Board Meeting Thursday, December 18

001President Harden, before you begin today's meeting, I would like to read a few announcements. Good morning. Welcome to the December 18th, 2025 board meeting. Before we start the meeting, I would like to share a few safety points and next meeting announcements. Please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is the door which is used to enter this morning. If you are leaving the room, please use this door. The restrooms are outside the boardroom, doors to your left. During the meeting, we ask that you keep all aisles and exits clear. If you need need any assistance during the meeting, please wave the attention of one of our security officers. Please mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings. The next ARC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 14th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The next

002board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 29th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The ARC and board meetings will be held at 42 West Madison Street Garden level boardroom. For details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings and to learn about the speaker lottery process, please visit the Chicago Board of Education website. cpsvoe.org. If you have any questions about registration or public participation, please contact the board office for assistance. Thank you for joining us today. President Harden, we are now ready for you to begin the meeting. >> Good morning, everyone. >> Morning. >> Welcome to the Chicago Board of Education meeting. Today is December 18th, 2025. We're holding today's board meeting in the board room at the CPS Loop office. 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. I'd like to note that board members,

003honorary student board member and senior leadership are physically present in the boardroom. Register speakers may join us in person or virtually if they've opted to do so. I'm President Sean Behard and on behalf of my fellow board members, thank you for joining us today. The regular meeting of Thursday, December 18, 2025 is hereby called to order. Board Secretary, please call the role. >> Thank you. Member Lozano >> here. >> Member Lopez >> present. >> Member VeZ >> present. >> Member Bole >> here. >> Member Wallace >> present. >> Member Kuster >> present. >> Member Pope >> here. >> Member Rosenfeld >> here. >> Member Rivas >> present. >> Member Brown >> present. >> Member Rio Sierra >> present. >> Member Bannon >> present. Member Gutierrez, >> present. >> Member Biggs, >> present. >> Member Thorakura,

004>> present. >> Member Blae, >> present. >> Member Zachor, >> present. >> Member Deberry, >> present. >> President Harden, >> present. >> We have 19 members present. We do have a quorum. I'd also like to recognize Dr. Meline King, interim superintendent, chief executive officer. Elizabeth Barton, acting general counsel. Dr. Dr. Alonso Carmona, acting chief education officer. Chief Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer. Uh, thank you. The order of the meeting will be as follows. We'll begin with honoring excellence, co remarks, committee updates, student roundt presentation. We begin with public participation. We'll go to recess, reconvene from recess. Then there'll be a presentation on academic updates, a discussion of public agenda items. We'll vote on public agenda items. We'll go into cold session, reconvene from coal sess session, and then finally adjourn. Chief Cormona, please proceed with

005honoring excellence. >> Uh, thank you, President Harden. Good morning, board members, uh, Dr. King and members of the CPS community. In the honoring excellence section of today's meeting, we are excited to recognize the powerful impact of our district's 25 curiosity classrooms located primarily on Chicago South and West Sides. Uh these learning environments provide students in preK through 2 grade with hands-on sensory rich uh experiences. The materials used in these classrooms promote problem solving, self-expression, and creativity. They also give our youngest learner the chance to share their ideas and discoveries with their teachers and with each other. All of this complements our district growing focus on science, technology, engineering, and the arts, as well as math, or what we call esteem concepts. I'll now turn things over to Leslie McK McKinley, our chief of early childhood

006education to share more about the impact of our curiosity classrooms. Thank you, Chief Kimona. We are grateful to have the opportunity to talk about our Curiosity classrooms with you today. Our five-year vision really highlights uh the need to put a stake in the ground around daily learning experiences. The daily learning experiences for every child should be rigorous, joyful, and equitable as listed. and our early learning priority. It talks about the commitment to ensure that high quality early childhood experiences and comp comprehensive learning opportunities for students in prechool through 2 grade is available. Our curiosity classrooms provide a welcoming, flexible space where students have the opportunity to wonder, to observe, to question, to test, to fail, and most importantly, they have the opportunity to try again. Curiosity classrooms are a true exemplar of our aspirations for

007the daily learning experience for every young learner here in Chicago public schools. We are especially proud to spotlight students, staff, and families from two of our Curiosity classroom sites that are here today. Ellington Elementary School in Austin and Nicholson STEM Academy in Englewood. You can also see because I know they stole the show when they came in. We have we have our students here today and our students are holding objects directly from their Curiosity classrooms. And we are we do want to pass some around for you to explore during the presentation. The Office of Early Childhood selected these two schools along with 23 others um based off of a couple of criteria. One was the opportunity index. The other consideration was the space that was available within each elementary school. We also took into account

008student interest, ensuring that we are prioritizing and investing in communities that have historically been disinvested in. Our goal is that curiosity classrooms are not only a catalyst for STEM learning, but there is opportunity to build strong community partnerships with families and also strengthen that homeschool connection. I would now like to have uh you take a peek of a brief video that highlights the amazing work that happens within our curiosity spaces and it'll give you a small window into the teaching and learning that is happening within these spaces. So when I'll cue the video, the goal of the curiosity classroom is really to bring informal learning, curiosity, and in inquiry to the school environment. Um, so what we like to think about in the curiosity classroom is exploration of tu students and teachers together to explore

009topics together. So we've got a number of different um themes represented in the room. There's a sensory table where students can explore in water or in other sensory materials. Maybe they want to bring pine cones from outside and fill up the sensory table with pine cones. We've got lots of books about all different topics represented in the room. We've got a nature area where we have bofacts. Um, so there are beaver skulls and skunk pelts and all kinds of natural materials that are found in our area in the Chicagoland area. Um, that students can really touch and look at and explore and feel and ask questions. Why does, you know, why does this have flat teeth? Why does this have pointed teeth? The idea behind the Curiosity classroom is really to create a place for

010children prek to 2 grade to have an opportunity to explore new materials, to question the environment around them, and to uh wonder about the world um through materials and resources and and lessons and activities. When we had the idea to create these curiosity classrooms, we wanted to work with the participating schools to hear their ideas, to incorporate the ways that they would want to use a room, the ideas they had to for the room um to ensure that it really met their needs and would be something that they would want to use and continue to use. >> The partnership with Chicago Children's Museum is so special. Um, it allows teachers to have the opportunity to get the professional learning that they need in order to how to maximize this space, but also bring that space

011back into their classrooms. Additionally, this partnership allows us the opportunity to bring the learning to the museum and students and families and teachers have an opportunity to explore the museum and utilize the space firsthand. Chicago Children's Museum was so pleased to have the opportunity to create these curiosity classrooms in partnership with Chicago Public Schools, the Office of Early Childhood Education, and Crown Family Philanthropies. We hope everybody can come be inspired by the wonder and exploration that happens in the curiosity classrooms. and friends and partners from Chicago Children Museum to share more about the collaboration and the partners in this work. I'll introduce Amy Spark. We just need to go back to the power. Okay. Um, hi. I'm Amy Spar, the vice president of strategic initiatives at Chicago Children's Museum, where we believe that open-ended, joyful

012play is essential to the healthy development of children. I want to thank our partners at Chicago Public Schools and particularly the Office of Early Childhood Education for sharing and supporting that belief. Curiosity classrooms were born out of the museum's 16-month closure during the COVID pandemic and our desire to bring our mission to the children of Chicago when they could not visit us at our home at Navy Pier. Thanks to the leadership and partnership of the Office of Early Childhood Education, we were able to install the first 10 Curiosity classrooms in the fall of 2022, followed by another 15 in 2024. None of this would be possible without the support and trust of our funders who all do so much for Chicago's youngest citizens. Thank you to Crown Family Philanthropies, the Robert R. McCormack Foundation, and

013the CME Group Foundation for seeing the potential of Curiosity Classrooms and enabling us to help CPS students and teachers cultivate their natural curiosity and develop positive steam identities through playful teaching and learning. Thank you, Amy. Now, we will hear and from our school leaders. The first school that we will hear from is the fantastic principal over at Ellington, Principal Williams. Good morning to our esteemed board. Think for a moment about the technology right at your disposal, right at your pocket. From electronic computers to artificial intelligence. Every single world changing in change, excuse me, world changing invention was born because someone followed their curiosity and asked what if. That's exactly what the Curiosity classroom does for our students. It is a dedicated space for imagination and discovery. And crucially, it is a commitment to equity. It

014ensures all of our students have access to hands-on STEM steam learning that leads to opportunity. This initiative directly supports the Chicago public schools graduate profile by developing our students as inquisi as inquisitive learners and adaptive and independent thinkers. In this classroom, students don't just read about concepts. They actively experience them. They are immersed in experiential learning. They design and test structures applying principles of engineering. They use the wind tunnel to explore the invisible force of air, laying an early foundation for concepts related to flight. Our sensory tables support whole child development, strengthening, self-regulation, fine motor control, and early math concepts. The Curiosity classroom is providing students with the essential skills for a future we can barely predict. Many of the most important high growth jobs of tomorrow don't yet exist. Our mission is to prepare

015students for life by fostering early experiences with problem solving, collaboration, and critical thinking through STEM. We are ensuring that Ellington students are not just ready for the future, but they are ready to build it. The Curiosity Classroom is our smartest investment and equity and potential. And now I'm going to turn over to one of our students, Aaron, who's going to tell us what she likes about the Curiosity classroom. >> So Aaron, what do you like about the curiosity classroom? >> I like I to build me to it tower. >> So you like to build Tell them you like to build what? >> A building with magnet house. >> Magnet. >> With magnet tiles. Thank you, Aaron. >> Thank you. Good job. >> Good job. >> Thank you, Principal Williams and Aaron. We are now going

016to hear from our uh amazing school leaders at Nicholson and uh they will talk a little bit about how they're using the Curiosity classroom in their classroom. Principal Carson. >> Good morning. Uh my name is Mark Carson. I am the proud principal of Nicholson STEM Academy and I'm here to speak about uh how excited I am about our curiosity classroom and the opportunities it provides for students. uh it navigates a bridge that connects both families and school and through our lessons, our lesson planning, our hands-on activities, our STEM experiences, it allows our families uh to prefer to be connected with our school. Now, we're going to hear from Miss Ashley Logan, our first grade teacher and our co- uh lead in our Curiosity classroom, who's going to tell you about her experiences and how it

017connects to the families in her classroom. Good morning everybody. My name is Ashley C. Logan and I am a proud first grade teacher at Nicholson STEM Academy as well as the Curiosity Classroom co-lead along with Miss Barber. I want to begin by sincerely thanking the Chicago Children's Museum for the generous donation of the Curiosity Classroom to our school. We are so deeply grateful to Crown Family Philanthropies, the Robert R. McCormack Foundation and the CME Group Foundation for their support in making this space possible. Additionally, I would like to thank our principal, Mr. Carson, and our assistant principal, Mrs. Bouet Gaffne, and Miss Barber, for their continued leadership and belief in innovative student- centered learning. At Nicholson, the Curiosity classroom has become more than just a physical space. It serves as a place where curiosity, creativity,

018and confidence are nurtured. And that impact impact extends further beyond the classroom walls. While many families do not have the opportunity to experience the room firsthand, they feel its influence every day throughout their children. Students go home excited to share what they explored, built, and discovered, which strengthens the connection between school and home. For us, family and community engagement is not limited to attendance or visibility. It is about shared pride, trust, and meaningful connections. The Curiosity classroom allows us to reimagine engagement in a way that honors our students voices and our community's legacy. Today I am honored to be joined by a Nicholson parent, Miss Ashley Mabels, and her son, my student, Rayan Buckley, so that they can share their experiences with the Curiosity classroom. She will speak to what it means to see this

019kind of investment in the school that strengthens her son daily. Thank you for your time and your continued investment in Nicholson STEM Academy and our community. Good morning. My name is Ashley Mavs. This is my son Railan and I'm a parent at Nicholson STEM Academy. As a parent, it means a lot to know that my child attends a school where learning goes beyond worksheets and classrooms. Even though I might not see the curiosity room every day, I see it impact at home through my child excitement, creativity, and curiosity. My son comes home excited to talk about what he explored, created, and learned. And that excitement makes me feel more connected to what's happening in the classroom. Seeing him come home eager to talk about what he explored or created makes me feel proud and reassured.

020As a parent, it has positively impacted how he engages with learning. Overall, the curiosity room shows family that our children are valued and that their curiosity matters. We are grateful for the partners and leadership who made this opportunity possible. Thank you for continuing to support Nicholson Stem Academy and our students. Now, I would like to introduce one of my former students, Amir, who will share what the Curiosity classroom means to him and what he enjoys the most about learning in this space. My name is Amir Allen. I am a second grader at Nicholson STEM Academy. I like the curiosity classroom because it gives me the chance to explore nature items that I have never seen before. I believe that the curiosity classroom allows learning to be fun for kids. I am so grateful for my

021curiosity classroom at my school. Thank you. Thank you, Amir. Thank you, Miss Logan. Thank you, Miss Maples, Principal Car Carson, and also our staff at uh Ellington for all of your warm words and appreciation of our Curiosity Classroom. I will now turn it over to Michelle Ratkin who will talk about how this curiosity classroom aligns to the larger STEM work that's happening within the office of teaching and learning and she will close us out. >> Good morning and thank you all for having me. I'm so grateful to follow that very tough act to follow with the mirror. Um, but like Chief McKinley said, I'm Michelle Ratkin. I'm the director of science here in CPS in the STEM department. And we've heard a lot about how these curiosity classrooms embrace rigor, joy, and equity in early

022childhood learning. I'm going to follow up um and share about why they also exemplify three core uh tenets of our STEM vision here in the district. So, first, these curiosity classrooms allow our students to develop a sense of belonging and identity in STEM. We know that by the time students leave fifth grade, they often have perceptions about where they do or don't belong in STEM or what they're good at or not. And having the opportunity to work in STEM disciplines, subjects, content, and experiences like the curiosity classrooms ensures that our students leave early childhood feeling that they do belong in STEM. Secondly, these classrooms use museum learning approaches like object-based learning that allow for democratizing entry points into deep and meaningful learning that connect what happens within the four walls of our classrooms to the

023real world outside. We know that learning inside classrooms affects what happens outside and vice versa. What happens outside affects learning inside. And these classrooms provide a portal that do that in really rich and deep, meaningful ways. I saw you all when you felt those natural objects. You had feelings, a wide range of them and you will remember this. So that kind of learning um is really deeply impactful and we're grateful for curiosity classrooms to be a portal for that for our students. And last but not least, they catalyze pathways in schools that are often a gap for STEM learning. So when we think about STEM enriched settings like maker spaces or STEM labs, they're usually in an elementary schools for older students, middle school students or upper elementary. And curiosity classrooms fill that gap for

024our youngest learners to make sure that we're setting the foundation for STEM pathways early and for everybody in our buildings. So with that, I will turn it back over to Chief McKinley, but we are really grateful for this partnership and for the opportunity to bring this rich STEM learning into our schools. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to highlight our curiosity classrooms this morning in the honoring excellence segment of this month's board meeting. We appreciate your support and your continued trust in the work that we're doing not only within the office of early childhood but throughout our academic offices. Chief, I'll turn it back over to you. >> Uh thank you, Chief Mckelin. Uh thank you to everyone that came here today to share their experiences. uh especially to our young learners

025from Ellington and Nicholson. Let's give them a round of applause. Uh and I'll now open up to the board if they have any questions or comments to our uh guest today. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Thank you. I'm so excited to see you all here today. Congratulations to the students who spoke today. I hope this is the first of many opportunities that you speak about all the wonderful work you're doing in our schools. Um I love the Chicago Children's Museum. I have a very special relationship with the museum. I've as an artist I worked with the museum several times doing workshops and um there's actually an exploratory mosaic that is installed at the museum that I helped build with many many visitors um a few years ago. Um I've always admired their their commitment to

026accessibility. um and and um just their ability to in in really engage families and bring such joy and to learning. I'm so proud to see them within our Chicago public schools. Um we were very happy to bring a STEM program to Mclliff School in partnership with the National Science Foundation and Loyola Loyola Research. Uh unfortunately that program ended when this presidential administration came into office, but we immediately saw the impact of learning and the connections with family. It was such an incredible program. I see Oscar back there hiding. Uh I've worked with Oscar several times. He's an incredible one of the incredible educators at the museum. So I really applaud all of your work and I genuinely hope that there's uh children's museum magic happening across our district. Thank you so much. Member Paul. >>

027Yes. I want to echo the uh sentiments that board member Rio Sierra just expressed. This is so cool. People learn the best. Kids learn the best by having hands-on opportunities to explore and to really have experiential learning. It's so different than filling out workshops and looking at pictures in a book. And I am so happy for you that you have had these opportunities and I very much hope as a district that we can commit to expanding this kind of program to develop the curiosity, confidence, hypothesis setting, etc. of our youngest learners. Thanks again, >> Member Wallace. >> Uh thank you students for coming to share some of these exciting items you get to learn about. I'm always excited for a show and tell. Um, for the the adults, I we don't want to give the

028students all of the attention. Uh, for the adults, is as as board member Pope mentioned, is there are there plans for a third cohort? >> I was just going to chime in after. I was waiting for an opportunity um through our funders. We are um having an opportunity to expand next year to five additional schools. So we will take the same process that we have taken over the past couple years to identify sites. So if sites are eligible, please reach out to the office of early childhood. >> Members Aqua. >> Um yeah, I just want to echo as well. Thank you so much for coming to share with us um the things that you're doing in your schools. What an amazing program and what a fabulous partnership. Just really um showcases the kind of partnerships

029we want to have in CPS. Um, I feel very fortunate that I have two schools that have Curiosity classrooms in my district, Courtney and McCutchen, and I've had a chance to see just all the really fun stuff there is in there that even make me as an adult want to go in there and and play and learn some things that way. Um, I'm really excited to hear that uh the program is going to expand and um I hope we can uh find ways to expand it even further so that more schools and more communities get the benefit of this type of learning. >> Member Brown, um good morning and thank you all for coming today. It's um it warms my heart to to first look at two black men principles uh as they say standing

030on business and and doing right by our children. It it's and I just want to say to all of you, you know, teachers, folks that work with young people, people that work in communities don't often get your flowers. Um so I just want to say thank you for the work that you do because it is holy work. You could have been anything. You could have been an accountant. You could have been an investment banker and you decided to give your life to children. And I I just want to say for that you deserve, you know, a round of applause. I I'm asking the board to please recognize and please keep inspiring our young people. Please help us. One of the things I'm I'm interested in is how is this expressed vertically? Like how do middle

031school students have a similar experience? I I don't you know I I just I would love to see this approach in CPS um really expanding. I know Kumba links is doing something similar around poetry and so I just think that that this approach it comes from a particular world uh uh ideology that resonates with me. So how is this expressed vertically? >> Thanks. I beautiful question and I think um part of what is at the heart of it is this idea of how are we providing opportunities for our students and in our schools that connect learning in and outside of the classroom that are based in objects that open up connections between community and home and the classroom and they we're very privileged in the district to have an incredible suite of external partners including

032out of schooltime organizations and others who support directly in schools. there's a sort of suite of partnerships. Um, if you're looking to know more about the environmental um, perspective specifically, I can speak to some of that work or museum partnerships specifically as a kind of another suite of folks we have who work also vertically across levels. Um, but happy to share a little bit about either of those or if there relationships between out of school organizations and Oh, >> no. I'm good. I appreciate it. Thank you. member boys. >> Can How about that? Is that better? Thank you so much for bringing young folks here. We come we're all volunteers on this board. We're here for the kids and we don't get to see them nearly enough. So, I'll I'll start there. Um but I

033appreciate the innovation. Um, there's so many stories that you hear that are negative about CPS and I tell people all the time there is really magical things happening at CPS and your program is an example of it. Um, I and I and I hope that we continue having conversations that um that help us to figure out how we scale this up for everybody. just you were 100% right as soon as I touched the jawbone. Like I couldn't figure it out, number one. I'll be quite honest, but I was going I had it the wrong way round and the teacher had to be like, "Turn it over." Um, but that experiential learning is is critical and it it's it's a gamecher. So, I hope that we find ways to level this up um across the board.

