001president Harden before you begin today's meeting I would like to read a few announcements good morning welcome to the February 27th 2025 board meeting before we start the meeting I'd 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 you use 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 exits clear if you need any assistance during the meeting please wave the attention of one of our security officers for upcoming meetings please mark your calendars for the upcoming meeting the next agenda review committee meeting is scheduled for Wednesday March 5th 2025 at
00210:30 a.m. the ark meeting 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 CPS boe.org if you have any questions about registration or Public public participation please contact the board office board assistance thank you for joining us today president president Harden I'm sorry we are now ready for you to begin the meeting good morning everyone and thank you for your patience welcome to the Chicago Board of Education meeting today is February 27th 2025 we are 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 the board members honorary student board
003member and Senior leadership are physically present in the boardroom registered speakers may join us in person or virtually if they've opted to do so I'm president Shan be Harden and behalf my fellow board members thank you for joining us today the regular meeting of Thursday February 27 2025 is hereby call to order board secretary please take the call take the role excuse me thank you member Lozano okay member Smith member Lopez member Thomas member Bole member Wallace member kuster member Pope member Rosenfeld member Rivas member Rio Sierra member Brown member Bannon vice president Bautista member gutiz member bigs member thakura member Blaze member zachor member D Barry president Harden pres we have 10 20 members present we do have a quorum I'd also like to recognize Pedro Martinez chief executive officer Ruchi Verma general counsel
004bdana shukuma Chief education officer Charles Mayfield Chief Operating Officer Carolina Ki honor student board member thank you the order of meeting will be as follows oath of office for due board member honoring Excellence CEO remarks committee updates public participation recess reconvene from Recess presentation including a seral update discussion of public agenda items vote on public agenda items coost session reconvene from co- session and then adjourn president Harden before you proceed further record uh note that the following board reports are being withdrawn RS3 resolution appointing Emma Lozano to the Board of Trustees of the public school teachers pension and retirement fund of the city of Chicago RS4 resolution appointing Carlos a Rivas Jr to the Board of Trustees of the public school teachers pension and retirement fund of the city of Chicago board members we will
005begin today's meeting with the oath of office I name of board member do solemnly swear that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the Board of Education of the city of Chicago in accordance with the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of Illinois and all applicable federal and state laws to the best of my ability where that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the Board of Education of the city of Chicago in accordance with the Constitution of the United States the Constitution of the state of Illinois and all applicable federal and state laws to the best of my ability I further swear that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets I
006shall encourage and respect the free EX expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees I shall recognize that a board member has no legal Authority as an individual and that decision decisions can be made only by a vote at a public board meeting I further swear that I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protector of the school district's assets I shall encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and others who seek a hearing before the board while respecting the privacy of students and employees I shall recognize that a board member has no legal Authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a vote at a
007public board meeting I shall abide by the decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels I shall abide by the Board of Education operating procedures manual and board rules and policies I shall avoid any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety which could result from my position and will not use my board membership for personal gain or publicity I shall Foster with the board extensive participation of the commune formulate goals Define outcomes and set the course for Chicago Public Schools I shall abide by the decisions of the board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels I shall abide by the Board of Education operating procedures manual and board rules and policies I shall avoid
008any conflict of interest or the appearance of impropriety which could result from my position and will not use my board membership for personal gain or publicity I shall Foster with the board extensive participation of the community formulate goals Define outcomes and set the course for Chicago Public Schools I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law I shall serve as a key Advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for Chicago public schools and I shall strive to work together with the chief EX itive officer to
009lead the school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering Excellence for every student in the areas of student learning and well-being as well as healthy safe engaging safe engaging and academic academically challenging School experiences that prepare each student for college career and Civic life I shall assist in establishing a structure and an environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework I shall strive to ensure a continuous assessment of student achievement and all conditions affecting the education of our children in compliance with state law I shall serve as a key Advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for Chicago public schools and I shall strive to work together with the chief executive officer to lead the
010school district toward fulfilling the vision the board has created fostering excellent for every student in the areas of student learning and wellbeing as well as healthy safe engaging and academically challenging School experiences that prepare each student for college career and Civic life welcome to the board board member Wallace excited to have you would you like to share some remarks uh thank you president Harden I am honored to join the board I look forward to working with all of you and doing right by the students well said or members do you have any comments I look forward to working with you before we proceed I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge Black History Month and its celebration of the rich vibrant culture and profound contributions of black people in America it's inspiring to see all
011the various ways in which the district is honoring this Legacy through thoughtful districtwide in initiatives and school-based events we're not only celebrating black history month but we're also amplifying the boldness of the black experience and black Excellence the ongoing work in our schools Spotlight the voices and experiences of our black students teachers staff and administrators voices that enrich our community every day as board president I'm very proud to represent the district and the incredible work is done each and every day to enrich educate and Enlighten our students so thank thank you to our entire School community and please no matter what stay encouraged thank you Chief CH choma please proceed with honor and Excellence thank you board president Harden good morning everyone I also would like to begin by extending a warm welcome to miss
012Wallace our newest Board of Education member we look forward to to the leadership that you will bring to our district today we continue our tradition of honoring Excellence where we recognize the outstanding talents and contributions of students Educators and Community Partners who are going above and beyond to help CPS strive throughout Black History Month we have honored the achievements of black leaders who are shaping American culture and Society we have also celebrated the Heritage History and contributions of thousands of black students Educators staff and leaders in our CPS community and today we are honored to highlight the United black male Educators group this voluntary independent organization is dedicated to identifying supporting and advancing a pipeline of black male candidates for leadership roles throughout the District in just short two years this educator Le group has
013recruited members established bylaws fundraised and rolled out several key initiatives UB me is committed to addressing the critical shortage of blackmail Educators and leaders in our schools and also Across the Nation their work aligns directly with our District's Talent strategies UB has taken bold strategic steps including organizing a three-part professional learning series on Career Development which provides essential training and mentorship for for Teacher leaders School support staff and aspiring administrators this initiative ensures that black male educators are equipped with the tools and opportunities needed to grow and Lead within our district they also hosted the educate Elevate Empower Summit an event that brought together 250 black male students from 15 CPS Elementary and high schools last year for a day of Fellowship leadership development and academic empowerment this event was a powerful example of ub's
014commitment to both Educators and also students apart from all they contribute to the district through their daytoday leadership roles the members of UB me voluntarily give their time skills and talents to this work we applaud them for bringing Pathways for black male Educators ensuring they have the support resources and opportunities needed to step into leadership roles and serve as role models for our students and as we continue implementing our District's new 5year strategic plan we are deeply grateful for their unwavering commitment to advocacy and Excellence it is now my honor to invite UB me member Ali Muhammad to share more about this organization's ongoing efforts and impact thank you Chief chuma thank you uh board member board president Harden board members we appreciate you all appreciate the support board so the United black male Educators
015UB me initiative is committed to addressing I might be talking fast I will slow down I'm get a little nervous is committed to addressing the inequities of black male representation and CPS leadership positions our goal is to identify develop and promote black male Talent within the district while maintaining a strong pipeline of qualified candidates for leadership roles UB me is an independent organization that partners with CPS to create structured Pathways for career advancement mentorship and professional development opportunities that Empower black male Educators additionally we are dedicated to supporting black male students by fostering academic success and Leadership skills in addition to the summit that Chief chuma mentioned we also host a uh a series professional development series career development in the fall winter and spring these sessions provide leadership training career advancement resources and network
016networking opportunities for over 125 Educators across nearly 100 CPS and Charle schools our uh spring event is forthcoming our membership includes retired principles principles assistant principles directors and District leaders who are committed to strengthening black male representation and Leadership by expanding our partnership and investing in leadership development we can create sustainable change within CPS we thank the brothers of UB me thank you all district leaders Community Partners stakeholders for supporting our mission when we uplift black male educators we uplift the entire CPS Community thank you for that again I just want to also thank CEO Martinez for your support as well sir thank you for joining us today board members and board president do you have any comments or questions for our guests board member Roosevelt thank you you go asalam alikum Miss Mr Muhammad
017my brother uh I want to know do you all work with uh the Obama Foundation or other universities such as Chicago State uh call me mister or grow your own programs and uh what is the collaboration that UB me uh is having throughout the community and and what can we learn as the board from that Community Connection thank you for that question board member I can call you Ryan Fest board member Ryan Fest um so internally we started off building this organization wanted to establish membership with uh teachers educator principles and African-American lead male leadership within the district as we are looking to grow we want to work with those groups we want to established Partnerships with those groups throughout the community so at this current point we have not worked with any external grp
018groups but as we continue to build and grow internally we're looking to expand our reach and our growth to work with Community organizations as well my check my check again okay all right uh Brothers I just want to salute you and just say excellent work I I want to encourage you to be to continue to be involved and if you are involved continue your involvement in the black Student Success committee because I believe that your voic is going to be critical as we reimagine this thing called public education because that's what it I think you all would agree that's what it needs as we reimagine this thing called public education the voices of black men who are centered and our communities is essential it's essential so I invite you to be a part of that
019committee to do and to join us in that work and again salute to the work that you all are doing thank you thank you boy Ember Brown we appreciate that good morning gentlemen thank you so much for all your hard work I just want to underscore what you already know um I have a freshman in sophomore in high school right now they've only had one black male teacher for one class CL in of over two years that's it um and aside from that I think having more black males in the schools leads to less of what we also I also noticed in terms of disciplinary action there it was always black boys in the office fortunately we had a black woman assistant principal in the office that was making sure they were okay but it's
020no coincidence that if there's no one there who understands them can speak to them can relate to them that and they don't feel they have anyone they can relate to that um things can be misconstrued and they end up in trouble so the work you're doing is so important I appreciate you guys all for your efforts if there's connections don't forget to use us as a resource if there's connections or people or places that we can get to we're all doing school visits if you want to send someone with us um we want to work collaboratively collaboratively with you and we app appreciate all your hard work thank you boy member Blaze we definitely appreciate that we definitely underscore exactly what you said this is why we exist and we are definitely open to have
021a we can work and collaboration with the board we definitely looking forward to that so thank you I just want to acknowledge that uh your name is very clever I love that our boys can't be what they can't see and so I I really appreciate you feeling the need you know as um board member blae said my black son had two black male teachers throughout his whole uh learning career and I think we can do a lot better I know that when I was in a teaching preparation program a lot of the men in my program thought that they were going to be coaches they weren't really excited about standing in front of the classroom but we know that we touched generations of people when we stand in front of that classroom and so I
022really appreciate your work I want to see you grow I want to support you I wanted I want you to figure out what you need from us um this is such important work I want to see black boys signing up to become teachers left and right so thank you so much thank you boy member DeBerry and uh terms of my name we're just GNA thank my mom for giving me his name she did this so I'm G when I get home today I'm give her a big old hug and say thank you you be me you be me love it thank you very much gentlemen CEO Martinez we're ready for your remarks thank you president Harden I want to start by also welcoming and congratulating Miss Sydney Wallace our new uh newest District uh board
023education member I look forward to partnering with you and with the entire board to chart a course that will allow our students to continue to thrive and build on their excellent momentum this month we say goodbye to two exceptional CPS leaders Felicia Sanders our chief schools officer and Jaden Chow our chief of Safety and Security Chief Sanders began her CPS Journey as a student at Barton Elementary and spent 33 years in the service of our District's children her roles included a teacher principal Network leader and finally Chief schools officer in this final role she supported our Network leaders in providing guidance mentorship and empowerment to our talented CPS principles 14 years ago Jen Chow became the first woman and first person of age and Heritage to serve as the chief of Safety and Security for
024our district her belief in restorative discipline practices and building trusting relations between students and adults helps shift how we View and manage school safety Chief child was a key contributor to our District's whole whole school safety policy which prioritizes students emotional safety along with their physical safety at school both of these outstanding leaders will be deeply missed but we're grateful that they left us with a solid foundation on which to continue their remarkable work I I want to thank our dedicated facilities team for their outstanding work in keeping our school safe warm and dry during the most recent cold naap and throughout the entire winter as we approach the start of spring I hope we've seen the last of the extreme winter weather but as recently as last week freezing temperatures and wind chills had
025Chicago firmly in their grasp in addition to a high quality education our students rely on us for many things including meals and overall safety that is why CPS Works diligently to keep schools open even during extreme weather days this simply would not be possible without our diligent work of our custodians our building engineers and the rest of our facilities team so I encourage everyone in our schools to offer them a word of thanks next I want to discuss some of the groundbreaking gains our high schoolers are making when it comes to advanced placement work but let me give you a little bit of context many districts Reserve advanced placement classes for students who have been placed on gifted or accelerated tracks and don't invite encourage or encourage other students to participate we have a different
026view at CPS we want to expand opportunities for growth and challenge to our so that our students can reach new highs 5 years ago we started expanding advanced placement axes more equally with an INT with an intentional focus on historically underserved students at the time critics predicted that if we expanded axis that scores would drop I am proud to report that the opposite is true we now have access to data from last year which shows that our students actually set records in the following categories the number of students taken at least one AP exam and trus remember AP exams when they pass them are college credit the percent of students taking at least one AP exam the number of students with at least one passing AP score and the number of total AP exams taken
027and the total and the number of total passing scores and AP exams all records so again members to remind you their students take advanced placement classes they take an advanced placement exam if they pass the exam and the exam is is uh an external exam it's not a CPS exam if they pass it exam they receive college credit here's the best part with the exception of 2020 when exams were modified because of the pandemic our students posted the highest pass rate ever more than half of the exams taken by our students last year received the passing score for context in 2011 less than onethird of the exams receiv received the passing score our students are also outpacing the nation when it comes to AP scores nationally 22.6% of the class to 24 graduates passed at
028least one AP exam at CPS the number was 26.4 this is also very close to the state of Illinois as a whole which came in third among all states with 2.3 of graduates graduating Statewide reaching this standard and so again it's an important context our demographics are very different than the state they're very different than the nation and looking more broadly this really this really also uh helps to continue to strengthen the district proudness problem in the area in which we have so many different Pathways for students to start their post-secondary careers while still in high school so besides advanced placement we have dual credit we have dual enrollment of course advanced placement International baloria one of the largest by the way International baloria providers in the country jrc Career and Technical education and the
029seal by literacy when you add all these up more than 52.3% of our CPS class 2024 graduates earned an early college career cred our career credential this doesn't happen overnight and doesn't happen by accident it happens because we have been intentional focused on postsecondary preparation for CPS it has led us to record graduation rates record scholarship earnings and record early in college credential entainment for our high schoolers importantly the progress is being felt across all racial groups in almost every category that described earlier across racial lines we are seeing record breaking growth these positive trans validate our strategy of expanding advanced placement programs across the district so that students traditionally in underserved schools on the South and West site have access to Advanced coursework like their counterparts in other areas of the city now I'm
030pleased to offer several rounds of congratulations beginning with 73 students who recently uh were recently named as posi Scholars these members of the of the CPS class of 2025 are receiving full tuition scholarships to continue their educ ation in prestigious schools such as middleberry the University of Wisconsin Madison and Cornell University the financial support comes as courtesy of the posi Foundation which has open has uh been opening doors for talented students across the country since 1989 part of the philosophy is to send students to a college together in posis so that's how so they built the built-in support system on campus from day one of their freshman year I thank the posi foundation for its generosity along with the partner schools that welcome our students with open arms and help them take the next step
031on their educational journey and huge huge congratulations to our 73 posy Scholars whose hard work and Leadership during High School are now paying off in a big way we know that they they will represent the district well and we look forward to seeing all they can all they do to make CPS proud and by the way everybody I've seen the process it is extensive the students have to go through to get these scholarships and they have to compete I also want to congratulate our nine CPS magnet schools that recently earned Nation the national recognition from the magnet schools of America these are brown Burr gy Hawthorne Youngman LEL 2 Sheridan Stone and Thorp elementary schools for young men this is the second consecutive year earning MSA reclination by the way uh personal connection a young
032man even though I went to was Elementary School in pilson all of my siblings went to young men and the young men principal Susan luzy was also named one of the organizations principls of the of the year for 2025 I congratulate each of these School communities on this well-deserved recognition our next round of congratulations goes to a series of CPS Educators who received Statewide recognition in the past few weeks Mr Josh larner of Pierce Elementary and Miss Comfort Abdula of Po classical school have been named co- Regional teacher teachers of the Year by the Illinois State Board of Education in addition Miss Jessica Suarez Neo of uh Tali with the with the with at I'm sorry the element at Tali Elementary was the named the bilingual teacher of the year for the state of Illinois
033in addition 16 CPS teachers administrators and educational support Personnel also receed recognition as part of isb's those who Excel initiative and finally I'm excited to share that eight CPS teachers have been Nam finalists in The prestigious Golden Apple awards for excellence in teaching I am incred I'm incredibly proud of these ISB Award winners and Golden Apple final finalists who consistently go above and beyond for their student seeing many of our Educators highlighted for their success and Innovation is yet another reminder that the best truly are with CPS and speaking of celebrating our best we are currently in the middle of crossing guard appreciation month this is a great opportunity to let our 686 active crossing guards know how much we appreciate them seeing seeing our students safely to and from school no matter what the
034conditions are outside I hope that everyone will take a moment now and in March for and between now and March 14th to thank our crossing guards for their service you can also visit our website at cps.edu to nominate and stand out uh stand out a crossing guard in your life for the CPS crossing guard Award of the year which will be announcing late this spring one crossing guard definitely worthy of this nomination is Miss Miss euginia Phillips she miss Phillips has been supporting students at Garvey Elementary School for a remarkable 50 Years everybody let me repeat that for a remarkable 50 years a CPS graduate herself Miss Phillips became a crossing guard in the mid 1970s for the simple reason that being around children made her happy 50 years later she still she's still on
035the case and that's what keeps her in the job and it keeps kids at garby safe and giving and she gives them love I now turn to black history month and the outstanding job our school communities have done celebrating the historic contributions of our country's black leaders artists Scholars and Pioneers for social justice we have been amplifying performances assemblies Arts exhibits cultural Affairs and even the launch of our black of our our black Student Association on our District's blog and across social media channels and as Chief chumba mentioned earlier we have been uplifting our United black male educator group for the work they're doing increasing opportunities for our District's black men and boys I applaud everyone in our CPS Community who dedicated time this month to celebrating black history and culture and affirming the rich
036identities of our District's black students I also want to acknowledge the district's event this past Friday which celebrated five years of the CP Equity framework and the launch of the CPS black Student Success plan during the event students spoke about their experiences and how they use their voices to make a difference in the school Community I want to thank again the office of equity for coordinating the event and thank all of the board members parents School leaders and staff who attended I'll now present my monthly update on student transportation February is uh I love the bus month which is a national campaign at uh aiming uh showing thanks to our bus drivers AIDS and monitors around the country we took this opportunity to call out their hard work dedication and commitment to safety that we
037see every day from our transportation team with this support we have implemented phase two of our Hub stop program expanding service to more than 1,400 general education students via 17 117 Hub locations this brings the total number of general education students receiving bus transportation this school year to more than 2,000 in addition to Growing ridership the expansion of our Hub stop program has improved Transportation efficiency and reduced student commute times I'm also happy to report that the waiver for the under under the hood section of the commercial driver's license test has been extended to November of 2026 CPS is working with our partners at the state to extend this waiver to school bus drivers which would make it easier for more drivers to get certified our transportation team is also continuing to improve real-time tracking
038and notification so that families as quickly as possible can know if routes are changing or if their children bus will be delayed and finally as Transportation costs continue to rise CPS is actively exploring Cost Containment strategies while ensuring that student transportation remains safe efficient and reliable finally today I want to acknowledge that many in our CPS Community remain uneasy about the changes that are happening with the federal government and how they can impact our schools this uncertainty is understandable able and valid but I want to be clear about one thing no matter what happens at the federal level CPS will remain a school district where everyone is welcome valued and supported we will stay true to our mission of providing all of our students with a daily learning daily learning experience that prepares them for
