Comparing Chicago’s 2023 mayoral candidates on 5 key education issues

The board picked Gionni Thompson, a longtime administrator who’s worked in other Colorado schools.

The City Council will not vote to confirm Joyce Wilkerson’s appointment to the school board. But Mayor Cherelle Parker plans to put her on the board anyway.

Thirteen candidates from across Chicago joined a virtual forum hosted by the group CPS Parents for Buses, which organized earlier this year after the district canceled transportation for students at magnet and selective schools.

“We want to be a place that has a lab site that’s like, ‘We’ve figured this out. We have a cadre of schools that, in my most aspirational dream, have eliminated the achievement gap,’” one principal said.

East Kentwood High School students taking AP African American Studies are finding a greater purpose in taking the pilot course: showcasing its meaning through their own experiences.

“It's a fundamentally wrong and unfair practice,” one student said, calling it “affirmative action for the wealthy.”