034Um I but I I do wonder is one of your partners Cook County Forest Preserves? They have lots of things like items like that that have also confused me if I'm being honest. And um how do those um how do you gather those partnerships and how do we share them with other schools? >> Yes, we do partner with the Forest Preserve District um in a in a variety of ways, but uh thinking about expanding the communication channels is something I'd be glad to continue to talk about. we communicate about them through the STEM teams lines of communication, but there may be other opportunities to make sure we're um using all of the communication channels available to us. And similarly, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources has a program, a long-standing relationship with CPS where they

035lend out um for free trunks of natural materials that can be borrowed from sites around um our city and beyond. And so another many ways to get our students deeply integrated into experiential learning with natural objects in those ways. But there's always room. We know not every student is getting those experiences and so there's always room to keep thinking more deeply and broadly about how to get the word out and get those resources into everyone's hands. >> Great. And how do we normalize this across the board? That I mean I think that's the question. Whenever I see innovation, I'm like, this is so exciting. And then I'm like, if we know this how how magnificent or how um impactful this is, how do we get everybody in CPS a jawbone at kindergarten to to to

036to handle? But anyway, I guess that that may be a existential question that but but please if you've got any thoughts on it. Um I hope that we can and I think one way we do that is to start to think about how can we take this experience that has been created in these curiosity classrooms and create a smaller like toolkit of items that can be purchased and provided into our classrooms. And that's something that we are thinking about how do we rev up a toolkit particularly around our curiosity spaces for classrooms to experience. So I think that gets at a little bit of what you're uh suggesting and highlighting. >> Thank you so much. Thanks so much. Thank you all. Thanks kids. Thanks everybody for stopping by. We really appreciate um having that energy

037in this space. >> Member Gutierrez, >> you know, I want to can all the students stand up real quick. Um, I saw them as I was getting out to a meeting. Um, you guys were awesome. I echo the same. >> My microphone off or on? >> It's on now. Excellent. Um, when I was leaving the building this morning, uh, I saw all my friends coming into the building. You guys were awesome. So, give yourselves a round of applause. Um, and I echo the same sentiments that my board members have said. you know, the more that we can get uh innovation like this into the classroom uh hands on, I I think you see the great results here. So, uh let's give them one last round of applause. >> And thank you guys for coming to

038visit us. Please come again. >> Member Lopez. >> Thank you, board president. Uh thank you to everyone. Thank you for the little ones coming before us and for the opportunity to also then develop their uh public speaking skills. Uh I as it was previously previously mentioned I believe by board member Blaze um oftentimes we might not have as much time to go and visit every single classroom. Uh given that many of us you know uh scheduling and whatnot with this volunteer role can be a little bit uh u can be a little bit challenging at times. Right? That being said, I I also want to highlight that this is an important right an example of like I was mentioning innovation with partnership across the field with philanthropy with other levels of government. Um in particular

039hearing about the forest preserve in Cook County. Uh great to hear that there's this particular partnership in place. Um I am aware of other partners with the forest preserve as it pertains to our younger uh older kids and also having our parent mentors out and taking them to like you mentioned being there having that experience learning more about nature. Um I also had the opportunity to provide public comment during uh their budget here in s county ensuring that there is that type of funding and also transportation funding for those field trips. I would love to hear if there's anything else that the board can do to help uplift these stories and bring in more partnerships. Thank you. >> Well, you guys have set the bar pretty high. A tough act to follow. Dr. King, I

040don't know what you're going to do next. Thank you so much. Happy holidays to you all. President Harden, I do want to note for the record that Vice President Baltista joined the meeting at 10:43 a.m. and honorary student board member Destiny Singleton joined the meeting at 11 o'clock a.m. Thank you. >> Dr. King, we're ready for your remarks. >> Good morning. >> Morning. >> Thank you, Chief Carmona and Chief McKinley for leading honoring excellence this morning. I also want to thank the children's museum as they exit out and the communities from Ellington and Nicholson for making us a part of your instructional day and giving us the gift of student voice. It's a it's wonderful to hear directly how investments are impacting our students daily experience and it truly is a gift for us as

041we lead this work. Before I get started with any of my updates, I want to introduce Josh Long, chief of CPS uh office of students with disabilities for an update on Institut del Progresso, one of our charter schools. >> Good morning, everybody. Thank you, Dr. King. Before I read the letter required by the Illinois State Board of Education, I want to briefly frame why this action is before the board and clarify roles and responsibilities. Chicago Public Schools is the local education agency for its charter schools and is legally responsible for monitoring compliance with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Through the Office for Students with Disabilities, CPS conducts special education monitoring, identifies non-compliance, and requires corrective action when violations are found. The office of incubation or innovation and incubation serves as the charter authorizer and

042incorporates compliance information into its broader oversight processes. This step three sanction reflects the school's repeated and unresolved failure to correct documented special education violations over multiple school years despite notice required corrective actions, monitoring, and support. Under Isby's progressive enforcement framework, step three requires the district to formally notify the board of continued non-compliance and to read this letter aloud at a public meeting, which I'm going to do now. Dear Board of Education of the City of Chicago, on October 27th, 2025, the Illinois State Board of Education issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter step three to the district stemming from an open systemic state complaint as well as ongoing violations of special education rules and regulations by Institut Health Sciences Career Academy, a CPS charter school. As a result of Isby's sanctioned letter, Isby

043is requiring the district to read this letter to the board of education of the city of Chicago at the December 18th, 2025 meeting. As background, on July 10th, 2023, ISBY opened a systemic complaint investigation into allegations of violations of special education rules and regulations during the 2022 2023 school year relating to placement determinations, parent participation, IEP review and revisions, procedural safeguards, response to inter intervention, state and district procedures, IEP implementation, related services and special education services and programs, class size and qualified personnel. On August 22nd, 2023, ISBY completed its initial complaint investigation and determined that there were a number of violations regard related to special education and related services at Institudo and issued a 34-page letter of finding ordering corrective action for the 10 violations during the 2223 school year and requesting documentation for the

0442324 school year to determine whether the viol violations were ongoing. On August 19th, 2024, ISBY issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter step one due to institudo's non-compliance and failure to fully complete the corrective action items, including providing interpreters at IEP meetings, holding annual IEP meetings within regulatory timelines, providing compensatory education for missed instruction and services from the 22 23 and 23 24 school year qualified personnel and class sizes. Isby noted that the students who had not received speech language services in accordance with their IEPs during the 232 24 school year were the same six students who were not provided with the compensatory services for 37 weeks of MIS services during the 2223 school year. In fact, per Isby's August 22nd, 2023 letter of finding, these minutes were to be provided by January

04512th, 2024. As of June 28th, 2024, Institut had not provided any compensatory minutes for three of the students, 7% of the compensatory minutes for one student, 29% of the compensatory minutes for one student, and 46% of the compensatory minutes for another student. Due to the delay in providing compensatory services offers to parents, the changes in the compensatory service dates, the discrepancies in the number of students who require compensatory services reported by institudo and the limited information provided to parents in which to reply to the offer of compensatory services is could not conclude that institudo provided the students with a reasonable opportunity to engage in the compensatory services. As a result, ISBY ordered additional corrective action items requiring not only completion of the outstanding corrective action items for the 22 23 and the 232 24 school

046years, but required ongoing monitoring of the outstanding violations for the 2425 school year. ISBY prepared a monitoring plan which involved the ISBY appointed liaison as well as three ISBY charter school monitors to ensure students are receiving all required special education services as outlined in their IEPs. The intent of the plan was also to ensure that institudo was completing appropriate documentation within regulatory timelines and holding compensatory education meetings if students are not receiving appropriate services per their IEPs. As a result, ISBY met with institudo and district representatives to discuss the status of the complaint and the next steps in the ISBY monitoring process. On March 25th, 2025, ISBY issued a notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter step two. Isby noted that each response submitted by Institut had shown varying degrees of success in meeting the

047requirements of the corrective action. However, not enough for Isby to close the systemic complaint. Isby further acknowledged efforts to provide some compensation to students who did not receive special education services during the 2425 school year, but found that the offer of summer school for two consecutive years did not dismiss Institut's obligation to provide a free and appropriate public education for services not provided during the 22 23 23 24 and 2425 school years. Isby was particularly concerned that some students had not received special education services required in their IEPs for three school years. and I quote, "Due to Instituto's delay in providing the compensatory services offered to parents for the 22 23 school year, the change in the compensatory service dates, the discrepancies in the number of students who require compensatory services reported by the district,

048and the limited information provided to parents in which to reply to the offer of compensatory services. Isby does not conclude that the district provided the students with a reasonable opportunity to engage in the compensatory services. End quote. As a result, ISBY ordered the completion of any outstanding corrective action items for the 2223, 2324, and 2425 school years by the end of the 2425 school year and also extended its monitoring into the 2526 school year. On October 28th, 2025, the district received Isby's notification of enforcement action and sanctions letter step three for the Institut systemic state complaint. To date, Institut has not provided the documentation needed to demonstrate correction of five of the 10 identified non-compliance areas, including the following. Annual IEP meetings were not convened for students with a regulator within the regulatory timeline. Institudo

049did not have a plan for the use of a process that determines how students respond to scientific research-based interventions as part of the evaluation procedures for identifying a specific language disability. Direct speech and language services were not provided to students. To date, there is still students owed compensatory education for miss speech and language services going back to the 2223 and 2324 school years. This delay resulted in students graduating, transferring from the school and district, no longer being eligible, or revoking consent for special education services, further impeding their access to required compensatory education minutes. Institut did not provide paraprofessional services for several students as required in their IEPs. There are multiple students who spent the majority of their high school years without receiving the pair professional services to which they were entitled in the 2223, 23

05024 and 2425 school years. Classrooms in which students with IEPs were assigned exceeded the allowable special education class size requirements. And finally, due to a shortage of special education staff, specialized instruction was not provided in and out of the general education setting for math, science, social science, and English language arts courses for students in the 10th through the 12th grade. Isby estimated that during the 2425 school year, there were likely over 100 students who missed between 12,000 and 80,000 minutes of instruction and/or services due to Institut's non-compliance beyond the timelines set in step one and step two sanctions letters. Excuse me. And as a result, as part of step three sanctions, ISB has ordered institudo to provide documentation needed to demonstrate correction of the outstanding areas of non-compliance and for the district to develop and

051immediately implement an over oversight plan to address Instituto's outstanding areas of non-compliance and oversight of institudo for the 2526 school year. While Instituto is a separate and independent entity from district-run schools, the oversight plan will include further collaboration with Institudo and the Office of Incubation, Innovation, and Incubation, which provides incubation, management, and oversight of charter schools. The Office for Students with Disabilities, which provides support to district-run schools and families on special education issues such as instruction, interventions, and legal compliance support. Oversight measures include a regular cadence of bi-weekly check-ins between Institut and the district as well as monthly on-site visits to discuss Instituto's completion of the outstanding well and as month uh pardon me uh oversight measures include a regular cadence of bi-weekly check-ins between Institut and the district as well as monthly on-site visits

052to discuss Instituto's completion of the outstanding speech and language compensatory education. for the 23 24 and 2425 school years. Monitoring professional services which includes scheduling and provision of services monitoring annual IEP and re-evaluation meeting scheduling completing notice of non-implementation and break-in service letters as necessary and Institut's plan for providing a free and appropriate public education for all students with disabilities who are not assigned to a special education teacher. Thank you. >> Happy to take any questions if there are any. >> Questions related to this. >> Thank you, Chief Long. We have a lot to discuss today, so I'll get started with the winter weather that arrived early and with the vengeance in Chicago. Thank you to facilities, the facilities team for clearing the snow and making sure that our stews stayed stayed dry and warm.

053Thank you also to the bus drivers, the bus aids, the crossing guards, the vendor partners and school staff who brave the elements every day to make sure our students can travel safely to and from school and get the education they deserve. We know that many of our students rely on school for more than education. So, our goal is always to keep classrooms open no matter the conditions outside. But if classes are ever cancelled due to extreme weather, staff and students will be notified through email, roocall, and text. Information will be posted on cps.edu, and local media will be asked to share the details on TV and radio. Next, I'll move to policy changes that um is soon to impact many of our CPS families. As of February 1st, 2026, significant changes will go into effect

054regarding eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP. These changes were originally scheduled to begin earlier this month, but have now been pushed back to this new date. While this is a federal program, not under CPS control, our district has been working to make sure that our families understand these changes and know where to access meals and groceries if they need that support. All of this information is also available on our website at cps.edu/nap. The impending changes to the SNAP program will be challenging for many of our families, especially though, especially in the wake of the government shutdown earlier this fall when when benefits were significantly delayed. Fortunately, they will not impact students receiving meals at schools. Every CPS student will continue to have access to free breakfast and lunch at

055school every single day. Moving on to LSC elections. LSSE elections will be held on March 18th, 2026. And I encourage all parents, educators, community members, and eligible students to consider running. If you're a community member, run to uplift the neighborhoods you call home. If you're a parent, run so that you can play an active role in supporting your child's education. If you are an educator, run so that your school continues to be a great place to work and thrive. And if you are a student, run to make sure that students needs are at the center of every decision the school makes. Whatever your connection to CPS, we need your voice. Anyone interested in running for their local school council must complete their candidate paperwork by Tuesday, January 20th at 300 p.m. Talk to your school

056leadership for more information or visit cps.edu/lsc election. I now want to touch on an issue that is of great concern for all of us. As many of you may have seen in the media, CPS unfortunately experienced a few serious incidents of student bullying in the past few weeks. Chicago public schools takes bullying very seriously. We are committed to creating a safe and supportive environment for every student. Our team works closely with students, educators, and families to provide education, resources, and proactive strategies to prevent and address bullying. I cannot get into details of these incidents as except to say that they are being investigated and dealt with in accordance with CPS policy. But I do want to speak to a larger issue, which is that every student deserves to feel safe, valued, and respected in our

057schools. I invite everyone to visit our website at cps.edu/bullying for more information, including the signs of bullying, how parents can report bullying to CPS, and what our district is doing to prevent and address incidents of bullying. We will be communicating with our families on this issue in more detail in the near future. For now, I want to state in the strongest possible terms that bullying has no place in our classrooms and that we are committed to preventing it and addressing it. I'll now turn to the city budget, which is currently being debated in city hall. By law, the city must pass a budget by December 31st, 2025, and it has major implications for our schools and community. CPS worked tirelessly earlier this year to close a significant deficit without making cuts to our classrooms. Then

058in August, a majority of our city's alderpersons pledged to provide CPS with enough tiff revenue to close our remaining budget gap and avoid mid-year cuts. Mayor Johnson then followed suit and outlined a budget proposal in October that reflected this commitment. I cannot overstate the important of importance of this tiff surplus to our CPS communities and families. This revenue will prevent us from having to make cuts to our classrooms in the middle of the year. Such cuts would be hugely disruptive to our students routines and could impact progress from our youngest learners to our high school graduates. Our students have made significant gains since the end of the pandemic. Failure to pass a budget that includes the promised tiff revenue will put this progress at risk, creating serious challenges for our school communities. We need to

059remember that our public schools reflect the overall health of the city. Put it another way, the children of our classrooms today are Chicago's next generation of school leaders. When we invest in their education, wellness, and development development, we are laying a foundation for Chicago's continued status as a worldclass city. It will take strong, sustained investment by our city to ensure long-term success of our schools. And that is what we hope to see in the city's final 2025 budget. Later in today's meeting, our academic team will share some of the SY25 games. As I mentioned a moment ago, that data we're going to discuss is not merely a collection of numbers from last year. These numbers represent our students, their talents, their hard work, their achievements, and their aspirations for the future. They are the reason

060we are here. With all this happened in the past year through leadership transitions, city politics, federal agents in our streets, we remained focused on our purpose to provide every child from every community with a rigorous, joyful, and equitable education. And we feel a such a sense of urgency in this moment because the stakes are so high. Every decision we make affects the trajectory of their progress. The academic data we'll share today reflects the progress on improving the student experience and the gains we are trying to protect. We fight fight hard for funding because our students deserve it. They deserve every opportunity and the continued investment in their education because they simply cannot afford to wait. We create programs like the one you saw today. We build partnerships and expand opportunities. We are constantly monitoring what

061we're doing well and where we can do better. We do it all because our effort can make the difference for the students that we serve. I will let our academic team get into more detail. For now, I'll just say that much of what we're seeing from our students paints an encouraging picture for the success of our district. We are not satisfied. There are areas where more investment and better strategies are needed for students to reach their full potential. If we are to achieve the goals set forth in the five-year strategic plan, we must do better. Finally, I want to wish everyone in our CPS community a peace and joyful holiday season. There's no doubt we are living in challenging times, not just as a school district, but as a society. So, I hope that everyone

062can take some much needed time during the winter break to relax, recharge, and reconnect with loved ones. We want our students to enjoy their time off as well, but we also want to make sure they are safe and engaged. Many opportunities are available through the Chicago Park District and through Chicago mu museums and public libraries. I encourage all of our families to visit cps.edu/winterbreak to explore a variety of options that are available for keeping students safe and productive during the next two weeks. I also want to caution our students and families around the large unsupervised gatherings of young people that have that pop up around the city. These can although with good intentions they can create there are good intentions in the way they're organized. However, they can create unsafe conditions for our students. We

063have recently seen how these things can get out of hand and turn tragic during the season that is supposed to be full of joy. We want our young people to enjoy the many holiday activities Chicago has to offer. We want them to do so safely and responsibly. We are looking very for looking forward to receiving you all back on January 6 and sound. So, I encourage parents and parents to have conversations with their children and I encourage our students to have fun, be smart, and stay safe and return back to us whole on January 6th. Mr. President, this concludes my prepared remarks. >> Thank you, Dr. King. You have any questions or comments for Dr. King relative to her remarks? >> I do. >> Yes. >> Um, thank you. uh CEO, I really appreciate uh

064this update. Um and I just want to um share my experience, you know, given the situation, the bullying situation that we all witnessed in the media. Um, I spent um quite a few days that first week uh knocking on doors, talking to residents, hearing like more about the root causes that led to a situation like that. And um I just want to reaffirm my commitment. And I know we have had uh multiple meetings with park districts and the libraries, the our labor partners and the district to address this issue of bullying. Um and also the way that we um you know the the issue I think that is really heavy on my mind is like how we move to like expulsion and other um hard decisions that the district and the school um had in

065front of them. Um so I want to reaffirm my commitment to figure out um ways that we can also address these root causes to some of the issues that we were seeing. Uh, and this one I mean obviously like I've talked to a lot of board members and I really appreciate uh all the board members that have reached out to me and the board members that actually came and walked with me um and um and heard from the community um that it it is something that we what we don't want is to just push this problem to another community into another school. And um and I know this is a a much bigger issue that we're probably not going to be able to solve like immediately, but um given that this was uh so um

066you know in in uh in the media and people were paying attention um I just want to highlight that I also got a lot of messages from board members and from schools where this is happening across the district and um there's not an easy answer but I I do I think that um making sure that we're just not pushing these problems to another school community um to another neighborhood um is really important and I want to be able to join you know forces with um the district and with other board members who are also who you know really concerned as well from because of some of the situations that happen in their districts as well. Um because I I think that there are ways especially the way that people have uh the all the agencies

067have rallied around the situation that we saw. Um, it makes me um, you know, the silver excited because the silver lining is that now we're addressing these issues and and I just, like I said, want to just keep, uh, reaffirming my commitment to help figure out um the best way to be able to deal with these situations so we can offer those wraparound services to uh, all the families that were impacted. >> So, thank you, >> member Lozano. >> Yes. Thank you uh, u, Mr. president, but also um I would like to also ask if um given the information that we have is that Agent Bo and ICE is back in Chicago and they've been targeting, you know, back of the yards, Pilson, Little Village and areas like that. Um is there going to be

068maybe some information that's going to go back out with the children to the families? I've met with uh families over the weekend who are afraid to go to work. They're afraid to go to the grocery store and they're afraid to take their children to school because um ICE agents are all over our neighborhoods and and just getting caught up in that situation changes lives. So I think it's uh very important that we talk about it and that we reiterate that parents can go inside the schools if necessary and would some way get information and maybe even some families need to know how to use the uh app signal because that's where a lot of the information is coming through so they know where ICE is at any given time. And uh all of those kind