039success in the future while affirming and celebrating their unique identities these core values are spelled out in detail in in the resolution passed in late 20 2024 by Chicago Board by our Chicago Board of Ed I thank our board members for reaffirming this resolution today as it provides even greater Assurance to our families and school communities in addition to this resolution there are state and local laws and policies in place to protect our staff and students they will serve as barers as barriers to policy changes that would seek to discriminate against our staff and students based on race immigration status sexual orientation and many other protected classes I'm grateful to our school communities for their partnership and Trust as we navigate these challenging times and we will continue providing everyone with updates regarding any impact
040on our schools based on changes at the federal level I also invite everyone to visit our website at cps.edu new admin guidance for information on the protections we have in place for our district thank you this concludes my prepared remarks thank you CEO um I I just wanted to we're here um I'm glad that you brought this up because it is something that is on the mind of a lot of our families been getting a lot of calls and emails um about the safety issue and um you know the the turmoil that our president has already Unleashed is is really being felt by the communities who have been suffering for a long time already and we saw this even when some Alderman attempted and failed to undo the City Sanctuary City uh protections um but
041the fact that they even tried uh is a warning about how we have to be ready and prepared uh next week as you know our mayor is going to testify in front of the Congressional oversight committee he's going to be standing up for our City's values and the unwavering commitment to protect the mo most vulnerable immigrant populations uh and I think uh it's really important for our district also to be reflecting those same values so I'm really encouraged you know by us you know reaffirming our resolution it's really important um and know this brings me uh to also the I've received a a ton of emails and letters from um teachers urging the this District to settle the contract and I I want to say to all the folks who have been emailing that I
042I hear you I see your frustration and and I share your urgency um we need to get this contract settled so we can focus on the work that our students and our communities desperately need uh one of the issues that struck me the most uh from the letters and the calls is the call for a more Equitable elementary school day anyone who spent any time in a school knows the immense unpaid labor that our teachers take on they spend time mentoring preparing supporting students far beyond the hours that they're being compensated for this is not sustainable uh we really if we really truly value our Educators we really need to rethink the structure of the school day and ensure that the best possible outcomes for our students and our teachers uh I I urge your
043team to take this issue very seriously and move forward with solutions that honor the work of our that that our educators are doing um last last thing uh you know the the fear that's gripping our our families right now is just unex acceptable this immigration enforcement um the looming threat of the raids you know the very real possibility of families being separated it's terrorizing our communities um I mean we can't expect children to be able to focus on learning when they don't know if their parents are going to be home when they get back uh so I want to continue to push the district uh to um continue to to Fig figure out the best ways possible to protect our families we're facing really significant changes um I'm sorry challenges but I think that um
044we really need to really put our heads together to figure out how to how to work those things out cuz um every day there's like a new a new executive order a new threat and uh we really need to make sure that our district is is up for that challenge and continues to push forward thank you VP or do still do we have any other comments from the board thank you CEO Martinez I'm sorry thank you president um and thank you co for your remarks I also want to Echo in particular the immigration and the safety as many of you are aware yesterday there was a situation that happened in the seven district in particular in Gage Park Community where there was a parent who was dropping of his children to school and I in
045um Federal you know a agency showed up and yanked the dad in front of the children so we can only think about the trauma caused already in the community I want to applaud the the principles from idad and also from Soo um schools that stepped in and made sure thank you for following the guidelines and also ensuring that those children were you know removed from the car in a safe space in the schools and also want to thank the community organizations and elected officials that stepped up to help this family and also the staff of CPS but this is just one of many examples of what is to come unfortunately for many of our communities and I I applaud again C and the board for standing here with us and seeing how we can continue
046supporting these families and what do we need to you know with resolutions affirming that we are here to protect ensure that our schools are a safe heaven for our students stents there they should be a space where they can learn and not be afraid that their parents are going to be yanked before them so that and I also want to U mention the Federal in particular with Federal uh funding the impact that it will have with Title One and second in English Learners um that is something that possibly happen uh so let's continue conversations and how we can prepare thank you uh I want to Echo what uh vice president Batista said um but I have another issue to raise as well um board bylaw state that uh you the CEO are supposed to develop
047and present a legislative agenda at the January regular meeting um we are now at February and it is uh nowhere on the docket for discussion today I want to say that both actions and inactions carry a message about priori ities and given the dire Financial condition of our district it's hard to understand why this topic is left out um we know that about 85% of the school districts in Illinois are underfunded so I'm wondering what is the plan to build alliances with those districts um I'm wondering what is the plan to unite parents the business Community our elected officials and the entire education Community um to press Springfield to treat education as the moral imperative that we know it is to correct a few things board members so we have shared um in uh briefings
048the the agenda itself again it really is the we're working with uh with the board staff I'm again if if you want to formally approve it uh we are actually already working with our legislators I've already met with leadership of of the legislature uh we are also you know daily there even now there's going to be a there's a coalition that's already built and we are actually going to be having a Lobby day that I will give the board members more information as well about and so so that that is in in action right now again we'll continue to work with the board staff if you want to formally approve um the agenda itself that we've briefed you with and what changes you would like to make thank you and appreciate your report CEO Martinez
049I I do want to say that um I'm also being um I'm hearing from a lot of constituents concerned about the fact that the the the teacher unions contract has not been resolved and I'm concerned one area of concern for me and I would appre appreciate some clarity is the issue of um teacher evaluations and um when we've had discussions before I've raised the the issue of disperate impact with the reach examin the reach exam and the response that I got was that it doesn't have a disperate impact because it even though it harms children in low-income schools it I'm it harms teachers in low-income schools it harms all teach in low-income schools so it can be disperate impact but all teachers don't have the current state that black teachers have in CPS in the
050year 2000 we were 44% of the district today we are 19 which means there's a reason why there's a committee called UB me because black men have been purged from the district there's a reason why we've gone from 44% to 19% in 20 years that's because not because we're voting with our feet because policies have purged black teachers out of the district so that means that you're you're dealing with ground that is not healthy already so if you have an evaluation system that does cause harm to that particular population you can't put bad on top of bad and so I'm just I'm curious as to has there been any agreement in this area um and what other alternatives are there to provide a teacher evaluation system that supports holds accountable but also nurtures that particular
051body that has been neglected for so long black teachers and white teachers in CPS do not have the same set of circumstances this is a body of teachers that helped raise me where I went to window Smith Elementary School I saw teachers that look like me they encouraged me my principal was a black man who had an afro and a dashiki and today seeing a black male principal is like seeing a unicorn that is a condition and we can and it may irritate some of us to hear it but it's it's often easy to say it irritates me when you're dealing with somebody else's suffering no we're going to have this issue front line front line and center the state of black teachers in Chicago public schools has been um almost like scorched Earth so
052I humbly ask to see if there's a way to get some clarity on what's happening with that aspect of the negotiations because again I'm getting emails every day I'm getting phone calls left and right saying what are we going to do about this so I want to be responsive to those demands that was it we have any other comments or questions from the board members no thank you CEO Martinez uh we have no committee Updates this Mo month so we'll proceed with poll participation president Harden can you uh read the statement on page six thank you for joining us to share your comments with the board in compliance with the Illinois open meetings ACT public participation sometimes referred to as public comment is the portion of the board meeting or hearing that grants District stakeholders
053the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments note that the public participation is a time for board and CPS senior leadership to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue with board members during or after your remarks while we can't discuss Personnel matters public participation is a key component of transparent governance and provides us board members as well as senior leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has assigned to speak this board takes Equity of voice very seriously while we may not address your comments directly during public participation CPS leadership is always present at our meeting meetings and are able to address concerns as followup after the meeting as a district and as a board we also have many other spaces for authentic dialogue for example each and
054every one of the board members host Board office hours so that we can have a conversation please use our website CPS boe.org if you want to meet with the board member during office hours we encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with board members outside the board meeting and thank you for your attention and consideration as a reminder Union Representatives be allowed 5 minutes to speak before public participation and any elected officials will be allowed five 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 register 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
055to 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 who may have weak inter internet connection could still participate using their phones also members of the public May submit written comments for the Board of Education meetings via the in comment form on the board's website at cpsb.org or mail to one North Dearborn sweet 950 written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5: p.m. the day after the Board of Education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within 5 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
056us virtually as a reminder to unmute please enter star 6 once you hear your name please state your name for the record I will then start the two-minute timer when there are 30 seconds remaining I'll inform you so that you can proceed to conclude your remarks till allow for the next speaker to begin for anyone standing with the speaker please stand along the glass partitions to keep aisles clear thank you president Harden before we begin be calling speakers from the speakers list we do have Union reps who would like to address the board we'll begin with Stacy Davis Gates CTU president who is here in person good morning and um congratulations and welcome Sydney Wallace um we are glad to have you here um today I had like a moment of deja vu when I
057was walking to the board of education for this meeting because there was a picket line in front of the board this morning and they were chanting don't close our schools and I remember that same picket line that same Chan in 2013 except for there were black mothers there you know you often hear and perhaps it is in cliche that if you trust black women the first time it won't be a second time and so I stand here with my Latina sisters because schools are being closed again we got a resolution that said one thing and we're here hearing another thing today that's not okay and it's not okay for a couple of reasons one is traumatic When someone tells you that they have you that they support you and that they're going to work with
058you then you have to believe that um that's not what's happening today per the agenda now you all have the opportunity and the purview to make happen what's supposed to happen and I trust that people of good values and good will will do exactly that because these students and their families are depending on that um they believed in the process they particip IP ated in the process they got an outcome from the process and they trusted the outcome from the process and now they're trusting that the process will be implemented in the way in which they were told it was going to be implemented and so we appreciate both your support and adherence to what was already promised so I thank you for that in advance um the next thing that I want to talk
059to you about is because it is 2025 and I'm not in a doctor strange Multiverse but sometimes it feels like it I want us to remember or understand that um we got bigger fish to fry yesterday there was a father who did not pick his children that he was dropping off he didn't pick them up from school because he was detained that's a difference and sometimes we have to be shaken out of what we perceive as you know a regular state of business because it is an a regular state of business um all of the attacks that we are um absorbing as a country um we need to figure out how to build the force field around this school district and I've said that multiple times and you all have to be partners Coalition Partners
060in that again we all believe in the same thing we believe that we have to protect our young people so in protecting our young people I want to call you to something that there is a reach evaluation system brother G2 and I appreciate your words on behalf of black teachers um that we do need to build a force field around them we have to and we can do that through the contract number two our young people deserve a school day that isn't just test performance taking skills they do need Fine Arts they do need a sports program right and then they do need teachers who are prepared to give that to them and those teachers need support from teachers assistance to make that happen a school is an interconnected group of people who are working
061to create outcomes that young people need and young people need smaller class sizes and we can do that as well we can do all of these things in a very reasonable way and last time I was here CEO Martinez said that we are close so 30 days later we're still close but not landed I need it to land because we need each other to fight Trump and I'm not trying to fight the Board of Education or the Chicago Public Schools I trust that everyone here believes what I believe that we need to build a force field on our schools listen our values have to be implemented they cannot just be signaled they cannot just be Amplified they have to be implemented you have 30 seconds remaining and by implementing our values we are protecting our
062children we are making sure that our all of our schools have Sanctuary we are saying that we won't renew your Charter unless you work with us to create Sanctuary we are saying we won't renew your Charter if you do not comply with uh Fair labor standards for your workers there are things that we have the power to do and not just signal to do and I want to close out with this those Lobby days that we just got done talking about that's because we negotiated those Lobby days see we don't just help kids students do their work we help the CEO do his work and then on top of what we also negotiated we negotiated it with those Golden Apple award winners those Presidential Award winners and those teachers of the Year those people are
063actually on on our bargaining team these are things that come from people who actually do the work please listen to these mothers and these children when they say that they need you to be their Champion I appreciate your patience thank you so much thank you for your comments our next union rep is Jen Conan CTU Charter division um Vice chair I'm sorry Charter division chair good afternoon members of the board as you know I'm Jen conent chair of c2's Charter division on leave from teaching at CICS Northtown it's good to see you all again today I want to speak to you about the charter industry in the coming months you will be asked to choose to renew numerous charter schools and networks CPS and this board have the important job of overseeing the work of
064Charter operators and in ensuring that charter schools are living up to their promise of an excellent education a decade ago when it was common to believe that Charters could do no wrong the Board of Ed often voted for 10-year renewals since that time however we have seen that Charter operators do not always live up to their promises and a lot can change in 10 years the Board of Ed last year opted for Renewal terms of 1 to four years and that was the right thing to do board members opted for shorter terms because the charter schools and networks all had compliance issues and for some of them intensive support from cps's Office of incub ination and Innovation was deemed necessary shorter renewal terms are important because it ensures that CPS can continue to hold Charter
065operators accountable I say this as a longtime charter school teacher someone who directly relies on you to help me improve conditions for students and schools is the renewal process perfect no can it be improved yes and it should be but what you are likely to experience in the future is pressure to rubber stamp renewal recommendations I encourage you to not do that instead really engage in reading and considering the data about each school and network and how it is run ask questions ask where the money is going ask if the network has gone around this board to get Charters through the state to escape accountability here at CPS and take the time you need to understand this process don't let yourselves be rushed and just as importantly I ask you to make demands around what
066renewal contracts with District should look like as we have seen with AO Charter contracts with the district only require Charter operators to notify the district if they decide to suddenly close up shop and the consequences for decisions like that are either non-existent or have vague language and the right of the charter operator to act like a business is prioritized over the rights of the children that they've committed to educate this is not acceptable then need there needs to be clear consequences in every agreement ensuring the Soo debacle never happens again make it clear that Charter operators will owe the district money from their reserves make it clear that their renewal could be at risk and make sure there are clear guidelines for how students and staff are absorbed back into the district if a charter
067school closes finally ensure these contracts follow state law and require that Charter operators must remain neutral if staff decide to unionize Public School dollars should not be used to fund expensive lawyers whose sole purpose is to kill organizing campaign and slander our Union if Educators want to organize and unionize they should be able to educate themselves on the process make their decisions without the malign influence of union busting campaigns and expect School leaders to respect School staff and democracy by recognizing their Union if a majority choose to organize now I'd like to turn to AO specifically the board decided in December that CPS would take over management of at least five of the asero schools slated for closure starting in school year 2526 and that CPS would continue to evaluate the viability of two others
068we have been pushing for CPS and Aero to land an agreement on this transition so that students families and staff can have peace of mind that their school communities will continue to exist into the future CPS unfortunately seems to been focusing instead on changing that resolution which is why there is a proposed amendment on the agenda today I urge you all to vote down the proposed amendments CPS and the Board of Ed made a commitment to aaro families and they need to keep it we need you to show us that this board can be trusted can take responsibility and can take action on behalf of school communities if you go back on the promise you made to these families what trust will you have in the future we need you to vote these amendments down
069today and ensure that CPS leaders move forward on protecting our students families and Educators we cannot continue on the roller coaster the Asser Community has been living for 140 days we call on this board and demand uphold the resolution passed on December 20th and keep our schools open guarantee that CPS will absorb the five schools listed in the December resolution Kasa cisos Fuentes Santiago and too and continue to evaluate the options for p and cruise and tell AO they will face consequences when their Charter renewal is considered next year if they do not follow the resolution as well and reach an agreement with CPS now is the time to act to move forward not backwards thank you thank you for your [Music] comments the next union rep is staa Scott Kennedy SEIU Executive Vice President
070who is here in person good morning board president Harden CEO Martinez and the rest of the board my name is staa Scott Kennedy and I'm the Executive Vice President for seu local 73 we represent over 12,000 support staff in CPS crossing guards Seas security officers bus AES subas and subbs AIDS from every aspect of a Chicago public school students day it is support staff who Ure that they're receiving the education that they deserve from the bus a who greets the special education student in the morning the crossing guard who stands in Chicago's traffic to ensure the children make it into school safely the security who secure the building and build really important crucial relationships with the children our custodians who make sure it's a clean and welcoming environment our support staff are the backbone of
071Chicago Public Schools their skilled labor holds it up and yet twice historically when this District was struggling financially it was support staff who had to bail out this District they had to give back their hard-earned raises twice in the past they never really caught up economically last year we submitted testimonies to the board at that time about the hardship financially our members were facing people were forgoing necessary medication putting credit putting groceries on their credit cards they were struggling to maintain housing and when we settled that contract people could finally breathe we raised the floor to $40,000 a year and we raised the scales as well there is talk of mass layoffs and Furlow days to balance this District's budget you cannot continue to balance the district or the city's finances on working people's backs
072please be cognizant of the real human cost of the decisions that you all will be forced to make in the upcoming weeks and please do not take it out on some of your lowest paid employees thank you thank you for your comments our next union rep is Kia Banks cpaa Chief of Staff good morning I would like to acknowledge new board member Wallace we're looking forward to working with you and today we're going to begin a little bit different differently than we have in the past we want to start by saying thank you to our Board of Education members over the past few weeks each of you have taken the time to meet with us uh and have conversations with cpaa leadership and we want to sincerely thank you for that regular conversations like these
073are essential to make sure that we're building real understanding there can never be a downside when there's consistent dialogue communication is always the core of establishing a foundation of a good relationship but too often we are seeing people react to situations without a solid foundation of understanding and so when communication breaks down misunderstandings confusion unintended or detrimental outcomes can sometimes happen see we've all experienced that frustration when there are decisions that are made without a clear grasp on the impact leaving others to pick up those pieces but see misunderstandings don't have to be the norm in our District they can always be avoided when we take the time to listen to ask questions and get to the root of the issue see when we take a moment to ask why we often uncover a deeper
074Story the solutions we seek might be a compromise or just agreeing to see things from a different perspective but we never get there when we're doing that alone when we approach situations with curiosity and instead of assumptions we open the door to better Solutions and stronger outcomes and often times those Solutions help us to emerge when there's a misunderstanding so that brings me to another opportunity this opportunity is to acknowledge the CPS leadership we want to say thank you for the improved communication that we've experienced recently we appreciate this new direction we especially recognize the effort that it took to acknowledge when communication has fallen short see a recent example has occurred with a particular rollout without much input of cpaa at the for at the beginning which forces cpaa to to to make demands
075that certain things be paused but while we appreciate the Management's willingness to change the course we had uh we feel like had we been a part of this conversation from the beginning maybe those tensions would not have Arisen see with that being said once we actually met with CPS leadership we gained a better understanding of their intent and with that they understood that the right people weren't at the table when the decisions were made so with that being said we are now working together collaboratively to ensure that the next steps will be handled much differently we want to make sure that our principles aren't unnecessarily burdened but we want to help the district meet its goals so what we're doing is we're all committing to doing having regular communication and a willingness to understand each
076other because we always want to have an opportunity to course correct when it's necessary but speaking of course Corrections there's still some unresolved issues that we need to be addressed as well we must acknowledge that there has been lasting harm caused by past breakdowns in communication and lack of transparency especially when it comes to the removal of some of our greatest principles without due process and by some accounts without cause see we cannot rest until those principles receive some real Justice their reputations are restored and whether to a do a few Rogue members or a larger systemic issue this blatant abuse of power it has to stop and those practices that principles have been subjected to those harmful practices and sometimes those Personnel today we are asking in Earnest that there be a real investigation
077into the root cause and seek real Justice for these principles that has to be a priority because see I'm going off script now as my union sister Stacy Gates said I realize we have to realize we have so much more in com common than what we disagree on and that's us as a collective not just the unions but CPS and the district we talking a lot today about black Student Success and uh creating space for black teachers but we have to also remember that we want to make sure that our leaders are protected seconds remaining and that our black students see a pathway for success not only through teaching but through advancement in education and rising to those higher positions what we need to make sure we are saying is that at the heart of
078it all we have the same goal doing what's best for children and there's no better reason to keep open and honest dialogue going than to support our most vulnerable stakeholders our students when we communicate we want to communicate with all of you we want to partner with all of you proactive actively solution oriented to instill the uh the respect and the Trust In This District that my parents had in it when I came through it and that I have as a parent for my daughter coming through it so we see you we see our Charter School uh colleagues those children are our children and we all want to make sure that we're working towards a positive outcome for all of our students so thank you thank you for your remarks president hard Harden we are
