early and often on the campaign trail that she’d pave a path for a school board selected by voters, prioritize neighborhood school investments over expansion of competitive programs that require tests to get in, and freeze charter expansion — dramatic reversals from her predecessor Rahm Emanuel, under whose watch a parade of CEOs opened new charter schools and additional gifted and classical options.

“As a former public school kid myself, I remember how our school served as a community anchor and a source of pride,” the Ohio native said when unveiling her 15-point education plan in January. “When I look at the state of the public school system in Chicago, I don’t see nearly enough of these community anchors — these sources of pride in every neighborhood.”

“I see kids waiting at bus stops early every morning, setting off for a long journey in hopes of a decent education — somewhere else,” the latter phrase a reference to the 53 percent of district children who attend a school outside their designated zone.

Lightfoot, who has said she’d invest more in vocational education and find new uses for underutilized schools, admitted she was undecided about whether to retain schools chief Janice Jackson, a former teacher, principal, and administrator appointed to the top job by Emanuel.

“If I am fortunate enough to become the next mayor,” Lightfoot told Chalkbeat last month, “I will sit down with her and her team and in particular discuss some issues about which I have concerns. For now, we will continue to make the case to voters about the need for change.”

One issue Lightfoot said she’d prioritize would be the “start of a healing process” between parents and community leaders and the administration of Chicago Public Schools, which closed nearly 50 schools in 2013 and is blamed for further eroding neighborhoods that lacked public and private investment.

“I think we’ve got to respond to the anger and frustration of parents and teachers who feel like they’ve been shut out of critical decisions about how their children are going to be educated, what schools are going to be open, what resources are going to be put in those schools,” she said in a recent interview.

Lightfoot also spurred a backlash on social media when she suggested that one way to reuse closed and empty schools would be to open mini-police academies within them. She said so on the same day the City Council voted in favor of a $95 million police academy — a controversial decision that spurred protests in and around City Hall.

Here are eight big ideas and changes to expect under mayor-elect Lightfoot.

Overhaul the school board and pave a path for elections in her first term.

Lightfoot thinks it’s possible to overhaul the way the city’s seven-person school board is selected in her first term, but that the “devil is in the details” regarding the timing, the number of seats, and the process.

“We have to think about — what’s the right number [of seats], how will board members be elected, what kind of criteria and experience should they have?” she told WBEZ. “How are we going to fund elections? What I don’t want to do is have elections for school board be as expensive as elections for other office. I don’t want to exchange one broken system for another, so that if you’re clouted and have access to resources you have a seat at the table.”

One idea she has floated is a requirement that candidates for school board have experience serving on a Local School Council, those governing bodies unique to each district-run school.

Call for more transparency from that board.

Lightfoot has expressed concern with the length of time the school board spends in closed sessions. “Right now the board does all of its substantive work in executive session, behind closed doors,” Lightfoot said in January. “I think that’s a terrible mistake. I think it undermines confidence in the board’s decisions.”

Revisit a moratorium on school closings.

After closing nearly 50 schools, the district agreed to a five-year moratorium, which recently expired. It since has decided to closed four more high schools.

Lightfoot has acknowledged that dwindling enrollment is a serious challenge, but told Chalkbeat that “our first reaction should not be to close schools.” She said the school system needs to be more creative and more transparent. She has suggested finding additional uses for underutilized schools, such as early education centers, and said she’d halt school closings in the interim. She has not specified a length of time.

Introduce a racial equity council.

Lightfoot has spoken frequently about the gaps in achievement between black and brown students and their white counterparts and stressed the need to draft and enforce an equity policy that would “act as a north star for CPS staff and students alike.” She also said the district should weigh in on budgeting and how decisions impact students of different races before distributing new programs, such as International Baccalaureate or arts programming.

Lightfoot pointed toward the district’s response to the sexual abuse scandal as one instance when such a policy would have come in handy.

“No one has stepped back and said, what’s the impact on students of color?” she said.

The school district established an office of equity last year, but has yet to unveil any policies, initiatives, or an equity framework as detailed as Lightfoot’s.

Expand early learning.

Lightfoot, who said she encountered waitlists and other barriers when she tried to enroll her daughter in preschool several years ago, has said she’d continue on Emanuel’s path toward universal pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds. But she’d go a step further and identify “early education zones” of city-funded programs for infants and toddlers, ranging from in-home visitation to schools.

Tax ride-share drivers to fund free transit for students.

To provide free public transportation to needy students, Lightfoot proposed restoring a state subsidy for the transit authority and levying fees on ride-share drivers who don’t live in Chicago but operate within city limits.

Those out-of-city drivers put tens of thousands of vehicles on city streets, she said. “It’s adding to the wear and tear on our infrastructure. It’s adding to pollution concerns.”

Rethink the district’s “college or bust” culture and expand vocational education.