069of things I think can come best from the schools where they trust, where they leave their children, where teachers are involved and etc. So I would really like for us to focus on that and I'd like some information if there's any new information uh that's going to help protect these families and their children, our communities. >> Thank you for that. We never stopped our task force. Um when Bovino said he was leaving, we doubled down on our efforts and we began to go out into community into schools that were hardest hit to learn from what was working and identifying what were some strategies that we could use for schools that may not have had as much um support from the community. So that's ongoing. And for board members, we meet weekly. I think it's I

070believe it's weekly. You can always we update board members weekly on the most up-to-date information, what's happening in the community and what our response is. So, if there's any time that you want to know outside of those weekly updates, please feel free to reach out. But we're trying to make sure that we're, you know, communicating regularly because as we know this is an ongoing issue and despite Bovino's decision to show up or not, we will continuously work on supporting our schools and we do agree that the schools is a safe place for our families. Um, and if I could um address the other comment for um I agree with what happened. Unfortunately, these are incidents that take place across the city. um quite often and because this was on social media it caught it garnered

071a lot more attention. We also have uh convened a team to work um in support of garnering city resources. The mayor would say the full force of government to support all of the schools across the city. That cadence will happen on that will be ongoing and will not slow down. We will welcome all board members, but we have stood up a a task force with safety and security to support not just reactive, but to be proactive to support all of the students, but most importantly the community so that at best we can make sure that we minimize any further impact. So we also will make sure that we keep you informed of the progress that that task force is making as well. >> I just want to add one thing. I know we get uh

072we don't get uh reports about expulsions. Um the board doesn't receive that kind of data. Um, and I think it'd be helpful for us to know and and I'm not sure how it's being tracked at the moment, but it would be helpful to know like where our suspension and expulsions happening and like what part of the city, what districts and and like any information that um is like high level so that you know if we don't uh are not able to see like the all the details while they're being investigated, but at least having a sense of um is this issue getting worse or better like it would be helpful for us to be able to have that because I was asked multiple times about um that kind of data and I I I didn't

073have it anywhere easily to be able to to point to and to understand like um you know just like the the depth of the the issue without having some of that information. >> We could make sure we share that with you >> member Lopez. >> Thank you board president. Um, thank you to the communities, to the principles, the teachers, uh, rapid response teams, nonprofits, our school leaders, including phase, um, safety and security departments for once again stepping up and protecting our students. Um, as board member Loano mentioned earlier this week, the southwest side was hit hard by ICE yet again, families taken, um, families separated. Uh, so thank you for the weekly briefings and also the memos provided to the board and answering the questions that we've had. Um, I was just wondering if you

074can provide some of that information to the public as what can the families expect given that we're going to go into winter break and we don't know if eyes of federal agents are still going to be um, you know, pretty much going into our communities and taking individuals. Uh, if you can talk a little bit about the command center and any other information that would be key for families um, to know. Thank you. >> So the command center is up and readily available and our team we will have do we have um Ronin or Chief I don't want to speak without but we do have the command center is up. I would I can get you more information about just the tracking and followup during the break. >> Thank you. And it's my understanding the

075command center will be um still open during the break and that um al also it's my understanding that uh the district will continue monitoring the parking lots um to ensure that they're not used as staging areas. So thank you for that. We will not we will not stop. And even though there was the threat I mean the we're going away until spring we use that opportunity our task force still meets daily and we use that opportunity to improve on the um actions that schools take. Some schools had a lot you know a lot stronger support base and so we were trying to learn from them and what worked. And so obviously we didn't have as much time as we thought, but we did have a lot of takeaways to provide PR principles with additional support.

076>> Member Brown. >> Thank you uh Mr. Chairman and thank you u just for uh providing this space. I wanted to just support member Batista's statements. Um the status quo is um to be extremely punitive with black people. Um we don't, you know, we use words like equity. Um from places of comfort. were very concerned that there was not a way to really find out what was happening with those young people and we have resources that can hold them responsible for what they did but not discard them. Um, I had the experience the blessing of teaching black history at St. Leonard's Adult High School. It's the only accredited high school for the formerly incarcerated. And there's nothing like being in a room of with souls that have been discarded that have made mistakes and then

077they grab onto something when they're in their 30s and their 40s and half their life is gone. We should not take that approach with children. We should hold them responsible. there are ways to do that without discarding them. And I'm I'm concerned, Madam Superintendent, because I just feel that um it was difficult to find out what was happening. And I'm I am not a co-signer on equity talk, but status quo walk. I can't cosign that. Malcolm X said, "I'm not a particularly educated man, but I'm sincere and my sincerity is my credential." And so I'm I'm I'm deeply concerned about that because I know what happens to young people when they go in those spaces, those alternative spaces, and they don't have the support that they need. I spent 20 years of my life working

078with young people like that, where you have to try to reignite the light that's been dowsted. is serious and I don't like trying to find out information and having to hunt to get it. Do I do I con do I think those young people should uh that committed that act on the southeast side should walk away with a peace circle? No. But there are ways to hold them responsible without the status quo. there are ways to restore them while holding them responsible. And I just think that's important. So board members have been asking, board members have been trying to get involved. Board members have been trying to find out what can we do. We brought community resources to the table. We built a community coalition of folks who do that type of work that could

079actually bring some wisdom into the room to support CPS. And I think that's that's one of the benefits that we could bring to this board, but it has to be tapped. And then um so this is not directed at you, madam superintendent, but it's directed the process. It just did not feel genuine. It felt like there was something happening and there was a decision being made and we were and people were holding this to us and and we are not staff of Chicago public schools. We get it. But this was a this was an incident and and there is a bigger problem. There is a bigger issue. So I appreciate your approach saying that we have to address it systemwide. But there were opportunistic interests that were surrounding that parent and calling for those children's

080heads. They were and those and and I can tell you who those people are. I've chased some of those people. I know who they are. And those are not people that should be impacting our decision- making. They should when that mic comes and they come in that mic should be cut off. They've lost the right to talk in the public forum and they should not be impacting our decision making. So respectfully, we got we have to do better. We have to do better. I've been working on equity stuff my whole life. My base of people, the working poor. I walked away from the music industry and I've been doing that for 30 years. I know what it's like when people don't when people look at us and they think we're less than despite despite what

081they say. It's an old saying, you're so smart, you're stupid. And that's an old saying when you think you're fooling somebody. So, I'm just sharing that. Please consult us with the this is important to us. is important to us because it's an opportunity for us to prove that we're we mean what we say. It's an opportunity to prove that we mean what we say and it's not just empty talking points. So that's it. And when board member Brown says he left the music industry, it's true. He has se he has a couple of albums. He has a video. I mean, go to YouTube, check it out. Um, G2 is a real MC. So, but that aside, I think this is also a real opportunity. Um, I was able to call the the um CPA Kia

082from CPAA and I said, "How's the how's everything going at the school?" And she said that the principal there has been inundated with resources. Um, and that was beautiful for me to hear from from CPS, from the city. Um, everybody's coming together. But um I think it would be it this is a real opportunity to see all of those resources that we had come together under duress and maybe there's a weekly meeting or a bimonthly meeting or something that happens regularly where where all of that coalition of folks is is in the room and they're thinking about where things might bubble up, right? The bullying is happening somewhere. apparently that that the one or two of those youth were also engaged in something earlier. Um, and everybody needs to know everybody needs to know what's

083going on because something will spill out from school into the streets. Now it's their cousin is going to fight with their cousin and then you've got all kind of mayhem happening. So, I think this is a real opportunity to see what worked um and what we can continue to do in terms of a task force or a coalition of um uh of of community groups that have their ear to the ground and that can see um issues maybe before they get to this extent. Um, so I I just encourage everyone um to to to think through how we pulled together a task force, but really what I wanted to talk about was um I just wanted to know if you could touch base on your thoughts, your responses. There was a story about CPS um

084teachers and their travel budgets. Um and I'm getting a lot of questions about it. I know you took some steps and I just want to give you the floor so that you could speak to that. >> Do you mind if I address board member Brown? >> I do. Yes, of course. >> Board member Brown, this is important to me as well. And I and I just want to state that per the board policy, there are confidentiality rules that we must abide by. And it was the that parent and the school has been they received tremendous support and it is my responsibility to make sure that I follow the board procedures. I have to operate within board procedures. If there are some board policies that may need to be adjusted that is at the that's at

085the hands of the board to do so. I called for the city to come around the table to organize the resources that are available. So those meetings that are happening with all of the city departments that came from me that was my call because what I don't want to happen I agree with you there has been a way in which students once they reach expulsion we don't know where they go and we've had those conversations and so if there's something that I can do to communicate differently maybe add that to the weekly meetings that we have but I'm more than willing to do that because this is very important important to me as well. And I've chosen my 32 years of education to work in underserved neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago, the west

086side of Chicago and then ultimately a school closure. So this is deeply important to me and the work that I do would be to help impact and ultimately change policy and identify how can we utilize the city resources to support because what I do know is that after the cameras are gone, those teachers, th that principal, that community, the CHA housing development, the park district, they will still need our support. So what we do now can set a precedent in a way that we streamline resources to support proactively and reactively. So it is very important to me. Um thank you for sharing that and I'll make sure that we find a better way to communicate what it is that we're doing. Um uh board member Blae, I'm not quite sure of what you're referring to

087when you talk. >> Yeah. With respect to the travel though, can we have that question uh communicated through the board office and responded through that way please? so we can move on. That it's not part of our agenda. >> Absolutely, President Harden. >> Thank you, member Lozano. >> Yes. I I just had another question because I was at a community meeting where they were still concerned that certain signage wasn't still up at their schools, you know, that basically is saying that, you know, ICE cannot stage there or have their vehicles there or those types of things. and they the community members actually made their own signs and when to put them up at some schools. I'm just wondering like where that's at because this is very important to our community. I don't know if they'll

088actually stop, but we need to have those things up in order to have the community at least feel that we're, you know, have their best interest and that we care about, you know, the families and what they're going through. I just want people to think about what it is like, you know, like if your husband or your father is undocumented and they have to go to work and you have ICE, you know, like caravans going down your streets in your community and they see them dragging women out of cars and stuff. This is very dangerous times for these families and they are parents of US citizens and Chicago public school students and and it's just a really terrifying time and and I just want to make sure the the what we promise to do gets

089done because they deserve that, you know, and I just wanted to know if you can give me an update on like a signage and and how many schools have them already or if they're not all up or what's the situation? Chief Mayfield, would you please provide an update? >> Sure. Um, thank you board member Lazana for the question. Uh, we placed all the signs up >> in those neighborhoods. We developed a sign months ago and have placed those out. I understand that we also received u suggested signage from the community, but we we were already we already have our signs up uh to be able to advocate uh for who needs to be in that parking lot, which is the CPS employees and parents that we like to enter the uh the school. >> Thank

090you. >> And lastly, members of core. >> Thank you, President Harden. Um, I also wanted to uh address the bullying issue and and maybe more this question, this broad question of bullying across the district. Um, I think as as educators, it's incumbent upon us to believe that every child and really every adult also uh can improve from wherever they are if the proper supports are provided. So expulsion should just not be on the table as a solution because that's that's not allowing for that opportunity to improve. Um I think that CPS, you know, really talks the talk of um uplifting student voices, of emphasizing restorative practices over punitive discipline, of um creating whole school safety plans, but that we need to do a better job of walking the walk. So, I've looked at a couple

091of whole school safety plans and, you know, we just really need to be more in-depth and more intentional in that process and ensure that I I know it makes sense to start with high schools, but make sure that we're getting those into the the elementary schools as well. Um, we need to really think about what does it take to create restorative culture in schools. It's it's not restorative if you just say, "Well, I talked to this student and I didn't suspend him, so now we're restorative." That's not what it means. It's much more involved than that. Um, we just heard today from Good Kids Mad City about a proposal they have for how to implement a more thoroughgoing restorative uh restorative practices framework within schools that really center students. And I think, you know, that's

092an avenue that we need to go down to really figure out how systemwide we get away from issues that are going to happen in schools and create an environment where there's more a pathway to solutions that um that prioritize every single student. >> Thank you for your comments, board. Uh we do have committee updates. >> Excuse me, President Harden. Before we move forward, uh the translator is now going to translate Dr. King King's remarks into Spanish as a condensed statement. If you wish to receive the fully translated statement, please contact the board office for assistance. collaborator classes. Republic. No. Snap. Foreign PTO LC election. Foreully bullying. Municipal. Promisoto. Maximum potential. Winter break. I'd also like to announce for or note for the record that board member Smith joined the meeting at 11:36 a.m. Thank you.

093>> We'll move forward now with committee updates. Uh we do have two to present this morning. Member Brown and member Blae, please share with us an update on the Black Student Achievement Committee. Thank you, President Harden. Um good morning everyone. Um so here our remarks. We're we're we're excited to just announce that the uh application process is open for the Black Student Achievement Committee. Uh we're looking forward to very soon seating this committee. I have a few words just to set that process forward. I was taught that education is inspiration and information that prepares people to impact the world. With that definition, what are the opportunities for inspiration offered to Chicago's black student population? Ample research reveals that in America, white students have access to more advanced placement courses than black students. White students have

094significantly more access to world language, science, and after school programs. Black boys are suspended five times as often as their white counterparts for the same infractions. Black girls 10 times as much for the same infractions. White students also have greater access to more art and music than black students. This inequity has historically been protected in the United States. We are here to disrupt that. We want all children to have opportunities for inspiration, equitable opportunities for inspiration. We want all children to have their imagination captured when they come into school to confront these system inequities. And after years of advocacy from parents, educators, and community organizations, CPS launched the Black Student Success Plan in 2025, which is an essential priority in the district's 5-year strategic plan to improve black students daily learning experiences and life outcomes

095by addressing opportunity gaps and advancing equity. And so, the Black Student Achievement Committee, which I am proud to co to co uh to co-chair with board member Blae, supports the district's day-to-day work on the Black Student Success Plan through governance actions like reporting and progress monitoring and public meetings on a quarterly basis, is committed to being honest about the historical disinvestment in black children's education, and to chart a path forward. Our responsibility and our promise is to do right by our children. Board member Blae. >> Thank you, board member Brown. Um, as many of you already know, the committee launched its membership application on November 24th. We extended the application deadline to Monday, December 22nd at 5:00 p.m. So, if you've if anybody um who hears this meeting is interested in applying, now is the

096time to submit your application. You should also send it to your friends. That's what I'm doing. I'm text me texting folks and emailing folks just to get the word out. So, we have lots of folks to choose from. We plan to appoint 14 members in early 2026. Membership is open to a broad range of Chicago public schools stakeholders. However, you must reside within the city of Chicago. We're and we're committed to conducting a fair and transparent process for selecting members. The application process includes an initial screening and scoring methodology. If you are interested in applying, visit the board's website at cpsb.org to apply online. Um, we remain committed and hopeful about this important step that the board is taking to provide black students with the maximum opportunity for educational success. and and I would argue

097um it's an opportunity to provide all students with um a maximum opportunity for educational success because what we do for one we will do for all if we focus and we get this right for all of our black students. We're going to do better by all of our students. Um this program is very dear to my heart. it is very important um in in the history of CPS but also in the in the national conversation as well. Um so I'm very proud to be a part of this organizing uh committee and and I'm very excited that folks are um answering the call. We have over aundred applications already. Um so please get your applications in um as as soon as you can. We appreciate everyone's continued engagement and look forward to sharing more good news

098in the near future. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We also have an update on our special education advisory committee. Uh members Pope and member Bole, please proceed with the update. >> Good morning everybody. Uh board member and Bole and I have some really good news we'd like to share. myself as serving 21 years in CPS classrooms, I'm honored to be a co-chair of this board's special education advisory committee, which was first launched in August of 2023. This committee provides structured input on policies, programs, and services and elevates issues that the board needs to attend to. Strengthening transparency, accountability, and continuous improvement across special education through effective governance. For anybody that is interested in becoming a part of this committee as a member, we announced this week the opening of our membership application. Applications

099will be accepted online through Monday, January 12th at 5:00 pm. Membership is open to a broad range of Chicago public school stakeholders. However, you should note that applicants must reside within the city of Chicago. Uh board member Bole will now uh tell you a little more about the process. >> Hi everybody. Um you know I worked 35 years in CPS schools. most of them as a school psychologist working closely with special education students and their families. I'm honored to co-chair the board special education advisory committee alongside my colleague uh board member Pope. And for individuals who are interested in becoming a member of the committee, please be advised that candidates must also demonstrate a commitment to ensuring that the experiences and needs of our students with disabilities and their families are represented in all the

100decisions that we make. You can go to the board's website at cpsb.org and apply online. You may also direct any questions to Debbie and I at bac at cps.edu. Thank you. I just want to take a moment to acknowledge and thank everyone who, you know, puts extra effort in to stand these committees up. Uh they don't do so on their own. It's an incredible amount of work that goes into establishing a process for community engagement and to push these initiatives forward within the district. So hats off to everyone who's putting that extra commitment in. We really appreciate it. This month we have student voice roundt presentation. Uh we are very privileged to have member Singleton present to us uh this morning. The floor is yours ma'am. Okay, good afternoon board members. >> Good afternoon. >>

101Um, also good afternoon CEO King and my fellow students. Uh, my name is Destiny Singleton and I am a 12th grader at inter Ogden International High School. Um, and I'm super passionate about advocacy, especially in the mental health space. Um, and in my personal background, mental health hasn't always been a priority. So, that makes me want to change this kind of culture and shift to something better. I consider myself to be a somewhat introvert. So, that has led me to be bulldozed over when speaking about things I'm passionate about. So, that's why I think it's so important for people to speak up for themselves and others. I'm coming to you as a student fresh off of college application season. Um, recently overcoming sickness this week and completing all my final exams and I actually submitted

102my last final at 11:57 p.m. last night. So, that is a testament that is a testament to how important this topic is to me to be here. Um, so please give me some grace today. Today's agenda consists of the student voice table initiative overview, student voice round table mental health snapshot, roundt key takeaways, and a call to action. Before we get started, I want to provide some background information. The board of education partners with the department of student voice and engagement to host three roundt discussions and three public presentations to the board of education during the 2025 to 2026 school year. The intent of the collaboration is to work in alignment with the initiative of developing avenues to elevate authentic student voice based on the lived experiences of Chicago public schools and create a space

103for inclusive partnership between adults and students. On September 16th, the board in the department of student voice and engagement hosted a student roundt on mental health. For context, 12 students from nine CPS high schools were in attendance. Student participants included the 2025 to 2026 honorary student board member, aka me. Um, some of the top honorary student board applicants and also a few student voice committee members. Adult participants included board members and CPS staff. There were several key objectives of this round table, but the main objectives were to build a space where students could come together and create a shared meeting on the topic of mental health and for the board to learn from students about student mental health to better inform their decisions and stance as board members. This school year, we had a record-breaking

104amount of students that applied for the honorary student board member role, and majority of them listed mental health as a top priority in their applications. This inspired us to create a space for some of the top applicants to have their experiences be voiced. There are several reasons why mental health matters. As stated on the slide, mental health is incredibly crucial to everyday life. It is at the center of everything that you do. It impacts how you interact with others and it's something that students care a lot about. Now let's dive right into the following key takeaways that came up from students that were present at the round table. I have been in communication with the students to inform this presentation. First, it was incredibly enlightening to be in this space to learn from each other

105as students to be heard and to be related to and to be affirmed by each other. Second, there are a lot of key factors that impact student mental health that include academic pressure, lack of safety as young people living in Chicago dealing with gun violence and bullying, pressure to participate and juggle extracurriculars along with academics and life as a whole. As students, we believe that understanding these emotions and communicating them and learning how to manage them effectively is an important skill that students want to learn. The results people often see surrounding mental health where whether that be shootings, outbursts, or more commonly known among students as crashes, isn't a one-time thing. It's a long-ticking time bomb with a lit fuse that can be diffused properly with education. We must also acknowledge that sometimes discussing mental

106health doesn't feel safe because of stigmas. And as young people, we speak differently about mental health compared to older generations. And we often feel shared to share our experiences surrounding mental health due to shame and experience and our feeling like our experiences will be invalidated by different cultures and adults as a whole. Some other key takeaways that we noticed were there were lots of inequities in terms of the level of communication, engagement, and awareness students from different schools get regarding mental health resources CPS offers within schools. This undermines a lot of the work that CPS has done to help students. One of the points that came up during the present during the round table was that students from larger schools weren't aware of the Hazel Health counseling services versus my experiences where resources are publicly

107displayed and communicated to students via email. Another thing we noticed that was some school counselors within high schools primarily give academic and post-secary help and many students feel like they can't go to them when they're having a mental health issue. While within my school, I feel comfortable going to my school counselors for mental health support. Shout out to my school counselors, Miss Witherspoon and Miss Crossen at Ogden International. Um, but other students feel like they don't have anyone to turn to. While CPS gives five mental health days per year to students, they feel like they can't take that without coming back to school and there being a mountain a mountain of work on their back that makes their mental health even more worse. So it effectively defeats the purpose of taking the mental health day.

