Board of Education
Chicago Public Schools
Wednesday, July 27, 2022
10:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m. CDT
42 W Madison St Chicago, IL 60602 (Directions)
The meeting will be held at CPS Loop Office, 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level, Board Room. Board meetings will adhere to the currect COVID-19 safety guidance and protocols and are now mask optional. The Board President and the Chief Executive Officer have determined that registered speakers who wish to present during Public Participation may have the option to participate in person at the location of the Board meeting or virtually via an electronic platform. The public will have access to the meeting via live stream at cpsboe.org. The Public Participation segment of the meeting will begin as indicated in the meeting agenda and proceed in accordance with Public Participation guidelines. Board Meetings will be live-streamed to the general public on the Board website (www.cpsboe.org). Interim Guidelines have been issued by the President of the Board of Education of the City of Chicago in accordance with Board Rule 2-4.1. These Interim Guidelines are effective July 26, 2021, and its purpose is to address the manner in which the Board will conduct its public meetings to comply with recommended COVID-19 safety guidance and protocols. Interim Guidelines may change to comply COVID-19 safety guidance and protocols. These Interim Guidelines are available on www.cpsboe.org. For the July 27, 2022 Board Meeting, advance registration to speak will be available beginning Monday, July 25th at 10:30 a.m. and will close on Tuesday, July 26th at 5:00 p.m., or until all slots are filled. Advance registration during this period is available by the following methods: Online: www.cpsboe.org (recommended) Phone: (773) 553-1600 Members of the public who wish to submit written comments for Board of Education meetings can do so via the Written Comments Form on the Board’s website at www.cpsboe.org or mailed to 1 N Dearborn, Suite 950. Written comments received between the posting of the public agenda and notice is posted through 5 p.m. the day after the Board of Education meeting will be submitted to the Board for their consideration and posted within five (5) business days on our website at www.cpsboe.org.
Check the source website for additional information
Reporting
Edited and summarized by the Chicago - IL Documenters Team
Police officer presence in schools (SROs), Replacing the School Quality Rating Policy (SQRP) system, General Iron
Hi, hello everyone! I’ll be covering todays Board of Education meeting for @CHIdocumenters, so stay tuned because today’s going to be a good one
11:10 AM Jul 27, 2022 CDT
The board will be voting on two big decisions today, a $10.2M contract with CPD and terminating several teachers, with two being active protestors of General Iron
The $10.2M contract is drastically less than their usual amounts of $30+ million before 2020, after over more than a third of schools voted to remove SROs from their campus
At schools with at least one SRO, principals have the discretion of rejecting officers placed on their campus and all officers will complete a series of trainings on youth crisis intervention, interactions with disabled and special education students, as well restorative practice
Most importantly, The contract would also forbid SROs from getting involved in routine disciplinary actions, students from being transported in cop cars unless under actual arrest, and will no longer be allowed to add students into the gang database.
https://news.wttw.com/2022/07/25/chicago-board-education-vote-10m-school-resource-officer-contract-renewal
The teachers facing being fired, Chuck Stark and Lauren Bianchi, are from Washington HS and say they’re being targeted for participating in protests against General Iron the past year
https://twitter.com/CTULocal1/status/1552042939886583808
CPS claims the teachers committed policy violations and, “repeated instances of poor judgment and bias in their instructional roles and in their faculty adviser roles,” by providing rides to protests to students and offer credit for attending
The two heavily deny the claims and emphasize that students were involved in protesting General Iron on their own time
General Iron was set to be bought, rebranded and moved from Lincoln Park to the Southeast side, just a few blocks away from Washington HS
While at Lincoln Park, General Iron had been cited 11 times for pollution in just four months, and had two explosions in May of 2020.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/chicago-violated-residents-civil-rights-relocating-polluting-business-rcna39097
After several protests and a hunger strike, HUD found the move to be a case of environmental racism, with the City of Chicago consistently endangers black and latinx communities over their white counterparts when it comes to approving these contracts https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/07/26/2-george-washington-high-school-teachers-say-theyre-being-fired-in-retaliation-for-their-activism-against-general-iron/
Stark, a biology teacher, was apart of the month long hunger strike last year, and Bianchi, a sociology teacher, was arrested at a protest held at the Public Health Commissioners house in December. https://southsideweekly.com/stories-and-lessons-from-inside-the-general-iron-hunger-strike/
The meeting is officially started @ 10:33am beginning with attendance and Honoring Excellence
Todays honoring excellence is to the 31 students who have completed their Associates Degree while still in HS https://t.co/kQOSQcnbaH
Moving on to CEO Remarks Pedro Martinez answers several questions regarding the bus shortage and the stipends parents would be receiving for transportation
- How will you be considering safety for students that will have to take the CTA? https://t.co/K4o25ZOMk5
Jackson Potter, CTU vice president kicks off public commentary advocating against the termination of Washington high school teachers Stark and Bianchi. https://t.co/QqurCO2SdH
“Let me be clear,” says Potter. “They’re being accused of doing virtually what all civics teachers are required by the district and state law, what student voice committee coordinators are required to do.” https://t.co/2jaYBpnTpH
Many are bringing attention to the transportation issues the bus shortage has caused and call out the stipend program a band aid solution that barely helps disabled students https://t.co/LcbvTqLEAV
Coming back from recess at 1:26pm, the Whole School Safety plan presentation begins https://t.co/LS37EBNEpd
Presenting on summer engagement outcomes and plans, this summer has been one of the most successful ones CPS has had with over 90,000 students still enrolled in an activity https://t.co/QZs5bTNiXB
CEO Martinez ties the positives of this engagement presentation to the whole safety one, by emphasizing how school safety is actually a constant priority https://t.co/rPOS45ZSkw
Moving on to voted items, first the board will vote on rescinding their current School Quality Rating System
This policy’s been controversial for some time, with many considering it reductive for weighing test scores so heavily.
https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2022/2/23/22948107/chicago-public-schools-school-ratings-sqrp-accountability
This vote along with several others approving vendors has been approved
Voting on the $10.2m contract with CPD, Member Todd-Breeland is the only nay.
The contract is now approved and will be set from September 2022 - August 2023
Attachments
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Agency Information
Chicago Public Schools
The Chicago Board of Education is charged with governing the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), setting policies, governing operations, and charting the direction of current and future programs.
A list of board members (with headshots) is here. Board members are currently appointed by the mayor. In 2021, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law that will gradually transition to a 21-member elected school board over the course of 2024-2027.
A list of CPS executive leadership is here.
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