079now ready to call speakers from the speakers list and we will begin with the first group from masero Angelica harez speaker number one Andrea Ayala speaker number three Lucy Salgado speaker number four Molina Pera speaker number five LS dado speaker number six Christine binder speaker number eight Olivia Goldstein speaker number n 9 Caroline Rutherford speaker 11 Linda marelo speaker number 13 biridiana venz speaker 19 Britney Delon speaker 22 Sarah de de Maria speaker 25 Emily Rylander speaker 27 if those standing with the speakers can stand along the glass part s along and as well as uh along the sidewalls to keep the aisles clear please move down thank you can we um start with the first Speaker Angelica HZ speaker number one okay dear CPS board members I hope you all been well my name
080is Angelica harez I know you haven't asked but I like to tell you how my kids and I have been feeling since we found out that our beloved godos went to school was set for closing at the end of this current school year my girls and I asked time and time again why would day aetos board decide to close seven of their schools schools are meant to educate and provide a learning environment for all children why would anyone want to shatter the hearts and in in some sense the dreams of the children that attend these schools my children have been enrolled at fenta since my first child entered kindergarten and graduated that's over 10 years ago with my second oldest enrolled in an i P plan I am grateful to account with such dedicated and
081supportive teachers and professionals as it is truly overwhelming to deal with the different challenge for my children quentes is a second home and family for us we can only express our current feelings as heartbroken due to this situation I hope that no organization be a charter asset or public be so careless and Reckless to take such a great decision without prior consent of its administrators teachers parents and students I am here today to plead that this board approves and finalize the resolution pass on December 20th 2024 and demonstrate that the board stands for principles and values of safeguarding our children's education in times of turmoil please be our safe place and stand with us in protecting our students in schools thank you thank you for your remarks the next speaker is Andrea Ayala speaker number
082three good morning my name is Andrea and I'm a seventh grade student at C NEOS before I start I want to tell I want to let you know that being here today in front of you was hard I'm afraid that I will suffer retaliation just for giving my opinion I have been at C nto since kindergart that's eight years my sister graduated my brother goes to first grade this is a community that has supported my family far longer than I have gone here and I hope I will continue to even after I hopefully graduate from seos you have the power to help me make this happen this school is home to me because it is all I have known I would like to graduate by the people that have made me who I am today
083not only my teachers but also my peers this has been and continues to be a school community that has a NeverEnding supply of love from our teachers our parents our friends that we hope will be by our sides forever it has been proven time and time again that Community is a key to learning this is a school community that has gone through so much despite the hardships it is a school community that is always lining up even on the darkest days speaker number three you have 30 seconds remain remain take away my community you are not only putting me at disadvantage but 300 other students at a disadvantage send me to a new school where I do not know a soul and I will not learn the same I will not grow the same because
084I will not have the light that has allowed me to grow for the past eight years you may say we can learn at any school but tell this to the students that receive diverse learning support tell this to my brother he's a DL student that struggles to concentrate struggles to verbalize and struggles to advocate for himself this year Miguel has had significant growth because of the teachers speak number pleas remarks to make accommodations and advocate for him you don't find that everywhere tell this to multilingual students that are just now grasping English thanks to the way our community has prioritized language diversity and school that hires bilingual teachers and Specialists that provides all the material possible in their native language schools like our speak number three please conclude your remarks far between do not make
085them even harder to find by shutting them down so Chicago Board of Education I am here to implore that you that you not only save our schools but Save Our communities save our education thank you for your comments our next speaker is Lucy Salgado speaker number four I didn't write a speech today um I'm really mad what's happening with our schools with the migration and even the racism that we just it just happened here and this is supposed to be a safe a safe place and it's not it's not a man upstairs was screaming go back to your country you wet back you immigrant in front of all these children in front of my children and I had to stand there to block them because he's trying to put my kids and social media on
086their faces where is there a safe place for these children are you not seeing that this Administration is coming after us parents are not even safe to drop off their children we're begging you help us help these children stop the racism especially here this is supposed to be a safe building and you have a man screaming at a children no you need to set some protocols for that and then you go and sit them next door with all those children trying video their faces they he could show it to Mega to all these racist people where our children going to be safe if they can't even come here to express how they feel this is not right in many ways speaker for you have 30 seconds remain not that I have to Shield my kids
087no tell the mother I am begging you I am begging you hear me [Music] I'm GNA I'm going to beg you don't do this help these children now they this of future don't take their education away everybody deserves an education thank you for your comments our next speaker is our next speaker is Molina Pera speaker number five Molina Pera speaker number five bu for for rich back for we'll have our Spanish transl translators SP um translate the statement is this on yes good morning board members CEO Pedro Martinez my name is Melina Pereira and I am a mother and Community activist I am here today representing the sandrao school where two my children graduated I hope with all my heart that you are well that that you are well because I am not nor are
088the 300 students the teachers or the custodial food service and safety staffers at I ask you why are you punishing us we are the victims we are the most vulnerable people in this story I remind you that we are in this situation because it's evident that for years the assetto leadership has been mismanaging its resources actually let me be more clear it is evident that the schools are in the conditions that they are because for years Aero CEO Richard Rodriguez and the rest of his leaders ship team has been stealing the money now I ask is this what following the law means seriously though why are we surprised CEO CPS CEO Pedro Martinez also Breaks the Rules he promised not to close any public school before 2027 and yet here we are Alonso Carmona promised
089us transparency and he still broke parents trust sending last Tuesday's regrettable statement will you disappoint as well you who promised that you would work hard to ensure that every boy and girl no matter their zip code or background would have access to the tools necessary for Success today our children need you they need their seven schools to remain open because without this school without this tool without education there can be no success today you have the opportunity to show Acero that you do have leverage over them that if you don't keep our schools open they will have to return funds we lose their Charter contract and that an investigation into aeto will be opened by federal investigators show us that at least you are listening to us and that and that all of struggling has
090been worth it students teachers the entire cisos Community know that you are worth it because we are cisos our next speaker is LS dogado speaker number six you know for this I had a whole speech I'm not going to use it I've seen enough since 141 days ago when parents teachers and students were told that their schools may be shut down and that they would have to be divided that was when I had enough for too long have we allowed people who believe that students that teachers and that parents are profit and not human beings disgust me Richard Rodriguez and his Board of whatever believe that they have every right to shut down our schools my name is Luis degado I am a current sophomore at Northside College Prep the only person of my graduating
091year in the whole Acero Network to get into North Side college prep and I'm an alumni from es moral the Santiago when I first entered I was very timid I was shy I did not like to speak my mom was right here next to me she's agreeing with that I never wanted to be next to any of my classmates I hated to do everything I didn't want to do anything but thanks to this the dedication the hard work of those amazing teachers you know the passion of my friends that wanted to bring me to play sports to do other activities I opened up I joined flag football I joined volleyball I even was an a founder of my school student council speaker number six you have 30 seconds remaining I urge all of you to
092not consider to uphold the resolution not because it interests yourself but because it interests the constituents that elected you to this position and to all of those who will vote against this and will stand by it then just know that in the next election you will have consequences but before I finish and do my closing remarks so before they cut my mic off too I want to give a special thanks to someone who's never given up on me I have an IP I have some a hard time learning but she's never ever ever given up on me speaker number six please and that is my amazing mother so from the bottom of my heart to the CPS board to everyone I thank you for the hard work you given me and please do not putut
093our schools down have sympathy have empathy and finally tell the Acero and Richard Rodriguez that his re six please conclude your remarks of Terror is over thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Christine binder speaker number eight I'm here because of you good morning my name is Christine binder I am an educator with over 30 years of experience seven of which have been at Aero cisos I'm here before you again because I've come before I'm here because I can't stay silent when our schools are under attack I'm here today not just with my own words but with the voices of multiple staff members these should have been delivered to you why because they couldn't come they are in a building educating students but they wanted their voices heard their voices matter
094the voices of my students matter this is this is the the first major decision for this new school board and it will send a clear clear message that you stand firm in protecting our schools or will you allow yourselves to be pushed around we need action not lip service at every meeting we have heard we hear you we're going to look into this but with words those words are empty worse they're insulting to Educators families and students who have been fighting for an while CPS and Aero asero staff talk to no one but each other I take this fight personally because my students my colleagues and my community matters 30 seconds remaining I know some of you on this board care as deeply as I do and have shown up to Aero board meetings and
095you stand with us at rallies aerro made promises to these families that they enrolled when they enrolled their children the de November 20th re resolution was a historic step in protecting our students you demanded that CPS create a transition plan to keep all the Acero schools open now CPS is pushing you to weaken your own resolution you cannot let that happen if a Saro is allowed to close three schools with no repercussions what is stopping them from closing more what is stopping other Charter operators from doing the same this is not just about Aero this is about whether the board has the power to hold CPS and other Charter operators accountable you made the right decision on December 20th now you have to stand by it you have to stand by these families and these
096children and these Educators the people of Chicago are watching you they are watching you vote you will you protect our children will you keep them safe or will you add to their trauma thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Olivia Goldstein speaker number nine is this on okay great um good morning members of the board my name is Olivia Goldstein I am the second and third grade ELA teacher at esmeral de Santiago Elementary one of these seven asero School communities still facing uncertainty despite the December 20th resolution that resolution should have provided Clarity and yet here we are again forced to fight for the stability our students deserve we only learned about this newly proposed resolution on Tuesday less than 48 hours from I had already signed up to speak at
097this meeting like my speech has changed after months of uncertainty this last minute change only deepens instability I urge the board to reconsider this a passage of this new resolution as it will prolong anxiety to our school communities that have already endured so much since October 9th across the country schools are struggling with chronic absenteeism a crisis that districts Nationwide are scrambling to fix in 2023 cps's chronic absenteeism rate was 40% it's like 129,000 kids a crisis that district oh sorry meanwhile students are show at Santiago we're showing up our students are showing up every day they walk through those doors ready to learn isn't that the very definition of viability why why disrupt a school where students are engaged and invested in their education instead of providing Clarity this viability study language intensifies fear
098that have plagued our communities for months will our students be forced trans 30 seconds remaining will teachers and staff lose their jobs will families have to uproot their lives this board has the opportunity to set a president one that prioritizes transparency stability and the well-being of students will your legacy be one of instability and broken promises or one of integrity and bold leadership that protects our schools you have the power to end this uncertainty do not pass this resolution do not continue to leave us in limbo stand with us stand with our students stand with our communities thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Caroline Rutherford speaker number 11 hi my name is Caroline the third we've met before I am an art teacher at Aero Marquez and the chair of
099the Union Council at the 15 asero schools and this is the 10th I'll say that again this is the 10th CPS board meeting we have been to since October 9th when Aero announced they plan to devastate our communities and close our schools on December 20th the Board of Education resolution to save our schools was passed unanimously thank you all for hearing the parents students and Educators and putting your values first as board member Brown stated at the last meeting not in this board's name are we going to sit there and allow any school to underserve families and leave them out in the cold thank you board member Brown you can see that we clearly stand before you today heartbroken disappointed and Confused how anyone would consider an amendment to the resolution that would reopen the
100question of closing our schools CEO Martinez and Dr Carmona you were specifically directed by the December 20th resolution to protect 2,000 students at our schools by creating a detailed plan to transition the schools into CPS and reach an agreement with a Sero to facilitate that process you had 69 days to develop that plan and bring it here today for the board members to vote on instead everyone's time seems to have been wasted and CPS is bringing forth an amendment that would break the promise the board made to these families and our schools CEO Martinez and Dr Carmona if CPS allows you to go forward with letting these schools close you are no better you are no better than CEO of Aero Rich Rodriguez our communities are under attack every day by the Trump Administration as
101evident yesterday when federal agents detained a father dropping off his students at one of our schools CEO Martinez these amendments to the resolution are continuing the attacks on our communities and tearing our schools away from our students how much more trauma are you going to allow these students and families to go through board members speaker 11 please conclude your remarks board members please do the right thing save our schools give us answers do not continue to tear our communities apart our students matter thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Linda marel speaker number 13 buenos di members of the board my name is Linda Muro I am a mother of two students two girls at assetto um charter schools I am also a teacher a bilingual teacher at another school for
102the 20 for 27 years our schools have been more than just a place of learning and I feel honored to be a part of that for 12 years our schools have become a second home for students a safe heaven where they are nurture encouraged and given the opportunity to succeed our teachers know each child's name and luckily teach they're also their siblings creating family within our schools teachers in our community become important part of families I know this personally to be true my youngest daughter who is in second grade dreams of having the same teachers as my oldest daughter who is in seventh grade they always talk about getting into sixth grade and learning about Harry Potter over the years my daughters have share their days with one another okay Verana Vincent speaker number 19
103please proceed check good morning my name is Viana Vines and this is my first year at AO B before p b i attended another school where I was unfortunately bullied I suffered in silence and never told my mother I would pretend to be sick just to avoid going to school because I only felt safe at home home on two occasions my mother had to take me to the emergency room because I pretended to be in pain making up excuses to avoid School eventually my mother decided to transfer me to octovia Bass I was scared and nervous thinking it would be the same and that the bullying would continue but I was wrong at fast I feel calm and at peace the teachers my classmates and the entire environment are so different from what I had
104experienced before I now look forward going to school every day I I enjoy learning and I truly enjoy being at best I stand here today and ask you not to take away my happiness many of you here are parents if our children experienc the kind of bullying I went through I know you would do and everything in your power to place them in a school where they feel safe and valued just like I feel now at best I ask you please set aside any thoughts and stop focusing on financial gains from closing my school there are many children just like me who are suffering because I res School my clothes please listen to my voice and consider my request I ask God to give you the wisdom to make a decision that will benefit all
105the children who depend on the school board members Mr Martinez and Mr Carona keep our Safe Haven open safe pass please save our school save speaker 19 you have 30 seconds thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Brit daam speaker 22 and after Britney Delon it will be Sarah dearia speaker 25 hello my name is Britney delion and I'm the second and third grade math teacher at Esmeralda Santiago elementary school once again I stand before you not in my classroom from where I belong not with my students where I am needed but here pleading for their future how are we still here how is it possible months after I stood before you that we remain in this cruel limbo how is it acceptable that students teachers and families have been forced
106to live under the weight of uncertainty waiting hoping for a decision that should have been clear from the start it is appalling that this is even Up For Debate when the right choice is so glaringly obvious you as members of the Chicago Board of Education have a duty no an obligation to uphold the mission of Chicago public schools to provide a high quality public education for every child in every neighborhood that prepares each for success in college career and Civic life how can you claim to fulfill that Miss while considering the closure of a high performing school with Stellar attendance in Chicago's historic Puerto Rican neighborhood I am here today as a voice for my students children who have poured their hearts onto the page in the hopes that their words might reach you listen
107to them Santiago should stay open because we have done nothing wrong we have feelings and when we heard what was happening we all cried please don't shut down Santiago you might want to look at our good attendance we have Smart students we get good grades at the end of the day you know what you did we are so sad because of you if Santiago is not open I will not go to school they love me and I love Santiago how do you hear these voices and not act speaker stud are not just numbers on a budget sheet they are children real children whose friendships safety and Futures are at stake and they are watching you the city is watching you and we are tired of waiting so I ask you what will you do and
108if you choose to close our doors I challenge you to look my students in the eyes and tell them yourselves can you because I couldn't and I hope when you make your decision you remember that you shouldn't be able to either thank you thank you our next speaker is Sarah de de Maria speaker 25 to be followed by Emily Rylander speaker 27 Sarah Di Maria good afternoon CPS board members and CEO Martinez my name is Sarah Maria I have been the academic interventionist at a Saro Carlos FES for the past four years and prior to that I was a fifth and sixth grade teacher at a SOS zumbo for 9 years according to the current resolution being voted on today Fuentes will stay open for another year while three other campuses will be forced to
109shut their doors this resolution is unacceptable and leaves many students and staff members without schools or jobs I have had the pleasure of serving many of our tier three students at fentz over the past four years these students struggle the most most when it comes to reading and they require teachers who know them personally and academically in my current role I have been able to ensure that the students on my case load receive proper interventions and progress monitoring what would happen to my students if our doors were to close would their new teachers know what reading strategies work best for each of them or what topics grab their interest enough to get them to want to pick up a book would they continue to receive proper interventions at their new schools maybe maybe not not
110knowing these answers wouldn't sit right with me please keep all of our schools open so that students at each campus can stay with the teachers and staff members who know them best we need answers from you today don't wait the longer you wait the more students transfer and teachers leave for vacant positions elsewhere prioritize keeping our student commun our school communities together over aero's inab inability to budget properly the board has the power to act today 25 you have 30 seconds or many do what is best for all of our students and teachers hold CPS accountable to making a plan to save all our schools and hold a Sero to the resolution thank you thank you for your comments and the last speaker from the assero group is Emily Rylander speaker tesy okay hello my
111name is Emily Rylander I a special education case manager at two Acero campuses Brighton Park and sanos I would like to ask you how would you feel if you were uncertain about whether you had a school or a job next year how do you think that level of uncertainty uncertainty impacts Educators families students and staff in our Acero schools investing in a student's future without providing a stable and supportive educational environment is akin to placing a bet on a high Stak game with unpredictable odds just as a gambler risks their money on uncertain outcomes we risk a student's potential when we fail to equip them with the necessary tools and opportunities for Success on October 9th 2024 when Aero announced Aero 2.0 and they wanted to close seven schools Aero shared the following non-negotiables for
112themselves transparent data correct interpretations zero room for private agenda set and meet deadlines clear communication decision tree understanding and a decision must be recommended none of these events have happened Aero promised stakeholder engagement starting on October 10th 2024 Town Hall meetings for each campus and clear communication none of these events have happened Aero has folded their cards they're no longer Allin staff student and families and the larger communities they serve they have failed to follow their own non-negotiables and have pulled their bets for the future of the communities they serve you all told Aero that they cannot close their seven schools more than 60 days ago with no definitive date for a resolution to be finalized please finalize that decision today I am begging you to think of the real impact that this will have
113not just on your spreadsheet but on the real people standing here please fight for these schools the way we are fighting for them thank you the next two speakers are from Urban prep's Dennis lasell speaker number two and Ryan Ryland Campbell speaker number our two speakers from Urban prep Academy's Dennis lacewell speaker number two and Riley Ryland Campbell speaker number 20 good afternoon my name is Dennis lawell and I am the chief academic off officer and c and Inter term CEO of urban pries I stand before you as a member of the original design team that opened the first urban prep campus in Chicago's Englewood Community where I served as this the founding principal uh in 2006 for the first 10 years our Englewood campus is currently the oldest and highest rated non-selective enrollment High
114School in Englewood community and our bronzville campus is the highest rated non selective enrollment High School in the bronzville community our schools have been providing positive educational opportunities and experiences for black and brown boys for the past 19 years highlighted by the fact that the class of 2024 made our 15th consecutive graduating class with 100% of our graduates being admitted to a four-year College this is significant when considering the fact that the College Board recently did a study Nationwide study that highlighted that less than 40% of African-American males graduated from high school with the minimum requirements to be accepted to a 4-year College over the past 7 years one or more of our campuses has been through the aurous and tax taxing process of Charter renewal six times we believe that a transparent Equitable and
115objective process will focus on the consistent and continuous success of our schools providing positive educational outcomes for black and brown boys in the city of Chicago We Believe such a process should result in at least a seven-year renewal for our schools for most two decades or prep has continued to create a counternarrative to the decades long of black and brown boys being at the bottom of the positive educational metrics and at the top of the negative educational metrics according to ISB data iring prep continues to outpace the city and state averages and key educational metrics for black children such as graduation rates freshman on track rates attendance and chronic absenteeism rates but beyond the data we would like to welcome each of you to one of our Urban prep campuses to view to witness our
116daily morning all school assembly called Community this will allow you to witness is how our students teachers sta start and every day of the school year with this school ritual that builds a positive School culture and you also find an abundance of black Educators we appreciate the visit from president Harden at our Inglewood campus and Dr Smith at our bronzville campus and we welcome a visit from each and every one of you uh particularly we would like to specifically welcome vice president Batista and Miss bigs who represents the districts which our schools are located Ur prep is committed to being a partner and collaborate collaborator with collaborator with CPS whenever prep succeeds CPS succeeds our community succeeds and ultimately Chicago succeeds thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Ryland Campbell speaker
117number 20 Mr Campbell prob S Class 2028 and I attend the uh the Englewood Campus of urban prep my time at Urban prep has been a fascinating and valuable part of my high school career although I am only a freshman I see what this school values I gain many valuable lessons and apply them to the real world first I will start start with our ritual which is called Community it is our first period This is how we start this is how we begin every morning we take the time to honor our ancestors the one the ones who came before us and acknowledge their accompl accomplishments and how they change society this part of our custom is called no your shy which stands for culture history and identity while all the people may know MK Malcolm