108Lastly, here's our call to action to all adults, educators, and leaders to keep at the top of their minds in the roles. First, students do not understand what it's like to be a teenager in 2025 where violence is on the rise, social media is everywhere, and immense pressure students are under can have a lasting negative impact. So when you interact with students, please show us love and kindness and empathy. Secondly, use so CPS social media to advertise mental health resources because there is an opportunity to expand this outreach there. But last but not least, let's explore the idea of having an official mental health day in CPS so everyone can get a break without feeling like everyone else has moved on without them. This was my very first round table ever, but even more specifically

109as the honorary student board member. So, it was so exciting and I was so grateful to be in this space and to be a listening ear and now be able to amplify the stories and experiences I heard to the board. The next steps being taken is hosting another mental health round table in early 2026 where I am happy to announce that I will be a co-f facilitator and the next student presentation will include other student leaders. Thank you all very much. This concludes my presentation. Member Singleton, we really appreciate your leadership here and I look forward to working with you personally on expanding that mental health day concept. I think that's spot on. Are there any other comments from the board? You're fantastic and we made the right decision in inviting you to the board.

110>> Absolutely. >> Appreciate your leadership. Thank you. Member Brown, >> I had my hand up. >> Real quick, Miss Singleton, are there other issue areas that you all are thinking about doing roundts about >> Sean? Hello everyone. My name is Milra Garcia. I am the student voice and leadership manager for the department of student voice and engagement. And I'm very lucky to be able to partner with the board of education and specifically with Destiny on this initiative for this school year based on what we learned from the honorary student board member applicants. We saw this passion and the sense of urgency for the topic of mental health. And so we're going to continue to engage in the topic of mental health with different emphasis and focuses. So for the month, so early 2026, we're going

111to be focusing on mental health with the the current impact on immigration. >> Okay. >> And we'll continue to learn, grow, and expand from there. >> Member Paul, >> I'm sorry. >> I just want to say it's just really Thank you for that. And it's the the topic of mental health. The young people that I engage with, my son being one of them, like I wanted to understand like why was Rod Wave so popular as an artist like young people love Rod Wade and they call and but when you listen to his music it's like he's a therapist, you know what I mean? And so they listen to this music that talks about getting out of depression and things of that nature. But it also speaks to what's lacking in regards to infrastructure in our

112society. So I was just curious about one wasn't anything else being discussed and then just had me reflecting on the mental health piece. So that was it. Member Paul. >> Yeah. I really want to commend you for taking this topic on and for working with a wide variety of students and young people around the city on this topic. So often it's a topic that is shrouded in shame and embarrassment and a topic that people feel like, oh, I will be judged if I acknowledge that I'm struggling and that I'm having problems. I think elevating it in this way and talking about it is super important. I'm really glad you're doing this. I have a background in mental health myself. I have a master's in couple and family therapy that I got at the Adler school

113which is right here in this building. And I think that nurturing our mental health, taking care of ourselves as individuals, as family units, as community members, is vitally important to empowering us to take the steps that we need to to make our society more responsive to improve conditions of living. working together, cooperating on the kinds of projects that can move us forward as a school district, as a city, and as a nation. So, thank you for being an important part of this, and I hope to be able to join you for your next discussion, >> member Lopez, and then we'll close with member Blaze. >> Thank you. for the students that are interested in participating in the next round table. Uh is there any information that could be shared or will this be sent over

114to the schools? Um also thank you for your leadership and helping lead those conversations. I know there was various activities that also happened not just uh verbal discussions but there was engagement and thank you for the board staff for putting it together. >> Yeah, thank you. That is a great question. So we currently have an open uh sign up form interest form for any student that wants to participate in the round table and we are socializing that um through our school principles but also our student voice committee network. >> I would love if it's possible for the board staff um to rebump it in our emails. I would love to share that given the topic for next discussion. I'm sure myself and board member Losano want to circulate that among the schools in our district.

115Thank you. >> Yes, that's awesome. Thank you for the support. Um, I just wanna put a spotlight on what our um, student board member Destiny said that they many of the youth don't feel safe because the adults around them don't respect mental health and their need to feel better and their desire to go through the process of of processing emotional um, what whatever they're going through. I just want to say I'm sorry. Um we grew up wrong. We were all told to suck it up and to get at it. And so we're still learning what we need to do to take care of ourselves. But I I would just like I would just like to underscore to everybody um that when you can I find myself protecting my kids from my parents. when you can't

116stick up for your kids um and and and in in within the school context as well, just understand that they're um they need protecting on a variety of levels. Um and and I heard you. We heard you. We we hear you. So, thank you for sharing here. This is why it's so important that you're here. This is why we jumped up and down and clapped really hard when you got here. Thank you so much. And you know, I I just want to highlight thank you again uh member Singleton for your advocacy for students. Uh from the first day that you got on the board, you start making recommendations for how we can innovate that matter and that uh have been taken seriously. So, thank you for your membership and what you bring to this body.

117Um, the reason I was late, I was just doing an address to CPS counselors, uh, as we talk about mental health, CPS is doing a lot of great things that go unrecognized and untalked about, uh, in terms of right now we have a count, one counselor for every school, preK through 8th grade. Uh the national standard uh is usually one uh counselor per 250 students. That's the national standard. Right now CPS is uh one counselor for every for every 245 students. So we're actually breaking records for the students that we are serving. uh counselors are doing everything in CPS from IEPs, post-secary, uh uh academic achievement, medical recommendations. Counselors are setting the climate and the culture for our schools. If you walk in a school and your counselor's doors closed, they're not doing the job

118right. If they're not walking the hallway, they're not doing the job right. uh we have some excellent uh counselors in CPS and one of the things that we're finding member Singleton is that uh like uh member Blae uh was referring to when we grew up you only saw the counselor if you were in a fight. You only saw the counselor if you were in trouble. So, a lot of parents don't know how to take the recommendations from the innovations that our counselors are making today because a lot of parents aren't connected to how to interact with school counselors. And so I think that as we talk about student voice, one of the greatest things that we can do to really use the expertise that we already have in the system is start to connect uh

119some of these departments that don't usually connect. So if student voice connects with the counseling department, I suspect that great things can come out of that. And I already know that our superintendent uh has been working on this issue. Uh I I want to thank you know people from the face department like uh Kareem Pender who we see in the community at Bright at Bronzeville whenever there's a situation uh I see the expertise of Kareem Pender in our communities and these are just you know one or two departments I'm talking about but there are departments in CPS teaching and learning the counseling department arts arts department that are already engaged in these this work, but unfortunately they're engaged in it in silos. I believe that your voice has the opportunity to bring unity to the

120department and help us serve even more students in a more unified way. Thank you for that call to action and please utilize the historic knowledge and expertise because CPS is doing great things regardless to what you see on the algorithm that's out of sync. Let's create our own narrative. Thank you. We'll move on to public participation. Thank you for joining to share your comments with the board. In compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, public participation, sometimes referred to as public comment, is a portion of the board meeting or hearing that grants district stakeholders the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments. Note that public participation is a time for the board and CPS senior leadership to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue with board members during

121or after your remarks. And while we can't just discuss personnel matters, poll participation is a key component of transparent governance and it provides us as board members as well as senior leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has signed to speak. The board takes equity of voice very seriously and while we may not address your concerns or comments during the public participation, CPS leadership is always present at our meetings and are able to address concerns as follow-ups after the meeting. And as a district and as a board, we also have many other spaces for authentic dialogue. For example, each and every one of our board members host board office hours so that we can have a conversation. So, we invite you to use our website cpsb.org. board. If you want to meet with the

122board member during office hours, we encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with board members outside of a board meeting. Thank you for your attention and consideration. And as a reminder, union representatives will be allotted 5 minutes to speak before public participation and any elected officials will be allotted 5 minutes to speak after the conclusion of public participation. Board Secretary, please share the rules of public participation. >> Thank you, President Harden. Members of the public who registered to speak were given the option to attend in person or via an electronic format. For those who prefer to attend via an electronic format, they were given information to access this meeting by dialing a number and using their phone. We did this so that speakers with limited or no access to the internet or

123who may have weak internet connection could still participate using their phones. Also, members of the public may submit written comments for board of education meetings via the written comments form on the board's website at cpsboe.org or mailed to 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. Written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5:00 PM the day after the board of education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within five business days on our website at cpsb.org. Speakers, please listen while I provide directions for public participation. I will call your name and number when it is your turn to speak. For speakers joining us virtually, as a reminder to unmute, please enter star six. Once you hear your name, please state your name for the record. I will then start the

124two-minut timer. When there are 30 seconds remaining, I will inform you so that you can proceed to conclude your remarks to allow for the next speaker to begin. For anyone standing with a speaker, note that in order to comply with the city's fire code, please stand along the glass partitions on the marked spots to keep aisles clear. Thank you. President Harden, before we begin calling registered speakers from the speakers list, we do have union reps who would like to address the board. We'll begin with Dr. Diane Castro, CTU financial secretary, who is here in person. Good morning. My name is Dr. Diane Castro and I'm the financial secretary at the CTU. I'm a bilingual preschool teacher on leave. When I was in the classroom, the intervention we were expected to provide consistently was around attendance.

125We came up with creative solutions such as writing social stories, filling our classrooms with preferred activities, and calling families. We went above and beyond the way that educators do every single day. In fact, I pref uh frequently had perfect attendance. That is until Donald Trump won his second term as president. I know that my attendance numbers would dip, that my families would stop sending their children to school, and that students who had been in my classroom every day would be missing for days at a time without word, no notice, but plenty of fear. Greg Bovino is back in our city, wrecking havoc, fear, and intimidation. That's what this administration knows, cruelty. Yet, I am back here again because we still do not have a solution for the students who do not come to school because

126of the fear of being kidnapped in their communities. A WBZ report recently highlighted that the days that with the largest attendance dips in our district coincided with increased ICE activity. You cannot expect our educators and school families to act as though these are normal times. They are not. In fact, acting as though this administration is behaving normally, as though being kidnapped in your community is normal, capitulates to the administration and their authoritarianism. We are grateful for the partnership around training for our educators with sanctuary and safety teams. We still need your partnership for solutions for our students as we know that this administration is not done terrorizing the people of Chicago. We have suggested several ways to intervene and support our students in this moment of crisis as their families are being terrorized by federal

127agents. We have questions as to why virtual options are still not being recommended through the virtual academy where educators are ready and willing to support our students. We have questions as to why we have not heard of a plan that includes central office workers working through the next few weeks to make those phone calls, to make those house visits, to ensure that our families have access to reliable internet and Chromebooks. What is the status of reaching out to Isby for these extenduating circumstances that impact so many of our students? Our students want to learn and their families value their education. As educators, we were asked to go above and beyond and prov conduct interventions to make sure our students came to school. Right now, we're seeing more from community members coming together and make sure

128our students make it to school with walking school buses and mutual aid. And from students like those at Solorio High School, who typically fundraised to give dreamers access to scholarship, now turn to use those very same dollars to help solo students with parents who've been detained or deported to pay rent and other expenses. We need to see a concerted effort from this body to provide the interventions that we see coming from educators, community members, and students. It is also not normal to act as though what is going on in our charter spaces is acceptable. We have been here countless times regarding charter operators who have been irresponsible with students, communities, and families in their care. Charter operators continue to fail their school communities. Aspira in addition to Epic, Aero, and Shy Arts is facing uncertainty

129about the remainder of the school year. Your advocacy thus far has stabilized them to reach winter break. And then what? It is the responsibility of Aspa and CPS to create a plan that sustains these schools until the end of this year and directs a path for their future. Our students will leave for winter break on Friday, not knowing if they will have a school to return to in January. Are we really going to allow Aspa to hide property away and then beg you all for more money? Your charter resolution requires financial responsibility and regular feedback and oversight. This board recognize the importance of uninterrupted provision of educational services to students by operators of charter schools. The students, parents, teachers, and staff need your support to ensure stability for their schools for the remainder of this

130school year. And as we discuss muchneeded resources for my our migrant communities and for our charter families, I would be remiss if I did not also highlight the resources needed by schools like Bright Elementary School. The educators and families have long requested safe passages. We know that they will now have that through the end of the school year. That's good news. And they still do not have a restorative justice coordinator. The educators still have not had support or training around restorative justice principles. to then hear that these students and families who have long been neglected are being expelled by a district who did not provide for them and these are young children at that. >> This is astonishing. What message are we giving to young people when we do not provide them adequate support but

131when they demonstrate the extreme need for social emotional learning and restorative justice? Instead, it is decided to expel them. Lastly, with yesterday's news of Trump's administration slashing the funding for community schools, once again, we implore you to join us in active effort to secure the nearly $2 billion we are currently owed by the state. We are an important crossroads. We either pretend that everything happening is normal and become complicit with the federal administration or we stand up against the Trump regime and authoritarianism and provide the sto the supports that this district desperately needs. Let's work together to provide access to learning to the families who are terrorized, hold charter operators accountable, and provide restitution to the schools that have long needed your support. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next union rep

132is Jen Conant, CTU charter division chair, who is here in person. Good afternoon, members of the board and CEO King. I stand before you today to once again advocate for our charter and contract school communities. Our schools are full of dedicated educators and families who want the best for their children. But unfortunately, this year has been full of uncertainty for students and educators. We're grateful that this board chose to keep Shy Arts open by making it a district-managed school after its charter management chose to close the school without a word to families, staff, or community. Thank you for listening to families and staff about the uniqueness of this school. I want to raise an issue that is also an issue for educators at the five schools transferring to the district next year, and that is

133health insurance. Staff will be laid off from their current employer and without insurance until September, according to CPS. This will pose a major issue for folks with significant or chronic health conditions. Our goal is to provide stability and keep our school communities whole. So, I urge CPS to consider options that would allow educators and staff at transitioning schools to have health insurance in August. Next, let's talk about Aspira. You'll get a chance to hear from parents today. You've heard from Aspirit Educators at the last few board meetings, but today despite the threat of going unpaid over the holidays, they're in the midst of final exams, finalizing grades, and supporting students. So, I am here on their behalf. Espira says they do not have the money to continue operations despite being given the same funding that

134all other charter schools receive to run their schools and despite having the same funding on average as district schools and despite owning millions of dollars in assets that school funding has helped support. We appreciate that CPS has advanced funds so Aspira could remain open after Thanksgiving, but we are once again in a crisis. Espir says they do not have funds for payroll on December 26th. We know CPS has concerns and questions about Aspir's finances. So do we. As CPS works to analyze the Spir's finances, we hope you will continue to advance quarter 3 and quarter 4 funds. But at some point, there will not be more money to advance. So we urge the district to work with the Spir to develop a plan for how to sustain their operations until the end of the school

135year. The stress and instability of not knowing whether a spir schools will be open in the months ahead is not fair to students or staff. The thought that high school seniors may not be able to graduate from the school at the end of the year should be unacceptable to all of us. A sphere's financial issues point to broader issues in the charter sector. Charters popped up 20 plus years ago on the idea that families should have more choices and that competition would would somehow improve schools. Charter operators believe schools who recruit more students should get more money. Charter operators could do more with less. Topheavy administrative structures are just fine. The voices of parents and teachers through their LSC's and unions are barriers to progress. And public school funds getting tied up in private investments

136in real estate and bond holders is acceptable. But now that fewer students are enrolling in charter schools, the bottom is dropping out and charter families and educators are paying the price. Every board meeting for the last year and a half, we've been talking to you about one charter school or another that's in crisis. But we can't put out one fire at a time anymore. These problems are structural. We've watched multiple charter operators run into financial crisis after school funds found their way into real estate investments, choose to close their doors without so much as a conversation with students, families, and educators they're meant to serve, threatened to close their doors mid year, leaving high school seniors potentially unable to graduate unless the board of ed met operator demands for millions of dollars. These aren't coincidences

137that came out of nowhere. CPS was warned it was coming. These are structural problems and they will continue. We appreciate your support in our fight to protect our students, our schools, and this district. But what we really need are solutions. The educators who dedicate themselves to these schools must be treated as important partners in an effort to reform the system. We need CPS to treat us and families as partners and stakeholders instead of choosing to speak to the corporate leaders and industry lobbyists like Inks who are often not in a position to represent our school community's needs. So board members, we ask that you push a spirit to create a plan and find a creative solution that ensures a spirit doesn't close its doors mid year. Think about the challenges as students and staff transitioning

138from a charter school to a district school and again find new solutions and push CPS to get input from the real stakeholders on how to improve the system so that in future years charter operators do not continue to announce midyear that they do not have the funds to operate. >> You have 30 seconds remaining. >> Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Germaine Reeves, SEIU Local 73 director of the CPS division, who is here joining us in person. So, good morning, President Harden, board members, and Dr. King. Going to talk today about two uh important matters. Uh number one, if we go back to September of this school year, uh due to budget cuts, there was a tough decision to lay off uh the private custodians, which resulted in a worker deficit

139of 500 workers. Coupled that with the 200 that were laid off the summer prior. So now we're looking at a 700 worker deficit. This has a a significant impact on the cleanliness of CPS schools and facilities. Um, the remaining custodians that are working in the schools and the facilities have remained committed to the schools that they service, to the students that they service, and doing the best that they can possibly to keep those facilities clean, but still recognizing that worker deficit. We ask that you all as a board and that the bo and that the district recognize this loyalty and the hard work of trying to keep these buildings clean with a worker deficit that there is no negative impact or negative results on the upcoming midyear evaluations um as a as a result of

140the work not being able to be completed to the standards that it normally would be had there been a complete workforce. Um, so we ask that you gift these uh members, these workers who are working so hard and diligently and showing loyalty. You gift them with peace of mind knowing that, hey, we recognize you're doing the best that you possibly can. You're not going to be able to get the results that would normally be attained had the workforce been complete and restored. And so just keep working the best that you can while the district works on getting enough funding to replenish and restore the workforce. The second thing I want to talk to you about is miscellaneous workers made a choice to organize and properly file with the labor board in order to join SEIU

141Local 73. We're asking that this board support those workers by gifting them zero opposition and demanding that CPS do not oppose these workers' right to unionize. Let them join our union. Let them advocate not only for themselves but for the students that they service. They want simple things like a livable wage in the city of Chicago, health insurance, and the opportunity to lift their voice to raise concerns and issues that they see from their perspective that can help better the learning environments in the schools that they service. So, with that being said, grant these hard workers a very uh happy holiday season and in turn, we wish you all the same. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. President Harden, we are now ready to call speakers from the speakers list. And we will

142start with Peter Collins, speaker number one. >> This speaker and the next speaker is from Aero Charter Schools. My name is Peter Collins and Asero teacher. Members of this board, please remind CPS of their obligation to every one of their students. Over the last year, Asero and other CPS charter operators have closed schools. CPS has argued that they're limited in what they can do and therefore CPS uh has restricted their ability to mitigate the damage when there's failure. We actually just heard that language used in regards to institudo. But my question is, how are they separate? CPS gives charter operators tens of millions of dollars every year and renews those charter contracts every few years. If there's serious issues at my school, CPS officials are involved. My students chose their school through Go CPS using

143CPS email accounts, which they also used to email my CPS account. There's an entire CPS department dedicated to overseeing charter schools. So where exactly is the separation between CPS and its charters? The idea of separation seems to exist only when it's convenient, a fig leaf to absolve CPS of responsibility for charter failures so the people in charge can be promoted and move on. I sincerely hope someone asked Mr. Carmona about uh the decision to renew Institut's charter while ISBY was screaming about the harm being done to CPS students. Look at the Asero transition. Teachers who have spent years, in some cases over a decade, educating CPS students are being told that when their schools become CPS schools, they're treated the same as brand new hires, losing health insurance and maternity leave benefits for a whole