At a forum organized by several women’s organizations in February, Lightfoot was among those who pledged to rethink the district’s doubling-down on college-prep and selective enrollment programs. “The focus is so much on ‘college or bust’ and selective enrollment that we’ve gotten away from the core mission of making sure we have good quality schools everywhere,” said the former corporate lawyer, who pledged to bring more career-and-technical education programs to schools and set targets for female and minority participation.

Better support special education reforms in Chicago schools.

Lightfoot has said she would involve parents and advocates in revising the manual of guidelines for Chicago’s troubled special education program. She said in her education plan that she would lay out a path for parents with concerns about their children’s services to flag the district’s attention. She also said she would prod the state to appoint qualified monitors, as it had promised, to oversee the school district’s services.

Last year, the state established an independent monitor to oversee reform of the district’s special education program after a state probe found that Chicago was systematically delaying and denying educational services — guaranteed by federal law — to students with disabilities.

With Toni Preckwinkle trailing in polls, Chicago Teachers Union looks to critical battles ahead

2019-03-30T00:18:50+00:00

When Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Mayor Rahm Emanuel entered a contentious runoff for Chicago mayor in 2015, the powerful Chicago Teachers Union invested more than $420,000 in Garcia.

In this year’s mayoral runoff, it has ponied up little more than a quarter of that to back County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, a former teacher who was considered a front-runner early on but has trailed in the polls.

But no one at the union’s modern Near West Side headquarters seems that worried that their candidate might lose to former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot.

“I feel like we have already won,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the group’s vice-president, who counts as a victory the propulsion of two black women who support one of her group’s most cherished causes — an elected school board — to the runoff.

“Our movement continues to transform the electorate in Chicago.”

The teachers union hasn’t sat out the mayor’s race completely. Beyond funding her opponent, the union has derided Lightfoot via email and social media as a corporate lawyer and pseudo-progressive appointed by Chicago mayors, and backed by some of the same corporate funders as Emanuel, the union’s longtime adversary.

But with the serious possibility that their candidate loses, the union is also focusing its energy on battlefronts beyond City Hall— fights that could be critical for its survival and success. It has pushed bills in the state Capitol that would bolster its power at the bargaining table over non-salary issues like class size and staffing, threatened strikes on behalf of its newest recruits — educators at 13 charter and contract schools — and bargained with Janice Jackson’s administration for some 24,000 teachers at district-run schools. On that front, it’s been warning members to start saving money for a potential strike, too.

While the union’s approach might seem too scattered, public-sector union expert Julia Koppich said that “they may just be pursuing the same goals on multiple fronts,” particularly in light of last year’s Supreme Court decision outlawing mandatory union fees for non-union members. The ruling, commonly known as Janus for its plaintiff, has been viewed as a blow to union power.

“They don’t have the luxury of saying we’re simply going to try to negotiate a contract with the school district and that’s the end of what we do,” said Koppich, a San Francisco-based consultant. “Unions are faced with having to give members a reason to pay dues, a reason to belong, and there are so many different members who have so many different issues and interests.”

The union’s leadership also faces an internal challenge. Members First, a caucus running to replace the current leadership in May union elections, said it’s fed up with the time and resources the union spends on what it views as non-school issues and political causes, and is vying to focus the union solely on protecting members and bargaining for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

Davis Gates disagrees with the idea that the union is spreading itself too thin.

“We believe in interdisciplinary work,” she said, “like all good teachers do.”

Chicago mayoral candidates Lori Lightfoot, left, and Toni Preckwinkle engaged in their first runoff debate March 7, 2019.

The union’s case for Preckwinkle

The union endorsed Preckwinkle in December, considering her its surest shot at a progressive mayor willing to back an elected school board among a crowded field with well-known candidates like Bill Daley and Susana Mendoza more at odds with the union’s positions. The union also touted Preckwinkle’s record as Cook County president overseeing health insurance expansion and reducing the county jail population.

But even before the runoff, the union’s candidate met obstacles in her past association with longtime machine politicians like former Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios — who was accused of nepotism and corruption for years, and of erroneous property tax assessments that unfairly burdened homeowners — and Ald. Ed Burke. Burke, under federal investigation, faces one count of attempted extortion.

In the runoff, Lightfoot gathered endorsements, including from former school board president Gery Chico and one-time schools chief Paul Vallas, two figures the union viewed as problematic.

Erica Meiners, a professor of education and gender studies at Northeastern Illinois University, sees union support of Preckwinkle early in the race as a harm reduction strategy.

“I often think about legislative and electoral politics as a form of harm reduction. How can we make decisions — or pick candidates — that will do the least amount of harm?” she said. “It’s not where we always make the ideological gains we want, or win hearts and minds.”

“We are going to continue to to fight.”

After the Janus ruling, labor experts predicted the teachers union would need to redouble recruitment and make the case to members for paying union dues.