118X and Rosa Park there are many other significant figures in our history who shaped our country urban urban prep disciplines you to be a better man for instance if you are L late to First per to the first period you must to say a poem called to be on time this poem teaches you to succeed to be on time and to be ready Urban prep teaches us of our Origins and what our people did for us so we don't have to experience the same injustices one of our AC cor values is solidarity my classmates and upper classman are very helpful I can depend on them during controversial times they make sure I feel welcomed and appreciated they make sure they never leave out others and always show respect towards one another this is what creates
119unity and togetherness for example a fellow freshman helped me understand a lesson I had trouble with even though the teacher could have helped me my classmate decided to assist me so I could so I could succeed in addition the aore values are a powerful acronym that stands for Rise as far each word is something that could be that can be useful in real life they are resilience Integrity Integrity selfishness exceptionality solidarity Faith accountability and relentlessness next the staff are attentive to their class and teach us effectively they also do their best to have a positive relation relationship with us even if it's not regarding school if we are having problems such as personal issues it lets us become more open which makes us feel heard and seen the staff take their time to acknowledge you
120and are willing to help you with anything regardless if it's School related or not those are essential traits of a teacher or staff member lastly Urban prep has a Creed every part of it is useful and is a big part of our culture it tells us tell stud that contain an immense amount of potential all you have to do is apply it to our lives which means it can be used outside of school this is why I believe Urban prep deserves a seven-year Charter renewal thank you thank you for your comments our next group of speakers is from Instituto Health Science Sciences Career Academy speaker number 10 Amanda Loval Cole speaker number 15 Daniel Nunes speaker 16 Freddy Reyes speaker 17 Myra Ramirez speaker 21 Leah janitas speaker 24 exina fesia speaker 28 Delta Cervantes
121and speaker 30 Lewis Barrera before our first Speaker begins from this group I would like to note for the record that member loano has joined the meeting at approximately 1:22 p.m. thank you please proceed good afternoon my name is Amanda Lovel Cole and I'm a founding teacher at Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy I come before you today to implore you to grant us a 5-year Charter renewal so we can continue to fulfill our promises to our students our community and to the city of Chicago being given 5 years or more if you feel generous will give us the stability we need to implement our long-term plans for helping our students achieve their dreams continue providing our community with wraparound services and provide the city of Chicago with well-rounded confident and responsible graduates who are excited
122to use their talents for the betterment of all as a teacher who teaches freshmen and seniors I get the joy and satisfaction of seeing our youngsters grow from insecure kids who have no idea what they want to do in life to being proud passionate adults ready to take on the world and make it a better place I get to see the delight and excitement and the AHA moments when students finally connect rigorous and relevant academics to their real world experiences but I think that probably the best part and maybe the best measurement of a school is that I also see countless numbers of students that come back to me or reach out to me to tell me about their successes that they have enjoyed after leaving our high school and they all credit ishka with
123helping them get there speaker 10 you have 30 seconds remaining we hold all of their hopes and dreams near to our hearts and I know that you do too so I hope that you'll make a long-term commitment to partner with us so that we can continue to guide them into their Futures thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Daniel Nunes speaker number 15 good morning steam board members and CEO Martinez my name is Daniel Nunes and I am a peray professional at Institute of Health Sciences Career Academy Who services students with diverse learning needs I would also like to note that I am myself a product of Instituto and I have come back to contribute to the community that saw me grow throughout four years I exended as a student truth
124be told while I may not have been the best student I fostered very strong relationships with many staff members Who provided me with the guidance I needed to never give up and keep pushing towards my goals now I am proud to say I am now able to do the same for the same for the upcoming generations of students my love and passion for helping others is something I feel is shared among all my colleagues many of whom still remain for my time as a student which also shows the amount of commitment we have to nurture our students and help them grow into whichever career they choose while this may not be the path I had originally chosen I ultimately decided this is what I wanted for my life because of that support I received after
125I graduated from Instituto I entered a stage of my life where I felt lost and unsure of where I belong but remembered my support system from high school and realized my calling first out of Community College with an associates degree I struggled to find my footing in the world of Education that is of course until I applied to Instituto and principal Mendes took a chance on a former alumni like myself these are the same aspirations we would like to keep offering to our students but we cannot do that without the board providing our school with a minimum speaker 15 you have 5 Charter renewal that way we can keep providing our students with the tools they will need in life but also the consistency and stability that they deserve as students that being said I
126truly believe in our school's leadership and the direction that they are heading in and hope that as members of the board you will too thank you for your time thank you for your comments the next speaker is Freddy Reyes speaker number 16 so I was also going to say good morning but I just checked my the time so good afternoon members of the board my name is Freddy Reyes I am honored to stand before you today as both a dean and volleyball coach of Institute of Health Science Academy to formerly request the renewal of our Charter for an additional 5 years I'm a little concerned about the delay in the decision our journey has been one of dedication perseverance and excellence in education and Athletics and we are excited about the opportunity to continue serving
127our students and our community over the past several years Instituto has consistently demonstrated commitment AC to academ mic achievement student growth and Community engagement our students continue to grow in their learning life skills and overall academic progress we take pride in the development of well-rounded individuals who are not only prepared for higher education and careers but also becoming responsible citizens Beyond academics we have cultivated a culture of teamwork discipline and perseverance through our athletic programs as a volleyball coach I have witnessed firsthand and transformative power of sports and shaping character instilling leadership skills and building a sense of camaraderie among our students our athletic PR programs asra curricular activities and Community Community Partnerships have played an essential role in enrichment on our students experience and promoting personal growth we are committed to continuous Improvement ensuring
128that our curriculum remains challenging our faculty remains exceptional and our students continue to achieve and strive for more we deeply appreciate the trust and support of the board and we look forward to the opportunity to build Upon Our successes I ask of you I ask you to give our school a minimum 5year Charter renewal thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Myra Ramirez speaker 17 good afternoon my name is MAA Ramirez I'm an English language teacher of Institute of Health Science Sciences Career Academy I have been teaching for eight years six out of those at ishka I am also a monitor of the association of Latin American students a student organization today I am here to speak on behalf of my colleagues our students but especially for our 314 emerging bilingual
129students and my 32 newly arrival immigrant students Institute of Health is not just the high school dedicated to thrive in academics but also students are encouraged to be involved engaged and be of service to their community and school this has been possible thanks to the different Partnerships with frea Community organization L University and riz's Chicago story Coalition and of course our staff members that host after school programs the programs aim to extend the learning environment of our students by supporting their well-being enhancing their academics artistic and critical thinking skills as well as their personal de velopment we also motivate our students to raise their voices and speak their truth and fight for justice to make a positive impact for example this week in partnership with green card youth voices seven of my emerging bilingual students
130had the opportunity to tell their immigration story and become official authors their stories will be published in a book this year in May and this book will be available for teachers to use in their classrooms to teach about imig ation the stories of my students will be read by many with the hope to inspire other students to raise their voices as well amazing things happen in our classroom and in our building in general I would tell you all about them but I have less time however I do invite you all to visit our school especially classrooms and see for yourself all the amazing things that happen as a school we want to continue to offer great opportunities for our students continuous growth which is why I asked Chicago board members of education for at least
131a minimal year year renewal for our school or more thank you all thank you for your comments the next speaker is Leah janida speaker 21 good afternoon my name is Leah jittis and I'm here today on behalf of the teachers and students at Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy I have been a teacher for 11 years now six of those being at ishka and I have come to look at this school as my second home Instituto is more than a high school we are a community Hub working not only to provide rigorous curriculum to our students which include AP classes dual credit some of the things we heard our CEO talk about this morning um but also Pathways to citizenship for our parents and other adult education for families we offer BNA and RNA certification for
132our students social justice groups such as teens on wings growing Athletics and more I personally Ely am the adviser for both our student council and youth in government at ishka and next year we hope that the youth Secretary of State in Illinois will be our very own Jackson beeres an opportunity available because our doors are open this year ishka did see some turnover in our Administration which is turned into increased collaboration greater respect amongst admin and staff Amplified student voice and in general the school has risen in quality across the board we are asking for a 5-year Charter renewal as we continue to grow as a place of Excellence a typical high School experience spans 4 years to award our campus anything less would be a disservice to the families to look at that look
133at us as a beacon that will help them set up for a successful future during their tenure with us I want to be at a school where younger siblings neighbors family members look forward to coming to ishka to have Mr ntis for history this Legacy is not possible without your help here we've heard a lot this morning from other Charter Schools we've heard from ASO honestly listening to a s broke my heart I hope it did yours too the is in your hands if you're going to make a promise to AO and walk it back now if you're not going to allow us continuity within our own schools Charters are important Charters are part of your District they are not numbers they are not dollars they are part of your District they are part of
134your family all of us are a part of that please keep your word be a board that we can trust thank you for your comments the next speaker is z perya speaker 24 um good afternoon my name is Hima Feria I'm a proud student of Institute of Health Science Career Academy I'm standing here today because I'm worried about the delay of our school's Charter renewal and I want to advocate for our school this school gives us opportunity for the future and great after school activities me as a student athlete at Instituto can say sports have been a big part of my high school experience my sport is volleyball and being able to create awesome memories with my teammates will stick with me forever yes it was difficult but my awesome coach who is also our
135Dean never never let us give up so easily he pushed us every day always reminding us that all this hard work would pay off and it sure did not only did our Dean help us get get there but also did our wonderful principal who also would award us for our accomplishments and the teachers who would always support us every other sport that we have is ran by one of the staff members who take time out of their days to make sure students have great after school activities I'm also excited that our school has a nursing program which includes preb BNA and EMR I look forward to joining one of these programs in the future we always have people to go to to talk to for motivation and what I'm what I mean by this is
136our staff members some of these staff members have been a huge part of my life and I can also say this in part of the other students in the school either it be a security a teacher or a Dean we all have at least one staff member who we really look up to and who we feel comfortable with and have great connections with I stand here today probably so you could recognize all the effort and success Instituto has done for our students and why we should get a minimum 5-year renewal contract I thank my principal Mendes for letting me attend today because this is very important to me and to our school thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Delta cantes speaker 28 good afternoon w m M CEO Martinez my
137name is Delta cantes I'm the assistant principal at iska I come before you as someone who has been an education for many years serving as a teacher a District representative and as now as an administrator at ishka today I urge you to grant us at least a fiveyear charter renewal anything less diverts our Focus away from our students and ental efforts which does not serve our students best interest especially in times like this we cannot Overlook the uncertainty brought on by our country's political landscape which deeply affects many particularly our Latin next Community here at ishka we are firm in our commitment to uplifting all our students we take pride in providing a stable atmosphere where students can feel wanted and safe in our current world where our students feel targeted because of their last
138names their legal status and the color of their skin we at ishka strive to empower them by instilling Pride in who they are and in the rich cultures that they embody I speak from personal experience as a first generation Latin ex person my mother who passed away last year lived without documentation until her final day the anguish accompanying the uncertainty of Love of a loved one's potential deportation is Indescribable at ishka over 90% of our population identifies as Latin next and over 60% are El students many 2 you have many of whom live with the same fear I once did at ishka we take pride and providing unwavering support for our students and their families thanks to the wraparound services from Instituto through our hallways you can see the integration of cultures the celebration of
139identity and a welcoming atmosphere for everyone regardless of their background we are reaching out with a heartfelt request for a fiveyear renewal minimum we are committed to being a compassionate resource and support system for our students and The Wider Community providing comfort and inspiration to everyone that we serve thank you thank you for your comments and the last speaker from um The Institute of Health Sciences Career Academy is leis Barrera speaker number 30 good afternoon everyone my name is l vam I'm a senior student aete at Institute of science Career Academy the delay in the decision for Renewal concerns me and I advocate to miss class today sorry a little nervous today because I feel necess I feel it necessary to have my voice in my school heard I would like to share some experiences
140in my four years I've been attending this school during these four years I was granted the opportunity to participate in sport activities events committees and community service projects isra has become like a second home where staff encourages you and guides you through the right path not only that but they com but they are committed to serving the community playing volleyball for eska has helped me open many doors opportunities while developing character a sense of responsibility leadership which has ultimately allowed me to serve as an intern coach for the girls volleyball team during this time I was able to lead and Empower my fellow classmates through my own knowledge experiences that landed the team to win the Regional Championship this all would not have been possible without the support encouragement of the staff not only a
141staff encouraging encouraging but they are also attentative to individual student needs and committed to helping those in Need For example during the massive deportation threats ishka hosted a know your rights workshop for students their families and members of the community on behalf of the student body at is Speaker number 30 you have 30 seconds like to publicly recognize the effort and commitment that eska has made to not only their students but their families and extended members of the community during this time I uncertainly we during this time of uncertainly we invite you to consider a fiveyear charart of renewal as this would allow a breath of a fresh air for oal I thank our principal mandes for giving us this opportunity to speak to you all today thank you thank you for your comments All
142next two speakers uh Jasmine Brown number 12 and Roy Balden speaker number 23 good good afternoon how you doing today um my name is Jasmine Brown um this is my third time speaking before the board but my first time speaking in front of you all um I'm a parent of a student at John Marshall High School and on the first day of school August the 21st 2023 my son was found unresponsive in the lunchroom um I've come before this board the mult multiple times um still asking the same thing um where are the results where's the investigation um the last time I spoke here was April the 25th of last year and a few days after that board meeting I got a a a text not a text message but a letter in a mail
143saying that um the investigation had been concluded and things were unfounded um I would like to know how was it an investigation was done when all the adults that were in that room that day none of them have been interviewed so I need to know like what's going to be done um and also I was elected until the LSC for Marshall on last year and the day after I was elected um there was a letter sent to me saying that I am not allowed in the building I have a kid who still goes there he has an IEP and guess what I have not been in that building none this year and he's an athlete so I just want some results I want to know what's going on I want to know why is it
144that you all still have a principal in a school who is a Monster who is a monster if you do your investigation and you talk to those adults that was in that lunchroom that day you would understand and know that all this time I thought it was someone else but it was the principal who told his staff not to call 911 to save my son's life so do y job stop hanging on to these people up in him hold them accountable you all sat I sat here all morning and I keep hearing how you all say uplift these black male Educators you have a black male educator who does not care about our kids especially my kid but at the end of the day I live by three principles give up give in or give
145it all you got and I'm I'm going to keep coming down here every month if I have to like I told you all before and I'm going to keep giving it all you got because that's my son I have to send him to school I sent him to school fine he needs to come back home F do y'all job thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Roy baldon speaker 23 good good good afternoon members of the board my name is Roy Balden I've been a part of local school council since 2000 I served at Marshall High School for approximately 12 years and during that 12E time I was an officer the entire 12 years the issues I've had with that school is the current administrator we have now was placed with
146us as an interim principal in 2018 CPS came out with a document of the 20 worst performing schools in 2022 5 years later of course we were number nine on that list help me understand why do we have a leader in that building 5 years later and that school is still not performing and here it is now 2025 7 years in and the school is still not performing so with that being said as a former LLC member and the secretary you know there's a policy and a law in a in the state where any transaction over $2,500 requires the LSC approval you have two transactions in your packet that were never given to us for approval it was only told to us after they were done by the administrator so I know in 2015 with
147one of the previous CEOs we had the state to come in and tell our LSC and our staff that they recommended that the principal be removed because our schools in the bom 5% of failure in this in the district that's my alma Mo I was the former LSC secretary the former alumni president I want our school to continue to thrive academically and that's part of the reason why I feel that our academics and our enrolling is so low because speaker 23 you have 30 seconds okay because we don't have what our students need to achieve help us get an administrator that's going to care for those students someone that's not going to be there for a period of seven years and our school is still failing I've never in the history of CPS known them
148to keep an administrator in the building that long we've had several administrators in that building since our last principal was moved in 2008 and we had a couple that helped our school move forward but they were removed for things that they did it had nothing to do with the school it was things that they did so I'm just asking you guys to work with us I've talked to Pedro on two occasions which we were supposed to have a meeting but that never took place but hopefully with this newly elected School Board something can be done at this point Thank you guys thank you for your comments our next speaker is Robert pinam speaker number 14 good afternoon I'm here again today just like I was last time with the same reason I see that I
149have a lot in common with some of our previous speakers today I heard uh new member Sydney Wallace take an oath that confirms that each member has not only the authority but the responsibility to advocate for the students in schools in their district and for the students at large in the system I heard uh Stacy Davis Gates said that we need to build a force field around our students in our schools that consists of parents students teachers and the community that body is established by a law it's called the local school council we talked about I heard member of Aero say that they were concerned that CPS is undermining a resolution passed by this body that concerns us as well in 2006 Harland being a school on probation suffered or endured a an intervention when
150we look at Illinois compile statutes 105 section 534 8.3 it says specifically in that regard in regard to uh uh probationary status schools nothing in this section nothing nothing in this section removes any authority of the local school council and it goes on to specify speak 14 you have 30 seconds remain thank you so much I'm glad you pointed that out uh I will remain later to as a elected public official to take the 5 minutes that I need uh to clarify our position uh we also have 83 8 uh 8.4 which says that a school on probation and that has suffered an intervention or sustained an intervention shall have uh a principal appointed but not more than two years Harland has had inter uh and principles now for 19 years 19 years this is
151a failed policy that needs to be corrected I'll speak again at the end for my five minutes thank you thank you for your comments the next speaker is Genevie bwalter speaker number 18 uh use this good afternoon thank you is it on it's on now thank you thank you I'm jenevie bookwalter and our 5-year-old is a student in Jessica man's kindergarten class at inter American magnet school I'm here because I'm worried about student safety and principal in action while miss man is on medical leave on February 12th our child told us a boy in class pinned our child to the floor with the boys knee on our child's neck this was after the boy hit pinched and scratched our child to get an item he wanted the substitute was there and according to our child
152did nothing to stop it instead a parent volunteer stepped in which we confirmed I emailed principal Zas multiple times about this as did my husband he did not respond on Friday this boy told our child he wants to kill all the students in class and put two of them in a blender we learned that this boy often talks about killing animals in a blender and killing his own mother with a gun our child was so scared that he refused to go to school on Monday we again emailed principal Zas he did not respond we sent messages to the school social worker and assistant principal they responded immediately and scheduled a meeting with our family Mr Zas responded to our emails for the first time today at 5:48 a.m. since the first attack we learned parents
153have complained to Zas since October of this year or I'm sorry October 2024 of this boy threatening to kill other students over and over he did not respond to them Miss man put a safety plan in place and as a skilled as skilled and experienced teachers do kept the kids safe but that has unraveled since she's left parents now say their kids are crying feeling sick and fighting going to school they say this speaker 18 you have 30 seconds remaining they say this boy is slapping kicking and stepping on other children pinning kids to the wall and inappropriately touching them before she left Miss man set up a volunteer schedule but on February 20th principal Zas emailed that parents will not be allowed to volunteer unless we are quote specifically requested by The Substitute finally
154Miss man was scheduled to return yesterday pending approval of ADA accommodations Mr Zas denied these accommodations principal Zas is a target of at least four Title Nine complaints the IM LSC voted to press charges against him in October please remove him from our school at once thank you thank you for your comments our next speaker is Speaker 26 Dr Alvin L Williams good afternoon president Harden CEO Martinez the members of the board staff and all attending uh one has been uh retired from the Chicago public schools for about 21 years I had a ball teaching in the classroom for about uh 33 and a half years had to retire semester early because I had a stroke uh been at s Tuli Spalding clementy almanson and Whitney Young uh even though one is representing uh I
155had signed up with the uh retired teachers functional group uh so I wanted to just kind of make some comments I think I do have a handout I don't have time to go over it dealing with perhaps the uh Chicago Public Schools can maybe in reintroduce a program tqs uh that we uh use Ed at Whitney Young at one time it kind of counil ped the program a bit uh in terms of uh the students I think we should probably try to get back to doing character education uh and motivated we got to really keep the the teachers motivated uh have the students uh understand that if they conceive it believe that they can achieve it uh they should have mutual respect towards each other there should be no bullying and especially the male should
156learn how to respect the young ladies like fine china uh we seem to be getting close to maybe second base in a society in America but we don't seem to go beyond that because we have this really terrible concept that have 30 seconds that there are different races there aren't any different races we all Homo sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens there's no black people there's no white people we all have brown pigment in our skin except albinos we all have red and yellow pigment in our skin we had perhaps black in our hair but not in our skin no matter how often we passed by mirror and turn your light on in the dark we'll never see a black or white face so we really need to get away from this concept of different races there's