144year. This is as short-sighted as it is unfair. These are not new teachers or new students. The only thing that's new is the label CPS is using to avoid responsibility for their failures to ensure that the people they trusted could be relied on. Teachers who are offered no benefits will take other jobs. So, who's the victim here? The students left behind in a destroyed school community. Don't let CPS officials walk away from a fire he helped start. This is far from the only example of CPS treating separation as an excuse to cover their failure. Take Sarosto. After Sarah closed school's mid-contract, they also made budget cuts, cutting all sport, all after school clubs in several sports. To try to increase our budget, our school increased enrollment. And yet, our attempts to discuss this resulting budget

145surplus with the Sarah have been met by silence. When CPS allows charter operators to use smoke and mirrors to keep money out of classrooms, who is the victim? Children. Charter or not, CPS has a moral obligation to protect them, not just when it's convenient. I urge this board to remind CPS leadership their responsibility to protect all CPS students. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Roxanna Contras, speaker number 17. Good afternoon, President Co and distinguished board members. My name is Roxanna Contras and I am proud parent of Rihanna Chiwake, a fifth grader at a set of Brighton Park. I have lived in Brighton Park community for about 25 years and I also have two older childrens. My oldest son is currently in college and my oldest daughter is attending Crane Medical

146Prep. Both of them are both of them also graduate from a set of Brighton Park. I chose a set of bright and park after my child was attending CPS school and I wasn't satisi satisfied with the education there. I decided to transfer them and since then I I have been grateful for the positive experience my children will have my children have at Brighton Park. One of the things I appreciate most about Brighton Park is the smaller class size sizes and the teachers are dedicated to ensure students don't fall behind in all subjects and they know every child by their name. This personal connection makes the school feel like a family and the communication between parents and teachers and outstanding. I am also a parent volunteer at the school. Last year I graduated graduated from parent

147compromos parent program and I attended civics for all. I have participated in various parent workshops throughout the school year and volunteer in school events like the annual field day. You have 30 seconds for me. >> I enjoyed I am a proud parent not only because they care for our children but also because they care about us as parents. The school provides with valuable programs throughout the year helping us to learn and support our children both at home and at school. They also connect with us community resource available rights here and our neighbors which also been incredible helpful during these challenging times. In conclusion, I believe AET should be grateful granted a a longer chapter renewal because our children deserve quality education, allowing us to remain open, giving our parents like like me the choice to

148send our children to a school that provides a stronger education and supported communication right in our neighborhood. I kindly ask please conclude your remarks >> for your consideration renewing the contract for a longer period so that all families can experience all the Brighton Park has to offer. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next two speakers are from Hogan Elementary, Esther Pomerani, speaker number 12. Good afternoon. I am a proud Hogan parent and an LSC member. I provided you with two handouts. The top page shows you how CPS sees Hogan and the bottom page is our reality. Take a peek into this reality with me. On Monday, a CPS contracted vision provider came to conduct vision screening. It's a critical part of the IEP process. This year, the only available area with

149enough space was the school stage. In that same room is where indoor recess is held during the winter. At the end of the first day, the provider cancelled yesterday's visit because it was too loud. They refused to return again until recess is outside, which will be in March. of the 40 students who are still untested, they won't have glasses until June. This incident demonstrates that Hoggin's request to utilize the space formerly occupied by Aspira was not made out of selfishness. It was made out of desperation. When they denied our request, the Office of Portfolio Management claimed they did their due diligence. But their offer to help Hogan explore solutions to maximize space reveals that they relied heavily on CPS's outdated building utilization formula without acknowledging our student body's educational needs. When CPS repeatedly told journalists

150last week that Hogan is not overcrowded, they conveniently ignored the new CTU contract and their own guidelines for schools with preschool and specialized classrooms. >> You have 30 seconds remaining. If CPS followed its own current space utilization formula, Hoggins enrollment, we'd be 13 students. We have 176. Even when properly applied, the current formula is deeply flawed. It pretends that each class, even preschool, bilingual, or special education, can function with the same number of students. It pretends that a magically ideal number of students enroll. It is applied to every building without taking into consideration the unique needs of the specific school community. Hogan students deserve equitable access to education. Please advocate for them. Hogan needs space to give its students a chance to thrive. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker, Marne

151Wilson, speaker number two. >> Good afternoon. I'm also here for Hogan. I'm a civil rights attorney and a community member on the Hogan LSC. Um you just heard and you can see in front of you the evidence that we have uh that we are over capacity. Um we really truly ask you please board members walk the equity walk. We ask you to come to the school and see with your own eyes that we are out of space. We are over capacity. We have six closets being used by professionals. We have no school library. We have two counselors for a thousand students. And those counselors are in what used to be the library offering social and emotional learning on a 3x3 3 foot by three foot space on the floor. Please do not just listen to

152the information that you've been given by CPS using old formulas to suggest that we're not overcrowded when the conditions for our children are totally unacceptable. And I can tell you as a civil rights attorney, I believe that there is discrimination and inequity and racism occurring here. CPS's principles in this book, the five-year strategic plan, Together We Rise, says that neighborhood schools are supposed to be prioritized. It says every student can rely on their neighborhood school as a strong option for their education journey. But apparently this does not apply to the poor brown migrant Hogan neighborhood where CPS is trying to contain our growth. Families are choosing Hogan. But rather than providing us with the space we need for our children, CPS is trying to constrain our growth by creating conditions that pressure families to choose

153another school. And then they're calling that choice. Choice means disinvestment in an already underprivileged uh community that has been disinvested in for years. We are asking you to please visit us, see with your own eyes, then direct CPS to allow us to use the fourth floor of a building that's a block away of us as a temporary stop gap measure. This is not collocation under the school code. This can be done by the board. This is not moving our school into another space. That's not collocation. You have it within your power to approve that. Please let us use the third floor of that building block away from us as a temporary stop gap measure starting next year if not now. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Tania. Hi,

154speaker number five. I'm sorry, Tania. Hey, speaker number five. Thank you. I'm Tanya Hag, president of Kids Too, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting students in areas such as educator sexual misconduct and online safety while advocating for parental involvement and evolving the role of school boards to be more active in representing the needs of students and their families. I'm here to talk about behavior that goes unchecked of educators and administrators that roam the halls of our Chicago public schools. With me is Anna Solano, a 2012 graduate from Little Village High School. This year, Anna and along with other courageous young women shared their stories on NBC5 Investigate series. However, we all know in this room that CPS has a history around this issue. Even with the establishment of the OIG office and the passage of legislation

155like faith law, you need to do better. Lastly, I stand here today to represent our Illinois taxpayers looking for solutions. Two weeks ago, you all approved a financial settlement to a survivor of sexual misconduct for $17.5 million, which made national news headlines. No amount of money will help this young woman reclaim the high school years that she should have had without an adult praying on her, assaulting her, and being a key driver to ending her pregnancies. She deserves everything. This landmark settlement comes at a time when you all are trying to figure out how to close a budget deficit. >> I have some suggestions on how you can be more fiscally responsible by reducing risk while improving student protection outcomes. Number one, reduce your liabilities. do so by properly staffing the OIG office and accelerate

156the investigation process. Number two, update the collective bargaining agreement. You will stop spending money on predators being paid full salaries while they're being investigated. Number three, incentivize the adults who do their job to report. It'll save the board millions of dollars from an increase in its insurance premium due to negligence. The status quo is not working. Protecting predators does not make financial sense. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Chicago Collegiate Charter School. Tisha Robinson, speaker number six, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> President Harden, can we get a copy of the that statement? Can you leave us a cop copy of your um statement that you just made? Tisha Robinson, speaker number six, who's joining us virtually. >> I'm here. >> Please

157proceed. >> Good afternoon, board. I appreciate you lending your ear. I am Taiisha Robinson, the proud principal of Chicago Collegiate Charter School, here asking for a five to sevenyear renewal to continue the good work we are doing in the community. We have met or exceeded all but one of CPS's standards across academics, finance, operations, and governance. So, with that, I respectfully request and frankly believe that we deserve a minimum of a five-year renewal. For the first time in over decades, the city of Chicago has significantly reduced its number of murders. And I like to think that the work we are doing with the kids in Rosland has something to do with that. I came all the way from to Chicago, Illinois from Houston, Texas, because I believe in the mission and the vision of Chicago

158Collegiate Charter School and I understand the importance of doing impact work. As Chicago Collegiate, we have graduated students with millions of dollars in merit scholarships and thousands of acceptances to four-year colleges and universities. This effort must continue to keep going. We need you to grant us a five to sevenyear renewal if you too understand the importance of keeping kids in school and off the streets. The onus is upon you to help us to keep our city safe. 5 to 7 is the ask from Chicago Collegiate Charter Schools. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tiffany Daniels, speaker number 22, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Tiffany Daniels, speaker number 22, please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon. >> Thank you. Proceed. >> Yes, please proceed. >> Okay. >>

159Thank you. My name is Tiffany Daniels and I'm the high school modern world history and performing arts teacher at Chicago Collegiate Charter School. My initial introduction to this illustrious academic nucleus came in 2014 when I was referred by the pastor of Rosen Christian Ministries to meet with the founder to offer my performing arts services to the school. Once becoming a part of the Chicago collegiate family, I've witnessed how the rigorous curriculum and holistic approach to education empowered the students in this community. I've seen children go from deficient to determined. Our success rate is incomparable. What would elevate greater outcomes is our own building and our renewal. Our middle school and high school scholars have deserve the opportunity to achieve academic excellence in a building that is fully equipped with every necessary tool needed to grow

160and thrive. We have met or exceeded all but one of CPS's standards across academics, finance, operations, governance, and respectfully request with the minimum of a five-year renewal. Thank you for allowing me to advocate for my school that has not only graduated over a hundred students with full ride college acceptances and millions of dollars in merit and academic scholarships but also invest in the staff and families guaranteeing a purposeful and productive future. Thank you all so much and have a happy holiday. >> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from the Academy for Global Citizenship. Violeta Wrangle, speaker number nine. >> Good morning. My name is Viola Talankel. I am a class of 2021 Academy for Global Citizenship alumni. I am speaking on behalf of AGC today because its renewal supports a school

161that uplifts students, families, and my entire community. I was born and raised on the southwest side of Chicago, known as a brown and black community facing food insecurity, ICE threats, environmental and social injustices, and the list goes on. AGC taught me to be a social justice warrior with confidence and conviction to take on challenges to make my community and the world a better place. AGC is a human- centered place and this is where I also learned the importance of mental health, compassion, and empathy. Thanks to AGC's IB and dual language programs and focus on the whole child through the wellness aspect, I am proud to say I am a I am currently a freshman at Bo College in Wisconsin. ACC's curriculum prepared me for leading college seminars while maintaining my sense of community in my

162heart. I am also a proud alumna who was in the first class to be in the dual language program. I am extremely thankful for being bilingual and biliterate as this is a way I reclaim my identity while my community is under attack. AC instilled undeniable values within me. I cons I constantly talk about how much I love AGC and this is what inspires me to pursue a career in education. My plan is to come back to Chicago and be an art education within the city. As I mentioned earlier, one of the things I love about ACC is the constant commitment to students. At ACC, students are listen to. We are taught to be anti-racist, and we are prepared for post-secary education. We are taught to reimagine education, rethink what school lunch could look like, and

163yes, we have the most amazing culinary program. I request that you think of my words in your decision to renew AGC, and I ask for the full 10-year renewal. AGC is a place where students are known, supported, and prepared for what comes next. I also ask Fujitsu, Ed, Anushia, Emma, and Shawn to please visit AGC. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Jacqueline Rodriguez, speaker number 27. >> Good afternoon, Superintendent King, President Harden, and the members of the board. My name is Jacqueline Rodriguez, and I am a parent from the Academy for Global Citizenship. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. Agency is a K- through8 school in thelair Courts community neighborhood in the southwest side of Chicago where we serve almost 500 students. And I stand here asking

164this board to please grant the AGC the maximum 10-year charter renewal. I'm not just here asking for time. I'm here today instead of doing my late uh Christmas shopping because this is more important and really and truly this is the only gift I want uh for our school and our staff and our kids and that is stability. I'm a very proud mother of one uh little girl and each and every day I feel immense pressure to get her future right to help her navigate her inner and outer world with courage and love and respect while also encouraging her in the arts and the world at large and AGC supports me in doing this. So, I'm here today in support of AGC staff, especially principal Benny Sales, who is here with us today, and principal Saskuke

165Rambutz, who is holding down the fort at school. Um, as they think about the weight of the future of almost 500 children. I don't say this lightly as a mother, but I trust them. I trust them. And our kids are thriving. and not just as scholars, but as Vleta said, as whole humans, >> a 10-year term would allow staff to focus all of their heart-c centered energy into the kids instead of another three or five or sevenyear renewal having to do it again. So, please get us off the renewal treadmill and please come to Academy for Global Citizenship um and give our children the gift of a stable 10-year future. Thank you for your time and happy holidays to you all. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Thank you. The next two speakers are

166from Institutal Health Science Sciences Career Academy. Desi Merrick, speaker number 10 Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Desessie Merrick and I'm a special education teacher at Ishka, a charter high school with CPS. I have served students with disabilities in both instructional and leadership roles and I'm committed to ensuring that every student receives the services and supports to which they are legally and ethically entitled. In my role, I provide special education instruction, implementation, and monitor IEPs and collaborate closely with general education teachers, service providers, and families. My work is grounded in compliance, equity, and access. Because when systems function well, students thrive. Over the past year, I've seen measurable progress in our special education program. Our systems are more structured. Collaboration has improved. Service delivery has become more consistent. Internal progress monitoring shows increased student engagement,

167improved completion of assigned work, and stronger alignment between their IEP goals and our instructional practices. These improvements are not just procedural. They directly impact students. For example, I work with a student who previously struggled to engage in class and complete assignments due to unmet learning needs. Through consistent implementation of accommodations, targeted instruction, and coordinated support, that student is now regularly attending class, participating in instruction, and earning passing grades. This is the difference that effective special education services make. One of the strongest assets at Ishka is our special education team. Despite staffing challenges, this team remains deeply committed to students and families. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> We problem solve collaboratively, advocate for appropriate supports, and held ourselves to high professional standards. We are honest about where improvement is still needed. We are proactive, transparent, and

168committed to strengthening systems so that the services are delivered consistently and sustainably. Continued staffing, resources, and institutional supports are essential to maintaining compliance. I am optimistic about the future of special education at Ishka. With continued board support and our goal of being a fully staffed sped team by the end of the year, we can continue to build a program that is not only compliant but truly effective for our students. Thank you for your time and continued support and commitment to Ishka. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Jacqueline Gransard, speaker number 21. >> Good morning. My name is Jacqueline Gransard and I'm the school social worker at Ishka Health Science Career Academy. I'm here sharing these remarks on behalf of our principal, Mr. Mendes, whose leadership we fully support. I am here

169today with a dedicated team committed to building a sustained and strong compliant and student centered special education program. We want to begin by acknowledging the seriousness of the concern outlined in the ISB sanctions level three letter. Our students deserve better. We are not here to dispute but to provide context, accountability and clarity about how we arrived at this moment and more importantly how we continue to address the concerns through ongoing work. Isby completed its its initial investigation August 22nd, 2023 with findings that reflected practices during the 2223 school year. Shortly before the start of the 232 24 school year, the school experienced the departure of its special education leadership and the entire special education department. This left the school without the infrastructure, personnel, or systems necessary to immediately provide services or corrective action. Rebuilding the

170special education department from the ground up is neither fast nor easy. Under Mr. Mendes's leadership, the work has been our highest priority. Over the past year, we have intentionally rebuilt staffing systems and oversight. Today, all core roles, including social work, case management, counselors, required pair professionals, are fully staffed, and additional pair professionals are in place. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> We currently have five of the eight special education teachers needed with active candidates in the hiring pipeline. All related services are fully staffed, including OT, speech, psych, and bilingual psychologists, as well as nursing. We are now currently at 100% compliance for IEPs, annuals, and 504s. The progress we made reflects deliberate leadership, collaboration with district partners, and our continued commitment to the students with disabilities. While this letter reflects past failures, it does not fully

171capture the work that has been ongoing with systems now in place to prevent these issues from reoccurring. We respectfully invite the CEO, Dr. King, and members of the board to visit our schools to see this work firsthand. Our door remains open and we welcome your partnership as we continue this work. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Intrinsic Charter School. Jocelyn Joselyn Vega, speaker number 11. Good afternoon. My name is Joselyn Vega and I'm the lead postsecary counselor at Intrinsic Schools. I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak today and to share why Intrinsic's work and our request for a seven-year renewal matters deeply to our students and families. As a charter school, Intrinsic is able to intentionally prioritize post-secondary planning in ways that

172are truly student- centered. Beginning in nth grade, all of our students visit two colleges every year through 11th grade. We also create opportunities for students to explore workforce programs and the trades, ensuring that every student can envision a future aligned to their interests and goals. In my role, I support a case of approximately 30 students. This allows me to truly know my students to understand their academic needs, their family circumstances, and their post-secary aspirations. I work closely with both students and parents, helping families navigate complex processes like the FAFSA and college decision-making. Our counseling team for counselors serving 150 seniors, is constantly researching programs, scholarships, and opportunities to ensure students have access to the best possible options. We also collaborate closely with our special education team to ensure students with disabilities have post-secary plans that

173are appropriate, supportive, and individualized. I genuinely enjoy working at Intrinsic. I am supported by strong colleagues, thoughtful administrators, and deeply engaged families. Because of intrinsic structure and partnership, we are also able to offer scholarships to our students through recurring donations. Last year alone, we awarded 180 renewable scholarships, significantly reducing students out-of-pocket costs to an average of 3,000 per year. This year, 30 seconds, >> Intrinsic is up for renewal, and we are requesting a seven-year renewal. I believe this is the is in the best interest of our students. Our students enter intrinsic in seventh grade and deserve the stability of knowing their school is approved for the full length of their middle and high school experience. Finally, I want to share that I am a proud product of a Chicago charter school myself. As a first

174generation college student, my family relied heavily on the support of my school, which helped me to choose to attend the College of Worcester. I am a living proof of what strong charter schools can do, and I see that same impact every day at Intrinsic. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Nathan Salgado, speaker number 19. >> Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Nathan Salgado. Today, I am honored to speak about intrinsic schools, but on campus, a place that has played a major role in my life. I attended intrinsic Belmont from 7th through 12 as I graduated as a class of 2022. I'm currently now a senior majoring in general marketing at Illinois State University. I'm here to express the impact that an experience that still

175carries with me along to this very day. What make what makes Intrinsics Belmont truly special is its committed to high expectations paired with real support. As a student there, I was challenged to think critically, manage my time, and take responsibility for my learning. The teachers didn't just provide lessons to us. They invested in us. They p pushed us to grow while while making sure we felt supported. Another defining strength of intrinsic Belmont is the strong sense of community for all. As a student, I felt seen and valued. And that sense of belonging didn't end at graduation. The involvement of connections and built here continues to influence my life today. The values of discipline, accountability, and perseverance taught in at intrinsic still guide me along the way to approach the challenges and opportunities. Intrinsic Belmont prepares

176the students not just for the next for the next grade, but beyond high school. The skills I gained, self- advocacy, responsibility, and confidence continue to shape the person who I am today. As a Mexican-American or Latino first generation to attend college, it is a very amazing to see how far I've come personally for not only from the support of my family, >> but the friends as well that I have grown at from intrinsic schools. Intrinsic schools is is also not only a building, but they are also a community. We are here today to respectfully ask for a seven-year renewal so that intrinsic can continue to grow providing a high quality education and opportunity to the future generations of students. Thank you so much for your time and consideration and happy holidays. >> Thank you for

177your comments. The next speaker is Jim Ferman, speaker number 13. Good afternoon. I'm Jim Ferman, associate provost at the University of Chicago. I'm here to respectfully ask the board to approve a minimum five-year renewal for the University of Chicago Charter School. You've received many letters of support from our community describing the impact you Chicago charter has had on students lives and that impact is reflected throughout our renewal application materials. In my brief remarks today, I want to focus on the University of Chicago's investment in and long-term commitment to educa education. After more than 27 years of operation, you Chicago Charter remains a primary focus of that investment. We provide operational and governance support, financial stability, and programmatic partnerships that strengthen teaching, learning, and student well-being. Research conducted at the university directly informs practice, and university-based