To bolster membership, Chicago’s union has beefed up action at charter schools. It has orchestrated two strikes that won key concessions from Acero Schools Chicago and four schools under the Chicago International Charter Schools umbrella. It is currently bargaining with seven operators of 13 other charter and contract schools and threatened to strike against several, including ChiArts and Instituto.

Teachers and supporters march in front of Chicago International Charter Schools’ corporate offices on the fifth day of the strike.

Now it’s heading into negotiations with Chicago Public Schools on behalf of its 24,000 district members.

Gates said the union plans to hold the next mayor accountable, and to take a hard line on contract negotiations with the city. In an email earlier this month, union President Jesse Sharkey advised members to save 10 percent of their checks in the case of a strike early next school year.

A cordial relationship would benefit both parties and students as well, said Robert Bruno, director of the labor education program at the University of Illinois.

“The teachers can’t do this without somebody in the mayor’s office who is fully supportive and is helping put funds in the right direction,” he said. “And the mayor can’t be successful without school improvement, [and] if the people who work in that school district are not feeling genuinely respected and provided resources they need.”

While the union hasn’t come out with as much vitriol for Lightfoot as for Mayor Emanuel, there’s a big possibility that the candidate they’ve painted as the closest thing to him could be the one they encounter at the negotiating table. Davis Gates brushed off concerns about potentially souring the union’s relationship with Lightfoot.

“Our militancy,” Davis Gates said, “is not dictated by who sits on the fifth floor of City Hall.” So far, Lightfoot hasn’t fired back at the union, and like Preckwinkle, won’t divulge her bargaining strategy before negotiations begin.

Perhaps staying mum is a wise strategy, said Kyle Westbrook, who formerly advised Emanuel on education. With tough talk, the mayor “created a lot of bad blood, it didn’t create the right environment for real negotiations,” he said.

The union’s pattern of “conflating issues,” such as tying school closings and other policies to gentrification and disinvestment, also didn’t help, Westbrook said.

The union insists grappling with the forces of economic and racial inequity that Davis Gates said are pushing out many black families and heightening an enrollment crisis are part of its mission.

“All over this country, teachers have been very clear about asking for resources for their classroom, to be able to afford to live in the spaces where they reside,” Davis Gates said. “Chicago has helped to lead the way in that fight — and I don’t see how that changes.”

CTU elections are scheduled May 17, the same week the new mayor will be sworn in.

Use the tool below to compare Preckwinkle and Lightfoot’s answers to our January voters guide questionnaire.

Here’s why Toni Preckwinkle thinks she’s the best mayor for Chicago schools

2019-03-27T22:45:45+00:00

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle hopes that teachers show up in force for her on Election Day Tuesday.

“First of all, I’m a member of the tribe,” said Preckwinkle, referencing her years as a teacher, which were largely spent in parochial schools. “I’ve spent my public life trying to transform neighborhoods and institutions, and I think that’s something teachers can appreciate.”

Yet the Chicago Teachers Union’s pick for mayor faces a major challenge in surprise frontrunner Lightfoot, who polls show leading Preckwinkle by double digits. In a phone interview with Chalkbeat Wednesday, less than a week to go before the April 2 runoff, Preckwinkle again made the case for why she’s the best choice for school-minded voters. (Chalkbeat has made multiple requests to speak with Lightfoot during the runoff campaign, but she has issued only emailed statements. Here’s what she told us in the weeks leading up to the February election.)

Preckwinkle mostly stuck to her talking points around investing in neighborhood schools, pressing for an elected school board and enacting a moratorium on school closings. But the former teacher also emphasized her stance on policing and the need for more oversight over charter and contract schools that serve the district’s most at-risk students.

Below is a transcript of the conversation with Chalkbeat’s Cassie Walker Burke and Adeshina Emmanuel, edited for brevity and clarity.

In its next contract, the Chicago Teachers Union is proposing a 5 percent salary increase. Yet CPS school budgets that came out this week account for half of that for next school year. Would you hold firm on a 2.5 percent raise, or be open to negotiating for more?

I’m not going to talk about my negotiating strategy with any of our labor unions to the press before we sit down at the negotiating table. I don’t think that makes sense.

What would you say to people who have concerns that you’re the union-backed candidate, and that the city still needs firmer financial footing — how can we trust you to negotiate on behalf of taxpayers and not on behalf of the union that supported you?

I was elected in 2010 with support from the labor union movement, and the first thing I had to do was lay off 1,500 people, many of them union members. That’s what we did because that’s what we had to do to balance the budget. I’ve been willing to make the hard decisions that need to be made, and I will continue to do that. The first consideration has to be what’s in the best interest of the taxpayers.

You have said you support an elected school board and would push for a bill to change how the Chicago school board is selected in Springfield. What campaign finance policies will you recommend for use in school board elections?

The same ones that apply to every other elected office.

Can you be specific?

There are campaign contribution limits, and other restrictions for those who run for city office, and those should apply as well to those who run for the school board.