157only one race there's only one people Homo sapiens sapiens thank you thank you for your comments if you can get this to um the board M our last speaker from the registered speaker ERS list is Bruce Miller speaker number 29 who's joining us virtually uh with our um mic issues I'm not sure if the audio will come through but please enter star 6 to unmute can you hear me can you hear me it appears that he is talking the audio is now coming through what we will do is ask we'll reach out to speaker 29 for a written uh statement and we'll share that with board members as well as posted online we will now um move to the elected officials who would like to address the board we'll start with alderwoman slana tabaris from
158the 23rd Ward good afternoon president Harden and members of the school board and CEO Pedro Martinez I'm alderin tobares of the 23rd Ward and joining me today is team hubard standing with me here is Harvard High School principal atam Mirano we also have teachers that are joining us here Fabiola Serano Franco ampo Neil sabaji and we also have staff members Maria Ruiz Sandra Martinez parents we have parents joining us here Leticia erera Margarita mrigal Maria Serano and students L Leisha who's a senior at hubard Mariana who's a junior Michelle who's also a junior and Salvador who is a senior Salvador was selected he's a 2025 posy winner and he was selected by Cornell so we're very proud of him here at hubard we are also joined and supported by Tina James who is the director
159of real estate and Community Development with the Greater Southwest Development Corporation over the past two years we have diligently working we have been diligently working to address the overcrowding crisis at hubard high school it currently serves 1700 students in a building with a capacity of 1,200 students every classroom every period is used and shared shared by multiple teachers they have classes in the library classes in the auditorium and classes in the cafeteria during non- lunch periods they use offices as small classrooms and service providers use closets as office to meet with students the school cannot get through a successful fire drill with 1900 people in 3 minutes but despite these challenges students are succeeding at hubard High School however we cannot allow them to reach their full potential until we address this educational and safety
160crisis at the school members of the board we have identified a solution Alderman Quinn and I have committed tit funding for the purchase of a vacant parcel of land at the corner of West 63rd Street in South laale Avenue which can be utilized as an Annex to help alleviate the overcrowd at hubard high school this Annex will focus on a Career and Technical education curriculum for high school seniors as well as resources for the community additionally our Illinois state representative and Illinois state senator have secured State funding for this project we have engaged with CPS who have estimated the cost of purchasing the land and are drafting designs for the annex this addition will not only address our overcrowding crisis but also provide a vital resources for our students preparing to enter the workforce with
161skills for well-paying jobs we have the plans and we have the resources to implement this project however we require the board's support to ensure its successful completion I want to express my gratitude to president Harden for agreeing to visit Huffer high school on March 7th and to witness the challenges we face and the progress Hubbert high school has made despite these obstacles I want to extend we want to extend an invitation to all board members to join us next Friday morning and to provide their assistance in today's era when political divisions are frequently highlighted it is imperative that we demonstrate that state and local leaders can still collaborate effectively to address significant challenges and improve the lives of communities in Need by doing so we can foster a more hopeful and prosperous future for working
162families and students we thank you for your consideration thank you from Team hubard thank you thank you for your comments our next elected official is alderwoman Julia Ramirez from the 12th board who is joining us virtually um due to the audio issues that we're having in the boardroom we cannot hear those calling in virtually we'll reach out to alderwoman ramirz for her statement and share that with board members as well as post on the cpsb.org website our next elected official is Alderman Byron sicho Lopez from the 25th Ward uh joining us in person afternoon um dear board members good afternoon dear board members um I am grateful to be here supporting the parents students teachers and my community I am speaking not only here as a as an elected official I'm speaking here as a
163father as an immigrant living in the city of Chicago I'm proud to do so I'm glad to see a board of education elected by the people in Chicago many of many of us immigrants actually collected petitions to have this day today it is a good day and many of us actually and I'm glad to see members like jitu brown now being members democratically elected in the Board of Education today we cannot be facing uh much dire and tragic times times of tyranny when our parents are being harassed and grabbed at a school in our sacred spaces it should be a wakeup call Fred Hampton remembering Black History Month said that we must stop fascism because fascism will stop all of us our immigrant Community is just the beginning and we got to make sure that
164here in Chicago we are a place of Integrity a place where we all believe on the right of every child like J Balwin said all children are all ours to have quality public education that is why I'm here ironically because this experiments that have been done to our people the privatization schemes where a private Network assetto a management Network think that those are their schools these schools belong to the sh Chicago to the taxpayers and to the people who have built those spaces when they have $40 million in reserves where is that money if it's not helping those parents to be protected where are those funds but if it's not to make sure that those schools are open in leer Village and pilson we have tragic violence I represent pass and Casas as an Alderman
165and we need you to step up because we know that others won't step up we know that they will be experient to go to the courts if they need to to silence you but where is the expediency to go to the courts if is to ad for families to make sure that those funds are helping those 2,000 Children at Risk I'm here to urge you to execute the resolution that was already voted by the Board of Education I am here to ask you as a father as an immigrant as a resident of the city of Chicago to don't listen to the voices of division those voices the want to take us back to the Civil Wars and Wars to close down schools yesterday I saw a former marrier being celebrating with a billionaire celebrate what
166they close the schools ask every neighborhood where they saw school closings in a black community what happened the Bloodshed that was that was there we do not want that we do not want to repeat this story we are here and as you see we are concerned parents teachers and and people from our community we are united to protect our community but we cannot do it alone mayor Harold Washington that's what I'm wearing his button go because some people like to quote him when it's convenient he was the mayor who gave us the sanctuary city right here we have Pastor Lozano that was harassed by white way white supremacist in her church her brother paid with his life that Coalition here we are to protect our people but we need to protect our schools first those
167are sacred grounds and those schools belong to us if a set does not want to comply I'm not waiting for the CEO because I've been here for those same time meetings wa for an action I urge you to take the action to protect our communities let's work with the state I demand also if we want to protect immigrants is not enough to talk about Nazi salutes we know what they're doing invest in education this is a call also on the governor to fully fun our schools we cannot wait our families have been terrorized or School attendance have in alltime lws they're terrorizing our families they're terrorizing our communities and in black history in month we know that without means that means that we need to organize and we need to organize in this space I
168urge you to please work with us you have 30 seconds remaining I urge you to please work with us to act on this resolution to stop the privatization and the experimentation on our children we need and demand access to Quality public education other states are Banning Banning books Banning our communi to even have access to public education Chicago is better off because of people like you Chicago is better off because we organize and we care for our neighbors let's not fall for those DEA ears of those who said that they represent us but that have failed to take action today it is in your hands act protecting our communities we do not want to be terrorized we need sacred grounds in our schools in our churches in our clinics and in our city we say
169no to Fascism we said no to the kind of grabbing of our parents when they're dropping off schools to create Terror we say yes to democracy and that's what you were elected to do we say yes to a city that invests in children and give us a better future we say yes that you can do it today and as our community said you can do it for your remarks pres Harden this concludes public participation board members do we have any questions or comments related to public participation I'm afraid I can't provide that today I'm sorry board member Thomas thank you Mr chairman certainly the pleas and the tears of the parents and teachers coming from Aero have not gone unnoticed and something good will will happen today but I come today Mr President and CEO
170Martinez to speak about the issues raised by Harland High School LSC for almost two decades 19 years the LSC at Harland has had their powers suspended this Tale shows that harand LSC has raised questions continuously about the action taken in 2006 the LSC members have come before this board Time After Time seeking to have the LSC Powers restored I have personally listened to them read their complaints described with a great deal of accuracy I've attended a 5 by5 Zoom meeting with other CPS board members as well we were told that the CPS board had no jurisdiction to hear or rule on this issue at our board meetings honestly Mr President the goalpost is moving how can CPS assist the LSC at Harland High School do the conditions that cause the suspension of the LSC Powers
171still exist honestly CPS has had the oversight of Harland since 2006 what has this oversight contributed to the students or to the community and now comes the petitioner with a prayer of relief when will the agency that wrote these rules Come and explain the process and review the documents that this Lord has received Mr President to the members of the Harland LSC the students teachers and Community hang in there success is failure turned inside out the silver tent in clouds of doubt you can never tell how close you are it may be near near when it seems so far so stick to the fight when your heart is hit when things seem their worse you must not quit thank you fellow board members and Mr President oh you snuck up on me okay I just
172want to make a statement in support of a board member Thomas and also the family at the the the the parents and the local school council with Harland High School uh just again to share piece I I coached football at Harland High School from my my ex- high school coach uh sney m but also more importantly I served on a local school council at diet high school for 10 years diet was mired on academic probation since diet was made a high school with no process in the year 1999 when I joined the local school council in 2003 by 2006 it was very clear that we had an activated local school council and a highly involved community and Chicago Public Schools honored our right to elect our principal to H our principal it even though we
173were on probation it honored diet high school being able to review the school Improvement plan approve the school Improvement plan so to say that there's nothing that we can do I believe is disingenuous and I think that uh I support communities that have long been neglected having the right to self-determination local school councils are an instrument of self-determination when someone controls the institutions in your community what you have is colonialism they give you what they believe you deserve so I want to Echo my board memb comments you hang in there you have friends for the purpose that you are fighting for and we want to make sure that we don't ignore inequity which causes schools to struggle that's never brought up so I maintain that instead of failing schools as a public we've been failed
174so it's very important that this local these local school council members stay the grind but it's also very important that this board understands what's at stake when diet was put on academic probation in the year two in the year 2003 nobody talked about the fact that the neighborhood School surrounding diet were being starved no one talked about the fact that when I joined the local school council with diet high school there were no honors and no AP classes and we had seven books in the library we were just mired as a failing school and the inequity is ignored we can't ignore the inequity it's not the fact that you have bad teachers at Harland or children that are not interested is the deep-seated inequity that we don't want to look at and so it's very
175important that the right to self-determination is given back to our communities no one will love us better than ourselves no one will love us better than ourselves I say thank you um just three points I wanted to say first of all I wanted to thank every student every parent every Community member at AO for being here today and courageously speaking out about your experiences and what is at stake um I believe that our job as board members is not only to do everything within our power to minimize the disruption that you're experiencing and to do what we can to keep all schools open but also to prevent this kind of Crisis from ever happening again to any other community within our city you know I believe that schools are institutions they are centers of our
176community they are not businesses and when for-profit Charters enter our communities with the promise of serving our communities but they have no accountability to deliver on that promise that is what how we end up in this crisis and so as we consider renewing other Charters at upcoming board meetings we have to keep in mind the lessons that we are learning from this current crisis that our bottom line of educating students and providing them with high quality education no matter where they live may not align with Charter operators bottom line of turning a profit and this is not to say this I'm just talking about operators not the hardworking Educators and staff that share our mission of delivering on high quality education for our children so thinking about what kind of information we're going to ask
177from Charters and upcoming renewals what kind of information we're going to include in contracts to assess Financial viability so that no other community is left in the situation that our a parents and students are facing at this time um the next thing I wanted to talk about um was a legislative agenda comment that we we had earlier um just to bring up the board bylaws the bylaws State under CEO responsibilities that the CEO must develop and present to the board annually no later than the January regular meeting a legislative agenda for upcoming legislative sessions that is consistent with the furtherance of the district strategic plan goals and priorities It also says upon approval of majority of the board at a regular meeting these positions will become the official position of the district in the legislative
178process during the January 5x5 briefings we were presented what we considered to see a draft agenda the slides also say 2024 on them and there is feedback that was given from board members at least during my 5x5 briefing about changes that should be made before we adopt the the draft legislative agenda as our 2025 legislative agenda some of the things that I felt were missing were a plan for Revenue um there were a lot of funding request in in that in the um legislative agenda that was drafted but I think that it's also important as we lack Revenue to fund all the funding proposals that that should be a part of the legislative agenda and um I was told that that could be considered as something that could be added and it would be great
179if all the feedback that board members have could be added or at least discussed to be added to the legislative agenda so if there has been any work to advance a legislative agenda at this time that is different from the previous legislative agenda of last year those are currently under our bylaws not the official position of the district in the legislative process um because we haven't approved them at a board meeting so we need to approve the the legislative agenda under our current bylaws and we're looking forward at least I'm looking forward to doing so at an upcoming board meeting as legislative um session is well underway in Springfield and um I also wanted to ask uh or the third thing final thing is I want to thank the board office staff for their hard
180work and doing follow-ups on the public comment that's been presented at the arc meetings the regular board meetings um from the last uh board meeting there were two comments or two questions from public participation that I had and so I want to say thank you to everyone that actually shows up to these meetings and says something because we are following up with questions and the board office staff is working really hard to get us responses um so specifically I want to say thank you to the student from sen high school that talked about um the requirements for Arts education not counting as exemptions for physical education in the same way other classes like AP classes to uh do my understanding is that moving forward um the COO sent out a response and going forward the
181Sun High School arts program will be classified as a program of study allowing students to regress a PE exemption for 11th and 12th grade um and also there was a a followup shared out from last meeting um to the board about the timeline for State funds to be uh for for uh the southwest side school hubard high school to receive um an update about the ne the plans for the annex including um a timeline for State funds and how we're working on getting that timeline um and how the city's Tiff committees are currently uh being halted indefinitely and how that is causing some issues as we try to move forward so we really appreciate the public comments that are being given and really appreciate the board staff with their level of responsiveness and looking into
182the questions that come up at these meetings thank you um just want to say thank you to my board members um I really appreciate your comments I think um what we can really think about clearly and honestly In This Moment is that we have an amazing opportunity here um there's so much talent and Brilliance on this board that we can really think through what has been happening at CPS for years and make things different um Harland high school has been on probation for 19 years and the school has gone from, 1500 students to 162 students clearly whatever probation is is it needs to be Revisited and we also know that giving parents and community members um control over the systems in their Community only makes things better so 19 years of taking away those rights
183why did that happen um uh how did it benefit us how can we do things differently those are the questions we need to be asking ourselves right now when you have there's there's lscs that don't have any participation you're dying to get people to come show up for things and you have a group that is literally coming down here to fight for the right to volunteer somewhere it's bananas but but we have this time now where we can rethink how we approach things we can the um the the Aero situation we don't need to rethink that we did this already in December Trust and Believe trust and believe the six of us worked so hard at trying to figure this out and I know this is hard and I know this is hard for I
184I and I know this is hard for the the staff I know how um but again let's be revolutionary there we were quick to jump in onto the charter train and now that it isn't working out let's see what let's figure out how we get out of this let's see how we can make sure that we are using the information we have the data on closing schools the data on student progress the the um information when you close a school it doesn't just hurt the kids and the families it hurts the neighborhood everything around that physical building um diminishes and shrinks we know what we have to do we have great minds here we have we have the real capacity to change how we move forward and not just fall back on this is how
185we've always done it when the Sero families first came to us that's what we heard um Charter Schools when they go out of business they only have to write a letter by October whatever and um that's just how we do it the date that the charter school has to write a letter to say that they're closing um is after the date that you appli to be to go to a different School in CPS it it's illogical those parents had to request to have the application for CPS School stay open later um because their the contract isn't even lined up um we have time here that we can really sit sit down and think about these things I know some of um one of the other board members and and some of the charter schools are
186requesting um Le more time between the different renewals um let's talk about it let's think about things rationally let's use data let's be Innovative let's be revolutionary and let's be Fearless we can look at all of these because we have so much else to do right we're here talking about whether a Sero should be um for schools or five schools or six schools and we had this conversation two months ago and the and then we look oh turn on the news yesterday and we find out that that that parents are getting snatched off the street we should have been done with this conversation we should be moving on to the next things because we have other things to do and to make better and to be helpful about so I I I just want to
187say to all my fellow board members um we can look at these as tough times where we can look at these as opportunities and I think there's so much that we can be grateful for and that if we dig in we can really change can you hear me okay uh I want to say a lot of what other people said and I'll try to be brief so that I don't repeat things thank you to everyone who has invested in their own education the education of their children and their communities who has come before us today it's a really important thing to do and we cannot disrespect what you did By ignoring what you say we are here to listen to you and we're here to take action on your concerns I am very concerned about
188Charter operators whose bottom line issues are much greater than their concern about children and about about education I am not happy with that at all I think that it is our responsibility to put the education of kids ahead of everything else that's what our business is that's what we're here to do and that's what we want to do for you and for your students whether you're teachers community members or parents now some people expressed some concern that we were delaying the charter renewals this month I think that that is actually a very positive step that we are taking because we are evaluating the criteria we are trying to figure out ways to make Charter operators more accountable accountable to the board of ed accountable to their communities to their parents Etc and this stuff is
189not business as usual and it takes time and it takes time to figure these things out and the structure of our society is not set up to provide for people over profits it's very unfortunate but that is not how things are and increasingly as we can see coming from Washington that is not how things are planned to be in the coming period we need to unite together we need to work together as a board with parents community members Educators so that we can do the very best under the difficult conditions we are very likely to be facing for all of our students with whether they are first generation immigrants whether they are documented or undocumented whether they are black brown white or any other color whether they speak the language of this country or the
190language of 51 other countries as one of the elementary schools I visited does this is our mission and our charge and we are going to work with you to do it I know it's slower than you'd like bureaucracy is slower the decisions about spending large amounts of money are difficult ones because when you choose to and you all know this from your personal budgets if you need to spend money on car repairs that means you may not have money to buy new gym shoes these are the realities of life and everything that we are doing now is predicated on money I wish it wasn't that way but we are trying to do the very best for you and for the communities despite the fact that education is woefully undervalued and underfunded in our country thank
191you for all you've done thank you so Echo many of the sentiment here um you know I applaud the families the students the parents the Educators for coming out and voicing your strong opinion it's important that we all listen to one another and hear from one another I also respect The Advocate groups also want to mention that just for everyone and also a message for you know whether me my fellow board members who have engaged in numerous conversations and for anyone that is watching at home you know this is a time where we put aside profits put aside political agendas and we think about at the end of the day what's going to be best for our communities knowing what uh board member uh Popa mentioned this is about knowing you know what is the
192best that we can do moving forward with the resources we have hand you know our public education is not out for sale not at the local level not at the federal level and I've seen that firsthand coming from the community thank you yes uh I want to thank Miss Lucy Delgado who came to see me with her children that attend aeral schools uh oh I see you in the audience there and thank you for your story telling me about your son with autism when we had the personal office hours we had a great conversation I want to say some something that is not often said to the parents the aeral parents and students uh you all had wonderful recommendations for how to hold a serero accountable on the other end of what's happening what we
193have to ensure as CPS as the board is how do we help our children's students families and not be extorted by Bad Bad actors because What's Happening Here is they're pitting us against one another while they're extorting money from other students and other systems I realize that all charters are not the same some need more supports than others some are doing really great work so we can't lump everybody in one group or every entity in one group group however we must be vigilant against the Bad actors and as you can see you have much support uh from members on this board however we are in and everyone knows it CPS is in dire Financial Straits and as we contemplate how we support our schools there's going to be a contemplation on the other end of
194what's going to be cut and we want to ensure that we do The Prudent thing that helps all families and all students so that on the other end there's still a high quality education thank you thank you um I just want to piggyback on the qu the so I want to go big and then come small on the question of Bad actors unfortunately as the charter school industry and that does not mean that every Charter is bad but there is an industry and if you look nationally it has impacted the demographics of cities it has helped to impact the demographic demographics of cities and that and that result is undeniable so let me just say this I encourage everybody to go to the network for public education website and you look up another day another
195Charter School scandal it is a report a a moving report that is completely released about Charter School operators some of them that get money and never open some of them that close after one year it is cultural throughout the United States this is not uh an anomaly what we're seeing happening with a Sero we also have to ask ourselves how a bad actor like Uno ends up with a bad actor like Uno ends up with 16 campuses throughout the city of Chicago see the families who kiss their babies and send their children to school they should have a reasonable expectation that the system that's sending their child to allows them their children to stand on their shoulders that's not an idealistic statement it should be a reasonable expectation that trust has been betrayed by these
196Bad actors who have had a red carpet in the city of Chicago with no account think about it they have a system set up where if they're doing bad and the school board says no they have an infrastructure at the state level where they can come back and say no we're going to overrule that local school board that was developed by an organization called Alec the American legislative executive Council it is part of the charter IND industry's uh strategy to take over cities so it's very important that we understand that that's what we're dealing with here a bad actor and we have to have as a board the will to hold them accountable but also if this board made a resolution in December that was not an opinion it was not an Advisory Board suggestion