178programs prioritize our students. Some examples include tutoring and enrichment through the neighborhood schools program and maroon tutor match. Students participate in pipeline and college access efforts, including the collegiate scholars program and conduct research for capstone projects with the support of our library system and staff. Through the university's Kirsten Institute for Urban Education and its two and project, we analyze high school milestones and post-secary outcomes to strengthen support and college persistence for our graduates. In addition, researchers and faculties at the university focused on addressing issues such as chronic absenteeism and student mental health engage directly with and support our staff. One example of this is the development of a program focused on mental health and suicide prevention for middle school. >> You have 30 seconds remaining. >> These partnerships align with our school's strategic priorities, which

179are instructional coherence, strong school environments, and student engagement. As a result, this year we have seen improved attendance across our campuses and have launched a stronger instructional coaching model. We have maintained stable enrollment, clean audits, and strong governance throughout our current charter term. A five-year renewal will allow the school and CPS and the university together to continue this work with focus, stability, and accountability. I respectfully urge you to grant a 5-year charter renewal for UCCCs. Thank you for your leadership and your service to CPS students and families. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Katherine Jones, speaker number 14, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> Good afternoon. Can you hear me? >> Yes, please. >> Please proceed. >> Yes. Good afternoon. I am Oh, okay. I

180am Katherine Jones. Good afternoon uh uh President Hardy and CEO uh King and other distinguished members. I would like to come on and thank uh uh CEO King and President Harden for your visit to our school. I am was greatly appreciated. You all took my offer and came out. I just hate that I was not there to uh to greet you all, but we will meet each other soon. So, thank you the staff really. Thank you and the students. And I have one more uh issue that I have. I'm not going to go into the whole detail, but I am requesting a overall audit uh audit um done at Douglas Frederick Douglas High School. I have asked for some uh different information and I have not received it. I have contacted chief, my chief, and

181he's not responding to me or my community member. We have asked him to to call us and I had a relationship with him. I don't know what the issue is, but he's not responding to to me at all. And uh I I don't like what's going on. We have not voted on our budget. I hate to say all this online, but I am very disappointed and upset as a LSC local school council member for over 25 years. You all been dedicated to my Austin community and we could not get these things done. I asked for different things and I was told I cannot get it. I have never heard that before. uh local school council >> seconds remaining. >> Okay. Thank you. Local school council members are uh uh educators with the principal to work

182along with the budget and tendencies and everything. I have never heard inter principal tell me something like this before. So I am uh requesting this board CEO and you and and uh and President Harden to uh contact uh me or uh contact us and let us know what can we do. I've been calling the audit department. I have no response from there. I don't understand. I have been calling for the last two weeks left messages and email and no one has respond to my email. So what is a LSC member supposed to do if we're not getting uh resources >> if we're not getting resources from the people that's over us? So what is being done? Uh please contact me and let me know uh the process what to do. God bless each and every

183one of you all and have a merry and a happy Christmas and a process new year. Byebye. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next two >> You're welcome. >> The next two speakers are from the Chicago High School for the Arts. Casey Weldon, speaker number 18. Good morning. I'm Casey Weldon, a visual arts conservatory instructor at Shy Arts. As we transition to a CPS-run school, I'm here to ask you for the gift of security. That a commitment is made in writing to retain our teachers and staff. As you are aware, our city is under attack. My heart is heavy and with those who are missing loved ones right now. When I say I don't want federal agents in our city this winter, I know you agree. Stability and security really are so precious.

184When I was in high school, I saw my teachers significantly more than I saw my parents. Sometimes teachers are the only consistent figures a student may have in their life. After the news dropped that the Shy Arts Board and Foundation wouldn't apply for renewal, a collective pit of anxiety brewed in the school's belly. Students and teachers began a unified movement, and one phrase was reiterated again and again. Save Shy Arts. Our students deserve consistency and the courtesy to be able to finish what they started. Do not take away their teachers and staff or make their teachers reapply and reinter as you are doing with the Acero schools. Stability is not always something we can give our students in this current world. But you can help us give it here by retaining our teachers and staff.

185We also know that the path to stability is not through philanthropy only model or reliance on the Shy Arts Foundation. You can gift us security and consistency by fully funding the conservatory. It doesn't make sense to rely on philanthropy and expect different results when this is how we got here. Please give us a stable conservatory budget that comes from CPS and confirm you will keep our school whole. After all, it isn't saving Shy Arts if the Shy Arts Conservatory programs, teachers, and staff are not funded and secured. Thank you for your service and consideration. Happy holidays. >> Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Rebecca Dalvo, speaker number 29, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon, President Harden, members of the board, and Dr. King. My name

186is Rebecca Dalvo. I am the parent of a ninth grade musical theater scholar artist at Shy Arts and a member of the Shy Arts parent advocacy committee. While I cannot be with you in person today, Caroline Rutherford and Megan Pet have provided each of you with a copy of a funding proposal developed by our committee. This proposal is our direct response to this board's directive to work with CPS to identify alternative funding sources that will st sustain the nationally recognized shy arts conservatory program. As you know, this program is the heartbeat of the school, providing the pre-p profofessional training that makes our students competitive on a global stage. Last Thursday, December 11th, our committee met virtually with interim chief Conrad Timmers, executive director Cesar Terula, Michael Bores, and members of the INI team to present

187these solutions. This meeting was a vital first step. It opened a necessary dialogue about how we build a sustainable future for Shy Arts as it transitions to CPS management. We are encouraged by the initial engagement, but the work is just beginning. The Shy Arts community is not asking for support. We are showing up as active partners in solving the financial puzzles ahead. Our goal is simple. To ensure that the transition to a CPS school model does not result in the delusion of the conservator Excellent. Funding is only one piece of this puzzle. True sustainability requires stability for our people. It is essential that the community voice remains central to the principal selection process. Our families and students deserve a teacher who un teacher a leader who understands the unique intersection of rigorous academics and professional

188arts training. We must also protect educators who design our school. We urge CPS to immediately provide stability to our teachers and teaching artists by making a clear public statement regarding their job security with will the discussion about funding for the conservatory happen in January as previously discussed with the initial resolution? Important steps need to be taken to ensure that Shy Arts is heading into next school year with the strongest possible position. We ask the board to continue prioritizing this transition so that our scholar artists can focus on what they do best, creating, performing, and thriving. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to the arts in our city. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Teresa Contreras, speaker number 20. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, this speaker is

189not here. Edith Van Seenor, speaker number 28. >> Good afternoon, CPS board and CEO King. My name is Edith Guest. I am an Aspirante graduator from 2009. I stand before you today with my heart wide open. I am a proud Aspira alumni from the class of 2009. This school did not just educate me, it saved me. Aspira saw my potential when the world was quiet about it. It gave me confidence, purpose, and a future I could believe in. Today is the same future is sitting in these classrooms. My son is not a freshman at a speed at early college. My godson is a freshman too. And I stand here not only as alumni but as a mother and a godmother fighting with everything in me for the children I am here alongside my godson's mother

190because this fight is not mine alone. This is about our children the dreams their safety their education their right to a school that believes in them as not just a building. It is a refuge a foundation and a promise that is our our kids can rise higher than their circumstances. We are asking you please from the deepest place in our hearts. Help our children school financially. Do not lack do not let the lack of fun um funding silence their potential. Do not let opportunity slip away from the children who are ready to work, learn and to lead. When you fund Aspira, you fund hope. You fund future. You fund generations. I also know Miss Emma Losano, a board member here. I believe in the in the power of leadership standing the shouldertosh shoulder with families

191with educators parents and community leaders come together we become unstoppable so today 30 seconds >> I ask you to stand with us to stand for our children stand for their education stand for our future when no child is left behind because our finances because this school once stood for me and now I will always stand for it once in aspirant always in aspirant thank you happy holidays >> thank you for your comments comments. And the last speaker from the speakers list is Devonte Richardson, speaker number 30. Devonte Richardson, speaker number 30. It looks like that speaker has uh left the meeting. We do have an elected official who would like to address the board. Alderman Byron Sigto Lopez from the 25th ward uh who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> Hello.

192>> Can you hear me? >> Yes, please proceed. >> Yes. Hello. Good uh good uh afternoon members of the board and uh CEO Smith. I uh I want to take the opportunity to thank you all for your service and the important work in city council and the board working together so essential today more than ever for our children. I want to first um want to bring to your attention especially CO Smith I'm a little concerned about the lack of mention about ICE um operations around schools in particular. I think it's very important that CEO Smith uh takes a strong and open public position on the matter because the facts vast majority of kids in our district. Our kids cannot be invisible. Neither they will be dehumanized by mercenaries who come to pick up and kidnap

193families, separate families and deal with trauma. We are working very hard in the Chicago city council so that the Chicago public schools receive the tips surplus that needs and deserves because we believe in public education for every single child. So we like to see CEO Smith more on the ground to make sure the facilities >> Alman you are addressing you should be addressing Dr. King as a CEO. >> Dr. King, my apologies. And my my uh and thank you. And the other thing is important that we as a as a city and a as a board of education work diligently to make sure that we do not allow billionaires billionaires that are coming and literally buying city council members that just yesterday were willing to put our city in the brisk and the risk at

194risk of a shutdown just for donations, dirty donations that I hope they return soon as we open an inspector general investigation. My hope is that we together together with um Dr. King, the board of education and city council work together in the best interest of our children. A balanced budget that reflects the values, priorities and aspirations of majority of Chicagoans who want corporations and billionaires to pay their fair share. That is still a fight pending. But I hope that the board of education join us in this fight. The tiff dollars go in our schools to pay for the basic needs that all children need. Trauma enforced services, librarians, clinicians, supported staff, and the stop the divide and conquer tactics that the previous CEO employed to divide workers to make sure that a billionaire agenda is

195imposed. Today, more than ever, we need to worry about every single child. those same interests. But and I'm going to be clear, this is billionaire Michael Saxs who used to be the war the ram whisperer who had no problem shutting down schools in black communities who had no problem pushing an agenda that displaced 300,000 black neighbors. That's those are our neighbors. And because we have an accent doesn't mean that we're stupid and we don't see what's happening. We see what's happening in our neighbors. We see what's happening in our communities. and together working people. If anybody in the board of education is a billionaire or anybody in the room is a billionaire, I'm not speaking to you. But I know for a fact that that billionaire class is a minority. The only minority destroying our

196country or public education system that dismantling the department of education as we speak. I urge you to work together. We are going to fulfill the commitment of tier surplus to our schools. And I urge you to work together with us with every member of the council, every teacher. Stop the demonization of teachers. Teachers are not the problem. The problem has always and continued to be a billionaire agenda that dehumanize, separates, divides. And I urge you, Dr. Smith, do not Dr. King, do not do not comply comply with those interests that are trying to divide our children, our families, and ultimately now they're even kidnapping us. I urge the board of education, let's take proactive actions on a good budget, a balanced budget, a budget that reflects the aspirations and priorities of our families. As a

197CPS, as someone who sends our kids to CPS, I believe on our public education system, unlike the billionaires like Michael Sachs who had never even dared to put effort in a public education system, I dare him to try to lecture us. This is the time to stand up and thank you so much for listening to the message from members of city council who believe that a new world is possible. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your comments. >> President Harden, this concludes public participation. >> We'll now move into a short recess. Member Rio Sierra, do you have motion? >> Sorry, I was not ready. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> So I move the board to take 30 minute recess. >> I second the motion. >> Thank you. I'll proceed with a

198roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> Hi. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> I. >> Member Bannon. >> I >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Bicks. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Derry. >> I. >> 20 eyes. Zero naz. This motion is adopted by the board. This meeting will now go into a 30 minute recess. >> The meeting of the board of education is reconvene. We'll now proceed with the business

199portion of the meeting. Once Dr. King returns, we are ready for the presentation. Dr. K. We're ready for your presentation. >> While you get ready, I'm just going to thank you for um their wonderful poinsettas, uh Dr. King and the the staff. They're very lovely. >> Thank you very much. Thank you for the flowering democracy that's taking place in this district. >> I see what you did there. >> At this time, uh we will have a presentation by our academic team leaders. >> Uh thank you Dr. Kin and members of the board. Uh today we want to provide a brief academic update on a few specific items. Uh SY25 outcome data, current year attendance, quarter one grades, and early college and career credentials updates. Before we dive into the numbers, I would like to provide

200some important context. When we look at CPS compared to the state, we're serving larger populations of students with unique needs. and significantly more students who are low-income. We have welcomed many arrivals to our district over the past couple of years, many of whom are English learners and need more specialized support. So when we are comparing to the state or when we say that we are outpacing the nation on things like K2 math achievement or college enrollment, those achievement are even more incredible given that more of our students face barriers to success. It is also a testament to the fact that CPS needs to be so much more than just a school district. If we want our students to learn, the primary needs have to be addressed. And the public schools have really become the main

201public institutions in our community. We are the ones filling in the gap. We provide access to food, health care, counseling, help with benefits, safe haven for students, afterchool programming, and so much more. And in this moment with our communities reeling from the impact of the deployment of federal forces, we are doing more and more when it comes to public safety and the broader community beyond just our school grounds. So it's important to set that context for our discussion because we spend so much time talking about operations and federal activity. We have to remember that the core function of a school district is to educate our young people. So now I turn it to Chief Milberg who will speak about our SY25 outcome data. >> Thank you. Good afternoon. Happy holidays. Nice to see you all.

202I want to start by going back to the curiosity classroom presentation uh that you had earlier this morning and acknowledge your comments about the importance of learning that is joyful, hands-on and connected to students community and the world around them. We all know that this is where the power is when it comes to accelerating learning. And you asked some really good questions about how we scale these types of experiences. So, I want to invite you to visit your stemjourney.org, one word, lowercase. This was created in partnership with CPS in Northwestern's university digital youth network. It helps elevate the work of over 4,200 afterchool STEM partners, 15,000 community STEM programs, and 1,100 community partners. It allows you to search opportunities for our students by school and by communities and underscores STEM learning is not just math,

203science, technology, and engineering courses. I did that in the wrong order of STEM, but it is also about cooking, gardening, designing apps, and tackling climate change. It's in interdisciplinary and integrates creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. We have an amazing ecosystem of partners that support work like what we heard about today with the children's museum and we have more in development and this work is very much behind the progress we are going to talk about today and the ongoing investments we are focused on moving forward and we're going to start today with the progress of our earliest learners and look forward to building on this success. I Ready is a short benchmark assessment that is given in most schools up to three times a year in both reading and math. It is meant to provide teachers

204with the information needed to support individual student learning and understand progress throughout the year. At the end of last year, 41% of our KT2 students were at were at or above grade level in reading. We have seen small increases in proficiency in this level over the past three years. Although we are slightly below the national percentage of students at or above grade level, more of the students in CPS are at or above grade level in comparison to the Council of Great City Schools, which uses figures from the largest urban districts in America. CPS students have shown steady growth in math. 40% of CPS K to2 students were at mid or above grade level in math at the end of last year. 17% were early on grade level, which means they were approaching the standards. We're

205excited about the steady progress we're seeing, including a six percentage points increase in percent of students at or above grade level since school year 23. And we are proud to report that in our math data, we're outperforming the nation when it comes to this metric. were five points ahead of the national average in proficiency and eight points ahead of our large city peers. One of the more encouraging signs we see is that in both reading and math, students do better the longer they stay in CPS. The data shown here are students percentile placements which are slightly different than the performance scores we were looking at previously and show students performance compared to the national average. As CPS students advance through the early grades, they do better relative to their peers across the country which is

206an encouraging sign for our early grade teaching and learning practices. Okay, now we want to move on to the AR data. As a reminder, almost every student in our system in grades 3 through 8 take the Illinois Assessment of Readiness every year. This test is unique to Illinois, so there are not national comparisons. As of this past year, in English language arts, 40.6% 6% of our students across grades three to fi three to eight sorry are proficient in reading in CPS on the AR and our highest performing grade last year was our eighth grade with 46% of students proficient. We are extremely proud of our growth since school year 22 with over 11 percentage points improvement. We also want to note that there has been a 15.4 4 percentage point increase in proficiency for our

207black students over the same period of time, outpacing the average growth in our district. As a district, we have intentionally used we intentionally used the millions of federal ESR funds to invest in strategies focused on accelerating learning outcomes for our students. This included school-based coaches, interventionists, tutors, online intervention tools, and highquality curriculum. This led to incredibly strong growth and our students now surpass the reading performance level from before the pandemic. At the same time, we saw an 11 percentage point increase in proficiency. We saw similar growth when it came to improving outcomes for our lowest performing students. Last year, another 2.7% of students moved out of the below category. This isn't talked about as much as proficiency level, but it speaks to the hard work of moving students furthest below grade level where it's typically

208very hard to make gains. And when we look at our students with disabilities, we've seen an incredible dis decrease in the percentage of students in the below category. 23 percentage points of improvement in three years show how far our students with IEPs have come. This progress reflects our five-year strategic plan improving the quality of education for students who are furthest from opportunity and it also sh shows our intentional focus on supporting students with disabilities. Another key focus of our five-year plan. We are proud to see that the trend that was referenced in our primary data continues when students stay in CPS over time. This graph reflects all students who have been in CPS and completed the IR for four years in a row. So this could be students who are in who were in either

209third, fourth or fifth grades in school year 22. These students overall have increased proficiency by 19.3 percentage points over four years, improving from 29.4% 4% proficient in school year 22 to 48.7% in school year 25. This trend is consistent for English learners, students with IEPs in all student racial and ethnic groups. Okay. And for math, since school year 22, the percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations in math has increased by 4.7 percentage points, reaching 26.2% in school year 25. Math proficiency continues to rise with steady year-over-year gains among third through eighth graders. Nationwide, math growth has been more of a challenge than reading, and we're seeing that in CPS as well. We have a clear plan to address this. We have focused tutor core on middle school math. We have built capacity of school-based

210coaches in math content. We have expanded access to algebra in 8th grade. We have more elementary school students engaged in highquality math curriculum than ever before. We believe in this long-term plan to improve scores and so does the state. Recently, ISBY announced a new numerousy plan to support math achievement across the state. And we're proud that the state's work was informed by our math leadership team and aligned with our math vision to ensure our students are building math identity and math proficiency. In math, the progression of growth for a cohort of students over the past four years has been smaller. Students who stayed in CPS across the four years saw gains each year except school year 23. And like in a ELA, we are also tracking the growth of students in math who are furthest

211below grade level. We have seen a 7.5 percentage point decrease in this category over the past four years. We also note that our black students have seen a larger de decrease in percentage of students in the below category. We are committed to continuing to invest in strategies that will support our priority groups of students ensuring that they reach success. Excited to turn it over to Peter Leonard to talk about our high school data. Thank you. >> Good afternoon, board members. Happy holidays. I'm here to provide just a brief update on our high school data. Now, for both I Ready and I AR, you were able to look at trend data over years. We're not going to have that for high school because last year the Illinois State Board of Education shifted to a new assessment.