But some people fear school board elections resembling what our political process looks like now in some ways, in terms of there being people who can pay for themselves to run for office, or get a member of their family to, or who align with certain special interests, or with unions. How would you want this board election process to be structured in light of that criticism so that it truly represents the community? Is there anything specific?

Those are broader challenges in our democracy. But I think democracy is better than the alternative, which is that the Board of Education is a creature of the mayor. I think it’s better to have an elected school board.

If academic gains started to taper off, if we started to see test scores or graduation rates decline, would you take that responsibility?

Here’s the thing: I think we’ve made progress, we’ve had some real challenges, not the least of which has been [leadership turnover.] (Editor’s note: Chicago has seen five CEOs since 2010, not counting two interim school chiefs.) We haven’t had the stability of leadership in in our public school system, and I think that’s been a real challenge. And that’s with mayoral appointments, which can’t be laid at the feet of an electoral process. I think there are always going to be challenges, but I think more democracy is better than less.

Would you still want to pick the school CEO rather than leave that to the elected board?

Normally a school board is responsible for picking leadership.

You would advocate that the school board take that responsibility?

Yes.

The crowded Chicago mayoral election ended in a runoff. But one thing is certain: The nation’s third-largest city will make history by electing its first black female mayor. The landmark election comes as city’s black population is shrinking rapidly and neither of the top candidates — Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle — won the black vote. The election result raises many questions about how Chicago is changing, showing a disdain for long-ruling Machine politics and a strong desire for policing reform.

We took a poll of readers a few weeks ago, and many of them who identified as educators said they were largely undecided in this race. Why would a teacher or educator in the system vote for you?

I’m a teacher by profession, and I’ve spent my life in public service, as teachers do. Working for not-for-profit organizations, working in government, serving as alderman of the fourth ward and then Cook County Board president. I’ve spent my public life trying to transform neighborhoods and institutions, and I think that’s something teachers can appreciate, as well as the work I’ve done as county board president to increase access and improve the quality of health care delivered to our residents and increase the fairness in our criminal justice system by reducing the reliance on cash bonds, which basically penalize people for being poor.

One common question we heard in our survey: Why would you keep on Janice Jackson as CEO given some of the lapses in the way the district handled special education when she was the No. 2 at the district and ongoing complaints about how the district has handled sexual assault cases?

I proposed a very aggressive reform agenda: an elected school board, moratorium on school closings and on new charters, and I intend to work with Jackson on that agenda, and hopefully that’s an agenda she’s committed to and we can move forward.

CPS school-by-school budgets released this week channel $31 million in new equity payments to 200 schools with declining enrollment. Is it a wise use of taxpayer dollars to spend, for example, nearly $2 million to prop up Hirsch High School, which has 80 students in a building built for more than 1,000?

Well, here’s the challenge: Five years ago, CPS closed 50 schools in one year, and they were almost all in the African-American community. That’s a very public withdrawal of resources from neighborhoods. WBEZ reported that 38 of those schools are still vacant, and this is five years later. So to the young people who live in those communities, walk by those schools every day on their way to their new schools, and the adults who drive by, it continues to be kind of an open wound in most neighborhoods.

Furthermore, the University of Chicago did research on the young people whose schools were closed and who were moved to adjacent neighborhood schools, and they found that those schools were just as under-resourced as the schools they left, and that frankly, what happened was the achievement gap between black and majority students got magnified. I’ve said we need a moratorium right now on school closings as we look closely at these issues. We need to invest more in schools in neighborhoods where there is great need, and we shouldn’t rely on simply a per-pupil formula allocation.

Francis Parkman Elementary School in the Fuller Park neighborhood is one casualty of the 2013 school closings in Chicago. It’s still vacant and boarded up.

Chicago put a moratorium on closings for five years, but didn’t solve any root problems that led to closings, such as enrollment declines. What would happen during your moratorium?

I think we would have to do a case-by-case, school-by-school analysis of what resources are needed to make the school successful, and to attract more students. The fact that young people in the schools that were closed went to adjacent schools where they were just as under-resourced as the schools they left, and that achievement gaps were magnified, should give us pause about school closures.

The next mayor will have to reform Chicago’s police department under a federal consent decree that will also have a big impact on police who work in schools, including their training and their job descriptions. What is one rule that you would want included in the agreement between CPS and CPD that will outline the role of police in schools?

I haven’t said that what we need is police in schools. We need security in schools, but I’m not sure about police officers. I will tell you that a concern to me, and I’ve been grateful for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx in this regard, what concerns me is that when I was a teacher and things happened in the schools, kids got in fights or whatever, but internal challenges were always dealt with internally. We didn’t send kids into the criminal justice system for fighting in school. I think we have to be very careful about the presence of police officers in schools. We don’t want students to feel as if our schools are detention centers. We end up turning our internal discipline problems into criminal justice issues. That’s the danger.