197it was a directive if this board made a decision in December it was a directive so we have to do some self-reflection on how that directive turned into a communication to the public that was completely different than what this board said now my name G2 Brown's name I've earned my reputation and so I don't want my name on something that's not honest and I and and and you know what I'm going to say this and my reputation I've earned through sweat my reputation I've earned through building black and brown alliances my reputation I've earned because we have shaped reality wherever we went we have an elected school board when people laughed at us when the president of the Chicago Urban League was sitting here closing schools in Black communities and we dream today when nobody
198else believe we dream today that we would actually be able to control our own some of you all may not have been a part of those fights I was neck deep in those fights I was neck deep in those fights so I could care less about who don't like it I was neck deep in those fights and so my name is not going to be connected with some garbage it's not Malcolm X whose assassination was marched was May uh um March 21 February 21st he said I'm not a particularly educated man nor am I an expert in any field but I'm sincere and my sincerity is my credential that's what I stand on so we made a promise to these communities the directives the the what we should have gotten back was how to make
199that work how to make that work last thing I'mma say is this I've served on boards since many of belonging and many of the people in this room have been adults I've served on local and I sit on the internet I know how to sit on the board I know what a board members responsibilities are backwards and forwards so this is very frustrating it is very frustrating because our names are connected to this our names are connected to this and so I I I feel a certain way when I watch parents crying and children falling out on the floor about a situation they it took me back to 2004 board member yenia Lopez when they were closing D little East ele D little West Elementary School and Mr Miss Brenda Norwood passed out at a
200Schoolboard hearing with me standing next to her and they closed du little West and now that's where Urban prep sits in the bronville community it took me back to that moment so that tells me that the value system hasn't changed beliefs values are beliefs that govern your behavior so if you believe different you going to do different I don't care how complicated you try to make it I don't care how many spreadsheets you show what you believe is what you will do and so why are we having the same conversations in the year 2025 that we had in 2004 so forgive my emotion but I'm there are people on this board for on these streets have earned our reputation we sacrificed when it was not popular and you're not GNA have my name connected to
201no Madness I'm sorry so I want to say this to you I can't I I can't guarantee you nothing but what I will say to you is I'mma go down swinging for what this board said in December okay this concludes our public participation we'll now move into a short recess board member Pope do you have a motion M1 uh I move that the I move that the board take a 30 minute recess a second a second thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez yes member Thomas hi member Bole yes member Wallace I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Reva yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon yes vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thakura member Blaze I
202member zachor yes member DeBerry yes we have 20 I zero Nays this motion is adopted by the board I'm sorry 18 I zero Nays this motion is adopted by the board be 19 I'm sorry for the record the vote was 19 i z nay this motion is adopted by the board the meeting of board of education is reconvened we will now proceed with the business portion of the meeting CEO Martinez we are ready for the presentation please begin okay good afternoon board members uh Alonso Carmona I'm the chief portfolio officer and I'm here to present an update on asero and if we go to the next slide before I start I wanted to clarify a couple of pieces um related specifically to what the directives the board gave us on December the 20 because there
203seems to be some misunderstandings there and let me start with the first item on that resolution that item asked us and directly me to create a detail plan to transition five of the asero schools Casas Fuentes SOS Tamayo and Santiago into District run schools beginning in the 26 27 school year why is important to make a clarification on this is that you know some people have been asking about the plan the plan is to be drafted for the 2627 school year we're working on the plan but the reality is that plan is not possible until the second item in that resolution is address so let me clarify that second item of the resolution which says that the board would direct the staff in this particular case myself and my team to start a negotiation a
204memorandum of understanding with a ero to cover the deficit to operate the seven campuses I can't emphasize this enough and is the authority the board gave me has to negotiate with asero and to work with asero and for this to work asero has to agree to the terms of thatou I'll talk a little bit more about that in a second but again the authority given to me was to negotiate with Aero to get into an agreement what we call in a memorandum of understanding the third item in the resolution speaks to the fact that there were two campuses that were lated to close into 2526 six school year and that my team needed to conduct a viability study to see if was possible for us to absorb those campuses for the 2627 school year again
205this is for 2627 so that that viability study has not been conducted yet and finally there was a four four item in the resolution that's mentioned that Aeros cooperation in these matters meaning the three items above may be considered in whether to as there was Char agreement for another term so I wanted to first level the plan field because I think there had been some confusion about actually what were the directives my team has done and I want to clarify that today presentation is all about item number two and how myself and my team has complied with the directives that we received on December the 20th next slide please on the next slide I'm not going to spend too much time on this one but when to put out there to the audience the number
206of times that we have met officially with Aero has been more than 16 times in that negotiation that actually started um on December the 24th when we sent theou and they send us the first R lining I believe on January 14 so since January 14 we have met with them 16 times we also have eight different teams from CPS the facilities team itss Safety and Security our environmental team as well the capital team and the nutrition team who are doing already that viability study for 2627 looking into those campuses and see how much it will cost the district to absorb those campuses for 2627 we have sent some parent notices I agree with some of the parents that notices don't provide much information why because we haven't finalized the agreement so once we get an
207agreement with Aero we immediately will communicate to our families exactly what the next steps are for each one of those schools and then finally just included the number of hours that we have specifically dedicated to either office hours and some of the parents tell me to told me today that some of the office hours or the QR code is not working so we're going to have to make sure that we fix that that part but the number of time that we have me met internally to address uh theou next slide please so before we go into the options that we presented to the board today that had come across the negotiation table I wanted to put a couple of disclaimers out there and the first one is a very important one that I think in
208some in some ways whether it has wasn't clear during the previous presentations in November and December I want to make sure that that first item is extremely clear and is that unfortunately the district today does not have legal grounds to for Aero to keep any of the campuses open in our briefings last week we talked about the idea of probably making some changes to uh the law the state law as it relates to that but today we do not have any grounds to holding accountable certainly do not like that which is why we're engaging in this conversation and trying to get a zero to to agree to our demands I also wanted to clarify that the scenarios that we're going to present today today I'm sorry are based on assumptions related to not only enrollment
209but also Capital expenses as projected by Aero and analyzed by our teams as as well so all of the scenarios you'll see today are projection and that's important because at the end of the day some of the things that are in those projection made projections may or may not happen and finally also in the disclaimers the scenarios you'll see today um assume that Aero will be able uh to receive a one-year list exension for the different properties when Aero terminated those the asero board decided to close those seven schools there terminated their contracts for those seven campuses so fortunately asero has secure verbal agreements with the owners of those campuses to extend the lease for another year of course assuming the district you know pay for those leases is part of the calculations so it's
210included in there but we also put into into the calculation a 3% increase in the leases for next year and finally I know I mentioned this but I cannot clarify enough today's presentation is about item number two in the resolution and is the 25 26 school year so that we can start the process to secure those schools and our families know exactly what's happening next year next slide thank you negotiation parameters before we go into the nitty-gritty of the different scenarios I wanted to specify a couple of pieces that not only we have the constraints that exist by the fact that we do not have legal grounds to force them to stay open but there's also CH a law about what is possible so the ILO CH law states that in no event shall the
211funding be less than 97% or more than 103% of the school districts per capital student tuition multiply by the number of students residing in the district who are enrolled in the Char school this is 105 I LCS 5278 d1b this is a state law this rate refer as the pctc you'll hear us talking about that later represent the amount of funding the money that CPS spends on each student so the projected pctc for next year at a rate of 97% why is this rate so important this is the rate that we actually currently giving CH schools uh at the 97% the projection for next year that that amount will be $1 18,1 127 with 91 sense the maximum amount that we can fund the Char school without breaking the law as that I just cited
212before is $1,383 with 25 which represent the 103% of the pctc so that's when it comes to uh finances what we can do I wanted to clarify also one piece it's not in the slide but I wanted to mention because I acknowledge the families and the students that came to speak today when we go into this negoti and could not agree more with some of the students and I believe board member Pope you mentioned this you shouldn't be talking about finances you should talk should be talking about the kids every single one of those schools are commendable their attendance rates are pretty good so this shouldn't be about finances but why the presentation is about finances is because of the constraints of the law and we have to make sure that we are within that
21397% and the 103% to assist with covering the deficit the proposed models that you will see today will fund all of the assetto campuses including the eight campuses that will they're planning to maintain open at the maximum permitted by the law so at any given point it we go above that percentage we will be breaking uh that that statutory uh law the Surplus required to operate the campuses must be enough and and Mike will talk about this in a second the Surplus required to operate the campuses must be enough to cover to to cover our projected Capital expenses for next year and provide a buffer for any potential enrollment losses so I talk about the 103% $119,000 so when we think about enrollment loss losses it's we have to take that into consideration as of
214today from October the 7th uh these campuses have lost over 180 students correct we have to factor that into the equation thank you for the comments so let me introduce now my satoski who who will be going over the different um scenarios that we presented to you today Mike thank you Chief Carmona my name is Mike cikowski I'm the chief budget officer for Chicago public schools we're going to walk through a few different scenarios um around addressing the December 20th resolution and talk a bit about the financial elements of this um that we've discussed with um with Theo um to stay within the compliance issues that Chief Carmona mentioned the first scenario that we're talking about is keeping all seven campuses open based on our conversations with Acero and based on our additional analysis what
215we've seen is that funding the entire Acero Network at 103% at the state cap of pctc the Surplus for the 15 campuses would be around $2.3 million our facilities team estimates that we will conservatively need to keep at a minimum $4.1 million for Capital expenses to keep all seven campuses open all of this funding is to cover Capital expenses at the cisos campus specifically to address mechanical electrical and plumbing needs um specifically replacing two steam boilers this expense will create a deficit at minimum $1.8 million any funds provided to Aero in line with the resolution to cover this remaining deficit would exceed the statutory cap of 103% and put us in violation of state law I want to note also that this projection does not account for potential unexpected Capital expenses or Revenue losses from
216enrollment declines Beyond those currently projected which would increase that deficit and create a bigger gap of what we cannot fund and remain in compliance with state law therefore in order to operate the seven campuses the district may have to provide funding above the 103% pctc which puts us in explicit violation of state law as a result the option of operating the seven campuses may not be feasible because the risk of exceeding the statutory cap is extremely high we move to the next slide um our second option that we've explored is keeping six campuses open these six campuses would include Cruz cisos casus Fuentes Santiago and too and we're going to walk through similar a similar analysis of this scenario so after accounting for a maximum revenue of 103% of pctc again the statute limit under
217state law the Surplus in this scenario would be $3.2 million again similar to the previous scenario our facilities team estimates that we will need $4.1 million to address Capital needs at the cisos campus um to keep all of these campuses open for next year this expense creates a deficit of at least uh $900,000 so any money provided to Aero to cover this remaining deficit would exceed the statutory cap 103% and put us in violation of state law again this projection does not account for any unexpected Capital expenses or any revenue losses associated with uh additional enrollment declines Beyond those currently projected which could increase the deficit therefore in order to operate the six campuses the district may have to provide funding above the 103% pctc cap which puts us in violation of state law as
218a result the option of operating the seven campuses May or the six campuses may not be feasible because the risk of EX exceeding the statutory cap is extremely high we'll move on to option three U which proposes keeping five campuses open these campuses would be cisos casus Fuentes Santiago and too after accounting for the maximum Revenue again of 103% of the pctc rate the Surplus in this scenario is 3.9 million again we have the $4.1 million projected Capital expense at cisos to keep the campuses open for next year which would create a deficit of at least $200,000 again any funding provided to cover this remaining deficit would exceed the statutory cap of 103% and put us in violation of state law again this projection does not account for any unexpected Capital expenses or any revenue
219losses associated with enrollment declines Beyond those already projected in this scenario in order to operate the five campuses we may have to provide funding above the 103% which would put us in violation of state law as a result well this Gap is is less than the previous scenarios um the operation of five campuses could be viable but may open the district to unexpected liabilities as there will not be enough funding to operate these facilities without exceeding the state cap finally we go to our last scenario here and that's keeping four campuses open these campuses would be cases Fuentes Santiago and too after accounting again for the maximum allowable funding Level under state law of 103% of pctc the Surplus in this scenario is 3.3 million importantly in this scenario the ceros campus and the associated
220Capital expense is not considered here as this is not one of the remaining four campus and so the campus the expected Capital expenses U projected are minimal for these four campuses in this scenario we do project to have enough funding to cover any unexpected Capital expenses and any potential enrollment losses Beyond those currently projected and understanding that these are forecast and these these projections are subject to change we do anticipate staying within the cap permitted by state law in this scenario as a result this option is viable as long as the capital expenses and the enrollment losses that are not yet identified do not exceed 3.3 million do um I'll also note that as we've explored the gamut of options here that keeping three or two campuses open are similarly feasible albe it with lower
221risks than this scenario so wanted to share that um as a followup to what Chief Carmona mentioned here and I'll turn it back over to him to wrap this up uh thank you Chief uh so if we go to the next slide uh we mentioned that with every single one of these uh options and as we're complying with the directive to uh to start the negotiation with with Aero and continue the negotiation we got to a point in which we could get to an agreement to Aero depending on what the board decides to do and which of the scenarios you want to you want us to pursue uh and there are some risk with every single one of these scenarios uh let's start with the funding demands as chair uh the state law prohibits local
222boards from funding a school at a rate above 103% so uh CPS cannot or should not legally agree to wave that statutory uh pctc cap of course enrollment declines uh the scenarios that we just discussed assume that the enrollment will be stable and that the projections will stay true however in the event of contining enrollment declines AO expects the district to cover any resulting deficits for that enrollment loss Capital expenditures we talk about this these are projections as a respect to for CPS to assume responsibility for Capital expenses to maintain warm safe and dry conditions a s those agreed though that any expenses or any Capital expenses for the campuses that remain open will will be a require authorization from CPS so they cannot make any investments in capital to any of those schools without
223our authorization and then finally District funding funding the Acero Network at the maximum level meaning we're going from the 97% to the 103 um will cost the district anywhere between $6 to7 million depending on which option is selected um above the regular funding levels which will add to the already significant deficit that we have as a district next steps and I really want to clarify this one and emphasize it big time and is that if the B approve any of these options presented we will finalize theou with a zero as soon as possible it is important to emphasize that the district will be responsible for covering any deficits that may arise from additional Capital expenses and or enrollment losses from the first day we started negotiations with Aero they were very clear with us they
224will maintain as many campuses as possible as long I'm going to repeat that part that is baled as long as the district is responsible for covering any deficits that may arise from whether it's Capital expenses and enrollment losses we will start the transition plant for the schools whatever the decision is uh right away and uh we added a communication plan again don't not going to spend much time in that communication plan because of course we need um a decision from the board uh but goes through the process is three phases uh of course first uh communicating to families the board decision and of course right away communicating as soon as we get to an agreement with Aero and then starting transition support services for any students if any of the schools is is closed um
225and then ensuring that every single student whether is for to our any of our district manag school any of our other Char schools or within a seral schools um those students find a home uh in one of our schools in the district and with that I open for questions before we go into questions I just want to say You Know Chief Carmona you and your team have done an incredible job I think it's important just to underscore yes thank you I think it's important to underscore the point that this was not a problem that we created um and you jumped in without hesitation and tried to create the best scenario for families or also protecting the district from making fiscal you know issues that we won't be able to face in the future so I
226appreciate the delicate dance that you had to to walk so with that we'll open up for any questions thank you I have a few questions um first of all just wanted to Echo um thank you to you and your team for all the work that you've done I know that there are considerable constraints and um some of those constraints are legal statutory constraints but the other it seems like there's a lot of Demands that Aero is making can you speak a little bit about why the balance in these negotiations has been so lopsided yeah it comes from the fact that certainly um we don't have any leverage from the perspective of the law to negotiate with Aero at the end of the day Aero made a decision and the board made a decision to close
227these schools so for then and I'm sure the families feel this way asero is assuming that those schools are closing for the 25 26 school year uh when the board made the decision to put the resolution out there and start the negotiation process Aero has kept the demands of saying very simple we keep any campuses open as long as you cover the deficit our concern and I think this is the part that that that creates the confusion from the perspective of the finances is that we have the constraint of the law of not going above the one3 that creates also easier for us to think about how much money we need to give a provider uh to continue operations but the reality is that there are tons of issues of capital expenses or potential Capital
228expenses at these schools that raise tons of flags for us especially for our Capital team um as we look at the longterm and I believe this is the report I sent you uh last night of what the potential longterm implications are of of those campuses thank you so much and I'll just repeat what I said earlier about it's not right that a public school that is supposed to be serving our kids has no accountability and can close its doors without any accountability to the public um the next question that I had is about the critical needs um at cisos you know CPS districtwide we have a critical facilties needs of over3 billion that's my understanding and so at this Naros I see the 4.1 million that's needed um in my opinion you know School of
229course the school needs to be safe for the kids it needs to be safe for the staff um at the same time understanding what are the repairs that absolutely absolutely must be made for just the next school year just for the next school year because I see in some of the materials that we've been provided um 0 to two years of facilities upgrades that we need under understand that if the school is transitioned into a CPS managed school then we no longer have to be abiding by that 103% funding is that correct that that part is true yes so of that $4.1 million and in costs which of those can be delayed until just one year so that we no longer have to abide by that 103% funding limit so according to according to our
230team the facilities team uh their biggest need has to do with the boilers uh two boilers at Aero CIS netos is the biggest concern the life expectancy has expired in those two boilers um and and we're very concerned that they could break at any given point uh but going back to this idea of projections and expectations and what could happen in our buildings at the end of the day the district could decide not to invest that funding and run the risk of any malfunctioning happening not only in the boilers for anything else that could happen we had this the situation last week at Bolta for example in which the boiler just fell and there was absolutely no plan to do any investments in that boiler not shortterm long term because it was functioning well but
231a sensor broke and things happened so the district had to invest $200,000 just to make that repair so again we're opening ourselves for those liabilities and that's the risk that the the board has to decide how far we want to go with those risk in in all different scenarios I want to clarify also that for hour team nothing will make us happy to keep all seven schools open certainly it we don't want to transition in students we know how hard that is for our families but we also have to I will be responsible if I don't come to you to tell you what are the risks or going with any one of those options thank you so the 4.1 million is just for the boilers or what what is the exact cost to keep our
232school safe and open just for one year is that 4.1 million or is that a fraction of the 4 .1 million that that's a great question I don't know if Charles you want to add to that question good afternoon board Charles Mayfield Chief Operating Officer so this this is an estimate it's it's hard to gauge just for a one-year cost when you're talking about boilers because you know with two of them there boilers can fail at any time and you know these nuances come into play with that we can take a we can revisit that to see if we can what we can Jimmy rig to to possibly keep it going for a year and suspend for deferred maintenance but I caution against that I caution against that for a number of reasons but the
233main reason is that we we have critical deferred maintenance across our portfolio today that the facilities team and the capital team actively addresses day in and day out uh we had the extreme cold temperatures the number one Focus was to make sure that kids came to a building that was warm and that was safe um and we held our promise to that now did we have to play whack-a-mole at some schools yes we did because unexpected consequences happen when you have that level of deferred maintenance and so anytime that occurs where the heat may go out unexpectedly we did we deploy temporary heaters sometimes we have to relocate students to other classrooms uh to make sure that they stay warm while we actively address the repair So to that point though very difficult to give
234you just a one-ear cost and what that deferred maintenance would be but that's something that we can revisit thank you it' be helpful even just to have an estimate because obviously that's not ideal it's not ideal it's more expensive to fix a problem once it becomes a bigger problem but that at least gives us a little bit of time to have some wiggle room later on where we're not um having that 103% statutory cap so thank you yeah I just want to follow up on um board member thakura's question actually um can you share with us like how far past that um life expectancy date these boilers are because I'm just going to say uh I live in a co-op and we're responsible for our boiler and uh we don't replace them until they actually
235break and you know sometimes they last quite a bit past their life expectancy um so if it's just now at life expectancy I'm not sure that we should say oh yeah it's about to break if it's 10 years past maybe that's diff a different picture we we can share that detailed information with the board later today I don't have that information um right in front of me with the number of years that it has expired I I guess to your point a couple things yes I mean as homeowners so people who own a home you know you have your furnaces that that work and sometimes they go beyond a life life expectancy uh you got your water heater that go above their life expectancy it's a gamble right you you just don't know once it
236go past the life expectancy when it's going to fail and then you have to prepare accordingly in order to address it maybe dip into a little bit of savings to do that and and that's the same in this case if it goes out we have to be prepared to repair it or relocate the students to a proper place to make sure that they are warm and safe especially when severe weather happens I'm sorry board member zachor zachor can you speak speaking to the mic because the court reporter is not picking up if you're not speaking into the mic oh sorry I thought I was loud um I was just saying uh now I'm forgetting what I'm saying sorry um just saying that um yeah sorry I I lost my train of thought old people old