212So, the preac and ACT were administered for the first time last year and is be redefined their performance levels. So, we're just going to look at last year's data, just resetting our baseline. So, now in future years, we'll be able to look at our trends over time. So, first we're looking at grades 9 through 11 in preac and ACT for English language arts. You can see here that the percent of students demonstrating proficiency building on the trends you saw in IR ranges from 41% to 49% with the largest being our ninth graders showing proficiency at 49%. And we look at that bottom level, as Chief Milberg highlighted, we're really focused on not just raising students proficiency, but moving the whole distribution of performance. We notice that the below proficient ranges from 16% to 29% with

213that largest number being in 11th grade. In math, similar to IR, those percent proficiency lag a little bit behind in math as it relates to ELA. Just like uh with ELA, ninth grade performance. So the highest percentage uh demonstrating proficiency here at 28%. But unlike in ELA, the largest percentage in below proficient also sits in 9th grade uh for our math students, which can point to different strategic work and how we support students in that transition from eighth grade to nth grade. Looking forward to in future years building on this progress, looking at this data over time. And with that, I will hand it to Dr. >> Good afternoon board members. I will be presenting attendance and grades data from our current school year. The district attendance rate through last week is comparable to attendance

214rates we saw at this time last year. And in both elementary and high school, we're seeing we've seen growth relative to attendance in the most recent years. As we dig into the data, we can see areas of celebration and areas that require monitoring. Looking at student race and ethnicity, several groups of students are attending at higher rates than prior years, and we need to acknowledge and celebrate that. We are excited to see improvement in attendance in our black students. We also know attendance rates in Latina students have declined and and necessitate close monitoring and close monitoring as situations in the city continue to evolve. Looking by priority group, we observe a similar pattern. Attendance is up amongst student low-income students and students with IEPs. We are again continuing to monitor the decline in attendance that

215we can see amongst our English learners. Chronic absence is slightly higher at this point this year relative to this time last year, but important to also highlight that it is lower than it was in the prior school year. Shifting to quarter 1 grades. Students grades this year are consistent with what we've seen in quarter 1 in the most recent past years. I'll now turn the mic over to Dr. Hogard. Thank you. And good afternoon board members, board president. I'm uh get to talk about my favorite topic and that is the number of students that are graduating with advanced certifications and credits and early college um to show for it. So, we're glad to see the percentage of of graduates earning this early college and career credential um affectionately known as Eric C is now over

21656%. And we haven't been tracking this uh in this way for very long. I want to call your attention to how much it's increased during these last few years and really specifically what does that mean for students. So last year alone that means 13,000 CPS students graduated with this advanced credit or career credential. We've just completed um I didn't move the slides. I'm so sorry. This is the the deck that I'm talking the slide that I was describing when we're talking about this increase over time. And let me say again, you can see we haven't been tracking this very long. And it has been a very significant increase um since 2022. And this aligns to our goals as a district to increase our students who are graduating with this credential, but it also really speaks

217to how we think about um not just early college or AP or IB or CTE or JOTC. We see them together as opportunities for our students. We recently um completed six visits to highlight this work at our CPS schools. And what you see in these percentages by school only tells a piece of the story. So Westinghouse had 53.9% of AP success. They also have CTE success. They also have early college. They also have an amazing internship program with construction partners on engineering. Back of the Yards 57.6% IB success. They also have tremendous success on the IB certificate programs. Brooks 76% dual credit. They have tremendous AP success and they have students in the Chicago Builds program. CHAZ Chicago School for Agricultural Sciences 94.7% students earning CTE also extensive AP and early college work. Solario our

218second to the last stop had one of the highest percentages of seal of biiteracy 66.9% also 46 million in scholarships which is about 153,000 per student. They also told us they anticipate over 30 students graduating with their associates degree this year. And at Von Stuben, our last stop, we got to hear directly from students how their preparation in student student leadership has resulted in their 86.4% college enrollment and a persistence rate that is really blowing everyone in the country out of the water with 92.2%. And what we heard in every single stop from our students directly is that they are picking how these pieces and classes and pathways go can be combined together to meet their post-secondary goals. And what we heard from the principles and teachers and counselors is that they are supporting students

219to make this possible. >> Dr. Kimona. >> Yeah, thank you team. Um uh I was very happy and and uh honored to be able to participate in two of these visits. And let me tell you a little bit of an anecdote that happened in one of them. Uh during my visit to Solorio last week, uh I met Irving, an alum of Soloro High School. Uh Irving is the perfect example of why we need to stop viewing our students as non-English speakers and start viewing them as emerging bilingual. When Iring arrived to CPS, the system might have labeled him by what he lacked, English fluency. But by graduating with the CEO of Biteracy, it been proved that he didn't just catch up, he leap ahead. He didn't substract his home language, Spanish, he added English to

220his repertoire. He maintained both to become a highly competitive asset in the global marketplace. This changes the trajectory for our students completely. And I cannot thank enough our team and academic uh departments that are pushing for this to be a reality for every single student in our city. And with this, I open the floor for the board for any questions or comments about this presentation. Thank you. member. >> Thank you. I want to thank you all for the presentation. Um, and it's great to see so many bright spots and improvements in the work um, and our students progress. Something that stands out to me, um, that also stood out, I think, to multiple board members during the last progress monitoring report was, um, that we're presented with a lot of great information. It would be

221great to know exactly how these metrics align with the goals and the metrics stated in our five-year plan. Um, I think that just having to cross check and go back and forth with the plan and where we are and the plan and where we are. I think it's helpful for board members to know so that we know where we are on track, where there needs to be more support and also for the public to know where we are on track and where there needs to be support. So, based on the five-year plan, it seems that we are on track K through second grade in math. um maybe need more support needed in reading. Um and I think a huge success is that for third through eighth grade, the goal in our plan was for a

22220% increase, not a 20 percentage point increase, but 20% and that seems to have been met or nearly met for both ELA and math. So that's huge success and we've we're actually far surpassing our goals in those areas. But the reason I I keep bringing it back to the plan is there was so much thought, intention, work um in crafting every single word of that document. And the third through eighth grade grade goal, for example, has a second part that says, you know, we'll increase by 20% the number of third through eighth graders who meet or exceed proficiency levels on AR. And it specifically says this will be achieved by accelerating growth for students who are black, latinext, English learners, students with disabilities, and students in temporary living situations. So it is fantastic to know

223that on the surface level the goal has been met. I think the data showing have we accelerated the growth of those students in particular that we aim to accelerate would also be helpful. Um so I would just request a followup that for the information presented we have a comparison to the five-year plan. uh thank you for raising that comment and that concern and that will be coming in a February board presentation and this is the reason why as you know I took the position what a month and a half ago who is counting uh and one piece that I noticed right away is the fact what you just described this idea that the we are achieving a lot and the team has pushed us to say we need to actually revisit most of our goals

224and start looking at what pieces we had already achieved even though we say a fiveyear plan and which one we actually have a struggles with whether because of transitions whether because of budget cuts. So we may have to realign some of those um aspects as well. So right now we scheduled to have a a retreat uh with the whole team on January the 20th and we we're going to create that that piece in the alignment as well as one piece that I asked already our IT teams and is that at the end of the day not only in board meetings we need to create a website in which we are tracking the progress and every single time that we actually hit milestones uh those updates are done in in that website doesn't exist right now.

225uh you'll see a um a a new report that aligns not only to uh the strategic plan but some of the pieces of CDT as well and some of the metrics that we have uh develop and have been out there already. uh but also creating a website in which actually you can anyone in the audience and anyone that participated all of the stakeholders that did so much work and the input and created the strategic plan can track the progress of CPS toward meeting all of the goals included in the together we rise >> member Smith >> yes uh thank you chief uh Hoggard and Dr. Milberg for such a thorough uh report and update. Uh we know that test scores are down nationally and you know although we're seeing proficiencies here in math and reading

226raise uh I was on a recent 5x5 where we also saw that it's not uh translating into SAT scores. So, what do you all believe is the disconnection between the raising of math scores or or or reading proficiencies and then it not being translatable when we uh test uh for the SATs. Well, I I can start and I'm not not over the um ACT, which we just switched back to. Um but we do still see continued growth in AP and IB and early college, which is uh also a significant national measure. So, I think we we need to we need to look at all of those pieces together. It's a a really valid question around the ACT and compared to other districts, our advanced course scores, which we have for all students are continuing to

227grow. So, I'll t turn over the ACT portion. >> We're having a little >> just seeing the right order. Um I think one thing I would note is or we just looked at the first year of preACT data and ACT data from this most recent year's administration and for both IR and preACT the state just reset their performance levels. You will see a lot of continuity in each subject area when you look at that, right? As we were growing in in ELA and then as we look at high school, we were at 49% in nth grade at the start for ELA in high school. For the math trend, I think the trend you will see is right outpacing the nation and other states in the earlier years. And then as we look at the middle

228grades and up into high school, some of those scores a little bit lower, right? math really shifts when you're talking about moving from K5 to 612 as you start to get right more technical and more complex and math is a subject area that really builds on each other. So I think there's some there's obviously Chief Milberg can speak to all of the work with high quality curriculum and expanding uh access to algebra. All that work and deepening that work is going to be critical especially for that math growth in the upper the upper grades. >> I I think that starts to address it and I don't think we have a perfect answer to your question at all. Um, it will be helpful to start to see trend data now that we've switched over to the

229ACT. Also extremely helpful that ISBY has changed all of their performance indicators because what you're identifying was true at the state level. There was a disconnect in the way that we measured in elementary school versus high school. So, it was really hard to track that. But I kind think regardless of how we start to cut it and think about it, there is a huge need for us to invest in core academics, particularly literacy and math in our ninth and tth grades and making sure those foundations are really strong. And that speaks to all all of the work Dr. Hogard spoke about. Our students can't access this career connected and accelerated learning to be prepared for college if they don't have really strong foundations in ninth and tth grade that will allow them to do that.

230So, I think that is going to be a priority as a district moving forward is thinking about those nth and tth grade experiences for our students. >> And lastly, you you were talking about all of the progress you were able to make uh using ISER funds. Uh okay, no more Isser funds. So, how are we going how are we thinking about continuing to make prog that type of progress, >> right? Well, I I called that out as a call out of the importance and what happens when we invest in our students and in their learning because we all know those ESR funds aren't here. And so, as an office, as a district, we are making really strategic decisions, prioritizing what we know was successful from those investments. So, we invested in lead coaches and interventionists.

231That is something that we've continued to prioritize through other cuts that we've had to make now that we don't have ESR funds. So trying to really zero in on how we use those funds and what was most impactful particularly in literacy where we saw a lot of gains during those times and studying that and making sure we continue to invest and prioritize those. >> Thank you. The microphone's on, but I guess you can't hear me. Is that better? Uh, the Thank you. And I think the biggest problem in Chicago public schools is and I I guess according to data is uh absenteeism statewide as well as long before ICE. You know, we're having trouble getting kids to school. I'm curious if as a district we have a strategic plan. I don't know, maybe it doesn't

232even fall under any of you. I'm not sure as a district, you know, where are we going on that? Do we have a plan? Do we need a committee to to get that? But I think if we don't address this, none of the you can't exceed on the ACT if you weren't in school. We can't do anything. And I remember a time in the district when we would literally go to the homes. You know, even my I have a daughter that is a senior at Whitney and there's no consequences for truency or absenteeism really amongst her people. So, I'm just curious as a district where we're at with that and what we're going to do to talk about that and start really thinking about it. >> I can uh do you mind if I >>

233So, we as a district, we currently do not have a district-wide attendance plan. It is something that we are in conversation with. We just met with uh the Crown Foundation to kind of launch what would that look like. individual schools have attendance plans and we've kind of been autonomous uh and in dealing with it, but we do we do see the need that it we need to have a district-wide plan. There was a um there was some research done out of the University of Chicago crime lab um when there was the um evaluation of the back to our futures program and some of their findings was it wasn't that kids just did not want to come to school. That was not their number one cause. it was surprise surprise feeling safe and transportation. So we

234are taking that research, we'll conduct additional research. Um we'll definitely continue to work with individual schools and we'll work with philanthropy so that we can fund and support a district-wide attendance plan. >> Member Zach. >> Oh, thank you. Um thanks so much for the presentation and it's great to hear all these wonderful statistics. Um I'm wondering if we can um get more drill down information like um maybe information at the school level of of some of these things like we're seeing on this um list of you know percent AP IB and all that. Um and then also um just more specific information on the groups that we're most concerned about like uh students with IEPs or English language learners, black students, low-income students. Um, and then like what is the is there like an analysis?

235I'm sure you guys are doing an analysis of are there certain resources that we notice that schools that are tending to have um more success um have more access to than other schools and and if so what what we might do about that. >> Uh let me answer the first part of the question in terms of the sue groups. Um uh and you know we were told that the presentation was only 20 minutes. Uh so that's that's why you don't see more slides. Uh but the actual presentation has tons of slides in the appendex. So we'll make sure that you get all of that information because we this team love to drill down uh into the specific subgroups and understanding uh patterns uh and and and why some specific S groups like you saw uh

236when it came to attendance this year especially for our black students. is extremely happy to see that increase in attendance numbers and we're curious also of course to start looking at how these numbers increase. So, uh that's number one. Number two, you mentioned something about school. We'll we'll check that that that shouldn't be that much of of a big issue for us to produce. Uh in terms of resources, I'm not sure if anyone wants to talk about what what resources we have seen that are the most impactful so far when it comes to student performance. >> I mean, I I do want to thank you all and and Dr. King for protecting the out of school time funding and sustainable community school funding. What we've seen in our practice that um the work around connectedness

237and well-being is it is um yes there's some of the carrot of you know we need you to come to school and there's less of the of the stick because these are students and this is a developmental approach but the research that Dr. King is mentioning really is around belonging and connectedness and what we've seen with our direct school supports is that the funds are used directly for afterchool programming for student support and protecting that the resources that go directly to the school level is is really important as we talk about that resourcing. I I want to add one more piece to that because I think we we cannot ignore this piece and is the fact that you know we protected school funding that that's great but we also have to keep in mind that

238cuts to central office a lot of the time impact schools as well. So I I I thank the team for how strategically we actually went about cutting the $50 million that we needed to cut. Uh because we tried to minimize any impacts uh to schools uh as we know what are the things that are working and what are the things that actually will have the biggest impact on our student success. So again, let's let's make sure we don't decouple the two of them because the the the funding that comes to our central office also impact um the schools. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. I just wanted to understand a little bit about more about the PAC proficiencies that we saw. Are those are those proficiency scores set by grade level or is it a common

239score across all grade levels? uh they are set by grade level. So ISB just redid their standard setting. So what defines proficiency in three grades three through eight as well as in preac and ACT. So there's a a separate threshold set for each of those four levels for all three tests that are used in high school. So the preac 9, ACT 10, and then the ACT that our 11th graders take. >> Got it. That makes a little more sense. Thanks. Member Gopez. >> Thank you. Um, some of the questions I had already had been answered including what are we considering to address the issue especially of attendance given that we have one of the highest or lowest number of attendance across the board and seeing a higher impact in particular with our immigrant communities. Uh

240the first question is what are some of the short-term solutions that we're looking at right now? And important to look at the root cause in the long term, but right now is there anything that we can start already implementing this school year to address some of those um issues with attendance? And this is of course connected also with uh given the immigrant population being impacted, but also we know other populations for over years been impacted. We could follow up with you. I know there's different when we think about attendance, we have to think about the early childhood. Those are parents bringing children to school. So that would be a different root cause. Then intermediate, middle school, and high school. Those students often bring themselves to school. So we have to unpack what those issues are

241for each of those different groups. And then we need to think about individual communities around the city because what we found when visiting some of the schools after you know the uh what's his name Bomb Bomb left and what we found Yeah. what we found is that some schools wanted they were vigorously fighting to make sure they had uh systems in place to bring students to school. They just still had asked of us and then there were others that leaned in the other direction. So I think as we continue to work towards the CIDT, I think it's going to be really important to us as a district and then you board members when we talk about the resources that we provide that impact the outcomes of these different metrics. We need to make sure that

242we're tailoring the resources to the needs of not just the community but the individual schools. That's going to be a massive undertaking. But I think if we want to see the needle moved um substantially, we're going to have to find out how do we tailor to the greatest extent possible the limited resources that we have in at in Chicago public schools. But I can follow up. I know early childhood Leslie McKenley was here. She's going to share some work that they're seeing with their youngest worker, youngest students um with improving attendance. And we know that is not the students, those are the parents that bring them to schools. but she's seen some movement there. So, I can make sure that we update you all on what's currently working and then I can give you more

243details around our uh uh district-wide attendance strategy that we're planning and mapping out and I'll keep you updated as it unfolds. >> Thank you. And as you had mentioned before, you know, we're looking at transportation, sometimes working hours, um the other iss oftentimes in many of the communities that we represent. Uh going back to the attendance, I think it's also important that when looking at the approach that we keep in mind how are they going to be culturally responsive and trauma informed as we you know depending on which community we are working with. Um I love to see the the data regarding the EC uh some of the schools in particular solorio in my district. I've had the opportunity to visit the school several times. Uh shout out to Miss uh Rosa Himenez, the principal

244there and the high school counselors and the per secondary. Um they have an amazing team there. Are there anything that you've noticed not just with Solorio with the other schools that we can replicate across other schools and also how do we compare with the rest of the state? >> Let me start with the the state question. So nationally we are actually one of the highest college enrollment college persistence rate and our Eric C rate is measured differently kind of state by city by city state by state. So that is something in terms of within the state of Illinois I'd need to get get back to you on that. Um, Solario is a great example because they do have multiple pathways. Um, and they have a very strong counseling team. They utilize alumni support. I also

245want to thank Dr. Smith for speaking at the counselor event today. Um, they have a dedicated alumni support. We support college coaching there. Um, we support an early college STEM specialist who works with the early college students. When we were in the library, they were preparing for their um dual enrollment exam at Daily College that day. And their teachers have great buy in and support and understand how the pathways work across the courses. Um, I think what we're seeing at all of the schools is that that understanding of desiloing the the work based on what students are interested in. So what is working is maintaining our counselor ratio what having dedicated post-secondary support and specific support for pathways um and allowing young people to really drive the interest within the schools um so that they

246can dedicate here's how I see these courses working together. They also um as Chief Milberg was saying, the ninth and tth grade curriculum and instruction is really important because they won't have access to all of these pathways if they're not prepared and accelerated in ninth and tth grade. Um Solario also talked about um they have a great student voice program and they really support student voice across their entire school. And I think you might have seen an article around um their uh student group that's organizing fund funds to support each other right now. >> So I think that disposition of young people as leaders um is a really important aspect of that. >> And and I agree especially with Soloro, they do have um a shout out also to teachers that are supporting in particular

247those students that might be coming from mixed status families. Um I know that for us we don't track in particular right the status of of those student but can you talk a little bit about the support system for those students that are it's difficult for them to get a scholarship or you know they got to sometimes pay full tuition for college uh fortunate that here in Illinois legislation was passed to help undocumented students but what support systems do we have for them? So we um our FASA rate right now is significantly higher than the national average. And um when we were there at Solar Solario, we also saw it was a collective impact visit with our college and career team. They um essentially respond to a school request and flood the school and do one-on-one

248support with students. Um, undocumented students are not excluded from all scholarships or all aid, just federal. And I think the state of Illinois has done a great job in how um where students are able to submit an alternative uh financial aid form. And then we have a specific team that supports students in very individualized, very um supportive conversations. >> Thank you. This more, you know, as we continue with the conversations, I would love to hear any policy recommendations or resources adjustments that the board can make to help um you know, advance this work. Thank you, >> Member Brown. >> Thank you, Mr. president and thank you all for your presentation and for sharing some good news. Um, two things. One, I wanted to know if you could just articulate for me what college persistence means.