So would you push to have fewer police in schools — or abolish them in schools entirely?

This is an issue we have to look at. We need security in many of our schools, undoubtedly, but the question is do we need police officers, and does the presence of police officers impact young people’s perception of their learning environment? They’re not detainees, they’re students.

A young Toni Preckwinkle.

Growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota, you were one of only few black students in a majority white high school. How did that experience shape or influence your view of public education?

I grew up on the north end of the city. It was a white working-class community mostly, with a few African-American families. I did pretty well in high school without having to work very hard, which didn’t happen when I got to college. (Laughs)

But looking back on it, our city faced some of the same challenges Chicago does in terms of the disparities between the opportunities available to students in the more privileged parts of the city and the opportunities available to students in the remainder. There were high schools we knew were better resourced than ours, but only as an adult, and in retrospect, did I realize the magnitude of the disparities and what that might have meant for students who weren’t as lucky as I was to get a scholarship to the University of Chicago and find opportunity elsewhere.

Outside of the city’s test-in schools, many of Chicago high schools are majority black or majority Latino. They are segregated, in a time where research tells us that diversity is linked to academic gains. Would you support the opening of more selective enrollment schools, which are popular with families? Why or why not?

I think we have to concentrate resources on our neighborhood schools. The problem with selective enrollment schools is exactly that — they’re selective enrollment. We need to have neighborhood high schools that serve all of our young people, that are well resourced, because they take every young person.

How do we balance the logic of integration with these facts: the district has struggled to attract white families and is largely black and brown with many schools predominantly one or the other?

I think the first priority has to be that the schools are well resourced. While I know there’s research that shows schools that are more integrated do better, given the magnitude and depth of residential segregation in the city, trying to ensure that every child goes to an integrated school is pretty much impossible.

Over the next few school years, CPS will pay between $600 million and $700 million for teachers pensions and the state will offset another $200 million. CPS has also borrowed a lot of money from the bond market to pay for buildings and wrestle with its debt. Beyond asking for more money from the state, What is something you would do to improve the district’s financial footing?

We need to work with the state legislature to incorporate our Chicago teachers into the state pension program. We pay for our teachers’ pensions, but we also pay for the teachers in the rest of the state, but they don’t pay for our pensions. We need one system that provides pensions for teachers, and Chicago Teachers Union should be part of that.

The second this is — we have to unwind a number of the TIFs. (Editors note: TIFs are tax increment finance districts, a funding tool meant to promote private and public investment across the city that has been criticized as inequitable). Right now a third of our property tax revenues go into TIF districts, these geographically sequestered funds. And much of downtown is in TIF districts, and that doesn’t make sense, because this is supposed to be an economic development tool, and instead we’re using this incentive in the most valuable real estate in the city, so that doesn’t make any sense.

Former State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie had a proposal that, as we close down TIFs and declare TIF surplus, that all of that would go to public schools. What presently happens is it’s divided up between the taxing bodies.

Another thing we need to examine is workers’ comp. The county has 22,000 employees and spends $20 million on workers’ comp — the city has 35,000 employees and spends $100 million on workers’ comp.

And the next thing: Frankly, you have to bring in the department heads and tell them we have to make cuts, and they need to figure out how to do that with as little impact on programs and services as possible. There’s no magic solution or silver bullet, it’s just as lot of hard work — and it’s work that I’ve done before. When I came into office (at the Cook County board), the county had a $487 million budget gap to close. We looked first for efficiencies, told all the elected officials they had to cut their budgets by 15 percent, we refinanced some of our debt, and laid off 1,500 people. We made very difficult decisions we had to make to balance the budget.

Would you take a look at CPS’ headcount in the central office?

I think you have to look at everything, including headcounts in the central office.

But you also have to look at contracting. I’ve heard a lot as I’ve gone to schools about the contracts we have for keeping the schools clean, and how that’s not working, and we’re spending a lot of money on it.

Would that be something you would revisit, the janitorial contracts with Sodexo and Aramark?

Yes.

The school district has about 30 options or “alternative” schools for some of its most at-risk students. All but four of them are run by charter or contract schools — and there are serious questions about the quality of instruction. Does the district need to take a more hands-on approach?

The one that I’m most familiar with is the Alternative Schools Network, and that’s a longstanding not-for-profit organization that has run alternative high schools. I can’t tell you about the others, I’m not as familiar with them. But ASN has done good work for decades, providing alternatives to young people either pushed out of neighborhoods schools or who don’t feel comfortable there or whatever. But I think we have to be very careful. I don’t want us to be in a situation where we’ve created sort of a second-class high school platform for young people as opposed to our neighborhood schools and our magnets and selective enrollment schools.

But do you think the district needs to take a more hands-on approach?

The district has to exercise proper oversight, not just over charters, but over the alternative high schools with which it contracts. I’ve been critical of the district for closing neighborhood schools while at the same time not looking closely at the performance of charter schools, and there’s a broad spectrum of performance for those schools.

