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The Chicago school board is seeking applicants for its Black Student Achievement Committee seven months after its members voted unanimously to launch it.
The committee will help steer the district’s implementation of its Black Student Success Plan, an initiative that sets out to boost the number of Black teachers, reduce Black student suspensions and embrace more culturally responsive curricula. The plan landed in the crosshairs of the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts shortly after the district unveiled it in February.
The plan is under an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Officials at the dwindling federal department have said they will withhold millions in federal magnet school grants if the district does not scrap that initiative and its transgender student policies.
Chicago Public Schools leaders have said they won’t do that.
Board member Jitu Brown, who will chair the committee, told Chalkbeat last summer that he was considering a cross-section of district employees and community members for the committee. In September, Brown said he would introduce the committee members that month.
Some community advocates have voiced frustration with the delay in announcing the committee’s membership, arguing board members must bring urgency to the task of addressing the academic and discipline disparities Black students have long faced. The committee was mandated in a bill Illinois lawmakers passed in 2024 that set the stage for Chicago’s transition from a mayor-appointed school board to an elected one.
Brown said last week that the board remains adamant about forging ahead, but it rethought the approach to picking committee members more recently.
“I do understand the sense of urgency because this institution has not historically done right by Black children,” Brown said. “It’d been a place where inequity has nested. We’re committed to disrupting that.”
But Brown added that “We wanted to have a process that the public can trust.”
He said the board sent about 500 applications to people who had expressed interest in serving on the committee.
Students, parents, CPS employees, and residents can apply for one-year terms on the 14-member committee. They must live in Chicago, complete the district’s vetting process for volunteers, and have a “demonstrated commitment to racial justice and public education.” A school board press release said applicants would complete ethics, Freedom of Information Act, and other training before their names are announced publicly in early 2026.
Those interested can apply here. The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Dec. 15.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