249I got an assumption, but I don't want to assume. >> Yes. College persistence is returning to college after the first year. Um, so as a sophomore, >> okay, which is a good indicator of like freshman on track is a good indicator that a child will graduate. Okay. So here's my um when we talk about uh the absenteeism um so I come from a lot of my mentors are people that started like the African Senate independent schools that popped up around the country in the 1960s 1970s. Um, and one of the things that we learned is that every human being needs to have a sense of identity, purpose, and direction. And if your identity is if your identity is misguided, then so is your purpose. So, and in my and in my lived experience and I

250think the evidence supports that that's actually true, right? Um, what was the program in Tucson? The MexicanAmerican Studies Program, which was a highly successful program in Tucson that was shut down by a racist school board, despite the fact that they show it showed improved attendance. It showed improved academics. Um, there's a school here in Chicago, Freedom Home Academy. It's been run by a brother named Marcus Klein for 20 years. He used to run a newspaper called the um middleage moment uh front line. But this school is it produces scholars, right? Um and they focus on things like the young people learn Keith Swahili, they learn their history, they play chess, they have a rigorous curriculum in Chicago. Voices of Youth in Chicago Education produced this cadre of highly motivated and activated young people as in

251Kelly in Diet and Kinwood in Cal what used to be Calumet High School. So I mean I I think there's evidence that when people are engaged in shaping what their education looks like, they own it. There's a sense of ownership. And I'm just wondering if that's in our thinking in regards to how to address the absenteeism that to be honest with you that that was my attraction when I became to the community school model was somebody was actually asking us what should happen instead of telling you this is what needs to happen. And it was a it was a it was a shift. And when I was the community school coordinator at Southshore, uh the first thing that happened is young people that normally didn't come to school started coming to school, right? Because we

252had programs that they had actually informed. And I'm so I'm just wondering if that's a part of our thinking in addressing the absenteeism piece and that was it. It it definitely is a part of our thinking and uh Chief Milberg and I have been working very closely with um the overlap with student voice and sustainable community schools and our connectedness and well-being. And um I think it's a this is a both and answer that we can um dig into more. there's there is you need the sense of agency, you need the choice, you need the supports um and the sense of belonging and there's students who need technical physical resource support. Um so I think this is a both and response and I really appreciate that elevation. when I was a teacher at Southshore, um

253having an afterchool um photography and yearbook club uh got a lot of my students to school because we hadn't had that before and um and I needed the funds uh to do that and I actually got extra checks from a community organization um for supporting supporting that work. So, I think this is a a both and and it's a a CPS and the larger city community question. >> I would I would just humbly recommend and I mean it's humbly because you all are the experts and I know you know what you're doing. It's just some folks that I've engaged with. I was in a black student success meeting about a year and a half ago and Safia Mabidi was there. Akimab's wife and and the person who developed the Institute of Positive Education and I'm

254starruck, you know, I'm I'm looking at her because I know before they became a CPS school, what a pillar they were in the neighborhood. And I think that people like this should be like consulted, right? Marcus Klein should be consulted. Like how do we make how do we we we uh replicate that type of environment where young people young people walk with a high sense of who they are, not who society tells them they are. Because when you're a teacher in the classroom, as great as you may do, once they pick this up, they're politicized to a whole different reality that says something different. So the question becomes how do we not just make it something that is abstract but how do we create a climate where everywhere they turn it's being reinforced and so

255I just you know want to offer that member Paul >> yes I'm very happy to hear some of the great news here I share some of the concerns about uh attendance related issues about the myriad of factors that I think Dr. King referred to that make attendance something that is very varied from family to family, school to school, neighborhood to neighborhood and at different grade levels. Obviously, some of it is very parent driven and some of it is much more student driven certainly in my experience as a high school teacher. Uh I particularly wanted to commemorate uh the seal of biiteracy offered by Solario and other schools. Uh I was very fortunate to have my children at Interamerican Magnet when Adela Coronado Gley pressed the state of Illinois to develop the whole concept of a

256seal of biiteracy. I think it's a tremendous asset as Dr. Kimona pointed out in a particular case but in general to the development of self-confidence and the development of students who are fluently biliterate and uh able to communicate really well in both languages. I would like more information on how many schools have students who are participating in the seal of biiteracy program. what kinds of numbers we have of students who have done this and I'd also be interested in whether we are approaching the seal of biiteracy in a variety of languages that are spoken by our CPS families. Thank you. >> I was going to just mention that yes, we had those statistics and we have several languages. Uh we actually introduced a few languages this past year. Uh so we'll we'll be able to

257report those numbers to you by tomorrow. >> Thanks much. >> Thank you very much for your presentation. We're now going to open the floor up for comments on the public agenda item. Uh just want to remind the board that we still have a very dense agenda ahead of us. So if we can keep our comments succinct, it would be much appreciated. um resolution to authorize the appointment of members to local school councils to fill vacancies. There'll be a separate vote taken after RS5. So, you could provide your questions and comments for that item before we proceed with the separate vote. Are there any comments or questions related to public agenda item or are there reports that you wish to be removed from the consent agenda as a separate vote? Um I was the one who

258asked for us to have that discussion on RS 2. Um so one of the things that we have is we we have a democratic process by which we ask community members, teachers to run for office andor a role within the local school council. And yet we're not very clear in the rules of engagement in terms of what are the qualifications, what are the things that I need to have to submit um after I'm pled uh in an election. Um case in point, I have a a constituent at one of our schools on in my district who was duly elected by his peers in a high uh turnout. And when his information was sent down here, he was not sick. And part of it was that they said that he had some disciplinary action. So again,

259when we're talking about clear procedures and protocols and and and and and this morning, um, Superintendent King, you you talked about local school councils and one of the things that I would ask and hopefully is that we have the right information that we're providing to teachers, to community in terms of what are the things that will disqualify you. So, I'm sorry, member Gutierrez, we want you to have the comment once the it's up for vote. Oh, then that' be the appropriate time to have that. That's >> right. >> I know you're excited about when we get there. We'll not we'll now proceed with the vote on public agenda items. Board Secretary, please proceed. >> Thank you, President Harden. I'll proceed with the items on the public agenda. Read the board report numbers and brief titles.

260I believe vice pre president Baltita has motion mo regarding the record of proceedings. >> Yes. I move that the record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of October 8, 2025, board meeting of October 23rd, 2025, and special board meeting of October 30th, 2025, November 4th, 2025, and November 10, 2025 be prepared by the board secretary to be approved and that such records of proceedings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with section 2.06B of the Open Meetings Act. Is there a second? >> I so second. >> I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Veles. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope.

261>> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Hi. Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Bicks. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zacher. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 20 eyes's zero naz. This motion is adopted by the board. >> President Horn. And I'll continue with items that do require a vote. RS1, resolution authorizing the issuance of general obligation alternate bonds of the board of education in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed 1 bill800 million pursuant to the school code and the local government debt reforming reform act and authorizing certain other matters. PO1 authorize the public comment period for the

262automatic external defibrillators policy. PO2 authorize the public comment period for the drug and alcohol-f free workplace policy. PO3 authorize the public comment period for the dearment policy. PO4 authorize the public comment period for the indentess policy. PO5 authorize the public comment period for the information security policy. EX1, transfer of funds for October 2025. EX2, transfer of funds for November 2025. EX3, approve entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the City Colleges of Chicago. EX4, approve entering into an intergovernmental agreement with the Department of Family and Support Services. OP1, disposition of bids received for the sale of property located at 1241 West 58th Street. President Harden OP1 was draft on agenda. The final report will be included in the agenda of action. I'll continue with OP2 disposition of offers received for the sale of property located at

2631326 South A South Avers Avenue. OP3 disposition of bids received for the sale of property located at 200 East 99th Street. PR1 authorizing new agreement with various vendors for early childhood block grant services. PR2 authorized the first and second final renewal of various vendors for the purchase of maintenance, repair and operation supplies and personal protective equipment. PR3 authorize the pre-qualification status of and new agreements with various vendors to provide construction material testing and inspection services. PR4 report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the capital improvement program. PR5 authorize a new agreement with BIF 3 US aggregator. PR6 authorize the first and second final renewal agreement with Canon Cochran Management Services Inc. PR7 authorized the first, second, and third final renewal agreement with Healthcare Service Corporation and authorized funding of

264health savings accounts and agreement with Webster Bank NA. President Harden, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Valz. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Hi. Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Member Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >>

26520 eyes zero nazies. Matters are adopted by the board. President Harden. I'll continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a vote. PR8 chief procurement officer delegation of authority report for September 2025 and chief financial officer report for September 2025. EX5 report on principal contracts new. EX6 report on principal contracts renewals. AR1 report on board report recisions. President Harden, these items just need to be accepted by the board. >> Please mark received and filed. President Harden and I'll continue with items from the acting general counsel that do require a vote. AR2 ratify and appoint assistant general counsel even dysted. AR3 transfer and appoint senior assistant general counsel Colleen Calf. AR4 appoint assistant general counsel Karina Salazar McGuffy. AR5 amend continued retention of various outside council law firms. President Harden, this amendment

266is necessary to increase spending authority for two outside council law firms and adds one outside council law firm to attachment E for new spending authority. And for the record, I would like to note an an abstension for board member Gutieras for the following law firms on AR5. Berg Warren McKay and Saratell PC, Meer Brown LLP, and Greenberg Triorg LLP. I'll continue with AR6 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Harriet Joiner. AR7 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Bertha Sanchez. President Harden, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I second the motion. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. Member Bole. >> Yes.

267>> Member Wallace. I >> member Kuster. >> I >> member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> I. >> Member Bannon. >> I. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez with the noted abstension on the law firms from AR5. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 20 I zero nazs. Um and the abstensions on the law firms from AR5. These matters are adopted by the board. >> Board secretary. Before we proceed, member Brown has requested that RS3 be removed from the consent agenda. Is there a second? >> Second. Sorry, I'm trying to get caught up. So the

268motion is to move RS3 which is resolution um regarding the dismissal of Abdubca ten tenure teacher assigned to Ronald Brown Elementary Community Academy. Moving that um as a separate vote vote motion from member Brown, seconded by member Zachor. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> To clarify, this is for RS3. >> Yes. >> No. to remove it. >> To move it from consent agenda. >> Oh, okay. Yes. >> Oh, from the agenda. Okay. Yes. >> Remove it from consent agenda and vote as a separate vote. Is that what you're asking? Member Brown? >> Yes. >> Member Lopez? >> I. Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. I >> member Wallace. >> I >> member Kuster. >> No. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >>

269Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> I. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 18 eyes's two nazs. This motion is adopted by the board. Board member Smith, can you um state your vote again for the motion? >> Yes. >> 19 eyes, one nay. This motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with an item from the interim superintendent, chief executive officer that does require a vote. EX7, warning resolution, Anna Howell, tenure teacher for Madero Middle School. President Harden, this item does require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved.

270>> Is there a second? >> Second the motion. >> I'll I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano, >> I'm sorry. I don't know where we're at right now. Which motion are we talking about? >> You're taking um you're doing the motion uh for a ex7. It's the warning resolution for Anna Howell, tenure teacher at Madero Middle School. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> I. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. Yes. >> Yes. >> Member member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Hi. >> Member Bannon. >> I. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes.

271>> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 20 eyes. Zero days. This matter is adopted by the board. President Harden, I'll continue with items from the board that do require a vote. RS4, resolution approving interim superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational support personnel. RS5 resolution approving interim superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dis to dismiss probationary appointed teachers. President Harden, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> I. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member

272Kuster. I >> member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> I. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. Member deberry >> I >> 20 eyes's zero nazs these matters are adopted by the board. >> President Harden will now proceed with a separate votes as noted earlier with a separate vote on RS2 resolution authorized appointment of members to local school councils to fill vacancies. This item does require a vote. >> Is there a motion? So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> We'll now open this matter up for

273discussion. So, I asked for this uh particular motion to come up board because uh as I've been going and attending many um local school councils, there seems to be a uh not enough process in place um especially when it comes to um asking teachers, students to be part of the the electoral process and put themselves out to vote and get elected by their constituents, right? So, their teachers, their neighbors. Um, and in particular case, um, an individual won and as his application came downtown, um, it he never got seated, right? Because there was some, uh, disciplinary action. And I think that one of the things that when we are trying to be as transparent as we can, right? One of the things that we teach our uh our students in history class and in civics,

274right? We want to be very transparent in what we do in a democracy. And part of it is making sure that we have rules by which everyone knows how we're going to engage in the process. Right? So if I'm a teacher, you want me to run, these are the things, these are the qualifications that you need and these are this disqualifier. So um so I'm hoping um as I heard you speak earlier today, uh Superintendent King, that those specifics are out there because I think we will end up in a situation like today. Um and I don't believe that this is this is also probably not an isolated incident. think that it happens more time and and and so literally my my request for this particular thing as I was working with board staff looking

275for information and reviewing policy there's really it's really gray right there's no real um uh policy andor procedures attached that say hey this is what happens right it kind of comes down here committee makes the determination and then you get a report and and we approve them, right? Um and so I guess what I'm asking for as a board as we are trying to govern um that we become a little bit more transparent and we are able to see what policies and procedures look like. Um, and my request would be if we if we could uh table this until next board meeting so that we can access information that we need as it relates to what is the process by which we as a teacher, as a student um can be a part of the

276board. Can Can there be a discussion before um out of respect to you board member Gutierrez and your constituent who had this um concern, would you be willing to amend your motion to just table the schools that are impacted by the the concern that was brought up so that other school communities don't have a disturbance? I so I I would not I I think I would like for us to really look at the policies and procedures by which we're doing this because like I said, I don't believe that the issue in my district is isolated. I think that it happens in other places except no one's ever reached out to a board member and asked them to bring it. >> I totally understand that. I also feel like fixing all the pol if we wanted

277to fix all the policies that we could possibly improve with like LSC's before we approve LSE members there that would be a very long road for us. So I um I support what you're trying to do. I would love to be involved in that as well. But um I would again ask you to consider just limiting the the impact so that school communities can continue to do the important business of LSC's with the additional member members that we may be appointing. >> I'd be willing to do that. >> Thank you. Thank you. Also believe I'm very uh somewhat familiar with the same issue board member Gutierrez uh has brought up because I also had community members asking me in regards uh the question actually I received was why is the board blocking this individual that

278won their election from being uh sworn in into that role. And I think it was a lot of my understanding was there was not clear information given to the community why it was taking so long and whatnot. Um that being said I serving an LSC it's it it's similar to us right now here is they don't get paid for those roles. It's community leaders stepping up uh whether it be teachers uh parents you know individuals that live in the area. So what else can we do to help support them in those roles? Um, and I've had the opportunity to work directly with LSE's before in my time in particular in the Marshall Square area in Little Village. So, always my my support to them. Um, my question is more I'm not sure if the acting

279general counsel can answer this on on public record. Um, and it was brought up, right? What are potentially some of the negative consequences if we are if we table this? I just want to make sure that we're not putting any of our schools in a situation they shouldn't be in. Um, but also being mindful that there's perhaps policies that we need to revisit and maybe just straighten some of those areas. >> Hello. >> Okay. for um the general consult if there's anything on record that you can if we were to table this whether it be the entire item or just a particular school any negative consequences that we need to be mindful of. I did provide um a privilege communication to all board members um just shortly. That should be in your email. Um and

280I would prefer that the um communication remain privileged. Um so if you could review your email communication, I did provide my recommendation um and described the potential impact of moving to table uh this decision today. >> Member Rosel. >> No, I didn't. I think it's Debbie. Member Paul. >> Yes. Uh I am very familiar with the situation uh in member Gutierrez's district. This is a person that I've worked with for many years when I was teaching at Gage Park High School and is someone who has been very civically involved and very active in promoting the good in his community. And I'm concerned that some, and we're not talking major discipline or anything like that, that a minor disciplinary issue might preclude someone from serving on the LSC. And then that could lead to questions about

281if principles have a particular person they want on the LSC or a particular person they don't want on the LSC, could that encourage them to use discipline as a factor in uh things like this? And I happen to know that the results of the election were very strongly in this person's favor. And I would like us to really examine these issues before we proceed further on this question. So I very much support the idea of pulling the two cases out uh from Owens and from uh Hancock and uh having those be held until we've had an opportunity to discuss the broader issue. >> Dr. King, >> we receive your concerns, uh, board member Gutierrez, and I'm hoping that, um, Chief, uh, Alvarez can provide some clarity. It will not be 100%, but she can provide

282some clarity and maybe that will help >> board members. So, as uh, Dr. King mentioned, um, I'll provide some clarity um, in terms of the process, right? So first I want to reiterate that there is the LSC elections and that is something separate from the appointments right so the elections that is connected to for example the the announcement that Dr. King made earlier today, right? That's going to be on March 18th. Um, and that is where candidates run for their positions. Now, what happens in between elections, right? Elections happen every two years is that sometimes there's a vacancy, right? And vacancies need to be uh filled. So, what happens at the school level is that there's a staff poll that happens. It's not an election, right? Um, it's a staff poll. Now, it's a non-binding

283staff poll, which means that um even if somebody receives the largest numbers of votes, they may or may not proceed because there's a committee that um is internal and so there are, you know, I I believe board member Gutierrez wants a little bit more clarity about who's part of the committee so we can get you that information. Now, that committee um does live um in law. >> I Well, I did provide um that information in the email communication. Yep. Um so that that that that uh composition really is made up of the folks that you're going to uh read about right that committee is separate from the office of the local school council relations team right so uh Kishasha Williams Ford Myra Whiting any of the LSC specialists they're not part of that committee so

284that's separate now the committee has criteria I'm not going to go over that right um I'm sure you receive that information via Liz um but I wanted to clarify that this is not an election. This is a staff poll that then the the candidate that has the the largest amount of of um of polling then goes before the committee um and then that is what is presented to you. Now I do want to clarify that I believe it's a total of 29 schools that have different uh vacancies presented to you today. Um so I wanted you to know the number. Um and we know that some of them are not meeting um quorum. So, I'll leave that at that. >> Chief Alvarez, can you just say for the record your connection to the LSC? >>

285Oh, yes. Thank you. So, my name is Fanny Diego Alvarez. I am the chief of FACE and the office of local school council relations is part of FACE. The director for the office of local school council relations is Kishasha Williams Ford who is not here. >> Thank you. Are there any other comments or questions on this matter? >> So, the motion on the floor right now is to table the item. For clarification, board member Gutierrez, are you tableabling the whole resolution or are you tableabling to pull out um the schools? >> Yeah, I'd like to amend that. uh in I I'd like to table the two decisions uh from Hancock and Owens so as to not impact all the other schools. I'll proceed with a roll call on that um on that motion. Member Lozano.

286>> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> I. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> I. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thodakura. >> Yes. Member Blae, member Zachor, >> yes. >> Member Deberry, >> I. >> 19 eyes, zero nazs. The motion to table the item for Kancock and Owens from resolution RS2 has been adopted. Uh we will go back to voting on RS2 with those two schools removed. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member

287Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Member Rio Sierra. Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 19 eyes's zero nazs. The resolution to um for LC to fill vacancies with the two schools removed has been adopted. We'll move to the separate vote for RS3, which is the resolution by the board of education of the city of Chicago regarding the dismissal of Advisy Eay, tenure teacher assigned to Ronald Brown Elementary Community Academy. President

288Harden, for the record, this resolution accepts the hearing officer's recommendation for dismissal. Debaca is hereby dismissed. Um, we'll proceed with the roll call vote for this item. >> Point order of President Harden. I was hoping that I wanted this separate so that there could be some discussion on it. Now, I know it's a personnel issue, so I don't know if we have to do that and I can accept some guidance on that, but >> could I make a friendly amendment to table it so that we could have discussion and then vote on in the January meeting? to table the vote. >> I I accept that amendment. >> So the motion on the floor is to table the item which is deferring it to the January board meeting. >> Board secretary. Okay. >> I'm sorry. Who

289seconded the motion? Thank you. Uh we're uh voting on the motion to table the item until January. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> Hi. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. I. >> Member Bole. >> No. >> Member Wallace. Abstain. Member Kuster, >> no. >> Member Pope, >> yes. >> Member Rosenfeld, >> no. >> Member Rivas, >> no. >> Member Brown, >> of course. Yes. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Hi. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Baltista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. I. >> Member Biggs. >> No. Member Thodicura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> Yes. This is just a table, right? I just I had to step out. >> Yes. A table. The item to um move it to next month. >> Thank you. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes.

290>> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 14 eyes, five nazs, one abstension. This motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, I believe board member Alz has motion MO3. I move that the board adopt the minutes of the close session meetings of October 8th, 2025, October 30th, 2025, November 4th, 2025, and November 10, 2025. Pursuant to section 2.06 06 of of the open meetings act. Board members reviewed these minutes and determined that the need for confidentiality exist. Therefore, the minutes of the closed session meetings held October 8th, 2025th, October 30th, 2025th, November 4th, 2025th, and November 10th, 2025th shall be maintained as confidential and not available for public inspection. >> I second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> Hi. >> Member Lopez. >> Hi. >> Member Veles. >>

291I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> Hi. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Member Rio Sierra. >> Hi. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. Member Bicks, >> yes. >> Member Thoricura, >> yes. >> Member Blae, >> I. >> Member Zachor, >> yes. >> Member Deberry, >> I. >> 20 eyes's, zero nazs. This motion is adopted by the board. President Harden, there are no further items on the public agenda. >> We'll now move into executive session. Member Smith, do you have motion 4? >> Yes. I move uh for the passage of motion number 25-1218-4 and the commencement of a closed session to consider matters permitted

292under section 2C of the open meetings act subsection one as specified in the motion. >> Is there a second? >> Yes, I second. >> I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Loausano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member VeZ. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Poe. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfelo. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes. >> Member Rio. >> Hi. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Vice President Bautista. >> Yes. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thodakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. Member Deberry I. >> 20 eyes, zero nazs. This motion is adopted by the board.

293>> This meeting will now go into executive session. >> Secretary, please go ahead. President, I'm sorry, Vice President Baltista. I would like to note for the record that there are no items to vote on from executive session. >> Okay. Um, >> Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? I >> We're ajourned.