Mayor Emanuel has made supporting principals a big piece of his agenda, and Janice Jackson has followed suit, but we’ve heard concerns that principals have too much autonomy. Is that something you would take a second look at?

Principals are the leaders of their schools, and they have to have the discretion to run those schools well, and they have to be held accountable for performance and what happens in their daily work. The discretion is good, but it has to be accompanied by accountability.

What to do with vacant Chicago schools? Lightfoot suggests mini-police academies for some

2019-03-13T22:30:43+00:00

On the same day that activists interrupted a City Council vote on a controversial $95 million police training academy, mayoral contender Lori Lightfoot suggested a different training setup: using Chicago’s inventory of empty schools shuttered in 2013.

“We have 38 schools that are vacant from school closings, some of which can be repurposed to help us with our training needs,” Lightfoot said.

She shared the idea at a mayoral forum March 13 hosted by the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago in partnership with the university’s Harris School of Public Policy and Crime Lab. Lightfoot and her opponent in the April 2 mayoral runoff election, Toni Preckwinkle, held separate 40-minute conversations with a panel of experts, moderated by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington.

Lightfoot’s comments were met with immediate skepticism on social media and by activists across the city, including some in the mostly African American neighborhoods where those empty school buildings loom large.

Both candidates pledged to devote more staff and resources to public safety, and honed in on underlying issues that contribute to violence, like poverty, housing and disinvestment, while emphasizing the need to provide mental health resources in communities wrestling with trauma.

Preckwinkle used much of her 40 minutes to advocate for youth and schools, calling for more investments in youth job training, mental health workers in schools, and other resources to address problems young people suffer outside school that might affect them in the classroom.

Toni Preckwinkle appeared at a Wednesday mayoral forum about public safety in Chicago.

However, both Preckwinkle and Lightfoot were light on specifics, especially when it came to funding interventions to stem crime or provide those resources. And both agreed that police need better training and better facilities — but Lightfoot was the only one to suggest Chicago Public Schools might be part of the solution.

Lightfoot’s comments came Wednesday as activists, many of them with youth groups like Good Kids Mad City, disrupted the City Council as it took up the police training academy proposed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The measure eventually passed overwhelmingly. Both Preckwinkle and Lightfoot have said they oppose the academy. The city is under a federal consent decree to reform its police department — and improving police training was a recommendation from both the U.S. Department of Justice and a police reform task force Lightfoot served on several years ago.

Lightfoot, who also oversaw police discipline cases as president of the Chicago Police Board, said Wednesday that she wants to think beyond just an expensive and centralized training academy and consider having multiple smaller sites throughout the city.

Lightfoot also noted the need for “respectful engagement with the people in the community” about the academy debate. But on Twitter, critics lashed out quickly against Lightfoot’s idea for using vacant school buildings to train police.

So instead of re-opening the schools for the children of those communities, you want to repurpose them as cop academies, bringing an INFLUX of under trained cops into said black and brown communities. https://t.co/p8mOp139eZ
— waterz (@Shewaveywithit) March 13, 2019

We fought to save those schools and we marched against police violence. Now, Lori Lightfoot stands ready to add insult to every injury by turning those schools into training grounds for the police while ALSO giving them a new deluxe academy. Chicago deserves so much better.
— Puff the Magic Hater (@MsKellyMHayes) March 13, 2019

.@LightfootForChi seems confused about what we meant when we said #NoCopAcademy https://t.co/DHGWR86viH
— Assata's Daughters (@AssataDaughters) March 13, 2019

Neighborhoods hurt by Rahm’s school closings need places that connect residents with health care—including mental health care—job training, small business support, living wage work, pre-K, youth programs. Instead, Lori Lightfoot wants more police academies. SMH. #NoCopAcademy https://t.co/lOGGjpvPDS
— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) March 13, 2019

The vacant campuses are a legacy of mass closings in 2013, the largest executed by any city in U.S. history. Black communities bore the brunt of the closings. Besides the empty campuses, the district says nearly half of its schools are underenrolled. Both Lightfoot and Preckwinkle have pledged to enact a moratorium on school closings if elected.

After the mayoral forum Wednesday, Lightfoot’s campaign sent a statement elaborating on her comments from earlier in the day, noting that she supported improved police training but opposed the training academy “because the Emanuel administration failed to appropriately engage and listen to the community in the public process ahead of the vote.”

The statement stressed that any police training facility — in a school or otherwise — “must only be created after an intensive community engagement and input process,” and insisted that Lightfoot’s idea to repurpose closed schools for training reflected “the broader need to ensure officers can receive urgently needed training in or close to the communities where they work.”