237people oh yeah right thank you um so plenty of our uh boilers or heaters or whatever actually break down before uh their life expectancy uh is expired I'm sure in CPS we are not running around saying well something might break next week so let's have all the money on hand to fix it that's not practical so um I just think we shouldn't over prepare uh in this situation May off sorry board member loano yeah I'm a pastor of a church where the boiler went out uh and uh of course we didn't prepare for it but we were able to uh I don't for loss of another word Jimmy rigit for the winter and we were able to get like a window unit and we kept the building warm and we kept all the programs going
238I again want to to just reiterate what what the other board members said let's look at a possible way just to hold it there until we don't have to worry about that 1.3 million or whatever uh def I mean uh cap that we don't want to go over thank you I'm I'm going to ask the question about the actual risk I have a few questions but the first one if the boiler does go out in the 25 26 school year what is the district's recourse so that we don't exceed that cap what what are we saddled with doing because it seems like from your proposals we don't have much recourse so if it happens I mean I think we should always prepare if it happens what's our recourse the worst case scenario if we couldn't
239make the repair because of the cap concerns is to re locate the students okay to a secondary building and and at every single school we have safety plans in place that if situations like this occur then we relocate them to a secondary site and that I'm assuming comes with other Financial burdens it does yes okay um one of my other questions is um regarding the leases you had mentioned you know the leases for the building have to be extended for a year is there any case where any of those leas are not viable or um you know we might not have those buildings available um as far as we know that's not the case uh Aero has uh confirmed that they have verbally has an have an agreement with the different owners to keep the
240Lees open for one more year good um my next question is just in general the pctc cap um what are the ramifications for the district if we exceed that 103% cap I guess in any of the scenarios right like it doesn't matter which scenario what happens if that happens yeah so we have not exceeded that cap in our in how we fund schools so that would be a bit unprecedented for district U we are trying to keep us within the bounds of state law and with and how that governs us um so um unclear on what that would mean in terms of ramifications but um could be broad okay um and then my last question is you know the the resolution as it's written um we're talking about bullet point number two for the 2526
241school year however it leads into bullet point one for the 26 27 school year um you know do we have any kind of projections on what this will look like moving forward for those um for that you next school year as far as like budget projections may go so I believe Chief Carona mentioned that to facilitate what we're discussing for this upcoming year for for next fall it would be somewhere between six to7 million in additional funding we would also um regarding the bullet point one in the resolution if we were to transition the schools to district schools this would incur significant transition costs in next year's budget in order to be ready for the fall of 2026 um we've estimated that at this point between somewhere between 7 and 8 million per campus um
242that would be transitioning to a district school to undertake all the activities that we would need to take to have that school ready for day one so um that could be a significant cost that we would need to include in this upcoming FY 26 budget for CPS thank you for your time and also the presentation uh can I know you briefly mentioned but can you again remind us why um now these scenarios have being brought before this board and and the difference between what was discussed with the previous board when the resolution passed in December yeah I think for the most part let me let me answer first this the first part the second part of the question is when if we if we go back to last year's uh scenarios they are pretty similar
243from that perspective in terms of uh what the risk are we are more precise with the numbers because now we have more specific numbers we didn't have a capital for example numbers last year so now we know exactly what will cost to operate those buildings uh for the following year and I'm presenting the scenario and the big objective of today is for you to tell me which scenario you want me to memorialize in theou so the board makes a decision today to go a scenario one to a scenario five or six whichever scenario you want or you feel is feasible pending the risk understanding the risk for each one of those scenarios and automatically tomorrow we'll meet with Aero and start the process I know our legal team will have a hard time uh um
244basically writing and spec specifying the language because AER also doesn't want any language on the pctc on the contract Aero wants the language to be very simple to say that the district will cover the deficit regardless of what that deficit is so again we'll have to work on the language with the legal team but today's objective is for you to tell us what do you want us to memorialize in the contract so we can actually come to families and say this is what happening for next year once a sign that agreement thank you and believe the number was 16 meetings that has there been between asto and the district and as many families have continued to wait you know for an update uh how will you say those has cetto been responsive to getting these
245meetings going quickly is it something that the district we had to put at it pressure to even get to the point where we are now that that's an excellent question I think at the beginning of the negotiations it was a little harder uh I think we brief you on this uh but uh the tone change um at some point and for the last I'm going to say probably the last 10 12 meetings uh the meetings have been very amicable they have been very transparent with all of the data they give us all of the data our teams analyze that data find any holes their projections are different than ours sometimes ours are more conservative some sometime they're more aggressive but again as we're thinking about what the resolution ask us to do for 2627 we
246start thinking about what's going to happen in terms of absorbing those schools that's why we did the long term and started thinking about what will it take for us to absorb the schools in the long term but no we haven't found any resistance uh with a z in fact I mean if if if I sending a message right now to have a meeting at 7 pm they're probably gonna say yes thank you for your response um going on that is there anything within those conversations and once theou gets signed that to prevent that as setto the network comes the Charter network comes back and tells us oh wait our numbers initially provided to you we're missing data or X Y and Z this is why the language in theou has to be very specific uh
247from that perspective and we have to be very you know our team have to basically monitor along the way uh this is why we also like the idea that Capital expenses going back to the boilers of course we're not going to repair the boilers in in now that don't need repairs we want to have the cash reserves to make sure that that in the case that that happens we have the funding to fix them uh but at the end of the day asero cannot make any investments in capital expenses without our approval so even if something happens we'll have to approve that expense for asero to go and make any repairs to the building thank you and I will end uh with saying that I'm a little bit surprised that you mentioned how they've been
248uh very responsive uh given that that's not what they've shown to the community and what I've been hearing from parents um so I hope that they continue being responsive and that keep in mind that this is about our families our students and also want to you know caution because of the student enrollment the numbers that were shown uh of decrease and if we keep on moving at a slower Pace those numbers are just going to keep on decreasing and we cannot blame those families for you know moving their kids to another school we don't we don't give them an a good update this is this is precisely why we're here today so that based on your decision we can actually secure an agreement uh and then inform our families what's going to happen next no
249thank you thank you for your time thank you we've been talking a lot about risk here and when we've been talking about risk we've been talking about Financial Risk we've been talking about liability risk what we haven't been talking about is the risk to the children of the asero schools I was very involved in fighting against school closings in 2013 I went to probably 30 or 40 hearings at different schools mostly in the African-American Community where the focus of school closings were but also up in h the neighborhood where I live in where my neighborhood School Trumble was closed at the time and I have to tell you the risk to Children is extraordinarily great when their school is closed the risk to children when they lose their Community when they lose their support when
250they lose their anchor CPS itself has done studies that showed that many children were lost to the district as a result of the massive school closings in 2013 and the children suffered both physical emotional and educational harm no shade on the safe passage workers but not everybody's passage was that safe and not everybody found their welcoming schools to actually be welcoming to them so I think we have to balance carefully here issues of Financial Risk with issues of risk and harm to the children of our communities and I just want us to keep that framing in mind as we discuss the question of boilers and maybe we should be discussing the question of nine-year-olds um I believe board member Pope I I mentioned that at some point in my conversation I believe I said that
251at the end of the day an educator uh it kills me to have to be talking about finances because at the end of the day the reality is our school should be fully funded period we shouldn't have to be work walking about $4 million in a boiler we should have $4 million in the bank to fix that boiler for every single one of our schools but that's not the case the reason why I said that the conversation was going to be about finances is because of the restrictions of the law that's the only reason why I'm in front of you talking about finances uh an area that is I don't manage directly I understand very well because it's my under grad but this is not about that this is about our students but at the
252end of the day we had to also work with the limitations of the law board member bi yes um and the board member popes oh I'm so sorry I apologize I just got a response about the boiler and I hate to go back to to the finances and the boiler um but I I Echo Chief Carmona's response uh in regards to the student experience and that's what really our strategic plan is is all about creating a joyful uh learning environment and a well resourced school but back to the to the question about the boiler so the boiler is 80 years old uh and it's a 40 years past its its life you know some folks have built boilers that last a long time so this this could potentially go out at at any moment um
253and and also in regards to that um as you kind of you know P peel the onion back right with the replacement of the boiler that doesn't mean other components may be affected uh you know with mechanical and hbac and so we haven't planned for that in our capital budget so we'll need to plan for that in the capital budget because those funds aren't there to be able to make said repair you know amongst what uh Chief Carmona and chief sitowski said in regards to the uh to the cap so thank you I wanted uh to piggy back on board member Pope's point and I believe as we were briefed there were options that would allow us to maintain Crews really intact right which I understand is the largest asero campus but that's not currently
254presented to us as a viable option could you help us understand why that a great question so we were working with a another provider who had the best intentions of keeping a Cru open um and this past week I believe Monday or Tuesday we found out that Aero in their CBA has a successor CL Clause uh that basically will that ask any other provider or anything the district decide to pass that provider to somebody else transfer that provider to someone else then that new entity will have to hire all of the staff on under the agreement so the ch school that wanted to take over doesn't want to assume that Clause because it prevents them from making decisions about stuffing they had the the autonomy to do so this is as much as we do
255in our district manag schools we don't tell principals which staff members to hire they get to hire the people that had the best fit for their organization so in this particular case the chat school and this is something I believe uh I sent to the board office maybe two days ago or yesterday an update on this because unfortunately don't those negot Ended as the provider will doesn't want to deal with the successor Clause thank you thank you um so I just I don't know anything about like what a boiler is how much it costs but I'm just looking at it um and I'm looking at other schools that have received estimates to replace um boilers and they're more in the range of like a million and less with the installment cost you're saying the 4
256million is all for the boiler or is there something else that is not a part of it the line item is just one item it's the boiler boilers plural I don't know that's the entire thing and then my other thing is yes of course like 40 years past replacement is horrible there's $3 billion dollar worth of Replacements um for other infrastructure that needs to be done across the district but 40 versus 41 or literally just 40 versus 41 seems like something that um um you know maybe we should think about the how much additional risk that one year is going to have um considering that that Bo boiler wasn't replaced right now or last year even um so that's my question about the cost again I don't I don't have it the 4.1 million is
257an estimate right now I have to get you the specific you know just give me a couple minutes I'll give you the specifics if it's just the boiler or if it's other components that are tied to the boiler but based upon the inspection of our team and we use a third party consultant and our consultant goes out with us and they produce what we call an FCA report a facility conditions assessment so they go through each room they look at the mechanics they look at the roofs they look at the windows and based on the visual they prepare what needs to be addressed at that point in time time and you have about four tiers that that they look at potentially uh to our concern uh what is the immediate repair that needs to happen
258then what is that long-term repair so I'm just going to focus on those two and the immediate repair which comes down to the boilers of what they're saying since it's 80 years old 40 years past expectancy life is something that we need to address but let me get you the details on about specifically what the four uh 4.1 million addresses in regards to just the boilers or there other components within the boiler itself just give me a couple minutes thank you let me just add one more piece to that and you saw that in the presentation we gave you last week in which we went item by item um Aero is projecting that next year's Capital expenses will be about $12 million our Capital team for those for those seven campuses our Capital team is
259saying that we can actually we may not need some of that funding right away next year the biggest Capital expenses right now that we'll need is what uh uh Charles uh is mentioning the potential need for the $4 million I think I think that's where you're going with this is is a potential need is a it's a it's a projection of of how much we will need um in that regards uh at the end of the day we may not need to use any of that funding uh for that for covering the cap capital expenses we may need other funding for that something breaks at Casas or somewhere else we had that cushion of funding to cover those cost thank you so much and my understanding of immedia again is between zero and five years
260and so if we can wait one year because it's in the zero to five year range then we know longer have to worry about the 103% limit sorry to sound like a broken record but it's zero to five years yes immediate needs yes so the report we sent you yesterday indicates the zero to fiveyear needs from our analysis is $9.3 million Zer to two years includes just that boiler for $4 million this is jce netos and then two to five years $5 million thank you and then I just want to say for the record that my main goal is to make sure that what is happening here never happens again to any community and so I'm glad that this the other two schools um are there's no longer another Charter operator that will be taking
261over those schools so thank you so um board members just if you don't mind real quickly because I want to make sure I think it's a great discussion and great questions and and definitely board members you know we need to give get you those ansers these real critical decisions the only caution I would have for the board is a couple things and this is you know from you know my bage point Charles's Vantage Point all of our teams we deal with breakdowns every day across the district we don't have a choice but to address them because they they not only entail the safety of the children which is the highest risk of all as a parent I will say that that's the highest that's higher than any learning risk is that my child's not physically
262safe in a building because it's so old these Arch dason buildings are incredibly incredibly old and very poorly maintained you can't even compare them to our buildings there's no comparison and to be fair to the arch dasis they've never had the money to do it their best uh their best the best thing that ever happened to the arch dasis was when we started leasing their buildings or tror operators started leasing their buildings that was the best thing that ever happened to them so so I I caution the board making comparisons CU God forbid that something happens to a child this is a video recorded meeting and you're and you're having conversations about something that's about physical safety so again we will get you the answers but I want to be careful about about second guessing
263professionals when something could always happen and I say that not just in any bu in any of these buildings but any building in our district so so that's one the other is assetto is not aceto is not going to is not going to sign anyou which is what required to have the first step unless the district assumes full liability for anything that we don't do they don't care about the cap um and so again if there's enrollment declines you know they don't care about the cap they've made that very clear to us and we don't have any legal recourse around that that's number two number three when you talk about breaking state law um there's already you know when I was down in Springfield one of the things that was brought up to me there's
264already you know a bill that's being proposed to take away all your fin I Authority there is already a bill out there I don't know if he'll have any traction again but those are those are consequences and then the last one is you know um next next month at some point we're going to talk about the 2026 budget when you start talking about the cost per school being so high I just want to make sure that we're really clear about another risk that exists the cuts could be so significant so significant at our other schools we're going to be pitting those schools against these schools so I just want to and so I just want to make sure we you understand again at the end it is your decision it is your decision but understand
265that I want to make sure as aonso said our lane is to make sure you have the rest your lane is to make that final decision um Chief I just want to again thank you for your work and this is all difficult um and I appreciate that uh what what I I haven't heard is for the two School the two campuses that may be closing right if you keep five schools open that's approximately 500 children roughly does that is the are those children are those families encouraged to matriculate into the other uh assetto campuses as to offset the student loss um I I don't I don't see that reflected so I'm just curious that that is a great question we we briefed the bar the board last week and we mentioned that part and I
266mean the questions came in different briefings so um I'm not sure you were in The Briefing that we talk about this so right now all of the schools in Aero these seven schools their enrollment is below their cap which mean that there's a space for any of these schools that remain remain open to open seats for the set of families to come in I'll give you an example and I received letters from um families from from pass to say please keep of course keep the school open please keep the school open and whatever reason is you're unable to keep the school open could you please open seats at Casas and Casas will have will have the capacity to open seats and absorb every student from pass that wants to go and stay in an aera
267School Cruz is a slightly different Cruz is really far north and there are no Aero schools close to um to Cru we will of course open seats I fent one uh to a set of but we'll also will provide families with uh when we have the first meeting families will walk out of that meeting with their options the list of schools in which they will have seats guarantee seats uh for this 25 26 school year but yes we will open more seats those AO schools and I get the I I get that situation you just said is is because one of the I think U board member Pope spoke to it was um the lack of care and concern historically when the school closed for the children that are supposed to go to receiving schools
268right um so if this happens with those two campuses for the campuses fire no is is there busing available to make sure that though is that offered as sort of a wraparound support to make sure that families can still stay in the assetto network that sir that's something that we'll have to consider um transportation was not included this at this point in time but that's something that we'll have to estimate for wraparound services and that you know even with the 2013 school closures i' say passes was a big thing and so that's something that we had to incorporate to expand the route so when we get to that point with the estimates we'll have to place that in there as well uh also I want to go back to the boilers so the 4.1 million
269yes the boilers so I usually don't get a lot of questions about boilers but that's perfectly okay so with the boilers you just can't drop it in uh it's it's going to replace some of the ventilation system it's going to replace some of the electric so electric so they got to go in the walls and replace all the ventilation that ties to that they got to replace all the electric that ties to that and then they got to put all the walls back to accompany that so that's what the 4.1 million includes um thanks Chief thanks for your time thanks for all the information um can you talk about uh I just want to ask what is the closest uh neighborhood walkable school to cisos that is a great question my team can tell you
270in a second uh a Nero school yes so we have Brighton Park we have Davis we have boros how close is Brighton Park and we have Brighton Park is I'm gonna say very very close couple of blocks away I mean I guess the other question is there is there capacity in those that is a great question when you ask me you asked me for neighborhood schools yeah no I guess my overall question I should ask it this way if scenar were to close what's the capacity of those students be absorbed in any nearby neighborhood school is his netos were to close um I think we have capacity in our schools to absorb those schools those students yes okay but parents will not be given just those options there will be other options for families whether
271they seats in other Char schools historically when charter schools close families tend to go to other charter schools so they will be giving other options outside of schools that are closer uh to the cisos campus or any of the campuses that the board decides to move forward with boardmember wasano please yes and this this will be the last question we'll take for this session thank you thank you president uh my question is going unfortunately back to the boilers uh and uh my question is this first and foremost everybody on this board would never minimize safety for the children we're just task with difficult decisions to make and we do not want to violate the law or whatever that cap we were talking about therefore my question is if the boiler does break down or even
272if it doesn't break down because we're trying to like uh fix something that possibly could break down that's what I'm understanding therefore what are the plans to do that and if those plans are going to happen like right now because the winter months are only winter months and then after that the boiler is not you know be going to be used at its capacity that it's necessary during the cold winter months I had a boiler at my church which would freeze up during the cold months and we finally replaced it with a furnace that is called geothermal heat pump it was way cheaper now we pay less in gas and things like that so I'm just wondering if we're going to replace something maybe we should go you know Greener cheaper more functional and workable
273but my real question is when was this money going to be used because if it's not even on the schedule I think we're talking about something that's not that necessary to talk about and we should be just trying to keep these kids in school so that enrollment doesn't drop yeah as as we work to with capital plans we prioritize the needs and and to answer your question the investment will not be necessary on the boilage break so that there's there's no need to do Investments right now um at the campus is and maybe maybe I went too fast on this on the slide number five you could go back to that slide um what what we are trying in all of the scenarios to provide you with is enough space we call it a surplus
274enough funding for us to cover any emergencies with capital and any emergencies with enrollment losses we provide provided you with the different spaces and the different scenarios um we call them more feasible the scenarios that give us the biggest amount of funding that will allow us to Pro to not only cover the 4.1 hopefully we don't even have to use that funding but any other expenses any any losses in enrollment at the end of the day the decision that I'm putting to the board today is which of those scenarios based on the risk that exist do you want me to memorialize with Aero right away so that the families that are behind me that are very frustrated that haven't got an answer get an answer in the next couple of weeks the quicker we get
275that that enroll the quicker we get a zero I think I think that's also the confusion if the board decides today to keep five six seven campuses open that doesn't mean that it's happening tomorrow asero still had to agree to that agreement and the language in the agreement has to be very specific that we are the district is covering any gaps that exist and the sub subsequent liabilities that come with it so I want to make sure that that that's that's clear from that perspective I know families are frustrated and they want an answer tomorrow but I cannot give them an answer unless I have a sign agreement with Aero that says that the campuses are going to stay open for the 25 26 school year thank you president Harden one addition to the capital
276planning piece when the schools become part of our portfolio part of the capital planning process is to insert them and to plan accordingly for any maintenance that needs to occur from day one all the way uh through end of life of of of our buildings and so with that said we go through a a Equitable process when we plan for Capital planning it's it's really by prioritization and so anything that's safety related bubbles up to the top of the list because we want to make sure that we keep our students safe and so boilers would be included in that so we would start to plan accordingly from there thank you thank you Chief Mayfield Chief carono appreciate the information again we'll now proceed with the vote on public agenda items board secretary please proceed thank
277you president Harden I will proceed with the items on the public agenda read the board report numbers and brief titles I believe board member Reas has motion mo2 regarding record of proceedings I move that uh the record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of January 15 2025 and board meeting of January 30th 2025 prepared by the board secretary be approved and that such records of proced setings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with Section 2.06 B of the open meetings Act is there a second I second the motion I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bo I member Wallace I member kuster I member Pope we're waiting for the mic to get to you yes