Between barbs, Chicago mayoral hopefuls Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot talk schools in first televised runoff debate

2019-03-08T05:30:56+00:00

Schools took center stage at the first televised runoff debate between Chicago mayoral hopefuls Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot Thursday night, with each candidate pledging to steer more money and attention to the city’s flailing neighborhood schools.

Even as the candidates sparred over who was the political “insider” in the race — Preckwinkle is the president of the county board and the top boss of the Cook County Democratic Party, while Lightfoot worked her way up to equity partner at a powerful Chicago corporate law firm — they essentially agreed on broad-strokes questions about empty buildings, pensions, and union negotiations.

The exception was one question about whether to retain Chicago Public Schools chief Janice Jackson. Preckwinkle has said she’d retain her, while Lightfoot has said she’d wait and see — a position she explained in the conversation moderated by NBC5’s political editor, Carol Marin.

“I think there’s a time and place to talk about who should stay,” Lightfoot said. “Here’s what I know about CPS: We’ve had five CEOs in the past seven years. No organization can be successful with that level of volatility at the top.”

“I am really focused on making sure that we have a stable system, that we’re focused on rebuilding our neighborhood schools. There are questions that I have certainly about her leadership but, frankly, I’m not measuring the drapes before I get the office.”

The face-off, held in the NBC Tower in downtown Chicago, spanned several other topics, including police reform, affordable housing set-asides, economic development, and sanctuary city status. But schools policy kept surfacing as each candidate argued why she’d be the best choice for helping spread the wealth generated downtown to struggling neighborhoods that have experienced violence, foreclosure, and school closings.

“We cannot have a strong city without strong neighborhoods and without strong neighborhood schools,” Preckwinkle said.

Here’s what else they said about other key education issues:

On union negotiations and whether they’d agree to the 5 percent raises that the teachers’ union is seeking in its next contract:

Lightfoot: As a kid who went to public schools, I think we’ve got to be fair to our teachers. But the contract has to be viewed in the context of what are we doing to be fair to our students. What are we doing to lift the quality of our neighborhood schools? What are we doing to make sure we have the resources to put librarians, nurses and counselors back in our schools — it has to be part of the conversation.

Preckwinkle: I think it’s a big mistake to start talking about your negotiating strategy at this point in time. I’m very proud of the fact that I have support of the [teachers’ union] but as mayor of the city of Chicago, it’s my job to do the best for all of our citizens and that’s negotiating fair and reasonable contracts.

On whether they have concerns that an elected school board would erode the mayor’s “skin in the game,” particularly when it comes to tough pension decisions:

Preckwinkle: It’s important to understand that we are the only school district in the state that does not have an elected school board. I’ve said it’s unfair we pay for teachers pensions across the state and then for our own teachers. There’s no equity there, no justice, and likewise there’s no justice that every other school district in the state has an elected school board and we don’t.

Lightfoot: My mother was on an elected school board in the town that I grew up in, I watched as parents called our house at dinnertime, talked to her in the grocery store to really make sure they had a voice — an advocate on the school board. So I support parent representation on an elected school board and frankly as mayor of this city, if you can’t form a relationship with another elected body, then shame on you. You’ve got to build relationships, you’ve got to build partnership and I feel fully comfortable with an elected school board.

On what to do with 38 vacant schools that were closed under Rahm Emanuel and have not been sold or otherwise repurposed:

Preckwinkle: It’s important that we find alternate uses for these buildings because when you close these schools it’s a very public withdrawal of resources from a community. Young people have to walk by that school every day as they walk to a school outside their neighborhood. Adults drive by a vacant school and they feel that same loss, so it’s really important that we make it a priority.

Lightfoot: What we have to do is look at neighborhoods in which those schools exist, and engage the community in a conversation about how to make those schools community assets.

The discussion was hosted by NBC 5 and Telemundo Chicago, and cosponsored by the Union League Club of Chicago and the Chicago Urban League. You can find a recap here.

Educators want to hear more from mayoral candidates on elected school board, under-enrollment

2019-03-07T22:47:37+00:00

How would Chicago shift from mayoral control to an elected school board and how would the city’s next mayor protect the process from special interests?

Questions about district governance topped the list of what Chalkbeat readers want to ask Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot, the two women who are campaigning hard to be the city’s next mayor and de facto head of schools.

More than 140 readers — 60 percent of whom identified as educators or as working in a school-related field — answered an informal Chalkbeat poll that solicited reader questions for the two candidates headed to the runoff.

Chicagoans will vote in a municipal runoff on April 2.

Both Preckwinkle, who is president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, and Lightfoot, a former federal prosecutor, have said they’d support shifting the composition of the city’s school board from appointed officials to elected ones.

The two candidates have also voiced similar responses to questions about charter moratoriums as the district faces steep enrollment declines.

They have offered differing responses to the prevailing question of whether to retain the city’s current schools chief, Janice Jackson. Preckwinkle has said she’d keep Jackson; Lightfoot said she’d wait and see.

But neither Preckwinkle nor Lightfoot has offered too many details about how they’d grapple with some of Chicago schools’ most intransigent problems, including ones that readers told Chalkbeat they care deeply about. Where will they find more funding to help bolster shrinking neighborhood schools? Will they take a political risk and outline how they’d conquer a threatening deficit?

Readers who took Chalkbeat’s poll also said they wanted to hear more about how each candidate would more equitably distribute money to schools on the South and West sides of Chicago; whether the next mayor would prioritize class size reductions and additional staffing; and how they’d approach dealing with the union on issues such as teacher benefits and pensions.

Sixty-nine percent of readers who took the anonymous five-question poll said they were undecided between the two candidates. Of those who’d decided, 25 percent said they would vote for Lightfoot and 5.7 percent would vote for Preckwinkle.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “not very important” and 5 being “very important,” 67 percent of respondents ranked education policy at the top, a very important consideration when casting a ballot. Thirty percent ranked it a 4.

Multiple readers also asked how Preckwinkle, who is backed by the teachers’ union, would balance public and union interests in teacher contract negotiations. The teachers union contract is set to expire this summer and contract bargaining is underway.

Below are some other questions Chalkbeat readers said they wanted to ask the candidates.

District governance

How will you keep special interests out of an elected school board?

Will you keep Janice Jackson as schools leader?

Do you plan to retain current Chicago Public Schools management?

Will you spend time listening to current CPS employees before launching new initiatives?

How will better structures and transparency be built into CPS?

Fiscal stability

Will you keep the student-based budgeting model or consider other models that consider community resource needs?

How do you plan to both honor the current pensions but support Chicago becoming more fiscally stable?

Staffing

How will the next mayor work to ensure adequate, equitable funding for schools, including services like nurses and counselors, special education, and money for capital improvements and repairs?

Underenrollment

What’s the plan to stop enrollment loss and try to grow the overall student body?

What do you plan to do about the ever-shrinking enrollment of CPS schools? Will you consider closing schools if there is under a certain number of students in that school?

Equity

Our public schools are segregated; more specifically, selective-enrollment schools are segregated racially, socioeconomically, and academically. How can you fix these disparities?

What can we expect from you regarding English as a Second Language and special education students? These students tend to be high risk since they often fall into the over-hype of university/college with below-standard preparation, or they fall through the cracks of public education.

What non-education policies will you prioritize to ensure that all students can be successful at school (e.g., housing, food security, public transportation, etc.)?

Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot still undecided about schools chief Janice Jackson

2019-03-05T18:46:45+00:00

A few days after mayoral candidate Toni Preckwinkle said she would retain Chicago’s schools chief if elected, opponent Lori Lightfoot said she prefers to keep her options open.

After securing the most votes out of 14 contenders in the Feb. 26 municipal elections, Preckwinkle and Lightfoot will face each other in a citywide runoff on April 2.

In a statement emailed to Chalkbeat, Lightfoot emphasized the importance of maintaining stability at the district and noted, “there have been five CEOs in the last seven years, which is a problem,” but stopping short of saying the solution was keeping Janice Jackson, who has led Chicago schools for a little over a year.

“If I am fortunate enough to become the next mayor, I will sit down with her and her team and in particular discuss some issues about which I have concerns,” Lightfoot said. “For now, we will continue to make the case to voters about the need for change.”

Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson.

Jackson, 41, grew up in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood on the South Side, and has two children at the school district. The Bronzeville resident is the first schools chief since 1995 to have been a teacher in the district, and enjoys broad support among principals and educators. She also has weathered significant criticism of the district’s handling of sexual abuse complaints and special education.

Lightfoot’s opponent Preckwinkle pledged Friday to retain Jackson, stressing the importance of stable leadership at the district and praising the schools chief. Earlier last week, a parade of South Side residents and community leaders took to the podium at the board of education’s monthly to demand that Jackson keep her job, whoever wins the mayor’s race.

Jackson backers also flocked to Twitter to declare support for the schools chief.

Honestly, that will decide how I vote. I’m with the candidate that retains Jackson and McDade.
— Anne Gray (@AnneEHG) February 28, 2019

During the mayoral race, all of the 14 candidates declined to say whether they’d retain Jackson as schools chief, with the exception of Gery Chico, who said yes, and Amara Enyia, who said no.

Survey: What would you ask Lori Lightfoot and Toni Preckwinkle about Chicago schools?

2019-03-01T16:22:37+00:00

Chicago’s field of 14 mayoral candidates now has winnowed down to two: former federal prosecutor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. So far, each candidate has voiced similar responses to prevailing questions about school board selection (they both support an elected school board) and charters (each supports a freeze on new applications).

But there are deeper questions about schools that we’d like ask, and we’d like your help. What questions do you have for the mayoral candidates about schools policy? Please let us know in this brief online survey. Your answers could be used to inform our interviews with the candidates.

Click here to take our survey.