278member Rosenfeld yes member Reus yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry I we have 20 eyes zero Nays this motion is adopted by the board president Harden I'll continue with an item that does require a vote rs1 amend the resolution reaffirming the values of Chicago public schools and cementing its status as a welcoming district for all students president Harden this amendment is to reaffirm and update language in the resolution this item does require a vote is there a motion so moved is there a second I second I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas hi member Bole I member Wallace
279I member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I by vice president Bautista yes member gutiz I member bigs yes member thakura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry yes we have 20 I zero Nays this motion is adopted by the board president Harden I will continue with an item that does require a vote rs2 amend board report 24220 rs2 resolution to maintain Aero attendance centers president Harden I would like to make a motion to amend board report 25- 0227 D rs2 amend board report 24-12 2- rs2 the resolution to maintain a Sero attendance centers the amendment is as follows in the now therefore clause in number one remove of the viability in the first line and restore following in
280the second line in Number Two update to five campuses CIS Naros Casas Fuentes Tamayo and Santiago in numbers three strike out Santiago from the second line I'm oh I'm so sorry strike out CIS narrow from the second line is there a second to move the amended language to the floor the amended language has been moved to the floor for discussion board members are any questions for the record I just wanted to note that board member blae did second the motion uh so the court reporter can catch that okay uh yeah I'd like I have some questions about this amendment for one it's challenging to get a proposed amendment like this late at night and spend the day trying to understand it quick fact check by the way by state law Charters are nonprofits they are
281not for-profit but um so I come to this as a parent I was a teacher I worked for the district I empathize and now I'm currently on the board um my oath when I took this office and was repeated today as I shall respect taxpayer interests by serving as a faithful protect ctor of the school district's assets so having read that from how I read this proposed amendment I must vote for to vote Yes I must agree with all three of these lines I agree with number two I want to keep five campuses open I agree with number three I want to strike out scenar scenarios from the second line I cannot in good conscious agree with number one we cannot remove the word v ability from from this language we have to be able
282to ask ourselves is it functioning is it effective is it financially sustainable what is the strain on the district office we must be able to keep that word viability in there um we must stay within state laws at all time I appreciate everybody at the district office reminding us of the state laws I have no interest in skirting anything around State LA laws or that cap I agree with two I agree with three I want to keep the schools open I can't agree with number one so I wonder if there's a way that we can amend the amendment are we continuing with discussion or do we need to get an answer to that question I don't know continue with discussion and then we'll come back thank you okay um so I I want to begin
283um I'm going to kind of piggyback off of board member Rosenfeld I want to begin by acknowledging the the pain and suffering that um the asero families and the asero community are going through um I have children of my own they're very young they're just starting out um in their educational journey and I can only imagine what it must feel like to um have you know your schools potentially ripped away from you but I also want to acknowledge the complexity of the situation and make it really clear that there are many responsibilities that the board has to hold simultaneously um I was glad to hear the oath of office again today because you know behind the call to abiding by the law which we've talked a lot about in this discussion um it is respect
284for the taxpayer interest in the district assets and the language that is proposed by board member Pope does the opposite of that um Chief Carmona's explained the cost of absorbing those schools and including the facilities and operational costs and bullet point number one talks about that that future that 2026 2027 and the viability of that moving forward which would make us responsible for obtaining those costs um and the consequence of that is that when we look at that 2026 2027 budget whatever the cost is comes at a cost and that means we are cutting staff across the district in order to do it um and we talk a lot about honesty and transparency but I wonder if we've been as honest and transparent with some of these families because we have to understand that this
285is a vote between making a financially responsible decision that doesn't have greater effects across the district and saves some of these schools or keeping these schools open at the cost of teachers and staff jobs in millions of dollars across the entire District um so I I ask my fellow board members to think about that because that is the responsibility that we are weighing is are we okay with potentially making Cuts in the upcoming budget to staff across the district as well um there are ramifications for it and we do have to hold those simultaneously so that language um change for viability is one that holds us accountable for the financial component as well uh I want to piggyback this is board member Smith on uh board member Rosenfeld and board member kuster uh I just
286looked up the definition of the word viability and the word viability means to work successfully I can in good conscience strike language that by definition means to work successfully thank you yeah I I too was very glad to hear the oath of office again when uh our newest board member Sydney was uh reciting it and I heard the part about financial responsibility I take that seriously and I'm also going to read you two little excerpts from there I shall assist in establishing a structure and environment designed to ensure all students have the opportunity to attain their maximum potential through a sound organizational framework I shall serve as a key Advocate on behalf of students and our community schools to advance the vision for Chicago Public Schools so we have a problem here we have money
287issues and we have moral and education issues and we have to figure out the best way to move forward on these things to me we will figure out a way to make the money work we have to figure out a way to make the money work we cannot exceed the State caps I am not about to become a law breaker in that way on the other hand we have made a pledge to children and to families and I feel that we have an obligation to maintain that pledge which is why I want to keep the five schools open so I agree with that what I don't want to happen is I don't want to take out our ability to look at the viability of these schools it is our responsibility to be able to look
288I mean this year it's good okay but we have to look forward and forward and forward that's our job as a board so I am for the students I am for the student experience I've got four kids in CPS had um I want to keep your kids in those schools but I cannot remove the word viability and change it to following it feels irresponsible um is it possible Madame secretary you could read that line from the amendment I my understanding of when it's talking about viability um and the concern that that phrase in particular created was because we're having this conversation for a second time we didn't like I think there were some people on the board that just wanted to close the conversation and just have it once I don't think that that phrase
289was meant viability time in memorium that we're making decisions here that will be pen that will that are um that last for the rest of time I thought it was just this year right 25 26 um I'm going to read to you the now therefore clause in the amended resolution that was posted on Tuesday morning now therefore be it resolved by the Board of Education of the city of Chicago that one the CEO and the chief portfolio officer are directed to create a detailed plan of the viability which were at was added to transition the following following was stricken a Sero schools listed in number two listed in number two was added into District run schools beginning in the 2026 2027 school year such plans should involve District district support for parents and staff to
290maximize retention of teachers staff and students as the schools transition the following sentence was was added the district will provide regular And Timely updates to the board number one cisos number two cases number three Fuentes number four Tamayo number five Santiago those schools were stricken and then in point number two uh there's additional language that was added do you need me to uh continue or would would you like me to continue or okay uh this is board member btia um so I just want to remind folks that just like we are discussing this amendment doesn't prevent us from revisiting it in the future if we find some very uh some glaring problems with the budget so I'm going to um I'm going to ask us to um wrap up our conversations because this is not
291set in stone just like any other uh any other Amendment and resolution um like we're seeing what's happening in congre in in the white house right now everything that we fight for can be undone um that is still those are still the rules for um the way that we govern the Board of Education in the city of Chicago so you're not prevented from um if something happens we don't we actually don't know that a lot of things can happen right like boilers like um natural disasters like all these other things that will H that will can impact um you know the the way that we move forward so I I want to just remind us that like this is um not a sticking point for me because we know that we can still continue to
292to work on these issues and address them as they come up um so that that's why I'm I'm asking folks to remember that that is still that is that is still within our purview and within the rules of the of the Board of Ed I'm actually going to challenge that because our families are here today for an answer and if we don't give them one that's disingenuous and coming back later is not an option because aaro is going to move forward with whatever they want to do if we do not give them direction to write anou the year is coming to an end they're going to close these campuses if we do not give our management the direction to move forward and create anou with a Sero these schools will be done and this won't
293be an issue anymore we have to make a decision to give these families some closure and if we get rid of the vi like we we cannot ask them to come back here in a year so that we can discuss this again and put them through this again a decision has to be made we cannot just come back and revisit a Saro is waiting for us to come to the table and say these are the campuses this is what we're writing this for this is who we are vowing that we're going to make sure that we fund for next year I challenge that we don't have time we have to do it now Mr chairman um I have a question regarding the word viability and what we would be precluded from doing by law uh
294if we were to leave that out and theou was specifically worded would we be precluded from looking at uh our financial responsibility in any or in any way if there were some sort of uh catastrophe regarding the infrastructure in the buildings anyone who can answer that uh so board member Thomas remember the first Clause is about school year 2627 it is not about theou it is not about this next school year so the viability language is uh is to give the board some flexibility around how plans are made for 2627 I share the same sentiment as for member CER about not keeping families waiting um and I'll share you know my thoughts as it pertains to with the word keeping it um or removing it right uh by keeping it is also what type of
295direction does the CPS leadership have and the parents are not going to be walking out knowing whether their school is going to remain open or closed and whether they need to look for another school for their child so is this like are they going to be coming back in a month two months in still you know and they're this is time that they're spending many of the parents I'm sure you know they have other responsibilities the teachers right and they're spending sacrificing their time so I don't want to keep just keep them waiting but also is that where I could see it is that if we don't keep if we remove this word right I I just don't want to see it where it will be seen as an easy way out not that I
296will again not that I saying any of our my fellow board members will take that route but an easy way out to not do right by the families and by going from five to let's say two schools so that is my concern but also knowing that I don't want to come be three months down and having parents come back and again them you know doing public comment to because of another amendment to the amendment real quickly board members just uh just a quick just a little bit of feedback again we will follow your direction the viability I would look at it in a couple ways um you have five schools one of the things that we know from our Charter families many of them when we talk to them about going to a CPS School
297whether it's a new school or existing School many of them choose to go to Charter Schools so the challenge of keeping the word viability out is that it it really forces the staff to really reopen up five schools without us talking to the families and actually saying is this something you even really want because we've gotten quite a bit of feedback from families even before from the assetto families who said we're interested in going in a charter school ideally we want to go to an assetto Charter School ideally it's the charter school I'm going to now that's what they want and so that's the challenge that that you have because you're making an assumption and and that and before you've even looked at total cost interest of families and what the consequences are for the
298rest of the district and the rest of the schools at the end no matter what it still will be your final decision board secretary please take a call roll call just to um be clear I am taking a roll call on the amended language as board member Pope and board member blae moved um for the additional language or changes in one two and three board member Lozano I vote Yes member Smith no member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole no member Wallace obstain member kuster no member Pope yes member Rosenfeld no member Rivas no yes I'm sorry was that member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon sorry yes vice president Bautista yes member gutiz no member bigs yes member thakura yes member blae yes member zachor yes yes member D Barry yes
29913 eyes six Nays and one exstension this motion is adopted by the board president Harden and board members we will now vote on board report 25227 r rs2 amendo report 24-1 1220 rs2 resolution to maintain a Sero attendance Setters with the amended language in the now therefore clause in number one remove of the viability in the first line and restore following in the second line in Number Two update to five campuses cisos Casas Fontes to Mayo and Santiago and reference to campuses as five in number three strike out C sarrow from the second line is there a motion so move is there a second yeah I second I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez hi member Thomas hi member Bole explain one more can you explain one more
300time what is this to approve the changes that we just so the motion that um was on the floor to amend the language on the board report that was posted which included the now therefore Clause 1 2 and three that language has been appr has been adopted we are now voting on the actual resolution to include that amended language I see okay no member Wallace abstain member kuster no member Pope yes member Rosen phel I'm sorry I I I need further clarification so this is a vote to because this was also confusing in last minute in the first place so this vote now is a vote to keep the five schools open and approve that language correct and how is that different from the last vote I just made you were you were voting on
301whether or not you wanted points one two and three amended on the resolution so now that it passed now you have to vote to accept it now that uh that adopted language has been now that it's been adopted Ed the resolution now has to incorporate that amended language no member Ras yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon yes vice president Bautista yes member gutiz yes member bigs yes member thura yes yes member Blaze I member zachor yes member D Barry yes 16 eyes three Nays one exstension this matter is adopted by the board so so I have a question can I make a motion to change the language to keep viability or no too late it had to be before I voted yeah right after that intervening motion president hard and I'll
302continue with additional items that do require a vote RS5 resolution authorize appointment of members to lscs to fill vacancies ex1 transfer of funds president Harden these items do require a vote is there a motion that uh was moved by board member kuster board member Bole has seconded the motion for the record I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole yes member Wallace abstain member kuster yes member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra I'm sorry can you clarify what we're voting on right now we are voting on items RS5 which is the resolution to authorize appointment of members to lscs to fill vacancies and ex1 transfer of funds yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes
303member gutiz I member bigs yes member thakura yes member blae I member zachor yes member D Barry I we have 19 I one exstension these these matters are adopted by the board president hard I'll continue with an item that does require a vote pr1 authorize the first renewal agreement with ATI Holdings LLC president Harden this item does require a vote is there a motion is there a second I second I'm sorry who moved that board member Lopez moved okay bigs bigs I'm sorry about that CER for a second thank you for that I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole yes member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosen Rosenfeld member revas yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes
304member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member gutiz I member bigs yes member thakura yes member Blaze yes member zachor yes member DeBerry yes 19 eyes one exstension this matter is adopted by the board president hard and I'll continue with an item that does require a vote PR2 authorizes a second final renewal and extension agreement with Lakeshore recycling Systems LLC president Harden the this item does require a vote is there a motion moved by member bigs there a second seconded by board member Lopez I'll take a roll call vote member Lozano yes m member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member Wallace obstain member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member rias yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member
305Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thura yes member Blaze I member zachor yes member DeBerry yes 19 I one exstension this matter is adopted by the board president hard I'll continue with an item that does require a vote pr3 report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the board of educations Capital Improvement program this item does require a vote there motion is there a second a second uh the motion was moved by board member thakura okay thank you I'll take a roll call vote member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bo yes member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member
306bigs yes member thakura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry yes 19 eyes one exstension this item is adopted by the board president Harden I'll continue with an item that does require a vote pr4 authorize a new agreement with Accenture LLP president Harden this item does require a vote is there a motion board member Bole moved is there a second I second the motion thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope oh sorry she's not here member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon hi vice president Bautista yes yes member gutiz I member BS yes member thura yes member Blaze I member zachor
307yes member D Barry I 18 I's zero Nays one exstension this matter is adopted by the board president harnell continue with an item that does require a vote pr5 authorize a new agreement with Metropolitan Family Services president Harden this item does require a vote is there a motion second uh was that moved by member DeBerry thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member lope member loano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole yes member Wallace I member kuster I member M rosenell yes member Ras yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member BS yes member thakura yes member Blaze I member zachor yes member D Barry yes 19 eyes I'm sorry yes 19 I zero Nays this matter
308is adopted by the board president Harden I'll continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a vote pr6 Chief procurement officer delegation of authority report for December 2024 and Chief Financial Officer report for December 2024 ex2 report on principal contracts new EX3 report on principal contracts renewals EX4 report on the chief executive officer pursuant to board rule 5-4 a one report on board report recisions president Harden these items just need to be accepted by the board please mark received and filed president Harden I will continue with items from the general counsel that do require a vote ar2 transfer and appoint senior assistant general counsel Frank a John's AR3 transfer and appoint senior assistant general counsel Talia D shiffon A4 authorized retention of the law firm Wagstaff and cartell LLP ar5 amend
309authorized continued retention of various outside Council law firms president Harden this amendment is necessary to amend the law firms listed in attachment e attachment F and attachment H and for the record I would like to note an exstension for board member guas for the following firms on ar5 law offices of Burke Warren McCay law offices of Tristan and Cervantes and law offices of Greenberg I'll continue with AR6 approved payment of proposed settlement regarding Tamaro castan AR7 approved payment of proposed settlement regarding Jane Doe ar8 approved payment of proposed settlement regarding CB student by his mother BB a R9 approves I'm sorry approved payment of proposed settlement regarding attorney sweeps for Asia gains for herself and his next friend of minor child JC president Harden these items do require a vote is there a motion thank
310you second it was moved by board member Bole and seconded by board member DeBerry I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole yes member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes remember member rias yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member gutiz with the noted exstension on ar5 member guas voted I member bigs yes member thakura yes member blae I member Zach yes member D Barry I we have 19 eyes with the noted exstension from member gutiz on ar5 and one exstension from Member Wallace these matters are adopted by the board president Harden I'll continue with an item from the managing Deputy general counsel this item does require a vote a
311r10 amend authorize continued retention of the law from heimes petara and and fester and president Harden this amendment is necessary to decrease the authorized amount president Harden this item does require a vote there motion a second Thank You seconded by uh board member Lopez I'll take a roll call member loano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope yes member rosenal yes member rias yes member Rio Sierra I member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thakura yes member Blaze I member zachor yes member D Barry I 19 eyes one exstension this matter is adopted by the board president Harden I will continue with items from the chief executive officer that do require
312a vote ex5 ex5 as noted on the public agenda is appoint chief officer so the action before the board for ex5 is transfer an appoint Title 9 officer effective February 27th 2025 Elizabeth Mendoza round I'll continue with ex6 report on principal contracts new alsc for lenya Sanders sharp for Collins High School president Harden these items do require a vote is there a motion is there a second board member second the motion thank you board members board member Thomas moved and board member Pope seconded the motion I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas hi member Bole I member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope yes member roseno yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes
313member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thakura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry I 19 eyes one exstension these matters are adopted by the board president Harden I will continue with an item from the board that does require a vote RS6 resolution approving chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational support Personnel president Harden this item does require a vote is there a motion member Rea so moved is there a second moved by uh board member kuster thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano I vote Yes for all and vote no on just one Charlene Smith member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas yes for all with the exception of sirling Smith member Bole yes member Wallace abstain member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Ras
314yes member R Rio Sierra Yes except for is it sh Charlene I'm sorry yes except for Charlene Smith member Brown Yes except for Charlene Smith Yes except for Charlene Smith I'm sorry who is that that just board member Manon sorry I going so fast trying to get out of here I know I know board member Banner uh voted yes but no to Shirlene Smith vice president Bautista yes with the exception of Charlene Smith member gutiz yes member bigs yes member thura Yes except for Charlene Smith member blae Yes except for Charlene Smith member zachor Yes except for Charlene Smith member D Barry yes with the exception of Charlene Smith one second while I do um tally we have 19 yes uh of those 19 10 are voting no to Shirlene Smith and one exstension uh
315I'll defer to our general counsel I believe this would be adopted in part then correct adopted in part Shirlene Smith will need to be removed from the resolution sorry for the delay president how will continue with an item from the board that does require a vote RS7 resolution approving chief executive officers recommendation to dismiss probationary appointed teachers president Harden this item does require a vote is there a motion so move is there a second member Rio Sierra moved and seconded by board member blae I'll take a roll call vote member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole yes member Wallace abstain member Custer I member Pope yes member rosenfelt yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member guus
316I member bigs yes member thura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry yes 19 eyes one exstension this matter is adopted by the board president Harden I believe board member Lopez has motion M3 I move that the board to adopt the minutes of the Clos session meeting of January 15 2025 and January 30th of 2025 pursuant to section 2.06 of the open meetings act board members review these minutes and determine that the need for confidentiality exists therefore the minutes of the Clos session meetings held January 15 2025 and January 30th 2025 shall be M shall be maintained as confidential and not available for public inspection is there a second board member Thomas move this uh second to the motion I'll proceed with a roll call member Lozano yes member Smith yes member Lopez
317hi member M Thomas hi member Bole yes member Wallace I member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thakura yes member BL BL I member zachor yes member DeBerry I 19 I I'm sorry 20 I zero n this matter is adopted by the board president Harden there are no further items on the public agenda we'll now move into executive session board member board do you have a motion M4 I'm sorry can we wait until you have the microphone thank you I move for the passage of motion number dm4 and the commencement of a close session to consider matters permitted under Section 2 C of the open meetings act subsection one
318is specified in the motion I second the motion thank you I'll proceed with a roll call member loano yes member Smith yes member Lopez I member Thomas I member Bole I member Wallace I member kuster I member Pope yes member Rosenfeld yes member Rivas yes member Rio Sierra yes member Brown yes member Bannon I vice president Bautista yes member Gutierrez I member bigs yes member thura yes member blae I member zachor yes member DeBerry I 20 I zero Nays this motion is adopted by the board sorry I'm sorry president Harden there are no further items on the public agenda this meeting will now go into Co session we have the board meeting of the board of education is reconvene board secretary please proceed president Harden I would like to note for the record that there
319are no items to vote on from executive session thank you is there a motion to adjourn is there a second all in favor we are jour